ACHP Episode 554 UFC On The White House Lawn

Transcript

*Music* Three, two, one, action! That's you. It's Tuesday. No, don't say the day.

It's not Tuesday. No, because this goes up on Wednesday. Welcome to Cigar Hustler Podcast, episode 552, where cigars are just the starting point. Join me today, John Carney from Hooten Young, with Mike Palmer, Phil McGuffey.

Hey. As we dive into the latest cigar industry news, sports, current events, business, and whatever crazy stories are making our headlines and are on my teleprompter today. Whether you're a seasoned cigar smoker or just looking for entertaining conversation, you've probably come to the wrong place, but you can expect honest opinions, plenty of laughs, and a few unexpected detours along the way. On today's show, it's the biggest show in UFC history, Old Man Florida now carries knives, two class one food recall, then in cigars, some new sticks and a Fuente trunk, then what's the score for the ages?

We got a good show for you today. Oh, yeah. Put the phone away. Just because Mikey's not here doesn't mean you can hold your phone next to the soundboard.

No, no, my parts can't ready to come up. Oh, all right. Come on, Palmer. This is my first time.

I do like the preparedness that you all have. Everybody's ready for what they're doing. Everybody's got their phones right. Yeah, so here we go.

Dana White stood at the dais. Oh, hold on, hold on. He left the part out. Oh, he left the part out.

Yeah, sorry. Hey, Phil, why don't tell us how to get that CH Bod swag? All right. Before we get started, make sure you like and subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode.

com, where right now you can take advantage of a buy one, get one, 40% off promotion. Plus enjoy free shipping on all orders over $100. We've got some exciting things in the works, so stay tuned, because the next item is dropping soon. Maybe about me.

Palmer, let's hear the comments. All right, we got some comments here from yesterday's show. Let's see, from DataCatch2004, "It's always nice to see Triple G on the show since the King has abdicated the throne" and then it wouldn't be a show without a comment from CW6383, "The fact that The Rock waited 24 hours for an ultrasound isn't surprising. " Now, CW works at a hospital, so he's giving general people information.

Got it. But he's The Rock. Right, yeah. He's not a string he could pull or something.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I guess I didn't see this, but what happened to The Rock? Yesterday, we did a story about The Rock. He found a lump on his testicle, and he waited 24 hours to get an ultrasound because he couldn't get in to see what it was.

He was afraid it was testicular cancer. So the story was he had to wait 24 hours. That was part of the story, yeah. That seems like pretty quick, like as fast as it could possibly be without having a doctor right on site, right?

He travels with it, like Greg said, he travels with his own gym. He doesn't have his own little ball ultrasound there, I mean. I guess. Who he does now.

Paramedics carry him in the ambulance and stuff. It took him 24 hours to get in to have it done. Yes. Probably because he had to get to where he was going to where the person actually was, right?

He's The Rock. You have people come to you. That's what I'm saying. 24 hours seems like a quick turnaround for me for that.

Even if you are The Rock, like, "Hey, I need an ultrasound. All right, dude, we'll be there tomorrow" type of thing. I don't know. My assistant better be snapping it.

I better have him 30 minutes. Yeah. I think they would have. My ball is swollen.

I need to find out. Do they get the results? Yeah. He just has a strong tube.

Yeah. The tube has an infection. Yeah. Yeah.

Some antibiotics, a couple of pills, maybe a shot in the peepee, he'll be fine. Yeah. He's got to stop putting those dumbbells on his ball sack. Right.

Weird. I know this isn't part of it, and that was yesterday's show, but to continue on, we're very fortunate that we live here in Florida, because some of this stuff's very quick, so I had to have an MRI done years back on my head, because I thought I had brain tumors. Right. Oh, me too.

- Yeah, he does have brain tumors. - Yeah, so I had a really bad balance issue, so I thought, we were looking at everything. So my doctor in Maine was like, you need to find a specialist down in Florida, 'cause I was just paying cash out of my pocket, he said, go wherever you want to go, 'cause they won't. You call a doctor and pay cash, they're pretty quick.

- Yeah, yeah, they move quickly. - Yeah, they'll get you in, hey, I don't have insurance, I'm ready to go, oh, we can get you in this week, sir. - Right. - So I came down to Florida, did that, got an MRI in Miami Beach, there was like 100 places, and he says, just go down to Florida, he goes, these people compete against each other.

Yeah. $225 did the MRI. They gave me like a mimosa when I walked in the place. There was like neon lights and stuff.

So we're lucky we live in Florida, those types of things. But it's whenever you involve insurance is the problem. Private health care is always easy. That's why I think 24 hours is still pretty quick.

I guess your expectation was if I had that, it needs to be right now. Right. I mean, if I'm the rock, call somebody. Yeah, I think he did.

And that happened It's a special sack. I mean, it should definitely be... Yeah, it's the rocks nuts. Yeah.

It's his rocks. Right, it's his rocks. My name is from here. The Little Rocks.

All right, guys, we got any more advertising here? All right, no, that's it on the comments. That was it? Yeah, well, yeah, because there's not many on today's show.

Greg and Mikey's mom didn't even comment? Nope, nothing from Greg and Mikey's mom. Wow. If you want to hear your comment right on the show, just comment on every episode.

We do the one from the day before. All right, on with the show. Oh, like and subscribe. I don't think anybody said that.

Make sure you like and subscribe to every episode on whatever thing you listen to. Yeah, any platform at all. And if you're going to send me a question, you have to tell me where you're listening or I can't fix it. I got one this morning from Data Catch.

He didn't understand that I needed to know where the problem was. Yeah, we're going to search 200 platforms? Yeah, that's what I said. It's one of 75 it could possibly be right there.

So somehow when Mikey did something yesterday, he changed the show to, The Michael Stepankiewicz show. It was probably on purpose. Well, he claims he doesn't know what he did. Yeah, whatever.

And created by Michael Stepankiewicz. Of course. Yeah, of course. His name's everywhere.

Yeah, his name was everywhere. So it's been fixed. Alright, now on with the show. I'm so glad I'm here for this one because we can talk the whole show about what I'm about to talk about.

I saved this for you. Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you. You're welcome.

On today's show, it's the biggest show, we've got UFC history made. m. Monday, hours after the UFC president and CEO completed one of the more audacious events of his career: a fight card on the south lawn of the White House. He made one thing clear: he's never doing this again.

"I can't afford it," White said. " That card would be a one-of-one event and not the beginning of a trend, similar to how he viewed his promotion playing host to the first sporting event at the Sphere in Las Vegas in 2024. Yet White insisted that Sunday night's UFC Freedom 250 exceeded all of his expectations for what he called the biggest event in the history of his promotion and perhaps the biggest in the history of mixed martial arts. White declined to provide specifics but indicated UFC hit the numbers it sought for its $60 million production.

In every way you can gauge success, White said. The merchandise, he said, hit all-time metrics. He said the numbers of Paramount were monstrous and estimated 200,000 people were on the ellipse over his two-day fan fest. C.

evening after a slight delay. Despite that, White made clear that he does not want to do more outdoor fights because of the uncontrollable variables. I feel like I got punched in the face. I'm just so excited to talk about this.

I'm just so excited, so excited. He said, and she said, President Donald Trump had discussed doing a fight for troops in '27, but coordinating with the military to have fights on military bases takes time. " He also pushed back again at critics who didn't want to see UFC at the federal landmarks and questioned the legal legitimacy for the promotion to do so. It led to an injunction lawsuit that failed on Friday, allowing the news conference at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, and the fights on the South Lawn on Sunday proceed.

Fuck 'em. I don't give a shit about them, White said. I was supposed to edit that. I thought that was John saying that.

Yeah. It's like they were asking me about the lawsuit. I don't give a shit. I've got lawyers.

They'll figure that out. I don't care. That's two. One more.

I got to check the box. Yes. Guys, what do you think? So $6 million, I don't know if that's expensive or not for one of their setups, but I would imagine the payout was a lot less because it wasn't pay-per-view because it was on Paramount, so I imagine Paramount had to pay something to get it on their network, and then selling tickets couldn't have been high-priced because you have to get security cleared, I mean, not like anybody could buy a ticket.

I think most of the tickets were given away, to be honest. Yeah, more than likely. I'm gonna go, so my wife and I had this discussion, she was like, she's a little less conservative than I am, but she's very moderate, more right-leaning, but she goes, who's paying for this? com was one of the main sponsors for it, Meta was also a big sponsor, and you can see there was tons of sponsors around, I go, but sponsors, they pay for all this stuff.

Sure. And I go, but mainly, I go, you're watching this with limited commercials, I go, mainly Dana White's fronting the cost of doing this in some capacities, moving money around, right? - Right. com CEO was the first famous person that they showed in the crowd.

- Oh, yeah. - And they made a big deal. They didn't just say it, they introduced him. - Ah.

com. - Oh, like the guy in the middle of the thing right now? and he was smiling. Sitting here in the front row today.

Yes. And they didn't do that with anybody else. They didn't show Zuckerberg. He paid for that.

Won't show the end. Yeah. So that was a sponsorship thing. And I'm sure Zuckerberg was probably the same way where he was probably like, hey, I don't mind you showing me, but at the end if it's natural.

But this guy was straight up with the ad. com paid for part of this. Yeah, and a lot of the fighters after they won, they would shake his hand as well. Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah. He was like, so it was Trump, Dana White, and that guy, they were shaking their hands. We were all right in the front row together, so it did cost him a ton of money, so I think at best, there's no way he, on the long term of things, he's gonna lose anything on this, I think on the short term, it was definitely a loss, you know, and he'll roll losses into whatever it is, sponsorships, it's unique you mentioned the Paramount thing, 'cause I think the Paramount Plus, so it is pay to watch, - Yeah. - Because you had to have Paramount Plus.

- Subscribe, yeah, yeah, subscribe. - Oh, okay, so it is technically pay. However, I think UFC just signed a deal with Paramount Plus that all of their pay-per-views and UFC fights are now going to be on Paramount Plus. - Yeah, they are.

- And it's part of the package. - If I already had Paramount, did I have to pay extra to see it? - No. - No, just part of my monthly.

- Just part of your monthly. But I think, in the future, they probably natural add-on for special events, I think. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they did sign a deal with them, and they advertised that during it, that all future fights, no more pay-per-views, It's all special events on Paramount Plus.

So they got the Conor McGregor one coming up in the next few weeks, I believe, in the next month. Yeah. So there's a lot of huge stuff going on. So I thought that was unique.

So, did he lose money on this singular event? 100%. Was it a logistical nightmare? Huge.

Oh, I imagine. Yeah, huge nightmare. Complete nightmare. I mean, do you see the top of the White House with all the snipers?

Yeah. And military personnel? To keep that secure is crazy. Do you think he had to pay for the extra security?

Or the UFC had to? No, the White House is going to already make that bigger anyways, but no, he's not paying for that. There certainly was paid enhanced security there for sure. That wasn't government, though.

Yeah, well, it could have still been government and paid for, but I mean, the government's obligated to be, things going on at the White House, the Secret Service is obligated to be there. There was certainly private security, I'm sure, that was collaborating with everything in military presence, but no, I don't think there's probably a, you probably didn't cut a bill to the US government. US government. Five extra snipers, three extra dogs.

Yeah. So outside of that, guys, though, did you watch it? I watched the whole thing. I didn't even know it was on.

I watched the whole thing. You did watch the whole thing? Yeah, I didn't watch any of the World Cup. I just watched the fight.

I thought it was going off on the 4th of July. Yeah. It was flag day, Donald Trump's 80th birthday, and it was also the 251st birthday of the US Army on the same day. So it was a It's a trifecta.

Right. I watched the whole thing too. It was, just blatantly, it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, it was pretty epic of an event.

If you've got any type of red, white, and blue in you whatsoever, it was one of the coolest things you've ever seen. There's a lot of stuff we can get into. I think we take a good amount of time on this one. I think we'll get some good clips.

Yeah, there were some good things that happened. But the fights were just incredible. The presentation was amazing. You had the Marine Corps band playing entrance theme music for these people.

The fighters were entering out of the White House in different areas. The last fight was the most epic entrance. Gaethje entered from the Oval Office, I think. And he started looking at the actual Declaration of Independence.

They had it on the wall. They'd probably moved it from the National Archives. There's like two physical copies of it. So the actual Declaration of Independence on the wall, Gaethje's staring at it, then he exits the room and enters into the ring.

I mean, it was incredible, the opening, it was everything, the National Anthem, Zac Brown Band. The fireworks, the flyover, everything. It was so American. If you...

You can rewatch it. Yeah, I would rewatch it. It's on Paramount Plus, Palmer. And all the fights were great.

They all ended in actual knockouts and they were all good fights. Nothing was like you felt like you got shortchanged. The last fight was one of the most epic fights I've ever seen. Oh, yeah.

That Tupio or whatever took, this guy's like the goat. You figure, this guy went here, this guy's physically the goat in his prime. Gaethje's probably towards the end of his career. Yeah, he's 38.

Yeah, came in, beat the snot of the guy, but the guy took it for like three rounds, and still, without being able to see out of both eyes, almost got some hits in that took Gaethje out. Anyway, long story, American guy wins. It was just the perfect ending. The one thing I'll say on this is, if you just hate it because you don't like Donald Trump, you miss something that you'll never see ever again.

Because this is a one-on-one. Yeah, this is a one-time thing. You don't do this again. Yeah, anything that's this special, you don't ever do it again.

Right. Because it ruins it, in my opinion. Right. It's kind of like watching, you know, the basketball teams play on the aircraft carriers.

Which can't run. Right, for the NCAA. There you go. It's just an event like that.

You know, but do you think, Carney, because you watch, I love UFC a lot, right? A good amount, yeah, not as much as a lot of my friends do, but I do watch it somewhat regularly, yeah. Do you think that Dana White is trying to take UFC to a WWE status? The theatrics kinda seem that way.

He's gonna have to, 'cause you always gotta evolve the product, right, in my opinion? I don't think you have to become WWE, but look what Jake Paul's doing, there's a lot of theatrics around, there's a lot of pomp and circumstance, there's build up to it that's not just about the fighters being mad and ticked off at each other or whatever, they do create a lot of beef in the Jake Paul stuff that's fake, you know, to create storylines, because these guys aren't fighting other people in the meantime, you know, in Jake Paul's setup, but there's got to be pomp and circumstance, it's got to be a performance, it's got to be a show. If you just go to UFC fights, and a lot of the things that turn me off from UFC as a more casual fan, I like it because I'm a casual fan, like I'll watch it and be like, man, it's a great fight, but I'm not looking at the techniques, all that stuff, there's people that are really into it, because it is, you know, it's a lifestyle and skill, you know, something you learn and you can better yourself at it, it's a, you know, regiment. As a casual fan, if I just watch that, like a fight ends where a couple's like, oh man, that was a great arm bar.

I don't care, dude. I watched this guy walk into a song for two seconds, then he came in, there was nothing else going on, and then the fight lasted five minutes because there was an arm bar. What's for me to, okay, well, the next fight's going to be one minute long. The pomp and circumstance of the show around it's huge, so I think you're going to see more of this style of stuff because I think the UFC must do this, especially after this event.

The next things coming up have got to be big. It's gotta be big, it's gotta be big, the show's gotta be big, the names are already big in it, you gotta keep the momentum going with this and fight back against other people that are competing against you. Yeah, you can't just go back to the way you did it before. Nope.

Can't do it anymore. Well, if you notice lately too, like, there's more storylines, right? These guys are dressing up more. Uh, Hokit is a huge, big ad for USC right now.

The guy with the, uh, he had to like, uh, So, Hulk Hogan. Yeah. You know? Which we'll talk about his little.

Yeah, we can talk about his thing in a minute. Yeah, I just read that today. Yeah. We'll talk about it.

But they're really starting to vamp it up, kind of like, you know, McMahon did when Hulk Hogan came around. You know? Because before, like, in UFC, there wasn't really a storyline behind people. You know, you didn't know their past or where they came from or anything like that.

You know, and they were a lot more technical. Now you're starting to see a lot more guys that are just boxers, right? They're just punching, which people want to see, because they want to see the blood, they want to see the hurt, the anguish, all that kind of stuff in the face, but I think, to me, I feel like it's evolving to something like that, especially if he made a deal with Paramount, he's going to have to do something to make more money. If you're losing the pay-per-view money, you have to do something.

Yeah, and there's a lot of money that comes with a Paramount deal. It's probably going to be bigger. One thing I missed, so Tyson Fury came out in the middle of it. He kind of said too much things he wasn't supposed to say.

Did they ever make the announcement that night? No. They didn't make the announcement, right? No, yeah.

They were supposed to make an announcement with Tyson Fury. That's why they had him come out. Yeah. And it was at two o'clock in the morning when it ended.

I'm sitting there, I was like, maybe I'm just nodding off, but I think I missed the Tyson Fury announcement. I think what they're going to probably have, what it probably is going to involve around is I think Tyson Fury is probably going to main event a UFC fight as a boxing match for a championship, in some way, which would probably be cool, but they didn't announce it, because he is supposed to fight Anthony Joshua before the end of the year, that's already set, and he said there's something else in between, so we'll see what happens with that, but they didn't make the announcement, which I thought was unique, but that goes along the lines of what we're talking about, where they're starting to bring in, I think they're going to bring in other acts. right right they're gonna bring in and do things around ufc like maybe have a boxing match that's going on at the end because there's only so many big names in ufc right the biggest names in ufc are the older names really i mean conor mcgregor's towards the end of what he's doing he's a big you know you you look at uh all the all the big famous names are all yeah so you build these people up so in the meantime when you're waiting you've got to have some alphas in there to push So what do you bring? Hey, Tyson Fury's gonna come in and fight Anthony Joshua.

If you put that on a UFC pay-per-view thing, I mean, it'd be epic and it'd bring great recognition to the other fighters too at the same time. Well, this fight, these fights was kind of like the new age guys versus the old age guys, if you will. So like Chandler, Lewis, the guy at the end, what's his name? The guy that won the championship?

Gaethje. Gaethje, so Gaethje's older, right? Those guys are all big names and big legends, right? Because they've all have hit super historical things in UFC, and their competitors were all the younger guys, right?

The guy that lost the belt with Gaethje, he's only 27 or 28. And he's 17-1, he's going to come back, and they're going to fight again, for sure. I mean, these matches they want to go in, it'd be great for Gaethje. Even if you win or lose, it doesn't matter.

So there's a lot of good stuff that came from this, for sure. The presentation was great. One thing we did talk about, and, you know, we'll end when we talk about, we'll talk about this and we'll end on something positive. It did piss me off when, when, how do you pronounce it?

Okit. Okit. Okit. Okit.

It does piss me off when he said that in the ring. I want, I want to get your opinion on this. It really pissed me off. The reason it pissed me off is, there's people that one, think that that's true, right?

Right. So what he said was, "Michelle will be," The It pissed me off when he said that in the ring. I want to get your opinion on this. It really pissed me off.

The reason it pissed me off is there's people that, one, think that that's true, right? So what he said was, "Michelle Obama's a man", right? And he also dropped the F-bomb. He also said he was the only person that swore on the show, which was fine.

Oh, was he really? Because he was the only one that didn't? Yeah, that's his MO. Which is fine.

Did they bleep him? No, there was no. And they didn't bleep the next part out either. So he goes and says, Michelle Obama's a man, and he's holding Rogan's hand with the mic, and Rogan tried to yank it, and then when he tried to yank it, not forcefully, but when he tried to yank it away, he was kind of laughing because it was super uncomfortable, so I'm trying to think that probably Rogan is, when something uncomfortable happens, he's probably the guy that laughs about it, 'cause that's how he, I think that's how he is, he's a comedian, oh man, that was a friggin, that joke was a little tight.

A little bit much. You know, laugh about it, right? Kevin Hart, when the George Floyd joke that Tony Hinchcliffe told, a little off color. Yeah.

But, you know, it's a joke, and it's fine. " And he laughed at it. It was like, a little tight. Yeah.

So, I wish he wouldn't have done it. In my opinion, that was so well put together, and it didn't need to be political by any means. It was political, naturally, because it was obviously at the White House, and Donald Trump's the president, and he's a hot topic, right? And he's divisive one way or the other.

Either love him or hate him, there's very few in the middle, which is okay. But they put together something that was so good, they were gonna have to complain about how it was just so American and it was so patriotic. How dare you do this? It gave the political side that was against it all the ammo they needed.

It fully loaded their gun. And I can't believe there was no delay on it, and they didn't ax it out. It had to have been zero delay, and they're just like, we're gonna go live, right? Right, is what it is, because he got it out.

Yeah, had to be. Otherwise, they would have cut it. " Cut it off and, "Oh, here we are onto the next," or they could have easily just gone somewhere else or muted the mic. Run the credit!

Run the credit! Yeah, so I was a little ticked that he did it. I think the Michelle Obama thing is a super low-hanging garbage fruit. I'm not a huge Obama fan.

I'm not a huge Michelle Obama fan particularly, But he was the president of the United States. She was the first lady. Eight years, he won freakin' twice, and I make this same argument too, we're so racist that our black president was president for eight years and won twice, you know? He's on the place where that guy lived with his family and served the country.

Whether I agree with him or disagree with him is a different story, but that's gonna have some hollow ground, and it was just really inappropriate, and Dana White came out and said his bullshit too. Yeah, he said, he came out, and... Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, now, I don't think they'll do anything to the guy, I would if I was him, if I was Dana White, I'd honestly, that's just a bit, bro, you're done, sorry, man, you're gonna go fight somewhere else, you embarrassed me on my stage. You embarrassed the UFC.

Yeah, and you embarrassed the UFC, now, I don't, I, you know... It's hard. Dana White did say, "I respect free speech," he goes, "I don't like that stuff," so I think he won't do anything just because he does respect free speech, and I think that would be kind of counterproductive for how he built what he's doing at UFC. so he's got to kind of leave it be but he handled it the right way but man it gave him a fully loaded gun it was the only thing that freaking mattered the only thing that came from the house from the White House that night was that on the opposite side and even with some people that I'm close with that you know they were like man that was pretty cool and what a great event and then they're like man I knew that was going to happen these racists and these crazy people and man dude just don't give people ammo you had a chance to literally slap America in the face of everybody that thought He thought that you were disrespecting it, and then the guy screwed it up.

That's how I felt about it. Yeah, and what's even crazier about that guy is that, you know, I served under Obama when I was in the military. That guy served under Obama as well, and he also played for the 49ers, okay? Yeah.

So, he's a super American, right? Yeah. Played in the NFL, all this stuff, was a soldier and everything, and then he, you know, I think he was looking, He's going for some type of catchphrase or something, because again, this guy acts like a WWE guy. Everything that he does.

There were seven stories about him on the news this morning. Seven different networks covered that thing. One of the funny things that came from it, because he went over to Trump right after, gave him a chain, and it was a good moment. He came out to house music, too.

" Trump took the chain off the second that he said it. You can see him in the background. He's like, puts it off to the side. He wasn't like hem-haw, but he like took it off and put it away.

And he was just like, "Dude, come on. " Like, you know, even Trump is a big trash talker. He uses it to his political advantage. Now, people are like, "Oh, he's a mean person.

He's rotten. " I don't know if he is or isn't, but I know during political campaigns these people are all really dirty. They're really dirty, and they do throw a lot of stuff around, and they say things they shouldn't say, Trump's question Obama's legitimacy as a US citizen, I don't know if it's true, I don't know if he's ever gone directly after, probably he has, but when you're in the political environment and you're in that, nowadays all gloves are off, if you're running for politics, you're asking for it, I prayed that Tim Tebow never runs for office. I don't want him to ruin the guy because he's a great human being.

There's nothing he has to ruin him, but they will. They'll try. I don't want The Rock to give me his opinion on politics either. The time he did, I was a little annoyed.

Now I'm happy, you know, he's a little more, he's like, I shouldn't have done that. And his nuts are okay. Yeah, but I don't want to know what these people think. But if you go into that field, it's nasty, it's dirty, there are bad people in there, all of them are bad, and that's fine.

In that environment, whatever, politics, argue and throw shit, right? At the UFC fight, man, come on. Yeah, this event wasn't supposed to be political. No.

This was supposed to be about America's, you know... We've done 30 minutes, let's uh... Well, you know what, we did have 30 minutes, but you're gonna get a lot of likes on this stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we're gonna get a lot of points out of that thing, sure, sure.

But, great event all around, really good, I wish the guidance said that. 9%, what a win, coolest thing I've ever freaking seen. It was so cool. Do the next story, then skip the stuff about the food.

Yeah. Here we go. I mean, it's a food recorder. Don't eat the cheese, and don't eat the Alfredo sauce.

Other than that, there you go. Yeah. They're both level one, though. They're killing people.

Here we go. Moving on. In Florida, speaking of crazy people, is that guy from Florida? No.

It might be. In Florida, a man was arrested after he was accused of threatening two teens with a nice knife because their go-kart was too loud. According to Lake County Sheriff's Office, just right around the corner here. On June 8th, deputies responded to reports of a dispute involving a knife.

Once they arrived on the scene, they were met with two victims who said they were working on a go-kart together in an open garage when the suspect, Richard Carter, walked out of his house and began yelling. Oh no, Carter. Deputies said Carter then grabbed two knives and threatened to bash their heads in. Oh.

Two knives. According to the arrest affidavit, the report was also said one of the teens dropped to his knees and begged Carter not to hurt them. Jeez. Deputies said Carter-- Please, sir, don't kill me.

Please, sir. No, Carter, no. Deputies said Carter told officials that he was so angry over the noise that he would have picked up whatever was nearby. Carter is now charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

According to the rest affidavit, he was out on bond. Carter is scheduled to appear in court next month. He grabbed whatever was it. So as you walk by the table, it's got guns and knives and things on it.

And he goes, I will take these. Yeah, it's like knives out. You ever seen knives out? Yeah.

Yeah. You know, you go into like the matrix or whatever. This just showed up. These will work.

Yeah. The table, the steak knife and the Rambo knife. I just want to understand, what was he doing, that when he heard this noise, it interrupted him so badly, that he had to go out and beat these guys? Maybe he works nights, and he was trying to sleep, and the kids over there, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.

And you know what? It probably has happened for a while. Well, I don't think they just turned it on. It's probably most of the morning, or whatever day it was.

That's not what they told the officers, though. Right, we just turned it on. I think probably what went down is the guy's probably a little nuts. yeah he was probably exactly saying stressed out annoyed by the noise he's been going on for a while maybe a couple days or they do it all the time he's pissed he's having a tough day he's like i'm gonna go out and tell these kids he grabs a weapon to be like more intimidating right right uh you know i've witnessed people before it's a picture he's an old man yeah like you know this is an open carry state right right so i've watched people before like who are who are concealed carry that went to open carry real quick by just moving the shirt moving they're like hey are we uh We're gonna have any issues?

You know, I'm just adjusting my shirt. That's a thing that happens. Like a TV movie. No gangsta.

But probably this guy, I wonder if he's got any other history of things or not. If not, he's gonna be completely fine. If he does, there's probably gonna be some issues. Yeah, they'll give him...

Yeah. But yeah, Florida's endless news, man. They got great stuff down here. There's a story that something happens every day.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a crazy place. That's how we always have news.

Mm-hmm. Right. There's some days where that's all we do with Florida news. Right.

All right. Fast forward to the food, we have two food warnings, don't eat cheese from up north in 41 different states and don't eat the alfredo sauce. Maryland dairy, listeria, don't do it. Alfredo sauce?

Clover Hill, well just let's help you just in case they're watching, maybe save a life or two, Clover Hill dairy of Mechanicsville, Maryland. They voluntarily recalled it by the way, so it hasn't really caused them any problems. Now you have sort of food background, food industry information, does this put a company like this, I mean it can't be a big company, we've never heard of them, Does it put them on financial problems? I have heard of Cloverhill Dairy.

Have you? Well, you're from up north. I'm further north. Right.

But I travel around, so I've heard of them. Yeah, short term, if you don't do anything about it, somebody actually dying or getting... Well, one person has died from the cheese. Somebody has died.

From the cheese. Yeah, they're effed a little bit. It's going to be a long fix here. Long time.

Walmart's going to go, I don't know, that's the death cheese stuff, guys. I'm not familiar with Listeria, but I'm assuming that's probably in the process of them, like, pasteurizing it. Something, yeah. Something happened in that.

Something with the cleaning and something. Yeah. And it got in all the cheese. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. So they pull it off. So, yeah, interesting. But yeah, I mean, it's got a huge issue.

It won't put them out of business by any means. You can fix that stuff. You know, some mistakes happen. Sure, sure, sure.

I mean, like, look at Chipotle. Chipotle got derailed from that issue they had, like, what, it was 15, 20 years ago when they had, They had E. coli and salmonella outbreaks from like the lemons essentially, and they just, and then they found out that they had like terrible policies in the restaurants of like making sure things were. Oh, the cleaning there's terrible.

Yeah, it was terrible. Food everywhere. It's good now, but it is, there was food all over the place, so how do you control, there was no systems in place to account for what they were going on. Right, just sweep it back in.

And man, you used to be, I'll tell you man, 15, 20 years ago, you couldn't get into Chipotle at lunchtime. You couldn't get in, and they still are real busy now, but there was about a 10 year period of time. Oh, a line was out the door, it was like Chick-fil-A. Yeah, crazy, it was like Chick-fil-A, that's when McDonald's had bought it, and then they did an IPO on it, and they ended up selling off everything long term to make all their money back.

But there was about an eight year period of time where you could just get into Chipotle at lunchtime. You drive by, there's nobody there. And they've recovered now, but it takes a long, long time, and somebody lost a lot of money on that. Can they sell that cheese to a third world country?

Well, I think it probably got destroyed. Maybe Iran. So direct. But voluntary recall is the right way to do it.

You guys have no water. How about cheese? Yeah. You could have somebody, because people get foodborne illnesses all the time from going out to eat, and at home.

So there's stuff that happens regularly. Norovirus is one that happens, cruise ships. So I think the voluntary recall probably brings a lot more attention to it, but if they do it up front, then you avoid a big issue. And somebody died, so that's terrible.

But the voluntary, boom, hey, you don't have to do it, but no, we're going to do it, we'll be safe. It would be safe. I think that's the right PR. Yeah, it's the better way to do it.

Yep. And I don't know. It affected their ricotta cheese, too. It affected everything.

Everything. They recalled all of it smart. They've got five-gallon buckets of cheese, they're recalling. Yeah.

It was sold in five-gallon buckets, so some of these went to restaurants. Oh, Lord. Mm-hmm. The Italian restaurants are all shut down.

No. Yeah, no more lasagna. Yeah. And then the Alfredo.

There's an Alfredo sauce. Let's move on to cigars, man. This is impressive. I don't want to even eat anything.

There were two level ones in the same day. We only cover level ones here at Cigar Hustle by the way. Somebody has to die. Yeah, seriously, right?

Here we go. Warps. Isla or Isla? Isla.

Isla. Isla. S. retailers.

Oh. Last year, a new version of Warped Cigars, Isla del Cocodrillo, line with a slightly different blend. It's not Crocodilio. It's Coco, what'd you say?

It's Cocodrillo. It's a crocodile. Cocodrillo. Okay.

That's how you say it. I'm getting better at it now. Yeah, yeah. It's just in Spanish.

Right, right. I just say "crocadillo". Yeah, it's "crocodile" with an "O" on it. Yeah, "crocodile" with an "O" on it.

Yeah, "crocodile" with an "O" on it. You have a hyphen. So, Tony Gomez, Tony Gomez and I have this big joke with his wife. " It's "cerdo" is what it is.

Yeah. And she's like, "It's "porco". "Porco". " And we start crying, laughing, the three of her.

Tony's laughing, I'm laughing, she's laughing. laughing and she's like yeah it's help it's porco and i go doesn't that sound ridiculous to you she's she's like no but that's what it is i'm like but what's like the name of the it's like oh that's cerdo but like in pork it's porco he sent me a message the other day it was like tenderloino de porco or whatever and i was like yeah they just throw oh at the end of words it's crocad crocadilo uh that always makes me cry laughing you'll randomly man it'd be like six or seven Well, seven months go by and he'll send me like a picture of a package that has like Porco on it. It was just one of the funniest things. Yeah, with the little line over the "K".

Yeah, I'm like, you guys are just, I go, they're just screwing me at this point. You guys are making stuff up. Right. So, a slightly different blend as an international exclusive release.

S. 5x54, Vitola, made with Ecuadorian Habano Desaflorada wrapper, a Brazilian Ara Priraca binder, and filler tobaccos grown in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. For comparison, the original Isla del Cocodrillo line that debuted during the '24 PCA convention was made with Ecuador Habano wrapper, a dual binder of Ecuador Habano 2000, And Brazilian Aura Piraca and Nicaraguan Filler. The line gets its name from the term for Cuba's Shape.

Oh. So it's not, it's shaped like a crocodile, I guess. The company has not disclosed where the Isla Del Cocodil Gran Toro is made. However, the original Isla Del Cocodil and recent Isla Del Cocodil Blanco releases were both produced at Tabacalera La Isla in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Only 1,500 boxes, only 1,500 of 15 cigars are being released for a total of 22,500 cigars. Have you ever had this? Anybody ever had this? No.

I like the packaging. Didn't, we didn't smoke this on the... We might have, because I remember seeing the packaging here, so must have. Yeah, I know we've, we've had this in our stories multiple times.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, because I like the name. Yeah. Yeah. No MSRP yet.

The original one was around 18 and retailers do have it 18. They didn't announce it. And Warped Cigars, we have to add this to... The disclaimer did not respond to multiple requests, asking for additional information.

They're great people over there, so it must have just got lost in the mailbox. I think they're one of the ones that traditionally don't reply. No. Kyle Gillis is a great guy, by the way.

I don't know if you've met him before. I don't think so. He's really just a really good guy. He's from Orlando area.

Oh, yeah? He went to UCF. Oh, nice. Kyle.

And I wanted to be annoyed with him when he first came out, because he was always dressed in a suit. And I'm like, "Man, I came from UCF. " Right. There can only be one.

Yeah, there can only be one. You have to say you're from somewhere else. Yeah. Man, he's a really good guy, but they run real lean.

I think he runs a real lean business, and his booth's always beautiful at the trade show. Yeah, that's where I always see the packaging. Yeah. So, no, they're good people, but I don't think they probably have just an office team sitting around.

We talked about that on one episode where these medium-sized companies don't have somebody that handles this kind of stuff. What would that be, like a brand ambassador? Well, in the companies I run, it's the CEO. Yeah, I was going to say, in Lasagna, it's me.

Which is me. Got it. So you have it, and it's just a matter of if you have that in your system for that kind of stuff, like who you are. Like, I naturally, if an email comes through, try to reply as quickly as I can.

Sometimes it gets backed up, because I'm backed up. Right, yeah. But, you know, in these small companies, when you're kind of doing everything, you know, Kyle's getting bigger. Sure.

Sure, but man, dude, say he's doing two or three million cigars, you don't need ten staff members to manage two million cigars. com goes to an empty mailbox somewhere. Yeah, and then they probably, did they put out any type of press release or anything for this? I don't think so.

Yeah, so this was just something that they've done. Or just a general type thing. Yeah, so I probably, that's the case, it's just nobody, it's probably in his inbox with a thousand emails that are lined up with him doing the whole thing or whoever. You know, for us at Hoot & Young, it's me and Mike Wilson that handle it.

" Right. Hold on a sec. Yeah, yeah. So, uh...

I've got customers that get so much spam, they'll give me a code word to put in the subject line. Yeah. Email. Yeah, that's a good idea.

So you can email me, but put this in the subject line so it sticks out from all the spam that I have. Yeah, yeah, I'll do that too if I put something, I make sure Hooten Young is first, and then the actual subject of what I'm trying to do. " Yeah, can you just send it to me? Yeah, please.

I'll take care of that, just send it to me. I'll make sure they get to see it. They're a mess over at the art department, they never reply. I've never replied.

I've been so busy over there. Yeah. Which is a desk with the markers on it right next to me. So you've seen this and smoked it?

No, I haven't smoked it, but I'm sure I saw the package at the PCA because I like that packaging. Mm-hmm. It's a neat looking abandoned box. And what they're doing at Tabacalera, Eastlap, most likely it's probably made there since they're using the word Eastlap.

That's kind of how he's built those brands out. Hostos Casada owns that. Oh, okay. And Hostos is another, just one of the best people on the planet.

So I'm looking to try to do some stuff with him next year, I've been threatening him for a year and a half to two years about some projects. Maybe the Alligator-O. Yeah, yeah, the Hooten Young Alligator-O. Or Independence-O.

We can make one that's inspired by the shape of Florida. Yeah, there you go. Floridio. Floridio.

Or the Panhandle. Panhandleo. The Panhandle. All the names just make themselves.

Yeah. We can have the Panhandle, and it's an event we can hand, a cigar we can hand out at events to people that just don't want to buy anything and just want a free cigar. Here's your panhandle. Here's your panhandle.

Oh, there you go. It only has wrapper, no binder and filler in it. Wow. You unwrap that newspaper, there's nothing inside.

Yep. La Gloria Cubana, Los Gloriosos, Salamón arrives at events. We talked about this last week. , alongside his father, built a non-Cuban La Gloria Cubana brand from Miami's Caiocho neighborhood before the family sold the brand to Swedish Match in 1999.

We didn't talk about this last week. I did talk about this last week as a guest host somewhere. I'm a hot commodity. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You were on Abe's. You're in his clips right now. Yes. I'm almost, I think I'm too accessible.

I think that might be the problem. You don't say no to anybody. " And I said, "No, no, man. " That might be part of it, Abe.

Don't tell him. But we did talk about this. This is interesting. So I've been talking about this for about a weekend now.

So I've got some info on this. So last year, Scandinavian tobacco group, STG, the company that now owns Non-Cube and La Gloria Cabana, partnered with the Casa Carrillo factory in Los Gloriosos to create a new La Gloria Cabana made by Perez Carrillo. It launched as regular production vitilos. But earlier this year, SGT is a new limited edition vitilo.

The La Gloria, Giovanna, Los Gloriosos, Salomo. Wait, are you saying Vitilo? Yeah, Vitilo. Instead of Vitola?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right.

Just checking. Like the rest of the line. I thought it was a word I didn't know. No.

Like the rest of the line, this Vitola uses Ecuadorian Abano wrapper. Me too. Over a binder of Jalapa, Nicaragua fillers from the Dominican Republic, as well as Nicaragua's Condega and Jalapa regions. Unlike the rest of the line, it's limited and will only be sold at events.

99 per cigar. STG says it's now available at select events. I got one quote, though. We wanted to give the fans of the lady the chance to get even closer to her and the roots of LaGloria Cibana, says John Hakeem, brand manager for LaGloria Cibana.

Can you do his voice? I don't know John, so I don't think I can do it. I had some accents in the food stuff for you, but we skipped it. We skipped that.

We had a chess player one. Yeah, I saw that. Can we make them French? Oui, oui.

So, cool. Cool. Real cool. Event only.

Big size. Yeah, big cigar. Good price point. $14.

Yeah. Yeah, it's bad that that's the average price now, $14. When I think Salomon, I always think around 20 bucks, because that's where we were at with LFD when we did the Salomona special editions and things. Right.

Whenever, personally, whenever I see something below $20 on the Salomon, I instantly, personally think, good deal, I don't know how that translates with consumers, but I think probably $15 for that price point for that big cigar would probably be nice. Yeah, the BDP came out at $14, everybody complained it was too expensive. Really? Now it's average price.

Yeah, oh yeah, great. I remember, geez, remember when Alec Bradley launched that cigar into orbit during the PCA show, they did it with like the Maloof Brothers, they own the casino there, so they launched, it was the first cigar that went into space, it was called the Mundial. Wait, wait, wait. That was the first one I won in the space?

Yeah. So it was $15. And when it came out, I was on it, too. I was like, man, this is crazy.

They're going to have, they're going to be competing against Padrón. Like, what are people going to do? Now, 15 bucks is like a really nice sweet spot. Right.

I thought Fratello had the first. I don't know if Fratello has ever actually gone to space. Yeah, he's an accountant. I don't know.

We've talked about this many times. Yeah, it pisses me off. Fratello wasn't around when the Mundial existed started. They launched it on a little rocket, like a little, like a model rocket, essentially.

They launched it not into orbit, but legally into space, and then it came back down, they did it in Vegas, yeah, it was a pretty cool thing. Oh, it came back down? Yeah. So it did stay.

So they were like the modern-day Elon Musk, or the old-day Elon Musk. I wouldn't go that far, they launched a cigar on a little friggin' bottle rocket into the atmosphere. Into the atmosphere, the outer edge of the atmosphere. A little army man came down with it, close to the green.

Yeah, with a parachute on it, it was taped to his feet. Nice. Hey, I'm Alec. Sorry.

Arturo Fuente, Maison Charon, partner for 50,000 Spirit of Artisans trunk. Arturo Fuente and Maison Charon, the brand for Charon Barber, have partnered on a new limited edition humiter trunk that comes with exclusive cigars, accessories, and it even comes with a bottle of Louis XIII Cognac. Wow. It's all part of a new limited edition $50,000 trunk called Spirit of Artisans.

$50,000. The Spirit of Artisans. What other cigars that come with it? I understand the Louis whatever thing.

24 inches. That's the trunk. It's little, like desktop humidor size. Yeah, it's like an old school treasure chest.

Two feet, yeah, like an old school treasure chest. It's made by Maison Charon, using French calfskin leather for the exterior of the red Alcatara on the inside. There are two front doors and one back door. Shut the front door.

Of course it is. It's French. As well as a top lid that opens. It does open.

Look, it opens. When they are open, they unveil two compartments. Two of the areas hold branded glassware. One holds the bottle of Louis, and the bottom compartment has two removable wooden boxes.

One is a 10-count humidor, the other houses branded lighter, cutter, cigar, pick, and ashtray. The inside of the humidor uses Spanish cedar, while the outside is made of bird's eye maple and marquetry. Each trunk comes with 50 cigars, though the other 40 are shipped in a separate box. So the 10-count humidor will come with the cigars.

Holds 10 and then they send you 40. The cigar is branded as a Fuente Opus X cigars in a Churchill Vitola, with a special secondary band, limited only to 50 pieces, the first of which went on sale last week. Barber is a fashion designer from Camden, New Jersey, who became known for his leather goods, oftentimes customizing items from brands like Louis Vuitton, which attracted a celebrity audience. , Unicorn Hunters Club, is distributing the spirit of Artisan's Trunk to retailers that are interested.

So they made 50 of these? Hmm. How many of them do you think they sell? 50.

You think they'll sell all 50? Man, Fuente... Palmer, oh stop. Palmer, you're bubbling.

Yeah. Super bubbling. Fuente... Go ahead, you can keep going.

Yeah, Fuente's got, man, Fuente's got quite a following. And these luxury partners, obviously they have quite a following, but these luxury partners that they have, people spend money on this stuff. - $50,000? - Yeah, $50,000, $50,000 ones.

They do spend money. It's wild. I mean, I think they'll sell all 50, yeah, without question. Will it be instant?

I don't know, but he's done a lot of work in the Middle East, so I think you'll have some that go over there, here nationally in the US, Unihorn Country Club is gonna distribute them. That's a group that's founded by the gentleman that owns Napa Cigars, Napa Valley, so they'll probably move those through there, through interested retailers, so you know, if somebody wants it, they distribute it through there, boom, everybody makes a little bit of money, I think mostly you'll see some of this international high-end places, and who knows if they're all made, I want to see all 50 in person. Oh, I gotcha, yeah, they might just say they made 50. Yeah.

Because if you buy something like this, I've watched people buy luxury one-off things, you'll wait. Yeah, I think it's made to order. Yeah, you're willing to wait. Yeah, like, hey, I'll wait, yeah, hey, I want that, okay, it'll be ready in three months.

Yeah, get me one of those $50,000 things. It takes time to roll these legendary Opus X. Custom watches, bracelets, jewelry, stuff like that, like Cartier, you order some Cartier, it's not, I mean, you go in and buy something from them, but you want that special edition, hey, it'll be ready in three months. Right.

You know, or sometimes they don't know. Right. but they uh i think the fuente stuff i mean the more interesting thing is this is i thought so you got the opus x society that was doing all these luxury goods for them right so it seems like you know this is just another similar type of connection this guy's going to design unique things they're buddies and they were friends and uh you know luxury stuff the uh all the opus luxury stuff that's coming out now the real high-end limited stuff is really over the top The one they did for 9/11, the American themed one, I mean they had like eagles smoking cigars, I mean it was real eagles inside the human world, so they got some real over the top stuff, and it's connecting to that real high incline, we're not in that world, so we don't know how that stuff works. I never had a real eagle as a pet, no?

No, I mean, Phil you didn't eat one, I've heard you had them for dinner, when you were in the military. The only one I have is on my arm. That's it. I don't even have one on my arm.

I have a Sparrow. Oh, yeah. The smaller version. Right.

Smaller version of an eagle, right? Yeah, got it. So, I guess that's all we got for Cigar News. I guess the last news, we don't normally do this, but I'm here.

So, what are you guys smoking today? I don't know. You give it to me. Oh.

So, Palmer and I are smoking the Operation Gothic Serpent 30th Anniversary Edition. And in some cigar news, this cigar is actually going to drop the 30th anniversary off of that, and we're just going to call it the Operation Gothic Serpent. We have a Gothic Serpent 25th anniversary, which is what started the company back in 2018. And that was to celebrate and remember the 25th anniversary of that operation that Norm was a part of that was portrayed in Black Hawk Down.

And the 30th came out shortly after now. This one's made by Eladio Diaz. Eladio. Which is great, and it's done really well for us, it's one of our top three selling SKUs, so we had talked about dropping the 30 off and just making it the Gothic Serpent edition, just calling it the Gothic Serpent, and then every five years we'll do an anniversary edition.

And then, Phil, you were smoking. Yeah, I'm smoking that Merifel La Estancia. La Estancia. La Estancia.

Yeah, you're smoking the La Estancia. It's really hard to see though, it's gold. Do you see it? We have a what's the score, but my phone apparently has locked up.

Oh, here we go. So here we go, on to what's the score. All right, we have a what's the score. I'll read it so you guys can play.

Phil, you want to charge them? There's one behind you. Oh. And there's one behind Mr.

Carney, if it'll reach that far. Yeah, usually you have a little thing that you say. Yeah, yeah, I've got all that right here. Okay.

And then I hit the button, because you get mad at my gills, huh? Hold on. Hold on. And the button was hit, and...

All right, here's the, uh, yeah, this is, oh, like, where's the thing? He doesn't have his teleprompter, everybody, we're sorry. Yeah, I don't have the teleprompter, sorry, I'm working from, uh, other things. com?

Right. Um, right. All right, what's the score? 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 guest to the actual score wins the round. Can you read between the lines and predict? What's the score?

Nice. Today's Cigar, February 15th. The Review 2026 is by Patrick Le Greed. It's a limited edition cigar.

This is the only day that I can do this cigar. It is the Powstanie Reviews, the War Bear 2025. Oh, because Mikey's not here. Because Mikey's not here.

Yep. All right, guys, give us a score. That's the first. You first.

83. All right. Is this the infamous cigar? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, the Gran Perfecto cigar. I think it's 83. Man, was it an 83? No, he's thinking the SPC.

You're thinking the SPC. I'm playing games. I'm messing with him. Sorry.

89. All right, the cigar reviewed is the Postana War Bear 2025. It's from Nicaragua, Factory, Fabrica de Tobacco, Nicasuena, Rappers, Ecuadorian, Habano, and Mexican San Andreas, it's a barber pole, Binders, Indonesian, Filler, Dominican Republic, and Nicaraguan, it's a 5 of 7, 8 by 60, Gran Perfecto, they smoked three. Am I going first?

Yep. Ninety-three. Uh, eighty-nine. Clue number one, the Warbear 2025 delivers an enjoyable, balanced profile with notes of cream, light earth, wood, and pepper evolving gradually without making any major missteps.

The restrained complexity makes it approachable while still rewarding attentive smokers. Ninety. Eighty-nine. Clue number two, construction was impressive overall, producing thick clouds of smoke, even burn lines, and consistent The cigars transitioned in the second half, added depth, though increased body, pepper, and earthy nuances without overwhelming the experience.

90. 89. Clue number two. A reoccurring...

Oops. A reoccurring... Where'd it go? A reoccurring roughness emerged in the final third, introducing an unfamiliar and somewhat off-putting flavor that detracted from the cigars' It's extracted from the cigar's otherwise polished profile.

Additionally, two of the three samples experienced wrapper splits shortly after lighting, raising minor consistency concerns. Keep your things humidified, Patrick. Yeah, yeah, proper humidification. Right, that would have fixed that.

Right. Over or under can cause that, by the way. Right, either way. So, they didn't have it done, right?

Right. 88. 89. All right, final thought.

The Powstanie Warbear 2025 is definitely a three-act cigar, starting with a mild yet flavorful and approachable first third, adding body and intensity in the second third, and then adding a bit more in the final third, though at the expense of some of the puffs, when something funky jumps into the profile and knocks it off track for a handful of puffs. This is a cigar that gets a lot of essential lights, balance, some complexity, marked transitions, and fantastic construction to cap off the experience. If anything, I would have loved to see the cigar really blossom with its flavor and take control of my senses, something it might just end up doing with a bit of time and something I hope it does. Other than a couple of puffs in the final third, this is a very, very good cigar with some interesting aging potential and one that thinks it's worth picking up and adding to your humidor.

Thank you, Patrick. 88. That's final thought? That was the final thought.

This is your last chance. 89. Can you put the camera on Mr. Carney?

He got an 88 right on the nose. And he gets the fire. Watch out, it's hot, Carney. Why do I have so many more coming out of mine?

I have no idea. Maybe he's running out of fuel on that one. This is epic. Isn't that nice?

When did this start? Normally, they're only behind Michael. He won't let anybody else use him. Yeah, and he doesn't win a lot, so you don't see it a lot.

Yeah, so when he's not here, I split him up. Wow. I swept him last week. Yes.

So that's why I didn't get to see it. That's why you didn't see it, right? Because he won't allow me to move them when he's here. Yeah, that's amazing.

No, thank you for that. Only show with pyrotechnics. Really? Oh, yeah.

That's right. All right, anybody got anything else? uh no this cigar is this is good i like it i'm enjoying this one uh what was the one we had last time you were on we didn't talk about that america 250 last week that was good too coming out at the end of the month uh we're basically already sold out on it with the pre-sale which is nice so we're probably going to make some more of them the first 250 were numbered boxes with a certificate of authenticity it's signed by norm huden and don young so we had that this is dominican so the one we had last week's nicaraguan um we got two dominican cigar offerings in the huden young So this is a beautiful smoke, I enjoyed it a lot, it's nice, we're going to be keeping around, it was made as a limited edition originally, and it's going to become a regular item but. And I did bring you guys here as a special gift to end the day, I brought two special challenge coins for you from Hooten Young, we've been doing the show together here, and now I'm going to bring you guys here as a special gift to end the day, I brought two special challenge coins for you from Hooten Young, we've been doing the show together here, and now I'm going to bring you guys here as a special gift to end the day.

I brought two special challenge coins for you from Hooten Young. We've been doing the show together here, and now that Mike's gone for the day, I only had two. Yes. I got more.

We'll take care of them eventually. But I did bring these two special challenge coins from Hooten Young that we hand out occasionally to people that are friends of the brand. It's a unicorn, so on the back, it's got the Hooten Young logo and then it has a map of Mogadishu. Oh, wow.

And it has the two chopper sites where the two helicopters went down and Blackhawk down. The Olympic Hotel, if you watched the movie, that was the hotel that they had pulled that car up in front of, that had the X on the top, where they were trying to pull out the terrorist, essentially. And then it says Delta on here, which is the unit that was doing that. So it's a special coin from Hooten Young, so I brought one of these for each of you guys on the back, it's got cigars and whiskey.

So thanks for having me on as a co-host, and I enjoyed today, but there's a little parting gift for you guys as well. Thanks for always helping us out, man. Yeah, yeah, thanks for having the fireworks, man. I mean, this is what, you put on fireworks, I bring gifts.

Oh, there you go. Yep, so, that'll wrap up, that'll wrap everything I would say, but anyway, I appreciate you guys. When I watched the movie, now it means more, I mean, I haven't met Norm, but I mean, you know, I'm like this close to meeting Norm, so it is a different movie when you know the guy, you know, that goes, this is my safety. Yeah, it's really fascinating.

I joke around with Norm a little bit. He wasn't heavily involved in like the creation of the movie. His character obviously played a serious role in it, so I think a lot of people think, oh man, he was in the movie, but Eric Bana played his character, so I always joke around, I go, Norm, is your Australian accent as good as Eric Bana's Texas accent? And he's like, no, I don't think it's that good, but Eric Bana was the one who played him in the movie, so it was unique.

But now you guys have a little coin to commemorate that and to say thank you for the day. Thank you very much, Jim. All right, guys. Good day.

That's all we got. That's it for episode 552 from my front. You know, like and subscribe. All right, guys.

Like and subscribe. Thank you very much for watching. And we'll see you tomorrow. Bye.

Goodbye.

Show Notes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

POWSTANIE CIGARS ANNOUNCES THE 250TH AMERICAN ANNIVERSARY WAR BEAR

The Same Great Cigar. Commemorative Collector's Packaging.

DELAND, FL — June 2026 — Powstanie Cigars is proud to announce the release of the 250th American Anniversary War Bear, a special commemorative edition celebrating America's 250th anniversary with limited-edition collector's packaging honoring the spirit of independence, resilience, and sacrifice.

Inside the commemorative packaging is the exact same blend that made the 2025 War Bear one of the year's most talked-about releases. Fans of the original can expect the same exceptional smoking experience, now presented in a patriotic package designed specifically for collectors and enthusiasts looking to mark this historic milestone.

The 250th American Anniversary War Bear features the original 2025 War Bear blend:

Vitola: 5 7/8 x 60 Perfecto

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano & Mexican San Andrés Barber Pole

Binder: Indonesian

Fillers: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua

Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A.

In keeping with the spirit of preserving the original release, the cigar will feature the exact same band used on the 2025 War Bear, allowing smokers to immediately recognize the iconic identity of the blend. The only difference is the addition of Commemorative Collector's Packaging, created exclusively for this historic 250th anniversary release.

The commemorative packaging showcases the beauty and uniqueness of natural Caracote wood, making each box a one-of-a-kind collector's piece. Actual Caracote pattern may vary.

The 250th American Anniversary War Bear is limited to just 250 commemorative boxes, with each box containing eight cigars housed in exclusive packaging designed to honor the 250th anniversary of the United States.

"We wanted to commemorate this once-in-a-generation anniversary while preserving everything people loved about the original War Bear," said Mike Palmer, National Sales Manager for Powstanie Cigars. "The blend remains unchanged, the cigar proudly wears the same band as the 2025 War Bear, and the commemorative packaging transforms it into a collector's piece worthy of this historic occasion."

The 250th American Anniversary War Bear will carry a Suggested Retail Price of $250 per box, reflecting both the limited nature of the release and its unique commemorative presentation.

Product Information:

Product: 250th American Anniversary War Bear

Manufacturer: Powstanie Cigars

Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A.

Blend: Identical to the 2025 War Bear

Band: Same band as the 2025 War Bear

Packaging: Commemorative Collector's Packaging featuring Caracote wood accents

Cigars Per Box: 8

Total Production: 250 Boxes

Total Cigars Produced: 2,000

Suggested Retail Price: $250 per Box

The 250th American Anniversary War Bear serves as both a celebration of American history and a tribute to a cigar that captured the attention of enthusiasts across the country. With only 250 boxes available, this commemorative release offers collectors and consumers an opportunity to own a piece of Powstanie history while enjoying the same War Bear experience they have come to appreciate.

For additional information, please contact:

Mike Palmer

National Sales Manager

Powstanie Cigars

Phone: 407-415-2293

Email: mikep@pospiechcigars.com

Powstanie Cigars was founded on the principle of creating premium cigars that deliver exceptional quality, consistency, and value. Produced at Fábrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A., Powstanie's portfolio continues to earn acclaim from consumers and critics alike through its dedication to craftsmanship and uncompromising standards.

About Powstanie Cigars