A Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 365 Lawsuits, Acquittals, and Cigar Innovations
Episode Summary
Episode 365 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with a studio shake-up — longtime engineer "Phil" is out and "Boots" takes over sound and video duties — before Mike Steponkewicz and Mike Palmer dive into their usual mix of headline news and cigar industry reporting. The first half is off-topic banter: the civil lawsuit filed against Jay-Z (Sean Carter) and Sean "Diddy" Combs, the Daniel Penny acquittal in the Jordan Neely subway chokehold case, the Golden Globes nominations (Dune Part Two, Wicked, Gladiator 2, Deadpool & Wolverine), the Chiefs' walk-off field goal win over the Chargers, and Haliey Welch's "Hawk Tuah" meme coin pump-and-dump allegations on Solana.
The cigar news segment starts with Scrim by Hutch launching a Darth Vader–themed Scrimshaw supervillain cutter built on a Xikar Phantom body ($450, limited to 100 made-to-order pieces). The hosts then cover the official opening of the Cigar Family Academy of Arts in Bonao, Dominican Republic — the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation project backed by the Arturo Fuente and J.C. Newman families, with support from Hublot and Grammy-winning artist Arturo Sandoval — including free K-12 education for 440 students and vocational programs.
The biggest cigar discussion is Aganorsa Leaf's Supreme Leaf Royal Perfecto, a 5.5 x 52 figurado announced for early 2025 and the tenth size in a line that debuted in March 2020. The hosts debate what "Royal Perfecto" even means, walk through the full size-by-size release history, and argue that while Supreme Leaf is Aganorsa's best cigar, the endless "Leaf" spin-offs (Rare Leaf, Cameo Leaf) dilute the name. They also dig into Alex Goldman's hire as COO of BrandHopper (parent of CigarPage), noting his prior House of Oxford tobacco tax fraud conviction and three-year sentence, and promise more on Patreon.
Rounding out the news: Plasencia's El Año de la Culebra Edición Limitada 2025 for the Year of the Snake — a two-cigar culebra plus 7 x 40 lanceros, roughly $490 per box of 10 with 6,000 boxes produced (3,000 for the U.S.) — and the end of the Luciano Cigars/ATL Cigar Company distribution agreement, with ATL taking distribution in-house while Luciano remains its manufacturing partner. The show closes with Shop of the Week (BL Luxuries) and Listener of the Week (Joshua Richter of the Manstream Podcast).
In This Episode
- 01New Engineer & Upcoming SOC Private DinnerBoots replaces Phil behind the board as the hosts plug a private steak-dinner event with a live podcast recording.
- 02Jay-Z and Diddy Civil LawsuitThe hosts read through the Jane Doe civil suit accusing Sean Carter and Sean Combs of a 2000 assault and debate how such a claim could be proven 24 years later.
- 03Daniel Penny AcquittalBreakdown of the Jordan Neely subway chokehold case, the dismissed manslaughter charge, and the self-defense/defense-of-others distinction.
- 04Golden Globes and NFL TalkNominations for Dune Part Two, Wicked, Gladiator 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine, plus the Chiefs' walk-off field goal to clinch the AFC West.
- 05Hawk Tuah Meme Coin Pump-and-DumpHaliey Welch's Solana-based token collapse sparks a conversation about the lack of a regulatory framework for digital currency.
- 06Scrim by Hutch Supervillain CutterA $450 Darth Vader scrimshaw water-buffalo-horn cutter on a Xikar Phantom body, limited to 100 made-to-order pieces.
- 07Cigar Family Academy of Arts OpensThe Fuente and Newman families' charitable foundation opens its arts academy in Bonao, DR, with support from Hublot and Arturo Sandoval.
- 08Aganorsa Supreme Leaf Royal PerfectoA 5.5 x 52 figurado arriving early 2025 as the line's tenth size, prompting debate on vitola naming and Supreme Leaf line dilution.
- 09Alex Goldman Joins BrandHopper/CigarPageThe hosts connect the new COO hire to the 2018 House of Oxford tobacco tax fraud case and $14 million forfeiture.
- 10Plasencia Year of the Snake Culebra & Luciano/ATL SplitPlasencia's El Año de la Culebra limited edition pricing and production, plus ATL Cigar Company ending its Luciano distribution deal to go in-house.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
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Transcript
P. Make way for the king. Another Mike and Mike production in 3, 3, 2, 1, 0. Here we go, baby.
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 365. - I'm 25. Record live at the Mike & Mike Production Studio in Deltona, Florida. This is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
The show where cigars, business, and life collide. Join your host, Mike Steponkewicz and Mike Palmer, as they bring you unfiltered takes on the cigar industry, insider stories, and a whole lot of laughs. Sit back, light up, and enjoy the hustle. And announcing, I am Boots, your sound and video engineer.
- That's it? - That's it? - I am Boots. - I am Boots.
- I am Boots. Boots? Yes, that was the end of the thing. We've officially moved him to Boots.
We've gotten rid of Phil. We fired Phil. We couldn't deal with him any longer. Yeah, Phil's gone.
We had to get rid of Phil. We brought Boots over from the Patreon show. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. A massive shout out to our amazing patrons on Patreon.
Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to deliver unfiltered, unbiased opinions on other 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. Cheers to you.
com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Before we get into things. Yes. I do want to say that we got a soccer event this Friday.
Yes. It's a private dinner. Tell the camera. It's a private dinner.
Hello. And we have only one ticket left. Oh, applause. Oh, God.
Why did you catch me like that? Now I miss Phil. Can you turn the sound effects down a smidge there, Boots? He'll get the hang of it.
Like that? There you go. There you go. And same with the music in the beginning.
You have to bring it down a little bit when you start talking like Phil used to. It's his first time. I know, but I'm just correcting him as we go. If I don't tell him, he won't know.
It's true. No problem. So we're very excited about the SOC event. It's going to be a private event.
We're going to have steak. We're going to do a podcast. There's broccoli. There's a potato.
I got moods, I got acid, and I got cocaine. Yes, there's that stuff too, it's all there, it's on a buffet, it's that type of buffet, I think. That's too low now. Yeah, now it's too low.
But yeah. It was just the music you got to read. I'm excited about doing a little bit of the podcast action. Yes, and there will be one of our special shows you will do.
Yeah. Is this first time that it's not in the studio? No. You guys tried doing that one down Smoke Underwater that didn't ever see you.
It wasn't super successful. No, it's online. There was no video. We had no video.
No video. It was a bit of a train wreck. It was, to be honest, it was the fault of the Wi-Fi there and the cameras we used at the time. Yeah.
They had to have Wi-Fi. Yeah. We're getting better. Certainly.
Everything's an upgrade here. We got some new... Upgrades. We got some new things coming in for the following year.
Oh, yeah. Big announcements for 2025. Big announcements. I got some upgrades.
I got some stuff to talk about on the other show. Oh, on the Patreon. Yes. Oh, you have Patreon content.
I have some Patreon content, yes, that I sent you, but you did not answer the text message, so I I don't know if you saw it or not. So don't bring it up now! I'm sorry. That's fine, whatever, you know.
I'm just working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and apparently you take weekends off. Yeah, I just, you know what, I'm just resting on my laurels. Yep, just sitting around doing nothing. Painting your house, spray washing stuff or something, I don't know.
Yeah, coaching. Painting. You got paint on you today? No tattoos or anything?
No, no paint. No, you're done, right? Did you get a mani-pedi and get all the paint off? No mani-pedi.
No, I'm still, I still got to do some touch-up work, which I'm hoping that'll happen this weekend. So we'll see how that goes. All right, you ready? Let's go.
Jay-Z is accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000, along with Sean Diddy Combs. Man, they got him. Yeah, they got him with the baby oil, probably baby oil. Jay-Z, the star rapper and entrepreneur whose real name is Sean Carter, was accused in a lawsuit Sunday of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000.
So wait, so now, 23 years later, so now she's 34 years old? Yeah. Allegedly, along with Sean Diddy Combs, the anonymous accuser, identified as Jane Doe, said the assault happened after she was driven to an MTV Music Awards after-party. Alright, there's more information about the thing, but who lets their daughter go to an MTV after-party?
I think that there's several roads that you can go down. Right. You didn't ask me how I felt about that. I'm not done talking.
Well, you asked the question. You know, I think there should be a pause. How do you feel about that? " Okay, whatever you want.
Whatever you want to do, Mike. So if you start talking, I'll stop talking. Okay. Do you want to try again?
How do you feel about that? No, go ahead. So what do you think about how is this young lady allowed at 13 years old to go to the MTV after party at the music awards? Well, there's obviously some questions there as far as parenting, right?
That's what I'm getting at. Yeah, of course. But that doesn't make anything else that has happened allegedly, okay? No, it doesn't make it any less horrific.
No, no, no. We have actual details of the alleged attack. Really? Oh yes, it's terrible.
It's just terrible. It's detailed? It's detailed, yes. Wow.
I mean, we don't have the doll where you go, where did he touch you, but it's pretty detailed. He did it. It's pretty graphic. They got details, he did it.
Well, she's 34 years old. She's going after money. You think so? Well, it's mentioned in the article, yeah, there's a payout.
because it's a civil suit at this case at this point right so there's no criminal charges he said he said she said listen I think that that's really hard there's this poor girl if something has happened to her like there's no way of uh really there's no justification for it no no not at all right especially that age but now not that it would be okay at any age right now but to make matters worse okay so did he is we he's done right yeah he's never Is it holding? He's never going to see the light of day. No, no, no. Okay.
Now you just pulled Jay-Z into this. Yeah. Right. And they have said there's other people that we're going to be speaking to as this progresses.
Yeah. So apparently he's first on the list. Well, that's a huge, you just went to the top of the list as far as I'm concerned. That's a big name to go after.
Well, if you're going after money, where are you going? Well, you better be able to prove it because that guy will hammer you back without question. Billions. Right, he has the money to pay for a legal team, yes.
Well, if he believes that he's innocent, you know, if he didn't do anything, he is not going to lay down in this scenario. He's going to go on full attack, and he's going to embarrass the attorney, and he's going to make everybody look really dumb if he didn't do anything. How do you prove this after 23 years? I don't know.
I mean, I'm sure that there's some kind of proof. Well, if you have the details, you said we'll talk about that later, right? Well, we're going to get into that, but it's details from the young lady. Maybe they make sense.
Oh, well, I mean, it's a perfectly logical situation how it happened. Here, let's get into that. Well, first of all, if it happened, I'm willing to bet that Diddy has everything recorded, right? Right.
And if everything's been recorded, then it's all under federal yadda yadda, right? They already have those videos. Well, if he kept it for 23 years, I'm sure, I mean, back then it would have been a VCR tape and... No.
Yeah, well, he probably Hillary'd all of it anyway. 23 years ago, you think there was a VCR involved? No way, buddy. There's hard drives, there's all that stuff.
Yeah, but is he an idiot to keep a video of... Yeah, Palmer, this is 2024. The whole purpose of... Yeah, no, it's 24 years later.
The whole purpose of him doing things that he did was to have leverage on people. Oh, no, he participated. Yeah, I understand that, but if there's video content, if it exists, if it's actually a thing, then there would be something for Jay-Z, right? There would be some type of documentation that Diddy would hold against him.
Blackmail. Right, exactly. Well, yes, but why would Diddy come forward with it? I mean, he's implicated in the crime.
He doesn't have the video anymore. That's what I'm saying, so she cannot get a video of the thing happening because it doesn't exist any longer. But they have to investigate it. The federal government would have it.
No, it's a civil trial. They don't have to investigate it. The federal government would have those videos. If he kept it, yes.
Right. Okay, let me get into the details and then... Okay. You go.
You're getting angry. No, I'm getting angry, but I don't think you understand. I don't see why Diddy would keep a video where he is also guilty. He doesn't necessarily have the video of him, but maybe he has a video of Jay-Z.
He's in the whole entire thing. Unless he has Martin Scorsese there shooting and doing cutbacks from different cameras. So now we're pulling Scorsese into this. Just someone of his level.
This is not a, you know, hidden camera up in the corner, and then he edits himself out, because then it's, oh, right here, don't pay attention right here, right here is where he got scrambled, and there's nobody, and don't pay attention to that guy that kind of looks like me walking in. No, that's my double. Okay. That's my double.
Go ahead. All right. These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one, whomever would commit such a crime. All right.
We'll get all those back. He should. Where is the actual details? All right.
Here we go. The lawsuit says a friend dropped her off at the VMAs at Radio City Music Hall. She did not have a ticket and she approached various limousine drivers to try and gain access to the show or an after party. 13 year old girl.
One driver, the lawsuit says, told her that he worked for Combs, and that she fit what Diddy was looking for, in parentheses. He invited her to the after party, to the party after in the show, and told her to return to his car later in the evening, after he transported Carter and Combs, the suit says. Later, the driver picked her up, the suit says, and after 20 minutes, they arrived at a white house with a U-shaped driveway, the suit says. She had a, she had to sign a document she believed was a non-disclosure agreement on arrival and she did not receive a copy to enter the party, which the suit says was filled with celebrities and people doing marijuana and cocaine.
She was offered a drink that made her feel woozy, lightheaded and felt like she needed to lie down, the suit says, and she went into a room to rest. Some random room, apparently, where a camera was set up, Mike. Of course. " Can we stop here just for one second?
Certainly. Do you know who just walked in the room? If you're 13 years old at that time, and those guys are the biggest rap stars of that era. Right.
I mean, I know, obviously, what's about to happen is not good, but that's just crazy, man. She's drugged. She's drugged. She went in this room to lay down.
There's that. There's that. Well, there's that small problem. " or whoever, Clarence Carter, or whoever he is.
Clarence Carter? I don't know who these people are. That's a lot of people there. Jay-Z, can we say Jay-Z?
What'd you call him? That's a Bruno guy. Sean Carter. Clarence Carter.
Oh, my God. We're going to have to get you a Sean Carter shirt. That's when she alleges Carter removed her clothes, held her down, and raped her while Combs and an unnamed female celebrity... Uh-oh, there's more.
Watched. She says Combs also raped her as Carter and the woman looked on. Apparently this woman just likes to watch. So they could be out of view of the camera.
No, no. I'm just saying. Could be. Carter raped her.
Allegedly. Allegedly. And then Diddy raped her, allegedly. Right.
So how is he out of the frame now? No, you're talking about the other one. The clip beforehand could just show. Just show the one.
Sean. Well, maybe he's in the clip from the watching. He was in the stands, you know, viewing, chanting in a mind. Go, go.
Well, Jay-Z's already come out and stated that this is all bullshit and it's a money grab. They both have, yeah, yeah, yeah, they both have. The suit says that she was able, oh, hold on, watch, then she says Comb also raped her as Carter and the woman looked on. The suit says that she was able to resist being forced to perform oral sex on Combs by hitting him in the neck and then he stopped.
Got it. After the alleged assault, the suit says she grabbed her clothes and left. She made her way to a gas station where she called her father. As the accuser is seeking unspecified damages, a lawsuit is filed under New York Victims of Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act.
Okay. What do you think about that? Gender what else? What do I think about that?
I mean, it's going to be interesting to see where it goes and develops, because I don't know, you know, what's going to be the truth, right? Well, I mean, it's 20-something years ago. I don't know how you prove this. Obviously, the attorney believes that he has something to prove.
Well, she's probably hoping there's a payout, and this is, you know, she doesn't even have to go all the way through. They have to go all the way through. But would an attorney take the case if he thought that there was nothing there? Well, they had the driver.
Well, if they can find the driver. She said there was a driver. I'm sure there's some sort of employment. Oh, I thought you said the driver had made a statement.
No, no. The driver told her. Allegedly. I feel like he doesn't listen.
I'm trying to listen to just 20 people in this whole story. Yeah, there's too much going on. Let's say you're the father, though, when you pick up your daughter at a gas station, They say she and a half-drugged, maybe possibly holding her clothes and says she'd been raped, I'm burning the place down. I mean, I don't care what happens at that point.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, but look. I'm like, you pick her up, take her home and go, it'll be fine.
Yeah, but realistically, you're not letting your 13-year-old daughter out. Well, I'm not, right. Right. Oh, I see what you're saying.
Yeah. So he's not like he's father of the year to start with. Correct. Ah, I gotcha.
That's true. Maybe she doesn't have a father. She said her father picked her up. You're right.
He does not listen to the stories at all. Right. She made her way to a gas station where she called her father, it says. She was drugged, how does she know?
There you go. Maybe she just called an Uber. Yeah. Who knows?
Just Uber, because it was 20 years ago, they hadn't got the Uber part yet. All right, what do you got next? Daniel Penny. Yes.
Was not at the house. He was not there. He had nothing to do with this. Oh boy.
He was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide after a more serious manslaughter charge was also dismissed. So he was just... So this is the next part. This is the next news.
Next. " Yeah. I went to the next story. Okay.
Not even a headline. Yeah, there's no headline. Daniel Penney. Daniel Penney acquitted.
That was the headline. Okay. He was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide after a more serious manslaughter charge was also dismissed. Got it.
That's the headline. Okay. Very long headline. Continue.
How do you feel about that? You feel about that? Oh my God. Oh, let's see.
Where is it at? The painstaking, growing pains of this podcast. A Manhattan jury found Daniel Penney not guilty of criminal negligent homicide Monday in the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last year. Penney also previously faced a more serious second-degree manslaughter charge, but Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed it Friday at the request of the prosecutor's office.
Jurors twice told the court they could not come to a verdict on the count. So it was a hug jury. Okay. So, apparently, just to give you a little background on this story, because people might not understand.
Yeah, I don't know what's going on here. Okay, he's on the subway. Subway's full of people. Right.
" Throws his jacket down, throws his bag down. Okay. Starts yelling, screaming at the other guest. I don't know what they're called on a train.
Travelers? Passengers? Yeah. Transients.
No, no, they weren't transients. He may be a transient. We're just not going to listen to him. We just had this whole conversation about not over-speaking people.
He's yelling out stuff from over there. No one's asking me how I feel about it. So anyway, the guy's getting violent. This former Marine jumps on the guy's back.
He's a white guy. The guy's yelling and screaming is a black guy, which they say was racially motivated. So the only reason I bring that up. Gotcha.
Okay. He starts choking the guy and brings the guy to the ground. Guy won't hold still. Guy won't hold still.
He's still choking. He's still choking. The guy stops moving. He holds him another minute or so, and then he lets go, and the guy's dead.
Like, oh no. Right. Like, oh no. Oh no, I killed the man on the train.
Okay. So there's no self-defense, but there was something where he was protecting the other people. So anyway, he got off. Okay.
So now the only person that seems to be upset is the guy's father that died, obviously. I mean... Everybody, the crowd, the jury, or not the jury, but the courtroom erupted in cheers and applause when the guy got his not-guilties. Right.
And everybody's happy except for the one guy. Well, I mean, I don't know, it seems like there's, we're missing something in this story. " That just doesn't, those three statements don't just really matter. Well, he's mentally, he had some type of mental disability.
Okay. So he's probably wound up before he got on the train. Right. So he gets on the train, starts yelling and screaming, and starts antagonizing the passengers.
Okay. So then the guy went to restrain him. Yeah. Not intending to kill him.
Chokehold might have been a little bit extreme. Okay. Allegedly. I mean, do you know like the difference between a, like a regular chokehold?
Like you can take a guy, cut off the blood to their brain. Right. And knock them out. Correct.
But then you have to let go. Right. Because if you don't, apparently they die. Yeah.
Look, I'm not, that was the problem. I'm not, uh, condoning either thing here. I'm just simply stating that like, I don't know, like, how do you, I just have questions. Things just don't, sometimes the math ain't math in here, right?
Right. Like, um, I could I don't see that you could knock out the guy, I can see that, I can see, you know. He's a trained Marine, I doubt they are trained in, you know, just choke till he passes out. I mean, that's a good point.
That's a good point. So, there's gotta be, first, I applaud the guy for protecting the other people. Of course. Okay, whatever.
But there has to be some point where the guy stops moving and you don't keep holding on. He's a Marine, bro. Well, that's what I'm saying. He wasn't trained to not kill somebody.
Yeah, he's not Navy military. Yeah, he's not Navy. He was a Marine. what makes a grass grow blood blood blood oh is that the same that's how that that's what they say he saw that in a movie no in the navy it was like in what makes it grow suntan lotion oh my goodness uh there's applause in the courtroom is a not guilty verdict was read aloud penny locked eyes with members of juries that acquitted him nodding his thanks a smile was visible on his face neely's father who was present in the courtroom for the verdict was escorted out of the courtroom after an audible outburst from expletive...
Must have been swearing. Be careful. That's what happened to his son there. Right.
Choking him out there. The jury deliberated for just over an hour on the criminally negligent homicide charge on the second-degree manslaughter charge. They deliberated for 16 hours for telling the judge they were deadlocked. At that point, the judge, they just dismissed the...
They acquitted him. Well, no, they dismissed the charge. Ah, got it. The prosecutor said, just let him go.
It's fine. It's fine? We don't care anymore. Just carry him out.
after all that the prosecutor says you know what he's good exactly that's what uh the judge was dismissed friday at the request of the prosecutor and the juries told the court they could not come to you know we can't decide okay and the prosecutor goes and just let him go i mean look i i understand why they couldn't decide that that's it's a tough call that could go either way you know yeah Go ahead. And it's all kind of speculative. It's all hearsay as to how everything went down. Well, yeah, because you don't have the other party that was there.
Yeah. Well, there are other people that I'm sure that were... Oh, I'm sorry. I misread that.
He... Oh, boy. Yeah. He didn't say he want to die.
I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I don't care if you die. Got it.
So now it becomes a threat. Oh, it's intent. Okay. Right.
Yeah, now it's a threat. Hmm. So, yeah, that would be self-defense. How does that make...
How do you feel about that? How do you feel about that? Well, it's self-defense. It's intent.
Hold on. If he yelled at Boots and told Boots he didn't care if Boots died and Boots choked him, it's self-defense. Right. If he yells at Boots and tells Boots he don't care if Boots dies and I choke him.
Right. That's not self-defense. Sure. I mean, well, you're not self-defense, but you're- That's some type of stand your ground thing.
You're defending it. Yeah. Self-defense is the defense of others. I mean, if there's a situation going on and somebody says, "Hey, I'm going to kill you," and they're pointing at you and I'm in the room.
Right. I'm not going to, ooh, let me get some popcorn, you know what I mean, I'm not going to stand up. Let's see how Palmer handles that. I hope he gets one.
Everybody sit down. Ooh. We have to replace him on the show. This guy just said he's going to kill Palmer.
Well, you know. Hmm. Okay. So yeah, that makes sense.
That makes sense. Ooh, several minutes of the chokehold were captured on my standard video that spread widely and has been played repeatedly. Oh, now there's video. Of course.
There's always video. World star. Always video. I'll see if you can find some of that for your, uh, thing.
Okay, I'll, yeah, I'll check it out. How do you think, or what do you think about them, Michael? I pretty much said how I think about all of them. Oh, okay, so we're just going to move on.
Yeah. The Golden Globes nominations have been announced. Really? Yes.
Okay. Okay. You want the next story? How do you feel about that?
Here's what I want to know. How do you feel about that? I want to know best motion picture. Best motion picture drama?
Uh, yeah, sure. Okay, I've heard of one of these movies. Okay, let's go. The Brutalist?
Boots, have you heard of The Brutalist? Nope. How do you feel about that? Nope.
God, how do you feel about that? A Complete Unknown. Nope. Which is how the movie is to us, because we have no idea what it is.
It's Complete Unknown. Conclave. Nope. Dune Part II.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh, we love that one. We love that one. That one's going to win.
We've all seen that one. Nickel Boys. Nope. Half as good as Dime Boys, I heard.
I figured that was going to be the line. And something called September 5th. No idea what that is. Okay.
Music and comedy. I've not heard of those. None of them. That's so funny that there's five there and only one of them we've seen, and I'm going to tell you right now, Dune part two, that's a decent movie, but I'm not like, oh yeah, great, greatest movie of the year.
Yeah, but he wins in a landslide because nobody's seen the other ones. I think Dune always gets in though because it's so elaborately made. Right. It's a lot of work to do a Dune movie.
Yeah. It's not like Wicked where they're just wearing green makeup and dancing around a lot. I mean, there's a lot that goes on with the Dune people. That's what you think Wicked's all about?
Is it the green makeup and dancing around? Sure, I saw the previous. The Wicked Witch and the Good Witch are friends that grow up in witch school. It's a prequel.
Yeah, it's a prequel. Yeah. Not even a flying monkey in the whole movie. Yeah.
Not a single flying monkey. Not a single flying monkey. And not even the great Oz. He's in there.
Yeah, he's in there, but he's just a so-so Oz at this point. Okay, the funny part is the animated movies, I've heard of almost all of these. Okay, let's hear them. Flo, Inside Out 2, Memoir of a Snail, I'm not sure what that is, Moana 2, Wallace & Gromit, Vengeance McFowl, They made a new Wallace & Gromit?
Yeah, see? Everybody's heard of that. Vengeance Most Fowl. What'd I say?
McFowl. Oh, okay. And The Wild Robot. Okay.
I haven't seen that yet, but I've seen the preview. Oh. So what do you think? What's going to win?
Well, since the Rockets and Moana 2, And two, I'm going to go with Inside Out. Wow. That's, again, again, you continue to attack the rock on this show. I hope he calls us.
Until he comes on the show. Okay. Tag him in the videos. Because he is on TikTok, I looked.
Invite to collaborate. Yeah, there you go, invite him to collaborate. He'll come in here yelling at me. Okay, just give me the cinematic and box office achievement, and then we'll move on.
Okay, because we've heard of all of those. Yes. Alien Romulus, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Can't say the third time he shows up.
Deadpool and Wolverine, Gladiator 2, which I heard is bad, I heard it's a bad movie, Inside Out 2, the cartoon, Twisters, I saw on TV, I've watched it twice, I like the remake better than the original, Wicked, again, the dancing and the green dancing, and the wild robot, okay, why do they have a non-English language motion picture thing, because I guess it's not an American, Golden Globe, who decides the Golden Globes, is that people, you know what, we do, people voted, I have no idea, how do you feel about that, Boots, did you vote? I like Gladiator 2. Oh, there you go. If you didn't see the trailers for Gladiator 2 and think this is going to be a terrible movie, I don't know what to tell you.
That's what I'm saying. Have either one of you seen it yet? No, I'm not going to watch it, unless it comes on cable or whatever it is somewhere. Yeah.
You saw it? It was good. You loved it? You loved it, thought it was great.
Well, remember, the bad thing about number two is that it's still following the story. Right. It's the real story. Right.
Now, it's the lady who helped him with his son, right, is the star of this one. This, this stuff really happened. No, it didn't. Are you serious?
Hold on a second. Do you seriously believe that? Do you think Russell Crowe was in it? Do you seriously believe that?
We're not using phones anymore. You got to put your phone down. No more phones. He can check.
Yeah, I can fact check. So, the storyline of this one is the lady from the first one is in the second one. Okay. And her son is the gladiator this time.
Okay. And he is Russell Crowe's son from the first movie. Oh. So what are the odds your dad gets captured, thrown into slavery, ends up being a gladiator?
Oops, look at what happened to you, Tim. Oh, I see what you're saying. So it's just not believable. But apparently it's very factual, if you ask.
Very factual to him, yes. Apparently Denzel Washington was in history somewhere as a black man who owned a bunch of slaves. Okay, so will you read the fact that it's not a true story out loud, please, to confirm? The gladiator 2 is a fictionalized account of the ancient Roman Empire, but it does incorporate some real world events and characters.
Well, yeah, they use some of the names. It was really Julius Caesar. Yeah, the two that took over. No, I'm sure some of the names are the two that took over.
I don't know what he's talking about there. Yeah, me neither. What are you talking about? Geta and Carcalla or whatever.
Yeah, Carcalla. Carcalla. Carcalla. Those are the real people.
- The actual people? - Those were the real co-emperors. - They just pulled names. - Right.
- The tyrannical co-emperors. - Right, so, but the actual, I'm sorry, how do you feel about that? - No, you're good, go ahead. - The actual story, though, is fictitious.
- Yeah. - Just, these two guys were terrible people, let's make them do something bad to this guy. - I like that. - But there wasn't really sharks, I know that.
- You know what? Superman was real, too. - Yeah. - Based on true, actual story.
- Actual events. - He's a real guy. - Krypton. - But he died.
Okay, so what do you think is going to win? The best cinematic motion picture? It's probably going to be Deadpool. It's very popular, Deadpool and Wolverine.
Boots? I don't think Deadpool wins. What do you think wins? This is cinematic and box office achievement.
It is the biggest R-rated movie in history or something, isn't it? Yeah, but it's also controversial. Box office achievement. What do you think wins?
I mean, I like either, I don't know, it's a toss up for me. Gladiator 2 or Twisters. I don't see how the cartoon Inside Out 2 goes up against any of these live action. No, I don't think that one.
We need one that, you know, the cartoony thing. They got a wild robot on there too, though. Yeah, but that's about robots. I'm going to tell you right now, if Deadpool Wolverine doesn't win, it's completely rigged.
You didn't like Twisters? I didn't watch it. I wasn't even interested. The only movie here that I was really interested in watching, Deadpool Wolverine, Alien Romulus, I'm like, oh yeah, maybe I'll catch that.
Yeah, I might watch that one Saturday morning or something. Beetlejuice, why you got to mess with Beetlejuice? I heard it was bad, but it's on HBO now, I might watch it, just to watch it. Right, because it's there.
It was a little weird, but it was like Ghostbusters, like you had to cry at the end kind of thing. He's hardly in it, I understand. Yeah, he's only in it for like maybe 20 seconds. Same scenario, it's like Michael Jackson's thriller, just don't touch it, just leave it alone.
It was an epic movie for its time. We didn't have to bring it back. Gladiator 2. Gladiator 1, one of the greatest movies of all time.
Sure, right. Why are we making, we're talking about ridiculous sequels here. Twisters, it's a remake. Even if it's good.
No, no. It's a remake of a movie. Yeah, really only it's the same is the character names. Other than that, it's a completely different story.
Other than it had tornadoes. Yeah. Well, no, I thought she was like the daughter of whoever. No.
And it was based on actual event. Yeah, based on actual events. Yeah. Actual twisters.
Right. Yeah. The Cat 5 tornado was wiped out by a rain cloud. Yeah.
Wow. All right. Let's see. We're at 30 minutes already.
We're just in all sorts of times. We're not even a cigar show anymore. Let's keep rolling here. That's one of the things.
That's one of the surprises. We are not a cigar show anymore. Yes, we are. We're at 28.
We're good. Okay. Best performance by female actor. No, you can skip that.
We're done with this all together. Give me the Chiefs. But Zadea is up for something. Who cares?
We're moving on. All right. Hold on. We're skipping that story altogether.
Chiefs beat the Chargers on a walk-off field goal, a walk-off field goal to clinch AFC West. Kansas City Chiefs clinched their ninth straight AFC West Championship Sunday night, but none of you dropped that. I did. None of the first.
How do you feel about dropping that? Dude, now it's clocked on me. I can't yell out the password. Yeah.
Alright, this is the last story. Championship tonight, but none of the first eight were quite like this one. The 12-1 Chiefs had yet another game, 12 wins and one loss, sorry. Chiefs had yet another game come down to the finish, and it always, so far, is the most unusual of the seasons.
They made the play to win it! Third string kicker Matthew Wright, a replacement for the two injured players, made a 31-yard field goal as time ran out to allow the Chiefs to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 19-17. Yeah. That was a big spot, didn't they?
Mm. Afterward, the Chiefs wore their AFC West Championship hats and t-shirts, as they always do after clinching division. They don't even, they always just bring them down. Yeah, they're just there.
They always have them. Other than that, nothing has felt familiar. The Chiefs might well see the Chargers on another division rival. The Denver Broncos into playoffs this time around.
Okay. You want to know a quote from Patrick Mahomes? Sure. "Our first goal every single year is to win the AFC West, and it's a great division," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said.
we're in a lot of rivalries where everybody's played each other tough, tough, and three teams are going to probably make the playoffs. That speaks to the division that we play in. Right. It was an important game for us.
We found a way to get, to get a win, but now we got to keep building and we want to get our ultimate goal. Yeah. This is set up for them to just fall completely on their faces. I think you keep saying that it's really good.
They're just barely winning. Yeah. The, the field goal kick wins a win the field goal. Okay.
Yes. The field goal kick. Yes. It dunked off the interior of the goal and then went inside.
Oh, so just barely. And it was like a 20... Who wins a win? It was a 20 yard chip in.
Third string kicker. And? He never sees any even practice time. Sit down.
Coach, I need to practice. Sit down, you're third string. You're never gonna get to play. This is gonna end in a bad fashion for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Keep saying that. Mark my words. You keep saying that. I am.
I'm telling you, keep saying that. I'm going to. Stop interrupting me, Michael. I didn't ask you how you feel yet.
Okay. We're playing some really good football teams that are trying to get themselves into the playoffs, so they are going to be hungry and attacking, and so we've got to make sure we keep doing it. Oh. The win over the Chargers was the sixth for the Chiefs this season to be decided on the last play.
Reid said that gave this year's division championship a different feeling. Okay, we're done with this article. We're already talking about it. There's another quote.
No, who cares? They have so many tight names. We're moving on. All right, Phil's Trending Facts, or I'm sorry, Boots' Trending Facts.
Oh. Is that it? Nope. Nope.
Not the Patreon. Not Patreon. Still say Phil? Oh yeah, it does, yeah, I didn't change that yet.
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers' podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Boots. Hello, people. All right.
A woman, known as the Hak Tua Girl, is now facing accusations that her cryptocurrency, which launched Wednesday, was part of a so-called pump-and-dump scam. Haley Welch went viral after a social media video containing an off-the-cuff sex tip boosted her to internet fame. Welch quit her job at a spring factory after the video took off, launched a podcast, She made endorsement deals off her viral image. Wow, that's a tongue twister.
Words. Welch. I like words. Words are hard.
Welch had also become involved in the role of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, that led her to launch of her own cryptocurrency, a meme coin, based on her own viral success. Dollar Sign Hawk launched on the blockchain platform Solana, with promises it complied with security laws. The coin exploded by 900% during initial trading, with market capitalization nearing half a billion dollars, according to Dex Screener. Half a billion?
How did you get famous? I spit on wieners. Now I have nine billion dollars. She didn't spit on wieners.
You talked about spitting on wieners. But then the price collapsed by roughly 95%, wiping out retail investors within hours. Earlier this year, the Solana Exchange saw a spike in similar celebrity tokens, most of which also quickly plummeted. According to Coindesk, there are hundreds of tokens of Solana as of Friday, most valued in fractions of a cent, with names including Santa and Pizza Guy.
However, the abrupt fall of dollar sign hawk has led to allegations of a pump and dump scheme or rug pull, where developers promote a crypto project to raise money before liquidating their assets and walking away. Critics have alleged there is evidence of insiders on the project getting rid of their investments for large amounts and buyers known as snipers coming in and buying up the bulk of available coins to sell for instant profit. The publication, Cointelegraph, found one crypto wallet- Okay, apparently there's a lot of information that we don't really understand anyway, so we'll just- So now they're calling guys who get basically tips and invest a whole bunch of money and make money, snipers? Yes, according to the article.
I just feel like those are guys that just got a hunch and made some money. It's a new term for insider trading. Now they're called snipers. So now you're not allowed to make money.
Well, the only way you can get away with that is to be called a politician. Well, yeah, right. Certainly. If not, you're evil.
Right. So apparently there's a possibility of pressing charges against a young lady. Well, I mean, you know what? Here's what's happened.
Obviously, there's been some big notoriety with this girl. Sure. And then people have got ahold of her and... Oh yeah, she didn't figure this out by herself.
" And she has. Right. She's from a spring factory. It's not like she was some genius just sitting around.
Right. " I think at this point, she's gonna be in trouble. I think she's gone too far. I think so too.
Yeah, I think this is, yeah, she's gonna take the fall for the snipers on this thing. I don't know if she takes a fall because the other people that are involved are definitely gonna get hit. But they're the rich people in the politicians. I don't think that that's the case here.
So you think somebody like us figured out here's what we're gonna do? Here's what we, yeah, yeah. Well, there was no real evidence that she did it on purpose in that whole article. I think it's some kind of sleazy use.
You probably didn't get to that part. You just talked about not running people over to talk. Did I run them over? I'm sorry, I thought I made a comment after he finished talking.
Okay. I'm sorry, how do you feel about that? I feel like I'm gonna kill you. I have to stop saying that.
Yeah, you do, because if I actually die, I guess we're going to jail. Oh, this show is going to be bananas right here. All his fault. This show is already bananas.
All his fault. I don't think that she's going to be to blame. I think that there's going to be people above her, but they're going to be kind of like sleazy, used car salesman type people. I think she takes the fall for all the sleazy car salesmen.
Really? I think they've had her signed papers where this is all her, all her, nothing but her, and so help her. Yeah, but she'll get some, I mean, this is federal, this is real time. This is not like she's going to spend 364 days in jail.
Yeah, but she goes to a white-collar place, though, where, you know, she's eating, drinking lattes and eating stuff on toast. I can't think of the avocado on toast. Right. I mean, she's going to go hang out with Diddy.
Yeah, no, no. Diddy's in the pen. Diddy's in serious jail stuff now. She would be in federal penitentiary.
Yeah, but she's going to white girl federal penitentiary. Oh, there's a, there's a gender. White Collar Crime stuff, yes, she's gonna go to that, where it's more like a country club. That's where the white girls go.
It's where the fancy white girls go. It's in California, it's called Valley Girl Penitentiary. Right, the place where they sent the girl from, uh, um, crap, not thinking of that show. Mean Girls?
No, no, with, uh, they had the two twin, uh, the twins. Oh, uh, Paratrap. No, not that, but no, it's a TV show. Cody and Jake.
With Danny Tanner. Danny Tanner was the dad. Oh, Full House. Thank you, Full House.
We're the lady from Full House. Yeah, we'll get to it eventually. 'Cause you know you're in trouble. What?
What? No, the lady from Full House went to white-collar prison for that thing she did with her daughter getting into college. Oh, Becky. Becky went.
Oh, not white-girl prison? Yeah, she was a white girl that went to prison. Okay, but so it's white-collar prison or white-girl prison? White-collar, sorry, I misspoke.
White-collar, oh. White-collar. Okay. She's going to that prison.
Very nice. Where their cantina is a Starbucks. Here comes the hate mail. Nice.
Well, look, you know what, here's what's really kind of fascinating that you guys aren't really speaking about. What we're talking about is the fact that digital currency is definitely now on the uptick again, right? And the unfortunate part is that there is no government framework for that digital currency. So what happens?
You have people that are taking advantage of the situations and ripping people off left and right. S. market, that's going to continue to happen. Now, you're a complete fucking idiot if you decided that the Haktua currency was going to be a smart fucking investment, right?
This is the one, I have a feeling, right? This is it. Those guys that probably invested a lot of those people were like the AMC people. Like, oh, it's flood it and pull out.
Well, that's the pump and dump. Okay, but there is still, okay, yes, but unfortunately, for that to work out, some people had to get stuck holding the bag. So if you're playing that game, you know that potentially you're going to be stuck holding that bag. You're out of your mind to invest in the Haktua girl's currency.
Right. I'm sure she has fans. I mean, she has to for it to have gotten to this point. So the fans are the ones stuck holding the bag, correct, right, okay, glad that we determined that.
Yeah, there's no, they actually have, so when you guys told me to stop reading, it says that it isn't clear what penalties Welch or others behind the hot coin would face, so they don't really have anything against them, they probably released a released a news clipping thing, right, a press release, to try and get people to start squawking. Right. Make no mistake, we asked you to stop reading because it was painful to listen to your read. Yes.
Well, that, and I was getting bored from my own story, so that... It was hard. It's gotta be a paragraph. Yeah, it's a hard one.
And look, it's so much shorter until you put it on his phone, then it's like 17 pages. Okay, so I need you to cap it at five sentences. That's how I start reading. For boots is fun facts.
Talk to a girl, bad. Uh, no good. Take money. I like her.
I like she spit. She's very nice. All right, news button please over there, booty. See, from the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need, the Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon.
Scrim by Hunch launches supervillain series Cutters. Today, Scrim by Hunch is launching a new supervillain series, a collection of hand-handled designs featuring iconic movie Bad Guys made via Scrimshaw. Okay. How do you feel about Scrimshaw?
Is that the end of the article? No, no. I don't even know who Scrimshaw is. I don't know what it is either.
I thought maybe you would know. No. The first in the series pays tribute to Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise and uses water buffalo horn handles that show the character. Oh, Scrimshaw maybe is some type of artwork from Antlers, maybe?
Okay. I thought that was a company. Scrim by Hutch, but made via Scrimshaw. Okay.
So Scrim is the name of the company. Alright. Scrimshaw is some type of process, apparently. Uses water buffalo horn handles that show a character's iconic helmet on one side and the Death Star on the other.
Between the handles sits a Zeichar Phantom Cutter body named for its black blades and body. The cutter uses 440 C stainless steel and a Rockwell HRC 57 rating and can clip the cap off a cigar up to a 60 ring gauge while being able to cut 54 ring gauges in half. Okay. The first, it looked cool.
It's looking on a picture. First model referred to a super villain number one is priced at $450. Definitely made out of some type of antler material or something. Or overpriced, but go ahead.
And comes with a round black leather pouch. It's limited to 100 pieces that are being produced on a made-to-order basis. Rick Hutchins, owner of Scrim by Hutch, has not yet announced future characters to be portrayed in the series, but has extended the invitation for consumers to suggest which ones they would like to see featured in future design. Oh, he has no idea what he's doing.
Okay, so we're making a villain series, but we don't have a villain series, just to review. Correct. We just got the one. Yes.
It's a Darth Vader cutter. Darth Vader, Death Star combo. Okay. And is that approved by Disney?
I don't know. It doesn't say you would think it would be, though. Or we're just doing it. I don't know.
You'd think you'd have to approve. Disney's not somebody who just goes, eh, let him have it. Just go ahead and do it. Yeah, it's no big deal.
That's not Disney. Right. I got questions. I have questions.
Right. Who knows what Rick's doing over there. Cigar Family Academy of Arts opens in the Dominican Republic. We had this story a couple weeks ago that they were planning this, they opened their first school.
It's official. It's official. C. Newman, they have all that money now from their imaginary cigar.
Impossible, slightly possible. Has formally opened its latest project, the Cigar Family Academy of Arts. For more than five years, the foundation has been working on this project, a major expansion at the 23-acre facility. The main school offers a free K-12 education to 440 students in Banau, Dominican Republic.
Located in minutes away from Chateau de Fuente Farm, the gross tobacco for Fuente. You think these kids also work at the farm? It's possible. It's not impossible.
It's not impossible. Beyond the free education, it also provides after-school activities like sports, karate, art, medical care for the students and oftentimes their families as well as other social services. Hmm. Students are selected via a lottery, so it's sort of like… Rigged.
All lotteries are rigged. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly.
Allegedly. But the school is not large enough to accommodate all the educational leads in the area, so only some. Well, of course it's not capable of doing that. Just the few, the chosen few.
Nearly a decade ago, plans began to add vocational schools for elder care and hospitality to fields Two fields with significant demand in the Dominican Republic. Coinciding with those plans was the Cigar Family Academy of Arts. The Arts Project has received special attention from Hublot, a Swiss watch brand, and Otoro Sandoval, the Grammy-winning artist. I'm sorry, can you tell me that watch company one more time?
Hublot? H-U-B-L-O-T? Hublot. How do you say it?
Hublot. Hublot? Yeah, dude. That's Hublot?
Hublot. I guess you could go there. I like Hublot. Oh my goodness.
I'm sorry, it's not phonetically spelled on the paper. I don't know these fancy watch people. How do you not know what Hublot is? I still don't know.
You even said the name right. I should have asked if Boots could pronounce that name properly, too. No, no. You keep going.
How do you not know what Hublot is? I still don't know. You can say the name as many times as you want. I don't know.
Really? Yes. I wear a Amazon watch. Do you?
Yes. Does it tell you what time it is? It also tells me how I sleep if I'm breathing in my heart rate. Not to mention my steps and my oxygen level in my blood.
How much oxygen level do you have right now? I'd have to pull it up and look. Probably not a lot. It's not right on this.
It's Hublot. Hublot. It's Hublot. The new facility includes an amphitheater for performance as well as four other buildings that will be dedicated to music, arts, and dance.
Sandoval, who will receive the Protegious Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, December 8th, inaugurated the amphitheater following the initial announcement about the Academy's opening. Okay. The Fuente and Newman families operate the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation in a somewhat unique way, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay.
C. Newman, because the Fuente and Newman families underwrite all of CFCF's operating costs. Every dollar raised goes directly to help children in need. Who is, which one of them is Eric?
I've never heard of Eric Newman. Eric? I think that's the son, right? I don't know.
Yeah. I thought Bobby was his son. I think he's running everything now. Eric?
Yeah. No, Bobby Jr. is running everything. Oh, I thought Eric was running things.
I'm guessing Eric might just be in charge of the school. I don't think so. No? All right.
Is that it? Yeah, that's it. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about that?
Okay, so, like, you went through the whole article and you didn't stop to break about any of it. Like, we didn't get to talk. Well, yeah, we did because you made fun of the way I pronounced Hublot. You read the whole thing.
So, like. So, now we talk about it again. How do you feel about that? Oh, my God.
Where did you want me to stop? Okay. All right. I think it's a good thing.
Whatever. I'm getting frustrated. Where did you want me to stop? It's a float article.
That's fine. This is, now this has turned into you just reading things and then when it's done, like, whatever. This is the way we've always done it. Okay.
I understand we're doing things different now. Now we have interactions throughout the article as you're talking, but like, now you just read the whole thing and, okay, great. We stopped in the middle when you made fun of the way I said a word. Yeah, okay.
So yeah, great. Supreme Leaf Royal Perfecto coming in early 2025. Next article. I just read the title for the next article.
Perfect. Supreme Leaf, Royal Perfecto, coming in early 2025. A Royal Perfecto? Supreme Leaf, Royal.
Oh, that's the name of the cigar, and then the size is Perfecto. Yes, I'm gathering. Okay. He's very angry now.
I'm not angry, you're angry. I am angry. 5x52 figurado that will be released in the early part of the new year. So the size is a Royal Perfecto.
Yes, I don't know what the difference between a Perfecto and a Royal Perfecto, unless it has a crown on it. It's probably bigger. Five and a half by 52, is that a standard Perfecto size? That's kind of small, yeah.
So maybe Royal is smaller? I guess. Five by 50 is your standard Perfecto, right? Anything above that's usually a Grand Perfecto, like a six by 52 or whatever.
Hmm. So it doesn't matter if it's... So it's an in-betweeny. Yeah, it's a five and a half instead of a five.
I mean, look, it's the cigar industry. We'll name it whatever the hell we want to name it, right? You want to name it, right? Well, yeah.
No, it's a royal perfecto. They should have just named it the royal giraffe. Yeah, right? That'd have to be really long.
So, it's the supreme... What are they doing now? It's the supreme leaf. Supreme leaf royal perfecto.
Now, I don't know if a supreme leaf is now royal or the perfecto is royal. There's no comma in the... It could be the supreme leaf royal. Right.
And it could be the supreme leaf royal perfecto. Correct. Could go either way. And we don't know.
We don't know. I guess when we see a box, we'll see if it says "Royal Perfecto" on the bottom right corner. Well, there is a picture of the box with the story, and it reads all as "Supreme Leaf, Royal Perfecto", all as four words straight across. Oh, yeah, they just didn't.
So we still don't know. We still don't know. So Agonors didn't want to spring for the commas, is what you're saying. Right.
Well, oh, hold on. 5 with a new size, comma, as the company announces the addition of the Royal Perfecto, comma. Oh, okay. There you go.
Okay. So I'm guessing the Perfecto is Royal, not the Leaf. Right. It's a Supreme Leaf.
Still Supreme Leaf, same colors, that terrible orangey purple stuff. Going back to that, well. Yes. Again.
And now it's a Royal Perfecto. Royal. I don't, you know, I don't hate the colors. I like the orange and purple.
Yeah, I know, but I think it's overplayed. It does seem better. I liked it the first time. I actually get kind of excited when I see that cigar.
Even the second time. That's where I was going, but I got distracted from him being excited when he sees the box. I like colors. No, I like when I see the cigar, like, that's their best cigar.
I mean, it's great. But this is a different cigar. It's just a different size. I would agree with you that that's probably their best cigar.
Yeah. Supreme Leaf, it's probably the best one they make. What do you think the best Aganorsa cigar is that they make? Yeah, not a huge fan of guy.
It's either, it's, it's, it's that one. There is no other one. Yeah? Yeah.
I think the Supreme Leaf is definitely the best one. So, basically, they're building a line of cigars, one Vitola at a time. Yeah, I mean, that's fine, I guess, to some degree. They're doing a limited edition run.
I think that where, where it's kind of gotten, um, watered down is the fact that they've done all these other things that are incorporated with the name Leaf, right? You get the Rare Leaf, the Super Rare Leaf, the, you know, the Cameo Leaf. Yeah, so it kind of takes away from what you're saying? Yeah.
So, I think if they had just stuck with that, that it just stuck with Supreme Leaf, and they did different series releases of that, I think that this would be, it would be more valid, Terrence. Oh, there's that. "Demand for Supreme Leaf continues to grow, and we are committed to releasing the same incredible blend in a new format with each release to showcase how each size creates a unique experience," said Terrence Riley, VP of Sales and Marketing for Agonore. I think that's true.
Yeah, I think people do clamor for this when it comes out. I think they're still getting excited. As well as overseas demands. I believe that there's more overseas demand for the Supreme Leaf.
Right, they just started doing that at the, whatever that show was that you said over there. Yeah, that one show. Well, they showed all the cigars and all the stuff that we can get here. Yeah.
Ooh, look at him, he got it right. I knew it. I was just waiting for it to plug it in. Good job, Boots.
Good job. Boy. The last Supreme Leaf Perfecto was launched in 2023. It was a massive hit because of the So they put one out last year, and you know, the Perfecto worked really well.
Let's do it again. Let's royal it up. Right. Let's add a half.
So what was the size of the Perfecto last year? Probably because somebody rolled them wrong or something. Oh man, this is the wrong size. What are we gonna do with these five and a half by 52?
You know what? Just call them royal. Yeah. What was the...
Sorry, I was trying to read to see where it was mentioned. It was a six by 54. That's a big one. So this one's smaller.
Right. Half a size smaller. Six by 54 Perfecto in a shorter format, which led to the creation of the Royal Perfecto. People asked for it, it says.
He went on to say the fans of the Supreme Leaf line requested the experience of the original... They requested the experience of the original six by 54 Perfecto in a shorter format. So people said, you know what, this is good, but it's a little too much. I need smaller.
I need a half an inch smaller? Yeah, I need a half inch less, please. And a smaller gauge. 52 is out of 54.
So, um, yes. What's normally a 52? Smaller than a 50. Your Robusto is your average, even though technically Robusto is a 50 gauge, your more common Robusto size is a 52.
52, right. Do you really think people have been asking? No. You know what, Terrence, this is good, but I need a little bit smaller.
It's too much. Well, we're going to make your Robusto, but we're going to call it a Royal Perfecto. And make the end pointy. You know, it could have been one guy.
Could have been. That would be they. Kind of awkward to say, him-est. You know, Terrence could have been at an event and said, you know, so what do you think about that?
And the guy probably said, you know, it would be awesome if it was just a little bit smaller. And he goes, okay. Boom. 5x52 Royal Perfecto.
Yeah, the only Royal Perfecto in the cigar. Ooh, sounds very exciting. The size is designed to offer a subtle and focused first third. We're transitioning to a richer, full-bodied middle section, while the final third tapers back down and concentrates the flavors once again.
Does he recommend micro-dosing while you take it? What? How does... I don't understand.
The Royal Perfecto will be available for retailers to order in January, Riley told Cigars Podcast. The goal is to have the cigars on store shelves in late February or early March. Excellent. This marked the 10th size in the line, which debuted in March of 2020, so in four years they've come out with 10 sizes of the Supreme Leaf.
But I thought they only come out once a year. Apparently not. Apparently not. It's 2024.
Oh, we have the breakdown of when each one came out. Oh. Supreme Leaf Robusto 5x52 was the original one back in March of 2020. Supreme Leaf Toro followed in July of 2020.
Supreme Leaf Corona, then jump to the next year, a long time, February of 2021, and then the Torpedo, and then a bigger Robusto, a 5x54, and then a bigger Toro, oh, smaller Toro, sorry, 6x54 was the original, 6x52 was the second one, and now the Perfecto, 6x54 in December, Supreme Leaf Gran Robusto, was a bunch of different sets. So basically, every four to six months. Yeah. Uh, sometimes only two.
Oh, February to March. The Grand Robusto came out in February, and then the Rothschild came out in March. Hmm. Hey, you gotta hit, keep banging.
Apparently. Keep riding his horse till it dies, honestly. That's it. All right.
com, parent company. This is interesting. Brandhopper. Yeah.
Yes. It sounds like one of those shopping newspapers you get at the grocery store. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. I can tell by the way he said it.
Yeah, I was like, what is that? Alec Goldman, a long time executive in the cigar industry, has been named Chief Operating Officer of Brand Shopper, LP, the parent company of Cigar Peach. His first day at the Bath, PA-based company was Monday, December 2nd. Goldman joins Brand Shopper after more than three years at Quality Imports Trading Company, A Westin, Florida-based company that focuses on cigar accessories and owns a right to brands like Zykar and Cigar Caddy and Cubidor Supreme, Hydra, Stinky, and others.
Don't I know this guy's name from somewhere? Yeah, you actually do. And you know, we're going to tap on this very briefly here because it, you know, it's an interesting topic. It really is.
and um i do feel like it's definitely more patreon content that we can kind of discover here but uh in a news article from cigar aficionado on october 5th 2018 tobacco distributor alex goldman sentenced to three years for tobacco tax fraud wait oh hold on same guy right for a same name yeah what are the odds there's two guys with the same name in the cigar industry The former president of the House of Oxford sold untaxed tobacco products to an undercover ATF agent at one point wore a wiretap for the ATF at an industry trade show. Hmm. Yeah. Well, hold on.
Let me make sure I'm following. Alex Goldman was wearing the wiretap. Correct. Oh.
Just to kind of briefly summarize here. Both House of Oxford and Goldman agreed to civil forfeiture of approximately $14 million in assets, including cash investments, sports cars, real estate, rare artwork, and jewelry. Burke & Jewelry, Goldman and House of Oxford were sentenced on September 20th. Goldman has been registered at the Federal Correctional Institute in Otisville, New York, and he will report there soon to begin his sentence.
So that was 2018? Yep. Three years? He was sentenced to three years?
Yeah, probably, you know, good behavior, probably got out early. 18 to 19, 19 to 20, let's figure two years? Year and a, year and a, it's usually half. He found himself at, um, was it Quality Importers for a little bit?
com. Oh, here it is. Prior to his time at Quality Importers, he worked at his family's company's House of Oxford and Mom's Cigars. Moms?
No, it's totally different moms. Totally different moms. But this ties it in, House of Oxford, which is where he was when he was committing fraud. Yeah.
14 million. I heard some fascinating stories about PCA. And I have some questions. I'm very intrigued about all of this.
I'm curious to see where this goes and how it kind of develops. So we're going to talk about this more on the Patreon, you said? We're going to cover some of these things, yeah, for sure. So this guy got arrested, and now they're making him in charge of a new company.
Well, yeah. I mean, Cigar Page isn't really notoriously known for its appropriate behavior. Right. So.
Is it Brands Hopper is one of the fastest growing businesses in the cigar world, run by an alleged felon? Right. The company was launched by Keith Meyer, the founder and former head of Cigars International. It currently has three different- Cigars International.
com. You said Cigar Page, which is that's what I said. com. Oh, did he?
He corrected me. com, a hunting retailer. Right. So cigars looks like guns and hunting supplies.
Interesting acquisition. Yes. Oh, I have questions. Yeah, I mean.
Okay. So what else you got? Plasencia creates unique cubalera for a year of the snake. Cubalera.
Culebra? Culebra. Culebra. Culebra.
For a year of the snake. The Spanish word for snake is not this, actually. I looked it up. It's not actually this word.
Snake? Okay. Culebra. Do you know what it is?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the three cigars that are intertwined together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know why it was originally created?
It was something to do with the people smoking or something. They were only allowed one cigar to take out or something, so they wrapped three together. They're going to get it out. Correct.
Right. A special meeting for a cigar smoker in February. Chinese New Year will ring in the upcoming year of the snake on the Chinese Zodiac calendar, and therefore cigar companies are beginning to announce new releases for the year of the snake. So far, Plasencia is the first to incorporate a Culebra as part of the release.
Each box of Plasencia, El Año de la Cublara, Edición Limitada, 2025. Look, just let me go, okay? It includes two types of cigars. Two cigars.
Eight of the cigars are 7x40 Lanceros, and the other two cigars are twisted, and so there's only two. Only two cigars in that? Yes, it says most of those are made with three cigars twisted together, though this isn't the first to use the two cigar concept. We just can't afford it.
Polesencia can't afford it, believe me. Yeah, but no, but you can't afford to pay you what I would have to have. What's the retail on that thing? Yeah, see, this is like $490 a box.
You're kidding me. How about you're in a box? Uh, 10. So it's a $50 cigar.
$49 a cigar. Holy moly. So I'm telling you, if we put in a 3, it's over 500. Wow, man, that's crazy.
Welcome to the 2025, the year of the expensive cigars. I feel like 2024 was the year of the expensive cigar. We thought so. Well, I mean, if you think about it, more often, the majority of the 2024 cigars that came out, a lot of those higher-end ones, they're about 100, 150.
Right. Well, now we're down to 50. That is a super limited cigar, though, right? That's what they're saying.
What's that? Did it say how many boxes they made? 3,000. That's not so limited.
Oh wait, production limited, 6,000 boxes. 3,000 of those boxes. Really? Yeah, they're making 6,000, only half of them's coming here, the other half's going to Europe.
Gotcha. So you're going to have 3,000 in the United States market. Well, because usually Culebra is only bought for like a birthday or some special event with you and your friend. Really?
I mean, I've been giving them for my birthday. Okay. Birthday Cigar? Birthday Cigar?
Did you smoke it on your birthday? Yeah, with Pedro and Jason one time, yep. Was it the Drew Estate one? It was a black box with red writing.
Drew Estate. Yeah, maybe. Okay. Featuring Elegant Leslie, blah, blah, blah.
Let's see. Each cigar reflects the artistry and precision of our master roller, says Nestor Plasencia in a press release. A representative from Plasencia did not immediately return an email from Half Wheel. From Halfway, Liz is Halfway, Liz is.
Seeking comment on the report. The fifth consecutive year, Placencia has made a cigar for the Chinese Zodiac calendar. There you go. $30,000 I made.
Limited edition. $3,000. We're going to skip the next story because we're running long because we have to do the last story. $30,000 in the US?
Yeah, that's a lot. Okay, what's the last story? The last story, Luciano Cigars and Adel Cigar Company in distribution. Is it Adel or ATL?
ATL. Is it ATL, not Adel? Adel, Adel. They're in Georgia.
Luciano Cigars and ATL Cigar Company announces that they have seen our show and now realize who they are doing business with. I mean, they've agreed to end the distribution agreement as of December 16th, but the two companies remain partners in the production of ATL Cigars. In a press release, the two companies called the relationship a blind attempt at an alleged takeover. Oh, I'm sorry, wait, that's the next story, sorry.
They called it a fruitful and transformative collaboration, but they both companies are embracing fresh opportunities for growth and innovation I want to tap on that, too. Who said that? Who said that quote right there? Who's number one?
Cigar Hustler, the podcast. That doesn't match me here. It doesn't fit. Just ATL doesn't say who at ATL said that.
Can somebody get an ATL? Well, you said in the beginning that somebody said it to Half Wheel, right? No, I didn't mention Half Wheel. Sorry, go ahead.
I just want to talk to an ATL. And I'm an ATL guy. Can somebody get me an ATL guy on the phone so I can see what the hell's going on? I want to get some intel here and get their point of view.
Because everything that I've heard as far as perspective and point of view has all been very interesting in regard to Luciano. But for whatever reason, mom's the word on this side of the field, even though I have heard rumors about other things. So let's talk more about that on the Patreon, too. Oh, I was going to say, what rumors have you heard?
Mm-hmm. " Allegedly. Allegedly. He went on to report their commitment to quality and excellence has been pivotal to our success as we enter this exciting new chapter.
What is it? I don't know, man. Who are these people? I think that that news article has taken a long time to come out.
Oh, you don't think it just happened? No, I mean, I think there's been a lot of ongoing challenges there, but they're not, but mom's the word, nobody's really speaking. Isn't the way all these things always end up happening, though? The breakups?
Yeah, I mean, we can go into further detail on that later. As we enter this new chapter, we're equally excited to continue working with Luciano Cigars as our manufacturing partner. He keeps saying he owns a factory and we have, but we've never seen it. Ensuring the integrity and excellence of our products remained, allegedly.
ATL Cigar Company and Luciano Cigars began their distribution agreement in November of 2022. S. distribution operation, this agreement coincide, blah, blah, blah. And it's just, Lamar told Halfwheel that it will be taken to distribution in-house as we have no more money and we began reaching out to retailers on December 16th with information on how to place orders.
I think it's a smart move to go in-house. I think so, too. I mean, what are they going to do now? I mean...
You can't, you need to be, you need to build your own destiny. I have heard of them because we've done stories about them. I've never seen one in a shop, though. Yeah, I think they're probably more Georgia market in that realm.
More north, not Florida at all, huh? You know, but it's very possible. Look, do you know any Luciano accounts in this area? Uh, no, right?
Yeah, I don't, I don't know anybody that cares. Well, I'm sorry, they did have them at Blend and Barrel till Shia got there, then he got rid of them. Right. So they had them there.
Yeah, that was the extent of it. So that would have been the only opportunity where you would have came across the ATL, I guess, right? Yeah, they might, they might still have that there, I don't know. Right.
I've never really seen these cigars before. All right. All right, I got a Shop of the Week and a Listener of the Week, then we are out of here. Okay, tell me.
Shop of the Week, BL Luxuries. They have several different names. It's a little confusing. Maybe they're going through a little bit of an identity thing.
No, I think they have a couple of different type things. Like, I think they have an online thing where, you know, it's named something else and then they have the shop and then they're something else. Gotcha. Sounds familiar.
So we'll get some clarification on that and we'll re-announce it on the next show. Sure. Listener of the week is Joshua Richter. He's from the Manstream Podcast.
Richter, that sounds familiar. Nice. It was just a post, he just posted in the post on your group, you might have seen it there, right before the show. I was posted to the show this week, but the samples got delayed in the mail, and they showed up a day late.
It always happens when it comes to... This time of year, yeah. " Well, remember, Romatron, we can't send to Canada, Canada can't go there. Romatron got that lighter, it went to his local postal distribution center, and then back to Texas.
They went back to Texas. Really? Yeah. This guy's cigars got up to his local place and then went to St.
Louis. He thought, oh great, they're going to show up on Thursday. They're just, you know, they're just a couple of miles away. Then he checked it on Friday when they didn't show, and he goes, well, they're in St.
Louis. Wow. It's because he paid $15 for shipping, so he had to use up all of it. So you're going to be on the show again?
It's going to be January now. Gotcha. Yes. We confirmed today, actually, it's going to be the 10th, I believe it was.
It's a Friday. Very nice. Yes. I love that one.
Yeah, 'cause it's not a cigar show. Right. Yeah, it'll be fun. It'll be fun.
I've talked to him on the phone a couple of times. Seems like a good guy. We get along really well. It'll be a good time.
There's like four of them on the show. Awesome. All right, that wraps this up, right? All right, we gotta go.
Thank you very much. Appreciate everybody listening. This is 365 over there, Boots. Oh, yeah.
All right, episode 365. Thank you very much. All right, thanks, bye. Goodbye.
Thank you. Music by Ben Thede.
Show Notes
Description:
This week, we dive into the hottest topics making headlines:
• Jay-Z and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs face allegations in a shocking civil lawsuit.
• Daniel Penny acquitted of criminally negligent homicide—what it means after the dismissal of his manslaughter charge.
• The Golden Globe nominations are out—who’s leading the pack this year?
• The Kansas City Chiefs clinch the AFC West in a dramatic walk-off field goal win against the Chargers.
In Industry News, we explore:
• Hutch’s Super Villain Series launch and its bold new direction.
• The opening of the Cigar Family Academy of Arts in the Dominican Republic.
• Plasencia’s exclusive Year of the Snake Culebra.
• The upcoming Supreme Leaf Royal Perfecto, set to drop in early 2025.
• Alex Goldman joining Brandshopper, the parent company of CigarPage.com.
• Luciano Cigars and ATL Cigar Co. part ways—what’s next for both brands?
This week’s Shop of the Week is BL Luxuries, and our Listener of the Week is Joshua Richter from the Man Stream Podcast.
Don’t miss this jam-packed episode filled with breaking news, industry updates, and our signature takes on all things cigars and culture.