ACHP 578 Grand Ma Needs a Drink

Transcript

- - It's that time again peoples. Three, two, here we go. Thank you for shortening it. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a show where cigars are just the spark and the conversation can go absolutely anywhere.

Please silence your cell phones in the audience. My name is Alexander Gonzalez from The Cigar Guys, your host alongside my co-host, angry Mike Szczewonkiewicz, the only third-party member in the cigar industry to correctly pronounce his name, running the board, keeping us on the air, And one day, hoping to hop on the Cigar Guys podcast, he's the masked man behind the curtain, Mr. Phil McGuffey. Listen, anytime, Alex.

Anytime you want me, I'm here. You want to be on Cigar Guys? Are you going to have him on Cigar Guys? Yeah, we'll pay him one dollar more than you pay him.

Oh, that's free. Why would you give him a dollar? Just for the lore, just to keep the beef going. I'll tell you what, if you have him on the podcast, though, he has to wear the mask.

Well, of course. Okay. Like, the mask is him. Yeah.

Like, it's like Batman, like, you can't have Batman on your podcast without the mask, then you have Bruce Wayne. Yeah, it's dumb. And no one wants Bruce Wayne on the podcast. Yeah, what a loser.

Yeah. Just another millionaire. Yeah. Billionaire.

Billionaire. Yeah, millionaire. What are you talking about? Yeah.

B, possible T, Elon Musk stuff. I wish I was a billionaire. You do? Yeah.

Okay. All right, go ahead. Anyway, every episode, we break down the biggest stories in the cigar world, tackle sports, business, Current Events, Pop Culture, and whatever unbelievable headlines are making people shake their heads, nothing is off-limits, no opinion is scripted, and no topic is safe. Whether you're a seasoned cigar smoker, a casual fan, or you've never even picked up a cigar in your life, this isn't just another cigar podcast.

It's a conversation you can pull up a chair to. We keep it honest, we keep it real, and we never know exactly where the next hour is going to take us. So light your favorite cigar, pour yourself a drink, settle in, and get ready for another long intro of the episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Super long.

It's very long. Well, the cigar sparks a conversation, but it never defines it. Let's get into today's show. Okay.

Does someone trim your beard? Yes. You have a person? I have a guy.

Yeah? Yeah. How often do you go? Not often enough, actually.

It looks so nice. Thank you. It's like lovely. Unfortunately, when I go, and then I go back home, it already needs to be re-trimmed.

You feel, and then you trim it again? Then I have to, like, maintain it before it gets too much, and then I have to go back to the guy, and the guy fixes it. Shout out, Luis Hernandez at the Groom Room. Well, it sounds like your guy sucks, though.

Man in the Groom Room, what do you mean? He's like, you go and get trimmed, and then you gotta go trim, and get trimmed. No, no, no, it's not his fault. It's my fault for growing hair so fast.

It's not you, it's me? It's not you, Luis, it's me. Yeah, okay. Do you trim it with scissors or with an electric razor?

Yeah, because this is starting to grow now, and I like it, but then I'm like, eh, it's getting a little, like, I don't know what to do. Itchy. No, it's not itchy, it's just like, it's got like this, I don't know. It's the awkward phase.

Yeah, it's like this weird poofy on the side a little bit, and I'm thinking. Yeah, because you have to put on that oil stuff to like make it grow. Oil? Yeah.

Balm, he's entering the balm phase. Do you put in oil? Occasionally, yes. You do?

Yeah. It helps it strain out and grow and stuff. It's a little too much on the mustache. It hits the lip a little bit.

That'd drive me nuts. Oh, like mine, you're saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't mind this. And also, I used to have a long beard and long mustache. I've gone through all the phases. How have you?

I had a Castro beard at one point. Oh. I've done it all. Really?

Oh, wow. You've lived it. What? You've lived it.

I have lived it. Yeah. I lived through communism via my beard. Okay.

So, the reason I am at this new stage in my life, where I keep it, you know, kind of tighter in my face, is because I don't like the awkward stages. Like, I'm tired of the awkward stages. I need this to be as maintainable as possible. My hair is now growing longer, because that's just what it is.

So, we switched. Short hair, long beard, reverse. Long hair, short beard. Got it.

And that's my story. Well, Mike Palmer, thank you for stepping in for Mike Palmer today. Absolutely. He's currently in witness protection, hiding from the Creekside members that aggressively attacked him.

What? Yes. I missed this. Yeah, so there's a T-Money controversy that shot through the roof yesterday.

Okay. And some mean things were said from some of the Creekside members. Really? Yeah, very hurtful.

Not the people that are in the business, but the people that consume. Yes, the members. The members. So what had happened was I went there and I called their team money the fake team money because we have the real team money.

And I stand by that statement. We have the real team money. Here comes 20 comments. You guys!

" Uh-huh. " 'Cause, you know-- Oh, he literally said that. Yeah. I thought that "whatever" stood for something else.

Yeah, no, 'cause he was-- no, 'cause he was butthurt about not going. Oh, of course. Yeah, so he plays-- Well, he should have taken his private jet out there anyway. Yeah, exactly.

That's on him. " You know, set his people after. His posse. Go get them.

In a joking manner, in a jovial manner. Of course. However, some people felt empowered. And they started attacking Palmer, thinking that it was me.

And I'm like, hold on, wait a second. Like, what? No, no, wait, no. Like, yeah, he's retarded and old and stuff.

And he says stupid shit all the time. Yeah, we get that. But like, that's not his, this isn't even his fight. Like, this is me messing with T-Money, fake T-Money.

I've never heard of this fake T-Money. He's actually, he's a sweetheart of a guy. He really is. That's why he's the fake T-Money, is because he's too nice of a guy.

Yeah, exactly. T-Money can't be a nice guy. No, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, I like our T-Money.

So, when we get into comments, I'm sure there's some fresh ones, so I'll bring them up. This literally happened on the show yesterday. I'm here for it. I will take a break from our beef with the Cigar Hustlers podcast to join sides, we'll have a truce and we'll join together, we'll join forces.

In unison? In unison, I like that word, in unison, we will cross the Monroe, meet on the other side, and fight a common enemy, which is not a real enemy. I'm down for it. Which is not a real enemy.

I was like, so I'm commenting, I'm like, I was just up there, like you guys, like you're really, and then someone's like, oh. You're all wearing my swag right now. And then someone's like, oh, yeah, I guess, wow, I guess, I guess fake, they said realty money, but I guess T-Money isn't the only one catching strays, and I'm like, yeah, dude, like what's going on here, so. You know what the problem is, is that you put Palmer's face on all the swag, so maybe they thought, like.

You don't know anything about hospitality. I was like, jeez. I'm like, ouch. Yeah, I hate it here, bro.

Hurtful. Hurt my. Wow. Hurt my feelings.

But are you supposed to continue at this point? Can we continue at this point? Go ahead, I don't know. Probably.

We probably have another 30 minutes before you can read the comments. All right. Let's go ahead. Here, a little snippet of what we might get to today.

Grandma needs a drink. Guess arguing a co-host is a bad idea. I won't argue with the co-host today. It's like, sugar subtitles lead to and sad war update.

Then in cigars. A festival we weren't going to anyway gets cancelled. A cigar that would have been featured at the canceled event, and MoGoToCanada, MoGoToCanada, MoGoToCanada, MoGoToCanada, Some new cigars for Palmer's birthday, then a Krabby What's the Score? A Krabby What's the Score?

But first, Mikey, tell us how to get some of that CH Pod swag. And what about the Patreon show? You know, I'm gonna tell you all about that. Thanks so much for asking.

First of all, we're gonna change Palmer's name So that you guys can't find him, he's gonna go into hiding for a little bit, and when the dust settles, he'll come back out, so thank you very much for scaring away my friend. Can we name him Beatrice? Beatrice? Yeah.

I love that. Yeah. That's a great name. That's perfect.

com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast, where if you pay for the full year, you're gonna get 10% off. I'm gonna start today... Here we go. With the CH Pod comments.

Oh! Mm-hmm. Right off the website. Right off the website.

So many comments. Yeah, let's see. Do you know about the website, Alex? I know that there's merch on the website.

There is. There's comments on the website, too? Yeah, well, we now are having a discussion board as well. A discussion board?

Yeah. You should check it out. Interesting. Maybe I will.

You could talk junk on it now. Well, first one off the jump, Michi Maduro, this is all very confusing, I clicked the episode link to find the episode to comment, but then it's under blog, Claude got some explaining to do, hey listen, we're going through it, you tell me, you tell me what needs to be fixed and I will fix for you, okay, if you want it to be episodes or blog, whatever, you know, blog slash episodes, T-Money just came here, real T-Money, T-Money says, just came here as a To show of force and to exert dominance over all platforms. iHeart Boots says, @iHeart Triple G, that's what I thought as well. I don't know where that's from.

We'll see what that is. It's Palmer. Christopher Weiss says, also checking in at Point Charlie. Nice.

iHeart Triple G says, really, diarrhea? Have you ever heard of Spell Check? Because Palmer misspells everything. We know, we know this.

But what's funny now is that... He misspelled Charles' name, by the way. What's funny now is... How do you misspell Charles?

With a V. Yeah. Well, I don't know. But it's funny that Palmer's attacking himself now.

Yeah. You know what's funny is when you listen to the episodes, like the person that's not there is usually the person that gets attacked the most by Palmer. Oh. Yeah.

despite commenting through comments like on the internet it's like you know I'm not saying it to your face but you're also not here right like it's double layers yeah he's hiding behind two walls yeah it's like they're not going to hear me but like I listen to the episodes that I'm not on and he said mean things you know Southpaw says at Mike Abner oh I already said that one that was from yesterday so first of all Well, thank you very much for commenting on the blog/episode, Mitchie Maduro, I'm sorry, I'll do better for you, eventually we're going to, you know, maybe starting next week we're going to work on some giveaways and stuff that'll be tied into both, it's very exciting stuff, some comments, hold on, I got to get, I got to do unresponded, responded, the whole thing now. Some comments from our YouTube section page, whatever episode at the buzznator 19 says, Mike is always the better man smoking a postaña habano. As I watch this, I watch Coop because he's everywhere, but everyone knows he was bullied as a kid and is now a conversational narcissist. By the way, by the way, Den of Thieves is awesome, as most of Gerard Butler movies are.

I liked the original Den of Thieves, but I did not like Gerard Butler. Butler as a character in The Den of Thieves. The guys who made that movie were 50 Cent and the other guy. Cube's son.

No. Oh. No, no. The white guy.

The white guy. Yeah. I can't think of his name. He was a badass in that movie.

Yeah. Right? And, like, for me, Gerard Butler's character, he wasn't a hero. He was an asshole, which is what they were trying to portray.

Yeah. He was like a side character, too, in my opinion. opinion yeah which i was fine with when you started to go into this den of thieves 2 shit and all of a sudden it's like it was like when fast and the furious shot a car into space i'm like what are we doing like this is just we've we've officially jumped the shark too far-fetched yeah and and all of a sudden like his character changed like he didn't grow he was just a different person i mean i'm gonna say that luda and tyrese in space was kind of dope And it needed to happen for the mission to be accomplished. It did, yeah, it did happen.

At T-Money 007, Palmer would throw me away like that, huh? No more presents for you to think I bought all the BDP shirts and talked so highly of him. That's right. Now you can just buy all the Phil stuff.

All the Phil stuff. I'm in, baby. We're back. We're back.

" Did you hear about this? No. A lady was dancing on top of a fire hydrant after drinking, or allegedly drinking at a bar, and she fell onto it, and she got stuck. Her vagina got stuck.

Oh. Yeah. Do not dance on fire hydrants. It hurts, doesn't it, Alex?

I... Does it hurt? I think it would. Yeah.

You know, what's funny was this, like, so Palmer released this episode. We had an episode, that news yesterday, and I had my kids here, so I'm like, alright, let's move on. He's like, oh, I'm not, don't you want to hear about this? There's so much more for me to cover.

I'm like, is there though? Yeah, I'm like, read the room, Palmer, read the room. She was arrested, potentially. Also, a great handle, by the way.

We appreciate the support, cigar guys, you know. Michael Z, cigar guy? Yeah. He's Chi-town.

He's Chi-town? Mm-hmm. Well, I mean, he's He clearly supports the Cigar Guys podcast. He does.

That's obvious. He's one of your three listeners. Yes. That's okay.

Combined, we don't cover Creekside, so five total between me and you. At Florida Man 1888, in reference to the lady who fell on the fire hydrant, if it turned on while she is on it, would it be considered a douche? Yes. uh yeah i guess so i like i don't i don't know she would definitely die though you know this was a again this was a story that i tried to swiftly move through now we can talk about it yeah yeah yeah exactly at florida man 1888 also said i don't know how much i don't know much about the haters mikey was talking about but i agree with you focus on yourself and keep your mind to the grind there will always be haters the hell with them love you We love you too, brother.

Yeah, that was in reference of, apparently something was said on Smoking Tobacco or something with Coop and Matt about us. I don't know, I didn't look, I didn't check, nor do I care. 2026 is like the year of cigar media drama that we never saw coming. And it's all stupid.

No, you know what, here's what's happening, in my personal opinion. This isn't easy. And you have to constantly work to evolve and get better. Right?

As you know. And when you see someone taking the space and it bothers you, you get, I think, people get negative about it and they get upset. Instead of looking at them and saying, "Damn, they're doing something good. How do I get better?

" It's much easier just to try and tear somebody else down. Mikey, to your point, if I was doing this for 10 years, and I did the exact same thing for 10 years, and saw zero growth, I would be pissed too. Right, exactly. Me personally.

We talked about this on Patreon as well. Our Patreon, not theirs. com/TheCigarGuys. You have to be able to adapt, right?

You have to be able to give listeners something that's entertaining for them. You have to be able to provide good video quality, good audio quality, and if you're not striving to improve in that space, And of course, you're gonna shit on everybody else who's taking your lunch. - Yeah, but also, you know, it's not fun anymore. It makes it feel more like a job, like a have to, you know, if you're just kinda doing the same thing forever and ever.

- Yeah. - You have to, I think just for your own sanity, you should always look to try and improve and change things up, which is why we have different mics every month. - Right. - We're always trying something new.

- Which is now, we have one that was 600 and one that was 750. - Yeah. - You know what I mean? We dropped $1,400.

- Clearly, these guys are doing something right, 'cause they can afford thousands of dollars worth of equipment. - Yeah, exactly. You know, I will tell you this, this is probably, I think this is the first year that we didn't have to go out of pocket for anything. - Hold on.

- That's a big deal. - Doing this? - Yeah. - Cigar, YouTube, slash media?

- Yeah. - No money. - Like, hey, you know what would be cool is this other bad-ass mic. And it's like, okay.

- Yeah. - It's like, alright, cool. - Love that. You know, but you got to always constantly reinvest in yourself and, and make a, you know, perform better.

Like, wait, wait till we get the new light, cause that's, that's on my radar. Are you gonna get the Creekside light? The Creekside light is awesome. The Creekside light is awesome.

I don't know, we'll see. It was like, He's looking around, he's like, Yeah, it's like this, it was like this dome thing. And it was like sunlight just kind of beaming down on you. Well, they also have many, many windows of natural sunlight as well.

I'm sure that helps. Yeah, but dude, I'm going to tell you, that light, that light is pretty badass. I'm like, that's pretty sick. So, Ruckus Unchained, AKA Mom, Palmer is talking crazy again, needs to red light.

Yeah, I mean, you can almost tell. You can almost tell when he's off. He's off his meds? Yeah, something, right?

Pray for him every day. When he's locked in, you should. Pray harder, I'm going to tell you. Because it's not working.

It's like this loop, like when he all of a sudden, you know, so. - Monthly cycle, I deal with it all the time. - That's, yeah. - Not me personally, but people around me.

" Did you hear about that? - I saw a clip of that. The guy went to the Waffle House and throws a screen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah, whatever.

Weird times we live in. At IR, Triple G says, "Triple G would look good with an ascot. " Listen, I, you know what, dude? I gotta be honest.

Someone's gotta make money. Triple G's up there handling business. I mean, I couldn't agree more. I think that Triple G should just take my space here permanently and I'd be perfectly fine with that.

Would you be happy taking his space permanently, though? No, but realistically, he's not making money right now. He's doing everything else. He's back-end, refining, and handling.

That stuff is also important to keep the machine moving. Oh, yeah. I'm not cheapening that by any fashion whatsoever. But yeah, you know.

I like the fact that he's kind of plugged in now. I like it too. Yeah, I like it. You know, it's a fresh face.

I like, I like the dynamic because he's so different from the rest of you guys. Um, I also like the fact that he's kind of not in tune with what's going on in the world, so that's the best part. Especially in the cigar industry. Like he has no clue.

He has no clue. He's like, who's that guy? Like, uh, dude, you've been doing business with him for 15 years. Oh, yeah.

Okay. He's hiding in the, in the office doing the important stuff. Yeah. Typing.

I'm just paying my bills. " Get with it, Mikey. I think that we were referencing TAA though, right? Yeah.

Yeah, that's a totally different show at iHeartBDP. Yeah, there's also now TPA. Oh, there's another? Yeah?

Yeah, there's just a lot of T's and A's and E's and E's. There's so many T's and A's. Hmm. Uh, and then, at CW6383 says, "Sound check, the new mics sound much clearer.

" Nice. Wow. Perfect. Well then, I'm glad that the investment is paying off.

This one's kind of standing out here today. It's a little messy on Ray here, but I'll try and straighten that out in a second. com blog page, where we post every episode title, so you can comment below on that, and what we're gonna do is we'll work on some giveaways moving forward. Now, on with the show.

We're doing a show today. We are. m. happy hours at their lake house.

The 82-year-old couldn't believe it then when she found out last year that her Minnesota Assisted Living Facility was prohibited from serving drinks to residents because it didn't have a license. Oh my gosh. The controversy. Already something of a social butterfly, at Amira Choice Chaplin, LaBerne agreed to become the face and the voice of a mission to change the law.

After testifying twice before the state legislator, she shared a toast with the Governor Tim Waltz, a-hole, this week for a ceremonial signing of what's been nicknamed the Grandparents Happy Hour Bill at the very facility she calls home. The legislation which took effect this month allows nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Minnesota to serve alcohol to residents and their guests for special events without a license as long as the state is notified beforehand. " Oh my gosh, Minnesota has so many other things to worry about than some old lady drinking Prina Grigio at the assisted living home. What are we talking about?

Oh, I'm-- What are we talking about, Palmer? What's wrong with this? Um, who cares? Like-- I care about old people.

That's-- me too. But Minnesota-- Minnesota is in a crisis right now. Like, have you been, you guys have talked about it on the show, too. Like, the fraud that has been going on, the Somalis running leering daycare centers.

Yeah. We just tried to, we actually. I'm glad Alex watches the show. We were getting hacked.

This is a real story, by the way. The Cigar Guys podcast had an attempted hacking that came out of, one, Dearborn, Michigan. And two, somewhere in Minnesota, probably Somalis, legitimately, this is a real thing. What are they doing?

What are they hacking? We're trying to hack into our email. To do what? To essentially get, you know, the $10, $20 we have in our bank account.

They're trying to take your email? They're trying to take your 20 bucks? They're trying to take our 20 bucks that we made from YouTube. Is that where the Pornhub headquarters is?

As in Dearborn? No, that's in... You would know that, Phil. So?

Yeah. That's Intellivision. Okay, so, like, so what? So, like, okay.

There's fraud everywhere, buddy. Like, give the old people their victory lap. All right. You guys earned it.

Have your glazapina grigio. I gotta be honest, you know, the only thing that pisses me off about it is the fact that they have to inform the government that they're gonna do these things. That is retarded. If you want to talk about what's ridiculous, without going like your fucking super hard right feelings, right, like the reality is that...

Whoa, this is not about left or right, this is about justice. Okay, alright, okay, alright pal, whatever you say. The reality is that, look, I don't see the problem with nursing homes being permitted to fucking give out drinks. No, I don't see a problem with that either, that's fine.

This should be okay, right? Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And then at that point you can deem, you can control it.

It can be self-regulated. If Harry comes down and he goes too fucking hard, then guess what? We're capping a limited two. You mean a bar?

You know? Yeah. Rules that have been in existence since drinking and driving became illegal. I think that I'm for nursing homes having a bar.

100%. And it not needing a license. Yeah. You know?

Let 'em cut loose and mingle and do whatever the hell they want. No, but having to inform the state beforehand. The state is absolutely ridiculous. I 100% agree with you.

Sorry, I just wanted to make a big deal out of this introduction story. I feel like we can talk about anything else, but we'll talk about this. This is a fun, happy story, and you went and tore it down. I know.

I'm trying to get you more views on your clips. Thank you so much. Shall I continue? Yeah, that's good.

Do you have anything to say about Phil? We're still talking about this. Don't worry. - Do you have anything?

Oh, we do? - We're still talking about this. - Oh, okay, go ahead. - Don't worry, you can, if you have any comments, please feel free to interrupt me at any time.

- Okay. S. actively promote happy hours, especially, you know, Florida, and other events to encourage socialization. - So there you go.

- Yeah, like any other normal state. Like that's what I'm saying is this shouldn't even be a problem. Like this is ridiculous. Okay.

Let the old people drink a glass of wine at 5:00 PM and then go to sleep at six. All right, any comments about this story? Because we will move on to the next one. - Yeah, dude.

- Oh, yeah, like you forgot. - Wait, is that? - I did. - He always acts like he forgets.

- Oh, oh. - Oh, is this a daily occurrence? - This is a thing now. - This is not a daily occurrence.

- I don't think this level of controversy He's gonna stand out amongst the rest. Yeah. Um, no, I have no comment. It's kind of a weird conversation, but...

Thank you. Have you shot a movie yet in a nursing home yet? Wearing the mask? Yeah.

No? Or forgetting to wear the mask? What would the name be? What would the name be if you shot...

Phil McGuffey's McGuffey. Phil McGuffey's... That doesn't sound... That's...

It's not even close. Phil's not in Dearborn. Phil's not in Dearborn? Yeah, I don't know.

Nope. Breaking news, sky is blue. See, this is where you need Palmer, because Phil, he would have a funny saying at that point. Comment below and tell me what you think Phil's nursing home movie should be.

Oh my God, the only comment you're going to get is from iHeartBDP, iHeartGG, it's all going to be Palmer. There's going to be tons of them. Yeah. There's going to be tons of them.

There they go. Yeah. I can't wait to hear tomorrow's episode. It's all about Phil.

Phil's nursing home adventures, adventures in nursing homes. We should make this a real thing. A real thing? This could be an every Sunday episode for you guys.

Every Sunday? You want us to go to seven? We're already six days a week. You want us to go to seven.

All right. What's the next one? What you got? Some sports news.

ESPN has fired Ryan Clark as part of a round of layoffs. I heard about this. Per The Athletics, Andrew Marshall. I heard he was fired on the show.

Like, he got the... No. Yeah. Like, during his live take or whatever, he got wind that he was being cut, and he walked off the show.

Somebody messed up. " Sorry to hear. Clark, who was on NFL Live on Monday, was informed about the layoff in the middle of the broadcast- There it is. -and did not finish the show per Marchland.

Initially, ESPN reportedly planned to tell Mark that he was let go on Tuesday morning in line with other layoffs. But media inquiries had led the network to fear that Clark would find out he was fired online before it had a chance to tell them. Clark, a Pro Bowl, Super Bowl-winning safety, joined ESPN as an NFL analyst in 2015. ESPN and NFL network will reportedly have additional layoffs Tuesday, today, of this recording, as part of a larger cluster at Disney, its parent company.

Per the Athletics reporting, Clark will likely not be on the The only, he went, sorry, will likely not be the only on-air talent to be let go in this round of layoffs. Mm-hmm. So why do you think this is happening? Um, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't keep up with sports at all, so I couldn't contribute to this conversation.

But you're in the media space. You're a successful podcaster. Thank you, I appreciate that. You know?

But, I mean, I literally have no information, I have no supporting information outside of a media company is firing a host, like. You're starting to see this across the board. Would you, Alex? Me.

Would you fire? God, I can't remember any of their names now. Jared? Let me tell you this.

Would you fire Jared in the middle of a taping of Cigar Guys podcast? I will go a step further. I will go a step further. Because this Saturday, on the Cigar Guys podcast, we are actually having-- A firing?

No. Oh. So, of the Cigar Guys podcast is facing an arraignment for charges of multiple counts of being late or absent to the Cigar Guys podcast and not contributing enough to the podcast. He is facing charges from the state of the Cigar Guys podcast, district number one, by the way.

Yeah. He is going to face trial if the judge doesn't drop the charges before then. That's great. He is facing 25 years of exclusively smoking acid blondies for the rest of his life.

Really? That's a penalty? That's an expensive scar. If he doesn't show up, do you cut him loose?

If he doesn't show up? Yeah, what if he shows up late again? Do you cut him loose? Well, we have three more weeks of discovery, so we can add that to discovery.

We'll see what happens. Yeah. At that point, we have to use all the evidence that has been provided to discovery, and then the judge will have to decide if he is punished or if he is deemed innocent. This is an ongoing thing, so we'll see.

This could be weeks, this could be months. Sounds like a lot for just somebody being late. I mean, he made him sound like a complete Russian villain when he said his name like that. Listen, the facts have been reported.

The evidence is coming to light. It is, poor cigar guy's rules, 25% or more absences require punishment. So he is going to be facing these charges. This is like a fraternity punishment.

We just replace you. He's what? We just replace them. Yeah, I know.

I commented about it publicly. Yeah. You commented what? We were so close to losing the OG squad.

Yeah. Oh, you're talking about back then when you-- I was talking about last week, bro. Yeah. Oh.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I have things to do. And then there was a comment of you couldn't replace my password. Remember any of this?

No? No. Don't do drugs, guys. Yeah, there could have been a better comeback, but-- I felt good about that.

It was lighthearted. But that wasn't you. That was Palmer, right? Who knows?

If it wasn't T-Money's comment, it wasn't paying attention. Could have been anybody. Who knows. All right, what you got next?

Yeah, let's skip this one. Basically, people are being fired. We'll see what happens. Clark was earning more than $2 million per year under his current contract, which was signed February 2024.

Well, listen, here's what I think. I think that what's happening is a lot of these, a lot of people in media space have gotten a lot of money in their contracts. And the conventional media is no longer the mainstream, as far as where people get all their news content, no matter if it's sports, or if it's politics, or whatever. So you think it's a budgeting issue?

I just think that the ratings are no longer there. I think that eyes and ears are everywhere else. Social media platforms, YouTube, and all these other things. So when the ratings dollars no longer come in, the ad space has to be less because you can't, you're not providing as many viewership, You have to start cutting, and where do you start, where do you, where's the first place you look?

Talent, 'cause they're probably one of the highest paid aspects of the industry, and can you replace talent? Sure, you know. Well, this is ESPN? Yeah.

They're owned by Disney, right? Correct. So, I mean, I don't know how that type of contract works. Yeah.

Like, are they looking for rating dollars, or are they? Of course, it's all about ad revenue. Yeah, okay. Like, how do they make money?

Well, that whole ESPN is completely dependent on, what's his name now? What's his name? Who's the blonde guy? So dependent on him, you don't even know his name.

Pat McAfee? Yeah, McAfee, yeah. They're pretty dependent on that guy. That guy is everywhere, he does everything, all the big gigs, he's there.

Right. He took over the space. Yeah. Yeah, he is the new Kenny Smith, you know, all those guys.

You know, all those guys. He's the new Mike Szczevonkiewicz. Yeah. Right.

Wow. So, I think that's what's happening. Okay. No, that's a very good argument.

It's probably the truth. Mm-hmm. I mean, you saw it with, like, the MSNBC, the Fox, like, all those guys. At the end of the day, it's all about money.

Mm-hmm. There may be a story that comes out later, because remember the quarterback or whatever, Sanchez? The quarterback? Yeah, I remember he got fired.

Mark? Yeah, Mark Sanchez. He got fired all of a sudden, then the story didn't come out until, like, the day later. No, like the story came out first when Mark Sanchez had the incident and it sounded like he was attacked and he was still he's still on a job and then 24 hours later you found out that he's the one that did the alleged attacking because he was just out of his mind maybe this guy's an attacker allegedly I don't think so no Mm-mm.

No. I just think that they're just cutting costs. Two million dollars is a lot of money. That's how much he gets paid annually?

That's how much he was getting paid. That doesn't sound like a lot for one of those guys. For sitting in front of a camera and doing this? Well, it's because we all do it for free.

That's why it sounds like a lot of money. No, those guys get paid a lot, man. I mean, Pat McAfee, he makes like 50 million a year or something. He makes something crazy.

Yeah, but he's performing, like you said. Yeah. How much does Pat McAfee make? Yeah, like Shaq and all them, they just sound like a new contract too.

You know, they sound like something crazy as well. He makes 30 million annual. 30 million. Current deal with ESPN Approach is 30 million annual.

01% of that. That'd be nice. Which covers both his 17 plus million licensing agreement. That's smart.

Negotiating an extension that could pay him between 60 and 65 million per year, though a significant portion of this goes toward funding his production costs and show staff, so there you go. Well, if he's paying his staff like us, he's making it out, baby. Sounds like you can pick up Ryan Clark at a discount. Right, and Sanchez, Mark Sanchez.

Yeah, you definitely get Sanchez. All right. All right. ESPN Avengers.

What else you got? 'Cause you're already approaching 37 minutes. We can speed through this one. Consuming popular sugar substitutes may be linked to a faster decline in memory and thinking skills, according to the new research.

Oh, Palmer drinks a lot of Diet Coke. P. Palmer. A study published by American Academy of Neurology found an association between sweetener consumption and cognitive decline.

We're all in shock. Apparently, while making his coffee, Palmer forgot to get the rest of the article. Sorry. Oh, is that what it says then?

Sounds about right. S. Army Private Isabel Gonzalez, with an S-19 of Charlatan, Texas, and 1st Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Iwa Beach, Hawaii, died July 17th. And July 18th retrospectively, according to the Department of Defense release.

I hate how he throws the sad stories in here. Yeah, that sucks. Yeah, that's terrible, genuinely. The active duty soldiers were killed during an enemy attack at some place in Jordan.

Gonzales was stationed at Germany, assigned 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd... Alright, we get it. But rest in peace, this is terrible, thanks Palmer for ruining the entire film. Did he bring us down?

Yeah, did he bring that up because maybe you thought that person was related to you? That's probably why I threw in Gonzalez? Yeah. He's like, ooh, it sounds the same last name.

Yeah. Gonzalez. But it's not, it's with an S. It's not, no.

No relation. It's totally different Gonzalez. Right. End of Cigar News!

Oh. Sorry, did you ask what I was smoking? I'm actually smoking the Stamperet Blue Pyramid. And coincidentally, this Friday, in this wonderful establishment that we're sitting in, we're having a private tasting experience with food, we've got a charcuterie board, we've got some drinks, we've got cigars, of course, we're gonna have a guided tasting featuring yours truly, Alexander Gonzalez, to guide you through sound price cigars.

You're gonna guide us? We're gonna guide you, it's a guided tasting, did I mention that? Okay. Spots are limited as of now because we're selling out rapidly, so by the time you're watching this you might want to secure a spot.

Just a wonderful time, camaraderie, some food, all this great stuff. , be there. I know some of you guys that are going, can't wait to see you. Nice.

Okay. On with the news. Very, very sad news. Not as sad as last Friday, but very, very sad.

Festival Del Habano, XXVI, has been canceled. Mm. Give me a second. Mm.

What is it? Um, some big Cuban cigar festival they do every year. It's canceled? It's canceled.

Yeah? Are you upset about it? Alex, you're Cuban, right? Close.

Venezuelan. But it's like the same thing, basically. You know, communist countries, we took over one, we're on to the next one very soon. Mm.

Five months after it was postponed, Habanos SA has officially canceled the Festival del Habano XXVI. I'm not good with all my numerals. Oh, yeah? Cigar guys weren't going.

Who's saying this? Wow, Palmer. It's true. We weren't going to go.

We were waiting for the US to make it a state. Mikey, were you guys going? No. Oh.

No. Shocker. Did you hear about the voting in Nicaragua? What voting?

It's gone. The voting? It's gone. They have that?

Not anymore. Well, what they did have was no longer apparently. They never really had voting. Allegedly.

Like, do we have voting, allegedly, even, like, the United States? Like, come on. I mean, I'd like to believe that we live in a free country. I'd like to believe that, too, Mikey.

I would love to believe that. Yeah? Yeah. You're so, like, morbid.

I know. I know, like, if you would go back to, like, an episode from last year and then compare it to this one, like, what are we doing? You're, me or you? Well, me.

Yeah. Just, what are we doing? Like, why are we even here right now? Oh.

You know what I'm saying? Like, what's the point? Oh, wow, this guy's in the Matrix. They're so pessimistic.

What's the point? Speaking of Matrix attacks, we really should have talked about the Tate Brothers being arrested. This is, like, the biggest news article in 2026. The Tate Brothers?

Yes. Why? Oh, you didn't see about this? They're being extradited to the UK or something?

Allegedly, maybe, for new charges, new bullshit charges, in my opinion, of people that they never even, that don't even exist. The Matrix is attacking them once again. The Matrix? The Matrix.

It is the Matrix. Well, it's guilty until proven innocent. Well, yeah, for them. The problem is, when you are innocent, the process is the punishment.

They make the process, the judiciary process, As painful as possible as the punishment, because they can't actually convict you because there's no actual evidence, so they drag it on as long as they can. They were in jail for four months in Romania. They might be in jail here in Miami for 60 days, potentially extradited the UK, failed state. Who knows what's going to happen?

This is one of the biggest things that we should be talking about. The fact that it wasn't here in the teleprompter is beyond me. Palmer, I'm glad you're in witness protection. Because if I see you again, we're going to have a conversation, buddy.

Yeah, you're going to be arrested and put in due process for 60 days here in Miami. At least. Minimum. Yeah, I mean, like, I mean, I see your point.

If it's not legit, right? Like, that's a problem. Yeah. That is a big problem.

It is a big problem. Well, their whole, their whole fame is based off of TikTok and stuff like that anyway. Yeah. Yeah.

So that's, it's actually, genuinely, though, it is a very unique story. Like, from 2020 'til now, it's a very unique story of how that whole thing happened, and that's a three hour conversation we don't have time for. Phil, any man-on-man porn scheduled around the festival? What is going on?

Is there? What do you got going on for the festival? Nothing? Nothing now.

It's been canceled. No? Yeah, there was no voting. There's no voting in Cuba?

There never is. All right. You want to move on? Yeah, sure.

Patina Cigars as distribution in Canada. Yay. Yay. Blame Canada.

Blame Canada. Another failed state. Patina Cigars has announced it has entered into a distribution agreement with Canadian Craft Cigars. I like how he interjected on that one.

Which will bring the company's cigars to market next month. I don't appreciate being interrupted, Phil. Sorry. Mike Palmer interrupted me last time literally every five minutes.

- I can't stand it. - He can't help himself. - Does it say that on the telephone? - No, this is me speaking.

- Oh. - That's how you know it's real. - Oh, you just didn't change, like, any way you were talking. - Sorry.

- It's a lot of work being on this show. - Yeah, I know. - "I am really excited for the opportunity to enter the Canadian market," said Mo, owner of Patina Cigars, in a press release. " We wish Moe luck on all his Canadian adventures.

Signed, CHPOD. There you go. Congratulations. So, uh, is BESA gonna go on to Canada?

Unique, funny story actually, BESA dipped their toes in Canada. Did you? We did. Um, it was actually a shop that was on reservation land, so none of the restrictions that you have, like, the bans not being present, the taxation, so our $15 cigar wasn't $60.

And there is some controversy there that we don't fully understand yet, and we're investigating currently. Oh, more investigation. More investigation. This is more of a legitimate investigation.

Yeah. No idea. Literally no idea what happened. We continued our efforts to present them a great product and service and everything like that.

The person we were in contact with was abruptly fired, almost immediately after bringing baseless cigars in. I can't believe you talked to a white man. So, tried to follow up, no response. We were slightly publicly shamed online.

Oh, yeah? And we still don't know why. Really? By who?

By this establishment. Oh, wow. And I'm just in the dark, like, they bought a bunch of cigars. We did our part, you know, trying to, hey, what can we do to help?

The guy gets fired like two weeks later, like, just gone. So you lost point of contact? Lost point of contact. And there's no one that you've been able to get in touch with?

Negative. And it's okay, these things happen, and we continue to move forward, and we sell to other people in Canada. You do? Not currently.

But we will. So no. We sell in Michigan, which is basically right there. Right.

You just cross the border. It's practically Canada? It's more free Canada, basically. It's more of a free version of Canada.

It's a freer Canada? A freer Canada. Yeah. Well, maybe you could get a hold of Drake.

Maybe he could help you facilitate. Maybe Drake can help you. He is Albanian, too. Honorary Albanian.

Right. Yeah. In all seriousness, congratulations to Mo and the whole Patina crew. This is great.

We love hearing, especially boutique brands, continue success. Do you think this is a good move, Mikey? Like, is Canada a big market? I mean, expanding your audience is always a good move.

Is it gonna make or break a company? From experience, it is a good market. We actually had people that acquired BESA in Canada and made content for it, too. Really?

I mean, we got some good quality content out of it. We got good reviews from it. People liked it. Did they use a lot of A's?

Like, A, this is... These guys, not so much. No? They were one of the cool ones.

And people were upset that they couldn't get BESA anymore. So if you use the term A's, you're not a cool one? I think sometimes it's overdone. You have people that live over in the UK and they have obnoxious accents.

Is that even real? Canada is one of those places where they overemphasize their accents. That's a good idea. Especially, like, you know, Toronto, those popular areas, most of them are great.

Right. But you have those people, it's a city thing. Right. , they got the valley girl accent, like, it's not real.

Mm-hmm. It's all fake. It's all fake. It's all Matrix.

You're catching on, Mike. It's all Matrix. I like it. You're catching on, it's all Matrix.

All right. They're not real. You're too funny, dude. Thank you.

You're too funny. I'm just trying to get the views up, man. Because if we both succeed, we both succeed. You succeed, I succeed.

That's right. If I succeed, you succeed. It's gotta be win-win. Win-win.

We, the Cigar Hustlers podcast and the Cigar Guys podcast, we like to see one another continue to succeed. There's no animosity there. You know, it's all matrix animosity. You know, we have this manufactured beef, which is great.

But, like, at the end of the day, if we're all winning, what's the problem? What's the problem? Right. Right, Mikey?

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, Alex, you should have wore your Pressure as a Privilege shirt on the show today. Yeah.

I still got to get one. Oh. I got to sell a few more cigars to Mikey. We have a credit card reader upstairs.

I like that you didn't wear your Make Cigars Great Again hat because I would have had to make you take that off. Oh, you didn't like that? No, you would have pissed off my friend Jack Tarano. I've heard great things about Jack, never met him personally, no beef between he or I, but do you not want to make cigars great again?

What's the problem, bro? Like, we're making cigars great again. It's a red hat. Who cares?

Make cigars great again. Oh, I can't believe I put that on the screen. All right, go ahead. So what else you got?

On to the news. More news, actually, coming out of Cuba. Cohiba Talisman returning for regular production release. 's Edicion Limitada cigars get a single release.

However, later this year, one of the special Cohibas is returning for what will be its third act. A. released the Cohiba Talisman, a sixth and an eighth by 54 double toro that came with a A pigtail cap. It was part of the Cuban Cigar Giant's Edición Limitada program, which sees the company typically release three new cigars each year, each in non-regular production of Itola and with tobacco age for at least two years.

Two years later, the Talisman was released again in the same packaging and utilizing tobacco from, quote, "the same harvest from which the original was produced," according to a bonus essay at the time. The Talisman as a regular production item will be featured at an event in London on October 7th, emails sent to you a bonus essay for additional information on pricing release, details, and availability were not immediately returned. Because it's Kiba. They sent an email, but their power was down, so they didn't, and their internet hasn't been working since body, so.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, we'll find out October 7th in London, I guess. Just want to get the deets.

I just want to get the deets. Yeah, so this was kind of like a quick -- yeah, we canceled the festival, but -- Talisman! Cigar! Cigar!

Yay! Thank God, never smoked it. Speaking of Jack -- no, different company. Ah!

Española Core Line is getting a 6x60s in September. Española. Yeah, different. It's a totally different.

Totally different company. Yeah. Just ignore me. Yeah.

Totally different company. Española? Great guy. Española is a great guy.

The Espanola guy? Yeah. You do? Yeah, we interviewed him at PCA.

Did you? Not me personally, but someone from my team did. So you don't really know him? He seems like a nice guy.

I watched the footage. I edited the footage. Seems like a nice guy. I was a little confused in that whole situation.

So yeah, no, he's a really good dude. Oh, you know him? Well, yeah, we interviewed him. Seems like a nice guy.

Like, oh, you did? Yeah, well, not me, but yeah. Did you guys interview everybody at PCA? - No, that's like impossible for a four-man crew that likes to move in unison.

Next year, we will interview everyone. - Especially with Zach's time frame. You know what I mean? Like, he shows up late.

- This guy gets it. - You know? Like, you're lucky if you get two interviews in. You know?

- Next year will be different. If Mark's interviewing you, it'll only be 30 seconds. - What are you gonna do differently next year? - I can't tell you guys.

That's confidential information. - Industry secrets? Like, industry secrets, you know, blah, blah, blah, like, you guys don't need to know that. Yeah, yeah, 'cause we're gonna go out and we're gonna hit all of 'em, we're gonna...

No, yeah, you guys, like, you guys do too much, man, like, I'll tell you off-camera, I don't want, you know, these guys sniping it. Yeah, okay. These haters that don't want to see us succeed. I would love to see you succeed, but the fact is, it's just me and Mikey now.

It's just me and Mikey now. Anyway, JM Brands has announced it's adding a 6x60 double Toro size to its Española Cigars core line: the Española Connecticut, Española Corojo, and the Española Maduro. " I went on to say that the larger ring gauge offers a cooler burn and a smooth smoking experience. The blend of three lines remains the same.

Regardless of the blend, Espagnola's Double Coronator will be priced at... $12. $9. You didn't even go to me.

You went the wrong way. $15 per cigar, a $300 box of 20 cigars. You went the wrong way. I did.

I hit the wrong button. You went the wrong way, you hit the wrong button the wrong way. Espanola, nobody knows a, and they're $15. Great guys.

The 6x60 has become one of the most requested sizes among premium cigar smokers, and we wanted to assure that when we introduced it, it truly represented what Espanola stands for, end quote. Says, Anto, can't pronounce his last name, it's another one of you. Such a good friend of yours. Try it.

Such a good guy. Marokkian. That was easier than I thought. Anto Marokkian, great guy, president of JM Brands, is in the press release.

Is he Japanese? More quotes, by the way. Is he Japanese? No, he's like Eastern European or something.

Our goal wasn't simply to make a larger cigar. We wanted each blend to maintain its balanced flavor and character while providing the longer, cooler smoking experience that enthusiasts expect from this format. We're excited to finally bring the Double Toro to our core lineup. We begin scheduled shipping September 1st.

And now it's time to play the industry's favorite game: What's the Score? Go, go, go, go, go! Oh, that's over. I know.

The players hear clues from a half-wheel cigar review and try to predict the score before it is revealed. As more details are shared, the challenge gets easier, or does it? Does it? The closest guess to the actual score wins the round.

Can you read between the lines and predict the score? , West Tampa, what are we doing? Here we go, the cigar that's being reviewed. , Devil Crab, Country of Origin, Nicaragua, Factory, Amadeus Cigars.

You were supposed to, you were supposed to, you were supposed to, you were supposed to, That's okay, just keep going, go ahead, go ahead. Oh, score? No, keep going. No, you're good.

Sorry, I've never done this before. I've only won. Rapper, undisclosed. Binder, undisclosed.

Filler, undisclosed. Length, four and a half inches. Undisclosed. I was gonna say that.

Ring gauge, undisclosed? What? Just get a freaking ring gauge. 99, box of 50.

I hope that I don't have to stop at any point. Yeah, you stopped there. Yeah, you stopped there. I don't know.

West Tampa, we'll go 82. - $89. - Oh. - Sorry, Palmer did not give me stage directions, so, I'll stop occasionally.

Box of 50. - Okay. 99, we talked about that. - Right.

- Release date, April 2025. - Yeah, that's okay. - Number of cigars released undisclosed, oh my gosh. - Alright, clue number one.

- There it is, clue number one. The cigar delivers a rich, evolving profile that started with a creamy graham cracker note Before building into deeper flavors of pepper, light earthiness, and savory richness, keeping the smoking experience engaging from start to finish. - Phil? - Graham Crackery?

82. - 89. - Clue number two. - When you see the number at the end, don't blurt it out.

- I got that, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't worry, don't worry. 69. Clue number two: construction is excellent for the most part of the smoking experience with a near-perfect draw after the foot opens up.

Abundant smoke production, an even burn, and a consistent combustion that allows the blend to perform at its best. Phil. I mean, it sounds good. 85.

89. Sticking with the 89. Speaking with the 89, clue number three, the cigar loses points for its finish as the wrapper begins splitting and cracking around the head in the final third, compromising the draw. Combined with increased heat, dryness, and a flatter flavor profile, the last portion becomes noticeably less enjoyable.

So, the way you kept your cigar... 82. Oh, a little drop! Final thought!

After a year of rest with West Tampa Tobacco's Code Devil Crab showed me a couple things. First, the blend is still quite good. Second, while it's quite good, it's a touch less dynamic than I remember it being in the cigars I smoked for the original review. Between the two, I prefer the younger version as it had both more dynamics and nuances.

That said, the two-year-old version is also solid. It's smoother and rarely makes a misstep. If anything, I would have loved for the wrapper to be more durable, as that ended up becoming a bit of an issue, but only at the very end. If you've still got these, or if you find them on the store or on the shelf, it seems about as good as any time to catch them and light them up.

I always get confused with this type of stuff because I think I've no, I think I've smoked this cigar. I didn't like it. And it sounds like he didn't, but kind of. I'm gonna stick 82.

88. You went the right way. 91. Oh, a 91?

I was shocked too. Victory! 91. Yeah, I was shocked too.

But that last final thought was pretty good. It was like, you know, compensating for the rest of the review. Okay, whatever. All right, do you have anything else to add?

Yes, now for a bonus and an opportunity to win the day. What was the original score review from the original review? From the original review. Go ahead winner.

92. 88. 91. It was insane.

You win again. Wow. He rated it. Ooh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

I can't believe they rated the same score. So he literally said, this cigar was not as good as the first one, but. Yeah. I can't believe they rated the same score.

So he literally said, this cigar was not as good as the first one, but. Yeah. I can't believe they rated the same score. So he literally said, this cigar was not as good as the first one, but.

But it's exactly the same. Interesting. Whatever. Before we wrap things up, we've got a few appearances coming up.

We'd love to check out. On August 18th, Mikey and Palmer will be joining the crew over at Chi-Town Cigars. Chi-Town. It says Chi-Town.

Chi-Town Cigars. Palmer will be doing his portion of the show from the factory, so don't miss that. Notice that. Then on August 23rd, Palmer will be at Leaf Burners, or he'll be on Leaf Burners.

Mm-hmm. In Tampa? Allegedly. And on August 26th, Palmer will be joining the guys from the Smokin' Oak podcast.

He will be in Tampa on their set. Oh, that one did too. Sorry. So that should be fun for him.

Yeah. Great guys. Actually, do know those guys. Did you do the interview?

Yeah, we interviewed them. We talked about it, and then nothing ever happened. So, I mean, balls in their court. So you know of them.

No, I've actually met them. You met them? I met them. They engaged us.

We engaged back. No response. Balls in their court. Balls in their court.

As those days get closer, they will share all the details on their social media, so you know exactly when and where to watch. All right. This was fun, guys. Thank you so much for having me.

Alex, thank you so much for filling in for Mr. Palmer. Of course. As he's getting his facial reconstructive surgery so that he can come back into the world and be safe from the rioters in Ohio.

We wish him all the best. We're constantly praying for him. And of course, we'll see you all Friday here at Cigar Hustler for a San Parai tasting extravaganza. There you go.

All right. Thank you very much. We hope you like and subscribe. We're reviewing and listening to the show.

Hope you've provided some good edutainment today as we do every weekday. So, all right, uh, you can do this, you can do the boop, you want me to do the boop? Uh, I'll do the boop, boop!

Show Notes

Today Grandma needs a drink!  Guess Arguing with a co-host is a bad idea?  Sugar substitutes lead to…..  and sad war update.  Then in cigars a festival we weren’t going to anyway gets canceled, a cigar that would have been featured at the canceled festival, Mo go to Canada , some new cigars for Palmer’s birthday then a crabby whats the score!