ACHP Episode 520 Th1ngs You Shouldn't Have To Remove From Your Car
Episode Summary
Episode 520 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Palmer, Mikey and Phil recapping Mikey's appearance the night before on the Developing Palates live PCA panel alongside Steve Saka, Jay Davis of Blue Smoke Dallas, John McTavish and Aaron Loomis. The crew unpacks the awkward dynamics of that show — who got cut off, the unanswered question about a fellow media outlet unsubscribing from press releases, and the odd editorial line where a bar fight involving Rocky Patel reps was "outside PCA" but Brian Desind's Privada billboard outside the convention center was fair game. They also touch on young reps behaving badly with trade show security, and Saka's viral clip blasting the PCA for asking brand owners to fly to Asia on December 8th with almost no notice — which spins into a real debate about whether the Premium Cigar Association should be spending money expanding globally when there's plenty to fix at home.
The cigar news block leads with Tatuaje. The company has told retailers it is "retiring" 16 SKUs — including Cabaiguán Guapos and Guapos Maduro, several La Riqueza/Regios sizes, Nuevitas Estelí, the Havana VI Broadleaf Collection in full, the Broadleaf Collection Reserva and the Tejanos Collection — while trimming lines to five sizes and shifting from 10-count to 21-count boxes, plus an unspecified price increase. The hosts argue the real driver is California's UTL-style regulatory burden and simplification, not slow sales, and defend the price bump given shipping, tariffs, box and tobacco cost increases after years of Tatuaje holding the line. They also cover Cuba announcing that members of the Cuban diaspora will be allowed to invest in and own businesses and property on the island for the first time since the early 1960s, and what that could mean for the island's economy and the industry.
The show closes with two rounds of "What's the Score," guessing Brooks Whittington's Halfwheel review numbers. First up is the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Red Meat Lovers (Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, San Andrés negro oscuro binder, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania filler, 6x56 Toro Gordo) — praised for creamy oak, cherry sweetness, cocoa nibs and cinnamon but dinged for burn issues, landing at 88. Then the Padrón Millennium Maduro from 2000, reviewed a decade later, which scored a surprising 79 due to a muted, repetitive cedar-and-chocolate profile the reviewer blamed on over-aging — a verdict the hosts flatly disagree with, calling it one of their all-time favorites. Along the way: cocaine hippo relocation offers, Costco swapping the fountain soda out of its $1.50 hot dog combo, tracked possums helping hunters find Burmese pythons, Florida alligator mating season and a very memorable Altamonte Springs vandalism story.
In This Episode
- 01Developing Palates PCA Panel RecapMikey breaks down the late-night live panel with Steve Saka, Jay Davis, John McTavish and Aaron Loomis, including the unanswered press-release unsubscribe question.
- 02PCA Trade Show PoliticsThe crew debates what counts as 'inside PCA' coverage, the rumored Rocky Patel rep bar fight, Brian Desind's Privada billboard, and rude young reps at the door.
- 03Should the PCA Expand Globally?Saka's clip about a last-minute December 8th Asia request sparks a debate over whether the Premium Cigar Association should spend money overseas or fix problems at home.
- 04Tatuaje Retires 16 SKUs and Raises PricesA rundown of the discontinued Cabaiguán, La Riqueza, Nuevitas, Broadleaf Collection and Tejanos cigars, the move to 21-count boxes, and why UTL regulation is likely driving it.
- 05Defending Cigar Price IncreasesWhy tariffs, shipping, box and tobacco costs justify Tatuaje's increase, and the difference between an expensive cigar and an overpriced one.
- 06Cuba Opens to Diaspora InvestmentCuba will allow Cuban-Americans to own businesses and property for the first time since the 1960s, and what that signals about the island's economy.
- 07What's the Score: Red Meat LoversGuessing Brooks Whittington's score for Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust's Red Meat Lovers, with its creamy oak, cherry and cinnamon profile and burn problems.
- 08What's the Score: Padrón Millennium MaduroThe 2000 Padrón Millennium Maduro reviewed a decade later scores a shocking 79, and the hosts push back hard on the aging critique.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
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Transcript
Three, two, one, action. Welcome to The Cigar Hustler Podcast, episode 520. Ooh, keep going. Oh, big numbers.
I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today in engineering, And it's Phil. What does a sloth taste like, McGuffey? What does a sloth taste like? Yes.
You know the reports are up to 50 dead sloths at the sloth world before they shut them down? Wow. Wow. That's incredible.
I did just see something on Facebook of the Sanford Zoo. Yeah, Sanford Zoo. The second 24 hours, 29 of them are doing fine. One named Bandit is having a rough time, but he made it through the night.
He's on an hour-by-hour basis. He's struggling? He's struggling. He has 49 other friends.
He misses his 50 other friends, apparently 50 of them are dead. Well, it probably takes longer to recover. Probably. He's in a warm blanket and got an oxygen mask on.
Yeah. And that is my co-host, Mikey. I'm not sharing my antibiotics with Palmer. Step on cabbage.
You asked to share the antibiotics, Palmer? Yeah, why would we share? Because I don't have any. You were fine.
Well, you seem to be coughing less. I did find a bottle of cough medicine in our medicine pantry yesterday, so I'm fine now. Interesting. Oh, your triple second, got it.
Yeah, I don't know whose it is, but I assume it's my wife's, because I don't get prescriptions. Sitting on the server. It says serve, what, take 10 milliliters, so I had to transfer that into teaspoons. We didn't have one of those little cups laying around.
Two gulps. Two gulps. That would be a little excessive, I think. Well, maybe.
Yeah. All right, on today's show, we have an update on the cocaine hippos. Really? Yes.
Costco hot dog deal has changed after 40 years. No. Yep. They did it.
Yep. You rat bastards. Burmese pythons in Florida Everglades, their days are numbered thanks to the possum. Oh.
We had one in our backyard. The dogs caught a possum the other day in the backyard. Really? It played possum and they left it alone.
Oh, it's dead. Yeah, I thought it was dead. I thought they killed it. But after an hour it shuffled its way off.
We have a Florida alert and then a local Florida neighborhood vandalism story that just stinks. It's terrible. Okay. Then in cigars, Tatuaje is making some changes, Cuba wants more American money, and then a double-day wants the score.
A double-day wants the score? Yes. We're filling time. Ah.
But, Mikey, what do you have? Do you have a way people can get some of that CHPod swag, or do you have any gifts from us from the audience, or do you have some comments that are maybe clever but not funny that you would like to read? I like the second one. I have all of that.
Oh! Wow! Wow! Good thing somebody's keeping track.
com and check out all of our CHPod swag, like this BDP shirt. BDP. I'm thinking that I'm going to do the 4th of July thing. Yeah?
Maybe we do it on like a blue shirt this time? Oh, not a tank top, just a t-shirt? Yeah. What do you think?
You think blue's good? Yeah. Okay. Buy one, get the second one 40% off, spend $100 or more, get free shipping on your order, Thank you for your order because we are awesome.
Yes, Mr. Palmer? Rooks Cody, maybe that shirt I had on on Monday? Yeah.
Super soft if you want to ask him where he's getting his shirts. I know what he's using. He's using a different Next Level. He's using Next Level.
Oh, gotcha. It was a very soft shirt. Yeah, it makes you happy. I like the Next Levels we have, to be honest.
No, ours are good too. Yeah. He just said he just switched to that style of shirt for all his stuff. Yeah.
Well, maybe when we go through our inventory we get always changed. It always changed. But there are pros and cons to both, to be honest. Sure, sure, sure.
Right. What's that D-O-P-E shirt that Palmer has on? That is the Winged Czar shirt from PCA. Oh.
Yeah. That's nice. Yeah, we're transitioning. The Sumatra stuff has the Winged Czar on it.
Oh, okay. Yeah, if you're getting away from the war chicken. Yeah. Like and subscribe.
We're reviewing or listening to this show. And I have a couple things here. Be right back. Palmer, are you excited?
Are you excited? - I'm excited. - I'm excited. - Only he was prepared.
- Right. - Oh, look, what are those? - T-Money sent us the beer guys hats. - T-Money?
- Oh. - Texting me into the wee hours of the night last night, I had to tell him to stop. - He was going, he was going, he was going. - I would never tell you to stop, T-Money.
- I'm giving him your number. - Sorry, couldn't really see that well. So, thank you so much, T-Money. Um, I got one more thing here, but I'll bring that up in the comments section.
Oh, look, it says the beer guys. Can you see that, Boots? Phil? Yep.
Yes, I can. Oh, and they're big hats. Nice. They're Palmer size.
They're Palmer size hats. Nice. Thanks, T-Money. The show with Matt Booth, my head looks exceptionally large in that angle, but you...
It's a nice hat. Some comments. There's a lot of them. Pick one.
T-Money's a good guy. These are the last comments for the entry. Oh, today's the last day. Yesterday was the last day.
Oh. So hopefully I'll be able to announce the winner tomorrow. Tomorrow we announce the winner. As long as I have my stuff together.
So that's a no. We will not be announcing the winner tomorrow. Yes, we will. We're gonna do our best.
Stop it. You're so mean to me. all right cw6383 i'm with phil and palmer it's no fun for us but i'm glad you guys are on the mend yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes sam p says the kimball video came out a couple of days before the event oh well then it's even more of be quiet yeah like what are we outraged about yeah i mean how did he know there was going to be an assassination yeah i mean it's still off color Whatever. I think it was more a reference of their age difference.
Yeah. Right. Not funny, anyway. Right.
I don't find Jimmy Kimmel funny. He's not. I don't either. Yeah, he's not.
Buzzenator, FYI, Matt Tobacco did a short clip with the Cigar Guys and he dissed on Mikey's last name. Then he pretty much took over their interview of himself. I've looked for that. I can't find it.
I finally knew someone who could send it to me. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Well, it's gotta be out somewhere. Yeah.
Because Buzzinator saw it. Buzzinator saw it. Right. Honestly, it didn't look that hard.
Yeah? Yeah. Buzzinator. So do better.
I'll just ask Alex to send it to me. Brett Mercurio, you brought it up. How does media unsubscribe to press releases from a specific company? Note Coop hitting his cigar while Mikey is speaking.
Ah, he's referencing the show last night. We'll get into that in just a moment. Yeah. Yes, yes.
RealSmokePod says, "Robert with 13 knives is an awesome guy with an amazing product. I'm so glad he gave you one of his knives. He is a close friend, club brother, and show sponsor. " Yes.
I just cut my cigar with this. It's from 13 knives. How's this look? Oh, that looks dope.
You can see it perfectly. Yeah, you only got the only one for some reason. That's so strange. Yeah, wow, that's so weird.
This is a beautiful blade. Yeah, it was right there. I've always wanted one of those. He did a great job.
Me too. I wonder how that cuts. Guess what? They're probably available at 13 Nines.
Go check it out, guys. Don't be grubbers. Support your boy. Only if we need somebody who's great friends with him.
I'm not great friends with this guy. We're not talking about you. We weren't talking about you. Oh.
You just be quiet over there. It's got the P logo. I'm wearing my free hat. It's got the P logo on it.
I like that. It's got a cool sheath that's in the Polish flag. Oh, it's white and red. Wow.
Yeah, he did a good job. It's got a beer opener. It says 13 knives on it. Oh, good.
You're drinking so much beer. I drink so much beer. It needs a belt clip on the thing. A belt clip?
Yeah, there you can wear it. Oh, a belt clip would be dope. This is super nice, man. Thank you so much.
I appreciate that. You know what would be nicer than that? What? Three of those.
Yeah. No. Two more. Two more.
No. Two more would be nice. Don't you do that to someone. - You might see him on the show a lot.
- I don't think that thing was cheap. - That's right, you see him on the show. - That took a lot of work and heart. - Hey, my guy made you that giant poker with the microphone attached to it.
- Yeah, I'm more important than you. - I said he made you one, and he made me one, and he also made you one. - I think what happened was he probably made me one. - He's a Florida Cigar Club guy, he's my guy.
- I gotta take care of Palmer too. - He's my guy, I don't think so. - I think that's what happened. - I don't think so.
- Yeah. If you wanna hear your comment, settle out on the show, the potential of that happening happens if you comment below. So, please comment on our YouTube page, and who knows, maybe you make the show. Yes.
If you send knives, you make the show all the time. Yeah, all the time. Okay. com, Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
If you pay for the entire year, you get 10% off. What? The entire, yeah, it's crazy. That's a great deal.
Yeah. And you get Insider Baseball, Cigar News, Cigar Reviews, where we say everything. We say a lot on the show, we say more on the Patreon. It's hard to believe that we say more.
And we appreciate your support. It's hard to believe that we leave stuff out, that there's actually other stuff that we can't say here. Right. That still gets out in the public.
Right. Somebody tell somebody. All right, on with the show. All right, so Mike, you was on Developing Palace last night.
I was. There was a fist fight after the show between him and Coop. Yes. There was no fist fight.
Since he was to your bottom left on the screen, did it smell like cheese? No. Why does it smell like cheese? Oh, wow.
I don't know. I just asked him because he was down there. That's not nice. I just asked a question.
I didn't say he smelled like cheese. I asked you if he smelled like cheese. No, it's a video screen. Oh, you guys weren't liking a...
Smell-O-Vision. It wasn't like a Hollywood Squares type set where you were all just boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. No, that was not the case. Very disappointing.
Yeah. Aaron Loomis didn't really talk much on Aaron Loomis' show. It's hard. You kept getting cut off.
Yeah, I mean, Saga Commandeers, right? Right. Oh, McTavish kept cutting you off. Yeah, you know, and honestly, that didn't really bother me because McTavish was trying to fight for some space.
Right. You know? And Jay Davis talked a lot, too, you know? Yeah, he likes waiters.
He likes, yeah. Yeah, he wants a waiter. He wants waiters everywhere he goes. Some room service would be nice.
Yeah, it would be nice if I didn't have to wait in line for food like a common person. Like the rest of these savages. Or wait in line for cigars. This is ridiculous.
I must have waited 15 minutes for a cigar. Do you know who I am? I am Jay Davis. I am Jay of Blue Smoke Dallas.
No, it was very fun, man. It was, you know, I honestly, I enjoy, I really enjoy that show. Yeah? I do, I do.
I enjoy Jay's perspective. I enjoy Steve's perspective. I enjoy the occasional John McTavish. Steve's perspective.
Yeah. Everything, everything's great. You know, I was down. I was down.
I thought we weren't going to do good. Then, oh my God, we did twice as good as we did last year. - Amazing. - It's amazing.
- Dude, I gotta tell you, man, whenever I'm done with those conversations with him, like, I don't know, I feel good about it. I'm like, that was a great conversation. It feels like you feel good about it. I mean, he's super nice, obviously.
- Yeah. - I mean, he is nice about it. He is a little self-promoting, which is what he's known for, obviously. - He'd be great at it.
- But there's, I mean, there's nothing bad in the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust world. Everything is just great. That's not what he says. Yes, it is.
He's a motivational speaker. As far as he talks about his cigars, he always says, you know, this cigar kind of sucks, but I liked it. Or something like that. Yeah, well, like self-deprecating is what that's called.
So, you know, that way it keeps him humble. He's not like, my cigars are the best. He's like, these are terrible. I don't know why anybody buys them, but they bought twice as many as they did last year.
He's like, this is ridiculous. There's nobody here. Nobody here at all. C.
You just saw NSYNC. I think he said Backstreet Boys. He did, but I couldn't think of the name. Yeah, no, I mean, it was good, dude.
I don't know. I enjoy that conversation. I enjoy that conversation with Aaron. Obviously, Coop didn't want to talk to me, so he didn't.
No. Well, he did say your name once or twice. He did address something you said about him. We had some gentle correspondence.
Yes. No conversation, really. But no, he doesn't, you know. No back and forth.
He wasn't engaging. Which is silly, but whatever. If that's how he wants to do it, that's what he wants to do. That's what he wants to do.
He's taking his ball and gone home. At least he wasn't aggressive towards me or passive aggressive. He can't be aggressive. Well, he's quietly aggressive.
He can be passive aggressive. Yeah. I've seen him do that. So...
" He said that one time. I know, but he kept saying other things, too. He kept dropping, it was the equivalent of dropping names. Ah, that's how you took that?
Yes. " There was no waiter, that was the problem. Right, but I mean, on the video, that's what he would have... Yeah, well, it was, it was a good, it was a great show.
It was a good show. Yeah, we covered a lot. How late did it go? What?
How late did it go? Late. Yeah, I got out of it after about an hour. Not even.
Even when he turned it off, I mean, we kept going. Right, but what time did the show end? Sometime 12:30-ish. Yeah, see, that kind of stuff's just too long.
People lose interest. The viewers stayed on for the most part. It was 36. That's pretty good.
And for a live? Well, if me and him dropped off, that means it was at least 34. Yeah. And I'm sure some other people did.
Yeah, it sustained very well for the entire duration. I'm going to tell you. Obviously, because we were all there. Okay, I don't know what that means.
And what was up with Justin Andrews? He hated everything last night. He was probably drunk and just bitter. Probably figured he was into his cups a little bit and he was bitter.
He's just mad that he's not important. I asked him, do you need a hug? What's going on? Because he wasn't invited.
Oh, what a panel. Look at all these assholes. Yeah, I guess I'll stay here and watch. I guess I'll stay here and watch.
And comment. Jay Davis has the best humidor with one door. One door. Yeah.
What the fuck does that mean? One door. Best humidor with one door. He's very dumb.
But he makes more money than all of us. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Until they fire him.
Yeah. Well, he's a good job of, you know, he works pretty hard. He does, you know, he makes all the meetings happen. Right, right.
He holds a lot of meetings. He's the meeting coordinator. A lot of meetings. You know, we do a show every day, I don't know why we haven't called him yet.
Because on Mondays, remember we used to do it on Mondays and you would never answer it? Well, now we do it on every day. Now he's not important to us anymore. Yeah.
It was fun while it lasted. Right. Now we don't care. Now we don't care.
Well, let's just release his phone number, though. It's already out in the wild. It's already out. People have it.
This industry does really matter. I mean, I give my phone number to everybody, so I mean. Right. So I did see that you nonchalantly asked about the unsuscribing.
Well, it came up in discussion. Right. You know, because like, it's weird to complain about press releases when we send press releases and then you denied it, you know what I mean? Like...
I'm glad he walked into it. Like, what are we doing? Like... We still have his email in the system, right?
Yeah, but it won't let you re-add it, you'd have to send it separately. Okay. So, but why? Because I want to.
He's never gonna cover it. I want to. I want to. - I'll text it to him.
- You know, look. - Hi Coop, I was, oh, I wonder, do I have, do you have his number? We have his number. - Yeah, of course.
- I'm gonna text him every day. Hi, good morning, good morning Coop. - Hopefully he, I don't know, hopefully he gets over whatever he's going through, and we're good. - We're dirtbags, Michael.
- Oh, you know. - We went from bad for the industry to dirtbags, it's just gonna get worse. - We were good for the industry for a while there. - Yeah, right, yeah, he dubbed us...
- Media. - You are media. Yeah, we were considered at some point media. Oh, thank you, Mr.
Koop. Yes, thank you, thank you. You know, what was also kind of funny, though, was like, I want to know about the fight. What fight?
Which fight? There was a fight, I guess it was like Rocky Patel reps or something, and they wouldn't say that it was who it was. Oh, that was mentioned on the show? " And then later on in the show, we talk about Brian De Sen's billboard.
Ah, it's fake billboard. No, it was real. Oh, was it real? Yeah.
And it was also, that's also outside of PCA. Right. You know what I mean? So like, that's, those are the things that don't make sense to me.
Like you, like the parameters and the guidelines. Where's the line? Man, this is like everything in life I can't stand, right? It's politics too and all of it.
It's like, you say specifically this, but when it wants, when you want it to be something different, It's okay if it's outside of these parameters, but if it's something you don't want to talk about, then you put it back in this box. So how was the billboard about PCA outside of PCA? Because it wasn't inside the building? No, because, well, my point is that Coop said we don't discuss anything that happens outside of PCA.
Oh, him specifically. Brian Descend was not part of PCA. Ah, okay. I thought it was funny.
I like the fact that he did the billboard. Yeah, sure. Yeah. I'm not following.
There was a billboard like outside of PCA? Yeah, he put a billboard up for Pravada. Yeah, about the money is better spent out here or something like that. It's like the secret weapon for retailers.
Right. That's funny. Yeah, it was pretty clever. There was a fight in the Rocky Patel booth?
I'm not aware of. No, outside late at night at like a bar or something. Oh, Rocky Patel against like Crown Heads or something like that? No, it was like some drunken dude.
Rocky Patel against drunken dude. The reps got into a fight with some drunken dude. Like, it was so tight, like, so close, like, they weren't talking about it. I'm like, one of the greatest stories ever from New Orleans was the fact that Matt Booth, like, went on this blackout thing and lost his wallet.
Right, yeah, got drunk and got lost. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, that didn't happen at, like...
Yeah, that was an inside PCA. So that, that I thought was... Whatever. A lot of the reps are young.
Yeah, you got a new, well, yeah, that's common. Yeah, so, like, the day that they weren't letting us in on time, because there was some confusion You know what time we could get in? The younger reps were being rude to the security girl and just blowing right past her. Like, "Well, we're going in now.
" Stuff like that and just blowing right past her. Who's going to stop us? I don't know who they were with, but they were younger guys. Yeah, that's not okay.
I'm like, that's not okay, you know? Right. Just give me a minute, I'm going to text the head dude and we'll all go in. Yeah, be respectful.
Right. There's a miscommunication somewhere and we're going to straighten this out. Right. You don't have to be rude.
Yeah. Act like you're some big shot. I mean, what are you, the Rocky Patel rep for Connecticut? Ooh, exciting.
More millennials think they own things. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Keep going. I don't know.
After millennials, I've stopped keeping track. Gen Z, Gen X, whatever it is. No, no, I'm Gen X. We're the cool ones.
Yeah, it's Gen Z. Yeah. Gen Z. Those are the ones that think they are owed something.
You're so old. I'm not old. Yes, you are. Leave me alone.
These damn young kids. Damn punks. These whippersnappers. Me and Paul just sat there until I made my phone call, then we went in.
Yeah. well you can't stop us you can't stop us we're with rocky patel yeah you don't know who they're with no i don't know who they're with they didn't say rocky but don't make us beat you up like the drunk guy could be my phone yeah it is not me all right anything else about last night uh no that was that was it i mean i thought we had good a lot of good conversation about stuff i'm still like fascinated with how big the microphone in John McTavish, yeah. John McTavish? Yeah.
He was commenting on that last night. Why is it so big? It just looked extra large like than normal. " It can't be that small, man.
It's Canadian measurements. It's just different. Like a Beetlejuice head. It's an American microphone and a Canadian head.
And just, you know, everything's bigger down here. All right. All right. First story.
Oh. Palmer's Tuberculosis. My tuberculosis is still happening. First off, update to the cocaine hip bone story.
Okay. This is good news. Yeah. Anat Mbanani, son of Asian's richest man, Mukesh Mbanani, says he's willing to receive and care for the animals at the private Vantara Zoo in India's Gujarte State.
He has a private zoo there. Okay. He's the son of the richest man in Asia. Okay.
So he sent a letter to the Colombian government offering to take the cocaine hippos. I will take the cocaine hippos, I will move them to my private zoo in Michael, Texas, and doesn't pay attention to the show? I'm paying attention. You think he's going to charge them terrorists?
No. In a letter to the Colombian environmental minister, the CEO of Ambanani Zoo said that they were ready to give the herd lifelong care in India. " I'm Manani. Sorry.
That's so nice. Well, if he's Indian, they're referred to as... No, sea cows are not hippos, are they? No, they're horses on the sea.
No, sea cows are... Manatees. Manatees, right. So, there goes the cow reference, the joke.
I thought he was Indian? I didn't think he was Indian. You said he was something else. No, he's Indian.
No, he said the guy that was gonna pay for the care. India is in Asia, Michael. Okay. He's the son of the richest man in Asia.
Yeah. Yes. How does that give me an indication that he's Indian? Well, his name is Amant Amande.
It's not Chen Chung Chung. Yeah, and he's friends with Ammanani. Ammanani. Ammanani Zoo.
That's what they sing when you come in. Come to the Ammanani Zoo. Yeah. Indians stick with Indians.
It's Dancy Monkeys doing the commercial. Oh, okay. What are you going to say, Phil? I said Indians stick with Indians.
Alright. I don't know what that means, but yeah, it's definitely racist. Definitely racist. Racist.
Indians stick with Indians. My lord. I don't even know how that correlates with hippos. I don't...
No, they're both Indian. The hippos? No, the guys. The guys are both Indian?
Yes, Amantamande is Indian. Yes. And his son? And it's no, that's the guys.
That is the son, Amantamande. Right. The son is, the father is Mr. Amantamande.
So the son and the father are both Indian. Well, who's pitching? Well, yeah. So they gotta stick together?
They gotta stick together. They gotta stick together. Well, we're Indian. I like that he has a private zoo.
I would like to go to the zoo today. What do we have to see? We need to see show for the little doggy things. I like that very much.
What else is there? Wow. What else is there to do in India? I don't know.
Make your own zoo. There's a lot of animals there. Watch out for the cows. No, the cows, they can't touch.
That's the problem. That's why it's so dirty. Cows just run around doing whatever they want. Really?
Doing moo stuff anywhere they want. I wonder who originally okayed that back in the day. Like, nope, nope, sacred animal. Probably Amonati's grandfather.
Whoever, Amonati's grandfather. You know I would like to make a zoo, let's start with the cows. Yeah. We gotta corral them.
No, no, they are sacred, cannot touch the cows. Okay. All right, the internet is blowing up over the change, Michael. Costco has finally changed after 40 years.
Wow. The hot dog deal. By how much? 50 hot dog combo hasn't changed in over 40 years.
But don't worry. The Ischawashka? Is that where they're at? Ischawashka-based big box store isn't changing the price.
They're taking away the soda. 50 for the hot dog? Nope. -You get a bottle of their special brand of water.
-Kirkland Signature Water. -Kirkland Signature Water. 9 ounce bottle of Kirkland Signature Water instead of the fountain soda to wash down their steaming, often slightly wet hot dog. -I'm not making my comment now after you said that last part.
-Say it. -Nope. -Say it. -That's a big bottle.
-That's not what he was gonna say. I was going to say that was a big wiener. It's a big hot dog. No, I was not going to say that.
Give me that. You might be thinking, who cares? Apparently a lot of people. There's uproar.
People want the soda back. A seemingly minor change has generated major headlines and not just due to excitement from Kirkland Signature water bottle lovers. 50 since its introduction in 1984. " Yep.
Wow. He did. He did. Well, I mean, that's a good healthy choice change.
I think it's to lower the cost. Because you're just the alpha. Keep your comments. You are just the healthiest.
You're at peak performance over here. I am. Because you look at a sandwich meal and you're like, you know what? I'll take the water.
Yes. Yeah. At least I don't do the Diet Coke. What's wrong with Diet Coke?
What's the difference of Diet Coke and regular Coke? It doesn't have any calories. It doesn't have any calories of sugar. That's the difference.
Okay, well, it does have something in it. That is the difference. It does. What's it have in there?
Splenda. That's fine. Okay. You can eat that raw if you want.
Zero calories. Zero calories Splenda. More grams of cancer. Yeah, but the cancer they get rats.
You have to eat like a dump truck full if you're a human to do the equivalent amount of Splenda. Have you seen the people that drink Diet Coke? There's not that much Splenda in it. They drink a lot of Diet Coke.
Splenda doesn't cause cancer, guys. Which one does? Saccharin? The aspartame?
Is that what it is? I don't think there's proof that any of it causes cancer. Yeah, everything causes cancer. If you just ask the right person.
I mean, that I believe, but no. No, no. Well, this is sad. Yeah, this is ridiculous.
Are you okay with this? Yeah, I'm okay with it. You're okay with getting rid of this? I mean, it's better than shrinking the size of the hot dog.
Okay, you okay? I mean, they haven't changed the price in 40 years. And? So give them a break.
They're losing money. They're losing money. No, they're not. Yes, they are.
On the hot dog deal, they are. No, they're not. Yes, they are. There's no way a hot dog from 1984 is the same cost as a hot dog in 2026.
It's not, but they're still making money. How much is a soda there? $7. Really?
Yes, sodas are very expensive. Wow, okay, yeah, it's a bad change. It's a good change. Water's healthier for you.
I mean, water is healthier. I mean, you're eating a hot dog like it is. That's all the lips and feet and toes and stuff anyway of all the animals. Yeah, it's definitely not all beef.
He says it's all beef. Yeah, right. Let me see the package. Package says all beef.
What are you, what are you, texting people or are you looking at price? Trying to figure out how much it cost, cost them. Ask Gronk. Probably cost them like 20 cents or 30 cents.
No, it doesn't. The bun's 20 cents. The hot dog's a 75. Okay, Mr.
Chef, tell us how much it all costs. Okay, I will. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 50 and they make 50 cents.
05, but, okay. I'll round it down. You're pretty close. Thank you, how much?
Estimates suggest it costs roughly 45 to 80 cents for the hot dog, bun, and condiments, with the soda costing an additional 10 to 20 cents. So the water's cheaper, water's half of that. Easy. It could be 55 cents.
I mean, why not just leave it? I like how there's a range, first of all. Well, it depends on what size soda you get. Do you get different sizes with the combo?
Nah, there's probably just one cup, yeah. Why not just get it? I mean, why just leave it? Healthier options.
Who cares? They do. They want their customers to live so they can come back and buy the giant thing of mayonnaise. They're eating a hot dog!
It's an all beef hot dog. It's not the lips and skins and stuff. It might be a lip and skin glizzy What's a glizzy? Come on, man.
You you don't remember Matt Booth going all over the place about glizzies. Matt Booth goes all about everything There's docking. There's glizzies. There's brown things in your house.
I don't even know what docking. I don't know. Dockings when he touches his PP to your PP. Oh God.
Like you don't know what that is. He was in the Navy. What is that? I have no idea.
It was so strange. Did we just dock? I don't know anyway yeah we didn't do that in the name license registration please and your parents a little spicy today I like I like spicy Palmer so people have been saying on the phone and like you're feeling better aren't you oh yeah I'm roaring I'm good today if I'm cough medicine last night no more chicken noodle soup for me no but I didn't feel like packing my lunch I brought all like snacky things no I'm starving mmm all right you guys really Do you know where the Burmese Python, you know what those are, those big giant snakes that live in the Everglades, it's killing everything? Yes, and they would pay you to kill them.
Yes, the possums are helping us. We're going. Possums are helping us to get rid of them. Yeah.
Would you like to know how? Yes. Okay, there's a large possum population, it's hard to say, possum population, down in the Everglades. But we have tagged all the possums.
We've equipped them, we've armed them. Well, we put necklaces on them, they have tracking things on them. So now, guess what the favorite food of Burmese Python is? Oh, possums.
Exactly! So once they eat the possum, we can track the Burmese Pythlon and kill it! Wow. That's pretty smart.
So we sacrifice the possums. So we track the food. Right. Well, it wasn't on purpose, it just happened to work out that way.
" Why don't you just put like a piece of poison in the tracking thing? Yeah, why don't you just put a piece of poison in there? Because it might kill the possum, it won't eat it. It's gonna die anyways.
It won't eat a dead possum. You know how you get rid of like stuff around your house, you just throw out a whole bunch of those green brick, poison brick things? What? Yeah, you know, like if you have rats or whatever.
You want to just throw those in the Everglades? Yeah, what else is there? Okay. There's a lot of things in the Everglades.
That's some pretty bad logic. You know what would be cool though? What? The pagers.
The Explosive Pages. Give the... It would be. Put it on the possum.
Oh, maybe they just make exploding trackers. Yeah, once the possum's consumed, hit the button. Red button. Well, but you don't know until you go and track it.
Okay. Maybe there's like an indicator. And there's a guy that watches. Apparently they can't digest the tracking necklace.
'Cause it stays in their bellies. Pfft. Well, once you find it. All right, now we have a PCA, a public PSA.
Public Service Announcement. We have a Public Service Announcement from the State of Florida. I have a video. What?
I have a video. We're not at that part yet. Just relax. Okay.
Geez. Earlier you said you didn't have one. Now you're just dying to get the video out. I have one.
It must be a good one. Everybody in the State of Florida, please be careful. It's alligator mating season has begun until the alligators... Alligators, alligators, alligators.
What? That's not what the noise I make. Somebody's texting the crap out of me over there. Yeah.
That's probably the guy trying to get you to get a $50,000 loan. Alligator mating season has begun. The Gators are more aggressive and looking for love, so be careful out there. They're all hopped up on hormones and the little blue pill.
Oh, the horny Gators. Horny Gators. Horny Gators are angry. Alright, over in Altamont Springs, a woman was arrested after she vandalized mailboxes, cars, And People's Front Yards.
When was this? Why did you have this happen? I saw a mailbox that was down when I was driving to-- Yesterday. She was arrested yesterday.
Maybe she did it. Well, she doesn't really knock 'em down. No? No.
You thought she was the baseball bat lady? She likes to go and wipe her poop on them. Ohhhh! Police say suspect linked to at least one case is residents reported multiple incidents involving vehicles, yards, and mailboxes.
The Pink Eye Bandit. A woman accused of defacing property with human feces in Altamont Springs neighborhood has been arrested, said police. Investigators with the Altamont Springs Police Department said 50-year-old Alexis Weber was taken into custody Tuesday morning on a charge of criminal mischief CRIMINAL MISCHIEF, AFTER BEING LINKED TO AT LEAST ONE INCIDENT IN THE SPRING OAKS NEIGHBORHOOD, IS THAT NEAR YOU? SPRING OAKS?
SPRING OAKS. NO, THAT'S THE ONE RIGHT OFF THE MAIN DRAG THERE, OFF A 434, RIGHT? I DON'T KNOW. RESIDENTS SAY THE INCIDENTS HAVE BEEN HAPPENING FOR NEARLY A WEEK, WITH HOMEOWNORS DISCOVERING WHAT APPEARED TO BE HUMAN FECES ON VEHICLES, MAILBOXES, AND IN THEIR YARDS.
HEY, SHE WAS CAUGHT ON A RING CAMERA, POOPING IN SOMEBODY'S FRONT YARD. man this lady had some cojones man she only smears it on the driver's side of the vehicle too so you have to touch it again she knows what she's doing i like that this lady's batshit crazy and she's 50 so like what did she do the other 49 years of her life it took him a week to find her yeah she planned it 49 years and this is where i lose my mind so uh what's the most vengeful thing you've ever done to a person there phil uh i took a brick one time threw it through the windshield and a couple other windshields in the driveway did you know them uh yep keep the camera mikey yeah i mean it's kind of annoying Well, I'll make sure, no, it's not an emergency of some sort. Yeah, that's probably the most, yeah. And then I threw the bricks through the windows in our house, too.
Dude, that's wild. I was kind of a bad person when I was a kid. Yeah? Yeah.
Quietly. You're quietly a bad person? Yeah, I had a little group I hung out with. Mischievous?
Yeah. Mmm. Eh, we were kids. Okay, did you get in trouble?
Nope. Did they know it was you? Uh, nope. Okay.
What about you, Mike? Nothing, I'm a good kid. You never did anything vengeful? Nope.
You rode motorcycles. What difference does that make? What, do you think I ran in a gang? Yeah, you didn't do anything crazy?
Yeah. Florida Cigar Club. Florida Motorcycle Club. Well, there were some cigar people that would hang out together from the club, yes, but no.
Run through this world. You never did anything bad to anyone. to any no vandalism no no it doesn't have to be vandalism oh something vengeful well it's vandalism no could have been mean to somebody could have made them break up with their girlfriend or boyfriend did you make phil break up with his girlfriend yes told me he was married this was ridiculous he put the foot down how about you michael nothing i want to admit there you go Statue of Limitations is probably up, it'll be fine. Yeah, probably.
I didn't really do vengeful things. We should go egg your mom's house. That's stupid. That'd be funny.
And let her catch us. I didn't do vengeful things, I did dumb things. We'll both dress up like Greg. To random people.
Oh, Palmer can poop in the grass. I can't poop outside, I can't poop sometimes in a room. Just make sure there's a handle where he can touch it. Yeah, you think I can poop out in a yard?
That's ridiculous. There's people everywhere. Get your Metamucil. Yeah.
I stopped the other day, I'm like, "Oh, this isn't happening. " We'll just give you some Taco Bell. He'll make it happen. No, I'll just run home.
All right, do you have a video? Oh my God, yes, I do. It would have been great for him to say no. Is the video of you taking an antibiotic?
That would be nice. It is. Oh, perfect. I sent this to you already?
Which one of our doctor friends did you get them from? I'll never tell. There's only two. I'll never tell.
I have more than two. I've had other offers. I was like, ah, thank you. I have this answer.
Oh, you're already watching it. Oh, this is from last night. Yeah. The PCA hitting us with, "Hey, we want you to go to f***ing Asia on December 8th to do something," is just so absurd to me that I can't even wrap my brain around how f***ing dumb a request that actually is.
I mean, I mean, anybody that plans their year out, I mean, I know in our case, Pur Sabor, TGS, RTD, PCA, listen to me, RTD, PCA, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, and Inter Tabac are the anchors that basically lock in my year. And then everything gets like scheduled around it, so the fact that the PCA would spring this on us at the very last minute about, hey, we're gonna do this thing in Asia, and we really love everybody to show up on December 8th, are you kidding me? You can fly there after you go to Morocco. So that's the end apparently.
Yeah. Uh, yeah, so the PCA's asking some of these guys to go out to... Asia. Yeah.
It's an expensive trip. Yeah. It seems like a lot. We can check out the zoo.
Yeah. That's in India. That's in Asia. No, it was in Asia.
No, I understand that, but he's probably talking about, they've been doing stuff in Hong Kong. Probably wouldn't everybody go to Hong Kong. But they didn't say specifically Hong Kong. We don't know.
I would gather that's what it is. These guys aren't flying. Saka is not going to India. It's hot, it's sticky, and it's dirty.
He ain't going there. It could be the opening of the zoo with this thing. Oh, the opening for the cocaine... Hippos.
Cocaine Hippos. So do you think it's a good idea for the BCA to try and expand globally? No, I think we got enough problems here. They need to bring back and stop spending all this money on going to Norway.
Is there cigar problems in Norway? Yes. So now we're the cigar protector of the world? We're the NATO of the cigar industry.
No. He needs to come back. It's ridiculous. He needs to come back.
Right. What about you, Phil? I mean, premium, premium to Calavant around the country, around the world. Premium Cigar Association, I mean, yeah, I mean, I think it's good for them to expand.
The more, the more you get out there, the more cigar smokers you can obtain and more things you can do. What do cigar smokers in Norway do to help us here in America? You just have more, yeah, but it doesn't have anything to do with America. It has everything to do with cigars as a whole.
We sell cigars in America. It has all, everything to do with America. Yeah, but a lot of these guys sell cigars in other countries, too. Not Norway.
Maybe they're opening it up. I don't know. I don't know what that market is. He's going to sleep again.
Yeah, you heard nothing we said. So... We were talking about Coop's food preference. No, you weren't.
Yeah, we were. He had a sandwich delivered. You didn't notice it during the show. Yeah, he likes the Big Mac.
So I heard Saka said a bunch of stuff about our clips, too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what did he say?
He likes them. Okay. Thank you for that in-depth discussion. Thank you very much.
I already had that much from T-Money. Well, no, I mean, so what I did here, the reason why I'm showing you that clip is because I built some clips for developing palettes. Oh. And I'm going to put them on our feed.
Oh. With our Opus Clip credits? Yeah. Oh, okay.
Yeah, we're supporting other media outlets now at this point. Oh, they're nice. And they unsubscribe from us. That's very, very, very great.
Well, developing palettes isn't Coop. They're associated with... We like fish sticks. They're associated with...
I, okay. They're two of his lackeys. They're... You do not speak of McTavish in that fashion.
Yeah, he has a postagna background when I said how nice it was. We pay for that. You do not. We pay for that, Phil.
He also smokes postagna. You do not speak ill of the Canadian. - Yeah. - Do you understand?
- We like that. - Yeah, whatever. - Palmer, what's up with you today? - You be quiet over there.
- Exactly. - So, I don't think it's a bad thing, trying to expand PCA to making it, you know, globally more acceptable, expanding into global markets. But in the rest of the world, cigars is more acceptable already. No, it's not.
Yes, it is. It's the opposite. No, it's not. Europe just banned cigars after a certain year or whatever, if you were born.
Yeah, and the United Kingdom. Well, that's the United Kingdom. Nobody likes them. Dear God.
They're coming here, so they can have cigars. Did you see that we had the King of England in a No Kings meeting or something? No, the King and his ugly wife is coming. I can't remember her name.
She's an ugly wife. She is, she's horrible. You're talking about King Charles? Yeah, he's coming to America.
For no King's meeting. For no King's meeting. To meet with our King. That tracks.
Right. That makes a lot of sense. They almost canceled his trip because somebody tried to shoot the president again. Really?
But he decided to come. Yeah. There was another attempt? No, he's talking about the one we talked about.
The one the other day. Oh. " Well, they missed, again. And it was a teacher.
It was a teacher. Yeah, it was a teacher. It was a teacher? Yeah, it was a teacher from, like, Oregon or something.
Not in Cali? No, it was like Oklahoma. I thought it was Cali. No.
Who thinks they can get close enough to shoot the president? I mean, I guess the guy on top of the building shot him in the ear. One zipped his ear, yeah, allegedly. Allegedly.
No, it really zipped his ear. Oh, well, go down the Facebook rabbit hole of the social media, they'll start picking it apart and calling it conspiracies. Right. - It exists.
- Oh, I know it does. - Listen, if this becomes a short clip, you'll see. - He's the most shot at president in history. - Is he?
- Three times! - Yeah, because the other ones, when they got shot at, they were dead. - Yeah, the other ones are good at it, apparently. - Right.
- Now, in 2026, everybody's a bad shot. - Didn't Reagan get shot? - Oh yeah, he didn't die, he got shot. - Oh.
- He lived. - OK 1. - OK 1. - OK 1.
Okay. Queen Elizabeth got shot, she didn't die. She got up and finished the parade. Getting back to the video, did you get invited to go?
Did PCA invite you to Asia? No, I'm no big shot. You're a big deal. But you're on the board.
They just asked, like, brand owners, you would get invited before I would. Why wouldn't they invite you? Are you a board member? I'm not a board member.
I think a birthday you should have came up to and said, "Hey, I like everything you do on social media. Do you love your show? That would be a good idea, but no, no, that could happen. You should go to Asia.
I'm a loose cannon, they don't want me to insult people. You speak Chinese. I would be the one to take, actually, you know? That would make sense.
Yeah. I have peoples. You have people in Asia. I have people in Asia.
But what if it's in India? And he has nobody. Yeah. Well, there's one guy that I know, but I don't know if he's still alive.
He might have died of diphtheria or something, but I don't know. Wow. I don't think it's as bad as you personifying. Yes, it is.
Look it up. Okay. Poor Hippo, Cocaine Hippo. Poor Cocaine Hippo.
They're going to die now in the dirty water. The Ganges River is disgusting. Okay, okay. Moving on, next show.
The video was great. Thank you. The video was great. You had a good job.
Good job. Thank you. How many clips did that cost us? How many credits?
I don't know. Who cares? We pay for them. That's why we want to be, who cares?
Yeah? Oh, we're just throwing money away. What's wrong with trying to help other cigar media guys? Nothing.
Can you help them without costing us money? No, I can't. All right. What was he?
Was he drinking last night? Who? Uh, Steve. Saka?
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. As he was progressively going, as I was saying, are his eyes closed? Like, he started going and going.
Yeah, during that clip, his eyes are shut, and all of a sudden, he does this. I gotta tell you, it's impressive. Yeah. I like watching it.
Yeah? Because, like, he's still got his shit together. He's still carrying on the conversation, and he's on point. Yeah, he allegedly drinks all through the PCA by day three, he's probably pretty liquored up.
I mean, it's impressive. And what he's saying is spot on, I'm like, alright, that's a good point, that's a good point. Give him another shot. Bring him some more, bring him some more.
J. Davis' waiter, please bring him some more booze. J. Davis' waiter, steps into J.
" Hello. Hello. I think that Joshua Hiborski needs to get a manservant for J. Davis for the next PCA.
That would be funny. Following him around. Just following him around. Yeah.
As soon as he badges up. Like the guy comes over with a napkin. With the towel hanging over. I'll be following you.
I am your manservant for the week, sir. For the duration of the show. What would you like? And no, there's no beignets.
Yeah, he was very upset. There were no beignets. Well, they weren't the same. No, Coop was upset.
There was no beignets and no... That's why I said that. Faux du monde coffee or whatever it was. Yeah.
Café du monde. Café du monde coffee. Café of the world. Cafe du Monde.
Alright, Tatuaje discontinues 16 SKUs, announces a price increase. Oh! We're getting rid of shit, and we're gonna charge you more money. Okay.
What are they getting rid of, though? First of all, I've heard about, they've been talking about this for like eight months, but go ahead. Well, I won't read it, then. No, I want you to read it.
Can you tell us all about it? No, no. No, no, you've known about it for eight months now. No, no, no.
You go ahead. No. Go ahead. You go.
In an email sent to retailers, the company announced that it will be "retiring" 16 skews from its portfolio as it streamlines its offerings and concentrates more on the Coralines. " We should say that about Broadleaf. Retired? " Unretired.
Pose is saying they've been discontinued. The following cigars are being retired with some ha... You alright over there? Let me down lightly.
What's that? You got a stomachache or something? No, I just... I'm sad.
Did you eat more racetrack food while you were out running around today? No, I feel like there's some good cigars. He's sad he's losing all the other toys that he doesn't buy upstairs. Available for retailers to order and others being completely out of stock.
The Cabaguan Guapos. Oh, that's a good cigar, but not... It's not that size. Not that size?
I didn't even say the size. Guapo, yeah. Okay. The Capiguan Guapo Maduro, Laatiri Lat 52, Laatiri Lat 54, Laatiri Lat 56, Nuvetes Esteli- they just got rid of the hard names, is what they just got rid of the hard names.
The Jabarro, the Jabarro, the Seventh Sam, the Big Ten, the Crystal Baller, the Broadleaf Collection, the entire collection. What? The Broadleaf Collection from Havana is done. The Broadleaf Collection Reserva is done.
The Tejanos Collection is done. This continuation of the five Broadleaf Collection cigars was previously announced as part of the company's new release for 2026. The company is trimming down the line to five sizes. We'll also shift from 10 count to 21 count boxes.
We're making more. We're making bigger boxes. Okay. Do you know why they're doing it?
Regarding the price increase, the company did not say what lines are being affected or how much the increase is, but we know that it's more. Okay. More money each pool. Why are they streamlining this?
Because things aren't, well, if it's Broadleafs, because Broadleafs are hard to get right. No. No. Because they don't sell.
Nope. Because they want a smaller portfolio. Okay, why do they want a smaller portfolio? Because Broadleafs are hard to find.
Nope. Because they're not buying them. Nope. I don't even know what you said there, but still no.
No. What Pete's trying to do is reshape it so that it's easier to carbon copy and go with UTL. Oh. Yeah.
So, you know, because if you have 10-count boxes, if you have 10-counts and 21-counts, you have to do both. Each one, yeah. So, just eliminating it, dumbing it down, and kind of refining it to what's been effective is his approach as far as handling the regulation with UTL in California. I thought UTL went away.
It hasn't gone away. It's just not enforced. Oh. Right.
Which is scary to me. 'Cause they could enforce it at any time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. New guy comes and says, let's, yeah, look at-- Turn it on, flip the switch.
We spent 30 billion on the homeless. Let's go get some more money. Fire the lasers. What did you say?
Fire the lasers. Oh, fire the lasers. The other thing, the price increase. Right.
They haven't really done a price increase. Yeah, their cigars are pretty cheap. For a long time. Right.
They've been holding fast. So that means that, look, shipping has gone up. Yes. Tariffs are now in place still.
He's changing them now to taxes. Okay. Yeah. Import taxes.
He's going home now. Okay. Box costs have gone up. Yes, and they have bigger boxes.
Product pricing has gone up. And they have more cigars. Okay, so like all of these things have increased and they've taken it on the chin through all of it. I like the public outcry on Facebook.
" Well, yeah. They just want to make the same money. It's called capitalism and that's how it's supposed to work. I won't buy their cigars now.
They've gone up 22 cents. You've got to make money in order to be successful. Money, money, money. Like what are we doing?
Money, money, money. Scrooge McDuck money. Now, you can argue the other aspect of somebody overpricing a cigar, but look, the reality is that it's only overpriced if nobody buys it. Right.
So, you know, I don't care if it costs them $2 to make. If they feel like they could sell it for $100, and it sells, more power to them. " Right. Well, you knew that before you smoked it.
So you gotta be careful going into that, whoever you are, whatever your brand is, right? Right, yeah. I mean, we saw a lot of that two years ago, you know? I didn't really hear too many big announcements of it's really expensive $100 cigars this year.
No. No, they were more budget-friendly. I think it was a mixed bag. Well, yeah, because there was no more of those, what was it, ETFs or whatever?
Speaking of overpriced cigars. Hold on. Three. No.
ETFs? Is that what those things were called? When people were buying the little coin to be able to sell the cigars or whatever? ETFs?
What is it? You call them ETFs? I don't know what they're called. Alcohol tobacco and firearms?
No, ETFs. Alcohol tobacco? ETF? I thought you said ATF.
ETF. Oh. No. You're talking about the fancy pictures?
What were they called? No. Yeah, yeah. I don't remember what they're called either.
But Anarchy made one with their cigar, I forget what they're called. Yeah, you had the Golden Bowl, you had the, you had all that stuff. That was a phase, I don't know that stuff's worth a bunch anymore. Would you be pissed if you dropped 100k on something like that?
Oh, yeah. Well, the people that bought them probably don't follow any of that, I'm sure. Were they called ETFs? Where were they called?
No, stop saying that acronym, he's getting mad. He's going to make fun of you. Oh good, Keanu just came to work. The MTMs?
MTMs? Who knows? MTM, isn't that the train line? Maybe.
Money train? Money train? Money, money, money, money. Hold on, he's texting someone.
He's trying to look it up. He's texting someone. I can't believe what they're saying on the show. Wait till you see this episode tomorrow.
He's texting Fishstick. Did you like your clip? Did you like your clip? It's an NFT.
NFT. NFT. He had to look it up, too. He had to look it up.
I mean, I was close. I had two of the ones. I know it was an ETF. Well, I knew it was an ETF, too, but we didn't know what it was.
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. At least he threw something out there. Non-tangible, tangible.
Non-tangible, non-tangible, tangible. Yeah. Right, exactly. Non-tangible, tangible.
NTT. See what you're talking about? I don't know. I don't know.
Expensive cigars? No. Expensive cigars. Tatuaje changing prices.
Yeah. I mean, I have no issue with that. Like-- They should say how much. Oh, they didn't say?
No, they're not saying. And they're not saying what lines are getting it. They may have-- maybe they haven't figured it out yet. Maybe he hasn't looked at it, but he's letting you know, hey, it's coming.
Hey, just letting you know, we're going to have to charge more. I got news for you. I mean, like, he could have said, hey, listen, we probably should have raised our prices two years ago. That would have been my press release.
I just want you to know, we probably should have raised our prices two or three years ago. At this point, we can no longer sustain function as a corporation with taking that hit, and we're going to have to increase our costs. Not only that, but we're going back to Vegas next year, and there's going to be more costs involved too. So I've got to offset all these costs so I can make some money.
Yeah, he seems like a reasonable guy though, so I'm sure it's not going to be something crazy. I wonder if Coop would have gotten out, or he unsubscribed from him too. I don't think he unsubscribed from him. I think he unsubscribed from everybody.
Yeah? Yeah, he's just done. He's just unsubscribing? Unsubscribing?
He's just unsubscribing. He's done. Everybody. Doesn't like anybody.
Well, we'll never know because he didn't answer. No one likes me. I don't like anybody. I'm unsubscribing.
He totally could have hit me with, yeah, I'm not covering you. He should have said it. Nah, I think he wanted to. He was trying not to poke the bear.
Why? It's not like he would have got upset and yelled at him. Yeah. What do you mean you're not going to cover me?
No, but Mikey would have dissected what he said. Nah, if he said, no, yeah, unsubscribe, I'm not covering you anymore. Phil's right. Yeah.
I mean, you know, like... Well, you can't say unbiased anymore because now he's biased. Well, right. So, like, I have a quick...
I'm pretty sharp on the rebuttals. Yeah. Right? You ain't wrong there.
He would have said something and I would have had an answer. Right. Would have been great for developing palettes. I was sitting super quiet when you said it to him.
" And he didn't say anything. I was screaming at my phone. " I mean, I pay attention to all that stuff. I pay attention when consumers unsubscribe, you know, like, I see it.
Right, it's your notification. Oh, that one's gone. Let me look him up. He hasn't ordered from us since 2017.
All right, whatever. All right, fine. Fuck you, you're out. We know who you are.
We have ways of finding you. We see everything. All right, Cuban authorities have announced that members of the Cuban diaspora? We'll soon have permission to invest in businesses and own companies and property on the island.
Once again, they're lifting the prohibitions on Cuban-American participation in the economy that have been in place since the early 1960s. So basically, we need more money. Yeah, yeah, this is gonna get interesting real fast. Come buy a house.
Is this the embargo? Is that what we're talking about? This could be the end. No, embargo is that we're not shipping anything to them.
They are saying you can come buy a business or buy a house. It's possible that this government is over. In Cuba, you're talking about? Yeah.
Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of changes going on. There have been some quiet rumblings about this. The Prime Minister Oscar Perez Oliva Fraga. Oh, he's part of the Oliva family.
S. companies. Please give us McDonald's. Give us Chick-fil-A.
Ooh. We would like, we would like the KFC. Royale with cheese. Yeah, or a Sancho McMuffin with Cuban coffee.
Only problem is you can't do it without America's approval. You have to report that you're doing it, and they have to say, hmm, okay. I mean, they're buckling. Cuba's buckling right now.
They're wanting all the Dispanor or whatever, the people that left, they want them to come back and buy things. Yeah, they have no money. All the rich Cubans that left, please come back. - Isn't that fascinating?
- All the dry feet. - Look man, it's interesting to me. It really is. Because like, this was a government that was set on a revolution for the people, and what they did was they suppressed the hell out of their people.
- Yeah, it was opposite that. - Yeah, it was so... - The opposite day. - Like, it's very common in that technique.
Like, we're gonna look out for you, we're gonna protect you, And then all of a sudden, you guys are, the whole country is super poor. Right. What do we do? Enjoy your Russian borscht.
It's always funny to see, 'cause I can always argue either side of the argument. And this is a great example of, too much government is a problem. Too much capitalism, also a problem. Yeah, it has to be a balance.
Yeah. There has to be a balance in the Force. That was what Anakin did. Correct Mundo.
Yeah. He leveled it all. Too much Jedi. Too much Jedi.
Mm-hmm. Use the Force. Just not that much. Just enough.
Just enough Force. We're in an hour. You want to play What's the Score? Yeah, we'll just do the one.
All right, what's the score? Oh, Dime for the Industry's favorite game. what's the score look at the what's the score dancing girls go across the screen all right march 14 2019 brooks whittington is a reviewer is a dunbarton tobacco and trust It's a limited edition, Nicaraguan, Red Meat Lovers. Ooh!
Is there, is it the, which one is it? The Red Meat Lovers. 93. This is the original one that came out.
Back then they didn't have any different ones. Yeah, I'm gonna go 91. " This isn't turning on. I'm sorry, it's broken.
We're getting our money back. Greg? Cigar Reviewed, Red Meat Lovers. Yes.
Call the tech man. Hello. Tech for our pyrotechnics. It's not working again.
Yeah. Please come down immediately. Oh, you're surprised? Oh.
We don't care you're super busy. Figure out the names of the customers. I loved him. I loved him today.
He was so frantic. He's like... Oh, he's terribly frantic. I have no idea.
You know what? I have so much going on. I'm like, yeah. It's called Wednesday.
Welcome to Wednesday. Welcome to Wednesday. You don't get to just spin in your chair now and look at car parts. Yeah.
Guess what? You're past that now. Right. We need you.
Right. Your lackey went, your lackey messed everything up. Yeah, your lackey screwed it all up. Factory, Nicaragua, American Cigars, Essay.
Is that Noxa? That's Noxa. Yeah. Yeah.
Rapper, it's just funny, some of these say Noxa, some of them say the entire name. Right. Rapper, USA, Connecticut, Broadleaf, Binder, Mexico, San Andres, Negro Oscuro, Oscuro, Filler, Nicaraguan USA, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, it's a 6x56, Toro Gordo, MSRP is $1,195, this is so old they don't say how many, oh no, Smoke 3, it's not that old, uh, it's the next one that doesn't say how many. 93.
91. 91. Clue number one. The standout here is the complexity and uniqueness of the flavor profile that creamy oak and cherry sweetness combination isn't something you run into every day.
And the way it layers in cocoa nibs, peanuts, floral notes, cinnamon, coffee beans make this sound like a cigar that stayed engaging from the first light Clue number two. Construction and performance deserves praise overall. The draw was consistently excellent. Smoke production was massive.
And aside from some burn waviness in the middle, it sounds like the cigar delivered a long, rich, full-bodied experience with strength building and a very - 193. - Excuse me? - Revin' it up. - 92.
- Third clue. The biggest knock is the burn inconsistency in the second third. Multiple touch-ups across samples and one overly open draw show there were some construction Kept this from being a flawless, as the flavor profile suggested it could have been. Retainer?
92. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. 92 is a good number.
92. Final thought, this is the final one, gentlemen, after this you have to give your final score. Okie dokie. It's the final thought.
Okie dokie. If you would have asked me one word that I thought would describe Red Meat Lover's profile before I smoked it, "restrained" would have been near the bottom of the list. Okay. And yet, that is exactly what the profile is.
At least for the first two thirds, while there are plenty of flavors dominated by creamy oak and cinnamon, virtually all of them play very well together and the combination of cherry sweetness and fleeting floral notes were a welcome surprise. In fact, the dichotomy between the name and the profile is so wide that I wondered at multiple times while smoking these if Saka had named it ironically. While those seeing the names are looking for an overwhelming, hard-hitting powerhouse from the first puff will be surprised with what they get, anyone looking for a well-rounded, nicely balanced blend will be just as surprised with how much they enjoy it. Wow.
Ooh. Final score, gentlemen? 92. Phil?
He didn't like the last part of the cigar. I'm going 91. Phil went the right way. Yes!
88. Wow, it went under 90? Wow. Wow, I'm surprised about that.
No fireworks, no fireworks, no fireworks, no fireworks. I still win. Oh, they both went off today. Wow.
That's because Greg was underneath there shaking them. Greg, fix it. Thank you, Greg. They worked fine.
Thank you very much. You want to do one more? What the hell? Yeah, why not?
All right, November 9, 2009, Brooks Whittington again. It's a double Brooksie day. This is the Padron Millennium Maduro. Oh, my Lord.
Ooh. You know what? I can't wait to hear the number on this. I'm gonna go...
95. What's the year? He didn't say the year. 2009.
Yes, I did. No, they can't be a 2009 millennium, though. Sure they can be. 88.
They produced more in 2009? What'd you say? I said 95. 88.
It is the Padrón Millennium Maduro from Nicaragua. Factories, Tabaco's, Kuba-dancana. Kuba-na-ka. Kuba-na.
Kuba-hala-la-la. Rappers, Nicaraguan binders, Nicaraguan filler, Nicaraguan special Millennium Blend filler. It is 6x52. Vitola is Toro-ish.
Toro-ish. MSRP at release is $25. Humidor of $103,060. Oh, this is the original.
Released 2,000. Number of cigars released. That must be the year, sorry. 1,000 boxes of 100 cigars for 100,000 total cigars.
Does not say how many they smoked. Yeah, so these cigars were not created in 2009, right? These are the original 2000. These are the originals.
Okay. Man, I'm just thinking 95. 90. The Padrón Millennium Maduro shines with the kind of craftsmanship people expect from the brand: an oily, dark, almost black box press wrapper that screams elegance paired with a picture-perfect burn and a draw-off from start to finish.
Flavor-wise, the cedar chocolate coffee and shifting spice pepper interplay create a moment of classic Padrón richness. And that construction consistency is exactly why the brand has such a legendary reputation. 95. 92.
You know this is a dope cigar. This is one of my favorite cigars of all time. Right. Clue number two.
There's something to be said for a cigar that stays composed for an hour and 40 minutes without overheating or falling apart. And this one did that while offering subtle transitions between... Yawning and coughing. Subtle transitions between pepper and spice, they kept the profile moving.
Even if understated, the coca and cedar core felt refined and balanced, delivering that aged Tamaco character George Padrón is known for. Jorge. 95. Sticking with that 95, are you?
92. The biggest knock is the profile came off too muted and repetitive for a cigar carrying the millennium name. After an engaging start, the flavor progression flattened into a steady cedar chocolate loop, bitterness crept in late and the cigar risks becoming more technically impressive than emotionally engaging, well made, kissed up your honey, but at times, frankly, a little boring. You fell asleep twice during the show over there.
I don't know what you're talking about. Yes, you did. No. I said I don't know what you're talking about.
That's because you were asleep. No. Yes. Were you up 'til 1:30 in the morning doing a PCA podcast?
m. uploading your podcast. So no, is what you're saying? I was too up!
Not 1:30? Yes, I was. No, you weren't. Never got back to my texts.
You didn't text me, you only text me when the show started. 1:30. No, you didn't. Yeah.
Did you go to the gym this morning? Did you wake up with your kids? No, I came here and worked. Was that the final thought?
Slightly. It's not as hard as me. Slightly hard. Not as hard.
What? Was that the final thought? No, that was the third clue. I didn't hear what it was.
Go ahead. 95. It's the bad one. Oh, it was muted.
91. Final thought. Yes. Will I win again?
I was extremely disappointed in this cigar and in Michael, to say the least, while researching for this review. I came across many people who smoked one, including Michael, and loved it, But most reviews were from the 2001-2004 range. I have heard from various people that Padrones are not meant to be aged for any significant amount of time, and now I believe it. So it seems to me that these specific cigars, being 10 years old and 15 years since the tobacco started aging, would definitely be beyond their prime.
And that is probably the main cause of the disappointing smoke. In fact, just to make sure I was not wrong, I smoked another one the night after and got almost the same results. After this, I cannot recommend picking these up at the prices they are commanding. Buy a 45th Maduro instead, people.
Whoa. I wholeheartedly disagree with that cigar. Yeah, and I'm a little confused on the score now. I'm just reading the review, gentlemen.
That cigar is still amazing. Apparently not. It's muted. At a close second is that 50th Toro Maduro.
Yeah, I don't know about the 45. This is Toro-ish. What about too big? Yeah.
Um... We need scores, gentlemen. Scores, please. I'm sorry.
Are we keeping you? Yes. From your nap. As soon as we get done, you're going to go jump in that chair and go to sleep while I pack everything up.
I can't. I have to go coach. Sounds like a scheduling problem. Man, I'm going against everything I think about this cigar.
Thank you for that disclaimer. Yeah. I'm going 88. That's a good number.
I may be in trouble. Can you signal? No, because you yelled at me. 87.
What did he say? 88. You went the right way. Oh!
79! Holy moly. What? I don't know what your problem is.
Hit the button. I am. Hold the button. Greg!
Hold on one second, let me shake 'em. Is it the batteries? I stole those out of a remote over here. Yeah, yeah, sometimes I think it's the batteries.
Yeah, those are those Asia batteries. Yeah, they say TCL on them. ATL, atl, atl? TCL.
They say ETFs. ETF? I'm hungry, my stomach's growling. Can't get this back in.
Let's see if this works. All right, you got it once, it's the best you're going to get. They sound so ready, too. You just turned them off.
You should wear the hat to practice. Yeah? Mine doesn't have a gold sticker. Did I take it off?
Probably. You want the gold sticker? No. I'm not one of those guys.
This is riveting podcasting, isn't it? It's not working. So close. It's not working.
We're the only podcast of pyrotechnics and they hardly ever work. It worked one time. Yeah, it worked. One time.
Just that one, he won. Hardly ever worked. Yeah, but now I have to get the brush out, brush down the table, the chair, and sweep the floor. Yes!
More work for Palmer! Yeah. Let's go! All right, guys, it's been episode 520.
Like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show. Thank you so much for your support. com, Scarhouse Podcast, Patreon. Let's go!
Watch out for those alligators. Watch out for the alligators. Watch out for the Alligators. Edumatainment.
Edumatainment. All right, bye. Edumatainment. Edumatainment.
Show Notes
On Todays show we have an update on the cocaine Hippos, Costco Hot Dog deal has changed after 40 years, Burmese pythons in the florida everglades days are numbered thanks to opossums, we have a florida alert and then in a local florida neighborhood vandalism story that just stinks! Then in cigars Tatuaje is making some changes , Cuba wants more American Money and then a double day what’s the score