ACHP Episode 464 Cigars, TrumpRX, Spiderman and Honey Bees
Episode Summary
Episode 464 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual banter between host Mike Palmer, co-host Mike "Boots" Stepankiewicz, and engineer Phil McGuffey before diving into non-cigar news: the launch of TrumpRX, the White House's direct-to-consumer prescription drug site, which sparks a long riff on how broken health insurance pricing is (cash prices beating insured prices, negotiated VA bills, blood pressure meds cheaper without coverage) and a joke about selling "cigar insurance" and extended warranties. The crew also covers Matthew Stafford winning NFL MVP in the closest vote since 2003 — with the guys arguing Drake Maye deserved it — Super Bowl predictions between the Patriots and Seahawks, and the news that Spider-Man: Homecoming is streaming free on Peacock and other services ahead of the next Tom Holland Spider-Man film.
The heart of the episode is an industry-etiquette story. A small brand called Honey Bee Cigars publicly complained on Palmer's event promo that local shops, including Island Jim's in St. Augustine, wouldn't stock her cigars. Both Palmer and Island Jim (Jim Barber) invited her to come by the Friday night event to talk face-to-face; she declined and instead invited them to her own multi-vendor event at a local winery. That leads into a candid discussion about how brands actually get built — earning shelf space, taking the meeting when a retail owner offers one, answering the phone when a buyer calls, and why "do it at your cost" and free-swag requests don't work in a real business. The hosts also preview their PCA booth placement (near the food court, across from McCalla) and a PCA appointment promotion.
In cigar news, they break down Maryland's reintroduced Class C premium cigar lounge license bill — BYOB alcohol allowed, a 70% premium cigar/accessory revenue requirement, license fee dropped from $2,000 to $100, no grandfathering, no locations near healthcare or childcare facilities, and a cap of one lounge per 150,000 residents — and do the math on whether a market that size can even sustain a store. They also cover the Vowed Cigars New Dawn Corona Gorda (6x46, $15, 15-count boxes, from the Small Batch team), and Pangaea Cigars' debut with Blend No. 8 and Blend No. 12, both Nicaraguan binder and filler tubo Toros sold direct-to-consumer only — prompting a debate on whether DTC-only is viable for a brand nobody knows yet.
The show closes with the review-scoring game, guessing Half Wheel's rating on the Island Jim Barber Pole No. 2, a 6x52 Honduran Connecticut-seed/Criollo barber pole made at Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co. Plus listener comments, Patreon plugs, and Palmer's upcoming appearance at Northport Cigars on February 25.
In This Episode
- 01TrumpRX and the Broken Drug Pricing SystemThe crew breaks down the new direct-to-consumer prescription site and why cash prices often beat insured prices.
- 02NFL MVP and Super Bowl PredictionsMatthew Stafford's MVP win in the closest vote since 2003, why the hosts think Drake Maye was robbed, and Patriots-Seahawks score picks.
- 03Spider-Man: Homecoming Free on PeacockHomecoming is streaming free for a limited window ahead of the next Tom Holland Spider-Man film.
- 04Honey Bee Cigars and Retailer EtiquetteA small brand publicly complains about shops not carrying her cigars, then declines invitations from Palmer and Island Jim to meet in person.
- 05How Brands Actually Earn Shelf SpaceWhy you rarely get in on a first visit, why you take the meeting and answer the phone, and why free swag and cost-price requests don't work.
- 06Maryland Premium Cigar Lounge License BillThe reintroduced Class C license would allow BYOB alcohol but requires 70% of revenue from premium cigars and caps lounges at one per 150,000 residents.
- 07New Releases: Vowed New Dawn Corona Gorda and Pangaea CigarsA $15 6x46 Corona Gorda from the Small Batch team, plus Pangaea's DTC-only debut blends made with Indiana Ortez.
- 08Review Scoring Game: Island Jim Barber Pole No. 2The hosts guess the published score on the Honduran barber pole rolled at Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co.
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 Cigar Hustler Podcast Episode 464! Anybody know how many two guys has? No. Cigar Authority.
We gotta be catching up. Oh, we're gonna, yeah. Eventually we'll pass. We're gonna eclipse them.
Right. Because they like to advertise, we've done more shows than anyone else. No, they say that they're the longest running show. Oh, is that how they do it?
Yeah. Do they do it by episodes or years? And they're still the longest running show. They do it by years.
We can't beat them that way. Unless we do it as number of hours that you've done it. Well, the, yeah. Oh, except our show's an hour, their show is like three or something, isn't it?
We can factor. We can figure it out. All right, I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, as always, is Phil. Give me that racetrack food, McGuffey, sitting over there in engineering.
Hello, peoples. Did you bring any with you today? Uh, racetrack food? Yeah, there was a racetrack pizza box out in front of the store this morning.
No. Is that you? That wasn't you? Oh, you mean the gas station?
Yes. Oh, no. Racetrack the gas station. No, I haven't ate that since.
Oh, he's working at a racetrack. Yeah. Ah, I see the confusion. Right.
No, I haven't eaten at the racetrack gas station since I had the poisoning thing. Oh, all right. All right, and my co-host, Mike, I hope they don't talk about food again. My pants are getting tight, Stepankiewicz.
Are they? No, my pants are getting tight? That's what you said. Interesting.
So they don't like us talking about food. It makes you hungry. That's what I said? Yes.
Interesting. I don't remember saying that. Okay. He might have been in some kind of food coma or something.
Things happen and you don't remember, it's the way it works. Okay. On today's show, we have TrumpRX, your new prescription provider, the NFL MVP was chosen yesterday, and now you can watch Spider-Man for free. That's exciting.
It is exciting. Which one? Home. Home.
Far away from home? No, no. The one where he's at home. I am home.
Homecoming? Homecoming. Yes, we have some information about that movie, and we have why you can watch it for free. Excellent.
And then in cigar news, we have a couple of more new cigars. Everybody's putting out new cigars right now. When do they start saying available at the PCA, and then Charlie says what the PCA dates is? Usually like a week before PCA.
No, it's like months before. What this is, is people are announcing them, and a lot of them, they're not even out. They're just announcing them. Right, well, but normally when Charlie does these stories, at the end it was, you know, will be available for purchase at the PCA, April, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah. But he's not doing that yet. You know what? I don't know.
Maybe they haven't said that that's the case. Maybe. Maybe they're taking orders before PCA, and then they're going to offer it at PCA. Yeah.
And then there's a new state bill, but this time it's in our favor. Oh. Finally. Finally, we get one.
We get a dub. We get a dub. But first, how does someone get some of that CH pod, Michael, And the swag, and the snacks, and the ashtrays, and the stickers, and the beer, and the energy drinks. Just not the beanies.
com and check out our latest swag. If you buy one, you get the second one 40% off, and if you spend $100 or more, you're going to get free shipping on your order. So check that, what, go ahead. Bing bong.
Go ahead and check that out. I want to give you your space here, bing bong. And like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or watching our show. " Oh, there he is.
We all have been waiting for you. Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for arriving with your negativity.
Uh, those vintage lighters are up there in the dust. There's about 14 of them. Okay. All right.
Moving on to the news. White House launches direct-to-consumer drug site called TrumpRX. Look at where his mic is. It's practically in his nose.
I can't see him. In mine? I'm talking to you. Oh, yeah.
Oh, it's off the one side. It just looks like it from that angle. Well, the, are you wearing the Huggies or the Pampers today? The Pampers today.
Oh, maybe that's why. They're a little thinner, so he's a little shorter. No, actually, they're thicker. Like, if you just tilted it, like, look at how this is tilted, it's out of my face completely.
Now, from here, from here, it looks like it's covering your chin and your bottom lip. Yeah? How's he look? No, Mikey's is perfect.
Yeah. I can see his whole face. Palmer, I can't see your Cindy Crawford, uh, little mole on the right side of your cheek. I don't have a Cindy Crawford mole.
Where are you going? Over here? How's that? No, I can't hear you.
Just tilt it. Tilt it up, down, left, right? Keep tilting. Keep tilting.
Am I tilting down? No, no. Just tilt the microphone. There you go.
There you go. Look at you. Hello. Hello.
All right. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the launch of TrumpRx, a direct-to-consumer website that is key to his administrators' efforts to lower prescription drug costs in USA. So what he's done, and he's gotten together with 12 to 14 drug manufacturers that are willing to sell direct to consumer at a discounted price. Really?
Okay. It's kind of like, uh, what's that one that does it now? HIM? Is it called HIM?
Him? No, it's not HIMS and HERS. It's not ED drugs. Oh, isn't there like a thing though that you can get like, uh, like the weight loss supplements?
Yeah, the weight loss, hair growth, uh, ED stuff, um, anxiety. You think that's what Trump is doing right now? Well, he's working with only certain ones. He's working with ED meds?
No, I'm not saying he's working with ED meds. He could be. Maybe that's a real problem I heard in America. You heard that?
That is a real problem in America. Yeah? You heard that? Okay.
So you log into the website, you search for your drug. If it's on the list, you click the link and it sends you to whoever makes that drug. And then they are willing to sell it to you at a discounted price if you don't have insurance. Now, if you have insurance, at this moment, you are not eligible.
What funny stuff that is, right? Hey, I have insurance. All right, it's going to be $1,800 for the one pill. Right.
We're going to build your insurance company. Right. But I don't have insurance. I'm going to use TrumpRx.
Well, it's free. It's going to be 50 bucks. No, it's not free. Yeah, it's discounted, not free.
Like, that shows you how broken this whole system is. Right. I mean, you know, we have health insurance and my primary doctor no longer takes that insurance. If somebody takes that insurance, I still go to my primary, and to visit my primary, it's like $180 cash, right?
Oh yeah, they have cash prices, I've heard of them too, yeah. Or, if I was insured, the insurance price would be like $400. Right. Can you just imagine how much money the insurance companies are making, though, that they can be charged those prices?
Because do they ever go no? Yeah, though you can't get that procedure, I'm sorry. Of course. I'm sure that that price, the price that they state with the insurance company probably gets negotiated down.
That's why it's set to that price. Oh, I know that, because the VA definitely negotiates. I get the little bills, because I guess they have to provide me with them, and they'll say, like, this was the price that they came back at, and this is the price that was negotiated. It's always negotiated at like 10 bucks.
Yeah, it makes no sense. My blood pressure medicine is cheaper without insurance. Right. Right, yeah, it's crazy.
Yeah, CVS gives me, I'm on some discount card program or something that they signed me up for. Why do we need insurance? And it keeps going down, which is the weird part, it's never like the same price. Right.
Can we do a cigar insurance? I'm like, is that for 90 days? The lady goes, yeah. I'm like, okay.
Wow. Load me up. Cigar insurance? Yeah, like people just pay us monthly and, you know, if your cigar is broken, you can use your cigar insurance for a free one.
It's like a warranty. Do you want to warranty that? Yeah. You want a two year warranty?
We should try that, add two dollars or two bucks to it or something. If you like to add the two dollar extended warranty. Right. And then when you go to use it, be like, oh no, you got a call.
Yeah. Right. Where's your receipt? Yeah.
We don't keep track of that. Oh, you don't have that? Oh. Sorry about that.
You're gonna have to make sure you have a real ID when you do the warranty as well. It's the official one. Not like a fake ID, but a real ID with the little star on it. Yeah.
Dude, it's so whack. So, like, a few years ago, I bought that Jack the Skellington 10-foot. Yeah, the giant thing for your house. Yeah.
" Oh, you did? Oh, you warrantied it. Yeah, I warrantied it. Oh, wow.
Yeah. Windstorm came by within, like, three weeks, and it snapped the legs right off this damn thing. Mayhem came out. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, the mayhem guy. " They said, did you warranty it? I go, I did. Okay.
So, like, you got to call this number. So, I call this number, and I'm under this whole chasing thing, trying to figure this out for, like, at least a month to try and get a new one. And it didn't work. So, what I do, I put it in a box, brought it back to Home Depot.
Do you have a receipt? No. They just took it back. Exactly.
Yeah. I don't know why Home Depot did that. Yeah, they'll just take it back. They didn't even look to see if it was broken, did they?
No. I'm like, it's broken. It didn't work. Okay.
Here you go. So you want to know when I'm out? I'm out the money that I bought for the warranty. Right.
You call the number and they're like, hello, would you like to get a $600,000 loan today? Wait, is this the warranty program? Hello, did you buy the warranty? Would you like to talk to someone?
Yeah. Oh, sorry. Yeah, sorry. Warranty for Home Depot.
Go see them. $50! You got to see them. We do not handle that down with the phone, you silly man.
Put it in box. It was wild, dude. Put it in box. I never get the extended warranty.
Do you want to warranty this? You know what, for whatever reason, I had this moment of weakness, and I'm like, you know what, it's a holiday decoration, I gotta put it up, I gotta put it down. Well, it was an expensive holiday. Yeah, it's probably gonna break, let me cover this.
Yeah. Now you'll know, next time. Fuck no, I did that last time, I didn't get shit. So you can only do it like, two times in a month, just by the way.
Return without a receipt? Yeah, that's the rule. Oh. You don't know that rule until you're denied.
Until the third time? Yeah. Yeah, it really pisses you off. You're like, oh, really?
Really? You couldn't tell me that last time? I wouldn't have bought this. You've exceeded the return limits.
Before, yes. They tried to sell me extended warranty for the SD card I just bought for the camera. Yeah? For eight bucks?
Yeah. Well, I ended up paying 12 for the SD card, and I think it was four for the extended warranty. Wow. The guy just reached over and hit no on the machine.
Right. Who knows. You're not buying it for this. This is stupid.
Do you buy extended warranty for your cars? No. No. Really?
I do. Do you? Yeah. That's like one of the only things, that, and anything I buy from Harbor Freight.
Really? Yeah, because I know it's going to break. Just buy another one. It's cheaper than the warranty, probably.
No, it's not. Like, let's say, like, I mean, I buy big tools from Harbor Freight. So, like, I have like a jackhammer that I bought from them. It was like, I don't know, 800 bucks.
I bought the warranty, I think the warranty was like $180, and it broke with after the first time I used it, you know, within a month, and I took it back and they gave me a brand new one for the $180 bucks. I judge my GCs by the tools they use, so if you're using Harbor Freight, I got questions. There's only some, like the big stuff like that, that I'm buying from them, because if it breaks, I get a new one. Yeah.
DeWalt, you have to be, baseline is DeWalt. Was it improper use of said jackhammer? Who knows, man? I got construction workers that work for me.
Yeah, and they steal everything. The Mexican price ones? Yeah, there's only so many brain cells in these guys, man. I was outside drilling holes for like a hurricane coming to put wood up one time.
Yeah. And I don't have a hammer, I don't have anything. You have no tools at all. I do have some, I've acquired some at this point.
" He gives me his hammer drill, and it's a Hilti. Oh, that's super expensive. Yeah, so I didn't know. " Well, my neighbors let me use it.
" You did it with the drill where you hold it and you turn the crank on the side and put the holes in it? That's exactly what it is, yeah. No, not the Hilti, the one you used before that. No, the one before that was, it was like it had a stick on the bottom and it had like a shank on one side and it was round.
Oh, yeah. Nice. Some people call it a hammer. That was the joke.
Oh. Yeah. Gotcha. But you didn't pick up one.
Yeah, he didn't pick up one. No, I didn't pick up one. Samantha. All right.
All right, guys, Matthew Stafford. Pizza's losing. We're losing pizza by the drones. We're losing pizza by the drones.
Yeah, by the drones. Yes, by the drones. You should see the image I have on my phone. Matthew Stafford wins NFL MVP and closest vote since 2003.
All right, guys, go ahead, talk about it. Okay. All right, guys. Go ahead.
Perfect. I'm more than happy to talk to you about this, because here's what I'm going to tell you. Let's do it. Here's what I'm going to tell you.
Okay. I'm listening. I'm mentally unstable right now, by the way. Oh, God.
All right. I've listened. I had to listen to... Shit.
What's the name of the band? I had to listen to, what was it? Nirvana. No, no, it's worse than that.
Cannibal Corpse. I was listening to Coldplay, so I didn't kill anybody, I looped it, I looped it all day, all morning. Here's what I'm gonna tell you, number one, Bill Belichick gets snubbed, Hall of Fame, okay? Number two, Tom Brady says, ah, I don't have a dog in the fight, when it comes to the Super Bowl.
And then number three, Drake may get snubbed for being MVP. The guy is doing MVP things, rushing, passing, all of it. I'm going to tell you right now, I hope the Patriots slaughter the Seahawks in this game on Sunday. I hope it's an absolute embarrassment.
Well, I don't. I hope they each score a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown in each half. Because the money makers. I hope they each score rushing touchdowns.
You know, okay, this is how I see the Super Bowl. Okay. Now, first of all, what you're talking about. Usually on TV.
I don't think Matt Stafford should have been the MVP at all. I do agree. Out of all the quarterbacks, I think Drake May was the best because of what he had to work with. Palmer would like to say something.
He's raised his hands. Yes, Palmer. By the time this airs, Super Bowl will have had happened. Yeah, but don't worry, I'm going to clip this and put it up today.
There we go. It's going to be a short reel. All right. Yeah.
But I do agree. I think he should have been the MVP. Now, how I think the Super Bowl is going to go? I think it's going to be a close game, man.
I mean, these two teams both have power offenses, both have power defenses. I think it's going to come down to the coaching at this point. I don't agree with you. No?
No. Okay. And here's why. Sam Darnold is the most sporadic, quarterback, in the NFL.
Like, he can be, he could throw bombs, or he could totally screw the pooch. And I think that he's gonna make a few mistakes, and both of these defenses are powerful enough, where the Patriots are gonna capitalize. I don't think that it's close. I think it's 24-13 when it's all said and done.
It's gotta be more than that. Nope, I don't think so. It's got to be more than that. Wedding Maker City's got to be more than that.
Yeah, it's got to be at least 35-24. I'm cool with that. I'm thinking 24-13. 24-13, huh?
Yep. That's my guess. Okay. So, by the time this airs, it'll be Monday, so.
Didn't the, uh, uh, what's the sports, uh, awards? ESPYs? It happened last night. That happened, yeah.
Did, um... It wasn't the ESPYs, though, I don't think. That's, isn't that like a Sports Illustrated thing or something? It's the NFL one.
Yeah, the NFL one was listed. Oh. I watched a little bit of it, I was here at the, I was here at Hustler. Yeah.
I don't know why they do these things, maybe just more airtime, to make people see the NFL? It's more exposure, yeah. Yeah, I think that's what it is, because most of the stuff that they give out, it's like, who? For what?
Well, that's why you acknowledge them. Oh, it's the participation awards. Right. Of NFL.
Oh, everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets a trophy. Okay.
All right. That's how you get reports. Okay. All right.
Now, moving on. Ahead of Marvel's next Spider-Man movie, you need to rewatch Homecoming. Oh. So, on several streaming services, Homecoming is free for the next 30 days.
Okay. Because the new Spider-Man movie is supposed to come out in 30 days. Is it? Yes.
Really? Yep. Which is sometime in March or April? Are you talking about The Amazing Spider-Man or?
No, not the cartoon, the Tom Holland Spider-Man. Really? I don't know if I believe you on that. That's what the story said.
It was a trending topic. Next movie. New movie. Let's see.
Tom Holland. Make sure you put Tom Holland. Brand new day? I don't know what it's called.
I think that one already came out. Set for release July 31st, 2026. I'm just telling you what it said. Well, maybe they're giving you 90 days or whatever it is.
It's summertime. Well, he didn't say a specific time when it's coming out. He just said that it's going to come out. Yeah, he said next month.
That's what it said. You got to remember that a lot of the big movies, the Spider-Man movies, those are mostly summer movies. Yeah, summer movies. They're summer hits.
Right. So, yeah, that's going to be July. So, okay, so somebody's doing something for free? You can watch it for free because they want you to see this movie before the next one comes out because apparently they're connected somehow.
Well, they're all kind of linked, right? Yeah. Well, the Homecoming one is the only Tom Holland's movie that takes place in his hometown. The other ones were not.
I mean, the one was over in Europe. Far Away or whatever. Right. Right.
It was a brand new day. It was in Outer Space. I mean, that wasn't a Spider-Man movie. Outer Space.
Yeah. The Avengers movie. Avengers. I mean, he was in it.
Yeah. And he was in space. Yeah. He went up in the Flying Donut thing.
In the Flying Donut. But you don't have to watch that one. Who wants that one? No, that has nothing to do with the story.
Yeah. You think someone will click us right on this one and say that we're a complete idiots and we don't know our Spider-Man? Oh, definitely, because this is a superhero thing. You don't know what you're talking about in the fake pretend universe.
Idiot. Right. There's also the only Spider-Man movie to have a traditional street-level bad guy that Spider-Man comics are known for. It was the Vulture.
Yeah. It was the bad guy. Got it. So this, so who's the bad guy on this upcoming one?
I haven't seen that yet, I don't know. The seagull. The seagull? I don't know.
I've heard, that guy's notorious. Yeah. Yeah. He's, whoo.
As notorious as this? Walks around going, mine, mine, mine. Yeah. Yeah.
I think it might have been a mistake giving Phil a camera, because he's clicked to himself a few times. No, I just, I mean, I thought it was a good joke. G. on my face, so I was like, yo.
I have noticed in the editing process, there is a lot of just, Phil's face is doing expressions. Let me jump to me. Yeah, jump to me, because I haven't been on lately, and let me just make a face. Like the Scott Pierce one.
Right. Yeah. Yeah, Scott Pierce, he did a blurry, like he took the seriousness out of that one portion of the whole thing, and he just threw his, boo, he threw his, like, ugh. I had to do something, man, we were sitting here for like 45 minutes, listening.
Get a long answer. It was before the call. It was redundant, long answer, Palmer. I don't know, I didn't understand.
Exactly, you were sleeping over there. I don't think it was redundant, but I thought it was very well-spoken. For not knowing what we were going to talk about, he was very prepared. Yeah.
Well, I think that he has a vision and an intention, and I think that that's clear. The question is, without giving too much away, is that vision and intention good for the cigar industry, or is it good just for the bigger brand owners and manufacturers? Oh, now you have to go listen to find out. Check it out, Patreon.
It's kind of like, here's the real question. The real question is, should we be regulated to a point like liquor or alcohol, or should we be unregulated as much as the NRA fights for gun rights? Like, where do we sit? 95 per month.
Wow, so we can get you a new mask. Yeah, please. You just got a new mask, for God's sakes, it's two shows old. No, I like this mask, and I think this should be on the store.
This should be on the store? Yeah. I'm not putting stickers on 75 black masks. What?
$50 masks. You go ahead and produce them, you make them, and then I'll put them on the store. You can buy that on Amazon, I think it was $9, and then I'll give you the stickers. Can you just put the picture on there first, so we can see how many orders, and then I'll make them per thing?
No, that's not how that works. It's custom made by Boots. No, you won't. We have so many available.
You want to know how many people have mentioned that mask so far? I don't want to hear it because you're gonna hurt my feelings. You're right. They like the bear-nose better, let's just say.
Oh, whatever. Right? All right, well, you can watch Spider-Man on Peacock if you want for a limited time. Only on Peacock?
No, Peacock was the main one they mentioned, but it's on a couple others, too. Okay. I'm gonna watch it this weekend. Yeah, me too.
It's on Peacock? The wife is dog-sitting for some friends, so I have the house. Sounds like she just needs a break from you. from you oh i gotta go watch that dogs no no no they're paying her to watch the dogs oh next all right michael you got a video no but i got some comments you want me to talk about the comments yeah read the comments all right because one just popped up here they must be exciting comments because he really wanted to get those out they don't make fun of him so he likes doing right he reminded he wanted to remind you of the comments we had one yesterday that made fun of him and he didn't read it i had to read i didn't mind it i don't mind that stuff yeah but But you didn't read it.
I didn't see it. How could you not see it? You read the one before and the one after? Because it wasn't here.
I was looking at it and I didn't see it. Okay, whatever. It didn't say Palmer or Boots in it, so he skimmed over it. @ThomasBuzita, and I apologize for screwing up your last name.
Oh, the Boveda guy. Oh, the Boveda guy. We like him. I know Boots is the jester, but he needs to lose the gimmicks to get more respect.
Unless he constantly is losing bets. Is that the gimmick, the money makers? Well, I gotta tell you, uh, you know, he's not gonna lose the gimmicks, just for the record, so, you could forget. I almost, you know, in the skip thing the other night, we mentioned the text, I almost just said bing-bong, just so I could get in it.
Bing-bong. Uh, T-Money says, Booth looks like the T-Moo version of Mankind, laugh out loud. Oh, nice. Have an okay day.
Hey, have an okay day. Mankind says, have a nice day. Yeah. Yeah.
Uh, Stephen Wells says, there is a rumor that CH Pod is going to have a commercial If you look at the Super Bowl, please let me know what time, I don't want to miss it. Well, at this point, the show is aired, so we'll let you know how that went. And I'm gonna give two more here. Nargar said, Palmer describing spam ads on websites is next level hilarious.
I wonder how many fake IQ tests he's taken, laugh out loud. And you saw my response, obviously. I don't always look at your response, because normally it's just laughing faces. Oh, no.
Remember back in the day when you were on Facebook, you would always hit those, what type of animal are you, or what type of- Oh, yeah. Oh, so that's the way she's talking about it. All the time. Yeah, so like- Yeah, they don't do those anymore.
Yeah, sometimes you were a pit bull, sometimes you were like a retriever, you're like a warrior, like you're all kinds of things. Like, you do, you kind of fall into those- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's because he's sitting at home bored.
Well, it makes content, too. The idea on Facebook is to keep making content. So that was easy for you. Now, now- Now I got to come up with stuff.
They don't do those anymore. I. things? Yes.
I'm back to being paid again. So, I mean, I got to up my numbers again. You're back to being paid again? Oh, you got the suspension for putting in pictures of me and you as children.
Yeah. I was exploiting children. Somebody reported me for exploiting children. I was like, it was me and him!
I. pictures. Palmer was not in the Epstein files, by the way. He was not on the island, for God's sakes.
That was me as a child talking to him as a child. " Oh my God, it's not. I hope he's like an over-the-road driver where he knows exactly that that is true. He's not.
Yeah. So who is that? You know who it is. Oh, is that Paul?
We stop at racetracks, but we just get drinks. I don't know if you've noticed this, and look, full disclaimer, because, you know, here comes some internet person. I'm not a cryptocurrency extraordinaire, but Bitcoin is tanking. It's at like 64,000 last time I checked.
Could be lower now. Yeah, and they were just giving away like a million of it or something. And they're talking about the fact that Epstein is linked to all of these things that he invested in early. And then on the social media platforms, they're all saying that he is the guy that started Bitcoin.
Oh, like that's the rumor. Yeah, no, they, they, they know who the guy was. No, they don't. Oh, I thought it was like some type of Japanese dude.
That's his name, but nobody knows who he is. Oh, oh, yeah, fake name. Yeah. Oh, so, so now everybody's saying that, hey, this is the end of the crypto and this is what it's tanking and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It sounds like it's time to buy, if you ask me. Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. You know, like, oh shit. Dip, dip, dip, dip, dip.
Half price? I'll take half price. Right. They released like a million pages or something from the files and you didn't hear what was on anything.
Three million. Oh no, it's been leaking out. Oh yeah, and then the Clintons, they agreed to testify. Yeah, I saw that.
Yeah. But that's all I saw. I didn't hear anything else. It's over.
It's over, Johnny. It's over for the Clintons. People are losing some jobs. There's some stuff going on.
If the Clintons testify, and this is the worst that they get hammered for, they'll be in the clear, because there's definitely some stuff they've done in the past. You think it's like Tekashi 6ix9ine, where he just starts rattling off everything? Oh, yeah. He just, Bill just gives it up and just starts saying everything?
Yeah, yeah. Yes, we killed the people. We did it. What are you gonna do to me?
Allegedly, allegedly. I'm Bill Clinton. Yeah. Right, honey?
No, no, he's not gonna say it. Hillary comes in front of us. Yeah, Bill's not allowed to talk anymore. Hillary's gotta take care of all this things.
I got this, Bill. Yeah. You just sit over there with Monica. Okay.
Wow. What? That was no way. Wasn't Hillary, like, didn't she come out of the closet or something?
No. I have heard that rumor also. It's a rumor. Oh, okay.
Well, sorry. Didn't she come out of the closet? She allegedly came out of the closet. There's no truth anymore.
Listen, I just want you to know, if Boots doesn't show up to Monday's show, we know exactly what happened. A little visit from... We know exactly. He didn't kill himself.
That's all I'm saying. He didn't kill himself. He didn't kill himself. All right.
Right. You know, we all know Boots, and he cherishes his life. Yeah, he's afraid of death. He's deathly scared of death.
Above everything else. Deathly scared of death, yes. Correct. He doesn't even like to talk about it, it just creeps him out.
I don't even like this being the black door behind me, or whatever's behind me. It looks like a door on the screen. A black door? You afraid of black doors?
Yeah. I just don't like the color of death. Anyways. All right, now we got a little cigar situation, let's say.
Okay. Situation? Yeah. Okay.
So I would have by now done my event in St. Augustine at Island Gyms. Okay. Now there's a brand called Honey Bee Cigars that commented on my post for it a couple of days ago or something.
That it's a young lady owns it that she had gone in there to sell her cigars a while ago because that's her local shop or she lives in St. Augustine or something. They gave her the, we're not adding anything right now. Our humidor is too full.
Standard move. Standard move, right. So, apparently she got a little upset, thought they should carry her cigars because that is, you know, because she's a local person and her cigars are good in her opinion, but they didn't. She's passionate.
Yeah, she put that comment up on my promotional thing. That whole thing? Yeah, yeah, it was quite long. Wow.
And then she's also tagged me in a rather lengthy rant about how other cigar shops aren't carrying her cigars, some type of conspiracy thing where, you know, keeping whatever. Okay. Okay. I love it when anybody goes there.
Yes. Oh, I know what's going on. She tagged me on her post on Instagram also. Whenever you hear the, ah, I know what's going on here.
Right. Okay, dude. Right. So anyway, Island Jim, being the very nice man he is, saw the post, and I had already invited her to come by the shop Friday night because she was local.
Come by. Say hello. Introduce yourself. Blah, blah, blah.
Right. Jim said the same thing. Come on by Friday night. Let's talk.
Right. You know, in some way to make it right. And Jim probably would have picked it up maybe. Possibly.
Yeah, a couple of sticks, you know, a box or two or something. He's very nice like that, because they do, when I'm in there, the guys that go, "Yeah, Jim bought that, so we have to put this on the shelf, too," type thing. He's got a lot of friends that make cigars, and he likes to take care of his friends. So anyway, she answered back, "No, I can't make it.
" Wow. Why don't you guys come to my next event? I guess it's out at Feel Good Farms, or Feel Good Winery, or whatever the place is called. Oh, in Austin.
Thank you for the invitation, then something about some tagline for cigars, something about them being sticky or something. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, so we both invited her to come. Right.
I would have introduced her to Jim if Jim had not had already spoke up. Okay. And, but no, she'll, no, no, you guys come see me. Right.
So what's your question? Well, that's not the way it works. You said this is a situation. That's not still in the question.
I said situation, not a question. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, that's definitely not how it works. It's not even close.
right you know you try and build a brand you try and establish the brand you try and create a consumer that wants the brand sure right and you build with retailers that believe in you and that's how the brand grows right right uh you know kudos island jim he's always been like that he's always you know he's super nice man right hey i mean he gave you an open invitation to sit down and have an appointment good luck good luck trying to talk to us up here right right like Yeah, first of all, nobody knows who the owner are. You can just walk in and get an appointment. Hey, I'm so-and-so, and I want to talk to you about my cigar. I was like, great.
Yeah, and you guys sent out Keanu. Yeah, like, dude, you know. Talk to this guy, he hasn't shaved in six weeks. Yeah, there's no, there's no way that, like, even the guys that we place orders with.
I mean, you know, when you, when, when the placenta guy came in here, and he thought you were me. Right. I said to you, like, half-jokingly, you should have just went with it. Dude, I would have fed to the order, right?
Right? Well, I thought he had an appointment with you, like you were expecting him to come. No, I would have fed you the order, so I could have got back to doing all the other shit I had to do. Here's what we need, tell him you own the place, it'll be fine, right?
Well, Keanu did tell him I own the place. Right, that's fine. Like, whatever. Right.
You know? But yeah, I mean, you know, so Island Jim, to kind of give that invite, that was very gracious to him. It was, it was very nice. You know?
I'll tell you a story that kind of happened with me. There's a guy that I know that was kind of in the industry. You know, he's been in and out. He's dabbled or whatever.
And I've always kind of liked this guy. He gets, he's gotten mixed reviews with people. You either love this guy or you hate this guy, right? And he's like, man, I would really like, I really want to work with you.
I'll, you know, I want to do something. I'm like, okay. And I let it go. And then he mentioned it again.
I was like, I don't know. And then he mentioned it a third time. I said, okay, I'm going to call you. at such and such time and we'll have a conversation okay right i called him no answer he didn't answer the phone standard and then he texts me i was out with my friends oh you should have said sorry i was busy yeah i was in another appointment or something no it was perfect for me because now yeah like i don't know it worked out for you i meant for him though because i don't even have to I mean, first of all, if you said I was in another meeting or something like that, I still, like, you know, I would have been like.
Because he had, you had picked a time, I'm gonna call you at three o'clock. I still would have been like, okay, this isn't gonna work. Yeah, that would not have been a good answer. As crazy as it sounds, it's similar in the fashion of like, hey, if I call you and you're on the road, I don't give a shit, answer the phone, right?
Like, I'm not calling to say, what's going on, bro? Like, there's not, that's not happening, right? I'm calling you because I need you and I have information or I need something answered, right? So, hey, I'm sorry, dude.
Love you, retailer. Not as important as what the hell is on this other line. Right? So, yeah, and that's how I took that.
I'm like, okay, well, if it's not that important to you, especially if you're hanging out with your boys, then, like, perfect. You know what? I feel better about this now because- Right, now you have no guilt at all. Yeah, because, you know, I almost opened up this door and now I don't have to because you showed me exactly who you are without, by not taking the call.
And that doesn't mean the guy's a bad person, that doesn't mean that he's not going to be successful in anything else, I just know that he's not a person that's going to fit for us, because he's not in, because you know, and I know, that it isn't about the pay, like the goal is to make a lot of money, but that's not where we're at yet, right? So, there you go. Yeah, nice face there. So yeah.
So if the owner of a retail operation gives you an opportunity to visit them, you go and visit them. Right, certainly. You take the meeting. Yeah.
And it's a Friday night. What is she doing? She's creating honeybee cigars. Hanging out with her friends?
Right. And you very rarely get in on a first visit anyway. Yeah, no. With a brand that, you know...
Nobody knows. Right. Yeah. Exactly.
Now she's got some big thing over at Feel Good Winery with 10 or 15 different vendors, I haven't heard of any of them, they're all cigar brands. Really? Yeah. I would love just to go there, just to, we should get the sticks and bring them and smoke them all on the show.
It's $25 to $100 a ticket to get in. How do you get it? And you don't get free ticket, you don't get free cigars. Okay, so first of all, we wish all these people the best.
Certainly. No, yeah, yeah. You said $25 to $100. Where's the gauge?
Like how does the slider move? There's different levels. It's a question of what you're wearing when you approach. Suit?
I think at $100 you get three cigars. Three? Yeah, but like for 25, because I was just looking at it, for 25 you get in the door and get to register for prizes. The middle level you get to register for prizes twice or something like that.
So, you get three cigars, that means they're all padrones. It might be three cigars per vendor, but... So, look, it sounds like this winery or whatever is trying to do something new, which is great. Well, they're getting a piece of it because he told me about it and asked me if we wanted to be part of it, and I was like, no.
Right. Aren't your cigars already there, though? They are. Yeah, so why do you have to do the...
Because it's a honeybee cigar thing that he's getting a piece of. Ah, got it. No, I mean, like, look, there are all these multi-vendor things where all these guys ask you for stuff. I think we're going to ask you for stuff.
And like there are some people that we'll try and cater to and do what we can. Sure. But the reality is that we got to make money. Like I can't just, you know, I mean.
It's funny how you say it. I just had this conversation today with somebody. Really? Well, you can't be in business and not make money.
Then you have no business. Right. So we won't be talking again if I keep doing things for free. Right.
Hey, I just want, you know, I just want you to do it at your cost. Like, yeah, you know. Yeah, me too. Right.
I would love to just, you know. It bothers me when my wife's friends find out I, you know, that I sell cigars and if I show up and I don't have cigars to give them. Right. Like, we still pay for those.
Right. Like, what do you do? Sell cars? Did you bring me a car?
Right. Oh, where's my new Hyundai? Yeah, exactly. Well, I can't do that.
I'm in beer distributing. Oh, we got free liquor around here somewhere? Like, no? Oh.
Huh. Or, like, the free, the free swag shit drives me nuts, you know? Like, you know, I really want the hat. Like, okay.
Here's the link. Right here. Yeah, like, I got news for you. If I gave you the hat for free, that means I baked the cost of the hat into the cigars.
Right, I was gonna say, because then we have to raise prices of cigars if they all want a hat. Right? That's how that works. I just bought cigars.
Yeah, I know, but the hat wasn't included in the cigar. Right? So, if you want, we can add on. Like, we're working on a promotion for PCA.
Right. And it's not going to be cheap. No. And we're going to take it.
We're going to absorb that cost. Right? For a commitment for appointments. Right.
And then what happens? " Right. Like, okay, well, we sent a fucking email. Right.
We sent text messages. We sent smoke signals. Facebook, like, we told you. We called you and asked you to make an appointment.
In order to get this, we are looking for a portion of your time at this show. We even sent Greg. Like, that's what the trade is. The trade is, you will sit down with us, we will talk to you, and because of that, we were going to show you that we appreciate your commitment, and here is this.
Right. Yeah, it's like a timeshare, like you have to sit through the appointment. Right, you got to sit through the appointment. You got to sit through the appointment to get the drink.
Right, you're going to get the $25 gift card. Right. And the weekend stay at the hotel. Right, but we're going to hardcore sell this, like, because this is a serious appointment.
We're going to talk to you about our products and why we believe it's the best. Right. Right. Or we could charge you all $100 and we could all smoke, you know, honeybees.
Pay $100 and we'll all just sit here and smoke cigars. Right. I'm hoping, I'm going for my pageant sample. Are you going to go get them from George?
Heard a lot of things. Hey. You beat us in Half Wheel, but we beat you in Half Wheel. All right.
There you go. So you want to... Get any samples? 079.
Can I have cigar? Let's walk together this time to get the samples. We both can't leave the booth at the same time. You know this.
No, I'm saying it's what you say to him. Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it.
Oh, by the way, I looked at the new place. We're not in the same place we were last year. No, different place? We're on my way to Food Court.
Perfect. Oh, we're further left? Like, I mean, I don't have to worry about being fed. I can order out the back of our booth.
Oh, God. They're going to have to come to us. They're going to have to want to come. Well, last time, everybody had to go to the bathroom, so that worked actually.
Oh, you got to pee? Hey, how you doing? Now, I guess, when they go eat. Hey, come back when you get there.
I'm going to go eat. Well, come back when you're done. Bring me a pretzel. I'll meet you at the table.
Bring me a pretzel. I'll join you. I'll join you. I'll join you.
And in front of us this year is Marifel. Oh, really? Not Marifel. Oh, wait a minute.
What's the other M one? I might have said Merrillville, and I was thinking it was the blue, black, red cigar. Dear God. No, no, the guy...
The blue, black, red one? Yeah, they have color. Clearly. Aventura?
I know what you're talking about, but I'm not gonna say the name. You're not gonna help me. The guy with the video who doesn't know... Oh, yeah, yeah.
The pylon guy? Yeah, the pylon guy. Okay, who is it? Oh, that makes sense.
The blackbird? I can't remember. But you know what, I might say... No, they don't have Merrillville, they don't have a booth, do they?
I don't know. This is fun. Don't use your phone. Wait, no, I have the picture.
It starts with an M. Yeah, it does start with an M. Uh-huh. What's the second letter?
I. If I knew that, I would find it. I. Mike Palmer?
Nope. I have my own booth. Third letter. Just say it for God's sake.
Mrs. Potato Head. Shawshank Redemption. Shawshank.
Chicago. Are you yelling stuff out now? You're out of here. Some people will get that reference.
Right. I promise. Okay. Oh, it is Marafel.
Marafel's in front of us. Marafel is in front of us? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah. We're this way, they're right here. Yeah, that's great. So they're gonna have like the nicely dressed guys right there, and then us.
" Wow. Now it makes sense. " Right, I'm an idiot. You moron, I just showed you where it is.
" I didn't say that, but I said, no, you're right near the food court, too. I don't know, that'll make sense. Yeah, that's McAuliffe, buddy. McAuliffe, there you go.
The red and blue. The red and blue and black and ham, and I don't know, it's distributed by Garofalo. Come on, man. Wow.
Pretend like you're in this industry for five goddamn seconds. You could have just said, like, I got Marifill, right? You could have just said, like, uh, uh, Mickey Pegg's old buddy. I remember some other brands' names.
What boots? You could have just said Mickey Pegg's old buddy. It would have been like, oh, McAuliffe. Greg just posted on Facebook.
He's back? Is he hiking? He made a post. Something about the world being crazy.
I guess he came back and now he thinks we're all crazy. I'm leaving for the Appalachian Trail. What did he do? Was he on like a, what's that called?
The Hiawaska Tour or something? He went and walked the trail. He walked to earth like cane and kung fu? Yes.
The Oregon Trail? Yes, the Oregon Trail. Yeah, he went west. He did the Oregon Trail, yeah.
Yeah. Stay away from the rattlesnakes. All right, Maryland Premium Cigar Lounge license bill reintroduced with changes. Uh-oh.
Oh. Maryland lawmakers are pushing to get new cigar lounge licenses with big trade-offs. New bills in Maryland would create a Class C premium cigar lounge license, finally giving lounges clear legal grounds to allow BYOB alcohol consumption. Oh, so I thought it was you could get more.
They were opening more lounges. That's a different state. They just want to be able to drink. Okay.
Smoking is allowed, but only if tobacco is the real business. Lounges would need to make at least 70% of revenue from premium cigars and accessories. And keep other product sales under 30%. I love that.
Sure. I love that. You know, it's, I think that that's arguably a step in the right direction. Giving the opportunities to open up more cigar lounges.
Yeah. Right? Yeah, you just have to do this one thing. We need that.
We need, like these states that have shut this down, we need it. We need it as a society. We need it as men. You know what I mean?
You know what I mean? Like, you need a place to go that isn't gonna, that isn't going to... Chastise us? It isn't gonna be terrible for you.
You know what I mean? Like, you can't go to a bar and get absolutely obliterated and, you know, like, that's not good for anybody. Well, you can, but usually there's a cop sitting outside. It ends bad.
Usually around 12 o'clock. They're just waiting now. But you still need to be social. You need to interact with people.
Yeah. Yeah. Right? Like, there's too much of the opposite of that going on.
Anti-social. Yeah. Well, you know, you can't use the internet and social media as your form of being social. It doesn't work.
Yeah. You know? I agree. You can say whatever you want.
There's no consequences. Yeah. As long as it's within the specific guidelines of the platform. Yeah.
There still could be consequences. No, but you could say something hurtful to a person and realize that that person cannot punch you at that current time, right? Right. Okay.
Right? They could still punch you. I mean, if you did it on Facebook, they couldn't punch you. Yeah.
Right. Right. My point is, people say negative stuff on YouTube. I would get punched all the time.
People say negative stuff on YouTube about us or about whatever their platform is, and you have to prepare yourself for that because it's coming, and they have no problem saying it. and it could not be it might not be based about you at all they could have just had a shit day they saw your post and like you know what i need to say something angry i don't like pizza rolls so it's like okay you know we have pizza rolls at home eating those are there okay sorry yeah you know go ahead i hope someone comments about your pizza rolls and your lack of commitment to my conversation go ahead i think it's yeah i came up here uh last night to watch the magic game uh Because Kevin Novak wanted to smoke cigars together, it was too cold outside, so I said, yeah, let's go to Hustler, you know, put the game on the thing, and I put it in the group, and a whole bunch of people came up, we all had great conversation, you know, there was other people already here, great conversation, you know, we talked with Keanu, great conversation. Super important. Yeah, it's nice to be able to have that while you're smoking cigars, or just have that as an adult period.
Right. Cause we deal with kids all day, all day long. You need social interaction. Right.
That's what this podcast is for me. Just social interaction with you guys. Right. Oh, is that all it is?
That's all it is? So if we didn't have this, you wouldn't talk to us anymore? We're just talking about us? Well, it's actually a commitment to be social.
Oh. Right? Otherwise, I'm yelling at children that are coaching. They're like, oof, God, yesterday's practice.
They didn't get me started. I know, but like, this is important. I look forward to this because I enjoy our conversations. Yeah.
I do too. Right? Okay. All right.
They've issued strict limits on where and how many lounges can exist. There's no license near a health care, child care facilities. Counties are capped. That's stupid.
Well, I know. Yeah, that's stupid. Everything's got, you know. Yeah, but that's like no health care.
What? No, not near a health care facility. Right. Dude, I want you to know.
A lot of smoke coming out. If there's a lung cancer institution and a cigar store decides to open up right next to it, I have no problem with that. Well, this is ridiculous. Well, normally, like, those are in medical centers.
I've actually gone to a store with the lung cancer place across the street. Really? Yeah. Oh.
Well, that's probably more, like, down south. Nope. Really? You'd be surprised.
Oh. If the retailer's listening, he can chime in. One lounge per 150,000 residents, meaning many counties could only ever have one legal cigar lounge. Okay, now that's full farfetched.
I mean, a county? How many counties are in Maryland? Well, I mean, realistically, okay, so, like, let's break that down. 150,000 people in the population, realistically, 3% of them would be cigar smokers.
What's, are you doing that math or are you texting that? No. Yeah. I'm seeing how many counties are in Maryland.
Gotcha. Okay, you see that, and I'm gonna break this down. 150k, zero, oh God. 23.
So that's realistically 4,500 people. Say half of those people buy online. So it's 2,250. Divide that by 365.
If they only came in, if everybody only came in once a year, that's six transactions a year. Now, obviously, you're going to have some that will come in more than one time a year. But there are only, there are a couple of handful of people that only smoke one or two cigars a year anyways. Right.
Right. So, realistically, you know, what's the transaction number that you need to have per day with an average of $50 to $60 per in order to be sustainable? Depending upon the place, maybe it's like $20 or $30. So, like, okay, with 150,000 people, one location?
Well, remember, your sales have to be, they can be only 70%. 30% have to be something else. No, it has to at least 70%. No, it has to minimally be 70%.
Oh, okay. Yeah. So, you know, okay. So, a place where there's 150,000 people, it might only be able to sustain one store is kind of my point.
Gotcha. You know? That's where I assumed you were going with that. Yeah.
Yeah, if you have two or three in there, it's just split too far. It could be. It's possible to be. And it could go the wrong way.
Like, because some of these retailers are crazy. Oh, how much you pay for that? Five? $450,000.
Right. Right? And then you start racing your way to the bottom, instead of trying to take care of your customer, which is the opposite of good business. There is 568,000 people in Baltimore.
Okay. So you're saying 150,000 people. Well, those places already have established lounges. Well, what it's saying is, if it's saying only one per county, you're only allowed to have 23 cigar places in the whole state of Maryland.
Because there's only 23 counties. Okay. Okay. There's 23 counties, but more of them have than 150,000 people.
No, it didn't say per county. It said because of that number, there are a lot of counties that would only be able to have one legal cigar lounge. Right. Oh, okay.
Not that they can only have. Right. So if there's more than 150,000 people in a county, they can have two. Right.
If it's double. Oh, okay. Or 600,000. Let's do the math.
600,000 people in a county, how many new lounges could they have? Boots, Phil? Four. Good job.
All right, the drop of the price of the license, it was $2,000 to $100. Okay, that's good, too. Well, that's a great drop. But there's no grandfathering in anymore.
It's not like I've already got one. Nope, you have to buy the new one. You got to pay the $100. You got to pay the $100.
Okay, I'll pay $100, whatever. Yeah, $100, what do you do? Yeah. Alright, a Vowed New Dawn, the Corona Gorda, is shipping next week.
Okay. New Vitola drops Friday the 13th, the Vowed Cigars is expanding its New Dawn lineup with a Corona Gorda, 6x46, the smallest ring gauge line is a nod to classic flavor-focused smokers. That's probably gonna be the next new brand that we take on in the store. Vowed?
Yeah. It's tied with the Small Batch guys. Yeah, it's the Small Batch guys, yeah. Got a lot of respect for them.
You know, Andrew's a friend. Ben Cole answers the phone half the time. But he's nice. But, you know, I really do like Andrew and I like Small Batch and, you know.
What, uh, where's their cigars, man? The Dominican. In Dominican. Yeah, so you're gonna hate them.
Until you love them. They have tweaked the blend a little for the Corona Gorda. Yeah. Well, you have to.
Do you have to because of the size? Yeah, yeah, you got to modify it. Yeah, it can only take so many fillers and stuff, isn't it? Well, right, but when they said tweak, I assumed like they have changed it, not like scaled it down.
Uh, well... I mean, we never put out on a press release that we have changed the blend because it's a different size. I mean, the blend is a little bit different when you change the size, right? 5x48, you're going to remove specific leaves, Maybe add more to offset it, or whatever the case may be.
Yeah, you're not going to be very specific on percentages. Yeah, so realistically, yeah, you always tweak it, unless they went specifically into something and said... The Peloto Cubano comes from a different priming now. Which would make sense, because it's a smaller gauge, right?
So it's probably a lower priming, as far as like, it's probably thinner, probably thinner. How many cigars do they have? Different cigars, not facings. I don't know.
Like, I keep dabbling. I keep saying, hey, we're going to do this. And then he has told me that they're coming out with a new one and that we should probably focus around that time. I think we've tried three different ones.
Yeah. Was it Voyage one by Val? No. A Voyage?
I'm sorry. I'm way off. No, not the Voyage. No, we talked about Val before, though.
I thought we smoked one for a while. We probably have. I really, I think one of them had a green bin. I really liked the green one.
I remember smoking a lot of those. Yeah. So. They're $15 per cigar, 15 count boxes, new release, keeps new down firmly in the boutique high-end category.
15, would you consider 15 in the high-end category boutique? For Corona Gorda? Nah, not really. I don't think so.
It's about average anymore. I mean, it's a little high, but it's not like, whoa, right? You know, it's not, it's not like it's 20 bucks or something. Yeah, I guess Padrón has Corona Gorda, right?
No, they have a Panatella and a... Would you consider Padrón Boutique? Um, I guess not. I guess more legacy, right?
Yeah. It's more ultra-premium. Not just premium, ultra-premium. Well, maybe Foundation probably has the most expensive Corona Gorda.
You think so? Is the Olmec, isn't there a Corona Gorda in the Olmec? I think your boy Sans Parai has the fucking, I don't know, it's expensive. Yep.
God, yeah, I guess it is a boutique, yeah. Yeah. By a long shot, dude. All right, Panga Cigars is...
Panga? P-A-N-G-E-A. Panga, okay. Panga Cigars releases their debut lines.
Wait, spell that again? P-A-N-G-E-A. We did this before, Palmer. It's Pangea.
Oh, that makes more sense. I like Pangaea though. The country, remember they're all together when it's one big gigantic country? I don't know.
The one big gigantic landmass? I don't know. The new boutique brand enters with two distinct blends. Pangaea!
Pangaea cigars debuted with blend number eight and blend number 12. Which country is 12? Both built around Nicaraguan binder and filler. Isn't this the three ladies gotten together?
Is it? Yeah. Is it really? I.
something. Is it? Well, it's a bad time to drop a P. news cigar, then, if it's a different one.
Oh, nope, you're right. Founders, Ilbis Lewis and Anna, whatever that last name is. Yeah, and they're working with... India Ortez, Indiana Ortez.
Indiana, yeah. Of Casadea Ortez. We need to marry Tyler Jones. Yes.
Oh, Indiana Jones. So then she could become Indiana Jones. Yeah, I gotcha. That'd be good.
So they're tubed Toros, both blends come... Why didn't they just talk about this the other day when they mentioned they were doing it? Well, it's breaking news. Because it's smart marketing, that's why.
They just announced the beginning of the company, and now they've announced the cigars, and we've talked about it twice within a seven-day span. Yeah, you want to be in the news every day. Yeah, that's smart. I'm going to space it a little more.
Anyway, they're selling direct-to-consumer, no retail. Oh. No retail. Okay.
Selling exclusively through its website, keeping full control over branding and presentation with no current plans for retail distribution, plus a two-cigar sampler for $50 to induce smokers to both blends. $50? $50 for two. What's that make those cigars, Phil?
$25. There you go. What's the size of those? They're Toros in a tube.
Tubo Toros. 6x50 Toro. Okay. So, do you think direct-to-consumer is the right way?
Because, like, we have this argument with Carney. Yeah, all the time, I know. I don't think so. I don't think so, either.
Me neither. Like, how do you get out to cigar smokers other than this? Yeah, you need both, I think, you know. " Ding.
Unless you have like a like a some type of notoriety where you're you already have a consumer base that might not be a cigar smoker then you can go direct yeah you're still you're still putting a hindrance on things like Padrón could go direct they might be kind of direct but they're both I don't know if they're direct or not but if they are you know they still sell to retailers they're not only direct but I'm saying like they have the customer base. Right. Where they could just go to direct and be okay. No, but I think that that would hurt their numbers.
Oh, yeah, I think it would hurt anybody because, again, you're only in one playing field. Yeah. Or you're not in both. So Pango, I don't know, I don't know, that's a good idea.
Pangea. I know. And they're brand new, so that's going to be difficult. I mean, that's the hard part, it's brand new.
I mean, how do you tell people about your cigars other than putting out a press release every seven days? Yeah. And this is an industry press release, it's not, you know. Mm-hmm.
How much does it really save? How much money does it save? Yeah, by not going to retailers. I mean, I don't think that that's the right question.
The question is, do you, how many consumers do you really reach? That's what I'm saying. " Right. I mean, I think that there's, but to be, to me personally, there's nothing better than doing an event at a store and meeting a customer who was just, became a fan of the cigar from the store.
Right. Who's just excited to meet me or you. Right. Who's just excited to meet us.
And that's because the retailer did their job. They introduced the product to the consumer and the consumer said, this is fantastic. And they said, hey, they're coming to town. Like, that's awesome.
Right. Right. Kind of missing out on that opportunity, you know. Yeah.
How are they going to do an event anywhere? Right. Weren't they in the liquor business or something before? One of them was.
Maybe they got a connection at a bar or something where they can pass out cigars at a bar or something. Maybe one bar. One bar. All right, now it's time for the industry's favorite game.
Yeah, we're at an hour. What's the score? Yeah, no, I'm running out of time. All right, July 3rd, 2025, Patrick LaGride Cigars, Honduras, Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Company reviews Island Jim, Jim Barber poll number two.
Oh, number two, that's a good one. Patrick, you go first. Let's go first. I'm going to say, let's go 89.
Something tells me this one's going to do well. It's got a shaggy foot. I'm going to give it 90. All right, Island Gym Barber Pole number two from Honduras at the Oscar Valladares Tobacco Company.
The wrapper is Honduras, Connecticut Seed, and Criojo. So, binder's undisclosed, filler undisclosed, it's a 6x52 round, $13, they smoked three cigars. This is, and this is an older one, right? This is a, yes, I gave you the, uh, I just saw the date, it was by, uh, April, April of last year.
Oh, 2025. 2025, this is the second Barber Pool, Barber Pool number two. Okay, yeah, um, I'm going to say 89. 90.
Sorry. The barber pole construction is beautiful and well executed, firm roll, smooth draw, mostly even burn, and a great smoke production throughout the cigar. 89. 90.
The flavor profile is creamy and approachable with enjoyable notes of cereal grains, light sweetness, donuts, honey, and a steady pop. The pop of pepper that keeps things in case. Pop. All right, how do you feel about the pop of pepper?
Popping pepper. You know what, I'm gonna go a 91. That's a good move. It took you one too many to get there, in my personal opinion.
I'm gonna stay a 90. While pleasant, the cigar doesn't evolve much. The core cereal and cream profile stays fairly consistent, He's not really consistent, making the second half feel tame and less memorable. Phil?
We'll go back down 89. I'm gonna stay at 90. Final thought. The Island Gym barber pole number two delivers a perfectly enjoyable smoking experience, though one I feel pretty confident that I won't have much memory of by this time next time.
The flavors are pretty tame and agreeable, just not particularly memorable. I felt that every puff was pretty much the same combination of bread, cereal, and pepper, with some creaminess added in for a bit variation in the second third. The construction is good, though combustion in the second half has its challenges, which I'm a bit surprised by giving the uncapped head, but at the same time, it seems to be fairly common in cigars these days. I certainly enjoy the Island Gem Barber Pole No.
2, and I think it would be a cigar that a good number of cigar smokers would enjoy, but if you're looking for a dynamic range of flavors and layers of complexity, this cigar doesn't seem up to delivering on that request. I don't know why, but I feel like he's talking good about it. I'm gonna go 87. It's a bold move.
I don't know, that number is just like sitting in front of me for some reason. Yeah, like on your phone? No. It's right here on this screen, I saw.
88. It went the wrong way. Yes. 86.
See, I figured like he was going to go low on it because it was boring. It was just cereal that he was eating. He was eating. He was eating.
He did it over breakfast. Yeah. All right. So you've already been at Island Gym because that's when this was going to happen.
Yes, it was a great event. It went well. Everybody had a great time. Honeybee did not show up.
Are you going to smoke a number two? I don't know. Jim always gives me something, so maybe. There you go.
Okay. And then where else are you going to be? I will be at Northport Cigars on the 25th of February and I believe it at one o'clock. All right.
Nice. Like one to four or something. All right. Thanks everybody for watching.
Thank you. We gotta go. Bye. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial free.
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Show Notes
On today’s how we have TrumpRX your new prescription provider? NFL MVP choosen, You can watch Spiderman for free! And then in cigar news we have a couple more new cigars and a state bill in our favor finally!