ACHP Episode 488 Walmart Flasher, Japanese Bears and Cigar Scores

Episode Summary

Mike Palmer, Mikey and engineer Phil open Episode 488 on St. Patrick's Day with the usual off-the-rails news block: a Walmart parking-lot indecency arrest in Ohio, a Class 1 FDA recall on Made Fresh Salads cream cheese contaminated with listeria, and a Japanese couple who fell into a hole containing a hibernating bear and fought it off with hiking poles. They also cover comedian Bert Kreischer's tour bus catching fire on the interstate after a blowout, and a detour into recent streaming picks including Wrecking Crew, Becky and Family Plan 2.

On the cigar side, the crew breaks down news that the Trump administration is drafting a new tariff plan naming roughly 30 countries — including three key cigar-producing nations, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, plus Costa Rica — with talk of moving from 10% to 15% and back over a three-year window. The hosts make the point that tariffs are effectively a tax paid by American consumers and retailers, not by the exporting country. They then discuss St. Louis's Board of Aldermen voting 8-6 to advance an event-specific smoking-ban exemption in hopes of luring the PCA Convention & Trade Show, and debate better host cities — Tampa, Nashville, Dallas — while noting PCA is already booked through 2029 between Las Vegas and New Orleans. There's also recap chatter from The Great Smoke, with Aganorsa Leaf bringing a full team, Steve Saka selling out fast, and Espinosa's Jack Torano in attendance.

The episode features three rounds of "What's the Score?", the show's guess-the-rating game against halfwheel reviews. First up is the Powstanie San Andrés Corona Gorda (Nicaragua, Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder), praised for black pepper, espresso, cocoa nibs and gritty earth, with the hosts tying at 91 — the exact score. They also recap Powstanie's halfwheel accolades, including the San Andrés Belicoso at No. 2 on the 2024 Top 25. The second round covers the Paul Stulac Blue Lightning Sky Lancero from Charlie Minato, a $10 Ecuadorian Sumatra-wrapped 7x38 whose intriguing flavors were ruined by relentless relights — it landed at 74. The finale is a throwback to the 2017 review of the Papa Chogui limited edition, a Dominican puro with a striking fatty tuna, sugar cookie and pistachio profile undone by an excessively open draw, scoring 77.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Swag, Comments and Housekeeping
   Palmer and Mikey thank listeners for the Mr. McGoomer pre-order and read YouTube comments from the audience.
2. 02
   Walmart Parking Lot Arrest
   An Ohio man is arrested after an indecent encounter with a woman sleeping in a Walmart parking lot — and an ill-advised follow-up line to a store employee.
3. 03
   Class 1 Cream Cheese Recall
   The FDA upgrades a Made Fresh Salads cream cheese recall to Class 1 after listeria contamination traced to a single mixer.
4. 04
   Japanese Bear Attack
   A 60-year-old hiker falls into a hole with a hibernating bear and his wife beats it back with walking sticks.
5. 05
   Bert Kreischer's Tour Bus Fire
   The comedian's tour bus blows a tire and burns to the frame on a Midwest highway with no one aboard.
6. 06
   New Trump Tariff Plan Targets Cigar Countries
   Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Costa Rica appear on a 30-country list, with rates potentially moving from 10% to 15% over three years.
7. 07
   St. Louis Courts the PCA Trade Show
   The city's Board of Aldermen advances a smoking-ban exemption for its convention center, prompting a debate over the best PCA host city.
8. 08
   What's the Score: Powstanie, Paul Stulac and Papa Chogui
   Three rounds of guessing halfwheel scores — 91 for the Powstanie San Andrés Corona Gorda, 74 for the Paul Stulac Blue Lightning Sky Lancero and 77 for the Papa Chogui.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Welcome to Cigar Hustler Podcast, episode 488. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Is today St.

Patrick's Day? It will be when the show goes up. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today, Today in Engineering, it's Phil, on St. Paddy's Day, green beer is not the only thing inside of me.

Ooh, wow. What else is inside of him? I don't know, you gotta ask him, I don't know, that's what he's telling me to say. Inside of you.

And as my co-host, Mikey, I'm not Polish, I'm not Irish, wait, I'm Polish, not Irish, so no green for me, besides, no one celebrates, Wigilia with me. Wigilia. Wigilia, the W sounds like a V? Yeah.

I wish these foreign languages would just make the... Oh, my God. Oh, Gigi, just rang as soon as we started the show. They would make the letters sound like American letters.

That would help me tremendously. That would make it better for you? Yes, it would. Well, the original language is not American.

Doesn't matter. We're the biggest. On today's show, Walmart's rollback sale has a whole new meaning. We have a level one food recall, Japanese takeout, Burt Kreischer is on fire.

Oh, I heard about this. Then in cigars, Trump begins work on a new tariff plan. St. Louis wants the PCA.

We have a special mid-show What's the Score? A single. What? You'll see when we get there.

And then a full round of What's the Score? Madness. All this and the usual annoying banter. But before we get started, Mikey, tell us, how do you get some of that CH Pod swag?

And maybe the googly-eye Palmer shirt? Like and Subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show, for starters, at this point, when this airs, the pre-order for the CH Pod, Mr. McGumer has- Oh, it's over? Yeah.

Oh, I thought there was one more after this. No. So- It's over, Palmer. It's over.

It's over. It's over, Johnny. It's not over. So, let's see here.

Shout out to- We've got some great dudes here. Julian Gordon. Yes. My dear friend, Ken Miller.

Ken Miller. David Hoffman. Yes. And Corey Davis for all partaking in the Mr.

McGumer pre-order. Mark Palmer didn't get a McGumer? He did not. He must have missed it.

Yeah. Those are great guys. com, where you buy one, get the second one 40% off, spend $100 or more, and you're going to get free shipping. Getting into some comments from our YouTube page.

Oh, I love the comments. Was that for luck? No, this is for them when I cut this 10th Jubilee. On Vigilia.

We haven't got that for yet. " However, after seeing the dishwasher safe note, if I ever see a poop knife while visiting someone's home, I'm definitely asking if they have ever used the dishwasher to clean it. And if yes, I'll remember to never eat at their home. I said that one earlier, I like that one.

That is 100% accurate, Marty. " Maybe four microphones is too much for the new board. Yeah, that was probably a problem, on top of other things. Right.

I don't want to get into it too much. I'm trying my best to be nice about all of it. We're still learning. I'm trying to be nice about it.

Don't worry, eventually we will get it set perfect, and then we'll buy more equipment and it won't marry. Right, yeah. Then we'll get the new stuff. Right.

Then we'll have new, better stuff we don't know how to use. " Carlos would be great on the podcast, for sure. " - I didn't see that one. - Yeah, then the other ones are on some short clips, and yeah, that's what we got.

So, if you want to hear your comment on the show, comment below on this episode, and if it's funny enough, it might make the show. And what else am I forgetting? Info, or the edutainment, whatever that... Edutainment?

Give it to us with a bang, here it comes! The edutainment. If you value the edutainment that we're providing for you, please like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening, but I think I've already done that, but I didn't say the whole thing. You didn't say the word.

No, yeah, you didn't say that. People like the word. The edutainment? Yeah.

Okay. What are we doing for the Patreon? I don't know. You laid it down a bit.

We are doing... I mean, I was about to ask you that, but I mean, feel free. The Dunbarton. How's that look?

That is good. Take my line. Dunbarton 10th Jubilee. Take my line.

Does it only come in the one size? Yeah. Okay, just curious. 3 grams, just so you know.

The Jubilee size. The Jubilee size. jubilee size jubilee all right we're ready to go yeah all right a woman says she woke to a knock on her window after dozing off in a walmart parking lot she encountered a 36 year old ohio man who asked if she was okay okay after confirming she was fine he went back to his car which was parked next to her car and started to play with the soldier let's say really yes and then she uh She wasn't really paying attention, so he honked the horn on his car and asked her if she would like to help him, I guess we can just say. Oh, very nice.

Oh, join him. The actual quote is join him, but join help. Right. And days later, the suspect told a Walmart employee that he wasn't feeling well.

Same guy from the car. Okay. " That's hard. Aha.

Ah. He was taken into custody after that, and the police arrested the man. Okay, so... Okay, so I'm not fully following here.

So he... Ladies asleep in her car in a parking lot at the Walmart. Yeah, and he did this. He just started to handle his business.

Knock, knock, knock. Right. Everything fine. I got all that.

Okay, then... But then afterwards, he... They had him on tape, but he had left. Right.

Okay. And then he came back. " And that's when they sniped him? And that's when they grabbed him and arrested the man.

Got it. Yes. Okay. So, how long did it take Phil to get bailed out on?

I was about to ask Phil how long he was in for. Is that where you were going? That's where I was going, yes. Yeah.

Wow. Phil, how long were you in for? With the floating bone? Were you doing the research for the floating bone movie?

Yeah, with the hyoid. Wow, Palmer. I'm just curious. People want to know.

Nobody wants to know about that. Who is it that made the comment, Michael? What's that? Who made the comment about his floating bone?

Epicure and Smoke. Epicure and Smoke. He also said my name was Boots and not Phil. Yeah.

Well, he got that wrong. I like that you continue to have lighter problems on it. Yeah, I'm going through lighters and there's all the lighters down here. There is not a lighter in his room that has fuel in it.

It's like Greg's house. Here, bro. Here. I have filled some of them up on different occasions, and every time I come back, they're out of fuel again, so I've given up.

Really? I mean, I spend more time in here than anybody else. Right. There is one over here that has a little bit of fuel, and you get a tiny little flame just enough to light cigar.

Okay. So, there we go. So, there. So, Walmart.

Walmart parking lot. Don't sleep in the parking lot. And we're making fun of Phil. Yes.

Okay. Ahhhh, you guys like my hat? Yeah. Is that what you asked a lady?

It looks very hard. Yes. Yeah, it's not the only thing. It's a hard red.

It's not the only thing that's hard? It's not the only thing that's hard? Is that the only thing red near your head? Yeah.

Okay. All right. All right, come on. All right, another level one food recall.

Maybe how many of these happened. Now that we're on the FDA mailing list. Now you're excited. We haven't talked about one of these in a while now.

No, no, we ate a level one last week. Level one means possible death. Oh. I skipped the level two last week.

It was oysters. You could get norovirus. Okay. Oh, man.

That sounds horrible. There's a level one food recall. Assorted cream cheese products. Okay.

Have been recalled by the Food and Drug Administration for the potential cause serious adverse health consequences or death. Okay. They have been tainted with listeria. What?

What was it? Listeria. What was it? Assorted cream cheese.

Cream cheese. There's a list of flavors, but it's way too long to read on there, just if you have cream cheese, be careful. Is there a brand, or just cream cheese in general? It's called Made Fresh Salads is the brand.

That sounds horrible. So they, on February 20th, they did a recall, just a general recall, something's wrong with the cream cheese, and then they found out it was Listeria monocyclogens, which causes serious and fatal infection in those with weakened immune systems, the FDA says in a news release. Now, long after the guidance was upgraded to a Class 1, which occurs when there is a reasonable probability that the use of sportive leather will die, that was on March 11th, three days ago. All right, the upgrade took place on March 11th, according to Newsweek, which cited official FDA enforcement notices.

They found out that one of the mixers had been contaminated with listeria and had been stirring the cream cheese. It's been mixing it this whole time. Mixy-mixy. Just the one.

I mean, it's not the only mixer. It's not the only mixer, but one of the mixers. So how does Listeria get on a mixer? I have no idea.

I don't either, that is not part of the story. Maybe a sneeze? A sneeze causes Listeria? Listeria will kill you if you get it inside of it, especially if you have a weakened immune system.

Yeah. Maybe this is a terrorist attack from Iran. I doubt it. I doubt it.

Cream cheese attack? It's a five pound vat of cream cheese. So it's commercial cream cheese. You have to buy a five-pound.

Well, maybe Costco. It's a gallon jug. Five gallons. That's a lot of cream cheese, man.

Yeah, it's five pounds. That's a hefty amount. A lot of cream cheese. So if you live in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, New York City areas, and delivery by retail stores and distributors, the FDA said so.

Oh my God, those people eat bagels with cream cheese probably all the time. Right. It's some good flavors, too. It's kind of like.

They're going to lose their billionaires due to taxation. They're going to lose their normal people due to cream cheese. Wall Street's dead. It's going to be a barren town, that New York.

Mayfresh Salads has since stopped using that particular mixer in question and removed it from service. Nice. We've solved the problem. The mixer's gone.

We've gotten rid of that one. Yeah, but the same guy that took that apart touched this one. That's fine. Back to the other one.

Back to the other one. Okay. So, as you know here, we only cover the level one death one, so I appreciate people sending me ones for glass in the peanut butter or little rocks in your fish sandwich or something, but it's not going to kill you, we don't care. Yeah.

Death only. Death only. Surprising how many there are. I know, you keep saying that.

We get it. It's just, it's crazy. We get it. It drives you nuts.

Drives me nuts. Yeah. It's not safe to eat anything. People are still alive.

Every day. Yeah, you never hear about anybody dying, they must catch you pretty early. Right. All right.

All right, now we're moving to Japan. Okay. A 60-year-old couple was out walking through the mountains in Japan. Okay.

It was snowing, they strayed off the path a little bit, they got a little bit lost, then the man fell in a hole. Okay. He got stuck in. Like a regular hole?

Yes, standard hole. Standard hole. Not a punji bee hole? No, not a punji sticks?

Yeah. Yeah. Nope. Worse.

It's worse. Oh, good. He got stuck waist deep. His little feeder.

Help. I'm stuck. I'm stuck. Okay.

Oh. He kicked a bear in the head that was hibernating in the hole. Oh, no. The bear ate half his body.

The bear bit him on the calf. Okay. He's yelling and screaming. His wife helps him get out of the hole.

She pulled him out of the hole. Pulled him out of the hole. The bear came out of the hole. Yeah.

No shit. Yeah. They pissed the bear off. They woke him up.

Right. Comes up. Blood on his face. Wiping his sleep from his eyes.

You know, because he'd been hibernating. He attacked the man and the lady. Okay. They had walking sticks like John Carney.

Yeah. They beat the bear away with the walking sticks. Oh, the walking sticks saved them. The walking sticks saved them.

That's why this news coverage happened. That's right. So, no more making fun of John Carney with the walking sticks. Because in case there's bears, he can beat them.

Yeah, it was the skiing pole one, just like John said he had. Yeah. So it only bit him in the calf? Only bit him in the calf.

Didn't tear his calf off, it was a bite, and then he screamed and his wife pulled him out of the hole. How lucky is this guy? No shit. And his wife is the one who beat the bear senseless with the walking stick.

Love of a good woman right there, buddy. That's right. I mean, you know, 'cause he's laying there on the ground holding his calf. Yeah.

If your wife got stuck in a hole, Phil, and a bear was biting at her legs, and you knew that if you removed her, the bear would then come out and attack both of you, would you remove your wife from the hole? He has to think about it. Yeah, I'd probably remove her, but make sure she's behind me when I'm running. Well, she can't run, she got bit in the leg.

Yeah, she got bit in the leg. Oh, well then she's, no, I'm not removing her from the hole, I mean, she's gonna die anyways, right? No, the old man. Yeah, no, that's it, that's the logic.

That's the logic. Let's say she has not had your new baby yet. Then do you save her from the home? She's still with child.

Still with child. Your new son. The heir to the McGaffey fortune. His Majesty.

The Prince. Prince Phil. Yeah. I'd remove her.

You'd remove her at that point? Yeah. Make her have the baby and then take the baby and run. Yeah.

So you're saying your kid's more important than your wife? Yeah. Okay. With the wife, you could make a new kid.

You could always have another kid. You could always get a new wife. You could always get a new one. Oh yeah, he's had two other boys like me, so you could always get a new one.

Yeah, come on, homie. Yeah, at this point, the wives and kids are about the same number. You could just start over. Yeah.

Right. What would you do, Michael? Oh, you're gonna beat the bear up. Well, I do.

Yeah, dude. No question. You're gonna jump in the hole. Yeah.

Head first. Dive in the hole. I mean, if I'm stuck in the hole, I'm like, just leave me here. You can't risk it.

You can fight the bear and then come out with this brand new bear skin rug for your eyes. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, don't pull me out. If you pull me out, this bear is coming out.

You gotta go. You gotta go. Just run. Just go.

I'll deal with this. I'll deal with this. I'll catch up later. Yeah.

Or I die. Don't leave the parking lot. All right. Apparently Burt Kreischer travels by bus.

Yes. Seems kind of odd. He's got money. Well, it's like a tour bus.

Maybe he doesn't want to fly. Yeah. Yeah, well, maybe he doesn't want to fly. But we were talking about this upstairs when I was told about this.

Well, okay, we'll tell the story, then we'll talk about it. Okay. All right, so he's driving through the Midwest, he's doing a new tour and everything. They get off the bus and they go to the hotel.

For some reason, the bus is still going somewhere. Right. I don't know if the bus is going for dinner. I don't know.

But he blows the tire on the bus, pulls over to change the tire on the bus or to call somebody. I don't imagine he's changing. He calls somebody. Suddenly, the bus bursts into flames.

Stop. Suddenly. Suddenly. Stop.

You're cracking, Palmer. I'm cracking? Yep. What's your, like, bubbly thing, or?

Yeah, yeah, like how it was before, yep. Oh, you're the bubbly guy now. It was loose. Has it stopped?

Talk again. Has it stopped? One more time. Has it stopped?

Yep. It was loose. Up in flames? Yes, I mean, like, completely up in flames.

How did this happen? They haven't said what caused the fire. They're saying the tire blew, and then it caught on fire. Like, that caused the fire.

Not possible. It doesn't make any sense. No. But I mean, the bus is a complete loss.

Right. And if they had been on the bus, they would have been sleeping, and he says him and the other four guys would be dead. Hmm. I guess it burned fast.

You think it's, you think it's, you think it happened because you never text my brother about his, the cigar? It's very possible. Think it's kind of karma? He might have had those bad cigars you got from that other company in there.

He might have had those, yeah, those Rocky Patels or whatever? And they burn fast. They burn fast. They burn fast.

He's known for fast burning cigars. No, it's not. He likes actually legit cigars. No, no, no.

Rocky Patel. Oh. Not Burt. Oh.

Okay. Yeah, that's ridiculous. I mean, the pictures are terrible. It's just like the metal frame for the bus.

buses left really just down it's just completely definitely just gone i don't understand why he wasn't why the bus was i mean if everybody got off and went to hotel normally the bus driver parked and maybe he was going to the next city maybe he was fueling up maybe he was you know paraphrasing it or maybe you know maybe they didn't want the bus anymore like just take it over there oh shoot the tire throw a little gas inside oh my god this bus is gone oh no the bus Maybe he wants a new bus. Maybe it's got some type of balloon interest rate or something. Oh. Covered.

There you go. I don't know. It's a very small story. It was, you know, several pictures of him doing different concerts, a picture of the burnt-up bus, and this is all the information.

Right. Well, it just happened, so. Yeah, it happened last night. Information's kind of ongoing.

Oh. Well, we will follow the story if we have more information. As you know, we will bring it to you in our fine journalistic... There you go.

Devers that we try here. What happened, Flay? Oh, it was on 94 between stops in the Midwest. Yeah, it was Sunday.

It was yesterday. See, this is how I got to find out he's not in town anymore. He was doing, he's doing a Netflix special, Free Burt. Free Burt.

He has a show on Netflix. Is it just a taping of the podcast? No, no. It's like a show.

Like a variety of shows? With kids, and wife, and... Oh, like the Stallone show and stuff. The reality show?

No, it's not reality. It's like a TV show. Oh. I didn't know that.

Never mind. What? Nothing. I had Netflix on Saturday night.

Yeah. Randomly, you know, it comes on. Right. I watched that War Machine movie.

Yeah, how was that? Eh, I don't know. Everybody was saying how good it was and everything. Yeah.

I didn't see it. Wasn't that good? Was that with my guy Alan Richardson? Yeah.

I like that guy. I watched Family Plan 2. That was good. Family Plan 2?

Yeah. That was pretty good. And there was one other one that we watched. I watched Becky too.

Have you seen that one? Was that scary? It's about Megan Fox. What?

Was it with Megan Fox? No, no Megan Fox. Oh. Is it scary?

The guy from King of Queens is the bad guy. Is it scary? He's a white supremacist. Is it scary?

Kevin James? Yeah, Kevin James. He's a white supremacist. He's a white supremacist with a big swastika tattoo on the back of his head.

Oh my god. Oh jeez. He gets out of prison and he goes back to his house in the woods where he hit a key, him and his five, one, two, four guys, and they're looking for the key. Becky, a teenage girl, has found the key and taken it.

Ah. So the father is about to marry this new woman who happens to be black. You've already lost me. Like, I don't even care anymore.

Oh, well, Becky kills him and all the bad guys. Oh, okay. This 12 to 14 year old girl. Great show.

Yeah. A little farfetched. Like a Home Alone. Yeah.

But very graphic. Got it. Right. What about Wrecking Crew?

Did you watch Wrecking Crew? I think I've seen it before. Jason Momoa, David Batista? Oh, I've seen that.

Yeah, that's on Prime. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that was pretty good.

I liked that. Yeah, that was good. They were a good team up. Did you watch that?

Yep. That was pretty good. The saying, like one of the best lines that I've heard in a movie in a long time. Where the cop is going up to him and says, you know, you don't want to go over there here and start poking the bear and Dave Bautista turns around and says, I got news for you.

I am the effing bear. I was like, yes. Hell yeah. That was pretty good.

They had the lines in that movie were fantastic. Yeah. It was like a, uh, another type of John Wick. Uh, I mean, maybe not to that extent, there was some good combat scenes, but there was a lot of, there was a lot of, there was some good dialogue, you know.

It was pretty funny. Yeah. When they fought each other, that fight, they actually hit each other a couple of times. Yeah, I believe it.

They're just getting it out. Like, who's the number one actor in the show? You know what I mean? Oh.

Moa hit Batista more. Oh, yeah. " You know that he has asthma? Batista?

Yeah. And he used to have asthma... I think that's why he retired. He used to keep an asthma thing under the ring.

Oh, really? Yeah. Gets knocked down over the corner, you pick it up and go . Yeah.

Oh, cool. Pretty interesting. Yeah. Okay, carrying on.

Do you have a video? Do I have a video? Are you going to put it up? If I have a video, are you going to put it on the show?

Is it derogatory? Well, now to be fair, you said when we did it, Palmer, just play it loud so we can all hear. Yeah. At that current moment.

But you still have to put the video up on the show. I thought you just wanted the audio. You could have auto-synced it. That's what I did on my video.

I don't even know what auto sync. Yeah, the one you didn't upload? You mean the auto sync that you showed me? You don't know what it is?

When you used to take all the videos, you used to take the audio from... Oh, I didn't even thought about doing that. Because I put it on the other one that I did that also didn't upload, and I just had to keep moving, trying to get it to line up, so I didn't have to kill the audio. So there is a version of it I made also that has it that also didn't upload.

We had so many problems with yesterday's show. Yeah. Well, it should have been uploaded so late. Should have uploaded it earlier.

Sorry. I have a personal life, too. You could have just told me that you didn't have time to do it this weekend. I didn't have time to do it.

Give me the file, I would have done it. I'm not getting into this with you. I'm not doing this, but I have a video. Do we need to turn the volume off?

-No, you can auto sync it. -Heist meant that it had music that we can play. -It does not. The Matilda effect is when women do the work, but men take the credit.

For example, Dr. Roslyn Franklin took the first image of DNA, two dudes stole it, got famous, and received the Nobel Prize. She later got cancer and died. I get the joke.

Are you okay today, Mikey? What's going on? That was hilarious. You didn't like that?

It was a little dark. I thought it was... It wasn't dark. The guy was taking credit for what the woman did.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, that was funny. You guys are just, you know, sticks in the mud.

The Matilda effect. Matilda effect. All right, cigar news. Oh, we're on to the cigar news.

We do the video right before the Cigar News. I did get a couple of comments about when we watched the videos on the show. Yeah. " Well, I mean, I delivered a video and neither one of you decided to talk about it, so I don't know what the hell you want me to do.

No, no, no. Well, because a lot of people say that they can't watch the show. Oh, they listen, they don't watch. They listen to the show.

They don't see the video. So they can't see the actual video of what's going on. Jump on the YouTube clip. That's what I told him.

I was like, you gotta watch the show. We can't describe it. Yeah. Well, a lot of guys use this as their drive time stuff in the car.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how you would describe that video, other than- I mean, the audio kind of explains it. There's a girl talking and the guy talking. Yeah, the video was a lady saying what good things ladies did, and he was saying the exact same thing the lady said, taking credit for what she did, saying what the women did.

It's called the Matilda effect. Yeah. Yeah. He was committing the Matilda effect, or doing or whatever it's called.

Right. All right, we have a special What's the Score? Wait, I thought we were going to Cigar News. This is Cigar News.

Oh, 91. See, I was hoping you wouldn't jump to the end, because then we can read all the good stuff he said about the cigar. Go ahead. How else do you talk about the review unless we play What's the Score?

Go ahead, let's do it. You just said the score at the end, now he knows, I knew he didn't see it. I'm just guessing. Well, exactly right.

I'm just guessing. It's not fair when you do one that he knows. Well, okay. Go ahead, let him know.

Let's get into this. All right, let's get into this. March 14th, 2026, Brook Winnington Cigars, the Postana Review of the San Andreas Corona Gorda. We did this one.

No, we didn't. No, we didn't. They just put it out yesterday. Yeah.

We did the story about it, but they just reviewed it. Yeah. So what's your guess? How many clues do we get?

Just like a regular show. All right. 99. Great guess.

91. 50, they smoked 3. Mmm, delicious. Phil?

Uh, 99. 91. 91. The Postaña San Andreas Corona Gorda delivers a very rich and layered flavor profile right from the start.

The opening blast of black pepper and spice quickly settles into deep notes of espresso, powdery cocoa nibs, gritty earth, creating a bold and complex foundation. You know one of your cocoa nibs, buddy. Right. It's the one.

Yeah. So where you at? You know what? I'm gonna go 100 cocoa nibs.

I'm gonna stick firm at 91. Clue number two, construction on the cigars is impressive overall. Each cigar features a dark, oily San Andreas wrapper with a firm, well-packed feel that speaks to quality craftsmanship. Performance is equally strong with clean draws and consistent combustion of the majority of the experience.

Hmm. Phil? I mean, it sounds great. It does.

I would definitely smell this cigar. Yeah, it's a great cigar. The description's perfect. I smoke it all the time.

I'm gonna go 100. I'm gonna stick at 91. While the performance was largely excellent, one of the cigars did run into a burn issue during the second, third, that required a correction to prevent further problems. Although it did not significantly impact the overall experience, and the burn returned to normal afterwards, it did interrupt what had otherwise been a flawless construction performance up to that point.

Hmm. Phil? I think burn is very subjective. Yeah?

Burn's subjective. Yeah, because, well, there's a lot of variables. Yeah. You know what I mean?

I get it. I'm going to stick at 100. Was he smoking in the car? Yeah.

You know? In a wind tunnel. Ninety-one. The Postana San Andreas Bellicoso took number two on Half Wheel's top 25 list last year.

You damn right. In addition, the company's Connecticut Perfecto took 15th place on the 2023 top 25, while the Connecticut Corona Gorda Justice took 20th place on the 2024 awards. Mama, we made it! You guys gonna score there?

Is that the final? No, there's a final thought. There were some notes there, I thought. There, I thought mentioning was appropriate.

Uh, go ahead, um, Phil? You know, this company sounds like they have a lot of bangers. Sure does. Right.

I'm gonna stick at 100. Hmm. He did have some flaws there with that one. I'm gonna go 91.

Final thoughts. I always find it interesting to smoke a different Vitola of a blend that I loved the first time around. I saw the first time around just to see what difference I can discern. When it comes to the Corona Gorda, I found it to have more earth and chocolate, richer but not nearly as sweet as the chocolate note I remember in the Bellicoso Vitola.

In addition, the construction was excellent and it was extremely well-balanced. I may still prefer the Bellicoso Vitola, but the Corona Gorda is an excellent cigar in its own right and a great addition to the line. Mmm. Phil?

This is the final thought. That was the final thought. Yeah. This is your final score.

Oh, I was thinking. I'm revving that motor. How about go 91? That's a great number.

Is it? That's a great number. I'm going to have to join you in 91. Okay, perfect.

Oh, it's a tie. Oh. We went the right way. By the way, if you're a retailer, and you carry Poisson, and you want to carry Poisson, If you have a post on your product, make sure to hit the Calendly link below in this video, if you watched the last video and you wanted to hit the Calendly link, Homer didn't put that in there either, so make sure that you follow the link on Calendly, I know it's all my fault, which is totally fine, I'll take the blame for it, because he has a weekend and he has time, needs time away too, but the fact of the matter is that if you're in media or you're a retailer, whether you carry post on it now or you don't and you need to, So check in with us at PCA, we'd love to hear from you, and we're gonna give you a free post on your app for you setting the appointment and meeting with us.

So hit the Cali link below. If it's not there, then I'll look for it, and I'll add it later, 'cause he has, he needs time, too, for himself. All right? Palmer?

All right, next story: Trump begins work on the new tarot plan, three key cigar countries included. That's about as far as I got. I couldn't understand the article at all. - What was it?

- He started a new tariff plan. - Okay. - So all they did was list all the countries that have tariffs. He's picked 30 particular ones that he wants to focus on.

- Right. - Three of them are Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Honduras. He's also, Costa Rica's mentioned. - Right.

- It's not a prime cigar country, apparently. So I didn't understand the story at all. - So he feels like he's gonna raise the tariffs on these, possibly. - Something in there about, it's currently at 10.

He's thinking about going to 15, and then maybe back down to 10, and that's a three-year program. It makes no sense to go up and come back down. Like I said, I didn't understand the article. Right.

Was it anything Half Wheel wrote? It looks like they cut and pasted it from his plan, which I'm sure is very confusing. Right. Well, there's a lot of turmoil going on right now, man.

China's still at 30, but they don't make cigars. That was the highest one still. Right. Okay.

China's at 30. The majority of the 30 countries that he has listed are our allies, but Russia, China, and someone else is also listed who aren't necessarily allies. Right. Okay, so how do you feel about that?

How do you feel about the terrorists? Like I said, I'm confused by the whole article. I don't understand how it's working or why go up and then come back down. To take more money out of the circulation of the world, I guess?

I don't know. Don't know. I mean, look, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, it's a tax. It's definitely a tax.

Right, yeah, but the country, the other country doesn't pay it. We do. Yeah, it gets paid here. Yeah, it's a taxation on the American people.

Right. Yeah, without question. So the tariff's not taking money out of the world, it's taking money out of us. Yeah.

Basically. Pretty much. Right. People don't understand that.

" No, they're not. Right. What about you, Phil? Where's everybody getting all this money from?

I don't know. I need to be privy to this money hole. You see the highlights from the Great Smoke, a lot of people are doing, it looks like a lot of people are doing okay. Right, I saw that.

That place was busy. It was packed. Yeah. Did they do an online, does anybody know this year?

I didn't see them promoted. I'm sure. I saw the interviews that they always do, but I didn't see any promotion of, you know, you buy it and they ship you the cigars, Why don't you ship you the cigars and you watch it online? I have no idea.

I did see the Aganorsa post. It looked like Aganorsa brought everybody there. Oh, really? They had the entire team there.

15 dudes from Aganorsa. Oh, all the reps and everything? Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, I saw Saka sold out within an hour or something.

Something like that? Sounds about right. Yeah, summer of Saka or spring of Saka, whatever happens today. Fall of Saka.

Sokka, Sokka, Sokka. Should be a fall of Sokka. A lot of cigar celebrities there it looked like. Yeah.

Booth was there. Of course. Shirtless Mike. Shirtless Mike is running around shirtless with our logo on his chest.

Yeah. Guy Fieri. Herklot's hosted. Yeah.

Him and Smokini always do the hosting. Looked good. That looked like a nice turnout. now yeah yeah it was a circus theme yep yep yeah a lot of guys uh apparently dressed up as the um i was gonna say yeah thank you i was gonna say the mad coop should have dressed up like the showman oh i did see one picture of him he was in a hawaii shirt that one that makes must be getting ready for the tan pant party was that what he thought was like the most kind of greatest showman theme he could do did he have one of those little uh oracles on i have no idea i don't know what an oracle is yeah isn't or monocle sorry oh monocle no he's not on the oracle no he was not wearing a monocle no i feel like he's a monocle guy you think so yeah oh there's a monocle dude i could see him wearing one that would be a good look right that would be nice top hat monocle yeah eric gurgers he was there i saw him he was there mr gurum okay uh yeah so Wow.

Looked like a good time, man. It did. Jack Trano said it was great. He always loves that.

He loves those things. Does he? Yep. Did he love last year's?

I thought he said he did. Oh. Okay. Plus, you know, guy's there, so that makes them one of the, you know, centers of attention.

Jack Trano? Espinosa Cigars. Got it. Okay.

All right. St. Louis is considering a smoking ban exemption to attract PCA, Convention, and A trade show. Ooh, that's the attempt.

What? An exemption? Yes, they voted, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted eight to six with one upstanding to advance a bill that would create a event specific exemption that would allow smoking in certain parts of their convention center so that the PCA convention and trade show could come to St.

Louis. St. Louis. St.

Louis. Like they want the business. They want the business. They're throwing their hat into it.

Well, I guess it was brought up years ago, but then they did the smoking ban for the whole city, so wah wah, we can't go. Could you see us going to St. Louis? You can find me in St.

Louis. I don't know. I don't know why we wouldn't. What is bad about St.

Louis? Because when they put the thing out on Facebook, a lot of people are like, "Oh, that's good, it's St. " Yeah, I can't see St. Louis being in a track sequence for people to go.

What's there, the Arch? The Arch? Yeah. The baseball team, if it's in season.

Yeah. The Cardinals? Yeah, the Cardinals. There's a couple of breweries there, like the big Budweiser breweries there.

Yeah, like, you know, the one thing about Vegas is people like to go to Vegas. As much as I hate Vegas, retailers like to go there, you know? Put your hand up in front of you, your camera's out of focus. There you go.

People like to go to a trade show. Yeah, people like to go to Vegas, as much as I hate it. You know, New Orleans is nice, but the timing is probably bad because of what else is going on. They got that big event, or whatever.

In New Orleans? Yeah. I mean, where else would you want to see the PCA? I think Tennessee would be cool.

What's there? Nashville? Yeah, downtown Nashville. You think having it in Nashville would be a cool spot?

That would be cool. Be a lot of stuff to do at night. What about like Dallas, Texas or something? Yeah, Dallas would be cool.

Yeah, not New York. What would be cool is if it was at the stadium, not the convention zone. The stadium? Like in Dallas?

Yeah. That would be cool. Yeah. I don't know if that would work though.

I wonder what it would take to, like we would destroy that place. Would they charge us $100 for parking? I'm sure more than that. I think Dallas would be cool.

But it would be cool, like a different environment, like instead of a convention center, like an arena or stadium. I couldn't see that happening, just for the record. Oh, neither. Would it have to be down on where the field would be?

What about Tampa Bay Buccaneers Field? It's outside. Yeah. What if it rains?

Your cigar would get wet. Well, wait five minutes, it'll change. Didn't factor that. I mean, Tampa would be great.

Just have it in the afternoon. I think a Tampa location would be pretty cool. Orlando's is so anti-smoking that there's no place to really go. Yeah, there's no way the conventions are to let you smoke over there.

No. Well, we've had one here. Oh, that's right, years and years. Yeah.

Well, Miami. I would prefer Tampa. Tampa? Yeah.

That'd be cool. Yeah, there's already too much traffic in Miami. Yeah. I think Tampa would be a good spot.

So. Any other states? Not really. I mean, St.

Louis is definitely not on that top 10 or top 20 list. You know? Uh, Chicago? I don't know.

Utah? No, definitely not Utah. No? Utah.

Yeah, there's not really a lot of states that you could go, man, I'd really like to go there. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Yeah. They should do it in like the Dominican Republic or something.

That'd be cool. But then it would kind of battle Pro Cibar, right? Maybe Pro Cigar? Or Pro Cigar, sorry.

Well, they're talking about maybe having a sales type convention associated with that maybe. Right, but that wouldn't be PCA. No, but what if it's near the same time though? If you go there and buy for one, you're gonna go there and buy.

It's like the TPE and PCA being just, you know, a month apart. Right. Okay. So if they decide to have it there, they have to come up with a special filtration system that will stop smoke from going to the rest of the convention, so I don't see how that works.

Oh, they're not gonna have it. It's never gonna happen. Yeah, we need a force field. Yeah, nobody wants to be there anyways.

C. would be dope. Do they have a convention center? I'm sure they do.

We should have it at the Capitol, huh, Boots? Oh, yeah, let's do it in honor of the 250th year, yeah, let's do that. At the Capitol. Oh, at the White House.

Yeah, yeah. We could be right after the MMA. After, yeah. UFC fights and then Cigar Convention.

And we could raffle off, like, pushing the red button. Like, the football? Who's got the football? No, no, no.

Like, the real red button. Like the real red button? Yeah, the real one. Nuclear codes?

Yeah. Who's gonna be the last survivor? Okay. Let's keep it going, come on.

You're blurry again. Alright, the PCA is all booked till 2030 anyway, so nobody's making any decisions anytime soon. So 2030? Yep, New Orleans in 2026, 2027 back in Vegas, 2028 back in Vegas, and 2029 back in New Orleans again.

So two Vegas, one New Orleans, two Vegas, and probably again two Vegas, one New Orleans. Okay. Alright, now it's time for the industry's favorite game: What's the score? Today's first cigar, March 15th, 2026, Charlie Manado Cigars, Paul Stulak, the Paul Stulak Blue Lightning Sky Lancero.

86. We didn't do this before? Nope. How do you know?

Because I would remember Paul Stulak. The name sounds familiar. We may have covered the release of it. We could have, because this is the newer of the two.

The two. Yeah. Do I sound okay? Do it again?

Do I sound okay? Yeah. Okay. '87.

Cigar Reviewed, the Paul Stulek Blue Lightning Sky Lancero from Nicaragua Factory, Las Vilas Cigars. Wrappers, Ecuadorian Sumatra Seed, Binder, Nicaraguan Filler, Nicaraguan Length, 7x38. It's round, it's $10, and it released in February of 2026. They smoked three.

86. That's a good price. $10? Yeah.

I'm gonna stick at 87. Alright, when the cigar is burning properly, it shows flashes of a very interesting and complex flavor profile. The first cigar, in particular, opens with a striking combination of woodiness and saltiness before evolving into deeper notes of baking chocolate, roasted wood, and vegetable components. At different moments throughout the smoke, flavors like sugar cookie, sweetness, roasted chocolate, pepperoni like savory notes, sweet woodiness, and even a creamy undertone appears.

There's no anchovies. " It's a positive. 85. Yeah, I have to go down 86.

Number two, the cigar also demonstrates some strong physical characteristics in certain areas. The draws are generally in line with what is expected. As expected, from a Lancero format, and the ash formation described as consistently excellent throughout the review. 85.

Oh boy. 86. Does he normally rev after the second clue? Usually revs, yeah.

Dude, just, here's the lighter. I'm not throwing it though, it's ST to punk. "Unfortunately, the cigar suffers from significant combustion problems that dominate the smoking experience. All three cigars repeatedly struggle to stay lit, requiring constant touch-ups and relights, sometimes as often as once per inch.

One cigar alone needed more than a dozen lighter corrections by the end of the smoke. " 84. God, it started out great. No, it didn't.

Well, I mean, like, in the beginning, it sounded like it was great. Nope. It did not. No.

Like he said, you gotta remember the best comment was something that had a negative in it. Right. 80. Ooh.

Final thought. I was so impressed with the very first puff of the Paul Stulek Blue Lightning Skylancero, It was this unique layering of flavors in waves that I probably only experienced once or twice per year. Then everything went downhill fast. I smoked a lot of Lanceros in my life, enough to know that the draw resistance in these cigars were quite good, certainly good enough to have great combustion.

Yet, between these three cigars, I used my lighter more than 25 times after the initial lights. There were some signs that the flavor profile here could be enjoyable, but I simply cannot recommend that I used my lighter more than 25 times after the initial lights. There were some signs that the flavor profile here could be enjoyable, but I simply cannot recommend smoking this blend in this Fitola. 79.

78. He went the right way. Yeah! 74.

Wow. Chalk it up, chalk it up. Well, you tied on the first one, and then he went on the second one. Oh, I wonder why we tied on the first one.

February 17, 2017. We tied on the first one because people tell me when our cigars do well. I started to text you to tell you not to read it, but then I figured somebody's already told me. Yeah, I mean, Cigar Authority gave the Connecticut Toro a 91-1, and that was like a blind review thing.

So, you know, shout out to them, too, because they also deserve the nod. But someone, you know, everybody, a couple people brought it to my attention, Craig, uh, just brought it to my attention too, as well, so... Alright, next cigar, February 17th, 2017, Charlie Minato, Chogui Cigars, Dominican Republic, limited edition reviews, the Papa Chogui. I never got to smoke this one.

Oh, okay, I'll go first. 85. I never got to smoke this one. 89.

Is that a disclaimer or something? Was this, was this one with you guys or this was off? We handled distro for this one. Okay, 85.

Papachogui, sorry, 89. Papachogui, Country of Origin, Dominican Republic, Factory, uh, not sane, Rapper, Dominican Republic, Binder, Dominican Republic, Filler, Dominican Republic, Five and a Quarter by 46, Corona Extra, it was nine dollars. Wow. They smoke, oh.

Release date November 14, 2016. This is the date when the cigars launch nationally. Due to FDA regulations, it is likely the cigars landed on the first shelf in the US prior to August 8, 2016. Right.

Alright, they smoke three. Um, that's a great price. 87. 89.

The Papa Chogui delivers a surprisingly enjoyable and unique flavor profile. The cigar opens with an unusual but intriguing fatty tuna note on the cold draw that carries into the smoking experience, joined by sugar cookie sweetness, nuttiness, and earthy undertones. As the cigar progresses, additional flavors such as pistachios, floral notes, sour plums, and light saltiness appear, It's creating a profile that is quite distinctive and memorable compared to more traditional cigars. Phil?

All those flavors together sounds absolutely horrific, just by the way. Oh. I mean, they would be good separate, but together. Yeah, fatty tuna, plum, sugar, cookie.

I mean, there's a lot of weird things. I like to eat tuna with my cookies. It's a nice combo. I wonder why there was a fatty tuna in there.

I think I'm going to probably stick with 87 though. 89. Number two, the cigar also shows appealing visual and aromatic qualities before lighting. The wrapper is notably dark, described as the darkest Cho Gui the reviewer had seen, giving the cigar a bold and striking appearance.

Pre-light aromas from the foot add to the appeal, offering sweeter notes of cocoa, charcoal, leather, redwood, and spice that suggest a complex and flavorful smoking experience. Phil? Um, this is the third clue, right? Uh, no, that was the second.

We have one more clue. Okay. Um, I'll stick 87. 89.

Unfortunately, the cigar is significantly hindered by major construction issues, particularly an excessively open draw that affects the entire smoking experience. The loose draw leads to poor smoke production in the mouth and causes a cigar to repeatedly struggle to stay lit, requiring frequent touch-ups throughout the smoke. As a cigar progresses, the open draw also contributes to increased heat and harshness, ultimately overwhelming the flavors and forcing the reviewer to give up before finishing the cigar. They smoked three, right?

Yep. So he's saying on all three of them that happened? He's not saying that. He's saying that on at least one of them, he just gave up.

I'm saying 87. I don't see how you count off for that. 88. Oh, you took one.

Final thought. I seem to be saying this now more than ever. Construction issues affect flavor. I don't really understand how all three cigars had loose draws, albeit score one for consistency, but they did.

Not slightly loose, not more open than average, but problematic, problematically loose. The Papachogui certainly delivered in the flavor department, but I can only imagine how much better it would have been had I not been engaged in ritual of faster puff rates and constant touch-ups. Recent reviews with construction issues have inspired a fair bit of comments about the topic, but the fact of the matter is simple. Most cigars on the market do not have construction issues, particularly these.

As much as I enjoyed the flavor of the Papa Chugui, certainly one of the most unique I've ever had, the consistent dry issues make it a challenge for me to recommend purchasing any more than a single stick. Bill? I mean, how did it affect the flavor when you said there was sugar, cookie, plum, tuna? Like, there's a whole bunch of things.

Got a point. Maybe they didn't stay long enough for him. Yeah, help him out more, Mr. Magoomer.

Eighty-four. Ah, that's where I was going. 83. 77.

Wow. Went the right way. Woo! 77, wow.

I like the one upstairs with the dose. Yeah. 77. Yeah, it's a newer one.

The Heartbreaker wasn't bad from what I remember. Heartbreaker was good. Papa showed we was good. Wee was good.

Yeah, I don't remember having a problem with the draw or anything on this one. Me neither. I feel like that's a little harsh. Did all three of them do that?

That's what he said. He said. That's crazy. Yeah, he wrote that.

He said that all three of them. Maybe he needs to keep his humidor better. Okay. Anything else to add?

On the 27th and 28th of the month, we will be in Dothan, Alabama at Bowieville Cigars and Humidor Fine Cigars. It's Friday and Saturday. Okay. That's it.

The only thing I got going. All right, hey, make sure you like and subscribe. We're reviewing or listening. And thanks again for your support.

Thanks, guys. Bye. Goodbye.

Show Notes

On Todays Show Walmarts Roll Back Sales has all new meaning, we have a level 1 food recall, Japanese Take out! And Bert Krisher is on fire!  Then in cigars  Trumps begins work on a new tariff plan, St Louis wants PCA , we have a special mid show what’s the score single and then a full round of Score Madness….all this and the usual annoying banter but before we get started…

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