ACHP Episode 378 Odel, Norris, Canadian Tires
Episode Summary
Episode 378 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the shop calendar — a Michael Herklots / Fratello (Ferio Tego) event Thursday evening with a four-pack sampler and complimentary beer, the Besa Cigars crew on the 21st giving away a watch and humidor, and a downstairs steak-dinner experience event with John Carney of Bentley Cigars. The hosts also note that PCA appointment season has begun and the emails, calls and texts are already piling up.
The current-events block covers the X/Twitter outage and Elon Musk's silence on the cause, Odell Beckham Jr. being named by name as a defendant in the ongoing Diddy litigation (he had been listed as John Doe 1), Mark Carney winning the Liberal leadership with 85.9% and taking over from Justin Trudeau amid Trump's tariff fight — which inspires a running joke about making a deliberately terrible $95 cigar called "Retaliatory Tariff." Boots closes the segment with seven things you didn't know about Chuck Norris on his 85th birthday, including his real name (Carlos Ray Norris), his eight black belts, the illegally filmed Colosseum fight with Bruce Lee, and the rattlesnake that bit him on the Walker, Texas Ranger set.
Cigar news is the meat of the episode. Ed Belio, a 15-year Diageo executive most recently CMO of Catalyst Spirits (Howler Head banana whiskey), has been named CEO of Plasencia Cigars, replacing interim CEO Jim Young — prompting a long, skeptical discussion about the trend of top cigar brands (Plasencia, Davidoff) hiring CEOs out of liquor, coffee and consumer packaged goods rather than promoting from inside the industry. Conor McGregor launches Notorious Cigars, a single 6x50 Toro with an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 Rosado Oscuro wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan/Dominican filler, made at MJ Frías in the Dominican Republic at $140 per box of 10. Scandinavian Tobacco Group posts $1.33 billion in 2024 revenue with profits down.
Rounding it out: actor Martin Kove (John Kreese of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai) launches The Prodigal Son, blended with Paul DiSalvo of La Casa Grande and Sanj Patel, a $14 6x52 Toro rolled at Tabacalera Jochy Blanco-adjacent Dominican operations and launching through just three retailers; Rob Loud joins the Boutique Cigar Association board replacing Chet King; and My Father Cigars quietly announces Blue, its first Honduran-made cigar using a Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado wrapper over Honduran binder and filler from Finca La Opulencia, debuting at the 2025 PCA. The hosts speculate the Garcia family is hedging against Nicaraguan political risk. Shop of the Week is Bow Weevil Cigars (Jason Richter), and a bonus episode with Alex Gonzalez of Besa is teased.
In This Episode
- 01Upcoming Shop Events & PCA PrepMichael Herklots night, Besa Cigars with a watch and humidor giveaway, a John Carney/Bentley steak dinner experience event, and the start of PCA 2025 appointment booking.
- 02Current Events: X Outage, OBJ and CanadaThe hosts riff on the Twitter/X outage and Elon Musk's silence, Odell Beckham Jr. named in the Diddy complaint, and Mark Carney replacing Justin Trudeau amid the tariff war.
- 03The 'Retaliatory Tariff' Cigar BitA running joke about creating a $95, all-seco, underfilled Toro named after the trade war.
- 04Chuck Norris at 85Seven facts including his real name Carlos Ray Norris, his self-created martial arts systems, and the Bruce Lee Colosseum fight shot without permission.
- 05Ed Belio Named CEO of PlasenciaThe former Diageo/Catalyst Spirits CMO takes over from interim CEO Jim Young, sparking debate about cigar companies hiring outside the industry.
- 06Conor McGregor Launches Notorious CigarsA 6x50 Toro with Ecuadorian Habano 2000 Rosado Oscuro wrapper made at MJ Frías, $140 per 10-count box, shipping mid-to-late April.
- 07STG Revenue, Martin Kove's Prodigal Son & BCA Board ChangeScandinavian Tobacco Group tops $1.33 billion with profits down, the Cobra Kai actor's $14 Toro launches at three retailers, and Rob Loud replaces Chet King on the Boutique Cigar Association board.
- 08My Father Blue — First Honduran-Made CigarA Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado over Honduran binder and filler from Finca La Opulencia, four sizes debuting at PCA 2025, and why the Garcia family may be hedging against Nicaraguan political risk.
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
Sous-titrage ST' 501 And go! Hey, welcome to Cigar Oster Podcast, episode 378. Michael, are you here? I'm here.
Okay. I'm here. Current event topic. Oh, wait, you want to do what we got coming up or you want me to do it because you probably don't know what it is?
Cover it. All right, this Thursday, we have Michael Herklot. He's going to be at the shop with Horde Vores and a beer. You get a complimentary beer and a four pack sampler.
com and you can buy tickets this Thursday at 6:00? Yep. 6:00 till? 9:00.
9:00. Michael Herklots from Fiero Tego Cigars. And then next week on the 21st, we've got the guys from Besa will be here with the Besa Cigar, giving away a watch and a humidor. And then that Friday, downstairs, we're having one of our experience events.
We've got John Carney from Bentley Cigars, driven by flavor or driven by taste? Which one is it? Sure. Driven by taste.
He's going to be cooking steaks. Driven. Driven. We've got a full steak dinner.
We've got another sampler. Those tickets are available upstairs in the shop. I believe those are $125 in advance or $145 day of the event. Yes.
I think that's everything going on right now. Good job. Because in April, we've got PCA. We do have PCA.
And we're going to have to start booking our appointments here. Yes, we're going to have to work on that draft of the show today. Starting to get some emails for that too from other people. I'm getting phone calls and emails and text messages.
messages all right we've got extra twitter is down this week uh idol beckman idel idol how what's his odell it's a typo it's odell odell beckman the football player yeah he's named as a defendant in diddy's trial we have details the defendant he's uh yes he was originally listed as john doe one oh they've released his name canada has a new prime minister and he's throwing down Okay. Taking off the gloves. Boots has seven things we didn't know about Chuck Norris, because today is Chuck Norris' 85th birthday. Yes.
Wow. And then in, can I say cigar? Sure. Okay.
In cigar news, Placentia has a new drinking buddy. Conor McGregor, it's very slow today for some reason, Conor McGregor is putting out a cigar. 3 billion in profit, but that's down. Of course.
Yeah. Sensei John Kreese also has a new cigar coming out. PCA, or BCA, sorry, BCA, the Boutique Cigar Association of America, has added to its board. My father is going to Honduras.
Okay. That's interesting. They're opening a factory in Honduras. They're going to make a Honduran cigar, I guess, before they're all Nicaraguan.
I figured we'll talk about that when you're ready. Oh, it's just jumping around. All right, Twitter's down, Michael. X, Twitter, whatever you want to call it.
com. The number of outages reports rose to more than 11,000 after easing a bit earlier in the day. Users submitted data on the outage tracking, I have to figure out how to speed this up, this is way too slow. Showed more than 10,800 users in the UK, also reported outages earlier in the day.
He is not answering any questions. There's no explanation on why it is happening. You think that Elon knows offhand what the problem is? You would think.
I mean, he's down in two major countries. You think that somebody didn't unplug something or there's a switch turned off? Elon is not the guy. Elon is not the guy that's fully operating X.
No, but he can make a phone call pretty quick, I guess, and find somebody who is. " What's going on? Well, he's cut down the amount of people that work for him. There's got to be only like seven guys now.
One of them's in charge. Yeah. When somebody talks to Elon, Elon's going to say, yeah, it's broken. Fix it.
He's not taking any calls or questions about why it's down. No explanations at all. I think that that's fair. The guy's got eight things going on.
He's got 75 children. He's running... Does he really have that many? I know that's an exaggeration.
No, he's got like 12 kids. He's got 12 kids. Still a lot. He's managed to take rocket ships, Put them out in space.
Have them land into a clasp. He's got an electric car company that's now worth half its value. Yeah, I saw that too. Right?
He's going through all government and looking to trim the fat. George, very busy man. Hey, your social media platform's having some issues. Yeah, okay, sorry.
Maybe he forgot to pay that electric bill or something. Yeah, that would make sense. He's so busy. I don't think that he pays his own electric bill.
He probably has a person for that. Not anymore. Yeah, not anymore? You fired them too.
You fired the electric bill guy? Right, because the power went off at X Twitter, whatever it's called. X Twitter? Well, all the news articles are going on X and Twitter, because people are apparently still not familiar with it.
Well, you still say tweets. " Yeah, tweeted the person. I tweeted him. I X'd him.
I done did tweeted. Yeah, X means something different. So yeah, I can't imagine, I don't think that he has an answer even if anybody was asking him. There's no way.
There's no way. You don't think he can find out? I don't think he could, but I just don't think he fucking cares right now. I think the realistically is like, okay, yeah, someone's gonna fix it.
Is there lost revenue associated with this being done? Here's the thing that's really funny about media, is that something goes wrong, and we instantly want an answer as to why this thing went wrong. Today's world is like that, you gotta have the answers. When the reality is, if you don't know, you should probably answer with, yeah, I don't know, I'll have to look into that.
People would come up with something, you know, servers down, or... Yeah, and those people would be wrong. Switching over to the Y server. Those people don't know, right?
Yeah, but I mean, an average person doesn't understand how it works in the first place. So what you're pretty much telling me is just best to lie to the media. No, that's the media site. Oh, so the person.
It's best to lie to Americans, yes, we like it. We just prefer... We prefer the lies. We would like just to be dumb.
It's magic. The magic is not working today. It's better outright dishonesty with an answer than saying, oh, I'll. He'll use the force and go, this is not the website you're looking for.
Oh, you're not taking any calls tonight? Yeah, because he doesn't know. Reuters. Reuters?
Reuters. Reuters called him? Yeah, and guess what? He's not taking calls from Reuters.
He's busy right now. Isn't there a problem with the rocket too, or is that a different company with the problem with the rocket? He had a rocket explode recently. Was that his or somebody else's?
Yeah, I think it was his. Yeah, that's not good. Rockets exploding, the website's down. Tesla's worth half its value.
Tesla's worth half its value. It doesn't have its value. He's getting clobbered. Maybe he needs to stop fiddling with the government money and put somebody else in charge of that.
I honestly think he needs to keep going. I think he needs to keep going. Because obviously, there's a reason why all of this stuff goes sideways. Obviously, this is kind of conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat stuff, right?
Oh, everything's not working? But all of a sudden, when you start having a bunch of issues, that means that you're pissing off the right people, right? Oh, you think it's somebody's cause of the problem? Of course.
Of course. That sounds more tinfoil hat conspiracy. They wouldn't answer any questions. " I don't know.
I don't know. If he doesn't know, he doesn't know. " He's like the great wizard. Yeah.
Don't look behind the curtain. And that's the problem. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain. And that's the problem with our society.
Right there. You want an answer, and sometimes you don't get an answer right away. That's how you're going to run for president now. What?
Run for, you should run for office. Start local, maybe city council. Yeah. And then work your way up to senator, say representative.
Yeah. And then, you know. Something in that magazine. Vice president.
Maybe you can be in charge of some type of Polish government agency. Polish government? Well, you got the name for it. PGA?
Damn, that's already taken. It's already taken. Damn it. Ah.
Ah. Well, we'll just close it down. Yeah. Okay, I'll get into that.
In between running a questionably successful podcast and a wholesale and retail business. Well, you know. No, you run it. No, no, we.
No, it's you. It's all you. It's just Boots. Okay, Boots is in charge.
Perfect, I'll take it. Boots is in charge. All right, cool. All right, moving on.
Odell Beckman Jr. is named as a defendant in the ongoing complaint against Diddy. Ooh. Details of alleged crimes.
Why, this is so slow today. Details of alleged crimes. Oh, no, details of alleged crimes. So they released the entire list of what happened.
Okay. There's, uh, everybody's been named, but he's the primary person because he's more famous than the other people. He's the only most famous person on that list? Uh, next to Diddy.
But there involves one young lady who had a horrific evening in the Diddy house. It involved oil, some raping, alleged raping, yes, alleged raping. Alleged IVs when she became unconscious. Alleged pill giving.
Okay, so when was the date of this, that had that occurred? I don't have that information. I mean, it was in the complaint, but I mean, it was hard enough to read the entire thing. Who's trying to tell me when the intel, when this alleged thing had occurred?
There were some remotes put in places they shouldn't be put. Oh, by, oh my. I mean, multiple rapages, alleged multiple rapes. Okay.
Of all orifices. That's not good. No. No.
Tried to pay the young lady. Okay, so where does OBJ fall into on this? As a defendant, what does he fall into? He was one of the alleged rapers.
Oh, so he was involved, and he is the highest known. Well, he was the first one. In this. In the list of who raped her when.
Okay. Two women, three men. I believe there's five. I like that you just removed the entire article Well, it's a very long article, it was 84 pages long.
Okay, did you read it? I read highlights and stuff, I didn't read every single line, but I don't remember the other people's names, because they weren't famous people who I would have heard of. It was female assistants, male assistants, people that live in his house. They even had the lady's name, but I didn't pay attention to them.
So they're linking it to Diddy because it was Diddy's party? Yes. Yes. Was Diddy at the alleged rape when it was?
Yes. 2018. So this is seven years ago. Seven years ago.
And now this one's coming to light. How many parties do you think have occurred after that party? Let me ask you that. Oh, I'm sure there's more.
So why is that one the highlighted? Well, apparently she's the one that came forward first. She's the first one. They tried to pay her off and she wouldn't take the money.
Okay, so she's the first one is what you believe. The way I read the, well, probably not even the first one. He's the first one to come forward. Okay.
I don't know, man. Just some of these things just seem odd to me. You know? Well, it's not unbelievable.
No, no. Listen, look, I believe in due process in the judicial system. Sure, sure. And I believe that if something had occurred here.
Right. But when you look at things, how long has he been in jail at this point? A year, maybe? Oh, yeah.
Right after the Cassidy video came out, right? Yeah. And that Cassidy video was, what, 10 years old? Yeah.
Okay. So, like, what has occurred between then and now? Probably lots of things. That's what I'm saying.
Probably a lot more complaints, because normally what happens is one woman comes forward, and then other women start coming forward, because they get courage from the original woman or something. Is there any more information in this reading that you have? No, no, because I didn't copy all 84 pages on here. We'll be here all day.
He also says in her testimony that there's also something to do with the murder of Tupac Shakur that Diddy mentioned at this time. Yes, I did read that too. And he said he would pay for her remarks. He would pay for her remarks.
I'm guessing he would pay her off to not say anything? Ah. Yeah, apparently he mentioned he was involved in that, why she was being raped by someone else, other guys were watching. " I don't know, it came up.
You see what I'm saying? Well, maybe he said, you know, if you dunk, I'm gonna kill Tupac. It was me and Suge. Yeah, like, this is just all seems kind of odd, man.
This is, I, you know what, look. Apparently he killed Kennedy. Well, look, I'm not, I'm not discrediting this girl by any fashion. I just have questions.
I just, I, you know, media releases an article about a situation that occurred seven years ago with a particular woman, right? Right. And there are so many other details that we're not hearing about other things that have gone on. You think that Diddy's the only person that threw these kind of parties?
No. You know what I mean? We don't hear about any of those. Not yet.
Not only that, but the only things that we're really kind of being fed are things that are seven to ten years old. Isn't that kind of crazy to you? I mean, yeah. I mean, it is crazy, but I don't think there's any statute of limitations, is there?
No. It probably is, but... But I know what you're saying, it's kind of like a telephone game where... Well, no, what I'm really kind of saying here is, okay, so we can all speculatively agree that these kind of parties go on, right?
Okay, and Diddy isn't the only person that's holding these parties. Correct. Right? Well, it did mention in the thing that they thought she was a sex worker and they could just pay her off, but she wasn't a sex worker.
Oh, well, our bad, we thought you were a sex worker. Yeah, we thought you were a whore, we're sorry. Next time announce yourself. Yeah, next time we need to see the ID card.
All of that's, it's all insanity. The whole world of that, of what this is, is completely insane. And we're only hearing about drips and drabs of things that occurred seven to ten years ago. And nothing about these other parties, because there have got to be other parties.
There has to be other people hosting this. It can't be just Diddy's parties. Diddy's not the only guy running things. So what do you think Diddy actually did where they turned on him?
Right. Because we're still not hearing about all these other current things. Well, nobody is. What's his name with the island?
Epstein. Epstein? Epstein Island. Oh, you're talking about the list.
Yeah, I mean, there's a list there. We still haven't heard anything. Yeah. And they said that they were going to release the list.
Well, that list is a little more established, prolific, than Odell. A little more important. Some guy named Bootsy. Not that Bootsy.
No, totally different Bootsy. But I think there was a Bootsy. Because they show pictures. You mean Boozy.
Boozy, I don't know. But they're the worst pictures taken from their social media that you could possibly. Yeah. Yeah.
One guy sitting next to Ronald McDonald. Oh, nice. Ronald McDonald statue. Right.
On the bench. Yeah. One of the pictures for one of the guys that they mentioned that has been identified, that was the photo they used. Nice.
Him sitting next to Ronald McDonald. Him sitting next to Ronald McDonald. McDonald's is in trouble. That's in the Epstein files?
No, no, no. The Diddy files. We'll go to the Diddy files. I don't know, man.
You know, you want to know what my source of news is? Yeah. You. I don't listen to anything, but when you rattle things off, I'm like, I don't know, man.
This just sounds a little odd. It's trending. There's like 20,000 people talking about this today. Right.
That's the crazy part. So the document must have come out today or something. Something came out. Well, and Odell was listed by name.
He's no longer John Doe 1. Right. OBJ. Busted.
Busted. And somebody named... Allegedly busted. Somebody named Drewski?
I don't know that guy. Yeah, there's a Drewski. And apparently that's a rapper. It's never good when a Drewski's involved.
You know? Never good. We got a Diddy, a Drewski, and an OBJ. Right.
Right, right. My goodness. Okay. Well, hey, whatever.
I mean, I guess we'll find out, or we'll never find out, you know. Find out or we won't find out. Right. Find out what they want us to know.
We will keep you posted as more details become available. Right. Okay. Moving on.
Canada's next prime minister has managed the financial crisis, Brexit, and now Trump's trade war. Oh. Carney, not John Carney, different Carney. No, totally different Carney.
59 replaces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January. Why is this so slow today? But remains Prime Minister until his successor is sworn in in the coming days. So he's gone.
Trudeau is still in charge until he swore this guy in. But this guy's already giving speeches and threatening people. Okay, I like that. Who's he threatening?
Us. What's he threatening us with? Well, no, they have tariffs too. Okay.
The American products have tariffs. Can't get Budweiser and that kind of stuff up there no more. Yeah? We're done?
Oh, they're done. They're done. Are they gonna stop the maple syrup? Yeah.
Well, we buy that from them. They want us to keep buying it. But I imagine there's a high tariff on that coming in here. Yeah.
So no more waffles and pancakes. No more waffles? Can we get maple syrup in America? Yeah!
Yeah, good old American maple syrup. America. Red, white, and blue syrup. It's thicker.
Red, white, and blue syrup. Garney is widely expected to trigger an election in the coming days or weeks, In the coming days or weeks amid Trump's sweeping tariff threats are we back to those I thought everybody agreed to do what he wanted no no no no there's pushback of course there's more tariffs yeah yeah yeah all right he says we didn't ask for this fight but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves Carney said hockey reference right Carney said the Americans they should make no mistake in trade as in hockey Canada will win you guys stupid to piss off Do you piss off the guy that protects you? Do I think that it's stupid to piss off the guy? We protect Canada.
Okay, who's going for Canada? Well, anybody can now, because now we don't like them. The North Pole. It's like fair game, like, oh, go get them, we don't care.
I think that we would still protect Canada. There's a tariff on bullets. There's a tariff on bullets? They have to stop at the border.
I'm gonna tell you right now, if somebody tried to infiltrate Canada, we would step up. It would be Russia, they would come, oh, they'd have come to Alaska, so yeah. Yeah, they got fun. All right, fine.
That's a cold journey. Unless they can go around. Yeah. No.
You got more on that? Go ahead. Yeah. Carney said Canada will keep its initial retaliatory tariffs in place until the Americans show us respect.
Got it. You know, when he talks with a thick Canadian accent, so... Does he say it's a boot? Yeah, it does.
So it's kind of funny when he talks. You ever see South Park, the original movie? Fuck Canada. Fuck Canada.
Well, look, you know what? Go ahead. And his next prime minister has already helped with two groups of seven economies in crisis, and now will try to steer Canada through a looming trade war brought by US President Donald Trump, a threat of annexation and an expected federal election. Yeah, that is one of his slogans.
We will not be the 51st state for America. Right. That's fine. He'll be a territory.
Yeah. Well, he said it would not be a territory or the 51st state. Oh, I'm sorry. He's covering all bases.
9% support. That's pretty big. Oh, so who was he running against, Trudeau? Yes.
I guess I'll show you that everybody's just done with Trudeau. Well, this is the vote for him to be in charge of this group, like they're Democrat and Republicans. Right. 9% to be in charge of, let's say, the Republican Party.
- Right. - So Trudeau must be the other party. - Okay. Well, either way, it doesn't sound like they're getting along with Trump on either end.
- No, no, they don't like him. Nobody likes him but us. America. And even all of America doesn't like him.
- Okay. So what do you think about this? What do you think about the new election? Are you excited that this guy is running Canada?
- For Canada? - Yeah. - I don't really care about who runs Canada. - You don't care?
- No, why do I care? I'm not going there. - I mean, they're our neighboring country. Yes.
You should care, to some degree. I don't know enough to make a decision. If electric goes up... Well, electric's gonna go up no matter who's in charge, they're both standing on their retaliatory tariffs.
Retaliatory tariffs? Yes. You should make a cigar called a retaliatory tariff. You should.
And charge it $95. This is the time. And it could be like a total piece of garbage. It could be like just some, some Seco.
With a name flag logo on it? No, no, you don't have to, we're not gonna outright. Just be all, just be all Seco? Yeah, just have it be, to have it taste like nothing.
How do we do all, what, Connecticut Valley, green sucker tobacco? Underfilled, completely underfilled, like eight grams for a Toro. Oh, nice. Yeah, just total error.
Super good draw. Yeah, it's very squishy. Very squishy. Yeah, and we're going to call it the retaliatory tariff.
Oh, that's nice. Yeah, $95. Skip, you get working on that right away. Yeah, retaliatory tariff.
Have Alex do it. We don't care what it tastes like. Steel porcupine, then retaliatory tariff. That would fit in right with his tartan-feathered stuff.
He's on this whole foreign and domestic, steel pork, steel pork behind is a political statement. Oh, is it? Yeah. I just thought maybe it was a transformer or something.
No, no. No. It's not a transformer. It's a political thing.
I like the transformer idea. Retaliatory terror. You're gonna be on you. Okay, Boots.
You're gonna be on the other one? No, no, that's fine. Okay, Boots, let's go ahead and hear your article of the day. All right.
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Since today is Chuck Norris' birthday, we have seven things you didn't know about Chuck Norris. Norris has eight black belts and developed two major martial arts systems. Norris won six world karate titles and earned an eighth-degree black belt in Chunkuk-do, Taekwondo, Karate Tang-so-do Machado, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Judo.
Norris didn't just master forms of martial arts created by others, he also created two forms of martial arts himself. a. Chung Kuk Doe. How do you make up names for your own karate?
American Chung Chuk Doe. American Tang Soo Doe combines Mu Duk Kwan style, Tang Soo Doe, Judo, and Karate. Chung Kuk Doe is based on Norris' Tang Soo Doe training in Korea during his time in the military. He sells his own silver coins.
Chuck Norris offers his very own one ounce silver coin. It's a limited edition coin, representing Chuck's five principles for life, faith, family, fitness, freedom, and fight. The coin costs $97, and it can be bought through his website. -$97 worth of silver.
- That's not $97 worth of silver. It can't be. - It's $97 worth of Chuck. - $97 worth of Chuck.
- Norris, yeah. - Chuck Norris silver. - Go ahead. - Lee vs.
Norris, in the 1972 film Way of the Dragon, Norris acted alongside Bruce Lee In one of the most iconic martial arts showdowns in the film, the fight scene was shot illegally in the Roman Coliseum, and the crew bribed Roman officials and snuck cameras in, pretending to be Taurus. No kidding. Yeah. Rattlesnake vs.
Norris. In 1996, on the set of Walker, Texas Ranger, Norris had a scene with a large rattlesnake. The first take went according to plan. With all the action occurring safely with no incidents, however, during the second take, the rattlesnake bit Norris and he had to go to the hospital.
The snake, not Norris. Wow. He really went to the hospital. Yeah, obviously.
The snake died later that day. The snake died later, right. Did you know his name isn't actually Chuck? His name's not even Chuck.
Are you kidding me? No! His given name is actually Carlos Ray Norris. Carlos?
Carlos! Wow, he's not even, he's Spanish. The story goes, he was in a movie, and somebody goes, do you know what, Carlos isn't Spanish, or in English, and they told him it was Chuck. He goes, oh, I like that better.
Now I'm Chuck Norris. Wow. Oh, my God. Learn something new.
His first TV appearance, Chuck's very first TV appearance, was on Room 222 in the episode titled Dreams of Glory. In 1970, Norris played a karate instructor helping Larry Eric Lunaville gain confidence from a school bully. So, you're a big Chuck Norris fan, Bootsy? I love Chuck.
Today was Chuck Norris' 85th birthday. His 85th birthday. Today. Yeah.
If Chuck Norris needed someone to tickle his balls, would you tickle his balls? No. No? You wouldn't be a Chuck Norris ball tickler?
No. What if he gave you a $97 Chuck Norris coin? Yeah. What if that snake would have bit him on the inside of his thigh?
Would you suck the poison out? No. Would you remove the poison from Chuck Norris? No, you wouldn't save his life?
No. What if the snake bit you? Would you let Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris, Carlos Norris? Would you let Carlos?
Would you let Carlos suck the poison out of you? What if the only other option was you would die? You and Chuck Norris are in the desert. Snake bites you inside your thigh.
There's no way you can get to it yourself. You guys would never know. Chuck would tell. Carlos would tell us.
Carlos would tell us. He doesn't tell anybody. That would be the number eight thing on the list of things you don't know about Chuck Norris. He once sucked the venom out of Boots' thigh.
I thought the Roman Colosseum stuff was interesting. Yeah, that's pretty cool. They bribed the guards to let him in with the cameras. I've seen that scene.
Right. I didn't realize it was in the Coliseum. And then they snuck Chuck in in his karate gi. Really?
Yeah, they did the finance one. Even with somebody like Bruce Lee, they wouldn't even let them in, huh? He wasn't as big a deal back then. Yeah.
Neither one of them were. Yeah, this was before their biggest claim to fame. Right. He does kick Chuck Norris' ass in that scene, though.
Yeah. The only guy that successfully has. Well, in the snake. And that's probably why he died.
The snake. And the snake did too. The snake did too, yeah. So Chuck Norris has gotten his ass kicked by a snake and Bruce Lee.
Only two things. And both of those things are no longer on this earth. Oh, and he is. Yeah.
You're right. All right. Well, let's get into it. Happy birthday, Chuck Norris.
Yeah. We'll get into some cigar news. All right. All right.
Ed Belio, named CEO of Plasencia Cigars. Oh. Ed Belio, a former executive with liquor giant Diego, has been named the new CEO of Plasencia. He will begin the role on April 1st, taking the reins from Jim Young, who was named interim CEO in September 2023.
There will be a three-month transition. It's three months for him to be trained to be the CEO of a cigar company. Okay. I believe that.
I believe it takes at least six months. And then, oh. Well, Young just stepped right in. Yeah.
And it's been a clusterfuck ever since. Oh, no. They think he did a good job. Oh, yeah?
I'm still waiting on my humidor for our event eight months ago that we were going to give away. That sounds like a you problem, not a young problem. That's not a young problem, that's a me problem? That's exactly what it is.
Young will continue to serve as an advisor and board member because apparently that's how long it takes to train from a liquor guy to become a cigar guy. So no more drinking and just smoking. No more drinky-drinking. No more drinking, just smoky-smoking.
Yeah. Okay. Belio joins Placencia from Diego, is that Diego, no it's not how you say Diego, Diageo, Diageo, I like Diego, where he spent 15 years most recently as the CMO of Catalyst Spirits, a incubator, is probably best known for Howler Head, a banana flavored whiskey, I am familiar with Howler Head, it just came out maybe two years ago, I never tried it because they don't sell it at the center floor. Okay.
Prior to his time at Diego, he spent more than a decade at Procter & Gamble, so obviously lotions and diaper guy, becomes a liquor guy, now he's a cigar guy. It makes total sense. Total sense, it's how it transitions. I like that he was the chief marketing officer and now he's moved to CEO.
Right. For a company I've never heard of. Right. So, you know, it doesn't sound like he had a good track record.
But this is the second company to hire a liquor guy. Yeah, so we're starting to see this, right? This is a thing. The last thing he was a coffee guy.
Yeah. So food and beverage becomes tobacco. Right. So we're pulling these from these companies.
Right. That does or doesn't have a good track record. I've never heard of any of these companies. Now, I could just be ignorant to all of this.
It's very possible. Very possible. But the reality is that... More than likely.
Yeah, more than likely. But the reality is that none of them... It's not like you pulled the Chipotle guy. You know what I'm saying?
Right. Well, even that would be strange. Yeah, but that guy's good. But at least that guy was awesome at what he did.
He's good with Chipotle. With Chipotle. Yeah, exactly. So how do you transition a restaurant chain where you go in and stand in line and get food that has the worst health inspection record of just about any other restaurant in the country?
Chipotle has that? Yes. Really? I never knew that.
They drop food all over the floor and stuff. They have bugs and rats and stuff. Really? Yes.
Is that true? Yes, it's true. Bugs and rats and stuff? Boots, look it up over there.
Chipotle's health inspection record. I was already looking. Okay, very good. Yes.
You know, okay, so maybe they just need to give him six months to come over, training process. Alright, so here's what we do. Maybe he's just happy because they don't inspect the third world tobacco factories. While he's looking it up, you think he's switching us?
I'm trying. He sure isn't. He sure isn't. Oh boy.
We're extremely excited to welcome Ed to the Plasencia business as CEO said Nestor Andres Plasencia in a press release. Our family and partners have enormous confidence that he is the perfect fit. The King of Tobacco. And we all get discounts now at Chipotle.
To head our efforts to develop and grow our beloved brand, to fulfill its potential, and keep lighting up souls, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Jim for stepping in as CEO when he did, and for his ongoing commitment to Plasencia. He allegedly added that we are sorry you did not get the job full-time, but maybe next time. Who headed that? Mr.
Placencia. So you didn't get the job full time? Yeah, the guy was just the interim president, so he just came in for a short time. How do you take that?
They go, okay, the former president left, quit, got fired, whatever the reason, I don't know what it was. Right. Jim, you're coming in. Yeah.
We're gonna put you in charge. Six months for now, they go, you know what, Jim, it's not working out. Yeah. We're bringing in a guy that makes diapers.
Well, he had his time to really kind of prove himself, and obviously he didn't. But when they say interim, do you know that it's part-time, that you're not going to be doing it full-time, or do you expect? It's a safe way of saying, hey, if you mess this up, you don't have the job. Because like, when the guy left the PCA, Habersky was brought in as interim, and now he has the gig.
He earned it. Okay. Right, he earned it. What did he do to earn it?
Well, I don't know, you'd have to ask people in the board, or they just couldn't find anybody else. Oh! That's probably the option. Nobody else wanted it.
Right. There's no liquor guys available at the time. Well, no liquor guys, I mean, that have Plasencia money, PCA money doesn't have Plasencia money, right? Oh, how much do you think this guy makes?
How much do you think that guy makes? Okay, let's go. How much do you think the interim guy got? Do you think he got a bump to do it interimly?
Yeah, he got an interimly bump. Yeah? Yeah. Okay, how much do you think he made?
Oh, good question. From Plasencia? I mean, it's six figures, it's not seven. Okay.
I don't know, call it half a million. Okay, and then they bring this guy in, got him for a deal because he came from a liquor company of medium grade, banana-flavored whiskey. Yeah. I mean, I can picture the interview now.
It's like Ben Affleck at Good Will Hunting. " So, they're probably overpaid. I would assume they overpaid. Overpaid him?
More than the interim guy? Oh yeah, he got more money than the interim guy. He got more money than the interim guy. Of course.
He got more money than the interim guy. The interim guy you think would be a little more qualified. He was vice president or something before. Yeah, you would think.
You would think. That's not the way it works. Look, you know, I'm not, unfortunately, I'm not running a multi-million dollar corporation. Right.
But I could just look from the outside in and say, I don't know if that makes any fucking sense at all. You know, I'm not gunning for a CMO, because honestly, if I look at a CMO, I know that you're really good at BSing, right? Sure. So I already have questions.
I don't know if I'd put you in a CEO role. I would have you continue. Oh, because you're the head BSer now. How do I know what you're going to tell me is going to be true?
Right. I don't know if that even works. You're really good at what you do. Maybe you should stay in that lane if you wanted to have a CMO guy, head CMO.
Right. Bring him up to that and maybe let him work into CEO. If he could earn that position. I don't know how many people actually successfully transitioned out of CMO and into CEO.
Well, let's see how long this guy lasts. Let's see, what is it? So it's Q1 2025? Right.
Q2, he's back to making diapers? No, it's like how long... I mean, next year, next year. How long do you, how long does it take for you to realize, I mean, like, at that point, things have to move a lot slower?
It doesn't happen fast. Certainly. So where is the line where you look at him and say, okay, here's our numbers, here's our data, it's been X amount of time. Yeah, you're not for us.
I would say 18 months. X amount of time, that didn't work out. Young came from the same liquor company. Really?
Yes, before he switched to Davidoff in 2011. So he did work for a different cigar company before he was made fake boss of this cigar company. Or interim, I'm sorry. So at least he worked for Davidoff.
Right, so at least he had some cigar experience when he came. And then they realized that that guy wasn't gonna work either. Davidoff's a little too fancy for us. So then he goes, does he lose his job entirely?
There's no mention, that was the next question. Does he go back to what he was doing before? Right. Or is there an interim, let's say he was VP.
Right. Now is there an interim VP, why he became interim P? I don't know. Somebody's gotta move up.
Yeah, they gotta fill that hole somewhere. Yeah. But like the company last week, they brought two people up. And they put two people up, so maybe one of them, they could still split the other job too.
And then he gets fired at the Christmas party? Right. Yeah. Hey, here's your eggnog.
Here's a steak dinner, and here's your plane ticket home, we need you to leave before the meeting tomorrow. Check out your severance, we're fueling the growth. Right. So he was not Taranio'd.
I just can't, I just can't see any of this working. I don't see, so we had the acquisition here for Placencia. Who was the other acquisition? I don't remember last week with the- The coffee?
They brought a coffee guy in. Yeah. I forget who it was. I don't know, these things, they happen so fast here in our world.
I don't know, like, none of it really makes that much sense. I also don't understand where you would grab somebody, like, where you would go to get a CEO to replace, that's outside of the source, no, like, whether it's from coffee or liquor or whatever, you know, because our industry is extremely unique in that fashion. Certainly. It's not like because you can do one, you can do the other.
Right. That's what I'm saying. Okay. But people seem to think that.
So they sit down, look at the resume, and they're like, okay, you have successfully marketed... Oh, you're in charge of the banana liquor. Right. I really like that.
That's good. That's been going well. I'm looking at your EBITDA here. Your EBITDA.
Right. Right? I don't know. I don't know.
We should start like, we need a board. That's what we need. A big white board to keep track of the people? And then it's almost like a death pool, right?
Oh. As far as how long they last? Maybe there's not anybody in this industry that they could pick. That's sick.
I don't think there is. I mean, who else would they get, really? In the industry that was free, they would have to take them from another company. And pay them more.
And pay them more for them to leave. Right. And then that creates a hole in that company. Somewhere we gotta add new blood.
Right. Eventually, they start asking you and me. But it's kind of fascinating that these guys are pulling... You're talking about top brands.
Right. You're talking about Plasencia, Davidoff. Right. I think Davidoff was the one last week.
Right. They also made a bigger clubhouse down in wherever the mix of guys. Yeah. So you're talking about these top brands that aren't poaching from within the industry.
Right. They're not poaching other people. Which is odd. Well, if you think about it, a boutique company, let's say like Roma Craft, Espinosa, Us, you know.
Ooh, we're in that conversation? Okay. Well, I mean, that's right. They're not going to get Eric Espinosa to go run Placentia.
No, but you-- He's got his own. But you could hijack his number two. They'd be more qualified than a liquor guy. Right.
As long as they had that image. Yeah, but Hector's got medical problems. Is Hector number two or is Jack number two? That's a great question.
I think they share it. Yeah. I think it depends on who we ask. I think if you ask Jack.
We gotta ask Eric. I think if you ask Jack, Jack will tell you Hector. If you ask Hector, Hector will tell you Jack. Right, because neither one wants to do the job.
Neither wants to be part of the... They don't want that responsibility. They don't want the cannon fodder. Right, exactly.
" Yeah, well, you can't take him either. Right, you can't take him either, he's named Erik Espinosa. Right. And he sits in the office where they cut their hair.
Right. What about John Carney? He's running Bentley at the moment. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised, like, he could have, I think he could have got a bigger job somewhere else.
Where? Maybe if he would have waited, he would have to be national sales manager or up. Yeah, you think he would have taken, like, somebody would have offered him a job at Altidus, David Altidus, or General... He did mention that, I think, Duss, and he didn't feel that was a good fit.
Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, he wants to build something himself. A little too corporate. That makes sense.
Tie his hands up a little bit too much. You're right. S. business, a role that had been vacant for nearly one year.
Oh, so they looked for a long time. Yeah, so they look for a long time. " Like, I'd like to sit down and talk to some of these guys. I don't think that they'll ever come here, but I would love-- Well, we could go see him at PCA.
Yeah, like, how did you feel like you were qualified for the job? First, do you have any of that Howler Monkey Liquor with you? Yeah, let's get that out of the way first. I've always wanted to try it.
It's supposed to taste like bananas. " Yeah, like, how does that make sense? How does this work? Who hired you?
And maybe he has a drinking problem. Did the interim guy hire his replacement? That's our guy. Well, they knew each other because they both worked at the liquor company.
So he probably brought them in. He might have. Hey, you know what? I know this guy.
He makes really good memes. He makes really good memes. And nice-looking AI pictures. Yeah.
He tweets like nobody's business. He Xs. Xs. He Xs.
He Xs. He Xs. But it's down now, so I can't show you his work. Yeah.
Is it on me or him? You. Conor McGregor launches Notorious Cigars. Aha.
The UFC superstar and former champion Conor McGregor has gotten into the cigar business launching Notorious Cigars and opening up pre-orders via the company's website. Notorious. The first release from Notorious Cigars is a 6x50 Toro that uses an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 Rosado Oscuro wrapper. Okay.
Not long names anymore. The company says it's been aged for four years. " Well, I think that he obviously linked with somebody who linked with, knows the company, knows the factory, and they present him this cigar. " Then they go with their La Di Da story.
Age four years. I mean, age four years. Like, who knows? Who knows what accuracy, you know, like, that could be complete.
Well, underneath that is a Mexican San Andres binder and a filler that contains tobacco from Nicaragua's Jalapa Valley and the San Victor and Villa Gonzalez regions of the Dominican Republic. The cigars are made at MJ Frias in the Dominican Republic. Ah, Boots won't like it. It's Dominican.
But it's not made with anything Dominican. It's just made in the Dominican. Well, how is it? Do you hate cigars made in the Dominican or cigars made with Dominican tobacco?
Or are you just racist? No, I just hate the Dominican ones that taste bad. You just hate Dominicans? He hates Dominicans.
He's tasting the Dominican people. He hates Dominicans. It said $140 for a box of 10. The company says that the cigars are expected to be shipped in mid to late April-ish.
S. consumers, but note that international shipping will be coming soon. So $14 a cigar. $14 a cigar, box of 10, $140.
Is it Toro? Toro, only comes in one size. Okay. Pre-order on the website.
Should be interesting. Would you like me to order something for him right now? No, maybe Connors at PCA, that'd be great. Oh, it wouldn't be.
Wouldn't that be cool? Then they're kicking everybody's ass in the middle of the place. He'd run in and run out though, he'd do a Tyson. Tyson sat there for a while in the chair?
" And that was the end of it. And you saw every grown-ass man in their 40s and 50s act like little schoolgirls and get pictures with Mike Tyson. 3 billion. Profits are down.
We will rebuild. Yes, we're having a terrible year. 3 billion. 25 million in the previous 12 months.
3 billion. Oh, it's the same story twice. But profits are down. Profits are down.
Is that because of their acquisition? I believe that's what they were insinuating, yes. Not because of Justin Andrews' salary? No, not because of his travel schedule.
No. Not because of that truck he drives. His Hennessy Raptor? Yes.
Because, I mean, there's probably a good way to fuel the growth there, is all I'm saying, you know? Stop making all those giant, ridiculous swag items, the bars, and all that other stuff. It'd be funny, because if he got fuel the growth, I bet you he'd be able to answer his phone on Mondays. Sure, he would be.
Hey guys, I'm available now. I'm available, you guys, I talk, no, we don't talk to you now. There's no more meetings. Okay, you ready?
Here we go. All right, ready? Actor Martin Cove gets into cigars with the prodigal son. Martin Cove, the actor best known for John Kreese and the Karate Kid, The kid and Cobra Kai has gotten into the cigar business launching a line called The Prodigal Son.
It looks a lot, who's the guys with the cowboy cigar? The guys with the cowboy cigar? Yeah, we carried it and then they didn't follow up and we snuck it. Sinistro?
Yeah, it looks like, the box looks like theirs. Oh. Got a cowboy on it. Oh boy, trademark infringement?
The Prodigal Son gets its name from an upcoming TV series. A line which uses an undisclosed blend was developed by Paul DiSalvo of La Casa Grande cigars And Sanji Patel of Sanji Smoke Shop and the SP-1014 brand of cigars. Okay, so is this the actual Karate Kid or is it the bad guy? John Kreese.
Is that the bad guy? Sweep the leg, Johnny? Yes. That guy?
Yes. Okay, so he's making a cigar. He's making a cigar. Based on a TV show that I'm assuming he's in.
Or that he has some type of executive production. Well, the picture looks like him dressed as a cowboy. Ah, got it. So nothing to do with Karate Kid?
No. No. I'm sure he's not allowed to talk about that. His character died.
Did he? Yeah. In the final season. His character died?
Yes. The Cobra Kai guy? Yes. Spoiler alert.
Had no idea. It's been out for months. How did he die? He blew up a boat with him and the other bad guy.
Did you see the body? Him and Ralph Macchio or whatever? Ralph Macchio's not the bad guy. In Cobra Kai?
I didn't watch the last season. I've seen clips and stuff of it online. I thought he was the bad guy. Uh, the guy with the ponytail.
His buddy from Vietnam. I have no idea what's going on. Did you watch the third Karate Kid? Yeah, a hundred years ago.
Where the guy pretended to be Ralph Macchio's friend and was training him and he wasn't gonna be. Yeah. I want him to have bloody fists. Right.
The guy with the ponytail. Okay. Okay, he's the other bad guy. Oh, he's back.
Yes. Okay. You haven't watched any of the new stuff then? No.
No, yeah. He's the other bad guy. He pops back in and tells John Kreese that we will make Cobra Kai back the way it was, blah, blah, blah. And then it's like people again, blah, blah, blah.
And then they blew him up. Well, they're on a boat and they're fighting and he sort of becomes a good guy, John Kreese. It feels bad for everything he did to Johnny. Got it.
So there's a scene where he apologizes to Johnny. I'm sorry what I did, blah, blah, blah. And on the boat, they get in a little fight. The two old guys get in a fight.
Okay. And he's smoking a cigar like he smokes a cigar. Okay. And he gets knocked down, loses a cigar, and as he's about to do the finishing move on him and kill John Kreese, he picks up the cigar and throws it at the gas tank, on the boat, when the boat blows up.
Okay. So we know that that doesn't work, right? What? Well, there was a gas leak, too, because when he hit him, he hit the gas tank or something and spilled gas on the deck of the boat or something.
It still doesn't work. No, no, but it was a movie. Okay. You think these two old guys are still doing karate?
They can barely walk. You know what's really funny is every time I pull up to the gas pump, I usually have a cigar on the car. In the car? Yeah, me as well.
Well, I don't throw it into the pile of gas and it's spilled. Listen, I would bring it to the pump and smoke the cigar. I just know that everybody would freak out. Oh, you know, I always, I have it in my mouth as I grab the handle and put it in the drug.
Well, I'm a Costco guy, so, you know, there would be like 80 people and I would, there would be absolute chaos, you know? But yeah, that doesn't work. It's fucking movie magic and this BS. So if I take a lit cigar and throw it in a pile of gas, it's not going to burst in the flames?
It won't ignite? It won't ignite? You want to test it out? Yes.
I've thrown matches into gasoline and it's ignited. Sounds like a YouTube clip. We could try that. Yes.
Well, we talked about a lot of YouTube clips we haven't done yet. All right, so we should build a list and then we start doing YouTube clips. We have a list, it's on my phone. I was looking at it yesterday.
Do you? Now I will add throw cigar into gas. Into gas, yes. Yes, yes.
Under Greg's car. Oh. Oh. Will this work?
Apparently it worked! Wait until he brings the Chevelle out. Yeah, right. The Salvo has also worked with actor Chaz Palminteri on a Bronx Tale line of cigars.
There you go. The Progles Sun is being released in a 6x52 Toro Vitolo that will be priced at $14 and offered in a 20 count box. So this is what we're doing now. Everybody's doing it.
We're going to do Toro. $14 Toros. We're going to do $14 and it's going to be a 6x52 welcome to the cigar industry. Cigar industry.
Yes. Okay. There'll probably be a PCA this year too. Cha-ching.
Call it 14 bucks. The cigars are produced at Tablicalera Jura Rip, Chico Rivas factory. Jura is gonna be an H sound instead of a J sound. So Hurrip.
Hurrip. Chico Rivas factory and Tambor Dominican Republic. Okay. You won't like this in either boots, it's Dominican.
Which is also produced cigars for Sanjay Patel. For Sanjay Patel, the initial launch will occur in June and will be limited to just three retailers: La Casa Grande Cigars in the Bronx, Sanji's Smoke Shop in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and Smoke Inn, which is multiple locations in South Florida. Oh, look at that. Is that Abe?
Abe's Smoke Shop. Yeah. Interesting. A press release said that the company hopes to expand production and availability, which said would make the cigars more widely available by fall of 2025 or early 2026.
If I'm a retailer, and I'm mid-level, why would I want to carry that cigar? I have no idea. I wouldn't. Well, maybe you're a big Karate Kid fan.
No, but you've already sold it to... The big guys. Well, yeah, the big guys already got it. You sold it to big retailers that have online presence.
Sure. I wouldn't want to go out of my way and acquire that. Somebody will. " He goes to Riverside.
Does he? Yeah, they sent me a picture one time of him smoking a BDP. Oh, that's right. And yet, they didn't get the cigar.
No. Interesting. Maybe he was just in town. Interesting.
Hmm. Just saying. Good being. Why not support all the retailers?
Make sure I take one to PCA case he's there. Hey, you like this. There you go. Okay.
I'm gonna chase him down. Rob Loud joins Boutique Cigar Association board, replaces Chet King. Okay. The Boutique Cigar Association, the BCA, has announced that J.
, an Atlanta-based technology company he founded in 2017. Obviously, another, somebody highly qualified for cigars. Yes, clearly. Clearly.
Laud spearheaded the development of the internet backpack and groundbreaking mobile connectivity solution that provides internet access in remote and unserved regions across more than 90% of the planet. Still, no cigar. Right. His career spans decades of experience in technology and consulting, including work for Fortune 500 companies and large-scale wireless network projects.
Before founding Amicon, Laud served as institutional investor and technology consultant, leveraging his experience to identify and commercialize impactful innovations. Again, no cigar. No cigar. No cigar.
No cigar. Not even liquor. Not even a beverage. Not even a coffee guy.
Right. Todd is no stranger to cigars, though, as he is a partner in Empire Social Lounge in Miami. Didn't they just sell to somebody else? I have no idea.
I think they just sold, and they're not called Empire anymore. He also runs the Instagram account Traveling Cigars. Oh, there we go. Traveling Cigars.
He's an Instagram guy. He's a big deal. Big guy. Let's see how many followers he has on Instagram.
Yeah, I'm gonna look that up. Through which he shares glimpses of his adventures, cigar experiences, and entrepreneurial journey, blending his personal interests with his professional persona. I'm honored to join the board of the Boutique Cigar Association, a group... You follow them.
That's all... Huh? You follow them. Do I really?
Yeah. Oh, how about that? Traveling cigars? Rob?
He must have followed me. You guys are tight. We're friends. Well, you know, I used to...
the original board of the BCA, I was part of. Right. He's got 5,000 followers. Well.
Championing the little guys who pour their hearts into every cigar. He's gonna be easy to spot at PCA. Why is that? Oh, they have a backpack on.
Well, he has this gigantically large mohawk. Does he really? Yes. Oh, don't let Drew Estates see that.
I'm here to help amplify your voice, protect our craft, and keep our craft. It's already our craft now. Okay. Flames burning for boutique makers everywhere.
Loud replaces Chet King, who is stepping down to pursue his dream of opening a premium brick-and-mortar cigar retailer. Oh, that's a dream. Congratulations. Somebody should call him.
We wish you the best in retail. We celebrate Chet's contribution and unwavering commitment to our organization, the BCA wrote in the press release, "His efforts have been instrumental in shaping the BCA. We would not be where we are today without him. We wish Chet great success in this exciting new chapter.
" What has the BCA really done? Have they done anything recently at all? They had one of those little areas at the trade show a couple years ago. Where they all got together?
Yeah. You know, like they used to do a TPE with the little things. Yeah. So I think they bought a bigger area and let smaller companies get pieces of it.
Right. Other than that, I have not. Okay. When I was part of it, we had a couple of meetings.
Yeah. Tried to get more people to join. So it was just an acquisition thing? Yeah.
Normally, if you like, if you can provide some type of aid. Well, that was the idea. They were, they did, I think, once have a boutique only cigar convention. Oh, really?
Yes. That obviously didn't go well. It was after my separation from the organization. Right.
But the list that I saw, one of the companies I had heard of. How were you separated from the BC? I said, I quit. You said, I don't want to do this anymore?
Yeah, I sort of just, I Irish-cobied them. Stopped showing up for the Zoom meetings and stuff and found other things to do. I like that. The whole organization sort of fell apart for a brief time and then came back together with a new board.
Gotcha. So the entire original board, Irish goodbye. The entire original board. Except Gabby Cat.
He stuck it out. Well, he put it together. Right. It's his baby.
I think he's still part of it as a advisor. I don't think he's actually technically on the board anymore. Gotcha. Okay.
Or he could be, he was the treasurer for a while, so I don't know. I like that it makes media news. Yeah, it must be a bigger deal now. Yeah.
Apparently now is when it should have been on the board. Yeah, now you'd like to rejoin. Right now, I'd like to come back please. Hello.
Hey, I've been here this whole time. I've been here this whole time. You guys don't call. Nobody has said anything to me.
Nobody has said anything to me at all. I've Zoomed once a week, just like before. Yeah, I don't understand what happened with this new CEO guy. No one's said anything to me.
Yeah, nobody asked me. I don't have a mohawk. They don't have a mohawk. What's the pay for the CEO?
Well, he's on the board. He's not the CEO. Oh. There was no pay.
Oh, there's no pay? There was no pay. It doesn't pay. No wonder why the other guy wanted to join retail.
Right. Yeah. Trying to make some money. I get it.
All right. My father announces Blue, a first Honduran-made cigar. Interesting. My boy, Blue.
My father has announced the upcoming release of Blue, the company's first Honduran-made cigar that also features tobacco from its Honduran farm. Good hand, it works that out. Yeah. It works well that way.
That way there's less shipping and less trucking, because they just do it right there. Oh, just less. Nice. In an advertisement for the line the company says is a medium to full-bodied cigar that uses a Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado wrapper over a Honduran binder and filler that is a mix of Corojo, Criolo, varietals harvested from Finca, Finca La, oh, I'm never getting that word right.
I can't see. Opulencia? Oh. The Garcia family's first farm in Honduras.
Like opulence? The company goes on to say that the blend delivers a rich and complex smoking experience. The blue package of the line was created to pay homage to the colors of the Honduran flag with the year 2025 expressed in Roman numerals MMXXV, which we'll never get there. No.
On the secondary ban, my father has been expanding his operation to Honduras, oh, sorry, the Roman numerals on the secondary ban. Gotcha. Expanding his operation in Honduras in recent years through the company has been reluctant to say much about it. " And a note on the company's website saying, here we are again, no, that it has a factory in El Paricio, which asked about the blue line on Thursday.
Jan, Janie? Janie Garcia, VP of My Father's Cigars, declined to provide any details about the cigar, saying she didn't have any information about the cigars. She's the VP of the Honduran operation. I don't know anything about it.
about it right don't know anything however a cigar aficionado story published on friday indicates that the line will be offered in four sizes so apparently somebody found somebody has information right uh who's that guy that started the aficionado magazine george george george probably george still has me blocked on social media my father blew petite my father blew robusto my father blew toro my father blew toro gordo appears that the cigars will come in 20 count The line boxes, though the, it appears, it appears, we think, maybe, has not yet confirmed the pricing and has not been finalized, so we don't really know. Okay. My father, Blue Line, is scheduled to be shown off at the 2025 PCA Convention to Trade Show in April, with shipping scheduled for late May or early June or maybe July. The company has not yet confirmed the accuracy of the Scarfishing Idol story, nor has it responded to a request for images and additional details about the line, and they know nothing about X being offline either.
Okay, they still have no idea? Still have no idea. Okay, so why do you think a company that's based in Nicaragua would go out of their way to establish the entire thing, not only just a farm, but production in Honduras? Cheaper labor?
Cheaper labor? What do you think, Boots? Boots? Hi Boots, show.
I don't know, I don't really know the ins and outs, so maybe something to do with transportation of it to here, I'm not sure. Political unrest? I think that's probably what it is. They're hedging their bets?
Yeah, I think that it's more concerned... About to be another revolution? Revolution? Or whatever the case may be.
I mean, you know, if you have issues with Ortega, if the United States has issues with Ortega, then they could shut down trade if they wanted to, right? Sure. They could put embargoes on there, they could do all sorts of things. Anything they want.
So, it sounds to me, and this is entirely speculative, it sounds to me just like Pepin Garcia, or the Garcia family is looking to hedge their bets. Right. And make sure that... Makes more sense.
If things go sideways... Put a factory in a couple of different countries just so you can still have cigars coming. Right. S.
market. Right. Do you think we'll see other companies doing the same thing? Well, didn't somebody...
No, they did it the other way, right? Arturo Fuente opened a factory in Nicaragua. They did. They went the other way.
Yeah, that just recently happened. Right. That took years to do, but that just recently happened. Well, we don't know how long they've been doing this because nobody seems to know anything, including the VP that's in charge of the Honduran operations.
And they're not saying anything either. Right, we're not saying, no, no, shh. Because, I mean, if you look at the data that we've shown before, the Honduran cigars don't track as well as Nicaragua. No, nope.
So why encourage the fact that these are Honduran, unless there's no other option? Right. Then you can say, hey. Hey, by the way, we have a Honduran cigar.
Right. Maybe, yeah, maybe he's just trying to grow his market. Could be a market to where? Well, people that like Honduran cigars.
Could that be why Skip went to the Dominican Republic to make that last cigar? No. Maybe he's a very smart man. I don't think so.
Well, if something happens, he's going to say that's why he did it. I think he wanted to work with Ernie. That's why he did it. Could be.
Okay. Where's Roe making his 50-year cigar at? I don't know. Did he turn 50?
He did. He just turned 50. Yeah, he just turned 50. I have no idea.
I haven't heard anything about that. I haven't either. He probably hasn't worked on it at all. But we'll see it in two years, right?
Yeah, when he's 52 or something, that's how it works. All right, you got a Shop of the Week? No, you do. Oh, I don't have a Shop of the Week.
Bow Weevil Cigars! Shop of the Week Bow Weevil Cigars, who was the first one to make an appointment, supposedly, because we're not ready yet. Because we're not ready yet. But I do guarantee, Jason, you get that time.
All right, and what about listener? Jason Richter from Bow Weevil Cigars. Okay. Okay.
Anything else to add? Nope. That's it. You got anything to add?
Oh, yeah, we're going to have a special episode this week. We will. Alex. Alex.
Gonzalez. Gonzalez. Besa. The Armenian Cigar Besa.
The Armenian Cigar Besa. He's in Puerto Rico. We're going to find out all about that. He's in the building.
All right. Episode 378. Thanks, guys. All right.
Bye. Bye. Make sure you edit this video. Yeah.
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Show Notes
Episode 378 of A Cigar Hustlers Podcast:
In this episode, the crew discusses the latest tech troubles as X (formerly Twitter) experiences a shutdown. They dive into the Diddy trial, where Odle Beckman has been named a defendant. Canada’s political landscape is changing with a new Prime Minister making bold moves. Boots shares 7 things you didn’t know about Chuck Norris as he celebrates his 85th birthday.
Cigar news is hot with Plasencia unveiling a new Drinking Buddy, Connor McGregor entering the cigar world, and STG reporting a dip in profits despite a $1.3 billion revenue. Sensi John Kreese launches a new cigar, and BCA adds a new member to its board. Plus, there's an exciting update as My Father cigars heads to Honduras.
Tune in for all this and more!