ACHP 427 Riots, Killer Bears and Oreos

Episode Summary

Episode 427 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with hosts Mike Palmer, Mike Szczepankiewicz and engineer "Boots" Hippelhauser running through CHPod merch news — the blacked-out war bear hat, the long-awaited beanies (and the story of the ruined "melted bear" patch), hoodies and shirts at chpod.com. From there the crew moves into their usual news block: the police and army deployment in Dar es Salaam ahead of Tanzania's Independence Day following October's disputed elections, a grizzly bear attack on a school group on a walking trail in Bella Coola, British Columbia that injured 11 people, and Oreo's announcement that a permanent zero-sugar Oreo (and Double Stuf version) is coming to U.S. shelves in January. The bear story turns into a long, funny debate about who you'd actually save on the trail, bear spray, polar bears, and then a candid conversation about GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, fasting, "bulking season" and being honest with yourself about diet.

The cigar half starts with a failed on-air phone call to Jeff Moutet of Riverside Cigars about his new anniversary cigar, then pivots to an audio rant sent in by John McTavish (the Cigar Surgeon) about manufacturers giving cigar media incorrect specs — pricing, sizes, wrappers — while retailers receive the correct information on their invoices. Using the Viaje Vampire Dust release as the example, the hosts debate how much this actually matters to consumers versus media, whether press releases go out too early, and why providing genuine value is what gets media accurate and timely information.

New release news follows: the Punch Princesa Edición Limitada 2025, a 5 3/10 x 52 Edmundo celebrating 185 years of Punch and launched in Cyprus with a three-count numbered box exclusive; Rebellion Cigars shipping the Screaming Skull (6x56, five-year-aged San Andrés Mexican wrapper, Indonesian binder, Honduran and Nicaraguan filler, made at Tabacalera Las Colinas, Danlí) for its fifth anniversary, plus the Eddie Hall Beast (6x56 Toro Extra, Habano 2000 wrapper) for the British strongman and YouTuber; and JRE Tobacco's Aladino Year of the Horse 2026, a 6x54 torpedo of Honduran tobacco grown by the Eiroa family, an Asia-exclusive limited to 600 boxes.

The episode wraps with a look at the Cigar Rights of America Winter 2025 Freedom Sampler — a 10-cigar donated sampler including Ashton VSG, Arturo Fuente Opus X, Diamond Crown, La Flor Dominicana, Padrón, Plasencia and a new Nicaraguan Corojo-wrapped Tatuaje Smashed Pumpkin — along with a breakdown of the CRA's finances. Finally, "What's the Score?" tackles Charlie Minato's 2021 Half Wheel review of the Howard G Black Moses Maduro, with a twist: only the positive lines were read, and the actual score was an 80.

In This Episode

1. 01
   CHPod Merch & the Melted Bear
   Merch talk covering the blacked-out war bear hat, new beanies, hoodies and why a botched patch made the 'melted bear' a collector's item.
2. 02
   News Block: Tanzania, Grizzly Attack, Zero-Sugar Oreo
   Police deployment in Dar es Salaam, a grizzly bear attack on schoolchildren in Bella Coola BC, and Oreo's permanent zero-sugar cookie launching in January.
3. 03
   Weight-Loss Drugs, Fasting and Honest Eating
   An unfiltered discussion of Ozempic and Zepbound, extended fasting, bulking season and being realistic about your own habits.
4. 04
   John McTavish Rant: Media vs. Retailer Information
   The Cigar Surgeon sends in audio questioning why manufacturers give media incorrect specs while retailers get accurate info, using Viaje Vampire Dust as the case study.
5. 05
   Punch Princesa Edición Limitada 2025
   A 5 3/10 x 52 Edmundo marking 185 years of Punch, launched in Cyprus with a numbered three-count box exclusive and Vuelta Abajo filler aged at least two years.
6. 06
   Rebellion Cigars: Screaming Skull & Eddie Hall Beast
   Rebellion's fifth-anniversary San Andrés-wrapped Screaming Skull and the Habano 2000-wrapped Eddie Hall Beast, both shipping December 4th.
7. 07
   Aladino Year of the Horse 2026
   JRE Tobacco's first Chinese Zodiac release, a 6x54 Honduran puro torpedo limited to 600 boxes and sold only in Asia.
8. 08
   CRA Winter 2025 Freedom Sampler & What's the Score
   How the CRA's donated 10-cigar sampler funds lobbying, plus the crew guesses Charlie Minato's score for the Howard G Black Moses Maduro.

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

m. This is episode 427. m.? m.

We get the drive time that way. Oh, nice. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and today with our new podcast. Our engineer, Boots, I Like to Eat Gas Station Food, Hippelhauser, we have the top stories of the day.

What, have you turned into like a Tim Allen home improvement? Yes. He really has. He's involved.

The top stories today, Tanzania is rolling out heavy police presence ahead of Independence Day festivities. A grizzly bear attacked a group of kids, making national headlines. And Oreo is trying to clean up its act with a new healthy option. Oh, thank God.

Over in the cigar world, the Punch Princess are landing in Cyprus. Rebellion is shipping out the Beast and the Screaming Skull, and Aladino might be beating a dead horse with its latest move. The CRA winter sampler is dropping just in time for the season, and of course, we will wrap it all up with a quick, what's the score? What's the score?

What's the score? What's the score? Yeah, you didn't even do it, Palmer. We do it later.

You guys messed up the other day. And now with my co-host, the extremely attractive and always calm, Mikey Szczepankewicz. Hi. Hi, Mikey.

Hi, Mikey. How can we get into Get some of that CHPod swag. com and check out all of our swag. Buy one, get the second one 40% off, and if you spend $100 or more, you get free shipping.

Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you are watching. You got a haircut. Me? Yeah.

I ran out of hair gels. Remember we had that hair thing yesterday? You put it in your beard too? I trimmed, no, you know what?

You got a haircut, your beard shorter. Well, Brittany likes my beard long, but it eventually hits a point where it drives me nuts. It's a point where it drives me nuts. Yeah, it's edgy.

Yeah. So I'm like, I have to shave this. You just got to get past that. I can't do it.

I can't do it. Oh. So I trimmed it. Yeah.

Oh, she's disappointed. Oh, you know. Hey, you know what's good about any swag we do here at Cigar Hustle, Michael? Tell me.

The level of quality we always go for. It's extremely high quality. " Yeah. And you have to tell them, "Well, that was a couple of years ago.

" But they hold up so well, like Eric's hat the other night, the pee hat, I get asked by two shops, how can we get that pee hat? I'm like, well, that's like two, three years old, I'm sorry, it was no longer available. Sorry about that. com, we have another hat available.

We have the bear, the war bear, blacked out. The new-new. Only got a couple of them, too. The new-new.

There's only like four or five left. Only a couple left. And then if you get it now, in two years, it'll be exactly what you thought the other one was. Right, it'll still look good about it.

These are even better quality than those pee hats. Right. Right. Yeah.

Absolutely. All right. Go ahead, Boots. Are we still coming out with the beanie thingy?

The beanie thingy? Yes. So, it's a little bit more complicated, but yes. Yeah.

Got it. I'm on it. How are the beanies more complicated? Just curious.

Okay. Because it requires... It's a triangular thing that you have to put them on. Do we need another machine?

So, here's what happens with the beanies and the patch. You have to adhere the patch first, and you can use the actual hat press for that because it heats by the bottom. And once it adheres, then you've got to move it to the other press, the shirt press, because it's flat. Because if you pressed it on the hat press, it would bend the knitting, and it would screw it up because I screwed one up.

Now, here's the problem. Wait, so do we have a beanie that's messed up? Yes. Well, the patch is already off of it.

Oh. One of one, it's $200 everybody wants to buy. We still get people wanting the melted bear, so I mean, you know, fucking things up, they become more expensive. Yeah, I'm aware.

I'm aware. Dude, I don't know. Because that melted bear is $500. Do you want me to sell the melted bear?

I could sell the melted bear. No, no, if you were going to keep it for you, keep it for you. I just, you know what, for me, I like to know that it's okay to make mistakes. Like, that's why I like wearing it and stuff, you know?

No, I mean, if you're going to keep it for you, keep it from you. But I mean, we just constantly get people asking, Is the Melted Bear still available? Yeah, but we want the Melted Bear. No, you can't.

Sorry, no more Melted Bear. Now we have Melted Beanie Bear. Melted Beanie Bear. So, I'll work on that this weekend.

I think I have a Sunday off of life, so... Oh my God, dude, things are... December's always insane. December's just so crazy.

But yeah, yeah, I'll square that away. I'll square that away. Okay, I didn't realize we'd got the beanies in stock. I didn't know that was going on.

We do, I just haven't posted them yet. All right. And do you guys want pressures or privilege shirts? I would like one.

Yeah. I would like a beanie when they become available. Okay. Yes.

The beanie was definitely a request. Okay. Okay. All right.

I have not bought a black beanie yet. Okay. Because I've been waiting. You get all the merch.

You got the hat, you're going to get the shirt. I wore it last night to my cigar club. Okay. Oh, the hat you did?

I had the sweater on and everything. We have sweaters? Yeah, the CHPod one. The CHPod one.

Oh, the sweatshirt. I wore the hoodie today, too, but now it's too hot. Yeah, I guess it's a sweatshirt. You said sweater, I was thinking, oh, we got cardigans, how nice.

No, we walk around in all our merch. Wow. Yeah, I forgot how old you were. Oh.

I have the bear boxers on today. Do you? Oh, are they melted bears, or? No, no.

He didn't mess up the boxers. No. It's kind of odd. Those were perfectly made.

Yeah. They have a little pocket in front with the bear on it. Oh, a little pee right on the slit, huh? That's right.

A pee on the pee. Right. That's right. Pee on the pee.

Pee on the pee. Tanzania deploys police and army to prevent Independence Day. Police and soldiers deployed in force in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Tuesday to try to prevent protests called for by the activists to denounce the violent suppression of demonstrations around elections in October. The government said any protest on Tuesday, the anniversary of mainland Tanzania's Independence Day, started in 1961, would amount in a coup attempt and urge people to stay at home.

The presidential and parliamentary elections on October 29th triggered the worst political violence in Tanzania's post-independence history. N. has estimated that hundreds were killed. The police and army were patrolling major streets in Dar es Salaam and checking the identification of anyone seeking to move around residents, they told Reuters.

I just pulled it like I thought it was odd that they're celebrating independence, but they're being suppressed and said they're not independent. It's because they're always in war. Well, you know what, man, what happens with a lot of countries, there's a revolution, and the revolution is actually worse than the original power. They were originally ruled by England back in 1961 or whatever it was, and now it's worse that England is not in charge anymore.

Hey, we would like it back the way it was. " Right, isn't it weird? It's usually the youth want it back to the way it was before. Well, they're, well, they want a revolution.

Right. Yeah. But then they realize that the revolution, they actually got screwed. Right.

Yeah, the only revolution that was good was Prince. It was Prince? Yeah, that was Prince in the revolution, the singer. formerly known as he was making a joke what about the American Revolution that was pretty good that worked out well yeah that was one time that was one time it's never happening again I was in England one time and I was being teased by the English that we had never won a war because of Vietnam Korea right I said well we won that one yeah you said that to somebody yeah yeah and what was their response they stopped talking screw you screw you that one doesn't count you're really fat And you guys have all the gun problems in your schools or whatever, something like that.

Everything's completely turned off on my phone. Somehow Steve gets through. Yeah. He must be one of my emergency contacts.

Notify anyone. You gotta just turn the volume down. The volume is all the way down. Really?

Yeah. Okay. I never had that problem. I have him set up as one of those breakthrough type things.

Super important person. Yeah, my wife, my son, and Steve. But not me. No, you are too.

Oh. I think you're listed as, uh, what is it they say to put near the name, a CID or something like that? Call in. Ice.

Yeah, ice. In case of emergency. In case of emergency. Oh, I'm the guy.

You're the guy. Oh, I thought he said CID call in case of death. Is he still breathing? Is he still breathing?

No? Okay. Alright, I'm coming. Alright, I'm on my way.

I'm on my way. Alright, Grizzly attacked school children and teachers on a walking trail in Canada, injuring 11. On a walking trail? On a walking trail in British Columbia.

What are we doing, Canadians? Canadiens. Just wanted to know that was not Votek? It was not, yeah.

It was not him? No, he's not. No, this is Canada. Well, he might have been on vacation.

You never know where he's going to show up. A grizzly bear attacked a group of school children and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada, injuring 11 people, two of them critically. The attack happened Thursday afternoon in Bella Coola, 700 kilometers or 435 freedom miles northwest of Vancouver. Better call John McDevish.

We talked to him last night. He's fine. The Nuxalk, N-U-X-A-L-K, the Nuxalk Nation said that the aggressive bear remains on the loose Thursday evening, and police and conservation officers were on the scene. Officers are armed, remain indoors, and off the highway, the First Nation said in a social media post.

Two people were critically injured, and two had serious injuries. Emergency Health Service… What the hell's the difference? Critically injured and serious injuries? Critically injured, I think, means you're dead?

No, or you're on like the, you could die, I guess, and the serious injuries are like, some scratches, maybe bad, but did you die? Yeah, maybe critically, he's like on the edge. Okay, okay. Emergency Health Services spokesman Brian Twaits said the others were treated at the scene.

Parent Veronica Schooner said a lot of the people tried to halt the attack, but one male teacher got the whole brunt of it and was among the people taken by helicopter from the scene. So one teacher threw himself in front of the bear. That's a great teacher. I was.

Schooner's 10-year-old son, Alvarez, was in the class of 4th and 5th graders that were attacked and was so close to the animal, he even felt its fur, she said. Apparently, you are through it too. You don't have silent mode on. It's all the way down.

Yeah, but do you have silent mode on the right side? You just hold it, and it'll go silent or whatever, or left or something? He said the bear ran so close to him, but it was going after somebody else. Schooner said she added that some children were hit with the bear spray as the teachers fought off the bear, and Alvarez was limping and his shoe muddy from running for safety.

Her son's thoughts, however, were with his classmates, I can't pronounce the name of the school, there's no vowels, it's like your name, Akasalata, school, an independent school run by the New Walk's First Nation, must be the Indians. And Bella Kula said on a Facebook post that the school will be closed on Friday and counseling made available. It's hard to know what to say during this very difficult time. We are so grateful for our team and our students, the post said.

You know, it was an Indian. Right. Right. Counseling made available.

Well, because the children are freaked out that their friends were eaten by bears. It's like when there's a school shooting, they always make counseling available to the survivors. Nobody died. Two people are critical.

Okay, but not confirmed death or anything. No, no, there's no confirmed death. But I would imagine being a school in northern British Columbia, a bear is a, you know, regular thing that could happen. Okay.

Right. So they're trying to calm down the children. Come back to school, it's fine. The bear was not at school.

" Thank God the bear wasn't the mascot of the school. Oh, wouldn't that be terrible. You know what I mean? Like the grizzlies or something.

Right. The grizzlies. You'd have to change the whole... You know, they're gonna change it to the teddy bears.

Yeah. Sorry to make a joke about something so morbid, but... Alright, so here's my question. You're on a trail with a, with whatever, with some people, with Greg Palmer, with a group of people.

Okay. Okay. And you see this bear, see a gigantic grizzly bear and it's about to attack the, I'm going the other way. Well, it's okay.

So let's very quickly answer for you. So I'm shooting boots and a leg. So you don't get in front of anybody. No.

Okay. What if your wife is there? He's still not getting in front of me. I tell her to run.

He's still not getting in front of me. Okay. There's a saying about a black and a brown bear, like one of them you act like you're bigger, one of them you act like you're dead. Yeah.

I don't remember which way it is, it'll probably fuck that up. The black bear, you act bigger. The grizzly, the grizzly is where you're screwed. Ah.

Yeah. So, wife? That's why there's a third option, you run. Okay.

You're not faster than a bear, man. What if your kids are there? You could zigzag. They got a zigzag.

Ava? That's an alligator. That's an alligator. Look, man, first of all, I'm not walking in the fucking woods.

And I'm definitely not going with the kids. Look, I just want to know where the line is, I guess, so there is no... He's always running. I mean, I would probably grab her and run.

I'm running. There's running involved. This is the only time there's running involved. See, but bears are fast.

Can't they run like 50, 60 miles in a sprint? I mean... Yeah, you're not out running. Yeah, but while they're feasting on the other children, you know, I'm getting away.

So he's not saving all the children. He's saving his child. Wow. Here's the problem.

He's not even saving the children. the children he's not even saving his children first he's gonna pick her up as long as so he has somebody to throw at the bear when it's close oh my shoulder you know i mean the bear's getting close sorry i love you right first of all this is why i am not a chaperone oh that's true i don't want to be involved he doesn't want to be responsible that is so bad so they took bear spray with them so that means it was a bear spray there was a possibility of a bear attack right so So why do you schedule that kind of stuff? Right. Hey, kids, there may be a fucking dragon in here, and he's gonna fucking eat you.

But we're gonna go. We brought the dragon spray. We'll all be fine. Yeah, if you see one, just spray this, he'll run away.

Bullshit. I mean, Yellowstone, they sprayed people one episode with the bear spray, and it didn't really slow down the people that much. That's a show. Yeah, I know, but I mean.

I mean, it won't slow down like a meth head or something, but I'm sure it's effective to people that aren't on drugs. I need to see the data. Well, that was good, I mean, well, first of all, you haven't answered my question, okay, wife? I'm going after the bear, I mean, it doesn't matter what the crowd is, okay, I mean, it might buy them some time, I'm obviously not going to defeat the grizzly bear, but you're going to die, I'm going to die, but it might buy them some time, because if I live and they all die, that's, I can't, we'll handle that, yeah, you're like that one guy in Titanic that kind of slipped on the boat, right, yeah, but what would be the difference with sleeping problems?

Well, because it would be worse, and it would be guilt and sleepless nights. You think? Instead of anxiety and sleepless nights. Yeah, if my entire family got eaten by a bear because I was faster.

Yeah. All your kids are there, too? All my kids got eaten by the bear. They're, they're grown up, they're not going.

Even if he's a teacher. I don't care if they are. Even if it's his kids or your kids. Right.

Look, first of all, my kids ain't going on this fucking trail. He's lived a good life. Yeah, lived a good life. If I, you know, if a bear eats me, how cool is that?

I mean, that's the way you go, how did he go? Oh, a bear ate him. He was trying to save all of us. Oh, come here, Bear.

Right. Pick up a stick, a rock, you know, whatever time you can give the rest of the crowd. Well, yeah, I guess. Not for you.

You see, there's that thing on TikTok where they ask people if they would kill for their children. Yeah. " Right, right. Yeah, that's the second.

How are these mothers not willing to kill to save their child? " I don't know. I don't think it's fair to ask a mother that. Like, a mother is caring and kind of nurturing.

Some of them aren't protective in that fashion. I think it would be an automatic yes. It should be an automatic yes for a father. Not for the mother?

My wife would. I'm not saying that every woman wouldn't because I think my wife would as well. Your wife would probably beat the bear. Yeah.

I mean, I believe that there are times where I have to be like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, this is my job. You stop. " You know, like, I could, Yeah, totally.

That was my second wife. I turned around one time to stop her, and then when I turned this way, she went that way, and she got in the fight. She juked you. She hit you with a one-two.

He's going left, I'm going right, I'm going to kick this guy's ass. Got him. Got him. Yeah, so, I mean, I could see that.

I just, I don't know, you always think that, you know, moms are loving, nurturing, caring, protective, you know, not, maybe not necessarily aggressive, maybe more defense than offense. Ah, gotcha. Right. Okay, fair enough.

But nothing is a blanketing scale of everybody is this, that's quite apparent in the world, right? However, Opus Clips will make me look like a demon on that as well, I'm sure. Yes. I'm not a big fan of the over-under clip that it did this past week.

Oh, I thought it was good on a couple things. Something different, you know? Yeah, it is something different. You got to remember too that on some of those, there was two people in the...

Yeah, it had to because you guys were sitting side by side. Right. So it had to do that. I mean, my clips are still better.

I dropped those two clips, I dropped the cocaine, I did that one, that one was mine, and then I dropped the, I don't have a computer, but I have a phone and an iPad. And a Danielle. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't put Danielle in it, but yeah. Yes, you did.

I did? Yeah. Oh, okay. Richie yells, Danielle does everything or something like that.

Right. Okay, um, so yeah, I mean, I would, yeah, I would 100%. It doesn't even have to be my kids. So we don't go out in the woods with boots.

No, now, but listen, here's the sad part. How many times do you think these guys have gone on this trail out of all of these years in the school? Well, right, it is a trail, so it's used regularly. Right.

So it's not like this bear is laying in wait and eats everybody that goes right. Can I ask you guys a question? You guys went to school, right? Yes.

How many times for a field trip did you guys go walking on the trail? Other than the Oregon Trail that you were on, Palmer. I didn't live in British, Northern, Northern British Columbia. I mean, how many times did you walk down the sidewalk?

Uh, my wife took their kids on a field trip from the school to like the Publix, and it's close enough where they all walked and held hands along the side of the road. A handful of times I've walked on busy highways or streets or whatever. You're from South Florida, there's definitely nothing on those sidewalks. Meth heads, drug dealers, I've seen the movies, we've done like sidewalk cleanups where we'd all- Don Johnson?

We'd pick up the litter and stuff. We did all, I was part of the thing called Save What's Left, which is awesome. Yeah, probably not a grizzly bear over there. No, there's no, well, not in Florida.

Yeah. But my point is that, like this happened this one time, and now it's probably done. Trails, they're probably never going out again. Oh yeah, the school will never allow anyone on that trail again.

I mean, they're gonna hunt the bear down and kill it. Right. But still. Are you okay with that?

Hunting the bear down and killing? No, I'm fine with that. That doesn't bother me. Yeah, you attack the bear.

You attack people, you're gonna die. Yeah, it's got a taste for blood now, so they say now it looks for it. And now we make a coat. Pitchforks.

Right, big coat. Get a nice hat. Pitchforks, torches. Yeah.

Maybe a rug. You're going down. A hoe, a rake. But my point is that I hope the trail doesn't stop for the kids.

I hope that they continue to still do it. Oh, that trail? Oh, it's over. It's gotta be another trail.

I hope that a trail still happens, no matter what it is. It is. But normally what happens is... Yeah, maybe trail mix.

Again, it goes back to the one guy shifts their pants, we all wear a diaper scenario, right? Right. Like, one thing happened that's unfortunate. Oh, one bear attacks everybody, now we don't go there.

Now we're done. When was the last time that happened? It never happened in the history of the school. We don't know.

I'm just saying. Every Tuesday we have this problem, we don't know what's going on. At that point, then I would say, no more trails. Find a new trail, for God's sake.

Maybe this opens up cold cases. Maybe this is where little Johnny and little Timmy went. Went missing? Yeah.

No sign of the bear, but all of a sudden, just a shoe. My God. Well, they say in polar bear country, nobody locks their doors. Polar bear?

Polar bears. Who lives there? Ask them. There's people that live up that far north.

Oh my God. Because polar bears are the only bears that hunt for sport. They'll kill you and just leave you there. I love that.

First of all, if you are willing to live in this cold area, You deserve some type of torment from animals. So, why don't they lock you? He's a terrible person. But I still don't know.

He is a terrible person. So, why do you leave all the doors unlocked? Yeah. So, if you're being chased by a polar bear, you have somewhere to go.

Oh, you can run in really quick. You can run into somebody's house and shut the door. Not like knock on the door where the polar bear is running at you. No, don't bring it in my house.

It's coming back. I'm not opening the door, Mikey. It's right behind you. Yeah.

Yeah, that's crazy. Right. So, like, they don't lock their cars, they don't lock their houses, none of that. Because God forbid you're the one being chased by the polar bear, you want somewhere to go.

It sounds like if you're going to be a bear, this shouldn't be don't be a grizzly. If you're going to be a bear, be a polar bear. Be a polar bear, right, exactly. That's what the guy should be.

All white fur, covered in blood. They just walk around killing things. They make it look so cute in the Coca-Cola commercial. They do, don't they?

That's half the problem. "Oh, just give him a Coke. It'll be fine. " You're there at the door, scratch on it, you throw a Coke bottle right at it, it fucking keeps coming.

"Hey, this is great. " And he's drinking his coat. All right, let's go. Out pops Palmer Santa Claus.

He's got a little scarf on with the little tassels on your own. Okay, let's put this one to bed. Let's move on. I'll do more bear jokes.

No. Palmer comes out with a sled and his deers. But it's unbearable, Michael. I can't stop.

It's so unbearable. All right, Oreo is going zero sugar, and it's about time. Oh, yes. He's terribly happy over there.

I've seen him eat the Thens, but they still have sugar now. Oh, yes. All right, New Year's dieters, here's a little win before the resolutions even kick on. The Oreo is finally rolling out a zero-sugar cookie in the USA.

Yep, the classic cookie you've been sneaking at midnight is getting a sugar-free makeover and it's not a limited run. It's permanently starting in January. Oh, yes. Do you need some time alone over there, Boots?

No, this is perfect, though. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. You will be able to grab Oreo zero-sugar and Oreo double-stuffed zero-sugar. S.

shelves, Mondelese has been selling these in Europe and China for a while, but this is their first crack at bringing them stateside. Why now? Basically, snackers, especially younger ones and boots, are looking for what the industry calls mindful indulgences. Basically, we all want to eat the junk we love just without the guilt trip afterwards.

One of the major market research firms says most Americans Those guys are out there hunting for snacks they can pretend are good for them. Congress says the same thing. Millennials and Gen Z's are especially into portion control, wellness-focused snacks, and all that stuff. And the numbers are back up.

Coke Zero. Sugar has been exploding up 9% from last year. Regular Coke basically crawled along at 2%. Hershey's is already pushing Zero Sugar.

Reese's Bortman's been selling sugar-free wafers for years, so Oreos jumping in isn't surprising. The shock is that it took this long, but there's the part that actually matters. Does it still taste like an Oreo? Just so you guys know, anything sugar-free or zero, you can only have so many.

Why? Have you ever eaten like too many sugar-free candies? Well, I don't know if that's the fact anymore. I know what he's talking about.

When they originally came out with sugar-free candy, if you ate too many or the fat-free chips, there was something in them that gave you like the explosive shakes. And they're like, come on, quickly. Oh, God. It's super quick.

Yeah, I had a sugar-free coffee over at the mall one time, and I didn't make it out of the mall. Yeah, like that thing where you said, you know, one guy shits his pan, everyone's going to wear diapers. We're all wearing diapers. You guys are eating sugar-free candy.

There's no way you're making it to the toilet with that. They spent four years tweaking the formula so it hits the same flavor. They're using a blend of Malitol, Polydextrose, and Suclose, And Astroframe Potassium, translation, Science Cookies. Nationally, it's not apples to apples comparison because the serving sizes are different, but there's a quick breakdown.

5 grams of fat, 16 carbs, and zero added sugars. What's this added sugar, I think it sounds like a scam. 100% is. They're not adding sugars, but there's sugar in it from something else.

Well, there's sugar in it from everything else. 90 calories. How many calories are in a normal Oreo? Well, it said in a serving size.

How much is a serving? 6 grams. I don't know how many that is. One zero sugar.

One zero sugar cookie, I guess. Calorie of a normal Oreo cookie is 110. In one cookie? 160 calories, it says right here.

7 grams of fat, 25 carbs, and 13 grams of added sugar. It says the original Oreo here is 110 calories. 26% of your daily limit. For one cookie, 110 calories?

Yeah. That's why people get fat. It must be a lot less over there because I don't see a lot of fat British people. Okay, but let's think about this.

A lot of fat what people? British people. Let's think about this. It's only 20 calories less.

Yeah, it's not by much. And you're giving up the real sugar. It's the sugar, but there's no sugar. It's no added sugar.

Yeah, no added sugar. I know, that's like, so how much, where's the other, it's got some sugar? Right. It's toasted.

So if you eat 10 cookies, that means you get one free. You buy 10, you get one? one yeah basically like allegedly we're not guaranteeing because if you're saving 20 calories per cookie yeah right uh-huh or if you have five cookies you get one free that's how it works you sure about that yeah okay you said 110 right per cookie yeah right so if you're saving 20 calories per cookie yeah you can eat five and it's almost like you're only eating four okay i see what he's Yeah, no, I understood all of it, it's like challenging. So the big story is simple, you get the cookie, but you lose the sugar.

Will it taste like the real deal? We'll all find out in January, but for anyone trying to rein things in or just looking for an Oreo that doesn't punch them in the pancreas, this might be the snack news of the year. Okay, you want to know what the snack news of the year really is? Yes.

Yes. I'll tell you. Don't eat cookies. No, no.

Zep Bound and all these other things, Ozempic or whatever the hell it is. the shot that makes you there it's everywhere i'm not doing it's readily accessible you can yeah so many people are on it would you do it what would you do a zimpic i don't need to i don't if you had to no not if you had to because really it's a diabetic thing but if you had to lose weight and you couldn't lose weight by i don't know well most people don't go to the gym that take it anyways but i know some people go to the gym and take it okay if you You couldn't lose weight because that's why a lot of people take it. Yeah. Would you take it?

I don't know. Uh, no, I would say no because, I mean, for me, I know how to lose weight. And, you know, like I've had methods that are extremely effective. Like if I started, if I wanted to cut, if I wanted to drop, like right now I'm pretty big for my size.

Well, it's bulking season. That's what I consider it. There's cookies. I'm eating the fuck.

There's Christmas cookies and candies everywhere. The candy's everywhere. Not the zero sugar ones either. Look, when Halloween starts to eke up on us.

Yeah, that's a hard one. No, it's not hard for me. I understand that this is what's happening. I'm going hard in the paint.

November, October, November, December. If they're there, I'm eating them. It is what it is. Now, come January, February, if I want, all I got to do is I just fast.

If I fast for 45 days, 16 hour regimen, you drop all of it. Right. You know, so, I don't have that issue, and I kind of enjoy the stress that you put on your body because I'm a mesochistic, I guess, so, like, that's not an issue for me. Now, there are some people that, that struggle on all of it.

They struggle, you know, they just don't lose the weight, especially women, man. Women struggle the most to lose weight just because of their body types and their desires. As you get older, hormones stop working, and metabolism slows down. Higher estrogen levels make you retain fat, all of that stuff, right?

I mean, I'm not a doctor, but, so, you know, I don't have a problem with it. It's actually showing statistically that weight loss is becoming effective over the past three or four years. Like, studies are showing that. And that's, if you, if you went deeper into it, I guarantee you it'd be because of these drugs, right?

It's not because of a fucking sugarless Oreo cookie that's only That's only 20 calories less. That's just some BS, some marketing strategy that Nestle or whoever owns Oreos come across. Nabisco. And then to make you feel better about eating it.

I can eat more of them because they're sugar-free. I say eat the triple stuff, go for it. Yeah, baby. It's too much.

But make better decisions in life. Yeah, don't eat so many. If you're going to admit it, if you're going to do it, first of all, don't be delusional about it. Understand what you're doing.

Oh, I eat them out in the open. Okay, that's good. You don't hide in the closet with your box of drawers. I have to go out in the garage.

Don't anybody come outside. We know you're pretty open and honest with all that stuff. Dad, why are you taking the milk out there? It works as a degreaser.

I'm checking to see if there's a grizzly bear. Checking out my cigars. They're in my office. I gotta go outside.

I'm not even talking about the aspect of hiding it from somebody else. I'm talking about how you convince yourself that it's okay, right? A lot of people do that. They go, it's fine, I'll just, I'll get back on it tomorrow, or whatever the case may be, and tomorrow never comes, and that's just the reality.

So, to say, hey, you know what, I'm gonna plump up a little bit, and it is what it is, and then I'll lose the weight when I'm ready. But I think that's the difference. So, for me, at this current point in my life, I would say, no, I wouldn't, I don't need to take that. Now, if I get older, and I struggle to lose the weight, or I can't fast anymore because I'm mentally unstable, or whatever the case may be, then, I mean, yeah, I would consider taking it.

Okay. Palmer, would you take it? Sure. If I could afford it, I'd take it.

It's expensive. It is expensive. Well, they just did the law or whatever that slashed the prices. Yeah, for specific cases.

Yeah, I'm not big enough where a doctor's going to prescribe it for me. Right, you're going to take it on your own. Yeah, I mean, my wife lost all that weight, she took it, and now she's on like a maintenance shot or something, I mean, it's just a minimal, minimal amount once a week. Really?

Yeah, but that's how she lost all her weight. Because she had no metabolism, her hormones are all fucked up from the cancer, and I mean, she's got cream she rubs on her belly, she's got stuff she's got to put in places I don't want to know about, I mean, all sorts of issues going on. I can't do the shots. She's trying to live a normal life.

She gives herself a shot in the stomach. Yeah, fuck that. She gets a B6 in it and she gives it to her in her hip every Sunday. Yeah.

Nope. I like glutathione. I do glutathione shots. It's amazing.

That's in the peepee. Definitely not doing the peepee. It's the one that takes in the peepee. Let alone anywhere else, definitely not in the peepee.

I'll tell you, you want a good night's sleep? Don't tell me about the peepee. Glutathione shots, amazing. I've been sneaking the bathroom window open just a smidge now that's been cool.

Yeah. I sleep so much better when it's colder in the bedroom. Yeah. Not telling the wife.

" That sounds a lot better than a shot on the BB. It does, doesn't it? Yeah. Just cracking the window, keeping the bathroom door open.

Perfect. Yep. You guys. I don't think I got up once.

I think I got up only once last night. Perfect. To pee. Yeah.

Well, sure, of course. Yeah. Because I'm so thirsty anymore. I'm drinking all day long.

Yeah. I'm always thirsty. I think diabetes is flaring up or something. All right.

Moving on. Moving on. Michael, on to cigar news. Oh.

Excellent. Boots, if you would hit the Bluetooth button, please, over there on the control pad. Deed, deed, deed, deed, deed, deed, deed, deed, deed, deed, deed. I hit it.

Okay, I'm waiting on it. Wow, you hit it in countercult. Weird. Oh.

That was the wrong, deed, deed, deed, deed. Yeah, I'm looking for it. I'm looking for it. There it is, Rodecaster Pro.

I don't know what Surface A105 is, but I can connect to that, too. It's probably next door. You are connected. Oh, did we tell them that we're doing this, or no?

No, we didn't. They're not here anyway. Okay. We were supposed to call them, but I never have that much advance notice.

Ah. Hey, we're gonna make a phone call today. And there's a 50/50 chance that- Yeah, 50/50 chance whether he will or will not answer the call. Answer, Coop.

It's not Coop. Oh. I don't have Coop's phone number. That would be great if I did, though.

It would. Man, how can we get that? I can get it. Well, yeah, let's do it.

And I'll call from my phone. He doesn't have my number either. Okay. Do you need to text him, Michael, and they'll answer the call?

I messaged him. Oh, did you? The person you have called is not available. All right.

Please leave a message after the tone. Damn you, Justin Andrew. Hey, Jeff, this is Mike Palmer and Mike Stepankiewicz and Boots from Cigar Hustler Podcast. We were going to talk to you about your new cigar, but maybe next time.

Bye. All right. So that went well. That went well.

Good thing we scheduled that. Hmm. Okay. Well, I have something for you.

Certainly. Keep your headphones on, because I'll play it here. Oh, into the phone. Jeff who?

Jeff Moutet. Oh. From Riverside Cigars, and his new anniversary cigar. It may be swimming.

No, I'm sorry. I overspoke you. All right. So, our good friend John McTavish.

The cigar surgeon. Yes. Yes. He sent me a video.

He was eaten by the bear? An audio. He was eaten by the bear, but he's been reincarnated. Oh, nice.

So upsetting. He was the teacher that defended the children. Oh, that makes sense. That completely makes sense.

He's such a large, hulking man. So, he wanted to bring up this valid point, and I think it's a good topic of discussion. So, here it is. So, here's my rant, and you can post this online.

I just want to talk, a couple weeks ago, you were talking about the VIA, new lines, vampire dust, whatever, and the MSRP and the sizes and all that. I'm like, oh, Halfway's got the information wrong. Is he running? Is this exactly the shit that Coop was talking about that no one seems to have paid attention to, is that you, as a retailer, have the information.

You have the sizes, you have the pricing. So why, for the one guy in the industry who does all the calling around, does all the fact-checking, why is he getting the wrong information from the manufacturer? Why is the manufacturer misleading media, intentionally or unintentionally, and a retailer is getting the correct information? How does that help the industry?

Okay. Okay, now you have to explain, because I had a hard time hearing. Okay, so I'm going to elaborate. Now, uh...

Elaborate? A few weeks ago, we were talking about Viaje's Vampire Dust and I believe that the information that you were reading off from Half Wheel was incorrect, whether it was the sizes, or the price, or something was wrong, and I said, oh, well, that's not right, because here's my invoice, it shows me the sizes, it shows me all those things, and one of the things that Coop always talks about is, you know, is that retailers get the information first before, before, Okay. Here's a scenario where media was given the information, the information was incorrect, but the information from the retailer was correct. Okay.

So, how do you solve that problem where the media gets the right intel and gets it ahead of the retailer? Gotcha. Okay. So, your information was from an invoice.

Correct. So that's from a different, let's say, department of Tatuaje than the media. Viaje? Viaje, sorry.

They're all J's, so. One is a trip, and the other one is a tattoo. Oh, okay. Maybe the things changed from when they did the media release to when they decided to ship it?

I mean, maybe they changed the sizes or stuff, or? Yeah, okay. I mean, you're talking about two different departments inside the same company provided the information to two different people. Right.

So, it's a problem within the company. Right. Okay. I hear that.

So, how do you get it right? Because, look, Viahi's just an example. This is an ongoing issue across the board in the industry. Sure.

So, how do you fix it? You don't release the information until the product's shipped? I don't know. Well, that would be one way.

If you get it right. Right, if it's still correct. So, somebody's got to be the guy, that checks i mean who would that be i mean here we have things in place so that usually doesn't happen right but it could it could i think there has been once or twice or something has changed or something and maybe not releasing information so fast i mean i i know companies usually do like these press releases right which comes straight from the company pr whoever it is Right? But maybe they don't, you know, do it at that point.

Maybe they go, because Vitolas could change, right? Maybe at that point, when they go, "Hey, we're gonna release this five and a half," but it's really a five. I don't think so. You can come in, dude.

It depends on how soon the press release, or how early the press release is released. Right. I mean, we have a system where we, you know, this has to happen, then that happens, and that happens, where maybe everybody doesn't do that. Okay.

Is it that serious of an issue? I don't think so. That the media, the press release was given to the media and it was wrong and the retailer got the right intel. How big of a deal is it?

Maybe in regards to the wrapper being wrong or the size being wrong or the price being wrong. Is it that extreme? I mean, for some of these guys, probably, because, you know, 80% of their media stuff is that, you know? To the media guys, it is.

Right. Okay. But to the consumer? I don't know.

I don't think so. I mean, we've never had anybody go, "Hey, but the press release said it was going to be $4. " I've had that. Oh, have you had that?

Yeah. I'm sure you get that, but maybe it wasn't the price that was off. Was it our media release and our price, or was it somebody else's? Oh, somebody else.

It was something that I was selling. " Right? So, you know, like, media can go back and redact or edit. Sure.

Half Wheel does it all the time. Right. Yeah, correction. I mean, they do that on the news, too.

Regular news. Right, sure. But does everybody do it? I mean, I know Half Wheel tries to correct their problems.

I haven't seen anybody else's where they say, last week we said it was $5, but the new information is that it's $4. Or just go in and edit and say update, you know what I mean? Right. Yeah, I just don't, like, do you think that it's like an up-in-arms thing?

I acknowledge the manufacturer or the brand owner has made a mistake, okay? Right. I get it. Which happens.

Yeah, and it happens, it probably happens more than it should in this industry. Okay. okay, for one, is it that big of a deal? And for two, like once it's fixed, it's fixed, right?

Does that change anything? I don't think so. I think it's a bigger deal to the media person than to the consumer or even to the retailer. Yeah.

I think it's a bigger deal releasing the information to the retailer first I think it's a good thing to do with this without trying to get it to media first, you know? Well, but really what they released to you was an invoice. It's not like they sent you, you know, an amended press release going, Coop was wrong, this is what it really is. No, they emailed, well, what they did was they emailed me.

But did they email you like a correction or email you the invoice? And it just happened to say on the invoice what the information was? " Oh, and so the correction was in that, not the actual invoice? I'm assuming that it was in that, but I didn't pick up on one thing being wrong with the other until you read the article to me.

Gotcha. " So that makes sense. So then that mistake was carried over whatever they sent you, it's the exact same thing they sent the media. I don't think so.

Or it could have been somebody in the media just misprinted. Could just be an error. Yeah. Yeah, I just don't, for one, I just don't see it as big of a deal as everybody's making it to be.

I don't either. That's just it. I'm just trying to... And I also think that brand owners and manufacturers need to work on getting it right, you know, like, Hey, just do better.

Yeah, where's the safety net here? But you're entitled to make a mistake. I understand we're in this industry, so we see more of this, but do these kind of problems, you think, happen in the auto industry? Of course.

S. News & World Report gets all up in arms because the color of the car is blue, not red? Because the press release said it was only going to be blue? I don't ever see that happening in the car industry, we only make one color, but no.

Well, I just use it as an example. Yeah, I understand. Okay, the tire size was different. Okay, that's probably more...

Okay. Yeah. I think also there's more money in that industry, you know? Like, what's Viaje?

Viaje's probably got Andre, right? He's probably got maybe, what, two people here in the States? Oh, I have no idea. Maybe three?

I don't know. And, you know, we're the factories that he works with to make the cigars, but like one's not attached to the other as far as promoting. So you think maybe the guy that does the media press releases also does the invoicing? The invoicing and the stuff to the customer?

Like, I mean, you handle so much for Postanya. Right. And just post your distribution. And you fuck up stuff all the time.

Sure. And I tell you, hey, you fuck this up. Right. Right?

This is not right. You got to correct this or whatever the case may be. You're human. Sure.

And we work on fixing those things. Right. That's, I mean, that's it. Like, okay.

So, I mean. It just seems, parts of cigar media are so whiny with, this didn't happen, I didn't get told They didn't send this to me on time. Somebody got this and I didn't. Well, like I said, yeah, I mean, that's all he got.

That's all he has. You know, his show is 80% of that. Well, I think that in order to make sure that you get things on time or, you know, in a timely fashion, I think that you really have to provide a tremendous amount of value to this industry. If you do and, and Coop does, I'm not, you know, I think that a lot of these guys, I wasn't, I wasn't pointing him out specifically.

I don't want to, I don't want anybody to think that we're slamming them, but like if you add a lot of value, then they can't ignore you. Right. They're doing themselves a disservice at that point. Right.

If they feel that you're not giving them value, then you have to show them where you're giving them value or you have to modify yourself so that That you provide more value. Right. Right. Right?

Sure. Okay. I mean, that's kind of my case in point. So.

John, thank you so much for sending that audio. I don't know where you were going. It sounded like up a mountain. We hope you were found by the Mounties or whoever was lurking for you while you were lost out in the wilderness.

What are they called? They're not called Mounties. Not anymore, but they were called Mounties. They were called Mounties.

Yeah, the red guys. The guys with the red jackets and the hats. There's very few of them left anymore. Oh, really?

Okay. It's more of a ceremonial group. He was running away from the government trying to get his cigars. That couldn't be.

Stop smoking outside, John, in the public. He's like mewling and stuff. I mean, it had to be very cold. He's having problems breathing and talking.

You could hear the wind howling around him. I'm picturing him in a park. Well, doesn't he live? Doesn't he live like on top of a mountain or something?

Trying to talk into his phone. Right. The helicopter's coming. They're about to save him.

Right. Before you save me, I have to get this one thing on tape. It's in the cigar house, sir. Hold on.

Yeah. That's awesome. Poor guy. Okay.

Moving on. All right, let's see, there was no phone call. Punch Princess Edition Limitada 2025 lands in Cyprus. Oh.

I'd like to go to Cyprus. It's one of the places I'd like to go. What's her name? Punch Princess.

Oh. Princesses. Okay. The second edition, Edition Limitada 2025 is officially dropped, and it's a big one for Punch fans.

The new Punch Princess Edition Limitada 2025, it's a giant box, all these words going across it, is now on shelves across Cyprus. It's a five and three-tenths by 52. That better be correct. Cigar in the Edmundo size.

Best known for its Monte Cristo lineup, but this is the first time Punch has ever used this Vitola. The release celebrates 185 years of the Punch brand, so it comes dressed with a special anniversary band, plus a third band at the foot. Oh, and there's more. Habano says the Princesa name was used long ago for punch, but not in this size.

Pricing in Cyprus is, I don't have it in Freedom of Dollars, I only have it in Pounds. Thank God, it's not going to be wrong, man. You guys want to guess Euros? Go ahead, Mikey.

$18. In Euros? Euros is more than regular dollars. Yeah, but it's not an expensive score.

Let's go 12. 95. Euros? Euros.

It's Euros. The Cypress Market also gets an exclusive three-count box, 2,000 of them individually numbered priced at 175 pounds, or Euros. The cigar made its debut in December 6th event at Lemesol, hosted by Fonseca TAA's, is that our TAA? Did they have a branch in Cypress?

Tobacco Association of America? Yeah. In Cypress? That didn't make sense.

As usual, the addition, oh, Tobacco Association of America in Cypress? In America and Cyprus? That could be. As usual, with Edición Limitada releases, there's no production number given, but the blend uses Vultello Abajo, Vultello Abajo Tobacco, age at least two years, just like every EL.

Okay. That sounds so exciting. You mean LE? It says EL.

I don't know what that is. I don't know. I looked at that twice. The Princesa.

The Princesa. The Rebellion Cigars ships the Eddie Hall Beast and the Screaming Skull. The Eddie Hall? The Eddie Hall.

The Screaming Skull. It's a cool-looking band. Yeah. The Rebellion Cigars has shipped two new cigars.

One is created to celebrate the company's fifth year in business, while the other is branded cigar for British strongman and popular YouTuber, Eddie Hall. Oh. Do you know who that is? No.

I've seen him on strongman competitions. Yeah. He's a guy that throws a lot of things over his head. I've seen him doing strongman stuff and he's from Britain, he's a British strongman, the first cigar is a Screaming Skull, a 6x56 Vitola made with a Mexican San Andreas wrapper that has been aged for five years over a binder growth in Indonesia and filler tobaccos from Honduras and Nicaragua, it is produced at Tablicalera Las Colinas in Donnelly, Honduras, each cigar is an MSRP of, these are in Freedom Dollars, gentlemen, Eddie Hall.

This is the Eddie Hall. 16 bucks. 30. 30?

Yeah. 80. Really? And the release consists of a total of 5,000 boxes of 21 cigars.

In addition to that. He's a real person. The Punch Princess is fake. Yeah, but that was euros.

We don't know where that transfers into freedom money. That's more. In addition, the Rebellion cigars has shipped the Eddie Hall Beast. This is Eddie Hall's cigar.

Cigar. Cigar. A 6x56 Toro extra size made with Habano 2000 wrapper, though the company is not disclosing which country the tobacco is from. Didn't we say Ecuador?

We're not telling. 30 US dollars for the Princesa. Yeah. That's nice.

It's a fake person. It is made in an under, okay, we're not saying what's in it, we're not saying where we made it. Each cigar is an MSRPF, we're not telling. But Eddie was around.

Eddie was not there. Well. The initial production is limited to 500 boxes of 21 cigars, just a little bit, not much. Throughout the 2010s, Hall completed in various strongman competitions, winning, in 2017, World's Strongest Man Championship.

Can you say the boxes one more time? Do you say five 100? Five 100 boxes of 21. Five 100 boxes of 21 cigars.

Oh, yeah. Oh, he has 3 million subscribers and has led to other ventures, including 2022 Celebrity Boxing Match with Hapfor Julius Bajorzo. A fellow strongman best known for The Mountain, The Mountain and HBO's Game of Thrones, oh, I like that guy. In an email, Sean Wilkinson, co-founder of Rebellion Cigars, told Half Wheel that both cigars began shipping to retailers on December 4th.

That's all he told them, he didn't want to get anything wrong, so that's all he said. Just kept it simple. Kept it simple, shipping December 4th. Okay.

All right, Aladino, Year of the Horse, 2026, limited edition, goes on sale. Okay. Oh! Add JRE Tobacco Company to the list of companies making cigars for the Chinese Zodiac Calendar for the first time in its history.

The company has created a cigar that honors the symbol of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, the Aladino Year of the Horse 2026, limited editions of 6x54 Torpedo that is made of Honduran tobaccos grown by the Aroa family. Heat Cigars and MSRP of? Freedom dollars, gentlemen. This is Year of the Horse, 20 bucks, by Aladino.

Forty. Could be underfilled. Allegedly. Oh, jeez.

Forty dollars. Forty dollars? Nineteen dollars and forty cents. There you go.

I'm glad he doesn't work for a marketing department at this pricing. Which works out to $380 for a box of 20. Production is limited to 600 boxes of 20 cigars. That's 600 boots of 20 cigars.

Perfect. The cigar is already on sale in Asia via Time Cigar. Oh, great. S.

Oh, so you can't get it. You can't get it, great story. You can't get it here. Chinese New Year takes place on February 17th, 2026, which will ring in the year of the horse.

You know, this is the first time in like 23 years I am not affected by Chinese New Year closings of any kind. Wow. Isn't that weird? How do you feel?

I don't know, I'm relieved. I don't know, I'm still going to have Chinese food. Hussoiro, founder of JRE Tobacco and Michael's friend, is a horse. Oh, founder of the JRE Tobacco Company is a horse.

Wow. That's why, wait, in the Year of the War, Justo Iroa, founder of JRE Tobacco Company is a horse, that's what it says. Okay. Hey, we just get this, these facts straight from the people.

Yeah, we don't know if this is the one set by the shipper or sent by the media department. Right. The company says that a Chinese word for, okay, they put a Chinese symbol in here, how do you read that? I don't know, you're Chinese.

Yeah. The company says that Xing Chang, a Chinese word for just, appears on the packaging. Here's on the packaging: Baccarat, Davidoff, Ellie Blue, JRE, Tobacco, La Galleria, Maya Selva, Oliva, Plasencia, Esti DuPont, Vega Fina, and Villager have all announced Year of the Horse-themed products and being sued by- Nope, they didn't say anything, did they say? They don't have the horse.

They don't have the dragon. Man, them chain chains, they make great cigars. Other companies likely to announce Year of the Horse products ahead of Chinese New Year, which takes place, as we said, February 17th, 2026. Oh, my lord.

All right, Cigar Rights of America. He's releasing their winter 2025 Freedom Sampler. So this is the one everybody donates cigars, and then they sell them, and then how does it work? Does the retailer pay them money off the sale of the thing, or you just pay wholesale based on free cigars that they got from somebody else?

How does that work? I don't think that you get to Keystone or anything. I think that whatever the cost is, you have to just transition it over. So it's a lose-lose for you?

I think so. I think so. I haven't done it in forever. Yeah.

And there's somebody else who does this, too. I think one works different than the other. Fuente does something like that, too. As the year comes to a glow, Cigar Rights America has released its newest Freedom Sampler, which is used to help fund its operations, specifically protecting premium cigar freedoms at the local, state, federal, and international levels.

Boots, can you look up and see how much money CRA made? Well, we talked about... We talked about CAA. It's the same thing.

No, this is CRA. Completely different C. Are you sure? It's a pretty different C.

Are you sure? Yes. I don't know the CRA and the CAA were the same. CAA is Cigar Association of America.

CRA is Cigar Rights of America. Oh. So, yeah. Completely different.

Really? There's also the IPCPR. PCA. Which is now PCA.

Because everybody else had three letters, they had to have three letters. The Freedom Sampling contains 10 cigars which come from 10 different cigar companies, most of which serve on the CRA's board. Oh, so if you're on the board, you've got to give them cigars. The company has donated the cigars to CRA, which are then placed into a custom Boveda bag and sold to stores while a little money is spent for the logistics of these samplers.

The vast majority of the revenue from the wholesale sales of the package goes to the CRA's budget, which funds the organization's lobbyist and outreach program. Okay, so they make money off the wholesale. Correct. Well, they didn't pay for anything in the cigars.

Well, right. They spend a little money for the logistics, which would be the shipping, I'm guessing. Yeah. Okay.

Do they ask you if you want them or do they just send them to you? Well, you have to buy them. No, no. Well, they send them to you and charge you.

Sorry. I mean, who calls you from this? You have to ask. Oh, you have to ask.

I think so, because I don't think anybody has contacted us. So it's not like anybody calls you and goes... Not anymore. We got these cigars.

How many would you like? Yeah, I think you got to go out of your way. All right. In 2024, the CRA's revenue was $2,188,000.

That's kind of low, considering all the other three-letter organizations. Their total expenses, they made two million. No, no, no, no. Oh, that's before, I think.

7 million. Right. 5 million. What would their assets be, an office building or something?

Maybe. Tobacco property? Yeah, I mean, they could have investments. They have one person's salary on here is Michael Kopperman, legislative director, 221,000.

0 million, $2 million, program services, $71,000, and investment income and dividends, $77,000. So out of their little over $2 million in revenue, $2 million of that is grants. Yep. Wow.

Well, and I'm sure their total expenses has to do with salaries as well, right? He's got salaries as well, right? Well, that guy's salary's gotta be in the expenses. Yeah.

Okay, there's an Ashton, VSG, Bellicoso, Fuente, Fuente, Opus, Oro, Rosado, Oscuro, Reserva. There's these long names. Diamond Crown, Maximus, La Flor, Dominicana, Boom. You don't have to name them all.

It's Father Garcia, Lima, Pedro. It's Twahe Pumpkin, one of the Corojo's in there. Placencia, 60. I think it's like the same thing that I've always seen.

What? Most of these cigars are like the same ones I've always seen. Yeah, is there a Padrón black in there? Yeah, there was.

While many of the cigars are available outside of the sampler, there are a couple of new additions. Tatuaje is continuing its year featuring Nicaraguan-grown Corojo wrappers by including a new variant of its Smashed Pumpkin. Wait, we have a Smashing Pumpkins event. When have we ever had Tatuaje with their Smashing Pumpkin cigar?

That's a great idea. Write that down. Write that down. Keanu, write that down, please.

He said he's writing it down. Which was also included in the company Saints and Sinners member package this year the smashed pumpkins has made several appearances in cra freedom samplers in recent years including the smashed pumpkin kappa especial freedom sampler which used in ecuador and sumatra wrapper previous blah blah blah blah that's why shaggy pumpkin a lot of pumpkins well not a new line blah blah blah can we fast forward is that possible there's a lot about the cigars falls between the series closer reserve uh pricing is 250 $50 per sampler, with a total of 5,000 samples produced, they've just begun shipping to retailers. Okay. All right, gentlemen, now ready for the industry's favorite game.

What's the score? Perfect! Today's cigar is from October 28, 2021, reviewed by Charlie Minato. This cigar was chosen by our friend Paul Corlson, who is here today.

Before we get into that, I just want you guys to know that I did post in our comments section on YouTube a voting question. Who do you think should buy Warner Bros.? So, go ahead and click on that for us and tell me if it should be Netflix, Paramount, someone else, or no one. Are there multiple choice answers?

Those are the four options. Oh, okay. It's a poll. Yes.

Ah, excellent. I like when you use the polls. Yes. All right.

This cigar is, like I said, reviewed by Charlie Minato. It's a Howard G. Black Moses Maduro. Oh.

We've never done a Howard G. Cigar before. No. When was this done?

2021. It is the only Howard G. on the list. Okay.

Uh, so, I'll just go first then. Okay. So you stand a chance to win. 86.

Um, that's a good number. It's like I've done this before. Did he say a number? 85.

Oh, there it is. Okay. Howard G. Black Moses Maduro from undisclosed country, from an undisclosed factory, from an undisclosed rapper, from an undisclosed binder.

Filler, Esteli and Jalapa. Got it. Six and an eighth by 58. Perfecto, $15.

They reviewed three cigars. 84. 85. For a cigar that shows up as the wrong blend, the Black Moses Maduro makes one heck of a first visual impression.

The dark purplish wrapper, sharp box press, The dual tapers and cedar sleeve give it a boutique look that grabs your attention before you even light it. The pre-light experience is a surprisingly rich tube barnyard, licorice, cedar, brownies, even a little raspberry sweetness off the foot. It's a reminder that Howard G. knows how to create a cigar with personality right from the jump.

86. It's loud and positive like his shirts. 86. 86, he says.

87. Next clue. One thing this cigar absolutely nails is complexity on the retro. Even when the palate leans toasty, the retro pulls out wheat bread, creaminess, herbal notes, rubber, and later even some oak that finally takes the lead.

That kind of layered retrohale is impressive, and it shows there is real depth in the blend. When the cigar opens up, you can see flashes of what it's capable of. 88, 87. The final third is easily the highlight of the experience.

The creaminess finally shows up to stay. The honey note is a welcome surprise and the metallic edge from earlier completely settles down. You get sweetness, some herbal flavors, and a more balanced finish overall. It's the point of the cigar where everything feels more controlled and intentional, almost like the blend finally hits its stride and shows you what it was aiming for.

88. Oh wait, that was the final thought. Oh, that was the end. 88.

89. 80. What? 80.

80. After all that? Wow. We still lost.

I didn't fucking lose. That was fucking crazy. An 80? 80.

Okay, I did a little experiment here. Yeah. You smoked it. No, I chose only positive comments.

Okay, so we both went up. So you both went up. Yeah. Right.

And he still lost. And he still lost. I mean, it sounded like a great cigar from Charlie. It did, from all the good stuff.

I've smoked it, it's a good cigar. There was a lot of good stuff in it, it was kind of weird. " Thanks. Thanks for sandbagging us.

It's okay, you can mix it up all you want. Look, I don't get to play, I can have some fun sometimes. Okay. I can make you guys dance, do anything I want.

All right, we have some news about the Davidoff, but what we'll do is, since we're at the hour, we will talk about it tomorrow, and we'll release that the following day. Ooh. Stay tuned tomorrow. More information.

Same bat time, same bat channel. All right, guys, I'm episode 427. We'll talk to you tomorrow. All right.

Thanks, everybody. Bye. Goodbye. A battle available in multiple sizes for warriors of every shape and strength, and remember, the actual image does not dance or move, but it definitely makes a statement.

com before they're gone. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. But a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions.

All things cigars, personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real. Keep it real for our listeners. Cheers to you.

com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. F*** that one up.

Show Notes

top stories of the day are

Tanzania is rolling out heavy police presence ahead of Independence Day festivities, a grizzly bear attack on a group of kids is making national headlines, and Oreo is trying to clean up its act with a new “healthy” option. Over in the cigar world, the Punch Princesas are landing in Cyprus, Rebellion is shipping out The Beast and Screaming Skull, and Aladino might be beating a dead horse with its latest move. The CRA Winter Sampler is dropping just in time for the season—and of course, we wrap it all up with a quick What’s the Score!