ACHP Episode 416 The Epstein Files w/Matt Booth
Episode Summary
Episode 416 is a loose, freewheeling hang with Matt Booth of Room101, who dropped in on the shop unannounced (mostly to show off a new haircut) and ended up co-hosting the news desk. While smoking a Poscante Connecticut "Justice" Corona Gorda with a Pennsylvania broadleaf binder, Booth delivers one of his signature blend breakdowns — spice and sweetness through the retrohale, a mild nicotine lift, balanced enough for a mouth smoker — and riffs on why a cigar has to earn its keep: if it's plugged or cracked, jettison it and move on rather than trying to save it.
The first half is the podcast's usual news-of-the-world segment: the House vote to force release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and Trump's reversal on signing it, Larry Summers stepping back after his Epstein emails surfaced, and the end of the longest government shutdown in history — including back pay for roughly 800,000 federal workers, restored SNAP funding, and the FAA flight cuts that snarled Booth's own travel. There's a long, affectionate detour into Snoop Dogg's rebrand and the Toys R Us comeback, with WHP Global's new flagship and seasonal shop-in-shop expansion, and Booth's unsolicited retail advice: free delivery and gift wrapping to take a bite out of Amazon.
The cigar news block is the meat for enthusiasts. Crowned Heads is rolling Jericho Hill into its new 2025 universal branding (already on Broadway, La Imperiosa, Mil Días and Tennessee Waltz), with the Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler blend unchanged, production staying at My Father Cigars in Estelí, two vitolas (.44S and LBV) discontinued, and box counts dropping from 24 to 21 — which sparks a genuinely useful retail tangent about three rows of seven and shelf facings. John Huber's press quote about riffing on a famous ultra-premium cigar leads the hosts and Booth to guess it's the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Principe, which Booth names as one of his all-time favorites alongside the La Flor Dominicana Perfecto Habano. They also cover Foundation Cigar Company's third Tabernacle Knight Commander release from Nick Melillo — 6 3/4 x 52 double perfecto, Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder, Estelí and Jalapa fillers, made at AJ Fernandez's factory, 750 boxes, $40 per cigar — plus the Ethiopian Crown Council honor behind the name, and the Cuban Trinidad Vía, a new La Casa del Habano exclusive double corona (170mm x 47, "Julieta No. 3") debuting in Mexico City at roughly $81–$92 per cigar.
Booth closes with his own appreciation for Foundation as an authentic extension of Melillo himself, a running bit about how hard it is to reach Nick Melillo, Justin Andrews and Pete Johnson, and a plug for his year-end appearance at Stogies in Houston on December 18th.
In This Episode
- 01Matt Booth drops in — and a cigar review of the "Justice"Booth shows up unannounced with a fresh haircut and breaks down the Connecticut-wrapped "Justice" Corona Gorda with its Pennsylvania broadleaf binder.
- 02When to throw a cigar awayCracked, plugged or just boring — Booth argues you jettison the disappointment instead of reaching for tobacco glue.
- 03Epstein files vote and political fine printThe House bill to force release of the Epstein files, Trump's reversal, Larry Summers stepping back, and why riders attached to popular bills deserve scrutiny.
- 04End of the longest government shutdownBack pay for ~800,000 federal workers, restored SNAP funding, FAA flight cuts and cancellations, and how the shutdown hit traveling cigar reps.
- 05Toys R Us comeback and Snoop Dogg appreciationWHP Global's flagship and seasonal store expansion, FAO Schwarz nostalgia, Snake Eyes at the Toys R Us cage, and a tangent on Snoop's rebrand.
- 06Crowned Heads Jericho Hill gets new packagingNew 2025 universal branding, unchanged San Andrés/Nicaraguan blend, two discontinued vitolas, 24-to-21 box counts, and John Huber's nod to the ultra-premium cigar that inspired it.
- 07Foundation Tabernacle Knight Commander third releaseA 6 3/4 x 52 double perfecto with Connecticut broadleaf over San Andrés, made at AJ Fernandez, 750 boxes at $40 a stick, supporting the Royal Ethiopian Trust.
- 08Trinidad Vía for La Casa del HabanoA Cuban double corona in a new Julieta No. 3 vitola launching in Mexico City, boxes of 12, priced around $81–$92 per cigar.
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
All right, we're going. I bet I look fantastic. You do. You look great.
You look great. Oh my god. We've upgraded. You've cut your hair.
I did. That's why I came. I came to show you. Yeah.
I was like, I've cut my, I cut my hair. I have to go to CigarHouse. Yeah, I need to see this. Yeah.
Of course. It was getting, it was heavy. It was a lot of, as my longtime friend, owner of Goo Salon on Fairfax, Molly, said, a lot of energy and a lot of weight in this hair, a lot of trials and tribulations that you're carrying on yourself. And, you know, we're on the threshold of some next level things.
And I was like, I need to dump this. You need to free it. You need to jettison the trash, you know? And here we go.
And get to it. Trash jettisoned. Yeah, trash jettisoned and onward and upward. Do chapters.
Did you see what happened? I think we're recording, by the way. We're recording. How great do I look in this lighting, though, goddammit?
Tell me now. You look great. You look amazing. Okay, thank you.
Yes. Reem, you know, take small clips. You know what to do. Reem's on the B-roll.
He's handling the film. Fucking like Reem, bro. Reem's a legend. Well, we find out he has a lot of experience.
Yes. He's a legend. Apparently, yes. Two men.
This is perfect. It brings him back to his day. You know what's kind of funny, though? " Like, he meant after we kind of moved past it.
" It takes a minute to revisit certain things. I feel like that would be ingrained into my brain. Well, I mean, look, when you're in the cigar business, you're kind of like, you're high-centered on despair sometimes. It's true.
And you can, you know, many days you're just trying to get around the realities of, Well, these harsh realities of our world in this business, you know. Yes, it's very true. Yeah. It is a harsh world.
It's a, you know, it's like fighting up Hamburger Hill. Yeah. On a daily basis. Yes, I've heard about that.
It's a thing. They had hamburgers, right? It's a thing. Yeah, it's a lot of processed meat.
A lot of cheeseburgers. Carnage. The switching back and forth is a lot harder with the two of you. Vegan.
What's that? Vegan burgers? No, man, I'm not going to accept those as an equal substitute. Doesn't work?
To meat. No, I actually enjoy meat. The Mab made meat? Not a fan.
Have you tried? No. Not a fan of even... How do you know?
Conceptually. I'd prefer not. Thank you. Sounds odd.
Thank you very much. Okay. We were going to talk about something. Do you like my haircut?
Yes. And I look sensational in the lighting. We've covered that. Ream's on the B...
I don't see any... I saw that... I don't see any B-roll happening. I saw...
I see a fucking B-roll, Ream. Oh, sorry. Hi. So I saw the hair.
Oh, yeah, yeah. In the Marine Shirt video. Oh, yeah. And I said, I think he cut his hair.
I did. But you couldn't fully tell. Because I was like in action, like things are happening quickly. The shirt, boom, and then I didn't get a back of it, but the hair looked different.
He did a before and after type thing. I saw a post where he was getting the haircut. With the haircut? Thanks for noticing, Palmer.
Where are you going? I don't follow you. I don't listen to anything. Anything.
B-roll guy just left. Yeah. Can you shoot some B-roll for the gram? I'm going to fuck off with my dogs for a minute.
I like that he's ignored your teleprompter completely. Complete. No, no, I'm ready. He's ready.
Should I do it? Hold on. Let me get a little... By the way, what am I smoking from your collection?
You are smoking the Postana, Connecticut Justice, which is the... That's right. The Justice. Yes.
The Corona Gordo. Size meets blend in a cataclysmic head-on collision of perfection, I have spicy and nicey through my retro, but not overbearingly rapey, I know I'm going to get a tinge of a little bit of nicotine buzz off this, but it's not going to be too crazy, great for the morning, very sensationally balanced, and I think if you were a mouth smoker, I think that this would be equally as pleasant in terms of... I can't really get the solo palate participation. I smoke too in joy, right?
And so I blow it through my nose. So it's like, that's my... Yes. But if you, if you went straight mouth on this hog, I think it would be very pleasant and balanced.
It's practically Cuban, bro. You know what I mean? Look, man, don't, look, this, don't, don't, don't, you know, lower yourself to a stereotypical global standard of underperformance. You know, this is artisanally crafted, thoughtfully and purposely built, clearly, because if you weren't building cigars with purpose behind it, it simply wouldn't perform this way.
Then what are we doing? Right. Then what are we doing? What are we doing?
What are we doing? Pennsylvania Broadleaf Binder, buddy. Yeah, that's killer, man. I like it.
Sting. I might have to, you know, take some notes off this. I really like the performance of this. Thank you.
I would smoke this again and on my deck by myself solely for the purpose of enjoyment and I think that that not to drone on but I mean so many times you're smoking a cigar and you're like oh my god like I'm I'm committing the act of combustion nothing more nothing less I agree and and we don't have time for this shit man needs to be a solid experience I do enjoy that you know that conversation does come up from time to time people are like well what do I do with the cigar cracks can I get tobacco glue what do I do if it's plugged or whatever. Can I ream it? I go, no, you take it. You throw it as far away from your person as humanly possible.
Exactly. Immediately. And you move on. Yeah.
Jettison the disappointment. 100%. And then re-engage with something that's going to be, hopefully, for the love of God. This isn't working and it's gone.
Yeah. Not trying to save it. No. We're a spoiled people.
Yes. We're a spoiled people. Wait, where is the actual camera? When I need to make that look, where I look...
It's right in front of you. This fucking thing? Yeah, that's it. That's the camera.
Camera is behind the screen. Fucking interesting. All right, so, okay, hold on. Let me give this a rip.
Okay. Let me give this a rip. This is for Palmer. Okay.
It's going to be totally off script. Totally natural and off script. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast. I'm Matt Booth, everyone knows who I am.
In today's show, Trump talks about the Epstein files, we don't, don't do politics, bro. Toys R Us is back for Christmas? No shit. Oh, that's nice.
They've kind of been doing that for a little bit. And the government is turned back on, but not so fast. Then in cigar news, Crown Heads Foundation and Trinidad have new cigars. But first, Mikey, how do I get that CH pod swag?
Matt, that's a great question, Matt. How do I get that CHPod swag? com and check out all of our latest swag. We did drop a hat recently.
Oh, you know, I said it was gray. Thank you. Sold out really fast. Yeah, I saw that.
It was very nice. It was a very humbling experience for me. I wasn't expecting that to move. Like I was like, yeah, we'll just build like 25 of them and then boom.
Yeah. Well, look, you don't want to overdo. You don't want it to be fatigued. But at the same time, you have people that are assigned to your brand, has cool artwork, the hat was dope, they'd be proud to wear it.
And astronauts are taken, man, you know what I mean? You know, I get it. The space shit, whatever, I get it. So yeah, right now we got a Warbear shirt, we got a BDP still in stock.
If you buy one, you're going to get the second one 40% off. And, if you purchase over $100, free shipping. You, you are like a treasure trove of information. I almost feel like that was kind of like a loaded question.
I know we were completely, as we said earlier, off script. Yeah. But I, I feel like you, maybe you're just like a data-driven dude, like you've just got your shit wired tight. So data-driven.
I think. So much data. I mean, it shows. I do like the fact that we're matching.
Me too. This is standard for me and standard for you as well. Yes. All day, every day.
Oh wait, hold on, wait, there are more unprompted and unscripted thoughts that I need to get off my chest. Yeah. Now, the news from around the world. Trump CC will sign the bill to release Epstein files if it passes, with the House poised to vote on a bill to force Justice Department to release its files on the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein this week.
Ooh. Yes. Very, very spicy. This could be it.
President Trump told reporters yesterday he'd sign it, though he also said the whole thing is a hoax, end quote. The president had opposed such a release for months and had urged lawmakers to reject the bill, but on Sunday of this week, he abruptly shifted his position, saying on Truth Social that Republicans should support it. Trump's change of heart led to more Republicans publicly supporting the bipartisan measure. yesterday according to Politico.
Meanwhile, former Treasury Secretary and former Harvard President Larry Summers is stepping back from his public commitments. Comments. Commitments. It says commitments.
Commitments. I feel like it could be comments. After his emails with Epstein were made public. Whoopsie.
Ah, yeah, the little love notes. And we're going to step down. Never put anything in writing. You know what's interesting, though?
This was a thought, right? Now, as you know, I'm far too, you know, honest, many times, frontally, and it's been one of my greatest attributes and detriments simultaneously in my business over the years, but I think about things like this, and obviously, the concept or what they're trying to wrangle is, you know, abhorrent and should be met with a lot of things. And with justice, if possible, right? Right.
Justice. However, you know, we always must think prismatically around all of these things, because you never know, you know, like, hey, we're going to get this thing to pass, like, obviously, this thing is horrible, and we need to know, but we're just going to tag on a couple other little, you know, to do's on the bottom of this when you sign it, so, you know, toilet cams are installed in everyone's home, or whatever they're going to do. That could happen. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm, yeah.
I've come to learn that if the bill is very fluffy for the title, yeah, you're about to get screwed. Yeah, and attached to something that, like, obviously people are so, so dedicated, like, of course you would want this out and you would want, you know, hopefully justice, again, shameless plug, for the victims and on and on and on. But the thing that we have to remember is agendas right in on the coattails of incidents. There are politicians involved, is what you're saying?
yeah yeah i think uh yeah right we we won't we won't go release yes they're politicians that's what we're gonna call them it's called the release the epstein list and yeah but like in in doing so you know you release the rancor monster uh you know in your in your bathroom or something exactly that's not code for blowing up the can i mean like you let this huge man-eating monster into your life unknowingly this could be a thing it could be a thing i mean look it could be i'd I guarantee there's some sort of fuckery afoot. Does anybody read the whole thing is the question? Absolutely not. No.
Not a single one of them. Why would we do that? They use words as a weapon. There's like, there's more than two paragraphs?
We ain't reading that. Right. Sign, you know, sign it. Yay or nay.
What are we doing? Yeah, yay, nay. That's it. Yay or nay.
Well, Palmer's very excited about this because... About me showing up unannounced? That, yes. Obviously that, yes.
And the Epstein list, you know, moving forward. - Even though it's not a big deal. - Rocky Patel's on the list. - Oh, oh my goodness!
- Allegedly. - Allegedly. - Allegedly. - Oh, sorry, allegedly.
- Allegedly, please. - Yeah. - We make enough fun of him. - Is he stepping down?
- He will not step down. - He's not gonna, I will not be ignored. - I will not, yeah. - I'm going to continue forward.
- There actually are architectural drafts, they're in the initial stages right now, but there will be a burn lounge on this island eventually. - Oh, really? - Yeah. - Oh, very nice.
- I think. - That's where they're going. Maybe. Yeah.
I don't know. I think that that's... We're actually looking to open a cigar factory there. We're going to send some rollers down.
Country of origin? A DJ. Epstein Island? Yeah, I think.
Okay. The varietal. Rapper? That's it.
I'm ending it at that point. I'm not going any deeper than that. You know, it's interesting. I was thinking about this the other day, man, and I was like, you know, if we came into a second bag And, you know, like, things were really flush, and I was like, you know, we're gonna take everybody, we're gonna get all the homies together, we're gonna fly private, we're gonna go to this island, and just, and we're gonna party, like, you know, my thought process is in that order is then also not like, hey, let's get some kids, too.
Right. I mean, maybe if it's all of our friends' kids, and we have, like, a space for them, and they can do the kid thing. Yes, they can leave us alone, run around. Yeah, but like not to, not for fucking, and, and, you know, I mean, I might hire Snoop Dogg to come down and rap.
The D-O-double-G. I don't think I'd fuck him. He's busy, he's busy in the Olympics right now. He doesn't think.
He's gearing up. He gives the option. I don't think. He'd like to give the option available though, please.
Yeah, but would you like, Snoop, you know, come on down, just a couple songs. Yes. Maybe a little funny business after. I mean, we don't know what's going to happen.
So we have the cheese trays. We have the elves, the elves on the shelf. Oh yeah. Yes, these are, our elves have a tendency to come a little earlier.
And they like to bring things, and Snoop on the Stoop has also arrived. That's dope. Yes. I like Snoop on the Stoop.
Snoop on the Stoop is in the house. I like that. You really have to give my man credit. Like, what an amazing trajectory.
And what a, just a delightful personality. Just you, the dude says two sentences, you smile, you feel this warmth coming off that guy. Dude has amazing energy, and has done, I mean, a phenomenal job at whatever the fuck he's done. What a rebrand.
What an amazing. I mean, Martha Stewart really kinda... I mean, that was dope. Helped with that.
Are you saying rebrand from Snoop Lion? 'Cause Snoop Lion, for me, is forgiven. Yeah. Like, it was forgiven.
" Right. It was my initial reaction. Yeah. To that.
The transition from young and angry to old-er. Yeah, older and grateful. Yeah, and just wise, you know, to have lived it. You know, I think the big, the transition for me, if I could pinpoint the exact spot, was when he went nuts with the Pop Warner football team.
And he gave them a bus and they had TVs and all this other crap. Tight. Yeah, that's pretty badass. That was cool.
Yeah. That was cool. Yeah, I think if I had that kind of dough. I mean, this is the action of a regular dude that became more than regularly capable and is taking care of people in a very human way, and I think that you can immediately see that and, you know, we celebrate things like this.
There should be more people like Snoop Dogg in the world who, quite frankly, the world would be a better place. We need more Snoop Doggs. We need more Snoop Dogs. Yes.
A hundred percent. Not Snoop Lions. Again, immediately forgiven. Immediately forgiven.
I saw that and I was like, oh my man. I was like, I forgive you. I do. Because it's like, you know, you're feeding me.
It's the kind of way, you know, you want to... He was taking his shot. He took his shot. I mean, look.
You don't make them all. I mean, I look at this in the same way, you know, these groups of white guys from like Huntington Beach, they have a band and they smoke too much weed so that now they're like a, like a, kind of like a rock reggae thing. It's not like a rock reggae thing, it's like relax, you know, just play some shit, just don't, you know. What are we doing?
Yeah, that's like similar, similar, not same, same, but you know, it's in the same, you know, let's calm down. There are some similarities. I think, I think. There's only one guy I know that can take the Epstein file list being released and transition it into Snoop Dogg.
Exactly, yes. And that's gotta be you, Matt. Look, the conversation has been flowing naturally thus far, including all of these unprompted, unscripted components of the conversation, I might add, yeah, but look man, you know, you just, if I thought before I spoke, this conversation would be very choppy and probably far less authentic and entertaining. It's not the same.
Yeah, it's definitely not the same, not even close, you know? I get it. Okay, perfect. Well, looking forward to the list, looking forward to the, to people being upset about the redacted stuff on that list.
Yeah, the list is going to come out and it's going to be like the JFK, the, you know, and Sharpie, Sharpie, Sharpie, the Sharpie, when also Sharpie, and then they're like, but we went ahead and, you know, we felt, felt that these couple little freedoms you guys had were a little, you know, it's in your best interest, honestly. We're going to protect you. We're just going to roll those back also. We're going to take this away.
And thanks for playing. And we're going to go to our new island that you haven't found yet and have Snoop Dogg rap for us. Yes. Yeah.
100%. I guess. So, to summarize, got a haircut, came down to show these guys. Palmer was enchanted.
It took a couple minutes just to lock back into like a rather like a standard rhythm of conversation with him, but I get it, you know. I feel like you were just in West Coast a few days ago? I was. There's air travel that I used.
Is that what that is? Yeah, I flew here. Gold helicopter. The helicopter does not make sense when you're traveling West Coast to East Coast.
Yeah, no, you got to make shorter runs than that. And you want to fly lower so people see the reflection of the sun of the gold plating. The gold plating picture. Yeah, so that's little stuff.
, you know. Maybe he had it brought here, so then he can use it once he's here. Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense.
On the jet. Okay. It fits in the back of the jet. And bring it over here.
Yes. Okay, well, what is the next article that you have up for grabs there, Mr. Booth? Wait, the next what?
The what and what? You're going to hit the play button. Oh, I got it. Oh, there's more.
Because this seemed kind of... Hold on. Oh, there's more. Oh, yes.
After the longest shutdown in history, the House passed a bill Monday night to fund the government through January 30th of the year of our Lord, 2026, and President Trump signed it, reopening the federal government, which had been shut down since October 1st of this year. The deal to resume government functions came together after eight Democratic senators broke ranks, allowing Republicans to pass a funding bill without extending the enhanced health care subsidies Democrats were fighting for. The package also included reinstatement of federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown and a controversial provision allowing some Republican senators to sue over investigations related to January 6, 2021. What happened there?
Oh, wait. Six Democrats also voted with Republicans in the House. Some things will quickly resume with the government back up and running about 800,000. Am I supposed to stop at any point?
You can stop. This stream of consciousness? This is fine. You know, did you know anybody that was affected by not getting paid for the past two and a half months?
No, but I was affected by other people not getting paid because I was trying to run around The country trying to make a living, and there were inconveniences by, you know, flights being canceled and shifted and whatnot. Still got everywhere I needed to go. And, but, you know, you can't help but think about how incorrect that is for folks, right? Like you're, you're literally, you know, suffocating their livelihood.
It's wild, man. You know, while you're out shopping at Versace or getting your fancy lady jackets. Is that Chanel? that they get the woven, is that Chanel?
It is Chanel, the fancy like woven suits. Gucci? Boo, what's that thing I want to get you? Is that a Chanel, the suit?
Yeah, it's a fancy lady suit, the Chanel. Uh-huh. It's very nice. Okay.
Yeah. I mean, I know a couple of guys that are cigar guys that were affected. Yeah, it's bullshit. Yeah.
It's incorrect. And they still have to go to work. Yeah, because the threat is like, you won't have a job whenever we decide to start paying you again. Right.
So you just come in and work for us as indentured servants of the system until we can figure this out. Where do you think the threshold is, where do you think the breaking point would have been that it's like, you know what, fuck you, enough is enough, I'm not going to work, not only, you know what, maybe I'm going to work, but I'm going in violent, I'm going in aggressive, and I'm going to show you and express my discontent. I'm gonna sit at my station in air traffic control and violently poop my pants. Oh, oh, that's pretty, that's, yeah, and just sit pretty specific to sit in it, just sit in it, or maybe you get my sit-in, it's my version of a sit-in, maybe you give misinformation and you cause a crash.
I don't think they do that. I think that, I think that, uh, you know, honestly, man, I think that these guys played their cards right. I don't think that it's, I think that it's far, I mean, and look, this is personal opinion. But I think in matters such as this, it has far less to do with, oh, we're, we're going back and forth.
Oh, wait, we're going to say this phrase again, over matters that are in your best interest. And we're trying to, this is just another example of how they can put their boot in the back of your neck, you know, and, and this comes in a chain of examples that they are being very, you know, there have been several things on display over the last year, two years, whatever, of, You know some additional controls and you know some some some uses of force right in our communities and whatnot and this is I think another example of like oh we'll just also take your livelihood away from you you know and and also for a lot of families the way that I understood to take your food away from you. yeah well but what's kind of what's kind of interesting to me though is i don't know where that that breaking point is i think that i think two months and a couple weeks and that's like i think two months i think a lot of people live to their means right and i think that that you could even stretch on credit to a certain point right but i think that their timeline here and i'm not a I'm a statistics-driven gentleman of leisure by any stretch. Right.
Well, La Reem just left, so. Yeah, La Reem has left the building. He is our statistician and also our stenographer, so this is completely less than documented at this point. That's fine.
But I think that if you ran up some numbers, you'd probably find some science behind the length of time. I mean, call me crazy, right? Yeah. Breaking point is just under three months.
I think. Yeah. I think. Yeah.
So it's weird that it took that kind of amount of time. Hey, listen, we're approaching Armageddon here, guys. You know, this could happen. Okay.
Well, I'm glad that it ended. Me too. You know? Yeah.
And I think mostly for the people that were directly impacted, I think that that, you know, that's what you would hope for, that people didn't have to put up with that kind of shit. You know, what is kind of cool though, the astonishing thing is I know of people that stepped up to help people that were, you know, and they don't do it for the glorification, it's not like I made a press release or something like that, but you know, as somebody falls on hard times and there's a way to take care of them, you take care of them, you know. So that's always cool, it gives you hope for humanity. You know, man, it really does, and, you know, behaviors like that do not go unnoticed, I think, by people that can pick up on that frequency, man, and it does make you feel good, makes you feel like, fuck, maybe we've got a chance.
Right. Yeah. Human champions. I'm eternally optimistic.
You have to be, man. There's enough reason to be, man. I mean, us sitting here today sharing this cigar is a reason to be, well, at least cautiously optimistic, you know. Cautiously optimistic.
Indeed. Good vibes are being shared, man. I love this. Yeah, me too.
It's fantastic. Me too. Oh, wait, I have more thoughts incoming. Wait, very unscripted thoughts.
About 800,000 federal employees who had been furloughed or working without pay will start receiving a paycheck again and get back pay. They're not fuckin' right. Good for them. And a bonus.
They should get a bonus. They should get a bonus. Yeah. Because that money cost them money.
Sure. You know, like if you borrowed money, that costs you more than what, you know, so you should get more. 99% APR. Yeah, there we go.
Right. Oh, well, that would, that would be oddly balanced and fair, no? It's strange. Yeah.
It's a strange concept. The spending packages, or the spending package, restores full funding for SNAP benefits through next September. Some of the nearly 42 million Americans who rely on the program should receive funds within 24 hours, but the time frame will vary by state. He's still here.
He's still here. Oh, Reem is lurking? He just stopped filming. Just gave up on us.
Fucking love Reem, bro. I just wanted to show you that he's still here. The FAA started cutting flights to ease pressure on temporarily unpaid air traffic controllers last week, causing travel disruptions that peaked on Sunday with nearly 3,000 flight cancellations and 11,000 delays. God damn it.
With the shutdown over, the FAA said the cuts would remain at 6% this week rather than the rising to 10% as planned and will be lifted once it is safe to do so. However, however, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels, my man Nick, said earlier this week that it took over two months for staffing levels to rebound after the last shutdown in 2019 And government data will be weird for a while. It's going to be weird. Did I write this?
Is this news that I wrote? It's going to be weird for a while, guys, but hold on. Weird. There will be delays, and the White House said inflation and jobs data from October, which the government has not been collecting, has not been collecting.
Yeah, we're not, well, why should we shut down? We're not going to. Why keep track of that? Why bother with such, yeah, may never be released.
And that would leave the Fed without critical information when deciding whether or not to cut interest rates in December, double M. I think they're going to cut rates. I think they're going to cut rates. I mean, they're assholes, but how much of assholes are they?
Could we? That's right, you walk on all fours and you approach me. Where's the threshold? You worm!
You could see them crawling up in the corner. Worm! It's awesome. It's awesome.
Okay. I didn't think this day could get any weirder and then you showed up. Here we are. Thank you.
Here we are. excellent my brother of the leaf such a fine upstanding gentleman you know it's moments like these it's moments like these that i am both endlessly grateful and also endlessly uh questioning of a great deal of my life's choices love that yeah yeah just it's just in this moment no no Well, it's moments such as this, that, you know, come around more often than you might even suspect. Yeah, it doesn't go away from me. What am I doing?
Yeah, it's just an endless exercise down the journey, down the Hershey Highway of destruction. " Do I have more thoughts? This is news, man. This is interesting.
I like this. Well, let me get a puff off this justice real quick. Yeah, yes. Mm-hmm.
There's plenty going on behind Michael, so. What's that? There's plenty going on behind Michael, so if you'd like to puff away, please. Talk away.
We like the activities. Okay, fuck it, I'm going. Keep going. Oh, Toys R Us is making a comeback.
Which is exciting. It is exciting. Yes. That's hard, that's a feel good.
Yeah. You know? I don't wanna grow up. You know?
I still don't wanna grow up. I wanna be a Toys R Us kid. Toymakers are rejoicing with another expansion of brick and mortar stores. The industry is hoping the revival drives interest among consumers.
And I do too, quite frankly. You know, I remember going to Toys R Us and dreaming and drooling over all the fine merchandise. They were a bit more expensive pound for pound than the neighborhood shop, you know, but they had fucking everything, man. The Nintendo games, man.
You had to take the piece of paper and you had to bring it to the cage. And when you got that game, that was an incredible feeling. They had all the good GI Joes, like they had Snake Eyes and all that shit at the premium, you know, SRP pricing, and our neighborhood shop, there was always pick through, you never got, you know, I had all the B-list players. Snake Eyes was gone.
Snake Eyes was always gone. I never had a Snake Eyes, man. Really? If you went back, I would imagine that Snake Eyes was probably one of their top skews in terms of the actual characters.
Yeah, yeah. Sergeant Slaughter also, by the way. Yeah. But Snake Eyes, number one.
Yeah. Snake Eyes got his own movie. So cool, bro. Did he?
He did. It was not good, though. Wow. Yeah.
And that was years later. Yes, yes. But he was cool. He was cool as fuck.
Solid black. Yeah. Blind. He was blind, right?
Couldn't see. No, no, he didn't talk. He was a mute, but he could see? I think he could talk, but he took like a vow of silence when he was studying karate or something.
He wasn't bothering with the, you know, the ancillary conversation. The words. Yeah, the words. Well, with that helmet on.
Yeah. Couldn't hear him. Phenomenal helmet. You know, ah, fuck, I sighed, I didn't, I was thinking of something, but now I forgot.
Toys R Us? Oh, no, no, man. You know what I was thinking of? Snake Eyes led me to thinking about Red Dawn.
And, you know, as a youth up in the Northwest, you couldn't help but, you know, You know, stare up to the sky and pray for Red Dawn to come, you know, we were ready, we were ready, you know, I still sometimes I look up and I'm like, fucking Red Dawn, maybe today, you know, and it doesn't necessarily have to be the Russians, it could be, you know, whoever. Right. Has parachutes. Yeah.
And things. Yeah. The remake was highly disenchanting. I would recommend not to...
I didn't even waste my time. Don't. Don't. I mean, we could go out in the parking lot and remake Red Dawn and give it more justice.
And it would have... Yeah. Justice. Yeah, it would have justice.
Mm-hmm. Cigar. Justice Cigar. So you never got the Snake Eyes?
I never got Snake Eyes, man. Was that the one? Was that the toy that you were like, "I want," and you never got? Look, man, I mean, look, there was a lot of wanting in my youth, you know, pining for what was not to be had, but, you know, Snake Eyes just stuck out in that moment because I connected the Toys R Us memory with the, you know, the stuff, you know.
I get it. Yeah. Yeah, man. Snake Eyes.
Interesting. The slow and steady resurrection of Toys R Us continued last month when its new owner announced plans to open nearly 30 new stores, expanding upon the scattering of brick and mortar shops that have kept the brand alive in recent years. Now, with the holidays looming and toy makers facing strong economic headwinds, the industry is rejoicing that one of its most iconic retailers is back in expansion mode. A brand like Toys R Us that still lives in grandparents, parents, caregivers' minds, Greg Ahim, president and CEO of the Toy Association.
Was it Toy Association? There's a whole, yeah, it's like the PCA, but it's for, we need to, we need to, we need to, it's way more successful. We need to go. Yeah.
We need to go to that convention. A lot more fun. Imagine the after parties at that fucking thing. Right.
Amazing. Wild. Snoop Dogg is there. Probably.
Yeah. They can afford it. Yeah, no problem. And former chief marketing officer at Toys R Us told Retail Brew that the brand is on the way up.
I think, wait, that, this is a funny statement. Oh, this is like clipped out of something he said because it doesn't roll correctly, but he says that the brand is on the way up, I think is great for our industry. Well, no shit, guy. Right.
I mean, I would think. I mean, they filed for bankruptcy. There's only one way to go. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And that's up. Since declaring bankruptcy in 2017. Fucking crazy.
It's like you could see. It's like you're seeing into the future. And I have no idea what's on that prompter. Yeah.
Since declaring bankruptcy in 2017, Toys R Us has proven surprisingly durable as a brand. One might even say elastic. Going out of business is good for business, my friend. Yeah.
I mean, we've seen Zohan, right? We know it's the going out of business thing. Yes. Even amid a chaotic comeback saga, after a failed attempt to relaunch the company just prior to the pandemic, brand management company WHP Global bought a controlling stake in 2001 and announced plans to open 400 shop-and-shops in Macy's, isn't Macy's closing though?
- Probably. - So they, oh, I like the shop-and-shop idea, I think that's quite nice, but we should do it in a place that's staying open too. - Well, it's almost spirit Halloween-y, you know what I mean? I don't want them to go, I don't want them to go, I don't want them to go, we're sliding into these places, Joyce Rose deserves more bro, I get it, and they're talking about a little, you know, a little, you know, capsule, right, you know, a little vignette of their business inside an established retailer, and they're only appearing though, holiday season, and then they disappear again, right, I mean, I think it's clever, you know, and have bookends on the, on the beginning end of your little evolution, you know, you don't have to stay open, just bleeding out inventory, you can come in, you can hit it and quit it, right.
More rip and dip, as it were, Palmer. Yes. As we know. So, 400 shop and shop plan for Macy's department stores across the country.
Later that year, WHP built on this momentum with plans to open a larger flagship store at the American Dream in capital, which means CAPS, American Dream. You want to know how you level this up? Retail and entertainment complex in New Jersey. You want to know how you level this up?
You got to take on Bezos. Okay. So what you do is you offer a free delivery system, you figure out what your inventory is on your local hubs, and you boom, boom, boom, boom, like you deliver direct. Okay.
And not only do you deliver direct, but I'd offer a wrapping service too. Of course, bro. Done. Because you're only coming in for the holiday season anyways, right?
Mm-hmm. Square this away and take a chunk out of Bezos. Bezos, right? I mean, look, I love this idea because, quite frankly, physically, I may appear or resemble that of a grown person, but I am permanently a child in many ways in my mind.
Do you feel like an adult? Absolutely not. Me neither. Absolutely not.
Oh, what is that? I mean, I don't either. Yeah, I feel like a kid. Yeah.
Well, we are. This is, you know, if you're connected to the root of your true self, you would probably find yourself to be somewhere in your childhood. Your childhood, very pure, you know, and I mean, even when FAO Schwartz closed in New York, I mean, I was like, that was like, gutshot for me, you know, this iconic institution that you could go in and jump around on the giant keyboard and, you know? Yes.
And all that. They pop back up now. It's not the same. I saw one, I was traveling somewhere and there was an FAO Schwartz.
Yeah. Well, they opened back up in Manhattan. Oh, did they? Yes.
Oh, sweet. But it was not the same. It was across the street from NBC. Okay.
It wasn't. So this is a feel-good. I think this overall, from a human perspective, is a feel-good, and dare I say, a little enchanting, surrounding the holidays. Indeed.
So they set up in a mall in New Jersey, setting the stage for larger build-out of stand-alone flagship stores in the years to come. The latest announcement builds on that progress with WHP partnering with Go! Retail Group to open eight new flagship stores and 20 seasonal holidays. One of these flagship stores, located at the Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora, Illinois, is already open as well as several, no, seven seasonal shops.
Those are probably like the testers. Like you go into a place that's not high traffic, start ironing out the kinks. Okay, I'll give you that. Well, they have to, you know, outlets are probably cheaper rent.
Yeah, you gotta staff it. They have to pinky finger back into the bung of business here, and what they're doing is they're establishing proof of concept, and then other players will come in probably more willing to give them a couple bucks to expand and whatnot. And, you know, gotta work their way back into this. Yeah, then maybe STG buys them.
Maybe. Yeah. Meetings, there'll be meetings. Maybe.
There'll be meetings. There'll be teams. There will be teams meetings. I just want a Justin Andrews meeting.
At the Island Retreat. I want a Justin Andrews meeting about the termination of Justin Andrews. That would be hilarious. You know, everybody, everybody likes to take a little jab at my boy Fuzz, you know.
Yes. He is a seasoned and competent operator. He is. He is.
He is. But people love, you know, but, but, but I will say, and he's my boy, he's, it is, I see why people can't help themselves because of the reactions, right? Oh my God. I mean, even to watch it, I'm like, this is somewhat delightful for me, you know, so, what's up, Fuzz?
I love you, man. He won't watch this, don't worry. He's a big fan. I think he will.
I think someone will say, oh, Booth was talking about you, and then he'll go. Oh, then he'll watch. It'll be that kind of thing. Whoever tells him, tell him it's at the end.
That's happened on our Patreon, too. We've had people send videos to... I rarely get any of the bits, but then every once in a while, and it's infrequent, but every once in a while there would be something, you know, that somebody deems, you know, notice worthy and they hit me and they're like, hey, did you see, you know, minute three, 15 seconds of the, you know. Hit the clip.
The tobacco-philia thing. Okay. Tobacco-philia. Point of interest, the Toys R Us Hong Kong never closed.
It stayed open. Toys R Us Hong Kong. They rolled through. Dope.
They rolled through. It's a two story. Nice. And a They go to the mall there.
I mean, you get the stuff there. You know what I mean? Right, yeah, there's no shipping. Yeah, low cost.
They have to drive it across the border, bro. No, you just make somebody do it for free. It's a communist country. He called the new owner's approach, quote, unquote, thoughtful, saying that, hold on, I have to get my unscripted thoughts together.
Yeah, I mean, you can zip this up a little bit, too. You can get to some cigar stuff. Oh, we got to get to, okay, it's thoughtful, they dig it, you know, they're expanding the footprint. Great idea.
We're all excited. Everybody's stoked, heartfelt holidays. Merry Christmas. And now for some cigar news.
Yes. At the 40-minute, oh, we've been so chatty. Yes. Crown Heads updates Jericho Hill packaging.
Excellent. The latest Crown Heads line to get a 2025 makeover will be, isn't this 2025 now? Yes. Yes, it's coming out right before the end of the year.
Oh, so they're doing this now. This is happening. This is live news. Like right now.
This is boom. Very trendy news. My man John Huber dressing up that Jericho Hill. Next week, the Nashville-based company will ship the line with new packaging, which features the company's new for 2025 universal branding that is already on crown heads, Broadway, La Imperiosa, Mildias, Tennessee Waltz, and the blend remains the same, a Mexican San Andreas wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers, mid-brown, enchanting, sophisticated under combustion, and thought-provoking while you smoke.
They're doing a lot of good things, man. They've always been doing good things. I don't think so. No?
This is better. Yeah. They hit a rough patch for a minute there. I think every company does.
Yeah, yeah. No company just goes straight up, right? No. And I think that realistically, a lot of companies have that pop, and I think that pop for them was like the four kicks when that first dropped, Cigar Federation was all about it.
Do you remember Cigar Federation? Are they still around? I don't even know. I don't think they're still around.
And I was like, ooh, I gotta try the cigar. I got in, you know, I was involved. I loved it, and it kind of went from there, then, then, uh, what was the, Las, Las Calaveras? Yeah.
That Las Calaveras drop that first time, that was epic, and then everybody's always been chasing that one, you know, "Oh, it's not the first one," right? Oh, you hear that over and over again? Yeah, of course. And then, I think that they've really done a good job of resurging in, at the last, at the tail end of this year, they're doing a lot of things very positive.
Hey, are we getting more B-roll over here? What's going on? We need more B. We need some more B.
Get the close-up. Get Michelle. Get me. What's going on?
What's going on? Where's Law? He's playing with the dog over there. So what was the first, was it four kicks?
Was that the very first? What was the first crowned heads? I think that was the one with Ernie that I remember. Whatever their first one was, there was a smaller size that I'm even thinking about right now as we're talking about the brand.
And they've evolved and taken all these different pathways with their SKU expansion with Limiteds and all these different things. But if you want to go back to the source material, for me, that first cigar was really provocative. I really enjoyed it. It was.
It was Four Kicks came out in 2011. Boom. There you go. Look at that.
And was it a Corona Gorda? The Corona Gorda was the best one. Yeah. Blended by Ernesto Perez Carillo.
Ernie, that's what I said. I'm looking for the size. Yeah, that thing was money. Look, man, that's, okay.
You want to go tobacco psycho here? That is on my little private mental list of a cigar that I really enjoy, you know, uh, the Perfecto Habano by LFD back in the day, also on that list, um, of course, my beloved, my, my, uh, enchanting, you know, Padrón 64 Anniversary Principe Natural Wrapper. God damn it. It's a go-to.
So good. I'm a 50th Toro guy. Everybody's got the thing. That's my one.
Mine's 64 Principe, bro. Yeah, that's my one. That's my, you know, day is shit. Oh my God.
Everything's going wrong. Yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to burn about 50 bucks right now. If we could make cigars half as good as Padrón Anniversary, we would be doing great.
You know? Yes. I mean, a hundred percent. Corona Gorda was the smallest one they made.
Yes. Okay, hold on. There's more. Mine are better than theirs, but whatever.
If you say so. Whatever. I, too, am a very, you know, humble person when it comes to my products. Yes, you're very humble.
Yes, we share these attributes, you know. Okay, Jericho Hill was the first production Crown Heads line. We're getting long-distance B-roll, we're getting sniper B-roll. Yes, that's fine.
This is new to him, you know what I mean? No, I get it. It's just a matter of time, though. He can walk into the shot, it's fine.
Yeah, you can come around here, buddy. What's going on here, buddy? Uh, Jericho Hill was the first regular production Crown Heads line to be made outside of Casa Carrillo Factory. Uh, it will continue to be made at My Father's Cigars in Esteli, Nicaragua.
Rockstar. Yes. Fantastic. The updated Jericho Hill will be offered in three Vitolas.
While the blend remains the same and pricing for those Vitolas has not changed, there are some changes. 44S and LBV, have been discontinued. 5 by 40. Those sizes sound delightful though.
But as we know, they're not Toro. And that's what's gonna, you know. We have to keep our little enchanting sizes, even if it's just for us, I think. Absolutely.
It's gotta make sense. In addition, the box counts have changed from 24 to 21. 24 to 21. Okay, guys.
All right. Look, enough of this. I did 21. Like, can they just be 20?
No. 24 to 21. They've changed it to still a knot just like... Here's why.
Tell me. Because you can do three rows of seven. Oh, isn't that cute. Instead of a longer shelf of 10 and 10.
So you have a smaller shelf space. Right. So you can give more space to your competition. That's great.
That's very thoughtful. No. No, that's not the reason. Well, you want to give more facings for that brand.
Oh, I see. Right? Yes. In theory, that sounds great.
Yeah. I think that sounds nice. It does sound great. Maybe we're going to change everything to 21.
Well, it's going to require at least nine meetings if you want to do that. I mean, you think so few. For me, this is a quote, "For me, Jericho Hill has always been more than a cigar," said John Huber, Co-founder, president, and international gentleman of leisure, and respected friend, and fantastic dude, that's all in here, by the way. And hat manager of Cigar Industry.
Hat manager of Crown Heads, in a press release. It's an homage to an iconic American musician, and a narrative of redemption and rebellion. The inspiration for the blend was to create a riff on a classic, well-known, ultra-premium cigar that I won't mention by name. Jay Hube, what cigar would that be, if we're not mentioning it?
The cigar that shall not be named? Yes. Padrón 64 Anniversary, Principe Natural Rappers. Is that what it is?
My beloved? Huh? And to produce something of equal quality at a more approachable price, it's our hope that the new branding will create more interest and encourage trial for Jericho, as I've always believed it is one of the best blends in our portfolio. While the packaging levels up the presentation significantly, the blend remains unchanged.
It's a fresh chapter for Jericho Hill. The smoke remains as potent and unforgettable as ever. Look at that, my man, as the kids would say on the internet, standing on business, crowned heads, Jericho Hill, tune up on the trade dress, but blend remains the same. I don't think the kids say standing on business anymore.
Is that over already? Now it's like on fleek, it's gone. That's like early 2000s. Like a fart in a dust storm, just gone.
Just evaporated. It's 6'7", whatever that means. Yeah, it's 6'7", now. Unbelievable.
Yes. Ooh, Foundation. Nick Melillo. Yes.
My boy. Releasing third installment of Tabernacle, Night Commander. That's K-N-I-G-H-T, not N-I-G-H-T. Correct.
Yeah, different meanings. Sounds the same. Totally different thing. Yeah.
Could be something very perverse, if you think about it, we'll get into that. Night Commander. The third installment of Foundation Cigar Company's limited edition, Night Commander, K-N-I-G-H-T. K-N-I-G-H-T is set to arrive at stores this week, according to an announcement from the company.
According to an unconfirmed report by Cigar Aficionado, it is once again six and three quarters by 52, double perfecto, with a blend that uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a Mexican San Andres binder, nice, little zesty, nice right there, little action, and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa regions of Nicaragua with AJ Fernandez, my boy, Roy producing the 750 boxes of cigars. It's not a lot of boxes of cigars, man. Seemingly minuscule. I mean, they're going to evaporate before they even hit the country.
You know, you say that it's a bad thing. No, no, they'll be fully committed before they even ship. That's great. That's an increase from the 700 boxes produced for the first two releases.
Pricing is set at $40. God damn! $40 American dollars for that cigar. American.
That's a premium cigar, per cigar, and $480 for a box of 12 cigars. Still a value in contrast to the Cuban Bejique that can, in some cases, be found at 700 pounds. Well, it's hologram. It's shiny.
It's a hologram. It's very shiny. It's very nice. The company uses a portion of the sales to support the Royal Ethiopian Trust, a nonprofit that works to promote and provide resources for HIH Prince Ermias Sahil Selassie and the people of Ethiopia with goals of preserving and spreading awareness of and strengthening Ethiopian culture and unity.
Solid. Yes. Nicholas Melillo, founder of Foundation Cigar Company, was awarded the title of Knight Commander, K-N-I-G-H-T again, to specify. I prefer him the other way.
We can get Get into that. Without the K. It's more of an assailant. Yes.
Like a backdoor assailant. They catch you coming out of the grocery store. That's right. Give you a good sturdy backside what for in the parking lot.
Superhero or supervillain? Super thrilling. Anti-hero. Super thrilling.
Night Commander of the Ethiopian Star of Honor by the Ethiopian Crown Council. I mean, this is a great honor for him. He's very smart. Yeah.
I mean, what a dude. He loves the Ethiopian people. He gets down, man. You know what I love about Foundation, and always have, and this stems back to my original foray into the game, is back when I came in there was so much less noise going on in the craft segment, which was really called the boutique segment of the market that we were all kind of collectively creating at the time, as a cast of characters, but each one of these characters had this expression of themselves that was communicated through their brand, and each one of their brands It's genuinely looked like it was a direct product or communication from that person, and I have always believed and taken safe harbor in the storm of our business, when I look at Foundation as like a psychological shelter, you know, it is truly an authentic extension of this dude, you know, and it's undeniable, and I love that about it, you know, game recognized game, Nicholas Melillo, Knight Commander, Knight Stalker?
It's almost harder to get ahold of for me at this point, as Justin Andrews. We should text him. Yeah, he's right, he's right up there. We should text him.
I like the FaceTime. I need to see. You need to get, okay, here's the deal. You wanna, you wanna get the genie out of the lamp?
Yes. I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you a little heads up. Okay. Get some vintage cigarette game going.
Yeah. Get some, get some Chesterfield cigarettes. Go fly to Europe, go to the Duty Free, and just snap up a brick of those cigs. Come back and just send them pictures of them.
Yeah. You'll get, you'll get some game immediately. Really? He might even show up.
Interesting. Yeah. All it takes for me is a new haircut and the desire to show it off. All it takes for me is a new haircut.
The Tabernacle Knight Commander debuted in 2023 and got its second release in 2024. Malillo has not yet replied. Malillo has not yet replied to an email seeking images and details of the release as well as to confirm the accuracy of the Cigar Aficionado Report. There you go.
End story. Is it? He's a knight. I'm sure he has a guy that handles that.
They sent the email to the wrong guy. Most knights have. The guy lives in Connecticut. He's around a bunch of leaves.
He has a squire, I'm sure. He acts like he's so busy. He's not that busy. He's a squire.
Give me a break. He's a knight, for God's sakes, Michael. I don't care. Look, if I was out knighting, first of all, I would be doing a savage amount of falconry.
Yeah. I'd have a sick-ass leather cuff, the bird of prey on my arm, probably a tiger. And then, and maybe my other hand would be holding the, you know, the Versace leash to my white tiger, sitting in my G-Wagon, of course, and then gold-plated Qaddafi version. Okay, if you had all of that, I still have an 85% chance of you answering the phone when I call.
A hundred percent, because I'd have the Bluetooth. I'd be hands-free. That's my point. To be fair, Matt gives his phone number to everybody.
That's not true. Well, you always answer the phone. That's not true. See, that's a lie.
Okay, well, you always answer the phone. I don't give it to everyone, but I'm highly flirtatious with that. I like to be open. I like to be reachable.
Yeah. Curly, Mike can't get Pete Johnson's phone number. Yeah, not yet. Should I just give it to you?
No. It's not the same. I know it's not the same. I could get it.
Yeah, of course. I wouldn't just hand that out, Pete. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it.
The last message of that, I was like, "Hey, here's my phone number. " He tried to open-end the conversation. Yeah, he tried to, you know... Just text me so we can get off the Facebook Messenger.
Yeah, yeah, just to, you know... That is how he got my phone number. That's how Michael got my phone number. That's how he got, yeah, that's...
" Pete's afraid of the free labor that I'm trying to coax him into, as I did you. I can't even Facebook message him. You can't? No, what I do, it's not available.
I get this red line that comes up. Oh, really? You are blocked. Right.
So, I mean, you're one step closer than anybody else, so. Okay, well, we got about five minutes left. I'm already going to be late for coaching football. Oh, my God.
I'm sorry, man. It's not your fault. It's my fault. I mean, it kind of is my fault.
I came here. I could have left. You could have. Yes.
No, you can't. I mean, you know, why leave this? Oh, no, for coaching. You would leave for coaching.
For the children. Yeah, you should. Yeah, for the children. We got flag football, and then we have basketball for three hours on top of that.
Yo. Oh, maybe cut it down two and a half hours of basketball. Can't. There's three different teams.
Somebody's getting slighted. 5:30, 6:30, 6:30, 7:30, 7:30, 7:30, 8:30. Look at that. Four o'clock.
Very busy. Look at my man. It's a five o'clock for football. Structured, scheduled, ready for war.
He's trying to be a good dad. I get it, bro. You are. You think with all that, Pete Johnson would give you his phone number?
It's never gonna happen. Are we doing this next one? Do you need this? Yeah, give me one more.
Give me one more. Trinidad Villa debuts in Mexico. Who cares about Trinidad? Wait, you are Trinidad.
It's a lovely box. I don't know. Is that a thing that they do? Is that an SDG thing?
No, I don't think. Yo, hold on. Don't be doing that. Don't put that on me.
Don't put that on me. Boy, she's trying to make a living over here. All right, now, the retail release is delayed update. Trinidad Villa, a new cigar created exclusively for La Casa del Habano.
Oh, no, this is a legit Cuban cigar. Oh. Yeah. Oh.
Specialist Storrs is set to make its debut in Mexico mid-November. It's a double Corona that measures 6x710 inches? 7/10? 7/10?
7/10? 6x710. We're going 7/10? That's what we're doing?
Maybe it's meters. 170 millimeters. Millimeters. There it is.
This is a great thing to highlight here because this is, once again, the rest of the world using the metric system. Yeah, we don't. No, we do when it's important, like, you know, if you're measuring pharmaceuticals or, you know, something actually important, and the rest of it is, fuck that, it's inches. Right.
Yeah. Freedom measurement. Miles per hour. Yeah.
Yes. It's the length of three football fields. Yes. 47 ring gauge, a new Vitola called Julieta, number three, like the rest of the sizes in the line, And it comes with a signature pigtail cap, very nice, and is presented in boxes of 12 cigars.
Trinidad distinguishes itself, and this new Vitola is no exception, said Alex Fernandez, Blanco Barrero, Deputy Director of Operational Marketing for Habanos SA, in a press release. With the new Trinidad Via, we wanted to highlight an innovative and elegant format that perfectly complements the brand's balanced, medium strength blend. This Habano demonstrates how the subtle and refined combination of an avant-garde and tradition, hold on, of avant-garde and tradition lies at the heart of true luxury. By the way, there was this Trinidad, I want to say, dare I say, 55th anniversary humidor that was floating around Europe when I was there.
It was sensational. It was a, you know, it was like something like 65,000 euro or something like that for this jam. And how many do you have now? I, I, I, well, there were a couple colors, so I, of course, did, you know, I got multiple, obviously.
The cigars will debut on November 13th at a launch party at Jardin Lambu in Mexico City, CDMX, hosted by IEPT, the distributor of Cuban cigars in Mexico. They will then be available at the Habano Specialists, La Casa del Habano stores in the country the following day. A widespread release schedule has not yet been announced. A representative IEPT told Half Wheel, why are they talking to them, why are they talking to them, told Half Wheel, told Half Wheel, Half Wheel's amazing.
Are they? Yeah. 25. So what if they slam our reviews, who cares?
And 92. This cigar was terrible. American dollars. See, this is interesting.
We're going between the metric system and American dollars. We like to mix it up. Yeah, just keep it spicy. Charlie, Charlie likes to mix it up.
With the variation due to the pricing strategies of individual markets. This is the second, I mean, this is fine. I mean, we'll allow it. We'll allow the variance.
It's like Spanglish, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. This is the second time that Trinidad brand has been used for La Casa de la Habano.
Exclusive cigar joining the Trinidad La Trova, which was released in 2017. Like other Habanos specialists and LCDH-exclusive cigars, it will wear a secondary band that has the logos of both programs on it. Roll over. That's what I'm talking about.
That's right. You're not even gonna pick it up on the mic. Oh. Um.
Hold on. Okay, we're holding on. Should I just stop? I'm stopping.
I continue. There are more than 140 La Casa Del Habano franchises around the world, with the stores independently Currently owned, licensed franchises from Humbanos SA in order to gain LCDH license, stores must meet certain qualifications, including requirements for type of humidor, and this is like very fatiguing of my mouth to keep, oh this is done, oh we're done, you are done, those are all of my unscripted thoughts about what's going on in the industry today, thank you very much, no you're very welcome for that, are you going to be doing any events anywhere that we would like to plug before we part ways? Oh, so, I mean, the year is drawing short. However, I will be supporting my man, Jorge, at Stogie's in Houston for his year-end extravaganza.
I always go. It is a consistently attended event for myself. I like to support my people, you know? Excellent.
So, yeah. So, it'll be cool. H-Town, and I want to say it's December 18th or something. Okay.
I believe it is the 18th, actually. Very nice. Yeah. It's cool.
Well, if you're in Texas, you want to go see the man, the mythological artist. Yeah. The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Matt Booth.
Go to Stogie's. That's right. Yeah. Okay.
Well, this has been amazing. I mean, look, I am fully depleted. I feel like I need to take a nap now. This has been amazing.
You should come. We go coach. Yeah. Coach the children.
Yeah. I can lay down under the bleachers and... No, no. Involved.
Oh, involved. Oh, I involved. Yes. Yes.
Support. Yeah. Support. Interact.
Yeah, I'll be like the Bat Boy or something like that. Yeah. Baseball's way too much. Okay.
Football. Throw ball. They have a... What do they have?
They don't have a bat boy? No, you got to run the routes and water. Maybe water. Water.
I could be a water guy. Yeah. I could be the Gatorade cooler guy. Yes.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do it. Okay, perfect.
At the end, you get to pour it on the coach. That's only if you win everything. Oh. We're going to assume you're a winner, Michael.
Oh. I have some good, some bad, you know? You're a winner. Sometimes I'm maybe good.
This has been awesome, dude. Thank you so much for coming out. Look, man, I wouldn't have missed it. I was in the sector.
I felt like I wanted to reconnect with you guys, obviously show the haircut, and, you know, and spend some quality time. Yes. And then we podcast, apparently. Yeah.
And where is this going to be featured? This is on the internet now? It's going to be. Okay.
We will probably be released on Friday. Friday. Friday. That's a celebrity-filled week.
Yes. Which I believe is like in two days. In two days. Yes, in two days.
There we go. Soon. Yep. Soon.
Our celebrity week will culminate with Mr. Man Booth. There you go. Thank you for coming out, brother.
I really appreciate you. It's my honor. It is my privilege to participate. Yeah, you're a great friend, man.
I really appreciate everything. Dude, we have good conversations. Yes, we do. And I appreciate you always being there for her.
Look, I am your night commander. You are my night commander. I am your night commander. I am one of your biggest fans.
And the only dog in the fight that I have with you is that you achieve the greatest success that you possibly can. Thank you, sir. Yeah. 100%.
Excellent. Fuckin' A. All right. Well, on that note, thank you very much for watching and listening, and we'll catch you the next one.
Bye. Bye. What are you doing? What are you doing?
What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?
What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?
What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?
I'm doing.
Show Notes
In Todays show Trump talks about the Epstein files, Toysr us is back for Christmas, and the government is turned back on but not so fast…then in cigars news Corwnheads, Foundation and Trinidad have new cigars