ACHP Episode 523 Off To The Races

Episode Summary

Episode 523 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast finds Mike Palmer, co-host Mikey and engineer Phil kicking off a Cinco de Mayo show with Palmer decked out in Kentucky Derby attire. After a late start (Mikey was on the phone with Erik Espinosa), the crew covers CHPod swag, Patreon perks, listener comments, and a running bet over how many Oreo cookies Palmer would eat during the show — this week's oddball-flavor Oreo tasting gets a flat "no stars" from the whole table.

The news block digs into the shutdown of Spirit Airlines, including the failed JetBlue merger blocked by the Department of Justice, executive compensation for former CEO Ted Christie and new CEO Dave Davis, whether the government should have bailed the airline out, JetBlue scooping up Spirit's gates, and stranded retiring pilots. The guys also cover the Kentucky Derby's photo finish and first winning female trainer, a lawsuit against Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson filed by former staffer Monica Mayers, Walmart pulling back self-checkout lanes across hundreds of stores amid theft (with loss-prevention war stories from their Kmart days), a new school drone security pilot program, and a deadly rat-borne respiratory virus on a cruise ship off South Africa.

On the cigar side, Pro Cigar — the Association of Dominican Cigar Manufacturers — announced Ciro A. Casella of Arturo Fuente as its president for the 2026–2028 term, with Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana moving to vice president, plus Guillermo León of La Aurora, Hamlet Espinal of Davidoff, and a General Cigar representative on the board. The crew also rips into Canada's proposed generational tobacco ban and rising minimum purchase ages.

The episode closes with a double dose of "What's the Score," guessing halfwheel review scores on two Cinco de Mayo–themed smokes: the Tatuaje Limited Series Mexican Experiment Robusto redux (85) and the Rojas Street Tacos Carnitas Robusto (85). Upcoming: a Jalapeño PHAT review on Patreon and a Córdoba & Morales release party at Cigar Hustlers on May 29.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Cinco de Mayo Cold Open and Swag Talk
   The crew opens in Spanish, roasts Mikey for showing up 20 minutes late, and plugs CHPod swag, Patreon and listener-designed shirt and badge ideas.
2. 02
   Listener Comments and the Oreo Cookie Bet
   Comments from T-Money, Corey Davis, David Hoffman and CW6383, plus a running wager on how many limited-edition Oreos Palmer can eat on air.
3. 03
   Kentucky Derby Recap
   A photo-finish Derby, the first winning female trainer in 150 years, and Palmer admitting he wore the yellow jacket to a Derby party but never watched the race.
4. 04
   Spirit Airlines Shuts Down
   The collapse of Spirit, the DOJ-blocked JetBlue merger, executive bonuses, bailout debate and stranded passengers and pilots.
5. 05
   50 Cent Lawsuit
   Former staffer Monica Mayers alleges she was fired and blackballed for refusing to help hide assets and file a false police report during his bankruptcy era.
6. 06
   Walmart Pulls Back Self-Checkout
   Walmart cutting self-checkout at hundreds of stores over theft, plus loss-prevention stories and a debate about unlocked cars and screen doors.
7. 07
   Cigar News: Pro Cigar Leadership
   Ciro A. Casella of Arturo Fuente named Pro Cigar president for 2026–2028, with Litto Gomez, Guillermo León and Hamlet Espinal on the board.
8. 08
   Canada's Generational Tobacco Ban and What's the Score
   The guys blast Canada's proposed generational tobacco ban, then guess review scores for the Tatuaje Mexican Experiment and Rojas Street Tacos Carnitas.

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

1, 2, 1, and action! Bienvenidos a todos nuestros oyentes mexicanos y feliz Cinco de Mayo. What's going on here? Wow.

I said... Happy Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo to our Mexican listeners. Did you say it word by word?

I said, yes. I said, welcome to our fans from Mexico. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Today is Cinco de Mayo.

It just didn't flow. Well, I'm not Spanish. I can't do it Mexican. I can't do it straight.

That coat looks a little Spanish. Now, the English version. Welcome to Cigars Podcast, episode 523. I'm Mike Palmer, your host.

And with me today in engineering is Phil, moneymakers down from Kentucky Derby, Los McGuffey. And then my co-host Mikey, let's hurry up and do the show early so I can come in late, Stepan Kavich. What the hell are you talking about? I didn't know you were down here.

We texted you for 15 minutes. Look at your phone. I'm doing... Hey, we're ready.

" And? I was actually on a manhunt and everything. And then I came back. Yeah, he was on a manhunt this morning.

He had a missing friend. It was 20 minutes ago, guys. That's what I mean. We've been waiting for 15 minutes.

I was talking to Erik Espinosa. I apologize. You know, you could have just said that and we would have been fine. No, it's okay.

Or you could ask him to hold on a sec. You have to go do the best podcast there is. Yeah. Well, now you're going to call Erik again?

Yeah. What, to verify you were on the phone? Yeah. Well, that's just stupid.

We should ask him about the little Debbie thing. He doesn't know anything about it. He's probably not going to answer. I'm too busy.

Well, that means you guys weren't talking. Yep. Super busy. Maybe he's on the phone with someone else now.

Yeah. All right. Can we move on with the show? No.

Replacement. I still have him in my phone as Eric601 La Bamba from the first time I ever met him. Hello, Eric? Yeah, Mikey was just trying to call you.

Yeah. Can you pick up the phone for him? Oh, thanks. Thanks.

Oh, Eric. No, no, it was the other Mikey. He called you, wasn't me. Oh.

Mikey Szczefankiewicz. This is a terrible joke. All right, bro. Bye.

We're having a good time. None of that was funny. On today's show, anyone want to buy a Spirit Airline credit voucher? 50 Cent got robbed by an employee.

Kentucky Turby, the best two minutes you'll ever get. Walmart is tired of all the theft. Then in cigars, we have a portal entry. Canada is considering a new tobacco ban.

And we have a double dose of what's the score. But first, Mikey, now that you're here, how do we get some of the CHPod swag? Today is not the day, just so you know. It's never the day.

Really? com for all your CHPod swag. Buy one, get the second one, 40% off. Spend $100 more and get free shipping.

We need a little more oomph. com, Cigar Houses podcast, where you get 10% off if you purchase for the entire year. I was also working on my Apex shirt. Oh, T-Money didn't come through?

No, he sent me one already. Oh, didn't like it. Oh, I thought it was pretty good. But I think I want to go a different direction with it.

If you could redo it, T-Money. Send something more. See, this is the way it works for me. This is the way it works for me, you do something and then they go that's not it but they don't tell you beforehand what is it so that maybe you could have gone in that direction.

Greg is famous for that. What does that have to do with me? You're sometimes that. Well, you're related, you're his brother.

Okay, some comments. That was a comment. Oh look, T-Money. Oh, I sent in the thing, F him.

Surprise, surprise. I don't mind doing things in support of the brand. You guys work your asses off to bring us content aside from your other responsibilities. Thank you, T-Money.

Thank you. Yes, thank you. Thank you, T-Money, we appreciate you. Because I'm surrounded by assholes.

But apparently it's not the way he wanted to go. Only today. No, it's cool. It's like the Polstani logo and it almost looks like a badge, which is cool and sounds like you could use that for something else, but maybe not for a shirt design.

Maybe a hat. Maybe a badge. We make badges. That would be cool.

We know a guy that can laser cut metal. We do know a guy. I would like to give this guy more business. Well, he can do the cups too.

Yeah, he's going to. Oh, okay. I thought you said he was working on it already. I've seen the test one.

Oh, so then you're not developing it then. The cup? No, you said you were. " He's been working on it already.

If you want to green light it and tell me which cup you want, fine, because I'm not going to guess and have them made and then find out that's not the cup. And find out that's not the Cup. No? No.

Mm-mm. I loved you on the mask, by the way. Thank you very much. You did a great job, yeah.

Thank you. Yeah, the first one, the second one's garbage. Yeah, I don't like the second one either. Yeah.

But, you know, I'm under contract, so, you know, you still get paid, so what the hell? " Gutter. Mm-hmm. Well, Corey, it's been in the gutter.

It's been in the gutter. There's some guesses here for cookies, but I don't wanna say the numbers, he'll probably practice some restraints since everyone is watching, you think you're gonna hold back? Oh, he's talking about me? Yeah.

Remember there's a bet how many cookies you will consume. Yeah. He forgot. Maybe, well no, so I did have breakfast before I came here.

Oh. So everybody knows. David Hoffman 4727 says, "Okay, it's official. We need a generational chart, and we need Palmer's ex-wife chart.

" We're waiting on the whiteboard to come back. He's doing something to it. Preston is. " I don't get that one.

P. " Whoa. Yes. " Perfect.

Our hat winner. If you're ready to come get it, it's yours. He's local, I'm not mailing. If you want to hear your comment on the show, comment below.

We're going a little earlier today, so we don't have as many comments, but check it out. Patreon, CHPod. Like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show. If you want to see Palmer in more obnoxious outfits.

6 grams. What size is that? I don't know. Jalapeno size.

Jalapeno size. It looks like it's... Like a Robusto-ish? No, I don't know, dude.

It feels like it weighs in. That helps. All right. Moving on.

yeah we're moving on all right I need a cigar to deal with you people okay whoa you people being mean to me I don't appreciate that I'm doing a lot this week are you okay do you need to lay back for a sec I'm unstable right now well you're always unstable no no this is more unstable than normal oh my lord lie back for a sec tell us how you feel yeah sit back oh when did it start tell daddy and uncle phil how you do what's wrong daddy and uncle phil yeah was your mommy not nice to you this weekend oh no she's coming to town apparently though oh that's why of course she's coming for her loot she's coming for her loot right it's mother's day i gotta go see my boys and get my presents maybe this is always so nice to me yeah this is why he's in a tizzy today puts me on the train no i'm in a tizzy because it's playoff basketball week and now everything has moved Oh. Coming to watch basketball. Bounty Bounty. No, she won't, she'll miss that.

Oh. But I have to leave before the game. I can't make it. Make sure you put my presents in my trunk.

Those people are in it I don't like, so I don't want to watch. Quickly. Those people. Wow.

Okay. All right, Kentucky Derby with it this past weekend. The Kentucky Derby delivered exactly what it promises every year: chaos, speed, and finish ahead. Everyone leaning over the rail.

The most recently confirmed running, Mystic Dan surged through along the rail and held up a razor-thin three-horse photo finish to win the 150th Derby at Churchill Downs. Did you guys watch it? Who? No.

Who won? I thought the golden guy. You said Mystic Dan. No, it was Golden Tempo.

Yeah. I hate AI. I love the fact that you went to a- I didn't watch the race. I was out holding cords smoking cigars with people.

That's why I thought you were wearing the jacket. It is, because I went to the thing. No, I thought it was like the Golden Tempo Jack. No, I just, my wife wore a blue and white dress with a yellow hat, so I wore the yellow jacket with the blue suit.

The hat doesn't work with the whole getup, though. You know, I didn't wear it to the party, but I, you guys keep mentioning how you like hats on the show, so, I mean, a baseball hat would look silly today, not that this one doesn't. Yeah, I mean, that one. But if I had on blue pants, other than blue jeans, the hat's blue.

It looks black. Oh, it's blue. It doesn't match the blue that you're wearing. It wouldn't match the pants.

Are those diamonds or chains? Where? On the hat? On the hat.

There's no chains on the hat. No, it's just ribbons. It's just ribbons. Oh, it's a ribbon?

It's a ribbon. So you don't match. That's okay. I don't care.

You should care. Why? We got best dressed couple. Because you didn't wear the hat.

That didn't watch the show and doesn't know who won. I got a lot of compliments on the jacks. What did he say? Mystic River?

What did he say? Mystic Daze. Mystic Dan. I thought the name sounded familiar.

I thought maybe that was the lady's name. Wow, no. First time a female trainer's won in 150 years. And you know what else is prolific about her?

Tell me. She wore red. She's also an investor in the Florida Panthers, the hockey team. Why that prolific?

So she's rich. She's rich rich. So she's not like a horse trainer, she's a horse owner. Wait a second, look, a lot of these people that own these horses, aren't they rich rich?

Like, horses are expensive. Well, what's-his-name wasn't rich. Yeah, but they kept saying she was a female trainer, So I thought she was the trainer of the horse, and there was a different owner. Mayor, we used to have a horse trainer here at Hustler.

I don't know. He's not rich. Okay, was he a trainer? Was he really a trainer?

I like that guy. You like him? Yeah. I miss him.

I miss him. Oh. Maybe he'll come back one day. No, he won't.

Make him a Florida rep with you. Whoa. Oh, great. My Palmer's gonna quit.

I ain't gonna quit, he'll work for me. I'll fire him. Yeah, okay. So anyway, the horse came from last place in the last stretch and went all the way around to everybody and ended up winning.

Yeah, that is correct, Palmer. Yeah, that, well, I mean, I saw the video after the fact, but I didn't, I mean, it was a TV on, but I didn't watch it. You're like the guy that you go over to a Super Bowl party and you don't watch the game. Well, it wasn't my party.

Yeah, but you go to someone else's party, they invite you to watch something and then you don't watch it. It was the Land Rotary. It wasn't like it was somebody's house. It was at the Victoria Station Golf & Country Club.

So the outdoor smoking area was not close to any of the televisions. So you think that makes it acceptable for you to not be partaking because it wasn't a friend's house? I partaked in everything else. Except the main thing?

Except the race, yeah. One of the guys I was sitting with had it on his phone, so I mean he didn't show it. It's a two-minute race. I mean, you know, it's a five-hour party for a two-minute race.

I'm sorry, I had to pee at that point. I missed the entire thing. You think you could devote two minutes? But the buffet line was very small at that point, so I got my foot.

Oh, got it. Did you watch the race? I did not. I don't watch the derby like that.

Did you bet on it anyways, though? No. Like that? What does that mean?

You can't bet on Hard Rock on Derby. - Oh really? - Yeah. - Why not?

- Why not? - I don't know. - That's interesting. - Yeah.

- Huh. - Did you pick? - Weird, I figured that would be a big thing for them. - Would you have picked Golden Hour?

- No, I would have picked Renegade. - Renegade? - Which came in second. - So the best thing that ever happened to you is not being able to bet?

- Yeah. Well, 'cause Renegade is the FSU's horse's name. That's why I would have bet on it. - FSU owns a horse?

Yeah, that's their, uh, one of their mascots with the Chief. Well, I thought it was an Indian, I didn't realize the horse was also the mascot. Well, he comes, yeah, he comes out on the horse. Well, I know he comes out on a horse.

Native American. If I ride out, if I'm, uh, right, does the alligator come out on a golf cart? Is the golf cart one of the mascots? Yeah, yes, yeah.

No, he, no, he runs out on the field. We call him Golfy. Golfy the golf cart. Yeah.

That's nice. That's also the two minute period. Not really original, but okay. Yeah.

It's also the two minute period you didn't watch. Almost what? Is he mumbling today? Or can I just not hear him?

Oh, now because you got a story wrong, you're going to attack people? No, I can't hear you. No, I think sometimes he lowers the tone of what he says, and we miss stuff. Right.

So that's why we're going to have to, we're going to have the headphone up. Right. Yes. Yeah.

You can hear a lot more with the headphones. Yeah. Like, you know, do penguins have golden teeth? Or whatever the hell he said.

Whatever he said. Penguins with gold teeth. Oh, yeah. All right, moving on.

Spirit Airlines shutdown. Spirit Airlines has ceased operation after failing to strike an 11-hour rescue deal with the Trump administration. Its shutdown leaves millions of passengers stranded, according to media reports. So if you had a ticket, it don't work.

I mean, if you had a ticket, my first question to you is, why? I like Spirit Airlines. We can see the jacket, yes. We don't all have these comfy lives like you do, Michael, where we need, you know, extra special cushy chairs and free peanuts and, you know...

I don't need extra special cushy chairs and peanuts. You want to know what I need? Eyeball massager. I need someone to treat me like a human being when I come...

The staff's very nice on Spirit. I've never had a problem with anybody on Spirit. I've had nothing but issues with their customer service. Oh, never have.

Okay. Sorry. I've had a hard time getting people from United to answer the phone sometimes. Really?

Really? I used to fly United to China all the time. Okay. All right.

What about you? Is that the end of the story? Go ahead. I mean, there's a lot of technical information and stuff.

And if you do have a ticket, they're automatically refunding you. Well, they should. Right. Well, I understand.

But they could file bankruptcy. They technically don't have to. Oh. But they are.

So they don't have to be decent human beings? It's business, Michael. It's not a human being. It's business.

It's not a big person. It's a company. Okay. So it's not like, you know, you borrowed a bunch of money and filed bankruptcy and then you don't pay the money back.

Okay. What about you? How do you feel about Spirit? Do you think that they, are you, how do you feel?

This is just a matter of time. Just a matter of time? Why do you say that? I mean, you can't keep ticket prices as low as they are and still fly planes.

Like, you still have to pay for the gas. And the gas is going up, and the ticket prices didn't go up. That's one of the things that sped up their bankruptcy was the cost of aviation fuel. Was Spirit really that good of a deal?

99, whatever it was, per year. Okay, yeah, well that, I mean that doesn't really make sense, but like... Greg had it. Yeah, didn't you have, but wouldn't you...

Was that, was that the one Greg was on? Yeah, Greg had it. I thought it was on Southwest. No, Greg had that one.

Okay. So, but like, I mean, do you still get charged for personal items and all this other crap? Yeah, but that, but so do others. You don't get, no, I don't get charged for a personal item.

Well, not United, but the other budget airlines all do. Not a personal item, I'm sorry. Like Allegiant does. I mean, there's a price for carry-on, there's a price for check baggage, there's a price, and then they charge you both ways.

So was it really that good of a deal? I wonder what the average number of bags a average-type customer of each airline brings on? I think it depends on how long you're going to be somewhere. You think?

Like, Adrienne's going to Missouri soon, and she's going to be gone for over a week, so she couldn't do the one personal item, which is usually just, you know, you can get with it with a backpack if it's three or four days. Right. So we had to do the check bag, or the carry, we did a carry-on bag. And you had to pay for that?

Yeah, that's still $80, back and forth. $40 one way, $40. You got to pay $40 for a carry-on? Yeah.

That doesn't make any sense. It doesn't sound like a deal. It was still cheaper. I mean, $150 for the flight and then $80 for that, so you're a little over $200.

The other airlines was three or four. Okay. Well, here's some interesting facts. 6 million in total compensation in 2020.

8 million retention bonus just before the company's November 2024 bankruptcy. - He's a lucky guy. - Golden parachute, baby. New CEO Dave Davis was awarded a $4 million bonus and a $950,000 salary in late 2025 for following the company's restructuring.

- $4 million bonus, Phil, and we don't get paid. - That's a lucky guy. - Let's start an airline. I'll be the CEO.

- Yeah. - You can be the CFO. - Here's my question to you. com, come on.

Sorry. com. Here's my question to you. Should the government have bailed them out?

They offered them $500 million if it wasn't enough. Damn. Okay, so like... That's a lot of money.

Should the government have bailed them out? I'll ask the question again. The guy should have taken a pay cut. I mean, if your company is going out of business and you just got a $4 million bonus...

Well, pay cut isn't going to help them. We can run this thing for another couple of months if I just give this up. Pay cut isn't going to help them. No, I don't think so.

There's plenty of other airlines. You still got Frontier. Those were the two cheapy guys, right? And now there's another one called Breeze or something.

Yeah, there's a new one, Breeze. They tried to merge with JetBlue last year and the government stopped them, which would have solved the problem. JetBlue is buying up their gates. Right.

So, I mean, they're getting them anyway. Now, pennies on the dollar. Right, now they're getting pennies on the dollar. I don't know how that works.

I mean, you rent them from the airport, you buy them from the airport, something. You buy them from the airport, something, I guess. Right. Should the government have let them buy?

Merge? Would it have been a monopoly? No, because they're not the only airline. I don't know what the reason was they wouldn't let them.

Okay. So, you don't see the reason why it wouldn't happen? I mean, no. I didn't look up to see why they didn't let them.

I don't know what the condition was that they didn't meet, or whatever they overmet, or whatever the issue was. Right. What about you, Phil? Keep your phone away from my board.

No, I was going to look it up. Look what up? Why didn't... Why they didn't let them merge?

Why didn'ts? One of the older women-looking senators or whatever was one of the people that led the charge to not let them, because now she's taking a bunch of flack because the company closed, and so many people are out of work. Okay, but like, it sounds like the company had really piss-poor infrastructure. I mean, for me, I had one experience of Spirit, and after that one experience, I was done.

I don't want it to be, I'm not going there, I'm not getting on that plane, you know, I'll pay a premium for customer service all day, it's not about a better seat, it's about, treat me like a human being, you know, don't, don't tell me, oh, well, the cutoff was five minutes ago, like, okay, like, but our plane leaves in an hour, like, no, or whatever it was. Well, it takes time to process the luggage and get it on the plane. But I have no problems with any of these other, dude, that very moment, we went on to United, we hit up, we clicked a ticket, we walked right over there, and we were on the plane, no problem. Check bag, no issue, much better customer service.

So this is what happened. Tell us. 8 billion. S.

" Their main concerns? Fewer ultra-cheap fares. Spirit is famous for bare-bones, super-cheap tickets. If JetBlue took over, they planned to remove Spirit's model entirely.

That's like deleting the budget mode from air travel. Number two, prices could go up without Spirit, pushing prices down, less competition, higher fares across the board, especially bad for budget travelers. Too much consolidation, airlines merging, eagles fewer choices overall. The government is extra cautious after years of airlines combining into mega carriers.

The final call in early 2024, a federal judge sided with the government and blocked the deal after a case brought by the United States Department of Justice. JetBlue eventually walked away from the merger. So it sounds like to me that this is over-regulation, no? Yeah, because then they would raise the prices on the tickets?

No, the only thing that it really hurt was fewer budget choices. Right, well, guess what? There's fewer budget choices now. Yeah, fewer budget choices now.

Right. And now the prices are going to go up because they're not around either. So, I mean, it happened anyway. Yeah, a lot of people lost their jobs.

Yeah. Right. And I would have been pissed if the government bailed them out. Like, you hear what these guys are getting paid.

Like, imagine getting paid tons of money to run a company right into the ground. Like, sign me up for that. Well, all the banks did it too, right? Yeah.

The whole too-big-to-fail bullshit. Right. Yeah. Well, supposedly Trump's putting together another deal that's going to bring them back.

It's going to piss me off if it goes through. Bring who back? Spirit? Yeah.

I don't know if they can at this point. I mean, you know, he talks sometimes just to hear himself talk. The bad thing is, is the government has bailed out the car industry, right? Yes.

The banking industry. Yes. The housing industry. Yes.

And now will be the plane industry, or whatever you want to call it. Airline or whatever it's called. Aeronautical. Whatever the industry's called.

Aeronautical? Whatever you want to call it. Aeronautical with the gold teeth on the planes. Aviation.

I like the yellow planes. They'll miss the yellow planes. Yeah, that's why you wear the jacket today. I don't think they go away.

That's why I wear the jacket too. I don't think they go away. I mean, they've already gone. They've already started, JetBlue's already buying up their gates.

Yeah, you know what was crazy? They're taking the cardboard JetBlue thing out and they're putting the spirit thing out and they're sliding in the other one. It's temporary. Did you guys hear about the, there was like two pilots that on their flight back, they were retiring?

I heard there was one, was there two? There was two, yeah. And when they went to go fly back, they shut the gates and said that there was no flight. Right, it would have been their final retirement flight.

Wow. So one of the other airlines stepped up and let them fly one of their planes. Really? That's what I read.

Yeah, I think it was Southwest. Yeah, but he still doesn't get any money. Yeah, but he gets to do his retirement flight. And then, you know, it's a big deal when you're a pilot, you've been flying for 40 years or whatever it is.

Yeah, man, take this flight, but guess what? Your 401k, all that stuff? Yeah, all the 401k stuff and the retirements are gone. Yeah, all your retirement's gone.

Well, you still have that though, they can't just take that. Well, your personal money you put in. Right, but the matching funds, whatever insurance they had backed up against it, faulted too or something. Really?

But I would assume that everything that's in that account currently is yours. I don't know how that works either. I have no idea. My dad got his Kmart retirement and now actually mom gets it.

So, I mean, Kmart's been going for a long time. Yeah, so that money had to... Yeah, somebody's covered that money somewhere. - Yeah, the money was, when the money was placed in the account, sure.

" - No. - We gambled, it doesn't work that way. - Did Kmart declare bankruptcy? - Sears bought them, then Sears declared bankruptcy.

Wasn't there some airline, what was it? Some airline was almost going out of business, and the owner took all the money that was left, went to Vegas, and won enough money to keep it going, Long enough to get the loans approved or something. - Did you red light today? - Red light's broke.

We went to use it yesterday. - You broke it? - It won't come on. - You broke it?

- No, I told you I was having problems with it when it was over here. Adrian and I were gonna set it up and watch TV with it on. We were both gonna red light at the same time. - Double red light?

- Yeah, and it doesn't come on anymore. This weird little thing comes on the controller, and then it won't light on. - Oh, so you should just buy another one on Amazon and return that one. - Ooh, that's a good idea.

- Sneaky, sneaky. I'm just kidding. - Edit this part out. - No.

- Too much editing. - You're thinking of the FedEx story. - Oh, was it FedEx? - Yeah.

- I think it was, yeah, yeah, yeah. - And it was the employee payroll, I believe. - Yeah. - So he couldn't afford to pay his employees.

- I thought it was the airline. - No. - Okay. - Anyway, he got the loan and now they're still around.

- And here they are. - Here they are. - Uh, yeah, I mean, look. They should have, if I'm looking at this again, I'm looking at this from far away, but the way I see it, and I don't know who's involved what party, so don't give me any shit about this, they will, of course they will, someone's gonna, someone chirped, someone chirped last, yeah, on a short clip, and I wrote, well, if you would just listen to the whole damn show, you'd understand what I'm saying, instead of believing some whatever, nope, I don't like the short clips, yeah, I only watch your show in short clips, I like the way I'm going to wake up angry and watch this 45-second clip.

Can't stand either one of you in long format. Right. Even though we're shorter than Coop. They should have approved the merger.

Yeah. And they better not bail him out. That's your final answer. That's how I feel about it.

He'll be very upset. I hate the good old boy, you know, when a corporation's nuggled up to the politicians. Yeah, whatever. And they get, and they get entitlement.

That's the way it works. Welcome to America. Yeah, welcome to America. That's what I'm thinking too.

It's the American way, man. Yeah, that's what's kind of wrong with it, though. I donated money to your campaign. Come on, bail me out.

Fix my problem. Fix my problem. I just need 500 billion dollars. Right.

Give it to me. You guys print it. That's right. You guys print the money.

So, I don't know, that's crazy to me, right? Like, we can't figure out our medical system here. If we have financial problems, does PCA bail us out? Yeah, that's what I want.

I'm going to call Josh right now. Like, he's F1-ing it up right now. Yeah, he can. He's F1-ing it up somewhere.

He's standing in front of a lot of fences. Standing in front of, yeah. Smoking some cigars, I'm like. Smoking some cigars.

Or maybe they make a game out of the bailout. You know, like, like, hey, you got the racist cheetah if you catch him. Ooh, racist cheetah. Yeah.

We've strapped $500 million on the back of this cheetah. If you can catch it, it's yours, and the cheetah. Yeah, you can keep the cheetah. Maybe we go running man style.

You gotta survive. Put a bunch of CEOs together? Yeah. Winner takes all, boys.

Well, no, but like, you know, you have assassins coming after them and stuff? Yeah. The guys from the banking industry are the assassins. Yeah.

Or just put them like in Crenshaw or something. Crenshaw? That's the neighborhood? Can we film it?

He's being racist or something? Yeah, he is. No, I'm not being racist. I want a drone following them wherever they go.

I want them mic'd up. Oh, speaking of drones, did you see the Deltona High School, there's a new drone program? No. You haven't seen that?

No. They're going to have a total of 38 eventually, but I think now there's a dozen. They have drones in these boxes in some of the halls. And if there's a, what's the shooter thing called?

Yeah. Mass. Yeah, well, that the drones pop out and they fly around the school chasing the shooter, I mean, they don't shoot or nothing. They're just videotaping.

It gives them something else to shoot at, I'm guessing. I don't know what to do. Well, I'd rather they shot a drone than shot students. Well, obviously.

Yes, yes. It's a new pilot program they're trying to overdo. I think that they need to work cattle prods into these drones. Something.

Dark guns or something. The things, I mean, they're not little drones. The things are this big. They're huge.

You said it's a pilot program? Yeah, that's the first school to get them. So how many shootings are at that school? Well, hopefully none.

Right. But they gotta test it somewhere. What? It's not like they have one school where all the shooters go.

There might be. I mean, there's maybe some that I would have put it in before the Deltona. Like, you know? I don't know.

That sounds pretty cool to me. I don't know. It seems like a waste of money. What are they going to do?

Because they just videotape them? Put cameras up in a hole. No, man. No.

Look, you've already seen in military that drones are effective. Well, they shoot bombs. Yeah, those drones are a little different. They're a little different.

They're big. But if we can find a medium for that, for it to be useful in this scenario, I think that it could be beneficial. The video they show the policeman following the drone, like the drone's taking him to where the guy is or something. Come here, come here, he's over here.

Zzz, zzz, zzz. No. How about like two Robocops? There you go.

No, but like, if you found a way to equip it with some sort of non-lethal, but could dismantle... Disarm. Disarm, you know, a person. Well sure.

I mean, if they put something on it, or shoot sandbags or something. Ooh, sandbags. No, lasers. I want some kind of- Lasers could be lethal.

I would like a shocking thing. You know what I mean? Well, then they gotta touch him. Like a taser.

You want something that he can shoot. No, it like shoots out, like the- Like a taser. Like a taser thing? Like the taser guns.

Oh, and then pulls back. And then just stands there, and then if the guy moves again, just hit him again. Sure. Brrr.

Brrr. Brrr. Yes. And then a J5 comes out and arrests him.

J5. Because that's super embarrassing. Super embarrassing? Do we have a camera for it?

Because then no one will want to do it. No one will use their rage or whatever because like they go in and they get shocked and they piss themselves and it's on live footage. They just won't go to those schools. They have the drones.

There's Mr. PP Pants. That's how we got to do them on all of them. Yeah, you got to do all of them.

Yep. There's Mr. PP Pants. There's a speaker on the thing that says, "You are now known as Mr.

PP Pants. " The subject's name is Christopher Pepee Pants. We call him Pepee Pants. " And then it looks like the news guy?

No, and then they put the real picture of the guy they caught, it's like a stick figure, and they put the picture of the real guy and it looks like him? No. " He makes himself laugh. I've listened to you guys, it's hilarious, I'll tell you.

All right, a few updates and stories we're following. Little Brown Boy, they have pulled the case because there was mistakes in it. Supposedly, they're going to reissue the thing. Yeah.

Or a little brown boy doesn't sound good. And I have, the photos were, I did put the photo up. I saw you made me king in my pirouettes. Yes, I made you king.

Yes, you were king. I figured you'd see those on the clip. And we still haven't fully navigated through no audio when the video's playing. I played the audio from the video.

Yeah, but then you had us talking in the background still. Oh, I thought I cut that out. It must have been one more spot. Yeah.

But that was a long video. Oh, I'm very sorry. Yes, we're working through these. And another sloth has died.

No! Habano bought it over the weekend. It's up to 51 now. No, it was at 51.

Oh, then is it 52. Is it 52? It's at 52? It's at 52.

What's his name? Habano. Habano? Habano.

Oh, so close to the industry, cigar industry. Right. Oh, maybe it's Habanero. I don't know.

I think it said Habano, though. Oh, that's pretty close. Habanero. I don't know if Habano tracks.

It's either Habano or Habanero. It's one or the other. Okay, let me see. Check and see.

It's gotta be Habanero. And now they are, they are pressing the state attorney's office to file criminal charges against the guy, so. The guy's on the, on the, on the, on the lam. He's on the lam.

He's hiding out in a non, um, sloth extradition country. Yeah, but he, Habanero is the, is the sloth. Is it Habanero? Yeah.

All right, Habanero. Sorry, I'm very, I'm very, I'm very cigar orientated. Orientated? Yes.

Must be a lot of spelling issues on the thing you have in front of you. Well, he no longer has his red light. Oh, it says Habano. Alright, we also have our Oreo cookie tasting today.

Everyone has Oreo cookies on their table. Okay, the magic number is a smaller package. The magic number was 18. There were three rows of six.

Everyone has six cookies. And they went side to side. Normally, you know, the Oreos go top to bottom. Yeah, I thought, yeah.

These went side to side, so it is a smaller package. Yep. Yeah, I, oh, side to side. I thought that the way that the cream would have gone, it would have went red, white, and blue, like, not stacked.

Oh, this way? Yeah, this is probably easier, though. Mmm. You can really taste that lemon.

That tastes grossy-josey. I'm really getting the strawberry. Now I'm getting a hint of strawberry. Must have been lemon on the top.

What do you think, Phil? Those are gross. Yeah, I don't like it either. I give it no star.

No star? No star. I don't like it either. It's aggressively sweet, and I don't think I like them, but I'm still gonna eat them for whatever reason.

Well, you like cookies. Bad news is I have another pack coming to my house. Hope my wife likes them. You're trying to pound as many cookies before Lent again.

And that's it. Don't waste your money. Yeah, don't, yeah. If you don't want them, I'll give them to my kids.

Perfect. I'll put them back in the container over there. Yep. Alright, 50 Cent is sued by a former staffer who claims she was fired for refusing to help him hide assets and file a fake police report.

That was it? We're done with the cookies? Just like that? Well, yeah, we ate them.

What do you want to talk about? You want them to watch you eat the other five? No, you're good. So, everybody that didn't guess one, you lost.

Did anybody guess one? Oh, we have this lovely prize for whoever guessed the right amount. Anybody guess the right amount? Oh, what's the prize?

Ooh. Can you see it? Ooh. Yeah.

This lovely, um, uh, Crixby lighter cutter combo. Ooh. Sent to me by the people from Crixby. It's a V cutter and a torch lighter.

Slider. Ooh. Not filled. Not filled.

You didn't say a website, right? I don't know what website it came from. All right, good. Let me see if there's a one.

I got a three. I got a 14. Wow. Was there 14 in the package?

How many was in the package? 18. I got a six. I think I'm going to beat Phil on cookie consumption.

Yeah, but I think the game was made. Yeah. Here you go. Three is the closest.

Three is the closest, huh? Three is the closest. Then we give it to the closest? Do you want to give it to the closest?

Yeah. We can save it for our next contest. Whatever, let's give it away. Yeah.

Alright, who is number three? Um, well, okay, so listen, like, this show hasn't aired yet, though. So what have other people guessed? Oh, so you want to hold on a while.

So we'll announce it on the next show. How about that? - Yeah, let's see if anybody else... - Well, I mean, if they watch the show, if they watch this show, they can say what the number is.

- Oh, yeah, that's true. " - Well, once it releases, it's too late. - Okay, we can do that. m.

tomorrow morning to give your answers. m. today. - Yep.

m. - So, right now, Real Smoke Pot is in the lead with three. - Oh. oh hey the show isn't over either he probably uh yeah he doesn't like him though he's not gonna eat he doesn't like it i'm not eating it no oh you're just fucking crunching along you should have got me the can you hear me crunching or no yeah yeah you can hear you i can hear you crunching over here so they got to be able to hear it on the microphone yeah that's why i took a drink to soften mine so they wouldn't hear me eat it it's like a rabbit like a rabbit okay anyway uh the The staffer was fired for refusing to help him hide assets and file a fake police report.

Apparently this lady's a big muckety-muck accountant that's very well known and is held in high regard by people. She's now gonna die. Huh? Now she's gonna die?

Allegedly. She spent a decade inside 50 Cent's business orbit and she's now telling a story that sounds less like corporate fallout and more like a vendetta. Monica Mayers, a former senior operational staffer, says that saying no to Curtis 50 Cent Jackson did not just cost her, excuse me, it flipped her entire life upside down in ways she claims never really stopped in a newly filed civil lawsuit reported by TMZ, the number one news source in the world. Ooh.

Mayers alleges that after she refused to help hide assets and declined to file what she describes as false-bleased report, during his bankruptcy era, she was fired, blackballed, and dragged through years His team has come out swinging just as fast, denying everything, and framing her as a disgruntled ex-employee with questionable timing. So supposedly, other than hiding the assets, he wanted her to say that the driver stole his car and $60,000, which is not true. How long ago was this? She worked for him for 10 years, so whenever he filed bankruptcy, which I don't know how long ago that was.

That was a long time ago. We talked about that, but I mean, this was the other room. This was years ago. Oh, really?

Is that long ago? Yeah. Maybe this is a Diddy retaliation. Maybe.

I'm looking to see if it has any timeline on it. I don't think any of this sticks. No, all I have to do is walk around and go, she's just angry and she likes Diddy. Oh, $600,000 in cash.

Sorry, not $60,000. She went to the parties. Uh, yeah, well, it all depends on who has proof of, I mean, obviously he can't You can't prove something that did not happen, but if she has some type of proof, the show did happen. Well, okay, and she said that she was blackballed like she was unhirable.

Right, after the fact. So no other celebrity would hire her. " Well, I don't know what the underbelly of the entertainment network is, where they go, you know, they call, "Hey, what do you think of this girl? " You know, but you don't.

- Being blackballed is not a crime. - Being blackballed is not a term? - It's not a crime. - Oh, no, no, I'm not saying you can get arrested for that.

- No, that's not what I said, that's not what I meant. He's saying that the lady said she was blackballed and it was non-hireable, correct? - Correct. - And I'm saying, just because 50 said that, or did that, doesn't mean, that's not a crime.

- He's not being arrested, he's being sued. - No, but that's not what he's saying. Mike, this is the problem. Sometimes you don't listen to us.

It's okay. What's my show? What? What's my show?

Where, where? No, you're right. But I don't think that really, it sounds to me that she wasn't doing whatever she was supposed to do in a legal parameter, right? And she was probably let go, right?

Well, I'm sure that's what his people are saying, certainly. " I'm like, "Well, she didn't do her job here. " Well, all you can say legally is if you would hire her back or not. Absolutely not.

Yeah, like, right, right. You can't elaborate. You know, okay, so you know, first of all, yeah, but like, how do you know? Allegedly, absolutely not.

How do you know what happens, the conversations that occur? I don't know, unless somebody told her, you know, we called 50 Cent, and he said you wouldn't do what he asked, and you wouldn't do your job. " You think that you're gonna give me the Florida Statute 79025 or states, hey, I would not rehire this person? Well, say the accounting office of Harry Wilson and Butthole calls me, you know, I'm just gonna say, I would not hire her back.

Why'd you go Butthole? I don't know, I couldn't think of another word. Okay. I don't like accountants.

Interesting. So, you know what I mean? Like, those conversations happen all the time. There's no, you can't control that.

You can't regulate that type of conversation. No, but, I mean, you don't know who's recording you when you get the phone call from somebody you don't know. Obviously, you're not recording the phone call when you call me, but Harry, Wilson, and Butthole could be... Harry, Wilson, and Butthole isn't having a conversation with 50 Cent.

Yeah. No, they're calling me to ask me if I would hire whoever this person was that I told you stole my money and said my socks are ugly. My point is that if they're not inner circle with you, if they're not your buddies, then they're probably not even getting you on the phone, right? " Maria?

Oh, well what happened? " And that's where it gets left at. There's no, well here's-- Sure, I understand all this, I mean, right, but I mean, this is just what she's alleging. I'm not saying it happened or it didn't happen.

Okay. Phil, help me out here. I think we should just move on to the next story. I don't think it's going to get passed.

He's not grasping. No. It's all right. We'll just move on.

It's okay. All right. Next story. Palmer into my shelf.

Walmart officially calls it in to self-checkout to stores at a plans room while 650 locations. They're getting rid of it? They're getting rid of the majority of them. There'll be a few still, but they're not going to be a big area as there is now.

Yeah, because everybody's stealing. Everybody's stealing. That's right. They did not think this through.

Apparently, people are dishonest. Really? "Shoppers at one Walmart will no longer be able to scan their own groceries after the retail rollback self-checkout lanes. " Also, Target is thinking about cutting theirs back, and Dollar General only has one in there anyway, and it normally doesn't work.

It's normally broken. Not a big deal at their place. Yeah, so people walk out with $10, full cart. Right, you guys use the self checkouts?

I do a Costco sometimes, but I prefer the human interaction, honestly. So normally, we'll go into, we'll try, unless it's something quick, like one, two things or something like that, but you know. We have a, or I have a level in the cart. If it's over so many things, I don't want to have to deal with it.

But if it's a medium to low thing, I'll do it myself because I'm faster. Okay. I've used self-checkout before, but it's just like doing regular checkout because normally self-checkout doesn't work. They gotta come over anyways.

Something comes by? Yeah. Target normally only has one person register open. For 12 things?

Right. So, yeah. So, I mean, it's wait in line for the one human or go to the six self-checkouts and just zap it and go. Sometimes at Publix, they use the self-checkout, because the kids like to scan, you know.

I almost do all the time at Publix, because I, you know, I don't make a huge, when I go in, it's picking up, you know, half a dozen to a dozen different things. I mean, but this is always kind of comical for me. It brings me back to the lock on the screen door. Why is there a lock on a screen door?

Right, yeah. So nobody comes in it? It's a screen door. But they can just cut the screen, right?

You can put your hand through it, you don't even need a knife. I mean, I get that, but that's illegal. So, is entering a premises unannounced? No, if your door's unlocked, it's not breaking and entering.

It's trespassing. Okay, it's still breaking a law. Yeah, but there's a difference in shooting somebody with that. If the door's not locked, I understand breaking and entering, but it's still trespassing.

If they're walking into my house, it's uninvited. Right. Like, am I not understanding this either? No, you're fine here.

No, no, no, here, this one is the most common one. There's no one out there. Okay, tell me. When someone breaks into your car.

Yes? If your car is unlocked, there's nothing they can do. Okay. Nothing?

Who's they? The police? The police. They'll tell you that.

Really? I don't feel that's true. Let's test that. Can we call?

Okay, you go unlock your car and I'll steal something. All right, no. Call the police. No, I'm not stealing it.

We'll have Keanu steal it. I don't want to go to jail, just in case. Yeah, Keanu's been bad anyways. He hasn't been cleaning down here, so.

Yeah, no shit. It's gonna be my one thing at the meeting today, just so you know. Do you have one thing? Yeah, can somebody clean the private lounge?

The garbage is overflowing again. I'm emptying the ashtrays. I literally smoke like one cigar every show. Right.

I had to empty my ashtray today because it was so full. It's a week and a half's worth of cigars in the ashtray. Yes, it is illegal for someone to take items from your unlocked car in Florida regardless of whether the vehicle was locked. Unauthorized entry into a vehicle to steal property is considered a criminal offense.

Just like having your watch on every time the show runs. Typically defined as burglary of a vehicle or unlawful entry. So it is illegal. Entering an unlocked vehicle to steal is at minimum a misdemeanor, criminal trespass to a motor vehicle, or more commonly a felony, burglary of a vehicle.

cool so i don't know what planet you're living on buddy but yeah no it's still not okay and there is something they can do about so if you see something on someone's patio and you want to take it and the screen's unlocked you can walk in and take it right i mean i could pop your door if it was locked anyways it's a screen door i think you're walking you're missing the concepts here no no i'm understanding that why why is there a lock on the door no apparently you're both I was retarded. Because you can get in. To be fair, you said burgery. Who?

You said burgery instead of burglary. I love burgers. Okay. You're not immune to this.

We should have had those instead of these firecracker yadiyadas. Oreos. Look, my point is... I want to eat another one because I'm hungry, but I didn't like...

I don't want to eat another one. That's where I was at. My point is, my point is that, look, if you don't put in checks and balances for people, people are gonna do stupid stuff. Like taking things from Target, taking things from Publix, taking things from Walmart, you know?

They stole before self-checkout. Have you ever had something mis-scanned and you look at your wife and you go, shh, it's more convenient. You know, you didn't intentionally take something, you didn't do anything wrong, the cashier made the error. My wife was on a tear for a while there.

She got a printer, because it was under the bottom of the cart once, and she's like, they didn't scan that. And that wasn't self-checkout, that was just... Right, that was even though she said there's a printer. She's like, what do I do?

This is a come up, don't tell anybody. I'm like, what do I do? You run! Immediately.

Put it in the cart, let's go! " Oh, OK. Like, what are you going to do? Go back?

I guess you could go back. " We're up 60. That is what it is. We're chalking that up to a loss.

These things happen. Charge it to the game. Right. Yeah, yeah.

They should charge it to the game. They do charge it to the game. Believe me. But see, that's what I'm saying.

Like, there's already stuff like that happening. " Let's go. Yeah, and that's the problem, is now it's too much. As soon as the thief goes up, he goes, "Beep," and then he walks out.

There's TikTok videos where guys take scanners off of a regular item and put it on a piece of shelving that the store uses, and the lady scans it, and he's paying $12 for a shelf bracket that doesn't hold up their shelf anymore. Wow. That's too funny. That's the one video, the guy took the scale at a grocery store.

Like the scale, like the public scale? No, like the scale where you weigh your fruit. Yeah. He put a UPC on it and put it in his cart, and he walked up the cashier, zapped it.

Charged him $25 or something, and he just walks up with the vegetable measurer. I was gonna work at Walmart as loss prevention when I first came back. That was a job that I interviewed for, but I quickly realized I'm not working here. Did they try and hire you and you walk it back?

No, no, no, no, no, no. - No. - Or they just didn't hire you. - No, they did want to hire me, but I just didn't want to.

I was like, he took me on a tour. - Yeah. - And like showed me their computer room up front, which is crazy. They all have it, but you would never know that it's there.

- Right. " I'm like... - Right, because you used to be able to. - What kind of job is this?

- The old days that came are, as soon as they cleared that door, we would tackle them outside. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah.

" Oh, that's awesome. " That is fantastic. The security guys aren't anything special. They're not trained or anything.

It's, you know, some goober like him that they got. Yeah. Wow. So let me ask you, you're a big goober.

Actually, you know what's funny is, Califf started doing loss prevention at Kmart. Oh yeah? That was his first job. That's how you almost got the job?

No, I didn't go to Kmart. Oh. Let me ask you a question. Maybe.

What? Depends on what the question is. Did you just not show up, Like, day on the schedule? Or did you say, "Hey, I don't want to" - No, no, I told him no.

" - That's too funny. - I went there, Point Orlando. I was gonna do security at Point Orlando. And theirs was like, "Oh, you don't really need to do anything.

" And if somebody has a problem, we kind of shine it out. " - Shine the flashlight? " I'm like, "No, I'm good, man. " That's awesome.

Okay. Anyways. Alright, you ready, Palmer? Yeah.

It's your show, go. Three people have died on a cruise ship off the coast of South Africa. I heard about this. Do we have any cigar news or no?

Yeah, we just haven't got to. Yeah, we're just not there yet. Alright. There's very little, but there's some.

Okay. From a rare respiratory virus. Okay. You get it from handling rat poop and rat urine that has been contaminated by the virus.

They're contaminated by the virus. Oh, really? Yes. So, three more passengers have it in the hospital.

Okay. There's no cure for it. Oh, no. The only hope is that they catch it early enough to treat you for the respiratory problems.

But if not, you're dead. It happened on a cruise? Cruise ship off the coast of South Africa. Hmm.

What was the company? They're not disclosing that at this time. Interesting. It might be one we haven't heard of.

It is off of South Africa. I don't give a f**k about our customers. You tell them we're canceling every single flight, we're not giving out a goddamn refund. We're not going out of business, we're just rebranding.

Let's bring out the new logo. Here we go. If we lost your luggage, we're keeping the clothes and we're selling them on eBay. This wouldn't have happened if the board took my suggestion and gotten rid of all the seats.

I wanted to cram people in there like cattle. Spirit Airlines, we were honest with our customers. We honestly have We hated them. We wanted to make their lives hell.

You know, there was a lot we could have done to save this company. I wanted to institute a seatbelt fee. 25 bucks a seatbelt. Why should that be free?

It's actually amazing we were around for 34 years and not one plane crash. We hired the worst pilots. Schizophrenics, Navy pilots of PTSD, women. Tell them to sell everything.

I don't give a shit. The peanuts, the planes. I'll sell the planes to Al-Qaeda. I don't care.

I just want to make some money. I don't give a f*ck a f*ck a f*ck. Wow. Wasn't Spirit the company that crashed any Everglades?

No. No. Who was that? Airtran.

Who's not around anymore. Yeah. It wasn't Airtran. Value Jet.

No, it wasn't Value Jet. Okay. What's the bet? I don't think it was Value Jet.

What's the bet? Paul, we got to stuff all these cookies in your mouth. Yeah. At one time.

If I'm right, I want to see you eat all of those right now. I'll eat two more. No. No.

No. Because if you're wrong, what are you going to eat? You already ate all of them. I crushed mine.

You ate all of them. He has to pack all of them in his cheeks at one time. No, I'm not packing them all on my cheeks. Like, mouth cheeks.

I'll do the rest of the show with one chewed up cookie in my mouth. No. No. I'm not eating all of them.

And you have to take your hat off. I'll take the hat off. So you're not that confident, huh? No, I'm not.

" Nope. So I just answered back the same way. I think it's a three cookie bet. No, because you've already looked it up.

If it's a three cookie bet. You've already looked it up? No, I haven't. Yes, you have.

You typed. I typed, but I haven't looked. Yes, you have. I love how Mikey did a lazy eye.

We're at an hour. We need to keep moving. The airliner that crashed into the Florida Evergrades. It is?

Evergrades. Evergrades with your burgery. Everglades. Well, this is the wrong one.

Too much sugar. He's had too much sugar for the cookies. On May 11th, 1996, was Value Jet Flight 592. My dad was on the next flight that took off for Value Jet.

From Miami to Atlanta. Uh-huh. 593. Caused by improperly stored oxygen generators in the cargo compartment.

Oh, can't say compartment either, apparently. I can't talk today. Can't talk. Too much sugar.

I still have no voice. Is that a diet-free whatever drink you have in there? What's that? Is that a sugar-free whatever you're drinking?

Sugar-free whatever I'm drinking. Yeah. Maybe you're just on a sugar overload. From my boy Charles, hook me up with the 12-ouncers.

Oh. Yeah, he called the other day, see which one you liked. Yeah. There's more caffeine in those.

All right, on the cigar news. I didn't accept the bet. I need at least two cookies consumed. No, sorry, I didn't accept the bet.

One in each cheek, let's go. Let's go, chipmunk it. You know what, you eat some more over there. No, no, I didn't do the bet.

Do it for the listeners. You won't even see them in your cheek. You're supposed to do this for the people. Yeah, for the people.

People don't want to hear me. You were so confident. You lost your bet. Now, oh, so you welch on your bets, is what you're saying?

Yes, I do. You're a welcher? I'm a welcher. Wow.

How about you split the cookie in half, lick it, and put them on your cheeks? There you go. There you go. Yeah, I want to see that.

Let's see that. Come on, let's do it. I'll do that with one cookie. Perfect.

This is why everybody has to watch the show. Don't just be listening. They did it bad, putting the icing on it. Of course they did.

That's because it's glue. Oh, man. He just went for the cream. I ate the cream.

Now lick them and put them on your cheeks. They're like a stick 'cause of the beard! They do stick! They're gonna fall off my field completely.

Ding! Okay, all right. All right, cookie cheeks. I feel better now.

Cookie cheeks. I'm gonna screenshot that and make it your profile picture when you call me. It's gonna be amazing. Hold on a minute.

Oh. Oh, call 911. He's having a, uh, uh, he's going into shock. Sugar shock.

It's thick. It's thick. Ciro Casella appointed Pro Cigar President. Ooh.

I don't even know who this guy is. Me neither. I'm sure we're getting a call. You don't know who Ciro Casella is?

Pro Cigar, the Association of Dominican Cigars Manufacturers, ooh, we're on drilling. Announced that on Thursday, April 3rd, Ciro A. Casella was appointed president for the 2026-2028 term. Casella, who is the president of Arturo Fuente.

Oh, apparently that's who he is. that's who he is oh so what is Carlito just figure on her advertiser previously served as vice president of pro cigar he succeeds Lido Gomez the La Florida Dominicana co-founder who served as president of the organization from 2024 to 2026 who co-found the company with mmm I don't know he was co-founder are they talking about a company or the festival thing though yeah the Tesla No, Pro Sabor. Pro Sabor is what he's in charge of. The big party thing.

I feel truly honored to be this designation said Casella. I deeply appreciate the trust placed in me and I commit to continuing the strength and elevate this industry that fills us with pride and passion and that generates a significant impact on the socioeconomic development of our country. The Pro Cigar Board of Directors is as follows. Ciro A.

Casella is the President. Lito Gomez is the Vice President. Oh, so they just switched positions. You're in charge.

You're in charge. No, you're in charge. Guillermo Leon La Aurora is second Vice President. Oh, they have two Vice Presidents.

You can both be Vice President. You said Casella? Double Vice Presidency. Yes.

Hamlet Espinal is the Davidoff. He's the Secretary. Yuri Gullin is the General, is from General Cigar. Oh, he's the Treasurer.

Pro Cigars Boards represented by 12 Cigar Factories. Blahdi, blahdi, blahdi, blahdi. Does that mean Luciano is taking over? Is that the same thing?

No, that's a different country. Come on. It's a Dominican. Country?

Oh, is he over there now? He said Casella Cigars, right? Yeah, remember? So he told us he was over there.

Oh. Was it the company that bought his name? No. Am I mixed up here?

Yeah. Alright, Canada is trying to do a general... Am I mixed up here? Yes.

Hmm. Canada is trying to do a general... Now it's stuck in my teeth. Good.

They're being a generational tobacco ban, so we don't like them anymore, let's move on to what's the score. See, this is why, see John, this is the type of shit we're talking about from your country. Yeah, it's funny how they just try to slip it in nonchalantly. Yeah, you can brag all you want.

This goes to show you how over-regulated you are. It's ridiculous. In Canada, you have to be 18 at the moment, but now 18 is not the minimum age for most areas. Six of the ten provinces and two of the three territories, which we don't understand how they set those up, have a minimum purchase age of 19 now.

That means serious business. It's gone from 18 to 19. Just merge with us and let's make everything better. How do the Prince Edward Island, do you have to be 21 wherever that is?

Set to the right, I don't know, it's east. An incremental step would be to raise the federal age to 21. Everybody, it's 21. S.

Well, generational tobacco bans have been debated throughout the world, they remain incredibly rare, New Zealand has one, and the Maldives, and the UK, and now Canada. This is dumb. This is dumb. But you can smoke weed in all these places.

What are we doing? Can you smoke weed in Canada? Probably. Yeah.

You okay over there, Mr. Oreo? Yeah. You all right?

I got icing on my face. You all right, Value Jet? I'm okay. Told you he's in sugar shot.

Alright, it's time for the industry's favorite game. What's the score? To celebrate Cinco de... It's not time.

I ran the cleaner. I don't know, I have to turn them on again. It starts to heat up. To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, we have two themed cigars today.

Oh, walking tacos. September 30th, 2019, Patrick LaGride cigars. Oh, Rojas. In addition, this is a Redux, gentlemen, the Tatuaje Mexican Experiment Robusto.

Ooh. Mhmm. From 2019. 92.

85. Tatuaje Limited Series Mexican Experiment Robusto from Nicaragua Factory. It is your father's cigars factory. Mexican San Andreas Wrapper, Binders Nicaraguan Filler, Nicaraguan Length, 5x54.

It's a Robusto Gordo, and they smoked one 'cause it's a Redux. 92. He's playing on his phone now. No, I got, because we did this later, I have to be later to my call.

You mean earlier? No, later. 'Cause we did this earlier. No, I thought we'd be done by 12.

Oh, well. You remember, you were 15, 20 minutes late. I was 20 minutes late, I screwed up everything. The construction and appearance stand out an oily, toothy, dark wrapper with excellent visual consistency and a firm, well-pressed feel.

That was clue number one. Nine, two. You feel nice in my fingers. Um, 87.

Clue number two, strong performance throughout the impressive smoke production and a consistent effect. You feel nice in my fingers. Um, 87. Clue number two, strong performance throughout the impressive smoke production and a consistent effect.

You feel nice in my fingers. Um, 87. Clue number two, strong performance throughout the impressive smoke production and a consistent effect. Consistent burn, lasting around 90 minutes.

That's clue number two. 92. 87. Oh, it's creeping up on me.

Clue number three. The flavor profile is uneven and at times off-putting early on with a bitter vegetable note and only aggressive pepper that never fully delivers the expected Mexican tobacco character of sweetness. Here I come. 90.

87. Final thought. Other than a general memory of liking the original Tatuaje Limited Series Mexican Experimental Robusto, I can't say I have much in the way of specific details that stood out about it after just over 7 years since reviewing it. As noted above, the new version is a bit of a head-scratcher from a flavor perspective in the first half as it tasted almost nothing like what I would expect to get from a combination of Mexican and Nicaraguan tobacco, Let alone what I get from Tatuaje utilizing such a combination.

The retro hails were almost much more lively than I prefer, making it tough to utilize them to get a complete picture of what the cigar has to offer. Maybe it's some youth, maybe it's a bad day for my senses, maybe it was just a funky sample, but my lone experience with the 2019 release of the Tatuaje Mexican experience makes me question a number of things about what all I spent about 90 minutes with the Redux. It certainly didn't match up to what memories I have of the original, nor my expectation of the release. 87.

Pick my number. Uh-oh. You're revving up. 85.

He wins! 82! You win the right way! Yes.

Fire the lasers! All right, cigars, it seems kind of anticlimactic when he doesn't win. Yeah, exactly. Nothing happens.

November 2nd, 2022, Brooks Woodington Cigars, Nicaragua Reviews, Rojas Cigars. Here it is. Rojas Street Tacos, Carnitas Robusto. Oh, I'm sorry.

It's not his turn. It was a weird camera shot. 85. 89.

It's the Rojas Street Taco Carnita Robusto from Nicaragua Factory, Rojas Cigar Factory, Rapper, Ecuador Connect. What are you doing? I've seen feathers just bounce over there. For some reason, the only thing going through my head is like, hum, hum, hum.

Like, whatever Mikey does. I don't know why. Hum, hum, hum. He hits his chest and everything.

Yeah. Ecuadorian Connecticut binder, Nicaraguan filler, Nicaraguan length. It's a 5x50 Robusto, and they smoked three tacos. 85.

89. Clue number one. Excellent construction across the board. Smooth draw, strong smoke production, and an overall consistent performance, with only minor touch-ups needed.

86. 890. Clue number two, the flavor profile evolves nicely, transitioning from creamy cedar and hay to more layered notes like coffee, sourdough bread, cocoa, and peanut butter in the final third. He didn't say nibs.

No nibs. He did not, just the cocoa. Yep. I'm in love with the cocoa.

86. 90. Clue number three: the opening is rough and slightly off-putting, with a bitter espresso, astringency, and a sharp white pepper that take time to settle into a more balanced profile. Uh, wow.

86. 90. That was the third clue. Final thought.

After a bit of a rough start, each of the Rojas Street Tobacco Carnitas Robustos calmed down nicely, exhibiting main flavors of creamy cedar, hay, and tea, leaves, along with a consistently light amount of syrup, syrupy... Sissure. vanilla sweetness, and a white pepper on the retro hill. In addition, the profile is enjoyable after the first third, and there is absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to construction.

With excellent draws, copious smoke production, and only two cigars needing minor burn corrections. Unfortunately, the astringency that was present in all three cigars immediately after they were lit caused varying issues with the balance until it dissipated. However, if you can get past that point, you will find the Rojas Street Tacos Carnitas Robusto Is a well-made, enjoyable example of an Ecuador and Connecticut wrapper blend. 86.

80. Why is there a flashlight lit up on your wiener? Shhh! I'll sit under the table and see a flashlight pointing to his wiener.

You ruin everything in this show. What are we going to do? Show your wiener? Maybe...

88. Don't show your wiener. Oh, I see what you did. What did he say?

86. You said 88? Yep. He wins!

No! Yeah! It's 85! Wow.

And he lit up his wiener. I like it better when you win it, I don't have to see his wiener. Okay, make sure you like and subscribe if you're reviewing and listening to the show. com, Cigaros Podcast.

We're going to be reviewing the Jalapeno Fat this week. Jalapeno on a cheek. Talk about some other topics. And thanks so much for watching and we hope you enjoyed the edutainment that we are providing.

On the 29th of May we're having a Cordoba Morales release party for their new cigar here at Cigar Hustlers. That's at 6pm. Thank you very much. We'll see you next time.

Okay, bye. Goodbye.

Show Notes

On todays Show Anyone want to buy a Spirt airline credit voucher?  50 Cent got robbed by an employee…., Kentucky Derby the best two Minutes you’ll ever get…Something Phil Tells His wife, Walmart is tired of all the theft.  Then in Cigars we have a Portal Entry, Canada is considering a tobacco ban and a double dose of what’s the score.