ACHP 460 Cigars Babies and Hawaii
Episode Summary
Episode 460 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Palmer, Phil, Boots and Mikey McGuffey working through a new multi-camera setup before diving into their usual mix of current events and cigar industry news. The non-cigar segments cover Florida moving its driver's license written exam to English-only starting February 6th, a Florida couple suing the Fertility Center of Orlando after DNA testing revealed a full embryo mix-up, and a worldwide X outage that the company declined to explain. The crew also riffs on Duolingo's AI conversation bot shutting down a chat the moment Palmer mentioned smoking cigars, and on the NFL Hall of Fame committee passing over Bill Belichick.
On the cigar side, the big story is RoMa Craft Tobac bringing back its Craft Series — a limited release where no two cigars look alike, arriving mid-February in a 5 x 60 Gordo, packaged in 10-count boxes secured with a new leather strap. The hosts do the math on roughly 20,000 cigars, speculate on whether every cigar can really be unique, discuss why the series paused after its 2018–2022 run, and wonder how the death of the brothers at RoMa Craft's importer might affect this year's release. They also dig into Hawaii's 2023 licensing law that effectively halted cigar shipments to the state, and a new bill from Rep. Sam Kong that would let cigars and pipe tobacco ship to homes for personal consumption by adults 21 and older — noting Hawaii and Utah remain off-limits for major retailers.
The "portal entry" segment reports that Zach Medwin, a 12-year Davidoff of Geneva USA veteran who most recently served as commercial director, has been named VP of Sales for Alliance Cigars, the East Coast distributor now merged under New Global Marketing alongside Best Cigar Prices, led by Greg Fox. The hosts connect Medwin to the roughly six Davidoff departures they reported earlier and note the story never got wider coverage.
The show closes with "What's the Score," where the guys guess halfwheel review scores: Charlie Minato's take on the Maryfel Ernest Master Blend Lancero (Cameroon wrapper, 7.5 x 40, $73 — scored 89) and Patrick Lagreid's 2015 review of the Wilson Adams Mr. Wilson torpedo, which he found enjoyable until nicotine sickness derailed the final third (73). They're smoking J.C. Newman Gasparilla cigars courtesy of Hank at Central Cigars in St. Petersburg, and tease a Patreon-only phone interview with Scott Pierce of the CAA.
In This Episode
- 01New Camera Setup and Show SwagThe crew adjusts to a multi-camera production, talks about going live, and plugs hats and beanies at chpod.com.
- 02Florida English-Only Driver's License ExamsStarting February 6th Florida drops multilingual written tests and translation services, and the hosts debate whether that's about safety or overreach.
- 03Fertility Clinic Embryo Mix-Up LawsuitA Florida couple sues the Fertility Center of Orlando after DNA testing showed their baby matches neither parent.
- 04X Goes Offline WorldwideA global outage with no explanation sparks a conversation about how companies now just say 'teams are working on it.'
- 05Duolingo AI Shuts Down Cigar TalkPalmer's Duolingo Max AI conversation ended abruptly when he said in Spanish that he likes to smoke cigars.
- 06Bill Belichick and the NFL Hall of FameA viral video breaks down Belichick's record versus his Hall of Fame snub, and the hosts weigh in.
- 07RoMa Craft Craft Series ReturnsThe limited Craft Series comes back mid-February as a 5 x 60 Gordo in 10-count boxes with a leather strap, with no two cigars looking alike.
- 08Hawaii Cigar Shipping BillA new bill from Rep. Sam Kong would undo the 2023 licensing rule that stopped out-of-state retailers from shipping cigars to Hawaii.
- 09Portal Entry: Zach Medwin to Alliance CigarsThe longtime Davidoff of Geneva USA commercial director becomes VP of Sales at Alliance Cigars under New Global Marketing.
- 10What's the ScoreThe hosts guess halfwheel scores for the Maryfel Ernest Master Blend Lancero and the Wilson Adams Mr. Wilson.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast episode 460. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me as always is Phil. I got a new camera, McGuffey, and now I'm in not in 29 minute intervals. Yep, perfect.
I don't know why I switched to Mikey in the fridge. My fingers got messed up. I was like, oh shit. He got excited and hit the button.
Great. Well, he's an engineer now, obviously, because he just fucked with the cameras. See what happens? You give him a camera.
You give him one camera. One camera, and you go, oh, I'm switchy, switchy. You guys have no idea how much harder one camera is. How much one additional camera is?
Yeah, like, now it's, you know, I'm going to say this, and I'm sure everybody's going to make fun of me. It's three fingers instead of two fingers. You can't just do one? I mean, you could do one finger, but then you've got to move it all the way across the board.
See, when I help them do the other camera, I don't have to talk, so it is a lot easier. You know what's even funnier? Wait till we jump to four cameras. Oh, that's going to be, yeah.
That's going to be a whole other. The other show, you are, aren't you? Yeah, but that's on a display. Still something you've got to cut to.
Yeah, but the way that that plays out is like, okay, we're going to go to this camera, And then you can just trim out a little bit of it. It's not, you know, it's not as, it's not like in the line of fire kind of hitting things, you know? Yeah, this is because, and I also have to do it quick because you guys, there is no pause sometimes. Correct.
Right, yeah, it just jumps back and forth. Yeah, I've got to move it quickly. There's lots of podcasting. There's a lot, yeah, there's a lot going on here.
Yeah. Drew said he would come help us figure out the live too. Oh yeah? Yeah.
Because yeah, they do live. Yeah, they do live. And they get like donations and stuff. Yeah, he explained that to us, they, yeah, they make big money.
I like how he says the word donations. Me? No, Drew did. He's like, yeah, it's donations, like donations that you use in your pocket.
Yeah, Boots and I had no idea that you could make money off this, we didn't know how that worked. Right, we were intrigued, we were here for what, like 20 minutes afterwards, talking with him. Right. Yeah.
The only problem is, we have to consistently be live at the same time, every time. Yeah, that was the problem. Well, here's the thing, like, we're gonna do live, We'll probably just throw a live in every once in a while. Oh, see, then that's the problem, because then people don't know when it's going to happen.
Okay. Let's take it one problem at a time. All right. You know what I'm saying?
All right, then obviously, as my co-host over there on the other side is Mikey. Taking it one problem at a time? Taking it one problem at a time, Stephon and Kevin. Yay.
Yay. Dude, we got the band back together. Everybody's here today. We got the camera going.
I focus on today's problems, and it's rolling, and you look beautiful now, and people can see the bear on your hat, which is nice. I get a lot of compliments on this hat. Yeah, it's a great hat. The problem with the shower, oh, can we get one of those?
Well, you could buy one. No, you can't. No, not anymore. They're out.
That's what I told them. That's a podcast thing. That's not a brand thing. We don't just give these away.
Exactly. What about, did we sell the beanies? I haven't made them yet. Oh.
He's not that far. I might get lucky and get it done today. One problem at a time, Boots. We got the camera.
Don't bother him. I was just, that's why, yeah, everybody can see us better today than they did Friday. Exactly. Or Monday.
Or Monday show. It's a Tuesday show. Right. It's Groundhog Day.
All right, on today's show, Florida says speak English or no drivey for you. Oh. Then another story we've got that's not my baby, Florida couple sues a fertility clinic. Next on the, oops, we went off.
Oh my God, did you see the image of this? It's hilarious. Yes, yes. I don't think that image is correct.
I think that's an AI image. You think so? I mean, they, we'll get to it. We'll get to it.
All right, X went offline today, on the list of who's offline, and in cigars, Roma Craft is on its way, Hawaii is back in the cigar business, maybe, and then we have a portal entry, and then we wrap up to the show with a what's the score, the full game? Oh, a portal entry. We have a portal entry. Oh, that's exciting.
But first, how do we get some of that CH Pod swag, Michael? com. where you can get swag. Buy one, get the second one 40% off, spend $100 or more, and you're going to get free shipping.
I'm working on a new hat, by the way. I'm so excited about a new hat. I want a new hat. 079 away from greatness.
Is it going to be black? We need a teaser other than that. No, so that's the number, right? 079?
079. No, I think it's going to be red. I want red. It's going to be red, maybe with a black mesh.
All right. And what it's going to do is I was looking at symbols for greatness and there was like an African circle that came up. African circle. Yeah, so I figured that that would be affiliated with something evil or whatever.
Somebody would be, you know, like any type of shape. If you incorporate a shape, you're part of something bad, right? Certainly. So I'm thinking that that will be like the dot on the point seven and nine.
Oh, on the point seven and nine. African circle, is it bigger or? No, well, I'm going to make it small because it's going to be the point. Oh, I just didn't know what made it African.
So is it going to be like a... I understood where you're going. I just wasn't going to play into it. Oh, okay.
Is it going to be like an Easter egg or can you actually be able to see it? You'll be able to see it. Oh, okay. Oh, nice.
Yeah. So I'm thinking like the P and then the dot. Right. 079.
All on like the left side. This is my original concept. All black on a red hat. Oh, nice.
Yeah. That was nice. Yeah. We'll see.
I need a second hat so I can switch up my wardrobe. You got to mix it up. Yeah. Oh, I'd like that hat.
Yeah. What's that mean? Yeah. com.
There you go. All right. Getting into the new, uh, the stories, I guess. When it's not really news, we have the new format.
I don't know what we call it anymore. Current events. Current topics. Current events.
Current topics. Let's just talk. Let's just get going. All right.
First story. Florida moves driver's license exams to English only starting February 6th. I saw this. It's by the end of the week.
I saw this. Okay. So, all driver's license written exams in Florida will now be offered only in English, They're doing multilingual tests and translation services statewide. Okay.
Now, as far as I know, nobody else offers that, so... Okay, so let's just get into it. This statement has been made, right? So how do you feel about doing this?
I'm okay with it. I think if they... I mean, the street signs aren't in different languages, so... Okay, so you've got to figure this out.
Yeah. I mean, if you can't speak English, why should you be able to drive? I mean, they're just going to drive illegally. Why should you be able to drive if you can't speak English?
Well, if you speak English, you can drive. I mean, I can drive in Nicaragua. I know what the red sign that says "Alto" means. But they don't give you a driver's license, you're just allowed to drive.
Yeah. So, if a foreigner comes to America, I believe they can drive without getting a driver's license. But if you were going to live in Nicaragua, would you have to have a driver's license? To drive daily?
If you have residency. Residency. Yeah, like does Skip have to have a NICA license? Probably.
He doesn't have residency. No, this conversation came up. He doesn't have residency. Oh, yeah.
He doesn't. Yeah. Oh, doesn't claim residency there. Yeah.
S. Oh, so there's like a certain amount of time just like here. Correct. Yeah.
Okay. So you're okay with it. I'm okay with it. Speak English or we don't let you drive.
So the other states don't do this? I don't know. I don't think they do. Speak English or you don't drive.
Speak English or you don't drive. I'm sure Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas don't. You know, they probably do this. I'd like to think that we're a little different than Georgia, Alabama, or what did you say, Arkansas?
Well, we have a large Hispanic population here, which is why they do it. So how does the title read if you don't speak English? The test is going to be only in English. Yes, like currently they offer multilingual versions of the test, and I believe there's some sort of assistance you're allowed to have.
Like a person? In person. Like you could go ask the lady at the counter, what'd you say? So can I bring an assistant to help me translate now?
And tell me the answers. No, now it's English. If you don't speak English, you don't know. Okay.
So you're okay with this too? Yeah, because, okay. In order to get a driver's license here, you have to be an American citizen, correct? Am I thinking about this correctly?
Not 100% positive on that. If we had somebody who could look it up. Maybe, I would assume so. Yeah, if we're assuming so, then I would assume that they had to take the test to become an American citizen, which is in English.
I feel that might not be correct. Well, I think in Minnesota they were just giving out driver's licenses. Oh, they might. Anyways, I'm okay with it, yeah, you should be able to read, write, and speak English inside the United States.
Okay. No. Do they give the citizenship test in different languages? That seems silly.
That's what I was saying. I do not need to be an American citizen to get a driver's license in Florida. All right, I didn't think so. But you must be a legal resident with proof of authorized presence.
So you have a green card. Yeah. All right. " Okay.
That's the main reason they're doing it. I guess, you know, it makes sense. Yeah. Like, this is where you're at, like, as far as compassion and understanding or strict regulation, right?
So, I don't know, I kind of go back and forth on this one. I'm like, oh, whatever. Put the license? Yeah.
Okay, say they run a sign because they can't. It's red. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
It's a red friggin' octagon. What about yield? What about yield? Well, if you break the law and you get, you know, you break the law.
What is a yield sign? That's why I'm saying I can go either way. I'm not saying... I mean, it's not like it's Home Depot and there's two versions of every sign-up, you know.
There is. Wet Floor. Yeah, Cuidado. Cuidado.
Cuidado. Right, but there's not stop in Alto. Cuidado. Cuidado before.
What is a yield sign in some Spanish places? Speed limit 55, it doesn't say no drivey faster than 55. No drivey faster? Would you be faster?
I don't know what it is. Is it Spanish? No drive-o, faster-o. Yeah, put an o at the end of everything.
I'll be perfectly fine. Slow-o down-o. Slow-o down-o. Oh, I'm a girl.
Oh, okay. We had an A instead of an O. Okay. You know what?
You want to hear something really wild? Yes. Yeah. So, I do Duolingo every day.
Yes. And I haven't been doing it as long as I should. I've only been doing it for like five minutes a day. You've been doing it for years.
Haven't you mastered it by now? I've been doing it for years, but I haven't been doing it for a long duration. I did upgrade to the Duolingo Max, where you talk to AI. Oh!
Yeah, check this out. This is wild. " And the conversation ends. " Wow.
Oh, because you said cigars. Because I said I smoke cigars. Oh, so she's racist. Isn't that crazy?
No, it's a health thing. They don't want to support or whatever. It's not the smoking of anything. Wow.
It's crazy. Why not? Well, it's just a conversation. Yeah.
No, no, because you might go, oh, the cigars are nice. And then next thing you know, you have cancer and you sue Duolingo. Because it doesn't have to say cigars are nice. Like, okay.
The bear that I'm speaking to can say, okay, I don't smoke, but, you know. Right. Thank you for that response. Yeah.
Same reason, chat GPT, there's some things they won't do. You think? But I've told you though, my guy, he'll tell me how to say it so he can do it. So maybe if you asked this way, thank you very much, Phil, I'd love to ask that way.
So do you think it's okay that it does that? No, I don't think it's okay, but I mean, if you had said, I like to get really drunk and drive, it would also say, I'm sorry, our conversation is over. I'd say, hey, that's really dangerous, you probably shouldn't do that. It's not like I'm saying, okay, but this is, that's a totally different comparison.
Just any type of response is what you're looking for. S. Okay, so if I say my hobby is I like to eat cheeseburgers, how many shouldn't it shut down at that point? Well, you would think, but then I can do that to cheeseburger.
Cheeseburger is not one of those questionable things. A cigar, unfortunately, in the world, it is. It's not. I understand that.
There's no health risk with cigars. Please, I smoke cigars as much as the next guy, probably more, but still. We smoke way more cigars than the next guy. Bacon is probably, should be suspect.
Maybe bacon is. You know what I mean? Bacon's delicious. I'm going to say, I like to, what if you say, I like to drive around, pick up small children?
Oh. Then it goes, up, conversation over. I mean, at that point, I would expect Duolingo to report me. Right.
But if I, I mean, if I say, if I say I like to eat bacon, and it says, oh, bacon is delicious. We're not going to try that, but if anybody out there in our listeners would like to try it on Duolingo. Mitch does Duolingo. Mitch, see how far you can push that thing.
Yeah, let us know. It kind of freaked me out when it did it. Did it really? " Oh, you're talking to a, oh, I'm sorry?
Yeah, like no more conversation. I'm like, whoa! You're talking to a bear on the screen? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I thought you said it pissed off the bear, I thought you were the bear. No, no, I'm not the bear, I'm just a human being. Oh, you thought he was talking in third person. Right.
It upset the bear. So what are we smoking for the Patreon? Hold up the packaging. I left you the packaging over there.
Twist it a little bit. C. Newman Gasparilla Cigar Jose Pirate Dude. Yeah, it's shiny.
Is it too shiny? You got a glare? There you go. Oh yeah, perfect.
Right there. Oh, I see him. Thanks to Hank over at Central Cigars in St. Petersburg, In Petersburg, he gave us those to smoke on the show.
Thanks, Hank. It's going to be interesting. It's going to be an interesting Patreon today. Yeah.
Yes, we also have a phone call with Mr. Scott Pierce. Of the CAA. Of the CAA.
Yes. Oh. Yep, we sure do. Only for the Patreon, which should tell you something.
This is going to be a good conversation. com, jump on a Cigar Hustlers podcast. Never know what you're going to hear. I really feel weird with the microphone to the left.
All right. Moving on. That's not my baby. A Florida couple is suing the Fertility Center of Orlando after genetic testing confirmed the baby they gave birth to is not biologically theirs.
How do they know? Oh, have you seen the image? No. I think the image is AI.
It's gotta be AI. No, there's no way. That's the image. Because I've heard they say it's non-white, but not like obviously as, you know, as much as...
It's like two white parents. Yeah, a standard white couple. And a very tan baby. That's not even tan.
The wife's not telling him. Well, no, this is a clinic, so he donated, he gave his swimmers to her egg, they mix it together and put it in her uterus, and apparently they gave her the wrong one. Now, their eggs have been stored there for several years, I guess, and apparently there's some negligence or something allegedly involved with this company. Yeah, the parents were concerned when their daughter appeared racially different from both of them, leading to DNA tests that revealed a full embryo mix-up.
Can you imagine, like, being the nurse practitioner or something, I'm like, "Hey, check this out. " Oh, somebody did it on purpose? Oh my god, yeah. Put all the eggs in a jar and we'll shake 'em up and put 'em, like, in the test tubes.
Or, like, the mom was a complete bitch to somebody and they're like, "Okay, no problem. " Oh my god. That would be so fun. So it was, wait, the five years after the couple had their own, okay, so the eggs were frozen for five years.
Okay. Before they did IVF. So they've obviously been trying. " Right.
Hit the button. Hit the, you know, put the stuff in the test tube. How pissed would you be if that happened to you? You would think that, I mean, I don't know how long they've had the baby.
But you think as soon as it came out, I mean, what, does it darken up over time? Well, as it, as it dries out, it darkens up. You don't know how this, how the story is, I mean, it could have happened off the jump, and it's just kind of progressed over time, and like, as it's caught wind on media and stuff, now all of a sudden, it's getting attention. The report says the couples say they love the child, but they're demanding answers about how such a serious medical error happened, and what became of their embryo.
Of course, they love the child, I mean, wouldn't you? They have no choice. " There's probably still somewhat of a DNA match maybe to the dad or something. None.
Nothing. Nothing. Obviously, no DNA match at all. Is it an egg?
Zero. So, they took the wrong fertilized egg and put it inside the lady. And the wrong sperm. Well, fertilized means it's already been matched up, right?
Is the doctor white? There's no... I don't know, but what difference would that make? Because there's always stories out where the doctor puts his own stuff in with the eggs.
The doctor's out here just everywhere he goes. Putting his babies out. Just Genghis Conning. Right, Genghis Conning.
I like that. He's just Genghis Conning his entire patient roster. Oh my God. Ugh.
That's wild. He's just in there shooting them off. Oop, here we go. The baby's not worried.
" Right. You know? Trust me, if I implant, if I get 70 kids out there before. Isn't there a story from years ago about some guy who ended up with like 30 kids because that's what he was doing?
Like he was just going hard in the pain in every sperm bank everywhere. Yeah, well, I think they made like a not true story. Yeah, there's a movie out. Wasn't it, who's the guy from Boston?
Matt Damon? No. Ben Affleck? No.
One more. Oh, God, those are the only two I know. He was in the Weightlifting movie. uh mark mark yeah mark you're right dorchester the dorchester guy yeah yeah he did uh he did a movie like that where he had like a hundred and some kids or something like that i thought it was will ferrell no it was vince vaughn i'm sorry i was off oh my god yeah i'm way off who do you say it was it was vince vaughn oh yeah vince vaughn yeah completely different yeah sorry you missed that by like three feet yeah i was thinking of like accents is what i was trying to get up but And then I saw him in my head.
And you, yeah, and you still got there, okay, okay. What do you want from me? Uh, you're a bear, I guess, you know? Conversation over.
I mean, it's not, at least it's not a class action suit, at least they're not, you know, all the patients aren't upset. I mean, it could be, we'll see how this kind of develops, we'll be tracking this throughout the years as the story progresses. So how, I mean, do you think they can find your baby? They better.
So what are they just, I mean, maybe nobody, maybe they didn't make your baby yet. Maybe all your eggs, but your eggs in the wrong tube. Right. Oh, here are your eggs.
Right. Oh, here we go. We found them now. My bad.
Oh, very sorry. Well, they had her egg because you said it just didn't match the father. No, no. There's no DNA match of any kind.
Oh, to either one. Yeah. Yeah. It's not hers or his.
Welcome to the conversation, Boots. Yeah. Nothing man-made is 100%. So.
Oh, is that how that works? Yeah. Okay. Hey, what is this with my Timu baby?
What is this? Right. It says right here in the contract, may not be your baby. We are not responsible for mismatched eggs and sperm.
All right, moving on. You just didn't look on the last page, man, but I'm very sorry. All right, what do you got next? All right, X is offline.
X went down worldwide with users reporting frozen feeds, login failures, and messages not sending across both mobile and desktop platforms. It's just part of the problem, another long list of things that have going offline. This is an ongoing issue. It's like the recalled food.
Yeah. Yeah, but no. Not even close. Yes, it is.
This just all seems AI-affiliated or internet-based where these things keep crashing. And you kind of wonder why this is a thing. They never say why. Yeah.
Well, we are working to fix it as quickly as possible. Well, how did it happen? We are working to fix it as quickly as possible. Well, that's the only response AI has.
I think it's probably, it may be bigger. I mean, some of you conspiracy people out there think this is China testing us. Could be. Could be.
That was it? That was it. That was where you're going with it? Yeah.
Okay. The company gave limited details only confirming teens were working on the issue. No clear cause like server failure, cyber attack, or overload was immediately explained. You know, here's what I'm going to tell you.
Not giving an explanation is always the most gangster approach in anything. Well, that's what all of them have been doing lately. Well, yeah, that's what, you know, any, right. It's like, hey, so why did that happen?
Yeah, so can you tell us why that happened? Like, we're fixing it. We're fixing it. We have teams.
Lots of teams. Like, all I can tell you is that we're fixing the problem. All I can tell you is the teams are working. So...
We've called Elon, he's coming over. Yeah. We tried the on and off that didn't seem to help. He stopped spreading his seed for the minute and is coming over to FixX.
Is he having babies? Oh yeah, man, multiple partners, he's just crushing. Yeah, they're just not white. Oh, maybe that's his baby.
They're just not white? Yeah, maybe he uses the same people. Allegedly. Maybe he uses the same doctor.
He's living the life, I thought. I thought that he was... Oh, he just... " Oh.
Let's make a child together. Okay. Well, I mean, would you say no? You guys got $20 billion all of a sudden...
I mean, I can't have a child with Elon, so I would turn... Well, let's say you were a woman. Okay. And he comes up to you and goes, "Look, you have baby with me, and then you set for the rest of life?
And it's very good. Yes. See, I wouldn't know because I'm not a woman. I said, let's pretend you are.
I know. I'd be super rich if I was a woman. If you want to go back about 30 seconds when I said how it's so gangster just to not answer a person's question. Right.
Here you are. Boots, how about you? You like to, you know. He just said he's down.
Yeah, I'm in. Walk back and forth across the line. Yeah, I'm in. I mean, I'm going to be the richest hoe in the world.
I'm going to be the richest hoe in the world. Richest whore in the world. I don't know, man. There's some rich hoes in the world.
I don't know, he's got Elon Musk's baby over there. There are terms in that one. I sign nothing. I sign nothing?
Well, that's not happening. I just take the baby. No, I need the briefcase first. I need the briefcase first, wow.
Yeah, one of those big silver briefcases? Yep, and then I'm up in for business. All right, X is down. Next.
Well, the shutdown highlighted massive influence is proving that one platform goes dark, a huge portion of the internet conversation stops with it. Oh. Yep. I don't know if they were that big anymore, I heard...
X? No, I know they're big, but I heard it's not as favorable as it once was. Where'd you get that from? What media source did you hear that from?
I heard it on the radio or Reddit online or something. I don't know, I get news all the time. Well, that's how this works. Whatever, you know, if you listen to the liberal media, they're gonna tell you that X is bad.
And I'm sure that if you go to Fox, they'll tell you that Facebook or one of these others is bad. That's how, you know, they're gonna promote and be biased towards whatever they think fits their... They're People. Platform.
Right. They're People. Yeah. Sorry.
I mean, let's just call it what it is. Okay. What is it? They're People.
Oh, The Peoples. Yeah. The Peoples. All right.
Now we're running into cigar news. Oh. Oh. Michael, do you have a video?
I'm sorry. I do have a video. Oh, son of a bitch. I mean, yes.
I do have a video. It's great, too. Are you sending it? You're sending it to us?
I mean, I sent you guys, well, I guess we'll do a, you want to do a Cigar News? No, no, we can do it. It could be part of Cigar News, so we'll do it after Mikey's thing here. Okay, perfect.
Boot says something too. Now I got to put that up too. Mine's quick. This is like a minute long.
A minute? Of the video? A minute 31, yeah. Was it just a whole bunch of midgets running around?
We just walked 30 seconds. This guy's name is Bobby Finn. My boy Tater sent this one to me. Oh, Tater.
Oh, Tater Tater. It's hilarious. Not Steve's Tater. Like the Tater, yeah.
The original Tater. Did you send it? I did. I don't have it.
It's coming. It's coming. Remember, his phone doesn't work down here. I just have the boots at the light near the shop.
It's coming. It's coming. It's there. There it is.
The NFL Hall of Fame explained. Yeah. All right. Is there music?
No. So, if a coach with 222 wins is in the Hall of Fame, then a coach with 333 would be? In the Hall of Fame? No!
What would you think? Just because you're second all-time in wins doesn't mean you're Hall of Fame worthy. But if a coach with 10 playoff wins is in the Hall of Fame, then a coach with 31 playoff wins would be? In the Hall of Fame?
No! What would you think? Just because he has the most playoff wins of all time, doesn't mean he's Hall of Fame worthy. Jets fans have to be so teed off.
So if a coach with two Super Bowl appearances is in the Hall of Fame, then a coach with nine Super Bowl appearances would be definitely be in the Hall of Fame? No. No. He would not be in the Hall of Fame.
Just because you've been to nine Super Bowls doesn't mean you're Hall of Fame worthy. But if he won the most Super Bowls of all time, then he would be? He would have to be in the Hall of Fame. No!
Just because you have the most Super Bowl wins doesn't mean you're Hall of Fame worthy. But if all of these accomplishments were done by one coach, then that coach would obviously... Obviously be in the Hall of Fame? No!
What would you think? It's because that coach is Bill Belichick, and the members of the Hall of Fame committee said it's because that's why. So, if a coach with 222 wins is enough. Isn't that wild?
So, he's in the Hall of Fame because he's Bill Belichick. No, he got rejected. He was a first-round ballot pick. He should have won.
I mean, he's one of the most winningest coaches in the NFL. Yeah, he's got most rings on his finger. Somebody got mad at me because I said nine Super Bowl rings. He's got eight.
I'm sorry. Yeah, I saw that. I didn't know what that was about. Nine Super Bowl appearances.
I figured he said something wrong. Are you going to cut me off the whole...? Yes. Okay, you need to fix that because you've been doing it for 27 minutes.
I've been doing it for 27 minutes. I have not. Yes, you have. So, that's the problem with the free-forming format, is you don't know when, if you just rattle stuff off, it's fine, and then when we have a regular conversation, you like to interject.
Yes. I think that's why we went to the scripted format. Yeah, it was better that way. So yeah, I thought this was hilarious.
There's gotta be a way that they're gonna just give this guy into the Hall of Fame. If they don't, there's going to be an uproar. Yeah. Who did...
Sorry. No, you go ahead. Who did they pick? I have no idea.
Oh, so I haven't announced it yet. I don't think it even matters. Yeah. Well, I was just curious if it was somebody on his level or not.
There's nobody on his level. There isn't anybody on his level. Well, okay, I obviously don't know anything about sports. We've already established that through multiple things.
Yeah. But like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they don't pick the best rock and roll singers, they just sort of pick six or seven. Yeah, it's like, here, think of it this way. It's like picking Tom or God, right?
Kind of like that. Like, God would be the one you would pick. Interesting. I'd pick Tom.
I'd take Tom, but okay. I don't know who Tom is. Oh, you're assuming I'm talking about Tom Brady. I'm just talking about a guy named Tom.
Oh, you're talking about some guy. Isn't Belichick the guy with the young girlfriend? Yes. Yeah.
Maybe that's why they didn't do it. Okay, that has nothing to do with his accolades. you never know I mean actually that's just one more accolade well it would be for us yes exactly I mean she is kind of hot but right maybe they're like if we pick him she's gonna be all over social media then we got to deal with her okay well listen you never know I mean who votes is there like a committee or just like all the fans people that don't like Bill well obviously well there is a committee too which is kind of crazy you know what's bad when when Jets fans are reaching out to me saying hey I just want you to know I can't stand the Patriots and I hate Bill Belichick Mike totally got screwed. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't like Belichick, because that team effed us for years, but hey, get the guys due, man.
I mean, I know Tom was most of it, but Bill still had to call the plays. Right. Who is this Tom person he keeps referring to? Tom Brady.
Tom Brady, sorry. You've heard of him, right? Yes, yes. I just didn't know who Tom was in reference to what he was saying.
Right. Because apparently he's not as big as God. Right. I like that the mic still made its way into your face.
Yeah. I haven't touched it. I do slide in the chair, but I keep... His diaper's making him slide.
Yeah, that's what it is. Well, it's the sweater. The diaper's inside the pants. I don't wear it over the pants.
That would be silly. I did not, I have not watched the show that just came out, obviously, because it came out a few hours ago, but I will tell you some of the comments from there if you'd like. Perfect. From today's show?
Yes. Okay. Oh, there's one comment so far. Oh.
Pages makes Luer Cigars. Palmer should know this, if he's that close to Lue Cross. I'm not that close to Lue. That wasn't Friday's show.
I mean, that wasn't today's show. Because we didn't talk about Luer Cigars. That was on today's show. We didn't talk about Luer Cigars.
That person is late. Yeah, they're a little late with your comment there, buddy. You think if you're a fan of the show, you could comment on the right one. Hey, that's team money.
You better be nice to team money. Oh! Pages? Take it back.
He's talking about the factory. I understand that, but I don't even know who Pages is. " Yeah. Oh, you guys talked about your kids taking over.
Yeah. Yeah. And, oh, Texas Southpaw. Yeah, Phil is also forgetting that Baker Mayfield was in Cleveland.
They went out and got Watson. This past season they got Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, then drafted Dylan Gabriel, and Shador Sanders. They had a bad offseason. Everything was tied up with QBs.
Atlanta messed up by paying Cousins, then drafting Pennix, so high. Looks like Bijan and Cousins' contracts end the same year, so Bijan will get his money. A Lifetime Achievement Award needs to be included with the Palmer and Boots experience. Yes!
Sure. $500, come on down, we'll give you the piece of paper. I have seven trophies at home that I have nothing to do with, so we will more than have it. And Palmer's great at making up trophies, so if you don't have one, we'll make one up.
Right, I'll make you a really nice certificate to go with that. No. Okay. Was that another one?
No, that was it. No, go ahead. All right, Boots, what do you got? So I sent you guys both the thing on Facebook because I don't know how to send it through anything else.
You did? Yeah, because I found it on Facebook. I already looked at it. So it was a picture of Guy Fieri for his birthday, and I guess he, so when you look at it, it says his new look, so you're thinking like, oh god, did he change his look?
But when you read it, it says it's an AI generated, no, I googled other things, it doesn't, it's hard to read the article because they want you to join their privacy program or something. Yeah. But he, apparently he dressed up for that for a Super Bowl ad that he's doing where he, where he plays a character in the ad. Yeah.
And that's what he looks like? Yeah, I mean, they make-upped him. They gave him a wig, and he might have actually have shaved, because he doesn't really have a big goatee. " Wow.
I saw it two days ago, so, I mean, it's made the rounds through the media. That's pretty funny. It's crazy. If he did that, he could, like, just really change his whole, he could become a completely different person, his whole appearance.
Yeah, he could blend in, like if he was wanted or something. Like a normal guy. If he was wanted? Oh.
Did you see the one guy lost his toupee in the boxing fight? I saw that. That was hilarious. A boxer?
Yeah. No, I didn't see. His toupee popped off. I think he won the fight, too.
Well, he got so pissed off that he lost his hair. Well, the reason why it came off is because he got socked. Yeah. Blew right off his head.
Pop off the back of your head. I hit that man so hard. Look at his hair come off. Who was the guy?
There was a boxer in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out that, when you hit him too hard, he lost his toupee. I don't know. I don't know. Somebody comment on that, please, because that is so long ago.
Tell us if that's true or not. Yeah, well, I can tell you that if you want to fight Mike Tyson, the code's 0073735963. Look that up. You still remember that?
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Okay.
Well, that's all I got for that. See, that's finger memory is what that is. Yeah. Romacraft Tobac is bringing back one of its most artistic and talked about releases as the next edition of the flagship craft series arrives in mid-February.
Ooh. I have the whole stories for cigar stuff. I felt that was more important than us just stickering back and forth, but we can do it either way you want. I think that we should kind of, like, you mentioned it the way it is, and then we can just kind of talk about it, because we know a lot about the cigar, you know, but if you have reference points for something where we can go back to, then that's great, but what's like, like, what's the size this year?
It is a 5x60 Gordo. Okay, so it's a bigger, shorter cigar? Right. It's like multicolored with the, you know, different wrappers and stuff?
Yeah, like they always do. And they're, but this year they're adding a leather strap to it. I did see that. Oh, and what makes the series special is that no two cigars look the same.
Every cigar is different. It's like, they're like snowflakes. Right. Each cigar is in a 10-count box, features different wrapper styles and tobacco combination designed to showcase the deep library of tobaccos and craftsmanship behind Roma Crafts Factory.
You think that's true? You think it's true that every one of them is different? If it says it is. I don't know.
How many cigars did they make? What are they, 10 count? 10 count boxes. Probably made 5,000.
2,000 boxes. 2,000 boxes. Yes. Oh, so, what, 20,000?
Yeah. Look at you. Yeah, 20,000 cigars. You mathed right today.
I did. Congratulations. Well, I have this energy drink today. Oh, you brought, okay, you brought the heat.
Yeah, I brought the peaches. Nice. There's a new monster. How do you drink?
Oh, you drink Bang, though. Yeah, no, I'm drinking Ghost. Oh. Yeah, I mean, that's really exciting.
We look forward to that. You know, obviously, we have a lot of fans of Roma. Yeah, everybody looks forward to when this stuff comes out. Yeah, it's a cool limited release.
I think it's a good time to drop it as well. Yeah, right at the beginning. Yeah, that's a great approach. Is it going to be shipped in Q1?
It's supposed to start arriving in mid-February according to the story. Yeah, it should be here in the next week or two. Oh, nice. Perfect.
You know, but the other interesting thing with that is they dealt with that company who both the brothers got killed. So you would think that maybe there's going to be some snags along the way, even though the other brother stepped in to take over. I wonder if there's going to be any issues in that regard. Excuse me.
Oh, so this is who distributes it, is the... No, he's the importer. Their importer. Oh, the importer, okay.
The distributor is the importer. Okay. I mean, maybe, but you would think any company that runs well, the two head guys don't have a lot to do with the day-to-day, you know, running of the importing and stuff. I don't know.
I don't know how big the company is. I don't think it's a big company as far as employees are concerned. They're going to have to have a third brother in it, and so then they've got to have other people that handle the paperwork and stuff. Maybe.
Maybe at least one girl. Because he said he was completely involved in the business, the third brother. Man, if we knew somebody that knew... That would factor in hangups.
Yeah, there probably is going to be something. Maybe. As soon as a big variable like that changes, like you guys all work here, we work on this podcast together, if you died, things would be kind of messy. But I know how to do it to some degree, right?
Right. You know, the first one would be... The first one would be a little rough? Well, all the emotions and everything.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, how would we handle ourselves? Having to report that Palmer's good. Exactly. Right.
God, if we keep doing this, we're going to have to do that one day. Yeah, you're right. That's the bad news. Well, somebody's going to die first.
Right. It'll be me. You think so? I don't know.
It might have been Boots. Boots outlives all of us. It's like Highlander. It's like a cockroach.
A cockroach. Yeah. Okay, so that's exciting. Apparently, it started in 2013 and then it disappeared for several years and came back in 2018 through 2022.
After a long pause, this marks the long-awaited revival of the series that many collectors and fans have been hoping for. Do we know why it paused? I mean, it could have been tobacco, it could have been production things, it could have been a multitude of different... So, if everyone looks different, everyone's obviously going to taste different.
I would say to some degree. But do you think this is a way to use up tobacco that might not have had a use for it other than that? I don't think so. No?
I think that usually they utilize a lot of wrappers that they have that are available, but they would use them for other things. So, it's interesting to see a different take where everything's kind of different, and I'm wondering, I'm just curious if our listeners or viewers will find one that looks the same as another one. Two of them that look the same? Yeah.
I mean. There's 20,000 of them. 20,000 of them. How can they possibly keep track of 20,000 different cigars?
Yeah. You know, we skip sitting there watching each one and go, hey, 17 ago, you made one look like that. 17 ago. And he would know that number.
Well, that's what I mean. He would know if he's standing there watching. Right. You can't do that one again.
We did that one 35 cigars ago. Right. Right. You know, gets to that last one, he goes, I don't know.
A $20,000 cigar looks like the first cigar. Looks very similar to number one. You think you'll ever do a ban for these things? Because I noticed they'd never have bans.
Nah, it's too bad at the ban. I don't think you need to. And his philosophy would be it takes away from the craft. Is there a ban fee or a ban tax or something?
Is there a ban tax? Is that a thing on cigars? Oh, yeah. For like in China, not China, you pay a fee for a different ban on a cigar coming out of Nicaragua?
Drew brought this up. We were talking about how they do their cigars and stuff. He said they pay up like a band fee or something like abandoned cigar. Well, this is maybe we should talk about on Patreon.
No. So like abandoned cigar. We talked about the regular show, right? Well, I'm sorry before we get into it.
Yeah, no, we did, but it may be better if we tell Mikey the source. Oh, well, we'll work on that afterwards. But a Banded Cigar could come in at a higher tax level because unbanded cigars could be charged by like a bundle rate? All right, maybe that's what it was.
Okay. He did specifically say a band taxa. Each different band. Hmm.
Interesting. I don't know. I know that bundles, bundle pricing, it comes in less than banded cigars. I don't I think Maybe that's what it is Maybe that's just what they called it Let's talk over You know these guys talk over each other Well we both started at the same time That wasn't planned Yeah What did you say Boots?
I think all his cigars Drew's cigars Come in a box though Don't they? I'm sure they have something That comes in a bundle of some sort I don't know I'm not familiar with his cigars How was dinner with him? Didn't have dinner You didn't have dinner? You just went straight to the I don't know did you John Carney always or did you Pete Hernandez yes oh good for you apparently there's an extra fee of added to when they do a show with you yeah it's kind of like a band tax you just let him out the door huh no he stayed for the event did he yeah did you guys have fun uh he was outside on the phone for a good majority he had some problems with shipping or production or something right but yeah no I enjoyed hanging out with him talking and stuff I'm going to have to go back and listen to that one.
It's a good episode. Yeah. I did just listen to the Cigar Authority where they were talking about the post-sign in Connecticut. Yes.
Yeah. That was, that's the one with Abe? Uh, what? No, I'm sorry.
I've been seeing this, uh, this advertisement for Abe and Coop and somebody else. Oh, yeah. A lot. No, that's with David Garofalo.
Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, David Garofalo. Yeah, not KMA. Number two?
Sorry. Number two. Number two. Adding to the premium feel, this year's box is secured with a leather strap.
Did I run into a different? No, I said that. Yeah. Oh, did you?
It's kind of cool. I think you just posted a picture like the other night. Yeah. It's different.
Yeah, I like it. Yeah. Okay. What's next?
All right. In Hawaii, currently, you cannot ship cigars in without a license. Uh-huh. That is true.
Okay. But, in the summer, in summer 2023, a law went into effect that required retailers to get a license. Blah, blah, blah. There was one problem.
There was no way for out-of-state retailers to get the license. That meant the major cigar retailers stopped shipping products to Hawaii. A new bill introduced by Rep. Sam Kong Dahawala, Aia, and Wamalula would modify the existing law to allow for cigars and pipe tobacco to be shipped to someone's home, so long as the person is at least 21 years old.
It's 15 years old and the products are meant for personal consumption. Okay. Yeah, like... I didn't know it stopped home delivery.
I mean, how much leverage do you have in that scenario, government? You know? You gotta check every person's mail that comes in? Right.
You gotta have a warrant. Which, yeah, I was gonna say is illegal. Like, good luck with that. S.
Mail. I guess that would make sense. Unless the dog smelled something. Still can't.
No, that's a probable cause. Yeah, a dog could give you probable cause. That's not what it said. I'm just telling you what I read.
Yeah, I think AI is trying to get you in trouble. That wasn't AI. It's actually sending the canine unit to your car right now. Right.
Did Chad TBT tell you it was okay to, like, you know. I forget where I read it. I know, I read so much stuff looking for show content and stuff, who knows where I saw it. Yeah.
Well, this package is to me, I haven't opened it yet. Right. Oh, can we look inside? Oh, no.
No. No. Okay. Hmm.
Currently, major cigar retailers cannot ship cigars to Hawaii or Utah. So, if we had a customer that ordered cigars in Hawaii, we can't ship? Legally, I guess. That's correct.
That's correct. We would not ship to Hawaii. Do not look in the books. Yeah.
Little Honolulu, put that down. It's like prohibition. It's like prohibitions, like they stop drinking, but you can get alcohol everywhere. Sure.
You just, you know, what are we doing? They're rewriting the law to allow for something that people are probably already doing. Okay, fine, fine, fine. Okay, fine, fine.
Fine, fine, ship it to Kuala Lula's house, it's fine. Could you just imagine politicians, this is how I imagine a law works, right? Say like we're all sin, and we're like, you know what? We really fucking hate Jeff, right?
Or we'll say the name that we don't like, sorry. I know what you're talking about. We don't like this one guy. And you know what we're gonna do?
It's illegal to go over that bridge from now on. How about that? We're gonna make that a law. You know what?
Today is the day. Today's the day. Yep, that's a lot. You can no longer cross the bridge.
Yeah. And then people are gonna cross it anyways? Yeah, like, okay, well, we're gonna go. Right.
So, I don't know what that's about. You know, I just like the fact that some of these guys say the most outrageous stuff ever, and I'm thinking to myself, you're in charge. Yeah. No matter what platform.
I mean, the one that really pops in my head right now is the Tim Waltz guy. He said, white men are criminals. I'm like, holy moly. Well, we all are.
Fine. All white men or just all men? All men. All white men are criminals?
Is that how you feel? No. Okay. Yeah, we're just shipping cigars with our name onto our cars.
Yeah. Right. Like, that was insane. I'm like, dude, way to really kind of hurt yourself as far as, you know.
I think a lot of times they think without talking. Yeah? " Yeah, he just rolled with it. No, somebody told him to say that.
Like, just blame on the white guys. I'll be fine. Blame that one. Okay.
We need more than white guys. Blame the white guy today. Nobody likes the white guys anymore. Yeah.
That'll make you very popular. The white guy's a criminal. So, you know, go ahead and throw that out there. Right.
Perfect. Great. That works. It's wild.
" I got him! He said it. I told you he'd say it. Just read the cards.
Just read the cards. Uh, you need to go the X route. We're working on fixing it. Yeah.
Well, what's the reason? The teams are working. Yeah. We're working tirelessly to fix the issue.
But why did it happen? The non-white guys are taking care of it. The non-white guys are... I don't want to point here.
I'm not pointing fingers. But we're blaming the white guys. The non-criminal white guys. That's what all the people...
If it's offline, it's the white guy. Clearly the white guy broke the law, and that's why that happened. The white guy put the cord in the wrong hole again. Don't know what to tell you.
Damn white guys. They're everywhere. But that's what I'm saying. Politicians get to say the wildest shit all the time, and it's just perfectly acceptable.
" Yeah. He's like... Did you ask him what color pricing he wants? Well, I did.
" Yeah, I asked him that. And he was like, well, you know, the Spanish guys give me a lower price. I'm like, well, I don't have Spanish guys working for me. I got white guys, so I guess maybe my pricing is in line.
Well, you know, if you go to Home Depot, you can get some and give me a cheaper price. Well, you know, that whole segment was extremely racist. It was, it was. I was like, I can't believe this guy said that to me.
Like, so the customer, was he a white guy? Yeah. And it's not like he was a lower class person either. You know what I mean?
Like the guy had some money behind him. I'm like, geez, bro, like show some professionalism here. Probably never thought he was going to get blown out on a podcast though. Yeah.
Until now. That's why you met him in person. There's no record of that ever happening. Until now.
There you go. Ramirez. Sorry. All right.
I went to Spanish guy, Bryce. Yeah. Like what are you talking about? Not anymore.
Everybody's gone. Everybody's gone now. Yeah. Joke's on you.
Joke's on you. They can't drive. Yeah. No more licenses.
The joke's on you. They can't drive. Their price is going up. They're Ubering everywhere.
I got to get to the job. That's right. They got to get to the job somehow. They got to show up.
They can no longer drive in Florida. Bus, I'll be there soon. All right. I was not part of any of that, just for the record.
Let the record show that I was not part of any of that interaction. That's all right, we're just, we're just dabbling up. Okay, all right, all right, into the portal, into the portal, into the portal, into the portal. Oh, what, um, we'll talk about that on Patreon.
Anytime you guys talk about the portal, I don't know why, but like, this, like, anxiety just like, gets over me for some reason. Do you think it's you? No, no, it would never be me. Boots has been laid off from the cigar industry, and they spent dozens of years trying to suck up to somebody.
Wow. Well, I got news to you, you can't enter this portal because you don't pay them. Yeah, you don't pay me. I'm not entering any portal, but it's just like, I'm always like, "Oh, who could it be?
" I'm curious to hear who's entered the portal, Mr. Palmer. All right, Zach Medwin, who spent a dozen years at Davidoff of Geneva, USA, has been named the new VP of Sales for Alliance Cigars, an East Coast distribution company. Okay.
The anxiety's gone. Yeah, we don't know. I don't know, Zach. You feel better now?
Last May, the new global, the parent company of Best Cigar Prices announced that it had merged with Alliance Cigars. Greg Fox, Best Cigar Prices leader, serves as the head of the combined operation, which operates under the new global marketing name. Oh, okay. So, I heard this week that the stuff we talked about earlier with Davidoff, how many did we say were affected?
It was like five or six people? Yeah, I've got to confirm six. Okay. Apparently, this guy might have been one of them.
Ah. Because he previously worked for Davidoff. Right. And they said that everything's staying the same now.
Right. But the changes already happened. Right. And that was never announced.
No, it's still weird that nobody ever talked about it. They seem like a private company to begin with. Yeah, but, you know, dude, they made a shake-up. Yeah.
Yeah, six people's a big deal in a company like that. Especially like a national sales manager. Yeah, these are high-level people. But the story never hit anybody, except us.
Maybe there's something super private they couldn't talk about. " Yeah. Yeah, there's teams of people fixing the problem. Yeah.
Didn't you guys cover a story how Davidoff has been passed down to like the next generation or something? Yes, that's correct. Yeah. But it all had something to do with it.
They were going that direction and whoever the kids didn't like, maybe they asked them. Maybe, yeah, this guy used to pat me on the head, let's fire him. Like I said, one day. Yeah, you'll never beat me.
Okay, guess what? Right. You're out of here, pal. It's usually, it's just like football, you know, get a new head coach, they bring their friends.
To some degree, I mean, you're right, if they have a system that's working, that would make sense. Right. You know, so this guy worked for Davidoff from 2013 until recently. Yeah, so that's a long time.
That's a long time, yeah. That is a very long time. See, he was a sales rep, and then most recently served as the commercial director for Davidoff of Geneva, USA. What does a commercial director do?
He directs the commercials, exactly what it says. Sounds lucrative. It sounds like a high-paying job. Yeah.
You want to be the commercial director for Post-Sign a Cigars? Oh, this is Zach. Oh, we knew that this name was mentioned then. I mean, now there's a shorter version of his name.
Okay. Because it says Zach and Zachary? Yeah. What was it?
What was it at the beginning? Yeah, what happened? Oh, I didn't put, I didn't put two and two together when I first said the name. Oh, Zach!
White bulb. We were told he was one of the ones that were let go. Uh, our sources indicated that he was one that is? Uh, one of our extra sources.
Yes. Gotcha. Hmm. Okay.
So, joined Alliance. It's a brand new company. Alliance is not a brand new company. They've merged two companies into a third company.
Oh, yeah? Yeah, you said Greg Fox Cigars or something? Yeah, there's three companies that went together into this new company. They all docked?
Yes. How do you dock with three? One watches. Yeah, I knew there was going to be a weird...
Perfect. Yeah. Okay. His deep understanding of the retail landscape and commitment to brand stewardship aligns perfectly with where we believe Lion Cigar is headed.
We're thrilled to welcome him to our organization. He's got to know a thing or two, man. He's been in it for over a decade. Okay.
Okay. What else you got? Because we're running out of time. We got What's the Score?
Okay. Ready? You ready? It's that time.
What's the Score? All right. First Cigars, February 1st, 2026. Charlie Minato Cigars, Merifel Cigars reviews the Merifel Cigar Ernest Master Blend Lancero.
Charlie did this one. Yes. This is their newest release, the Lancero. Oh, and we've smoked this, haven't we?
No. I thought he gave us one. He gave us Lonsdales, I think. Oh.
Yeah, whatever he gave us was delicious. Boots, you're still yawning with your ghost. Sorry. I mean, Phil.
All right, do you want me to go first? Yeah, you go first. All right, I'm going to say Lancero, hmm? Yes, Lancero.
89 for Charlie. Yeah, Charlie seems like a Lancero guy, so. So, I will, I will too go 89. 89.
Ain't none. Clue number one. The first third delivers a rapid-fire mix of leather, butterscotch, earth, cedar, cream, florals, toast, and a tart note that feels refined and dynamic, especially for a medium-full profile. 90.
No teriyaki, I'm going down to 88. No teriyaki. Aside from one relight, the cigar showed strong draw, good smoke production, and consistency across samples, letting the flavor shine without constant touch-ups. 91.
No touch-ups is good for Charlie, so back to 89. I thought he said one touch-up. He said one. Oh.
One relight. 88. All right, clue number three, after a stellar opening, the profile narrows into woodiness with occasional harshness. Fresh, Soapy, and Metallic Notes, and the final third becomes a spicier but less interesting than earlier sections.
Spicier, but less interesting. 88. If we're talking about spiciness, if you eat something that's spicy, Mikey, super spicy, is it just not interesting at all, or are you just running around trying to cool your mouth off? I don't know.
Well, it could be so hot, it's just spicy. It's got no flavor at that point. At that point. I'm going up against you.
I'm not going to give you any information whatsoever as how I feel about the spice. Going to 88? That's what I want. That's what I want.
No, that's mine. All right, final thought. You two stop arguing. You're like a bunch of women.
Oh. In so many ways, the Merifel Cigar Ernest Lancero is a cigar that falls just short of entering the category of great. And I wonder how much of that is to do with the ring gauge. Despite the start, most puffs didn't offer the many numerical, numerical, numerical, flavors.
While the flavor it did have were mostly clean, they lacked a richness that would be required for a cigar that oftentimes didn't offer that many different types of flavors. Even when it came to showing off the Cameroon wrapper, I was left wanting a bit more. The score of this review is greatly impacted by the first cigar, which was the first time I can recall smoking a Marifel cigar that named for the family's high-end offerings and being let down by construction. Even though I'm on the record for ranking Cameroon as my favorite wrapper and Lancero as my favorite Vitola, I've enjoyed the other Vitolas in the line more than this one.
If you want to smoke this blend in a thinner ring gauge, the Ernest Lonsdale has been better cigar for me. That was a super long. Eighty-eight. I feel like he was just sort of covering his butt there with that.
Please don't kill me. Yeah, please. Don't send the Pygmies. Eighty-seven.
And what did you say? Eighty-eight. Eighty-nine! Oh, yeah!
Yeah, I was there, too. Yeah, man, we were both there, we were both there. All right, second cigar, October 17th, 2015, Patrick Lagride, limited edition Nicaragua review, the Wilson Adams, Wilson Adams, Mr. Wilson.
Okay. Are they still in the industry, 2017? They were back then. 86.
I'll go first again for you. I am impressed you have heard of them, though. I mean, I can only go 85. I don't know anything about this cigar.
Okay. Well, it's the Wilson Adams, Mr. Wilson. It is from Nicaragua, factories, Plasencia, wrapper, Mexico, binder, uh-uh, not insane, filler, Nicaragua, undisclosed tobaccos.
It's a six and an eighth by 52 torpedo, came out in May 19th, 2015, smoked three cigars. 85. It doesn't sound like a bad cigar. Even though some of it's undisclosed.
I will go 86. Clue number one. The Torpedo Vitola is well executed with a dark toothy Mexican wrapper and the aroma delivers rich brownie, cookie dough, earth, and pepper notes that are inviting and complex right from the start. 87.
I got them going. Yeah, 87 is a good number. 87. Clue number two.
The first third brings bold pepper balanced by chocolate sweetness, smooth draw, good smoke output, and a steadily building profile that feels intentional and well-crafted. 88. Get it together over there. Oh man, Jesus.
What's he dying over there? No, I'm tired. What did you say, 88? Yeah.
Let's take an 87 for right now. 87. All right. Third clue.
Nicotine ramps up to the point of causing a cigar sick physical reaction, overwhelming the palate and derailing the enjoyment despite the cigar still having flavored depth. So he got sick? You got tobacco sick, you got nicotine poisoning. He has tobacco sick, ooh.
87. Yeah, I'm gonna stick at 87. I was there first. All right, final thought.
It's unfortunate that what will likely stick with me mostly about the Wilson Adams Mr. Wilson is its final third because the rest of the cigar is quite enjoyable. While it occasionally felt disjointed in the first third, the complexity was apparent, and it felt that the cigar could be a sleeper hit of complexity and flavor, yet once it turns the corner of strength past the midpoint, things began quick, rapid slide into a profile that is completely unacceptable for me, and leaves me feeling worse, much worse, than when I started the cigar. Hopefully the rebirth of the Wilson Adams brand fares better than the cigar blended to commemorate it.
85. 84. 73. Yes.
We're tied for the day, baby. I was going to push lower, too. Like, wow, he went way the wrong way. He looked it up.
No, I didn't look it up. I just knew I was going to go lower than you. So, do you think if he gets sick smoking a cigar, he just stops smoking it, or he powers through, or he's got to get to the end? I mean, eat a piece of candy, drink a little soda, and keep going, or?
So it just means he has a tummy ache? Is that what? Yeah, you get sort of nauseated, sick to your stomach, maybe a headache, who knows? I guess it's the level, I guess if you deem it that you can't continue, it's gotta affect it pretty bad.
Right. There's one cigar that I've ever seen someone like get like that nauseated, and that's like when Chet, he smoked the Wunderlust. Yeah? He got like super sick.
The Wunderlust hit him in? Yeah, it was like early in the morning, like I wanted to smoke one. And he got like, he says whenever he smokes that one for some reason, he gets like, if he doesn't eat, he gets like a sick tummy. I'm like.
A sick tummy. A sick tummy. Yeah, I'm like, oh. I got the bubbles.
I never felt that before, so I don't know. You've never got tobacco poisoning from anything? Nicotine poisoning, I guess it's gone? No.
Oh. Okay. All right. Anything else to add?
On today's Patreon, we have Scott Pierce in a rare interview. Ooh. And then this Friday, I'll be at Island Gyms in St. Augustine from 5 to 8 with a big Powstanie then.
Oh, okay. Yay. Other than that, I got nothing. All right.
Well, let us know what you think of the new camera for Mr. Palmer. And thank you again. Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or watching.
And thank you. Thank you, Phil. Great job today. Great job, Mr.
McGuffey. Buy the gear, guys. Buy the gear. com.
All right, guys, we gotta go. Bye. All right, bye. Bye.
Thank you.
Show Notes
On today’s Show Florida says “speak English or no drive for you”. That’s Not My Baby Florida Couple sues a Fertility Clinic, next on the oops we went offline list is X. In Cigars Roma Craft is on its way , Hawaii is back in the cigar business maybe and we have a portal entry. Then a what’s the score!