ACHP Episode 472 Cigars, Cocaine & Prison Purses
Episode Summary
Mike Palmer, Mikey Szczepankewicz and Phil McGuffey open Episode 472 with the usual off-the-rails news block — Prince Andrew's arrest in England over documents connected to the Epstein files, a Palm Bay woman who threw a cinder block through a car window and then ate cocaine while handcuffed in the back of a patrol car, and Mark Zuckerberg's courtroom claim that he phoned Apple's Tim Cook about Instagram beauty filters and teen mental health. They also break down a viral clip of YouTube influencer "Dean the Great" getting dropped by former MMA fighter Tiki Ghosn.
The centerpiece is a blind "review the reviewers" segment. The crew pulled the top 10 cigars from each of five major outlets' 2025 Top 25 lists, stripped the names off, and scored every cigar 0–5 based on whether it deserved to be on a year-end list at all. The results, counted down from fifth: Cigar Coop at No. 5, Cigar Snob at No. 4, Cigar Dojo at No. 3, halfwheel at No. 2 (Palmer's personal top pick by a wide margin), and Cigar Press — Fred Rouet's magazine — taking the No. 1 spot. Along the way they discuss Padrón's reliability on any top list, Matilde and the underrated Angel Cuesta, and why Cigar Hustlers is excluded from consensus lists because of its retail operation. A second round covering Cigar Bar, Developing Palates, Conehead, Real Smoke Pod and Epicurean Smokes is promised for a future episode.
Cigar news includes J.C. Newman premiering Chapter One of "The American Story," a multi-part docu-series on The American — the only 100% all-American cigar — filmed in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania tobacco fields and at El Reloj; Gurkha announcing a price increase effective March 2 on four Nicaraguan-made lines (Classic Havana Blend, Heritage Maduro, Heritage Natural and Legend 1959) without disclosing the amount; and day one of Procigar in the Dominican Republic, including the $2,500 attendance package (four nightly events, factory tours, open bar and roughly 50 cigars) and the running bet on whether Will Cooper and Eric Guttormson will wear white pants to the famous white party. The show closes with What's the Score on Brian Burt's 2014 review of the 262 Cigars Mr. Pink Lonsdale, plus upcoming events at Smoke Ring 72 in Melbourne, North Port Cigars, and an LFD event at Cigar Hustler.
In This Episode
- 01Prince Andrew Arrested Over Epstein DocumentsThe crew reacts to the King's brother being taken in over misappropriated royal documents tied to the Epstein files, and speculates about who else is on the released list.
- 02Palm Bay Cinder Block & Cocaine ArrestA Florida woman threw a cinder block through a car window, ate cocaine while handcuffed in the patrol car, then volunteered that she had more stashed in her 'jail purse.'
- 03Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and Instagram FiltersA courtroom claim that Zuckerberg called Apple's Tim Cook about beauty filters driving teens toward plastic surgery gets the full comedic reenactment.
- 04Viral Fight Clip: Dean the Great vs. Tiki GhosnThe guys break down a social media clip of a 25-year-old influencer boxer mouthing off to a 49-year-old former MMA fighter and getting knocked out.
- 05Rating the Reviewers: Top 5 Cigar Media OutletsA blind scoring of the top 10 picks from five outlets' 2025 Top 25 lists ranks Cigar Coop, Cigar Snob, Cigar Dojo, halfwheel and Cigar Press.
- 06J.C. Newman's 'The American Story' Docu-SeriesChapter one of the new multi-part series on The American, shot in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and at the El Reloj factory in Tampa, gets an honest critique.
- 07Gurkha Price Increase on Four Nicaraguan LinesGurkha notified retailers of a March 2 increase on Classic Havana Blend, Heritage Maduro, Heritage Natural and Legend 1959 — without saying how much.
- 08Procigar 2026 Day One & What's the ScoreWhat the $2,500 Procigar package actually includes, the white party tradition, and a score guess on Brian Burt's review of the 262 Mr. Pink.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
I can't bring it again. I don't know. Yeah, you can. All right.
Come on, power. Welcome to a Cigar Hustler podcast episode 472. I'm Mike Palmer, your host and with me today is Phil. I love my mask McGuffey over in engineering.
-Do I? -Yes, you love your mask. -Okay. -You sleep in it, your wife says.
-Oh. -And then my co-host, Mikey, I Want Candy Szczepankewicz on day two of his Lent Give Up. -Oh, man. Last night was rough.
-I have a box of donuts in the car, but I thought it would be mean if I brought them in. -Wow. -I don't mean, but it's okay. -Yeah.
-All right. Welcome, gentlemen, on today's show, Prince Andrew's in jail. -Oh. -Oh, yeah?
-The king's brother. -Uh-oh. You don't tell them you have cocaine. You don't tell them?
Not when you've been arrested. You interview the prince? Meta calls Apple on the phone. And then in cigars, we have a new movie being released.
Gurkha has a price increase and pro-sabor started and we have the information on day one. Yeah. All this and a wants to score. But first, Mikey, how do we get some of that CH pod swag?
I forgot to mention the most important part of this episode. Oh, sorry. That was something you added. We're gonna go over, we're gonna rate the Raiders.
Yes! We're reviewing the reviewers. Oh, that too. See, I said it wrong.
We have five of the top media sources in the cigar industry, and we're gonna see how they did on the top 25 of 2025. Well, top five excluding us, so it's really like, they're the top six? We don't do a top 25. We don't do a top 25.
Oh, a top 25 that does it, or a top five that does a top 25. We've tried a couple of different years. He picks all his cigars in Roma Craft cigars. Yeah.
I mean, I mean, yeah. I mean, he's not wrong, obviously, but it's, you know, it's not really a big surprise when everybody comes to look at our list. Yeah, like, these are bangers. Right, and we're not allowed to compete in half wheels, uh, what's the thing where they take all the other?
Consensus. Yeah, we're not allowed to compete in that because we have a retail operation. So we just stop wasting our time with it. Yeah, we stop wasting our time.
Even though we're completely honest with what we think. Right. Right. He won't do a list when we say he can't list his own because those are the best ones.
I'm going to do the list at Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Okay. So, it's going to be interesting to see, of these top five, who took the number one spot as far as review media. I think you might be surprised.
Based on our opinions. Yes, based on our opinions. Right. Of course.
Right. 079 away from greatness. Dope. Hat.
Yep. I think we're getting down there. Might be like 10. Gotta be close to the end.
Might be like 10 left, if that. com. 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.
Free shipping! If you value the edutainment that we are providing for you. The what? The edutainment.
Edutainment? Yes. Yeah, he's saying wrong words, so he just followed it. You're making up your own words now?
It's a YouTube term. Oh. It's education and entertainment. Oh.
Edutainment. Oh, this is how we get more views. Yes, go. If you value the edutainment that we're providing, please like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or watching the show.
Is there a button I hit now where we do that? I mean, do you make up your own words? Yes. Let's get back to some of the comments from the week.
Let me see here. Comments of the week. Comments of the day. Last of the day, I apologize.
Of the day, I mean, we can do this every single day. Team Money just swooped in and said Palmer acting like 10 bucks for a pack of cigarettes is a lot, yet if he wasn't sick, he'd be smoking an $18 cigar. Yeah, but only one. How many?
One cigar a day? That's all you have? No, I don't smoke 18 cigars. I don't smoke, well, I don't know, I haven't had a cigar in three days.
Oh, what's that feel like? Huh? What's that feel like? I feel like I can't breathe.
I'm afraid I'd put it down and lose it. I've got a foggy head today. I've got a foggy head today. Ah.
" Mom and dad fighting. For the record, I'm dead. Yeah, okay. You know, whatever your little heart desires, whatever you want to be in the little pretend world, that's fine.
My pretend world? Thomas Bozita. Pretained? Thomas the Train?
No. Thomas Bozita, he commented about track. I saw the internet exchange. He was concerned with the, I'm sorry.
One zero. One zero. That he had concerns about the javelin, and I explained that the javelin was actually just kind of plastic, it's not sharp. " Yes.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. See how he did that? Mm-hmm.
So who carries the show and who coasts? What I like is he said that feels great. You commented, so. Did you see what I wrote?
Yes, I saw what you wrote. I looked at all of them. I wrote, indeed, Palmer carries the whole thing. See?
Here I am. Was that me being passive-aggressive again? No. Okay.
Being sarcastic. Ah. Passive-aggressive Palmer now. I think that Palmer should do, when he introduces everybody, he should say, "I'm Mike.
Mike, I like to interrupt everybody when they're talking, Palmer. Yes, I average nine times a show. Yeah. Okay.
Can I go? Yeah, go ahead, let's go. All right, police arrested King Charles' brother, Andrew, over misconduct. Ooh.
Yesterday at his birthday party, the police came in and took him away in handcuffs. Really? Yes. This is the start of the, go ahead, Palmer.
Well, this is misconduct relating to the Epstein files. There it is. But, it's not what you think, they got him on providing documents to Epstein from the royal family. Providing documents?
Oh. Misappropriation of secret information. Mmm. Espionage.
" I didn't touch any kids. The documents? Yeah, documents. I did it.
I did the documents. Right. If that's the one I'm getting for the Epstein files, take me, hey, take me, I'm going, yes, I admit I took the files. Well, one of the big conspiracies about the whole Epstein thing is the fact that there's this leverage, that blackmailing and getting intel on all the powers that be and all this other stuff, so does this, like, further kind of continue that aspect, right?
Like, hey, does this prove that there's blackmailing going on in this whole island? Did you see the list of names that they released on who all was in the files? No, I just get my news from you. Well, the list was too long to go over here, but, I mean, it's like three typed pages and it's three columns on each page.
Really? It's amazing some of the names that are on it. Really? Something like this goes on, nobody knows about it, so there's got to be something else.
There's got to be another one somewhere that somebody else did. This can't be the only guy who had a secret island, where he took people and they did things. What was the name on the list that surprised you the most that you saw? I don't remember now, but the number of women on the list was a little disturbing.
There was more than I thought there was gonna be. Yeah. Why would you say that? Well, from what you hear was going on, you don't hear about them being, you know, no little boy has stood up and said, you know, You know, some lady grabbed my wiener on the island.
Yeah. Well, it's all been girls that have come forward. Well, maybe they said it, but they just said like, hey, some lady grabbed my wiener. Right.
Hey, good's what I got to go to. They're like, that's illegal. We're going to get her. I banged a movie star the other day.
Right. You're 15. I know it. Yeah.
That's exactly how they probably do the teacher ones. It's not like they really tell on them. It's like they brag about it. Yeah.
I banged Mrs. McGillicuddy the other day. Oh, really? I'm telling.
Right. She wouldn't take me back to the room. Some guy who's jealous. It didn't happen to him.
Yeah. Right. I get it. Yeah.
Makes sense. So there's two things I find kind of funny about this whole situation with the Prince Andrew thing. Yeah. One, the Klins just testified.
They did? Yeah. Did they testify? Yeah, they testified like, I think it was last week sometime.
Okay. And now arrests are going to start being made. You think so? Well, one already happened.
It already happened. What was the arrest? Prince Andrew. Oh, is that based on Clinton information?
They were testifying with the Epstein files. Is this so they don't get in trouble? Because they're both. You know, that's what I'm saying.
Like, I think, like, they made a deal, kind of thing. Clinton State's evidence. Yeah, because you know the Clintons were involved in everything. Allegedly.
Allegedly. Yeah, I don't want them to come get me. You know how much you value your life. All of a sudden, Boots dies in a horrible bear alligator accident.
Well, there was like a, there's this guy in Ocala, he's like a big land mogul, like he owns a lot of land. He's in the files. Yeah. Yeah, and they're, they're actually looking to go arrest him based off of some information, I guess, that the Ocala man was giving to Epstein.
Is this Prince in the United States? No. No, no, he's in. So, we didn't arrest the United States.
No, we didn't arrest him, he got arrested in England. In England. Yeah, the Bobbies. Yeah, but this could be a whole international thing.
Okay, but you're saying that there have been arrests, but there hasn't been any arrests in the United States. No, not yet, but this is going to be an international, so there's going to be an Interpol, FBI, it's going to be a whole thing. RDJ. RDJ?
Okay. I don't think anybody does. There's a billionaire who owns a company that takes school photos. Several schools have canceled their photos because his name's on the list.
Oh, yeah. Actually, yeah, there was one here, like Seminole or something, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Well, it's good to see social justice as long as it's accurate, right? So, yeah. I mean, is everybody on the list, we assume, went and had pedophile stuff? I don't think so.
I think what it does is it gives improbable cause. I think that's what everybody's thinking. I mean, if you're on the list, you must have touched a child. Yeah.
I mean, I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, that's a hell of a, that's a lot of names. Yeah.
Well, you're all, you're saying the mass of the population thinks that. Yeah. Yeah. Because all the list does when they actually can get the names from it, just gives them probable cause of looking further.
That's all, that's all it really is. Well, they have all this information, do they not? Yeah, but it has to be brought into a, into the, into a case, into a courtroom. I think it was in the courtroom for them to be able to further.
Where did they, I must have missed this part of the news, but where did they get all this information? I mean, I know they arrested him and everything. Did he just have boxes and boxes of things sitting somewhere? I guess they pulled the files from somewhere.
No, no. Remember how all this started? No. He had like an assistant.
Yeah. Yeah. And the assistant. She's in jail?
Yeah. Remember she gave all this? She's a brunette lady. Yeah.
She gave all this information. I think she made a deal is what she did. She kept all the files. Wow.
There's always somebody. Never, never keep a record. Right. Yeah.
Wild. Okay, well, I hope to see some justice in all this. What is the statute of limitations on this? I mean, it's been going on forever.
I have no idea. I don't know. Yeah, that's a good question. I have no idea.
I'm just throwing it out there if somebody has to comment. No, I'm not being in defense of attacking you. I'm just saying I don't know. Yeah, I don't.
I know that you take everything I say as an attack on you. Pretty much. Okay. Carry on.
All right, a lady chucked a cinder block through someone's car in Palm Bay. She was handcuffed and put in the car, and then they catch her eating cocaine she had hiding in her pants. Oh. There's a lot that just happened in that whole situation.
So, the lady throws a cinder block through a car. We don't know why. She throws it through a car. She's still there.
The police show up. They handcuff her behind her back and put her in the police car to take her to jail. So, somehow, she gets her hands and gets the cocaine out of the back of her pants and starts eating the cocaine. I don't understand the logistics of how this works.
That's pretty impressive. Well, at least we know why she threw the cinder block through the jail at this point. Oh, wait, it's not cocaine. They get her into booking and she tells him that she's got more cocaine in her prison purse.
Oh. Oh. That's where she normally keeps it, apparently. Was it really there, or was she just wanting to go in the purse?
Oh, no. It was really there. Oh. Do you think it was actually that one portion of cocaine was in her back pocket?
I don't think it was. Well, if they handcuffed her behind her back, I don't know how she ate the cocaine in her pants. She didn't eat the cocaine in her purse. She had more cocaine in her pants.
In her prison purse. That's where she had the cocaine she admitted to when she got there. The other cocaine, they didn't know she had, she ate in the car. She said, "Oh, I ate this in the car"?
No, they turned around, and I guess they see white stuff all over her face, and she's trying to eat the cocaine. Was there anything brown with the white stuff? I don't think so. Why, does she know the person who she threw the cinder block into?
They don't know why, there's no, they don't know why she threw the cinder block. She's probably high on the cocaine. Yeah, she's eating cocaine, man. Eating cocaine, you throw cinder blocks, that's what happens.
It's just mentally unstable. Right. That's what happens when you eat cocaine. You think you're super strong.
You start throwing cinder blocks. You think that cocaine makes you want to throw cinder blocks into cars? I think so. Maybe this lady.
Yeah, she had been arrested after throwing a cinder block through the back of someone's window. And then she thought if she gave up that she had stuff in her prison purse, that she wasn't gonna get charged with it. Right. As she's being booked, she told corrections staff that she actually had a bag of cocaine hidden in her, oh, jail purse.
Sorry, jail purse. Well, it turns into a prison purse because it sounds like that's a lot of days. Right, she's going from jail to prison, so he gets an upgrade, I guess. Right.
You'll be staying in the suite. She admitted, even though she'd been handcuffed with her hands behind her back while being transported, she was able to maneuver her hands enough to eat some additional cocaine she had concealed in her pants. Amazing. The stuff that goes on in our world every day.
This is in Florida. This is in Palm Bay. I was going to say, is this a Florida man? That was Palm Bay.
Big chocker. I love this state. It's the best state. So as a result, she faces charges of criminal mischief and introduction of controlled substance into a detention facility.
She should have told him outside she had the stuff in her purse. Right. Possession of a controlled substance and tampering with evidence. And she ate some of it, so.
Yeah. What do you think she does? 90 days? I don't know.
More than 364. No way. You think she does it over a year in prison for this? Yeah, she's doing it in prison.
Yeah, she got a lot of charges here. I doubt very seriously it's her first offense. Yeah. Especially if she's just biting down on the old wifey.
And she knew the term, jail purse. She's a frequent flyer. Could very well be. Yeah, she just coupon clipped her sixth day.
Maybe she threw the brick as a way to get, I need to go in for a little while, let me throw this brick to a car. I need to rest. I need to rest. I need to go on vacation.
I'm going to need to vacation. Okay. Three squares and a clean bed. All right.
Three squares and a clean bed. Yeah. How much cocaine can you eat before it kills you? You know, that's a great question.
I have no idea. Please, somebody comment on us. Somebody comment, please, on how much cocaine you can eat. Just get an idea.
Yeah. You idiots. This is how much, clearly this is the amount of cocaine you can eat. Right.
Somebody's just thought we're stupid. All right, now this was an interesting story, but I don't know why it happened, but apparently Zuckerberg is being, is in front of a, is going to trial for some reason or something. Oh, yeah. I don't know why, but he claims that he called, what's the guy's name?
He called Tim Cook to discuss the well-being of teens and kids. Tim Cook is the president of Apple. Mm-hmm. So we called him to get his opinions on the filters that they offer on Instagram.
Okay. So I'm gonna be Zuckerberg, you're gonna be Tim Cook. Oh, man. Yes.
Okay, but I don't even know what to say. That's okay, it doesn't say Tim said anything, to be honest with you. Okay, all right, fair enough. Go ahead, sir.
Ring, ring, ring, ring! Hello? Tim! Hey, it's Zuck.
Hey, Zuck, how are you? Do you like those filters I have on Instagram? You know, the one where it makes you like an elephant, makes you like a duck, one of the zombies, really cool. Come on, you got an iPhone, you try this stuff all the time.
What are we talking about here, Zuck? I don't know. The filters on Instagram where you can change the way you look. The zombie one's pretty cool.
All right, well, I'm in a little bit of trouble because there's one that makes you look better than you actually look and kids are wanting plastic surgery. Oh, my God. Seriously? Yeah.
I'm in a little bit of trouble here, I think. So that's when it's over. The kids are seeing these filters and it makes them look better. And then the kid, Mom, I want plastic surgery to make me look like this.
Holy moly. How do they even know what plastic surgery is? Well, teenagers. They're not talking to small children.
Oh, God, that's a disaster. Right. You make these filters, you think they're a cute, funny little thing, and the next thing you know, kids are using them as a reason to change the way they look. How old is Sophia?
Fourteen. So, if a 14-year-old approached you and said, hey, you know. You know, I was about to ask the same question that you're thinking. I was going to go, what the court needs to establish is, when should a teenager really start thinking about plastic surgery?
Never. Never. Right, yeah, that's. As a dad, you're like, all right, I'll get this done for you?
No. Yeah, Dad, I hate my nose. Look at my nose. I hate my nose.
Does Phil sound like quite the attorney this episode? A little bit. You know what I mean? He seems like very knowledgeable.
Legal advice from the Phil. Yeah. I used to sit in federal courtrooms all the time, listening to these people, and some of this stuff is just retarded. Just as a hobby?
No, no, no. I was in the military. I had to go to federal court all the time when we'd... He was a grand master or something.
Yeah, when we'd arrest people. Because it's a federal charge. It's not a regular state or anything. Did I get that term right?
What? Grandmaster? I'm not answering you. What were you?
Master? Master at arms. Grandmaster sounds like a white hooded thing. A whole different group.
Right. Different guys who don't get on boats. Right. Totally different set of people.
Far worse. Right. Okay. Hmm.
So, you got a video? I do. - Oh, you thought you were gonna get away with not having a video. - No, we had a video yesterday.
- Okay, so this guy... - Hey, two for two! - Oh, he has to send it to us, though. - Yeah, so this is kind of going around social media.
This guy is like a YouTube influencer. - The guy that crashed the car again? - This is too long. Just watch the beginning of it.
And he had a little interaction, I'll give you a little bit of the backstory from what I saw, he had an interaction with Larry Wheels, you know who Larry Wheels is? No. Larry Wheels is jacked, dude. He's a big, he's a social media guy, and this guy was like kind of hitting on his wife, and he's like, dude, you need to stop.
And this guy's like half the size, probably a quarter the size of Larry Wheels, so Larry Wheels just kind of slapped him, and then they were separated, and then it fast forwards to where he's at Rampage, I think this was at Rampage Jackson's house, which is another MMA guy, and he was talking to this other MMA dude, and go ahead and watch the video. Nice to meet you, bro. You do know who I am. I don't know why you're lying.
I don't know why you don't know me. You definitely know me. You definitely know me. Nice to meet you though.
Yeah, I just don't, don't be lying because girls around and shit. You definitely know me, bruh. Not even on some disrespectful shit, but. I don't like your attitude, I don't like your fucking tone.
I don't like you at all, though. Yeah, straight up. Straight up. What?
I said straight up. Are you the guy that got slapped on video? I think Mike froze up. I did, but I slapped the shit out of you, though.
Oh, you were? I did see. I'm gonna show you the inside of the house. No, I'll put you, I'll make you another clip.
Don't do that. -Seriously? -Oh, I did that. -Oh!
-Oh! -All right. -Hold on. -Hold on, okay.
-So this guy, the guy he's talking to is a former MMA fighter, right? -The little guy. -No, the big guy. -Oh, okay.
-And like, this other guy, he's a YouTube influencer, kind of turned boxer, and he's fast. Apparently he's got good technique or whatever from what I read. But, like, to say the things that he has said to guys twice his size, that, I mean, that guy is a fighter. Right.
Oh, yeah. Well, I would have to agree with you. He had great technique when he took that punch. No.
It sounded like his jaw popped. Well, he's got a mic right by him. Like his whole body pops. It sounded like a bone broke.
I didn't have it up very loud, so he's talking smack about the guy's wife that's with him? No, that was the previous one. This all happened in a 24-hour period. Oh.
So this one, like, you know, it started off kind of nice, and then all of a sudden it took a wild turn. And this guy's, you know, Dean the Great, I think is his name? That's the little guy? Yeah.
He started making comments like, oh, you know, well, he goes, didn't you just get slapped by Larry Wills with the other guy? And he goes, yeah, well, you know, I'll make a clip out of you too, or something like that. And the guy's like, are you serious? And he's like, yeah.
And he takes a sip of his drink or whatever, just trying to be, I don't know what, and the guy's like, okay, boom, and just suck him. Oh, as soon as he turned, he gave him a perfect angle for it. Yeah, just lit him right up. That was solid contact.
Yeah, you know, I don't know what people are thinking. I don't either. The guy is twice your size, and you can't... Right, you're talking like this.
And you think that, what, because you're recording, that this is a... Yeah, that guy don't care. You're gonna be, like, you could tell that, I don't know, like, he makes his comment, he kind of sips his drink, steps back, like, he knows that things are escalating at that point. I'm like, dude.
Right. You're too close. You're too close, man. Why would you, why would you say, why would you say those?
Like, people honestly believe that they can say whatever. Right, and there's no repercussions at all. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, now everybody knows that there are repercussions for what you say. Well, I mean, dude, you know, like, that age group has a big problem. I would never, ever, ever be disrespectful to, especially a fighter, you know?
Yeah, well, if you've noticed, like, with the newer generation, right, they are definitely way more disrespectful than we were when we were kids. You think so? Oh, yeah. Yeah, no doubt.
I mean, they think that they can get out of trouble, nothing can hurt them. You know, like, you know, back in the day when we were kids, we knew that we got into a fight. The first thing we're doing is running afterwards, because we know either the cops are coming or we're getting in trouble by somebody. Right.
The kids nowadays, they don't care. They'll stand up to the police or they'll fight the police. You've seen videos of that. You can't touch me.
Yeah. When you were a kid, you didn't think you were invincible? In certain things, but not against, like, fighting people and stuff, you know, like, or talking junk, or whatever you want to call it. I don't know how this guy is.
The little guy looks like he's in his 20s, the bigger guy looks older. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, well, the bigger guy is, he's, uh, late 30. Dean the Green is 25. That's the little guy.
Yeah. The big guy looks in his late 30s, maybe 40s. He's probably in his 40s. He's like, punk.
And let me see here. Big bald guy with dye goatee. Look that up. I'm trying to get his name.
We'll put him big bald guy with dye goatee who punches little guys in the face. Tim Goshen, former MMA fighter. Oh, Tiki. Sorry, Tiki Goshen.
Tiki. Tiki. I didn't make fun of his name. I don't know if I messed with a guy named Tiki.
I'm not messing with that guy. I don't care what his name is, it could be Louise, I don't care. Tiki's about to light you up! Yeah, Tiki gonna break my jaw.
Tiki is 49 years old. He's almost 50! There you go. Oh, he's my age.
Ish. He knows exactly where to punch you in the jaw. 10-8-0. Yeah, he knows exactly where to hit you with what part of his hand.
His hand didn't even hurt after that. Well, now it's 11-8-0. I don't know what we're doing, man. I don't know what's going on in society, man.
That's crazy. World today. Doesn't matter, gravity's gonna end, and then we got killer meteors, so we're fine. Everybody's gonna wipe all these punks out.
All right, on to cigar news. Ooh. Do you wanna do your part first? Yes.
So we went ahead, and we reviewed who we believe as the top five reviewers in the space, in this particular kind of category. We're going to review another five. We're going to do Bear, we're going to do Developing Palettes. Second tier?
What are you saying? Yeah, like, you know, well, you have these, well, these guys are, I would say that these guys are definitely bigger, and then the other guys are more, like, blogger, YouTube format-esque, right? Okay. So, what we did, the three of us sat down, and we rated Cigar Snob, Half Wheel, Cigar Press, Dojo, and Coop.
Coupe. Yes. To come to the conclusion of who do we feel rated the best for cigars in that category, so top five. Top five.
Top five. Top five. Wait, wait. We're all saying top five?
Go ahead. All right. Why are we all saying top five? I don't know.
So... Because it's top five. Without further ado, should I go backwards five to one? Sure.
Yes. Okay. Coming in at fifth place. Wait, wait, wait.
Hold on, hold on, hold on. No, no, five to one. Let me back this up. Full disclaimer, we're not attacking anybody here.
We're just simply stating... No personal grudges anywhere. We're just simply stating, when we looked at the cigars, how we felt, which one was the best and which one was the worst. Yeah, because we rated each cigar.
Yep, we didn't even look at the names. Right. Right, there were no names on them. We looked at… Only you had the names.
Right. Here's how we rated it. We looked at the cigars, and we gave the cigars a zero through five. Zero thinking that it didn't belong on a top 25 list anywhere, and five was like a yes, definitely.
Now, of that, we only did the top 10 of everybody's top 25. So we did 10. Right. Okay.
10. So, coming in at number five. Wow, dude, you gotta laugh. I'm sorry, I don't know who's number five, I have no clue.
We have not seen the culmination of the stars. Yeah, you haven't seen everything combined, you don't know what it is. I just knew my paper. And I think the number one's going to surprise you.
Cigar Coop came in at number five. Aww. Yeah. Congratulations.
Yeah. You're the fifth best one we saw. Hey, you know, I mean, there's more than five, so five's not a bad number to be in. Well, at least he made the list, which is something that I can't say about any Roma Craft or Posada cigar on his top 25 list.
But it's, you want me to say the part where there's no personal grudges again. There isn't. Yeah, but you just added that part, it makes it sound like there is. Well, it's just funny to me.
Yes, it's very funny. Well, still, actually, it's the opposite. Here we are including him on a list when he refuses to acknowledge us. Like ha-ha funny or funny looking?
Okay, coming in at number four, and I'm going to tell you right now, number four, number three had a one-point difference. Oh, you guys should make a hat. Or buy one, you don't even have to make it. Or buy one, yeah.
Number four was Cigar Snob. Oh. Oh, they don't watch. Yeah.
They only say our name when we send them free cigars. Maybe we should send them this clip. And then I have some interesting facts that we're going to talk about when we're done here to kind of review it too. Okay.
Coming in at number three, which is just one point above Cigar Snob, was the Cigar Dojo. Oh. Oh. Mm-hmm.
No comments there, huh? I can't say his last name. Okay. Yeah.
Coming in at number two. Number two. And here's the shocker. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh. Half Wheel. Wait, what? Number one?
I know what number one is then. Half-wheel came in at number two. You know, I'm going to say, before you say who number one is, it's well-deserved. It's well-deserved.
Number one is well-deserved? So you're just moving on to the half-wheel conversation? Yeah, he's just not talking about that. He's moving on number one.
Half-wheel is good. I think they're good, but I think they're still bound. You think they're bound? Buy some things.
I don't think they're bound. I don't think they're bound. You don't think at all? No.
I don't think they're bound. I think that they're extremely diverse. I think they do a great job of covering. When I looked at their reviews, when I looked over it again, I was like, I'm going to tell you, before I go to the number one spot, Half Wheel for me ranked the highest.
Oh, out of yours? Yep. Half Wheel for me ranked the highest, and it was by a lot. But, ironically enough, your guys' votes, with the exception of one, were about one point difference from each other.
One way or the other. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah.
Palmer did his way before me. Mine was laying on the table, and he did his. Which is incredible. No, I didn't.
I was going to change the score once or twice so nobody will know. It took me forever to do mine anyways. And then coming in at number one was Cigar Press. On the phone from the Dominican Republic right now, Fred Rui.
No, he's not. Oh, thank you, guys. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Everybody look at my shoes. So, here and again, here's the interesting part. McRib, McRib. Cigar Press came in at number two for me.
Yeah. But Cigar Press ranked number one for the both of you guys. Oh. Yeah.
I think I like the cigars on it, just... His overall selection. Yeah. You're like, yeah, okay.
Yeah, I've had more of these. Yeah. Yeah, because if it was on one of the other lists, I never had it. I didn't give it a zero.
I did give it a one because it still made a list. So I did it, you know. Weird analogy there, but okay. I gave it a zero if I'd never heard of it before.
Okay, because you felt that it didn't. I mean, if it had not hit your radar throughout the course of the year. Right. That means that nobody talked about it to you.
Right. You didn't catch it on social media. You didn't see it anywhere, so you felt that it would have deserved a zero at that point. I think that that's fair, the gimme one is...
I'm immersed in the media knowledge of the industry because of this, so... He's very immersed. I'm very immersed. You didn't tell me about Ash on my last show, by the way.
If Half Wheel could put more stories out faster, I'd appreciate that a lot. So yeah, so congratulations to Fred Rue. Congratulations, Fred Rue. Of Cigar Press.
In the Dominican Republic. Great job. And yeah, I mean, for me, Half Wheel was well above everybody else. Could you tell me what cigar you liked best on Half Wheel?
No. Oh, okay. Because that's a dumb question. That'd be his.
That's a dumb question. What was the second best cigar he liked on Half Wheel? Probably the Padrón. They're number one.
Oh, did you have that? No. Oh, you just liked it. Look, here's what I can tell you.
As far as a brand, and a cigar that's probably always going to deliver, Padrón belongs on that conversation. Sure. So, you know, it's not like, I'm not going to say any other name brands. I almost did, but it's not like I looked at it and said, And said, that cigar took number one over mine, wow, you know, if you drop Padrón, I'm like, okay, but you know, the Matildes, I think they always do well, I think they're good cigars, the Cuesta, I think the Cuesta never gets enough attention, and I think that that's more, the Angel Cuesta, I think that's more along the lines of kind of failure to be in market and involved with it.
Yeah, I've never heard of that. But that didn't stop Half Wheel from giving it a nod, right? Yeah. So, yeah.
Yeah. That's where I'm at. So we're gonna do another one with the blogger type guys? Second tier people.
I didn't want to say second tier. Jesus. For you, you rank Dojo over Half Wheel. You felt that, yep.
Probably heard more of Dojo Cigars. And then Half Wheel, for you, you put Half Wheel over Dojo by one. Yep. So it's very, I mean, you guys, a lot of your numbers were kind of similar, except for one particular individual.
I don't know which one that is. No, we don't. It could be anybody. Could be anybody.
But. The cigar press guy, he's kind of pushy. But hey, you know what, guys, please keep doing what you're doing. Keep on...
Everybody keep going. Yeah, you know, it's an honor to review the reviewers. So please continue forward. We're going to work on, you know, the upcoming weeks to do the top five from, you know, Bear, I know I said Bear, and I said, who else I said?
Cigar Serdar. Developing Palettes. Conehead is another one. Conehead?
Yeah. Oh, he's a big one. How about the Smokey guys that keep commenting on all our stuff? Oh yeah, Real Smoke Pod, yeah, they've earned that slot.
Epicurean Smokes. Is Epicurean Smokes a reviewer? I believe so. If he is then, yeah.
With the Cigar Guys? I'm screwing that up, sorry if I'm screwing that up. So, we'll figure that out. We may have to do a little bit more than five.
We'll see. Gotcha. Okay, Cigar News. C.
Newman premieres chapter one of The American Story. They have put out a five minute video, I don't know how many chapters there are. I'm not saying, but they have done a video about making the American. Oh.
It opens up, it's done, it's shot very nicely, it's edited well, shot up with Bobby Newman sitting on a stool. They should have given him a chair. Yeah, why? Because he's all slumped over.
Oh no. It doesn't, it's not the best look Bobby's ever had, the young Bobby. Right. So he's talking about the cigar, he's talking about the cigar, he's in the factory, he's sitting on the stool, he's slumped over.
And then they cut to the evil empire in a tobacco field, and I turned it off. And that's where they lost you. Oh, it was a horror movie. It was a horror movie.
It looked like some monsters standing in a field. Got scary at that point. It got scary. He kept touching the tobacco.
It was weird. Ugh. Like, tickling it and grabbing the bottom of it? Kinda.
Yeah. Pinching at it and stuff. Getting the ice out. Yeah.
It's a new multi-part docu-series. OK. They're making up words, too. Celebrating the journey behind...
I'm sorry? Docu-series is a real word. I don't think so. Behind the American, the first and only, 100% all-American cigar, this short documentary series travels from the tobacco fields of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to El Reloche, the last remaining cigar factory in the United States.
Hmm. So, I'm interested to see the second chapter and make sure he's not in it. Jackie Sears is in the dictionary. It is now.
I didn't say they made it up today. Okay. We should do a movie. Yeah?
Yeah. Of what? Of you and Greg on a boat coming from Poland. You're wearing a tattered jacket and you both have those hats on that you don't like Greg to wear.
Just have AI do it then or something. Just kind of like a Peaky Blinders spin-off? Yeah, like a Peaky Blinders kind of thing. I have ideas for movies and videos and stuff.
I know, we had a storyboard at one time on the wall. Yeah, I remember there was one point. We have a very expensive piece of equipment that's for sale now if you'd like to buy it that we had to have. Oh yeah?
Which one's that? Which one's that? The gimbal. Which one's that?
The gimbal. You move it around and the camera stays straight. I think Chet and I used it once on one of our videos we made. It's never been used.
Nice. We're gonna change out our board here soon. Change our board out of a stick. Here.
Oh. Yeah. I have a drone, yeah, that we've never really used the one time. Oh, that's right.
He bought a drone. Well, nothing stops you from buying stuff. I mean, you bought a 3D printer, you buy all kinds of crazy things. Oh.
Yeah, but I did make some cool War Bears with that. Yeah, you did. We have one. One that's painted.
When somebody else made the, created the thing for you to print. Well, that was, yeah. Yeah. Which you also paid for.
Correct. All right, Gurkha announces a price increase for four Nicaraguan-made lines. Mm-hmm. They informed its re-enableders that it will be implementing a price increase on a handful of Nicaraguan-made lines.
How come just a handful, and why not all of them? I don't know. It's their classic Havana blend, the Heritage Maduro, Heritage Natural, and the Legend 1959. None of this means anything to me, because I'm not familiar with the product lines.
Right, me neither. But it is weird that it's just those four. It is a little strange. Maybe those are their most produced cigarettes?
High-end ones or something? I don't know. I think it's producers or something? I mean, I've never heard of any of those.
Maybe the tobacco went up. Alright, guess how much of an increase? I'm going to say 9%. Boots, Phil?
Are we doing percentages? Yes, percentage. 18. 18?
Isn't that the tariff? Okay, try again, Michael. No, he doesn't get a second try. If I'm closer, I win.
You both get a second try. 5%. You're going down? Alright, Phil?
10%. Alright, I don't know who wins because they're not saying how much it is. Oh, we have no idea. Oh, wow.
We have no idea what it is. Oh, okay. Our suppliers have made necessary price changes that we can no longer absorb while maintaining the quality and consistency you expect. So, I mean, is there a quality inconsistency we're expecting from Kirkland?
So, there's a price increase. Price increase. That was from the president, Jim Gallucci. But we don't know what the price increase is.
We're not saying how much it is. But we wanted to announce. That we're having one. That'll be more money.
More money. And it goes to an effect on March 2nd. It's very well put together. So, wait till March 2nd to see how much it is.
But we wanted to announce that. Wanted to make sure that you know. But you can still get the steak knives and the backpack and the coffee cups. It's the same.
No increase there. No increase on the coffee cups? Because we still have those. There's definitely an increase on the coffee cups.
We still have them. We don't order any new ones. We order too many. Tariffs have gone up.
We order too many. Okay. We have a lot of the blue ones. A lot of the blue ones, huh?
Yes, and the green backpacks and the steak knives. Okay. All right, Pro Cigar is going on right now. Yes.
Oh. So I wanted to know what Pro Cigar was. Okay. Nobody's saying.
You don't know what Pro Cigar is? I mean, I know it's a Dominican Republic cigar thing, but nobody's saying how it started or why they do it. They're just saying it's one of three, and this year only two of them are happening. Pro Cigar is the biggest one.
Depends on who you ask. If you ask the pro Cuba people, they think theirs is the biggest, but they have oil problems. Nobody can go there. Yeah.
They didn't even do it this year. It's been postponed. It's not canceled. Everybody keeps saying it's canceled.
It's postponed. Yeah. But for $2,500, you too can go to Pro Cigar. Really?
Yes. What's that include? Cost to attend each of the four nightly activities, tours during the day, transportation to and from the hotel, lunch, dinner, an open bar, some swag, and conservatively, because some factories are nicer than others, around 50 cigars. Ooh, a conservative number of 50.
Conservatively. It's a low number because some give you two, some give you boxes. Right. So it depends on which tours you take, And which factories you go to.
Would you go to Pro Cigar? If somebody paid the $2,500 and flew me there, yeah, sure. I don't, do you think you have to pay if you're in the industry? No.
Everybody has to pay to go, don't they? Everybody has to pay? Everybody has to pay. I don't know about that.
Didn't you go one year? No, I went to... You went to Nicosabar. Puro Cibar?
Yeah. No, you went to the one in Nicaragua. Yeah, that's what it's called. Nicosabar.
Puro Cibar. No, no, it's in Nicaragua. Okay. I don't know if you have to pay to attend if you're in the industry.
I don't think you do, but I know you do have to pay to be in it to show your stuff or whatever. Oh, okay. Well, I mean, you know, if you went, maybe you didn't partake in all the events or whatever, you just went down. Yeah.
I'm sure there's a lot of people that just go down. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The $2,500 does not include airfare or hotel.
Right. You just go and mingle into the parties? Yeah. Oh, hi.
But this is the one that has the famous white party. White party with the tan pants. So, everybody, the important question we're all waiting to see is, will Will Cooper and Eric Gutterson wear white pants? Will they wear the white pants?
And the white shirt. They've had plenty of notice. We're waiting to see. The answer is no.
It's a very important industry information we need to find out. So we will update you as the information becomes available. It's not available. It is a four-day event, I think?
Is it a four-day event? Sounds good to me. A four-day event. So hopefully in the next three days we'll get pictures.
So Charlie, if you're listening to our show, we could use a photo of what they're wearing. Or anybody else, please. No, everybody else wears white. They stick out like a sore thumb.
No, I mean anybody else that's listening. Oh, anybody else is there. Fred Rouet, if you were there, we just voted your magazine the number one reviewer. Wow, look at you.
We just supported your magazine. You gotta play the angles, Michael. Two weeks ago, he complained we didn't talk about them enough, now it's just, you know, something happens and now he's the number one reviewer. Yeah.
I'm not saying, you know, something didn't happen. Okay. But you stopped eating sweets two days ago. It was just yesterday.
Well, I meant today and yesterday. Yeah. So he could have bribed you with M&Ms. Yeah.
Not anymore. Not anymore. Not until Easter. All right, now it's time for What's the...
Oh, come on, man, you went too quick into it. You usually give us the... Oh, the industry's favorite game. What's the score?
I really don't feel good today. Yeah, obviously. All right, the first cigar, or the only cigar, November 30th, 2014. It is reviewed by Brian Burt.
It is reviewed by Brian Burtt. Ooh. It is a limited edition Nicaraguan cigar. It's the 262 Cigars, Mr.
Pink. I've heard of these. It's got a star on it. Am I going first?
Yeah. Since you've heard of it. 89. Have we ever done a Bryan Cigar?
Yes, we've done one or two others. You mentioned the other day that we'd never do one, so I found one. Yeah, that's easy to hear that... 86.
86, and when did you say mine? 89. Cigar Review, the 262 Mr. Pink, Country of Origin, Nicaragua, Factory, Tablacalera Carrera, Rapper, Brazilian, Mata Fina, Binder, Honduras, Filler, Colombian, Nicaragua.
Size 6 1/2 by 42, it's a Lonsdale, and he smoked two. A lot of positives here. Mm-hmm. Blazinga Marapina, good size.
Lonsdale. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna stay 89. 87.
Clue number one, the Brazilian wrapper is beautifully applied with a smooth, oily texture and minimal veining, Delivering an attractive presentation and a firm feel with just the right amount of give. Phil got excited and it was very... Is this the veiny guy? That's how we remember this guy now.
The veiny guy. He's the guy that has all the veins. Very vascular. 89.
87. Clue number two. The flavor profile is consistently engaging throughout, Speaking throughout, led by bold black pepper, sweet spice, creamy chocolate, earth, and espresso notes supported by solid smoke production and an overall smooth character despite the strength. What is sweet spice?
It's spice that's sweet. Oh, thank you for clearing that up. Yeah, like honey hot. Oh, honey hot.
Yeah, like honey hot. Honey hot. That's what I call my wife. Honey hot.
Honey hot. That's why you're in such a good mood yesterday. I don't think I'm going to adjust it either. Ninety.
Oh. Sweating over here like crazy. I will stick at eighty-seven. Is there a problem there with your hand?
Does that bother you? A little bit. Glute number three, construction was inconsistent across samples with minor underfilling and flaky ash in spots, plus a slightly muddled flavor profile on the final inch that wasn't as enjoyable as earlier thirds. Mmm.
86. Oh wow, that was a big jump down. A lot was said there. It said minor underfilling.
Flaky ash. Inconsistent. Muddled. They used the word muddled.
I'm going to stay at 87. Final thought. I enjoyed the 262 line, so I'm looking forward to trying the new size, a Lonsdale size that I love. Though there were some odd construction issues with each sample, the profile made sure those issues weren't what I focused on.
With flavors that melded nicely together throughout the majority of the cigar, it's certainly something I would like to get more of. Luckily, these are still available, so if the cigar sounds like something you would enjoy, I wouldn't hesitate in picking them up before the Humidor sells out. I like Brian. 88.
Yeah. Yeah, because you know this is going to definitely pelt a little bit higher. Brian does not care about the flakiness. Brain going.
Double brain. He's revving it up. He's revving it up. 87.
You went the wrong way. 89. Another W. Okay.
Where are you going to be this weekend? Uh, Sherliss's Mike birthday on the 22nd over Smoke Ring 72. I'm sorry. Say that again?
Smoke Ring 72 on Sunday. Whose birthday is it? Where is it at? Sherliss Mike.
Where's Smoke Ring 72? It's in Melbourne, I believe. Okay. What about, where's your north side event?
On the 25th from one to five, we're going to be at North Port Cigars in North Port, Florida. One to five. All right. One to five.
Anything else to add? Nope. We have a big LFD event here at Cigar Hustler. Oh.
Yeah. At the end of the month. Yeah. Still tickets available?
Yep. Come on down. Like and subscribe if you enjoy the edutainment. The edutainment.
Goodbye. From our docu-series. Bye.
Show Notes
On today’s show Prince Andrew is in Jail, you don’t tell them you have cocaine! Meta Call Apple on the phone then in cigars We have a new movie being released, Ghurka has a price increase and pro sober starts days 1….all this and a what’s the score but first Mikey how do we get some of that CHPOD swag!