ACHP Episode 423 Living Amongst The Recalls
Episode Summary
Episode 423 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast finds Mike Palmer joined by Mike Stepankiewicz and Boots Miami for the daily weekday news rundown. The first half is general news: ADP reporting 32,000 private-sector jobs lost in November with small businesses under 50 employees shedding 120,000 positions, the crew's take on tariffs, the government shutdown and consumer pullback (with Boots offering a contractor's-eye view of pivoting his construction business), plus the massive Great Lakes Cheese Company shredded cheese recall over metal fragments and a running list of everything else recalled in the last 30 days — camping stoves, children's helmets, baby formula, Costco Prosecco, a Peloton seat post, listeria-tainted frozen pasta and a Ford Bronco brake issue. A norovirus segment and a Spurs–Magic recap round out the non-cigar portion.
On the cigar side, the guys revisit the ongoing "who counts as cigar media" debate, arguing that commentators like Matt Tai, Fred Rui and Eric Guttormson should name names instead of talking around problems, and defending the show's place in the conversation. Industry news includes Raching Technology Group's move into a new 30,000-square-meter humidor factory in Dongguan, Guangdong, China (with the new RR cigar humidor cabinet line), Elie Bleu replacing its Obsidian ashtrays with the Obsidian Vakar Collection — carved from four-million-year-old volcanic glass from Mount Ararat, with the crew price-guessing each model up to $1,515 — and Foundation Cigar Company signing with Brigham Enterprises for Canadian distribution.
The episode also covers Cigar Press magazine's "Top 30 Cigars Every Humidor Needs," where Powstanie San Andres lands only as an honorable mention against a full-bodied list including Arturo Fuente OpusX, Ashton VSG, Davidoff Late Hour, Liga Privada, La Aroma de Cuba, La Flor Dominicana Air Bender, My Father Le Bijou 1922, Padrón 1964 Anniversary, Tatuaje Selección de Cazador and RoMa Craft Neanderthal. "What's the Score" tackles Charlie Minato's Halfwheel review of the Black Works Studio Killer Bee Maduro Pyramid (86), which the panel underguesses after clues about dynamic flavor, combustion problems and a bitter stretch. They close with talk of Tyler Jeffery's upcoming candela-based "Leprechaun Dust" release, praise for RoMa Craft's Fomorian candela, and an insider rumor that Davidoff may be up for sale — possibly explaining the recent layoffs the show broke.
In This Episode
- 01Small Business Job LossesADP data shows 32,000 private-sector jobs lost in November, with companies under 50 employees cutting 120,000 — the crew debates tariffs, the shutdown and consumer pullback.
- 02Living Amongst the RecallsA million-plus bags of Great Lakes Cheese shredded cheese recalled for metal fragments, plus a 30-day roundup of recalled helmets, baby formula, Costco Prosecco, Peloton seats and more.
- 03Norovirus and Sports Betting RecapThe 'winter vomiting disease' surge and a Spurs–Magic recap that sank the Money Makers pick of the week.
- 04Who Counts as Cigar Media?The hosts push back on industry commentators who criticize media figures without naming names, and argue the show belongs in the conversation.
- 05Raching's New Humidor FactoryRaching Technology Group moves into a 30,000-square-meter factory in Dongguan, China, and expands its RR cabinet humidor line.
- 06Elie Bleu Obsidian Vakar AshtraysElie Bleu replaces its Obsidian ashtrays with the hand-carved Obsidian Vakar Collection, and the guys play price-guessing games up to $1,515.
- 07Foundation Signs with Brigham for CanadaFoundation Cigar Company enters Canadian distribution through Brigham Enterprises, with first shipments arriving this month.
- 08Cigar Press Top 30 and What's the ScoreA breakdown of Cigar Press's top-30 humidor list plus a score guess on Halfwheel's Black Works Studio Killer Bee Maduro Pyramid review, ending with the Davidoff sale rumor.
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
m. I'm your host, Mike Palmer, you look much better today by the way, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Everybody was concerned.
They were like, can he handle this? Handle the everyday? And I'm like, yeah, of course, we can handle this. This is no problem.
It is a lot of extra work. It is a lot. It is a lot. Well, it's 5X.
Oh, that's right. I never thought of it. It's five times what we did before. Yeah, so there's that.
But now, at least you look like, I'm looking at you right now on this beautiful screen. Well, that shirt normally goes with a jacket. I think it wrinkles easily or something. It bunched up even more.
It bunched up, even when I was editing, I was like, hmm, that's, I look terrible. Yes, and you were so mad that you're like, why didn't you even tell me that I look bad? I'm like, well, you can't, there's video footage of me telling you I told you. Oh, speaking of which, I just got an email from LinkedIn, Mr.
Beast, just looking for a video editor. Oh, that's more your than me at this point with the specialty stuff. I don't want to work for somebody else. You don't want to work for Mr.
Beast? Retainer. Probably pays big money. How big?
All the candy bars you can eat. So long! That's all I'm saying. On today's show, small business is shrinking and with it, valuable jobs, don't eat shredded cheese, avoid the winter vomit disease, and in sports, the money makers give a bad tip in cigars, China is ramping up some accessory production, And we have more Ellie Blue products offered.
More. More. More. More.
Foundation is going north, and then an update about Davidoff layoffs. Turns out we were right with what we said yesterday. That's not the update. But before we get started, my partner in crime, my bestest buddy, the heart and soul of the Postnautia Empire, Mike, let's build the plane on the way down, Stepankiewicz.
Mikey, how do we get some of that attractive, ever-growing CHPod swag? com, and you want to do that ASAP. Right now, we have a few, a very small amount, a very small amount of the blacked-out Warbear hats. I mean like four, there's like four there.
And the Precious a Privilege shirt, we're accepting pre-orders on that. The only reason why we're accepting pre-orders is because the first batch came in and I wasn't happy with it. com, and like and subscribe to our show wherever you are watching. Also, a ton of comments this week on everything, on all sorts of platforms.
New followers on social media, I mean, it's amazing. Yeah, no, I'm being, but I'm being serious. No, no, I am too. So, so far, I'm going to tell you, the Hustler every weekday thing, pretty good.
Yeah? Seems to be working? Yeah. And before we take this any further, before we get into the news, I want to tell you something.
I went ahead and I spoke to the higher-ups at Poshik Distribution, and we decided... A new car. Oh. To award you.
Yes. As guardian. Oh. Of Powstanie.
Oh. See this? It's nicely drawn up. Yes.
You know? No expense was spared. There you go. This was, yes, top of the line.
Wow. That's nice. Guardian of Powstanie. That is nice.
Look at that. So, haha, how do you like that, Joshua Haberski? That's right. Not even from a restaurant.
Yeah. No, this is from a legitimate tobacconist. That's right. Right?
Not somebody who's making fried fish or whatever the French people eat. Fish and chips. Oh, croissant. Oh, well, it's London.
Oh, it's London. A French company in London. Oh. So I don't know how confusing that gets.
Yeah. How do you say croissant in London? Croissant, mate. It's a croissant.
Mate. Well, at least. Okay. So.
Please, sir, can I have some more? Congratulations on your award. Thank you very much. It's amazing.
It's very well deserved. Thank you. I would even argue that it's more deserved than Joshua Haberski. I would think it's a higher level, yes.
I would agree. So congratulations, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Oh, look. Oh, look who's here. The man, the myth, the legend. Mr.
Boots Miami. Welcome. Welcome to the show, sir. It's nice to see you.
Hello. A bing bong. Thank you. A bing bong.
A bing bong. Okay. No, I looked in the back and I didn't see any car that resembled anyone that you've driven before. So I was like, oh, maybe he's not here.
I've been driving my brother's car for a month. Yeah. The Acura? Yeah.
I thought that was Greg, and I saw a Honda. I was like, there's no way that's him. Yeah, so we just said, fuck it. We just started going.
Yeah, we had to go. We were very busy. All right, so go ahead, Palmer. Get into it.
While's health, set up boots. You missed your introduction. Oh, I'm here. Now, let's get on with the news.
Small business is shrinking. The job market basically said, yeah, never mind. We're not doing great right now. According to the ADP, the US private sector lost 32,000 jobs in November, and that's right after they revised last month up to 47,000 jobs gained.
Biggest drop since early 2023, and the hit came hard from the little guys. Small businesses. A bing bongs. Automatic data processing, or ADP, numbers have been standing in as the unofficial scoreboard while the government's been shut down.
Yeah. We just got an update from the DevOps thing. Hold on. Beep-boop, beep-boop, beep-boop, beep-boop, update.
Oh, we'll have to talk about that when we do the other stuff later. Okay, good. Ooh, it's good. Ooh, it's juicy.
I've been standing in as an unofficial script. I'm very excited now. Well, the government's been shut down, so analysts were watching closely and got blindsided. Everyone expected job gains, instead we got a punch in the mouth.
We'll get the full official report on December 16th after the Fed meets next week, but here's what we know right now: mom-and-pop shops got smoked, companies under 50 employees cut 120,000 people. Yikes. Biggest companies actually added around 90,000, but even they're slowing down. Some industries shrank, manufacturing, construction, finance, pro-services.
Others grew, education, health, hospitality, so it's a mixed bag. But the headline is still, jobs disappeared. Why? Depends on who you ask.
Economists say consumers are tightening up. Some manufacturers say, hey, we don't know what's happening with the Trump's tariffs, so hiring is on pause. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick jumps in and says tariffs aren't the problem at all. It's the shutdown, crushing small businesses, plus the ramp-up in deportations.
So is he saying all the Mexicans are gone? Because the Mexicans are gone, no one's buying nothing. And he swears hiring will bounce back soon, but here's the one thing everybody does agree on. This week's job picture gives the Fed even more ammo to push for bigger rate cuts next week.
And Wall Street noticed gold popped as traders ran to the metal that always shines when investment rates drop. Gold. Gold, they say. It's golden in our hills.
Okay, so... Silver in gold. So, what do you think? What do you think it is the reason why there's all the job losses for small businesses?
What do you think? I think the mom and pops are cutting back, like they said, because they're scared and they're afraid that things are going to go... I mean, if you're a mom and pop, you probably do less work than you actually could be doing because you have employees. So, if you let one or two go, you just do a little more work and then you save all that money.
Okay, so, but you're probably letting them go because numbers are probably down. Right, that or the fear. I don't think a mom and pop store pulls out just because of, oh, God. Well, you asked for my opinion.
Yeah, I know, but I'm just telling you where I'm at. Point, counterpoint. Yeah. Michael, you and several bulls.
Oh, sorry, that's an SNL thing. Oh, very aggressive. So, yeah, but, okay, and what do you think? You own a small business.
I do. And you're in construction. Yes. Do you cut back people in the past couple months, Are you still kind of tracking where you're at or what's going on?
No, I'm, to be honest, like I hired three guys in the past two months, but I've also kind of evolved like my business, right? So like I used to do just kind of residential remodeling renovation mostly and for rental home companies. Well, I got into apartment complexes, and I'm shifting into insurance companies, and, you know, I'm just shifting a little bit. All right.
So you're pivoting a little bit, and now you're having a little bit of growth because you saw maybe a little... I wouldn't say, like, as much growth as I have had in the past. Right. It's definitely down ticked a little bit on the growth.
Right. But, yeah, I mean, pivoting's helped. Okay. But the original space that you were in, you're saying you think that that's less than what it was.
Yeah, I think people, yeah, are doing less right now, but we're also in the holiday times too, so it's hard to tell, right? Yeah, that is true. All right, I mean, I think it's a little bit of all of that stuff. I think that there's a pullback.
I think that no matter if it's, you know, a ton of people that are immigrants, you're pulling them out of the, because illegal immigrants, if you pull them out of the economy, it's gonna affect your economy. Sure. I think that tariffs are definitely a factor to that as well. I think that people are pulling back on spending.
I think that all of those things are occurring, and I definitely could see that small mom-and-pop stores would definitely be feeling that. Right. More so than your big guys. Right.
The bigger companies have contingencies that mom-and-pops don't have access to. Well, normally what they do is they just fire the top dogs, fuel the growth, get them the hell out, right? Oh, sort of like somebody we heard. It looks like a possible, you're right, yeah, okay, all right, yeah, well it's good, it's good, great news coverage there.
Thank you very much, thank you, thank you. Next story? Yes. Shredded cheese sold at Walmart, Publix, and other grocery stores, recalled due to metal fragments.
Oh, we're all gonna die. This is big, this is huge. This is a big one. This is a big one.
More than one million bags of shredded cheese sold at major retailers, Those including Wal-Mart, Publix, and Aldi have been recalled because the products may contain metal fragments, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In a December 1st notice, the FDA said the shredded cheese was manufactured by Ohio-based giant Great Lakes Cheese Company and was sold in 31 states and Puerto Rico. Uh-oh. The recall is rated as Class II.
See, that's serious. That's the second worst, I think. Oh, really? By the FDA, which means the product could cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences.
Oh, medically reversible. So this won't kill you. Right. Maybe some bowel discomfort.
Some anal bleedage. Maybe some metal detector action at the TSA ports or something. Oh, yeah. Beep beep beep.
Although the potential for serious injuries is remote, the FDA notice covers nearly 236,000 cases of low moisture part skim mozzarella shredded cheese, Which represents the largest portion of the recall. Oh, thank God, I don't need the 2% stuff. Each case includes between 4 to 12 bags of cheese. The recall covers 15,490 cases of Italian-style shredded cheese, 4,298 cases of pizza-style shredded cheese, 4,131 cases of mozzarella and provolone shredded cheese, and it goes on and on.
Let's catch your ears, go down over there, more cheese. What type of cheese do you eat, Palmer? Land O'Lakes? We buy Publix brand slices, and then my wife likes to buy shredded cheese, I don't know why she, but we use it on different things, but it's usually Kraft or the Publix brand.
Any of those flavors meet the criteria? I don't know, actually, because pizza style, we've got that before, we don't do the Italian style because we don't even have Italian food, but we currently, at the moment, we have cheddar and the white and yellow together, which is... Colby. Colby, thank you.
The products have sell-by dates ranging from January to late March, 2026. According to the FDA, the recalled cheese was sold in 31 states as well as Puerto Rico. The recall covers 26 grocery chains. It's basically everybody.
Yeah. It's a cheese pandemic. Right. Well, that's not the right term, but yes.
Eh, close enough. So I was amazed by this recall. It was so large. Basically, if you've bought shredded cheese in the last two weeks, you should really just throw it away.
Right. No way to tell. So anyway, I went and looked up what else has been recalled in the last 30 days. The last 30 Days.
Okay. Just 30 Days. So, November to the end of November. You'd be amazed what's been recalled.
Tell me. A tabletop camping stove. Yeah. The gas could leak and it could explode.
That's pretty good. Children's helmets. Oh. Not safe.
Bicycle helmets. Not safe. Baby formula that might have botulism in it. What's that?
Botulism? Yeah. It's a bacteria that will hurt you. Well, it's the stuff the women get injected into their forehead, but I guess if it goes into your stomach, Botox.
That's Botox? Botox is botulism. What it does is it numbs your nose in that area. Okay, so like how did that get into the formula?
I don't know! Well, there was this crazy party. It could be that it got too hot, could be somebody with dirty hands. Diddy wasn't there.
Uncleanly conditions. But wait, the list goes on. An e-bike that may burst into flames while charging. Of course.
A play yard that can close on the babies, like a pack and play, that can suddenly just close. Yes. Costco Prosecco? Uh oh.
No. Oh. Plastic in the Prosecco. That's a big one in our house.
My wife just switched to drinking Prosecco. That's now her favorite one, but we don't go to Costco. Oh yeah, we buy the Costco Prosecco. Mikey definitely goes to Costco.
Throw it out with the melatonin pills, Michael. The hell we are. It's just plastic. It's just plastic.
You know what? We're just going to play through a sifter. It's just plastic. We'll work through it.
We will be reasonable. A Peloton bike where the seat could come off, and then, oops, that'll pull up your ass. Some people will enjoy that. " You know?
I don't think that was a defect for some. Frozen pasta meal that killed six people. A frozen pasta meal? It's tainted with listeria, which is another bacteria.
A frozen pasta, man. Killed six, made 27 sick. You know, Listeria is the stuff that you see in the mouthwash commercials. It's not Listerine.
It killed six people. Killed six people. A frozen pasta dish. In the same family?
Six people? No, just six people. They didn't give me specific names. Random six people.
Random six people. A thousand crazy ways to die. Some people just looked at the pasta. Right.
And a Ford Bronco. But cars are always recalled. One Ford Bronco? Ford Bronco?
No, one particular style of Ford Bronco. Tell me it's been bursting into flames, because that'd be hilarious. No, it won't stop. Yeah, it won't stop.
The brakes. The brakes. Snow brakes. You think we'd have that squared away by now?
How is all this still happening? Yeah. That's a lot in 30 days. Yeah.
October wasn't any better. There was more in October, too. And yet, here we are still. Here we are.
Just living amongst the recalls. We're still alive. We're what? The best country in the world.
Think of the bad countries. I think that's a good point for the show, living amongst the recalls. Well, thank God that there are these recalls or other people will be laid off. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
That's a good point. Yeah. This is ridiculous. It's fueling the economy.
In today's world, with everything we have, there's still, the baby food has been on the recall list for three months. There's always recalls on baby food. It's all the same brand. Just stop eating the brand.
Like, what did you do to the Peloton bike to change it? And then you're like, oh shit, the seat falls off. There was one guy, and it fell off, and he, you know, got caught, and then he had to make out this crazy excuse. I think it has to happen to more than the one guy.
Probably manufacturing in China, they went, we put smaller bracket on cheat. We'll be fine, no one knows. We save your money, no problem. Save your money, no problem.
Save five cents. Oh, that's great. Where are you from? Taiwan.
We help absorb a tariff by making you cheat your product. Yeah, there you go, that's right. We absorb a tariff by making smaller bracket. You're fine.
Good to go. Right. Okay. And now you hit it, and the seat pops off.
So, you know, you got a pole up your ass. Woohoo! I don't think it's woohoo. I think it's ah!
Yeah? I don't know. It's a metal pipe. It's a metal pipe with no cover on it, so, you know, it's not like it's got a rounded top or something.
Is it a woohoo? I wouldn't know. Would it be a woohoo for you, Butch? Are you sure?
I'm sure. You trying to tell us? Did you just buy a Peloton bike for this week? No.
We're going to get you one for Christmas. I give you a deal on his bike. Don't worry about the seat. It's fine.
It's going to be fine. It's in Russia, perfect. $10. Yeah, the Peloton, it's Russian.
All right, this highly contagious winter vomiting disease is surging across the country. Oh, God. From baby food. It's a terrible time to be alive in America.
Winter vomiting. You can't eat anything, you can't exercise, and now you're vomiting randomly walking around. Oh. Oh, man.
Like a South Park episode. That's right. It's the norovirus is a concern all year, but experts say it peaks during the winter months. It's unclear why, said Hartford's Health Care Chief Epidemiologist Dr.
Ulysses Wu. A lot of this has to do with hand-washing in close quarters. Sherry Pipperdis, a professor at Physician's Assistant Studies in Quintepec University, says a newer variant also plays a role. The older strains that people had immunity to are now changing as though our immune system hasn't seen this new virus, she said.
Do you have a question, Boots? Yeah, I do. How are you pronouncing all these words, but you can't pronounce football players' names? I pre-read this.
Jawan Jennings. And how do you know it's Piperdis? I mean, it's P-I-P-E-R-I-D-I-S. Who knows what it is?
Because nobody's heard of these people. It could be any name you wanted. Epidemologists. So he's like, ah.
Well, I can, I know, epidemologists. Quan. Can't pronounce this. Jawan Jennings.
Jawan. Therefore, transmission is much easier than it has been before. This winter is expected to be no different. With wastewater data from wastewater scan showing the virus is spreading The wastewater data is very, very important, said Pipperdice.
In a small sample of population, we can kind of project that to other towns being ready or preparing for the season. So I guess they're watching in the wastewater, it's going town to town. Experts say washing your hands frequently can help prevent the spread and avoiding contaminated surfaces, water, and food. Don't eat the food, you're going to get it anyway.
Just basic hygiene. Stay away from charcuterie boards. Charcuterie boards. Stay away from charcuterie boards.
At the holiday parties. No double dipping. It's the holiday season. And vomiting's happening everywhere.
Now in sports and gambling. Ooh. The San Antonio Spurs edged the Orlando Magic 114 to 112 on Wednesday night. I was actually there last night.
Moneymakers L right there, buddy. Yeah, it was. I actually left like 30 seconds left. And then I had to go to the bathroom, so everybody was watching on the TV.
" We go back down to the seats, Franz gets blocked, it was horrible. They blocked it. Thanks to a wild finish kept by Luke Cornett's game-saving block at the buzzer, De'Aaron Fox took over, De'Aaron, is that correct? De'Aaron, yeah.
De'Aaron? Yeah, that's right. No, no, he's right. No, De'Aaron's right, yeah.
It's D. Heizen. I just think it's hilarious how he can barely pronounce these ones. That's awesome.
Took over because you guys know who these people are. You don't know if the other ones I got, right? I don't know epidemiologists. I don't know those ones.
Well, I thought you meant the names. Took over late scoring the Spurs final 10 points. 4 seconds remaining after Jonathan Isaac fouled him on a drive. Orlando still had a chance, slipping the ball to Franz Wagner.
Franz. Franz? Yes, not Franz. Maybe it's Franz.
It's Franz. Franz Wagner, under the rim, but Cornett denied the layup as time expired, his third block of the night. The Spurs have now won seven of their last nine, despite missing Victor Wimbajama. Wimbajama.
Wimbajama. What is he, evening wear? Yes, Victor Wimbajama. He doesn't even have a J in there.
The Y sounds like a J when he follows an N. Wembe, we call him Wembe. We call him Wembe, as Wembenyama. Remains out with a strained left calf.
Wagner led the Magic with 25 points, and Jalen Suggs added 24 and 3 steals before fouling out in the final second. Oh, that guy's a stud. That sucks. Desmond Bain, coming off the back-to-back 37-point outing, contributed 14 points and 6 assists with a pair of clutch buckets late.
The loss marks Orlando's third setback in 10 games since Paolo Banchero went out with a strained groin. Oh, he hurt his peepee. How did you pronounce that? You named that one?
Yeah. I don't think that that's right though. Paolo Banchero. Banchero is the Pielo, maybe like Piela or something, maybe he's a rice dish with the fish in it.
He got it. I mean, that was right. He hurt his wiener. All right.
San Antonio also got a spark from Dylan Harper who posted 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists off the bench. While Devin Vassal added 15 points, 6 boards, Fox accounted for 7 of the Spurs, 19 turnovers, but delivered when it mattered most. Bam. Bam.
And this was his pick of the week, and if you followed it, you lost money. So how do you feel about... I got the Patriots one. Do you recoup the people who followed your bet?
So, but if you bet like 50 on the Patriots and you bet 50, you're back at even. Yeah. Yeah, so, it's not really progressive, just saying. Just saying, money makers.
I actually lost my bet on Monday Night Football. I did pick the minus seven. Oh my God. But I also picked Wendell Robinson in the parlay of that.
Man, he just trashed that game. The Giants, like, just stopped playing after the first quarter. I don't know what happened. The Patriots are looking like a dominating team.
It's crazy. I'm kind of pissed off about it because it's supposed to be – the Bills are supposed to be at the top. Not anymore. The Dolphins were going to get a chance.
Everything got fucked up again. The Bills have been playing like absolute shit. So I was like, oh, my God, this thing is wide open, and here come the Patriots. Just strong as ever.
Here's the reality, buddy. The Bills were on top for a while only because of the transitional period of the New England Patriots. Josh McDaniels came back. We got a new head coach who's been a team guy the whole – I mean, I don't understand how Tennessee let Mike Vrabel go.
He's a great coach. Yeah. Um, you pick the right guy through in the draft. Like, yeah, like Drake, man, my goodness, my goodness, it's, it's fun to say that I'm a Patriot fan.
It's crazy too. Cause he doesn't, he plays kind of like Brady. Like he doesn't even throw the same guy. That's because it's the system.
Yeah. There's no star wide receiver on that. Daniels is brilliant. McDaniels is a brilliant offensive coordinator.
Well, that terrible head coach. That McDaniels. Josh McDaniels. Yeah.
Yeah, Mike McDaniels, no affiliation. Right. But, you know what, in the same breath, if you put Josh McDaniels as a head coach, he's not going to succeed. Like, they've tried him in all these other places.
Yeah. He belongs in New England. Right, Mike? Yes.
There you go, see what Mike said. With Wimbajana. With Wimbajama. Wimbajama.
Wimbajama. Wimbajama. Jammer on me. Yes.
Any gambling or betting, talking to cigars or podcasts is for entertainment only and not betting advice. Listeners place wages at their own risk. The podcast and its host are not responsible for any losses. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Did somebody send a message to us? No, we're covering our ass just to be sure. All right, just making sure. Yep.
We're ahead of the curve, buddy. I just know we get messages all the time, so I was just trying to figure it out. People are out to get it, so we're covering our own butt. They always disclose that.
Are they? Yeah, I just saw a thing where nobody talked about it. I tried to rile them up on that show. Nobody talked about it.
You know, like, this has been a topic of discussion kind of all week, and I'm going to tell you something. If you're, and Matt reached out to me. Matt Booth? Matt Tai.
Matt Tai. Matt Tai. Yeah, and I feel like maybe a couple things were misconstrued. For one, I totally understand, excuse me, why Matt Tai would not name a name.
That's not his, that's not his platform. He's always been like the kind of Steady Freddy and would always, you know, burn cigars down a bridge. I mean, it's the logo. Right, right.
It's the show's main thing. But the other guys, and I use this as an example, the other guys should have stated, you know, I think this guy is a problem in media and, and here's why. Sure. Right?
And the example that I use, it's like Stephen A. Smith saying, "This basketball player's terrible. He flops a lot. He's making bad decisions on the court.
" Okay, well, who is it? Like, I don't really want to disclose that. I mean, we all know who he's talking about. Right?
But you guys know. Yeah. Like that, you know, that, that doesn't, that's dumb. Right.
That's dumb. You should say, this is the problem, and here it is. If not, there's never a resolve. You leave this guy in existence.
And, you know, in our interviews the fucking best anyways, they didn't even mention that shit. I think he asked them specifically, is there somebody you have a problem with or something, I think that was one of the questions, not that you have a problem with, but there's someone you think is doing a bad job or not making the media look good or something like that. Right, I did, I did hear that question, it was a good beginning. And they wouldn't name the names.
" Right. As a joke. Yeah. Right.
Yeah, which is very witty and funny. It was funny. I mean, yeah, between him and Fred, like those two guys are hilarious, so, but they should have named names. Name names, dammit.
You think there's fear? In reprisals? Yeah. Maybe.
I don't know. We're a little vengeful. I mean, we're never gonna like, show up at your door, but we will show up on your TV stream. I honestly don't think they even considered us in the conversation.
Yeah. To be honest. I was trying. I don't think they considered us in the conversation.
So when they're talking about media, you don't think we're, Are you not even considered in the same room anymore? No, I don't, yeah, I don't think that. Wow. I don't think that they consider us that.
So, other than those four or five, who else do you think they think is media? Bear. Bear. Well, he's on coops.
You're talking about the coalition. I mean, the big dog is Charlie, his half wheel. Right, they didn't mention him either. Yeah.
I mean, Cigar Aficionado deserves to be in the conversation. Yeah. Well, I was thinking more audio video than print, but Fred was there and he's print. He's there, and he's print.
Well, he also does a podcast now, so, but it's not a cigar show, right? So, yeah, um, well, I feel like our viewers, I mean, we have plenty of viewers, right? Dude, growing, like growing, I feel like we're definitely a media source. If you can go back in the past seven years of us doing this, I've never been like, okay, yeah, like this is, oh, yeah, it's never been this flood of new people.
We're catching a wave here. Yeah, right. which is incredible. Right.
And you're definitely smoking a cigar. We're talking about cigar things. Yeah, we do. So we should definitely be cigar media.
I mean, we broke the Davidoff layoffs. Right. Oh, wait, you see what else I got today? Yeah.
You know what I should do is we should make choice one shirts. I don't get it. Because Coop has this choose five theory thing that he says. Oh, I have no idea what that is.
And it's like the four other options before you get to cigar media as to like choice one, two, three, four, and five, you broke it down in the article that we talked about. I know that you're kind of old and you don't remember these things. Yeah, I don't remember. There's so much going on in my life.
We used to do choice one. Choice one. com. Choice one.
Yes. He did mention that he's taking a step into other industries. Yeah. He's giving you reviews on McRibs, bro.
Oh, is that what it is? The food? Yeah, you didn't see my comment? Yeah, Instruments.
No, yeah, I always tell him he's my favorite food show. All right, you have a video today? No. Okay, no video today.
All right, let's light up some cigar news. Oh, we're cigar media now. All right, let's go. We're just media in general now, supposedly, because we cover topics.
You know what? We cover news, sports, entertainment, and cigars. We're everything. Here's what I'm going to tell you.
I don't care what you call us, as long as you watch. That's all that matters to me, is that, hey, you know what, we're not a news source, but we're entertainment. Perfect. I don't care.
We're not entertainment, but we're a news source. Love that too. Whatever you do to listen and watch. We are grateful for the fact that you're here.
And that's the bottom line. I forgot to print it, but Listening Notes is listed as one of the top five podcasts, period, to listen to. Really? Yes.
Wow. I'm not sure what Listening Notes is, but I did find that the other day. There you go. So it's obviously an incredible source.
Yeah, it's obviously a, He's an incredible, intuitive source of information in the world. Was anybody else above us that was in cigar? It just said we, I asked where we ranked, and it came up, we're in the top five, I didn't say the other four. You know, here's what's crazy, but not, I'm sorry, but not all cigar podcasts, just podcasts worldwide.
Oh, so we rank against Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan, us, that's what he's probably going on. So, you know what's funny is, here's the thing, you think that these guys, would say hey you know what let's let's have that these the this platform they kind of cover everything they're doing everything they can for the cigar industry we should really kind of embrace it and help them and help and help us in the same breath so that we can all kind of grow sure right but instead we're going to continue to talk about you guys yeah we know you all why because whether you hate we hate you or you're we don't hate you whether you hate us we still love you and we want We want you to get some attention. Yeah, we're not fucking leaving.
And we want you to do better. Yeah. Do better. Oh, we need shirts, we still love you.
Choice seven. There's so many shirts we're going to have on. Choice seven though. I'm going to put, you know, instead of us being choice one, I'm going to put choice 985.
There you go. All right. Raching is moving to a new larger factory. Raching.
Oh. R-A-C-H-I-N-G. Raching. Raching.
What about raching? It's raching, right? No. It's a Chinese factory.
What about racking? No, it's not Rackabove, it had nothing like that. What about Ra Ching? China-based humidor giant, Rei Ching Technology Group, moved to a brand new and much larger factory space in Dongguan, Guangdong, China, in southern China.
Is this a real place? That's where I used to go. Wingchong. To Guangdong.
Guangdong. Guangdong, Guangdong Province in southern China. Bless you. Thank you.
I saw that shoot in the glare. That sounds lovely. The new factory spans over 30,000 square meters. That's about three football fields in total space.
It includes both a stainless steel and metalworks factory, a 13,000 square meter wood shop, and a large storage and inventory facility. And it's operated by over 400 staff, which means Chinese people, not including another 200 in their corporate office. And they have a dishwasher. S.
dollar factory is currently making approximately 40,000 pieces per year, but it is capable of expanding to over 100,000 units. Wow. Ray Sheen has been on an aggressive international expansion since 2021 and are turning out to be a leading player in the humidor cabinet business with presence in over 40 countries And a growing range of products. The most recent addition is the RR Cigar Humidor, a large cigar humidor cabinet with rounded edge design and unique premium calfskin leather casing and unique color schemes with names such as Havana Tan, Trinidad Brown, San Diego Red, Caribbean Black, and British Green.
No Nicaraguan color. When you think British, you think green? I don't. I'm not Chinese.
That's what they're doing. Oh. Okay. I did make the joke.
I would think red would be British. You think red would be British? Yeah. Like the red coats?
Yeah. Why Havana tan? Because everybody in Havana is tan? I don't know.
It sounds a little racist. Chinese people are racist. Trinidad Brown? They're profiling.
Oh. That sounds racist. Got a good point. San Diego Red?
Makes no sense. No. They're not a red state. Like the 49ers?
You know what? Everything but San Diego Red and British Green is racist. Right. Havana tan, Trinidad Brown, Caribbean Black.
They're just keeping up with... Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly.
With Relationship. And British Green. This is like one of my most wanted humidors of all time. Really?
My most wanted cigar thing of all time. I'm looking at them right now. Yeah, the big tall one with the... The cabin and humidors.
The cabin and humidors. Yes. It's like $3,000 or $4,000 or something. You know, you get your stimulus, Jay, you're halfway there.
Yeah. You know? You know, maybe you can pay a posi, get a used one. You can't find, I tried this with Greg, a while back.
Now that you're in the business, you know, you gotta have a place to put your cigars. Now that you're, Boots the Blendmaster, money making Blendmaster. Right. Right.
That one I had, I only paid $800 for. Yeah. Several years ago, they should be cheaper now. Is it a Ray Ching?
Well, no. The one you had was a, was a regular cabinet though. It was a regular wooden cabinet that said Rocky Patel on it. The raychings are like all in one, temperature control, humidified control.
I love my icebox. It is a cool look. Oh, yeah, Greg made you the icebox, right? Yeah, it is cool looking.
Yeah, that's amazing. All right, Ellie Blue is updating ashtrays now. It's filled with Segundos, because that's all I smoke, Segundos. Delicious.
This month, Ellie Blue is introducing an updated version of its Obsidian ashtrays. Oh, man, I can't wait. Which will replace the company's existing Obsidian ashtrays. New Obsidian.
New Obsidian. We've eliminated the Obsidians and we're replacing them with Obsidians. Yes. The new versions are being sold as Obsidian Vakar Collection.
Like the outgoing models, the ashtrays are made from a single piece of Obsidian. Oh. Which is carved and polished by hand. The Obsidian, which is volcanic glass.
Oh, that's the dragon glass that kills the White Walkers. Is that it? From, uh, yeah. Game of Thrones?
Game of Thrones. That cools and becomes stone, comes from Mount Ararat, a volcano located in Turkey. Ellie Blue says the Obsidian is a four million years, it's four million years old. Oh.
Wow. It's a glass? It's just laying around. They just found it?
Wow. They just found it, it's been there for four million years? Somebody's been hanging on to it for four million years? Yeah.
The Obsidians. The Obsidians. The Obsidians. Four of the models are replacing existing models.
These ashtrays are priced same as the items they are replacing. Oh, so they did not raise the price. In most cases, the basic layouts are the same, but the shapes have changed slightly. Well, they're handmade.
Listen, they're just the same ashtray. Just come buy them, please. We need to get them off our heads. We gave them a new name.
Nobody's buying these things. Yeah. Like with the outgoing versions, they are offered in black and brown. What'd they do with the old ones?
Just throw them away? No, they melted them down and made new glass. You can't melt the glass. That's the whole reason I'm using them.
They threw them in the volcano. They threw them back in the volcano. On the Volcano. So, Elie Blue is French.
So, so, 30, back in 30. 40 million years in the garbage. In the garbage. Oh, new one.
New one. Nice, let's sell. Oh, look, new one. Look, has new sticker.
Each is priced the same as the model they replaced. The Elie Blue Obsidian Vakar ashtray that holds one cigar at a time. Okay. Is how much?
You can do either, wait, you can do euros or freedom dollars. This thing was just found in the middle of some area near a volcano, and it's 4 million years old? Yes. I'll give you a clue.
I'll give you a clue. It's not close to as long as they've had it. So it's not 4 million dollars. It's not 4 million dollars?
Not 4 million dollars. 150 bucks. 900 bucks. Well, you guys said it at the same time.
150? 900. 810. Boom!
810. First of all, how do you come up with the $10? Yes, because what they do is they carry the one, add the four, it costs $10 to make it, and they want to make an even eight, actually if you just give us $810, it'll pay for all the ones we threw back in the volcano, by the way, I just looked at these things, yeah, they're fucking beautiful, they really are, they really are, they really are incredible, all right, this one's a deal, this one's a deal, this ashtray holds two cigars, two, this is a deal, I love it, I love smoking, too, at the same time. All right, so.
Well, maybe you and a friend. Oh, yeah. You know what? It's an ashtray.
That is a great audio clip. I love smoking, too, at the same time, coming out of Bootsy's mouth. Incredible. Ugh.
Okay. What's the price there, Mr. Bootsy? Oh, this is another ashtray.
Yeah. Oh, there's several. Okay, let's see. This holds two cigars at one time.
It's probably like buy one, get one, half off. You're going to ask two cigars. So, I'm going to go $1,200. $1,220.
I think he's relatively close. I'm gonna say something obnoxious, like $1,340. $810. What?
It's the same price? It's a deal. I told you it was a deal. You know what it was?
Alfred forgot to fucking change his stickers. That's what happened. All right. Three cigar ashtray.
$810. I'm gonna stick at $1,340. $1,100. Okay.
Still a deal. Who won that one? That's a deal, too. I do.
Yeah, you're a little closer. All right. Four cigars. This is the biggest Vakar ashtray they make.
Mikey, go first. He's the winner. $1,500. $1,320.
Ooh, $1,350. Ooh! Look at that there! In addition, there are two new models.
The Ellie Blue Obsidian Vetcar Ashtray Tobacco Leaf is designed to hold one cigar. There's also the Ellie Blue Obsidian Vetcar Ashtray Horsehead Ashtray, which can hold up to three cigars. Both these models are priced at $1,515. The Leaf one is made of soap.
I know, but people are getting tired. Is it the dish soap? They're getting tired? They're getting tired.
The show hasn't even aired yet. That car is a combination of VA, which means fire, and CAR, which means stone. Firestone. Firestone.
Like the tires. Oh, are they round? No, they're shaped like a horse head. Is there rubber?
No. It has nothing to do with firestone? No. Ellie Blue says it will continue to sell the previous models until it runs out of inventory of each skew, some of which are already sold out.
sold out. Oh, so they didn't throw them away. Maybe there's a discount. But they're the same price, so why wouldn't I buy the new one?
Right, that's what I'm saying. You have to incentivize the discount or something. S. dollar pricing is rounded to converted pricing.
, it's possible that the American MSRP may be different. We'll never see them. Never say never, buddy. Never say never.
Things happening you are not aware of. Foundation signs with I've been gone for two days. A lot can change in two days. Yeah, that's Brigham.
Foundation signs with Brigham for Canadian distribution. Foundation. We ship international. We ship the COD internationally.
Foundation Cigar Company has announced that its cigars will soon be available in Canada. Blame Canada. Really? He will be made Knight of the Canadian Round Table.
The two companies have been signed an agreement that will see Brigham Enterprises distribute Foundation cigars in Canada. The foundation says the first shipment is scheduled to arrive this month. We've admired foundation for many years, not only for the quality of their products, but also for the unique storytelling and marketing approach, eh? Said Richard Joseph, Premium Cigar Category Manager for Brigham Enterprises in a press release, eh?
Retailers and consumers across Canada have been inquiring about these cigars for a long time, and we're thrilled to finally make them available through Canadian Tobacconist. This is a meaningful addition to our portfolio, and we are truly grateful for the trust that Nick and his team have placed in us to represent their products here in Canada. Founded in 1906, Brigham is best known for its pipe business, but also for the Canadian distributor of a variety of cigar brands, including Crownheads, Espinosa Premium Cigars, Inc. Okay.
That ends the story. That's the end? That's the end of that story. I think that Foundation needs to come out with a limited edition cigar.
Yes. Please tell me what it is. And I would do like a Terrence and Phillip. Yes.
Foundation cigar. Do you know who Terrence and Phillip are? Is that the two beer guys? No.
Oh, God. No, let them keep going. Who's Terrence and Phillip? One other guest.
No, another guest. That's the only guest I had. Yeah. It's the two Canadian guys on South Park.
You, ma'am, are racist. Yeah. All right. Oh, yes.
Terrence and Phillip. And then we can give them like a reggae theme, 'cause it's foundation. Terrence and Philly. Oh, we can put like, yeah.
Steel drums, give them steel drums. Canadian reggae. Yeah. It's like Snoop Line.
Oh. Oh. All right, and the latest issue of Cigar Press put out a list of the top 30 cigars every humidor needs. I have the list.
You have the list. You have the list. Who put this out? Cigar Press, Fred Rui.
Oh, yes. You want to know everybody that's on the list? Yes. They have them in mild, medium, and full.
So there's categories of 10 for everybody? Yes, 10 for everybody. Well, you have to read the one. First of all, Pulsani's not on the list.
Well, you have to read the one. Maybe. Just tell me. Is Pulsani on the list?
It's honorably mentioned. No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not.
Yes, it is. I've got it right here. I yanked it out of the magazine. Honorable mention.
Honorable Mention, A Fuente & Company Hemingway, Black Label Trading Company, where are we at? Postana San Andreas. Honorable Mention. So we didn't make the top 10.
You didn't make the top 30. Well, there's 10 in each category. Jesus Christ. Yes.
San Andreas would be bold, so we didn't make the top 10 in bold. So do you want to know who you were up against? I want to know who beat me. All right, A Fuente, Company Opus X.
Nope. Ashton, Virgin Sun Grown. Nope. Davidoff.
Wait, did you say full and the Sun Grown is full? I guess. I guess. Davidoff, Late Hour.
Nope. Drew Estate, Liga Privada. Nope. La Roma, La Roma Family Creed.
I haven't had that one. I don't know. I would try that one. Okay.
FFD, Airbender. Nope. My Father, La Bijou. That's a good one.
That's a good one. Padrón, 1964 Anniversary. That's an okay cigar. It's not the best one.
If you said 50th Toro, I'd be okay. Tatuaje, Selection de Casador. I'm only going to say nice things about Pete Johnson. And finally, the Roma Craft.
Yes. Neanderthal. The Neanderthal? Which one?
I don't just say Neanderthal. They didn't give the letters. They didn't give a specific. Like they did say the Bellicoso of Arzegar.
It looked like the HN in the picture. Put him on the bottom of the list. I mean, if you'd have said, if I'd have said to you- Well, Romo Craft was second from the bottom. Tatuaje was in the end.
Tatuaje? Tatuaje. I saved him for effect, to be like. Ah, got it.
Because like, if you'd have said, well, I'd say, what are the notables that are on there that weren't posted on you? And you said, well, Romo Craft, Neanderthal, I'd be like, all right. Right. Like, I'd have given you that one.
I didn't say him first. Yeah. Okay, well, congratulations to the ten. To those ten.
To those ten. We're very, yes, happy for you guys. You deserve all the attention and love that you get from media sources. And here we are.
Here we are. Okay. All right, it's time for everybody's favorite game. What the score?
You guys suck. The first cigar for today. Well, there's only one cigar for today. So the cigar for today, December 3rd, 2025, Charlie Minato, Black Label Trading Company Cigars, Limited Edition, Nicaraguan Review of the Black Works Studio, Killer B Maduro Pyramid.
You're still doing new ones, huh? I like the new ones. Charlie Minato. Charlie Minato.
You want me to go first? Yeah. Yeah. The new ones are at the top of the page.
I mean, I just want you to know, I mean, you've lost this entire week. You lost yesterday, and you lost the day before as well. I did just win the pricing award. To be fair, he got the one Dragonstone Ashes.
Yeah, yeah, the Volcano glass. Volcano. That could be your only win for 2025. It could be.
Yeah, the year's almost over. But hey, who knows. All right, let's go, baby. All right, uh, 86.
86. Miami Boots? I don't think I've ever smoked. I've smoked a Killer Bee before.
This is brand new. This is a special edition Killer B, shaped as a pyramid. Let's go, Money Maker. The cigar is shaped like a pyramid?
Yes. I'm going to go 82. All right, Cigar Reviewed, Black Works Studio, Killer B, Maduro Pyramid. It's from Nicaragua, Factory, Fabrica, Oveje Negra, Wrappers, USA, Connecticut, Broadleaf, and Ecuador.
Binder, Nicaraguan, filler, Nicaraguan, length 5 inches, ring gauge 54, shape round. and they smoked three cigars. Before you answer, we have a note. As noted above, the sampler has an MSRP of $312 or $13 per cigar, and there are 1,000 samplers each.
Each sample contains four Blackworks Studio Killer Bee Maduro pyramids. We have one more note. My first thought is that it looks like a smaller version of the Roma Crafted Backs Craft 2013, La Campanella de Panama. Sobrera?
Sobrana. Sobrana. The cigar was a 5x46x60, a lot thicker than this release, but the two cigars share a lot in common: the red-hued Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, the lighter stripes extending the foot, and most importantly, the unique trumpet shape. But that's okay, sometimes your cigar looks like another person's cigar.
It happens. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to tell you, first of all, that La Campana de Panama Sobarana was, by far, one of the greatest cigars I've ever had in my life. It was absolutely delicious, and I hope one day that Skip can source his tobacco and remake it because it was every bit of fantastic. And you're right.
The reality is that Skip is not the creator of that cigar. He wasn't the original person who made it, right? So it is what it is, you know? Sure, things happen.
Maybe a Tiger Lily, a Carol Bashkin. I mean, you know. Sometimes things get mixed up. Sometimes things happen.
That's just the way it is. We get it. Only so many shapes you can make. Yeah, we know that Black Label didn't go out and say, hey, right, this is cool, I want to make this one.
They made this cigar 12 years ago, right? So nobody will remember, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. I have these really cool shoes I want to wear while I smoke this.
I'm going to slide up to an 88. Ooh, booty. Yep. I didn't realize it was that size.
Let's take 82. Okay, you said 88 too? Two. You shouldn't understand him.
88 or 82. All right, I can never understand him. Clue number one. The flavor development is impressively dynamic, constantly shifting due to the cigar's pronounced taper.
Even early on, transitions from burnt toast and wood into dark fruit sweetness create an engaging and involving profile. Retro Hales add yet another layer, introducing roasted notes, nuttiness, and hints of dark fruits that keep the experience interesting and far from one-dimensional. Hmm. I'm good at 88.
Booty. I'm going to go to 84. He said he liked it, I guess. Ooh.
Combustion issues. Uh-oh. Here we go. Become a reoccurring problem, especially in the second half.
Across the three cigars, multiple touch-ups are required to correct uneven burn lines and sluggish combustion. Even with the good smoke production at times, the inconsistency disrupts the rhythm of the cigar. This is the rhythm of the cigar, and makes the final stretch of the smoke feel like work, instead of enjoyment. 86.
Who's looking it up right now? No, no, I had to return a message. I'm gonna stick, 84. He had combustion issues, but this guy has reviewed and had combustion issues before and is not affected.
I feel like he may have seen this one. No, I don't, I can't read. There's a lot of words. I think the only time I've ever been on their website was when you guys were getting ratings.
That was it. Okay, next. All right, clue number three. There is a notable bitter sick period.
Oh boy. In parentheses, near the end of the second third, where each cigar turns sharply unpleasant for several puffs. The Bitterness Overwhelms the Profile, Especially Jarring for a Cigar Built Around Toastiness, I don't know what that word is, Toastiness, T-E-R-R-O-I-R, Teron. It's not Teron, there's no N.
And Dark Fruit Sweetness, making that section feel like a quality dip before the flavor unevenly corrects itself. So, he liked it in the beginning, then he had a combustion issue, and now it's been bitter and he's sick. Sick period. Is that a thing?
For a couple of puffs. I don't know, it's in parentheses. I assume that makes it real. Generally, what happens is he starts to vomit at that point, because it's winter season.
Oh, he's got the neuro. Yeah, the norovirus. Norovirus, yes. The new one.
We're all immune to the old one. Yeah, so it's 82. Yeah, I'm gonna drop to an 80. 80?
Yeah. At the end, it's very simple to look back at my experiences and chalk this one up to the unique Vitola. Similarly to how you wouldn't want to enter a low rider in a race around an autocross event. Art cigars are probably not the best candidates to achieve the highest score on a website like this.
One where a handful of combustion issues can torpedo the number you see next to the box. That's exactly what happened here from flavor perspective this wouldn't be the style of cigar that I would blend but I enjoyed most of the 90 minutes I spent with each cigar unfortunately after the first third the cigar struggled with strain consistently lit if I were smoking this cigar at a tailgate in between a light beer and a hot dog I probably wouldn't care all that much but that's not the task here if you are a big fan of whiskey or whiskey and like to taste similar flavor to the cigar. And cigars, this is worth a try. However, from a technical standpoint, it's a long way away from some of the other more normal-looking killer bees I've smoked.
I can't see Charlie at a tailgate eating a hot dog drinking a beer. I was gonna say, he looks like a hot dog and light beer guy. You think so? Yeah.
I don't know. In his cashmere suit, jacket? Right. Cashmere?
Is that what Nike Air is made of? He has one. He's got one. I see him more eating things with chopsticks.
Oh, wow. Not because he's Asian, just because that's why I could see him doing that, because he seems a more, I'm too good for a fork. I love Charlie. He's not pretentious by any means, but I don't know, I just picture him eating that way.
Maybe he picks up the hot dog with chopsticks. Not impossible, as long as I cut it up. I mean, I have seen sausage eaten with a chopstick. And he probably does cut up his hot dog.
I think so. It's like Seinfeld, where they cut up the, it's dessert, I'm cutting up the Snickers bar. Yeah, put the Snickers bar. All right.
Okay. I'm sorry. Final score, gentlemen. This is for all the money, Michael.
82. You're sticking to 82, huh? I think so, yeah. 83.
Wow. You fucking signaled him. No, I didn't. Yes, you did.
I coughed. Oh, now you're mad about it. I've been asking for him to do it every week. You coughed, and you looked up.
Oh, I was looking away. I'd like to change mine to 84. 85! It's 85!
Wow. Come on, you beat him 85 to 95 percent of the time. I would have beat him today, too. You would have beat him.
No, I paid to 83, and then you complained. He said 83, and then you yelled. He wasn't going to go 79. That'd be ridiculous.
He was at 80 the entire time. What did you just say? 82? 82.
Well, Mikey is legitimately angry about this situation. Because they sandbagged me. He said, and I went like this. You gotta throw him one every once in a while.
As long as you admit it, that's fine. He'll stop playing. He'll take his ball and go home. Wow.
I don't have a ball. That's why he showed up late. He was upset about losing. He was not going 83.
He was going 80. No, you know what I was thinking in my head the whole time this whole thing was going on? I was like, you know, I'm going to do whatever Mikey says, I'm going to go plus two, only because I always fucking lose by like plus two. Is that the rule of thumb?
No, like I'm just, like I've been thinking about it, I'm like, man, I always fucking lose because I always go like two under. Somebody had to tell you that. And he hits you. You didn't break that down.
Somebody had to tell you. No, no, no, no, no. Somebody said, listen, man, here's your trick. No, I was literally just thinking that in my head when this whole thing was going on.
That's right. You go first next time. All right. Okay.
Anything else? Damn, I have to plus two. Plus two on your average. Oh, yes, yes, we have some more information.
I almost forgot. Wow. Thank God I'm here. What?
Thank God I'm here. Yes, keep you on track. Oh, just real quick. I don't want to interrupt too much.
Too late. Did you guys cover the Tyler Jeffery thing or are we not doing that? The what? What Tyler Jeffery thing?
He had a release with Moe of the Leprechaun Dust or whatever. He had another one? Yeah, last night. You guys didn't see it?
No. Yeah. Wasn't covered anywhere. I mean, I stick, because I'm looking for stories every single day.
Leprechaun Dust? Yeah, that's what he's calling it. Oh, so it's not out yet. No, he's making it, whoa, I don't, I don't think it's, I don't think it's released yet, but he did say it is coming soon.
Did Tyler make this one or like the last time where he didn't make it, but he considered it Tyler's? He supposedly said that he created it because he was working, he wanted to work with Candela. So there's a Candela, but it tastes nothing like Candela because he doesn't like Candela. Then why does he want to work with Candela?
Just paint it green. He said that there was a certain somebody there, there's like some cigar blender that's really good at using Candela. Hiding the flavor of Candela, but using Candela? Well, he really wanted to work with him.
Was this like a Facebook Live or something? Yeah, actually. I don't think it was a live. I think it was recorded because they did like little leprechaun dust words and stuff across it.
Okay. Well, good for him. Well, let's entertain this because I'm going to tell you that there's two Candela. They are worth a shit in the industry.
Yeah, and by the way, I know the one you're going to say. Which one? The Fomoran. Yeah.
Because, listen, I used to think that the Fomoran sucked. And I'll say that right on here. And then he smoked other Fomoran. I smoked it with Skip.
Because I told him, I was like, bro, I was like, there's only one cigar I think I've ever touched of yours I didn't like, and it was a Fomoran. I said, but I didn't really smoke it. Like, I only smoked like one puff. Yeah.
And I didn't like it. Did you punch it or something? No, no, I just didn't like it. Just never one puff something, it doesn't give it a chance.
But then it does give it a chance. No, because Chet always loved them, right? " And I tried and I didn't like it. So, he gave me one.
I smelled the whole thing. It was great. I don't know why the very first one I ever smoked wasn't good. Because your one puffed it.
No, maybe because there was another Candela that was just released back then that I really didn't like. It was horrible. It wasn't by Rome or anything. Yeah.
It was by somebody else. But it tasted like nothing but grass. And I think maybe that was in my head, like I was like already expecting that, and I just didn't give it a chance, but no, the Fomoran is... The Illusion one's pretty good too.
I never got the smoked up. The Illusion one. Oh, I haven't had that one. Alright, you want the information now?
Yes. Alright, we don't know exactly who was released, but supposedly they all had peepees. Oh. Okay.
As far as we know. And, there is a rumor floating about that Davidoff may be up for sale. And that's why they're trimming the fat. Yes.
Wow, because now... To SCG. More profit. Well, I mean, there's only a couple of companies that can buy Davidoff.
Right. SCG's definitely one of them. Right. Right.
That would be my pick. They gobble everybody up. Can you imagine if Oliva did? Oliva bought Davidoff?
Yeah. Could they? Goes right to Cigar Page. They spent all that money on that big building.
Oliva owns Cigar Page? I thought that was SCG. Nope. No.
SCG owns CI. The competition. The building next to each other up in Pennsylvania. Wow.
They could throw rocks at each other. That's a big rumor. That's a big rumor. From an insider.
Will they be sold? Will Davidoff be sold, is the question. It would make sense why, like I said, they just all of a sudden went, everybody's out. You heard it right here on the number one cigar media platform.
Yeah, none of you other bastards have this information. Right. Wow. So aggressive.
Sorry, sorry. I said it out loud. I meant to think that in my head. Say nice things about people.
Sometimes. I like Coop's shirt. Even if it is the wrong color for the day. That's the pants.
Oh, the pants. Bad for the industry. Okay, all right. Well, that's it.
That's it, guys. That's all we got. Tune in tomorrow when we might have more information. Yep.
Tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow night. Oh, tomorrow.
No, this goes up tomorrow. Monday's episode. Right. Yeah.
We're doing a show tomorrow night with Mr. Eric Espinosa from Espinosa Premium Cigars. Yep. All right.
Well, this concludes the podcast. All right, guys. Thanks. We got to go.
Thanks, everybody. Bye. Goodbye. Yeah, I knew it was a good luck.
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Show Notes
On today’s show Small Business is shrinking and with it valuable jobs, Don’t eat shredded cheese!
Avoid the Winter Vomit Disease!, and In sports The Money Makers Give a bad tip! In Cigars China is ramping up some accessory production, we have more Elie Blue products offered, Foundation is going North and then an update about the Davidoff Layoffs!