ACHP Episode 458 Cigars, Doomsday Clock and Digital Scandals
Episode Summary
Episode 458 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast pairs host Mikey with co-host Pete Hernandez (Powstanie Cigars) for a wide-ranging, freewheeling Wednesday-recorded show. The first half is news and culture: a Florida cold snap and the hosts' shared frustration with media fear-mongering, the Doomsday Clock moving to 85 seconds to midnight, and Paris Hilton's Capitol Hill testimony alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in support of the bipartisan DEFIANCE Act targeting AI-generated non-consensual deepfakes. That leads into a longer riff on how AI slop is eroding trust in social media and news, with examples of viral fake "Russian ice storm" clips.
The cigar content digs into industry ethics and brand building. Pete, who brokers for Raíces Cubanas, argues for working with vertically integrated manufacturers who control tobacco, production and flow, while Mikey pushes back that owning a factory doesn't guarantee honesty — citing the Ashton Heritage wrapper change from Cameroon to Habano as an example of a blend shift that went unannounced. They cover the Pangaea Cigars launch by Ibis Luis (formerly Neptune, then Plasencia) and her partner, produced at Casa Ortez in Estelí, and debate how long a new brand really needs to become sustainable — five years to survive, closer to ten to twelve to truly arrive. They name Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and Foundation Cigar Company as the two brands that genuinely blew up over the past decade, discuss HVC's restructuring, and analyze Privada Cigar Club and Brian Desind's fan-base-driven model.
The back half turns to taxes and media credibility: Mississippi HB 758 (Rep. Bob Evans) would raise the OTP tax from 15% to 22.5% of wholesale with no cap, part of a wave that includes Tennessee, Washington and California. The hosts frame it as a revenue grab rather than a health measure and defend cigars as an affordable hobby where the real cost is time. They also weigh Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 against Halfwheel, Cigar Dojo, Cigar Press and El Oso Fumar, noting Powstanie's strong 2025 awards run — including the No. 2 cigar on Halfwheel and No. 6 on Cigar Dojo.
The show closes with "What's the Score," guessing Charlie Minato's Halfwheel redux score for the Sans Pareil Green Gran Robusto (made at Tabacalera Palma, Dominican Republic). Pete locks in 89 from the jump and wins, with Phil McGuffey landing at 86. Pete plugs Cigars in the Grove in Miami.
In This Episode
- 01Florida Cold Snap & Media HypeThe hosts poke fun at wall-to-wall weather coverage of a 20-degree Florida morning and their broader distrust of mainstream news.
- 02Doomsday Clock at 85 SecondsA quick look at the clock's move to 85 seconds to midnight in January 2026 and whether anyone should actually change their behavior.
- 03Paris Hilton, Deepfakes & the DEFIANCE ActDiscussion of Hilton's testimony with AOC supporting a bill letting victims sue creators and distributors of AI-generated explicit deepfakes.
- 04AI, Fake Video and the Future of Social MediaWhy AI-generated clips are already fooling major accounts and how that could ultimately kill social platforms.
- 05Vertical Integration & Brand IntegrityPete makes the case for factory-owning manufacturers while Mikey counters with the Ashton Heritage Cameroon-to-Habano wrapper switch.
- 06Pangaea Cigars LaunchTwo women with cigar, wine and bourbon backgrounds launch Pangaea Cigars with production at Casa Ortez, and the hosts debate its odds.
- 07How Long a New Brand Takes to Make ItFive to twelve years, plus why back-end operations matter as much as the blend — with Dunbarton, Foundation, HVC and Privada as case studies.
- 08Mississippi HB 758 and the Cigar Tax WaveA proposed jump from 15% to 22.5% of wholesale with no cap, alongside similar moves in Tennessee, Washington and California.
- 09Ratings, Top 25 Lists and Media CredibilityCigar Aficionado's declining influence versus Halfwheel, Cigar Dojo, Cigar Press and El Oso Fumar — and Powstanie's award run.
- 10What's the Score: Sans Pareil Green Gran RobustoGuessing Charlie Minato's Halfwheel redux score on the aged Sans Pareil Green Gran Robusto from Tabacalera Palma.
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
I'm ready. All right. Go ahead. Do I have to say Wednesday?
No. No. Well, at least I'm following John Carney. So I'm bound to look good.
Welcome to Wednesday. I'm ready. All right. All right.
Do I have to say Wednesday? No. No. Well, at least I'm following John Carney, so I'm bound to look good.
Welcome to Wednesday. It's welcome to Wednesday, huh? Yeah. Okay.
Well, we are recording on Wednesday, but it is Thursday's podcast, but go ahead. Well, at least I'm following John Carney, so I'm bound to look good. Say that again. There we go.
Let's see. I'm Pete Hernandez, and out of all the people that have hosted this show before, I'm one of them. You're one of them. Yes.
And I want to thank you guys for, you can be anywhere in the world, I'm glad you're here listening to us. You're welcome. This is episode five. Just relax, bro.
You're gonna be fine. I thought you were, you've been on radio before. I thought you were. I didn't have to read.
I just fucking talk. Yeah? Yeah. Okay.
All right. You're the star, bro. Yeah. This is your moment.
This is your time to shine. It's like American Idol, and you're a top five contestant. Right. You're Ruben Studdard.
All right. Go ahead. Go ahead. Let's go.
Welcome to pod. Welcome to the episode. We're gonna start over. Okay.
Start over? No, you're good. Keep going. I love this.
Oh, this is great. I'm gonna look like such a dick. Yeah. No, we're gonna cut all this out.
You're good. Welcome to episode 458. And with me today is the man that lets me sleep in his RV. No homo.
Except not this week, because he thinks he's a race car driver, Phil McGuffey, as my co-host, Mikey, the glorious Mikey fucking Steppin' Cabbage. Hey! Here I am. Right.
On today's show, this weekend, another round of Frost Paris Hilton to hate porn. Doomsday Clock is closer than ever. It's ever been? Eighty-five years.
Yes. Then in cigars. Women make a new company. Now, Mississippi is on the tax wagon.
Yeah. New Crux Cigar. Yes. Then one of Groover's brands is in the news.
Let's hope it's something he did bad. Let's hope it's something he did bad, right? That's it. Okay.
All that, plus a minigame. All that, plus a minigame. It's a lot easier if you watch the show, just for the record. Yeah.
All that, and the minigame. So what's the score? Of what's the score? Of what's the score?
Yeah. But first, Mikey, how do we get some CHPOD? Yeah. What's that?
CHPOD. CHPOD swag. Pete, thanks so much for asking. That was the best intro I have ever seen.
Oh, wow. That's terrible. Out of 457 or 458 episodes, that's amazing. Right.
Amazing. Wow. com where you can buy one, get the second shirt 40% off, or you've spent $100 or more and you get free shipping. And, Phil, I got to tell you.
Yes? Phil. My ears are a little cold. Uh-oh.
My ears are a little cold. Oh, we're doing a wardrobe change. My ears are a little cold, buddy. Uh oh.
Where'd it go? Uh oh. Here it is. Oh.
Look at that. Wow. How does that look? It looks beautiful.
That sounds nice. That's dope. Just better on my head. Okay.
So, well, this is the broken one. Okay. But you can have it if you want it. You want it?
Perfect. All right, I'm gonna give this to you. Yes. I'll hopefully have the other ones ironed out today.
If I do, then they will be on the site tomorrow. And Ben can finally buy his. Yes. We'll take care.
If they go on the site, I'm going to send Ben the link instantly, but a couple of comments from our previous show, T-Money, Bears have a tremendous sweet tooth, we used to bait them with day-old donuts and stuff from the local bakery, then smother it in chocolate syrup. They can't resist. So, that's your honey thing. Right, yeah.
Real Smoke Pod says, "In Tennessee, we already can't buy alcohol online. It has to be done at a store. " Okay. Okay.
And those are the two comments I'm going to take from the last show. So if you would like to hear me make a comment about something you say, comment below. I mean, let's go. Let's talk about it.
You know? And make sure you like and subscribe. Yes. Wherever you're watching or viewing this podcast.
Click it. Click the button. Right? Yeah.
Like and subscribe. Okay. All right. I'm subscribed.
You're a subscriber? Yeah. Yeah? You're a Patreon member?
I was. Yeah. Credit card got canceled. Yeah.
And you went deep. You did like the $50 membership? Yeah. That was like 50 bucks a month.
I was like, wow, man. Pete's a real one. And then after month one, it was gone. It was like six months.
Maybe a year. It was like six months? It was like a year. You think so?
Yeah. Just come back for 10. I'd be happy at 10. Alright, I will.
You know? Our guy. We talked about a big story on this Patreon. Yes.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I can't talk about it here. Yeah, we can't talk about it here.
Can't talk about it here, but it's like some deep state stuff. Really? Oh, yeah. com.
Go to Cigar Hustlers Podcast if you want to listen. And we reviewed, what did we review? We reviewed the lure. Yeah, the fish stick.
The fish sticks. Which was a really good, I'm sorry. It was really good. It was really good, yeah.
We can say that? Okay. Yeah, it's fine. It was really good.
So, okay, let's get into the first story because you're going to talk about frostbite in Florida, right? Is that crazy? Yeah, it's wild. You know what I think we, I think we, I feel like we have amnesia, you know?
Yeah. Every year, every year, right? Around August, I say to myself, this is kind of slow, isn't it? Yeah.
Fuck, it's hot. Holy crap, it's hot. Right. Yeah, dude, it was like that last year and the year before and the year before that.
Right. So it's kind of cold this year. Last year, I was here for the races. Yeah, it was cold.
It's cold. Yeah. And this is going to be real cold this year. Yeah.
You know how you could be warmer? If you buy one of those sweet beanies. They got to be on the site first, buddy. On the site, yeah.
Oh, they're not on the site? You know, let me ask you something, though, because this is how I feel about this. Tell me. Do you think that the media overhypes the crap out of this?
Everything. It's wild. Like, they're talking about being in the 20s, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and all this other junk. If it does hit that low, it's gonna hit that low for what, three hours?
When we're not awake. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah.
But they're like, oh, ugh, you know. I walked out of the gym today, and I was in a regular t-shirt, and I'm like, this is fine. I can wear this. This is vigorating.
However, I got my weasel team six, so I wanted to sport it. Yeah. comment on that yeah it looks very good yeah i got hooked up i got hooked up that's an awesome jacket i wish i had one yeah i bet you do yeah yeah i wish you had one too thank you yeah i appreciate that um but hey you know this is the world we live in yeah it's kind of cold though i mean i'm not gonna lie it gets cold but it doesn't get to a point where it's armageddon it's really cold in the morning by noon it's 30 degrees 20 degrees warmer yeah it's totally He's totally taller. Right.
I'm with you. I'm so anti-media at this point, I think. My only media source is Palmer. I get the news from Palmer.
Yeah, we don't even know. Those stories are real. Yeah. Half the time, they aren't.
And now I get my news from you. Right. You're my news guy. Yeah.
So, eh. All right. So it's going to be cold in Florida. I think it's because they have nothing else to do right now.
Yeah. And it actually draws eyeballs. Right. Like the cold.
How cold is it going to be? I got to know. You're going to be in the 20s. Oh, God.
Okay. We still live in Florida, man. Right. Like, I don't know what we're doing.
You're going to be good, man. When you're eating your huevos and bacon, you're going to be good. Your huevos and bacon. It's just like the hurricanes too, man.
They get everybody crazy. Right. Right? Yeah.
100%. But, I don't even watch regular TV anymore. Right. So, what do you watch?
I watch a lot of, you know. A lot of porn? It almost came out. No, no.
You know, I get my news from podcasts, right? Okay. uh i i watch a lot of youtube right uh makes it easy uh i watch pick and choose what i want to watch i listen for as long as i like right uh but you've got to you've got to get the eyeballs so how do you get the eyeballs by making everything hyperbolic fear fear mongering right right yeah uh and and people think they're gonna die because it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna get to 22. yeah oh my god we're gonna die yeah my poor kids leave like uh ralphie's son um you know in It's a Christmas Story, Robbie's brother, remember Robbie's brother, he's in the thing and he can't move?
Yes, yes. I'm just kidding, they don't really leave like that, but I feel like that's how, you know, you listen to the news, that's how your kids gotta leave and they're like, but it's not that cold. And in a couple of hours, it's gonna be 20 degrees warmer. Yeah, you're gonna be fine.
Right, right. You're gonna be running, jumping, playing, we're good to go. When there's actually literally people that live in this type of weather. All the time.
Sick, yeah. Yeah, it's like, "Hey, what's it like in Minnesota? Oh, it's negative seven today, it's gonna be 30 tomorrow. It is what it is, we just, we've accepted it, and you know.
How's Alaska looking? Well, it's cold, as usual, and dark. Yeah, I was gonna say, it's cold and dark. Well, you know what's crazy?
Most of the people that live in this state are from somewhere else, experience really cold weather, and after a couple years here in Florida, it drops under 40, and they gotta wear gloves, and they gotta wear a jacket and a hoodie. Or they're like the iguanas down south. But something also happens when you get older. Like as you get older, your skin kind of thins, and you get colder faster, right?
My mom is suffering right now. Yeah? I know she didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I haven't spoken to her, but I am telling you that my mom hates the cold.
If it gets to 70, that's her limit. At 70, she's not leaving the house. Does she only speak Spanish? No, no, she went to high school here.
I don't know. Yeah, I'm telling you. You know, maybe she came in on a boat or something. I don't know.
No, she flew here on a plane. She flew here on a plane? What are you trying to say, man? my dad got hit came here on a boat what are you trying to say huh that's right i just countered your script you are not prepared you cannot like i just want you to know all right you can come for me okay but don't come at me but right but if you want to come at me there will there's going to be a perry and there's going to be a jab all right you're like okay okay all right okay so yeah so what are you trying what are you trying to say nothing i'm not saying ellis island out there - It's cold out there.
- It's cold out there. - My father came through Ellis fucking island. - Did he really? - Yeah.
- Wow. - That was a thing back in the day, right? - Yeah. - Queen Elizabeth, the boat.
Yeah. - Wow. - Yeah. - It was sold to China to become a universe and then caught on fire.
Not kidding. - Really? - Yeah. - Like universe, like at universal?
- It was gonna become like a college. - Oh. - They wanted to do some kind of college experiment with it. - Well, that's cool.
- And then it burned down. - Oh, wow. - Well, allegedly. - It's not allegedly.
It's a fact. You can look it up. We struck a nerve. I don't know.
No, he didn't really strike a nerve. No, he just, you know. I'm just ready. Yeah, he's ready to go.
I'm just ready. My ears are warm. He's got his Red Bull. I got my Red Bull.
I'm fired up, baby. I'm prepared to carry this podcast. I'll drag you along if you can't make it, buddy. You know what it is, Pete?
See, you haven't watched the last couple episodes, so he finally got the beanies done, and he's excited. I didn't really get them, but I didn't get them done, did you? Well, you got the one done to shut everybody. Right.
Do you want to shut everybody up? All right. It looks good. Thanks, man.
All right. Let's get into the next story. What do you got? You might have to scoot it down a little, because we covered it.
It's cold in Florida. Perfect. Boom. All right.
Okay. Doomsday Clock? Which one is it? Oh, it's Paris Hilton's porn something or other.
Right. Deep state porn. What's it say? What's up with that?
Can you tell me a little bit so we can talk about it? Let's see. Okay, here we go. Paris Hilton is advocating against deepfake porn.
Defiance Act. Deepfake. He wrote this, huh? He did.
He makes it even more complicated. And then you can't read, so it makes it even worse. It makes it even worse than public school education. Me too.
Fuck me up. But we'll get through this, don't worry. And it's gonna be fun the entire time. For everybody else but you.
Paris Hilton is advocating against deepfake porn. Yes. Defiance Act. In late January 2026, Paris Hilton testifies on Capitol Hill with a lawmaker like Representative AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I'd like to see her in a porn. I don't even watch porn. Yeah. Allegedly?
Allegedly you don't watch porn? Haven't watched. Yeah. When was the last time you watched porn?
Years. Good for you. Yeah. I think it's a bad thing.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to support Bipartisan Defiance Act, which has passed the Senate, and is advancing in the House to combat AI-generated, non-consensual, explicit deepfakes. Okay. So, you know, I've never seen the Paris Hilton porn. No?
No. Me neither. So, this is a bill that they're against? I.
fake porn? Yeah. And they're about stopping it. I don't think she's against it.
Yeah, well, she's against it. It sounds like the House and the Senate are for shutting this down. Yeah, yeah. And she does not.
I. " Yeah. Maybe she looks different now. I.
fake stuff? I think porn should be, I'm not going to say illegal, because, you know, free speech and all that shit, but yeah, but I think it should be really difficult for kids to, I mean, when I was a kid. Yeah, that's a totally different topic. We watched the squiggly things.
Yeah. " It was a movie. You had to go into the woods, and one of your friend's older brother had a bag full of magazines, and you'd have to, you know. what it was right it was hard to find you know and then you were actually shameful you kept it under the mattress you kept it outside the house you didn't want your family or your mom actually right to catch you you know so yeah it was pretty now it gets piped into your phone right what a specific traumatic moment that was yeah you took us to a specific spot in your childhood Just for the record, which is amazing.
Right, I felt like I was there. So, let me see here, because I actually have these notes as well, I'm gonna help you here for a bit here. Paris Hilton, blah, blah, blah, drawing her personal experience at age 19 when a private video was leaked without consent, which he knew frames as abuse rather than scandal, Hilton highlights how AI has escalated this to hundreds of thousands of fake explicit images of her and millions of others disproportionately harming women and girls. Okay, this bill would create a civil right for victims to sue creators and distributors of such content for accountability and compensation.
So, so she is, she's supporting it. Yeah. She's advocating. Wait, but it says Paris Hilton advocating against deep fake porn defiance.
So I don't fully understand that. She's against it though. She's advocating against it. Yeah.
To support, along with lawmakers like Rabban, to support the Bipartisan Defiance Act, which has passed the Senate, the House of Comer, AI-generated, and non-consensual explicit deepfakes. I don't know, it just sounds like deepfakes shouldn't be a thing, and I think that people should be sued for creating these things. Absolutely. That makes sense to me.
Yeah, I don't like the AI stuff, I think it's just tricking you too much. I think it's funny for the comic type relief stuff, but I just don't like it because now people are starting to use it to replicate history and they skew it a little bit and stuff like that. I don't like that because now it's almost like when Palmer's reading the news. You don't know if it's real or not real at that point.
Right. And that happens. So here's what's wild. The one Instagram thing that I follow is KFC Barstool.
Yeah, yeah. Right? It's the one thing that I'll watch. That is kind of a media source, I guess, to some degree.
And he covered this, these videos of like this Russian ice storm. And it showed pictures of people jumping out of their buildings and jumping into like six stories of snow. And it was wild. And he had all kinds of clips.
He's like, this is insane. Right. The people from, you know, Russian police are saying, do not jump out. You don't know what's under the snow.
You could die and all this other stuff. and then within five hours he had to post it was all ai yeah he was convinced that it was real right and i'm watching these videos and i'm like oh maybe it is real i don't know yeah you know like normally doesn't seem super far-fetched yeah yeah like maybe it did happen but like you could see how some of the ai stuff is like you see like uh i'm watching like a zoo guy and a gator breaks through glass and then like he falls to the ground then all of a sudden a baby drops out of nowhere there's a baby on the ground yeah okay this is right complete bs right but you know as ai gets better that baby just spawned yeah where that baby come from and usually it's just it's like the same standard ai baby that you see in everything and it didn't belong in this at all like okay like the gator is gonna okay who was holding the baby i don't understand right but like Like, as it kind of progresses, and as it kind of gets better and better, you're going to see that this is more of an issue. Right? Right.
So, I think this is the first step of regulation, where that if somebody does something inappropriately with another person, or someone that looks like a person. Yeah, because you could ruin somebody's reputation. Of course. Right.
Of course. I think that, you know, the person has every right to sue them. Right. We can have restrictions in this country.
A lot of the stuff is being, You know it's happening in other countries sure and so how do where do you draw that how do you filter that so that you know so we don't see it I mean because everything is I mean I guess you got a point you know that is and that's another that's a that's kind of a slippery slope as well because like you know I mean you just see that Iraq shut down the internet right like hey right you know so you don't want you still want to see what's going on outside of the world you still want it coming in well yeah but like yeah you got a great point Pete but in certain countries like you can't So it's probably going to be the same type of thing. Well, they're creating it for our country. A lot of these places, they're not allowed. They don't see, like, Chinese TikTok doesn't see the crap that they feed our kids.
Right, supposedly. And a lot of that stuff is being made in China. So they don't see it, but we see it because we have this free society where you can watch whatever you want. Right, allegedly.
I have questions about the free society, but yeah. Some things don't track, bro, I don't know what to tell you. I can tell you, the news is just so, so terrible on both sides. Right.
But yeah, it's a great point. However, I don't think that, you know, maybe, maybe somebody in Russia is like, you know what, I'm going to make this video about Paris Hilton. Right. You know, like, I don't even know if they know who Paris Hilton is.
Yeah. Yeah, she's not that relevant anymore. Right. In this, in that scenario, right?
Right, right, right. But maybe somebody else is, you know, maybe, maybe they, they highlight Some kind of… Kim Kardashian. Oh, well, even worse, like a presidential candidate or, you know, like, and, you know, when that comes out and it's totally fake, like, that could be a problem. Yeah, and it's already done its damage.
Right. And most people aren't going to go back, you can't, you know, and search to see if it's real. They'll just send it, you know, forward it. I mean, it's crazy.
You want to know what I think happens? What? I think AI winds up being the demise of social media. You think so?
Yeah. I think that what happens is if something is, if AI, because I'm telling you right now when I look at videos and I see it's AI, I get pissed and I just move on. If AI continues to take over in social media, if it isn't filtered out either naturally or because it doesn't get views or by some type of control from the social media platforms, eventually it will kill all of the social media platforms. No, I think you have to have your sources that you watch and you have to hope that those guys are going to be honest and, you know, but even they get faked.
Right. I mean, it's all over. It's all over. Right.
It's everywhere. It's an interesting world that we live in, man. Sounds like a story we've heard before. Do you guys think Terminator becomes real?
Skynet? Yeah, I mean... You're on the cusp. Yeah, think of how all this stuff is going.
You're on the cusp. AI's already got an opinion. Right. Wait a second, like, you're trying to sway me, you're no longer just giving me data and facts, you're telling me how I'm supposed to feel about this.
Right, so like, maybe Sarah Connor is really a real person. Yeah, no fate. Yeah. I gotta tell you, man, Terminator 2 for me, Terminator 2, one of the saddest movies I ever watched, you wanna know why?
Why? Because of Lil Jon Connor, I felt bad for Lil Jon Connor. Hmm. Why did you feel bad for him?
I'm going to tell you, please, I'm going to tell you, the guy didn't have a dad, right, and the closest thing to a father that he had was this machine, right, and this machine did everything, like, protected him, the whole, like, was every bit of a father figure, right, and the only way we could save the world was to kill this guy's close enough thing of being a dad, right, and guess what? You want to know what happened? Terminator 3. It didn't matter.
It didn't change anything. Right. They needed more money. Complete bullshit.
Right? Right. Dude, the thumb up thing at the end with the lava, bro, I was in tears. I was not happy about it.
Oh, God, he's gone. I'm like, this is so sad. Now this guy, you know, you never know. He's running some gangs or something.
Yeah, now we're on. He's not in the sports. Do we have Terminator? Did they make a Terminator?
Yeah. Yeah, like T10, bro. It's wild. But T2 was the highlight, was the best one.
Right. Yeah. For sure. All right.
You want to go on that? As you're lighting that, I'll cover you on the next. Thank you. Yeah, I got you.
What are you lighting? Lighting a Raices Cubana. Yeah. New beginnings.
Yeah, it's a new beginning. Yeah, it's a new beginning. We just covered this story that he started his own factory, or he owned as a factory, and now he's making his own brand. Right, right.
Oh, see, yeah, I was telling him upstairs. I was like, I think we just covered a story. Are you the broker for that? I am.
Yeah? Okay. Are you excited about it? - I'm very excited.
I think, listen, I like to work with companies that are vertically integrated. - Right. - I think not everybody should have my approach, but I think if you're going to sell a cigar, you want to make sure that the company that makes it controls the tobacco, they control the manufacturing, they control the flow of the product, you know, so I don't, not that, for example, there are companies that can still be, I don't want us to use the word legitimate, but ethical in the way that they manufacture. Even if they don't own the factory, you know, that's really important in this industry, when you say that you only made 2,000 boxes, that you only made 2,000 boxes, you know, that you stay true to the blends that brought you to the game, and the only way you can do that is if you own the factory, because what if you run out of something, and you're making a cigar for somebody else, and here you're stuck, you don't have the right proportions, fuck it, let's just do it this way, and send it.
So, here's where I'm going to blow some holes through that theory. Good. Because you could still be a manufacturer and still lie. You could still say, hey, I can't get us tobacco, like, are they going to know?
You can still do that. Like, let me just switch this, right? Like, that's still possible. Now, and to be honest, not only is it still possible, it's even worse than if you're a brand owner.
Because if you're a brand owner and you didn't know, and the manufacturer screwed you over, you had no idea. Plausible diabetes. Right, like, I had no idea. Like, this tastes a little different.
Like, no, it's the same, right? But if you're the manufacturer, and you can't get the Condega, or you can't get the Plevelmuevel, or even worse, like the rapper Hay, you know, like, you can't get Connecticut Broadleaf, yeah, let's switch to PA. Who's gonna know, right? Do you know what, man?
I think that the ethical guys, the guys that really... Does he sound okay? I can't imagine Pete Johnson doing that. I can't imagine you doing that.
No, Pete, I couldn't see Pete doing that. Right, there are a lot of guys that I can't see them doing it. Right. There are a lot of guys that, you know, if we don't have it, we don't sell it.
Okay, but like you just mentioned two companies, number one, Pabin Garcia is not going to look at Pete and say, you know, yeah, no, it's the same, right? That's not going to happen. Absolutely. Right.
And Skip isn't going to look at me and say, you know, this is the, it's exactly the same stuff. Like they're not going to do it. Like, so we, you know that those manufacturers have a level of integrity and you trust them, right? However, some of them don't.
Actually, a lot of them don't. Would you say a lot of them? I wouldn't say a lot of them? I would say a lot of them.
I can't think of that many that I don't trust to do something like that. I can't think of that many. Can you? Sure.
That guy? Really? I could think of a whole bunch of them. Who?
You want to name a couple? Dude, I could go down the list. How about we talk about Heritage? Aston Heritage was released and it was a Cameroon- and then it's flipped to Habano and nobody said anything.
Good point. That's a big brand. That's a huge brand. But I think they've lost a little bit of their integrity when they sold.
It's not, you know, I don't think that JD would have done that. I don't think JD would have. Drew Sting? Yeah.
John, that's what we're talking about, Acid, right? Ashton. Oh, I thought you said Acid. Yeah, Ashton.
See, I can't imagine. Ashton shouldn't be able to. I can't imagine they would do that. Fuente makes her stuff.
And I think he's very ethical. So, yeah, I mean, I think he is too. But somebody knew. Somebody had to know.
Who knew? It was a game time decision problem. Who knew? It was a game time decision.
Right. There's a big difference there. Habano to Cameroon is a big difference. Right.
Hey, maybe I'm wrong. I think I'm right, but maybe I'm wrong. Hey, boss. That's my disclaimer, so I don't get in trouble.
We're out of the wrapper. Oh, well, use the other one. Okay. All right.
So, very quickly here. Here, the doomsday clock, it's been updated. What is a doomsday clock? It's like this is when the end of the world is going to happen.
Wasn't that supposed to be in the 2000? It happens all the time, and then it blows over, and then we move on. We pass, and then they move the gold. Oh, no, it wasn't done.
It was this time. Right. Just to keep everybody sharp. Yeah.
So, apparently, it jumped to 85 seconds to midnight in January 2026, the closest ever in 78 plus years. What? What? What day?
It just says January 2026. Oh, God. It's midnight January 2026. So, you know… Yeah, we got one day left.
Two days left. Well, we're in January, buddy. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.
Could be in the world soon. Yeah, so… Look, man, what am I supposed to do? What am I going to do? If it's the end of the world tomorrow, what changes in my life today?
maybe this is it maybe the cold this is a this is a recreation of the when the dinosaurs keep going keep going god man I can't think of it the dinosaurs go ahead keep going oh my god what was it the art whatever the what when the dinosaurs died you know froze over goodbye yeah what happened how did it happen what do you think I'm done was it the meteors yeah whatever what was it yeah wasn't it rain what no they didn't die what was the thing the dinosaurs didn't die Are they still alive? Yeah, because the Woolly Mammoth came around and all that. The Woolly Mammoth is there now? Yeah.
In the cold, in the cold one. In the cold? Yeah. Are you just trying to get time out of me?
Is that what you want? No, no, no. Comedy gold! No, I just know that when you start going down a rabbit hole, man, I'm going to encourage it.
I'm going to encourage it. I'm lost right now. I knew where I was going, I pointed the car, and then it went into the ditch. I didn't know.
It went into the ditch? Okay. Apparently the dinosaurs are still here. No, well, I mean, technically, right?
Roaches. Alligators. Roaches, dinosaurs, right? Crocodiles.
Yeah. Sharks. Those birds that we don't like that cross the road all the time here in Florida. We want to run over and we can't.
Cranes. Yeah, because they're protected. They're called the birds that we don't know what they are, but they're always walking. They don't give a shit either.
Yeah, they don't care. Well, I think they know you're going to stop. Yeah, because I gun it. I see them, I gun it, they get the hell out of the way.
Yeah, they're like, hey, I'm protected. I remember leaving the shop one day, and there was a car pulled off the side of the road, and I saw this white thing, and this guy was just kind of heaving it into the... And I'm like, what was that? And he had grabbed the wing and just got it off the road.
Oh. And I was like, ooh, that's a bad one. Oh. That's a bad one.
I don't want to be a witness. No, it was cooked, bro. Oh, it was already dead. Yeah.
So he ran it over. Yeah. Yeah. Peeled it off of his grill.
Yeah. He probably thought the same thing. He's like, man, I'm just going to gun it. He'll get out of the way.
" It was not good, dude. Down south, it's... Going to prison. What do you call those?
Not the Pelican, Pelican, no, it's the... Flamingo? No, not Flamingo. It's the...
It's the... What, the pretty feathers in the back? Peacock? We got a lot of peacocks, man.
We got a lot of peacocks. Really? I think that's like a lot of people brought them in. Yeah.
Because they were pets and they're like... No, no, no. Yeah, they let them walk around and shit. Actually, I think it was during Andrew Parrot Jungle was destroyed, and so we have a lot of parrots in South Florida, and they're just wild parrots, which we didn't have that before, and I think the peacocks are also part of that.
Like a peacock. They're annoying, man. Are they? Yeah, they are.
Yeah, they're security animals. They shit like dogs. Really? Yeah, and they're loud, and they're annoying.
Have you ever eaten one? I would, though. You would? Yeah, I would.
You can eat, I've had, I've eaten a piece of one. You've eaten a piece of one? Yeah. You've had a piece of, which one?
Remember the lady? Was it the PEA or was it the COCK? Yeah, that one. That one?
No. Yeah. So, the lady, remember I told you the lady that I killed on the farm? Yeah.
She used to, she had peacocks that she would kill and people would eat. I know, you talked about it. You told us this in the story. That's why I was asking.
What'd they taste like? It was just greasy. Chicken? No.
Was it gamey? I mean, like, greasy, like, I've had raccoon before, so kind of like raccoon. Yeah. You've had raccoon before?
Wait a second, what? Yeah. You've eaten raccoon. Yeah, my buddy Califf, you know my buddy Califf.
Yes. They used to come in his backyard all the time, and he shot a couple of them, and he ended up cooking them. " Wow. And you ate some.
" Wow. What about a possum? You fascinate me more every day. I think that's pretty fascinating.
It's incredible. Yeah. I've never had a week. I think I'd try it.
Raccoon? Raccoon? Yeah. I'd try it.
I'd try everything once. They're surprisingly clean animals. Really? Did you know that?
Yeah. They always dwell in garbage and stuff. Yeah, they always make their hands clean, though. Yeah, they do.
Yeah. It's wild. Bro, you never seen one just walk away and go wash his hands? No, not wash his hands.
Totally happens. Totally happens. Yeah, it happens, bro. Totally happens.
Okay, now we're going to get into, before we get into this, I want you to speed up and start on, get to Cigar News, because it's going to say Pangea Cigars Launch, and I want you to read that one. But before we do, I want to announce the co-host for tomorrow, which will be released on Monday. Wait, no, it'll be released Friday. Friday, yeah.
Yeah, Friday's show, my co-host is going to be Phil McGuffin. Oh my God! No way! Really?
Oh yeah. Oh my God, I have to wear the mask. It's gonna happen. Are you ready?
Yeah. Are you ready for this, Phil? I think Phil McGuffin's doing a good job. You're gonna take the chair.
You're gonna make me wear the mask? Of course. Oh Jesus. Of course.
Okay. Are you ready for this? I'm in, yeah. Okay.
I'm excited. I'll watch that one for sure. It's gonna be good. Yeah, it's gonna be great.
So that's when you start watching it again, huh? Well, you know what's really kind of funny, like, and I kind of let it kind of blow over You talked about people are integrated and blah, blah, blah, blah, but, you know, you did have the opportunity to take the number two cigar on Half Wheel and be a representative for that at one point in the career of Powstanie, and you did shoot that down. It might still be available, you never know. I had a moment of weakness at the time, and I was like, man, why don't you, this was before, this is pre-Palmer, and you're like, man, fuck those guys.
I wouldn't say I said it like that. I was in my feelings at the time. Something had happened at that moment. Okay.
And so, yeah, I was, you know, I almost wanted to do something else, get out of the industry. Right. I mean, that was like, I thought about that for like two seconds. Right.
Oh, what the fuck else am I gonna do? You kidding me? Right. I love this shit.
But I was just at a turning point, man, and I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. Yeah. I wasn't sure what I was gonna pick up, and I didn't want to rush into something else. But I understand you guys are killing it.
Well, yeah. Well, thank you very much. Yeah. I mean, cigars are great.
It's a reputable manufacturer. You know, you guys know what the fuck you're doing, you know, we're trying. Yeah. Yeah.
And then it's just about, you know, keep moving the ball forward. And you guys are doing a great job. And I'm that wasn't the half ago wasn't the only one that. No, first of all, cigar press.
We never give them enough attention. They took number six dojo. So, there was, I mean, there was like 20 people that ranked us in one aspect or the other, whether it was the Connecticut, the San Andreas, the War Bear, you know, Kaplowitz Media did, I mean, Ghost, Bear, why did I say Ghost? I don't know.
Bear, El Oso Fumar gave us number two for justice, the Connecticut, you know, so, yeah, dude, we tracked a lot. There was a whole clip on it, Pete. Yeah, did you see the clip? Did you see the clip?
I did an awesome clip. Did you? I did. Yeah.
And it was pretty cool. Very cool. I work a lot. Even George Brighton said something nice about it.
George Brighton? Is he still around? Yeah. Wow.
Yeah. What'd he say? He said it was an amazing cigar. He was smoking the justice.
Yep. Congratulations, man. Thanks, man. I'm really happy for you.
That's awesome. Thank you. Yeah, we're on our way. You know?
Right. We're on our way. We're tracking. So, but yeah, you passed on it, so.
All right. Pangaea Cigar Lounge. launch yes launch uh two women with deep cigar wine bourbon experience oh ibis ibis luis and cigar lover 12 former placentia rep and anna ayapuva that looks good that sounds good ayapuva uh ex-owner and of the high-end cigar wine club launched panguia cigars partnering with Indiana Ortez, Casa Ortez for production. The brand draws from the names of the ancient supercontinent.
Dude, this sucks. You know, I need to read more often, right? Yeah. Wear your glasses.
Wear your glasses. The ancient supercontinent to symbolize unity and connection focusing on thoughtful, high-quality blends. One Connecticut, one Habano-wrapped, rather than rapid releases built on integrity, tradition, and craftsmanship. So it's called Pangaea, because it was talking about the supercontinent.
So it's like the biggest one when they were all together before, and then they started to separate tectonic plates and stuff, that whole thing, right? Okay, so do you know these women? I know Idris. Yeah?
Yeah. Okay. She knows a lot about cigars. She does?
She's got a good palate. Do you know her? No, she's awesome. Yeah, she's been doing this a long time.
She used to work at Neptune. She ended up working now. She went to Placentia. Okay.
And she's one of those ladies that I actually, you know, listen, I'm not going to take, I think it's a little, it's a bit difficult to take for me. I think a lot of guys feel this way to get like a recommendation from a woman. Right. Cigar recommendation.
Okay. You have to qualify. It's like me taking a restaurant recommendation from a skinny guy. Right.
You're going to have to qualify. Or where else do you eat? Or like marital advice from somebody that's been divorced four times. Right, right.
Wow. But that being said, I do find that women have a great palate. I'm close, you know? Hey, I'm not calling you for anything.
I got news for you, buddy. " Aww, I would give you good advice. I don't know. Yeah.
Would you know the good advice to give? Yeah, that's the problem. Right. Yeah, I'm the most experienced, right?
She does have a lot of experience. Here's where I fucked that up. With success, there is a lot of failure, right? Yeah, yeah.
And I gotta tell you, he's got a very successful marriage. He does. Yeah, I've been there. And Tia's awesome.
I think she's a big part of that. Well, she tolerates him well. She does. Yeah.
He's a good guy. She understood what she was getting into. She knew exactly what she was getting into. Yeah.
Yeah, there's disclaimers. Yeah. There's disclaimers. But I know Evie's has a good palate.
I don't know who the other lady is. Yeah. But I'm curious to find out what the- Okay. So this new brand is being launched.
how long do you think it takes for that brand to become successful years okay yeah about how many when you mean successful like like tracking you know uh in the black consistently year over year people know the brand people talk about it okay to that extent all right five years five okay what do you think minimum 12 12 are you just basing off Powstanie No, you know what, yeah, you're probably right, probably closer to 10 years. Yeah, I'm just, I mean, I've been, I haven't been with you guys the whole time, but I've been with you this last part of time, right? And I've been watching you guys, and yeah, I think it, I think you guys are right there now, right? I think so too.
People are starting to recognize you, and people are starting to give you the kudos that you guys, you know, deserve, and as well as Nick Asueno, right? I mean, that goes hand in hand. Well, they've been dominating for a while, I think. They've, you know, they've had their niche.
Who's that? Roma. Roma. Oh, yeah.
But, like, just, but kind of pivoting, like, not focusing on our brand, just the kind of brands in general. I mean, we do get to use ours as a rule of thumb, but, I mean, like... If they can make it past three, four years... Yeah.
Then they can make it to... You think they can get it? To the ten, yeah. Right.
I guess that's what I wanted to say when I said five years. Right. You know, in five years, either they'll still be around or they'll be done. Because at some point you lose, it takes a lot of energy for you to do this day in and day out and not get any traction day in and day out for five years, creating new blends and where do you find the desire to continue pushing forward when, you know, when it's not, when you don't feel, where every month you got to sell every cigar, you know, it's, it's tough.
Yeah, it is, it is incredibly challenging. It is, you can go, you can get into a lot of dark places mentally. I mean, and yeah, it's not easy, you know, like, I mean, even with some of the brands that we saw that popped up that we were excited about or we tasted cigars, we thought they were good, I could tell you that we didn't necessarily take them on in the store because it's like, okay, like, but what does it look like? You know, I went to a booth and I won't mention their name, but at the show, smoked a cigar, thought it was good, right?
And they're like, okay. And if, I would have placed you right then and there, right? Give me 333, whatever, right? And we would have tested it out.
But, okay, give us your email and we'll follow up with you. I'm like, okay, here's my email. I'm trying to give you money. Six months later, they email me and I'm like, I don't even remember the cigar at this point, right?
Like, okay, well, we'll send you a couple more. Okay. And then I get another email. Hey, what are you thinking?
Like, I don't know, man. I moved on. It's impersonable. Like your back end totally collapsed.
Like you can have a great cigar, right? Your brand could be eh or your brand could be great. But if you don't have the operations in the back of it, you still got a disaster. Like if you're going to give me the money, I got to take the money right then and there.
Right. Always take the money. And I got to have the product on hand. Right.
And I got to deliver it to you. And, you know, you got to start believing in it, building it, and then I got to support you. So, it's not just making a cigar. There's so many more aspects to this.
And, you know, and all of those things, a lot of those things take time and energy. And when you're not in the mood to do it, you fucking do it anyway. Right. So, you know, I always encourage and wish anybody the best when it comes to them trying to do this.
Right. But, you know. Oh, this is not, dude. So, what brands in the last five years or the last ten years do you think have, for lack of a better term, blown up, or have you seen have tracked consistently over the five years, six years, seven years, where you see it's grown, where...
The only one in that landscape over the past ten years that really did a good job, and, well, there's two. I think we're thinking about the same two. Guadalupecadio, Benavidation, and Dumbarton. Right.
Yeah. Those are the only two. What about HVC, no? HVC was around before, and I think that they had a higher point than where they're at right now, but they do make great cigars, you know, but he has restructured, and in that restructuring, there's always a dip.
There's always, you know, there's always a challenge where you have to redo things. But I don't think I would put him in the same category as... Not even close. Right.
Yeah. I mean, Dunbarton just exploded. Yeah, and we're not, and I'm not saying anything negative at all, at all, we're just making an observation. He's an amazing guy, he's got great cigars, you know, I mean, we praise his stuff all the time.
Right, right. But there, how about the, another guy, this guy doesn't make a cigar, but he has a platform and he sells cigars, I guess he does make a lot of his own cigars, Brian Descent. Oh, Privada? Privada, that's a very interesting...
Yeah, you know, he's done a lot of things that are very unique, and he's definitely created a niche. Yes. You know, and it works for him. Yes.
Because, look, I've come across some of these Privada guys, like, out in the wild. They're diehard. And they're in. Oh, yeah.
They're committed. Yes. And you could tell, like... They have drank the Kool-Aid.
Well, yeah, I mean, you know, look, and every brand needs that. Yeah, of course. You need the fanboys. You need the fanboys.
Yeah, you need that. You need those guys. And when, when I heard this guy rattling everything off to me, I was like, like, oh my God. Right.
Can I tell you about Blastonia? Like, I'm like, like, come with me. Like you're, you know, cause like that, that's how a brand grows. Right.
You know, you're the guy that walks into the, the cigar store and says, this is the best cigar. And here's why. And, you know, you either believe it or you don't. Right.
But somebody is. And somebody's gonna try. Listen, I, uh, he's done an amazing job, and even the, the fights that he picks, he, you know, I, I wouldn't do it that way. No, yeah, of course, yeah, I mean, right, like, look, here's the reality is, look, I could pick apart anybody, and, you know, we do on the show all the time, and I say, hey, here's where you messed up, or here's where I think that, you know, you could have done this better, or whatever the case may be, and it isn't because I'm looking to rip somebody apart, um, but, you know, I, someone could, could look at our, our, our stuff.
up and say okay well here's where you messed up right like yeah you're probably right right um yeah and i think that you know saying some of the things that he said um at specific times probably not the best move right uh definitely created some enemies along the way that uh in my opinion um are great guys and and i wouldn't i you know you jump to conclusions and you got got to this level and you know like you don't man it's a lot it's a lot better when everybody gets along you know what i mean like i don't there's only one guy in this industry that i truly despise right really yeah only the one i think i know what you're talking yeah i think everybody does yeah um and then other than that you know i may not like a person like or i may think that a person maybe i don't like how they present themselves in business or how they do things but i can still go Well, I'm going to say, hey man, how are you? Shake their hand, whatever. Right, you can still be cordial. You know, right.
I can still be a decent human being to that person. Right. So, that's always kind of my approach, right? All right.
We're rolling along here, buddy. We're at 46 minutes, so you want to try and screw up the Mississippi Cigar Tax Increase? What do you say? Mississippi Cigar Tax Increase, Proposal, Mississippi Bill HB 758.
I can't see. Yeah. Put your glasses on. Yeah.
It is what it is. Yeah. I don't know if it's getting better. You ain't 20 anymore, buddy.
Yeah, come on. You lost your hair first, now you're losing your vision. With my phone, I'm starting to do this. I'm starting to pull it back.
I'm like, oh God, it's coming. Representative Bob Evans. Yep. Great eggs.
Oh. Yeah, no more. It's gone. No, it's not.
Are they still around? Yeah, they're still around here. Well, they're just not around here. Yeah.
Right. 50 MSRP cigar could rise noticeably, right, could rise noticeably, right, that means it would be probably if it's 15 bucks, 12 bucks, 12 bucks, 1250. Well, 22%, another two and change, so it's gonna be, you know, it's up there, 11 and change. And, you know, a dollar, I mean, a lot of these companies are really raising their prices every year, I mean, there's some- But you haven't seen it that much so far this year.
No. Drew Estate did it so far. Yeah. But nobody else has.
I think Padron did. Oh, yeah, but Padron don't give a shit. I don't even think Padron announced it. Yeah, that's standard.
Yeah, like the invoice came in, and we saw the prices. Right, okay. What are you gonna do, not buy it, send it back? It's the, it's the, it's other than our brand, it's the number one cigar that grows in this store organically without anything.
Right, right. It's amazing. Yeah, it's incredible. So I've asked, in my travels, I've spoken to, you know, all the retailers, and I always ask, and it's always in the top two or three best-selling.
Wild. Not unit-wise, but dollar-wise, you know, it's at the top, you know. Well, would you rather own the Yankees or the Marlins? Yankees.
Because one has the greatest percentage in sales as far as percent, and one has the greatest gross in value. Yeah. Guess which one is which? You know what I mean?
Like, hmm. Even though neither one of them have seen a pennant, what's it called? A pennant? I don't follow it.
Yeah, pennant. Yeah, pennant race. In a hundred years or whatever. Right.
You know? Well, the Yankees, I think. You still see the Yankees hats. Everywhere.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's because we live in Florida. No, I think you see them everywhere.
Yeah. Yeah. Yankees are, it's an iconic team. When you think of baseball, you think Yankees.
Right. You think Yankees, Dodgers. Well, it's one of the longest history teams. They're up there as one of the most valuable teams in the world.
Right. Not as much as the Dallas Cowboys. Who? I think we did this.
You never heard of them? Of course. Never heard of the Cowboys? Yeah.
I think this was an episode one time. Yeah, I believe it. Yep. Okay, so kind of getting back to the spill.
You're starting to see these bills popping up everywhere. Yeah, and fast. Yeah, Mississippi, where did we just see another one? Tennessee is working on this whole thing.
What, raising taxes? Yeah, they're looking to, yeah, they're looking to... Make a tax on like basically mail-in. Lump tobacco in with alcohol, you know, and have their own thing, right?
Yeah, it sucks. And we saw, we've seen two more, I think, recently, too. There's a few more states. Well, California was definitely one.
California is a disaster with the UTL, but no, there's another one. I think it was like Washington or something. They're trying to redo stuff with no cap Washington, I think you're right, is the other one. So, why do you think that is?
Why do you think we're starting to see taxation or it entering all of these places all of a sudden? Well, I mean, I think a lot of these states were already taxing, weren't they? They were. Yeah.
So, why are they increasing? Well, actually, Tennessee was not taxing really cigars at all. It's a money grab. They know they can, they know that our consumer can afford it, or they think he can afford it, this is more of a hobby than it is a habit or a vice, but it still qualifies under the vice, and they know guys will pay for it.
At the end of the day, cigars aren't that expensive. People that think that it's an expensive hobby, yeah, a box of cigars will cost you a couple hundred bucks, 20 cigars, so average 10, let's say. Let's say $10 to $15. Right.
You're going to smoke one cigar a day. Let's say you smoke three cigars a week or whatever. The $15 is not that much. You spend $15 on lunch, you know?
You spend $15 on a drink. Right. $15 or so. It's not that much.
What's really expensive is the time that it takes to enjoy. Right. Who's got, I mean, you're a pretty busy guy. Yeah.
You know, you're coaching 10 teams. You got, you know, family, whatever. Fortunately, you're in the industry and you smoke whenever, but... Yeah, he's like Mike Ditka out there.
Smoke all the way to the gym? No, I don't smoke, I don't smoke when I'm cooking. You don't smoke on the field? No.
No. But when you, when you have to carve out an hour, hour and a half to enjoy this thing, go to a cigar shop and hang, or even in your patio in the back, just sit in the patio and enjoy a cigar. Who's got an hour, hour and a half to just sit there and think and you know, it's your moment, it's your time, and they're taxing that now, that just sucks. Right.
Well, I think it's a, I think it's also a win-win situation for them, right? So like, think of it as, okay, we're going to tax cigars, and if they pay it, great. If they don't pay it, then we kill out cigars, right? They don't want to kill out cigars because they want the money, right?
Yeah, but there's also a lot of states that want to outlaw tobacco and that kind of stuff, right? If that were the case, then why didn't California just say no tobacco, no cigars? Well, again, it's a win-win situation, right? I don't think they win by outlawing it.
They don't want to eliminate it. They want to take as much money from it as possible. Right. No, I understand what you're saying.
Yeah. Okay, you do. But the other side of the coin is if people don't want to pay it. Like, in California, if no brands registered, right, and paid these crazy amount of bills, right?
They would go, "Oh, great. We did great, right? " Then they would still look great to the PETA people. I don't think that they would do that.
No? No, because that's why it's not win-win. That's a win-win, because then they have this big red line as far as revenue that they used to have going into that state, and now it's gone. Right?
I mean, they did that with big tobacco and cigarettes. No, they didn't. They made it a partner. They taxed the shit out of it.
But so few people smoked cigarettes compared to 30 years ago. Well, there is less, but cigarette money went up like triple. Well, not only that, but health issues with cigarettes are well or apparent at this point. Documented.
I mean, the alleged So, allegedly, the cigarette industry went ahead and added chemicals and all this other crap that people are ingesting and they're having all these other problems. That's not what you have with cigars. You just have leaves. They're put together, it's a combination of leaves, they're aged, and then they taste like different things, right?
Yeah, like cocoa nibs. Like cocoa nibs, as far as Brooke says. He loves his cocoa nibs. Right.
Which I bought cocoa nibs on Amazon, by the way. We will have them soon. Did you? Ooh, fantastic.
So, no, I don't think that they want to eliminate it. Now, that's what they ride on. That's their, their, that's what they preach, they say, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna protect the people by taxing them to limit cigars or tobacco consumption or whatever, but that's not what they want, they want more money, and you're, I think you're right, it's a money grab. Do you ever think you see, like, premium cigars, I mean all type of cigars at a gas station, like you do cigarettes?
Like, I know there's some there, but those are like the big, big boys, right? The old school cigars. No, I don't think so, because there aren't that many consumers, that's a thing, you know? But maybe there becomes that many.
Well, of course, I mean, look at liquor stores, look at, you know, these big liquor chains, those guys are a big part of our industry, those guys sell a lot of product. Right. Yeah, they say ABC is the number one seller of cigars in Florida, right? Really?
That's what they said. I don't know if that's true, but I still think it's an afterthought. I think that, I don't think very, I think very few people go to a liquor store to buy cigars, right? Even though they have a walk-in humidor, I think it's an afterthought.
They went, they bought a box, a bottle of scotch or whatever. Oh yeah, let's grab a cigar. Yeah. What I did see was brilliant at ABC is that I saw like these rows of five packs as you're kind of entering the lane.
Boom, boom, boom, boom. You got five, you know, you have five different brands there and they have five cigars in that pack. Grab it and go. right yeah Espinosa is in there um and crazy enough fratello's in there howie g's in there is he yeah wow that's pretty impressive that is i saw how we g yesterday yeah what's going on um okay uh all right well we're already at 55 minutes so um i do want to you know we can cover let's skip these other stories we'll bring these we'll we'll talk about some of these other things It's tomorrow, Phil McGruff, okay, you'll co-host that for me, for the show, for Palmer, okay?
Where is Mike Palmer? He's doing what you would have done. He's out. He's out running these streets, buddy.
He's opening up new accounts. Okay, all right. He's checking in on old accounts. Right, okay.
Yeah, yeah. Crushing. Is he? Yeah, he's doing great, man.
I'm glad. He really is. I think there's a learning curve in all of that. Well, it's not only a learning curve.
You've got to knock on these doors three, four, five times before they, you know, you've got to kind of make them feel bad if they don't, and then you show up again, and then eventually it'll just say, bro, this guy's going to keep coming back. Right. But that only gets you one sale. Right.
That only gets you one sale. Right. Right. So, what you, like, what's really more beneficial is the brand to kind of catch on, right?
So, when the brand tracks, and the brand, and our, Postana definitely tracked this year, solid. " Like, pfft, perfect. Right. " So I'm like, oh yeah.
Right. Which I've never, you know, I've never seen anybody come up to me before and go, hey, did you see the Padrón was the number one? Right. Well, because not only that, but Padrón number one, Padrón number three, we're right in the center of that.
Right. That's like, so, you know, that's, that was crazy, man. That was so humbling. Yeah.
Dude, I jumped. Are you finding that retail shops are calling you because of the rating or? Um, not as much as you'd think. But, you know, that did happen a little bit, but more often than not, the conversation's a lot easier when you introduce yourself.
I find that Cigar Aficionado at one point was the Bible. That was the one, that was a benchmark. Once you got on their top 25 list, you finally made it, and nobody else was really that important. As time has gone on, the other ones have become a little more important, and Aficionados become a little less important.
That's important. Right. You know? Well, because it's been the same Top 25 ever since they came out.
Yeah, but that was the most respected one, you know? Right. Top 25 and CI was, you know, that's the one. Well, from CA.
CA, yeah. Yeah, if CI releases the Top 25, it's going to be skewed. Right. Of course.
Yeah. But they say that Aficionados is skewed. And that's why it's not as credible as it used to be. I disagree.
I don't think they're skewed. Obviously. That's very sweet of you. Well, no.
I believe that, obviously, that they're only going to put people on there that they advertise, right? So it's skewed. Well, no, that's just the playing field that we're going with. I don't advertise with Half Wheel.
Well, yeah, good point. I don't advertise with Dojo. I don't even know if Dojo likes me. They still put me on there.
Kudos to Dojo. You know what I mean? Like a lot of respect from me at that point. Right?
Hey. I don't think that Cigar Aficionado only advertises, I mean only selects cigars that have been, because I remember Illusion wasn't advertising. They got a top 25 rating. I think it's peppered in there, the Cubans don't advertise, obviously.
But I don't think everyone that they pick advertises with them. Okay. But I do think that that's kind of the focus. All right.
So at the beginning of the show, we talked about two companies that shot up in the past 10 years, really noticeable, Dunbarton and Foundation. Did either one of those track on top 25 of CA? I don't know. I don't think so.
Okay. I know Saka didn't. Okay, right. So that's what I'm kind of leaning towards, right?
And they better not mention him, otherwise he'll go on a tirade on them, you know? Well, that means that it's biased, that means that it's skewed, because… Yeah, it's just a top 25 skewed list. Because I could hate you, I could hate you, I could despise you, but man, if you made a great cigar, and I'm in that realm, I better acknowledge you. Right.
Because the minute that I don't, I'm now losing my listeners, and I'm now losing my viewers. Right, exactly, yeah. Because they no longer respect me, because I'm not being honest. Right.
And that's what you're seeing. That's what you're seeing. Do you think Cigar Aficionado or, what was the other one? Snob?
No, no, what was the big one that you just talked about? The two magazines, whatever. Cigar Press? Yeah, do you think, do you think the ones that are skewed, do you think that those ever go, those magazines ever go away?
No. No, you think they just always stay around? No, because you gotta, you know, I mean, maybe they go away. everything ends, but, like, there are too many, look, you can, I mean, you look at media now, you look at media today, you can see that there are people that are just going to look at it, believe it, and then regurgitate it, right?
No matter what the platform is. Well, I mean, nowadays, right, everything's a little bit more digital, right? Okay. So, Halfwheel really hits that because.
So does CA. But is there somebody in CA that's always online I'm going, hey, check this out, or hey, do this, or there's, oh, okay, I don't know, I don't, I don't follow those guys. That exists. Okay.
Okay, um, I'm going to speed this up for you, you haven't read this, I've read this, I was going to sandbag you, because I know the score, I'm going to play what's the score, and you guys are going to do it. Oh, perfect, I'm going to play against Pete? Yeah, all right, so, it's time for, and it's, what's the score? All right, so here's what's going to go, I'm going to give you, I'm going to rattle off a bunch of things about, This cigar, every time, I'm going to tell you what to guess, whatever the score is, I'm assuming that you didn't see it.
Right. Do I have to guess the cigar? No. I'm going to tell you what the cigar is.
Okay. And this is not skewed, by the way. Yeah. So, January 26, 2026, reviewed by Charlie Minato.
Oh, great. It is the Sans Peril. San Peri. San Parai, San Periilo, Sweeney, Green Gran Robusto by our boy Sweeney, and it's a redux, so would you like to go first with the score, or do you want Phil McGrath to go first?
Well, are you going to give me some notes? I'm going to, but you can change as we go about, the fact that you don't watch our podcast is atrocious. And you watch podcasts. Yeah, like, oh, I like to get all my news on the podcast.
Except for you guys. You know what, I don't watch, I don't watch a lot of cigar podcasts. Yeah, well, yeah, I, you know. You should just watch the one.
I'm gonna watch this one. I'm gonna watch this one. And I don't mean just this episode. Yeah.
In fact, I'm not gonna watch this episode. You should watch it. No, you should watch this one. You should watch it, 'cause you see, when I saved your ass, when it was a fucking dumpster fire, and I came in and pulled you out.
That's right, yeah. Right? Yeah. Oh, my God.
And that's the guy you passed on, just for the record. The guy who would pull you out of the wreckage. I'm glad you don't hold grudges. We got you, Pete.
I just like to asterisk things for you. Highlight here. All right. Okay.
All right, you go first, Pete. So, go ahead. That's cheap. 82.
Okay. The green one? The green one. Ooh.
I'm gonna go 89. You can tell that he's had intimate relationships with Sweeney because he knows the green one. Well, yeah, I've tried the cigars. Oh, you're going to go 89.
Yeah. Okay. Sweetie's the owner of the brand, right? Yeah.
I don't know. Well, there's a... He's one of them. There's two, I think.
Okay. Cigar Reviewed, San Parola, Green, Gran Robusto, Country of Origin, Dominican Republic, Factory, Tabaculera, Palmer. Palmer. Palma.
Rapper, Undisclosed, Binder, Undisclosed, Filler, Undisclosed, Length, 6 inches, Gauge, $50, Shape, Round, MSRP. MSRP, $50, what? 50 ring gauge. 50 ring gauge.
Right, you said $50. Sorry. Ring gauge, $50. Shape round, MSRP, $33.
Yeah, I was going to say, it is close to $50. Release date, March 2024. And it's a regular production cigar. And the numbers, the amount that they smoked for the Redux was one.
Okay. Phil, you're going to go first. Oh, you want me to go first? first yes okay 89 85 okay on 85 yeah comment number one from the moment it comes out of the cellophane the sans parry green grand robusto delivers a rich and inviting pre-light experience the red toned wrapper gives off a medium plus aroma loaded with granola mahogany graham cracker leather and even a grilled meat note the cold draw adds another layer with applesauce earth and a A pungent mushroom character that feels complex and intriguing before the cigar is even lit.
Phil. Yeah. You must be eating that beef and broccoli with mushrooms. Wow.
Sounds horrible. 80... I'm gonna go down to 87. The way you described it, I want to go 91.
Really? I mean, mahogany. I mean, the way, you know... They always describe it.
I haven't tasted any of those things. They always describe stuff like this, just by the way. Right, no, I'm gonna stay at 85, I'm gonna stay at 85, but it makes me want to, I mean, just the way he says, it sounds delicious. 87, 85.
Comment number two: as the cigar progresses, the profile grows fuller and clearer, building around a core of earthiness, leather, woods, toastiness, and a steady mix of black and white pepper. The retrohale really shines, offering sharper, more defined flavors, like pretzels, grilled mushrooms, oak, creaminess, and pepper, that activate a wide range of the palate. By the final third, strength ramps up nicely and finishes with an unexpected nuttiness and layered complexity that keeps things engaging to the end. I'm going to go 91.
Yeah, I'm thinking that he'd really love that ticket. All right, well, he went first, 91 now, okay. All right. I'm going to go to 88.
While the flavors are bold, The transitions between thirds aren't especially refined, particularly early on where the profile feels muddled with earth, starchiness, and generic heat rather than distinct development. Construction is mostly solid, but uneven burn required multiple touch-ups, with portions of the cigar burning slower than the center, and interrupting an otherwise smooth smoking experience. After this, we're going to do the final thoughts, and then you get to do one last score. So you get to do this one, and then one more.
Who's gonna go first? You want me? I'll go. You should go first.
I'm gonna stick at 88. Okay. I'm gonna stick at 91. Okay.
Final thought. At least based on this one cigar, I would not recommend smoking one of the early production Samperi Green Gran Rebusos right now. At least, not if you have more. One cigar is not enough to make broad statements, but it's also all I have to go off of.
This was a decent cigar, but I don't think it transformed into something that would be all that different from what I'd expect from a fresh cigar, so if I wanted to taste this profile, I might as well just go buy a new cigar and not smoke an aged version. As for the specific cigar, my main issue was that the first third was just boring. There weren't a lot of different types of flavors, and there were hardly any changes for the first two inches of the cigar. If I could do it all over again, I would have kept this particular cigar in the humidor until 2028.
At the moment, it just needs more changes to justify the aging. Bill? 85. Yeah, I'm going back down to, I'm going to 84.
Are you sure? Yeah. You don't want to go a little higher? No.
You don't? No. You don't want to take like 86? He wants to age it till 2028.
Yeah. That's a good giveaway right there. Hey, let Pete pick his number, bro. Are you sure you don't want to just take it to 86?
All right, 86. All right. Wow. Unbelievable.
Final score, 89, Pete, you won! Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Congratulations.
Wow, so like-- I'm over here just trying to save your ass. On the touch-up issues and hitting up-- I don't think the touch-up is a big deal. I mean, you know, so you have to touch up a cigar. That's no big deal.
That's no big deal. In fact, even if a cigar doesn't burn perfect, that's not a big deal. No, but they'll pelt it heavily for construction, re-lights, draw issues. That's where the score really kind of dampens when it comes to having.
Oh, really? Yeah. I should have just gone with my original case. I thought you knew it.
You landed 89 off the jump, and I'm like, the son of a bitch is cheating. I feel like I talked about this with Sweeney before, and I should have been like, you know what, I remember this, but yeah, I was going off of what he was saying. Okay, Pete, are you going to be anywhere in the upcoming weeks that you want to plug a retail store for any events or anything like that? Please feel free to do so now.
When you come to Miami, check out Cigars in the Grove. Hey. Yeah. I heard they're an Aganorsa shop.
Oh. Yeah. Yeah. I heard about that.
Yeah. Terrence Riley, good old Terrence Riley. Yeah. Yeah.
River hasn't been by there yet, though. No? Yeah. He knows better.
Yeah, he does. I don't think he's allowed in Dade County. Yeah. Yeah.
All right. Make sure you like and subscribe. Thank you so much for viewing and listening. Thank you so much for co-hosting.
I think you did an outstanding job. Yeah. Well, thank you very much. You don't?
I appreciate it. Of the top 10 that did it, you're in there. I'm one of them. Yeah, right.
You're one of them. Phil, again, thank you so much. And thank you very much for watching and listening to our podcast. Thank you.
All right, bye. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free, but a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon, thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions, all things cigars, personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners. Cheers to you.
com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. That one up.
Show Notes
On today’s show this weekend another round of Frost, Paris Hilton Hates Porn!, The Dooms Day Clock is closer then its ever been on 85 years! Then in cigars some women make a new company , now Mississippi is on the tax wagon, a new crux cigar then one of Groovers brands is in the news lets hope its that he did something bad….. all that and a mini game of what’s the score!