ACHP Episode 374 Super Bowl Surprises, Cigar Drama, and the Truth of Coop!

Episode Summary

Episode 374 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with co-hosts Mike Steponkiewicz and Mike Palmer, joined by returning engineer Boots, breaking down the Philadelphia Eagles' 40-22 demolition of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The guys riff on betting lines and whether Vegas "controls" the outcome, Taylor Swift getting booed on the Jumbotron, Tom Brady's $740,000 Jacob & Co. watch worn during his announcing debut, favorite commercials (Bud Light with Shane Gillis and Peyton Manning, Stella Artois with David Beckham, Dunkin'), and Trump's order to halt penny production — which reportedly costs 3.69 cents per coin to make. Boots returns with his Trending Topic on the nationwide FGF Brands bakery recall over listeria that hit Dunkin' donuts and coffee rolls.

The cigar news block runs long: Rob Manesson resigns as "Head Fat Bastard" president of League of Fat Bastard Cigars, the mental-health-focused brand founded by Adam Levine; Rocky Patel announces the Year of the Snake Toro ($35 MSRP, 6,000 boxes) debuting at the PCA 2025 trade show in New Orleans; Artesano Del Tabaco adds "The Eel," a 7x38 lancero, to its El Pulpo line made at AJ Fernandez's factory in Estelí; Mississippi's statewide Smoke Free Act dies in committee; Drew Estate ships the Undercrown 10 Flying Pig as an international exclusive (with a Jonathan Drew press-release quote that inspires a Pina Colada singalong); Drunk Chicken Cigars moves production to Nicaragua with The Henchman, a $12 6x54 toro; and Luciano Cigars adds the Underrated Chicos, a $6 4x40.

The hosts get into real industry talk about $35-plus cigars missing the mark, the Montecristo M's pricing, whether short vitolas for cold weather are a real market, and how brutal the brokerage side of the business is — no contracts, no severance, with praise for how Padrón and Pete Johnson's Tatuaje treat their reps (and sympathy for Pete Hernandez). The ChatGPT editorial segment puts Cigar Coop's editorial standards under scrutiny for covering a Florida state-level hire at Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust while skipping similar appointments like Richie Otero at Espinosa Cigars and Mike Wilson at Hooten Young. They close with their own Powstanie 90-rating from Halfwheel, a shout to Leaf & Bean in St. Augustine, and Shop of the Week honors for Roz's Cigar Emporium in Ocala and its Cigars for Warriors packing nights.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Super Bowl LIX Fallout
   The Eagles' 40-22 blowout of the Chiefs, betting percentages, missing penalty calls, and whether Vegas really runs the NFL.
2. 02
   Taylor Swift Booed & Brady's $740K Watch
   Swift's Jumbotron reception in New Orleans and Tom Brady's Jacob & Co. yellow sapphire Caviar Tourbillon during his Fox announcing debut.
3. 03
   Trump Halts the Penny
   Why a penny costs 3.69 cents to produce and whether the U.S. should follow other countries in killing its smallest coin.
4. 04
   Boots' Trending Topic: Dunkin' Recall
   Nearly two million baked goods from FGF Brands recalled over listeria contamination, including Dunkin' donuts and coffee rolls.
5. 05
   Rob Manesson Leaves League of Fat Bastard Cigars
   The former Casa de Montecristo and JR Cigars executive resigns as president of Adam Levine's mental-health-focused LFOB brand.
6. 06
   New Releases: Rocky Patel, El Pulpo, Undercrown & Drunk Chicken
   Rocky Patel's $35 Year of the Snake Toro, the El Pulpo Eel lancero, Drew Estate's international Undercrown 10 Flying Pig, and Drunk Chicken's Nicaraguan-made Henchman.
7. 07
   Luciano Underrated Chicos & the Short-Cigar Debate
   A $6 4x40 aimed at cold-weather smokers sparks an argument over whether that market actually exists.
8. 08
   Cigar Coop Editorial Scrutiny & Brokerage Realities
   Why covering a Dunbarton state-rep hire but not Espinosa's or Hooten Young's raises questions, plus a candid look at how cigar brokers get cut loose.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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

Transcript

Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you, commercial, But a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions. All things cigars, personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners.

Cheers to you. com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. You guys ready? Yeah, let's go.

Look at this production. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 374, where cigars, industry talk, and unfiltered opinions collide. Sit back with your co-host, Mike Steponkiewicz and Mike Palmer. Me, I'm Boots, the Engineer, making sure these two don't burn down the place.

Grab a cigar, sit back, and let's get into it. Is there a weird transition there after my name or something? - Yeah, I don't know. - Mike Palmer.

- I just think it was cut short. - Felt unnatural? - Yeah, it was kind of short. - Felt unnatural.

- He's been gone for several weeks. We just don't know what to do. - Are you doing input here? - No, it goes in.

You don't have to do it anymore. - Oh, okay. Look at you. You're just evolving.

It's amazing. - Yeah, yes. - Episode 374. Trending news, Michael.

- Yes? We have Super Bowl Upset, The Penny May Go The Way Of The Dodo. Aha. Okay.

Well, I did it twice. I have the topics twice. Perfect. Read it twice.

Trendy news. We have Super Bowl Upset, The Penny May Go The Way Of The Dodo. Taylor Swift didn't have any Swifties at the Super Bowl. And somebody should ask Tom Brady how much his time is worth.

Ah, okay. Then in Cigar News this week, we've got the Head Fat Bastard steps down. Oh. Tired of all the motherfucking snakes in these motherfucking cigars?

Really? Oh my goodness. If you can sell an octopus, or if you can't sell an octopus, then maybe you can sell an eel. Interesting.

Something dies in Mississippi. And Jonathan Drew likes pina coladas. I'm looking forward to the mysterious headlines that you just mentioned. Drunk Chicken has a problem with Google Maps.

Oh. Our friend Luciano makes a small comeback. A small? El poco?

El poco. And finally in this week's ChatGBT editorial, Coop is under scrutiny. Uh-oh, under fire. No scrutiny.

Oh, that's the difference. Scrutiny is everybody's looking at his ways he does things. Under fire is he's done something bad and everybody's shooting at him. Bang, bang.

Oh. I feel like he's done something bad. It's all a matter of opinion, I would imagine. Why does this move like this?

I don't understand this. Because you have manhandled it and torqued it. 75,000 times? Yes, in the last 374 episodes.

Everybody's going to. And now it doesn't move. I like to watch the torquing. It moves.

Well, it's like automatic. Yeah. Perfect. Okay, see the silver?

Tighten the silver up. No, no. The silver is the only one chrome piece. Up?

No, not the black piece, just the silver piece. You're always yelling at me. Well, I'm sitting there saying silver and chrome, and you're torquing the black. Silver and chrome.

Just let it rest against your mouth. All right. Just let it sit there? Just let it sit there.

Okay. All right. Well, I'm excited to hear about... Ready to get going?

Yeah. Let's get going. All right. The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions again after a dominant performance in a 40-22 win over the two-time defending champions, Kansas City Chiefs.

The win is the first for the comeback coaching duo of Jalen Hurts and Nick Serrani. Serrana? How do you say his last name? Serrani.

Serrani. Yeah. After they fell in Super Bowl 57. Two years ago.

V-I-I. It's hard to... V-I-I. I'll put it in English when I did the thing.

Against the Chiefs with the loss, Kansas City falls short in a quest for the first three-peat in Super Bowl era, a brilliant night from the Eagles' defense, and an efficient poised night from Hertz, headline Philadelphia's second Super Bowl title in franchise history. Yep. Did you watch? Did I watch.

You watched. You watched. Well, here's the thing. Here's what I'm going to tell you.

I went to a Super Bowl party. Well, then I had to, and then it was on. Okay. And it was on.

Right. But I stayed outside. I smoked cigars. You watched.

Was there a TV outside? Yes, there was. There may have been a TV outside. The TV outside.

I was just close to texting your wife several times ago. I need a picture of him watching the Super Bowl. Yeah. But I didn't.

Well, yeah, I would say that I watched the game. Yeah. I would say that I watched the game. We watched till halftime, and I couldn't understand the halftime show.

And the wife had already fallen asleep, so I was like, I think I'm done. The Kendrick Lamar, it was amazing. Not a fan. Okay, well, but there's a couple things here we've got to discuss here about the Super Bowl.

Okay. Number one. Yes. I believe I mentioned this to you, I don't know if I mentioned it to you on the podcast or not, but what is the one thing that is greater than the NFL that you cannot, that will not lose?

Do you remember that? Vegas. Vegas. Yes, Vegas.

Now, if you go and you look at the books and the ratings for the people who bet on the Chiefs, what do you think the percentage is for the people who bet on the Chiefs to win the game? Well, they were not the favored to win. I'm sure they had a lot of bets, but they were not favored. Okay, either way, that doesn't matter.

What do you think the bets were? Like, what percentage do you think? S. or world, or whatever?

62. 62%? 62%. That's a pretty accurate number, that's a pretty uh, I just want you to know, Boots, I've missed you, um, you know, any mention of sports, and I'm just, um, he's talking to himself.

I went on a rant about, uh, Luka Doncic, and I was talking about the Anthony Davis trade, and I called him Anthony Edwards the entire time, and no one, no one tracked me. Well, cause Palmer has no clue. Yeah. Well, I asked if it was a guy from ER.

Yeah. The actor. No one tracked me. They just, He just let it rip, and I'm like, okay, great, and then I'm looking at my clips, I'm about to put together a clip for last week, and then I listen to myself, and I go, oh my god, the entire time I'm talking about the wrong person, I'm talking about Anthony Edwards, I'm talking about a totally different guy, you were talking about the actor from ER, I was talking about Anthony Davis, and I'm like, oh, well, I guess I'm not doing that clip, that's the one you should have done, it would have been funny, you would have done it and put the picture of Anthony Davis, yeah, right, you know, nobody would have done it, maybe I should do that, So I can get people to tell me how dumb I am on social media.

We did get accused of hate mongering by the tiny giraffe, by the baby giraffe. Oh yeah, by bullying, you said bullying? Yeah, bullying, cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is taking a whole new level.

Yes. S. or world, or whatever, bet for the Chiefs to win. Oh, because they thought it was scripted.

Yeah. So what happens? What happens? They all lose their money.

All of a sudden, there's no penalties going their way. They had one at the beginning of the game, and you did like this. It was totally, look, you got to let that go. The one where the guy's hand was all over his face.

Yeah, the pass interference on the offense, and then you're thinking, oh God, it's coming to fruition. They're gonna let them win. And then all of a sudden they did no calls for them whatsoever. So then I looked it up.

I'm like, I wonder how many people bet on the Chiefs to win. So now we're assuming Vegas controls NFL football. I think Vegas controls everything. Well, would they like to advertise on our show?

Yeah, of course. Yeah, they actually called. Seminole, the betting app. Hard Rock?

Hard Rock, yeah. Hard Rock isn't as big as Vegas. No, but we'll take Hard Rock tonight. But if you don't think that, you know, I don't know.

I would believe that when the money gets on the line and it's that big, there's no way. They're not going to let them. No, we take the money. So some guy made a phone call, make sure they lose.

Is it, just so you know. Tell me two times. I mean, I've never seen Patrick Mahomes on his ass so many times. Yeah, he did not have a good night at all.

No calls or roughing the passer. Right. None of that. And, you know, in the past, a lot of those calls would have been roughing the passers.

Oh, first time, first time. I don't know. Oh, first time. However, I did see a similar ass whooping when he played against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl.

Oh, he got knocked on his ass. Oh, my God. He was crushed. But they still won.

No. The Bucs won. That was closer to the beginning of his career. Well, it was five years ago.

It was 2020. Oh, closer to the beginning of his career. I don't know how long he should play. Yeah.

Do you think Travis Kelsey's going to retire? Nah. Nah, he's not going to retire. Maybe there will be a breakup song.

He walks funny. Does he? He sort of struts. Yeah?

Yeah, I noticed. Like a Conor McGregor strut? Yeah, kind of. Yeah.

Yeah, that's exactly how I describe Conor McGregor. You're a big fan. Well, I have seen the movie he did, the one movie. Right.

So the way he walked in that movie. Yeah, but that was a little over-exaggerated in the movie. Nah, that's just how it works. That's just how it works, probably, right?

Okay. So yeah, I think that I'm happy that everybody bet on the Kansas City Chiefs to win the game. Oh. And to see them...

Lose. Not just lose. Not just lose? Not just lose.

Yeah, it was an obliteration. Yeah, it was, yeah. They were absolutely decimated, and it made me happy. What is the highest score ever in Super Bowl history?

Ooh, I have no idea. Is it 40? Because that seems like a big number. Uh, they were, I think, I think actually this one was close.

I think it was like 44 was the difference or something like that. Oh. Will you check? Yeah, check.

Okay. All right. Let's move on. All right.

Trump orders the Treasury Secretary to halt making the penny. A cost-saving move or a legal challenge. S. budget.

"Let's rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump stated, highlighting that pennies' costs literally cost us more than two cents to produce. The proposal is based on the growing concern that pennies no longer serve an intended economic purpose, although it remains unclear whether Trump has the legal authority Why don't you make such an order? Since Congress, not the Treasury or Federal Reserve, controls the production, he is correct about one thing though. Pennies are a financial drain.

Really? S. 69 cents to produce and distribute a penny. What cost 3 cents?

69 cents. 5 cents to make one. To make one penny worth a penny. Wow.

Worth a one cent. 3 million dollars. We lost 85 million dollars on pennies. 3 million, yes.

Wow. To make the pennies. Wow. That's incredible.

I'm sorry, go ahead and keep reading, but I'll ask you a question afterwards. S. coins in circulation, with over 250 billion pennies currently circulating, average about 700 pennies per person. Everybody keep some of those jars.

That was the exact question I was going to ask you: do you think that we don't have enough pennies per person? It sounds like we have enough pennies. We're good on pennies? It seems like we're good on pennies.

Why do they have to keep making new pennies? Do pennies wear out, or do we just lose them? I don't know. It's probably like a budget thing, right?

" Let's make the pennies. Run the penny machine, guys! Do you know how much we're losing on this? Yeah, I'm well aware.

And you still want me to... I'm the penny guy, I know. Listen, aren't you new here? Don't ask questions.

And you still want me to continue with the pennies? Yeah, man. Many countries have phased out their smallest coins due to similar concerns over rising production costs and dwindling purchasing power. With the pennies value eroded by inflation, it's not even worth a penny anymore.

Right. S. follow suit and eliminate the outdated currency? It sounds like a yes, a solid yes.

It does. It sounds like it's a reasonable thing, you know? It's time to get rid of the penny. We're losing $85 billion to make 3 billion pennies.

That's just the pennies. Yeah. Right, who knows what it costs to make a nickel. Did you see that Elon is allegedly looking into the Department of Defense and the Pentagon with Doge?

Oh, don't look there. That's interesting. That's not the one you're supposed to look at. Oh, that's a big one.

Well, yeah, with the $75 hammers. There's money just missing. Oh, I'm sure. Totally unaccounted for.

I'm sure, yes. And it kind of begs the question of, are, you know, some of this money that disappears, I wonder what it's actually for? You know, like, what's the technology that they're hiding and stuff like that? Oh, it's the sub-penny money.

It's the sub-penny money. Right, the defense stuff we don't know about. Yeah. That they, you know, the money's not in somebody's pocket, it's in some invisible jet somewhere.

Right, exactly. Yes, exactly. Yeah, invisible. Well, that's the stuff we don't want the other people to know.

Who are the other people? The bad guys. Who are the bad guys? I don't know at this point.

You don't know at this point? I don't know. I don't know. Everybody that's not us.

All the bad guys. The Canadians. We're almost the Canadians, but we brought them back in. Yeah, please.

Well, they elected to come back. Please. Trudeau threw a tantrum for 10 seconds. Right.

" Calm down. Easy. We don't like you either. Here's what we need.

We need to work together. " Oh, that's what we're doing. The drugs! Oh!

Oh, got it, got it. Yeah, I didn't explain it correctly, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I was lost in the translation. Who is the bad country now?

Is it China? China's not really the bad country. China is definitely the bad country. Yeah, they're being made the villain here.

Is that the one, is that the one nobody likes anymore? I think, I don't think that it's, uh, made to be the villain thing, I think it's just a, you know... Their size. Yeah, you know, like, you look for some type, I, this is just me speaking.

Sure, sure. But I think that you look for, on a global level, some type of, uh, like, globalization. where all economies are working together for the greater good. Sure, okay.

But not like a New World Order type scenario where there's some type of domination. You know what I mean? Sure. So I think that when a country is powerful enough to do something like that, we have some concerns.

Well, I think we need a bad guy. I mean... It's good for America. Yeah, America likes having a bad guy.

We need somebody to put our anger at and everything. Sure. It's good for America. Maybe the invisible people.

I mean, the Germans said if we take over Greenland, they're going to attack. I mean, haven't they learned... The Germans? Yeah.

Haven't they learned their lesson yet? I mean... The Germans said that? Yeah.

Oh, wow. The German chancellor. I think the guy who's in charge of Germany is the chancellor. Really?

Chancellor? Didn't he have a funeral? With Chandler. That was Chandler.

Oh, Chandler. Completely different thing. Yeah, it's a totally different thing. Right, yeah.

If we invade and take over Greenland, he said we will... We're not going to invade Greenland. Well, Trump would like to just take it. I don't think he wants to buy it anymore.

I don't think he's going to take it. Why does he win Greenland? What is the draw with Greenland? I think it's a tactic for...

It's full of ice. No, I think it's a military tactic. Oh. Yeah, it's probably a positioning strategy.

Oh, well, we just... I don't read the news. Just put something there. Who's gonna know?

It's all frozen. It's all frozen. There's nobody in the middle or near the north end or something? Right.

To answer your question from before, the biggest Super Bowl lead was 45 points, and XXIV is 24, right? XXIV, yes. San Francisco beat Denver, 55-10. No, I meant the highest scoring thing, but I guess that would be 54.

Yeah, I think that's what you're referencing. Well, he said the biggest difference. Oh, that's the biggest blowout, I'm sorry. He did the difference in score.

Biggest deficit. Yeah, deficit. Oh, nice work. Thank you.

That's what we're in right now, because we're making a lot of pennies. Yes, yes, we're making a lot of pennies. Almost a four-cent penny. I'm going to go home and keep all my pennies at work, sell them back.

5 cents. I'll give you a deal. They got to make a little profit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

69, they can make their own. Yeah, you're right. So, you know, I'll just go three. I'll just double up.

I'll sell it to you back for two cents. All right, the biggest score was Super Bowl XXIX 95 when 49ers beat San Diego Chargers 49-26 for a total of 75 points total. There you go. I like the fact that he didn't want to break down the Roman numeral XXIX.

It's safer that way. Right. That was 29. Yeah, it was 29.

XXIX. All right, moving on. Taylor Swift's three-word reaction has been revealed after the 14-time Grammy winner was pelted with booze. I'm breaking up.

During Super Bowl 2025, matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. On Sunday, the cruel summer hitmaker, 35, appeared on the Jumbotron inside Caesars Superdome, But which quickly met with loud boos from diehard bird fans, causing Swift to do a subtle double take before smiling. After being caught off guard by the harsh reception to her presence, the singer turned to her pal and rapper Ice, Ice Spice? Ice Spice?

I don't know what Ice Spice is. Ice Spice in the VIP box. You don't know who Kendrick Lamar is. I recognize the name, I'm just not familiar with his work.

Right. But Ice Spice I've never even heard of. Okay. Is that one of the Spice Girls?

I have no idea. Nope. No, to be fair. It's definitely not one of the Swice Girls.

Okay. I'm with you on this one. What's going on? The Fortnite, is she on Fortnite or something?

The Fortnite singer who was at the game to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelsey was seen sane on the scoreboard in response to the booze. That was the name of her album. Fortnite? Yeah.

See, I don't follow her either. I'm not a Swifty. Wow. That's incredible.

Still the pop superstar who appeared on the Jumbotron right after Adam Sandler and Paul Rudd appeared unfazed as she smiled ahead of the Chiefs blowout 40 to 22 long. To the Eagles. That's who they should have put on the Jumbotron. The Sandman.

The Sandman? Yeah, I'm saying. He was. That's what I said.

She was shown right after he was shown. Okay. They didn't boo him. Right.

Of course not. The boos were later echoed by President Trump who took to social media to troll the singer after his brief appearance at the Super Bowl matchup. The only one thing that had a, the only one that had a tougher night than Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got booed out of the stadium.

MAGA is very unforgiving. He does not like Taylor Swift. Did Trump make any, did they highlight him at all or no? They showed him at the, Trump, while Trump was spotted in the stands at the beginning of the game, he didn't stick around for long.

Yeah, he loved that halftime. He was the first president to ever be at a Super Bowl. Really? Yep.

Oh, that's pretty smart. Yeah. That's a good tactic. You know, when it comes to the whole, are you still reading or no?

No, no, I'm forwarding to the next story. When it comes to the whole Taylor Swift thing, I don't, you know, first of all, Philadelphia fans, they're special. Right. There's something, right now, the streets are burning in Philadelphia.

Yes, it was very upset that people are talking about it. It doesn't matter if they win or lose. Win or lose, we're gonna fuck this place up. Oh, really?

Either way, though. There's rioting, regardless. Either way, huh? I look forward to some of the clips that I'll see.

It's very entertaining. But I think that realistically, I just think that, you know, I think that, you know, people are just kind of done with the whole, and here's Taylor Swift, and here's Taylor Swift, and here, oh, Taylor Swift again. Yeah, they didn't show her until way after the game had already started. Yeah, it's no longer...

It's not a big deal. It's no longer beneficial for the NFL to do it. Sure. You know what I mean?

If you were a Swifty fan, and you saw that she was, whatever, to the Chiefs, and you decided to lock in on football, that already happened. Sure. You know, you're not gravitating towards it now. Right.

Yeah, they missed their opportunity last night. I mean, Pete Davidson was there, so she could have broke up with Travis Kelsey and left with Pete. Oh my goodness. What is it with him?

He keeps getting all these hot women. He's kind of funny looking. Pete Davidson? Yeah.

He's the guy from Saturday Night Live, right? Yeah, I don't know. He's the man. That's amazing.

Well, I hear he's got a, you know. That's what you heard? Yeah, that's the rumor. Who told you that?

Yeah. I read it on social media. Oh, okay. So it's got to be true.

It has to be accurate. It has to be accurate. What type of social media? Sorry.

Instagram? TikTok? I don't remember. Instagram?

Only fans? No. You've got to pay for those. I'm too cheap.

I'm not doing that. Got it. Please. You should know me by now.

I ain't paying for that stuff. That's ridiculous. You've got to get a free code or something from somebody. Oh, like in the bottom of the Cracker Jack box?

Right. Did you see the Secret Service hiring commercial during the Super Bowl? No. It was a really good video, except they showed pictures of Abraham Lincoln.

You'd think that would be one they'd sort of, you know, stay away from? Yeah. Yeah. Didn't work out that well.

Yeah, that one didn't work out too well for them. Why not? That was the beginning. He got killed!

That was the beginning. That was why they decided to go there, like, this is why we needed this. Alright guys, we gotta tie it up here. They're like showing clips of the...

It's like showing an unlocked cockpit for a 9/11 commercial. Right, of old history stuff, like the Statue of Liberty being built, and then there was a small clip of Abraham Lincoln, and I'm going, hey, that was the one you guys lost. Yeah, you guys botched that one. Right.

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, hell of a play. You know, commercials that stood out to me, let me ask you guys, because we don't even really, we, this is not on, off script, this is totally off script. Sure, sure.

What were, give me your two favorite commercials from the Super Bowl. Well, I didn't watch all of them. Okay, I mean, that's fair. Right, but like I said, I only made it to halftime.

I saw this morning the Dunkin' Donuts one, I thought that was funny. Okay. Kind of long, but I thought it was funny. The Budweiser one with the horse was cute, but I think they've sort of overdone the horses doing stuff.

Right. What else? Well, it was like a remake. Well, those are two.

Yeah. Those are two? Yeah, I guess those are the two. All right, Boots, what do you got?

The only one that really stood out to me was the Dunkin' Donuts. The Dunkin' Donuts? I'm trying to remember the, there was a Kevin Hart one, but I can't remember it. Oh.

For me? Yeah. The Bud Light one with Shane Gillis and Peyton Manning. absolutely hilarious so they like it's a neighborhood house party or whatever and like hey we want to have a house you know we're having a part a cul-de-sac party and they trek through on this lawnmower and it's got oh i saw that and it's got a train of bud light yeah and the guy says oh i'm gonna screw this up the guy says uh your lawnmowers uh a smoker and he said no my smoker Beer Cuts Grass.

It was hilarious. Yeah, I remember that one because Ginger was sitting next to me. I was like, man, you don't have one of those. Yeah, that shit was so funny.

The David Beckham one I liked too. That was the one I was going to mention. Stella Artois. It's funny because I don't really drink.

And the two funny ones for me were the beer commercials. Beer commercials. But Bud Light did a good job of, you know, they picked the right guy for the job when it comes to, Shane Gillis, right? I'm saying that, right?

Yeah. He's hilarious, dude. He's so funny. And yeah, I like the Stella Artois one.

That's all one. Are you Matt Damon famous? No, I'm more like Ben Affleck famous. Oh, that's too bad.

That sucks. Alright, Tom Brady wears a $740,000 watch as he makes his Super Bowl announcing debut. Oh. Tom Brady has stepped out in style.

The former NFL quarterback, 47, arrived for his commentary debut at the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9th, with a major piece of bling on his wrist. Wasn't very attractive either. Brady was all smiles as he stepped into the field in a neat gray suit to make the way to Fox Sports Booth, accessorizing his polished look. He wore a Jacob & Company yellow sapphire caviar tubulon watch that retails for $740,000.

You think he was just giving that to wear? No. You think that's his? Yeah.

Are you talking about Jacob the Jeweler? Jacob & Company, I don't know, it just says Jacob & Company. Oh, yeah, I don't think they would just give that. No, just give it to him to wear so he gets seen on the TV.

I don't think that's the case. No, so he pays almost a million dollars for a watch. That's a brag piece right there, buddy. What's his Tom?

740 Gs. Right. One of two. The watch has a golden yellow face with a brown leather wristband.

In details, according to Jacob and Company, the jewelry piece is made of a continuous array of gems. The case features 224 baguette-cut gems, while the crown contains 16 baguette-cut gems And one large rose cut gem. Meanwhile, the dial of the watch is 130 baguette cut gems. A lot of baguettes.

That's a lot of baguettes. That's a lot of bread. Is that in? That's the end of the story.

How many... You're too funny, dude. You can roll into a question at that point or something. Is that dead air?

Well, I had to hurriedly put this together. It goes back into now on the teleprompter to the booing story. Who owns the other watch? Oh, that I don't know.

Matt Damon. It's Ben Affleck. No, no, he's-- Here's what I could-- I mean, that's-- how many hours do you think went into that watch in order to build it? A lot, I'm sure.

I don't know how long it takes to cut a baguette, but a lot of them. Yeah. I bet you that's like a four-year piece to build. I bet you it took three or four years to build that watch.

Maybe a little bit less. So, you know, that is like, and the way that he wore it, I saw it, right? I didn't think about it. Oh, there is more to the story.

I'm sorry. The Taylor Swift cut in and then cuts back out. Gotcha. Okay.

Go ahead. The former athlete who played in the NFL for 23 seasons spent 20 years with the New England Patriots and his final three with Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has been to 10 Super Bowl, winning seven of them, and he's widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks of all time. He is the best.

Well, he's regarded as one of the best. No, he is the best. I don't know. Our Lord and Savior Tom Brady.

You do not speak ill of our Lord and Savior Tom Brady. Our Lord and Savior Tom Brady? Yes. Sorry, that's not who they mentioned at church Sunday.

They did not mention Tom Brady, no. No? As the Lord or Savior. Wow.

You're obviously going to the wrong church. No, it's not in New England. It's quite apparent. So, you know what's also funny about that?

Yes! If you were watching the show, the Super Bowl, if you read when he would speak and the other guy next to him would speak, it had like little descriptions of who was who. " One of you is making, you know, $300,000 a year, the other guy is making way more. It's like $385 million or something.

It's something ridiculous about what he's making. Yeah, that's how we can afford a $750,000 watch and not give a shit. And he wasn't even like, he played it down. He wasn't like, you know, shoving it up.

" You know? It's almost time for the game to start. I don't know what's going on here. Right.

But I think the game's going to begin. Somebody ask me what time it is. Somebody. Right.

No, the way that he played it is. Hey, a news commentator guy who doesn't have anything under his name, ask you what time it is. The guy was super slick, man. Tom Brady was super slick, or the other guy?

Three-quarter of a million dollars. Where else can you wear a $740,000 watch? Publix. He doesn't go to Publix.

He has people for that. He has people for that. Buggies? Buggies?

I'm going to get the brisket sandwich. I'm sure he goes to all sorts of things. It seems like it just says a cheap leather band though. I'm sure it's not a cheap leather band.

It says brown leather band. There's no description of like brown, virgin... Made from the only two meerkats in Egypt. Made from the last surviving elephant with dust.

Well, it wasn't a $3 million watch. 5 million watch he was rocking. I bet it didn't have leather bands. They may have had leather bands.

I doubt it had a leather band. It was probably gold. He had a metal. Yeah, he had gold.

So, metal is worth more than the leather? Sure. Obviously, you see the penny. Right.

Made out of pennies. Made out of copper. He had a leather. He has a watch band.

This is actually made out of the last surviving pennies in America. It's stretched out. Before we halted the penny production, I got the last eight. I got the last eight to beat the band.

Right. Oh my goodness. All right, moving on. End of the world of cigars, Michael.

Thanks, Michael. Oh. This is the good stuff. Oh!

Uh, wait, let's pause now and do Boots' Trending Topic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, Boots' Trending Topic. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

Hit your music. Oh, yeah. It's on me, so I can't bring up my cigar. Thank you.

It's the news intro, too? No. Secret intro. No.

Jesus. Here it is. Yeah. Hey!

Hello, peoples, I'm back, and we've missed you. Thank you. All right. In a heartbreaking turn of events, nearly two million baked goods were recalled nationwide last month, casting a shadow over what should have been moments of comfort with sweet treats.

Among the affected items were beloved Dunkin' Donuts and coffee rolls, which were pulled from shelves due to potential contamination. With Listeria. Oh! A harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness.

The recall issued by a manufacturer of FGF Brands affected products made before December 13th, 2024, and officially went into effect on January 7th, 2025. S. Food and Drug Administration did not issue an immediate press release, leaving many unaware of the potential danger. A variety of items, chocolate raspberry and Bavarian donuts, French crullets, eclairs, and coffee rolls were part of the recall, turning moments of indulgence into sources of worry.

Duncan, in response to inquiries referred to a statement by FGF Brands, which aimed to clarify the scope of the recall and ensure customers were not confused or misled. It is a somber reminder of how something as simple as a donut can become a public health concern, leaving many questioning their safety with the food they once trusted. Were you upset about the donuts? Um, I don't need any of those ones.

That was his favorite commercial. Yeah, he did like the commercial. And Duncan, where some of the donuts affected were Duncan's donuts. Did he like, he must, he might be red lighting.

I mean, that was the best reading I've heard. It was. Yeah. It was very good.

Crazy. Trying to get, trying to get better. I actually pre-read it though. Cause normally I don't pre-read it.

Yeah. I thought about it when I sent it to him. I'm like, he's gonna be able to read it beforehand. That's okay.

But there was no joke in the middle of it. I love it. I like donuts. The whole thing was written as it was said.

Right. And we were really hoping that he would screw up Listeria. Yeah, we were hoping. And then he nailed it.

Listeria. Thank you. Yeah, Listeria. And he got the name of all the fancy donuts right, too.

Yeah. Well, he's a donut consort. I only like the strawberry filled ones or whatever they are. The jelly ones.

The jelly. Oh. Had I known that, I would have focused more on the jelly. I would have guessed that you were a jelly donut guy.

Yeah, those are the best. It does make sense. Yeah. completely perfect okay all right into cigar news rob mainenson leaves league of fat bastard cigars rob mainenson has announced that he has resigned from league of fat bastard cigars in april 2020 uh 2024 mason was named president of usa you're fine uh in america for the relatively new company league of fat bastards was founded by adam levine who created the company after he He found smoking cigars to be helpful with his own mental health.

Like the real Levine? No, I've actually met this guy. No, this isn't Adam Levine from the music. Oh, I think he's from Australia.

I believe you're right. The company promises to donate 40% of its profits to charities that benefit men's mental health. LFOB is a truly unique brand with its focus on mental health, something rarely seen in the cigar industry, said Mason in a press release. I wish the team continued success as they build on that vision.

He did not give a reason for departure, maybe he was tired of being called the Head Fat Bastard, I'm only guessing, I don't know. That could be it. You are no longer the Head Fat Bastard. That would be a good thing.

Is it League of Fat Bastards, that's what it's called? Yeah, League of Fat Bastard, L-O-F. It almost sounded like Liga. Yeah, I thought you said Liga first.

Oh, no, League. League of Fat Bastards. League of. League of.

League of. I thought it was a Drew Estate cigar. Yeah. Mace Manesson is best known for his time at Imperial Brands, where he served as the head of the company's two retail arms, Casade de Montecristo, and later JR Cigars, neither job I had people calling him Fat Bastard.

Did no one call me Fat Bastard? No one called me Fat Bastard the last two jobs I had. And they were nice to me. Right.

And I got this Australian guy calling me Head Fat Bastard all the time. And it's funny because it's all about mental health. Right. Yeah.

Yeah, right. I don't know. Kind of counterproductive there. It should be called like...

League of Slim Men or something. League of, you know, Pleasantly Plump. There you go, that sounds nice. You know?

Men without fathers. Yeah, League of Men Without Fathers. Pleasantly Plump Men Without Fathers. Yeah, slightly overweight.

Sounds even worse. Or they could call them the John Snows. Or the League of Ozempic. Oh.

There you go. League of Ozempic. League of Ozempic. Maybe.

Huh. Rocky Patel's Year of the Snakes debut at the PCA 2025. Rocky. Rocky Patel.

Last week, Chinese New Year took place, and we entered the Year of the Snake on the Zodiac calendar. As it did last year, as it did last year for the Year of the Dragon, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars will make multiple cigars for the new year. For the American market, the company will release the Rocky Patel Year of the Snake Toro. It uses a Nicaraguan Ibana wrapper over Nicaraguan broadly binder and fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua.

It is made at the company's Tavacusa, Tavacusa, Jack will correct me, I'm sure. La Cusa. Factory Nestle in Nicaragua, each cigar has an MSRP of $35, and production is limited to 6,000 boxes of 10 cigars. $35.

While the Year of the Snake began last week, Rocky Patel won't start selling the Year of the Snake until 2025 PCA Convention at Trade Show, which starts in April 12th through the 14th in New Orleans. Okay, here starts the mention of when the event is in every story. Well, that's good. You know, he could just say it once, and then we could all just assume we know.

Yeah, but not everybody reads every article like you do. You know what I mean? That's the difference. Because, you know, a Rocky Patel guy, a consumer that's excited about Rocky Patel, will just read the Rocky Patel article.

Oh, that's silly. How do you not know what's going on that way? They're not staying up on the current events of Cigar News. They care about Rocky.

That's so strange. So that's why it has to state on everything. It makes sense to me. Oh, okay.

If that's the reason. Yeah. , but the company has not released details about that cigar, And he tells us about that cigar because we can't buy it anyway. So I'm not telling you.

You want to know about it? No, I'm not telling you. No. You're Americans.

" Nevermind, it didn't work out for us last year. That didn't track. Yeah, sorry, it just didn't work out for us. Oh boy.

You know what's really kind of interesting though is these $35 cigars and stuff? Yes. I don't think that they're going to do well. No, it's kind of a novelty thing at this point.

And he wants to make one that's expensive and then everybody gets a box. Well, that's what kind of happened with the $100, $150 one, right? You had everybody come out with these $100, and a couple of them tracked, you know, but I would say less than 10% of them, you know? Oh, yeah, yeah.

So, now everybody's like, "Well, now we got this $35 one," which is our premium yadda yadda. Top of the line, most expensive cigar. And, like, that Monte Cristo that just came out? The M?

The M. Yes. It was a great cigar. It was very good.

Yeah. Yeah. 30-something bucks. Right.

And I'm like, I don't know. It's not really selling well. I don't know about that, pal. You know?

Right. Kind of missed the mark. If you'd have came in at a solid 20, maybe you'd have gotten away with it. Yeah, 20 sounds like a good price.

Seems reasonable. Something special. 20-year tobacco, $20. Yeah.

Make it all line up. Sure. Yeah. It seems reasonable enough.

All right. Artesno Del Tobacco is adding the Eel Lancero to the El Pupo line. line. The El Pupo is back?

El Pupo is back. We're expanding the El Pupo. Artesino Del Taco. Oh, Tobacco.

Sorry, not Del Taco. Artesino Del Taco. Wow. Artesino Del Tobacco.

Completely different. Okay. Totally different place. The bees look like cacos.

Yeah, yeah. Is adding a big tail cap Lancero size to its El Pupo line calling the Slender Cigar the eel. According to a report by Cigar Aficionado, the eel measures 7 by 38 and uses the same blend as the other sizes, meaning a Mexican standardized Maduro wrapper It has a wrapper and a Nicaraguan binder and fillers, but the wrapper undergoes a different fermentation process to bring out more sweetness. Oh, it's totally different.

A 38 gauge? Which differentiates it from the rest of the sides. This is not the first time the company has said that the wrapper for one of its El Pupo releases undergoes a different treatment other than the size and line. The same was said about the fry.

Oh. The fry is different than the Pupo. Right. No, no, the fry Pupo is different than the eel Pupo.

Well, the fry comes before the Pupo. The Pupo. So many Pupos. But the company never said just what the different fermentation process did to the profile.

Maybe they're spraying it with sugar water or something. Maybe there's excessive Pupo. Pupo spray. Or maybe the vegan Kit Kats melted on the tobacco.

Oh, yeah. They get the Pupo. Yeah. We will never know.

The world will never know. El Pupo is Spanish for the octopus, debuted in 2023 in three sizes, adding two more to 2024, while the eel brings a total to six. Hail Hydra. Hail Hydra.

The Robusto, the Toro Grande, the Bellicoso Grande, everything's Grande, the Fry, the Octo Ocho, the Eel, while the Eel and the Octo Ocho share the same measurements, the latter is a cubalera of three cigars twisted together so they just took the other two cigars we couldn't sell and we just made it a third bag. We mashed it. We had lots of these. J.

A. in Esteli and is scheduled to be shipping on retail this February 18th, multiple Pupos. 50 per cigar. Perfect.

Didn't they have one of their cigars rank on the Half Wheels Top 25? I don't remember. A Pupo cigar? I don't remember a Pupo ranking on the...

Artesano Del Tobacco? Sounds familiar. Oh, maybe they did, but I don't think it was one of the Pupos. You don't think it was a Pupo?

I don't think it was one of the Octopussy or the Fry or the Ocho Octo. Is that the guy with the face? Is it like the silhouette of the guy? Is that the guy with the face?

I hope that he has a face. On the band. On the band. No, that's the Arsenio.

Oh, sorry. That's by Argonosa. Yeah. From the dog pound.

Yeah. I'm surprised we didn't get like a hurtful private DM from Terrence on our clip. I haven't checked. You're bullying me.

The email sent to the company seeking to confirm the accuracy of the report about the Pupos has not been replied to yet. Hmm. We need to know about the Pupo. We need to know.

We need to have the Pupo answer. Is it regular Pupo? Is it softer Pupo? I don't know.

Could be a very upset Pupo. Could be upset Pupo. Could be an upset pupo. Could be.

It's gonna be a smelly pupo. Could be a watery pupo. Could be a, yeah. Or maybe it's a nice, hard, firm pupo.

We don't know at this point. We want to know what type of pupo. We need to know the pupo. Cover the pupo.

Mississippi Smoke Free Act dies in committee. Of course it did. Goodbye. A bill of Mississippi House of Representatives seeking to implement a statewide smoking ban on enclosed public spaces, places of employment, and certain outdoor spaces, spaces with animals, outer space, and maybe even a little bit of inner space has died.

Outer space, too? After being Deferred in committee and not receiving a bloat, a vote, sorry. A bloat? A bloat.

Clark's bill called for fines for both the smoking in prohibited areas. Those allowed smoking were banned. I don't know if you're okay without your glasses. You've talked about bloat.

You've talked about... I think it's mispronunciations. Docos? I think that's fine.

Okay. I'm having a stroke over here. Who knows? Smokers would face a fine of up to $50, while businesses and building operators would face a fine of $100 for first violation and then $500 for every multiple violation within...

So I'm sorry, I didn't hear you said in public places? Public places. Oh wow. Anywhere where there's public.

Yeah, including outer space. So not your house. Including inner space, outer space, places with animals, places with small children, you can't smoke anywhere. Yeah.

Your house is not public. Yeah, it's like Colorado. You can't smoke? Yeah, you can't smoke in public.

Right. Not going to Colorado. After being referred to the House Committee on Public Health and Human Services, it was deferred by the chair of the committee, Rep. Richard Bennett, Bennett, failing to make it to a vote while the statewide ban died, cities, towns, and countries, counties, with Mississippi remain able to enact their own smoking bans.

Hmm. Yay. Mississippi, that's how it should be. You, if you know, if there's a particular county or whatever that wants to run their own smoking regulations, then let them run it.

Sure. Well, if the statewide one doesn't work, then they, you know, go to the small ones. Yeah. I mean, it's stupid, but whatever.

I'm tired of this stuff. It's ridiculous. Well, that's why we don't live in Mississippi. I think that you're going to see a resurgence here of cigars.

Honestly. In Mississippi or nationwide? Across the nation. Oh, that'd be nice.

That would be really nice. I think that a lot of people aren't drinking as much as you would think. Oh, really? Yeah.

They say that's the one industry that never goes down. I think that that industry is going to start losing... You think it's a health thing? Drinking seems to be advertised as less healthy now.

you know yeah i think that as as you know time kind of has it ever been healthier yeah when was it okay yeah but they haven't focused on making it seem unhealthy well i think there was a time it's like oh my god my arms cut off like here drink this while we fucking burn your right you know we cut our eyes the wound yeah i'll tell you what that was the cowboy days my things have progressed since then no robbie doyle he uh he had some type of cigars had like this picture on it He went on a cruise and he had some type of cigars from this place. Yeah. I would never buy cigars in that place. It was like cancer or something on it.

I'm like, pfft, death, death. Oh, that was, yeah, some of the European countries put warnings on it like cigarettes. Yeah, it was weird. com and you can see the percentage in raise as far as threat for guys that smoke five cigars a day that don't inhale.

Right. The risk is nominal in comparison. I thought two was the number, whatever it is, it's fine with me, yeah, no, the data showed five, oh, five cigars non inhaled, oh, we're good, we're fine, and I'm just like, six the line, did it change at six, they measured and they went, okay, that's not inhaling, five is the line now, anything about five, we're not sure, no, the category said like five different things, one was, you know, nonsmokers, that was then, then it was, uh, guys that only smoke Rocky, Then it was five cigars a day, non-inhalers. Then it was inhaling cigars, cigarettes, and, you know...

Vape, probably. I don't know if vape was on there, to be honest. Vape is terrible, terrible vape. Yeah.

So, you know, like, enough with the fucking regulations. Right. Give it a break. Why don't we regulate cocaine?

We don't do that work. Well, cocaine's illegal. Well, Columbia said that, right? Well, they say it's illegal.

Right. President said it. They say it's illegal. They should be, you should just, uh, yeah.

There are many pennies we could make if we had cocaine and taxed it, you know, it'd be fine. Yeah, how about we melt all these pennies down and maybe we can make something with that to help the cocaine. Oh, there you go. Yeah, Pete Hernandez would be performing at a high rate at every cigar event.

What's wrong with Pete? I don't know, why does he keep bouncing off the walls? Sniffing all the pennies. He continues to drink and he doesn't seem to be affected.

What events does he have anymore? Oh, that's cold. I'm sorry, Pete, he doesn't leave me. That's cold.

Drew State ships Underground to 10 Flying Pigs. We love Pete. He's in a transitional period of his life, okay? You leave Pete alone.

You want to make fun of Alfredo? He should. You make fun of Alfredo all day. You don't pick on Pete.

Good thing he didn't buy the mobile home. He didn't? I don't think he bought it. Oh.

Alfredo? No, Pete. Homeless Pete. The newest Fatola of the Underground 10 is off to stores.

A. Drew's Store Days began shipping the Undercrown 10 Flying Pig, which combines the company's popular Flying Pig Vitola for the blend created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Undercrown. That means the cigar is a 3, let me see if I say this right, a 3 and 15 sixteenths by 60. I thought it was already the 10-year before.

It's the 10-year anniversary of the Undercrown. Yeah, I thought... Oh, no, no, yeah, yeah, with the yellow ribbon thing? Yeah.

Okay, they've made now the pig with the yellow ribbon. Okay, so it's the 10th year anniversary 12 years later with the yellow ribbon. Of the yellow ribbon. Got it, got it, got it.

Yeah, yeah. Glad. Blendwise uses Mexican San Andreas wrapper over Connecticut Broadleaf Binder, Brazilian Modafina, and Cuban Seed Nicaraguan fillers. S.

It is expected to arrive in November 2024, but was delayed. Is that why they can say it's Cuban Seed? Can you say Cuban Seed if it's in America? No, well, you can't say Habano.

Right. Going into... If it's coming to America, you can't say it has Cuban tobacco. No.

In European markets, 'cause this is... This is for international, right, so they can say that. Let me finish my sentence. You cannot say Habano in European markets, so instead they say Cuban seed.

Oh. Yeah. What is the reason for that? Over-regulation.

Undercrown is a cigar born from the hands and hearts of a factory floor, said Jonathan Drew, co-founder and president of Drew Estate in a press release, when the cigar was announced in September. The Flying Pig Vitola is a symbol of life's rugged journey and now added to our 10th anniversary, a decade of dedication if you love pizza, Mexican hot chocolate and walks in the rain, pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, if you're not into yoga, if you have a brain, if you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the Cape, I'm in love that you're looked for. But write to me and escape. We've got you here, bro.

Plus, he added the cute little yellow ribbon to make it completely different. Wow. Jonathan Drew, huh? Exhausting.

Going hard in the paint with the pina coladas. Hard in the paint with the pina colada. Drunken chickens adding the henchmen. Oh, did you want to talk about that?

Yeah, well, we were arguing about Cuban seeds. I'm sorry. No, you were explaining why they say Cuban seeds. Yeah, then you kept interrupting me.

Gotcha. Right. Do you remember that? That was fun.

No, I don't remember. That was a good time. Yeah. So, yeah, at this point, though, when it comes to these flying pigs, There's so many of them.

I'm sorry, it looks awkward with your arm out for some reason, I don't know why. You want me to put my arm, which arm? Well, the one, because it sort of trails off the camera, it just looked weird. This one?

Yeah. When you had it on your foot, it was out of the shot. I'll bring it back for you. It just looked strange.

Is it better here? It made your body look like Plastic Man, like elongated. I'm deformed. We're going to switch cameras.

We're going to... No, we're not. No, you're going to get a deformed camera. Oh, no, I have that one.

No. You have the new one. It's mine? This is already all set up with the teleprompter.

Damn it. Yeah, but at this point, you got the 52 and 9, the underground flying, then like the H99 flying. Right, it's like they just gotta come up with something. Underground 10 flying.

Put the ribbon on it, and I can say it's the anniversary of the pig. Right. Right. But it's not the anniversary of the pig.

Watch out for that pool. No. And it's not... Well, it is because it's got the red, it's got the yellow ribbon.

It's not the underground 10-year because, you know, anniversary. Well, it's the 10-year blend. We put the yellow ribbon. Got it.

That looks, you know, it looks nice. Looks nice. It looks nice. It's for people that are missing.

Right. People that are missing. The yellow pig. The yellow pig.

The yellow ribbon. You know like that you do for the soldiers around the tree? Yeah. Tie a yellow ribbon around.

We can't sing that song. Is that what they do? Yeah. When you go to war.

There's a song? Yeah. Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree. That's a song.

Really? That's where they get that from. You know, I was, you know, I don't know what to tell you. Can't believe you didn't know that.

I didn't. Onto the Drunk Chicken. On to the Drunken Chicken. No, Drunk Chicken.

It's not Drunken. It's Drunk. It's always Drunk. Past tense.

That's the name of the company's always been Drunk Chicken? Drunk Chicken. Currently Drunk Chicken. I thought it was Drunken Chicken.

You have friends there, I thought, Boot. I thought it was Drunken Chicken. Yeah, it's Drunk. You were tight with him.

Yeah. Drunk Chicken adding the henchmen at the PCA 2025. Since launching in 2019, all of the blends sold by Drunk Chicken Cigars has been made in the USA. This spring, that will change as the company is debuting a new line that is made in Nicaragua.

Uh-oh. The henchman will be a 6x54 Toro made up of Nicaraguan Connecticut Seed Wrappers, covering a binder grown in Nicaragua and Nicaraguan Lajero Filler, tobacco sourced from Arganosa Leaf, so you know it's expensive. I mean, good. While Drunk Chicken declined to name the factory where the cigars were rolled, the company confirmed that the factory is located in Nicaragua.

Previously, the company has said that its cigars have been made at an undisclosed factory in the USA. But now it's Undisclosed Factory in Nicaragua. But they said Aganor said Leaf Tobacco. Yeah, but that's not where they're making the cigars.

They're buying the tobacco from them. They're not saying the name of the factory. Interesting. Yes, and they never said the name of the factory in the USA either.

Also interesting. Yes. Basically, the nice people from Drunken Chicken can't read a map and they never know where they are. It's Drunk Chicken.

That's what I said. Yeah, he said Drunken. Did I? Yep.

You guys got me all messed up now. Each cigar will have an MSRP of $12 and the henchman will be packaged in a 20-count box with only 250 boxes produced by somebody somewhere. Excellent. By somebody somewhere.

Somebody somewhere. Like a true henchman, this cigar is unexpectedly bold, loyal to its purpose, and unwavering in its power, said Desiree Siller, founder and CEO of Drunk Chicken Cigars. In a press release, it may appear refined, but once you light it up, you'll understand it's here to make a statement. Nice.

Drunk Chicken says a henchman will ship to retailers immediately following the trade show, which will be held April 12th to the 14th, 2025 in New Orleans. Did you see Eric Espinosa was in New Orleans with Guy Fieri? I did. With the guy.

With the guy. I did. Yeah. There was like a whole live that he did or whatever.

Yeah, outside of a cigar place. I thought, before he started talking, outside of a cigar place. Smoke on the water, baby. I was about to say the name, but I was going to say it looked like he was in St.

Augustine. Interesting. Very similar architecture. Yeah.

Well, yeah, that's like French Quarter. Yeah. Right. All right, Luciano Cigars is launching the underrated Chico's this week.

Underrated? Underrated Chico's. That's the name of the brand. Oh, okay.

Today, Luciano Cigars is releasing a new 4x40 size for its underrated line called Chico's, which the company says is a nod to its approachable spirited character. Very small and suspect to interpretations. Yeah. The cigar is designed for the shorter smoking times that consumers generally have available during the colder winter months and the time Luciano is in a factory before someone realizes he doesn't really own it.

It uses the same blend as the larger size with Mexican San Andreas wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and fillers that contain Connecticut Broadleaf, Ecuadorian HVA, and Mediotempo from Nicaragua's Pueblo Nuevo region. All tobaccos Luciano has heard of, but he's never bought before. Well, it was paid for. The release of the Chicos brings the number of sizes in which the underrated line is offered to six.

He's got an underrated Sublime, underrated Toro, underrated Robusto, underrated Corona, underrated Summer Breeze, 6x60, underrated Chicos, 4x40. With underrated Chicos, we've taken our underrated... I don't know how he talked, I can't do his accent. We have taken our underrated philosophy to do less and change more and prove that great things often come in small packages to Luciano Morales president, founder, king, and supreme ruler of Luciano cigars.

Sometimes the best surprises are found in the briefest moments, which is also similar to how people describe the time they spend with Luciano. The underrated Chico says an MSRP of $6 per cigar is offered in 50 count boxes, underrated is produced at Luciano Cigars Factory in Nicaragua that he may or may not own, depending on who you ask. You just got to get back to him on that. Yeah.

You know, I don't think there's a market, I don't believe this market really exists. For this 4x40? Yeah. Or for a Luciano cigar?

Well, yes. Okay. But let me kind of elaborate. Yes, to all.

The 4x40 cigar, when you make that cigar, if you make it for the intentions of, hey, people will smoke this in colder weather. Right. I think that that's complete horseshit. Oh, I think so too.

Why, because it's a shorty? Yeah, I think that, look, if you're a cigar guy and it's cold out, you're going to accommodate yourself so that you can smoke a full cigar. Right. Now, if you want a small, quick smoke because you're walking the dog or you're doing, you know, whatever, that would make sense, you know?

Or, hey, I have 20 minutes between this and this and I can get a little cigar in. Okay, I would understand that. I don't see, I've never come across a guy that says, I regularly smoke Toros, except when it gets cold out, and then I smoke small cigars. Yeah.

I just don't think it's a thing. Go ahead. Our friend, Romatron, lives in Wisconsin. Yes.

He smokes smaller cigars this time of the year because it is colder. We've had this discussion. Okay. He smokes a lot of Weaselitos this time of year because it is so cold outside.

Now, I have also seen legitimate posts of Romatron smoking full cigars, right? I love cigars right now. Well, I'm sure he gets one in when he runs out of the smaller ones, but I've asked him, how do you handle this smoking outside of it? It's so cold up there in Wisconsin this time of year.

He goes, well, I smoke a lot of Weezolitos or smaller cigars. I'm willing to bet that he still smokes indoors. Well, sure, at the shop. You think he's up?

Oh yeah, he's always up. It's late. How many hours behind? It doesn't matter.

He's up when I get up in the morning. They're only like, I think, two hours, whatever Vegas is. Whatever Vegas is. When I talk to him about his orders, it's at like 9 o'clock our time, so I mean, he's up.

Yeah, so, okay, let me get this in perspective. What ring gauge is a Black & Mild? Who knows? Who knows?

We can smoke those, how do we know that? What ring gauge is a Weaselito? Small. It's a Lancero.

It's a 46. Oh, so these are even smaller. Or 44. So these Chico, whatever, are smaller.

They're like Backwoods. Backwoods are bigger. Oh, wow. They're almost like a Corona Gorda.

Apparently he's busy. Well, now I'm not going to answer when you call back. Your call has been forwarded to an audience. Just so you know.

Man, you're one moment. You get one shot. Could have been on the show. That was it.

He's been asking. You blew it. You blew it. I want to tell you, I set you up to break down the show and then you don't answer.

Terrible. Terrible. All right, we got this week's Chat GPT editorial. Yes.

Brought to you by Leaf & Bean in St. Augustine, where I will be next week at an event. What? Have you seen our recent Half Wheel review?

Yes. We can't talk about that after the editorial? Sure. The Catastrophic Failure?

They got a 90? I thought you wanted to talk about it afterwards. You already brought it up. Might as well talk about it now.

Yeah. That cigar's getting good reviews all over the place. Yeah. For the cigar that'll never be seen again.

Well, you never know. Oh! You never know. You never know.

I wish he was like this when he made the banger rings. I will say this. Well, that was more complicated. Yeah, that was made somewhere else.

That was made through somebody at some place. Yeah, exactly. This one, we just go, make more. That reminds me of the Foundation Cigars clip I saw on Instagram.

What? There was a Foundation Cigars clip. It was an Australian guy talking about an Ethiopian cigar that's made in Nicaragua that's sold in the United States. And I'm like, What is going on here?

How do I find that? So I wrote, Who's the Australian? And then Nick responded or whatever. I'm like, Oh, I guess it didn't really translate that.

I'm like, What the hell is going on here? But yeah, we ranked 90. Yeah, that was good. Bro, Powstanie just continues to crush.

Brooks said he's a fan of the brand. He's a great guy. I like all the guys at Half Wheel. Sure, I like all of them too.

Here's the thing that I can tell you. I can tell you, if you're about to get into the cigar industry, it's been 10 years for us. Well, this is year 11. This is year 11.

This is year 11. We have cigars that normally rank 88 to 91, and we're still working our asses off to barely break even, because we're continuing to grow and reinvest in our company, and it's very hard. " Save your money. It's not easy.

It's not worth it. Having a good cigar just doesn't make it happen. It takes over 10 years to be successful in this industry. I know.

And so does Palmer now. Yes. Yes, I know. It's a lot of hard work.

Okay. So, go ahead. ChatGBT. ChatGBT Editorial.

Just go ahead and breathe in on the mic. Boots. No problem. Yeah, just blow in there.

Are you comfortable over there? Yes. I forget your mic was on? Yeah.

There we go. No, I'm there. All right. Journalistic integrity of Cigar Coop under scrutiny.

Cigar Coop's editorial standards have come under fire once more as questions arise about the objectivity of their coverage. The organization has long prided itself on maintaining a strict policy that only covers staffing stories involving executives at the vice president level or above, emphasizing that these decisions are never influenced by the size of the company. However, recent reports suggest a conflict between Cigar Coop's past editorial policy and its current actions. Specifically, the website published a story detailing the hiring of a state-level sales representative by DTT, a family company not typically associated with the many promotions and corporate hierarchy.

Here we go. This decision has raised eyebrows, given that it seems to contradict Cigar Coop's earlier stance on only covering top-tier staffing changes. The decision to cover seemingly lower-level hiring at DTT has prompted critics to question whether the site's editorial choices are being made in line with its stated policy. With this shift in coverage, the larger question now looms: Are Cigar Coop's editorial decisions being influenced by factors other than the level of the executive involved?

No. The recent turn of events calls for a closer examination of Cigar Coop's body of work. If the site's editorial policies have already been flexible in the instance, could other stories have been similarly affected? The line between journalistic integrity and editorial consistency is now being questioned, and it's up to the public to decide whether Cigar Coop's content remains as impartial as it claims.

Ooh. Perhaps he has hired a college intern, and maybe they made the decision without him knowing. Yeah. Some say he may have been swayed by the advertising dollars.

Who knows? I mean, his number one choice of cigars this year was a sponsor of his show. A big one. A big one.

Who knows? It's not for this podcast to start rumors or assume anything. We just hope it all gets explained in a fashion that'll have us all being huge fans of his organization and his many shows. Now, we would like to note that after information about this editorial was leaked, Coop has claimed that he made changes to his reporting rules, which now involves stories of lower staffing appointments being considered newsworthy, but there was nothing reported about Mike Wilson being hired by Hooten Young two weeks ago, or even Richie Otero's appointment to a Florida state manager with a Florida sales manager, sorry, with Espinosa Cigars.

Which is practically equivalent. The exact equivalent of the DTT. Right. Great point.

Yes. So I guess we'll wait to see what Coop has to say. So you have this guy, and you become national sales manager. Yes.

And we don't, he doesn't choose to cover it, right? No, no, no. He covered you? But did not cover when I was made director of social media.

Oh, at that point. He wasn't acknowledged. Yeah, where he said, I only do VPs or national positions or whatever. All right, so then he flat out states that he does not cover a state salesperson getting hired.

Right, lower level positions. Right, whatever the case may be. Right, whatever they happen to be. And then you have Edka, who used to work with us.

Yes. And she's now representing Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. Correct, just in Florida. Right, just in.

Not just in, because it's, trust me, I do it too, it's not an easy job. In the state of Florida. Right. You're not discrediting that, you're just stating that, hey, for a guy like Coop, Mike Coop, he states these policies that this is something that he wouldn't necessarily cover.

Correct. Right. And then he turned around and he covered it. Right.

And not only did he cover it, but then when you said, hey, whoa, foul, because you said that this is your terms, this is, this is, these are your policies as to how you cover things. Right. Then he states, well, no. Yeah, if you had paid more attention to my website, I have made changes to my editorial policies.

Right. However, we have seen other people. Right. Take over these positions.

Right, recently. Right. Richie. Richie.

Within the same year. Certainly. Probably within 45 days difference. Yeah, easily.

You know, maybe less than that. Is now representing the state of Florida. Right, for Espinosa Cigars. No coverage.

No coverage. And there was a press release. There was a press release because Halfwheel picked up that story. Halfwheel picked up the story.

Right. But Coop didn't. Coop did not. Hmm.

Very questionable. Now with Mike Wilson, I'm not sure if there was a press release for that. I don't remember. I think it was just a social media mention.

Right. Which is fine, you could miss that. Sure, sure, yeah, he could miss it. But if somebody submits the press release.

Right. You would think. Sure. That they would acknowledge it.

You would think. Very interesting. I mean, it's the same as Dunbarton, but I don't know. Does Dunbarton advertise with Cigar Coop?

I have no idea. I don't know either. I would say that Espinosa. And I don't know if Espinosa does either.

Do you think Espinosa's bigger than Dunbarton, or Dunbarton's bigger than Espinosa? I honestly don't know. I think Espinosa's bigger than Dunbarton. I would think it would be bigger.

I think Espinosa's bigger than Dunbarton. Sure. So why not cover that? I don't know, maybe because it's just Florida level and he didn't consider it big enough.

But it is, but the other one was Florida level. But the other one is, so it does not make any sense at all. Right. I'm so confused.

The math's not math. I can't sleep at night just trying to figure this out. It's just bewildering. We're hoping to get down to, Cigar Houses Podcast is hoping to get down to.

Yes, we're hoping to get down to the nitty-gritty of this and find out what is the reason. Don't worry, I'll put together... Some positions are excluded, but some are included, it just doesn't make any sense. So weird.

It's like he's picking and choosing what he wants to cover. Yeah, what media he wants to cover. Based on the brand, which he said has nothing to do with anything. Right.

So I don't, I really don't know. I don't. So crazy. Maybe he's so busy with all the shows.

I think that's one of the only major media reviews that we didn't get on the list. Yes, but he did sort of say he thought we were going to do well, which we thought meant on his show. Right. I guess he just meant everybody else's show.

Yeah. Yeah, we're excluded from his list. Do you think that that has to do with like the Skip Coop beef? Uh, I don't, I never thought of that, I don't know.

Do you think that we're like lumped in there? Is there beef? It wouldn't be the first person to lump us. I'm unaware.

There are rumors of beef. Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time we've been lumped into our association with the Roma Craft family. Right. So, I mean.

Hey. Obviously, if we have to pick sides, we're going with the family. Well, hey, listen, you can call them idiots, but they're our idiots. That's right, exactly.

And you don't get to call them idiots. No, no, that's just us. We don't call you idiots, Skip, not at all. No, he's way more intelligent than us.

Way smarter than us, yes. He reads a lot. Yeah, he reads a lot. Yeah.

Consumes massive amounts of content of all sorts of shows. He does. Yes. That's pretty remarkable.

Yeah, he's a remarkable man. He is. I'm happy to call him my friend. Yeah.

Yes. You guys are tight. Yes. And now you're friends with Eric Espinosa.

Apparently, yeah. That was a big day for me. Look at you. He called Dr.

Jack, who we're obviously good friends, and then all of a sudden Eric's on the phone. Right. " He's butting it up. Oh, right.

" I want to go to Guy's house for dinner. Yeah, this is your chance. " Yeah. Uh...

Can you be in New Orleans? Yeah. Yes. I'm on my way.

I'm on my way. I'm leaving right now. So, yeah. Excellent coverage, sir.

Thank you. Look at you just getting into the nitty-gritty of cigar media. I enjoy the editorial every week. Challenging, asking the real questions.

Right, exactly. You know, it's remarkable. There's so much free time. So much free time.

We're going to review the new Viso Horny on the Patreon today. Yes, yes, we are. 0. Yes.

I don't know if Boots is going to be here for that, though. Oh, God, I hope so. You said you had to leave. Oh, you said you had to leave.

I do, I have a thing. He has a thing. Oh, boy. Is it to get your donuts checked at your house?

Is that where you have to go? No, no, no, because Tia's, you know, sick. I have to... You have to work.

Not sick, but she's recovering still. I have to take care of all the other stuff. He has to do work now. I must work.

I hate to work. I hate to work. You're not going to believe this. You're not going to fucking believe this.

I got to get to work now. Right. No, no, no, you stay in bed. Recover.

Just sit there with a little surgery. Yeah, okay. Sure, no, I got it. Wasn't even an organ that you needed.

Right. Crazy. He's on the phone right now. They're going to smoke a V so horny.

How are you actually doing? Can you get up? Right. So I really want to know what...

Yeah, I'm going to text her after that. On a scale of one to ten, tell me your level of pain. One being the lowest, ten being the highest. It's about a seven.

No, that's not bad. Seven? So you're saying you could get to work. So you're not to a ten.

Yeah, you're good. So if I have the girl that works for us drive you, you could probably go to the media? Yeah. So what you're saying is it's possible for you to go and handle this stuff.

That would be great. No, no, no, it's okay. You can get up and handle it. I don't want to do it.

You're better with it. It's fine. I get it. Can I ask you a question?

Yes, certainly. I love your question. I have been wondering this for a while. I just never asked.

So since Richie took over Florida, that means Alfredo's no longer in the picture. Oh, yeah. Alfredo's gone. Yeah, they announced first that they're no longer associated with Alfredo Cruz.

Oh, okay. They broke up. Right. So actually, that was a double story he could have covered.

Right. Yeah, 'cause I never heard that. Right. But the brokerage stories aren't usually covered by anybody, actually, except us.

It's the saddest stories. The broker stories are the saddest stories. They are, yes. Because the breakup is just so harsh.

That's what it is. It's like a breakup. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, you know, mom and dad are getting a divorce.

" You know, that's the funny part to me is, you see all these, like, in the real world, Not the cigar world. People are like, well, what if he loses his job and he's making $80,000 a year? I'm like, well, shit, I know a guy that was making $80,000 off that brand and they just sent to packing. There's no fucking severance.

Have a nice day, you know? And it's not because you were doing a bad job. You're doing a really good job. Congratulations.

We don't need you. Thank you so much for establishing that and pack your shit in. Maybe they should evolve a little bit inside of their – because I'm sure brokers have contracts, right? So maybe inside of the – no?

No, there's no contract. Oh, wow. Yeah, they really need to evolve. Yeah, it's basically they tell you something and you go, okay, here's what we're going to give you, you know.

Hey, I'm not getting really paid what you said I was going to get paid. Yeah, we changed our mind. Yeah, we decided, no, that wasn't really working for us. Yeah, that was too much.

It's too much. So they're literally like a drug dealer pretty much. No contract. Just give me some trunk stock.

Let me go sell this on the street. Yeah, that's kind of right. Exactly. Yeah.

Wow. And then the FDA approves your drug and we don't need you anymore. Right. Hey, check this out.

I saw you crushing it and we're going to part ways. Yeah, that corner's not yours anymore. Exactly. It's not your corner.

You know, the one thing that I could tell you. If I had this Puerto Rican girl take your place, it'd be fine. It's not a problem. Oh, you're referencing, okay.

Yeah, specifically, I was getting specific. You know, the one thing that I can tell you though, as far as brokers that are always taken care of, when it comes to the Pevin Garcia organization, they've always taken care of their guys, and same with, you know, Pete Johnson at Tatuaje, because Pete Hernandez, you know, they stuck with him the whole time, and they could have easily parted away and say, "Hey, we're done here," but they didn't, you know? What if they did now? He wouldn't, he wouldn't, who would he have left?

If they did now, he'd be on suicide watch, man. I mean, come on. Yeah. You know?

Right. That shit's, hmm. That ain't funny. No, no, no, no, no.

I hope Pete doesn't listen. It wasn't a suggestion, Pete. No, I think, I think Pete will, he'll clap back, he'll do good. He'll get something else.

It's so much to a point where I'm considering taking back on Zatuahe. Oh. Honestly. That would be nice.

Honestly, just because of Pete. Right, yeah. " Please, God, call him today and get it. I would love it.

It's a possibility. You know, if we can put it together right, I'm not against it. I like Pete. Pete's a hard fucking worker.

Yeah, I like Pete, too. He's a lot of things. Pete's a lot of things. And Pete knows he's a lot of things.

But you know what? He's a good guy. He's our idiot. Right.

God damn it. Another one of ours. Yeah. And our comic book world that we live in.

Yes. Indeed. All right, you have a listener of the week? Uh, no, I do not have a listener of the week.

Shop of the week. It was your shop of the week. Leaf and Bean in St. Augustine, Florida, where a week from this Thursday I'll be having a cutting light.

Very nice. How did it go at Ross's, by the way? It went well, actually. I mean, I had fun.

I had a good time. Yeah. So, I don't know. That's how you leave.

Well, I had a good time. I had fun. Did you meet anybody cool or no? Anybody stand out?

They have a group of Mikes that frequent that shop. Like, we have a group of Mikes here. Gotcha. And there is a gentleman named Maduro Mike.

Okay. Which, if you picture, you can probably imagine. Got it. He was hilarious.

He had a headband on, and he was an older guy, he was loud, they were playing pool in the back. Yeah. That's your Listen of the Week right there, buddy. I don't know if you listen to the show.

All right, Listen of the Week, Maduro Mike from Roz's Cigar Emporium in Ocala, Florida. They have a very hardcore, committed group. I mean, all the guys that were there on Friday night had either a Roz hat or a Roz t-shirt. Really?

And then one Friday a month, Robert Allen from Cigars for Warriors takes the donations and they throw them all out on the pool table and they start sorting, you know, for the packages and stuff. Right. All these guys show up and help them for free. Wow.

That's incredible. Yeah. That's really cool. It is.

It's a hometown, everybody knows everybody type. Cheers. Shop thing, yeah. Nice.

It's like a cigar museum when you walk in there, all sorts of signs of memorabilia up everywhere, and he's got speakers from drive-in theaters, and old telephones, and three cigar Indians, and I mean, there's stuff everywhere. It's like a Friday's. Yeah, kind of like a Friday's, kind of, but more. All right, anything else?

No. That's it. That's all I got. All right, well, hey, thank you very much for listening, guys, and we'll catch you on the next one.

All right, guys, bye. Bye. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada

Show Notes

Brief Description:

In this week’s episode ofThe Cigar Hustlers Podcast, we break down the shocking Super Bowl upset, the decline of the penny, and Taylor Swift's low-key appearance at the big game. We also discuss Tom Brady's pricey time, the resignation of the Head Fat Bastard, and plenty of cigar industry chaos—snakes, eels, and Mississippi mysteries included! Plus, Jonathan Drew’s love for piña coladas, Drunk Chicken's GPS troubles, Luciano’s small return, and the editorial showdown over what is news to Coop. Tune in for the wild ride!