ACHP Episode 438 Bonnie Blue, Bruce Lee, What's Next!!

Episode Summary

Episode 438 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a weekday news roundup with Mike Palmer, co-host Mikey Steppenkiewicz and engineer Boots Hippelhauser. The show opens with housekeeping: CHPod.com swag, the last SPC shirt being given away to a YouTube commenter, the still-unreleased Smoke & Subscribe shirt and the long-promised beanies, plus a plan to start rating other outlets' Top 10 and Top 25 Cigars of the Year lists once they're published in January. The hosts also address blowback from a prior episode where they reported a personnel move involving Alan Rubin before the contract was signed, using it as a jumping-off point for a candid riff on industry leaks, accountability and keeping secrets in the cigar business.

The general news block covers a measles exposure at Newark Airport, the return of the stolen and vandalized Bruce Lee statue to Mostar, Bosnia, and the deportation of British adult performer Bonnie Blue (Tia Billinger) from Bali after a raid in Badung. Sports coverage focuses on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 20-17 loss to the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, their remaining NFC South path against Carolina in Week 18, Todd Bowles' job security, quarterback contract headaches around the league, and Mikey giving up his season tickets.

Cigar news includes the Quai d'Orsay Special d'Orsay, a 6 x 53 Sobresalientes released for the brand's 50th anniversary, now on shelves in Andorra in five-count gift boxes; the OM Cigars Milestone 50th Birthday Blend, a 5 x 50 box-pressed Robusto with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Indonesian Sumatra-seed binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania filler, rolled in 2023 at Tabacalera El Artista and limited to roughly 5,000 cigars with a launch event at Old Mill Cigars in Lake Ridge, Virginia; and a new Casa del Habano in Querétaro, Mexico, with Cuban pricing on Cohiba, Montecristo, Trinidad and Romeo y Julieta.

The episode closes with a full game of What's the Score, guessing halfwheel review scores for the Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu Limited Edition Nicaragua (Espinosa and Guy Fieri) and Brooks Whittington's brutal look at an aged Partagás 150C, plus shout-outs to Julian Gordon and Two Guys Cigars, who are now carrying the Powstanie Connecticut.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Swag, Shirt Giveaway and Top 25 List Reviews
   The hosts plug CHPod.com merch, give away the last SPC shirt to a YouTube commenter, and announce plans to rate other outlets' Cigars of the Year lists.
2. 02
   Industry Leaks and the Alan Rubin Story
   Palmer and Mikey respond to pushback over reporting an unsigned personnel move, arguing that secrets stay secret only if nobody talks.
3. 03
   News: Measles, Bruce Lee and Bali
   Measles exposure at Newark Airport, the stolen Bruce Lee statue returned to Mostar, Bosnia, and Bonnie Blue's deportation from Bali.
4. 04
   Buccaneers Fall to Miami but Stay Alive
   Tampa Bay's 20-17 loss to the Dolphins, the Week 18 NFC South showdown with Carolina, and league-wide quarterback contract problems.
5. 05
   Quai d'Orsay Special d'Orsay Hits Andorra
   The 6 x 53 Sobresalientes marking the Cuban brand's 50th anniversary goes on sale in five-count boxes in Andorra, with 20-counts still pending.
6. 06
   OM Cigars Milestone 50th Birthday Blend
   Osvaldo Morales' 5 x 50 box-pressed Robusto rolled in 2023 at Tabacalera El Artista, limited to about 5,000 cigars with a Virginia launch event.
7. 07
   New Casa del Habano in Querétaro, Mexico
   A tour of the new lounge's humidor, seating and Cuban pricing on Cohiba, Montecristo, Trinidad and Romeo y Julieta.
8. 08
   What's the Score: Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu and Partagás 150C
   The crew guesses halfwheel's scores on the Espinosa-made Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu and a badly faded aged Partagás 150C.

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

Cigar Hustler Podcast Now On Every Weekday, It's Tuesday, December 30th, 2025, I'm Mike Palmer, here are today's stories. Measles are back in the news, Bruce Lee's statue has been returned to Bosnia, a British adult film star is being deported from Bali, and in sports, the Buccaneers fall to Miami, but stay alive in the NFC, and Cigar News, new limited releases, milestone blends, global shop openings, and a full game of What's the Score? All this and more on episode 438. But before we get started, with me is Boots, I ate too much Christmas candy, Hippelhauser, in the engineering booth.

Bing bong. And then my co-host, the man who claims it's always bulking season, Mikey, I don't feel good, Steppenkiewicz. Hi. Hello, Michael.

Hi, thank you for having me. You're welcome. Oh, nose blow. Did you get a nose blow enough?

I switched it, I switched it. All right, you have something to say before we get into the show, Michael? com first? I didn't know when you want to do it.

You surprised me with this 30 seconds before we start. Mike, he didn't have a spot for you. Hey, Mikey, how do you get into the CHPod swag? com.

Bang. Now, I have one SPC shirt left. Ooh. SPC, okay.

And what I want to do is, I want everybody to kind of comment below, and they'll be entered to win. If it doesn't sell by the end of next week, I will announce a winner from this show. This show, I will announce a winner who commented on our YouTube page for winning the shirt. Now, if it's gone, if somebody buys it, then what we're going to do is one of those people will be the first to get the Smoke & Subscribe shirt that I haven't even released yet.

Buy it, buy it, buy it. But we haven't even seen yet. We haven't even seen yet. Well, you've seen it.

I have seen it. Boots and I haven't seen it. Or the beanies. Yeah.

He was sick. I wasn't going to ask about the beanies. I know, I was sick. If I do it, I got to take care of Ben, so I'll do it.

And Boots. And Palmer. But yeah, also... Just so you know, tomorrow it's going to be cold the rest of the week.

Yeah, it's going to be cold, yeah. Just saying. It's going to be like in the 30s. Yeah, like cold, cold.

Oh, I love that. Also, what I want to do with us is I'd like to go through five top 10, top 25 people who have released their cigars. Yes. And I want to rate them.

Right, we talked about that last week. Now, I have started looking at Top 25 lists. There's not a lot of them out yet because a lot of them are not coming until the first of the year. Right.

Now, if you guys, if you viewers or listeners want us to consider reviewing somebody in particular, mention their name below as well. Oh, yeah. It can be a double whammy. You mention them, you're entered to win the shirt.

Oh. So, a lot of fun and exciting things going on here at Cigar Hosts Podcast. A lot of things happening when Boots and I aren't around. Yeah.

Now, new shirts designed, contest things, and all sorts of stuff going on. No beanies. No beanies. I'm doing my best.

Still no beanies. Now, to kind of get into what I wanted to speak about is... Oh, none of that is what you wanted to talk about. No, that was just extra.

No, that was all cheap from the hip. All right, I thought that was it. I thought that was stuff. We say a lot of things on this show.

Yes. That's correct. We're pretty open and honest. Yes.

That is correct. We do a good job of mentioning when somebody does something great, as well as when they screw something up. That's definitely correct. That's definitely correct.

Yes. I'm kind of nervous. I don't know where this is going. There's going to be a surprise.

I don't know what I said. I did change our posters for today's episode that went up, because I realized I had Mark Zuckerberg shaking hands with Epstein, and I thought that might have been bad. Probably not a good one. I started thinking, Mark Zuckerberg, mm, he might find this, so I took all of that.

Yeah, we're on the list. We don't need a cease and desist from the Zucks. Right, right, but go ahead. That guy's got way too much money, he's eliminating a neighborhood from a lot of the guys.

Well, he was handing headphones to Epstein, and it was funny when I made it, but then I was thinking today, I'm like, that's probably bad. That's probably not a good one. Not a good idea. Um, so, last week it was brought to our attention that Alan Rubin, I thought we weren't talking about this.

Oh! Well, I wanted to save this for the Patreon. We're sorry. But then, you know what, I have a fever, so I'm just gonna go, I'm gonna go hard in the paint on the show.

A little harder than normal, I guess. So, Alan Rubin supposedly gets this job. Right. At this place.

Is it fake Alan Rubin or real Alan Rubin? It's fake Alan Rubin. And we wanted to acknowledge this guy. Right.

We thought we were doing a good thing. That's a good thing. Hey, congratulations. Congratulations.

We gave him a shout-out on the show. Yeah. Yes. And it turns out that we weren't doing a good thing.

Oh. Oh. Apparently, he called you, but you didn't answer because you were working. Well, I was sick.

It was Christmas Eve. That's when I had the whatever it is you have. And I was laying there in bed, and my phone rang. " Right.

Well, at that point, it hadn't even come to my attention that we had misstepped on releasing. I did send him my cell phone number after that, and he has not called. Oh, okay. Before you told me that that could have been a bad phone call, I didn't want to look like I was ducking him, I just didn't feel good that day, so I sent him my cell phone number and he hasn't called.

Okay, so, so apparently this is information that isn't supposed to be out. So let's talk about it again. In the open. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know, don't talk about it, but bring it up on the next show. Well, we're not really in the open. I mean, we're here.

Well, it's kind of comical to me that people get upset when in all reality, we just do a good job of holding people accountable, right? Right. We just find things out really early, apparently, and people are delusional to think that it's not going to come out, right? Right.

So, you know, and they don't hold themselves accountable. And that's what I really find extremely humorous about the whole thing. Because at the end of the day, if I'm not supposed to tell anybody. Right.

Then nobody would know if I didn't tell anybody. Right. Right. So how could you tell if nobody knew?

If it's supposed to be a secret, you want to know how you keep it a secret? Don't tell anybody. You don't tell anybody. Right.

Especially us. Wouldn't that make sense? No, not even us. The reality is, look, I'm not supposed to tell anybody about it.

We have had conversations where you've brought something up to me and say, oh, so-and-so-and-so. I'm like, yeah, I knew about that six months ago. And then you would say to me, well, why didn't you tell me? Like, because I was told not to tell anybody.

I'm not anybody. It doesn't matter. I will keep the secret, right? So, it's, it's funny that he got upset with us, but in all reality, the person he should be upset with is himself, because he told somebody, he told others about it, right, and we caught wind, right, shouldn't be smoking cigars in a cigar shop, because you're gonna tell everybody everything, listen, Coop gives us this intel all the time, I don't know what to tell you, he's, you know, he leaks, it was definitely Coop, it was definitely Coop, unfiltered, unbiased news.

That's the news, 24 hours a day. I don't understand why he's upset. Because the contract hasn't been signed yet or something like that. But if it was supposed to be a secret, then keep it a secret.

Yeah, don't tell nobody. Don't tell anybody. If you didn't tell anybody, then it wouldn't ever came out. But guess what?

You told people. You told people, dude. That's not, you know, sorry. Do better next time.

Right. Love you, buddy, but... Hope you get the contract. And congratulations.

And congratulations. And congratulations. Because we really do wish you the best. Yeah.

Okay. We just got a freeze warning issued for our area. Yeah. If we only had beanies, keep our heads warm tomorrow, Boots.

Yeah. I'll have a beanie for me tomorrow. You'll have a beanie tomorrow. It'll be a great beanie.

You think Coop has beanies? Probably not. Juicy, he put out a message the other day that somebody took his information without asking permission or something. No.

Yeah, I don't think that day I used any of his information. I assumed it was us, but I don't think I used any. Well, but like he's a news source, it's media, like if he posts something about media and we cover it, what's... Yeah, I mean, it's not the same thing.

And as long as I don't use his photos, which we don't use photos anyway. We're not releasing Cigars of the Year right now, are we? I mean, normally you credit the source, unless you totally change everything around with it. I've been trying to do more of that, change everything around.

Yeah, I mean, the Zen Chi article that you did was amazing. Oh, thank you. It's got a ton of views on Instagram. Oh.

Yeah. Yeah, probably all by the FBI. Yeah, all by the FBI. Oh, good.

Maybe the FBI will call me. Well, if they weren't before, they are now because we released information. Wow, where did you get all that information? Call him.

He obviously knows where he is. He knows too much. Does he know where the beanies are? Does he know where the beanies are?

Okay. All right. Go ahead. Get into it now.

All right. Now in the news. Measles are back in the news. Newark, New Jersey.

A passenger to Newark Airport may have exposed people to measles. Oh. This continues to happen. Yeah, didn't we talk about measles?

Yeah, it's spreading. It was Iowa the other day. Yeah. The first case since like 1996 came up in Iowa.

Now it's in New Jersey. Oh, it's coming this way. New Jersey's health department says someone with the disease passed through the airport on February, December 19th. m.

m. How can they, I mean, still it's a big window, but they know within two terminals, and a 12 hour window, still a 12 hour window and two terminals, how do they? And if they know that, how do they not know who the person is? Terminal B and C is huge.

Right, but it's not A and D. They've narrowed it down to two terminals and a 12 hour window. Well, somebody had measles that was on one of those planes. The health department hopes to track down people who are likely exposed.

It also suggests anyone, anyone who is not vaccinated to get the MMR shot. Measle symptoms include a high fever. Nope. A cough.

Nope. Runny nose. Sounds like the flu. Watery eyes.

That's your standard sick thing. And a rash that usually appears between three and five days after symptoms begin with red dots all over your body. Ah. I'm pretty sure I had my measles shots.

Yeah, me too. You don't know. Your mother didn't like you. She still doesn't.

She might not have got you your shots. I'm not immunizing that one. The rash usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face and the hairline and spread downward to the neck, torso, arms, legs, and feet. Take your shoes off, let's see your feet.

You want to see my feet? Let's see if you have measles. No. Do you want me to take my pants off too?

Nope. No, it says nothing about the groin area. It's my tension area. Tensions?

That's where all the measles... Yeah, that's where they collect. I'll show you. They're all right, they're all clustered.

Yeah. Alright, there's a Bruce Lee statue who's been stolen, but now has been returned. Who would do that? What Chinese place did it get stolen from?

Bosnia. Oh, they have Chinese places there? That's why it's so funny. A restored statue honoring the late martial arts legend Bruce Lee was returned to its rightful place Wednesday in a Bosnian town more than a year after it was stolen.

Here it was stolen. Local media reported the life-size bronze statue of kung fu cinema icon in a defensive position holding nunchuck kung fu sticks was originally unveiled in the park in Mostar in 2005. It had been vandalized several times since. Li was chosen as a hero that all the ethnic groups could relate to in a town that remains deeply divided among fierce fighting between Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims during the country's 1990s war.

The statue disappeared from the park in March of 2024, but was found a few days later cut into several pieces for sale as scrap metal. Police soon found the perpetrator who had ripped the statue from its pedestal, and he received a 10-month jail sentence earlier this year. The theft sparked public outrage in the southern town where the statue became an attraction. On Wednesday, the town's tourist board head Elvira Komalovic stressed the importance of the statue for most star residents as a symbol of justice and peace.

Like the Elvira? Like the Elvira? No, not the same Elvira. With the black hair?

No, this is Bosnian Elvira. She has red hair. She has red hair? Yes, but Bruce Lee is the sign of justice and peace in Bosnia.

I could see that. He has been returned once again to his rightful home. Is Bosnia, so, okay, wait, hold on, I'm a little confused. Yes.

Where Bosnia is? Yeah, is Bosnia in Russia or in the Middle East? Russia. Okay.

Russian-ish, it's in that area. We will do this for Mother Russia. So it's kind of ironic, yeah, that Bruce Lee's in Russia. Exactly, that's why it was a funny story.

Why is it ironic? Because he's from Hong Kong, there's a statue, when I saw it, I thought the Hong Kong statue was stolen, is why I read the article. Yeah. Because I've seen that one.

Bosnia is located Southeastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula bordered by Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro with a small coastline on the Adriatic Sea. Right, it's Russian-esque. It's not Middle Eastern. It's Russian-esque?

Yes. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, it's cold. Didn't he beat a whole bunch of Russians in one of his movies?

I don't know. I don't know. I would imagine somewhere. Yeah, I think there was a movie.

He beat up Bruce Lee? He's the only guy to ever beat Bruce Lee? Well, he's not in Russia. He's in Bosnia.

I mean, the only guy to beat up Chuck Norris. Yeah, I was going to say, isn't this about Bruce Lee? Into the Dragon or something? Yeah.

Okay. Broke both his arms and his leg and then he killed him. And then he killed him? I don't remember if he killed him, but he did break both his arms.

Well, now he's all over social media with the ball that you strap to your head and you punch Chuck Norris. Is he? Oh my God, yeah. I haven't seen that one.

You put a ball in your head? It's a, it's like a strap, and it's got a string with the ball, and again, you've got to punch it, and however many times you can-- So it's one step above the paddle with the ball. Yeah, now it's on your head. Oh.

If you miss, does it hit you in a face? Yes. Psh, ow, psh, ow. Yeah, that's, that's, you know, it signifies Chuck Norris beating your ass.

How much is this ball and string to your head? I never got that far. 99? We'll give you a good deal.

This just ends, CH Pod, uh, oh, oh, ball on head, comes with ball on head on the store, oh yeah, that mikey punches, yeah, it's attached to the beanies, right, no, not all the beans, just not our beanies, so was the guy that took it, was he a young kid or something like that, they didn't release his name for his own protection, went to jail for 10 months, yeah, but he's out now, and it took a year to get the statue back, hopefully, he got out of jail before they got the statue back, hopefully, he got out of jail before they got the statue back. you back. Really? Well, they had to glue all the pieces back together.

You think he destroyed it? He cut it into pieces. He did? Yeah.

It's a lot easier on the black market to sell pieces of Bruce Lee than an entire Bruce Lee. They were podcasting. Can you send me a code to take your text? And the code is?

Zero, zero, zero, zero. Alright, Brady. What? Oh, I was going to say, hopefully while he's in jail he doesn't tell the secret of who he is.

No, he wouldn't tell anybody. What are you in for? We're not cutting up the Bruce Lee statue. Yeah, that wasn't me.

That wasn't me. What? So he did cut it up. Yes, he cut it up to sell this scrap metal.

He wanted the money. It's a poor city. Yeah, that thing is worth a lot of money. It's war-torn Bosnia.

It's war-torn Bosnia? Yeah, it holds them buildings and stuff. Really? Yeah.

Okay. It's like Poland during World War II. Oh, really? He said Russian-esque.

Yes. It is in the Russian area. By the way, somebody commented on your Rudolph story that you got it completely wrong. " How did I get it wrong?

What part of it was wrong? It might have been Sears instead of Woolworths, I don't remember. Yeah, you got the whole thing wrong. Not the whole thing.

Maybe I got the originator wrong. Because I think I read afterwards that it was Sears. You got the originator wrong, that's for sure. Alright, moving on.

Thanks for the correction. British porn star to be deported from Bali after a small fine. What? What?

A British porn star was deported from Bali, and they charged her a little bit of money. Okay. British adult film star Bonnie Blue will be deported from Indonesia's resort island of Bali, immigration officials confirm Friday, bringing a swift end to a case that has drawn international attention and reignited concerns over foreign tourist behavior. Blue, whose real name is Tia Billinger.

Wow. He was getting nervous there for a minute. Was detained last week after Indonesian police raided a studio in Badung, a popular tourist district near Bali's capital, Dens Pazar. What kind of news do you read?

The 26-year-old and three men, two Britons and one Australian, were questioned on suspicions of producing pornographic content. Authorities later said no adult material was found. Despite the lack of evidence, immigration officials said Billinger will be deported early Saturday morning. On Saturday morning, according to Hussan Handano, an immigration spokesman at Denspar International Airport, her flight is scheduled to depart just after midnight.

Earlier on Friday, Billinger and her associate, 27-year-old Liam Andrew Jackson, were fined 200,000 rupiah, about $12 each, for trafficking violations. A district court judge ruled the pair had jointly committed the offense during the decision. December 4th raid, police also seized a dark blue pickup truck labeled "Bang Bus", British tabloid reports. Perfectly fine.

Yeah. Nothing to see here. Nothing to see here. Uh, it says "Bang Bus" on it.

Um, what goes on here? You guys want energy drinks? In English, that means something completely different, sir. I don't know what to tell you.

Yeah. Is that gonna be another $12? The Australian guy comes out in a loincloth. Aye!

I don't know what you're talking about. Hey, Mike G! Uh, reports later claimed the vehicle had been untapped, He was taxed since 2023 and illegally repainted without proper registration. Oh, that's why I got picked up.

Yeah, hey, you didn't get just registered for the paint job. You didn't properly label the bang bus. Billinger's lawyer, Edward Pangahelia... This is a complete international story.

said his clients would cooperate fully with authorities and offered an apology to the people of Bali and the incident caused public concern. While Bali is predominantly Hindu and welcomes millions of tourists each year, The name of Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population, strictly bans the production of pornography. Unless it's with a... What if they just wanted to make a video?

You know what I mean? Well, there was no proof pornography was ever done, so they must have caught them before it started. No, it was the paint job. It was the paint job.

Well, that's what got the car ceased. Violations can carry a prison sentence up to 12 years and fines reaching $360,000. 12 years for a bank bus? Yes.

But 10 months for stealing the Bruce Lee bronze statue. And cutting it up into small pieces. In a Russian-esque country. Yes.

The case comes amid renewed frustrations among Balinese officials over unruly foreign visitors following a string of high-profile deportations in recent years, including influencers expelled for posing nude at sacred sites. Ah, so you can't, I mean, I get that, you can't be naked at... You can't be naked at their, yeah, their religious things and stuff. Okay.

But like, you know, if so-and-so wants to get together with three dudes and get a train ran on her and they record it with her phone, I don't like. With their phone? Yeah. High techy-techy stuff.

I mean, we're just assuming that that's what this bus was for. Yeah, maybe they had balloons and they were popping them as they drove around or something. Yeah, maybe it scared all the Muslim tourists. Right.

Maybe. Because of the... There's too many jokes to go there with the bang busting. Yeah.

They all had flashbacks. I mean... PTSD. You gotta leave the country.

Get out of here. Jesus. Sorry, I'm picturing things in my head. This is wild.

I love being in charge of the news. I'm surprised the jokes didn't come earlier when he was talking about the bang. I didn't read it all the way through. I got sucked in by the headline.

Right. Like, ooh, porn. Ooh, porn. Yeah.

That's always good. It's a slow news day. I'm a dirty old man. They didn't put two to you.

I'm not familiar with her work. No, you're not? No. You're not subscribed to her OnlyFans page or anything?

No, I'm too cheap. You know that. I ain't no better than that. That's a good point.

All right, now on to the world of sports. Boots, do you know her work? Are you familiar with Bonnie Blue? She's been in the news a lot lately, though.

Yeah. She's not one of them that sort of ran for government office or anything, is she? I don't know. I mean, a couple of them in Britain have done that.

No, she was the, she was the girl that wanted like a thousand guys or whatever. Oh. Same one? Yeah, this is the same, the same chick.

Oh. I think we had a new story about her, didn't we? No, I don't remember doing a story. I've seen the story, but I didn't do a story about a thousand dudes.

Oh. I did see it though. Even I have a line. Yeah, this is a thousand, was it 900 dudes?

It's four guys, and then nothing over four guys. Anything past four is too much. It's not too much for us. That's fair.

Back onto the bang bus in Muslim country. The Muslim bang bus. I didn't even know that was a thing. And it's not even a bus.

It's a pickup truck. No wonder she's getting 12 years. No, no, she didn't. She just had to pay $12.

Yeah, she got... Oh, $12? And she's getting deported. Yeah.

Well, she just left. She probably left quietly on her own. No, they showed her in handcuffs. Oh, did they?

No, that was part of the bang bus movie. Yeah, that was part of the video. Oh, that was part of the video. Guess what?

That was the poster. I got news for you. Here's the way you're getting out of this country. 999 Muslims bearing the wall.

Cue the funk music. Oh God. All right. Next.

All right. Bugs fall flat in Miami, remain alive in playoff hunt. Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't help their quest for a fifth straight NFC South on Sunday in Miami, Miami. But neither did they see that quest come to an end.

A 20-17 defeat at the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium dropped the Buccaneers to seven wins and nine losses and represented their seventh loss in the last eight weeks. However, Carolina's concurrent loss to Seattle on Sunday meant the Buccaneers and Panthers will battle head-to-head for the NFC South title next weekend in Tampa. Tampa Bay also needs one loss by Atlanta in the last two games to win the division with a victory in Week 18. Mikey, you have a video for us?

No, I do not. Oh, and you already talked about what you wanted to talk about. Yeah. Sorry, this is where I allowed for your space for your story.

Are you happy that the Dolphins beat the Bucs? Is that the first time they've won this season? Who? The Dolphins.

No, they're moving along now. Oh, are they? They've won like six games or something. Oh, wow.

We've won seven now, as much as the Bucs, but our division's a little harder. Yeah, well, your division's already a wrap with the Patriots, buddy. No, it was, I mean, I, that game has no weight to it other than trying to see what our future is. Yeah.

Right, that's all, that's all that game really was. What's your future? Hopefully Quinn yours. I mean.

You think he's the guy? Uh, maybe. I don't know. I like, uh, I like some of the guys in the draft.

I like the kid from Georgia. Uh, uh, Stanton? Stanton? Yeah.

The quarterback from Georgia. He's pretty good. But he's a big dude. You know, he's like 6'4", like 250.

You know, he's like a Ben Roethlisberger type. Right. But, I mean, hey, Quinn yours is cheap right now. We drafted him for a reason.

Don't you owe like 2 and 90 million dollars or something? Yeah, you just got to eat it. Bro, there's like six teams out there right now that have this quarterback situation. Yeah.

You know, they have a quarterback that they paid all the money to and he's not doing anything or he's sitting on the bench. Eh. So, we just got to eat it. Who are the other teams?

The Browns. Okay. I mean, Cincinnati every other game. I think Burroughs.

I think Burrough wants out. Yeah. I think he's done. He gets injured so much.

Atlanta. I mean, Kirk Cousins. They signed him for all that money and then went with Pennix? Did they?

Yeah. Oh. Well, I mean, look, I'm not, uh, I wasn't happy about the L for Tampa, but I'm so done, man. I'm just so done.

You guys weren't really playing your game, to be honest. They didn't look good. No. But...

They haven't looked good for four or five games here. Well, he's just, he's not throwing the ball to Abuka as much, and he's, like, Rashad White It's not really a factor anymore. It just looks messy. Even like K-Don, he's not really a factor, you know, it's kind of weird, like, as soon as Godwin and Evans came back, it's like all those guys disappeared.

Yeah. And now it's just completely, the game plan is, throw it to those two guys. You know, and let, what's his name, run the ball, but he's not really... Bucky?

Yeah, he's not as effective as Rashad White all the time. He's mad about the O-line. He got into a fight with Wirfs on the sidelines. Makes sense.

I mean, he's having a problem. Yeah. But the good news about that loss is that it's going to be an exciting game because whatever team wins... You're in.

You're in. But Todd Bowles will not lose his job. You don't think so? Nope.

So, how do you feel about that, Palmer? B. All right, those multiple choice, I'm sorry. Okay.

All right, moving on. Are you going to the game? Yeah. Oh.

There you go. My last game. This is the last game of my season tickets and I'm done. It's just too much stress, dude.

Forever done? Yeah. Oh. No, I get it.

I get it. When I got rid of the magic tickets, I... It just doesn't make sense at times. You just have to be like, oh, I gotta go to this game.

Oh, shit. Oh, you know, like... I got all these other things going on, but hey, you gotta go to this game. It's just leading up to it.

It's just anxiety and all this other crap, right? Once you're there, you just kind of settle in. You know, I really settle in when someone yells at me and they yell at me about my kids standing or something. When I get to that point, I feel better.

I'm like, oh, yes, thank you. Yeah, I suck. Okay. Yeah, I suck.

All right, into cigar news. Cigar news. Okay. Quade.

Is this from Coop or? No. Okay. This is all half-wheel today.

Perfect. Oh, no, it's not all half-wheel. There's a Cigar Aficionado and I think something else too. I just want to make sure you're citing it.

Quay D'Orsay, a special D'Orsay, goes on sale in Andoria. What? I don't... Qu'D'Orsay?

Quay, Q-U-A-I, D'Orsay, D-Orsay, D-Orsay, not hyphen, but... Okay. Goes on sale in Andoria. I'm not sure where Andoria is.

Me neither. It's probably next to Boston. I think it's one of the moons around Andor. I'm not sure.

It's non-Russian-esque. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Cuey D'Orsay brand, and now the cigar created to celebrate the occasion is on store shelves in Andorra. Isn't it Cuban? I think it's Cuban.

Yeah, I believe the cigar is. Oh, it's Cuban-esque. So is Andorra a city in Cuba? No.

The Cuey D'Orsay Special D'Orsay is a 6 inch by 53 Toro Vitola that is called, oh great, Sobra Salientes. Which, the Cuban Vitola naming system, this is the same Vitola as the Romeo and Julieta Capulettos, a 2016 Edición Limitada, and Por L'Aranja Sobers something, in 2014. Andorra is a tiny landlocked country, nestled high in the Pyrenees Mountains, situated on the border between France to the north and Spain to the south, making it a microstate in southwestern Europe. Closer to Russia.

Very weird place to release a cigar. I guess so, yeah. I guess they're not expecting big sales. Maybe it was Mickey Pegg when he was hiking.

He did post a lovely Christmas photo with his family. Did he? So he's back off the trail, apparently. He's back off the trail.

When the cigars were announced last year, Habanos SA, the Cuban Cigar Giant, said it would be offered in both standard 20-count boxes and 5-count gift boxes on December 15th. The 5-count boxes went on sale in Andoria priced at, we have, euros and the Freedom Dollars. Freedom Dollars, I'm going to say it was a five pack. This is the box.

The whole box. The whole box. I hope this is the whole box. Does it say how many cigars are in the box?

Yes, I just mentioned that, but you weren't paying attention. $300. Bouté? $220.

72. Boom. The distributor in Andorra says the 20 count boxes are not yet available. Well, they got to get to the top of the mountain.

They haven't quite got them there yet. Hurry up, Mickey. Got to get them up there. Gotta get them up there.

We're not reading the rest of this because I have no idea where any of these places are. He told you, it's in the Parameans. Cadorce. Wow, that's a long story, apparently.

1999, Siete was merged with Tablical Area. Later, Altadis, a new joint venture. Well, I know what happened to Altadis, so. OM releases Milestone 50th Birthday Blend.

Another 50th Birthday. OM? OM, that's the name of the Cigar Company. If you've heard of it before.

Apparently they've been around 50 years. Apparently they have. Well, the man has. Ah.

Not them. On Monday, December 22nd, Osvaldo Moriales of OM Cigars celebrated his 50th birthday. And as many cigar company owners do, they celebrated a major birthday. He's crafted a new cigar to celebrate.

It's my birthday. Only the cigars were actually made two years ago. So it's his 40th birthday cigar on his 50th birthday. They've been aged to perfection.

Yes. The OM Milestone 50th Birthday Blend is a 5x50 box press Robusto that uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over an Indonesian Sumatra seed binder and four fillers, Dominican Criollo, Criollo 98, and a leaf, just one leaf, from Nicaragua, and a leaf from Pennsylvania. Oh, actually doesn't sound like a bad cigar. The cigars were rolled in April 2023 at the Tablicalera El Artesio factory in the Dominican Republic.

Each cigar is an MSRP of: Dominican Cigar for 50th Birthday for Olsafleida. $23. $12. $9.

Really? And it's offered in bundles of 5 or 10 cigars, which feature an image of Morales designed to look like the Buddha. So apparently he's a hefty fellow. Allegedly created by his friends, production is limited to just about 5,000 cigars.

The cigar began shipping to stores earlier this week, and Morales told Half Wheel that a launch event is scheduled for Saturday, January 3rd, at La Old Mill Cigars in Lake Ridge, Virginia. Ooh. Okay. Hmm.

Is that Lake Ridge? Lake Ridge, Virginia. It's in Virginia. Yeah.

Yeah, we went there, didn't we? It's on a ridge near a lake. We went to Virginia, we didn't go to Lake Ridge. We went to Hogshead.

It was a Tobacology. We didn't go to... I've never been there. Is Lake Ridge a cigar shop in Wisconsin?

Lake, are you thinking of Lake Country? I'm saying Lake Country. Oh, Lake Country. It's a totally different state.

Yeah, sorry. Completely different place. Yeah, different world. Thank you for chiming in.

No problem. Let's hear more about the Buddha. About what? The Buddha?

That's it, it's the end of the story. Oh, next. It doesn't pay attention. The new Casa Del Habano opens in Quiccaritaro.

Who? Where? Carretero. Carretero.

Carretero? Carretero. This must be in Canada. It's in Mexico.

Oh, you know where this one is. Yes, this one says where it is. The Casa de Habano franchise expanded again in early November, with an addition to the cigar shop chain opening in Carretero, Mexico, a city in the Central Highlands north of Mexico City. The small lounge and shop is located next to Antia, one of the largest shopping malls in Latin America.

The store is on the mezzanine in a large office building which also has restaurants and other shops. The new store features a walk-in humidor, two small indoor lounges, each with seating for about six people, and a small outdoor terrace. Smoking is permitted in all three seating areas as tradition in Casa de Habano shops. The store includes a small bar as well as humidified lockers.

It has all that in it and still has space for six people each? Yes. Mexico is a country in Southern North America, bordered by the United States to the North, the Pacific Ocean to the West, and South, and the Gulf, it says Gulf of Mexico, which is... Gulf of America!

Oh, this is, yeah, inaccurate. the Caribbean Sea, Guatemala, and Belize to the East and Southeast, in case you were wondering where Mexico was. They're going to keep that going. Right below the fence.

The humidor was well-stocked with every major Cuban brand, including Cohibas, and a full range of Trinidad's. S. 50. Is that one cigar?

Yeah. A Montecristo No. 15, a Trinidad Foundator. Foundator?

It could be Fundador. No, this is the knockoff of the foundation. 88. The franchise is operated by Mariano Azula, who also owns a Casa de Habano in Lyon, a agro-industrial city about two hours from Quintero.

Future expansion plans for the shop include: an adjacent bar and a restaurant where patrons can eat before or after enjoying a cigar. And two more seats. Two more seats. And two more seats on each side.

Now it's time for the industry's favorite game. Man, you burnt this stuff fast. Yeah, he did burn this stuff. There wasn't much news, they were small stories.

Yeah. What's the scar? You go in too fast. Yeah.

I said it's time for the industry's favorite game. And then you said something. What's the score? Suck.

I go to a lot of work to put these games together. I ask very little from the two of you. Well, your streak is over as you lost. You lost on Friday.

Yeah, you lost today, or Monday's game. Monday's game, yesterday's game. Oh, they're not real boots? No, it was real boots.

No, it was real boots. Yeah, it was real boots. People say they like that boots better. Oh, is that what they said?

Yeah. That's what people are saying. So before we play this game, I do have to give a shout out to Julian Gordon. No shout outs, no shout outs.

What are you doing? Yeah, Julian Gordon. Why? Because we're not doing the page round today.

Okay. I traded him the can thing that I got, the Drew Estate lighter can, and he sent me the Quinquan Gennaro and the craft. I told him I'd shout them out. Oh, the spray can?

Yeah. Your prize from the customer appreciation thing? Yes. Well, I had one.

And I told him, I was like, I have this one. You said you'd shout them out on the podcast? Yeah, I told him I'd give him a shout out. Oh, wow.

Look at you. Look at that. The other Gordian. Just manipulating the system.

Yeah. All right. What's that called? It's called something gray mail or green mail or something.

It's called when you give away free shout outs on the radio. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah. What is it called?

Gray mail or green mail. It's called Bing Bong. Oh, Bing Bong. Perfect.

That's a Bing Bong section. It's a Bing Bong. All right. This review is from December 24, 2025.

Mr. Charlie Minato. It's a Knuckles Sandwich Cigar, Limited Edition Nicaragua Review, the Off Menu. Oh boy.

Ooh. You want me to go first? Yeah, is somebody trying to get in here? 89.

Nobody's trying to get in. Just Julian Gordon. 86. That was definitely something about it.

I heard a bang. No. Okay, Cigar Reviews, the Knuckles Sandwich Off Menu, New Country of Origin is Nicaragua Factory, San Latino Factory, Rappers, USA, Pennsylvania, Broadleaf, Binders, Nicaraguan, Fillers, Nicaraguan, length is 6 inches by 54, it is pressed, $16 a cigar, it was released in November, and they smoked 3 cigars, $89. I'm going to go 91.

Okay. Clue number one. How did that change you from 86 or 85 to 91? Well, Jack texted me.

Jack texted you. Okay. He doesn't know what we're doing. Clue number one.

Distinctive look and clean profile. The box press presentation is striking and memorable with dark wrappers and a rounded corners that makes the cigar stand out visually. Despite the dark, heavy appearance, smoking profile is impressively clean, delivering layered earth, wood, cocoa, and pepper without becoming muddy or harsh. 89.

91. Next clue. Maybe, did he Google it or something? Like, how did he jump from 85 to 91?

You said 91 again though, right? Yeah. Clue number two, flavor, depth, and evolution. Across the three samples, there was real complexity from sweet chocolate, fruit, and creaminess to pepper, toast, nuttiness, and a mineral notes.

Do you have that lit now? Are you done clicking? Are you good? Are you fine over there?

Are you good? I'm good. Retro hails add additional intrigue with flashes of mango, sweetness, pencil lead, and chili spice, keeping the experience engaging throughout most of the smoke. He likes it.

89. You know, many of my numbers are going up because I'm smoking this delicious SPC 22, so maybe a 92. Ooh, a bing bong, a green mail plug of the SPC 22. Yeah.

Clue number three. So what did you pick? What did you pick? 92.

92. Guys, it's a 22. What's going on here? I don't care.

It's delicious. Inconsistent construction and cohesion while two cigars perform well. Don't perform well, one consistently requires touch-ups, and overall burn and combustion are uneven. Stop sitting under the AC.

Additionally, the final third loses focus, with flavors becoming scattered and less dynamic, which detracts from the otherwise strong and well-developed profile. Palmer's losing it. He's unraveling right now. I'm unraveling.

I'm still worried about Bonnie Blue. 89. Hmm. You got one more, right?

Final thought. 92. Rarely is it a good idea to judge how a cigar will perform based on the way it looks. The Knuckle Sandwich off-menu starts off with what I expect based on the menacing appearance.

A bit of chocolate, but a lot of heavy earth notes joined by an array of pepper. And yet, as I write this, as the third cigar has finished, little of that profile remained. Sure, by the end of each cigar, there's still some earth, but it's a completely different cigar, softer, sweetener, and a profile that seems quite removed from how things started. A couple of minor issues preventing the cigar from exiting the good category and entering the great one.

But this is another thumbs up release from Espinosa and Guy Fieri. 89. 90. 89.

Wow. Off the jump, I nailed that one. How did you know that? Charlie's not going to give it a 90.

Why? Because a Charlie 90 is a lot. Didn't he give like some like Cuban cigar a 90 something? So, when I hear Charlie, I'm going to start either 88 or 89.

Just, you know. And then as it progressed, he liked it. So, I felt good at 89. 89 and then he talked uh briefly about one having inconsistency like some touch-ups but that wasn't enough to break it so i didn't lower my number i stuck at 89 and then uh at the end he concluded that he liked the cigar but charlie liking the cigar won't he won't give it a 90 unbelievable he won't give it a 90 because the touch-ups so i almost went 88 Oh, it would have tied.

So I nailed it off the jump. You ready for the next one? Yep. All right, this is from April 6, 2010, Brooks Whittington Cigars is a Dominican Republic General Cigar, the Partagas 150C.

86. 75. Wow. This is the Partagas 150C, it's from Dominican Republic, Factory, Menendez Y.

Garcia. It's a Cameroon wrapper. But that does E. Garcia.

No, it says Y. Like, just the letter Y? Yeah. Yeah, E.

No, it says Y. Whoa. Okay. It's like, and.

I don't know what to tell you, it says Y. Paramese. Binders, Mexican, fillers, Dominican and Mexican, sizes of five and a half by forty-nine, Vitola's Robusto Extra. Price varies widely.

Hmm. That's what it says? Yep. Release date, 1995.

Number of cigars released, one million cigars. Number Cigars smoked for the review? Only two. He can only find two of the million.

Of the million. What was ten years later? Well, he smoked it ten years ago. Boots?

Oh, um... 85. 80. Clue number one.

Solid draw and early combustion. Once lit, the Partagas 150C delivers an excellent draw and an uneven burn, Clue number two: The cigar consistently showcases an aged tobacco profile led by oak and old wood notes. For smokers who enjoy stear, the cigar consistently showcases an aged tobacco profile led by oak and old wood notes for smokers who enjoy stear, the cigar consistently showcases an aged tobacco profile. Clue number two: The cigar consistently showcases an aged tobacco profile led by oak and old wood notes.

For smokers who enjoy straightforward, mature flavors, without heavy spice or sweetness, this cigar delivers exactly that from start to finish. Boots. Eighty-two. Eighty-five.

Clue number three. The profile remains largely one-dimensional throughout, never really developing beyond aged oak. As the cigar progresses, the flavor turns increasingly bitter and hot, with only fleeting hints of pepper or floral notes that failed to evolve, ultimately making the final third the weakest part of the experience. That's not the last one, right?

There's still a final thought. That was the last clue. 79. 80.

What can I say that has not already been mentioned? After smoking two of these, including the larger Partagas 150B, I can honestly say this cigar is a prime example of what an over-the-hill cigar tastes like. These were never strong cigars, even when first released, and I guess they were so mild that age leached all the remaining flavor out of them. I would seriously consider breaking it open and eating the tobacco to find any flavor other than the old oak that I was getting.

Combined with the Fragile Rapper, which split on me in the last third, the bitter ending, this cigar is really not even worth considering. Yikes. Even as a Yardgar. You even said that.

I have tasted $2 cigars that are better and have more flavor than the current state of Partagas 150, and I recommend you not even consider wasting your time or money on these. Yikes. What you got, booty? 72.

Damn. He went so low. Paul, are you good? He went so low.

So low. You start drinking a Red Bull or something. Towards the end of the show, I start getting tired. Yeah, I don't know what that's about.

I don't either. Have an energy drink or some shit. What do you go, like super hard in the pain for the first 30 minutes? Yeah, I guess so.

In the last 30, I'm just out of gas. Yeah, what goes on here? I don't know. Red Bull.

Gives you wings. You're gonna vote? You're gonna give your score? Yeah, I'm at 46 minutes, I'm just milking this a little bit.

You're just gonna drag it out a little bit? Uh, let's see, do I think it's more or less than 72? That's a great number. Um, but at the end of the day, I think that it's gonna be less, because he said that it's a terrible cigar, so I'm going to play it safe and go 71.

68. And I won. Wee-hoo! Bam!

I nailed one, and then I got the second one. Even sick. We're back at our normal operating hours. Just like that.

At our normal operating hours? Yes. Okay. Anything else to add?

You have a listener of the week? No. No, we haven't been doing that because it's a daily show. You want to listen to it on Mondays?

You want to listen to it on Mondays? You listen to it on Mondays? Julian Gordon, bong. You got a shot for the week?

Two Guys Cigars. That's what I was going to do. Now we're going to be carrying the new Connecticut. Yes.

Shout out to Two Guys Cigars. Two guys. Mr. Ed Santamaria.

Yep. Now carrying the Powstanie Connecticut cigar. Just like that. So.

Okay. That's it. So tomorrow's New Year's Eve. Are we doing a show tomorrow?

Yeah. Okay. What about New Year's Day? We doing one on New Year's Day?

Good question. Is tomorrow New Year's Eve? Tomorrow's New Year's Eve. No, it's not.

Oh, isn't it? No, Wednesday's... Well, I guess when the show releases, tomorrow will be New Year's Eve. Oh, that's right.

Today's the 29th. We probably won't have one on New Year's Day, so... We'll do a rerun. Okay.

All right, everybody. Thank you very much. It's been episode 438. They're just clicking off here.

Just clicking away. Bing, bing, bing. Okay, bye-bye. All right, guys.

Thanks. Bye. This Christmas Cigar Hustler has given away a massive 85-inch 4K LED Insignia Fire TV. Make $100 in-store purchase and get one raffle ticket.

Spend $150 in one visit, get three raffle tickets. In-store purchases only. The drawing happens after January 1st and the winner must pick up at the shop. Don't miss your chance at this ultimate holiday upgrade.

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Show Notes

Measels are back in the news

Bruce Lee Statue: returned to Bosnia’s , A British adult film star is being deported from Bali and in sports

The Buccaneers fall to Miami but stay alive in the NFC South,

in Cigar News: New limited releases, milestone blends, global shop openings, and a full game of what’s the score signal another busy week in the cigar world.