ACHP 459 Guest Host Drew Tucker First Responders Cigars
Transcript
Welcome to a Cigar Hustler
podcast, Ozone 460.
I'm your host and back in my
regular seat.
Mike Palmer with me today in
engineering, fresh off his
hosting run, Mr. Phil Mcguffey.
Phil, how do you like sitting in
the big chair?
It was exhilarating.
Did you get your camera to work
over there?
Yeah, I got it.
But remember, only works for 30
minutes.
We got a time limit here.
And then today is my Co host
from First Responder Cigars, a
Director of sales, Drew Tucker.
Hello.
Drew, thanks, Drew.
Appreciate you coming in.
Thank you.
Mike, tell us a little bit about
first responder cigars.
Oh, first responder cigars.
Well, we started off as a coffee
company about 3 years ago.
He was nice enough to bring us
some first responder, coffee
bourbon.
Pecan flavored coffee.
And bourbon pecan.
Yeah.
Oh nice.
That's our number one seller.
It's very unique.
You got to try it.
Well, my, my brother is the one
who started the company.
We work together now, but he was
a Green Beret for eight or nine
years and then he was a Tier 1D
force operator for about 8 or 9
years.
He medically retired, and when
he came home, he started
training tactical law
enforcement, SWAT.
And he recognized first hand how
underfunded they are and how
much they need training.
And some places can't afford the
training that they need.
And so he doesn't like going
around begging for money.
So he wanted to figure out a way
to help raise money to subsidize
his training.
And so it's inspired by Black
Rifle Coffee, of course, who
helps veterans, And he wanted to
help first responders.
So he's like, let's do a first
responder coffee and see if we
can do the same thing.
There you go.
And that's how it started.
But my my brother and I, we love
smoking cigars and we found a
great supplier about 6-7 months
into the business and we jumped
into cigars and cigars really
took off and we're really now a
cigar.
Company that cigar company that
has coffee Transition from a
coffee company that sells
cigars.
Yeah, so every time you drink
our coffee, smoke our cigars,
you're helping first responders
get training and, and those
who've been shot, stabbed,
family support for the fallen,
all.
Kinds of stuff like that.
Yep.
It's great you guys have a
podcast too.
We have a podcast, it's called
the tier one podcast, Tier one
podcast.
I do one.
It's more of a small time thing
called Truth in the Dark.
OK, what's that one about?
I'm not.
I didn't know you had your own.
Yeah, I do my own, I have over
the last few years doing this
coffee and cigar business.
You know, you sit around and you
smoke cigars with people and you
talk a lot.
And my, you know, my background
is ministry and theology, and a
lot of people ask me questions
and we talk about those things.
And I've just had a lot of
people tell me you should start
a podcast.
And I'm like, I don't have time
for a podcast.
Yeah, no shit.
It takes a lot of time.
Yeah, especially when you're
running a, you know, trying to
start a startup business.
Terrible.
And but I said, you know, I've
had so many people ask, I ought
to just at least give it a shot.
And so I did it for a couple of
months and I haven't done
anything for about a couple of
months because I've just been so
buried in business right now.
Yeah, we have to force this
thing out now at five days a
week.
Yes, it is definitely forced,
yeah.
Mikey forces us into the show
every single day.
Yeah.
So how's the original show
doing?
Is it still doing good?
I've watched couple episodes.
I thought I knew military until
I watched your show.
I don't know anything about
military.
OK.
Nothing at.
All now you talking about the
tier one podcast?
Yeah, yeah.
So.
Which one was Mikey on?
Mikey did one of your shows.
Mikey did the anti hero podcast.
OK, that's the one that.
Was the original one that my
brother partnered with in Orange
County Deputy Sheriff.
OK, so.
They parted ways.
You weren't in that one.
I helped produce it, so I was
the guy behind the.
The that year.
Yes, they they parted ways and
and my brother's doing the tier
one podcast, but the anti hero
podcast was a very successful
podcast.
When I when I watched it, it
was, I mean you guys had tons of
people watching throwing money
at you, it looked like.
Yep, Yep, Yep.
Yeah, yeah.
Especially, you know, those
lives and things like that.
Yeah.
For.
Sure.
Teach us your ways, Drew,
please.
Yeah.
They would pay to ask questions.
Boots or Phil.
Really.
Yeah.
And I guess what, the more you
paid the the further up you got
on the list or something?
Basically, well, yeah, you can.
You can donate a certain amount
of money, right?
And.
Usually depending the.
When you donate certain amount
of money, your your chat gets
highlighted and you have a very,
very, almost 100% chance we're
going to address it.
And the more money you donate in
the question, the more time we
spend on the question.
Gotcha.
Is it like brighter or
something?
Every time they pay money it
gets it turns red, it turns
blue.
The chat actually.
Slashing or something.
Yeah, not just the text, but it
also shows what the money
donation was.
Oh wow, Boots, money, how they
feel.
I can really help you guys set
it all up, it's just a small
consulting fee.
Can we pay instagars?
I'm just kidding.
I help you guys out for nothing.
No, yeah.
Cigars.
I'll pay you cigars.
I'll pay me in cigars.
That's what we get.
Paid.
I'll be overpaid if you pay me
in cigars.
We have to pay for cigars, Paul.
We don't get paid in cigars.
Well, I I, I don't pay for my
cigars anymore.
Oh, I do have to pay for my
wife's cigars.
Unbelievable.
But she has cut way back, thank
goodness, because she started
getting sick from smoking.
So my tabs only infuse cigars.
Oh.
Nice.
All right, on today's show we
have a story out out of Ohio
where snow plow operator saves a
baby's life.
China executed 11 people the
other day in a crime sweep.
Crux is back in the news with a
budget friendly cigar.
Cle is raising prices on some
new cigars and Bovida is
branding the product for pot
storage.
Really.
Yes, but first, Phil, tell us
how we can get some of that
chapter pod swag.
So what you do is you go to.
See it was doing.
This.com and click the buy
button 10 times and are we still
doing the buy 2 get 40%.
Off buy 2, get 40% off spend
$100, get free shipping.
All these deals Mikey just
randomly puts out without asking
us.
I don't know if me and Palmer
are doing free shipping but I
guess free shipping if you do
the buy.
Today, apparently 'cause he's
not here right today too.
Free shipping today.
Free shipping.
Yeah, we bought something today.
What's the what's the one that
we just had last Smoke and
subscribe.
Smoke and Subscribe is a new
shirt.
I saw Beanie on the show the
other day.
Was that just the destroyed
Beanie?
That was yeah.
So it was a destroyed beanie.
But Mikey did say that if
anybody wants to order one.
He turned him on.
Did he get him finished?
I I don't know.
I don't know if he turned him
on.
He doesn't advise himself much.
Yeah, I, I think yesterday after
the show, he was kind of off the
clock.
Pretty much.
Oh, did he took care right
after?
Well, he had a like a little
thing afterwards, but I don't
think it was anything with the
podcast.
Gotcha.
All right, our first story all
hands emergency effort during
dangerous conditions.
During a severe Ohio winter
storm, hospital care teams and
an Ohio Department
transportation driver work
together to safely transport a
baby who urgently needed medical
treatment.
So apparently in Ohio, the roads
are really bad and this baby had
to get from one hospital to the
other hospital and the
transportation department had
shut all the highways on, so
there was no way to get the baby
across town.
So they went on the radio and
called a for snow plow
assistance or something.
And the this guy showed up, This
younger guy showed up with his
snow plow and he literally
dropped his plow on the highway,
you know, the front, and made a
path as the ambulance followed
right behind him from one
hospital to the other.
And then they treated the baby
and then he waited and they
brought the to bring the baby
back.
Getting it done.
Apparently it was life
threatening.
Whatever the baby had to do, the
only equipment at the other
hospital was was the only thing
I could help him.
Yeah, that's that's a service
there, definitely customer
service.
O dot crews cleared the life
saving Pass Snow plows and
drivers help navigate icy roads,
making sure emergency vehicles
could reach Cincinnati
Children's Hospital despite near
0 visibility and a hazardous
travel.
Wow, Mike, That's why I tell my
friends from north I live down
here in Florida, because if my
truck breaks down in the middle
of the night, I'm not going to
die, right?
You're not going to freeze the
death down here.
Well, maybe this weekend, but
other other than that?
And if my kid needs to get to a
hospital, I don't have that
problem.
Right, right.
We can still use helicopters,
right?
And things that get them around.
Right?
All right.
Every minute mattered.
The child's condition was time
sensitive, turning the trip into
a race against both the storm
and the clock, highlighting how
fast coordination saved the
life.
I don't know how they got the
footage, actually, because the
footage was overhead.
So maybe something could fly.
Maybe they should have taken a
helicopter.
Right here, we're in the
helicopter, but we're not going
to help you, right?
We're just going.
To kill.
It's not that type of
helicopter, right?
Maybe.
Maybe and drones can fly in some
some nasty weather, I don't
know.
Well, especially those secret
drones we have now that went
over and took the took the guy
from Venezuela.
Yeah, supposedly they use drones
there to knock out all the radar
and everything.
Yeah, that's what I I heard.
You know, someone asked us on
our live episode last night
about that to my brother, right?
And my brother's like, that's
new stuff.
Even even when they, you know,
raided Osama bin Laden, that
team was not familiar with the.
Yeah, they.
Didn't have.
Classified Black Hawk
helicopters they were using that
night.
Right.
Or the the Sonic boom guns or
whatever they have that
apparently knocks you up, makes
your nose bleed.
Yeah, yeah, there's some stuff.
Out there, they're saying that
stuff was what was happening
with the Russian embassy when
our people in Russia at the
embassy were getting the
headaches and the nosebleeds and
stuff.
They say that was probably from
testing or something of that
equipment.
Could be, could be.
You imagine the stuff they have
that we just had no idea.
Yeah.
There's a lot of it.
There's a lot of.
It.
But that's a good thing 'cause
it's we don't know about it,
China doesn't know about it.
That's true.
Yeah, That's probably true too.
Oh, that's a good segue.
We'll take it.
Yeah.
Speaking of China, Speaking of
China, China carried out an
execution of 11 people convicted
in a sweeping crackdown on large
scale telecommunications fraud
and illegal gambling.
So apparently to make fake
iPhones into gamble and China is
a death sentence.
Really.
Man, that, that reminds me of
here in Sanford, down the road
where we grew up, Man, we, I
would have friends in their
backyard.
They would climb up the the
power poles and they'd they'd
connect the cable.
To get Free TV.
Get Free TV, you know, Yeah, you
could get.
I haven't done that.
That could be capital punishment
in China.
Apparently, yeah.
There was a guy called here this
morning, an Indian guy called
the shop and he's like, I'm here
to talk to you about your TV
service.
I was like, OK, what is my TV
service?
He said something I'm like,
wrong and then hung up.
He picked the wrong one.
Yeah, exactly like he has got
me.
He had a 5050 chance, everybody.
Yeah.
See.
Signaling an escalation of
Beijing 0 tolerance approach to
scam at networking targeting
Chinese citizens.
So that's do you know about the
the guy?
What was that guy's name?
Boots who?
They took the Altus factory in
Dominican Republic or STG.
Or.
Something, yeah, he's held in
China.
I guess his thing would be a
death sentence too then.
I don't know.
Yeah, He's, he's, I don't even
think he's in China yet.
Right?
He's no.
No, that's where he is.
They've they're Yeah, the.
Oh, they're holding him there.
Yeah, that's where they're at
home.
So a guy that's part of STGA,
higher up guy, they were looking
for him all over the world.
He had done some Ponzi scam
thing, took a bunch of money and
everything.
So they seized their factory in
the Dominican Republic and they
still took it and they took all
the tobacco, they took
everything.
So they shut them down over
there.
And they did eventually find him
in Malaysia or something.
Was it?
I think.
It was Cambodia.
Cambodia.
Cambodia.
And then the Cambodian
government turned him over to
the Chinese government.
Yeah.
And so.
And then once he's done, once
he's done there, if he ever gets
done.
Yeah, once he gets out of.
There, then he, then he comes to
America.
I don't think, I don't think
he'll ever come to America.
Well, well, the whole thing is
is I don't think STG can open
back up.
No, the factory still sees the
Rep was here the other day, he
said.
They're still not making stuff.
Yeah, until until he has tried
in America.
Oh.
Pretty sure that's what it read.
Yeah, Chen XI.
What's his?
Name Chen XI.
That's it.
Chen XI you Googled?
Didn't.
You No, I just, I was thinking I
was like he had like some weird
name like Gen.
Z.
Oh, generation.
But shouldn't make sense.
He's part of Generation Z,
right?
Right.
Yeah, the Gen.
Z people.
Right.
You had a chin C Ponzi scheme.
It was chin C, right?
Yeah.
They didn't release the details
of the Ponzi scheme.
I'm curious what it was.
I mean, play stupid games, win
stupid prizes.
Yeah, could be.
Who knows?
That's it.
The group included leaders of
the Ming Family Criminal
Organization, which authorities
say operate scam centers and
gambling operations tied to
Manomars border regions, causing
billions in losses and being
linked to multiple death and
serious abuse of victims.
So they killed people, too.
Oh.
Yeah, that's what I'm, that's
what I'm hearing.
I'm hearing this isn't only
about.
Yeah, it's not only about.
Phone scamming.
Only about a fake iPhone.
This is that's just the reason
they got them.
They they have other that's a
that's a crime syndicate.
Crime syndicate, you know, pay
we kill you now that's.
It that's like an old family
though the Ming Dynasty.
Well, that's a dynasty.
This is the the Ming.
Yeah.
The Ming family, I don't think
they're part of the dynasty.
No, no, that's like a time
period.
Oh, it's like Smith over here.
This is a.
Whole yeah, these are these are
Yakuzan.
These are guys that got tattoos
all over their bodies.
I don't know.
I respect that a little bit,
Mike.
The tattoos all over your.
Bodies.
No, no, the what the Chinese
did.
I mean, you know, here in
America, so many crime, crime
can get off with these stupid,
you know what, what do they call
them?
Loose ends.
Oh right, technicalities.
Technicalities.
There you go.
Get off of technicalities when
you know, when you know that
they're they're, they're rotten.
You know, yeah, there's no, he
didn't read me my rights in
China.
Right.
China's like, yeah, we got you
for this.
But we know you're you're all
about this and.
Right, that's what we're doing.
We're just going to kill you.
We need 10 of your friends.
I mean, they're like a like a
dictatorship, right?
Uh, they're communist.
OK.
Yeah, yeah.
Unless you unless you ask their
people.
Because they tell their people
they're not communists.
Oh yeah, no, we know.
No, no, we know communists.
You do what you want.
As long as it's as we say, it's
OK.
Right, Speaking of.
China We recently purchased a
large K-Cup making machine from
China, OH.
I did see you had K cups on your
website.
Yeah, our second one, our first
one was a good machine.
It had its problems, but it
didn't make as many K cups as we
needed.
But it got us for the first, you
know, three years.
Right now we need a bigger
machine.
Oh, can make your own K cups.
I was so nervous buying a
machine from China sight unseen,
you know, sure I I picked a a
company that said they're 30
years old.
You never know it's.
China.
No, they all lie.
You.
Know 4.
I went to China for over 20
years doing business.
That's it.
Yeah, yeah.
And and this machine is
absolutely terrible.
I have been working till
midnight on this machine
probably four or five times in
the last two weeks.
Trying to Oh, you still don't
have at work yet?
I don't have well, I've I've
it's made some.
Made some.
It's been like pulling teeth.
And then finally the motor that
spins the the the paddles in the
hopper where all the coffee is
stored.
The they put a motor on it
that's too small.
It's burned up, overheated, no
good.
I need a new motor and so.
We're Americans.
We need bigger.
And I told them, I told them
what happened.
I said I need a motor, new
motor.
And they said they can't help
me.
So oh.
We no help.
We're very sorry.
You buy, you buy yours.
My goodness, I am.
I am so, so angry about that.
But the the only encouragement I
have is that this is, this is
communist machinery.
That's what this is and it's
crap and so I don't think the
West or America has anything to
fear when it comes to Chinese
military because their shite
don't work.
Like, yeah, the guns.
Just don't work.
Their guns are probably jam all
the time.
You you can say shit on our
show, by the way.
Well, I mean, if you prefer not
to, that's fine.
I I prefer because I know you
were a a minister in a former
life and.
Then I still do it.
I still do it.
I went to, I used to do visible
lot factory and they had this
new giant machine they wanted us
to come look at.
So we went and visited and they
said we have two of them.
So I'm looking at the machine
and I'm going around looking at
it, you know, and I'm looking
and I'm looking and the serial
numbers are exactly the same.
There's some other stuff that's
exactly the same, you know,
specific things that shouldn't
be the same.
And then I got my guy from the
factory.
I pulled over and go come here.
Come here I go.
You built the second machine,
didn't you?
And he goes, no, no, I go, yeah,
you did.
The number's exactly the same.
You didn't even change the model
number.
Yeah.
He sort of giggles.
He goes, yeah, we built second
machine.
Yeah.
So they bought 1 so they could
knock it off.
I mean, they're, they're amazing
copiers.
They can copy anything, right?
Yeah.
He goes, yeah, We, we just paid
this and they're.
Liars.
Oh my goodness, they're.
All they're all liars.
I mean, you know.
They're starting to copy
basketball players.
They all got tall ones like us.
Yeah, they're making tall ones
now.
Yeah, Yeah, the Mongolian people
in China are taller.
So they go.
Let's breed some of these
together.
Right, yeah, let's let's take
you and you, you make a baby
and.
I don't like her.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if you like
her or not.
We need a bigger one, right?
Right.
We only have Yao Ming.
Yeah, oh, the mings.
Oh, banging with the mings.
There it is.
It all comes back around.
Circle all.
Right.
Where did we leave?
A Chinese court said the
executions followed full legal
review.
That seems kind of vague in
China.
We will not tell you what the
legal review is.
Yeah, fully.
What's the legal review?
We haven't written it down yet.
It'll be done in a minute.
Right.
And approval by the Supreme
People's Court.
Oh.
Reinforcing the government's
message that organizers of
cross-border fraud will face the
harshest penalties available
under law, I wonder.
What is their harshest?
Is it water border?
I'm sure that's that's legal.
Legal or illegal over there?
Legal.
Yeah.
When my father used to go over
there, he was.
He owned part of it.
Well, they thought he owned part
of a wood factory because they
put his picture.
They put George Bush up to put
my dad up, and then they put
Ronald Reagan up in the
factory's pictures.
Nice.
Right.
So there was a fire in a factory
next door, and it was a
packaging factory, so it was all
paper and box products, stuff
caught on fire.
They tried to blame it on the
wood factory.
So they went and gathered up a
bunch of employees and they took
them to jail.
And then they were just beating
them up trying to get him to
confess to starting the fire in
the other place.
So the owner had my dad fly over
and he still, I mean, he's
going, my dad's going out, but
still doesn't know what was
said.
But they he was just told to
wear a suit, look like you're
pissed off and just stand there
and pace.
So that's what he did.
And then they let all the people
go to my dad's.
They thought he was a political.
Yeah, they thought it was some
big.
They thought, yeah, apparently
they were telling something like
he's the going to send the
Marines over to get these people
out if you don't just let them
go.
Yeah.
So.
Well, Mike, I I might need some
advice from you if if I have to
get a Chinese lawyer over this
machine.
Oh yeah, good luck getting a
Chinese tire, Yeah.
Don't get the mings I.
Don't get it back I had AI,
don't know.
If there's any legal recourse on
something from over here, no.
There's no, no, unfortunately,
no.
You have to actually register
your name in China so no one
else can make products under
your name.
So like if you guys were doing
first responder K cups and you
were selling just the cups,
you'd have to register your name
in China, but somebody else
would already beat you to it.
And then they hold it and you
have to pay them money.
Yeah, they have guys.
They have guys that do just
that, right?
They right, yeah, they just grab
names.
So it's like people are here
when they grab a website.
Same idea.
So because you can't ship it out
under First responder coffee if
somebody else owns your name.
So we had a guy at the lock
factory that did that to one of
the customers.
And, you know, we were all
drinking one night and the
owner, and we're talking about
the guy and the owner looks at
me and I sort of just do this,
you know, like we should just.
And then he looks at me and
goes, oh, yeah, you know, he
gets big, bright eyes.
And he's like, yeah.
And I'm like, oh, shit, I just
put a hit on somebody.
So the name Diggy cleared up a
little while later.
I don't know what happened
exactly, though.
Right, All right.
The move highlights China's
broader campaign to dismantle
scam compounds across Southeast
Asia, even as international
human rights groups continue to
criticize the country's use of
capital punishment and lack of
transparency around executions.
And there was no information
about exactly how they were
executed.
But the standard execution in
China, which seems odd, is
lethal injection.
You'd think there would be a
hanging or a shooting type of
country.
Yeah, shooting.
Shooting you would think more
old school or maybe they, you
know, make you.
Yeah, Honor, Honor.
Kill, honor, kill.
Yeah, honor kill.
Right.
Everyone gets a sword.
And then please.
You might want to port Japan.
I think it might be more.
Japan, but I guess trying to be
more like the Mongolian Horde,
right?
Gets a quarter them on on horses
or something.
Oh.
Wow, horse fight.
That'd be cool.
So how much time we had?
I forgot to start the timer. 21.
Oh, we're doing OK.
Yeah.
All right in the cigar news.
Here we go.
So let me ask you Phil, because
I didn't watch all of
yesterday's is this how you guys
did the first part of the show
basically?
Kind of, yeah.
It was, you know, trial and
error because he's like, only
read part of it and then we'll
talk about it.
I'm like, OK, so I just read the
title.
Is that what you like?
How do you want me to read it?
Right, the learning curve.
See how it goes.
Yeah.
All right.
Cigar news.
Crux Cigars has started shipping
its most affordable line to
retailers.
The Crux Marblehead is made-up
of an Ecuadorian Colorado Habana
wrapper covering an internal
blend of Nicaraguan and And How
do you say Nicaraguan, Drew?
Nicaraguan.
Yeah, they keep telling me
that's wrong.
I don't care.
Yeah, like he wants me to say
Nicaraguan, Nicaraguan,
Nicaraguan.
I'm from Florida so I see it.
There you go, brother.
I'm with you Nicaraguan and
Indonesian tobacco.
The regular production line is
being made at Table Calera Pages
Day, Nicaragua SA factory.
Not familiar with this factory.
I've heard of pages.
As a factory.
Yeah, there was another news
story we did not too long ago
that somebody was out of that
factory.
Have you been over there, Drew?
No, I have not.
Yeah, I haven't either.
Why do the sales directors not
get to go to Nicaragua?
Because.
We do all the work.
That's about right.
We don't have the time.
Don't.
Have the time that's you know,
that's been his excuse.
If you go who's going to sell
the cigars the first time the
company has worked with this
factory.
Oh, there are two Vitola's each
of which will ship the retailers
20 count clear PVC bundles
containing 4 separate 5 pack
bundles.
Retailers will be also send a
refillable 60 count display tray
which is designed to hold
multiple 20 count and five count
bundles at the same time.
It's a lot of information about
bundles.
I'm confused.
I have no idea what they're
shipping other than it has a
bundle.
Why are they telling everybody
about the tray, I mean.
Well, it's a nice of a tray.
The picture is a tray.
And it holds a lot.
And it holds a lot of which.
Which which adds to its
affordability.
Right.
Yeah, but that takes up a lot of
shelf space, right?
It looks like it looks like it
takes a space of maybe three
boxes.
Have you seen the phosphoro
trays?
Oh, yeah, yeah, it looks about
like that, but maybe a little
deeper.
Oh, OK.
What's suggested retail on a on
each cigar you think?
We're getting right to that,
Drew.
Thank you for asking.
Oh, yes, OK.
The Toro is 799.
The Gordo is 899.
The Marblehead was.
Oh, so it's just two sizes, Just
a Toro and a Gordo.
What size did you guys cigars
come in?
Toro.
All Toro.
Yeah, we we have a double.
We have 1 double Toro and then
we have one Toro that's a box
press, but we just keep it
simple.
As Toro, Double Toro twice as
long or twice as fat, fat, fat.
Yeah.
I was in a conversation with a
shop owner yesterday and he was
like, why does everybody keep
changing?
Gordo, Super Gordo, Fat Robusto.
You guys have a double Toro?
Yeah, I go.
Everybody just wants to be
special.
What's interesting is a lot of
them, you know, they because
we've had a lot of people
asking, you know, get a robusto,
something a little shorter than,
you know, a Toro.
Because sometimes I don't have
20-30 minutes to smoke a cigar
and we just tell them smoke half
of it, throw it away.
Because a shorter cigar costs
about the same amount of money.
Right.
Yeah.
To us, yeah, You don't save a
lot of money with a boost of the
cost production.
Is almost the same, so just
smoke a bigger cigar.
See, it's all matter what you
have.
We have smaller ones up to Toro,
and everybody wants us to make a
bigger one.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Do you guys make it a sixty?
Well, we make one.
Yes, you have to buy it.
That's expensive.
It's.
Expensive.
Buy it.
Yeah, that's our double.
Toro is a 60 ring.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's the war bear,
right?
Yeah.
And ours.
Yeah. 5 7/8 by 60.
Marblehead was created to be a
true value driven premium cigar,
said Jeff Hogan, a founder of
Crux Cigars, or press release.
We wanted something that felt
classic, smoked beautifully and
was accessible to a wide range
of enthusiasts.
This is a good idea because
cigar prices have been going up.
How many people are going down?
Is crux expensive?
I mean they're.
Like us, they're like, you know,
17 to 20 bucks or something
around that range I think
anymore.
I don't remember that they're.
Just using that product to tap
into the the low end cigar,
right?
The yard GAR group, you know,
they just don't want to spend.
This is a big golf cigar.
They big golf themed company, so
yeah.
And Nicaragua's been hitting us
with these these band taxes,
right?
Like like for every different
banded cigar you have this year,
this year they've been charging
us $200 on a tax for a, for a
band.
Yeah.
So if you, so if we had, we have
5 bands.
So that was $1000 we had to fork
out to Nicaragua had nothing to
do with the price of the cigar.
It was just Nicaragua.
Decided to have an expanding tax
before.
Yeah.
And I know who makes your
cigars.
He's not going to be doing
anything crooked.
No.
Yeah, he made my cigar.
I have my own cigar.
BDP.
Oh yeah, Yeah, Z and I made that
together.
Yeah, Z is a great guy.
Yeah, everybody loves.
Z.
Everybody loves Z.
Well, there's a couple.
That's because they're not good
people.
Right, right, All the good
people love Z, right?
The Marblehead name refers to
Crux's signature cap, which
debuted in 2014 and is a cross
between a Bellicoso cap and a
normal cap.
I didn't know they have a
special cap.
The cap style is similar to one
O 9 style cap which originated
in Cuba and has been utilized by
several different non Cuban
companies over the years.
You know any of the Crux guys?
True.
Do I?
What do you know any of the Crux
guys?
I do not.
Casey Hogan, the owner's
brother, was in charge of the
sales.
He used to play baseball with my
nephew.
Oh, OK, small world.
Yeah, AAA ball, not regular
ball.
I really don't know the
difference.
I just sounded like a.
AAA is good.
But that's like a lower level,
like their sporty it's.
Not it's not MLB, but it's it's
close, right?
You're on the farm team.
Is that what?
Is that the farm team guys?
Yeah.
And AAA is like the next call
up, like you're waiting to get
called up.
What's the one down from that?
AA and then you have single A.
Maybe it was one of those, I
don't know.
I just know he was.
They were on the same team.
OK.
But neither one of them.
I mean any of them is.
Great.
Either one of them went pro
though.
Apparently so.
Yeah, like the Tortugas is a
single A for the Cincinnati Reds
here in Daytona.
Oh, is that really?
Yeah, but they but they yeah, no
Daytona they play at.
Oh, that's right, there's a
turtle team in Sanford.
Yeah, Jackie, Is that Jackie
Robinson Stadium state?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I when I get lost in Sanford, I
find the baseball field.
Oh yeah, there's one over there.
Well, they have, they don't.
I don't think they have a single
AI think they are something else
like the Savannah Bananas.
They're like in a league like
that.
Oh, gotcha.
Yeah, all right.
Cle Cigars, maker of the Cle,
Asylum and Erola brands, have
announced that it will increase
prices on February 1st, 2026,
per a letter sent to retailers.
The company says that the
increase will be $0.25 to the
wholesale price of most of its
cigars, though some brands are
getting their own unique price
increases.
Ooh, that sounds a little high.
Sounds like the first one of the
year.
This is the third that we've
talked about on the show.
Is it you weren't here?
I don't think any other ones.
The skits go the Schizo Maduro
is going up $0.10.
The asylum is going at $0.50.
Oh, I like that cigar.
The Asylum 1350 cents.
April Fools.
Oh, going up a dollar unless
it's an April Fools Day joke.
That's a lot of dollar.
A dollar cigar.
It's a 9 by 90 cigar.
It's a huge cigar.
The asylum Megalophobia is going
up 3 dollars.
Oh my Lord, it's a 13 by 134.
Wow, how big is that?
I mean, is that like?
Retarded.
That's stupid.
Yeah, No, wire's going up $3.
Yeah, no one's buying it.
Shareable size.
Right, right.
Yeah, It's for two or three
people, right.
It has multiple ends on it when
it gets back to the backside.
Yeah, put this in your.
Family stick, There you go.
Typically, if a cigar company
increases prices is most likely
to announce the changes in the
first quarter of the year.
However, 2026 it started with
fewer announced price increases
than in previous years.
Oh, I think everybody's still
waiting on the tariffs.
Yeah, tariffs, I mean also
inflation.
They we don't stay in, they want
to stay on top of inflation.
The cigar can't stay the same
price forever, so they want to
stay on top of that.
How are you guys dealing with
the tariffs that affected your
prices yet?
Minimal, I I want to say last
year wholesale went up maybe
around $0.15 is probably the
average.
It's not bad.
Yeah, yeah, not too bad.
I know, I know, Z said that he
he consumed a little absorbed.
Absorbed a little bit of some.
Of the price increase.
So we kind of shared it.
So gotcha.
So it went up higher.
I don't know what it was.
I don't know how much is he
absorbed.
Does he roll yourself in his
factory over there?
Does he have it rolled somewhere
else in his factory?
In his factory, they banned it.
Roll it there, yeah.
Banned taxes?
Really weird.
I don't.
I would think I would have heard
something, but not necessarily.
They don't tell me anything
here.
I don't even find stuff out when
I listen in or accidentally end
up in a meeting.
Accidentally.
Accidentally where they don't
know I'm in the meeting because
a lot of times I'm like a lamp
around here.
They just they don't notice I'm
standing there.
Well, did you hear about
California?
There is a law in California
that basically for every
different band being sold in
California you you had to pay
basically pay to play.
Is that the UTL stuff?
Yeah, that's what he's talking
about is.
That what it is, Yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Register it and.
Yeah, you have to pay $300 per
cigar.
You have your cigar certified
non infused.
Right, Yeah, but there's but
there's been infused.
Yeah, but there's been infused
that have cleared but.
Yeah, right.
Well for that, for $300 per
band, we had like 2 lounges that
carry our cigars in California
and they were wondering if we
were going to, you know.
Pay the pay the the UTL thing.
You got between the two lounges
at wholesale prices.
They just didn't sell enough to
be worth it.
So we're just like, well, we're
not selling cigars in California
anymore.
Yeah, you'll get them in the
mail.
Well, yeah.
Well, that's just it.
You could, well, you can't ship
them to them, but you could ship
them to their people still.
I mean because they can't check
your mail.
Or maybe they become a consumer
and you ship it to their house.
Right.
Yeah, Bob over at the cigar shop
just got some stuff in his
house.
It looks great.
Right.
All right, last year, Isabella
Cigar Company box box pressed,
it's 7 by 70, the Mammoth Cigar.
For the first time, the annual
limited edition was offered in a
pressed version.
Now it's back for a sophomore
release.
Like the 2025 version, Isabella
2026 limited edition Mammoth
uses a Barber pole wrapper
designed with Ecuador and Habano
Prieto and Ecuadorian des.
I hate when they bring up new
cigar, new tobacco I haven't
heard of before.
Ecuadorian des Florando tobaccos
to create the contrasting look
underneath the tobaccos from
Nicaragua, which the company
says our age for various amounts
of time.
Oh, they don't.
No, they're not even lying
anymore, right?
That was just various times.
Yeah, Yeah, our tobacco is easy.
Sounds like a good cigar though.
You know, I've never had an
Isabella.
I've seen it around forever, but
I've never had one.
But I mean, this thing's huge,
but you smoke a lot of no, Phil,
you smoke a lot of different
stuff.
Not that though.
Anything, usually anything
that's over a 56, I'm not
touching.
Well, they do.
They box press it so it's easier
to put in your mouth.
Right, a better mouthfeel for
you there, Phil.
Yeah, but that's a 70.
I mean, that's what's with these
huge sizes.
I just don't.
Everybody wants a big cigar
right now.
I don't know what it is.
Yeah, but how many people do you
see smoking these things?
Anything over a 60.
Not over a 60.
I see people smoking 60s a lot.
Yeah.
Right.
And that's because you know who
made that big JFR, right?
JFR made that giant one that we
smoked on the show.
Yeah, well, the sixty though the
the, oh the.
Regular JFR.
Yeah.
Regular JFR.
Yeah.
It's too big for me too.
I've got a small mouth, right?
But I'm, you know, believe it or
not, I do.
I don't know.
I just don't like sitting there
with a pipe in my mouth, you
know?
It's just, it's just doesn't
feel comfortable.
Have you ever smoked a pipe?
Yeah, they're a lot of.
Work.
They are a lot of work.
I still have the time for them.
Yeah, I I appreciate them and I
love the smell.
Of Sherry Ranko.
But the, the work, the time, you
know, I'm, I'm, I'm not there
yet.
I I hope to be there one day.
You know you can smoke the rest
of your cigar in a pie.
I've seen people do that.
I I know it's a thing but I
think it looks stupid.
Keanu does that all the time
upstairs.
Never heard of that.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
They take the butt end of the
cigar and they shove it into the
top of the pipe.
Really.
So I mean, you're smoking and
you're looking like this because
there's half a cigar sticking
on.
Your right, right.
OK, I.
Mean just just keep just doing
the little girly stick things
and use.
That poker.
Yeah, the poker, which I think
is another thing that doesn't
look good.
Yeah.
That's weird.
You, you just got to really like
that cigar.
And every once in a while I get
a cigar.
I'm like, man, this is tasting
really good and.
As soon as my fingers get hot,
I'm done with it.
Just Chuck it right.
Sometimes just get another one.
Sometimes, well, sometimes the
other one just doesn't taste
quite as.
Good, that is true.
You light a second one, the same
one you're like.
You know, and I'm, I sometimes
I'll, I'll get, I'll get a
toothpick, man.
I'll, I'll find something.
Just a.
Not a decorated, ornamental
little skull with flashy eyes on
it.
Whatever I can, whatever I
could, whatever gets the job
done.
Right.
We had a guy last year making
some for the show and he made
microphones.
So he took like these type of
microphones and he made his
pokers, but it looks like you're
holding a microphone with the
thing sticking out of the time.
Nice little more manly looking.
I guess that's cool.
All right, these giant cigars
from, who are these people are
getting?
CLA.
No, no, Isabella cigars.
The 770 Mammoth is a guess.
You guys can guess how much you
want to guess up in Mammoth.
Go first, Drew.
The mammoth retail.
Yeah, MSRP Freedom Dollars,
we'll call.
It 2499.
Bill.
Isabella, Let's go 21. 01495
it's a deal that.
Was a deal.
It's a dollar increase from last
year, but only a dollar.
Really.
A 70 ring gauge at 14.
Wow.
Yeah, that seems cheap, doesn't
it?
Yeah, that seems cheap.
Maybe there's something wrong
with it I.
Thought Isabella would be worth
more.
Yeah, so did I.
I thought they were more
expensive cigars.
I was surprised.
Once again, the company what?
Cheaper.
Cheaper tobacco.
Well, whatever that weird
tobacco was, they said the what?
Was that started the D?
Des florado Des Florida
Ecuadorian Des florado tobacco
Apparently it's a deal.
It's a deal.
It's a deal.
Buy 2, get one.
Buy 2 get one free shipping over
$100.
Once again, the company will
offer retailers boxes of 25.
You get 25 of these giant
cigars, but Isabella will also
sell bundles via its website.
Production is limited to 25
boxes.
They're only making 25 boxes.
Big box.
There's only so many leaves that
discount.
Oh, there's more of that.
Des Florado.
Yeah, Des Florado.
It's from the city of Des
Florado.
It's super rare.
Plus making 25 bucks is 50
bundles of 25, less than half of
the 2025 production.
Oh, so they wasn't that popular
before?
I guess I've never heard.
Of it, Oh, somebody's at the
door.
Ding Dong.
Do we have a?
We have so many special
comments.
Shawnee just bought on our
website.
Oh, you know what?
I OK, I was in a shop in Tampa
years ago.
I forget the name of it, but
they had like a front room,
which was like their display
room, and then in the backs
where they kept all the stuff.
Every time an online order came
in, that noise would ring
through the entire building.
Oh, so Ching Ching.
Oh, gosh, I thought it was so
cool.
I tried to figure out how to do
it here and Mikey wouldn't let
me.
There's already enough noises
here.
Yeah, but how cool?
I mean, you know, because if
you're working out on the floor,
you're by yourself, you might
miss an online order because you
don't know when they come in.
There's no noise in the back,
right?
And if Mikey's not paying
attention because normally he'll
send a text, you know, order up,
right?
But yeah, it'd be neat if I went
Ching Ching, right?
Maybe I should bring it up
again.
Don't forget I brought it up
before.
Just do it and then.
Just set it up myself.
Yeah, just set it up.
Not a bad idea.
You're going to do it anyways if
they say set it up.
That's true, right?
And it's sad, like he wins the
show to go online.
When do I have time to figure
that part out man?
Yeah, exactly.
Tradecraft Cigars, the company
launched by Gary and Robert
Blumenthal, 4th and 5th
generation cigar men and the
owners of Tinderbox
International, has begun
shipping the company's third
core line, the Vitruvian.
Oh, the Vitruvian.
Is that a line from a movie or
something?
The Vitruvian.
No, you're thinking of Peruvian.
I don't know.
I'm not thinking of Peruvian.
It's a completely different
product.
Right.
It's a 6 by 50 torro with a
blend that uses in Ecuadorian
Connecticut Seed wrapper from
ASP.
What?
What is that drive anywhere?
ASP is no.
That's you put.
Your glasses on.
I did.
I wanted to find out what that
desk Florado.
Is oh, did you?
Do you have information?
It's tobacco that has been
topped or removed of its flower,
seeds, and sometimes the entire
upper portion of a tobacco
plant.
This causes the tobacco plant to
redirect its energies from
creation of the flower to the
tobacco leaves.
Topped tobacco is stronger than
tobacco that has not been
topped, so it's a.
So it's been defloured or
desflorado?
Yeah, Desflorado, that's right.
This seems like it's made of
like somebody thought, you know,
we cut the top off the tobacco,
get stronger, and then no flour.
Yeah.
This guy wants 25 boxes.
Let's do this.
Whatever, what a great idea.
Call it defloured.
That doesn't sound good.
How about how about this
florado?
Oh, it's very pretty.
We make it this florado.
It's $1.00 more. $1.00 more they
go for it, no problem.
Right.
That's that's just every day we
took the flour off the tops and
now the rest of the plane is
stronger, right?
How can they even check that
marketing, man?
We're going to cut every cigar
in half.
And you know what?
The back half is stronger than
the front half because you don't
have to burn through the front
half to get to the back.
Yeah, I'm going to tell you
Nicaragua.
It's called back in cigars.
Right, right.
In Nicaragua, they definitely
don't have more technology to
check the strength.
See, our friend Phil there went
to Nicaragua about a month ago.
And so now he's an expert.
He.
Yeah.
I'm not an expert but I just
remember seeing no technology
no.
Technology.
Yeah.
No.
No power, no.
No Wi-Fi, Nothing.
Yeah, the power went out other
across the whole SLE one night.
So did it really.
Yep, China used to have
brownouts to see where you
couldn't go place.
Oh wow, yeah.
Yeah, like we want to go visit
the factory day.
You can't.
We have no power day like.
Oh well, the cool thing is like
Skip, I guess he's learned this
before.
So he has solar power for his
factory.
So nobody else has this?
Nobody else?
No, there's a.
Well, there's like.
A JAJ does not have solar power.
A JAJ has everything.
No, they were.
Everybody was out the whole
place.
The when we drove out there was
no light anywhere except for our
hotel and Skips factory.
I heard a JS got his own son it
just.
Sits to his guy.
Yeah, maybe.
Only AJ.
Only AJ, it says right there on
the Sun only.
AJ well now he really has it
with with all to this having all
their stuff go to whom?
We're not supposed to be talking
about that.
Oh great, now you got to cut
that out. 40 minutes.
No, no, no, I don't care because
I've been in other shops and
apparently the person who told
us is telling other people too
so.
Oh, OK.
Well, yeah.
But we're not going to go into
detail.
Yeah, it looks like so.
What else does Skippy run on
solar power Every.
His whole place.
OK, now I'm assuming the main
source of power at a tobacco
rolling factory is lights.
Lights fans.
Lights and fans, yeah.
You know, does he have fans?
They have extractors for like
this, the smells like the
ammonia and stuff like that.
Well, yeah, otherwise it blows
up and they have fires like they
did at AJ.
Yeah, yeah.
But I mean, it's, I mean, it's
some power, but he has some
power banks on his wall next to
his breaker box, right.
And there I think there was
probably.
But there's not like, you know,
like there's, there's not like
huge rolling machines or, you
know, tobacco.
Flipping or something.
The rolling machines are the
people.
Right.
That's what I mean.
So you could run a cigar factory
on solar because you're running,
you know, lights and fans.
Yeah, pretty much.
Yeah, right.
So fun chargers.
Yeah.
Do they have cell phones?
Whereas did you take your cell
phone?
Yeah, yeah.
You can't use a lot of American
apps though.
Did you did it?
You can't.
Use American apps.
No.
So like I have my own business
and I was trying to use my CRM
and I couldn't log into it, it
wouldn't allow me to.
Well, that makes sense.
Yeah, so I had to get a VPN.
Right.
Tell your phone right in.
Right to run it and I couldn't
get on Hard Rock, I couldn't get
on anything.
Okay, I couldn't gamble, huh.
He's a big gambler.
Yeah, and I was.
Not good at it at all, but he's
a big gambler, of course.
I was really nervous because
Carlos and Skip were both like,
hey, yeah, just do the VPN thing
and then you can gamble.
I'm like, Nah, I'm good because
there's some real penalties if
you do illegal gambling on hard.
Rock as China?
Yeah, right.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, you might have been
executed, right?
American killed in SLE,
Nicaragua for gambling with the
Hard Rock app.
Yeah, I wasn't chancing it.
We're not sure of his name.
Boots, Phil, the Steven.
We're not sure what it is.
Yeah.
Which one is it?
All right, whoever this rapper
is from ASP, it's an Ecuadorian
Sumatra seat binder and a filler
blend of Dominican Crayolo 98
seko and Creoho Creoho Seko.
Ecuadorian Puntiano PUN.
T confidence part just say with.
Puntiano.
Yeah, nobody's going to know
you're wrong.
That's right, yeah.
It's a viso and tobacco from
Nicaragua's halapa region.
The Vitruvian is crafted for
modern connoisseurs who demand
depth without overpowering
strength.
Because they use the desk.
Florida.
No, that's the other one.
That's the other one.
Pricing on this.
Oh, how about pricing on this
cigar guys?
This is sold on their website,
so they sell their this is their
own retail pricing.
It's a 12 count box.
Is it a box price or a cigar
price?
Well, let's do the cigar price,
because then you can figure out
the box.
Price.
OK.
What price is it 70?
It was like a 70, wasn't it?
Let's say 1299.
It's a 6 by 50 Toro. 6 by 50.
Still sticking to 1299.
Why not OK?
It's a direct so I'm going to go
9. 1450 wow you guys went the
wrong way on that one.
They.
Like that 14.
They do.
That's what I do.
It's the same.
The Vitruvius joins the
company's other two lines, The
Gladius and the Azorian, which
debuted on November 2025 at an
event hosted by Tinderbox
Haverford in Haverford, PA.
All three lines are produced by
Table Calera.
William Ventura in the Dominican
Republic, We've heard of that
factory and Weiber WIBERI think
I know this guy.
I'm I've never called him Wiber.
Maybe Weber?
Weber Ventura working with the
Blumthales on the blends.
A fourth line is already planned
with the Blumthales working with
Hostos Fernandez of Tablo Clara
La Isla.
Robert Blumthal told Half Wheel
that the cigar will be a full
bodied Sumatra blend.
Oh, another Sumatra.
I think Sumatra is the the leaf
for the season here.
Yeah.
All right.
Moving on to Bovida or Bovida or
Bovida.
Depends on you.
Call it Boveta.
Nobody really knows how you say
it.
They're rebranding its marijuana
targeted products to VIVIVV
Bovida.
Bovida.
Bovida has announced that it's
two way humidity packs that are
marketed to be used to cure and
store marijuana will be sold
under the new brand VV.
Sounds like a stupid name.
VV.
Wonder why?
Wonder what the reasoning is
behind that name.
I don't know, but it is a
completely different look in
packaging.
There were pictures along with
the article.
It's.
Going to go for 4/20.
Oh, that would be funny,
wouldn't it?
That would be funny.
The packs themselves are
functionally the same as they
were before, but the company
will be selling them using a
different look that will
separate the Cannabis Focus
products from the rest of the
company's targeted markets.
You think they don't want their
stuff associated with the
regular cigar bova defense?
That's why you make a different
name.
Right, that's why you change the
package and give a different.
Name in case something goes
South.
Right.
Yeah.
Isn't this you?
No, no, no.
That's VV.
We don't even know what that is.
Right.
Well, some people might not buy
it that are, you know, bova to
people.
They might not buy it just
because they deal with, you
know, the other people, if you
will.
I've had people come in and ask
for, for their, you know, and
they have to say the right word,
'cause it's a retail shop.
They can't say marijuana, they
can't say pot, they have to say
flour.
Right.
Or our stuff, as long as you
stop, like wait, stop right
there.
You have to say flour.
I think I know where you're
going.
Do you like flowers?
And we're going to pretend like
you're baking cookies and you
need to keep your flour dry,
right?
It includes, Oh, it can also go
in musical instruments, food
storage and other applications.
Can you put a regular bovid in
with a with food?
I would imagine.
Why couldn't you?
Isn't that toxic, Is it?
No, I mean they're saying it's
the same thing, just a different
label on it.
Well, that's basically what
those little packets are like in
beef jerky and stuff, right?
You put a cigar in a fresh pack.
I mean, this cigar is going to
absorb whatever's inside that
atmosphere.
And still putting in your.
Mouth.
You're ingesting it.
The point?
Never thought about that before.
No, that stuff they put in beef
jerky boots, absorbs does not
give humidity.
They don't want the beef jerky
to get wet because then it's not
beef jerky anymore, right?
I like it when it's a little.
I'm not going to say that word,
but.
You like it a little moist?
Yeah.
Did you put a couple of drops of
water in it or something?
No, I actually when I buy beef
jerky, I put it on the dash on
my truck.
That's going to dry it out more.
No, no, no.
It cooks it and it actually
like.
Which dries it out more.
No, it like creates like a
little humidity in there.
Have you ever tried it?
No it doesn't.
Try it, I promise you it makes
the beef jerky more tender.
I think you're wrong.
OK, I eat a lot of beef jerky.
I'm sure you do.
You see, somebody said the other
day they imagined your house.
There's just empty fast food and
jerky containers all over the
floor.
No, not fast food.
Cannabis has its own culture,
its own standards and its own
community, said Sean Nutson,
president and CEO of Bovida, in
a press release.
VV allows us to show up for the
industry in a more intentional
and authentic way while standing
behind the same quality because
it's the same performance.
They have set the standard for
basically saying what Drew said
case something goes S we don't
want, we want to have an out
right?
This is hardly the first major
rebrand of Bovida.
In 2012, the company announced
that it was moving away from
Humi Pack name that it used in
conjunction with Bovada and
replace what were what then
white packs, the brown packs and
blue Bovada branding that is
similar to the company's current
offering.
While the company got it start
selling the two way humidity
packs for cigars, the growing
marijuana market has greatly
expanded the company's sales
staff and global reach of the
marijuana space.
Wow.
Wow, it's a big deal.
It's a big deal over the
markets.
It's humidity packs for the
cigars with a starting point of
69% relative humidity, right
around the 70% number that was
often touted as the ideal
humidity for humidor also offers
the packs in lower and higher
relative humidity levels.
What do you guys like your
cigars at?
You like dry or you like it a
little soft?
I personally don't really tell
much of a difference between 50%
and 6970%.
Did you say 50?
Yeah.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
I mean, I, I mean, there's,
there's a lot of cigars that I
store just in an air conditioned
room in my house.
Yeah.
And I don't have any problems
with them, you know?
We do live in Florida well.
They don't sit a long time.
Yeah.
I mean, there's humidity in the
air, yeah.
Every time you open up my front
door, humidity rushes into our
right and it and you know,
inside my house is going to be,
you know, 45 to 50% humidity,
right?
Yeah, I usually keep mine like
around 71.
I like mine a little a little
moist, like your beef jerky.
Yeah, So what are you, 76?
No, I don't go that high.
No, I think mine's at 72.
Yeah.
My my little human or I have at
home.
I don't keep any cigars at home.
I mean, I'm here every day.
So bye.
Yeah, most.
Well, I mean, I keep them at
home just As for storage, but
most of the time I keep them in
the middle of my truck because
that's where I'm at.
When you were in Nicaragua, how
many human or did you see?
None exactly.
Yeah.
Well, they don't.
Well, they didn't even see one
person smoking cigars unless it
was like the main guys of the
factory.
Well, that's burning money.
That's why you don't see that.
They weren't like people walking
down the street, just everybody
smoking a cigar, children,
women, men and old ladies.
Yeah.
I mean, it was described to me
as it's just not the culture
there, but.
Oh, makes sense.
I would also think that they
can't buy them right because
they're super poor.
That's true.
Why waste money on cigars?
We need food.
Yeah, for them to buy a $14.00
cigar, they got to work a whole
day.
Well, they don't cost $14.00
over there.
I well, I mean, if you have a
retailer, probably, maybe.
No, not an S to Lee.
I don't know.
If they're buying cigars there,
they're paying a couple of
bucks.
I would imagine it's probably a,
a segundo of some sort.
Or, you know, segundo.
Is that even they won't, I don't
know, sell as a segundo?
I don't know my.
Personal opinion, a humidor is
needed mostly in a northern
climate.
That would make sense.
Because when they're running
their heaters.
Right.
Dries everything out it.
Dries everything out really bad,
you know, because the heat
inside houses or stores, right?
We down here, we just don't have
that much of a problem.
Unless the power goes out.
I had the power go out when
you're didn't even think about
the humidor.
Lost about $400.00 worth of
cigars.
What happened to them?
They got dry and got Beatles.
Yeah, but that now that's the
thing you gotta.
Watch, that's the problem, Yeah,
because the power was out for
three or four days at the house,
didn't even didn't even consider
more worried about the food in
the fridge and didn't even think
about it.
Yeah, with the pull one more.
Of a temperature.
Issue, right?
Yeah, it was a temperature issue
than humidity issue, right?
We watched.
That yeah, you start going
through and you got a little
holes in them and then it's like
playing a flute when you're
smoking because you're.
Trying to keep the air.
I got to cover these seven holes
up as I smoke.
You can still smoke a man.
You still can, Yeah.
I mean, you'll burn the bug
before you find your name and
your wife.
There you go.
Oh, there's a lot more marijuana
story.
Oh, the Viva name though.
The boat.
Oh, hold on, hold on.
Let's see.
I think they explain this.
Nope.
It's kind of interesting that
they changed their packaging
from white to brown.
I didn't know that they were
white before because then boost
came out right?
Right, and boost is white.
And boost, yeah, went.
White, that's a different
company, right?
Round looks more natural.
Yeah, maybe the white would get
dirty or something in in the
humidor.
I just, yeah, I don't even buy
booze 'cause I feel like it.
The white just looks cheap.
I don't know that it does look
like it does look cheaper than
the than the regular Bovida,
you're right.
Yeah, it's definitely not
cheaper, but it's.
Often more synthetic, even
though it's all synthetic, it
just gives off a more synthetic
vibe more than a natural.
Vibe, more clinical looking
thing gives it.
It's all I think they last
longer though, really, because
you know, every once in a while
you get one in the mail or
something, or it's inside of a
magazine or something.
I wish didn't you?
Were you the one that taught me
to put like some water or was
that chat?
Probably it was chat.
Yeah, he's like, oh, you can re
wet your.
It's a very long process.
And they swell up like a pillow.
I mean, they look like a pillow
when they swell up, right.
And then after you do it once or
twice, supposedly they don't
last as long anymore.
Yeah, but that was chat.
They used to do that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right, now it's time for the
industry's favorite new game.
Blaine, What's the Score?
This will be Drew's first time
at What's the Score?
So we'll be gentle.
We'll be nice to you.
Welcome, Drew, Welcome.
All right, first cigar we doing
here.
This cigar was reviewed in
November 13th, 2015 by Patrick
Lagreed.
It's an altar.
This cigar, it's from the
Dominican Republic.
This is the Henry Clay Tattoo.
Oh.
You familiar with this cigar at
all?
No, Henry.
Henry Clay is an alternate
cigar, obviously.
Yeah, so so have you ever seen
any of the half wheel reviews?
I have not.
Do you go to the half wheel
website ever at all?
Anyway, are you familiar with
what half wheel is I'm?
Just not I, I, I do my business
and that's that's my business.
All right, half wheel is the.
Let's just say that is the
without offending anyone else.
It is the premier cigar industry
media source.
Yeah.
OK.
They don't do many videos, but
they do do articles every day.
They have like an online
magazine, OK.
And then if you do a press
release, you send it to them and
they update their website every
single day by the minute
sometimes.
So if something big has happened
in the cigar industry, that's
where you find it.
OK.
Yeah, exactly.
So as part of their offering,
they review new cigars.
OK.
So they have every cigar they've
ever reviewed online, back to
even in the early 2000s when
they were called Stogie.
Or not press.
It's not Stogie Press, that's
it's Fred Rui, which we don't
give Fred enough airtime.
I was told.
So Fred Stogie Press.
Stogie Press.
Stogie, stogie, stogie.
I don't remember.
What stogies and stooges I don't
know.
Who?
I don't know.
So anyway, they do one to 100.
Most of them are, I think the
lowest we've ever found is in
the 50s, and the highest we ever
found is like a 94.
So all right, so you pick a
number between 1 and 100 for
your first score.
The only information you have
now is the name and who reviewed
it.
And after you do some of these,
which I don't imagine you're
going to be, have to deal with
that again, but you Start
learning like Patrick does his
reviews in a certain way and he
normally scores something within
a certain window.
So all right, but you go. 1st
but when you know, after this,
when you're at home listening to
us, you can play along, Yeah,
and you'll start.
Right.
There are several people that
play along and they say they
love this part of the show,
right?
Yeah, OK.
I'm going to go 85.
I'm generous with an 87.
OK, right.
This is a Henry Clay tattoo.
It's from the Dominican
Republic.
This is the information we have
on the cigar that they provide
in the magazine.
It is a factory, is a
Tablicalera de Garcia.
It's AUSA Connecticut broad leaf
wrapper from 2010.
The binder is Dominican Piloto
from 2010, Filler Dominican Orlo
and Piloto 2012, and a
Nicaraguan Omen Tempeh 2013 is a
6 by 52 cigar.
The price is here is $9.
It really doesn't affect the
score in any way, but they
smoked 3 cigars.
Sometimes they don't smoke 3
cigars.
When they smoke more than one,
they compare them against each
other, so it could affect the
score.
If like 2 of them are good and
one is bad, they'll knock them
down for that because there's
not a consistency issue that
way.
I'm going to go to cause the
Connecticut broadleaf was
probably going to make this
thing pretty good.
So let's let's go to 89.
I I like 89, is it OK for me not
to be different?
No, no, you can do the same
score.
That's fine.
I.
Like that?
All right, here's clue #1 Henry
Clay Tattoo stands out visually
with its ribbon bound packaging,
glossy wrapper, minimal veining
and sharp looking bands that
that whoop it skipped that
blend.
Classic and modern design.
The cigar feels uniformly firm
with great draw, strong smoke
output and a consistently sharp
burn for most of the smoke.
Things getting better and
better.
So yeah.
Yeah, let's go.
I mean, it's Patrick.
I'll go first this time 91. 91
OK, I'm.
Going to stick at 89.
All right #2 flavor comes out
full and engaging right away
with the tangy earthiness,
Evolving pepper, dry wood, and
touches of sweetness like simple
syrup.
Retro hails add vibrancy and the
cigar delivers a steady build
and strength that experienced
smokers will enjoy.
Pepper Ford profiles will
appreciate.
I'm I'm going to stick at 89.
Yeah, 91.
All right, now the third clue.
So there's three clues and then
they give what's called a final
thought.
All right, third clue lacks
complexity and can lean harsh.
While the pepper heavy profile
is consistent and powerful, it
doesn't develop much new
complexity as a cigar
progresses.
At times the pepper becomes
borderline harsh and the final
third offers more of the same
rather than a deeper or more
nuanced finish with a few
relights and needed near the
end.
So normally hold on boots,
normally these guys will take
off.
If they have to keep relighting,
that's a negative for them that
which lowers the score.
OK, Yeah.
Did they mention about
relighting?
Yes, this one took a few
relights needed near the end.
Relights really piss these guys
off for some reason, OK.
Yeah, let's go.
I'm going to go to 87. 89.
All right, here's the final
thought.
Somewhere between your average
off the shelf Tetua Hey and an
off the shelf alter, this
product is the Henry Clay
tattoo.
It's nowhere near Tetua he's
best offering and it's certainly
one of the better releases I've
had from the tobacco giant.
I would have loved a bit more
complexity and transitions, but
the flavors that are offered a
fairly solid and enjoyable from
start to finish.
It's certainly worth trying a
few, and in some I'm sure this
will creep into box split or
even box purchase territory.
If anything, this is a great
example of what you can go very
right with.
Two entities come together, and
when Altidis USA has another
palette and set of eyes, let
loose the company's vast stores.
Oh, so this is a tatuahe?
No, Henry Clay's an Altidis
cigar tatuahe, and maybe it's
made a different factory.
I don't know.
I don't know why he keeps
throwing it in there.
Yeah.
Because I know he loves Tatuahe
so right?
I mean, he liked it.
Seems like he did then, yeah.
Just how much did he like it?
Let's go, I mean, he says.
A box worthy 88.
All right, Drew, this is this is
your last score.
Even 90.
Just even 90.
Even 90.
All right, it's an 87.
Oh, don't brag too much, Boots.
Drew's never played before.
Yeah, I know, but.
That's pretty good for his first
time.
Yeah, Yeah, you got pretty
close.
Yeah, A.
Lot of mixed messages in some of
that you know.
Just like that's the fun part
of.
The I mean just like in one
statement, he can compliment the
cigar and diss the scar at the
same.
Time at the same time, right?
Yeah, exactly what also depends
on how Palmer reads it.
That's the other thing.
Oh yeah, sometimes Palmer will
read it and he'll make you think
like it was a.
Great.
I try to get them not to win.
Yeah.
That's my game I'm used to.
It's no big deal.
All right, see, today is Friday,
but this show won't go out till
Monday.
But today is Mark Palmer's
birthday.
We like to wish Mark Palmer down
at he's one of the brass pipers
down in Fort Pierce.
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday.
He's a big supporter of the
show.
Yes, Sir.
All right, Drew, tell them where
they can find your cigars, boss.
This is how we wrap things up.
Well, thank you.
You can find our cigars at FRCC
dot shop FRCC dot shop.
FRCC is first responder cigar.
Company and that's where you can
get your coffee and all your
swag coffee.
We've got some good swag.
I saw it at the event we were we
were at a couple weeks ago.
Yeah, there's a cool if you if
you like night vision nods.
We got a really cool tier one
shirt with skull with night
vision on the back.
It's pretty cool.
Very cool.
Our tier one coffee has added
caffeine.
It's like 50.
Percent caffeine than.
Regular coffee.
So it's like.
Jump start.
Super Cuban.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, we appreciate you coming
on the show, Drew.
Thank you very much.
It's.
An honor to be here.
I had a lot of fun.
Boots is this?
This was better than the ones
you guys did without me, wasn't
it?
Probably.
I mean blood Palmer, You do a
good job in the chair.
I'll give you kudos even though
Mikey won't.
No, it was a little contest
whether there's shows without me
or better because, I mean, you
said I'm for Mikey and Mikey had
people sit in for me.
Yeah, he shows her train wrecks.
He did while I was gone.
They were terrible.
You're a great host, great host.
But that's what he.
Did for a long time.
Yeah, that's what he's going to
say.
He's going to go, well, you sat
in the chair, you didn't make
Drew to all this stuff.
But with the with the new format
he couldn't have.
Yeah, the new format is a little
more.
It is not guest host friendly.
Yeah, it's definitely not.
Because normally if you had a
guest host, they've just read
it.
And then at the end of the
story, then we talked about it.
Yeah, but Mikey wasn't getting
enough air time.
We have to establish.
So if I just read the story, he
he doesn't get enough camera
time well.
You you need to have the guy
with the eye candy guy.
You know, doing doing most of
it, right?
Right, exactly.
Everybody with the Santa Claus
fetish wants me to do it.
Yeah, that's right there.
There's something for everyone.
There you go.
That's right.
All right, guys, some episode
460.
Thank you very much, Drew.
Thank you again.
Also, guys, go check out first
responders cigars.
Thank you.
All right, guys.
Bye, bye.
Bye.
Bye.
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Show Notes
On today’s show, we have a story out of ohio where a snow plow operator saves a baby’s life. China excited 11 people the other day in a crime sweep. Crux is back in the news with a budget friendly cigar, CLE is raising prices, some new cigars and Boveda is branding its products for pot storage.