ACHP Episode 468 No Gravity?
Episode Summary
Episode 468 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with hosts Mike Palmer and his co-host (plus Phil in engineering) recapping listener comments from the previous episode's moon-landing tangent, running through CH Pod swag deals at chpod.com, and teasing a limited run of roughly 28 hats. From there it's the usual news block: a CDC level 2 travel advisory for the Seychelles over a Chikungunya outbreak, a viral internet rumor claiming a leaked NASA report predicts Earth will lose gravity for 7.3 seconds on August 12, 2026, and an FDA level 1 (highest danger) recall of 866 bags of cake, spice cake, bread/roll, and Swiss chocolate cake mixes from Dallas-based BC Williams Bakery Service over an undeclared milk allergen.
The cigar segment leads with the Knuckles Sandwich 58 — Espinosa's fourth annual limited edition celebrating Guy Fieri's birthday — which arrived at the shop before it was even announced as shipping, and apparently without being ordered. The guys break down the line's history from the 2023 Knuckles Sandwich 55 (5 1/2 x 55 Robusto Gordo) through the 6 x 56 oval and 5 3/4 x 55, up to this year's 6 1/4 x 54 box-pressed oval, priced at $18 per cigar / $180 for a 10-count box, with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler rolled at the San Lotano factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. They also cover Asylum/CLE's teased Arabian Nights, set for a retailer-only, multi-day launch party in Marrakesh, Morocco (May 27–31) ahead of PCA 2026, debate the actual PCA dates versus reported ones, and note media confusion between PCA and TPE release timing. Rounding out industry news: the 26th Habanos Festival in Cuba has been postponed indefinitely due to fuel, food, and infrastructure shortages on the island.
Other talking points include comedian Bert Kreischer stopping by the shop as a legit cigar guy hunting Tatuaje and buying an S.T. Dupont lighter, ongoing industry chatter about Jonathan Drew's departure news (teased for the following week's Patreon), a shout-out to new Powstanie account Copper Canyon in New Haven, Indiana, and Mike's appearance at Northport Cigars in Northport, Florida on February 25 from 1 p.m. until the crowd thins out.
The episode closes with "What's the Score," guessing Halfwheel's Charlie Minato score for the Knuckles Sandwich Chef Special (6.5 x 52 perfecto, Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler, $12.50, 2022). Reviewers praised the rich, full, peppery-cocoa-peanut-butter-cookie profile and clear transitions but hammered cracked feet, unraveling caps, tight draws, and repeated touch-ups. Guesses came in at 85 (nailed it), 88, and 92 — the actual score was 85.
In This Episode
- 01Listener Comments & CH Pod SwagThe hosts read back comments about the previous episode's moon-landing conspiracy talk and run down swag deals, free shipping, and a limited drop of about 28 hats.
- 02Seychelles Travel AdvisoryA CDC level 2 warning urges enhanced precautions for travelers to the Seychelles due to a mosquito-borne Chikungunya outbreak.
- 03The 'No Gravity' August 12, 2026 RumorA widely circulated internet claim about a leaked NASA report predicting 7.3 seconds of zero gravity gets the full skeptical treatment.
- 04Level 1 Cake Mix RecallThe FDA escalates a BC Williams Bakery Service recall of 866 bags of cake and bread mixes to its highest danger level over an undeclared milk allergen.
- 05Bert Kreischer Visits the ShopThe comedian stopped in looking for Tatuaje and left with a blue S.T. Dupont lighter, and the hosts lament missing the conversation.
- 06Knuckles Sandwich 58 Lands EarlyEspinosa's new box-pressed 6 1/4 x 54 Guy Fieri birthday limited edition shows up unordered and unannounced, with a full history of the 55, 56, and 55 releases.
- 07Asylum Arabian Nights & PCA 2026 DatesCLE teases a retailer-only launch party in Marrakesh, Morocco for the Asylum Arabian Nights, sparking a debate over the real PCA and TPE dates.
- 08Habanos Festival PostponedCuba's 26th Habanos Festival is postponed indefinitely as fuel, oil, and food shortages make an event of that scale impossible.
- 09What's the Score: Knuckles Sandwich Chef SpecialThe crew guesses Halfwheel's score for the 2022 Chef Special perfecto — bold A.J. Fernandez-style flavor undone by construction problems, final score 85.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast Episode 468. I'm Mike Palmer, your host. Phil, fortunately, has... Oh, no, he hasn't taken the day.
What? Sorry. Bing bong, I'm here. Sorry, Phil.
We have Phil over in engineering and my co-host. See, now I messed this up. My co-host back from his day off with many gifts for me and Phil. So many presents.
So many presents. Welcome back, Mike. Legos. Lots of Legos.
Lots of Legos. I just went to a little Lego man. Yeah, I got a little Lego person for you. Oh, thank you very much.
Yeah. Moon is uninhabitable. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, yeah, I know.
I heard you talking about that. Thanks for filling it in. On the last show, buddy. That was fantastic.
We had a good time. Alex is a good guy. Since he has a show, you know, it's an easy plug-in. It was definitely more flowy that he was in this chair.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excuse me. Well, with the new format and the way these are more notes than stories, I think it's going to be hard to throw somebody over here. Yeah.
I mean, you did the same thing with Willie. Willie did a good job, too. Yeah, I thought that was fine. Yeah.
Then it's up to us to make sure that they feel comfortable. They feel comfortable. Right. Yeah.
Okay. It's not as funny, though, as the only thing. I think it can be. It's just a question of your, I mean, look, you know, realistically, when you throw somebody to the wolves, yes, it's very entertaining for us.
Right. But as far as value and content, I think that it's better when they're over here. Yes, I would agree. Yes.
All right. S. government. Uh-oh.
No more gravity in August. No more? No more. I don't like gravity, hold me down.
An extreme level one deadly food recall. Uh-oh, this is right up your alley. This is as high as it goes, or as low as it goes, I guess. Level one is where it's the worst.
You eat it and you die. Yes. Very exciting. Then in cigars, Cuba is shutting down.
A new cigar that we somehow have before it was announced. And hold on, we're going to the Middle East. We are. Yes.
We're taking a trip. Okay. All this and then a final what's the score for the week, but before we get started. Yes.
Yes. How do we get some of that CH pod swag, Michael? And Ben has been wearing his beanie. Yes, he has.
You know, first of all, you did a great job trying to handle that part of the show. You did great. I tried to pass it off and he fumbled it, so I had to pick it up. Yeah, so you picked up the ball, you carried it.
You carried it. I thought that you did great. Well, you know, I hear you do it five days a week. Yeah.
It's just... It was decent. It was decent. A few comments from this week, because I missed a couple.
Oh, there's some long ones. Yeah. @stevenwells, "Thanks to the show for clearing that up about the moon landing hoax. I would suggest that Boots, the astrophysicist, takes the show on the road.
" Like Einstein's E equals MC squared. Really doesn't, really doesn't that sound more like Run DMC? Notel model? Notel motel, sorry.
Notel motel. Yeah, so, yeah, you know, Alex is definitely hefty on the conspiracy theories. Oh, yes. Very much so, apparently.
And Phil is extremely malleable, so whatever you say. He's gonna believe anyways. He's going, he's, he's going to form his opinion. That's going to be your opinion.
And he's going with it. That's right. So that's right. I like what you say.
And then I just say it's the same thing. I don't have to think is perfect. Right. I guess I don't have to think he doesn't have to rev up his brain.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Um, yeah, I got some comments on that too. Uh, cigar guy said, great show.
It was fun. Thanks for having me. Uh, disappointed. Ben Rowland said disappointed.
You both totally missed Phil thinking the moon was inhabitable. I didn't even hear him say it. Yeah, you know, it's like, inhabitable, you know, were we trying to build on lava, like what are we doing? There's no lava on the moon.
Exactly, it could be done, it could be done. Sure, you could live on the moon. Yeah, so then it would be habitable. Right.
Right. So what was Ben upset about, that we said it wasn't, or that we said it was? Also the part of that term. That's all right, move on.
Oh. Okay. Yeah, so I'm sure, because of the fact that he said that, I'm sure that he was not happy. Let me see, he gets a couple more comments here.
There's always a lot of comments now. Somebody was yelling at me about... Oh, I saw that, you had quite the exchange. Yeah, a little back and forth there, about how I, you know, though I think that social media interaction is good and can be engaging and you can establish relationships with that, because I have across this entire nation, those people are also usually very respectful, right?
Right. Those people wouldn't make a comment because of the fact that they know that they're just punching into a keyboard. And that person kind of proved my point with some of the things that they said, so wish them the best. Epicurean smoke.
And enjoy the show. " Bing bong. Oh, he said bing bong? Yep.
Everybody seems very happy with that except you. What's that? The JD thing. It's not JD, it's JS.
His name was never JD. I'm not happy about it, I'm not unhappy about it. No, no, but everybody else was more positive, I think, than your comment. Well, I think that that's because of the culture that he's bred, right?
Sure. We'll get into that next week's Patreon. Okay. That's fine.
We can definitely cover more of that. Sure. Because you and I haven't had a chance to talk about it. Yeah, that's fair.
That's very fair. So we'll address it on... Next week's Patreon. Sure.
All right. Okay. com. If you buy one, you get the second one 40% off, and you spend $100 or more, you get free shipping, we have some really cool swag with that hat, should be dropping, I wanna say next week, they said I shouldn't commit to a date, but I feel like it's gonna happen next week, so stay tuned, it's only gonna be 30 hats, 29 hats, 20, maybe 28 hats, 28 hats, we'll see, and then when they're gone, they're gone, so, in the meantime, buy some more shirts, will you?
Do we have a lot of certain ones that we would like to push? No, I mean, realistically, you know, I have a kind of an idea as to how much is going to sell and what's not going to sell, so I have a decent number of the films and then we make them ourselves there, so holding a couple of the extra films is not a big deal to me. SBC 82 is gone. That one cleared out.
You know, and then the other ones are not that eager to push out right away. Like, we got a couple of bears left. Stuff like that, so. Okay.
You ready? Yeah, I'm sorry. I heard my phone rang and the message shows up here. Oh, nice.
All right. All right, now on with the news. All right, spring break is coming up. S.
government. Okay. Do you guys have big plans for spring break? No, that sounds like a March problem.
Well, it's two weeks away. I'm living in the February problems. Planning? Okay, but if you are, do not go to the island of Seychelles.
That's what I had booked. Do you have booked Seychelles Island? Yeah. It's off the coast of Madagascar.
That's where everybody goes. Yeah. Beautiful beaches. It was an amazing place.
It was either Disney or that, and we chose that. Oh, you didn't? Okay. Well, don't go.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a level two advisory for the Seychelles, a small island republic northeast of Madagascar known for its beautiful and secluded beaches. The health organization has warned travelers to practice enhanced precautions if they do plan to visit. The warning is in response to an outbreak of Chikungunya. Chicungunya.
Chicungunya. Chicungunya. Chicungunya. Yes.
Okay. A viral disease that can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. Those are usually bad. Right, because there's nowhere really to stop it.
Right. Plus, it's Chicungunya. Chicungunya. Nothing, if you can't pronounce it, it can't be good.
Right. I was gonna send my whole family there, but I'm not gonna go because you know I like to live long time. Yes. And then if they all die, I start over.
I like to start over fresh. Oh. Okay, buddy. So, it's a pretty nasty disease.
You get a fever, you can vomit, all that kind of stuff. It's not like, uh, what's, uh, what's the one I get every year where it shrinks your head? Uh, uh, Nile virus, uh, no, Zika, Zika, Zika, Zika, Zika. It's worse than, well, Zika, you just get small baby heads, but.
That's, yeah, that's in pregnancy, though. Are you, are you currently pregnant? If I got it, I can't, I can't give somebody a small head. Yeah, your head would be the same.
Right, my head would be the same, but it's, uh, it's a level two. So, level one's the worst on everything. It's pretty, pretty bad. Zika.
Baby pregnant. No, no, no, chikungunya. Chikungunya. It's a bad thing.
You don't want to get it. No. If you go to the Seychelles islands off the coast of Madagascar. Do you think a lot of people would travel to that place?
Apparently, probably not from America, but I think in Europe it is a destination place. Is it? Beautiful secluded beaches. It looked very pretty in the photos.
Yeah. But deadly. But deadly, yes, yes. A lot of mosquitoes.
And then they have that Chikungunya. I like to stay in the United States of America. You know what? I do, too, anymore.
It's not safe anywhere. I mean, if the mosquitoes aren't going to get you, there's terrorists, there's drug cartels, there's everybody. So many things, cats, dogs. So many things, right.
Weird cats and dogs in places. , well, I mean, you used to travel to China all the time. Right. S.
for vacation, where would you go, you and the missus? I've always wanted to go to Fiji for some reason. Oh. That sounds fancy.
Yeah, that's just it, it's expensive. Bora Bora? Bora Bora, yeah. I'd love to stay in the overwater bungalow things.
Right. I think that would be nice, but way expensive. So, someplace tropical. Yeah, I'm more tropical than cold.
Gotcha. Okay, all right. How about you? Wherever the hell my wife would want to go, you know, and it would be a beach somewhere.
Yeah, Adrian's more beachy too, so I take that into account when I pick somewhere. Yeah. And she would probably look for a place where there wasn't Wi-Fi, so I couldn't work. Ooh.
Yeah. The last cruises we took, we had a rule where the phones went in the safe when we got on the boat. Hmm. Well, I mean, we didn't buy the Wi-Fi anyway, so.
Didn't matter. Well, you could still use them to take photos. Right. As a camera.
Right. But we would take them out when we got to port. Gotcha. So.
Yeah, that way, in case you got abducted, they could contact you. Well, for taking photos, because you're usually doing something if you're getting off the boat, you know, how many pictures you want to take of you drinking a foo-foo-y drink? If you like pina coladas. Right, sitting by the pool.
Nice, okay. All right, there's a lot going on, a lot going on lately. Okay, tell me. Did you hear the rumor that the earth is going to lose gravity?
Not until now, not until you. I hadn't heard it until this morning. Yeah. 3 seconds.
Really? And they're trying to decide how they're going to save everyone. How is that possible? Well, what it is, is there's two black holes out there and whatever they emit, their black hole rays or whatever...
Their black holiness? Yes. It's going to intersect on Earth on that day. Okay.
And there is like a, I don't think I grabbed the percentage. It's also the day of a solar eclipse, which allows the rays or something to get to us. Okay, the rays, okay. Right.
Or the ions or zeons or whatever the hell comes out of a black hole. Okay. 7% chance that that's gonna happen. It's gonna happen.
That the rays are gonna hit Earth. Yeah. So I mean, that's pretty good odds. Okay.
So the rays are going to hit Earth and we're going to float for seven minutes? Well, here's what's going to happen. Tell me. People, animals, anything that lock down starts floating in the first two seconds.
Okay. So, one, two, you're up in the air. And then you will continue to rise for the next three to four seconds. Okay.
At a rapid pace because... Rapid. Because there's no... I mean, you're not just...
Whee! Right. Right. So you'll reach 15 to 20 meters.
That's 49 to 65 feet in the air. Okay. And then the gravity comes back on. Everything falls.
Wow. Okay. And I think this is legit going to happen. Well, according to this report from NASA that was leaked out on the interwebs, which who knows, you know, at this point.
You know, I heard that my microwave was going to kill me when at 1999 at 12 o'clock on December. Right. Yeah, right. That was going to happen, too.
And the Mayan calendar stopped on a certain day, so we're all going to die in terrible volcanic eruptions or whatever it was. Yeah, they stopped. This might just be the newest thing. It sounds like it is.
But it's all over the internet, though. Who came up with this serious micro dosing? You know what I mean? Like, golly.
Yeah, I mean, did somebody make it up all, I mean, is there, maybe there is actual, because there's things out there, there's even like a zombie apocalypse book that the government's made just in case it happens. It could be like that. It could be, you know, let's figure out what we would do if this happened. Right.
And then it leaks out and everybody goes, oh my god, I think it's really gonna happen. No gravity. 3 seconds. Apparently that is just enough to bring us all up in the air high enough to where we slam back down and die.
Okay, so you're gonna stay indoors on August 13th or whatever? Well, cars will lift off too so they could explode outside your house if you got a car in your driveway. How would it, I don't think, would it explode? Just come down and boom.
65 feet and slam down on the ground? I don't, I don't know if that would make it. It's not a movie. It is, everything's a movie.
Geico's gonna go belly up, I can tell you that much. Oh. Uh, hey, we're, we just wanted to email everybody and let you guys know, we will not be covering you on the date of August 13th for... August 12th.
car insurance. August 12th. Oh, for the day after. Or whatever.
It's August 12th. Oh, whatever the day is that, uh, the car's supposed to fly away. Uh, you, do you remember hearing, Mike, a couple of weeks, it might have been a month ago now, about the insurance rebates that were possible to get? No.
You didn't hear about that? Who do you have your insurance or your car insurance with? Geico. I don't think that's one of them.
It's not all state either because I looked, but Connor has Progressive. It was yesterday or the day before, it was time where they auto draw his insurance. Well, they didn't take any money, they gave him $90. Ooh.
So when he went and looked, when he got home from work yesterday, his insurance is paid now until April, And he made an extra 90 bucks. Wow. He got the rebate. That's amazing.
Yeah. That's good for him. Yeah. Unfortunately for me, they, uh, mm-mm.
Yeah, no. Yeah. He was like, "Quick, go online. " I looked like, "No, we're not.
" Phil, how do you feel about floating on August 12th? Uh, I'm going to tie myself down to ground and make sure that I, uh, I'm okay. Oh, oh, okay. Make sure he's a bouquet?
Oh, that he's okay. Bokeh, Bokeh, Bokeh, Bing Bong, Bing Bong. Okay, what about the rest of your family? You worried about them?
No, they need to figure it out themselves. I need to protect myself first, at all costs. 7 is the probability, I did grab the... 7, slightly higher than 93.
Slightly higher than the 93. Okay, and Phil, what about your car? You worried about your car? No, I don't get rebate for insurance, and if they break it, if gravity break it, Did he break it?
Geico better cover his game. His truck's pretty big. It's a big truck. It's a big truck.
Yeah. What about all his trailers out there full of stuff? It's all gonna float away. He'll still be there in August.
Yeah. Could be a problem. Could be a problem. Yeah.
Okay. Well, actually, that becomes a great problem. So, it's not mine, you're the deal. Yeah.
Yeah, and that guy's, you know, he's on vacation. Is that where he is? Is that why he's not here today? He took another vacation?
Yeah. He's just sick for 11 days and then comes back to work for two He's like to work for two and then goes away. I gotta get out of here. Where'd he go?
Can you imagine, can you imagine what that life, that's gotta be a great life, you know? All right, looks like everything's under control here. I'm gonna see you. He didn't even look.
He was here just in time, just enough time to meet Burt Kreischer and then get out of town. Right, yeah, we had Burt Kreischer in the shop. He stopped in the shop, apparently the guy is a big cigar guy. Big cigar guy.
Which is pretty cool, like a legit cigar guy, not, you know. Yeah, he was looking for Tatuajes. Yeah, he was a Tatuaje guy and, you know, he was asking for some other stuff. " It's a hell of a lighter.
Yeah, that was cool. Of course, it happens the one day that I am not here. Right, right. You know.
Nobody gushed over him. I mean, you know, we all sort of stood around staring at him, but no other, no. No, but you know what, I would have enjoyed having a conversation with him. Without giving too much of the conversation that I heard away.
Right. I would have loved to give some value and perspective from some of his other interactions that he's had with some of these other retailers. Because I don't think from what I heard, I don't think the conclusion that he drew for some of them was necessarily fair, but I would like to explain to him why. Maybe there's more to the story that he didn't say.
So, you know, they, they stopped up the street, didn't like it. Yeah, they stopped there first. Apparently, it sounded like he was hitting every shop he could find from wherever he was, maybe the airport to Daytona 500. And we, and we were the one.
We found us on Yelp. We were the one. We should have been the last one, unless he went to Don Kiki's. No, he would have hit the racetrack first.
He was done. He got hooked up. We got the right stuff. Yeah, we had what he wanted.
Yeah. So, yeah. Very nice man. Has lost a lot of weight.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man, I'd love to just talk to him. You know, he looks like Boots.
Does he? Yeah. That's funny. Oh, yeah, me and Bert.
Bert's done. You look like Phil. You know, he could. Oh, you need me to jump off building?
No, I'm never... You're not jumping off the building. That's stupid. I would not do that.
You need me to eat something? If you need me to eat sandwich for you, I will eat sandwich. Oh, there you go. That's nice.
Because Bert's on a diet. Yeah, yeah. I call him Bert now. You guys are tight.
We're tight. We're friends. We exchanged phone numbers. Oh, nice.
Okay. So yeah, Greg's on vacation. Which you probably, Bert's probably trying to call him to get more tatua. Hey, Greg gave him his number.
So now what do we do now? No, no, we can't get him. Now we're screwed. Now we're done.
Mike's going to go to somewhere else. It was a good run. Yes, it was good being his one-day cigar supplier. The one purchase.
The one purchase. We could have been friends. Probably needs fuel for that lighter, too, so. Yeah.
Well. Okay. All right, we have another food recall. You know how much I love a food recall.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, a good food recall. All right, I skipped the hamburger. There's pounds and pounds of hamburger being recalled. I skipped that one.
Okay. That's not a level one. But this one carries a death risk, as FDA escalates a recall to the highest danger level possible. We've reached level one.
Do you want to guess what it is? Mega Maid's gone suck to blow. What is it? It's a food item.
What the hell did you just say? You ever see Spaceballs? Yes. Mega Maid.
Oh. Well, I was waiting on you to give some type of food product. Set course for ludicrous speed. Thank you for the movie references.
Somebody's got to watch movies in here. I wish I could watch more movies now than I do, but, oh, you know what, speaking of, I got to tell you about a TV show I'm watching, I'm fucking excited about. It's really good. I always look for a new TV show.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the food that I think that you are going after, is it meat-based? No. Let me ask you that.
It's not meat-based. No, it's not. Is it in a can? Is it in a can?
No. Okay, it's not in a can. Not in a can. All right.
Uh, is it some type of vegetable? No. Okay. So not a vegetable, not a meat.
It's in a box. It's in a box. It's in a box. It's a cereal.
No. Is it mashed potatoes? No. Instant potatoes.
I said no vegetables. But it's not, and it's not cereal and it's in a box. Man, I'm struggling here. What'd you got?
All right. The first, so this came out in December. Okay. It involves 866 bags of cake mix.
Okay. Cake mix. Cake mix. From a Dallas-based distribution company called BC Williams Bakery Service.
Okay. It has. How'd they fuck this up? Oh, it also includes 51 bags of spice cake mix, 720 bags of bread and roll mix, and 95 bags of Swiss chocolate cake mix.
So almost 2,000 bags of this. No, 866. You said 866 of this, and then you said 700 of this. No, 866 total.
Oh, so only 866. But it's made of these four things that I read. The mixes may contain an undeclared milk allergen that could trigger life-threatening reactions in people with milk allergies. Apparently, that is one of the worst allergies you can have is an allergy.
A milk allergy? Allergic to milk. And there's a lot of children that have it that don't know it until they have a problem. And then they die?
Not always, but there's a, because of whatever this allergen is, Because if you, let's say you're allergic to milk and you eat this cake, you could have an anaphylactic episode and your lung, you know, your throat closes up and you die. Okay. So like, what are the odds of this actually happening? Well, if you eat the cake.
I mean, if I eat the cake, I feel like I'm not going to die. If you're allergic to the milk, you would. How do we know if I'm allergic to the milk? Well, you would know by now, you're a very old man.
So then I'd be fine. Well, you know, well, no, because it doesn't say on the box, may contain milk allergens. So your wife, but your wife makes a birthday cake, okay? Yeah, I instantly assume it's a dairy product, but go ahead.
No, the cake mixes don't always have dairy in them. Okay. All cake mixes don't have milk products in it. I would just assume that.
So you don't, you wouldn't eat any cake at all? If I had a dairy problem? Right. But it's not dairy per se.
It's not like you're adding milk to it. The dry, and some of them are rolls. If I had a severe milk allergy... Yeah?
Yeah, I probably... And you look at the ingredients and they go, oh... No milk. No milk.
No milk. No. You could add water to it. I don't think I'd mess with it.
But anyways, let's just say that someone does. All right. They could die. They would die.
Because of the allergic reaction to the cake. And this bothered you. This story... It's a level one.
But all the other ones have not been level one. So, okay, maybe you find some plastic in your oatmeal or... That's just a little more crazier to me. Maybe you get the poops.
Razor blades, something, you know? Maybe you get the poops from eating the dirty lettuce. Right. You know, but this, you eat cake, you die.
If you're allergic to milk. Yes. Right. And how common is this allergen?
Phil, could you look it up? Uh, okay. Apparently, it's severe enough to where they gave it a level one. Okay.
You know, I really don't appreciate you poo-pooing my stores. This is just not as, as eh. It's the buildup that gets people to listen. If they don't like it once they hear it, ah, it's not my problem.
The way that you were going, it sounded like, oh, this could be serious. It could kill you. Nothing else that they've recalled lately could kill you. If you had this milk allergy.
Yes, there are specific conditions involved. Okay. It's not like I said, if they shoot you and you're not bulletproof, you could die. That's a terrible analogy, but okay.
That's what I'm going with. Okay. Fine. Fine.
All right. Do you have a video? I do not have a video today. And you already read the comments earlier?
Yeah. All right, so what have we been on? I had some funny, I saw, I did see some funny videos, I don't know how they convey on this show, to be honest. Oh, thank goodness.
Because we talked about your videos yesterday. Did you? How they don't convey on this show. Oh, really?
Sorry. That's not very nice. You weren't here. It's kind of like level one food, fucking milk.
Right. Yeah, it doesn't convey at all. Why not? And here you are.
That's right. Like you can't have popcorn in this room. Yeah, that's a good point. Okay, next.
Which is really, I like popcorn. Every once in a while, I almost put it in my lunchbox. I'm like, oh, I can't eat it in there, so I have to eat it outside. All right, well, go ahead.
All right, now into cigars. The Knuckles Sandwich 58 arriving at retailers, except we have it. We do. How did we get something before they even announced it was shipped?
This does not happen. This is incredible. This is incredible. Not only did we get it, I don't even think we ordered it.
It just showed up. We didn't even order it. Yeah, but they knew. They knew that we would say yes to that.
Sure, right, exactly. I wouldn't say no. I wasn't going to be like, no. Send that back.
We didn't order this. Why would you send this without approval? Maybe that's the way to do it with them. We just don't order anything, and you guys just send us everything.
Jack just says, unless Greg ordered it. But I feel like Greg would have said something to us. You'd be like, how many can we get? Right, something's coming, what should I have?
Is this gonna be enough? You know, can we get more? So it's a new limited edition that celebrates Guy Fieri's 58th birthday. Apparently now they're doing one for his birthday every year.
Yeah, that's how it's been since 55. Well, I mean, well, yes, but I mean, they did the original one. Like, oh, 55, we're gonna do, 'cause he's 55, it's a special number due at his birthday. And you're like, well, that went so well, we're gonna do it again.
You wanna know what I think Guy Fieri should do? What should he do? , a limited edition, short run cigar, and he should call it the Quad Tear. Yes, that would be good.
And we could have him on crutches for the image. Oh, on the thing? Yeah. Sounds more Matt Booth-y.
Well, there's a little bit of Matt Booth in Guy Fieri, I think. You know, the blonde hair, the spikies? He's got the necklace. Did you see the commercial?
Yeah. It was funny. Yeah, I think if you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't have realized that that wasn't him. Right.
Until the end where he turns into the guy. Right. We're gonna find out his last name's not really Fieri, just like Jonathan Drew is not really Drew. His last name isn't really Fieri?
We're gonna find that out, I'm afraid, now. Everything now, I'm all upset about everything, 'cause nobody's name is what they say. You didn't realize Jonathan Drew's last name was not Drew? I thought it was Drew!
Everybody calls him JD, Jonathan Drew. Hey Jonathan Drew! Yeah. Oh, apparently, that's not his name.
We'll talk about this later. I like that everybody's excited about the whole thing, and I'm not excited. I'll talk about it the other day. It's so funny to me, dude.
People are hilarious. Alright, this is the fourth year for the limited edition cigar, which began in 2023 with the Knuckles Sandwich 55 that we mentioned. It's always the same cigar. They just change the Vitola.
And that makes the blend totally different. It does. Yes, it could. Yes, it could change the flavor, yes.
The same thing we do with the bears. Yeah. I feel that's where they got the idea. You think so?
They got it from us? I think so. Copycats? No.
Whatever it's called is the most sincerest form of flattery? Imitation? Imitation. Thank you.
That's the word. Well, I don't have a problem with anybody imitating us, to be honest. No. I'm starting to see some more podcast people pop up too.
I'm like, "Hey man, go do it. " Right. So, getting back to the JD thing, you know, I do know so that some people are actually upset about it, some retailers are upset, they're terrified to speak out. Why?
Because they are, they think that it'll affect their business. Are they going to get their leagas? I don't know. And yet, here we are.
Here we are, making fun of everybody. I'll come after you just for sport. Why didn't you say those things? We were bored.
I'll do it for fun. I'll do it for fun. All right, well, it's got a Mexican San Andres wrapper atop a Nicaraguan binder and filler. Cigar has made the San Latino factory in Atal, Nicaragua.
It's a limited production. Numbers have not yet been disclosed. Yeah, I mean, the first one was the best, I think, as far as the size. I have what the original one was.
It's like a shorter Robusto, like a Robusto Gordo, I think, almost, if I remember correctly. Five and a half by 55 Robusto Gordo. There you go, boom. That one was probably the best one.
And then a 6x56 oval. Yeah, that was too big, in my opinion. And then a 5 3/4x55 was last year's. It's close to the same.
Didn't taste the same. No, it didn't taste the same. I thought it was a different blend. It was a little bit rougher.
And then this cigar is a 6 1/4x54 oval. Oh, pressed. So it's a box press. Box press.
Man, I want to try that. It's upstairs. We don't have any one. No, we didn't.
There's no way. There's no way they all-- Oh, no, no, no way. They just came in. I know, I sold another box today.
I want to try the cigar. I think there's only one box left. Oh, so there is some. I think there's one box.
So I'll reduce the quantities, I'm going to take one. It's already been done. You reduced the quantities and took them? No, we had that, you know, margin of error.
Oh, so it's zeroed out. Box is already zeroed out, we got fives and singles. So it's just in store only to purchase that. Yes.
Or singles. Okay. So I'll hijack. I'm going to hijack a couple.
Just grab them for the show next week. I don't want to spoil Phil. Oh. So when Willie was here?
Yeah. " Sure, no problem. He grabs San Andreas for me, Posana, grabs one for Willie, grabs one for himself. " Yeah, did I tell you again one for yourself?
" I'm like, but we just gave you a check. You're the only one that gets paid on this show. You're the only one that makes money. Oh, shit.
Like, what are we doing? What are we doing? He's like, oh, I'm just going to go ahead and take this. I'm like, no, no.
Did you take it away from him? No, I'm not that kind of guy. Because there was one down here on a table. That was probably the one that Willie didn't smoke.
Oh. Yeah, it was on that table. Yeah. No, wait, it was on this table.
Oh, well, I had already had a cigar at that point. Ah, I got you, got you, got you. So. Yeah.
God, Phil's just taking advantage. It's not right. I'm going to put it on this tab. All three of them.
All right. It uses the same blend like we said in previous releases and blah, blah, blah, blah. But a box press should be pretty good. Yes.
Like, I bet you that's going to be a good cigar. I like Espinosa cigars. Me too. And it was the Alpha Dog's birthday this week.
It was. I texted him, but he was in Nicaragua. Oh, is he in Nicaragua? He was in Nicaragua.
He just came back. Did you see the video we did? The video? Yeah.
No. He did, I think it was in the video. His hair is my color now. Like gray?
Yeah, like all, like, he doesn't have hair in his head, doesn't he? Didn't he shave his head? Maybe it was somebody else then. I only saw it briefly.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, he doesn't really have hair. Right.
So how could that have been him? Don't know. Maybe it's AI. You never know these things.
You know who's big in AI right now? Island Jim. AI everything. He's doing a great job.
He's making videos now and everything. A-Island Jim is what we call him? Yeah, A-Island Jim. All right, Bryce, The price of $18, a box of $10 is $180.
That's pretty good. All right, a new cigar is coming out from Asylum. Uh-oh, the CLE Mongrel. And is the first mention of the actual date of the PCA.
There it is. And it's wrong. And it's wrong? I believe it's off a day.
Okay, as you're telling the story, I'll fact check it. All right, the Asylum, Arabian Nights coming to PCA 2026. Sealy Cigar Company has teased one of its upcoming launches for the 2026 PCA Convention to Trade Show, The Asylum, Arabian Nights, but they're not telling you anything about the cigar, no details, except they have a launch party planned, May 27th to the 31st, in Marrakesh, Morocco, we should go, yeah, I agree, let's, they're inviting retailers, we have nothing going on, 27th to the 31st, yeah, no, we're free that weekend, yeah, let's just go, They're planning a multi-day event for retailers to attend, and it is expected to be the first time that anyone will be able to smoke the cigar. So we go and try the cigar.
Sounds like a write-off to me, buddy. It's unclear if there'll be a way for consumers to attend. No consumers are allowed. How many people are going to fly to Marrakesh, Morocco, to go try this cigar?
Zero. Well, Jay Davis probably will. I don't think Jay Davis will. No?
No. He likes to travel. He doesn't like to sell Polsanya, I can say that much. Maybe he likes to sell CLE, I don't know.
No, no, he's a Fuente guy. Uh, yes. Yeah. Yes, I know.
Okay, so when's the date? Because this says dates for PCA are April 17th through 2026. April, April 17th through 20th. All right, this, I didn't grab the date, but they say 18th.
That makes sense. But that says 17th. Uh, maybe the first day is not like the trade show floor opening. That's like the seminars or whatever.
or whatever. Maybe. Yeah. And then a story we covered yesterday, they called the TPE the PCA.
Half Wheel messed that up? Yep. Did you tell Charlie? They said this cigar will come out at the PCA late March.
And the TPE's in late March. See, that's what happens when the shows get close together. People make mistakes. People get confused.
Yeah. But then the next line it said, then it will be No, it's going to be released the 13th something of April, so it was JR's new cigar, apparently it's only a TPE release, unless they've got the whole thing wrong. Hmm, sounds like a bit of a train wreck. Could be.
Cigar guys are going to the TPE. Yeah, they're paid to go. Yeah, they're paid to go. Yeah, why don't people pay us to go places?
I'm not going to TPE. Well, if they paid us, you wouldn't go? No. Why?
Because you can go. If they pay? I got too many things going on, dude. I'm trying to...
But their pain is for the show. Okay, so you can go. I wanna go by myself, that's no fun. Take Phil.
Like I said, I don't wanna go by myself, that's no fun. Take Phil. Like I said, I don't wanna go by myself, that's no fun. Okay, whatever you say.
You remember what happens when he goes to trade shows? Oh, no one loves me, please give me cigars. Right, he disappears. Well, it sounds like he's already getting overly confident about this show.
And then he comes back with an order form. He's trying to book people and stuff. Yeah, he's trying to book his own guest, what's up with that? Like, hey dude.
How'd that kind of pull on this show? I guess we're about ready for that come to Jesus conversation. We're gonna need that check back. You ever see Dark Knight?
Do you feel in charge? Alright, the 26th Habanos Festival in Cuba, been postponed. Cancelled. Postponed.
Because of Zang Wong, Zang Ching, Zang Ching? It's been postponed because the conditions in Cuba are not friendly for this type of event and they don't have anything set up because it's very fancy. It's not, it's not friendly? No.
Communist country is not friendly? So they have problems right now. They don't have any gas or oil. They have no gas or oil.
Well, those, uh, apparently those tankers we took for Venezuela? It was Cuba's? It was Cuba's, apparently. I heard that the other day.
Oh, man. Hey, can we get the boat? It's coming here! We're neighbors!
It'll be fine! Yeah, like... " Oh my goodness. It's a big boat.
It's the best boat. It's the greatest boat. It's full of oil, and it's mine. It's the greatest boat.
I love this boat so much. We're gonna call this boat Trump. The two, the three, and the four. They're all right here.
We're gonna name it after me. It's gonna be amazing. So they didn't cancel it. It's just postponed, with no date in sight, but it's not canceled.
It's postponed. It won't return until conditions in Cuba are better and an event of this size can be helped. Like having gas and oil. Having gas and oil and apparently food.
Food's important. Food's important. Apparently they ration everything there when you go to the store. I thought you were going to say something about like the whole...
Cigar industry? Yeah. No, it's not that, it's just the economy is... The economy sucks and nobody wants to work.
An economy that was broken, we broke it further. We broke it further. Right. Got it.
Right. It's not bad enough. We embargoed the entire country. Now we're taking things before they get there.
If I'm a country and I want to attack the United States, I just shut down the internet. Watch everybody freak out. How can they shut down our internet? Cut the cable under the water?
Just pull the plug. Yeah. Just unplug it? Unplug the one thing.
It's done. My age group would be fine. We started out without the internet. I think that you would be the one that would struggle the most without it.
Nah. I'd be bored. Exactly. But boredom's not gonna, I mean, ruin me.
Maybe you get a panic attack because of it. No, that wouldn't give me a panic attack. No? No.
Okay. All right. Oh, we're gonna be a little early today. All right, time for the industry's favorite game.
What's the score? Phil, you didn't do it, Phil. Oh, I'm very sorry. Now you have to do it on your own.
Okay. What's the score? There you go. Oh, bing bong.
Bing bong. All right, today's cigar, January 27, 2023, Charlie Minato, the Knuckles Sandwich Limited Edition Nicaragua Review, the Knuckles Sandwich Chef Special. Oh, good cigar. Because we got a Knuckles Sandwich before it was coming out, and it was our friend's birthday, so we're doing one of his.
In honor of all of these things. In honor of all of these things, today's, oh, I keep thinking the show comes out on Friday. Maybe we'll be out on Monday. The first show for the next week is the Knuckles Sandwich Show special.
Correct. All right. Okay, let's go. Oh, you want me to go?
You guys go first. I did my part. I said what it was. Phil, you want me to go first?
No, I want you to go first, because I'm just going to copy you, be close to you. He's going to copy. Okay, I'm going to say... Oh, by the way, Alex got it right on the money yesterday.
Did he? Nailed it. He nailed it. And I even accused him of cheating, and he swears he didn't.
All right. That's good. I'll say 89. Duh, I don't know.
88. Get that brain going. 88. Okay, good job.
Can we have a shirt with a cartoon, his face with a mask on, and it just says "rum, rum" next to his face? Gotta turn his brain on. It's coming out of his ear, the sound's coming out of his ear. It's turning his brain on.
All right, this is a Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special from Nicaragua. 50, came out in 2022, they smoked, three cigars, 87, 85, 85, 85, okay, all right, clue number one, the cigar delivered to the The flavor is a rich full profile throughout, layered with earthiness, red and black pepper, cocoa, cedar, dough-like notes, nuttiness, and even subtle sweetness, sugar, water, peanut butter cookie, the strength, and it sounds like a delicious cigar, the strength and body consistently match the intensity of the flavors without overwhelming nicotine, hey, when they overwhelm nicotine, such a nice man, not overwhelming nicotine. i'm gonna go back i'm gonna go 89 89 87 clue number two each third offers noticeable shifts especially the clear transition into the final third where red pepper fades and nuttier dough Go-forward flavors take over. Retro hails provide pronounced identifiable flavors, adding depth and engagement.
Man, it sounds like he really likes this cigar. Sure does. So far, so good. Charlie loves this thing.
It's nutty, tastes like peanut butter cookies. Amazing. I'm gonna go 90. Oh, yeah, but you know, you know, say teriyaki, you know how I say it.
If you don't say teriyaki, you're not good for Charlie. Oh, goodness. 88. Clue number three.
Multiple cigars experienced cracks at the foot. Uh-oh. Unraveling caps, tight draws, declining smoke production, wavy burn lines, and repeated touch-ups. With one cigar going out completely, oh my word, performance was inconsistent and required frequent correction.
Oh. Uh-oh. 22. Right?
I mean, that's gonna hurt it. That's all the stuff he hates. I'm gonna drop down to 85. Oh, 85, a good number.
That's how far I can count up to anything past that. That was the year I graduated high school. Oh, yeah? That was...
You weren't born yet. That was the year I was born. Oh, no. I don't know what year I was born.
I'm very dumb. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. I was very young, I don't remember.
88, still good cigar, 88. Okay. All right, final thought. Yes?
My condolences to the non-cigar smoker who is a big fan of Guy Fieri, finds out Guy Fieri has a cigar line, buys this cigar, and then smokes it. That person is probably in for a rough time. It's not that the cigar is bad, it's just decidedly not for someone who isn't a regular consumer of medium to full cigars. This is particularly true given the shape makes the initial inch a bit more challenging than your standard Toro and because I find most non-cigar smokers want to puff on cigars way quicker than even an average consumer.
J. Fernandez profile. Big, bold, and brash. It's got nuance, but that nuance is wrapped in a package that has a ton of power.
There are times in which you want to enjoy a cigar first thing in the morning so you can taste all the delicate nuances, and then there are times in which you've just consumed half a bottle of red wine And a bone-in ribeye, or the Guy Fieri universe, trash can nachos and need something to cut through your big meal. This is squarely in the ladder. So is he saying it's after the nachos? He's saying that it's tough.
He's saying that it's rougher than... It's a rough cigar, yes. I like a rough cigar. Well, rough for your non-cigar guy.
Non-regular cigar smoker. He's a regular cigar smoker. But if you like bolder cigars, it's probably good, however, it's going to hurt because of the burn stuff. So, I'm going to stick 85.
Phil? I gotta go 92. Good cigar. I don't care what Charlie say, I like cigar.
All right, buddy. What did you say? I said 85. And he said 92?
92, yeah. It's an 85. Oh! Not only did I sandbag you, but I nailed it.
He nailed it. Look at that. And my name isn't Alex Gonzalez. How do you like me now?
He's been beat by everybody. Did he beat Willie? It was one and one. I did Coops.
Oh, I heard you did a second one. Coops? Yeah. Coops what?
Coop reviewed the SBC. Oh, did he? Yeah. So, I added that on.
What did he give us? I think it was like an 87 or something like that. It wasn't favorable. Oh, it wasn't?
Well, the way that it sounded, it sounded like it was a good cigar, and then like he kind of added some things. You're like... The cigar's bad for the industry? No, no.
It's a cigar everybody shouldn't like? It felt like there were feelings involved. Oh! And that's how I took it.
Now, I could just be misinterpreting. Right, because, you know, he's completely unbiased. Yeah, he's completely unbiased. Right.
I mean, to the point where he says he is. Yeah, he's allegedly completely unbiased. If you have to say you are, you're probably not. He's possibly unbiased.
Right. Maybe, definitely, kind of, sort of. Maybe, who knows? Yeah.
But if you have to keep saying that you're not... No. Who knows? Who knows?
Okay, so... I mean, just because the background of his show wins Cigar of the Year every year, it had nothing to do with that. But I appreciate the fact that he reviewed it. Well, if I had somebody I didn't like, I would want to review the cigar and give it a so-so review.
It's still a tension. Well, as far as we're concerned. Yeah, I'll take it. Like when he tells people we're bad for the industry, I don't care.
Yeah, but he didn't see it. At least you're talking about us. But he didn't say that publicly. Well, we made it public.
Yeah. True. Okay. Everything is public.
Okay. All right. So, anything else to add? Oh, I do have one.
I have two things to add. at number one copper canyon new haven indiana thank you so much becoming our newest Powstanie account now carrying Powstanie san andreas so you're in new haven indiana said joe uh yep check out copper canyon they also have a web uh podcast yes they do they he just started a podcast go watch that too oh yeah go check it out see how he's doing he wants to come on the show he He wants us to call in. We'll figure that out. We'll get you on the show.
Now, the show that I started watching. Oh, yes. That I thought, like, for the first episode I started to watch, and I gave up on it. And then I asked Grock, what's the best show to be watching?
Because that's where we're at currently. Oh. You know, football's over. And I'm like, hey, I always ask, give me your top five.
Usually I'm watching a couple of them already. And it was A Night of the Seven Kingdoms. What's that on? It's on HBO Max.
Oh, I don't get that one. Oh, is that the prequel to the thing? Yeah, long before. And the way that it starts, I mean, he's taking a dump, and it shows his ass shooting poop right next to a tree, and I'm like, oh, I don't know.
Like in the first five minutes? Yeah. Yeah. So, I got into the first half of the episode, it was 15 minutes long, and I'm like...
I was 15 minutes into a 30 minute long show, I'm like, I don't know, I don't know, and then I went back to it, and it's good. So this is before the dragons? Yes, yes, and it's very, and it's, it's serious, it's like, it's like Game of Thrones light. It's about 30 to 40 minutes, the dialogue is manageable and not extremely involved, and it's more, it's definitely more entertaining.
Right. So, uh, like comical entertaining. There are some comical moments. It's, it's good.
It's really good. You know, I, when I finished the last episode, I was like, hell yeah. How many episodes were there? So far there's four.
Oh, so it's a weekly thing. They're going to play another one next week. Yeah. Okay.
It's not like already been out. No. I got you. No, but it's good.
It's easy to sit and just burn through them. Cause I burned through, you know, I mean, they're, if they're 35, 40, 30 to 40 minutes. Yeah. I was all caught up in one day.
I was like, this is awesome. And then I'm like, oh no, there's no more. Uh, yeah, four shows, two hours. Yeah, exactly.
Just like watching a regular movie. Right. So, you should check it out. You'll like it.
I don't have HBO. Well, you gotta figure it out, man. I don't know what to tell you. Steal somebody's login.
Michael, what's your login? I'll give it to you. It's Greg's. Oh, there you go.
Perfect. So, all right. Uh, anything else? He won't be watching, he's on vacation.
Yeah, well, you know, he's in the mountains or something. What a life. What a life. Uh, anything else to add?
On the 25th of February, I will be at Northport Cigars in Northport, Florida, from 1 till people stop showing up. 1 to 5 or 1 to 4? It's scheduled 1 to 5. Okay, so do you say that?
Leave it at 1 to 5. " Not to come. Well, have them get there. Get there before 5.
Get there before 5. What if they're not there at 5 and there's nobody there and you decide to leave and they get there at 6 and then, you know what I mean? Well, I said, I didn't give a definite ending. That's a definite ending.
Yeah, so you better... So one until people stop showing. At five, some people stop showing. Well, yeah, one to five I think is reasonable.
All right, one to five. I'll be there for one to five. Okay, perfect. Maybe longer.
Okay. All right. Phil, you have anything else to add? You want to plug anything, Phil?
Guests you've invited on the show? Are you changing the name of the show or something? No, I'm going to walk back any of my invites because that's not my role in this job here. Oh, gotcha.
So I'm very sorry. Maybe I'm going to find a habitable place on the moon for me to stay and be safe from the rest of the universe and keep myself away from sharks and alligators and gravity. I hope gravity stays. All right, Phil.
Thanks so much, buddy. Yeah, I guess that's all right, guys. Thanks. We gotta go.
Thanks so much. Bye. Thank you. Bye.
52 minutes minus my phone call. There was only a minute.
Show Notes
On todays show we have a travel ban from the US government, No more Gravity in August! A extreme Level 1 deadly food recall then in cigars Cuba is shutting down! A New cigar that we some how have before its announced and hold on we are going to the Middle East!! All this and a what’s the score!!