ACHP Episode 525 Kamikaze Dolphins

Episode Summary

Episode 525 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Palmer, Phil McGuffey and co-host Mikey working through the usual news-and-banter block: the announced end of "Operation Epic Fury" against Iran and the shift to a defensive posture around the Strait of Hormuz, the widely mocked Wall Street Journal report that Iran might deploy mine-carrying "kamikaze dolphins," Delta's new distance-based cutbacks to complimentary snack and beverage service on flights under 350 miles, McDonald's phasing out self-serve beverage stations by 2032, and a bear attack that injured two hikers on the Mystic Falls Trail near Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Mixed in are listener comments, CH Pod swag and Patreon plugs, and a new contest challenging listeners to guess what got bleeped out of the previous episode.

The cigar content centers on a Cigar TV clip from the 2026 PCA Convention in New Orleans featuring Michael Rosales of RoMa Craft Tobac, who announces his own 50th birthday cigar — the Quinquagenario, a 5x50 Robusto to be produced at Tabacos de Costa Rica, only the second RoMa Craft cigar made outside their own factory (the first being a collaboration with Ernesto Carrillo for Skip Martin). Rosales also shows off the RoMa Craft Craft 2026 release, roughly 2,000 boxes with multicolored striping and a leather overlap on the box. The hosts argue that Rosales is underrated compared to his more social-media-active partner Skip Martin, and they try (unsuccessfully) to call both men live on air to sort out the name of an earlier personal Rosales blend — ultimately identified via text from Skip as the Mon Cherie. Matt Booth of Room101 picks up instead for an unfiltered cameo riffing on the "power of mystery" being eroded in the cigar industry.

In cigar news, the crew covers the limited edition Macanudo Inspirado Gold Bullion, a 6 x 54 box-pressed Toro addition to the Gold Label line from General Cigar, priced at $13.49 in 20-count boxes with a Connecticut wrapper taken from the lower half of the plant. The episode closes with two rounds of "What's the Score," guessing Half Wheel review scores: Brooks Whittington's 2021 review of the VegaFina Year of the Ox (Tabacalera de García, Dominican Republic, Habano 2000 wrapper) which scored an 87, and Charlie Minato's review of the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Club Kings petit corona, panned for an extremely tight draw and burn issues at a 66. The hosts also take a swipe at Half Wheel's confusing post about the Camacho Factory Unleashed 3 review.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Show Open, Swag and Listener Comments
   Palmer, Phil and Mikey banter about production meetings, CH Pod merch deals, Patreon, and read listener comments from the previous episode.
2. 02
   Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and 'Kamikaze Dolphins'
   The end of Operation Epic Fury, mine clearing in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Wall Street Journal report claiming Iran could deploy mine-carrying dolphins.
3. 03
   Delta Snack Cuts and McDonald's Self-Serve Drinks
   Delta ends complimentary snacks on routes under 350 miles while McDonald's phases out self-serve beverage stations by 2032.
4. 04
   Yellowstone Bear Attack
   Two hikers injured by one or more bears on Mystic Falls Trail near Old Faithful, prompting trail closures.
5. 05
   Bleep-Out Contest
   Listeners are asked to guess the bleeped line from the prior episode for a chance to win a lighter and cutter set.
6. 06
   RoMa Craft at PCA 2026: The Quinquagenario
   Michael Rosales unveils his 50th birthday cigar, a 5x50 Robusto made at Tabacos de Costa Rica, plus the RoMa Craft Craft 2026 release.
7. 07
   Live Call-Ins and the Mon Cherie
   The hosts try to reach Skip Martin and Michael Rosales on air, reach Matt Booth instead, and finally identify Rosales' old personal blend as the Mon Cherie.
8. 08
   Macanudo Gold Bullion Limited Edition
   A 6 x 54 box-pressed Toro joins the Macanudo Gold Label series at $13.49 in 20-count boxes.
9. 09
   What's the Score: VegaFina Year of the Ox and Romeo y Julieta Club Kings
   Guessing Half Wheel scores on Brooks Whittington's VegaFina Year of the Ox (87) and Charlie Minato's harshly reviewed Cuban Romeo y Julieta Club Kings (66).

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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

Transcript

Welcome to Cigar Hustler Podcast, episode 525. I'm Mike Palmer, your host, and with me today in engineering is the heart of the show, the The literal backbone of the company, Mr. Phil McGuffey. Oh, hello, peoples.

Hi. Hello. And then as my co-host, you know, Mikey's here. Hi.

Oh. This is the pump me up today, huh? Yeah. It felt like you left bitter and angry yesterday.

We've been a little rough on you lately. So, yeah, we've been going a little hard in the paint, and we recognize it, so. Did someone put it in the comments? No, no.

At our production meeting that we had before the show in the morning, That means that we don't invite you to? We talked about it there. We like to reflect a little bit. You know, kind of aggressively attack and feel too much.

So we gotta let them know we appreciate them. Palmer, usually when I come here in the morning time, yours is the only car here. He came in early today for the production meeting. Well, today.

Yeah, well, normally it's after, after you leave, we have one. But he came in early today because he doesn't have time after. Yeah, it depends. Honestly, it depends for me on the weekday.

Like, I'll come in earlier. As soon as I drop off the kids, if I'm not doing the gym, this week unfortunately is so crazy. Did you even drop off the kids today? You were super early today.

Yeah, I just hit all the lights. All right, on today's show, the war is over. We won. Well, nobody's saying that.

Iranian Sea World. No more snacks on Delta. McDonald's is making some fluid changes. -Iranian SeaWorlds.

-And Yellowstone is unbearable. Then in cigars, a limited edition cigar is on the way, and a double, what's the score? -Ooh. -Half Wheel is sort of getting back in the swing.

They did two reviews today. -We're working on it. -Redemption. -Well, they did a post that didn't make sense, and I was trying to explain it to Charlie, and he just kind of...

Like, if you looked at the screen, and shout-outs to McTavish who brought it to my attention. If you look at the screen and it was on the Camacho Factory Unleashed 3, before you clicked on it in the link, it said, "Good news, Michael. Reviews are back. " So it didn't make sense.

It's almost like someone else wrote it. Yeah, so I said something to him and like we had a brief back and forth and the conversation was just going sideways. " So I let it go. All right, but first, Michael, how do you get some of that CH Pod swag and what's new that's coming that's going to make somebody buy something?

Ooh, like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to the show. com for all your CH Pod swag. Buy one, get the second one 40% off. The blue BDP, 4th of July, the 250 limited edition year.

250 of them? Oh, 250 things. I got you. I know.

You know what's really funny, guys, is before this show he had to make a jab to me saying that I was slow. And he wasn't paying attention to what I was saying. And what he was saying actually made zero sense whatsoever. Oh, it did.

No, it didn't. What we're doing only deals with three, it could only be three possible things because of how I said it. If you knew it wasn't that one, couldn't have been one of the others? One is a cigar event in the Dominican Republic.

I understand that. And one is a trade association. Yeah. So there's only three things out of the country that we talk about.

No. We talk about a lot of things out of the country. What events like that do we talk about that we are interacting with? This is not an event.

Well, now we're talking about it, and we're not supposed to be talking about it yet. It's an association. That one event that Coop went to with the wrong pants? What was that called?

That's another one. Yeah, what was that one called? The one in Nicaragua. I don't know the name of it, and I'm not going to mess it up.

Okay, never get to go. And you've already been yelled at today. Correct. He always seems to work it in, even when he has to leave early.

com. Buy one, get the second one, 40% off on all our swag. Spend $100 or more, get free shipping. We appreciate your support.

We are one step closer to the Apex Listener shirt. Yes. How about the tumblers? I'm not there yet.

I'm doing, listen, I just gotta survive this week. No, but we're having someone do the tumblers. It's not like you have to have time to make the tumblers. I can take over the tumblers if you want.

I was talking to him yesterday and he thought I was talking to him about the tumblers. He's like, "I can't possibly do that. " And I'm like, "No, no, no, no, it's not what I'm doing. " Mmm.

Mmm. Okay. We'll talk to him about the tumblers. I'll get it done.

Is he coming in? I got to do a thing for Hector. There's a lot going on. Hector Alfonso?

Yeah. Oh. Not to mention, we're going as fast as we can dealing with as many PCA orders that we can get out. Yes.

Right? On top of retail orders, on top of online, it's like... There's a lot going on. I'm going to drop 11 teams to six on Monday.

Oh, yeah? Good for you. Yeah. Got your work in almost in half.

We're proud of you. So, well, thank you. I appreciate that. So, that means that...

Do you have six bigger teams? No, no. No, no. One sport's going away.

A bunch of sports are going away. Seasons are ending for a bunch of things. Good deal. Yeah.

Oh, like you're not stopping it, like you're just in remission. Yeah, no. Basketball's ending, three basketball teams are ending, and two football teams are ending. Forever.

End of the season. Oh, just the season. Just the season. They pick up in like two weeks.

Well, three of them won't be back till next year. Oh, basketball, because normally football stops and then picks back up. Yeah, well, the rec stuff, but the school stuff is done for the year. Oh, this is the school?

Okay, got it. Yeah, the thing he wasn't going to be the coach of, he's the coach of. Yeah, that thing. Yeah, I remember.

Yeah, I remember. Are you the volleyball coach yet? No. Track?

We had a great Patreon this week. Yes. com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast. I'd love to process that.

Yeah, Palmer, don't say anything. com. I was thinking it was Tuesday. I know, yeah, me, a Cigar Houses podcast, wherever you subscribe for the entire year, you're gonna get 10% off.

And again, we appreciate your support. We looked up the list today, there's lots of places you can listen. Yes, our regular podcast? Yes.

Yeah. We're heard on two different servers in India, Phil. Oh. I hope they didn't hear that racist stuff you were talking about.

Oh, I'm sure they did. Yeah, they unsubscribed. And if you would like to read the comment today, And they're probably, they're very, uh... It wasn't a comment.

Oh, wasn't it really? No, that was a message. Oh, you're right, it wasn't. Damn it.

Ben, put it up where it goes! We got half a person today, with Mr. Palmer. You guys came in early.

He didn't read like... He said I had to 11. Some comments from yesterday's show. @RootsCoding says, "Come on guys, I know Mike can't see the screen.

LOL. " It was a great picture. Yeah. Great picture.

I cannot see the screen. I'm just that good at this game. I can't see the screen. I can't see the screen.

Congrats to Team Money, @realsmokepod says congrats Team Money on the last minute win. He slid it in there, real quick. I tried to get that hat out today. We'll work on that.

Ruckus Unchanges, see Gran Torino like saying a slur from his movie LMAO. mao talking about the fish head thing that's the line from the movie exactly makes sense yeah and at cw6383 i'm jumping overboard and swimming to shore i'm not staying on the hms typhoid mary yeah i mean i mean if you're within distance of the port you could see it yeah i'm in for it i'm getting the hell out of here right yeah but then what do they shoot you what's the odds are going to see you jump off you do it at night like you're a navy they would Did they shoot you? Zombie! Zombie!

Umatuma virus! Umatuma. It's something like that. I have no idea how you say it.

I can't pronounce it. Umatuma, that's what we're going with from now on. All the people in India just canceled. It's not an Indian thing.

Sounds more like American Indian than Asian Indian. Umatuma. If you want to hear your comment read aloud on this show, simply comment below and we may read it out loud. Yeah, let's get on with the show.

S. and Israel war with Iran, had effectively ended. It's over. Epic Fury is.

Epic Fury has ended. We are now on strictly defense. No more offense. Defense.

Unless they attack us first. Okay. I don't see how that, uh, how it's over, though. I mean...

Stock market's surging. Yeah, and gas prices are coming down. They are. Now, uh, all the air and attacks are just to clear the Strait of Hormuz.

So they're probably gonna have to know the name probably tomorrow. Epic. Epic Hormuz. Clean, uh, Strait of Hormuz.

Epic, blow these guys up, let's go. Um... Operation Purge the Drain. Ooh, that's good.

Purge the Drain. Purge the Drain. Pull the Plug. Pull the Plug.

Sink the Titanic. I thought if things were over and all is good, then why do we have to, you know what I'm saying? Because there's all those mines floating around that nobody has a map of where they're at. Oh.

This is an easy situation. Oh, that sounded good. Is Rubio here? What's the situation?

How do you solve it? You just take one of those bomber deers, put them over the straighter mutes, and drop the bombs, baby, 'cause when they blow up, they're gonna blow up all the mines. Oh, yeah, and just do bombing runs in the straight and still things stop blowing up. So it's Operation Purge, is what you're saying.

Yeah, purge the drain, like you said. Oh, and as the bombers fly over, they do the purge noise. Yeah. Accidentally drop one on the guys that are not letting us through.

With a couple of boats in the harbor and stuff? Yeah. Hey, remember? You guys want to let us through?

Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Whoa, we're terrible at this. The United States has shifted to a "defensive posture" in parentheses, focused more on restoring commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a significant share of the world's energy supplies.

His remarks came days after the Trump administration told Congress, "Hostilities against Iran had formally ended. We're not mad anymore. " We have a peaceful peaceful peaceful. But nobody's saying we have declared that we have won?

No. That was probably part of the deal. Part of the deal? Yeah.

Well, that's the problem. There's not a deal yet. It's coming. Like who broke up with who?

Yeah. Right. I didn't break up with her, or she didn't break up with me, I broke up with her. Right.

Yeah. I mean, Iran's not going, "It was us, not you. It's okay. " It's kind of like when Brad Pitt broke up with Angelina Jolie.

Is that what happened? Did you ever really hear about that? I thought Angelina broke up with Brad. We don't know.

I think that's what he's saying. Yeah. Yeah, I heard that too. Yeah.

I heard she's a little cuckoo for cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Well, she's a thespian, so. Good point. Hmm.

Not commenting. All right, in an unrelated story, Iran has been, they're saying that they're using kamikaze dolphins. Kamikaze dolphins. S.

ships in the Hormuz. Oh, we're back on the attack. Oh, we're playing defense. Yeah, we're playing defense, not offense.

I wonder if it's at 17 dolphins that got loose. We're fighting against, oh, they got them. Kamikaze. Yeah, they found the ones that got away?

You're not going to believe this. Sir, sir, you're not going to believe this. There's these dolphins out here that hate America. Yeah.

They're yelling, "No Trump" in dolphin. " Yeah, no kings. " These guys strap. And they have infidels tattooed on their fins.

These guys strapped bombs on dolphins and then made it like the dolphins were on their side. Yeah, they're kamikazes. Wait a second, they've got bombs on the end of their noses. Have you heard of bottlenose?

These are bomb noses. The fact that you believe this, they don't have dolphins. Well, they probably strapped bombs to them, hoping that they'd run into something. They're gonna hit something eventually?

Team Trump said the idea was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on April 30th with an article claiming that Iranian officials have said Iran could use mine carrying dolphins. Okay. S. Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, is that how you say it, Hegseth?

Yeah. Absolutely good. Fielded questions on whether or not Tehran had dolphins and he said they don't have dolphins. The idea is not very far-fetched.

It seems that several nations, including the United States, have reported used kamikaze dolphins in conflict areas, though not as weapons. However, he dismissed the idea, saying he could confirm that Iran did not have dolphins to deploy as part of the operation. " We absolutely have dolphins, but they're not kamikaze dolphins. Maybe he gave them one or two.

No, I think that they're like RAM. They're very, that's what a kamikaze does. But they don't die. Well they have to, to explode.

If they just ram a ship, it's really not gonna do anything. They don't really ram ships, like they ram people. So we have to sink the ship to get the people in the water? No, it's all about people like in the water, you know, like going into bays and stuff.

I'm not an expert, but I don't think the Strait of Hormones is a big beach area at all. I don't think there's much resort. You're right. You're not an expert.

No, but I'm assuming that there's not a lot of... I don't think that we deployed dolphins in the Strait of Hormuz. I'm just simply stating that, no, that there's always been a theory that we have had dolphins protecting naval bases and all this other stuff. We do.

In bays. Yeah, we do. You're correct. But they took the ones here to the straits.

See, our master commander is confirming this. No, he did dogs on land from the Navy. The production meeting said, "You'd be nice". I've seen them.

You've seen the Kamikaze Dolphins? Yeah, no, not the Kamikaze Dolphins. I've seen the ones over in Virginia Beach. Do they have the red and white circles on the side like the Kamikaze pilots?

No, they're not Kamikaze. They might have one, but he's very angry and sick. No. So he's willing to give up his life.

No. They get dolphins with cancer, and this is how they use them. No. Wow.

Yeah, that's not true. Everything gets sick. It's not my fault. It is your fault.

You have so much ash on your shirt. It's all over your car, too. What are you doing? Ashing on the outside of your car?

Yes. It's been there for two days. Are you driving very, very slow? No, I think that it happened when it was raining.

And you just thought, this looks nice. No, I was thinking, I don't care. That's what I was thinking. This car is too clean.

I don't care. I'm not focused on my image and how things look. I don't care how my car looks. My car makes me happy.

I get in my car, I drive. That's it. Every once in a while, the guys out back washing cars say, "Hey, you know what? It's been a year.

" And he goes, "Awesome. You got it. " It just so happened that when he cleaned the car, two days later, ash is stuck on the car. So maybe next year, the ash will fall off.

Okay? Or maybe a good rain. Good rain will get the ash off. Yes.

I don't know why you're attacking me. I'm not attacking you. I've just noticed it that it's there and I would think the vigorous driving that you do would clear it off. No.

Stuck on because of the rain. Okay. All right. Let's move forward you two vigorous guys.

Maybe they have a car washing dolphin. Uses his little tail. Yeah but it might blow up because he's a kamikaze car washing. Well no that's a completely different in the Strait of Hormuz.

They have different jobs. From the USA. Right. Yeah.

The ones from Marineland, they close over in the Panhandle. I think I heard Pearl Sabor has them too. Oh, do they? Yeah.

You know, the Europe Tobacco Association. Right. Yeah. They probably need them in Europe.

Where you're not going. Right. Where I'm not going. I don't want to go here.

Why not? You don't want to go to Europe? No, I'm talking about Pearl Sabor. It's not safe anywhere.

You have not to go to Pearl Sabor either. Yeah. It's not safe anywhere. What do What do you want to go to your for?

Old buildings? You can go to Detroit, you can see old buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing Rome. When we get our headphones set up, we're going to call Matt and we're going to ask him.

Oh, I'm sure it's quite lovely. My dad enjoyed going there. My parents went once. I've been to Rome.

Maybe your wife would like to go. I think she wants to go to Paris. I don't think Rome is high on her list. Paris is probably more dangerous than Rome.

Yeah, they don't like Americans. Um, it's not safe anywhere anymore. Okay. Yeah.

I don't know how you're gonna be a national sales manager traveling. I don't mind traveling nationally. S.? S.

S. Our first, you're, I want, listen. I'm not the international sales manager. Alright, well, I just got off the phone.

With Compton Cigars. Compton, yeah. Yeah. I'm in Compton.

That's going to be our first event. That's way worse than overseas. What are you talking about? No, it's not.

All right. Delta Airlines is announcing- That's what Tupac talks about. Yeah, but he's dead now. Yeah.

See what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, but I don't think Biggie Small or whoever shot him is looking for me. Biggie Small didn't shoot him.

Oh, who shot him? Oh, God. Let's not get into this. I think Suge was behind all of this.

Suge? Yeah. Suge Knight and Diddy. Okay, it was Suge Knight and Diddy.

Diddy? We have reason to believe that these two were behind all of us. Yeah. It was a long story.

We'll add that to the graph. Okay. Okay. My Wives, who shot...

Who shot Diddy? No, wait, who shot Tupac. Who shot Tupac, and there was a third one when he went, oh, the timeline for something. Yes.

All right, we'll add that to the chart list. All right, Delta Airlines announced a significant adjustment to its complimentary in-flight snack and beverage service. Uh-oh. Effective May 19th, based on distance.

Under the new policy, passengers in Main Cabin and Delta Comfort, which would be the same as the business class on Spirit, on routes under 350 miles will no longer receive complimentary snacks and drinks. So that means they'll sell them to you. - What? - Not that they're not doing it, they will sell them to you.

- Okay, ah. - Conversely, flights between 350 and 499 miles will be upgraded to full snack and beverage service, - A shift from the previous limited options. - Okay. - Service on flights over 500 miles will remain unchanged.

- Mm-hmm. - All right, now I'm trying to make sense of this. Between 350 and 490 miles, we'll upgrade it to full snack and beverage service. So basically, anything over 350, you get full snacks and beverage.

I don't know why they listed 500 miles separately. - 350 miles one way? - I'm assuming, yes. - That's a really short flight.

Yeah, you just have to fly out of state, basically. Yeah. So, 350 miles is what, like here to Atlanta? Atlanta's shorter, I think, than 350.

Because it's a quick flight. No, it's like a seven hour drive or something. Atlanta's over 350 miles. Yeah, Atlanta's over 350.

So, just short commuter flights, it sounds like. Are you looking up how far is the flight from Orlando to Atlanta? - So anything over 500... - Yeah, that's 460 miles.

- Yeah. - Oh, there you go. - So you can buy some nuts, but you don't get to... - Well, they're saying a complimentary, so that implies that you could probably buy it, but as I originally read a different article, there was no beverage or snack service on Flight Center 3.

- Mmm, no more... - I mean, that makes sense, too. - No more delicious cookie. - Yeah, a lot of times they don't anyway, or they just come by with like a bottle of water They can give everybody a bottle of water.

Yeah. It doesn't, like, this is not an alarming thing. So once a flight to Atlanta is like an hour. Yeah.

So anything under an hour. Which, really, they don't have time at that point anyway. Yeah. They're up, they're down.

Yeah, they go up, and then they're down. Yeah. The waitress is just throwing water. She walks running out.

I gotta have it back! Drink first! The airline stated this decision, which affects approximately 450 daily flights, was made to enhance operational consistency and safety on very short routes. Passengers in first class are exempt from the service cuts and will continue to receive full complimentary service regardless of the distance.

That's right, you enjoy those privileges in business class. You're on a 10 minute flight, would you like a martini? Yes, and a steak. For $1,200.

For $1,200. For a distance you could walk. You have to pay for the martini? No, no, not in first class, all the booze is free.

Is it? I've never been there. It's free. Well, he's older, so naturally, he should have had more opportunities.

International flights, they have an ice cream tray. Ooh. For business. I've never said first class on international.

I have none of business. Did you eat the fried Chinese ice cream? Fried ice cream is a Mexican dish. Doesn't the Chinese have like fried ice cream?

No, they do the green ice cream. Oh, the green tea. It tastes terrible. Yeah.

And there's a brown one that looks like dirt that tastes like dirt. Probably is dirt. They're resourceful. Could be.

Well, they got to feed them something. There's a lots of the peoples. Yeah. McDonald's is quietly ditching a popular in-store feature nationwide.

Anyone want to guess? Employees. Yeah. Clever, and it was fast.

Congratulations. The bathrooms. No. Chairs.

Nope. Alright, one more. One more. The ball pit.

That's been gone. That's been gone. Well, I was right. Those were nasty things.

The position is expected to roll out gradually as restaurants are remodeled with completion planned for 2032. They're taking away the self-serve drinks. Oh, why? Let's read on.

Yeah. 'Cause people are fat, that's why. People are fat. The reduced labor and maintenance demands and adapt to changing consumer habits that increasingly favor takeout, delivery, and drive-through service over dining-in.

McDonald's confirmed the change in a statement saying, "As confirmed in 2023, McDonald's will be transitioning away from self-serve beverages. Not enough people are using it, it's not cost-effective to have it sitting there. Because most people don't eat at McDonald's anymore. Well, yeah, I mean, you get it to go.

You got these plastic benches. Right, it's very uncomfortable, why do you want to sit there? Intentionally uncomfortable, I would say. Probably, yes.

We don't want you to stay. Then we gotta clean up after you. It is a nice stop on the road to get a drink or something, because I usually all have free Wi-Fi. Do they?

Yeah. And it's good Wi-Fi. It's good wifi? It's not like at Starbucks or those places like that where you have to agree to get emails and stuff from them and give them all your information.

It's just straight McDonald's wifi. Straight Mickey D's wifi. Straight Mickey D's wifi with a soda or a coffee. You sit there all day if you want to.

Ronald McDonald, baby. Right. So they're going to remodel all these for the next 10 years or so and it'll be done by 2032. By then they might change their mind and start putting them back in.

Yeah. Five years later. Oh. And the new change, everyone's eating at McDonald's, we're putting back in the drink service.

Also, maybe people were abusing the free refills, because now it would be less likely to get a free refills. I think that's marginal. I don't think that they care. No?

Yeah. Yeah, like the Uber guy going there and having to wait for your food? He uses your cup to get a drink and then brings you your drink? He uses your cup to get a drink.

I don't think they give a drink to the Uber guy. We'll never know. It's empty. We'll never know.

Well, most places put a sticker over the top of it. Yeah, come on, you don't think you could take that off and put it back on? I can barely get it off clean when I want a drink out of it, when it gets to my house. Well, now your muscles are going.

No, it's very sticky glued. It comes off in pieces. See, you know what? I try to be nice to him and this is what I get.

He's been attacking me the entire show. He really has. I didn't attack you. All gloves are off.

You just called me old twice. Well, you are old. Well, oh, see, it's so easy, it could go, well, you are fat. See, you shouldn't, that's not nice.

But I didn't, but I didn't say that, though, I didn't say that. You look beautiful. Thank you. Yeah.

You look beautiful. Wow. Stop attacking, my friend. Yeah, stop attacking me.

Whether that's McDelivery, the app, kiosk, drive-through, or in restaurants, you cannot get your own drink soon. Okay. All right, a bear. What is the...

Oh, sorry, we're talking now. Yeah, we haven't talked about any... Well, he's been playing with his phone. I figured he'd check that out.

You're just rattling through things. We don't have to have a conversation. It's been a half hour. I still got another news story.

I'm so sorry. Are you in a rush? Are people want to hear things? They are hearing things.

They're hearing me talking. You're texting away on your phone. Yeah, you're just... You ever mix fountain drinks?

I did, yes. What would you mix? I knew you'd say this. Oh, you knew?

Yeah. You're a fast food connoisseur. Sprite and Powerade. Sprite and Powerade.

Yeah, I used to do the ocean water before it was really ocean water. That's what it's called, ocean water? At Sonics it is. So what was it, Blue Powerade or something?

Blue Powerade, yeah, and Sprite. Oh, that sounds good. It is good. He knows what's up.

Well, yeah, I mean, I would accept his recommendation as fact. Like you said, he's a fast food connoisseur. What about you? You ever mix sodas?

When I was a kid, you do a suicide where you just get all of it. It's called a suicide? Oh, suicide. You never do that?

No. His parents didn't like him. He wasn't allowed to go. Greg, you get whatever you want, Greg.

I love these suicides, mom. I love these suicides. Mikey starts to do it. "Put that down.

" You ever hear a New Jersey Turnpike? Yeah, that's a... Yeah, you're on the Jersey Turnpike. That's an alcohol thing.

Yeah. I mean, I used to work in a bar when I was like 12. Yeah, it's all the alcohols, the bottom of them or whatever put in them. No, it's not the bottom of them.

So what it is, is at the end of the night, or as you get close to the end of the night, all your drinks are made and there's like this rubber lining, right? Yeah. So you could take that and you dump it all in, and then you can serve it. It's called the New Jersey Turnpike.

Yeah. It's gross. Yeah. Well, at least it's not all the half-empty glasses.

What are you talking about? It might as well be. It's the overflow. It's not the stuff people have been drinking.

It's when they pour the drinks in the glass, they spill on the pad. Yeah, because they wash that rubber mat well, I'm sure. At the end of every night. Yeah, they rinse it off.

Yeah, you rinse. What do you think they do with the glasses? That goes through the three sinks. Yeah, okay.

Well, I would do three sinks. That was what I did when I was a bartender or bar back. Okay. What's wrong with that?

Nothing. - You get the brushy, you get the brushy brushy, and you got the sand, the water and then sanitizer. - Yeah, but the mat doesn't go through that. - At the end of the night, I would actually put it through that and then I would rinse it.

- After the New Jersey turnpike? - Yeah. - Right, so it was clean the next day. - So the whole night, you've been touching the mat.

- He didn't touch it at the bottom of the clean glass that he scrubbed. - Oh, nobody touches the mat, Palmer? - Why would you touch the mat? You're touching the glass.

- Whatever. - I would say that we touch the mat. - Yeah, you've obviously never been in a bar. There you have, we have a bar upstairs with a mat.

The bar upstairs is way different. Yeah, the bar upstairs is not. It's not even close to where I used to work. Oh, I know it's nicer upstairs.

I've been to the place I used to work. Yeah, there's a lot of people. What place? Right by the bear place.

Speaking of bears. Right by the bear place. Yeah, yeah, the restaurant. It's like Big Bear or something like that.

I don't know where you used to work. Big Bear? something bear south florida i ate there with your mother oh but it wasn't the place anymore it was like something else yeah it's called something else but greg said that was the bar you guys worked at did he just admit to dating your mother no i didn't that'd be great because you owe me some birthday presents come on boots let's go out for a drink what are you getting for mother's day he doesn't he gets a valentine's present you know i'm gonna be like palmer uh i I don't have any kids with a lady, so... I have kids with all my wives.

I'm going to tell you right now, you better acknowledge your wife on Mother's Day. Oh, I already got it. Yeah, exactly. It came yesterday, it's hidden in the guest room.

Yeah. I thought you said you don't get her gifts because the kids are grown up. I don't, but there's things going on. Oh, okay, got it.

I don't understand this, guys. How do you not, like, do you get your wife Mother's Day gifts? Yeah. I did when the kids were younger.

but now she's still the mother of your technically no yeah i was as i was saying it i had to stop right yeah but no but she's still a mom right and she has two sons i got a friend that like my best friend's mom i always give her a mother's day gift she's not my mom she's not your wife yeah but she probably treated you like a son more than your mother did as you were growing up probably there you go mother's day is not about acknowledging the mother of your children right mother's day I would say it's about acknowledging mothers. Yeah. Well, then I would like all of you to get my mother a present. Because I'm not.

I would, but she's not going to remember. So I'm going to tell her that I did. She don't even know it's Mother's Day. I'm going to say, "Hey, happy Mother's Day.

" Yeah. Well, she's only met you once. Yeah. You know what would be even funnier?

Is if she remembered me. Right, yeah. " So, yeah, I don't know how you-- She told me the other day, Mike and his wife are going to come in this weekend. I'm like, "I am Mike.

" Wow. She mixes the wives up with the sons. It's like, my brother's wife's name is... Crap, I can't even remember off the top of my head now.

Oh, man. Tina, you should have said something. I don't know why you said you don't remember. Oh, I could have just made up a name, nobody would have known.

Yeah. Erin, her name is Erin. " Because I'm not married to her, I'm right here. I feel like you add to the situation.

You make it worse. Oh, I'm not nice about it, because she wasn't, when dad was going through it, she wasn't nice to him about it. Raymond, I've told you 12 times. Now stop it.

Dad just looking at us. Why don't you lay back and let's talk about this? Do a little therapy? Let's unpack this a little more.

Let's unpack it, that was what I was looking for. Let's unpack that. So yeah, you should acknowledge your wife on Mother's Day. " You going out to dinner or anything?

Uh, she wants to go to the beach for the day. Okay. Because none of the kids are coming to visit. Connor will probably get her something, or at least a card.

He always does that. He calls her mom. I can see Connor doing that. Yeah.

Excuse me. Okay. Yeah, still got that little bit of a lingerie. It doesn't go away.

Like a month. I know. It's just less. Yeah.

You feel like you need like a really big one to get it out and then it just... Right. The coach I coach with, he started coughing yesterday. Adrian started coughing yesterday.

You don't call him Preston anymore? I'm like, here we go. No, that's a different coach. Oh.

He didn't say his boyfriend, he said the coach. I thought maybe he was mad at him, so that's what I said. No, no, no, no. He's also my boyfriend.

Don't be, you know. Oh, the new coach. Don't you discredit my coaches. I like when they're on the phone They all call each other coach Hey coach Hey coach Hey coach It's just one big coach orgy Is that so and so?

No no it was so and so Like oh sorry I didn't know it was like a little club It's a totally different coach It's incredible It's a bit confusing When you guys are all hanging out together Hey coach Yes yes yes yes Do you guys watch a TV show coach? No there's a TV show? There used to be Yeah I've seen it Yeah I've seen it Nope Okay anyways continue Tell us about the bears Mike The bear injured two hikers He was on a trail at Yellowstone National Park. Oh, that's what you're talking about.

P. show came on and it was terrible. Oh, no, there is a new episode of The Bear that came out. I saw that too, but I didn't.

The Bear? The Bear where he's a chef? No. I saw something about the TV show The Bear too, but it wasn't this.

Yeah, this is a TV show and I don't like it. You don't like it? A lot of people like this TV show. What TV show?

The chef one. The Bear? The Bear? It's great.

I tried watching season one and I didn't really care for it. There's not a new season though. I saw something. Maybe they were referencing the actor from the bear or something like that, but the headline had something about a bear.

So anyway, they prompted a closure of some areas, park officials said. Tuesday, subscribers to the... Oh, I don't know what that is. The National Park Service said in a statement that hikers were injured Monday by one or more bears.

Ooh, a group. A pack of bears. What do you call a group of bears? A cuddle.

No, it's not. That's lost. A pack? And that the attack was under investigation.

More details were not immediately released Tuesday. The attack happened on Mystic Falls Trail, near the ever popular Old Faithful Geyser. Oh, it's right by Old Faithful. A group of bears, no.

Oh, what's a group of bears? What's a group of bears? A basket, a bowl, a bunch, or a cluster. A cluster of bears.

What do you call a group of bears? Let's see. Oh man, you know what? AI is retarded.

Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's stupid. So bad. Right. Mine now, when I'm doing graphics, sometimes it cuts and pastes itself, so I like change this to this, and it just takes the image I wanted and it just slaps it on there.

Well, it's because you guys are working at your AI like a Chinese sweatshop. Faster, faster! I ask at all kinds of things. Right, how do I do?

A group of bears is most commonly called a sleuth, or ironically, a sloth. Oh, nice. It's all connected. It's all intertwined, the animal kingdom.

So apparently one of the guys got his face bit and his chest torn open, they airlifted him out to safety, where the other guy was just driven. I want to go on the helicopter. There's only room for one and he doesn't have a face. I don't want to have a face.

You know what they say. But I have his face here in my pocket. Yeah, if you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. Right.

So, but they don't know if there was one or two, but they have closed all the trails around Old Faithful. Old Faithful. Wait, Frank, I gotta see his teeth. I gotta see which one he is.

It was the first time a bear has injured someone in Yellowstone National Park this year. Oh, just this year? This year. There's gotta be a bear attack every year.

The last time someone was injured was September of last year. Yeah. So, not that far away. The agency said, but it's been over a decade since they killed someone in the park.

So, you know, it's fine. You know, I don't want to sound crazy here, but like, reoccurring bear attacks... Yeah, yearly? That's still a thing.

I'm kind of not going on the Yellowstone Trail. Right. Well, first of all, this guy hasn't been pronounced dead yet because he's in the helicopter. Yeah, no, no, this guy's not dead.

His chest was ripped open and his face is off. Well, his shirt was bloody, so they're assuming he was ripped open. They didn't, like, check him before they took him away in the helicopter. Wasn't there, like, a Canadian trail?

Remember that? Yeah, last year where they attacked a group of school children. One bear. Yeah.

I mean, if I'm going to do something like this, I feel like I need to be armed with, like, an elephant gun or something. Well, this is by Old Faithful. People go to it all the time. Yeah, how do you not pack heat?

How do you not see the bear? Well, you could see the bear, and then they're stooping and go, oh, let's take a picture. How close can I get to the bear? You think that's what happens?

This guy had no face, yeah. One time when I went and picked, I might have told this story before, one time when Connor was young, I went to pick him up at his daycare, and it was over by Wekaiva, and they were on a bear lockdown because a bear had climbed onto the property at the school. A black bear? Yeah, a black bear.

It was a big black bear. So, I asked, I go, they go, we're on lockdown, as soon as the police get here, you know, they're gonna do something, and I go, so I can do something until the police get here? They said, we don't recommend it. So, there was a walkway between the one building and the other building where the bear was.

I walked past the bear to go get Connor. Did you? Yeah. Hello bear, don't attack me bear.

I mean, he was about as close as me and you. He was bigger than you. It's a black bear. That's a suburbian bear.

Well, I know, but still, I mean, everybody else is hiding in the office. I could hear for hours when the police get here. The bear that ripped the face off is literally in the wild. Oh yeah, he's a grizzly.

Yeah, he's a ground bear of some sort. Yeah, he ain't a black bear. Lance Crosby, '63, was killed by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone back in August of 2015. So 11 years ago, a man had his body ripped apart.

Did they get that bear? It doesn't say, but I think they go, it's like an alligator, once it bites somebody, I think they... You gotta take care of the bear? I feel it.

It develops a taste. Make a rug. Some trails in other parts of the park have been closed after Monday's attack. The park service said in a statement, seasonal park employee Mary Jeskula, who saw the victim being put onto stretchers, said the attack was sobering.

Very much a reality check, Jeskula said. And we have read a quote once, but once you enter the forest, you become part of the food chain. You are the food chain. Oh, shit.

All right, we got a new contest. Or at least we can talk about the Bears some more. I never know what you guys are doing. Yeah, let's talk about the Bears.

Because I know that's going to jade you a little bit. No. Let's not talk about the Bears. Go ahead.

All right. There's a new contest. Tell me. All right.

Yesterday's video, there was a place where we had to bleep out something that I said. Yes. So, here's the contest. You have to find the bleeped out section.

Okay. Several people have already asked. Well, two, not several. Is it too several?

Sure. Okay. People have already asked what it is. I'm not telling.

But you got to find that, and then the last clear comment before the bleep is, there was a time when you'd sell six or seven of those. Yes. So, you have to comment on this show, not that show, this show, with what you think I said. Okay.

Alright, and the funniest one wins. Okay, how long do they have? They have until, since you're not going to be here Monday, they have until Tuesday's possible live show. -Okay.

-So, let's see, this is, what episode? This is 25. -No, Tuesday's not gonna have a live show. You're mixing up days.

-Oh, yeah, that's a week or so. -So, when's that? -So, today's the 25th, 26th, 27th, by episode 228. Well, that way it's easier, because the day thing begins.

-228? -Yeah, three episodes from now. -So, 528? -Yeah, it's 528.

-Because you said 228. -Listen, guys, just get it in before Sunday, please. It's not Sunday, it's Tuesday. Okay, what are they going to win?

Oh, I didn't grab it. That lighter cutter set that I showed you the other day. How about Phil's mask? I don't think anybody wants that thing.

Nobody wants that thing. You had it on for a month now. They get the pick. They get the pick.

That thing's going in the garbage. They get the pick. You want to pick the lighter? Yeah, I've got the lighter over there in my locker.

I'm going to throw that away. The Phantom of the Opera, there's no need to keep it. Well, I can sign it. Let's give it away.

Okay, well, let's ask. Let's ask. If people want it, we'll-- Oh, there you go. If you guys want to win-- Phil's old mask.

Phil's Phantom of the Opera mask, and then eventually this Mardi Gras mask. Phil will have to come up with a contest on how he's giving it away if you guys want it. I mean, they can always just comment below or something, but just say, hey, yes, you want to do it, or, you know, whatever. Yeah.

We're not hanging on to these things. Memorabilia. No, we used to. There's no reason to.

They ended up just being thrown away when we lost the studio. Yeah. All right, Michael, do you have a video? - I do.

- Oh, how exciting. - I have a video for you. - Is it Palmer coming in late? - Is it dry in here than anybody else?

It's very dry in here today. - No. - Yeah, it's a little bit. - Nope.

- So this is a video that came across my feed today from Cigar TV. - I'm getting away from the three camera and put it just on monkey. Atta boy. And by across his feet, he means he looked at it right before we started the show.

Yep. We're here at the 2026 PCA convention in New Orleans. We have the Quinquaginario that we're going to be dropping out later this fall. This is my 50th kind of birthday cigar, you could say.

So the idea to be a 5x50, kind of staying in line as far as the Robusto size. I'm going to make it out of Costa Rica. Tomas Costa Rica, Tobacos Costa Rica, it'll be the second cigar that we've ever made outside of our factory, the first one we did with Ernie Carrillo for Skips, for his version, this would be mine, so this is over here, this is the Craft Edition, so we just dropped this, this is the Craft 2026, got the multicolored stripings, it's a very decorative, beautiful cigar, we did about 2,000 boxes, this is the 2026 version, this year we did it with the leather overlap, years before we've done metal, so this is a unique layout. Again, my name is Michael Rezos of Romacraft Tobac, and you're watching Cigar TV.

Okay. Let's talk. Yeah. So, first of all, Cigar TV never covers us.

Oh, I didn't think we were talking about that. That's not where we're starting? No. Oh, sorry.

I thought that's why we're watching the video. No. Oh. Yeah.

Okay. Well, there's that. Do another bleep out contest. No, I think that's fine.

No, that's staying. Oh, that's dead. Yeah, there's that. We were with this guy all week, for starters.

Well, hold on, let me back it up. Michael Rosales does not get enough attention as far as Roma Crafts, as far as I'm concerned. Okay. Right.

That's correct. Do we all agree on that? Yeah. I mean, the guy puts in the work, the guy is the sale, the guy is the Ro in the Roma.

Right. And all you hear about is Skip all the time. Well, to be fair, Skip posts all his own stuff. Mikey or Michael never posts hardly anything.

No, he posts a lot. Like when he goes to events and stuff. Yeah, but not. I mean, Skip posts when he has to go to the bathroom.

Yeah, I mean, he posts. Yeah, I've never seen a bathroom Skip post. Yeah, I haven't seen that one, but I understand what you're saying. It's kind of weird.

He's very regular, just so you guys know. But you understand what he's saying? No, I understand what he's saying. Like, yeah, but that's how Skip started, right?

Yeah, he's always been on social media. Regardless of whether he posts a lot or not, he doesn't get enough attention, in my opinion. Yeah. We were with this guy all week.

Right, yeah. Talked to him almost every day. Did you know about the Michael Rose-Alice Queen Quagenarian release? No, I saw that 1976 thing.

I thought it was another, you know, some kind of bicentennial Cigar they were doing. I didn't realize that's what it was. Bicentennial. Yeah, I'd never heard of that.

Yeah. I mean, they do all that stuff with Prohibition and everything. I thought, well, there's some type of bicentennial cigar coming out. I thought he did his own cigar.

No. Well, when he started in the business, he had his own cigar made in Costa Rica. No, no, it was after the Frenchie. No.

There was another one. It was like a barber pole. He has had a couple of blends made for himself to smoke. Oh, maybe that's what it was.

Where he's come in, yeah, he's given me one or two before where, you know, oh, that's weird. What is that? And he'll go, I just had him roll it at the factory. I got like 20 or 30 of them.

Maybe we shouldn't be saying anything in the market. Oh, you've gotten one before. I've been there when he gave you one. I bought them from here.

Have I? Yeah. You bought them? I'm telling you, it wasn't the Frenchie.

It was $10 for the cigar. That's $10. No, it was a maquette. It was one that he really liked.

A maquette that he made. Yeah, in the size that he liked. Maybe. That might be right.

That might have just been for him, though, too. No, it could just be a maquette. Like, I could see that, but he hasn't done a 50th. It was like a French name.

French fry? Ooh. French red? No, it wasn't the French fry.

No, it was like a French name. Roissant. Start with an M. Roissant.

Start with an M. M? Yeah. Maquette?

No. Marinero? No. It was like...

M Bombay. Mosinette or something. Mosinette? Yeah, it was something like that.

Maserati. Maserati? No. Michelin?

Moon Pie? God, please just call Skip. Missouri? Montana?

Malibu? No. Oh, now we're doing cities? Mountain Valley?

No. Are you calling Skip? He's not up. It's his nap tag.

It started with an M, and it was like a French name. I can't wait 'til we got this headphone set up. Please God answer. It might be too early.

What other show does this? I love this. Especially when they answer. Who are you calling?

Skip or Michael? Guess whoever it is is his name. Yeah, maybe he's called Rosales. He's probably up.

Who drinks coffee? He's not up. Not even a voicemail. He's an hour behind, right?

Yes. So, yeah, he's not up. The one that hasn't been shown enough. Good point.

Call that in first. Maybe they're talking to each other. Yeah, I'm not answering. They're probably podcasting.

Damn it, he's calling me now. They're probably about to say, damn it, he's going with me. Wow, wow, twofer. Now I'm going to call somebody random and see if they answer.

Maybe nobody wants to talk to you, Michael. I bet you Brett Fry knows. Or, uh, the Cal, uh, what was his name? Ronnie.

Ronnie would know. Hold on, hold on. I want to see if I'm going to strike out. What are you doing?

My man, you're on the podcast. I just want to see if you answered. - I don't fucking figured as much. - Oh, I love this guy.

- Look, man, documentation or not, I want you to know that when I see your name, Mike S, is you are in my phone, because you understand the rest of it. " You know, 'cause I wore your trade show badge around. " But he's a good friend of mine. " I said, "Absolutely not.

He can't even say this. " No one can say this. No one can say this. It's a mystery.

No one can say it. Yeah, but I think that there's power in mystery, and I think that that's one of the things that's been tragically eroded a bit in our beloved industry. I agree. You know, the power of mystery has been kind of corroded a little bit.

Yeah, the curtain has been pulled back, indeed. A little bit. Yeah. The meat flaps, as they would refer to them in other industries.

The meat flaps. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, okay. Is that it? You're just doing a little test, and then you're off to fucking beat people over the head for your Patreon bullshit? What about me?

That's it. I called Skip, he didn't answer. I called Michael, he didn't answer. " Now we know.

The rock of ages. And you fucking delivered. Is he a Patreon member? As always.

What's the F words, please? Thanks, everybody. Yeah, no, we love you. Alright, buddy.

Love you, bye. Love you. Just so you know, he called two other people first. Love you too.

Okay, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Is he in a meeting? I found out the name.

Yeah? Yeah, Skip texted me. It's the Mon Cherie. Oh, the Mon Cherie.

Yeah, that was the one for Rosales. Got it. Yeah, sorry. Matt Booth Answers, everybody, Matt Booth Answers.

Yes. Are they still doing the meetings? Probably. Who, Justin?

Yeah. That's why he whispered? No. Oh.

He's just screwing around. Oh. Okay. Go ahead.

Oh. Sorry. Cigar News! You know, if you engage with us, that'd probably help.

Wait, were you? I was engaging with you. I'm the one that's reading all the stories. Yeah, but like after I talk and I say something about, you know, like you got a guy on the phone, blah, blah, blah, blah, you could come back and say something witty.

I'm sorry, the customer had texted me and I had to answer the customer right away. But instead, you're being... That's my other third or fourth job that I do. Being very bitter.

You never finished what you were talking about. What were we talking about? You're talking about, did you ever see this birthday cigar when you guys were there? Yeah, I thought that was weird.

I thought we were done with that when they didn't answer the phone. Yeah. Because you transitioned to Mon Cherie. But either way, I'm excited about the birthday cigar, the Quinquan Gennario.

Yeah. We might not be getting it because he didn't tell us. Yeah, we didn't even know. Is that what they're calling his too?

Yeah, I guess. That's gonna be confusing. Yeah. That's why I said, I was like, I was wondering if they're gonna call it the Quinquan Gennario.

It should be called like, Quinquan Gennario Tambien. Something. Yeah. Did he really say that's what they were calling it?

I thought he just said that was Skip Cigar, the Quentin Quagenario. I don't, I think it was the Quentin Quagenario. That is what was on the front of the box. Yeah.

Maybe it's the 1976 Quentin Quagenario. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Maybe. Hmm. Yeah, he didn't mention it at all. It's weird.

Nobody over there did. Think I make it to 50? I walked over there and was looking at it. Yeah.

Would you make a 50th birthday cigar? We're gonna call it the Quentin Quagenario. It's about eight and a half years away. From 1987.

Actually, my birthday's coming up. I know it is. Yeah, it's in the calendar. 42.

On the calendar. Oh, please. Don't look at me. Oh, no.

42. " I just said 42. Yeah, but you made that face. Like it was a bad thing.

I don't remember 42. Well, you don't remember a lot of things. Yeah. Gran Torino.

Can I get snack time for you over there? Touch my Gran Torino. I'm getting tired of cleaning chocolate off that equipment by the end of the show, too, by the way. Oh, good.

You leave him alone. He needs his snacks. Yes. He needs his fuel.

You be quiet over there. It's from all the ashes. All right, pay attention, because there's only one cigar story, so we're going to try to read it slow. All right, we'll just...

Why? We're at 51 minutes. Because it's a cigar show. We haven't had any cigar news in a week.

No, just read it super fast. Limited edition size of the Mac & Humo Gold Label Series is making its way to retailers today called Gold Bullion. Oh God. The cigar's box-pressed Toro measuring 6 inches by 54 ring gauge.

49. Limited edition Gold Bullion brand. It's a general cigar. Nobody cares.

The Golden Chicken. It wasn't even on a good website, but it was the only current news story that everybody put out today. Nobody cares. So there's a lot of information.

It's got a weird wrapper. Yeah, very rare. The Connecticut wrapper from the lower half of the plant, so, you know. Very rare.

So, it's time for the industry's favorite game, What's the Score? Today's Cigar, February 13th, 2021, Brooks Whittington Cigars, it's the Dominican Republic, where Pro Cibor is. Limited edition reviews, Tabacalera, SLU, VEGA, VEGA, VEGA FINA, Year of the Ox. 48 box 16 $151 it was released six years ago in 2020 and they smoked three cigars 85 yeah I'm gonna go So, 82.

Blue number one, beautiful presentation with that oily milk chocolate wrapper, and the flavor profile delivers creamy oak and cocoa nibs. Oh, shit. Leads the way with a smooth, balanced character that's easy to enjoy from the first draw. 90.

100. Supposedly, there's a 99, but I can't find it. Oh, really? I thought we did a 99.

Yeah, Monado, Davidoff. Oh, did we do it? Yeah. There was more than one, then.

Just one. There's only one? Oh, okay. Clue number two, the evolving sweetness is a standout, shifting from raisin to caramel to milk chocolate, adding depth while maintaining a consistently creamy, medium-bodied profile with solid overall construction.

You think he reviewed that cigar, like, post threesome or something? That's why it was a 99? Yeah. Like, you know, how do you hit that number?

Like, some strange went down recently, and he was like, it didn't matter what he was smoking. Yeah. You know? Could be.

Go throw a good little main box and then straight to the threesome. I didn't hear anything you said. I'm going to stick 90. You're so angry.

You need a hug. 91. Why do I bother if you're not even listening? I just got consumed with the fact that Charlie- I don't want to hug.

I'm hot and I'm sweaty. This jacket's too heavy for this season. Come here. I wanted to wear the gray shoes.

Here comes the threesome. You know, you could have just wrote me that thank you note that I wanted yesterday and everything would be fine. Oh, you are sweaty. I know.

This jacket's heavy for the season. That's what it is. He's sweating. No, I forgot to turn the air on, too.

I'm so, like, used to switching the cameras based off of hearing your voices. When you were talking, when you were hugging him, I switched to your camera. You do a good job of it, too. I was admiring that on the clips today.

Like, damn, he's fast. Cigar lacks the strength in punch it advertised to have in early burn draw inconsistencies. Keep it from feeling as refined as it could be. Eighty-four.

Eighty-nine. Eighty-nine. I heard everything you said on that one. The Vegafina Year of the Ox is a great example of an extremely smooth blend, whereas the dominant flavors change very, very little, which when you're talking about a cigar this size is usually not a great thing, while the main complexity in the profile comes from a morphing nature of the sweetness of the retrohale.

In this specific release, the sweetness changes from dense raisin in the first third to caramel sauce in the second third, before ending up as a distinct milk chocolate note in the final third, all three of which are combined with just enough black pepper to keep things interesting. Is that your final thought? Yeah, that was the final thought. I wish the cigars tasted as good as they say they do.

They're not even close. All this caramel, raisin, and chocolate stuff is like smoking a candy bar, apparently. 86. Well, I guess if you smoked some Drew Estate, you'd be close.

86? 87? Ding, ding, ding! You got it on the nose!

Only because you wanted to go one above me. I figured it'd be higher than 86. I thought it was going to be like 89 or 90. Exactly.

So that's why you want to use it. Alright, we got one more. It's okay, you beat me, that's all that matters. Yeah.

Charlie Minato. It's a Cuban cigar. It's a Romeo, Julieta, Club Kings. Julieta.

82. 87. Country of origin, Cuba. Factory, Winose.

Rapper, Cuba. Binder, Cuba. Filler, Cuba. 3 1/2 by 42 Cuba, it's a Petit Corona or a Mervas.

Petit Corona or a Mervas. I like the size. Smoke 3. 82.

88. The flavor profile shows flashes of classic Cuban character with cedar, oak, nuttiness, and evolving notes like cream, citrus, and even red wine that adds some complexity when the cigar settles in. Mmm. 84.

88. Clue number two. Great packaging and presentation overall. I don't think they ever mentioned the packaging before.

The tin feels premium, travels well, and the cigars themselves have a solid hand feel despite the other issues. Ooh. Yeah, but it's the 10s, right? It's a petite Corona in a tin.

Yeah. So, whatever, 84. 85. Construction is a major drawback with an extremely tight draw, frequent burn issues, and lingering harshness that negatively impacts both the smoking experience and the flavor delivery.

84. I didn't hear what you said there. 85. The Club King might be a good cigar, but these examples were not.

At best, the draw was very tight, but even that seems generous. If this was a cigar that I was having to smoke for review, if wasn't a cigar that I was having to smoke for review, I wouldn't have kept smoking any of the samples based on the draw. The flavor was better than the construction, but still not good, and certainly not enough to make up for the construction. S.

construction woes are oftentimes overinflated, but cigars like this don't help to try to change the narrative. - I thought they bought their cigars. - They did. - He said samples.

- He just called samples. - Okay. - Well, these are older, so maybe back then they took cigars. I don't know.

- Who's this reviewer? - Monado. - Monado. - So nice.

- So nice. - 85. - I'm going to shoot low here. I'll go try and hit it, and I'm going to go 75.

- You went the right way, 66. - Really? - Yeah. - He said it was bad.

Why'd you go so high? - Because he's usually nice. He never goes super low. But he said it was bad.

He wouldn't have smoked it if he didn't have to. Did you hear the red wine in all that, Bull? He's the toughest one. Yeah, but he couldn't get any air through it, so he only tasted that a little bit.

He's the toughest one. Anyway, Boots lost. Doesn't Romeo and Juliet do a lot of advertising? No, Boots lost, but he won the game.

I didn't win because I hit the head. Oh, because he got on the nose. Because of my off-pot. You want to do your victory dance or whatever it is?

It's not as exhilarating as the first one. - No, I'll add fireworks. - I'm gonna turn these off. They don't ever shut off.

- Save the stuff for later. - Oh, okay, anything else to add, Mr. Palmer? - Nope, that's all I got.

- Okay, well, like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to the show. Thank you so much for your time. com for all your chpod swag. Thank you, gentlemen.

- Thanks, guys. - Don't forget the contest. - Bye, boop. - Bye.

Thank you.

Show Notes

On Todays Show The War Is Over!, Iranian SeaWorld!, No More Snacks On Delta, Mcdonalds is Making some fluid changes, and Yellowstone is unbearable!  Then in cigars a limited addition cigar is on its way! And a double what’s the score