ACHP Episode 449 "No Smoking"
Episode Summary
Mike Palmer, Mikey Stepankiewicz and Boots open Episode 449 with shop talk — the return of Phil to engineering, CHPOD swag, and the daily roll call of retailers now stocking the Powstanie San Andreas Corona Gorda, including Harbor Cigars (Destin, FL), Smoking Pipes (Loris, SC), Creekside Cigars (Ohio), Luxury Cigar Club (Cottonwood, AZ) and Cigar Den (Brunswick, NJ). The non-cigar news block covers the January 14, 2026 nationwide Verizon outage (and Mike's useless satellite SOS experiment), the State Department's suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries, Johnny Knoxville's $50 million net worth, and South Carolina's 434-case measles outbreak centered in Spartanburg County.
The cigar news starts with Meta tightening enforcement on cigar content — organic posts, lounge pages, and buy/sell/trade groups being flagged for "commerce facilitation," shadow-banned or deleted outright. The crew talks about how they've had to adapt by not posting lit cigars at all, and how even other shops' pages and event pages are being throttled. Next is the Best Cigar Prices employee theft case out of Drums, Pennsylvania, where a 61-year-old employee allegedly walked roughly 600 cigars plus accessories and apparel (about $9,000 retail) out in a travel humidor over two months — which the hosts half-jokingly call brilliant free marketing, while riffing on the still-unsolved theft of their Saka statue.
The centerpiece is Scandinavian Tobacco Group's reorganization of its two competing U.S. sales divisions. Effective February 2, 2026, Cohiba, Punch and Havana Honeys move to Forged Cigar Company while Partagas and Room 101 move to General Cigar Company. Mike calls Matt Booth live from the STG sales meeting (Justin Andrews wouldn't pick up), and Booth explains the swap as rationalizing and balancing the two portfolios, with real upside for Room 101 under the General team. The call also detours into Booth's family trip to Egypt and his travel wish list of Jordan, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Rounding out the show: Viaje is shipping the Super Shot 10-gauge and 12-gauge shotgun-shell cigars again — a Nicaraguan puro with a Criollo wrapper in 3.5x54 and 3.25x52, with no Buckshot Mexican San Andrés version this year; Drew Estate's January 1 price increase with no stated reason (and tariffs now near 15%); and a round of "What's the Score?" on Halfwheel's review of the Jake Wyatt Cigar Co. Herbert Spencer Robusto, which scored an 81 after draw problems killed an otherwise promising smoke.
In This Episode
- 01Powstanie San Andrés Corona Gorda Retailer Shout-OutsMikey names five more shops now carrying the Powstanie San Andrés Corona Gorda and explains how retailers can get it.
- 02Verizon's Nationwide OutageA January 14, 2026 outage knocked out voice and data for hundreds of thousands, prompting a debate on carriers and the uselessness of satellite SOS mode.
- 03Visa Suspension, Johnny Knoxville and MeaslesThe news block runs through the State Department's 75-country immigrant visa freeze, Knoxville's $50M net worth, and South Carolina's 434-case measles outbreak.
- 04Meta Cracks Down on Cigar ContentFacebook and Instagram are throttling, flagging and deleting cigar pages and groups under 'commerce facilitation' rules, forcing brands to stop posting lit cigars.
- 05Best Cigar Prices Employee TheftAn employee allegedly stole roughly 600 cigars and merchandise worth about $9,000 using a travel humidor, sparking a talk on shop culture and internal theft.
- 06STG Reshuffles General Cigar and Forged PortfoliosCohiba, Punch and Havana Honeys move to Forged while Partagas and Room 101 move to General, with Matt Booth calling in live to explain the logic.
- 07Viaje Super Shot ReturnsThe shotgun-shell-inspired Super Shot 10-gauge and 12-gauge are shipping again as Nicaraguan puros with Criollo wrappers — no Buckshot this year.
- 08Drew Estate Price Increase & What's the Score?Drew Estate raises prices with no public explanation, then the crew guesses Halfwheel's score for the Jake Wyatt Herbert Spencer Robusto.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast Episode 449. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today in engineering is Phil. Oh, God. Phil, I'm back, baby.
Phil, yes! Phil comes back next week, we'll have everything to put Phil back on the air by Monday. We're excited to have Phil. The return of Phil.
And my co-host Mikey, I love Phil better than Boots, Stepankiewicz. Wow. That's not true. I love Boots better than Phil.
Thank you. I appreciate that. You're welcome. We'll miss you Boots, but it's gonna be nice to have Phil back.
It is gonna be nice to have Phil back. Phil is a nice portion of this podcast. Yes. Phil's not as funny as Boots though.
I don't know. I beg to differ. That's not true. Phil can be pretty funny.
It's all a matter of opinion. Phil can be pretty funny. Karen was hilarious. Karen, why have to bring Karen back?
Yeah. You never know. Karen was exquisite. Karen might have a new hairdo because I don't have that wig anymore.
But still, we might have to bring Karen back. Karen's subbing in. Karen is less masky. She's just hair and sunglasses.
Yeah, just saying. Just so you know. Yeah. Lesser of two evils, buddy.
You can pick which one you like. We can rotate back and forth. Yeah. We can have Karen come in from time to time.
All right. On today's show, all the Verizon customers can't hear you now. Trump says, no, you can't come in. Johnny Knoxville is worth how much?
And then in cigars, Meta's locking down its no smoking rule. STG is reorganizing. Viaje is super hot. And Drew Estate needs a bigger boat.
Plus, this just in, an employee steals $9,000 worth of cigars from All this and then followed up with a mini-game of what's the score? And I won yesterday, right? Yeah, I think. Um, nope.
No, no, he didn't. He won yesterday? He won yesterday. You went low, and he saw it was close.
Oh, I know, it was 89, yeah. He had 87. You said 84, I think, or something. But I nailed the day before or something.
Yeah. All right, but first, Mikey, how do you get some of that CHPOD swag? com and check out our latest swag, yesterday I was wearing our Smoke & Subscribe shirt, it's brand new, shout out to my boy T-Money Travis Peterson, the first acquisition of the Smoke & Subscribe shirt, we greatly appreciate the support, and like and subscribe to wherever you're listening or watching the show, and Postana San Andreas Corona Gorda is hitting stores. Mike, did you know about this?
Yes. Yeah. You didn't see my post this morning. This is very exciting stuff.
Very exciting stuff. And I have been doing this thing all week and I think even until last week that I'm naming five retailers every day that are taking on the Posana San Andreas Corona Gordo. Oh, excellent. So, with that being said, shout out to Harbor Cigars in Destin, Florida.
Oh, back in the family. Nice to see you again. Welcome back to the fold, Marvin. Great to have you.
We've missed you, Marvin. Smoking Pipes in Loris, South Carolina. Yes, my boy Tyler. That's right, Mr.
Caldwell, Tyler Caldwell. No relation. I got a, I got a good one for you. Oh.
Creekside Cigars. Oh. Yes, sir. Oh, I hear they're famous.
Yeah, they're, they're kind of a big deal. Are we going to be on their podcast now? Uh, yes, yeah, you're going on. Well, I don't care if I do, just as long as the cigar does.
It's going to happen. Um, we got to get to Ohio. Uh, I'll be Southern Michigan. We're in Michigan, and it's kind of cool.
Yeah, I'd like to see you go. We're in Ohio. Ohio. Ohio.
Ohio. Luxury Cigar Club in Cottonwood, Arizona. Cottonwood. And my man, Nick, at Cigar Den in Brunswick, New Jersey.
So, if you guys are close to any of those areas, you want to check out Posana San Andreas Corona Gorda, go to those shops. com, or comment below on this, send us a card or letter, smoke signal, make a phone call, whatever you want to do, come by and pick them up yourself, whatever is the easiest way for us to get in touch with your retailer, we are happy to provide great service for them and for you, so, all that being said, let's get into the show. Boots, you know it's going to be cold the next couple of days? Yes.
Yeah, if we only had something to keep our heads warm. Mmm. Ahh. Somebody commented.
I had to bring it up. I know. I know. Real Smoke Podcast said something about it.
Oh, yes. Yeah. What, are you looking on your phone to see where they are? I've seen what other comments that we had.
All right. All right, I'll just get on with the show then. Yeah. We got, I love, Sam Hopkins said his brother Rodney, that was awesome.
Oh, yes, yes. From yesterday. Epicurean Smokes. I'm sure, I'm sure Bing Bong Bukkake is already a movie series.
It's pretty good. Uh, and then T Money also says, not sure what Boots is talking about, but we already covered this. Spartans played Indiana last night. MSU doesn't play Michigan until January 30th.
Yes, we talked about that. Yes, but Michigan State did beat. I know, you already said that. Yeah, but you said they beat the wrong team.
Yeah. Doesn't count. Yes. I don't think your bookie pays you when you say they're going to beat a different team and they don't play that team.
Alright, now the news! On January 14th, 2026, Verizon, one of the largest wireless carriers in the United States, experienced a major nationwide network outage that disrupted voices and data service for hundreds of thousands of customers across the country. The problem first appeared around midday Eastern time, with users suddenly losing cellular connectivity and seeing SOS or no signal alerts on their phones. , Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Boston, and Dallas, and apparently the greater metropolitan Orlando area.
Millions of customers reported being unable to make calls, send text messages, or connect to mobile data on Verizon's network. Verizon acknowledged this disruption publicly, confirming that the wireless voice and data services were impacted and that its engineering teams were actively working on restoring service across multiple official updates on social platforms like X, Verizon confirmed crews were engaged on the issue but did not immediately provide a specific cause or clear timeline for full restoration. While the company hasn't pinpointed any official root cause, early reports and industry observers suggested it could be related to an internal network system. Possibly linked to software or signaling systems rather than external attacks.
Some discussion among tech professionals pointed towards issues with software rollouts or network routing glitches has the most plausible explanation. Nothing that major carrier outages are usually the result of configuration errors or system bugs not to hacking. Well, do you have Verizon? No, I do not have AT&T.
Do you have Verizon? Uh, nope, I switched away from them, T-Mobile. Ah, so I am blessed, I'm the fortunate one here that has Verizon. Yes.
And yesterday absolutely sucked, because I could not call people, and there are times- Your phone, your wife's phone, your brother's phone, you guys are all in brass. Yeah, we were all dark, zero dark dirty over here, yeah, it was wild, and- So it was not Greg's fault. It was not Greg's fault. Yeah, Greg did pay the bill.
Greg did pay the bill. You know, isn't it funny, it's always the first place you look, no matter what happens. " Right. You know what's funny is I honestly don't go that direction.
Oh, really? " Meanwhile, the credit card expired or something like that happened or whatever. Right, yeah. Some other type of flaw.
And then, you know, then Brittany calls me, he's like, uh, yeah, you haven't paid the, you haven't paid the internet bill in three months. I'm like, oh, oh, uh, well, let's, uh, let's get them that updated card then, right? Let's send them a little bit of money. Um, so yeah, I, you know, it's fine.
I guess it's funny cause I don't, does it seem lately that more of this kind of stuff is happening or we're just hearing about it better? Yeah. I think more of this stuff is happening. Seems to be done.
Yeah. Maybe this is why we're taking over Greenland. They have better cell service? They have better cell service?
No, maybe Russia and China are testing us. Greenland Tech is the way to go now with your cell phones, apparently. Well, look, here's what's really kind of funny, too, about this whole thing, is there's this little satellite button that happens. You have this SOS, like when everything's caved, SOS and satellite.
I'm like, okay, I will play this game and go down this rabbit hole. And it says, if you want service, click the satellite. So I clicked the satellite. Really?
Yeah. And then it says, you got a, there's like a little, like this arrow looking thing on top and there's the globe and it looks nice. Searching for satellites. It's like move your phone slightly like this.
Right. So I moved my phone slightly like this and it says, this may take a few minutes. About 15 minutes later, I was like, I am done with this. This is ridiculous.
This is not working. This is a lie. Your satellite system, Verizon, is a lie. Oh, it's a Verizon thing.
Yeah, or whoever's, if it's across. My phone doesn't, I mean, I've never seen it come up on my phone before. But I used to, I have one of the old original GPSs. Yeah.
You know, it's about the size of that old cell phone that you used to be able to hold up that was like this big. Right. Anyway, the way it would do it too, that same look would come on the screen, and then it would show you where all the satellites is, and it would have to connect three of them to grab your location. To triangulate you?
Yeah, it must be the same type of thing. Well, it's a waste of time is what it is. It's wild. Last week, my phone in the car, I used to have that yellow box, you know, in the car that had a little desk thing.
Yeah. " Oh. Oh, like an emergency thing. Yeah, like an emergency.
Oh, because it thought it crashed. Something, I guess. I don't know. Right.
But yeah, I mean, I quickly, you know, turned it off and then was watching for the police to show up. But I guess they don't, you know, if you call 911 in the car, they don't come. No, if you call and you hang up, you're fine. Right.
Well, I mean, it was dialing. Right. But it was just weird. Just to hit whatever I had to hit.
Oh, is that what it was? I thought I was in an accent? Yeah, the iPhone has a feature. If you get into a car crash, it knows if you're driving.
Oh, right, right. I guess maybe by the speed or something or whatever. It's checking your location. Yeah, and if it bumps.
It's probably not the speed, but okay. Yeah, whatever it is. But by the bump of it, it will call 911. Oh, interesting.
The next morning I had a notification that I had called 911. I'm like, well, turn this off. " Just let you guys know. Everything's fine.
Everything's fine. Thanks for checking in from eight hours ago. Just like quiet shouting in the background. Right.
Yeah, no, everything's okay. Everybody's fine. Everybody's fine. Sir, put everyone on the phone.
There's no one else in the car. They can't talk right now. No, Mr. Palmer's fine.
All right. Now, any more other cell phone antidotes? Anybody want to? I don't know.
Do I jump off of Verizon? Because I felt like Verizon was always the one forever. Yeah, I jumped off them. I've had AT&T forever.
Right. Yeah, I recently had Verizon for like, I don't know, five years. Yeah. They were great, but man, they're just getting one, too expensive.
And number two, the drop calls are just ridiculous with these guys. You've had a lot of drop calls? Yeah. I've never really had that experience.
Is one really any better than the other anymore? I mean, Bill hasn't really changed. It seems they all share the same towers and stuff at this point. Yeah, I don't know.
Well, they share the same towers, but they have different technology in each of the towers. Do you think T-Mobile is the best one or no? According to the commercials. According to the commercials, yeah.
Okay, well, let's not talk over each other, because you did that twice. I know, I tried to keep going. Okay, yeah. Go ahead, Boots.
So far, they've been great. I've had no drop calls. It seems to have better service in Central Florida. Yeah.
Yeah, from what I've noticed. But, you know, I travel all over Central Florida, so, I mean, this has been a better service. Okay. And Palmer?
I forgot what I was going to say now. I figured it was going to happen. Too late. That's why I tried to squeeze it in.
Like, it's escaping me. It's escaping me. Yeah, I gotta get this out. I gotta get this in or I'm not going to know what it was.
Yeah. Too late. Okay. All right, next story.
Yep. That's why it's all written down here. S. State Department has announced an indefinite suspension of immigration visa processing for citizens of 75 countries.
A major thanks for the fake interest as you look at your phone. I'm approving an order. You know, you do that a lot during the show. Here it is.
Gotta make money. I promise you. I can't even see you from here. There's so much light on.
I can assure you that I am working on every platform as often and as fast as possible. A major escalation in immigration policy aimed at restricting legal pathways to permanent residents. S. government assistance after they arrive.
The administration says the pause will remain in place while consular procedures are reassessed to better screen applicants and prevent those expected to depend on public benefits from entering the country. We don't want a 75 list of people. Yeah, that's fine. I'll skip that.
All right. So do you agree? Somalia is one of them. Okay.
So that's probably where this is coming from. It stuck out. Yeah. They didn't list all of them.
They just listed the major ones. Right. They listed all of these, but that was probably what they're aiming at is what you think or something? No, no, no.
No, just, it stuck out. I mean, it's just a short list. So, Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and dozens more. All the people that probably don't like us.
Right. I mean, that's a very broad stroke. I don't know if I'd go that far, you know. Where the bad people are.
You know, I can't say that everybody is bad from one particular country or not. I don't think that that's appropriate. S. All of them aren't bad.
Just most of them. That's what he's saying. I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know statistics in those countries. Yeah. Well, you're, you're like, we'll just take the country. You know what?
We'll just say that they are all bad so we can get some comments on this podcast. You just want to, you just want to, you just want to sack them? I mean, he's still talking about taking Canada and he, you know, we all know he's all hot about Greenland. So let's take Yemen.
I mean, I don't know where it is. Let's take Yemen. I'm not even sure where that one is, to be honest. It's strategic.
I don't know how that helps us. Oh my God. Well, it doesn't matter at this point. He's just making us bigger.
He's just making us make America bigger. We're going to have to have a hell of a flag with the 400 stars on it. Yeah. The 400 stars.
Officials emphasize that non-immigration visas such as tourist, business, student, or temporary entry visas are not included in the suspension. Oh, so if you don't want to live here, you just want to come visit, spend some money, it's okay. Yeah, we take the money. That's perfectly acceptable.
Because those people aren't coming to be government subsidized. They have their own money. Right. They come here for vacations.
Yeah, it's not like they're going to stay, they're going to go back. Right, it's a shorter visa. Yeah, because they love America. Right.
Everybody. I love America. I love America. Which means short-term travel remains largely unaffected.
Good, tourist dollars are good. Perfect. However, some experts note that scrutiny of non-immigration applications may increase to assess public charge risk more broadly. The policy underscores the Trump administration's wider immigration crackdown since returning to office in 2025, building on earlier travel mans and restrictions.
Okay, I mean that's, I guess that's very possible. Something I have to interject here that's kind of bothering me just a little bit on the camera. Yeah, I figured. Palmer for the last, you know, week has been dressing like a GQ, right?
Okay. Today he's like in the Mr. Feeny look. Okay.
I'm visiting stores today. Is that what that is? Yeah, that's why they're jacketing today. Normally the jacket's only on Mondays.
So when you wear GQ stuff, you're not visiting stores. Correct. Correct. Okay.
I just... I appreciate the GQ reference though. Thank you so much for noticing. It's kind of bothering me because I was, you know, in my head I was like, oh man, you know, for the past week he was wearing like some more updated type of stuff and, you know, today I'm like, what in the world is going on?
That Tommy Bahama yesterday was from the Dead Dad collection. Ooh. Oh, well, I'm sorry. That wasn't anything, no, it wasn't anything new.
I mean, I was old. Just hardly worn. Right. Well, that you guys have seen, Dad used to wear it all the time.
Did he? Yeah. Nice. Are we moving on?
I have a jacket that my dad used to wear, but it has no buttons. Like a sport coat? No, it's like lambskin. Oh, God.
Yeah, it's nice. You should wear it. It's gonna be cold tomorrow. It's very '70s.
Ah, then you should definitely wear it. Dude, I've put it on before. I'm like, I don't think I can pull this off. Is it black?
No. Oh. Yeah, you should wear it. Change it up a little bit.
Is everybody gonna be on tomorrow's show? What, tomorrow, Friday? We're gonna shoot Friday for Monday? Do we have a show tomorrow?
Yeah. Light brown. Everybody be on tomorrow's show? Wear some clothes from your father tomorrow, everybody.
Well, Boge, his dad's not dead. Just go next door and get something. Yeah, it's not as symbolic. Yeah.
Still, wear something of your father's. Jesus. Maybe his football jerseys. I've seen him wear football jerseys.
Don't worry, one day he'll die. Yeah, one day you'll get to pick through the clothes and see what you want. I'll be there for you. We should move on from this conversation.
I'll be there. We will all come and help you pick through your father's clothes. Hopefully he'll be there for you. And get rid of his belongings and things.
If not, I've died if I'm not there for you. That means I already died and then he's outlived me. Jesus. Oh, wow.
But if it's the other way around, God willing, I'll be there. - I'll be there. - I appreciate it. - All right, we've been talking about Johnny Knoxville recently, so I have how much is Johnny Knoxville's net worth in 2026?
- Okay. - You guys want to guess? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Okay.
- How much is his net worth? - Yes. - I'm going to say 120 million. - Wow.
Boots? - 200 million. - You guys really like Johnny Knoxville. - 60 million.
- According to Celebrity Network, Johnny Knoxville's estimated net worth, as of 2026, This is $50 million. Your title was like he was worth a lot of money or something. You said how much is Johnny Knoxville worth? No, Johnny Knoxville is worth how much?
That was the title. I thought 50 was a lot. That was more than I was expecting. Not in today's market.
Yeah. Well, it is for him. They slap each other on the ass for a living. I mean, he's been doing that for years.
Yeah. Yeah, but I didn't think it made that much money. MTV. He's had movies.
Yeah. All right, pulled largely from the wildly successful Jackass media franchise, He starred in Produced and Helped Create. I didn't know he produced it too, so that's extra money. Create alongside Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jones, as well as other entertainment industry ventures, including movies like Dukes of Hazzard, I forgot he was in that, The Ringer.
Great movie. TV show reboot, The Last Frontier. Anybody ever seen that? No.
And then he does a podcast called Pretty Sure I Can Fly with Johnny Knoxville and Elena Baker. - That sounds amazing. - Boots, we're still not getting paid. - Yeah, Palmer, have you not, we're the only podcast that's not getting paid.
- We're the only podcast that doesn't make any money. - It's gonna happen, don't worry. - Oh, he has video games, music videos, and more, I don't know. - He has lots of things.
- Apparently. - That's why I thought it was way more than 50, whatever. - Very diversified. - Yeah.
- Wow. - How much does he get paid on the podcast? - I don't know specifically, but it has to be enough where they mention it, though. - At least $500 a week.
- I mean, or it would be, you know, it says video games and music videos, music videos, so they didn't specifically list those, so that's just got to be, you know, just... You think it's like mid-six figures or something? I bet. Because he's famous.
Can't be that. Everybody who's famous now does a podcast, so there's got to be money in it. Yeah. Conan O'Brien, he's not even on TV anymore, is he?
Yeah, is he not? No, I don't think he's on TV anymore. He just does his podcast. He does his HBO series stuff.
He did, like, where he was touring the world or whatever. Yeah, but that's over now, too. Yeah. Wow.
Some of these podcasts go on the road and do live shows, and people buy tickets. People buy tickets to watch us be stupid? No. You don't think so?
Yes. I think they would. I haven't had any offers yet for your $500 experience. Put it out again, Palmer.
You just have to advertise it. I'll do it again on Monday. I don't have it in the copy here. It includes...
It needs to be a clip. Maybe we need to add some more stuff. Oh, we'll throw in Mikey's t-shirts. No, how about you take him to lunch?
to lunch and they can stay at my house okay all right we're now for 500 now with everything we already mentioned boots will take you to lunch after the show and then if you need to stay over because of the travel arrangements that you made yourself that we don't pay for you can stay at my house yeah but we're not paying you have to i said we don't pay for the travel arrangements yeah or nor food no no you're gonna oh okay you're just gonna drive them to lunch yeah oh okay boots will So you drive him and to lunch and buy him lunch. Perfect. You guys get to pick from multiple fast food places. He's very well-versed.
He's very well-known around the Tri-City area where all the fast foods are. All right, measles are back in the news. Again? They're up again.
Again? I'm watching the measles. One other person got it. No.
South Carolina health officials yesterday said the state now has 434 measles cases. Shut that place down. Now, after 124 new cases have been confirmed, there are currently 409 South Carolinians in quarantine and 17 in isolation, with some quarantines extending to February 6th. Mobile vaccine units will be active this week, and officials urge local residents to get vaccinated.
Vaccination now can avoid long-term quarantines at home for those exposed to the measles virus. So they're doing COVID-type shots now for measles in South Carolina. Wow. Who's the frontrunner, Pfizer & Pfizer?
They haven't said. Pfizer & Pfizer? Or whatever it's called. Johnson & Johnson?
Johnson & Johnson. You just took two pharmaceutical companies and merged them together. Wasn't Pfizer the leading COVID one? Pfizer was a single.
And then Johnson & Johnson was a double. He made Pfizer & Pfizer. Pfizer & Pfizer. Or Johnson.
Right. Pfizer & Johnson. Pfizer & Johnson. The legal team of Pfizer & Johnson.
We eliminated Johnson. Vaccination within 72 hours of exposure can prevent measles, They can't prevent measles infections, the state's Department of Public Health said its update. Most all cases come from the upstate region in an outbreak centered in Spartanburg County that began in October and has involved exposure at several schools and churches. Spartan County is home to several charter schools with a significant number of students with religious exemptions from routine vaccinations.
Great. Makes sense. Well, no, actually, it's worse than that. You want to know what the problem is?
Somebody stated in an article a hundred years ago that measles is linked to autism. And once that article was debunked, measles related or vaccinations were related? Measle vaccinations. I apologize.
Right. Measle vaccinations were linked to autism. And then once that article was debunked, nobody paid attention to it. And what happens is people want to share what they can think is good information to other people.
Right. So they read this article. They say, "Hey, measles, measles shots, cause autism, you have kids, I have kids, take a look at this, right? " And then all of a sudden, we're skipping vaccinations, right?
When the other news comes out, it's not as big, it's not as widely reported, and then, boom, now you have this problem. Everybody in South Carolina has measles. And now measles. And to get a religious exemption in that state, you don't have to have a doctor's note, just have to have a form and have it notarized.
Right. By your mom. And, you know, look, I think you have, I guess to some degree you have, no, it's not to some degree, you have every right to raise your kid how you want to raise your kid, you know what I mean? And if you don't want to vaccinate them, I guess don't vaccinate them.
They could get the measles. But, like, yeah, you know, it might get hairy, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know. Or bumpy.
Or bumpy. Yeah. Spartanville, it's super bumpy. Of the 434 measles patients tracked in the past six months, 378 are unvaccinated, 47 are unknown, and 6 have been fully vaccinated, and 3 have been partially vaccinated.
There you go. Like, you have to believe in science to some degree. Like, the problem is that, I could argue the other side, too, is that, you know, science has taken advantage of people as well. They will say something to you, and then you have, they're like, you need to believe this or else, and they're like, that's improper, too.
I don't like science. I don't cook with recipes. I don't like science. I only trust Pfizer and Pfizer.
Only Pfizer and Pfizer. That's where all the good vaccines come from, Pfizer and Pfizer. Pfizer and Pfizer. Double Pfizer.
The measles cases in South Carolina are between the ages of 5 and 17, the majority of them are. Oh, they're just children. That doesn't make it okay. But what's the mortality rate for...
Yeah, I don't know. We only had something in our hand that we could look up. Yeah, for youth with measles. I don't know.
I don't think he died from it. Really? I haven't... There has to be some reason they came up with a vaccine.
So, I mean, not like, oh, you just got red dots. Let's make sure that goes away. Well, it's super itchy and all that. Do measles itch?
Now I'm itching, talking about itchy stuff. I have measles now on my head. Well, you're good. You're not between the ages of 5 and 17.
No, I was vaccinated. Back when I was vaccinated, they gave you shots for everything. Right. I even got a polio shot.
Right. Polio doesn't exist anymore. We'll hear the measles, but it's back. One to three deaths per thousand cases.
One out of three? One to three. Oh, one, two, three. So we're not there yet.
1%. Oh. So we're not there yet. Why would we have picked that one to get rid of?
Just because it was easily done? I don't know. Some guys in the lab going, I would like to beat measles, because I don't like the dots. But somebody will happily explain to us in our comments.
Sure, sure, right. That's true. Why it is... Why it is we can't have the measles.
Right. I mean, I don't want them back, but... Yeah. Just curious why that one was chosen.
You are the chosen one. Goodbye. Alright, in Utah, they have 200 cases. South Carolina now has the largest measles outbreak in the country.
And the second largest outbreak record in the past year in the United States. A West Texas outbreak that began last January and was declared over in August saw 762 cases. Oh, I can't go to Texas either. More than two-thirds of West Texas cases were in children, including two fatalities in school-aged children.
There you go. Other measles news. Well, there's no way a thousand people had it at that point. So the ratio has got to be, you know, higher than what this thing is telling me.
Exactly. Oh, they're having it in Arizona, too. I have it in Arizona, too. Oh, it's everywhere.
Well, it's one of the most highly contagious viruses out there. That's why. Right, and yeah, there's a, whatever it's called, incubation period where, I mean, you might have had it and then you just give it to me in boots, but you haven't had it in like three or four days, something like that. I don't know if that's specifically correct, I just, ballparking numbers here, people, so just relax.
Don't worry, I'll take the short clip and exclude the second portion of that so that someone can yell at them. I thought you couldn't edit the clips, you said you can't. I may be able to edit them. So that's why your face is on the front of all of them.
No, I don't have time for that. I don't have time for that. Alright, anybody got a video they want to share or something before we get into the cigar news? Anybody?
Anybody? Anybody? The only thing that I wanted to share with you today was... Is this off the air stuff?
No, was the STG conversion thing. We have that in a couple of minutes. I wanted to cover that, so that wasn't a video. Boots, anything you want to cover?
I have videos, but you guys don't like them, so. Yeah, no, we don't want your videos. No more porn. Don't send the porn.
All right. Facebook is quietly tightening its grip on cigar-related content, leaving many cigar pages and community pages facing reduced reach, removed posts, or full shutdowns. Boo. While Meta has long banned paid, tobacco advertising enforcement is now expanding deeper into organic content.
Cigar brands, lounges, and influencers, and community admins report posts being flagged for commerce facilitation. Even when no sales links are present, groups that allow buying, selling, or trading are especially vulnerable. In some cases, entire groups have disappeared overnight with little to no explanation. Meta says the goal is to limit youth exposure and comply with global tobacco regulations, but critics argue the platform's automated moderation systems often misclassify legal adult-focused cigar content as policy violations.
The result, fewer recommendations, shadow banning, and confusion among page owners about what is actually allowed for cigar businesses and enthusiasts, the message is clear, Facebook is no longer a safe or predictable platform for tobacco visibility, and the crackdown is only getting stronger. None of them are safe, that's the reality. Yeah, I was just thinking, I mean, there's not like somewhere else you can go. Right.
I mean, they tried rolling out whatever that new social media thing was a couple of years ago when this was just starting to happen, and it didn't take off. Rumble? No, Rumble's a video service. It was another Facebook-type thing everybody was moving to.
Threads. Oh, yeah. What boots? Threads?
No, that's... No, Threads is still there. Threads is Facebook's run at X. Oh.
Right. Our postagna page is not being recommended any longer. Right. There was another one, too.
I thought there was another one. That might be the only one for us. So this week, I'm not showing any cigars that are lit, and if I can avoid it, I'm not even putting any cigar in the post. Isn't that wild?
right you have to you have to adapt like what are we doing right i've never said you know you can buy it just this is the you know here this looks nice sitting with a glass of scotch but yet we have all these recommendations of these half-naked women and stuff all over our facebook's right but we can't do cigars all sorts of other things all sorts of other things right perfectly acceptable however there's no proof that youth goes after cigars whatsoever right If they don't want to smoke them, they smell bad. Right. But vape's okay. You can vape on Facebook.
Vaping's perfectly acceptable. You can suck on a battery all you want. Yeah. Right.
They love that. And youth loves that. Yeah. I saw yesterday, Abe's been affected by this.
His group, his shop page, and the great smoke is not being shared anywhere. Really? Yep. Oh, that's hurtful.
I mean, I knew ours was, but I just figured, you know, look at the draw. They came after us this month. Right. But apparently everybody's getting it now.
That's insane, man. Isn't it? Yeah. You guys need to help stop this regulation.
What are you doing? " Well, it's a little too late. You agree to the terms and conditions in the beginning. That's not going to work, yeah.
" Right. I wrote it down here on this post. Right. Because it's true.
I saw it on the news. I didn't even write it down. I copy and pasted this post. Yeah.
Can't believe people still think that's true. Right. In today's world. Oh, yeah.
Well, you know, cats and dogs living together. Cats and dogs, yeah. Alright, an employee of best cigar prices has been charged after allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in cigars and merchandise from the retailer's Pennsylvania location. Hmm.
When he does that, I don't know why, he just rubs me in the wrong way and goes, hmm. Oh, yeah? I don't know why. It's nice to add that in every once in a while.
According to local police, 61-year-old Daniel T. Brennan of Scranton was arraigned in Butler Township on charges of retail theft and receiving stolen property. Best Cigar Prices, which operates a retail location in Drums, Pennsylvania, discovered the theft after surveillance footage reportedly showed Brennan concealing cigars inside a travel humidor. How many did he have to take to make $9,000?
We're talking retail? He probably moved them out over time. Yeah, but they put in a travel humidor, so you're stealing three or four at a time. Must have been years.
Well, if a travel humidor holds like 20 or 30, you know. What if an employee here carried a giant travel humidor in and out every day? What, did you question it at all? You guys don't carry any type of travel humidors here?
Yes, but they don't walk in with it and then leave with it. We sell them. I would ask. Yeah, you would think.
Just about all of them have a little five packer, but that's stuff they can smoke while they're here. That's why they're here. Like, hey, what's up with that? Yeah.
That thing's kind of bad. Well, if you're a store doing inventory properly anyways. Yeah, I mean, but like you just pick up on like this doesn't make sense. I mean, Greg watches a lot of things like a hawk.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, from Michigan. He doesn't watch TV.
He watches cameras. Yeah. He watches us in here doing the show. He does.
Yeah. You guys are done? Right. Yeah.
He strangely came in as soon as it was over. Are you finished? right like huh wow that's a coincidence right um oh i'm you know like i can tell you that there was one interaction that i had in the past with an employee that skimmed from the register and uh i know i've mentioned this 100 years ago but that one was tough because i was so confused because i thought that this guy was a good guy i'm like there's just no way was it is that only happened i mean i know you're talking about that was it just that one guy is Is that the only incident you guys have had? As far as the skimming?
Or an employee stealing to where you had to let them go? An employee stealing to where I had to let them go. It's the only one I know of. Yeah, I think so.
I mean, if I know about that one, I've been here for the others, so... I mean, the other shit, you know, if the theft exists, it's below the radar. Right. You know what I mean?
It's not okay. No, no. But, you know, they're very slick about it. All right, following an internal-- We have a good set of people here, though.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think any of them are, but I didn't mean to imply that, but I just didn't-- I mean, I know who the one guy was and how that worked out. I just didn't know if anybody else had been-- I think that we've done a better job of trying to create a culture with our employees and not treat them like dirt. Well, that guy, like I said, was very surprising. Yeah, I was very much caught off guard with that, but he wasn't culturally bought into-- Oh, gotcha.
Just an employee. Right. Where I think a lot of our employees are more now, they believe in the culture of what it is. If that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been around for a while here. The crew now is different than it has ever been as far as that goes. Yeah, like they're willing to pull with you.
You know what I mean? They see the work and they see all the effort that you're putting in and they see that we appreciate them. Right. So they're willing to go the extra mile for you because of that.
Right. And I'm very grateful for that. 100%. Well, except Keanu.
Well, I was gonna say except for you. But yeah, except for Keanu. Except for me? Yeah.
I have 75% of my body tattooed with the logo. That's what I'm saying. You could go the full 100%. Oh, I'm sorry.
I have no tattoos on the face. Something on the forehead or something. No. Like a teardrop pee.
A teardrop pee in the corner? Yeah, that'd be great. Oh, only if I kill Keanu. Yeah, only if I kill Keanu, and then I will.
Following an internal investigation, the company determined that Brennan had taken approximately 600 cigars along with accessories and company apparel over a two-month period. Wow. It's a pretty quick haul. I think that's easy to do.
Well, if you're determined, yes. I would assume that that guy came in with an agenda, you know what I mean? Yeah, 600 cigars. Got 'em.
During July and August, the total value of the stolen merchandise was estimated at roughly $9,000. You think that number is exaggerated a little bit? 9,000? Yeah.
Uh, maybe. I guess I'd have to know what brands. Accessories and clothing, too, though. I mean...
Yeah, well, like 600 cigars, even at full retail. Maybe they were all El Septimo. I don't know how you get that high, you know. Boots, divide 9,000 by 600, what do you get?
E-Niner. I don't know, it's like 15 bucks a cigar or something like that. 9,000 divided by 600? $15?
That's not hard to do. That doesn't make much sense. I could just be... Well, 10 times 600.
Oh, oh my God. He got it. It's 15 bucks. 15 bucks?
Well, he did it on his phone. He didn't guess. My phone's been sitting right... No, he actually did the math.
You guys always... Give the guy the credit. I can't see him from here. Can you give him a little bit of credit?
You guys have these spotlights on me now. I can't even see you over there right now. Hello. Hello.
Hello. Hello. Hello. Brendan was released on $20,000 unsecured bail while the case moves through the legal system.
Unsecured. I'll put up these cigars for collateral. And a statement provided to the Time Leader Representative for Best Cigar Prices confirmed the incident, noting that the company worked closely with the law enforcement after completing its internal review. " Best Cigar Prices operates a major multi-channel cigar retailer with an online store, catalog business, wholesale division, and its best cigar pub retail location.
The case serves a reminder that even trusted positions within specialty retail can present serious internal security risk when safeguards fail. - Who picked up this article? - Half-wheel. - Really?
- Charlie Manato wrote the article. - I gotta tell you, this is probably one of the best marketing strategies I've ever seen. - Right. - Oh, because everybody's now talking about cigar vestment.
- Yeah. - Well, let's put out a purse release that somebody stole here. - Right. - Let's announce that.
- Let's announce that Keanu has been seen, allegedly, taking... - I mean, should we have covered... - Free advertisement at Half-wheel. - Should we have covered the Saka statue theft and reported it to Half-wheel?
Oh, we probably should have. You know, Cigar Hauser says… I'm surprised they didn't pick that up. We had a… we had… didn't we put the surveillance footage out or something? Yeah, it was on Facebook or whatever.
People asked about it for a while. We should have reported it to, you know, and then we should have filed it and then sent it to Charlie. Right. Because I got news for you.
$9,000 in retail, you know, and with the prices that they pay, there's probably, you know, $1,000 in their cost. They just got marketing on multiple platforms. It's kind of brilliant. I'm not mad.
I'm a little jealous. Well, if you like, I'll go steal stuff. If you go take some things, then I can report you. Can you say an undisclosed employee?
No, you got to go through the whole format. I got to have you arrested. Never mind. We'll get Keanu to do it.
He's about to be gone for four days. We can just report it while he's gone. Oh, yeah? Where's he going?
He's going to Georgia. No, don't tell him. Now they're going to arrest him. I don't want to arrest him.
He almost got arrested in Georgia last time I think he was there. Yeah. Yeah. With the state trooper.
It's a funny story if you have a moment. Yeah, I do. He was going to go camping by himself to a location he found that would not charge him and stay in a tent. Okay.
35. He was in for $35. Okay. His girlfriend found out he was going, said, "You can't go.
" Okay. So, now he is in for almost $300. Okay. And he's driving to Georgia instead of Ocala National Forest.
Okay. This is the story? That was the story. " I thought you were talking about how he almost got arrested in Georgia.
Oh, no, I don't know that exact story. Was it arrested or he was just off grid and his mother called the police? Yeah, they were worried about him or whatever? Right.
Yes. It's the guy who can't win. All right, moving on. He can't win.
He can't win it, Eddie. And here you are talking about murdering him. I mean... Well, no, I said if I did, I would get the Powstanie, Pete.
Right. I didn't say I wanted to. Oh, okay. I apologize.
But I mean, everybody else has families that work here, so... He stopped clicking. Oh, he's still clicking. Okay.
S. sales divisions. Most notably, the non-Cuban Cohiba brand will now be sold by Ford Cigar Company. Historically, the brand has been sold by General Cigar Company.
STG is swapping five brands between the two sales divisions. As of February 2nd, 2026, General's brands will include: Partigas, Room 101, CAO, Don Thomas, I'm not familiar with that, Don Tomas, El Titan de Bronze, Excalibur, Hoya de Monterey, HumiCare, Macanudo, Mahari, and Panter. Pantheer, Pantheer, Forge will now be Cohiba, Punch, Havana Honeys, Alec Bradley, Boulevard, Chillin' Moose, Diesel, El Rey Del Mundo, La Gloria Cubana, Odyssey, the brands that have changed portfolios are in bold. Both divisions are owned by STG and sell STG brands, there are a rare instance in the cigar business of internal competition between sales teams, Journal and Forge are owned by the same company, share many of the same resources like factories and marketing teams, and are led by the same executives.
However, the individual sales reps are directly competing against their co-workers selling similar products to the same retailers in their territory, a setup that is unique within the cigar industry, though it can happen to large industries like food and alcohol. Okay, so Room 101 and Partagas jumped to General. Correct. And then Cohiba Punch and Havana Honeys jumped to Forge.
Correct. Okay. So why do you think this would happen? I honestly don't know.
All right. Well, we're going to try and call Justin real quick. Oh! No, he's not going to answer.
Oh, you already called him and are you pre? I tried to offer, yeah. I love having the headphones just ready. Super amazing.
Let me see. Oh, you know what, dude? Maybe this will work. It's the new Rodecaster.
Oh, good. Hey, Bluetooth me? No, he means get a marker and paint his tooth blue. Rodecaster Pro.
We're connected. So weird to hear the show in your head now. Ah, I missed this. I don't, is it very loud?
Now I can't hear or see. Let's see if he answers. Turn it down, Smidge. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail Son of a bitch Why would he not answer?
What about Matt Booth? He's not at the meeting? Because they're doing a whole meeting Matt Booth is in They're not doing a meeting I went by there Matt Booth is in He's visiting the pyramids or something Oh yeah he is in Egypt He's got to be back by now. There's a lot to see over there.
It's nine o'clock in the morning in Washington. What time is it in Egypt? Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. Is he maybe at the meeting?
Anybody else? He's probably at the meeting. Fondy? Fondy doesn't work for them.
No. Who's our rep for them? A guy's name is John. You guys always say that like it's not a real person.
It's John Smith. Oh, oh. Matt Booth. Yes.
Hey. Hold on. Hold on. Okay.
Hey, you're on the podcast real quick. Yes. How are you? Matt, I'm good.
How are you? Are you at the meeting? Are you at the meeting right now? I'm...
Well, kind of. Okay. He's there, but obviously not paying attention. I'm in the vicinity of it.
Okay. All right. I just had a quick question. First of all, I tried calling Justin Andrews.
Of course, he doesn't want to answer, because he's an idiot, but... He's deeply involved. Why the move? Why the Room 101 move to GC and Partagas move to General as well, and then Cohiba punch Havana honeys to Forge?
Remember, you're on the podcast. The real podcast, not the Patreon. Yeah, yeah, no, I think, I think simply put, it was a move to kind of rationalize the two portfolios and bring balance to their brand offerings. Okay.
As in, you know, as intelligently as possible. And I say intelligent, I mean, it's, you know, cigar business, but I think they did a good job with it. Cigar intelligence. Yeah, because it looks to me like you're the main...
Are you there? Yes. Can you hear me? No, it still doesn't do it.
Son of a bitch. Damn Verizon. Can you hear me? He's gone.
Damn it. I have my boost number. Okay, connect. Wait, wait.
I have to do the Bluetooth thing, right? Yes. Let me disconnect. Okay.
Pear. I'm waiting on it to show up on my phone. What is wrong with my phone? I don't know, man.
That's so wild. Yeah. Verizon. Damn Verizon.
Okay, you're paired. Can I hardwire? Alright, I'm connecting. I don't know.
This is amazing. I love the fact that the guy's at the fucking meeting and he still answers the phone. Still answers the phone. Meanwhile, Justin's like...
He said he's deeply involved. He's deeply involved. I forget my phone. Did you fucking hang up on me?
No, Mikey's phone doesn't work. I would never hang up on you. You know this. Okay, okay.
Well, I thought that was the case, but then I was like, well, well, what happened? I was answering your questions. You just get the, no, I did answer the question, and then the line went just dead. No, you can't jump to that conclusion.
You have to give me the benefit of the doubt. You're right. No, of course, obviously. No, I would, you know, I get it.
I get it. You're right, that's the same, the same thing to do. Yeah. My phone, for whatever reason, when I connect to this goddamn board, it kicks out after like 45 seconds.
And then I can, we can still, yeah, we can still hear you, and I'm like, oh, fuck, we normally do that to Jack once a week, yeah, yeah, okay, so, um, you, so you, like, to me, the way that I'm looking at this, it's like, Room 101 is the main hub now for the general cigar team, does that make sense? Well, man, I think there's, I mean, I think there's a sick amount of upside and potential, um, running that brand with that team, right, and, uh, I'm looking forward to, you know, They're so ravenously taking advantage of that. Okay. Yes.
Yeah. Does that sufficiently answer your question? It does. Does it satiate your wanton bloodlust for knowledge, your desire to know things?
Yes. To hear straight from the source? Yes. Yes, indeed, it does.
While you're in the meeting. I need you to go up. I'm nearby the meeting. I'm nearby.
He's in the area. Go ahead, Justin. " I'll do it. Okay.
I'll do it. We know you will. With my dominant hand. Yes.
A solid grab. A solid grab. You know? I'll get that cake.
That way he knows that he should always answer the damn phone. Yeah, or he's gonna get a nice grab, Ryan. It's ridiculous. I'm not gonna lie, it's probably gonna excite him that you do that, by the way.
I mean, look, man, I mean, not my first rodeo. I mean, but he's an elusive, you know, gentleman of business. He is. You know, hard to condemn.
Yeah. Making moves. How are you guys doing? We're doing fantastic, man.
Great. Yeah, man. Beginning of the year, I think things are going pretty goddamn well. Yeah, they're going good.
I'm not going to lie, man. I'm not going to lie. I was like, okay. Man, we've had a few breakthroughs here on multiple levels and different things, on the podcast, on wholesale, on retail.
Mike, son of a bitch, like, are they all, are they all hitting? They're all hitting, I guess. They hit the ground running, bro. Yeah.
You know, I guess hard work eventually pays off, as long as you don't kill yourself beforehand. Right. That's correct. I mean, it will kill you, but just you hope to taste a little bit of it before you expire.
A hundred percent. A hundred percent. So, you know, it seems like there's a light. I can see it.
So hopefully we'll get there, you know. Good for you, man. But how are you? Egypt?
Oh my God. I'm great. Egypt was sick. Amazing.
It was fantastic. It was one for the record books, man. It was an amazing trip. A phenomenal experience to share with the family and, you know, and I'm looking forward to getting out there and doing something again, man.
I'm, you know, I'm horny for travel. I can't help myself. I'm like a crackhead for it, you know? Good for you, dude.
There was a picture with Gray and he was standing in front of like a rope. I felt like that rope was kind of a guideline. He could have went behind there without a problem. Yeah, no, for sure.
Yeah. Yeah, it was implied. Yeah, exactly. There was touching.
There was touching. Yeah, there was touching. Good. Don't worry.
Yeah. That's excellent. No, it was killer. I'd highly recommend it.
Yes. A lot of camel playing. I saw that. I saw that.
I like the camels. I've been to that. It's like a Middle Eastern giraffe almost. There you go.
Right. There you go. What else is going on? Doing a little show, doing a little podcast, doing a little thing.
What's next on your list, Matt? Where are you going next? Where do you want to go? Where do you want to go?
What's on your list? I've got Jordan planned this year. Man, I'd really like to, you know, I haven't been to Vietnam yet. I'd love to see it.
Yeah, I've been over, you know, digging around in some of the nooks and crannies of that general vicinity, but I haven't yet, haven't yet touched down in Vietnam, man. I'd like to see it. Okay. And fuck it.
While I'm there, Cambodia. You know? We're hitting some things. Yeah.
Man. Just go see some stuff. Yeah, Cambodia, bro. How about that, dude?
" And people are going to be like, "What? " Yeah. That's incredible. I mean, look, man, at his age, I could have, I could have never dreamt, you know?
Right. It's just, you know, for me, it's just a lot of big feels to be able to do that and, and, you know, I imagine along the way it's going to bake the bread a little different, you know, and there's something set for experience and so we're just going to take it as it comes, man. Hey, well, you're a great dad, dude. You're doing a lot of good things, bro.
So congratulations. As my son says, I try my best and thanks for noticing. You know, you're not doing too bad yourself, you know, I'm trying. Good dads recognize good dads, man.
That's right. That's right. GDs. GDs, baby.
Okay, well, we'll let you get back to your meeting. We're gonna wrap this podcast up. The vicinity. The vicinity.
The vicinity. In the general area. Yes, to the vicinity. I'm near.
I'm near. I appreciate you taking the call. Yeah, of course, man. And don't forget to goose Justin for me.
I will. I will. You guys take it easy. I will.
Take it easy, guys. Bye-bye. All right, he's off. There you go.
Real friends answer the goddamn phone. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, that was cool. Right.
Oh, no, I'm, I'm around the meeting. Yeah. What do you, what's up? Yeah.
What do you want to know? What do you want to know? Sounds like a very official answer though. Justin is not in a circle.
It sounds like a very official answer. Matt's answer on why they moved his company. It sounded very, very official. Yeah.
So why do you think they did it? I think he's right. I think they're, they're trying to even up the sides because I mean, as the article said, The two sides compete, and if they're competing and this guy has, you know, one general has these companies that do better than what Forge does, let's flop them a little and try to even it out a little bit. But doesn't all the money come into the same pot?
Yeah, but that's not, but you want to make the most amount of money, right? Are they looking to sell, or I'm not? I don't think so, no. Well, who could buy STG?
They're the one that buys everything. Right. Or buy people's. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I kind of look at this, and I think that, You know, Cohibos and your Punches and stuff like that are your easy sales for a lot of mainstream stores, right?
Sure. So, like, in my interpretation, and I could be completely wrong, is that your better sales force is General Cigars, and, you know, your newer sales force that needs more grooming and more work would probably be the Forge side. Gotcha. Right?
Makes sense. So you give them a couple of layups, and then they can kind of develop and grow some of these other things. Right. And, you know, Room 101, I think, is a good staple, and they kind of stand on their own, but would do better with a better sales force.
Gotcha. Right? That, that's just my take. I could be totally, totally off on it.
Just your opinion. Yeah. But, it would make sense. Okay.
Good cover. Good story. All right, one of Viaje's most popular releases, the Super Shot, will be back on store shelves in the near future, as the company has announced that it will begin shipping both the 10-gauge and the 12-gauge later this week. 25x52.
The company is not disclosing where the cigars were produced nor how many have been made. The Super Shot debuted in 2012 and gets its inspiration from the clay shooting, a sport that Viaje's founder, Andre Farkas, had taken up at the time. As he told the story of the cigar's origins, he said he found himself getting frustrated with not having his cigar short enough to smoke between rounds, so he created the line, offering a pair of short Robustos. The cigars are then packaged in boxes designed to resemble the ones used for shotgun shells.
In 2020, the company added the buckshot version to the shotgun shells line, replacing the Nicaraguan Criolo wrapper with a Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper. The company said the version will not be making an appearance this year. The company also released a zombie-themed variant super-shot merging into two of the company's best-known lines. That's for when he remembered his hobby of shooting zombies, and he wanted to smoke something between the zombie killings and the zombie killings.
Yeah, I'm excited about this one. This is one of the easiest double-ups for a lot of retailers. It's highly sought after. You know, I think we get like three boxes of each, and they're usually gone well before they land.
Great cigars are great price. Yeah. This is one of Viaje's staples. Like, this is a good one.
And it doesn't even have bands. It's wild. Yeah. But the box is really cool.
Boxes are cool. Those are like a box of shells. Yeah. It is neat.
And they're, you know, that exact size. Right. All right. When the new year went into effect, so did new pricing for Drew Estate on January 1st.
First, the company's new price list went into effect, as has been the case over the last few years. These changes reflect continued cost increases across multiple areas of business, said Ike Krippitides? Turner? No, not Ike Turner.
" When asked about specifics of the increase, he declined to comment to Half-Wheel or Cigar Hustler Podcasts. Drew Estate is one of the first of many companies to announce price increases in the coming months. For the most part, companies announce annual price increases at the beginning of the year, which most likely take an effect during Q1. Yeah, this is kind of wild.
First to move. I mean, you had a lot of price increases over the past couple years. From Drew State specifically, you mean, or just everybody? From everybody.
Yes. Right. And, you know, this tariff, I think this tariff is a little higher than what we originally projected. I think it's sitting at 15% now.
So I can understand why that would kind of offset, but I don't know. Why won't they say why? They're not giving any reason why they're doing a price increase and it's none of your business. Because they don't have to.
Because they don't have to. All right. You know, like... Well, normally people give the pat answer like, you know, cost of raw materials, labor prices, Yeah.
Maybe they just don't want you to know. Yeah. They don't want you to know? Like realistically, could they absorb the cost this time around?
The answer is probably yes, right? Right. So it's like, so why would, so then if you're a company that's big enough to afford it, why would you do it? And it's like, well, because we want to make more money.
Right. Is the statement. We need a bigger boat. Yeah.
And more money. Right. So like, okay. Right.
Jonathan needs more sandwiches. He wants to go back to Macau. Macau. Make sandwiches.
So yeah, makes sense. And Half Wheels, right? It's the first of many. You're probably going to see more of that, you know?
Right, it'll start announcing it, especially if it gets closer to the show. Yeah, that's usually where you start eking up, oh, you know, I'm curious about any more firings before then, right? More shakeups. So as the pricing increases come out, we'll cover them.
But right now we are focused mainly on who is entering the portal. Oh, the new guy is Sam Pariah, he's now my friend on Facebook. Oh, really? Yes.
Very nice. I look forward to building that relationship with him. The guy with the suit? Yeah, the guy who came from the cabinet company?
Yeah, the cabinet guy. Right. You think he'll hook you up with some cabinets? Maybe, you never know.
Yeah. At least I'll be picked some out. Right. You should know cabinets and countertops.
You should get some options. Right. Yeah. Maybe he's got like all those swatch books left over or something.
Yeah. We can go over that at the PCA meeting. You can flip through that. I, you know, check out these cigars, and by the way, by the way, I noticed you need a new countertop.
How do you feel about these? Is it just countertops or is it just cabinets as well? Um, I don't, I know the countertops are a positive. I'm not sure about the cabinets, but I mean, it's countertop adjacent.
Hey, granite's kind of out. Let's look at this. Yeah. Okay.
Maybe some marble. Some nice marble wouldn't be good. Got it. Concrete, very in.
All right, it's time for the industry's favorite game from 2025. What's the score? Perfect, gentlemen. Today's cigar, June 30th, 2020, Charlie Monado Cigars.
It's a Dominican Republic cigar. It's from Jake Wyatt Company. It is the Herbert Spencer Robusto. 88.
88? Jake Wyatt? Jake Wyatt. No, the Herbert Spencer Robusto from Jake Wyatt.
Yes. 85. All right, cigar reviewed. Excuse me, I'm gonna yawn.
Cigar reviewed. Herbert Spencer Robusto from the Dominican Republic. Factory is Tablicalera, JVM. It's a Mexican, San Andreas, and Ecuadorian, Connecticut wrapper.
Binder is Dominican because they have that little artsy stuff cut in there. Yeah. Binder is Dominican Republic. Filler, Dominican Republic.
It is a 5x50. Robusto, they smoked 3. 87. 85.
Clue number one. The cigar stands out immediately with its bold artistic presentation and multi-tone wrapper, which gives it a unique identity across the brand's portfolio. Pre-light aromas are rich in lavender and layered, sorry, blending sweetness, pecan, light acidity, and a subtle sandpaper texture that feels rustic yet refined. Lovely description.
When I read it, I thought they were going to say it tasted like sandpaper. I was going to have a fit. 88. You never had sandpaper?
I don't know what it tastes like. 85. Clue number two. The first half of the Herbert Spencer Robusto offers a well-balanced and complex flavor profile.
Notes of nuttiness, creaminess, molasses, and light metallic tingles. You cheating son of a bitch. How does that taste good? What a metallic tingle tastes like?
I'm not sure what metallic tingle is. Put a quarter in your mouth. Does that tingle though? Is that a metallic tingle?
I don't know. That would be metallic-y. Good. Yeah.
86. Wait, there's more. I interrupted. I'm sorry.
He got excited about the tingles. The complemented by Excellent Retro Hills featuring citrus, teriyaki sauce, and softened nuttiness. What is softened nuttiness? Exactly.
Metallically tingleness. That's the same thing. Is that like a boiled peanut? You don't know what softened nuttiness tastes like?
Nope. It's softer. It's like nuttiness, but it's lighter. Well, the finish delivers oak, orange, and lingering sweetness while the body and strength remain approachable.
It's very approachable with its soft nuts. 87. Is this a woman doing this review? 87.
No, Brooks. It's Brooks. There's no women that work for... No, it's Charlie.
Oh, Charlie. There's no women that work for Half Wheel. I thought you said Brooks. I don't know.
Did you guys give your scores after two? I did. Oh, he did. Metallicliness and nuttiness.
Metallic tingles and soft nuts. Yeah, I'm still at 85. You sure? It tingles.
Yeah, I'm at 85. Alright, third clue. Construction and performance consistency significantly impact the overall enjoyment. Draws vary noticeably between samples, ranging from slightly loose to uncomfortably tight, which directly affects both smoke production and flavor delivery.
As the cigar progresses into the final third, the profile loses cohesion, with earthiness and metallic notes overpowering the remaining flavors. So the nuts are gone now. Can't taste the nuts. This third clue or final thought?
That was a third clue, and then we have a final thought. 86. You've smoked this cigar, right? Probably.
Yeah, 85. I don't think I've ever had a Jake White. They were here at one point. Yeah, we carried them.
I just don't think I ever had one. The Herbert Spencer Reserve is a good cigar for the first three and a half inches. But at a certain point, it just ran out of steam. It's a shame because I really was enjoying a relatively easy smoking experience and the unique flavors, but the score here isn't likely to reflect that.
A lot of the blame goes to the one sample that was way too tight. Honestly, if that cigar wasn't being smoked for review, I would have walked away from it pretty early on and pulled a new cigar out of the humidor. It still produced similar flavors, but it added annoyance at the expense of a vibrant flavor. Still, these three cigars were promising enough that I'll pick some of their other lines up to try the next time I see them on the shelf at a cigar store.
Oh, 86. So, if he's annoyed by the cigar, he may possibly score it lower. Yeah, like, he's struggling with the draw and stuff. But I love the fact that he has to sit through it still.
Right. Like, that's pretty funny. I still have to smoke this stuff. Like, nobody's gonna know, you know what I mean?
Right, yeah, toss it, nobody cares. Yeah, like, uh-oh, it was plugged, it sucked, I'm done. Right. Nope, not Charlie.
He's like, you know what? I'm gonna go through this whole damn thing. Yeah, Steve had one upstairs and I asked him, you didn't like it? He goes, no, it was plugged.
Right. Like, oh. So, I got rid of it. So, halfway through, I just put it away.
I like it when I get rid of it in front of people that don't smoke cigars a lot. Like, what are you doing? Like, it's not working. Right.
Ain't no working. You don't want to fix it? I'm like, no, I want to move on from it. Here's a nice piece.
That's probably on the board somewhere. Yeah, it is. What did you say? 86.
And this is the final thought? That was the final thought. This is the final score. 85.
What did you say? 86. You said 85? Yep.
81. Ooh, wow. That's so low. That's so low.
Yeah. I mean, I've smoked it, and I thought the same thing. This is plugged? This is terrible?
Yeah, it's not a good cigar. I'm going to smoke all of it anyway? No, I threw mine out. Oh.
Yeah. It was a last minute grab, and the name was easy to say. So I figured, oh, we'll go with this one. Yeah.
You know who got into these cigars was, I think Dana got into them for a second. Did she? Yeah. I think she liked them.
Okay. Alright, anybody got anything else? That's it. Alright, it's been episode 449.
So, this is a Friday show. Enjoy your weekend. Bing bong. Bing bong.
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Show Notes
On today’s show All The Verizon customers can’t hear you now! Trump says no you can’t come in, Johnny Knoxville is worth him much? and then in cigars Meta is locking down its No Smoking Rule, STG is reorganizing and a special phone interview with Matt Booth! Viaje is super hot and Drew Estate needs a bigger Boat! An employee steals $9000 worth of cigars All this then followed up with a Mini Game of What’s The Score!