ACHP Episode 388 – Smoke, Stats & Scandals

Episode Summary

Episode 388 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with shop announcements — a "Welcome to the Dark Side" dark beer tasting on June 22, a Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust event on June 30 featuring the return of EDGA, and upcoming guest appearances on Simply Stogies and Sway's show — plus a plug for the crew's long-form Litto Gomez Jr. interview on YouTube. The hosts then run through their usual mix of trending news: Joe Biden's aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis and what a Gleason score of 9 actually means, the Mexican Navy training ship Cuauhtémoc striking the Brooklyn Bridge during a ceremonial mast display, and Phillies reliever José Alvarado's 80-game PED suspension, which sparks a longer debate about whether performance-enhancing drugs should simply be legalized in pro sports and how MLB's declining TV ratings track with the home-run era.

The cigar-news block is the meat of the episode. The guys unpack the wave of tariff-driven price increases hitting the industry on May 19: Villiger Cigars North America raising handmades roughly 6% (with the new Villiger 1888 Gran Reserva exempt), Scandinavian Tobacco Group adding 5% at wholesale on its own brands, Oscar Valladares Tobacco Company going up 10%, Artesano del Tabaco raising its Viva la Vida Clásico line about 50 cents a stick, and Foundation Cigar Company increasing prices June 1. They dig into the business logic — why a 5–6% increase against a 10% tariff means brands are absorbing margin and betting on price-point resistance. Also covered: Don Doroteo's El Vencedor 1492, a 5.5 x 54 robusto built from tobacco rolled in 2004 and aged at La Aurora for 21 years, limited to 5,000 cigars at $29 each in five-count boxes; Gurkha repackaging its Volition America line into two rows for a narrower humidor footprint; the merger of Best Cigar Prices and Alliance Cigars under Global Marketing Inc.; and Hopkinton, Massachusetts adopting a generational tobacco ban for anyone born after 2005.

The back half turns to media and house news. The hosts break down Joe Rogan's interview with Guy Fieri — why Rogan seemed guarded (their theory: successful people get defensive when flattered early), the fact that Fieri handed over Knuckle Sandwich cigars that never got discussed, and shade thrown at the Cigar Coop for not covering Fieri. They also celebrate halfwheel's 91-point review from Charlie Minato of the Postaña San Andrés Belicoso, praising the construction and the unusual flavor notes (potatoes, mashed potatoes, teriyaki, leather, red fruit, cranberry), crediting the factory and Skip's blending vision, and comparing favorite vitolas in the line. Rounding it out: a truck left in neutral at the neighboring gas station rolled into the Cigar Hustler patio fence, a merch store update, Ricky as Listener of the Week, and Shop of the Week honors split between JR Cigars and Tobacology.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Upcoming Events & Podcast Appearances
   Dark beer tasting June 22, a Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust event June 30 with EDGA returning, plus guest spots on Simply Stogies and Sway's show and a plug for the Litto Gomez Jr. interview.
2. 02
   Trending News: Biden, the Brooklyn Bridge & MLB
   Joe Biden's stage-advanced prostate cancer and the Gleason 9 score, the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtémoc hitting the Brooklyn Bridge, and José Alvarado's 80-game PED suspension.
3. 03
   Should PEDs Be Legal in Sports?
   The hosts argue for across-the-board legalization and connect MLB's ratings decline to the end of the steroid-era home run chases.
4. 04
   Don Doroteo El Vencedor 1492
   A 5.5 x 54 robusto rolled in 2004 and aged 21 years at La Aurora, limited to 5,000 cigars at $29 each in five-count boxes.
5. 05
   Tariff Price Increases Sweep the Industry
   Villiger, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Oscar Valladares, Artesano del Tabaco and Foundation Cigar Company all announce hikes, and the guys analyze the margin math behind them.
6. 06
   Gurkha Repackaging & the Best Cigar Prices–Alliance Merger
   Volition America boxes shrink their humidor footprint, while Best Cigar Prices and Alliance Cigars combine under Global Marketing Inc.
7. 07
   Guy Fieri on The Joe Rogan Experience
   Why Rogan came off guarded, the Knuckle Sandwich cigars that never got discussed, and the Cigar Coop's silence on Fieri's brand.
8. 08
   halfwheel Gives Postaña San Andrés Belicoso a 91
   Charlie Minato's review — potatoes, teriyaki, leather and cranberry — plus the crew's take on the factory, Skip's blending, and their favorite vitolas.

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

I don't have any fancy words like you do. Welcome to episode 388 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. That's not on any piece of paper, just so you know. That's so fancy.

You just know. Well, I know it's 388, because last week was 387. You're an amazing person. You can remember that, but you can't remember the red light?

That's right. Oh, I red light. It's at home. It's right by my desk.

It's just got to get a new rhythm going, you know? Right. A new house and all. Yeah, it's still a process.

Yeah. All right, go ahead. Come on, come on, come on. All right, special events we got coming up here, Michael.

What do we got? June 22nd, we got Welcome to the Dark Side, a dark beer tasting. Tasting, $20 a ticket in advance, $30 a day of event here at the shop upstairs, starts at 6:30. At Cigar Hustler, okay.

At Cigar Hustler. m. Ooh. Stereo.

And then on, you guys have been practicing all afternoon. m. Wow, okay. Simply Stogie's.

Who's that with? Simply Stogie's. That's what? What?

Who's the host? Who's that with? Simply Stogies. So many people.

All right. All right, Mikey, you'll be on The Beer Guys. 9-1-1? Yes.

Is that like bar 9-1-1 where there's something wrong with the beer and you have to fix it? No. You know, maybe they're just remembering 9-11, you know? In June?

Never forget. Anyway, he'll be on with T-Money. Yeah, T-Money's a good guy. Oh, he knows the host.

It's so weird. I know the host. Right. He doesn't know anything about the show.

My show is all about cigars. Is the show you're going to be on about beer? Yes. Well, it's just a little more chill.

It's more like a kind of a hearf type of a scenario. Oh, okay. Oh, just hanging out with somebody. Yeah.

m. Perfect. Is that live? Is your show live?

I think so. Good for you. Aren't you going to be on another show coming up here soon? I am.

Sway Show. You don't know when? He's going to be here the week of the 10th, I believe? He's going to come visit us over here.

I will tell you, I will tell you, the 20th, I will be on Sway's show, but it's not live. No, no, his is recorded. Yeah, his is recorded. Yeah, so we're going to do the recording on the 20th, so stay tuned for that.

All right, don't forget to check out our Lito Gomez special interview on YouTube after you get done watching this show. It was an amazing interview. It was some of your best work. Well, thank you.

That's very nice of you to say. I just think that it's really cool to sit down with a guy and really kind of get to understand where they came from and where they're trying to go in the industry, you know? And no one has really had that opportunity with Alito Jr. So I'm grateful to do that.

And I really think the podcast went fantastic. You really need to listen and check it out. It did. It went really well.

Absolutely. Okay. He's a... He's a...

Somebody stealing bootstrap? Yep. And it's gone. And it's gone.

That'd be the best day of boots in life. Yeah. He'd be like, "Don't find it. " Give me the money.

All right. Like we said, it's episode 388. We've got a full slate of smoke stories and scandals for today. Okay.

Oh. And trendy news. Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer. Oh, no.

But doctors are hopeful with treatment. A Mexican Navy ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge during a farewell ceremony. Two sailors are dead, several injured. Oh, no, that's not good.

Philly's reliever, I guess he's a pitcher, Jose Alvardo, he got hit with an 80-game suspension for a PED violation, blames a weight loss drug. Nice. And then in Cigar News, Don Doroteo's El Benincidor? I love it when you pronounce these words.

You would think there would be somebody that would help me pronounce these words. Yeah, nope. You're doing it great. I'm in the pylon room with everybody else.

You're sitting here in the pylon room. 1492, drops, age 21 years is that tobacco is, and full of bold flavor. That's the most years yet, right? Yeah, the other one was 20, wasn't it?

15 or 20, yeah, something like that. The first one was 20. Yeah. No, that was 21.

The El Legato. Hey, we found some over here behind the other pile. Sir, look, is he in the pylon room? It's any pylon room.

Look over here in the back. Tariffs are driving up prices. Let's see who's raising the prices now with announced increases. Gurkha is tweaking the packaging, making boxes smaller.

Smaller boxes. Smaller boxes. They fit in the humidor better, I guess. Did you already read the story?

That's exactly why they shrink into boxes. You're so smart. He's a big Gurkha fan. Yeah, definitely not a Gurkha fan.

Not only are you handsome, but you're... So super intelligent. I appreciate that. There you go.

Best Cigar Prices is merging with Alliance Cigars, changing the game in cigar distribution. Alliance Best Prices. Best Alliance Prices. Alliance Best Prices.

Oh. And then Hopkins, Hopkins, Hopkinton, Hop, Hopkinton. It's not even a Spanish name. Nope.

Some city in Massachusetts joining the generational tobacco ban. If you're born after 2005, no cigars for you. None. Never, ever.

After 2005? If you're born after 2005. That sucks. And hey, big news, half-wheel raided the postaña San Andreas Bellacoso.

Construction spot on, flavors unique, and yes, they said it tastes like potatoes. Tastes like potatoes, baby. All that and more, light one up and let's roll into the show. What are we going for the Patreon?

For the Patreon, we are smoking this lovely giant thunder smoke. See this? Can you see this? That's all the smoke and power you've ever wanted in a giant Toro Extra cigar.

4 grams, by the way. I don't think we have that size on our sheet. 4? Yeah.

We don't have that size? I don't know. I just know it's a Toro Extra. It's a Toro Extra.

I'm getting old, man. I can't. Six and a half by 52? That's a regular Toro.

Six and a half? No. Oh, a half. Yeah.

Probably not, but we can figure it out. Yeah. former president Joe Biden is battling an aggressive form of prostate cancer, his office announced on Sunday. Adding his condition is characterized by a Gleason score of nine.

Are you familiar with the Gleason score? I'm not familiar with the Gleason scores. It only applies to prostate cancer, apparently. Okay.

So it's a nine out of ten. Oh, wow. So it's a one to ten score? Yes.

Okay. He's at a nine. This is something that you should probably be well versed in. Because you think I have prostate cancer?

No, because you're old. No, because you're old. You get it checked. Oh.

Well, I'm very depressing. Uncomfortable. So many faces he just made. His office also said Biden's diagnosis included metastasized to the bone.

Oh, yeah. Biden's cancer diagnosis comes after a small nodule was found in the former president's prostate after a routine physical exam on Tuesday. Heffery of the nodule necessitated further evaluation, his spokesman said at the time. Mine's plugged.

I'm just going to take off the jump. The story goes on to say that this type of cancer responds well to hormone treatment and they expect his condition to be manageable. Even with the Gleason level of 9? Well, it's ain't manageable.

They're not saying healed. The man's 83 years old. They just have to keep him comfortable at this point. But it's to the bone.

Yes, I don't think anybody expects him to survive. No, really? Yes. You know what's really crazy about this story that I was thinking when I was reading this the other day?

Yes? He went through a physical all the time as president, like a full checkup. And why didn't they state that before? Right.

Is it maybe because they didn't want to put, you know, alarm to the president, you know, to the country about the president maybe possibly dying? I would imagine there's some validity in that considering it was near the end of his term. Yeah. And then when he didn't run again, sorry, that might have been when they found it.

At a level nine? Yeah, it seems like it's been stirring for a little bit. Well, I don't, I don't, you know, it's Gleason's score, I don't know how they measure it, but yeah, I mean, it's not like he's got stage, what, it's four as high as cancer goes, I don't even know. It's the finger measurement, right?

I don't know either, but I would assume that it's four or five. Four or five, yeah, I know four is bad. At four, they tell you to get your affairs in order. Right.

So, I don't know if, like, Gleason 9 means get your affairs in order. I don't know if it transitions that way, if it means the same thing. I mean, he's 83, he should have his affairs in order, period, right? Well, yes.

That's safe to say. Well, I would imagine when your president, that's sort of something they do on day one. There's a guy for that? Probably.

This is the guy who's gonna make sure your affairs are in order? Right, just in case. I mean, you could be assassinated at any time. Right.

So, I mean, you know, this is what they do. " Here's the affairs package? Yeah, here's the affairs package. Not that type of affair, sir.

This is a different type of affair. This is what happens to you when you die. This isn't Oval Office Affairs. Right.

It's a totally different kind of affair. So, I mean, Boots has a very valid point. There are always medical checkups, and as the public goes through, you always hear about these medical checkups. Clean bill of health from the president, right?

Boots, can you look and see how often they do a physical for the president? I'm just curious. Yeah. I'm going to try and smoke this plugged cigar.

Maybe, you know, maybe it's the, you know, when you get in, they check you, and then when you get out, they check you. I'm very upset right now. Unless, you know, something happens to be wrong. Because it's plugged?

Yeah. Suck hard, Michael. Let these people on the Patreon get their money's worth watching you just... Come on.

Well, this isn't the Patreon. I know, but it will be when you... This is public. I know this is public access TV, Michael.

This is public access. Yes. Oh, so this is a freebie. Okay, it says, "Presidents of the United States typically have one annual physical exam.

This is a standard medical checkup, but there is no requirement for them to have them or release the results to the public. " So annually, so maybe once a year, but it's not required to happen. But, well, it's probably required to happen when you get into the presidency. That's what he said.

Yeah, you definitely have a physical. Right. Right, they want to make sure, oh, we just elected him, and look at this, his arm's going to fall off. But I'm sure the party, the Democratic Party, probably wanted him to rerun, and then if they did, they would have probably had to do a medical exam.

And maybe they found it, maybe that's why they brought up the woman. You think they wanted him to rerun? Well, he was running there briefly. Yeah, on his own accord, and then once they realized that he couldn't speak at all in public.

Well, I mean, is it really, I mean, does he just get to go, "I'm going again"? I think that that's... Yes, he does, yeah. I think that that's how that started.

I think there's a group of advisors that, you know, help him. He's not just sitting there, wakes up on Saturday and go, "You know what? " Look, Joe, you got your affairs in order, okay? It's a four-finger death bunch here.

Look, Joe, your underwear's on your head. This might not be a good idea. He's the president. I don't care.

Either way, as the president, you make the statement, If you say, hey, I have the ability to go for another term, I'm doing it, right? No, at that point, the DNC or the RNC, they've already endorsed you, they're not… You don't think anybody can tell them no? I think that no, you're one of the most powerful men in the world at that point. Yeah, but not really.

There's people that advise you, people that tell you what to do. Sure, people advise you, but the reality is that I don't care, I'm running. I'm running the Democratic Party, right? So let's say the Democrats didn't want you to.

You think you could run without their support? Yeah, I'm the president. They better get in line at that point. Yeah, but they're going, nah, we want Camilla.

I think that's what happened. " But he said he wanted to. " So is it someone convinced, or someone told him he's not allowed to anymore? I don't think that, I think that they convinced him to step down.

So really, we're saying the same thing? Or maybe he was having this issue. They said, hey, yeah. Hey, you're peeing an awful lot at night, we've noticed.

Hey, you got cancer. You can't rerun. There's a nodule on your thing. Yeah, maybe that, that's a good point too, maybe they said, hey.

That's what I say, maybe they found it then, and they're like, you know, this can't, we don't. Not only are you completely senile, allegedly. You're at a nine on the Gleason scale. But yeah, outlook, a magic eight ball, say outlook not so good.

Outlook not good. Oh, he does magic eight balls. Well, I hope he has his, I mean, I hope the guy has a speedy recovery, you know, I hope that he survives it or whatever. Well, he's manageable, I don't think they, no one mentioned recovery or cure.

I hope that he, I hope that it works out for him, you know, I never wish he'll will on anybody. It's in the bones, there's really not much after. Once it's in the bones, you're done? That's what they say, yeah.

That's what they say? Yeah. Who are they? The people they convince you not to be president anymore.

The affair people. The affair people. The affair people? Those guys with the hats, you know, you saw them in that movie.

The fedoras? Oh yeah, they just come out of the shadows. They're back again. They come out of the shadows with the hats on?

Listen, we've seen things and you're not going to fare well through this. Just so you know. Just so you know. We are they and we say.

What happened to JFK? He died. He was with the Mexican Navy sailors, apparently. Right, yeah.

These sailors prepared high-flying farewell display before fatal Brooklyn Bridge Crash. A group of Mexican sailors harnessed themselves to the towering mass of the ship docked beneath the Manhattan skyline Saturday night, preparing to proudly stand in unison on their vessels, as their vessel Beans, as they sailed out of New York Harbor. It's a traditional performance put on by the crew of the, not even going to get close to that. Please, please.

I don't know. Come on, try it. What does C-A-U- C-U-A-U sound like? Cacao?

Cacao? Cacao, huh? No, that's not, there's no actual K in there. Coutatomic?

Sound like an Indian word. Oh, Coutatomic. It's a 43-year-old Mexican Navy ship, the prize of their Navy. Yeah.

Whether they enter or leave a port. But those sailors likely would have avoided scaling the ship's roughly 147-foot tall mast had they known what would happen next. NYPD officials say they believe that the ship lost power as it departed and strong tides and wind set it drifting up the East River. , the ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge, which has a clearance about 127 feet above the water.

The top parts of the ship's mast snapped and video show the scene how several sailors dangling perishly from ropes while the vessel careened toward the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Mexican Navy officials reported two people died from the crash and another 22 were injured, 11 of them critically, the officials said the ship carried a crew of 277 sailors. Did you see any of the video? I saw the photos, I didn't watch the video.

Yeah, I didn't see no videos. Oh my God, it's all over the place, all over social media. Oh yeah, it's all over, you can see it anywhere, I just chose not to watch it. Right.

I don't understand a couple things here. Okay, what are the questions? okay what are the questions number one if you know how tall the boat is okay and you see this bridge okay you would realize that something is this not don't go under this is not going to work okay they had not planned on going under the bridge yeah engine failure and the tides drove the ship into the bridge okay all right allegedly that's that's fair okay if we're assuming that hey They malfunctioned and that's how the story reads and it's heading how fast do you think that boats heading towards that bridge I don't know how fast the tides were and how fast that boat just goes in the thing you would think yes they could have hooked something to it somewhere and I don't know how close they were to the bridge when they lost power even if maybe they were going to turn around right there or something okay so look okay let's say it was moving at a relatively fast speed okay or a boat whatever that is okay 50 miles per hour 50 knots per hour let's say it's going I don't know I have I have no idea. It's going quickly.

It's going at a decent speed. Okay. Decent is like 50. Let's do 50.

All right. Seems fast for a boat. You're on the top of this sail. You're on the mast, yes.

147 feet from the deck of the boat. And you see this bridge coming. Right. Oh.

You're heading towards this bridge. Right. At what point should you have realized... Get the fuck down?

I need to get down. Well, the way it reads, they are secured to the mast so that they don't fall off. So it's not like they can just start jumping. Oh, so they're stuck, they're strapped.

Oh my God, that had to be horrible. It's part of the display, yeah. They're all, I mean, like if this is the mast, I don't know if they can see me in the camera. The guys are all lined up here and they're secured to it with safety lines and stuff.

They're not just standing there. And they have no way to get out of it? Well, I imagine there is some way they got in, so there's a way out. It might not be quickly.

Hold on a sec. Hey, Palmer, I need you to come stand over here on this 147 foot piece of log, and wait, now, it gets better, I'm gonna tie you down and you can't fucking move. It's tradition, they do this all the time. So that's fine?

That makes it okay? Well, I mean, you know, nobody says we need to get up there and then we're gonna, you know, crash into the bridge over here. See that bridge down there? We can't fit under it, so we're just gonna ram it.

This comes back to that saying, if I jump off a cliff, will you jump off the cliff? Yeah, unless you're into some weird S&M stuff that, you know, I'm not just being tied down to something and I'm like, all right, perfect. Yeah, I'm good. We do it on some of our boats, too.

You do it? No, not us as Americans. What do you do? What do you do?

We have ships like that where we do it also. Not anymore. Well, I bet we do. That's how a flight deck is built, right?

And we lock the door. Well, that's on an aircraft carrier. We have a ship, more than one probably like this. This isn't, unless I'm not familiar with the Mexican Navy, which I apparently am not, I don't think this is a fighting ship.

Because of the cacaos? I think this is some type of ceremonial ship. Yeah, this is one of the originals, and this is a big deal, and yada yada, something like that. Well, the person that set all this up is now fired.

Immediately. Well, whoever's in charge of the motor. Yeah. Well, you know, I just, I don't know, man.

I just think that, okay, bridge coming. We probably should get down. Hey, let's go cut off Miguel real quick. Maybe the 22 that were injured jumped.

If you see it, if you see some of the videos, you can see guys dangling from wires. Those are the safety lines. After the thing had hit, you could see them falling off of it completely. Like they had to realize at some point that they were doomed.

I imagine on the way down. And these were Mexicans? Yes. Or this is a Mexican ship?

Well, they were Mexicans on a Mexican ship. Yeah. You know, like Americans are on American Navy boats. Is that how that works?

I think that's I think it's like a rule. That's the rule. If you're in the American Navy, I think you're an American. So if you're in the Mexican Navy, you have to be tied to a mass?

Well, only if you're on the ceremonial ship. I don't know, man. Well, OK. One of the victims who died was identified as Cadet Americana Yamalette Sanchez by Veracruz Governor Rochi Nahal Garcia, who expressed condolences on social media Sunday.

So these are cadets. Maybe that's how you get on the, so they're not well-trained. That's how you get them to do dumb stuff? Hey, what are you going to do to shimmy up this pole here and find your place on the mast there and then tie your feet down.

Hey, check this out. I need you to rope off on this. It's a, yeah, it's a big honor. It's a big, it's a big, it's a big honor to be on the mast there.

Oh my God, man. I feel so bad. Get up there. Pancho Villa.

It's absolutely terrible, man. It is terrible. Yeah, this is, it was almost like a murder. Feels like a murder to me.

Second degree? Yeah, he tied these guys down. So tell me more about the S&M that you're into. He likes to get tied down.

You don't know? You don't want to talk about it? No. You're definitely not the Dom, right?

Why, are you looking to join, Michael? If you need an extra cameraman, sure. I mean, you know, I think you'd be busy. What's one more angle?

No, you don't need angles. See, Do you think you can jostle me? You can't. I can't what?

It's a good attempt, but. Oh, I could, but I mean. It's hot in here. Was it hot in here?

It's hot in here. No, you're in a tank top. Yeah, you're barely dressed. Yeah, you're practically naked.

Are we ready to move on? Are you ready to move on? I'm ready to move on. Please stop talking about my boating outings.

Do you have to ask your dom if we can move on? No, no, I have free will. You have free will? Yeah.

Okay. All right. Sure, let's move on. Philly's reliever pitcher Jose Alvarado suspended 80 gains by the MLB, Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jose has been suspended 80 gains without pay for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy.

The hard-throwing left-hander tested positive for testosterone, exogenous? It doesn't sound like weight loss medication to me. Which is a performance-enhancing substance. Oh, good figure.

Loses weight and helps you throw harder. That's the ped. " I believe that the way he talked to me. The way he spoke about it.

This is what happened. I was in the locker room. I was backing up naked. And someone stuck me right in the ass.

Fell into a syringe. Allegedly. Allegedly. Barring rain outs that push games into later the season, Alvarado would be eligible to return August 19th against Seattle.

Again, Seattle, he will lose, oh, anybody want to guess how much money he's losing? A lot of money. This is without pay. 80, 80, 80 game suspension, listen, okay, so I don't know a ton about baseball.

He's a star player. He's a star player. He's a star player. As a relief pitcher?

Yeah, he's one of their big pitchers, yeah. Okay, so, uh, I'm just gonna lob one out here and say $40 million. Boots? I'm gonna go $18 million.

5 million. He's like half of his $9 million salary this year. So he's not that big of a deal. Yeah.

As part of a $22 million three-year contract he signed in 2023. Yeah. Philadelphia has a $9 million option on Alvarado for 2026 with a $500,000 buyout. We've got to move on, manager Rob Thompson said.

It's too bad, but we've got to move on. We have really good pieces here that can pick up the slack. Alvarado leads the Phillies with seven saves this season. 7 ERA and 20 appearances.

He has 25 strikeouts, 4 walks, and 20 innings pitched. 6 mile-per-hour four-seam fastball velocity ranks fifth among those who have thrown 250 or more pitches. Well, he's, you know, enhanced, so. 6 miles per hour, that's pretty fast.

Well, if you were taking those drugs, maybe you could throw fast, too. Oh, I'm sorry, maybe if you were losing weight, you could take those. Yeah, losing weight. You could lose weight, you'd pitch that too.

That's a lot of money to lose, he lost half of his salary. Yeah. Right. And he can't take the drugs anymore.

You know, it's crazy. Well, he could for the 80, for 44 more games. That's halfway through, when are they gonna check him again? Yeah, what does he need the drugs for?

Like the president. At this point. Weight loss, I guess? I mean, maybe he's fat, I don't know.

Yeah, maybe he's fat. I'm willing to bet that if you get pelted, you're probably monitored more. Probably. Can't you hire somebody to pee for him?

He should really talk to his doctor about that, uh, Ozempic, that's a better one. Yeah, now Ozempic's in a drink or something, you don't even need the shots anymore. Right. So what was the, it was, what was the testosterone something?

Some testosterone booster. Right. But it's a muscle, or it's an enhancing thing too. Yeah, but it raises your test levels.

Well, but you lose weight. Because it raised your test levels. He had no idea that it was- I had no idea. You're making even stronger.

I was trying to lose weight. I just thought I was pitching better. I just thought all was well. Very interesting.

Romano has had five saves this season, including Sunday when he struck out the side to preserve a 1-0 Phillies victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Alvarado is the second major league player suspended this season under MLB's drug testing program. Atlanta Braves outfielder Profar was suspended for 80 games March 1st. Next right-hander Jose Ruiz on the injured list since May 3rd with neck spasms was activated to fill Alvarado's roster spot.

Oh, neck spasms get to play. Neck spasm? Yeah, he gets to play. His podcast is riddled with mispronunciations.

Love it. Yeah, he's not taking the shot, so he's good. Or maybe he should have held his neck spasm. Do you think we should allow PEDs in sports?

We went over this one time before. Yes, that's the reason I pulled the story because you are in favor. You were, but you were in the past. I, okay, I still am.

Are you? How do you feel about it? If they make it available to everybody across the board, it's got to be even. So, I mean, if you can take it, I have to be able to take it.

Well, if you just say, hey, it's okay to do. Right. I don't, I mean, why not at this point? Are we trying to pretend that they're natural athletes?

Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. Is that what we're trying to pretend? We're trying to pretend they're natural athletes. They're all on something.

It's just a matter of whether or not, you know, they get caught. It's not like this guy just started taking it yesterday. Or, I mean, you're theoretically speaking that, right? Allegedly, yes.

But it's possible that, I mean, people are genetically stronger than others. Sure. Right. And it's possible that some people are taking supplementation that's totally legit.

Right. Right. Or doesn't show up on the test. Because it's legit.

" Maybe we should check. It's completely random. Or is it just like every 90 days you have to pee in a cup? I mean, that's another thing.

Are random drug tests actually random? They're never random. You don't think so? Right, I don't think so.

Not like they're drawing names out of a hat in the office. All right, who's up today? Well, Kyle. Oh, we hit Kyle three times this month.

Yeah. Random matters. Name came up. Hit him again.

Got to check on Kyle. Poor Kyle. What do you think, Boots? Yeah, I think it should be allowed.

I mean, they still got to hit the ball. Yeah. Yeah, there still has to be some skill involved. It's more home runs that way.

More exciting. Yeah. Yeah, but again, you still have to connect properly. I mean, it's not like you could just hit the ball on the bottom of it or the top of it and jack it over the fence.

You know, you've got to be able to hit the ball square and follow through and all that good stuff. So, I mean, it's still skill level. When is the off-season for baseball? Are they in the middle of the season?

Did the season just start? The season's like quarter of the way done. So, how long, let's say, has it been going on? Well, okay, the season's 164 games, I think it is.

So, I think there's only been probably like, what, 40 to 50? Okay, because they're saying, so 40, 50, so that's like weeks too, right? They play one game a week? Is that the way it is?

No, they play like, they could play up to three to four games a week. Okay, so we're still looking at like 10 to 12 weeks. Yeah, the off-season for baseball is only like, are you including training? I don't know, the way I'm asking, supposedly he was taking the weight loss drug during the off-season.

Yeah, the off-season is only like three, four months. Here's a more interesting fact. Do you think that the past 20 years, slightly more than the past 20 years, has ratings for the MLB been on an incline or a decline? Decline.

Decline. Why? Why do you think it's been on a decline? I don't hear as much about it as I used to.

That's what I used to, so. Yeah. Yeah, it's not, I mean, home runs, it's not exciting. You know, when Mark McGuire.

Didn't baseball, baseball used to be America's sport, and now I don't think it is anymore. Well, it's, it's still America's sport, but America's pastime, if you will. Oh, America's favorite pastime, there you go. Yeah, but, but when Mark McGuire, and Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds, and all those guys were jacking home runs over the fence every game, and there was a race, you know, they made it a, a game, inside of a game.

Right. It was more exciting. Yeah. Giambi, Piazza.

So you would argue the fact that, PEDS, PEDS, would help with viewership? I think so, yeah. You think so? I think when that thing not too long ago came out about the tornado bat or whatever, you know, I think people started watching...

The tornado bat? Yeah, you don't remember when the Yankees were using the... The torpedo bat? The torpedo bat, sorry.

The torpedo bat. Thank you. Yes! The tornado bat.

This week's clip. The tornado bat. Brought to you by weather. Anyways.

Yes, so anyways. But then people started watching more. So wait, are they still using the torpedo bat or no? They're allowed to.

Yeah, sure, it's illegal and regulation. Okay. But if they were taking steroids, like this guy. Right.

" Weight loss drugs, please. It's weight loss drugs, sir. Weight loss drugs and testosterone, not... So since 2000, ratings have rarely exceeded over 15 million, with viewerships dropping from the average of 18 million in 2000 to as low as 9 million in 2020.

23, based on World Series ratings alone. So, yeah, that's a huge decline. The '70s and the '80s was actually peak time for baseball. Where viewership...

Why don't they make 'em stand still out in the field and the batter has to try to hit one of 'em? With the ball. If you hit 'em? If you hit 'em, you get a home run.

You know what we should do? We should tie them to a mast out in the... Oh! 147 feet in the air?

Yeah. And we'll start with the rookies. So we'll be like, this is, yeah, makes sense. That's how they get on the team.

Right. They're a little bit of hazy, never hurt anybody. Right. Yeah.

Ricky's going to about to walk in, by the way, just so you know. Okay. So, yeah, I think. He accepted the suspension and did not appeal.

Yeah, because he's on drugs. Well, yeah, he got caught. What's he going to do? That wasn't my pee in that cup.

It was an accident. He's never going to admit, but he's going to accept everything. Right. Exactly.

Yeah. It's not my fault, but go ahead. I mean, I'd fight that to the bitter end. It cost me $4 million.

I'd like to announce my new endorsement deal with this weight loss drug. If it cost me $4 million, I would deny, deny, deny, deny, deny, and fight it. And fight it. Even at the end of the day.

Just get a sponsorship. Even if I got settled at $2 million, I'd still save $2 million. Right. $4 million is a hard haircut.

Yeah. All right, Boots Trending Storytime. oh come on come on come on come on i like how he comes in it's like is there's like shooters or something oh god duck perfect all right well hello peoples who are you on you on me or him i want him oh thank you always on palm why on me that's fun well the good news is i can barely read this yeah sorry we need ink upstairs apparently we We have a printer problem. Our funds are low, so please get on the Patreon.

We need more people. We have toner. Come on. All right.

In a deeply disheartening development, other than 17,800 cartons of ice cream and frozen yogurt have been recalled due to potential contamination with plastic fragments. Oh, no. A revelation that has left both dessert lovers and communities reeling. The voluntary recall issued by Iowa-based Wells Enterprises on April 25, 2025 came as a gut punch to those who find comfort and joy in a simple scoop of ice cream.

The recall includes an astounding 22 flavors from timeless vanilla and rich chocolate to more adventurous swirls, all packed in three-gallon tubes meant for restaurants, schools, hospitals, and community centers across 103 locations in the United States. Families in places like Lamars, Iowa, the self-proclaimed ice cream capital of the world, now face a chilling irony. What was once a source of happiness and small-time pride has become a cause of cautious sorrow. In Houston and Fort Worth and nursing homes and cafeterias, the cheerful chime of dessert time now carries a note of uncertainty.

The recall is classified as class two by the FDA, signaling a risk of temporary or medically reversible health effects. Though no injuries have yet been reported, the thought that something as innocent as charity as ice cream could bring harm casts a long shadow over the smiles it once inspired. The best of views by date stretch from March to October of 2026, a reminder that this dark It's not just about the tubs of frozen ice cream. It's about memories interrupted, treats taken away, and trust in something so pure and joyful.

Unexpectedly shaken for now. A full list of recall products has been posted by the FDA. I thought he'd read it more upset-wise. That's it?

There's no joke about his devastation about the ice cream? Well, the whole thing was a joke about his devastation with the ice cream. He says devastation with the ice cream. " He's very upset about the ice cream.

Yes. It was just hard to be upset when I'm upset about there being no ink. He's upset about the ink as well as the lack of ice cream. There's plastic in some of the ice creams.

What's the problem? I don't know if he ever said that. He did. Oh, did he?

Okay. He did. Yeah. He's mad.

Well, I don't eat ice cream anymore. I only eat gelato. You gave up ice cream? You gave up ice cream?

Yeah. What kind of? There was no press release or anything. No.

What kind of un-American? Maybe that's really why there was an overabundance of ice cream, because he's still buying it. There's a surplus, yeah. Surplus.

You guys have had gelato. We have? Yes, I've had gelato before. Why would you eat regular ice cream?

You think gelato is better than ice cream? Yes. You're out of your mind. Yeah, you're out of your mind.

God, now, he's delusional. I buy it at Aldi's, it's cheaper. Oh, okay. It's like two bucks for a tub of gelato.

Right. A tub. A tub. I've never seen gelato come out of a tub.

I don't know. It's like this big. How many times do you eat a week? Oh, it's like this big, the man who doesn't have a camera.

A week, I don't have a... You don't have a gauge? No. Is there a certain flavor of gelato you prefer?

Yes, the berry one. You're a berry gelato guy? The berry. I like the berry one.

Oh. Okay. Aldi's brand only, or are you all over the place? You just like Aldi's because of its price?

You know, it's kind of funny. The only place you can really find gelato is at... Aldi's? Aldi's.

Well, Aldi's hidden success is that you don't get choices. Right. Right. Well, I mean, they have three choices of the gelato.

Well, yeah, but that's probably like strawberry, chocolate, vanilla. No, it's birthday cake, peach cobbler. They've done research. Or berry.

He knows. I have all three. He has all three. Yeah.

So he goes through three tubs a week. Minimum. Minimum. You know, just to unwind on his stressful days.

Yes. Do you keep a quarter in your car for the cart? I do, but I always fucking forget when I go up there. I'm like...

Oh, now he needs another quarter. This is such a stupid rule at Aldi's. That's why it keeps the prices down. Nobody has to go out and get carts.

Boots has rolled his eyes, just so you know. Boots rolled his eyes. How much money are we really paying one guy, you know, the new guy, the rookie, if you will, the guy that gets tied down on the mask? What's minimum wage right now, Michael?

I don't even know. Minimum wage is like $13. Is that it? Really?

Is that all it is? Yeah, $13 or $14. So $13 an hour, eight hours a day, seven days a week, that's how much money they save. Times that by number of stores.

No, they actually make money because a lot of people just leave their quarter back. Well, then the next person gets the quarter. Is that how that works? Yeah, you have to have a quarter to unlock it.

Yeah, a lot of times what people do is they'll come out and they'll see people like me who don't have their quarter and frantically being pissed off and they'll go, "Oh, here, just take this cart. " So they gave you the quarter. The hardest part is that you have to return it. Right, that's what I'm saying.

Right, that's the whole idea. That's where you lose the 25 cents. Well, you try to catch somebody in the lot who needs a cart, and they give you their quarter and you give them your cart. One dollar.

I'll give you mine for a dollar. Well, a dollar? I can go up there and get one for a quarter. No, I won't let you over there.

And I get my quarter. You can just stop them right there. Yeah, it's kind of like paying it forward at Aldi. Is that?

Oh, really? I have given my cart to people sometimes. You know, I remember back in the day I took a bus to work or whatever, and you can get like an all-day pass for a bus. Right.

So there were people that when they were done with their all day pass, they would leave it on the seat. Oh, I've seen that. So if you bought the entrance. I've read about that or something.

If you just bought the one to get on for the day. You just give it to the next person. You would grab somebody's all day pass that was just sitting there. There's a whole underbelly.

It's pretty fascinating. Yes, a whole dark network of bus cheaters. Yeah, bus cheaters and cart stealers. Cart stealers, right.

Yeah. All right, let's shift gears from the chaos on the world stage to what really matters. As soon as I leave here though, I'm going to go to Aldi, I'm going to spend about three bucks, and get gelato, and I'm going to have all the carts, and I'm going to charge a dollar a pull. Somebody will come out from this.

All sales final. Somebody will come out from this store. Who's going to come out in their vests? You're not going to stop me.

They do have a manager. No, they can't come out, the prices have to stay low. No, there's a manager in there, because somebody put a quarter, when I was there the other day, somebody put a quarter in and it didn't work, so they went in to get the manager. I'm like, just go get another quarter out of your cart.

So here's what we do. And a 19 year old came out. Here's what we do. I was a guy like your age.

Here's what we do. We take about three bucks. Yeah. We'd steal all the carts.

And I'm running a cart monopoly in front of Aldi. Yes. When the manager comes out frantically trying to, you know. Figure out where all the carts are?

I'm going to press hardback, and hopefully I'll get some more employees out. It'll be like a whole thing. Well, there's only two employees. Yeah, so then I'll get both employees out there.

Okay? Right. And then at that point, I want you to slide in and steal all the gelato. Yes.

No. We take over Aldi's. We take. It's like Seattle.

Like Seattle, would you take over? Back in the day. All right, it's time for your weekly dose of cigar news. No social media stuff?

I don't have anything. Do you have something? Well, I have the Joe Rogan thing. Did you watch Guy Fearing?

Oh, I've seen bits and pieces of it, not the whole thing. You didn't watch? And I did see this lovely video made by an Asian man who can't pronounce the Espinosa cigars correctly. Right.

That was nice. Oh. And I did have somebody... Was it Bob?

Was the Asian guy? Was his name Bob? I don't know. He never said his name.

But go ahead. No, you did have somebody what? Uh, somebody did, uh, mention that they thought Joe Rogan was, um, demeaning to, uh, Mr. Fieri.

Condescending. Yeah, that word, too. Sway. Yeah, it was sway.

Um, yeah, uh... Really, Joe? Joe would never be condescending. Do you want me to talk about it more on the Patreon, or do you want me to talk about it here, or what?

Well, do you have insider information? No, no, I have my own theories behind it. Oh, well, let's talk about it here. I watched the whole interview.

Yeah, it accelerated speed. Drives me crazy. I can't listen to that when you do that. You get mad?

And apparently Ryan did also because he had to walk out. He got mad too? Yes. Did you watch the interview with Joe Rogan and Guy Fieri?

No, I did not. Well, for one, let me start by saying this. We reached out to Coop, right? Yes.

We called Coop and... Oh, yeah, yeah, for two weeks in a row. And he never bothered calling. Yeah, doesn't take the call and doesn't call back.

So a lot of people would take that as a negative response. Sure. I'm going to take it as a positive response. So he still has not called since that show?

That show. No, since him being upset. Allegedly being upset. Somebody telling us he was upset.

So I'm going to take it that he's okay with it. Okay. And that he's positive and I'm going to work on a clip right now. Right?

Oh, God. Another Coop clip? Yeah. This week's Coop clip.

So here's you by Coop Coalition. Here's the one thing that I'm going to tell you that I'm excited about for Joe Rogan's podcast with Guy Fieri. Yes. At least.

Coop was on it. No. At least the interview. Sorry, go ahead.

At least somebody covered Guy Fieri in the industry, even though Coop snubbed him completely. Yes. I'm very, we're very fortunate that Joe Rogan stepped up and covered Guy Fieri as far as interviewing him, because somebody had to do it. Well, I read that that's why he did it, because the coalition didn't talk to him at all.

Because the coalition wouldn't cover him? Right. So we go, you know what, I'll do it. Well, he watched our show and then saw the reason why.

He's a big fan, big fan of his team. And he figured that he would step up? Yeah. Thank you so much, Joe Rogan.

Yes, Mr. Rogan, thank you very much. For doing the hard work for uncovering Guy Fieri. Okay, now go ahead.

So do I think he was condescending? No, I think that Joe Rogan did a good job with the interview. I think that it went extremely well. I do believe that one thing happened that set the pace for the entire show and with and and because of that it made Joe guarded.

What was that Guy Fieri flattered him at the beginning. Please explain how he just talked about him on the show and like you know how he was he was happy to be there and like he does a lot of hard work and all these things and kind of acknowledged him and I think that When you acknowledge, I think there's like a trauma that actually happens to people, especially people that are more accomplished in the world, highly successful people, I think that somewhere along the lines, they got bit by somebody that flattered them. Somebody talked them out that made them feel good, and then that person took advantage of them. So when somebody comes out and flatters an individual like that, they instantly get guarded.

So that's, I mean, I'm, I don't listen to Joe Rogan on the regular. Do people not come on and go, "Thank you for having me on, Joe. You're doing a great job. " Or did Guy go above and beyond that?

Yeah, I think that that's kind of your standard, "Hey, thanks so much. " Right, that's what I'm asking. Guy's felt like more. Yeah, but that's, that's kind of how Guy is, though.

You're a very attractive man. I like your hair. Yeah, yeah, I love your hair. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

No, I mean, was it that type of, not that specifically, but that type of thing where he was more complimentary. Yeah, I think that when you go in depth, when you go in depth on somebody that, you know, there are specific people that don't take compliments very well, right, you know, and a lot of those people are people that are very successful. So, I'm curious, what else did he say? I don't remember exactly, but there was like a, it opened up with that.

And you could tell that if you go back and you watch the interview, just, just if you watch the beginning segment, you know, guy says these things that are very, it's very, very nice. But, you know, Joe kind of responds with like, thanks. Did it seem sincere? Not Joe, guys.

Yeah, it didn't seem insincere. I'm, you know, I'm kind of really diagnosing more on the aspect of, like, something happens to people where, you know, someone flatters you, and then you realize that that person that was flattering you is just trying to work an angle and take advantage of you. Right. No, no, I understand what you're saying.

I'm just curious how a guy came off. Maybe he just, maybe he came off and Joe just didn't take it well. I just don't think that Joe really knows Guy. Right.

So because of that, he instantly got guarded. That was how I took it. The bits and pieces I saw the interview, you could tell they didn't know each other well. Yeah.

And I think that the opening where they kind of started to open up a little bit more is when he realized, when Joe realized that Guy Fieri knew Taylor Sheridan. Oh. " Oh, so that's a thing? What?

Knowing Taylor Sheridan? if you know people that are in the same realm of you, then usually you can gain some credibility, right? Like, oh, you know this guy, and this guy thinks you're a good dude? Small role.

Yeah, like, if you came up to me and said, hey, like, I want you to meet this guy. He's a really cool dude. He's a really good person, whatever. You're giving him credibility.

Right, but not like Guy, not Guy, Sheridan, not like Taylor Sheridan was there and said, hey, I want you to meet my friend Guy Fieri. Guy Fieri said, hey, Taylor said something, and he goes, oh, you know Taylor? Right, so it means that you guys are walking He's working in similar realms, right? Well, don't all famous people sort of have a thing where they run into each other for random reasons or something?

No, that's more Eyes Wide Shut stuff, where they all know each other and they all wear the masks? No, no, but I'm glad you are set up with all these sexual things today, though. It's very intriguing. Well, you started with the Dom's thing.

I just leaned into yours. Whatever. I mean, celebrity people know celebrity people. Not necessarily.

No, but it's more likely that, let's say, Guy Fieri's gonna mention Taylor Sheridan in passing than say you are. Okay, but Joe doesn't know anything about Guy in that aspect, right? As far as what Joe knows is Guy is the guy that goes around and finds restaurants that are good that no one sees. That's all he knows.

Oh, diners, dive engines, and drives guys, right? Yeah, as much as us. Right, he's a... Well, I've heard stories about Guy Fieri where he has these parties and all these celebrities come over and he cooks for them and they get all excited He's all excited because he teaches them things.

Right. Yeah, but again, that's a select few. Yeah, but that's not all of them. Right.

No, but I mean, it could be. Who knows? It's kind of stereotypical for you to assume that all celebrities that really know each other get together and talk about how shitty the rest of us are. I'm sure they do.

Yeah, you think so? All of us? All of us. Can you believe that they're eating takeout Chinese tonight and I'm making smash burgers?

Right, or he's making Chinese at his house. So no, I don't think that they all congregate as a unit of celebrities. Not all the time, but I wouldn't be surprised that Guy Fieri knew Taylor Sheridan. Well, you know what, though, about Guy Fieri being on that show?

Guy Fieri's a big name, especially for the cigar industry, right? But Joe Rogan is a huge name. I mean, if you're on that guy's show, like, you're a somebody. Sure.

Right? I mean, getting off the Taylor Sheridan thing. Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, Guy Fieri is already a really nice guy to begin with, and he's very professional.

So he gains more stardom off of liking somebody or saying how good they are or being professional towards them. I mean, that's just the type of professional he is. Right. I agree with that.

Well, sure. Like where Coop said, what's his name, had Guy Fieri's phone number, we can call him any time. He's got on speed dial. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, it doesn't have ours. Yeah.

It doesn't have our phone number. You know, the other thing that really kind of sucked is the fact that they didn't really talk about the cigars. Like, he handed them the box of cigars at the beginning, and that was the end of it. Tell me about the cigar, what made you do the cigar, why are you into it, how long have you been into cigars, none of that, none of that really kind of developed.

So, like, the beginning of the interview, there was struggle there, I think, because of the flattering and then, you know, because of the lack of openness from Joe. They gave him Knuckles Sandwich Cigars, I'm guessing? What's that? He gave him Knuckles Sandwich Cigars?

Correct. Okay. Do you think maybe that's because of the cigars that Joe smokes? Because he smokes a different brand.

They're made out of the same factory. Oh. What did they talk about? Just a little bit more backstory about Guy.

Was he promoting something? Because normally when they go on those shows, they're promoting something. No, not really. He just talks about and then he kind of led into like a lot of the philanthropy stuff that he does, which is pretty fascinating.

You know, he went out for the California fires and took care of first responders and stuff. I mean, everything that I hear about Guy Fieri, I'm just like, this guy's a good guy, you know, right? Just normally, those interviews are set up with, you know, here's what I'd like to talk about. Ask these questions.

Well, I think that they probably should have microdosed before they got into it or something, I think that they talked about cold plunging. Did they? Yeah. Maybe Guy Fieri doesn't microdose.

We know Joe Rogan does. Doesn't like to dose? Maybe he doesn't microdose. Oh, probably not.

Mm-hmm. But I'm not gonna say all celebrities microdose, though. Yeah, but I don't know, man, I gotta tell you, like, I don't know, if I'm about, let's say I meet Joe Rogan, he's like, hey, let's do a podcast. Right.

You know, I'm like, okay. Yes. Mike, before we do it, I want you to take this fragment of a mushroom. He says that to you or you say it to him?

I mean, I'm not a mushroom guy. I wouldn't say that to him. But let's say he is a mushroom guy. I can't verify that he is or he isn't.

" I don't know if I'd say no. It's Joe Rogan. I've never done it before. Is it because he's Joe Rogan?

Let's say when you do Sway Show, he goes, Hey, I'm going to mail you this. I don't need you to take it before we do the interview. No, it doesn't happen. He's not Joe Rogan.

He's not Joe Rogan. That's what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know.

Let's say you're going to interview Joe Rogan and you said something to Joe. Joe, I need you to take this before we do the interview. You think Joe takes it? No.

I'm not at his level. Right. But I would be pissed if I did an interview with Joe Rogan and we weren't smoking a cigar. I'd be like, what the fuck, man?

You're a cigar guy, I'm a cigar guy. Well, it's because you're a cigar guy. Right. But let's say that wasn't your main thing.

Guy Fieri's not, I mean, he's a cigar guy, but it's not his main thing. Right, but he started with handing him a box of cigars. Well, because you know Joe Rogan's a cigar guy, that's... Right!

Right. That's my point. Well, I know, but that's not what the interview was supposed to be about, apparently. It was his philanthropy stuff.

Well, maybe Joe Rogan's a fan of Flavortown instead of Cigartown. The part I saw, he wasn't even familiar with why Knuckles Sandwich. He's like, you have Knuckles Sandwich Necklace, you have Knuckles Sandwich on your cigar, Knuckles Sandwich on your shirt. Yeah, like, what is this?

Like, he knew nothing. So then Joe's not a real cigar guy. Well, I think he's a real cigar guy. He's a real cigar guy, but he might not know about Guy Fieri's cigars.

But that is a good point, Boots. Because knuckle sandwich is everywhere in the cigar world. Right now, I think so. Yeah, and if you were in the cigar world, you know what a knuckle sandwich is.

Or maybe Joe Rogan only listens to Coops show. And that's why he knows nothing about Guy Fieri at this point. He doesn't even know Guy Fieri in cigars. Great point.

That's probably it. Yeah. Son of a bitch. You know, it's like all his pre-work that he did for the interview was through Coop.

Yeah. And he knows everything about Perdomo, but nothing about Guy Pierre. Right. And foundation.

Yeah. Yeah. Crazy the shade, bro. Okay.

All right. Go ahead. Now you want to tap into cigar news. Go ahead.

Do we have time? I don't know what time we had over there, Boots. We're at 1:50, uh, 51 minutes. You want to pause and then come back after the meeting?

Uh, I'm nowhere with that. I was wondering if you want to keep going. I mean, yeah, of course. Well, whatever you want to do.

Yeah, buddy. Let's go. Is there a lot of cigars? Let's get it, let's get it rolling.

Don Doroteo El Vincidor, 1492 W, Don Doroteo's newest cigar, one that comes with 21 years of age on it, debuted at the Cigar Wine & Spirits Tasting Hosted by Enthusiast Reports Magazine this week, ahead of its widespread release this summer. Why wouldn't they release that at the PCA, you think? They weren't at PCA. I thought they had a booth, but they, oh, they weren't there at all.

They were not there. 5x54 Robusto that uses an Ecuadoran Corojo Havana wrapper, a Dominican Orlo binder, and fillers that contain Dominican Corojo Havana, two varieties of Dominican Criollo 98 Havana, and Nicaraguan tobacco. The company says the blend, you know why it takes 21 years? To get all this tobacco together.

Right, you gotta start writing, speaking. The company says the blend is full-flavored, full in strength, and offers nutty flavors such as toasted almonds, coffee beans, and hints of spice. The cigars rolled in 2004 and have been sitting at the La Aurora Cigar Factory in aging rooms ever since. So, did they buy these in 2004 when they weren't even in a company yet?

That's such a weird statement at the end. Well, from what I understand, Dondo Orteo is, They've had their own farm as far as growing tobacco, and they've given it to, the tobacco, they've sold it to La Aurora. Oh, I didn't know that. So, hey, we have a receipt here for some tobacco we sold you in 2004.

Did you guys use that budget? Oh, well, they could still, I don't know, 21 years sounds like a stretch, but they could have been holding on to it that whole time. One more year longer than the other, you know? Maybe it was the other tobacco that just aged an extra year.

Because we discussed when they originally came out, can they do this again? You know, can they find another cigar that's been sitting around for 20 years? Apparently the answer is yes. Yeah.

I don't know. We'll see. I'm intrigued to taste it because I like a lot of their stuff. I think they make some good cigars.

I think they make great cigars. Production is limited to 5,000 cigars. Oh, they're only going to make 5,000. Well, they've already made it.

Oh, I can't wait to hear the price. The Don Doroteo 1492 is offered in five-count boxes with individual cigars It's having an MSRP of? $40. Yeah, it's got to be somewhere around there.

$29 per cigar. Really? That's a deal. They will begin shipping to retailers this summer.

So they'll be 21 and a half. So it's $150 for a box? It's a five-count box? Yes.

Okay. I see what they did there. Okay, we have price increases due to tariffs. Don Doroteo's not on there, right?

No. Well, no, they've been out of the country for 21 years. Villiger Cigars, North America, increasing price next week due to tariffs. I thought they just did that already.

Didn't they just do that? Not Villiger didn't. Villiger was in the news recently. We just covered something from Villiger.

They put out a new cigar. They're doing it again. They put out a new cigar. Yeah.

But now the new date is May 19th. Everybody's doing the prices on May 19th. May 19th. May 19th, which is today.

Oh, we're fucked. Damn it. On Monday, May 19th, Villiger Cigars, North America, will increase the prices of most of the cigars itself. Like many other companies have announced price increases, the company says tariffs are to blame.

President of Villiger Cigars North America told Cigars or Podcast that the price increase amounts to an average of 6% for its handmade cigars, and one exception is the new Villiger 1888 Gran Reserva, which will not increase in price at all. Oh. Hmm. I don't have the complete stories, I just have some of the highlights here.

Okay. STG increased its price 5% due to tariffs. Okay. Scandinavian Tobacco Group, the largest cigar company in the world, has announced that it will increase the prices of its cigars that sells in the USA by 5%.

25% effective Monday, May 19th. This change will only apply to wholesale orders placed by retailers on STG's own brands. So only wholesale, not retail? That doesn't make any sense.

Well, they're not in charge of what the retailers do. Yeah. Oh. Why did they make that statement then?

They raised the wholesale price. Because a wholesale order is placed on just their brands. Right. Because they represent brands that I assume they don't make.

Right. Oh, okay. I didn't understand why they put that statement. Okay, so here's my question.

Yes. They only raise it five or six percent when the tariff essentially is costing you ten percent. Well... They're eating part of it like Roma Craft.

You think they're eating part of it? No, I think their prices were already high enough. You think their prices were high enough? Yeah.

So they think that they're at a level of resistance? Right. Enough margin built in? You think they have enough margin built in so they're just okay with absorbing some of the cost?

Could be. Do you think that maybe they think that the tariffs will go away eventually and they don't wanna... That could be two, and then, I mean, like we said last week, you can't back it back down. Right.

Right. Because we're, I mean, 5%, we're talking on STG, most of their cigars are, what, between 10 and 16? We're talking, what, 50, 60, 70 cents? Yeah, well, on average, you see a 3 or 4% price increase on a cigar annually, right?

So if you do that, that 3 or 4%, and then you do, like, another 5 or 6%, you're close to that 10% increase. Right. So, essentially, what you're anticipating is you're going to cover that tariff cost with the price increase. Sure.

Plus the additional that you just hit in May. Right. So, that means that you're essentially going to flatline as far as your EBITDA. Your EBITDA?

Oh, EBITDA. It's EBITDA. Yeah. Yeah, you can buy that boat.

Without a mess. There's a boat called the EBITDA that Skip has eyes on. Oh. But realistically, you're concerned about the overall resistance of a price point.

Right. Right? Sure. So you cut your losses as far as growth, but you're not taking yourself out of a sector where you think demand still exists.

Right. That's what I think. Yeah. Could be right.

Okay. Artesio Del Tobacco announced a 2025 price. Oh, the Pupo guys. Yeah.

You love the Pupo guys. For the first time in history. How long have they been around? 75 years.

21 years. I don't know. I tried to find it. I couldn't find it.

El Pupo. They've been waiting for San Andreas to hit. It's finally hit. Their increases in price have only applied to one of the company's lines, the debut Viva La Vida Classic line.

The increase amounts to about 50 cents per cigar on the wholesale price. The change will go into effect immediately. As of now, there are no price changes on the El Pupo, the Viva La Vida for the anniversary, and the Viva La Vida Connecticut. However, Artesino Del Taco said it's possible that those brands could be subject to a price increase to, so it would be at least six months.

Did you just call them Artesino Del Taco? I always say that. Yeah, you did say Del Taco. Yeah, I said that when we talked about it before.

Del Taco. I only get it confused with the Del Taco people. Okay. The Del Taco makes you El Pupo.

Right. A letter from the company cited increased costs related to tobacco production and tariffs as a reason for the change. Best Cigar Prices Alliance Cigar Merge. Best Cigar Prices Alliance Cigars Merge.

Yes, but apparently that's in the wrong place. I don't know why that showed up right there. Oscar Valladares Tobacco Company to implement tariff-related price increase on May 19th. We'll get back.

That was just a teaser. We'll get to the rest of that story. Okay. Oscar Valladares Tobacco Company has joined the growing list of premium cigar companies that have announced plans...

Let's slow down for some more. Plans to increase the prices in response to the recent implementation, implemented tariffs on many foreign-made goods. Oscar stated after careful consideration, the company has made the difficult decision to implement a 10% increase on our current price list, effective starting Monday, May 19th. We understand that price adjustments are never ideal, but this step is necessary.

" Okay. Foundation increases prices June cites tariffs. Foundation Cigar Company has announced that on June 1st it will increase the price of most of the cigars the company sells due to President Donald Trump's April tariff announcements. A statement released from the owner Nick Malillo stated something long-winded about the history of tariffs and how he's still been knighted and these types of things are beneath him in this country.

Gurkha Volition American line to get new packaging. This is what Booch is all excited about. I'm very excited about that. Just a few months after the debut of the Volition America by Gurkha Cigars, the company has given three lines of packaging to update.

Instead of presenting the 13 cigars that each box contains in a single row, they are now presented in two rows, which gives the boxes a narrower footprint in retail humidor, shrinking from 42 inches to 24 inches. Nice. What's the box count? Thirteen.

Thirteen. 13 Original Colonies? So we're 13 across, now there's two rows of six and a half? Yeah, what do you do?

They must be putting a little block in there. A little block on the bottom? Yeah, no one really cares, we just want to make sure the backpacks and coffee mugs are still that obnoxiously large size. That's what they're looking to do?

That's what we all want to know. They're going to the Venti size. That's right. All right, best cigar prices, Pennsylvania-based retailer and Alliance Cigars and New York-based distributor have announced that the two companies have merged.

Greg Fox, isn't there a Fox website too? Fox Cigars, yeah. I don't think they're affiliated. , the parent company of Best Cigar Prices.

Tom Sullivan and Steve have been named EVPs, Executive Vice President of Alliance Cigars, and will serve on the new global board and have equity in the combined company. This is a natural and very exciting strategic combination of our business, said Fox in a press release. Oh shit, I just lost it completely. So why do you think that happens?

Why do you think that two retail companies like that merge of that size? I think one can't survive anymore. You think one can survive? I think one's having problems and yeah, they need some type of financial backing.

One's a distributor, one's a retailer. com. Right. I mean, it's just easier to supply yourself, I guess?

I don't know. But these two companies aren't owned by the same person. True, I was just using that as an example. Do you think it's so that they can have the lowest prices?

Sure, that makes sense. Or the best cigar prices? Best cigar prices, yes, as in the name of the company. Because at that point, you can, you're like, you're removing a middleman, right?

Right. You're removing, you are the retailer. Right. Makes sense.

So is that a direct-to-consumer then, based off of that? Pretty much. I would think so. Right.

What do you think, Palmer? I think so too. I'm trying to get to the end, I hit the wrong button. I'm playing with the teleprompter now.

All right. All right, Michael, Half Wheel reviewed the San Andreas Cigar over the weekend. They did? Yes.

Can you read the article for us? Yeah, I've got it right here. Oh, you don't want to put it from your teleprompter? I told the teleprompter of the battery went dead.

The battery went dead? Yes. Is that what happened? Low battery.

It's backwards because of the way it works it, but yeah. Wanna read the whole thing? No. Oh.

So what did it get? Okay, Charlie reviewed it. Yes. After saying it tasted, so apparently he smokes three cigars at the same time.

Oh, really? Yeah, it's a little hard to read his, because he jumps around, like this one tasted like this, and then the second one tasted like this, and then I went back to the first one, and I got this, and then I went to the third one, and I got this. But, suffice to say, it tastes like potatoes. Potatoes?

Mashed potatoes. Mmm. Teriyaki chicken. Teriyaki?

Pork. Oh, so many. Yeah, there was a lot of leather. Yeah?

A lot of spice, red spice, red fruit, and then cranberries. Not the same thing. Right. Even though cranberries are red.

Okay. But he did give it a 91, so I don't want to complain too much. I don't think there's anything to complain about a 91. No.

It's quite the good, especially from Charlie. When Charlie writes a 91. Yes. It's like a perfect score.

It's practically a hundred, as far as I'm concerned. He's very fond of skipping the factory. He gave them most of the credit for the cigar being so good. As they should get the credit.

Right. Like, I have no problem with that at all, you know? Like, you're only as good as the tobacco you get to work with. Sure.

And ever since they've been doing pre-industry stuff, I really think that they turned a corner. They've gotten nothing but better. Oh, you think so? I thought they were always good.

They've always been great, but you can improve on greatness. Yeah, you can always improve. You can always improve. So, I think that they did an outstanding job.

It's a great cigar. I think... He was even very fond of the new colors, the black and the red. Yeah, you know, what's really kind of interesting is when you get together with a bunch of people and they all bring tremendous value to the table, you can create something that's...

Spectacular. Absolutely spectacular. Sure. So, you know, between the factory, Skip's vision, Michael's even helped with the sales aspect and kind of understanding that part of the industry, and even all the things that we do here, I think that the brand in itself is really going to continue to surge, man.

It hits 91. The Connecticut hit 91, I think too. Justice hit 91. Last year.

I believe so, yeah. Yeah, so, you know, if you look just on the pre-industry, like the kind of factory level, working with those guys, they're the best in the industry. Sure. It doesn't even get close.

Number one factory, what, three of the last five years or something like that? Yeah. So, I'm fortunate enough to be part of that. You know, we're fortunate enough to be part of that.

Thank you. Yes. And, you know, when I saw that in 91, I was like, yeah. And then, you know, you instantly got to see who did it.

Right, yeah, you got to jump to the end. I want to know who wrote it. Right. " Oh, when I started reading all the intricate flavor descriptions, I knew it was Charlie.

That's even better, man. Yeah. " It's kind of interesting how he smokes his cigars. Were you smoking three at one time?

While he's eating Chinese food, apparently. Well, yeah, I didn't want to say that, but yeah. That's not a racial thing, just all the flavors he was getting was Chinese-type flavors, it seemed. Right, yeah.

But regardless of the food aspect, just smoking three cigars in different intervals, you know, it's just kind of weird, actually. I never thought of that. Do you think he smokes all three of them at the same time? Well, that's what I was going to say.

You can't tell. The way he writes it, it sounds like he is. I don't think that he's smoking all three at the same time. That's how I interpreted it.

He does a great job of intertwining the notes from all three. Yeah, I think that's what he does. Okay, then I can understand that. Because he doesn't go one, two, three.

Right. It's one, and then a little bit of three, and then back to one, and then maybe throwing something from two. Right. And then back to three, and then maybe there's a four, like where did the fourth one come from?

It was just at the three. Yeah, maybe that's just how his brain works. It's a little hard to follow. Yeah, sometimes you gotta go back and read, okay, wait, one tasted like potatoes, three tasted like mashed potatoes, two has chicken?

Which one was two? Yeah, which one was two? What is going on here? What happened with two?

I don't know. Yeah, why did two get the potatoes? I don't know. And then he lost to the potato, and then he retro, and the potato came back.

Return of the potato. A little hint of teriyaki. I love that. Teriyaki was just in the first third of one of the cigars.

I don't remember which one. I gotta tell you, man, you know, the San Andreas, the Toro, I probably smoked two minimum every day. I was gonna ask which one was your favorite size. Uh, well, it's suggestive.

Subjective? Subjective. Subjective. Excuse me, because the Corona Gorda is really good, but that's not out yet.

I've been smoking that a lot. No, that's not out yet. And the last batch I took, I took the Robusto, and I really love that. I'm like, damn, this is good.

So, but I honestly, I keep the Toro around the most. Do you ever smoke the Bellicoso? Bellicoso is probably the one I smoke the least. I just opened a back of Perfectos.

I've been smoking those. Is there a reason why you smoke the Bellicoso the least? Just because of its shape. Yeah, I'm not a fan of the torpedo type.

I had to smoke more Toros and Corona Gordas. That's the two major sizes that I smoke all the time. Okay. So.

And we did have another fun, entertaining thing happen at the store. What, Michael? This is why I hate these things, because then you just have to do this. Why?

Well, I don't know where you're going. I'm not agitating you. I don't know where you're jumping to. There was a guy at the gas...

It could be one of two different things. So there was a guy next to our store at the gas station. Yes. And he placed his car in neutral as he went to go walk into the gas station.

Instead of park. Oh, we have found out more information about this. Oh, really? No, no, I'm saying I haven't heard this part.

I know of the initial... He knew somebody crashed. He didn't hear this. So the guy doesn't park his car.

- He puts his car in neutral, goes into it, and as you can see, as he's walking in, the car starts to slowly, the truck starts to slowly go back. - Cut to camera two inside the store. - Yeah, and he, the car, the truck rolls off the ramp, and slams into our- - We don't see it hit the deck, it rolls out of frame. - Correct.

The truck rolls back and slams into our fence and destroys part of our patio. Right, the outside deck outside. Yeah, at 11 o'clock. Crushes the corner.

Guy walks into the gas station, pays for his gas for whatever he does, comes out, sees that his truck is gone. Someone stole my truck. Stands there for a minute with his hands up trying to figure out where his truck went. Realizes that the truck went down the hill and into the storefront next door, goes and starts up his truck and drives back to the gas pump and gets gas.

And then goes home. Well, he paid for it. He didn't put $5 or $10 worth of gas. Put $20 on pump, $7.

Hey, times are tough, man. Every dollar counts. So yeah, so now we have this nice hole in our fence that we're going to have to repair. This is covered, though, under insurance?

It's one of those things where it's, is it enough to make an insurance claim or do you just bite? It's cheaper just to fix it. You just bite the bullet and repair it. Right.

" No, no note on the deck, and they're like, "Ooh, sorry, my car rolled back," or anything, no, nothing. No fake number. Yeah, no fake number. Wow.

Nothing. " I wonder why this guy put his vehicle in, I don't know. It was probably a mistake. It was 11:15 at night on a Friday or a Saturday.

Right. It was an older car. Maybe he thought he clicked it into parking and didn't go into parking. Maybe, maybe he was drunk, who knows?

Allegedly. That's why I said maybe. I'm just using the official word of the show, Michael. Maybe still works.

That would make a t-shirt, allegedly. Allegedly? Cigar House or Podcast, allegedly. Cross it out and then put maybe.

Maybe, allegedly. Maybe, allegedly. So yeah, I'll put some clips up for it too, Dan, in my reels of the video. Perfect.

So. And then you have an update for the merch store? Oh yeah. So, unfortunately, the merch store is not up just yet.

We're working as fast as we can. I'm doing what I can do. Unfortunately, I came across a couple of snags, but I'm responsible for it. It's not as easy as you'd think.

And I know that. It's not just like we want to sell shirts now or something, you know, right. Oh, okay, fine. Let me see the picture.

I know that it's complicated to some degree. I thought that it would be a little bit simpler because we're going to start kind of small. And just every avenue, every aspect has taken a little bit longer than I thought it would take. So, but I'm learning more things about it as I'm kind of building because this is a totally different source than what we've done to build our actual website.

So it's, it's interesting, you know, and I'm excited to do it. I mean, we have our first piece of merch ready. We have it ready to go. I cannot wait to unveil it to you guys.

It's very, it's very cool. It's very cool. So, I'm hoping to have everything kind of ironed out this week, and we will announce it on the next show. On the next show.

I want to just say two weeks, just give yourself a little cush. No. No. All right.

Bring on the pressure. I like the pressure. All right. All right.

That's it. You got to listen to the week, Michael? No. Why not?

Because. You got one, Boots? Yeah, Ricky. Listener of the week, Ricky.

Ricky. In audience, listener. Mikey, if you move your head just a little bit, you can see him. This way?

Yep. Oh, there he is. Mikey wanted to come down to be part of the podcast today, too. Greg told me he couldn't.

Today? Yes. Oh, I already told him that he couldn't. No, yeah, but he just wanted to come down to, like, maybe sit behind me.

Oh, got it. He wanted to be on the camera. He wanted to be on camera, right. Okay.

All right, that's it. That's all we got. we got what about a shop of the week buddy i don't have a shop of the week oh god you don't have a shop of the week look i just did an hour worth of content you've got to come up with one thing you're so angry i'm not angry but you always look at me like well there's not enough this is what you do you always but you always deliver this 378 shows yeah i anticipate you delivering 388 shows sorry you can't just wake up one day and say you know what i'm not doing it i'm like how would i prepare nine weeks in a row i've asked you for shop of the week and I'll give you a full list of the week, at least. This should just be a full list, you should just be able to go down the line.

So you want it to be my responsibility? R. Cigars, they emailed me this morning. You want it to be my responsibility moving forward?

R. Cigars is the Shop of the Week. Santa Clara emailed you to this week? This morning.

Oh, okay. That's Best Cigar Prices. Oh, maybe that's why. That explains the new name, because I had to scroll back through the email.

Wait, no, it's not. Maybe it's not Best Cigar Prices. Wait, it's something management is the new email extension on it. They're working on the name.

Paperwork store. Alliance, Best Management. Yeah. Best Alliance, Management.

Something to that effect. Okay. Yeah, I don't know. Santa Clara's, Costa de Monte Cristo.

Was it Santa Clara, though? That's somebody. R. Cigars.

Santa Clara's like the big one on top of. Gotcha. Do they have the best cigar prices just by the way? I don't know.

It's in the name. Who cares? You can't be called the best cigar prizes if you don't have the best cigar prizes. Right, that's like false advertising.

Yeah. Like, you know, we're Cigar Hustler, we hustle cigars. I mean, come on. I think it's opinionated.

Best? I think they should do some research and look at other prices. When you make a term of best, it's opinionated. It's kind of subjective, too.

Yeah, it's subjective. That's right. Thank you. Certainly.

I mean, the highest ones could be the best ones. I would say the Shop of the Week would be Tobacology. Oh, Brett Fry. Not just because you're in a fight with Brett Frye.

I'm not in a fight with Brett Frye. He says you don't call him enough. I've called him now several times. So is Greg.

We all call him. Yeah, I'm going to call him again today. Oh, now you guys are going to flood him with phone calls. Yeah.

Yes, that's the whole idea. Okay. Oscar Valladares, he's my favorite person. Please don't kill me.

Yeah, I'm a little scared of him. All right, this wraps it up. All right, guys, we got to go. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. All right, bye. Bye. 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. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions. All things cigars, the personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners.

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Show Notes

🎙️ Episode 388 – Smoke, Stats & Scandals

Description:

We’re back for Episode 388 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast with a jam-packed show! From high-stakes headlines like President Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis to a tragic Mexican Navy ship crash in NYC, we dive deep into trending news. In the cigar world, price hikes are sweeping the industry thanks to new tariffs, and Don Doroteo drops a 21-year-aged gem. Plus, the Powstanie San Andrés Belicoso gets a glowing review—yes, potato starch and all.

We also preview upcoming events including our Dark Side Beer Tasting (June 22), the return of Edca at our Dunbarton Event (June 30), and special guest appearances from Palmer and Mikey. Don’t forget to check out our exclusive Litto Gomez interview on YouTube. Light up and let’s roll!