ACHP Episode 451 Halfwheel Has MadeTheir Choice for #2

Episode Summary

Episode 451 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual banter about CHPod beanies and the ongoing struggle to press logo patches without melting the fabric, plus shout-outs to supporting retailers Blend & Barrel (Sanford, FL), Harry's Smoke Shop (Philadelphia) and Sir Louie's Cigars (Wilbraham, MA), who bought out the last of the podcast's hats. From there the crew runs its regular news block: the Atlanta Falcons hiring Kevin Stefanski as head coach with Matt Ryan stepping into a "President of Football" role, the NFL playoff weekend (including the disputed Brandon Cooks catch and the Bears–Rams finish), TSA's new $45 fee for travelers flying without a REAL ID starting February 1, 2026, and a Florida gubernatorial candidate's proposed 50% sin tax on OnlyFans earnings.

The cigar news segment covers United Cigars' Independence Firecracker — a 250th-anniversary-of-American-independence release made with Arnold André at the Arnold André Dominicana factory, using a Mexican-grown Habano wrapper with Dominican binder and Dominican/Nicaraguan filler, priced around $7 per cigar in 12-count boxes and shipping in June, with over 30,000 cigars produced. The hosts also break down Aro Cigars' new Tehran Maduro, the brand's fourth core line, built on a Honduran Jamastran Habano Maduro wrapper and rolled at Tabacos de Oriente in Honduras. They close the news with a follow-up on the deaths of All American Tobacco founders Chuck and Rick, noting that brother Ron has assumed the CEO role and the company will continue.

The headline story: Powstanie's San Andrés Belicoso was named Halfwheel's #2 Cigar of the Year for 2025, finishing just .079 points behind a Padrón Two Guys exclusive that took #1 (with another Padrón at #3). Mikey Kivic walks through his reaction to hearing the countdown, the blend's Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder and Dominican/Nicaraguan filler rolled at Fábrica de Tabacos NicaSueño, and the panel's unusual tasting notes of gingerbread, sweetbread, pepper, earth and potatoes. He also notes Powstanie took #8 on Halfwheel's consensus list and thanks the many media outlets that ranked the brand, including Cigar Dojo, Cigar Press, Kaplowitz Media, Cigar Coop and YouTuber Lee Mack. The episode wraps with a round of "What's the Score," pitting a blind-scored Charlie Minato review (the Powstanie itself, at 91) against Brooks Whittington's harsh 2015 review of the Felipe Gregorio Pelo de Oro Corona.

In This Episode

1. 01
   CHPod Beanies, Hat Press Woes and Retailer Shout-Outs
   The crew explains why podcast beanies are so hard to produce and thanks Blend & Barrel, Harry's Smoke Shop and Sir Louie's Cigars for their support.
2. 02
   Falcons Hire Kevin Stefanski, Matt Ryan Named President of Football
   Atlanta's coaching change and front-office shake-up spark a discussion about how NFL head-coach interviews actually work.
3. 03
   NFL Playoff Talk and the Brandon Cooks Catch
   The hosts argue over a disputed catch, the Bills' postseason futility and a snowy weekend of playoff football.
4. 04
   TSA's New $45 Non-REAL ID Fee
   Starting February 1, 2026, travelers without a REAL ID or passport must pre-pay $45 online for identity verification good for only 10 days.
5. 05
   Florida Candidate Proposes 50% OnlyFans Sin Tax
   James Fishback's campaign proposal draws pushback from the hosts, who note Florida's constitution bars personal income tax.
6. 06
   United Cigars Independence Firecracker
   A $7 three-and-a-half-inch firecracker made with Arnold André for America's 250th anniversary, shipping in June in 12-count ashtray boxes.
7. 07
   Aro Cigars Launches Tehran Maduro
   Aro's fourth core line uses a Honduran Jamastran Habano Maduro wrapper and multi-country filler, rolled at Tabacos de Oriente in Honduras.
8. 08
   Powstanie San Andrés Belicoso Is Halfwheel's #2 Cigar of 2025
   Mikey Kivic reacts to losing the top spot to a Padrón by .079 points, and breaks down the blend, tasting notes and the brand's 11-year climb.
9. 09
   What's the Score
   The hosts guess review scores for the Powstanie San Andrés and the Felipe Gregorio Pelo de Oro Corona, the latter panned for wet-newspaper bitterness.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

All right. I like how I can't even see. They just go, oh, yeah, you look funny. Yeah, it's fine.

It's perfect. All right. Welcome to Cigar Hustle Podcast, episode 451. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me in engineering is Phil, our chief engineer.

So we're back and just one day away from his camera. Back from Yemen. Back from Yemen. Wow.

And with me, as always, my co-host, Mikey, stop asking me about the damn beanies, Stefan Kivic. Are we getting them? Because it's getting a little cold. I'm about to be at the race track.

I have given mine up, just so everybody knows. I have passed on mine. You've surrendered yours, as Romachon would like one. If you can ever get them made, sell mine.

I do not. He's such a sweet guy. He's like, "No, it's okay. " It's okay, don't worry about it.

Yeah, it's okay. I don't want to take Palmers from him. Fucking Palmer doesn't need one. I'll wear it once and it'll go in the drawer.

Yeah. That was the ultimate weaseling. What do you mean, ultimate weaseling? No, I don't need one.

No, don't take Palmers. No, don't take Palmers. How's it weaseling? He's going to buy it.

No, no, but that was to make sure he secured one. Oh, smart. He listened to yesterday's show and it said we had three of them or whatever it was. I think that's accurate.

So how many did you order? Do we only have three because you've melted several or did we only buy like? Or did we only buy like five? I think, well, okay, so it's a question of how this is going to play out, because I think I bought like four black ones, and I destroyed one, for sure.

All right, now I've worn that black one, I don't care, even if I look homeless with it, I still put it on. Does it have the patch, it's just melted like the bear? It has the patch, it's not melted, it has the patch, but like the, it's all kind of, the fabric is messed up. People are going to want that one like they want the melted bear.

Like the melted bear? Yes, that should be like the the one for the vip uh uh uh the boots and palmer experience you get the melted hats i mean you know people spend five hundred dollars on a kanye west uh holy shirt really oh yeah all kinds of money on his wow yeah shirt with holes i don't think we're kanye boots get scissors um and then i had two other i bought two other ones that are military gray and black like camo yeah like the Warbear Cerakoted? Correct, that was my thought. Ah, gotcha, okay.

And you ruined those too? No, I haven't touched those. I haven't touched those. Just checking.

So, that's kind of where I'm at. So, I guess I could, if you wanted me to, I could do probably five if I didn't screw them up. So, three? Three black, two of the...

No, so I mean you're going to be able to do three. You said if I don't mess them up. I'm going to nail these. All right.

So what is the actual problem? Is it figuring out the heat that melts the patch but not the beanie? There's a lot to it. Like, you got to heat it, you got to press it so that you don't mess up the fabric of the...

Right. of the hood. Beanie. Or beanie, thank you.

That's what's happening. How close are you with the first responder cigar guys? Uh, Drew and them? Yeah, they make their own hats and stuff.

Do they make them themselves? Yes. They do. They have a hat press.

They make their own. They make their own. Did they make their own beanies? I don't know if they had beanies.

He had baseball hats Saturday. Because remember, the beanies were different. Yeah, but I mean, they seem like they know what they're doing. Most things.

We'll figure it out. All right. On today's show, Falcons get a new coach. TSA is going to become a pay service.

Florida may charge a Sintax. Then in cigars, we've got a couple of new sticks. An update on that terrible shooting from last week. 079.

We'll explain that later. Plus a full round of what's the score, but first, how do we get some of that hot, hot, CH pad, CH pad, CH pod swag and beanies, Michael? - First off, before we get to that, let me-- - You have ash on your shirt. - Thank you.

- You burned the BDP. - This is my favorite shirt, my BDP. - I wear it every Monday. - I champion you.

- Or Tuesday. - I champion you. Let me shout out Blend & Barrel in Sanford, Florida. - Woo-hoo!

- Harry Smoke Shop in Philadelphia. And Sir Louis Cigars in Wilbraham, Mass. Now, Sir Louis, I got to tell you one thing about Sir Louis, and this is going to kind of bring me to CHPOD. " They're purposely detached.

Yeah, it's a separate business. Right, I detached it from anything because I want to promote apparel and the podcast, boom, that's it. Right. " And I said, "I think I have four.

" Oh, that's why they're up there. I wonder why they're up there. So he bought them all from CHPod, the last three. Nice.

So shout out to Sir Louis. Thank you so much for the support. Sir Louis Hassan. We like him.

For supporting the podcast. com. If you buy one, you get the second one 40% off. And if you spend $100 or more, you get free shipping, which Palmer loves.

So he got free shipping and he only paid for... He didn't get free shipping, it was going on his wholesale order. Oh, so they're not paying for shipping anyway. Yeah.

Yeah, but buy one, get one 40% off. It didn't cost us anything, Palmer. The discount code didn't work on the hat for some reason. Okay.

It didn't. That's fine. So, and I got news for you. I don't think that this guy would even care.

No, he probably would. Sounds like he wouldn't. You know what? Throw in a $500 VIP experience for him as well.

If you want to come down for the VIP experience with the Boots & Palmer, we'll compliment him A1. You know, I love the fact that we're always kind of being jovial and joking about things, but here's the truth. Oh, we're not joking. No.

We're giving it to him for free, we're serious. No, here's the truth, like, these are the type of retailers we want to be working with. Oh, sure, yeah. The guys that support us say, hey, I love what you're doing, I believe in the product, I believe in the brand, and let me do what I can to help support you so we can grow together, right?

Yeah. It's amazing. So thank you so much, bro. I appreciate it.

Sir Louie's cigars. Is his name Louie? Is it really Louie? What is that?

Sir Louie, is that just the name of the shop, or is... Oh, you did. Sorry. So yeah.

This is not to be confused with Lowball Louie's. No. Not even close. Sir Louie's.

Sir Louie's. So, check out our Patreon. I got some good things to talk about this week for the Patreon. Oh, do you?

I have a couple things. Oh, now both of you guys wrote the bat, huh? We may have to write these down. We may have a month's worth of Patreon stuff between the two of us.

I wrote mine now. You wrote yours down? Okay. And make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're watching or viewing our podcast.

Please like and subscribe. Smoke and subscribe, which is our newest swag shirt. Our newest shirt with the triangles. Yeah.

Pick it up. Any comments we want to talk about from the last post? Let me see here. More misinformation from Boots, or fell from Yemen.

Right. Boots can't be getting that big into college ball if he doesn't even know what teams are playing from T-Money. Wow, I'd still pick the winner. That just happened, too.

Yeah, but you said they beat the wrong team. Man, T-Money's really going hard on me because he did the last comment, too. He did. He did.

Let's see. Well, T-Money, Moneymakers, there's a connection there. Oh. " Right, yeah, next year you can wear it.

And Brett Mercurio, he says, "20 bucks is 20 bucks," talking about the Verizon thing, and yeah, he's right, man, you know, 20 bucks. So, do we ever find out if Brett Fry still watches his show? I don't think he does right now, I think he's on a hiatus. I don't think, you know We're not though, so, you know Alright, we ready to move?

com or Mike Make sure they're aware that you're reaching out Because sometimes they go I don't care what that person said We'll have the retailer get in touch with us one way or the other No, the retailer can, that's fine But if I didn't work at a shop and I have a shop I want to carry it, and then they just throw me the shop's information, then the shop guy sometimes gets a little mad that I don't carry everything everybody has. Just make sure you told them that you're telling us. I think it's funny, though, that some guys, they go to their shop, they go to the retail and say, hey, I would really love to buy this from you, and then they don't pick it up. They're like, no, I'm not doing that.

Like, what are you doing? Are these new shops that you announced earlier, are they carrying the number two Cigar of the Year on Half Wheel? Those are the ones that recently just acquired... We will get to our story later, please don't work ahead.

Oh, I'm sorry. They recently acquired the Posana San Andreas Corona Cordo, which is our most recent release, our first release of 2026, which makes it viable for reviews in 2026 to make the top 25 list. Is that how it works on Half Wheel? It has to be released in the year?

I think so. Was the War Bear release too late in the season? End of the season? Yeah, I probably slid in too late for it.

I mean, it did hit a couple of review sites. Someone asked if we were on the best packaging of the year thing. And I said, well, I think it came out a little too late to get on that list. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a good point. We weren't on best packaging. Mr. Weiner was.

No, but there were other ones that were, let's say, not as good or as, you know, different as ours was. I thought our packaging was pretty badass. Right, it was. It does.

That's why, you know, they're like, oh, I bet you made the best packaging list. I'm like, hmm, I think it came out too late. Maybe it'll fall into next year. Maybe.

I don't know how that works. We can re-release it today, and then it'll be in 23 seconds. And now, and now, we're releasing. All right.

All right. Now the news is okay? Yes, go. Are you sure?

I think so. Atlanta Phones... Oh, wait! I'm just kidding.

How did your microphone get back up? Mine? Yeah. It didn't move.

What happens is, as he talks, he slides down. Am I sliding down? It's a slippery seat? Can we get things to put on the ground to put my feet on so I don't move?

We need to get you a 1990s phone book to sit on. It had to be Slicker, I think. Slicker? Slicker-er.

Okay. Yeah. Chet, can you come down here on the floor and just hold my feet so I don't move? Thank you.

The Atlanta Falcons have officially turned the page on a new era. On Saturday night, the team announced the hiring of Kevin Stavanski. It's one of your people, Michael. Yes.

He's a ski. Ski. As their new Polish head coach, bringing in one of the NFL's most respected offensive minds to lead a franchise desperate for stability and success. Tavansky, 43, met with Falcons owner Arthur Blank earlier Saturday for his second interview.

What do you think they do at these interviews for this type of level of employment? That's a great question. I know. I was thinking about it.

I saw it because they mentioned in the article other people they interviewed. I'm very curious to what this means. Is it a phone? Do they fly them in?

I think that it's an in-person meeting for sure. Do they have, like, dinner or they bring them into the office? It's a wine and dine, bro, and it's probably scenario-based. And they just talk about terms and stuff?

Is it more you want to work there or they want you to work there? How do you think? I think that you've got to kind of get to know the person. It's just more of a personal interview, not like, so what's your coaching style and how do you think we should do things?

I think that the coaching style is kind of determined, but they may ask about their thoughts about specific staff members Yeah. And how they feel about offensive coordinators, defense coordinators. What's your vision? Yeah, you know, not like, we're gonna win!

Like, perfect. Yeah, of course, we all know that. Right. We're gonna win.

Yes, I guarantee a win. Perfect. Okay, you're hired. Good job.

Thank you. You know, so, because like, I don't know how Miami gets rid of Dan Campbell. I don't know how Miami gets rid of Brian Flores. Like, those are both guys that I think are head coach material.

I don't know what's going on with Mike Tomlin. I guess he's done. He, he, well, I saw a statement from him where he just wants to concentrate on his family right now. I don't, I don't blame him.

I mean, that guy is a great head coach. He's a great head coach. He's never had the pieces around him. Is he one of the guys that got fired recently?

He just stepped down. From Pittsburgh, yeah. Somebody on the radio, I didn't, I didn't catch the beginning of the story, but somebody had been fired, but he still gets paid for like the next three years or four years or something. So he's just taking the money now.

Sean McDermott? Probably, yeah, probably the Bills coach. I don't know. Yeah, no, Mike Tomlin, I think he'll come back.

But, you know, hey, man, he's been a coach for a long time, right? He had hair when he first started coaching. He had what? He had hair?

Yeah, hair. Oh, hair. I thought you said he had heroin when he first started coaching. No, so, you know, when he first started coaching, you know, he probably wasn't getting paid as much.

This was more of a longevity-type job, right, to get paid the right money. Nowadays, it's like, you know, Harbaugh's getting $20 million a year. Yeah. You know, so Tomlin's probably seeing what the playing field's like.

He's gonna get hired, whether he takes a year off or whatever. He's still with Pittsburgh. He didn't, he wasn't fired. No, well, he stepped down from head coaching.

Yeah, he's still there. Yeah, but they had to fill that role. So he will not be a head coach. What I'm saying is if he wanted to go somewhere else tomorrow, Pittsburgh would have to trade him.

Yeah, I thought he resigned. No, he stepped down. It doesn't matter. He wasn't fired.

He's still part of the team. The coach stepped down? Do they trade coaches? I guess they do if they wanted to.

I guess they could. I don't think I've ever seen a coach traded yet. That doesn't mean they couldn't. They just haven't.

Yeah. Did I hear the Harborough guy went from $12 million to now $20 million? There's two of them. Okay, I don't know which one it is.

But yeah, no, you're correct. You're talking about the Ravens coach. Yeah, he was getting paid 12, he was getting paid 12, and now the new team's getting paid 20, so he really doesn't care. That's another eight million dollars.

Last time I checked, that's more. Right. That's probably one of the only reasons why he signed with the Giants. You think so?

I think there's a lot of opportunity there. I think there's two, maybe three guys. Okay, let's go back to Stefanski or whatever. Okay, I'm sorry.

All right, so... This is about him. Oh, back to this story. Yeah.

Oh, sorry. So, I thought this was over, started to fast forward. Do you think Cleveland should have fired him? I think he did an okay job with Cleveland.

They weren't the worst team in the league, right? The Raiders were. Yeah. I mean, that's a step up.

I think he should have been fired if he was the one responsible for taking on Deshaun Watson. Was he the one? I don't know. I don't think so.

But if he was, then I don't know, no matter how intelligent the guy is, I don't know if I'd want him in my organization Because he makes some bad calls. Yeah, the Deshaun Watson thing was a bad situation. So I don't know who did that, but if it was him. Other than that, I don't think he did a horrible job.

He's got some potential. I don't like him in Atlanta, because I'm a Bucs guy. Yeah. You know, that could be a problem.

Well, Atlanta's got a lot of buildings still, too, though. They still got a lot, but they got good pieces. Yeah. They got a great tight end, a great receiver.

They're, I think, a decent quarterback if they can build them up. Yeah, but they need a better line. Okay, that's easy to fix. Once they get a better line, Bijan will be phenomenal.

Oh yeah, Bijan. I forgot about that. He's like the best running back in the league. They're like Bijou?

Nope. Totally different. Atlanta's added a powerful new position with the organization, President of Football. That's a new position?

That's what they're claiming. Oh, I thought. The move that instantly energized the fan base, that role was given to franchise legend, Matt Ryan, the former quarterback who spent 14 seasons leading the Falcons and remains the greatest player in team history. What does president of football do?

I would guess I'd be like president of football operations, I mean, just president of football. Is that like brand manager for cigars? Yeah, that's exactly what it is. President of football?

Yeah. Ryan has been directly involved in the coaching interviews and played a major role in evaluating Stavanski bringing both football intelligence and emotional investments to the decision-making process. Now with Stavanski at head coach, Ryan guiding football operations, and a general manager search underway, the Falcons are clearly signaling this rebuild is about long-term credibility, not quick fixes. For a franchise that lived too long in mediocrity, this moment represents hope, accountability, and a belief that the next chapter can finally change the narrative in Atlanta.

The Falcons aren't just changing coaches, they're changing direction. Do you have anything covering the last two games, the playoff games this weekend, or no? No. All right, can we briefly talk about that before we move on to the next thing as well?

Yes. The next thing's about TSA. It's very important. Okay, just to briefly surmise here.

Number one, it was a catch. Brandon Cooks caught that ball. Look, I know you hate the Bills. Oh, whatever, bro.

For whatever reason. I know you hate the Bills. I don't like the Bills coach, and guess what? Problem solved, he's gone.

I'm sorry that it took you seven years to come to that conclusion. It's not the coach I hate. No, you just hate the down-to-herf guys. No, I hate Josh Allen.

Why do you hate Josh Allen? Why does he hate the down-to-herf guys? You know what? Let me rephrase that, actually.

I do not hate Josh Allen. You know why? Because he did exactly what I thought he was going to do, as usual. Blow up in the postseason.

That's right. It was a catch. It was a catch. And if you go to the Chicago game, the Chicago game had the same scenario, and it was a catch.

Well, different reffing crew, different situations. You could argue that, or you could argue the fact that maybe it's rigged. I don't know. For Buffalo never to make it past the first round.

Yeah. Wild. And man, you know what, dude, I was rooting for Chicago. I was rooting for Chicago.

That throw, did you see that Caleb Williams throw to Cole Komet? Wild. I fell asleep. Did you?

Before the end of the game. Because when I fell asleep, I was like, "Oh, this game's, you know, screwed up. I had to reword myself there. Yeah.

Good for you. Screwed up, you know, Stafford's gonna win this game, and then when I woke up in the morning, I was like, holy, this is great. Yeah. This is, I, there was a reason why, because the money makers were on top.

Oh, so that's why you went to Vegas, you thought it was done. Yeah, I was like, ah, this is over, it's a horrible game, the snow messed up both these games, you know. Yeah. The first game was horrific, but there was a lot of snow coming down.

In the beginning, not as much, which was crazy, because in the beginning, they were running more, which you would have thought, if there's not as much snow, let's get the passing out of the way and get that game moving, and then start running when that snow starts falling. Interesting stuff. Okay, are you ready now? Oh, back to the show?

Yeah. Sorry, I slid down in the seat. Yeah, sit up. Yeah, sit up, sit up.

Sorry, I was getting comfortable, I didn't know how long that was going to go. We're gonna put some grips in that chair for you. Yeah. You just need the two planks and a floor.

Okay. All right, airport security has been evolving starting in July 2025. The Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, has allowed travelers to keep their shoes on when passing through checkpoints. It also banned some items including certain cordless hair tools and external batteries from check luggage.

As of February 1st, a new TSA policy may require you to pay a fee to get through the security line. A fee? There's a fee fee? There's a fee.

Now, if you want to get on the plane, there's going to be a fee? Could be a fee. Might be a fee. We're going to charge additional.

We're going to charge you, period. Right now, there's no fee. There's a TSA fee. Why?

There's a TSA fee, February 1st. Let's read on. How are you going to get on the plane? TSA may charge a fee to get through security without a Real ID passport or a passport.

In November 2025, TSA revealed it would start requiring non-Real ID travelers to pay an $18 fee to get through security at the airport. With the airport, the administration later increased the fee to $45, effective February 1, 2026, according to the TSA website, under the new rule, travelers without required identification, such as a real ID or passport, will have their identity verified by TSA at security checkpoints. The fee would cover the costs and resources used to verify someone's identity, according to ABC News. So how do you pay this $45 fee?

Well, you have to go online before you travel. TSA offers an online portal, TSA confirmed ID, where travelers can pay the $45 fee before arriving at the airport. Passengers can then pass through a checkpoint without an ID for 10 days based on the date of payment. So if you have a two-week flight, you've got to pay it twice.

How are they going to know? How would you know that you have a real ID or not? It must be in their system. Well, because your driver's license is the real ID of the new ones.

There's still some states that don't offer that, it's got a little star on it. I understand that, but like, let's say I go and book a ticket at Delta, right, is Delta going to inform me that, hey, just so you know, do you have a real ID? Doing stories like this out, I mean, they announced it two years ago that you haven't had a real ID to fly, and then apparently you could pay $18, which I didn't hear about that one, and get your identity verified online before you go, but now it's $45 because apparently it costs more to do. And you have to, you still have to do it, you have to go online, and that, so you have 10 days from the minute you get on the plane the first time for that verification to be active.

Right. So if you're on a two week trip, and you fly out, you would have to do it again to fly back. This sounds like a complete disaster. When did they just make everybody get a real ID?

It's not that hard to do anymore. Well, I thought that was happening anyways, when... " So now they're like, "Okay, here's your other option. " Yeah.

Just make everybody get one. Every state offers it now. So it's only people who have one who have not got a new one. Got it.

So like your driver's like, well, my driver doesn't expire for another three years. Well, then you don't get to fucking fly for three years. Ooh, it's very gassed up today. See that?

This is ridiculous. It causes all sorts of problems. There's already long lines at TSA. I think the only people that this helps are the people that we didn't want to fly and take over the planes.

Yeah. Well, how does it help them? Well, because now they don't have to be really identified. Well, yeah, they do.

They have to go online and fill out these forms. Oh, yeah, that's hard. They have to have a real ID. You know, those guys filled out a whole bunch of forms when they were taking the plane class over here in Sanford, too.

That was how to fly a plane in self-defense with a box cutter. Two different classes, no forms. Yeah, two totally different classes. And less than $45, apparently.

If they travel again within that time frame, they have to do it again. Travelers can give a confirmed ID receipt to CSA officials and proceed through security checkpoint, as usual, after presenting the non-compliant documents and proof that they completed the confirmed ID process. So you have to print out. That reminds me of like...

You have to print out a receipt. How many fake, fake receipts are you going to get now? That's funny. You know, that reminds me of when they just put in like the x-ray scanners and you could opt out and they would frisk you.

You could go to the pad down. Yeah. And I remember Greg opted out and I'm like, what are we doing? What were we doing?

What are we doing? What are we doing? Right, there's somebody going to see his little wiener? He's wanting to get touched?

He's wanting to get touched in the butt? Yeah, that's what we're looking for. A little rubby, rubby. He's feeling a little frisky.

Don't they take you back to the room for that one? Opt it out. Like, okay. Okay, buddy.

He gets stopped everywhere we go. It doesn't matter. In China, they took him to a back room. I mean, they took him away.

Well, he's got 75 accessories on. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, multiple rings.

I can't help him. help him bracelets i don't know where they took it how does he get dressed like how much time does it take him to get to put all that stuff on yeah yeah it's wild well it takes him a while because he doesn't come in usually till about 10 11 yeah well maybe that's why it takes a long time to get ready let's call it noon get the hat just right you know get all the rings all right it's gotta be perfect well not anymore now you know he's got the crutch and all that stuff right now he gets confused i put him on this end i put him on this end i don't remember what's my name the process TSA, however, it doesn't guarantee TSA's ability to verify a traveler's identity. Oh, so you might pay it and it don't work. Right.

I love all of those. This all sounds like a great idea. TSA's going cha-ching. They're just cancel, pass, cancel, pass.

If you don't have a real idea, just drive. Right, that's what I'm saying. Just get one for God's sake. How much it costs to get a license?

Less than $45? I don't know. Yeah. You would think?

Maybe. One time. You only get to do it one time. How many jobs is this great?

You got to renew it. Yeah, I know, but you got to renew anything. So even if it doesn't, when you get the new one, it does. So just go early.

So even if you paid the fee, you could be denied boarding. Okay. How irate would somebody get when you pay the $45? Right.

You come over there with your little piece of paper. You've already waited in line for an hour. Kids are screaming. Your wife's got a good ID.

You don't. Your flight leaves in an hour. Yeah. Right.

You get to the front of the line, you give them the receipt, and they look it up and they go, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. " I'd hate to be a TSA agent. I don't know. Right.

I don't think they mess around, though. You start screaming. I think they just take you away. Yeah.

Oh, he's irate. Oh, he's a terrorist. Take him away. He's irate.

That's profiling. No, it's not. You're an asshole. Can you imagine just having a job, though, where people are just shitting you all day?

Like, man, that's rough. That's rough. All right. Now back to Florida.

Yes. Yes. A Florida gubernatorial candidate has ignited. What is that?

Gubernatorial. He's running for governor. A gubernatorial? That's what the word is.

Okay. Is that with a B or a V? It's with a B. Guber.

G-U-B-E-R-N-A-T-O-R-I-A-L. Okay. Guber. Candidate has ignited a debate with a bold and controversial proposal.

A 50% sin tax on income earned by OnlyFans creators who live in the state. No more OnlyFans? I'm out when I hear the word "syntax" because, you know, tobacco is a "syntax". That's what they did to cigarettes.

Alcohol is a "syntax". These are all things that are bad. It's like, you print the money, bro. Give me a break.

They want 50% of your OnlyFans. 50%? 50%. Well, look, that doesn't affect me personally in any fashion whatsoever.

I'm going to tell you right now, it's ridiculous. You're still against it? Republican Candidate James Fishback, an investor and political newcomer running in 2026 governor's race, unveiled the idea this week as part of his campaign platform. Oh, it's just a campaign.

This guy living in his mother's basement or something? Yeah, he looks like he does. I saw his picture. Oh, really?

He says that if elected, he would push for a first-of-its-kind tax requiring OnlyFans content creators to pay half of their earnings from the platform to the state. We don't want taxes. You're in Florida, buddy. Get out of here.

That's right. We don't want more taxes. Yeah, we want to take money from the tourists, we don't want, stop being enough. Can only fans just randomly change the name of who they pay you from?

Yeah, they just move from a different state. Right. Like, dude, pay from the Virgin Islands or something? It's hate, you know what, man, so dumb.

Well, furthermore, this guy's probably not getting voted in. He's not what? Probably not getting voted in. No, no, he doesn't look like he's kind of getting voted in.

Somebody obviously wanted him eliminated from, he's like, here's what you need to do, you need to go for this. Right. Well, if he hadn't done this, we wouldn't be talking about him. That's a good point.

That's a good point. That's a very good point. OnlyFans has an online degeneracy platform and argues that the tax would both discourage participation in the adult content economy and generate significant revenue for public programs. Why would it deter them?

Instead of getting eight million, I only get four? Okay, if this is what I have to say. Yeah, dude, 50% tax is obnoxious. Well, sure it is obnoxious.

So yeah, it would deter them. Two million is better than no million. No, I mean, you just, whatever, there's probably a better way to go about it. Yeah, bro, I'm not showing my Wingding for $4 million, I want $8 million.

Yeah, he's showing it for $20. What's a Wingding? Is a Wingding? I don't know.

Well, Mikey said we have to be more political. The new t-shirt, Michael, there's the new t-shirt. " Who wants to see my Wingding? Fishback estimates, what a name, Fishback estimates the tax could raise roughly $200 million annually, and he has said he would direct those funds toward education initiatives including higher teacher pay, improved school lunches, The interview in social media post, the candidate framed the proposal as a moral stance, arguing that the text could deter young people from joining the platform and encourage them to pursue other work.

He even directly tagged a high-profile creator on social media telling her to pay up or quit OnlyFans. That just means they'll make a new one. Yeah, so this is dumb. This just then Fishback just dropped out of the race and started an OnlyFans account, right?

Yeah. Fishback, Fishback, it's disco. The response from content creators has been swift and intense. Some, including top OnlyFans earners, described their proposal as unfair and poorly conceived.

Critics argue such tax would be difficult to administer and would clash with Florida's constitution. There you go. Which currently prohibits personal income tax. Ha ha.

You're out of here, pal. You're out. Creators of- Lawless Swamp. Lawless Swamp.

Readers have also pushed back on the moral framing saying they may use the platform voluntarily to support themselves and their families. Some have accused Fishback of overreach of targeting individuals rather than focusing on broader policy solutions. Yeah, you can't just come from California and think you're going to make some type of rule over here in Florida. Can't start taxing us in Florida for God's sake.

Yeah. If I want to show my boobies and get paid, I'm going to show my boobies and get paid. That's right, you show your boobies Palmer. There's a platform.

If I want to show my Wingding, I'm going to show my Wingding. There's a platform for that. I mean, you're from the 1940s? Yeah.

com? Yeah. com. Show your Wingding?

1940 Wingdings. 1940 Wingdings. I got to get out of this conversation. Right now.

If you have a suggestion for a new website for Boots to show his Wingding, please say so in the comments. Please let us know. The inbox is going to be cluttered now. He was laughing at all the possibilities.

His name is Phil, by the way. All right, Michael, Cigar News, or unless you have a video, do you have a video? I mean, I have a video. No, is it a good video?

He was not prepared for that. We don't want to see Preston's clips that I now have to see every time I log in to YouTube. Oh, that's a shot. Log in to YouTube.

That's a shot. Okay, well, I do have a video, but I feel like you're going to kind of get to this anyways. Oh, then don't you? So, I will tell you this.

Yes. By the way, we just took number eight on consensus for Pasana San Andreas as well. Oh! I know that you don't have that.

And I watched some of the the top 25 lists from the YouTube guys online, and we did an interview with this guy at PCA, uh, his name is Lee Mack, I think it's Lee Mack 912. Yeah. Have you guys ever watched his YouTube videos? No.

It is by far the funniest and, like, realist YouTube for cigars I have ever seen. It is more than us? That's what I was gonna say, more than ours? Funnier than Wingding?

No, I mean, we're pretty funny. Not including us. Oh, obviously. Like, this guy, he did his top 25, man, he did it in his car.

Yeah. Smoking a sex tooth, and he's just keeping it real the whole time. You know how hard it is to run one of these things by yourself? What was his number one?

Oh, in the car. It's close to impossible. Yeah. Was it the Perdomo Legacy?

No, it was not. Okay, thank God. That's only for sponsored shows. Look, regardless if you agree or disagree with the top 25 of somebody.

Sure. Like, this guy was legit. It was legit. This guy, it was awesome.

I was laughing as he was talking and stuff. Is he doing a lot of this because he's driving, trying to watch traffic? No, he's sitting in his parked car. Oh, he's safe.

Yeah, and he's like, and he called it like the traveling ash can or something like that. Oh, I have heard of that one. It was pretty funny. And when he was talking, it just felt legit.

It was pretty authentic. And he carried himself well. So go check out Lee Mac. If you'd like to come on the show, And we're going to go to the show and do the Boots and Palmer experience.

Yes. 50. No, don't you charge that, man. We gotta charge somebody, for God's sakes, Michael.

We came up with a way for Boots and I to make money. Yeah. We've discounted it, we've given two away for free. Yeah, Jesus.

Come on, help us out here a little bit. Yeah. Listen, you'd have some money if we didn't have to buy... 50.

Listen, we'd have some money if we didn't have to buy that damn hat press. Okay? But we did, and we still can't make beanies. We're just building an empire, buddy.

It's coming. It's coming. The first responder guys have their own hat pressed too. Yeah.

Ours cost more. Yeah? Did you ha-ha? Did you ha-ha them?

I didn't ha-ha. No, you've met these guys. They used to kill people for a living. I'm not ha-ha-ing them.

Oh, they're fun to ha-ha. Oh, ha-ha. Drew's very nice. He was a preacher, so he's okay.

Drew's a good guy. You can ha-ha him. Yeah. Alright, so Cigar News, we're moving on?

Yeah, that was just my little plug. Are we doing a Moneymakers? It's Monday. We normally do a Moneymakers.

No, he doesn't have one. I thought we were pastors. He doesn't have one. No, I just don't have one.

Just mention two teams. You didn't get it right last week. I would love to do the one for tonight. Pick a football and pick a basketball team and say which one would be.

I'll tell you what, do the one for tonight. Yeah. Because then we'll just talk about it again tomorrow because you probably screwed it up. Perfect.

Miami's Moneyline. Who are they playing? You're just picking Miami. You think Miami is going to outright beat Indiana?

Yep. Dude, I hope you're right. I hope you're right. Because that would be awesome.

That would be awesome. These guys have come from absolutely nothing. Yeah. And they have beaten teams that they should never have been in the conversation for.

Okay. They should have definitely never been in the playoffs. All right. And here they are.

You know what, dude? I'm not disagreeing with any of that. And the reality is that the majority of the world is going to be on Indiana. Oh, I know.

That's what I'm saying. Hey, let's go Miami. What's the spread? It's like plus two and a half.

That's it? Yeah, I think it's close. Wow. Double check, because I know somebody's going to, team money or whatever's going to tell me I'm wrong.

Plus seven and a half, sorry. Oh, seven and a half is a big difference from two and a half. Sorry, plus seven and a half. Okay.

And you took the money line. Yeah. You took Miami outright. I took it on the last game.

The Michigan one, yeah. Yeah. That didn't happen. No, not the Michigan one.

January 30th. No, the last game Miami played. Yeah. I took it on them.

And it won some money. And it did. Okay, so let's, I can't wait to talk about this tomorrow. Yes.

The game we're talking about where you pay $757 to park. Yes, so the game is going to be tonight, but when this releases, it was last night. Right, right, right. All right, so this should be good.

I can't wait. All right, Cigar News. United Cigars is releasing the Independence Firecracker in June. Oh.

I shouldn't have read the title. I've got to stop copying the title in half. We told you about this. I know.

United Cigars and Arnold Andre, a German cigar company, our team, he just said, whoever wants to make a firecracker, he picks somebody new each year. We would like to do the Firecracker next year. We can't. No, we don't.

No, we'd like to, but we can't. There's no way. Boots and I would like to next year. Yes, as long as you come down for the VIP experience.

Boots and I. Boots and I will hand-roll them ourselves. They will be beautiful today. You leave my friend Dave Garoppolo alone.

He's not the one who buys them, though. My friend. Your friend? Mr.

Santamaria. Mr. Ed? Ed Santamaria.

He buys them. Here's a new Firecracker blend commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States Independence Firecracker. Wait, the 250th anniversary of the United States Firecracker cigars being made by a German. I mean, I guess that makes sense.

Yeah. All right, the Independence Firecracker is a three and a half. We are releasing the 250th anniversary cigar. For America.

You got to do the hand thing and go, I'm sorry. No, no, no. We're not allowed to do that anymore. See, you won't push the line, you gotta push the line, Michael.

Are you kidding me, you won't push the line? I just spoke, what are you talking about? No, but you wouldn't do the hand. Because he's Polish, his hand won't go above his shoulder.

Yeah, that's okay, I mean, you know, they did kill some of my family, just to be fair. Go back with the Falcons coach, you guys talk about it. Okay, I don't know how that segwayed, but all right. He's your people.

He's my people. He's a ski, he's got a ski on his life. He's got a ski, so clearly he's Polish. Clearly he's Polish.

We're kindred spirits. Right. Blend wise, the cigar is made with a Habano wrapper grown in Mexico, covered a Dominican binder and Dominican Republican Nicaraguan filler. The cigars are being made at the Arnold Andre Dominican SRL factory.

Each cigar is an MSRP of how much of the firecrackers, gentlemen? German-made American-celebrating firecrackers with Mexican tobacco. I mean, you could go Volkswagen Beetle, which could be very cheap. You could go Mercedes.

I don't know. I'm going to say $15. $12. $9.

Yes. Oh my God, that's also German. Yeah, I meant you were wrong. It's a $7 cigar.

$9 in the package and 12 count, 10 boxes that can also be used as an ashtray. When asked about production numbers, Oliver Nevad, director of operations for United Cigars, sold half wheel that we don't have set qualities, quantities, sorry, no qualities, it is qualities. Now for boxes, as some will be used in different ways, but overall the production numbers are over 30,000 cigars. Our partnership with Arnold Andre began a few years ago, and the profile we came together after many hours together in the factory.

The company has purchased some amazing tobaccos over the years, and we were blessed to work with these aged leaves. United Cigars is the American distributor for Arnold Andre. The Firecracker series dates back to 2007. Two Guys Smoke Shop, a New Hampshire-based chain of retailers owned by Mr.

David Garofalo, who also owns United Cigars. It is a nice guy. Yes, he's a very nice man. Over the years, various manufacturers have made Firecracker series, including: Agronorsa, All Saints, Dunbarton Tobacco Trust, El Artista, Fratello, Christophe, La Florida Minicana, My Father, Perdomo, Romacraft Tobac...

There's too many. Early releases were exclusive to Two Guys. The series is now distributed nationwide by United. Boxes of the Independence Firecracker is scheduled to begin shipping in June.

There you go. Are we going to carry him? What? Are we going to carry him here?

You know, that one, I don't know, but I think that we're going to have to pull the trigger on some United stuff here. Oh. You know, got to support. Yeah.

This is a cigar I can't pronounce. A-R-A hyphen or apostrophe O? That's exactly it. A-R-A, apostrophe, O?

Yes. Anybody? Anybody got a suggestion? Aro!

Aro! Aro! Aro! Aro!

Aro! Aro! Aro! Aro Cigars releases Tehran Maduro line.

Oh, very nice. The newest line from Aro Cigars is arriving to stores as the company recently began shipping its fourth core line, Tehran Maduro. The blend features a Habano Maduro wrapper from Honduras, Yamastran region, a Habano binder also from Yamastran, And a filler that contains Habano Secco from Nicaragua, Jalapa Region, Broadleaf Secco from Honduras, Lajero from Nicaragua, Estelle Religion, and Viso Leaves from Jamestran. The blend has been in development for over a year, and we're excited about how it's coming together, said Hiram Diaz of Araro Cigars.

There's stuff about the sizes. They've got many sizes. All right, Araro. Many sizes.

Araro. This is all the cigars at Tabaco de Oriente SDRL, the Plasencion factory in Honduras. S. and cigars.

Aroro, it's very exciting. It sounds like a weird blend there from all over. I don't know. I don't know.

It's a bunch of weird names. Yeah. All right. It's with deep sadness that the premium cigar industry continues to reflect on the loss of true, true pillars of the business.

Last week, All-American Tobaccos confirmed that founders Charles and Rick Garag-- how did we say their last name? I had it right, yeah, last week. Yeah, I don't remember what you said, no. Well, they both passed away unexpectedly.

A heartbreaking moment for a company, a family, They had a family in an entire industry that knew them, not just as businessmen, but as trusted partners and friends. Apparently, Groover was down that way when it happened. Well, he lives down there, so that would make sense. Well, he was at one of the smoke-in that's closest to wherever their office is.

Oh, Boynton Beach? Because you said Boca, and it was in Boynton. I don't remember. I remember, because I saw somebody correct it.

Oh, I just read the story. I don't write them. Chuck and Rick, alongside their brother, Ron, built All-American Tobacco on a foundation that went far beyond products. They built an integrity, loyalty, and the main part of the story is they have another brother who has taken over the business.

Oh, there's a fourth brother? There's a fourth brother. Oh. All American Tobacco also shared an important update regarding the company's future leadership.

Ron, another brother, the co-founder and business partner for more than 30 years, will now assume the role of chief executive officer. Ron has been actively involved in the company since day one and is deeply rooted in the values and visions. The company made it clear that he will continue leading All-American Tobacco in the same spirit, dedication, and commitment to Chuck and Rick embodied throughout their lives. And this is an incredibly difficult chapter.

It's also a moment that reflects the strength of family, legacy, and continuity. Well, that's good, you know? Yeah, so there's a fourth brother who can step in and take over who's been part of the company since the beginning. Yeah, oh, he's been part of the company the whole time.

That's what I said. Yeah, he's deeply rooted in their vision. I mean, it's a terrible tragedy. I know that we already kind of spoke about that.

Yeah. Well, but it's nice to hear, I guess. Yeah, that they have another brother to take over that. Because we had questioned what was going to happen to the company.

Yeah. But that's got to be tough. It will go on, no changes are expected. You know, everybody's going to be speaking, I mean, like that's, that's got to be tough.

Yeah. I couldn't imagine. You know? So, I mean, there's really not much to speak about on that.

No. Right. So. All right.

And finally, the last story of the day. Uh-huh. Big news in the world of premium cigars. The Postana San Andreas Bellacoso has been named the number two cigar of the year for 2025 by Halfway.

What? Whoa. I didn't know that. A major honor from one of the most respected voices in cigar journalism.

This isn't just a win on paper. It's a statement about the quality and craftsmanship coming out of Postana Cigars, a brand that has steadily built a reputation for delivering bold, nuanced smoking experiences. The San Andreas Bellicoso is part of the company's fourth regular production line, blending a Mexican San Andreas wrapper and Ecuador and Habano binder and a mix of Dominican Republic and Nicaraguan fillers, all meticulously rolled at Fabrica de Tobacos Nicasueña in Nicaragua. What really set the Vitola apart for Half Wheels panel was it's near flawless construction, distinctive flavor profile, reviewers noted unexpected yet delightful tasting notes like gingerbread, sweetbread, pepper, earthiness, and even potatoes.

Potatoes. Contributing to Polish. Yeah. Pierogies.

Pierogies. Latkas, or whatever it was. Latkas? They don't taste like potatoes.

That's not potatoes? No. I don't know. I'm not Polish.

Contributing to a rich and memorable smoke that stood out across dozens of contenders. And here's the kicker. Halfwheel pointed out that the gap between the number one and the number two this year was incredibly slim, less than one-tenth of a point. Wow.

You know just how close the competition was at the top. 079 from being the number one cigar. 079. Oh, man, she gave me that dub.

I'm going to take that number. Oh, my goodness. Who was the number one? Padrón.

E. for two guys. Two guys exclusive. So, the Padrón was the number three, and then Padrón was the number one.

So, Postanis Cigars is slightly better than Padrón, but not quite as good as Padrón. Well, it's the best. That's our new slogan. We're just going to say it's the number one core line.

It's the number one regular production cigar in America. There you go. Yeah. Because you can't get into one of those.

It was the Maduro and the Natural and we're right in the middle. According to Half-Wheel. According to Half-Wheel. Dude, I got to tell you, that was...

Wait, hold on, hold on. We're interviewing the guy. I was going to talk, but that's fine. So, Mikey, how do you feel about this situation?

You're going to say something insightful and emotional. Hold on, let me dumb this down real quick. Tell me how you feel. Show me your...

What do you say? Like, Aaron Andrews at the 50, like, oh, so you're at halftime, what do you gotta do to win the game? Like, well, we need to stop them from scoring. Yeah, perfect.

All right, thanks. Back to you, Al. All right, back to you, Mikey. No, man, so this was, thank you so much, Phil.

So... I miss Phil. No, this one was really cool, man. This was really cool, dude.

I was riding high on Friday, 'cause it's like, I'm listening to this, you know, and I'm working or whatever, and, you know, they're rattling off, they're, you know, 15, 14, 10, 9, 8. I get to 3, I'm like, okay, well, fuck, I guess we didn't make anything. I guess we're just not acknowledged. Whatever.

It's just like always. But yeah, but for me it's just like, alright, back to the grind, whatever, keep doing what we're doing, you know, we'll just keep focusing. And then when they said 2, coming at 2, I'm like, I just jumped out of my chair. He yelled from the back of the store.

Yeah. I was like, let's go. I thought he heard himself. It was awesome.

It was awesome. Was there any emotions from Greg? - Oh, he was not in town. - He was not here?

We didn't bother telling him. - We didn't tell him. - Oh. " - Yes, never tell him.

" - Yeah, we're very excited. - Never tell him, and then when he finally figures out, I go, "Well, we told you that, Greg. " - So Richie from Espinosa texts like the four of us. - Right.

- And he didn't understand what was going on. Somehow he figured it out. " or something. Yeah, he went nuts.

" Good. But, you know, like I said, we also took the eight on the consensus, so, you know... That was just announced. Yeah, so thank you very much.

What is that? I'm not familiar. It's Cigar Media, like YouTubers... Oh, as everybody has a ball.

Everybody submits their list to YouTube. YouTube compiles all the information. Half-wheel. Oh, half-wheel, sorry.

They compile all the information, and then they break it down with, out of all the podcasts that do reviews, this is how everybody fell. Who ranked where? Oh, okay. Who was number one?

My father, Blue. Okay. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, so that was a big one, man. So, you should just give Greg that list for him to make his sign go. These are all the people, Greg, that rank this. It doesn't show that.

It just shows where you rank. He's got, but if you go to a different post, he ranks everybody who's on the consensus. Charlie does. Okay.

Yes, he ranks everybody that's on the consensus, but it doesn't show where those ranks came from. No, but Greg just wants to know who ranked us. Isn't that what he wants to know? No, so yeah.

So if you want to know who ranked us, you can't look at the consensus. You have to figure out who actually ranked us and submitted it to the consensus. Oh, I think we will just tell Greg that everybody on this list ranked us in some point or fashion. Oh, so he's just going to list out the 50...

Right, because he wants to make, you know, it's going to be a very big sign he's going to have to. I will tell you that Lee Mack did you know surprisingly he did the catastrophic failure which not a lot of people picked up on because I don't think that we didn't do anything for media for that so that means that that guy just went out and smoked it I don't think that we had enough to really pass out they were gone in a blink they didn't sell right away they sold three weeks later right so with that coming out this year what chance did you think we got of maybe getting number one for 2026 with the catastrophic failure Well, I mean, we're going, there's only one spot, there's only one spot to go from here. Right, we only need one more. We're going for the number one spot, without question.

Coming after you, Padrón. Was it, um, remember, I think Roma was like in a number two spot a couple years ago. They had the number one for the Maestranza. Oh, it was the number one, okay.

I was gonna say, I was wondering if they were the number two, was Padrón above them as well? No, they had the Maestranza last year, number one. Okay, that's what it was. Is it unusual for, I mean, basically, it's the same cigar with a different wrapper on one and three?

It's a completely different blend. Yeah. Well, I know, but I mean, if you look at it, it's got the exact same name, except one says Medora, one says Central. I understand it's a different cigar, but it just...

Are you talking about the Padrones? Yes, number one and three. What's pretty remarkable is to see how consistent both of them are, that they took so high up, that they took the one and the three. You got to give it to them, man, you know.

Yeah. Like I said, Powstanie Cigars, slightly better than Padrón, but not quite as good as Padrón. Do you, um, with the number two spot, do you, do you think you'll ever do, um, here in the near future, the placards like a lot of the other people do, where they do like number two, half will? Um, maybe we do some shelf talkers or something.

Is that what we're talking about? Shelf talkers? Yeah. Something like that.

He, he didn't know he wasn't, he doesn't go to the meetings anymore. Yeah. Well, he's not allowed to go to the meetings anymore. Mike, you're out of here.

I don't know, man, you know, like, I'm just excited, man. I'm very grateful for all the consumers that smoke the product and believe in us, all the retailers that believe in us, all the media coverage that we get, not just Half Wheel, but everybody else. I mean, Dojo had to cover us. Yeah, we got number 12 there.

Bob Cigar Guy covered us. Lee Mack covered us. You know, there's a whole list. Funny, Coop did not.

We didn't make his list at all. We can talk about that on Patreon. Yeah. I'm actually smoking one right now.

I'll give you a couple here. I think Chet's smoking it over there as well. Casa Fumato, 505 Cigar Reviews, Tiny Tim, Lee Mack, Bear, number two for Bear was Justice. Cigar Dojo gave us 12.

Cigar Press, Mr. Fred Wuay gave us number six. Cigar Scents, Kaplowitz Media gave us, I think, number two or number three. Yeah, he ranked us too.

I don't remember. Real Smoke Podcast ranked us, The Late Smoke ranked us, Catman ranked us, Down to Herf ranked us, and then obviously Half Wheel. So, you know, shout out to all you guys, man. We're very grateful for that.

I mean, this was, it takes about 10 years to become an overnight success. Yes, that's an accurate statement, you know, for us it was 11, we're late bloomers, we're a little slow, you know, but, well, this is year 11, 2026 is year 11. This is year 11 for Postanya. Yeah.

So, I mean, 10 years, it just turned year 11 now. Yeah. But you know what, man, I don't know, dude, it does, it just feels different. Like it feels like, like you're part of the industry now.

Uh, no, but like things are, I don't know, man. It's just like, everything's sort of hitting. Yeah, that, and just like, people kind of understand us a little bit better now, you know, we have great relationships with brand owners, manufacturers, the retailers, the consumers, like all of this, it's all, and media, like all of it's just kind of coming together and I'm like, wow, this is, this is a pretty good feeling. So I'm really, really excited about 2026.

I think that this is going to be a great year for us. Nice. On all platforms. Podcasts, retail, wholesale, all of it.

Well, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. For Postana, this marks the brand's first time cracking the top 10 on this prestigious list.

A huge milestone for a relatively young company. It's only been releasing Core Line since 2015. So whether you're a longtime fan who's followed Postana since day one, or you're just now discovering what the brand is capable of, the San Andreas Bellicoso ranking is validation that Postana is quickly becoming a serious player in premium cigars. And it's a cigar that every enthusiast should try at least once.

Absolutely. For those of you that congratulated us, thank you so much. For those of you that watched and didn't congratulate us, thanks for watching. We appreciate you either way.

We wait on the gifts to start coming in. I don't need the gifts. I would like gifts. Palmer and Boots.

And shout out to everybody at Half Wheel, except for Brian who doesn't come over here and he lives in Deltona. He lives right in Deltona. But everybody else, Brooks, Patrick, Charlie. A.

this year. Last year we talked briefly. I thought he doesn't like the touching thing though. I don't care.

Oh, God. If that affects my number one, I'm going to be very upset. If it affects the number one. Because when we dropped that catastrophic failure, dude, that thing was tracking crazy.

Yeah. It's okay, Charlie, just think of it as like gingerbread. Gingerbread. Teriyaki.

Teriyaki gingerbread. Brooks is gingerbread. Oh, yeah. No, Brooks is Coco Nibs.

Yeah, Coco Nibs. Coco Nibs. What's Brian since he lives here in Deltona? Should be here, Brian.

He doesn't do a whole lot of them. He just hides. I think he's really technically been here twice in the 10 years that I've been here. Wow.

All right, now it's time for the industry's favorite game. Ooh. What's the score? With a special hello to Dr.

Oscar Rodriguez, owner of GTO Cigars, he's a big fan of what's the score. Oh. He came up to me Saturday and said he loves the what's the score. Nice.

It's an integral part of our podcast. Do you remember my name? No, but I recognize your face, sir. I've seen you.

I've seen you. We've met several times. We met at the BCA. I love what you do with the score thing.

It is very nice. It's very nice. It's very nice. Did you have fun at Cigar Live?

At the thing? Yeah. I knew almost every vendor that was there, so that was nice. Yeah.

Yeah. Very cool. Okay. All right.

The first cigar. Okay, now this cigar is a little different. I can't give you a lot of information because that would give the cigar away too quick. So this is a Charlie Monado-reviewed cigar, it is from Nicaragua, and that's all I can tell you.

Is it the Pasana San Andreas? What? I'm not telling you! You know what?

I can read that guy like a book. Oh my God. 91. Right.

90. Next. I won. You guys suck.

Couldn't have played along. Size, 5 and 3/4 by... Yeah, it's five and three quarter by... Dump cigar reviewed undisclosed, country of origin, Nicaragua, factory undisclosed, wrapper undisclosed, binder undisclosed, filler undisclosed, length undisclosed, ring gauge, 54.

Yeah, cause he knew, Mikey... It's round! They smoked three in its regular production. 91.

I'm gonna go 91. The complexity and evolution of the cigar are truly impressive from the unique pre-light aromas and constantly shifting flavor profile. Moving through bread, leather, spices, potatoes, citrus, and nutty tones. Yep, there it is.

The experience never feels flat or repetitive. 92. 91. Construction across all three samples is outstanding.

Draw, burn, overall consistency are near flawless, allowing the focus to remain entirely on the flavor journey. The balance between full flavor, medium body, and controlled strength makes it a refined, yet bold cigar. Expression that feels both rich and polished. 192.

100. Suck. Well, the flavor transitions are interesting. The recurring potato and starch-like notes may not appeal to every palate.

At times, the profile can feel slightly dry and restrained. Is this the final thoughts? No. No, I can't do the final thought because he says the name of the damn cigar four times.

Oh, so this is it? This is that. Okay, then 91. 91.

Oh, it's a tie. That's because he just copied what I did because I know the score on that one. That's a score on that one. Yeah, but I called it.

I was like, oh my God, this is the Pasadena San Andreas. You said 90. You didn't know what it ranked. No, I didn't know what it ranked, but I just knew it was the Pasadena San Andreas.

All right, second cigar, March 6, 2015, Brooks Whittington Cigars, Costa Rica, Felipe Gregorio, review the Felipe Gregorio Palo de Oro Corona. Coco Nibs. Got a long name. 85.

That's low. Wow. Felipe. Felipe Gregorio.

Pelo de Oro. 88. It's from Costa Rica. The factory is Tres Tierra's Factory.

Wrappers Costa Rican. Binder Costa Rican. Filler Costa Rican. 6 by 44.

Corona. Release in October 2014. Number of cigars. It's a regular production.

And they smoked three cigars. 85. 88. The pre-light presentation is elegant and refined with a parchment smooth wrapper and classic aged aromas of cedar, nuts, hay, and barnyard that immediately signal an old world style profile.

The burn performance throughout the cigar is consistently excellent, requiring virtually no touch ups and maintaining strong combustion from start to finish. 85. 89. Eighty-five.

Eighty-nine. Despite the flavor challenges, the cigar maintains structural integrity and improves... Despite the flavor challenges. Right.

Integrity improves slightly in smoke production, and the final third, notes of tobacco, coffee, aged wood, provide a traditional foundation, and the mild to medium strength keeps the cigar approachable for smokers who prefer lighter-bodied cigars. I didn't hear cocoa nibs. Cocoa Nibs. This is Brooks?

Yes. Eighty-six. Eighty-seven. Unfortunately...

Oh, here we go. The dominant wet newspaper bitterness overwhelms the profile across all three-thirds with an increasingly harsh finish that never fully recovers. The extremely tight draw further limits the enjoyment and lack of balance. Sweetness or Meaningful Flavor Evolution Makes the Smoking Experience Feel Monotonous and Fatigued.

Are you looking it up right now? He can't, there's no way he can find it. He doesn't know how to spell it. I'm looking at your guys' cameras.

Okay. Is that it? With his self, well, that was that clue, yes. You still have final thoughts left.

I was really thinking in my head, how does one... That's dangerous. taste wet newspaper? It's easy.

I can, I've tasted wet newspaper. Really? Yeah, what's the difference in aged wood and new wood with flavors? It's fresher.

And what is barnyard flavors? Is that animal poop? No, no, it's very hayy kind of. No, no, hay was listed as a separate specific flavor.

Yeah, are they smelling these flavors? It's kind of a barn without a hay. You know what I mean? It's like a hayless barn.

Yeah, exactly. It's just like that. That's a shed. But it's barnyard, that's outside the barn.

Yeah. That wouldn't be a barn. That's like the dirt where the chickens have been pooping and stuff. No, it's totally different.

Totally different. Chicken Poop. It's a totally different flavor. How do I know what chicken poop tastes like?

85. 87. So when you clean a chicken coop, you have to wear a mask because the feces is poisonous to you if you get too much. I get it.

Ammonia or whatever? What? Is that ammonia? No.

No? No. What is it? That's cat piss.

Chicken poop is different. Okay. It's sort of like Barnyard and Barnyard Hay. Two totally different things.

Completely different. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying. All right, final thought.

Yes. I'm not sure what I expected from the first Felipe Gregorio Palo de Oro cigar, but the tight, bitter, unbalanced, wet newspaper tasting profile that I got was not high on my list. Ugh. It's funny, you didn't have it on the list.

Well, the burn was excellent in all of my samples. Well, it had paper in it. It burned well. Yeah.

It turned out to be the single positive in a long list of issues for this cigar. Well, it burns well. But it did burn well. Some of which are insurmountable.

If you want to actually enjoy the smoking experience as it stands now, I can't even come close to recommending the Felipe Gregorio Pelo de Oro, even to try at least this Fatola. Phil? 79. Now, everyone, the question is, Mike, he's trying to decide if it's rent higher or lower than 79.

It is definitely lower. I'm going to go 78. Seventy! What do we have for him, Johnny?

Well, you tied on the first one. So that means I win. Yeah, he won this one. Yep.

He wins most of them. You wanna know why? No, he does not. Because he can't spell Felipe Gregorio Pelo de Oro.

It's a long ass name. " Review of? I can't look this up. I just don't understand.

I mean, it's a Costa Rican cigar. I mean, it's probably not gonna be the best. Because it's Costa Rican? Is it Costa Rican?

Well, yeah. That's interesting. Didn't Rosales' first cigar wasn't in a Costa Rican cigar? Yeah, it was.

Wow. How did you rank that? Rosales can't make a good cigar either is what you're trying to say? Is that what you're telling us?

I've never smoked it. I don't know. But most of the Costa Rican cigars I've smoked are not that great. Is that like you don't like all Dominicans except for the Dominicans you like?

Yeah. That's pretty much what that means. Right. Yeah.

None of the Costa Ricans are good except the ones that are? Except there are a couple of Costa Ricans. Right. Yeah.

Gotcha. All right. All right, that's all we got. Yeah, that's it.

Like and subscribe. Make sure you follow us wherever you're watching. Smoke and subscribe, Michael. No, like and subscribe.

Do we know what cigar that we will be smoking on the Patreon? Yes. The Espinosa Sumatra. Our first Redux.

The Redux. Uh-oh. We're revisiting this one. Revisiting the cigar because we were given so much trouble about it.

As, as, yeah. This should be an interesting one. We're gonna see where, I'm gonna come in fresh palate, let's do it tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow.

All right. We'll do it tomorrow. It'll go up Wednesday or Thursday. Whatever.

Put it up Thursday. Oh, God. Consistently. I lose track of the days because technically it's Monday, but we're doing a show for Tuesday.

And then we do the show for Thursday on Monday, but it's almost Tuesday. Listen, plug this thing in. Do it the right way. Let's just go live.

Screw it. Wow. Every day. Yeah, I'm in for that.

This is the first time I've heard you said this. This is great. Let's do it. Listen, you know, there's a reason why I'm telling you to watch your curse words, right?

To bring it down, you know, because like, if we can get more refined at some of these things. I think I cursed today. Yeah, you did. Yeah.

Just one. Yeah, me too. But like, just one, where he uses it as "um". Right.

You know what I mean? So, you know, if we can polish a couple things, then we need to launch a live and see what it looks like. What do you got to lose? You think our listeners would like to see it live, or recorded?

I think that, well, when you, sorry, go ahead, no, you go ahead, when you do it live, if we did like a Facebook Live, there would still be a recording, but how does that work, do we still put it out as, like, tomorrow morning at 5am? No, I'm just, no, it's just a YouTube Live, you launch it, and then it's up. Yeah. But what about Spotify and Rumble?

Then you'd have to still release those the following day. Yeah, still release those two. Yeah. Hmm, okay.

Okay. Doesn't seem that hard. Me and Mikey's not doing it, so Palmer, we're going to see how you figure that out. I was playing today, there is a button over there that says go live, but I don't know what happens.

Well, it's got to be linked. I did push it, so somebody might have seen me going, "meh" for a few minutes. It's got to be linked to a computer, dude. You keep saying that, the computer linking thing.

Yeah. Yeah, keep repeating that. All right, episode 451 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. We got to go, bye.

Thanks, bye. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. But a massive shout out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions, all things cigars, personalities in the cigar world.

Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners. Cheers to you. com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast, that one up.

Show Notes

ON today’s show Falcons get a new coach, TSA is

Going to

Become a pay service, Florida may charge a “sin tax” then in cigars we’ve got a couple new sticks and update on the terrible shooting last week and then by a margin of just .079!  Plus a full round of what’s the score!