ACHP 463 Cigars-Yes, Pizza-Maybe

Transcript

Welcome to Cigar Hustler Podcast, Episode 463, I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, is Phil McGuffey in Engineering. Say hello, Phil. And Mikey, uh, oh, uh, and as my co-host, Mike Szczepankewicz. That's it.

Oh. That's it, you just let, let me off the hook. He's tired today. I am tired today.

Yeah. I see it. You always start to lag come the end of the week. Yeah.

It's a long week. Is it? It always becomes a long week. It's the same amount of time every week.

No, no, this week we did a Preston show that makes yesterday an exceptionally long day. Okay, well, we always do a Preston show now. No, we didn't do one last week. Oh, we didn't do one last week.

Oh, we're going to do that. He's like every three weeks he pops in. No. It's at least every two.

We're going to get it to every week. That was what all that was about yesterday. Oh, I hate Tuesdays now. Well, that just means you got to do more rails.

That's it. Yeah. More rails. More rails.

So much more equipment for his show than our show. And less money. Right. Less pay.

Less pay. I don't even get free flag football. What do you mean, less pay? This one doesn't pay at all.

Yeah, but there's cigars when we do reviews. So there are little bonuses here and there. There are some perks. Circle K lighters.

Circle K lighters, right. There are things. People send us cigars. Not like people are sending me footballs now and flags.

By the way, Team Money sent us some viajes to review on the Patreon. Oh, nice. Thank you, Team Money. All right, on today's show, a Florida woman says no sir to an alligator with a right cross.

Pizza is going to be harder to get very soon. Uh-oh. In Australia, a 13-year-old boy saves his mother and his two siblings who got lost at sea. Wow.

And you've been sitting there for 30 minutes waiting on him, and you couldn't have opened that beforehand. It's been like 10 minutes. It's been longer than 10. Okay.

In cigars, we got some price increases, we got some new cigars, and then there's a What's the Score mini-game with a special cigar. Who will win today? Oh boy, special cigar, huh? Special cigar.

But before we get all that started, Mikey, how do you get some of that CH Pod Swig? First of all, I started to work on the beanies again. Yes. Now, I don't want to interrupt, but from what you said yesterday, last night was the final straw.

So either you had the beanies or you don't have the beanies. Yeah, uh, well I tried three of them, I made one. So what happens to the... So he has a beanie!

Wait, wait, wait, so you tried three, so one of the three is successful or there are three bad ones? Uh, one of the three is successful. So there's two bad ones? Yeah.

How bad are they? They're just not attaching, it's not attaching, so I gotta reevaluate my pressure levels or whatever. Right, which is what you said yesterday. So are they still usable beanies or those beanies?

Oh, so you can cover up whatever fuck-up is on the little thing now. Well, there isn't a major mistake on the beanies, it's just that, you know, I'm struggling to, I'm trying to figure out where the right point is to press and not destroy the beanie. Ah, but no beanies have been destroyed. Well, the one that I just, that we're about to send out to Ben Wilhelmi, because he did purchase it, I showed it to him before.

Okay. And he's like, nah, that's fine. Yeah, I tell you. He'd be okay with that.

Yeah. My head's called. Send it. I'm in Wisconsin, for God's sake.

He also purchased the last Powstanie SBC82 shirt. Oh. That's gone. Those are gone.

Off the market. Let me ask you a question. If you purchase a beanie and the shirt, is that still 40% off? Yeah, you buy one.

It's two items. He doesn't specify. It's not like, you know, not like they're buying a coffee cup and a keychain. Yeah, you get the second item 40% off.

Oh, hey, what if we did ashtrays? He also bought the Smoke and Subscribe. So we bought two shirts and the beanie. Yes.

He should have bought one. So he got free shipping. He did. I think so.

But he's got to be awful close. Well, first of all, Miguel Rocha was talking about lighters. We like him. Yes.

Lighters are happening first. Yes. Smoke and Subscribe. I didn't want to drop that, but you're moving on to the next thing here.

Well, I was talking to Mr. Groover for the First Responder guys because they were buying ashtrays somewhere else, and he's got that Vesol ashtray, and I didn't realize what a semi-deal it is. You only have to buy 10, so... Oh, I got news for you.

We're probably going to buy ashtrays, we're probably going to buy them from Pete Hernandez if he has that option. Yes, we love that. I mean, maybe Pete's got a better deal, I don't know. But as of right now, we're focusing on ashtrays.

You mean lighters. Or lighters. Lighters, I'm sorry, we're focusing on lighters. And I have to get your approval for the hat that I picked for RP.

Oh, nice, you can see the hat. Yeah, so just keep rattling stuff away, buddy. 719. Yes, realistically, we're probably gonna make 30 of those and that's it.

Oh. 30 and done. Big number for hats. Rare, no, they're super rare.

Well, we didn't make that many of these, did we? Yeah, we did. Oh, did we? Oh, I didn't realize.

Well, you made 20-something of those, 25 of those? Yeah, 'cause five were mess-ups. So, shout out to Ben. Thank you very much for your support.

Yes, Ben. Yes, Ben. com, where if you buy one item, you get the second one 40% off, spend a hundred dollars or more and get free shipping on your order. and then uh as far as postagna guys we'd like to welcome secreto cigars oh into the postagna san andreas corona gorda fold oh he is officially on kicking and screaming but he's here yeah i don't want him i don't want him no yes you are no i'm not yes you are okay fine yeah broke him What if we ever did some film masks?

Guys. I'm sorry. What the hell do you want from me? What are we, Walmart now?

Yeah, you know what, you're right, film masks would be great. You go ahead and handle that one. I don't even know how this one got made, so. That one's on you.

How about oranges and bananas? Get that done. Can we do BDP oranges and bananas? I mean, I love that you guys are just barking orders.

This is a Palmer thing. You know what, if me and Palmer make them, can we keep the money? Hey, you know what, why don't you make some ashtrays and some masks? Oh, you're making lighters and hats?

I didn't ask you to make them, I suggested it as another product line. That's perfect. In the meantime, run the wholesale operation, run the retail operation, run the online operation. Still don't have the underwear.

Yeah, undies are coming. Mark Palmer has nothing to wear underneath his outfits. Mark Palmer is by far, you know, one of the best. That's what I said, he has nothing to wear under the other clothes.

One of the greatest supporters. Yes, he is. So, we always like to try and acknowledge you guys, so we appreciate your support. Yes.

com. The Patreon just dropped of Scott Pierce. Yes. Oh, that was a big one.

It was a good interview. We asked him some good questions. You asked him some good questions. And thank you.

Boots and I had no idea what was going on through most of the show. And every four or five episodes, the old episodes fall off on the Patreon. Yes. So, if you go back, if you subscribe now, you'll get the chance to kind of see what it was leading up to it, and what we were talking about.

com, Cigar Hustlers Podcast. com, or just comment below. You done? I think so.

All right. I need a lighter. Wait, you're making those. Going.

One, two, three. Nope. That was terrible. I thought he was going to hit the light.

He really chucked that thing. Hey. What, you got a pile? You got a stockpile of lighters?

Yeah, I do that because just in case the fuel runs out. Oh. It's like the camera was running defense, so he had to throw it wide left. Oh, right.

That wasn't even remotely close to me. Bad news is the camera was on Palmer. Oh. Well, that's nice.

All right, a Florida mom fights off a five-foot alligator to save her puppy. So this lady's out walking her dog, never seen an alligator. She's got a pond behind her house. She never sees an alligator in that pond.

Never been one for years. She's walking her little dog at the leash. Next thing you know, the leash is tugging towards the water. Alligator got the dog.

No, Fido. Don't go poopy in their yard. Okay. Her four-month-old dog, Dax, was dragging him toward the creek behind her home in Lando Lakes.

The name of the dog was Dax? Dax, yes. D-A-X. Yes.

So she jumps in the water, starts a fist fight with the alligator. Oh, a fist fight. Fist fight, punching it in the face, punching it in the eyeballs, just punching it. It's an older lady, too.

It's not like, you know, it's some spry young thing. The alligator opened its mouth to get a better grip, and she rips the dog out of the, not rips, because the dog didn't die. She pulls the dog out of the alligator's mouth. Alligator grabs her arm.

Oh! No way. Yes. So she starts punching it with the other hand.

It's about to fight this lady's got going on. What a tussle. Tassel, yeah, what a tassel. So she got away, the alligator got away, and the picture she's holding the little dog, and she's got a bandage that goes from like her elbow to her wrist.

Yeah, it didn't shred it? Where the dog grabbed. No, apparently not. Well, alligators normally clamp and hold and then, you know, but...

Gator roll? Yeah, they do the death roll thing, but apparently this one wasn't satisfied with his grip. Or he's getting punched in the face. How big was it?

This had to be a tiny... It was a five footer. Five foot. Wow, that's pretty big.

That's a good sign. Yeah. Well, and then she runs in the house and gets her cell phone and starts videotaping the alligator because it's still in the water. Fish and wildlife came and they, you know, destroyed the alligator.

Euthanized it. Yeah. Well, they'd say destroyed, but, you know, same thing. Okay.

Same thing. All right. So, you have dogs? Yes.

You have dog? Yes. I have dogs? Right.

Would you ever walk your dog by a lake? Well, that's what I was going to say. I thought you were asking a different question. No.

We had lakes in the old neighborhood. No, I don't walk by the lake. It's stupid. It's stupid.

I'm not walking my dog by the lake. Especially, this was a little dog. I'm not walking my kids by the lake. Right.

I'm not even walking by the lake by myself. " and you'd just run the other direction. Yeah. Oh, baby, we gotta get a new dog.

Yeah. A new dog. You don't want to know. We just need one.

I don't know. I ran off. No, I wouldn't even tell her. I'm not telling her the dog got eaten by an alligator when I was walking it.

Oh, my Lord. It could be anywhere. It's all your fault. I'd be in so much trouble.

I don't know. It ran off into the abyss. I couldn't see it. It ran off.

She would know something's up because when you walk into the house and after you shit your pants, she's like, wait a second. Where's the dog? Maybe one of your shoes is wet. Right.

Where's the dog? And why did you shit yourself? I don't know. I got to hurry up, go to the bathroom.

I ate nachos. I ate nachos. I told you no Taco Bell. Right.

Taco Tuesday. Yeah, so, like, I mean, kudos to this woman for saving her dog. She had a fistfight with this thing. When you say older Palmer, she must be, if she's older, she's older than you, so she must be in her 70s.

She looked like late 60s, early 70s. 70s, yeah, okay, that's what I figured when you said it. A thin lady, not a big lady. Yeah.

But she had a right hook. Apparently. Yeah. Apparently she did.

Yeah, it had a hold of the left arm, so that was the one that had the bandage on. I learned this one from Sugar Shane last week. It's how my husband beats me. Oh, God.

I'm sorry, it went a different way. Jesus. Wow. I went a different way.

Straight domestic. Speaking of boxing, I heard that Floyd Money Mayweather is in trouble, like bankruptcy trouble. Yeah, that's what I'd say. You know, like he had to sell his jet, allegedly.

Had to sell his jet? Yeah. Oh, poor thing. And his commercial properties are tanking or something?

That's what the news thing said. Hmm. The money train has stopped. I guess he needs another fight.

I mean, didn't he just get paid? Yeah, he got paid like 90 million or something off of that. That's how he bought the jet. That Jake Paul.

He fought Jake Paul. Or not. That was Jake Paul, right? No.

Well, he fought Conor McGregor. Or Conor McGregor. Yeah, I'm sorry. I thought it was like 300 million or something.

It was something stupid. 300 and he still got problems? Yeah. He brought a lot of Cristal with that.

With that money. Apparently, apparently he needs to shave that posse down a little bit. Either that, or did he need it alone? I mean, that is kind of wild, though, because he did invest.

He bought commercial property. Yeah. So, like... Maybe he bought the wrong one.

Yeah, because obviously he bought the wrong commercial property. So what did he do wrong? He bought the whole... Maybe he was embezzled.

Well, do you think that maybe if you're not in that landscape, if you don't understand that portion of business and you invest into a kind of blind, you're going to get taken? Yeah, I guess because you sort of trust your, what do they call them, financial advisors? Right. Maybe this financial advisor took him for his money.

Or your broker, whatever it is. Whatever they're called. You've got somebody, a money manager or something. Or your real estate broker at that point.

Yeah, I mean, somebody manages your money for it. It's not like, you know, get my checkbook for the 300 million, I gotta write out a power bill. He usually walks around with like duffel bags. Yeah, Floyd's not, he's not an idiot.

He's a smart guy. Well, apparently not. Well, I mean, this sounds like there will probably be more news that will come out, but I haven't heard this story, but I'm sure more news will come out. Maybe one of his friends took it or...

It could be not true, but that's what I saw. Yeah, it was on TMZ? No, it was on social media. I hate TMZ, you know?

Legit, you know? It's like... Okay. Sorry.

All right, go ahead. Pizza's gonna be harder to find soon. What is that about? Pizza shops are closing.

By the Drones. By the Drones? That means a lot. Yeah.

Droves. It's droves. Yeah, droves. Because drones is a manacle.

The drones are the things that fly around. Yeah, it's droves, not drones. The pizza restaurant sector is contracting hard in 2026. Rising labor and food costs, high rents, and fierce competition have forced chains into restructuring mass closures and bankruptcy filings across the country.

I thought you'd think before you talk. You don't do that anymore. No, no, it's talk before you think. I said it backwards, remember?

Yeah, I thought you talked before you said it. I said the wrong word. Relax. By the drones.

So. If you don't think I'm going to get an image of drones in your head. I don't care. From a listener.

Well, now that Jesus asked for it, yes. No, I don't even have to ask for it. You know, I get images all the time. It's probably in the inbox.

Probably. Yeah. So is this like mom and pops? Both.

Or is this like, oh, okay, it's a big change too. D. Pizza, anybody familiar with them? D.

Isn't that a group that did a song for Fast and Furious? I don't know. They had 500 stores in 2014. It's closed a dozen, sold assets to Elite Restaurant Group, and has fallen to roughly 448 locations.

Economic pressure continues. Smaller pizza chains are going under, including Bertucci, Backdrafts, they're filing for bankruptcy, Domino's Franchise Group, People's First Pizza, and Little Caesars Operator Red Doors. Both sought Chapter 11 protection despite strong brand recognition. S.

locations. Why are pizza places closing? Trump's gotta do something. Well, they said rising costs, labor, I guess it's expensive to make pizza, rent.

I mean, I pay a premium for my pizza. I know, I'm like, this is just dough and like, what? Well, maybe that's why. Well, I do cover cost.

I do know Papa John's, because I used to work there, a pizza there only costs like 75 cents. To make? To make. Well, listen.

Well, when I'm paying 12 bucks, then what hell's going on? Well, Papa John's is not, is no longer, in my opinion, the affordable pizza place. Might be the only one left? Because even, because, you know, there's the promo code when the magic win or whatever, I do that, I still drop $70 on pizza.

Well, it's because people, when the whole magic win thing happens, people get over, I was like, I'll take the chicken barbecue, I'll take the filling cheese steak. That ain't me, I'm buying like two or three pies, I'm like, where the hell, how is this so expensive? Really? Yeah, but we got a couple of like local shops that I prefer to order from anyways.

Yeah, you'd mentioned that before, so that's why I look to see an independent pizza businesses are part of the larger trend, there's over a hundred in our area that have closed recently. The independent ones? Yeah. They're closing down too.

They're closing too. I better order a pizza today. You better stock up. No, I just want to try and keep them alive.

Oh, we had, we wanted pizza the other day, but neither one was that hungry, so we ordered personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut, they actually weren't that bad, it's been a long time since I had a Pizza Hut. Personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut, it's pretty amazing. Pizza Hut pizza is pretty amazing, it's just greasy. The Little Caesar stuff, hot and ready for five, six bucks.

That's great. That happens all the time, we do those. Yeah, you got kids. People with kids love the Little Caesars.

You just pick, you know, pick two up and be done. Right. Well, five bucks? Yeah, and they're like six now.

Like a large or something? Yeah, it's a decent size. You know, it's kind of funny that you say this, though, because if you haven't noticed, gas stations are starting to push pizza more, like 7-Eleven and Wawa. Yeah, but that's how you got food poisoning a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, yeah, I know. Trust me. Don't eat at any of these places. That's some food poisoning pizza gas station jokes from people.

Yeah, no, but if you go to Wawa, they have like two large pizzas for like 20 bucks. You know, it's not a great, great deal, but they're still pushing it. Gas station pizza always looks so gross. Yeah, I don't know how you do that.

I don't normally do that, it's just sometimes like I'm trying to grab something quick. Dude, you're a gas station food connoisseur, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm on the road all the time, bro. Yeah, but I mean, so am I, I don't eat gas station food, other than, you know, a bag of chips or something.

Yeah, I'm just sticking to the Doritos sweet Thai chili chips. Yeah, I mean, I see that stuff all the time, so I'm like, mmm, like, no, I'll be sick by the time I get a mile down the road. Do you like how he specifically mentioned a Dorito? A special flavor, yeah, I noticed that, too.

That's his go-to. I don't think I can even name a certain flavor of a Dorito, other than, you know, Cool Ranch or whatever the red one is. Original? Original or Cool Ranch.

Nacho Cheese. Nacho Cheese, that one. Yeah, there you go. Last Friday, there was a 7-Eleven sushi container out in front of the shop when I was picking up the garbage.

Like, oh, who was that nasty? Who was that hungry? That was not me, I promise. 7-Eleven sushi.

A decision was made. And it wasn't even spelled sushi, so I don't think any of it was real. Snooshie. Yeah, it was like S-U-Z-I-E or something.

The caliber of individual that purchases gas station sushi is the same caliber of person that I think would take the packet and just throw it on the ground as they're walking into a store. Yeah, it's probably one of the smoke shop people. Years ago when we were younger, Adrian and I took a road trip, a little vacation thing through the state, and we would only eat gas station food. That was like part of the fun of the trip.

Gas station food only? Yeah. How many toilets? Yeah, you guys fucking blew the back out of toilets.

Yeah, a lot of time in the bathroom at the hotel at night. Yeah. You guys are talking over each other a ton. Sorry.

Sorry. We get excited. I know. Yeah.

You don't like us to talk about food? No, you can talk about food all you want, and I can sit here quietly. That's no big deal. But no one's going to understand what you're saying when the two of you talk at the same time.

We just do the show for us. Yeah. Well, I hope... Me and Palmer actually get together and we watch the show.

Together. You're so funny. No, you're so funny. You guys have pants on?

Look when you yell at us. That's funny too. Yes, we have pants on. Jesus.

No, you don't. Pants on? No, we don't wear pants. Do you make him wear the mask?

Yeah, I do. Wow. I do make him wear the mask. The one that's got my picture on the cheek.

I like that one. Yeah. Oh, it is on the cheek. It is on the cheek.

Okay. All right, in Australia, where the sharks are plentiful, a lady and her three children decided they were going to go kayaking and paddleboarding. Oh my God. Okay.

It was a very nice day out. The weather turned quickly and pulled them out to sea. They were about four and a half miles off, or two, no, well, I saw one report said four and a half, one said two and a half, so let's go with three. Okay.

All right, that's a fair number. So, the lady realized this isn't good, so she asked her 13-year-old son to try to make it to shore. She was going to stay with the other two because the other two weren't strong enough to fight the current, and she couldn't leave and leave all the children there. So, the 13-year-old starts paddling his kayak through the storm back to the shore.

Halfway there, his kayak fills with water from the waves and thing, and he loses the kayak. So, he starts swimming. A mile. No, well, it said he swam two and a half miles, so maybe it was four, maybe he made halfway in the kayak, maybe that's what it was.

So the life preserver's slowing him down, he decides. So he takes it off. Holy moly. Swims the rest of the way, he makes it, he collapses on the beach, and he realizes he's about a mile away from where they started, where the phone is, the cell phone is, and he needs to call for help, because apparently there's nobody else on the beach.

Pulls himself up, runs a mile down the beach to where the cell phone is. Calls whatever the 911 in Australia, 611, whatever it happened to be. And then after a couple hours, they saved the mother and the kids who had now ended up being nine miles offshore. Wow.

Now, all the pictures show the kid with the kind of crutches that have the braces on his arm. Yeah. But there's no mention of him having any type of handicap or disability or anything. So maybe his legs were just super tired for the photo after.

Yeah. After the swim. Oh, so they tiny-timed him. So he said he made it because he was thinking happy thoughts.

He was thinking, I need to save my mother and my brother and sister. Wow. I couldn't swim four and a half miles. Maybe if someone's life was on the line.

I don't know. Maybe, I guess. I'd be in a lot of pain afterwards, but... I'd be working the crutches, too.

I'm not even taking the interview. All right. Well, it's just photos of him, and he looks very tired. I'm sure.

I'm sure, dude. " Do you think he becomes the favorite child at that point, or no? You would think! It did say the mother and father are very proud of him.

Are the other ones girls? What? Are the other kids girls? There's one girl, one boy.

He's not the favorite. I think the youngest one's the favorite, either way, that's the girl. Yeah. You know, he was like- You did so well, honey, on the paddleboard.

But your sister's better. He was like sacrificial lamb, right? Like odds best for you to save the youngest one is to send you out, and if you didn't make it, at least I would die with the one I liked the most. Oh, is that what it was?

Wow. You had a good 13 years. That's a little dark. Hypothetically speaking.

I don't like you as much, I don't want to die with you, so see if you can make it. I mean, that's a little, right? I don't know, so you're in that scenario, you got two kids, you got a little one, and you got a... Yeah, I know, I mean, that's such a tough call.

First of all, I mean, you had that situation. You could be out there with your two boys and your daughter, do you send Jax to shore? I 100% send Jax. Not because I love him less.

But the odds are... Well, out of the three, he's the obvious choice. It's always the oldest one. Well, he's the oldest.

Justice would get bored halfway through and try and look for fish. Forget where he was going. Yeah. And Teddy's just too damn small.

Right, yeah. If roles were reversed, if Teddy was the oldest, Teddy could probably do it. " You gotta save me and your brothers. Here's the objective.

Daddy's very big. He's not very buoyant. I need you to go to shore. " Because...

I mean, with the kayak, I understand, you know, 'cause... Okay, just paddling. Do the best you can't paddling. Right.

With no idea that halfway in, it's gonna fill with water and he's gonna swim and take off the life jacket because it's bothering him when he swims. I could see how the life jacket could become an issue. Like, you're trying to progress. Well, sure, sure, sure.

But, I mean, you're not thinking that, though. So you think he's got a life jacket, he's in a kayak, yeah, he'll be okay, I can see the land kind of over there. You said thinking? This mom was not thinking to begin with.

It sounds like she was thinking. No, let's think about this. You went on a kayak. You went how many miles out to begin with?

Well, they didn't intend to go out. The storm came up and just sucked them out. Right. Palmer, when you're, let's just say you kayak.

I have kayaked. I used to kayak. Okay. Yeah.

Do you go far away from shore? No. Yeah. But I have seen people that go too far.

That's why the lifeguard blows the whistle to tell you to come again because you've gone too far. And they're in trouble because they're dumb. Phil, I love you. I don't even think you can spell kayak, to be honest.

K-A-Y-A-K. He uses that website for travel. Yeah, no, the guy, the cigar guy, he's a kayak guy. What cigar guy?

What cigar guy? Whoever's like at the PCA or whatever now. Everybody's at the PCA. He does the classes at the colleges.

The colleges. Joshua Hversky? I don't know if that's the guy. It was the guy that I just hired not too long ago.

The guy that sounds like Zorro? I love his videos, by the way. Maybe. I don't know.

Remember, they just hired somebody and they said he's going to do the educational things and he's from, he used to work at Kayak. Remember? Oh, no. No.

Not like an actual kayak, but like the... No, the company kayak. Gotcha. Oh, the travel company?

But it's spelled the same. Right. Right. That's how you know it.

That's how you know. That's how you know. That's how you know Doritos, Sweet Chili, yada yada. Hey, I don't have a pull of the story, but why hasn't Half Wheel covered any of the PCA board, the new board members?

I haven't seen anything on Half Wheel. Have they done a press release? Yeah, because I've seen it in other places. I don't know.

It's a good question. Maybe it's not big news for them. I mean, they added two. Two people left, two people came on.

I think that's kind of standard. But still, it's an industry story. It's not an industry story. It is news.

I don't know. It's a good question. Because one of them is the new, is Joshua Habersky the CEO or the president? Whatever one he is, they brought in another one.

Gotcha. And technically, that still makes Joshua the boss. I looked it up. Here's a fun fact.

Did you know that we're one of the only podcasts that when we get news sources from Half Wheel, we acknowledge the fact that we get it from Half Wheel? Oh, yeah, we started doing that as soon as we started doing it. Makes sense, right? Yeah, why not tell everybody?

" Right. Right? Even if, even if we play off of it and we give it our own spin or whatever, and if you're a podcaster and you're getting this info from Half Wheel, like for one, ask for permission, because we did that. Yeah, we did that.

You know, which is above and beyond, right? And then two, when you use the source, just give them the credit. I mean, those guys work their asses off. I don't understand why another media source can't say credit half-wheel.

Well, it's illegal, first of all, for not crediting the source. That depends how much you change it and stuff, I mean, but… Right. That and, you know, I think like a podcast is different from an actual article place if you, you know… I mean, it's hard to write your own articles. We tried doing that in the beginning, getting on people's email lists and stuff for their price releases that came out.

Yeah. It's way too much work. Well, why would you do it if somebody's already doing it? And doing it way better than you.

Right. Sure. They got more money. Well, they're probably all smarter, too.

Well, yeah, certainly. You know, do you think they use Copilot or ChatGBT or any of those to write them? Well, only if they can add words like teriyaki and cocoa nibs, like, use the word. Maybe they sprinkle those in afterwards.

Use the words. Today, I'm having Coco Nibs, I was at the barn, I've had this... Right. Okay.

Oh, the mother's name is Applebee. Sorry, I left that out. The mother's name is Applebee? Yes.

Like the restaurant? Yes. Does she own the restaurant? It's spelled exactly the same way.

Like Phil's favorite restaurant? A-P-P-E-L-B-E-E-S. Hey, don't knock Applebee's, man. That's a good restaurant.

Tell me the number one thing from Applebee's. Oh, that's the tacos, the wonton tacos. The Wonton Tacos. Yeah, those are good.

We have, I think we've talked about this before, we stopped going to the Applebee's up near here because it was so bad. Right. But we gave it another try after like six months or a year, and now, now we go again. You took a hiatus?

Yeah, because we got two bad services in a row, so we're like, and plus the place wasn't that clean, but now they've remodeled and apparently new management or something, so. Well, the only time you're supposed to go to Applebee's anyways is between 10 and 1, and you said the bar, so you get everything half price. 10 in the morning? 10 at night.

Oh. No, by 10 o'clock, I'm home. m.? 10 to 1, everything's half price.

At the bar. That's wild. It's whatever's leftovers. I guess, yeah.

I don't care. We got these dumpling nachos that got spun back. Yeah, nobody ate these. Give them that big guy with the big head.

Dumpling nachos actually sounds pretty good. Dumbling nachos. With the mask on at the bar. Ask him, do you know me?

Yeah. Maybe now. Does it look like now? Look at me, turn my head.

Come on. All right, Michael, you got some comments where people said bad things about me and boots that you want to read? I sure do. Go ahead, please.

Actually, about me. Please go ahead. Oh, you're in this now too, yeah. Wow.

Yep. I thought I'd give great info. Everybody loves me. Everybody does love you.

I know. That's why we should sell the mask. They love to point out our mistake. Oh my God, T-Money went off today, huh?

Hey, I had a lot earlier. Is there new ones from... Uh, yeah. " Yes, I saw that.

That's probably true. " And I wrote back, laugh out loud, thank you, I'd love to tell you it was intentional. You know, I spelled that name wrong every time I typed it last night, across all the streaming services. Really?

I mean, I thought I went back and checked and fixed both of them. Apparently, I missed one. I have fixed it now, but... Like the big one.

But hey, apparently, it's a good marketing strategy. Real Smoke Pod says, laugh out loud, send me a patch, I'll make me a beanie. They're gonna make their own. I know.

Sorry, guys. Miguel Rocha. Hell of an episode, fellas. Laughed hard as hell.

See, which episode? Because they're not always the last one. That was Technical Issues. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Oh, there's another good comment from that episode. Mikey started singing that song in Instant Nostalgia from my boy David Morris. There was one other one that T-Money wrote, but I can't find it.

And he, oh, he, nope, that's not it. Maybe it's gone. But he was talking about the fact that the whole Samantha Guthrie thing. Yeah.

That she lives, her mom lives an hour away from the Mexican border. Yeah, I saw that. And something like this is actually more common than you would realize. I'm sure it is, yeah.

With it possibly being an abduction, that she could already be… She could be… Oh, yeah, she was in Mexico three days ago at that point. And they didn't… Maybe they didn't realize how big of a deal stealing this old person was going to be. Right. Well, they probably go, "Oh, look, her mom's rich.

" Or that, yeah. They steal old people? Ransom. So a granny… So the elderly thing for trafficking is a real thing.

I didn't know that. Well, I don't, I don't know if they, you know, it's for sex, but for ransom. Well, we, I mean, we can't confirm any of this, we're just entirely speculating. Right, we're spitballing there.

There's so much information that's, I mean, everybody's got a different spin, and anything you click on on Facebook, you know, you click on it, they get the details for the latest updates on the Guthrie story, and you click on it and it goes, look at this cure for, you know. Gotcha. Right, got, yeah, they might as well just say gotcha. Wait, hold on.

Because you can't find the article. Give us your social. Okay, you're not going to believe what was just said about Samantha Guthrie's mom. Oh, you know, go read details below.

Click. ED minutes. Oh, yeah. A lot of toenail problems, too, apparently.

One thing that happened last night, so, you know, we go out on the patio and Brittany's watching Samantha Guthrie's, and I'm sorry if I'm screwing up her last name, her kind of plea. Oh yeah, I saw that it happened, but I didn't click on any of it. And she's like, this is gut-wrenching, like this is terrible to watch somebody, I mean, like that's gotta be, you know, I know that we've poked jokes and fun about everything, and we've made a couple of light jokes about some of this stuff, but damn, man, when it's, I'm like, oh my God. If you'd like to take my mother, I'll give you the address.

We'll just say that. We'll just say she wandered off. You say that, but I think that you would feel terrible. This past weekend, we went out there and took her grocery shopping and all that stuff.

And then she goes, you guys want to have lunch? We'll go to the club. Sure, we'll go to the club. And then for the next 10 minutes, it was how much it was going to cost her to take us all to the club.

She's going to have to get a second job. It's going to be so much money. So Adrian and I went, you know what? We're not going to go.

We're fine. We're fine. We have other things to do, Mom. Connor ended up going with her.

And he said she complained in the middle of the meal to the point where he got tired of, he didn't want to eat anymore. Wow. That's so bad, man. Yeah.

I'm sorry that you're going through that. You left out one of the comments, Mikey's face when Palmer and Boots talk about food is the same as Palmer's face when Mikey and Boots talk about sports. Yeah, I didn't see that one. You left that one out.

I'm sorry. I didn't see that earlier. I just didn't see it on this feed. And then somebody, the Blair Witch Project, they associated to the episode where your face keeps popping in front of the cameras.

No. Because you're moving the camera around so much. Yeah. Uh, that was also, I think that was T-Money as well.

Um, that's funny. Look, you know, at the end of the day, I can talk about food, but the food that you guys talk about is usually just terrible. Well, first of all, I like all food. Yeah, well, we're well aware.

So you can talk about whatever food, what do you want to talk about? Right. I mean, I, we've broken down. Salmon, he wants to talk about salmon, just piles of salmon and salmon.

Salmon, salmon. Chicken breast. Salmon, rice, chicken, you know. Yeah.

Yeah, I keep it simple. No sauce, no flavor. - I don't care. - I love it.

- Because food is just a necessary evil for you at this point. It's just fuel for the machine. You don't want to eat to enjoy. You just eat because you have to.

- I enjoy it. I enjoy food. I like food. - Not like we enjoy food.

- I don't like sweet chili, pepper, yada yada. I don't eat that stuff either. - Have you ever tried them? - No.

- Shouldn't knock it till you try it. - Is that what the first guy said to you? - Yeah, that's how I went down. bought Takis.

Is that how you say it? Takis at the grocery store? Because they were on the side thing and there's a colorful package. She goes, oh, what are these?

I'm going to get these. Connor and I looked at her and go, you're not getting those. I can get whatever I want. No.

We should have went fine. Yeah. Why don't you say try that out? Yeah.

Why don't you give those a try? They're blue. You'll love them. Yeah.

Give you a hard tag. Honey, if you're watching, go get one of some Takis. Oh my God. All right.

Cigar News. Oh yeah. Oliva. I like how they write a word of this one.

Oliva and Axe. Max, the 2026 price increase. We have enacted. We have enacted.

We have put it out now. S. tariffs on Nicaraguan imports, showing an international trade policy is now hitting the cigar industry. Well, is it now hitting the industry or just hitting Oliva?

I think that it's always been hitting. I think that a lot of companies have been kind of holding off. Maybe they do a smaller increase. " Right.

" Yeah. They did 5% last June, and now another 5% now. So now they're up nine points. Five and five, ten.

You said four in the beginning. I thought you said four. Oh, did I say four? I'm sorry.

Oh, yeah, sorry, nine. This is just saying they changed it to five. They decided their math was off, and they did it to five. Right.

Okay. Let's see, the tariff rate jumping from 10% to 18% by late July, it is still 18%, I checked the other day. It is still 18? It's still sitting at 18.

So they're covering... Half. Right, which should essentially cover their whole wholesale cost, I guess, whatever, possibly. But the good news is, it's only their cigars, not the accessories.

Well, the accessories aren't made. Exactly. But those are even higher tariffs coming out of China still. Are they?

Well... Yeah, China has pretty high tariffs. I thought that they've worked all that out. It didn't come back down to where it was.

It's still a little higher than it used to be. It might be 18, I think. Okay, but... Coincidentally.

Yeah, that's true. Look, devil's advocate, how do you feel about the economy right now? Are you stressed about it? What do you think?

I'm not stressed about it, but until you start reading anything, you know, pizza places are closing, this is closing, this guy's going out of business, you know, all these guys raising prices. And then maybe you start to worry a little bit. Maybe it's worse than I thought it was. I had heard or read that 2026 was supposed to be a good year.

Okay. 2026 panning out pretty good for us so far. Well, yes, yes. You know what I mean?

Right. Like, it's freezing cold winter in some of these retail shops, and they're still buying. They're like, hey, we need a re-up. Right.

That means that someone's buying cigars. Yeah, somebody's buying cigars somewhere. Right? You know, online and in-store, I don't know, man.

It's not looking that bad. It's looking pretty good from where I'm sitting. Yeah. Yeah, the car's already started.

You know what I mean? We're not a pizza shop. Well, we're not going under like those guys, so. No, we're not a pizza shop.

I mean, people like pizza, it just seems odd that pizza is one of the, you know, the restaurant industry or whatever they're called that's taking a hit. " It is just pizza. Right. Well, you said they declared bankruptcy anyways.

I mean, they just declared bankruptcy. That doesn't mean that they're closing all their shops. No, protection from creditors or whatever it's called. Right.

So maybe something, you know, maybe all those guys took a loan or something back in the day. Maybe, maybe they expanded too far. Maybe Pizza Hut's closing shops because they made too many. That happens a lot with corporations.

Because I think Little Caesars is actually like a big sponsor of the NFL. I didn't hear anything about Little Caesars. Yeah, there was nothing mentioned about Little Caesars. No, you said Domino's, Little Caesars.

Domino's still has more locations than anybody else in America. And Domino's, they've made an adjustment too on their pricing. They're competing against Little Caesars for that. Yeah, that value pizza.

The five, six dollar thing. Domino's, Domino's. Yeah, instead of Pizza Pizza. That's correct.

But again, still, I like to support a local restaurant anyways. Yeah, I think, by the way, China's tariffs are at 37 and a half. Ooh, it's still high. But not 99% or whatever he threw at it originally.

Yeah, they're not Washington. No, I thought it was the same as Nicaragua, like at 18 is what I said. Oh, I thought it had come down to that, but okay. Nicaragua?

I forgot what I was going to say. Go ahead, Boots, read something else. I don't read something else. I'm hoping to get an angry text from Skip on this one, too.

Skip on this one, too. Yeah. Can you text earlier in the evening, Skip, maybe, if that'd be okay, not between the 10 and 11:30? I had to turn my phone off, 'cause you guys were going back and forth.

Yeah. " Yeah, if you're agitated with what we said, appropriate time to text would probably be earlier for Palmer. So, yes, thank you. Considering he goes to bed at 7.

Yeah. I don't go to bed at 7. It's kind of late, actually. But if I go to bed at seven, then I'm up at midnight for two or three hours, so that's just ridiculous.

I text you at like nine, and I'm thinking I got a 50/50 shot of you. Yeah, at nine o'clock, you get a 50/50 shot. I'm like, oh, I might be... but let me just get this out of the way.

Like last night, I went to bed at nine. Yeah. But we forgot to take the dogs out before we went to bed, so at 11, the dogs had to pee. So you walked them by a lake?

No, I just let them out in the backyard. Right. You ever scoop that poop out back, or no? Out back?

We pick it up every Saturday. Saturday is poop scoop cleaning. Saturday is poop cleaning day. Nice.

You know, they have a company that will come out and do it for like 75 bucks for the month. I have a hard time paying for something that I can do myself. Yeah. I agree with that.

Support local companies. If I can do minimal repairs or build, you know, a sunshade thing over the grill or something, if I can do that myself, I can't pay somebody. It just seems ridiculous. I can't do any of that myself, but I have good friends that I suck into for helping me with that, and they're happy to oblige.

I don't like having people come help. hey so i'm repairing this like do you have a hammer i'm like a what what what is that yeah never heard of it do you have one oh you did perfect so if it's not too heavy i can lift it i i go for things that are heavy i need help which is where i call michael come over this is heavy come move it for me come help me move this stuff i think the economy is doing great yeah i was gonna ask you too what do you think so yeah i think the economy is doing perfectly fine I mean, I mean, in my industry, people are breaking out the checkbook left and right. Really? Yeah, I mean, they're, they're, they're spending cash and it's like not for like necessity things.

Right. It's like unnecessary. It's not repairs, it's remodels. Right, luxuries.

Right. Is that because housing is still so expensive and then you go, look, we can't afford a new house, but we can put the new bathroom in. I feel like housing is starting to correct a little bit. It is.

Yeah. It is. Interesting stuff, man. I don't know.

I just don't like, I hate the gloom and doom. I hate the, you know. Yeah, I do too. I hate all that.

I'm willing to say, okay, things are a little tough right now, but we're gonna navigate through these waters or whatever the case may be, but I'm never like, sky is falling. Right. Here we go. You know.

That's the other brother. Yes. He was very optimistic the other day when we were talking about something. That's because we are working our ass off and providing.

That was the main thing. Can you guys do that again? Yeah. I'm like, I don't.

Yeah, we're hitting, we're hitting some numbers over here. Yep. All right, moving on. Foundation announces a price increase.

We ship the COD. Yeah, no, that's a, okay, so this is, here we go. We're getting closer to PCA. We're getting closer to PCA.

That stuff's starting to come out now. Right. Foundation company will implement an average 2% price increase starting March 1st. Okay.

Oliva started February 1st, so they did it, and now they're telling us. said that. Oh, by the way. Oh, by the way, that box you bought, it's a little more expensive than you thought.

March, just in time for PCA. But Nick Malello, he is this March 1st, affecting most of the major lines including Charter Oak, Highclere Castle, Olmec, and the Tabernacle, signaling steady cost pressure rather than a sharp jump. Oh. He says it's from rising material and labor costs, just like the pizza in Nicaragua, along with ongoing production challenges in the Connecticut River Valley as the main drivers behind the increase.

What would be production problems in the Connecticut River Valley? Production challenges? Maybe too much rain? No, it's actually the opposite.

Cold, flood, vain. Not enough rain. I mean, he did a good seminar about this in PCA, and he explained how it's sandy roots, like the ground, so the roots have to push down to get towards the river, but I think that the river, the water isn't as obtainable as it once was. So there's been struggles with this for years.

So it's drying up. Yeah, I think that's the case. I think that's what it is. I'm sure that maybe this will be Skip's angry text.

No, you idiot. This is what it is. Okay, perfect. Should we say the corrections he gave us yesterday?

No, no, no. We should do the one for the craft. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's not 20,000 different cigars. It's 12 different cigars. Every box is the same, but every cigar in the box is different. Right.

Not 20, not 200,000 different cigars. They're not like snowflakes. So maybe we talked about this before, but is there any cigar company out there or manufacturer that has created like a fake dirt or whatever and use this in like a lab or something, created tobacco from it? Because like it seems like there's more and more issues with crops and stuff, you know, obviously the elements outside or you can't control those.

It sounds expensive. Well, the argument is... Maybe in the beginning. The argument is that does a contained atmosphere change the flavor profile of these specific leaves?

Right. So, you know, just like wine in specific areas, you know, different soil content as well as salt in the air, humidity levels, you know, will create different crops. You know, if you did that, would that work? And I don't know if that, that question really hasn't been answered yet.

So... No? Okay, so nobody has done it. Well, he specifically asked if someone has made fake dirt to grow the tobacco.

Yeah, well, I mean like just, you know, recreated tobacco. It can be in whatever environment, I mean in a lab, right? But you're saying it takes more than just the dirt. You're saying that it takes everything in the air, everything in the sky.

Well, I'm saying... So that's the argument. Right. The argument is, you know, X, Y, Z, as far as everything else was, you know, rain for the season, sunlight, temperature, all of those things that make leaves do specific things.

Yeah, I mean, like, because the dirt should have, like, certain pH levels and all that kind of stuff in it, so you would think, like, they do this for lettuce and they do this for other things, right? Can't they find a guy who grows pot to grow tobacco? I mean, they can grow that in your, you know, they can hide it in your living room. And it's not illegal.

Maybe. Maybe. I heard that there's a company in Spain that has been working on hydroponics with tobacco. Oh.

Hmm. Hydroponics. I mean, it would be cool because, you know, there's been years where there's been certain crops that have, you know, not been able to grow because of certain issues with the outside elements. And they weren't able to grab that tobacco, right?

So, if they were able to grow something indoors to where they could always have access to that tobacco, then you wouldn't have those issues anymore. Right, controlled environment. Yeah, I couldn't think of the word. Okay.

Then they, maybe they could grow that tobacco that they find in the rainforest, so they got to bring out in canoes somewhere closer. Very rare. But they could grow it themselves closer instead of growing wild in the jungle. No, very rare.

I know it's very rare. What do those people call the growing it? Pygmies. Those are pygmies as well?

But that's the Cameroon. Yeah. Pygmies? Those aren't the Amazonians.

They're not really called pygmies. No, pygmies are the Marafels. Marafels made friends with the pygmies and they do the Cameroon tobacco. Yeah.

That is literally true. I always thought that was like a slang word for people. Oh, so he's been calling people pygmies thinking it was part of his racist profile. Yeah, because what's his name used to use?

Yeah, Pygmy. Yeah, exactly. Larry the Cable Guy. It's a real group of people that live in the Amazonian jungles or whatever it is.

Oh, wow. And they're small. I always thought Larry the Cable Guy was being racist. I'm like, man, why does this guy always say the Pygmy's down in New Guinea?

He's going to go, I'm going to go raise schools with people at the Pygmy's down in New Guinea. Right. Lord, help me, please. Thank you.

Amen. It doesn't say. About Pygmy's in New Guinea? Cultivated by local farmers in the Brazilian Amazes.

Did you see the first Indiana Jones, where he's being chased by those little guys, and he gets away in the airplane? Yeah. Those are pickings. Oh, the Spear Chuckers.

You need a red light or something. You keep running everybody over today. It's driving me nuts. I was in mid-sentence explaining what I just looked up.

You were mumbling. I figured you were reading to yourself. No, talking on this mic. Oh, it's too far away.

They can't hear you. Maybe you need, maybe you need, what are those things called? Hearing aids. Hearing aids.

I don't need hearing aids. Well, he has them, you just can't see them. They're those real small ones. Yeah.

I'm going to buy something. I've got a friend who's got the small, like I didn't know he had them. Yeah. And he Bluetooth's them to his phone and listens to music and stuff.

Really? Oh my God, that would make my life so much easier. What? Because nobody knows.

Yeah. Like the TV. " I'm sorry. I had my...

I had ACDC in my ear. Sorry, bro. ACDC. All right.

Freud. Uh-oh. Yes. Not Sigmund.

I got it. But Freud Cigars. Is releasing an Elvis-themed cigar. Really?

I think it's a little late. A little late on that. What's it called? The banana cheeseburger?

Freud Cigars launched a new limited cigar line honoring Elvis Presley featuring a 7x38 Lancero Vitola. That doesn't strike me as Elvis, but okay. A nod to Elvis reported preference with thinner cigars. Elvis liked thinner cigars.

Did he? Apparently that's what they're saying. With only a thousand boxes produced for the first release, the blend leans premium and complex using a Dominican Habano 2000 wrapper, Sumatra binder, and a multi-country filler mix that includes Dominican Broadleaf, Criolo 98, Peloto, Ecuadorian, Corojo, Viso, all sorts of stuff. And a 38 gauge.

Right. He crammed all of it in the 38. And a 38 gauge, just little tiny pieces. There's no Elvis Sprinkle Dinkle in there?

No, Sprinkle Dinkle. Comes with the ash. He's made of the Tablicalera William Ventura in the Dominican Republic. Oh.

He's making a lot of stuff lately. But I mean Elvis, isn't it sort of, you know, past now? What's it called? The Elvis.

It's called the Elvis. But there was just an anniversary for Elvis for something. Was there? Yeah.

Yeah. Just an Elvis-themed cigar, just the Elvis. Love Me Tender? No, it's just the Elvis.

Oh, that would be a great name for it. E. be called Suspicious Minds? I don't think so.

Oh, yes. It's called Teddy Bear. E. Called Suspicious Minds?

Suspicious Minds. E. Oh, okay. You mentioned it yesterday.

No, I haven't. Don't mention it because then people grab it. You mean who's your daddy? Yeah, who's your daddy?

That was a good one. That was a good one. Our first football-themed cigar we're doing here at Posting Cigars. But we're going to spell Hoosier different so we don't get in trouble.

With a Z. Right, with two Z's. Yeah. H-O-O-Z-Z-I-E-R.

Hoosier Daddy. Or there's a tire company called Hoosier. They do it two O's. Oh.

I don't know. We're going to use two O's and two Z's. We're going to just avoid everybody. So they've been working on this cigar for a year with Authentic Brands Group And Elvis Presley Enterprises, so they have permission from the family.

Well, that's good. Ensuring the Elvis name and likeness were officially licensed with plans already in place to make the line a regular release. That's kind of cool working with that family. Who's running it?

How do you know it's a family? It's Elvis Presley Enterprises. That doesn't mean it's, you know, Mama Presley. Right.

Oh. I guess at this point... It's just his daughter left, right? Priscilla?

Yeah. Priscilla died, didn't she? I have no idea. I think, well, if you only had something in your hand where you could look these things up, but we run the show.

Oh, that's a cigar. Mikey's looking it up, just don't talk over it when he finds it. Right. Because we'll never know.

All right, then they talk about the agape, my favorite cigar that I can't say. They made that with Eladio Diaz, our friend Eladio. Eladio. Eladio.

Mario's brother. It doesn't say that Priscilla's dead. Maybe she's not. She's got to be really old as well.

I know she had some really bad plastic surgery. It was so funny. " What, was he down in Nicaragua when you were there, too? No, no, no.

That was from a movie. " He's like, "I saw Emilio. " Sorry. You know, he's really good friends with Tom Cruise.

Emilio Estevez? Yeah. Yeah, she's still alive. Oh, good for her.

It has been confirmed. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, this just in! She is alive. She wasn't married to him long, six years.

Well, she was underage when they started, so they don't count some of that. Yeah, didn't he die? No, they do count it, but she was underage. I think he married her like 15 or something.

Really? I'm guessing, I don't know, allegedly or whatever the word is, so I don't get sued. Yeah, please don't sue me. All right, Juarez is coming out with a mini dozer.

I saw this, this is, I actually want to try this cigar. When you were looking at the scores for the review? No. I saw it on Facebook yesterday.

Juarez Mini Dozer LE 2026 is coming this month! Are we getting the Mini Dozer? I haven't heard from our rep yet, but I'm sure we will. Who is our rep?

Wait, the guy was just here? Yeah. Carlos. I think he would have pitched that.

Well, he was here. Yeah. You would think. Maybe he didn't know.

Maybe. Crownheads is bringing back the bulldozer concept in a shorter, more time-friendly format The Juarez Mini Dozer 2026, the 4x8, 4x58 box pressed cigar with a pigtail cap. Okay. Same box and everything.

Same fillers and everything. Crown has been doing a lot of good things. Like the last, I don't know, year or so. I like the Tennessee Waltz.

Yeah. And it being regular production. Mm-hmm. And the Broadway's good.

Yeah, a lot of, they've, they've, they've, they've hit a couple. Yeah, the Broadway's good. I had my lows. They've hit a couple of good ones out of the park recently.

Recently. All right, they're making 1,500 boxes of 12 cigars. Price, gentlemen? It's a little cigar.

Boots? Phil? I would think this one's probably Crown Heads. Crown Heads?

Nine. That's a good price. I'm going to say eight. 85.

Yeah. You went the wrong way. I had no choice. At 10, you would have won.

I had no choice. Yeah. Making it a compact, but still powerhouse limited release. According to co-founder John Huber, The mini dozer delivers the same punchy flavors, dark chocolate, oak, pepper, earth, and subtle sweetness, no cocoa nibs.

Uh oh. Just without the long smoke time. Because it's cold. People like shorter cigars when it's cold.

Is that how that works? It's what people like. Then explain to me why we're selling Toros. It's not cold here.

Across the nation. Well, it's because it's the most popular size. They're getting ready. I'm not saying they're smoking it outside.

They're waiting for spring. They're getting ready. I'll be honest with you, it was just cold here recently, right? Yeah.

It's like 27 degrees outside. Okay. I didn't smoke one cigar in the cold because I was trying to concentrate on surviving outside. You weren't going to die.

It's because you have no sack. It didn't change anything for me. I smoked the same amount of cigars outside the whole time. Oh, I didn't smoke outside.

I'm about to have a child. That's why we came up here Sunday. I had a cigar here instead of outside. He just said, well, I'm about to have a child.

Yeah, your wife's already done. I saw your wife the day before yesterday, and she said she's already finished. She's done. Yeah, she's over it.

Take the baby. Now I'm done. Yep. Yep.

That's always what happens when you get older. We're still in early phases here. Yeah, first quarter or first third. First quarter.

First third, if you will. First trimester? Yeah, there's three trimesters. First third.

I'm in the first third of my pregnancy. You know, I put my shoes on, call me inside, and I said, This is the first third of the baby being born. By the way, the cats love your couch over there, by the way, just so you know. Is it on the dump trailer yet?

Yep, I see the cats over there all the time now. This is great. We have our own couch. Man, I went up to Circle K the other day, and there was a raccoon.

Have you seen this raccoon outside? Oh, our raccoon is very brazen now. He's out in the daytime. He's super fat.

I saw him yesterday. Yeah, because there's a lady feeding him over there. Is that what it is? Yeah.

So I went over to Circle K and like, first of all, you could make this a whole video, If you really wanted to. He attacked Keanu. Yeah, he followed Keanu. He thought Keanu was bringing him food.

Yeah, that's what he, I got out of the truck and he looked at me, right? And it's like, I don't know, man, raccoons, when they give them glassy eyes, I think they have rabies. Right. So, like, I seen these glassy eyes, I was like, hey, bro, what you, what you want?

You know, he's like, he's coming closer, coming closer. I'd like you to go get some of that food in there and get it to me. Hey, man, you better stop. And he started running at me, so I ran into the truck.

Oh God. It just went to park his car out back, the thing just sitting in the parking place, wouldn't move. Yeah, so I took, I had a french fry in the truck, so I threw a french fry as far as I could, and he ran after it, and I went in the circle carrier real quick. Son of a bitch threw the fry.

That was, that was a tough decision for you. It was. Yeah. You could see his hands shaking as he got the fry.

How long has it been on the floor? Like this? Yeah. He saw an M&M instead, so he ate that and he put in the thing.

Yeah. All right, bonus phone fact. Yeah. I have a bonus fun fact, Juarez line is inspired by Cocaine Blues with Vitola names pulled from the song Storyline.

Correct. Well, yeah, I was telling people. Yeah. It wasn't a question.

No, yeah, but that's... I assumed it was. Mikey was just confirming it. Yeah.

Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate that. You're welcome. All right, it's time for the industry's favorite game.

What's the score? Today's Cigar from October 28, 2023, Brooks Whittington, Artesno Del Tobacco Cigars, Nicaragua Reviews, the El Pupo Octo Ocho. Octo Ocho. Do you remember your answer to the portal sound?

Can we hear that again? Phil, from yesterday? I don't remember. Alright, scores, gentlemen.

El Pupo Octo Ocho. I'll go first. By Brooks? Yes.

Ninety. Eighty-nine. Eighty-nine? Yep.

El Pupo Octo Ocho from Nicaragua, from the San Latino factory, I was not aware. Delicious. Wrappers, what? Delicious.

Mexican San Andreas wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, Nicaraguan filler, it's a 7x38. is a Culebra 1333. Culebra? Can you say that word again?

Culebra. I put it on here phonetically, so I say it right. Okay. It is three cigars boots weaved together.

Yes, I've seen them. Okay, just making sure you knew what it was. I think you gave me one one time. I don't know.

89. It means snake in Spanish. I didn't realize that was the size. Yeah, I think it's really a weird thing to smoke.

Do you know why it was created? Well, yeah, it's for smoking with your friends, right? No. No.

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Go ahead, Palmer, Palmer. Because the workers are only allowed to take one cigar out of the factory, so by weaving three together, it becomes one cigar, and they actually get three cigars. Correct.

That's not what Palmer told me. Point for me. Palmer told me it is to smoke with your friends. You're supposed to give one to each friend, and then you guys smoke them.

Is that how that works? I don't have friends I'm giving cigars to. You don't? Oh, well, I do, but I don't want him to hit me up for cigars all the time.

Do you guys guess new cigars? Uh, no, sorry. They smoked three of them. Yeah, I lowered mine to 89, so he could lower his.

What did he say? Um, I will stay at 89. Welcome, welcome, Mikey. Clue number one.

The cigar delivers layers of espresso, leather, oak, cocoa nibs, He loves it. Coconibs, dark chocolate, peanuts, standout maple syrup sweetness on the retrohale that keeps developing through each third. 90. Yeah, 91.

He should make a shirt with Brooks' face on it and just says Coconibs. I love Coconibs. Well, he said the peanuts and all that like that. Last time he said that, it was a horrible cigar, but he rated it a 93.

I remember because we had a conversation about it. You're so angry. Alright, clue number two. Draws were consistently smooth with strong smoke production, and most cigars burn cleanly with minimal issues, showing solid craftsmanship for a complex Culebra-style smoke.

Ninety. Does that mean he smoked all three? So when he says he smoked three cigars, did he smoke three groups of cigars? Or three...

Great question. curly cigars? Great question. Good question.

Go either way. Can we get these guys on the show one time? Dude, any time. Yeah.

We should have him read one of his own. Oh, we should play What's the Score with one of the guys from What's the Score? Yeah. Oh, that'd be so good.

With one that hasn't come out yet. I don't know if you get away with that. No, you should play like, if you're playing with, who are we reading right now? Brooks.

Brooks. We should do a Charlie. Oh, or get the guy that lives nearby to come in and we'll have him read it. Brian.

Ryan. Ryan. I might have his phone number. 90.

Here, what do you want? Do you already say? Oh, sorry. Yeah, I said that, too, so he's just going to copy me.

Clue number three. Two of the three cigars required small burn corrections in the second and final thirds, which slightly disrupted an otherwise well-performing smoke. 91. See that?

Bad news. I went up just to get off of you. Final Thought: I've always enjoyed smoking a Coulibra, and it helps when the blend is enjoyable as well. Thankfully, the latter is not an issue for El Pupo Octo Ocho, as main flavors of oak, cocoa nibs, and leather combined with some distinct maple syrup sweetness on the retrohale.

Having said that, the combination of black pepper and full string does an impact on the enjoyment of the final third. And while the overall construction was quite good, two cigars needed multiple corrections with my lighter to avoid larger issues, in the end, I enjoyed the El Pupo Acto Ocho, quite a bit for the cigar it is now, but I think that sometime aging, outside of their coffins and box, natch, will do wonders for the blends, balance, and the final third down the road. I think he means natural. Okay.

I'm going to say 90. This is the third clue, right? That's it. You're done.

That was the final thought. Oh, that's the final thought. Should have been paying attention. It's over.

It's over, Johnny. 89. 89. 89.

And what was yours? 90. 87. Yeah, baby!

Wow! He used the word "coco nibs" and it didn't rank at a 90. That's the second time. No method to his madness.

Yeah, he's gonna have to give up the "coco nib". You know what, Palmer's finding ones. No, I'm going by the names, I like the names of them now. That was a good one.

I go for the names and then scores. Do you think the score got taken down because of the type of cigar that was? No, it was construction. Construction gave a problem.

He had to keep lighting the thing. Yeah. Okay, where are you going to be? He said it was just okay.

Where are you going to be? This Friday, I will be at Leaf and Bean in St. Augustine with Island Jim. , come on down.

Which means today. Yes, today, tonight, I will be at Leaf and Bean with Island Jim. Island Jim will be there because he likes me. He likes to show up when I'm there.

He's a sweet man. Now I've got to know him, he's very nice. And what else? You got one other one.

I'll be at Northport Cigars. I believe it is the 25th. It's a midday event because he's got a big crowd on middays that day. Okay.

And where's that at? Northport. Northport Cigars in Northport, Florida. Perfect.

I think it starts at 1. Okay. All right. Anything else to add?

Nope. All right. Well, hey, thank you very much for viewing and watching. Like and subscribe wherever you're watching or viewing this show.

Are you doing any more podcasts you want to say you're doing? I know I got, I'm going on Simply Stogie's here pretty soon. I've got one in March, but it's not till I think the middle of March. Did one of you guys go on down the hearth?

I did. Mikey just did down the hearth. Yeah. Why did they have a guy in a suit?

I don't know. Yeah, that was supposed to be you. Was it? Or maybe it's supposed to be me, because I think it's a white haired guy in a suit, but I wasn't on the show.

I was gonna say, because, yeah, because I've never seen Mikey, well, I've seen him wear a suit one time, yeah. Funeral? No, no, no, it was at a charity event. Oh.

Oh, the dinner. At the school? Yep. Oh, yeah.

All right. All right, guys. Thank you very much. We gotta go.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Show Notes

On todays Show Florida woman says no Sir to an alligator with a right cross!.  Pizza is going to be harder to get soon!   And in Australia a 13 yr old saves his mother and two siblings who got lost at sea! In cigars some prices increases some new cigars and then a mini game of what’s the score!