ACHP 497 From FBI Fails to Cigar Pills, You Can't Make This Up

Episode Summary

Mike Palmer, Mikey Szczepankiewicz and engineer Phil McGuffey open with listener comments (best movie and TV cars, guest rankings) and PCA New Orleans logistics — including where the Powstanie/Cigar Hustler booth landed on the trade show floor and how to book a retailer or media appointment. Michael Rosales of RoManCraft calls in live for a TSA "ground report" from Tampa, which spins into a broader conversation about the government shutdown, unpaid TSA and Coast Guard workers, and whether airport security should be privatized.

The news block covers the hack of FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email by an Iran-linked group — where the most "damaging" leaked image turned out to be a 2013 photo of him holding and sniffing a cigar in Cuba — and a Frontier Airlines passenger arrested after refusing to agree to the exit-row duties. The hosts also dig into Florida's population boom (Orlando metro, Seminole, Lake and Monroe counties) and a long, meandering riff on Cuba's economic collapse under Miguel Díaz-Canel, whether the regime could fall in 2026, and the history of the old wet foot/dry foot immigration policy.

In cigar news: German Engineered Cigars announced Akut, a 4x50 Petit Robusto released in pharmaceutical-style blister "pill" packaging developed with a German pill supplier — sealed, portable, and per co-founder Oliver Nichols, requiring no humidor. The guys debate whether pushing a cigar through foil damages its integrity. Also covered: the Eladio Diaz 73rd Aniversario Unforgettable Edition, an all-Dominican, eight-tobacco blend (Corojo seed wrapper, Sumatra and San Andrés Negro binders, barrel-aged Habano 2000, Corojo 99/98/06 and Piloto Cubano filler) made at Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera in 11-count boxes (ten 6.5x54 Toro Extras at $25, one 5x50 Robusto at $20), debuting at the 2026 PCA. Plus Monongalia County, West Virginia's Board of Health voting 3-1 against a cigar lounge exemption to its indoor smoking ban.

The show closes with "What's the Score?" guessing two Halfwheel reviews: Charlie Minato's take on a pre-embargo Trocadero/Troya Universales Cuban (scored 64 — great first half, wrecked by tunneling, relights and bitterness) and Brooks Whittington's review of the Tatiana Groovy Blue Bellicoso TAA Exclusive from Miami Cigar Company, made at La Aurora (scored 82 despite aggressive artificial berry sweetness, thanks to near-phenomenal construction).

In This Episode

1. 01
   Listener Comments & PCA New Orleans Plans
   Best movie and TV cars, guest rankings, swag pre-orders, and where to find the booth at the PCA trade show.
2. 02
   Michael Rosales Calls In on TSA Lines
   The RoMa Craft rep gives a live Tampa airport report that opens a debate on the shutdown, unpaid TSA agents and privatizing airport security.
3. 03
   Kash Patel's Hacked Email and the Cigar Photo
   An Iran-linked group leaked the FBI director's files, and the worst image they found was a 2013 shot of him smelling a cigar in Cuba.
4. 04
   Frontier Airlines Exit Row Arrest
   A passenger who honestly answered that she'd only save herself was removed by police, sparking a long riff on exit-row rules.
5. 05
   Cuba in 2026 and Wet Foot/Dry Foot
   Could the Cuban government fall this year, what it would mean for the cigar industry, and the history of the old Cuban immigration policy.
6. 06
   German Engineered Cigars Launches Akut in Pill Blister Packs
   A 4x50 Petit Robusto sealed in pharmaceutical-style blister packaging — no humidor required — and whether pushing it through the foil ruins the cigar.
7. 07
   Eladio Diaz 73rd Aniversario Unforgettable Edition
   An all-Dominican eight-tobacco blend in 11-count boxes debuting at the 2026 PCA convention.
8. 08
   Monongalia County, WV Rejects Cigar Lounge Exemption
   The Board of Health voted 3-1 against drafting a variance to the indoor smoking ban for cigar lounges.
9. 09
   What's the Score?
   Guessing Halfwheel scores for a pre-embargo Cuban Troya Universales and the Tatiana Groovy Blue Bellicoso TAA Exclusive.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Welcome to Cigar Hustler Podcast, Episode 498. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and over in engineering, we have Phil, never catch me, He's resting under a tree, McGuffey, running the board, and then as my co-host, what happens in a hotel in Alabama stays in a hotel in Alabama, Mikey Szczepankep. Only if it's with you. Oh, that's nice.

That's right. On this week's show, the FBI director's worst photo ever. Don't tell the truth if you're sitting in an exit row. Everybody wants to live here, and then in cigars, the Germans want you to take a cigar pill.

In West Virginia, no smoking in the smoking lounge. And it's Eladio's birthday again. Again. Again.

Every year. Every year. About this time, apparently. It's crazy.

" But before we get started, Mikey, how do we get some of that CH Pod swag? Like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show. Oh, I forgot to hit the button. Like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show.

First of all. com Where you buy one, you get the second one 40% off. Spend a hundred dollars or more, you're gonna get free shipping. For the Patreon, we are doing...

Dun, dun, dun! Can you see that, kid? I saw you creating it. The El Marinaro.

The Marino. The Marinara. It's a goose! So, excited about that?

Wait, real quick about the shirts. Are all the McGoobers gone? Yeah, that was only a... That was a pre-order.

I offered a pre-order only, and boom. And boom, I turned them off, so that's how that works. Okay. I actually do have a couple of extra vinyls left over the Mr.

Magoomer, Goober, Magoomer, Magoomer, however, I think that's for internal use only, buddy, you know? There you go. So, there's that. Now, do you have three?

You guys could all wear one. Well, I have one, I have my own. Oh, you have yours. - Well, I was gonna say, you guys could all wear them on one day of the PCA.

- There might be two, so that might work. Let's see, getting into some comments? - Yes, there's been some, there's been a run here in the last couple of minutes. - Before we do that.

- Before we do that. com. We talk a little bit more insider baseball as well. com, A Cigar Hustlers, backslash, backslash.

You can just look and search. Oh, well the way you're saying it, it sounds like you're giving them the website. com, and then search A Cigar Hustlers podcast. You gotta put the A in there.

com. Yeah, we do have quite a few comments. Obviously we missed some from the previous episode. Yes, Friday was shot early, so.

We'll try and get some of those into, but there's a lot today, so. Of course there is. It should be a lot tomorrow with that new mask there we have not mentioned. Yeah.

We have not mentioned that new mask. The April, May. That's the, in honor of Mother's Day, I'm going to dress like a peacock. Of Mother's Day?

Yeah. Oh, I thought this was like your guys' PCA farewell. No, that's your Mother's Day holiday mask. That's the April, May mask.

Yeah. Oh. Okay, getting from the top, Stephen Wells, but best movie car by far, The '68 Mustang from Bullitt. You haven't seen the chase scene.

You haven't seen the best chase scene of all time. 7 million to make my point. The best TV car is the original Batmobile. Yeah, well, we kind of talked about that.

There's like two different realms, you know, as far as real cars and then cars that you wouldn't really drive around in, right? Right. Oh, if I had the Batmobile, I'd drive it everywhere. You would?

As long as it ran. I think it'd have an oil leak. Probably would by now. Yeah.

The type of car, I don't remember what it was, but the type of car it was made from, my uncle had one. Oh, yeah? Yeah. International, Oldsmobile.

Well, I mean, the back window was the same. Yeah. But they, you know, they cut the front and did different stuff to it. But he had the raw car that they started with.

Not the, it just happened to be the same make-em-up. When he got in, he was like, da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, what he? No. No, no, no.

Your uncle really. Big construction guy. No, no, no, no, no. He missed an opportunity there.

Well, he has, he's dead now, so. He died? Long time ago. What happened to the car?

I honestly don't know. It wasn't passed down to you, I can tell you that much. No, he has a son and several daughters. Maybe he liked his nephew more.

I don't think so. I guess not. It's a sister my mother doesn't talk to. Ah.

But I talked to my cousin, that's how I found out he passed. Gotcha. Okay. " So I'm guessing Kentucky's on the other side, Tennessee's on the other side of Kentucky, I'm guessing is what he's referring to?

I don't think that that's exactly what he was referencing, but he's referencing that, but you're not correct in that statement. So, at Datacache2004, car-wise, I would have to go with the original HB, Haliki, Gone in 60 Seconds, Eleanor. But as that is a movie, the legendary TV car would have to be the brown Pontiac Firebird from Rockford Files. Oh, that's nice.

He's definitely showing his age at that point. Yes. You guys even know what Rockford Files is? Nope.

Uh, I've heard of it. James Garner? Uh... Private Detective?

Okay. was that uh before tv was that radio or uh it was even color oh was it yeah the brown firebird and let's do a couple other ones here real quick none of those are funny yet what's that none of those are funny you're supposed to read the funny ones like funny haha or funny yeah funny haha i thought he read the good ones is what You say not every single one you can find. Yeah. Okay.

Well, I'll give you some funny ones. But I want to talk on Al Wolpe. Okay, read his. He said all guests were good, but Triple G nailed it.

So if you want to vote on that, it's still available in our post section. I think that Triple G is slightly behind the Burroughs, the Cigar Guys. Oh. When does that conclude?

We'll give it to the end of the week, and then we'll kind of review, that's what I'm thinking. " Wow. All right. Okay.

Last two. TheBuzzinator19 says, "The Cigar Guy show is unwatchable. unless they're unless they're interviewing a guest they're actually great interviewers but suck talking about any subject on the other hand you guys entertain me for five hours a week palmer keeps me up to date with all the top news and phil makes me laugh with all his gorilla grunts yes oh listener of the week yeah listener of the week uh miguel rocher says i usually listen to Mike Sincron, The Podcast with Headphones On, When I Heard the Sound that Everyone Has Heard from Phil, I Will Be Rethinking That Decision. Mike Sincron, The Last One Because I Was Going To Bring This Up Anyways, Rosales Was Forgotten As Host, And We Never Got A Flight Update, Right?

Mike Sincron, The Flight Update: So Yes, You Didn't Get A Flight Update, I'll Call Him Right Now And We'll Get That Squared Away. Mike Sincron, The Last One Because It Could Only Do Four And He Had Done Half A Show. Mike Sincron, The Last One: Right, Yeah, He Didn't Do An Entire Show. Mike Sincron, The Last One: So I Felt That It Was Only Appropriate Not For Him To...

not for him to get the chop on that. But hey, I'm going to speakerphone him in. He won't answer. It's early for him.

He's still stretching. Jumping rope. Is he still jump rope? I don't know.

Every time I see those jump rope videos, I think of him. Mr. Jump rope. Not answering.

Told you. Still in bed. It's not coffee time. He's still in bed.

No. See you on this. Hello, you've used the voicemail of Michael. Is he on the Skip Martin sleep schedule now?

He does what he wants. He's next level. I will tell you, since I can't get him on the phone, that it went exactly as he said he was. He skipped the entire line of TSA and walked right through.

Really? Acted like it was nothing. Nice. Yeah.

Good for him. That's correct. So, if you want to hear your comment on the show, comment below. If it's funny enough, we'll put it on.

Or, might just put it on anyway. That's not true, because I definitely skipped a bunch today. " The grunting of Miguel Rocha? Well, that one was good, but he got listed another week.

Or was that the other guy that got listed another week? The other guy. The other guy. Never mind, I didn't like it.

Okay, and what am I forgetting? Oh, if you're going to the show! If you're going to PCA New Orleans, we want to talk with you. Whether you're a retailer that does business with us already, a new retailer, or a media guy, hit the calendar link below.

Two for the retailer, one for media. And we're going to give you a hat, set an appointment with us. We want to talk about Postanya with you. We're excited.

Are you excited? I'm excited. I'm excited too. I'm excited.

I can't wait to be there. I think it's going to be great. We're going to have a good time. It's going to be a good show.

Yeah. We're right by the food this year. We're right by the food. So we'll see if it's better to be by the food or by the bathroom.

Last year, we were right by the bathroom. The answer is by the bathroom. I think you're right. Yeah.

Yeah. But no more, we won't be shaking wet hands, though, as much. We're kind of in no man's land. The food's all the way.

Food's right behind us. I think we're the last booth before the food. Yeah, we're all the way down. Right.

So. So you go in, you take a right, and when you can smell the burritos, you're almost there. The hard part is you got to accumulate points to get better positioning. I feel like we're just getting pushed further and further.

Is that how it works? Oh, you got to buy ads for that to get the points and the blah, blah, blah. Oh, next year it's back in Vegas again. Oh, the points still, you can build them.

Oh. Yeah. So. I don't remember where we were in Vegas.

Where were we? By the food court. It's never great. Right, no, no, yeah.

They're the optimal space. Yeah, it's never great. Maybe they won't build a booth right in front of us this year at the last minute so nobody can find us. Right, you know, it's like there's great, there's not great, not so great, there's, oh my god, I can't believe I've walked this far, and I'm walking around, and then there's us.

Oh. Yeah. And that's where we're gonna be. But you get the hat, so, you know.

Yeah. Worth the walk. We're definitely, I mean, we're definitely worth the walk. Yes.

Without saying. I'll throw this at you, let's see if you catch it. Good job. Couldn't even see it.

Throw this at you. See if you catch it. He's got his peacock locked in. Oh, boom.

Yeah, Randy Moss. I got it. Nicely done. This is Randy Moss.

Nicely done. I got a couple things to talk about, too. I don't know when you want me to bring them up. What are they about, and I'll see how they fit in.

Why don't we wait till the middle when you do where your video goes? You asked them to tell you what they want. I know, but if he tells me he's gonna start talking about it. Is it industry or is it trending?

It's industry stuff. Then wait till the middle. It's more podcast stuff. All right.

The video that I have, I haven't sent to you guys. No, no, I understand. But I have a space for it. All right.

Nice. You wanna watch it all together? Like, huddle around? Well, when it's time.

Is it only on your phone? I don't have it cropped yet, is what I'm saying. Oh. So how do we all watch it?

I can send it to you, I guess. Oh. So. Alright, let's get into some of the news.

Let's do this. Alright, FBI Director Kash Patel. Uh huh. His email got hacked.

I heard about this. You would think the director of the FBI would have some type of protection or firewalls or whatever they call it. Yeah, kind of embarrassing. And it's his personal email, so it must have been his Gmail or Hotmail or whatever it is he has.

" and he clicked it, and they got him, you know? I miss you, click here to watch me on a video. Right. com There you go.

Check out my profile. com Free. com An Iran-linked hacking group called Handela posted documents and photos they claimed to have stolen from the FBI director. Now the worst photo that they posted is him with a cigar.

It's him smoking it. Wow. Look at this. He's not even smoking it.

He's got it in both hands and he's smelling it and then he leans way back in the second photo and has it balanced on his upper left. Okay, let me ask you, when he's smelling it, this will determine for me if it's bad or if it's bad. I don't know if it's good. Was it celloed, or was it un-celled?

No celloed. No cello. It does have a band, but you can't really tell what it is. It kind of looks Ashton-y, but...

Yeah. ChatGPT says it's not for this reason, but they can't identify it. Yeah, I mean, I can't, you know, listen, you FBI guys and your legacy brands... Well, no, it's supposed to be some type of Cuban.

The pictures are from Cuba, supposedly, in 2013. Ah. It's legal. So they went through a lot of photos.

Or it just hasn't been updated in 12 years. Maybe he doesn't use it that often anymore. Out of all the photos they went through, that was it? Yeah, that's just it.

They're all sitting there going, that was the peak. Look, look, look, look, look, he's smoking cigar. Yeah, look. Release the cigar photo.

You know, I got to be honest, that's probably one of the best things that ever happened to Kash Patel. Oh, and people are talking about him again. No, not even that. But like, when you go and dig up dirt, and that was all you could find?

Well, yeah. Right. Like, guess what? That's it?

Maybe he's not a bad guy. I don't know. Maybe. Right?

" Right. They're in blackface, or they've got somebody sitting on their lap. Yeah, like blackface, I don't know, man. Well, no, that was not long ago, there was a congressman or senator or something who blackfaced And then he got kicked out of office.

Yeah, like, I don't know about like that, because there was a time when it wasn't as sensitive as it was. Right, but the public doesn't look at it. You can't, like, we can't go back in time when something was more common or whatever and then just obliterate that guy. I don't think that that's appropriate.

Not appropriate, but it happens. Like, if a Kash Patel blackface would have popped up, I'm like, okay. " Yeah, but that wouldn't have been true. No, but it still would have happened.

I don't think he would have lost office. But the congressman a year ago that it happened to did. Yeah, was it a Dem or was it a Republican? Because I think the Democrats hold that a little bit higher.

I don't remember to be honest. Like they're not- Picture from college of him and a couple of friends in blackface. It wasn't the Canadian guy, the Prime Minister, who didn't lose his job? No, I think it was an American.

He was a Canadian Prime Minister, didn't lose his job. Well, the Canadians, they don't really know what's going on. They don't respect it. Oh, Mike Rosales, call me back.

Hey? Tell him he can't answer. Hey, you're on the podcast. Oh, hey, what's up, buddy?

Hey, real quick, how did your TSA experience go when you were leaving through Tampa to get home? Exactly how I said it was going to go. I walked, I got to the airport, I dropped off the car, I took the little tram over, I walked over to my thing, I scanned my barcode, I got on a subway, went to the gate, literally I was in and out through TSA two minutes, three minute stops. Did you cheat?

Did you cut the line? I didn't have to, like literally there was no, there was no, there was no line. There was nothing. There was like two people, there was two people ahead of me, so it was like it wasn't worth cutting, I didn't have to, but it was, it was super simple.

Is that regular TSA or the pre-check? Pre-check, right, it's pre-check. clear that was that was that was pre-checked i i didn't have to no i didn't use clear i mean it was uh pointless yeah okay perfect was there a big line with the regular tsa so i i don't i couldn't i mean honest to goodness like and that was kind of that was kind of that idea like someone so someone might ask like well why did you go to tampa i said well that's a whole other you know fighting the people that go see the mouse is is a is a completely different animal than like You know what I mean? Like, so it just made sense to kind of like, okay, so from your shop to, to the airport, what is that?

45, 50 minutes? Yeah. More or less, right? So what's another, you know, another cigar along the way?

I get there, do my stuff, empty car, you know, clean it out, do the ashes, check, you know, wipe down, pull it up, and then off you go. But like I said, I mean, it was, there was no, there was no TSA issues at all whatsoever. There you go. Boom.

Perfect. Easy peasy. Okay. All right.

What were your question, Paul? Uh, was there a long line at the regular TSA? Was there a long line at regular TSA? Uh, yeah.

I mean, it was, I wouldn't say it was a long line, like, out the, like, back around, down the hallway, like that, but it was probably a solid, uh, 20 minute wait, maybe. Okay. So normal. Nothing crazy.

Yeah. Nothing crazy. All right. Perfect.

All right. Well, thank, thank you for your, the ground coverage. Of the TSA airports of Tampa. We appreciate you.

Well, what'll be interesting is you'll need to talk to Skip about his adventures through Houston. I have not heard, but I'm assuming, because they're saying Houston was really bad, and he flew in yesterday, so I'm, I'm, uh, I'm interested to see how that debacle went. We'll call, we'll call for an update. Yeah, yeah.

It'll have to be later in the afternoon. I'm sure he's still... Yeah, we'll, we'll review tomorrow with him. At the, at the one o'clock.

All right, guys. Take care. All right, bro. Thanks.

There you go, Michael Rosales of Romacraft. My sister-in-law yesterday at the St. Louis airport, three hours no pre-check at St. Louis.

No pre-check. Took her three hours to get through. Just get the pre-check. Keep your shoes on.

I thought she said she had it here, but she told my wife it took her three hours to get through security yesterday. Well, apparently we're good to go now. I don't know if you have that covered in the news. I didn't know.

I don't have it. I didn't see any. I know we're supposed to have been okay this morning. I saw nothing that everybody was back to work.

Executive. Well, you're always supposed to be at work. Executive order is supposed to pay everybody though. Right.

But I only saw that he had signed it on Friday or whatever, whenever we talked about it. I didn't see anything this morning like all the lines are gone. Everybody's working. There's still stories about TSA agents, how long they have not been paid and people getting losing their apartments and homes and things.

So they got paid or did not get paid? They're supposed to have gotten paid as of this morning, but I didn't see anything that verified it. Yes. " He wrote it on a sticky tab, signed it.

Yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah, he did his old... Stamped it with his official Trump stamper.

However, I don't believe that it fully funded DHS and paying everybody else. No, it was just them. Which is kind of shitty, because, like, if you're not... It goes to show that if you're not on media and not creating the outrage, then you're going to get botched, right?

Yeah, I only heard, I only saw one story about the Coast Guard not being paid. Right. You know, the funny irony of all of that is the best stories that I always hear about are the quiet ones where it's just the person doing the right thing. Right.

" I should do this. This is a good piece, right? Right. So it would have been, it should have, you know, that, that means T-Money's not getting paid.

You know what I mean? Right. So. Oh, it's T-Money, okay.

He's not DSA, but he is DHS. Okay. Mm-hmm. Unless you're ICE, because they have an exemption where they get paid for the next three years.

Really? Granted. Yes, if the, if the government shuts down, they still get paid. Well, that's because whoever was in charge of that whole debacle made a good decision.

Well, they want to make sure we're all safe. I don't know. I mean, checks and balances are important, buddy. That part shuts down.

I don't like using government employees as bargaining tools on either side. I think that is ridiculous. Ridiculous. And I think the TSA should be privatized.

That is a good idea. I haven't thought of it before until it was mentioned. that was mentioned and then he can't use it right either side like we talked about over the weekend they're taking money there's money on your flight fee to fund them anyway right so just keep it inside the airport or you know have all the airlines kick in yeah well the airlines would pay for it right then if you had to charge more for an additional fee or whatever let's do it well let's let the airport airport pay for part of it too that's not how it works why not they They would just charge the airliners. The airport's trying to make money.

So is the airline. Yeah, so they would just charge the consumer. Nothing is free, dude. I know nothing is free.

Yeah. But why can't the airport pay part of it, too? Because, well, then the airport would just charge the airliners more money to do business there. Trickle-down economics.

Well, you don't think the airline would just charge the consumer more money? Yeah, trickle-down, there it is. Yes, that's where the money's coming from. So no matter if the airport or the airliner is going to cover.

So then what is your problem with the airline paying for part of it? What's that? What's your problem with the airline paying for part of it if all the money is going to come from us eventually anyway? I don't have a problem with it.

My point is that you're saying the same thing. You're like, well, this guy should contribute too. I'm like, either way. I misunderstood what you were saying.

Privatize. Yeah, I think privatize would be the way to go. I think the whole reason why TSA is government-based anyways is because there was a, I'm gonna say an act signed into Congress, but whatever it is, Defense Act, I think that's why they were in there. I don't know if they can go privatized based off of that, but maybe.

Who would buy it? You want to know what I think? I think you should wear that mask all day. No.

That is amazing. The feathers would not hold up if you wore it all day. That is beautiful. Look at you.

So like when he shakes his head. I can't even attack you right now with anything that you're saying. I'm just in awe of this mask. I think it's hilarious.

Well, I'm glad that I can be the joke. Thank you. I love every aspect of it. And our viewers are grateful that you were willing to play with it.

We went through a bunch, just so you know. Yes, it was quite the conversation and the trip. I'm sure you guys did. We had a lot of time.

I'm glad this is the one you stopped at, huh? Well, there were some other options, but we had to keep in mind the camera angles and things. And the fact that, you know, you want to use your mouth to smoke and stuff. Yes, your request for the certain conditions.

We worked in with the variables we had. We operated within the guidelines. You know what I'm saying? I'm sure you did.

So there's that. Like a peacock. Like a peacock. Okay, anyway, now they are locking up his email where nobody can get in.

Oh, now they're going to do it. You would think at this point they'd just delete it. You know, just delete that. Cash money from the 99-2000 at Yahoo, just get it out of here.

Just close that down so we know this problem. Do you think it was his cousins that did this? They're Iranian? Maybe.

They could be. You think about it, they might be, they didn't tell they had the password. Wow. Hey, remember when we had his password?

Under 30 minutes. We should check again. Peanut butter jelly time was the password. Peanut butter jelly time.

Peanut butter jelly time. One, two, asterisk. Because you have to have numbers and the symbols. Yeah, you're going to need some type of character, some type of special character.

Not like a double zero or anything? Yeah, no, exclamation mark, circle, question mark. Square, square. Square, square.

All right, now on with the show. Okay, now on with the show. Ladies on a Frontier Airlines flight, she sits in the exit row. We've all been in the exit row, I would assume, at some point or another.

Not on a Frontier flight, but go ahead. There's an exit? Yeah. Yeah, there's an exit.

Those things have to work. " So then they had to make her get up. She didn't want to get up. Right.

There's a whole thing going on. The police came and had to take her off by force. Oh. Wow.

Frontier Lane flight from Charlotte, so it started in Charlotte. No one there said, listen, just lie and say, yes, I got you? Like, don't worry? No, you have to answer yes.

I mean, you've been there and, you know, you can't even nod. You have to verbally say yes. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No one looked at her and said, just say yes.

Don't worry. I'll take... Nope. She held to her, uh-uh, I'm getting my ass off.

Was it the front one or the back one? I don't know. This seems very odd. The fellow passengers were pleading with her to board the plane for all of their sakes.

This lady right here, when she first got on the plane, When she first got on the plane and acknowledged the exit row, she said, "Oh, I'm not going to save anybody. " Uh, this is a perfect candidate for Booths' next wife, you know? Right. I'm going to save, then, at that point, like, the self-preservation becomes almost like a feud, right?

Like, who will live in this scenario? First, I just offered to re-seater. Well, then we're going to have to move you to another seat. Not happening, pal.

Not happening. I like the extra leg room. I paid premium for this. I'm not doing the labor room.

You pay extra for the leg room? Of course. Yeah. For the exit row?

Yeah. Ultimately, the police were called. The entire plane was forced to board, and then they got the lady off the plane, and then everybody got back on and left it. She was arrested.

I love this. I just don't understand why you have to acknowledge that you would save everybody or whatever it is that they make you acknowledge. Are you going to be a good person and open this exit door? And she said, no.

Legal experts noted that the exit row verbal agreement is the only contract in aviation that can be voided by telling the truth. It's like, ma'am, you don't have to stay there and watch people exit off the plane. I think someone just didn't fully explain. Man, I can't even put my mask on.

You think I'm going to know how to open this door? Well, they have that set thing they always have to say. It's like, you know, when they read you your rights, they have to say, He said this verbatim, so we'll do that. Yeah.

In the event of an emergency, would you be willing to help everyone get off the plane or some... That's not what you say. Well, I mean, you are helping everybody get off the plane by opening the door. Okay, well, I mean, all she had to do is say yes.

Right. I just think that it could have been averted by somebody saying, stating, "Hey, listen, here's what you got to do. " Well, all the other pastors were pleading with her to either get up or say you'll do it. Yeah, but again, I just feel like— You wanted somebody to specifically tell her exactly what she was required to do.

Yeah, like, hey, okay, I mean, look, I'm the person next to her, I'm like, okay, listen, let's break this down. What exactly are they asking to do? Plane crash, here's the latch. You're gonna open the door, right?

I mean, first of all, you don't even have to worry about it, 'cause I'm gonna open the door for you, right? I've already deemed that you are not gonna help me in this, and it's okay, I will open the door. And then you're going to leave. Is that what you want to do?

Yes. Okay, perfect. Just say yes to them, and we'll go on our way. And that would have been it.

Instead, it was met with, ma'am, the requirement for yada, I'm willing to bet, I don't know, but the requirement for you doing this is you're going to aid and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Are you okay with that? Please say yes or no. I'm not moving.

Right? Again, because look, zero de-escalation, zero explanation. This person probably never flies or, you know, like there's a million variables here to consider. Like all you have to do is say, look, here's what we got to do.

Here's what we're going to do. Plane crashes and we live. Latch has got to open up, right? Once the latch is opened up, you're going to get out.

Are you okay with that? Yes. Just say yes to them. Yes.

Perfect. All right, let's go. Instead, there's a big friggin' to-do, and people are shouting, "Hey, get her off the plane! Get her off the plane!

" And now, you have a situation that could have been easily avoided. That's my point. Why can't they, why does it have to be a latch on the door? Why can't they have some type of technology where, like, it blows open, like, with airbags or something?

What if it doesn't work? What, the plane crashes and the door pops open? What if you hit water? Here's what would happen.

I don't want the door to open. Then why would you open it with a latch? Okay, in that case, if the place was automated, you want to know what the statement would say? The statement would say the emergency door exit is automated to eject outside by itself.

However, if it fails and malfunctions, you are required to open it and aid everybody else exiting. Are you okay with doing that? So it doesn't, right, so that, so that doesn't help the scenario is my point, right, that doesn't straighten anything out, right? So, no, that, that, that's not it, just somebody needed to explain it.

I, I just, I think she knew what they were saying, I just think she didn't want to do it. I don't think that she knew what she was saying, because she got off the friggin plane, man. She paid for the ticket to go somewhere, right? Yeah.

Unless you didn't want to go somewhere. And she's like, you know what? I know how to get off of this. However, this isn't a Delta flight, this is a Frontier flight.

You know what I mean? Yeah, we're talking about something completely different. Right. So...

Do they make you do that on a Delta flight? Of course. They make you do that on every flight. They make you do that on every flight.

It's FAA regulations or whatever it's called. You have to agree to help get them off. Dude, I just went to go and ash and I ashed on my Red Bull. On purpose?

On purpose? Sorry, it all goes in the same place. Yeah, it all goes in the same place. It might be really fine.

I'm gonna make that work anyways. Yeah. Not giving that up. No.

Not today. It's Monday. It's Monday. Even though it's Tuesday.

Uh, how late were you up? You said, uh, what night were you up? Saturday. You said the Red Bull might keep you awake.

Uh, it's about 1:00 or so. Oh, that's not bad. Yeah. I passed that on outside.

Oh, on the back patio? - Yeah. - Oh, he went to the back patio? - Yeah, my father-in-law's a table.

- Oh, I forgot he was there. I ate a little something, cleaned up, went to bed. - Yeah. Can we talk about the gas pedals?

- It's been fixed. I mean, I drive it all the time, don't have a problem. Maybe your foot moves when you push down, I don't know. - So yes?

Is that a yes? I need a yes or no, if not, you're going to have to get off the podcast. - I don't care if we talk about it. - Okay.

- So Phil, so Palmer has this beautiful new car. - Yes. It's, are you triple there? Just go double, or just me?

You want triple, or what do you want? I want me. Got it. Okay, so Palmer has this beautiful new car, and then you can flip to you when you respond.

Palmer has this beautiful new car, probably the newest one in the fleet of Poshik/Cigar Hustler, right? Like, the newest one. And we used this car to go to Dothan, Alabama, which we had two great events. Thank you very much, Mr.

Wells, for hosting us. It went good. Anyways. So, we're driving up and he has this issue with the pedal.

" What? It's a... Hold on, hold on. Well, no, it's not a full pedal.

Let me, let me, you can defend yourself after. I'm not defending, I'm explaining. So he has, he has these racing pedals that go on top of his pedals that are like red and kind of riveted and shiny and very fancy. For his car.

Huh. Yeah. Racing pedals? Yeah.

Now you can go to him. They're just cosmetic-looking, red, metal-looking pedals. Yeah. Were they left in the Connex box?

I'm trying to figure out why I got these pedals. I don't know. I ordered them online. Yeah, why do you have the pedals?

I just thought they looked nice. I saw them online. Yeah. You want to go fast?

No, they don't make you go fast. They just look like you could go fast. But they almost made you go not good. Yeah.

No, one of them came loose on the drive out there. Yeah. Oh, God. I tightened it.

It's just a cover. I mean, you can just take it off with your hand. It just has these four screws on the side that have these clamps that tighten up on the back. So it came loose from the drive.

I tried to tighten it up when we got there with my knife, and then it came off all the way on the way home. Yeah. So I'm driving for the-- I only drove for two hours, which is great for me. I've never, ever driven this small of an amount.

Yes. Ever for any of this, right? So, but we did agree that-- Like, listen, when it gets dark out, I will drive, right? Oh, 'cause it's eyesight, you know?

Yeah. Well, and then it's on the way home, I'm tired and getting late, so it was just, it made more sense. Yeah. Yeah.

So there's a point where I'm hitting the gas pedal, and it's struggling to let me go past 60, Elson. Like, I'm going down, I'm like, this pedal, there's something wrong, right? So I give it a hard push, and I feel the pedal kind of come off. It was still on top, it had just, now at that point it had slid all the way off the pedal while it was sitting there.

Yeah. Oh, God. So, would you ever buy, Phil, a pedal accessory for your car? Um, no, I'm not a Cardi B.

You're not a Cardi B? Yeah, I'm not, yeah. I put it back on. I like the way it looks.

I get it. All the little red things on the knobs and everything are extra, too. They look lovely. How are you, are you often looking down at the gas and brake pedals when you get in the car, you know, there it is when you open the door, you can see him and you needed that.

I just like the way it looks. Yeah, right. Okay. I don't know what the big deal is.

I mean, it's a little crazy. Yeah, but it's his car, but it's my car. Yeah, I'll give him that. It is your car and it's still a little crazy.

But it's my car. Does your wife have colored pedals? You know, hers comes with, apparently, I was gonna get her a pair of gray ones for her truck, 'cause they come in gray, but hers already has them in there. She already has beautiful...

Yeah, they're... Regular pedals. Regular pedals, but they look like my pedals, but they're just gray. They're not added on top of a pedal.

Nope, 'cause she couldn't have put those on, she wouldn't have known how. Right. She doesn't do that kind of stuff, right, no. She has all her accessories in the car are pink, though.

Steer wheel, vent covers, all the knobs. Do you have a NOS in your car? No, but I did release an Oseum fogger in there. We went there yesterday.

Oh. Does it smell like stale tobacco? Yeah. It smelled like stale cigar.

Okay. I didn't know they made the... It's like a flea bomb. Yeah.

Yeah. I've only had the... Yeah, you hit it and you just leave it. You leave the air conditioner around for 10 minutes and seal the car up.

Yeah. Now it smells fine again. All right. The Central Florida City just had the biggest population boom in America.

Oh. But Florida's overall been a hotspot for movers in recent years who reported some troubling results for the following county. So which counties have the most people moving into them? Um, Lake.

Which county has the most moving? Central Florida County. Central Florida County? Seminole.

Pinellas is number two, Miami-Dade's number three, obviously not Central Florida. Taylor, anyone know where Taylor is? yeah county where's that central florida that's number one nationally for population i don't know if it is i was just repeating what he said i know where the city of taylor is all right monroe county is now number four that had the biggest population boom really no lake county huh orlando metro area saw nearly 400 000 people We'll move into during this time, putting it in the number 10 nationwide for numeric growth. Hmm.

Interesting. You want to know, it's also interesting, I think it's time for our Phil's Geography question. Oh, do you have one? Yeah, I can just throw one out.

Uh, that's good, because we're right up against your video in Cigar News. Okay, perfect. Phil. Is this a thing now?

Yes. Phil's Geography. Phil's Geography. Phil's G-E-O-G-R-A-P-H-Y Geography.

All right, Phil, today's question is: what state is directly north of Oklahoma? I don't know if I could answer this one. Michigan? That is incorrect.

Sorry, that is incorrect. Would you like me to give you a variable? We want to do multiple choice. Let's get babies, you should do multiple.

Multiple choice. Multiple choice. Yeah, that sounds good. Okay.

Is it Colorado? Please make Michigan. Nebraska. One of the choices.

Kansas or Missouri? Well Palmer said eh, maybe it's Missouri. Is that your final answer? I said what?

I said please make Michigan one of the choices. That's your final answer? Yeah. Please make Michigan one of the choices?

You were incorrect sir, it is Kansas. Kansas. Yes. You're popping.

That's okay. Okay. We're gonna try something different. He thinks that it's in the air.

It's in the air. Someone's using the microwave upstairs. Am I still popping? Probably triple, yeah, triple G-spot.

Triple G-spot. He's warming up his, yeah, peanut butter jelly. We're gonna test the recording from the mics to see that. However, you always step off the mic and it drives me nuts.

See, I warned him before the show. Yeah. You guys must have a conversation about this. You have headphones.

You should know when like, oh, I sound far away. Well, sometimes I laugh and I back off of the mic. That's not, no. I told him, don't back off.

No, this is you talking and then you go like this and you're having the conversation over here for some reason. It's cause he laughs and goes off to the side. Wow. Hey, you wanna send us that video?

I do. Can I watch it without my glasses? Is it that kind of video? Why is Greg sending thumbs ups?

I'm gonna send you the video via Instagram. This is... I have an Instagram I have to go to? Yeah.

Is that okay or no? No, no, that's fine. Which Instagram do I have to go to? I have several.

Which one do you want to go to? I don't care. Palmer? Let's see what comes up with Palmer.

Powstanie Palmer? Yes. Boots, are you on? You've got to be on here.

DJ Boots, right? Yeah, there he is. DJ Boots Entertainment. Okay, and then I can edit this and send it to you afterwards.

It's the Omar one? Yes. If the Cuban government falls this year, this is what I think is going to happen to the cigar industry. Number one, a lot of the big cigar families that have to leave Cuba because the government expropriated a lot of their land and their businesses, So we kind of briefly talked about something like that, right, in a previous episode.

Right. Do you think Cuba's gonna fall in 2026? Let's start there. That's what I was gonna say.

Is that like a thing that could happen? That Cuba could fall? I mean, I understand they have no power right now. Chinese is sending them rice.

Somebody else is sending them beans. Yeah. They have no gas. They have no power.

But does the communist leader of a communist country go, "I guess I fucked up. " You know what? You're in charge. I'm out of here.

Yeah, I'm out of here. There's no power to lose water, and I'm tired of eating rice. I've eaten rice. Somebody get my floaty boat ready.

So you don't think it's illogical to happen? I mean, in today's world, we could just go get him. Right. We could just boop.

Yeah, I mean, you know, I assume they're much larger than Cuba and an island, so, you know. And podcasting. Goodbye. You should just call her at the beginning of every show.

Yeah. Look, is there anything for the next 45 minutes to an hour? Yeah. Just tell me.

We can talk about it right now? I don't think it's gonna matter, buddy. Yeah, it's not gonna matter. Yeah.

I'm sure. I'm sure these things come up right at the moment. Oh, you know what? I need to ask Mikey.

Yeah, it was a thought that came to her mind. She's super busy, and she needed an answer. Do you want pop roast for dinner tonight? Is that okay?

No, chicken rice. Chicken rice. We gotta get back to that meal prep. Right.

That's lunch, buddy. Sorry. I thought it was breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Jax and I didn't have it last week.

I know you don't do the cereal stuff anymore, so. Yeah. Do you think 2026 is going to be the year that Cuba is, like. Who's even in charge down there now?

I have no idea who, what the guy's name is. Probably Castro. I'd say, I don't think it is. Yeah, that makes sense.

I think it's one of his, yeah. It's like a cousin without the same name. Because I don't think Castro is the name. A cousin without the same name?

You know, like, you know, Fidel Castro was in charge, But now his nephew, Juan Valdez, is now in charge. Coletta? He's Italian? Coletta.

Coletta. Oh, Pina Coletta? And then his niece, Pina? Yeah, his first name's Omar, last name Pina, but her name Coletta.

Last name Fidel. Cuba is governed by a single-party authoritarian system with Miguel Diaz-Canel, serving— He is the president of Cuba and the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Oh, so they're not really communist now? It's like a casual way of saying it.

They're converted. You know what I mean? He's the leader of the Communist Party, but it's an authoritarian, whatever thing. Authoritarian.

As of early 2026, he manages a deepening economic crisis with Raul Castro having previously stepped down. Right, that was the son. Raul. That's right, I didn't know who took over after Raul.

Raul's like, I can't do this. Raul Jr. Did you know there's very little power and very little fuel? Yeah.

And I don't like rice. Did you hear about this? These people are starving? I gotta go.

People are starving. I'm out of here. I'm going to Miami. Okay, so maybe, I mean...

Open a nice little cigar shop. I guess it's possible that it could happen. I guess, I mean, they could, I mean, if they're gonna fall, now you think would be the time where they fell. Right.

Things are getting pretty bad. Yeah. But, are the people gonna rise up and fight them? Not so much.

They don't seem the type. They're very chill. Yeah. I think all the mad ones went to Miami.

Like, tranquilo, papi. Everybody that was all upset, didn't like the way they're running things, I'm going to Miami. They got the hell out of there. They're like, we're out.

This is ridiculous. There's no food. I don't like rice, either. And we can see these buildings on the other side of the water.

This building? Right, right. I can see the lights at night over there. It looks great.

Yeah, it looks great. They look awful happy over there. South Miami, look, they're eating chicken. They got power.

Oh. Yeah, power. It's a short swim across. Yeah.

You're not going to believe this. Put that garage door in the water. Let's get over there. The garage door in the water.

Put the garage door. Put the balloons around the outside of it. We'll be fine. Listen, if we all don't make it, it's fine.

Right. When you get there, run. You gotta get your feet out of the water. Get your feet out of the water, you get to stay.

Yeah, come on, Rose, let's go. I don't think it works that way, buddy. There's a wet foot/dry foot rule. Is there?

Yeah, there used to be. I don't know if they still do it or not. But, yeah, if you get out of the water... Oh, boy.

How do you know this, first of all? I read it somewhere. Put in wet foot/dry foot rule. See what you get.

Oh, boy. They catch you in the water, they send you back. Searching. No, no, you're wet.

Go home. S. immigration policy that gave preferential treatment to Cuban migrants. It was officially ended on January 12, 2017 by the Obama administration.

Oh, so not that long ago. Yeah. I'm only 12 years off, or not even 8 years off. Wet feet, Cubans intercepted at sea, were generally sent back to Cuba or to a third country.

S. soil, were allowed to stay, apply for work permits, And eventually seek permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. I don't know why I had the craziest epic chase in my mind just go off of a Cuban running on water to get to the land before the guy caught him. It was, I mean, they'd land on the beach and they're all high-tailing, you know, as close to the parking lot as you get before they catch you.

Oh, think about that. They're going, ooh, ooh, parking lot hot, then I can stay. Put that blender in the water, let's get there faster. Dude, hold on, wait a second.

on wait a second think about think about this like you're 30 feet away from the pat getting out of the shoreline and being on the beach or whatever right right and you get intercepted right yeah 30 feet 30 feet from shore i think that that probably means death as soon as they send you back no well or a third country it said yeah which i don't understand what that is what's between here and Well, if you're not gonna give me option A, which is United States, and the option B is Cuba, I don't care what option C is, because I know if I go back to option B, it's over. Yeah, so I'm killing whoever's in front of me. It's like, oh, oh, you tried to run, right? Like, that's not gonna be good for me or my family.

Look, there's 20 more Cubans trying to get to the land, over there. Like, that was like, you know, if that rule existed today, there would be a social media page for it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, videos.

Oh yeah, videos. Right. Wet foot, dry foot. Who made it?

Right. I know you're talking about the Bright Line thing. It would be in that same premise. Yep.

, or are they going back? I have a teacher. Maybe when they take you back, they don't hand you off to the authorities in Cuba. " You run that way now?

Yeah, now you run that way. I don't think it works that way. Maybe they take you to Guantanamo and they'll say, "Okay, it's gonna get dark soon. dark soon to sneak back in seems a little i mean that's a pretty creepy rule yeah like red foot dry foot they're like here's the deal guys as soon as we get there you better get on the land that's what they're all talking about on the boat i don't know i don't know if if they were close i'd probably be a terrible border patrol person because if they're close run fast nobody's looking run like i'm gonna get you oh god i fell rapido rapido on the lay Andale.

Vamanos. I had a teacher in high school that was an immigrant from Cuba. Yeah? Yeah.

I didn't know about the wet foot, dry foot thing, but he said that he came through the water. Did you ask him how he felt about Cuba? No, I didn't ask him any questions. Why not?

Because I thought it was crazy already that he was a teacher. Why? Why? Because I was just like...

They know stuff. Why are you... I don't know. I thought maybe he should be in hiding.

Maybe I was in the wrong. Maybe I was in the wrong. Obviously. First of all, did you go, are you resting under the tree?

I just want to know that when you're speaking, you're definitely in the wrong. It doesn't matter what your topic is, you're 100% in the wrong. So there's that. I think it was the same time too when Elian Gonzalez was found.

Oh, the little boy? Yeah. They got him in the closet or whatever. Yeah.

So maybe I was like comparing the two. My neighbors in Eustice, when I lived out there, they did a little bit of a The little boy. Yeah. They got him in the closet or whatever.

Yeah. " So maybe I was like comparing the two. My neighbors in Eustace, when I lived out there, they were the children that came over on the airplane. They used to tell that story.

Yeah, really. " That's a big deal. Yeah. You know, like, how do you know what someone has experienced in life if you don't ask them questions?

And where do they feel? Where do they stand? Because maybe they were pro-Castro. I don't know.

Who knows? You know? That exists in South Florida. Yeah, yeah.

Pro-Castro people? Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, you guys are closest. I don't know.

Hector probably has better answers for you on all this. He's more Miami knowledgeable. Miami. But there are definitely, I mean, look, for every opposition, there is someone that believes in the current system.

Oh, I'm sure, I'm just curious why, you know, if they, oh, he's doing a great job, we're all doing fine, but I want to go to Miami. It's better over here, but I still like that guy. But he's still doing a good job back there. Yeah, everything's fine.

You know, me leaving allows him to do more good stuff. Right, I'm just trying to help him. Right, now no rice for me. Right.

I don't, now he doesn't have to worry about feeding me. Right. So, yeah, you should have asked him, man. Not a big fan of his, uh, son though, Raul, I don't like him.

He's like, Raul. Raul. He's not even really Cuban. He could have told you, he's like, man, I was, I was, I almost fell back into the water where they could have intercepted me, and I made it.

And then I got a worker's... Well, you can imagine you're running and you're still ankle deep, and they're like, gotcha. Right. No, no, no.

I was on top of the water. Foot dry. Yeah, the other ones went, no, no. It had to be abolished because people were probably like, I'm not.

Like, there was a dumb rule. It had to be a dumb rule. Well, you got to make the rule something. Yeah, but I mean, obviously automatically everybody goes back.

Well, but listen, again, you know what, if you're Border Patrol or Coast Guard or whatever, like, I mean, that's what, what are we saying here? We're got to argue about 10 feet, like, I'm letting them in for 10 feet, you know, there's only so much room. I think by making the wet foot, dry foot rule, that was like a party game or something like it, like it should have been. Hey, you're not allowed over here.

If you make the rule, right, if you have a wet foot, you go back home. If you have a dry foot, standing on the beach, everybody line up right here. deep water first five guys to get dry right to stay right ready go all right watch this guy watch miguel over there you see him i got five dollars on this one we take the best athletes right okay you're gonna play baseball good job yeah you got the you got the jump thing over there to see what their vertical is it's like navy seal testing god this is horrible why are we joking about this All right, you're soccer, you're baseball, we don't know what you're doing, but it's a year fast. Because it's light-hearted comedy, I guess, but dark humor?

Only soccer, baseball. Now we're terrible for America, too. You know, what's funny is there was a person on one of my Instagram posts, and you could tell that they were upset. They looked at a 30-second snippet of us talking about a cigar.

It was actually from, I can't go too far into detail because you guys will find it. But we were talking about a review and you were reiterating a review from Half Wheel, and you were kind of giving a cigar praise because it wasn't your point of view. Right, I didn't review it. So this guy took it, oh, this is his point of view, and obviously, right.

Oh, he's a terrible cigar. I can't believe he likes it so much. So he wrote one question. Have any of you ever even been brick-and-mortar retailers?

so i was like like i instantly go this could i could take this either way this guy could be you know trying to us or maybe he's legitimately asking the question so then i went to his social media page and one of his first posts was are you going to listen to me are you going to listen to some jack off podcasters as what he had stated when he was smoking a cigar so then i was like okay so He's not pro-podcast, not us, right? I mean... Yeah. Was he a shop owner?

I didn't care. You couldn't tell? Yeah, we're not jackass, buddy. I honestly didn't care, and I didn't look.

Gotcha. So I wrote back, yes. There you go. Yes.

Yes. We have brick-and-mortar experience. Yes. Almost two decades at this point, but that's not important right now.

No. And then he asked where, huh, where something and whatever. He wanted more intel, more information from me at that point. As far as who we were, right, and what we represented.

Watch the show. Now, he was looking at my Instagram page that has a profile that states some of this intel. Sure. So at that point, I felt like he's going to have to do some legwork in order to figure out the validity of our statements.

Are we at an hour? Yeah. We're only halfway through. It's very, look, it's very easy to do.

I just didn't, I mean, you know, you lose track when you're doing the show and I just didn't realize it does. We spent 30 minutes on wet foot, dry foot. In case you guys didn't believe me, you had to look it up. Have you guys ever been border patrol ages?

No. I was going to be. No, let's see, 2017, I mean, I was here, but that probably wasn't even important at that point. It must have been significant.

Oh, well, good thing, because you wouldn't have made it in. Well, you know, I didn't come in that way. Unless your feet were dry. I didn't come in that way.

Jesus. Maybe, I don't know. That wasn't the way I came in. I don't know your complete history.

I think you have a pretty good idea at this point. No, I'm not sure. Yeah. All right, we done with international, um, or whatever this was called?

I don't know, did I cover all the things I wanted to talk about? Cigar news? Let me see. Yeah, I did.

The next door is a good one. Yeah? Yeah. Okay.

It better be good, Palmer, if you said that. German Engineered Cigars announces Akut, pill-like packaging for cigars. Ooh. So they come in, so the cigar is plastic covered, and they come in, and you pop it through the back like it's a pill.

Yeah? Yes. It looks like a big pill. Since it was founded in 2016, German engineered cigars, which we still, for whatever reason, we're huge fans about these people.

We always talk about them, but we have never seen them. We find them very fascinating. They promised to bring the technical precision and innovation of some of the Germany's most famous companies to the world of handmade cigars. For its newest release, it has developed packaging that makes the cigars seem more like a pill.

Right. Next month, the company will unveil a koot, a new, a koot, wasn't that? Isn't that a character's name from something? I don't know.

Maybe at one point. A new 4x50 Petit Robusto Vitola for two of its lines. The more notable part is the new blister packaging, which is likely a first for the cigar industry. Have you ever seen it before?

I've never seen it before. No, but some ash definitely got inside of my Red Bull, I can tell you. Power up! I'm still drinking it.

The company worked with a German supplier who makes pills to make the packaging, which is oftentimes used in the pharmaceutical industry. Most notably, pills. That's why we keep mentioning pills. Okay, so we're putting cigars in plastic capsules.

Is that what we're doing? No, no, that's not what he's saying. No, no. Okay, you know like if you buy, let's say, a pack of cold pills.

Over-the-counter regular cold pills. Yeah, like NyQuil. Two of them in a thing, they're covered with plastic, you push them through the foil, they pop out the back. Now it is a Petit Robusto cigar in a line of five or six, and you push then through the foil and they come out the back.

Now, if I push through that, isn't there potential for me to affect the integrity of the cigar? You're correct. You would think, but you have to be careful. Or, take a knife and make a little cut off to one side, like you're cutting open a pack of batteries.

You said that you would think, but you gotta be careful. You gotta be careful. Well, this is German engineering. This is German Engineering.

Yeah. "We look at other industries for optimal solutions and learn from them," said Oliver Nichols, co-founder of German-engineered cigars in a press release. " And I just pushed through. You push it through.

This sounds amazing. I don't think that it's... The picture is very nicely done, AI. Yeah.

I don't think that it makes sense, but yet here I am thinking, I need one of these, so we can put this on the show. Right. I wonder if Boveda had anything to do with this. Boveda had nothing to do with this.

Yeah, because there's no little tiny Boveda pack inside of it. They were not concerned, they didn't want any piece of this. This is German, they don't mess with the Germans. Yeah, Boveda doesn't mess with the Germans.

What about Boost? Are they German? Manbooth? No, Boost is the other one.

Oh, Boost. No, I don't believe so. They're an audio company that now makes Little Packs. No, but I did know, I did learn that the Krispy Kreme actually originated from Nazi Germany.

Yeah, oh, were we in the car together when they played that? Yeah. Oh, that's right, that was that. Yeah, apparently Krispy Kremes are German.

Yeah. They're Nazis. Maybe that's why they're spelled with two Ks. Well, they used to be three.

There's actually a thing. There was a thing on Wednesdays. There was a society on Wednesdays that Krispy Kreme critters or something. or something would go together.

It was not good. Makes a lot of sense here. Yeah. Yep.

There was a time. When he raised money, he would give it to the Nazi party. So do we, and this is old, obviously it's not current, but so now what do we do? Do we abolish the...

Yeah, do we now not eat Krispy Kreme donuts? No, we're going to get hot donuts like that. Don't you take away my Krispy Kreme donuts, you know? Yeah, they got hot donuts.

Crazy. And the jelly ones are good, too. Yeah. Only the original glazed ones are the optimal Krispy Kreme donuts.

I think they're all pretty good, to be honest. Yeah, yeah. Those are the Krispy Kremes we had Saturday, right? Yeah.

I like the sour cream ones. Wait, wait, wait. I didn't even know that was good. Wait, hold on a second.

On Saturday? You're right. Yeah, at the event. Oh, yeah, I know, I caught it.

It's not Easter yet, yeah. I know. I know. I caught him halfway through when I'm like, you know, it's only Saturday.

Yeah. We weren't going to say anything, I promised not to tell Jesus. Yeah. I'm not proud of it.

I'm not proud of it, but I botched it, buddy. Well, the worst part is he got a second one. Oh. Yeah.

After it was made aware. I actually made the statement of, thank you for telling me. However, now I have to go back and have a second Christmas. You've done it.

Yeah, you already messed up. Yeah. You've got a sin, sin big. What is it, in for a penny, in for a pound?

In for a penny, in for a pound. Let's go. So then tomorrow is church day on Sunday, you go to the box, throw a couple of Jacksons in there, you know what I mean? Good to go!

Do you have to mention that? Do you do confession every week? Uh, no, I don't do that. The last time I think I confessed was probably like fifth grade or something.

Oh, but shouldn't you now that you ate the donuts? No, I'm not letting that, I just did. I confessed to more people. Yeah, but you gotta tell the priest.

But not Jesus. I suggest he watches the show. " Yeah, he's gotta. No, why not?

Why not? It's not that type of show. What do you mean? He should embrace this.

We'll all be in the box. He needs the knowledge. He's throwing out all his Krispy Kreme donuts if he's watching this. He should totally be a cigar guy.

You know what I'm saying? They drink the wine. I would love that. You know how awesome that would be?

If he could hang out and have cigars? Hell yeah. Give the man one. What's that?

Give him one. Maybe he's waiting for you to, you know, I wish he would offer me the cigar and then we could. I don't know if he's his man or not. Santi, Santi.

I mean, let's just say that he is because that was amazing. Oh. No, you're right. Give me the cigar now.

I need to hit him up and say, hey, listen. Why don't you come over next Saturday? No. We'll sit out, not eat sweets, and smoke cigars.

I'm going to say, I'm going to actually, I'm going to lay down some facts. I'm like, do you know that tobacco is closely aligned with the lineage and the history of Catholicism? Yeah, and I ate a donut on Saturday. And then he's going to say something like, really?

Because you know he has no idea. Yeah. I'm saying, listen, so look, Christ wants you to smoke the cigar. He told me, and I'm going to hand him a cigar.

He told me? Yeah. You don't think those guys smoke cigars? He talks to you too.

You know how awesome that would be if he did? I'm sure they do. Yeah, there's a couple in the Florida Cigar Club that smoke cigars. I know, but I need mine to do it.

Oh, I have a rabbi that smokes cigars in the Florida Cigar Club. Oh, they're kosher. But I need mine to do it. Like seven a day he smokes.

They're kosher cigars. God bless that rabbi. There are certain kosher cigars. We went over that on Hanukkah last year.

What I'm saying, I wonder if he smokes those. No, no, he smokes a couple of good ones and the rest of them are just dog walkers. Well, you got to at seven a day. At seven, yeah, right, exactly.

You know what I mean? I know. It can't just be premium after premium. Yeah, $25 cigars seven times.

Yeah. Right. Especially on a rabbi's commission, you know what I'm saying? Right.

I don't know what they put out. Yeah, those pickles only make them so much money. Right. They probably make more than fathers.

You know what I mean? More than priests. Yeah, maybe. He runs an organization that goes over and donates food in the Middle East, but I don't think he's been in a while.

He's been sick lately. Well, it's the Seven Cigars. Oh, that's not good. It's not the Seven Cigars.

Don't you blame the cigars. Palmer's a rabbi. How much do they make? I'm not a rabbi.

He's a pastor. I'm a minister. Oh, a minister. I feel like they're all for clouds.

Wow. What's the difference? Not the same thing. What's the difference?

One's got curly hair, one wears a hat. Ministers don't make money. They all look the same, is what you're saying? Everything I do does not make money.

Right. No, I mean, I get that, yeah. But he did marry Greg. I did marry Greg.

Did you invoice him for that, or no? He gave me that real expensive knife. That was just part of the whole thing. Yeah.

Because I got that too. You know, I think he might have tipped me. Yeah? I think so.

Like 50 bucks or something? Something, you know, the handshake with the money in the hand. Hey, here you go. Hey, thanks for coming out.

Good job, good job. From Triple G. He did a good job, Triple G. Good job.

Good job. Well, he's Puerto Rican now, so it doesn't sound like that. Not anymore. He did then.

Yeah, at that point, he was. At that point he was still mobbed up. Yeah, he was, that was before he went in. All right, Eladio Diaz, 73rd Anniversary Unforgettable Edition is coming in May, it's his birthday again.

73. 73. He will once again celebrate his birthday with a limited edition cigar, and this one coming out is for his 73rd birthday. It's said to be unforgettable.

Unforgettable. Don't sing, we get in trouble. You can sing, you won't get in trouble. Yeah, YouTube, that's the only place we've ever been in trouble.

You're allowed to sing. I didn't know Eladio was so old. Is that her again? Tell her we're still podcasting.

It's called the Eladio Diaz 73rd Anniversario Unforgettable Edition, and it uses eight tobaccos in its blend. Oh, eight! Eight! You'd think it would be 73.

ESPN 8, Diocho. According to a report by Cigar Aficionado, it's an all-Dominican blend, starting with a Corojo Seed wrapper from the southern part of the country. Underneath that are two binders, one a Sumatra Seed and the other San Andreas Negro Seed, both grown in the southern part of the Dominican Republic. Apparently everything's from the southern part.

The filler contains barrel-aged Habano 2000, Corojo 99, Corojo 98, Corojo 06, and Piloto Cubano with the Corojo 98 coming from the southern part of the Dominican Republic. I'm glad that he actually named all of them. The cigars are packed in boxes of? Gentlemen, what do I have to guess?

No. What do you got, Philly? I'm going to go 10. Damn, that's what I was going to do.

Now I've got to go one and be wrong. 11. It's 11. Yay!

Wow. Kind of. It's 10 and a half? 5 by 54, priced at $25 each, along with one 5 by 50 Robusto priced at $20.

Oh, a little less. So in the box you have Toros and a Robusto. Yes, there's five and five, and then a little guy in the middle. Huh.

What is it, like Manos Poco? Poco Manos? The cigar is made at Tabla Quellera Diaz Cabrera in the Dominican. Yeah.

And reportedly he's making 2,000 boxes. The cigars will be featured at the 2026 PCA convention and trade show. We should go see if we can get one. If we have time.

I've always wanted a birthday cigar. Yeah, me too. Yeah, me too. In mid-April, and are reportedly scheduled to ship stores in May.

When's his birthday? It's in May. We don't have the exact date. Okay.

Text messages sent to a company representative seeking details about the cigar and confirming the accuracy of the Cigar Aficionado report had not yet been returned. No, no one's getting back to you. Since it's just Cigar Aficionado, Coop is not going to cover this story, allegedly. Information Coop.

He doesn't, he doesn't. I watched the PCA media with Coop. Mike Coop. Yes?

Yeah. And? I'm going to talk about it. I think that's our conversation on the Patreon.

Patreon? Yeah. Yeah. That way, if they want to hear our opinion about it...

Are they going to pay? Yeah. Guys, don't give him the info, please. Nobody give it to him.

Because then he gets upset if I say that, you know, I can't talk about it because I don't want to hurt it to affect his job. I mean, that's not my intention. Correct. So that way, you know.

All right. com. com, Cigar Houses Podcast. Final story in Mongolia, M-O-N-O-G-A, no, it's not Mongolia, it's a county in West Virginia, M-O-N-O-N-G-A-L-I-A, Monogolia, let's go with Monogolia, they're Indians?

Whatever, let's just go. That's how you spell Mongolia. Monogalia? Monogalia.

Are there a lot of Indians in West Virginia? Mono. Mono. Gay.

Gay. No, gay. No, there's no Y. Yeah, it's okay.

The English language, we do whatever we want. There's no umlaut. Yeah, gay. Mono gay.

Mono gay. Mono gay. Mono gay. Leah.

Leah. Mono gay Leah. Mono gay Leah. Mono gay.

Mono gay. No. Mo. Mo.

Mono. Mono. That's West Virginia. Mono.

Monom. Monom. Monom. Alright, that's enough.

Anyway, they won't accept cigar lounges in the new no-smoking-in-building smoking ban. Oh, my God. Where is this? West Virginia.

Let's just say it's in West Virginia. Everybody move out of West Virginia right now. This is one county. Move a county over.

Their Board of Health voted against considering an exemption to the county's indoor smoking bans for cigar lounges. The idea for exemption was proposed late January by Dave Biafore and Michael Odia. Not Mr. Afterfate?

No. Well, several counties have approved such variances and are considering one the board did not appear interested in voting three to one against the proposal of drafting language to create the exemption. com, where we get all our West Virginia news. Oh, that's a good point.

Board members did not see the merit and the variance. So we would like to put out of business, the cigar lounges for the cigars. Yeah, you know, we figured that why would you be able to go to a place where you can buy things that you would smoke and then smoke there? We think that that is a ridiculous statement and what we want is we don't want you smoking there.

So, we're not really concerned about specific individuals in our population, we're only concerned about the individuals that don't smoke. So, no, you're not permitted to smoke here in Monogalia area. Yes, they saw it as endangering the health of the public. How?

By letting them smoke inside the building, because then the smoke would be in the building. Eladio Diaz is 73 years old this year. You think he smokes one cigar a day? They're protecting the 109,000 residents they have.

Because they all go into the cigar store? Yes. At one time. I wonder how Brett Frye feels about this.

He's not in West Virginia. That's a totally different state. Yeah, it's west of him. Double geography fail for you today.

He heard Virginia, I mean, he thankfully knew he was in Virginia. Yeah, that was nice. He is in Virginia, not West Virginia, which is not the western side of Virginia. It is a totally different...

But this county is in the northern corner of the state. However, the song, when he says West Virginia, you know what I'm talking about? Country Road? Yeah.

He's not talking about the state. He's actually talking about Western Virginia. Oh. Yeah.

Didn't know that. Uh-huh. Shenandoah. Shenandoah.

All right. Well, let's go, man. We're running. All right, here we go.

Oh, this is a long episode. We have the greatest game ever developed for the cigar industry. What's the score? Why'd you go so fast, Palmer?

Yeah, dude, you messed it up. You guys knew where we were going. One more time. We have the game, the greatest game ever made for the cigar industry.

What's the score? Are you too good for this now? I just want him on that. That was perfect.

The wavies, the wavies. First Cigar, October 31st, 2013, Charlie Monado. It's a Cuban. We don't do many Cubans here on this show.

Is there a legal? It is the Troia Vintage, Troia Universal's Pre-Embargo. Oh. Which means it's legal.

75. You're just guessing. It's a Cuban cigar, no factory, wrappers, Cuban, binder Cuba, filler Cuba, 5 2/7 of an inch by 38. 5 2/7 of an inch.

The Vitola is Universal's. It said 5 2/7? 5 2/7 inches. Yeah, well the Wetfoot lost some of it on the way over.

They are $10 a piece, they were released pre-embargo, so there's no date, they smoked one. - 65. - You think it's gonna get that low? - You want me to, you know what, dude, I'm just gonna tell you exactly how I feel off the jump.

I think that this cigar is extremely old, so the flavor profile is gonna be non-existent, and if we're lucky, it has a good draw, but it probably won't. So at that, by, with me just specking on that one statement, yeah, I think it's gonna hit that low, and I'm gonna go 65. - 82. First half of the cigar is genuinely enjoyable, opening with a mouthwatering cedar note, light saltiness, and evolving into a nuttier profile.

There are even brief flashes of lemon zest that add some complexity, showing that despite its age, the cigar still has moments where it really shines. 65. 82. 82.

Oh, I didn't know if he stopped. Clue number two, from the start, the cigar shows promise with a solid draw, firm ash, and a surprisingly flavorful cold draw featuring dried raspberry, pecans, and a touch of pepper. The aroma off the foot is leather, nuts, and a slight fruit adds to the expectation that there's something good here early on. Drink of the Kool-Aid.

Sixty-five. Eighty-two. Clue number three, unfortunately. The experience drops off hard in the second half.

Burn issues like tunneling, constant relights, and even combustion take over, while bitterness and harshness build to the point that the cigar becomes more frustrating than enjoyable. By the final third, it struggles to stay lit at all, completely killing the experience. Oh. You have ashes on my shirt?

You're supposed to tell me these things. I just did. 65. 76.

Final thought. I had zero major expectations going into this review. Given that this was not my first rodeo with cigars with this age, I was not shocked when the cigar began smoking well, but it was nice to smoke a cigar that could actually be enjoyed, even if it was only for 25 or so minutes. We judge cigars the same way every time, and for that, the Troia fails.

The reality is the second half of the cigar was so bad, there's little the first half could do If for some reason you have some pre-Embargo Troia Universales laying around and haven't smoked one, I would for curiosity's sake, not because the example was sublime. Sixty-five. Sixty-four. He went the right way?

Yes! Sixty! You know, dude, I was gonna go sixty-two. I didn't think he was gonna go that low.

Good for you. Wow. I'm surprised. I thought he was really going to put it like, cause Charlie's pretty nice.

I just got news for you though. 70, 80. I gave you that one. I mapped out the logic on the first clue for you.

So you're welcome. Oh, I appreciate it. Yes. I'm still wiening.

I'm still the wiener. Listen, a broken clock is right twice a day. Even a blind squirrel can find a nut now and that's it. Alright, second cigar August 20, 2023 Brooks Whittington, reviewer Dominican Republic, flavored infused, limited edition Miami Cigar Company, the Tatiana Groovy Blue Bellicoso TAA exclusive Oh!

Something none of us has smoked. No, but everybody loves They had a TAA exclusive? Yeah, they made Bellicoso I remember when we got it. Really?

Well, we didn't get it, but I remember when we did the story Um - Did anybody care? - The blue care, right? I guess. " - Right.

- No, you know, the groovy blue person also does not read Half Wheel. Good point. - 87. - 75.

- But the bad news is Tatiana Groovy Blue is a TAA member. - That's a good point. - Yeah, that's, yeah. - All right, cigar review, the Groovy Blue Bella Coast.

- Well, it's Miami Cigar, isn't it? - Yeah, it's Miami Cigar. La Aurora, so of course they are. Uh, yeah, but that's the one they chose to make for the thing?

Everything we've got. Let's make a grape one at TX. From the Dominican Republic, uh, factory, La Aurora Cigar Factory, Indonesian wrapper, Dominican Republic binder, Dominican Republic filler. Six and a quarter by 52 Bellicoso, $13.

Released two years ago, 2023, they made a thousand boxes of 10 cigars. They smoked three for the shit for this. Mr. Boots?

Phil? I mean Phil? Phil McGuffey? Flamingo Phil?

Flamingo Phil? Flamingo Phil. Oh, that should be a shirt. Um...

A flamingo with that thing on it? 87. A big flamingo. A peacock.

It should be a peacock. 87. Well, you didn't call him peacock, you called him... It doesn't roll off the tongue, it's Flamingo Phil.

What'd you say? I'll do a flamingo... 87. A flamingo body with that head.

Oh, nice. Right? I'm sorry, what was your score for the third time? 87.

87. Oh, it went up? No, it was 87. No, no, that's his first score.

75. Alright, clue number one. Clue number one. The cigar delivers a bold, full-flavored profile, led by a dominant berry sweetness, backed by layers of honey, cereal, fruit notes, and occasional touches of cedar and coffee.

As it progresses more traditional cigar flavors like cocoa, leather, and nuttiness begin to emerge adding some depth to the experience. 87. 77. Clue number 2.

Construction is a strong point throughout most of the smoke. As it is underfilled and draws wine. With an excellent draw, consistent burn with only minor touch-ups, and a solid smoke production. The overall performance stays reliable, especially in the first and final thirds, making it an easy cigar to physically enjoy.

Phil? 87. 77. The overwhelming artificial sweetness, especially the cloying saccharine coating on the cap, can be too much, often masking the underlaying tobacco flavors.

Combined with occasional bitterness and some inconsistency between cigars, it can make the profile feel more "one-dimensional" than balanced. They thought it was more than one-dimensional? Yes. Yeah, that's what he said.

That's what he said. I wasn't there when you smoked it. Yeah. We could call him if you want.

Um... Flamingo Phil? 83. 7.

7? Yes. Final thought. Let's get one thing out of the way right up front.

There was no Coco Nibs in this profile. I don't smoke flavored cigars on a regular basis as I have found the majority of them to be overwhelming when it comes to flavors and extremely unbalanced. How? It's overwhelming, but it gets 75 different flavors out of a regular cigar.

However. Having said that, there have been flavored cigars that I have enjoyed more than I thought I would, like the Mocha and the Drew Estate Acid 20, While the Tatiana Groovy Blue Bellicoso TAA exclusive is not close to the level of those cigars, it certainly had some positive attributes going for it. Yes, the flavor notes are extremely aggressive, overwhelming, really, in the first third, but as the burn line passed the halfway mark, more traditional cigar flavors began to become more obvious than the profile, with the artificial berry sweetness moving almost completely to the retrohale. This made for a much more enjoyable second half, but you still have to get through the first half.

Having said all of that, the construction of all three cigars was just short of phenomenal. Only one cigar needed one touch-up in the first third and then just north to the medium strength with nicely balanced with the rest of the profile. In the end, the Tatiana Groovy Blue Bellicoso TAA exclusive is not going to convert me to smoking a flavored cigar on a regular basis, I can't deny there are some enjoyable qualities about the blend in the second half, and that is good enough for me. Alright, somebody say something.

Something. Anywhere in an hour and a half. Flamingo fill. 80.

That's a good number. Yes? 81. Oh, you went the right way!

82! 82? 82. I was there.

The pressure was on. Yeah. He didn't like it, but he still gave it an MA. That's crazy.

He said it wasn't bad. He's got all the ones he's liked better, but this wasn't bad. He said it's like a scooter cigar. You don't want to be caught on it, but you know, it was decent.

I like how you said scooter and not fat chick. Yeah. Well, you said scooter for a reason. 2026.

Yeah. I'm getting, you know. Or it could be moped. More in tune.

It would be scooter now. Yeah. Yeah. It's like an electric bicycle.

Actually, those are very common. Kids are on them. No helmets. 35 miles an hour.

Very dangerous. Oh, there's a lot of grown-ups that ride them now. Yeah, I get that. I can get almost like a car for $300.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, especially if they got three tickets. And they got a short distance. Right.

So. Okay. Anything else to add, Mr. Palmer?

No, I have no event scheduled other than April 1st. I will be doing the Online Zoo with the Beer Guys 911. Okay. Which is two days.

All right. Well, hey, thank you so much for listening or watching the show. Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show. Don't forget to Patreon, where we're gonna, what are we doing, the Maserati or whatever that's called?

The Maserati, the Marinero, Romacraft, LE. Banger! Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Goodbye.

Show Notes

From FBI Fails to Cigar Pills: You Can’t Make This Up

On today's show The FBI directors worst photo ever, Don’t tell the truth in the exit row , Everybody wants to live here and then in cigars  The Germans want you to take a cigar pill!  In West Virginia no smoking in the smoking lounge! And it’s Eladios Birthday again!! Followed by the weeks what’s the score

To Make a PCA Retail Appointment Click the link below

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