ACHP Episode 565 ATM Backhoe Heist

Episode Summary

Episode 565 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Sz, co-host Triple G, and returning guest Phil sorting through a technical dumpster fire — dead mic batteries, an uncharged iPad, and a new David Hasselhoffman bald-eagle mask whose nose cutout doesn't accommodate Phil's "Polish nose." The crew reads listener comments, shouts out the Real Smoke Podcast's two-year stats, plugs CHPod.com swag (buy one get one 40% off, free shipping over $100), the Patreon, the upcoming mask auction, and a giveaway for a Wings to Tsar hat only obtainable at the PCA trade show.

The off-topic segment covers Merlin the Duck — a pet duck in a Mexico jersey who became a 2026 World Cup story after FIFA barred him from the stadium in Mexico City — Phil's credentials as a self-declared "ornithologist," a $60,000 one-of-one Scrooge McDuck trading card pulled from a Whatnot pack break, a botched ATM heist in Trinidad and Tobago involving a stolen backhoe, and Mike's own real-life gas station ATM theft (chain, pickup truck, three attempts, cops who never noticed the broken glass). That leads into a discussion of Florida constitutional carry, an armed employee who defused a robbery without firing, and a slow-speed British police chase after an escaped tortoise.

Cigar news is the meat of the episode: EGM Cigars (a Swiss brand made in the Dominican Republic) expands into German distribution; Ceniza Fina's new Connecticut Broadleaf line begins shipping — a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over a Mexican binder with Piloto Cubano, Criollo 98, HVA and Jalapa Nicaraguan filler, made at Tabacalera La Isla in Santiago, offered in four box-pressed sizes from $13–$14, with notes of cocoa, dark chocolate, molasses, espresso and black pepper. Mike notes it's the brand's boldest blend from Sam and Rosie Lopez of Fine Ass Cigars and is distributed by Poshik Distribution. Macanudo adds 6x60 soft box-press Gordos in its Blue, Green and White color series as Two Guys Cigars exclusives, prompting a real discussion of Gordo vs. Toro vs. Corona Gorda demand, perceived value, and whether store-exclusive programs are smart brand building. My Father Cigars ships the third biannual Le Bijou 1922 100 Años Limited Edition — all-Nicaraguan, two coronas at $14, limited to 1,922 boxes per size, a nod to the 1922 birth year of José Garcia.

The show closes with a tangent on whether cigar bands "read" Northern, Southern, or international (Ashton vs. Fuente vs. Davidoff vs. RoMa Craft), and a round of "What's the Score" on Brooks Whittington's Half Wheel review of the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist Love Story — a 4 1/4 x 46 perfecto from AJ Fernandez's factory at $9.92 — which scored a 90.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Mask reveal, swag and listener comments
   Phil unboxes David Hasselhoffman's July bald-eagle mask (nose cutout not included), and the crew covers CHPod swag, the Patreon, the mask auction, and a PCA-exclusive Wings to Tsar hat giveaway.
2. 02
   Merlin the Duck and the World Cup
   A pet duck in a custom Mexico jersey becomes a 2026 World Cup story after FIFA denies him stadium entry, sparking Phil's turn as resident duck expert.
3. 03
   The $60,000 Scrooge McDuck card
   A Whatnot pack break yields a graded one-of-one Disney card worth $60K on paper — and nobody willing to buy it.
4. 04
   The backhoe ATM heist
   Would-be thieves in Trinidad and Tobago try to yank an ATM out of a wall with a backhoe and become memes instead, leading to Mike's story of a real ATM theft at his family's gas station.
5. 05
   Florida constitutional carry and a tortoise police chase
   Talk turns to more people carrying since constitutional carry passed, a robbery defused without gunfire, and a British officer's slow-motion pursuit of an escaped tortoise.
6. 06
   EGM Cigars enters Germany
   The Swiss brand, made in the Dominican Republic, adds German distribution as brands continue expanding into global markets.
7. 07
   Ceniza Fina Connecticut Broadleaf ships
   Full blend details, sizes, pricing and flavor profile on Ceniza Fina's boldest line yet, plus who's distributing it to retailers.
8. 08
   Macanudo color series Gordos and store exclusives
   Blue, Green and White join the 6x60 Two Guys Cigars exclusive program, prompting a discussion of Gordo demand, perceived value, and whether retailer exclusives build brands.
9. 09
   My Father Le Bijou 1922 100 Años 2026
   The third biannual limited edition returns in two coronas at $14, limited to 1,922 boxes per size, with the story behind the number.
10. 10
    What's the Score: Romeo y Julieta Midnight Twist Love Story
    Guessing Brooks Whittington's Half Wheel score on the AJ Fernandez-made perfecto, which improved dramatically after two years of rest.

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, all you beautiful people out there, here we go. Three, two, one, action! Ready? Are you ready?

Yeah, that's ready. This is smackety-smack. Smackety-clacked. Welcome to a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where cigars are just the starting point.

Join me, Mike Sz, with my co-host, Triple G. Oh. The button. Bing-bong.

Bing-bong's lit on the button pushing. And the return of Phil from his latest movie, full of semen, as we dive into the latest of our industry news. Phil, let me see Phil. Phil, before I get any further, before I go into further into this highlight, it is officially July 3rd, and since you're back on the show, our man, David Hasselhoffman, he honored you with a new mask for the month of July.

If you could open the box, go to you and open the box next to you, because you haven't seen it yet. Go ahead, come on, don't be shy. You're gonna like it, I really do think my brother's correct. It's pretty badass.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Open, let's go. Show it to the people, the people want to see. Boom.

This one is actually pretty good. Yeah, exactly. It's a bald eagle thingy. All right, hold on, let me get back.

America! All right, so jump to me and you can put on your... Your new mask. Yes.

Yeah, so where were we? Oh yes, Full of Semen, his latest movie. 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 entertaining conversation, expect honest opinions, plenty of laughs, and a few unexpected detours along the way.

For today's stories, we have: a duck named Merlin, some backhoe use, a yearbook prophecy, and a tortoise police chase. Oh, and of course, there's some cigar news. We talk about cigars. It's Cigar Houses Podcast.

But before we get any further, Triple G, tell us, how do we get some of that CH Pod swag? You're supposed to put it on me. I'm supposed to say I don't know. Oh great, I got two of these guys today.

You're not very good at the buttons. Oh, whatever. Yeah. I don't know, how do you get some of that great Cigar Hustler podcast?

Oh, we can't invite you back if you don't know. Phil, tell us how you get some of that CHPod swag. All right, check this out, fellas. com, where when you buy one, you get one, 40% off.

That's right. Free shipping over $100. That's right. And maybe soon you might see a new t-shirt.

That's right, a new t-shirt's gonna be dropping soon. com for us cigar hosters podcast good stuff there if you pay for the whole year you get 10% off and I guess I guess I'm gonna have to keep that up. I can't carry the comments as well. Oh, yeah.

I don't have any comments. My beard is getting in the way of the mic. I gotta talk like this. Let's see here.

Some comments from the previous show. Here's a comment real quick about the mask. As you can see, my nose is super smushed, Mr. Hasselhoff.

I told you that was going to be a problem with it. It's a bit of a design flaw. It's very pretty, but it's not going to be comfortable on the nose because there's no cavity inside the mask for the nose. Yeah.

And my friend over there, Phil, this is Phil, Phil has got a bulbous nose. I do, well, yeah, I got the Polish nose, you know, the big honky. It's a big honky nose. The big honky nose.

Yeah. For the next one, David, maybe cut out the nose. You might be able to hit that portion of it with a Dremel, to be honest with you. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Sounds like a great job. All right, let's get into this. At Jace1911, so many lights in this episode. Bright lights, white lights, highlights, headlights.

Oh, yeah, a little weekend. A lot of lights. We had Matt Boofy in the house. Nice.

Yep. Brett Mercurio says the pyrotechnics look better with the fall brick background. The problem is I'm not there all the time. Last time, buddy.

That's where Phil normally sits. I like, I like his style. And he does not get the pirate techniques. He does not get them at all.

Yeah, you just get them. My headphones are tweaking again. Uh-oh. Michael Z, Cigar Guy, 55, two words for Palmer, spray tan.

Was he wearing the overalls? Yes. I briefly saw it on the cameras. Yes.

He was wearing the overalls. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. " Oh, mom's back guys, Ruckus Unchained, Boofie was the perfect guest for Palmer in that outfit.

You know what, you're 100% correct, we couldn't have planned that better. And we didn't plan it at all. So that worked out, it was like the universe provided for us. However, his wife and kid were in the room, so you got, you had slightly turned down boofy.

Yes. You didn't have as sexually aggressive. Full volume boofy. Yeah.

Yeah, I was expecting with the overalls, it would be super aggressive. " That's the, like the six-fanned aircraft for flying thingy. Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.

You would think, I mean, he's a Marine, he would know, but, you know, we have no idea. They just rode on him. They just rode on him? Yeah.

Okay. No, didn't. Feel free to add into this conversation, boys, at any time. David Hasselhoffman, 4727, the birthday, former, yeah, yesterday's birthday.

Yeah, yesterday's birthday boy and mask creator of the show, thanks for the birthday shout out, yes, I got yours and BDP's message and I appreciate the love, yeah, pleasure, I don't have his number, but happy birthday, happy birthday, yes, and thank you for the mask, and CW6383 also said, how many boxes did Booth check off in the first five minutes, yeah, it's true, he pelted them out, he's good at that. Yeah. Yeah, he is. Let's see.

Oh, and Real Smoke talked about some stuff on his views, even though it's a little bit older. He said, "You said a while back, you like it when pods talk about their stats. We were too new to have any stats in. " That's pretty good, man.

3,800 watch hours per 365 days. I know, rookie numbers. Hey, you know what, dude? You know what, dude, those numbers aren't bad, man.

You guys are tracking well, you guys provide good content and a good show. Keep doing what you're doing. - What show is this? - Real Smoke Podcast.

- Real Smoke Podcast. - Yeah, they're good dudes. Oh, he also said we have a bunch of shorts that are getting no views and one will get a bunch, it's odd lately. I enjoy you all talking shop on the pod, it's kinda cool.

Yeah, man, I mean, look, this is our life. I don't, you know, I think that one of the things One of the things that I've learned in this industry, and I'm sure it's blanketing across many industries, is that a lot of people smoke and mirror things and they try and over-personify what they are and what they're doing and it's really easy to read through it. Once you kind of see the signs, you know that, oh, that guy's full of shit, right? So, that's just not me, that's not us, that's not who we are, I don't believe in that.

And to be honest, even if I were to convince myself that lying was the right thing to do, I wouldn't be able to keep it straight. I would just mess it up some other time. So, if you work, if you're honest and you tell people where you're at, you know, iron will sharpen iron, the right people will be in your life and you'll continue to build and grow and get better with them. Wouldn't you agree?

One hundred percent. As a matter of fact, I've gotten so jaded about it because you hear so many people inflating who they are incorrectly, that the moment that I hear somebody talking well about themselves, I almost automatically disconnect from the conversation. Right. Because I've seen it happen so many times.

Yeah, it's wild. " Okay. Right. You know, by the way, I was talking with our developer today.

My developer reached out, because he's kind of been uninformed. - Oh, poor job. - Yeah, and he's quite fascinated by all of the things that I'm doing. He's like, so how did you do, like, did you hire somebody else?

I'm like, no, I didn't, man, like, you've always been good to me. Why would I, why would I do that? - Right, I just started doing it on my own. - Yeah, I just started, and he's like, okay, so how'd you do the data?

And I said, I did X, Y, Z. I go, is that correct? And he goes, yeah, that's, yeah, that's right. So then I said to him, hey, let me help you.

- Right. Let me show you how to use this tool so that you can be faster. Right, so what you can do now is you can take your role and 10X it. Sure, he could actually have 10 robots running at once.

Right. Absolutely. Yeah, so we'll see where that goes, man. I hope to help him.

It's gonna go to him making more money and you never speaking to him again. You know what, dude, I'm perfectly okay with that, but at the end of the day, that guy can never speak ill of me. You know, I always did the right thing by him, and you know, and when there was a change in the market space, because I know that he's a good dude and I know that he works hard, I did everything I could to help him flourish in that same arena. 100%.

If he doesn't make that pivot, he's dead in the water. It's all on him. Yeah. Yeah.

For sure. So, if you want to hear your comment, settle out on the show, just comment below, and there's potential for me to read out loud. Tomorrow, wait, what day is this drop? This drop's Friday.

Today's the last day to comment on our show for a chance to enter to win into next week. We're giving away one of those Wings to Tsar hats. You have the opportunity to get one. You cannot buy this hat anywhere.

You can only get it from the PCA show, whether you're a retailer or a media person, so that's kind of cool. I'm also smoking this. We're going to cover this in a little bit. Ooh.

Let me get it. Let me get it. Almost. There we go.

Lower, boom. That's the new Cinezafina, Connecticut Broadleaf. It's pretty good. It's delicious.

Yeah. Sure. Okay. You ready to get on with the show, Trevor G?

Let's go. Phil? On with the show. On with the show.

All right. Story number one. Merlin the Duck, World Cup hero. So check this out.

Mexico's playing in the World Cup, and somewhere between the national anthem kickoff, this duck, A duck, literally just a duck named Merlin, shows up in a custom Mexico jersey, becomes the story nobody saw coming. This bird's got his own caretaker, Christian Gomez, and Merlin's been running Mexico City streets like he owns them, but here's where it gets good. FIFA rules would not let him in the stadium for the match. An actual duck has stricter entry requirements than some of these players.

" Merlin ended up being a bigger story than the final score of the game. That's the 2026 World Cup for you. A duck in a jersey outplaying international diplomacy. So, have you heard anything about this Merlin the Duck?

I've heard nothing of this. What about you, Phil? Have you heard about Merlin the Duck? I've heard of this duck But I did not know that he was not allowed Into the game It was probably a good thing Why?

That stadium was On fire Yes it was Mexico playing in the World Cup They've been winning Which this hasn't happened in a while They haven't played in Mexico City The World Cup did not run through I've never been in Mexico before, until like, last time was like 78 or something like that, so these people are fired up, God forbid if somebody scores against Mexico, because people are dying, no problem is that. Really? Really? Oh, yeah.

What was the final score of the game? Did Mexico win? Yeah, I think it was 2-0. Yeah?

Yeah. Who did they play? So, I just looked up this duck. This duck does not look the way that I envisioned him.

No? He doesn't have a beak? No, I envisioned like a mallard or something like that, you know what I mean? You know the one with the like greenish type head?

Those are dirty ducks. This is an all-white duck. Yeah. It's an all-white duck.

Mallards are dirty, bro, they shit everywhere. Oh, I think all ducks shit everywhere. All ducks don't shit everywhere? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm gonna put my mask back down. This is a white duck. This is almost a swan. So, so.

It's practically a swan. Mallards are the worst ducks of them all, because they will poop anywhere, even in the water, right? Regular ducks, like the white one that you see, they're like cats and dogs, like they'll only go in an area. How was it that you're privy to that knowledge?

I had a farm. What do you mean you have a farm? I had a farm, remember? Oh, that's right, the farm, but it was, yes, I remember, you had animals that were kept on a farm.

Yeah, but I had Muscovia Ducks, I had, or Muscovia Ducks, I had Mallards, I had the white, I forget what the white ones are called. What do you call a person who is extremely intelligent about ducks? I am the king of the ducks. This duck should have been permitted into the soccer game.

Oh, hey, what would the right word be? Duck master? Duck master. - Master of Ducks.

- What do you call him? Master of Ducks, the Foul King of Duckmasters. - They just said Duckmaster. - You are the unique job.

- Phil's newest trilogy, Duckmaster. - Oh, that's a real thing, isn't it? - Yes. - What do you call an authority on ducks?

- Yes, what do you call an authority on ducks? - Phil is what it's gonna say. There is just a photo of you with the new mask. - Yeah.

- Oh, Ecuador, they played Ecuador, sorry. - They played Ecuador. Wow, no, there's a word for this, and I don't think I can pronounce it. Everybody knows I can't read.

- Oh, well, they'll screw it up because that's what Palmer does all the time. - Yeah, or smell. - Ornithologist? - Ornithologist?

- Ornithologist? - Ornithologist? - Ornithologist, perhaps? - Oh, no H in front of it.

- No, it's O-R-N-I-T-H. - Ornithologist. - Ornithologist. - Ornithologist.

- We should call him Matt Booth. I had no idea you were that much of an ornithologist. Yeah, look at you. Look at you.

You're next level. It's impressive. Thanks. That might be a duck mask he's wearing.

Mmm. I am the king of the ducks. Definitely not a flat bill. In a world of ducks, only one man can be king.

I am the ornithologist Phil. And I reign supreme with thy fowls. Wow. I love it.

I love that about you, buddy. Speaking of, oh never mind, I'll lose one, well, it's kind of really off wall. Go ahead. And?

Perfect for the show. So, did you guys know that me and Jin got into card collecting for a sec? You and who? Me and Ginger.

So, card collecting? Uh oh, you're out. Battery died? God, bummer.

I can't hear you. Most likely. So, you and Ginger collect cards like baseball cards? Yeah, like, yeah, baseball, football, like any type of, like, trading.

Pokemon? No, no, no, we don't get that. I. Joe?

No. Marvel? No. Some of that hentai shit?

No. So, but he did get into Disney cards. Ah, princesses? No.

So, you ever heard of this website called WhatNot? Of course. Yeah. Okay.

Am I working now? It's blinking red, which means the batteries are about to die. Yeah, those batteries are dead. I don't think we have backups anywhere.

So him and his girlfriend, they went on WhatNot, and they bid on card packs before you open them. They bid on a Disney one, and when they opened it, there was a Scrooge McDuck one of one, and it was like this super special card. It's worth like 60 grand. 60 dimes?

Yeah. So, but now the person on Whatnot has it, they've opened it, now they have to mail it to Ginger, right? They mailed it, they got it, there's no, like, uh, uh, uh, bins or, uh... Yeah, you gotta send it out to get graded.

Yeah, so they got it graded and everything? Right. 10 of 10. 10 of 10.

10 of 10. They got it in this, like, super big plastic case. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, I'd sell it. 60 fucking grand.

They tried to sell it to some basketball players, some NBA guys, and they wouldn't even buy it. They weren't into it. They're into, like, Pokemon. Well, if you don't have somebody to buy it, then it's not worth 60 grand.

That's exactly what I told them. Oh, shit. Right, I told them, I was like, man, you gotta find, like, a Disney, like, freak, you know? Like, those are the people.

Yeah, it's good. This is the other one. Francis and Barb like Disney. Put the two of them together.

You got 60 G's laying around? You got 60 K's under the mattress doing nothing. Well, he won't be in here buying cigars much. I mean, that's a $60,000 Scrooge.

No, but there's, dude, there's, I'm not going to say weirdos, but, you know, there's people that like Disney like that, and they'll spend, like, dumb money on stuff like that. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. It's like I was telling Mikey about a buddy, not a buddy of mine, a friend of Tia, her husband loves Guardians of the Galaxy.

That's a little bit more normal. And, like, Marvel, you know, stuff like that. Well he, it's out again. Not, not really, not when you're, uh, when you're wearing, uh, go ahead Phil, I don't want to ruin your story.

Oh yeah, you know he had the jacket of, um, of the guy from Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris Pratt? Yeah? Yeah, he was wearing his jacket and he loved it. Okay, but it's not like a, a weird jacket, it's just like a, it's like a leather, space, motorcyclist jacket.

" Yeah, yeah. Okay, so he's a little odd. - Yeah, yeah. - 100%.

- Yeah. - Okay, so, just to kind of get everybody up to speed, and I'm already bubbling. - Now you're popping now. - This is really going off the rails!

- So Palmer went out of his way to not help with anything on this podcast. - Yeah. - He left the iPad in a place where it wouldn't charge, which is something that he never does. I had to ask him specifically for some things, and the battery for the new mic, they're dead, and there's no backup plan.

- Yeah, the nose on my mask isn't cut out. - And plus, yeah, and then plus Palmer went out of his way to make sure that the nose and the mask was full. - I don't think these actions were intentional, though. These weren't malicious acts.

Perhaps it was just accidental because he was so excited about his vacation that he's on. - I don't think that's the case at all. - Okay. - I don't think that's the case at all.

I think that Palmer 100% did not help with any of this stuff, so he's like, you know, well, I guess you can't do it without me. Like, he purposely went out of his way to not, like, if this is like, if this is me, if this is like my baby, and I have to transition it off, I gotta re-change this. Everything is broken. How's that, better?

Yeah. Like, if Palmer went out of, like, if this was the thing, I'm popping again. If this thing was mine, and I had to hand it off to somebody else to handle it while I went out of town, I would make sure that everything was in line. Here's this, here's this, here's this.

So the transition was super smooth. Sure, as I would too. But do you think that the opposition of that is sabotage? You think that somebody who didn't feel that way that we do would actually intentionally sabotage the show?

I think that he purposely did not do these things so that it was a dumpster fire. Oh, wow. Yeah. Does his mic sound as loud as mine?

-I'm cracking it right now. -Because now that I had to switch over. -Check, check, check, check, check, check, check. -Do you see how yours?

-I just turned off. -No, it's cracking me. -Oh, okay. -Check, check, check, check, check, check.

-Ah, you switched me. -Yeah. -Okay. -Is that better?

-Yeah, at least now we stay on the same level. -Yeah. -All right, story one, dumpster fire. Mike has quit on us, and the iPad was left where it wasn't charging, but, you know, I still never, if you notice, I actually have the iPad, Greg, the viewers can't see this, but I have the iPad for the private lounge, the charger for it is tied into that pole, so what I did was I brought the whole thing over here, plugged it in, and then ran that wire up to it, because there wasn't a wire to power it, because it wasn't charged, wow, this is the level, we should take a photo of that and post it.

This is the level that I gotta deal with. Alright, I'm gonna post that later, so all the viewers can see, Mike Palmer's sabotage. You know what's kind of funny? Palmer's out of town today, and his favorite friend, or I believe it's actually him, iHeartBDP, did not comment on the last show.

No. Isn't that odd? He didn't have time to. Is it because iHeartBDP is flying around to North Carolina?

Yeah. You know, it's funny because like when you first mentioned it, I'm like, no, that's probably not Palmer. And the more I thought about it is that is exactly something that he would do. Right?

Yes. He is definitely that type of a trickster and he would definitely make some sort of a bogus account, just constantly give himself accolades on the show. Yeah. Yeah, Greg, has he ever played tricks on you before?

Yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah, that is bombing. So, I mean, look, like, I don't know, I feel like we give him a lot of praise.

He does a lot on this show. Oh, I love the guy. Yeah. So, like, I don't get it.

I don't get it. Whatever. Well, he's gonna get a horrible spanking when he gets home. He's really mad when I text him at 3:30 this morning.

You text him at 3:30 in the morning? Yeah, I couldn't find a file for the Preston Flag podcast. Oh, and it was about Preston's flag. It wasn't even a cigar.

I was like dude you didn't record this and then I saw it like the the time stamp had changed for whatever reason I said I found it and then he texted me back wow yeah yeah so I text him back wow so he usually puts his phone on like do not disturb at nighttime because I've tried to get in touch with him past hours and sometimes he doesn't respond well he usually gets up at like 3:00 in the morning oh does he yeah that's what it is he might have just a restriction as you Greg yeah well I mean I'm alright with that whatever all right Getting into our second story, we're already 24 minutes in, just rolling along here, just natural flowing, all the chaos and catastrophe cannot stop and derail this podcast. With the popping. That mic is going to permanently break right now. So, in Trinidad and Tobago, a crew of geniuses, and I use that term loosely, attempted what can only be described as the dumbest ATM heist in human history.

Oh. What do you think they used? In Trinidad? A duck.

They used the Mexican duck named Merlin. Phil, what do you think they used? Banana leaves. No.

Oh. No. What they used was a backhoe. A backhoe?

A backhoe. A backhoe. I'm not going to lie. I mean, that took a lot of thought process.

That will be able to lift it out of the ground. Okay. Yeah. So, they got a backhoe.

The plan was to use the backhoe to rip the cash machine right out of the wall and Yeah, the backhoe is actually probably worth more than the money that's in the H&M. That's correct. That's correct. That's correct.

But first we steal the backhoe. Right, right. Okay, so. You gotta sell the backhoe, you know, there's a lot of logistics.

That's too much work for us criminals. Yeah, yeah. The execution was absolutely catastrophically botched. Everything went wrong.

Everything. They got caught on camera, turned themselves into memes, and the whole thing became a viral sensation for all the wrong reasons. This is what happens when you watch too many movie heists, and not enough engineering tutorials. These guys became international celebrities for failing spectacularly on camera.

The backhoe probably cost more to rent than what they would have stolen. So, but if the memes went viral enough for monetization, and they made enough money to justify it. But they didn't monetize it. It could be the most genius move ever.

Well, it's not their footage. It's camera footage. 7-Eleven, yeah, yeah, yeah. sure no what's crazy is they're thinking that these guys rented the backhoe oh yeah yeah hey we like one backhoe please how many atms can this backhoe pick up statistically speaking if i wanted to rip an atm out of the wall yeah how long would this take uh my brother and i used to own a gas You wanted to get that?

- No, you're good. - Okay. My brother and I used to own a gas station, and one of the craziest days we had, we came in, we used to have an ATM in this gas station. - Yeah.

" So we looked at the camera footage, and a guy smashed his truck into the window. - Yes. Backed his truck into the gas station. Spit out his chewing tobacco.

Threw a chain around the ATM machine and floored it. It didn't pop the first time. First time the chain broke, he had to go back in, re-chain it, do it again. Chained and broke.

Alarms going off. Yeah. Alarms going off. Third time, guy went in there, set the chain, pulled it, ganked it, ripped it out of the store.

Threw it into the back of the truck, gone. I mean, get in, get out, baby. That guy was way more strategic than these gentlemen, and like, there was no panic on his face, like, he was just-- Seasoned. He knew what he was doing.

Yeah, he's seasoned. Yeah, he'd obviously been to the shop, he scouted it a few times, figured it out. This is close enough to the window for me to jack it straight out, like, how long do I need my chain to be, how long will the police be before they get there, like-- Oh, and Deltona, way longer than you need them to be. Well, the fucked up part was, dude, after, like, I would say with about 40 seconds of him pulling away, the police pull up, they put their flashlight on the store, and they don't see anything.

They don't notice that the glass is broken, and then they just drove away. Oh, God. Volusia County Detectives. That was wild, man.

It was wild. All looks good here. Yeah, everything's fine. So, you know, we showed up the next day and gone.

Yeah. Wow. Then you guys reported in. The guy was like, boss, I no see nothing.

Like, dude, there's all the glass is broke. There's ATM drug out. There's probably, you know, marks. Yeah.

On the sidewalk area by the gas. I mean, it's everywhere. Yeah. I mean, come on, bro.

So did you get it back? No, I think it was long gone. Yeah. - Oh, they never found the guy.

- So we decided to move to 24 Hours, that way we were always there, someone was always there, until one day a person came in just irate and wanting to die and went behind the counter and put a knife to one of our employees, actually a good friend of ours. - Oh, Lord. - So he actually didn't put a knife to Tater, what he did was he attempted to buy beer past hours, got upset, took his hand and stuck it inside the pocket, of his hoodie and then did like one of these deals oh he had a gun just give me the money the register now i mean clues out of context tell you that that's most likely not a gun but it could be you know i have a lot of respect for tater because he was actually armed that night right yeah and he and he didn't shoot him and he he could have shot him without a problem and it would have been justified he just calmly told the guy look man you don't want to do this like kept It's cool. Guy walked around, grabbed the beer, sat outside, popped it open, and just sat out there waiting for the cops, knowing they were coming.

Would you have been justified if you killed the guy and he had no gun on him? Yeah, because you couldn't tell that it wasn't the gun. Oh, okay. Logically, you're like, okay, he just took his hand and put it in his shirt.

There was no bulls there before. Now there is. Sure, but you wouldn't know that for 100%, right? Yeah.

Because I know if like your police officer and you shoot somebody like that, like a lawsuit could definitely come. Like they're not armed. They appeared to be armed. Yeah, 'cause normally, like-- Dudes get shot while holding a fuckin' cell phone!

What are you talking about, man? Yeah, there's video footage of this guy going around the back and approaching him. Yeah, I mean-- He could've justifiably taken that kid's life. And this is the state of Florida, bro.

Right. That would've been a wrap. That would've been enough for us. Speaking of that, with constitutional carry, I am seeing more and more people carrying.

It is wild. Like outside, like open carry? No, no, these are people that are concealing their weapon, but they're buying very large firearms and carrying them with a huge bulge, because you know what to look for if you've ever carried a weapon, where it goes, you know what I mean? Do you think that that's happening more now, or maybe you're just identifying it?

No, no, it's definitely happening more now because it's easier, right? You've still got to get a concealed weapon. No, you don't. No, yeah, you don't have to do that anymore.

In order to conceal, you don't need it? " And I'm like, "You're 40 some odd years old. Why? You've never wanted a firearm before in your life.

" And then it clicked, because it's easier, right? And that's gonna be the mentality of everybody in the state. Now I don't need to go take a class, I don't have to go through a process, I can just walk in. We still have the three day cool off period, right?

- Right. - Wait for that. - Unless you have your concealed. - Right, pick up my firearm, throw it in my waist, and just walk around.

I'm always strapped when I hit the club. - Wasn't there an issue though, with that cool off period, with you having, like, I thought there was a-- - So yes, they are fighting it, because technically, If you're a constitutional carry state, there shouldn't be a cool off period either. That's wild. Right.

Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. I wonder how much crime is going to go up.

Because the three days is infringing upon the right to bear arms. I don't, I don't think that, I don't think you see a crime go up. You think you see it go down? No, no, I don't think so at all.

An armed society is a polite society. Correct. That's exactly what I was going to say. Yeah.

Because you don't want, you don't want- Even in the swamp. Even in the swamp, baby. The Lawless Swamp. All right, I'm going to skip this story.

A guy wrote in a yearbook that Nixon six and then six years later, he's like a prophet, which is amazing. Whatever. Yeah. A prophet.

Everybody's just all about this dude who wrote Nixon six. Whatever. He should have put some money on it. Yeah.

I will tell you about the tortoise, though. Oh. Okay. In England, in Hunting Dunshire, a police officer spots an escaped tortoise trying to cross And, I mean, what do you do?

You can't just leave a tortoise in the street. So, she engages in what police are calling a contender for the world's slowest police foot chase ever. A tortoise moving at maximum two miles an hour, a trained law enforcement officer in full gear, pursuing a shelled reptile at speeds that would embarrass a garden snail. This is peak British policing, all protocol, zero urgency.

The tortoise had a better chance of committing a crime and getting away, And getting away than this chase had been of being exciting. Somewhere, a desk sergeant is filing this under most pointless pursuit on record. Only in England can you have a foot chase where the suspect is literally slower than a walking pace. So, was it a big tortoise?

I mean, I know how you feel about tortoises. That's why I wanted him to pull this article, you know? Yeah. You have Shredder at your house, which makes no sense.

No, it makes complete sense. No, it makes no sense. My wife wanted a fucking turtle. We got a turtle.

We got a tortoise. Excuse me, tortoise. Wait, wait, you named your tortoise Shredder? Actually, I did name the tortoise, yeah.

That's sick, Greg. What? I thought it was... Master Shredder is...

You should go to you. Master Shredder is not a tortoise. Right. He's a rat.

Wait, Shredder? No. What are we doing here? No, Shredder is a bad guy.

No, Shredder's a bad guy. Tortoise's name is Shredder because it is the villain against the tortoises. Yeah. That's the joke.

But they're turtles. They're not tortoises. Okay, whatever. They've got a shell in their reptile.

They need heat. Similar species. You're obviously not an ortho-apologist or something. You're not a turtle-apologist.

You're not a tortoise-apologist. Yes, we have a tortoise. And actually, the tortoise just got a new home. I picked up a new, bigger enclosure for the tortoise.

That's lovely. It outgrew. Yeah, it was actually lovely. It outgrew.

It was a surprise for the wife. Some women like flowers. Some women like chocolate. I bring home my wife a new cage for the tortoise, and she loves me.

And she steals your food. Does he ever get out? Actually, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl. She lets it like roam on the patio when we're out there smoking cigars.

You know who would know if it's a boy or a girl? Yeah. No, Jay. No, Jay.

Yeah. Jay? Yeah, he's a professional turtle. Mikey doesn't know.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's up, meow? So unfortunately-- Jay is a regular customer at our Cigar Hustle store upstairs.

Yeah. And unfortunately, he believes that a bobcat got into his tortoise enclosure. Like, he had a lot of them, like waterfalls, pretty stuff. He's down to like four, because something got in there and just destroyed them.

A bobcat? He thinks it was. He said it had to be something big, because the barrier wall was moved in such a fashion. I mean, I guess it could be a bear, too, but it definitely wasn't a raccoon.

No raccoon was moving that barrier wall. And that barrier wall. Yeah, some of these raccoons are gangsters, bro. Gangsters.

Yeah, city coons. Sorry. Yeah, it's crazy now that we're a constitutional carry state, all the raccoons are armed. Yeah.

Because it's easy. They don't have to fill out the paperwork. They just walk in. Yeah, with magnums.

Yeah, and they'll just say, "Hey, you know, I'm a Floridian, give me the pistol. I'll take this, and then, what do you got in the back dumpster? Yeah. Anything good?

Yeah, let me take it or I'll take it. Okay, all right, moving on. Now it's time for Cigar News. Oh.

EGM Cigars adds German distribution. Are you going to do the voice? What? No.

EGM Cigars, a Swiss brand whose products are made in the Dominican Republic, is now available at stores in Germany. That's pretty much the story. Nice. You know, our boys at Creekside like the EGM cigars, they're fans.

But now they're in Germany. What does EGM stand for? Eggs, gluten, and magnesium. Egg, gluten, magnesium cigars.

They're a Swiss brand. Economic growth model. Economic growth model. Yeah, it's an economic growth model.

Make sense? Are you excited? Isn't Germany where your bar is located there, Phil, that you like? Do I have a Barlar?

Yeah, it's one of your, it's like the number one, nevermind. This must have been something when I wasn't here. No, no, this is the thing that we always made fun of you not too long ago, but we got too dark and too deep, and we started to upset our listeners, so we're walking it back. Yeah, sometimes you guys get a little too into it.

Yeah, that's fair. So yeah, so yeah, EGM, there you go. Germany. Germany.

The big story. There's a lot of things you're seeing in the industry. People are expanding into different global markets. Yeah.

Have you smoked one of these? I don't think I've smoked an EGM, to be honest. Maybe I will when I'm at Creekside, July 9th, up in Ohio, if you want to come and hang out for a little bit. Oh, that soon?

Yeah. I'm taking Frontier. Yeah, we discussed this. We tried to figure out a way not to do that.

Yeah. Even I am like, mm. Oh, God. I went to Mikey, I'm like, just spend the extra money.

It's okay. We can figure it out. He's like, no. It's not about the money.

It's about the time and the availability. Like, it's nonstop, and I can, you know. I thought you said you never fly them. I don't.

I don't. I don't. I considered spirit. Why did you just send Palmer?

Which is almost the size. And even though they're non-existent, I still considered them. Even though they're gone. I'm like, spirit on the table?

No, I think spirit's worse than Frontier, to be honest. Really? Yeah. We had a bad experience with Spirit.

Do you remember that? I thought it was Frontier that we had a bad experience. No, no, it was Spirit. You booked it with Spirit.

com or some of these friggin' travel sites. And when we got there, like, oh, sorry, no bags. You're past the bag point of us taking bags. Right, yeah.

But we're 45 minutes from our flight. The plane hasn't even landed here yet. Yeah, like, what are we doing? Like, nope, sorry.

Like, oh, we'd like, okay, so how do we get a refund? Like, bah! Refund? That money's gone.

Yeah. Retainer. We flew a completely different airline that time. Yeah, I just jumped on United and got jumped on the app.

Boom. I'm like, all right, we're on the next plane. Let's get out of here. So, okay.

The big one for today, Ceniza Fina's Connecticut Broadleaf begins shipping. And we know this because they're upstairs. Because Steve is upstairs putting them in boxes right now. A ton of them.

Ceniza Fina Cigars has begun shipping its new Connecticut Broadleaf line to retailers, bringing its portfolio to three lines as it joins the Corojo and the Connecticut lines. The blend features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Mexican binder, and a filler that contains Piloto Cubano, Criollo 98, HVA, and tobaccos from Nicaragua, Jalapa region. The company calls the Connecticut Broadleaf the brand's richest, darkest cigar to date, in a notable contrast to the mellow Connecticut line it introduced last year. It is, this is a totally different blend for them, this is something that I think helps solidify their portfolio as far as taste and spectrum, and I'm very excited about this for Sam and Rosie of Fine Ass Cigars.

This is good. Yeah. The Connecticut line, it introduced last year, it added the profile is marked by cocoa, dark chocolate, sweet molasses, espresso, and black pepper undertones, we spent years learning what our cigars, our cigar smokers reach for, and a lot of them kept asking us to go bolder, said Sam and Rosie Lopez, they said that together, in a quote, they, they talk, they spoke at the same time, and that's how it was both of them. Well, they just finished each other's sentences.

Yeah, the Connecticut Broadleaf is our answer. It's the boldest we've put our name on. There's now a Ceniza Fina for everyone's taste. 5x56, and Toro 6x52.

That's the one I'm smoking right now. Retail is between $13 and $14 per cigar. Here's the big one. Here's the thing that everybody wants to know.

Who is distributing this cigar? And that would be Poshik. Oh! Poshik Distribution.

If you're interested, if you're a retailer and you want to carry this cigar, I know that people are asking for it. Email Mike P at Poshik Cigars, where he is just kind of hanging out, doing nothing for the next four days. He might not get back to you. He might, who knows, if he doesn't, then just comment below that he didn't respond to you and I will address it full on.

That would be awesome if the person that we think is Palmer reaches out to Palmer to get some of them and then he doesn't respond, then he makes a comment on the show about him not responding. It's iHeartBDP, but how would he do that? It's himself. If it is himself.

" That is incredible. Yeah, it's never gonna. Order got here three days before I ordered it. Yeah, it's never gonna say anything bad.

But right now, I heard BDP seems to be on a hiatus. Yeah. I'm sure he'll swoop in later. Okay, Makadif, Makadif.

Makadif. Makadif. Makalif Blue. Makadif, Makadif.

Geez. Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta. High hole silver. Makalif is adding blue, green, and white Gordos McAuliffe Cigars is adding three more soft box-press Gordos in its color series, and as with the previous two blends in the same Batola, the cigars are only being sold at one retailer.

Two Guys Cigars, a retail chain in New Hampshire, New Hampshire, is expanding its portfolio of exclusive 6x60 Gordos from McAuliffe Cigars. Earlier this year, McAuliffe Cigars sent Two Guys 6x60 Box Press Gordos for its McAuliffe Black and Red Lines. Next Thursday, July 9th, where I'll be at Creekside in Ohio, Two Guys will have three more color series blends to sell in the Vitola. McAuliffe is adding the 6x60 size for its blue, green, and white blends, all of which will be exclusive, again, to Two Guys.

Half Wheel, this is very redundant. The redundancy department. - So, I have a question. - Yes.

- How is the six by, or how is the 60 ring gauge tracking? 'Cause I noticed this year, that is the huge thing. - It's not necessarily the huge thing, it's always kind of been common. I would say that you're, you know, as far as sizes and demand go, I would say that it goes Toro, Robusto, and then you start to see a deviation.

You see Corona Gorda, which is usually more for the size for your cigar enthusiast, a person who's looking for specific flavor profiles and tastes. And then there's your Gordo, right? Your Gordo has a tendency to be the consumer who just needs that big cigar, right? There's a perceived value with it.

Correct. Because the amount of money that it costs up against a Toro is not that much more, and visually it seems like you are getting a lot more. Right. Okay.

So people have a tendency to buy that. So I think that you'd have to go back into detail, and you'd have to ask specifically retailers or manufacturers as far as what they sell more of. And I think you would see a huge deviation there from like volume of sales, like people who buy, who sell value cigars at that 660 price point, those probably sell more than somebody who specializes in specific flavor profiles and complexity, they probably sell more Corona Gordas, if that makes sense. Yeah, I know it does.

So yeah, the McAuliffe Blue incorporates a Mexican San Andreas Sumatra seed wrapper and Ecuadorian Habano binder and filler tobaccos in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Wow, the McAuliffe Green is made with a Brazilian Marafina wrapper covering a Mexican San Andreas and Negro binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. The McAuliffe White features a Connecticut seed wrapper covering a Connecticut broadleaf binder and a filler blend of tobaccos grown in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The cigars are made at the McAuliffe Cigars as a factory in Nicaragua Where there are pylons Lots and lots of pylons Pylons Check out these pylons Not like Dylon Two guys Two guys is one of two retailers that have received exclusive color series lines In late 2024 The McAuliffe released a soft box press Toro in its black blend As an exclusive for Smoke-In based in South Florida Followed by soft box press Toros in its blue and red lines for the same store last year.

So, I mean, you see this a lot. You see brands particularly building towards a retailer and catering towards them. I think that there are pros and cons to it. Do you think that this is a good tactical move for McAuliffe, Greg?

Yeah, I mean, I like it. I think that they're, first of all, Two Guys is a really, really good retailer, right? So I'm sure that they move a bit of weight, right? And a sweetheart of a guy.

Yeah. So giving them a leg up and an opportunity for a store exclusive is going back to, like what we were discussing the last time I was here, you know, a brand that gives you the tools that you need to help build business together, right? Right. And that's definitely one of those tools.

And that's, and it's proven with them, like two guys puts in the work, right? And they've established a relationship with McAuliffe, so it's probably in the best interest for both parties for them to do that. Yeah. Yeah.

- What about you, Phil? How do you feel about this? - You know, to be honest, to be honest, I mean, I think it is a good move for McAuliffe as, like you guys said, I mean, two guys definitely can move weight. I feel like, for me, McAuliffe is kind of like a brand that's just been kind of sitting there.

Like, they haven't really moved a lot since the whole Mickey Pegg thing, all that breakup thing. But I think this is a good move for them. I think this is better than what they were doing before. - Yeah, well, you know, listen, I don't know a lot about McAuliffe, I don't smoke it, per se, but I will say that you have noticed that they are always attempting to try and grow and figure out ways to fill the gaps and try and get better.

I mean, owning their own factory and running their own product, that's definitely a bold move. That isn't something that you see commonly in this industry. And then, you know, working with some of the some of the good retailers in this industry is definitely going to be beneficial for them long term. Now, I mean, there's other things to consider.

They're going to have to provide a great product there. It's going to have to be appealing. It's going to have to be in the right price point. All of those things, Salesforce.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on. However, I think that working with with Garofalo and two guys is is definitely a smart move. Who do you think sells more? McAuliffe, Two Guys or Smokin?

From the limited amount of information that I have about both retailers on the surface, I think that Abe sells more cigars. But that's not what I'm asking. Which one sells more of this brand in particular? McAuliffe only, Two Guys or Smokin?

I think by de facto, it would be Abe. You think it would be Abe, Mr. Smokin? What about you, Phil?

I think McAuliffe's more of a northern brand so probably two guys. I think it's two guys. Yeah. I think it's two guys.

And it's not even online as much as it is in store, to be honest. I think that Dave has great systems for that as far as, you know, how he builds and develop things with his employees. And when a brand becomes a focal point for them, I think that they do it extremely well. So I think that it'll be that if I was picking the two in this exact scenario, I would I would choose Garofalo, two guys.

Yeah. I mean, demographics different, right, too? I mean, Smokin is down south, right? Yes.

In Miami area. So, I mean... Orton Beach, the north. State of Florida.

Oh, okay. Well, I mean, they're probably smoking more stuff that's relevant down there. You know, Espinosa, you know, Espinosa, probably Rodriguez, all that stuff that's down there, right? Rodriguez.

Isn't he down there? I mean, that's way out of left field. Rodriguez? Well, yeah, but doesn't he come from down there, I thought?

You sure? Okay. I don't know. I mean, I understand Espinosa.

Like, I could see that. Well, I'm just speaking of brands that are from down south. Okay. Yeah.

And then up north would be... Like Padron? Yeah. Are they from Miami?

Do you see how, like, do you see the difference there between... He can't see anything. anything could we go yeah i'd like to see phil's face yeah because of the nose this thing is positioned in such a fashion where his eyes are behind the mask he sees nothing at this point yeah so pushing the buttons i'm great at yeah he doesn't even know who's actually he's putting up on the screen at this point no i've actually missed pressed it a couple times because i can't see the freaking buttons but yeah no up north you got more like uh uh what's that one metrop you. Metropolin?

Metropolis. Metropolis. What's that brand? Talking about Nat Sherman?

Nat Sherman, sorry. They made the Metropolin. Metropolin? No, but you're not saying the word correctly.

Yeah. Well, how do you say the word? Yeah, what's the word? I can't think of the name of the brand right now.

It's called the Metropolitan. Metropolitan. Yeah, like the ice cream. Three people in this room.

One of them's in the cigar industry. But they have more northern brands. Yeah. Yeah.

That's true. Isn't McAllis Texas based? I feel like they look like a northern brand. What makes something look northern or look southern?

Just the classic, the classic band. I don't know. The Yankee style. Yeah.

Not so Confederate. What? What are we doing? So, wait a minute.

Hang on a second. Okay. So, let's take the band of Pastaña, right? Based off of what that band looks like, is that a northern or a southern cigar?

Ooh, no. Good question. What's your question? I don't think it's either one of those.

Okay. I think... As a matter of fact, how the hell do you guys even sell those things? Yeah.

No, I think Pustania looks like an international brand. An international? So now there's three classifications. There's Northern, Southern, and International.

Possibly you. Alright, so I'm going to pick another random one. Okay. How about like Ashton White?

Oh, Northern. Oh, Northern, yeah. Yeah. Philadelphia.

Very Northern. And you can see that there's a consensus here, right? There is a particular feel of a northern band. Yeah.

Yeah. Super interesting. Okay. Cool.

One feels more like Puente doesn't feel no of them, right? Puente feels more, I wouldn't say southern, I guess I would say. International. It feels more like culturally appropriate.

Culturally, this is, so wait a minute, now we're gonna go down this rabbit hole. Hang on for a second. Wait, wait, wait. Let's go, let's go.

So, when you're speaking culturally, right? Yeah. Talking about ethnically? Like, does Ashton feel like more of a Caucasian cigar?

And Fuente feels more like a Latin cigar? From the mountain of Caucasus? Right. From the mountains of Caucasus?

Maybe. No, it feels, it has more of a Spanish culture to it. Fuente. Padrón.

Yeah. My father. But not Ashton, right? Right?

Not Ashton. What about Davidoff? When I think of Davidoff... Davidoff feels Swiss to me.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When I say Davidoff, I'm like, oh, these guys are coming in like these suits.

Davidoff is your quintessential blonde hair. You know what I mean? Like white suits. Yeah.

Cigar bands are ethnic. Yeah. We don't even like the Americans. Right, right.

Yeah. but go ahead and smoke these cigars. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. All right. Yeah. Ethnic cigar bands.

You never thought of this, Grant? No. This is the first. I mean, I can understand kind of what it is.

How about Roma Craft? Roma Craft? That shit should come with a fucking cowboy hat at this point. Okay.

All right. Yeah. It does seem very Midwestern. It actually, yeah.

And not only that, it feels American. So now there's another classification that is just Marca. Marca. Marca.

Yeah. What you should do is you should definitely watch who buys cigars in your store and just see what they buy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, but you'd be surprised sometimes, you know, like, Derek buys Padrones and he's got the cowboy hat, the whole shebang.

That's true. Well, he likes to smoke around too, though. He does, like, new stuff. So there you go.

So that, that's out the window. Well, they'll always be outliers, right? I guess that's true, too. Yeah.

Need to start a tally board behind the register for the week. Yeah. Okay. Excuse me, sir.

What ethnicity are you? Ah. Okay. Where are you from?

My father. Okay, my father. Check. Done.

Yeah. Speaking of my father, the La Bayou 1922 100 Anos Limited Edition returns for 2026. Ah. My Father Cigars, Inc.

has begun shipping the third installment of its Le Bayou 1922, 100 Anos Limited Edition, a biannual release that debuted in 2022. Every two years. Okay. The limited edition uses a blend that is described as a modified version of the regular production My Father Le Bayou 1922 blend.

Though the company hasn't disclosed what the differences are, it's an all Nicaraguan blend with a wrapper that the company calls the Habano, My Father. A leaf, it says, is dark enough to be described as Ascuro, Ascuro, double Ascuro. It says it twice. Ascuro is so nice, they named it twice.

All of the tobacco for the My Father Led Bayou in 1922, it probably comes from their farm, comes from the company's farms, specifically the Las Quebradas, San Jose and San Rafael Farms. The leaves are also said to undergo a special fermentation process that allows them to release their aromas and flavors and deliver the profile that the company was looking for in this release. That no one else does. Unlike any other.

Can you release one more time? This release. No, no, no, with the hands. Aromas.

Yeah, that's a very nice release. the cigars the cigars returned in two sizes a five and a half by 48 corona extra and a six and a half by 44 corona special notice how there was no six by 60 there yeah there's not gonna see what i'm saying yeah with the 2022 versions pictured above pricing is set at when i say above that means that you got to go to half wheel and look at the pictures at 14 per cigar for both sizes wow that's less than what i thought was going to come in at while a box of 22 cigars has an The cigars are made at the company's factory in Esteli, Nicaragua and are limited to 1,922 boxes of each size. That is a specific number of boxes. Well, that's all the tobacco they have.

No, there's a reason for it. I will tell you. You ready? 1922?

Ready? The La Bayou 1922 line was released in 2009. Oh. The 1922?

1922 boxes? Mm-hmm. created by Jose Pepin Garcia as a tribute to his father, Jose Garcia A. Leon, who was born, guess what?

Guess what year he was born? 1922. Oh, what do we have for him, Johnny? Hopefully a mask with the nose cut out.

To mark what would have been the elder Garcia's 100th birthday, the company created this limited edition scheduling it to release every two years. There you go. Bayanuel. Bayanuel.

Bayanuel. Bayanuel. This is one of my favorite cigars. I mean, not this one.

I haven't tried this one yet. But the La... I'm not... Is it Bahu, Bayou, or is it Bajou?

La Bajou. La Bayou. La Bayou. This is one of my favorite cigars.

Is it? Yeah, it's a good cigar. Yeah, it's good. And when I saw this, I wanted to highlight it.

" Yeah. You know, and then I also wanted to cover the fact that EGM is now in Germany. That's right. Which we are so careful.

Being smoked by a very particular looking type of individual from Germany. Those are the Swiss people. Yeah, the Swiss. Get that right.

Yeah. My goodness. Okay. What would Germans smoke?

I am not going down that rabbit hole with you. I will not entertain that. Yeah. Don't entertain that one.

I will not. I refuse that level of dark humor at this time. So many bad jokes. Oh my.

Not good. Not good. Not funny. Lord.

Not funny. A little funny. Maybe. There was a German cigar company that we talk about.

Those people killed my great-grandparents. Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real. Allegedly. Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist Love Story.

Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Let me back that up.

Now it's time for industry's favorite game. - What's the score? - Now, I didn't write anything about this in particular, but here's how it goes. I'm gonna give three clues, and every time I would give out a clue, Triple G here, go ahead, and Mr.

Phil here, oh he already hit the button, and Mr. Phil here are going to give a guess of what the score is going to be. As the clues go through, the score could get easier, or does it? Dun-dun-dun.

Let's play: What's the Score? OK. This was recently, it was 2026, it was probably yesterday or the day before. Romeo and Julieta, Reserva Riala, Nicaragua, Midnight Twist, Love Story.

I didn't write who the author was on this, but I'm going to tell you who it was because I did the notes, and it's Brooks. That's 100% Brooks Whittington. So, who will go first today? Would you like to go first there, Mr.

Phil? No, Gregory, you go first. Okay. Did all the information that we have thus far, has that already been stated?

Yeah, I must go with a number. I'm gonna go with 88. Aha. Brooks is a nice guy, but I'm gonna go with 85 since I know nothing about the cigar.

Since I know nothing. Okay. Cigar Reviewed, Romeo and Julieta, Reserva Real, Nicaragua, Midnight Twist, Love Story, Country of Origin, Nicaragua. By the way, Half Wheel, the "I" in Nicaragua is capitalized there.

You might want to straighten that out. J. A. Rapper, Nicaragua, Binder Nicaragua, Filler Nicaragua, which means we're not telling you a goddamn thing about this cigar blend.

Lake, four and a quarter inches, ring gauge, 46, shape, round. 92. 48. The release date was March of 2024.

The number of cigars released were regular production. We reviewed, for this particular review, one, just one, only one cigar, just one. Triple G, 88, holding firm at 88. I'm going 90.

A big jump to 90, just on the description, kind of odd. Well, the 46 ring gauge is a good ring gauge. It's all from Nicaragua. It's AJ.

Yeah. Anything AJ touch. Wow. He just pulled apart the rationale behind his big jump.

Only AJ. Pretty good. The Romeo y Julieta Reservo Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist love story has the figurado look nailed perfectly with a bulbous foot and slightly tapered cap that reminds me strongly of the Opus X love story, er, I mean, love affair. Oh.

Ah, so does this change things for Phil? We'll find out after we get Greg Triple G's score at the 88, 80, holding firm, 88. Mmm. They're copying the Opus.

Mmm. At $10. And everybody loves the Opus. Mmm.

We'll go 91. Wow. Raising the rate to 91. Okay, clue number two, although the draw is a bit tight for the first 10 puffs or so, to be expected from a Perfecto Vitola like this, I can make out some light spice, black pepper, and a dry, earthy flavor.

As the draw opens up, a strong combination of bitter dark chocolate and creamy cedar takes over the profile, followed by secondary notes of leather, sourdough bread, gritty earth, almonds, and a touch of cinnamon. Triple G. 91. 91.

He's moved to 91. 91. Greg has come to my side. They have docked.

No, we're not docking. Official docking. No, we're not docking. Clue number three.

The second half of the cigar features an increase in spice on my lips, along with new main flavors of charred meat and powdery cocoa. Coco Nibs. Coco Nibs. This is 99.

This is a 99. Coco Nibs announce. Coco Nibs. Additional notes of cedar, dry mulch, sourdough bread, herbs, and peanut shells show up at various points, while the cinnamon note has moved to the finish.

Triple G, 92. A 92. Phil, Full of semen, Phil. I'm going 93.

Final thought. After smoking the first three, Romeo and Julieta Reserve Real, Nicaragua Midnight Twist Love Story, for my first review back in late 2024, I noted that the cigars started out with an obvious combination of harshness and metallic notes in the first third. Something that I hoped sometime would correct. After almost two years of rest, both the harshness and metallic notes are nowhere to be found.

And the profile has become a more balanced, more flavorful, and more enjoyable cigar. With main flavors of powdery... Cocoa nibs. Coco Nibs, Charred Meat, and Creamy Cedar.

I enjoyed this cigar more than I did the first go-round, and perhaps, more tellingly, I walked away from this review wishing there was more of it to smoke. Oh, wow. What is your final score? Triple G.

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. I feel like Brooks tongued this cigar the whole time he was smoking.

Ninety-two. Mmm. Ninety-three. you went the wrong way triple g you're the winner 90 is the final score really hit the sparklers wow can't believe i gave that one with greg amazing amazing this is why we have no money this is why we have no money okay uh gentlemen do you have anything else to add today triple g no sir no mr phil um nope But thank you for my mask once again.

Yes, David Hasselhoffman, thank you so much. We're going to put the auction up within the next day or two. As soon as I have a chance to breathe, they will be going. com for all your chpod swag.

Buy one, get the second one, 40% off, spend $100 or more, get free shipping. com, a Cigar Hustlers podcast. Like and subscribe wherever you're viewing or listening to this show. And check me out to come see me July 9th at Creekside in Ohio for a special event.

I may have specific swag that you can only get at this event. Ooh. So what is the specific swag? I look forward to seeing you all there.

Not even Greg knows. I haven't seen the credit card bill yet. Greg doesn't even know. I haven't even seen the credit card yet.

Triple G has no idea what's going on. - He showed me Greg, just not you. - Yeah, I would like to see this swag. All right, thanks everybody, goodbye.

- Goodbye.

Show Notes

YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION:

This week on Cigar Hustlers, we're bringing you the stories that matter—and the ones that'll make you laugh out loud.

IN THIS EPISODE:

🦆 0:00 - Merlin the Duck Goes Viral — Mexico's unofficial World Cup mascot steals the show, but FIFA won't let him inside the stadium

🏗️ 3:15 - Trinidad's Dumbest ATM Heist — A backhoe, a cash machine, and a crew that became international memes overnight

🏀 6:45 - Knicks in 6: The Prophecy — A New York man's high school yearbook prediction from 6 years ago just came TRUE

🐢 10:20 - The World's Slowest Police Chase — England's finest pursue an escaped tortoise at 2 mph (yes, really)

CIGAR INDUSTRY NEWS:

💰 15:00 - Kentucky SLASHES Cigar Tax by 50% — Effective TODAY, cigar smokers save ~50 cents per stick. Premium Cigar Association approves.

🔥 18:30 - Wildfire Radio Octave Limited Edition — Elegant 5¾x48 release, $16 MSRP, already shipping, one-and-done only

🇺🇸 22:00 - America's 250th Anniversary Cigars — Joya Red White & Blue, Aladino 250th, Founders Declaration, and more hitting shelves now

📈 25:15 - Ohio Raises Tax 2 Cents (Ouch) — While Kentucky celebrates, Ohio smokers pay more, effective today

SOURCES:

Halfwheel.com | Premium Cigar Association | Wildfire Cigar Co.

LIKE, SUBSCRIBE & HIT THE BELL for cigar industry news and the stories nobody else is covering.

#CigarHustlers #CigarNews #CigarPodcast #KentuckyTax #PremiumCigars