ACHP Episode 453 Set My Elephants Free
Episode Summary
Episode 453 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with host Mike Palmer, co-host Mikey and Greg on the board, plus plenty of on-air technical chaos as they wrangle cameras, Bluetooth and a delayed switcher. The centerpiece of the first half is a live phone call with Law Ream of Camacho Cigars, whose personal Facebook account was compromised and is being used to run fraudulent vehicle sale listings. Law explains that the account is likely gone for good — the hackers stripped his two-factor authentication and scrubbed his trusted devices, something he believes required help from inside Meta — and that Facebook support is effectively unreachable unless you pay $15/month for Meta Verified. The crew jokes about "friends" offering condolences while asking if the Rolex is still available, and Law points listeners to Instagram as his only remaining channel.
The news block wanders through Usha Vance's pregnancy announcement and the historic rarity of a sitting second lady giving birth, and a genuinely odd legal story out of Colorado: the Nonhuman Rights Project's habeas corpus petition on behalf of five African elephants — Missy, Kimba, Lucky, Lulu and Jambo — at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, which the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously rejected on the grounds that elephants are not legal "persons" under the statute.
On the cigar side, the guys react to Developing Palates' Top 25 (hosted by Aaron, Seth, John and June), where their San Andrés landed at No. 14 while Half Wheel ranked the same blend in a different vitola — Toro vs. Belicoso — at No. 2, sparking a good discussion of how vitola changes a blend's character. Cigar news includes Serino Cigar Company's new 4 1/2 x 45 "RPM 45" vitola in the Eleanor Rose line (an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 rosado wrapper over Jalapa binder with Nicaraguan, Peruvian and U.S. filler, made at La Corona in Estelí, $7.99 per cigar / $79.95 ten-count bundle, 3,000 made), the first Monaco regional edition — the Ramón Allones Casino Monaco Edición Regional, a 5 1/8 x 55 limited to 6,000 numbered boxes of 10 — and the wildly expensive Cohiba Behike BHK 58 four-cigar sampler heading to La Casa del Habano stores at prices north of $2,000.
The show closes with a round of "What's the Score?" using Half Wheel's review of the Rocky Patel Java Red Robusto (made at Drew Estate) — the panel guesses 84/83 against an actual 82 — plus a surprise call with Skip from the factory ribbing Palmer about sales forecasts and credit for Alex's blending, and an announcement that Drew Tucker of First Responder Cigars will co-host an upcoming episode.
In This Episode
- 01Law Ream's Facebook HackCamacho's Law Ream calls in live to explain how his personal Facebook was taken over and used for fake car sales, and why he can't get it back.
- 02How Meta Support Actually WorksTwo-factor removal, scrubbed devices, closed tickets and the $15/month Meta Verified paywall for reaching a human.
- 03Usha Vance Makes HistoryThe second lady's pregnancy announcement and why no VP spouse has given birth in office since the 1870s.
- 04Can Elephants Sue? Colorado Says NoThe Nonhuman Rights Project's habeas corpus case for five Cheyenne Mountain Zoo elephants and the Colorado Supreme Court's unanimous rejection.
- 05Top 25 Season: No. 14 vs No. 2Developing Palates ranks their San Andrés at 14 while Half Wheel puts a different vitola of the same blend at 2 — and why vitola matters.
- 06Serino Eleanor Rose RPM 45A new 4 1/2 x 45 seasonal vitola named for the 45 RPM record, with full blend details, pricing and production numbers.
- 07Monaco's First Regional EditionThe Ramón Allones Casino Monaco Edición Regional, a 5 1/8 x 55 limited to 6,000 numbered boxes of 10.
- 08Cohiba Behike BHK 58 SamplerThe four-cigar BHK sampler hits La Casa del Habano and Habanos Specialists — at eye-watering prices.
- 09What's the Score: Java Red RobustoThe crew guesses Half Wheel's score for Rocky Patel's infused Java Red Robusto and lands close to the actual 82.
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
Okay. All right. Fire. We're all ready again.
Are you on? Are you on Palmer? I'm on Palmer. Put your phone down.
Phone is off. Okay. I'm paying attention to Palmer. Put your phone down.
Phone is down. You got to lock in for probably 25 minutes. 25 minutes. 25 minutes.
Would you do that for us? The show's longer than 25 minutes. 24 and a half. We should be here by then.
Oh. Alright, I'm good. I can push this button. Go ahead.
He's gonna shit when he realizes it's shit. Okay. Alright, I'm good. Okay, Palmer, let's go.
Alright, welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, episode 453. I'm Mike Palmer, your host. With me today in engineering is Greg. I wish I had emails so I wouldn't have to do this.
Stepankiewicz. Very accurate. And then co-hosting with me is Mikey, I wish Greg had emails so he wouldn't be doing this with us. Oh, good job.
He switched. Good job. Yes. Greg.
No, it's not. It's not Greg. I wish I had an email so I didn't have to do this. This is Greg.
Why is everybody texting me? Congratulations. I don't know what's going on in my life. Richie called me yesterday.
I told him he's sort of spoiled. Oh, I'm so sorry. Like, no, no, we just didn't tell him. Yeah.
Yeah. He was, he was gone. He was out of the circle. Yeah.
He was gone that day. Yeah. I was up on a plane when it happened. We understand.
All right. We get it. Yeah, we found out. I don't know what you're talking about.
Yeah, exactly. You know, you were on a plane, we still found out, so it didn't stop us. It's okay. All right, on today's show, we have a hacking story that hits way too close to home.
Usha, I think that's how you pronounce it, is making history. Missy, Kimba, Lucky, Lulu, and Jambo are about to sue Colorado to be set free. Okay. And then, how can the same cigar be number two one day, and then number 14 two days later?
Oh, I know that answer to that question. But in cigars, we have a new Vitola, but not a new cigar. Monaco gets an exclusive cigar, and Habano's exclusive cigar ain't that exclusive no more. But first, Michael, how do we get some of that CHPOD swag?
What you want to do is like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or watching. I don't know why I struggle on that. You do. You don't know what the word is.
Yeah, wherever you're viewing or watching. com for our latest swag, where we just dropped this month the Smoke The Smoke and Subscribe shirt. Shout out to my boy, Mark Palmer, who has the Smoke and Subscribe shirt. And then a couple of comments from our last show.
" Oh, that's new one, I didn't see that. Yeah, but the reality is, it's only for 20 minutes, and so there's that. Let's see what else I got here. Other comments?
" I saw that. Congrats, Greg, on your number two. Thank you. My boy Brett said, "If math is your enemy, you shouldn't gamble Phil," which I love.
He's 100% correct. We'll have to re-say that later if Phil makes the show. Phil makes it. And we'll do one more here.
" Jennifer Aniston. I guess that's with him dressed up as a leprechaun or something like that. I have no idea. I don't know what that was.
All right. Also, I received something, and I wanted to show you this. Okay. I got this lovely note.
At Target? It says, from Michael to Mike, BFF. Oh. With kisses and hugs.
And. From Rosales. Yep. It is.
Oh, the jacket. My very own. Son of a bitch. I didn't get one.
Weasel. How does that look? Does that look okay? That looks terrible.
Looks like it would be too small. Looks good. Okay. You didn't have to switch to him.
That looks good. I like the other color better. My very own weasel team sweatshirt or whatever this thing is called. So, I'm going to put this on once you kind of get into your next story just to rub it in your face a little bit.
Rub it in my face. Yeah. No. Yeah.
I'm doing it. I like the other color. Okay. So yeah, that's all I got.
Let's go. All right. Now in the news. That's okay.
Does he know about Preston? I mean, he's no longer number one. Does he know about Preston? He probably has not heard.
Yeah. All right. Law Ream of Camacho Cigars wants the community to know that his personal Facebook account has been compromised, and it's currently being exploited for fraudulent car sales. Such an odd thing.
Law no longer has access to the account and is actively working to recover it. Any vehicle listing or messages coming from that profile are not legitimate and it should be reported immediately. So now on the phone with us today, live, is Law Reams. We're going to give Law a call right now.
Greg, can you hit the Bluetooth button on the keyboard, I mean, on the soundboard, please? You're not already paired? No, I tried and it said I can't. Oh.
So I hope that's not part of our problem we're having with everything else. Okay, that board right there. I have no idea. Okay, fuck that.
The buttons with the funny stuff on it, there's a Bluetooth button. What, who are you on? Are you on Palmer? Cause I'll get up.
I'm on Palmer. Now you're on Palmer. I got it. You got it?
Hit it. Touch it. It's flashing. It's flashing blue.
Okay. There it is. Alright, hold on. It's confirming that everything's still recording.
Alright, I'm connected. So like this, Greg? It's supposed to be like this? That's the way the professionals do it.
That's the way the pros do it? Yep. Actually, you're supposed to put it behind so you don't see it on top of your hand. I don't know what you're doing.
Okay. But if you wanted that, I wouldn't have to do the fancy hookup, I could have just meant it where there only works on one side of the head. Oh. All right, it's L.
I have it. A. I have his full name, Lawrence. I don't like it like this, I gotta do this one.
I don't like it with a hat. Push the whole thing on the top of your head. Do you think he's eating a sandwich right now? Hello?
Oh, hey, it's Cigar Hustler Podcast. Hey, I'm calling about the Bobcat. I wanted to see... Yeah, I'd like the Chevy Celica that you have.
You know what? You can get those, but you have to send the money to my Zelle account or my Venmo. Don't send it to my Facebook account, but I can get those to you. Okay.
Oh, perfect. I mean, if anyone's gonna get scammed, I should be making a profit. Like, your money should go to me, not some stranger. Like, that's fair, or better.
Okay, so your Facebook got hacked. Yes. And people were actually sending money. Yes.
Did they, really? Yeah. People are... How stupid are people?
I'm kind of, I'm evaluating myself right now, because you know, you're only as good as a company you keep, and I'm like, I might be pretty stupid too then. I mean, it's... Well, they thought they were sending you money, you apparently are very trustworthy. Yeah, well I have a lot of friends, friends in quotations that I haven't talked to in a decade that are like, so sorry about your uncle, is that Rolex still available?
And I'm like, could you at least have the decency to put a period between those two sentences? I'm like, you deserve to get scammed. I'm like, yes, it's available, just send it to me on Facebook. I'm so sorry about the death of your family.
Can you take cash? Okay. Yeah. Unfortunately, my uncle's still alive.
Unfortunately. " He did. " Ooh, a bobcat for $3,500. I'm taking that right now.
Dude, I coughed and laughed at the same time. That was how funny that was. Okay, so do you have your Facebook page back now, or is it gone forever? It's gone forever, and here's why.
They're getting assistance from inside Facebook. No. com/hacked, and it's like, oh, we recognize you've logged in on this device previously, you can have your account back. They scrubbed all my devices from that, and you can only do that from inside Facebook.
Wow, professional. From inside Facebook? Yes. They just fired all those people was one of them.
That's one of those guys? One of the guys they laid out. So, I actually got on the phone with somebody from Facebook. Wow, really?
Yeah, and you know, obviously in India. Right, hello? And they closed my ticket prematurely. Wow.
They just, so they, I filed three tickets in the last 24 hours and now I'm banned from filing tickets. They just respond like, go to this link and click on it, and then they end the ticket. And he's done. Who is this guy on the phone?
Quickly, make him go away. Hey, you know that guy who we took his account? He's here. He's on the phone.
He's calling us. Give him the link. He's probably sitting right next to the guy scamming me. You're not going to believe this.
Somehow he found our number and he's here. Ban him, quickly. Okay, I did it right now. Hold on.
Oh my goodness, man. Here's another little gem I found out. If you want to contact Facebook support, you have to pay for it. No.
You can only contact them if you have a meta-verified account, which is $15 a month. Wow. They probably took your blue check away. Well, yeah, it's gone now.
I unsubscribed. That's wild. So now, so I'm going to stay with this Law Ream guy for a while and I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, I reach out. It's like he doesn't exist now because he has no Facebook.
Yeah, it's like, you know what, they took away the picture? No, the picture's still there. He should have kept the yellow van. It's just, it's, you know what, they're mad that he went from yellow to black.
It almost feels like the appropriate ending for you. Like this, like, like the Zeno guy of Law has officially died, right? And this is the Facebook, you were Facebook murdered is what it was. He's like, that's the crazy part.
A phoenix reborn from the Facebook ashes. Yes, exactly. This is how you will rise is Camacho Law. Camacho Law only does Instagram.
Which is the same company, by the way. It's just for the record. You shouldn't have seen him Saturday at the event. He was all excited.
He didn't have to smoke just Zeno cigars. Yeah, got to mix it up. There was three of them. It was like a little fraternity they had sitting there.
They're all huddled together behind their Camacho thing. Right. That's nice. That's pretty nice.
They're acting really cool. Yeah, they're acting like they're cool. Hey man. Hey, hey, hey.
Yeah, his voice got a lot deeper. Throwing cigars at all the women when they walk by. Here, take this. Yeah, all two of them.
All two of them. Yeah, yeah, the one old lady. Love cigar events. The one old lady.
And her niece that was with her. Yeah. She had to drive. The lady couldn't drive poorly.
All right, well, we won't keep you any longer because we know that you're doing the sales summit, but we just wanted to get-- Oh, that's right. He's at the meeting. Yep, which we love. Which we love, you know, we have good friends in the industry that take the calls in the sales summit, and we appreciate you.
Except Justin, Justin. Justin is the worst. If Justin Andrews there, put him on the phone. You know, let me go look for him real quick.
He goes to all the meetings. He doesn't care who it is. He might be a speaker. They may have paid him to show up.
We have to pay him just to stand in the corner and judge us. Exactly, exactly. All right, well, we'll let you go, brother. Sorry to hear about your Facebook account, dude.
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. When you make the new one, I want to be your first friend. I don't think I'll be making a new one, but if you do want some of the stuff on that list, though, send it to my Instagram.
All right, buddy, have a good day. All right, brother. Take care. You too.
Bye. All right, that was Law Ream from Camacho Cigars. Camacho Law. How are we doing with the flipping over there?
A lot of flipping. Good? You're doing good? Lots of flipping.
I heard me talking and then I saw you flip it afterwards. It's just one of us. We're sorry. It's gonna be a slight delay today.
Don't hit three, there's no camera there. Yeah. It just goes black. Do I push both of them when you both are speaking?
No. That doesn't work that way. First 10 minutes are fucked up. All right, Mrs.
D. Vance, has already made history in a couple of notable ways. Do you know, Michael? I have no idea.
When she became second lady in January 2025, she became the first person of color and the youngest second lady since the Truman administration. Interesting. On January 20th, 2026, the Vance announced that Usha, I think you're saying U-S-H-A, Usha, is pregnant with their fourth child, a baby boy, expected in late July. Both Usha and the baby are reported to be doing well, and the couple shared how grateful they are for the military doctors and White House staff who are supporting their family during this busy and joyful time.
S. political history. Usha Vance may become the first sitting second lady in more than 150 years to give birth while in office. The last known instance of a vice president's spouse giving birth while serving dates back to the 1870s, making this a remarkable moment for the vice presidency.
D. Vance met at Yale School, married in 2014, and are already parents to three young children. You want to guess their names? No, I do not.
E-W-A-N. Ewan? Okay. Vivik, V-I-V-E-K, and Mirabelle, that one's pretty obvious.
Okay. Her journey from a legal career into a national spotlight underscores a blend of personal achievement, public service, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, why do you think it is that there hasn't been other VPs or anything like that in office? Too much pressure, they don't have sex in office.
You think that's what it is? They're old. A lot of them are older. A lot of them are older, yeah.
They've already had their children years. But Kamala wasn't old. Kamala could have had a baby. I think she's a baby.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know? Maybe.
Maybe she didn't want to. I guess not. But I agree with the stressors of the job, you know? Sure.
Like, I'm just not in the mood, honey. Right. Honey, I had to... We just took Nicholas Maduro.
Right. Or, we just took Nicholas Maduro. I'm all wound up. Let's go.
Let's go to Pound Town. That's right. Tell me I'm the greatest. Tell me I'm the greatest.
Who's the best VP? Oh my goodness we're terrible we're terrible people we are they're straight to hell okay next all right illegal first of its kind is cropped up in Colorado that sounds almost like something out of a schoolyard debate can an elephant sue to leave a zoo no next next story hold on oh it's frozen it's frozen too oh shit where'd it go oh man all sorts of technical issues We're just rolling along. It's the middle of the week here. This is a shit show.
Yeah, don't worry. We'll piece it together and we'll still look awesome. We'll still get it. There we go.
All right. Or we'll just leave it and still look awesome. We'll just leave it. But you have yet to flip back to me as I was talking that entire time.
You're on it right now. No, I'm not. Now you're not. Okay.
Now you are. All right, I'm going to talk again, Greg. Now I can see the color tone against your face. All right, the question isn't about trunk size or how loud they trumpet.
It's about whether elephants are persons under the law. The case centers on five African elephants. This is stupid. This is wild.
This isn't the first time. Yeah. Oh, my God. Missy, Kimba, Lucky, Lulu, and Jambo, who live in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, an animal rights group, the Non-Human Rights Project, the NHRP, filed a lawsuit arguing that these majestic creatures are so cognitive and socially complex, they should be allowed to challenge their captivity in court, much like a human prisoner.
What are we doing? If the elephant can spell "habeas corpus," I'll tell you what, give him a pen. They might be able to. They're very smart animals.
In legal terms, it means asking a judge to decide whether their confinement is unlawful, but here's where it gets tricky. Habeas corpus is written for persons, traditionally human beings, and that's exactly what Colorado's High Court had to wrestle with. During the hearings, justice probed the limits of the concept, even wondering aloud whether extending it to elephants might lead to questions about pets and other non-human animals. It opens the door for other things.
This is wild. Where is this happening? Colorado. That's a lot of weed.
Yeah, it's illegal weed there. Everybody's just really high. A unanimous ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court ultimately said, no, elephants, no matter how intelligent, aren't legal persons under the statute, and therefore have no standing to bring such a claim. How do they know the elephants went out?
They're like... Maybe the elephants like it there. Wait a second, man. We like it here.
What if it's a human? The court wrote that the question wasn't about how majestic or smart the animals are, but whether the laws written applies to them, and it does not. The decision ends this particular bid to use the court to secure freedom for the elephants, but it hasn't ended the broader conversation. Advocates argue that as science uncovers even more about animal intelligence and emotional life, legal systems should evolve too.
Critics say the expanding legal - these people are crazy. Can they pay taxes? I would like them to pay taxes then. The elephants?
Yeah. Well, if they get jobs. Well, you know, we're going to need them to check in somewhere. Well, they want to put them in a, there's two or three different elephant preserves in Florida that they would have to be put in because they've been in captivity so long, not in Florida, sorry, the United States, they've been in captivity so long, they would not survive if we, you know, took them all the way back to Africa.
I mean, I understand that you'd say Florida because, you know. Well, there is one in Florida. Right, but Florida's the best one, right, so. Right.
Okay, so. So, for now, Missy, Kimba, Lucky, Lulu, and Jumbo will remain at the zoo. And the debate continues. What a waste of time of our judicial system.
I mean, this is this… Well, Colorado, they can't do illegal drugs because it's legal, so they have a lot of free time. So they're bored, so they're pressing… They're bored. Hey, check this out. Hey, what do you got on the books that we can talk about?
There's this elephant thing. Bring it. Just bring it. I don't even care what it is at this point.
Just bring it. I'm looking at this and it says that the elephant… You're arguing the fact that the elephant's a person? Is that correct? Yeah.
Yes. Yes, it is. I'm going to have to review this for a few weeks and get back to you on that. What if I just say one of them is just Jumbo?
Just Jumbo. It sounds very smart, Jumbo. Yeah. I mean, just name it Missy or Lulu.
Right. All right, last night, Developing Pallids put out their top 25. They did. Now, it is my favorite top 25 because it's fast.
It just, they just, they just, it just zip right through 35 minutes, start to finish. You know what's funny is because like, so I put the, put the kids down at nine. Yeah. And I'm like, all right, this is perfect.
This is perfect. I'm going to put them down. I'm going to turn on developing pallets, right? And nothing happens right at nine o'clock.
They fight you. There's this whole thing. Oh, the kid you mean. Yeah.
And Aaron Lewis. I thought you meant them. Yeah. I'm like, brush your teeth.
Like, come on, let's go. Come on, we're getting. Come on, McDavish, put your shirt on. So by the time that I had everything sorted out and I sit down, it was like 9:20, 9:30.
They're on like number three. Yeah, they're right. So I go, I'm here. And I'm like, and I actually saw that he requested me, and I'm like, oh my god, so.
This morning, only you commented, so were you like the only one watching, it looked like? No, there was a couple of people commenting. Oh, maybe if they're not my friends, I don't see them. I don't know, there were a few other comments.
Yeah, I turned it on while I was getting ready, and before I got my teeth brushed, they were like on number six, so I was like, oh, wow. I wonder how much the Dunes and Seth's ad space are too, like, 'cause we got the Powstanie one, and then I want to do like a cartoon character I just want to have like June kind of chasing Aaron with like a hammer or something in the background. Why not June making fish sticks? Oh.
And he's handing them up to Aaron. Handing them to Aaron. Right. Yeah, like here's a fish stick.
Right. And then John's over here getting syrup out of a tree, and he's going to hand it up to Seth. Well, John's is going to stay the same. It's Powstanie.
Well, yeah. Oh, well, you still put the Powstanie logo on the fish sticks. Yeah. I think that'd be funny.
How much did you pay for John's? I don't remember. I have no idea. Oh.
Reasonable? Yeah, I'm sure. I would imagine if they were different prices, his would be a little higher. I wonder if there's a bulk buy, if I buy all three squares, what do I get?
Well, what about Loomis, you don't want his? I'm not touching his. It's nothing. He has one, doesn't he?
Yeah. He has somebody. He can stay with his damn blackened. Probably Perdomo or something.
No, it was Drew Estate. Oh. Drew Estate blackened. What was the number one cigar and never made it all the way to the end?
Uh, it was an Aladino. Oh, and they had one that didn't even have a band, and it was a brand I'd never heard of before. Really? But anyway, on this show, we were ranked number 14.
But Half Wheel, ranked number two, same cigar. Different cigar. San Andreas Toro, San Andreas Bellicoso. Well, same cigar, different Vitola, yes.
Okay. Yeah. I will tell you that the Toro is a little bit edgier. Yeah?
Yeah. I don't know. I already mentioned I like the Bellicoso better. Bellicoso is very good.
They're all great. I love the Corona Gordo. But that's such a big difference though. What's that?
14 to two. Yeah. Hey, at least we ranked there. I mean, there's a couple that just totally...
That's true. That's true. Well, really, just the one. No, there's two.
Oh. There's two. What was the other one? Cigar Snob.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't even count them. Did they do it as a video, or did they just put it in the magazine?
I don't know. I don't either. I think that they do it as like a website thing. But also in the magazine.
I mean, they are a magazine. They are a magazine. So. I did appreciate Development Palettes putting it up this morning, because then I didn't have to listen to six through one after I thought I wasn't asking.
I'll see you next time. Oh, nice. I can just go look. Well, thank you very much for developing palettes for the nod as well, man.
We appreciate you guys, especially John. Not so much Aaron. June, I like June too. I like June.
And Seth seems alright. I don't know Seth well, but Seth seems alright. Everything to him sounded like it tastes like cocoa, barnyard, and something else. Coco nibs?
No, he didn't say nibs, he just said cocoa. Ah. He did mention barnyard. Coco is his go-to?
Yes. Okay. All right. Do you have a video?
- I do not. - Thank God. Because that video last night was hard to fit in. It just creates extra work.
- But you did it. And I'm proud of you. - And it turned out well. - I'm very proud of you.
- It was nice to have it without the music. - Right. See, I did that for you. - But didn't Boots play his out loud?
- Um... - I didn't hear his at all. - He did it first and he turned it down. - Oh, did he?
All right. All right, Cigar News. Serino Cigar Company has released a new Vitola in its Eleanor Rose line That was inspired by the length of the classic 45 RPM record format. Greg, how do you feel about developing pallets giving us the nod for 14?
I like those guys. Yeah? They're good dudes. Yes, but how do you feel about them giving us a ranking?
Not your personal opinion on their personalities. Yeah. Do you feel it was justified, not justified? Should we have done better?
Yeah, what do you got? Are you mad at them for making us 14? Well, I think we always should be doing better. He's like Bruce Willis in Fifth Element.
Thrilled. 45? Sounds smaller? Four and a half by 45, so it's not even the hole.
It's a four and a half, what do you mean it's not even the hole? The cigar is a four and a half by 45, but they based it on the 45 RPM record size. Oh, got it. Okay.
So is it from like a hole to edge? Cause it's, I mean, that hole's big. It's not a... A 45 gauge?
It's just a, this is a play on words. Like they all do this. Oh, just a 45? Everybody does crazy stuff like this, you know, like the, you know, it's the, our hundredth year cigar, so it's a hundred dollars, whatever, you know.
Same thing. S. Like the rest of the line, it's produced at the La Corona factory in Esseli, Nicaragua. That's not...
No. All right. It's a totally different guy. Each cigar is an MSRP of?
Greg, how much do you think this cigar is? How much do you think it is, Greg? It's shaped like a $14. Uh...
It's like Boots is here. $12. 99. 99.
It's only $45. $8. 95. 95, a total of 3,000 cigars were produced.
The RPM 45 was created as a seasonal smoke. Cold weather. Yeah, a little guy. Cold weather.
A little guy for the guys that don't smoke big cigars. Are you giving in now that is a thing? No. Okay, so listen, it is a thing, but the reality is if you want to smoke a big cigar, you'll figure it out.
That's my argument. But I don't want to waste half of a big cigar by smoking outside in the cold. Don't want to build a little heating apartment like that one guy. It's way too expensive, I don't have that kind of money.
Then steal it. Steal the money? Yeah. Or the tent.
Rob a bank. Greg, I'm going to start coming in earlier. I'll turn on the cameras in the morning. Rob a bank?
Something. I smoked in a blizzard in Norway. Did you? Yeah.
Yeah, but it was Norway. He just did it so we could tell people. I smoked in a blizzard in Norway. It's pretty accurate.
What size was the cigar? That was a full size cigar. Did he smoke the whole thing? Yeah, he smoked the whole thing.
Covert in snow. Was it a Connecticut? Covert in snow? It was later in the day, so it was probably Maduro.
So it probably survived. Yeah, it did fine. There you go. See, he's a man.
Be a man. He just likes telling, "I'm not going to Norway anytime soon. If I go to Norway, I'll smoke a full-size cigar. " Okay.
Fair? You don't smoke full-size cigar now? Sure I do, but I'm not in Norway. So you don't smoke little cigars?
Because of the code? No, I just had two little cigars and I gave them to other people. Okay. It's a tighter format, but the blend remains intact intentionally, and it's an expressive.
Released in 2021, the Eleanor Rose was named after homage to the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby. I heard about that. There are now four different Vitolas in the line. We don't care what they're called.
They all have Eleanor Rose in it. We have the John, we have the Ringo, we have the... It's shipping to retailers the last week it shipped. Those are the only two I know.
John, George, Ringo, and Bobby. I don't know. Bobby? That's the cousin.
That's their cousin? Cousin. He was also a Beatle, though? He played the cymbals.
Only on one song. He played the cymbals? He played the triangle. Yeah, and then a triangle on a second song.
Cowbell? Did he ever do any cowbell? He was known as the percussion guy. Okay.
All right, the first edition regional release for Monaco will pay tribute to one of the principalities' most popular destinations. Greg, have you smoked a cigar in Monaco? No, I have not. Is it on your list?
No. Oh, I'll tell you, your wife finds out. You have to ask my wife. It's her list, not mine.
Coprova SAS, which is noted below, is the distributor for Cuban cigars in France and supplies cigars to Monaco. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We forgot Paul McCartney.
Paul. Yeah. They call him Bobby. That's kind of a big one, dude.
You know what I mean? Like the fact that you pulled George. Hey, Rich didn't get it either. He's sitting right there.
The fact that you pulled George was incredible because that's the one you forget. I only know him as a single. But we just blew over Paul McCartney like he wasn't a beetle. Oh, my God.
I can't wait to see the comments on this YouTube. Oh, great. Local Tobacco Authority have announced the new Ramon Alano's Casino Monaco, Edición, Regional Monaco, Ramón, Alan O's? Yes.
Okay. It's a casino. All right. Regionally.
Okay. And it's in Monaco. All right, all right, all right. It's a five and an eighth by 55 Parejo Vitola, known as the Montesco.
Within the Cuban naming system, the name Vitola as Romeo and Julieta Y. Churchills. Pricing has not yet been announced. You want to guess the price?
Uh, but it doesn't say. I just said it hasn't been announced. Production is limited. I just said that.
Yeah, but you started for a minute to think of what the price should be. Because here's why. Maybe they said, but we're speculating between $17 to $19 or something like that. Did I say that?
No. No, but you would have said it after I guessed it. No, no, I wouldn't have asked you to guess. Okay, what's the production?
It's Paul McCartney, buddy. What are they making? Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney, yes.
I call him Bobby. Yeah, Bobby. I hope we ran into him earlier. Look, Bobby.
Hey, it's Bobby. What are you doing, Bobby? Shh, that's just for you and me. No one knows.
How's the symbol going? How's the symbol? It's not as much fun as a triangle. It's not like you did anything else.
Limited to 6,000 numbered boxes of 10 cigars, the first regional edition dedicated to Monaco recognizes the enthusiasm and expertise of Manganesque aficionados. Okay. That's the word. I get it.
So we're releasing this cigar, we have no idea the price, but it's for the people. For the peoples, we made 6,000 of these little guys. A thousand of these little guys. Right.
There you go. Perfect. We are delighted to see such an emblematic project come to life, celebrating both the legacy of Ramon Alanones and the excellence of the Manganesque market. Well, the release date is not yet.
We don't know when we're doing it either, by the way. The release date has not been announced, and cigars appear to be coming soon. Sometime between now and eventually. There's more weird words.
We're not reading this. I love that. Like, where does the conversation go? They go, hey, we need to do a press release for the cigar.
Like, well, who's making it? Okay, let me make notes of who's making it. We're not sure. How many are you making?
6,000. We're making 6,000. We're going to produce 6,000. Okay.
What's it going to cost? We haven't decided. I have no idea. Okay, when are you going to release it?
Come back to me on that one. Whenever they get the 6,000 done? As soon as they get here. At the factory, we don't know what it is.
Put some big words in it. Manganese and... Throw in Manganese. Don't like it eats as much as possible and make the names that you can't say it.
Yeah, all right, I feel like we're doing things kind of backwards, guys. Press release, hmm, maybe later. The Fonico 35 was released for the Middle East a year later. The Ramon Alano Silver Jubilee arrived in Asia.
Exclusive. Got it. But nobody's talking about us, so press release. Press release.
It's like if somebody were to steal $9,000 of the cigars and it makes it into, you know. Did I see a story that the guy really didn't, that he put out a press release that he didn't really steal the $9,000? I have no idea. I saw something.
I thought that's what it was. I meant to talk about it. It was last week. I mean, you know what, though?
If it isn't true, he might have a case if, you know, somebody's making... Right. " Like Jameis Winston and the Crab Legs? Yeah.
Do you even know who that is? Nope. I don't think so. Last year, Habano's essay celebrated, ask Greg if he knows.
College ball player. It did happen when he was in college ball. Yeah. He guessed.
Either that or he googled it real quick. No, I actually remember what the guy looked like, it was all over the news. He just took crab legs from like Publix or some shit like that. Somebody said he had crab legs at Publix.
That's right, that's correct. Yeah, he would go in, see an employee, they'd give him crab legs and he'd leave. Then eventually, he showed up for his crab legs and then he got in trouble. Oh.
Was the employee like his boy, just his friend? Oh, well, you just knew that Jameis Winston was a star quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles at the time, and he was a starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then he went to the Saints, and now he's just, I think, with the Giants. Oh, do they give him crab legs up there? Probably.
I don't know if I take crab legs up there. Why not? Not as fresh. Florida, okay, we get 'em right here.
You think New York's not as fresh? No, well, they have to fly 'em in or drive 'em in. They can't just go out in the water and get 'em. Pretty confident we don't get crab legs in Florida.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we don't get crab legs here, dude. You ever heard of stone crab? You only eat the claws. I'm pretty sure that if I'm having crab legs, they're Alaskan.
Well, then it would be Alaskan king crab legs. Right. It's a completely different thing. Yeah.
Much bigger. Much bigger. Much bigger. Okay.
Paul McCartney, buddy. All right, moving on. Bobby. Yeah, Bobby.
Last year, Urbano's essay celebrated the 15th anniversary for the Kahiba-Bahiki BHK flagship line By showing off the new Kohiva, BHK 58, attendees at the gala dinner during last February's Festival de Habano were given the new cigar as part of a new four count sampler box that included one of each of the BHK Vitolas, the three existing ones and the new BHK 58, those four packs will be coming to retailers around the world, but they won't be cheap at their tobacco. The Swiss distributor for Cuban cigars has announced that they will release these cigars to La Casa Del Habano franchise stores on February 3rd and Habano Specials on February 10th. The four cigar sampler are priced at $500. Wait, I have two prices.
I have Freedom Dollars and then whatever CHF is. Freedom Dollars, I'm going to say it's got to be close to $1,000. $1,000. Okay.
And you're saying $500? $500 for cigars? Okay. $2,145.
Told you. Shit. But I thought we removed Zen Chi from the equation, why is everything still so goddamn expensive? He's got to pay for his legal stuff.
Oh, okay. It makes sense. It makes sense. I thought he was no longer affiliated.
Retarded. Well, there's affiliated and there's, I'm not telling you where all my money is, unless you give me some more. Right. Try these Bajiques for $2,000.
Try these Bajiques. For context, in Spain, the Cuban cigar prices are amongst the lowest in the world. The existing three Bajique BHK cigars are priced at cigars, are priced at cigars, are priced between $270 to $325 per cigar. But those are $500.
In Spain. Greg, have you ever smoked a cigar in Spain? Have you had one in Spain? No, never been to Spain.
In the cold? No. What countries have you had a cigar in, Greg? Yeah.
So we have Norway. Japan. Japan. Italy.
Italy. England. Yeah, he had one in China with me. France, China.
China, France, it's six. Canada? Canada, yes. Canada, okay.
I've never been to Canada. Seven. Nicaragua, obviously. Africa?
Never Africa. Can't count that because that's where they're made. Have you blessed the rains down in Africa? No, that's why there's no vampires.
Okay. You know, it sounds like Greg's quite the world traveler. Yeah, seven or eight there. Just living here in Florida, over here just grinding away every day.
Going to football practice. Yeah, just six days a week. But you do have Preston, he doesn't have Preston. Yeah, he doesn't have Preston, it's true.
It's true. All right, now is, I believe, hold on, there's Switzerland pricing, we probably don't care about that. Oh, they're $500 in Switzerland. Okay.
Talks about the leaves. Wow, it's a long cigar. He's just treating it to himself at this point. The cigars are completely different than the original Cohiba Bejique, a limited edition that was released to celebrate Cohiba's 40th anniversary next month at the Festival de Habanos.
Habano SA will celebrate Cohiba's 60th anniversary. It's an entirely different type of flying altogether. Now it's time for the industry's favorite game: What's the score? After I say industry's favorite game, you have to say what's the score with us.
Yeah, ready? Does he never watch the show at all? No, nothing. All right, now it's time for the industry's favorite game: What's the Score?
There you go. Now play the music. Which one is that? Is it this one?
We don't have a one. Just pick one. He's gonna shit when he realizes it's shit. Yeah, he really likes that one.
All right, Greg, do you know how the game's played? Do you know how the game's played? I think I have an idea. Okay.
All right. All right. First cigar. We're only at 35 minutes, so let me stretch this out a bit.
So what's going to happen is Palmer's going to announce a cigar from Half Wheel, and he's going to announce the author of whoever reviewed it. And at that point, you need to decide what you think the score is going to be, and then I will decide what I think the score is going to be. And then he's going to talk about the description of the cigar, same scenario. He's going to give out three clues, and as those clues are distributed, we are also going to make decisions and change as far as clues.
Then he will give out the final thought, where we get to give out our final review, and whoever is closest or dead-on wins. Okay, closest or dead-on wins. Yeah. Not over, right?
right? No, over's fine. It's not price is right. Can I go last?
You want to go last? Yeah. You're the guest. I'll let you go last.
You're smart with math. That's fine. You want the advantage? I get it.
There is an advantage. Yeah. Okay. Alright, first cigar, October 18th, 2017 by Charlie Manato.
It is a flavored infused cigar. Nicaraguan reviews Rocky Patel Java Red Robusto. 2016 Java Red by Charlie. Review, yes, by Charlie.
I'm going to say 85. I'm going to say 88. Okay, is that Mike close enough to you? Do you sound okay?
I can hear myself. Okay. But is he one ear covered or both? No, he's got them both.
No, I got them both covered. Alright, cigar reviewed is the Java Red Robusto. Country of origin is Nicaragua. Factory, La Gran Fabrica, Drew Estate.
Wrapper is undisclosed. Binder undisclosed. Filler undisclosed. Taller Undisclosed, the length is a five and a half by 50, it's a Vitola, is a Robusto, and they smoked three cigars.
I'm going to stay at 85. Yeah, no reason to change. Agreed. Sometimes you can't, there is a reason, but like in this scenario, it doesn't really make much sense.
Yeah, and they didn't give you any information. Yeah, with an infused cigar. All right, clue number one. The wrapper and cold draw deliver a fun, dessert-like profile with chocolate, maraschino cherry, and ice cream sweetness that feels playful and unique without being overwhelming.
Playful and unique. Maraschino cherry. I don't even know what that is. It's a type of cherry.
Thank you. That's what I'm here for. I'm going to say 86. You went up.
I did? I'm going to stick with 88. Okay. Clue number two.
The contrast between the sugary cap and the smoky, woody, earthy core creates an interesting smoked Manhattan vibe that keeps the first third engaging and well balanced. Ooh, smoked Manhattan. Is he drooling? He's not drinking either.
I just mentioned Manhattan. Mm-hmm. Nope. No, I haven't been drinking.
Got the shakes or anything over there? Yeah, just for the first two days. Yeah, that's gone now. Oh.
You should never drink again. 86. I'm going to stick with 88. His liver right now is just rejoicing.
He doesn't know what to do. Yeah. Like, I guess I should start... It's all this clear fluid that's not spicy coming in.
I guess you should start sorting out these toxins now that I'm operating again. I'm doing a factory reset in here. Come on already. Throw something in here.
Oh, look, Paul McCartney. Bobby. Third clue. Third clue, while pleasant, the cigar lacks meaningful flavor development and becomes repetitive, with a frequent burn issue and touch-ups, eventually hurting the overall enjoyment.
Hey, we're podcasting right now. Uh, we could help you, uh, figure out who should get credit for your, for your blends. Oh, okay, well, we'll figure, yeah, it's, uh-- Hey, Skip, can you send me one of those new jackets? Who do we, who do we, who do I credit?
Who do you want me to credit? This was our thought process. Okay. Let me turn this up.
It's a team effort, so everybody gets credit, but when Greg gave us the forecast for this year, it was less than last year, so the real question is, what company hires a sales guy and lowers their forecast? It's, you know what, I mean, it is what, he's not, you know, doing his best, I guess. So, Mike and I, we're wondering who's going to get credit for sales. Yeah.
For what year? Last year or this year? For every year. Well, for this year, I guess.
Okay. Well, I guess that'll take us to the time. We're just trying to respond to being big dicks. Yeah.
Okay. By Mike Palmer. Yeah. I can't hear him.
Mike Palmer's responsible for sales. Yeah, but I'm not responsible for the forecast. He can barely hear you because we don't have headphones on. Well, this whole thing was only fun if he was, if we were fucking busting his car out.
Well, he'll be able to hear it later. All right, Mike, because Mike said, salespeople don't focus on who gets credit for the, for the wins. They, they, they, they focus on, on growing the business for next year. Right.
That makes sense. Basically, how do I take all these accolades and then double down on what we can steal? Yeah. " Right.
You must be really bored at the factory. " Is there nothing? Is there, is there nothing? Well, he probably has, you just don't listen to him.
That's the difference. Yeah. Alright, uh, love you guys. If you guys really believe in Alex's blending, uh, powers, and you think this Simatra's gonna be a big hit, You better send in another fucking production.
You guys don't have enough tobacco for it right now. Uh-oh. I would have ordered more. Mike's can sell 250 boxes of each side in like five minutes.
You can't hear Greg, but Greg says you guys don't have enough tobacco for it right now anyways. Well. Okay, we got to go. Bye.
We don't buy tobacco just in case you guys decide you're going to actually sell something. All right. Okay. Well, you know, we're going to do our best over here for you, Skip, and we'll get back.
But tell Mike that he should send Alex congratulations. For which one? The San Andreas? For everything.
Send Alex? All right. So you hear that, Mike? Send Alex congratulations.
Alex works really hard, so he needs the motivation. So then maybe you should be nice to him, Alex does work. Is he working for somebody else now? We were just having a conversation about where he's at this year versus where he was last year and why that is.
Oh, okay, that's good. Did you make him cry in a joyous way? I can't control if people cry or not. I can tell you, you know, holding people accountable is its own skill.
Greg didn't respond, but I booked our rooms at the QC, same place we booked last year with the dates, I sent him a text on him. I'm gonna take care of it as soon as my email's off. All right, yeah, well, we had an email issue today, so we're sorting that out, but again, we're on the podcast, love you guys, and we'll talk to you later. Wait, so this is being recorded for the podcast?
Yes. So this is great content. You're welcome. You're welcome.
I didn't even know you were recording. We just wanted to call and fuck with my phone. No, thank you. Yeah, I said, "Hey, we're on the podcast.
" Okay. Legally, you have to say that. All right. Love you.
Bye-bye. Bye. Never says he loves me. No.
How did this fall on me? You know what it is? I told you that you blended the cigar and gave you credit for the San Andres yesterday's show that they heard today. Maybe.
Could be. I mean, I don't forecast what we buy. Yeah, no. You guys don't even tell me.
This is kind of standard approach. It just sort of shows up. He's just saying that you need to do better. That's what he's saying.
That's all he says. To briefly surmise, it was him saying, you know, you need to do better. And he's right. So do better.
Name all four Beatles next time. Okay? Bobby. Ringo.
All right. Oh, this is fun. I forgot what we were doing. Did you guys give a vote after the last clue?
I don't think so. Carry on. Well, then give a vote after the score for the last clue. Oh, no.
Actually, you said it got shitty. Burn issues. Basically shitty, yeah. Okay, I'm going to go 84.
Yeah, that was going to be my number. I'm going to go 83. All right, well, this might not be something many of our readers would ever consider buying. Many people will.
I've smoked some other flavored cigars over the years, including Java's, and my biggest issue is with the Java Red is it just seemed flat after the midway point. There wasn't a ton of development from the tobacco, and I oddly found myself needing more flavors. While there's a good chance I'll never smoke another one of these in my life, I'm not opposed to it. It's a decent enough cigar, but not my cup of tea.
Those who just scroll down the score will probably assume it's due to my opposition of flavored cigars. It's not, rather burnish you or problems across the samples I smoked. 82. Mmm.
I'm gonna make you decide. Yeah, I'm gonna have to stick with 83. 81. You should've went the other way.
Hey! Should've went the other way. Got 'em! Should've went the other way.
Got 'em! Okay. Anything else to add, sir? Uh, just set this up today on January 30, the taping for the February 2nd show.
I have a special co-host coming in. Now, I asked Preston, but he was suspiciously unavailable on the same day Mikey was unavailable. That's funny. You're not going to get him on the show.
So, I got Drew Tucker from First Responder Cigars, a former minister, a family man who teamed up with his retired Special Forces brother to sell cigars, and they do a cool podcast about military life and cigars and current events. So, we're all looking forward to that here on the show. They're good dudes. Yeah, they're great dudes.
I thought that the big guy stepped away from the podcast, though. I don't know. I haven't seen the podcast. I haven't seen it since you were on it, but he didn't mention that Saturday.
I sat next to him all day Saturday. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you know, are you going to put him in this chair or that chair?
He's going, we're going to talk about his brand, talk about his cigars and how they donate money and that stuff, and then he's going to do this job over here. Okay. Otherwise, I'll be doing both of them from this chair. Yeah.
So, told me to read a couple of stories, we'll talk about it, and then... So you're going to be, you're going to be the Grand Poobot then? Don't I do all the work from over here anyway? No, but that makes you a great supporter.
Oh. Well, I'm still doing this too, so I'm doing both jobs that day. You know what, I'm not going to give you a hard time because, you know, Skip just kind of gave you a really hard time, so. Yeah, but I couldn't hear him, so.
Oh, that's fair. That's fair. Okay. All right, make sure you like and subscribe.
Thank you very much for your support. All right, guys, thanks. We got to go. All right, bye.
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Show Notes
On todays show we have hacking story that hit way to close to home. Usha is making History, Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo are about to sue Colorado to be set free! How Can The same cigar be #2 and then #14 in two days…….then in Cigars, we have a new vitola but not a new cigar…Monaco gets an exclusive cigar and Habanos exclusive cigar aint that exclusive no more!