A Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 289: Exploring the World of Cigars at the PCA Convention

Episode Summary

Episode 289 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a "live from the trade show by phone" episode. With Boots on the ground at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas, Mike Palmer, "The King" Mike Szczepankiewicz and Phil work the phones from the studio, trying (with great difficulty) to get Boots to hand the phone to the one person they actually want: Jamie Rosales of Rosales Cigars. Along the way they bounce through a rapid-fire string of industry call-ins including Sean McCool of Fable Cigar Company, Miguel Montañez, Garrett Robinson of Don Doroteo Cigars, and Jeff Moutet of Fosforo Cigars ("Mr. Limitada"), with plenty of ribbing about who's the most photographed man at PCA.

The show opens with a check-in call to Caleb from the Down to Herf Podcast, who talks about an upcoming audio-only episode with Greg Metze of Old Elk Bourbon, the technical gremlins that forced the recording into a friend's smoke shop, and the general life of a podcaster who skipped the show this year. The hosts also riff on the Cigar Hustler in-house BDP cigar being pushed at the show and reviewed on their Patreon, plus Pasquale samples sent out in care packages.

The news segment covers two real industry stories: the PCA's announcement that the 2025 Convention & Trade Show will move to New Orleans, April 11–14 — the first time the show returns to the Big Easy since 2015 — including discussion of Louisiana's HB11 tax-exempt extension for sampled cigar and pipe tobacco through 2030, the city's smoking ban, and whether April in New Orleans beats July in Vegas. The second story is J.C. Newman's 201-piece Lego-brick replica of its historic El Reloj factory in Tampa, priced at $100, with commentary from fourth-generation owner Drew Newman.

The episode closes with Shop of the Week (Tobacology), Listener of the Week (Matt Tai), and a running gag about The King's "birthday" at PCA, along with his ever-changing training and diet regimens. It's a loose, in-jokey, industry-insider episode that captures the chaos of trade show week more than any single cigar review.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Call-In: Caleb from Down to Herf
   Caleb checks in from Buffalo about missing PCA, an audio-only episode with Greg Metze of Old Elk, and the technical disasters behind it.
2. 02
   Boots as Roving PCA Reporter
   The hosts call Boots on the trade show floor and get passed around to anyone but the person they asked for.
3. 03
   Fable, Fosforo and Don Doroteo Check In
   Quick call-ins with Sean McCool of Fable, Jeff Moutet of Fosforo, and Garrett Robinson of Don Doroteo about how the show is going and sell-outs.
4. 04
   Jamie Rosales on the Show Floor
   The long-awaited call with Jamie Rosales, who describes an overcrowded hall, an extra 10x40 of booth space, and the family-reunion feel of PCA.
5. 05
   News: PCA 2025 Moves to New Orleans
   The PCA announces April 11–14, 2025 in New Orleans, its first return since 2015, plus the HB11 tax-exemption extension and the city's smoking ban.
6. 06
   News: J.C. Newman's El Reloj Lego Set
   J.C. Newman releases a 201-piece Lego-brick replica of its historic Tampa El Reloj factory for $100, with Drew Newman explaining the inspiration.
7. 07
   Shop, Listener of the Week and Birthday Bits
   Tobacology takes Shop of the Week, Matt Tai is Listener of the Week, and the crew milks The King's PCA 'birthday' prank.

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

Sigh. Better let us in soon. It's not time yet. Where are they?

The king doesn't wait. We're gonna eat. Boots are always hungry. Here.

Boots, Phil. Here. Here. He's up to eat.

Hold on, I gotta write this down. I need a pen, right? Come on, Greg. I know you're very busy, but...

I'm very busy. Don't bother me. What, did you give him a hundred bucks, so you're gonna give him forty dollars in cigars? Boots, a hundred dollars, owes me three hundred.

300. Oh, super fishy. All right. Are you so flexy?

I've moved. Guys, episode 289. 289 of Cigar Hustler Podcast. Just sitting here flexing, eating my cereals, getting my gains on.

All right. Oh, it's so hot. It's so hot. We got to get in this place soon.

Don't look at my money. I got a ton. I got a ton of Connecticut to swing. They better be letting me in here soon.

I don't think I've brought enough cash. Hey, another one else? Mmm. He's eating the money!

Why do you eat everything, Boots? I thought it was food for Boots. It's the fill I made. Who, who are you?

Guy's always eating. Anyway, listen. Thanks for listening. All right?

All right, we'll see you guys. Gaines. Ow! I'm rinking my cigars.

Nincompoops. I'm surrounded by nincompoops. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we bring you the latest news and insights from the world of premium cigars. In this episode, we dive into the big stories of the week.

The King, Mike Stepan Kavich, and the Reverend BDP, Mike Palmer. Mike Palmer and Palmer are two dynamic individuals who co-host the captivating Cigar Hustler podcast, and me, I'm Phil, so grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and join us for another exciting episode of the Cigar Hustlers podcast. One, camera one, Phil. Thank you.

If you like to put your products in front of thousands of listeners every week, I'm trying to do the show. Oh, I'm sorry Palmer. com for pricing and more information. So light up your favorite cigars.

Sit back and allow us to take you on an unforgettable journey through the captivating- Unforgettable, Palmer? Is it unforgettable? It's unforgettable, yes. Unforgettable realm of cigars.

All right, I'm not going to read the rest. You're a professional. This is why I let you do everything. Oh, that's why.

This is why I let you do everything. Thank you. I thought it was your lack of motivation. No, no.

I'm- Hey, we're going to call- Super busy. Yeah, super busy. We're going to call Caleb from down to Herf. See how he's doing.

I mean, he didn't go to the PCA either, so I'll see if we can get Caleb on the phone here. Oh nice, he's calling me on my, sorry, I know the podcast is important, but my various phone calls about the day. Just relax, just relax. He knows where it's coming.

Caleb! Hi, how you doing Mike? Is this Caleb from Caleb's Down to Herf Podcast? Yeah, this is Caleb from the Down to Earth Podcast and the after her.

Hey, I'm sitting here with the King and Phil. King Steponkiewicz, fresh out of the gym. Oh, got that Vegas lift, huh? Oh, yeah.

Well, he's called to see how you're doing since you and I didn't go to the show. Ah, just living a loser life, you know, taking care of the kids, smoking a couple cigars at home, but that's, you know, nothing too exciting here. Well, at least your guys aren't on social media, so you don't have all these posts to comment on and get tagged in that you're not there, so, have you heard from the guys? Um, you know what, I'm gonna see them tonight, they're, uh, we're keeping everything very, uh, hush-hush, 'cause they wanna tell me it first, so.

Oh, are they coming back today? Yeah, they actually should be, they said 4:30, so I might actually pick 'em up. Oh, wow, so they're, they came back early? Yeah, they did, I'm surprised.

Oh, yeah, I am too. I've seen them in your guys down to her photos. Looks like they had a good time. Oh, yeah.

It looks like you guys down at Cigar Hustler took real good care of them, Boots and Mike. Yeah, it looks like Boots did. Mikey's probably been busy. I haven't heard from anybody either.

Nobody calls me either. Yeah, Jerry called me at like two in the morning. I think he forgot it was like five here. Oh, he forgot the time difference.

I'm trying to think, I got one text message I think from Boots, but it was a photo of him with a celebrity, it's not like, you know, it was something good. Yeah, he's running around. Oh, I got a text message from Jerry one night too. See, Jerry's a guy, he's keeping in touch.

Yeah, at least Jerry and Gio are keeping in touch with me, the regular guys are, that's okay. Hey, are you guys doing a show this week? Yeah, so Wednesday we have an episode with Greg Metz from Old Elk. It is gonna be in audio only.

Okay. We had technical difficulties when we recorded. The power was out in Jerry's neighborhood, so we had to move all our equipment to our friend Adam's smoke shop. We went to record there, and the Wi-Fi strength wasn't strong enough, so we couldn't get any of our cameras to connect.

Yeah, every once in a while, we have the Mevos act up here, too. You know what? It was a really good interview either way, so when we put out the audio only, it's gonna be an awesome interview. They're just Greg Matt, full of knowledge from Old Elk, great company as well, great bourbon, it's amazing.

He's just like a legend in the whiskey industry. Oh, good deal. Oh, since they're coming back, then I guess he'll probably upload the story, the show tomorrow. I didn't know if he planned on doing it for the show or not, but I didn't know they were coming back early, so that works out well.

I actually think he has all the audio ready to go, so... Yeah, because he had one up and he took it down and substituted the show you guys did this week, or last week, I guess it was. Oh yeah, yeah, we had a better show that time, the 4th of July hot dog eating concept one. You know, that was a good show, I listened to it, but GL's gotta stop eating chips when you guys record, that drives me crazy.

You know, Phil loves chips and hot dogs, that's all he does. I'm sure you guys had some good food down in Vegas. Well, they might have, not me. Yeah, right, we got home cooked meals, that's all we did.

We did. Right. Phil's eating an oatmeal pie at the moment, so. All right, man, we just wanted to check in with you, see how you were doing, see if you'd heard from the guys at all, and now that we know they're coming back, so yeah, you guys will have a show up this week.

Yep, yeah, audio only, so, you know, nothing on the video side of things, but, Phil, if everyone's a fan of, you know, some bourbon, Old Elf, Greg Mack, legend in the whiskey game from, you know, Indiana. He and everything from, you know, Bullet, Seagram's when it was sold, Seagram's Factory, MGP, he's got his hands in like over a hundred different bottles that are out there on the market, so. Yeah, do you guys get all these alcohol connections from your, your job at the, that liquor store you work at? Um, some of them, but then again, uh, you know, every now and then we get a fan, send us one here or there, uh, you know, a spouse or two will buy us a bottle, uh, we, we won a couple at a different auction, so.

So that's usually one of the things that we each take a turn buying like every every third week, you know? Oh, gotcha. All right. All right.

Well, you guys are doing great in the ratings. I think last week you beat us. Well, you know, we're just trying to put out a great show. So, you know, well, we appreciate you guys.

You're doing a hell of a job. No problem. We're trying to be as prepared and professional as possible, even though we do get a little silly on the after. Oh, that's okay.

That's what those are for. Exactly. We get a little loose on our Patreon thing, so it's about the same thing. Well, sometimes you don't want the show to end, and you know, you're done recording the main show, you stick around.

I think it all started when we had a guest, and I don't think our guest wanted to leave, so we still have to start another show up. Oh, wow. You know, the next time you guys come up to Buffalo, you'll have to come to Jerry's Garage and do the show in the lounge. Yeah, I definitely want to make a trip up there to be on your guys' show.

That'd be fun. That'd be fun. Oh, yeah, you'll see why people don't want to leave, and that's why we put out the second show, so our guests can get, you know, a little loose with it, too. All right, man, we're gonna let you go.

We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today. So this is Caleb from Caleb's Down to Herf podcast and Caleb's After Herf. Nice talking to you, Caleb. Hey, thank you guys so much, and thanks for the care package as well, Palmer.

Oh, you better, man. Enjoy those cigars. Oh, I'm smoking the BDP right now, and the Pasquale was excellent. I had it yesterday.

Oh, good deal. That was awesome. All right, yeah, we're reviewing the BDP on our Patreon today. Awesome.

Awesome. I'm enjoying it right now. It's a beautiful day in Buffalo. All right, buddy.

Appreciate it. We'll talk to you later. All right, guys. Have fun.

All right. Enjoy your day. See you, Caleb. I love how you took over the interview.

You didn't want to talk? I love how I was just able to sit here and listen to you. So you're doing less. And just enjoy the laxadaisy over here.

That's nice. I flexed three or four times. Oh, did you? I ashed all over your table.

I saw you ash on the table. It's perfect. I'm getting plenty of my juice here. Right.

Somebody's texting you again. Oh. All right. Well, you take care of that.

Nick and poops, Palmer. Nick and poops. Nick and poops. You know how it is up there.

You want to tell us what you did over the weekend? I tell you what, man. What'd you do? So how'd you work out, obviously?

I flew to Vegas. Yeah. Just for, you know, we had the show, so I had to come back. Because that's what I do.

I outwork everybody. Outwork everybody. Pee. Right here.

Super pee. Right. Outwork. Right.

Hustle. I appreciate you smoking my cigar. You know? Not smoking the world famous.

You put a lot of work into this. And listen, I'm slinging Connecticut's like crazy in Vegas. Just flying everywhere. I literally left the show.

I didn't have enough people. I had to go outside on the Vegas Strip, slinging Connecticut's everywhere, because I just outwork everybody. It's just what I do and I lift, I pick things up, I set them down, but I also make amazing cigars, and it's what I do in the podcast, of course, you know, but you're, you know, I let you handle all that. I don't like to do any of this, you know, I gotta, you know, I gotta adjust things.

And you know how it is, how it is to be, you know, the king. Phil, you want to chime in over there, anything? He's your nigga, too. Maybe put down some of your snacks?

All he does is eat. All he does is eat. What all you got over there today, Phil? I wonder if he's still going to the trainer.

Well, Phil, Phil. I know Phil is. Oatmeal cream pie. Oh, look at that.

I know what trainer he's going to. Got some peach rings. Oh, look at you. You're all set over there.

And my favorite cigar of all time, the Milky Way. Oh, that's nice. Try not to get any of that on the equipment, please. If you're trying to get gains, Phil, you need to do this new program I'm on.

I read a new book. I read a new book yesterday. Oh, no. You did?

Yeah, I got rid of everything. The whole plunge. I got rid of all of it. No hot box.

No hot box. No cereal. No cereal. Nothing like that.

No intermediate fasting. No intermediate fasting. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite. The opposite?

It's the opposite. I eat all cheeses. Oh! All cheeses.

Dairy, a heavy dairy. Or it binds you, so you hold the weight. Now you can turn that weight into muscle, you know, muscle, and that's where I'm at. So lots of cheeses.

A lot of cheese, a lot of dairy. A lot of dairy. I drink four gallons of milk a day. Wow!

Four gallons of milk a day. Full fat milk, probably too. All fat. Well, because you want to turn the fat into carbs, which turn into muscle.

To Muscle. Oh. It's a book I read. It's another book I read.

Oh, hold on. Update. Somebody's texting you again. No, I just got a new book I just read.

I'm not doing... Okay, I'm not doing the milk anymore. Oh, no. Yeah, not the cheese anymore.

Oh. So now I'm eating live chickens. Live? Yeah, live.

They got the most protein in them. So, according to the book that I read, it's just, you know, I get more protein out of The live chicken. Oh. I mean, I work.

That's just what I do. Right, right. What did you do? Mm.

Let's-- Oh, I forgot to tell you, I got in a fight. Another one. Oh. With who?

Who this time? Football. Oh. Another parent.

Is it the same guy? The guy who's uppity? No, this is a different guy. This is a completely different one now.

Yeah, different guy. Nice. He walked up to me and I was like, look, look, this is going to go one of two ways. Right.

And he turned around and he bolted. He ran? He ran. Oh.

He ran so far away. And he's lucky he did, because I was going to beat his ass. I lost my temper. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I regained, and I just started flexing, and it was good. And he ran, and it's good, though. But I was this close, this close to fighting him. I was that close.

But he backed down. He backed down, thankfully. You know, I'm there for the kids. I'm there to train the kids, to teach them the fundamentals.

Yeah, let's not go down this road. No. I'm just saying. So he wanted to get another fight.

Boots stayed at the PCA. Well, I left him there. With Greg. Him and Greg is, well, first off, Greg's late every morning.

Every morning he's late. I'm at, I told him he's got five minutes to come down. Of course, eight minutes he shows up. And Boots, he's just running around town like he, you know.

Taking photos everywhere. Taking photos with everybody. Trying to earn that industry label, apparently. Well, hey, let's see if we can find out what he's doing.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's call him. Make sure he's doing work. See if he's doing anything.

See if he answers the phone. Why wouldn't he answer the phone? He's not like he's busy. Let me call you right back.

We're doing the show! You're on the air! Come on, you are on the air. You're on the air.

We're on the air. Mike, is that the Mike Palmer? Yes, it is. Oh, my God.

He does exist. Mike, I swear, Mike, I swear I'm going to post in the group, I'm going to post in the group. Yeah, you better post, Terrence, or I'm going to have to let you go. I know, I think I've got like 37 hours left, hold off.

You know, Zeb's been posting all the time, so, you know, I might have to let you go to make room for all his posts. Well, just give me a chance is all I'm asking. All right. All right, Terrence.

I appreciate that. You having a good show? Oh, just living the dream. Oh, there you go.

Flexing everywhere. I see all the photos. You're just flexing, flexing and running around. Running around like an idiot.

Oh, all right, man. Let me talk to Boots again. All right. No, no, no.

I want to keep talking to you. Let's make it awkward. No, no, no. We want to see who else he can get.

Maybe there's a bigger celebrity nearby. Is the king around, Stepankiewicz? Is this a good time to wish him a happy birthday? What's up, fellas?

So where are you at? Who are you near? Are you near Roma Craft at all? We want to talk to you.

I'm walking with McCool from Fable. What's up, Mikey? Hey, how you doing, Fable? I'm good, brother.

Nobody's sitting on the Indian today. Nice to see you guys out and about. Yes, sir. Well, good for you.

Put boots back on the phone, please. Yo. All right, I'm right here. I'm right.

Hey. We want to talk to Jamie. No, no, no. We want to talk to Jamie.

Oh, wait, I gotta go back over there. I said go to RoboCraft. I want to talk to Jamie. Where's my brother?

What's he doing? Are you guys-- You got who? Miguel Montan. I don't want to talk to him.

I want to talk to Jamie. You want to talk to Miguel? No, I don't want to talk to Miguel. I don't want to talk to Miguel.

What's going on, man? We live in the PCA, man. Hey, how are you? I'm well, man.

How are you? Good, good. You having a good show? You know what it is, man.

Grinding and grinding, you know? That's what we're doing, man. I understand. If you do better, you'll do better.

I understand, man. Mike, doesn't Miguel sound like a fucking hobo? I thought it was, to the truth. Wow, sound from a tool.

I thought Booch was out front, and there was some guy on the street. No, no, no, right here, right here. No, I don't want to, hey, stop putting other people on the phone, I want to talk to Jamie. Okay, okay.

This is not a show, I don't have that much time. You want to talk to Jamie? All right, we're walking back over there. Yeah, we want to talk to Jamie.

I thought you were walking over there. You're not a very good- I'm walking here. You're not a very good roving reporter, you're roving too much. Listen, this place is huge.

I know it's huge, I've been there before. He's been roving, that's the problem, that's all he's doing is roving. All he's doing is roving, taking photos. I'm about to walk by the huge guy, you wanna talk to him?

I don't know, I don't wanna talk to him. Jamie, we wanna talk to Jamie. Jamie only, Jamie only. Only Jamie.

Okay, alright, I'm going, hold on. Everybody in the world's interviewing these people. So Mike, why didn't you come to this show this year, brother? I was open to see you.

Mikey got mad, said I couldn't come. Yeah, I got mad too, what is this? I don't know, you have to say it like this, it's not right. No, it's not right at all, I understand, I'm very disappointed.

It went from, he was out of me to, I was out of him. Why isn't Matul in the Roma Craft booth selling Fable cigars? He is. Well, then where are you?

We were over at Terrence, I got one of those big lunatic JFR cigars. What do you want that for? - I don't know. - He's a lunatic.

- He wants to imagine my hair. - He's a lunatic. - I'm gonna smoke it on the show. - The show's only an hour.

That's like a four-hour cigar. - He wants to see what's the biggest stick he can fit in his mouth. - He wants to have something big in his mouth. - Don't we have a cool sample over here somewhere?

You just put it and you just suck the shit out of it or something like that? - That was one blow. - He should write that down. What time was that?

I just said that. - That's not Chet. That's the king. He's back for the show.

- That's the king. I flew back real quick for the show. - Oh, that was the key. - Okay, you have to watch the show this week at the video.

- I'm gonna do a little lifting, and then I'll be back there. - Oh my God. Do you guys have wigs on? - I'm just out.

- I don't, I'm me. - I'm just out working everybody. - Oh, here you are. - It's not a wig, it's not a wig, it's a crown.

- Oh my God. - Palmer's running the show as usual. - You wanna talk to Howard? - No!

Jamie, for God's sakes, man! - It's like a celebrity sighting, bro. - I know, you've been walking over three days, I understand. But nobody talks to Jamie, I wanna talk to Jamie.

- He's just starstruck. - All right. It's how he's been all weekend. Are you back?

She seems busy. Hold on, let me see if she's available. Oh, one second. Sweeney's here, you want to talk to Sweeney?

No! Alright, hold on, hold on. Alright. I gotta see if she's available.

You know what? Hold on, she's busy. Hold on, what's that? I gotta be so horny right here.

Hold on. I don't want to talk to him either. Be so horny. Oh, fuck that.

Alright, we had to let him go. He's not very cooperative being a... He's a terrible field reporter. Terrible field reporter.

I got to tell you. We'd like to talk to Jamie. How about Howard G? No, I didn't say Howard G.

Hey, I got V so horny here. I didn't say V so horny. You want to talk to Miguel, whatever? I don't even know who that was.

I had no idea. No idea. I think I know who it was. No, I think I remember.

But I didn't know who it was. Oh, now he's calling back. He's been cool. Yes, hello.

This is the Car Hustle's podcast. So you only want Jamie. Yes. For God's sake, man.

Why would you hang up on me? That's salty. Viso Horny's hurt. He sold out and wouldn't sell me cigars, so I don't know what to tell you.

There's a sample for you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay, we'll talk to you now.

How are you doing? I'm doing well. It's been a great show. Good.

Show's going well. You sold out. That's nice. Yeah.

Yeah. Good for you. So is there going to be a Viso Horny 2 that you sold out so fast? Oh.

Two Viso Horny. Two Viso Horns. That's not up for me. There has been some talk.

Up to me, I mean. But there has been some talk about some other stuff, but probably not. Your negotiations. We'll see.

Yeah, we're... E. and you go with another factory. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I hear Moe's got a connection for cigars. That is true. You could do a Viso Horny Patina.

He's standing five feet from me right now. Congratulations. Oh, what about Garrett Robinson? Hey, you're mine.

No! Oh, Garrett. Yeah, I'll talk to Garrett. I'll talk to Garrett.

Oh, my gosh. Is this Garrett? This is Garrett. From Don Doroteo Cigars?

Yes, sir. Okay. From what I normally... I watched your live video this morning.

Skip never shows up before noon. That is accurate. Yes. I found that out.

I've known him for a long time. He's not... Something learned the hard way. Yeah, he's not up, he's not there first thing in the morning.

Do you guys, do you guys know what Phil's holding in his hand right now? What, who is? Boots, Boots. Phil's here, yeah, we have Phil here.

Oh, I'm sorry, it's an oatmeal cream pie. Phil's eating an oatmeal cream pie over there on the camera, so what does Boots have? Bro, it's a donkey dick. Oh, yeah, yeah, he likes the big things in his mouth.

He's a big fan of that. Yeah, he does. Yes, he does. He does.

I mean, it kind of reminds me of college a little bit, but you know, whatever. I thought you were going to say he was holding your new cigar. No, but he should. No, I've already smoked that.

It's delicious. Oh, did we bring an extra one back or two or three or something? Uh, no. No.

There was a birthday celebration here. Greatest PCA prank ever. It's the last week ever. Thank you, Garrett.

I appreciate you, my friend. Absolutely. Have a good show. Thanks, guys.

Oh, yeah. You have a good show, too. Alright, alright. I like the celebrating my birthday, by the way.

I'm standing in line. That was very good. I'm standing in line. I have lightweight heavy right here.

No, no. That's okay. I want to hear how mad Mike you was about the birthday stuff. Hey, why y'all leave Palmer at home?

You're on the air. What are you doing, man? I'm on the air. Yeah.

Cigarros Podcast, you're on the air, brother. How you doing? What's up? What's up over here?

What's up over here? Hey, what's up, Paul? I miss you, bro. I miss you too, man.

I know. They said I couldn't come. They said I caused too much trouble. Guys, that's fucked up, man.

I'm about to talk to Mike about that, man. He had to run the podcast. He does everything. I hear he had a great birthday yesterday, though.

Who, Mike did? Yeah. His great not-birthday? Yeah, his great not-birthday.

Fantastic. That's what's up. That's what's up. Y'all got to have me on the podcast, for real.

Y'all be so pressin' talking. Y'all be so pressin' talking. Y'all be so pressin' talking. Y'all be so pressin' talking.

We can do it over the phone, FaceTime, whatever you want to do. Y'all be so pressin' talking, Skip and Mike, you know what I'm saying? But y'all talk to the real motherfuckers that make this shit go. I know, man.

You do all the work. You do all the work. You know what I'm saying? I say that all the time.

Let's get down to brass tacks and talk about what the fuck this deal really is. That's right. You know what I'm saying? Well, there's no proof, 'cause you always wear the rubber gloves, so nobody can tell what you're doing.

Well, I'm doing work. When you see me with gloves on my hand, I mean, I'm doing work. Work time. Period.

My gloves and my apron, you know I'm in the back door at work. Busy, very busy man. That's what's up, that's what's up. All right, man.

All right, man, good talking to you. Go check that out. All right, man, you know what? Arrange it with Mikey, and I'll do it anytime he says we can.

All right, bet. If not, next time he travels, I'll do my own show again, and then we'll call you. all right all right man all right jamie's got a line here she's very busy super busy i got one more i got one you ready wait who are you putting on stop putting everyone So what? I've got Greg from Cigar Hustlers.

Oh, put him on the phone. Put him on the phone. Super busy. He's probably not doing anything.

Super busy. Oh, is this Greg? Is this Greg from Cigar Hustlers podcast? It's not Greg's podcast.

Oh, hello, Greg from Cigar Hustlers. How are you? Yeah, you're not from the podcast. Who is this?

Is this Mike Palmer and Chet? Can I just tell you? No, no, it's Mike Palmer and The King. The King is back for the show.

I had to come back from Vegas for a minute. No, no, no, he's on the show. He's on the show. He's on the show.

He just walked away from the booth to go talk to Saka. Super fast. And I was walking away to get on my private jet to come do the show. That's all.

Uh-huh. All right. I'm glad you're there. You sing really well on the airplane.

Oh, yeah, that was nice. It must be the acoustics. The acoustics of the plane. He hasn't seen the video.

He hasn't seen the video. I saw the video. I didn't hear it because I had my headphones, my neck pillow. Oh, he's walking away.

I had my sleeping stuff. I was sleeping the whole trip. He's walking away. All right.

He's walking away. He's walking away. What about Sean from Fable? No, no, he's probably high.

Oh, he's declined the interview. See? I told you. He's declining the interview.

Jeff Moutet from Fosro? No, no, nobody else. I only want to talk to Jamie. I'm going to hang up.

What? You don't want to talk to me? Hello, Jeff Moutet from Fosro. He's just throwing people on the phone.

Oh, man. How's that Limitad-da-da-da-da-da-da selling? You don't want to talk to Mr. Limitad-da-da-da-da-da-da.

You don't want to talk to Mr. Limitada, da da da da da da da da. What the hell? Well, I do now.

I forgot you're Mr. Limitada, da da da da da da da da. I actually forgot that too. How you doing, Mr.

Palmer, sir? Good. How are you doing, sir? We are selling cigars like candy bars.

Oh, good for sure. We're just out here, uh, rocking and rolling and having all kinds of fun. Plenty of hookers and cocaine going around there? Plenty of cocaine and hookers floating around there?

Fuck. You know there's no cocaine, only hookers. Oh, I I hear if you talk to, I can't remember. And there's single mothers that need a little extra support.

They're not actually hookers. Come on, Paul. You are such a nice man. Why are you gonna be so judgmental?

You're such a nice man. Why are you gonna be judgmental? Why are you gonna come hang out at your new house? Single mothers need help, too.

When do I get an invite to your new house? Oh, right now. Oh, there we go. You're invited.

Open invitation, writing this down. Open invitation, you are invited right this minute. And you're only two miles from Skip's house, is that what you said? Yes, sir.

Ah, so we can go over there for dinner. Yeah. Is this a, this is a, this is a plus one, right? Gingo Cochina.

Right. Gingo Cochina, I'll serve for dinner. Oh, perfect. This invitation is a plus two, right?

Mike Palmer, plus two? Plus two. Sure, why not? We have a party.

There we go. I'm not going to be there with you, so I don't care. Oh, all right. All right, Jeff.

Hey, you have a good show. Enjoy the last couple of days. Nice talking to you. Thank you.

All right, brother. Alright, Jamie's available. Okay, quick! Jamie's available.

Quick! She's right here. Can I get out of character? Hi, Jamie!

Hi, my sweet Mike, how are you? Hi, Chet's here too! Hi, Jamie! Hi, Chet, how are you guys?

Technically, I'm the king on the show, but I gotta break character. We wanted to get your perspective on the show, because nobody ever asked you anything. When everybody's running around, like, oh, I'm talking to so-and-so, I see so-and-so, she is running the biz. She is.

Oh my gosh, you guys, this is, I think the show is going really well. Good. Half Wheel said you guys are terribly crowded. Half Wheel said you guys are terribly crowded there.

We are terribly crowded. The nice thing is our booth kind of ended up with an extra 10 by 40 space in front of it, We're just encroaching, basically, on all the public walkways. - Oh, perfect. - Yeah.

- Everybody's there to see you, probably. - Well, you know, at least in our corner of the world, we think that. - Yes, yes, we do. - And I feel very lucky to be here to help, to sit here.

I'm glad to be back and to see the faces again. - Oh, true, yeah, you weren't there last year. - Kind of like a family reunion. - Yes, ma'am.

- Yeah, but I've been here since before COVID, so. - Oh, wow, that's a long time. - It's nice to, yeah, it's nice to see people again And meet new stores and see what's going on. It's fun.

Well, we'll let you go. We know you're terribly busy, but we appreciate you taking a moment so we can say hi to you. I'm so glad you did. It makes me feel so special.

And you guys are my favorite. Don't tell anybody else. Okay. No, we don't tell anybody.

Don't tell anybody else. All right. All right. Talk to you later.

Thank you. Talk to you later. Bye-bye. Thank you.

All right. All right. That was it? Yeah, that's all we wanted.

We're done. Okay. Bye-bye. Hang up, Palmer.

Hang up, Palmer. What about Espinosa? No, I don't want to talk to Espinosa. Hey, what are you doing?

Hey, what are you doing? Can you get the chef on the phone, is he still there? Yeah, now if you can get our guy. Yeah, I can go get the guy.

Go get the guy, go get the guy. He's taking pictures, everybody at the show. That is the most photographed man at the PCA. Oh yeah, of course, except for me.

Well, because you're in everybody's photo. No. I mean, it's easy to be the most photographed when you photobomb everybody. Are you pushing the BDP out there?

Oh, yeah. All right. I got a bundle. I saw a couple photos.

You sent me a nice photo. I appreciate that. I've seen quite a few photos. All right.

All right. We'll make sure Phil cleans up. He's got a lot of snacks over there when he leaves, but we'll make sure he cleans up your space there when you do the pantry. Yeah, I hope you guys will have a blow up to all of it.

I don't know. You want to say hi to Phil? Phil, say hi to Boots. Hi, Boots.

It's Phil. It's Phil. It's Phil. Oh, Lord.

All right. His mask is getting real tight on him because he's been eating nothing but protein. He's just eating away. I bet.

Just eating away. That mask probably struck in the wash. He said he went to the workout this morning, but I don't believe it. I don't believe it.

I don't believe he's going anymore. All right, man. Enjoy your last couple of days. We'll see you when you get back.

All right, Boots. All right, thanks. All right, bye. See you in a bit, buddy.

All right, that was Booge live from the PCA. Live industry. Live. Who did we talk to?

We talked to Fable. We talked to, I don't remember who the word that was. Yeah, that guy. We show horny.

We show horny. Phosphoro. And we finally got to talk to world famous Jamie Rosales. World famous Jamie.

Oh, that was great. I tell you. It's like an angel over the airwaves. It is.

I love her. She's so nice. That's just the way it is. She's the nicest person.

And I bet she is so busy babysitting. You know, I'm out busy. I'm out handing out my cigars. She's been selling and taking orders.

Powstanie, Connecticut, outworking everybody, you know how it is, but I bet she is just babysitting everybody there. I'm sure, I know I've told this story before in the air, but I went one year, old town cigars in St. Augustine, she got me, she let me go on her ticket or pass, whatever you want to call it. So I couldn't get in before the setup.

You keep flexing. I could only get in after the show technically open because I was not a vendor. I was a buyer at that time. " I go, "No, I can't get in until the show opens.

" She goes, "No, no, no. You're with me. Come on. Come on.

" Yeah, you're with me. So she had me sort of slide into their group, and as we went by the security guard, he started to say something. She goes, "No, no. " And I just walked right in.

And the rest of the day, she tried to leave like, no, no, I'm with you. Right, the rest of the day. I'm with you. You said I'm with you.

Well, I know. I know, Palmer, but I gotta go back to the hotel. You said I'm with you. No, no, I'm not going to the hotel.

Mr. Rosales jumps weighted jump ropes and things. No, no, no. He's very worried.

I've never seen a guy work out as much as I do, but that guy. He's got those things like a whip. Oh, my God. He starts flinging them.

He starts flinging. I'm waiting for him to lasso people. All right, we got a little bit of news here. All right.

Get into it, Palmer. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon. All right, we got the two biggest news stories of the week.

We're not going to go over all the PCA stuff because I'm sure that'll happen next week. Listen, we just covered all of PCA in like two minutes. Pretty much, yeah. I spoke to everybody important there.

Right, alright, PCA, they announced that PCA 2025 will take place April 11th through the 14th, so several months early, in New Orleans. What do you think about that, Palmer? Well, let me read the story. Okay, read on.

And then we'll, then we'll talk about it. Read on. Alright. This will work the first time that Premium Cigar Association and Trade Show will take place in New Orleans since 2015, which was the year before, I'm sorry, are you busy over there?

I started going in 2016, so I just missed this show by a year when it was in New Orleans. After conducting several member surveys, it became clear that New Orleans was the top choice for the future trade show. It has been several years since the PCA held its trade show in Big Easy, the last being in 2015, said the organization in a press release. The PCA has worked closely with the state of New Orleans to make this happen, and the city has been very accommodating to ensure PCA and its members will feel welcome during their stay.

BCA would like to thank and acknowledge New Orleans and Company, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau, for being great during the selection process. I heard people say they didn't like it when it was there. It was hot and rainy and humid. Super hot.

You got to take into consideration the weather. Right. It's hot and musty there. In April?

April could go either way, but April was probably rainy, I would think. The 2023 PCA Convention Trade Show started last week, we don't need to talk about that, the move to New Orleans means at least three consecutive trade shows will take place at different venues and in different months. Last month, Governor John Bell Edwards signed HB11, which extended the tax-exempt status for cigar and pipe tobacco sampled at the convention center during the industry's trade show. When it was held in New Orleans until 2030, the tax-exempt has been scheduled to expire on December 31st, 2022.

Hold on. Let me disconnect from the thing there. It's from the phone calls. It's all from the phone calls.

All right, I'm talking. Boom, boom, boom. Tax stamps have been scheduled to expire, blah, blah, blah. While the last bill was favorable for PCA Convention Trade Show, New Orleans' smoking ban, which covers bars and restaurants, remains in effect.

Smoking is still allowed within cigar bars. I don't know if that means you could smoke outside or not, though. I think he probably can. I mean, you can smoke on the trade show floor, but, you know.

They'll definitely have designated areas, I would hope. Yeah? So, I would hope so, anyway. All right.

You okay with that? Don't break that. Oh, yeah, no, no, I'm just adjusting. It's very expensive.

It's very expensive. It's what I do, I gotta adjust, you know. Very expensive. I don't like it to be in front of me in the camera.

Right, right, so you can see him, I understand. C. Neumann has created a Lego replica of its El Relojo factory. El Reloje.

El Reloje. Thank you, sorry. Building your own cigar factory just got a whole lot easier. C.

Neumann Cigar Company has announced that it will begin selling a Lego replica of the factory in headquarters in Tampa. Let's see, it's called the Clock in English, but it's El Reloje? Okay. Reloje.

You got to get the, oh, hey, oh, hold on a minute. It's prominent, it's a 201 piece set, which uses authentic Lego bricks. It is not a licensed Lego product. C.

Newman's factory gift shop, where the company also sells exclusive cigars as well as on its online store. What, yeah, right over there? Just ashen, just getting it on the floor for you. When I was a little kid, I spent a lot of time in a historic cigar factory in Tampa, including countless hours on the floor with my dad's office, playing with Legos, said Drew Newman, the company's fourth generation owner in a press release.

I love Legos and I love our iconic building. I'm very excited to bring both of these loves together with our new Lego set. When built, the set measures six and a half by six by four. While the set is not a scale replica, the backside of the paper's stuck together.

They should make a Lego replica of me. Just a big mountain of muscle. Not enough Legos. The model shows the inside of two floors, which with the clock tower movement, and another with bales of tobacco in the factory's basement.

I'm very grateful to Sherry and Alex Kalita of our design partners, Common Bond Design, for creating this wonderful way to honor our beloved and world-famous cigar factory, said Newman. C. Newman's premium cigars are made in its factory in Nicaragua or by Arturo Fuente in the Dominican Republic, The company makes roughly 100,000 cigars per day, using vintage machines at El Reloje, in addition, lines like the American and the Angel Cuesta, and rolled at the Drew Newman, spearheaded a multi-year renovation of the factory, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Reloje.

Relo, yes, yes, yes, Reloje. It's like Nicaragua. Yeah. You see?

Yes. Agua. You gotta get the Agua. Okay.

It's like Nicaragua. Agua. Agua. Nicaragua.

Nicaragua. I understand. You'll learn. You'll learn.

You have a Shop of the Week? You know, the problem is you probably don't retro hell enough. Probably not. Do you have a Shop of the Week over there?

I do have a Shop of the Week. You do? Hold on. I do.

Okay, what's the Shop of the Week? Shop of the Week is Cigar Hustler in Deltona, Florida. No, no, no. You can't make your own shop the Shop of the Week.

It's not my shop. Oh, wait. Yeah, yeah. This is my shop, I mean.

No, you can't. How about we do Tobacology? You know, I was gonna say Tobacology. So, Shop of the Week, Tobacology!

Listener of the Week, Matt, oh, wrong button, wrong button, wrong button, sorry, wrong button, I got excited. I'm gonna start pushing on the button. Stop! Who's the listener of the Week?

Who's the listener of the Week? Matt! Matt Tai! Oh, Matt Tai!

Oh, you know what, it was his birthday yesterday. Right! Okay, listener of the Week? You know who else's birthday this week?

It was your birthday. It was my birthday, apparently. Apparently it was, yes. Apparently it was.

Appreciate all the love and support from all my fans texting me and coming up to me at PCA. It's been amazing. Interrupting. Nothing like talking about selling 300 boxes to one shop and someone coming in going, "Happy Birthday," when it's my birthday.

That's nice. I know. I hope you enjoyed that. I'm going to be very angry.

Very angry. Alright guys, we're gonna wrap it up, we've got a little video that's gonna play after this, so enjoy that, and we have to go to the Patreon, where we're doing this week, we're doing the BDP! Oh, you're just checking out completely. Alright, this has been episode 289, thanks guys, we gotta go.

Say bye. Say bye. A 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 & 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. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada

Show Notes

In this exciting episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, your hosts The King and Mike dive deep into the world of cigars with a special interview featuring Caleb, the charismatic host of the popular Down to Herf podcast. Then our very own  roving reporter Boots, takes us on a virtual journey through the highly anticipated PCA (Premium Cigar Association) convention.

Boots takes us right into the heart of the PCA convention, where cigar enthusiasts, manufacturers, and industry experts gather to celebrate the culture and craftsmanship of cigars. Boots explores the bustling convention floor, speaking with industry leaders and cigar aficionados about the latest trends, upcoming releases, and the overall state of the cigar industry.

With their signature humor and enthusiasm, the hosts and guests make this episode an engaging and informative journey for both seasoned cigar enthusiasts and newcomers to the world of cigars. So, sit back, light up your favorite cigar, and join the Cigar Hustlers Podcast as they bring you the latest and greatest from the PCA convention, all while exploring the rich tapestry of the cigar lifestyle.