ACHP Episode 517 Going Canadian, The Draft and an Influencer Named Sam

Episode Summary

Episode 517 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast finds Mike Palmer back behind the mic (barely — both he and Mike Szczepankiewicz are fighting off post-trade-show colds) with Phil McGuffey on engineering and sports duty. The first half is classic Hustlers off-topic territory: the news that millions of Americans may qualify for Canadian dual citizenship through a distant relative, a recap of the 2026 NFL Draft, and the case of a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier charged with using classified intel about the Maduro capture operation to win roughly $400,000 on a prediction market — a story that sparks a long debate about insider trading, selective accountability and UCMJ punishment. The crew also digs into the "Emily Hart" story, a wildly successful MAGA AI influencer revealed to be the creation of an Indian medical student named Sam using Google Gemini, and what that says about social media, algorithms and audiences.

On the cigar side, the big item is the Cigar Association of America's final 2025 numbers: 429.8 million premium handmade cigars imported into the U.S., essentially flat versus 2024 and the fifth straight year above 400 million. The guys use it as a jumping-off point for a genuinely useful discussion of whether import data is a leading or lagging indicator, arguing that retailer purchasing is the better gauge of industry tempo and predicting 2026 imports will drop 3–4% as retailers work through bloated post-COVID inventory. They also push back on claims that 21–30 year-olds are driving a sales uptick, citing a Rocky Patel hospitality seminar at PCA where only one person in a packed room raised their hand as Gen Z — and the industry's failure to convert younger smokers away from pouches and vapes.

Other cigar news includes the Amigos de Partagás–style international gathering kicking off in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in a year when the Habanos Festival was postponed, and Ferio Tego's Metropolitan 30 Years — a 6x50 Toro with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican/Nicaraguan filler, made at the Quesada factory in the Dominican Republic, limited to 2,500 ten-count boxes as Michael Herklots marks 30 years of the Metropolitan Selection. The show closes with What's the Score, a 2023 Charlie Minato halfwheel redux of the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Club Kings that scored a brutal 68 — beautiful presentation and excellent construction undone by dry, harsh, mineral flavors. There's also PCA talk about Joshua Habursky and Scott Pearson, podcast swag and hat giveaway details, and Palmer's Casa Fina Connecticut in the ashtray.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Canadian Dual Citizenship Loophole
   The crew reacts to reports that Americans with a Canadian ancestor may qualify for citizenship, and debate whether hedging your bets across borders is worth the higher taxes.
2. 02
   2026 NFL Draft Recap
   Phil McGuffey breaks down a trade-heavy, surprise-light first round, two quarterbacks going in round one, Tampa Bay's pick, and growing disillusionment with the Buccaneers under Todd Bowles.
3. 03
   Soldier Charged Over $400K Maduro Prop Bet
   A Fort Bragg Special Forces soldier allegedly used classified intel on the Maduro capture to win $400,000 on Polymarket, sparking a debate about insider trading and who actually gets punished.
4. 04
   The AI Influencer Named Sam
   MAGA influencer 'Emily Hart' turns out to be an AI persona built by an Indian medical student using Gemini to pay off school debt through merch and subscriptions.
5. 05
   Steelers Draft Blunder Video
   A viral clip claims the Steelers lost their target at pick 21 to an Eagles trade-up and ended up with a player ranked 41st — and the guys question whether the story is even true.
6. 06
   2025 Premium Cigar Import Numbers
   CAA data shows 429.8 million premium cigars imported in 2025, flat year over year, leading to a lead-vs-lag indicator debate and a prediction that 2026 imports fall 3–4%.
7. 07
   Gen Z and the Future of Cigar Smoking
   A Rocky Patel PCA hospitality seminar where only one attendee identified as Gen Z fuels concern that the industry is aging out while young smokers choose pouches and vapes.
8. 08
   Vietnam Cigar Festival & Ferio Tego Metropolitan 30 Years
   A hundred-plus enthusiasts gather in Ho Chi Minh City, and Michael Herklots releases a limited Ecuadorian Habano-wrapped Toro marking 30 years of the Metropolitan Selection.
9. 09
   What's the Score: Romeo y Julieta Club Kings
   The panel guesses at Charlie Minato's halfwheel redux score for the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Club Kings, which landed at a harsh 68 despite gorgeous construction.

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

And action! Welcome to The Cigar Hustler Podcast Episode 517. I'm Mike Palmer, back from the dead, and your host for today's show. With me today in engineering is star of the male poor industry, Phil McGuffey.

Still on that, huh? Yay, Phil. I took the foreskin part out. Oh, yeah.

And with me back from his successful appearance at Marineland as a killer whale, Mike Szczepankewicz. Here I am, in the flesh. Wow. He sounds worse than I do today.

That's what we do today. We'll wait till the coughing starts. The coughing's minimal. I mean, look, this is a week-long talking at the Convention Center plus being sick.

This is what it is. Well, I get the first cough. I hate that saying. And whatever you did as a killer whale.

Yes. I'm sure all that saltwater swimming around that cold saltwater didn't help any yesterday. I did get to pet a stingray. Oh, you didn't die.

You survived. I touched it. Oh, yeah, you didn't die like Steve Irwin. The trick is not to go over the barrel.

Crikey! Crikey! I wonder what happens if I put this barb near my chest. " I'll tell you what, it was a cool little field trip.

They went out and they were trying to catch fish with nets. One of them caught a gigantic pufferfish. Oh, cool. It's pretty dope.

This was at an aquarium, or where was this? No, it was Ponce Inlet. Oh, that's cool. Yeah.

Nice. And then they dissected a squid. They killed a squid? There are a lot of dissect things again?

The squids were already dead. Oh. Well, somebody killed it. Somebody killed them, yeah.

Yeah. Did they, like, squirt away with the ink? No, but they pulled the ink out. Oh.

That's cool. I bit one in China one time, and I didn't know it, but I bit the ink and it ran down my face. Yeah. " and then I had purple ink on my face.

Did it come off easy or no? It was a little hard to get off. I'm sure it was. Yes.

You didn't freak out? You didn't freak out? No, I was just ink. On today's show, we have the draft with Phil McGuffey.

We're all Canadian, maybe. A Special Forces soldier got a big payday, an influencer has been outed, and in cigars, it's a big day in Vietnam, Michael Herklot celebrates 30 years, and the final numbers are in for 2025. Plus, a crowd favorite was the score. All this and more, and that was a 217.

200? Oh, 517. Sorry. It's been a long week.

He's losing his mind. I was so excited. I was so up for the whole thing. I got everything right.

You were doing great. Don't put him down. He's doing great. He's losing his mind a little bit.

All right. Keep it going. Keep it going. You know, the weirdest thing is my eyes all of a sudden have gotten worse.

Yeah? From the cold. I don't... Maybe they're just tired?

I don't know. Your eyes are probably just tired. Oh. I mean, like, without glasses, I can't see anything anymore.

Right, everything's blurry. Yeah, I'm blind. Alright, but before we get started, Michael, how do we get some of that, what are you smoking? What is that lovely cigar?

I'm having a Cinezofina. Oh, nice. That's one of my favorite Connecticut's. It's up there in my top three.

How do we get some of that CH Pond swag and what is the new shirt we're offering? Great question, Mr. Palmer. What you want to do is, first of all, like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show.

Smash the button. Smash the button. The button. com for all of our swag, where you buy one and get the second one 40% off.

Spend $100 or more and get free shipping. Our newest shirt is the Master Blender. Master Blender. Master Blender.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. com Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where if you subscribe for the full year, you get 10% off. Nice.

Yep. Some comments from yesterday's questionable show. Guns, Gear, and Smoke says, that had to be the funniest comeback I've ever heard on this show. And it was at the last 10 seconds of the show.

Oh, yeah. Was that the foreskin jab that I caught at the end? Where I said my dick was bigger. Oh, nice.

He wanted me to be his stunt double, and I said, I can't, my dick is bigger. Francis Saleto, 6035 says, Palmer sounds like he's got the black lung. Pretty much. Now Mikey does.

Josh Bolling says, shots came with Palmer's cough, I need another bottle. Oh, shots came with Palmer's cough, I need another bottle. Sorry. My T-Sharp Four says, wow, you guys really struggle without the king in the studio.

We know who's pulling the rope the hardest. - Looking forward to the next podcast. - Wow. - Now listen, look.

They were doing their best. Palmer's, you know, he's dead at this point. - Right. - He's been sick as a dog.

But, you know, they're still providing content. I don't know what was up with law. Maybe he was just having an off day. Maybe this transition into evil law is, you know.

- And not working out well? - Yeah. - I don't think it's, it's not that it's not working out well. Maybe it's, we're finding our footing still.

- Oh, okay. - You know? Yeah. We'll have him back on again for a redemption episode.

Yeah. I think he could have definitely bring the boom a little bit more. Oh, fuck. You don't like the word the boom?

No, I got a call at one o'clock that I just blew off again. Oh. Sorry, that was today. T-Money 007.

Or yesterday. I see why Phil loses what's the score so often. He clearly doesn't pay attention. Charlie's by far the harshest reviewer on Half Wheel.

That's not true. Don't listen to him. Don't listen to him. T-Money doesn't know what he's talking about.

Charlie is very gracious with his reviews. Right. He's very nice. And, okay, so, we're giving away one of our hats from the show.

Oh! All you gotta do is comment below on this episode and we'll include it, if you commented on any of the other shows previously, where I announced it a couple days ago, you're going to be in as well. We'll announce the winner sometime in this week. Yeah, because this will be mine.

I like how you always have to check. You always have to say it out loud. I ain't gonna say it in my head. You just let it go.

Just let it process in your brain. No, no, I have to mark it with words. No, let the movie magic happen. You're the one that's always about the movie magic.

I say it with words. Don't ruin the flow. And you screw it up every single time. There's a process.

So yeah, that's all I got. Now let's get on with the show. On with the show. Millions of Americans may qualify for Canadian citizenship.

Now, apparently, if you have a relative that was Canadian and lived there for a thousand days, you too could be a Canadian citizenship. Oh, really? We're all citizens now. John McTavish.

Yes. He's our relative? Yes. Unfortunately, by the time he sees this, it'll be well past a thousand days of birth.

Right, so a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a great-great-great-grandmother, a great-great-great-great-grandfather, any relative that you had in the past would qualify you for dual citizenship. Well, I didn't, that didn't happen for me. Well, maybe, maybe John Metavich could just identify as your relative. Are you part Canadian?

Um, I think Adrian has some relatives that lived in Canada way back. I think they came over from England into Canada. Hey. So you're Canadian by injection?

Well, no. He's the injector. I'm the injector. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm saying, you know. I don't know, but maybe we could, what advantage is there to be a dual citizenship with Canada, other than if Trump finally goes crazy and we gotta hide? Well, you'll have to pay higher taxes. No, they have lower taxes, don't they?

No. No, they don't. Yeah, they definitely have higher taxes. Oh, crap.

I don't see the plus side here, anyway. No, there's definitely a benefit. I think that it's smart. If you have the ability to become a dual citizen for some of these countries, why not do it?

Because look, you don't know the future. Right, you're hedging your bets. Yeah, if the shit ever hits the fan, you just, alright, we're moving. But Canada though, I mean, the shit hits the fan here, pretty much going to hit it there too, isn't it?

Zombie apocalypse, you can just land in a forest somewhere, far away from everybody. S. for whatever reason, I don't know, is it a big ripple effect in Canada? I think so, they're connected.

You got all that syrup, though. Yeah, but how long can you live on syrup? How long can you live on syrup? Forever.

He needs some syrup. Oh, it was me yesterday, it's him today. The drinking game today is Mikey Coughs. What's really bad is the microphone's near his throat.

right so when he swallowed you can hear everything oh i am sweating profusely all of a sudden yeah i got really nervous no i mean like i've just started sweating terribly down my back and oh jesus apparently just one side of my body i'm having a stroke this is it the zombie apocalypse is here oh you mentioned zombie apocalypse here we go we're gonna want brains and we got that That's the best thing to go after. Yeah. Oh, wow. You keep talking.

Wow. Go ahead and continue. Oh, this is nice. So how about that weather out there?

Let's move on to the next story because the sports roundup is Phil McGuffey with the draft. Hello. The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft was lacking when it came to surprise. Trades Galore dominated the first round of the two trades deals being executed on Thursday night.

And six teams making multiple first round picks as a result of these deals. It was truly a stunning evening of highs and lows, with some teams absolutely destroying the draft process in the best way, by finding incredible value, while others were left to shake their heads over what could have been. Here with the update is Phil McGuffey from Cigar Hustle Podcast Sports. Well, I wasn't prepared for this.

I mean, I wasn't told I was doing this. You're the sports guy. Aren't you making bets on these people? You know, I didn't get to make any bets on the draft thing.

I wish I would have, because I definitely would have took the bet for the two quarterbacks in the first round. That was a real bet. Yeah, that was a real bet. Well, two quarterbacks go in the first round.

Yeah. That doesn't happen often. He was the number one pick. That was obvious.

Well, Ty Simpson didn't go until what? 19th? 20th? Somewhere around there.

I didn't watch. Oh. So, out of all the picks, I like Tampa Bay's pick the most. Bane?

Yeah. Who? Bane. Yeah, his last name is Bane.

Oh, Bane? Yeah, he played for- Like Batman character Bane? Oh. Actually, yeah, they kind of do a thing with him with that.

But I thought it was the best pick. I mean, he was injured, right, at the end, but I think he's going to be good. Is it a lung thing? Does he have like a mouth breather thing he's going to do now?

You know, they have like a little... Yeah, they had a little picture of him online where he was like Bane and Batman. You weren't coughing like that upstairs. Something's happened.

As soon as I started talking. Yeah. A lot of talking, more dry throat. I can slick back the side of my head.

I'm so sweaty over here. That's nice. Anyways, it wasn't an eventful draft, you kind of knew what was going on. Well, I have a video for us later in regards to the draft, so.

Oh, on the draft. Is sports losing some of its appeal because of all the gambling accusations and stuff? I think it is. It doesn't seem to be as popular as it once was.

I mean, I've definitely stepped back. Well, that's the only reference I have from my personal surroundings. I mean, people still go to the games and stuff, but it seems like it's not talked about as much as it used to be. No.

Well, you're also in this kind of weird lull. Like, you're right at the playoffs for the NBA and the NHL, and it's not far enough along where everybody's talking about it. Yeah. But the games are great right now.

If there's a basketball playoff game going on, I'll sit and watch it, for sure. Yeah, they've been really close. Yeah, the Knicks game last night was wild. Yeah, it was good.

So, so yeah, um, no, I mean, you know, NFL, I'm definitely a little more jaded towards the NFL now, progressively through the past couple of years, you know, and then I saw like a, like a Tampa Bay Buccaneers Facebook page, like the bandwagoners have left and you know, now it's just real. And I'm like, okay, I go in 2020, when I was a real one, they only let nurses in for, you know, for the Super Bowl. Also in 2020, they limited my seats, right? So I didn't have access to all the games.

And when I got to go to a game, I had to sit up in the rafters 70 feet away from everybody. You know, they treated us like Allegiant. In 2022, they moved me from instead of an annual payment to monthly, and the whole purpose of that deception was to keep you locked in to the next year before that year started. Right.

Keeps going. Payment keeps going. Which I don't appreciate, right? So, no, you know, Liam Cohen saw it coming.

He bailed. The big one was Mike Evans left and went to San Francisco for less money, and I think that's all because of the fact that Todd Bowles shouldn't be the head coach. He's obviously protected. I don't know if that has anything to do with...

What's the guy's name with the hat? He won the Super Bowl with us. Gruden? No.

Bear Bryant. No, Bryant something. Bryant Song. Who was the Super Bowl coach?

Bryant Young. With the hat, look it up. Super Bowl coach with the hat. Tampa Bay Bucs coach Super Bowl.

Brian Williams. Jones. Tampa Bay Bucs coach Super Bowl. Brian McGuffey.

Phil's brother. Yeah, Brian McGuffey. Phil's brother. Brian Stepankiewicz.

Bruce Arians. Bruce? It's not even Brian? Yeah, it's a B, B-R.

Well, I would have gone if you said Bruce. Todd Bowles is obviously protected by Bruce, so if they fall flat this year, then what happens? You just have this entire organization completely fall apart, you're trying to get more money out of your customers, and everything is backwards, so yeah, no, I'm still a fan, I'll still watch, but I'm not as committed as I was. I don't have to sit down on Sunday at one o'clock.

There's talk that they might be the next team to come over to the stadium here in town when they revamp their year after. When they redo Raymond James. The year after next. Oh, Camping World.

Yeah, Camping World. Cool. Yeah. And then I'm sure that the price will go up over there.

Yeah, of course. Probably. It's got to go up. They've got to pay for the new stadium.

Well, you can expect the tickets at Camping World to be super expensive. Right. S. soldier, and now he is charged with using classified intel to win $400,000 on a Maduro raid, and he's due in court.

I heard about those. Okay, this is interesting. S. Army Special Forces soldier involved with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is due in court Friday after being charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $400,000 Okay.

Federal prosecutors say Gannon Ken Van Dyke uses access to classified information about the operation to capture Maduro in January to win money on the prediction market site Polymarket. Van Dyke, who is stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, was charged Thursday with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, Commodities Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Making an Unlawful Monetary Transaction. Oof. That's a lot of things.

Yeah. He could face years in prison. A publicly listed phone number listed for Van Dyke isn't in service. Court records don't list an attorney for him yet.

Okay. You got a problem with this guy doing this bet? Yeah, I do. Why?

Because he used, it's like insider trading with stocks. He was on part of the group that was going after Maduro and he bet on the date that Maduro I don't know if you would be captured. Okay, so then you're, but you're not okay, so you're not okay with all the politicians that do insider trading every allegedly? No, I'm not okay with that either.

Because they get away with it. And none of them are being accused of any of this stuff. Well, if we can prove they did it, we should get them too. It doesn't matter.

The problem for this guy isn't the fact that he did it, because there are plenty of people that do this sort of thing, at least I believe that that's what it is. Sure. However, he's not on anybody's team, and because he's not on somebody's team, he's not protected, so they're gonna hang this guy out to dry, when realistically, I mean, who did he hurt? Nobody, and there was a big variable in all this as well.

What's that? Like, he was specifically betting on a date of capture. Like, it wasn't a hundred percent that they were gonna capture him. Yeah, they could have failed.

Yeah. I mean, the guy on the... All right, then I don't care. That's like Pete Rose betting on himself to win.

This is exactly what this is. I mean, the dude, the guy flying the helicopter was riddled with bullets. Yeah. And flew out.

And right before he went out, he said, okay, take over. I mean, like, so many things could have gone wrong on this thing. Yeah. Let me file a helicopter.

I got to get 400K. Well, I don't think this guy was the pilot. Well, he would have been if things went wrong, and we're going to throw this guy to the wolves. I mean, I'm not OK with that.

Yeah, like a lot of stuff there was probably unfortunate in this event, though, is that even if he beats all the stuff and, you know, civilian type court, he's going to probably get hit in military court. He's not going to beat it. No, he's not. I'm just saying if he if he was to.

He wouldn't beat it in military court. Why is that? Because they'll hit you with UCMJ Article 13, which is a discredit upon a military branch, whatever service he's in. So, because his name's in the news and it's making them look bad, he's gonna get hit with that.

Did you hear him just drop UCMJ Article 13? Right. That's a catch-all. It's a catch-all.

, what the hell did he just say? MC Article 13? Uh, actually, I did go to the captain's mask one time, uh, but, no. Went to the captain's mask?

Is that like a buffet lunch or something? No, it's like, uh, you have to go in front of the captain for disciplinary, uh, actions, but... What did you do? Is that where you got the mask?

He made you wear that? No. Is that where they touch your, you know, private spot? Is it the Eyes Wide Shut show in the military or something?

No, it was like an alleged fraternization, which I had met my wife, and because she was in the same unit as me, the chief that I had didn't like it because he liked her and he tried to bring me up on the charges. Did you do a little bit of courting on base? Uh, it's not, to be honest, it's kind of like if you were in here and Mike was sitting in that chair and Palmer and me were staying at attention in front of you. That's all it really is.

And then you judge me. I'm talking about you meeting with your wife on base. Courting? Like what went down.

Well, yeah, we, we dated, but we're not, we were, we were part of the same command, but not the same unit. A little blasty-blasty in the base camp or something? No. No, none of that?

I would never do it on the base. Oh, yeah. Just outside in a truck or something? Outside in my apartment.

Where's the fun? When you were on Magazine Detail, what was it that she did? Magazine Detail. Weren't you the guy that put the magazines in the little rack and stuff in the VX?

No. Oh, sorry. So, dude, how do you not do it on base? Because he didn't live on base.

I mean, I liked my job, I liked what I did, so I wasn't doing it on my base. No risk it, no biscuit, that sounds enticing to me, you know what I mean? Especially when I was younger. You're looking at a court-martial, you're not looking at a slap on the wrist.

Yeah, I'm not doing it on my base. My bad. I know the rules. Wow.

Which I didn't get charged, so. What do you want to do, jump in a submarine and start banging her up against the torpedoes? It was actually really, so what was really bad about the whole situation is this guy involved himself And it's something because he liked my, she would be my girlfriend at the time, but because he liked her so what ended up happening is the captain dismissed me and then moved this guy's orders to Bahrain and he had to be there for the remainder of his contract, which is really bad because he found out that there was more people involved with him than anything with me. It was a whole thing.

Bahrain, isn't that a desert country? That was the base that got attacked by Iran. So they moved a navy guy to a sandy base? It's a naval base.

It's a sandy base. Gotcha. They put the boats on the sand. Yeah, that's where- Well, and they kind of a beach, I guess.

That's where the Gurkha factory is. Gurkha? Where they make the pickles? Yeah.

Wow. Oh, Gurkha cigars, not Gurkin. Yeah, Gurkha. Yeah, Gurkha cigars.

Gurkin, Gurkha. I can already read the comments for this show. " And just for the record, there's- If he was brought up on that, he's been discharged dishonorable. There's three warships, two destroyers, five things in Bahrain, retards.

That place is crazy, man. And I'd bang my girlfriend on every submarine in the base. Those guys, they call them Gurkhas, and they- They have those curved swords. Right.

They call them Gurkhas? Yeah, and they do gate duty for the naval base. They do what duty? Gate duty.

Gate, not gate duty. Yeah, yeah. G-A-T-E. It did sound like you said G-A-T-E.

He should have been a Gurkha. But yeah, if you do something wrong, man, you're getting chopped up, not shot. Yeah, those guys are tough from what I understand. I don't want to mess around.

They don't carry guns, they carry knives. Right. Big ones. Yeah.

Curved swords. Okay. Yeah, this story is unfortunate, man. It's just kind of crazy.

It's just kind of crazy. They're like the Indiana Jones thing, but the Indiana Jones shoots him, they miss, and they hit him with a sword. Yeah, this guy got screwed. Yeah.

I'm not okay with it. Yeah, I'm not okay with it either. Why didn't he put the bet in somebody else's name? Supposedly, he did.

The only way they caught him was because of his login. He was rolling his login. When he went to go check it, his login, they traced, it was his email, they traced his email back to him personally. com.

Exactly. But when he won, he took the money out, he had the company, Pauly, whatever, delete the account, erase his information, and then move the money to an offshore account. So is that money still there? I would assume so.

I don't know. It didn't say any of that in the article. He's getting a disarmably discharge and still have the money. Was it $400,000?

Yeah. Yeah, he bet $33,000 to win $400,000. Okay, so over $10,000 is money. Yeah.

I don't know. Should have got the hell out of the country. So if he went to all that trouble, he knew it was wrong. Of course he did.

Yeah, of course he knew it was wrong. Look, you know what? I gotta be honest. I don't think, the argument isn't for me, is it right or is it wrong?

The argument for me is, like, is it punishable? And, you know, like, if we're going to hold this guy punishable, accountable, then I want to see some other people be held accountable as well. But we all know that's not how this works. No, that's not how it works.

You know? And, like, that's the problem I have with it. I don't know this guy. I have no idea who he is.

Oh, he's a great guy. They captured Maduro. But it sounds like... Was he part of the raid, or was he like the guy sitting back at the...

No, no, he was part of the raid. It sounds like he took all the money... It sounds like he took all the money that he had... Yep.

and put it on this. Yep. The guy who's fighting for our country, I don't see how... Oh, oh my God, somebody just bet this.

Like, hmm, could be the day. You know what I mean? Like, I don't see how... I'd like to know how many bets were on this.

Yeah. I didn't even know you could bet on stuff like that. Oh yeah, this has been very common lately, the past couple of years. Dude, you can bet on if the sun comes out today.

Yeah, it's a good chance. What's the odds against? I don't know. I mean, how much can I win?

Not much. And then $5, it comes up tomorrow. The problem is, is when you bet on it, it's just completely doom and gloom for the next three months. Well, the sun always comes up.

Double down, double down, double down. Yeah, let it ride, let it ride. Right. I'm up to $8.

$8. No, you're down $8,000. No, it came up every day, I bet that it would raise. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Still sweating. All right, moving on.

A successful influencer was outed as an Indian man named Sam. Sam? Uh-oh. An AI model and magna influencer Emily Hart is reportedly created by an Indian man identified as Sam using Google Gemini.

Ooh. Now if you see this, it looks very real. Okay. The reason behind the creation was financial difficulty during medical school as he wanted to save up money to move to the USA.

He created an AI content creator that generated thousands of dollars from that account. He further expanded his earning opportunities by leveraging the model's popularity to sell merchandise. So she would hold up pictures of different things. And this guy crushed.

This guy crushed it until he finally found out it's Sam. Hello, it is me. Got it. This guy's smart.

I don't understand what the problem is. Right, and she became MAGA, so that's a Trump thing, right? MAGA influencer Emily Hart turns out to be fake. Fake!

Wired reported that a medical student from northern India who only goes by Sam, aimed to ease his financial difficulties and pay off his education bills, created Emily using Gemini AI. He created her to cater to a patriotic and conservative ideology with the concept based on topics including anti-abortion, anti-immigration. The idea stemmed from him randomly scrolling through Instagram before Hart went viral. He used to create scantily clad women using Gemini Nano Banana and posted them on social media.

However, this idea didn't take off, therefore he turned to AI again to take ideas from it on how he could make his influencers stand out from the crowd. So AI helped him create somebody that was appealing to the eyes. That's amazing. Isn't it?

I mean, yeah. They look pretty real, too. For one, hats off to this guy for doing it. And for two, how stupid are we as a society?

Well, there's people getting catfish, not even seeing anybody. I mean, listen, look, we put up a ton of clips. We work our butts off. One clip so far has popped for well over 3 million views.

And it's about anti-gravity and the world ending. And like, we provide so many other great clips. " Like all these things come out. It's like, bro, chill.

Just relax. Yeah. Just calm down. It's fine.

5 million views later, you know, like... Still no money. It's, you start to lose hope. You start to lose hope in society, you know?

nurse, showcasing her identity as a registered nurse. The reassured nurse, revealing how the content skyrocketed in popularity. " The algorithm loved it. " How much did he make?

Enough to pay off his medical school, apparently. Good for him. Stupid magazine outed him. But there's people that don't, you know, that don't read the art.

I mean, everybody's not going to know. " Can't believe you did that, I love that boy. No I'm not! Here I am!

How do you know he's fat? I just... He's an Indian, he's probably not fat. Maybe he's not fat.

Yeah. Okay. That is Sam. I mean, there's so many ways I can go with this, but I'm just going to let it go.

I am Emily Hunt, here I am. Oh my goodness, I don't even know what that was. Are you sure he's that Indian? What do you think?

He's got a... I don't know. Maybe he's Comanche. Yeah.

Maybe he's Comanche. We don't know. Named Sam? I don't think so.

Sam could be Comanche. Nope. It would be Runs with Wolf. You mean like Little Sam?

Runs with Wolf? Runs with Wolf. Where are they running to? Sun and Sky.

Sun and Sky? Yeah, they're really good Indian names. Over Yonder by Pine Tree. Over Yonder by Pine Tree.

Over Yonder by Pine Tree. I don't think they use Yonder. No? Over Horizon by Pine Tree.

Yander's his middle name? Conceived at military base illegally. As in Boots' first kid. Too bad he's not on the show.

It's Phil. Second kid. I was close. Why didn't you name him after the bass?

Or her after the bass? Nah, it would have been a weird name. That would have been awesome. What was the bass?

God, now you're putting me on the spot. Yeah. Just make one up, it's not like we can check it. The base I was on?

Yeah. Oh, it was Little Creek. The base, oh, that would have been great. This is Little Creek.

Little Creek, Hippelhauser. Little Creek, Hippelhauser. That's nice. She was born at Portsmouth, Portsmouth, whatever Ben wants to call it.

Yeah. You will respect Ben. Apparently he was in the real name. Ben is a real soldier.

Right, yeah. sailor what's the difference water or land they're all soldiers no some are sailors sailors aren't soldiers no they're sailors sailors are sailors yes marines are marines and the army is soldiers he's military i'm not military no he's saying like that's military yeah we know all right you got a video for us i do oh i'll even put this one in i do since you botched the last one Well, you couldn't hear it anyway, it was a terrible video. And nothing for nothing, I don't appreciate you guys attacking my guy, Josh. Listen, I don't even know who the guy was.

Why did you send it if you didn't want it attacked? You couldn't hear what he was saying. Well, he wouldn't just go, "Oh, it's a great message. " "Oh, look at him with his head on backwards.

" I mean... I said Harry Potter, but the Peanuts, yeah, maybe. I mean, you could have cut some jokes, but like, I don't know, the guy did all right, as far as I'm concerned. The PCA was good, he's working his butt off.

He was supposed to come by and talk to us, and he just gave us a, and ran. I was just surprised by the appearance. Like, I was expecting like a Herklots type did. It's difficult, man.

It's difficult to do all of that. I mean, look at us. We recorded. Yes.

" And we didn't. Right? Right. So there were two days on the weekend that we didn't record because I wanted to be ahead of this going into the next week.

And that didn't work out. Right. Right. So, you know, like you, you have intentions when you're at the show that you're going to do specific things.

Man, it's just so much going on. But I mean, I saw him three or four times. I couldn't tell you when I saw. And I like, I like Scott, but I think I saw Scott once.

Scott Pierce? Yeah. I don't even know what Scott looks like. When he was running it.

You think maybe it's because Harbersky is more easier to find in a crowd because of his appearance? No. No? No.

Like if Scott Pierce came by, I don't even think I would notice he doesn't have any... He looks like Laureen. Right. But he wears a suit.

Right. At the show he does, yeah. See, I would notice a guy like that. " - In Dubai?

- Yeah, wherever he's going. - Yeah, you're not part of the PCA, so. Well, I mean, you're kind of part of the PCA, but you're not part of his PCA, on the board. " - It's not that fun.

- F1? - Yeah. - Have you seen F1 racing? Yes.

You've gone to F1? Yes. Really? Yes.

When did you go? In Detroit. There was F1 in Detroit? That's the Formula 1 racing, right?

Yeah. Yeah, downtown Detroit. Really? I was in the Kmart booth.

They had Mario Andretti was their driver. No kidding. Yeah. Yeah, remember, he's worse for Kmart.

Really? Yeah. F1. It's worse than NASCAR because you can't see the rest of the track.

You only see them... The one little spot. Yeah, one second, here they come. At least NASCAR, you can see them as they come around, I mean that's dull enough.

Right. But F1's worse. I like F1. I'm not involved.

It's because you're watching it on TV, they show the car the whole time. Yeah, some sports are better watched on TV. I don't know. " I don't know, there's a cool place where I could sit and watch and see some badass cars, haul ass, even if it was breathing for a second.

Yeah, but they're so fast, it's blurry, you can't even see them. I think that's awesome. I'm sorry that you had such a bad time with it. No, I didn't have a bad time.

I was there with a pretty girl. Oh, yeah? I didn't marry that one. She was too smart?

She ran away? I was smart enough to marry that one. It worked out well, then. Did meet Mario Andretti, though.

Yeah? What does he look like? A little Italian guy. Did you guys cuddle?

No, it wasn't that kind of a thing. No? No. It was just a quick little just...

Shake your hand. Move on. Moving on online. The camera was a big deal.

Look at you. Okay. Master Blender of the camera. All right.

So... Video. We're working out here. Oh, yeah.

We're trying the video. We're talking about Joshua Bersky. Joshua Bersky's terrible video. Okay.

He can invest in a microphone. I mean, he's going to Dubai, for God's sakes, to watch F1. He can't buy a $20 microphone. Okay.

It wasn't the best for audio. You couldn't hear it. I think it was just off the cuff. And his little mustache drives me crazy.

It looks like it grows over his lip. I'm going to get him to come down here, and I'm going to have him bring a baton. Well, see, that was it. He was going to make an appointment.

He was going to pick a date to come to be on the show. But no, no, he blew us off. Just text him later. I texted him when I couldn't get in that morning.

Yeah, and he responded. Yes, he did. He didn't, but I had already gotten in, but it's just the fact that I was texting him, I think is why we got in. Oh, yeah?

I'm gonna text a guy. I know the guy. Oh, wait, matter of fact, here he is. Nope, this is you.

Yeah, he's sending the video. Put your glasses on. What are you on? Uh, all of us?

Go to Palmer. With the audio or without the audio? You want a fantasy football draft when the clock runs out on you, and then it auto-drafts you a player you don't want? Well, that's literally what happened to the Steelers tonight in the NFL Draft.

Now, let me set the scene for you, because the Steelers held the 21st pick in the first round. When they were on deck, the Cowboys were on the clock at 20. And at that point, the Steelers made a call to wide receiver Makai Lemmon, a player they never thought would fall to them in the first place. And considering the Cowboys didn't need a receiver, they told Lemmon he was going to be their pick at 21.

This seems normal, right? But stay with me here, this is where it gets crazy, because apparently at the exact same time the Steelers were on the phone with Lemon welcoming him to the franchise, the Eagles made a trade with the Cowboys moving up to 20 and leapfrogging the Steelers, and I want you to take one guess at who the Eagles took at pick 20. And by the way, if you like elite sports content like this, make sure to follow, none other than Makai Lemon. But wait, I'm not done.

The Steelers were so blindsided by this, they didn't have anyone else they were ready to select. So apparently, according to a Steelers insider, they took a man they didn't even want! Have you ever heard of such a thing in your entire life? In fact, the player they ended up taking at 21 was the 41st ranked player on most draft boards!

That, my friends, is what we call an all-time blunder! - Have you ever heard anything like this, Phil? - Um, where teams didn't do the research? Yeah, well, where they're unprepared.

So, they went to draft this guy, this wide receiver, and then the wide receiver got taken because of a trade. So, they even called the guy, and then at that point, they had no decision, so they just auto-drafted? Like, I don't know. Does that make sense?

Um, maybe. I mean, yeah. Not for the Steelers, though. You know, I'm a little surprised about that.

I mean, maybe somebody like the Browns or, you know, somebody that's not winning. How do they determine who the next pick is? Like, oh, you get this guy? Well, normally, normally you have a whole bunch of scouts, right?

And then they get their top picks of who they scouted, and then you have a whole boardroom, and then you guys go over all the picks, and then you create a list, and then, hey, this is who we would pick, and this is their only job all year long, right? Yeah, but so the NFL has the same something similar where they have rankings of people? Correct. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, you're talking about where he said he was ranked 41? Yeah. Yeah, that was probably like Mel Kippers or that's not the NFL teams boards.

That's individuals who've been sportscasting this for a long time. Yeah, but they said clock run out. Here's your guy. Is that the way it's set up?

You only have so much time? Yeah, well, that's what they're saying. And then when the time runs out, you just get whatever? You get this guy.

How do we determine who this guy is? Oh, you know what? I've never heard of that. I've never heard.

I don't think anybody's time's ever ran out. We don't know for a fact that that happened or not. Oh, okay. But we just saw what somebody said.

I mean, listen, look, Sam convinced a lot of people, you know what I mean? Like this guy could be completely full of it. Could be. Right.

Could have made all this shit up. Right. Gemini. Stuff.

Up. I mean, cursing a little bit is not a big deal. If you just hear too many F-words, then just edit them out. Duck, duck, eddy, duck, duck.

Okay. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Okay, go ahead. What's the next?

Moving on? I forgot beep. If he keeps laughing, I keep doing it. It's way worse.

Oh man, sorry. I know that you don't have a take on this, so we can just keep moving. Yeah, I don't know. Well, I mean, it does seem stupid.

Why wouldn't you, if that's the way it works, you run out of time, you get it like an auto-add, wouldn't you have somebody lined up you wanted? Or are they like, you go to the 42nd guy on the list, and all of a sudden you've got, you know, Phil McGuffey here coming in. Went right out of here. You got Phil McGuffey, I know, I'd stop breathing there for me.

I thought that was it. You got Phil McGuffey coming in as your tight end. Phil Mugovia-Tainan is not a good pick. No, that's what I mean.

But, you know, you're stuck with him now because that was what it was. I heard he's injury-prone. I'll take the money. And now he gets $42 million to sit on the bench.

Most of them are injury-prone, though. Most of the tight ends. All right, we're on with Cigar News. Here we go.

The final numbers are in for 2025 and in the results of the unchanged from the year before, so we don't care. 8 million premium cigars imported to the united states according to the data released by the cigar association of america that is caa scott pearson the boys with the suit what with the suit yes despite the lack of growth But the final tally is impressive. Not long ago, 300 million cigars was the benchmark. Mmm.

Mmm. Mmm. It's like yesterday. Okay.

Nothing to you guys. No, I got some stuff from this. He's just listening. For a standout year, but 2025 marked the fifth consecutive year that premium imports exceeded 400 million cigars.

And only 2019 imports were 338 million cigars. Looking back many years, the cigar market was in decline, with shipments stuck at 100 million. Cigars Per Year in the 1990s, shortly after the launch of Cigar Aficionado Magazine, cigar imports boomed, well I did get the information from their magazine, they're taking credit for the boom apparently, soaring from 100 million to 400 million cigars in the space of five years. Imports cooled around 1998 and rose again during the pandemic in what was considered another cigar boom.

I got news for you. Yes. Can you make a comment that I don't, you just, mm, okay? That what?

That I just say, mm, okay, to kind of, you know, whatever? Okay. We're at 44 minutes and we just covered Cigar News. So, I think we're doing all right when it comes to time.

We're doing okay, but this is the perfect mix here for us. Yeah. This is the perfect storm. This is the perfect storm?

Yeah. What do you mean? This is what works for us. The three of us?

Yeah. Thank you for including me. You guys talked for 10, almost 15 minutes about the draft, No, I was just sitting over here texting my wife. Yeah.

Palmer, did you take a steroid shot or something today? No, I wish I had one. That would be crazy. No, he knows to bring it.

I feel better today than I did yesterday. I woke up feeling better. When you're reading, it's like your eyes are super wide. Because I can't see as well today.

He just wanted to be done with the podcast yesterday, you could tell. Go back and listen to that show, you could tell. I was dying yesterday. He was dying.

Poor Law. Oh, Law was scared for his life, he told me. " He's like, "I didn't know if Palmer licked any microphones or what he did. " Sleeveless law?

Yeah, he cut those off for the show. " He's like, "I'm a lot cooler than this. " I'm trying this out. The farmer tan doesn't work well.

Yeah, I think it was a bit much. The sunglasses, too. The sunglasses are too much. Because the trade show, I told him they look good, with the all-black outfit.

Oh, yeah. You did. You look like a Cuban pimp. Okay, so do you think that importation of cigars, the tallying from the previous year, is a lead indicator or a lag indicator for this industry?

I'm thinking. It's a lead indicator. Interesting. Okay, why?

Explain to me the difference between a lead and a lag. Lag is that it's bad? No, a lead indicator is something that shows you like a forecast for the future, and a lag indicator is showing you kind of what has already happened. Oh, then it's a lag, it shows you what already happened.

Okay, so it doesn't really help you forecast into what the future is for sales. No, I don't think so. Okay, what about you, do you think it's a lead indicator or a lag indicator? I mean, if you're speaking about the whole industry as a whole, it would be a lead indicator based off of more cigars means more potential for sales, right?

Okay, that's why he's got the mask. It's a, it's definitely a lag indicator in my opinion. Wow, wow. Right, it shows you what's already happened, not what could happen.

Yeah, that, well, I think it's even worse than that, uh, and here's why. You, you have a better idea as a tempo of what's going on in the industry, judging by the overall sales from retailers. Right. And in, in my opinion, retailers sit, it's the faucet up, up top.

Somebody just went to the bathroom where we're at the... I thought one of your phones were going off. The retailer's purchasing is really going to give you a better indicator as far as volume and traction in the economy. Now, what I think has personally happened is you had that huge increase of importation from COVID and beyond, and then it's kind of sitting flat now.

And the reason why it's starting to sit flat is because there's too much inventory for your retailers. Right? They're like, no, no, no, I'm good. All right, I'll take onesie, twosie.

I'm not going to, because I still have all this other stuff. So that tells me that 2026, in my opinion, will be a down one. When we go to see this number next year, and the 2026 numbers are in, I think importation will be down maybe about 3 or 4%, if I were to guess. And the funny part is, is that I don't think that sales will be down for retailers in that year, I think they'll finally have the time to kind of catch up from all the inventory that they've taken on I think that too many people are sitting on too much stuff.

That's why it's flat, next year it'll be down. Makes sense? Yeah. What do you think, lead indicator, Phil?

Yeah, sounds great. I like cigar. Cigar goods. I don't know, man.

I mean, we've been covering this, you know, for the past, however many years I've been on this with you guys. He hasn't been here from the beginning. He's like five. Yeah, five or something.

So every year, you know, we discuss this and I don't know. I don't remember what we said last year. I don't know how it panned out. You know what I mean?

2025 was rough. It was a tough year. Yeah, but I mean, I'm just simply stating the fact that this data, it's good to know, but I think that it's a lag indicator. I don't think that it helps you predict the tempo of the current economy, there's too many variables where it comes into play, it doesn't happen, it's not like, oh my god, we're up, you know?

It's just, yeah, it's an accounting of what has happened. Right. Just because that many cigars are in doesn't mean sales are up. Yeah.

Or down. Well, that's why I was gonna ask you personally, like, do those indicators affect you at all? Have they? I mean, I'm correlated, I'm tied to them.

Yeah. To some degree on the small level. Okay. But, you know, I think big picture wise, I think big picture wise, you're going to see that it's, it's going to be slower, your importation is going to be down next year.

They have, they have said lately that there's an uptick in cigar sales. This is just an article that I read on Facebook, which I don't know if it's true or not, but somebody had posted it. There's been an uptick on cigar sales because of the age group. So the younger age group is smoking more cigars.

I don't know if I believe that. I saw something about cigar sales are up too on retail level. I believe that cigar sales are up. I don't believe that it has anything to do with younger smokers.

It was specifically the age group from 21 to 30. Man, I wish that were true, but here's what I'm going to tell you. Excuse me. We were sitting in that hospitality seminar with Rocky Patel and Nick Hudson or something like that.

And that guy seemed very charismatic, by the way. And he asked a question, he's like, okay, in the room, how many of you guys are Gen Z-ers? How many people think raised, the room's packed, packed. It's standing room only in the back.

All the tables and chairs are full. How many people think raised their hand and said, I'm a Gen Z-er? Gen Z is what, 90s? I don't know.

I don't know. Just you and Greg. I'm not a Gen Z-er. I'm a millennial.

Oh, probably nobody. Oh, I don't know. Is Gen Z before or after you? Gen Z is 97 to 2012.

That's when they were born? Yeah. Probably none. Probably none.

Maybe quarter? So you think none? None, yeah. And you think none?

No, probably some. So think about it, if they were born in 2000, they would be 26 years old. Right. I saw some 26-year-olders working there.

Okay. So how many Gen Z-ers do you think were in this meeting? 20, 30. 20, 30?

How many do you think? I still think. Let me pick a number five. Okay.

It was one. One. I was closer. One guy raised their hand.

Right. So, you got to focus on those guys. You got to educate them on cigars so that they become comfortable with it and they want to be a part of this community so they better understand what it is. And that's something that, I mean, I think we do a good job of it to some degree.

We cover, we, you know, we provide a fresh angle of things. But like, if you look at some of these older retailers, a lot of these older retailers, their consumers are starting to get older and they're starting to age out. Right. You know, we have that younger, younger, we do have some of that younger demograph, that 35 to 45 for sure.

Hello. Because we kind of cover, we cover everything. Sure. Right.

Right. But I don't see a lot of 21, 22, 23, I don't see 24, 25, 26, you know. So that's going to be a problem for this industry if we don't figure that out because they're sucking on pouches, bro. Right, they're vaping.

Yeah, but the thing with the pouches is that they can advertise in different areas. Yeah, well, I just like to berate people that suck on pouches. Well, I think, do you think the vape stuff is starting to really die out? So just recently, this is a story real quick after saying that, I was in a bar with my buddy, we were watching the basketball game, and there was a couple of vape people, well, they were completely not nice with their vape stuff.

Not being cool. Yeah, they were just, you know, lining it off inside the bar. Oh, man. And the bartender kept asking him like, "Hey, can you stop doing it?

" They don't like that tutti-fruity shit in here. " You know, they were laughing about it, whatever. And she finally just told them to leave. They did it a couple more times.

Were they chicks or dudes? They were guys. So they were chicks? No, there's a lot more guys that vape than chicks, man, from what I've seen, yeah.

I just meant they were feminine because they had the vapes. Oh, now it's gender specific. Right. " I said, "It is.

" Good luck with that. That's the thing about vaping, is that you pull it out of your pocket, you do it, and then you tuck it away. Can't do it on airplanes anymore. No, you can't.

You're not supposed to. Kind of hard to hide it on an airplane, you know, there's smoke coming up. It's ridiculous. Vaping is ridiculous.

They would allow vaping on airplanes before? Yeah, in the beginning. Like, you couldn't take apart one of those boxes and build anything with it? The law wasn't really established.

Yeah, I mean, nobody really knew what it was. " Right. It smells like grapes. Hmm.

Okay. Sorry. Next story? Um, um, uh, Ami, A-M-I Cigar, Ami Cigar.

Okay. Ami Cigar kicks off in Vietnam. Yay! Yay!

One of the most anticipated cigar gatherings of the year kicked off this Thursday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. More than a hundred cigar enthusiasts from different parts of the world gathered to celebrate the 20th The event could not have started in a better way in the year that the Habanos Festival was postponed, and with the world going through a particular time, Ho Chi Minh City was set as an oasis for friends to reunite, celebrate friendship, and share a cigar together. Ho Chi Minh City, it's very hard to find cigar news this time of the year. Dave from Cigar Journal.

Have you ever been to Vietnam? No. We talked about going at one time, but the guy, we were going to do furniture from Vietnam, but our furniture guy that we were working with had been in Vietnam for a different reason, and he was opposed to doing business with the country. Ah.

Yes. I ain't doing it. I don't want to go there. Lost a lot of friends.

Yeah. I got reasons not to go. Okay. Okay, well, I would go.

The only place that I could have went that I declined was India. I did not want to go to India. Why not? It's not clean.

Yeah. You could have met Sam. You could have met Sam. It's allegedly.

Allegedly. It's very dirty. I'm sure that there's pretty. Cows running everywhere.

There's sacred cows. There's a sacred cow. Do not touch. I'm sure that there's pretty areas in India.

Well, I'm sure there is, but I don't imagine the factory areas, if they're worse than the Chinese, which I was told. - I ain't going. - Got it. Have you ever been to Vietnam?

- Maybe in a previous life, but no, not in this one. - Okay. - Previous life? - Me neither.

- Back when you were, what? - I don't know, let's keep it moving. - I was born in '87. - Intrigued in his previous life.

- He believes in reincarnation. - Oh, gotcha. Oh, back when you were a kumquat or something. - Yes.

- Whatever. - Fiero Teigo launches Fiero Teigo Metropolitan 30 years. - Whoa. - Did you say hello to Mr.

Herklotz at the... I saw him once from a distance, and we did not make eye contact, so I did not say hello. Yeah. It's one of the sad parts of the trip, 'cause I like him.

Yeah. Dude, we were busy, man. Yeah, we weren't that busy. And we were under the weather.

Does this tell you, like, what the wrapper or anything is? Let's find out, 'cause this is from a different magazine. Ferio Tego is celebrating the 30 years of the Metropolitan Selection with a new limited edition release called... I thought we covered this already.

The 30th Anniversary. Did we really? Yeah. I don't know, it was in a different magazine, it came out today.

I think we covered it. Go ahead. Well then, this is an old story then. Yeah.

Fierro Tego, Metropole, in 30 years, 650 Toro, with Ecuador and Habano wrapper, Dominican binder, and a Dominican and Nicaraguan filler. Herklots described the blend as rich, complex, and intense. It's a music note. It is manufactured at the Quesadas Factory, Tepeco de Exportation.

The star. The star. In the Dominican Republic and available in 10 count boxes. What?

It's the star. It's no longer a leaf. No longer a leaf, it's a star? A symbol.

Oh. Production is limited to 2,500 boxes. The MSRP is? 25 bucks.

Uh, 30th anniversary? Yes. 30 bucks. He went the wrong way.

He went the wrong way. 50. 50. I remember the story.

Oh, well, good thing it's over. There you go. Okay. Alright, it's time for What's the Score?

April 17th, 2023, Charlie Manado Cigars, Cuban Habanos Essay, It's a Redux, Gentlemen, Romeo and Julieta Club King. Hmm. 89. 85.

Cigar Review, Romeo and Julieta Club King. Rock Club, King, Country of Origin, Cuba, Factory, We're Not Saying, Wrapper, Cuba, Binder, Cuba, Filler, Cuba, Length, Cuba, Ring Gauge, Cuba, The Length is Cuba? 42. 84.

It was released in February 26, 2020. They smoked three of these on the Redux. Eighty-nine. Eighty-five.

Clue number one. Beautiful presentation with an oily milk chocolate wrapper, classic Cuban-style color, and a surprisingly flavorful cold draw delivering sweet floral notes, nuttiness, and a unique complexity right from the start. Eighty-nine. Clue #2.

Construction was a major strength, offering massive smoke production, an even burn, and an impressively long smoking time of nearly 2 hours, showing excellent craftsmanship. 90. The third clue: The flavor profile leaned too dry, harsh, and mineral-driven for much of the experience, with bitterness increasing in the second half and not enough rewarding complexity to balance it out. Eighty-eight.

Eighty-six. Final Thought: Some cigars are just not going to become good. This particular tin of Romeo and Julieta Kings has been that. I want to be careful by saying that doesn't mean that all Romeo and Julieta Club Kings will be this bad, or even bad.

I can only speak for the four I've smoked to date, and they've all been terrible. Fortunately I don't stumble across cigars this bad all that often. But it's an unpleasant reminder that it's possible to make a cigar that looks pretty, has excellent construction, and still a bad cigar. Mmm.

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Mmm. 77. 76. He went the right way!

68, gentlemen! Wow. 68, that was low. I thought it was low enough for him to.

That means no fireworks. Yeah, no fireworks. We got the fuel loaded up and ready. You're going first on Monday.

Greg bought the fuel? Yes. No instructions. I just put some in each one.

I told him he was on a contract. He said I didn't know what I was talking about. He's not allowed. He's got an NDA also.

Oh, is that it? Yeah. Those are going around in the industry, apparently. Are they?

Yes, apparently. Oh, wow. But we're not allowed to talk about it. We're not allowed to talk about it.

Oh, okay. So, alright, anything else to add? Nope. Make sure you like and subscribe while reviewing or listening to the show.

com and Patreon of Cigar Losers Podcast. Thank you everybody for your time. Thank you, goodbye. Goodbye.

Show Notes

On todays show

We have the draft with Phil McGuffey, We are all Canadian maybe? A special forces solider got a big payday,  An Influencer has been outed and in cigars big day in Vietnam!  Michael Herclots celebrates 30 years, and the final number are in for 2025 plus a crowd favorite what’s the score