ACHP Episode 480 Gas Prices Whiplash Again w/Richie Otero
Episode Summary
Episode 480 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast finds Mikey in the host chair (Palmer is out for a colonoscopy) alongside Phil — rechristened "Filberto" for the day — and special guest Richie Otero of Espinosa Premium Cigars. The first half is classic Hustlers miscellaneous-news banter: Florida gas prices jumping overnight past the $3 mark, nostalgia about dollar-a-gallon gas and diesel pricing, the Georgia school shooter's father being convicted of involuntary manslaughter (and a real conversation about gun safes and parental responsibility), Instagram, Facebook and X outages and whether AI power demand is behind them, AI voices in fast-food drive-thrus, and a long tangent on parenting, screen time, Snapchat vs. TikTok vs. YouTube Shorts, and which movies kids should be allowed to watch.
The cigar news segment covers the announcement of H. Upmann Nicaragua by A.J. Fernandez "Sunrise" — an Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos in four vitolas (Robusto, Toro, Magnum 6x60 and Churchill) priced roughly $13–$15 — which leads to a discussion of Altadis production shifting to A.J. Fernandez and Plasencia, and whether that added volume could affect other brands (including Espinosa) that produce at AJ's factory. Richie points to the personal relationship between Erik Espinosa and A.J. Fernandez and says he's seen no disruption in production. They also cover Opus X Rare Black expanding into three new Diadema sizes via Prometheus, and the Hoyo de Monterrey 160th Anniversary limited edition for the Spanish market — 1,000 numbered boxes of 10 at 36 euros.
The best stretch is a genuinely thoughtful industry debate: can a brand survive on limited editions alone, or do you need a core line? Richie and Mikey use Viaje as the case study of a company whose whole model is LEs (Farmer Bill Hatchet, Skull and Bones, Zombie Antidote, Honey and Hand Grenades, the Thanksgiving Stuffed Turkey releases), contrast it with Padrón and Rocky Patel's deep core portfolios, and touch on Privada's direct-to-consumer curation model. Richie also names his personal daily smokes — the 601 Green Label and the Espinosa Laranja Azulejo Corona Gordo — and they get into why Corona Gordo moves when a retailer smokes them while 6x60s chase value over flavor. The episode closes with What's the Score on Patrick Lagreid's Halfwheel review of the Plasencia El Año de la Culebra Edición Limitada 2025 Lancero (7 x 40, $49, 6,000 cigars), which Richie wins by staying patient at 87, plus appearances at Chi-Town Cigars, Humidor Fine Cigars in Dothan, Alabama, and Boll Weevil.
In This Episode
- 01Florida Gas Prices Back Over $3The crew reacts to gas jumping overnight to roughly $3.09–$3.10 and swaps memories of dollar-a-gallon fill-ups and cheap diesel.
- 02Georgia School Shooter's Father ConvictedA serious detour into gun ownership, safes, and parental responsibility after the father's involuntary manslaughter conviction.
- 03Instagram Crashes and the AI Power ProblemWhy social platforms keep going down, AI's strain on the power grid, and Richie's AI drive-thru order at Checkers.
- 04Parenting, Screen Time and Movie LinesSnapchat vs. TikTok vs. YouTube Shorts, and where each host draws the line on violent movies for their kids.
- 05H. Upmann Nicaragua by A.J. Fernandez SunriseThe new Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed release, Altadis production moving to A.J. Fernandez and Plasencia, and whether AJ's capacity is stretched.
- 06Opus X Rare Black Diademas and Hoyo 160thThree new Opus X Rare Black Diadema sizes from Prometheus plus the Hoyo de Monterrey 160th Anniversary Spanish-market limited edition.
- 07Limited Editions vs. Core LinesCan a brand live on LEs alone? Viaje, Padrón, Rocky Patel and Privada as test cases, plus how retailers really sell core blends.
- 08What's the Score: Plasencia El Año de la CulebraGuessing Patrick Lagreid's Halfwheel score on the $49 Lancero — tar, honey graham cracker, and a surprise finish.
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
- 3, 2, 1, and action! - Okay. Welcome to episode 480 of Cigar Hustlers podcast. I'm your current host, because the old man, I had to go for, um...
Drive? I mean, you could say drive, I was gonna say, what was it, like, something with his butt, he had to get an inspection or something? Oh, colonoscopy. He had to get a colonoscopy.
Yeah. Almost the same. Yeah. I mean, yeah, on the road.
On the road, it's almost the same, sit in that chair a long time. Uh, yeah, and, um, and I have a guest, a special guest today, who's, who has joined us in the fight for good. His name is Mr. Richie Riott Otario.
Hey! Special. I feel honored. You said special.
You're a good guest. I'm like a special guest? Yeah. And I'm excited to have you on because, you know, here's what's interesting about you.
A lot of people don't know this about you. But for one, you can be smart and witty, but sometimes you can also be very aggressive. Yes. In the words of Jack, I got no tabla.
I'm learning how to harness that. We're figuring this out. Yeah, together, right? We could hold hands and skip down the alley and try to figure this out.
Yeah. There's also something inappropriate about Phil here. Phil, how are you, sir? I'm doing great.
I'm glad you didn't read it. All right, yeah, it was pretty bad. Wow. Who's Phil?
He's Phil. You're Phil? That's Phil. Okay, today he's going to be Filberto.
I don't know what that means. That's Phil in Spanish. Filberto. Hola, Filberto.
Hola. Filberto. Look at that, he's got the hola down, bro. Hola, hola, hola, hi, okay, I love you, I got croquetas, croquetas, my name is Filberto, you got it, okay, all right, so, one day a Hialeah, look at that, just one, yeah, uh, on today's show, we're gonna talk about Florida gas prices, 'cause apparently they're going up, we're gonna talk about IG crashing, um, and we're gonna talk about something else, I don't see what it is, I already hit it, and then we're gonna do some cigar news, 'cause there's some new cigars coming out, very exciting stuff, nice.
And then we got a What's the Score? Ooh, I love What's the Score. But first, before we get into all that, Richie, do you know how people can get some of that CHPod swag? They gotta go on the website.
Yeah, they do. What's the website name? The website is the website that you're about to say right now. Oh, okay.
com. There you go. Where you can get all your latest swag. Recently, we just dropped the Smoke & Subscribe Triple Torch Lighter.
Dope. And Single Flame, so. Super dope. I think you just need to do some more Italian rod stuff.
Yeah, but you didn't pop off on it. Bro! You didn't do Cappuccino Sassanino. I was here and I wanted to buy it when we did the event and I forgot to tell you.
No, you said that if it was in kid size, I'm like, well, that kind of, I can't really do kid size. You know what, I will get on, do you still have those? I don't know, they might be out of stock. Extra loads?
I don't know. When you re-up, let me know. All right. I like to kind of create something and then...
Let it go away? Yeah, and then he clips it. It clips it. Can't think you guys have seen it was dope.
It was. It was a pretty good one. It was a pretty good one. We're starting to focus on some other things here.
Nice. Some Winged Hazar stuff. I'm excited to see the other stuff. Yeah, it's gonna be very good.
So, um, so there's that. You gotta tell the viewers that if they're enjoying the edutainment that they should like and subscribe. Oh, like and subscribe and make sure you're part of the Patreon too. Oh, yeah.
The Patreon's a big deal. Just, just letting you know. Richie is part of the... The Espinosa team is part of Patreon.
Yes, but the Espinosa team practically funds the Patreon at this point. Why wouldn't you? So entertaining. Thank you.
That's very nice of you. You're such a sweet man. Very kind. You are sweeter.
You have kind eyes. Oh. So, without further ado, let's get in. Say things like that to me.
I'm going to do this every week, bro. I mean, it's a little bit of a drive, but, you know, I understand you can make it work. All right. So, Palmer wrote a bunch of stuff here, just so you know.
Just so you know... The miscellaneous news stuff that you guys always talk about? Yeah, we're gonna cover all of it, but I'm gonna cover it the proper way. But before you talk about the news, you made an important news the other day, and I've been saying it, I'm a little disappointed.
First of all, my first time on the show, Palmer's not here? Boo. Whatever. Fine, I'll take it.
He's, you know, getting his butt sheets checked. But where's the freaking Whopper with the new bun? Yeah, you know what? I didn't even get the original Whopper when that had happened.
I got a Whopper Junior, and that was a- They brought you a Whopper Junior? They didn't go- Yeah. You weren't worth the extra dollar? That was the Filberto's- Filberto?
Filberto. Filberto. Filberto screwed that up. It was DoorDash, bro.
What do you want from me? Let me just bring you a Croqueta. Yeah, a Croqueta for sure. That would be way better than the Whopper Junior.
Whatever. So- Next show we need, I'll bring you. I will tell you this, the McDonald's, the Arch has officially dropped, the Golden Arch. What?
Yeah, it's already out, so- We should probably just go that route. I'm down. I'm more McDonald's anyways. But anyways, as we're kind of getting into things here, gas prices overnight shot up.
Crazy. Yep. 99. 09-ish.
Didn't it just like take over a bomb? Well, that's, yeah, we did do that. I think that that might be part of the reason. Yeah.
I'm not sure, I don't consider myself an economist. Not me either, I mean, I sell cigars. But, yeah, so, like, how do you feel about gas prices being above $3? I mean, listen, in our lifetime we saw it reach, you know, above $4.
We saw it above $6, buddy. Yeah, like, I mean, what are you gonna say? It's gonna go up and down, you know? Gas prices rise, sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down, you know?
What are you going to do? 10, that's nothing. Listen, I remember when I first started driving. Yeah.
It was like one something. Right. Right. And we were complaining about, oh, it's $180, oh my god.
Yeah. And I see my dad, he's like, $180. I remember, I'm like, dude, I mean, it sucks. Right.
I distinctly remember being in the car with my mom when I was a little kid, and she goes, oh my god, it's a dollar. Yes. Like the gas has officially broken a dollar. Yeah, like we're now living in a time like, what the hell?
Yeah. I want to be seven again and able to drive. Yeah. Now that I got to pay the gas.
Yeah. And the company's got to pay. Right. Charge it to the game.
Sucks. Yeah. That's a good move. How do you feel, Filoberto, filibuster?
Filberto. How do you feel about gases? Well. I don't know about gases.
With your gas guzzling truck. Yeah, Mr. Diesel. Mr.
Diesel, Mr. Lee Ellis. Yeah, I mean, diesel's higher than regular gas. You know, there was a time when diesel was cheaper than gas.
Yeah, not no more, not when I bought one. Everybody wanted a diesel because it was cheaper than gas. Well, that's part of the reason. The other part of the reason is that that motor will run forever.
100%. I remember, one of my, well, my second car was a diesel Saab. Oh, wow. I don't know.
Okay. We've had some recent car conversations. We had a diesel Saab. Sob, I had a diesel Sob, yeah, and how was that, it was cool, I was the only kid with a Sob, right, yeah they weren't common back in the day, it was a two-door Sob, it was like the poor man's Porsche, right, is that what that was, that was that, that's what they consider that, I had the two-door, import, I'm important, right, by the way, yes, I don't like the gas prices, But it doesn't matter, because I don't make them.
Okay. You never let me answer. It's true. True.
We want to include you, but we don't really care about what you have to say. I get it. Oh, Filberto, I care what you say. Thank you.
Thank you, Richie. With that mask. Yeah. Yeah.
You look like the phantom of the opera. Right, you like the Biggie sticker? Yeah, I like that. I like that stuff.
Okay, so you ready to move on to the next story? Sure. All right, so check this out. The father of the Georgia school shooter found guilty of murder and manslaughter.
So, this guy's, his kid used a gun to kill a few people at the school, allegedly, right, or supposedly, I guess, accused of killing. The dad owned the gun? Yeah, the dad owned the gun. The student killed two students and two teachers at a high school.
Right, right. They found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Do you think that the father should have been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter? I think this happened in Georgia.
Okay, you own a gun. Yeah, I, yes, I'm, yeah, I'm a Floridian. It's a right to passage. Correct.
Your parents, it's your job to lock up your firearm. Yeah, uh, yeah. It's your job to be a parent and know what's going on for your kids. I agree.
I, you know, the funny thing that always happens with us, we always have conversations with people. And I remember my brother telling the story. Uh, hey, somebody approached him, like, hey, I'm thinking about getting a gun. He's like, okay, what's good for home defense?
And then you go back and forth. And it's like, yeah, well, probably just a shotgun would probably be the best approach. That's always the first answer. Get a shotgun.
Yeah. Because you hear the noise. A burglar hears it. Right.
Pepper time. Yeah. But then the person's like, okay. And they go away for a little bit, like a week or two.
And then they come back and they're like, hey, I think I found the right shotgun that I want to get. And my brother's like, okay, perfect. What kind of safe are you getting? 100%.
And he's like, what? " Where are you gonna put it? You're just gonna leave it? Just sitting on the counter?
I mean, like, what are we doing here? In the corner by the front door. You know, listen. In the corner by the front.
You know, before my son was born, and before me and my wife moved in together, you know, I had plenty of firearms, right? Yeah. One of the choices I made is like, you know what? Because I've never lived with a kid, right?
Right. You know, first my daughter, right? And when we moved in, I kind of liquidated in a way where I gave some to buddies of mine that were big firearm guys. Because I don't know.
Yeah, you can have a safe, but you still have that in the back of your mind if you're a parent. How do you keep them safe? Right. Yes, he should be charged.
It's involuntary. It's his firearm. It's his kid. Yeah.
I mean, we don't know the extent of the whole situation. We're just kind of snippeting this and looking from a bird's eye. I hear you. But listen, you're a father.
Yeah. I'm an amazing father of that. Oh, thank you. If you see that your kid is kind of off on something, if you're not asking the right questions, right, we'll forget to that level.
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, being an involved parent is a lot, but it's the only thing that you should be. And, but it's hard, you know, you can be an involved parent and still miss things. You know what I mean? Okay, granted, the safe.
Yeah, yeah. How did that kid even have a, if he has a safe, how did that kid even have a combination? They have a combination. Right.
How did he know how to get access to it? I mean, there are questions there. There's a lot of variables there. Yeah.
What about you, filibuster? I'm sorry. Go ahead, Richie. I like the fact that you're running things now.
Do you think that they charged him without doing those investigations? Like, how did the kid get in the safe? Yeah, of course they looked into it. Okay, so there's, Filberto.
Yeah, so, I mean, I agree that he should be charged. I just don't agree with the amount of time that they have to serve. Like, the pre-agreed-upon amount of time that they came up with this law. What are you talking about?
Did you say that he's- I didn't say anything, I just winged it. I was just saying, yeah. Oh, I thought he said it was 25 to life. I missed that point.
18 in life. Listen, if the father is getting his first charge, he's never been charged, I'm sure it's involuntary, I'm sure he'll have to do some pre-trial and some- Well, they probably hit this dude with the book only because this is a pretty prolific situation. They'll hit him with the book? Yeah, they're gonna hit him.
He's gonna be made an example of. So what you're saying is that they're gonna bury him under the jail? I never heard a hit him with the book. I've heard the term throw the book at him.
I've never heard- Yeah, I guess that's the same thing, right? Not really. Hit him with the book. Strike him down.
Can you please give Gilberto the benefit of doubt? He just learned English. Yeah. I don't- there's no- there's no terms here as far as what the sentencing is.
They're going to give him a charge, and I'm sure if the guy doesn't have any, if he doesn't have any priors, they'll probably give him pretrial, they'll just make an example, I'm sure. No way, this guy does time. He's probably going to do time. If he's never been charged, he has a right to a pretrial, I mean, he, it's involuntary.
Now, if it was him doing it, oh, that guy's not getting pretrial, that guy's, but he didn't do it. What do you think, how many years do you think he serves? If he does, well, you're saying he's not going to serve any. Mikey, how many years do you think he serves?
I don't know, maybe like three or four years. Is the kid alive? I agree. I agree with that amount.
His kid? Good question. I think he got, he got shot. You think so?
Yeah. Oh, they're throwing. I don't think that he knows any of this information. No, probably not.
He's just winging it. Yeah. Well, first of all, this is our podcast. That's what we do.
You know, why don't we call Coop? Let's see what he does. Involuntary manslaughter, killing teachers. He killed some teachers.
Oh my Lord, not the teachers. Another teacher and eight other students were wounded. Gray was also convicted of multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children. So I think that this kid was caught.
Yeah. That's what it sounds like. I'm sure he's going to have another charge and they're just giving the guy a charge. Does it like open up a door for lawsuits and stuff?
Like, hey, you're a part of this and now you're going to be civilly? Listen, honestly, anybody can sue for anything. I could sue you for looking at me the wrong way if I wanted to. Yeah.
Bam. Doesn't worry to pick up the case. Did I look at you the wrong way? No, you always look at me the right way.
Thank you. Attaboy. Thank you for noticing. There is those ambulance chasers out there, though.
You are correct. Somebody's gonna fucking service him. Right. Huh.
I mean, not service him the Friberto way. Right. But service him. Don't feed into him, Richie.
Don't feed into- What are you talking about? Don't feed into Mikey's stuff. What do you mean? See, that's the way, see the way he looked at you, now he's got you in his grips.
Friberto, I want to incorporate you in our conversation. You are very important to me. I appreciate it. Yeah, because he says really, really intelligent stuff that we love to hear.
Hey, it makes a show. It does. It's the mask. All right.
Another thing, though, real quick, I did need to get to some of our YouTube comments. I was, I was going to ask you if we were reading comments, because you do that with the CH pod. Yeah, well, I'm out of that. I'm out of my chair.
So if you could, you know, kind of keep me in line, that'd be great. I'm in your chair? I feel so. No wonder I feel so cozy in here.
It's your chair. Empowerment. It feels old. I feel like a colonoscopy.
Rook's Coatings, Rook's Coatings, Rook's Coatings, Rook's Coatings from episode 479 wrote, wait, this isn't real news. That's true. You know. You said Brooks?
Rook's Coatings, yes. Francis Saletto says, I can have, I can, I can and have replaced Phil. Everyone's replaceable. Wow.
Beef bento's not replaceable. Yeah. Thank you. From episode 478, Sticks and Puck Cigars says, Principal, I think it was Prince of Pay, Cigars has some amazing blends.
Aviator Series is great. Commonwealth is great. That's good to know. Maybe we should give them a try.
Yeah. Right? So there's a couple. Let's try them on the show.
Yeah. No, you don't do that to somebody. Maybe we'll run into them at the show, at the PCA. There you go.
I think we did Amory's, yeah, Squatty Potty. Yeah, she did a squatty. What was it? Squatty Potty?
Well, the Squatty Potty guy, he got popped. That's a joke name. The Squatty Potty guy? Why is he called Squatty Potty?
Because he, you know what the Squatty Potty is? No idea, teach me something. The Squatty Potty is like a thing that you put your feet on when you're pooping. Oh, that's to elevate your feet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy got popped for kiddie porn. Yeah, he's in trouble. Really?
Oh, wait, I did see this yesterday. Yeah. I don't feel like you, you gotta watch the show. I did watch it, that's why I'm able to, you talked about it right after the burger situation.
Okay, maybe. It's possible. That's right. So he got caught like on dark web shit, right?
Yeah. Yeah, I remember that. No. No bueno.
No. So with that being said, if you'd like to hear your comment, potentially read out loud on our podcast, comment below on this episode and maybe it'll happen. So getting into our final news story for the day. Instagram crashed.
Oh, my God. Yeah. Matt, did you notice that? Matt, no.
Matt, no, I didn't. Matt, it always happens like in nighttime, right? Matt, I think that this has been, like things have been more common lately, especially with some of this AI stuff. It's kind of weird.
Matt, you think Iran's testing this? Matt, no, I don't think Iran's testing this. I think that it's a power grid question, you know? Matt, too much?
Matt, yeah. Matt, it's, yeah, there's this, the AI stuff has really kind of taken over as far as using power, and I think that that's causing everything else to get jacked up. Because Instagram was down, we've had Facebook crash, we've had X was down a few days ago, all of these social media platforms have definitely, there continues to be this issue. AI's crazy.
Yeah. To the point that you go through a drive-thru, it happened to me a month ago, you go through a drive-thru and instead of someone speaking to you, it's an AI taking your goddamn order. What's the person? You go to Wendy's.
Wait, what restaurant? It's Wendy's. Actually, it was at Checkers because I wanted a hot dog. Oh.
And... You eat the hot dogs at Checkers? I'm so used to going to Checkers, like, hey, how are you, how you doing, whatever, not proper English, but this chick started talking to me, hey, how are you this evening, na-da-da-da-da-da. Oh, yeah.
Wait, Siri's on? What type of person works at Checkers? Like, Hillbilly? What is it?
Oh, it depends on the area, Papi. Yeah. Yeah, it does, yeah. You know, you got that Miami hood, you know?
It could be anything. You got that, you got that, what up, OG, what up? Oh, really? What up, gangsta?
Really? Up here, you get that. It depends, right? Yeah.
I guess where you're at. We're in Deltona. You're in Deltona. You got that.
You got that math language. You got that math language. Wow. Hey, would you like one of those chili cheese dogs?
So you had an AI experience. I had an AI experience in a goddamn drive-thru. Okay. And she sounded like Siri.
Yeah. Crazy. But it made it nicer. But by the time I got to the window, it was a person like that, did that, I literally, my question was, did that thing get my order right?
Yeah. It got my order right. I think AI is upset when you call it that thing. What do you call it?
You may offend it. I may listen. They're not. Oh, they are listening.
Geez. Yeah. Then the checker's voice may follow you home. Skynet comes over and we got Terminator.
It wouldn't be to that level. I think it'd be something like, you know, they'd make your microwave explode while you were by it or something. That sucks. Yeah.
I got kids. Not the little liquid metal guy comes out of the ground. No, we're not there yet. That's the T-1000.
T-1000. Yeah. Okay. So, were you upset that IG was disrupted?
Are you on Instagram a lot? Do you like Instagram a lot? I was probably asleep, that's why I didn't notice it. What's your social media platform that you go to?
What's your go-to? IG and Facebook. Yeah. And my daughter says I'm old.
You use Facebook? I go, I guess. What are we supposed to do? Isn't that funny?
Facebook is an old person. It is. It is. It's crazy.
What are we supposed to do? What's the new person? YouTube. Just IG and the kids love Snapchat.
Snapchat's getting old. Snapchat's getting old, but now it's all TikTok. You think so? Absolutely, but the kids, you know why they like Snapchat, and I learned this, my wife taught me this?
Because they can message someone and it disappears. It's untraceable. Yeah, but okay. But isn't that WhatsApp?
Yeah. No, WhatsApp is encrypted, so no one can kind of. Right. But no, I think Snapchat's kind of obsolete, bro.
But the kids are using it because they can get away with shit on it. I don't, I don't, you know, no, you can still screenshot these things. Yeah, but then you know if somebody screenshot it. Yeah, it says that they screenshot it.
It says that they screenshot. My daughter taught me that if you screenshot something in Snapchat, you know when somebody does it. It doesn't matter. If you're out of line with what you did, you know that you're officially screwed.
Right. That's what the Squally Plot guy did. Oh, God, they got me. That's entertaining.
So, Mike, what's the new thing that the kids are using? Because I think you were trying to go somewhere with that. I mean, I think that YouTube, you know, it's actually the other way around. I think that's more about doom scrolling than it is...
Oh, TikTok. Oh, TikTok is insane for games, bro. Okay, but like it's still a major content platform where you can kind of promote a lot of things. I think YouTube Shorts is probably the biggest one.
Oh, YouTube Shorts, absolutely. Well, that's why you have IG and TikTok blew up because it's just shorts. Short format, you get all this information quickly. But you just said Snapchat.
And I'm telling you that Snapchat's old. I'm telling you because my 17 year old daughter and all her friends use it. So it's like, it is old for us. She's like two years out of just like of aging out, you know what I mean?
Talking about it, it's scary, right? Yeah, so, like my sister-in-law, who was like a daughter to me, she's 20-something years old, she's probably like 24, well, no, she's not. She's 25. She also always used Snapchat, you know what I mean?
And now she's getting older. So I'm like, eh, you know, it's kind of worked. It's worked through its system, right? But you're absolutely right, YouTube had a little bit of a dip, then it blew back up again because of the shorts, to the point that all the online guys, like influencers or whatever, they start just putting shorts on IG and they put their shorts on Facebook, like, yo, go to my YouTube, and you look at someone, I mean, go back, we'll go back to, like, Italian rot shit, you look at all that, you go through all those shorts, it's insane.
Right. I mean, my kid is seven years old, and all he did, we, I mean, me and my wife are always like, no shorts, find something. Right. Because how do you control, like, him scrolling through on the TV, right?
And you're like... Right. No, no, we want proper TV. Well, at least it's visible that you can see what he's watching.
Big God. Yeah. Yeah. But it's crazy.
It's crazy. So your kid's seven? He turned seven in April. Does he play video games?
He, so he has a Switch. Okay. He barely plays on it. Barry plays on it.
He'll play NBA with me. Right. He plays Zelda once in a while. He wanted it.
Original or new? The newer one. Okay. But he wanted it just because his friends had it.
But the moment he had it, that's it. Lost his luster. Right. You know, our kid is like jumping around the house and doing gymnastics and jumping on couches and trampolines.
We literally have a trampoline in our second living room where he's jumping around. Nice. He's an actor kid. No Call of Duty or anything like that?
No, I won't allow it yet. You won't permit it? Do you play Call of Duty? I used to.
I don't got time for video games. Where is the line for movies? Like, what is he allowed to watch, and what can he now watch? So the most recently, the most kind of like was the line of like, this was a little too much.
He actually, we took him to the movie theater to watch the new Superman when it came out. And you felt that was the line? There was some things. Listen, a guy got shot.
When Lex shot that dude in that pocket universe, straight up. That was pretty cold-blooded. Yeah, that was like, what do you do there, you know? That was intense?
That was intense. That's where you drew the line? That's where I was like, oh man. I was like, all right, well, we're already here.
Cold-blooded. Did he freak out? Thankfully, that wasn't like the actual scene, but he was like, oh, he got shot. I'm like, yes, he did, son.
You're not watching that again. Wow. Yeah. Wow, that was a great movie.
I loved that movie. Totally watched that again. But I don't want him to. Like, you know.
Why not? He's six turning seven. Dude, so? I get it.
You know, like, I don't know, look, we all have, there's no right and wrong here, right? There's always just different perspectives, right? So, you know, it's just like, I have no problem exposing my kids to those movies and stuff like that, right? Like, where there's some violence, some violence, you know.
When you say violence, you mean like the Superman one or like diehard violence? I hear you. How old are your kids? Six, ten, twelve.
Is your six-year-old watching Mortal Kombat? If she wants to. Yeah, don't ask him what his six-year-old's watching. Okay, okay, all right.
If she wants to. That was the wrong one. Again, that goes back to me. Let's go back to this kid that shot up the school.
I don't want those kids. Okay, so like, here's the thing. I'm not saying your daughter's going to shoot up a school. No, I got you.
I never took it that way. My six-year-old, she doesn't like to watch Moana because of the volcano. Like, you know, it's like, no, I don't like the bad guys, right? He'll watch, right now she's on this tear of like National Geographic animals things.
That's awesome. Aiden loves that. So look, I'm not, I'm not saying, no, you need to watch this stuff. If like, that's what she loves to watch, hey, have at it.
Aiden loves that stuff. You know what he likes too? Yeah. When he watches shorts, like AI, like let's say like figurines that are getting cut, like glass, like one that was like, oh shit, this is kind of soothing, like glass being cut and like, oh shit, that's AI.
Right. Like he likes that shit, like intriguing shit. Right. But he's not looking for the violence.
Right. So I tried getting him into, like, the animated movies. Yeah. And then I realized some of these animated movies are super more violence.
That's not okay, yeah, that's not okay. More violence, like, no, we're not watching this. No Batman for you. I tried watching the show, and it was just like, it just wasn't fun.
It was just, everything that they said was just terrible. Yeah. You said no Batman? All the animated adult shit.
Oh. I can't get into it. I think it's weird. It gets weird.
Yeah. But he likes anime. That's crazy. Like, would you turn on the original Batman?
Not like the original. I'm sorry. I mean... Like the cartoon from when we were growing up?
No, Keaton. No, that was the most violent one. Really? That's the only time Batman shot somebody.
You have a thing with shooting people. No. Batman, Michael Keaton, Batman is the only time that Batman used a gun. Yeah.
I gotta tell you, man, I've taken my kids to see Deadpool. You know what? That's awesome. I love the movie.
This is hilarious. I'm not there yet for eating. Uh, you know, the most intense. Here's what happened when, when I think Jax was 11.
He's like, you know, he wanted to watch John Wick cause you know, he saw these cool scenes. Oh, such a great movie. So we sit down and we're two minutes in and the puppy dies and he goes, okay, I'm done. Starts to cry and starts to walk away.
And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It gets better. Like this is the, you gotta understand there has to be a catalyst. This is going to be a catalyst.
This is the premise of the movie, right? Right, right. So, like, something has to tragically impact this guy, right? So, it's like, okay.
Then he sits back down and then we go through all of them. He's like, you're right. That was awesome. You know what's funny?
Do you remember what your first movie at a movie theater was? No. I could tell you which one was mine and I was like, holy shit. And it was a violent one.
Yeah. My grandfather, I'm in Chicago. My grandfather lived and died in Chicago, right? You said it was a violent one, holy shit.
It was a violent one. My first movie in a movie theater was Under Siege. Oh, that's a great movie. What a great movie to be exposed to.
That was my first movie. You got a set of titties and everything. And I had a big problem where I thought I could do everything Steven Seagal did. And my son is that kid that if he sees somebody jump off of something, he's gonna try to jump.
The last thing I want him to do is like, I'm gonna grab a knife and start doing shit. Like, no, we're not doing this right now. And for the birthday, you want a naked lady to pop out of a cake. Yeah, no, we're not doing this.
But that was my first movie, so I tried to not do the things that were done to me as a kid to my son. I think that's fair. Yeah. I think that's fair.
I think my first one was like, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" or something with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor. Yeah. Man, you guys are older.
My first movie out of movie theater was The Mask. Man, you guys are older. Filberto, how old are you, Filberto? 38.
You're not that younger than me. Go eat it. That's what I'm saying. - Well, like Mikey says, you're on the other side of 40.
- I am. - Right. - So what does that mean? - I don't know, once you hit the 40-- - I'm only five years older than you.
- Yeah, but once you hit the 40 line, it's like, you're kind of like-- - Yeah, but you're kind of at that cusp where your knees are hurting already, right? - Wait a second, wait, what are you trying to say? - Yeah, my knees get hot sometimes. - Oh, once you hit the 40 line, what?
- You're kind of older, like you're getting to that realm. - You're kind of older. - Yeah, you're kind of older. You're not older yet, you're kind of older.
- He's trying to save himself. - That's interesting. It's all right. I'm an old man.
It's all good. I mean, I didn't say that. I don't feel old. I feel like a kid still, man.
I feel like a kid who's still trying to figure it all out. Listen, I feel the same way, but there are certain things that are like, "Oh, wait, hold on. " What is this pain? What is this situation here?
You think you could put on pads and go play a full football game? Me? Yeah. I mean, I've never done that before, but...
Oh, I thought you played football when you were a kid. I was in middle school once. I worked my whole life, dude. Oh.
Uh, yes, I think I could. I'd be pretty confident in that. Yeah, I need some rest in between sets, but yeah. I don't know, man.
I know when I played in that adult basketball league, that was rough. Okay, but like, listen, you're way more overweight than I am. Oh, wow. Unbelievable.
You are. You are. How much extra? At that time I wasn't though.
How much, bro. I mean, maybe the new, but. He's not overweight. He's fluffy.
Let's not lie to him. How much? Well, right now I am. My wife's pregnant.
And that's your reason. Yeah. Dude, when they get pregnant, bro. When she snacks, you snack?
Yeah, thank you. He knows. Dude, when you snack. He has more than us.
When you snack, you snack, bro. Don't blame it on me. I mean, I like snacks, but I don't have snacks. We're men.
We were going to use that excuse, and it's okay. Right. All right. I believe.
Thank you. Okay. Dude. Wild.
What's next on the news? Yeah. In other news, Philberto's cholesterol levels are skyrocketing. Wow.
All right. Well, now we're on to some cigar news. Cigar news. I'm down for it.
This is actually an interesting topic here. H. J. Fernandez, sunrise announced.
So this is a new cigar. 's factory, right? Right? Because the whole Altidus, you know, whatever the guy's name is, Chong Wee thing.
Gen Z. Yeah. Gen Z. Whatever his name is.
He's a Gen Z-er. Yeah. Um, AJ Fernandez has taken over the majority of the Altidus operation and then Pacensi has taken over some of it as well. So now they're talking about the newer cigars are also going to be made at AJ Fernandez.
Right? Um, you don't know the answer to this question. I'm, maybe you do, but, uh, just wait, before I get into that. It's an Ecuadorian Connecticut seed wrapper over a Nicaraguan blend.
It'll be offered in four Vitolas, Robusto, big, big letters, Toro. Hold on, getting the next one. Magnum, 6x60, and the Churchill. Wow, what an array.
Is it the Churchill or a Churchill? It's just Churchill. Oh, okay. J.
Fernandez Sunrise Churchill. So they're ranging between $13 and $15. Alright, so, you know, production's obviously being ramped up with AJ from all these other factories, and Espinosa does make a lot of cigars with AJ. Like, are there concerns that AJ might say, "Hey, you're like, I'm kind of busy here"?
I mean, listen, that's a question that's above my pay grade. But what I know, I don't think so. Does he sound okay? Because he's getting further away from his work.
Remember, we're in the factory, no could tell. We're not, you know, at what I know, right? But again, that's above my pay grade. I don't see anything going wrong with our production.
We're still receiving stuff. A lot of people don't realize there's a very personal relationship between Eric and AJ. We're a very different situation than other brands. Like Eskimo Brothers or something?
No, that's just weird. Wow. You took it there. Wow.
Well, here's why. Here's why I took it there. Because I asked a question. And then all of a sudden, you got very dim on your voice.
" "So let me ask you this. " "I mean, I don't know. " That guy can handle a lot of things, you know, he's well equipped. He's very well equipped.
Well equipped. He's got his own reef. There's a reason why people want to work with him, right? He's buying Niagara Falls next.
Yeah. Okay. All right, so hey, there's a new... We're gearing up towards...
And it's called Sunrise? Yes. The Churchill one was. Hold on, let me back up.
Ha ha ha. Such a nice name. H. Upman Sunrise.
Wow. I wonder if they're going to make a sunset. Sunrise. Sunrise.
Maybe they will. Would the sunset be a limited edition? It'd probably be Maduro. It'd be a Boulder cigar.
This is Ecuadorian, Connecticut. Oh, wow. Boulder by AJ. Only AJ.
Only AJ. Only AJ. Okay, so look. We're gearing up to PCA.
PCA is April 18th through April 20th-ish. So, now we're going to start to see new cigars are going to be announced along the way, and that's what's really going to be common news for us on the show. It's that time of year. It's that time of year.
Right. You know, first quarter is like a lot of people get fired, we call them entering the portal. They have made it. We had a nice mix of that.
Yeah, they have made it past that. Everybody that's still here. Yeah. If you're still here.
Congratulations. Congrats. Well, you still got a little bit of- But, congrats to me too, I still have a job. Yeah, well, I mean, look, they, you know, Jack speaks nothing.
Alberto is still here. Yeah. We don't pay him. Well, yeah.
I can't really. I mean, I guess I could be fired, but I guess not. I don't know. Bring Whoppers.
You'll be fired. Bring the juniors. Bring the full size. I can't wait to hear the critiquing of your podcast from Jack.
For sure. It's going to be amazing. All right. I've tried.
There's some words that I'm trying not to say, like, um, is one of them. And, you know. Yeah. I learned a lot.
You have some ash on your shirt there, Richie. Oh. That's his job. Yeah.
He should be an ashen former. Yep. You look great. Jack is like a big brother.
He teaches me things. Jack's a pretty good guy. He's a pretty amazing. Phenomenal human being.
Yeah. So's Hector. Great guy. Yes.
Eric's alright, too. We got a good team, like you said. Yeah, you really do. We got a good team.
Yeah, you gotta, yeah. Gavin, though, I don't know. Leave Gavin alone. Leave Gavin alone.
Tyler's my favorite. I know he is. Tyler's my favorite. Do you still want him as your Florida rep?
No. It's okay. I don't get butter. Well, first of all, I mean, you're taken, right?
Like, you're, you know... Oh, you like Tyler because he's single? I think that you do... I'm sorry.
No filibuster. That was an Eskimo question. Yeah. Well, but you said he was taken.
I didn't know what you meant by that. Well, you know, if you're asking me, are you doing a good job in Florida? The answer is 100% yes. You're doing a great job.
I'm just saying, but would you prefer, if I moved to Tyler, I moved to Tyler Territory and Tyler would be here. Who would I take? And that's okay. I won't be butthurt.
Listen, I don't care if you are or not. I'm still going to give you my honest opinion. You know what? Don't answer that.
I don't want to put you in. I don't want to put you in the hot seat. No, I love this. I absolutely love this.
I can't believe it's taking this long, first of all. You should be interviewing. I don't know. This is phenomenal.
I absolutely love this. You know, I have more of a relationship with you, but I think that I would take Tyler. 100%. I would too.
And I'm going to tell you something. The one thing that really impressed me about Tyler is Tyler has this happy kind of ability about him, right? So like the first time I met him, I was like, dude, you seem really excited. Tyler's always happy.
Yeah. I'm like, you seem really excited about being a cigar industry. Let's see how that goes in two or three years, right? And then two or three years later...
He's still happy. He's still happy. I'm so happy. And I'm like, alright, well, let's see how that goes.
I'm a grumpy old man. Let's see how that goes in another year or two. Right. And then, you know, and it's still the same tempo.
Yeah. Right? So, I need that in my life. Yeah.
I want that to be. You want positive in your circle. Yeah, I'm like, give me that. We have history.
Yeah. It's okay. Yeah, yeah. So, Tyler's, yeah, Tyler's the guy.
Yeah, he is. Tyler's the guy. He's a monster. I still love you.
I'm not saying, but if I was in your chair, I'd probably say Tyler. I can't be grumpy sometimes. I don't think I've ever seen a grumpy Richie. I don't think grumpy is the term, I think it's more guarded.
Guarded, yes. I think that when someone will say something to you, you could take it and interpret it as an insult or that they're kind of attacking you and then you pop right off. Tyler's not. It's like, how did we get there?
There, right? You know, like where did we... Like, wait, hold on, Richie. But Richie, you live down in Miami.
That means nothing. And Tyler lives where? And he's the happiest guy in the world. Indiana?
Tennessee? Where's he at? Where's Tyler? Where do you live?
Tyler's in Indiana? Indiana. Yeah, they're, you know, it's different there. Is that what it is?
It's just different? It's the Miami water? Yeah. Or Miami bravado?
Yeah. Interesting. Okay. All right, so Opus X is releasing the rare black diademas, Coming later this year, since 2021, they've only been two sizes of Opus X Rare Black, that will change later this year, when Prometheus will ship a trio of new Diadema of Atola offerings.
So it's black? Yeah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Heaven and Earth, Rare Black Diadema, 54.
5 by 54. And then the Opus X Series, Heaven and Earth, Rare Black Diadema, 56. 25 by 56. It's a lot of rare cigars.
So many rare things. 5x60. Super, super rare. I don't know.
Are you excited about this? I'm excited for everybody that's still thinking and putting out cigars. Listen, we're in an industry where we're able to put new cigars every year and people are excited for us, so good for them. Do you think there's ever a line where Opus X has released so many different limiteds and so many different things that the demand actually weakens?
Because I haven't seen that line yet, but do you think that it exists? The same way you don't have that answer, I don't. I don't think there's ever a line. I understand, I just want to get kind of your point of view, what do you think?
I don't think there's ever going to be a line. You think there's no line? No. There is no line.
There's no line. No, I think it's great. I mean, I'm not a fan of Fuente and Opus X, but I think anybody that releases Limiteds and releases a lot of them is great. It's something new for the followers.
Do you, do you, do you, LE's, when a brand just becomes LE's, it becomes a problem, but when you're doing LE's for your, your fan base, right, it's, it's cool, right, and it drives sales. Yeah, you can't be just a company that does just LE's, you have to have a core line. Would you like me to argue that counterpart? Yeah.
What am I going to say? But, I know what you're going to say. What am I going to say? Go ahead.
I'm going to let you say it. Go ahead. Go ahead. That's where you draw that.
How many LEs can you put and you're only doing LEs? Well, listen. There's a company called Viaje. That's my point.
They do a great job at that. They do a phenomenal job. Right. I get to pick and choose if I want the LE or if I don't.
And more often than not, the ones that I pick, they're gone before they land. 100%. But that's not every store, though, that has that. So I feel that if you're basing your model on just sell ease, you have a smaller reach of...
" And that's his business model. Dude, I think that the harder part in this industry is consistently by having a consumer that buys Core Line. So, in order to cultivate that consumer and continue to grow with that consumer, for one, you got to acknowledge them, and for two, you know, like, the retailer needs to take care of them. There's a combination of things that occur.
" But those aren't true LEs, or VI? What do you mean they're not true LEs? No, their whole model is LEs, Papi. It's like, that's it.
Yeah, Papi. E. E. is like...
What's your go-to? I know Pustania well. It's like the banger ring. E.
Like, it didn't come back out again. It may. It's limited edition. It may come out again.
It doesn't matter. Listen, everybody... I mean, listen, I know him well, and I think, you know, it works for him. And he doesn't want to be...
He tried the core line thing, and it just wasn't his thing. It's hard. It's hard. You gotta...
Listen, people don't realize, you know, you look... You know, we're making comments about, you know, about Fuente, but they make the LEs for their followers. Yeah, ultimately, yeah, at the end of the day. So...
Can they back away from making LEs and would it hurt their business? I don't think so. How many cigars do you smoke a day? Me?
I don't smoke enough like people think I do. I probably smoke two a day. You suck on that battery, though. That's a problem.
I just smoke cigarettes. I don't care. No, no, that's not okay. It's not okay.
We're changing the subject. It's not okay. I will bring you a waffle. We're changing the subject.
That is not okay. He's hangry. That is not okay. See?
He may be. Okay, so you... So, do you think... Let's take Biaje, because that's one.
Yeah. Do you think a brand with... Because Biaje doesn't have salespeople, right? Okay.
It's just him and his buddy. Okay. Do you think a brand can only survive on LEs? I'm going to table that question for a second.
I want to talk about you here, briefly. So, you smoke, allegedly, two cigars a day. Probably. What do you smoke?
My favorite is the green. Is the who? 601. 601 Green, and Azulejo is my favorite.
601 Green is great and... Garange Azulejo is phenomenal. Okay. Corona Gordo.
So those are both considered core? Yes. And so you smoke two core line cigars on average a day. Okay.
I didn't bring up the other thing. Which is still core. Hey, listen. But anyways, moving on.
Is it pink? I think it's pink. What color was it? It's Miami Teal.
Miami Teal. It's Miami too. Tiffany Blue, for those that are fancy. But anyways, do you think that a brand can survive only on core line?
Taking BI out of, you have a sales team. Do you think a brand can only survive on core? Yeah. I mean, on LEs.
On LEs. Yeah. Yeah, I think you can. I'm only learning.
Realistically, you have the what's new kind of approach over and over again. But, wanted to put out another new core line? Is that another new core line? Well, what if that core line isn't sustainable, you know?
Sure. Look... This is all conversation right now. Retailers are hard.
Retailers are very complicated. I mean, you know, there are particular sizes that do well, as you know, with particular retailers. And then there's sizes that don't do well. There's particular blends that do.
And a lot of that's based on the people who are behind the counter or the fact that the retailer likes this cigar, right? Right. If a retailer smokes a bunch of Corona Gordos, more often than not, a lot of their consumers are going to be like, this guy knows what he's doing, this is what he likes, so... I'm going to buy what he's smoking.
Right, so Corona Gordo is going to move, but then maybe that 660 Gordo doesn't move, right? A lot of those 660 Gordo guys, they're trying to get value for that cigar, they're not trying, they're missing out on my opinion on a lot of flavor profile, but no one, maybe they're too stubborn to be kind of guided, or that's what they love, hey, whatever, that's what you want to do, that's what you want to do. do that's what we want to do but you know i think that's you know there's no cookie cutter mold system to anything you know because like look you could have the argument of hey you got to have you got to have people on the road you got to have people in every single corner like tell that's a padrone oh well padrone's the exception okay well they're pretty big exception yeah you know what i mean like so but so don't tell me that that's tell it to roma roma doesn't have They're not slouches in the industry. They're doing pretty damn good.
But with that being said, I also understand the value of somebody on the road. But Roma has a very, very deep core line. When I see them on the shelf, they have a lot of core. Sure, they have a lot of core.
They have a lot of limiteds within that core. Right. But their core portfolio is huge. Right.
But now we're kind of switching the conversation. I transitioned off of this LE or core work, and I said, well, it always depends upon the company. The brand, right. Absolutely.
And so does the sales force. That can change too. I mean, Andre doesn't text me about his product. He doesn't call me.
No, you get that automatic. This is what you're going to get. No, no, I get an email. Yeah, you get the email.
I'm sorry. And here's what we're offering. And then I look and say, I'll take it. Or, I'm going to skip.
You're always going to take the Thanksgiving and holiday one. Uh, you'd be surprised. Stuffed turkey. Stuffed turkey.
You'd be surprised. We struggled on one of the stuffed turkeys. What's the other one? Is it a hatchet?
Well, that's because it was... Farmer Bill Hatchet always does well. But the stuffed turkey changed, that's why, remember? Skull and Bones does well.
However, if it doesn't say skull and bones and it's just another skull on something else, it may struggle. Right. Yeah, shotgun shells, they do good. Shotgun shells are awesome.
What's the other one? And was it the antidote? Oh, the zombie antidote? Oh, the zombie antidote?
That was fantastic. Oh, fantastic. So cool. Honey and hand grenades, those do well.
Right. But another company is like, like Privada, like they were LEs. I guess he didn't really blend them, but he was only LEs. That's a different animal.
That's a different animal. That's direct to consumer. Yeah. You know, I don't know how involved he is with the blending of stuff.
sometimes he probably just acquires things that he thinks taste good but a great curator marketer look there's room you know there's room for him in this industry too i like that whole program that he has for the retailers is also pretty cool sometimes the things that he says can be entertaining you know but i don't hate the guy i got nothing yeah i have nothing against him you know same way we could be saying something that somebody might disagree with oh yeah somebody He definitely disagrees with everything I say. So it is what it is, you know? Yeah, we get comments every week, or every day. Yeah.
Can, you said, I can't believe you. Like, oh, okay, man. I can't believe you. Well, I'm sorry.
You're smoking a cigar on the show. All right, let's see. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Opus X, yada, yada, yada.
We got more news, right? This is lovely. I don't know. Oh, yeah.
One more. Let's go for it. The new Hoyo de Monterrey, 160th Anniversary Edition. Oh, okay.
160. Yep. celebrates the 160th anniversary of Hoyos de Monterey, limited edition. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Spanish market. Only 1,000 numbered boxes, each containing 10 Habanos with a double band, the standard red and white of the brand, and a commemorative white band. You've got to see the letters. So it's the same cigar?
It's the commemorative 160th anniversary. It's a limited edition. It'll be very attractive. It has a white band.
It's very different. It's all about the It's priced at 36 euros. Yeah. So he's Cuban.
43 bucks here. Yeah. He's Cuban. 43 bucks?
Well, you can't get it here. It's Cuban. I'm just saying. If you could, it'd be like 47 bucks.
I'm not paying. I'm not paying that. Alright. Filberto, you won't pay?
Not 43. Tobacco? No, no, no. Oh, Filberto, you're a bad Cuban.
Filberto, it's that time for the industry's most popular game. what's the score? Palmer's going to have so many comments about this show. Alright, May 17, 2025, Patrick LaGreed, Cigars Limited Edition, Nicaragua, Plasencia, The Plasencia El Año de la Culebra, Edition Limitado, 2025, Lancero.
Okay, I don't know how that works, but alright. You're the snake. What's that? Culebra, you're the snake.
But it wasn't a Culebra, but it's Year of the Snake, but it's Spanish. So, but it's a Lancero? But it's a Lancero. Why?
He just translated it to Year of the Snake in Spanish. But why? Why wouldn't we make the Year of the Snake in the Snake Fatola? I don't know.
You see what I'm saying? I work for Espinosa. I work for Espinosa. I got a great sweatshirt, by the way.
I meant to wear it on yesterday's episode. Yeah. But I'm not going to wear it today because I want to rub it in Palmer's face, so I'll have to wait till he gets back. Oh.
It's a beautiful switch. Oh, the care package. Yes, I got the care package. Fucking good people there, man, I gotta tell you.
Alright, so, with that information, filibuster, you get to go first, because our guest gets to go second. That is the appropriate way to handle this. I just want to say, this timer here makes me feel like I need to shoot a ball or something before this. Go ahead.
Does Richie know how this game works? Of course he knows how it goes. I just, I like to know where we're kind of at, like, because we look to try and get an hour's worth of content. Okay, cool.
Right? And then, yeah, well, we're pretty comfortable. We're, like, right on par. At this point, like, if we were getting close to that hour, then I would expedite this.
Or if it was going, or if we were under. You look comfortable. I'm very comfortable. I'm in your chair.
Yeah, I'm very comfortable. All right, let's play this game. Yeah, you're slapsing kind of like Palmer, too. Who?
Oh, you are. There you go. All right. So beefy.
There we go. Let's go. Let's go. It's a Plasencia, so it's probably going to be, let's go 87.
87? Yeah. For the year of the Snake Lancero. And limited edition.
E. E. E. A.
And you said it was who? Who's reviewing this? Patrick. Yeah, it's 87.
I'm going with 87. Somebody's paying attention. I'm second, right? Yep.
I'm going to go 90. Okay, going second is the advantage. Okay, cigar reviewed, Plasencia El Año de la Culebra. Wait, did you give your score?
No, I have the score here. He can't play. Oh, you have it, that's right. I don't get to.
It's me. I'm so used to you here. My bad, I apologize. It's me versus you, Richie.
Oh, oh. Country of origin in Nicaragua. Game on. A.
Rapper, Nicaragua. Binder, Nicaragua. Wait, let me guess. Nicaragua.
Puro. Length, 7 inches. Ring gauge, 40. Shape, round.
MSRP, 49. Oh, my Lord. This changes everything. Yeah, it is.
Release date, December 2024. Number of cigars released, 6,000. Boxes of eight, 48,000 total cigars. Number of cigars smoked for review, tres.
Well, you know what? Matt, the price really doesn't matter. I mean, they came out of the box with like a twenty-something dollar cigar and everybody loved it, so... Go ahead.
" Yeah, it was fucking phenomenal. It was like twenty, what, twenty-four, twenty-five bucks? Mm-hmm. All right, go ahead, Fidelberto.
Eighty-seven. I'm gonna stick with ninety. Let me ask you a question. When you're listening to the show, do you play along with us?
Absolutely. Yes, nice. There's some times that I hear a score like, "You're an idiot. " Mike, you shouldn't say those numbers, I know.
Yeah, it's so weird. The, all right, clue numero uno, the Plasencia El Año de la Culebra Edition Limitada 2025 impresses visually with its elegant, slender, vitola, and unique band placement, while the cold draw offers inviting notes of light, chocolate, and creaminess that create a smooth and appealing start. Filibuster? You got him thinking now.
He hasn't really used Coco Nibs. Okay, well, that's Brooks, and this is Patrick. Oh. Get your Half Wheel guys correct.
Sorry. You don't embarrass us, you embarrass yourself. Okay. So...
I got to say taco meat. Taco meat's, you know. Go. Let's see.
37. Yeah, I'm sticking 87. I'm gonna go 91. He's predictable.
As the cigar progresses, clue number two. But I am the winner for the week. As the cigar progresses, it delivers an interesting and evolving profile with flavors like honey graham cracker, earth, and pepper, complemented by a solid construction, a good burn line, and surprisingly strong smoke production. Tastes like honey dirt.
Nice. It's very good for you. I like the taste of the snake that is Lancero, not Snake Vitolo. Right.
I need dirt. $49. American dollars. Not Euros.
Not Euros. I'll go to 88. Oh, it increases to 88. My problem is with Half Wheel is that sometimes they do these amazing reviews, and then all of a sudden they throw a number like, wait, hold on.
You just was doing dope shit, and now it's like, dude, Lord, I'm going to bring it down. Nope. I'm going to leave it at 90. You know, what you're explaining is the way Mikey or Palmer reads it.
Palmer's very good at being deceptive. Yeah. And as we approach clue number three, despite the enjoyable flavors, some samples suffer from dryness, tar buildup, and occasional throat irritation, which can detract from the overall experience and create some inconsistency between cigars. Inconsistencies.
Go for it, bro. Was that the end? Well, we have a final thought. Oh, okay.
Yeah. 86. I'm going to go with his 85. Oh, tying it up.
He's tying it up. Okay. The final thought. To borrow from my review of the Liga Privada Unico Series, Year of the Snake, among other reviews, there are times when a few puffs or even a full third can carry an entire cigar.
That is certainly true, but so is the inverse. Sometimes a cigar hits a rough spot from which it just can't quite bounce back. Ooh. I'll never say that finding tar in a cigar is an absolute deal breaker, but it does present an obstacle.
Where the cigar really left me wanting an improvement would come by backing off from the slightly to irritating sensations I kept finding, as that distracts from the otherwise enjoyable flavor. I'm all for a cigar with some character to the smoke, but this one just did too much for my preference. While I enjoyed the flavor on the whole, on the whole, There were enough spots where I found myself distracted from it, something that I feel will be sticking with me as a parting thought, more than the better spots in the cigar. Oh.
Mm, 83, scramble, scramble, scramble. I was going for 83, I'm gonna go 84. You went the right way. Oh, it was 85.
It was an 87? Yep, it was an 87. Unbelievable. I should have just stuck with my original, it's a placentia, they're going to rate it high, unbelievable.
Yeah, you blew it, you lost, you lost to our guest, just like that. Well, at least I didn't lose to you, so I'm still the winner on the regular show. You went too low, if we're going to, okay. You did lose to me, didn't you lose yesterday?
No, I hit one on the head, and you got one by close to it. But you guys take a tally of this? Yeah, well, kind of. If we took a tally of this, my score sheet would be this big, and he would be like, right here.
It's phenomenal. We don't bother. It seems like a waste of time. I'm sure Palmer probably writes it down.
I'm gonna bring a chalkboard for you guys just so you get it. Okay. Next Tuesday, Palmer will be on Chi-Town Cigars at 7:30 Central Standard Time. And then March 26th through 27th, myself and Mr.
Palmer will be at Humidor Fine Cigars in Dothan, Alabama, as well as Bowl Weevil. And do you have anything else to add for this podcast? No, man, I'm happy you had me on. I'm happy we had you on, too.
Yeah. You were more relaxed than I thought you were gonna be. I was expecting more irritable Richie, and we didn't get that, so. I'm not friends.
Well, and he didn't freeze up. Yeah, he did a great job. Yeah. He did outstanding work.
You know, yes, you are, you are, we are, we are friend, we are friend. We're friends. You're good, you're a good friend. Gilberto, good croqueta guy.
Gilberto, yeah, not so much. " He's going on a cruise. The last place this guy needs to be on is a buffet cruise with a pregnant wife. " He's gonna fucking murder that buffet line.
What cruise ship are you going on? MSC. They're fucked. Is there a lot of good food?
No, they're just fucked. I don't think you give a shit if the food is good. You're just gonna eat it, period. Yeah, probably.
Exactly. Yeah. Right. Not a job at you, but you're just gonna eat.
Right. Right. Hopefully smoke cigars. Mucha comida para tu.
Filberto. Look at this guy over here. Lots of food. Mucha comida.
Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone. Okay. Well, again, thank you so much for coming on.
We appreciate you. Yeah, man. Filibuster, it's always a privilege to have you on here. Thank you so much.
We appreciate you as well. Enjoy your vacation. You'll be missed. Thank you.
We're not replacing him anyways. Wow. You have like a couple seconds. Oh, we're in good shape.
We're in good shape. Check this out, ready? Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you've been viewing or watching or listening to this show. We appreciate your support.
We hope that you enjoy the content that we provide for you every weekday, Monday through Friday. Wow, you didn't use your word. The edutainment? Yeah.
Edutainment. Edutainment. It's all about the edutainment. That's awesome.
All right. All right, that's it. That's it. Thanks so much, guys.
Thank you, guys. All right, bye. Bye.
Show Notes
On todays Show Florida Gas IS The best Apparently, A father pays The Price of being stupid, IG is Down! And then in cigar news we got some new cigars and then finally a what’s the score.