ACHP 566 Space Simulator For A Year?

Episode Summary

Episode 566 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast has Mike Szczeponkiewicz and Triple G joined by 13-year-old Jax Szczeponkiewicz running the camera board in place of Phil. After reading listener comments (and the ongoing running gag about Palmer / iHeartBDP) and drawing a winner for the hat giveaway, the guys run through general news — an update on the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case, where a California man pleaded guilty to sending false ransom demands, and NASA's call for volunteers for a 378-day HERA/CHAPEA analog mission at Johnson Space Center, complete with the strict age, height, education and non-smoker requirements that immediately disqualify every cigar smoker in the room.

The cigar news segment is the meat of the episode. RoMa Craft Tobac announced the new Marinero line — a nautical nod to co-founder Skip Martin's Navy service — offered in a single 6x60 Gordo vitola at $10 in 25-count bundles, with two blends: the Boatswain (Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers) and the Coxswain (Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed wrapper with a broadleaf binder), launching first at Caribbean Cigars in Miami and Pipe World in Austin. Mike and Greg argue it's a smart move into a big-ring-gauge audience RoMa Craft's "cigar geek" fan base doesn't usually serve, and defend the limited retailer rollout. They also cover Principle Cigars adding a 5.5x43 Martini Q Corona ($14 MSRP) that Small Batch Cigar bought in its entirety — all 250 boxes — and Wildfire Cigar Company shipping the limited Radio Octave (5 3/4 x 48, $16, made at Tabacalera William Ventura). That leads into a genuinely useful business discussion of made-to-order production, cash flow, brand dilution from discounting slow-moving inventory, and the trade-off of missing turns when you build to order — a model Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust also uses on some releases.

The news wraps with California lowering its cigar tax rate from 54.27% to 51.08% of wholesale — still the highest in the country — and a rant about why cigar taxes are pegged to cigarette prices at all, with a comparison to Florida's 0% cigar tax. Michael Rosales of RoMa Craft calls in to play "What's the Score," guessing a 2010 halfwheel review of the Tatuaje Tattoo... er, Tatuaje Single Region Series Jalapa Robusto, which ends in the first-ever tie at 80. Rosales also teases upcoming RoMa Craft drops including Fomorian and Clovis. The show closes with 4th of July stories, Orlando-area fireworks views, and a road trip through Devil's Den and the French Quarter.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Listener Comments & Hat Giveaway
   Mike and Triple G read comments about Phil, Palmer/iHeartBDP, and draw a winner for the Postana Wings hat.
2. 02
   Nancy Guthrie Case Update
   A California man pleaded guilty to sending false ransom demands in the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie's mother, with sentencing set for September.
3. 03
   NASA's 12-Month Space Simulator Mission
   Breaking down the HERA/CHAPEA analog mission at Johnson Space Center and the requirements — including non-smoker status — that rule the hosts out.
4. 04
   RoMa Craft Tobac Marinero
   Two blends (Boatswain and Coxswain) in one 6x60 vitola at $10, launching at Caribbean Cigars and Pipe World, and why targeting big-ring smokers is smart for RoMa Craft.
5. 05
   Principle Martini Q Corona at Small Batch
   Principle Cigars adds a 5.5x43 Corona at $14 MSRP with a tweaked internal blend, and Small Batch Cigar buys all 250 boxes of the first run.
6. 06
   Wildfire Radio Octave & Made-to-Order Production
   Jeremy's Wildfire Cigar Company ships a limited 5 3/4 x 48 at $16, sparking a discussion of a la carte production, cash flow, and brand protection.
7. 07
   California Lowers Its Cigar Tax
   The rate drops from 54.27% to 51.08% of wholesale — still the nation's highest — versus Florida's 0% cigar tax.
8. 08
   What's the Score with Michael Rosales
   The RoMa Craft rep calls in to guess the score on a 2010 Tatuaje Single Region Series Jalapa Robusto review, ending in the game's first-ever tie.

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

*Music* Okay, Jax. Alright. Wait, so I do it and then do I switch the camera to you? That's correct.

Alright, ready? Yep. And, Action! Welcome to a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where cigars are just a starting point.

Join me, Mike Szczeponkiewicz, Triple G, jump to my guy, there you go, and the one and only, Jax Szczeponkiewicz, go ahead and jump to you, that's right, we replaced Phil with a 13-year-old as we dive into the latest cigar industry, news, sports, current events, business, and whatever crazy stories are making headlines. Whether you're a seasoned cigar smoker or just looking for entertaining conversation, expect honest opinions, plenty of laughs and a few unexpected detours along the way, like a 13 year old running the board. Back at you, very good, there you go. He's good at this, I like this.

But before we get into that, Triple G, tell us. Mikey. How do we get some of that CH Pod swag? You gotta go to...

No? No, you totally botched that. I'm gonna have to edit that out. com.

com. com. Yeah, give them back to me, Jax. What you want to do is, first of all, like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show.

com for all your CHpod swag, where you buy one, you get the second one 40% off. When you're watching this show, I just want to know I'm gonna be putting the final touches on the new site, And the next day, the site should be up and running as long as I have no more snags. com, Us Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where if you purchase the full year, you're gonna get 10% off for the full year. There's that.

And some comments from our previous show. You ready? Let's see here. You know what, you know what, I think it's better if I just went to the actual show.

All right, let's see here. Comments from the show. " I mean, listen, that's very possible. We honestly don't know, but he sounds so convincing, even though he's so inaccurate, right?

Yeah, like one of those games where you like have to grow the egg and then grow the duck to make more eggs and then sell it to the other people to get the money to build the barn, like one of those things. That could be actually what it was. That's correct. That's correct.

@CW6383 said happy 4th, happy 4th of July, guys. Happy 4th, buddy. " Oh, and yes, I did post a comment on yesterday's show. Again, this shows who the star of the show really is.

" You're... Yeah? Yeah, I definitely am. Absolutely.

Oh, okay. Yeah. I was skeptical at first, but I believe that this is most likely him at this point. It's gotta be.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think so. It's gotta be Palmer. Listen, you know, I'm going to tell you something, first of all, first and foremost, I'm pretty honest and upfront with Palmer, and I always praise him whenever he does a lot of good things, and he does a lot of good things, but I wouldn't be a friend if I didn't disclose when you messed up.

So Palmer is entrenched in everything that we do and across all of our businesses at this point, and because of that he's held to a higher standard. So, uh, I don't know what else to tell you, iHeartBDP, I don't know what else to tell you, Palmer, so we appreciate all of Palmer's hard work, he does a fantastic job, but he's also human, so, um, Dadacash2004 says, "So much hostility to Palmer," and obviously Dadacash is in a relationship with Palmer, they're, you know, interwoven, and that's why he's very protective of his man. Who is Data Cash? Paul.

Ah, I see. Yes. Yes, that would definitely be a defensive friend for Paul. It's all making sense now, right?

Yes, now I understand. All right. Take your time on the flips, dude. Let them talk, okay?

If I talk afterwards or whatever, it's no big deal. I can still talk, right? You need to go ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Edward Sullivan, I just finished a script for a new movie called Fill My Holes.

It's about a contractor who patches walls and satisfies homeowners. Is Phil available for the lead role? You gotta jump to people, dude. You can't stay on one person.

Pay attention. Jump to Greg, something. Come on. There you go.

Thank you very much. The titles of these films are just... Next level. Unbelievable.

Next level. Edward Sullivan also says, "I don't usually watch the video, So I didn't realize Triple G has so much bling. Perhaps his nickname should be Ringo with three G's. Yeah, I mean...

I had a barber that used to refer to me as Lord of the Rings. Yeah? Yeah, I thought it was weird. I do have a couple of rings, though.

Was that in South Florida or up here? That was here. Eventually you just parted ways with him? Yeah, yeah.

He fucked up my hair one too many times. Like, you know what? You've been cutting it long enough. You should know what you're doing.

We're not coming back. You can go double on this, like when we're going back and forth, double, double, you know, double, ohhh. That's easier to do, too. I just want you to know, Jax, you're six minutes and 45 seconds in, you're already doing better than Phil.

We really should have made him wear the mask. Cut to yourself. But he doesn't jump to him at all. Cut to yourself.

There it is, there you go. " No, no, there's no way, it's not, I don't think so, I don't think that she would devote that kind of time and energy to this, I think it's just solely Palmer. Um, my guy T Money says, "Wrong again, Phil. Graham vs.

Connor states law enforcement doesn't have to be right. They just have to be reasonable. " Right, which is what I was saying. Dudes have been shot while holding a cell phone.

Right. Yep. 100%. Uh, let's see.

I'm gonna do two more here. At I also heart BDP, a second account has arisen, it's an AI image, it reeks of foam. Flipped it, there you go, this is amazing, I would prefer you flip faster than didn't flip at all, just for the record. Wow, how dare you for blaming BDP for making sure stuff was not ready, you have two arms and two legs, Triple G, You have my respect for trying to stick up for BDP.

Wow. You mean the guy who doesn't bring him cookies? That guy? He is respect.

To be fair, I did bring him cookies the next week. You also said that you were gonna bring him cookies the next day and you didn't. He refused it. He told me not to bring them.

Oh, well, he even put it on the show. Did he really? " Totally baited into that. Like I was intending on bringing him cookies.

He came up to me when nobody else was around. Oh, by the way, do me a favor. Don't bring me cookies tomorrow. " And he's like, no, no, no, don't.

I'm like, pfft. And here he is, he's claiming himself as a victim. Wow. Yeah.

Wild. Wild stuff. @DavidHasselhoffman, the man who made that mask, Jax, someone that is highly intelligent about ducks is called Autism. With love, Phil, it's a household name.

If you want to hear your comment read aloud on the show, simply comment below on this episode, And we may read it aloud. Now we were given away a hat last week. The hat, this hat that we're actually wearing. The Postana Wings Cesar's hat.

So I'm gonna work on this right now. Jax. Yes? Pick a number one through five.

Three. Three. Okay. Hold on.

Ooh, let's see if we go from here. One, two, three. Okay. Now pick a number.

Are you doing a Sudoku over there or something? No. Uh, now pick a number one through, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, eight, eight, nine. Pick a number one through eleven.

Seven. Three, four, five, six. Okay. I have our winner for the hat.

And the winner is: @teammoney007. Ah, nice guy. Congratulations, brother, you won the hat. We will send this out to you ASAP, and we'll work on our next giveaway.

Now, let's get on with the show, shall we? The news. Story one. Someone pled guilty in the Nancy Guthrie case.

Did you hear about this? So, apparently, federal investigators continue to treat the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie as an act of kidnapping for ransom. However, they did arrest a guy. His name was Derek Kalalala.

He was a 42-year-old California man who pleaded guilty to felony charges for sending false ransom demands and making threats across state lines. He is scheduled for sentencing on September 10th. So, he's pleading to sending in demands, not the actual kidnapping? False, yeah, false, uh, false ransom.

You know, like, the headlines are always tricky, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. That doesn't mean they got the dude.

Yeah, so apparently this guy said, you know, I don't even, and I'm kind of curious as to what exactly were the ransom messages that he sent. You know, it says, "Ransom notes, several ransom messages have surfaced, while some were dismissed by the FBI as extortion attempts. Including the ones that Calella sent, the FBI is still evaluating others believed to be legitimate communications from whoever abducted her. Investigative progress, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Department has spent months processing her Tucson, Arizona home, seizing partial DNA samples, and conducting forensic genealogy.

How wild would it be if she's still alive? I mean, I'm familiar with the story. Jump! I don't, I don't know, I don't know who it is.

But, obviously, there's somebody that was trying to make some money off of it that had nothing to do with it. I'm sure a bunch of people just kind of jumped in. Is this a famous person? Is that who it is?

Savannah Guthrie, she's on the NBC News. Okay. And her mother was taken out of Arizona home. Oh, oh.

Do you remember the story? They kidnapped the mom. Yeah. Oh, wow.

That's bad. Have you heard, you haven't heard the story? No, I haven't heard the story. Wow.

I mean, we've talked about it. This is just an update because we talked about it. It's a hot topic. I mean, it's, I think that, so, I mean, they thought that, I feel like we've actually, you've actually talked about this with us on a podcast.

I don't think so. So, she needed medication after like three or four days and they thought that everybody started to assume that she was dead. So, I don't know, man. You know, if they're asking, they're still treating it as ongoing, like she's alive.

Maybe she is still alive. But what medication does she need to stay? I don't really, I don't know. Is it like heart pills?

I think so, I think it's something kind of blood. Because you can be crazy and keep living, but if your heart stops, you're not going to make it. I think it's blood related. Oh, I don't know.

I'm not positive. That's not good. Yeah. Hopefully the kidnappers have her medication.

Well, they didn't originally, so who knows? But if she went to Mexico or something, I don't know. But it sounds like they're still talking with people and, you know, I don't know. Super sad.

It's crazy, man. It's crazy. When you saw the Instagram videos of her, it was wild, like, of Savannah Guthrie pleading out, like, man, she looks so strung out, I can only imagine, man, like, it's terrible. So she's like a news anchor or something?

Yeah, she's like a big... Right, so she's got some scratch. She's a big anchor on NBC. Yeah, I get it.

Family plea, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have made renewed public pleas asking anyone with information to come forward with the authorities. So, I hope that this works out, I mean, I hope she's found, I hope she's okay, you know, after a while, You start to think I don't know how long has it been? I think it's been like six months. Oh, no.

Yeah, that's sad I think it's getting up there Have you ever been in a simulator? Like a ride? Yeah, like yeah, yeah, how do you feel about being in one for 12 months? Yeah, no, it doesn't look a good time to me because right now NASA is recruiting volunteers for the moon and Mars exploration analog mission At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Beginning no earlier than August 2027, the 12-month simulation combining H-E-R-A and C-H-A-P-E-A, HERA and Chapea habitats will test crew health, performance, and hardware in confined, isolated environments. Yeah, see, no, that wouldn't work for me. They wouldn't allow me to bring scotch and cigars. They just don't.

We'll get to the requirements here in a second. Jax, would you join us? Gotta jump to you, buddy. Remember to talk to the mic.

Yeah. Okay. Would you join this or no? No.

No? You wouldn't do a simulator for a year? No. You don't want to go to the moon or Mars?

Nah. What if they're paying you really well? Like, is there a dollar amount that you would definitely do it for? Like, a million dollars.

Yeah, so a million would be the line? Yeah. That's fair. A million dollars for the year.

Okay. Alright, come back to me. Some of the key requirements to qualify for this 378 day journey, which includes training time, obviously. That's more than a year.

S. citizens or a permanent resident, be age 30 to 55. So, Jacks, you're out. Aw, man.

We're still in it. We're still in it, but they're not gonna let us bring cigars. Height, 74 inches or shorter. Okay.

Still not me. Yeah. Well, no, 74 inches. Are you shorter than 74 inches?

Uh, yeah. Talk to the mic. So you qualify. Oh.

There you go. Uh, proficient in English, so you are out there, Jax. I don't know what to tell you about that. It's iffy.

You know? So is Phil, though, so. 50-50. Background, bachelor's degree in a STEM field, engineering, biological, physical science, or math, from an accredited institution.

We don't have either of those. No. Advanced degrees or military pilot experience are highly preferred and can count towards required experience. Health.

Non-smokers. Non-smoker. Can't do it. No dietary restrictions and no history of sleepwalking or taking sleep aids.

I'm out on two of these. Yeah, definitely. Remember light bulbs? Yeah.

This guy's got the same problem. Oh. He sleepwalks as well, sometimes. Your uncle did it, too, when he was a kid, so you'll be right, yep, yep, yeah, the mission involves, during the mission, you will live and work in isolated confines to simulate interplanetary travel and planetary service operations.

Participants will undergo psychological assessments and perform complex tasks, including mock, Mars walks, rover operations, and regular habitat maintenance. So, no for you? No, no, I can't do it. You don't do it.

But apparently we're getting ready to go to Mars, right? That's the thing. It sounds like we're gearing up. We're gearing up.

Elon just got all of his money to do it, so he's ready to go. Love it. Well, what's he up? I mean, it's not up as high as it was.

No, he touched the trillionaire mark, but then I think it fell beneath that point where he's no longer classified as having that much wealth, but it's only a matter of time before he breaks that threshold again. Right. Yeah. Okay.

Oh, this was saved on here. I didn't want this. Oh, another one. Drinks for the record.

No, I didn't want that either. Okay. Well, we're about to get into some cigar news. Oh.

Are you ready? Yeah. We're at 18 minutes. Yeah.

I feel like there was something else I missed. Yeah. That's okay. That's all right.

That's all right. This show might be a little short. Like my son. Like your son.

No. But I'm bummed. Feel free to move the camera around, buddy. Hit the buttons.

Hit the buttons. There you go. There you go. Robocraft Tobac announces Marinero, there's another Marinero, Marinero, there's another Mariner coming from Robocraft Tobac, the company has announced a new Marinero line, which will at least for now, be offered in one Vitola but two different blends, if the Marinero name sounds familiar, it's because the company released the craft, oh, oh no, and then it's gone, oh boy, oh, I did it twice.

Oh, we're really, we're falling off the rails over here. Alright, I'm gonna start over here. Oh, this is big news, by the way. Yeah.

Robocraft Tobac just announced a new line called Marinero, and the nautical theme is intentional. S. Navy veteran, so the naming makes sense. Marinero means Mariner.

Marinero. Marinero. Boatswain and Coxwain are ship operation roles. Two different blends, same Vitola.

Both are a 6x60 Gordos at $10 per cigar. Packaged in 25 count bundles. The Boatswain uses a Mexican San Andreas wrapper with Dominican Nicaraguan fillers. The Coxwain goes Connecticut Seed Ecuadorian with a broadleaf binder.

Both are based on the Craft Maquette El Marinaro that dropped in March. The Marinaro bundles launch next month at Caribbean Cigars. We know them. We like them.

In Miami and Pipe World and Austin, with wider distribution expected later this year. We're almost putting real thought into these releases: The Nautical Story, The Navy Connection, the two different profiles, plus the craftsmanship. So, are you excited about this cigar? Yeah.

Okay. How do you feel about not getting it? I believe that we'll eventually get it. I mean, you know what I mean?

So you kind of have to spread the love, the Roma boys have got a lot of friends and family in this industry that they want to take care of, and that's perfectly understandable. Yeah. I know, like, people, like, there are retailers that get outraged about something like that. Like, hey, you know, these are two retailers that aren't dominating, they're not gigantic retailers in our industry, but they're staples.

Alan at Criven, we love the guy, he's been there for, you know, a hundred years, and then Pipe World has been around forever, and it's a recent acquisition for Tyler. Right, absolutely. So, this kind of gives them an opportunity to kind of get things moving in a positive direction for a kind of brand establishment. I don't have an issue with that.

I don't either. At all. And if you're a retailer, neither should you, to be honest. I'm excited about it.

I'm looking forward to when it becomes available. It's going to be interesting to some degree because a lot of the Romacraft guys, at least in my opinion, are more, for lack of a better term, cigar geeks. Right. And cigar geeks don't really track to a lot of 60 ring gauge cigars.

Right, I think this was actually a really smart move because it's going to fall into a niche market that they're really not necessarily in, right? It's got a $10 MSRP, if I remember correctly. That's correct. I did say that.

So it's in a sweet spot as far as cost for the consumer. There are guys that smoke 660s and there are guys that just don't. I don't think the guys that are smoking 660s are currently consuming a lot of Romacraft product. So why not target that audience?

Yeah, I agree. I think this should be really good for them. This should be really good for them. We'll see kind of how this develops in the upcoming years.

I don't know. It didn't say when it was going to be released. Oh, well... I think it did.

It's soon. Before the end of the year. Yeah? Yeah.

I want to say next month, if I remember correctly. Maybe I just didn't include it. I think I caught it in half-wheel. Okay.

Moving on to our next story. Principal Martini Q, Corona Exclusive, at Small Batch. Principal Cigars just added a third Vitola to the Martini Q line, and Small Batch Cigar just locked down the exclusivity. Cannot talk today.

5x43, $14 MSRP. Same blend profiles as the other two Vitolas. Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Dominican Monte Plata binder, Dominican and USA fillers, but here's the smart part. 5x39.

Small Batch Cigar bought all 250 boxes of this first production run so right now it's exclusive to them. Second shipment comes later this year or early next year to other retailers. This is a classic limited release strategy. Builds a man through scarcity, reward early adopters.

If you want to try it now, you know where it'll go. Yeah, I mean, I think that was a pretty good strategy, like, I can imagine how the conversation went, they probably contacted, what are you drinking out of? Is that a sake shot glass? It's a little cup.

Show that, please, show that. What is this? Oh, now it's the other way. My little cup.

I was drinking scotch out of it, but I'm done with the scotch, so I'm moving on to bubbly water. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Good for you, buddy. I mean, look at that thing. Yeah. Do you carry that around often?

Well, there's a case of six that I travel with with two bottles of scotch in it. Like little Yeti shot glasses? There are little Yeti shot glasses. There's six of them in there.

Why do you need a Yeti shot glass? Well, because it keeps the scotch very cold with one cube. You don't need to go up and get more ice. Ah.

Yeah. Son of a bitch. It works. Okay.

All right. Okay. Living his best life, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know what to tell you.

Yeah, so, you know, how do you think this played out? How do you think Small Batch gets 250 of this cigar? It's a, obviously they're making, you know, again, Cigar Geek kind of sizes, 7 1/2 by 39, 6 by 46 smaller guys, you know, and then this 5 1/2 by 43. So, how do you think Small Batch landed it?

I mean, they're good at what they do. They sell a fair amount of cigars. I think that the number is genius, right? Right?

That 250 box number, they'll all be gone. By the time that they start selling them, they're gonna sell like that. They'll be that fast. And you're right about creating demand, right?

For the re-up. I think it's smart. I think it's very smart. Yeah, so they released it to small...

" Okay, how many do you have? Oh, we got 250 boxes coming in the first batch. All right, well, we'll take all of them. - Sure.

- Right? The corner of the market would be the first to release it. Now, I don't know much about this brand particularly, but I mean... - That's fair, I've never heard of them.

- But I am intrigued to... If Small Batch backed it up by 250 boxes, there's got to be a reason for that, right? " I mean, I know that they could comfortably, right? 'Cause they are, like, just beneath the big dogs, they're like, and they're in that conversation, so, um, should be interesting.

Jax, how you doing over there, buddy? Good. Yeah? Do you feel like you're a production guru now, or what?

Yep. Better than Phil. Okay, perfect. All right, Wildfire Radio Octave, shipping now.

Wildfire Cigar Company is shipping Radio Octave, their latest limited edition, and it's already in stores. This is a 5 3/4 x 48 Parejo, showing off that Wildfire calls the lighter, more elegant side of their blending. Wildfire calls this the lighter, more elegant side of the blend. Five-year-old Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, Sumatra seed binder from an undisclosed country, Corojo Legero, Criollo 98, and Nicaraguan tobacco in the blend.

Made at Tabacalera, William Ventura in the Dominican Republic, $16 MSRP, 10-count boxes. Here's the thing about this: it was made kind of a la carte, right? And so, they sold X amount of orders, and then they produced the cigars, and then that's it. Dunbarton's working with a model like that these days, too.

He does that, too. Yeah? Yeah, Steve does that, yeah. I didn't know that.

With what blend? Some of the LPs that he does. It's like, let me know how many you want, and we're gonna make it to order. I mean, that's pretty smart, right?

Yeah, you're not gonna lose any money, or time, you know? Cash flow, this is a major portion, this is a major portion of the cash flow is always a major problem in any business, right, so if you invest a ton of money into a product, and then it doesn't move at the pace that you want it to move, and it sits, and you find yourself, you could be laying on, sitting on $100,000, $200,000 worth of product that you gotta move, and when you gotta move it, what happens? You reach out to the big dogs, you give them a deal, you take the discount to get your money out, and then all of a sudden you start to diminish your brand. Right.

We see this time and time again in this industry, right? Something didn't move at the pace that you thought it was gonna move. Yeah, it's a good model. Yeah, so, Jeremy, he's come up here before.

I haven't seen him recently, you know, since he started doing his own wildfire thing. He came out here when he was working with Caldwell. He's a good guy. Jeremy.

Yeah. Hollywood. Have I met him? Yeah.

Okay. Yes, you have met him. Okay. He used to have long curly hair.

I don't know if he has it anymore. He probably cut it. Hmm. Maybe he didn't cut it.

Don't recall. Yeah. He's a good guy. Okay.

He's a good guy. Um, he, you know, he broke off from Caldwell and started doing his own thing. And, like, this is tough. It's hard.

This is tough. So, you can leverage some of your relationships to kind of get going, but there's still so much more to it. So, I'm sure that he created some of those blends in the past, and they got snagged along the way, maybe they didn't move as fast as they wanted to, I don't, like, and that's not a dig towards him, that's just the nature of the beast, right? If you anticipate that you're gonna sell 800 boxes or something, and you only sell 500, you're still in trouble, like, you still gotta figure out how to move that, right?

- Sure, but there's also an inverse problem too, right? You may potentially miss turns by doing it a la carte, right? So, you know, you take consensus amongst the small pool of retailers, anywhere in between like 80, 150, whoever it is that you're doing business with, at that level, 'cause you're probably relatively small. And you make X, and then within three weeks, it's a banger.

Those retailers are calling you back up for more. Well, I got news for you, you're six months out before a re-up. - Well, I don't think that that's necessarily a bad thing, Because what you can do is you can do a re-release next year. - Okay.

- Right? You acquire that new customer. Hey, sorry you missed this turn. I have these other ones that are regularly available.

Let's open you up and let's get you in rotation. And then you can kind of keep building and developing. So it's almost better to be that way than the other way, right? If you make it an a la carte and then nobody want it anymore, you know, and like there was no additional demand from other retailers.

- Sure. So, short term money, I see your point, right? But long term money, playing the long game for the whole brand, it makes more sense. Okay, we're already winding down here, 30 minutes in.

California Cigar Tax Decrease? - No. - Yep, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. However, it is still the highest in the US.

How is this possible? California just lowered its cigar tax rate. Not by a lot, but every penny counts in a state with some of the highest tobacco taxes in the country. 08%.

Oh, that's a lot. That is a huge amount. Do you know what our tax is here in the state of Florida, Jax, for cigars? Like, 10%?

Jump to you. And talk to the mic. Like, 10%? It's a good guess.

10% is a good guess. It's zero. Nothing. We live in the great state of Florida, buddy.

It's a lawless swamp. It's a lawless swamp. And we love it. And don't come here.

16 worth of savings. More expensive cigars obviously save more. California adjusts this rate every year because it's tied to the cigarette tax and how cigarette prices fluctuate. 87 per pack.

And as cigarette prices go up, the percentage on cigars changes. Since 2008, I mean that in itself is ridiculous. That's stupid. The fact that the cigars are tied in to cigarette taxes makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

At all. That's like saying, you know, plastic is made of petrol, petrol is oil, we're just going to raise the price of Tupperware. Right, exactly. We're going to do it.

That's wild, dude. 3% to a high of 67% back in 2017. Today's decrease is a small win, but California still sits at the top of the list for the highest cigar taxes in America. If you're in California, celebrate the savings.

Celebrate your 14 cents. If you're not, be grateful you don't live in California. Would you ever want to live in California, Greg? I have no desire to live in California.

Zero Desire. Zero Desire. I live in California. Like half of the firearms that I own, I wouldn't be able to bring with me.

You know, what's funny is a buddy of mine, who I won't say his name here, but we met in Texas at Roma, and he did the Staccato thing with us. Right. And he went to go purchase one. Yeah.

And he can't. He can't. Why? Mag capacity rules.

Because of its mag capacity. Yeah, it holds too many rounds. Yeah. So Staccato actually saw this as a problem, and they made a California version of their pistol that only has the ability to hold a certain amount of rounds, I think, if I remember correctly.

Less bullets. Less bullets is okay. So you just modified the mag? Yeah, something like that, I think, if I remember correctly, yeah.

And like my machine gun, you can't own that gun in that state. No way. All of the SBRs, the suppressors, no, no, no. Of course.

You can't own those over there. Okay. Now listen. We got a little bit of time here.

So I was going to scrub this, but do you want to do just you versus you on what's the score? Me versus me? How do I do me versus me? How's that a thing?

Or versus me. I don't want you to play what's the score. Oh, I get it. Right.

Because you would have to be the person reading everything, so I would have to verse myself. How could we possibly do that? - What would the structure be? I'm just gonna say numbers and see if I go the right way.

- See if we can solve this real quick. - You gonna try to get somebody on the phone? - Mm-hmm. - How's that ringing sound, Jax?

- Good. - What could he possibly be doing? Surprise guests? Your call has been followed.

Alright, Skip is not available. In the United States right now? Yeah, yeah. Who else should we call?

Kenny. What? Kenny. No, I'm not calling one of my buddies, dude.

I gotta call somebody in the industry. I don't know anyone else. Buffy was just here, so that's no good. The Torchy Tacos guy.

No, he's not available. He's not in the industry either. No. but I like I like where your hands at not gonna lie I got nobody for you Palmer Palmer is not available right now taking a call nor will Phil Jackson's dad no dude I'm not calling what somebody from I bet you if you called our Steve he He would pick up and he would dedicate five to 10 minutes to this.

Our Steve that works for us? Our Steve. He would. We're gonna try the, I'm gonna try the row.

The row from the RoMa? They might be together. Hello? Hey.

What's up, buddy? Hey, I'm recording the podcast you're on right now, you got about five minutes of time? I want you to play what's the score with us. All right.

All right, you ready? All right, it's me. You're going to be going up against Triple G. This is Michael Rosales of Aromacraft, Sit Back.

Okay? It's time for industry's favorite game: What's the score? We don't move anything around because the camera guy is new. Okay.

All right, so the cigar. September 1, 2010, Brooks Whittington, the Taranio Single Region Series, Jalapa, Robusto, pre-release. Pre-release. So, Greg, you go first.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, say that one more time, I was just drawing your what? The single-region series release, the Jalapa, single-region series, Jalapa, Robusto, and it's a pre-release. Okay. All right, from September 1st, 2010.

Greg, give me a score. I'm gonna say 89. Greg says 89. Mr.

Rosales? Oh, I think that went pretty high. Uh-oh. I'm okay.

What are you going to pick? Uh, yeah, I'm going to go, I'm going to go 90. All right, Michael says 90. This year, at the annual IPCPR show in New Orleans, Taranio introduced the first release in its single region series, the Jalapa.

The basic idea is that each cigar in the series, a different one released every year, will contain tobacco that is grown only on farms in a very specific region of the country. So in this case, obviously, Jalapa, the Jalapa region in Nicaragua, it comes in three different sizes, a 5x52, a 6x54, and a 7x50, and they smoke the Robusto, so this is a 5x52. 95. What year was this again?

2010. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna stick with my same number, 89. Greg is sticking at 89. Mr.

Rosales? Yeah, we're staying, we're staying. You're staying 90? Clue number one: The cigar itself is a nice-looking stick with a red-brown wrapper that is quite firm when squeezed.

The wrapper has an interesting bread scent along with some cinnamon, which made me think immediately of cinnamon cookies. Greg? I'm gonna go down, because usually when they open with something that's so positive. Let me go 88.

That's where you're at. I was at 89. He's at 90. Oh, Greg is lowered to 88 because he believes the positive description will make it less.

That was a big change. Oh, you know, Icantina, Icantina. Yeah. No, we're gonna stay.

There's not enough description. All right, all right. It's a big cereal. Rosales is holding firm at 90.

Clue number two, the Diminate. The dominant flavors in this cigar were: leather, chocolate, a sweetness that I could not identify, perhaps maple, a bit of pepper, and perhaps some cinnamon on the retrohale. There was some slight spice in the beginning of the smoke, but that quickly faded into the background, never to return. Sticking with 88.

Triple G says 88, he is sticking with 88, Mr. Rosales. Okay, we got it. Okay, we'll go.

89. Lowers it to 89. Clue number three. The flavors did not change much at all from the start to finish, And I did get bored with it fairly quickly, although I still nubbed it, of course.

- Going down. - Oof. - 87. - Greg has lowered his score to 87, Mr.

Rosales. - Yeah, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go, we'll go 88. - 88, he's trailing, he's trailing along. The final thought.

- This is the fastest, what's the score we've ever done? I love this. - I don't know what I was expecting from the cigar, But what I got was just a fairly basic, boring, monotonous blend of Nicaraguan tobacco flavors. Throw in the lack of any significant spice or pepper, and the tight draw in what you have is a very middle of the pack cigar.

To be fair, the burn was excellent, and the price on these is an advantage at just under $7 each. But with so many new and better blends being released for about the same price, I will not be wasting any more time on this cigar. Big drop, Triple G, big drop. Triple G, what is your number?

78. Triple G moves to 78! No, that's fair, that's fair, based on that, I'm gonna go 82. For the first time ever in the history of what's the score?

It's a split, it's 80. We have an even tie. It's an 80. - As it was an 80.

- Wow. - Rock, paper, scissors for the winner. - Rock, paper, scissors. " - I'll take a tie.

That's all right. - A tie. We end in a tie. - Tie's not a loss.

- That's boring. - Tie's not a loss. - Yeah, you know. Okay.

Mr. Rosales, thank you so much for taking this call. Are you gonna be anywhere in particular that you want to give a shout-out in the upcoming week or so? - No, I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July weekend and safe and enjoyed their time with their families and friends and that's all we got going on.

So we'll just be working, we got some new drops, we dropped all the AWS and the EC and the BA and the Oski Skeets, and then we have Fomorians and some Clovis is about to ship, so watch out, watch out, we got making some people happy, so. There you go, some goodies from Roma Crafts are on the way to your local retailer. Looking forward to it. Fantastic.

All right, brother, well, thank you so much, man. We appreciate you taking the call. All right. Thank you.

All right, later. Bye. So Roro said happy fourth to everybody, right? Yeah.

So we experienced something interesting this weekend. We were driving while the 4th of July was happening, right? Okay. We weren't steady in one place and watching fireworks.

We were like in transit from one place to the other. This country is chaos on the 4th of July. Oh, yeah. Like, I've never seen it because either I've stayed at my home or I've gone to a destination and I've watched fireworks and then I go home.

The level of emergency vehicles that are out there during the night is absolutely insane. Like, there is nobody in a firehouse and there is nobody in a hospital because everybody is on the road with the red and blue lights going crazy. It is wild. Yeah, if I'm a fireman or a paramedic, I'm calling out.

Yeah. I'm not here. Oh my God, it was so bad. So bad.

Yeah, you know, what's kind of funny is like, so I'm aware of that as well. And so like, I've never really gone, I've always gone to like a friend's house or something like that. But as time has kind of progressed, it's kind of gotten smaller and smaller for us. So this year, the majority of our friends were all out of town.

So I didn't think of it. I mean, we've been running and gunning and just constantly going. " And I'm good. Like, I stay home, but it's not fair to the kids, you know, and all these other things, so we booked a room at the Marriott, 'cause the Marriott's tied into the Ritz, and they have their own fireworks on the summertime, and this isn't just, like, normal fireworks, right?

Like, this is a thing. Yeah, it's a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of boom. Yeah, I'm sure. I don't think it cost them that much.

Bro, fireworks are expensive. I know, but like, there's got an entry level, like, just that, like the park is a buck and a quarter, worth of fireworks, bro. Like the big shows they put off with the electronic devices and all that stuff. See, I looked it up and it told me that it was less than that.

Really? Yeah. All right. And you got to figure that, like, it's got to be to scale.

If they're doing it in so many different locations, like, they could probably negotiate, you know what I mean? Sure. Whatever. So, but like, but we booked it last minute, so you can either sit on, So you're going to probably be on the side of the hotel where you don't get to see it from your room.

Right. But we got lucky. And when I went in, I asked if there was any upgrades available. And they're like, yeah, sure, we have one room.

It was the ADA compliant room, but it had a fantastic view. So we were in the pool for a little bit. And then, like, as people started to come in, I was like, listen, like, I personally do not want to be around all these people. Sure.

With our three kids, right? Like, I would like to go upstairs and just view it from our balcony, right? And Brittany's not a big fan of heights. So, she sucked it up and we went, and man, I'm so glad that we did because not only was it awesome just viewing that in kind of our own privacy of this little hotel, you got to see everything.

So you got to see Epic Universe's fireworks, by the way, they're bar none. There is no other firework display from a theme park that is as close to Epic's. - It was pretty cool. - Was it not?

- Yeah. - They had like minion stuff. - Yeah. Dude.

Incredible. Now that one I would believe is a ton of money. - Right. - Like their finale was so bright, and they were miles and miles away from us.

It lit, I mean, it all of a sudden felt like the sky was bright. - Yeah, you got a tan. - Yeah, it was incredible. You can see SeaWorlds, you can see all the Disney ones, then you can see like little family ones popping up.

Did you have fun last night? Yes. SeaWorld had like a drone one too. Yeah, SeaWorld did have a drone one.

That's cool. And we got to do it and not be kind of stuck in the chaos. Sure. So it was well worth it.

And you're kind of seeing it at eye level, which is really cool too. You did, you got to see it in eye level. So I remember when we lived in South Florida on the 10th floor of that condominium, every 4th of July we would watch the fireworks from the balcony And you saw the city just exploding at eye-level, really, really cool. And where did you go?

We went to, well, we just took a trip. We stopped at the Devil's Den in Florida, which was really, really cool. A little weird, though. Basically, it's a- I mean, it's called Devil's Den.

Yeah. It's a sinkhole that turned into a cave with all of these, like, water underneath it that you can go swimming. But, like, they found, like, mastodons in it and old Indians and shit because they fall in there, they can't get out. " Tonto.

" So that was cool. Then we drove out to New Orleans, we did the French Quarter. 'Cause you haven't had enough New Orleans. We thought PZO was enough.

Alex never seen it, so she wanted to go and check it out. Steal your food. So, we saw the armpit of depravity that is the French Quarter, and then on the way back, we stopped at a couple different cities along the way, and that's where we sort of experienced 4th of July while navigating the roads, and it is fucking chaos. Very cool.

Oh, yeah, it is. Chaos. Oh, cool. Especially for 250.

Okay, for the 250th anniversary? Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure it was even more. Okay.

Well, hey, listen, we're gonna wrap this up here. It's a little over 45 minutes. I feel good about that. You feel good about that, Triple G?

Absolutely. Jack, jump to you real quick. Thank you very much for coming on today and for picking up the slack and doing the show. I think you did a fantastic job.

How do you think you did, Triple G? Did a great job. Now you're supposed to be on me. Flip it, flip it.

You did a great job. Alright, now jump back to you. Back to you. There you go.

So thanks again for coming on, dude. Nothing? Nothing to say? You want to say anything?

Thank you. Now you got to go back to you when you say it. Oh, thank you. Yeah, you did outstanding, buddy.

com for all your chpod swag. When this posts, I mean, I don't know, maybe the new site's up. When it's up, listen, we're gonna have to work through a couple of kinks or whatever. We're gonna do it together.

com, Us Cigar Hostlers Podcast, and like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show. Triple G, again, thanks so much, Jax, thanks so much, and we'll see you guys tomorrow. You gotta do the remote. Right, see you guys tomorrow.

Show Notes

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