ACHP Episode 456 "Red Squirrel Uber"

Episode Summary

Mike Palmer, Mike Szczepankewicz and engineer Phil McGuffey open Episode 456 with merch talk — the still-nonexistent CHPod beanies, a possible red Richardson snapback, and the ".079" design ideas — before diving into a news block dominated by winter weather. Nearly 888 flights (93% of the day's schedule) were scrubbed at LaGuardia, roughly 800,000 customers lost power across the storm zone, and Waffle House — the chain that famously never closes — shut multiple South Carolina locations, prompting a discussion of FEMA's Waffle House Index, the company's "jump teams," and a full breakfast-diner power ranking (Perkins on top, Denny's over Waffle House, IHOP last).

A strange Ottawa story follows: red squirrels learned to hang from traditional car door handles to pop them open and nest in warm vehicles overnight, leaving nothing behind but nesting material and droppings. Since the squirrels are a protected species, residents simply started locking their cars. Sports coverage includes a Patriots–Seahawks Super Bowl matchup (with Mike noting fellow Pats fans Steve Saka and Terrence), criticism of Sean Payton's clock and field-goal management in a snow-blinded game, Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp's redemption arcs, and the Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett slugfest plus Sean O'Malley's decision win on UFC's first Paramount card.

In cigar news, Quality Importers announced its Year of the Horse Zodiac collection — a Cigar Caddy 5-count at $38.99, a 20-count at $60.99, a Prometheus-style lighter at $51.99 and a Xikar XI2 Perfect Cut at $74.99 — shipping in March ahead of the February 17, 2026 Chinese New Year. The hosts also flag a Tampa Bay Times feature on Camacho brand activation managers Law Ream and Alex Weghorn, and question whether the accompanying photo was AI-generated.

"What's the Score" pits the hosts against two Brooks Whittington reviews: the Warped Isla del Crocodilo Croc Bites (4.5 x 45 box-pressed, Ecuadorian wrapper, Brazilian and Ecuadorian Habano 2000 binders, Nicaraguan filler) scored 87 with notes of creamy cedar, semi-sweet chocolate and coffee beans but burn issues in the second third — and a 2009 Smokin' Stogie review of the infused Gurkha His Majesty's Reserve, a $750 (later $1,000) Churchill that fell apart into bitter, wet-cardboard territory for a 55. The show closes with a Pos Tana San Andres plug and a Leaf & Bean St. Augustine event announcement.

In This Episode

1. 01
   CHPod Merch & Beanie Update
   No beanies yet, but talk of a red Richardson snapback, direct-to-transfer test runs and a Year of the Horse CHPod shirt.
2. 02
   Snowmageddon: LaGuardia Shutdown
   888 flights canceled — 93% of LaGuardia's schedule — plus 800,000 power outages and a white-knuckle small-plane landing story.
3. 03
   Waffle House Closes & the FEMA Waffle House Index
   Why Waffle House shutting down in South Carolina is a genuine disaster indicator, and a breakfast-chain power ranking.
4. 04
   Ottawa's Car-Opening Red Squirrels
   Security footage shows red squirrels pulling car door handles to nest in warm vehicles — and they're protected from relocation.
5. 05
   Cigar Media Rankings Tease
   The hosts plan a tiered top-25 ranking of cigar media, naming halfwheel, Cigar Dojo, Developing Palates and Down to Herf.
6. 06
   Sports: Patriots–Seahawks Super Bowl and UFC on Paramount
   Super Bowl predictions, Sean Payton criticism, Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp redemption, plus Gaethje vs. Pimblett and Sean O'Malley.
7. 07
   Quality Importers Year of the Horse Collection
   Cigar Caddy, lighter and Xikar XI2 Perfect Cut colorways with prices, shipping March ahead of Chinese New Year 2026.
8. 08
   What's the Score: Warped Croc Bites & the $1,000 Gurkha
   Guessing Brooks Whittington's scores on the Warped Isla del Crocodilo Croc Bites (87) and the infused Gurkha His Majesty's Reserve (55).

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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

Transcript

Welcome to a Cigar Hustler podcast episode 456. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, is Phil McGuffey in engineering and my co-host, Mike Szczepankewicz on today, and I have nothing funny to say about it. No jokes today, huh? Sorry.

I do the best I can. On today's show, we have Snowmageddon Travel Chaos. Waffle House closes its doors in a history-making decision. Oh, the end is near.

S. counterparts. Big sports news. And then in cigars, some new equipment for smoking cigars.

And a local Florida boy gets some deserved press. Man, I hope when we have that Canada story that we have John McTavish as a special guest. Oh, we could call John Mataj and ask him, I guess, but I don't have him. I don't have the headphones set up.

Could have got a quote from him. But before we get started, Mikey, how do we get some of that CHPod swag? And we need a beanie update. It's Snowmageddon is running through.

And it's about to get super cold, yeah. Oh, yeah, it's about to get super cold in Florida tomorrow. I forgot about the beanies this weekend. Okay, so the beanie update is nothing.

We don't have any. We're not making them. However, I did clean up my garage, which is nice. Oh, well, that's good to know.

To make room to make the beanies. Yeah, to make more beanies. Don't make them in the garage, it's going to be cold. What you want to do is like and subscribe to this podcast wherever you're viewing or watching.

And also, please like and subscribe on Rumble, because we need like seven more people. No, no. We're in 115, I think we're at. We got it?

I filled up the thing today so they can send us a check. We'll check. Hey! All right.

So don't even worry if you're not going to go on Rebel, don't worry. No, go more. More people. No more, yeah.

Subscribe. More. When we get more people, do we get more money? Maybe.

Only if they watch it, we do. They have to subscribe and watch. Just put it on while you're in the bathroom or something. If you want to participate in our swag, we got some badass swag, and it's high-level branding.

Next-level shirts, really nice. com where you can buy one, get the second one 40% off, and if you spend $100 or more, you get free shipping. And you're not going to believe this, Michael. Yes.

But our dear friend, Mark Palmer, placed another order for shipping. Because we got the underwear in? Nice. He's getting chpod underwear, it's the only thing we don't provide for that man at this point.

Yeah. We got the ch underwear in, and he loves it. Don't say that, people will want chpod. That's true, we don't have chpod underwear.

789 or whatever. 079. Okay. Yes.

And I'm thinking maybe we do like a red hat. Ooh. Yeah. Red.

Same hat, but just different color that we already put out, 'cause I love that hat. I might do a Richardson hat this time around, like a red hat with a black mesh. Oh, okay. I meant the same brand of hat, same fit in all this stuff.

I know what you're saying, and I'm telling you no. Oh. I'm thinking a different, maybe going a little bit more, Are you value conscious on this one? I'm not interested, though.

I like the other one. It's the ones that Saka uses. I don't want a Saka hat. No, Richardson's very common.

Yeah. All right. Is it fitted or a snap hat? Snappy.

All right. Does that make you happy? If not, I won't do it. No, because the one we have, I have a large head and it fits and still has room.

Right. So it doesn't have to be tight. But the one that we made was the best hat I could get our hands on. Right, I know.

It's top quality. 079 patch? We're trying to get away from the patchy. No, I'm not getting away from the patchy, but I want to test a small run with the direct-to-transfer stuff.

Oh, all right. Bring it on. Let's give it a shot. Who knows?

Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe the Gilligan hat. No, I'm not doing it. A bucket hat?

Yeah, bucket hat, yeah. That's a little hat like Gilligan. I'm not doing a bucket hat. And there was something else I was going to mention, but now you guys all got me flustered inside.

Sorry. I got you flustered. The beanies, you finished them. Oh, for the Patreon, we're reviewing the Lure Fish Sticks.

Fish sticks! Oh. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. Very excited about this.

Looking forward to it. Not to be confused with, what's his name from Developing Palettes? Aaron Fishstick Loomis. Aaron.

Aaron Fishstick Loomis. That should be his cigar of choice, you would think. Right. I think he would love this, because he loves fish sticks.

He could sponsor it. com and check out a Cigar Housers podcast today. Yes. Please.

Please. Please. Please have some. Please have some.

Okay, so let's go. All right, ready to move on? Yeah. Travel chaos hit New York today as airlines cancel an overwhelming number of flights in and out of LaGuardia Airport.

As of this afternoon, or as of today, 888... Are we done? The show's over? It's always the one, your favorite lighter is the only one that works in here.

I think I got one right here. Playing around somewhere. As of this afternoon, 888 flights were officially scrubbed from the schedule, accounting for a staggering 93% of all planned departures and arrivals for the entire day. For thousands of travelers, that meant missed connections, packed terminals, and hours of uncertainty.

Passengers reported long lines at airline service desks, limited hotel availability, and rental car locations running out of vehicles. This is the most important thing to know about this, and that's the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this.

This is the most important thing to know about this, and this is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this.

This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this.

This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this. This is the most important thing to know about this. Weather conditions in the Northeast combined with air traffic control delays are believed to be major factors, crews and aircraft were reportedly out of position after earlier delays triggering a domino effect across multiple airlines.

LaGuardia, one of the busiest airports in the country for domestic travel, rarely sees shutdowns of this magnitude. Aviation analysis say canceling over 90% of scheduled flights in a single day is almost unheard of outside of major hurricanes or extreme winter storms. Very cold. Well, I've talked to friends that live up north where the storm has sort of passed them on their way to New York.

Yeah. It's not as bad as they made it sound it was going to be. It's called the media, that's what they do. Right.

You know what is kind of funny though? So we got like a cold front kind of heading into us soon. Tomorrow. Well, as this airs today.

And it's going to hit like... It's going to be in the 30s, low 30s in the morning and maybe 40, higher 40s in the afternoon. Saturday is going to get down to like 25. Okay, so like, what's really kind of funny to me is I went to the gym today and I heard people complaining about that.

Like, oh my God, it's going to be so cold. It's going to be cold, but I mean, it's just for four days. It's not even, it's not even for four days, it's like a couple of hours and then it warms up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what you mean.

Yeah, usually when those people, when it's cold out, those people aren't outside. Yeah, so then I said to them, I'm like, would you rather be living up north? Right. Where, you know, airlines are getting canceled, the cats are living with the dogs.

The cats are living with the dogs at this point, there's absolute cats, 800,000 people don't have power currently. Oh, really? I haven't heard that figure. Yeah, it's wild, man.

And it's all because of cold weather. Natural gas prices are spiking. Snowmageddon. Snowmageddon.

It's all this global warming. Yeah, global warming's terrible. It's getting so cold. Or whatever.

I don't know. I'm just kidding. Stupid what's-his-name? Stupid what's-his-name?

Al Gore. Al Gore started the global warming. Is he still alive? Yeah, of course.

I don't know. You don't hear from him anymore. No, he made his money. He's gone.

He made money being vice president? Of course. They all make money. They're politicians.

Oh, the afterwards. Yeah, he wrote the book and all that kind of stuff. During, I'm sure during office and then after office and then, you know. Even the janitor makes money.

I mean, there's an app that tracks now their stock purchases. Have you seen this? No, is there really? Yeah.

So those are the ones you're supposed to buy? You could follow Nancy Pelosi stock trades. Oh, yeah. She'd definitely follow those.

If anybody's crooked, allegedly, she might be. Well, I slid that in. Oh, my goodness. We don't want to get sued and have them take all our lights.

No, but, yeah, you know, and I think that you could also speak for money, too, at that point. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you go on the talk circuit. Yeah.

Oh, Al Gore's going to speak, probably cost 25 Gs. Probably. Write a book, get a million dollars up front. Right.

But, anyways, so, yeah, it's very cold. It's going to be a little cold here, and I don't understand why anybody here would be I'm not complaining about it being cold because being cold. Well, they don't have beanies. They don't.

It's true. Yeah, I slid that in there, Phil. Full circle. Hey, slide that in.

It's called a callback. Hey. If you're traveling through New York this week, experts recommend checking flight statuses frequently, arriving early, and preparing for possible changes. For now, LaGuardia stays open, but you don't know what's going to happen later today.

Yeah, I just saw on the news, well, on the Facebook, the Booker Face, in Maine, a plane just crashed. I don't know if that's because of the... Oh, because it's so cold? Yeah, I don't know if that's because of the snow and stuff, but maybe.

Seven people died, one injured. Really? Yeah. That sucks.

I went flying with my friend this weekend, and the bad weather came in, so we cut the day short and come home. It took us three tries to land in the land because the wind was so bad. Really? Yeah, we go down one time, and then as soon as we got, we're almost touching the ground, wind shear came and slammed us on the ground, and then the plane bounced back up, so he went around, second time, he slammed us down and pulled us off to the right, so we were off the runway, so he floored it and went back up, went around again.

At that point, I figured I was dead, so I wasn't really paying attention anymore. But the third time, he made it. You convinced it, like, this is it? How did you feel?

Were you, like, accepting of your fate, like, this is it? Yeah, I mean, usually when I get in a plane, commercial or private, at this point, I just figure, if it crashes, it crashes, you know. What am I going to do? I'm not the pilot.

I have no control over anything. If it does, so... Did you scream like that one lady on the plane when we went to the van? No, no, I didn't.

I didn't even hold on tight and everything. I mean, he's a good guy. He's very by the book. So I figured if we'll just keep going until we land, I'm guessing.

I mean, he could be a great pilot, but that plane is small, man. Oh, yeah, I know. And after you do it the second time, everybody on the radio starts telling you how you're supposed to be doing it. So it just pisses you off even more.

Oh, it's unsolicited advice. Unsolicited advice, yeah. You need to try a different runway. You need to try a different runway.

You need to try a different runway. You need to come in a different angle. You need to go over here. You need to go...

Everybody's got... Everybody knows what you're supposed to do. Right. Can't stand that.

No. " Right. There's this one Indian guy kept on and on and on about how fast he's supposed to go, all this stuff. " Oh, Lord.

And he was teaching. "You need to go on the other runway. Look at the flag on the socket, go the other way. Listen, buddy, I'm flying the plane.

If I need computer advice, I'll hit you up. Oh, that'd be so cool. Can you imagine if we were all attached in cars? Like, hey, idiot.

What are you doing? Why move? The light's green. Oh, I've always thought it'd be great if like on your back window, you have to put in this code where I can punch in the code and then I can talk to you through your car.

Hey, moron. Hey, moron. Get out of my way. Oh, my goodness.

That'd be hilarious. I honked at somebody this morning. They were slowing down, not in the turn lane, then got in the turn lane. Well, they were preparing.

You're supposed to slow down in the turn lane, not slow down to get in the turn lane. They were preparing. Yeah, they were embracing. Yeah.

Lone embrace. Centerprise. Were you smoking a cigar? No, I have a loaner still.

They haven't got my paint fixed. I think at some point you start smoking in that loaner. I don't know. It's my second loaner.

See, I know. So that's why you're getting agitated. See, that's the problem. Oh, is that what it was?

If everybody just smokes cigars when they drive in their car, everything would be a lot easier. And I don't like this loaner. I don't like this one. Not as good, huh?

No, it's probably a nicer car than the other one I had, it's like the next level up, I think, but, I don't know, I just don't like it. It's because she's not smoking in it. Okay. That's probably it.

So, hey, I'm glad that you lived. Yes. Oh, and we're, I mean, you're doing this in the air, too. You're going up and down, up and down, because we're hitting all these pockets, and then you're going up, and then you're down.

If you'd have died, I'd have had to figure this whole thing out. Oh, your day would have been ruined because of the podcast. I would have had, Boots and I would have been talking about just you dying. Yeah.

Would have been the whole show. Yeah. Good content for you. And what will we have done for the next one?

Yeah. Don't unload the machines. Greg's yelling to put the equipment away. We can't, Greg.

We think it works now. Don't touch it. Don't touch anything. So that was a real picture.

I didn't know if it was a real one of him inside of the plane. Oh yeah, the pictures I put up. Yeah, I put up on Instagram. I don't know which ones are real or fake anymore with you.

Oh. The ones where Fred Rui comments, those are the fake ones because he likes to call me out. Oh, okay. That's fake.

Who is that? That's not you. You weren't there. Thanks, Fred.

Blow me out, Fred. Thank you. Just blow everything up. Where Skip just likes them all.

Yeah. Just hearts them. Support, support. No, no.

Preston hearts your thing. Skip just... Preston hearts my thing. All right, I got more bad news, guys.

As the winter storm, did they give it a name, Fern? Did they give the winter storm a name? I don't know. As winter storm, Fern rolls through the southeast, bringing a dangerous mix of freezing rain, ice, and treacherous conditions, an uncommon sign of how bad things are expected to get emerged this past Saturday afternoon to South Carolina, several Waffle House locations announced early closures ahead of the storm.

That's how you know it's serious. The chain that never closes. Yeah. Closed.

That's how you know it's serious. m. local time in anticipation of heavy ice and hazardous travel. The development is notable because Waffle House has a longstanding reputation of staying open through extreme weather from hurricanes to snowstorms as part of its always open culture.

Emergency managers even use the so-called Waffle House Index as an informal disaster severity group based on whether local Waffle Houses remain operational to help access the real-world impact of major storms. Really? Yeah, FEMA uses it. If Waffle House closes, they know they need to send more people.

Serious. Wow. And if there's a bad storm coming, Waffle House doesn't close. They have jump teams, they call it, where they bring in people in RVs to set up and start cooking food as fast as possible, where the other people can go home and take care of their families.

What customer service that is. I love Waffle House, just for that fact. Do you really? I mean, the food's okay, but the fact that they do this, I mean, FEMA uses them as a, you know, how bad is it?

Did Waffle House close down? No, then it's not that bad. Just send two or three people. Send another two or three.

There's nothing wrong with it. You don't like Waffle House food? The only time I went to Waffle House was with you. Oh, when we went to the game?

Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Oh.

Yeah. Huh. I mean, you got to understand what you're getting. Right, yeah.

You have to have the level of expectation when you're walking through the door. Exactly. Of what? You know, you're not getting five-star cuisine, you're getting diner food.

I'm lucky if my server has a full set of teeth in this scenario. Yeah, if they do, then, hey, this was a five-star, you know, visit. This is a top-notch tier. The coffee's always pretty good, you know, the food's hot, it's greasy, you know what you're getting.

No, no, no, it's not always, right, it's per visit. Okay. Right, so it's a different star every time you go. Ah, you gotta, okay.

Yeah, you gotta know when Linda's working or Tammy. Yeah, you know all their names? No, I would just guess that would be Waffle House women's names. It seems like that would be Waffle House waitress' name.

When was the last time you went to a Waffle House? Oh, I probably went like a couple months ago. Yeah, that's further out than I thought. Yeah, it's not a regular occurrence, but you know, if you're up early and you want to go somewhere...

I figured you would have said Sunday. No, no, no. I think the last time I went was with Dana. She really wanted some, a waffle.

So like, Waffle House over IHOP? Yeah, I don't know really. Well, first of all, Waffle House, and I know this is a big shocker, they do not make pancakes. Yeah, they make this waffly pancake.

Yeah, it's a thin waffle, but it's a waffle. Because they are Waffle House. " Do you know the name of the place? It's not called Pancake House.

Okay, so you're taking Waffle House over IHOP, is what you're saying? I mean, I guess it depends. If I'm getting breakfast, yeah, Waffle House. Wow.

If I'm getting, you know, something other than breakfast, I'm going to IHOP. Okay, wow. It's the same food, just more expensive at Waffle House. I mean, at IHOP.

IHOP, yeah. Waffle House or Denny's? Mmm, that's tough. I do like the Moons Over Miami.

Yeah, I was going to say they have Moons Over Miami. And that Grand Slam, I mean, that's a good mix, and they make pancakes. It's a good deal. So Denny's over Waffle House.

Yeah, I guess Denny's over Waffle House. Now Perkins, overall, Perkins is better than all of them. Perkins is like fancy breakfast food. Right, right, they have potato pancakes.

Perkins is the highest of the four? It's the highest, well, because they closed, what was the one, the red and white, Bob Evans, because Bob Evans isn't around no more. Yeah, Bob, yeah. Yeah.

That would have been the top of the heap, but they're gone. Wow. So now Perkins, yes. Perkins is like where you go with your grandmother.

Okay, speaking of rankings, getting to our rankings of media, top 25. Oh yeah, okay. I'm contemplating breaking this off into two sectors. Okay.

I'm thinking we take the two, we start with the five like bigger guys, we can do Half Wheel, Dojo, Bear, Coop, and I'm forgetting one. Half Wheel, Dojo, Bear, Coop. There's one other one that I was like, and this guy. And that guy.

Oh, okay. I like that guy. He's my favorite one. It's escaped me at the moment.

Wasn't it your guy that you like on TikTok? No, I want to do a tier of them too. We'll pick five of them, and once I have them, we'll give you, we'll review the ten cigars together, like you can, we'll separately, we'll rank them zero through five, and we'll see where they all rank, and we'll put them in ranking conditions. Okay.

Okay? Why am I forgetting the fifth one? I don't know. I didn't even count when you were saying them, so.

Developing palettes? That's what I said. Oh, did you say that? No.

Sorry, I can't see or hear you. No, I put developing palettes in the other sector. Oh. Hurtful.

I feel like they're a little bit bigger than Coop. Developing Palettes? No. No, their show's much shorter, and I can't get the flow of when it's on.

It's not like on every Tuesday. I'm forgetting one. It's on when they have enough to talk about. Two guys?

No, they're a retailer. But they have a show. Yeah. No, like the other ones are gonna be like YouTubers or whatever.

Down to Herf? We can include, we can do Down to Herf in the other one. Oh, in the second level. Yeah.

So, we'll figure it out. Just so you know, when we rank you, okay, it's just... It's nothing personal. Yeah, it's just, we're just interpreting who we thought ranked, did the best, okay?

You could, it could be different next year, we're not trying to hurt your... We didn't sell the rankings, is that what we're trying to say? Yeah, we're not trying to hurt your feelings in any shape or form, we're just, we're just ranking the rankers. But the one we ranked number one, you're the best.

Yeah. We like you the best. Exactly. A hundred percent.

A hundred percent. You're the best one. Yeah. But we're not ranking, you know, please don't feel bad if you don't get number one.

Don't feel bad. But whoever ranked us highest is number one. I don't know how true that is. We'll see.

Well, there's gonna be a number one. There's gotta be a number one. So, you know, those will be the guys that made us number two. Oh.

I don't know, I gotta look at the other sheets. Oh, well, Boots and I can be bought, so that's fine. Yeah, yeah, if you'd like to be number one, please send the envelope with money, cash, preferably. With the envelope full of cash underneath the pie.

Yeah, and we'll rank you number one. Fives across the board, baby! The best pie. All right, for residents and travelers, the closure serves as a clear warning: stay off the roads, prepare for outages, and take winter storms safely seriously as conditions deteriorate.

Is the storm over? Has it blown out? I mean, like I said, the news isn't talking about it anymore because it wasn't as bad as they had hoped. Well, they were covering the outages this morning.

Oh. Where were the outages at? So like this New York story was yesterday, so I assume it's there today. I don't know.

It was kind of everywhere. 800,000 outages as of this morning. So. All right.

All right, moving on then. Residents in Ottawa were left scratching their heads after waking up to find their car doors mysteriously open following frigid winter nights. With no signs of theft or vandalism. You guys have any guesses?

It was just some weirdo opening people's doors. What opened the doors? The car doors were being left open. You know what, this sounds like a Greg prank.

It sounds like a bear opened them. At first, police suspected classic car prowler activity. Officers from Ottawa Police Service began investigating reports across two neighborhoods expecting to uncover someone checking door handles under cover of darkness. What they found instead was a gang of squirrels.

Squirrels. Security camera footage revealed red squirrels had learned how to operate car door handles by hanging from them and using their body weight to pull the latch open. Check this out. Squirrels are remarkably intelligent problem solvers, explained wildlife biologist Dr.

Sarah Martinez. These individuals discovered that pulling down on door handles granted access to warm sheltered spaces during freezing nights. Once inside, the squirrels would nest on car seats overnight, then exit at dawn, leaving behind only nesting material and poop, squirrel poop. No wiring damage, no chewed interiors.

They essentially figured out that cars are mobile shelters, Martinez said, noting some squirrels even showed loyalty to specific vehicles suggesting territorial behavior. I mean, they would use the same one over and over again. This is my Tesla. Yeah, right.

Hold on a sec. Did you say the doors are open? Yes. Yes, they leave them open.

So how is it warm? They can't close them. Well, it's better than being outside. Yeah.

If they go, you know, in the back corner, in the opposite side of the car, away from the handle. Yeah, it's still warmer. Away from the open door. And they would bring nesting material in, but they didn't hurt the cars in any way.

I think somebody just didn't want to. Except for the poop. They have video of these squirrels doing this? Yes.

Please show this clip on the show. Roughly 15 squirrels were involved, all targeting vehicles with traditional door handles rather than flush designs. Wildlife officials couldn't relocate them due to a protected status, so residents adapted by simply locking the door. Wouldn't that make sense?

Lock your damn car. They just locked the car. Right. The squirrels adjusted to focusing only on unlocked vehicles, so that one locked, move to the next one.

Oh, now they're door checkers. Yeah, now they're checking the locks. That's halfway to burglar. Yeah, why aren't we arresting the squirrels?

We're going to make the elephant- They can't, they're protected. We're going to make the elephant a human, why don't we arrest the squirrels? Right. Because they're protected.

It's practically Zootopia. Diplomatic immunity, is that what you're telling me? They have diplomatic immunity. They have diplomatic immunity.

Yes, they have squirrel immunity. So, as of now, diplomatic immunity is a good name for this episode. Diplomatic immunity. And a bunch of squirrels driving a car.

So if you're having any legal issues, you now identify as a red squirrel. " Yeah, it's a guy selling a service. You think so? Because then he just disappears.

Oh, maybe that was the Indian guy in the plane. It sounded like it might have been. The bizarre episode later appeared in animal behavior journals and was reported by Ottawa citizens as a real-world example of urban wildlife problem-solving. By the way, for comments from yesterday's show.

We're not quite there yet. Mikey's all over right now. Yeah, tell them we'll get to that point of the show. I mean, if you just want to randomly throw it in, how are people ever going to find it?

Okay, I'll wait. All right, in sports. Sports. Some good sports things happened today.

There was, yeah. The team for the Super Bowl have been decided. Teams will be New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. I got to tell you.

I got to tell you. It was a rough couple of years as a Patriot fan, but we're back, baby. Oh, now you're a Patriot fan again. I've always been a Patriot fan.

Okay, yeah. Have I not? Yeah, you have been. Now he's getting the tattoo.

You went into the shadows for a couple years. I'm sure if you looked on YouTube that there's a conversation about me and my son, and when we talked about it, the Bucs and the Pats went to the Super Bowl, who would I root for? And the answer is the Pats. This is on YouTube?

I'm sure on one of these podcasts we've talked about this. Now it's going to get lots of views. Oh, I don't know. You know, someone will tell us.

So yeah, so this is something that Terrence, Riley, myself, and Steve Saka can all agree upon. We're all Patriot fans. Are you really? Oh, uh, uh, Terrence is?

Yeah. I didn't know Sako was. Well, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Isn't he from... He lives in New Hampshire, so I guess that makes sense. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I didn't get to see the game, unfortunately.

Did you watch that game? I did watch the game. It was a good game up until the end of the third quarter. Then it was just, I don't even know why anybody was out there at that point.

Because it was like a blizzard? Yeah, it was horrible. You couldn't even really see the players because how they do the lines on the field. I heard about this.

Yeah, it's like when they were going through the lines, they were blending in with the computer-generated lines and stuff. The players were? Yeah, it was like holograms. Because they were covered in snow?

No, because they were in white jerseys as well. Yeah. Well, why wouldn't they have worn their dark jerseys? Well, because you have to be like, the weight team wears white.

Yeah, but in that situation, they go, "Look, we're not going to be able to see these guys. " Neon pennies or something? You want to wear pennies? Well, to be honest, it was probably a strategic move.

They knew it was going to snow. They just didn't know how much. Listen, this is why Sean Payton is not a great coach. I don't know what he was doing.

Because it happens, he did the same thing to the Saints. Yeah. He can get you there, but when the rubber meets the road, man, at the end of things, he can never get it done. He, like, loses control of his team, there's some bad calls or whatever, and I don't even know what happened in this game, but I guarantee, Sean Payne was probably responsible for the reason why they lost.

Well, yeah, one of the biggest issues was he didn't kick the field goal in the end of the first quarter, right? So, like, they knew the snow was coming, right? So, you have to score as many points as you possibly can before the snow comes because at that point, now you're basically just going to run the ball and nobody can get grip from anything, you know, you got to score because at the end of the game, you'll be lucky to get anything. That's exactly what happened.

And then the Seahawks, are you going to talk about that too? Are you going to mention that as well? No, I mean, I have details about, I was doing something else. I have details about the Super Bowl, but I don't have any information, so I figured you guys would cover that.

And then the Seahawks beat the Rams. That was a good game. That game I did see. Yeah, that was a good game.

That was fun to watch. I'm glad the Rams aren't going. Yeah, both quarterbacks were great in that. Yeah.

I mean, I'm glad, I'm happy for Sam Darnold. The guy just got, you know, passed in Minnesota Vikings. They got rid of him. Yep.

And he wound up in Seattle with the best wide receiver in the league who just kind of came out of nowhere. Yeah, I mean, both sides, right? Both great wide receivers, Puka and Nigba. Pouca?

No, I think… Wait, somebody's name is Pouca? Yeah, Pouca, yeah. Yeah, that was a name you couldn't pronounce a long time ago. Is that a first or a last name?

Yeah, you recently said it. You said like Pacanicoa or something. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, that's how you say it.

Oh, gotcha. No, and I was happy for Cooper Cup. Oh, yeah. Well, he came from the Rams.

Right. Yeah. It's just like a, you know, it's like an all-around FU to these teams that drop these players. Right.

You know? So, I think what's going to happen, it's going to come down to, you know, four points, and the Seahawks are going to be at like the two or three yard line, and they're either going to have to decide to run the ball or throw, and this time, they're going to run, and they're going to get shut down, and they're going to win the game. Patriots are going to win. Let's go, Pats.

So, what about UFC? Did you watch the UFC fights? I did not. I've heard a lot about this.

I did not get to watch it, though. Oh, what a card. It was a phenomenal card. Was this the first one on Paramount?

Yes. Yeah, it didn't. I didn't get to watch it. Justin Gagee and Paddy Pimlet had their strategies to go into this fight, and within five seconds of round one, it was out the window, and it was like, "You know what?

" And that's exactly how it went for five rounds. They just slobber knockers all the time. Justin and Paddy? Yeah.

Is Paddy a guy? Yeah, what do you think? It's a guy versus a girl? Well, it made no sense.

That's why I asked. Maybe they're trying to do something, I don't know, but it would make no sense at all. No, no, his name is Paddy, Paddy the Baddy. He's an Irishman then?

He's an Englishman, I think. Oh. Yeah. It would make sense.

Mm-hmm. Well, Paddy's an Irish name. Look, I don't know what to tell you, okay? I don't know what Mike is.

Is Mike an American name? It's an English name, actually. Okay, so there you go. But I'm Polish, so make it make sense.

Maybe they didn't know they were Polish. Maybe they had no idea. Maybe you're in hiding. Maybe you're in hiding.

Maybe they tried to... Yeah, maybe you're in hiding from the Russians. Maybe they were whitewashing me. I don't know.

Oh, it should have been. But yeah, so anyways, like, it was incredible. I mean, Justin Gagey, I feel like Justin Gagey felt that the only way... His strategy was out the door.

Like, he's an older, he's getting older, he's 37 years old, right? Paddy's younger. He's like, you know what, I'm just gonna go and just whoop the shit out of this guy. And Paddy took it.

Like, there was a part where they were, like, talking, the coach was talking during rounds, and you could tell that Patty had no idea where the hell he was. " Like, yeah. There's three of them out there. Hit the one in the middle.

You know? I'm sorry, are we bothering you? Is someone calling you again? Still don't know how to mute your phone?

I mute. It's my watch. No, that wasn't your watch. It was my watch.

Oh, you mute your watch. So, yeah. What an incredible card. And the Sugar Sean fight was really good.

Sugar Sean. Yes. He's my favorite one. He's one of our favorite fighters.

Yeah. Sugar Sean O'Malley. Oh, another Irishman. Yeah.

O'Malley. Yeah. Another Irishman. They're both Irish.

Oh. Yeah. Irish are big in the UFC. Okay.

All right. That's it. I'm moving on. I guess you got nothing to say.

And it was incredible. Nobody else saw it. Nobody saw it but you. I hope you got to watch the fights.

Apparently no Did O'Malley win? Yeah, it came down to the cards. It came down to the judges. Okay.

But I think he won unanimous. Okay. He had crazy hair or anything? Of course.

Braided, Joker style. That's his style. Yeah, I was excited for him. I was happy, you know, because if he'd have lost this fight, then he would have lost like four in a row and then he's skidding.

It wouldn't have been good. Right. But he won this fight. That's why I was wondering, because I know he's not won the past couple of months.

Yeah. And the guy he was going against was fast, but not as fast as Sean. Sean is fast. Yeah.

And he's super long. Like, his arms are super long, so he gets a good reach on people. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

So there you go, Mike. All right. The two teams last played in the Super Bowl in 2015, won by the Patriots. And if you're going to watch the show, it is on NBC.

I thought it was 2014, but whatever. 2015 according to media. Okay. Well, it was probably the 2014 season.

Is that what you're thinking? I don't know. Could have been. Well, I mean, if they played in 2015, that would make sense.

Yeah. All right, Michael, you want to read the comments? I do. I have two from today's show.

Today's show? The show that aired today. The one that released a couple hours ago. The one with the bus driver.

" So I guess there was a lot of Preston references in the last game. Yeah. And Miguel Rocha, great support of the show, great support of Posanya. So all around great American.

" Just a thought. So maybe we do a branded lighter that says smoke and subscribe. That'd be pretty cool. Yeah, somebody posted the smoke subscribe in the Postanya group.

Palmer, Mark Palmer did. Oh, did he do it? Yeah. Oh.

And now with Facebook, you have to, like, wait for a minute because it gives a date, and then if you wait, it changes to the name. Right. I don't like when they update Facebook. So, yeah, so thanks for commenting.

Yes. There's a drinking game. If we mention that one name, they take a drink. Oh.

Yeah. What's the name? I don't know. You don't know the name?

You know that. I'm not saying the name. You're trying to bait him into saying it? I've already said the name twice this episode.

Yeah. Okay. T-Money's already on the floor. Preston.

Oh, there you go again. All right. On with Preston Cigar News. Quality, what?

Need something to do in the cold. That's right. That's our way to keep warm. Right.

Quality importers announce Year of the Horse Collection. Quality importer, add quality importers to the list of companies making special releases for the upcoming Chinese New Year and the Year of the Horse. Quality importers will release special colorways to four existing models across the wide range of brands. Cigar Caddy, it's a five-count Year of the Horse.

Anybody? Prices? Five-count? $30.

Are you asking us the whole five-count? Yeah, it holds five cigars. It's a cigar caddy, and this is Quality Importer, so it's that plastic one. Oh, is it chibi?

Just with a special Year of the Horse design on it. Got a horse on it. Let's go close. I'm going to go $25.

99. Oh. They're expensive. 99.

Oh, he's done with this game. Well, I didn't know if you guys were. Yeah. Okay, there's a Pro and Terry's lighter for the Year of the Horse.

How much? How much is that one? Put your damn phone down. Sorry, there's somebody that's going to be on the podcast that's texting me.

Listen, tell Pete Hernandez to calm down and not worry about it. Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong. That's who's texting you.

It's got to be. Who else is going to be texting? It's not John Carney texting him. Uh, $50.

Uh, $90. 99. Yes. Zycar X-I-2 Perfect Cut Year of the Horse.

This is a cutter. This is a cutter. $32. That's pretty accurate.

$30. 99. Damn, how do they make the cutters so much more money than the lighter? It's got steel on it, the lighter's probably plastic.

It's a perfect cut, that's why. That's right. Our annual Zodiac collections are designed to offer high quality craftsmanship and an affordable luxury price point, said Marilyn Giordano. Oh, it's like the chocolate.

Yes, the COO of quality importers and a press release. The Year of the Horse collection embodies performance, reliability, and style in pieces that our customers will proudly use and add to their growing annual collections. " I think that people just collect things. Yeah, now I collected cutters and lighters for a short time, but not things I had to buy, they were branded stuff.

All things that you stole? Yes. Well, remember two days. Or given to me.

" Oh, just if it falls on the floor. Well, you gotta elaborate. So, like, the rule is that if there's cigars on my desk for over three days, he feels that he... Well, it's technically two.

It's two days if it's... But he's been baiting me lately with stuff like I shouldn't take, and he just leaves it out and won't let me put it away. I offer to, like, put it somewhere so it will stay humidified. " I like it right there.

Right. The company says the new year of the horse colorways are expected to ship in March. More than a dozen companies have announced year of the horse themed products. Other companies are likely to announce new year of the horse products ahead of the Chinese New Year, which takes place on February 17, 2026.

I guess there's a market for all this? Apparently there is. This Zodiac stuff comes around every year and everybody's like, get it out as fast as possible. Yeah.

Put it on the cigar, put it on the cutter, put it on a ladder, put it on a t-shirt. I'd like to know, like, actual sales numbers, but no one will ever tell us the truth. We should do a CH Pod Year of the Horse t-shirt. Oh, ooh.

But not a nice-looking horse, like a nag. Yeah. With a little swoop in the middle of his bag. Like a dumpy horse.

Yeah, like a cartoon with flies buzzing around. Oh. Ready for the glue factory? Year of the horse.

Year of the, oh, CH Pod horse. Alright, the next story is from the Tampa Bay Times: "It's noon on a Tuesday, and Law Ream is smoking a cigar. A limited release Camacho, he says, a swirl of smoke escaping the corner of his bearded mouth. It's spicy with sweet notes of chocolate, leather, cedar, and espresso.

Our job is pretty great," he tells his colleague, Alex Weghorn, inside a hazy room at the place we don't talk about in Tampa. " So this is a nice little story about Law and Alex being brand ambassadors in one of the days. I stumbled across it. Yeah, there was a post of it on social media.

Oh, was there? " Oh, that's right, they've changed the name. It's not Brand Ambassadors. Hmm.

So, that's the end of the story? Well, it's a rather lengthy story about the two of them smoking and stuff. And they're just hanging out? Yeah, they're just hanging out.

Not checking their Facebook pages? Not checking their Facebook and selling cars and watches and things. Yeah. Okay.

So, we got to fast forward here for a minute. That didn't go. But the picture didn't look like either one of them. It was AI.

It could have been. It was a profile shot of the two of them sitting at a bar, looking at each other, smoking. I mean, I know both of them, and it didn't look like either one of them. Yeah, it was definitely AI.

All right, now it's time for the industry's favorite game. What's the score? Boots didn't play a lot. He did.

Did he? Yeah. You need more enthusiasm, Boots. We need to hear you.

You have a very baritone voice. We need you to project better. Wow. Wow.

All right, first cigar of the day, January 24th, 2026. This is the one that he's probably already looked up. Brooks Whittington is the reviewer. That's going to be high.

It's the Warped Cigars, Isla Del Crocadillo Croc Bites. You want me to go first? I'll go first. 89.

90. Let's see, the cigar reviews. Will there be cocoa nibs, is the question. Isla Del Crocadillo Croc Bites, Country of Origin, Men in Republic, Factory Tabula Calera, La Isla.

Calera La Isla. It's an Ecuador and Habano de Florida. Not familiar with the Florida. You aren't either?

Nope. Of Florida? De Florida. D-E-F-L-O-R-A-D-A.

Habano de Florida. No idea. Alright, the binders of Brazil and Ecuador Habano 2000. The filler is Nicaragua.

5 by 45. It's pressed. No disclosure of the price, which doesn't really matter, and they smoked three. Uh, 89.

Um, some interesting things here, it sounds like there's two binders, and it sounds like it's a good size, four and a half by 45 or something? Yes, two binders, a Brazil... Yeah, and a Habano. The what?

And a Habano. And Ecuador and Habano, yes. Yeah. And it's a four and a half by 45.

Yes, it's crock bites, it's a smaller sugar. I'm gonna stick with 90. Number one, creamy and smooth from the start with rich flavors of dried tea, leaves, creamy cedar, coffee beans, baker spice, and a dense chocolate sweetness on the retro ale. No nibs, very sorry.

It'll come, 89, 90. Number two, full flavor throughout the smoke with excellent draw resistance, solid smoke production, and a balanced medium body That Steadily Builds in Strength. 89. 90.

Number 3. The final third saw a spike in spice that slightly threw off the balance, along with a few burn corrections needed in the middle portion. Wow, these are short descriptions you picked today. I don't pick them.

ChatGPT does. Oh. Good night, good night. No, I'm not falling asleep, my, I, uh, he's falling asleep, I tweaked my trap really bad, so I'm trying to stretch it out, good night, good night, good night, good night, 89, it hurts, I think I'm gonna go 88, final thought, over the years, Warped has released some wonderful blends and I was intrigued by the smaller Vitola of the Isla Del Crocadilio croc bites.

When I first heard about it, after smoking three of them, I can tell you that the profile is extremely enjoyable with flavors that include creamy cedar, semi-sweet chocolate, chips, and coffee beans, along with some nice sweetness on the retrohale that shifts from malted chocolate to milk chocolate. Having said that, all three cigars suffered from burn issues in the second third, and there is a noticeable increase in spice and strength in the final third that slightly affects the overall balance, albeit not enough to stop me from enjoying the cigar. That's it. That's the end.

Boots. Looking it up. So there was no cocoa nibs this whole time. You looked it up.

No. Nope, no nibs. Chocolate Chips. It probably won't get ranked high if it has no cocoa nibs.

I'm going to go 86. That's fucking low. 87. 87.

Yay! I thought you were going to go 88. I just need to go one above, crush my guy. All right, second cigar.

And now I nailed one. You nailed one. So the only way you can tie is if you nail one. I have to nail it.

All right, we're going to do this one with Mikey Blindfolded. Second cigar. That'd be great. We go back in the way back machine.

I start snoring. July 30th, 2009. Brooks Whittington Cigars, Dominican Republic. It's a flavored infused Gurkha cigar.

Oh, God. It is the Gurkha, His Majesty's Reserve. Oh. Was this a dog rocket?

This was their expensive one. This is from Stogie Press. Uh-oh. Their website, the original website they had.

82. Oh, Smokin' Stogie, sorry. I mean, I've never heard of this, I've never smoked it. We've talked about, oh, the cigar?

Yeah, so. I think we, do we have two of them upstairs? I don't know. Oh my God.

I think we still, well, don't we bought 'em, I mean, so they're still there. Uh, I'll go 80. All right, cigar if you reviewed is the Gurkha His Majesty's Reserve Factory, not saying, country of origin, Dominican Republic, wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf, binder, Dominican Republic, filler, Dominican Republic, it's a seven and a half by 52 Churchill, MSRP is $750, for a stick, a box of $20, $15,000, for an infused cigar? Yep.

A Gurkha infused cigar. Dear God. No steak knives or backpack or coffee cup. How many were smoked?

Doesn't say. Oh. 79. God.

80. The cigar was well rolled and slightly spongy when squeezed with aromas of chocolate, leather, and a touch of cognac coming off the wrapper. 79. Probably everything in the roller spilled on the table when he made this cigar.

80. Number two, early flavors delivered toasted nuts, mild pepper, and a balanced sweetness, with some chocolate notes developing in the second third. 79. 80.

Final, or number three, the final third completely fell apart, turning extremely bitter, Pure and sour with an unpleasant wet cardboard taste that made this cigar nearly unsmokable. Surprising. Surprising. 79.

77. Alright, we have a slight change in format, gentlemen. They call this Final Notes, not Final Thoughts. So it's done a little differently.

I was expecting to be overwhelmed with the taste of cognac after reading about this cigar and how it was infused. And while I did taste some of it, it was not near as present as I thought it would be. Sad to say, the taste of cognac would have been preferable to what I ended up with. The band on this cigar is exactly the same as every Gurkha I've seen.

Honestly, you would think for a cigar that costs this much, they would use a different band, but alas, this is not the case. Final smoking time on this stick was 1 hour, 57 minutes. Draw was great, but the burn was just okay. I had to touch it up a few times, but nothing major.

There's an update. February 7, 2014, a representative from Gurkha has stated that Tablicalera Las Lavas is not the factory that produced the Gurkha HMR. In addition, as of late 2013, the MSRP is now $1,000 per cigar. Do we need to raise our price on the one we have upstairs?

I don't think we have one upstairs. I think we have two. That's it. That's the way it ends.

$1,000? $1,000. $77. Seventy-six.

Fifty-five. Yes. I did not win, but I did win that one. Wow.

For a thousand dollars. Fifty-five. I don't think we've ever done a Gurkha before. I've never seen one go to fifty-five.

I hope none of you military people out there bought any of these. I have one for you guys for Friday, by the way. For Monday's show? Oh.

A dog rocket? No, I have one that I want to do. Oh. You won't be here Friday.

What's Friday? Friday. Friday's the 30th when you won't be here. I have Drew coming.

Oh, he was trying to April Fool's us early. He did not buy this cigar. A serviceman who had one... Gave it to him.

traded him. Oh my God. A couple of some limited cigars he had from Tatuaje that the guy was looking for. So he was super pissed that he gave up his Tatuajes for this.

That's why he ranked. Well, he has a list back then of cigars he wanted to rate that he could not find. This was one of them. So the guy saw the list and made the trade with him.

Nice. Okay. So I win. You win the day, Michael.

Ah, it's good to be on top again. It's good to be the king, you know? It's good to be the king. Anybody got anything else?

No, that's it. Make sure you like and subscribe. If you're a retailer or a retailer that you go to, you want them to carry Postana cigars, especially the San Andres. It just came out at number two on Half Wheel.

com. Send them an email. A week from this Friday, I will be at Leaf & Bean in St. m.

Nice. Will Preston be there? Yeah, Preston doesn't come to my events. Oh.

Okay. All right. That's it, guys. Thank you very much.

We gotta go. Bye. Stay tuned for the Patreon. Bye.

Bye. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free. 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, the 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

Snow mageddon Travel Chaos,  Waffle House closes its doors in a history making decision.  In Canada the Squirrels are smarter then their US counter parts, Big Sports news and then in cigars some new equipment for smoking cigars and a Local Florida Boy gets some deserved press!