ACHP Episode 395 – TikTok, Trials, and Tobacco News

Episode Summary

Episode 395 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a news-and-opinion roundtable with Palmer, Michael and Boots. The guys open with housekeeping — Michael's upcoming appearance on Deep Cuts Live with Antoine Reed of the PCA, a cutting light at Ramsey's Smoke Shop in Minnesota on July 19th, and an Espinosa event at Cigar Hustler on July 25th. They also tease their two-part Skip Martin interview, with the more candid second half held back for the Patreon feed, and debut the new "Cappuccino Assassino" shirt design.

The general-news block covers the UFC's planned fight card on the White House grounds for America's 250th birthday (and whether that's cool or tacky), TikTok building a separate U.S. app ahead of a forced ByteDance divestiture, Elon Musk's announcement of a third "American Party" and what a viable centrist party would actually look like, and the Sean "Diddy" Combs verdict — acquittal on sex trafficking and racketeering, conviction on two Mann Act transportation counts — with a side discussion on likely appeals and time served. A long "topic of the week" segment digs into whether cigar smokers should hide their smoking from their kids, why parents conceal habits, and the broader idea that hiding something signals you think it's wrong.

The cigar news half is the meat of the episode. The Dutch government has opened a comment period on plain packaging for cigars (through August 13, 2025), prompting a debate on regulatory overreach and the ECMA's argument, via Paul Varakas, that cigars play no role in youth smoking initiation. PDR Cigars named Wayne Clark VP of Sales — he comes from a regional sales manager role at Plasencia, and the guys dissect whether that's actually an upward career move, listing which brands (Espinosa, Drew Estate, RoMa Craft, Arturo Fuente, Padrón, La Flor Dominicana, Foundation, Dunbarton, A.J. Fernandez, Davidoff) would be better landing spots. They also cover Hooten Young's Midnight Hammer, a 6x60 shaggy-foot San Andrés maduro limited to 2,000 cigars at $16, questioning both the speed of the release and Hooten Young's use of an AI-generated product image. Plasencia's tariff-driven price increase of 32–47 cents per cigar at wholesale leads into a practical discussion of how tariffs, pre-buying, and stalled shipments affect retail shelf space.

The episode closes with "What's the Score," where the crew guesses halfwheel review scores for the Tatuaje Selección de Cazador Especiales (Charlie Minato, 2011) and the Island Jim Barber Pole No. 2 from Oscar Valladares (Patrick Lagreid, 2025), plus a listener-of-the-week shoutout to Fran Saletto for submitting the Rodriguez "The Crusher" cigars reviewed on the Patreon show.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Show News & Upcoming Events
   Deep Cuts Live with Antoine Reed of the PCA, a Ramsey's Smoke Shop appearance in Minnesota on July 19, an Espinosa event on July 25, and the two-part Skip Martin interview split between the main feed and Patreon.
2. 02
   UFC at the White House
   The crew debates the UFC's proposed fight card on the White House grounds for America's 250th birthday, Dana White's relationship with Trump, and whether Conor McGregor should headline.
3. 03
   TikTok's New U.S. App & Musk's Third Party
   ByteDance's forced divestiture, a separate U.S. TikTok app, and Elon Musk's announced 'American Party' spark a discussion about whether a viable centrist third party is inevitable.
4. 04
   The Diddy Verdict
   Sean Combs is acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering but convicted on two transportation counts, and the hosts speculate about appeals, time served, and wealth in the justice system.
5. 05
   Smoking Cigars Around Your Kids
   The topic of the week asks why some smokers hide cigars from their children, and whether concealing a habit is an admission that you think it's wrong.
6. 06
   Dutch Plain Packaging Proposal
   The Netherlands opens a comment period on plain packaging for cigars through August 13, 2025, and the guys argue it's regulatory overreach comparable to warning labels on fast food.
7. 07
   PDR Cigars Names Wayne Clark VP of Sales
   Clark leaves a regional sales manager role at Plasencia for the VP job at PDR, prompting a debate about whether a bigger title at a smaller brand is really a step up.
8. 08
   Hooten Young Midnight Hammer & AI Imagery
   A 6x60 shaggy-foot San Andrés maduro limited to 2,000 cigars at $16 raises questions about rapid-turnaround releases and whether brands should use AI-generated product photos.
9. 09
   Plasencia Tariff Price Increase
   Plasencia raises wholesale prices 32–47 cents per cigar due to import tariffs, leading to a discussion of pre-tariff stockpiling, delayed shipments, and lost retail shelf space.
10. 10
    What's the Score
    The crew guesses halfwheel scores for the Tatuaje Selección de Cazador Especiales and the Island Jim Barber Pole No. 2 from Oscar Valladares.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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

Transcript

Welcome to episode 395 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Hello, Michael. Hi, Mike. How are you?

How are you today? I'm fantastic. Can you get a little more energy, please? You're the energy.

I'm counting on you to bring energy. Why do I have to be the energy? I will bring the energy. Don't you worry.

I will deliver. So what do we got going on here soon? As far as what aspect, Michael? Oh, well, on July 15th, I'll be on Deep Cuts Live with Antoine Reed from the PCA.

Oh. m. in Minnesota. That's nice.

I'm very excited to go to Minnesota. It's cold. It's not this time of year. It's not cold.

Not this time of year. I wonder what it looks like in the evening, so I'll probably have to bring a sweatshirt. Maybe at night. Yeah.

This time of year is perfect. Is it? Yeah. Perfect for us.

I went in the wintertime. It sucked. Oh, yeah. I'm not doing that.

You should do, how about that cigar when you're there? Like a live? But they don't record on Mondays. I'm sure we can get them to do a special episode for you.

I'll text Matt. All right. And then at the end of the month, here at Cigar Hustler, we're doing an Espinosa event. Yeah.

Oh. It's the 25th. Of July? Yeah, that's the end of the month.

And we don't know if Eric will be here or not. We don't know all the details yet because we let Greg in charge. And whenever Greg's in charge, it's... We'll find out on the 24th.

It's a glacial page. Right. Okay. That's true.

Alright, this past week... Whoa! What? Before we go any further, what do you think of my shirt?

I have that in a little bit. Alright, I'll shut up then. No, go ahead and do it. No, you haven't punched in.

I don't want to mess up your reputation. All right, this past weekend, we had an opportunity to do a special interview with Mr. Skip, aka Chip Martin. We did.

Wow, thanks. Yeah, well, okay. You got more to go? We did.

Well, you're like, you have to let me know if you want me to speak. Well, when I look at you, speak. That doesn't, okay. That means I'm not looking at the monitor.

Oh, okay, so at that point, I need to speak? Yeah. Yeah, it was a fantastic interview. It wound up being two interviews.

Two shows. Kind of tied into one. Two shows worth of... No, I'm talking now.

Fuck you. I didn't look... I'm not looking at you. I was looking over here now.

You looked at me before. Look away. Look away. When I look away, you stop talking.

Oh, is that how that works? That's the way it works now. Yeah, we did two. This is me shutting down.

We got one regular show, and then if you want to hear Skip... Here's what we're doing for the Patreon. They throw that at you. That's later, too.

If you want to hear true Skip Martin fashion, you got to join our Patreon show to hear the second show. Yeah, check out... Listen to both. They're very, they're both very good.

Unfortunately, and fortunately, the second half of things is really where Skip kind of opened up about some stuff. So we decided to hold that back and release it for the Patreon and see exactly what Skip said. So when you got towards the end of the first show, Greg came over and whispered in my ear, don't turn off the recording. Yeah, that was smart.

That was smart. Yeah. I thought you did shut it off. No.

Yeah. So now we've got to So we're all having two episodes. I just had to cut some dead stuff out of the middle. Yeah.

Okay. What are we doing with the Patreon? I don't know. Show us.

I'm going to show. We got cigars from Mr. Fran Saletto. When he came to the event, brought us these lovely sticks.

The Crusher. He wanted us to review these on the Patreon. Can you see that? Boots?

It's probably out of focus. Back. It's got to be even with your face. Your face is focused.

Back. There you go. What is it? Okay, so we don't know what the cigar is?

I didn't bother to look. He told me, but there was so much going on that night. So, Rodriguez? It says on the back.

Rodriguez? Rodriguez, Primero Place? Where does it say Rodriguez? On the band.

Oh. It says Key West. I can barely see the band. Rodriguez, Familia, Class.

For those of you at home, that is Rodriguez Family Class. First Class. First Class. Oh, not Familia?

First? Primera. All right, Michael, we need a name. Ooh.

Oh. Hold on. Now he's rushing. Tyler Caldwell.

Bing bong. Bing bong. I like how he goes bing bong. Let me tell you what this weighs in before I light it up, by the way.

Do, do, do. 7 grams. 7. Yep.

Boots, can you scribble that down over there? Sure, sure. I'll remember it. Thanks.

All right, this is episode 395, TikTok Trials and Tobacco. Ooh, okay. This week, we cover TikTok's new US app rollout, Elon Musk Surprises' launch of a third political party, and the OneTaste Founders, oh, we cut that story out, and UFC is planning an event on the grounds of the White House. America!

We also break down the Diddy trial verdict and big changes in the cigar world. If you look at the last episode, I told you he was going to walk. You told us he was going to walk the first time we talked about it. Yeah.

I'm so smart. Big changes in the cigar world from new leadership. We still haven't talked about the shirt. Oh, I did in my head.

After I, okay, well, let me finish the little intro and then we'll do the shirt. Oh, I got that. You threw it off. You did say you got it.

He's looking at me. I did say I got it. Yeah. New leadership of PDR and Maya Selva to fresh releases like Hooten Young's Midnight Hammer plus What's the Score returns with reviews of the Tatuaje Especiales in Island Gym Barber Pole number two.

But before we get started, Mikey, what are you wearing? Ooh, I am wearing the new Cappuccino Assassinino shirt. Oh. Compliments.

Cappuccino Assassinino? Have you ever heard of Italian brain rot? No. No, I haven't either, so I guess this is a thing?

This is a thing for the kids, yeah. " Oh, I thought you came up with this. Yeah, no, I did not come up with this. Are the kids, do they drink cappuccinos now?

I know, they say a bunch of ridiculous things that are Italian, like Bombadillo Crocodillo, which is like a bombing plane and a crocodile that's kind of morphed into one. Is this like off a game, or is this just like something they're doing? I think that it's on Roblox as well, and like, I don't know, it's, I don't, look, I don't know all the details. Is this a copyrighted thing?

I have no idea, I'll let you know later. Will we get the cease and desist? Did you make the image or? I made this image, yes.

Okay, so we didn't take somebody's image and put a little P on it. No, I made this image, I gave him a little Powstanie logo on his suit. com for a limited time. Now it makes more sense, I just thought you'd just like the cappuccino.

No, but I thought it was bad-ass. It's nice looking cherry, it's very nice. And that comes in just the heather gray color. Yep, just the gray.

Trying to mix it up a little bit, you know? Sure, give them an assortment of shirts, everybody doesn't wear black every single day. Keeping it fresh. Right.

If it was what Mikey liked, it would be called nitro assassinino. Nitro assassinino? What's that? Well, you like the nitro coffee.

Yeah, that's true. Isn't nitro an actual thing? I do like the nitro cold brew. What's that?

Is nitro, isn't that an actual thing? It's not like a pillar or something. I don't know. I don't know.

It's definitely coffee. Yeah. Maybe that's it. Yeah.

All right. Ready to get started? I am. I think we've covered everything at this point.

Boots, are you ready over there? Been ready. Let's go. The UFC plans to host a fight card on the White House grounds.

A spokesperson for the promotion confirmed to NBC News on Friday. Further details were not available, but President Donald Trump said he would like it as part of a celebration honoring America's Honoring America's 250th birthday on July 4th, 2026, we're going to have a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House, Trump said, in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, I guess he was in Iowa, we have a lot of land there, oh, thank you, Donald, he's going to be in Iowa, no, he was in Iowa, and he announced, he announced the information, ah, okay, what was that, uh, my, uh, Siri went off, oh, really, I'm completely confused at this point. He's in Iowa, he's talking about doing a fight. " Right.

What's up, QB? Yeah, I just, I didn't know why he said there was a lot of land there. That's where I got confused. He says there's a lot of land at the White House where they can have the fight.

Oh, okay. He expects the card to include a fight. He's got a big yard, you know? Right, he's got a big front and back.

Yeah. They can have it in the Rose Garden. I mean, this is pretty cool, actually. It includes a fight in front of 20,000 to 25,000 people every one of our national parks battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America's 250th birthday and I even think we're gonna have a UFC fight Trump said it's not clear how far along planning for the event is or how definite it is that it will actually happen and the UFC spokesperson said more details would be released in due time former two-division champion Conor McGregor who has not competed since 2020.

McVivre 2021 said on his social media he's interested in returning to the White House event. I would be honored, he wrote. Count me in. Okay.

Do you think this is a good idea? Let's start there. I have some more information, but that's okay. Okay, go ahead.

Keep going. No, no, no. No, let's hear the rest. All right.

Trump is close friends with UFC President Dana White, who has appeared at his campaign rallies immediately after winning the 2024 election. Trump brought White on stage to thank him for his efforts in helping him get re-elected. So this is just a payoff. Do you think this is a good idea?

I don't know, and I don't think they should be at the White House. You don't think they should be at the White House? No. I think the White House needs to stay the White House.

Like what? That's America, but I don't know. Would it be different to you if it was a WWE? Like blowjobs at the Oval Office type stuff?

No, that's inside. They don't do that on the outside grounds. That's just in the inside. So only inside.

Only inside. Only inside. Only inside. Only inside.

Only inside. Only inside. It's only inside stuff. Uh, shenanigans.

Right. Would I care if it was a WWE thing? Instead. Well, you haven't said if you're for or against it anyway, so it's not a question to ask yet.

Yeah, but no, I, I don't, I think it's a little tacky to have that at the White House. You think it's tacky? Yeah. Okay.

I mean, he's one step away from having gladiators now. Which would be even doper. I mean, right. They could announce, you know, midway to next July, like, it's to the death now, we've decided that.

And, no, I think Conor McGregor's not going to be to the death. Well, no, maybe his isn't, but they might have just one, let's test it, and just have one fight to the death. Ooh, like criminals that are- Some lesser known people. No, like death row people, like people are on death row.

Oh, you know what they could do? Running Man is getting to be re-released, they redid it, they could do a Running Man one, and then they could get them to help wait for it. The Running Man now, the new movie looks a little different than the old one. Same idea though.

And this is how it would go. And here now, Tim Williams versus Cody Blair. And you're like, who the hell are these people? To the death.

And then everybody cheers. Yes. I think that'd be amazing. So are you for or against, sir?

No, I'm definitely for. You're definitely for? He wants the Gladiators. He's up for that.

He wants to the death. Well, okay, let's think about this, right? One, there is an issue with this. Okay.

Security. Yeah. Right, that's definitely an issue. That's the first thing I thought of too.

Okay. But this is one of the most prolific pieces of property of all time, right? Yeah. The White House.

Okay. And now you're having an event here for the birthday. Yep. Right?

And you're going to have everybody all over the world watching this, period, because it's just at the White House. It's not just because it's UFC. I mean, UFC is already big to begin with, but this is going to help out UFC. This is going to help out America as well, because everybody's going to come together and watch this situation.

It's gonna be a pay-per-view. It's gotta be. I'm sure it would definitely be a paid thing. I understand it helps UFC.

I mean, they'll sell the thing out if there is a sellout on pay-per-view. I don't know how that works. But I don't know how that helps America. But I will say, too, kudos to Dana White for making a situation like this happen.

Yeah. You know, you got... Well, we don't know if it happens yet. Well, if it does.

The possibility of it. You know, like, somebody like, okay, we look at the big guys, right, Roger Goodell, and, uh, uh, not David Stern, but, um, Howard Stern? No, who's the new guy for the NBA? The commissioner.

Cooper Flagg? No, no, the commissioner, I'm sorry. Oh. Not David Stern.

Cooper Flagg? Anyways, the commissioner of the NBA. He's the first, no, he's the draft, the Duke guy. Oh.

Adam Silver. There you go. So. That guy's terrible.

Right, so you got these two other guys, though, right, these big organizations. And really, truthfully, UFC is smaller than these two other guys, right? I would think so. Okay, you think UFC is smaller than basketball, but what's the other organization?

NFL. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I would say they're smaller.

It's smaller. My little bit of knowledge from sports, I would say UFC is smaller than football and basketball. It's definitely smaller than both of those. Yeah.

For sure. So, kudos to this guy for making it happen. I mean, why didn't the other guys try this? Yeah, like the NBA Finals.

Well, have they donated money and supported Trump? Well, you know, I'm sure somebody did. I don't know, you know, just kind of looking at it from a bird's eye view. Yeah, I think that this is pretty cool.

I think it's interesting. I think it's fun and exciting. I'd love to see Conor McGregor be part of it because he definitely sells the most tickets, for sure. Of course, yeah.

There's a stadium in Washington somewhere, I would imagine, right? Yeah. Couldn't they just have it there? No, where's the fun in that?

I think the only thing that could have been better is Connor versus Sugar Shane. Sugar Sean? Sugar Sean. He's done.

Oh. He lost this guy twice. He's, you know... Well, Connor snapped his ankle or something.

Has he fought since then? No, but... Or maybe bring back, like, Ken Shimrock. " I think he and Sugar are in two different weight classes, too.

Everybody yells, "Sweep the leg, Johnny. " I think it'll be good. Palmer, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm kind of excited about it.

I think it'd be fun to see, you know. I don't care who's in the office. Yeah. It means nothing to me.

Like, make a spectacle. Well, I don't care who's in the office. I think they're making a spectacle of the White House. Yeah, I don't see the issue with that.

I think that that's fine. Now, like, the cologne and all this other crap, I'm like, all right, dude. You know, like, give it a rest. They have another cool situation where they do a location sporting event.

I don't know if you guys have ever watched a basketball game The game that gets played on the ship, on the Navy ship. What? Yeah, they play, it's usually college, and they play a game on an aircraft carrier. They have to lay down a wood floor and everything, because you know those things are all movable.

Right. So they lay down the wood floor and everything, and then all the people in the Navy, they go out to sea. Yeah. And all the people on the ship get to watch the game.

That's pretty cool. So you never saw a game, though? No. Yeah, you never saw a game.

You didn't get on the boats. Do they still do that, or was that a one-time thing? No, they still do that. How do they keep the ball from going off the edge of the boat?

No, they don't, they just have extras. Oh, so it is. I'm sure there's methods. If it rolls off, they just get it.

You don't really try to get it back in bounds at that point. No, no, it's like, out of bounds, all right. 10 points, out of bounds. We need another ball.

You know, the ball on forward, because he went over after the ball. I mean, like, the aircraft carrier is huge. Oh, well, I understand that. Some of the balls bounce.

Sure. It could happen. It could happen. It's possible.

Yeah. If the ball goes overboard, would you jump and save it? No. No, definitely not.

It's just a basketball. That's where you draw the line. At basketballs. Other people's kids and basketballs.

Exactly. Yes. Thank you. That is a callback, folks, to last week's show.

Yeah, no, I'm for it. I think it'd be cool. And to answer your question, if it was WWE, I think that'd be cool, too. Oh, it'd be better.

Why would that not be okay? I just, I don't know. I just don't think that's a thing you should do at the White House. WWE?

Well, WWE is all scripted. So, I mean, why'd they just, at that point, why'd they just do concerts and plays at the White House? Wait, wait, wait, wait. If there was a big enough track sequence, could you do like a pay-per-view of a – Sure, yeah, they do pay-per-view concerts.

Yeah. Sure. Yeah, they have, like Taylor Swift. Whoever's left in the Beatles, they come back, and then they do a Beatles reunion on the lawn of the White House.

Okay. Obviously, you like the Beatles. No, it's just the first group I thought, because he mentioned the Beatles. I think that'd be fine.

For celebration of the 250th year? Yeah. Look, you got to do some crazy stuff, man. You got to mix it up.

Let's go. Man, a WWE pay-per-view at the White House. Yeah, yeah. The Rock versus Stone Cold.

Here's the thing. I'll tell you what. Intertwine the two. Title championship for UFC, right?

Yes. And then have Roman Reigns come out and hit him with a steel chair or something. Oh, yes. As they're fighting.

Like, oh, my God. Well, they have Trump come hit him with a steel chair. There you go. Well, he's the president.

Let's not get crazy. And then John Cena comes out because he's America. Yeah. I tried watching that movie for a third time.

Head of state? Yep. Can't get through it. You know what's funny?

As I punched it on last night, passed out. Yep. I fell asleep three times. I don't know.

I don't understand what happens with the volume, because like the volume's low when they talk, so I have to turn it up, and then they have like these action sequences, I'm like, oh shit, now I've had other movies like that. It's so frustrating. Well, you might have your, so they have sound settings, is it your sound coming through your TV or soundbar? Soundbar.

So, like on my soundbar, it has a smart setting, where it does that. It will go lower for voices, and then, you know, when the action, so you have to change it to standard. Okay. I'll try and do that.

I tried to watch The Accountant, too. I got a lot of good naps yesterday. Oh! I fell asleep in that one, too.

I enjoyed The Accountant, too. I like that one. Thunderbolts? Did you watch Thunderbolts?

No, it was $25 to rent it. I'll wait. You draw the line on that. It was good.

Yeah, I want to see it, but I'll wait and not $25. Yeah, I'm going to make a point to watch that one and then Ballerina. I could have went to the theater for less than $25. I can't.

No, you don't have quite the passel of people to take. Yeah, that's like 80 bucks to go to the movies. Right. That's just the drinks and food.

No, that's just to get in. No, that's even more. That's a three figure number. Yeah, that's just to get in, buddy.

All right. S. sale. The information reports TikTok is building a new version of its app for users in the United States ahead of a planned sale of the app to a group of investors.

We gonna build a new one. Well, but it's with an English accent. That's American story, Michael. No, it's definitely a Chinese accent.

It's China. Nope. They're trying to build an American one. Yes.

Information reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources. S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he will start talking to China on Monday or Tuesday about a possible TikTok deal. We gonna build a new one.

It's Bobby Mom. Without getting more into the story that I'm gonna read, China has said they will not sell it to Americans because of the tariffs. That's why he's talking to them, trying to broker a deal. Look, they've already showed their hand, as far as I'm concerned, when this comes to this whole thing.

Look, fellas, we'll give you a couple of these Fords, you give us TikTok. Dude, I think that the whole tariff thing, the way that that all played out, I mean, we bombed Iran. Yeah. And they did nothing.

It's over. Well, they weren't going to do anything, yeah. So we've already kind of worked these things out. I think the tariff thing was part of that whole, it's all intertwined.

Yeah. Go ahead, continue. Thank you. He said the United States pretty much has a deal on the sale of the TikTok short video app.

See? TikTok, well, he says pretty much. TikTok has developed a plan to launch the new app. S.

app stores on September 5th, the report said. S. assets of TikTok. The report added that TikTok users will eventually have to download the new app to be able to continue using services, although the existing app will work until March of next year, though the timeline could change.

New followers, we're starting from zero. Yeah, you gotta start all the way from... No way. Right.

No, there's no way. It'll feed back in. They'll pipe it in. Yeah.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. S. S.

investors. Mr. Beast. That was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump's announcement of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Okay, so who do you think buys, who do you think is going to buy it? Private investors? What does that mean? People with money?

Yeah, you don't think there's going to be a big name behind it? Yeah. It's going to be the trifecta. Who do you think is it?

It's going to be Elon, Trump, and Bezos. No, Elon no longer. Elon's on the blacklist. No, this is going to be the coming back tour.

Nah. I think he's done. I have a theory behind all that too. You really want me to go down that rabbit hole?

Wait till we talk about that. There's an Elon story. There's a deep rabbit hole. Okay.

Trump said the United States will probably have to get a deal approved by China. Okay. We need a name, Michael. We need a name?

We need another name. Ah, not of the new TikTok. I'm looking at you, not for that. I mean, that story's over.

Oh, I'm sorry. Jason Walport, my guy. Bing bong. Race car driver.

Yes. Former. He's retired. Oh, did he?

Mm-hmm. Musk says he is forming a new political party. Yes. After fallout with Trump.

Indeed. Oh, wait. So we're done with TikTok? I guess that won't be a clip.

I didn't ask any questions. You did as it was rolling. Talked about who the investors were and all that kind of stuff. All right.

Whatever. I love TikTok, just by the way. Yeah? Yeah.

I can't watch Facebook video reels. You're a TikTok guy? Yeah. I fell into Instagram reels this weekend.

Those aren't bad either. I haven't watched them there yet. Yeah. Some of them are the same though.

The creators post the same thing on multiple places. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's kind of how, like, Facebook is. And it's, and it's, Facebook is definitely screened.

Like, you don't get everything on Facebook like you do on TikTok. I mean, TikTok, there's some, yeah, there's some wild stuff on TikTok. All right. Okay, continue.

Elon Musk. Billionaire. American party. Billionaire Elon Musk said Saturday he's forming a third political party.

After a dramatic fallout with Donald Trump indicating he will make good on threats he made if the president's domestic policy bill became law. Hmm. Any idea what that was? Uh, the big beautiful bill that he's talking about.

Yeah, he's talking about the taxes and all that. It's gonna be great, it's gonna, we're gonna cut taxes, I suppose, I don't know, I don't read these things, I just listen to everybody get upset about all of it, and I find that all entertaining, or somebody that's like, yeah, this is great, and then I look at both of them, and I say, okay, good for, okay. So from what I saw via the social media platforms is like people are mad that it's cutting Medicaid or something like that, and people are happy about the fact that it's giving tax benefits and tax cuts, and, you know, red hates blue, blue hates red. Nothing has changed.

Yeah. All the same. Maybe there's green now, too. Until this is, and I honestly believe, do you have more to read?

Yeah, there's a quote. When it comes to bankrupting our country with wasting craft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy, Trump's former first buddy, oh, that was, that his title, first buddy? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know they called him that.

I don't know, first buddy? He's my first buddy. Said on social media platform X, today the American party is formed to give you back our freedom. S.

citizen? Yeah, I think so. Oh. He started and then he came over and he got the thing.

It was like a whole, he did one of those things. Did he get the express pass thing? No, no, this is prior Express Pass, this is like, I'm a business person, I come over, and I can get, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Musk's the largest individual donor to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, and until recently, a close advisor to the president, who spearheaded his administrators, pushed to cut government waste, had criticized Trump's big, beautiful bill, because of estimates that it would add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit.

Yeah. Musk's criticism of the bill was the catalyst for a major falling out between the two men last month. That feud seemingly cooled after Musk expressed regret and deleted the most indecent, incendiary social media posts he made about Trump. They said it was on the Epstein list.

Yes, but it's reignited in the last several days as the bill neared passage. Now there isn't a list. Now what? Now there's no list.

Yeah, it's gone. The list just never happened. Oh, the Epstein list? Yeah, what list?

There's no list, he committed suicide and there's no list. Yeah. Right. Okay.

Trump signed the bill into law on Friday for his part. Trump called Musk's announcement of the new party "ridiculous" and said it would start confusion. I think it's ridiculous to start a third party. We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party, Trump said, ahead of the boarding of Air Force One in New Jersey on Sunday.

The Democrats have lost their way, but it's always been a two-party system. And I think starting a third party just adds to the confusion. Hmm. There's more than two parties, though, technically, and I mean, there's...

Well, you have... Well, there's two major parties. Two major parties, correct. Yeah.

Didn't, like, Ross Perot try to start a party when he ran? It was an independent, yeah. Right, but he tried to start a party. Yeah, and he screwed over Bush, right?

Or whatever. Right. Read my lips, no more taxes, and then he couldn't do it because Perot took part of the action. Like, what do I know?

But that's what I know. Yeah, look, I honestly think that this is kind of the evolution of where things are going. That we get a third major party. There's going to be a party that's going to be practical on both, and it's going to be in the middle on both of them.

It's like purple, the purple. Whatever it is, I think that that's really the direction that this has been heading for the past 30 years. Oh. Like, there was a point in time where, you know, becoming a Democrat was, "Hey, you know, it doesn't matter who you are.

we want you to be a part with us, right? And then eventually that shifted to, if you don't agree with these, then we don't like you, right? And people were like, hold on, what's going on with that? And the Republican Party all of a sudden became the, hey, give us your, you know, we'll take everybody and we're about core principles or whatever the case may be.

And then that shifts into, but, you know, rich, stay richer, whatever the case may be. And it doesn't matter where you stand on any of these things, but a lot of people stand on one side or the other, right? Sure. You're lying yourself with one of the two.

But now what has happened is you have this middle section that continues to grow, and they're like, well, wait a second, I agree with some of the things over here, I agree with some of the things over here, I don't understand why the hell we're all arguing about all this stuff, right? And that's where you're seeing the creation of this party. Now, the real question is, is this party- Strong enough? Is this party being created because of- Hate?

No. Because of, like, it's the natural course of things? Right. Or is this actually being dictated by both parties?

Oh, like a smoke and mirror. " Right. It's unclear to what extent Musk has taken steps to legally form the party, which would be required to register with the Federal Election Commission. The most recent FEC filings show no indication that it has happened.

The world's richest man has indicated he wants the party that is fiscally conservative and reigns in spending, but has offered few other details about what the party's platform would be. Yeah. You want to know what it is? It's, I think that eventually you're, whether it's Elon or not, you're going to see an evolution of a party that's, look, you're entitled to believe whatever you want to believe.

And the government doesn't have to back that belief. I think that that's the bigger issue here. You know, like as an individual, you can be, uh, you can be against It's abortion, right? You can say, "Hey, I'm not for that," but that doesn't mean that abortion should be off the table as far as regulation.

You know what I mean? Like, I know that's a hot topic, that's a touchy subject, but like, the government doesn't need to be involved in all of these things, is my point. And the government's involved on both sides, no matter what you say. Isn't that the libertarians that want less government involvement in our lives?

It's more classic libertarian. Yeah, but no, but you know, there should still be aid and things should still happen to the right people that need those opportunities. And then not only that, but there should be programs to get people off the aid instead of keeping them on the aid so that they become your voters. Like all of these things happen on both parties.

I don't care what side you vote on. So you're gonna see it. It's gonna evolve. It's gonna happen eventually.

Well, that's, I mean, basically there's already that, right? That's the independent. I mean, basically what he's doing is making something stronger. Well, there's independents, there's libertarians, whatever the Ross Perot group was.

No, I mean, I think I've never seen somebody come out and say, hey, I am, am I, are you pro or against gun? Like, personally, like, I'm pro gun, you know, like, should there be, but should there be some form of licensing and permitting? Maybe there should be, like, you know, I don't know. I don't have the answers, but there's more of a reasonable line that exists, and there should be no reason to have to pick either side of the party, because at the end of the day, everybody's American, and everybody's just trying to do what they think is best for themselves.

That's what he should call his new group, the Americans. I think it is called, like, the American. Oh, he hasn't given it a name at all. Whatever.

The South African Americans? No, I don't think that would go well. No, it doesn't slide. It doesn't say he's got to be South American and American either.

Or it could be the Canadian-Americans because he does hold citizenship in Canada. Yeah, I mean, look. Our 51st state, Canada? Yeah, but maybe it will become the 51st when he does this whole group.

Maybe, that's where he gets all the members. Honestly, you know, whatever, either way, within my lifetime, you're going to see another party emerge. I think another party, and it becomes sustainable when it's, when someone becomes reasonable. I think that that's inevitable.

The real question is going to be, is it going to be something that was created by both parties, right? Because realistically, you still need, even if you did have a party that was more reasonable, you still need something to challenge that party. You can't have something just kind of be the be-all, end-all, because eventually... Yeah, check the balances.

Absolute power corrupts, absolutely, right? Sure. So, and that's why this whole government was created. But the taxation's out of control, you know, tariffs are out of control.

It's all out of control. Everything's out of control. Yeah, cats and dogs living together, it's insane. I feel like, though, like, this always happens, like, it's always out of control, but it's never been put out past the White House.

You know, they just deal with it internally, but now it's external. I think that they're giving you a show, buddy. They're really good at that. Do you think it's because information is more available now than it ever has been before?

Yeah, I definitely think the media has been lit off the leash big time. Because remember, who was it? Was it Reagan that used to censor the media? I don't know.

One of the presidents used to censor him hardcore. Don't you talk bad about Ronald Reagan. No, I just remember there was a whole movie about this. And then the president, his wife.

I just don't see the purpose in picking a side. Be on the side of the American people. It's just that easy. Right.

I mean, I completely agree with that. I don't know. Right on that platform right there. Yeah.

Okay. I'll do that. I'm on the side of the American people. I'd be killed in less than a month.

I don't know. You just tilt your head and they hit you in the air. It's fine. Yeah.

Every once in a while, you just do that. Just at the right second. Right. Oh, yeah.

Always go both ways because just go one way. They're going to. Yeah. They're going to go shoot right.

He always goes right. All right. The Diddy trial outcome legal analyst breaks down the verdict. The jury did not find there was enough evidence to prove these crimes.

From CNN, Ali Rosenblum. If I give credit, they can't get it. We can't get in trouble. Okay.

Sean Diddy Combs was found guilty this morning of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Is that a law? You can't, you can't drive the prostitute somewhere? Yeah, you can't drive them across state lines.

Those are ridiculous. Yeah. The counts that carry. Federal charges.

Hmm. The count that carries. the least severe penalty. The jury's acquittal of Combs on the more serious charges, according to former assistant district attorney Julie Grant, could come down to the fact that the jury did not find enough evidence to convict Combs of those crimes.

Yeah. Julie got paid. Julie got paid? Yeah.

Allegedly. That being said, Grant added, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Combs was acquitted on two counts of sex trafficking. So, sex trafficking and driving the prostitute is not the same thing.

Correct. It's a deal, bro. That's how this works. Yeah.

Okay. Pertaining to Cassie Ventura and Jane, respectively, in one count of racketeering conspiracy, both charges of which hold a maximum penalty of life in prison. Not gonna happen. No.

Well, no, those he was found not guilty. Not guilty. The other one's, what, 10 years or something like that? The driving the prostitute around?

Yeah, two counts, ten years each. He's going to be time served, and he's going to be out. He did try to post bail, and they said no bail. Well, they're going to, there's going to be an appeal.

I'm sure you're going to read this in your story. Oh, he's going to be appealed to everything, but I mean, you don't get bailed to the guy who's got his own plane. Diddy's, Diddy's lawyer is going to appeal, so they got a deal, they're going to appeal to get the time dropped to time served, is what's going to happen. Yeah.

And then he's out. And he's out and then the fucking baby oil for everybody. He's already been in for a year. Johnson & Johnson is revving up manufacturing.

As soon as a not guilty thing, you saw a surge in the stock market at Johnson & Johnson. I'm back. I'm just kidding. But she also recognized that every, well, there was some information we talked about that I don't need to read.

Every juror comes into the courtroom with their own experiences. The jurors, she said, may not see the enterprise. They may not see the enterprise. They may not see the The sex trafficking for what it literally is by law the defense strategy of not calling any witnesses when they presented their case was somewhat of a stunning legal strategy Grant said adding that this move signaled confidence from Combside when I was in the courtroom on Friday watching the closing arguments I saw even more confidence from Diddy's attorney and from Diddy himself she said and it seemed to me looking at the faces of some of those jurors.

They seemed to be in agreement with what the defense was arguing. Yeah, each one of the jurors got flipped. Each one? Yeah, have you ever seen that movie with, I think it's with Al Pacino.

First of all, it's an alleged, that's what you think. Okay, alleged. You have to say like, I think. I think.

I believe that. Yeah. You can't say it as a factual. Okay, it's not factual.

The opinions brought by Boots is neither condoned nor agreed to by the Cigaros or Podcast, its staff or its hostess. It's Hostess. So you think that the- They got flipped. They all got flipped.

Yeah. There's a movie with Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey. Yeah. Where they're going against each other.

But Kevin Spacey is not a lawyer. He's just the guy that flips all the jurors. I think it was about like Big Pharma or something like that. Okay.

So you think that's what happened here? Yeah. Jurors got flipped. What do you think?

The day before this was released, I heard that they had not come to a verdict and they had closed for the day. And then, the next day, they released that the verdict was in. So, I mean, something happened overnight. That was fast?

Yeah, that was fast. Someone knocked on the door, allegedly. Yeah, hello, here's some baby oil. No, just a sack of money, allegedly.

I don't know, I think fear... I'm sure they were sequestered quite well, and it'd be hard to get, you know, maybe they give the money to the families, allegedly, or something. You think money works better than fear? You don't think that...

He's gonna smear you with baby oil, and you're gonna be in one of his videos? No, I'm just saying in general, not in particular to this case, but like, yeah, money can motivate people, but like, don't you think, hey, do this or else type scenario, like photo of your kids playing in a playground, something like that, like you better... Yeah, but what if they don't have kids? What if they don't have anybody?

Everybody's got somebody. You should watch this movie with Al Pacino. You should watch this movie. Watch the movie with Al Pacino.

Both of them would work. It would seem like the money would be less nefarious where you, you know, if they call and go, that fly was driving me crazy early. I'm glad I just found you and left me alone. I forgot.

You think the money is nefarious? I think the money would be less kinder, obviously, but, you know, a little, somebody's going to notice if all of a sudden the jurors' families start disappearing. Yeah. That's true.

But, you know, who's going to notice that Bob went and got a new Cadillac? You know, less of a new story. We'll see. Look, at the end of the day, you know, are you surprised that he got away?

No, I'm not surprised at all. Are you surprised that he got off? No. Uh-uh.

Some of the things I read, they're saying that the people voluntarily participated. I don't know what Boots is doing on his phone. I was trying to find a movie. I'm switching.

He's watching a movie. There's a fly. Can you see this fly? You can't see it on camera.

It looks like you're just freaking out. Okay. I got Tourette's. It was perfect though.

I had it right on him when he did it. He keeps coming back. He likes your hair. He likes your hair apparently.

I can see him on the camera. He's very tame. He's lying on my hands and stuff. You can see him?

Yeah. He's on your front. Oh yeah. I just saw him zip by.

Oh, he's on your forehead. Oh God. Keep the camera on him the entire time. Don't do that.

All right, Boots, you got a train. Are we all done with Diddy? I think so. I think at the end of the day, you know, look.

Are all the movie stars that thought they were going to have to go talk, they were going to have to appear in court, have come back into the country? Listen, I believe, honestly, at the end of the day, that there is a divide. The rich get richer, they can do whatever they want. They can do whatever they want.

And, you know, that's definitely a thing. Now, does that mean that all rich people are bad? No. There are plenty of great people that are successful and rich, and they do a lot of good things.

However, there are devious people in every facet of life. Sure. Normally, though, if you don't have a big enough bankroll, you get caught and you serve time. It's a capitalist society.

Is it perfect? No. Is it the best society in existence? Yeah.

By far. There he is. All right, Boone, you got a trending topic? Yes, I do.

Oh, by the way, I was completely off. It wasn't Al Pacino. It was Gene Hackman. Oh, my God.

How do you mix up Gene Hackman and Al Pacino? It was Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and John Cusack. It was called Runaway Jury. Gene Hackman was probably the guy that was persuading people.

Yeah. Yeah. Without question. Who are the other people?

John Cusack. Yeah, he's not pushing anybody into anything. He was the guy. He's got the speaker standing out in the yard.

He was the one that nobody could persuade. I believe that. And he had his own thing going on. And then Dustin Hoffman was the lawyer.

Yeah. Dustin, you know, he's not the wolf, you know what I mean? Yeah. All right.

Okay. Hello, peoples. All right. McDonald's is adding three new sandwiches to its menu and I couldn't be more excited.

Who are you on, Boots? Uh, no, I'm on Palmer. Okay, good. Boots doesn't have a camera.

No, go on him. No, stay on Palmer. I have to read this on my phone. That's okay.

You both are reading on your phone. McDonald's is adding three new offerings to its early bird menu that you've certainly never seen before. In celebration of the McMuffin's 50th anniversary, my favorite anniversary, even more exciting, definitely not, than my wedding anniversary. McDonald's is introducing three new versions of the sandwich.

On July 8th, McDonald's is adding three new spicy McMuffins to its menu. The chain will introduce the spicy Egg McMuffin, spicy Sausage McMuffin, and spicy Sausage McMuffin with egg. The new offering simply adds McDonald's spicy pepper sauce to its flagship breakfast sandwiches for an extra zip of heat and flavor. The spicy pepper sauce is the same one Mickey D's uses on its spicy McCrispy sandwich.

And what it plans to add to the spicy snack wrap, and what it plans to add to the spicy snack wrap when it returns on July 10th. So tomorrow, meet me at McDonald's where I'll be eating all three sandwiches to see which is best. The snack wrap is coming back? That's exciting.

Yeah, I guess so. No, spicy breakfast sandwiches. No, no, but it said the snack wrap too. Oh, it said snack wrap too.

Spicy snack wrap. I like that you pulled these things and you don't even know. Well, I cut it down because you guys always say I give him too long or start. Don't give him too long or start.

Yeah, but she even added things in there. Yeah. Well, I did to make it funny. Otherwise, it's just you reading about McDonald's.

Yeah. So did you not read it when you were putting the things in? Yeah, you just added the end sentences. I just added the stuff.

I added the stuff. And I'm going to be at McDonald's tomorrow to review. Yeah, cut out a whole paragraph about a jalapeno. Yeah.

Oh. They tried putting jalapenos on things in the past. Didn't work. Yeah.

That would be delicious. Well, apparently you didn't buy them, so they stopped making them. No, you know what? They used to have a jalapeno, like chicken sandwiches.

I don't remember that. They stopped making it because nobody bought it. Now they have their patented pepper sauce. Probably be a spicy Big Mac coming next.

Toilet poles are going to be occupied in the upcoming weeks. They already are when you eat McDonald's. All right, Michael, you got a question or you got a topic of the week? I do have a topic of the week.

He texts me these things and then does not remember. I love how he frantically looked at his phone for a second. Because here's what happens. So here's what we've done.

We really kind of evolved this thing. And it's like, what happens is throughout the week, we periodically think of things that we need to discuss. Right. And if I don't cross-reference it to Palmer, it'll just die, right?

And then it's done, and I'm like, oh my God, we forgot to talk about this. Right. So, yeah. We have our own little two-person group chat.

Yeah. So, yeah, you know, I mean, let me see exactly how I worded this. Yeah, I have a question. So, you know, a lot of people that smoke cigars, or smoke in general, whatever that is, like, if I talk to a person, I'm like, hey, you know, you like cigars, or whatever the case may be, and they're like, yeah, I smoke cigars, maybe I'll give them some cigars or something to try or whatever, right?

Right. And, you know, the upcoming, the last weekend, it was the 4th of July weekend, and, you know, sometimes you give people some cigars, and I was like, hey, you know, I would talk to somebody, I'm like, here's some, here, You know, enjoy the 4th of July with some cigars. For one, there's nothing better than lighting fireworks with a cigar. I don't know if you guys have done that, but it's...

No, but I can imagine that would be quite cool. There's nothing more American than that. Definitely America. America.

All I need is some American flag overalls. Anybody got a lighter? Hold on. And then just plug that in, run away.

Run! No, you don't run. You get the guy with a cigar, you walk him. You gotta be cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And your BDP limited edition. Your BDP tank top. Yeah, which I proudly wore.

Oh, did you wear it all night? For you, of course. My brother-in-law wore his down at the lake. Excellent.

Oh, and then the little sticker, the little BDP 4th of July sticker? Yeah. She took that every place they went and posted a picture as if I was there. That's fantastic.

Yeah. So, but some guys, they won't smoke around their kids. It's like, oh, no, you know, I'm going to be around my kids and like, I don't want them to smoke. Do you smoke around your, I mean, your kids are grown up.

Sure. But they weren't always, though. Right. Okay, so that's a great point.

When your kids were younger, would you smoke around them? Yeah, I never hit it. Did you have any issues with it? Neither one of them smoked cigars.

They have all tried it. Right. But, like, Jake is a firefighter. It's tobacco-free, so I assume he doesn't.

I don't know if he does or not. Right. Connor doesn't. He just doesn't like it.

It wasn't a thing for him. Alex does on occasion, but his new father-in-law does, so I think it's a bonding thing for them. Okay. Yeah, it's a bonding thing, right?

Right? Do you smoke around your kids? You have kids of, you know, you have multiple children. Yeah.

You spread your seed. Right. So you got a little one, you got a medium one, and you got a big one. Right.

And the big one's the smartest. He knows it all. He's got it all figured out. He's a teenager.

Has he ever asked if he could smoke a cigar? Has he wanted to ever smoke a cigar with you? Nope. How old is he now?

18. He doesn't really like you sometimes anyways. I mean, he's still at that age. Yeah.

So, is it, I know they can't buy until they're 21 because it's a federal thing or everything, but can they smoke at 18 still? Is that a thing or can you not? Well, you can't purchase. Right, you can't purchase because that's a federal thing.

I think we talked about this one time. I think you can smoke at 18. I just don't remember where it sits. I mean, I'm obviously not worried about that.

I mean, if somebody would be climbing out of a bush, how old are you? Right, exactly, right. But would it be socially frowned upon if Boots gave Ethan a cigar? Would somebody judge him?

Yeah, of course. Absolutely, somebody's gonna judge him. I mean, somebody judges you if you're walking down the street with a cigar in your hand and it's not even lit. That's true.

Right, yeah. But I don't, I guess I don't understand, I never understood... People try to hide it. Why would you hide something that you are?

Like, this is something that I do. Do they, I mean, obviously you wouldn't know, but do they hide drinking? Do they drink beer in front of each other? I don't know, probably.

Right, why is that okay? Right. Right. I guess that's kind of my point.

I would be more concerned about, and it has obviously happened, being drunk in front of my children. Of course. That, then you end up apologizing and have to make explanations. Smoking a cigar, nothing's going to happen other than I'm going to smoke a cigar.

Right. Like, hey, you know, Daddy, you said some things last night. You know what, Daddy went a little hard in the paint, and he had too much to drink, and I'm really sorry for whatever. That's never going to happen with a cigar.

No, right. And to be honest, out of all of them, I'd rather them smoke a cigar versus any of the other alternatives. Of course, that was going to be my next question. If they wound up being a cigar smoker, or if any of your kids wound up being a cigar smoker, would that bother you?

No. No. Would it bother you? No.

I've actually encouraged, not encouraged them to smoke, but I have smoked a cigar with each one of my boys and it was a bonding thing like we talked about before. You know what? Okay, Ginger, do me a favor. I need you to get up and go to Boots' mic real quick.

Can you hear me? Hey, Ginger. Come here. Come here.

Because I want him to answer this question because he's more of a guy that he smokes a little bit. Gotcha. He doesn't smoke as much as we smoke. Gotcha.

Right? Oh, man. Lately, he's been... Yeah, he's had some downtime.

Yeah. Okay. All right. So, Ginger, I need you to go to Boots' mic and I need you to talk directly on the mic.

I'm going to ask you a question. I know that you currently don't have children But if you had children Would you have a problem smoking a cigar around your children? No If your kids grew up and they became cigar smokers Would that ever bother you? No So there you go That's a guy that doesn't smoke a lot So I don't understand why people hide it from their kids like i don't hide anything from my kids right now you know you don't filter your language or anything no right not at all like i this is who i am now there are requirements i have expectations of my children sure you're not going to go outside and say it you know you're not going to speak inappropriately you're going to be extremely respectful to people right um you know you're not going to curse or anything like that like that's all those things there will be And there will be consequences if you cross those lines.

My kids aren't perfect, they make mistakes, you know? Right, they're human. Yeah. And there will be punishment from me accordingly, right?

You know? Like, one of the worst things you can do is take away their tech. They can't, it's like, oh my God, you know? Yeah, that's worse than a spanking.

Yeah. You know, oh, you just lost your iPad today. Like, what? The world ended.

Oh my God, I love it when it escalates. You ever see Breakfast Club where he kept going? No. Like, if my kid gives me that lip, if he's like, I didn't do it.

I'm like, now you lost it for two days. And then if he goes like that and throws his arms up, I'm like, now it's gone for the week. I'm like, I can go on, dude. You know, you learn to control yourself or, you know, whatever.

You're going to be reading books and painting pictures for the next month. Finger painting in your room. You know what's crazy about that situation, though? Because then they learn how to negotiate.

Right? Because after they get it taken away, oh, there's definitely a negotiation process for however long it's been taken away. What's the negotiation? Well, mom, since dad's not here, can I please get my iPad?

Oh, yeah, there is no negotiation. Because they're like, I'll go cut the grass if I can get my iPad. No, I will. Now, listen, there is a thing that I believe called good behavior.

So give it half off. Time off for good behavior. Yeah, but if he asks, if somebody, "Hey, you know what? I've done all these good things.

" Have they learned that just do it and don't mention it? You know, no, like, the big one knows the most, right? That's why I would assume it would work with Jack's first. No, what normally happens is, like, he changes his attitude, right?

And he realizes that he's messed up. " Like, all of a sudden, you see a change in patterns that's happening with your kid. Like, he's going, he's doing the right things. He's taking care of his little sister.

he's you know he's he's you know he's getting along with everybody he's making sure things are put away and taken care of and like consecutively when all of those things happen for a period of time if there's a harsh punishment you might get that punishment lightened up right but uh i don't say i don't ever make the statement of um i don't ever say hey do that again i'm gonna take take that And then they do it again, I'm going to say, do it, if you do it again, now I'm serious, no, no, that's not how that works, I go, I'm going to take away your iPad if you do this, they do it, I take it away. And you follow through a contract. It's gone. Right.

You know, um, you know, Jack's lost his mind the other day, I walked right in his room, I ripped the TV right out of his, out of his room, sitting in my bedroom. Like, ripped it out of the wall? I unplugged it, took it out, and it's gone. Oh, okay.

I can see you just walking in. I mean, you know, I tempered my emotions. Wall hanger and everything. But I was definitely...

Staring at four screw holes in a wall. I was definitely agitated, I could tell you that much. But it's like, hey, take it away, you know. They can't touch their phones without...

Your fly's over here. Good. They can't touch their phones without reading. You got to read first.

Right. So, I don't know, but kind of getting back to the basis. I just don't understand that. I don't understand...

I don't either. How do you live your life in a closet not filtering your life so that you portray some type of image that you're not right exactly that's what I was looking for yeah you know you're trying to show that you're you know not only that I mean you're going to at some point smell like the cigar the cigarette whatever you're smoking wacky tobacco you smell like it how are you are you taking a shower washing your hands every time you do some yeah Yeah, you're lying to yourself, right? And you're trying to personify something you're not. Right.

Let's go a step further. Let's say you smoke marijuana. Yeah. Do you do that around each other?

If I did, I would, yeah. If I, I wouldn't like, you know, first of all, if I did, it'd probably be outside, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't wait for them to go to sleep and be like, okay, I'll slide this in. Well, let's say it wasn't, I mean, on certain levels, it's legal in the country. Let's say some type of illegal act then.

If it was an illegal substance? Cocaine or something. I wouldn't hide it from my kids. Oh.

I would not. I'm sorry. You snort one off the counter. I would just, yeah, whole image just, yeah.

I wouldn't hide it. Right through my mind. Not at all. Because the second that I hide it, I know that I'm doing something wrong.

Well, it is wrong. It's against the law. Right. In this scenario.

Okay, so I don't do those things because I know, not that they're illegal or illegal, I know that they're mind-altering substances that could reflect in bad decisions. Right. We are saying, for some reason, you're addicted to cocaine. I would do the, I would do it out in the open.

I would do it so that my kids saw you snorting cocaine. Yeah. Because at that point, my logic would be totally different. My logic would totally be that I'm a failed parent, and that I suck as a person, so that my kids should learn not to be like me.

Right? Like, why does he suck? Why does he not attend things? Why is he not involved with us?

That's because he, you know, he's an addict. And he's a mess. You know? So yeah, I would have no problem hiding that.

You take them with you to buy the cocaine? No. Trying to see where the line is here. No.

They don't go down the corner with you to go see Jimmy, the drug dealer. No, because then if I got incarcerated, they'd go too. I don't think they'd go to jail, they'd go in the system. Exactly.

They'd go into the system. Let's say you're a serial killer. Oh boy, I see the squirrel just fucking running. Well again, it's the same principle.

Well, it's a little more extreme than taking cocaine. How about this? Here's a better scenario. Instead of saying like serial killer, what if I was Batman?

You were Batman? If I was Batman. Oh, you don't tell them. I would tell them.

You can't tell them. Why would you not tell them? Because you have to protect them because, like you said before, everybody's got somebody. Are you kidding me?

Look at this utility belt. There's a lot of cool things on there. They would 100% know. Check out the car, the flying thing that comes out the water.

Yeah, but what if they go into Batman? Well, then that's, I mean, I'd have to face those consequences, but they would have to know. But then your whole family's in danger. Yeah, the penguin would find you.

The idea of the secret identity is to protect your loved ones. He told Rachel Dawes. Yeah, but Lois Lane acted like she didn't know Clark Kent was Superman, so that way they don't get her. And when they found out, Lex Luthor captured Lois Lane.

She really knew who he was. I mean, come on, the glasses really made a difference. The glasses and the hair. It's a thing.

So, yeah. Where's the line? What will you not do in front of your children? I don't know.

I don't know. Apparently everything. Okay. I have one more level, but it's inappropriate.

Yeah, just move on. Yeah, exactly. See, that's why I knew. Let that go.

When I saw the squirrel running, I'm like, oh boy, here we go. That's it, buddy. That's all you get. All right, Mike, we need a name.

David Morris, my guy. Big bong. Pulled some good names this time. All right, now we're moving on to International Cigar News.

I don't know, everybody get excited. Dutch government opens a comment period for a plane packaging proposal. Yep. For years, the Netherlands has been working on introducing plane packaging for cigars, but first, the government will let people provide their thoughts on the proposal.

The Dutch government has said that the law is needed because cigars are enticing for young people, and that fancy packaging is part of the reason why. The fancy packaging makes the kids one? It's all those Cookie Monster candy bars. Yeah, it's just insanity, whatever.

The proposal would ban retailers from displaying open boxes in stores. Yep. Require the outer box to be covered in a sticker in a specific color with a health warning on it. Require tubes, tubos to be in neutral colors.

Those are the things they're asking you to do. Notably, it doesn't appear that it would require neutral bans as in the case in countries like Australia and Ireland as niche as the occasional consumed product scars play no part in smoking initiation of young Dutch people with even fewer adult kind of sewers consuming them. Said Paul Varakis, Director General of the European Cigar Manufacturers Association, or ECMA, in a statement: "During this period, during which cigars have been excluded from the scope of plain packaging, there has been no observed increase in cigar consumption in the Netherlands or in other countries with plain packaging. " Well, that's not good.

Well, that's the whole purpose of the regulation. Right, they're trying to eradicate something. Right. So it's just a sale, right?

Not like if somebody has one with stuff all over, they're in trouble? Yeah, they're covered. There's plain packaging moving forward. I think he's asking if you're out in public, you don't have to take the band off or have a sticker on the sale.

No, you definitely don't get to smoke in public in those areas. Well, my question, well, I was going to follow with another one. Okay. So when this happens, if it happens, right?

Because Canada is the same way, correct? Yeah. So would that increase the sales in America, where maybe they would, America would ship over to those places? No.

Okay. No, exporting to other countries is extremely difficult. Okay. For these reasons, ECMA consider the introduction of a plain packaging for cigars in parallel with e-cigarettes to be completely inappropriate and unjustified.

Yeah. According to the ECMA, the proposal's language would allow for non-compliant packaging to be imported for six months after the proposal's effective date, and retailers would have two years from the effective date to sell through the non-compliant packaging. Those who are interested in providing a comment can do so by clicking on the link on the story. The comment period closes on August 13th, 2025.

Okay, do you think that this is an overstep of regulation? Yes, I believe so. Didn't they try that here, and then they decided it was too much trouble? Okay, why is it an overstep in regulation?

It's just my opinion. Okay, why? I don't think it's necessary. I don't think it's gonna deter anyone from smoking, because the package is dull.

Well, the data has already shown that it reduces people smoking over time, right? No, they said it doesn't show that it has. Oh, I thought you said that those things are slowly diminishing in other countries, like Canada. No, I didn't mention Canada.

He did. I mentioned Australia. Okay. It's not making a change in Australia.

Okay. Do you think that it's over-regulation? I mean, I do. I mean, look, man, we only got so many things, right?

Yeah. And, I mean, he was talking about e-cigs. We're talking about cigars. Well, they're lumping them together because they're already making e-cigs do it.

Yeah, I don't think it should be lumped together. I don't think cigars should be regular that way because, one, I mean, I mean, this is probably one of the most natural thing you're going to smoke other than wacky tabacca, right? But this is completely natural. There's no chemicals in it.

You know, everything is natural. So why would you overregulate it to where you say, okay, well, now we're just going to completely take away from the creator of all these cigars, the way to sell their cigars? Right. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Like, you're taking away a vital part of their business. Okay, so we agree that this is an overstep of government. Yeah. Yes.

Right. Where do they stop then after that? That's going to be, that was my next question. Do they all said now a bottle of vodka has to, you know, have health warnings on it and a nondescript label and maybe a bottle you can't see through?

How about, listen, I'll take it a step further. That used to be illegal, by the way. One of the biggest issues that we have in America is obesity, right? Yeah.

People eat too much. Sure. Right? Well, listen, you know, advertisements of McDonald's is enticing.

Right? So should we remove... A sticker on a Big Mac? Yeah, I mean, like, look, heart attacks, number one cause of death, right?

Right. Consumption of this product could cause heart attack. Right. So what are we gonna do?

Are we gonna minimize the size of the burger, the calories that are in the burger? Are we gonna make it so that you can't advertise and only put it in plain packaging or something? You know what I mean? Right.

Nothing that says what it is or, you know, there's no slogan, there's no I'm loving it, nothing? Just a big picture of, like, Roseanne Barr right on the thing. Yeah, like, I want to see, you know, I want to open up my Big Mac and my plain container of white, as soon as it pops up, I want to see a warning. Oh, on the inside of the...

Yeah, could clog arteries. Sure. You may die. S.

Happy Meals are just called Just Okay Meals. Yeah, just meals. Meals. Not good for you, Meals.

Yeah. Right, not good for you meals. Do we think that, you know, eliciting toys in Happy Meals are okay? I mean, at this point, you're condoning a behavior of unhealthy foods.

We have to stop this. Well, then, just keep going to, like, sugary cereals, gotta stick around, could you call it diabetes? Right. So, all of it's extreme over-regulation.

Sure. And, like, I don't even understand how this is always in a conversation. Like, well, we want to do this. Life banning of cigars.

Like, okay, so then let's life ban the amount of excessive caloric intake every day. You know what I mean? Right. I think what happens, in my personal opinion, what happens is somebody that is voting on this or putting this into, trying to put this in effect, somebody close to them or somebody they know has probably gone through something and they want to make a change because of that personal issue that happened.

Okay, so you're saying that trauma, it's possible that trauma has indicated this person to put in this law into play. Right. Do you think that if a traumatic incident happened to you, you should be instilling a law to blanketing people? No.

I mean, look. It's unfortunate. Yeah, unfortunate things happen all the time, right? And, like, I think that we all deal with trauma to some degree.

We've all had some type of trauma in our lives and it makes us act differently. Whether how we act differently is good or bad is subjective. Sure. But, passing a law for the land of people based on your traumatic experience, probably not a good idea.

Yeah, I had a bunch of buddies down in the military, and I'm not like, oh, let's stop guns. Right. Yeah, let's not get on the boats anymore. Right.

Yeah, you know, I mean, I like the everybody shits their pants where I'll wear diapers scenario. You know, like, oh, I was hanging out with some friends and I shit myself, so like, let's all make sure that we're all covered if that happens again. If it happens again, it's better safe than sorry. I think if you're in the government, if you're a senator, or whatever it is that makes these laws, you have to come up with something everyone's going to get your name up, to get your name out.

Right. Now, everybody hates tobacco. I mean, you know, everybody hates cigarettes and stuff. So, let's just go against tobacco this week.

Next week, could be like, they talked about abortion before. Could just be abortion. Let's go after abortion this week. Yeah, well, let's be real.

I mean, okay, you talked about Diddy earlier about prostitution. They're still prostitutes. Well, it's legal in Nevada. Okay, but it's illegal everywhere else, but they're still there.

Like, so why put a regulation on when it's still going to happen anyways? Well, I mean, why put a regulation on banning it? Right. To be popular.

So it's... I mean, it doesn't matter if they win or lose. The guy that wrote the bill? Yeah, he's popular.

He's popular for a while. We're talking about him. Right. Do something a little bit more productive.

They're unproductive. Yeah, but you want something that's going to get the headlines. Being against tobacco gets headlines. But God forbid people should have a right to choose how they live their life.

Right. You know what I mean? I mean, if you're against weed control, want everybody to cut the grass, it's not really going to get you the news. Right.

We're shutting down lawn care. Big lawn care. I like where your head's at. Shutting down big lawn care.

Yeah. Yeah, they didn't do it when that whole roundup thing went down. Well, that's different, right? I mean, that could be abuse from a corporation.

abuse from a corporation. If a corporation, I mean, if they've done something wrong and they've caused cancer, you know, should that be looked at? I think it should be looked at, you know. It's a fine line.

It is. Okay, moving on. PDR Cigars names Wayne Clark VP of Sales. Are you familiar with Wayne?

Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth. PDR Cigars has announced that Wayne Clark is its new vice president The production of sales effective of July 1st. Clark brings more than 14 years of experience to the position.

He was most recently a regional sales manager for Placentia, where he helped expand the company's distribution across the Northeast and Mid-South regions. I was thinking of the Mountain Tobacco. In his new role with PDR Cigars, he will oversee the company's sales efforts and work to deepen relationships with retail partners nationwide. I'm generally excited to join the talented team at PDR Cigars, said Clark, in a press release.

I look forward to helping push innovation, expanding the brand's presence, and building profitable, winning partnerships with our retail purveyors. I can't wait to get out and reconnect with our retail partners in the near future to grow the PDR family and bring new opportunities to the industry. Okay, so you have a guy that's a regional sales manager for Plasencia Cigars. Correct.

Okay. And he makes, it's not a lateral move, he moves up and becomes the National Sales Manager for PDR. Vice President of Sales, so whatever that means. Vice President, sorry, I apologize.

It's okay. Vice President. It could be the same job, everybody calls it something different. Right.

So, do you think that jumping from Regional Sales Manager Plasencia to this VP of Sales of PDR was a good move for Wayne? Good move for Wayne? Yeah. He went from Plasencia to PDR?

I mean, you would think it's more important because now he is vice president of sales, but company-wise, I think Placencia had more of a cachet to the name than PDR. Placencia is a way bigger name, for sure. Sure. Okay, what do you think?

Do you think this is a good decision for Wayne? No. Why not? I just, like you guys are just saying, I mean, Placencia is way bigger.

I think, I've, what is PDR Cigars? I've never heard of. They've been around for a hundred years. Yeah, they've been around forever.

I'd had to see numbers. Didn't Richie used to work for PDR? He may have. I think he did.

I'd have to see numbers on companies. Oh, one staggeringly more than the other. I would stay with the staggering one. I'm sure PDR doesn't own farms and factories and things like Placencia.

Okay, so, alright, so I'm gonna do one more. So, like, if you're a regional sales manager for Placencia Cigars and you have other job opportunities to become VP of sales for something else, I think that's something else, like, what companies, give me your top five companies that you think you would say, okay, I can move to these companies, and this is a positive move for me and my career in the cigar industry. From Plasencia. From Plasencia.

Go ahead, Balmer. Well, you got to remember, it's not a lateral move, you're in, you're moving up. Right, you're moving up, you're becoming more important, but it's a smaller company. Yeah.

From Plasencia. Mm-hmm. Espinosa. Okay.

You think moving to VP of Sales, Espinosa's up? Okay. Sure. Drew Estate.

Drew Estate. Yeah. Any of the legacy brands, I guess. I want your top five.

I don't want you to say, I don't want a blanketing shotgun. Oh, gotcha. So I did two. I'm trying to think of another one off the top of my head.

I guess you can say Espinosa, you can say Romacraft. Okay, I'll give you that. I'll give you that. You can say other brands, other legacy brands.

I know, I'm thinking, I'm thinking though, okay, Arturo Fuente. Sure. Padron. Yeah, okay, all right, those are okay.

What about you? Give me five other ones. Not the ones that he said. Argonosa.

Argonosa, okay, it probably pays less. I think so. Yeah, but okay. Well, I mean, they're kind of complete though, right?

The first thing in the hotel with those damn red vinyl couches. And then... I'm sorry, who did you say after Argonosa? Well, I would think Argonosa would be kind of complete, because they've got tobacco, they have their own tobacco.

They're kind of like Pasencia, right? Sure. Yeah, I said okay. I said it'd probably be last, but I said okay.

Ooh. Is... Just give me three. All right.

Is Don Pepin, what is that general? David Garcia? Yeah. Sure.

Okay. Okay. , Ernie. You think Ernie?

J.? Is that General? Okay. J.

Fernandez. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I agree with that.

J. have a Vice President of Sales? Or is he more under the General? Yeah, I think he's a VP.

Does he? Yeah, I mean, like Davidoff would be good. I mean, I'd even argue Dunbarton. If he moved to VP of Sales for Dunbarton, I think that'd be a better move.

Is he national, or is he VP? What's the difference? I don't know. Yeah, exactly.

Great question. I think he's a national salesman. One probably pays less. Which one do you think pays less?

National. And one probably travels less. Definitely national. VP pays more.

You know, foundation. I think foundation would work. Yeah. If you can say Espinosa, then foundation definitely falls in that conversation.

I guess you're right. What about LFD? LFD for sure. Yeah, for sure.

LFD. Crown has S. Miguel, right? Crown has a national.

Yeah, he's national. He comes to the meetings. Okay, but we don't think that the PDR move is necessarily the best decision. No, no.

I mean, this guy could potentially reshape everything, and all of a sudden we could be talking about... He could. We could all be smoking PDRs next week. Not next week, but maybe in a few years' time.

In a few years. You think he lasts that long? Or he moves on? Okay, let's do this now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where do you go from PDR? Vice President of Sales at PDR. Where do you go from there?

Jake Wyatt. Well, yeah, I mean, the question is like, is it, you know, if you're at PDR and you're the VP guy and it doesn't work out, you left this regional position at Plasencia, is your next job better or worse than your previous job as a regional sales manager at Plasencia? I guess it depends on what you do there, I guess. For example, Tony Gomez.

See, that's why I said... Regional salesman for Espinosa. Yeah. Went to national salesman for...

He didn't go there directly. Whatever. Just don't even... No, no, he went somewhere before that.

Okay. Jake White. Yeah, I think it was Jake White. And then from Jake White, he went to the next one.

Okay. Yeah. And now he's a broker. It was like a trickle down.

It was like a trickle down. Yeah, so, well, that's my question. Like, you know. Yeah, he would go down after PDR.

Do you think that he would go, he would be in a lesser position than regional salesman in Placencia if things didn't work out of PDR? Yeah, if I was him, I would hope not, but again, I'm asking the question, it's not the question of if he succeeds or not, we don't know, we don't know Wayne, we have no idea who Wayne is. Yeah, we don't know Wayne, we don't know Wayne, he does wear a cowboy hat now. Wayne does have 14 years of experience, so I have his other roles in the premiums.

So all of these things are very possible. He could become very successful in PDR. If he doesn't, is the next job better or worse than the regional position at Placentia? If he's not successful.

Correct. Worse. Worse. Worse.

Worse. Okay. That was my question. I agree.

I think the same thing. So would there be a president of sales at PDR? Of course. So then the national salesman would answer to the vice president of sales.

Correct. Vice President Sales answers to the – there's a lot of people at PDR. I can see how they could help their pricing. Possibly.

I mean, or there isn't. Right. Maybe his next job is president of Wayne Cigars. Could be.

Oh, man, that's an even tougher rule. Getting in selling your own – But it's less pay, though. Oh, yeah, well, you – yeah, I can argue. Cash flow expectations, it's very difficult.

All right, he also served as sales representative for Hiram & Solomon before being anointed to the role of general manager in 2018. He also spent just over two years as a sales manager for General Cigar Company. Okay. "We're very happy to welcome Wayne to the team," said Abe Flores, owner of PDR Cigars, in a press release.

" His experience and vision will be key as we continue to grow and innovate with PDR. All right. Well, look forward to seeing what Wayne does and how that goes. Yes.

Congratulations, Wayne. We wish you all the luck. Yes. No matter what we said.

Oh, we didn't say anything bad. We just said... No, we were just, you know, just laying it out. Okay.

Party on, Wayne. Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth. Hooten Young is launching the Midnight Hammer on July 14th.

Midnight Hammer. S. military operation The Midnight Hammer is a 6x60 torpedo made with the Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper covering a binder and filler blend of Nicaraguan tobacco. The Midnight Hammer has an unfinished shaggy foot and the cigars are rolled at the Tablicalera CM factory in Nicaragua.

Each cigar has an MSRP of $16 and 2,000 cigars are being released in four count bags. S. military operation involving seven B-2 bombers that bombed three different nuclear sites in Iran. According to the USA Today, the operation was first known operational in the use of 30,000 pound bunker busters, blah, blah, blah.

We don't need to know all that. So here's the question. Okay. Well, you have a question.

I have a question. Oh, you're tired of me asking questions. No, no, I just have a question because that's why I pulled this. All right, good.

How do they come out with this so fast? Within less than 30 days, they're rolling out a cigar named after Operation Midnight Hammer. You already have a cigar on the pipeline. Yeah.

Still, can you get packaging and stuff that fast? I mean, basically in two and a half weeks. I think that Karne can do it. I think that it can be done fast.

You know, there could be some hiccups. There's always hiccups in the cigar industry, but I think it could be done. It's not going to be done. Well, you said it was only 2,000 cigars.

Right. So what we're saying is they had a cigar ready to go. Yeah. Okay, and they're going, you know, three weeks till shipping, it's all packaged, it's ready to go, and they go, hold the prices.

No, I don't think they made it that far. It's probably something aging. Hey, let's work on a blend. Okay, what do you want to call it?

I don't know, let's work on a blend. I think that that's the right way to do things anyways. I have no idea what the name is for anything, realistically, unless I have a story in my brain that I'm thinking, I want to link this to a cigar. But realistically, when it comes to creating something, it's like, hey, I see a need for this, or I personally have a need for this particular cigar.

That's how I create a cigar. Right, name comes last. Name comes, you know, I'm not thinking about the name, you know. That's just how, that's my process, right?

Okay. So, let's say, hypothetically, that they created their, hey, let's make a cool cigar, right? And, you know, I want it to be a Torpedo or a Bellicose or something. Well, this is a 6x60, so it's already a bigger cigar that could represent a Bunker Buster Bum.

Yeah, well, yeah, we're thinking, you know, and going that direction and, you know, it's kind of military based as far as Hoon & Young and stuff. Sure. You know, I'm thinking missile anyway. So they're sort of bullet looking anyway.

Yeah. And then they make bigger ring gauge anyway. Right. And then opportunity comes, boom, right?

So, like, realistically, the band is probably just Hooten & Young. Yeah, it's what it looks like on the AI. All right, so your band was going to be Hooten & Young regardless. Right.

So now you're only talking about a secondary band if you add a secondary band. Probably, yeah, they probably won't. Well, I was thinking more take time to make the Ziploc bags it's going. It's going in four packs.

So they're going to be in those fresh packs. Okay. So you got to have all those printed and made to say Midnight Bummer. What if they just say Hooten & Young?

They don't have to necessarily say that. Well, somewhere it doesn't have to say. Midnight Hammer. Somewhere it's got to say Midnight Hammer.

Yeah, maybe it just says it on the secondary band of the cigar. There's cigars that are named something that don't have any name on the packaging or secondary band. Right, but if you want this to sell as Midnight Hammer, you better have a Midnight Hammer on that package somewhere. Like a Stealth Bomber.

Stealth Bomber, a Black Hammer, something. Better be careful with hammer, Padrón may be talking to you. Okay, maybe it's like a Sickle. Um, what about, let me ask you this.

Do you think it's a good marketing strategy? I think it follows their, um, what they do. Yeah. I mean, like you said, they're military-based, veteran-owned, you know, why not?

Okay. Do you think it's a good marketing strategy? Yeah, for 2,000 cigars, sure. Yeah, I think it's a good name for a good run.

Yeah, it's a quick run. Okay. We're in and out. Next question.

God forbid it, the thing went bad. Right. Yeah, we blew these up and then put them in the bag. Okay, now I like using AI for things.

I like AI for imagery and all these other things. Everybody does nowadays. It's fun. It's entertaining.

Right. You know. It's fast. Okay.

Do you think you should use an AI image for a new cigar that you're selling? Now that I don't, I don't, okay, first I didn't notice that it was AI. I mean, when it came through, I just sort of looked at it. Oh, how did you not notice?

Well, I didn't pay much attention to it, but when I was pulling the story and I saw the photo, So it's quite obvious it's an AI. So do you think that you should use AI as an image for your cigar? No, if they had these cigars already made, why couldn't they take a picture? Right, do you think they should use AI?

Slap a band on one of them. For 2,000 cigars again, sure. Okay, well, I can tell you that if you go to Half Wheel, please go to Half Wheel and take a look at the Hooten & Young press release. It's got a shaggy foot, and it looks like a fucking squid.

Yeah, I was gonna say, the shaggy foot is all dangly things. It's not like a real authentic kind of an image, you know, I get, I get that it was probably put together relatively quickly. Yeah, that's what we were discussing earlier. I mean, that's probably why they did it.

I understand why they did it. Well, and Kearney's big with the AI stuff. But, and Kearney is big with the AI stuff, but the real question is, should they have done it, is the question. No, they should, I mean, if they have the cigars, they should have taken a picture of the cigar.

Okay, and for you? I think, I mean, proper process, yeah, you're completely correct. I mean, I don't think they should have done that, but they were trying to get it out quick because what does somebody else capitalize on it? Or the nostalgia or the excitement of it is already gone.

All right, but you could have just launched the image of it with a band. You didn't have to-- You could take a picture of the cigar. If, like Mikey said, they already had the cigars made, they were gonna call it the Big Foot or something? Yeah.

Or the Shaggy or something? They could have done the press release with just an image of Hooten Young. Yeah, just the logo. Maybe Karne is just trying to do something different.

Look, again, I'm not begrudging somebody for trying, because I think that that's awesome. You need to push the envelope to kind of test things and see what the response is. See where he's standing. But I'm always going to ask the question, was it the right move?

Now, who the hell are we? Yeah, there's three knuckleheads sitting here talking. Yeah, but we have opinions, and I'm looking at that image, and I'm thinking, oh. Yeah, it looked pretty cartoon.

Like, Karney has to tell me, hey, look, I'm making a cigar, it's a Hoot & Young, and we're going to call it Midnight Hammer, and I'm going to say, damn it, you got me, I'm in. First of all, I'm going to support Karney regardless. All he's got to do is reach out. Hey, this is a new cigar.

It's coming out. We'd love you to have it. Okay, cool, bro. We're in.

Right? Um, I don't think that, I just think that it kind of discredits it. It almost diminishes the value of it in that AI aspect. You'd be surprised how many people don't catch that it's AI, though.

I'm sure. I'm sure that's the case. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, again, this is only 2,000 cigars. So what? No, but I'm saying that's, you know, something like this. Yeah, I don't think it matters much on the AI image, but if it was...

I have one at the factory, pick one up in his hand, have him take a picture, send it to me, I cut the background off, I don't see his hand anymore, boom, there's the cigar. Yeah, you could totally do that. Lay it on a pile at the back and take a picture. " But again, it's traditional, right?

The methods you guys are talking about. And Carney is trying to vamp these companies that he is with now, so. That's true. Maybe he's trying to get people to do AI pictures of the shows.

Which I agree with. I agree with pushing the envelope. Right. But I also asked the question, is it the right, was it the right approach?

And you said no, you said, what'd you say? I said that I was okay with it. So you said yes. Right.

And that's my point of this conversation. Yeah. So it's half a half. Yeah.

I lean towards no more. You know, I want to see if you can either produce the image with the cigar. Great. If you can't produce the image of the cigar.

I don't know if I didn't use AI at that point is what I'm saying. Okay. Or use whatever the logo is going to be for the midnight hammer. Correct.

America, an eagle carrying two ARs, you know. Right. All right, Michael, we need a name. A bald eagle.

Eddie Martell. Ooh, some good names this week. Placencia to implement tariff-related price increases next week. Okay.

Nothing new about that. Next week, Placencia Cigars will increase the prices of its cigars in a move, the company says, was instigated by the Trump administration's tariffs on foreign-made goods. An email, Ed Belio, is that how you say his last name? Emilio?

Belio. B-E-L-L-O. B-E-L-L-O? Yeah.

B-E-L-L-O? CEO of Placentia Cigars. He must know the guy that's no longer there. We're glad Wayne's gone.

Told Halfwell that the changes will result in an increase between 32 to 47 cents on the wholesale price of each cigar. Okay. The increase will go into effect on Monday, July 7th. S.

international trade policy have resulted in new higher import tariffs being introduced on goods from countries where Plasencia cigars are proudly crafted, said Balio in an email. While we have worked diligently to absorb these rising costs, which we have managed to do during these past several months, the scope of the new tariffs has made it necessary for us to now implement an adjustment in our prices. Okay. So it's kind of inevitable.

Right. Everybody thinks that they know what the prices increases are going to be on tariffs, arguing that it's either 5% or so, But realistically, it's going to be 10%. I understand the logic behind why I'm saying, why people say it's going to be 5%. It's not going to be 5%.

It's going to be more. It's odd that, I'm sorry, Boots, it's odd that they gave a semi-specific amount. I mean, it was 32 to 47 cents. I didn't say 3%, 10%.

They didn't say 30 cents. They said 32 to 47. Yeah, it's because there, I think the reason why that is because it's hard to determine what the percentage of price increase is. as far as cigars right so like you don't know what they're importing it as far as their overall cost if they're importing it at 40 four dollars and it's 10 you know that's 40 cents well if they wholesale it at eight or seven or whatever the case may be that's not 10 right um it would have to be 70 cents at that point so like you don't know what they're what they're determining the What the cost of the product coming in is.

Right. As a manufacturer, you can call it whatever you want as far as your cost, right? This is what it cost me. You know, here's my cost.

And they can raise it again once the number comes out. They could, I mean, they could say, hey, it cost two bucks. Sure, yeah, I mean, say whatever. They own the factory.

Right. They own all of those things. They can dictate that price. So, what is that percentage?

Well, you know, I'm not telling you that. Because it's not the wholesale cost. Right. Yeah.

Now, if it was the direct wholesale cost, it's easy to say it's 10%, right? Well, they're saying that it's going to go up 32 to 47 on the wholesale price. Right. But they're not saying that it's up 10% on the wholesale price.

Right, right. Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay. Makes sense?

Yeah. All right. But look, if it increases the wholesale price 32 to 47 cents, you're going to pay 90 cents more for that cigar. Right.

Yeah. So are we keystoning tariffs? Yes. That's your answer.

Have they come with a date yet when this is going in effect, the tariffs? They've gone into effect. Oh, okay. They just haven't said a number.

Well, here's what's crazy is there was, look, there's two scenarios that it's going on that nobody's really talking about. Well, is, and we kind of dabbled with this on our upcoming skip shows, but, like, Black Label got pelted right before the show. They had an importation come in and they had to pay 19% or something like that. Whatever the high one was.

Yeah, because for that, for those four days or whatever, when they. Just bad timing. Yeah, like boom, whacked, right? Then it went down to the 90 day arguable, you know, 10% tape and, you know, we're going to chill.

Well, guess what? Those 90 days, that 90 day conversation is about over. Come end of July, I think. I think it's when it goes.

April, May, June. Yes, at some point in July. At some point in July, it goes back to 19. Well, we don't know.

Oh, it's true. Just the 90 days is up. Right. So do you think this affects how, this affects stocks of retailers and stuff based off of how these numbers are moving, like cigar companies aren't going to want to import and export based off of these tariffs, because if it's a moving number, you know, if it's 19% right now, they're going to say, "Okay, hold on, let's wait.

Let's wait another 90 days. That may happen. You know, I think that as far as like insider baseball is concerned, if the manufacturers and brands had the ability to import product before the tariffs, they did. Right.

That's why I argued before when you talked about, you know, things kind of staying the same for Q1 as importation, that could actually mean that importation is going to be down. s before the tariff went into play right and then they're gonna slow their importation moving forward for the for the remainder of the year right right and then wait and see what happens with the tariffs right and then we're talking about recession like oh things are pulling back yeah of course things are pulling back right so um yes you know and and then also yes i i think that we also saw i mean i definitely I've only heard quiet rumblings of people who were expecting to receive things from China when they were at their highest point. Boats were waiting before they made it to port. They were staying on...

Oh, sure. They'll circle out in the water. Right. We're going to hang tight until something changes, because we believe something is going to change, someone's going to move, there's going to be negotiations, whatever that is, right?

So, could you see that in the cigar industry? Yeah. Hey, we're 19%. All right, well, you know...

Somebody's got to move. There's got to be a break. All right, well, let's hang tight. Now, how long can you hang tight for?

Right. Right, because it's a perishable good. Not only that, it's demand. Demand, yeah.

If the product is out of stock, look, if your product is out of stock for 60 to 90 days, your retailer replaces that. Oh, sure, right. All right, well, you're not getting it right now, so hey, I'm going to put something else on the shelf. You just lost the shelf space.

Right. So not only do you lose the shelf space, but now somebody's got to go back and fight for that shelf space. They say, "Hey, we got this back in stock. All right, well, I got to clear something else out.

I got to move something else. " You know, right, exactly. They look like squids. Yeah, they're squiddy, they're squiddy.

Yeah, so, you know, so that's the whole game that's about to happen in the next, I would say, Q3 of this year. Well, Q1, what are we at? Q3, yeah. Q3.

Yeah. Okay. All right, you guys ready? Yeah.

It's time for What's the Score? The game is sweeping the nation. I'm going to read you sections of a halfway review, and you will guess the final score based on the info I give you. Now, we start with the reviewer and what the cigar is.

You guys ready? Yes. Ready. All right, first cigar, Tatuaje Brown Label Especiales, reviewed by Charlie Minato.

Okay. The review was done May 6, 2011. So this is our old one for the week. Okay.

Wait, wait, wait. Oh, that's right. Sorry. Who goes first?

Oh, we're doing a number off of, okay. Charlie? Yeah. Charlie.

I'm going to go. That's why, though. Yeah, I'm going to go 88. Fuck, that's a good number.

87. All right. That's why, Selection de Cazador Especiales. 5x38, the wrappers, Ecuadorian Corojo 99, binder Nicaraguan, filler Nicaraguan, country, United States.

S. S. Okay. , MSRP is $10, time and humidor, and now he's got, this is, so this is an old one, there's a lot of other information.

He even talks about what cutter he uses, what lighter he uses, he drank a Coke, and it took him one hour, 50 minutes to smoke. Okay. All right. The wrapper itself, not the cigar.

Oh, wait, do you guys want to, do you put in a score after I tell you the book? Yeah, do you want to change anything? No, I think that's good. I mean, the size of this cigar doesn't matter.

Sure, it's a Lancero. I'll stick at 87. The wrapper itself, not to Cigar, is soft to the touch and somewhat delicate, giving off an acidic leather aroma with an apple aroma underneath. Hmm.

Boots? I'll stick. 88. 88.

Michael? Apple aroma underneath. There's a lot of flavor descriptions with Charlie. Charlie's next level.

It's hard to give you guys something that was not a mention of a cereal or a nut or a cookie or... Um... I want to change based solely on that. I'll stick 87.

All right. Second clue. Cold draw is a bit tight with berry, nuts, earth, and cocoa and an orange peel taste on the finish. The Xikar's dual flame lit this up a bit quicker than I would like.

Quickly fill in the air with woodsy, berry, and cocoa notes, then the first puff. Boots? I don't think that's enough to change, I'm gonna stick at 88. I think Boots is in trouble.

I think the tight draw is gonna be a problem, I'm gonna stick with 87. So you didn't change either? Nope. Yeah.

Okay. Third clue. Draw is tight with average smoke production, but it seems to be loosening. Okay.

It's by far not the least exciting portion of these specials, but there aren't any real complaints. The least exciting? It's not the least exciting. Where are you at, buddy?

I'll go to 86. Yeah, I knew he was going to drop. I set him up for that. Should I have dropped to 86 is the real question.

Then you'd be both at 86. Well, you said I can't do that. I don't remember how we finished it, but we talked about that on a different show. I'll say 87.

87, 86. Yes. All right, the final thought was edited as he mentioned his final score. Okay.

Okay. It's by no means the strongest, but it is medium full in body and the flavors are mature. They aren't overbearing and for the most part is relatively easy in terms of the division, but when it comes to the details, they are quite good. It's not my favorite Pepin Lancero, but it is definitely one of the better ones out there.

Boots. God. I'm gonna stick at 86. 87.

89. Oh! Oh, man! Yes!

Half a point for me. All right, second cigar. Charlie's hard to read. Oh, he's the toughest one.

Oh, he's toughest. And everything he's talking, he just talks about all the flavor stuff. Charlie, for sure, is the toughest. The final thoughts mean absolutely nothing to me.

He can be like, this was the greatest cigar I've ever had. Like, 77. Yeah, I'll be like... All right, the next cigar is the Island Gym Barber Pole number two.

Island Gym Barber Pole number two, so this just came out? Just came out by Patrick. Oscar Valladares, right? The date is July 3rd, 2025.

Oh man, that's fresh. Yeah. By Patrick. Okay, Boots?

I'm gonna go 89 on this. 87. I'm sticking 87 today. You guys are playing the averages.

Yeah. No, I'm not. It's okay. All right.

Country of origin, Honduras, Factory, Oscar Valladares, Tobacco & Company. Okay. Wrapper is a Honduran, Connecticut Seed & Criojo. Okay.

Binder, undisclosed. Filler, undisclosed. Six inches by 52, round, $13. Release date, April 2025.

Number of cigars smoked for review, three. Okay. Boots, did that change anything for you? No, I'm sticking at 89.

I think I'm gonna go 88. 88. 88. All three of the Island Gym Barber Pole number twos are rolled firmly with nothing more than an occasional spot with a bit of give.

I'm sticking, 89. A bit of give. That's what it says. 87.

And boot your standard 89, you said? Yeah. Right. Even though I could, in theory, smoke the cigar without taking any of the head off, the cigar's air movement, as is, feels tight, It feels tight, and I don't think it would be able to get sufficient air flow, so I clip off most of the darker portion of the head.

So you had to readjust on the cut. 88. Oh boy. Spongy, but clogged.

Interesting. Well, it has an open end, because it tapers at the end, so it's open, so you don't have to cut it, but he felt it was too tight, so he did cut it. I'll go 87. I'll stick 87.

So neither one of you have changed? No, I changed to 88. Oh, you're at 88. You picked 87 from the beginning?

Yes. I think so. All right, 87, 88. All right.

The flavor continues to get sharper, though it never reaches the point of delivering a sting. There are not a lot of changes outside of a return to a Corn Flakes flavor, Making for me, Petty Tame progression to the finish of the cigar. Okay. Boots?

I just sometimes just don't understand these descriptions. I know you don't. I'm sticking at 88. Okay.

The whole point of picking these boots. So he's saying sharp, but one dimensional, I'm gonna go 86. The Island Gym Barber Pole number two delivers a perfectly enjoyable smoking experience, though one I feel pretty confident I am confident that I won't have much money, I won't have much memory, sorry, of by the, by this time next week. The flavors are pretty tame and agreeable, just not particularly memorable.

I felt like every puff was pretty much the same combination of bread, cereal, and pepper, with some creaminess added in for a bit of variation in the second third. The construction is good, though the combustion in the second half has it challenges, which I'm a bit surprised by giving the uncapped head, but at the same time, it seems to be, you had a long sentence, sorry, seems to be fairly common. In cigars these days. I certainly enjoy the Island Gym Barber Poll number.

Oh, this is a final thought. Yeah. Oh, so I'll just keep going. I think it would be a cigar that a good number of cigar smokers would enjoy, but if you're looking for a dynamic range of flavors and layers of complexity, this cigar doesn't seem to deliver on that request.

Boots. This guy always rates things higher than what I think. Okay. So go up.

I'm at 87, right? No, you're at 88. Okay, 87. Fuck.

And what are you at? I'm at 86. Oh. I lost track.

I always do by the second one. I'm going to say 86. I may have fucked myself by going too low. Go ahead.

86. Oh, yes! Oh, my God. One-and-a-half points for me, and the gap has officially widened.

All right, listener of the week, Fran Saleto, for submitting this week's Patreon cigars to review. Yolnir, the crusher. Shop of the week, Ramsey Smoke Shop, where Michael will be on July 19th. Yes, please come out, Minnesota, let's go.

Michael, we need a name, one last name. Oh, final name. Jose Torres. Bing bong.

All right, guys. It's been episode 395. We'll see you next week. We gotta go do the Patreon.

Thank you very much, guys. Bye. Goodbye. When did the timer end at 99?

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 deliver 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. Cheers to you. com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. F*** that one up.

Show Notes

This week, we cover TikTok’s new U.S. app rollout, Elon Musk’s surprise launch of a third political party, and the OneTaste founders’ shocking forced labor convictions. We also break down the Diddy trial verdict and big changes in the cigar world — from new leadership at PDR and Maya Selva to fresh releases like Hooten Young’s Midnight Hammer. Plus, “What’s the Score!” returns with reviews of the Tatuaje Especiales and Island Jim Barber Pole #Two. Don’t miss it!