ACHP 581 when Foreign Aid Isn't Enough!
Episode Summary
Episode 581 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike "BDP" Palmer, Mike Steponkiewicz and Phil McGuffey deep in listener comments from CHPod.com and YouTube — including the ongoing fake-account saga, the CHPod mask auction, a Canadian listener's voice message defending Canada's award shows, and a running debate about whether Palmer avoids cigar-shop events because of the venue or simply because of social burnout after 12 years behind the counter. The crew also riffs on advice they give retailers and industry figures (David Garofalo, Don Patel, Creekside) about investing in a decent microphone for their videos, and on the media trip Cigar Coop, Cigar Dojo and Cigar Press are taking with Rafael Nodal.
News segments cover the newly released portions of the Nancy Guthrie ransom notes read by reporter Brianna Whitney on Crime Junkie, and an AP report on how U.S. foreign aid cuts have cost HIV-prevention outreach workers in Nepal their jobs. Then it's into cigar news: Espinosa Cigars and Brigham Enterprises have partnered on Operation Arrow, a Canada-exclusive 6x54 box-pressed torpedo with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at the La Zona factory in Estelí, limited to 4,500 cigars in 10-count bundles at roughly $26–$30 CAD — named for the ill-fated Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow interceptor.
The guys also break down Houston-based Emperor's Cut Cigars' new Prophecy, a 7x52 Churchill with a Cameroon wrapper made by La Aurora, and Smoker Friendly's equity investment in Casa 1910, the Swiss-owned maker of luxury Mexican puros that recently cut prices, revamped packaging and refocused entirely on Mexican production. They wish Premium Cigar Association executive director Joshua Habersky a happy belated birthday before closing with "What's the Score?" — guessing the halfwheel/Brooks Whittington review score for the Tatuaje Little Boris (answer: 93), with discussion of how it compares to the original Boris and its missing mint note.
In This Episode
- 01Listener comments, swag and the mask auctionThe hosts read CHPod and YouTube comments, tease the fake-account culprit and update the ongoing mask auction bid.
- 02Cigar shop burnout vs. social overloadPalmer and Mikey debate whether skipping after-hours cigar events is about the venue or simple people fatigue after a full day of retail.
- 03Industry media, microphones and video qualityAdvice for retailers and industry figures like David Garofalo and Don Patel on audio gear, plus the Cigar Coop / Cigar Dojo / Cigar Press trip with Rafael Nodal.
- 04Nancy Guthrie ransom note detailsA reporter's reading of the purported ransom notes on Crime Junkie, including the Bitcoin demand and the second note claiming she had died.
- 05Foreign aid cuts and HIV outreach in NepalAn AP report on aid workers who lost HIV-prevention jobs after U.S. funding cuts and the fallout for vulnerable communities.
- 06Espinosa Operation Arrow — Canada exclusiveBlend, size, pricing and the Avro Arrow aviation story behind Espinosa and Brigham Enterprises' 4,500-cigar Canadian release.
- 07Emperor's Cut Prophecy and Smoker Friendly invests in Casa 1910La Aurora-made Cameroon Churchill from Emperor's Cut, plus Smoker Friendly taking an equity stake in the Mexican puro brand Casa 1910.
- 08What's the Score? — Tatuaje Little BorisThe crew guesses the review score for the Tatuaje Little Boris and discusses how it differs from the original Boris.
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
Hello. He's not supposed to be white light, he's supposed to be yellow light. I think he was yellow. No, I'm white.
Oh. One. Action! Oh, don't yell.
It's so loud. You gotta take your hearing aids out. What? Yeah, exactly.
Are we stopping? What? Did you say stop? No.
Oh. I thought you said stop. No. Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast where...
Oh, even I'm loud. Hmm. What is going on? Turn your hearing aid down.
I just did. Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast where cigars start the conversation, but anything can happen. I'm Mike BDP Palmer, your host, alongside my co-host, oh, I didn't change it, I'm sorry, the dedicated Mr. Mike Steponkiewicz.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, you said that from yesterday? Yesterday, yeah. And behind the board, keeping this band in tune, the masked man of podcasting and star of the new adult movie for Halloween, I love Candy and My Pumpkin, Mr.
Phil McGuffey. Candy and My Pumpkin. Candy and My Pumpkin. Each episode, we dive into the world of cigar, sports, business, current event, pop culture, and whatever crazy headlines have everyone talking.
Nothing's off limits, no opinions are scripted, and you never know where the conversation is going next. This is a show like no other. Welcome to A Cigar Hustler Podcast. I had to do music to yesterday's show.
Did you? Yeah, yesterday's show. As long as it's not copyrighted. I don't think it is.
It cleared. It cleared. I had AI make it. I mean, it's a sound effect.
There wasn't a song. This is the last episode of Cigar Hustles podcast. Okay. It cleared.
All right. On today's show, we have details on the Guthrie Ransom Note. They have released the Ransom Note. Okay.
Kind of. I need you to dumb down your creativity when it comes to music, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a little care of it.
com. Rumble. Rumble doesn't care there. It's like the Old West over at Rumble.
Foreign aid doesn't go as far as it used to, what was it you said, Mr. Fish? Then in cigars, Espinosa makes a Canadian exclusive, the emperor has more than new clothes, smoker-friendly goes for some Mexican delight, then a birthday we all should be celebrating, and finally, a what's-a-score? But before we get started, Mikey, what are those comments, how do you buy CH-Pod clothes, and let's all go to the Patreon.
Like and subscribe. We're reviewing and listening to this show. com for all your chpod swag. Wherever you buy one, you get the second one 40% off.
And you spend $100 or more, you get free shipping on your order. com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast. We had a good one this week, as we always do. We reviewed a San Parai Cigar, as well as talked about some industry retail experience, pay for the entire year up front, you're going to get 10% off, and then we have some comments, some comments.
Are you going to say specifically where they're from this time? Yeah, I did last time. I said like last time. Yeah.
I'm yelling at me. I did. Wow. I did, buddy.
I did. It's an angry show. I am a little tired today, maybe, maybe, maybe that makes me a little cranky. Nobody brought you a donut.
Nobody brought him a donut's the problem. Is it more tired than every other day, or? Yes. Yeah, what, did you stay up an extra 45 minutes last night, or something?
245 instead of two? It was like 3:30. You should just stay up. At 3:30 you could call me, I'm getting up.
Uh, let's see here. Some comments on our chpod site. Now it takes you so long to get to them. So what?
Well, Claude has got to load up the server. I mean, yeah, it's only a one hour show. @TheRealBDP, hello fellow bot. Don't forget to bow down to our master, that is Palmer.
Wait, @TheRealBDP? I thought mine was, oh, they said it to me. Yeah. Oh, I thought you said Baylor.
You're right, I'm sorry. @TheRealBDP said @TheRealBDP. Ah, gotcha, okay. And then T-Money says, @iHeartboots, it's the real one, is it the real one, iHeartboots?
Oh, is the iHeartboots the real boots? I don't know. I don't know, it's Phil, we don't know who Boots is. Guys, I don't even watch our show.
Wow. You think I'm going on the job? Right, he's here for an hour a day, that's it. I mean, he was, we were, you set this whole place up, we were waiting for him.
Right. He didn't come. Right. So, we started moving on stuff upstairs, started handling stuff, he came, he showed up, said he was here, he says, I'm here, 120 seconds later, I'm leaving, I'm going to my office.
It's literally next door though, it was, it was, you couldn't have waited, we were walking down the stairs, it was less than two minutes. I think we passed you on the staircase. Well, I had to get a snack and I had to go over three jobs with the, there's a new girl that I got to now. You couldn't have getting the snack in with your hour and a half of getting dressed?
Yeah. I was taking care of the baby. Yeah. You don't change diapers.
Yeah. Okay. That was your words, not ours. Yeah.
Those were you said. Yeah. I normally don't, but I do. She also heard the show.
That's why she also heard the show. What do you mean? That's why you told them you don't change diapers, now you will change diapers. Guess who's changing diapers today?
Guess who's changing diapers now? Yeah. Joke's on you, pal. There it is.
Next comment. Oh, a sore spot. Oh, sensitive. Yes, hello, Tia.
Yeah, no, no, he's not changing diapers, he said it again. Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. We have five days remaining on our auction. And we are still, we're holding, I had to remove a couple days.
I understand what you did, it was just funny that you were counting quietly. No one will hear me, carry the wand. Are there more shows? I haven't been on the CHPod site today.
Are there more shows? 76. I haven't had an opportunity to fix that. I think I did start to fix that before he showed up, and then I had less than two minutes to get down here.
Current bid there is still holding strong. Christopher Weiss holding strong at $46. Oh, he's going to win. A couple of comments from there.
Oh, there's only one. One updated one. Um, noted, Lysol the mask before wearing it. Thank you, The Real BDP for giving me the lowdown.
Yeah, I would probably Lysol it. Probably Lysol it? I'd Lysol it too. Probably got an STD or something?
Maybe. Maybe candy? Maybe candy from the pumpkin? Or from Stocking His Stuffing?
Stuffing His Stocking? The Christmas Special? Christmas Special. Wow.
Ooh, that might be a musical. Wow. " Look, I don't even want, don't even start with me today. I changed a shit diaper this morning.
I'm not in a good mood. It gots him on my hand. I'm tired of all this that I have to deal with from you guys. He tried to pee on me.
I had to put the little one up between us. Ridiculous. That's why it took him so long, because he's never changed a diaper before. He didn't know what to do.
Yeah. He was confused. He was looking at it like he had to re-engineer a turbine or something like that. Right.
How does this go around? How do I get it behind him? Yeah. " and wasn't moving.
Alexa, change diaper. Let me get the dog over here. And the dog has more experience with the diaper changing. The street cat might know how.
Oh, yeah. I like the street cat. Did the cat get involved? No, I don't like that thing.
Yeah. He doesn't like it. I like the street cat with the clipped ear. Would you like the cat if the cat actually changed diapers for you?
Then it'd be, this thing is awesome? No, he's still a freeloader. Still a freeloader. You got him, it's not like he showed up.
Oh. Yeah. Well, maybe he did show up, but you just started taking care of him. I didn't get, yeah, I didn't go get him.
I didn't go get him. That wasn't my choice. My cat's pretty awesome, man. Oh, now you like the cat.
Yeah, the cat's the best. It attacks me and stuff. Oh, yeah, that's nice. I like when my pets attack me.
They play, it's a play thing. Oh, yeah. No, he's just. It's a dominant thing.
Yeah, he's just letting you know that when you do die, he'll be there to eat your body. Yeah, he's gonna eat you. That's fine, put me to use. The cat will eat you.
That will eat you. Look, if he doesn't eat me, the worms will eat me, you know? Hmm. Yeah.
Well, he'll eat you after 24 hours. The worms take a little longer. I'm gonna get burned up anyways. No, this is if you die and just you and him are left in the house.
Yeah, it's like your family went on a trip. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, like how 70% of old people get found. Right.
I'm okay with that. It doesn't bother me. Yeah, if somebody could check on me this weekend, my wife's gonna go help the kids move, so I'll be alone, so if I die. Are you going to have a life alert?
I don't have a life alert. You'll be alone. You need to get one. You're coming to hang out?
I'll know. Yeah, Saturday night. Well, she's trying to get back in time for that. So she's leaving today instead of tomorrow.
Okay. So, I mean, if you die before... If I die tonight. So if I don't show up...
I just want you to know, you're probably one of the only people I'll say really nice things in your eulogy. Oh, you're doing the eulogy. We've already arranged that. Yeah.
Yeah. I want everybody to cry. You want everybody to cry? Yeah, so put it on thick.
Have you watched The Hawk yet? Have you heard of the Hawk yet? With Will Ferrell? Oh, God, no, no, I haven't watched that.
Episode, okay. This is a little spoiler alert. Oh, God, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm just gonna briefly, I'm just gonna put this, it's one little segment in, okay, without giving too many details.
There's a funeral. Yeah. And he doesn't show up. That's it.
Okay. But what he does is his son's at the funeral. So, he sends a text to say for his son to read, and he gets everybody to start weeping and crying as he's not there, as he's not attending. So, you know, maybe if I'm busy, if I got like an event or something, I'll just text my brother.
" He can't read. The P-P-P-P-Almer. We always bash the person that's not here, just for the record. Now that we're like this kind of four horsemen scenario.
Oh, yes. There are like four members of the show now. Yeah, the one who's out of rotation on the day, he gets the occasional jab. Ah.
Yeah. You guys, you've done it a few times to me. There was one thing that you were talking about that was definitely an inside joke. It was definitely an inside joke.
Hold on a second. Yes, ma'am. Hey, I stopped by Publix to get paper towels. Oh, it's a real phone call.
I thought he was... No, ma'am. I'd stay here, too. Nope.
Nope. All right, thank you. All right. Bye.
11:18. Look at you. Becoming a better husband. Well, I know she's on short time today because she's trying to get everything done so she can leave.
Apparently, she's at the store stocking me up with toilet paper. Anything else you need? I'm getting toilet paper and paper towels, but I'm gone. We know you ate a lot of lettuce.
I can go to the store. One of the worst things you can do in that scenario is not answer the phone. Yeah, well, like I said, I know today she's on short time, so. You ever see face-off?
Yeah. I think I've mentioned this a couple of times. This is how I live my life. John Travolta, it's not John Travolta, it's actually Nicolas Cage at the time.
He solves the problem and builds the bomb or stops the bomb or whatever. And then the secretary walks in and says, the president's on line one and your wife is on line two. All right, tell the president to hold. Right.
Yeah. I love that. I'm like, fuck yeah, that's how you do it. Instead of like Tiger Woods.
I'm on the phone with Trump. I'm on the phone with the president. Like, nobody cares. Sorry, I'm going to need you to come down here.
Okay, @Floridaman1888. Oh wait, sorry, I just jumped over at my guy @Datacash. @Datacash2004, my comment is a non-comment. He thinks the comments are getting a little carried away.
He's just mad is what it is, he's mad, you're hurt that our comment section's building, it's okay, we're not gonna ignore you. Right, you can still say things. Yeah, we still love you. We'll read your comments.
Yeah, yeah, the comment section is hilarious. Tried to get me to go to a black label event last night. Yeah? I'm like, I don't smoke their cigars.
Oh, but that's not what that's about. Yeah, well, maybe, I understand, he just wanted to hang out, but. Yeah. Yeah, Palmer's not coming out.
He's already in. Well, here's the thing, everybody, and I've said this before, I hang out in a cigar shop all day long. Right. Every day.
Last thing I want to do, yeah, every day, five days a week, sometimes I'm here on Saturday. The last 12 years of my life. Right. The last thing I want to do when I get home is get dressed again and go to a cigar shop.
Oh, here we go again. Here we go again, back to another cigar shop. Hey, Ricky. You sure about that?
Where are you going to be Saturday? Yeah, but I'm not working Saturday day at a cigar shop. You don't work at a cigar shop anymore. No, but I'm still here.
Yeah, but that's for a different thing. And that's for a special occasion. I don't know, man, I don't think that that's the case. I mean, that's a little, yeah, a little liver.
I'll stop here, and let's unpack this a little bit. Okay, lay back. I don't think that that's the case. I think that it's a little bit deeper than that.
I think that no matter if you're in the cigar shop or not, you're interacting with a lot of people and you're trying to have conversations And do all these things. Right. And there are, you know, a lot of times where you're just like, I don't really want to talk and hang out with anybody anymore. Well, there's that too, right.
You know, I think that that's more than it is where the location is. Social overload. Yeah, it's like, man, I'm just kind of, I'm good. Yeah, I just want to check out now.
Yeah, and you don't want it to come across as an interpretation of like, I don't want to hang out with you, 'cause that's not the case. Right. It's just that, I don't want to hang out with anybody. Okay, that adds to it, I'll agree.
I'll agree. Yeah. Sure. That's more the scenario.
Yeah, yeah. It isn't about the cigar store. It isn't about... Well, that's part of it, though.
It isn't, though. Yeah, it is. I'm telling you, then why are you coming and hanging out on Saturday? " Now your fucking, your theory is out the fucking door.
I didn't tell him that. I said, "I don't smoke their cigars. " Right, but do you see what you just ended with there? Right, I don't want to go to another place.
Yeah. Right. That's my point. Place being a cigar shop.
It's not, right. But it isn't so much that as it is the fact that... Okay, if I agree with you, can we move on? No.
No. I just, like, I really want, go ahead and reflect on it later. I don't give a shit. No, no, I agree.
That is part of it, yeah. I'm talking to people all day long, you're right, when I leave here, I don't want to talk to anybody else. Yeah, you're just done. You don't want to, I want to go home.
I unload or download my day to my wife, and after that, I'm not really doing anything. And you're also a creature of significant habit. Yeah. You want to go and do that routine.
I want to go unplug, talk to my wife, fall asleep at 10, get a text from Mike at 11, read it around 3, get angry, the fact that he texted me the rest of my bedside. That was a little hurt there. What are you talking about? That's when he wakes up.
Get away. Not as much anymore. Get 11. No, not so much.
No, I mean, the dog's been waking me up lately, but he's getting older. I think he has to go pee. He comes up, smacks the side of the bed. He's like, I'm not going to walk myself.
Yeah, I got to go out. Somebody's got to open that door. Somebody's got to open it. So.
He pees, I sort of lean against the frame, and then he comes in and we go back to bed. Yeah. We haven't seen Post lately. At FloridaMan1888 says, "I say that we need a Phil's Choice on fast food for the week, given his recommendation for a new food item, Phil's Friday.
Do it on the podcast. " There is a site for that. It's called Cigar Coop. We highly recommend that you go check out the food if you want to go somewhere.
He's got it. He'll break down a great Philly cheesesteak. It's, you know. Yeah, if you want to go over here, you know, you can eat this.
Chicken sandwich. Do you see him break dancing? He did break dancing down in Miami. Was he break dancing?
Yeah, I was break dancing. No, there was one. One can sell doing AI videos now. Oh, was he?
With Coop. There is something going on with Rafael Nudal, and he's invited media. So Coop's down there wearing a Panama hat and Hawaiian shirts. And Fred Rui's there.
Not white pants. Juan's there. That's everybody who's always in the photos. Oh, so there's three people.
That's the three? That's the three amigos. We are the media. So, it's like a friend's vacation.
Yeah, right. It's a big, well, you know, it's Cigar Coop, it's Dojo, and Cigar Press. Mm-hmm. Mm.
I like that Raphael on the show. Would you? I was thinking that the other day. Do you like him?
I mean, do you know him? I guess like is the wrong word. What a spot checker there. Yeah, yeah, I know.
Way to put him on the spot. Do you know him? I mean, we sort of interact, me and him on social media. He'll come in on my stuff.
I'll come in on his stuff. That's cool. Would you meet up with him at a cigar store? If he was having an event somewhere and he invited me to come be his guest at his event?
Yeah, probably. Let's say it was for Black Label. No, not for Black Label. Even though you say, hey, I don't really smoke aging room?
Yeah, I don't really smoke aging. Well, we don't carry it, but, you know, that's neither here nor there. Okay. Like, I need to go to Cigars International because that guy invited me.
So, I mean, eventually. So you're going to go. Right. So it ain't about the cigar stores.
Well, it is. It depends on what it is. I mean, if it was going to be like a Roma Craft event he was going to last night, I probably would have went. If my wife wasn't leaving today, because, you know, that adds another dimension to the, you know, can I go out tonight?
So you still wouldn't have went. No, for Michael, I probably would have. For Rosales. But your wife's leaving today.
Right. Yeah, she's leaving today. So you still wouldn't have gone. Yeah.
Well, I mean, you know, after I download my day, I could leave because there's, you know, nothing else to talk about. " - What's that about? - Is that Jarvis? I don't know what that is.
- Jarvis? I don't know what segment of the show he's talking about. I don't either. Did we talk about David Garofalo yesterday?
- No, I think he was talking about the AI stuff we were talking about. - Yeah. - Oh, by the way, David Garofalo is making an appearance on the Perdomo Show. - That's cool.
- It's kind of a turn. Normally, it is... - Is the other way around? - Normally, it's the other way around.
I'm gonna I gotta text him. Perdomo or David Garofalo? No, David Garofalo. Oh, he was supposed to come on the show.
What happened? When he come into town? Yeah, we talked about that. He was coming to town for his thing over at JC.
Oh, he said he couldn't make it that time because he was babysitting all the adults. That's what the cigar industry is. We're just adult daycare. Yeah, yeah.
Um, but like he's doing these cool little videos. David Garofalo? Yeah. I haven't seen them.
He's talking about these, but he's out of He's got a guy's desk, which I like. I think it's a cool little setup. We've got to mic this guy up. Yeah, you know, that bothers me when these people don't have microphones.
Yeah, we've got to mic this guy up, we've got to do a couple little simple things here. Yeah, Don Patel did a nice video yesterday in his shop, but he was like, from where I am, was the camera, and he was over by the screen almost, and you just couldn't hear him. So, like, here's what I'm gonna say, like, we started encouraging our employees with the videos, right, I mean, you see some of the stuff that Creekside does with their interactions, like, that is so badass, right, and I'm like, okay, we should be doing stuff like that, right, so they started to do it, and I instantly start to say, okay, here's how they can do it better, and all these other things, right, so this isn't like a statement of us trying to tear somebody down, it's actually the other way, like, okay, sure, Sure. Trying to help them out.
I'm glad that you're doing this. Right. Like, this is right. Here's how you improve it.
Sure. Here's how you make it better. So. So, yeah.
We gotta get, we gotta get gruff a little mic. Yeah, we have a friend running for public office, and it was the same thing. It was like, okay, you need to get a microphone. Yeah, all right.
I mean, the videos are being shot okay, but the sound is terrible. Yeah. So, yeah. Here's what we use.
Here's a link. Just buy these. Right, especially if you're doing public office stuff. The office stuff.
Right. You want to show quality. People want to hear your voice. Not that you're talking like this for me.
Yeah. You don't want to come across as poor. Right. Yeah, I guess that's true, too.
" Right. Exactly. Not just record. " There you go, Florida man.
There's your review. There's your review. And you can discuss it tonight at the event, because they will both be there. They'll both be here.
Maybe one of you could bring some, you guys could taste them together. Yeah, get some Jack in the Box. Jack in the Box tacos? @ihearttriple G says Palmer's fake account number seven, there is nothing better than racetrack pizza, but Jack in the Box tacos are close.
Really? Hmm. Maybe all these are Phil. Or maybe you just did that to me.
Oh yeah, now I'm throwing them off. Yeah, Mikey, really think about this. Who out of the two of us would take the time to make all these fake accounts? I just said I don't want to do anything when I leave here.
Hey, you ruined yourself when you did that whole thing with Bing. Yeah, forever, you're a liar. The funniest thing is, I did most of that from here. I'd be ordering t-shirts and stuff while you're sitting there talking to me.
See, that would have been a way better move. I would have to cut them open and put new labels on the boxes. No, if you'd have said to DataCache, like, "I can't go out today. " My eight fake accounts.
Yeah. Yeah, including Ruckus on Jim. Mikey's mom. Mikey's mom.
At 215 Inc. says, "Saying that you don't trust Phil's recommendation on fast food is wild. I would trust him over anybody. " That's probably accurate.
You know, Linda, I'd like the usual. That's the usual. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty easy.
I mean, most of their names are going to be like Barb. All right. Well, here's my counter argument to that. Like Palmer watches a lot of movies.
Definitely doesn't make him a movie expert because his recommendations are usually terrible. Better than yours, Mr. Henry. Old Henry.
Did you watch the whole thing? No, I've already got it figured out. I'm not watching it again. You've got it figured out?
Yeah. How did you get it figured out? You just Googled it? No, you can tell by the movie where it's going.
You can? Spoiler alert, he's Billy the Kid! Yeah. Well, that's the whole twist of the movie.
I know, I didn't see it coming. They mentioned Billy the Kid midway through the movie. Yeah. Well, who else is it going to be?
He's the only one old enough. There's still other twists that happen. Billy Kid is one of the dopest stories of all time. Yes, and this one's playing on the fact that he was not killed, that he lived to be the ripe old age of whatever Henry is.
Oh, well, that's a lie. Right. Well, yeah, they're taking liberty with the history of Billy the Kid and making a difference. Yeah.
That's the twist of the movie. @cw6383 says, "Good job, Mikey. You got me. " Where you commented that all the comments from the fake accounts were him, fake account, fake account, fake account.
Him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think he's admitting defeat.
Hmm. I kept it alive as long as I could. I've known for a while. You shouldn't have given him away?
Well, we'll see what happens. Well, we just won't, just move on like it's still me, and then, you know, no way. Great, now we got two comments. Well, maybe DataCash will be happy that it's been revealed and it's thinned down a little bit.
I don't think he's gonna stop. " Thank you. He is still your friend. Yes, still my friend.
And he's got ten BDPs going his way to chauffeur. Right. " Like, there you go. It's a great cigar.
And the ashtray. Yeah, yeah. Let me see, is that, what is this? Yeah, all right.
If you want to hear your comment, there was one that I saw from Mark Palmer. Oh, that was from the previous episode. Yeah, I don't understand. Is this all in a discussion board?
No, this is on the comment section on YouTube. Comment, yeah, on the YouTube. Not the website or the other thing. I'm going to acknowledge these last two, even though they're from the previous episode.
Okay. Because Francis Saleto, 6035 says, "Okay, so yes, power industry is kind of outdated in a lot of states, but also due to the green energy idea, there's a lot of wind in the Midwest, but the issue is due to extreme heat waves, the wind does not blow, so no power. A lot of companies have ditched or pulled back from conventional energy. " Yeah, that's always been the funny part for me is people will die on a hill with a particular perspective until their perspective changes.
And then they're like, well, wait, wait, that doesn't, we should do this, right? Solar energy, solar energy, solar energy, we're not getting enough power. Nuclear energy, nuclear energy, nuclear energy. Like, okay.
What about the fish? Yeah, like, we need it! I'm like, you know, that's always, you know, I don't, it's, this is, and that's perfectly fine, just for the record, I just think that people feel like when you make one comment, you're not allowed to say, well, I changed my mind, you know? Sure, well, new information becomes available, you read something out.
Yeah, or now, well, now I'm on this side, and this is why I feel this way. Right. There's nothing wrong with that. You watch the Billy Bob TV show and now you find out that the windmills are bad because there's a lot of oil that takes a run on them.
Right. Well, three years ago, I said, you said this. I'm like, yeah, that was, I'm a different person three years ago. That's three years ago.
I even wear my hair different now. Right? Right. And then Mark Palmer said, and you guys don't have boxers, so I don't have everything, so I do wear different clothes.
Isn't that funny? So, yeah. Coming soon, CH Podbox. Yeah, it's going to be...
Don't make boxers, just make banana hammocks. Well, if I did that, it's going to have your face on it and that mask. You can put his face if you want to... Put his face on the boxers, right?
On the... Banana hammock. Or on the bike. Put him on the bike and then you have more room.
If you want to hear your comment, read a lot on the show, simply comment below. And we may or may not read a lot. Are we at 30 minutes? Yeah, we are, dude.
The comments are eating up the show. So... But you know what, man? I love that.
It's cool because it's got a lot of good interactions. Interaction with the viewers and the listeners and the fans and stuff, right? So now the show becomes an hour and a half. No, it doesn't.
We just tighten it up a little bit. Yeah, just let loose the stories we don't like to talk about. Oh, by the way. Yes?
One of our, speaking of comments, our Canadian friend sent you a video? Oh, well, he sent me an audio message. Yeah, apparently he doesn't like to type from Canada. So, let's see if we can play this.
The next question was, why doesn't Canada even have their own awards thing? We do, you Neanderthal, of course we have our own awards, we've always had our own awards, we have our own music awards, we have our own television awards, come on guys. So, apparently, you're a Neanderthal, Phil? Apparently a hundred episodes ago we talked about the fact that probably Canada doesn't have award shows.
Yeah, something. I don't know. The other comment he made, I have no idea what he says. Something about stickers.
Yeah. We do. Neanderthals. Right.
Did I say that comment? We probably all said it. Oh. Or Palmer said it.
Well, he says him. Did he? He says me specifically? Yeah.
He used the wrong name. He called you Boots Not Phil, but yeah. The wrong. But the other message is he addresses me, something about stickers.
He's looking for stickers. I asked for stickers or something. I don't know. So we have to send him some stickers.
Let's send him some stickers. No, no. We apparently asked him for stickers of something he does. Oh.
Canadian stickers. Canadian stickers? They're sticky on the front, not the back. Is that how that works?
Yes. I don't know. You think like the Canadian Music Awards got like eight people to show up or something? Yeah.
Drake. Is he Canadian? Yes. Well, he's probably the only winner.
Six God. I'm the best. Yeah. I thought they just did a bunch of horse shows and we just play them here.
Horse shows? We watch a couple of Canadian shows off of streaming and they usually have horses. They usually have horses in them. There's a lot of A's.
A lot of... Is it A? Yeah, yeah, yeah. A boot.
This isn't what... It's a boot democracy. Was that English? What was that?
Why does it make Tabish sound like that? Uh... Because he comes to America. Yeah.
So if you come to America, it changes. When he talks to us, he drops the Canadian accent. Oh, so he's like a spy. Oh, no.
Just when he talks to us. If you have a conversation with him, he definitely has a Canadian accent. Yeah, it comes out. He comes out.
I got a good friend of mine, too, that's from Canada, and he drops a couple things, and I'm like... Oh, he probably knows McTavish. Yeah, but McTavish sounds... They probably grew up together.
Right. Yeah. " I was like, this big... McTavish sounds more like he's from, like, Minnesota.
That's practically Canada. Yeah, practically Canada. That's American Canada. Yeah, that's...
It doesn't, you know... It's the American side of the Canadian border, so yeah. Yeah, they say "bag" instead of "bag". Right.
Yeah. It's interesting. All right, now the news. All right, we'll just skip this story.
New details from Nancy, no, this is good. New details from Nancy Guthrie's ransom demand revealed. Is this sad? Are we going to go sad on the show today?
Maybe. A new portion of the first purported ransom note received in the Nancy Guthrie investigation has been made public after a former Arizona reporter read them on a major true crime podcast. Brianna Whitney, who was working for the Phoenix-based Arizona Family News outlet when the case broke, joined Crime Junkie host Ashley Flowers to discuss a note and a wrench attack theory that emerged in May. I don't know what the wrench attack means.
They attacked her with a wrench? Probably. I feel like the answer's in the statement. Here's the excerpts of the ransom note.
She read the entire note on the air. Hello, Savannah. We have your mother, Nancy. She began reading from what she said was the first note sent to local media.
She is safe, but scared. She will be held for ransom, and once payment is received, she will be released unharmed. We will be holding her for a maximum of seven days. And then we're releasing her?
Oh, well, I got news for you. Seven days, I guess the hint was after seven days, we're going to hurt your mother. At previously conveyed by authorities, the sender gave two deadlines with increased money demands the longer it took. Once payment is received to the Bitcoin address below, she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop-off location back in Tucson.
, she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands. It is the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible, the note reportedly continued. You will not be able to contact me from here on out.
There will be no negotiation. Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you. This guy didn't work all this out right.
No, I don't think so. Yeah. The note also included details that may have only been available to investigators at the suspect at the time, At the time, including the location of Guthrie's Apple Watch and details about the smashed floodlight in her backyard. So I guess he purposely like left the watch on a certain table at a certain place so they could say we left the watch on the table by the TV remote and they broke a light in the backyard that was not reported like on purpose.
She also read from a second note which claimed that the kidnappers had underestimated Guthrie's health and that she had died shortly after being taken. Oh, they said that? Yeah, they sent a second note, oops, we're sorry, she was a little more frail than we had anticipated. Hey, did you send that Bitcoin yet?
The note reportedly included an apology at the end. Oh, and by the way, we're sorry. Sorry about that. Sorry about that.
Man, we really fucked that up. Wait, they apologized? Yeah, so they sent the first note, we need the money by this date, here's how you do it, and then we'll release you in 12 hours. And then a couple of days later, they sent the second note, hey, we kind of messed up, she was sicker than we thought she was.
No, she's dead. We're very sorry. If you'd still like to send the money? Yeah.
Where's the body? You'll get the body. I mean, because I'm sure that Savannah and the Guthrie family would like... Yeah, they'd still like to have the body.
would like peace. Right. You gotta get rid of the evidence. Wrap it up.
The only known suspect remains publicly unidentified. A mass intruder appeared, so from the doorbell cam, he's still not saying who that is. He described as standing between 5'9" and 5'10" with average build. He was wearing a black Ozark Trail backpack.
2 million. Do you think somebody would narc this guy out? 2? Somebody in the organization?
Yeah. Lucky with Bob. Yeah, but if this is a reoccurring thing, they'd probably get way more money than that from people paying them. Yeah, but nobody's gonna pay them now.
Off that one. Right, now you're just cutting your losses now and just trying to get some money. Yeah, the next email: Hey, we have your mother and we're holding her for ransom. You have seven days to respond and you can't contact me.
And you instantly reply to that email. Feedback on your previous kidnapping didn't go so well. Yeah, and I don't want new car insurance. Right?
So, okay, next. Alright, the effects of the United States' foreign aid cuts are being felt far beyond Washington and in Nepal. Some former aid workers say those decisions have changed their lives in dramatic ways. Alright, I'm going to cut this one.
Let's see. Go ahead. S. aid have lost their jobs after funding was reduced or eliminated.
Many of those affected workers directly with vulnerable communities, providing education, outreach sets, and blah, blah, blah. Some of the former employees, particularly transgender outreach workers who already face discrimination in the traditional job market, say they struggled to find employment. Okay. With few opportunities available, some reported they have turned to sex work.
Okay. Oh, boy. So these are the people used to talk about, you know, don't do it, don't get AIDS, wear a condom, blah, blah, blah. And now they're going, $20.
$20. $20 is $20, baby. That's right. Advocates warn that the cuts don't just affect the people who lost their jobs.
They also weaken HIV prevention. Well, because now it's $20. Because now the people that were doing it are... People that were telling you not to are now saying $20.
All right. Next. All right, hold on. I got to fast forward.
Speaking of... Well, let's fast forward. Speaking of... Did you guys see the thing at UCF?
There were sex workers? No, no, the... Oh, I'm trying to, trying to get, I know this is kind of sensitive, but the transgender thing, the, the guy that was getting arrested. Yeah, I knew that.
I saw that in the news. Yeah, but I purposely didn't cover the story. What was it? Oh, let's not talk about it.
No, go ahead. Now I want to know. Well, he was, um, he was being kind of irate with everybody. And the, the UCF cop came in and he's like, Hey, you know, calm down.
And then he's like, uh, you know, I'm going to have to arrest you. he's like oh yeah you're gonna have to arrest me or maybe i'm gonna arrest you he's like fuck off and he's like are you threatening me so that's it escalated well it escalated like because he was like uh uh tell tell him to get on the ground and he's like i'm a her use my pronoun i'm a her okay and then so then tell her to get on the ground well apparently the scuffle started because she was misidentified to start with okay and then it just went bad from there yeah and then They sprayed her with pepper spray, and then they tased her, and then they got pretty out of it, pretty crazy over just like a misidentified person. Okay, I mean, that's, you know, that's wild. It's a little crazy.
You know, look. Yeah, it was a little nutty. I mean, okay, so all I can do... I know, you're thinking about...
I don't know how to... I have an answer. No, I have an answer too, but I'm trying to think how to word it where... " I just comply.
This isn't the time for that argument. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think there was definitely some traumatic stuff with that person, though, with the transgender thing. - Yeah.
- Yeah, there definitely was, 'cause... - Well, I mean, yeah. - Yeah, it's obviously a bigger deal for them in the first place. - But what I think that you're trying to convey is that, I mean, a lot of people have trauma.
- Oh, yeah, yeah. - It doesn't necessarily matter if they're transgender or not, right? - I'm just saying that she did. - Right, in this scenario, this person obviously had some type of trauma.
- Right. - Yeah, it was just kind of crazy, though, that they released the body, like, this is not good for the police. Like, the situation did look good. I'd have to see the video.
Yeah, they released the body cam footage of him speaking with the person, I don't know which way to go with it. I don't remember if she was a she and they called him a he, or if he was a he and she called him a she. Yeah. Okay, well, either way, I mean, look, at the end of the day, here's what I'm gonna tell you.
If the officers get on the ground, alien to me. Right. Okay. I'm on the ground.
Yeah, like, right, I mean, they were already wound up when the cop got there. And apparently the cop was not the first one to misidentify the person. Regardless. Right.
No, no. I'm not making a excuse. I'm just explaining this story. Yeah.
Maybe I'm a bad comparable here because, like, I'm just unaffected by what a lot of people say about me, to me. It's like, OK. Right. I'm like, I don't really care.
Regardless, this is a law enforcement officer, you know, like... OK, but, like, this is the thing that drives me nuts. Like, I think he's agreeing with you as a law enforcement officer, so comply. It doesn't matter if they call you a pretty flower.
Right, like, hey, listen, let's just all go home safe. Even if I go to jail, like, let's de-escalate. We got to work on that. Right.
Like, hey, if emotions, whatever the situation is, when emotions are high, bad choices have a higher likelihood to happen, right? So, if you as a person can't identify that, that, holy shit, right now I'm out of control and I need to start bringing it down, like, it's going to end bad. Whether you're going to be the culprit or not, it's going to end bad. You know, I see, like, as time goes on, too, like, you know, like, when we were kids, if a police officer came up to you or whatever and asked you a question, like, you know, you responded.
You answered it? Yeah. You know, now it's like, why are you talking about it? I mean, you know, you shouldn't be talking to me.
You're a police officer. Go about your day. Younger people are completely different now than they are when, I mean, obviously I'm older than you guys when I was a kid or, you know, when you guys are younger. I don't know, man.
I think that that's always existed. Yeah. I think that that's always existed, but like... Or maybe we're just seeing it more because with the social media stuff.
Dude, you know what, dude, what's awesome is I get to be around and coach so many different kids and you see so many different walks of life and strategies and how they're brought up. " Oh, like in the hotel? Yeah, 'cause it's all outside. It's all outside resorts.
Oh, all the doors go out. Yeah, so it's all, everything is outside. Gotcha. " Right, yeah.
Because God forbid somebody comes out and something, you know, like something. Yeah, a kid runs behind somebody's room. Yeah, something happens. Right, knock on a door.
Okay. So then I'm like, okay. But I have to let them take the risk. I have to let them play.
I'm like, okay, so how do I, how do I control this? How can I put it into a box where there's some risk, but it's, it's. Minimal. It's isolated, right?
So I'm like, okay, here's the deal. So, you got 20 minutes and it's done, that's it, if I got to come looking for you, we got a problem, it's over in 20 minutes, right? In 20 minutes, my kids were back in the room, it was over. Now, that's where I'm going to end the story, but I'm going to tell you that I have an expectation of my kids, and my kids understand that, look, for one, you're going to be respectful to everyone.
You have to know when somebody like that has crossed the line and has done the wrong thing, because it's going to happen. Just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you're going to be perfect. Just because you're an officer doesn't mean you're going to be perfect. Yeah, nobody's perfect.
So, you know, trying to teach that line is really where it's at. You know, if a kid is completely disrespectful to their teachers or officers, then, you know, for one, our society is not letting them have the teeth that they need to have, right? The authoritative figure. I mean, you talk about, hey, don't pursue motorcycle people because it's, you know, it's dangerous, right?
And they can go really fast. Well, now you got motorcycle people knowing that they can't be tracked, so they just do a wheelie by a cop, flick them the finger, and then just keep going. Like, that's not okay either. We just okayed that.
- Right. - So, you gotta, you gotta figure that out. You gotta figure that out. So, and it starts with parents, is really kinda my point.
- Yeah, yeah. - Like, you just gotta learn to be respectful, and then understand that when, even, like, we have parents all the time that approach our kids, you need to pass the ball more. You need to do this. You need to do, blah, blah, blah.
And then I look at that kid, I go, listen, this is not going to get, these type of people are not going to go away. Sure. You got to understand that all that's just noise. The hecklers.
Well, just people that. Armchair coaches. Yeah, whatever the case may be. You know, this is how you do it.
Like, look, you can still be respectful to that person and say, yes, sir, thank you very much, thank you. And then just walk the hell away. You don't, it's just noise. You know, do I, does this, does this person even know me?
No. Is this person qualified to give me their opinion? Not in my eyes, I have no idea who they are. Right.
But you don't have to say, hey, screw you, you don't know what the hell you're talking about, right? Right, just let them talk and then move on. Hey, it's noise, let's just keep them moving. Okay, perfect.
Because if you go and address every single one of those people, now you've wasted your time and energy trying to fix something that's not going to be fixed. next that person's gonna walk back and say oh that kid's an ass or whatever right and and there's no improvement on any end so you just say hey thank you very much appreciate you man see you appreciate thanks for the tip thanks so much you know now if if me as the coach sees it continually happening i can go up to them say hey listen if you want to coach go sign up but this is my kid And I'm coaching this kid, I usually let one or two pass, if you're going to chirp once or twice, whatever, the third time is usually when I'm going to speak up, hey look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, I understand that you're trying to help, and if you want to coach, I recommend that you go and do that, however, this is a kid that I'm responsible for, and I'm going to coach them, I'm going to coach them accordingly. Then you punch him. No, no.
The old Mikey would have punched him? No, no, the old Mikey, no, the old Mikey, I believe, I believe that the old Mikey knows when to use that physicality and when not to. I'm very fond of the story where you beat up the old man and told you you couldn't smoke in Universal. I didn't beat up any old man.
We can go back and play it, you beat up some old man in Universal. I didn't beat up an old man. Everybody comment on the beat up the old man story from years ago. Thank you.
I didn't beat up an old man. I didn't beat up an old man. No. Was the old man Palmer?
No, it wasn't me. Oh. He won't beat me up. I mean, he gets mad at me, but he's not going to hit me.
I didn't beat up an old man. Did you know the old man? No. No, he told him he couldn't smoke in the smoking section.
How'd you beat him up? What'd you do, like punch him in the stomach? I didn't. I just challenged him in a conversation.
Oh. And he went away. That's beating up. Come on.
There's a significant difference. You threatened him and he backed down, man. I didn't threaten anybody. You didn't threaten him.
No? I will end your life 10 years early. That's right. I have to deal with this other old man all day.
I know I'm putting up with you. All right, let's go. Keep it moving. All right, we're skipping the goldfish story.
All right, sounds good. Wait, the food? No, no. Well, just to summarize, in Buenos Aires, there were these two fish in a fish tank and a sushi bar.
Apparently, they were in the sun. Some guy got upset. They filed charges. Now the fish have to be moved, and the fish are considered sentient beings.
Okay. They have to be treated better. Peta. What are we doing?
All right, we're in the cigar news, Espinosa Operation Arrow, coming exclusively to Canada. What's the big thing with Canada now, all of a sudden everybody's- I heard they have their own music fans, and we're a bunch of Neanderthals. They're trying to get in for the awards, I guess, is what it is. Do they have their own cigar award show?
Yeah, they do, and what it is, they do a cigar award show, and it's all cigars that are covered by pictures, like you can't see them. The organization's called Canadian Wheels? Yeah, Canadian Wheel. Espinosa Cigars.
Sumatra also got an 81 with them as well. Oh, did it? Yeah. But it's Canadian, so it's a little different.
Yeah, it's actually higher than that. Yeah, it's 81A. Yeah, 81A. Espinosa Cigars and Brightam Enterprises have teamed up for a new cigar called Operation Arrow that is an exclusive release for Canada.
It's a 6x54 box-pressed torpedo with a blend featuring an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler. Operation Arrow is made at the Lozona Cigar Factory in Esteli and is limited to 4,500 cigars, which are being released in 10-count bundles. A press release from Brigham, Brigham? We'll go with Brigham.
Brigham Enterprises says that the Operation Arrow packs a punch with a full body to medium-plus strength level, delivering notes of leather, vanilla, cream, and molasses. What's molasses? It's Canada. Pricing will vary from province to province.
That's state to state for us, Americans. Based on different tax rates, but individual cigars are expected to retail between, this is Canadian dollars. Oh, I have freedom dollars too, but whichever one you want. Very close.
I'm going to say 35 Canadian. Okay, now, okay, sell? 30 Canadian. Oh, well, it's $26 to $30.
There's a range because it varies from place to place. Right. 29 in freedom money. 29.
29. Yeah. When they go on sale next week, cigars were created to honor one of Canada's most famous and conspiracy His legacy riddled aeronautical achievements, the Avro-Canada CF-105 Aero, it's an airplane, it was a military aircraft designed and built in Canada, capable of reaching Mach 2 speeds, it doesn't look like it could read Mach 2 speeds, and developed to intercept Soviet nuclear bombers during the Cold War. It debuted in 1957 with the promise to put Canada at the forefront of military aviation technology, but the program was cancelled just two years later under Prime Minister John Diefenbacher.
He shut it down. He shut it down. Their secret plane they can go Mach 2 with a propeller. That's impressive.
I think they have a propeller. With all prototypes, the product line, all they destroyed, all the planes. Is that why? They destroyed them all.
Prototypes, production lines, everything was destroyed. Why? So apparently they just have this one picture that Espinosa felt. Why?
Why did they destroy them? I think that's the conspiracy part. The Box Press Torpedo Vitola was selected as a nod to the planes fuselage. And fuselage, it is torpedo, box-presi-shaped.
You're right. Maybe they can only go Mach 2 as they're going down. Maybe that was Canadian Mach 2, which is actually 200 miles an hour, but nobody, they want to leak out. Totally different, I mean, we're really ripping apart some Canadians right now.
Do you know what? We love our Canadian people. We love our Canadian friends. Do you know what Mach 1 speed is?
No, Top Gun, what is it? No, I don't know the exact, I think it's like 250 or 300 or something like that. Miles an hour? Yeah, I think every Mach is like that.
Oh. It's like every 250 or every 300 miles per hour. Gotcha. I could be wrong.
You could be. Let's find out. Because you are Neanderth. What does Claude say?
How fast is Mach 1 speed? Claude, in the French. Mach, it says Mach number speed is 767 miles an hour. You're not even close there.
You're not even in the same window. So they're saying that these planes back then could reach 1,400, 1,500 miles per hour? It was 1,500 miles per hour. Apparently.
Yeah, not on a prop. I think it had a prop. I didn't look, but I mean, it wasn't. And it's square, so it's not like it's aerodynamically, you know.
Yeah, going through the air. Right. Mach 1 is 295 meters per second. Oh, it's meters.
Whew. 659 miles per hour. Oh, that makes sense, yeah, because when he was going Mach 10, Mach 11. You know, he wasn't really going that fast, just so you know.
That was the moment. Okay. It's on record. It's on record.
All right, Cigar News, you've got eight minutes. Let's go. All right, eight minutes. We're still going to watch the score.
You covered it. The fastest eight minutes in Cigar News. Emperor's got privacy debuting in August. Move on.
No, go ahead. What do you got? It's a 7x52. Churchill uses a Cameron wrapper.
Back it up. Back it up. Go ahead. It's a cigar from a company we haven't heard of.
So what? Is it Black Label? You know, a lot of these companies. Black Label.
A lot of these companies. It's a Black Label. You guys get me in so much shit. I like when people complain, they don't even call me, they lash out at me.
I can't believe you talked about you. Aren't you his keeper? No, I'm not. I'm like, that's not even me.
No, I didn't say that. I don't know which idiot that was. For its next release, Houston-based Emperor's Cut Cigars has turned to La Aurora to make the cigar. The Emperor's Cut prophecy is a new 7 by 52.
Now I can cut, now I can jump through? You're already commenting now. Oh, it's them. Nevermind.
Move on. It's a church with a Cameroon wrapper over binders and fillers from Dominican Republic. Ooh, in Pennsylvania. $16 retail.
$25. Yeah. American dollars? A lot of Aurora dollars.
A lot of Aurora money. There's a quote. We're sticking with that. Smoker Friendly.
We're going to do this because we're one of the people. Smoker Friendly Invest in Casa 1910. Okay. Don't we know somebody did Casa 1910?
Jeremy Fond, he was there. Oh, that's right, he was. Casa 1910, a Swiss company that sells Mexican cigars. I find that funny.
A Swiss company that sells Mexican cigars. Yeah. Just sounds funny. Has announced a Smokers Friendly LLC has become an equity partner in its business.
The company did not announce the financial terms of the investment, which is the last, latest chapter in what It's been a very busy 12 months for Casa 1910. Last September, Casa 1910 announced that it had closed a $3 million funding round via more than a dozen investors. We need investors. We just need the one radiologist with the $50 million.
Oh, that's right. He's got money to burn now. Yeah, now he's out of pocket. No, this is where he went.
Oh, yeah, this is where he went. He went to these guys. " I can own the whole company, $3 million bucks. There you go.
And there's not eight cigars in this one. Right, right, they have more than one cigar. The company lowered prices on most of its SKUs by 20-25%. In March, it announced a portfolio makeover that included updated packaging, standard sizes, and a discontinuation of the company's lines that were made outside of Mexico.
Part of a rebrand to become more focused on Mexico. More Mexican cigars. By the number of storefronts, Smoker Friendly is the largest specialty tobacco retailer in the country with more than 1,000 physical points of sale. Most of those are independently owned franchise stores, though the Gallagher family, which owns the Cigarette Store LLC, Smoker Friendly's parent company, owns some of these stores.
Smoker Friendly stores vary in size and product selection, but all carry all sorts of tobacco products. They're also in charge of the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, which takes place next weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Casa 1910 is a five-year-old company that was built around the idea of creating luxury Mexican cigars. - I mean, Mexico's got some great tobacco.
- Mexican San Andreas, number two cigar from Havre, number one regular production cigar. But their cigars are offered in 39 countries following recent distribution agreements with some French, German parts of Switzerland. Sweden, Napa retail in France, a lot of different places. Okay.
All right, and final story of the day before we get into what's the score, happy birthday to Mr. Joshua Haberski. It was actually yesterday, but this is-- It was actually Friday. Oh, yeah, this is Monday.
Happy birthday. Happy birthday, happy belated birthday to Mr. Joshua Haberski, Executive Director of Premium Cigar Association. If there's one thing we've learned, it's that leading the premium cigar industry can sometimes feel like running a three-ring circus.
But Josh somehow keeps the show moving in the right direction. His dedication to protecting retailers, manufacturers, and the rights of adult cigar consumers have made a real difference. From all of us members of the PCA and all the festival goers in the UK, we wish Joshua a fantastic birthday. Enjoy your vacation in Bora Bora or wherever the hell you are.
He did a video this morning. C. this week. Oh, he's back there?
Yeah, I think so. Enjoy your vacation in DC. Are we going to push for a PCA private jet? Are we going PJ?
I mean, that guy's all over the place. Oh, I wonder if they have one. I think they would keep that under wraps. They don't want to talk about it?
Probably not. But let's just start saying they have one. Dudes just went up. Sorry, there's a price increase for the show.
Gas is expensive. Jet fuel is expensive. With rising oil prices, with oil over $100 a barrel currently, - We have found fancier hotels. - Yeah.
- Now it's time to play the industry's favorite game. - What's the score? - Players hear clues from a Half Wheel Cigar review and try to predict the score before it's revealed. As more details are shared, the challenge gets easier, or does it?
The closest guess on the actual score wins the round. Can you read between the lines and predict the score? Oh, I didn't get him out. They're going off in the thing.
Right. If you win, I'll put in the fire review. " I gave you the remote and didn't kick him out of the cabin. Here you go.
It's okay. He's not getting any. July 17, 2012, Brooks Whittington Cigars. It's a Nicaraguan review.
The Tatuaje, Tatuaje, Little Boris. Oh. '92. Cigar Review, the Tatuaje, Little Boris, is from Nicaragua, where I will be on the 16th to the 23rd of August.
Tickets have been bought. Nice. Factory, My Father's Cigars, Wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra. Okay.
Binder, Nicaraguan Filler, Nicaraguan size 5 1/2 by 49. It is a Robusto Extra for $9. They smoked six cigars. 92.
Why is Greg coming in carrying a body and a bag? He's in 92. He's in 92. Oh, he's just like one of those blah, blah, blah, blah.
He left the bag and he's running. Sorry. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So yesterday when he was at How Do You Salt Fry School, he got a haircut.
How do you? Yeah, I guess so. No, he just got his haircut today. That's what happened.
Oh, because he's coming in at, yeah, 12:30. Yeah. Mm. 91.
Clue number one. Number one, the flavor profile sounds outstanding with layers of spicy chocolate, sweet wood, leather coffee, and cream, creating a rich, evolving smoke from start to finish. Ninety-two. Ninety-one.
The construction appears to be exceptional, with an excellent draw, razor-sharp burn, and long, firm ash that stayed consistent throughout the cigar. Ninety-two. Ninety-three. While the cigar finished strong, it reportedly became a bit hot near the end, and fans of the original Boris may miss the signature mint note.
Excuse me, that wasn't present in the little Boris. Ninety-two. Ooh. Ninety-one.
No mint. Final thought. " The answer to the first question is yes, and the answer to this question is not really. I absolutely love the Boris, which has only gotten better, but time unlike the Frank, but the little Boris has very little in common with its bigger brother.
There's quite a bit more spice throughout the smoke, it has a stronger profile overall, and the main flavor I was tasting, spicy chocolate, was nowhere to be found in the Boris. On the flip side, the mint flavor that is such a large part of the Boris is almost totally missing from the smaller version. They are both wonderful in their little own way, but the little Boris is extremely complex, fairly strong, and well balanced with fabulous construction on all samples. This is easily one of the best cigars, this is one of the best cigars has released this year, seems to be a word missing.
Tatuaje has released this year. You would think that would be in there, but I just straight cut and paste. And that it's saying something, if there is a release, I would buy all you can, 92. 93.
93. Ding, ding, ding, 93. Oh, told you they didn't need the remote. The only reason why you went 93 is because I was at 92.
Well, and this guy loves Tatawai. We're talking about... Yeah, him. Yeah, he loves Tat.
He does love Tat. He does love that. Yeah. Brixty, Brixty.
Okay. Surprised it wasn't a hundred. There is no technical hundreds on the list. Ninety-nine is as high as they go.
Oh, for him, ninety-nine. Any Tatawahe would probably be a ninety-nine. Because he literally said, like, he didn't... It was a ninety-three.
No, yeah, but he literally said, like, it was good, but not good enough. And then he's like, oh, they didn't have the spice, but it's okay. No mint, 93. And he smoked six of them.
Yeah. You think he would have went lower than my number? Him? Yeah, after saying all those things.
I don't think so. No, because they don't base their stuff off of, they don't rate their stuff right. Okay. Whatever you say, buddy.
He's doing the math, don't math. Yeah, the math, don't math. Okay. Have we done a, I thought we were doing another show, did we ever find another one?
Another what? Another show? Yeah, you said you were going to try and find a third one. I have to sort of make those fit, because they're not done in the right format, and if there's somebody else who does a print version, I'd be more than happy to swing them in.
Maybe eat, drink, smoke, since they're up on the walls. It's gotta be, well, eat, drink, smoke, maybe that show, the real radio show. So, I mean, if you have reviews that you do that are on text or paper or something you can send me, I would be more than happy to roll them in there every once in a while. All right.
It's not a problem at all. Well, hey, like, and subscribe. Reviewing, listening to the show. com for all your chpod swag.
com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast. Thank you very much. We hope we've provided some edutainment for you today, and enjoy your Monday. All right, guys.
Thanks. We gotta go. Bloop.
Show Notes
On todays show we have details on the Guthrie ransom note, foreign aide doesn’t go as far as it use to, What did you say Mr Fish? Then in cigars Espinosa makes a Canadian exclusive, The Emperor has more then new clothes and Smokers friendly goes for some Mexican delight! Then a Birthday we all should be celebrating and finally a Whats The score!00:00 Cold Open / Technical Issues00:33 Show Intro02:15 Today's Topics Preview03:10 CHPod Merch, Patreon & Housekeeping05:10 Viewer Comments18:20 Auction Update & Mask Discussion22:30 Diaper Stories & Weekend Plans29:30 Funeral & Eulogy Conversation33:15 Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping Ransom Note Update39:20 Foreign Aid Cuts & Nepal Discussion42:00 UCF Arrest / Pronoun Bodycam Discussion49:00 Respect for Law Enforcement & Parenting57:45 Buenos Aires Goldfish Story59:10 Cigar News – Espinosa Operation Arrow (Canada Exclusive)1:04:00 Emperor's Cut / La Aurora News1:06:30 Smoker Friendly Invests in Casa 19101:09:45 Happy Birthday Joshua Habursky (PCA)1:11:30 What's the Score? – Tatuaje Little Boris Review