A Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 346 George and the Smoking Bear

Episode Summary

Episode 346 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast finds Mike Szczepankiewicz and Mike "BDP" Palmer flying solo (Phil is at the beach mid-hurricane) while smoking a giant La Gloria Cubana for the Patreon segment. The first half is a candid, often barbed recap of El Oso Fumar's 300th episode cigar-media panel, which Palmer appeared on alongside John McTavish, Aaron Loomis, Coop, Thor of Cigar Press, Tripp, and longtime Cigar Aficionado figure George Brightman-style "OG" George — whose lengthy self-introduction, claimed role in the creation of AVO Cigars and Davidoff's U.S. presence, and insistence that Cigar Aficionado single-handedly caused the 1990s cigar boom become a running gag for the rest of the show. The hosts debate what actually counts as "cigar media," whether podcasts are media or entertainment, and how much credit magazines deserve for the boom versus simply being in the right place at the right time.

The news block covers Scandinavian Tobacco Group's mid-year price increase across General Cigar and Forged Cigar Company lines — Alec Bradley, CAO, Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Macanudo, Partagás and Room 101 among them — with hikes running roughly 60 cents to $1.40 and no stated reason, alongside the simultaneous discontinuation of CAO Nicaragua and CAO Maduro. Other stories include the Los Statos Deluxe Connecticut (blended by Matt Booth and Justin Andrews at Joya de Nicaragua), Gurkha's Year of the Dragon collaboration series with Oliva, A.J. Fernandez, E.P. Carrillo and Oscar Valladares, a Cigars International–exclusive Habano version of Drew Estate's Chateau Real, Room 101 The Big Payback Maduro returning in 7x70, and La Flor Dominicana's 30th Anniversary humidor with 60 Chisel-shaped cigars.

The centerpiece interview is a surprise call to Eric Bay of Black Star Line Cigars, who confirms the brand has acquired its own warehouse and pulled distribution in-house after being handled by Illusione since February 2022. Bay — reportedly wearing no drawers while packing boxes — explains there's no bad blood with Illusione, that he'd run his own distribution out of his basement before, and that he's glad to have "all his kids" back under one roof. The episode wraps with Shop of the Week Lake Country Cigars, Listener of the Week Mario Tomas, and a plug for the August 16 Powstanie Cigars meet-and-greet at Cigar Hustler.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Patreon Smoke: A Giant La Gloria Cubana
   The hosts light up an oversized new La Gloria Cubana release while Phil vacations through a Florida tropical storm.
2. 02
   Recapping El Oso Fumar's 300th Episode Media Panel
   Palmer's appearance on the cigar-media roundtable with John McTavish, Aaron Loomis, Coop, Thor and Tripp gets a blow-by-blow review.
3. 03
   George, Cigar Aficionado and the Cigar Boom Debate
   A running argument over whether Cigar Aficionado actually caused the 1990s boom, plus George's claimed role in AVO Cigars and Davidoff's U.S. arrival.
4. 04
   What Counts as Cigar Media?
   The hosts question whether podcasters are media, entertainment, colleagues or just friends who bust each other's chops at PCA.
5. 05
   STG Price Increases and CAO Discontinuations
   Scandinavian Tobacco Group raises prices 60 cents to $1.40 across General and Forged lines while killing off CAO Nicaragua and CAO Maduro.
6. 06
   Eric Bay Call-In: Black Star Line Goes In-House
   Black Star Line Cigars' owner explains leaving Illusione's distribution, buying a warehouse, and the growing pains of handling his own shipping.
7. 07
   New Release Roundup
   Los Statos Deluxe Connecticut, Gurkha's Year of the Dragon series, a CI-exclusive Chateau Real Habano, Room 101 Big Payback 7x70, and LFD's 30th Anniversary humidor.
8. 08
   Shop, Listener of the Week and Powstanie Event
   Lake Country Cigars and Mario Tomas get shout-outs ahead of the August 16 Powstanie meet-and-greet at Cigar Hustler.

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

Everybody stand by. Industry is in the house. It's what I've been, who I am, all the ways I've grown. Blood in the sweat, tears are regretting my own stone.

B. Yeah, I'm dead, it's my destiny, make way for the king. It's been a long time, can't be stopped, shootin' my shot. Another Mike and Mike production in three, three, two, two, one, one, zero.

Yeah. There you go, we're going with that. Oh, we can't turn it down. Recorded live at the Mike and Mike Productions Studio in Delta, Florida, this is the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show where two guys share their passion for cigars, businesses, and life, join Mike, the King, Szczepan Kiewicz, and his co-host, Mike BDP Palmer, National Sales Manager for Postage Cigars, as they talk about the latest cigars, reviews, and interviews some of the most influential people in the cigar industry, and me, I'm still Mike Palmer's National Sales Manager.

Whether you're a seasoned aficionado or new to cigars, this podcast is for you, so sit back, relax, and light up a cigar with the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. But a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on Patreon. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to deliver unfiltered, unbiased opinions on all things cigars and personalities in the cigar world.

Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners. Cheers to you! " What do we got for the Patreon? Today we are smoking this giant donkey dick.

Uh, what is this? Oh really? I just dropped mine. So go ahead.

I don't know, what is that word? It's a La Gloria Cubana. La Gloria Cubana new one. It's like Gran Lugado or some shit like that.

Gran Lugado. It's the new one or some shit. Leonardo DiCaprio says on it or something. These things are huge.

Leonardo DiCaprio. This is going to be an extra long Patreon because look at the size of this. Yeah. That's probably not going to be an extra long Patreon.

Are you going to light that up right now? Yeah, I got nothing else to do. We're a man down today because he's at the beach. Literally.

Well, Phil is at the beach. Phil is at the beach with boots. Yeah. They're having some type of romantic vacation getaway in the middle of a hurricane.

He was going to come back just for the show. Yeah, right, that's stupid. Dude, you're on vacation, man, come on. Yeah, no, that's fine.

He only mentioned he was out there with his daughter, is it just the two of them having a daughter-daddy day or something? I have no idea. He didn't say anything else about it. Well, there's Bootsville and Boots' daughter.

It's fantastic. Well... Yes, good for him. Yeah, good for you, good for you, Phil.

Yes. I wish I could take vacation. You did. Last month.

I still worked. When you're self-employed, Michael, there is no actual off. There is no official off. There is no really off.

Oh, my goodness. But, uh, his, uh, Boots' office is closed over there. There was nobody there today. Shut it down, baby.

So they completely shut down. Shut it down. Oh, you know what, that's not recording. What's not recording?

Is the memory card in there? Yes. Are you sure? Yes, I cleaned it up and put it in there.

It's not red. Well, it's recording over there though, right? Everything looks red over there. Somebody's flashing.

Why? That's not new. That's not normal to be flashing. I'll check real quick.

All right. This may or may not have recorded the intro. It's still recording. But why is it flashing?

What is flashing? On air is flashing. Are we broadcasting live? No space on the memory card.

I cleaned it off. It's empty. It's empty. I even, uh, apparently it, it saves thumbnails too.

So like there's, uh, there was two places to empty stuff. I saw that it said zero minutes. So, uh, I hope to God that it's not normally flashing. Oh, well, I love it.

It's on air. But we don't know if it's recording. It says it's recording. Have some faith.

Having faith. So, hey, how you been? You know, if we fucked this up, Phil's gonna be like, oh, see, you can't do it. We can't do it without me.

Let's make sure it's not fucked up. If it is, we don't tell him. If it is fucked up, we tell him, you know what, we waited. So come in tomorrow.

You know, we'll help out. Oh no, I won't be here tomorrow. Don't come in, come in Wednesday. You know, we decided to hold off.

Look at this thing. This is huge. Yeah. Yeah.

Show the camera. I did. Look at that thing. Oh wait, you have to do that thing where you...

That's right. What the hell? So it doesn't have to focus? Yeah, so it focuses on that.

I have to remember, oh, tonight, time this comes out, I will have been on, how about that cigar? Yeah, how did it go? It was excellent. I did a great job.

I was fantastic as well. Yes. Very captivating. Yes.

I explained how I invented cigars. I thought you were the original creator. Apparently. Hmm.

All right, so what'd you do? Uh, let's see. Any hurricane prep? No, man.

Give me a fucking break. Are you kidding me? Can you hold this for me while I smoke it? No, I cannot.

What's the deal with this storm? It was an arguable, possible Category 1. What do we get, some rain? Yeah, here we're, I'll save this for later.

It's just too hard to mess with. Yeah, we were just supposed to get some rain at the boat, but we've had tornado warnings since yesterday, or watches. I don't know, whichever one, they haven't seen it yet. We've had a couple of water spouts.

There's a new thing they started doing, there's a cyclone, what, the Tropical Cyclone Advisory they keep stretching out? That's if, yeah. I had to Google it, I had no idea what it meant. They're just trying to sell it.

Alexa keeps telling me that the National Weather Service has extended the cyclone, Tropical Cyclone Warnings. Look man, at the end of the day, if you're a Floridian... Get a little tobacco on your front, do I? I mean, they'll never see it on camera, but it's annoying the hell out of me.

Okay, perfect, nice, there's your smile. If you're a Floridian... Yes. You ain't even fucking looking at the news for this motherfucker.

Not a category one, no, maybe even a three we don't look. Not a direct hit, category one, not only are we not looking at the news, we're going about our day, like nothing happened. Right, yeah, we went out shopping yesterday, and we needed some new clothes for work. We went out and had dinner at, we were doing some school shopping.

Yes. Was it tax-free day? There was a lot of people out yesterday. Yes.

That's what Adrian said, too. Yeah, we went out and we ate at a place called Murano's, like an Italian place. I don't know, sounds familiar. It's down by the Altamont, the lake thing thing.

Oh, okay. Really good. Yeah, it was nice. Is it on the left, as you're driving down that road?

It depends upon which way you're coming. Well, you're coming from Lake Merrill Boulevard, that way? No. Oh.

No. You're not even close. Oh, alright, never mind, different place. But it was really good, you know, Brittany and I were talking, we're like, man, it'd take us over 10 years to get to this place.

It's pretty good. Was it just the two of you? No, of course not. I didn't know maybe it was a date night.

You know, it was like Oregon Trail, bro. Maybe it's a date night. You got to bring the whole fucking... You guys do go out on occasion, just the two of you.

Yeah, but not on a Sunday. Well, I don't know. Maybe it was on a day. It's more like a weekday thing.

Oh, is it really? Yeah. Why is that? Babysitter's cheaper during the week?

Uh, no, I just think that where you, you know, there's so much things are going on come the weekend. Right. That you can't get away. Oh, gotcha.

With all the children's. Mm-hmm. Girl, we did that, uh, we're on this quest because we got this baptism coming up in Alabama. Oh!

So we had to acquire clothes for the kids. Supplies. Oh. Oh, so everybody's going, are you driving?

Oh, yeah. Oh, where in Alabama are you going? Uh, I don't know. Something's tickling my nose.

Birmingham? Birmingham? Oh, that's not even down in the southern part, is it? I don't know.

I think Birmingham's further up. I'm just driving. How long? I think it's like eight hours or some shit.

That's Mobile. Eight hours of Mobile. Mobile? That's where I was born.

Oh, really? Yeah, just right across the border. Now it's all making sense. Now it all makes sense.

How did you not know that? So your father is your brother as well? No, they only live there six months. How can my father be my brother?

I don't know. It's weird. I'm sure there's a way, probably, somehow, this is your brother, and your dad, right, so, uh, so we're doing this quest for school stuff, right, don't they have uniforms, and yeah, but you have to acquire, acquire supplies, right, and I say we're doing this, Brittany's doing this, Brittany's doing this quest, Brittany's doing this quest, yes, Brittany's doing this quest, school stuff, I should get that right, or next week we get a phone call, she ordered this, she bought paper, regular eight and a half by ten, kids still use paper, yeah, do they really, but that was, That's the one thing that kind of threw me off, off the rip, right? 5x10 paper.

5x11? 5x11 is what is required. Did she get it at some second-hand store? 5x10s.

Is it really? Yeah. 5x11 is a weird size. Like printer paper, professional paper.

5x10. No, is it really? Yeah. 5x11.

No. 5x11. But it just takes 10s? You know, I didn't.

Like a 5x7 picture? All I can tell you is that the, you know, maybe I'm fucking up the dimensions, but the dimensions that are normally available. Right. Like lined, ruled notebook paper.

Yeah. And the one that's requested for this particular class or school, this one because it's middle school now for Jacks. Oh, that's right. It's a weird size.

" It's not 8 1/2 by 10 either. Or is it 8? What's the weird size? I think it's 8 1/2 by 11.

Sounds like a teacher might have just fucked up. Oh, no, they exist. We're on a quest to go for it. Oh, I'm sure they exist.

You can't just Amazon that and just be done with it? That's what we had to wind up doing. Oh, I go there first. No, Amazon tends to be a little bit more expensive when it comes to school supplies.

Oh, does it really? Mm-hmm. Just figuring for the convenience. Yeah.

Save the money on the gas. I think Brittany likes the quest. You're driving all around looking for it. Yeah, one year I had to find a special backpack or something for Connor because they changed the rules or something.

Yeah. Yeah, I went everywhere. Was it like clear or some shit? No, it had to have wheels, but it could only get a certain color and a handle.

I don't remember. I had to have a handle. I think that's when they were on the kick with kids' bags are too heavy and they can't wear them on their back anymore. Save their backs.

Save their backs. I mean, normally they'd be out on the farm working or some shit. Right. Give me a break.

Do they still use, kids don't bring them books, do they? Yeah. Do they really? I mean, they're supposed to.

My kids probably don't. Oh, no. They don't get like, I mean, you're at a fancy school. They don't have like laptops and...

No. iPads and... Nah. the schools issue these now.

I think they have an iPad. Oh. But, regardless. It's not like two sets of books, one they keep there, one they keep at home?

No, no, no. They don't do lockers, do they? No. Yeah, nobody does lockers anymore.

It's too dangerous. It's too dangerous. They hide things. Yeah.

Dirty kids hide stuff. You can build a grow house in that locker. Right. Keep alleged weapons of sorts.

And then can you search it? Can't you search it? Can the dog sniff it? It's all sorts of problems.

I feel like a dog can sniff it. Snurf it. Snurf it? Snurf it.

Snurf it. I'm sorry. I was up extremely late last night. Why is he eating the green eggs in hand snurfing?

I was up extremely late last night doing El Osofumar's 300th episode. Oh, I saw. I actually saw this morning. I didn't get my reminder last night.

Oh, I thought you poked in. So you just only watched afterwards? I watched it this morning. Well, actually, I intended to watch this morning.

I woke up to it as a featured post on the FaceyBookie thing. So I grabbed my earpod so that I could do stuff and listen. Right. I didn't get past the last guy's intro.

Well, I hope you got some time to go because it's four hours long. Oh, thank God I had to listen to the whole thing. It's longer than the Titanic movie. Apparently, yes.

They could have raised it and sank it. So the one guy was bothering you? Yes. Yes.

The last gentleman, I believe it was the last one to be introduced. Yeah. George. The cigar aficionado guy.

Yeah, I have his name because I had to screenshot it, zoom in, blow it up so I could see the name because I had no idea who he was. Yeah. And he had a terrible microphone set up. I mean, dude, the guy's an OG.

Well, when I Googled him to find, I had no idea who he was. Yeah. He had done some other, he had done some, uh, coop shows and, uh, coop Networking shows, and maybe even developing pallets, I don't remember, but he hasn't done anything in like the last two years. I was on a hiatus.

Apparently. Who knows. But his personal introduction to himself, about himself, and the cigars he was smoking, and why he was smoking, was so long. Yeah.

So dry. Guy can talk. So, I'm the greatest type stuff, I didn't watch the rest of the show. Oh, I thought he was pretty insightful.

I assumed the rest of the show would go that way with him because he had already over-spoke some people during their intros. Yeah. There was like a 10-minute sports update when a show first comes on before he actually starts the show. Oh, there was a sports update?

Well, you guys were talking sports. Were we? Yes. Really?

Yes, John McTavish, you, and someone else, why Bear was getting everything set up and ready. I thought I'd come in the middle of the show, actually. I kept trying to, you know, fast forward through and everything. I'm like, no, I haven't even started yet.

Bear was, you could tell that he had had some technical difficulties and he was trying to... He had mentioned that when it came on. Apparently, some, a couple people were sick. Yeah.

Couldn't make it. He had technical problems. Aaron Nielsen wasn't there. Yeah, somebody's, uh, uh, what is his name?

Tripp? Tripp showed up. Yeah, but his power was out and he turned on a generator and then the power came back on. Yeah, yeah.

So, you had to go and hook the generator? A lot of problems. I mean, you don't, listen, I think Tripp, I don't know how long he's been in Florida, but you never jumped a gun on the generator, you give it some time. Right.

Power goes out, I'm like, there's a minimum six hour window before I fucking get out there. Oh, six? Yeah, especially if it's in the evening. Right.

Like, it's not 110 degrees outside. Right, yeah. You know, I'm like, okay, they're probably gonna fix this. Adrienne had got a message that her school was without power last night.

So she, she had, uh, today's the first day the teachers come back. So there was a lot of stuff there in the refrigerator, there was some juice and stuff for the teachers. Oh my God, my juice. Breakfastes and stuff.

Yeah. And I'm like, honey, it's like a giant cooler. You're good for like six, eight hours. Yeah, it's fine.

It's a school. It'll be back on time you wake up this morning. Right. Yeah.

So apparently it was only off for like 10 minutes. Mm-hmm. I asked her this morning, she goes, oh, it was only off for a few minutes. I bet you some curmudgeon-y fucking teacher was still bent out of shape about it.

I don't know, I'm like, I don't know. I'm sure there was. You know? But not at her school.

They're all wonderful in case they listen to the show. I don't know. Yeah. Well, hey, you can tee off on George.

I'll tee off on you. Okay, yeah. The people at the new schools end up listening. Yeah.

So, apparently, George, George Wettner, Stavo or something, for bringing, he's the only reason AVO cigars were made. He helped pick the, he helped pick the artwork, all the sizes for all the cigars. Yeah. AVO's hat, apparently, too.

He picked out AVO's hat. He picked out AVO's hat. Something about that. He went with the Raiden hat.

Yeah, he went with the Raiden hat, right. That was a good look for Ava. The only reason Davidoff is in America or something I think I heard, I might be misquoting, but I think that was part of- He helped find the factory for them. Oh, yes, yes, he's the only, that was one of us.

He's the only reason they have a factory. You gotta remember back in the day, like, all of these things were tough to facilitate. 30, 40 years ago. But he's the guy.

He's the guy. He's the American that went to Nicaragua, hacked out the jungle, And found the factory. It was the Dominican Republic. Whatever it was.

Wifey. Oh! She knows you're bad mouthing her. Hello, you're on the podcast.

Oh, why? Did Michael find the paper? Did Michael find the right size paper? He's been going on about this paper.

What? The paper. The wide rule paper. The special paper that the children need for school that doesn't exist.

Oh, fuck that. No. I went to office people. I looked around.

it's a fucking it's a half an inch he's gonna be fine see it's old oh half an inch i don't know but it's like but they do make different size papers they make notebooks that have that are wide rules that are 11 by eight and a half but then when you go to buy the loose notebook paper it's 10 and a half by i don't know well there's like college ruled and regular no but is it the same size too yeah they're all the same no no no there's like different so like you could have It's like eleven and a half by eight, or it's like eleven by eight and a half, you could get college or wide wool. Yeah, eight and a half by eleven, see? Yeah. But he needs special, is this a religious thing?

Jesus likes smaller paper? Well, no, he needs the bigger one. Oh, he needs the eleven. The eleven by, yes.

All I could find is, let's see, ten and a half by eight, wide wool. Unless you like special order, I'm not doing that shit. It's fucking paper. I mean, I highly thought they're going to take out a ruler.

He's going to be having to make a list, and his isn't going to fit. He's going to raise his hand. Excuse me, Mrs. Jones, I can't get the last one on the paper.

He could turn the paper over right on the back. So how may we help you, Brynny? Well, now I forget what, oh, uh, well, I wanted to make a nail appointment for tomorrow, but my car's going into the shop, and I didn't, I was going to ask you what would be a good time, uh, for you to get your nails done. Yeah, I don't need my nails done.

Uh, no, I need my nails done. I, I don't know, pick one ever, we'll, I'll, we'll figure it out. I was going to say, I was going to tell her one o'clock. Perfect.

Okay. All right. All right. Love you.

Thank you, love you, bye. Love you, you enjoy your nails. No, it's tomorrow. I know it's tomorrow, I might not speak to you in the morning.

I have three kids hold with me today. That's, aw. Sorry. Teddy would probably like to have her nails done.

Oh, she already asked me right early this morning. I need my nails done, mommy, for the trip. Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure she has it, she forgot about it because she hasn't asked me yet, but I'm sure once she remembers. Michael, call her.

I'll text Teddy. Alright, I'll text Teddy. That's fucked up. That's fucked up.

Alright, love you. I have to go, goodbye. Goodbye. It's the life of a kept woman right there.

So, if everyone would like, tomorrow at 1:30, Miss Brittany will be getting her nails done. Mark it on your calendar. Oh my god. She's gotta be so stressed out.

Justice woke up, he's got a small fever. Oh, great. 3, he was miserable. And then Teddy's upset because you're tending to justice.

" I'm like, come on, like, give me a, but your ear doesn't, your ear doesn't hurt. Yes, daddy, your ear hurts. Your ear doesn't hurt. Bubbles' ear hurts, too.

Ugh, that dog doesn't go out in the rain, so he shit in the house. Yeah, I tried to get my three out this morning, two of them went, one of them went, ah! I was like, fuck, fuck that. No, no.

And then later he was crying at the back door, like, oh, now you gotta go, huh? I can't wait, no, no, it's too late, I gotta go out. So he did not poop in the house. Bubbles likes to shit in the house, but it's raining out.

I ain't going out there, fuck that. What about Chapo? Chapo's more terrified of me than anything. As long as you're not outside, he's a guy.

Yeah, he's like, you know what, I'll figure it out. I feel like Chapo can hold it for five days if he needed to. You know, Whiskey did there for two and a half days when the guys were putting up the fence. He would not go, he would not go at all.

The Asian guys at the backyard, I'm not going out there. So getting back to George. Oh, back to George. So is George the founder of the cigars, or is Steve Saka, because I need to know.

Well, apparently they need to have that discussion. And that, yeah. So I don't know if George is the founder of all cigars. Right.

But he is the founder of certain giant brands. Yes. So, and he, Carlito Jr. is not his friend.

The original. The original. Affected his life greatly, he said. Yeah.

I think that's almost a quote. But he's gone now. Well, not in George's eyes. He's passed away.

Not in George's eyes. I don't know, I thought it was cool talking to him. You hear some stories of old, man. Like I got a, I got a kick out of that.

You think so? I don't think so. I don't know. I don't think so.

How about the rest of the panel? Thor was on there. I don't even know who Thor is. Really?

Is that Tripp's sidekick? No. I don't know who Thor is. He owns his own magazine.

Oh yeah, Cigar Press. Yeah. Oh yeah, I didn't know who he was, but I am familiar with his magazine. Oh yeah, man.

Is Thor his real name? Yeah. Thor is his real name. Okay.

Is Trip his real name? That could be short for something. I don't know. He looks like a Trip.

I don't know. Thor does not look like a Thor. He doesn't. He kind of strikes me as a Thor.

You think so? Yeah. I don't know. " Well, he got long blonde hair, muscly.

Yeah, he walks around with a hammer. Majolna. He has an Australian accent. Majolna.

No, not an Australian accent. Well, Thor does. Yeah, well. Then you had Coop.

Yeah, Coop's on everything. Coop's on everything. Yes. The show's are about food lately.

What's going on with the cigar industry media? Were you talking about food? No, no. His show is.

He's looking for the best turkey sub or something in America. That sounds like a complete waste of time. Yes. A turkey sub?

Who the fuck wants that? Apparently, Coop. He's on a quest to find the best one. Why was Jay Davis not on there last night?

He's always in the comment section. Yeah, yeah, I saw that. He's not media. My comment feed was full of Jay Davis.

He's not in the media. He's not media. He's a retailer. He's a retailer.

No, no, he's on the board. That's still not media. Oh. Who else is on there?

How about Bear being on there? Bear does a great job. Well, it's Bear Show. He has to be on there.

The one thing about Bear Show is, Bear's like the Howard Stern of the fucking... He had strippers? No, as far as like, when you get into interviewing someone, he... He is very good at it.

He has some good questions. He has some fucking questions. So, I understand it was 300, I should say 3,000, 300th episode, and congratulations to him for hitting that milestone. We are at 346, but that's neither here nor here nor there, but what was the idea for having, since I couldn't get past George's intro, I was exhausted after that, what was the theme of the show, what did you guys all talk about?

There's a media panel, it was about perspective of media in the cigar industry, because we all kind of have different walks. Sure, they're all different shows and stuff, you haven't invented anything, you're not really friends with anybody that famous. Yeah. No, I mean, I thought it was cool that they considered, you know, that I was invited to the media.

Well, we're the number one show, Michael. Come on! But are we really media? What, what, we're entertainment?

Is that what we are? We talk about news, we give opinions, just like everybody else. We have interviews. I don't know what the fuck we are.

But we're having a good time doing it. I don't know either. As that camera doesn't record. Right.

It might just be an audio show this week, just so you know. Oh, Phil's fault. Ah, fuckin' Phil. Oh, no.

They've had their own sound effects. Second week of me not having it, and he's not here. So anyways, I thought that it went really well. I thought it was good, yeah.

Who else was on there? Was it four across? It was four across or three across? John McTavish.

He's on everything. Yeah, he's on everything. Cigar Hustle Podcast number one fan. I enjoy Mr.

McTavish. I talk to him at least once a week. Uh, yes, he is, I have a new, I have a new name for Aaron Fishstick Loomis. Oh yeah?

Yes. What's that? Uh, Aaron, King of the Ums Luna. King of the Ums?

He says ums a lot? Constantly, yeah. In his intro he did. A lot of ums.

Maybe he's a little nervous. Why would he be nervous? He does this all the time. I feel like he can be a little more jaded on his, and he probably tries to walk that back when he's on someone else's platform.

Oh, that's when you do the opposite. I mean... You watch what you say on your own show, and then you're on somebody else's, you're like, Fuck you, here we go. Oh, fuck yourselves.

I don't know. All right, who else? The dentist guy. The dentist?

He does the... He's a dentist? Yeah, the dentist. I know.

He does the pairings with Tripp. Oh, the sidekick. Yeah. I don't know.

But what I learned, which was really funny, was that it was originally his show, and now it's considered Tripp's show. Oh. Wait, now, is that the one who... You kind of took it over?

One of them bought Cigar Federation. Was that Tripp? I think so. I don't know.

Yeah, but he assumed it. And now we saw that it's not on anymore. So, congratulations. Yeah.

Oh, so the pairings was, oh, the other guy. So, he's from Dojo. Trip? No, no, the other guy.

Dennis? Wait. Dojo does a pairing show too. Oh, yeah, where was he?

Eric Goodman? Yeah, yeah, yeah. King of the Dojo. I don't know.

Oh. He's busy fucking promoting Strikeforce. Strikeforce. Oh, I know stuff about Strikeforce.

You know stuff about Strikeforce? Are you talking about Strikeforce? I don't think I could say on either show, though. Well, that's amazing.

I've already been reprimanded more than once. You know, we don't talk about Strikeforce. Yeah. First rule of Strikeforce?

We don't talk about Strikeforce. Excellent. A couple other rules, too, I've been given. I thought it was fascinating to get everybody's perspective on things.

And, you know, a lot of times I felt myself more aligned with John McTavish. McTavish. Of course. Some of Aaron's stuff.

Aaron, I'm Loomis? Yep. Aaron, I'm Loomis. Loomis.

Some of the things that Coop said. I'm like, yeah, that tracks. So you like turkey subs too? Not that we didn't talk.

Was he eating one during the show? He didn't cover the turkey subs. Thank God. That was funny.

He just whipped one out. But he did. Hey, can I have eaten one from public? I mean, he just talked about specific things and perspective and stuff.

And I feel like, you know, when they asked me, you know, a colleague, Colleague, yada yada, they talked about you, we didn't watch, but I said, hey, so do you consider yourselves colleagues or competition? I was like, I don't even fucking consider myself a colleague, but thank you very much. Well, with everybody else on the show? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like a lot of you guys, I just consider friends, you know, like when we, when we roll through PCA, I'm just like, what are you guys doing? Yeah, I walk up to them and go, who are you guys talking to now? Let's go hang out, man. What are you guys doing?

I just like the bullshit with those guys. I like to interrupt. Yeah. I'd like to go get sushi with Aaron.

He doesn't eat sushi. He doesn't, no. He doesn't like it. That's, you're so mean.

All right, well... So, wait, what else did you guys talk about? I mean, was there a big difference between the press media and audio video media? No, I think that we were all kind of on the same page to a lot of things, other than the fact that George believes that Cigar Aficionado caused the entire boom of the cigar Oh my, it's because he's just a part of the magazine, obviously.

That didn't make a ton of sense to me, I just think that he was a contributing factor to it. How could, what, that's just ridiculous. It, it kind of fell at the right time. You know, it was announced, they started in 1992, and that was really when the boom started to kind of hit.

So. So because a magazine with pretty pictures and colors and, and. I think it had. Alleged purchasable ratings?

I think it had an effect on... Allegedly purchasable, I like that. I think it had a positive effect on the culture of cigars. Oh, I'm sure it did, but I don't think it affected the boom.

Probably just right place, right time. Yeah, it's just a coincidence. It affected the boom. I gotta get you a bodyguard after this one.

I don't care. Okay. So yeah, went well. He doesn't own a retail shop anymore though, correct?

I don't think so. I like my friend Jay Davis, I love Jay Davis. You gotta work on his camera and stuff. Yeah, get the thing, well, I know he's press, I mean, not press, but printed, so.

Well, he's retired. Oh, he doesn't even do it anymore? Mm-mm. Oh, well, I mean, you know, I don't know what kind of retirement I offered aficionado, but.

And he's just, you know, he stepped away, and then you could, there were times where the sound bite would take over where he was eating and stuff? You could hear that, yeah, even during the intro, that's what I mean. And he would adjust up on his table or, you know. Yes, George, you'd like to say something?

Yes, I'm right here. Just so you know, I'm here. Okay, thank you, George. All right, sorry, Loomis.

What were you saying? All right, well, hey, why don't we? Well, there had to be somebody we're forgetting. I don't want you to forget anybody, and then, you know, they get mad because we didn't mention them.

Coop was mad that he didn't get invited to the birthday party. " It was a surprise. I had no idea. Somebody yelled at me about not getting an invite.

" Would he have come? Uh, I don't know. Or he just wanted to get invited? Yeah, who knows?

He just wanted to get invited. Of course. Could I have sent you a turkey sub? That would have been nice.

I would have loved it. The best one, apparently. Once he does his research, yeah. Yeah, once he gets it all.

Gotta gather the intel. Yes. And there's a small group of people in the industry that have a thing about cheesesteaks, apparently, too, and what makes a real cheesesteak or whatever, yeah. Listen, some of the arguments in the cigar industry are just fucking ridiculous.

How do we argue? They argue about Whataburger and In-N-Out and some other shit. I'm like, look, they both suck. I don't know what to tell you.

They're fucking terrible. What do you mean they're terrible? They are. All right.

Let's get into the news. All right. Hit the news button. From the four corners of the world.

Oh, very nice. Something, something, something. Something, something, something, something, something, something, something. Mike Palmer with the Cigar News.

STG announces a price increase. So we're cutting fucking brands and we're raising fucking prices. That's the second story. Don't work ahead.

As part of the mid-year adjustment to its portfolio, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, American Tobacco Group, STG, informed retailers today that his portfolio will be undergoing price changes that will go into effect tomorrow, August 1st. So that was the other day. Right. S.

sales forces, General Cigar Company and Ford Cigar Company, did not provide a summary of the changes, leaving it to retailers to figure out which lines are increasing by which amounts. It also did not provide a reason for the increase. I did hear he got a new car. Justin?

Yeah. Might be, you know, who knows. Combined General and Ford... He chimed in at the end.

I saw that and you said, "Why are you up so late? " Combined General and Ford sell Alec Bradley, CAO... Oh, we're calling Justin Andrews? He's not gonna answer.

He's not gonna answer. Oh, it's early though. We're doing this earlier in the day today. Still not going to answer.

Still not going to answer. This is the joke he made to AJ. He's not that busy. No, he's really not that busy.

The call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. Nine, one, zero, nine, six, four, three. Oh, gosh. Let's see.

I didn't get all the way. Oh, we missed a number? But you know what's funny is I thought that it changed to like a, no, we missed three numbers. Oh.

So you have a 1 in 18 jantz, or whatever. He's probably washing his new car. Yeah, probably. Yeah, with the price increases.

S. 40. I like that they talked about how shitty the CAO Nicaragua was. yes did they last night yeah oh is that the one we just got is that him calling me no no uh no what did you know all of a sudden you stepped up there's another thing okay so uh no but like they were talking about the cao nicaragua yes and how shitty it was yes and they were talking about jack was at the company that time was working for general I just tried passing it out at the show, and they're like, no, we're good.

So, you know, maybe... A couple of the guys during their intros for their favorite cigars threw out that they're running out of certain things they would like to be resupplied, so... Oh, really? Yeah.

Like, this is my last one of these, I would like more stuff, you know, under their breath. Really? Yeah. You gotta step your weasel game up.

Why don't we, don't anybody send us anything? We never get anything. We got stuff from Sokka. No, yes, from Saka, we did, yes, yes, Mr.

Saka, you're wonderful, thank you very much. But, I mean, like, Coop gets the new SD DuPont lighters, and, I mean, it's because we won't smoke anything on the air. And here we are smoking. Yeah, but that's, you know, that's ours, and this is, we're gonna rate this in a few minutes, so.

I got news for you, buddy. Yeah? I think more people are scared of us. Oh, come on, George, send me something.

Free magazine subscription. That's what it boils down to. " So he's scared of me? Aww.

He'll be scared. Oh, he's scared? Well, very nice. Come on the show.

We have these chairs stacked on the corner. Just because I can peer into your soul and see if you're full of shit? Right. All right.

For instance, a Macanuno's quarter line is 652, two doors. Okay, we're not reading that. A few cigars are not seen. We've not seen some sort of increase, though those that tend to be the newest releases such as the Hovo Rojo and the Hoya Oscuro, which came out early June, and the CAO Fasa Sola and Fasa Noche, which have you heard of any of those?

No. Hoya Roja and Hoya Oscuro. The CAO Nicaraguan, the CAO Maduro, the Macanudo 226 and Diesel, those, those, those, uh, those are. Oh, those are discontinued, sorry.

Oh, that's different. That's because apparently it tastes like horse shit. Oh. Well, there you go.

A fucking rat with fleas. In a related story, STG discontinues as CAO Nicaragua, the CAO Madero, Jack Hanson, if somebody would like to see it. Couldn't give them away, apparently. Hey, I want to taste that cigar.

So do I. Somebody's got one. Send it in. And that's what I said on the podcast or the panel.

I'm like, if somebody has this cigar, I need to taste this. Yes, we would like that. If it's absolutely atrocious, I want to know how bad it is. Oh, that would be so much fun.

Um, alright, let's see, there's a lot of news today, we'll move on. Black Star Line Cigar takes its distribution in-house. Oh. Black Star Line Cigar has announced today that it has acquired its own warehouse and has taken its distribution in-house after being distributed by Illusion since February 2022.

Yeah. It was time for us to move on, said Eric Bay, owner of Black Star Line Cigars and hundreds of hats in a press release. Luzione has been great to us and helped us grow to the point that we can take over and service our customers ourselves, plus Fred Rui has left the company. Bay went on to say that he was excited to have all of his product back with him, and he believes that learning this new aspect of the business will make Black Starline Cigars a stronger company.

He added that discontinued direct-to-consumer sales ended as of 2023, was another change made to strengthen the company's future. we will be reaching out to all the retailers who update their info on our systems Bay said adding that Illusion will still still be mentors for Black Star Line Cigars to ensure that the company can keep growing let's call Eric we'll call Mr. Bay Mr. Bay Mr.

Bay what's up man what's up man one ring instant answer what hat do you have on yeah man I was around here getting my ass kicked at the factory bro what's up man Nice. You're on the podcast right now. Oh, yeah. Sounds real sexy, bro.

Yeah, he's got his voice. What's up, man? Nice. How you doing?

It's a podcast after dark. This is me, Eric. Oh, yeah. It's a quiet storm.

We want confirmation of the hat that you're currently wearing. Yes, what color is the hat on? Yeah. Is there a hat on?

No. There's no hat? Yeah, yeah. He's in a bathrobe right now.

He's doing his best. I don't even have drawers on. His best John Carney impression, yeah. Alright, so hey, like I said, you're on the podcast, just reminding you of that, so you're no longer handling this, Joe, with Elusione, correct?

You decided to bring it all in-house. Right, yeah, that's done, bro. I just got the inventory today, so that's why I've been getting worked over here and still figuring out shit with the, you know, shipping out with the Zoho app, I'm figuring that out. Gotcha.

You know, just having a lot of fun right now. Yeah, sounds like you're having a lot of fun. He has no clothes on. No drawers.

Yeah, that's why I don't have any drawers on, man. I want to make sure my blood is circulating. He's shipping packages in the nude. Whatever you gotta do, man.

Whatever you gotta do. Is Cliff with you? Is he naked as well? No, he's not naked.

He has an apron. Oh, perfect. Perfect. He's just an apron, so he's not really naked.

But, you know. Is it green like a Starbucks? I was picturing green, I don't know why. He's a barista?

He's a barista when he's not packing. A little side hustle. Did he bring you coffee this morning, you know? Yeah, a nice little latte, you know.

Perfect. It was delicious. So you're excited about this? Did you just feel like you could do things better and bring things in-house?

Like, what was your thought process as to why you wanted to do this? Yeah, it was exciting, man. You know, nothing's perfect, but it was, you know, some things that were going on that weren't totally to my liking with Illusioni, but like I said, nobody's perfect, so I felt like it was time. I felt I learned enough from them to be able to, you know, move forward and do it myself, so there's definitely no bad blood between me and them.

They said if I ever want to come back, you know, the door is open because I, you know, I was very, We were very professional and upfront with them, so they definitely appreciate it, and they said we were actually one of the top brands that they were distributing, so I was pleased to hear that, too, but yeah, we needed to bring it on back home, so I got all my kids in the next room, I don't feel like a deadbeat dad anymore. Right. Oh, that's good. All these kids around, and I'll never see them.

There you go. Right. They're old enough, they can start packing boxes. Wait until you start handling the shipping, man, you're going to be like...

It's good. glad that you did it you know you definitely needed that growth and kind of that next step so you know but there's going to be some growing pains man i'm for sure you know like there's going to be some experiences like fuck yeah you know but they're good challenges they said we could come back right they said no he's not coming no he's not he's not going to eric's smart enough i could i could see you pressing forward and making this successful absolutely Oh, yeah. Yeah, you know, I was doing my distribution before I went to them. I just, it got too big for me and then, but I got more help now, so… Right, Cliff.

So, I'm not totally… And Miranda. Yeah, I'm not totally strange to distribution. It's just, I never had a warehouse. I was doing it all out of my house.

Right, right. And that was amazing, going up and down the stairs, because I had all the stuff in the basement, so that sucked. Nice. Especially with the bunions, buddy.

Firefighters were gone, man. They cut them out. I know, I know. But I'm talking about back in the day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was pretty painful, you know. Cool. All right, man.

Well, I just wanted to, we wanted to reach out. We wish you the best and we wanted to, you know, get your perspective on things. Yeah, I appreciate it, bro. Look forward to seeing how it kind of goes and, you know, maybe I can learn a thing or two from you as far as this drill.

Who knows? Yeah, I mean, first off, we're wearing no drawers. Yeah, okay. You know what, we're gonna take them off as soon as we hang up the phone.

Yeah, I mean, this is a video podcast, so... Right. Yeah, why not? Sure.

Yeah, it's the only way. I just have to adjust the camera. Yeah, just be free. Just be free.

Yeah. All right, man, well, I appreciate you, bud. Thanks for calling, or thanks for answering the call. Thanks for answering.

Thanks for answering the call. Yeah, no problem, bro. You're all right. Well, Justin Andrews, he's a fuckstick, alright, because we tried calling him, and the son of a bitch didn't answer.

Oh, damn, okay. He's got a new truck, apparently, so. Oh, okay. He's got to wash it.

A lot of washing. A lot of washing going on. Yeah. There you go.

Alright, big guy. Alright, I'll talk to you later. Alright, bud. Thanks, bye.

Eric Bay. Eric, no drawers, Bay. Black Star Lansing. That guy says drawers.

I got my drawers. I ain't got no drawers. I ain't got no drawers on. Hat, I ain't got no drawers.

A hat, I don't need no hat. " Right, right, maybe it's a little early still, I mean, it's 1 o'clock, well, noon for him, packing these things, packing these boxes with no drawers, oh my goodness. Cliff, got any clothes on? No, just an apron.

That's what I'm talking about. I'll wear the apron, you go, no drawers. All right, perfect. That's what I thought.

That's the way you were going anyway? That was assumed anyways. Yeah, that's the kind of hierarchy of things. Right, certainly.

Yeah. Los Statos Deluxe added, sorry, I'm a little flustered now. Los Statos Deluxe adds Connecticut Blend. We must have got these early.

Yeah, we got them like two weeks ago. Yeah, the press release just came out this week. A new lighter expression has joined the Los Statos Deluxe lineup as the brand has added the Los Statos Deluxe Connecticut, which began arriving in stores earlier this month. Oh, maybe we didn't just put this out.

They sent the press release, like, oh, hey, by the way. Oh, yeah, by the way, we forgot to tell you guys. We shipped this shit two weeks ago. The blend, which developed by Matt Booth and Justin Andrews, uses an Ecuadorian, Connecticut wrapper, and Nick, how did he blend it if he never answers the phone?

You know, he didn't blend those. Oh, oh, oh, put me on there, too. Well, he probably writes the press release, like I do, so my name went, my name goes with all yours. He doesn't write shit.

He doesn't do that either? He says, hey, listen, tightens his tie. He don't wear a tie. Okay.

I need a press release. He does another button. I need a press release for Los Tatos, and I need you to say that Matt and I blended it. There you go.

Smoking Los Tatos Deluxe Connecticut will set your soul ablaze, Booth said in the press release. It will be as if your very spirit has touched the sun. Wow. Booth also designed the packaging for the release.

Oh, that stupid paper and tissue stuff. It's tissue. It's tissue. , where a factory that George found.

George found that one, too. And it's offered him, yes, and the four sizes were his idea. See, he's got a Connecticut Robusto, Connecticut Toro, Connecticut Churchill, and George's favorite, the Connecticut Gigante. That's George's favorite?

That's, yeah, that's, yeah, he likes the best. When we started developing Los Dados Deluxe in Connecticut, we wanted it to be a Smoker's Connecticut, in that it is a milder cigar compared to the rest of Los Dados Deluxe portfolio. It has plenty of dimensions, depth, and nuance, said Matt Wilson. Who's Matt Wilson?

Senior Brand Manager of Los Dados Deluxe. Have we ever met that guy? But he never blended with Justin and Matt. No, he wasn't in on the blending or nothing.

He's a brand manager. No, he's a brand manager. He doesn't blend it. This is why we wanted to work with our friends at Hoya de Nicaragua to deliver on this smoking experience that cigar smokers newer and experience alike can truly enjoy.

La Stados Deluxe, distributed by Forge Cigar Company. Forged, Forged, Cigar Company. Gurkha begins shipping Year of the Dragon by Oliva Cigar Company. Oh, by Oliva?

That's what it said. Michael Rosales. Michael Rosales is calling. Make sure you're packed for the trip.

This is nice. Hey, we're podcasting. We're live right now. If you want to, but I should call you back so that we're not FaceTimed, we're Bluetooth-ing.

Alright, alright. Continue. Oh, sorry. I didn't know if you were calling me.

The third installment of Gurkha's Year, the Dragon Collaboration Series. The third installment? They have three of them, apparently. Not two dragons.

It's three dragons. It's like House of Dragons. Alright, did you see the finale? I have not.

I just watched the last episode, the episode prior. Oh, we're just randomly getting some people fucking flying around dragons. Right, yeah. Tell you what, everybody who thinks you're related, go up in front of that guy.

If you are a random bastard of Targaryen blood, please. Right. If you have blonde hair of any kind. Yes.

Silver hair. If you have silver hair. Apparently the guy whose mother was a whore, he's related to them. Yeah.

Who'd know? He's Targaryen. And the one guy with a broken leg or something. Targaryens are just out there dropping random loads throughout the fucking city.

Probably so. Not giving a fuck. They're actually giving a lot of fugs. A lot of fugs.

Let's see, they've been shipping the version made, but how many different versions did they have made, do you think? The Dragons? The Dragon Dragon? No, no.

This one's Sea Smoke. Oh, it's... Yeah, the other one is Cyrax. 5x60 Salomon Vitola that wears orange-hued Benz.

The next one coming out is going to be the Gordo, it's called Dracarius. It's just about releasing the flame. Oh, nice. Yeah.

Cameroon Binder, Nicaraguan Filler, comes with MSRP at $25. Attacking every other dragon in the cigar industry. Oh. Yep.

Yeah. We own dragons. J. P.

Carilio. There you go. The fourth and final dragon installment in the series was made by Oscar Valladares. Uh-huh.

It's scheduled to be released. Honduran. Yes. He liked very spicy potatoes that almost killed me at the PCA.

Yeah. And you didn't like the way it was served. No, I hate that shit. Family style.

Family style. Michael does not do family style. Everybody's using their utensils. That's just weird.

Don't invite me out. Just leave me alone. I don't need to go out to dinner. It's just bullshit.

Look, man, I want to order what I want to order. I don't want to pick from three or four different plates. I inhaled a pepper and I'm about to die. Terrence did that bullshit, too, with a fucking tapas.

It's funny. Yesterday, he put up this very nice picture of him smoking a cigar. " or something like that. Yeah.

I thought of this one time Terrence took us out to dinner to this restaurant that served tiny, tiny portions of food. Did you write that? Yes. Dude.

I mean, fuck. And he kept telling us just to eat more, but it was, it was ridiculous. I was like, fuck, look, I just want to, thank you for taking me out to dinner. Can I, can I just order what I fucking want?

I mean. Right. Oh, man. Now here's what we're going to do.

Here's four. I'm going to order. Hey, you guys should come. This is going to be fun.

Yeah, it's going to be great. I don't know. We have to leave for the airport, so we have to go, so we can get food on the way. We gotta go grab some.

We're skipping In-N-Out in Whataburger. We're looking for the best turkey sub. We're on the quest for the best turkey sub. Let's see, Gurga released its first cigar celebrating the Zodiac New Year in December, releasing the Gurga Year of the Dragon, limited edition, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, yeah, the Gurga is officially House Targaryen. House Targaryen. What the fuck do you want from me, man? No, we're not media, we're not media at all, we're just a couple of slapdicks sitting around here.

At this point, we pretty much told 40% of the industry to go fuck themselves on this podcast. Alright. And, uh, Erik May has no drawers on. I'm surprised, I'm surprised that, you know, I haven't, we haven't been struck in the back of the head with the lead pipe walking into PCA.

We can't even get a cease and desist letter. We can't even get a cease and desist letter. Well, what do we do? We're just, we're just having fun.

We're just having fun. You have ash all over you. I know, dude, it's been going on. What's going on?

I thought you had dandruff there first. No, it's not dandruff. I've been checking it. I've noticed it.

Right. Let's see, Drew State Chateau Real gets a Habano version for Cigars International exclusive. Who does what? Who did what now?

Drew State. Yeah. Jonathan Drew. Who sent John McTavish a free box of cigars.

Which is very nice. It was very nice of him. And that was the last time they had communication. That was 17 years ago.

Did that come later? Yeah, yeah. He did say when it was the first time I was laid off. Yeah.

They have made a Chateau Real, but with a Habano. Oh, mixing it up. Yes, for Cigars International. Oh, very exciting.

Yes. I'm friends on Facebook with the lady who's running the Cigars International in Jacksonville. Oh, yeah? Apparently, your name is Cynthia, I believe.

Just making friends, huh? Yeah, on Facebook. Come on Facebook. Cigars Approves to La Gloria Fabrica Drew Estate, La Gran, sorry, not Gloria, La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Estadley, Nicaragua.

Nicaragua, that George found. Oh, George found that one too. Yes, offered in three sizes, all George's ideas. George is just crushing it.

He's crushing it. Uh, they made a Churchill, a Toro, and a Robusto, uh, 7, 635, and 650. Okay, Room 101 brings back the 7x70 Vitola back to the big payback Maduro. Mmm.

Not excited at all, huh? Sigh. Everything that you're saying to me is, everybody's trying to make adjustments. Yeah, they're really not making new stuff, they're just making different sizes of old stuff.

Well, they're redacting things that aren't moving at all. Right. They're beefing up on bigger gauges, probably at a lower price point because it's a payback. Other than Gurkha, who's just fucking running it with several dragons.

70. If their PCA booth doesn't have four or five gigantic dragons at the next show, I mean, but I guess it will be next year. So what's next year? I don't know.

But whatever the next animal is, I guess. You're the peacock. I don't think they do peacocks. I think it's like a fish or something.

Yeah, ooh. Yeah, yeah. It smells real bad when you go in there. You're the tilapia.

It's gonna be epic. I don't think they do tilapia. It's a reasonably priced high protein. Oh, let's see.

Oh, we were just talking about this yesterday. La Floridomenicana, oh no, yesterday, last week. La Floridomenicana, 30 year anniversary, arrives at stores. Yeah, ooh.

After soft launching at select events in June, the La Florid Americana 30-year humidors are beginning to arrive at stores. Oh, you had to buy a whole humidor? You did. Oh, we just got all those huminors from somebody else.

We're going to be a little humidor heavy here. But these have cigars in them. Oh! I was going to mention that part.

In each humidor, 60 limited edition cigars made in the company's trademark Chisel Vitola. Six and a half by 58 box-pressed Vitola has a very unique taper. Taper. Oh.

George's idea. George, again? Boy, a very busy man. He's retired now.

He's a lot of free time for all this wet nursing and stuff, he says. Midwifing. Oh yeah, midwifing. Wet nursing.

Ah, so close. Glenwise, they use an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over an aged binder from Cotui? Cotui. Cotui.

C-O-T-U-I, Cotui. You got a hot Cotui, that thing? You got a hot Cotui. You got a Cotui, that thing.

From the Dominican Republic and fillers from the company's farm in La Canela. La Canela, La Canela, Canela, Dominican Republic. La Canela. Production is limited to 2,000 cigars that contain 60 cigars, 2,000 humidors, sorry, 2,000 humidors that contain 60 cigars.

These humidors are made at the Gomez family, a relatively new box factory inside the humidors, the company's classic ad, depicting Lito and Inez Gomez, the company's founders, on hoverboards. Oh no, they're on horse. I didn't rewrite that. Yeah, they're on horse.

The bands depict a flowering. I don't know, the hoverboard's got to be gone. You know, I tried to find video of that online, it's not… That was circa… That was several Christmases ago. That was circa 2020, I think.

That's just three years, four years ago? That's four years ago, yeah. The band's depicted a flower and tobacco band. A nod to the band is that the company's used in its early days.

It's the 30th anniversary of the couple's time in the cigar business. Was his wife always involved in the… Yeah. Was she? But he was more forefront than she was now?

Correct. Because she is now… She got bored. I think the kids grew up. Ah, a lot more free time.

No longer wants to be a woman of leisure looking for paper and getting her nails done. No, exactly. Exactly. Makes the complete sense.

Correct. Ah, let's see. Just like that. You're on a pretty shit list.

She loves me. I'm not on her shit list. The couple's first foray into the cigar business was a brand called, you want to try to guess? La Flor Dominicana.

Oh, but that would be funny. Yeah. Las Libertadores. One more time?

Libertadores. Libertadores? Libertadores. Libertadores.

Libertadores. Libertadores. Libertadores. It means the liver in Spanish.

It means the liver? Yes. Libertadores. It means fatty liver disease.

Fat liver disease, right. Which was launched in 1994. The two had a dispute with their partner in that company, so they left and started La Flor de Medicana. Mr.

Todores was very upset. I don't even know who Todores is. Well, he got mad, apparently, in 94, so he moved on. Took his ball and went home.

Took his ball and left. And the rest is history. They started La Flor Dominicana. And here we are.

And here we are. All right, it's all the news. Who's Shop of the Week, Michael? We have a Listener of the Week, but I don't remember what name it is.

I remember. Oh, thank goodness. I hoped you would. I remember.

You want me to do the Shop of the Week first? Want me to go right over and hit the gun? No, I just won't make the sound. Okay, you say the name, I'll do the gun.

All right, Shop of the Week. Are you going to be like country again? It is going to be Lake Country Cigars. Gong!

Oh my goodness. There you go. I need a little bit longer next time. Oh, okay, sorry.

Who's the listener of the week? The listener of the week, Mario Tomas. Oh, I knew there was a Tomas. I got my first name.

Yeah. Gong. Yeah, he reached. Gong.

Perfect. There you go. Yeah, he made a purchase on the site. Yes.

And we followed up with him, confirmed the shipment. Yes. " Oh, that's right. Thank you.

There you go. Make more purchases, we'll say your name too. So thank you, Mario. We appreciate you.

So anybody who makes a purchase on the website and says they love the podcast, we'll say your name on the podcast. I don't, listen, that's not true. You can't guarantee that. I'll say your name on the podcast.

I'll say your name on the podcast. I'll work it in somewhere, he won't notice. Oh, really? Yeah, be like, "Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, Mr.

" Like Bill, right? Just like Bill? Like Bill. Man, it's Ben.

He said on the post today, he's not familiar with what I was talking about, but if I said it, I was right. So his name is Ben. His name is Ben. All right.

All right, this is my episode. What else we got? Is there anything else going on? No?

Isn't there a cutting light going on this month? It's next week. We'll talk about that next month. You should talk about it now.

Let everybody know. On the 16th of August, there is a meet and greet upstairs at Cigar Hustler. With who? Allegedly, Mike Palmer from Posting Distribution will be here talking about Powstanie Cigars.

The national sales manager? The national sales manager. Oh my goodness, he's gonna cut it. Just fresh off the How About That Cigar Podcast.

He's gonna cut his teeth in the first event ever for Powstanie Cigars. Certainly, yes. Here. Here.

At Cigar Hospital. Well, upstairs, not in here. Upstairs at Cigar Hospital, yes. There's not enough room here.

Yes, I hear he's an amazing man who's got big things planned. I've heard great things. Yes. I heard he's really tight with George.

Apparently, yes. Him and George are really good friends. Yeah. They both wet nurse the same brands.

Not after this podcast. Not after this podcast. No. But maybe we'll get our first letter.

I like George. George is alright. I'm sure he's a very nice man. He just also thinks he's a very nice man.

So, you know. Alright, well that wraps it up. What episode is this? 346 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.

We are fill-less. No fill. No fill. Thank you.

We gotta go. Bye. Bye. The Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners, and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest.

Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike & 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 these guests.

Hey there, cigar enthusiasts. If you're looking for the latest and greatest in the cigar world, then you need to tune into the Cigar Hustler Podcast Patreon. Join us every week. Wait, every weekly?

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Show Notes

**Episode Description for Cigar Hustlers Podcast**

In this episode, we kick things off with a frank and honest discussion about our place in the industry, including Mikey’s recent appearance on the Oso Fumars Media Panel Podcast.

**HUSTLER NEWS:**

- **STG Announces Price Increases**

- **STG Discontinues CAO Nicaragua, CAO Maduro, Macanudo Vintage 2006 & Diesel Disciple**

- **Black Star Line Cigars Takes Its Distribution In-House**: We chat with Aric Bey about this big move.

- **Los Statos Deluxe Adds Connecticut Blend**

- **Gurkha Begins Shipping Year of the Dragon by Oliva Cigar Co.**

- **Drew Estate’s Chateau Real Gets Habano Version for Cigars International Exclusive**

- **Room101 Brings 7 x 70 Vitola Back to The Big Payback Maduro**

- **La Flor Dominicana 30 Years Arrives at Stores**

Tune in for all the latest updates and insights from the cigar world!