ACHP Episode 431 The Top Christmas Gift Of 2025
Transcript
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers
podcast episode Fur War 31.
Episode 5 days a week.
Now, I've been reading ahead.
I know this is the welcome to
the show, but I've read ahead
some of the things that I found
funny.
But Episode 431 new episodes
five days a week.
That's right.
You guys have some serious
content out there right now.
I'm having a hard time keeping
up.
But my algorithm is I'm John
Carney from Bentley Cigars and
Hooton Young, sitting in today
for Mike Palmer, who had to go
to Jacksonville for an
appointment.
Yeah, here with me today is
Boots, our engineer, who I hear
isn't afraid of bears because
you can run faster than 1/5
grader and my Co host Mikey, I
was mistaken for punch from
chips last night, says
Pinkevich.
I was mistaken for punch for.
Chips.
Oh, is it time, Poncherelli?
I have no idea what the hell
that means.
Poncherelli from Chips.
Oh, Poncherelli from Chips
maybe?
He says from chips punch.
Is it punch a reli like?
I don't know.
Punch.
This is before my time I think
anyway.
For all of our time.
Yeah, let's move on to your
things that matter.
How can I get some of that CHPOD
swag?
John, thanks so much for asking.
What you want to do is go to
chapterpod.com and check out our
latest swag.
If you buy 1, you get the 2nd
140% off.
You spend $100 or more, you get
free shipping.
Now is the time Christmas is
upon us.
You're probably not going to get
it in time, so you better
apologize and then give them the
apparel afterwards.
Yes, for a New Year's gift.
Yeah, New Year's gift.
Yeah, exactly.
Or like and make sure you like
and subscribe to all of our
platforms.
If you're on YouTube or Spotify,
wherever, make sure you like and
subscribe.
And make sure you check out our
patreonpatreon.com, where we go
a little bit deeper into some of
these conversations.
Yes.
So really this is my third time
Co hosting here in the show.
I I honestly feel like I should
have some swag at this point.
I've I've obviously supplied my
own and I've watched a lot about
the swag from the last week.
I even asked about it pre show.
But I think after three times
you should get some swag.
I'm.
Going to I'm going to make you a
pressure as a privilege shirt.
Perfect.
Thank you.
What size?
Double X Right now I'm trying to
lose some weight.
Trying to lose some weight?
Solid double.
X Solid double X.
Maybe triple?
No, God, no.
I'm a triple.
No, I ain't that big, No.
No, no, triple.
Yeah, no, I was just wearing
tight.
Well, I was headed that
direction for sure.
Yeah, but I don't know, if you
look back now, we can look at
the three times over the last
few months here, right?
The facial structures shrinking
down.
The energy levels are much
higher.
The bloating.
The bloating.
Yeah.
Have you been fasting or
something?
What are you doing?
No, no, just walking and
drinking water.
And yeah, no daring, right?
I'd love dairy, so I'm
definitely eating dairy.
You got to eat dairy if you're
going to lift and put on some
weight, you know what I mean?
Like actual lifting.
I don't take steroids or
anything like Boots over there.
So the you got to have dairy.
You don't do dairy.
The.
Shop pee pee guy.
Now you do dairy.
Oh, whey protein the hell.
Yeah, you don't have dairy
boots.
I don't like dairy, it makes my
stomach upset.
It's a bunch of Reese's Peanut
Butter cups all the time.
Yeah.
He doesn't do dairy.
You.
Have peanut butter, milk
chocolate.
Yeah, exactly.
On today's show, we have the
newest update in the AI
Challenge.
What's the hottest toy for
Christmas 2025?
Even in space, there's traffic.
Then over in the cigar world,
midnight seems the right time to
launch a cigar.
Can we have more Supreme Leaf
cigars please?
And ever get an ugly time for
Christmas and a quick What's the
score?
And then a quick what's the
score?
We only do one on the weekdays.
We do 2 on Mondays going into
Tuesday's show.
So the Tuesday show has two and
then the rest of the weekdays
only one.
Yep.
So me and Mikey don't.
Talk.
And again, I'm John Carney.
Seriously, where's my swag?
Here we go, I do.
The swag is nice though.
Those those hats are beautiful.
And the new war bear, right?
Stunning.
I'm sure.
I don't know if we talked about
that on here, but we do.
I'll plug it.
Beautiful, really well done,
awesome stuff.
Coincidentally, not the only
stuff I've seen recently from
other brands with like
camouflage and things on it.
Seems like there's a theme going
on, right?
Now.
I think so.
It's the end.
We don't really have anything
with camo, but we do.
Have you guys specifically other
brands too?
There's been things with camo.
The War Bear has camo, no?
The war bear is all black.
Is he talking about the the
steel cover?
There's a still cover.
The metal.
Cover, you're talking about the
Warbearer, the actual star.
Yeah, yes, we did do a Sarah
Coated.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Camel.
Thanks.
That's the one I'm specifically
talking.
Yeah, it looks freaking great.
Thank you.
Yeah, yeah, it really does, man.
It stands out.
And you know what's cool about
it?
I have a big deal about things
that look good on social media.
When someone takes a crappy
picture and you want to make
stuff that looks good, when
people take a crappy picture,
it's like black on black and
never works because if somebody
takes a crappy picture, you
can't see the black on black.
So people go, wow, it looks
great.
Yeah, it does if you have a
professional shotgun.
I've seen some really crappy
pictures of that, and it looks
great.
So really good on the news.
Here we go.
AI is already making strange
bedfellows.
Alliance is so odd even George
RR Martin wouldn't have written
them.
I have no idea who George RR
Martin.
Was.
That's George Orwell.
That's George Orwell.
Last week, President Trump
signed an executive order aimed
at blocking states from creating
their own AI rules, creating
their pushing instead for one
national framework.
The White House says a patchwork
of state laws would kill
innovation, and he hurt the US
in a race with China, a view
strongly backed by Big Tech.
Not surprisingly, legal
challenges are coming,
especially since nearly half of
the United States already have
some form of AI regulation on
the books.
George RR Martin is Game of
Thrones, by the way.
Oh really?
Yeah.
Didn't.
It's shocking they never watched
them.
Really.
No, I've never watched them.
And are those books as well or
no?
Yeah, they're books, the 1st and
he never finished the books.
Here's an interesting thing with
this, though.
I'm love to get into this one.
What's interesting here is how
the fight cuts across party
lines.
Democrats are calling the
stronger consumer protections,
while Republicans talk about
streamlining rules to boost
innovation.
But not all GOP leaders are on
board.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
blasted the order as a subsidy
to Big Tech that weakens states
rights.
Steve Bannon went even further,
calling AI the most there's
dangerous technology in the
history of mankind and and
warning of a jobs apocalypse
language that sounds a lot like
Bernie Sanders.
Man, I'm tired of Steve Bannon.
Oh my God, he's exhausting.
As for public, Gallup says 80%
of Americans want AI safety
prioritized, even if it slows
growth.
Yet according to the Wall Street
Journal, AI still hasn't become
a top voting issue despite
companies pouring trillions into
it.
Bottom line, the AI war is just
getting started and it's not
breaking cleanly along left or
right lines.
OK.
So are you, how do you feel
about the regulation of AI?
Do you think it's going at the
speed that it needs to or
they're always going to be
playing catch up?
What do you think?
Did you watch the Tucker Carlson
interview with Sam Altman?
No.
There was some short clips that
came out and one of them, Tucker
was pressing him on the
gentleman who was like a
whistleblower in open AI that
got murdered or had killed
himself, allegedly.
And it made Sam Altman look
really bad the way that it was
broken up.
If you watch the full length
interview, you see why it looks
the way it looks, the way that
Sam Altman looked at it kind of
looked defensive, but he really
wasn't.
He was actually questioning if
Tucker Carlson was questioning
if he had killed him and he
accused him of it.
Essentially.
He said are you accusing me of
this?
He says no and he goes, well it
sounds like you are anyway.
The long version of the
interview you get to understand
how Sam Altman 1 answers
questions and then two where
Tucker was coming from and
Tucker had no clue about any of
this AI stuff.
Sam Altman was rightfully so,
running circles around him.
The reason I bring it up is one
of the unique things they spoke
about this is a few months back
that Altman brought up that was
going to be coming up and they
were fighting for was to get
legislation passed to keep
government out of regulating AI
and keep them out of having
control over it.
And the main reason why they
were doing that was for privacy,
which I thought was very unique
because right now, if you you
can subpoena all of the
conversations that someone has
on AI.
If you're a court where the
government is anything,
literally anything, you can
subpoena everything that's on
there, open AI, grog, all that
stuff.
And this is going back to what
was going on at Twitter when
Musk took over.
You know, we can talk about
people think Musk is crazy,
don't like him.
And Musk was fine, just an evil,
you know, he was an evil genius
until he supported one party or
another.
And he he got Twitter because
they were controlling what
people were saying.
And Twitter was one of the main
things that Elon Musk bought and
turned into Grok.
He had a long language model
with information and data in it
from decades of people
interacting on Twitter.
So we got a lot of behavioral
information from it.
So I, I would like to keep the
government out of my personal
life.
And there's the AI things are
very important.
And one of the discussions they
had was, you know, if this makes
somebody being able essentially
to bake a cake better or do
other things or have a
conversation in terms of like
therapy or this and that.
And he doesn't does a general
somewhere, maybe use AI to have
a better technique or a better
strategy for a war.
Maybe or probably they most
likely do use these things for
strategies and to plug things
into it.
But I, I just don't see the
government.
I really don't want them
involved in it.
You know, and main reason why is
privacy.
What are you going to do with it
when you're involved?
What are the regulations?
And generally, if you look at
historically, when the
government wants to get involved
with things, it ends up having
more control over the people one
way or the other, either from
both party lines.
That's why I think you're seeing
a mix right now.
And it's almost like they don't
even know how to react.
Like Ron DeSantis saying, well,
there should be the power to the
states.
It's almost like he's saying
that cause for the last three or
four years he was saying like on
the abortion thing that like the
state should have the decision
making ability.
Completely different topic.
And we've been told on both
lines that the abortion things
was a different topic and not to
be compared to anything.
So we shouldn't start comparing
this in my opinion.
OK, what do you think?
Do you think that the the
government should be involved in
in the regulation of AI?
I think the government's going
to be involved in the regulation
no matter what you do.
But do you think they should be?
I don't think they should be.
I mean, I think he's right on
the privacy stuff.
But I mean, again, this is we're
talking about Big Brother,
something that's way bigger than
what we are.
So you just accept it for what
it is and you say OK, whatever.
I was in the military.
Of course I accept it.
I mean, what am I supposed to
do?
OK.
All right, interesting, very
interesting stuff.
OK, go ahead and jump to the.
I, I hear think that this is an
area that should be, if there's
going to be regulation that
needs to be on a federal level,
certainly not on a state level.
I would, I would like to keep it
unregulated to an extent in
terms of like the sharing of
information.
Regulation on this would be
important to me and how they
expand and grow data centers,
you know, and then the, the, the
absorption of power energy
effect on the, the environment
or effect on local communities.
That stuff's important to me,
making sure things are
appropriately zoned.
So I think federally this is
important.
State level very challenging as
then I think with this, if they
do regulate on state level, you
have 50 different rules that all
these companies need to apply
with.
And we're already seeing this
right now where certain states
aren't conducive to business and
people move out of different
areas and businesses move out of
areas.
It's a different topic.
So state level, very
challenging.
Federal level, very challenging.
Whatever it does needs to have
guaranteed privacy caveats in
it, whether that gets through
federal legislation that puts in
laws and information sharing.
But man, I what I'd like to see
here, sorry, what I would assume
would happen here is man, these
governments, the government
wants their hands on this.
These three letter agencies want
their hands on this information
and they are going to use it
against us.
My shirt size is double X by the
way, not that anyone asked.
I did ask.
I know, but I didn't really say
what it was.
I had to read what was in front
of me.
You said 2.
XI can't do this thing with
Palmer.
We asked for 3X.
He's throwing stuff in here,
man.
Yeah, he's trying to catch me.
He is.
We're going to catch you.
It's going to happen.
So but the the government's
always going to be behind on
legislation, especially when it
comes to AI.
It's going to be moving too
fast, right?
That's why Altman had mentioned
in the interview with Carlson.
And by the way, if you have a
chance to watch it, it's about
an hour long.
It's really cool.
Tucker has like, if you want to
hate on Tucker, this is 1.
You can hate on him on 'cause
this is like 30 minutes of it
where he has no idea what's
going on and he has no real
comprehension of what AI is
really capable of doing.
You know, he was talking to him
about how Altman's creating life
and he's like, no, he's like,
these are just computers.
He was completing millions and
millions and millions of
decisions in seconds.
He goes, but he goes, it's at
the end of the day, it's a
computer.
So it was kind of interesting.
Different forms, but yeah.
So I recommend watching that if
you have a chance.
Really cool.
The Saint Alban one.
And then what Elon's doing right
now.
There's some really fascinating
things with AI about the
electricity aspect of it.
He's about to power AI centers
from space, which is bonkers.
And he's like years ahead.
This is going to happen in 26.
Who's doing this?
SpaceX is 1.
One of the reasons SpaceX is
doing its IPO is because it
needs to raise significant
capital.
One Starship can launch up 500
gigawatts worth of power in
terms of satellite absorption,
and they can put chips on each
of them.
So they could launch them up,
have them turn into satellites
and have the data centers there
and they just shoot the data
back down that way.
Because there's been some big
discussions is there's not
enough power on Earth to do
this.
And he's like, you're right,
there isn't.
And he already has 6000
satellites roaming around that
he can put these in.
And Google's, Google's trying to
get up in 2017.
Jeff Bezos is the closest he's
launched A satellites up.
But Moss has got 6000 and like
20,000 more on the way.
He's two or three years ahead of
them and they're all going to
have to buy and work from him.
So it's pretty fascinating.
So that's why you're seeing that
1.5 trillion valuation for
SpaceX.
Super bonkers, man, Big crazy
stuff.
That man.
As I said, you, if we can look,
he'll be the most influential
person in the history of
humankind next to Jesus.
To be honest with you, in my
opinion, influence, I'm not
saying holy levels, he won't
touch that.
But I mean, in 100 years from
now, humankind exists.
Elon Musk is going to be a big
deal with these things for sure.
He already is right now, in my
opinion.
I mean, that's the thoughts that
he has are just insane.
You think he takes over the Mars
project?
He is the Mars.
Project.
Well, they just shut all that
down.
They yeah, but not him.
He's going up one way or the
other, and he's got the
companies to do it.
Boring companies going to bore
holes in the ground 'cause you
can't live on the surface.
Tesla's going to have batteries
and solar power, so you can have
collect a really pure form of
energy.
Starlink is going to be the
communication.
So there's Internet and there's
communication to and from Earth
very quick, and they can place
satellites and information.
And then you have the AI
technology that will create
power, energy and control the
robots that are about to build
the planet out in the next two
years.
They're going to Mars, man.
Like the Mars project's
happening, not the specific Mars
project.
Musk is going to Mars with AI
robots in the next two years,
guaranteed.
Have you tried the Starlink yet?
Yeah, it's great.
Yeah, it's great.
Yeah, it's real nice.
The best thing about it is you
have access in like remote
areas.
True.
It's fast.
It's very, very fast.
Just as fast as any, you know,
any fiber Internet down here.
Very quick.
And the way I've used it, I've
used it on my phone.
You can connect to a Starlink
satellite on your phone if you
don't have any cell service.
And soon they're going to be
coming out with you where your
your data's on there.
I think they'll probably have to
have 10,000 more satellites up
there to control and be able to
manage everybody but unlimited
power and space solar.
Sounds exciting.
Yeah, space, Space.
The final frontier, right Mikey?
What's the hot toy this year?
You know what?
I have no idea, John?
What is the hot toy?
You're wrong, you are.
Nope, just relax, I'll tell you
it's OK.
The hot toy of the holiday
season comes from an obscure
tech startup.
It's a device that gets kid off
their butts and playing video
games.
You read that correctly.
The Next Playground is
technically a video game console
controlled by buttons or
joysticks, but players own
bodies and their movements,
which are tracked by a camera.
It looks nothing like the
PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch
2, the only gaming consoles to
outsell it during Black Friday
week, according to Sakana.
It's a 2.83 inch cube in pastel
colours that weighs less than a
pound and sits under ATV.
The company behind it.
Next stated by Oh Sorry started
out by making the basketball
shot tracking app Homecourt
using computer vision and AI.
I've seen that one.
Then Next Stutter stepped into
developing gamified workout app
called Active Arcade before
making the hard pivot into
hardware.
The Next Playground sold 5000
units for 2023 holiday season
and according to the Wall Street
Journal, it last year sold
150,000 units this year and it's
on track to sell 600,000 and
make 153 million in sales.
What put the playground on the
map?
Word of mouth recommendations
among parents that helped
popularize the device.
And this fall it licensed Bluey
and released the new game.
Bluey Bust a move?
As the Wall Street Journal said,
getting Bluey is like baseball
teams signing Shohei Otani.
Wow, that's a bold thing.
Disney owned Bluey.
Yeah, I think Disney, Yeah.
I thought Nickelodeon Universal
owned Bluey.
Oh yeah, it is at.
Universal.
Oh no, Bluey's at Disney.
You're right.
Bluey is Disney.
What's the one at Universal?
I don't know.
It's like a ride.
The reason it brings, I don't
know what it Yeah, Minions,
Bluey's huge.
It's big.
It's a big deal and that's a
massive licensing agreement.
It's very, it's 'cause it's
relatable to parents and to
kids.
And it's good.
It's it's high quality product.
I mean, coincidentally, it's
traditional family, right?
Kinda.
It's it's clever.
It's in a Australian accent, so
it sounds cool.
But yeah, big Dory, big deal.
Big Doy.
Big Doy.
There's a lot of weird words
here that are mixed up.
Today things are just letters
missing.
Well, that always.
Happens and there's some there's
some sentence things missing.
I think he might next time.
I know this was kind of, you
know, we do this kind of last
minute, like maybe he sends it
over to me and I could put it
in.
No, I don't know.
OK.
Oh.
Yeah, that's not fair.
Where's the fun of that?
I wouldn't get Yeah, if we fix
it, I won't get invited back.
Exactly.
I I think we can move on from
this one.
The Christmas toy.
You got any comments on this
guys?
I mean, that's what your kids
want.
That sounds like a Xbox thing
back in the day.
Remember, they had the camera.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That sounds like an upgraded
thing.
I mean, my little girl still,
she's, she's kind of in the doll
phase, you know, my, my oldest
boy is in the clothes stage
talking about sneakers and stuff
like that.
My middle guy's kind of all over
the place.
He's about dinosaurs and little
stuff like that.
You know, sneakers too, 'cause
they, they play basketball.
They play a lot of basketball.
But I will tell you this,
there's this one toy that I
think they want, and it's.
It's pretty funny.
It's it's a step to go.
It's a toddler thing.
It's a little car that goes on
the ramp.
Yeah, it they're all past the
age of this thing.
The roller coaster.
Ramp.
Yeah, yeah.
But they have been at this
friend's house that has it and
they just go on it for hours as
they're playing basketball,
running around, where then they
go on this roller coaster and
then they go off of it.
So I, you know, oddly enough,
this thing is going to is being
requested for Santa.
So there's a high possibility
that it's going to show up in
the home for Christmas.
You know, it's a really cool
thing that I've seen that the
kids around my neighborhood
have, and this might not be good
for Brittany, but it's a really
cool thing is the go Kart thing
with no brakes.
Have you seen this?
Oh, the electric ones.
I don't know if it's maybe it's
electric but it only has like a
like AE brake.
Yeah, and you can skid.
Yeah.
You like skid?
Yeah, those are cool.
Yeah.
It's funny, that little track
thing, you mentioned it.
My daughter has one.
She's had one since she was
about two.
And then her, my wife's, the
oldest is 6 and her youngest
brothers are 12.
They're twins.
They use that thing all the
freaking time.
They jump on it constantly.
They'll be playing soccer,
kicking the ball around and they
jump on it.
They'll stack it up.
I'm not going to hopefully I
don't give them any ideas, but
maybe you could use this.
Sometimes I actually stack it up
on the deck so it's about two or
two feet higher.
They get a little bit longer,
launch on it.
It's totally going to happen in
my house. 100% especially as you
get older 'cause you can get
faster.
So they're already thinking this
in my demons.
Speed demons, yeah.
How do we go faster?
I don't know, my daughter's on
the on.
She loves dolls.
She likes dollhouse stuff or
she's a little dollhouse.
She likes coloring things.
You know, one thing we do do in
our family is I, I don't know if
you guys do this, but we make
sure that the, the worst gifts
are the ones from Santa.
Like the best stuff we give, we
make sure she knows it was from
us.
So, you know, be like, Hey,
Santa got you this coloring book
and then it'll be like, OK.
And then mommy and daddy got you
this roller coaster toy.
You know, so we, we want her to
make sure, you know, you never
know who she's going to be
around interacting with Santa
this you don't want anybody to
feel bad.
And you know, it's not 'cause
I'm worried about people's
feelings, but I just self
esteem's a big thing as in a
young age you don't know what
any kids going through that she
may interact with.
That's fair.
Yeah, the I think I said it
before, the pet alive is the
thing.
Yeah, you mentioned that.
But it was the pet alive that's
alive.
I saw an AI Blue Square that was
being promoted on social media.
I'm like never happening.
A Blue Square.
It was like this little stuffed
animal thing that would talk and
you could talk about your
feelings or whatever to this,
like I'm out.
I watched that episode of Black
Mirror.
Have you seen that one?
No Miley Cyrus episode?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Miley Cyrus.
They made this like, yeah, this
thing, you could tell it's
feelings and yeah, that,
absolutely.
Not that almost sounds like like
something that should be in
what's his name, Tom Segoya's
dark thoughts.
Have you seen that?
No, but absolutely no way am I
getting any of my children
anything.
You can talk and tell its
feelings to and it'll give you
advice.
Hey, do me a favour.
You like the workout, right,
Cardi?
Yeah, Watch Tom Segoya's dark
thoughts and watch the the
workout one.
The last episode, yeah.
I'll check it out.
You're kind of probably
messaging to say that was the
sickest thing you've ever seen
in your life, but nice all.
Right, next one, let's go.
All right, so here's a story
that Mike has specifically
requested spacecraft from China
that was launched, nearly
slammed into Starlink satellite.
SpaceX says one of SpaceX
Starlink satellites just had a
very close call in orbit.
And no, it was not space junk.
It was a freshly launched
satellite, a space spacecraft.
A spacecraft riding in a Chinese
Kinetic One rocket flew within
about 200 meters of a Starlink
satellite, which in space terms
is basically a drive by 200
meters.
It's pretty close.
SpaceX wasn't thrilled, saying
there was no coordination and
calling the near miss completely
avoidable.
The Chinese launch provider CAS
Space filed back saying they
followed standard procedures and
are looking into it, and pointed
out the close call happened two
days after the launch was
already over.
Translation not a problem, but
we'll talk the bigger issue.
Space is getting crowded.
In 2020 there were about 3400
working satellites.
Now there are roughly 13,000 and
SpaceX owns most of the sky with
over 9000.
So I was off by 2600 earlier.
Starlink satellites dodge danger
on their own, making 145,000
avoidant maneuvers in just six
months.
Which sounds impressive until
you realize that space traffic
doing defensive driving full
time.
One actual crash could trigger a
debris chain reaction called
Kessler Syndrome, which is
sci-fi speak for we broke space.
The moral of the story is space
is starting to look a lot like
rush hour trafficked, except
it's 17,000 mph.
We.
Don't know what happened, we
sent the wrong plate.
This is not the first time this
has happened either.
Yeah, of course.
They know exactly what they're
doing.
Right, so sorry, right we send a
start link.
Yeah, just like the COVID virus.
It's the same thing, allegedly.
There's a lot of space up there
right, but there is 17,000 is
not a lot of things that are up
there in reality.
So either one, they're being
just inherently.
Malicious.
Yeah, well, they're, yeah,
they're even intentionally being
malicious or they're being
negligent, right.
You know, because you would say.
I don't think that there's.
Ways to be, to not be negligent,
right?
And SpaceX and Starlink is
saying, hey, you could, you
could, you could have maneuvered
around this.
We do it $145,000 every month up
40,000 * a month, right, right.
So you know where something is
going to be.
It's just basic science, right?
No, we're not scientists.
So it's not.
But there are literal
scientists.
That have scientists.
That do that yes, and they
specifically have them and they
have a good space program.
I mean they launch things up all
the time.
They have rockets, you know,
they probably have the second
best space program in the world.
Yeah, all that space up there,
you think everything will be in
the same line?
Yeah, no, well, there's low
orbit, different levels of
orbit.
And then you have, you know,
there's, I'm sure there's levels
of it where it's easier for
transfer information and less
chance of exiting orbit.
Yeah, which is a problem too.
So there probably is some area,
but 17,000, I mean, the
circumference of the Earth, the
circumference of the Earth at
the in the atmosphere is much
bigger than it is on the on the
bottom part.
We have 8 billion people down
here, right?
Yeah.
So I mean 17,000 little things
floating around that's not
taking that much space.
Give me a break.
Yeah, You think of the United
Nations being they'd be like,
OK, China, you guys get this
area, you know, and Elon, you
get all this area, right, you
know, and then so that's it.
Work that out.
There's nobody else.
There's nobody in charge.
Though Russia you get 1
satellite.
Sputnik.
The thing that I have the most
question about here is this
Kessler syndrome.
So it's broke.
So it says we broke space is
what they call it, and it sets
up a chain reaction of debris.
So I guess that what that is, is
there could just be debris
floating there and then the
satellites run through it again
as they orbit because they're
moving and they hit like this
debris at 17,000 miles an hour.
My question is how do they clean
it up?
It just hits Earth.
That's eventually right.
You hope that it sucks it in,
right?
Yeah, something.
It goes into, Yeah, the Earth's
atmosphere and burns up.
Yeah, or maybe the mafia comes
out with a new dumpster program.
Yeah, new space cleaning.
Yeah.
Hey, yo, hey, I've got to call
this space Waste management.
You know what I mean?
You know what I'm saying?
There's definitely gonna wait.
We probably won't be around for
this way to our multi planetary
species and see what the
freaking organized crime does
with that.
And epic, we had this big joke
that we were talking about the
other day, a couple friends who
were like, what if Elon Musk is
this evil genius?
And like he gets to Mars and he
gets humans that are up there
and they have like these fake AI
videos, like, oh, man, we love
Mars.
We love this.
And eventually Jeff Bezos
catches up to him and is able to
get a satellite, able to set up
a similar structure and able to
get a rocket to Mars.
And then when he gets there,
Jeff Bezos ends up being like
the savior being like I told you
all along, this guy was an evil
genius.
He's like holding people against
his will In Mars.
There's like this alien species
that's been created through all
this crazy experimentation and
stuff.
I didn't know you micro dosed
bro.
Yeah, Yeah, No, I don't.
But that's right.
That's what I think about when
I'm not.
So you imagine if I was.
So I thought, I thought that'd
be funny.
That'd be a good movie, like.
And then Jeff Bezos, the second
richest man in the world is like
takes down the richest man in
the world who all of this was
some evil plot for him to create
a dominance.
Yes, absolutely.
When I just gave Netflix her new
movie.
Yeah.
The Battle of the Billionaires.
I still won't beat $0.50 on the
Diddy thing.
So that is that is great.
Man, that guy's kicking ass.
He's the that's the number one
viewed show on Netflix and
freaking Stranger Things came
out at the same time.
He's kicking their butts.
That's incredible.
We'll.
See what happens on Christmas
Eve when the next show comes
out.
So they are going to release
out.
Yeah.
Why would they not release it?
Well, I know there was this
whole thing going on.
You think he cares?
50 does not care.
He doesn't care.
No, I don't think he cares.
But I, you know, Netflix just
did this big hole, you know,
merger and all that.
Yeah, maybe Netflix would be
like, you know what?
Let's not really, you know,
mess.
With they want the ratings, they
know that they're going to get
the you're not going to turn off
one of the number one thing
that's that's given attention to
your.
Platform, it's not going off and
he's come out and said in the
last few days that it's not
going away either, Diddy.
But him to.
Ensure that there was all that,
that it wasn't going away.
By the way, what a wild thing.
He got his hands on the footage
because they didn't pay Diddy's.
People didn't pay to keep the
footage and pay the
photographer, and they didn't
own the rights to it.
Isn't that crazy?
Photographers did, I guess, and
they got it through through
that.
That's why I was monkers.
I thought it was like one of his
kids doing the video or.
Something he had a videographer
following him around just in
case.
So he when you know, he's trying
to create something happened.
No, he was trying to create A to
make himself look good.
Like after we win this, we're
going to make ourselves look
good.
We're going to do this talk
about how we were getting
screwed, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah.
And then it just went too deep.
50 fucking got a hold.
Of it.
That's amazing.
Yep, the man's a beast.
It's crazy in the in the whole
documentary, there's always a
problem with payment with Diddy.
Do you have a?
Do you have a video for us?
Oh wow, do I have a video for
you today?
That's a great question.
Is it a video of me accepting a
War Bear T-shirt?
It it is not a video of.
Is that Rin in there?
I do have one video.
Must be Rin in there.
By the way, that's accepting
with an E.
It's a it's a short video.
Go ahead and watch it and we'll
add the audio back to it later.
I'll send it to you.
So I have really two boots.
OK.
I just text it to you.
I can tell the screen's like
really irking Carney.
He's he's reading everything and
glamorizing it and just, it's
just killing him.
He's got to drink some water to
cool himself down.
Like, go ahead and watch the
video.
Where's your phone?
He said he didn't have it.
Remember, I gave it to him.
Oh, it's 7 seconds long.
It's incredible.
Don't have it
so it's amazing.
The Chris Collinsworth meme and
video trend on social media with
him and Patrick Mahomes is just
amazing.
Dude.
It's endlessly good.
It's incredible.
So when I saw, when I came
across that, I was like, oh,
this is this is the one.
This is a video for the clip.
But you know, what is Chris
Collinsworth going to do now
that Patrick Mahomes is out for
the rest of the season?
Man, those guys, First of all,
if you think Garden Minshew is
not going to win a couple games,
I mean, he's going to win, but
it doesn't matter at this point.
I know they're out of the
playoffs.
Yeah, I know it doesn't matter,
but I mean, they're going to
wait till next season and
they're going to fucking come
back.
What do you mean wait till next
season?
He tore his ACL deep into this
season.
He's done for next year, he's
not playing.
Yeah, he's not coming back.
Have you watched the NBA stuff?
Have you watched any of the
injuries of the NBA?
And what's going on with like
Jason Tatum or any of those
guys?
No.
So they're saying that medicine
has speed up so much that these
guys from ACL and MCL and all
these type of injuries are
coming back half the time than
what they were doing before.
Six months.
Seven months.
Yeah, I guess he.
Still misses part of the season
he's.
Still going to miss part of the
season.
It's like if he got injured at
the beginning of the season, he
would have missed this whole
season.
Then they'll just go to a
running game.
I mean, they decimate people.
Running game what they got.
They're getting their ass kicked
this season.
Minshew's going to accidentally
win some games.
He's good, You know he's good.
He's good enough to be a really
good backup.
Collinsworth is freaking
screwed.
He's beside himself.
Yeah, man, it must have been
brutal.
He's got to start talking about
Drake May now.
Drake May is incredible.
It's too bad that the Internet
wasn't as advanced as it is now
when the Patriots were really,
really good and then Brady was
doing all this stuff because the
there was funny Brady stuff.
And us being Brady fans, you
know, it's wasn't as funny to
us.
It was funny to me 'cause it was
just everybody's a hater.
And I know this is how the
Chiefs fans feel, right?
Completely in reverse.
And Brady had an injury too.
He just didn't have it.
He didn't have it at this point
of his career.
He.
Was already further along.
He was.
Already further along and Brady
had, you know, Brady was coming
off as 16 and O season at the
same time and age that Mahomes
is at right now.
So it's going to be a big
adjustment and a big change from
I was reading that they
potentially might bring Aaron
Rodgers in next year to have
like a gap year.
Into Kansas City.
Yeah.
And then try to bring it back in
the next season after.
So he may not leave Pittsburgh,
man.
They said last night he was
done.
He said that he was done after
this.
Year.
This is his last year.
Yeah, he just doesn't want any.
But he didn't want to say at the
beginning because he didn't want
like a a farewell season or.
What if they win?
I mean, I guess they win, finish
on top.
I don't think they're going to
win.
Yeah, I don't think they are
either, but Collinsworth memes
are great.
So it's kind of too bad they
weren't around with Brady
because it'd be so many good
things.
There's just endless funny.
If you haven't seen him, watch
the Chris.
Just search Chris Collinsworth,
Patrick Mahomes and you'll get
some of the funniest stuff ever.
Stuff is epic.
It, it just brings a smile to
your face too, because it
because it is there is some
truth to it.
There was a period of time where
I I don't think there's many
sports cast Sunday Night
Football where he doesn't
mention Patrick Rollins at least
once.
And it's you know, I know he's
the face of the NFL type player,
right?
That's great.
But I mean it is hilarious
because it's almost every single
game.
I'm like, he's not playing
tonight.
He's not.
You know, what are we doing?
And the the thing was, they made
a comment, I think I know you
saw this one.
Baker Mayfield had like a 75
yard touchdown run after
breaking a few tackles and this
and that and literally Chris
Collinsworth was calling the
game and said, you know, oh
sorry, he's calling another game
and was like nobody else in this
league or whatever could do
anything like this, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And there's like there's like 20
of them.
Right.
He Yeah, Baker did it four hours
ago, but.
Yes, yeah, just happened so, but
that's a great video.
Thanks for the share on that
one.
It is good.
It's a good one.
Yeah, it always brings a smile
to my face.
So on to some cigar news and
some proper grammar.
Supreme Leaf Toro One O 9,
slated for February 2026.
I guarantee you he's going to
get all these Spanish words
spelled correctly, but we can't
talk about doing accept and
accept and have that spelled
correctly and put the right
middle letters in it here you
don't want.
To spell it, it was just the
wrong.
Word brutal.
I'm in trouble after this.
Nothing's off limits, I said.
Here we go, Toro One O 9.
Slated for February 2026, the
Supreme Leaf line has been
offered in a 6 by 50 Toro and a
six by 52 Toro, a 6 by 54 Toro,
and a six by 56 Toro.
So you'd be remiss if you don't
understand how Agonurse Leaf can
introduce another new Supreme
Leaf in a Toro size.
In February, the company plans
to ship the Supreme Leaf Toro.
One O 9 measures 6 by 52.
As the name implies, it uses a
109 style cap, which is a hybrid
cap that combines the rounded
finish of a parejo and a pointed
tip like a Bellicoso.
Blend wise, the Supreme Leaf
uses entirely Nicaraguan
tobaccos and is described as a
Corojo 99 dominant blend.
The line is made at the
company's factory in Essely,
Nicaragua and each cigar will
have an MSRP of 1399 and comes
in boxes of 10 and the Supreme
Leaf is a limited edition
production line.
Is it limited edition?
Yeah, always.
Yeah, once the vitola is sold
out retail, those consumers have
to wait for a new vitola to be
announced on sale.
I think that's why you keep
getting the different sizes.
That would make sense.
Yeah, that's right where you get
them.
And probably, I assume Magen
Horse is pretty smart.
Terrence Riley's.
Very sometimes.
A very smart guy, general in
general, tall, very tall, but he
is very intelligent, book smart
and been in the business for a
while.
We praise Him too much anyways.
I'm not going to let you get
away with that.
I'm not going to give him a
praise on this one.
It won't take all that
intelligence to say that Toro is
the number one selling size.
Whether that's a 50 ring gauge
Toro or a 54 ring gauge Toro,
anywhere from 50 to 54 is the
best selling size of any cigar.
Best bang for the buck for
consumers.
So there you go.
That's why you get those
different sizes.
Things like, oh, it's different.
Right.
Well, the 109 should be good.
I like 109 sizes, you know?
109, yeah, is that what does 109
mean?
So it's a a like a classic Cuban
style, kind of a rounded
Bellicoso, yeah.
What differentiates that from a
regular Bellicoso?
It's not like the extreme it's.
Not extreme, pointly.
It's not extremely round, it's
like in the middle of it and
it's usually a smaller gauge.
Do you know where the the term
one O 9 came from?
No.
Neither.
No, I don't.
Interesting.
I never knew that's what it was
called.
I learned something today for.
The first time ever I'm just out
here just educating the world on
the cigar industry.
But I will say this.
The one thing that that I that's
perplexing to me when it comes
to agonorsa is that everything
is leaf, supreme leaf, rare
leaf, leaf, leaf agonorsa, leaf
supreme leaf, you know what I
mean?
Like, OK, we can just let's just
stay in the lane with supreme
Leaf.
That's fine.
Like let's abandoned rare leaf
and let's call it something
else, you know, let's I don't
know rare something, whatever
the rare.
Giraffe.
Yeah, Oh, yeah, yeah, The baby
giraffe.
I I, I think that they're
missing out on a marketing
opportunity without releasing
the baby giraffe 'cause that's
what Terence Riley kind of looks
like.
Do you think these limited
edition news are, are our
majority going to places that
consumers and retailers that
have already bought them?
The Supreme leave.
Yeah, well, we haven't bought
them, and I know we'll get them.
We'll get them.
You haven't had them before,
He's had certain.
Ones you've had all the other
supreme leaves.
You've had all the supreme
leaves.
That's what I'm saying.
So do you think these are going
to places that have already had
it?
Yes.
OK.
So the reason I bring that up is
because what I would do is I
would slowly use that, say have
500 retailers I sell this to.
If I keep it around the same
size, same shape, similar price
point, then I can get them to be
in, hey, I'll take 10 or 20
boxes, right?
And then I can add another maybe
50 accounts because it's
something that's unique, it's
different, it's limited edition.
So then I sell an additional
like thousand boxes by just
adding 30 or 40 or 50 accounts.
And then you don't lose many on
the back end because you never
overdid it.
So I I don't know there's some
strategy with this in my
opinion.
Well, they're, I'm sure that
they're going to open up newer
accounts with it as well.
I don't think it's just solely
based on the supreme leaf
purchase guys, you know?
Yeah, I'm sure there's some
guys.
I don't if you change the name
and you come out with something
different and you don't keep
doing that, then you put
yourself in a spot where someone
will like, hey, you know, the
Supreme leaf did really well for
me, but I don't know about the
baby giraffe.
You know, you know, I'll give
the baby giraffe a spot shot.
Let me let me try 5 instead of
20.
So you can go to someone and
say, well, this way you can make
new products, you can make new
skews, but you don't have to
rebrand and remarket it.
Now I'm with you.
There's a lot of it.
It's like everything's supreme
leaf, everything's agonorsa
leaf, it's leaf, leaf, leaf,
leaf, maybe something else.
So what I would say is do these
and do something else at the
same time potentially.
I mean.
That's a good pitch.
One thing they're not running
out on is tobacco, The Agonorsa
family, you know, So yeah, I
don't know.
Yeah, it's interesting.
And you know, they do do a lot
of private label projects.
They do a lot of stuff.
They sell a ton of tobacco.
Some of the tobaccos that they
sell are used in a lot of cigars
that we all smoke.
And I don't think a lot of
consumers realize that they're
big.
But yeah, I'm with you on it.
But I think this is like 1
project.
They know we can sell 3 or 4000
boxes.
We're going to grow at 20% this
year by putting it in more
places and we'll do these other
things.
But I'm with you, it does seem
like it's a lot of that.
And I, I, the way I would do it
is if you come out with
something new, it's not
guaranteed they're going to
bring it in.
Like I got people that move a
lot of LFD stuff.
And if I put a, you know, if I
put a EE Harrow name on it and I
was like, we're going to do a
12th EE Harrow size, which there
was like 11.
Why?
It's like, well, you're selling
the same customer.
No, it's guaranteed that I can
get that person to put a line
extension.
So sign it's easier for me
sometimes to sell a line
extension.
LF DS a good example of it.
The reason I bring it up is
because Bentley's new and Hooton
Young's relatively new as well.
So it's everything I add is new
practically.
But when you're adding a line
extension or you're adding a
another edition of an existing
skew, there's less marketing.
So then when I go out and pitch
suave, you know, that's a more
challenging push Like so LFD
released the suave this past
year.
I'm sure they put that in less
retailers in the EE harrows in
for any different reason. 1, you
have to pitch a new line, you
have to get in there.
Oh, this does well.
And you know, I'll give this,
I'll give that one box a shot.
So it's tough to build a
secondary secondary line or an
alternative line.
So when you have something
that's built in so it's kind of
automatic, I can make 1000 boxes
of this and sell it overnight,
or I can make 1000 boxes and
have it sit here while I try to
move it to a few 100 retailers.
OK.
That's my mentality.
Do both.
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, they're definitely
there's no shortage of tobacco,
right?
Yeah.
Do both, you know, in my
opinion.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yep.
Or like the Fabian lifesaver or
something.
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that Star
Wars have a problem with that
one, but yeah.
You think that's you think
lightsaber is trademark?
Yes.
Yes, the word lightsaber.
Yeah, 100.
Percent kidding.
Me probably across all.
Everything they they own every.
All outlets, yeah.
Every single type of trademark
you can get for Lightsaber is
possessed.
By Disney.
You can search it right now,
Yeah.
Just search lightsaber and it'll
tell you.
Maybe the the Fabian beam Saber,
I don't know.
And there's probably backed up
contracts too where if the like
if the the trademark goes away,
there's like a 3000 year lease
for someone that the exclusive
lights to to this crazy stuff
you can do with that.
Neon pole is probably taken.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
probably.
Well, here we go.
Here's another exciting one.
Principal Cigars releases
Haberdasher.
Haberdasher.
A joke about getting an ugly tie
as a present has seemingly been
found forever around forever.
That was the word that was
missing in the intro.
Didn't say ugly tie, you know it
just said getting an ugly as a
present has seemingly been
around forever.
But for its latest release,
Principal Cigars is running with
it and using some of those ties
to wrap up a 5 pack of limited
edition cigars.
I believe.
I believe that Punch has done
this before.
The line is called Haberdasher,
named for the term for either a
men's clothing retailer or
someone who sells sewing items.
Is described as a very limited
edition release with the cigars
measuring 6 by 55 and using a
Ecuador habano hybrid.
Rapper Dominican Republic binder
from katui.
Cool things about Katui One I
can pronounce it.
Pichardo.
Katui is Pichardo.
Yeah, really interesting.
It's been growing area used in a
lot of a lot of cigars mentioned
in the last few.
Years.
Maybe I'm mixing things?
Up Katui's in the southern part
of the Dominican Republic.
It's in the mountains.
No, I'm totally mixing things.
From Brazil.
It was actually tobacco that was
used.
There was some tobacco used in
it in the LFD 30th anniversary
chisel.
OK.
Yeah, so it's from Katui.
It's not the guy.
No, it's from Katui.
Yeah, Katui.
It's Dominican.
OK.
And a filler that contains 3
varietals from the Dominican
Republic and some US grown
tobacco price the $60.00 for a 5
pack.
And as part of the theme, the
cigar bands are designed to
replicate a 1960s style shirt.
They're now available at select
retailers and via Principal
Cigars website.
OK, did you ever get an ugly tie
for Christmas?
Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Who gave you the ugly tie?
Myself, my dad.
Oh, you, you can't buy yourself
an ugly like who gave you a tie
that you're not going to use and
say this is an atrocious tie?
My family, Yeah, my family.
But mostly I gave them to.
I bought ugly Christmas ties for
myself, but I inherited an ugly
tie that I'd given to my dad for
Christmas one year.
With my mother, we gave one of
those light up ties.
So hand me down.
Yeah, so I I used that for a
little bit, but that was the
only one I was ever given and
that was like a re gift, just
like when I kind of took it.
And then the other ones I bought
some really ugly Christmas ties
for myself.
Yeah.
But those are intentional.
Yeah, very much.
I'm just talking about like a.
No, I've never been bought one.
I'm not a tie guy.
I've only been in.
I only wore ties for about four
or five years and I stopped.
Yeah, I'm not surprised.
But what about you Boots?
Have you ever I?
Don't wear ties.
Did anybody ever gift you a tie?
No, I don't wear ties.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm not surprised at that
either.
No.
OK, so two no, no ties, no.
What about you?
So what's the Yeah, that's
obvious.
So what's what's the?
So what's the worst gift that
you would you've received for
Christmas?
Let me ask you that.
Oh, this is a good one.
OK, my sister might see this if
we clip this up a little bit.
Possible, but there was right
when I first got in the cigar
industry, I'm not ring ring on
ring up promoted in LFD.
My sister bought me a a couple
of different things but one of
the items she got me I
subscription to cigar fish and
auto magazine.
Nice.
Yeah, OK, good, good.
I'm glad glad you're going that
way.
Yeah, yeah.
And I was like, I was like I
said, hey, I appreciate the
thought, but I'm like the
company I work for spends like
1/4 of $1,000,000 a year
advertising, right.
And I get like 100 of these.
I was like, so I appreciate the
thought, but I go don't, don't
give someone in the cigar
business cigar things.
Yeah, unless you were in the
cigar business, you could give
me a cigar gift and I would
appreciate it like some one of
your cigars or something you
want me to try or something if
you're not in the cigar
business.
Don't do it.
Don't don't give someone in the
business a gift.
That's a terrible idea.
Don't do that.
What about you boots?
What's the worst gift that you
got for Christmas?
I don't know if I ever got like
a worst gift, but maybe like
socks or something.
I mean, I know.
That's kind of a standard move,
yeah, socks are always good.
As an adult, I'm good with
socks, you know, like OK, thank
you.
I I'm going to use these I'd.
Rather have like a shirt.
That's not a terrible gift, you
know.
I could buy socks, that's easy.
Well, it's like, but you know,
but I totally agree with you.
Like I've gotten like ultimate
cigar book guides and stuff like
that from people.
And I'm like, that's like giving
a painter drywall for Christmas.
Like, I don't, you know, don't,
don't do that.
Like we've got things that we
like using.
I've been giving some lighters
before that I'm like.
Thank you.
Yeah, so.
You know what, I have got an
ashtray that I still use to this
day.
I probably had it for about 7
years at.
This point was it a gift from
someone who wasn't cigar related
though?
Yes, it was.
It was that was the.
You know, there are always
exceptions to the rule, I
suppose.
I think ashtray is a good
exception.
I think that's a good one
because it'd be something that's
unique and they probably saw it
and thought that it had
something to do with you.
But but like, yeah, like a cigar
journal.
Please don't.
Yeah, don't do that.
I don't need a book.
I don't need a book about
tobacco.
Yeah.
It's kind of wild, yeah.
I'd rather just didn't get me
anything.
Give me a hug and wish me a
Merry Christmas.
Yeah, the Cigar Aficionado
magazine was like, yeah, this is
like 2 years worth of salary
that the company I had that I
work with partners with them on
and and now I'm getting it as a
gift.
Yeah, well, you just see how
they're doing.
Did you read it?
No, I'd already read it.
I already had it.
They send it to us.
Are you going to, are you going
to get some Bentley ad space in
Sagar Fish now?
Yeah, certainly.
Yeah, it's going to happen,
Yeah.
Big.
We're going to spend big.
Yeah, going to bold on that.
Yeah.
We're going to go, yeah, we're
very, very bullish.
Post on it too.
We're doing the same thing.
Maybe we should.
Maybe we could play with it.
Yeah.
Yeah, by the way, they do have
offerings like that.
Where two people buy a multiple.
You can go with three or four if
you want.
Really.
Oh yeah, yeah, the whole thing.
It's great.
Yeah.
Are you poor?
Perfect.
So you get together with three
other poor brands and put it
together.
Well, it's also smart for them
because they, they, they offered
that a lot to some retail
outlets.
So if you see some retailer ads
that are some shared pages, I
think that was a program they
did about 5 or 6 years ago.
And really what it did was just
kind of grow public relations.
Really it's like, get these
people in here if you want to,
if you want to have them stop
bashing you in your top 25 list.
So like do something to be, you
know, foster that.
And I think they have but but
yeah, that's interesting for
sure.
That was it.
That was that.
Was on the top 25 list.
That's pretty bad.
I wonder what was on what was
what they released today for the
top 25?
Lists Trinidad was.
Is it Cuban?
Six.
No, they.
The DR1, the.
Dr. Nicaraguan One and then they
had Rocky Beetle Emerald, which
is actually a pretty good smoke.
I slid that in.
We knew that was going to
happen.
Yeah, the one before that.
So tomorrow's 432 and 1.
Perk lots dropped time timeless.
Ten, yeah, but the number, so
it's 5-6 and seven, I can't
remember what 7 was.
OK.
But we've yet to see. 7's far
enough away where you don't
care.
Well.
It's right in the middle.
It's the one I forgot.
But we're we have Pedrone's
still going to be in the top
ten.
My father most likely is going
to be in the top 10, potentially
an EPC and definitely a Cuban
and maybe an LFD.
Who knows.
We'll see what they're throwing
around.
There Trinidad was today Emerald
Nasser the Goat by AJ What?
Was that the what?
The goat?
Yeah.
What is that I?
Don't know, I just never heard
of that.
I have heard of it.
I don't know much about it, but
it's #7 Cigar of the year.
Oh.
He just got good stuff, man.
So products are good and that's
his, that's his too.
That's one of the first times in
a while they've had something
straight up AJ Fernandez.
So it's an AJ, not by AJ, Yeah.
Yeah, straight up, AJ, I think
there's maybe some other new
world I think's been on there,
but I haven't had it.
I haven't seen it around yet.
Me neither.
No, OK.
So boutique cigar brand sparks
buzz with midnight release.
They may have some trademark.
Issues with that midnight, I
know.
I know a guy this is.
You guys are causing problems
over.
Here.
A small boutique cigar company
is turning heads this week after
they got a cease and desist
order from another company.
No, this is turning heads this
week after quietly rolling out a
limited release concept that
flips the traditional launch
model on its head.
According to industry sources,
the brand has begun shipping a
cigar, known internally as
Midnight Lot, to a celeb group
of retailers with no formal
announcement, No press release
and no MSRP boxes reportedly
arrived.
Unbanned these.
Cigars are.
Unbanned cigars with only a.
Simple lock called stamp inside
the lid and instructions not to
list the cigar online for at
least 30 days.
The cigars.
Sold trademark.
Infringement feature A dark,
oily wrapper with Nicaragua
fillers with a profile described
by early smokers as an earthy,
salty and pepper Forward with a
creeping sweetness.
In the second-half is the brand
called Boutique Cigar.
I have no idea this is.
Interesting they're not allowed
to say it for at least 30.
Days.
So they decided to release the
cigar.
They didn't.
They released it to select
retailers.
They're not allowed to say
anything.
Doesn't have a name.
They dropped it at midnight and
called it midnight.
It doesn't have a band.
Retailers who participate in the
program are encouraged to let
the customers discover the cigar
organically with the.
Brand that the.
Word of mouth will outperform
traditional marketing.
One shop owner described it as
social experience disguised as a
cigar release.
That's exactly what it is.
That's this is going to can we
get an update on this in 30 days
because know that the cigars
have not moved.
How would you discover any
cigar?
Organically, who is?
It's the first.
Question.
I have no idea.
If I could find out who it was
and I could get a little bit
more of a concept of what
they're trying to do, not to put
it online for 30 days.
So my question is, do they, are
they a cigar club?
Is this like a Provada thing?
Well, they're trying to promote
it in a retail store.
And I guess the theory is that
you can just put a cigar on a
shelf and not talk about it, not
have a band, not have any
attention sequence whatsoever,
and it's going to move.
That's what that's what their
belief is.
And I'm going to tell you right
now that's a terrible idea.
Whoever came up with that
concept has an extra chromosome
like that's not.
Unless they've released who they
are as a brand, where they might
just say, hey, this is a new
project they're working on, it's
called the Midnight release.
So that you would have to have
some sort of concept given to
it, right?
But then the retailer would then
have to say, hey, this is so and
so's.
Yes.
So that eliminated the the whole
experiment.
So are you thinking that they
haven't said who's released it?
Is it the artista?
I don't know where you're
getting the article from.
I just I typed it in ChatGPT.
It's search everything for the
new Midnight Cigar.
I don't know, I have no, this
would be, this would be good to
have Palmer for this one 'cause
he wrote this and he has the
info and I would be interesting.
They said that what we need to
know is who it is and then that
could give me some sort of an
idea.
But they're trying to make it so
that they're not stating who it
is.
It says crowded with loud
launches in bigger boxes.
Sometimes they realize it's
saying less gets people talking
more.
From Artista Cigars.
Interesting.
Like I, I like, I admire the
concept, but that's not going to
work.
Somebody has to tell you about
that cigar.
Yeah.
How do you, yeah, how do you
organically find that?
It just sits on the shelf.
With no bam.
What's new?
It's still that's still in the
track sequence.
I don't know, I got to find more
out this is it doesn't sound
like a great.
Idea.
Terrible idea.
Yeah, it sounds really bad.
Yeah, it's one of those ones.
I've said this before and it's
got me in trouble, but I'll say
it again.
Like this is one of those ones.
If you would have just asked
somebody prior to doing it
right, that it would have, that
would have saved you a lot of
trouble from doing it.
But these retailers apparently
bought it all, so I guess they
have the laughs on them, right?
I'll guess we'll see.
We'll see this in the discount
bin, but we won't even know it.
What did you?
Make banned on.
What'd you make 50 boxes of
this?
I didn't.
Say 7500 cigars.
They is the rumor. 7500 cigars,
yeah.
So they've, they've made at
least probably 30 grand off of
it.
Wow.
That's insane.
Crazy.
No, no.
Well they so they sold 7500.
Allegedly.
It has to be a company that has
relationships.
There's a rumour mill on it.
That's a terrible idea.
Hey, you know what?
It's time to do the industry's
favorite game.
Yes.
What's the score?
What are you doing that's?
What I'm told.
You told the whistle as I said,
I.
Said I was supposed to sing but
I decided to whistle instead.
Oh, you're not gonna sing?
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
I think that's trademark.
You guys have a trademark
infringement.
You can't monetize this.
Anymore.
Perfect.
Well, we were talking over it,
so it's.
Oh.
Good.
Yeah, you can probably block me
out of that.
Channel, we're not quite
monetized yet, but we're close.
Oh really?
Yeah, I thought you were
monetized on Meta like I am.
Oh, I met, I am yeah, I got like
a whole 6 bucks a month.
You 6.
Yeah, wow, it's grown.
Went to 30.
Really.
Yeah, big time.
Look at you, yeah.
Yeah, but YouTube is like,
right?
There 6 bucks.
YouTube, I just, we launched a
little show.
It's not a media show, It's just
a the camping one.
Yeah, the fireside.
Where you're really far away.
Yeah, and we very far away.
So we who's?
Talking there.
Who's that guy?
YouTube YouTube man I YouTube
shorts get tons of views.
Crazy I had like 5000 views last
week.
I don't get anything on on meta.
I get like 500 allegedly.
I.
Couldn't believe it.
It gets a ton of views.
Yeah, some will pop, some won't.
Yeah.
Do you guys have lapel mics or?
Yeah, you should use those.
You want to know?
You should use them.
You guys should maybe they're
not on or not 'cause.
It's so far away.
Well, I, it was the first show,
so you got to look through the
sound levels and stuff, the the
lapel mics.
I think what I was worried about
was it being too loud, right?
So I monitored the sound.
I think I sounded a little
better than what Mike did.
Yeah.
So I need to probably adjust it
up a little bit more.
But it was the first time we did
it.
And after the show, Mike's like,
I didn't realize.
I didn't realize neither the the
mics we got are really good
mics.
They're also magnetic as well as
clips.
Correct.
And Mike, would you like DJI?
Magnetic, yeah.
And Mike's like man, he goes, if
this.
I knew it was magnetic because I
could have put it up right here
on my shirt because it would
have been a lot better.
So we learned a little bit.
We'll change some of the angles,
but we, I mean, didn't throw it
together, but I mean, it was put
together quite.
Quickly, for your first episode,
it's great.
You know, I mean, go back to our
episode, our first episode.
It's a train wreck.
The cameras look horrible.
Yeah, so, so I had a short clip
that popped.
Right now it's it's over 100,000
views.
It's insane, really.
What was the topic?
Florida license plates.
Oh, not the dumbest thing.
Ever.
Yes.
It's a great 1 though.
And I'm just like, this is
insane.
It's got our biggest view of all
the things that I've wasted my
time on, like the Aussie clip
that one did, well, there's some
of these that you know, that
would hit 2030 K or whatever.
Like, yes, that's awesome.
Florida license plates blew it
all out of the water.
It's the dumbest thing.
So what's the score?
What's the score?
Well, you're going to, you're
going to play, you're going to
rattle off the game for us and
you're going to tell us the
first thing what we're doing
and.
This was a rhyme.
Oh yeah.
Palmer set me up with a rhyme,
man.
He's making me put in some extra
work here.
You can see the man struggle.
What he's trying to do is make
sure he doesn't lose his job
right.
What's the score?
What's the score?
Lights are on.
We're ready for more Big blaze.
FAST takes.
Let's go.
What's the score?
What's the score?
What's the score?
Today's Cigar.
December 15th, 2025.
Charlie Minato Cigars, Honduras
JRE Tobacco Redux Review.
Aladino Fuminoche, Super Toro.
Aladino 10 years ago.
They vote, they said.
Redux.
Redux.
Oh, yeah.
Do you want to go first?
Do you?
Want to redux?
You go first.
This was like a there.
JRE Redux Aladino Charlie is the
reviewer.
OK, 88. 86.
OK.
All right, go ahead and read the
first segment.
I've I've never smoked the
cigar, so all right.
Fuma noche Supertoro
controversian Honduras factory
Fabrica de piros Aladino at Los
Lomos Yamastron.
Undisclosed binder Undisclosed
filler Sorry Binder Filler
Honduras Undisclosed wrapper
Probably Kuroho Length 6 and
quarter inches 54 Shape round
MSRP 15 Release date 2024
Undisclosed number of release
Number of cigars Smoke for Redux
1.
Oh, so it's.
Clue one.
You ready?
But he said 2015, I said.
No, no, he said 2025 he just did
this on.
December 1525 Clue One.
Visually, this cigar really
stands out.
The black and red Silver Band
has a bold, sinister vibe, and
the muted milk chocolate wrapper
shows great character with its
veiny texture.
Construction overall is
excellent with an easy light and
solid performance through most
of the smoke.
I I just don't understand the
veiny's description from Charlie
all the time.
Well, it's important to to
identify the if the wrapper's
really smooth or if it has some
kind of you like talking about
me.
No, I just he just always says
it in his description.
And it gets you going.
I'm staking at 88 even even with
the the 86, the vascular.
Yeah, whatever.
OK.
Clue 2.
The flavor profile in the first
half is engaging and unique,
with layered notes of wood,
salt, earth, and fleeting red
apple sweetness.
Retro Hales especially shine,
bringing out creamy textures,
pepper and terroir that add
depth and keep things
interesting.
You know he pronounces
everything way better than
Bulmer.
Yeah, and I'm going to go 8989.
You're going up because of the
trawar.
Yes, because of the way he said
it.
The way he said.
It if Palmer said I would have
been 87, but because he said it
that way, I'll go 89.
Well, I'll go 87.
I'll keep you alive.
I.
Don't know the scores so I could
be guessing too but.
You're going to know.
You're not out, I guess, Yeah.
Yeah, sorry, but the second-half
loses some momentum, becoming
increasingly bitter and harsher
with fewer flavor transitions
and uneven burn.
And rising nicotine strength
also detracts slightly from the
overall experience, particularly
compared to the more dynamic
first half.
Charlie does not like. 85.
Yeah, he dropped him.
Now what are you going to?
Do you know I'm going to I'm
going to go to 86 because
Charlie does this all the time.
He always like talks highly and
then badly, but then he always
comes back for some.
Reason.
All right, OK, 8586, let's go.
Final thoughts.
Oh, we're at final thoughts.
We Are the Aladino Fuma Noche
Super Toro, or perhaps just the
batch continues to be an enigma
for me.
I consider JRE Tobacco Company
be one of the better and more
unheralded cigar companies of
the current era, but this is a
cigar that I've consistently
struggled to like.
The flavor profile seems a bit
confused.
It has the big, bold, and at
times brash flavors of a dark,
full bodied cigar, but it lacks
the body that would make this a
more cohesive experience.
I don't know if that would
improve how I scored the cigar,
but I think it would make it
easier for me to describe the
cigar.
As it stands, it's just missing
the oomph to go along with the
bite.
I'm going to stick 85 all.
Right.
So, Carney, if you haven't
watched this in a couple hours,
this is how this works.
You're supposed to point up or
down from it.
Don't do it.
Don't.
Do it.
He wants you to signal.
Just look at my waist.
You can see which way I want you
to go. 86, 92.
I'm kidding, 84. 84 You would
have got it if you went Carney.
You're a mean guy.
I'm a mean guy.
He.
Said look at my waist.
I would have assumed that.
That's down.
I wasn't looking at it.
Final score 84.
Boom man, you lose again.
You know, it was a horrible
cigar to Charlie.
He still scored in the 80s.
Yeah, still better than SBC.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, OK.
Do you have anything else to add
before we let you off the hook?
Jeez, I appreciate you guys
having me on again.
I know it's low hanging fruit to
ask me to come on and I
appreciate.
It very.
Convenient.
Super convenient, especially
this time of the year.
I'm available but no, I love
coming on, it's a blast.
We need to freaking do some
grammar checks here.
No, we don't.
There's some difficulties.
Dude if you watch OK so the last
episode we had an audio problem.
The 1st 20 minutes the audio was
scrubbed so I had to AI in the
audio.
It is the funniest thing because
it's the.
Last time with us.
No, no, the yesterday's show.
Yesterday's show, OK.
Yeah.
So if you turn it on and you
watch 20 minutes, you like our,
our, like our dialogue changes
as we're talking to like 3 or 4
different like slangs.
It's incredible.
So the messages that I got on
the comment sections, like I, I
feel like you guys all just had
a stroke.
I don't know, like some we need
to talk to you about something,
but it it was.
So I can blame any of the
reading things, one on Palmer
and then two on AI if you have
to, yeah.
Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely
the.
Best story from here, I think
for people to be talking about
outside of cigar things is the
that AI part we talked about
today.
We could have, we could have
week's worth of content just
talking about that.
And I think a lot of shows do,
but there's some big stuff going
on with AI and it's it's getting
big quick.
It's there.
By the way, if you're not in on
it, you're you're already
behind.
You might as well just give up
and give in to the old.
Give us.
No, we're not giving up.
We're already in the game.
But it's it's crazy how fast
it's going right now.
And it's about the, when they
solve this energy problem, the
big discussion that that people
have had is how quick China's
advancing in it.
Elon's about to level the
freaking playing field on his
own with this IPO.
And there, there does need to be
some federal regulations on
these things of who, who, who
can do business, how privacy is
going to have to be the key.
So I'll leave it on that note
when you talk about AI stuff or
if you're sitting here, you're
having discussions with family
and friends or you're scared
about it, just anything you do,
protection of your information
and your personal information is
the most important thing to have
in any type of regulation.
And don't trust the states with
the ability to keep your, your,
your information private or the
federal government, right?
Let them look out for you, but
don't have them.
Don't have them be your your
immediate advocates in my
opinion.
But no, I don't.
Click the box.
We've got a big.
Holiday coming up since I've
been on last, we've had the
cigar operations clubs come out,
that's been cool.
One comment I will make is, you
know we've had a big discussion.
The last show was on about how I
think the future of the business
is direct to consumer.
We're already there.
The major, the major retailers
and major brand owners are
already direct to consumer and
some aren't the retailers.
Retailers are direct to consumer
and they have their own brands
and lines.
So there was one comments made
the you know, the Cigar
Operations Club was a direct to
consumer.
They've now direct consumer.
The company was started seven
years ago as a direct consumer
website and there's endless
companies that operate that way.
But I think there's an ethical
way to run it too, and I'm
fortunate to be heavily involved
in controlling that.
Yeah, protect the brand.
Protect the people that work
with the brand too.
I, I respect when people are
like, we're not going to do it
because you're a website.
I think those retailers maybe
miss out because when you are
spending marketing dollars on
social media, on Meta and all
these things, this builds
recognition for the brand and
you want to advertise that.
So when people are on their
phone, they walk in and see what
they have there.
But then you have to make the
decision of do I want to do with
someone that's putting 30 or 40
points off?
So there's real ethical and good
ways to do it.
And and navigating that I think
is very important.
And the big guys really aren't
as much because they don't have
to, because the big.
Guys, they don't care.
And why would they?
So no believe that we got
Christmas coming up next week.
I'm excited the Fireside Live
show's going on.
We got some fun things coming up
with Bentley in the new year
too, so.
What's this great cigar that
we're smoking?
Oh, the Bentleys.
Oh yeah, we, we smoked the
Bentley, the Bentley white half
Coronas.
Those are coming out February.
I like the size.
They were going to come out this
year.
I just pushed it back because of
packaging.
Packaging is always what
everybody's waiting on.
And so we smoked the Bentley
white and the Bentley green half
Corona today.
So coming in the new year and
then.
This is definitely a winter
cigar.
No, it's not BMN.
Smoke a regular cigar.
It's a it's a good.
How I like them is I'll light
them up if I don't know how
long.
I'm going to.
It's a good quick smoke, yeah.
If I don't know how long I'm
going to be smoking, and then
after I'm done with that cigar,
if I smoke another one of those,
it's because I also don't know
how long I'm going to be
smoking.
So what I end up doing is going
through like 3 half Coronas when
I should have just smoked like a
Churchill but I didn't know how
long I was going to be smoking.
If if I have limited time and
you know what I started doing as
I started taking the justice,
the Connecticut Corona Gorda and
I cut it in half and I'll smoke
the bottom half and then I'll
light the second-half later.
Oh.
So for a Cigar Hustler podcast,
I'm John Carney sitting in for
Mike BDP Palmer.
Yes, this was episode 431 and I
said appreciate you guys having
me back.
Thanks for coming on dude.
Have a have a great rest of the
holiday season.
Thanks buddy.
And enjoy the cigars.
All right.
Thanks, everybody.
Bye bye.
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Show Notes
On today’s show we have the newest update in the AI challenge, What’s the hottest toy for Christmas 2025 . Even in Space there is traffic then over in the cigar world Midnight seems the right time to launch a cigar. Can we have more supreme leaf cigars please and ever get an ugly time for Christmas? Then a quick what’s the score!