ACHP Episode 399 Denim Conspiracy and Cigar Mysteries?

Episode Summary

Episode 399 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual off-topic banter — the co-host popularity vote (Jack Trano vs. John Kearney), the American Eagle/Sydney Sweeney "great jeans" advertising controversy, the passing of 1980s WKRP in Cincinnati star Loni Anderson, the Democratic Republic of the Congo auctioning off oil and gas blocks in gorilla habitat, the Powerball jackpot, and the bankruptcy of Berlin's long-running SchwuZ nightclub. The crew also plugs CHPod.com merch, upcoming August appearances and lounge events, and asks listeners to support Underground Cigars in Texas, a retailer hurting from street construction.

The cigar news block is the meat of the episode. The Trump administration's tariff rate for Nicaragua rises from 10% to 18% effective August 7, with goods loaded by that date and landed before October 5 grandfathered at the old rate — a big deal given Nicaragua supplies roughly half of all premium cigars sold in the U.S. The hosts debate whether the tariff is really a tax, whether it will ever be rolled back, whether small boutique brands without their own factories will survive, and whether production could realistically shift to the Dominican Republic or Honduras. Mike also explains what it means for his own brand: existing inventory buys some time, but a price increase larger than the usual 3–4% annual bump is likely if the rate sticks.

Other news: Scandinavian Tobacco Group announced its annual price increase (separate from its 5% tariff surcharge) across General Cigar, Forged Cigar Company and Cigars International's wholesale arm, along with 34 discontinued SKUs — 22 of them Alec Bradley, plus CAO flavored lines and the FLVR series (Space Ranger, Ski Chalet, Yacht Rock), which the hosts roast at length. Rocky Patel is clearing out its factory aging room and selling unbanded, mystery five-packs as "Patel Extras" in extra small, small, medium and large sizes. Also covered: the Patina x Viso Horny "Verdigris" collaboration robusto ($13, 300 bundles, 10 retailers), Two Guys Smoke Shop's 40th anniversary Padrón Ruby Red Exclusive Edition in natural and maduro (200 numbered 40-count humidors designed by Nelson Alfonso), and China Tobacco expanding international distribution of its Great Wall brand.

The show closes with "What's the Score," joined by guest John McTavish of Developing Palates. The trio guesses Halfwheel reviewer Brooks Whittington's scores on a 2015 Viaje Señor Andrés Chicharrones and the 2025 La Flor Dominicana 30th Anniversary — the first landing at a surprising 83, the second at 89 — sparking a good conversation about reviewer consistency, whether summaries match final scores, and how much a given reviewer's palate skews the number.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Co-Host Vote and CHPod Merch
   The crew recaps the Patreon vote for best co-host between Jack Trano and John Kearney, plus new shirts and August events.
2. 02
   American Eagle, Sydney Sweeney and Manufactured Outrage
   A long debate over whether the 'great jeans' denim campaign backlash was real or engineered marketing.
3. 03
   Loni Anderson and the Congo Oil Auction
   Remembering the WKRP in Cincinnati star, followed by news that the DRC is auctioning oil blocks in endangered gorilla habitat.
4. 04
   Nicaragua's 18% Tariff
   Nicaragua's cigar tariff jumps from 10% to 18% on August 7, and the hosts break down what it means for boutique brands, pricing and possible production shifts.
5. 05
   STG Price Increase and 34 Discontinued Cigars
   Scandinavian Tobacco Group raises prices and cuts 34 SKUs, including 22 Alec Bradley lines and the FLVR series.
6. 06
   Rocky Patel Extras Mystery Bundles
   Rocky Patel empties its factory aging room into unbanded mystery five-packs sorted only by size.
7. 07
   New Releases: Patina Verdigris and Padrón Ruby Red
   A limited Patina collaboration robusto and Two Guys Smoke Shop's 40th anniversary Padrón exclusive in numbered 40-count humidors.
8. 08
   What's the Score with John McTavish
   The Developing Palates host joins to guess Brooks Whittington's Halfwheel scores on a Viaje Chicharrones and the LFD 30th Anniversary.

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 399 of the Cigar Hustler podcast. Hello, Michael. Mr. Palmer.

How are you? I'm fine. How are you? You're very tan.

I am. I was in the sun for the weekend. My head. Don't want to elaborate any further.

That's all you're getting from me. All right, Boots, hello over there. We have to say hello to Boots. Hello.

Just walked in. Bing, bang, boom. I saw a post this week that someone said Phil was better than Boots. Just for the record.

Well, Phil's gone. Phil's gone? What is this presidency you're running for, too? You see, on the vote, which we'll have to get into here in a minute, for the best co-host, he put #bootsforprez.

Oh, he just slid that in. Just slid that in? Yeah. What are you running for president of?

I don't know. I just thought it was a cool thing to put in there. Oh. I do like that the voting took place and...

Sure, we can go ahead and get into that, I guess. Mr. Kearney went and rallied for votes, so then Jack decided to do the same. Yeah, so Jack hit the button, too.

So Jack hit the button and Jack came out on top. Mm. Did he? Yeah, I'm not sure how that happened.

I did get an angry phone call Saturday morning from Jack, telling me he had won. Oh, he let you know? No, very early. Just so you know, buddy.

Just so you know, I won. Fine, Jack, you won. We're still doing #PalmerIsDeadToMe, so, you know, he hung up abruptly. Who's doing hashtag that?

Jack, I'm dead to Jack. Because I supported Kearney. Well, we went a little, just, that's more Patreon stuff, that is something that we talked about on the Patreon. If you want to check it out, go sign up on our Patreon.

We review cigars and check it out. com, Cigar Hustlers Podcast. But one of the topics was Jack Trano or John Carney. Who's the better co-host?

So, there you go. All right, well, go ahead and get going. All right, now this week's episode, we dive into chaos with a punch of flavor from death of an '80s icon, Lonnie Anderson, to Sydney Sweeney's jeans, somehow sparking conspiracy theories. " Oh, no, don't do that.

Okay. But first, Mikey, how do I get some of that CHPod swag? com and check out our newest t-shirts. We have one that's not dropped yet, but it will be coming out next week, and it's the first one that we've ever done that's postagna cigar-based, or postagna-based, so.

Related? Postagna-related? Postagna-related. So, looking forward to that.

You helped me work on that. Yes, we designed that this past Friday. Yes. So, looking forward to that.

com. We still have the Cappuccino Assassinino available and the BDP shirt. And if you buy one, at that same time, get the second one, 40% off. Ooh, 40% off.

Yeah, we just re-upped on our shirts too, so. Plenty of Zyze is back in stock. com. com, I wanted to say it at the same time.

It sounded good last week. Ready, ready, one, two, three. com. Wow.

All right, event's coming up on August 13th from 11 to 3. I'm doing a Cutting Light, the Claremont location of Old Time Cigars. m. Eastern Standard Time.

Also on August 14th, we have Ziggy's Beer Tasting upstairs at Cigar Hustler. The 19th, I'll be on the Smoking Sounds podcast. August 29th, we have an LFD event upstairs at the Cigar Lounge. Details are still coming.

Greg said today that he's gonna find out what that is. Look at you, man. You got a bunch of podcasts in your notes, man. , I'll be doing an event over at Cigar Life in Lakeland.

Wow. Very busy month, apparently, August is. You got a busy August. August is very busy.

Excellent. All right, now on to trending news. Let's go. Nothing has switched yet because...

He's opening a candy bar, it sounds like over there? No, no, no, it's been switching. He shows up late. com.

Oh. " Okay. J-E-A-N-S. So this is the most updated talk of it.

Because there's been like three different things that have gone into this. Yes, this is as of yesterday. Okay. American Eagle Outfitters responded to backlash over its recent ads featuring actress Sydney Sweeney saying the campaign is and always was about the jeans.

J-E-A-N-S. Not G-E-N-E-S. Okay. The retailer generated widespread scrutiny this week after launching its denim-focused fall campaign that featured Sweeney.

The tagline read: "Sydney Sweeney has great genes". Great J-E-A-N-S. Okay, correct. Many online accused American Eagle of promoting white supremacy and Nazi propaganda, with the campaign implying that the company was also promoting the genes, G-E-N-E-S, of a white blonde woman, its play on words.

Jeans are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color, Sweeney says in one of the video clips before the camera pans up to her blue eyes, my jeans are blue, but American Eagle rejected that notion Friday in its statement posted to social media. Her jeans, J-E-A-N-S, her story, the post read, will continue to celebrate how everyone wears the American Eagle jeans with confidence their way, great jeans look good on everyone. Okay, do you think that all of this is just BS built up by American Eagle, or is this actually legit, people are actually upset? That's a good question, because what better way to get, I mean, nobody's going to talk about her just wearing jeans unless they make something out of it.

Right. Well, I don't know, man. I think this is, I think what we're seeing is the generation of, So, people who don't know what the fuck they're doing for their job. Okay.

So, I think when they did this marketing thing with her, and they came up with this script, it was completely something that should have never have been done, because they should have really put it through PR, you know, something like that before, screened it, and said, "Hey, do you think this is a good idea? " Well, she has on blue jeans, a blue denim shirt. Why didn't they show the blue jeans? Well, they did.

They panned up and stopped on her eyes. So, but like, I don't think in today's world you can think of all the possible ways somebody's going to take something. Right. I think this happened legitimately.

" So, we're upset about genetics now? Well, I guess. I don't know. I mean, I'm just saying, I find a lot of people in the profession nowadays, Especially the younger generation that they have no clue what the hell is going on.

I mean, something so simple as like, I mean, we can always go back to McDonald's, but let's just say Subway for somebody different, right? I was, I mean, that's, I mean, you're going right into, you know, the guy was a pedophile who went to jail. Here, I give you, I give you two instances. Subway, I went to Subway, right?

And at Subway, the girl was like, hey, what would you like? I told her I would like the, uh, the Philly sub, right? Okay. And then you said you can't say Philly?

No, no, no. Then she's like... Can't say sub? No, she's like, okay.

She's like, well, what would you like on it? I said, well, I like it, how it's made, how you guys make it. She goes, oh, okay. And so she gets out the bread and everything, and she starts to make it.

She goes, well, what's on the filling? I'm like... I started reading the menu, and she turned around and started reading it with me. She goes, oh, I didn't know that's what was on it.

I'm like thinking in my head, I'm like, your job is to know 12 subs in this whole place. Okay. That's it. You can't figure that out?

Like, it's just 12 subs. I like the fact that we were talking about jeans and somehow he made a conversation about food. No, no, no, what I'm talking about is people that don't know their job. I don't know if this is a thing where they don't know how to do their job.

Yeah, I don't know where that transfers to this. I think when the marketing people were coming up with this ad, I think that they should have steered away of anything that could have been some type of issue. But you could say anything and somebody could take it the wrong way. I mean, they would just have to have pictures and no words and even then somebody would say something about the pictures.

And not to mention, now we're all talking about it, so it sounds like they did their job. Yeah, that PR guy should get a raise, the marketing guy, whoever it is. He's probably going to be fired. He would be fired.

Because the follow up ad was a non-white lady doing a similar ad and they're like... Also has good genes. Right. That's what they should have said.

You know what I mean? I like my genes too. Also, great genes. That's insane.

That's insane. I mean, there are a lot of people that are genetically blessed. Doesn't matter where they come from. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, if she would have been Mexican, would it be something else? Yes. Something completely different? Hispanic lady?

Like Selma Hyatt, genetically blessed. Right, yeah. If she said, "I like my jeans," and she's got dark hair, dark eyes, and... Right.

I mean, I'm genetically short. I wish I was genetically taller. You think you're short? I think your arms are just longer than they should be.

You think so? I don't think it's that you're short. You think I have long arms? I think you have longer arms.

Longer arms? Yeah. That's very sweet of you to say. No, no problem.

My wife says I have T-Rex arms. Wow. Oh, they're not that small. Yeah.

That seems a bit mean. She's got long arms. It seems a bit American Eagle-ish. You ever see Anderson Silva?

Do you guys know who Anderson Silva is? Yeah. I don't know. He's a UFC fighter.

He's got super long arms. I call her Anderson Silva. Yeah, your wife does have long arms. She can reach out and grab anything.

I guess she could be sitting. Inspector Gadget. Go-go Gadget Arms. Well, okay, American jeans.

This is the dumbest. I feel like people are just bored and they're outraged about something. That's it, shit. People are, there's gotta be something.

Every once in a while they go, hmm, we haven't been mad in a while. What can we come up with? We should be pissed off. Look at this pretty girl wearing jeans.

Oh, she looks like a Nazi. Let's go attack her. Right. Allegedly.

Allegedly. Well, no, they're saying, I mean, the blonde hair, blue eyes, That's the Aryan Nation person. That's the criteria. That was the person they were trying to make.

But I feel like what happens is you get so much push. Maybe she's Swedish. Are you going to cut me off all the time, Palmer, over there, or what? Sorry about that.

Because you've been like four for four so far. Yeah, sorry about that. Okay. Now I didn't even know what I was going to say.

Something about Sweeney. Something about what? Something about Sweeney. Something about swinging?

Sweeney. Sweeney. Sydney Sweeney is the girl we're talking about. I don't know anymore.

No, we were talking about how people are getting out or have to get outraged over something. Mm-hmm. We were. All right, I guess we'll move on.

To another blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady, Lonnie Anderson passed away on August 3rd, 2025 at the age of 79. The actor's family said in a statement, "We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother, and grandmother. She took her last breath at a Los Angeles hospital following a prolonged illness and has survived by her husband Lonnie Anderson, best known for her role as Jennifer Marlowe on the 1970-80s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, was indeed a notable figure and cultural icon of the 1980s. Her portrayal of the sharp-witted and glamorous receptionist made her a household name and solidified her status as a sex symbol during that era.

While WKRP in Cincinnati concluded in 1982, her popularity continued throughout the 80s, fueled by magazine coverage, public appearances, and her marriage to actor Burt Reynolds. Oh, that's, that's where I don't know her from, yeah. You don't know her from Beringford? I don't know this lady.

Oh. She was on a soap opera or something? Debbie Carapete, Cincinnati was a sitcom back in the '70s and '80s. Okay, so who was Lonnie Anderson to you, buddy?

She was the lady from the sitcom. Yeah. Well, he was, he was definitely watching these shows when he was younger. Did you find her attractive?

Uh, for that era, yeah. Big hair, you know, a lot of makeup, blonde hair. Yeah. Did you have a poster of her?

No, I did not have a poster of her, but they were out there. Yeah? Yeah. Did you just not find one?

No, that wasn't the poster I had. Who was your go-to? Come on. It was the blonde that was in Fall Guy.

I don't remember her name. Does she have blue eyes? We're going to unplug his mic in two seconds. I don't know what he did at home today, but he's all gassed up.

You said what he was doing on my hair. He just all worked up. Yeah. Ginger was kind of walking funny, walking in.

So, what are you going to say now? Okay, is there more story? No, it's just a bunch of, nothing exciting. Nothing exciting?

Her marriage to Burt Reynolds, her relationship, and subsequent marriage to Burt Reynolds, a major Hollywood star at the time, kept her in the spotlight and further submitted her status as an '80s icon. Okay, well, if you want me to make a short clip about this, you better talk about how important this girl is, because I have no idea who she is. Are you not familiar with the show WKRP either? No.

Oh, you should go back and watch it, it was funny. Les Nesman, the guy who threw the turkeys out of the helicopter at Thanksgiving because he swore they could fly? Nope. Wow, you guys miss a good TV.

Ricky knows what I'm talking about. Yeah, okay, but I was born in 1984, bro. It's still on TV now! Right.

We were born in the 80s and never watched it. Every Thanksgiving, the story about the turkeys out of the helicopter is on social media. Never seen it. " This is the only show I know of her from, but she did shows like Cannonball Run and that type of stuff afterwards.

The movie? Yeah. I saw those. She was in those.

What car was she in? I couldn't tell you. Oh, God. Couldn't tell you, because Bert Reynolds was in it, and he was her husband at the time.

Right. So, she probably had some bit part, you know, a couple lines or something. So, here you are talking about an icon, and you don't even know anything about the icon. Well, I know who she is.

Well, he didn't have the poster. You didn't say... No, I didn't have her poster. Yeah, you didn't say anything like, you know, greatest wrestler of all time.

She wasn't the greatest wrestler of all time. I don't believe she ever wrestled at all. Maybe in private, she might have wrestled at Reynolds. Well, she probably definitely wrestled in private, yeah.

Yeah, right. I would assume. Yeah. And he has headphones.

I don't understand. He always has headphones. Yeah. Oh, me, he can hear that we're talking.

Yeah. Yeah, I know. I know. He's trying to be, he's trying to be president.

He's trying to get more air time. What was the other, what was the other post that I talked about? Um... Ozzy.

Ozzy, yeah. She wasn't Ozzy status, she wasn't, um, uh, uh, what's his name, Hulk, Hulk Hogan status either. So, do we, but back in the eighties she would have been, but after she got older? No, obviously not.

Was she still on a show? Still on the show, what? The show got canceled in the eighties. Okay, so she's not doing anything currently?

Well, she's in a coffin at the moment. She wasn't strapped to a chair performing her last hurrah? No. No.

No. Maybe. Oh, maybe. She could have been.

After she wrestled, maybe she liked being strapped in a chair. I have no idea about her personal life. And she wasn't focusing on some Greco-Roman new sport that she was going to bring to light? No.

No beer? No. Nothing. Her hairstyle and makeup was a status in the 80s.

People wanted to look like her. Yeah. P. Lorraine, I guess.

No, Lonnie, not Lorraine. Lonnie. P. Lorraine.

Lorraine Anderson, that's her sister. I think she's still alive. She's okay? I think she's still okay.

Yeah. I think so. Survived by her sister. Yeah.

Very sad. She's very sad. Okay. All right, this next story, Michael, I pulled Good for you.

Oh, good. Not the last one? No, not the Lonnie Anderson. Apparently, he hates Lonnie Anderson.

And he's not surprised she's dead. Right. She's out of here. I pull the story for you, Michael.

Gorilla habitats and pristine forests at the risk as DRC opens half of the country to oil and gas drilling. Okay. We need to talk about the problems of your people, Michael. Oh.

The lowland gorillas are being squeezed out of Africa. You generalize them. Oh, that's frustrating. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is opening crucial guerrilla habitats and pristine forests to bids for oil and gas drilling with plans to carve up more than half the country into fossil fuel blocks.

The blocks open for auction cover 124 hectares, 306 acres of land and inland waters described by experts as the world's most, the world's worst place to prospect for oil because they hold vast amounts of carbon and are home to some of the planet's most The Precious Wildlife Habitats, including Endangered Lowland Gorillas. Oh. Okay. Is there a question after that?

Is there diamonds there? What? Diamonds? Yeah.

No, Tarzan saved all those. You saw that movie, apparently. Okay. This year, the government has launched a licensing around for 52 oil blocks.

These are in addition to three blocks previously awarded. It was previously awarded one of the areas is 64% is intact tropical forests according to the spatial mapping and analysts in a new report by Earth Insight. The expansion of oil and gas developments is at odds with DRC's commitment to protect biodiversity and climate protection experts warn. So of course, with your permission, Michael, we would like to start a GoFundMe and buy some of the land during the auction to save your people.

I'll have to save my people. Save your people and gorillas. Yes. Okay, we can do that.

I'm having I'm happy to do that for you. Okay. How much are the hectares? You green-lighted this?

It's an auction. He doesn't green-light these stories anymore. He just did. There's an auction.

Oh, he green-lighted the GoFundMe. Yeah. It's an auction. We don't know how much they are.

We could get a deal, maybe get a rocky area or something with not many trees, but I don't know how your people feel about that. That would be up to you. I would prefer if you picked out a hectare you wanted that you thought would be nice for your people. So why do you think we're drilling in the Congo?

There's oil there, and the Conganese people want money, apparently, more than they want gorillas. The Conganese? That's what they're called. Yeah.

People from the Congo are called the Conganese people. The Conganese? Have you never seen a Tarzan movie? That's how they refer to them.

No. Yes. The Conganese? Why do you think they're drilling over in Africa?

Conganese. I think there's blood diamonds. I don't think there's oil. Yeah.

Blood. He wants the diamonds. Yeah. Leonardo DiCaprio, and I don't remember the other guy's name.

Oh, it's a different movie. I thought you meant the diamonds they were paying. It's a pain to get the armies to come in. Well, I can tell you one thing about the gorillas, they have good genes.

Oh, but they don't have blue eyes. They don't have blue eyes. They might. Oh.

There are the occasional white albino gorillas. We can reach out to American Eagle and have them put genes on all the gorillas. On the gorillas? Yeah.

I bet I do. Maybe that way they could raise money and they could buy their own land. What's that? That way they could raise money and buy their own land.

Yeah. Yeah. You ever see Planet of the Apes? Of course.

That's where it starts. Oh, is that where it starts? Yeah. In the genes?

Yeah. Oh. American Eagle supports the genes. Then they buy their own hectares where, you know.

Oh. And then they start a village. How big is a hectare? Like two acres.

Oh. I'll probably be corrected on that. I don't think it's right at all. Okay, you said it with confidence, though.

He did. I believed him. I thought it was real. I just winged it.

Nice. 75. You forgot to start the timer, by the way. Yeah, sure did.

That's my responsibility now. Oh, you start the timer now? He starts the timer now. All right, we're at 20 minutes.

That's okay. Well, there's nothing I mean, you know, whatever. All right, the Powerball jackpot is growing again after no winning ticket matched all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing. The winning numbers in the August 2nd drawing were, if you hadn't seen it before, 6, 18, 34, 35, 36, and Powerball 2.

Oh. Put Powerball numbers up. Must have been no news this week. Well, look, we did Gorillaz in our own Powerball.

Well, nobody hit the big jackpot. A winning $1 million ticket was sold in Georgia, according to the Powerball's website. That means the ticket matched the five white balls, but not the Powerball. The next drawing is Monday, August 4th, which is tonight, as we record this.

The estimated jackpot is now worth $426 million. Wow. 5 million. Okay.

So what's the first thing you would do if you won the Powerball? You won the Powerball. Do you want to know what the odds of winning are? No, I don't care.

It's not, it's very low. One in 292,201,338. I said no. So the chances are pretty good.

So you're saying there's a chance. You're saying like maybe. So what's the first thing you'd do if you won the Powerball? Pay off all my bills.

Yeah? And pay off my wife's student loans. That's the most boring thing I've ever, after that, what would she do? 5 million.

So after I do all that, I still have 193 million point. Still have a lot of money left. I don't know, buy a nice house somewhere. Yeah.

Yeah. Get a Jeep. Get a nice Jeep. A Jeep?

I've had four Jeeps in my life. I like Jeeps, but they're not practical. You like driving 35 miles an hour and everything shaking? I love Jeep.

That didn't happen 35 miles an hour. It doesn't happen? Where does that have a 40? No, more like 55, 60.

Oh, 55, 60. Yeah. That's one of the stuff. But, I want like a 1970s Jeep that I know is not going to have any problems with.

That would break down continuously? No, I want one that's been rebuilt that doesn't have any problems. You think, even if it's rebuilt, a 1970 Jeep is going to run perfect, there's going to be no issue? It's got a brand new motor in it.

Like a 1970 motor or a brand new? No, like a brand new motor, so it's been redone, but it looks like the older, I like the older style there. Okay, so you want a 1970 frame with modern technology inside of it. Sure, okay.

It'll still shake like crap though. Oh, I know it shakes. Like I said, I've had four of them, so I understand. Where would you take this cheap?

Make it my everyday drive. Really? Well, where are you going to drive? You got 193 million in the bank.

You're going to still come here? Depends on where my house is. You ain't coming here anymore. No, not 193 million dollars?

Yeah, you're done. No, I'm done. I'm not coming here anymore. We never see you again.

I will buy online cigars from you, how's that? Wow. I'll put your face on milk cards. I'll be one of the white glove concieres that Steve reaches out to.

Okay. And I'll still go, that sounds really expensive, Steve. I'm like, I don't know about that. How about those new bundles you have?

Can you just send me some of those? A little steep. A little steep. What would you do?

It's Dominican tobacco. I don't like it. Okay, we're moving on. What would you do if you won the Powerball?

Oh, man. Pay off my wife's student loans. No. First thing?

Yep. I'd buy a fully restored, so I don't have to do anything to it, 68 Camaro. Okay. First thing.

Original motor? No, it doesn't have to be original. Okay. That's what you want?

Yeah, that'd be the first one. A '68. Yeah. I could picture you in a '68 Camaro.

Doesn't look pleasant, you getting in and out of that thing. No? No. It's a little bit of a struggle bus.

You got a truck for a reason, dude. It's easy to climb in, slide right out. It is. It is, but I like the car.

Hmm. Okay. What would be the first thing you'd do? Uh...

Gonna buy Jim. I would torch this building for the first thing I would do. I'd set a flamethrower to this place. What would I do?

I don't know. I'd probably buy a house, I guess. A bigger house with a helicopter pad. Oh, so Matt Booth can land his gold helicopter pad?

So when Matt Booth comes by, he can just land right there. Nice. Yeah, that's what I'm just thinking about Matt. You know, Powerball hits, instantly goes to Booth.

Obviously, yes. Yeah, without question. Okay, so 400 million's on the table. Yes.

I just want to know, if I win, I won't be here tomorrow. You're not coming here anymore, either. You won't see me. No.

I'll give you a million dollars if I win. I'd probably still come in. Why would you still come in? To burn the plate, make sure everybody's out before you burn it down?

I've been building this thing for 15, 16 years. Oh. " Uh, I wouldn't invest my own money at that point. Not?

No, he's gotta figure it out. No, he's still gonna figure it out. Sorry, Greg, none of this is yours. Yeah.

All right, Boots, Trending News is next. I just sent you your story, Boots. You just sent it to me. I've been looking forward to this one.

Yes. Yeah, I forgot, I just sent it to you. It's been a very busy morning upstairs. Let's go.

What are you laughing about? All right. Hello, peoples. Germany's oldest and biggest gay nightclub declares bankruptcy.

What? What? Declares bankruptcy. What did?

Schuetz. What was it? A 50-year-old dance hotspot falls victim to inflation and rising rents threatening Berlin's club scene. Germany's oldest and biggest gay dance club has declared itself bankrupt after nearly half a century in business, falling into it.

after nearly half a century in business, falling victim to inflation and evolving party culture threatening Berlin's nightlife. Management troubles and dating apps were among the factors putting Schwartz on the ropes last year. Putting what? What on the ropes?

What's it called? In May, the club's short in its opening hours laid off staff and asked regulars for help to plug a growing shortfall to little Avel. Avel. Avel.

Whatever. On Thursday. The management team posted on Instagram, Schwitz has filed for insolvency, but we don't want to give up the post noted Schwitz's integral role in Berlin's LGBTQ+ scene since it was founded in Kruisberg in 1977, helping two years later to launch Christopher Street Day Parade and queer magazine, Sliglisaw. What was it?

What was that? Schwitz, which is short for Schwulenzentrum, or Gay Center, moved to a much larger space with capacity for 1,000 Ravellers and Fashionable Nukon in 2013, which may have been the beginning of the end. This year's club has had a deficit each month of 30,000 euros, 60,000 euros, 26,000 to 52,000. A lot of numbers.

Getting cooked. With income on a downward slide, the public broadcaster, RBB, reported. The club has now staged a last-ditch bid for supporters to rally behind it for future queer generations who need a place that uplifts, empowers, and makes them visible. Oh, my goodness.

So, where are you going to go now when you go to Europe? Yeah. How do you feel about that? You know, Hippelhauser is German.

If you're German, I figured this would be something, you know, your family's culture and stuff. Yeah, when you go to Germany, what's going to happen? Are you going to go there or no? Support the peoples?

Like a memorial? I'm not engaging with you too. What do you mean you're not engaging with us? You just read the whole story.

You're totally engaging with us. You're recorded for all of prosperity. Are you distraught about this? Maybe that's why he can't talk about it, he's upset.

What? He's upset, maybe that's why he can't talk about it. Yeah, he can't, yeah. He said he didn't know.

Now he doesn't know what to do. I had no idea it was going down. Right. Maybe you should renew your membership.

Yeah. Maybe they need the income. Yeah, you should go back. Get the locker and the whole shebang they got there.

There's nothing better than making a homophobe saying stuff about gay news. With big German words. Are you okay? I'm perfectly fine.

I'm shutting down. I'm shutting down. This is me shutting down. All right.

Well, hey, listen, our thoughts and prayers are with the LGBTQ German community and Boots' favorite nightclub. And Boots and the rest of the Hippelhauser family. Yeah. All right.

Mikey, social media minute. I didn't understand this until I heard you talking upstairs about 15 minutes ago. Yeah. So I saw a post last week about underground cigars in Texas.

Yes. And they've been having some struggles with construction in their town, I guess. So now there's been issues with flow of traffic and they haven't had a lot of people coming into the store. Okay.

So because of that, it's impacted them huge. And I know they've done business with us in the past. I don't know if they still care. Not currently, no.

But if you're a cigar fan and you want to support a retailer, So reach out to them, and they're doing all kinds of things. I can't say the website here, obviously, but, you know, check out Underground Cigars and do what you can to support them because Don Wiggins is a good dude, and I would like to see them survive, and I think it's good for the industry if they do survive. So that's my sad social media post for the week. Let me tell you what I thought it was about.

Sure. I thought the SBC had gone to the underground market, and because of all the construction issues, it was a problem or something. Oh, yeah? Well, this is a Segundo.

Oh. And it's burning perfectly. Oh, of course it is. So, uh, maybe Charlie got the only bad box.

Well, the five pack. Did he buy a box? I don't know. Maybe just a five pack.

I haven't had any other complaints. I haven't had a, no, I haven't had a complaint from anybody. Yeah. Now people are hashtagging it the, uh, the best underrated cigar I've ever smoked.

Oh, really? Yes. That's lovely. Right.

I smoked like four. I haven't had an issue. Yeah. Hey, you know what?

If somebody posted, hey, that's good, then they'll be more available for a longer period of time. That's a good point. All right, now on to cigar news. Trump announces 18% tariff rate for Nicaragua.

And there it is. On Thursday night, the Trump administration released dozens of new tariff rates ahead of the White House's self-imposed August 1st deadline. S. Effective next week, Nicaragua's tariff rate will increase from 10% to 18%.

The 18% is not new, the rate, that is the rate that the White House announced in April during President Donald Trump's Liberation Day event, though at the time it was unclear if the rate was 18 or 19%. A week later, Trump announced that he would be suspending those announced rates, and instead many countries would pay lower rates for the next 90 days, dropping Nicaragua's rate from 18 to 19 to 10%. That temporary change was supposed to expire early July, but it was extended to August 1st. Nicaragua is the only major cigar-producing country affected by the temporary changes.

The new 18% rate won't go into effect until Thursday, August 7th. S. before October 5th will get the pre-August 7th rates. Oh, nice little perk there.

What did it say? I'm sorry, if you have your stuff loaded by August 7th, and it doesn't, and as long as it arrives before October 5th, you still get the lower rate. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit showed skepticism at the White House's justification for enacting the tariffs without congressional approval.

The 11-judge panel was conveyed as part of a multiple lawsuits that are challenging the Trump administration's emergency justification for the tariffs. Regardless of how the appeals court rules, the matter is widely expected to end up in the Supreme Court. Okay. Okay, so do you think that a lawsuit is the right way to go fighting these tariffs?

If he's not supposed to be allowed to do it, then I don't see a problem challenging him. Okay. What about you, Boots? I think everything should be challenged.

Everything should be challenged? Always? Yeah, why not? Like the bankruptcy of your favorite club?

Challenge that? They're challenging it. Yeah, it should be challenged. He's got his finger on the pulse of the news.

Well, I mean, it's definitely interesting that this is the main country that it's affecting is Nicaragua, right? Well, there's a long list of countries, but out of cigars. As far as the cigar instance. Yes, it is odd that it's Nicaragua and also not Dominican or Honduras.

Well, I don't think that that's odd, because, you know, there are ties there with... Well, I'm sure everybody's got a special circumstance. With countries that... I mean, it could be worse.

We could be 148% like China. Is China back up to... The last I heard is what it was. I haven't checked out lately.

It probably isn't that. I would guess. There was a list in Half Wheel. I just didn't read through it.

Oh, it was a list on Half Wheel? Yeah. Yeah, you know, it sucks, because it's going to hurt all the boutique... I mean, we've been saying this for months now at this point.

It's going to hurt a lot of the boutique blends. You know, brands that don't own factories are going to be affected the most. You think they'll be affected so much that you won't see them again? I think a lot of them will close up shop, yeah.

Just like your favorite bar in Germany. Yeah, they're going to pack it in. It's kind of inevitable, you know. The strong ones will figure out how to navigate through it.

The ones that weren't prepared for it, or, you know, I mean, I don't know how you could see, I guess you could see this coming to some degree, but the reality is, it's tough, man. If you can't compete in the market, you're going to get shut out. Do you think it stays, or they cut some deal? Oh, I think it stays.

Without question. Is there, I mean, because you just cut a deal with Japan last week, but it's still there at 14. But they're more allies. Well, that's just it.

I mean, there's got to be something that we supply them. There's got to be some trade-off. Right. I don't know what Nicaragua gets from us, if anything.

Right. Or on a massive amount, right? Right. Yeah.

I mean, they have stuff other than cigars, though. They have rum. Well, it's 14% on anything coming out of there. 18%.

18, sorry. 18% on anything coming out of Nicaragua. And coffee. Coffee.

Yeah, Caffey posted something about his coffee prices are gonna have to go up or something. I'm sure there will definitely be a deal struck. I'm sure. I don't think there's gonna be a deal.

Depends on the government. The government doesn't care. I don't think there's gonna be a deal. You don't think so?

No. Not at all. So, okay, so now, going off of that as well, I mean, obviously, Mikey, you're affected of this the most out of all of us, right? I mean, we're all affected, but you're affected the most.

So, with your own brand, do you feel that that's going to affect you a lot in your own brand, or do you feel that you already have things in place to counter that? No, we just received an inventory, right? So, we have a decent amount for the time being, and we're going to kind of navigate through it and see how things go. But realistically, it's just a question of what the market can sustain and then what we can do in order to survive.

So if we have to raise our prices, we're going to, you know, if we don't, we won't. But I'm going to tell you right now, we already operate on a shorter margin. So if it stays, and I think that it will, you'll probably see a price hike from us. Well, there's always a price hike every year.

Do you think that would be a separate price hike? well your price hike on average is three or four percent right right this you're talking about anywhere between 10 to 15 something like that you know um who knows you know but it'll be more than your average right if it's sustainable what if it's not sustainable do you think these go away if uh when there's a new president elected or you think they stay i still don't think these These things go away. No, here's the thing about the government is they like money, right? Even though it makes no sense to me whatsoever, the reality is that the economy works in a cycle, right?

Right. You have your boom, then you have your pullback, you have your recession, right? You have this inflation, how do you fight inflation? The only way you can fight inflation is by taking money off the table so that there's less of it.

How do you do that? Through taxation. Whether you admit the tariffs are taxation or not, they are. They were 100% a form of taxation.

Yeah. So, you know, you can either tax the people directly, you can tax them indirectly, but it's taxation. It's always been trivial to me how people argue which taxation is good, which taxation is bad. For me, personally, I don't think any of it's good, you know.

I'm not a fan of taxes, period. You know, I'll always do my part, I'll pay my taxes like a like a good citizen should and keep it moving and figure it out. Is it gloom and doom in the end of the world? No, it never really is.

You have to figure it out. S. S. to get around that?

I honestly don't know. You have to do something to it at, let's say, the second stop. China tried that with steel, tried it with aluminum. There's got to be some type of process done to it.

Now, I guess they could send the tobacco and have it rolled somewhere else and maybe get around the loophole that way, rolled and packaged in a different country. Once they find out you're doing it, they find out a way to stop you from doing it. I think the reality is that there will always be people to test loopholes, so they will always try and work around the rules and the regulations. Some of them will be successful, some of them won't be successful.

That stop also adds prices, though, too. Yeah, additional transportation costs. Transportation prices, maybe labor's higher in that country than it was in Nicaragua, something. Do you see cigar factories moving from Nicaragua to other places with such a big hike, or just a change in price?

I don't think 18% is enough to make somebody pack up and move their entire operation. I think the political uncertainty is enough for people to try and pack up and hedge their bets in other countries. We've seen that. We've seen that already.

Just for an example, would Roma Craft all of a sudden be a Dominican-made cigar? Would they just use Dominican tobacco? Or would they move Nicaraguan tobacco to the Dominican Republic? Oh, well, you got to remember that a lot of stuff that they source, they don't, it's not just entirely Nicaraguan.

Right. You know, they get Mexican San Andreas, they get Cameroon from Cameroon, you know, it's, I mean. From the Conganese people? From the Conganese.

Save the gorillas. Hashtag save the gorillas. But, I think it would be extremely difficult to move a smaller production company, something that's producing a few million sticks. Take forever.

I mean, you'd have to, I mean, that's a whole thing. Yeah, there would be such a long period where you're not producing. Right. So, it's unlikely.

But, look, it's just like anything else. You're gonna see who will survive, and you'll see who won't. And it is what it is. We're not big enough to control any of that.

Right. , right? Of that, I would say over a third of them are bundles, right? And then maybe a third of them are your mid-range boutique smokers.

So, we're talking about maybe two million people. So, you could say we're elite. Not even two, I'm sorry, one million people. So, do you think...

So, rise up, you one million people. So, you think politicians care about what a million people are going to think? No, there's not enough votes there to sway. How many of your low-laying gorillas are there?

Maybe we can move them all here and get them to smoke cigars. If we get all the Hectoras, or whatever you call them, the Hectors, and we got them to vote, Yes, then maybe we can. Ooh, gorillas can vote. Hashtag gorillas should vote.

We'd have to make them cigar smokers, so. They look like they would be. You think so? We can get them not to eat them.

The one in George of the Jungle smokes cigars. Did he? Oh, there you go. It has to be all of them, then.

It has to be all of them. Sure. All right, STG is raising prices for 2025. Oh, go figure.

Oh, here's Justin. And the discontinuing 34 items. Yes, fueling the growth, baby. Effective today, October 4th, Scandinavian Tobacco Group STG is increasing the price of the cigars that it sells in America.

Did you say effective today, October 4th? August 4th. Did I say October? Yeah.

Oh, August. Sorry. Unlike most of the price increases that have been announced recently in months, the company says that this increase is unrelated to the Trump administration's recent tariffs. So there's another increase coming.

Yeah, that's right. So there's another one. Just a coincidence, they both happen on the same day. Instead, this serves as the annual price adjustment for two of its American sales divisions, General Cigar Company and Justin Andrews' Cigar Fund, oh, and Ford Cigar Company.

SCG was one of the few companies that opted for a tariff surcharge instead of a full price list revision, and in its case, a 5% charge is added onto every order to account for the tariffs. Previously, the company said that if the tariffs were reversed, it would remove the tariff surcharge immediately. The opposition reiterated in letters to retailers last week. So I guess they're going to do something different now.

Well, what do you do now? Uh, 12%. At least it's got to be at least 10%. SCG is three different wholesale cigar operations.

General Cigar Company sells CAO, Don Thomas, Macanudo, Odyssey, and the non-Cuban version of Cohiba, Hoya De Monterrey, Punch, and Sancho Panza. Don Thomas? That's what it says. I've never heard of that one.

Tomás. T-O-M-A-S. Maybe that's Tomás? Yeah.

Haven't heard of that one either. Ford Cigar Company sells Alec & Bradley, Chillin' Moose, Diesel, Los Statos, Room 101, and the non-Cuban version of the Bolivar, El Rey Del Mundo, La Gloria Cubana, and Partigas. That's a great group, brother. Myron Dutch sells Five, Vegas, Ava Maria, Manawara, Nica Libre, and various Buffalo Trace-Branda cigars.

In addition to the price increase, the company has announced that it has discontinued 34 SKUs across the General and Ford's portfolio, most of which are from Alec & Bradley brand, STG acquired Alec & Bradley in 2023. They're out of here. They're out of here. All right, I'm not going to read the entire list, but Alec & Bradley, they are discontinuing 22 different cigars.

Yeah, they're pretty much almost all of them. All of the Alec and the Bradleys. Isn't that interesting? They acquire these brands.

Right. And then they shrink the brands. They kill them. Well, yeah, they acquired the brand.

Why the brand? This is going to go great. Look, we got the two guys working for us. The dad's going to step out.

And I'm like, well, they shouldn't sell it. You think that's what's going on? I don't know. We got to get Alec on the phone.

Right. Yeah. We should call Alec. Justin always heckles me when I say something positively about Nika Swain or whatever.

I saw that. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. It's the same comment.

Right. Oh, you know, like, oh, how do you get your lips off of Skip's ass long enough to post something? It's almost verbatim. We could reinvent something new, Justin.

Well, he's got the writers that do it for him, and they're just, you know, not paying. I guess the SDG motto is just rebrand and not come up with anything original. There you go. Three different CAO-flavored cigars of medicine discontinued, and then a FLVR line, are you familiar with that?

Flavor? But it's FLVR, I'm sure it stands for flavor. Oh, well, they're discontinued with the Space Ranger, the Ski Chalet. The Space Ranger?

The Space Ranger! No! The ski chalet, the Yacht Rock. Yacht Rock.

Wow. So if they discontinue a cigar, can you use the name? No. No, they register the name.

They sell the trademarks. But they do sell the names sometimes. Because back when we had all the FDA problems, you know, when you could pre-whatever thing, you could buy a name that had been up before. Let's time out for one second here.

Taranio came on the show. Yes. And he talked about you would sit in a room, and in order something to get approved, It was like 16 other guys. Right.

You're going to tell me that 16 dudes said yes to Yacht Rock? Yes. Yeah, so we're going to have that one. I don't know what it tastes like, but yes, we're doing the Yacht Rock.

Yacht Rock. And what was the other one? Space Ranger. Space Ranger.

Space Ranger? Space Ranger? Maybe that was when Toy Story came out. Well, they just get off, they just watched Buzz Lightyear, and they figured...

Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger. Space Ranger was obviously 3000, was it? Ricky's dying over here in the corner. That's okay.

Ricky, we can't hear you cough. Cough away, dude. You're fine. You don't have to muffle it, bro.

Ski chalet? Somebody used to go back from a ski vacation? Ski chalet, that's actually pretty creative. What?

It doesn't sound creative to you? Who's the market for that? People that are skiing. Trust me, I've seen some people come into some stores before, it looks like there's a lot.

And they want the ski yada yada? Hey, you got that ski chalet? You got that ski chalet? What's it taste like?

Tastes like hot chocolate and rum. What does Space Ranger taste like? No, it tastes like ass, but you don't care because it's got a cool name. Right?

Ski Chalet's not really a cool name. Ski Chalet is not a cool name whatsoever. Space Ranger, okay. That's still terrible.

No, no, I like Space Ranger. Dude, Yacht Rock and the guys that are on yachts. Someone's like, yes, I love it. Okay, other 15 people, do you approve of Ski Chalet?

Fuck yeah, let's get that going today. Okay, who buys Yacht Rock? Guys with the mullets and the camo hat. The guys with the mullets.

Guys that have yachts. No, nobody with a yacht. I like that he said, "Guys with the mullets and the camo hat," and then I saw him look at Ginger. I don't think Ginger's buying Yacht Rock, bro.

He doesn't have a mullet anymore. He's more like a Space Ranger Ski-Shilly guy, to be honest. Yeah, there was a time in his life where he may have gone Yacht Rock, but he's past that now. Yeah, he is past that.

Yeah, that's true. Approved by SDG. So they cut those, they realized that that wasn't going to work. Those don't sell.

Hey, I don't know who greenlit this, but these are all terrible. You're completely stupid. This isn't working well. This is a terrible idea.

Oh, man. We should Patreon ski chalets. Well, if they got rid of all those cigars, Justin Anderson should be free on Monday, right? Oh, there's going to be a meeting about the meeting still on Mondays.

They've got to do that Diesel Mama Soup thing or whatever. The Diesel Mama Soup. That they keep putting out every year. They've kind of stopped that.

Oh, the... Oh, did they stop the soup stuff? I figured we'd stop carrying it. I haven't heard anything about it.

I mean, we got the first seven, you couldn't tell them apart, so. That was it. Was it soup? No, it was like sauce or something.

Yeah, some type of spaghetti sauce or something. And it came with like a half a pot that you could put the soup in. Yeah, that's how you displayed them in the pot. Do we still have that somewhere?

We gotta have that somewhere. We gotta have it somewhere. We might have thrown it away by now. We might have checked it, probably.

They're also discontinuing the Hoya La Amistad Black Rothschild. Oh, no. Wasn't Amistad a movie about a black slave ship? Is it a slave ship?

Oh, stop. No. Isn't it Amistad? I don't think so.

I'm going to have to look that up later. Thought it was. Let's just not even cross that water. All right, Rocky Patel extras arrive at stores.

Oh, I thought they were discontinued. Nope. Different company. Earlier this year, Rocky Patel decided it's time to clean out the aging humidor at the company's Table Calera Vila Cuba SA factory.

The factory develops blends, test cigars, get made, and over time, factories accumulate a lot of these cigars. Now you can buy the cigars that were cleaned out. The company has begun selling those cigars under the Patel Extras brand, a presumably limited edition series. The company took the cigars out of the aging room and divided them out of the pylon room.

Out of the pylon room? Yes, and divided them into four categories by length. Patel Extras, extra small. Patel Extras, small.

Okay. Patel Extra Medium, Patel Extra Large. Sometimes I feel like you're reading these for the first time. I am reading these for the first time.

I don't pre-read these. It's funny if I pre-read them. He reads the first five words of a... Five seems a little generous.

Okay, two? No, mostly just the title. Rocky Patel, oh, I'm pulling that. Just the title.

All the cigars are long filler in age for at least two years, though some of the cigars will be much older, because we really don't know how long they've been in here. Age 75 years. Each five pack would contain the same five cigars, though the individual five packs aren't guaranteed to be the same blend or Vitola. You can't guarantee anything, but they are cigars.

Some of the cigars will be commercial blends, others might be blends that never came to market. Nish Patel, EVP, EVP, Executive Vice President? I guess. Sounds good.

Avraki Patel gave the example to Half Wheel that some cigars might be round versions of the company's 60, which is normally sold as a box-pressed cigar, or a Salomon Vitola, or a blend that doesn't have one. Regardless of the cigars, don't have brands, bands, so you won't know what you're smoking. Perfect. The Patel Extra Bundles have begun arriving in stores.

No price. Nope. No price mentioned. But it's going to be low.

It's got to be low. Yes, it's going to be low. Because we found these, and we need the space. Well, you think that's what it is, and do they just need the space?

I think so. No, you don't know what it is. It's like a mystery pack. I don't think they need the space.

I think that they're looking to get... Generate revenue from things that are just sitting around? around yeah sure absolutely something new because they need it well look you see you're going to see a transition of your cigar guys you're going to have guys that were smoking in that 12 to 14 dollar range are now going to dip down to that six to eight dollar range so as a company as that's as big as rocket patel i would assume that you would need something in that price range that's easily accessible right so hey i'm a rocket patel guy i love my decades i can't afford my decades i don't I don't like to buy from CI for $4 or something like that. And, you know, like, what are your other options, right?

You think they can reproduce this, though? I mean, do they even know what they are at some point? I think they have just a ton of this stuff, and they don't care. Yeah, these are basically Segundos.

Probably. Well, yeah, but you get a guy hooked on these, a guy loves these, he gets his five pack, he doesn't know what's in it. Yeah. They don't know what's in it that they sent him.

" Sorry, boss. Or the guy from Provada Club stopped buying all of them, so now they gotta do their own thing. You think it's hard for them to just produce this again and again and again? They can continue to produce this.

What if they don't know what it is, though? Well, that's exactly how they produce it. It's been in there so long, maybe, you know, the tag on it is smeared, they can't read it. They go, I don't know, this says Habrano, Habrano something?

I got news for you. They probably know what it is. Okay, well, that was the question, dude. Hey, these are the Space Rangers.

They're discontinuing. Let's take the band off. Take the band off these Space Rangers. We'll sell them as ski chalets.

Listen, we've seen organizations totally shift from a wrapper to a totally different wrapper and not tell the consumer. Oh, sure. Right. So, the reality is that the person that's smoking that cigar probably doesn't know or care, right?

And they probably wouldn't know the difference. The Yacht Rock guy. Yeah, he's going to miss the Yacht Rock. Right.

It doesn't taste like a Yacht Rock. It's a Space Rangers. It's the ski, what'd you call it? Ski Yacht Yacht?

Ski Chalet. I don't know, I haven't been in the snow since I was four, so. Yeah, that's, nah, huh, when we went to Vegas it snowed. It was a brief flurry.

Oh yeah, it was a flurry, right. I wouldn't call that snow, though. We're from Florida, it's snow. It's snow.

It was a blizzard, for God's sakes. Yeah, we were barely wearing sweatshirts. You had to buy a jacket. Yeah, what is going on here?

All right, Great Wall is expanding international distribution. Great Wall? Great Wall. Chinese cigar.

China Tobacco, Szechuan Industrial Company Limited, the parent company of the Chinese-made Great Wall Brand, says that it will be expanding international distribution thanks to a new deal with China Tobacco International. , the state-run tobacco monopoly that is also the largest tobacco company in the world. I hope there's a quote, and I hope you do go Chinese. Wait, you said they're expanding their internet.

Aren't they already international? Are they already international? No, they only sell in China. And they're terrible cigars.

I've had them. Are they? I've had them. They're terrible.

You don't like them? They're terrible cigars. How come we haven't gotten three of these things? Uh, because I have not been to China to buy Chinese cigars.

Listed on the Hong Kong Saga Exchange, it handles many of China Tobacco's international business. Last year, CTIHK expanded distribution in Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Macau. Now it's planning to expand. Ooh, that's where Jonathan Drew was.

Macau? Yeah, he was in Macau. It's a small island. Yeah.

Now it's planning to expand the Great Wall brand to more markets, notably the deal will not affect distribution in mainland China, where the brand claims to have 70% of the premium handmade market. No quotes, sorry. Super expensive. No quotes.

No quotes. That's the end of the story. So why do you think the Chinese market is, company is expanding into these other places? Make more money.

You think so? Yeah. It sounds like you think that those are promising cigars? Well, these are like $2 cigars.

They're not, I mean, the ones I had, or they weren't very expensive. I bought them at a grocery store, but they were in a box. But anyway, I don't know. I mean, there's got to be somebody in Cambodia.

Well, so maybe it's like here, you know, they say I have international distribution in Sweden, which just means somebody bought a box of cigars and took them to Sweden. Right. I mean, you know, if they have 70 percent of the premium handmade market in China. You think they have 70%?

They claim to. They're-- They're communists. They make the rules. Yeah, they can do whatever they want.

We have-- Well, the state-owned tobacco companies are saying they own 70% of the market in China that they own, so-- Right. We possess 100% of the sales. Right. Okay.

We are elite. Right. Everyone smokes Great Wall Cigars. Just like that King John Moon guy.

He doesn't poop, right? Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Neither one of you did a Chinese accent that whole time. No, there wasn't a quote. There wasn't a quote. I heard you guys were talking about Chinese stuff right there, you should have done it Palmer, that was, that was the end.

Well, you want me to do one for the entire story? Yes. I wanted a German accent when you wrote the news about the gay thing, but you didn't. I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, okay, Palmer, your turn.

Ching chong, ching chong, ching chong, there you go. Oh man, we're getting canceled. Mine was just as good as yours. Oh my God.

He said, it sounded more French. It did, didn't it? Maybe he likes a French guy whose wife... I'm going to spit all over the microphone.

Oh, you already did. Don't worry. You gotta wipe that off. Okay.

All right. Patina Viso Vertigris. How do you say the name? I don't know.

Heads to soars. This week, the collaboration between Patina Cigars and Viso Horny is shipping to stores. It's called Patino Viso Vertigris. A 5x52 Robusto that uses an Ecuadorian Hibano wrapper over an Ecuadorian Sumatra seed binder and fillers from Nicaragua.

Nicaragua, Moe, founder of Patina, and Tyler, founder of Viso Horny, blended the cigar together while visiting the Nicaraguan American Cigars. I didn't think that Tyler blended it. I didn't think so either, but I'm just reading the story. Okay.

This is the press release. Each cigar will have an MSRP of $13 in productions limited to 300 bundles of 10 cigars. Only 10 stores are carrying those cigars. Yeah.

Do you want to know what they are? I'm going to guess. I know that Mardo still has some. Go to Mardo.

I like Mardo. Cassidy Monte Cristo, Cigar Spots, Harry's Smoke Shop, Lake Country, Mardo, Michael's Tobacco, Ramsey's Smoke Shop, Small Batch, The Cigar Farm. Oh, Small Batch, too. I like Small Batch.

Tobacco Land. Okay, I like Tobacco Land, too. Right. They both have roots in the Midwest, and that's why the two pictures, and yadda yadda yadda.

Oh, Lake Country. I like Lake Country. Oh, we like Ramsey's, too. Lake Country had it?

Yeah. Ramsey had it, too? Yeah. Wow.

Well, according to this, it's just been released. Have they been out for a while? A couple weeks, I think. Oh.

All right, Two Guys Smoke Shop releases, but I'd like to have three of them to do on the Patreon. Did we already smoke it? Oh, the patina? Yeah, just curious.

I don't want to go down that rabbit hole, because if we don't like it and it blows up, then he's going to get angry and all this other stuff, and I don't want to deal with that. I was assuming it would be good. He's super sensitive, but what if it's not? Good point.

It should be good, but what if it's not? And we're honest about it. There is that possibility, right. Right.

And then he gets, like, it's already enough, you know. He's supposed to call me, and he hasn't called me, so. Two Guys Smoke Shop releases Padrón Ruby Red Exclusive Edition. Two Guys Smoke Shop has released a pair of exclusive cigars from Padrón to celebrate the New Hampshire-based retailer's 40th anniversary in business.

An exclusive just to them? Yes. The Padrón Ruby Red Exclusive Edition is a 5 ¾-56 Vitola made with a blend of undisclosed tobaccos. I'm not telling you what's in it at all.

Well... Right. Padrón just made it for him. He didn't get any say in it.

Well, you think they would have told him? Nah. They're Padrón, bro. Yeah.

They don't care. Like, they're... There is a natural on Maduro. Yeah.

They're the Mecca. You know what I mean? You know what's in it? Ruby Red.

Buy it. It's good. However, unlike the majority of Padrón cigars, both versions of the Ruby Red Exclusive Edition are round instead of box-pressed. Ooh.

Both blends are packaged in individually numbered boxes that were designed by Nelson Alfonso, the owner of selected tobacco SA brand, who has worked on designs for some of Havana SA's most sought after cigars, including the Cohiba, BHK, Bejique, various Grand Reservas, and other special packaging like tubos and jars. Yep. Only 200 individual numbered boxes, which retailers described as humidors, and we should say all our boxes are humidors. Well, how many cigars are in it?

Probably eight or ten. 150 Padron Ruby Red Maduro boxes and 50 Padron Ruby Red Natural boxes. Each box contains 40 cigars. Really?

Oh, wow. It comes with an MSRP of? 40 cigars? 40 cigars.

Carry the one. Two grams. $4,000? For a box?

Yes. That's what you said? I just didn't hear you. I'm not questioning you.

Yeah, that's probably like $100 a stick. I'm going two grams. $1,600. Oh, they're less than $50.

$40 a cigar. $40 a stick? $40 a stick. That's pretty good.

Wow. For an exclusive. And it's super exclusive. What did you say?

200 boxes with bundles and boxes total? Yes. Wow. Okay.

All right. Now, what's the score? Oh. We have a special guest player this week.

A special guest player. Oh, we're calling someone. Yes. How are we going to do this?

He's going to be the third person to give a vote. We've never had three people do this before. Oh, well, look at him. We will.

Okay, so just before we call him, well, I guess we can discuss the rules when we call him. He knows the rules, but it's the same rules. And just for the record, we had like two more weeks. Okay.

What? I didn't know you were talking, sorry, I already hit the button. I heard, yeah, you were going to say we had two more weeks to keep score. Yeah, we were supposed to continue with our score.

However, we're going to pause on this one. Yeah, it's going to be a special this week and next week. Well, it's already, it's over, I'm just going to say that I won, and I'm going to have your prize. No, we're not, no.

Yeah, you lost. You lost, Boots, I'm sorry. Okay, now you're being like Trump, you're just making up your own rules here. It's good to be the king.

Good to be the king, that's right. Mystery caller, are you there? Mystery player? It's got to be Jack.

What's going on, gentlemen? How are you? You can do your own voice. It's John McTavish from Canada, from Developing Pallets, Coop Coalition, and whatever else he's attached to.

Okay, hi John. We've been meeting. Hello. He was complaining that he didn't want to have a guest, now he knows who the guest is.

Oh, this is fine. We've been meaning to call you, so this works out well. Oh, the Canadians are okay. We're going to charge them 25% more for this call and it'll be fun.

Yeah, exactly. There you go. You can just merge. You can just become our 51st date.

We welcome you with open arms. With open arms. Bring your Mooses. Bring your Mooses.

You know, I appreciate the offer, but I'm going to counter with no. Oh, that's a serious. So it's not even a vote. Socialist countries do not vote at all.

Yeah, you don't get a saying on that. No, that's right. Yeah, so your no means nothing. I move against your no.

We're just going to consume you as far as I was just fine. Oh, wow. We're going to cut all those trees down on that imaginary line and just make it, it's open. Oh, don't mess with tree law, Palmer.

I mean, if you go to tree law on Reddit, you'll find out that cutting down trees is a very expensive proposition. It's a no-no. We need the lumber. American maple syrup.

A big no-no. Right. All right, everybody ready? John, you know how we play this?

Why don't you walk us through the rules? No, I'm just kidding. Of course, I'm not a player. All right.

Everybody wants to play. John's our guest. All right, here's our first cigar, gentlemen. Everybody pay attention.

This is from April 22nd, 2015. Mr. Brooks was... Oh, so you're doing the old one first now?

Yes. Because originally, you were doing the old one second, so that's how I'm going to do things. I found a good one, so it's just the way it worked. Okay, all right, so what you're saying is your rules are not really rules.

Correct, more like guidelines, like the Canadian government. They're more like suggestions. That you're just going to... That's right.

Strong, strong suggestions. Okay, perfect. All right, this is a limited edition Nicaraguan Viaje, Senor Andres, Chicharrones, the originals. 2015 by Brooks.

Yes. The original Chicharrones. Okay. Okay.

John, you are our guest. You can go first. You know, Brooks and Viaje, 2015, I'm going to start out with a strong 92. Yeah.

That's a good one. That's a good choice. Yep. Boots?

Oh, I'm second. Yeah. Okay. I'll go left.

Reigning champion. He's going 92. I don't mind taking some L's. I'll go 90.

Yeah, of course you are because of what, so you're just going to mimic whatever John does. There's nothing really to go off of. Chicharrones, what they do? Viaje, okay.

Well, these just came out, so this is the original ones that came out in 2015. 2015? I mean, Brooks is always around like 88 to 94. Okay, that's a pretty broad range.

Brooks is always between 1 and 100 somewhere. No, 1 and 100 is a lot more. He does something between 70 and 97. Okay, well, I guess I'll just split the baby then and do 91.

Bam. Ooh. All right. This is a Nicaraguan.

The factory is... Oh, God. Work on that word. I can say it.

Yeah, that's... One more time. Pronunciation is... Yeah.

It's terrible. Make my eye twitch. Yeah. It's from Nica.

Nicaragua. Nicaragua. Tabaco, Viaje, Jalapa is the factory. Nica Corojo, binders Nican, fillers Nican, size is a four and a half inch, ring gauge is 48.

51. 90. Number cigar smoked three. Okay, so, and it was just one blend?

We're just doing the one blend. Yes, he didn't do all three blends. Okay, and which one did he do? He didn't say in the beginning.

Mild, medium, or bold? He didn't say in the beginning. Okay. Nope.

All right. But it's a Petit Robusto. It was, the picture was the original. Okay.

Okay. All right, John, does that change anything for you? It does, because I feel like Brooks, and then I'm just pulling this out of thin air, but I feel like Brooks likes larger cigars. I think this, if this was Charlie and it was a Petit Robusto, I'd be going up, but it's Brooks in a, in a smaller cigar, I'm actually going to go down to 90.

Okay. Okay. Can you do that? Yes.

We can pick the same number. Yes. Okay. I'm going to stay at 90.

Okay, I'm going to stay at 91. All right, first clue. The draw continues to impress, and the burn has evened up nicely, not needing a touch-up for the entire second third. He loves it.

Second third. Okay, so that's your first clue, so you skipped a bunch of stuff. Yeah. There's like two and a half paragraphs of it tastes like.

Okay, that's fine. Which doesn't help you guys at all. Okay. John?

I'm going to stick at 90, because it's not helpful. Okay. I'm going to go to 92. Okay, he's going to shoot up.

Okay. I think that it is helpful in the fact that if he's talking about it correcting itself and fixing, it means the first third it was a little cattywampus. So that's where we're going. Yeah.

Um, hmm. So I'm gonna, uh, where did you go? Where are you at, John? He's at 90.

I'm at 90. He's still at 90. Boots is at 92. Yeah.

Boots is just randomly throwing numbers out there. 700. Somewhere between 88 and 97. It's gonna be dead on.

I like how the guests are giving him a hard time. Love you, man. I'm gonna stick 91. Alright, next clue.

Both the burn and the draw are excellent until the end of the cigar. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Dun, dun, dun.

Dun, dun, dun. Okay, John? Well, see, this is tricky because sometimes the construction is garbage and then somehow the score ends up in the low 90s and then sometimes the construction's excellent and the cigar is in the high 80s. Well, I can tell you that if the cigar is excellent and the construction is shoddy, it ranks low for Charlie because that's exactly what it does with SBC.

Yeah, 100%. I'm actually going to drop down, I'm going to take the bait, I'm going to take the obvious Palmer bait, I'm going to drop down to 89. Okay. The obvious Palmer bait?

Yeah. Yeah, obvious Palmer bait because it's going to be like a 93. Yeah, I'm sticking a 92. You're going to stick a 92.

Yeah, because this guy has said things that you would think like, oh, it would be a worse cigar or something. And he's like, oh, it's 94. It's like, what? Okay.

I'm going to stick 91 after listening to both of you. I was going to move down, but I'm going to stick to 91. All right, next clue. Strength-wise, the Chicharrones original struggles to hit the medium mark, but almost makes it before the start of the final third.

See, what's interesting about that is that Brooks tends to not like fuller-bodied cigars. I mean, I think Charlie is the worst for fuller-bodied cigars. I think Patrick is the best, and Brooks is somewhere in the middle. So, it's a curious comment, because I don't know that that necessarily impacts anything.

I think if it was medium-full, I feel like the score would go down. So, I guess, in a way, I think that's a bit more interesting. The score should go up. What was our last, uh, what was our last, so, uh, Michael's at 91 and Boots is still at 92, is that right?

Correct, correct. Hmm. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go up to 90 against my better judgment. Ooh, Boots?

Boots is on his phone, he's probably looked it up. No, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stick at 92. Let me see your phone, turn your phone to me right now. What is it?

Well, let me see, I can't see it, it's covered by your hand. I was posting the banger. He's on the GoFundMe for the... For the Gorillaz?

No, no, for the club in Germany. No, I'm not on the club. It's on their website. Yeah, smoke cigars, yeah, smoke cigars at the Germany club, yeah.

That's way better than your accent. He forgot the A. It's a gay club that's closing, and he's very upset. Yeah, and he's very distraught.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay, the biggest gay club in Germany.

I'm sticking 92. I think this guy still rates this thing high. Unmoving. Well, he jumped.

He jumped 89 to 92. And you're at... Boots? I went from 90 to 92.

Oh, okay. And John is at 91? What? 90.

90. I'm in a pickle here. Yep. With three people...

You're in a pickle. You've really wedged me into this position. I'm going to stick... That's what we like to call the cigar pincher move.

It really is. I'm going to stick 91. Alright, final thoughts: I'm not going to lie, the first one of the Senor Andres Chicharrones originals I smoked had me thinking that this was going to be just another middle-of-the-road cigar. Thankfully, the last two samples were considerably better with a pervasive and distinct nutmeg sweetness, a more creamy finish, and a slight mint note that came and went throughout the last half of the smoking experience.

The profile is quite balanced overall, and while not the most complex, is easily interesting enough to keep my attention. While a forgettable first cigar definitely brings down the final score, I really enjoyed the last two samples I smoked and make this a very easy cigar to recommend. Ooh. Well, that is...

Exactly. Talk about... could go either way. You know, I'm just gonna...

I was gonna hate it, but then these two are good, so I'm gonna raise the score. They're going to raise the score that was really low, but now it's going to be amazing. But one was terrible. That's right.

Of course, the final statement actually almost certainly has nothing to do with the score, because, you know, that could describe a cigar at 87, and it could also describe a cigar at 93. I'm going to stick at 90, which I know is not the correct strategy, but I'm going to stick at 90. It's definitely in the 90s somewhere. This thing is definitely not in the 80s, so I'm going to stick a 92.

I bet you it's got to be somewhere around 93, 94, though. So I'm going to stick a 92, though. Isn't 94, like, isn't there only like a handful of cigars that have ever reached 94? There was only like two weeks ago that we did, two or three weeks ago, where we thought it was going to be like the 80s, and it was definitely like a high 90.

I think I lost the entire time. That was Terrorfighter, Candela, Bloody Bluff. Yeah. I think I'm gonna move.

Yeah, the Night Shift. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Night Stalker, if Mike would say. Palmer, I think I'm gonna move. Okay, go ahead and move. I don't know what you're talking about.

I'm gonna come down to 89. You think it's in the 80s? Oh, he's $1-ing me. He's $1-ing me.

Yeah, I'm gonna come. He's gonna get half a point. I had to get out of that wedge. But I could regret that in a second here, we'll see.

I don't think it's an A. All right, what are the final scores? It's either the best move ever or the worst move ever. Okay, Boots is at a solid 92.

92. He's been at 92 for the entire game. Yeah, well, he started lower. I started at 90.

John is at 90. Right. And I am at 89. Score for this one?

Yeah. 83. Oh! Whoa!

Boom! See, that's the crazy thing about these guys, man, when they rate these cigars. I like that we don't know how they figure out the score. There's no consistency.

It's a little harder. Well, the score came down a little bit. It came down a little bit from the one cigar, but other than that... Brooks 83 is a brutal number.

That is actually a brutal number, yeah. I feel like Vianha should have gotten an apology call for an 83 from Brooks. That's just... Yeah.

You would think, when it gets in that low 80s, you should call somebody. From Brooks, yeah. It definitely sounded like he loved this cigar at the end of it. Hmm, I knew it.

Well, I mean, the funny thing is... He said two of them raised the score, so what was it before, 79? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was probably in the 70s, I guess. I mean, what was the construction in the first one if it was that low?

I mean, it must have just been a complete dog rocket. Yeah, what's interesting is I like, there was a review where the cigar cracked and it still ranked like a 91. We're still good. Like, we don't have a number, we don't have anything to distinguish it cracking, so...

Okay. Now that, now that said, Charlie, Charlie has said that they, when they write their, um, summary, they, annoying, uh oh, that was weird, you cut in and out, uh, that's sad, yeah, that was weird, am I being shut down by the tobacco lobbyists? What's going on right now? Oh, you know what that was?

That was a lightning strike. Oh, well, that was exciting. Um, God's intervening. Perfect.

Yeah, I guess so. He's like, you will not smoke cigars. I don't know what his voice sounds like Charlie has said before that they write their yeah Charlie says they write their summary without knowing what the final score is so it's interesting to see like I would definitely view that as being a substantial disconnect Boots is right that to me like that summary statement says I really enjoyed this cigar and it should be in the 90s and then 83 says this was terrible you see that boot someone said you're right I appreciate that See? You're welcome.

People like you. He's Canadian. I bust balls, but it's because I love you. It's out of love.

I appreciate it. And he's in another country, so you can't reach him. All right, next cigar. This is from July 30th, 2025.

This is Brooks again. Oh, Lord. Uh-oh. This is the La Flora Dominicana 30-year anniversary cigar.

Oh. So this was a good cigar. I love this. Yeah.

This is something we've all smoked recently, so that's why I grabbed this one. Interesting. Man, if this thing doesn't score in the 90s, I'm going to be. So surprised.

Yeah. Okay, John? And plus, there's no Nicaragua in the description at all. Oh, I just come out of the gate, right?

With the score? Yes, we start there. I'm gonna go 87. Woo!

He's giving himself room to work. Low number. Yeah, no, I'm gonna start at 90. I was gonna start at 90.

Well, you're gonna start at 90, too. Yeah, we can pick the same number. 90 also. I'm gonna go 91.

I think it's a great cigar. I'm gonna go 91. Yeah. All right.

Let's see, so Country of Origin, Dominican Republic, Factory, Tabla Calera, La Flora, SA, Wrapper, Ecuadorian, Sumatra Seed, Binder, Dominican Republic, Kotui? Kotui? Did I say that right? I don't know.

Okay. Filler, Dominican Republic, La Canela. It's a six and a half by 58, pressed, $30, humidor 60, $1,800, number of cigars smoked, three. Okay.

All right, John, does that change anything for you? Yeah, I think, I mean, I think I knew a lot 'cause I've reviewed it, so it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't help me. It's just something we've all had. Yeah, I think we've all smoked it.

I'm going to stick it at 87 until I hear his comments that have no help to me whatsoever. Okay. Yeah, I'm sticking at 90. Shit.

Plenty of time to change, though, Michael. Tom's a time. Tom's a time. John's playing the long game.

He went low so he can work up. So here's the thing. That's right. This is one of those rare cigars that I actually brought home with me.

From the show? To celebrate. No. Oh.

Within the course of the last week for my birthday. Oh. Oh, wow. Congratulations.

It is a good cigar. Yeah. And I will tell you. Wait, is it your birthday?

Did I not wish you a happy birthday? I don't know. July 29th was a few days ago, so. So I'm sure you did.

First of all, I ought to put that on my phone because I don't think I have that. That's embarrassing. Anyways, carry on. That's all right.

And I will tell you this. The show cigar was perfect. There was no issues with it, which is odd because that normally doesn't happen. But I did have a few relights on this round.

Now, that doesn't normally affect me. I don't care if I have to relight a cigar. However, as long as it doesn't affect their flavor. Right.

However, I know how these guys kind of react to some of this after the abuse that I just received. They no like. But it's this thing 72 times. But it's still Brooks.

And I don't know how- Well, apparently, you can get Cranky Brooks's. You can eviscerate your cigar if you're not careful. Right, but it is a bigger cigar. That's true.

Feels like bigger cigars. And you're 90. Only I listen to my own voice. I'm at 90.

Okay, I'm gonna go 89. So 89, 90, 87. 87. All right.

There's also very little oil to be had. And while I noticed a few veins, none of them protrude to the point where they would be annoying. Okay. Interesting facts.

Yeah. John? Yeah, I'm not sure that the appearance of veins of cigars I don't think it's ever impacted my smoking process, but I know during the pre-light that's something they take into account. I don't think their pre-light affects the score, though.

I don't think about it. I don't think that factors in. So you know what, Palmer? I think that's a red herring.

I think you're throwing a red herring at me, sir, and I will not bite. 87. 87? Booty?

I don't think this thing scores in the 80s. Okay. I'm sticking 90. Okay.

Yeah, that's not enough intel to do anything different. I'm going to stick 89 just because, you know, okay, no veins, not very oily. Got it. It's just not usually mentioned.

Right. In terms of construction, there are no issues whatsoever as the burn lines, smoke production, and draws are all working in harmony across the three cigars. Mmm. Perfect smoke.

Good old perfect construction. Okay. Yeah, but remember the last cigar that he talked about, he scored an 83. Are you trying to help me or are you trying to derail me?

No, I'm just saying both of you. He's thinking out loud. Okay, well, John's got to go first. Well, what I'm not hearing is clear descriptors, and, of course, that's the Palmer Special, so that either means it scored quite high or it means it scored quite low.

One of those two things was 87. Firm, 87. He's sick. Firm, 87.

Okay. I'm sticking 90. Michael? I'm going to go 91.

So you went up some. He has entered my round. Yeah, I don't want to go 90. All right.

He doesn't want to be the same. I'm just announcing that for the viewers at home. And if I'm smoking the cigar, I would believe that it would rank in a 91. I thought that maybe the draw could have an issue with it because I had some issue with it this weekend.

But it wasn't a... Side question, though. Side question. Side question: Do you find yourself looking at Brooks' reviews and often finding that they align in terms of the score with what you would assign the score sort of in your head?

I guess not, no. Normally it would be higher in many scenarios, but I've never seen, you know what, I haven't seen a Brooks LFD. I've seen like a Brooks Atuaje, I've seen a Brooks Dunbarton, and those things usually do very well. Yeah, they didn't give it to Charlie, because Charlie would have died of nicotine poisoning.

Yeah, exactly. All right, so I'm at 91. All right, next clue. Is this the final clue?

This is the final clue, but then we have the final thoughts. Oh, okay. All right, the mineral... Second final clue.

Yes. The mineral saltiness that I noted in the first third is now present on all three cigars, but it is not very strong. Does he like mineral saltiness? This is about the minerality.

I hate that minerality. Yes. Oh, no. For our friend John McTavish that I knew was going to be on the show.

Oh, no. Okay. Oh, you got him. Interesting.

So, I mean, the way that he wrote that is that it's not a positive, but it shouldn't detract from the score. So, whatever the score is, whatever that note that he noted, the mineral saltiness, doesn't add anything, it doesn't subtract anything. So, once again, not help, 87. Good.

He didn't think emotional. Okay. Um, man, I gotta, I'm staying 90. Okay.

Michael? I can't move. These guys are at steady scores all through it, Michael. Yeah.

Well, in honor of our minerality friend being on the phone, I believe that it, it does, it does have a negative impact on the cigar. Oh. Wow. Wow.

I believe the universe is telling you something here. Uh-oh. I'm gonna... I'm gonna come out of the 91 range and go back into the 80s.

Now do I go... Oh my goodness. Do I go 88 or do I go 89? What would Marty McFly do?

He would do 88. He would do 88. Alright, I'm gonna do 88. Alright, over the years, I have found that LFD cigars tend to gravitate towards the stronger end of the spectrum, so I was interested to see where the La Florida Minicana 30th Anniversary ended up.

It turns out I had no need to worry because the blend is a study in balance. The main flavors of creamy cedar, charred meat, sourdough bread, and pecans are distinct but never cloyne. The spice and pepper are obvious, but never overly aggressive. And the medium full strength is noticeable, but never overwhelming.

In fact, other than a metallic bitterness that showed up in the second third of the second cigar, which I consider to be an aberration, the La Florida Minicana 30th anniversary is an extremely approachable and enjoyable blend. And while it is absolutely ready to smoke now, Well, I'm also looking forward to seeing how it changes after it has some age on it. Oh boy. But don't forget the minerality, a lot of minerality in this cigar.

I am going to move up to 89. Not even to the 90s, huh? No, no, I don't. I mean, it's tough, right?

because that final statement I don't think necessarily tells you anything, obviously, based on the last cigar. But also, in my head, I just don't think the LFD is really Brooks' profile. You know, if this is Tothwae, I'd be like, yeah, 93. But I don't think that's his profile.

I'm going to go 89. John McTavish is at 89. Mr. Booty?

I'm going to go 91. Oh he finally changed his score. Mr. Booty is at 91.

Michael, 89, 91 to you, sir. I think that he's right. I don't think it goes 90. I guess I have no choice.

I'm gonna have to join him at 89. I should have stuck at 89. Nice. Nice.

Nice. But yeah, I think, I don't, I don't think that, in my opinion, this is a 91 cigar. I don't think that, from what you're telling me, I don't think Brooks put it in that 90 or above scenario, so. I don't think so, but we're going to find out.

I'm going to go 89. We forgot to do the names. We did. We forgot to do the names, so check this out, ready?

You're going to do all three? Yep. All right. Andrew McCreary, Craig Gilpin, Eddie Martel.

Mike Martell. Guys, when you hear your name, you have to message me. Message Mike Palmer. Mike Palmer.

All right, you guys ready? Yep. Final score is 89. How do you feel about that?

How do you feel about that, Mr. 91 over there? You didn't just lose to one person on that one. You lost to two.

I feel like that's an utter bullshit score. He's distraught because of the German club, Michael. He's not in his right mind today. You know, the Germans have made me so sad, you know, with the club closing, it's, you know, it's a very sad situation.

You know, I'd like to know what Brooks would rate like a Padron 50th. I will look and see if we have a Padron on the list. I'm sure there has to be somewhere. Oh, that'd be fun.

I think part of the disconnect, and I don't know if you do this either of the Michaels, but I oftentimes look at other reviewers after I've done reviewing a cigar, cigar just if i whether i have a good experience bad experience or neutral just to see if i'm insane because sometimes i'll not really like a cigar and i'll be like is you know am i is my pal just jack and then i'll look up to see if they love it or hate it or whatever and it's very difficult for me to find another reviewer that aligns so like i'm not surprised that you know this particular lfd you guys love that brooks is just kind of you know like i don't I don't know if an 89 anymore is okay, or it's an insult to the mother, like, where do we land now with an 89? Is it offensive? It depends on the reviewer. A Charlie 89 is stellar.

A Brooks 89 is just okay. I think that's crazy that they all have their own grading scale. Like, I thought Half Wheel as a whole would have a grading scale based off of, okay, well... It's the same format, but everybody's taste is different, so it's going to be swayed by whoever's doing it.

That's correct, based on the individual's experience. Charlie might smoke this and give it a 95 or something, who knows? Or he might give it a 72. But it should be closed.

5 to 88. Yeah. Now, I will ask you this, John, because you did say something. You said that you reviewed this cigar in the past.

Yeah, yeah. That's correct? Yep. And that you do like to compare your review to other reviewers.

That's correct. So, did you see this review? No. Mm-hmm.

No, this is not one of the, so. He's Canadian, they don't. Yeah, so one of the interesting, one of the interesting things about the LFD is that, and the weird thing is I've smoked a lot of LFD. It's usually if I go into something and there's hype, and I don't, I didn't, and maybe I'm off my rocker, but I didn't feel there's a lot of hype on the LFD 30th, right?

Like LFD, everyone goes, you know, LFD puts out good cigars, yada, yada, yada. I don't, I didn't feel like there's a lot of hype. So I was, I didn't have in my head, you know, this is supposed to be the greatest cigar to ever be released in the history of the cigar industry. I think it was hyped, it just took long to come out.

I was going to say, I think that's what the problem was, they hyped it at the show, and then it disappeared, and then it disappeared, and then it came back out, and everybody's like, eh, I don't care anymore. Right. Well, and the hype man kind of wasn't there. Oh, and true, they did change sales management in that moment.

Awkward. Awkward. Right. Awkward.

Um, no, so this is not one of the ones that I looked up, um, it, it would only be if some, you know, this, like if people, the, um, show were, I'm like, oh, hey, I'm checking the cigar from so-and-so, it's amazing. And then I smoke it and I go, uh, it's okay. That's when I start to question, like, am I insane or is it just people buying into the hype? So, yeah.

Well, Mr. McTavish, we appreciate you being on, sir. Would you like to plug your podcast? Do I have a podcast?

Oh, I do. I do have a podcast. One of the 17 that you do every week. com, on your favorite podcast catcher, website, whatever you like to consume, please consume it.

Thank you very much for having me on, gentlemen. Thank you, John. We appreciate you being on, buddy. I'll talk to you soon.

Always a pleasure. Love you. Love you more. All right, bye.

All right, there you go. All right, Mr. John McTavish from Developing Pallets. Are we going to end the show?

Oh, you're taking off the headset because we don't need it anymore. Oh, yeah. I thought you were just going to get up and walk away. No.

All right. Listener of the week, Michael. I don't have one. Do you?

John McTavish. Wow. He just said he's a big listener to the show because he usually comments to me several days after we've done an episode and I don't know what he starts. Sometimes he's behind, though.

Oh, he is behind a couple of episodes. Yes. I like to check periodically and find out where he's at. Shop of the week.

Who do you got? Underground Imperium in the Bahamas. Oh, very nice. All right.

On her national account. Very nice. Excellent. All right.

All right. Next week is episode 400. Are you excited? I have another guest lined up.

Do you want to just talk to the guest, or should he play, I think he should play What's the Score? Yeah. If they're here? No, it's going to be on the phone.

It's going to be on the phone? It's going to be a phone thing, yeah. We can have them play What's the Score, that's fine. All right, that's what we'll do.

And I'll have your prize for losing the What's the Score next week as well. I will also have your birthday presents being delivered today. Did not make it in time for today's taping. Oh, that's too bad.

Yes, I was very disappointed. I just figured you didn't get me anything and I was okay with that. Nope. Okay.

It's being delivered today. Nice. All right, everybody. It's been episode 399 Cigar Hustler Podcast.

Thank you very much. We didn't say what's on the Patreon because we don't know yet. That's right. All right, so we'll see you later.

Bye. Bye. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. But a massive shout out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon.

Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions. All things cigars, 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. That one up.

Show Notes

Cigar Hustlers Podcast – Episode 399 🔥

On this week’s episode, we dive into chaos with a punch of flavor — from Death if an 80’s Icon Loni Anderson to Sydney Sweeney’s jeans somehow sparking conspiracy theories. We talk  land being auctioned off in the DRC, China stepping up in the cigar world, and Rocky Patel’s mystery bundles that have us asking, “what’s in the box?”