A Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 292 Justice For Hugh
Episode Summary
Episode 292 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with details on the RoMa Craft PCA giveaway running through August 31, 2023 — a sampler that includes a rarely seen Frenchie, a Quinquenerio and three Intemperance Volstead cigars, with entries earned by joining the Cigar Hustler newsletter or purchasing RoMa Craft product. The hosts confirm the Viso Horny sampler counts toward entries, and joke about the "those who know" mystique around RoMa Craft's unreleased smokes.
The first half is a casual catch-up: Mike Palmer recaps his 39th birthday party, the birthday video Phil assembled featuring industry friends like Fred Rewey, Abe Flores, Terence Reilly, Matt Booth and Pete Johnson, and his new side gig filling in as a youth basketball coach. The guys riff on who showed up, who didn't (Justin Andrews gets a "fuck that guy"), and a weekend movie review of M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin.
The news block digs into Hong Kong's proposed generational tobacco ban, plain packaging, expanded no-smoking zones and a 31% tobacco tax hike — and what it means for Habanos S.A.'s attempt to use Hong Kong as a global pricing benchmark. From there: Espinosa Premium Cigars launches Linkt, a 6 1/2 x 48 short Churchill with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at La Zona and sold only at the ten Espinosa-branded lounges (with hand-painted humidors by Eden Gutierrez). Arturo Fuente's 13-cigar Impossible Collection begins shipping — including a Don Carlos Lancero, Fuente Fuente OpusX 20th Anniversary Double Corona and OpusX rarities — at an expected $2,300–$2,600+ per box with only 500 boxes made. HVC's Hot Cake Golden Line, a Nicaraguan Connecticut–wrapped sister to the original San Andrés Hot Cake, also ships.
The episode closes with Phil's Fun Facts on cigar cutter styles, a Florida story about Hugh the Sarasota manatee (the "Justice for Hugh" title), Shop of the Month Secreto Cigars, and Listener of the Week Jason Walpert.
In This Episode
- 01RoMa Craft PCA GiveawayHow to enter the Cigar Hustler giveaway for a RoMa Craft PCA sampler with a Frenchie, Quinquenerio and three Intemperance Volsteads, plus confirmation the Viso Horny sampler counts.
- 02Birthday Recap and the Industry VideoMike Palmer's 39th birthday party, the Surrounded By Champions cigars handed out, and the video montage from industry friends — including who came through and who didn't.
- 03Youth Sports and CoachingPalmer on filling in as a basketball coach, juggling football, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and being a present dad.
- 04Hong Kong Tobacco Crackdown and Habanos PricingHong Kong's proposed generational smoking ban, plain packaging and 31% tax hike, and why it undercuts Habanos S.A.'s Hong Kong-based global pricing standard.
- 05Espinosa Linkt Lounge ExclusiveEspinosa's new short Churchill sold only at its ten branded lounges, with rotating blends and custom hand-painted humidors by Eden Gutierrez.
- 06Arturo Fuente Impossible CollectionThe 13-cigar sampler of rare and unreleased Fuente smokes, only 500 boxes, and whether the $2,300–$2,600 box price actually moves.
- 07HVC Hot Cake Golden LineHVC's Nicaraguan Connecticut-wrapped sister line to Hot Cake, plus talk of Papa Saka allocations and Patreon smoking picks.
- 08Justice for Hugh and Shop of the MonthThe Mote Marine manatee necropsy story that named the episode, Phil's Fun Facts on cutter styles, Secreto Cigars as Shop of the Month, and Jason Walpert as Listener of the Week.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 292, 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 Stepankevich, and Reverend BDP Mike Palmer are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigar Hustlers Podcast. And me, I'm Phil.
So grab your favorite smoke, sit back and join us for another exciting episode of Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Michael, the show's started, Michael. It is? Michael, the show's on.
Hi. Hi. Run, please. I have a live read one.
Uh-oh. See, that's why I was... Cigar Realtors have an amazing contest. The Roma Craft PCA giveaway.
The microphones are messed up. Yes. Someone is going to win a PCA sampler. Here's what the winner will receive.
One Frenchie cigar. Ooh, very rare. One Quinquanero. Quinquanquanquanyo.
Three Intemperance Volsteads. Here is how to enter to win. One entry for subscribing to the Cigar Hustler email list. com.
Easy piece. Give me the email. Five entries if you purchase $50 in Roma Craft product in a single order. That's one order, $50.
Yes. You get 15 entries if you purchase $100 in Roma Craft products in a single order. Yes. One order again.
And then you get 50, 50 entries, which almost guarantees you would win, Michael. Almost. But yeah, almost. Almost.
If you purchase $200 in Roma Craft products in a single order. Yes. Deadline to enter will be August 31, 2023. You can enter as many times as you like.
No purchase necessary to enter. com. Now, there was a topic of discussion that we had a back and forth about this Viso Horny sample. Viso Horny sample, yes.
That has Roma Craft products in it. It does, and then it was asked, well, is it included, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and, you know, the margin is definitely depleted on that sampler, but we're going to go ahead and include it. Oh, there you go! You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen.
The B-Sorch, so they've already ordered it, those gentlemen got, so that's a $200 sampler? It depends upon which one they purchased. Oh, so you may get anywhere from $15 to $50? All the way up to $50, yeah.
Oh, somebody might have already, that might already be done. Listen, you guys better jump on top of this. This is a delicious, just, sampler. You get cigars you can't buy.
You get cigars you can't buy right now. Yeah, that's it. One, you'd probably never be able to buy. Yeah, but the Viso Horny sampler, everything.
I mean, all the stuff you guys have on there is just delicious. Yeah, yeah. He's talking about the Viso Horny. You're talking about the PCA thing.
Yes. Yes, I'm talking about the winnings. He's talking about the thing you buy to enter. Yes.
Yes. Both excellent choices. All excellent. It's all excellent.
Oh, that one's not good. Yeah. What one? The Frenchie.
The Frenchie may never come out. I don't know if it will. I don't know if that's been really. I don't know if that's going to be a release.
Yeah, I don't know how many was made, they never said release. So that's like an underground Roma cigar? Yes. Nice.
Yeah, it's like those who know know, you know. Who Frenchie is. Who Frenchie is. Those who know, I've seen that hashtag lately.
Who Frenchie is? No. It's gone. Oh, sensitive.
There you go. No, they had to be taken down last week. Mike has the ED. On the Roma Weasel Team page?
Yeah, it's Weasel Team. Hashtag those who know. Those who know. Yeah, well, that's always been around for a while.
It's been around for about 14 or 15 years. Oh, okay. I was just born a couple years ago. You were just born a couple years ago?
Yeah, into the cigar world. Oh, that's true. So, you had a birthday over the weekend, Michael. I did.
You're now 39. I did. Your last year in the 30s. Yeah.
Well, Peter Nettis called me and he told me that, "Hey, you know, it's okay. " Oh, every time? Yeah. Oh, I guess you could.
You know, what's really funny is my father used to say that shit too. I'm like, "God, you're hitting trigger points, Pete. You don't even know it. Oh, boy.
Thanks, Pete. Thanks a lot. Now I'm depressed. Now I'm depressed.
It takes a lot more than that. But, yeah, man, it went really well. I had a great time. It was a nice party.
Your wife did a good job, as always. It's, you know, like I said, you know, because I did do a little speech thing. Yes. I tried to keep it short and simple.
It was rather long, but that's okay. You think it was long? I think it was one of the longest speeches you've ever done. I like how you yelled at Boots at the beginning.
That was my favorite part. Well, he, you, it was, I don't know what was happening with Boots at that point. Like he was a little in his cups. I think so.
And he was like, blah! Those who are closest to us, we hurt the most. But, you know, it is kind of cool because, like I was saying, there, there really is three worlds for me at this point in my life, right? Right.
My, my, obviously my cigar family. Yes. The, the gym family. Yes.
And, you know, like the dads that do sports with me, with, with their kids and stuff. Right. So I have these kind of, and it was nice to have all those, those three worlds kind of come together in the same spot and, you know, kind of co-mingle. Right.
That was awesome. So. Did you get the big guys to smoke any cigars? Of course.
Nice. Of course. Well, one of the big guys smokes, he does, periodically. So I took him to, when you guys couldn't go to Heritage, I took him to Heritage in Tampa.
So, you know, we walked around, everybody's giving us cigars, and hey guys, just take these. The karate guy and his wife weren't there though, were they? No, they were out of town. I think they're in, who knows, they're gallivanting or something.
Oh, the karate guy. Well, that's the only, well, I guess it would be one of the fathers, not the gym, or does he do both? Uh, he's a father. He's a sports dad, yeah.
Uh, there was only two of those there? Uh, yes, there were two there. Right, one I'd met and the other one, your brother kept asking me who he was, I was like, I must have a child at the sports. Derek and Tyrone.
And he's not, he's not big like the workout guy, so he's gotta be the other group. Yeah, so, I would, I think that I, I think I invited two other dads from like the sports realm. Yeah. And then they just couldn't make it.
Oh. Oh, your workout friend's very tall. I know. Yeah, they're all tall.
I know, one of them. It's a requirement. Nevermind. Oh, they listen to the show?
Shut that down. No, no, I wasn't gonna say that. I was gonna say something else, but it's best I let that go. Yeah, no, they're, dude, they're good guys, you know, and I just kinda, we just became friends over time, you know.
Well, I mean, you're there every day, right, you know, so, um, Matthew's the guy that trains my kids, so... I don't know which one he was. He's the bald guy. Tall.
The tall, muscular guy, come on, you know what it was? He was the thinnest of the four. Oh! I was talking to him for a while, if you saw me with him.
No, I wasn't watching you. Sorry. D. King Palmer against everybody.
No, no, she was fine last night. Yeah. Yeah. How did that go with Alec?
Did they have a good conversation or whatever? Uh, I don't think she can afford him. I don't know what he costs, but yeah, he said whatever it was like. I didn't know they even charged with that kind of stuff.
Oh yeah, man. Well, it's a business, I guess. I thought it was, the way you described it, I thought it was something different. Yeah.
Because apparently he has a team that has to be flown in. Does he? Yeah. A whole team.
Yeah. I believe it. So yeah, schools aren't going to have that kind of money. Well, I mean, he's pretty well established in Ohio.
He's still established in Ohio. He does a lot of schools there, so. Oh, maybe all the guys are there. You don't have to fly him in.
Well, you gotta fly him in. I thought he lived here. Oh, you gotta fly him from here to there. Well, I don't know how big his team is.
Maybe it's one guy versus 17. I don't know. We'll find out. Yeah.
So yeah, it went really well. I had three cakes. Yes. That nobody ate, that I ate.
Yeah. Nobody ate the cakes. The ice cream cake went fast. What, did you eat all of it?
They were gone. No, it's in the freezer. Oh. Yeah.
I mean, I saw the plate. That plate was empty. I was like, oh. Well, it's because it turned into blue.
It turned into soup. Right. And I handed out SBCs to everybody. I didn't get one.
Why didn't you get one? I asked at one point, and you said you're smoking something else. And then. Oh, you were smoking another cigar.
Well, I went upstairs and bought one. It's not like I don't have them, Mike. It's not a big deal. You know the rules.
You walk in with the cigar in your pocket and say, I don't have any. Well, I didn't know he was giving away cigars at the thing. I didn't want to show up. I wanted to purposely give everybody an SBC.
Surrounded by champions. I have them, Michael, it's not necessary. No, no, it's happening right now, sweetheart. I never got one either.
Yeah, go fuck yourself. Well, you weren't at my party, so... Oh yeah, I wasn't there, so I should go in. No, Phil wasn't invited.
I didn't invite you. Why? I invited Boots. We thought you were Dana's plus one.
Okay, we're gonna go camera one the whole time. So I watched a movie over the weekend, it was an interesting movie. Welcome to the Palmer Show. This cat fell off a little bit.
They've been sitting up top of the thing. That's on top of the thing. Have you guys seen the movie Knock At The Cabin Door with Dave Bautista in it? Dave Bautista?
Yeah. No, I have not. It was an interesting movie. Yeah, where somebody's gotta die.
M. Night Shyamalan. In order to save the world. Right.
But the four people didn't know each other who made them choose who had to die. Right. Here you go, sir. That's Phil's hand.
That's Phil's hand. There you go. Here's your SPC. Now everybody got one.
Nope, not everyone. Everybody that was invited got one. I know, sorry about that. That's okay.
Just the rest of it came off my mouth. Well, I mean, if you already know the gist of the movie. I don't know anything about the movie. Wait a second, wait a second.
You completely skipped over all the rest of Mikey's stuff. Oh, I thought that was the party. I thought that was all he was talking about. What else did you do?
Oh, I heard little birdie told me you're a basketball coach now. Oh, yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. Oh, they got you.
We called that. We called that. I did fill in. We called that.
You are going to be a basketball coach. It's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time. You're probably right.
No, you said no, no, no. I did fill in. Well, so Derek, the guy that was there, he actually was the main fill-in for that game. He's like, hey, I will run it.
I know he knows more about basketball or whatever. And I'm like, okay, I can definitely be the controlling factor, no, more like the, almost like the mentor slash guru, it's fine, it's fine. It keeps coming to pizza, it keeps thinking of my face. You'll make it work.
You know, like, I could be, I could break down with a kid and say, hey, this is what you need to do, especially when it comes to, I would say, the top three kids that are on the team. My son, Christian, my son isn't a great shooter, but he's a great defender. Defense wins championships. Yeah.
Well, rebounds win championships. I don't care what anybody says. So, Christian, and actually Derek's kid, Michael, I think he's really talented too. And those, like, I have a little bit of a relationship with all three of those kids, so I can have a conversation and push them in the right direction.
hey like you know not like you need to play hard like not that you know just hey look what's going on here you know here's what you need to do right you have a relationship with the child already and they're like okay i get it so you know the first half was a little shaky we were doing we were doing man and my son chimes and he goes hey we really need to switch the zone and um that worked that worked really well yeah well you know it's funny is like we went in and i have no idea so and neither did Derek. He's like, let's, let's play man. I think man's going to work. I said, okay, sure.
Well, if they haven't learned man, right. It's like, if they know zone, they know zone. Right. So, uh, and then, you know, I just made some critiques and some adjustments and all of a sudden we came back, we started blowing them out of the water or whatever.
And then they closed the gap a little bit at the end, but we were too far gone at that point. So it was a W and then Derek's like, we need to do this on the regular. We should coach. That's how you got in.
And I'm like, oh my God, no, no, let's not. How many nights a week do they coach or practice? Oh, they practice once. And then I said at the party, I said, if you really want to do it, we'll figure it out.
But I can't do football and basketball at the same time anyways. Oh, and I was going to say play the games at the same time? Well, it's just that things interlace too much, yeah. Like the playoff, the Friday night games for football and then playoffs for the basketball would be the same day.
So did Jacks have to pick which one he wants to do? " Oh. Nice. Basketball's indoor air conditioning.
I mean, I love basketball, but that's nice that they want to play football, because there's not a lot of kids that want to play football. Yeah. There's a lot of kids that get made to play football, you know? Right.
So, that's nice. We're going to stagger it. We're going to do football and then basketball, and, you know, I'm going to keep practicing for both with them. Okay.
And so that's going to suck, but whatever. It's called being a dad. Hey, yeah, listen. It's one of the most unthanked jobs in the world at times.
Yeah, but you know what, I, you know, I'm gonna be present for all of it, as much as I possibly can be, so we're gonna, they're doing some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, they started doing that a little bit. Oh yeah, how's that going? By themselves. By themselves.
Yes, yes. Yeah, by themselves. And, uh, well, you know, they got a great, this guy's a friend of mine too, he's a great coach, he's a great teacher, and it's, you know, a little more private, a little more secluded, than just kind of thrown to the wolves and, you know, have at it, so. Nice.
Yeah. More one-on-one type training. Yeah. What's that guy's name?
Eric. That's the karate guy. No, it's not that. No, that's a different karate guy.
Oh, it's another Eric. Yeah. What's with these double names, people, you love? All these Mikes, Erics, Derricks.
I only know one Derrick. Only one Derrick? Mm-hmm. God, you know I fucked on the mics, though.
It's a very popular name. Popular. Say popular, Mike. Not common, popular.
It's a very, very popular name. Very popular name. A lot of great people named Mike. Yeah, Epic.
Yes, Epic. Yeah. So, yeah, man, that went well. uh and then you know we kind of chilled out and did like a little universal thing yesterday and had a nice dinner and nice yeah nice little birthday weekend yeah it was great i mean you know brini works her ass off on all that shit so right right yeah i feel like i have to say yes here's here's what and then i would throw fucking monkey wrenches into everything so she told me that there were a couple things like what the fuck you know because for one um i like just I was inviting other people as we were going throughout the week, I'm like, hey, you know, like, what about this person?
Did we talk about this person? And there was the people that I would ask, she's like, yeah, they're already on the list, they're already on the list. And then I asked, you know, we should probably have a DJ there. And she's like, shut the fuck up.
Right. So I casually mentioned that to Chet. And I said, hey, can you set up the speakers and just let it play or whatever? And we'd already worked that out.
Yeah. And he said, listen, don't fucking talk to me about anything. You don't, you know, I'm like, okay. I don't know what all we've done.
Okay. And she's like, I can never do a surprise for you. You ruin everything. So, and I guess I do, but whatever.
Well, you're just worried because you want it to be good. Well, you want all your friends to be there. You don't want to forget anybody. Yeah, there's that.
And there's also the aspect of, I don't like to look at my wife and say, all right, handle this shit. Cause I know, I see all the stuff that she does all the time. Right? Yeah.
But she thrives off that. I know, but I want to help, you know, like you want to help the people you love. Just let her go next year. That's part of it.
It's going to be 40. It'll probably be a big party somewhere. Oh man, I can't wait. And just let her do what it is she wants to do and just stay out.
Hopefully she gets invited. Not like she doesn't have help. You know, I'm very grateful for the friends that I have that, you know, obviously step up and help her when she needs anything. Oh my God.
Are you turning 55? No. No, I am 55. Chet turns 50 in February.
So he turns 50, he turns 40. Let me some good parties. Let me some good parties. I'm not doing anything.
Oh, whatever. Oh, please. I liked the private lounge, man. The private lounge is an amazing...
Well, we'll just do like a formal private lounge next year for 50. We'll see. Look, I'm not planning. That's 364 days away or whatever.
I'm not. They go fucking fast. We gotta start now, Michael. What's going on?
I can assure you there is a world of problems and fuckery that I'll be dealing with within those days. That's right. So just leave it to your wife and her worker bees. We go to PCA in seven more months, then your birthday will come up really quickly.
PCA is in March this year, right? Yeah, seven months. Is it March or April? March.
Yeah, seven months. I got to survive Christmas first, pal. Okay? I got to survive Christmas.
It's way too much shit going on. I feel like Christmas is just getting passed by now, like kind of like a, you know, like a Halloween. They just kind of pass it by quickly. That happens as your kids get older?
Yeah. You know what was, I don't mean to digress here, but you know what was really cool was Jason Walpert was in town, and I finally got to meet and hang out and bullshit with him, I obviously wish I could have spent a little more time with him and stuff, but we did get to hang out for a little bit, and that was awesome, and your video was fantastic, the video that you put together. It looked better on the smaller screen. I liked it.
I wish people would learn to turn the phone. Oh, sideways? Sideways, that way you don't get the black bars down the side. No, but you know what, just the, I mean, you had, you, you had a pretty good cast on there, man.
Yeah, it was a good assortment. You really did. You know, my favorite is Pete. You're going to attach it.
Pete's was pretty cool. Yeah, we'll put it at the end of the end of the show. But, you know, Abe's, I thought was awesome. Yeah.
You know, it's, it's cool to see, you know, it's just always good to be acknowledged from your peers. Right. Right. I mean, obviously he's fucking one of the megalodonts in the industry.
Right, very busy, very busy man. But he's still, I mean, he's cool. Like, we didn't ever have, I'm like, hey, what's going on? And then he was right with what he said, we were running some Howard things, blah, blah, blah.
It's not like there's any awkwardness. I tried to give everybody plenty of time to do it. So they had like a week and a half where I originally asked everybody. Yeah.
Oh, good. Not plenty of time, wasn't I? I had Terrence, Vesohorny, and Tyler right away. Right.
And then the rest of them. Terrence was pretty good. Yeah. On Thursday, I'm sending out reminders and Abe was one of them.
" Well, Fred Rui had to write a whole script. So, I mean. Yeah. Yeah, Fred's as always.
I always include Fred, because he's a big production, I mean, it's the season mega buster movie that comes out every year for your birthday. It's fucking hilarious. Yeah. It's a good video, so you should make sure you see it.
I totally want to post it, too, if you can, if you can steal it from me, I want to put it up, or at least you put it up on Facebook afterwards. Whatever you want. We'll do YouTube and, you know, because it's pretty cool. Yeah, I guess you can just put up a regular video, because hey, it's too long for a reel.
All right. Oh, wait. Somehow, over the weekend, I got notification from Facebook. I am now considered a, what are they?
Star. An honorary masterman, what? No, I can get paid now for my stuff. Stars.
Yeah, I get stars if I can get paid for my post. Really? Yes. Look at you.
Right. I don't know how it happened. They sent me a message. I had to fill out just this little form, name, address, and that kind of stuff.
And people give me stars or something for my post. They pay me per star or something? You're going to get a helicopter soon. That's exactly sure how it works.
I don't know. This is great. He's figured it out now. This is great.
He's figured it out. He's figured out how to be lucrative about this and not cut anybody else in, is what it is. Like, that's right. Just smile.
Oh, what's the matter, guys? You're a little short on funds, huh? I don't know. Just fucking hanging out.
There's so many Facebook money here. I got some dough here. It's no big deal. Give me a couple of stars.
You'll be fine. Since it was a big deal last year, did Matt Booth call you on your birthday? It was his birthday. Oh, yeah.
Thank God. Yeah, he did. And I was like, son of a bitch. I was hoping to God he wouldn't.
Because then I wanted to really break his balls. But he's like, hey, you know. I mean, he called me throughout the week. He's like, I just want you to know your birthday's coming up.
Yeah, he was not missing that. Hey, I just want you to know your birthday's coming up. And I think I was driving to the shop when he called. And I was like, damn it.
I thought for sure. I heard that Justin Andrews didn't come through though. No, no, he was one of the original people I asked, and oh sure, I'd love to, I'm having surgery, he had some type of surgery. A sea of disappointment.
And then, is that your wife? Of course it's my wife. Surgery? He was having surgery, and then he goes...
Welcome to the Phil and Palmer show. I'll do it tomorrow. I was like, okay, and then I reminded him, and he's like, oh, I'll do it tonight, you'll have it Saturday morning at the latest. And then nothing.
Unbelievable. Nothing from him. All the stuff that we do for that guy? I don't know, I don't know.
Unbelievable. There becomes a fine line between you're becoming annoying and they didn't really want to do it or, you know, reminding them to do it. So everybody got the one reminder and then that was it. If they didn't come in, then they didn't come in.
I think, but you know, it's cool because, I mean, Terrence, this was funny too. I think that a lot of them were, were. I want to be so horny inside an airplane, but he didn't want to get inside an airplane. So he was in that little truck thing.
Yeah. Hey, from a brand owner to another. Yeah. You guys were good, too.
Fucking guy. So much fun. So yeah, man, I think that was cool. I got good people around me, buddy, and I appreciate you, you kicked ass.
Yeah, Justin was the only one that said no. He didn't say no, he just didn't come through with it. Are we giving him a "fuck that guy"? Yeah, I'm gonna fuck that guy.
He's getting ready to do fun facts over there. Yeah, it's Phil time. You don't want to hit a "man fuck that guy" for Justin Andrews? Yeah, fuck that guy.
No, no, it's okay. He's not even worth that now. Oh. I love the dance.
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Boom. It's Phil time. Hello, peoples.
Now it's Phil time. It's Phil time. Hello, peoples. Really run with this, hadn't he?
All right. Yeah. Fellas, did you know that the Cigar Cutter comes in various sizes and styles? Some of the most popular styles are...
Read 'em all! Punch, V-cut, straight cut, guillotine cut, and the cold cuts. The cold cuts are very popular. It is, that's my favorite one to use.
This is normally available in the deli section. Yeah, rabbit and bologna. It's very nice. It's that big slicing thing that you just, yeah.
Unbelievable. Yep, that's fantastic. You know, you have a video intro, too, that goes with the music. Oh, really?
On YouTube, yes. I hope it's like this. I like how you did the whole... No, it's not you, it's somebody else.
Oh. I like how you did the whole... When I had to go change my shirt last week. Yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the special effects. It was amazing. So fast. So fast.
Super credible. Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. All right, I guess we're getting into the news now. Yeah, let's rock this.
Boom, boom. What's going on in the cigar world? From the four corners of the world. Not a lot still.
All the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon. Hong Kong considering generational tobacco ban, higher taxes, plain packaging, and more. Hong Kong is considering banning those born after a certain date from being able to purchase tobacco products.
Introducing plain packaging for tobacco products, increasing tobacco taxes, and more. It's all being considered as part of a wide range survey from the Hong Kong Health Bureau as part of its public consultation on tobacco control strategies. 8% in 2025 to do so in exploring four strategies. Not the who.
One is death. The who. We will kill you if you're smoking. Regulate supply, suppress demand.
So, less cigars. Yes. So, they're just gonna completely X out smoking eventually by not allowing newborns to smoke. Right, or whatever the age is.
If you're born after that date, you can't buy any tobacco products. Wow. Ban promotion. Reduce attractiveness.
So, they can't promote it anyway. No. Expand no smoking areas. Enhanced Education and Support Cessation.
What? Support Cessation. I don't know what that means. Some Hong Kong words.
You know what's kind of crazy? Separation from or something like that. You know what? You know who really fucked this up for all of us?
The Confederates were called Cessation. What? The fucking Vapors, man. I see it all the time.
You know, we, like, you're walking in the park and you, like, they fucking whip it out of their pocket real quick and, you know, in the middle of a crowd and just bust it out and just fucking quickly shove it back in their pocket. I'm like, you know that there's fucking twelve Karens that just saw that, they're gonna be fucking irate, they're gonna leave feedback, they're gonna post some shit, you know, because you're like, ooh, I'm slick. Let me ask you a question, what's the, we're gonna go one-on-one here. Mikey, what's the first thing you think of when you see a vape?
First word, like, just one word. Battery sucker? I don't know. Okay, that's two, that's good.
Millennials. Millennials? Hey, man. I think of undecided, truthfully.
Undecided? Oh, they can't commit to cigarettes or cigars, so, yeah, just vaping? Think of it what you want, but that's just not what I, the only reason I pulled the story is because they were basing the price of the Cuban cigar on Hong Kong prices. Which is fascinating, yeah.
But now that the taxes have gone up, the prices have not gone up. Hong Kong taxes have gone up another 31 percent. Wow. Why would they?
Another. I mean, it's a stream of revenue at that point. Huge. Yeah, but I think the Cubans are deciding that it's just too much money.
No way he's going to buy if we raise the price not at 31 percent. I mean, it's a billion dollar, and it's got to be close to a trillion dollar industry, right? Well, let's see. As part of the global pricing standard, the company said it was attempting to make prices uniform from country to country while using Hong Kong as a basis of the new prices.
Yeah, no shit. In reality, the prices are not uniform from country to country, inevitably partly because of the vast difference in how different countries tax cigars. cigars. So far, it seems that Habano's SA isn't marrying prices in Hong Kong.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong increased tobacco price of 31%, which theory should have meant a price increase from Habano's SA, though there's no evidence that company adjusted prices due to the tax increase. Interesting. So why are they going to do another? They're going to have to pick another country because you're not going to be able to smoke in Hong Kong anymore.
Eventually. It's just so absurd. All of it's just so absurd. We just need to take over China.
That's what it is. We should take over China? We need to liberate them. We need to free them for their cigars.
They're listening to us. They're very big, Michael. They are very big. Can I ask you a question?
The largest standing army in the world. Oh, yeah? Standing. Standing.
They have more people. They can't get them over here, but there's more people. Can't possibly move all those people. They don't have enough boats.
Right. So they're just sitting ducks. Right. That's what happens.
We can't invade. We would have to bomb. We'd have to bomb. What is the percentage of sales of cigars for Hong Kong?
Did it say that? Taxes are 31% increase. But we don't have the overall sales. We don't know what.
But, you know, the Chinese market is huge when it comes to cigars. Yeah. Yeah. It's a status thing over there.
So why is it a status thing over here to some degree? Right. But there's a bigger difference between rich and middle class there than here. So it sounds like they're re-banding them to make them look worse, right?
Is that what it said? That is the plan. Yes. So why don't they just re-band them to make them look nicer?
Like make them all gold bands or something and that's why they're more expensive? Is there a gold band with the other band that says you can't smoke me because you're going to die? Yeah. Smoke me, die.
Smoke me, die. I mean, just over-regulation in general for any industry is fucking ridiculous. I don't understand how that becomes a thing. I'm not a politician.
I'm not smart enough to be. Or deceptive enough to be. Just a fellow blender brand owner like Visa Harney. Yeah, I'm just a guy.
It's just fucking ridiculous, though. You know, you see all this shit. Even the liquor industry, too, and the way that they have all this position with the three-tier system and fucking liquor licenses and all of that shit. It's just...
It's a racket. It's ridiculous, yeah. So, you know, if they can't make money off of it, then they will do whatever they can to destroy it. But they are making money off of it.
Apparently, it's not enough for them to give a shit. It's a big health push right now. Everybody wants to be healthy. Then we live longer, and then there's more people again, and there's no food.
And then all of a sudden, you know, another virus pops out of a lab to fucking kill all the old people to level them off. Yeah, this is this, yeah, they're done smoking. Now we'll get them. That's one of the things in the movie, if they didn't, uh, every time they didn't pick, one of the four horsemen got killed and some type of, uh, plague.
Was it good? It was interesting. You saw, I got wrapped into it and I was like, this is stupid, we should turn this off. I said it was interesting.
Yeah, but I was hooked. I had to see how it ended. Yeah. How did it end?
Uh, they, they, they, they killed one of the, somebody died? There was three of them. There was a gay couple, two men, and their adopted Chinese daughter. One of the three of them had to die.
Oh, it was the Chinese daughter, since we're talking about high school. No way. No, no, no. No, that's not the kid.
You already know it's not gonna be the kid. Well, the, either one of the two gay guys had to die. Yeah, one of, so one of them died. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, one of them, one of them was, they would do little flashbacks, and you saw that one of them was religious and the other one wasn't. It wasn't.
Oh, it was a- The religious one. The religious one. He ended up saying, look, I believe them. This is really happening.
You're going to have to kill me. But they had to kill each other. Right. Like one of the two guys had to kill the other one.
I mean, that makes things a little more complicated. Right. You got to kill the person you love. Right.
I mean, you're not killing your kid. I don't care if it's adopted or not. Yeah, yeah. You knew it wasn't going to be the kid.
It's not part of the equation. They're not going to go, oh, she's adopted in Chinese. We're white guys. Let's just get rid of that.
We get another one. It doesn't work that way. I don't know why they showed it, but they lied about how they got her. " Oh.
Ah. Because they might not... They probably wouldn't give it to a gay couple, yeah. Well, maybe her, maybe her wife, maybe his wife smokes cigars gonna go.
Yeah. No, there was no wife. She's in, uh, Cuba. Yeah, she's now.
Oh. She's, uh, pushing the cigar industry forward. Right. Exactly.
All right, Espinosa-branded lounges are getting a new link. Linkt Line. Whoa. Wow.
Espinosa Premium Cigars has created a new line called Linkt that they will only be available at the 10 retailers across country that have Espinosa-branded cigar lounges. The name was selected as a way to emphasize the strong connection between the company and the lounges. I think that's a smart move. Yes.
I saw this. The cigar is a 6 1/2 by 48 short Churchill that uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper atop a Nicaraguan binder and filler, with production handled by the Lozona Cigar Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The Linkt is blended in Eric's Wheelhouse, a medium-bodied smoke with spice notes that he and our fans love. Also, it was made in what I believe is our best Vitola, the short Churchill, said Hector Alfonso, director of operations for Espinosa Premium cigars.
Alfonso added that while the line will be an ongoing production, there will be blend and size changes from time to time. Smart. Smart, that is smart. I thought that was good.
I was going to make that comment. Yeah. Like, you know, the only thing I would have done is, you know, make it... Change it up every once in a while.
annually or whatever. Right. It will be available in the coming days at the following retailers. The company said it would start, begin shipping the cigars this week.
Do you know all the Espinosa? I do not. I didn't either. I didn't know there was a cigar.
Caravan Cigars is one of them. Caribbean Cigars. Caribbean is definitely one of them. Caribbean.
Yeah, Allen's definitely one. Life and Times in Lithonia, Georgia. Allegheny Smokeworks in Blahnocks, Pennsylvania. Yep.
Executive Cigars, Simpsonville, Kentucky. I've been there. The Stogie Smoke Shop, Huber Heights, Ohio. Burn, Premium Cigar Specialist, Burnsville, Minnesota, Cordova Cigars, Pensacola, we've both been there, or no, you haven't been to the panel, have you?
Yeah, several times. Burn One in Margate, I haven't been there. Caravan Cigar Company in Bath, Pennsylvania, and Cigar & Lounge, Watertown, Massachusetts. Interesting.
What does it- A lot of East Coast, not a lot of West Coast stuff. Um, Minnesota, I guess, is the further- That's the Midwest. - Yeah, but that's the furthest of that direction. - Yeah.
- What does it take to become an Espinosa cigar line? - You gotta have, you gotta beat him at, what's that shit called? - Cornhole. - Thank you.
- You gotta beat him at Cornhole. - There's a Cornhole Championship. - Well, we did that. - No, you didn't beat him.
- You didn't beat him? - Bro. - Yeah, whatever his story is. - Bro, you didn't beat me.
- You didn't beat me. - You didn't beat me, bro. - You have to beat. - Jake said you gotta let him win.
I went, fuck that, I ain't letting him win. - You gotta beat Eric Espinosa in Domino's. That's how it works. And normally the 10 that have won have actually just drugged him, and then he woke up.
Like Mr. T, somebody comes back, pats him on the back. Have you ever played a Spanish person in Domino's? That's serious stuff, man.
Wait a second, wait a second. You will die. Wait a second. From Spain?
No, not Spain. Wait, wait, wait. Have you ever played Erik Espinosa in fucking anything? Are you kidding me?
Yes, I have. That guy wants to fucking win to the 10th degree. There's no way around it. Is there death involved?
Look, I have heard stories-- He's very loud. I've seen him play dominoes. I have heard stories about him playing dominoes and him getting pissed off at his partner for not setting it up so that he could win, even if they won the fucking game. He's like, no, no, I should have been able to win.
Bro, I was supposed to win. Yeah, you know, so I know, like, the guy wants to win. It's like a very-- The guy's got a good mentality. Very intense spades game.
Yeah, dude. Yeah, I'd hate to see him in prison, man. People would be fucking dying. Oh, waiting, it's better.
Oh, waiting, it's better. To add to the specialness of the release, each retailer will receive a custom humidor with original hand-painted art from Eden Gutierrez that depicts an image of each lounge's storefront. Gutierrez has previously done the artwork for Espinosa's La Six Provincia and Warzone. La Six Provincia.
Oh, I like that box. It's nice. All right. All right.
That's nice. That's cool. That was nice. All right.
Otero Fuentes' Impossible Collection begins shipping. Yep. A 13 cigar sampler containing rare and some previously unreleased Arturo Fuente cigars is heading to stores. Yep.
Ooh, do you have a list? Not of the stores, no. I have a list of what's in it, though. S.
stores. Fuente, uh, okay, here's the list. Fuente Fuente Opus 20 Year Celebration Double Corona. Yep.
Very long names in all of these. Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Lancero. Ooh. I mean, you don't have to read them all off.
- Oh. - It's a lot of their limited, hard, super-kamami-ass stuff. - What's the most rarest one? - I think that there's three or four of them that are extremely hard to come across.
- Go ahead, fucking read the list. - No, no, no, I'm just reading for them. There's two of them, which are regular production, but there's 11 cigars range from releases that the company makes, but does not sell. Like the Don Carlos Lancero, PJ and Toymaker, two cigars like the Opus X 25 or Opus X 2020 cigars, which have been sold in limited fashion.
Right. Arturo Fuentes declined to list the MSRP for the Impossible Collection using the industry standard margins. Consumers should expect to pay $2,600 per box. Yeah, good luck with that.
Before applicable local taxes. Good luck with that. I think the average is somewhere between $3,700 and $4,800 or something. Oh, wow.
Yeah, when we were looking, it's high. Yeah. But it's called the Impossible Collection. Half-wheel is reporting it is probably closer to $2,300.
I like how Half Wheel does that. Do they buy those ones? First of all, I don't think that it's fair to quantify something like that. Because for one, how many products did the retailer have to purchase in order to obtain that, right?
I don't know. What was, how many kidneys did you have to give them? Well, I could tell you that I'm a little more lethargic now. Gotcha.
You know? Should have used Greg. Look at his kidney. There were several organs that had to be given up.
You know, but it'll be interesting to see where that finishes off as far as their their overall kind of average and price point. Do you think these things sell fast or you think they sit? I think it's a high price. I think that it is kind of expensive and it is kind of a niche market as far as that that price range.
Anything that's going to be, I mean, shit, even if it was MSRP at 2500 or above, you know, it's a smaller pool of consumers. Only 500 boxes were shipped. That's not a lot. No, no, that's not a lot.
But if you smoke Fuente, this is like the thing. This is like what you've been wanting. I think that honestly, this is one of those things that sells out relatively quickly. And if you find yourself with it as a retailer, it'll be gone by Christmas.
You know, it's like, what do you get the guy, the Fuente guy, that can have access to absolutely everything? You give him the Impossible Collection, and then he puts it with his other three Impossible Collections that he already has. Right, I couldn't smoke any of them. If I happened to have come across one and bought it.
I would have to smoke them when you died. Right, I would, like, I've never got to see that. I got these from Mr. Fuente himself.
He actually handed them. Carlito handed them right to me. I'm gonna have a dried SPC as well. Alright, HVC Hotcakes Golden Line begins shipping.
Why are we smoking on the Patreon this week? We have those. Do we? Yes.
The Golden Lines? We have the Golden Lines. There was something else that you were talking about that we wanted to do. Oh, well, yeah, but that didn't work out well, so...
The Papasaka? Papasaka has shipped. Yeah, we received a small allocation from our order, and they're gone. Oh, they went out already?
Well, there's no need to. We did an event in store, so I wanted to, you know, like, you gotta take care of your local people, so... The Golden Line is the sister line to the company's popular hot cake line. We can do the HVC, that's fine.
Well, it's not here yet, though. Right, that's what I mean, so... See, that's why you put the Saka off, because they weren't here yet, and now they've come and gone. Yeah, so.
Tuesday. No, I think we should do the Papa Saka. All right. Yeah.
It's delicious. Hey, Phil's already smoked it. Listen, Phil, that's Patreon information, sir. You just gave it all the way for free.
All right. I mean, for fuck's sake. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. All of this, this whole world that we live in, it costs money, okay?
And we rely on the sponsorship of our Patreons to carry us forward. So please like and subscribe to our Patreon, for the love of God. If you guys would like to know what Boots thinks of it. Right, that's just Phil's opinion.
Boots does the Patreon. This is why you'll be wearing the luchador outfit for the first of the month. Oh boy. Instead of the original, yeah, the whole outfit, the whole outfit, the cape and everything.
The original Hot Cakes Mexican San Andreas wrapper over Nicaraguan tobacco. The Hot Cakes Golden Line uses a Nicaraguan Connecticut wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa, Nicaragua. It has made the company's Fabrica de Tobacco HVC SA de Ranier Lorenzo. There's a lot of days in there, huh?
I love Lorenzo, man. Factory Nestle offered in four regular production sizes. And then there's four sizes. HVC Hot Cake Golden Line offers a mild to medium flavor profile, perfect for those who appreciate a well-balanced smoke, said the company in a press release.
When the cigar was announced last month, the flavors are smooth and rich with cedar. I can't do that. You've got to say Beto, Beto, Beto, Beto, Beto, Beto. With cigar, leather, and cocoa notes that are sure to delight your senses.
Delight the senses. I've got a Florida story, then I'm done. What was the last cigar he came out with before this one? That's okay, Pedro couldn't make the party because he had to do it.
You know, well, John Gergelet didn't show up either. He texted me, he said he couldn't make it. And I had all sorts of potato jokes for John Kearney, who did not show up. You know, dude, okay, so wait a second, listen, he didn't even acknowledge my text response, because he said, hey, not going to make it, blah, blah, blah, I said, no worries, odds of you arriving were about 20%, but that is officially two birthday invites that you have passed on, because he blew off the last one when we went to cigars on the app, and then he got all uppity about it, he's like, hey, sick invite, thanks for having, thanks for inviting me, and I'm like, I fucking did, bro, I did invite you.
And he caught you, and you didn't show. Yeah. The Bulldogs run a cruise I saw, so that's why they weren't there. I like that you know pretty much the whole list of people who were supposed to be there.
Well, I noticed who didn't show. Well, I've, you know, we've been friends for like 10 years. I know your cigar circle. Howie showed up.
You do. Yeah, Howie and his wife. I love his wife. She's so sweet.
Howie's fucking amazing too, man. I like them, man. They're great people. Yeah.
Well, when we did the cigar walk a couple of weeks ago? Yeah. He sort of walked past me and didn't say anything because my back was sorted to him, but I gave him shit for not doing it because he walked past and went to Boots. Right.
So now he overly says hello and goodbye to me every time he comes in and out. Yes, yes. Yeah, he's a good dude. I like Howard.
You have to shake his hand every time he's in. Yes. Hand and shaking a hug. Yes.
Yeah. All right. Manatee of the Florida Aquarium died. I heard about this.
From a sex injury. Yes. Oh my God. He's banging his brother.
Wow. Okay, that's it. That's where I was up this week's show, ladies and gentlemen. It's a whole-page story, and then you just go, ah, he fucked his brother.
Synopsis. Listen. Spoiler alert. Look, when you're stuck in a cage, you know what I mean?
You do whatever you gotta do, I guess. I don't know. Manatee and Garrett, the Moat Marine Laboratory Aquarium, died from an injury caused during a sexual encounter with his brother. Before I read the story, I thought it was a brother-sister, but no, no.
That was brother-brothers. Two brothers. " Hugh, a 38-year-old manatee who had been at Moat Marine in Sarasota since 1986, died in April. At the time, the lab said Hugh showed a change in his behavior and then became unresponsive.
However, they recently published a necropsy findings. The report on the manatee's death according to multiple media outlets such as the Sarasota Herald and Tribune. Big story, everybody's happy. 5 centimeter rip in his colon.
5? Wait a second, so it was... Centimeters. Oh, centimeters.
So, he was raped and he was... Yes. Tore his colon. See, manatees are violent.
And other traumatic injuries caused by a sexual encounter with Hugh's brother, Buffet. Buffet. Buffet. A larger manatee.
Buffet. Buffet. Well, I didn't know, I thought maybe they said it different, but why would you name him Buffet? He likes to eat a lot?
No, they're big, fat, round things. He's as big as the Buffet, bro. Yeah. His name was Boba Fett.
He was named after the fucking bounty hunter. Yeah, Boba Fett. Good to be. The facility failed to handle Hughes expeditiously and as carefully as possible to prevent trauma and physical harm, resulting in the death of the animal.
We have spoken to Buffet, and we have recommended lube moving forward. Well, they're in the water. Apparently it's not a salt. Palmer will post a picture right here in the Middle East, too.
It's not fresh water. There's only a picture of the dead one. It's not fresh water. Yeah, what was the dead one's name?
Hugh. Bleeding colon, as well. Finally, in the direction of the veterinarian's... How they're trying to get him to stop fucking his brother.
Goddammit, Buffet. I didn't know this was a problem. Cut that up. Turn the hose.
They're in the water. We're going to have to separate them. We're going to have to separate them. I didn't know this was a problem in the manatee community.
Well, you know, like I said, it's like a prison for them. They're stuck in this cage and it's only having this, you know, it's like, hey, look, it's not going to suck itself. And his hands don't reach. Well, because separation previously caused undue anxiety and negative effects in both manatees.
In an effort to redirect the manatee's attention and decrease undesirable behaviors, Animal care staff used positive reinforcement tools such as high-value reward and enrichment that had proofs. Don't fuck your brother. Here's some cabbage. Here's some fish.
Cabbage, whatever they eat. Don't give them no, listen, that's why the fish run away in fucking fear. Fuck the getting eaten part. Dude, God forbid, I mean, what, we couldn't call a prostitute manatee and work her in there?
Inflatel, they get inflatel one or something. Or a robot one, like AI style. Eat a big rubber one and throw it in the tank. Manatee fleshlight?
I mean, come on. Throw a dolphin in there. Dolphins are really weird anyway. Oh my god, not the dolphin, come on man, the dolphin can run away, a female dolphin, yeah, oh yeah, they're really fast, I think compared to the manatee, yeah, apparently Buffet is a lot faster than Hugh, too, yeah, apparently Hugh, oh no, here he goes, oh god damn it, not again, not again, could you imagine this chase, it's two miles an hour, it's just going, he got him, I'm coming, I'm coming, it's a slow death, shake that edge, I feel like heads should roll, someone should You should be fired for this.
This is murder of a dangerous animal. S. Fish and Wildlife Services. Hugh and Buffet took part in what the lab called Voluntary Behavior Research to Aid in Manatee Conservation.
So they encouraged this? So what you're saying is government guidelines, maybe not so much, don't work out 100% of the time. Oh, could be. Hey, don't do that.
Don't let the government control the manatee. If I have a little day sex, it's fine. I want to be okay. I want a whole upheaval.
Justice for Hugh. Justice for Hugh. Exactly. I'm all about this.
Oh, we're making a sign putting up this for the banner for this big show. Justice for Hugh is the name of the show. Exactly. Justice for Hugh.
Poor guy. By the way, my cap, it's dry, but it was perfect. I had no issues. Even the barber pole is coming off on mine.
Oh. Yours must have been stuck on the light or something. The Manatees are also known for their usual... Oh, these are the two guys that picked the Super Bowl, too.
Not anymore. Well, Buffet still does. Well, did Buffet pick the right one last time? Let's see.
Hugh correctly picked the Kansas City Chiefs to win. Exactly. That's why you're out of the equation, Hugh. Yeah.
It's not a go fuck yourself, Hugh. It's a, I'm gonna fuck you, Hugh. It's not always about being the winner. He lost the bet, apparently.
Like, oh, I guess you won again, huh? Hmm. That's right. Here's what the winner gets.
Huh! Oh, God. Phil. Oh, God.
That's all I got. You got a Listener of the Week? We got a Shop of the Week. I know what the job is.
Oh, my God. Do I have a Listener of the Week? We have a Shop of the Month. Oh, Shop of the Month.
Yeah. Somebody shot. Shop of the Month Secreto Cigars. Oh, Secreto.
Secreto. Is it pronounced Secreto? Oh, God. No, tell him Secreto.
So that way when we go. I'm saying Secreto. I'm saying Secreto. We're at Secreto.
Hey, we at Secreto. Look at this. Come on, Chad. Come on in.
Come on in. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Did you bring your banjo? Only open 12 to 7.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I love that. That's not what the banner says. I changed the banner.
It says 12 to 7. I thought it was 6 to 11 like every other event we ever do anywhere. No, man. No, 12 to 7.
It's a midday buffet. I wonder why no one's coming here. 6 o'clock, everybody shows up, we close in an hour. Shop fast.
You know, you know, what's really kind of fascinating, though, is like, if you go to other shops and you visit other places, you'll see that there's really unique dynamics for time and where their waves are. So you could assume that it's a 6 to 11 thing. Right. But, I mean, I was at Cigars on the Ave, uh, dropping off some postañas at 3:30, place was fucking packed.
Yeah. Place was fucking packed. Who was there at 3:30? Every fucking 55-year-old plus guy that owns their own business that's done for Friday, they're going home.
Oh, because you were there on Friday. Well, one day they were all there at like 11. No, you were there on Thursday. No, I was there Friday.
I was there Thursday. Oh, then you went back on Friday. Yeah, and on the Thursday there was a lot of people there too. And that was just when they opened.
Yeah, just opened. It's pretty much the same guys. So they have like lunch there, they go to check in for a little bit of work, they go home or they go back. They don't serve food, do they?
No, no, they have lunch. Oh, they have lunch and then go there. Well, lunch is like their hour for lunch, right? Hour, right, right, right.
They go hang out, they smoke their bullshit. So, I could see the dynamic being different as a 12 to 7 thing or whatever, it makes sense. Hmm. Especially on a Saturday.
Yeah, I should say at least it's Saturday. They have a whole bunch of Boots and Palmers there. Ah. I hang out.
So, what are we doing after 7? Are we getting embedded in a decent hour or something? Is there any other places you want to go while we're out there? I said nobody else carries your stuff up there, did it?
No, not really. You know, we'll see. You know how I go. You know how I operate.
Well, yeah, but sometimes you have another place. You know what would be fantastic is if we got out of there at a reasonable time, we actually had like a respectable dinner somewhere, we ate, and we went to fucking bed at a normal time. Oh, that'd be nice. Normal business hours.
Make sure you get connecting rooms. I know you get in two rooms. See if you can get connecting rooms. Why?
For the shenanigans. I want no shenanigans. No, no, no, Boots and I are going to be staying at a Hilton, and I'll get you guys like some Motel 8 or something. Oh, okay, that's fine, we don't care.
I don't want to spoil, I don't want to spoil it. Yeah, I don't want to spoil it, I understand, I can believe it. You got to keep it real. You got a Listener of the Week?
I don't have a Listener of the Week. You know, pick one. Oh, I got one. I got one.
Mr. Walpert! That's exactly who's who. Yeah, Listener of the Week.
He just made another trip up here as he gave us all these lovely challenge coins. He did, they're really cool. They are. Do a lot of people know about the, the car?
Yeah. Well, yeah. He said it might be time to revisit this fall. Yeah.
He said he might be moving it over or whatever. We'll have to send him some new decals. Yeah. Yeah, he gives a check for a hundred bucks.
The new car and everything. New engine. He's got a new engine coming, he said. But you know what?
Listen, how cool is the fucking cigar industry where, like, I've established a friendship with this guy, and so have you, over years. I mean, he popped in once. I didn't get to see him the last time. Oh, and it was only fair that you greeted him this time, and I didn't.
It's kind of cool. You have this relationship, even though this friendship that's been cultivated through the social media webs. We're going to have to make it out there one day. All the way to California?
Cali, baby. What I need to do... Is there accounts out there? There's a couple.
What I need to do is I need to do it right after PCA. You're already out there. I'm not sure though it's Louisiana. No, no, no, it's Las Vegas.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, it's Vegas this upcoming year for March. Oh, then the following year, 2020. And you need to go spend, you know, if you're already on that side, you should go kill three more days hitting the California accounts and stuff.
I mean, I'd love to see Ken Wu. He's out there. He's a good dude. Who?
Ken Wu. Who? Ken Wu. Wow.
He's cool as shit. You know, Rick Fernandez, 3-in-1 cigars. I mean, there's a bunch of good guys that you don't really get to go hang out with, And I've never been to Cali. Me either.
Oh. You know, and when my acting career starts taking off, I'm going to have to get a little bit familiar. Oh, by the way, we have to do our Cameo. Oh, yeah.
Our Cameo intro. We might not have time today. All right. Oh, we can do it after with the Patreon.
Oh, people can access us on Cameo now? Once we get our intro video. We're almost there. We're almost there.
Yeah. We've been accepted and everything. Yeah. Our account has been created.
Nice. Yes. All right. That's it.
That's all I got. That's all I got. I think that's a great way to end it. All right, guys.
Thank you. It's been episode 292 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. All right, bye. Bye.
Show Notes
Title: A Cigar Hustlers Podcast - Episode 292 "Justice for Hugh"
Description:
In this episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the hosts dive into various exciting topics from the world of cigars and beyond. They start with a "Knock at the Cabin" movie review, discussing a recent film that has caught their attention.
Next, the hosts explore the latest developments from Hong Kong, where the government is contemplating a generational tobacco ban, higher taxes on tobacco products, and the implementation of plain packaging. These potential changes could have a significant impact on the cigar industry and enthusiasts in the region.
Also, they discuss the new "Linked" line in Espinosa-branded lounges, providing insights into this exciting addition to the cigar market.
Moreover, they cover the news that Arturo Fuente's much-anticipated "Impossible Collection" has begun shipping, creating a buzz among cigar aficionados worldwide.
In addition, the hosts share their thoughts on the recently launched HVC Hot Cake Golden Line and what it means for cigar enthusiasts seeking new experiences.
Switching gears, they address an unfortunate incident at a Florida aquarium, where a manatee tragically died due to a sex injury, as reported by the USDA. They discuss the implications of such incidents and their impact on conservation efforts.
Tune in to this episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast for a captivating blend of cigar news, reviews, and intriguing stories from around the world. Whether you're a seasoned cigar aficionado or just getting into the hobby, there's something for everyone in this episode.