ACHP 462 Cigars, Iguanas, Bahama Breeze and Samatha Guthrie
Episode Summary
Episode 462 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual shop talk from Mike Palmer, Phil McGuffey and Mikey — swag updates at chpod.com (including Mikey's ongoing battle to heat-press patches onto beanies without melting them) and a run of new Powstanie retail accounts: Prime Tobacconist in Milford, Connecticut (Arturo Diaz), Northport Cigars in Northport, Florida, and a re-order from Boss Cigars in Carrollton, Georgia.
The news block is heavy on Florida: Darden is shuttering all 14 Bahama Breeze locations in the state beginning April 5 (prompting a tangent on Red Lobster's endless-shrimp collapse, Olive Garden, Longhorn and the Hooters-to-F&D conversion), two fresh twists in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case (an alleged Bitcoin ransom note sent to TMZ that police are denying, plus her pacemaker losing contact with her Apple Watch), gubernatorial candidate James Fishback's Tinder campaign stunt, and Florida's cold-weather iguana roundups where invasive lizards are collected by the sackful and euthanized at FWC drop-off points. Palmer also follows up on the English-only driver's license story, reporting that only Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota join Florida in offering the non-commercial test in English alone, and that Florida previously offered it in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Mandarin and Russian.
Cigar news: a Utah bill from Rep. Jeff Burton would finally legalize internet and mail-order cigar sales into a state that currently carries an uncapped 86% cigar tax and a full shipping ban — with licensing, age verification, recordkeeping, a bond and excise tax collection required of out-of-state retailers. Utah and Hawaii are the last two full-ban states, and Hawaii has a similar reversal bill pending. The Bocock Brothers continue their college-cigar niche with a commemorative Indiana Hoosiers undefeated national championship release, a 6x52 Toro made in Honduras at an undisclosed factory, $27.50 each in coffins, boxes of 10 at $275, pre-sale now with a first-week-of-March release. Padilla Cigars announces its first international expansion via Lindel Cigar Importers in Canada this spring with a Canada-exclusive planned — Ernesto Padilla choosing Canada because the Canadian government and Ted Kennedy helped free his father from political imprisonment in Cuba. Palmer shares a story about Ernie buying a box early in Powstanie's SBC/Caribbean Cigars days and riffs on which friends actually support you in the lean years.
The portal entry belongs to Tony Gomez — formerly of Espinosa Cigars, Luciano Cigars, Wyatt Cigars and his own brokerage — who has taken a territory manager role with Artista Cigar Company covering Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The show closes with What's the Score on Brooks Whittington's March 2019 review of the Pier 28 Oscuro Perfecto (5.5x56, Brazilian Oscuro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at Plasencia), which scored 83 after a strong clove-and-dark-chocolate first two thirds fell apart in the final third. Palmer will be at Island Jim's Leaf & Bean in St. Augustine Friday 5–8pm for a Powstanie event, and at Northport Cigars later in the month.
In This Episode
- 01Swag, Beanies and New Powstanie AccountsMikey's heat-press beanie experiments plus shout-outs to Prime Tobacconist in Milford CT, Northport Cigars and Boss Cigars in Carrollton GA.
- 02Bahama Breeze Closes 14 Florida LocationsDarden is shutting down or converting the tropical chain, sparking a debate about the drinks, the coconut shrimp and the decline of Red Lobster.
- 03Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping UpdatesAn alleged Bitcoin ransom note delivered to TMZ that police deny, and her pacemaker losing connection with her Apple Watch.
- 04James Fishback's Tinder CampaignThe Florida gubernatorial candidate behind the OnlyFans tax idea now courts young voters on dating apps, leading to a tangent on taxes and money printing.
- 05Florida Iguana RoundupsCold snaps immobilize the invasive iguanas, and collectors are hauling them in by the sackful to FWC drop-off points for euthanasia.
- 06Utah Bill Would Allow Online Cigar SalesRep. Jeff Burton's legislation would end Utah's mail-order ban despite an 86% uncapped cigar tax, with licensing, bonds and tax collection attached.
- 07Bocock Brothers Indiana Hoosiers CigarA 6x52 Honduran Toro in individual coffins at $27.50 commemorating Indiana's undefeated national championship football season.
- 08Padilla Enters Canada via Lindel Cigar ImportersPadilla's first international expansion arrives this spring with a Canada-exclusive release, tied to Canada's role in freeing Ernesto Padilla's father from Cuba.
- 09Portal: Tony Gomez Joins ArtistaThe well-traveled rep takes over Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana for Artista Cigar Company after stints with Espinosa, Luciano and Wyatt.
- 10What's the Score: Pier 28 Oscuro PerfectoBrooks Whittington's 83-point review of the Plasencia-made, Brazilian Oscuro-wrapped perfecto with cloves and dark chocolate that unravels in the final third.
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
I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, it's Phil, not sure I like this mask any better, McGuffey. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, it's Phil, not sure I like this mask any better, McGuffey. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, it's Phil, not sure I like this mask any better, McGuffey. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, it's Phil, not sure I like this mask any better, McGuffey.
Rory, did you cut to your cameras so I can see your head? I like it. And engineering and my co-host Mikey, I did a new episode of Preston with Preston today and I'm in such a good mood now. Step on camera.
It's a great mood. Super good mood. I want you to know that you made the episode yesterday or today or whatever that came out. Yeah?
It says 261. Oh, it doesn't? Yeah. On which format?
Because I noticed it on one and I fixed it. YouTube? YouTube? Well, who's counting?
We don't know what number it is, anyway. We do five of these a week, you're lucky it gets any numbers. I'm going to just start going one, two, three, four, five. On today's show, Bahama Breeze is going away.
We have a Guthrie update. Actually, we have two Guthrie updates, because things are happening every moment with that poor lady. Oh boy. Fishback is back in the news.
Florida Iguanas hate the cold for an even bigger reason. No. An update to the Florida No English No Drive story. I found some things out last night.
Okay. Then in cigars, Utah may be able to buy online cigars, Bococ is Boback in the news, Padilla's Cigars A, and we have a portal entry from the most portal guy we know, then we wrap the show up with a what's the score. There's a lot of stuff today. There's a lot going on in the world, Phil McGuffey.
But Mikey, before we get into any of that, how do we get into that CH Pod swag, and before you start, somebody wants to just buy their own damn patch and make their own beanie. Okay, first of all, the person who asked for that patch, that's Paul. Oh, is it? Yeah.
Oh, he wants to make his own hat, not his own beanie. Yeah, that's Paul. I didn't even look at the name, I just saw the comment. Paul's a part of the team.
Yes. Paul can have a patch. Oh, look at that, Paul. He's also got a broke lighter.
He's got a broken lighter? He texted me last night, his Powstanie lighter's not working. He's going to have to come in for that. That's what he said.
" You're going to have to stop in for that one, for repair. com for all of our swag where you buy one, you get the second one 40% off and you spend a hundred dollars or more, you get free shipping. Still a free shipping. I'm very close to having this beanie thing squared away.
How many more have you melted? I keep going back to like a test one to screw up. Like I already have a screwed up beanie. Ah, so I keep, So, using that to try and lock in and figure it out.
So, I think I may have it solved. I'll let you know tonight. Is it the heat application that's the problem? It's a little bit of everything.
It's heat and the pressure because you don't want to add too much pressure to it because you don't want to stretch it and break the fabric. Has the fabric melted on the test one? No, well, I mean, I gave mine to Phil. Right, right.
And he's like, "What's wrong with it? " I know that the fabric is screwed up a little bit, not that anybody else could tell, but I know, and I won't release something like that. Is it a problem because maybe it's a porous material where like the hat is a flat, solid surface and the... It can be stretched, is the problem.
Right, it's got some weave to it, so when you stretch it the holes get bigger. Yeah, so just a question of fine-tuning the pressure, I think I might be able to use the actual hat press that we bought. So, oh, I'm gonna give it a run tonight. All right, good deal.
When I get home from basketball practice. We will cross our fingers. Yes. That this is it.
This is it. Well, I mean... It's gonna be 80 degrees in Florida next week. Good timing.
Well, if they jump... First of all, it's not for you. If they jump on the site after they're watching this YouTube, maybe they'll be on there. Oh.
Oh. Who knows? com. Yeah, look at that teaser there, people.
Yeah. If you buy three of them, you get free shipping. Also, we opened up a new Postanya account. Yes.
Yeah, do you know the name? The one yesterday or the one last week? The one last week. Yeah, the one yesterday.
The one yesterday is, um, um, crap. This is funny. Something Tobacconist. Something Tobacconist.
Something Tobacconist. I can't remember off the top of my head. Well, we did North Port Cigars last week. We didn't mention that one.
We didn't? Nope. Prime Tobacconist. Prime Tobacconist.
Yeah, that is it. Arturo Diaz. Opened up yesterday. His stuff will ship, oh, UPS guys already come.
They ship today. Prime Tobacconist. In Connecticut. In Connecticut.
In Connecticut. Oh. You know the city? Um, I begin with- Milford.
Yeah, there you go. Prime Tobaccos, Milford, Connecticut. Thank you so much for joining us and being a part of the Posanya family. And we didn't mention North Cigars?
Northside Cigars. Northport Cigars. Northport Cigars. I thought I did.
I apologize. I don't think we did. Okay. Um, so yeah.
Thanks for joining. I am going to have been there at the end of the month. And it looks like Boss Cigars- Placed another order. Yeah, now back on track with us.
Yes. Carrollton, Georgia. Yep. Shout out to Corinto.
" I got a guy. We'll figure that out. Did you, you mentioned Iowa a week before, right? Iowa went last week, too.
Iowa? Yeah. Okay. I believe I mentioned that.
We're real close to Neptune. So close. So close. Maybe one day.
One record. Okay. And now with the news. Tropical chain Bahama breeze no longer a priority.
Shutdown begins April 5th. So they are shutting down 14 locations in the state of Florida right away. Just closing. No good.
They're just done now. Just done now. There's only 28 of them countrywide, but 14 of them in Florida are all gone. The other 14, they are turning into other Darden restaurants.
Oh, they're just morphing them. Right. They're going to remodel and turn it into something that makes more money. Apparently, these don't make a lot of money.
Really? Bahama Breeze? Bahama Breeze. It always looks packed.
We've talked about these before. The drinks are great. The food is terrible. We've covered this, yeah.
We covered how bad they are. We didn't cover their closing. There's something that you like, though, that's at Bahama. Was it the popcorn shrimp?
No, it was coconut. Coconut shrimp. Yeah, but you can get coconut shrimp anywhere. It's always about the same.
My wife likes going because that one over in Sanford, you can sit outside. They have a very nice, beautiful outdoor. We used to sit in that gazebo thing. The drinks are really good, tropical, fruity, drinky things.
But I always struggle with the food. What am I going to get? What do we order? Coconut shrimp.
Are the drinks expensive there? You know, not that bad. Moderate? Moderate.
There's like a margarita flight where you can get five little margaritas of different flavors or five of something else. You know, they have, I like to get the flights and then. Oh, do you? Yeah, they take, you know, I take little pictures and, you know, it's a nice little Instagram post and stuff.
Ah, so you do it for the gram. Yeah, I do it for the gram. It doesn't sound that appealing to me. I don't want five different options of a margarita.
I would just want the one. Oh, no, they're good. They're usually kind of unusual and they have flowers in them. It's very pretty and they come on this pre-printed bamboo piece of wood that says what each one is with little holes.
So you like the flowers? I like the flowers. Yeah, they're pretty. Makes you happy.
Well, for the gram, and you know, the more color, the better. Right. What about you, Phil? Are you going to miss Bahama Breeze?
Eh. No, it's not really your style? No. What I do miss, and I think they are at Darden Restaurant, if I'm not mistaken, is Red Lobsters.
Yeah. I'm surprised that's still open. Are they still around? There's some.
The one in Sanford's still there, isn't it? No, no, no. Did that one close? Yeah, that one close.
Oh, thank God. It was getting kind of tired on the inside. Didn't they like bankrupt themselves with Endless something or other? Endless shrimp.
Endless shrimp. Endless shrimp or lobster or something, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they hired a new CEO and he did some, I think it was Endless Lobster and then, yeah, just wiped them out.
I wasn't there for that either. I missed that. You missed that boat? Yeah.
What a bummer. Yeah. You would have expedited their bankruptcy. I mean, their food was decent.
Yeah. Right? Biscuits. It's, you know, if it's not near the water, Red Lobster's a place to go.
They used to be the place when you were, well, when I was a kid, you know. Mom and dad go, we're going to Red Lobster. You're like, ooh, we're going to fancy eating tonight. Right.
Right. Yeah, cheddar biscuits and lobster. Cheddar biscuit, popcorn, shrimp. I always get the popcorn shrimp.
Restaurant business is tough, man. Oh, yeah. So much spoilage. It says that their higher profit concepts like Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse are still doing well.
Yeah. That's like when you spend 20 bucks on pasta, of course. Right. Yeah, exactly.
And they get heartburn the rest of the night. Right. And they got bread, too. They got some dope ass.
They got the breadsticks at Olive Garden. And Longhorn has the... They have the Pumpernickel. Pumpernickel, that's it, right.
Pumpernickel loafs. There you go. Exciting times. So, I mean, that one in Sanford has to close because there's already an Olive Garden and a Longhorn over there.
That one's done. Yeah, that one's gotta be done. Well, they got the new, yeah, and two next door, the Hooters is turning into a F&D fish house. Fish House.
Oh, are they finally shutting down at Hooters? Yeah. What's F&D? F&D, like F&D Cantina, F&D Italian, F&D Steakhouse.
It's a Spanish place, isn't it? No, no, no, it's a whole chain. It's like... Cantina, but do you think that would be...
No, they have like four stores, four restaurants. All right, let's get out of this conversation. Let's move on. Hooters is dying like crazy.
Anyway, it's seen better days, too. Well, yeah, you got Twin Peaks. Much better food. And, yeah.
All right, now we get a... And, yeah. Much better food. Well, they're not, they're not as, uh, uh, chess driven, I think as Hooters.
Yes. Uh, you don't think they're chess driven? Not as much. Have you been in one?
Yeah, we go, my wife and I, we go to the one in Altamont, she likes that one. It's. And I like the beer. I like their homemade beer, not homemade beer, but their brewed in-house beer there.
They're like a mix of Hooters and Wing House. Oh. Cause like, Wing House was all about the bottom half, Hooters was all about the top half, Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks, they come in, they're just Lumberjack chicks, like they're top and bottom. They dress like Lumberjacks.
Yeah. Okay. I don't know where they get that many fuzzy boots though, but other than that. But the name is Twin Peaks.
Right. I understand the name. Okay. Okay.
I got it. Moving on from also another comment from BW Racing. Comments is in the middle. I have a place for that now.
Okay. Yeah. So hold on. So hold on to your comments.
Let's go to the next topic. All right, Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping update. Uh-oh. Another scary twist and a disappearance today, host Savannah Guthrie's kidnap mom, TMZ, has received an alleged ransom note.
Yeah, I saw that. TMZ. TMZ, yeah, I mean, where are you going to send the ransom note if you kidnap somebody? TMZ.
I don't think that it was given to TMZ for-- For what, sorry? I think that maybe, like, somebody leaked it, like, hey, here's the ransom note, and they gave it to TMZ. Oh, well, the way it reads is TMZ has received an alleged ransom note, demanding payment for the release of Nancy Guthrie. Do you think somebody leaked it to them?
Because the police are denying that it happened. Well, whoever leaked it probably got 50k. You get money for TMZ. I imagine so.
Do you? Yeah. They talk about at the end of the show. Really?
If you have any... Oh, yeah, you can give them information. They give you money. They give you money.
They give money. If it pans out, I don't think they just, you know, send me a check and I'll send you a picture of... You know, Wilfred Brimley eating oatmeal. Who's that?
I don't know who that is. That's the diabetes guy. Oh, that's his name? That does the oatmeal commercials.
I just know him as Diabetes. Wilfred Brimley is his real name. Ah, is he still alive? Oh, I believe he died of diabetes.
Did he die of diabetes? Probably why I did the commercials. That's right. Anyway, they got this on Tuesday morning, and it demands a specific substantial amount of Bitcoin in the millions.
And the note demands that the cryptocurrency be sent to a specific Bitcoin address. Is it, uh, Chen Z's address, or...? Chen Z care of Chinese government. I need help.
So, do you think that this is a legit ransom request, or do you think it's a scam? I was thinking about that, because the police are denying that it happened, so, I think it's a scam. Right. " I got her.
" Is that the house? I have heard that too. The outfit they're saying what she did not have on. Right.
But they are saying certain conditions that were left in the house is correct. Like to prove? That they did it. That they have her.
So they have been looking at, from what I read, they have been looking at sexual predators in the area. Really? And now her son, her son-in-law I believe it is, some family member is the person they're looking at the hardest right now. Some son-in-law or nephew or something, yeah.
So obviously not Guthrie's husband, but maybe there's a sister or something. Is this another Casey Anthony story? No, this is an old lady. No, I know, but I'm saying, is this gonna be like another Casey Anthony thing where they're like, it's Casey Anthony's parents and they cover it all up.
We always need a good story to keep us going, right? But here's, if you're a son-in-law, right, and you know that in your family, If one of the most famous news anchors on television is currently on television, like, you know, maybe you reconsider doing something like that, you know, that's going to go sideways fast. I mean, he really needs, I mean, I'm not justifying it by any means, but maybe he like owes gambling debts or something, and they're going to kill him if he doesn't pay, and he thinks this is an easy way to get money or something. That's what I said yesterday.
It's a stupid person's mother to grab. Now, uh, her, uh, pacemaker has stopped talking to her Apple Watch. Uh-oh. That's the new news.
Now, that could just mean it's out of the area, but that means then that she was close enough at one point. Hmm. Does she have her Apple Watch on her? No, they have the Apple Watch.
None of her personal belongings were taken. So, then I would imagine she got in the house after they dropped her off. It's not like she was grabbed outside. Right.
Because of her, you know, her keys, her wallet, her watch, all that stuff's in the house. That's why Detective Palmer is on the case. Well, I follow in this story because we're doing updates every week. And he's older.
And this stuff comes out like every 10 minutes or something else. Right. Okay, so do you think it's a scam? Do you think that the Bitcoin is a scam?
Or is it a legit ransom thing? I mean, it could be legit because there's a lot of idiots out there nowadays. They wanted a mask. Right.
Wow. I just said it right. Oh, whatever. Did you see where Palmer said...
Let's move on to the next story. Did you see where Palmer... No, there's more stuff in. Did you see where Palmer said...
You know, you gotta... I can't even screw it up. The helmet? No, he said something about...
Think before you talk. That's what you're supposed to say. Oh, did I say talk before you think? I don't know.
I don't know what Skip was upset about last night. You guys just went on a thing and I was getting ready to go to bed, so... It was hilarious. Skip's always upset.
Was this something we said in the show? Yeah, it was epic. Epic. I had to pull it because I got to make a short clip out of it.
Pulled me out of my retirement for doing my own editing here. But you said, hold on, look at it right here. Pulled me out of my retirement. They think without talking.
They are. They're thinking without talking. A lot of times they think without talking. Well, again, Palmer, we grab him from the home every morning.
Yeah. He ran into that table about 10 minutes ago. Yeah. I thought he was about to die because that's usually how it happens, right?
He's going to slam my thigh into the edge of that table. He's going to break a bone, going for surgery, then he's going to get, uh, uh, not ammonia. Ammonia? I'm going to get ammonia?
He's going to get ammonia. Pneumonia. Yeah, ammonia. I'm going to get ammonia, I'm going to clean something and pass out.
What's awesome is, you know, the guy who really always discovers these is David Morris. The guy, he is... Yeah, and I'm nice to him next time he comes. He's so analytical, he's on top of it.
Uh, so anyway, so the sheriff is denying that any of this has happened. He did a press conference yesterday, and he is not showing a lot of confidence, and nobody's got a lot of confidence in him, the way he acted in the press conference. Very small-town sheriff, and they were like, what about this? And he goes, well, I don't know.
I haven't even seen that yet. Right. Well, at least he's being honest. I don't think he's going to crack the case.
He goes, you're right. I don't know why they don't have that information back to me. Well, hell. Well, hell.
That's a great question. That's a great question. Anybody know what the hell they're talking about? Bobby, come up here.
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. And he was there by himself. He had, you know, normally there's a press conference, like if Grady Judd or Chitwood does, there's like people.
Right. He just stood up there by himself. They're like, I ain't going up there with you. I ain't going up there with you.
I don't know why this image just went through my head of when he was talking about the sheriff and these guys. Ammonia? No. Remember all the movies with Ernest and he had the really skinny guy and the fat guy?
Yeah. Those three guys all standing up there. Yeah, like Ernest is like in a weird outfit or something. Yeah, he'd be better off.
I'm not surprised that that went across your brain. Well, he said it was a small town sheriff, and let's see these guys. Pima County Sheriff. You're a big Ernest guy.
Ernest, first of all, do not disrespect Ernest P. Worrell, man. I'm not. That is a great, great guy.
He saved Christmas. Yeah, exactly. And Halloween. Did he save Halloween, too?
Is there a series of holiday-saving movies? Yeah, he did all the holiday movies. I just like the movies. Ernest saves Groundhog Day.
I like when I say Christmas. I think there is a Groundhog Day one. Of course there is. You know, they used to eat the groundhog after they pulled him out and he did or did not see the show.
Yeah. That's amazing. I saw a thing the other day that I thought was hilarious where it said, you know, what they should do is they should announce a Groundhog Day 2 movie. Yeah.
And then just re-release the original. Oh, it would be funny. Yeah. Okay.
All right, so as more information comes available, we'll keep following this for the rest of the week I don't think until something happens. So those are the two updates? There's what? Yeah, there's a fake ransom, and then her ticker is not...
Her pacemaker is not talking to her watch anymore. Yeah. That's not good. Well, I mean, it could just mean she's out of range.
Either way, it's not good. Right. Either way, she's been moved, or... Well, if she had passed a tick, the pacemaker would still run.
It doesn't work off your body, it's electric. It's electric. Okay. But if it stopped working, that could mean that that caused her to die, I guess.
Yeah. I don't know. We're probably going to find more stuff out like, oh, her insulin pump does not always stop working, too. I mean, I don't know if she has an insulin pump.
Did you say there was blood in the house? There was blood in the house that they found after everybody had been going through the house for their couple of hours looking for her. I mean, who knows what that means. You know, as an older person, you could get cut.
They bleed very easily. Yeah. Yeah, their skin starts getting thinner. Mike Palmer believed on the regular, right?
He's got blood everywhere. Yeah, when he hit that table, man, it was gushing. Yeah, well, it's all over the floor over there. Something like a Keanu who doesn't clean till tomorrow.
That's why I thought he was going to get ammonia. Yeah, I'm going to get an ammonia. It's a crime scene. Okay, all right, Mr.
Fishback, who wanted an OnlyFans tax, and he also wanted mandatory school uniforms for all schools in the state of Florida, is back in the news again. He's fired. Governatorial candidate James Fishback is taking campaign to social media extremes. He has joined Tinder to directly reach young female voters and promote policies around marriage, home, ownership, and family life.
So if you can't beat him, join him. Okay. So he's on there, swipey, swipey. Yeah.
This guy's crazy. He sounds a little creepy. He does now, doesn't he? Yeah.
He's kind of weird looking, too. Okay, so I got news for you. Yes? What kind of attention is the dude getting on Tinder?
He's not. Oh, he's getting his attention. Hey, would you like to vote for my stuff? If you would, please meet me at the Longhorn.
The stunt immediately went viral when Fishback jokingly ran out of likes within 30 minutes and claims he has over a thousand matches in a day. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it's a novelty now. " I feel like the dating apps have really kind of tanked.
Like people have moved on from them. They're just a joke at this point. I don't think so. I don't even know at this point.
You don't see the commercials like you used to. Yeah, and you don't hear about people getting together on the dating apps anymore. Like, where'd you guys meet? Oh, we met on the...
What was the... was it Tinder, the one where the guy who invented... I think it's Tinder. The guy who invented Tinder, his wife matched with somebody on Tinder, and then she left him from the guy she watched with.
Wow. That's terrible. I didn't hear about that. That's funny.
Yeah, that's horrible. That's funny. The best commercials was the one where at the end the logo would light on fire or something and they said they were the app that's made to be deleted off your phone, which they were implying that they match you up and that you don't need them anymore. Right.
That was the best one. Gotcha. Okay. This guy's just doing it for attention, whatever you can think of at this point.
It's all marketing stuff. It's working. Oh, it's working. We're talking about him for the second time.
Right. And apparently the news is talking about him for the third time. I didn't hear the part about he wanted every school to have uniforms. Uniforms, it's not as extreme, no, no, not as, that's not as extreme as let's tax the OnlyFans, the OnlyFans people, and then, hey, I'm going to jump on Tinder so I can save people, he's got another one where he wants to tax certain people that move to Florida depends on the state they come from, oh, really, some kind of when they buy a house tax, something added onto the purchase, preferably California, how about no tax, we don't have state income tax, I'm just, I hate the tax, it's ridiculous, you hate taxes in general, You just want them to print money?
They just print the money. I don't understand why, I still haven't had anybody explain that. What they do with the tax money? Pays for the schools?
Yeah, but like instead, why don't they just fund it, instead of just pulling it from people? If they keep making money, the value of the money goes down. Right. Newsflash, the value is down.
Okay, so they can't keep printing money. So that offsets it, is what you're saying? That's how they offset it? By taking it back from us?
They take it from you, and then they pay for the schools, they pay for the trash, they pay for whatever. Sometimes. Sometimes they pay for the trash? Well, sometimes they pay for school, sometimes it goes to teachers, but sometimes they give it to the schools and it doesn't go to the teachers.
Like, that's what DeSantis did recently. He actually made a bill that required that they gave teachers more money, that this money is specifically for this period. It's not for the school, it's for the teachers. Well, that was just, he did a mandatory raise for the teachers.
Right. Not like he gave them extra money for the raises. He did. He gave them more money.
Yeah. Okay, then that's not the money wasn't going there before, that's it, he gave them extra. Right. Well, that money's got to come from somewhere, and it comes from your taxes.
Why don't they just print it? Because then the value of the money goes down. If they make more of it, then it's worth less. They print more of it all the time.
And why do we need... Yes, but then they take money out of the system, too. They print it, and then they give it to BlackRock. Why can't they print it and give it to the teachers?
Who's BlackRock? The military, yada yada? Yeah. Oh, is it called BlackRock?
I thought it was called Blackstone. No, that's the real estate group. Totally different. Blackstone is, or BlackRock?
Blackstone is a real estate group. BlackRock is... Closely affiliated. Close to Philly, yes.
He was in the Navy. He never got on a boat. So, a better question is, why do we care what the value of the dollar is? You do care what the value of the dollar is.
You do care what the value of the dollar is. And we can't print the money. You can't print the money? No.
No? I disagree. They already do print the money. It just goes to the wrong people.
But anyways... Well, then your $200 camera might cost $500. Which one was $200? I'm just using this around figure.
I don't want everybody to know what we paid for our equipment. Okay. Another zero. 50 Dara.
I just used it as an easy number. Okay. All right. All right.
Well, moving on. Michael's a socialist. Socialist. I'm not a socialist.
Don't get all upset. Preston was just here. I'm an American. I work my ass off.
And I don't like paying taxes. But I do. Because it's ridiculous. We appreciate you.
Thanks. The military appreciates you helping to pay their salary, too. Thank you. Well, I appreciate the military.
I appreciate that. Except Boots. Phil. Yeah, except for the...
Except for Phil, who was in the Air Force, but never got on a plane. Except for the Master of Arms. I think that's a ridiculous job. We keep the order.
Police the Army. Navy. Military. Police the Navy, didn't he?
He policed the Navy, yeah. But the Master of Arms is a person that polices the military. Oh. Yeah.
Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Let them do whatever the hell they want to do. Alright, moving on.
Florida Iguanas are an invasive species. Yes. So the cold weather we've been having has been causing them, they don't like it. Lovely cold weather.
They don't move. They move like in slow motion. They're cold-blooded. They're cold-blooded, so they can't get hot.
Right. So people are going around and picking them up by the armfuls, by the sackful in some cases. Right. Hundreds of pounds at a time.
And if you take them to the specific fish and wildlife drop-off points, they gently euthanize them. They pet them as they kill them? I don't know what that means either. But I mean, I've seen pictures like at the back of a pickup truck full of them, I'm like gently, it's okay, little shot, I mean, are they just shooting them?
I think, uh, they don't, don't a lot of people eat them down there? Some places. Yeah. But they, they have, they have made a, uh, an exemption currently to where you can catch them.
Normally you can't. Right. Because I guess there's one color that's a natural species in Florida, but you can't tell which one it is. So they're just taking them all.
Just kill them all. Kill them all. Kill them all. Let somebody else sort them out.
What's the military? Kill them all, let God sort them out. Yeah, what's that branch? Is that Marines?
That's the Marines. What, that kills them all? Yeah, kill them all, let God sort them out. Yeah, Marines.
Yeah, not Master of Arms. What makes the grass grow? Blood, blood, blood. Oh, nice.
Yeah. So Iguana blood makes the grass grow? So you think this is a good thing or a bad thing? I think it's a good thing.
Yeah. Let's get rid of these suckers. Yeah, gently. I'm not for gently killing them.
No, just shoot them. What's the big deal? Just give somebody a machete and just chop them out. Yeah, bring them in in pieces.
We don't care. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, because they eat the mangroves and stuff, right?
They eat something they're not supposed to. They're invasive. They're pain in the ass. Somewhere somebody had one and let it go, and now they're everywhere.
Not just one. Like a lot of people. Well, okay, it had to be two, I guess. It had to at least be two.
And then they had to meet. Right. Right. Hey, how you doing, Mr.
Iguana? You're a boy. I'm a girl. You know what they're saying.
Let's make iguanas. Yeah. Let's spread our seed across Florida. Take over the state.
You're not a doctor, are you? Sorry. All right. So even the lady who...
That was the last news clip that we had of the doctor spraying his seeds. Oh, that's it. I went too far. I went too far again.
I went too far again. I looked for an update. Nothing happened. It was like two days ago.
Yeah, that thing is going to slowly develop. It's gonna be like six months later. Right. Yeah.
And now they're looking for their daughter. Eventually, he winds up in cuffs, right? That's the theory. Send me...
I mean, it's not even her egg. So, I mean, he's just randomly shooting and then putting an egg in people. He's just winging it. Bring me another one.
It's not hers. Doesn't matter. Send me a million Bitcoin or you'll never see your eggs again. They're gonna love him regardless.
Yeah. Well, they did say they love, you know, we love our daughter. Of course. It doesn't matter.
You would think, I mean, as soon as it comes out, you're going to know. I mean, I'd be pissed if I spent all that money and I didn't get... And you're bamboozled. Well, you got a baby.
I never guaranteed which one you would get. Didn't get the baby. I just said a. I'm sorry.
Read the paperwork. I just said a. You're going to get a baby. You get a baby.
Maybe yours. Maybe someone else. I don't know. Look, you've got one now.
Relax. Raise it. Have fun. Be a family.
Oh, so the guy's foreign. Yeah. All right, now you can read your comments. Ah.
Let me get to my comments. Do they make belts and stuff out of the iguanas? They can. They make boots out of them.
There was a James Bond movie where the bad guy had a tail on a stick, like a whip, and he would beat people with it. Okay. Was that the real James Bond movie, or was that the porno version? Because that sounds weird.
I don't watch porno versions. I don't remember that villain. " So there's that, thank you very much BW. And then on the day before's comment, which I loved, Mitch said that he's going to try the cigar chat next time he's on chat with Duolingo.
He's gonna argue with Duolingo. And the other one was David Morris, Palmer with another red The Red Light Special. I think a lot of the time they think without talking. Yes, they think without talking.
With the Red Light Special. Tell me a minute to figure out the Red Light Special part. That's amazing. Don't think without talking.
Yeah. You're better off. Man, that feels like a shirt, guys. I don't know.
That feels like a t-shirt. Let's just kind of trade on the beanies and the hats. Thinks without talking. That's fine with me.
You can put Palmer under it. Oh, it's gonna have your head on it. Yeah. With like a red light bulb.
Thinks without talking. Big red light bulb shining on the think without talking. Yeah. Yeah.
That'd be nice. All right, now I have an update and some information that I have found on the English or no driving. Okay. So there's only four states that only use English.
All the rest of them have multiple. Oh, let's guess. Do 46 of the 50 have multilingual driver's licenses? Correct.
Would you like to guess? Okay, one of them is us, obviously, so there's three others. Okay. Texas is the other one.
Nope. Really? Georgia. Okay, this is going to take forever.
No, it's not. No, let us guess. You're going to name 46 different states. Nebraska.
Nope. No, let us guess. It has to be Alabama. It's got to be the South.
Alabama, Georgia. Nope. It's not the South. Oh, that was one that Ben wrote.
Oh, then it's got to be like North Dakota, South Dakota. South Dakota. Yeah, it's got to be like the place where they don't inhabit it. Where they don't have people that don't speak English?
Right. Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Exactly, yeah. They'll never make it all the way up here.
" Arkansas has many. We used to have, hold on, where is it at? One, two, three, four, five, six different languages that the test came in. Six?
Six. Counting English and Spanish. So there's four others. Look, here's why I think this is ridiculous.
I need to see data and proof as to why this is justifiable. I just don't see the logical reasoning. Because now you have data from how many other states? 46 other states.
That do it, right? Is there absolute chaos in the streets of these states because of multilingual driver's license registration? I think Texas had like double-digit offering of languages. You see what I'm saying?
Like, what are we doing? It just seems like a waste of time. So, we used to offer the test in Haitian, Creole, specifically Haitian Creole, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian. Okay.
There's a lot of Russians in Central Florida. What do you want me to do? Are there a lot of Arabics? I would guess after 9/11.
That would be Middle Eastern, so. Yeah, I mean, I know a handful of dudes that are Middle Eastern. You know, but there's different languages. Arabic is one of them.
This is just non-commercial. For commercial, it's always been just English, which makes a little more sense. Okay. I'm fine with that, I guess.
I guess. But there's no reason to change the law unless it doesn't. Something's happening. There's overwhelming number of accidents where people go, I cannot read these signs.
I don't speak English. What do you mean? Didn't you see the stop sign? I don't speak.
Right. See what I mean? This just seems silly to me. Right?
It is. I didn't know we offered all these different ones before. I thought we just had English or Spanish. Right.
No. That was the two options. Right. So.
Look, we got Russian. Yeah. That seems odd. Right.
Okay. And Haitian Creole. Is there other language in Haitian? I mean, that seems oddly specific.
Yes. Yeah. And Mandarin Chinese. Okay.
Because that's the one most of them speak is the Mandarin. Right. Where the oranges come from. Yes, exactly.
That's exactly right. That's where the oranges come from. Okay. I didn't pull the story, but do you guys remember when orange juice used to come and concentrate?
Do you know what concentrate is? I don't know about this. See, there's the age difference. Where you have to add water to it?
Yeah, it just comes in that little goo in the jar. Yeah, in the goo? Minute Maid is not making it any longer. Why not?
It's not selling. Nobody buys anymore. They stop making lemonade, orange juice, limeade, and pink lemonade. They want the...
Everybody wants it already pre-made. Well, what are you going to do now, Palmer? Well, I buy it pre-made now, but I mean, when I was growing up, that's what you would do. Spam?
Do you eat Spam? I do still eat Spam. I like Spam. Have you ever had Spam, Mikey?
I've not. No. I know a lot of people joke about it, but it's good. It is, it's good.
It comes in different flavors now. Yeah. Do you fry yours? Yeah.
Do you fry your Spam? It used to be a thing for like breakfast. Different flavors? Spam and eggs.
What? Like pineapple Spam? No, there's like bacon Spam, turkey Spam, pork Spam, salted, unsalted. In the United Kingdom, they eat Spam all the time.
In Hawaii, it's like steak. That's a big protein source in Hawaii. It's a big deal. right it is there yeah it's good it seems like an old person thing no it's not well when i grew up we didn't have a lot of money then so i mean you know that was relatively inexpensive at the time what's changed what's changed i still don't have any money i still eat it okay got it i said i still eat it got it my wife won't but i'll do i will yeah like uh you know when i was a kid i always thought like corned beef hash was like an old person thing and then as i got older when i When I first had corned beef hash, I was like, oh my god, this is amazing.
Oh, it's good? Yeah. You ever had Scrapple? No, but I've heard of that.
I feel like you didn't have shoes growing up. Me? No, I had shoes. You were just like this country bumpkin.
No. He had them, but he just didn't wear them. Yeah. You ran around like Jethro from Beverly Hillbilly?
I did run around barefoot a lot outside. There you go. That's what he said. I knew it.
He had the shoes for church. Right, church, you're right. He had my church shoes. We eating at the fancy eating table mall?
Are we going to Red Lobster? Wow. Can I get the biscuits? I like the biscuits.
I really like the biscuits. I put my shoes on and everything. I mean, when I was a kid, I was like, you're kids. Well, you're the oldest.
Like, I liked all the basketball shoes. Yeah. Like, I had the Kevin Garnett's. I had all of it.
So, Jax is in this weird period where I just want him to have regular shoes. Like, just, you just, look, dude, we need a pair of shoes for you to wear, not to school because you have school shoes and you have basketball shoes. But, like, I need a pair of shoes for you to wear out. Everyday shoes.
Nothing crazy. Air Force Ones. Whatever. Right?
I can't get this kid to decide and pull the trigger on anything. Dude, I was the same way. It's worse, though. You want to know what he's like, what's my price range?
I'm like, I don't know. Wow. I'm like, I don't know. I'll tell you what.
You throw a shoe at me. You mention X, and I'll look at the price, and I'll tell you yes or no. You know what he lobs at me? Travis Scotts.
No. " An everyday shoe. " Those are really, I'm unfamiliar. It's all aftermarket.
They're super expensive. They're hard to come across. And they're like, the lowest priced ones are like three, four hundred bucks. Wow.
Right. " Like, I want you to have a pair of shoes that you can run around in. Yeah. Like, I don't, you know, you're not banging out of these, what are we doing?
What are you doing? Just buy them like some of those cloud shoes, or isn't that the new thing? I don't know. But even those are a couple hundred bucks.
Are they? I would spend a couple hundred, fifty, two hundred bucks on a pair of decent shoes for him, no problem. Right, yeah, yeah. But I'm just like, just pull the trigger, man.
Pick something. This has been ongoing since before Christmas. Like, hey, I want to get you a pair of shoes for Christmas. Right.
Okay, show me what you want. And then he starts going, well, these are nice. Oh, but you know what I'm thinking is, if I got this pair of shoes and this pair of shoes, then I could make different pairs, different colors, and I'm like, "I just want you to pick a regular pair of shoes. " Just buy them shoes and say, "These are your father-issued shoes.
" Yeah, here you go. No, what I'm doing is I'm going to cut a potato sack and put some string on top of it and that's what we're going to rock with. Go to Sports Academy. They have pretty good pricing.
That's where I just got shoes. We went to Hibbert. I don't know what Hibbert is. It's the same.
It's a shoe place. Yeah, same thing. Same concept. Couldn't pull the trigger.
I'm like, dude, just pick a pair of shoes and say, these are good perfect. It is hard. There's a lot of shoes out there. Yeah, but he's in the sports, so he's in the names.
Oh. That's how it works. I was just going for comfort. I was trying all sorts of things.
But that's the crap. But I don't care. No, I know. I know you don't.
I'm just saying like. But look, he doesn't have to wear Kobe's. He can get a pair of Giannis's. He can get a pair of Jaws.
They're regularly accessible, and that could be his everyday shoe, but I can't get him to commit. Yeah, but like I didn't want the Sprewells because they had the spinners, but that was the thing, but I didn't like those. Like I wanted the Air Jordans. I found these Jaws.
That was the first shoe that you guys have mentioned that I knew what it was. What's the Air Jordans? Air Jordans. The Yabos and the what?
Yabos. I don't know. Yannis? Yannis?
I don't even know what or who that is. He's a basketball player. I got a pair of Asics and a pair of Skechers. Yes.
Those are not people. Those are old man shoes. Well, you know, I sold the car, I had a little bit of extra money, and I needed a decent pair of shoes, and I saw two I liked, they're both under a hundred bucks, so I'm out the door for 125. Right, you're in good shape.
Yeah, and they're good for your back. Well, I have, my feet have been hurting a lot, especially on Fridays, after that long shift on Fridays. Well, yeah, you've been walking the earth for how many years? Right.
Yeah, since the dinosaurs. Yeah. You gotta get some good souls. It was easy, and you were barefooted, and you just ran from the dinosaurs.
Yeah. Like Phil growing up. phil when he was growing up right exactly except i wore fur not overalls right oh makes sense okay all right cigar news there's a bill proposing proposes allowing internet slash mail order sales for utah utah apparently in utah you can't buy things online i don't know if they're not aware that there is online shopping or they just don't like it yeah like you like you just can't hit the Buy Now button. This is the same thing.
Dude, this is so wild. Did you pull this from Half Wheel? Yes. Utah is currently one of the toughest states for cigar buyers with an uncapped 86% cigar tax.
Highest in the USA and a full ban on mail order cigar shipments, a double hit to consumers and retailers. So does that mean we never ship anybody in Utah? We don't ship... Okay, thank you.
Yeah, we don't... No, no, no, we don't ship. No. Utah, is that a state?
Yes. Is that a state? The new legislation would finally allow internet and mail order cigar sales into Utah as long as out-of-state retailers get licensed. There is the rub.
There it is. Verify age, keep records, post a bond, and collect Utah's cigar excise and sales tax. Post a bond? Post a bond?
Does it say that? Yes, it says that. Oh, my Lord. So we're allowing it, but here's what you have to do.
Here's what you have to do. Here's the regulation. You gotta jump rope. Climb the ladder.
You gotta jump rope. Send us a picture of your wife and then pay the taxes at the end of the day. Right. The bill was introduced by a guy named Jeff Burton signaling growing political momentum to modernize cigar access while still enforcing tax and aid safeguards.
I don't know. It just sounds like a bigger way to get more money. Well, that's all the taxation. It's just a friggin' money grab.
Yeah. Right? Yep. That's why he wants to print the money.
Do I want to print the money? Utah and Hawaii are currently the only two states with full bans on out-of-state cigar shipments, but Hawaii has just introduced a similar reversal bill last month. The national trend is clearly shifting toward allowing regulated remote cigar sales. More people can smoke, Michael.
You'll be happy. Oh, that's good. Right. Yeah.
Is that how that's going to work? You think so? Well, that's... Regulation will permit us to have more sales.
No, no. They're backing up regulation. They're backing it up. So that you can now do stuff there.
Oh, that's good. You know, as long as you, you know, climb the ladder, jump the rope, send my picture to your wife and pay the taxes. Maybe a few more years, they're going to realize, okay, no one's doing it. We're just going to let this go.
Yeah, they're just sending it anyway. What are we doing here? Yeah, this is ridiculous. It's so wild to me.
It is. I mean, how can they regulate any of that? You can't. That's just it.
They can't. Look, if you're going to send cigars here, you have to pay us some money. Okay, send the cigars anyway. Not that we do that.
Like if you send somebody in to place an order and it gets shipped to them, then that's where people will get popped, right? But... Oh, could they do that online? Send a fake...
Hey, just so you know, got you. Oh, I didn't think about that. Oh, sneaky bastards. But like you gotta hire that employee, right?
You need to have a whole... All you can do is set up a fake address somewhere. Send it to State Representative. Right, exactly.
You know what I mean? What is this guy's name, State Representative? Yeah, seems legit. Jeff Burton.
Seems legit. Seems legit. This Jeff Burton guy seems nice. Send it to Jeff.
He's the one who was making the bills so we could do this. We should just send us the bill. Yeah, we'll give him, let's send him some. What do you mean I'm not documented?
I filled out the UTL stuff, it's fine. I got my Deadwood on there. Alright, Bocock Brothers, our favorite pair of brothers. They are our favorite pair of brothers?
Favorite brothers. Bocock Brothers. I don't think, they're not, they're not my favorite pair of brothers. That's your favorite pair of brothers?
No. Oh, who's your favorite pair of brothers? The Hernandez brothers. Oh.
Yeah. Yes. Especially after... Her name's not as fun to say though.
It's true. Hernandez, Bocock. It's just funny. It rolls off the tongue.
But Pete's like, you know, this one guy and then Steve is trying to... Completely different guy. They trolled the one guy, you know. Well, they're celebrating Indiana's undefeated football season, not the Hernandez, the Bocock brothers.
The Bococks. With a new cigar. Yeah. The Indiana Hoosiers football team just kept an undefeated national championship season, and now are commemorative cigars coming to celebrate the historic run.
Oh, ooh, ooh. I have a great name for this. I think they already have a name, but go ahead. Do they call it the Hoosier Daddy?
That wouldn't be fun. Ah? Ah? Wow.
I thought that was good. Yeah, it was great. Oh, it just says the name of the school on the packaging. Sorry.
It's made in Honduras at an undisclosed factory. So it's another college cigar. Yes, but this says "Undefeated" on it. Oh.
And it's in a big box, and each cigar has its own little coffin. Oh, they really missed an opportunity here. Who's your daddy? I don't know.
The release comes in a 6x52 Toro price debt. Gentlemen, Freedom Dollars, because obviously this is American college. Phil? It's a Bocock cigar.
6x52 Toro. Let's go 25. That's pretty good. I'm going to go 18.
50. Hey! Got it. Box of 10.
Quickly, quickly, quickly. Box of 10. 270. 5.
275. 50. Oh. Well, yeah, it was close.
That's pretty good. I didn't realize you said 50. Positioning it, because you never listened, positioning it as a premium collectible smoke for fans and cigar enthused. So does that mean don't smoke it, it's no good?
I don't know. I've never smoked a cigar. No, they're positioning it as a premium collectible smoke. Yes, but realistically, a lot of those guys, they're going to buy that cigar and they're going to keep the box.
It's going to be a collector's edition. Right. So it doesn't matter what the cigar tastes like. Yeah, they're going to taste like a complete ass.
They're never going to smoke them. Boots, if you'd like to get some Bocock cigars, the pre-sale is launching soon online and through retailers That's two brothers with the official release scheduled for the first week of March. There you go. Continuing the Bocock Brothers trend of producing cigars for major colleges.
I like what they're doing. I think that's cool. I do too. It's a niche market, I think, that they have found and seem to be doing well with.
They're over here crushing. Right. Good job, Bocock. Brothers.
Brothers. There's two of them. Both of you? There's two cocks.
The Bococks. There's two cocks? Three cocks. Double cock?
Double cock. I really think, who's your dad, it would have been awesome. That would be a good idea, who's your daddy? But I think they're trying to make it look more like the college.
Well, it would have said Hoosier, because they're the Indiana Hoosiers. Not who is your, but who's your daddy? Yeah, but it just looks like the college logo, though. Padilla announces Canadian distribution through Lindel Cigar Importers.
Lindel. In Canada? We heard of Lindel before? Is that the chocolate guy?
Is that the other guy? No, there's Lindor. Oh, Lindor. Completely different, completely different Lind there.
Yeah. Phil? He's like, ooh, food. Padilla Cigar is officially entering the Canadian market for the first time, making a major international expansion for the brand.
Ah, it's the first time they've gone international. , with cigars expected to hit Canadian shops sometime this spring, including plans for a Canada-exclusive release. Ooh. Do you think it's a good idea, Michael?
What's that? Do you think it's a good idea to go into Canada with cigars? To expand into a different market? Yeah.
The Canada. Canada specifically. I mean, out of the entire world you could go to, they picked Canada. I mean, it's convenient.
It's close. Certainly. It's a lot closer. As far as importation.
They have to do any type of event. It's right there. You could go. Right.
Easy border to cross back and forth. Back and forth. You could pick up some maple syrup. True.
I don't think it's a big market. No? No. I don't think it's a big market.
But, hey, you know, what are you looking to do as a brand? Are you looking to just expand it and sell a little more? I don't see the harm in it. How's anybody going to know what their brand is in Canada when they have no bands?
Stick in a box. Listen, that's a regulatory problem. You know, that's a whole other issue. Apparently, he picked Canada because it helped his father's freedom from political imprisonment in Cuba.
With the help from Ted Kennedy and the Canadian government. I like Ernie. Ernie gets mixed reviews all over the cigar industry. Some people like him, some people hate him.
Yeah, I've heard that about him too. I've heard people that used to like him that don't like him no more too. Oh, really? Well, I can tell you that, you know, a hundred years ago when we were releasing SBC and we did a Caribbean Cigars, he showed up.
Oh, nice. And he bought a box. Oh. Think he smoked them all or still has some?
I have no idea. I asked for your opinion. You probably threw him away. Who knows?
Oh, Rich Rich. Oh, Rich Rich. No, but, you know, like, that was cool. It said Rich Rich.
Rich Rich, if you're buying cigars, you're throwing them away. It's garbage. He's throwing cigars away, Rich. I have so many cigars, I just buy them and throw them away.
You know, but that's kind of the crazy part to me is, you know, like, you'd be surprised at the people who support you and who don't. Sure. More often than not, right? In any facet, whether it's this podcast, whether it's the Patreon, whether it's the product, whether it's the store, you know, even close friends, right?
I mean, I have some close friends that aren't cigar guys, but they bought swag off of CH Pod, right? Oh, that's nice of them. Whenever I see them, like one guy, whenever I see him, he's got the damn hat on all the time. All the time.
Like, that's a friend. Sure. Right? And then, you know, you got other guys that you would think would support.
Right. But they don't. And they won't. And then, you know, when you finally make it like, yeah, I knew you did, like, yeah, but you didn't.
You didn't help them. You weren't there in the early years. Yeah, you weren't bought in. You weren't there for the lean time.
Yeah, for coffee. Like, if you start a business, like, what do you say? For coffee? What does that mean?
What? Well, no, I didn't want to say the real word when those people aren't around. You know, like, they're not there. Yeah.
Right. For coffee. I was doing that so that way it wasn't the real work. I just don't know what's going on.
I don't either. Anyways. Okay. You know, but like, you know, like Steve started a lawn business.
Hey, congratulations. Right. You cut all the grass. Everywhere I need grass cut, you do.
Right, you're the guy now. Right. Yeah, yeah. You know, Ernie hardly knew me, but he saw that we were getting going.
This is probably 10 years ago, and he's like, I'll buy a box, I'll support you. Oh. That's pretty cool. It wasn't even that, it was like, hey, you know, like, he knew Nico Suenio, I was like, they got good tobacco, good cigars, like, yeah, man, I'll buy a box.
I hope I'm there next time he buys a box so I can grab the cigars as he throws them away. He probably smoked them, dude, we can get them outside. If anybody throws away cigars in front of me, that's like a sin. Like, no, no, no, oh my god, don't throw that away, what are you doing?
Why would you do that? You only smoked a quarter of that. Would you pick somebody else's cigar up? There was only one cigar.
I think we've talked about this. Did he really? I would never know. " Uh-uh, not if somebody else has already been smoking.
Oh yeah, there was a guy that came in here one time, and he had a 50th, and he smoked like two puffs out of it, put it down the ashtray, and walked out and left. And you smoked it? Oh, I clipped the end of it and smoked it, fuck yeah. Did you even know who the guy was?
No. What if he had AIDS or something? Bro. What if he had AIDS or something?
You don't know this guy. Dude, you're out of your mind. You're so old. There's no AIDS.
Haven't you seen Magic Johnson? You didn't say it happened yesterday. Put your mask back on. You know what?
I'm getting the nose back out. Dude, I won't even smoke. I won't share a cigar that I'm testing in the factory. I was like, nope.
Me and Chet sat there for a second and we looked at it. And then you fought over it? Man, that's a fifth year? No, I still wouldn't touch it.
I clipped it. I was like, I'm doing it. I hate relighting my wife's cigar because she's such a wet smoker. The smoker.
Oh, God. She'll go, "Oh, this went out. " Then I have to take it in my shirt and I have to dry it in. Oh, Lord.
From your wife? Yeah, it's from your wife. It's just spit, like, dripping off of it sometimes. It's gross.
You wouldn't really light a cigarette for your wife? Think about how she feels, bro. Yeah, I know. That's why you can only complain so much.
I'll tell you what, I mean, if the scenario was flipped, I would do it for my wife, yeah. I might not like it, it might be a little whatever. Yeah, you make a face and you try not to let her watch you wipe the end off with your shirt. At the end of the day, I'm doing it, you know what I mean?
Right. I'll ask no questions. Right. Hunt did that one time with his cigars.
" Right. And he goes and he wipes it off and goes hand it to him. " You've smoked other people's cigars before? Me?
Yeah. No, I haven't. No, he hasn't, he won't. Intentionally.
Well, you accidentally did, I remember. He drank out of my cup in here one time, and I didn't say anything until after he drank it. Oh, wow. I think we were at PCA, and I think you accidentally smoked Greg's cigar.
Yeah, I believe that. Well, that might have happened. Oh, God, that's the worst. You don't know where he's been.
That's happened more than once. " I try my best to protect my cigar at all times. No. When we came up here Sunday, Keanu hugged my wife.
I'm like, "You don't know where he's been, honey. " Yeah, look at him. He doesn't bathe. She goes, stop it.
And I was like, no. Poor Keanu. So I went back to go to the bathroom, and his jacket was back there. So I took his jacket off the chair, and I threw it in the floor.
And he texted me later when we were down here. He goes, did you put my jacket on the floor? And I go, I don't know. Did the jacket hug my wife?
Wow, dude. Dude. Jesus. You're something else.
You're something else. It was funny. Poor Keanu. And I said, don't hug her on the way out.
The jacket might not be so lucky. You just jumped to the top of his list. Yeah. You were probably like, well, Palmer's always been.
I go up and down on that list so much for him. You were like four or five, you're number one with an asterisk. It all varies. Palmer's always been on top of it.
In the face, I need a closed casket. That's not, that's, yeah. " Wow, poor kid. Dude, you're a terrible person.
Oh, I love the kid, he's fun. All right, now we're in the portal. We're in the portal. We need a portal noise.
There you go. One more time. One more time. Perfect.
Okay, thank you so much. I forgot to add his name. It's Tony Gomez. Our friend Tony Gomez.
Oh, no. Formerly of Espinosa Cigar. Formerly of... Wyatt.
Wyatt Cigars. That was the other camera thing. Formerly of Luciano Cigars, formerly of Tony Gomez Cigar Brokerage. Okay.
He has announced he has accepted a position as territory manager for the Artista Cigar Company covering Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Okay. For who? Artista.
That was one of his brokerage companies that he rep. That's the El Pupo guys, right? I think it is El Pupo. Yeah.
Yeah. That's okay. I mean, they get AJ's stuff. They work out of the AJ factory, so they got decent tobacco.
It's a decent cigar, yes, I agree with that, but here's the question, so he walks into your shop, let's say he was your rep, and he comes in and he's selling Espinosa, and then he comes in and he's selling Lucio, then he comes in and he's doing Warfire 1502, Black Star Line, and now he comes in doing Artista. Do you buy Artista? I think there's one factor here that you're not really considering. Okay.
You said he walked into a store. Yeah. If he was walking into stores consistently and selling product, he probably would be still with one of those companies? Well, we know he quit Espinosa to take a national sales manager, Luciano.
I think that was the trip. And then after that, it's been looking for a place. Trip? Oh, I thought you meant trick.
No. Grass is always greener, man. That's the struggle. Right.
I don't know how you leave Espinosa. Yeah, and especially for this other company. Luciano looked him in his eyes. Yeah.
He's like, yes. National sales manager? I'm in. I get profit sharing?
Percentage of ownership? Oh. Yeah. Certainly.
And then we rub each other. Jack, fuck you. I'm going over here. With baby oil.
Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't know. I think Espinosa takes care of their guys. Yeah.
Sure. I bet they do. Eric seems pretty straightforward, unless you're Alfredo, because then you just... Well, he wasn't technically one of their guys.
He wasn't. He's not really agreeing. He's like a cousin. Alfredo doesn't work for them at all?
He's a terrible person. No, they replaced him with Richie. Yeah, dude, like a year ago. Yeah, a long time ago.
But he does bring me M&Ms, so... All right, you're okay, Alfredo. He's still foundation. We ship the COD.
All right, now it's time for... What's the Score? Excellent, gentlemen, excellent job. Thank you.
All right, this cigar is from March 6, 2019. Brooks Whittington reviewed the cigar. It is a Nicaraguan Pier 28. It's a Pier 28 Oscuro Perfecto.
Are you guys familiar with Pier 28? No. There are hundreds of different sales representatives from many different cigar companies. Few of those representatives can boast of having their own brand.
One such person is Tim Wong. Ah. From Espinosa Cigars. Interesting.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh. You're dumb. I believe that's Tim Wong.
Are you sure? I meant to look it up, but I'm just going with it. I don't think that's him. You don't think so?
No. Let's look real quick. Can we just say it is? Because that's what I'm going with today.
Oh, dude. All right. Team Money's got another comment if you want to go and read. It's not Tim Wong.
The ridicule that you're going to receive. Oh, from Jack. No less. Tim Wong is my friend.
Yeah. All right. It's not him. It's definitely not him.
It's different him. Different guy. Totally different guy. He is my friend, though.
Oh, my God. Oh my God. Completely different guy. Oh, great.
That's hilarious. He's in California, Pier 28 Cigars. That guy strikes you as a Tim Wong? The Arnold Schwarzenegger guy?
Yeah, I mean, I thought that was his name, but apparently it's not. Let me see what my boy T-Money wrote. Yeah, what did T-Money know? Something about the driver's license.
Something about the driver's license. That's what it said. It's not funny. Read it anyway.
I don't want to. Read it. Can't make me. Not like I don't have access to it.
Yeah. So I think the driver's license test being in English is the correct way. If you are a naturalized citizen or legally admitted permanent resident, green card holder, you need to be able to read and write basic English. A Mexican's driver's license test is strictly in Spanish.
It's strictly. Oh, yeah. A Mexican driver's license is strictly in Spanish. Hell yes, brother.
I like to think we're above Mexico a little bit, you know what I'm saying? All right, guys, give me a score. Pier 28. 86.
87. All right, it's a Pier 28 Oscuro Perfecto. It's from Nicaragua, from Lozona. The wrapper is Brazil Oscuro.
Biner is Nicaraguan. Filler is Nicaraguan. 5x56. Perfecto.
They smoked three. This is not a redux. Lizona Factory or Lizona AJ? Lizona Factory.
84. People don't understand how hard it is to get tobacco and then ferment it. Right. They think it's just over there everywhere.
Yeah. 85. He's going to stick with me. He should have went first.
It's so ridiculous. The clue will make him go first next time. Okay. Clue number one.
The cigar delivers a complex and enjoyable flavor profile early on led by cloves and And dark chocolate with supporting notes of leather, cedar, cinnamon, nuts, and a subtle maple sweetness, keeping the first half engaging and balanced. Phil? No, the next cigar. There you go.
No, there is not another cigar. It's a mini-game. This is not Monday. You go.
91. 84. Construction. See how different that was?
See how different that was? But it doesn't matter because there's more guesses. You should have said 90. Just screw with them.
Just screw with them. Construction is strong overall, especially after the nipple cap opens up. Ooh, nipple. The draw becomes excellent, smoke production is thick and plentiful, and performance stays consistent through most of the cigar.
Phil? 85. 92. Clue number three.
The final third falls apart flavor-wise as strength ramps up too aggressively, overwhelms nuance, and shifts into more generic hay and bitter notes, losing the complexity that made the first two thirds shine. Phil. This is the third clue. Yes.
Yes, now all we have left is the final thought. Eighty-six. Eighty-four. Final thought, for the first two thirds, the Pier 28 features a fairly enjoyable, albeit fairly linear profile, dominated by a nice combination of cloves and dark chocolate.
Unfortunately, the final third ran into issues, namely significantly less sweetness, as well as strength level, that increase dramatically, which in turn throws off the balance that was one of the best features of the first two thirds. Having said that, other than the ash issue, the overall construction was quite good for the last two thirds. And while people who enjoy mild to medium spoke should probably proceed with caution, I would be interested to see how this particular Vitola changes with a bit of age. Where are you?
Phil. I'm going to stick at 86. 85. 83!
Boom! Wow. I was so close. 84.
So close. I was hanging 84 the whole time. 91. You said 92 one time.
What? You said 91 or something, or 92. Yeah, just to be a smartass. Right.
All right, anybody got anything else? No. Where are you going to be? Well, I've been saying it every day, I was going to skip a day.
No, keep it up. But Friday, I will be at Leaf & Bean in St. m. for a Powstanie event at Island Jim's Leaf & Bean.
Okay. And at the end of the month, I will be at North Port Cigars in North Port, Florida. Boom. All right.
All right. Thank you, everybody, for listening and watching. Uh, Patreon's going to drop here tomorrow. It's already set up.
Patreon dropped today. Ba-bing. And it's a pretty good interview with Scott Pierce. So if you want to support us, check it out.
com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast. Thanks. All right, guys. We gotta go.
Bye. Bye. Bye.
Show Notes
On Todays Show Bahama Breeze is going away, Guthrie Update, Fishback is Back In the news! I=Florida Iguanas hate the cold for an even bigger reason now! and update to the florida no English no drive story. Then in cigars. Utah maybe be able to buy online, Bocock is boback, Padilla Cigars Aay, we have a portal entry from the most portal guy we know. Then we wrap the show with a what’s the score