ACHP Grammy Highlights, Trade Wars, and Cigar Shenanigans – ACHP 373

Episode Summary

Episode 373 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a two-man show — Boots is out sick — with co-hosts Mike Szczepankevich and Mike Palmer running the board (badly, by their own admission) through a long block of trending news before getting to cigar releases. The trending segment covers the 67th Grammy Awards and its wildfire-relief framing (the "I Love L.A." opener, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, Chappell Roan's Best New Artist win and her healthcare-for-artists acceptance speech, Kendrick Lamar's sweep with "Not Like Us," Beyoncé's Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter, and the hosts' low opinion of Trevor Noah), the newly announced Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China and the escalating retaliation, the death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu at 48, Sean "Diddy" Combs' late-night hospital trip from a Brooklyn federal lockup, and the Luka Dončić trade to the Lakers.

On the cigar side, the guys run through a stack of industry headlines: Isabela Cigar Company box-pressing its 7x70 Mammoth barber-pole limited edition; Gurkha announcing a small price increase on The Ghost, Prizefighter and Castle Hall; Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale line adding "Sonny," a 6x54 Toro made at the Charles Fairmorn factory with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, blended with Dean Parsons of Epic Cigars and Paul DeSalvo, debuting at PCA 2025; S.T. Dupont's 2025 camouflage accessory refresh and its eye-watering pricing; Aganorsa Leaf's 2–4% increase across roughly 80% of its portfolio (with the Arsenio line exempt); and RoMa Craft's Craft Marquette Foreign and Domestic, a $10 4x46 box-pressed petite corona with a Sumatra-seed wrapper, limited to 500 bundles.

The episode closes with a preview of Powstanie San Andrés — the brand's fourth regular-production line, made at Fabrica de Tabaco NicaSueño with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Ecuadorian Habano binder and Dominican/Nicaraguan filler, launching at a February 22 event at Brass Pipe Cigar Lounge in Fort Pierce, Florida — plus a running bit about how badly the press release read. Along the way the hosts riff on other cigar podcasts (Shirtless Mike's interview with RoMa Craft's Michael Rosales, How About That Cigar, Developing Palates' year-end list), and deliver a genuine rant to brand owners about PCA dinners: no tapas, no family style, let guests order their own meals. Listener of the week is Chris Osgood; shop of the week is Cigar Vault Oakdale in Pennsylvania.

In This Episode

1. 01
   No Boots, Two Mikes
   The hosts open solo after Boots calls out sick, and immediately start fighting over camera switching and cut-offs.
2. 02
   2025 Grammy Awards Recap
   Wildfire relief, Chappell Roan's healthcare speech, Kendrick Lamar's wins, Beyoncé's Album of the Year, and why Trevor Noah didn't land.
3. 03
   Tariffs and the Canada/Mexico Trade War
   Trump's 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico plus 10% on China, Canadian retaliation, Trudeau's alcohol boycott, and what tariffs could mean for cigar pricing.
4. 04
   Trending Odds and Ends
   Barbie Hsu's death at 48, Diddy's late-night MRI from federal lockup, the Luka Dončić trade, and the discontinued vegan KitKat.
5. 05
   Isabela Mammoth and Gurkha Price Increase
   Isabela's box-pressed 7x70 Mammoth barber pole at $13.95, and Gurkha's few-pennies hike on The Ghost, Prizefighter and Castle Hall.
6. 06
   A Bronx Tale Sonny and S.T. Dupont Camo
   Chazz Palminteri's $25 Sonny Toro debuting at PCA 2025, and S.T. Dupont's 2025 camouflage lighters, cutters and cases.
7. 07
   Aganorsa Leaf Increase and RoMa Craft Craft Marquette
   Aganorsa's 2–4% bump with Arsenio exempt, and RoMa Craft's $10 Foreign and Domestic petite corona limited to 500 bundles.
8. 08
   Powstanie San Andrés Launch
   Blend details, vitolas and pricing for Powstanie's fourth core line, launching February 22 at Brass Pipe Cigar Lounge in Fort Pierce.
9. 09
   Dear Cigar Industry: Do Better at Dinner
   A rant to brand owners heading into PCA — stop doing tapas and family style, and let your retailers order their own food.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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

Transcript

Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you, commercial, But a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions. All things cigars, personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners.

Cheers to you. com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Sorry, I'm figuring this out. Welcome to the Cigarser Podcast, episode 373, where cigars, industry talk, and unfiltered opinions collide.

Sit back with your co-host, Mike Szczepankevich and Mike Palmer. Uh, I'm not Boots, there's no Boots again today. Uh, making sure these two don't burn down the place. Grab a cigar, sit back, and let's get into it.

Dun dun dun, dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun. So there's no boots today, his family is sick. Everybody's sick. Which means he had to work.

Yeah, he didn't even respond to our last text. Yeah, was he gonna come at home today? Yeah. You ready?

Yeah, let's go. In the world of trending news, we have the Grammy highlights today. Uh huh. Uncle Donald has started a, uh, a bi-border, I don't know if that's a correct word or not, but bi-border trade war.

Okay. Or has he? Taiwan actress has died of a flu-like condition after going to Japan. 5 billion people are following this story in Asia, Michael.

Very interesting. Sean Diddy Combs was whisked away to the hospital under the cover of darkness this weekend. Okay. And then turning to Cigar News, Isabella Cigars has a mammoth of a new cigar.

Okay. I guess I do need to make this a little faster. Yeah. Gurkha has a small announcement.

Ooh, small, very small. Very small. It's probably gonna make some petite cigars, I'm sure. " Okay.

I don't know how to make it faster. Oh, boy. Estu DuPont has more expensive lighters. Okay.

But people just don't see it. All right. This isn't going fast. Oh, it's going slower.

It's going slower. Okay, hold on. Hold on. I got to work done now.

Oh, my God. Rising. Oh, that's too fast. Above 50 in technology.

Rising cost of giraffe feed is affecting agronosis pricing. Okay. Roma has another new cigar. Oh, here we go.

And then finally, no one at Pustania can proofread, apparently. Yeah, yeah. Or we just don't really know what's going on. But we'll get into that.

We'll get into that. All that and more on the podcast today. Got to hit buttons. There we go.

Here I am. I've got to run the remote. I've got to hit the buttons. I've got to play the sounds.

We're counting on you, Palmer. Maple Leaf, AC Naikasus. Oh, the Toronto Maple Leafs are calling. Maple Leaf.

We would like to move, please. It's very expensive up here now. I identify everybody that's in my cigar realm. Oh, I use a clover for cigar people.

I use a cigar maple leaf. I use a four-leaf clover. Got it. The four-leaf clover.

I think it's actually three. It's a three-leaf clover? I think it is on the thing of Bobbers. Okay.

Alright, it's turning okay, the Grammy highlights. Yeah. The wildfires had devastated... You're talking.

I can't see behind me. Okay. The wildfires had devastated parts of Los Angeles in January, had many asking... Off the camera, I'm taking off my pants.

whether the 2025 awards season, including the Grammys, should go on. On Sunday night, the Grammys showed that... Oop, that's way fast. and did.

The 67th annual Grammy Awards were defined by the wildfires. Okay. The show opened with a performance of Randy Newman's hit song... " Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars performed "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Pappas.

Many stars in attendance wore blue heart-shaped pens to support the music Cares relief effort. And by the end of the night, the host Trevor Noah. Trevor Noah. He's terrible is what he is.

Is he a singer? No, I think he's the guy that used to do Daily Show for a while before John Stewart kind of came back. I don't know, I think, but he's just, he's, he was not funny. He's not the guy that used to have that little splotch of hair, the different color in front of his forehead?

I don't think so, maybe. But he's not funny. He's not, it just wasn't, he tried to cut jokes, and you're just like, oh God. Well, they have writers.

I know, but I watched the Grammys, I'm sure they're his writers. I don't know how that works. Whatever the case may be, when he would speak, his lines, they were just so bad. They weren't good.

Brittany and I kept looking at each other like, "That wasn't funny. " Oh, I didn't watch. Oh, I was doing someone else, I was doing a different podcast last night. Yeah.

Yeah, we'll talk about that later. Okay. Wait, that's not you, it's me. " Well, that's good.

"As of Sunday night to wildfire relief efforts. com Arena in Los Angeles, there was no shortage of standout performances. Chappelle Roan danced with cowboys in clown makeup? Yeah.

I don't know who that guy is either. Okay, no, I think that's a girl. Oh. If I'm correct, and I don't know if I'm correct.

Oh, the girl in the little white leather outfit, like the leather bikini thing. No. Oh, it's not her. No.

I saw some pictures. So, this girl came up, she won an award. Right. And, uh, I don't know who she is.

That goes to show you that I'm getting old, right? We stopped watching a couple years ago because we didn't know who anybody was. Okay, so she gets out and she's wearing like this dunces cap and she's all decked out in makeup and, you know, I'm talking to Brady and I'm like, look at this, do you know who this is? And she goes up and she goes to give her speech or whatever and she gives this speech and she talks about how the studios should do a better job providing healthcare for all of us.

All of their artists, including, you know, the up and comers. What? Don't they pay them millions of dollars? No, the ones that are extremely successful, but the ones that are still kind of producing, no.

Right. Oh. And man, when she hammered these people, I was like, damn, that was pretty awesome. Oh, you liked it?

Yeah, I did. I did like it. It wasn't, um, it wasn't like some governmental speech or, you know, like any of that. Oh, okay, she wasn't slamming the Republicans or spaying and neutering your dog.

Yeah, there was none of that. Instead, she was like, "Hey, listen, you know what? " Oh, did she get sick? " I mean, if it's a multi-million dollar organization, you should probably be taking care of your people.

That makes sense. Yeah. All right. Well, she was dancing with cowboys that wore clown makeup.

Oh. And doing a colorful rendition of Pink Pony. I think that's her. I don't know if that's her.

Oh. Benson Boone performed Beautiful Things. It did not one, but two flips on stage. Do I have the camera on the right person?

I can't see behind me. Near on you, yeah. All right. Doechii.

D-O-E-C-H-I-I. Is that Doechii? Uh, sure. Delivered a show-stopping performance blending her song "Catfish" and "Denial is a River", supported by dancers who matched her undeniable energy.

And the big four didn't disappoint either. Chappelle Roan, Chappelle Roan, I guess that's one person, won Best New Artist. Kendrick Lamar won both Song of the Year and Record of the Year for his hit "Not Like Us". Yeah, I think Chappelle Roan was the girl that I'm referencing.

- Oh. - Beyonce finally won Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter. - Yeah, hmm. - I don't know about all that.

- She beat, uh, what's her name? - What's her name? - The Blonde, I can't think of her name. - That's awesome.

- Her boyfriend plays on the Chiefs. - The Blonde, Taylor Swift? - There we go, T, I'm going to start with a T. - I love that you don't even know.

- I don't care. - Okay. - Well, you should care a little bit. - Why?

- Because you're like this diehard Chiefs fan now, remember? - I know about this. No, no, my wife is, not me. No, you go ahead, you defend the Chiefs.

I defend the Chiefs. I'm waiting for my button. Oh, sorry. You defend the Chiefs.

I thought it was on you, I can't see them. You defend the Chiefs every single year, and you're like, oh, this is every year, you know. Well, Michael, I have to go to bed at night with someone who likes the Chiefs, so I'm not going to slam the Chiefs and have her find out. You can just remain neutral.

Well, it's not like I'm watching. You can just remain neutral. You're going to do a better job of clicking. I can't see.

Just do better, just do better. Camera is on. You're two, I'm one, right? Yeah, but doesn't it light up?

It doesn't light up in front of you? Yeah, but I don't know which one it is. Which one is it on right now? I have no idea.

What does the glowy light say in front of you? Oh, it says two, but I don't know. I'm two. Okay.

I asked you that three times. Okay, well, the third time I answered. Like making phone calls to you. I don't feel like it was that.

I don't feel like it. That's not true. Yes, it is. Okay, so, yeah, listen.

You keep rooting for these Chiefs. The fact of the matter is, Super Bowl tickets. Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs. Super Bowl tickets are at an all-time low.

Nobody cares. Nobody wants to see them anymore. That's not true. Go look up the ticket prices for Super Bowl.

They're well below last year's Super Bowl ticket prices. Well, that's because that's where it is. Because it's in New Orleans? Yeah, that's where all those people died during the hurricane.

Nobody wants to go there. During the hurricane? Hurricane. Which hurricane?

It was years ago, but still. Katrina? You're talking about Katrina? Yeah, Katrina.

That's why. The Katrina one, yeah. So you think the Katrina hurricane is the reason why... That's why.

They still haven't repaired it yet, so they can't have the same amount of money. That's very interesting. Water damage everywhere. Oh.

When was Hurricane Katrina? I don't remember. Like 2010? You think it was that long ago?

Yeah, dude. Well, three more. Now I don't have boots to answer these questions. Three more has gone through there since.

When was Hurricane Katrina? All right, I'm moving on. Since we're not talking about that, I'm moving on. 2005.

Oh, so 20 years ago. Yeah, 20 years ago. 20 years ago. You'd think they'd have it fixed by now.

You'd think they would have recovered at this point. But they have it still, so I don't know what to tell you. It's ridiculous. All the water damage and the water lines in the place, it's terrible.

What if they got the bathroom fixed? I heard that was a problem. Okay, well, we're going to be there in a couple of months, just for the record. We're going to the whatever dome thing that is?

We're going to New Orleans. Oh, I know that. Yeah. Oh, this just in.

My son is going to get married in New Orleans next year. Why? I don't know. Well, they've had...

This is what's going on now. Jake, the firefighter. Yeah. So, he's engaged and he's getting married.

Okay. So, they were going to do a regular wedding down there in Fort Myers. Okay. Way expensive.

Yeah. So, then they thought about eloping. Mm-hmm. Doing one of those destination weddings, but just the two of them.

Way expensive. So, apparently, there's a little chapel there that does a nice thing that's not that expensive and they're just inviting, you know, immediate family. Where are they? Where are they located?

Fort Myers. So, they're located in Fort Myers. Yes. And they felt that the most affordable… Well, I don't know if it's affordable at this point.

It's that they can't afford. This is nice. We still get to go somewhere. They'll probably tie the honeymoon in at the same time.

I've never been to New Orleans. I know you've been there back in 2015, I think it was? Yeah. Yeah.

I'm just not a big fan of New Orleans. I'm not a big drinker. I've never been. I don't… I've heard that, like, the French Quarter smells and… Yeah.

You know, there's little things about your shoes or something. You could end up getting your shoes stolen or something. I don't know. Someone will steal your shoes?

Are they selling you shoes? I don't know. There used to be scams that they said, be careful of this scam, and it had something to do with shoes in New Orleans. I don't remember what it was.

Somebody told you that someone's going to steal your shoes? No, no. I read it online somewhere. Okay.

Do you have to go? No. No. Kyle Hefflinger from...

I know that name. Yeah. He's a retailer. Right.

Yeah. He's a big fan. Oh. You can't.

We have someone else in the week. I already have a listener in the week. I have a listener in the week. Yeah, you know, I just don't know if New Orleans would be the destination for me to have a wedding.

You know, they got really good food in specific areas and stuff. And we will partake in that when we go. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

I want the powdered sugar thing. The powdered sugar thing? What's that thing called? Damn, I can never remember the name of that thing.

What's going on with you today? I don't know. I think my red light's broken. Oh, you need a new red light?

But I don't know if it's broke or the wiring here in this place. The wiring here in this place can't support it, which is probably more than likely what it is, so I'm going to take it back home. Worst comes to worst, we just buy another one and just put that on the box and return it. Right.

It's the American way. It's the American way. Bezos can cover it, okay? Is it all him?

Yeah. As long as it's not from Canada. Which we're getting into, there's a trade war going on, Michael. White House says Canada misunderstood the tariff order as a trade war.

Mexico is serious about it, though. The White House said on Monday it is noticed that Mexico is serious about President Donald Trump's executive order on the tariffs, but Canada has misunderstood, is to be a, oh, the misunderstood, they think there's a trade war between the neighboring countries. , kicking off a trade war that could dent global growth and stoke inflation. Okay.

Is that the end of the story? No, I thought you would have more to say. The good news is that our conversations over the weekend, one of the things we've noticed is that Mexicans are very, very serious about doing what President Trump said. Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House's National Economic Council, said on CNBC, Canadians appear to have misunderstood the plain language of the executive order and they're interpreting it as a trade war, Hassett added.

Okay. When asked what Canada and Mexico must do to lift the 25% tariffs that Trump announced on Saturday, The president told reporters on Sunday they, in quotation marks, have to balance out their trade, number one. They've got to stop people from pouring into our country. They have to stop people pouring in, and we have to stop fentanyl.

And that includes China, said Trump, who announced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. I got out of that business just in time. Well, now you can't make it to Mexico either. There's tariffs there, too.

Hey, you know what? Whatever. So China countered back with, not China, I'm sorry. It's camera on me.

The camera's on me. Canada countered back with, fine, then everything coming from your country, you got a 25% tariff on it too. Okay. And then Trump went, oh, well now you're 27 then, you want to keep going?

I love that. I'm going to take two more points. I'm going to take two more points. Right, so if they come back again, he's going to, oh, now it's 29.

Ooh, na-na-na-na, boo-boo. But it is not having an effect, well, it is in our world, but the Canadians, there's the, I just heard this right before we started doing this. Yeah. Several of the big food producing companies in Canada have now started to look to relocate to the United States.

Love that. They can't afford to be in Canada any longer. So two of their biggest four have started looking at Ohio, Minnesota, and somewhere else. Hell yeah, let's go, baby.

S. of A. Let's go. I don't think Canadian bacon's made in Canada anyways.

Everybody doesn't do Canadian bacon. It's just ham. Yeah, it's just like this. It's a little round ham.

A little round ham. A little round circle ham. But apparently, one of the things that Trudeau has said, they're not buying any more alcohol from America. Nobody likes Trudeau anyways.

No, no, I know, but he's in charge right now. He's the one who's allowed to say things. Yeah, he's on his way. He's gonna be gone.

He is. They're getting rid of him. Oh, now you're going to talk? Nobody gives a shit.

Pack it in, buddy. Supposedly $80 million worth of alcohol now. He's asking Canadians to only buy Canadian-made alcohol. I think it's like 80% of the Canadians do not like, don't quote me on that, but I think they don't like Trudeau.

Right. Well, they're also... They absolutely despise him. Right.

I know that we have... Yeah, they don't like him. We've asked our Canadian resources and they've confirmed. Oh, yes.

That they don't like the Trudeau. Yeah, they don't like the Trudeau. The Trudeau must go. The Trudeau.

Oh, that's what... There you go. That's the new hashtag. Yeah, I was gonna...

I was going to get a whole picket and stuff. Trudeau must go. Trudeau must go. Yeah, exactly.

Oh, for your little thingies upstairs. Yeah, for my little, I don't know what you're talking about, but yes, my little thingies upstairs. Your clips. Oh, yeah, my little clips.

Yeah, there's the guy with the sign. Trudeau must go. Oh, my goodness. I made two graphics for the show off that same thing we've been using for boots reading the thing.

Because I noticed the last week when I watch it, it's just me for 10 minutes or whatever when he's reading stuff. So, his trending topic, which we won't get into today, but it was that KitKat is being, they're stopped making the vegan KitKat. They're dropping their vegan KitKat. Yes, and the people in England are in an uproar.

They're uproar. They're appalled. So, I have a picture of Boots sitting like this, but there is a KitKat wrapper in one hand, he has chocolate on his face. You mean to tell me that my vegan KitKat is no longer acceptable?

What's in it, because it's got the milk in it? And eggs? I have no idea. But, oh, I am upset.

Well, it's a small percentage of their overall production, and at this point, it costs them more to set up and make it than they're making from the vegan Kit Kats. I just want to know what the board meeting looked like. They all got together, and they said, you know what we're going to do? We're going to make vegan Kit Kats.

And then somebody said, that's a great idea. Yeah, somebody pitched it at the McDonald's. I love that. Let's do that.

And off they went. I just don't... To figure out how to make a vegan KitKat. Let's figure this out.

And somebody at the table was going, there's no meat in our table. I don't get it. I don't understand what's going on. There's no meat.

What meat are we putting in the candy bars? Yeah. Because the inside of a KitKat is other KitKats. It's other KitKats.

And what came first? Who knows? Who knows? Nobody knows.

The broken KitKats or the... I mean, I can't... You're right. Chicken or the egg thing.

No, we're well past... KitKat or the broken KitKat. Nobody knows. We are well past chicken or egg.

We are solely focusing on KitKat at this point. Right. Broken Kit Kat, or whole kit kat? There's one guy there, his job is to make broken ones.

It's a kit-ka, kit-ka! These are no good. No good. Okay.

We have a whole box full of nothing with the insides. But these are the vegan ones. Oh. Makes complete sense.

Alright. Alright, Taiwanese actor Barbie Hsu. We're sorry, Great Britain. Bless you.

Dies of flu-related illness at age 48. Taiwanese, she's actually an actress. Taiwanese actor, Barbie Husu, one of the most prominent stars in the Chinese-speaking world, has died of flu-related illnesses at the age of 28. Taiwan's official Central News Agency reported Monday...

Yes, that's quite the story, I think. She's very attractive. 28 years old. Very attractive woman.

Yeah? You'll find out when you make the clip. Okay. She died of pneumonia after catching the flu during a family holiday in Japan.

Her younger sister, Di Husu, Said in a statement shared by her agent, CNA reported, "I am grateful," oh, I hit the wrong button. Oh, you're back on me now? Should I hear the accent? Yeah, go ahead.

S. The siblings were known for their sharp sense of humor, Underscore, when both became popular talk show hosts, but it was Hsu's lead role in the iconic 2001 television drama, Meteor Garden, best show, I love this show, that catapulted her to fame across the region as her portrayal of an ordinary girl who finds love with a rich boy resonated with millions of fans. Well, that, you know, that happens everywhere. Yeah, of course.

I mean, you figure, like, that makes sense, too, as far as the title's concerned, Meteor Garden, you know? Right, exactly. Yeah. Brittany probably watches because she relates.

I was thinking, yeah, of course, I was thinking that there was some kind of alien life form, you know what I mean? Grew up out of the garden or something? Yeah, like, he's just kind of, you know. If I was reading the titles, I would have went, ah, stupid alien movie.

And they had to harvest something in order to survive. The only way they could do that is through reproduction, like, you know, something like that. It sounds like a soft porn, that's what it sounds like, Meteor Garden. Wow.

5 billion views as shocked fans mourned the star. All right. Terrible thing. That is terrible, man.

28 years old. 48. Oh, she was 48. Still young.

I thought you said 28. No, 48. You know, being, hitting the 40 mark, you know, I get it, I get it, a cold could kill me at any given moment, it could happen. Think about me, I could cut my hand and get a paper cut and just die.

Then you're done, you know, and then once you kind of start to creep up there in like the 60s and 70s, you got to worry about staying upright the whole time. We went to the winery again this weekend, apparently Sunday afternoons full of old people, full of old people just drinking and having a good time and playing music with the live music, we were surprised by the size of the crowd. No kidding. " Right.

I'm not that much older than you are. How much older are you then compared to your wife? Five years. Okay, five years, hmm.

And how old are you? 57. So she's 52. So she's still in the 50 bracket.

Yeah, yeah, she's crossed the line. Yeah. But I feel like the past few years for her, she's been getting healthier and looking better. Right, and I'm going the other way.

And you're kind of tanking. Right. Yeah, that's the way it goes. That's the problem.

That's the problem. We climbed up in the big chair. Everyone's big chairs there with the logo on it to get the picture. Yeah.

And then I said, do you want me to get out until I catch you? And so I had to jump out. I broke my knee. Go, go, go.

She goes, are you okay? I go, yeah, give me a second. All right, Sean Diddy Combs. Mr.

Lube. King of the baby oil. Yes. He was taken to the hospital under cover of darkness, sources said.

Sean Diddy Combs was taken to hospital from a federal lockup in Brooklyn under cover of darkness last week. Interesting. The Post can reveal. m.

Thursday to undergo an MRI. The 55-year-old Rap Kingpin, who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, was taken from the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center to Brooklyn Hospital for the non-invasive test, a source told. Page 6. Okay.

The medical scan was authorized because his knee was bothering him. Oh, God, this is some bullshit. Yeah, no shit. Yeah.

You're on trial for sex trafficking and you go, you know, my knee's hurting. This is definitely some bullshit. The guy obviously has some leverage on some people. Somewhere.

He still has some pull. This is me guessing, obviously, but. Because isn't there, I mean, there's a prison hospital. For one, he's still alive.

Why is he, well, we don't know, maybe he didn't come back. There had to be a legitimate reason to get him out. I would guess. If I'm a betting man, there's got to be, there had to be some logical.

Regular people don't get taken out? No, yeah. Oh, your knee? Oh, my knee, me, Harry.

Good medical. I was playing basketball in the yard there, Warden, and I think I broke my knee. You know, I was on my little dirt bike that you guys let me ride. Have you seen that video?

No. I've seen a video of a guy. It's a guy in prison, and he's riding around on this dirt bike, like by himself. And it says, Diddy Combs riding this dirt bike, and now you can't really make out if it's him or not.

It could be complete. Maybe it's how he fucked up his name. Complete. That's what I'm guessing.

Right. So he came down, you know, and he missed a kickstand. A hard turn or something. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like, that's what happens to be in 55. Well, I guess, yeah. Oh, well, okay.

I guess it's reasonable. No, it's not reasonable for him to leave. I'm being sarcastic. Yeah.

No, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Thank you for indicating that you were being sarcastic. Well, people can't see me.

The camera's on you. Yeah, I got it. I was rolling my eyes. I was looking right at you, and you didn't really roll your eyes.

You're looking at yourself. It just happens to be by me. I'm actually not looking at myself. Yeah, we know.

I'm staring right at you. Everybody knows. Sonny the Rapper's long history of knee issues after he ran the New York Marathon. So that's how he heard it, because he ran the New York Marathon?

That long ago? Apparently. That's when he heard it. You'd think with all the rest he'd be getting in prison, he'd be fine.

Right, what else is it? Well, the dirt biking. Yeah, you're right. Dirt biking.

Re-injury. Right, and maybe they're letting him do an Iron Man or something. So ridiculous. Sources said the insider added that the hospital visit was done late at night in order to avoid whispers and future speculation from other inmates or prison staffers.

Well, apparently that did not work. And yet, here it is. And here it is, on the top of page six. Can't do that.

Oh, you were talking. I was. Make up your mind, Michael. Do I put it on when you're talking or don't put it on?

Don't smoke when you're talking. You should know. Okay. Now this makes no, this makes no sense.

I mentioned that I did a podcast last night. Yes. Live. It's a live podcast.

They don't tape it. It's all live. Okay. Everybody was smoking for two hours.

Right. No problems. No problems. Yeah.

Isn't that interesting? So weird. We're, we're, we're gearing up here. I don't know if you, if you've noticed, but we're gearing up.

We're, we're starting, we're going to, we got to implement a couple other things and then we're going to do some lives. lives yeah they uh well they had not heard of our show which is kind of strange right so but then you know they all wanted to subscribe and they wanted to watch it because i'm hilarious you are yes so they go oh i don't see any lives you guys don't do lives they go well no we're not really set up for that at this point yet but we're working towards that right they had a cool live show uh and then they did a giveaway right and somehow up on the screen flashed everybody who was in the In the chat room, because if you had, well, no, you had to hashtag whatever the hashtag was for the thing, all those names come up, and then they sort of scrolled like you were rolling them or something to pick the winner. Right. But it was on the screen.

Really? And it showed their little YouTube picture. Interesting. And their name under it, so it was like, you know, and then they picked a name.

What does it do? Oh, okay. Thank you. It was, you know, it's electronic.

Okay. Well, we'll have to ask them how they do it. Combs did not stay overnight and was taken back to a cell after the MRI concluded, the sources said. " Law enforcement sources said they were given a heads up about what occurred just in case it was leaked so they would know what to do.

Reps and attorneys for Combs could not immediately be reached for comment. He probably had to talk to somebody and he couldn't talk to them inside. Conjugal. Inside.

Maybe. I feel like that could just happen. That couldn't be an issue. He's probably a senator that he's got on tape or something.

Allegedly, he likes the young. Yeah, that's the rumor. They can't bring that to prison. Well, I guess they could.

I think you can get away with anything in prison. Get anything you want? It's just cost more. Oh.

Did they take all his money? They seize his assets? Who knows? Who knows?

Hmm. Well, he's probably... There's so many... You got stuff in other people's names.

There's so much stuff that's not answered in that scenario. Right. And it's just kind of left out there. So...

All right, switch... Were you going to say something else? No. Are you going into cigar news?

Switching to cigar news. I want to talk real quick about this thing in the NBA because you didn't address it. Oh, yes. Yeah.

Well, you know, it wasn't really a bigger story. It's a gigantic story. Only 5,000 people were interested. Luka Doncic, John Donk, trick, trick, trick, whatever his name is.

I'm glad you said the name wrong. Went to... That was him, Jack. A.

Lakers. Yes. For Anthony Edwards. And I don't think...

Like, I wish that I... The guy from ER? Yeah, the guy from ER. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Just a random actor. That's so weird. Okay, now I understand why it's a big deal.

See how it doesn't even make any sense. I understand why it's a big deal. No, dummy. A.

Lakers. Oh. So, but what's funny, like, okay, so I know that you don't really understand this concept, but it would, that thing. Go ahead, sorry, go ahead.

You understand it? Well, I understand, you know, basketball, and I know they trade people. Yes, trading people is fine. Okay.

But this was an unusual trade, you're saying. So here's why, here's a good comparison. Okay. It's like week five of the NFL.

Right. And Josh Allen, you know who the quarterback of the Bills is? Sure, sure. He goes to Miami.

Okay. And then Tua goes to Buffalo. Okay. In a straight-up trade.

That's like the comparable for me. Okay. Josh Allen. Why is that weird, though?

It's super weird because Josh Allen is an amazing quarterback. Okay. Tua is very injury-prone and hasn't been able to throw a deep ball in a while. But at least he's still a quarterback.

Okay, but he does still play the game. Yeah, but it's still not even – there's no equivalent there. Oh, okay, it's not even a swap. No, it's not even close.

Don't they throw in like you get first round draft pick and seven of our daughters or something like that? No, seven daughters. I don't know what to think. It's not the Middle Eastern...

No, but don't they do stuff, don't they sweeten the deal when they make these trades sometimes? There isn't a lot of sweetening on the deal. It's like you just lost your star. Like Dallas just gave up their guy.

Maybe there was personality conflicts with the coach or something. the entire team is built around this dude. If you would have, you know what? Okay, let's say that you're right.

Let's say that, well, you know, that the GM or the coach or whatever is having issues with Luka. Right. You could have got a hell of a lot more than a broken player. Well, maybe it was, just get rid of him.

It would have taken you 24 hours to shop that guy around. People would be like, oh, I'll take him, I'll take him. Maybe with his attitude, maybe it's known. No.

I mean, you said they built the entire team around him. Maybe he acts like they built the entire team around him. It's not like they built the entire team around him, but the guy is... That's what you said, that's all I have to go by.

I understand. Right. But let me kind of backtrack here. Okay, all right.

It's not like, it's not the entire team is built around him, but he is the stud on the team. Okay. He's the guy. Maybe he acts like he's the guy.

Okay. And you know what? Rightfully so. Right.

But maybe like the coach said, you know, we need to do this. And he goes, I don't need to do that. There's no way. How do you know?

Maybe he does. Well, you have to deal with it at that point. Maybe they're tired of dealing with it. If he shows up and he puts in the work and he's putting up points, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. All right. Here's the problem. Dude, the NBA continues to lose viewership year in and year out in the United States.

Oh, everybody is. It's so hard to find the shows anymore. Well, yeah, that makes things a little bit more complicated as well. But, you know, I just think that the reality is that some of these things that are going on are just, They just don't make sense at all.

I don't understand how, how that happens. I don't, I don't know. We're not, we're not privy to the inside workings of the things. I'm sure somebody has a reason why this happened.

We'll just never know what it is. Yeah. You know, cause you're, you're only a fan. You know, you're the one that spends your money to make sure they have their money.

It's completely obnoxious. But they're not going to tell you. I can't believe that this trade went through. It's just ridiculous.

Whoever the GM is at Dallas, they should probably be fired. I guarantee you that there's a major upheaval in Dallas right now. Maybe this guy slept with the owner's wife or something. Then trade him for the value that he's worth.

I want him out. I want him out now. I want him gone. I want him off my team now.

Whatever you got. I don't care what it is. Well, you know, then that goes back to you thinking with emotions and not... Right.

That's when somebody's being emotional, right? They're not thinking with whatever else. Well, congratulations. You just set your team back 10 years.

I don't care. and well you're gonna because you know what and then get rid of the wife too it's gonna cost you millions of dollars apparently she's really good so get me somebody good for her okay well it's bullshit it is bullshit okay it's all bullshit michael all right go on to your cigar news it's all fake anyway yeah that's why the chiefs keep it is all rigged right it is completely rigged so what is what are you in 4999 other people talking about what are we talking about yes this The silly trade. The trade's obnoxious. Right.

Yeah. So now you're talking about the team again. Okay. Why don't you go on you?

I was waiting for you to respond. No, you weren't. You were talking the whole time, dude. Isabella Cigar Company!

Yeah. Making a box press the Mammoth for their new limited edition. For the 2025 installment of the Mammoth limited edition, Isabella Cigar Company has given the beefy 7x70 barber pole a box. Which Johnny Petite, founder of Isabella said makes the cigar more enjoyable.

To create the barber pole design, the blend uses Ecuadorian Habano Prieto and Ecuadorian Desflorado? Okay. Is that something new? What is that?

I don't know. I'm not familiar with that. D-E-S Florado. D-E-S.

Desflorado. Desflorado? Desflorado. Desflorado rappers.

Why don't you come to your senses? The binder and filler, oh, you know, I started to write down the Coupe things, but, you know, I can pull it up, never mind, we can still do it if you want. The top 25 of Coupe? You can still do it if you want.

He's got it on his website. It's a little easier format to... Is it? Yeah.

Okay. Oh, look, he answered. Yeah. I'm not coming.

Yeah. Well, yeah, that's fine. Continue. While the binder and fillers are both Nicaraguan, the cigars are produced by the company's factory in Nicaragua.

95 per cigar and is offered in both bundles and boxes of $25. The company produced 100 of each packaging format making for a total run of 5,000 cigars. They're now available for purchase via retailers in the company's website. Mm-hmm.

No comments or anything? No, it's not really anything. You didn't really... It's not...

It's not earth-shattering news, but, you know, in the world of cigars, this is what we got. It's Desflorado. Desflorado. It's Ecuadorian Desflorado.

There's a song. Desflorado. Hey, idiot, I just sang that song. Oh, did you?

Yeah. I'm reading the story, I didn't listen to you. Yeah. Okay.

Got you shaking your head. I miss boots. Oh, whatever. That's all it took.

Gurga announced a small price increase for three lines. Ah, small price increase. Gurga has announced that it will be implementing a minor price increase on three of its lines: The Ghost, Prizefighter, and Castle Hall. I haven't heard of two of them.

Well, somebody's got to pay Mike Tyson for his money. Right. Due to the continued increase in cost from our factories, Gurkha is forced to increase prices on three of our product lines, said Jim Goluki, President of Gurkha Cigar Group, via a press release, it has been several years now that Gurkha has absorbed price increases from our factories, only passing along individual products when we are forced to do so. We have not had a blanket price increase across all products in the better part of a decade.

A representative from the company said that the amount works out to a few pennies on the MSRP. It's a meager few pennies. Of each cigar with the largest amount to about 3% of the MSRP. But not to worry, steak knives, backpacks, coffee mugs, nail clippers, shoe polish, and other various swag in our portfolio is made in the smaller countries with very permissive labor loss.

Gurkha remains committed to providing quality products to our customers at the best possible prices, said Juan Lopez, VP of Sales for Gurkha Cigar Company. Oh my goodness. Considering the fact that we do not own our factory, our cigar factories, we do our best to present product lines as affordable as we can without compromising our quality. Excellent.

Okay, well, hey, you know what? Prices go up. Prices go up. Prices go up.

It happens to everybody. It does. Except for Riste. Riste is apparently, he went on a tangent on Facebook saying that his prices aren't going to go up, everything is the same, and yada, yada, yada.

He disappears for a while and then pops back up. Yeah. Like tomorrow night he's on, how about that cigar? Good night, actually.

Oh, and now he's swinging for the fences. Right. I like the guy. I like him, too.

You know, I'm a fan. Right. And, you know, I do, I admire his swag a little bit, you know what I mean? His swagger?

Yeah. Or is he making steak knives now, too? No, I don't think he's got steak knives with his tyrannical buck yet. But it could happen.

It could. Could be part of it. Maybe if he did a price increase, he could throw in some steak knives. Oh, there you go, yeah.

And some shoe polish. And some shoe polish. Oh my goodness. Chaz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale Added New Sunny Line at the PCA 2025.

Sunny. People are starting to announce the PCA stuff now because the TPE just ended. Right. This spring, Chaz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale Line is reportedly getting a new extension called Sunny, which is named for the character the Palminteri played in the movie A Bronx Tale.

According to a report by Cigar Aficionado, the cigar is being made at the Charles Fairman factory in the Dominican Republic. It features a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper, a Dominican binder, and filler of Nicaragua and Dominican tobacco. " Oh, yeah? " That's not how tariffs work at all.

Great, great, now we got a 25 percent increase of Mexican San Andres cigars. I hate Trump. The blend was developed by Palminteri, along with Dean Parsons of Epic Cigars, and Paul DeSalvo of La Quesa Grande Cigars in the Bronx. That's his boyfriend.

Yes, and is described, well, not now, now it's somebody else. Oh, yeah. The line is bolder than the Calagrio line that was released in 2024. Palminteri released his first cigar called the Bronx Tale in 2023.

A Bronx Tale Sunny is offered in a single 6x54 Toro Vitola with pricing set at $25. Dollars per cigar and $300 for a box of 12. The new line will make its debut at the 2020 PCA Convention and Trade Show in mid-April and is scheduled to begin shipping sometime after that. While the initial production is limited to 1,000 numbered boxes, it is being considered to become a regular production line.

The Bronx Tale was the name of the one-man show the Palmetry wrote based off his own childhood. He wrote screenplay. Now you can't leave. Now you can't leave.

Well, you know, hey, it's good to see the guy is still in the industry, because normally at this point- Right, he's coming out with a second one. Yeah, normally at this point, it's like from a celebrity, you don't really see them hanging out. They don't sustain that long. They make the cigar, and then they're like, that was it?

That was that oak. That was fun. Where was the money? That was fun.

I'm ready to go. And where's the money? I don't see the- Well, you don't understand how this works, sir. It's cigars.

Yeah. Oh. Oh, I get it. I understand that.

I understand now. I understand now. Unless you're Guy Fieri. Well, that guy has been...

Cigars raining from heaven from that man. That guy has been busting his ass this whole time. That's right. But he's more an anomaly than...

Yes, he's more... Kind of the standard. Right, exactly. You're exactly right.

But there's a couple of them that are hanging in there. Karl Malone's hanging in there. Yeah, but you don't hear anything though. He's been kind of quiet lately.

You know, but he's working with La Aurora, so... Not a lot to talk about there. Yeah. I understand.

Okay. Estee DuPont is adding a new camo design for 2025. Oh. Estee DuPont, a French accessory company, has been making items with camouflage designs for some time.

He's partnering with Chaz. Now you can't see me. Now you can't see me. This year it's updating the look of the camouflage for seven of its existing items and will get new colorways in either red palladium or green matte black.

When the hell do you think about dropping the word palladium in the color? You know what? That's not a color, is it? This is Red Palladium.

You can call it anything you want. Jeez Louise. Sounds expensive. It does sound expensive.

How do we add value to the color red? Oh! Big words! Big words!

Add big words! Add big words! We need a big word here. What's a big word?

What makes red sound expensive? Palladium. Let's come back to that. Let's come back to that.

Okay, I guess we go with Palladium. Palladium is fine. I can't think of anything else either. We don't have anything out there.

Yeah. How do we make the green better? Say it's black. Say it's black.

Oh, green matte black. That's perfect. Green matte black. This collection includes 13 items.

All are offered in both green and red options, the matte black and the palladium, except for the ballpoint pen, which is only offered in green colorway. Oh, my. S. Doogie DuPont Camo Green Cigar Case.

Green colorway. $335 to hold three cigars. Wow. $335 to hold about $25 worth of cigars.

Well, unless you buy the Jazz Malmentarian, at least it's $150 worth. They're $50 of pulp? They're $25. It's three of them.

Oh, it's $75. Okay. Well, you have a lot of them, though. I don't claim to do that.

SD DuPont Defy Extreme is $300. They don't even say what that is. The Extreme? Yeah.

That's a lighter. Oh, okay. It's $350. The Extreme is like a double flame?

Yeah, it's a double flame. The ballpoint pen, yes. $800. If you buy two.

Oh, they're $425. $400 to pull. The double cigar cutter camo green red, green and red is $225. Okay.

The two camo, $1,550. Yeah. Maxi jet camo, $275. Maxi.

Maxi. The slim 7 camo, $265. Coles of London, which used SD DuPont in the US, showed off the new items of the TPE 2025. They're expected to arrive in stores in mid-February.

Note, there were no photos included as we could not seem to find the items once we put them down. And they're gone. You know, here's the thing I love about TPE is people are kind of reporting back to us as how busy it was. That it wasn't-- Well, I've heard the opposite.

I'm speaking. Thank you. Is that they did nothing and there were no customers there. But hey, you know what?

As I'm in mid-sentence, go right ahead and cut me off. You said people are reporting that it was busy. OK. I had heard the opposite.

Yeah. I was talking and you cut me off. You stopped to breathe. No.

Sure. Get used to it by now. It's been seven years. No, it's not get used to it.

You need to get better. You need to get better. Maybe you need to get better. No.

Yeah, I already don't cut you off. If you want to go back and gauge the ratio of cut-offs. Oh, I'm sure I cut off more. It's one to ten.

7 to 5. No. No, it's not. No, it's not.

I was still talking. You just cut me off. No, I didn't. Yes, you did.

That's not true. You ready for the next story? Yeah, I am. So that you can fucking cut me off again.

Agonors and Leaf increasing prices for 2025. Excellent. On February 1st, two days ago, Agonors and Leaf will increase prices for most of the cigars it sells. Chris Raleigh, VP of Sales and Marketing for Aganor's Relief, told Half Wheel that the increase will be a 2-4% and will affect roughly 80% of the company's portfolio, while most of the lines will increase, not every Vitola within a particular line will have a price change.

One notable exception is the company's relatively new Arsenio line, which won't be increasing at all. The price increase was attributed to the rising cost of actual feeding Terrence a giraffe in its It's very expensive to get the food all the way up to his mouth. Baby giraffe food is expensive. They are considering actual full meals and switching from the tapas style he has become accustomed to.

So instead of him doing tapas, we're going full heads of lettuce moving forward, and because of that increase, it's got to pass it on to the consumer. Except they made the deal with Arsenio, and they can't, you know, they can't change his prices. Yeah, Arsenio's prices, they're already high, so. Right.

Yeah. I like that that thing pelted on a couple of reviews. Like, people liked it. I saw that.

Yeah. I made a couple of lists. Yeah. I don't remember how we reviewed it.

I don't think that we did. It did great with us, but it didn't do terrible either. We did a lot of Arsenio jokes, Arsenio Hall jokes, I think. And the band is complete shit.

Yeah, right. The Craft Marquette Foreign and Domestic is coming in February, Michael. Okay. The fifth release in the Romacraft Tobac's Kraft Marquette series will go on sale next month.

It's called... I'm sorry, I was talking. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no.

You go ahead. That was my one. No, you go ahead. That was my one.

Go ahead. That was my one. I stopped. Go ahead.

Oh, you're right. I did. I did cut you off. See, I have no problem admitting it.

It's not like I'm hiding when I do it. You did not. Go ahead. What were you going to say?

Nothing. So, you just wanted to interrupt me just for the sake of interrupting. And it felt good. Oh, man.

See, now yous know what it feels like. It's called Craft Marquette, Foreign and Domestic, a 4x46 box press Petite Corona, Skip Martin, co-founder of Roma Craft Tobac, told ACHP that the wrapper is a Sumatra seed varietal, but declined to talk about the rest of the blend, Foreign and Domestic will have an MSRP of just $10 per cigar, you can put 700 of these in that $300 thing up there. You can put 700 of them in there? Yes.

Okay. They're smaller, you can put two. Production is limited to 500 bundles of 10 cigars, the name refers to two different things. First, it's a reference to how Roma Craft operates, both domestically and internationally.

Martin lives in Nicaragua, where the company's cigars are made, while Michael Rosales, the company's other co-founder, lives in Austin, where its headquarters is based. Second, it refers to the oath that members of the military and the other government officials, including the president, make, which says that they agree to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Craft Marquette launched in 2023 as a way for Roma Craft Tobac to release cigars of various blends, specifically to show a peak inside the brand's blending process. So far, the cigars have varied in most ways, though all the releases have been limited and have used similar packaging: craft, paper, bundles, and ribbons as bands.

The next blend in the series is allegedly going to be called Breakfast and Dinner, Fried or Steamed. The name refers to the two different things. First, it's a reference to how Roma Craft owners favor different mealtimes, both breakfast and dinner. Martin lives and prefers a big, hearty breakfast, while Michael Rosales, the company's other co-founder, prefers a nice, hearty dinner.

Gotcha. Second, it refers to the cooking styles of both owners. Skip likes a good fried meal, eggs, and bacon, while Michael enjoys a lighter style of steamed, fetch, and fish. When does breakfast and dinner, when's that release?

I believe it is in the fall. Oh, it's coming in the fall. Coming in the fall, yeah. Well, that's a big break between the releases.

Well, there might be something in the middle. I don't have access to all the information. You just got this information leaked to you. Yes.

Breakfast and dinner. Breakfast and dinner. Fried or steamed. Fried or steamed.

That's the next one. Are they going to do like half and halves? Is it going to be like half bold and like half more of like a mild medium? I don't have that kind of information, Michael.

Is it coming in at 10? I think it's still in the planning stages. They just have the name worked out. Yeah, breakfast and dinner is kind of ironed out.

Fried and steamed. You have to say the whole thing. Breakfast, dinner, fried and steamed. Right.

I apologize. I did make the cigar. I'm just passing that information. Yeah.

It's going to be like an Ecuadorian Sumatra, maybe? Maybe. Maybe they do like a Connecticut for the mornings? Could be.

And then maybe something a little bolder for the evenings. Possible. Very possible. Maybe it's like a mix of two different actual cigars in the package.

Who knows? Okay. They're very, uh, they're very exciting men to know what they're doing. Breakfast and dinner.

Did you, did you watch, uh, Mr. Rosales on Shirtless Mike? I did not. I watched it Saturday.

He did a really good job. I really enjoyed watching the show. He gave good answers, Mike asked some, Michael, well they're both Mike's, Shirtless asked some good questions, Michael gave some insights into stuff I hadn't heard in other shows before. Really?

Yes. So I texted him and told him, I go, I really enjoyed that, you did an excellent job. Wow, okay. Very cool.

You know what we should do is we should start punching in some clips from some of the shows throughout the week or whatever. Other people's shows? Yeah. We'll probably have to get the permission.

No, we don't. It's on the public. Okay, who are we going to cover? How about that cigar?

Cigar. Right? Oh, what are you going to pull from this show? When they do interviews and stuff.

I'm sure there's funny comments. Funny or informative? Either way. Okay.

Yeah. Like, we're just looking for, you know, whatever. We can review some things, if somebody says something dumb or whatever. I don't watch everybody's show.

Yeah, I know. It depends who the guest is. Like, last week, I didn't watch out with that cigar. I refused and I explained to them why.

Oh, I watched it. Yeah, I saw it. That's all you did. Yeah.

I watched Developing Pallets instead and found out that we are not on their list at all. Yeah. And we're just terrible people. We're just terrible.

We make terrible cigars, according to them. Even though we advertise on the show, so I don't know. Yeah, you'd think that we'd be able to buy a spot by now. Well, I was told we've already renewed, too, so we can't pull out.

I think they plan the release of their list after they get the renewals. Oh, yeah. Which makes more sense. That way you have everybody's money, so fuck 'em.

So, fuck them. Sorry, no money back. Well, I enjoy doing the ad stage for those guys, and how about that cigar? They're just good dudes, I like to support them.

Well, you have to change the one for how about that cigar now. I know, I know, but I gotta tell you, nothing made me happier than seeing my ad last week. I could tell you, it was fantastic for me. It's a great feeling.

No comments were made, just had to sit there and take it. So, it's pretty funny. My notifications are turned off, but it's still going off. Breakfast and dinner, steamed or fried?

Fried or steamed. Fried or steamed. Because fried is first, the breakfast is fried. You know, I heard that they were going to come out with one in the middle of the year.

Yes. It's called Apps for the Table. So, yeah, that's not as funny. No, but that's a big one for them.

Well, it's not like more like an Arganosa. That's a tapas approach. No, no, I'm going to tell you right now. Oh, yeah, Apps for the Table.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I get the, I get the joke. I'm going to say right now, when you go out with Roma, or when you go out with Aganorsa for dinner... Oh, completely different.

There's two totally different experiences. Completely different, yeah, it's completely different. Skip wants to try eight different apps. Right.

So he's like, let me try that, I want to try this, I want to try this, I want to try this. And he has to know how many is in each one, so he knows how many to order. Yeah, because, you know... Right, there's the table.

Yeah. It's not just for the table. He's just taking a bite. He wants to make sure everybody else is covered.

Right. Whereas, you know, Terrence is going the other direction. Right, exactly. I don't care.

He doesn't look at the description of the food. He looks at the price point as to what is being delivered. It doesn't matter the size. Doesn't matter what it is.

If you didn't get one of the little sandwiches, maybe you can get a piece of the fish when it comes around. Right. Oh, you missed out on that? Sorry.

Too bad. That's the way it goes. I need a lot of food. I'm really tall.

Just drop it by me and if there's any leftovers, I'll pass it down. You know, it did all go to him first. Did it? Son of a bitch.

Well, he's sitting tall and everybody else. He's sort of, you know, that's what the waitress or waiter sees when they walk to the table. You think he would re-invite us back out to kind of, you know, squash those? I don't think at this point he's ever taken us to dinner.

There should be some type of, you know, hey, you know. Hey, I'd like to take you guys out for a real meal, baby. I'm sorry. We're coming up.

We could just do this announcement for all manufacturers and brand owners. Oh, yeah, they can't run you. I'm going to tell you right now. Okay, listen, PCA is around the corner.

And everybody likes to take people out to dinner. I'm going to tell you two major mistakes that brand owners and manufacturers need to avoid At the next dinner that they invite people out, number one, tapas, we cannot do tapas as a unit, it's not dinner, it doesn't qualify, it's a light snack, it's bullshit, okay, you can't do these things, I'm pressing hard to protect you and help you to take care of your customers, they want to be fed, okay, number two, they want to pick what they want to eat, so don't go family style, okay, it's absolutely ridiculous, It's ridiculous, I don't want to have to pick between three, this is why I don't go out to dinner with anybody, I'm like, fuck this, you know, the only people I like to go out with is Roma, because I know that, for one, I'm going to try a bunch of cool shit, right, and for two, I'm going to get to pick whatever the hell I want to eat. You get to pick your own meal? It's just ridiculous, you know, you totally discredit the whole thing of you being like, hey, let's come out, like, I appreciate you, I appreciate us doing business together, things are cool, like, let's enjoy a meal together.

You totally discount that completely when you dictate what I get to eat and don't even feed me completely. Right? Tell me I'm wrong. No, you're right.

We had terrible experiences at both of those dinners. I died at the Family Style. Oh, let's do Family Style. Those pepper potatoes about killed me.

Can't I just order my meal? I'll eat a salad. Is it the price that's the problem? Like, where are we at?

I'll pay for my own. I'll just sit with you and be fine. Where are we going? Oh, we're going Family Style.

Let's tell them. Fuck. Let's not do that. Do better.

You are family. We must eat as a family. We will all eat together. Do better, cigar industry.

Do better. For the love of God. All right. What else you got?

Is that it? No, no. Final story. Postana San Andres.

Ah, yeah, yeah. Coming later this month. San Andres. Coming later this month.

San Andres. After the social media manager teasing the cigar during the second half of last year, The Postana is ready to release its newest line, the Postana San Andres. San Andres. Will be the company's fourth regular production line.

Like the others, it is made in the Fabrica de Tobacco, Nicasueño, Ese, and Nicaragua. Blend-wise, it uses a Mexican San Andres wrapper over an Ecuadorian Habano binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. It will be offered in the same five atollas as the other three core lines, though the Corona Vitola will come later in the year. Yes.

The Postana San Andreas, 5x50, Robusto, $14, box of $21,294. 50. You can just say the single stick price. You don't have to do the whole box price.

It sounds silly. Okay. 50. Postana San Andreas, Toro, 6x52, $16.

5x46, TBA. The release reflects our commitment to delivering premium cigars with unparalleled quality and flavor, said Mike Szczepankevich, co-founder of Postane in a press release. Poor Chad TBT. The San Andres Postane is the perfect addition for those who seek strength, depth, and sophistication in their smoking experience.

It's a good cigar. The Postane San Andres will debut in February 22nd event at the Brass Pipe Cigar Lounge in Fort Pierce, Florida. In addition, the company has announced that the Powstanie Broadleaf, and about, we're not going to read those. Do you want to read that?

No. Okay, I didn't think so either. Don't pay attention to those. Nothing's going on.

No, don't say no more. All right, we got a Listener Week and a Shop of the Week, Michael. Oh, you do? Yes, I do.

I have everything covered because you cannot be trusted. Thank you. Listener Week this week is Chris Osgood, locally here in Central Florida. Apparently, he's been a listener to the week since the very beginning.

I love that. Yes. And he's heard the evolution of the podcast. Yes.

And he's very impressed and happy with our success and whatever else we have going on. Thanks, Chris. We appreciate you, buddy. Thank you.

I appreciate that, buddy. It was nice chatting with you, if even briefly, at the event Friday night. That was just everything but the shop caught on fire. Nothing else.

Everything. That was the last thing that could have went wrong. Hey, you managed. You managed.

It went well? Yes. Yes, I did. It was fine.

Everything was fine. My wife said, now you fucked up the wrong way, because now they're never going to be there anymore. Shit, you're probably right. That's not true.

Shop of the week, Cigar Vault Oakdale. Yes. Norm up there in PA, he's a good guy. Yeah.

I now pop in on his video, he does a Saturday live on Instagram in the last two weeks. You've checked in. " Nice. I love it.

Good for you. Hey, what else you got there, Michael? That pretty much covers the show. All right, it's been episode 373 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast.

We appreciate everybody for listening. Thank you very much. All right, thanks. We gotta go, bye.

Bye. Thank you.

Show Notes

In Episode 373 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast (ACHP), the hosts delve into a variety of topics spanning entertainment, politics, and the cigar industry. Here's a breakdown of the discussion points:

Entertainment and Politics:

Grammy Highlights: The episode kicks off with a recap of the recent Grammy Awards, highlighting standout performances and notable winners.

Uncle Donald's Trade War: The hosts discuss President Donald Trump's initiation of a border trade war, analyzing its potential implications and whether it qualifies as a formal trade war.

Taiwan Actress's Tragic Passing: The podcast covers the unfortunate death of a Taiwanese actress who succumbed to a flu-like illness after visiting Japan, exploring the circumstances and public reaction.

Sean Diddy's Hospitalization: The episode touches on the health scare involving Sean "Diddy" Combs, who was reportedly rushed to the hospital under mysterious circumstances over the weekend.

Cigar Industry News:

Isabela Cigars' New Line: The hosts discuss Isabela Cigars' launch of a new, substantial cigar line, examining its features and market reception.

Gurkha's Announcement: Gurkha Cigars makes a minor yet intriguing announcement, prompting speculation about future releases or company developments.

Chaz Palminteri's Cigar Endorsement: Actor Chaz Palminteri declares, "now you's have to smoke my cigar," signaling his entry into the cigar market and potential collaborations.

S.T. Dupont's Premium Cigars: The podcast discusses S.T. Dupont's introduction of more expensive cigars, questioning why they aren't gaining the expected attention in the market.

Aganorsa's Pricing Challenges: The rising cost of giraffe feed is reportedly affecting Aganorsa's pricing strategy, leading to discussions on how this impacts their product offerings.

Roma's New Release: Roma Craft Tobac unveils another new cigar, adding to their diverse portfolio and sparking interest among enthusiasts.

Powstanie's Proofreading Issues: The episode humorously points out that no one at Powstanie seems to proofread, referencing potential errors or inconsistencies in their product labeling or marketing materials.

Listener and Shop Highlights:

Listener of the Week: Chris Osgood is recognized for his support and engagement with the podcast community.

Shop of the Week: Cigar Vault Oakdale is highlighted for its exceptional service and selection, earning the title of Shop of the Week.