ACHP Episode 547 Naturally Better Then The Alternative

Episode Summary

Episode 547 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Palmer, Mike Szczebankewicz and Phil McGuffin drawing a winner for a carbon fiber lighter/cutter set, reading listener comments, and rolling into their usual mix of news and tangents. The non-cigar half of the show covers Meta ending its contract with Kenyan outsourcing firm Sama after data annotators told journalists they were reviewing highly sensitive footage from Meta's AI smart glasses — sparking a long riff on smart-glasses privacy, facial recognition and who's really watching your recordings. Palmer also recaps a private deep-sea fishing charter in the Keys and turns it into a lesson on operational excellence and hospitality standards in business.

Florida news rounds out the first half: a Polk County corrections officer charged with racking up more than $10,300 on his girlfriend's deceased father's credit card, Florida's annual list of rejected vanity license plates (which the hosts try to decode on air), and a Volusia County road-rage arrest involving a can of wasp spray. Listener comments touch on generational tobacco bans, the New World screw worm, and Palmer's well-documented Kurt Russell fandom.

In cigar news, the crew covers Avowed Cigars' Awakening Rhapsody sampler for Father's Day 2026 — three cigars sharing one blend under Ecuador Hybrid, Ecuador Corojo (Black) and Connecticut (White) wrappers, made at Kellner Cigars in the Dominican Republic and limited to 1,000 samplers at $90. They also break down Tyler Jeffery's Viso Horny release, the Ligador Fantasma, a 5x50 barber-pole Robusto with Corojo and Candela wrappers made at Oveja Negra in Estelí, limited to 500 bundles of 10, plus news that Jeffery bought Austin retailer Pipe World to distribute his own cigars. The headline story is Erik Espinosa opening a Dominican factory in a free trade zone with Guy Fieri as a partner and Santana Diaz of Pure Aroma Cigars joining the factory operations team — with Espinosa citing the grueling Managua-to-Estelí drive and the DR's restaurant scene as motivators.

The episode closes with a double round of "What's the Score," guessing half-wheel review scores for a mystery La Corona Corona (Charlie Minato called it the worst cigar he's ever smoked — it scored 40) and a redux of the Liga Privada No. 9 Cornetta reviewed by Patrick Lagreid, which landed at 51 amid sour, chalky, metallic notes. The hosts also discuss building their own Father's Day sampler upstairs and tie it to an upcoming Camacho event.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Giveaway Winner and Listener Comments
   The crew draws a winner for a carbon fiber lighter and cutter set and reads comments from episode 546, including the generational tobacco ban and the New World screw worm.
2. 02
   Meta Smart Glasses Privacy Scandal
   Meta ends its contract with Kenyan outsourcer Sama after data annotators revealed they were reviewing intimate footage captured by Meta's AI smart glasses.
3. 03
   Fishing Charter and Operational Excellence
   Palmer recaps a private deep-sea charter in the Keys and uses the crew's attention to detail as a model for how he wants his own businesses run.
4. 04
   Florida Crime and Road Rage Stories
   A corrections officer charged with $10,300 in fraud on a dead man's credit card, Florida's rejected vanity plate list, and a wasp-spray road rage arrest.
5. 05
   Avowed Awakening Rhapsody Father's Day Sampler
   Avowed pairs one Awakening blend with three wrappers — Ecuador Hybrid, Ecuador Corojo and Connecticut — in a $90 sampler made at Kellner Cigars in the DR.
6. 06
   Viso Horny Ligador Fantasma
   Tyler Jeffery's limited barber-pole Robusto moves production to Oveja Negra in Estelí, with Pipe World handling distribution.
7. 07
   Espinosa's New Dominican Factory with Guy Fieri
   Erik Espinosa partners with Guy Fieri on a free trade zone factory in the Dominican Republic, with Santana Diaz of Pure Aroma joining operations.
8. 08
   What's the Score: Double Round
   The hosts guess half-wheel scores for a mystery La Corona Corona that Charlie Minato called the worst cigar of his life, and a Liga Privada No. 9 Cornetta redux.

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

All right. Well, here we go, guys. And three, two, one, action. Welcome to Cigars, our podcast, where cigars are just the starting point.

Join me, Mike Palmer, Mike Szczebankewicz, and Phil McGuffin Engineering as we dive into the latest cigar industry news, sports, current events, business, and whatever crazy stories are making headlines. Whether you're a seasoned cigar smoker or just looking for an entertaining conversation, expect honest opinions, plenty of laughs, and a few unexpected detours along the way. On today's show, how did we really just see that? H.

Pod Swag? Like and subscribe, we're reviewing or listening to this show. H. Pod Swag.

com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast, where if you purchase for the entire year, you're gonna get 10% off. You're gonna learn all kinds of crazy things about the cigar industry. You're gonna get reviews on cigars, the unbiased, the true unbiased opinions. Yeah, so hurry up and bye.

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Before I get into the comments from the previous show, we got a winner to announce. Winner, winner. For? Chicken dinner.

I needed more notice. Yeah, you, yeah. For this? Ooh.

Ooh. Carbon fiber. Fiber? Carbon fiber.

Lighter cutter set from somebody's name we're not saying because they didn't pay to be on the show. When you touch it does it feel like carbon fiber? I don't know what carbon fiber feels like. Like that?

Yes. Ooh. Be careful to look up my finger. We're having problems with the fingers around here.

Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, Phil, I'm going to start by saying pick a number one through seven.

Oh, only seven, huh? Right now, yes. Alright, uh, three. Okay, hold on, hold on.

I know what you're doing, that's a good idea. Uh-huh. Uh, one, two, three. Okay.

Now, pick a number one through fifteen. Yeah. Ooh. Two.

Give me two. Two. Negative four, please. Negative four.

Let me see here. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh.

All right. Back to him quickly. He's got a name. And your winner is.

Is it your mother? It is not. At Jace1911. Oh.

Do we know who that is? Nope. All right. Jace1911.

Reach out. Send a message to, uh, to me at, uh, what? What's his name? com.

Tell me who you are, and they have to prove who they are somehow, so... Yeah. I'll get 75 emails. Send a picture.

Send a picture of your face and whatever else you want to Palmer. No, don't send a picture of your face. I will get this little baby in the mail to you. Tootsweet.

Congratulations, sir. Nice. Now that that's out of the way. Yes.

That was much easier than what I was trying to do upstairs. You know, I wonder how you're going to do that. It's going to be 75,000 comments. And I'm like, I wonder, I wonder if Claude can do this for me.

And then I was like, no, sorry, no, I can't, no, no. Did you say the winner was Chase or Jace? Jace, J-A-C-E, 1911. Is that, um, the fellow in California, the race car driver?

No, no, no, oh, no. Oh, look at that. Newest responded and unresponded. Okay, getting into the comments from episode 546.

Never mind. What? Nothing. Nothing?

Nothing. Are you sure? Yes. You don't want to share?

Patreon material? No, no. Oh. At Mark Palmer 570 said, I didn't know the rules, LOL.

Greg said that when he, one of the things I had to edit. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ooh, I couldn't remember, I knew there were three, but I couldn't remember what the three were, so I had to watch the entire show yesterday. You had to watch it.

Oh. And luckily, afterwards, you go, gotta edit that out, so I'm like, oh, back up a little bit. There it is. At CW6383, today I am sitting at the Miami Brightline Station, listening as I wake Ted home, and yes, Triple G, I paid for the premium Wi-Fi, so I didn't miss the episode.

Atta boy. Atta boy. Chad, Chris Chadweiss, and then he also wrote Thirst Trap Palmer with a bunch of hearts. T-Money, damn, the Szczevankevich brothers are really sticking at the Palmer this morning.

I don't remember that. I don't think we're going that hard in the paint on you. No, I mean, it's like an everyday thing. Maybe they just think, "Oh, that stuff," and I'm like, "No, that's just Friday.

" At Brett Mercurio says, "Mike Palmer has a Thirst Trap image of him in torn jeans and red high tops. It appears to have been taken down all that's the one I'm talking about. I've never owned red high tops. I don't know.

I think it's true. We'll never know. I mean, it could be. It sounds like a great photo.

I would like a pair of red high tops. I like red sneakers at Ruckus Unchained. Oh, mom. Hello, Sharon.

Paranoid Palmer is hilarious. I like seeing my boys look out for each other. Oh, I put up her picture on the on today's show. Oh, did you?

Yes. Oh, well she was already part of the, you used her before. Yeah, yeah, I used her in a thumbnail, but when we started talking about her, I'm gonna put her up. You're gonna put her up?

Rook's Coatings, I went a few years ago on an airboat ride. At the end, they handed us a baby gator without its mouth taped shut. " Okay. He sent me the photos today.

Who? Rook's Coating of him holding the baby, and the gator bit the guy like here, They're on the ball of his cheek. They've been follow up pictures and things. Yeah.

So they held it and like turned around and not $50,000 bite, they didn't like pull a piece off. Right. He's got a couple of little holes here. Yeah.

But still, good luck with the $50,000. You and Data Cash both have a thing for Kurt Russell. Yes, they do. From the Computer War Tennis Shoes to Captain Ron, The Thing Escape from New York and Miracle.

Computer War Tennis Shoes goes way back. That's when he was a teenager. I just want you to know, if things don't work out between his wife and you and your wife, I think you could run away with Paul. He's been with her so long.

You could run away with Paul. Yeah, but she has to die at some time. Goldie? Yeah.

Goldie Han? I'm talking about your relationship. Oh, I see. You guys are bonding so well lately.

Well, yeah, I know, but we're both like Kurt Russell, not each other, it'd be weird. Like you're getting there. somebody's jealous not at all like when you say like Kurt Russell I have Preston now remember oh it's true what are you saying over there I wasn't here for this episode and I didn't watch anything this morning when you say that he likes Kurt Russell was it just he was just naming off his movies or something? Palmer loves Kurt Russell there was some reason he came up on Friday's show and Greg goes wait don't you have like a man crush on Kurt Russell or something?

Greg said that? Greg said that to me. Greg used to say I look like Kurt Russell when I rode my motorcycle around. Oh, really?

That's how Greg found out. I was like, oh, that's a big compliment, Greg. I like Kurt Russell. I am a huge Kurt Russell guy.

I'm a huge Kurt Russell man. At David Hasselhoffman says, when Mike is running the board, his camera is in the perfect spot. When Phil is back there, it looks like he is hiding behind the mic. We'll see the camera shot.

We'll see it. We'll let you know there, Baywatch. He fixed my camera today. I did, I did fix his camera.

He's right, though, you don't see the microphone when you're sitting over there. Me? Yeah. Well, because, like I told you, Mikey's camera is tailored for him.

No, here's, the reality is that I'm a perfectionist, right? Right. Yeah, in anything that I do. " You just stop.

Yeah. " Now that it's been brought to my attention, I'll make sure it's right all the time. Nice. You know what?

I like the house-off guy. He's a good guy. He's taking care of you. You should be nice to him.

Yeah, I like him. Yeah. Don't even mention that the antennas are going off the mask. Does he have an investment in 13 knives?

No. No knives. He's got a nice Thanksgiving mask, though, apparently. Yeah.

Oh, another mask. I mean, I should mention, I'm going to mention this one and then I'm going to go to the previous episode because Ben Roland is a little behind. Okay. Oh, is he behind that watching?

I guess so. Oh, is he on McTavish time now? No, not quite. Oh, okay.

At Bryce Field says, "The generational ban is bad. " Yeah, obviously. I mean, it's ridiculous. Over-regulation is...

I'll use different words. Over-regulation is stupid. And then from the previous episode, he needs to get mentioned. At Ben Rowland.

Rowland. Rowland. Rowland. Rowland.

Rowland. Rowland. The New World screw worm is primarily combated by the same way Google wanted to fight mosquitoes. Everyone has been tracking NWS for two years.

It's one of few flies that eat living flesh and screw down towards brains or vital organs. Can affect people as well. Oh. That's what the article said that I used.

Well, I trust Ben. No, no, I believe him. I believe we've seen some of these drivers on the road. I'm not going to his farm now though, I'm not getting a screw worm in my head.

They don't have, it's not here in Florida, it's in Texas. I don't know, it didn't used to be in Texas. Oh, okay. Maybe they accidentally let one go with all those 32 billion mosquitoes.

Right. If you want to hear your comment read aloud on the show, just comment below and there's potential for it to happen. Now, we are going to do this for the Patreon. Oh, I didn't know what you were throwing.

Oh, God. That was a perfect throw. There was so much light involved in that. That was a perfect throw.

And they're reflective, so they're sparkling as they're flying in front of their light. That was a perfect throw. We are going to smoke. Now I know how those deers feel right before they get smacked by the cars.

The Conejos. The Ribbit. The Rabito. The Kaneja Rosa.

Back, there you go. 401. By Cordoba Morales. New release.

This is brand new. He's very new. He's very new. Brand new.

Let's mix it up a little bit here. Oh, God. That's broken. That's a little better.

All right. And, um, let's get on with the show, buddy. I'm sniffing myself down. On with the show.

A bing-bong. I haven't had one of these yet. I have nothing to cut in the same one. Oh no, I have a punch.

Reports from May 2026 indicate that Meta ended a contract with Kenyan outsourcing company Sama. What did Sama do for them, Michael? Got 'em sick. Kenyan?

They got rid of a Kenyan group called Sama, S-A-M-A. They went in and they regulated and banned people randomly from groups. I think... No.

I think they helped connect Meta to tribal countries. 7 grams, by the way. Thank you very much. I don't know what the size is.

I mean, either. It's awkward. Yeah, it's not gonna be anything. So just figure out if it was...

Is it on the box? Leading to the layoff of 1,108 data... Annotators? A-N-N-N-O-T-A.

The people that watch the data. This group, what they did is they went through every piece of video footage that Meta Glasses recorded. Oh, we're free. Or saw.

They've let them gone. Wow. So everything that you do with your glasses? Yeah.

Everybody in Kenya watches the video and logs it. Oh, yeah? Yes. You know what I got to do with my meta glasses this weekend?

Are you allowed to say this? Are you allowed to say it on the air? Yeah. Are we going to find out from Kenya what it was anyway?

I mean, you could probably speak to a Kenyan, they'll tell you. I'm sorry. What is it? What did they say?

I caught a fish. Oh. Oh. While you were coaching?

Deep sea fishing. Oh, look at you. Yeah. Oh.

It was awesome. You and Greg went, huh? With Ruckus? I went with Fred Rui.

I was part of that. No, I'm just kidding. That's all the way down the keys. He didn't have that kind of time.

I'm going to tell you right now, Palmer's face drooped down real quick when he said that. Oh my God, are you serious? The layoffs came shortly after workers spoke to journalists about reviewing highly sensitive footage captured by Meta's AI smart glasses, including recordings of people undressing, using the bathroom, other private moments, and their children. Meta said it terminated the contract because the contractors allegedly failed to meet standards while Sama disputed that explanation and said it had not been informed of any such deficiencies.

The controversy was fueled broader concerns about privacy and smart glasses. Several reports this month revealed that Meta has been testing facial recognition related technology for its smart glasses and AI apps prompting criticism from privacy advocates. Meta says the technology has not been released to consumers and that no final decision has been made on deployment. Okay, a couple things here.

Yeah. First and foremost, what did you expect? Did you think that that wasn't going to happen? No, what are you yelling at me for?

I'm not. This isn't yelling at you. I can write the article. This is just kind of a blanketing statement.

I was a little surprised that they had hired someone to just go through the footage and then fired them When they started talking to reporters saying this is what we're seeing on the footage that they're paying us to watch. Right. I mean, it's kind of smart. Well, you know, if you think about it then, I mean, somebody's probably doing it with your phone.

Of course, yeah. " Railing her. m. That was super specific, that whole situation.

Wow. Yeah. Well, they mentioned that in the article. Do you have medicine?

No, I don't have it. I can't afford those. They're too expensive. And my wife's not going to let me do this.

No, he's got wavies. I got wavies. There's only one camera, and it's not really clear. Right.

m. your hammer time? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, he turns into MC, puts on the pants and everything.

Right. Put on the big puppy pants. Your show ends at eight o'clock. You're like, all right, I put on my red high tops and my torn jeans, and I'm just, you look, you look, you look at your wife and you go, are you ready?

That's right. Oh, I love that video. Oh, it's so hot in here. It's so hot.

She goes, put on the red high tops. Yes, ma'am. Get on that horse. You stallion.

Yeah, Kurt. Yeah, Kurt. Get on that horse, Kurt. That's right.

Call me Mr. Russell. A.? Oh, Snake Plissken.

Snake. You call me Snake. You call me Snake. Oh, I was thinking more like Captain Ron.

Yeah, I don't like Captain Ron. Captain Ron was dope. Captain Ron? It was a good movie.

Yeah. Okay. All those movies are good. I don't like the Santa Claus stuff, though.

Okay, so for one, like, you almost expect, you know, big corporations to be doing -Yeah. -Stupid shit with your videos. -You're not surprised. " -I'm thinking somebody's probably going to watch my videos.

-Are you? -Oh yeah, of course, of course. -So I mean, that's going to be digital cameras of any kind. -Yeah, exactly.

So that's the first thing. The second thing is, I'll just wait here patiently until the news article comes out That somebody hacked into Meta, and they have all the videos. Oh great, now you just give that idea. Because I didn't give anybody that idea.

Somebody's already thinking of it. Yeah, there was some guy in a cave in the Middle East thinking about it. With two rocks and one missile. " I come to this show to learn about cigars and I figure out how to corrupt the entire world.

I love this show. I have a new Kardashian video. You know? You know what's even crazier about this whole situation?

Is they're allowed to do this, but if you sit outside someone's windows with no curtain and look at something, then you're arrested, you're in trouble. Greg, I need bail again. Sounds like Phil's previous experiences. You know what's kind of bullshit?

You know what's really kind of messed up? It's, you know, they could do this, but I can't even look at my neighbor's master bedroom and watch him undress. The weird thing is, he lives next door to his parents. Yeah, well, the other side, the other side.

I just think it's crazy, man. Like, I see all these news articles all the time. I'm like, these people should be in trouble. Like, what?

Oh, it's okay. It was meta. Oh, well, you accepted the terms and agreement. Right.

Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Before I sit outside your house on Saturday night, sign this paper, you, you hit, I agree.

And it said, we may view your videos for analyzation. It was a couple of years ago. The, uh, what's the electric cars? The Teslas were recording people in their houses.

Really? How are they recording me in the houses? The cars would just drive in? No, the 360 camera.

Yeah. You park it in your garage. You leave the back door open. They could crack into it and tilt the camera towards the door.

Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah, and then watch you do the dirty on the washing machine or something, huh? m.

on April 7th. Right. m. on April 7th, right.

With wavy glasses. With wavy glasses. My name is Snake. My name is Snake.

Well, look, I'm not surprised. Right. No, but Meta was saying it was that we're not mad at them for telling everybody we're doing it. They just didn't do it right.

Yeah, they screwed it up. Yeah. Yeah, they told someone. You don't tell people, they're watching the videos.

Come on, guys. This is how society works. It's like when you have the most money, you get away with all of it, right? Right, yeah.

And then as it kind of trickles down, like the smaller amount of cash you have, the more trouble you can get in. But if you do this stuff when you're rich, and you do this, if you add baby oil, you get in lots of trouble. Well, you know, I mean, a lot of trouble is two years in prison? I mean, that's two years he wants to get back?

Yeah, two years. It's not like he's doing a hard time. Dude. He's not making little rocks out of big rocks.

The rumors and the articles that you hear, he did some despicable things. No, no, no. I'm not saying he shouldn't be there. What I'm saying is, if you add baby oil, it doesn't matter how rich you are, you're in trouble.

Oh, you're saying baby oil is the great... The equalizer? Equalizer, thank you. " Yeah, we didn't do it.

What me? I had no idea. Yeah, we subcontracted that out. He's on the phone now going, "What country's smaller than Kenya?

" Was it baby oil? No! Oh, it's fine. It's fine, yeah.

Meta's highlights of the week. Right. These are the best ones. Here we go.

Watch this Palmer guy over here. Watch this. Yeah, look at this guy catching a fish. What's he doing to the fish?

Oh, God. Why is his friend rubbing oil on him? Oh, it's baby oil. They're done.

It's over. My videos don't even hit top five on the rating scale or whatever. It's football stuff. Maybe it's a really good fish.

It was a good fish. It was a good fish. I gotta tell you, man, these guys, the way that they, the fishing trip in itself, the dudes that ran it, bro. The next level, I mean, just impeccable work, and when you start to see it and you break it down, you're like, my God, they knew where to fish, they had bait ready at all times, they altered things when things were going sideways, and this guy worked his ass off the entire time, and then on the way back, the entire boat was cleaned before we docked, and after we docked, they took care of the fish, like, it was impeccable, it was incredible, it really was.

Well, yeah, I mean, to find the fish, they probably have a dope fish finder. I don't, I think it's even better than that. They have locations tagged where they do well at and they just keep going until they don't hit anymore. I think that they've been doing this for generations.

Yeah, they're professionals. Yeah, they're not messing around, dude. Not at all. They know where Nemo's school is.

Yeah. And it was really cool, man. And it's like, man, these guys are next level. So, you went on a small boat, not the big one?

Yeah, I mean, it was like a, what, like a 60-footer, 50, 60-footer? No, but I mean, I'm sorry, I've said that wrong. Did you go with a lot of people, or just your party? Our party was six people, and that was it.

Okay, so that's, yeah, that's a smaller charter, is what they call that. Okay. A private charter, sorry. I went on like a, you know, a general public charter.

Yeah. They'll never do that. That's horrible. I gotta, I gotta be honest with you.

For one, I don't think I'll, if I ever do it again, If I ever do it again, it's all gonna do with these guys, I'm not, I'm not doing it with anybody else. Yeah, yeah, it's like, you've been in first class now, you can't go back to coke. Yeah, yeah, I'm not, I'm like, dude, I didn't have to worry about a thing, and, you know. They fed him grapes while he was fishing.

I don't know, dude, like, I always constantly analyze everything that I'm doing, no matter what it is. When you, I mean, like, when you sit down and eat, you, like, we've talked about the water, right? Like, is my glass of water full or not, right? When it gets low, are you paying attention to it?

Because you're not making any more money on it, but like do you got me right little things like that you pay attention all those details and you know you could tell the employees and the people that are just impeccable about what they do and like man that is exactly how I want things ran right so as far as our my businesses as far as our businesses you know I'm like man that's just so locked in and you always try and edge towards being more and more dialed in and on that level and when you see somebody do it it's just I was like, damn, that's incredible. I mean, even when I went, when Skip and I went to, he took us to Disney, we did the VIP thing with Teddy and Fiorella, and we were talking, we always have these kinds of conversations, man, and one of the things he always says is like, you know, an employee that, like, or a person that picks up a piece of trash just to pick up the piece of trash, a person that picks up the piece of trash just because somebody else is watching, a person that walks over the trash. " I'm like, "You bet your ass I saw that," you know, 'cause that's the person, right? You know that guy or girl is just locked in, and they're here to deliver, and like, it's just second nature to them at this point.

They know exactly what to do, how to handle the situation, and they're on top of everything, right? That's who you want to surround yourself by. Right. So, sorry to deviate off the topic.

Well, I mean, we're done with that story anyway. Mm-hmm. All right, Central Florida officer racked up over $10,000 on a dead man's credit card. Ooh.

You know what? Good for him. Good for him, then the family has to pay the credit card. No, no one pays that.

Why don't they pay it? No one's paying a dead man's credit card. Well, he's not really a police officer, he's a guard at the prison. Okay.

Okay. And the dead man was his girlfriend's father. Okay. So that's okay?

It's not that it's okay. It's just that, look, I'm rooting for the little guy here, right? 99% APR, compounded daily. But it's stealing.

It is? Yeah. I'm aware. So that's okay?

This is more Robin Hood-esque than it is for, you know, taking money out of your small business. I don't think he was paying off somebody's medical bills. If I'm gonna pillage Visa, meh. Let me ask you a question, Palmer.

Yes? If a crackhead went and stole a crack from the dealer, would you be mad at the crackhead? Uh, is it against the law to steal crack from a crackhead? I think it's against the law in all worlds of everything involved in this whole conversation.

Right, no I wouldn't be upset if they stole, if a crackhead stole crack from a crack dealer, no. You wouldn't be mad about that. Right. Right, I mean, they're all breaking the law together, so.

I mean, this is pretty much mafia. Credit card companies, they're pretty much mafia. Dude, it's ridiculous. 99 percent.

Maybe he's got a low APR on his card. Who knows? There's no way. There's no way.

Who knows? I don't know. He probably died of stress from his credit card. And he got popped anyways, and he's gonna, you know what I mean?

If we have credit card fraud upstairs, do we get stuck with the... Of course. Okay, so then, the credit card company's not out, the company's not being paid whose goods you got. Well, that's not credit card fraud.

No one's reporting that as fraud. It wasn't fraud. The family did when they started getting the bills after her dad was dead. " Hey, yeah, what are these?

I mean, he's been dead for a year, now we've got $10,000 racked up on his credit card bills. Well, it's a false claim, because probably nobody, like, if you don't report the card stolen... Who do you? Sorry.

If you don't report the card stolen, then that's not a real claim yet. So, unless they report it stolen, that would be the only time. Yeah, then they say the card's stolen, then the merchant's out. Right.

So, if you have a card in your name and you die, it's still a good card? I mean, your family's not on the card at all. It was just your card. And then somebody used it?

Yeah, somebody started using it the day, actually started using it the day after the guy died. Yeah. Yeah, I guess. I can't see the, you know, billing and shipping match or whatever, you know, I mean, or they just made a purchase locally.

No. I can't see that falling on the merchant. I can see Visa being pissed off and then charging this guy, and they probably did. He's probably gonna do, you know, two, three years in prison.

Yeah. But without getting further into the story before you tell me. And my point is that, like, you know what, just do a better job, Visa, when the guy dies, then turn off the card. Well, they don't know the guy died until you call him.

I mean, when my dad died and we had to, we were trying to switch the credit cards because he was the primary, as soon as we said he died, they're like, oh, and they turn it off. Mom didn't have any credit cards. Right. Yeah, but somebody has to call, like you just said.

Yeah, you do have to call. Yeah, because Visa's not worried about the transition or anything else. They're worried about getting screwed out of the cash. Because I'm sure that happens all the time.

Well, he died. Well, he has $40,000 in credit card debt. Like, okay, well, give him a call. I don't know what to tell you.

Yeah, ring-a-ding-ding. Well, are you gonna pay for this? Like, no, I'm not. I didn't co-sign on his credit cards.

I'm sorry that he died. You know, like, he's being charged, trying to get to the charges. He's been charged with grand theft, fraudulent use of a credit card, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, unlawful possession of personal identification information, And Criminal Use of Personal Divacation of a Deceased Person. Yeah, so he's at least 10 years.

No. Yeah, that's a lot of stuff. I don't think he's doing 10. And it may be federal.

And it's $10,000, so that makes it a felony. It's only 10K? $10,300. Yeah, anything over $10,000 is a felony.

That's correct. Dude, we're talking about 10 G's here? And they said $10,000, what, $3? $10,300.

Oh, I was about to say, like, man, $10,300, they'd screw that guy. - That's wild. - Yeah. - They caught him because when the girlfriend started looking at the cards, she also had text messages, or at the bill, she had text messages from the boyfriend on the same day from the location.

So he's an idiot on top of everything. - Yeah, sounds like it. - Well, he's an idiot to use the cards. - Right, yeah.

- Right, sure. - All I'm saying is that, oh, your dad died? I'll get rid of all these cards for you, I'll get rid of these, it'll be fine. - Yeah.

And his ID. It'd be funny if they were all like Hard Rock charges. Right? No whammy, no whammy, no whammy, stop!

I got the extra 400 for being the first time gambler. Where are you, honey? I'm at Hard Rock Casino. Right.

Oh, you want me to bring you something home for dinner? It's all gonna work out. Don't worry, I'm gonna use these cards. You're gonna be fine.

I'm up. I'm up today. I'm gonna use these cards, I'm gonna make 30 G's, I'm gonna pay that back. Pay them off.

He worked for Grady Judd. Grady Judd's very upset. Over in Polk County Yeah, it's not a good one Yeah, it's not somebody you want to piss on Look, man You know, he tried to stick it to the man and he lost I don't think he was trying to stick it to the man He was trying to take advantage Yeah, of the man Of Visa or Amex I don't think he was thinking, you know what? " Oh, you know what he was thinking?

Yeah. Oh, you know what he was thinking? I'm just assuming. Well, I'm assuming also.

$10,000, that's the 150-incher. He doesn't sound like he's that smart where he's doing this to be Robin Hood. I mean, he was a police officer. He had to be something.

He was a prison guard. I fell. He's not a police officer. He gets them mad if they've already committed the crimes.

He's not worried about who's committing the crimes. " Visa should have gifted him the bonus. Yeah, you're a prison guard, you gotta deal with all this shit all the time, you know what, 10K's on us, have a good day. I think prison guards are sworn in, I'm, I'm, I think so.

Well, yes, they are, they are sworn in, some kind. Yeah, can you imagine being a prison guard, and all the crap you gotta deal with? I would, so, so, funny story, uh, my buddy Ricky, you know my buddy Ricky? Go to you, go to you, go ahead, I know, thank you.

You know my buddy Ricky? Yeah. Uh, here, actually, let's do this one, 'cause I wanna see your reaction. Okay.

So, he actually just became a prison guard. Yeah. In Orange County. - I think you told us that already, I'm not shocked.

- Oh, did I? - Yeah. - Oh, okay. - Oh, oh, God, oh, can't believe it.

- Oh, end of the story. - Oh, that's for the next story. - On to the next story. - I sent you guys something.

- Okay. - Think your personalized license plate is clever? Florida officials have released their annual list of vanity plate requests that were denied for being too offensive. So there's a hundred of them on the list.

I obviously don't have a hundred, but I have the top seven. We are going to try to figure out what it is that they say. I could tell you all these. Oh, I couldn't.

All right, tell me the top one, because I don't even know what the top one is. I can only get like three or four off that list. Triple zero KFS, what's that? OK, fuck shit, I don't know.

Oh, I can tell you all these. Well, I know the next one. And you struck out, '06 Ho? Yeah, 2006 Ho?

Yeah, that's obvious. Yeah, oh fucks. Yeah, that was a good one, I don't know, oh my two FYM, four year something, oh shit, first time, motherfucker. What did we say the topic was?

We don't know yet. We don't know. All right, guys. Read as 000 KFS or suck Fs and violates.

Oh, you asked Claude? Yeah. Oh, I won't tell you what it is? Suck Fs?

Even Claude's going, uh-uh. Yeah. Ooh, that's bad. whatever suck f says okay i don't know all right zero my two fym yeah zero my two fym meaning oh the phrase highly profane is best known for one of the specific customized license plate I think it's a lot of fun.

I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun.

I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun.

I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun.

I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun.

I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun. How about this?

I mean, I don't, you know what I mean? Like, if somebody put that on their license plate, they're like, "Oh, my God," you know? Right. Oh, there's, like I said, there's a hundred of them that they've rejected.

Right. Thank God they didn't put-- Yeah, most people wouldn't even, I wouldn't have figured that out. No one's picking up on that. No.

You know? Oh, shit, that'd be funny. " It's gotta be somebody who's looking through these. Yeah.

They hire a 14-year-old. " Maybe they ask Claude. Run 'em through Claude, see what we got. Yeah, can you make my custom plate, please?

What do you want to say? I'll ask Jax if he knows what a couple of those are. I'm like, tell me what this top one means. You know what this top one means?

Oh, nice. Yeah. " Yeah. You're not allowed to play Fortnite anymore.

What are you, stupid dad? Yeah, where are you learning this? Where are they teaching this stuff at? We went to the gym together today, and we were working out, and he was screwing around a lot, and I had to give him the, "Look, I'm all good with you playing around and having fun, But this is, we got to lock in here.

Like this is, we got to put in the work, dude. We were at the Iron Paradise. He, uh, he, lately he's been saying this one, there's this guy, he was actually at, used to be at the gym a couple of times. His name's like Ashton or whatever.

He ran up against, uh, Speed, I Am Speed or whatever. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he, one of his things. Oh, the 1FSMF, that's him?

Yeah, that's him. " I'm like, "Oh, alright, cool, man. " Daddy wants a fishing boat. Right.

Alright, a Volusia County woman is facing charges accused of using a can of wasp spray against another driver. Tammy Jones told Deputy she was driving down MLK Beltway when a Kia pulled up. Next, her document showed Joan Jones told deputies the driver later, identified as the victim, was shouting at her for allegedly brake-checking her and the victim threw something at Jones' car. " Oh boy.

According to the Rush Report, Jones then prompted her to reach into the backseat, grab a can of wasp spray, and spray it at the victim. The report states the victim told deputies when she pulled up next to Jones, Jones said, "Just started yelling at her. Then she sprayed her and her vehicle. I know what you're thinking.

Illegal. Illegal. The report says the victim told deputies she wanted to press charges and deputies found probable cause to arrest Jones. You gotta be one mad person to just go, you know what, I'm gonna spray with all that wasp spray I have in the back of the car.

I have wasp spray in my car from those wasp I had in my car. What can I do to you? Right. I don't have my gun.

What do I got by a gun? What's the worst thing that happened to you with road rage? I've never really had an experience with road rage other than maybe somebody giving me the finger or something. Yeah, that was it.

What about you, Phil? I think I've told this story before. So I got into this time where... Oh, yeah, yeah.

Are you talking about the Christmas tree, Christmas lights or whatever? When you were viewing the Christmas lights at St. Augustine? No, no, no.

Oh, that was a totally different incident? Yeah, yeah, that was good. Yeah. You know what?

That was probably the worst one, actually. These were Easter lights. It was a different holiday. Yeah, that was probably the worst one.

But I had this thing, Robbie Doyle and me started doing thumbs down on people to see people's reactions. You drive by and just go and go like this? Yeah. So there was this lady on I-4 that almost hit me going over the bridge here in Sanford.

Yeah. So I got up next year, I was like, and who was in the car with me? Oh, Chet. Chet was in the car with me.

I was like, man, I was like, if this lady flicks me off when I get up next to her, I'm going to give her the thumbs down. And he was like, really? I'm like, yeah, watch this. So I got up next to her, and sure enough, there she goes, big bird right to me, right?

So I gave her the big, like that. And her face was like, she was so surprised. " I got this warm beer over here by my wash spray, I'm good. I was gonna spray you, but nah.

Florida, just giving beers out while you're road raging. I was gonna say, is that something bad? Does that mean something we don't know? " I just think it's funny because I don't think people know how to react.

I had somebody throw a can at me once. Wow. A can? Yeah.

Like a soda can? Yeah. I don't know if it was full. Oh, I did have a...

Go ahead, elaborate. Oh, I mean, that was it. I mean, I don't even know what I did. Yeah, I don't know what I did, but we were down going to I-4 in the city, and they went off on an exit, and they were far away from me, and they still hookshot it and hit my car.

" Wow. I don't really get mad. That was pretty impressive. I don't, you know, I'm, I'm well past that age of getting agitated and just hunting somebody down.

More often than not, if I screw up or something, I usually just say, "Hey, sorry," and just kind of apologize and just keep it moving. Oops. Universal, I'm sorry. Sorry, man.

Sorry about that. Didn't see you when I changed lanes. Yeah, screwed that up. Right.

My bad. I had a, a buddy one time when I was younger. I used to have this Mazda 3. And, uh, he got so angry at somebody on I-4.

He was in the passenger seat. It wasn't even me. He got so angry. And remember, well, maybe you still have it, but they used to have like a little change dish in the cars?

Yeah. So, he grabbed two pennies out, sat on the window, like rolled down the window and sat on the ledge? Yeah. And threw the pennies at the guy's windshield.

Ouch. I'm like, dude, he got back and I was like, dude, like, you could seriously hurt somebody, you know, or crack his windshield and he swerves off and hits somebody or something. He's like, yeah, well, you know, fuck that guy, man. James?

You have some anger issues. He sat on the ledge of the window? Yeah, he's homeless now, but yeah, he's a problem. He's homeless now?

Yeah. Oh. Okay. All right, did you get a video today, Michael?

I do not have a video today. All right, we're rolling into Cigar News. Which is great, because we're at 42 minutes. I just cut a story out, too.

Avowed is adding Awakening Rhapsody Sampler for Father's Day. Awakening. Oh. Are we getting this?

Maybe if you want. I don't know. It's not my area. Father's Day 2026, Avowed Cigars will offer its Awakening Cigar in a sampler that contains the blend paired with three different wrappers.

The new Avowed Awakening Rhapsody includes one of each of the following: the Awakening Ecuador Hybrid, Awakening Black, which is an Ecuador Corojo, Awakening White, which is a Connecticut, The black uses a wrapper that the company's hallowed hand line uses, while white uses a wrapper from the New Dawn, and said all three cigars use the same blend, an Ecuador and Habano binder with Criojo 98, Pennsylvania, Piloto, Cubano, and San Vincent fillers. Each sampler has an MSRP of, I'm going to say a hundred bucks. Philip? Sixty.

Ninety dollars. Boom. I crush again. A thousand samplers of cigars are being made by...

Constant crushing. Kellner Cigars in the Dominican Republic. I don't have anything else to say about it. That's all you got?

That's all I got to say about that? Well, there was a quote, but I'm cutting the quotes out. They're not really newsy. We have gone through various blends, and after all these years, we have accomplished great cigar.

Everyone likes a father. We thought we would make something for fathers, so here's this Father's Day, Father's Day 7. Now, here's what I'm going to tell you. I'm bubbling.

Yeah, you're bubbling. Oh, now you hear it? Yeah, because he's louder. He's talking a little louder.

What's the time? 43:54. This is a long pause. Yep.

Now here's what I'm going to tell you, these cigars are made by our friends at Small Batch, so, I like Small Batch, Andrew, I'm popping again, Andrew and Ben are awesome, and they're making some good cigars, so, yeah, I'm not against getting it, what I will tell you though is that I'm so entrenched right now in revamping and rebuilding three sites simultaneously, and it's like, oh boy. We always miss out on this kind of stuff upstairs, like a Father's Day sampler or, you know, something along those lines. Because we usually can just build our own. Well, no, no, that's what I meant.

We usually, we don't think about it in time to do it. It's usually like an after-the-fact thing, or like any type of holiday thing. Well, let's build one today. Well, I was going to bring it up at the meeting today.

That's a great idea. And then we still have two weeks, so. And we'll put it out? Well, we have those bags left over from the Cigar Life thing back there.

Those Humi pack bags. Mmm, okay. You can do that, or whatever. You can put in regular Cigar Hustler bags, whatever.

Yeah. Well, we also have that, but we also have the Camacho deal going on, too. Oh, that's right. We have the Camacho deal going, too.

Mm-hmm. Maybe add something with it for Father's Day. Yeah, you get a raffle ticket for the Camacho. You get the drill.

You get the hammer and... Oh, you know what? And the event is before Father's Day. What do you want for Father's Day?

I'm not your father. I'm not getting anything. Is there something that you want for Father's Day? No.

Nope. Is there something you want for Father's Day? I'm really down to just one child getting me something. Yeah, who's the one child that gets you something?

One child that could, Connor. Socks? I like socks. " This is how they came.

This is how they came. I had monkey socks and they wore out, so I had to get new monkey socks. Those are monkey socks? Yeah, one is bananas, one is monkeys.

That's fantastic. I like them. I love them. If you like socks, you should get those bamboo ones.

Oh, I don't need bamboo socks. I don't know. I heard they're super comfortable. I'm sure they are.

You don't even have them? I do actually have a pair. Miss McCool bought me a pair because I was like, there's no way that these socks can be that great. She's like, try them.

Are they that great? Yeah, they're actually really nice. I just don't want to spend money on them because they're not, you know, 10 bucks. Oh, they're expensive socks?

So what do you want for Father's Day? Because I feel you're locked in. Like, what do you want? Oh, I want a chair.

A chair? Like an office chair? No, no, no. A new recliner at my house.

Because the baby's coming soon, and I want a new recliner. You want a place to sleep where the baby's not in your room? Yeah, you need that. Why do you need a recliner?

No, it's just easier. Like, the recliner I have now is like all scratched up by the cat, and it's like falling apart. I've had it for a long time. You're embarrassed for the baby to see it?

I just would like a new one that feels nice, because I'm going to be holding the baby in that chair. Who's your fourth kid? Fourth, yeah. Number four.

Number four. Number four. He wants a recliner. What do you want, Michael?

I don't know. You really want to know what I want? Sure. Yes.

It's a little fucked up. All right. Oh, Lord. I hope it's not a pair of another glasses.

For them to erase video from April 7th from 9 to 11. " Oh, that's easy to arrange. Your wife could pull that off. That's all I want.

Does she know? I mean, I mentioned it in front of the kids. " Here's what I want. That's all I want.

I'm like, thanks. Every year, a new curse word? I mean, I think that we started kind of high. Well, yeah, yeah, you kind of started the big one.

You know, I'm okay with it, if it becomes like a tradition, just with that. Oh, just that exact phrase? Yeah. Eh, you should get a new word.

I kind of like that I'm a bad, I can't keep saying it. Yeah, don't keep saying it, we're only allowed so many. Bad mofo. And he's already said two and-- Oh, sorry, I didn't know we were in the counting game.

No, no, that's okay. You still don't have to check the box. I still don't have to check the box. We're okay.

So yeah, I think that's a good gift. Sure. Alright, Viso Horny turns to Oveja Negra for the Ligador Fantasma. But not another cigar.

Viso Horny, the cigar brand from Tyler Jeffery, has announced an upcoming limited edition that will come from a different factory than the one brand he is known to have worked with. I've worked with. Yeah. Ligador Fantasma is a new 5x50 Robusto.

It uses a Corojo and Candela wrapper leaves to create a barber pole look. Underneath is a Habano binder that the fillers are from Nicaragua. , all of the fillers are from the viso priming the middle section of the leaves on a vertical tobacco plant. Pricing has not been announced, but production is limited to 500 bundles of 10 cigars.

It is expected to ship in late summer. The cigar is being made at the Obeja Negra in Esteli, Nicaragua. Earlier this year, Jeffrey purchased Pipe World, an Austin-based retailer. His Viso Horny brand is slotted under his El Bebe Grande Cigar LLC, while Pipe World is licensed as the wholesale distributor, so he's distributing his own cigars this time.

Yeah, yeah, that's where he's going. Did you guys ever get to try the sprinkle dust? Leprechaun dust? -Ceprechaun Dust?

-Yeah. -Nope. Didn't do it. It's okay.

-Are you guys gonna try this one? -I have no idea. -No, we don't. -I have no idea, you know.

I try my best not to put pressure on Tyler. I try my best to help Tyler. And that's kind of where it ends for me. I'm not, uh...

-He did a nice little thank you as part of this press release, but for time I cut it out. Oh, yeah? What do you think? Skip, Alex, people at the different factories he's worked with, Moe.

That's nice. Okay. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be great. Yeah.

Nice. Yeah. All right, now the big story of the weekend. Uh-oh.

Oh. This is it. This is the big story. Espinosa opens up Dominican Cigar Factory.

Eric Espinosa. Well, apparently he announced that at the... At Dojo. No, no, he announced that he was put in a factory there at the Lozona Palooza, that he didn't go to.

But then this week he announced that Guy Fieri is now his partner in the new Dominican factory. Do you know what this means? Jacuzzis in every section. You know what I mean?

I'm talking top of the line... Top of the line stuff at the Dominican factory. They're not saying where it is yet. There's going to be a slide.

I heard there's a slide. Did you really? Out from the lunchroom? Yeah.

I heard the kitchen for the lunchroom is amazing. The kitchen? Yeah. Amazing.

Chicken Guy staff? Right. Well, no, that's gone, but it'd be like Burger Guy. Is Chicken Guy completely gone?

A lot of Knuckles Sandwich. Yeah. Well, it's not in Florida anymore. Yeah, but I'm sure it still exists.

Okay, world, let's find out. Wait, is there a Chicken Guy at Winter Park? It's gone. It's in the free trade zone, which I guess means it's a free trade.

The only thing they're saying about the location. So does that mean that they're going to use only Dominican tobacco? No. Okay.

But he does want to start using some. Oh, he's going to dabble in using Dominican tobacco? Yes. Chicken Guy is still open.

Hmm. But the Central Florida locations have shifted. While the flagship location at Disney Springs is open and operating daily from 11 to 10:30, The Winter Park location has permanently closed. Oh, it's at Disney Springs.

There you go. Oh, okay. Oh, is it still there? Yeah.

Santana Diaz, owner of Pure Aroma Cigars, has joined as part of the factory operations team. As for why Espinosa decided to open a factory in Dominican Republic after having operated in Nicaragua for numerous years, he cited two reasons. First you said that drive from Managua to Esteli is really getting ridiculous, he can't do that. It is a ridiculous drive.

Now that's 30 miles an hour, and there's a lot of police, it takes four hours now instead of two, and he don't have that kind of time. And then two, there's no good places to eat in Esteli is what he said. He said the lack of things to do in restaurants in Esteli to enjoy once the workday is done, specifically citing the Dominican Republic's restaurant scene as something he looks forward to enjoying. I love the tobacco in Nicaragua, I love the people in Nicaragua, but I wanted to try something different, Espinosa said.

He noted that nothing is changing with the Nicaragua operation as far as cigars that are made there, but now they're going to be making new ones at this place. Oh, yeah, well, I mean... By September 1st. Not only that, but I think that he's hedging his bet.

Political upheaval can happen. Sure, why not? I mean, if you can put another one in another country... Yeah, why not?

Cover your bets. Yeah, especially when you got Guy Fieri support. Right, you know? Santana Diaz.

Yeah, Bounce House, I mean either, Bounce House, it's gonna be great. Yeah, it's gonna be a place to cut your hair right there and dye your beard. Yeah, there's gonna be a Triple D episode about it, you know? He'd be stupid not to.

Dominican Republic, in the DR. Add another D on it. Dominican Republic diners, drive-ins and dives. DR, DDD.

DR, Triple D. That's cool. Yeah. We never get any news first from anybody.

We never get any news first from anybody. We could have slipped. He could have slipped his dyes. We could have covered his dyes.

He slipped it to me. He didn't tell me about Guy, but he told me about this. He told me about the factory a long time ago. Yeah.

Well, why didn't we cover the story? Because he asked me not to say anything. Oh, well, see, then that don't count. Well, he wanted to release it where he wanted to release it.

Well, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think that that's, that's, that's a good point.

Whatever. We release a lot of stuff. Yeah. We cover a lot of stuff.

It sounds like this has sort of slipped out during the dojo thing. I don't think he had planned to release it, because the way the image looks, he's like sitting like this back in the chair, you know, doing that thing with his face that he does, and goes, "You know, I'm putting this factory in Dominican Republic with Guy Fieri now. We gotta wrap this up. " Yeah.

Alright, it's time for the industry's favorite game, What's the score? Don't hit your button yet. Don't hit your button yet. Players hear clues from a half-wheel cigar review and try to predict the score before it's revealed.

As more details are shared, the challenge gets easier, or does it? The closest guess to the actual score wins the round. Can you read between the lines and predict the score? Yes, I can.

No, hit the button! Oh, Lord, I try to help these people all I can. You try to help these people. So much I can do.

What do you mean, these people? First cigar, January 6, 2021, Charlie Monado reviewed. It's Charlie, Phil. He's so nice.

What's the date? January 6, 2021. Okay. La Corona Corona.

What? La Corona Corona. That's the cigar. Okay.

La Corona Corona. - It's not from Corona, is it? - It's a Corona Corona. - '88.

- I have no idea. - I need to know the origin. - So the guess, 'cause that's what's coming next. - All right.

80. - Cigaraview de la Corona Corona. Country of origin? Unknown.

- Uh-oh. - Factory? Unknown. - Uh-oh.

- Wrapper? Unknown. - Oh, boy. - Oh boy.

- Binder, unknown, filler, unknown, length, five and three-tenth by 42, it's a Corona, we don't even know the price, and they only smoked one. - 89. - 80. - Clue, number one.

Despite the challenging flavor profile, the cigar delivered excellent airflow and generally solid construction. The draw remained functional throughout an experience, sorry, functional throughout the experience, and aside from some tunneling and a few touch-ups, the cigar burned well enough to avoid major construction complaints. 88? 80.

Did you say 8? 80. Oh, 80. Clue number 2, the cigar offered a highly distinctive and complex profile with layers of creaminess, nuts, wood, sweetness, I feel like he talks about himself in third person.

89. 80. Clue number three: the flavor experience was overwhelmingly unpleasant. Mmm.

Dominated by notes, the reviewer compared to stale bottled water, cottage cheese, mustiness, mushrooms, and sourness. This thing better not get over 60. The profile was so off-putting that the reviewer questioned the cigar's storage history and described it as one of the least enjoyable cigars they had ever smoked. Oh.

Seventy-seven. Seventy. Final thought. While it didn't occur to me while smoking this cigar, largely because I was generally concerned I might start gagging, I was reminded when writing this review that I watched someone go through a very similar experience.

I was with Brooks when he smoked the My Father baseball bat. Oh, one of our favorites. Oh, here we go. A cigar we later learned wasn't created with the intention of being smoked.

You weren't supposed to smoke that. He looked like he was about to puke, and it wasn't due to the nicotine. I'm guessing the storage is the last culprit for why the cigar tasted like this, but it was truly awful. There are parts of our score sheets that read, "Bought it, but I would still throw out, now.

That was more generous than how I graded some parts of this. Some cigars are better to look at than smoke, then there's whatever this was. " Wow. So we found Brooks' worst cigar of his life.

We have found now Charlie's worst cigar of his life. Sixty-two. Sixty-one. You went the right way.

Yes. Forty. Yeah. Wow.

Wow. How much was the baseball bat? I don't remember. It was a collectible.

I think it was a little rather expensive. No, no, no, I mean like the score. It was low, it was like in the 40s, right? I think it was in the high 40s though.

I wonder what the lowest score of all time. Well, so far the lowest one I've seen is 38. 38. And we've done that one.

All right, second cigar for the day, March 15th, 2021, Patrick LaGrie. Oh, there's two today. Yeah, it's two, it's two, two, two, two cigar Tuesday. Drew Estate, Nicaragua, it's a Redux.

Nicaragua. Nicaragua. The Liga Bravada, No. 9, Coronet.

Oh. 86. 84. The Liga Bravada, No.

9, Coronet, Country of Origin, Nicaragua, Factory, La Grande Fabrica Drew Estate, Wrapper, Connecticut Broadly from the USA, Binder from Brazil, Filler, Honduras and Nicaragua. It's a 4x32. It's a small patella. They smoked one because it's a redux.

86. 84. The Liga Privada No. 9 Cornette delivered solid construction overall.

While it required a few reliance due to its small ring gauge, the burn remained consistent when smoked at the proper pace, and the reviewer noted that the combustion was no longer a concern after the first third. - 86 - 84 - Glue number two, the cigar offered a full-flavored smoking experience with enjoyable retro hails that helped balance the profile. Notes of earth, white pepper, and underlying sweetness provide some complexity, particularly at the cigar, as the cigar approached the midway point. 85.

88. Mmm. Glue number three, the dominant flavor profile was a major disappointment centered around persistent sour chalk and metallic notes that reminded the reviewer of putting a nail or socket bit in their mouth. These flavors overwhelm the experience from start to finish and never developed into anything more interesting.

developed into anything more enjoyable. Wow. You know, but you know exactly what that tastes like, though. Right.

Like putting the battery in your tongue. Right. Yeah, like putting the battery in your tongue. Yeah.

This is the final clue, not the final thought. Correct. Eighty-four. Eighty-two.

Final thought. I don't know exactly what I was hopeful that I would get from this Liga Privada No. 9 Coronet after letting it rest past the So, this is the last few years, but I do know that I got what I was fearful of. The same experience I had when I first smoked it.

There's still the sourness, still the metallic taste, still the chalk, and still the curiosity about how this cigar deserves to wear the Liga Privada No. 9 band. Thankfully, the technical performance is good and smoking time isn't too long. But neither of those has me thinking I'll be returning to this Vitola anytime soon.

So, this is a redux, so we have the score today, and then, you can try to guess the original. Okay. Alright. Let's go...

79. How many blinks is that? Seven. He's not going pee-pee.

I'm gonna say 77. I do have to pee. What did he say? 79.

51, you went the right way. Oh, wow, 51? Misfires today. Performance problems.

Happens to everybody. Okay, original score. Original score. Film.

Back in 2018. Well, he said he didn't change much from it, so let's do 52. 60. 76.

He said he didn't change much. He said the cigar didn't change much. He didn't say the score. Oh, my God.

It's not working. Get our money back. It's out of stuff. It was half full on Friday.

Oh, he must have beat Greg. It's out of stuff. It was half full Friday. It's out.

All right. I'll check it. Go to me. those things use a lot of powder huh uh yeah i mean greg goes oh you'll never run out of stuff yeah bull yeah how much is the powder by the way i don't know it came with yeah but it's gonna run out i know so apparently we get just about 20 days out of a pack yeah i split it I win again.

I mean, it was really a tie. No, it wasn't. Excuse me, he got the third one. Yeah.

'Cause he got the Redux. The way to sneak in an extra square. Anybody have anything else? Like and subscribe, we're reviewing and listening to the show.

com for all your chpod swag. com, Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we're gonna cover the Conejo, Conejos, today. You don't say it like an H, he said. No?

No, it's a different one. Oh, really? Yeah, he kept trying to teach Greg, and Greg couldn't get it right. Okay.

Conejo. Yeah, we'll get right into that. It was close to what he just said. Conejo.

Meow. No H. Meow. Alright guys, thank you very much, bye.

Boop. Oh, wait, dude, one more time, boop.

Show Notes

Wow did we really just see that?  Dead Men’s Credit Cards work too!  Can’t Put that on your license plate!  There is not a wasp in my car Madam! Thats a cheese roll!  Then in Cigars a new Fathers Day cigar package!  Then Cigars we are all getting Horny again and the DR is the place to get a knuckle sandwich!  And finally a what’s The score double episode