ACHP Episode 509 Hippos, Hooker, Meta and Then Cigars

Episode Summary

Episode 509 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast has Mike Palmer, Mikey and "Triple G" (Greg) riffing through a loose news block before diving into cigar industry headlines ahead of the 2026 PCA Convention & Trade Show in New Orleans. The non-cigar segment covers Colombia's approval to cull up to 80 "cocaine hippos" descended from the four animals Pablo Escobar imported to his Hacienda Nápoles, an update on Brian Hooker being released in the Bahamas after his wife's disappearance from a dinghy, and a report that Meta is building an AI clone of Mark Zuckerberg so employees can get answers from "the boss" — which the crew turns into a joke about building an AI Greg and an AI Palmer for their own wholesale operation.

On the cigar side: J.C. Newman announces new French distribution, bringing Perla del Mar (Natural, Shade, Maduro and Corojo) and the value-priced Quorum line back to France — with Drew Newman explaining that after the 1962 Cuban embargo, his grandfather Stanford Newman traveled to Paris each June to buy Cameroon wrapper, and France effectively saved the company. That sparks a practical conversation about why exporting a small brand like Powstanie overseas rarely pencils out: brokers buy below wholesale, and 40–50 box commitments don't justify the effort. Other news includes a Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Red Meat Lover's "spicy beef stick" (a 6x48 riff on the Fritanga blend) shipping in May, St. Louis clearing the way to host a future PCA trade show in 2030, and debate over where the show should live (Texas, Tampa, Miami) and whether it should be shortened or moved off the Saturday–Monday schedule.

The big release talk centers on an American-themed Fuente Fuente OpusX for the United States' 250th anniversary — a red, white and blue "United We Stand" colorway from Elie Bleu, limited to 76 humidors of 76 cigars each, with pricing not yet announced (the hosts guess $10K–$18K, and say they have three on order, one earmarked for a giveaway). They also cover celebrity cigars: Conor McGregor's Notorious adding Unapologetic (US Connecticut broadleaf, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder) and Crème de la Crème (Ecuadorian Connecticut shade, Brazilian Mata Fina-style binder), both from the MJ Freest factory in Santiago, and Marlon Wayans' Liga Triton adding a Rosado Churchill and a Connecticut Robusto around $16. The hosts argue celebrities should be required to actually work the show — praising Guy Fieri and David Ortiz for putting in the time.

The show closes with "What's the Score," a blind-guess game on Brooks Whittington's 2015 halfwheel review of the JFR Lunatic Mambo, an 8x80 Bellicoso Gordo from Aganorsa Leaf with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper. Despite praise for construction, smoke output and draw, the monotonous profile and nearly four-hour smoke time landed it a 73 — well under everyone's guesses.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Cocaine Hippos in Colombia
   Colombia authorizes culling up to 80 invasive hippos descended from Pablo Escobar's private zoo after sterilization and relocation failed.
2. 02
   Brian Hooker Released in the Bahamas
   An update on the boater accused in his wife's disappearance — released for lack of evidence, with the hosts debating his rogue-wave story.
3. 03
   Meta's AI Mark Zuckerberg
   Meta is reportedly training an AI clone of Zuckerberg on his tone and strategy so 79,000 employees can 'talk to the boss' — sparking AI Greg and AI Palmer jokes.
4. 04
   J.C. Newman Returns to France
   New French distribution brings Perla del Mar and Quorum overseas, plus the story of how Paris-bought Cameroon wrapper saved the company after the Cuban embargo.
5. 05
   Why Exporting a Small Brand Is Hard
   Greg explains the broker economics that keep Powstanie out of most foreign markets — margin, minimums and real commitment.
6. 06
   Dunbarton Red Meat Lover's Beef Stick
   A 6x48 spin on the Fritanga blend ships in May, prompting debate about whether releasing 18 cigars a year cannibalizes a brand.
7. 07
   PCA Trade Show Location and Format Debate
   St. Louis clears the way for a 2030 show while the crew argues for Texas or Florida and a shorter, mid-week schedule.
8. 08
   OpusX 250th Anniversary and Celebrity Cigars
   An Elie Bleu red-white-blue OpusX humidor (76 made, 76 cigars each) plus new Conor McGregor Notorious and Marlon Wayans Liga Triton releases.
9. 09
   What's the Score: JFR Lunatic Mambo
   A blind-guess game on the 8x80 Aganorsa Leaf behemoth that reviewer Brooks Whittington scored a 73 after nearly four hours.

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 Hustlers Podcast Episode 509. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and on today's show we have, over in engineering, Mikey. I'm not Phil, step on calendar. I'm not Phil.

I have a brain. And it's my host today, back by popular demand, Triple G. How do I keep getting roped into this? You know, what's funny is he just took a phone call and he had a conversation with his wife and he doesn't realize that he had a mic on.

He was mic'd up for the entire phone call. He was mic'd up the whole conversation. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.

" I don't think I use the word stupid. I got roped into this again. You got roped into this. This sucks.

Yeah, I hate my life. I hate both of them. Yeah, it's, I hate doing, I really hate doing this, but you know, I actually love doing it, but I don't want to admit it, I like, you know, I'm not, I just play it down, play it down. I'd like to play it back and see if that's exactly what I said.

I didn't record it. I respected your privacy and I turned it off. To a point. I mean, we listened, but we didn't record it.

I respected your privacy because I didn't record it, but I was listening. Right. I was actively listening. Nobody else can hear it.

It's kind of like you listening to us every single place we were in in the shop. You know what I mean? That's how I justify it. It is true.

That's why I was like, you know what? I can listen here. He listens to everything that I say. So there's no problem with that, right?

I can't deny that. Yeah, exactly. So, anyways. C.

Newman is now French. We got some spicy meat cigars, Opus comes home to America, and then celebrity cigars are very popular right now. Then we end the show with a big what's the score. But first, I'm not sure who I'm supposed to ask, why don't you two tell us how to get some of that CHPod swag?

com and check out all our latest swag, where you can't get this one, because it was a rare, limited edition Mr. McGoomer, however, Master Blender is there. Buy one, get the second one, 40% off, and if you spend $100 or more, you're going to get free shipping. Like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show.

And, some of the comments from yesterday's show, let's see. We got a whole bunch of them and there was a lot of comments, there were a lot, there was a plethora of comments, so let me see, da da da da, TX Southpaw says, Phil pulls out the stopwatch and makes the assistants run the 40 with a bag of Cheetos, Crunchy and Puffs during the interviews, he 100% does, that is very accurate, TX Southpaw, let's see here. Team Money says, "Look here, I did research before I had an opinion. " No, he didn't.

No, he didn't? I can show you the text message. It was gonna be a standalone game. Oh, okay.

Charlie recently stopped putting the time he took to smoke the scars. So he says he did the research. I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe, maybe you did, maybe you didn't. But you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna agree with you, Team Money. Because you have the newest post-Anya tattoo.

You know, there is another tattooed individual. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. We owe him a box of cigars.

We do. Yes. Yes. Yes.

It goes from here to here. What is it? It's the P, but he has a torn Polish flag behind it. Oh, very cool.

Yeah, it's really, it's pretty badass. It's nice. Datacash2004 says, hmm, Room 39 is a secret, shadier side of the North Korean government. Any idea what he's talking about there?

Uh, yeah, that new cigar by that one group. Ah, okay, oh. Um, got it. I don't like that I have to lean out to talk to you.

That's okay, don't lean out, just stay right there, just stay straight. Uh, it's not natural. W. said a couple things, one, I'm buying that shirt, absolutely, we appreciate your support, but also I got that hat in, uh, just give me till the end of, when I get back from PCA to make it and set you up.

He said, hmm, a Powstanie Tattoo. I like where your head's at on that. That was CW also? Yep.

He said, I can't wait to see you guys on April 24th. So I guess he's coming to the event? I guess so. I want to take a shot at me in the dunk tank.

There you go. Nice. Okay. And one last one.

I'm going to screw the script. Gramey Davies, 1785, says, you can't hear what the two mics are saying between 26-53 and 28-40. And yes, he's correct. On the show, I asked Mr.

Palmer to not have audio on the person, the video, and just have audio on us, and he went the other way on that, unfortunately. I understood it the other way. What's that? I understood it the other way.

I figured the audio on the video was more important than the ramblings of us. Yeah, so I'm partially to blame on this because I didn't get him the video as well. He had to go get the video. So, if I had just sent him the video, it would have been muted, but, so, you can clearly see that he wrote in the video of the previous episode that I never sent him the footage, so, and he's right, he's right, I did not, so I have no problem admitting when I make a mistake.

You did eventually, just not in a timely manner. Yeah, I just realized that when I had finally settled in for the day, I was like, oh man, I forgot to send this, and then I sent it, but it was too late. So, it is what it is. If you want to hear your comment on the show, comment below on this YouTube episode and we may say it out loud.

We do have a quick announcement to make as far as tomorrow's show, right, Mr. Palmer? I don't know. You told me yesterday we're not talking about it.

We can talk about it now. I don't know from day to day what's going on. I didn't want to mention it yesterday because this show's coming out. Now the show after this will be the official.

Oh, well, go ahead and explain. We're going on the road. We're going to PCA. So, we are going to test a show, our first ever show, in the car, so, looking forward to see how this goes.

Listen, it might be a little bit of a disaster, but we're going to continue to push the envelope and continue to provide great content, fresh content for you guys on a daily, weekday basis, so stay tuned to tomorrow to see the cluster that we're about to unleash for you. 10 hours of unfiltered video. It's going to be one hour, it's going to be one hour. Well, ten hours cut down to one.

Yeah, uh, no, no, it doesn't, not gonna record that much. There's a lot of Triple G in the backseat sleeping. Yeah, dumpster fire. And this is gonna be awesome.

So, yeah, we'll see how it goes, and we're looking forward to it. You're getting mic'd, just so you know. Oh, I know I'm getting mic'd, but now I can't take any more phone calls. Ever.

Yeah, uh, worst, worst, worst podcast I'm doing. I don't know why anybody listens. Apparently, they need, they need me to keep this thing sustained, so. That's right.

They can't go on without me on that. I don't sound anything like that. That's exactly how you sound like that. That's exactly how you sound like that.

Listen, at this point, hit the Conley link below, today's probably the last day, and, you know, we're pretty full, so we still want to talk to you about Postanya products. Meet us at the show if you're a retailer, a media person, whether you're doing business with us currently, or you'd like to do business with us, we want to meet you. So set the appointment on the Conley link below, and we look forward to seeing you guys at PCA this week. Now on with the show.

All right, this first story now, on Google Trends or their story, they give you three different articles that you can look at to have to do with this topic. Okay. So these are the, in order, these are the ways they read. " Okay, eh, probably not good for the show.

Okay. " Hmm, now I'm a little interested. Okay. Final one, AOL News, Colombia to kill dozens of cocaine hippos linked to Pablo Escobar.

We're in, this is it, we're gonna read this story now. Okay, so what's going on with the cocaine? So, Colombia officials on Monday authorized a plan to cull, which means kill dozens of hippos roaming freely through a region in the center of the country. Now, this started with four hippos that Pablo Escobar brought to the country.

They had no hippos before this. Right, not indigenous. Yes, he brought these four hippos to the country, and now they have mated and made baby hippos, And they are a large herd, I guess, I don't know what they're called, of hippos. - I could see it being a problem, too, because they're nasty.

- Oh yeah, they kill more people than anything else. - They want, and they want to kill you because they're herbivores. - Right. - They're just angry.

- They're just angry. - Yeah. - So the Environment Minister, Irene Velez, said previous messages to control the population of these so-called cocaine hippos have been expensive and unsuccessful. So first they tried to neuter them.

- I could see how that would be a problem. - Yeah, they're probably a problem trying to catch and neuter a hippo. I would imagine so. So then they thought they'd move them to a zoo.

Can't do that, they killed the other hippos. They killed the other hippos? Yes. These are cocaine hippos.

Yeah, the cocaine hippos are very, very street and very angry. I love that. So they are up to 80 hippos now. Oh my god.

The Colombian hippos. The Colombian hippos. So they have registered them as a nuisance species in the country of Colombia. Okay.

And Colombia is the only country outside of Africa that has hippos, wild hippos. So now it's open season on hippos. Yeah, hunt them like we do the hogs in Florida. Right, you go down there and hunt them.

So Escobar kept them in a private zoo in his hacienda, a gigantic ranch in the, I don't know, river valley of something, with a private landing strip. What is it? What's it called? What's it called?

Say it. Magdalena. Oh, I guess I can say that. It's easier to look.

Yeah, Magdalena, river valley, with a private landing strip that served as his rural abode. Okay. So now they are invasive species. The sterilization did not work.

5 million to round them up and take them out, so now just shoot them. Just shoot them. Just shoot them. Problem solved.

Or the fancy word of cull. A little culling. Okay, so have you ever eaten a hippo before, Mr. Palmer?

No, I've not eaten a hippo, but I have held hippo poop in my hand. That's totally different. Amazing. Why would you hold hippo poop?

Was it in China? No, no, so we were at the zoo over in Tampa, the Lowry Park Zoo, I think it's called over there. Yeah. And one of the people, I guess, the animal handlers, whatever, you know, they stand there and tell you about the animals and stuff, she had this big, it looked like a rock, this big thing of hippo poop, and she asked our little group, would anyone like to hold the hippo poop?

And of course, everybody said yes, or said no, and I mean yes. How do you pass on that opportunity? Right, that's what I said. How are you people passing?

You're never gonna have this opportunity again in your life. And it looked, it came back up again 10 years later. I'm the only one in this room that has held hippo poop, I would assume. Do you think people feel the same way about like a ditty party?

Like, hey, how are you gonna pass this up? Mmm, instant regrets. About the what party? The ditty party.

Oh, mmm, maybe. They probably did at the time. I have to do my job here as fill-in fill. I know, but it's hard to hear you over there.

Both involve fecal matter. Yes, it's true. Alleged. Alleged fecal matter.

Alleged. Yes, he's got an appeal because he has rights. Yeah, the First Amendment or something. So, okay, Greg, have you ever had a hippo?

Ever eaten hippo? Never eaten hippo. In Japan? No, not in Japan.

I was upset about the fact that we didn't get to eat weird things while we were in Japan. Really? Yeah. Like, I wanted to eat, like, snake and monkey brains, but...

I don't think monkey brains you do in Japan. But snake, you could have got snake. We could have, but we didn't. I've had snake in China.

Yeah. That's Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom stuff. Monkey brain? Hmm.

Okay, well, I also never had hippo. Would you eat? Would you eat a hippo? I mean, the whole thing?

I'd have to be really hungry. One bite at a time. Would you try? Would you try it?

I would try it. You'd try a hippo? I would try it. Oh sure, I would.

A little salt, it'd be fine. Probably tastes like cow. You think so? I don't think it tastes like cow.

It's gotta be close. Have you ever seen a baby hippo? I could not eat a baby hippo. They look like they're made out of rubber.

They're so cute, and they're just funny, and they run around and run into things. Doesn't a hippo, I think hippo means baby, or no, not baby. It means big. Water cow?

No, no, water horse. Water horse. Oh, I think you're right. Yeah.

So, I could imagine maybe it tastes more like horse than it would... I would also eat horse. I think the water horse is because they run underwater. Yeah.

They don't swim. Correct. I don't think it's because of the flavor of the flesh. Would you eat horse?

A little less leery, but sure. Would you eat the horse? I mean, it was already dead. I don't want to like pick one out of a herd and go fry that one.

This is Todd. Yeah. Kill Todd. Fry that one up for me.

You used to own horses, correct? I had a horse, yes. My horse? Yeah.

Yes. Her name was Sable. Her name? Sable.

Would you, if the opportunity ever happened, would you eat? If the opportunity? Well, I mean, the opportunity was there every day. I was, you know, it was just me and her out there some days.

Yeah. What exactly are you talking about, Palmer? Yeah, exactly. The horse.

The opportunity was there. If it was necessary, then yes. But just, you know, like, nobody's looking. You know, no.

It's okay. But you would have, you would have considered eating the horse? If it called for, if there was no other food and it was either eat the horse or starve, yes. I feel like you wouldn't have eaten the horse.

Yeah, I would have. No, I can see that you're very hesitant. I'd probably draw the line at a dog. You love the horse.

I'd draw the line at the dog. What happened to the horse? She retired to a farm down in Miami when I sold the farm. Oh.

She moved to Miami like any respectable woman does in the state of Florida. Were you okay about that? How'd that make you feel? Oh, no, that was fine.

I mean, I couldn't keep her anymore. So you're just done. Yeah. Okay.

The two cows went next door, the chickens and the ducks went to a young lady in FFA. Okay. And the hippopotamuses went to Columbia? Yes.

Perfect. One of Azkabar's 60 herd. Okay, perfect. Of cocaine hippos.

All right. So, hippos are a problem? Yeah, apparently. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, they kill for sport, like Triple G said. Love that. Okay. All right, going on to the next story.

All right, we have a story update. Okay. Brian Hooker, our friend who may or may not have thrown his wife off the little boat, he was arrested last week. For allegedly?

For allegedly. There was text messages on his phone, they weren't getting along, they had had an argument, but as of yesterday, he has been released. Oh, really? There is no evidence to show that he may or may not have thrown his wife off the little boat.

Gotcha. The young lady who's complaining is his stepdaughter, not his biological daughter, the lady's daughter. They were married for over 26 years, and she apparently did not want to live on the boat anymore, but still, there's no proof he killed her, and they let him go. Is there a body?

Nope, not yet. No body. No body, no murder. No body, no crime.

That's what they say in the Bahamas. Is that what they say? Except they say man at the end, man. nobody no crime man exactly okay so he still cannot leave the bahamas but they his lawyer thinks he'll have that cleared up by tomorrow wow he can go do anything he wants he's all done okay do you think he did it yeah i think he did you do you think you think that he was done 26 years she goes i don't want to live in a boat anymore you suck and i guess they drank a lot when they were on the boat so i had a lot of arguments and she said and he said no problem you don't have to live on this boat anymore.

Let me hit this big wave. And then did like a this is Sparta type of a scenario. This is Sparta. Okay.

What about you, Greg? Do you think that he... Did he give a justifiable reason why nobody can find the woman? Unalived his wife?

Well, it was in the water. They had been in town. They had a nice evening or had an argument or whatever it was. I don't know.

Those are two completely different things. Well, they could have gone either way. So they're taking the dinghy back to their boat that's moored out They went out in the bay, or whatever it was, the cove, wherever it is, and supposedly somewhere between the beach and the boat, they hit a rogue wave and she splashed out, and when he went to find her, realized she had the life vest on that pulled the cord for the motor, so the motor, he couldn't start the motor, so he couldn't turn around and go get her. Oh, boy.

So, yeah. So, he killed her. Yeah. So, eventually, he paddled his way to shore, found a phone, called the authorities, but her body has not been found.

So, Greg, you think that potentially this man unalived his wife? It's very well possible, I would say. Allegedly, yes. Allegedly.

Okay. So, I don't even think she had the life fist on. Well, it sounds like she did, because... Well, that's his story.

Well, I mean, yeah, that's his story. Because, I mean, if she had the life fist on, they would find her eventually somewhere. Especially if it's in, like, a bay. We're not talking about open ocean.

Right. Yeah. So, I mean, she could have been eaten by a shark or something, I guess. But then, still, they find pieces.

okay very interesting yes okay so uh yeah i mean i think i agree i think that things don't things aren't lining up here no in my opinion but there is no proof yeah and if the glove don't fit you must quit right i mean they're gonna i mean unless they find her body and there's a mark on the back of her head like this uh the ring indentation of of his fist or Right. They'll never know. It's a pretty perfect crime. I know, isn't it?

Water. Right, water. That's why Brittany doesn't want to go on a cruise. Right, yeah, she said that for years.

She was afraid to throw her overboard. Yeah. I don't have that story pulled about the local family where the young lady was, the teenager, was killed and thrown overboard on a cruise ship. Oh, yeah.

Is that what happened? She was thrown overboard? She was sexually assaulted or something like that? By her stepbrother.

Yeah. Yeah. And they just convicted him or something? him or something they just arrested him a year later charges the father was not his father he's the mother's or the lady's son he wants the full extent of the law thrown at that young man i don't blame him at all yeah no kidding sexually assaults his teenage daughter and throws her off the book horrible yeah it's terrible okay well can we move to something a little bit lighter uh back to the hippos back to the hippos there's no reports of them eating people but i'm sure I'm sure they're quite the nuisance in the local village.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, if you're one of Meta's 79,000 employees and cannot get a hold of your boss, what do you do? Hire somebody to talk to them? That makes sense.

Well, if you're the owner of Facebook and Meta, you have an AI Mark Zuckerberg made. Talk to the robot. Right. The owner of Facebook and Instagram reportedly working on an AI version of Mark Zuckerberg who can answer all your questions.

The AI clone of Zuckerberg's MetaFounder and Chief Executive is being trained on his mannerisms and tone as well as public statements and thoughts on the company's strategy. Any question you have, I'm sure a little video of him comes up on the screen. Hey, what do you need, Greg? What's going on today?

It's pretty smart, actually. You can train it to answer questions the same way that you would, and I'm not talking about like tone, but like thought process. Right. Is it like a video of him?

Is it actual video of... Oh, like the Pepsi guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fired.

No, it does not say exactly what the version. I would imagine it's something on a screen. Or, I mean, knowing him, it could be a 3D hologram that pops up. Ooh, very Star Wars-y.

Or maybe just dial a phone number and you get a voice on the phone. Hi, it's me, Mark. Yeah, if it sounds just like him, you wouldn't even know. Right.

They could not tell people. But they chose to tell people. It probably leaked. You know.

Yeah, you know, too many people know. You would think, yeah, that he would have this all worked out before the story leaked. Right. So Greg, so for stage, for phase three of us integrating things on our wholesale site, we're looking to implement an AI version of you.

We just wanted to get your opinion on, are there some particular things that you would like, as far as like quotes, for people to say, to speak to you directly? We intentionally don't allow me to talk to people. Why are we going to go out of our way to have it be the first thing we do? Because why not?

Because, you know, I think that this is the next thing to do. I think this is going to be appropriate. An AI, Greg, we can control. Only certain things you'll be allowed to say.

So we wouldn't program it to answer questions the way that I would. No, no, no. " "I have to go. " And I can't wait to do it.

I love you more. Yeah. I love you more. In case your wife goes.

Yeah. And then you just have a couple of songs that you have that you can just kind of break into. Sing me and more. Yeah.

So the retailer contacts us and says, "Hey, let me get five San Andreas Toro. Let me get three San Andreas Robusto. " And then all of a sudden, boom, you start singing. You know?

It's a great idea. How much is this going to cost? We don't, we don't worry about the details. Like we ask those questions.

Yeah, exactly. That's crazy. We never ask what things cost. However, we, to be honest though, we have tested, we have lightly tested an AI Palmer.

And this is true. Yep, that is true. Yeah. We have worked on an AI Palmer.

To speak on the phone, answer emails. Make phone calls. Make phone calls. Yeah.

Yeah. Call people. We have been working on that casually. You know, it hasn't really developed, we've kind of went a different direction, but I think we should revisit it.

We should make it part of. Yeah. I mean, I could hit the button and it could call, you know, if we're going to have it set up to the phone anyway. Hey, this is Palmer and I'm lonely.

I'm lonely? Is that what you said? What are you doing? What are you doing right now?

What are you doing? You want to know what I'm wearing? Yeah. Just the hat.

I don't care if you're a 50-year-old man, that's fine by me. Love is love. It was Preston Day. He's a little worked up.

I can tell. I'm a little worked up? It was Preston Day. How does that make me worked up?

A little excited. A little amorous. I'm always excited. I'm excited.

I'm hitting this board right now. I made sure my back was through them. I didn't want to say anything. Paul was telling me that the name of the show is like Fourth Down with Preston or something like that.

Four Downs with Preston. And he said there's so many shows that start that way. And I said, why not call it something that nobody would use, like faking the field goal on second down with Preston? You know, it's not a bad idea.

That particular phrase doesn't roll, but something like that, it's not a bad idea. Right. Fumble. I mean, it's a great name until you look and find out a lot of people thought it was a great name.

Right. No, you're right. Celebrities and non-celebrities. Maybe we change it.

There's some, like, celebrities, you know, that did it too. Did they? Yeah, I don't remember. I can't even think of a football celebrity's name.

Okay. Four Downs with Bob Greasy. I don't know, that's the only name I came to mind. Oh, okay.

And that's, you guys might not even know who that is. I have no idea who that is. Yeah, who's Bob Greasy, Greg? - You're the less sports guy than me.

- Mm-hmm. You said that last episode. - Oh, Booty's giving a love day when he's gonna be here. - We don't care.

- We don't care. - Moving on. - 2-0-8. All right, now we're into Cigar News.

C. Newman announces new distribution in France. - I see London. - I see France.

I see J. Newman with no underpants. - Oh. C.

Newman Cigar Company's back in France, by the way, a new distribution agreement with Voltez et Vitoles. Votes! The agreement which went to effect on April 1st brings the company's Perla Del Mar, Natural Shade Maduro, and Corojo lines to France along with the value-oriented quorum lines. Very nice.

My family has had a love for France for more than six years. How do you think this is the first time we've ever heard about it? " No, never brings it up, never speaks French, nothing. I just don't think you're that close with him.

Oh, well this is Drew, I know Bobby. Oh, that makes sense. S. President John F.

Kennedy made it illegal for Americans to import Cuban tobacco, what's that have to do with France? Continue. After that happened, France is what saved our company. Oh.

There you go. Newman went on to say that following the Cuban embargo, his grandfather, Stanford Newman, began traveling to Paris for three weeks each June to select the finest Cameroon wrapper tobacco leaves for the company's cigars. - Oh, so Cameroon also comes from France. - Really?

- Stanford is a great name. - Stanford? - That is a great name. - You could name your first child Stanford.

Stanford Stepankewicz, you'll love you for that long ass name. - Yeah, Stanford. - Every letter in the alphabet now. - Mm-hmm.

The bastard child Stanford, you know what I mean? - Stanford. Call him Staffy for short. - Staffy the Basty.

- Staffy the Basty. - Staffy the Basty. Oh, that's not nice. - Yeah, well, wait, yeah, well, okay.

So, would this Cameroon tobacco be from the Merrifels, but it was just in France? I don't think so, buddy. No? No.

More importantly, Greg, I have a question for you. C. Newman to expand into the French market with their value cigars? I think growing into any market is a good idea.

Yeah. Good. We have started putting Powstanie in France. This is a way for us to tell you?

It's not that easy. Sure it is. We call Vitolas Vitilala. Vitolas Vitilala?

Yes, that's the other company that imports. Would you want to see Powstanie in other countries? We've gotten requests for people that have wanted it in Poland and stuff like that. It's just that in order to do it, I think the model involves the broker basically buying the goods for a lesser than wholesale dollar so that they can then make margin than shipping it out.

We're just not big enough to do it. Nor is their commitment for purchase normally, correct? That I don't know. Well, normally, if they're going to commit, they have to buy X amount for it to be substantial.

And normally, if you go out of your way to do all that, if they're only buying 40, 50 boxes, that's just not enough in order for you to justify All that time and energy for that purchase. Too much work. Right, okay. Yeah.

What about you, Palmer? Do you want to see BDP in France? No, there's no problem with it here. You can imagine the translation of what it is there and it's going to be worse.

No, it translates to... It's the French, though. They may dig it. They might be.

Oh, we would like that here. Give me the BDP. Big American BP. Yeah, give me the BDP.

The BDP. Oh, I have to say it. Okay. How about you, Michael?

Would you like to see Bostana in a foreign gun? Man, thank you so much for asking, Mike. That's great. Yeah, you know, I think that I agree.

I agree. I agree. I agree with Greg, you know, yes, I would love to see distribution and it being carried in other countries. However, I would also like to see a true commitment from that distributor and not some onesie twosie thing.

The guy's got to pull with us, you know what I mean? Yes, your analogy is sweeping the cigar industry. The pulling is continuing forward, yes. So yeah, I mean, you know, you have to find the right guy, the right company that's going to continue to grow and wants to see you succeed as much as they want to see themselves succeed.

And in order to do that, you really got to sift through a lot of it. So, I don't know, I would love to see it, but I haven't seen that person yet. I haven't run into them. You know, most of the people that are committed, they only want to purchase a few boxes.

That's just not enough. You're going to end up having to make postagna rope and give for swag and just have pieces of rope you give people. With a rock attached to it? No, because then it's a weapon, you might get in trouble, somebody just poosh!

Got it. So just give them, you know, maybe a half a foot, six to twelve inches of rope and with a postagna tag hanging on it? Not enough where they can hurt themselves? Right.

They can hang it on the rear of your mirror or something. Okay, I'll get right on that. All right. Red Meat Lover's Spicy Beef Stig, shipping in May.

Ooh! Ooh. Imagine if Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust took the red meat lover's Fritanga blend and put it in a beef stick size. What is the beef stick size?

Anybody know? Is that a Corona Gorda, I believe? Is that a Corona Gorda? So he's making the Fritanga and a Corona Gorda and gave it a new name.

And that's, oh, perfect. All right, moving on. He's got, I was reading this morning, he's got 18 cigars coming out of the show. Does he?

There is a bunch of them, yeah. Okay, so let me ask you this. Chris, do you think that at some point, by releasing so many cigars within an annual basis, that you're cannibalizing yourself? Or does it make sense to do that so that you have new releases all the time?

Mr. Palmer? The meat stick, beef stick, whatever, is a 6x48 Toro, it's not a Corona. Well, 6x48.

Well, you call it a Toro. 75x48, that's practically Corona, Gordo. 6x48, Toro Vitola. That's what you were talking about yesterday.

Everybody just calls whatever they want anymore. Yeah, that's a thinner gauge. Right. Maybe not quite 46.

Let me get a 4x50 Toro. It's gonna be great. Okay. So do you think that releasing 18 cigars a year is the right move?

Yes or no? Didn't he release a lot last year, too? Let me ask you that first. Answer the damn question.

I wanna know that answer to that one first. I don't know. I don't know. I don't remember.

I don't remember what everybody does. I can't sit here and just fester on individuals. I don't have that kind of time. He is amped up today.

This is awesome. This is good. You know what? You wanna know what happened?

I'm gonna tell you what happened. I got a new sauna. I got a new sauna yesterday, I slept like a baby. Oh, your sauna?

Yeah, I slept like a baby. Is it the same one that it's like the one with your head out so you can continue to smoke a cigar? No, no, no, that's infrared. This one is dry heat, legit 180 degrees.

He's in a little tent with a porthole. Yeah, so that's like the finish style, right? It's like legit 180 degrees. Infrared doesn't get that hot.

No, mine doesn't get that hot because it's infrared. Correct. Oh, boy. And getting that hot is better?

That getting that hot is way better for your heart and stuff like that. But, I mean, over a year ago when we discussed me getting the sauna and you said that I should get infrared, now there's something different. Well, they didn't really-- You gotta keep up. He keeps reading different books.

Yeah, you should know that by now. Yeah, you really gotta keep up. I mean, we're not cold plunging anymore. We are.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We are still cold plunging. Yeah, but not with the old man at the gym. Well, we cold plunged with the old man at the gym?

You used to get in with the old naked guys at the gym. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it got too weird. Are you eating the cereal?

No, cereal's been gone for years. See, that's what I mean. Things change. Things change.

I want to hear the science behind this because now I apparently have to throw out my infrared sauna. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, no, I mean, infrared sauna is still good.

There's still a lot of good positives for it. However, it's, it's more, it's also more muscular oriented than it is heart wise. The whole purpose that I acquired this thing was for my heart. Okay.

So like that, so no getting, so you know, the, you know, like the, like, so you could get a sauna, like a finish sauna, like they're usually those big barrels that you can go into. Yeah. So those are the most ideal cause they get the hottest. Yeah, that's with steam, though, isn't it?

Yeah, well, that one can be steam-based, yeah, but realistically, the dry heat is, you know, you want it to be up to 170 to 180, 190 degrees. We're cooking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like being in a microwave.

It is, yeah, and yeah, man, I'm gonna tell you. How long did a buck 80, a buck 90, you're sitting in there? 20, 30 minutes? 20 to 30, yeah.

So it's the same that I'm doing in mine, only it's significantly hotter. Let me ask you, are you still doing yours, really? Yeah, I really am. How often are you doing it?

I try to do it five days a week. This week, I've only been able to do it once, which is yesterday. I don't do it on the weekends. So you're trying to do it five, but you're only just cut?

Yeah, because yesterday was Monday. I don't do it on Saturday and Sunday. You said this week. How many did you do last week?

Three. So you're trying to do five, but you went to three? Yeah. All right, and what about the week before?

Probably about the same. Okay, so we've never hit five then? No, the week before that I hit five. We're aiming for five?

No, the week before that was five. He aims for five. He gets three. So one out of four weeks, we achieve our goal?

Yeah. Something's better than nothing. Something's better than nothing! So you're 25%?

Something's better than nothing. Your family's gone. What are you doing at home by yourself where you don't have time to lounge in a sauna? Yeah.

What are you doing? Well, first of all, I haven't been leaving the shop until like eight o'clock at night over the past couple of days. Okay, so what's eight till two when you go to school? I love the directions podcast.

Go home, feed the dogs, eat something, go to bed. Cry myself to sleep. Have myself a good cry. You know?

Okay, so yeah. I have my wife's pajamas on the bed by her pillow. So this is the first like kind of affordable sauna that I came across that was dry heat at 180 degrees. The big barrel is like three to ten grand.

Yeah, no, this is, this was like... What is considered affordable? 300 bucks. Man, he lives in a different neighborhood than I knew.

That's not too bad. No, for what it is, it's not. Well, here's what I'm gonna tell you, man, 'cause I'm, I'm extremely worried about my heart, right? Yes.

Because genetically speaking, we got a pretty bad track record. Yeah, sure, sure. father and my aunt yeah you know um so yeah i like 300 bucks for me a 300 investment and trying to make sure that i'm healthier i'm in so well i wouldn't have a problem with it not that i promise your money i appreciate that i mean i'm dead up to my eyeballs but who are we kidding right you change these things that you're trying and it just seems like it you know it's the next thing in line so maybe 600 from now you're like that wasn't that's no good and then it's 300 on It's not the $300 is a lot of money, it's $300 for a short period of time. Right.

Okay, okay, I'm gonna play this game with you. This is fun. So, what is it that I've abandoned that I invested a tremendous amount of money on as far as my health? Well, maybe not a tremendous amount of money, but wasn't there some type of squat rack or something at your house?

A squat rack? Yeah, or a row machine? A row machine. Yes, there was a row machine at one point, and there was, was there a cage?

I don't, there might have been a cage, yes. There was a bag sauna, too. Okay. Yeah, the bag sauna, put your head in.

I think you had to get two of those because one broke. I still have that one, and I still use it, it's just that it's dying. I don't know if this counts, but he had an inflatable pool on his patio once. It was like one of those inflatable hot tub things.

That was pretty good. Is that there anyway? No, because that didn't work well. Oh, how about that killer bike or whatever that thing was called?

I still have the killer bike, I still use the killer bike every once in a while. So then it's just the rack and the... Don't you also have those adjustable dumbbells that you can like dial? I still have the adjustable dumbbells.

Do you use those? No. He doesn't use those as much. No, okay, but here's my logic from the cage, the rower, and the dumbbells.

Those three things, those three things were purchased during COVID. The whole reason for having those things is because I needed to work out at home because I couldn't work out at the gym. I go to the gym. I work out.

Okay. You just ask for examples, so we give examples. I'm trying to explain to you that what you're saying isn't valid. " That's not the case because I still cold plunge.

My cold plunge broke. You use the one in the garage? Well, it's broken. It's broken now.

It doesn't work anymore. How long has it been broken? About a month. So then, no times out of each week where it's supposed to be five you go into the cold plunge?

First of all, I don't go five times because I think five is obnoxious. Whoever has that kind of a goal is just ridiculous. How many would be, like three? I would say three, yeah.

Three, okay. So not even 20%. Well, unfortunately, I don't have an unlimited budget. Unfortunately, I don't have an unlimited budget like you, and I had to make a decision as to what I could purchase.

Unlimited budget? I paid $200 on a box of cigars for my sauna. Well, there's a difference between having an unlimited budget and being a cheap bastard. You're a cheap bastard with an unlimited budget.

You know what I mean? You're both of those things. You know, you could have easily bought... The $3,000 sauna.

The finished barrel. I was not going to do that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, with cash.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, hold on, let me see what I got in my left pocket here. Oh, yeah, no, I can cover that. No.

I can cover that. Hold on, let me peel a couple of bills off this wad. The left pocket's not my money. Yeah, no.

The right pocket's my money. Meanwhile, I'm rifling through- I think he said it right the first time. Yeah, exactly. Meanwhile, I'm rifling through credit cards saying, "Can't use that one.

Nope, don't use that one. Nope, nope. Yeah, yeah, this'll work. " And that's to cover lunch.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's like, "Oh, shit. What do we have?

McDonald's? Okay. Oh, God. Oh, God.

" We're going to have to split the fries, kids. Everybody gets two fries. Okay, here we go. Here we are.

So, you must be cooked at 30 minutes at 180 to 190 degrees. Oh, yeah, it's great. Because I'm done at 125, 130 at 20 to 30 minutes. I'm gonna say right now, it was really good.

Like, I used it once, it came in yesterday, so I'm gonna use it again tonight. And then you go in, you shower, you go right to bed, because that's the way that I feel afterwards. No, I don't shower and go right to bed, but what I do is I go in and shower cold, freezing cold water. And then I go out on the patio and I usually pass out there.

Isn't that a jolt to your heart to go from the heat to the cold? Just like that? You mean like shock? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's gotta be good. They can't be good if you've got a weak heart.

No, it's gotta be good. I don't think I have a weak heart. I'm making sure that I don't get a weak heart. You know what I'm saying?

All right. Okay. Good conversation. You're not bringing that thing to PCA area.

Your tent, your tent sauna. What do you mean? Well, those rooms are a little tight like it is and we're gonna pop up a tent in the middle of it. Maybe.

You could record the podcast while he's in it. Ooh, ooh, ooh. You'll get the microphone all sweaty. Ooh, that sounds fantastic.

Have to video through the portal. Yeah, exactly. All right, moving on, JC Newman, French, congratulations. All right, St.

Louis mayor signs the bill allowing for PCA trade show. Ooh, we don't, do we care though? I mean, let's, let's get into this. Well, it's gonna be what, one, two, three, four, it'll be five years from now.

I won't never see a trade show in St. Louis. You don't think you're gonna make it in five years? Five years?

No way, dude, come on, bro. How old are you? I'll be 54 this year. Okay, so you're talking about under 60.

60, yeah. I'm at 60. 60's my target. I just want you to know, we're gonna go around PCA and we're gonna ask specific people how old they are.

How old are you? Right? What does that have to do with anybody? I bet you Newman's probably like 110, you know?

Stafford? Yeah. Stafford's still rocking it. It's a great name.

Well, Mayor Kara Spencer signed into law an ordinance that would clear the way for the city to host the PCA Convention at Trade Show. Let's see where there's a list here of the dates. Oh, we don't care who voted, um, 2030. Okay, so it's in four years.

Four years from now, the organization has already announced the location of the next four trade shows, there we go, we're doing New Orleans, and then we're doing Vegas, Vegas, and then New Orleans again. Yes, that's late 50s, so we don't have that confirmed is what you're saying to me. That they're gonna do it? No, they've just cleared their way to do it.

They're also talking to Tampa and Miami. Geographically, it's interesting. It's like the most northern location I've ever seen since we've been in the cigar industry for the show. To have the show?

Yeah. I think they're just looking for other optional places. Everybody gets tired of going to the same places all the time. Yeah, I agree.

Well, you know... I haven't heard a lot of good things from people about New Orleans from last year. I've heard good things about New Orleans. Oh, I haven't.

You know, here's the reality. The reality is that people are always going to complain. " And the hard part, I think, as a person that's running the PCA is, of the advice that's given to you, the unsolicited, The unsolicited advice that's given to you, which of it actually holds any weight, right? Because if you're going to complain about your hotel sucking, then get a different hotel.

I don't know how you complain about the food in New Orleans. The food there is pretty good. The location isn't bad. I don't think that it's terrible.

Do I think that it should be in other places? 100%. I would love to see it in Tampa. I didn't even mind it in Orlando.

I just hated the fact that that one guy is so heavily involved in the hotel. You know, and he's an ass. So, you know, Miami, okay, maybe Miami, I don't know. I wouldn't be against Texas.

Where would you want to see the PCA, Greg? Let's go there. I think Texas is a great idea. I think geographically it's easiest for people to get to where it's located as far as the nation, you know?

I want to see them shorten it, to be honest with you. I'd like to see, you know, a Friday, Saturday, and then a half day on Sunday be done. That way, I think you would wind up getting more retailers to come out, because so many of these shops are ran by one man show, and it's very, very hard for them to wind up taking off multiple days. If you can get in and out on a weekend, you'll wind up seeing more retailers come out.

I think a lot of those people are still complaining that they don't come regardless, because realistically, you don't have to commit to the whole three days. You could still come out and just do one day. I don't know if that whole "we're going to cut it short for that purpose" transpires well. I do agree with you in the fact that maybe it could be a little bit shorter.

I also don't like the fact that it is Saturday, Sunday, Monday. That makes no sense to me. I think if it was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then people could then spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, wherever they are. They can bring in their family or whatever.

That would make more sense to me than having it on the days that they're having it. So, you know, that's just my kind of food for thought. Where would you want to see it, Palmer? Where would you want to see PCA?

Well, they're saying Tampa, the convention center is too small. So that's why Tampa's on our list, and Miami, I think they're complaining about the traffic, but you're right, people, I mean, no matter where you have it, somebody's going to have a better idea, people in the middle went Memphis, or Nashville, and, Okay, but I need you to stay on topic here, where would you want to stay, where would, you gave me the PCA, I think Texas would be good, I'd like Texas, okay, where in Texas, Dallas, Austin, either one of those are good, okay, if, if not Florida, I'd love to have it in Florida somewhere, yeah, I don't think the convention center in Orlando is going to let anybody go, But they smoke inside of it. No, they don't, I don't think. So we'd have to be outside.

Well, they did many, many years ago. We went to a convention. Yeah. The big, nice new convention center over there?

Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. I think Deltono would be the best.

At the center of the cigar world. Well, we can have it over at the center, which is the place the city uses. Yeah. Why don't we just have it out back?

You know what? Screw it. Out back here? Yeah, we'll just get some tents.

Sure. This could be the VIP area, right? Yeah. in here whoa whoa guy fieri right you let guy fieri in uh jack toronto to guard guy fieri that's two um eric to take pictures with guy fieri that's three uh basically the espinosa crew and that's it so and then we'll put skip in here but he won't hang out he'll be like oh yeah yeah he won't hang out yeah too smoky yeah it's too smoky in here so uh juicy guy fieri's video on social media about Come, come the PCA?

Yeah. Yeah. Tight shirt he's wearing, huh? He said it started on Friday.

Yeah. April 17th. Right. You think that he would have somebody around him to kind of guide him into the right answers?

You know? Or at least they send him the right answer. " But I think Friday is the opening event or something like that, isn't it? Yeah, it is.

And they have like those classes and stuff that they do where they teach you about credit card processing and legislation and all that as well. PCA has a big party that night. Yeah, so I take back everything that I said. It's completely wrong.

Guy's Fury is right, April 17th. And kudos to him to be in like one of the very, very few celebrities that have a cigar that actually put in the work. He's the only one. Who's the only one?

He's the only one. Okay, the only one. Who else? Damon Wayans has two new cigars coming out at the show and he is instead of squat.

Yeah, Damon. And so does, uh, um, UFC, uh, fighter Irish guy. Conor McGregor? Yeah, he's got two new cigars coming out, too.

Yeah? Okay. We may or may not be covering one of those stories today, I don't remember. Perfect.

All right, well, let's get on to the next, the next episode, the next, uh... The next episode of The Price is Right. Okay. An American-themed Opus is going to be available at the PCA.

Ooh, is it going to come with a bald eagle? Uh, it is red, white, and blue, I don't believe there is a bald eagle. - Is it going to come with an AR-15? - I don't know, I doubt it very seriously.

- Ooh. - I doubt that. - No AR? - This year marks the 250th anniversary of the United States, and there will be a new Opus X to honor the milestone.

Reyes International, the American distributor of Ellie Blue, posted a picture of four accessories featuring a new colorway that incorporates the American flag into the Fuente Fuente Opus X logo. So it's Ellie Blue, so let's see if we get to the price here. Mikey loves these. - Big, big money.

- They're making 76 humidors. - Big money. Each come with 76 cigars. Ooh, okay.

In various places and the accessories it says, United We Stand. Mmm. Oh, we have a Carlito quote, hold on. America!

Yeah. United We Stand. When asked about the new project, Carlos Carlito Fuente, chairman of Arturo Fuente, declined--oh, he declined to comment. I'm not talking about this.

Oh. All right, the new project expected--oh, no pricing. They haven't decided yet. How much do you think, Greg?

How much do you think? 7k. For 76 cigars? Ellie Blue?

With the Humie? That doesn't even cover the... You think 12? I think more mine, but...

I think 12 to 18. Yeah, I think it's a $10,000 project. Minimum. A lot of scratch.

That's a lot of bones, man! Well, Michael's ordered two for the show. Yeah, we actually had three coming. Oh, three.

You up did. Wow. Yeah. One for personal use.

Inside his sauna. One is a giveaway at the event. Yeah, one for a giveaway. We're going to give one away.

The other one will just sit there for five years. And then we're going to sit on one of them. We'll put it up next to the Fuente Padron collection. We've been selling those lately.

I have noticed that. There's only like 10 cigars left. Yeah. Or someone's been stealing them.

We're going to 5X. We're going to 5X. Greg will run a report later. Yeah.

Oh, I got to check that out. Oh, he could be ready. I got to go look. Damn employees.

We're going to 6X the price for those Opus, and we'll just sit on them. How much are these? $1,700. Each.

A piece. Looking forward to that. Okay. You know what?

To be honest, all joking aside, I'm kind of curious to see the ban on this thing. I bet you it's going to look badass. There's a picture on Half Wheel. Oh, is there?

Yes. Okay. I'll look. I'll go look.

Oh, look at this. Conor McGregor's Notorious Cigars. He's adding Unpologetic and Crème de la Crème this summer. Okay.

Do you think the Creme de la Creme is a flavored cigar? No, probably a Connecticut. I think that Unapologetic is Trax. I don't know what the hell Creme de la Creme kind of links into there.

It doesn't even make any sense. It's not even on brand. The cream of the... The cream of the cream.

The cream of the cream. The top of the best of the best. The cream of the cream. He's not even the best of the best.

He's up there, but he's not best of the best. If it was the John Bones Jones cigar, then it would be the best of the best. John Paul Jones? Yeah, no.

Not John Paul. That's his brother. - John Bones Jones. - Oh, John Bones Jones.

- John Bones Jones, yeah. - I think John Paul Jones was some patriot or something during the Revolutionary War. - Was he? - Alright, unapologetic is a medium to full-bodied profile that uses a US-grown Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the US.

The company calls it bold and unapologetically rich. - Unapologetic. - Yes. - Not unapologetically.

It's not pollen. - It's pollen. - No, it's not pollen. What's the way it's spelled?

P-O-L-L-E-N. Yeah, unapollenlegetic? So he's making a six and a quarter by 46. Okay.

He's making a six by 50. Okay. And a six and a half by 54. All Toros.

Okay. All Toros. Oh, and a six by 60. That's a Super Toro.

Also a Toro. Super Toro. Super Toro. It's the Toro Toro.

The creme de la creme is a medium intensity profile offering espresso, dark chocolate, roasted nuts, and earthy spice, according to its company. He uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade Wrapper and a Brazilian Adaparaca binder and fillers from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. I love how he says Adaparaca. He hates how he's saying it.

Sorry, I'm a white guy. It's offered in four sizes. It's a 5x50. Oh, these are all small ones.

It's a 5x50 Robusto, a 5 and 3/4 Robusto, 6x52 Toro. Oh, fine, a legit size, a Toro. okay and a six by 60 a double churchill seven by 54 that's a a seven by 54 robusto both lines are made at the mj freest factory in santiago dominican republic i can hear you scratching stop sorry i had an itch just deal with the itch and they're scheduled to ship during the first week of june they will be on display during the 2026 pca convention trade show 18th to the 20th in New Orleans. So, are you excited to meet Conor McGregor at PCA?

Nothing says he will be there. Okay, are you excited to meet Conor McGregor at PCA? I wouldn't be, but I don't think that he's going to be there either. Okay, I also don't think that Conor McGregor is going to be at PCA.

If he was, would you be excited to meet him? Do that standard pose with him like everybody likes to do? I don't think I would do the, you know, I'm not that guy, I'm not the "Hey, let's get a photo" guy. But it'd be cool to meet him, it'd be cool to meet him.

Have them call your kids? You like to have them call your children. Yeah, I do that. " Yeah, FaceTime my son.

Yeah, he says hi. Did you see him in Roadhouse? I did. Oh, that's right.

He was the villain in it, wasn't he? He wasn't acting at all. Terrible, terrible actor. No, it wasn't.

Oh, was that him in real life? Yeah, that's him in real life. Oh. Yeah.

Edgy, on all kinds of things, just cranking. There's a good name for a cigar. Cranking. Crankin.

The Notorious Crankin. That's better than Creme de la Creme. That's the cream of the cream of the cream. I get it.

Thank you. Hey, you know what? It's Atta Paraca. Marlon Wayans is making a couple of new cigars.

Oh, okay. Liga Trident adding Rosado Churchill and Connecticut Robusto. So he's making a big and a little. Okay.

The Liga Trident, the cigar that started by actor and comedian Marlon Wayans, We'll be unveiling two new cigars at PCA Convention at Trade Show, the 18th to the 20th. Okay. I like how he mentions that on everything. Well, that's good.

First up is the Liga Trident Rosado Churchill, a 7x46 Vitola, which uses a Rosado Oscuro wrapper and a Criolo 98 binder. Mmm. And then fillers from Columbia and Habano Seed Varietal. Excellent.

Aside from the Colombian filler, the company has not yet disclosed the countries of origin of the leaves and its blend. Pricing is set at, gentlemen, for Mr. Wayne's new cigar. Do you want me to go first?

You can go first. $16. $14. $16!

Set up the sparklers. We can't, we don't have any fuel. Oh, that's right, they don't work, they don't work. Yeah, the person I bought them from is very shady.

Still need a refund. Shyster. He'll never use up all this stuff in there. It'll be fine.

It'll go for years. It's gonna go forever. It went twice. Meanwhile, back at the fort, like, nope, this is not working anymore.

It's not working anymore. I can't believe you guys went through it all. Yeah. We said it off twice!

We said it off two times. You must have been playing with it extensively. No. No.

You did testing it more than we did for the actual time. He's like, you gotta clean it. It just blows out all the shit out of there. I'm like, no, okay.

We cleaned it. We kept cleaning it. Stuff just flying all over the place. It's perfect.

I have to sweep up every time. It makes a mess. There's stuff all over the chair. It's all over the floor.

It's great. We love it. I hate these things. Thank you so much.

Well, you didn't tell us all this other stuff. I didn't disclose that. It's like buying a car and you find it doesn't work. How are you gonna start?

Oh wait, he does that all the time. There's a key fee. There's a key fee? Yeah, how are you gonna start?

You need a key. There's a fuel fee. You gotta buy the fuel. Okay, so Palmer, are you excited to meet Marlon Wayans at PCA?

It says nothing about him being there. Oh, so he's not gonna be there. Okay, got it. Greg, are you excited to meet Marlon Wayans at PCA?

Just say yes. I don't think he'll be there, but I might have been more excited to meet him than I would Conor McGregor. You would be more excited to meet Marlon Wayans? Yeah, I think so.

Why is that? I think that I've probably been exposed to more of him than Conor McGregor. Okay. I didn't say that I'd be excited.

I would be more excited than Conor McGregor. Okay. So, still not excited. Still not excited, but it would be a level slightly above nothing.

But an elevated excitement. Yeah. But not excited. But not excited.

Got it. Okay. If there was a room that he was going to be in, any of these guys were going to be in where I could just walk up and say hi like he's a regular person, then okay. But I'm not waiting in line to talk to anybody.

You know, I think that there should be a rule here, to be honest. To be honest, I think that the reality is if you're a celebrity and you're going to release a cigar at PCA and you're not attending, it's not permitted. It shouldn't happen. You're not allowed to release it.

Like David Ortiz sat there and he did, you know, and he took the pictures and he did his whole yada yada, right? So I think that that's how we should look at this. Oh, Marlon Wayans, okay, cool. Are you going to attend?

Okay, great. I mean, there should be some exceptions to that rule. It's like something happens or you have a specific commitment. But the reality is that a lot of these guys are just looking to make a quick buck, and what happens is the brands don't sell.

So, how do you feel about that, Palmer? Do you think that these celebrities should be attending the PCA? I think they should. Yeah.

And like, longer than an hour long of, like, Mike Tyson is in, and Mike Tyson has left the building. That was the one I was thinking of, too. Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson is here, and Mike Tyson is taking a shit, and now he's gone.

Mike Tyson has left the building. Yeah, that was crazy. Don't come stand in line. Yeah, we need a serious, like a commitment, you know what I mean?

Help the industry a little bit, right? See, I like Guy Fieri because we don't have to wait in line. Yeah, that dude, I mean, that guy, he's unbelievable. Right, we just get to walk up.

What's up, Guy? Hey Guy, how you doing? Thanks for the phone call. Okay, what do you think, Greg?

Do you think celebrities should be required to be at PCA if they're releasing a cigar at the shelf? I think it's a great idea. I think that because they're actually selling their name more than they are selling a cigar. That's really what the ticket is.

I agree. Do you think that Joshua Haberski is a large enough man to be an enforcer for something like this? Where he walked into a room and people would be like, "Okay, yeah, I gotta respect this guy. " Is this because he's not very tall?

Correct. That's exactly what I'm saying. He's gonna come see us in three days. Yeah, I know.

Well, you're the one that addressed his height the first time you saw him. Well, I know, I was surprised. Yeah. It caught me by surprise.

Oh, look, you're so tiny! You know what's so funny is like, you look at his Instagram post, I'm like, he looks like a boss. You know what I mean? He takes some good photos.

He does a great job of that. So, you know, I can understand how you got that, like, mixed up. mixed up in your brain like like he was he's such a commanding presence i think that if he sent like the right kind of uh if he sent the right photo and a threat to a celebrity then then maybe it would be you know it would be properly just facetime from the shoulders up yeah hey man right yeah like and then maybe like have uh like prison bars or something behind him or something so that he looked like really kind of intimidating uh shoot a point of view so everything looks smaller Yeah, something like, maybe he's at the gun range or something. Dead hippo behind him.

Oh, yes. He's eating a hippo steak. This is my Colombian hippo. This is my cocaine hippo.

That I just acquired. I just wrote it in and then killed it. Yeah. And by the way, you'll be attending the PCA if you're going to release that cigar.

Yeah, I think that's, yes. Okay, so. So, yes. They have to come for all three days?

What is the time that they need to be there? That's a great, that is a great question. What is the time? Two.

Well, day one, day two, minimum. Gotcha. Day three's up to you. Day one, day two, you got to attend both days.

Or they come to day three to get more people to come. Or force them to arrive, yes, Michael. All celebrities will be here on day three? Yes.

Plan your meetings accordingly? Or just pepper them across, they want to do day three. Wow. You know?

That one guy shows up every year from Now You Can't Go, he says in that movie? Paul... I can't remember his name, a picture's face. I picked his face.

Hedgeitory or something like that. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Yeah. I mean, he's like 700 years old.

Yeah, so there you go. That's evidence proof number one of an older person that will survive at PCA, and you can do it too. Yeah, he does show up. You are correct.

Yeah, he's there over here. Ooh, I wonder if the guy from Karate Kid's gonna be there. He put out a cigar last year. Ralph Macchio?

No, no, no, the bad guy. The Cobra Kai guy. The Cobra Kai guy. I don't know, the last one he did, like he bit somebody or something.

At PCA? - Yeah, didn't he bite? No, it wasn't a PCA. It was something else.

It was like a person-- - Oh, why didn't he bite somebody? - I don't know. I think we covered this. - That he bit?

I remember covering a story about his cigars. I don't remember covering that. - Yeah, I think he bit somebody. - Wow.

- Mm-hmm. - Okay, maybe he doesn't come. - Sweep the leg, Johnny. - Sweep the leg.

- Bite the face, Johnny. Okay. So carry on. Next, what else?

We're already at an hour here. - Time for the industry. - Greg's got a lot of things to do. Time for the industry's favorite game, What's the Score?

Alright, today's cigar, March 19, 2015, reviewed by Mr. Brooks Winnington, it's an Aganorsa Leaf cigar, the JR Lunatic Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo.

Just Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo.

Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo.

Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo. Mambambo.

No one understands that, Greg, except me and you. Is that the first bit? The first little bit? Yeah, I tell you the cigar, then you say the score.

This is the first third of information, that's it, that we've got so far? Correct. All right, now it's time to think about what the score is. First quarter.

There's four sections. Four of them. You would think for all the times that I've been on the show, I would know that. Okay, so you're kind of our guest.

Kind of. So you want me to go first? Yes. Okay.

You're like our Joan Rivers. Okay. Or the Johnny Carson. Okay.

Sometimes you're my Oprah. - I'm going to go 86. - I'm going to go 87. - JFR Lunatic Mambo from Nicaragua, Tabaco...

- Mambo. - What? - Mambo. - Mambo.

Mexican San Andreas Wrapper, Nicaraguan Binder, Filler from Nicaragua, it's an 8x80. - Oh good lord, I thought it was going to be one of those big ones. - Bellicoso Gordo. They smoked two because of the unusual size.

I'm gonna hold fast here at 86. I'm gonna go 85. Clue number one. The sheer presence of the cigar is impressive right out of the gate.

Dark, rich wrapper with minimal veins and a unique bellicoso cap. It's still a cigar. Construction overall holds up well too with a consistently firm draw And surprisingly, solid burn for something this large. Still talking about a cigar.

Very positive. I like the big one. It's very veiny. I like the veiny.

Is that it? That's it. Now you go to scores. 86.

I'm going to go back to 87. He's trying to poker me again. He's looking at me every time you do a score. Yeah, he's trying to read you.

Smoke output it. See, the problem is, I don't know what the answer is at the moment. Yeah, you forgot it at this point. I forgot at this point.

He has a very small brain. Smoke output is outstanding, and the cigar delivers a long, evolving experience with strength building nicely from mild to medium full. Notes of coffee, earth, leather, and a subtle sweetness keep it engaging throughout the entire, very long, in parentheses, smoke. - Wow.

- Eighty-six. - Eighty-eight. - He's going up. He's going up, ladies and gentlemen.

Third clue: The massive size works against it. Awkward to handle and smoke with a fairly one-dimensional flavor profile that doesn't develop much beyond tobacco and earth. Add in flaky ash and it can take away from the overall enjoyment, despite solid construction. - Ooh.

- Ooh. - Eighty-six. - Eighty-seven. Final thought: There is no getting around the fact that this is an enormous cigar, and as such, there are some issues that don't come up with smaller Vitolas.

The main problem I had was getting the delicate balance of smoking too much quickly in order to keep the large amount of tobacco lit, but not smoking so fast as to turn what flavors it actually does have into a bitter mess. The profile is extremely monotonous, but not offensive in any way, and while the burn was never better than fair, the draw was excellent on both samples I smoked. I'm not going to say you have to be a lunatic to smoke one, but you sure have to really want a combination of overwhelming size, along with overwhelming flavor, and have almost four hours to kill. Whoa.

Now you do the final score. Final score. Unless you want to guess how long you took them to smoke. No, no, no.

That T-Money wants, but it's kind of over now because of what I just said. Yeah, I'm gonna guess four hours. - Oh, you win! - Yay!

- Oh wait, no, it was part of the game, sorry. - I'm going... - Not a stand-alone game. - I'm going to go...

80-oo. Let me see his face. - 80-oo. - Scratching his nose.

- What score is 80-oo? - Oh, 80-oo. - 80-oo. - 80-oo.

- I'm gonna go 84. - Ah, that's what I was gonna go. - Then pick something else. - Don't signal him, Palmer.

- What? What? Don't you signal him. I didn't say anything.

83. He went the right way! No! 73!

Wow! He was cranky after the four hours. Sometimes it may be good, but sometimes it may be shit. Uh-huh.

Okay. No fireworks. 73. Only when he wins.

Yeah. Well, not even when I win at this point. Not anymore. Thank you very much for that, Greg.

That was very nice. Yes, thank you. Took our money and just left. You haven't paid yet.

We haven't paid. I know. Got 'em! Not that we get the fuel!

Hey, is it still under warranty? Because I have some questions. Okay, where are we going to be, Mr. Palmer?

We're going to be at the PCA for the next seven days. Yay! Yay! So come see us in New Orleans.

April 18th or 20th? The 17th. We'll be there. With Guy Fieri.

Hanging out, having some oysters. Yes? Sure. Okay, perfect.

We're not going to that one restaurant again this year, we went to last year that nobody got food but Michael. Mike, he did not get his food. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't get my food, yeah. Somebody got food, one person.

Everybody got, first Mike got his plate, then he waited for everybody, and then when it came time for him to eat it, it was like just fucked up. It was cold, right. Yeah, so he had to get another one. Maybe there was a total of like three plates you wound up getting that evening.

That was a rough, that was a rough one. Yeah. I judged, I judged the server by, My water. Your water stays full?

Yeah. I judge the server by my water. You know, because that's the type, at that point, I know what we're dealing with here, right? Because if you're drinking beer, you're having some other stuff, they want to stay on top of that to keep the tab going, but the water is just the water.

And they're like, ah, screw this guy. And they're like, well, this guy's the guy that's paying, so you might want to give me some water. Like, there are times when we're out to dinner with, when I'm having dinner with Brittany, and she knows exactly what I'm doing. " Or the person's just totally ignoring it.

I'm like, "Oh, this isn't good. " Yeah, that's a good metric. Yeah. I like that.

C. one time, and every time I took a sip, the guy came and filled up the water. That's pretty impressive. To the point where I didn't want to drink any more water.

It was too much. Yeah, it was too much. Yeah, that's like the hands guy in, was it Mr. Deeds?

Oh, please excuse my sneakiness. Steve. Steve's getting angry. Because the only people that can respond to the orders are on this podcast?

Yeah, all three of us are right here. " Okay, well, hey, listen, we look forward to seeing everybody out at the show, and check out tomorrow's episode. Could be a dumpster fire, but we're going to do it anyways, so thank you, everybody, for your time, and see you. Hey, guys, thanks, bye.

Good night.

Show Notes

On Todays show:

Cocaine Hippos

Hooker Beat The Rap

AI version of Mark Zuckerberg so staff can talk to the boss

In cigars

Jc Newman is Now French

Spicy Meat Cigars

Opus Comes Home to America

Celebrity Cigars are popular

Then a BIG What’s The Score!

Like To Make a Retail PCA Appointment  click link below:

https://calendly.com/mike-v-0/powstanie-meeting-pca-2026-booth

If You’d Like To Make A Media Appointment Click The Link Below

https://calendly.com/mike-v-0/powstanie-media-meeting-pca-2026-booth-4841