186 Dinosaur Poop, DE Live Show, No Trip to China
Episode Summary
Episode 186 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual unfiltered banter between the two Mikes — water-intake weight loss theories, Adrian's post-surgery recovery, mask etiquette in Florida versus Las Vegas and Australia's lockdown rules, a weekend of solo dad duty at Volcano Bay, and reviews of The Suicide Squad and Space Jam. The guys also recount a chance gym encounter with WWE's Omos (Jordan) that made the kids' day, and a friend's low-key backyard wedding complete with American flag Crocs.
The news segment is the meat of the episode. China's International Cigar Expo 2021, scheduled for November in Chengdu and co-hosted by China Cigarette Sales Corporation and China Tobacco International Group, has been postponed over COVID travel restrictions — notable given China became Habanos S.A.'s largest Cuban cigar market in 2020. Bigger news for U.S. smokers: Drew Estate suspended all in-person events, canceling the Connecticut, Kentucky and Florida Barn Smokers and postponing the DE25 25th anniversary party at South Fork Ranch in Parker, Texas to 2022. The hosts read statements from Jonathan Drew and CEO Glenn Wolfenson, discuss refund logistics through Eventbrite and retailers, and note the show's own planned live broadcast from DE25 with Jonathan Drew is now off. They also flag that event cancellations hurt Cigars for Warriors donations and promote CFW rep Tammy Rekito's Facebook fundraiser to cover shipping costs.
On new releases: the Limited Cigar Association's newest exclusive is Southern Draw's Lady Killer, made at AJ Fernandez, with a fully disclosed blend — Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan Criollo 99 hybrid binder from Estelí, and Criollo 98 fillers from Estelí (viso), Jalapa (seco) and Condega (ligero) — named after the Crocus flower. The LCA also began shipping My Blue Heaven at $10.25. RoMa Craft Tobac's Baka Gran Perfecto (5 x 58 x 60, Cameroon wrapper, $16.20, boxes of 10) heads to stores as part of the ongoing rollout of the El Catador de los Gran Perfectos blends, following Aquitaine, CroMagnon, Intemperance Whiskey Rebellion and Neanderthal. The hosts also discuss Southern Draw's undisclosed-blend Manzanita at $14.99, Augusta, Georgia's 8-2 commission vote to legalize cigar bars (20% of revenue from cigar sales), and Brad Burko's departure from Bahama Mama — which leads into an extended bit about faxing absurd press releases to Charlie Minato.
In This Episode
- 01Opening banter: water, weight and COVID etiquetteThe Mikes debate a water-intake weight loss scheme, mask mandates returning in Vegas, Australia's no-browsing grocery lockdown, and where the vaccinated/unvaccinated line is drawn in Florida.
- 02Solo dad weekend, Volcano Bay and movie reviewsA full weekend with the kids, waffles and steaks on the grill, plus enthusiastic takes on The Suicide Squad, Space Jam and F9.
- 03China's International Cigar Expo 2021 postponedThe Chengdu expo is called off despite 95% of booths booked, with context on China becoming Habanos S.A.'s largest Cuban cigar market in 2020.
- 04Drew Estate suspends DE25 and all Barn SmokersConnecticut, Kentucky and Florida Barn Smokers canceled and the DE25 anniversary party in Parker, Texas pushed to 2022, with refund details and statements from Jonathan Drew and Glenn Wolfenson.
- 05Cigars for Warriors shipping fundraiserWith events canceled, CFW donation revenue dries up — the hosts promote Tammy Rekito's fundraiser to cover postage and question why manufacturers don't send cash with their cigar donations.
- 06Southern Draw Lady Killer for the LCAFull blend breakdown of the AJ Fernandez-made LCA exclusive named for the Crocus flower, plus the LCA Plus release My Blue Heaven at $10.25.
- 07RoMa Craft Baka Gran Perfecto and Southern Draw ManzanitaThe Cameroon-wrapped Baka Gran Perfecto ships at $16.20 as the El Catador de los Gran Perfectos rollout continues, alongside talk of Manzanita's undisclosed blend and $14.99 price.
- 08Augusta legalizes cigar bars, Brad Burko exits Bahama MamaAugusta, Georgia votes 8-2 to permit cigar bars generating 20% of revenue from cigars, and the hosts riff on industry press releases after Burko's short tenure ends.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
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Transcript
Welcome to episode 186 of the longest running number one cigar show on Podbean still, the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Square. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Square. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Square.
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com, and we can get you, oh, that's a big drink, we can get you set up and ready to go. Gallon a day, baby, gallon a day, gallon a day, I saw a thing where a man said, you take your weight, and you drink that many ounces of water the first week, and then if you weigh, you will have lost every day, so like I weigh 190 pounds, I drink 190 ounces, at the end of the first week, The next week I weigh, if I've dropped weight, I go to the next thing, and then I do 180 ounces, let's say I lost 10 pounds. You go down 10 ounces? Oh.
Whatever, the weight is down. If it's 187, I take three ounces off. I do three ounces every day. He said you will lose weight that way.
Does that seem reasonable in your vast knowledge? I mean, yes. I would assume the water is replacing the food because you feel full. Right.
So, I mean, you're putting yourself in a calorie deficit, which, you know, makes a difference. Plus, hydration will help you burn more fat. Right. So, yeah.
Oh. But, okay. I don't know. Or we can drink water on the regular and not fucking worry about you and my weight.
I drink more water on the weekends because I do yard work. Well, you gotta reconsider that, too. There's a lot of peeing going on at nighttime on the weekends. A whole bunch of peeing.
A whole bunch of peeing. Well, it's gotta come back out, so, you know. Yeah. What do we got for the Patreon today, Michael?
We are doing the new, is it LCA? I don't know exactly. I forget the name of the club. Is it LCA, or Provada Club, or which one is it?
Yeah, yeah, that one. Oh, the Lady Killer by Southern Draw. Uh-huh, Southern Draw. There you go, by Southern Draw.
It is I, from Southern Draw. So we are going to do the new, just came out this month, the Lady Killer. The Lady Killer. I will measure it.
You're going to weigh it now, so you can hand me mine? So we can smoke and be married. I'm trying to think, it's kind of slow going on in my personal life at my house. It's kind of slow.
Well, the wife is still recuperating. School is back on today. I helped her go in and decorate her classroom because she can't do the bulletin boards because her arms only go right to here. Oh, she's like that senator that died.
What was his name? I don't know. Somebody died. He was going to run for president or something.
Didn't he run for president? I don't know. It was a Vietnam vet or something. Was it Hitler?
No, no, it wasn't. But he could only raise his hand like this. He's hot! When he'd wave, he'd go kind of like...
Oh. I can't think of his name. One arm is better than the other, so, because one side had more work than the other, so, yeah, she goes to the doctor again today, what time is it now? She is probably left and headed for the doctor.
Oh, that's good. You told her, I can't be with you today. No, I asked her, if you need me to go, I'll obviously go, but she didn't say, she said, no, I don't know. This is the, well, this is the third time, yeah, that's that too.
This is the third time since the surgery, so, well, you know, it was one week, one week, and then this is a two week stretch since the doctor, I imagine the next one's a three week stretch. She's got a couple of stitches at poker and she wants to trim it up. I saw the picture on Facebook. It's starting to look good.
Right. Well, one arm is much better than the other. Yeah. Well, one of them is infected or something.
She thinks it is. I don't know. I'm not sold on the infection. You're not sold on it?
No. Is that mine? It's yours. Thank you.
She's a little more cautious. Well, it's her arm. Right. I mean, I would be a little more cautious if it was my arm.
arm. Actually, I don't care about my arm. What's wrong with your arm? I don't know.
Maybe it's going to fall off. Oh, congratulations to Mr. John Carney. He got married over the weekend.
Was it a nice wedding? He just kind of slid it in. He didn't invite me. Oh, that's awkward.
I thought you would have went. No, I wasn't invited. Wow. Yeah.
It's weird for us now. Now we have a weird relationship. Oh, when you see him, now it's weird because maybe it was a small courthouse type wedding thing or something. It was the back of their It's in her house, backyard.
Oh, I just saw, I just saw the official announcement. He had the American flag Crocs on. Oh, well, maybe that's why. It feels like no.
Is it his first? Yeah. Is it? Is it her?
I don't know. I don't know him that well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it her first?
Yeah. You'd think maybe there'd been something bigger. They blamed it on COVID. At this point?
I feel like that's a little tacky. Yeah, at this point, that's just an excuse not to advise people. Listen, let's just do a small one. It's a COVID wedding, it's COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, why did you ask him, you didn't get to go?
No, but you know, I feel like at this point in the game, if you're using COVID as an excuse, it's time to find something new. Especially in Florida, because we don't have it here. It's all COVID. Well, you know, I mean, apparently we do have it, it's, it's running, it's running significantly rampant.
It's fine. But you know, you still can't use it as a cop out. I can still go to the theme parks. Oh, I saw last night that Vegas is now mandatory mask.
We're back at that? Yeah, they are in Vegas. It's 1201 Saturday night. It went into effect.
Hotels, casinos. Like a bell ring or something? They showed a man in a dark jacket with a mask on standing there by a sign that said, you know, all masks must be worn inside buildings. Wear your mask.
Right, so. The Delta variant is way more aggressive. But DeSantis went, you know, fuck you, we're not doing that. Everybody has a right.
Right. I'm not against that. I have noticed out in public there are more mask wearers. Yeah, there are.
If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. If it makes you more comfortable, wear a mask. If you don't want to. I don't care.
No, I don't care. If you got vaccinated, good. If you didn't and die, I'm sorry. I don't know what you want me to tell you.
The only time I wear one is when I get a haircut. That's the dumbest thing I've heard in my life. Why? The lady's right there on me.
I don't know her. She wears one, I wear one, everybody's safe. Mike, we're really close right now. Yes, but I hang out with you every single day.
I am vaccinated. I could be a... What am I called? You're a supercarrier.
I'm a supercarrier. We said this before. We'll see. You want to talk about that?
Because that's weird. Let's talk about this. Because this is what all people want to talk about. Yes.
Some people wear masks only in certain places. Yeah. But, like for example, Governor McCool comes in here, she doesn't wear a mask. Right.
Now, I ran into her at Publix. Governor McCool. I always call it Governor McCool. That's nice.
That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, she came in. And actually, she was very nice. Adrian was here Saturday night, because I worked Saturday night.
That's when the governor came in. And apparently she knows some type of, because she's gone through some of the similar things with her surgeries and stuff, she gave Adrian this lovely neck massage on the spot where they give you the spinal block nerve thing, whatever, that somebody had taught her or something. Oh, Adrian felt 100% better once she got done. But I mean, it was very involved and it was stretching.
It was a whole thing, yeah. Oh, yeah, she's telling her when to breathe and everything. Dana's next level, man. Dana's like a mom that I, you know, like, I always date on my mom.
I remember back in the day, I don't know, some shit went sideways at the shop, I don't remember what it was, but it was a bad day. And this is when we had minimal staff and we were working more behind the register and stuff like that. And Dana walks in and she's like, what is going on here? And I'm like, I don't know.
I don't remember what it was. She's like, you know what, we need to sage. She comes back, she sages the entire day. So much to a point, and like the next day was better, so the next time we had an off day, I was like, you know, you really should come back in here and blast another shit, like she's just a cool, you know, she gives a shit, you know, which is awesome.
Well, that was it, I saw her at Publix recently, and she had a mask on at Publix, but we still hugged, but that's, not that Dana's during her, but that's the weird thing, what is the, what is the line, because, I mean, I obviously have not had the vaccine, you have had the vaccine, we hang out together all day, every day, but I don't hug strangers, But even like Yolanda wears a mask in certain places, but we're kiss hello. I mean, so, but we don't hang out all the time. No, no, no, no, no. Cheeky kiss.
Cheeky kiss. Big hug thing. Yolanda's a really good hug. She's a good hug.
Yeah. Some people really lean into it and give you a hug. She's a hugger. Right.
But where's the line? She doesn't know what I do when she doesn't see me here. Oh, yeah. Of course.
So, I mean, maybe I run around with non-vaccined people that lick walls or something. Ooh, like Mad Max or something. Yeah, I mean, who knows, but that's it, that's what's, well, it's maybe it's just straight to me. Valhalla and shit, you guys spray your shit in your mouth and stuff?
Who knows, I mean, right, but it's just, it's just, it's not the way people like, okay. Witness me. Right. Maybe I just look non-COVID clean or something?
It's just like AIDS. Oh, that guy looks clean. I guess you're right, yeah, but I mean, anybody can catch that, so. Oh, I mean, hey, you know what?
I will tell you right now, at this point in the game, I don't wear a mask unless I have to get on a fucking plane. Right. Everywhere I go. I have been vaccinated.
Right. I have a choice. Well, see, but now that doesn't make you safe. I don't give a fuck.
Your percentages, maybe that's just it, but like with Dana, okay, she wears a mask at Publix. Publix is a dirty place, I guess. Oh, there's more people? She doesn't wear one here.
There's more people. Yeah, but when you're here, you're closer to people. You're surrounded by Republicans here. Is that what it is?
Oh, Publix is Democrats? Damn, Democrats are in charge of Publix. That was the joke. It was a very lovely mask.
I think it matched your dress, too. I was just kidding. But, you know, I think that, one, you're smoking cigars here. What do you do?
You're fucking... Right. You know what I mean? You only gotta fucking wear a mask.
Okay, I guess you're right there. You ain't gonna be fucking smoking in Publix. Right. What if they let me?
That would make shopping much... Shopping would definitely be a pleasure then, for sure. Right. Good evening, sir.
Can I have a smoking section? Would you like a cut on that? I'm like, yes, I would. You know, I saw...
Where is your cereal aisle? I saw a video 'cause Australia has closed the island again. - It's an island? - Australia's an island.
- It's my island. - Well, it's a bigger island. - Not an island. - But they have closed the island again.
There's certain areas of the country where you cannot leave your home, which I guess are higher risk COVID places. And if you go shopping, you have to produce a list. There's no browsing. It was actually the word, the Prime Minister or whatever they have there.
- No browsing. - Mitch Smith just sent me several photos. No photos. Hello, no browsing.
Hello, Mitch. Yeah, no browsing. So, I mean, you have to have a list, it goes in and you're like, I need- That's an Australian accent. I need eggs.
It's very British-like. When I do my British, I've been told by British people it's Australian, so. No, no, that's Australian. That's Australian.
That's not British. That's not British. That's idiot. But, I mean- No, that's Chinese.
Like, if your list says bread, milk, eggs, and cereal, and you get caught in the canned vegetable aisle, they immediately throw you out. Excuse me, sir. What in the hell are you doing in the canned aisle, you bloat? No, bloat is not.
What is it? No. What do they say? Mate or.
Mate? Mate to Sheila. Sheila's a woman. Excuse me, Sheila.
What are you doing in the can? Well, folks, my name is Sally. Where's your green beans? I don't see it on your list.
Right. But, I mean, they're shutting down all businesses except for, you know, whatever, I guess, grocery stores, I guess. I don't know. Hey, you know.
God bless the country of Florida. And New Zealand has, like, negative two COVID cases. They've had, like, nothing in New Zealand. I just, you know, just don't fuck with Florida.
They say if you go, if there's a zombie thing, New Zealand's the place to go. New Zealand? Very controllable, everything, you can grow food there, it's good climate and everything, but you gotta get to New Zealand. It's a little far from here.
It's kind of far. I know where I'm going. I've already said this before, where I'm going, yes. Where are you going?
I have a friend. He's a listener. He knows. Oh, you have a compound somewhere.
He knows. Oh, I'm headed to the Keys and we're locking down at Seven Mile Bridge. It's a very quiet place. And I'm sure he has plenty of arms.
Oh, are we going to, uh, Art Finches though? No. No. Art Finches in Cali.
I'm going to fucking Cali. Oh, there's somebody here in Florida. No, no. Oh.
No, no. I will not give up my state or my resource. Don't give up your state. But you know who you are.
So you, uh, you had the children for the weekend. I like that you're moving this along. I'm just moving this along. I did.
That's my job. I absolutely did have the kids for the weekend. So did you have Teddy also? I did have Teddy for the weekend.
Oh, because when you showed up. I was trusted with the children. They showed up Friday, there was no... Where was I, Friday?
Thursday. Thursday. Thursday, the boys were here. Friday, you went water parking.
Yeah, so Teddy was still in school on Thursday. Ah, gotcha. Yes. Gotcha.
But man, we had a really good time. It was very nice. Did you? Yeah, it was cool.
I don't really get to spend daddy time. Right. You know what I mean? We do a couple things in the evening, but there's never really a lot of one-on-one.
And I got a lot of one-on-one time with Teddy. I got a lot of one-on-one time. You were, was there anybody there to help you? No.
Mika? Or maybe she had a swipy, swipy date thing? No, Mika wasn't feeling well. So, you know, we've had like this whole congestive yada yada.
Oh yeah, we talked about that. So like, you know, it sucked for like- That's finally, I've finally blown that out, finally gone. Yeah, so, I mean, it was just aggravating for us. It killed Mika.
Mika's been dead. " No Johnny Numbers wife around the house or nothing? Nothing, nothing. Normally she comes in when you leave.
Yeah, no, no, that's good. " Yeah, where the fuck? Yeah, you're fine, yeah. What's the problem?
You need all these people. Teddy's tough. Teddy, you know, it's really, what's really, really remarkable. I don't know, when your wife came in today, Teddy was up walking around, she had curly hair.
That's totally different. Oh! She's very tall. No, I will tell you, the difference with Teddy is for whatever reason, she's super chill with when it's just me and her.
Oh. Like there's very seldom screaming. Right. There's very, there's very, there isn't a lot of pushback.
Right. You know, there isn't a lot of now. Now. She's obviously, I mean, I haven't seen her, but she's obviously walking now.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Is she feeding herself? Of course. Solid foods, no more bottles?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's a lot easier. It's a lot easier.
No, but what's funny is that like, we got along, like, you know, I took her to Costco. She loves applesauce, the little applesauce, apple, apple! So I'd give her that. She'd run around.
That was the next question, communication, because once they can start talking with you, it makes your life a whole lot easier. Oh yeah, so I mean, and she does pretty good with that. " Right, well, when they're younger, you're going down the list. Right, sometimes you have to do the guessing.
" I go, "You know what? You're standing here watching me. Instead of letting me fuck it up one time, tell me how you want it. I'll do it however you want this done.
I don't care. You know, we were putting paper on a bulletin board or something. " Oh my god, you're very upset about this. Yeah, very upset about it.
You're hitting the mic? I keep hitting the mic. I'm trying to talk with my hand, trying to demonstrate with the little things. But I told her, "Look, there's three more of these.
You show me how you want this one done. " Right. Don't let me mess it up and then tell me I'm wrong. Oh, but that's the fun part for her.
obviously yeah yeah she's like i've done this before i go okay then tell me how you want this please explain to me explain how you want this number of staples uh staples in certain distance whatever you want why you put that one in the middle well it is because there's another one here that you didn't see so it's between this one and this one it's right there right i didn't skip a space whereas here we know you monkey fucking you shove it at me say i don't know what i'm doing well i've said i think i've had that same conversation with you before too because You'll say, here, do this, and I'll go, look, if you show me how to do this one time, you don't have to really show me again. You just show me the one time. But I'm not here to chastise you. I don't seek pleasure in the chastise.
There was, I think, some chastising on some of the earlier online things where you wanted me to take notes. Write that down. If you just write that down, there'd be no problem. Just write that down, there'd be no problem.
I understand. No, you don't understand. Yeah, that's the problem. Exactly.
So, I had a great time. Yes. We watched Space Jam at the house. Oh, that's right.
They did tell me that Thursday. Yes. Thursday night was movie night. Thursday night was Jungle Cruise.
Oh. Yes. Friday night was movie, was Space Jam. So it was Water Park.
Water Park. They had a great time. Teddy go to Water Park? Teddy went to Water Park.
Oh. We went with the Manny. Oh, okay. Manny and Lexi.
I was gonna say, three kids at Water Park is a little bit much. It can be a little hectic. Yeah. But you know what's cool is Volcano Bay has that kid area of slides.
Oh. If you're old enough now, I'm like, just go to the fucking, you know, that whole slide system, they're not gonna leave. Even the little guy, he's big enough for you? Oh, good, they won't leave the area.
He goes with the big guy, yeah, they don't go. Ah, okay, all right. Just go. I'm like, just fucking go.
You know, we'll be here. I don't know, I'll see you here too. I see them over there. You know what, that big slide looks good over there.
He's not, he's got Teddy. He's not really watching. There's six big slides in the kid area. But there's bigger slides in other places.
Is it a confined area where they can't get out? Well, no, they can get out, but it's one entry point. There's not somebody there going, little kid's leaving alone, this guy can't be good. No, no, no, hit the button, hit the button, hit the button, hit the button, hit the button, hit the button, hit the button.
Wow, wow, wow, kid on a big slide, get on a big slide. So the manny and his wife took Teddy down the road. Oh, and the wife, so there's a female too. Oh yeah.
Oh, that was much better. And a school teacher to boot. Oh yeah, she's amazing with the kids. Oh yeah, I bet.
She really is. Right, that's what she does for a living. Yeah, she's super cool. Right.
I mean, to a point where justice is high maintenance. Justice is high maintenance. To where you and Manny were drinking over on the side with fruity drinks in the chair. But justice is high maintenance, so justice can press.
" It doesn't matter what's going on. " That's why you never see her when I'm there. Yeah. " She was.
She's hanging out with the kids. Right, then she pops in and the child brings her in. I think that's her. That might be the nanny.
I don't know how that works. So I caved and bought HBO Max. Oh. Yeah, for Space Jam.
Oh, okay. I figured you just did it the way you always do. No. No, no, no.
I like HBO Max. We have that. I like that. Yeah, I'm going to tell you.
So then I think later that night I started watching Suicide Squad. You know what? People hate that movie. Fucking amazing movie.
I liked it. Amazing movie. It's like Saturday morning cartoon good though. Fucking hilarious.
Yes. Great movie. What did you, you hated the movie? What did you expect?
I saw people on Facebook, yeah, what do you expect? The Lawrence of Arabia? Yeah, I mean, holy shit, the movie was fucking hilarious. It's got a talking weasel.
It's got a gigantic starfish. I mean, I don't, I don't under, I mean, John Cena, fucking hilarious in that entire movie. We watched half of it Saturday, no, must have been half of it Friday or Saturday night. Yeah.
And Adrian hated it halfway through. I was like, okay, it's getting late. I got up early the next morning to go out in the other room and watch it while she was still sleeping. The Peacemaker.
I mean, he's funny as shit. Oh, I like Harley Quinn. I think she's hilarious. Oh, some of the action scenes with her were fantastic.
And the shark. The shark is hilarious. I love the shark. The man he calls me the shark.
He's like, I just want you to know. So you remind me of the shark. Yeah. " Right.
" You're a very friend. That's Sylvester Stallone. Oh, is it? Yeah.
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. " Fuck it.
Dude, Suicide Squad, that's probably one of the best movies I've seen this year. Yeah, it was fun. It was hilarious. I liked when they were interrogating, interrogating the guy with all the things on his head.
Yeah, the leader guy. " Yeah, without ruining the entire movie, 'cause I don't think we should do that. No, no, no. I'm gonna tell you.
We have to end this in a minute. There's some interesting surprises in it, and it was fucking hilarious. It really was. I thought it was funny, too.
And then Saturday was... It's just a stupid, funny... It really was. It's like Saturday morning cartoons.
It was great. I mean, it was just great. It was just great. It was fucking hilarious.
fucking great. I'm glad we're on the same page on that one. Oh, yeah. Because we never...
I'm like, this movie was great. You're like, it sucked. I'm like, okay. Right.
I want to do the... Stop. Just let it go. Just let it go.
You got to let it go. We got to move on. I mean, somebody commented to me about how we ruined Fast and Furious. Oh, thanks for fucking up F9.
I was like, what? I watched that. You knew how that movie was going to play out. I watched that now.
It's the same thing. It's the same movie over and over again. Yeah. Save the world.
Everything's impossible. Except Dom didn't really save the world in that one. It's more of the guys in the Fierro this time. It's more Ludacris and Tyrese.
Right, yeah, yeah. In space. Right. So, I still don't know how they got home.
So, the UFC fight sucked this weekend. Uh, we, somebody, we had it on here, obviously not the one. Yeah, the prelims and stuff. The prelims.
Whatever they show on the ESPN. Yeah, the prelims, some of those weren't, weren't bad. No, those weren't. One guy that looked like a monkey got the shit beat out of him.
Yeah. Body shot, and then he swung and missed or something. I might have missed that fight. They slow-motioned it, and the guy hit him twice in the face or something.
The fist went through his head. Oh, his whole face. They had some good shots. They got some good shots.
" Yeah, I love that. I love how they break to the commentators. And, yeah, man, you know, so... Not that I wasn't working.
I'm sure you were busy. I was behind the bar. There were a lot of people here, but a bucket of beer is not that expensive. I guess it's a good deal.
So, I mean, once you give the guy the bucket, other than picking up the empties every once in a while, you don't do much else. Yeah, that's understandable. I get it. Right.
I get it. How are we doing on time? 23. Oh, so we're still comfortable.
So your wife was gone because she went for a girls weekend? Yes, she did. She went to... New Smyrna or something?
New Smyrna, yeah. Good. She doesn't get out much by herself. Yeah, you know, so I...
Very nice of you to allow her that little weekend. Yeah, I permitted it. I permitted it. That was nice.
Gave her some spending money, sent her on her way. You go. You go. You go.
You go. You go. Have a couple of drinks. Buy yourself something nice.
You do you. You know. And she had a great time. It was her friend Alicia's birthday.
40th birthday. Oh. Mm-hmm. And her whole family came in to hang out at my house on Saturday.
So her dad came into town. While they were still gone? Yeah. So you entertained also?
I did. Oh, look at you. I did. Oh, I did.
I cooked. I was getting cooked. What did you serve? Oh man, come on.
I went steak. It's easy. I cook it every week. I did cob.
Corn on the cob. Some asparagus. Oh, look at you. Yeah, man, I was a pro.
Oh, you know, Brittany, I'd just move the fuck out at this point if I was you. He's all set. She was pissed. Because she missed the spread?
No, I mean, she wasn't really pissed, obviously. Oh. " Right, and you cooked? You know what?
You had food? So, like, this is how it played out. I had to make a Costco run. I grabbed a couple things in the dog food, blah, blah, blah.
I'm like shit you know what instead of I know I'm going to deal with this later what do you want to eat you know you need to do this whole fucking round and round go fuck yourself and then you wind up getting $5 a little Caesar's pizza that's complete poor shit right $200 at the grocery store to get home like there's nothing here I want I'm like okay so here's what I'm going to do I'm just going to pick up some fucking steak I'm going to get a couple sides and I'm going to handle this and it is what it is this is what we're eating and we're good right and nobody fought that right hey I brought some steaks I brought some everybody's like okay cool Oh, all the people. I thought you mentioned it for you and the kids. Like, I didn't even ask. I didn't even ask.
No, not even an option. I said, hey, listen, I got, you know, I did this, and I mean, if they said, hey, well, I really don't want to do that. Oh, I'm a vegetarian. I know that they're not vegetarians, but they could have had just the asparagus.
Maybe they just, and the corn. And the corn, yeah. Well, there's some asparagus and corn for you. Eko, don't eat the steak.
So, but, you know, I always, right now I'm not doing it, but almost every day I was eating, I've been eating this steak. Right. teriyaki marinade the whole fucking thing so i you know i whipped it up i mean i looked like a pro because i've done it so many times right it's like you cut it all up there you go right it was a hit uh sliced it in a little uh oh yeah oh yeah i was a pro you know so good for you yeah that went that was really cool you know so we got to hang out with them for a little bit we watched the fights together kids uh kids watch the fights jack's always watched the fights and tonight we're going He's coming to WWE. He looks up on the phone and he gives you the stats for the people.
Brittany does. Oh, right. I thought he was too. No, Brittany tells you the tale of the tape.
All the time. You're going to WWE tonight? I didn't even know he was in town. Yeah.
Oh. So, Omos is apparently a guy. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
So, he was at the gym today. Oh. So, the kids were excited about it before when I took a picture with him. Right.
I didn't know who the fuck it was. Oh, is that the guy you took the picture with? Yeah, on Facebook. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, Brittany said, "There's a very large black guy here. " I go, "That's Omos. It's gotta be him," because he's got, you know, he's huge, like 7'3". You can't miss him.
Right. " Like, "Oh, okay. " So, we go, we walk over to the edge, and I know, you know, I met the guy. He probably doesn't remember meeting me.
Oh, you're friends. Yeah, but we're besties. Right. So, I yelled for him, he didn't answer, I think he had headphones on.
And then he looked out of the corner of his eyes, he saw us kind of staring at him at the edge. He's probably thinking, "Who are these white people, motherfuckers? " I'm the big guy next to him, I look like a meal. He's huge.
Well, I meant wide. Yeah, still, I'm just like a big meal. I'm like a super size. He's the guy that asked me about my shoe size.
What shoe size do you mean? It's a callback. You have to have seen the other episodes to know what that means. It was a joke.
Go ahead. Contact Terrence Riley. Yes. Or Omar.
Or Omar. Possibly Omar. Possibly Omar. We're still checking.
So, you know, he looks up and I yell his name. I go, Jordan. I thought it was Omas. Oh, your first name.
His real name. You call him Jordan. Oh, excuse me. So I wave.
And I go, wave, guys, wave. So, like, he sees the kids and he goes. Ah. So.
They didn't look at him. I take the kids back to the play area, to the drop off for the kids. And my little guy, Justice, he's like, I can't believe Omos just waved to us. Like, it was the biggest thing that had ever happened to him.
I was like, man, that's so badass. That, like, just made his day. He was excited he pooped when he was here. Yeah.
Oh, was he? Yeah. That's the guy pooped. He peed and pooped.
Yeah, that's good. Everybody loves a good poop. Right. He's having a great day.
Yeah, that was a big thing. He's having an amazing day. He comes out, Mommy, I pooped. I'm like, oh, well, congrats.
Good for you, yeah. I feel a little lighter. " That's definitely justice. So, yeah, man, I mean, so then I told him...
All right, we gotta... We gotta... How close are we? Seconds.
" Oh, nice. And we'll end it there. Excellent. All right, we will be right back.
With the news. Or we might already be off, I'm not sure. Who knows? Hey, it's Mike, too.
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Yeah. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustlers podcast report with Mike Toon. China's International Cigar Expo 2021 postponed.
International Cigar Expo 2021 will be postponed due to the coronavirus COVID-19. It was scheduled to take place November 8th through the 10th in Qingdu, China, co-hosted by China Cigarette Sales Corporation and China Tobacco International Group Limited. The event was a follow-up to the first International Cigar Expo hosted in 2019 in Shenzhen. My office is in Shenzhen.
Oh, yeah. It's a big city. It's like New York. This year's event was scheduled to take place in Tai Fu International Convention Center using 10,000 square meters of show floor space.
That seems considerably larger than the PCA. It does. although by the end of july over 95 of the booths have been booked and it can oh 95 of the booths too have been booked and it can be called a success in some way exhibitors and professional visitors from overseas are still difficult to attend the expo personally here in china mid current covet 19 pandemic oh wait that was a that was a quote or the or the organizing committee in a statement uh this is what i was waiting for we always sincerely hope and welcome exhibit those Visit those guests from the whole chain of cigar industry across the globe can come and carry out exchanges, negotiate business, and get business opportunity. We always believe the value of the face-to-face communication can never be replaced by that of any other form.
The organizers say they have not determined a new day for the event. In recent years, China has become a major market for premium cigars. Habano's essay said that China became its largest market for Cuban cigars in 2020, the first time the country has achieved that status. Additionally, many Cuban companies have gotten increased access to the Chinese market, which is controlled by the China National Tobacco, the CNT, the state-owned tobacco monopony.
Because I'm CNT, Dynomize! All right, moving on, Drew State suspends 2021 in-person event due to COVID-19. Speaking of ban, how does this play out with the September 25th? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, I'll get into that.
but I had a little bit of a, I can't think of the right word. A little bit of a- Poop? No, no. Fallback or something?
A callback? A little bit of trouble with this story on something that I said on Facebook. I don't know if your brother didn't- No. We'll talk about that on the Patreon.
Maybe a little bit too much for this show. Drew St. 25th anniversary party, barn smokers, and all other in-person events The events have been suspended due to an increase in coronavirus COVID-19 cases. Okay.
Now, from what I understand, from something we'll discuss later, in-store events are still going on. In-store events are still going on. Right. Which makes no sense.
But they said they're suspending them. Right. This says all in-person events have been suspended. I don't know what's the difference between in-store and in-person.
But it's the same thing. Apparently not. Well, are they Zooming or are they not Zooming? We'll get into this later.
We'll just read this story as it was announced in Half Wheel. Interesting. This means the cancellation of the following events: the Connecticut Barn Smoker 2021 has been canceled, the Kentucky Barn Smoker 2021 has been canceled, the Florida Barn Smoker 2021 has been canceled, those who purchase tickets to the Barn Smokers will be eligible for a full refund within three to five business days of August 5th. Furthermore, those who purchase a ticket for the 2021 Barn Smoker event will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets for a 2022 Barn Smoker event.
So, as they did in the past, you do not get, from what I understand from the article, you are not getting your swag package like they did last year or the year before or whatever it was. I think last year was just flat out nothing. I think it was the year before. I don't remember.
No, it can't be the year before. It wasn't? It wasn't 2019? Because that would be July, August of 2019?
2019, so I guess what am I going to say. So yeah, so I believe last year you got the option or they still sent you your swag package or something. Okay. All right.
Now the DE25, the company's 25th anniversary party, has also been postponed until 2022. It was scheduled to take place September 25th, the day after my birthday, at the South Fork Ranch in Parker, Texas, outside of Dallas. Also, my birthday celebration they were going to celebrate also is not going to happen either. included musical guests such as Mike Jones, Mixmaster Mike, 2-8-1-3-3-0, Paul Wall, and Slim Thug.
By all accounts, DE25 was likely to be going one of the largest cigar events of the year as the company was on track to have 2,500 attendees at the event. How many people were a weasel vest? I don't know, a lot. Was it 2,500?
Maybe. It's possible. If you purchased Cigar DE25 from Drew Estate, though, So, Eventbrite will refund you the process within three to five business days. Also, Drew Estate says those who purchase tickets through a retailer should contact the retailer directly to receive a refund.
So glad we did not sell those tickets through here. Aha. Additionally, whenever Drew Estate reschedules DE25, a new date has not been announced. Those who have already purchased tickets will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets for the new date.
So, again, no swag packages are available from that event. So, it's unfortunate, I mean, you know, I really did plan on going to DE25 this year. Yes, we were going to go as a show, and we were going to have a table set up, and we were going to do a live broadcast with Jonathan Drew. Yeah, and you know, that would have been fantastic, unfortunately, given the circumstances.
We have had to cancel our coverage of the show, and so we are not going to be attending also. Yeah. If you bought a ticket to see us there, we're very sorry, but apparently they are refunding all your money. So, contact Drew Estate, Evan Bright, or whatever other shop that you bought the ticket from.
Yes. My heart deeply aches as we make this announcement, said Jonathan Drew, the company's co-founder in the Pressure Lease. We are truly looking forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary together in Dallas and getting back both to the farms and your stores. Together in fellowship, after being away for so long, I imagine that there will be feelings of disappointment and confusion from our consumers around the globe.
But just know that your good old Drew Estate is right by your side, as always, loyal and unwavering. We look forward to being reunited real soon, real soon, safely sharing our love of the leaf together in a person. In the coming weeks, we will begin to provide our loyal DE family the details of our pivots to upcoming Freestyle Live, Freestyle Live Special Edition, marquee events, plus new concepts and virtual store events. Love you guys.
Be safe. Long live the rebirth of cigars. Do you think he's got an assistant that types that shit for him? Somebody's got a type.
It's in quotes. I feel he said it to somebody. I feel like, but I feel like, no. Oh, I don't think he does this himself.
This is what I'm thinking, you know, when he says it. It's like here, all your emails and everything I handle, and everybody just thinks it's you. Right. You ever see Hot Shots Part 2?
Yes. And you see, and the guy says, now read that back to me. And if you ever put your goddamn hands on my wife again, I swear all she says. Right.
I feel like that's what went down in that office. It also means that in-person Drew Estate events that are scheduled for August 14th or later will be made virtual events or canceled. Well, supposedly. Made by August 13th.
Scheduled for August 14th or later. Scheduled. So anything that's scheduled after August 14th, they say will be made virtual or canceled. Okay.
Okay. That is not true from what I was told. Okay. Okay, is that what you're waiting for the Patreon, is it?
No, no, there's a whole... There's more. There's a whole thing. Wow.
Yes. Wow. I go and I take care of my kids for three fucking days, and this... This decision was incredibly...
Wait, I gotta see who... Okay, I don't know this guy. The decision was incredibly difficult and painful for our executive team, especially knowing how excited all of us were to be back together... So allegedly, that's allegedly, by the way.
Allegedly? What is? No, this is an actual quote from the guy. Oh, no, I'm saying, allegedly, still going on.
Uh, well, that was from a Drew Estate employee. Ah, okay. Allegedly. No, actually, I have it right from his mouth.
Oh, well, you're very fired up about this. Yes. As well as for our brick-and-mortar events at Glenn Wolfensohn, CEO of Drew Estate, in a press release, we want to take this moment to thank our retailers, farmers, suppliers, vendors, and countless others who made significant contributions in partnering with Drew Estate to plan and deliver these world-class events. Many thanks as well to our Territory Managers, Ambassadors, and Marketing Team members for their never-ending great work, both our large, experiential, experiential, is that a word, E-X-P-E-R-I-E-N-T-I-A-L, it's experience, but experiential, experiential, experiential, experiential, is that a word, and our in-store events for retail partners.
One of the worst things is that these events are also the biggest donation, oh no, this is something I've added now, this is a small editorial note, you added experiential? No, no, this is an editorial note, the worst thing is that the events are also the biggest donation gathering times for Cigar for Warriors, because our show supports Cigars for Warriors. They use the money raised to cover shipping costs. Are we sending them a check?
No, no, no, no, we're promoting something that Cigars for Warriors is doing. Cost of cigars they send to them. Why don't we just send them a check too? I guess we send them a check.
We can send him a check, but that's not off, what is going on? I don't know, it's been making noise this whole time. So we've gotten behind Tammy Rikido, R-E-K-I-T-O, she is one of the CFW reps, and she is promoting a fundraiser, it's on her Facebook page, where they are trying to raise money to cover the postage to send out all these cigars, because cigar donations are still happening through the major producers and manufacturers, but they need money to ship them. So she's doing, it's not a GoFundMe.
It's Facebook's version of GoFundMe, whatever that is. Again, her name is Tammy, R-E-K-I-T-O. I was contacted by Cigars for Warriors. They asked if we would make that announcement here on the show.
Ah, gotcha. So we have that. You think that the manufacturers would send a check too with the cigars? You would think some of them, especially in this situation, they could, I guess?
I don't know. It looks like 500 bucks or a thousand dollars or some shit to the guy that sells, I don't know, fucking 10 million sticks a year. That ain't sticks a year. Maybe they feel we're sending them, I don't know what the, what I blurt.
Yeah, what the fuck do they care? Here are the cigars. It's a write-off. Here's a check to send, I mean, you know.
Serious? We're in a boom, manufacturer, send money. Like, what's the problem? I don't, yeah, just send the check.
I mean, you're gonna send cigars, why don't you just give them an extra 500 or something? Like, here, this will help with the shipping costs. There you go. No?
Sure. Makes really good sense to me. I don't know. Maybe they are.
Maybe they are. Maybe, maybe some of them do also send money. We don't fact check, and we're just alleged. We don't fact check, and we're just alleged things.
I'm just asking. I have questions. You have a question. Limited Cigar Association releasing Southern Draw New Lady Killer this past Friday.
Oh, you covered that, yeah. It will soon be the first Friday of the month. Well, it's after that now. Wake up.
Which means. It's the first Friday of the month. It means a new cigar will be released to retail members of the Limited Cigar Association. The cigar is a new release from Southern Draw called, would you like to say?
Southern Draw. You're going to say the Lady Killer in French accent. He's a lady killer. Yeah, very good.
He's a cute lady. When your lady is giving you a hard time, you must kill the lady, allegedly. The blend features an Ecuador and Habano Maduro wrapper, Nicaragua 99 hybrid binder grown in Esteli, and fillers from throughout Nicaragua, Esteli grown Criojo 98 Viso, Jalapa grown Criojo 98 Sico, and Condega grown Criojo 98 Lajero. Now in today's world, they practically just gave you the recipe, nobody does that.
Any more... Go back with the filler? Tell me the filler again. The filler.
Uh, let's see. I know that you said hybrid, blah, blah, blah. Ecuador Habano Wrapper. Uh-huh.
Nicaraguan Crijo 99 Hybrid Winder. Which could mean a ton of things, but go ahead. Fillers from throughout Nicaragua. Okay, that's, that's vague.
Well, here, then specifically: Esali-grown Crijo 98 Viso. Jalapa-grown Crijo 98 Seco. Oh, they, Seco. They broke that down.
Seco. Yes, and Condega-grown Crijo 98 Lajero. - And that's all they have in the filler? - Yes.
It's made it AJ Fernandez, which means if it's really good, it'll be coming out in AJ's line next week. - If it's a hit? - If it's a hit. - It's being offered, and it led you to, yes, yes, yes.
It's being offered, because now I've met him. He's very nice. He's a very nice man. - Very nice, very nice.
- We don't need more enemies, Michael. - They make the banger bag of it. - I can't keep fighting these wars. - It's being offered, oh, I handled this last one with myself, don't worry.
I handled it meself. " I said, "Lord! " Father, your wife is in me DMs. Oh, that's what I should've just sent back.
Your wife, you should've just tagged me, and what if I could take care of it? Your wife is in me DMs, yeah, baby. Come on, do it. I don't know where it is.
I can't find it, I'll find it. Like several other Southern Draw releases, this cigar gets its name from the world of plants. Specifically, a variety known formally as Crocus chrysanthemum. Crocus, the lady killer is Crocus chrysanthemum?
It's a, that must be the, maybe that's Latin for lady killer. Crocus chrysanthemum. The man's color scheme is meant to evoke the image of a lady killer flower with the utmost purple band, is that purple? Ah, he's purple.
I thought it was black. No, the bottom one is like a dark green. They're directly purple petals while the lower green band represents the flower's stem. Aha.
Wow. Look at that. This will be the second new LCA released to hit stores in the past week or so. Last week, the LCA began shipping My Blue Heaven.
It is not part of the LCA's formal exclusive program, but rather part of the group of cigars that the organization refers to as the LCA Plus. Plus. Unique or exclusive cigars with stores can... It's very unique.
Oh, it's right. It's very unique. I had to delete that one. It is the third installment of My Blue Heavens Cigar, been released 2019-20 for Provada Club members.
It is made of Agonorsalif, Tabak, what? Which color? What color? I was gonna hit the button.
That's not the- oh, no, it's gotta be this way. It is that way. I like that you can't see that. Long man, fuck that guy.
Bam, bam, you gotta go to work. The biggest problem in our- I mean, you guys, you guys are going like, man, fuck. Which has a long ass. If you are correct!
I don't know. Wow. You just hit all of them. You know, why buy stuff from it?
I don't know. You just covered... What just happened there? I don't know.
You couldn't have just let me look it over and just hit one button? Like, you had to go and just do this whole thing. Unlike the two previous releases, which came in at 6x44 Vitola, the new version is up... You want one more?
Shush, shush, shush. Go away. Keep talking. Keep talking.
Wait, you're on the third or fourth one? I know. That's a whole 'nother show. Alright, go away, go away.
25 per cigar, and production numbers are not being disclosed. Yes. That was fun. That was fun.
Oh, I never hit record didn't start. We didn't, we lost all that. Nothing, nothing recorded. That's okay, we have it on the backup.
Oh, that's right, we have it over there. I'm gonna hit record. Baca Grand Perfecto heads to stores. Holy shit.
They're not gonna get any of the sound, anything from the board. Well, they will. Romacraft, because the sound goes from the board to the camera. You didn't hit record.
No, I hit it. It didn't start. No, you didn't hit it. No, because on the thing, it says record, and the word was there.
So you hovered over it. Apparently, I did. So you hovered over it. You did not hit it.
Baca Grand Perfecto, heads to stores. I was like, why is this not moving over here? Romacraft, Debeck. Look, okay.
As the mega giant that you are, cigar hustler store owner, Nika Suenio, Romacraft owner. I'm all the investors in this stuff. As well as this production company, you know. Don't forget, Pochic, Pochic Distributed.
Oh yeah, man. Maybe I have too much on my plate, Michael. There's so much going on. I'm very concerned.
I haven't had a vacation in 12 years, unlike you, who have taken the entire 12th year off. So, you know. Wow. It was overdue, Mike.
It was overdue. What about me? You take one month. One month off.
I'm here more a week than you are. Yeah, because you hate your wife. I don't hate my wife. My wife didn't leave me.
It's quiet here. My wife didn't leave me this weekend. Because it's safe. Oh, you old.
You know what? No, she leaves you every weekend. I didn't want to tell you. I was at John Carney's wedding.
You were at John Carney's wedding? Yes. I knew it. I was the best man.
I knew it. I was the best man. Did you get Crocs? Did he give you Crocs?
Yes, we all wore the American flag Crocs. That was the best man gift. That and an Andalusian bull. That and an Andalusian bull.
And an Andalusian bull. Did it say... Two Andalusian Bulls. Did it say Kearney winning 2020?
Yes, it was a third band on it. Yeah? It was a foot band. That was nice.
It wasn't like the laser etching that they're doing? No, it was a foot band on the bottom. Oh, okay. It was nice.
That was beautiful. Very beautiful ceremony. She's a very lovely young lady. Yeah, she is.
Very nice. Very sweet. She's like an attorney or something. Oh, good for you.
Very smart young lady. Yeah? I don't see what the attraction is, to tell you the truth. To John Kearney?
Yes. I think that they've known each other for a long time. Well, yeah, yeah, they have. The time just wasn't right.
They both had different dates or something. Yeah. They had a lovely speech at the reception. Yeah.
It was nice. Now it's bulking season. He's got to get, you know... Well, now he can eat all the way.
Why don't you see him pound that cake? He just ate that cake like there was shit. He should have seen him pound the cake. Oh, the meat there?
He prepared the meat himself at the wedding. It was like a big barbecue thing. It was unbelievable. It was very good, yes.
Who was there? Flays for everybody. Was Lito there? Leo was there.
Not Lito, Leo. Leo was there. My friend Leo. We sat at the same table.
Leo LFT sales ramp. His girlfriend of the week, because now he's single. Oh, he's just living it up. Yeah, he's just living it up.
Did you catch her name, or? No, he said don't bother. I think he said he's just calling her Seven. Oh, okay.
What do we call her next? Seven. Nice. That's nice.
Right. Let's see. Last year as part of the Elk, Roacraft Tobac has begun shipping the Baca Grand Perfectos into 10-count boxes, which, can we find their hands? They're here.
They're here, we have them here. They're here now. That's one thing that we didn't buy. The 5x58x60 double, other things I talk about, usually he doesn't buy them, but you know.
When have I ever not bought a Romacraft? Well, you know, it's a little awkward, I own here, I invest there, we have to, it's almost assumed. Yeah, I mean, you're so vertically integrated at this point. I mean, you're just boosting your EBITDA on so many levels.
The EBITDA just going through the roof. It's insane. It's amazing. The 5x58x60 Double Perfecto was released last year as part of the El Catedor de los Gran Perfecto as a limited edition sampler that contained eight different blends in that shape.
Since then, the plan has been to release each of these cigars as standalone items after Palmer, Skip, and Rosales decided the date, which started this June when Roma Craft shipped half of the cigars in the sampler to stores. The Aquitan Gran Perfecto, 5x58x60, 1375, Cro-Magnum, Gran Perfecto, 1450, Intemperance Whiskey Rebellion, 1285, Neanderthal Gran Perfecto, $15. With the release of the Baca Gran Perfecto, it means just three Gran Perfectos have yet to be shipped in stores in standalone boxes. The Intemperance BA, the Intemperance EC, and the Wunderlust Gran Perfecto.
Wunderlust. I'll tell you that Neanderthal one was pretty fucking good. I don't believe the Wunderlust will be released in the United States. I believe you are correct, sir.
Because the price is correct, sir, go back one. You are correct, sir. You are correct, sir. The Wunderlust is German release.
Yes, the German pound, euro, I don't know what they have, 16 dollars and 20 cents, 16 something. Euros. Baca uses a Cameron wrapper over an undisclosed binder and filler blend. 20 per cigar, sold in boxes of $10.
I heard about that. The Southern Draw Manzanita Robusto. Manzanita. In late 2020, Southern Draw Cigars released a new line called Manzanita, which the company said was made to pay tribute to the history of tobacco and apples.
It was a bit of a different release for Southern Draw for a number of reasons. Number one, it's round. Number one, it is round. Number two, it comes with a tree.
99. $78. Which is at the top in the Southern Draws Priceless. Secondly, the company decided not to disclose what was in it.
Yeah, undisclosed wrapper. So the Lady Killer, we have the recipe, the Manzanita. Yeah. Not so much.
Yeah. I'm going to be, you know, for my next description on the cigar, I'm like, it's going to have. Wait, we've been over this. No, it's gonna be an anabolic.
Oh, anabolic binder? An anabolic wrapper. Oh, anabolic wrapper. Yeah.
Steroidal filler? Yeah, it's gonna have a, you know, ribosomal filler. Oh. No man back out?
It's gonna have, it's gonna be amazing. That being said. You're gonna be stronger, faster. You're gonna be amazing.
You smoke the cigar. What is, what is the flash, the flash world is or something? Flash world? Meta-human, meta-human.
Meta-verse? Meta-verse. Yes. I don't know.
I don't want to laugh, but there's a word he uses. Oh. I know he is a metahuman. Metahuman.
Yeah. That being said. I don't know where you're going with that. It has metahuman in it?
What are we, cannibals? It's ridiculous. Yes. No, they're metahumans.
No, you're crossing the line. They're metahumans. It's not really people. I'm not okay with that.
I'm not eating people. I'm not smoking people. You don't have to eat it, Michael. You smoke it.
You eat everything else. Anabolic rapper. Well, we got to move ahead. Okay, they have a cigar, blah, blah, blah, AJ, Long Desire to Show History.
Well, I feel like, you know, we did the show last time, it was kind of short, I didn't have a charger. Oh, so you want to take an extra break and go longer this time? No, no, no, I'm just saying, but you know, we got to go to Pedro time, we got to cover that, that's important. Well, I have two more rather lengthy stories, and then a very large Florida story.
So what do you want to do? We have eight minutes. We're going to do all of it. Okay, we'll just keep going then.
Yes, yes we are. All right, Augusta, Georgia, changes a, bam, you gotta go to work, bam, you gotta go to work, unlike, here we go, Augusta, Georgia, changes law to allow for cigar bars, cigar bars becoming legal in Augusta, Georgia, Michael, yesterday, the Augusta, Georgia Commission voted 8-2 in favor of modifying the city's smoke-free ordinance, so before that, it was smoke-free, could not smoke anywhere in the city of Augusta, good for you, Augusta, welcome back to reality, where people have a choice, to allow for establishments of cigar bars, A cigar bar will be a business that generates at least 20% of its revenue from the sale of cigars. That's kinda low. How much is it?
20. Of cigars? 20%. To be?
A cigar bar. To be able to smoke in it. How's the liquor license work? That's what I wanna know.
The sale of cigars will be allowed to serve food and alcohol while I was smoking. Oh, you can also get food there. Ooh, you can get a steak. Yeah.
The business, well, it'll be nothing like what John Carney made at the wedding, I'm sure, 'cause that was amazing. There was shrimp that came with it too, a little side thing of shrimp, I think it was a scampi ham. I didn't realize the wedding was yesterday, so I texted him, I was like, hey, because I'm probably going to take Jacks to New England for the New England-Tampa game, I'm like, hey, I'm thinking I'm doing this. Up to New England?
Up. Oh, oh, not to the New England game. Tom Brady is going back to New England. Oh, how are you not taking Teddy?
He's not really a fan. What about my little friend? My little friend is also not really a fan, but he'll get his own trip in his own time. Ah, gotcha, yes.
" Oh, see if he knew anybody and he didn't answer, he was very busy. " Oh, that must have been when his phone went off during the ceremony, it's very awkward, he didn't turn his ringer off. Sick invite, bro. Oh, it's terrible.
Ridiculous. Terrible. You know, I haven't been invited to a lot of weddings. I mean, Adam's getting married?
Yes. Adam and Mel? I'm in the wedding. You're in the wedding?
I didn't even get an invite. I'm in the wedding. Me and Cheddar are the flower men. Yeah.
I think we're ushers. Yeah. I'm pretty sure we're parking cars. Wow.
Nice valet. I think we're doing the ceremony. I'm not quite sure. I'm a little confused on actually that.
I don't know. That's nice. Yeah, we're bartenders at the rehearsal dinner. Oof.
There's a lot going on. You know what? I'm glad I wasn't invited. yeah i mean you could have taken some of the weight off jet night maybe you want to be the flower girl haven't i done enough for you to flower men haven't i done enough i don't know we're celebrity retailers so i don't know you guys are a big deal like who's mike i don't know mike right uh but as a matter of fact there's something we want to talk to you about yeah though who's mike who is mike yeah we we have a a uh um proposition i guess would be the correct Yeah.
Hey, if the check's big enough, it's all yours. It saves you more time than money, I think, at this point. It saves you more time. But it doesn't cost you much money either, though.
Oh, sounds good. When are we going to talk about that? Uh, we can after the show if you want. The city's smoke-free ordinance previously banned businesses from serving alcohol and allowing patrons to smoke.
Hookah lounges were previously exempt. Oh, sure. Of course. Augusta is located in eastern Georgia.
Bordering South Carolina with a population of around 200,000 people is Georgia's second largest city. The city is best known for being home to the Masters Golf Tournament. Oh, I've heard about that. It's called Augusta.
Oh, you're right. It is called the Augusta. Yeah, isn't that insane? It's great.
All right. Brad Burko is departing Bahama Mama. Yeah? What's Bahama Mama?
I was hoping you knew. It was a story on Half Wheel. I want to question. Oh, it's a cigar company?
Yes. Oh, shit. I think it's... Well, this is awkward.
This is... We don't know Bahama Mama. Very nice logo on the story. Yeah, Bahama Mama.
Brad Burko has left his role as managing director at Bahama Mama's. It sounds like a bar on a beach. Do you think about... " Do you think he'd cover that?
You would have to say it nicer than I took a shit. " I had a large bowel movement, and the aroma was that of Skittles and... Charlie, check out this press release. After a large consumption of cereal, a huge family-sized box of Lucky Charms, I have defecated.
Sufficiently. Cigar Hustler Mike has defecated. He would like to announce that as he feels lighter, he's not sure he actually lost any weight. But going forward, he will weigh before and after the defecations to make sure that he keeps a constant weight And do proper follow-up to make sure he has efficient valve movements.
We should do an onslaught of press releases to Charlie. I mean, just we should build them prior to and then release them every few days. Oh, do they have a fax machine? It'd be nice if we just fax them.
Let's see. He joined the company in October 2020 after working in the retail portion. Oh, that's why I pulled the article. Okay, in the retail portion of the interview for seven years.
Michael Powstanie has washed his car. He said that the brake powder had gotten too large in the front seat, front tires, and it really needed to be addressed. Can we do a press release for everybody that works here? One for everybody.
Chet was five minutes late to work today. He said that he got stuck in traffic as he was leaving at 10 o'clock this morning. Keanu has discovered that there are free refills at Starbucks if you keep your dirty cup. He's also a 30 cup.
Going forward, he will get only free refill type coffees and stay away from the blended coffee. In order to budget properly. In order to budget properly as he is trying to get his own apartment and start his new life. Oh man, we should totally do this.
New Steve's tab usually consists of pretzels and occasional cigars and soda. It's just a matter of time before nobody talks to us in the industry. All right, uh, let's see. Sorry, go ahead.
Keep going. So, Bahama Mama is friends with somebody. What? No, he joined the company in October 2020 and he just quit in July.
You know what? I'm out of here. You know what? This is not working.
No, but I'm going to do a press release about it. Right. He said something about retail or something. He worked in retail portions of the industry for several years, including owning a cigar club and he owned his own shop.
He also worked in the cigar wholesale business in Scottsdale area in his company, BB Smokes, service numerous hotels, resorts, golf courses, casinos, liquor store, grocery stores. You know, if you guys are looking for a new owner of your company, or what does this guy do before? Managing director. I have all the same experience this guy had.
Yeah, he owns everything. Own everything. Own everything. I am looking to branch out to a Bahama Mama company?
Perhaps, I love the Bahamas. Retainer. All right, we've got to take another break, we'll be right back. Retainer.
Retainer. The Cigar Hustlers podcast its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike productions or the podcast providers and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings.
We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczepankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. You know what's crazy is he played through a torn MCL. I thought you had 11.
He had a torn MCL. I do. Listen, this guy's got nothing to prove, right? He's the greatest of all time.
All time. Without saying, without question. Goat. The Goat.
Fucking guy had a torn MCL last season and played through it. I walk around every day. No, you don't. I do have a torn MCL.
No, you don't. Yes. No, you don't. When I was 18, I blew my knee out skiing and I've had knee surgery and rehab twice.
So you had it fixed. No, no, it never comes back. That's why I can't ride a bike anymore. I got the bike because it was doing so well, the regular bicycle.
I had to sell it because I rode her one time and my knee hurt again. I just wanted to know, Mike, you're full of shit. No, I'm serious. You do not have a torn ACL.
Yes. No, you don't. Yes. No, you don't.
Yes. It hurts all the time. I sleep with a knee brace on. Ask my wife.
Mike. My hands are really getting problems lately. Stop lying. Can't throw the ball anymore.
Stop lying. No, no, I don't have a torn ACL, but I did have knee surgery. I did have knee surgery. A guy played through a whole season.
I mean, who knows when it was torn? I don't know. " No, he can't do that. He's the greatest.
He won the fuckin' whole thing. Right. Yeah. So if there's an opportunity...
He's like the little girl in the Olympics that did the vault with the broken ankle. If there is a fraction of an opportunity for my kids to have some kind of contact with him and a signature, whatever, just fuckin' three seconds with him... Right. I gotta take that chance.
You're a good man. You know? You're a good man, Mike. But, you know, so then I get torn because I don't want to upset my wife, either.
Well, it's the first day of school for Jacks. Justice. Could you have not named them all with J's? It's very confusing for me.
So what? Could one be Steve, and one be Paul or something? It's important to her. That's the only problem.
School? Yeah. First day of school picture, whatever. Oh, well, you still take the picture?
Oh, is that what I was doing on Thursday? No, you take it at your house, you set up the board, who's gonna know? Right. Before you leave for Tampa, you set it up.
Exactly. Here, take this picture. Take this picture. First day of school.
Why did he wear a Tampa Bay jersey? So what did I do on the first day of school when I went to one of my first day of school? I'm like, oh, we blew it off. You caught a pass from Tom Brady.
Exactly. You got a one-hander. You high five Tom Brady. How awesome would that be?
You know what? Take the board with you and send it down. Then he'll come over. " Right.
Oh, you know what? He has a sign. I saw a video this weekend of a young lady who went to a Garth Brooks concert. She got up by, she must have been 10 or 11 or something.
Her father put her up on his shoulders, and she had a sign that says, "This is my first concert ever," and her name on it. Garth Brooks saw it, called her over, and he talked to her, and he'd go, "What? You need something special. " He's looking around, he goes, I forget what her name was, like Gina or something.
He goes, "Well, you know what? Your name starts with a G. My name starts with a G. " He gave her the guitar!
Wow. Off his neck! Can you, I mean, holy shit. Yeah!
You know what I mean? Right! So you make a sign that says, "I skipped my first day of school to meet Tom Brady". I mean, how does the guy not trot over there?
How does he not come over for that? Especially with my kids. Okay, Brittany, we're all going to the game now. I have to go too.
I want to see Tom Brady. I got six tickets. Oh, you have to have tickets? I'll bring the camera.
I'll be your camera crew. No, that's a little... No, they won't let you. They won't let you film it.
I got, I got six tickets. Wow. Did it sound like she was caving? Oh, I don't know.
She was laughing and everything about it, so. Yeah. Oh, and today is, uh, does she still listen to the show? Yeah.
Oh, today is the six year anniversary of Brittany and I being friends on Facebook. Oh, very nice. Yes. Congratulations.
Came up on Facebook. Did you share it and post it? Oh, certainly I did. Why would I miss that opportunity?
I met the queen six years ago. Just on Facebook. We already knew each other before. Oh, the blur.
Did you see it just blurred? That's interesting. The ghost. Hmm.
It's the ghost. Hmm. I didn't get any sleep last night. I felt like the British were coming or something.
That's crazy. The British were coming? I don't know what was going on. Oh.
Dude, I got no sleep. We have moved some furniture because we got a new dining room table. So we used to have a little security camera in the front room pointed at the dog crates in the front door. But now that credenza's gone, so there's no place to put it.
So I've moved it somewhere else just temporarily until I figure out where to... So, you know, my back bedroom, I have those two bedrooms with the bathroom in between. Right. The Ghost is down on that end.
Ah, the Ghost. The Ghost. Yes. Because the one bedroom, I think I might have told a story before in a year, when we moved in, one of the bedrooms, the doorknob was turned around so you could lock somebody in, not out.
Right. So, occasionally we have seen and heard things down there between the thing and everything. Oh, okay. So, it's a motion-detecting camera.
I'm a little scared to go back and look at the footage at night. Can you imagine if, like, something... Yeah, see something walk by or something? Like, I told Adrian that yesterday because I was back there and the camera keeps going off every time you walk by.
so i told her story i go i'm afraid to look because if i see something we have to leave we have to move we are out of here so i have not looked still i still have not looked because it's you know i really hope you look i don't know i'm a little because i they're ghosts i mean i'll help you back the the story is uh there was a little girl that lived in the house with some type of problem or something and she used to get out or something so the parents would lock her in the bedroom that sounds like great parenting and the the neighbors would you know occasionally hear her They're beating on the door and stuff because their house is on that side. Did she die? I don't know. The people moved away.
I don't know. I don't know. Maybe she's buried under the broom. Maybe in the closet.
It's a walk-in closet in that room. Who knows? Maybe they cut into the slab. Maybe.
I don't know. It's possible. It's possible. Sometimes the dogs will lock up and stare down that hall, too.
Scary hall. Yeah, scary hall. It's scary because it's always dark down there. All right, everybody, wrap this up.
Yes. Well, you got to get on to the bedroom because we have things to talk about. Oh, man, it's already 440. Jeez.
It's a long show. All right. This has been episode 186 of Cigar Hustlers. I apologize, guys.
Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week. Bye. This has been a Cigar Hustlers podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m.
for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing it. I am doing, I'm Husto-i-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single podcast ever again.
Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? The Hojo de...
Hojo! It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I couldn't get past Hojo!
I don't even have to try it. He's not even going to try it. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right.
Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. That should be like four cigars when I walked in the door. Alright, end this.
Show Notes
Biggest attraction to hit Orlando is here, The guys decide no to go to Texas and the largest Tobacco Trade Show Postponed!