ACHP 459 The Episode When Phil was The Host

Transcript

It's Thursday. Now, you know, it's a problem when I'm the host. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast. Oh, hello, Phil.

Hello. Yeah. Hello, Mikey. Let's see how you can, let's see how well you can multitask with pushing buttons and running the teleprompter at the same time.

Yeah, this is definitely something that's going to be a little more challenging, but I think we can make it happen. Well, if Boots has taught you anything as a DJ, then you should be able to do Weeky Weeky and all this other stuff, so. Yeah, Weeky, Weeky, Weeky, Weeky. Alright, well, here we go.

Yeah. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 459. I'm Phil, your host, Bing Bong, and with me is Mikey. When does Palmer come back?

Step on cabbage. Yeah. When does Palmer come back? You know, I don't think he's ever come back.

I think he's still in the Ireland thing. You think he's still in Ireland? Yeah. Maybe.

Maybe. 90K. You better sell him some Powstanie when he's out there. Right, right.

Start up. All right. So, just want to mention that Mikey has changed the show's format, if you hadn't noticed. He noticed, we're trying to keep the show more conversational and less TV news style.

Basically, Mikey figured Palmer was getting way more camera time when he was, so he decided this way he can monopolize the conversation and stay on camera longer. Right. Well, here's what we're going to do. We're going to have topics, we're still going to discuss these things, but having one person just kind of read it off, what happens is, myself and you, Phil, we just kind of fade out.

We just kind of start moving on. We don't really talk about it or anything like that as he kind of rattles it on. So it's better to just kind of highlight the topic and then discuss it. Right, yeah.

No, I agree. Completely agree. All right. So with that, here is the show topics for today.

Or Mikey, would you rather read these? No, no. You do it. Okay, perfect.

Are you trying to push that off on me? Yeah, that was, yeah. I can't see them. How would I know?

I don't know. Well, I don't know. Yeah, that's a good question. That's a good question.

All right, so on today's show, Yale is way more affordable than before. Ray J won't be too important much longer, some sports stuff, and then in cigars, Yale is now tuition-free for families earning under $200,000 a year. Massive shift that opens the door for thousands of middle-income students. Did you see that you just kind of converted over?

He said, and now in cigars, and then he didn't say anything about cigar news? Yeah, they were, yeah. And then you just jumped into the first story. Yeah, there was no, like, pause, comma.

There's nothing. They didn't even talk about cigar news at all. Yeah. Yeah.

Is there no cigar news? I don't know. But we still have some topics that we can cover from yesterday as well that we didn't get to. Oh, yeah.

Oh, definitely Bill Belichick. Yeah. So, well, even cigar stuff. Okay, perfect.

But if you want to, like, Yale is, they're allowing everybody under $200,000 to get free tuition into Yale. Yeah, yeah. I have not heard about this. Yeah.

And there's something else for people that are under $100,000. Annual income in their home. Yeah, it says families making under $100,000 will have the full cost covered. Not just tuition, but housing, meals, and fees.

So it's a true zero cost. That's actually, that's great. You think it's great? I mean, for, well, okay, let's kind of think of who's going to Yale.

Yeah, okay, let's think about this for a second. Let's think if it's great. What do you think? Right.

I mean, for families that can't afford for their kid to go to Yale and they can get in. Right. Yeah, but I think, isn't Yale like one of those schools where it's like a reputation type invite? Well, it's like an Ivy League?

Yeah. It is an Ivy League? Yeah, like people have to recommend you to go there? I don't know if that's how it works.

I don't know. I know that it's an Ivy League. I know it's super expensive. You know, my question is when it comes to something like this, who's going to cover the cost?

is it is a cost coming directly from yale or is it coming from some sort of government aid or or you know is are any of those things occurring right so because if it's here's i'm going to tell you my own experience and here's what i didn't like um when i was in college now i just i went to a state school for briefly for a couple years right and uh i was working on getting my ba And in order to get my BA, I had to take one more class to get it done. Now, I was, you know, in my early 20s, and I was very poor, you know, so at that point, I was going through financial aid. In order to cover, in order for financial aid to take effect, for me to get that one class, to get my BA, they wanted me to cover, take on three other classes that weren't important at all. So like that didn't make any sense but in order for them to get additional funding that's how that that would work so like so you know the system in some ways kind of inflates specific things right in order for them to capitalize on more more free money right so you know if that's what's happening here then that's a problem now if Yale is saying hey we're gonna cover this out of pocket you know without any additional aid any additional funding but we you know us the organization the university are going to pay for this.

Then great. That's fantastic. Right. But if it goes the other way, if it goes through aid, I don't know, man, I think that could be a problem.

Yeah. And you think the, the state government, wherever they're at, they would cover this? Or is this like a boosters type thing? That's what I'm saying.

Where? Oh, we don't know. Okay. Yeah, we're trying to figure that out.

Yeah, we're trying to figure that out. Well, if anybody goes to Yale, and they'd like to tell us, I don't think I can get into Yale. Yeah? Yeah.

Where is Yale? Hmm. Let me ask, because I, you know, I caught, I picked up on something as you were talking, as you were talking there. I don't know, I'm gonna probably guess because a lot of the good Ivy schools are in the Northeast.

Okay, I think you're doing, you're doing well? Right. Um, hmm, let's do elimination here. I'm going to give you three guesses.

Okay, ready? New Hampshire. No. Uh, Maine.

Strike two. And Connecticut. Oh, he saved himself with the final call. Perfect.

What made you pull Connecticut, let me ask you. Well, I knew it was in New York, because NYU's in New York. Okay. And I couldn't think of any of the other ones around.

So Massachusetts was just off the table? Yeah, yeah. I wasn't going there. Yeah, okay.

All right. Okay. Hey, good job. Look at you.

Hail Mary. Yep. And someone caught it. Aaron Rodgers style.

There you go. In the end zone for the tutty. Right. I didn't think we were getting there.

No, I didn't think so either, but hey, I got it. Oh, God. Today's a good day. So more importantly, whether you love the fact that Yale is providing aid or not, But Phil now knows the state that Yale is located.

Connecticut. Exactly. Exactly. Okay.

All right. So moving on to the next one. What do we got? All right.

I should have saved this on my phone. So next story. Yeah. After surging the popularity from his 2007 sex tape with Kim Kardashian, Ray J is paying the price.

Yeah. Ray J revealed that after a recent hospitalization in Las Vegas to severe pneumonia and heart pain, doctors told him his heart is functioning only about 25% capacity. Okay. So it's life-threatening.

Yeah, so I'm going to help you surmise this, because I can't stand that you're reading it off of the prompt, and we're going to work on that. Yeah, yeah. So Ray J is having, he has 25% heart failure, or is his functioning 25%, right? It's functioning.

It's 25% functioning, right? And he blames, he feels that drug use and alcohol abuse is the reason as to why he is. Yeah. I have not heard of this story until, you know, just reading these.

Until today. Yeah, until today. You know who Ray J is? I do know who Ray J is.

He's a rapper, yeah. What was his famous, I don't know, what was his famous song? Did they have one? Well, a lot of people don't remember him for his favorite song, or his favorite, his best song, but they remember him for Kim.

They just remembered from Kim. Yeah. So, but, but what was, do you know his song, or no? Hmm.

You don't even know his song. No. Connecticut, and now we've got a, what was Ray J's top hit, buddy? No.

You know, I know, I know he was a big hit when I was a teenager, 'cause. Yeah. He came out when I was in high school, 'cause all this stuff came out. Ah, man.

I don't even know who the hell he is. Ray J's top hits, let's see. Ray J was, uh, he was, he was like a one or two hit. One hit.

Sexy Kenai? Oh, yeah. Sexy Kenai. That, that, that.

One wish? Yeah. I remember one wish. Yeah, one wish.

Yeah, so two. So that was it, just the two. Yeah, just the two. And his sister is Brandy.

No, I did not know that. I did not know Brandy was his sister. Yeah. Huh.

Okay, so. That makes sense. Um, do you know anybody, have you ever had anybody in your life with like 20% or 30% heart functionality? Uh, yeah.

Yeah? Yep. Who? Well, my buddy, Caleb.

Okay. And so, and how's he living? Man, it's rough. Like, uh, yeah, he, you know, he used to be in the gym all the time and, you know, he, he was, he was pretty, he was big into, into fitness health.

Yeah. So this is new for him. Yeah. This is, yeah, probably, uh, I think three years ago is when he had heart failure.

Um, and they actually had to put a defibrillator, um, in case he has a heart attack. Yeah. In case. Yeah.

Yeah. So, but now it's like he said, cause he works for Lowe's. Right. So, and he does a lot of walking.

He can only walk like maybe for five minutes and he has to go sit down. You know, that's crazy. How old is he? My age 38.

So he's a young buck. Yeah. He's young. Yeah.

And he, I mean, and he still looks like he goes to the gym, but it's slowly going down. You can tell like he's losing mass. Right. So what, how did that happen for him?

Any, you know, any, so he actually, his, his father, My brother has his, too, so I think it's genetic. Genetic? Yeah, so, yeah, it just happened out of nowhere, and now his cousin, it just happened to, he's in the hospital actually right now, so I think it's a family genetic. What's his, does he have a life expectancy?

Did he tell you, hey, well, you know, I'm gonna, this is it for me at 45, or whatever? The doctor did not tell him anything. His dad is, I think he's in his 60s, like early 60s. Still alive.

Still alive. Still running. Yep. Right, just has to maybe do some lifestyle changes, but nothing crazy.

Yeah, he definitely has to eat healthier, like, before he didn't eat as healthy, you know, he'd go to McDonald's all the time, and, you know, he would eat, like, his biggest thing was these velvet fudge brownies, and he would eat, like, you know, two containers of these things a week, and I always told him, I was like, dude, like, I don't know how you eat, first of all, I don't know how you still have pectorials and not a gut, by eating these velvet fudge brownies. You know it's bad when you when you're giving health advice to an individual yeah I just like me I just because like if you're giving me health advice I'm like I don't know I don't know you got some concerns you know you know sometimes I got a little jealous I'm like damn those things like I gained 50 pounds you know right okay so realistically though I mean Ray J can still live a more like a moderately normal life yeah I mean we think Because I know a guy that was in his late 60s, and, dude, that guy, this was back in my bar days, I love this guy, he was a great person, he died recently, died a few years ago, but he would drink a screwdriver, you know what a screwdriver is, right? J.? J.

J. Right. So and this guy lived a pretty, pretty good life, pretty long life. Now, as he kind of started to get towards the end, the doctors were telling him, hey, man, we're getting close.

This is, you know, things are getting bad. Right. And I think he lived about like another year past that. But he was a he was a great dude.

But he had a he had a long life. He had a really long life. So I don't know. I mean, I just think that this does this seem more like a publicity thing than anything.

I think just because he used to be a somebody, and maybe there's nothing going on in the celebrity realm right now, maybe that's why he surfaced, and if you think about, like, Ray J was kind of a pioneer, I mean, for the Kim Kardashian thing, that was like the first of the first of the celebrity stuff, you know, so maybe, I don't think he's a, to me, he's a nobody. com, make sure you like and subscribe, if you buy one piece of apparel, you get the second one 40% off, spend $100 or more and you get free shipping, and I want to shout out to our newest retailers that have joined us in the Powstanie family, where is it? It's right here. Da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da.

Stogies, Four Myers, Florida, Papa Juan, Bronx, New York, Papa Juan, my man Francis, Iowa Cigar Company in West Des Moines, Iowa, and Northport Cigars in North Florida. So, thank you very much for joining us, we look forward to continuing to grow with your stores, and if you are a retailer or you know a retailer that wants to carry Powstanie, please reach out to Mike P. com for additional information. Okay.

, 25% heart. Okay, move on, my friend Boots. Okay. Maybe it could be time soon for him, but we'll know later.

I think he's going to live a long life. How old is he? Yeah, but if he was doing, do people really stop doing drugs and alcohol? Dude, look at Mick Jagger, bro.

He looks like he's still. Mick Jagger's like 180 years old. He is, he's like a cockroach, man, that guy will not die. He's not, you know, like the day that he goes, Ray J's only 45.

Yeah. Well, you know, everybody thought Ozzy was super old, but what was he when he died, 92? How old was Ozzy Osbourne? Yeah.

He wasn't 92. 80s. How old was Ozzy Osbourne? I mean, like, he couldn't even get out of the chair anymore.

76. Wow, yeah, not even in his 80s. No, but I mean, come on. Like, Jagger's still dancing.

Yeah, Jagger, you know. Yeah, moves like Jagger. You think it's more cocaine than anything, or what? It's definitely cocaine.

Yeah. Look at his face. It's not definitely, it's possibly. You can't say definitely.

It's going to get a lawsuit. It's allegedly. Yeah. For the love of God.

Yeah, I'd like to sue the one with the bear nose. Uh, nope, you don't have it. Good luck with that. Can't get blood from a rock.

Right. Okay, all right, so what's the next article you got, buddy? All right, the next one is probably something we're definitely going to talk about, the Browns get a new head coach, Todd Monken. Yes.

So, I have seen this. Okay, this was very recent, it's like happened this morning. Yeah, I'm really surprised of this hire, but I'm not surprised. Okay.

That makes sense. No, it doesn't, so please elaborate. Okay, so I always. Just tell me about the Big Bang Theory.

These teams like to always go kind of prolific sometimes, right? Somebody that's always in the camera, everybody's talking about all the commentators and stuff. I've never heard of this guy. He's a OC from Baltimore.

Yeah, but nobody knows that. Okay. So maybe this is good. What's the guy's name?

I can't even think. What's the guy's name who coaches Indiana? Indiana? Indiana?

Yeah, the Hoosiers. They just won the championship? Yeah, exactly. I don't know.

Okay, but now he... Well, I know he doesn't smile until that day. Yeah, no kidding. Well, he's kind of a well-known name at this point.

Did you know who he was before that? No, I still don't know who he is. I just know that he wanted to get a beer afterwards. That was it.

Realistically, you should know. I mean, I won't know because I don't follow the sport as hard as you do. I'm not a moneymaker, you know? I mean, I watched the game.

I just don't... I don't know the guy's name. Okay. I don't know his name.

Okay. But, you know, okay, so you still had some other guys out there, though. Who else? Who do you think should have went to Cleveland as the head coach?

You know, as much as I would hate to see him go, the defensive coordinator for the Dolphins, I think, was somebody that needs a shot. I think he's very organized. I think he's very systematic. I think he can get the guys to play for him.

OK. I think that's, you know, that's a Dan Campbell style. OK, but you're already, you're starting to see that, you know, more often than not, not a lot of defensive coordinators really got, are getting head coach jobs more, more, you always see it more on the offensive side, whether that's right or wrong. That's just kind of my perception is what I've seen, right?

Yeah, I'm kind of, yeah, I don't know what the requirements are to be a head coach. Are you a leader of men? Yeah. Yeah, no.

I mean, from what we've seen, to be a head coach, like, you basically just have to be on the best team, and then they go, okay, we're gonna take the wide receiver coach, he's gonna be our new head coach. It's like, what in the world? Right. But, yeah, you know, the Browns need a shake-up, man.

These guys need a shake-up. I mean, they got good players on paper, but... Who do they have? I mean, Miles Garrett.

Okay. You got one, that's one. The running back guy. The running back guy?

I'm sorry. Wow. Jerry Judy's out there. That's not a running back.

Well, he's a wide receiver. Okay. I'm just saying, I mean, they got some good defensive players. Yeah.

Right? I mean... You can't even name? No.

Okay. Because they've accomplished nothing. Okay. So...

I'm saying on paper, they're decent. Are they? Yeah. That's like, you know what?

You sound like a Dolphin fan. Dude, on paper, we're definitely... You are. We definitely do.

You sound like a Dolphin fan. Yeah, man, I mean, if you look at this, I mean, look, look. Right? I mean, you know, the scouting guys are doing their job, they're getting good players there.

It's just, I don't know, it's almost like they're cursed. The scouting guys are doing good jobs by getting players, like Deshaun Watson. I don't, you know, as a player, I don't think Deshaun Watson was a bad player. I think he did great when he first came to Houston, right?

Okay, but you got him past his prime with all the allegations and you paid top dollar for him. Yeah, I think he's a bad person like like in the regular world. Okay, so is it safe to say that from a scouting position, would you pay a premium for a guy who hasn't really proven anything and has all of this other off-field BS that he's got to deal with? Well, what they were probably banking on, right, is that everything would fall through and he would bounce back, but this guy definitely has some type of mental issues.

To not be able to bounce back. Okay, but we're not talking about Deshaun Watson, we're talking about a scout going out and acquiring this guy, and you're thinking that that made sense. Well, I'm saying that's probably what they were thinking, right? Right.

Okay, so clearly that didn't work, right? Yeah, now that we see you. So are the scouts or whoever's acquiring the players that viable? Instead, you know, that's one thing.

That's one thing. Yeah. But like that one thing, the cost of a quarterback can be so detrimental to a team that it could set everything in peril for years. I think, to be honest with you, I think that the pay that they pay some of these quarterbacks is just outrageous.

You know, especially when there's another guy on the team that's more prolific than them. Who is that? Well, I mean, you know, Atlanta, when they signed Kirk Cousins, I mean, Bajon Robinson is definitely that team, right? But they gave all the money to Kirk when they were drafting Bajon, not thinking about the future of Bajon.

You know what I mean? That's interesting. They still didn't make the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, yeah, they have no quarterback.

They have nothing. Okay, so the quarterback is more important than the running man? Yeah, they don't really have a wide receiver. They got Drake London.

Yeah. Kyle Pitts? Bro, you're out of your mind. I think Kyle Pitts is over...

Okay, so we have some questions with Cleveland. It doesn't make sense necessarily, to be determined. Yeah, and they didn't even look at Bill. They didn't look at who?

Bill Belichick. Belichick's in North Carolina, isn't he? Yeah, but... He's not going anywhere.

Wouldn't he like to be back in the NFL? No, I think he won't stay in North Carolina. And how about the fact that he got snubbed for the Hall of Fame? Yeah, he did get snubbed for the Hall of Fame.

If not the greatest coach of all time, one of the greatest coaches of all time does not make the first ballot entry. I mean, if you're talking about the greatest coach of all time based off of wins, championships. If you say Don Chula, I swear to God. If you say Don Chula.

No, no, I'm just saying, I mean, he's a great, he's a great coach too, but I mean, Belichick's definitely it because he has the rings, right? Yeah. He has the accolades. Yeah.

You know, so nine, nine Super Bowl rings, right? You know, Tom Brady's the same thing. You know, this guy's got all the rings. This guy's got all the accolades.

Like, how could he not be the GOAT? So how is, so is it safe to assume then that if one of the greatest coaches of all time did not make the Hall of Fame first time, first round ballot, is the system corrupt? Yeah. A hundred percent, right?

Yeah. Okay. So now, at least we're arguing, if we can argue the fact that the Hall of Fame portion is corrupt, are we, okay, maybe we can assume that, There's more corruption in the NFL? Oh, first of all, we already know the NFL is corrupt.

We have seen this. Allegedly, allegedly. Yeah, allegedly, but yeah. Yeah, it's a theory.

Yeah. You can't prove it. A strong theory. It's a strong theory.

Super strong. Pretty wild, pretty wild. Okay, all right, moving on. What else you got?

All right, well, we do have some cigar news. We do. We do. Even though it didn't say it in the thing.

It did not say it, but we do have some. Tell me about another tobacco tax or something that's going on in these great states that are united. All right. Kentucky Cigar Bar Bill returns for 2026 session.

Mm-hmm. So this is HB 194. Okay. It was reintroduced after a similar bill passed the House last year, But died in the Senate.

Correct. Um, it's showing there's momentum, but there's still real resistance. Okay. So, uh, I'm not familiar with this, Bill, are you?

Right, a little bit. So, pretty much what's happening is it died in the Senate, and there's some issues with, uh, city ordinance as far as they want to have more control as far as additional licensing and all these other things, which they are granted. However, they also want it to be well-defined as far as specifically just for cigars, and not for anything else. So if you're a cigar bar and you want smoking inside for cigars, you can't sell vape, you can't do any of the other stuff, no smoke shop stuff, no head shop stuff, none of that, right?

Yeah. It's kind of interesting to see that it died quickly in the Senate prior to, but it passed the House with flying colors. So they're hoping that these things get refined. The legislation is a little bit more clear this time around, I believe, And that way it can push through the Senate as well.

It, I mean, I don't know how close it was. Do you, um, do you think, uh, so you, you're basically saying, like, the wording was off and- I just think that there are specific requirements that are different with this legislation from the previous legislation, right? So, obviously they want a distinct and clear difference between, uh, permission of vape sales and head shop paraphernalia, right? Which I think is fair.

I don't think that that's an extreme measure. Decide which one, if you're one or the other, right? What is the distinction difference? Well, one's cigars.

The other one is glass or vape. So do a lot of cigar shops carry glass? Yeah. I mean, we started off as both.

Well, no, I know you guys did, but that's because I think originally, right, that's what this was. Well, it wasn't going to be a cigar store at all. Yeah. Right, so I wasn't privy to a lot of cigar shops carrying both.

Yeah, it exists more than you think, you know, but you know. But I mean, that's a pretty easy distinction, right? Like, hey, you have glass in here. You're not a cigar shop.

Yeah, I mean, right. If that's how Kentucky wants to, you know, make the terminology, then that's fine. Is it more challenging for some businesses because of that? Yeah, I think it will be.

I will tell you right now that this store would not have survived and made it through its first few years without having multiple streams of revenue from different sources. So, the head shop piece was nice, you know? Right, it helped out. Yeah, it did, it carried us forward, you know, and it's not like we're located downtown Orlando, you know what I mean?

Um, or like we're in your, your, the suburbs of, you know, your middle class individuals where, uh, you know, and not everybody's coming out on a Friday night. People are going home sometimes. Right. So, uh, figuring out ways to sustain and kind of grow your business is always a challenge.

So, um, do you think this will close some businesses in Kentucky if it does get back? No, it's not, it's not supposed to close or affect the opening, the businesses that are there. What it's going to do is it's going to allow businesses that are distinctly cigar based to be smoker friendly only, right? Which could be progress throughout the entire nation because we need a proper definition to separate cigars from everything else, right?

Because right now we get lumped into everything and it's super bad, super bad for our industry. Yeah, yeah. There's no definition. Right.

It's just tobacco. It's like, no, but we're not the same. Definitely not the same. No.

Right. Okay. Let me see. Let me hear you screw up another one.

All right, here we go. S. big leagues. They've announced City of Palms distribution as its new American distributor.

S. distribution, a company representing nearly two dozen people. And brands, Natura's positioning itself for rapid growth and broader global reach. Okay.

Um, I've heard of City of Palms. Yes, we've mentioned them a hundred times at this point on the show. Right. Yeah.

I have not heard of Natura. Me neither. Yeah. Um, so it's a newer brand that's up and coming and they're trying to ride City of Palms to help them get bigger.

Is that, that's what you think the theory is? I think that there is. Okay. But again, who is City of Palms?

What's that? Who is City of Palms? They're a distributor. They have a handful of brands.

They have like, probably at this point, 15 to 20, I think. Did you already say that or no? I just said two dozen. Okay.

Yeah. So, you know, here's the problem with that. Because I'm a distributor as well, right? We distribute Cine Zafina.

We distribute FQ Cigars. We distribute Chogui. Right. Phosphoro.

And here's what I'm going to tell you. As a salesperson, we also represent Powstanie, right? And Powstanie is our primary. Correct.

As a person that has three or four other brands in your portfolio, the other brands aren't your main focal point, right? Right, yeah, yeah. Your main focal point is your primary, which for us is Powstanie. So we introduce these other brands, but if these other brands don't have support on their own, So if you have a face and willing to connect with retailers and kind of build and establish relationships, you kind of fall to the wayside, right?

Now we have maybe four or five, right? And as those brands continue to push forward, if they continue to grow as a face and represent themselves, we can help facilitate the growth. We only have four or five. This guy, you know, City of Palms has over 12.

Right, that seems like a lot. Yeah, how does that work? What is their primary? I mean, I gotta be honest, have you seen, City of Palms is located in the state of Florida, I believe, correct?

Yeah. Have you seen or heard of a City of Palms sales rep or somebody coming into the store? No, the only time that I've ever heard of them was, I think, with Tyler Jeffery. That was it.

I haven't seen them. I was gonna ask you, what's their biggest brand? You know? I have no idea.

Right. At this point, it's Tyler Jeffery for me. Well, he's not, they're not even handling distribution for him. Oh, well then, it's not Tyler Jeffery for me.

Right. See what I'm saying? Yeah, I don't know who these guys are, man. And I don't know, first of all, if I was a cigar company, why would I want to be with somebody that I have no clue who they are or the brands they represent?

They represent, even are, or anything like that, like why would, that's not a great business decision. Well, you're kind of scratching onto the problem of any kind of business, right, and I'm gonna tell you, here's what happens, more often than not, especially when you get in, if you get into the cigar industry, people want a cigar, right? Correct. So, but they want to go about it and kind of hit an easy button, right?

So, I don't, I'm not saying that that's the case with, with Natura, because I don't know them, I don't know their cigars. But it's very easy to be deceived and kind of pushed into a situation, right? So cigar, we have cigar, okay? We have.

Good cigar, maybe, I don't know, whatever, right? Right. Now it's like, okay, now let's go and try and sell it, right? And you go out and you start introducing yourself to other retailers and whatever, or retailers in general, and you start to try and develop and get some traction and build a consumer base and all of these things.

And you realize that it's not as easy as you thought it would be. You're not just going to walk into a store and they're going to buy your product. And we'll take it all. Right.

Oh, yeah. We'll take it right now. If they did, if they did take it all, they got terms and they got a discount, right? Because it's not like you're established enough.

So when you kind of see how much of a struggle it is, then you look for somebody to help you with that, right? Now, if you look to somebody to help you with that and they're, and they, if they're not 100% honest, you see a struggle. it's like okay like you know um things aren't moving are you know are these guys going out and kind of building and establishing their brand as well because if they're not what happens is a distributor just sits on the product and it doesn't move right so excuse me that that could be what you that could be what's going to happen here um or it could good go the other way uh maybe the chira has a brand that they're very passionate about they believe in the product and they're out beating the drum and they just needed someone to help facilitate their orders because they couldn't figure it out or it became too much. It was too much of a problem, right?

So they gravitated to the city of Palms, who I think accepts everybody. And, well, I guess we'll kind of see what it looks like, right? Yeah. So this is interesting because they started in 2020.

They're still kind of in their infancy. They're at their five or six-year turn, right? They started in a year where it was very easy to sell cigars. Right.

So that could be a good thing, you know? S. and internationally. Yeah.

I don't know, a slow temperature controlled aging, isn't that a regular process? Just kind of sitting on the cigars and like letting them age? I mean, yeah, I guess. Yeah, keeping them in a cool room?

Yeah, isn't that what happens already? For the most part, yeah. So, this is normal. This is exactly how you make cigars.

Well, you know, I mean, if you're going to make that statement, I think that you need to kind of elaborate on why it's different. Like, maybe it really is, but it doesn't sound like it just from that kind of statement. Yeah, that was the only snippet. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't see how that makes them different than anybody else. , right, your number one importer by a landslide is Nicaragua, and I mean, I think the DR has been kind of creeping up a little bit, but more often, you know, your consumers, at least your guys that are more involved in cigars, are more often Nicaraguan smokers, right? Well, you're starting to see more like Honduras, you're starting to see other countries, right? Yeah, but it still isn't close.

No, no, I'm saying other than Dominican, it used to be just like Nicaragua and Dominican and maybe a sprinkle of something else, but now you're starting to see other things overtake the Dominican and not as many Dominicans. Oh, no, Dominicans are still on an uptick, you know, there's some good factories that have popped up down there and they're doing some good things. But, however, if you just look at the data, you know, as far as imports or, you know, cigars that are rated, like all of those things, Nicaragua does the best. The best, yeah.

Yeah, what would you think, about 80% of all cigars that are imported in America? I don't think it's that big, but it's over 50. Yeah. You know, it's probably 60 to 70%, I would assume.

Right. So. Alright. All right.

Okay. Well, moving on next. Davidoff staying family-owned ownership has officially passed to the next generation of Schneider family. Keeping the company private and independent.

This is a big question, man. I don't know. Because, you know, even though it hasn't been covered in the news, we talked about how a few people entered the portal. Right.

In Q4 of last year from Davidoff. Right. You saw some transitioning, you saw, you know, some people change jobs and stuff, like Law, Law took over Camacho as far as brand activation manager or brand ambassador, whatever you want to call it. Yeah, whatever the title is.

And, you know, his predecessor moved up. Right. So, it was curious to see how that was going to play out. Did that mean that, hey, we're tightening our books for sale?

And maybe, maybe there was, maybe there wasn't all, they tried to, to try to sell it, but they couldn't get the pricing that they wanted. I don't know. Um, right. And then they decided, hey, we're just gonna stay in house and keep growing this business.

Right. I mean, this is 150 years in the making. Right. Um, so, uh, yeah, it says, uh, no shakeups coming, management stays the same.

So it's more about the continuity that then change. Continuity? Continuity. Yeah, that's what I said.

Continuity? Yeah. Continuity. Yeah, I said that.

It's the continuity. They still hold two of the six board seats. Okay, so let's say your father gave you a company, right? And you were working on that company with your dad, and eventually your dad passes, right?

Right? I know. I know you don't want to talk about it. It's going to happen.

Oh, God. Yeah. And then you have kids, and maybe your kids are working with you a little on the company, and you're not, and you're looking to step out, right? Right.

Do you want your kids to continue to run that business, or would you be happy if they just sold and they kind of moved on and did their own thing? Man. You know, that's a good question, because I have talked to my kids about my company. And the two older ones do not want it.

The youngest one wants to be mommy and do exactly what mommy does all the time. You know, for me, myself, I don't know man, it's such a headache. I don't know if I want them to have that type of headache, but I also want them to have, you know, money in life and be successful and not have problems. I don't know, man.

That's a good question. Maybe if it's a, this is a very well-known cigar company, I would think I would want them to have seats in something like this. You know, I think I want them to take it over. This is a very well-known, very old brand.

People that follow this brand love it, wouldn't want it to die. Okay, do you think that your kids are the right fit to run the organization? Because that's the whole other thing. Yeah, it is.

Man, it takes, in my world, in the construction world, it takes a special person to take a beating all the time. Right? Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think so.

Well, hey, we're wishing the best. I'm sure that they're going to do extremely well. They already are doing extremely well. Yeah, yeah.

So it should be interesting. It's nice to see that it didn't sell, because, I mean, who buys Davidoff? STG, maybe? Well, yeah, I mean, they buy everything.

Right. Right. Okay. Moving on?

Yep. Cop Tobacco is to take over distribution of Perdomo cigars. In Germany. In Germany.

Yep. After 30 years of international expansion, the family is realigning and partnering with Cop Tobacco to carry the full Perdomo portfolio. Starting February 1st, 2026. So, saying that this is giving Perdomo a huge retail reach and consistency overseas.

You don't want it on you? Why is that on me? There you go. I don't know.

It's on me. Oh, that's in you? Yeah, man, you faked me out there. I was like, what?

COPS Nationwide Sales Force and Delivery Network means more points of sale, better availability, and stronger brand presence for lines like the 10th, 20th Anniversary, Bourbon Barrel Age, age lot 23 and newer legacy and 30th anniversary cigars um also 2025 was a defining year for the brand did you know mikey nick perdomo earned a lifetime achievement award for from cigar journal while yeah uh while his son now fourth generation released perdomo legacy using homegrown estelle - Interesting. - Yeah, that was the number one cigar, wasn't it? - Yeah, I mean, it ranked on a lot of places, but it was on coops, yeah. - Right, yeah.

- Uh-huh. - I've never smoked it. - Is that what it says? - No, no, this is just me.

- You never smoked it. - I've never smoked it. - No, me neither. - Yeah.

- Huh, so they have these, a Lifetime Achievement Award? - I guess. Who gave it to them, Cigar Journal? - Cigar Journal?

Okay, we can do that. You want to start doing a Lifetime Achievement Award? You know what, Mikey? By the powers of me and Palmer, we now give you the Lifetime Achievement Award for Best Cigar Brand of Deltona.

Oh, very nice. Yes. Very nice. Thank you so much.

No problem. Just giving them out here. Anybody else like one? Hit us up.

Anybody else like one? Yeah, so that's it. So I can't read the rest of this, Because I don't think this is the right one. It's going to be what's the score, but, um, you know, I have a question about Perdomo Cigars.

Okay. Um, you know, I, I know the brand. Yes. Right?

It's an old brand. I see it in magazines everywhere. I see older guys smoke it. At what age do you start smoking Perdomo Cigars?

Well, I think that Perdomo really kind of took over, uh, and kind of really started to dominate. I think maybe 15 years ago or so, that's when they really started to kind of flourish I would say I guess so you know I think that this is that like that they're like a generation before us yeah and that's your I mean look that's that's kind of coop right that's kind of his listeners I would assume whereas we kind of cover we actually have a wider age span a span for our listeners yeah young and old and middle age yeah we kind of cover all bases um i would i would assume that you know that's that's more his age kind of bracket right because he's an older guy yeah we're a little bit younger so um so it's just a generation of yeah i think that's that's more common right yeah you see a generate now don't don't get it twisted like there are some brands that exist and grow generation after So generation, that's a generation, right? Like Padrón, Padrón. Yeah, Padrón.

You know, but yeah, no. So, I don't know. I don't know. But when we rank those, when we rank the top 10 of the big media guys, we'll see how they do.

We'll see how they rank. And then you guys tell us how you feel. I mean, look, by no means are we trying to attack any of these guys. We just want to analyze and review the reviewers and give our perspective and our, you know, our aspects.

Right. It should be interesting. I'm very excited. And then we're going to do like five of the lower tier guys, right?

Yeah. Your podcast guys, your YouTube guys. We'll talk about Real Smoke. They'll be on there.

We'll do Real Smoke Pod for sure. Oh, nice. Down to Herf. I love those guys.

Got a cover down to Herf. Yeah. You know, and we'll piece together the other three. I think my boy Lee Mac, maybe, because I thought he was pretty cool.

Oh, that was the, uh, the, uh, TikTok guy, right? Yeah, no, he's on YouTube. Or, yeah, he's in his car. What's going on with you?

Yeah, the Ashcam. Yeah, he's, I'm in my Ashcam. Yeah, Ashcam. I haven't seen that yet.

I have to check that out. Pretty good. All right, so, um, this is the part where we're gonna call Palmer. So, yeah, so Palmer gave us a what's the score.

And Phil is supposed to just give it to me, I would assume, so that I could kind of guess it right. So, but what we're going to do is we're going to flip it on Palmer and we're going to give him a buzz and he's going to play what's the score wherever he's at right now. Yes, and I get to beat him. Aha.

Aha. All right. Whoa. He's going to be mad that we didn't do that.

That's okay. Hello? Hello. Hello.

Hello. Am I on the air? Yep, you're on the air. Ah, welcome.

Did I win? Welcome to the podcast. Yes, you won. Oh, should I say the phrase at pace?

Yeah, say it. What is it? Cigar Hustler Podcast is number one. You get a lifetime achievement award.

Okay, so I know that we spoke earlier today, and then you gave us an updated half-wheel cigar to review for what to score. However, it's not going to be fun for Phil to just read it off against me, so I have picked one for you to play against Phil. Yes. Are you ready to play?

You guys sound good. Is this a headphone call? Oh, yeah, it's a headphone call. Welcome to the Thunderdome.

Welcome to the Goody Room. I'm a little upset you figured it out by yourself, but okay, I'm in. Yeah. I'm a DJ, bro.

At this point, we don't really need you. I'm not going to. Oh, that's right. You know what?

Oh, God. We don't. We don't. You don't need me anymore?

Yeah, you're done. You're done. You're out. That was the show that I prepared all the content for.

Yeah. We do need you, Paul. We are. Yes.

How's either one of you going to upload this show? Listen, the show is not the same without you. Yeah. Calm down.

Oh, I heard today's show. You're not. Oh, wow. You know what?

That's not fair. You'd be nice to Pete. Yeah. I don't think Pete could see, you know, I don't think you could be here.

Yeah. Yeah. You can make the letters bigger on the teleprompter. Yeah.

He just kind of he just did it, you know, so I thought but I thought I thought that it went well. I thought it was a good podcast. Yeah. OK.

Well, your standards are low again. Wow. Wow. Dude.

How low would you say you're talking a lot of smack, buddy? I got news for you. Next, tomorrow, I won't be here, and it's going to be you with Drew. That's right.

It's going to be me. That's right. It's going to be the same thing. The only difference is it's going to be me instead of you.

Guest host, Boots is going to be there. I mean, Phil McGuffin is going to be there. Right. So we'll see.

Yeah, let's see. Let's see how it goes. Oh, that's not a problem. Okay, so getting into this, I have chosen the Alec Bradley Medalist Toro.

June 8th, 2020, from Patrick LaGride. LaGreed. LaGroide. However you say it.

On page one of the review list. That's the cigar. So, Phil, I want you to go first. Go ahead and pick your score.

I feel like Palmer already read the number. Alec Bradley? Yeah. 86.

86. Which Alex Bradley was at the end, I'm sorry? The Medalist Toro. Does it matter?

No, not at this point, but I just wanted to say it again. I'm gonna go 89. 89, and what did you say, Phil? 86.

He said 86. Okay, 86, 89. Palmer, what are you doing? I'm driving.

Oh. All right. In traffic? I just let, no, I'm out in the middle of frickin' nowhere, apparently.

No, I just left Escape in Claremont. I see that. A new retail partner. Yes.

Newish. They came on end of last year. Welcome Escape. Where are they at?

I have a quick story about Escape. Where are they located? Want to hear the quick story? Yeah, go ahead.

Just remember you're on the podcast. Just remember you're on the podcast. He had two boxes that were not empty, but they were low. And they're on kind of a buying freeze thing or something for the season, you know, whenever somebody tells you.

" Call the customer in the humidor, sell them four of our cigars, there's one box that's empty. So we come back out. " Here are two new boxes. Nicely done, buddy.

Yeah, so he replaced both of the boats. You're out there preaching the gospel, you're teaching the consumers the way, good work, good work. Yes. Thank you, thank you very much.

All right. I missed my turn. You missed what? I missed my turn.

That's all right, quick U-turn and back on the earth. You're fine. Okay, Cigar Reviewed. Alec Bradley, Medalist Toro, Country of Origin, Honduras, Factory, Tobacos de Oriente, Rapper Honduran, Binder Honduran, filler honduran and nicaraguan length six inches gauge 54 it is a toro msrp six dollars and 50 cents it's a box of 10 it was released april of 2018 number of cigars smoked oh there's a redux I think this is one.

Hmm. Phil? I'm going to go up one for the price. I mean, it could be kind of a turd.

87. 87. Okay. I'm going to come down to 86.

Okay. Clue number one. The Alec Bradley Medalist Toro certainly bears the marks of a milder cigar. With a lightly colored wrapper, hardly even meriting using the word brown as it is that shade that reminds me of the straw and graham crackers.

The band doubles down on that with the cream colored background and images of golden tobacco plants. There's a bit of modeling towards the head of the cigar. Veins are small, thin, and fairly flat, and while visible, the seams are perfectly laid. Phil?

He seems as though he likes it. Oh, really? Okay. It is muddled.

Is it muddled? A little muddling? A little muddled. I'm going to stick at 87.

Okay. I'm going to stay at 86. Okay. Second clue.

The first puffs of the Alec Bradley Medalist Toro starts out just a bit sour, making me think of a blend using a Connecticut Shade-grown wrapper, but this doesn't. It's also pretty readily apparent that the body of the cigar is a bit fuller than the prototypical mild cigar, and not long after, some black pepper reinforces that once again, particularly through a retro hail. The brief sourness from the first puffs disappears after less than five minutes, and by the one-inch mark, the cigar's profile has me thinking anything but mild. Phil?

Hmm. Man. I'm gonna go to 86. Okay.

Mr. Palmer? He went down. I'm gonna go to 87.

Okay. I think he's starting to like it. We're dosy done. We have now switched roles from 86 to 87.

As the second half gets underway, I'm still not thinking of the word mild very much, or even milder when compared to other cigars on the market. The Alec Bradley Metals Toro continues to deliver a much more pepper-forward profile than its billing might lead one to believe. Seemingly leaving no taste but untouched. The rest of the profile has begun to shift towards dry wood, which is turned steadily begins to dry out my mouth and tongue.

There's also the beginnings of some earthiness around the start of the final third, and it too contributes some dryness and isn't This edition is not as heavy or rich as other expressions, but its edition does improve the overall profile, giving it some complexity and breadth. Phil? You think that's good? Yeah, I'm confused.

I know. Is all this good or is all this good? I'm also confused. What are you reading?

Where are we at? Where are we at? I'm going to stay at 86, just because I feel like... Because you're confused.

A lot of words, a lot of commas in that one, not a lot of periods. A lot of big words. " No, that's not good. Like, why would you like that?

Okay. Yeah. Oh, it's so strong. Is it a good strong or bad strong?

Right, yeah. Okay. 86. 86.

Mr. Palmer? I'm going to go up one to 88. I think you'd like it.

Ooh. A move to 88. Okay, final thought. What does your phone say, Palmer?

I don't know. I'm driving, talking on the phone, and trying to read waves, so I do not have time to listen. Allegedly. While I still can't bring myself to put the Alec Bradley Medalist Toro in the category of a milder cigar, I can say I'm still impressed by what it has to offer.

While the first and second thirds are a bit singular in their offerings, the final third shows some complexity and development that puts the profile into a very enjoyable, It's also an impressive profile for a lower cost premium cigar, with several puffs delivering more than a $6 to $7 price tag might suggest. It may not be mild, but it is still enjoyable and affordable, which are two characteristics I am happy to put on any cigar. Oh, he loves the turds too. Phil?

Yeah. Regardless of what he has written in this description, it is still an Alec Bradley. Okay. 86.

Oh, Alec Bradley. I was thinking something else. Right. I was thinking Alec Dino.

It's an Alec Bradley. Okay. I'm back in the game. I'm winning.

I'm going to win. Okay. So Phil has an 86. Phil has an 86.

Mr. Palmer? I'm gonna go 87. Okay, so I have Phil at 86 and I have Mr.

Palmer at 87. Is that correct? Correctamundo, Brotherino. Okay.

And the winner of today's half-wheel challenge of what's the score? If you say Palmer, I'm hanging up. With an 87 is Mr. Palmer!

Of course it is. And he nailed it. Yeah, of course he did. Mm-hmm.

You had it. Yeah. Yeah, you had it. You were right.

I just didn't look at my phone. And then you shifted down. Yeah. Couldn't look at his phone because he's talking on it, so he didn't know what to do.

Right. Yeah. Okay. All right.

Well, Mr. Palmer, go keep out there preaching the gospel of Postano. We wish you the best. Drive safe.

Thank you very much. And thank you. I appreciate being on the show today, gentlemen. It was quite the pleasure.

You're welcome. We can't wait to have you back. Yes. It's our pleasure, sir.

Just wait until you see how the room got rearranged. We're going to clear all this off today. You're going to do your podcast late tomorrow, so I'm going to unplug all this and slide it aside. Oh my God.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah, Greg's actually standing here watching us.

Yeah, he's hovering over us. All right. All right, Mr. Palmer.

We're waiting for the Patreon next week. I have a little surprise. Oh, you do? Yes.

Excellent. I got the Gasparilla cigars. Ooh. Okay, that should be interesting.

They were donated by Hank at Central, in St. Pete. Perfect. Okay, thank you Central, thank you for the donation.

com, a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we talk a little more inside baseball and review cigars. Okay, anything else to add, Mr. Phil? No, but thank you for letting me be a co-host today.

Yes, you're most welcome. Yes. No, nothing else. I just, this is great.

Let's get on to tomorrow's, and then the weekend comes. There you go. It's going to be super cold. All right, sounds good.

All right, thanks everybody. Bye. Bye. 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 for our listeners. Cheers to you.

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Show Notes

On todays show Yale is way more affordable then before,  Ray J won’t be to important much longer….Some Sports sports stuff and then in cigars