ACHP Episode 397 Ozzie Waves Goodbye...

Transcript

Carney all.

Right.

It's recording over here

whenever you guys are ready,

ready.

I'm at the top, yeah.

OK, go ahead.

Oh yeah, you talk.

You're good.

I open the show up you.

Open the show.

Oh, great.

Here we go.

All right.

I was confused.

That's right.

Yeah.

OK.

Do I have to say the episode?

Relax, yeah?

Say who you are first.

Introduce yourself.

For episode 397, welcome to

Cigar as a Pucket.

OK gotcha.

I thought this was all.

You, we got to bring the energy.

Bring the energy, John.

All right, I get it.

I'm introducing myself before we

get started, Michael.

How do we get the people their

hands on show swag?

Oh, we're going right out

without.

Wait, he didn't introduce

himself?

Yeah, he.

Haven't done that yet.

He's still reading.

Michael, because I thought this

was you.

Yes, Yeah, you're saying that to

him?

Hands on show swag shirts.

What they want, what you want to

do is you want to go on the

chapter pod.com and check out

our swag, No.

What we didn't start.

What do you mean?

We didn't start, he didn't say

who.

He was.

He didn't do the.

Intro So you go ahead and then.

You say that and then I say, and

this week we're gearing up for

big Espinosa event night here at

the shop.

I don't we want to.

Start with Hi, I'm John Carney.

It's not on there.

Hi, I'm John Carney from Bentley

Cigars.

From Bentley Cigars and I am a

guest Co host today on Cigar

Howser's podcast.

Harney Trending Story I got to

pick up a trending story.

Yes, later.

Well, you were like halfway

through the show.

Now go to the back of the my.

Social media kit.

So all the stuff I have on here

is just me.

It's just, I can't just. 90

years, you can't see any.

Of that I can't see any of that

I.

Thought this shit was you.

No.

All right, I'm now this makes a

lot more sense.

All right, I'm ready to go.

Let me get the let me get the

cigar lit up.

We can light it up in a little.

Bit you can light it up when

you're talking and stuff, it'll

be fine all.

Right through conversations

makes more sense now.

All right, so you ready to go?

Yep, whenever you're ready.

All right, go ahead.

Welcome to the Cigar Hustler

podcast episode 397.

I'm John Carney, guest Co host,

reporting live here in Deltona,

FL.

But before we get started,

Michael, how do the people get

their hands on show swag shirts?

John, that's an excellent

question.

I'm so glad that you asked me

that.

What they want to do is they

want to go on to chapter pod.com

and check out our latest swag.

Right now we have the

Cappuccino, Sassanino and the

BDP shirt available.

If you buy one T-shirt, you can

get the 2nd 140% off.

Awesome.

I think I'm going to buy some of

those.

It was a good sales pitch.

It was a good sales pitch Long.

Time.

So we got this week, we're

gearing up.

We got a big Espinosa event

night here at the shop, special

guest Jack Terano Mcelpier.

We got Richie Otero.

He used to be called Richie

Riot.

He's Richie Otero now, I think.

Right, he's very professional.

He's joining us Friday night.

We domesticated him, yeah.

Join us Friday night.

So that'll be exciting.

I'm going to light this cigar up

here because I've been your

first time Co hosting.

Yeah, this is nice.

He's very excited.

You're going to be OK.

I'm very excited.

I'm happy.

I'm happy to know how organized

this actually is behind the

scenes.

Yeah.

There's a lot of work.

Well, I'll tell you, look for

me, I was like, man, how these

guys pull this off?

It's this is chaotic and it's

really not chaotic.

So for those that watch it,

there's a lot of work and time

and effort that goes in this,

and we're going to make this

look as seamless as possible

today.

But I'm doing a lot of things

other than just smoking here.

That's true.

Yeah, you don't.

A lot goes on in that.

You no longer get to just show

up and be like the stud.

We have sucked you in and now

you are going to be reading the

teleprompter, giving us the

news, updating us on all the

things that are going on in the

cigar industry.

It's all you today.

And I haven't pre looked at it,

so everything's a surprise.

Of course.

That's the way I do it too.

Yeah, yeah.

We don't pre read the stories

here.

Before we get into any further,

what should we should talk

about?

What?

We're smoking real quick, right?

What we're smoking right now,

Yeah, I am smoking.

You can't see me here.

I'm smoking the Bentley GT, the

770 Mammoth cigar.

Gargantuan.

It's coming out soon.

I know you like the big seven

70s, Mike.

It doesn't fit my.

Mind, it was his first choice.

I mentioned five other cigars.

You said I didn't smoke that.

I'll take the biggest one

possible.

Biggest one, yeah.

I am smoking the Hooten and

young Operation Neptune Spear

which is the was it that was the

Bin Laden yada yada.

That was the operation code name

for the operation of the Osama

bin Laden capture kill mission

by the Navy Seals.

So that's the first, the first

Navy themed project that Hooton

Young's had.

So that that's an exciting

smoke.

Honestly, it's one of my

favorites.

Got a real rich dark wrapper on

it.

Yeah, it does.

It's pretty and it's a pretty

band and everything, man.

Yeah, it's really well done.

Stories behind it.

Great.

I'm smoking the same as Mike.

The 7 by 70 Bentley GT Grand

Toro.

You also like it.

Well, it's coming out here soon.

In the next like 60 days, we'll

have it.

We're doing a small run of it

and I had specifically two of

them remaining from our trade

show and shockingly, they've

been stored incredibly well.

I've got Reno's going on at the

house.

So I grab these and I'm like,

these were in pristine

condition.

So yeah, we're smoking the 770

today.

But Speaking of the news,

today's show we've got, there's

a lot of good news here.

The first one's kind of somber.

The world mourns the loss of

rock legend Ozzy Osbourne.

You're going to just kind of

cover briefly about all of them

before we got to get into it.

So go.

Ahead, there's a comma there, so

we're going to hit that comma

and pause a little bit.

Florida teens also are taking

stupidity to a new level.

Who knew that was even possible

at the door kick challenge.

Ever heard of that?

And Ring camera users panic over

suspicious logins.

I'm a heavy Ring user.

I'm very excited about this one.

We're going to break it all

down.

Yes, excellent.

Plus bonus here.

Cigar prices going up per usual.

They never go down.

They never go down.

They haven't gone up in my

world, but you know they're

going up in the industry.

We're going to tell you why

that's happening.

Ashton, Epic and Natsiko are

reacting to their new tariffs

this week, and the EU is trying

the EU the.

EU is trying to, That's amazing.

Trying to torch the whole

industry with a massive tax hike

so.

Excellent.

So there's a lot going on here.

There's another one we got going

on here, more news.

We've got Bo Bocox, new

championship smokes.

We're going to talk about those

big change in Florida's

wholesale rules kind of big

change, not really at the same

time.

Excited to hear your views on

that.

And we play What's the Score

with the War Fighter night shift

and special cigar for our guest

Co host me.

That's you.

That's for you.

I.

Think it's sitting over here so.

It's no, that's the Patreon, the

Patreon for the Patreon.

We're going to be smoking the

six O 1 Lance arrow right,

Maduro Lance arrow yes, correct,

correct and we're going to and

you know, after the show, we'll

we'll try and coax you into the

Patreon as well.

There's so much here, and it's

all happening right now here on

episode 397 of the Cigar Hustle

Podcast.

All right, yeah, let's get into

it, buddy.

Go ahead.

Tell me about Ozzy.

So Ozzy, Ozzy Osbourne.

We all know Ozzy Osbourne by the

way, social media today, crazy

with Ozzy stuff.

Not just crazy with Ozzy news,

but suggesting you tag music

with him.

So I've had a couple posts today

that I intentionally tag with

music to see if we got some more

attention on that.

But big thing, Ozzy Osbourne so

dies at age 76.

Family says the legendary Black

Sabbath singer was surrounded by

love.

Osbourne, who lived with

Parkinson's disease, had

recently performed A farewell

show in the UK.

You didn't see the show if you

didn't see it.

Incredible, super cool,

Metallica, everybody was there.

A rock star.

Ozzy Osbourne has died,

according to multiple reports.

It was with more sadness than

mere words can convey that we

have to report that our beloved

Ozzy Osbourne has passed away

this morning.

His family is said in a

statement to the press signed by

wife Sharon Osbourne and their

children Kelly, Jack, Amy, as

well as his son Lewis from his

prior marriage to Thelma Riley.

He was with his family and

surrounded by love.

We ask everyone to respect our

family and privacy.

At this time, the Black Sabbath

rocker lived with Parkinson's

disease.

Earlier this month, Osborne

played what was dubbed his final

bow from a throne at Villa Park

in the UK.

Osborne announced he had

previously diagnosed with Park's

disease of progressive nervous

system disorder in January of

2020, a condition he later told

Los Angeles Times that he's

lived with since 2003.

I'm not dying from Parkinson's.

I've been working with it most

of my life, the singer told the

newspaper.

I've cheated death so many

times.

If tomorrow you read Ozzy

Osbourne never woke up this

morning, you wouldn't go.

Oh my God, you'd go.

Well, it finally caught up with

him.

I think it did.

I think that's how everybody

reacted.

It was, it was very sad, but not

not a wild shock.

The guy who's had a rough couple

years.

Right.

For sure.

I mean, so you kind of grew up

with Ozzy, I would assume,

right?

Have you gone to any of his

concerts or anything growing up?

Went to Zero Ozzy Osbourne's

concerts.

I did however just see Zach

Wylde, his guitarist.

He's the Panteras guitarist but

I just saw him recently but I

never got to see Ozzy live, no.

Really, I saw him at one of the

like the where he would play

with a bunch of other bands with

like Bandera and like POD and

stuff like that and the guy was

amazing.

Back then, that was was, I don't

know, 1520 years ago, maybe

longer, but man, this guy is 76

years old and he had to have

himself strapped to this chair

to perform in front of all of

these people one last time.

And you hear over and over again

like, oh, it's the farewell

tour.

This is the farewell tour.

This is the farewell tour.

This is legit the farewell tour,

right?

He was done.

He couldn't do it anymore.

He was.

Anybody else would have quit,

you know what I'm saying?

I I knew he was doing a concert.

I didn't know it was going to be

the farewell until really until

yesterday and I was with a

friend of mine and he said then

he just performed like 2 weeks

ago.

I mean, this crazy concert was

like his farewell concert.

He obviously kind of knew

something was up.

But yeah, they had him strapped

into me.

He was like in a child.

It was like in a child seat,

like a car seat practically.

But he performed.

It was amazing.

I mean, the, the music sounded

great.

Have have you seen it?

I saw clips of it.

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was quite

fascinating and it was, I mean

it was huge.

There was had there been 100,000

people that looked like it.

Massive stadium, but legendary.

You had the reality show with

him when when we were in middle

school and high school, you

know, the right at the end of

the 80s, you had, you know, Iron

Man, the Iron Man song.

That was my entrance theme for

middle school basketball.

I remember, you know, remember

when I was in 6th grade, the

A-Team had the Iron Man song.

I'm like, I can't wait to come

out to Iron Man.

That's going to be really cool.

So yeah, just a generational,

you know, figure.

The guy did the concert 0 pain

meds like he wanted to feel it

and be on point for his last

concert at 76 years old.

I mean, that's pretty

incredible.

It's highly likey.

That's the first time he's ever

been entirely.

Sold a concert to be realistic.

With you.

So yeah, fascinating stuff,

Ozzy.

True legend 76.

He had a good run.

I just think that we all need to

be a little more like Ozzy, you

know?

Less bad eating.

You know what, I'm OK with the

bad eating.

The guy was 100 miles an hour

all the time all the way up to

the very end.

I mean that is impressive dude.

It's interesting he announced.

I thought the interesting thing

here in the article was the

January 2020 was when he

announced it.

And looking back, if you watch

the Osborne's reality show, it's

obvious that he had challenges

with it.

Right A. 100%.

So now you look back at that and

there was a lot of things.

So it's really miraculous all

the things he did over the last

22 years.

You know, he's in his late early

50s when this was going on,

right?

And you know, real challenge to

deal with it and, and truly

impressive.

And the farewell tour was

awesome.

Like it was, it gave me a little

bit of chills because it was now

too, after he passed away

yesterday, watching it was like,

man, what a, what a moment to be

part of it.

They're showing people crying in

the stands now.

The one thing I, I, I found

interesting about it was the,

there was young people that were

obviously in their like 20s

crying.

And it maybe the, the culture of

him maybe in the UK is even more

different than here, right?

They didn't really get to see

him in his prime for the most

part.

You know, it's, it's sad seeing

that play out, but it's, it's, I

would be interested to see how,

why, how and why and where that

connection with that young

crowd.

Parents ingrained that man like,

you know, I mean my cousin,

she's die hard Ozzy.

And I remember growing up that

how much she loved Ozzy

Osbourne.

And then when you see her kids

now, they're all about it,

right?

So it makes sense, you know,

that he's past generation to

generation Generations.

Yep.

So all right.

RIP to the legend man.

So yeah, rest in peace, Ozzy.

Now on to something A.

Little more light hearted.

We have much more light hearted.

We're in Florida man news.

Yes, so we got Florida teens

doing some dangerous stuff per

usual, right?

Florida teens dangerous social

media challenge has police

warning parents and homeowners.

Here's this one.

Police in Florida issued a

warning after a group of minors

took part in the Door Kick

Challenge, a social media trend

aimed frightening homeowners.

Yeah, OK.

So the Hillsborough County

Sheriff's Office said in the

Facebook post that five juvenile

suspects were walking around a

neighborhood in Riverview, FL

Sarasota area, if anybody's

interested, When two of them

approached the house, officials

said one of the individuals, who

was wearing a ski mask, kicked

the front door and fired an

airsoft gun.

The miners then fled the area.

Deputies said the door kick

challenge could turn into a

dangerous situation and

encourage parents to talk to

their children.

The door kick challenge is a

prank circulating on social

media and we're going to give

you the hashtag for it.

Hashtag Team HCSO is asking for

parents to speak to their

children about the dangerous

trend.

Could end, could end in a

tragedy, definitely could end in

a tragedy in Florida.

The Hillsborough County

sheriff's had reported all this

stuff.

They're telling people to be to

be careful.

The #hcso is hill Hillsborough

County Sheriff's Office.

I thought we were giving the

hashtag to the Dorton show.

We're going to really.

Participate John just gave you

the hashtag.

There you go.

So let.

No, I got more.

I got more.

Who likes to do that?

The video.

Was released by Hillsborough

County Sheriff's Office and they

approached the doors kicking the

stuff.

It was all to get shares

essentially.

So they want validation.

The children are trying to to to

get validation.

They want attention.

We're in Florida, man.

They're going to get killed.

Yeah.

OK, so it's 2:00 in the morning,

you're at home, you're in bed,

and someone kicks open your

door.

What happens?

Miles Yeah, Alarm goes off and

you get shot.

The alarm goes off, you get

shot.

All the lights pop on.

If you're a threat, you get

shot.

OK, at Palmer, what about you?

2:00 AM.

The dogs go crazy.

They chase them down the street.

Yeah, you have 75 animals, so.

Well, two now.

One just died.

Yeah, but that one wasn't really

a threat anyway.

I picked him up today I.

Picked him up today I.

Picked up picked up his little.

Urn, it's gonna be a little,

it's gonna be rough at the

Palmer's house.

No, no, I sent pictures.

She's fine.

OK.

Yeah, no, the the 80 LB boxers

chase you down the street,

nipping and pulling at your

legs.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, imagine your

house.

Oh yeah, forget it.

Like.

They hear you yell.

No bubbles.

They're like it's.

Fine, but before I have the

opportunity to get to the gun,

you have to.

You get to meet the Shepherd,

right?

Who doesn't really like anybody?

You're right, doesn't like the

UPS guy at the door.

Doesn't like my kids sometimes.

Somebody with a ski mask.

But loves mommy so.

Not to give this will this will

play into we got the ring coming

up next, which plays into this.

But my my house is automatically

set up if the alarm goes off to

turn on all the lights outdoor

and indoors.

So I have spotlights cameras all

over this.

So everything activates,

everything starts recording.

And I mean it happens even when

the alarm just goes off.

It's I get up out of bed, Alexa

turns everything on instantly

and everything's recording and

then I assess what what's going

on. 99.9% of the time it's

something completely irrelevant.

Occasionally it'll be like an

Amazon driver delivering at

night and you have it, but a

door getting kicked in is a

completely different.

Situation.

Does that Amazon driver freak

out when they drop that off on

your porch at 3:00 in the

morning?

I freak out more by the Amazon.

Drive, I would imagine, yeah,

but the driver?

Had a package delivered that

early in the.

Morning.

Sure.

Yeah, Yeah.

They light your house up like

it's a.

SWAT, they come up with a

flashlight and stuff.

Yeah, well, they got, they got

their high beams on which they

trained them to do this and they

hit you with the high beams.

Because they don't want to get

shot.

Yeah, so my whole house is lit

up and I think we're getting a

SWAT team taking over and it's

just Amazon dropping.

It's a 4:00 AM package.

Right, that you paid 299.

So so so the the ring

notification goes off for me if

there's someone approaching the

door right on the phones and

Bubbles hears that and Bubbles

will charges the.

Oh, he's trained now.

He knows the.

Sound.

Soon as he hears the sound, he's

gone.

So I can only imagine how some

of those Amazon drivers feel in

the morning when they're

dropping something off at my

house for sure.

Amazon after dark is got to be

one of the sketchiest things to

be a part of ever.

I I can't even imagine 'cause I

assume anyone that comes to my

house after the sun's gone down

has nefarious plants.

I don't care who it is, they're.

Up to no good.

Yeah, like, OK, what, what would

you be doing at my house after

dark?

Why are you here?

So that that's a really

challenging job, I think.

And there's, it's you can't see

things.

There's pets, buckles, bump in

the night.

And then you got these idiot

kids, Florida kids, you know,

the new, the new Florida man's

Florida kids.

What are they thinking down

here?

Yeah, this is such a good idea.

Like, hey, we're going to kick

doors down in a state that's a

stand your ground state with

guns, right?

And point political and point a

gun down the, down the and.

Carry an airsoft gun, which is

exact replicas essentially, and

we're going to do it in a state

where where the where the

politics, whether you agree or

not, have said that the people

can just shoot you if you're on

your property and feel

threatened without a question.

So.

Not a good idea.

Insanity.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

OK, you're doing over in Polk

County.

Grady's over there telling

people right now, pull them in

the house right after you shoot

them.

Pull them in the house.

Well, John, I got to tell you,

you've done 2 news articles so

far and you're doing

outstanding.

Thank you.

So.

Thank you.

There was some good information

here the the Hillsborough County

Sheriff's.

We'll move on to the next year,

but they were they were.

The main concern is I'm getting

killed.

Right, of course you don't want

kids because look, we've all

done dumb shit when we were

younger, right?

I've never kicked open a door of

a of a person's home.

I've done other really

despicable things that I won't

speak of on this.

Yeah, Ding Dong ditch.

Yeah.

And some of it's been a little

bit more elaborate than that.

But, you know, in general, I

would never, ever kick open

someone's door.

I would know they'd not get

shot, you know, so the.

Last statement in this article

from the sheriff, which was

great, was what's going to

happen is you're going to have

another national headline and

it's going to be very, very sad.

So they already know what how

this plays out so.

Don't kick the doors, don't kick

them in.

If you're going to do it, don't

bring the airsoft gun.

Just don't do it at all.

People are going to shoot you in

the state and they have the

right to do.

It yeah, I mean be a kid, do

dumb shit, but don't do dumb

shit that could.

Dangerous dumb shit 'cause.

You to die or someone else to

die?

You don't want your obituary

died because of the door kick

challenge.

So anyway, this one's close to

home for me.

I'm huge enthusiast of Ring.

I've got probably.

I don't know how many Ring

devices you have.

No, just like 1.

One, I have like 100.

Really. 27 of them are cameras.

Really.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

When you're on my property, I

know it.

If you're on my neighbour's

property, I know it because I've

taken over my neighbour's

surveillance.

They contracted me to surveil

their house.

So ring response.

Contract surveillance.

Do you have an official?

Room in your house?

Just move.

Surveillance.

I do have one actually.

Yes, Ring responds after users

report suspicious logins on May

28th, very specific date.

The Amazon Ring security company

has addressed widespread user

concerns about potential

unauthorized access to accounts

after viral TikTok videos

sparked panic among customers

who discovered suspicious login

activity dated on that May 28th,

2025.

The controversy began when Ring

users took to TikTok to share

screenshots showing multiple

unrecognized devices apparently

accessing their accounts on the

same date.

Some users reported seeing as

many as 17 unknown devices added

to their accounts on May 28th,

with device names appearing as

Device name Not Found in the

Ring Control Center.

The reports quickly went viral

on TikTok, with users

encouraging the reports to to be

taken care of.

So they were the TikTok.

TikTok was spreading some good

today it seemed like.

On May 28th, Ring explained that

the back end update had caused

past login dates to appear

incorrectly as May 28th.

Sure it did, and caused device

names to display as a device not

found.

They emphasized that the issue

was purely visual and did not

have any impact on security.

So erroneous login dates just

randomly appearing.

Sketchy.

So you're obviously a big ring

guy.

Does this change how you feel

about Ring at all?

No, for me, I don't concern

myself on a personal basis with

people getting into somebody

wants to watch what I'm doing in

my house.

Yeah, I don't really want it

right, But I know that's

possible.

You got a bedroom camera?

No bedroom.

Cameras.

Nothing over the bed.

No bedrooms in the bedroom.

I'm not connected to.

The system, I mean, you're not

reviewing performance later.

There's no, there's no bedroom.

Cameras 75 cameras, not one of

the master.

Bedrooms.

Not one of the master bedroom,

not none in the bathrooms,

Right, I have.

Capability in the toilets.

They're watching the potatoes.

Nope.

I have capability of having

cameras in every single room.

I have them closed and shut off

and deactivated and I have them

covered.

So you can't access them.

But I don't have a major concern

of somebody watching me.

I wouldn't really want it if I

knew it, I would stop it.

But if somebody was watching me,

I I'm not doing anything that

I'd be concerned.

I'm not doing anything

nefarious.

My main concern for having his

ring is so I can watch what's

going on.

So I have it for that purpose.

And I also have some some fail

safe.

So you can buy some other

technologies that that track

outside devices coming in.

But yes, so it's like mesh

networks, you have a mesh Wi-Fi

network.

So I have some of those

connected so I can monitor

what's coming in and out.

So if something's new from the

outside, in theory it should

give you information.

So I think we're pretty safe.

I'd say we're probably 90% safe.

I know there's people watching

'cause I pay Ring, if there is

an alarm that goes off to

physically have somebody watch

it.

So they go on and look and they

can approach and talk to

somebody through it if they need

to.

But this is obviously not just a

glitch in my opinion.

I mean, absolutely 100% people

can do this.

Because if they didn't, they

wouldn't have businesses that

are making money or them making

money on selling things that

protect you on another level,

right?

For sure, for sure.

Palmer, does this change

anything for you as far as you

have a couple Ring devices?

We've got four.

Yeah, yeah, four.

No, no I didn't.

You OK?

Dates are wrong, whatever

they're.

Going to look at my front door

and back door and.

Little bit of hacking.

I mean, they're going to see

John Carney in his bathrobe.

For sure.

Well, The thing is, they say.

I've seen you in the bathrobe,

I.

Don't wear it anymore.

You've let it go.

I don't wear it at the house.

Let it go I.

Have let it go.

I have retired it too hot.

There's stories about them

hacking and then they talk to

your children through the

cameras.

Yeah, that's the scary part.

I mean, I don't care if they

watch me walk around my

underwear.

Yeah, but I mean, there's no

kids at my.

House and it's always.

John's case though.

Yeah, and it's always like some

racial slur or something

anti-Semitic or something.

Right.

Or, you know, come meet me at

the park later when your parents

go to sleep.

That's.

Pretty creepy.

Well.

That's what it was in the movie

I saw.

So Ring the the likelihood of a

ring being hacked is much harder

in terms of somebody somebody

getting into it from your house.

They would have to be kind of on

your network, not sorry, not on

your network.

Rings not as difficult to get

in.

Somebody could hack it.

The ones that you hear that

people are hacking more are ones

that are on your network at your

house that are they would have

to physically be on there.

So you get like Wi-Fi connector,

somebody you can connect from

like your neighbor's house.

And then you'd have like a like

a outlet camera and you could

say somebody's voices on it or

you could get the, the signals

that they have.

Could you get crisscrossed and

whatnot.

And you can hear things on those

types of stuff.

So it's, here's the thing for

me, we've crossed the, we've

already crossed that threshold

of, of surveillance.

They're there, whoever they are.

If somebody wanted to, they

could use all these things in

real negative ways.

So you just hope in my opinion,

that they're as safe as possible

and that there's not being used

in negative ways.

And in reality too, for people,

for me, I'm just not doing

illegal things at my house.

So I, I don't have too much

term, but I'll tell you, I do

check.

I go on, I check.

And there's a lot of the time

that there are devices that are

like unidentified device,

unidentified device.

And I'll just plug it in the

ChatGPT and have it tell me what

it most likely would be.

And a lot of the time it comes

back and tells me what it is.

And it was like my wife had a

Wi-Fi calculator for her work

and that was connected.

So I was like, all right, so I

just removed certain things, but

it is worth going in and

checking.

This is a big deal.

Hopefully it's a wake up for

people that they monitor what

they're doing and and they're

being careful.

All right, excellent.

OK, go ahead.

Hit us with the how you doing?

We're good.

We got a.

We got a.

Trending story.

And I think this is going to be

a hot one.

This is going to be cigar.

This is going to be cigar

related.

Is it?

Yes.

Is it John Carney's trending

story?

Well, it's going to go, it's

going to play into what we're

what it's going to play into

what we're talking about with

some price increases coming up

next.

So trending story here.

I just read on Cigar Aficionado

that Cigar imports, all right,

are up over 6% currently right

now in the second quarter of the

year through April, right.

So we're already past this.

So they get reports a month or

so after and it was up over 7%

for the first quarter of the

year.

So we're upper end of single

digits where really we thought I

think that the industry felt

there was probably going to be a

a flat year since we just ended.

All the conversation I had with

people were five years of you

had a great five year run.

We got a level off somewhere.

I'm interested in what your

thoughts might be on that

because for me, I think that's a

big deal.

I was told this year was going

to be flat.

I go to retailers, they tell me

that they're they're not sure

what's going on.

Obviously a little bit has to do

with an election cycle, but 7%

is not a baby number of growth.

6% is not a baby number of

growth for a small industry.

Like ours, as far as

importation, we.

Were 1 1/2 to 2% growth maximum

when I got in the industry about

16 years ago.

So for me, that's a super

trending story of, of, of where

we at.

Why?

Why do you Why is that

happening?

OK.

Do you think that it's because

that growth is continuing to

grow in the US or do you think

that maybe some of these bigger

companies are concerned about

the August 1st deadline and

tariffs actually jumping up

another 10% on average,

especially in Nicaragua?

I think it's a combination of

what you said with the tariffs

and I also think it's a

combination of people getting

ahead and the decision makers

getting ahead in terms of

purchasing.

I don't, I think a lot of people

during the last five years

played from behind and they made

good money.

And I think the trend in the

business is to try to play from

ahead.

If you're a newer company or

you're an existing large

company, what's the most

damaging thing for you to have

not have cigars when you need

them, right?

And I've heard companies

mentioned, you know, publicly

where, hey, we have more cigars

right now than we can sell and

that's a good position.

So we'll have them.

So I think there's a combination

1 tariffs.

We didn't know about tariffs in

January, real numbers.

And I'll tell you one thing the

cigar business doesn't do is

doesn't do proactive very well.

They do reactive, OK.

So they weren't planning in that

first quarter of the year to

ship all these cigars in.

So I think there was some

consumption growth.

I think a little bit of what you

saw in the second quarter, what

we're seeing right now with

reports from April is the

tariffs.

But I think a lot of it is just

people getting ahead.

I think there's a lot of cigars.

I think there's these factories

are making a lot of products and

I think people are buying them

and, and creating and trying to

get them in.

I know, I know I plan further

ahead than I would have probably

in the past if I'm where I'm at

right now for buying more

cigars.

So I I don't want to run out.

That's it's the kiss of death.

Right.

I think the Q1 was more on an

uptick for the anticipation of

PCA.

This is the second year that the

cigar convention had occurred

early on in the year.

The first time it happened, you

weren't prepared, you weren't

even, you couldn't prepare.

So you had a lot of releases

that came out that didn't really

release until later on in the

year, whereas this year people

wanted to be ahead of that.

So I think that that would have

boosted your numbers.

And I think that going into Q2,

if those numbers are true, then

I would think that they're just

trying to get ahead of the

tariffs as well.

Do I think the economy is in

absolute peril?

No, but I do think that two

things are going to happen at

the tail end of this year. 1 is

smaller brands are going to

disappear quickly because

they're not going to be able to

compete against manufacturers

that can produce and dictate

their own pricing and tariffs.

And two is I think that some

people are pulling back as far

as consuming and the the one of

the biggest industries that will

feel that will be the cigar

industry.

It's certainly going on in the

whiskey business and alcohol

business right now.

Obviously I'm involved in that

also in people are drinking less

alcohol.

It's getting out of trend.

Nobody wants to be like their

parents.

No, no.

And the the non alcohol games

growing, you can see it

everywhere you go now there's

non alcoholic beers everywhere

you go.

Cigars I think have.

Non alcoholic cigars.

Non alcoholic cigars, but I

think cigars are, are a very

different product and I think

the industry as a whole, you

know, not narrowing it down and

we've done a pretty good job as

an industry differentiating

premium cigars.

And I think premium cigars have

a good image around them or a

better image around them than

they used to have people

understand them more.

So I still think we're going to

have some strong business.

But I, I'm with you, the PCA

thing's a great thing for the

first quarter of the year 'cause

that second quarter report still

lies right into PCA, right?

Q3Q4 going to be a great sign of

where, where the industry's at.

I do think that the industry has

not slowed down as much as it,

as it was anticipated.

I don't think we're going to

have a big retraction.

I think the year will be flat to

up a few percentage points.

If you look at some retailers,

some retailers are doing well,

but if you look at a lot of

retailers, a lot of retailers

that aren't good at what they

do, their numbers are down

without question.

Without question.

So that's my trending story.

Trends, you know, trends.

We're going to watch it and see

what happens with it.

OK, on the same note, we've got

now the amazing world of cigar

news.

Wow, I love this a wow and can.

Ashton increases prices due to

tariffs.

Ashton increasing prices due to

tariffs Effective Monday, July

21st, the prices of Ashton

Cigars will be increased due to

tariffs.

Due to the United States

government's newly imposed

tariffs on imported goods, we

are implementing a modest price

increase.

At least it's modest on Ashton

La Roma de Cuba, San Cristobal

Cigars as well on Ashton Pipe

tobaccos.

Interesting.

Instead, Satya Levine,

President, CEO of AS

Distributors, in a letter to our

retail partners.

In the spirit of fostering a

healthy ecosystem built on brick

and mortar Wellness, we have

decided to absorb the lion's

share of the cost burden

resulting from new tariffs.

The company's price increases

vary by product.

Ashton branded cigars 4.5%

increase, which the company says

is an average increase of $0.75

to the MSRPS.

La Roma de Cuba and Sinkerstobel

3%.

Thirty cents to the MSRPS and

premium house selection, no

increase and Savoy humidors and

accessories, no increase.

No info on the price increase on

pipe tobacco.

Obviously, that's not relevant

for the large part of this

market.

So they're taking the lion's

share apparently.

But we got a 7575 cent increase

on MSRP and a 4 1/2 percent

increase on wholesale cost, I

would assume correct.

Yeah.

So if you think that, I mean if

the if the argument is that 5%

is your wholesale raise cost,

which I don't necessarily

believe as far as the total 10%,

it doesn't sound like they're

taking on the lion's chair, does

it?

That doesn't say it to me.

No, this is not a knock on them.

This is this.

Is for me.

It's totally a knock on that.

But you, but not for you.

This is a knock on everybody.

This is a knock on any price

increase for this tariff related

specifically them because this

is the story 4 1/2% price

increase on a wholesale price is

more than what the 10% tariff

would be from the Dominican

Republic or from Nicaragua.

Now Nicaragua might go to 19%.

So there may be a little bit of

anticipating here, but this was

Ashton branded cigars.

This is all Dominican Republic

and they're partners.

Well, they talked about La Roma

de Cuba and San Crystal Ball as.

Well, they do.

That's 3%, which is less

shocking because that comes out

of Nicaragua and it's

potentially higher, $0.30 to

MSRP.

So that seems like there might

be a little bit more absorption

there.

But 4 1/2% out of their bread

and butter products that are

coming out of the Dominican

Republic, where their partner

who produces those cigars,

Fuente, has them the highest

price points coming out of in

theory, their most leveraged

price point, correct?

And then not to mention but the

so the tariff raises the price

and then the retailer Keystone's

the entire price.

I think the key focus here is

how much money they're making on

premium health selection.

A 10% tariff had no impact.

On the profit like.

It was almost non existent like

oh hey, the 10% on that doesn't

mean anything.

No, anything I've said, anything

that's three or 4% or above is

in excess of what the tariff

actually is unless you're a true

private label and have zero

relationships with these

manufacturing partners that you

have.

The biggest price that I've

looked at in terms of increase

on my end on the insider, the

biggest increase on a tariff for

me that I saw was like $0.25 on

something that's the biggest

that I've seen.

So.

Far, we got the full whack.

Yeah, we got the full hit.

Yeah, we had $100,000 worth of

product come in.

We paid 10K on the tariff.

Yeah.

Oh, So you paid essentially on

the dollar value of what It was.

Interesting.

Yeah, it's definitely more

difficult for brand owners than

it is for manufacturers 100%.

But you are right, you are

correct that like there is there

are ways to kind of work around

that.

So, and you would assume that

Ashton has a really good

relationship with Fuente as well

as Pepine where those things

could potentially be modified,

but who knows, But who knows.

Yeah, I'll tell you the one

thing the premium cigarner she's

done well is they've always done

really well with making money

off price increases.

We're the best at it.

Yes.

Like when I mean price increase,

I don't mean on the wholesale,

right?

Like TCP, something's going to

cause a price increase for me to

do business.

We're excellent at nickel and

diming and being like rounding

up, rounding, you know, rounding

to the right number.

Well, it's 2%, but let's make it

4 just to make it a round.

Number.

So the math is easier, yeah.

It's going to be so much better

at 1795 than it is at 1760.

Yeah, it looks better.

So it's it's it does it.

The industry's always done a

great job and I've had

discussions with people before,

big names in the business where

they've been like, you know,

hey, this association I'm part

of raised my dues.

I'm like, how much do they raise

it?

Like 2000 bucks?

I'm like, you make a special

cigar for them every year,

right?

And he goes, yes.

And I go, how many cigars did

you make last year?

And he goes 10,000.

I go, how about you raise your

price of your cigar by $0.25?

I go, then you'll pay the extra

2000 and you'll make an extra 3

grand.

And he was like, well, I never

looked at it that way.

So I was like, that's how

everybody else is looking at it.

I'm not saying it's right or

wrong, but I'm like let them

raise your dues.

OK, so my dues went up for PCA.

Say it goes up $10,000.

Guess what?

Every cigar I sold at PCA is

going to be, I'm going to sell,

you know, 50,000 cigars.

Every single one of them is

going to be $0.10 more.

Nobody will notice a difference.

You make freaking 5 grand, you

pay for the whole thing.

This industry is notorious on it

and prices never come down.

And I'm surprised by the people

in the business that have said

if these tariffs go away, we're

just going to leave the prices.

Were of course.

Now, I think Skip Martin talked

about it and Steve Saca did

explain why very well, other

than just saying hey, we're not

going to do it, because I think

saying hey, we're not going to

do it makes sense.

That doesn't make as much sense,

you know, just ignore it.

But both of them brought up,

we're not going to bring it down

because I'm going to have

people.

How much of a headache is it

going to be for people to have

cigars at this price, the cigars

at this price now I'm saying

it's priced here.

It's very, very confusing.

Oh and you piss off a whole

bunch of retailers.

Like wait a second because I

bought this before and now and

I'm retailing at $13 now it's

$12.00.

Like I still paid more into that

product when I received it.

Well, then the byproduct is what

about the retail that doesn't

adjust it because they're going

to get it or you don't, you

know, whatever happens, then it

makes you look bad as a

manufacturer at the same time

that you can't control what your

pricing's at.

So you're going to make an,

you're going to make a conscious

decision.

I don't think that's as big of a

deal, but I definitely the key,

the key point here was the

absorption of the lions share.

Why do they put lions share in

it too like.

And when we say we're absorbing

it, what we're really trying to

say is that's not going to

happen, allegedly.

I don't think Lion's share is an

actual unit of measurement.

Kerry, the one is is lion's

share.

Yeah, exactly.

So there we go with that.

That's the that's the news on

the on that price increase with

ash and we RIP that one up epic

and Nat Seco to raise prices due

to tariffs.

So here we go, we got.

Epic.

Hold on just a second, John, do

you want to say a name, Michael?

Oh, yes, thank you, Mr. Palmer.

I totally forgot about that.

The first name will be Joshua

Howard.

Congratulations, Joshua.

OK.

Back to you, John.

Is there a thing called Mike's

Social Media Minute?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

OK, cool.

There he is.

I'm interested to see what that

is.

OK.

In the future here, it's kind of

sad.

Yeah, so.

This one is sad.

Nazico, Epic, both are part of

Zander Gregg portfolio.

We'll see their prices go up

August 1st, that's next week.

In response to the tariffs being

charged on imported products put

into place by the Trump

administration, The wholesale

price on all of both brands

offerings of what?

By 10%, according to an

announcement by the company on

Tuesday.

A representative from the

company told Half Wheel that it

had tried to hold off on

implementing them for as long as

they could.

When it says half wheel say

cigar hustler podcast.

We usually say half will.

That's fine.

We get all our news from Half

Will.

It's a great news source, man.

They're actual journalists.

They do.

They're not.

They're not hobbyists.

You're quoting a primary source

for the most part.

They may quote the primary

source wrong, but they are a

primary source, right?

10%, yeah, 10%. 10% increase.

Epic and Natsiko.

Well, here, here and again, they

don't own the factories.

At least I don't think so.

I.

I don't think epic.

Does and I don't know what their

relationships are.

It's easy for me to say with

what I do in the industry that

hey, I'm paying whatever I'm

paying, right?

I don't know what they're, what

their how their their projects

were.

I don't know if they buy the

cigars and with the bands, I

don't know if it's a one stop

shop.

I know that I buy cigars, right

and we blend cigars with them

and I pay for the cigars.

So I don't have anything else

that I have to pay on it other

than to the cigar cost that I

pay for, right.

So I don't know what these guys

arrangements are with a 10%

price increase.

I know what their arrangement

is.

Their place is a one stop shop

and they pay the whole price and

it comes in there 10%.

Right.

So realistically they're

probably anticipating that 19%

increase to happen and for it to

not go away, which I think is

realistic.

I I think that come August 1st,

you're at 19 points on the

tariff from Nicaragua and it's

not going away.

I don't see why it would go

away.

There's no real negotiating

point that makes a big

difference.

The for them, they don't have

any leverage.

There's not anything you're

going to negotiate on.

You have Nicaraguan rum and you

have Nicaraguan cigars.

Ultimately, at the end of the

day, the big Nicaraguan

companies can handle the price,

the price increase with it on

their end.

On the MSRP, nobody's ever

stopped smoking but drone

because it went from $16.00 for

a 64 torpedo 10 years ago to 23.

So they're with that.

But Epics Dominican no.

That's a good point.

I'm pretty sure he's Dominican.

Maybe he's got some cigars in

Nicaragua.

I'm I'm not super familiar with

with all of the background of

his company, but 10% and a

representative from the company

told us.

I wonder if it was an appointed

representative or someone who

was just saying it.

But 10%, I think it's the easy

way around, right?

It's the easy way.

You're going to get a 10%

tariff.

Let's just do 10%.

We don't have to deal with it.

Maybe they don't have a big

accounting, maybe they don't pay

an accountant, who knows.

So 10% is, it's going to be par

for the course.

You're going to see 5 to 10% on

on these types of things in my

opinion, just because it's easy.

Yep, absolutely.

Epic is Dominican.

Epic is solely Dominican, so

yeah, that's even even a bigger

question mark there.

I'll tell you.

This 770 All right, the tariff

on this baby.

Just you wait, go ahead and wipe

your shirt too.

Like I get I always I always ash

on myself and no one tells me

about it.

I think you're probably going to

need a new mic here.

That's just my first time doing

it.

That's there's two mics, but

you're going to need another

one.

I think I've melted a hole in

this.

You're doing a great.

Actually, I think that that hole

was already in it.

Yeah, we have one already has a

hole.

I just thought it was from the

fire I've been spitting out of

my mouth.

It's just, yeah, it's been

coming.

Perfect.

Right.

So let's move on to you.

The EU.

The EU.

They formally have unveiled

massive proposed tax increase

for tobacco products.

What's new there on Wednesday,

July 16th in in celebration of

250 years of of independence by

their former people.

They are they former which was

unveiled long talk proposals

that would set minimum tackle

rates in the 27 member states of

the EU.

Included is a new minimum tax

rate for the cigars that is

1092% more than the current

floor price.

OK.

The rates in the formal proposal

are the same as the numbers that

were leaked last month.

So the numbers that were leaked

are real increasing the minimum

cigars slash cigarillo tax from

€12 per kilogram to €143 per

kilogram or 1000 units.

That's insane.

There's a ton of numbers here

that I can talk on.

I think it's too much nicotine

pouches.

They, they got some taxes

coming.

The you, you've got a lot of

things going on now.

That's €143 per thousand.

Right. 12 per thousand seems

like a pretty low number, right?

I don't know.

So that's a.

Well, in comparison.

So it's 100% increase more, I

mean 123 it's more than that.

It's 1000% increase, right, what

we're saying.

But 1000% increase on like a

penny is like small.

So I don't know.

This is, I don't know if this is

going to destroy anything.

It seems here we got vape, vape

liquid is $0.36 per milliliter.

So that's going up.

Do you, what do you think,

Palmer?

Do you think that it sounds like

an overreach and regulation?

Yes, that's it.

So I got yeah.

Yeah, well, I mean, they can

obviously do whatever they want,

but as he reads the story, there

are some countries that are

dropping out over this.

Yeah.

So that's where we're at.

All 27 member countries EU are

required to have their own tax

rates at minimum rates, but many

countries have higher rates

already because some already

have these higher rates.

European Cigar Manufacturers

Association estimates that

roughly half of the member

countries would not need to

adjust their tax rates at all to

comply with these new

directives.

However, if passed, it would

cause hungry Luxembourg, Malta,

Spain, which is one of the major

hubs for Cuban tobacco, and

Slovenia to have to increase

their taxes in substantial ways.

Spain, as I said, is a key

market for cigars.

Notably, it is the second

largest seller of Cuban cigars

in the world.

No doubt it's part because of

its lower taxes.

So currently Spain's tax rate

for cigars is 15.8%.

It's not bad at all of the

retail price or a minimum €47

per 1000 units.

So in the case of tobacco excise

duty on resources, that would

mean that the member country

would be required to give the EU

15% of its collected tobacco tax

revenue.

If both measures were to go into

effect, that would mean that the

new minimum tax would be 143 per

kilogram.

However, the memory country

would only receive 85%.

The other 15% would go to the

EU.

Yeah, that's very worrying.

The the tax increase goes to EU.

The EU.

Right.

Yeah, European.

I like you.

And allegedly it goes against

every commitment the EU

executives have made recently

regarding reducing the

regulatory burdens of for SMEs

and mid caps, which are

companies that largely

dominating the cigar segment.

It's opposed to other products

manufactured by Big Tobacco.

And there's an update when we

were, we just got an update in

on actually why we're doing

this, Swede.

This just in.

Palmer reverting live from

Sweden, we have.

Yemen, Yemeni.

The taxes.

Wow, you breaking news from

Sweden?

I'm going to cry Sweden.

Sweden has become one of the

first what will likely be many

countries oppose the 15% EU

funding proposal.

Smokes, Smokes was heard saying.

I'm ping yummy.

I didn't even hear what he said.

Speak too much yummy, That's

what he said.

Unless.

It's coming in live.

What does it say?

What?

Is the spokes the gentleman?

Mr. Spokes was heard saying.

I'm Ping yummy this beach yummy

too.

Much.

That's awesome.

Thank you for the live report.

Mr. Spokes, right now back to

you in the studio, John.

Aren't they?

It's in Europe where they keep

trying to do the tobacco free

generations.

Correct.

Yeah, a lot of that.

I mean, it's happening in

Massachusetts too.

They're always trying to run

that there as well.

So, you know, close to home for

me, my business partners are

Sigarrillo manufacturers in

Germany.

So they're they're in there.

So it'll be interesting to see

what their discussions are on

it.

The unique thing I'll tell you

in Germany is they have a set

retail price.

So you determine what the retail

price and that's what has to be

sold for websites, you name it.

So they they actually have some

benefits like a little cigarillo

over there that one of the ones

they make one of their, I think

you might have had the chance to

try one that sells for like a

dollar like $1.50, like €150

over there.

If we're to be here in the

United States, it would sell for

like four U.S. dollars.

So it's 3 or 4 times more.

So I'll be interested to see how

this impacts it and then how

price conscious and how price

sensitive those things are.

But it'll be interesting to talk

and see how that goes into

effect.

But I think there is something I

didn't see in the news story.

Maybe Mr. Spokes can report back

for us.

But I think there's a certain

number of the countries, it

might need to be unanimous for

those EU countries for this to

pass.

So I don't know where this is

going, but it's supposedly going

into effect on August 1st.

That's pretty intense.

OK.

Is that it for the news

articles?

The news is long today.

You got another one.

Bocock Brothers releasing new

LSU University of Florida

championship cigars There are

two new cigars in the Bocock

Brothers Premium Cigar Series of

collegiate licensed cigars, both

celebrating recent NCAA

Championships.

I think it's supposed to be

pronounced NCAA according to the

NCAA, so I will say NCAA to

annoy them.

The first cigar commemorates the

University of Orders men's

basketball title.

I didn't even realize they won

it.

Me neither.

I've not paid attention.

To when did they win it?

Last year, apparently.

You looking at me for I don't

know this?

Year, it's March Madness.

Yeah, 20. 25 Yeah, LSU.

Women's basketball, man I.

Oh, women's basketball.

This was it, said men's.

Women's basketball's all I've

really paid attention to other

other than the Celtics.

Really.

Yeah, man, the Caitlin Clark

effect.

I love the WNBA right now.

It's hot.

You're dialed in, huh?

Super dialed in all the backers.

Is great.

You won a championship last

year.

You love all the dunking.

Oh, it's great layups.

It's epic.

The.

Me bounce the me bounce so the

Florida Gators men's basketball

championship cigar Palmer is 6

by 52 Bellicoso Mexican San

Andreas rapper over nika Nika

blender by.

Blender.

And Phil is from Honduras and

Nika at MSRP of.

Eight.

Wait, wait.

He's reading.

He's reading.

What's the score?

Huh.

Oh, no, no, no, I'm sorry.

I'm still on Boca.

Sorry.

Hey, Palmer, you let me do the

news, OK?

Yeah, sorry, sorry.

Sold in boxes of 20, Bocock

Brothers says it is limited,

though it declined to say how

many boxes have been made.

They'll make as many as they can

sell.

The Florida Gators men's

basketball championship is a

cigar already on sale and be

offered for sale directly to

consumers.

Didn't they win?

I thought they won.

By Bocock.

Who won the Gators?

They did win.

They do, but they're making a

Gator cigars.

Cigars for the Gators?

OK, but how did the LSU get

involved?

They made the LSU one last.

Year got it got it got.

It so later this come on the

company released another LSU

licensed cigar the LSU

championship commemorative

baseball box celebration

school's recent men's baseball

title uses Mexican San Andreas

rapper again Honduran binder and

fillers from Honduras and.

Nika, are they the guys that

love the San Andreas rapper?

Yes.

Everybody loves San Andreas

right now.

It's.

Good rapper right now and it's

the cost is good.

Well, it's the probably the most

that's available as far.

As readily available.

Yeah, consistent.

The new LSU branded cigars guys

here scheduled to be released on

July 28th.

Last year, Bocock launched its

first collegiate licensed

cigars, starting with the LSU

Branded cigars.

This is the second time the

cigars will have an LSU brand,

and the company says both cigars

are made at an undisclosed

factory in Honduras.

Sketchy.

Sketchy.

So you excited about the Bocock?

You're a big Gator guy.

No, you're not a big Gator guy.

I'm excited of the concept of

these.

These are all being made

possible because of the nil

rules, so you can have projects

like this.

So it's been a big success for

them.

Yeah, I'm sure.

Something's on my radar.

It doesn't mean other people

couldn't do this.

So I I've had talks on different

things.

So yeah, I'm excited for it.

I think it's a great a great

ability to be able to do

something like this.

OK, so if you could make a cigar

for any college, what college

would you want to work with?

One of the strongest brands in

college football is Alabama.

You know what?

I probably could have guessed

that with.

You so it's one of the strongest

brands and why it's so strong is

because it's so protected.

They're not letting anybody use

the Alabama AI promise you that

you won't see that on any

cigars, but there's there's ways

to do it.

So I think ultimately Alabama

would probably be the best to

work with.

Texas would be huge.

Well, Alabama, Tennessee has a

cigar game every day.

They do, and I know there's some

people working on some projects

for Alabama style cigars.

It's similar type of thing like

this, but the like those the the

colleges that are the biggest

have the most protected.

So LSU is great, but it's a

really strong brand.

It's not Alabama, it's not

Texas.

So Alabama or Texas would be.

Harvard.

Not probably be challenging.

Yeah, probably challenged

Alabama and Texas year one and

two, in my opinion.

Yale for inning What about Yale?

Yale yeah, potentially you could

have the Ivy League series,

which I think would not do bad

at all, right?

But I think there is a company

called Ivy League Cigars, right?

I have no idea.

Palmer, go to the books.

What was the question?

Is there a company called Ivy

League Cigars?

Got you.

Hold on.

Yeah, yeah, I'm excited about

it.

I'm I'm, I'm not excited about

the cigars.

I'm excited about the concept

and the marketing behind it.

And that that's a big deal for

me.

I don't, I don't get caught up

on things that are, hey, this is

marketing.

Yeah, 100%.

It absolutely is.

Is a cigar probably going to be

good or OK?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's got to be.

But I'm not, you know, I'm not

excited to, I'm not excited to

smoke it by any means.

I'm excited to see it, OK.

But yeah, I'm not going to be

buying any of them by any means.

There is a Facebook group called

Ivy League Cigars Community

dedicated to bringing the young

and old cigar smokers together

through one unique brand are.

You excited about them?

I mean, you're in the retail

side.

Is this something that that

resonates with your clientele?

I actually have one person to

ask about it, but that's it.

That's the extent of it, I think

it.

Also matters what the

championship's for the the first

LSU branded cigar they did was

really focused around, you know,

it was really heavily on

football.

I think the baseball series from

LSU is going to have a lot less

push than the football 1.

I mean, football's still king in

college, right?

By far.

So we'll see how that goes.

But yeah, I'm excited to see

what other concepts they do, and

they're really opening the door

for this being a concept for

really, honestly, if you're

trying to do this, I'll give you

some advice right now.

Copy what they're doing, right?

Go to these people, go to these

schools.

They have NIL lawyers.

They'll work with you.

You can do it.

It's not hard to do it.

The hard part is barrier to

getting in.

You got to have some sort of

connection.

You can't just do it.

These guys got these guys got

some serious pull and the and

they had a lot of success with

the LSU 1.

So they it wasn't hard for them

to duplicate that in a few

different schools.

OK.

All right.

Are we about to move into the

half wheel?

No.

We got more.

Drops wholesale.

Permit.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah, there's one or.

Two last month's floor part of

Business Professional regulation

beta change discontinuing it's

cigar wholesale permit.

Going forward, companies engaged

in selling cigars to licensed

alcohol or tobacco retailers do

not have to have a permit to do

so.

The permit was free anyway, you

didn't have to pay for it, you

just registered.

But all businesses currently

operating under this permit are

not required to renew and

maintain this permit going

forward.

I have no idea what that means

because it you didn't pay for

it, it didn't really do

anything.

You you had this permit

assuming.

I do.

How does your life change?

No it doesn't.

The real question for me is do I

still have to report $0.00 every

single quarter on my sales tax

on the wholesale?

Because that's the more tedious

and irrelevant thing that we

have to do on a quarterly basis.

How much did you sell?

Here's how much we sold in the

state of Florida, How much of

that it was, you know, through

other people that have a sales

tax certificate, all of it.

So how much sales tax did you

collect?

0 right.

You know, I'm more intrigued to

see if that goes away because it

doesn't make much sense to

report.

Yeah.

I, I didn't cost anything,

right, Really wasn't anything

that even if you were

wholesaling, I guess you were

just reporting it that there was

sales and you didn't have to pay

anything on it, right.

So I guess this is just a sign

of getting rid of things that

don't need to be there, right?

Yeah.

I mean, like Tennessee is

similar.

They don't have one, you know,

Do you have a wholesale license?

No, we don't have one.

OK.

So it's it's, it's interesting

to see certain states are going

in One Direction and other

states are going in a complete

opposite.

Direction, I think it's a better

sign of, of what the mentality

is, hey, let's get rid of things

you don't necessarily need.

And then maybe eventually they

get rid of something that

actually benefits us and has an

impact.

But to just to end the news

segment here, because I tend to

go on shows and now that I'm a

Co host, I get to talk a lot.

So they asked me to do the news

for anybody that's talking here,

and they gave me about 100 news

stories.

No, we haven't.

No, we didn't.

He he just took over.

You know.

He just grabbed the.

Mic, he snatched that thing.

Right.

I thought we talked earlier when

you asked me if I was fine with

talking a lot and I said yeah,

let me do whatever I get to talk

the most, so that way it feels

normal.

I thought we agreed that we were

going to say that I not

requested to do the news.

Yeah.

Oh, is that what you said?

Yeah.

This last news story, something

that's actually real personal to

me.

So my very close friend and

gentleman that worked for me for

several years and I brought into

the manufacturer and brand

owners a brand side of the

previous cigar business, Sean

Hardiman has left Forge.

Sean resigned as a national

sales manager.

Forge Cigar Company.

I don't even need to read on

this one.

He was formerly a sales division

manager for Scandinavian Tobacco

Group at STG and those brands

include Alec Bradley Blvd.

Diesel, El Rey, Da Mundo, La

Gloria, Cubano.

We know all of those.

And prior to that he was with

General Cigar Company.

He's a sales manager for them

and worked his way up through

the through the ranks there and

in 20, I think this was 2016

when he went to SCG.

This is a cool one.

In January, January 2nd of 2016,

Sean Hardiman left LFD, he

resigned to their vice president

sales, John Carney, who was me

and I congratulated him on his

next step and for SCG and he had

a great career there.

He worked at Cigar Masters in

Rhode Island.

That was where I met him and he

said he was a sales manager for

me at Lafleur Dominicana for

three or four years.

He did a phenomenal job.

And as of right now, the sales

managers for Forge are going to

be reporting to Gene Richter who

is the long time VP of sales.

So Sean, great career in the

cigar business.

People always ask if they think

they're coming back.

I think Sean's not, I haven't

talked to him about this.

So I've sent him a

congratulations and you know on

what's next.

I think he's probably moved back

to Rhode Island and he's going

to enjoy his family up there and

do something locally in Rhode

Island.

But we'll see.

But he did a great job in the.

Business.

So did they fuel the growth by

letting him go or did he just

say I'm done?

I think he, I think most likely

and I said I have not spoken to

him 100%.

I haven't.

I think he just moved on.

I think he moved on.

I've been talking to him over

the years of some insider info.

His his mother had passed away

in the last few years and he's

all, he's a very close Family

Guy.

You wouldn't necessarily get

that from.

He's kind of his personality is

real boisterous, but he's very

close to his family and his

father and his dad.

And he's very much Rhode Island.

And I think he always kind of

wanted to be home and be back

with that.

And I think he did in the last

few years.

And I think when he got there,

it made him see like, you know,

hey, this is where I want my

life to be.

I want to be back up here.

I want to settle down a little

bit.

Do you have kids?

No, none, no.

And he's in his, he's probably

in his mid to late 30s now.

So I would say he's probably

just take the next step of his

life to to stay what what's

going on?

Start dropping loads?

Yep, making babies.

Making babies and then being

home with his family and his

friends.

So he, he had a good run man.

He was in the business for just

over 10 years practically and he

had a great run over there.

He did a good job of forged.

So you know, I, I, in my

opinion, I think this is a

totally a I'm, I'm moving on

type of a thing.

Yep.

OK.

I'm going to say that he was

fueled by the growth and they

removed him.

That's because that's what SDG

does.

After a while you can just ask.

Decisions to make right?

I just want to.

Keep playing the game.

It's a big company, right?

And his direct report,

obviously, was Gene Richter.

Gene's been there forever.

What happens when Gene finally

decides to retire, right?

He's probably not going to riot.

Retire until he has to.

He does a lot of golfing around

the world.

I think that's one of the more

challenging parts of his career

is how to fit that in every day,

right?

So he's got a good job.

So, you know, Sean's probably,

you know, I'm not going to wait

for this guy to retire, right?

If he does, do I want to do this

or what?

Does it make sense and right?

Maybe he doesn't like golf at

all.

So.

He's not a golfer.

He's not a golfer.

Sean Massive golfer.

He's he's a massive.

Golfer.

He's looking forward to the

golfer.

Great friend.

Congratulations to Sean.

You know, good luck.

What's next?

So who do you think you think

they have replace him?

Nobody.

You think the position never

gets filled?

No, I think they got like

regional people too.

I, I think they slowly start

having the general people manage

them and I don't think they

absorb it because that allows

them to have, but you, you know,

why do you have to have multiple

layers of management where

ultimately at the end of the day

you're managed and I think John

D Oliver.

That was a.

Lot of the back end.

That was where I was actually

where I was going.

And I know John obviously really

well too, and I think John does

a lot of the back end work and

he started to do a little more

traveling.

But really at the end of the

day, you have people there to

manage the business side of it,

right?

I don't think having, you know,

you don't need Sean to go out to

an event to have it be more

successful.

You're just there, you're

helping, right.

And so I, I think John D Oliver

is probably going to absorb if

he hadn't already or was the one

doing a lot of the behind the

scenes stuff, keep doing what

he's doing.

And then you just have the

general reports.

So from my understanding, John

already had a lot of connection

with a lot of the reps anyway.

So that was what makes me think

Sean, you know, moved on.

I don't think they'd eliminate

the position because they would

have probably offered him

something.

Maybe they didn't.

He decided he didn't want it,

but I think it was mostly his

decision.

All right, I think he kind of

blew over our Facebook or social

media.

Yeah, that was sort of in the

middle.

OK.

Do you want me to mention it

now?

Yeah, go ahead.

OK, so one thing that we noticed

on social media this week was

our dear friend Miguel Shadel of

Crown Heads, who had a tumor in

the past as had a resurgence of

that tumor and he's looking for

treatments to kind of handle

that.

So our thoughts and our prayers

go out to Miguel and we hope

that everything goes well and

that it's a speedy recovery and

that he the tumor gets resolved.

What AI had no idea when before

he posted that from the history,

right?

I'm sure there's people that

knew and you don't talk about it

all the time, but man, he's been

through some stuff and.

Shingles.

Guys had shingles.

Well, and it's vestibular stuff,

you know, he he doesn't have a a

balance nerve, which is wild.

And so I mean, it's a lot going

on in it.

But what what a great what a

great positive post he made

about it and picture and it just

shows you.

I always wondered, you know, you

look at people, you don't

necessarily know their whole

story.

He has a huge loyalty to the

Crown heads people, the

Ossingers, John and Mike there.

And man, what a great pat on the

back to those people, how well

they've treated him.

And I've had some other people

that have worked for them that I

know very, very well too.

And they said these guys are

just great people.

They're, they're here to care

about people.

I don't think you see that as

much nowadays where, where you

have that type of confidence of,

Hey, my employer is going to be

not not just behind me, but 100%

behind me because that's the

right thing to do other than

being like, oh, my employer's

going to be behind me because if

they don't, they're going to get

sued.

These people have been doing the

right thing for generations And

I that's why Miguel has that

loyalty to them.

And you know, really, you know,

wish him the best on it, but he

seems to have a good mindset.

And I think the one the last

thing he said was I'm still

going to be out there.

So in the meantime, when we're

doing this, I'll see you at

events until we figure this

thing out.

So that's a great guy, one of

the one of the really genuine

people in the business. 100%

person.

I couldn't agree more.

OK and half wheel are we on to

the ratings?

What?

What do you got next?

We're on the score, man.

What's the score here?

So.

OK as a.

Positive you don't read.

That deposit?

Palmer's going to come over and

take the teleprompter away from

you.

Cool.

Do I get to pee?

Yeah, we can pause real quick if

you want.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Go pee.

We'll just let it record.

I didn't realize the news was

such a big part of this.

Yeah, wow.

Yeah, you did a you did a great

job.

Feel like I'm on PBD, right.

You are.

You're Patrick Vet David Buddy,

minus the 250 million.

Yeah, I.

Like to do some of that, I don't

have to run a freaking life

insurance policy, no.

Problem.

I realized the teleprompter was

at the wrong angle.

Yeah, at the right angle I can

see everything.

You adjusted it.

Yeah, All right, I'm.

Back, OK.

I see where you guys do this.

This is enjoyable.

It's fun.

It is.

It is the most fun of all the

things that we do.

I would say throughout the week

because for one, we're beholden

to no one.

We get to say whatever we want.

We have no ad space where we

have to kind of bend the knee or

at least have that illusion

where you bend the knee.

And yeah, we enjoy each other's

company.

So we get to kind of stop

everything and talk about

current events and we have a

good time doing it.

So and then we got to get back

to reality.

And as soon as this is done,

then and then two days of

consumption for me, clipping and

doing edits and stuff.

Talking about squids on AI, you

know?

We should go over that on the

Patreon.

We can.

We can, yeah.

We can talk about it and we'll

set up a private Patreon time.

We'll do like a Patreon within a

Patreon.

That's like a dream within a

dream.

From exception.

I love that.

Yeah, it's perfect.

OK.

Ready, Palmer?

All right, you ready for?

What's the score?

Yes.

All right, John, you familiar

with the game?

Yes.

OK.

All right.

So he's going to give out three

or four different clues.

And as we kind of go, he's going

to start with the title and who

reviewed it on half wheel.

And we're going to give a, we're

going to give a review number.

So we're going to, I'm going to

guess who reviewed it.

No, no, no, I'm going.

To tell you that.

He's going to tell you who did

it, but you're going to guess

the number.

I'm very familiar with the game

100% but I get to we can change

the number as it goes along.

As the as the things unfold, we

get to move.

Very much familiar with.

The clues.

Let's do this.

I'm in.

Now you are our guest, so you

will be able to go first on

every single portion of the

round.

Co host.

Yes, you're our guest Co host.

Yes, yes, yes.

Yes, yes, yes.

Make that clear.

All right, first cigar.

It's a war fighter Night Shift

by Patrick.

Now this is a redo review was

originally done in 2024.

So for some reason they redid

the review a second.

Time the war fighter.

War Fighter Night Shift.

Night Shift redux, right?

Yes, by Patrick.

Oh, this is going to be tough.

I'm going 87.

Right now, great number.

Fuck, I'm a clock 86.

All right, here's the details

about the cigar.

Country of origin is Nicaragua,

Factory is Tablicolera Carreras,

rapper Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro

and Honduras Candela.

It's a Barber pole.

Binders Indonesian Filler

Nicaragua.

Length 6 inches, Ring gauge 50.

It is a round cigar.

MSRP is $10.50.

It was released in July of 2024.

They only smoked one cigar for

the Redux.

One cigar smoke for the Redux

8282.

He's so.

Fast.

It moves down to 82.

I'm going to stick 86.

Nothing is different for me.

Ecuador and Hobano.

Oskudo is usually a good rapper.

Candela is probably going to

botch that and then Indonesia.

Binder means nothing as far as

this particular company, so all

right, 86.

All right, clue number one.

While still in the cellophane,

and admittedly without all my

office lights turned on, I don't

see the candela strip on the

warfighter night shift.

OK. 81. 81 Damn these are going

super low.

I'm going to move to 85.

All right, clue #2 I was

expecting a bit more of that in

the first puffs, but instead I

am greeted with a light Tabano

flavor formed by some mellow

firewood and black pepper.

I'm moving back to 83.

It's boring, but there is

flavor.

You use the word greeted.

That tends to be a pleasant

thing.

OK, I'm going to stick 85.

All right, 8285, is that where

we're at 83 back in 83.

All right, 83, right, OK.

Construction is essentially

perfect as I didn't have to

touch up the cigar and I don't

have any spots where it fell

short.

Well, that doesn't mean anything

with half wheel.

Yeah, 'cause I'm sticking with

83.

I think that it has a

difference.

I think I'm going to go 86.

All right, here are the final

thoughts.

Now this is a very one sided

final thought.

OK.

I had high praise for the War

Fighter Night Shift when it came

out, and a year later that

remains the case.

As I said a year ago, there is

rarely, if ever, a point where

any puff is not enjoyable.

The Abano profile is present but

not formulamatic, and the blend

does a great job keeping the

flavor evolving so that no one

expression settles in for too

long.

The construction is also

fantastic and as good as I've

had from a cigar lately.

After a year of rest, the

Warfighter Night Shift continues

to get my praise and

recommendation.

Wow.

See, I've seen stuff before

though where they say things

like that and it's perfect and

it's like 82 and then there's a

cigar that's like, hey, they had

this problem, had this and it's

a 91 'cause it said padrone on

it or something.

Or, or Davidoff is usually what

it says.

Man, I'm gonna go way back up

now.

Let's go 88.

I'm going to go 90. 90. 90. 494.

Wow.

Incredible.

It's.

Going to be top 25 top cigar of

the year for those.

Guys, that was well, that was

2024.

Right.

Was was it on that list?

No, this one.

This is the new one.

This is the new one.

They originally did it in 24.

This is the second time Redux.

What did you said, 890, huh?

Yeah.

So he got the closest.

So he got half a.

Point.

So I got a half a point.

That's going to be one of the

highest rated cigars ever on

half.

Wheel Yeah, 95 is 90. 5 is the

highest I've ever done.

This is the second highest rated

cigar ever.

It's the warfighter.

Wow, that's the guys.

A Warfighter are great guys,

yeah.

They're super nice by.

Esteban Carreras.

Interesting.

Yeah, 94.

Hey, great for them, man.

Congratulations.

Great dudes.

And that's.

Super impressive.

That's 94 is a monster.

I got to try that cigar.

Yeah.

Now we got to get those, yeah.

Yeah, we 90.

Four.

I wonder if I can get him from

Esteban Carreras.

Tell him that you'd like take

the blend.

Tell him you'd like the certain

blend.

You want to do a special cigar?

What I'm thinking is Ecuador and

Havana Oscudo candela Barber

pole with Indonesian binder and

nikka fillers.

Oh, what a great idea. 94 man,

that's that's that's a must.

Smoke cigar then.

Yes, but now it's a Patrick 94.

It's not a C94.

A C94 means the cigar is

absolutely perfect, right?

So all right.

He said every puff was

enjoyable.

So yeah, we got to.

I honestly got to get my hands

on that.

Yeah, I got to try it.

Yep, Warfighter.

What's it called again?

Palmer, I got to go back to the

beginning, OK?

The Warfight Night Stalker.

I think the night, yeah.

Yeah.

Night Stalker.

Awesome warfighter night shift.

Night shift, OK Or night

stalker.

You know, night.

Stalker.

Night Stalker.

I might have been a Freudian

slip.

Yeah, on my end I might have

said something I shouldn't.

Have that could.

Oh boy.

All right, ready for the next

cigar?

Guess we know what the flight is

going to be this.

Is the one chosen for our

special Co host today.

Aha, it's a La Florida

Dominicana TAA 2012 Airbender

Maduro torpedo.

OK, now you should have a leg up

on this.

Should was this review was done

when?

2012 the.

Review was done then.

Yeah, the TAA Airbender Maduro.

Yes, Torpedo.

Torpedo by LFD you Have you ever

heard of LFD?

Yeah, yeah, Brazilian rapper had

that one had a Brazilian rapper.

Who was it reviewed by it?

Doesn't say.

Maybe it didn't say.

This is one of the older ones.

OK, I tried to get out of the

the check.

The grammar Is the grammar

appropriate?

Yes, it appears to be English.

Probably Patrick, 91.

I'm going to say 90.

Right country of origin

Dominican Republic factory

tablet Calera la flora SA rapper

Brazilian Habano.

You got that?

Binder Dominican Republic Filler

Dominican Republic and Nicaragua

Size of 6 1/4 Ring gauge 54 to

Torpedo sells for $10 back in

2012.

Number of cigars smoked River

for the review 2. 1/2.

TAA, it's hard to get.

I'm still sticking with 91.

Yeah, I'm going to roll.

I'm going to stick with 90.

All right, the LFDTAA creation

is extremely striking to look

at, with a dark brown and black

wrapper that looks like it was

dipped in oil.

OK, I it's it was.

I've read this review 100 times.

It was either an 89 or 91 in my

opinion.

I think I could be wrong, but

I'm sticking with 91.

This was one of the this was one

of the cigars that Tony and I

had always talked about like

that had a lot of attention

behind it, the inventor Maduro

torpedo that and the double

press Maduro that we did for

that.

So it was always those two that

we talked about.

So they they were.

There's reasons why I'm sticking

with 91.

Damn.

All right, well, I'm going to

roll 90.

All right, I'm getting just a

bit of black pepper on the retro

hail, but not in the mouth or on

the lips.

So where does the pepper come

from then?

Black pepper.

On the retro heel, so in the

nose.

It must be in the.

Nose on the retro.

It could be an 87 that it got to

8789 or 91.

I'm going to go.

I'm going to stick with 91

because if I switch now and it

was like an 89 or something or

it was an 91 I switched, I'm

going to go 91 still.

OK.

This might have been rated in

their their top list at the end

of the year at one point in

time. 2012 See was I What was I

doing?

I wasn't paying.

Attention, they were also rating

much higher back then.

They in like 2015, I think, or

16.

They got much more not just

transparent with the scores, but

they they like rolled out a

system.

So if somebody talks shit about

their score, that's why what's

the score is great for this

because it's they got a real

system.

So yeah, 91, I'm sticking with

it.

OK, so it's black pepper, but

it's undertones of it, so it's

not overbearing, but it's

notable.

Yeah, I think I got to stick 90.

I think I got to stick 90.

Give me some bad news so I can

adjust.

Construction remains excellent

until the end of the smoke.

That doesn't mean much.

Do I ride with a 91 or go with

the 89?

Let's go 89.

Fuck, I was going to move to 89.

OK, I guess I'm going to stay at

90 for the time being.

All right, final thoughts.

While I enjoyed the dark, heavy

and slightly sweet profile the

left Lower Dominicana TAA 2012

Airbender Maduro torpedo, the

lack of complexity in the blend

really took my enthusiasm down a

notch.

Having said that, overall

construction was wonderful for

the most part.

There was quite a bit of smoke

production and unlike most of

Lido sticks, the strength was

not overwhelming at all and

actually worked in harmony with

the blend.

The profile is right down my

alley, but honestly I would

rather pay more to get one of

the small batch #4 or the new

small batch #4.

Small batch was amazing. 83.

I'm going to move to 88.

I kind of remember being

offended when the score came

out, so we'll go. 83. 83 Wow.

I dropped it on ya 100% perfect.

I may or may not have known.

I might have been gaming you.

I like that.

The more you read stuff, I

didn't know the exact score I

knew kind of some things I know

scores they'd given.

The more you read things, the

more it went into my head of me

reading it and thinking and

then, yeah, so 83, I nailed it.

Pulled the 83.

That's a low score.

Got to give him credit, I tried

to go back far enough before he

was there.

I was there in 2012.

Nicely done.

I had to be in the beginning

though.

Nicely done it.

Was my second year.

We gave you a leg up on that

one, so if I'd have beat you on

that.

Oh yeah, if I'm.

Going to win something, I'm

going to win what I did for 15

years.

I should be getting that right.

Absolutely.

There you go, LFD.

Bam bam. 83 that's dude, that

thing, that score in my head, I

think that probably made me

angry for 10 years.

That is a low score.

Yeah.

Oh yeah. 83.

Yeah, I was a little assaulted

by it.

Yeah, at the time.

I'm not no longer insulted by

it, but it's still in my brain.

But yeah, 83, nail it.

Boom.

Nice.

OK.

Anything else, Palmer?

You got to listen to the week,

Michael.

Yeah.

Who's listening to the week?

Miguel Shadel.

Oh, excellent, Miguel.

Shadel, in honor of his current

triumphs and what?

Because he's going to go through

this, he's going to beat it, and

we all believe in him so.

All right, Chap of the Week, Old

Time Cigars, Casselberry and

Claremont.

Claremont.

I'll be doing the cutting light

on August 13th.

Excellent.

From 11:00 to 3:00.

Yes, our local friends, old

times.

So the cutting light's going on

this weekend, Yes, with what are

they cutting and lighting?

Postagna.

Oh, Pastagna.

Yeah.

Oh, phenomenal.

I thought it was just a random.

Cutting I was talking about,

it's a.

Costagna which does you doing

the Castleberry store.

He's doing this in August,

August 13th.

August 13th.

Not this weekend.

Not this weekend.

Not this weekend.

But you're doing the Castleberry

store.

Yes.

No, no, no.

The Claremont.

Claremont.

Claremont.

Claremont.

They got three locations right?

22 They sold the third.

One.

Where was the third one?

It was out towards Leesburg.

Leesburg, yeah, yeah, man,

they're doing a good they've

they've, I mean, a staple here

in Central Florida.

Right, Their social media posts

have skyrocketed.

Jonathan's doing a great job.

Fantastic.

And his dad's hilarious.

Yes, and the dad joke segments

are epic.

Absolutely.

And I, I don't know why, but it

seems like this just kind of

happened in the last like 8

months to a year and, and

Jonathan's really just like

really he's always been involved

in the business, but it seems

like he's just heavily more

involved, no?

He does, yeah.

It seems like his his dad is

passing the reins.

Yeah, and it seems probably like

he, they probably sat down and

made a decision like this is

100% what I want to do now.

And, and his dad's at the point

where this is what I I also want

100% have you do more of this.

And it was usually when things

happen like that, you see big

changes.

I remember the LFD when Tony had

committed to moving to the

Dominican Republic, the factory

expansion hit like instantly and

it would turn into this

beautiful Oasis of a cigar

factory.

And it's, you know, Lido started

investing more and more because

when you know, the next

generations involved, you go

into the bank account and try to

make it as best as you can for

them.

And they've, they've really,

they've really already had a

great, they had great cigar

selection.

I mean, they got probably the

second largest cigar selection

in Central Florida, and it's a

lot of cigars, man.

And yeah, just doing great, man.

So yeah, old times.

Congratulations on that.

That'll be great.

And I'm sure there'll be some

great dad jokes told DO.

You have any cutting lights or

any events coming up that you

want to plug?

Endless I got tons of stuff,

man.

I got I got July 31st Bentley

cigars and Hooten young whiskey

at Red phone booth in Miami.

I've got Winter Park, FL, the

good poor.

I've got their grand opening at

their new location.

It's a liquor store chain that

gives money back to the

community.

They are doing a grand opening,

so that's on August 6th, 7th,

8th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th

we'll be there with Hooten Young

Whiskey.

And then August 21st we've got a

Hooten Young Bourbon bottle and

Bond Bourbon lunch at Cigars on

the Avenue.

Of course, my home away from

home because it's right next to

my house.

And so that's going on the 21st.

We'll have our whiskey smuggler

truck there and all the whiskey,

all the bourbon, all the cigars.

Norm Hooton will be down for

that.

So that'll be fun.

And Bentley, Bentley, Bentley

events I've got, man, I think

I'm done with Bentley in August.

I don't have much going on

because I did, I kind of did a

tour around Central Florida.

The reason why I'm focused in

Central Florida here for the

next few months is that my, my

sons do in the next few weeks.

And it kind of worked out well

with Hooten Young.

They launched their bourbon the

first week of July, born on the

1st of July, 4th of July.

And there's just a big push.

So all of these things I'm doing

are within a half a mile of my

house and it just worked out

like it was supposed to.

That's fantastic.

So, yeah, so that was great.

So yeah, I got, I got a lot

going on.

It'll be a lot of Hooten Young

Whiskey stuff and then Hooten

Young Cigars and then you'll

start start to ramp up Bentley

in September.

I got a ton of stuff.

In September.

I'm going to Germany.

I've got 3 events.

We've got the two guys, the

number 2 podcast, right?

Number.

Two, number two, we got their

40th anniversary in September,

so I've got like 6-6 Bentley

things in September.

So it'll be September will be

very heavy Bentley and also

heavy hoot and young.

So we're kind of getting a

rhythm.

But this month, August is

focused just central to my

house, which is great.

All right, Palmer, anything else

to add?

Next week we are interviewing

Sean Mobley from Cigar TV.

We are, and we we are going to

release our Jeremiah Mirfell.

Oh, that's right.

We didn't talk about that

because we talked about it on

the show yesterday.

We.

Didn't do it right.

We're going to have, we did a

really good interview with

Jeremiah Mirfell and that'll be

coming up later on this week as

well.

So.

You got a name, Michael.

We need one more name.

Yes, thank God.

Thank God for Palmer, you know,

Tara Derico.

Congratulations, Tara.

Congratulations, Tara.

Yes, all right.

What did you win?

I can't tell you.

They find out.

That's part of the thing they

had to know beforehand.

It's part of the this.

I had this whole thing.

OK, yeah.

You have to be part of the

Postania Mafia in the Facebook

groups.

I've got to be a little more

active.

Everything's kind of linked,

yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, congratulations, Tara.

Yeah, Miguel Chanel, the

listener of the Week.

Yeah.

What was our other name that we

had before?

We already said it before.

We already said it.

Yeah, they got to find it.

Oh, in the show.

Oh.

Wow.

But you know what?

Congratulations to you for

sitting in.

Thank you so much for sitting

in.

You're a fantastic Co host.

You did a great job.

You did a great job reading the

news.

You know, Palmer, you might be

out of a job here.

What do you?

Think come back anytime.

Come back anytime I'd.

Be happy.

I got a lot of a lot of

availability over the next month

or so.

I know it's going to be crazy

for the kid, but I don't mind

coming back.

I oh, I got.

It the invite, honey, I got to

go.

I got to go.

I got to do this podcast.

I got to do the podcast.

I got to go.

I've dreamed about this for my

entire life.

I was a Co host on another show.

We didn't prepare this well,

yes, and it's it's it was nice

to be here now.

You guys do a great job and it

was phenomenal.

And I'll always be happy to read

the news.

Whatever allows me to keep

talking.

There you go now.

Thanks for everything.

The listeners was great and glad

to be glad to be part of the

team.

Yep.

Thanks guys and listen to the

next couple of shows.

Take care.

Bye.

Welcome to the Cigar Hustler

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Show Notes

In the news on today’s show: The world mourns the loss of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, Florida teens take stupidity to a new level with the 'door kick challenge,' and Ring camera users panic over suspicious logins. We break it all down.

Plus—cigar prices are going up, and we’ll tell you why. Ashton, Epic, and Nat Cicco are reacting to new tariffs thi week, and the EU is trying to torch the whole industry with a massive tax hike.

We’ve got Bocock’s new championship smokes, a big change in Florida’s wholesale rules, and we play what’s the score with the Warfighter Night Shift and a special cigar for our guest co-host!