ACHP Episode 382: A Cigar Hustlers Podcast Did Blue Jays Make a Home Run with $500 Million, or is Bitcoin Dropping Like a Bad Cigar Draw?

Episode Summary

Recorded two days before leaving for the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show in New Orleans, episode 382 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a mix of last-minute trade show chaos, macro news, and a heavy dose of industry headlines. The hosts open by walking through their own pre-show scramble — shirts stuck in shipping, price sheets revised again because of tariffs, Powstanie appointments, rental cars and hotels — before detouring into National Beer Day and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 14-year, $500 million Blue Jays extension (with tangents on torpedo bats, Juan Soto's and Shohei Ohtani's contracts, and whether baseball needs more violence). They then cover global markets tanking on Trump's tariffs and Bitcoin falling below $80,000, with a pointed rant about cigar-industry "experts" on social media botching basic tariff math — walking through the actual dollar-cost-to-retail markup to show why a 10% tariff doesn't mean a 20% price hike for the consumer.

The cigar news block is the meat of the episode. The hosts read through the PCA pre-show schedule (registration, the Julio Eiroa hand-rolling demo sponsored by Aladino, the annual meeting sponsored by Foundation Cigar Company, the Dave Savona/Guy Fieri fireside chat, and the opening reception sponsored by Espinosa, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, Villiger and Buffalo Trace), the strict New Orleans convention center smoking policy and $500 fines, and — for the first time — PCA's new media code of conduct, which they dissect line by line. Personnel news follows: Black Star Line Cigars parting ways with VP of Sales Cliff Nelson, and Crown Heads co-founder Mike Conder retiring, with Tim Ozgener buying his share and becoming CEO, John Huber moving to president, Adam Shepard named COO and Miguel Schoedel promoted to VP of Sales.

The longest discussion centers on Luciano Cigars' new joint venture with Empresa Madeirense de Tabacos in the Azores, now operating as Constella Group, with Luciano Cigars' U.S. operation rebranding as Constella USA and Luciano's trademarks transferring to the new entity — a move the hosts openly question, theorizing about lawsuits and why any brand owner would surrender intellectual property. They're equally skeptical of Constella's first release, The Resilient, a $24 6x52 Toro co-developed with former MLB first baseman Adrián González, debating whether the 1,000-box run will actually sell given the athlete's limited name recognition in cigars.

Rounding out the news: Espinosa's 2025 Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special (a 6x55 box-pressed Toro with a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper), the new Knuckle Sandwich Puro Nicaragua in three sizes, and the 601 La Bamba Warhead Independence Day limited edition — plus a candid conversation about whether Guy Fieri gets the credit he deserves in the cigar world. RoMa Craft is adding 6x54 Toro Extra vitolas across the Intemperance lines (EC, Whiskey Rebellion, Volstead). The show closes with something nobody else is talking about: the roughly $712 million annual FDA tobacco user fee, and whether its potential elimination could offset the new tariffs. Listener of the Week is Julian Gordon; Shop of the Week is Briarpatch Tobacco in Wisconsin.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Pre-PCA Chaos and Tariff-Driven Price Sheets
   The hosts detail last-minute trade show prep — shirts, appointments, price lists revised again because of tariffs, and Powstanie shipments coming off the port.
2. 02
   National Beer Day and Baseball Money
   A lighter segment on National Beer Day, favorite beers, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 14-year $500 million Blue Jays extension compared to Juan Soto's and Shohei Ohtani's deals.
3. 03
   Global Markets, Tariffs and Bitcoin Below $80K
   Asian and European markets plunge on Trump's tariffs and Bitcoin drops under $80,000, sparking a rant about cigar-industry social media "experts" who can't do tariff math.
4. 04
   PCA 2025 Schedule, Smoking Policy and Media Code of Conduct
   A walkthrough of the New Orleans pre-show schedule, sponsored events, the strict designated-smoking rules with $500 fines, and PCA's first-ever media code of conduct.
5. 05
   Black Star Line Parts Ways with Cliff Nelson
   Black Star Line Cigars announces Cliff Nelson's departure and a new sales team, and the hosts speculate on what actually happened.
6. 06
   Crown Heads Leadership Shake-Up
   Co-founder Mike Conder retires after 45 years in tobacco, Tim Ozgener buys his share and becomes CEO, John Huber becomes president, plus COO and VP of Sales promotions.
7. 07
   Luciano Becomes Constella — and The Resilient
   Luciano Cigars' joint venture with a 142-year-old Azores tobacco company creates Constella Group, trademarks transfer, and a $24 Adrián González cigar debuts amid heavy skepticism.
8. 08
   Espinosa, Guy Fieri, RoMa Craft and the FDA User Fee
   New Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special and Puro Nicaragua, the Warhead Independence Day, RoMa Craft's new Intemperance Toros, and why nobody is talking about the $712M FDA tobacco user fee.

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

- What? - No, go ahead. - Welcome to episode 382 of the Cigar Hustler podcast. Go to Michael.

- Bing bong. - Hello. We are recording today. We are recording the podcast, officially.

We have no events coming up because this is the Monday before the Wednesday leave for the PCA, so there's no events going on. Yes, and the chaos is abundant at this current moment. Yes, as usual, we are waiting to the last minute to do everything. Wait a second, how are we waiting to the last minute?

What are we waiting to the last minute for? Why are we waiting to the last minute? What do you think we're waiting for the last minute? I want to know, what do you think we're waiting for the last minute?

There's not anything specific we're waiting to do at the last minute, there's just a lot to do and it is the last minute. Okay, so like there are things that you can't avoid that you have to build like at that moment, right? Well, I guess. So what is it, what's, what's, uh, I'm curious to know what it is that, that isn't, that we haven't prepared for 'cause we've been doing a lot of things to prepare.

I think Palmer was probably looking for the word of finishing touches. Yeah, maybe the finishing touches. Oh, you were looking for the finishing touches. Do we have, do we have our shirts ready?

The shirts will be arriving today. Okay. Yeah. So.

Shipping issues. Well, we ordered them last week. They came from California. Oh, tariff issues.

Yeah. I'd update the price list again yesterday. Okay, now, why did you have that? That's not our fault, I understand, but it is part of the Poshik family's fault.

Well, yeah, I mean, unfortunately... Things happen, I understand, things get ready. I don't think things happen, I think that, you know, I'm trying to not say you know, because I just did that podcast with Stogie... Yeah, I watched part of it yesterday.

With boss and Jimmy. And I said, you know, a bajillion times. You know, he asked really good questions. He did.

It was a very, it was a very good podcast. Yeah. What I can say, though, is it's like adult daycare when it comes to these other brands that we handle. Sure.

You know, they're like, oh, new cigar. Right. Okay. Oh, surprise.

Okay. Well, we couldn't. Skip had one last week before we did. Hey, look at that.

And look, I, you know, I love these guys. It's no big deal. Oh, certainly. Yeah, yeah.

No, no. We should almost do like a meeting at PCA with them and say, okay, listen, this is how you can make my life a little bit easier to help make you more money, right? You know, Greg is right now on his way to go pick up Phosphor from the port. Those are coming in.

Yeah, like right now, that's happening. So, but I think I've done everything I possibly can to try and avoid some pitfalls. I made sure that we got the car rental a few days in advance. I mean, it's not like we don't have a hotel stay, we have all these things covered, you know?

Well, up till the end of last week, all we had was the hotel. And that's good. I don't know how this normally sets up, so maybe that's ahead of schedule for our operation. Here's what's more important, the appointments.

Right. How long have you been working on the appointments? Oh, forever. It seems like forever.

It's been a while, right? Yeah. So, that's really, I mean, being able to navigate your time while you're there is really the significant portion of things, right? Right.

Having the price sheets, right? Okay, but I knew that there were going to be wrenches thrown into that, not by us, but by... Right, yeah, things have to be added and deleted, and Paul says there might be a typo, but he got one three versions ago, so I might have already fixed that, but now I'm panicking and I have to go look for typos. You know, but at the end of the day, is a typo going to break you?

Somebody will keep pointing it out. I'm not saying you... It's just Coop, you know. If Coop wants to point it out, let him...

" San Andreas is wrong. San Andreas is wrong. San Andreas is wrong. San Andreas is wrong.

Coop, it's not my fault. You know, Coop wouldn't even notice that the San Andreas was spelled wrong if we didn't instantly send an email out afterwards. Well, he said his wife caught. Oh, and his wife caught his.

He misspelled it, too. That's what it was. And he's worried about us owning it or something. Right.

I'm not going to own it just because I know that it aggravates you. Maybe we have a young lady named Andrea, and it's saying Andrea, it's hers, and we're named after her, but you know, she died, but now we can't, because Coop blew it up. Yeah, she was the original rebellious warrior in Poland, the first person who died in Poland, yeah. Right, right, right, Andrea Shinopoulitsz, that was her.

Ski, you gotta have the ski at the end. Oh, I thought there was an it's on the end, it was okay. Nah, I guess it's old. Stepankevich, Shinopoulitsz.

That's fair. So yeah, I mean, you know, chaos. But anyways, continue, please. Alright, today on the Patreon, we are doing the Knuckle Sandwich 57, I'm not doing the hand thing, Knuckle Sandwich 57 today.

Well, we turned off the autofocus, so I don't recommend doing it. Oh, so it wasn't working anyway. Mmm, delicious. It's weird, because I'm not really looking at a camera, I'm looking at the teleprompter.

8 grams. 8 grams. Yeah, but we're not going to have this size. They got a lot of things coming out.

They do, there's three cigars in today's news. The Independence Day Warhead thing. Oh, that one's not in me, because that came out a couple of days in the news. Yeah, that one looks kind of cool.

Independence Day. And they hinted that they're coming out with another La Bamba this year. Another La Bamba. You know, the American one's going to be, Booth's going to buy that one by the case.

Yes. Murca. It doesn't matter what it costs. He likes to up the price.

So if you guys want to up the price. No, no. Don't up the price. Don't up the price.

Yeah. He's all for higher pricing. Higher pricing. All right.

Trending stories this week. It's National Beer Day. We should be drinking a beer on the show. I don't really drink beer.

Yeah. Mike Szczecmen for $5 million. Interesting. Okay.

Five million. That doesn't sound like a lot for baseball. 500 million. 500 million.

Sorry. 500 million. Yes. That's a lot for baseball, right?

Is that a lot? In today's, yeah. I mean, that's what everybody's getting. I mean, it's 15 years.

We'll get into the story when we get it. We'll get into that, but half a billy sounds like a lot. You would think. Yeah.

To play ball. God bless America. All right. From Hong Kong, where, you know, Jonathan Drew was two weeks ago.

Global market plunges Trump's tariffs into Asia stocks into a tailspin. Okay. Bitcoin drops below $80,000. Yes.

And then in cigars, we have the PCA update and day one schedule. Black Star Line parts ways with Cliff Nelson. Now, who's going to call us David Banner and the Hulk? Nobody.

Nobody. Do you want to see if he's available and try and get him in? Try and have him cover Powstanie? Just let him terrorize PCA?

Oh, just let him run around? We have the next person to be taken by a flashy smile. Luciano Cigars has a new partner. Interesting.

What happened to his old partner? He was making cigars with Plasencia or something. Well, he did, that was supposedly happening. Then you just don't hear anything, nothing happened.

I think you gotta pay. Oh, oh, we need the money. I think that's what that boils down to. When it comes time for the invoice, it's over.

Maybe they're smart, we need it in advance. A lot of Espinosa cigar news, there's some Roma Craft news, and then we have Listener Week in the Shop of the Week. Excellent. Nice.

All right, well, let's get right into it, man. All right, National Beer Day. National Beer Day is an unofficial holiday every April 7th that commemorates the day in 1933 when the Cullen Harris Act, Harrison, sorry, there's a glare on my screen. Palmer can't, he can't.

No, there's a glare on half the screen. I can only read half of it. It's that window back there. You figured you would have worked that out.

Well, we did. We had an old T-shirt, but we didn't bring the old T-shirt back in today. Let's see if you can find something to kind of cover that. Signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt went into effect.

The act marked a significant step towards ending prohibition by legalizing the sale of beer. There he found the shirt. 05 by volume. Oh, and look, I have all the words now.

5 million barrels of beer. Aha! So, yes, beer. National Beer Day.

How do you feel about beer? I enjoy nice beer every once in a while. Do you like beer? What's your favorite beer?

I don't have a favorite now. Are you like an IPA guy? No, I don't like IPAs. They're too bitter.

They were so popular. Well, they're still popular. I just don't like them. You think so?

I drink the heavy stouts there for a while, but then they're just too heavy, I just like a nice ale. It's like drinking a loaf of bread. I like cider now. You're a cider guy?

Yeah, I like this. Oh, ciders are good? Yeah, ciders are good. Interesting.

It's like drinking apple juice. I like water. Well, I drink a lot of water and crystal light at home. There's water in the apple cider.

Yes, there's water in the cider. There's water in the cider. And the vitamins and the minerals. Yep.

Get a lot of iron. Got a lot of iron. Got a lot of iron in that stuff. The holly is closely tied to American history and culture, as it seems, as symbolizing the resilience of brewers and the revival of beer as a staple beverage.

National Beer Day also highlights the craft beer industry's growth, offering enthusiasts a chance to explore diverse beer styles such as lagers, ales, stouts, and IPAs. Excellent stuff. How much beer do you think you drink a week? Oh, some weeks have none.

You have none? So what do you think the average is, like two beers? For me? Yeah.

Maybe. What do you tell your doctor? I don't go to the doctor. Oh.

Yeah. I tell the doctors. He's too old now for that. Too old now.

Yeah. They tell you, you should have had the check sooner. What about you, Boots? How many beers do you drink a week?

I don't really drink beer, but if I would have to say my beer consumption per year, maybe a quarter of a beer per week. So one a month. A quarter of a beer per week? So what, do you open it, you take a couple sips and you throw it away?

Can you throw it away? No, no, I'm just saying on average. On an average. That's what I...

Like one week you might have two, then it might be three weeks where he has another one. All right, so this holiday doesn't really mean anything to anybody in this room? Nah. Other than it's National Beer Day, but nobody really cares.

Well, the Whiskey Rebellion, I thought, sort of tied in because that's, you know, part of Prohibition. Ah. Okay. So it was cigar adjacent.

Got it. So... I mean, if it was like National Flor de Cana or National Crown Royal Day... I don't think there is a National Flor de Cana.

I don't think there is either. We should make one. So what's your favorite beer? Miller Lite.

Was it originally Bud Light? No. And you shifted? No.

I've always been a Miller Lite guy. We usually have Ultra at the house because that's when my wife... That's not even drinking. Just watch Landman.

Yeah, I know. It's not even really beer. Little to no alcohol. When I was really young, I won't say the age, but when I was really young, I got really sick off of Miller Lite.

Yeah? Oh. And... So now you can't drink it ever?

I mean, I could, but it just takes me back to that nasty day. There's two beers. Do you have a beer that got you really messed up that you'll never drink again? No, it's just beer.

It doesn't matter what it is? Yes, Budweiser. When you were young, did you ever get really, really jacked up on something? Sure.

And you vomited everywhere? Oh, no. And it didn't stick into your brain permanently? No, I'm not a vomiter.

Yes, Budweiser. It was Budweiser for you? Yeah. I get drunk.

I mean, I have been really, really drunk, but I don't normally throw up. I don't normally throw up. Gotcha. There were two for me.

I had two horror stories. Yes. Miller Lite was definitely one of them. And I could just, I can picture the day.

I mean, it's crazy. It must have been traumatic. Yeah. It was pretty bad.

And the other one? Mickey's Ice. Oh. Ooh.

Those are terrible to start with. Let alone just getting sick on them. Stellar. The little bumblebee.

Yeah, yeah. The little can thing. Golly, man. When you're young, though, you drink whatever.

That's what I didn't get your hands on. Yeah. The six pack was $3. Yeah.

Right. If we go out, I usually get a Land Shark. Yeah. I just like it with a lime in it.

It's nice and crisp. With an umbrella? No, no umbrella. It's a beer.

Don't put an umbrella in a beer. That's just silly. That's just silly. Okay.

Just a lime. Floating lime. All right. Well, happy beer day.

Happy beer day, everyone. Guerrero Jr. Blue Jays agree on a $500 million deal. First baseman, Vladimir, and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a 14-year, $500 million contract Pending a physical, sources said Sunday night, the no deferral deal keeps the homegrown star in the Toronto for the rest of his career and comes at a 5-5 Blue Jays as the 5-5 Blue Jays are in the midst of a road trip that takes them to Fenway Park to meet the Boston Red Sox on Monday.

What's your excuse now? There's no light blocking. I just read everything correctly. I just didn't understand the vernacular they put up because I'm not a sports guy.

It said 5-5, they were talking about money. 5-5? Yeah. That's what it said on the thing.

The Vizzo Horny, 5-5-5? Right, yeah, they're talking about the new Vizzo Horny, 5-5-5. Half a billion dollars. Half a billion dollars, 15 years, so I mean, okay.

Has he only ever played there? Yes. He's only played in Toronto? Yes.

They said he finished out his career there, which makes sense, but I didn't know if he'd ever played anywhere else. Yeah, he's like a staple for those guys, man. When you think about the Blue Jays, that's Vladimir Guerrero, this little guy. He's the guy.

He's like top of the heap. Yep. I think it's a good contract for him. For him or how about for them?

For both. For both parties. So what's that breakdown to per year? Is it guaranteed?

Probably somewhere around 40-something million a year. Is it guaranteed money or what? I think there's a portion that's guaranteed. Probably, I'd probably say like somewhere around 100.

So it's about like 33, 34 million a year. Yeah. Nice chunk of change. Did he get a signing contract?

Is it an extension? Well, yeah, it's an extension, so he doesn't get a signing, but he gets a guaranteed amount, so... Like a lump sum payment? Yeah, so like his guaranteed amount would be, it's probably somewhere around 100.

That's amazing. No kidding, to play ball. You know, out of all the sports, baseball, they play the most games, right? Yeah.

So, I mean... There's a lot of standing, though. Yeah, I'm not gonna say there's a lot of wear and tear, but remember, it's not just the game, right? It's the game, right?

It's the practicing, the training, you know, all that stuff, the traveling, all that goes into effect. Well, they got these new bats, too. You see that? Yeah, this is a thing.

Yeah, the torpedo bats. Torpedo bats? You got a problem with the torpedo bats? Oh, you may not talk?

I mean, yeah, I got a problem with them. You know why? Because they don't let these guys juice. So you're gonna allow a different variable, but you can't allow them to juice anymore?

Yeah, okay, but so what? At least... Everybody can have the bat, though. We're getting more home runs now.

Everybody can take a needle. Yeah, but it's different. This doesn't really do anything other than everybody's bat gets different and they have a sweet spot where you hit the ball normally. I'm not against his statement.

I think that he's, you know, like whatever. As far as I'm concerned, as far as sports go. No, you want fighting and basketball. Fighting and basketball.

Juicing and baseball. I want juicing across the board. Right. Can they hit each other with the bats?

Is there fighting in baseball now too? They do fight, yes. I'd be okay with that. Fighting is perfect.

I'd be okay with that. Ultra-violent over there. Yeah. Why don't we just go back to Gladiators, just call it a day, and just let them go.

I don't know why they don't have that anymore. Juice up the Gladiators, let them go at it. Like Coliseum? Oh, yeah.

Lions and tigers. Oh, yeah, lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Just like when Boone said there were real sharks in Gladiators. Right, yeah.

Yeah, sharks too. It's a real movie, it's a real movie, it's based on a real movie. Yeah, I mean, I'd be okay with Coliseum fighting. You okay with that, fight to the death?

Yeah! Some guys are with the thumb up or thumb down, and they just... I probably have to change the channel when he dies... We could throw some prisoners in there, whatever, you know what I mean?

Oh, win your freedom. I think it'd be a great way of... Well, that's that Schwarzenegger movie. What was that?

The Running Man? Yeah, The Running Man. Where you had to run? Well, you had to run from A to B, but you fought and killed other people during the thing.

It's like gladiators over a larger scale. It wasn't really... I think that Running Man, the concept wasn't... You weren't really killing the people that were trying to fight you, you just successfully ran away, or if they caught you, you were dead?

Right, they put gladiator-ish people in the thing that stopped you. And then Schwarzenegger started killing them, yeah. Well, that would be the idea. Is that like Maze Runner?

No, that was children that ran through a maze at night, the lockdown or something, and little monsters came out. Running Man was way better. What was the electric guy's name? The really fat electric guy?

Oh, I don't know. I know you're talking about, you know, the guy who sang the opera. Yeah. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

Yeah, right. Yeah, I got very excited when he came on. Did you like Tim, huh? Yeah.

Good. It's like Mr. Freeze, but with electricity. Yeah.

Right. Oh, that was a great character, Mr. Freeze. I don't know how he got on to Running Man, but.

Because you went gladiator style sports now. Yeah, yeah. I think the torpedo bats are fine, Merrill. There's no issue.

I have no issue. Because if they're fighting, they can stab each other with them. The reality is that baseball's become kind of boring, you know? If there's a game where you're only, there's two or three runs in a game, that's not a lot.

Oh, so the more home runs, the more exciting. Yeah, exactly. That's what people are going for. NASCAR could just be crashes now.

Yeah, wait a second. Okay, so you're going to tell, you think that you don't go watch NASCAR because... Okay, first I don't watch NASCAR. Okay, you think that people watch NASCAR not hoping that there's some type of crash?

No, they do, that's why they watch. Right. I have been to NASCAR events, that's why you... Okay, so we're on the same...

But they don't purposely... I'm sorry, and the new Stefan Kiewicz sports manual, you just, it's more like a demolition derby NASCAR combo. Oh, those are great demolition derbies. I just think that I'm willing to say what everybody else isn't willing to say.

Whoa, that's not okay. That's not okay. You can't hit him with the bat, hit him with the bat. You know, if he charges you, and I mean, maybe he pays like an extra fine or something.

Yes. You know? Or the pitcher has a bat on standby, right? That if you charge at him, he can pick his up.

Or not just a baton. Or a knife. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Not a knife. That's ridiculous. Don't be silly. Yeah.

I'm not saying they can acquire different weapons. Just gun. Just give them a gun. So it's kind of like a sub-GTA type of baseball.

Right. Grand Theft Auto baseball slash running man slash gladiator. Somebody on TikTok was telling me that there are basketball players already in the league that are like enforcers. That they're specifically there.

Pistons used to have two. Yeah. Draymond Green. Back in the day.

It was a white guy and a black guy. Yeah. Draymond Green. I can't think of their names.

Is he really an enforcer? Yeah, he's like a Dennis Rodman. He's more like a crybaby. Yeah, Dennis Rodman, when he was on the Pistons, and then there was a really tall white guy.

John Sally. Wait a second. No, John Sally was black. Hold on.

Dennis Rodman was one of the greatest defensive players in the game. Right. But he was also an enforcer. He was also an enforcer.

Okay. All right. And a rebounder. He was a hell of a rebounder.

Right. All right. Moving on to the next story. Oh, we're just barely touched this one.

Oh, okay. Well, you got half a billion dollars. Federal Reserve. He negotiated during the season after the sides failed to come to an agreement before he reported to spring training, but the sides continued talking and sealed the deal that is the third largest in Major League Baseball history.

What are the, oh, I heard it right here. Juan Soto, 15 years, a $765 million contract with the New York Mets. And Shoei. Shoei.

Otani. Thank you. 10 years for $700 million. You couldn't just let him try?

Packed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 10 years for 70. So he's got the best deal. 10 years for 700?

$700 million over 10 years. The other guys are both 15 years. Yeah. Yeah, but Shoei is a pitcher.

Oh. And he can hit. So he's worth it. He received a long-term commitment from the best homegrown talent since Hall of Famer, Roy Halladay.

They had tried to sign Guerrero to a long-term deal for years, but no avail. Toronto got a glimpse of Guerrero's talent when he debuted shortly after the 20th birthday in 2019. Homestead 15 times is a rookie, homered, sorry, 15 times. Talk so we can scroll through this, isn't getting ready.

Okay, so baseball, yay, yay, yay, yay. Yay, yay, yay, yay. Torpedo bat's good, steroids good, death in the middle of the field's okay. We're okay with all of these things.

Yes. Whatever. Fantastic. Still not there?

Almost less stats running through here. Perfect. Bayroll expect to exceed the luxury tax threshold of $241 million. The Blue Jays ended the season's first week atop the American League East Standings.

Toronto dropped to a 5-3 on Friday after a loss to the Mets in which Guerrero collected a pair of singles. Does it tell you the tax amount in Toronto that he's going to get taxed? No. No, it just said they have breached the threshold, so $241 must have been the original.

You have breached the threshold of success, and now we are taking your money. Yeah. So he has to give them $241 million, or he gets to keep the first $241 million? I don't know.

I don't know how Canada works. Nobody knows how Canada works. No one understands that. I'm sure that the threshold, though, the percentage that they take, once you hit that, It's gotta be huge.

And is that 500 million Canadian? No. Because that's a lot lower. No, it's American.

He gets paid American dollars? Yeah. He probably lives in Florida or something. He plays in Toronto, was he?

500 million, I guess you could have a jet. He's making all the right moves as far as taxes. Yeah, hey, you need to put it on my trust fund down in Florida. When do you think we'll be friends with Canada?

Because, you know, they still... Are we still fighting? I think they're still angry with us. Everybody's angry with us now.

Everybody? The entire world is now. That's where our world is now. You think the whole world?

Here California wants to secede from the union and have their own tariff schedule. We've always talked about it. It's just another reason. We're not going to participate in the Trump tariffs.

We're going to have our own. That's fine. Pack your shit. Well, they can't leave.

Why not? They're kind of connected. Let them do it. Listen, we can make them not connected.

Well, we just need one big earthquake and they will be anymore. I just think, look, I think that if a state wants to secede or whatever you call it. Secede. That's what I said.

You said or whatever you call it. I'm just saying you said it right. Oh, okay. Why not?

I don't care. Either way, either side. It doesn't matter to me. If you want to go extremely liberal or extremely conservative and you want to break off, do it.

Let me see how that works. You know, you're talking about all federal funding going away? That's a bad look. How's Maine doing without the federal funding?

Didn't Trump stop theirs because they're letting boys play girls sports? He said something about stopping school funding or something like that, but a lot of that money, federal funding, a lot of that money is going to colleges and stuff or whatever. It doesn't help your public schools anyways. All right.

Global markets plunge amid Trump's tariff turmoil, sends European and Asian stocks into a tailspin. Yes. Hong Kong, CNN News. S.

President Donald Trump's trade war and China's forceful response It was a response to unexpected high tariffs. Germany's DAX opened down 9% while London's FTSE was about 5% lower. European markets were on the whole faring better than Asian markets in early trade. 7%.

Tech giant Sony plummeted more than 10% in Hong Kong where financial markets reopened after a public holiday. They have a lot of holidays in Hong Kong. They took the day off? There's a lot of holidays.

They opened up in the tank. The benchmark Hang Seng index closed more than 13% lower in the worst single day of trading since 1997. 3% lower. Yeah.

The blue chip CSI 300 index also lost about 7%. Okay. Washington's shock decision to impose a 34% tariff on Chinese goods dealt a direct blow to core export sectors like semiconductors and electrical vehicles, triggering a sharp and broad-based repricing across the Asian market. " A lot of this news is very dull, with all these stats and numbers and things.

It's, look, it's the times that we're kind of living in, right? You're overdue for a recession, or at least a stock market correction, whatever you want to call it, okay? Is that what you're saying now? Stock market correction?

I don't care. I don't care what anybody calls it. You want to know what I really don't care about? Is the advice that I see from people in the cigar industry, as far as what they know, allegedly, and when it comes to tariffs and all this other information.

It's so obnoxious. If you cannot understand elementary math, you probably shouldn't be giving advice on social media. I'm going to tell you that right now. I saw a guy go on a tangent, this five-paragraph summary, and one of the paragraphs states, if it's a 10% increase on a tariff, the consumer is going to pay 20% more for their cigar.

They legitimately wrote that, so let me break this stupid math down for you. If it costs me a dollar, and I sell it to a retailer for $2, and the retailer sells it for $4, you have a baseline. 10 into it. 40.

40 increase on $4 is 20%. Well, you got to carry the one. You got to carry it, but this is what we're seeing across social media from cigar people. It's insane.

You guys don't even think you just write stuff because you think that you're going to sound smart. What you're really doing is making yourself look really, really dumb. I don't understand it. It makes no sense.

I'm sure in his head it makes sense somehow, but I don't see where. They should have proofread it. I just, no, that's, it's not a proofread. He probably did proofread it and figured that that looked good.

He just figured that was the math. Yeah. Oh, this makes sense. We have calculators on our iPhones, don't we?

What the hell are we talking? Yes. Is it 20% from the original dollar, if you figure it out that way? I mean, I'm trying to figure out where he got the 20%.

No! He got it from Stupidville. Dude, but it's abundant in the cigar industry. These guys, they all write this stuff, I just, like, bro, calm down.

Stop. Just please. If I wanted your, you know, like, I don't know, I guess I shouldn't look, but I'm entertained at your stupidity. Just don't read them.

He's probably not mad about the McDonald's prices. I mean, they've been raising for years. Yeah, 85 cent hamburger, now $4. And now I'm getting emails from brands and manufacturers, you know, avoid the tariff price hike, buy now.

What? That's just a marketing point. That's just a marketing thing to get you to buy now. That's so stupid.

And then I hear, oh, well, you know, um, well. We're not saying that at the PC. And then I hear, well, we're lowering our prices. We're lowering our prices.

Oh, United is. I saw that. Okay, I was trying not to mention name brands, but okay. I don't care who they are, if you're lowering prices and your prices are going up, that probably means you were overpriced to begin with.

Yeah, if they've got margin that they can lose. You know what I'm saying? We're going to reduce our prices. Right.

You are? We're all in this together. So it costs you more and you're doing a good deed? I don't think you're doing a good deed.

I don't believe that for a second. Oh, you know who's still a Patreon, speaking of doing good deeds? Who? Mickey Pegg.

Oh, he's back. He never left, apparently. I love Mickey Peck, such a great guy. He's not showing at the PCA.

I will miss you, Mickey, if you still listen to the regular show. What's up, Huge? Huge. Well, what would he be showing?

All Saints. I haven't heard anything. Maybe he's setting up the chairs for McAuliffe? I don't know.

I've seen a little travel from him. They don't need many chairs. He's not with McAuliffe anymore. No.

But, you know, sometimes you do what you have to do. He's excited about McAuliffe Purple. Sometimes you do what you gotta do. Oh my God.

Wow. Bitcoin dropped 77,000, below 77,000, as cryptocurrencies joined global market rout. Bitcoin fell below the $80,000 level as investors brace for more financial markets. S.

executes suffered, E-Q-U-I-T-E-S, what was that, exquite? S-Q, exquisite? I thought it was exquisite, but I can't, it doesn't fit. Anyway, they've suffered their worst decline since 2020 in the rollout of President Donald Trump's restrictive global tariffs.

How do the tariffs affect the Bitcoins? It's just a global economy. It's not really a thing. None of it's really a thing.

S. isn't backed by anything, right? No, no, I thought they went. We still have the gold.

No, it's backed by the labor of the American people. That's what it's backed by. The gold at Fort Knox. No, we went off the gold standard 100 years ago.

But the gold's still there, right? 'Cause Trump and Elon went to go look. He didn't go yet. Oh, I thought they went.

No, that's all theatrics, bro. Come on, man. You know that that's all showmanship. I would like to go.

I want to go see it. Maybe we could get a ticket to go and check it out. Go pick it up? Go check it out.

Do you think we can go in and ski masks? We're here. It's very cold outside. We're here.

I have a face. I don't think that's a good idea. I have a rash. I have to wear this.

This is important. He's wearing a pantyhose because he needs to keep it compressed. 71 according to CoinMetrics. What is CoinMetrics?

I don't know. Apparently, they keep track of Bitcoin prices. Apparently, that's where Boots uploaded his wallet info from last week. They are the metrics of the coin.

And it got sucked out. All right, like 15%, 13% where the laws respectively rattled investors began dumping their crypto holdings over the weekend as they brace for further carnage. Now's the time to buy. After Trump's regulatory tariffs, retaliatory tariffs raised global recession fears and caused investors to sell at all risk.

Sell, sell. Yeah. The Dow moved lower as it triggered a wave of long liquidations as traders betting on an increase in Bitcoin's price. We're forced to sell their assets to cover their losses.

In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin's selling more than $412 million in long liquidations according to... I don't understand Bitcoin stuff at all. Okay, so everything's for sale. The market looks like it's sustaining, but you know, hey...

Isn't everything always for sale? It's Monday right now, it's about 2 o'clock, so you know, the day is still young. We could still see it sell off more, who knows? We could still crash later?

But look, at the end of the day, here's what I've learned over years. The years of even the little investments that I've made, control your emotions, don't panic. Right. Isn't that that speech from the movie?

Are you about to say greed is good? No. Sounds like where it was going. Greed is good?

No, I'm just saying control your emotions, don't panic, because what happens is if the market's tanked and you're stuck in it, you better ride it out. I mean, I'm not a financial advisor, so that's my disclaimer. You know, it would suck to have, even if you had $200,000 saved, and you got a 20% haircut, and you're at $160,000, you sold it, and then it went back up, a few months later, you just lost $40,000, you know? Right.

When you didn't need the money, just leave it. Relax. Relax, bro. Just chill out.

That word we could verify for is equities. Equities, oh. I saw it again. I couldn't hear you.

Oh. I heard EQ something. Yeah, equities is global recession fears overshadow any regulatory trailwinds. Crypto was expected to benefit from this year.

Some investors have been bracing for a Bitcoin correction since the beginning of the year. Around the time the cryptocurrency hit a record of $109,350. At the time, stocks were climbing to their own record peaks and potential for pullback was evident, according to Kruger. Clemente said it was fear.

Isn't Clemente a baseball player? Yes. Apparently, he's somebody with financial information. He's a big deal, yeah.

Over longer term, however, deglobalization and rising geopolitical tension should benefit a decentralized, open source, neutral, scarce reserve asset like Bitcoin. I'm going to need you to look something up soon here, Boots, just so you know when we get into some cigar stuff. Okay. What do you need to look up?

I don't want to tell them just yet. When we get into it? Yeah. Oh.

All right, PCA pre-show information. All right, let's go. Friday, April 11th, this is the schedule for retail attendees. Okay, that's it, that's the first day that you can get into the show.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is the pre. This is the pre-show. This is the comedy club thing? Uh, that isn't part of the PCA, uh, official.

It's not? I thought it was. It's, it's gonna be at the PCA, but I don't think it's a sponsored event. Oh, I thought that it was.

m. m. , the PCA Cafe, Open and Live Oak Front Port, Sponsored by Tatuaje, 1-5, there's some educational stuff, the Hand Roll by Julio Iroa, Sponsored by Aladino Cigars, you can go see that, because it's like a magic show, because it makes cigars with very little bit of tobacco, next generation of makers featuring Lisette Perez-Carilio, moderated by Klaus Kleiner, Raquel Quesada. You think you need a bodyguard for a PCA.

Me? You say that every year. 320, the annual meeting sponsored by Foundation Cigars. So maybe Nick will do another speech.

I feel like every year we get more and more brazen. Like, oh, they didn't, oh, we didn't piss anybody off enough? All right, well, hey. Just cranked us up a little bit then.

Apparently I could say what, you know, what's funny is my brother came over the house last night because it was, it's Jack's birthday this week. Yes. And we did a birthday party or like a little, just a dinner or whatever. And he's like, aren't you worried about anybody coming after you or whatever?

I'm like, no, I'm, what are we saying? We're saying everything that's true, it's not inaccurate, and we're not making up some fallacy or something, so. All right, at four o'clock, you can go to a fireside chat with Dave Savona of Cigar Aficionado and Guy Fieri. Ooh, will George be there?

No, Dave is going to be there. No, let's see, George doesn't like me. , the opening reception at Mississippi River Heritage Park, sponsored by Espinosa Premium Cigars, Dunbarton Tobacco, Go & Trust, Villiger Cigars, and Buffalo Trace Cigars. Is that the thing we're going to?

I have no idea. Oh. 8:00 to 2:00 AM, the PCA After Hours smoking lounges are open. 8:00 to 2:00, that's when I'm in bed.

You're right. You must present your badge for admittance. Yeah. You can go to Manny's Sports Bar, Manning's Sports Bar.

Okay. Sponsored by Smoker Friendly, Boveda & Rocky Patel, Cuban Creation Cigar Bar. Women of PCA Reception, all welcome sponsored by Quisada Cigars, Cigar Ambassador, Cigar TV, and PCA Executive Committee. Cigar TV, that's our guy, Sean?

Yes, yeah, they're sponsoring something. All right, now here's the smoking policy for the PCA. Ooh, this should be interesting. They've entered into a contract with the Ernest N.

Morrill Convention Center, New Orleans, and host hotels for the trade show. These contracts specify designated smoking areas and times to show management, exhibitors, attendees, and all other members of non-members The fund members associated with the show must adhere in order to be in compliance with these contracts. This is a serious issue that is important to be ordered to be able to host future trade shows, not only in New Orleans, but throughout the country. Okay.

Well, we've sort of walked that line a couple of times in Vegas, so... Okay. Thought this was important. Yeah.

Smoking at the PCA trade show is only allowed in the designated PCA convention and meeting area during trade show hours. Okay. After the show, no smoking. Shut it down.

Smoking is strictly prohibited in the following restricted areas, such as: Hallways, no hallways, foyers, no, meeting rooms, no, guest rooms, no, hotel lobbies, no, and any non-smoking areas that is invited by the host hotel and the city of New Orleans Convention Center. Just lob that up there. And any non-anything. Anything we seem, you should not be smoking.

Anything that they have a problem with, you cannot do, to be determined. And TBD. So you can only smoke inside the convention, during the hours, if you have a blue shirt, and one red shoe. Anything north of the Chiclets.

Right. Right. All right, this is the first year I've seen a media code of conduct. There's...

Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho. Which we skate by being exhibitors. Which we circumvent by paying. By paying to be a media...

Okay. Okay, the media code of conduct, this pertained to our partner... Okay. show.

by participating in the trade show you hereby agree to abide by the following during trade two hours i will respect the time of exilers i will not interrupt or disrupt any conversations and i understand this is an important time for them to conduct businesses that would be addressed to skip martin who likes to yell hello yeah you're gonna don't upset coop again i don't know i still think they're not friends probably not no number two i will not request solicit or otherwise ask Mike's Manufacturers or others for free goods, including but not limited to cigars, pipes, accessories, or other products unless this is part of the official media coverage. Okay. It's all official. It's all official media coverage.

I can't talk about your cigar unless I have one in my mouth. Yeah. And one in my pocket. And one in my pocket for later.

For later. Number three, I'm responsible for my own property and equipment. I will not hold PCA responsible for damage, theft, or other consequences to my equipment at the show. Somebody's lost a camera, apparently.

What happened? I mean, New Orleans. No, it was in Vegas. We lost the speaker.

Somebody came in. Oh, Jerry, somebody took their music. We used to come in with the entrance music. Yeah, gone.

I think PCA might take it because we came into entrance music. You think PCA took it? Well, we could no longer walk in playing whatever that music was you used to always play. What's the guy's name?

He used to be there, Scott. I think he's got it right now in his house. Oh, yeah, it probably does. He's got it down at the CAA.

At the CAA. He plays in his office. Check out this great speaker. Check out this great speaker.

I got it at one of the PCA conventions. I've had it for years. Oh man, until you see Luciano's got a new speaker at his. Luciano gets into speaker distribution.

I understand that no person under the age of 21 will be admitted to the show. So, no news. Has that been a problem? Apparently, enough where they have to make it a rule.

I don't understand, that sounds ridiculous. Has anybody ever brought their child? Wait a second, hold on. Okay, but if I'm a, if I own a family, if I'm a family business, and I own a farm, I'm a farm, and I'm a manufacturer, and I brought my kid with me.

This just pertains to media. Oh, okay. No media kids. Right, no media kids.

Got it. Coop can't bring any children. So there's no famous YouTube TikToker cigar-smoking kid under the age of 20? Apparently he's not allowed.

Yeah. Guess what, buddy? No unboxing your cigars today. This just in.

This just in. I will be respectful and courteous of other attendees, contractors, and PCA staff, He's in compliant with PCA trade show rules. Do they have rules? I don't, look.

Everybody's got rules. I don't get it. If a media person is too much in your face or they're too bothered, just shoo them away. I'm sorry, I don't have time for you right now.

You know, or whatever the case may be. You can be respectful. If they're not, energy can match energy. Is there security at PCA?

I've never ever seen security. I mean, there's usually the angry old lady at the door, but that's not really security. It's not really security. There's people not letting you in and stuff.

Right, but like if somebody's bothering, like if somebody comes up and they're hard-pressing, I want to do an interview right now, I'm media and I don't care, I didn't make an appointment, blah, blah, blah, blah, we don't have time. And they press, I mean, you're obviously large anyway, and Greg may or may not have something in his sock, but can you yell security and somebody comes running over in a red coat? I highly doubt that. I highly doubt that.

I think so either. I can't see, you know, I don't want to jinx it here. Yeah, don't do that. So this is the first time they've ever come out with this list.

I gotta be honest. I've never seen it before. I would stick Palmer on it. I'd put you on it.

" It'd be very convincing. You could, you could, maybe we make Paul do it. Oh, Paul. He came in today, he was upstairs.

I know. The PCA 25 trade show is a member-only event in that I am attending for the purpose of covering the show in the capacity of a media professional and member of the press. I will not give badges to anyone outside my company. I mean, Tony Gomez was a bouncer for Guy Fieri against us.

And now look what happened. Now he didn't have a job. Yeah, and now he's unemployed. That'll teach you, Tony.

I tagged him on a Bentley post the other day. They're hiring salespeople. Oh, yeah? In the description, we have a link that lists the closest places to smoke at the PCA.

Okay. So they can click the link and it'll give you a list of places that are available where you can smoke cigars. Yeah, like a cigar shop. I mean...

Well, there's other places besides cigar shops. Okay. They've arranged some other place that you could smoke. Okay.

Whatever. Is there rules in New Orleans where you can't smoke outside and stuff like that? I don't know. Probably.

Probably so. I don't know. You know, you can only get drunk and get naked out on the streets. Right.

You can flash your boobs for beads and you can get drunk and maybe pee in the street with no cigar. Cigar. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are we doing?

We have standards. Wait, wait. Can you smoke weed there? Yes.

Probably. There is a weed rule too, I didn't pull it, but there is a long list of things. No weed? Yeah, no weed, no cannabis, no CBD, no CBD lotions, no nothing.

No lotions? No lotions, no Delta 9s, I mean, they're quite explicit, but there's just none of that. I wonder if they fixed the posts to go up and block Bourbon Street. Is there a post?

Do you remember when the guy drove in and ran a bunch of people over? Oh, that's right. We should stay off the street at night. I mean, I'm going to be in the car, to the place, and then, you know, and then I'm going to hide.

How far away is the hotel? Do we walk or are we driving? I think it's really, first of all, we're driving. Oh, I didn't know if they crossed the street or something.

I have no idea. I don't care if it's across the street, I'm driving. Oh, you're still driving. Well, I'll go over and hold the door.

First of all, we're always going to need something. You know how this chaos works. You're always, there's always something going on. You always have to bring something to and from or whatever.

Right. And wherever I'm going, the car is going to be nearby. Well, I mean, if it's across the street, the car is nearby, it's across the street. I guess.

I feel like it's probably, if it's a half a mile away, that's enough for me to drive. Oh yeah, a half a mile long way. Yeah. Because carrying a box half a mile is...

You're very strong. I know. Thank you. Thank you for noticing.

That's why I got sucked into helping you move. Well, you volunteered was your problem. I did volunteer. It's not a problem.

I would always volunteer to help my friends. Yes, but I wasn't going to ask. I got like two friends, so. Me too.

Yeah. Probably not the same two. Probably not. No.

Totally different friends. All right, are we moving on? I guess, yeah. Blake.

No smoking. No smoking except where they say you can smoke. Except some smoking. Basically that's what it is.

You can smoke in some areas and the other areas are don't smoke. No bueno and there's a $500 fine. Yeah. So use common sense and...

Only smoke where somebody says you can smoke or other people are smoking. Right. Be a good person. Right.

Got it. Black Star Line Cigars parts ways with VP of Sales, Cliff Nelson. Uh-oh. Black Star Line Cigars has announced that it has parted ways with Cliff Nelson, its former VP of Sales.

Mr. Nelson no longer speaks for Black Star Line Cigars, said Eric Bay, owner of Black Star Line Cigars, an email sent on Sunday morning. Any retailer that has been in contact with him can reach out to us directly via email or by phone, according to Bay. Nelson has left the cigar industry completely.

Richard Bratton, the company's national sales manager, remains with the company, while TJ Jones, DJ Jackson, and Mimi Palmer have been hired as sales representatives and Sarah Burkhart as the brand ambassador. The company is also retaining its four brokers. So you think it's bad? Yes.

You think it's bad? It sounds bad. He's left the industry completely. I think something happened.

Maybe he has a health issue. I don't think it's bad. You don't think so? No.

I just took it, it sounds bad. No, it sounds, I think that maybe he got an opportunity somewhere else or something. I think the problem was he has too many letters in his name. You think that's what it was?

Too many letters? Well, they still have Cliff, DJ, Mimi. They've let go of Cliff. Right.

One too many letters. One too, ah, got it. Well, Brat, Brat is B-R-A-T. Richard.

Right, well, Rich, R-I-C-H. Oh, that's Cliff. Oh, it's C-L-I-F. So he had to be four or below is what you're saying.

Right, I think so. These four individuals were handpicked by me because of their professionalism, sales experience, and business acumen, Bay said. They also bring positivity to the team that was sorely needed, adding that he is confident that the new team members will be a part of the Black Star Line's presence at the upcoming PCA convention and trade show, which happens on April 12th to the 14th in New Orleans. I'll get the deets.

So what, but what do you think happened? Oh, I have no, I don't know. There was that problem last year with a death in his family. Yeah.

Somebody killed somebody or something. So, I mean, I, who knows? I don't know. But I'll find out.

Cousin Mimi works for them. I'll find out. What do you think happened, Boots? Um, maybe, I mean, he is older, right?

So maybe a health issue. You think that would have been stated in the press? Right. You think that would have been?

Unless it's something bad that he doesn't want to release. I don't think that there's any issue. I mean, I could be way off. I could be way off, but...

I will actually ask right after the show. She'll tell me. I mean, I'll call Eric. I'll call Cliff.

I wouldn't call Cliff. Why not? Maybe he's disgruntled. Go right to the source.

Tell you what, you call Cliff, I'll ask somebody in the organization, and that way we can compare notes. Oh, we'll compare notes. All right, perfect. And he might, you know, go, well, you know, they...

Why don't we just call them all on the Patreon? I'm gonna, yeah, well, no, when we get done with the show, I'm gonna call them afterwards, and I'll have the info, if he answers, for the Patreon. Perfect. Oh, and I'll text Mimi and my cousin.

Okay, perfect. My other cousin. Mike Condor, is that how you say the gentleman's name? C-O-N-D-E-R, Condor?

Crown Heads co-founder retires. Uh-oh. Mike Condor, the co-founder of Crown Heads, has announced that he has retired from working full-time in the cigar industry and the, oh, and at the company. Okay.

I didn't even know that he was part of it. Me either. I've never heard of him before. He's co-founder.

Yeah. He will remain as a consultant to the company in 2011. Condor and John Huber, both former CAO employees, launched Crown Hits. He was a silent partner?

I guess. Silent co-founder? I've never heard of this guy. Maybe he's just back-end logistics.

And if he's retired, how is he still a consultant that's not retired? Maybe he was forced out. Now he's friends with Cliff. Maybe Cliff and Mike are in cahoots and they're building something.

Well, they said Cliff left the industry all together. Oh yeah, that's true. Maybe that's just part of it. You'll never expect it if I say I left the industry completely.

Right, I'm done. And then boom, he comes back. He comes back. Prior to that, Conner spent decades at General Cigar Company where he once served as VP of Sales.

Oh, he once, just for the one day. Okay. Okay. In total, he spent 45 years in the cigar business.

I've had the honor to work with many wonderful people. How old is this guy? Well, he's older than 45 apparently. He looks older in the picture.

Yeah. He looks like he's in his 50s. Yeah. So he started when he was 5.

Well, that would be 50. He started when he was 10. Maybe. Rolling cigars.

He was that kid on YouTube doing the cigar boxing. He was a TikToker? Yes. They made the rules just for this guy.

He's not allowed. The opportunity to build Crown Heads alongside this team has certainly been the most rewarding chapter, said Condor, in a press release. Happily, I will have the chance to remain involved as a consultancy role while I devote time to lowering my golf handicap and chasing grandkids. Oh yeah, that really says that?

Yes. Ah, so he's just done. But he's still consulting, so he's still consulting means he's still getting paid. So he can check in, yeah.

I get it. Semi-retired. Yeah, he's had it. He lasted a long time, man.

45 years in the industry. That's impressive. How long has Crown Heads been around? I guess 45 years.

No, no. He worked for General Ed's. I think Crown Heads has probably been around 20 years, maybe slightly less than that. So the start of the boutique.

How old is John Huber? I don't want to misquote here, misspeak, but I would say he's probably in his mid-50s, assumably. Tim Ossinger has purchased Condor's share in Crown Heads, and will replace him as CEO. Ossinger was an early investor in Crown Heads, and his Oz Family Cigars is issued by Crown Heads.

Condor, Huber, and Ossinger all worked as CAO, which was owned by the Ossinger's family until 2007. I've always been impressed with what Mike and John have created with Crown Heads. Ossinger's pretty cool. Tim's a pretty good guy.

Has he? I don't know if I've ever met him. Yeah, he's come up to the shop. We've hung out and talked a little bit.

He's a short guy, bald head. Yeah, he's pretty cool. He's one of the good ones in the industry, that's for sure. One of the good ones.

Today, I'm looking towards bringing my 30 plus years of experience in the premium. Not 45. Not 45. 30.

Yeah, but he's got more money, so he's obviously done things right. There you go. Well, you know, you can compensate 15 years with $15 million. Yeah.

They will give you credit for that. Premium cigar business to continue to grow the company and work with this amazing team we put together. In addition, the company has announced that Adam Shepard has been named Chief Operating Officer and Miguel Shadel has been promoted to VP of Sales. Oh.

What was he before? National Sales Manager. So I can go up to VP of Sales? Palmer, you got promoted?

You can totally go. I can go up to VP of Sales. Yeah, I'm promotable all of a sudden. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I'm extremely excited. Then who do I, you know, I already don't really boss anybody. VP of Sales will be in charge of the National Sales Manager. Well, you get to yell at Paul.

Well, you get to yell at Paul? Well, just for a week. Well, okay, so let's think about that. What does something like that look like?

A national sales manager, right? You build people, you start facilitating specific territories, and then you replace you with a salesperson, right? You collect, I don't know, call it four or five salespeople, and then you oversee them as a national sales manager. Eventually, that national sales manager position gets replaced with a person who oversees them, And you oversee the national sales manager, as well as the logistics of sales and all of those other things.

I don't think I have that much time left in my life. You don't think so? Depends on 57. You don't think that it could happen in less than 10 years?

Oh, I guess it could. 67? I mean, there's no retiring. I got to work till I die.

Yeah, I mean, that's happening. You're not working on lowering your handicap anytime soon. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. And I got news for you, I don't think you're the guy that would like that anyways.

I'd get bored. Right. I'd be bored. So, you know, we just got to make...

My dad only stopped working when he couldn't remember things anymore. Yeah, I was just about to say... And he still thought he was working, so... Right, we got to make sure, we just got to make sure that we're getting you the red light, you know what I mean?

Oh, you know, red light I set up yesterday and I red lighted for a good long time last night. Did you? Yep. And look at you now.

Oh, I'm all bright eyed, bushed, yawning or nothing. You're not yawning, right? Like the last podcast. I'm extremely excited for this next chapter in the Crown Heads story, said John Huber, who now holds the former title as president of Crown Heads.

Tim and I have a proven track record of working together, and we are looking forward to taking what Mike and I have created over the last decade to the next level. How many times do you think he calls Ossinger Mike? John? Yeah, John accidentally calls Tim Mike.

I don't think it happens at all. No. I think that Tim has been quietly in the background this entire time. That's what I mean though, but he's used to having all these conversations with Mike, now he has to have them with Tim.

There's gotta be some little transition where he slips up one, two, twice. Do you think so? Nah, I don't buy that for a second. I'm actually kind of looking forward to this.

I think Tim can do a lot of things well. Put it, you know, put Crown Heads up a couple levels, you know? So, it should be really good. All right, Constella, Constella, that's how you say it.

Constella announces Adrian Gonzalez is next person to get taken. I mean, partnering with, adding the resilient at TCA 2025, Constella, the recent announcement con between Luciano Cigars and Empress Madarina de la Tobacco, has announced former Major League Baseball player Adrian Gonzalez has been partnered, partnered, in the venture and that the company will be launching a new cigar line called I Got No Money Left. Oh, wait, that's wrong. It says: The Resilient, sorry, my bad.

Developed in part by him at the 2025 PCA Convention at Trade Show, the cigar is a 6x52 Toro that uses an Ecuadorian grown Colorado H92 wrapper. Ah, okay. Sounds very complicated. Yeah, no kidding.

Because why not add some BS to this? Right. A Costa Rican binder. Okay.

And fillers from Peru and Nicaragua. All right. So they're looking for people he doesn't owe money to yet? Is he not?

He's got a He's trying to move to different countries for tobacco. We have to get from Costa Rica now and Peru. I owe no money there. Along with any money he had left, a press release from Constella calls a profile medium-bodied strength, layered complexity, and an elegant finish echoing the enduring spirit of those at honors.

What happened to the basketball guy? The Chicago Bull. See, that's just it. Okay, so now he's got a baseball player.

Yeah. So now he stops talking about the other people? Did that go away? I feel like I haven't heard anything.

Has he moved on to somebody else? Maybe the basketball guy is going to be at PCA. Who knows? Maybe he's still there.

Maybe. It's possible. But now he's partnering with this Mary Alice factory people. Yeah, is that covered in this story?

It's the next story, technically. Okay, because I have questions that I like. But they were mentioned in this one. Right.

Because now this factory that he's making cigars with is now making the baseball guys. Right. And we'll cover more of it on Patreon because I have some points of view that I think are They're interesting. But I do have questions that I want to ask the entire world, so.

The Resilient is in the beginning of the new family of brands within the Constella portfolio. So now he's making cigars with a whole new group. The only consistency of this is that Luciano's still there. Right.

New factory, new sports guy, new brand names. Is he still making the other cigars? Probably not. If he is, it's going to be made out of this new factory.

You would think, right. He has to. He has to. Well, he can't go somewhere, he can't, no.

Who was he making the others with, Pajardo? Well, you said that he was gonna, well, but no, that ship has sailed. Well, that's what I mean. I mean, is it, and then you, well.

Like the Fiat Lux, where was that made? And do you remember? Dude, I have no idea at this point. I know that.

You can't keep track. There was, I mean, one of the recent articles was that he was gonna start working with Plasencia. Right, that's what we were talking about earlier. That's obviously gone.

Maybe, who knows? Yeah. Well, they asked for the deposit. That's a deposit.

Right. Yeah. We said that joke already. Yeah.

Right. See, these are $24 cigars, $480 for a box of 20. The initial run being offered at the trade show is a thousand boxes, though there are plans to add more sizes by the end of the year. The Mary Alice told Half Wheel, uh, told Half Wheel.

Okay. So, okay. So we're going to offer a thousand boxes. Right.

It doesn't say when they're going to be released. No. Okay. They're selling them at the show, but not when they're shipping.

shipping okay so they're not made yet correct so it's going to be made to order i would assume to some degree right yeah i would guess okay and the and the box count is what 10 10 all right it's a 10 count box right how many boxes do you think he sells i don't know i think people are still enamored with this man somehow okay so let's say people are enamored let's say that you know people are excited about it how many boxes do you think he really sells two three hundred you don't think You think he sells the whole thousand that he's making? That he says he's gonna make? I'm asking you how many you think he sells. I don't want to give my opinion yet.

I bet he does a thousand. You think he sells the full thousand? I think he sells eight hundred. Let's say eight hundred.

I think Boots is right. Two to three hundred? I think at best he sells three hundred. I don't know.

There's still people out there. At twenty-four dollars a stick for a baseball player... That actually is really a nobody. That nobody really knows.

I was gonna say, nobody heard of this guy? Oh, he spent 15 seasons in the Major League playing for Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, you're in five sections of the All-Star Game, four Golden Glove Awards, and two Silver Slugger. What the hell is a Silver Slugger? I have no idea, but how does any of that track in the cigar industry?

It's not like Jordan just made a cigar. Right. You know what I mean? Well, he also represented Mexico in the Olympics.

It's a Mexican guy, apparently. So, is it 25% terror? Do you see what I'm saying? There's no way, no one's going to, where's the drive?

Where's the purpose? How do you get somebody to go into that booth and say, you know what? I'll take 20 bucks. Terrence Riley messages us about Supreme Leaf and says, hey, you can have 15 boxes or whatever.

We say, all right, we'll take 10 or we'll take 15, whatever. Right? That's easy. Right.

Aganorsa has a track record. The cigar has a track record. You know, here's what I think we can sell. I don't know this guy.

We don't know this factory. There's nothing behind any of this. Oh, he's been in on other cigars. Yeah, and it's not like this guy's a big name like Tyson or...

True, I mean, I don't know who this is. And I don't think the Tyson stuff is selling well. I haven't heard anything. No, it's easy to get the first order, it's the second order you can't get.

Well, you said that they were just allocating it to people and they were sending a bill. Well, yeah, they did do that to one shop. Allegedly. Allegedly.

No, they really did, I was there. Allegedly. Allegedly. You always say allegedly.

This guy was involved in the El Titan for Ace Prime also. The baseball player? Yeah. So maybe the guy got frustrated and he's like, hey, what the hell?

And then he's like, oh, here's what we're going to do. We're going to fix all this. We're going to make all these things. We're going to make you a new cigar.

We got a factory now. Look at my eye. I'm going to make you a new cigar. Trust me.

Trust me. Trust me. I have this farm now. I have this farm.

Winky, wink. Okay. Winky, winky farm. Yeah, but I can't see him.

I can't, I just can't see it happening, I can't see a thousand boxes being moved, I just can't. Right. And even still, even at the price points, at a thousand boxes, you're not making a ton of money. No.

Even with a ridiculous price point. Right. So like, somebody didn't sit down and do the math, is all I'm saying. Right.

Oh, they're shipping in May. Wow. They're shipped, so they are made. So they are made.

If they're shipping in May, then they're made. And they're made. They're made already then. It's the last line of the article.

Okay. So we've hooked up with the company recently within the past 30 to 60 days. They've made a cigar within those 30 to 60 days. Right.

And that cigar is ready within 12 weeks miracle time with perfect boxes. We're good to go. Thousand. Done.

This has to be something that was already made one of those days. Right. Exactly. It's your standard.

That's what I'm getting to. It's your standard six by 52 Toro. Right? Right.

Why don't we just put some bands on them? Right, put some bands on them, give you a pretty box, boom, we're done. That would be my guess. Yeah.

That would be my guess, 100%. Mm-hmm. Mm, that's why they're ready to go. Baseball guy's gonna be at the PCA.

Mm. Okay. Mr. Gonzalez.

Is he large? I don't think so. No, he's about, he's just normal size. He has one of those torpedo bats.

He's probably got a torpedo bat. Is he gonna bring it? Probably. I would.

Yeah. A. launched Constella Group. Luciano Cigars and whatever these other people are, oh EMT, they have an abbreviation, thank God.

Okay. A tobacco company in the Azores have launched a, Azores, not Azores, sorry, Azores. The Azores. Have launched a new joint venture called Constella Group as part of the new joint venture Luciano Cigars.

S. operation will now be known as Constella. So he's changed the name again. Well, it's not his name anymore.

Right. The new entity aims to combine the two companies' various operations under one roof. This includes premium cigar manufacturing, distribution, storage, regulatory compliance, including track and trace in tobacco trade across continents. EMT's history dates back 142 years, and it operates Fabrica de Tobacco Estrella, a large tobacco factory in São Miguel, Azores, It primarily produces cigarettes and cigarillos, but also has a small handmade cigar operation.

Right. So they're looking to expand into premium cigars, which makes sense. They've been around for like 140 years or something? 142 years.

Right. Making cigarettes and cigarillos. Okay. So we make a little bit of cigars.

So you know what? Look at this guy. He's pretty fancy. So is this the end of the article?

Uh, no. Okay, keep going. Executives of Luciano Cigars and Empress, joined by Governor of the Azores and Mayor, The CEO of Sao San Miguel for the joint venture signing, Constella Group becomes the parent holding company of Luciano Cigars, and Luciano Cigars' business operations will be rebranded as Constella USA, which will handle sales, distribution, payables, and receivables, meaning retailers will eventually be ordering from and interacting with Constella USA. At the upcoming PCA Convention and Trade Show, Luciano Cigars booth will be co-branded with Constella.

Luciano Morales will serve as President of Constella USA. In addition, Luciano's US trademarks will be transferred to Constella. Luciano's Segura portfolio will continue under the Constella umbrella with the existing Luciano logo maintained by... You told me to keep reading.

No, that's perfect. Okay, so I have a question for you. Okay. I own four trademarks.

Okay. I then go into this joint venture. Why would I get... Why would I abandon my trademarks and give it to the other company?

Give it to the new company. Give it to the new company? Yeah. Because I'm going to file bankruptcy and not pay any money.

You think that's what it is? Well, they're not going to mention that part. If I own trademarks, that can be the most valuable thing I possess, right? Sure.

Intellectual property. That's how he gets them to take him on. Right? By possessing those...

Now, if I surrender them over to another company, what am I doing? Why would I do that? What's the logic? Well, his name is pretty bad in the industry, right?

His name, but maybe not the brand names. Well, his name is the brand name, right? So maybe the brand names are still worth something. Okay.

Well, it's like Fiat Lux and Murcio, whatever. But it's like a sub-brand name. I mean, it still says Luciano on the box. I have my own theory.

Go ahead. Entirely theoretical. So, if I were being sued by someone, could they be battling me for the possession of those trademarks? They could.

You think so? What do you think, Boots? I don't know. I mean, he could, but that'd be a lot of money, though.

So, let's say he's being sued by a factory that made those cigars. So, okay. They could claim, we own, we want those names because we're making those cigars. Wait, these are, or whatever the case may be.

Hey, that's my name. He can't use this, right? Right? I never approved him to take the trademarks from me.

Oh, I gotcha. You know, like, hey, I want to create a cigar. Right. You're a factory.

Okay. I want to create a cigar, and I want to call it, I don't know, whatever, bananas or whatever. Oh, I make banana for you. All right, banana brand.

Banana brand. And then you file the trademark for it. I own it now. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, this is my brand, you're just making the cigar for me.

No, no, I file, it's mine. So then I go and I file a lawsuit saying, "Hey, this guy filed for this trademark and it's mine. " Oh, I'm Luciano in this story. Right.

Ah, I thought you were Luciano. And then, no, I'm the guy that got taken. Got you, got you. Allegedly.

Right, right. I'm coming after you. Right. So what do you do?

I give them to someone else. I bring it to somebody else. Right. Right?

It's not mine. It's not mine anymore. I know. I'm sorry.

I no longer possess this trademark. Let me tell you about my farm. Let me tell you about my farm. That's the only logical thing I can think of.

It's a media source. It's very nice. Honestly, that's the only logical thing I can think of as to why I would forfeit trademarks to another company. Sure.

Is if I thought that it was under fire and somebody had... Someone was coming after them. And they had legs to stand on that, you know, I either A, can't afford to battle them in court or B, I would lose to them in court. So I'm going to skate it down a step.

How does that work? You think, okay, if I'm being sued for my names of my brands, I am the guy who owns all the brands, and I'm being sued and they want those brands, you think if there is a pending lawsuit, there would be something legal that says I can't just give them to somebody else. You would think, again, this is beyond my scope. Right, right, right, it's not in our pay grade, I understand.

All I know is that, all I know is that if I own a trademark and I possess that trademark, I'm not about to just surrender it to another company. I'm not a company that I'm going to do a joint venture with, like, no, no, no, not at all, one major thing that I learned from some of my mentors in this industry, is that, you know, a handshake is important, but make sure that you're holding the cards, always try and control as much as you can for your own destiny, if you're going to rely on somebody else, you better make damn sure that they got your back a hundred percent. Right? So, when it comes to a trademark, I would want to possess my own trademarks.

If I'm going to abandon them, then there has to be a logical reason for it. Right. And it isn't just because I think you're cool. Right.

You know what I mean? Come on. We're going to start working together. You know what?

You just hang on to these. Yeah. You know what? For shipping purposes, I should probably have the name.

Right. Okay. It's just this legal thing. They're still yours.

Still yours. Just on paper, they're mine. Right. It's fine.

It's the way everybody does it. Padrón? Somebody else owns the name. Not George.

No, not Jorge? Well, I call him George. What else you got? He still has distribution agreements with Peter James Cigars and Dele Zegarin?

Peter James Cigars. Is two, now part of the constellation. Our vision for Constella is never about simply becoming larger. We are set to create something meaningful, built on mutual respect, The belief that growth should enhance identity, not dilute it.

This is about preserving the core values and shaving, blah, blah, blah. I guess underrated didn't track, so now we're moving to resilience. That's what it sounds like to me. Right.

Yeah. That's just the way it goes. I'm so happy. Hold on, I'm speeding.

Perfect. The newest version of the Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special is a annual, sorry, annual limited edition The tradition from chef and restaurateur Guy Fieri, a brand they created with Espinosa Premium Cigars, is sent to come to stores later this month. The 2025 version is a 6x55 box-pressed Toro that uses a Brazilian Modafina wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The first couple of years, we kept things very approachable, said Hector Alfonso, master blender of Espinosa Cigars via a press release.

But last year's Broadleaf is now this year's Brazilian Montefino. We're turning up the flavor. This year's blend has a richness we know our fans will love. It is produced at the San Lutano Factory in Octal, Nicaragua, with production limited to 2,000 boxes of 10 cigars.

Pricing is set at $16 per cigar and $160 per box. This is one of Guy's favorite lines that Eric Espinosa, president of Espinosa Premium Cigars in a press release. Bro, we always make sure the Chef Special lives up to its name, and the 2025 is no exception. Cigars will be featured in Espinosa's booth at the 2025 PCA Trade Show.

It's the coming week. The shipping is expected to happen late April, early May. The Knuckles Sandwich Chef Special debuted in 2022. It was originally called Chef Special.

The cigar will return the following year with the name changed to Chef Special. It would be named, kept for 20... What? It's the same thing.

It's the same name. All right, Guy Fieri's Knuckles Sandwich Line adding a Puro Nicaragua. Oh. The newest cigar from Knuckles Sandwich Line, his cigars will be an all-Nicaraguan blend and they won't have any trouble picking it out on the store shelves.

It's called the Knuckles Sandwich Puro Nicaragua. Dressed in black, silver, and red bands with a silver foot ribbon, the line will be offered in three sizes: 5x52, a 6x54, and a 6x60 Gordo. The cigars are made in San Latino Factory Noctile Nicaragua will be displayed next week at the convention. They're scheduled to end shipping shortly after the show concludes.

This will bring Knuckles Sandwich Portfolio to four regular production lines. Okay. As Superior Nicaragua will join the Knuckles Sandwich Habano Maduro in Connecticut. There have also been a handful of limited releases.

Cigar was announced via Cigar Aficionado. Representative confirmed the accuracy of the details. Okay. You want to talk about the Independence Day Cigar?

I mean, well, yeah, you know, he's covering a lot of things going into the show, right? Yes, they have a lot going on. J. Fernandez fire, even though that factory isn't where they make their cigars, you would assume that because they're in the other factory, things would get bogged down and backed up, and who knows what that looks like logistically.

Well, if they're going to start shipping right after the show, I'd imagine they've already taken possession of these cigars. Yeah. Pre-tariff. Yes.

Do you think Guy Fieri is happy with the overall outcome and a working effort that he's put in so far into the cigar industry? What do you think? I think he is. I think he may be happy, but I think he's satisfied with the way it's going right now.

Okay. What do you think, Boots? Yeah, I mean, it's another part of his portfolio, you know? Yeah, but this is more of a passion project than anything, right?

Right, right. I mean, obviously, it's going great. I mean, they keep coming out more and more, But he also picked a great, you know, company to deal with. Okay.

I just don't, I'm curious, I don't know, you know. No, I thought you were going to say you heard, no, I've heard he's heard. No, what do you think that, what, when Guy Fieri started into this, what do you think his vision was? And is it the same that it is now?

Does he have greater aspirations? Does he have less aspirations? So, you know, has everything gone the way that he thought it was going to go? I think he's doing better than he expected.

Yeah? I think originally he was like, you know, I'd like to make a cigar. Right. You know, I'm going to call it the Knuckle Sandwich, that's my brand, blah, blah, blah, I want to make this one cigar.

Now he's up to four regular production items. Do you think that he gets the notoriety that he deserves? Uh, no. No.

In the cigar industry or as a whole? In the cigar industry. In the cigar industry. And food, I think he's held to higher, whatever the word is.

Yeah. I mean, a knuckle sandwich is a great cigar. So, yeah, but, you know, I mean, he made a top 25 from Cigar Aficionado a couple of years ago, I think. He got acknowledged on Half Wheel.

Oh, okay. I see what you're saying. Do you think that the media in general gives him... No.

No. I think he's becoming more of a regular name in the cigar industry now. He's not special, for lack of a better word, because he comes to everything. He shows up to everything.

He's always got a cigar in his mouth and anything he does, I think the fact that he's going to be there is great, but I think now, you know, people are going, I've had my picture with him three or four times now. I think it's still a great thing, man. I did say it wasn't a great thing, because I even heard some of the media guys go, well, you know, I don't want to bring Guy Fieri again. I guess we don't need to talk to him.

Steve, you think it's lots of pizzazz, is what you're saying, Homer? Yeah. I have more questions for Guy now. Every year, as he gets in here...

Well, we're not the average media person, Michael. Yeah, I don't need a picture with him. I want to sit down and talk to the guy, you know what I mean? Right, yeah.

I want to understand this. No, I mean, you know, they're going over the list of people that they, you know, want to see, and they're like, you know, somebody will go, Guy Fieri, and they go, well, we've sort of done that already. Now, let's find somebody else. You think so?

Yeah, but that's like the big thing. I don't want to say names, but I've heard that exact conversation. Really? Yes, I'll tell you on the Patreon.

Oh, okay. Ooh, so Jack's going to know. Uh-oh. Yeah, Jack will know.

I don't care if Jack knows. He says, uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

I mean, I want to talk to Guy. I want to know specific things. Do you want to schedule another appointment to sit down and talk to him? Jack says he's going to work it out.

Oh, so you've already asked. Yeah. I don't find these things out, I don't know. No, you find out on Saturday when we go.

Hey, we gotta go. Yeah, we gotta go, we're talking to Guy Fieri, I didn't wear anything nice! Well, I got some meetings, I'm like, I don't care. I'm selling some cigars today.

I wanna get my Guy Fieri compliment, 'cause he's gonna say something nice about me, 'cause he's really good at that. I'm gonna tell him he has great hair. Oh, you have great hair. You have great hair.

You know. And a lovely fashion sense with your jewelry. We're gonna butter each other up. Oh.

And yeah, no, I mean, I just wanna know, I'm curious. Do you need alone time? Should I distract Jack and we should leave the room? Is that in the cards?

I can arrange that. It's okay. It's not necessary. But thank you.

I'm a married man. You can knuckle his sandwich or something. Oh, I can knuckle his sandwich. Oh, look at you.

I don't know what it's called. Is that the term? No, so, you know, I don't think that he really gets the credit that he should have. Every year, I feel like he...

You just say credit. You said notoriety. Same thing. I don't think it's the same thing.

I think he's done more for the cigar industry than he's given credit for, yes. Yeah. But I think that some people feel that he's been around so much that it's not, you know, it's not like Elvis is walking in the building anymore. Okay.

Like, hey, there's Guy Fieri. Yeah, hi, Guy. Remember me? I took a picture the last three years you were here.

Got it. Well, I don't know. I don't know. He's still the big deal.

You still get excited when you see old sports guys. You don't count. I mean, he's a big deal. Guy's a big deal.

No matter how, and he's not that accessible. And he's sticking around in the cigar industry. How much you want to bet the line is still around the fucking... Yeah.

Who else is going to be there besides Luciano's newest... I have no idea. Or what he was called. Tyson has left the building.

Well, didn't they say the UFC fighter? Conor McGregor? Was he coming out with a series? Is he going?

I hope not. I just watched Roadhouse again. He's a terrible actor. Notorious?

Dude. I don't think Notorious is going to be a PCA. No. Walking around like this?

No. I need a little sandwich. You're going to have to make more sandwiches. That would be cool if he was there, but I don't think he's going to be there.

Oh, that's right, because he's making a cigar now. Yeah. Maybe. I don't think he shows up.

I'd rather see the little guy with the dog. Shorty? Shorty. His name is Shorty.

Shorty? Yeah. That felt insulting. He's been around forever.

I know he has, but I haven't met him. You want to talk about media guys have seen and spoken to somebody enough that's Shorty. Okay. All right, what else you got?

Espinosa expands the 601 La Bamba Warhead line with Independence Day. Espinosa Cigars expanding the 601 La Bamba Warhead series with a special edition called the Warhead Independence Day. America, delicious. 5x55 Toro, dressed in a red, white, and blue color scheme that draws on the American flag, has been created as a promotional item to reward loyal customers and deepen engagement with the Espinosa brand.

The blend is new and distinct from all previous Warhead releases with a dark Ecuadorian Mararo? It must be a typo. It's supposed to be Maduro, I'm guessing? Wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler.

The company says that tobaccos were selected for their strength, balance, and complexity, just like Jack and Hector. Right. With the intent of creating something more than just a cigar, but something that is a statement of growth and appreciation. We want to create something not only special but different from our loyal customers, said Erik Espinosa, president of Espinosa Premium Cigars, via press release.

It's a cigar that rewards loyalty and sparks curiosity. The cigars are made at the San Latino factory in Octal, Nicaragua, with production limited to 2,500 boxes of 10 cigars, pricing set at $18 per cigar, $180 per box. I believe all those will sell. Yeah.

Yeah, all those will sell. You can take an order at the trade show, blah, blah, blah, blah. They're going to release the second Warhead release year. Oh, they're coming out with a Warhead 11 later in the year.

Nice. All right, there's Oliva's making a cigar for the PCA. Okay. We can start wrapping this up.

Well, then tell us about the new Roma Craft Toros, Michael, because that's the only store we have left. Oh, well, the new Toros are coming out. You have three different ones from the line, the Intemperance Lines. You have the EC, you have the Whiskey Rebellion, and you have the Volstead.

They all have weird names because that's what they do. One's called Fidelity, I know that. There's 6x52, it's one of the most sought-after sizes in the industry, and it's finally coming to fruition in the Intemperance Lines. Nice.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to them. I think that EC is going to do better. It's 6x54. I'm sorry, I apologize.

Toro Extras. Thank you, 6x54. So yeah. 5x54 Bellicoso Vitola.

Well, it's sold in each Intemperance blend with these new Toros. Correct, because Toro is more popular than Bile Cosa. So there's the Treachery, the Fidelity, and the LaGuardia… Airport? The LaGuardia, and the Whiskey Rebellion is the Tully.

Okay. Yeah, that's, I mean, those should do very well. Foreign and domestic just came into the shop, so… Why are they so little? They want to make a little cigar.

They look bigger. You know why? For smoking outside in the wintertime. For the winter sales?

For the winter sales. Yeah, well, it's 110 degrees outside already, it's April. Oh, right. You know, they had production problems.

All right, so briefly, before we go, everybody's talking, going on these tangents about tariffs and also yada, yada, yada. Here's something that they're not talking about. This is what I need Boots to do. Boots, do me a favor and look up FDA tobacco user fee and tell me what it is.

How much? Or what it is? Tell me what it is. While he's looking that up, our Listener of the Week is Julian Gordon, and the Shop of the Week is Briarpatch Tobacco in Wisconsin.

Very nice. They have an appointment with us at the show. Excellent. Look forward to meeting you.

Back to you, Boots. You got it? There's a lot of reading here. Well, I'll cut you off.

Don't worry. There's no pictures. No, I got to read through this. You guys have nothing else to talk about right in a second?

Okay, then I'll just do it. Oh, everybody loves when you read. It was so much from last week's reading. S.

Food and Drug Administration from manufacturers and importers of certain tobacco products to fund the agency's tobacco regulatory activities. These fees are authorized under Section 919 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which was amended by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. The purpose of the fees is to support the FDA's efforts to regulate tobacco products including activities like preventing youth tobacco use, reviewing product applications, and ensuring compliance with federal regulations. These fees apply to six classes of tobacco products: cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, and roll your own.

Manufacturers and importers of these products are required to pay based on their market share, which is calculated using the data on the volume of products they release into domestic commerce and the federal excise taxes they pay. They pay the total amount of user fees to be collected each fiscal year is set by law, and the FDA divides this into quarterly assessments. For example, the fees, fund inspections, public education campaigns, yada, yada, yada, et cetera, et cetera. I have the number that I was looking for a number.

OK, so what's the number? So for the two hundred thirty two million dollars? No, physical year 2025. Yeah.

For a full year. OK. Would be 712 million. $712 million in an FDA user tobacco fee that's collected by brand owners and manufacturers.

Now, now, hold on. Now that's just on cigars. Now, let me read. That's just cigars.

Well, that's all we care about. Okay. Okay. So, if the FDA, there's a thing going on right now where if the FDA appeals this, then this user fee can still continue forward.

Oh, they're trying to get rid of it. Well, we just remove the head guy of the FDA, right? Right. So, in essence, even though this tariff may go into play, a tax, a user fee, it's not a tax, a user fee, by giving the FDA the permission to regulate us, by paying them so they can regulate us, that may go away in this upcoming month.

We'll see what that looks like. If it does, I'm curious to see how much it offsets for the additional taxes and the tariffs. Oh, okay, so the user fee thing's going away, supposedly. Possibly, right.

Ah, gotcha. So, I haven't seen anybody talk about that at all. No, no, he's mentioned it at all. Not a single person, but I've had enough experts say on Facebook as to what exactly this tariff means.

Right. Okay, well, let's talk about all of it then. Let's talk about all of these things moving forward. Where did they announce that this might go away?

Because I mean, I mean, I'm not disputing you. I just, how did you find out? I'm smart. Well, I know you're very intelligent, man.

I'm very muscly and so attractive. Here's what I'm going to tell you. Yes. In 15 years of being in the cigar industry, there's a handful of guys that I trust as far as knowledge and information, and I respect their opinions when they speak.

I will always listen to them and then draw my own conclusions. It's probably like five or six people, right? Gotcha. But the majority of the people that I see on the internet have no idea what's going on.

I mean, Half Wheel hasn't even mentioned this. Well, I'm sure that they have. Or at least what Charlie will do is if an appeal happens or if there's no appeal, then he'll state it. I'm willing to bet the farm that that's the case.

But none of that. But it's a possibility that's going on as we speak. Right. We talked about tariffs being a possibility for six months, or whatever the case may be, as the guy was running through elections, he was covering that, right?

Okay, well now tariffs are in play. So how does it look like, is there a possibility for an offset? Maybe. And what would that offset look like?

Well, I could tell you that this is on the board right now, but no one's mentioning it. No. Why isn't anybody mentioning it? I don't know.

Right. That's what doesn't make sense to me. So. Alright, now we're losing you.

No, no, not losing me. Alright, anything else to add? No. Nope, we leave at the PCA in two days.

Alright, sounds good. Hey, thank you everybody for watching and listening and you'll be hearing from us from PCA. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. But a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon.

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Show Notes

Topics Discussed:

Trending Stories

National Beer Day celebrations

Blue Jays' $500M first baseman signing – big move or big mistake?

Global markets feel the heat as Trump's tariffs cause Asian stock slump

Bitcoin drops below $80,000 – time to panic or buy the dip?

Cigar News

PCA update with Day 1 schedule – what’s coming for the cigar world?

Black Star Lines parts ways with Cliff Nelson – what’s next for the brand?

Who’s the next person to fall victim to a flashy smile in the cigar world?

Luciano Cigars partners with a new player – big things in the works?

Espinosa Cigars drops three new releases – will they smoke out the competition?

Roma Craft’s Toro cigar trio – is this the perfect size for the ultimate smoke?

Listener of the Week:

Julian Gordon gets the nod!

Shop of the Week:

Briar Patch Tobacco in Wisconsin – check it out for your next great cigar experience!

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