ACHP Need One More Man For A Thailand Wedding?
Episode Summary
Mike "BDP" Palmer hosts A Cigar Hustler's Podcast with guest co-host Gerard of Mardo Cigars in Sarasota, filling in for Phil McGuffey, while Michael Szczepankewicz celebrates his birthday behind the board. The show opens with listener comments, a debate about whether the podcast should launch a Discord server (Gerard makes the case that Discord is where the younger cigar audience is migrating, pointing to Creekside and the Louisiana Cigar Club groups), and a long riff on invites, nicotine pouches versus Copenhagen, and quitting cigarettes.
The news block covers a Thai political candidate's proposal to let women legally take up to four husbands, the disappearance of an American woman named Elizabeth Waddell while vacationing in Grenada, and two men who BASE jumped off Seattle's Space Needle. The hosts also touch on Germany's tobacco tax increases and generational smoking bans abroad.
The cigar news is the meat of the episode. New Section 301 tariffs — justified under forced-labor concerns in more than 60 countries — push Dominican Republic and Nicaragua rates from 10% to 12.5%, while Honduras holds at 10%. Gerard, who has visited Dominican factories, pushes back hard on the forced-labor premise and argues cigars should be exempt entirely since tobacco of that quality simply can't be grown and rolled domestically at comparable prices. They also cover the Crux N49, a new Canadian-exclusive 5x50 robusto retailing around $24.99 CAD and distributed by JR Cigar Company, and El Artista's Buffalo 10 Broadleaf, a 6x50 box-pressed Toro at $6.10 made at the brand's Tamboril factory. That leads into a tangent on the growth of new-world cigars in Canada, Europe and Asia, Cuban cigar prices and counterfeits, factory box codes on Cohiba, and favorites like the Ramón Allones and Bolívar Belicoso Fino in slide-lid boxes.
The episode closes with two rounds of "What's the Score?", where the crew guesses Half Wheel review scores. Gerard nails 86 on Patrick Lagreid's review of the Perdomo Legacy Father & Son Shade Grown, then lands on 75 for Charlie Minato's 2016 review of the Nomad GB19, a Honduran Candela-wrapped Green Bay tribute cigar from Fred Rewey's Nomad Cigar Company.
In This Episode
- 01Listener Comments and the Discord DebateGerard makes the case for building a Discord community for the podcast and explains why younger cigar consumers are moving to the platform.
- 02Nicotine Pouches vs. CopenhagenThe hosts compare Zyn-style pouches to real dip and share stories about quitting cigarettes cold turkey.
- 03Thailand's Four-Husband ProposalA Thai political candidate's gender-equality argument for polyandry sparks a conversation about blended families and step-parenting.
- 04Missing Traveler in Grenada and Safety AbroadThe disappearance of Elizabeth Waddell prompts a discussion about rip currents, unreported crime, and traveling outside the U.S.
- 05Space Needle BASE JumpTwo men jumped off Seattle's 605-foot Space Needle and vanished into the crowd — the hosts debate whether it's worth prosecuting.
- 06Section 301 Tariffs Jump to 12.5%Dominican and Nicaraguan cigars face a tariff increase under forced-labor justifications while Honduras stays at 10%, and Gerard argues cigars should be exempt outright.
- 07Crux N49 Canadian Exclusive and El Artista Buffalo 10 BroadleafNew releases for the Canadian market and a $6.10 box-pressed Toro from El Artista's Tamboril factory, plus talk of new-world cigars expanding worldwide.
- 08Cuban Cigars, Factory Codes and CounterfeitsRising Cuban prices, fake cigars from beach vendors, and why collectors hunt specific factory codes on Cohiba boxes.
- 09What's the Score? Perdomo and NomadThe crew guesses Half Wheel scores for the Perdomo Legacy Father & Son Shade Grown (86) and the Nomad GB19 Candela (75).
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
Music Playing You're gonna do the spinny-spinny and... Three, two, three, two, one! *claps* *laughter* Wait, is that it? We're going?
Yep, we're on. Oh, sorry, I'm not used to being that fast. Yeah. Alright, welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast, where cigars start the conversation, but anything can happen.
I'm Mike BDP Palmer, your host, alongside my co-host today from Mardo Cigars in Sarasota, Mr. Gerard Wyatt. No, don't say my last name, you're not supposed to do that. Oh, yeah, why not?
It's a government name. It's a government name. Alright, my co-host from Sarasota, Mr... and behind the board, just cut them all out completely.
Mr. Mysterious Man here. Keeping this balloon in the air, sitting in for Mr. Phil McGuffey, who's on the set of his new movie this week.
Please, sir, give me more. It's an adult version of the Oliver movie, where Oliver is now a grown man, but still can't be satisfied. Right, still can't be satisfied. Mr.
Michael Szczepankewicz. Hello. And this is your birthday week, Michael. It is, yes.
Oh, happy birthday. Thank you, thank you. This is just one of many surprises, having Gerard here today. Yeah, that's why he's here.
He's here to celebrate. Each episode, we dive into the world of cigars, sports, business, current events, pop culture, and whatever crazy headlines everyone taking talking. Nothing's off limits, no opinions are scripted, and you never know where the conversation is going next. This is a show like no other.
On today's show, how many husbands is enough? How many times do we have to say it, women? Don't go alone on vacation. Especially the Bahamas.
Well, we have someplace new today. What happens when jumping out of a plane is just not enough anymore? Okay. And then we got Cigar Tariffs, a new Buffalo Cigar, more cigars for Canada, and then a What's the Score birthday edition.
Oh. It's not really a birthday edition. No, it's not. But first, Mikey, how do we get in some of that CH Pod swag?
What's this new underwear I hear is coming? It's coming soon. It's coming soon. This is particular for Mark Palmer's sizes.
Ah. Yeah. What you want to do is like and subscribe wherever you're viewing and listening to this show. com for all your chpod swag.
Where you buy one, you get the second one 40% off. Spend $100 more, you're going to get free shipping. com, Cigar Hustlers podcast. If you buy for the full year, you're going to get 10% off.
And then some comments from the shows. Let's see here. I'm going to go. Oh, look.
Oh, what are you doing? What are you doing right now? I can't see the bottom line of the teleprompter in this thing, so put it back on, oh, well, you have it on, I'll get you on both, yeah, while I look this up, while I go to the admin side, the comments section, just stop messing with it, I couldn't see the line, he's gonna yell at you, Mike, he totally yells at me all the time, this Mike, the Mike on my right, mhm, well, you know, he messes up a lot. I've never had to thrown a show away that I did when you weren't here.
That's because you just let shit out and you don't even bother correcting it. That's the problem. Yeah, that's exactly it. Okay, let's see here.
Let's see here. I guess I should view these from the other side. iHeart Boots says @teamoney, but that's That's what a wannabe T-Money would say from Maineville, Ohio. Oh, that's not nice.
I'm making fun of-- Kind of out of context. Yeah. Let me see here. The bots are me.
" Oh. " At iHeart Boots is also having continued fun here at iHeart2, at iHeartBDP, all hail the masters, that's Palmer. Is that today's? I don't know.
They seem old. No, those are old. Episode, here's the one from 580, ACHP, Epstein Files, Chick-fil-A gets hacked, that one, okay. Phil's agent.
Agent at Phil's. Oh, Phil has an agent. Agent at Philcast. Wow, how do you guess Phil's next movie theme?
Phil Maverick McGuffey starts in Top Buns landing in the danger zone. Top Buns. Yeah, he likes to get into a lot, he does a lot of stuff on the side to make some extra cash. The adult film industry.
Yeah. Our engineer. You know, he's got whatever it is to make a buck because the CH pod doesn't really pay well, you know? Hopefully it's ethical.
It's not. It's definitely not. It's definitely not. " Is that you, Real BDP?
Yeah, yeah. That is you. Oh, well, okay. On the CH Pod, you put up some articles now, too, I noticed.
Well, it does every episode. No, no. There's some articles that have nothing to do with episodes. Really?
" Oh, that was the beginning. Podcast. Okay, well, those are in the middle now. Oh, okay.
And the order now is completely messed up. It's completely messed up. Good. Well, we're going to keep working on it.
Okay. Yeah. I enjoyed the articles. I was commenting on the articles.
Oh. Very nice. Very nice of you. How do you pair a cigar?
Stuff like that. Yeah. With whatever you like. Don't listen to people.
Right. I like to pair my cigar with a fine Chianti. Okay. Let's see.
Now, the YouTube comments. Are you ready, Gerard Mardo? I hope. Let's see.
" When are we getting a Discord server, Gerard? I have no clue. Okay, he doesn't know. What about you?
When are we getting a Discord server? I'm not even sure what that is. Okay. I don't think we're going to get a Discord server.
That's kind of the point of what I'm trying to do with the CHPod site. So, the only problem is I have no idea what I'm doing, because I've never done Discord before. I've never even been on one. I use it.
Do you? Oh, do you? I use Discord religiously every single day. - Do you?
- Yeah, and I think it's very powerful. A lot of people are moving to Discord, when I say a lot of people within our industry, so YouTube has its restrictions and stuff. - Right. - So the after show, like the after party, is always going to be on Discord.
- That makes sense. - So Creekside uses Discord, they got a group, the LCC, something like a Louisiana Cigar Club on there, I think they got a good Discord group. So these Discord groups are growing quite a bit, and the investment that it will take to grow Discord group, I have no idea because obviously I haven't done it myself. I use it internally within our staff.
Okay. And I like it because it's very powerful to the point where images, when they're sent back to back, the quality stays there. Right. So that's why I like it, opposed to like if you were sending it through email, you know, you have the size of the files too big, whatever.
Discord's just really quick, it's powerful. If you pay for the Nitro, which is, I think they're like, So if you have a monthly subscription, which I pay for, it allows you to send bigger files and things of that nature, so... Got it, got it. I like it a lot.
So, I mean, that's what I want to build on, just directly on our own site, on our own, the Sugar Houser podcast site. So I don't know if it's possible or not, but that's what I'm aiming for. Because the problem is, when you build something on any of these sites, it can be taken away. True, I mean, yeah.
However, once you have followers, if you are going to redirect them somewhere else, obviously you're going to lose some people, but the main core of the group will follow you wherever you go. So it is good to build a group in Discord as well because you may not have that group that's following you in Facebook because now Facebook is a different generation of users and different age group. So if you go to Discord, it's the newer generation, the younger, so if you happen to lose your group in Discord and you have to shift over to a different platform, they will follow, because where else are they going to go, right? So they don't want to be disconnected with you guys.
They're going to follow you wherever you go. So it's still an advantage. That's a good point. That's a good point.
So I don't know, maybe, maybe, maybe we'll see what happens. I think it's worth it. Okay. And I respect your opinion, so I'll look into it.
Oh, okay. I will. " That's because he invited you out and you said... I didn't go.
Yeah. He doesn't invite. He more like goes, "There's a black label thing. " Yeah, so you should have went.
No. We already went over all this. Yeah. You're right.
Don't invite him anyway. Just don't invite me. That way he can bitch about the fact that you don't invite him. That's what you do.
He's like, congratulations, you're finally at the level of me, where you want the invite, but you don't want to go, so you can respectfully decline, right? Yeah. It's like, if you didn't think of me to turn it down, then I have a problem, right? How do you feel about that?
Do you want, do you need to be invited to go somewhere? Or do you like, do you like to go? I don't like to go, it depends, obviously, if I don't know the people. Yeah, he likes to be invited to everything, but never goes to anything.
Yeah, I'm getting to be that level where I'm I might go, but odds are I'm not going to. You can't be bothered. Well, you got to respond. Well, certainly.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, I told him, look, I'm not going. Yeah, I definitely want to be invited to.
I'm with Mike on that one. For sure. Got you. Too loud?
No, no. It's that when you turn your head to me, now we can't hear you. Go here. Right in the middle.
You guys are going on some topics that I'm not able to catch on because I'm not on the in. Right. We're trying to fix that as we go. This is the beginning.
This is the beginning of the show, so we'll paint the picture for you. No, I'm getting it, I'm trying to follow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're doing fine, you're doing fine, excellent job, come back anytime you want. Like that question about the invite, I was like, deer in the headlights, I'm like, what the hell is he talking about?
Right, right, yeah. Do you want to be invited? That's okay, sometimes they comment, and I'm like a deer in the headlights, I don't know what you're talking about, and I just did the show. I definitely want to be invited to everything who doesn't, you know, but if you're not going to go, at least respond.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, I told him I was, not like he was sitting there waiting on me to show up. The problem is that he shits on it. " I didn't say that to him until after he pushed me afterwards.
Tell me about your childhood, Mike. What's going on? Let's unpack that. Let's unpack that.
Tell us about your childhood. Yeah, what's going on, man? Did you find yourself on a bicycle staring at your dad's ass when you were little? Is that what happened?
No. No? Not at all? What do you mean in the carton, the child seat thing?
Did he go and get milk and never come back? Is that what happened? No. No?
You met my father. I don't even know what you're talking... What, dad? Maybe it was mommy issues, not daddy issues.
It was your mom? Was your mom too much? She's too much now. Big brother, little brother, sister.
Older brother. Older brother. Older brother. Older brother.
The baby. That's the baby. So you should have been loved the most, right? Or did you just get disregarded like me?
I got disregarded. You got disregarded? Yeah, yeah. You were the accident.
We told them I was adopted. Yeah. You're the whoopsie baby? I don't know.
I never asked. Ask her now. She won't remember. She won't remember your son.
Well, we were over there this weekend, me and my son fixing her pool. " Perfect. We had been gone an hour, maybe. That's good.
I feel so much better that she's unsupervised. Right. Yeah. " Me too.
How many did he get? Is there like an average? It depends. It honestly depends.
If there's a hot topic, especially on a short clip, you get a wave of things, like, hey, whoa, you know, and that happens, sometimes nothing, you know. A whole week and nothing? I have to step up my game. I don't know if it's a whole week, nothing.
I think there's always something, but, you know. Is it always the same people? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Gotcha.
That's good. Yeah, it's a different mix. Not just like some Karen that doesn't like us. No, no, no.
I don't know. It's good to know. At CW6383 says, "To clarify, I was one of the vigilante accounts, so you still have some detective work to do, Mikey. " So we've had people, Gerard, we've had some people commenting on our YouTube page, and it was iHeartBDP, and they're like, BDP's the best, and you know, screw you, Mike, you suck, like stuff like that.
But it was, I had figured out who a couple of these accounts were. It wasn't that hard, it was just be like they would comment and then like within seconds later then the other account would comment and I'm like okay dude well like you know I was going along with it for a while and then I'm like but now you just made it too blatant. Right, it's a little too obvious. And was it you Mike undercover with other accounts?
That's what he thought it was. Those are the other accounts. His problem is mostly that there was an iHeartBDP, iHeartGGG, which is Greg, iHeartPhil, iHeartBoot, there wasn't an iHeartTheKing. Nobody-- Do you think I care about that?
Yeah, he's got too much self-esteem, dude. Yeah, I could give two shits. Yeah, sorry, I'm jumping on a bandwagon with Mike over here. Just remember who he calls to place the order, okay, Mike?
Just remember, right? He hangs up with you to get it done. You know what I'm saying? We were texting.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, what's up with that? You and I are texting when you're talking to him on the phone. That's right, 'cause he knows.
And he got the order. Something happens. 'Cause he knows. Something happens.
He hits the button. He calls and I'm like... Yes, Mike. I know, right?
He intimidates people. I don't know if it's a yes, Michael. It's sure, bro. It's one or the other.
It's like, what do you need? Yeah, I got it done. That's it. Okay.
Let's see. " So many countries in Europe are just riding this right now. Dude, was it Australia or New Zealand already passed that generational ban? I think it was New Zealand.
Yeah, I think it might have been both, to be honest. Yeah. Yeah, man, you know, if it's not completely trying to completely eliminate it, they're trying to just completely tax the hell out of it, and it's very sad, and you know, this is going to go back, so now everybody's going to start sucking on sacks. They're working on sacks, which is ridiculous.
That's a bigger problem. That shit goes everywhere. People spit those things out on the ground and all kinds of things. I tried it.
Did you? I didn't like it. I like the real thing. I do chew Copenhagen.
Do you? Yeah. Like at night. At night?
Yeah, when everybody's in bed. I get on my couch and I want to watch my shows. I'm not going to smoke a cigar in the house. I don't feel like going outside.
Look at you. So I'm like wintergreen long cut all day. Wow. Big ol' fat lipper.
And I know it's bad, my wife hates it, but I tried the zin instead because I was tired of like always having to spit tune, and then you gotta brush your teeth, sometimes you gotta floss your teeth before you go to bed, and I just couldn't do the zin pouches. I tried it too, it burned. What's that? It burned.
It burned? Oh, it's like the fiberglass feel, something like that? Something, I guess, I don't know, yeah, I just didn't enjoy it at all. Yeah, I couldn't do it, I tried, I really did, I gave it away, so.
I don't even I didn't bother trying I'm not interested it I don't know it's not the same feeling either yeah I don't know I like Copenhagen we hang out on the patio and we smoke cigars and watch TV on the patio yeah sometimes it's too late I'm too tired I don't want to commit an hour hour and a half that's fair I don't know get some weaselitos bro yeah again it's inside the house I'm not gonna smoke we need you we need a patio setup for you I got the patio set up to you sometimes it's too hot you know bring out an AC We see you in it, get a little portable thing, that's what we do. Or just put a dip in and just sit on a couch. I got an answer for all your problems, man, I got an answer. Yeah, I got you.
But your wife doesn't like that. It's okay. It's okay? I mean, tell me, we always do something that someone's not gonna like, especially the wife, right?
So my thing is, it's the Copenhagen. Right. And I admit, you know, I go a little overboard with it. Yeah.
But, I don't know. Okay. The next day I'll eventually get tired of it and I'll say no more Copenhagen. That's the way I am.
When I first met my wife, Erica, I was smoking cigarettes, Camillites. Oh, shit. And our first date was dessert. She wanted to go get dessert, so we had dessert.
And she went to the restroom after I paid the bill. I said, "I'm going to be outside. " She came out and I was finishing up and I had two packs. I mean, excuse me, two cigarettes left in a pack.
" Well, there's only two left, and this is going to be in my last pack. She's like, "What do you mean? " She goes, "Just like that? " Good for you.
So, I know at some point, I'm going to get sick and tired of Copenhagen. Right. And that's it. But I'll never, this, this, I don't know.
Yeah. I never get tired of cigars. These are, because this is awesome. They're amazing.
Yeah. Yes. And we are men. Yes.
And we like cigars. You know? Okay, if you want to hear your comment read aloud on the show, simply comment below on our ChPod page, or comment on our YouTube page, we may read one or two aloud, we may just completely ignore you, I don't know, but I will tell you this, there's gonna be a good giveaway on the pod soon, one that we can't do on YouTube, so, that's all I'm saying, so, okay, let's get on with the show there, Mr. P.
All right, the news, a proposal in Thailand is generating international attention after prime ministerial, prime minister candidate suggested allowing women to legally have, how many husbands? There's a, there's a, there's a new, uh, log. Gerard, how many husbands do you think? Seven.
Seven? I'm going to say three. Four. Oh, I won, I won.
Providing all parties involved give their consent, so you've got to have, uh, you and your three buddies all have to agree that this is okay. Who the hell wants that? Maybe the woman, I guess. She could score big time like if they're all four rich.
Right. She could do well. That'll never track. But what is a female in Thailand?
Oh, good question. Could be anything. I imagine a vagina. What do they call those?
Those little boys? Man boys. She boys? Yeah, something like that.
I think it's she boys. I was gonna say man boys, but that doesn't fit anything. Yeah. The proposal came from Manaklik Tsukisamabat, A candidate from a smaller political party, he said the idea is based on gender equality, arguing that if some Islamic legal system permit men to have up to four wives, women should get the same legal option.
So that's just the logic as well. They're doing this, so we're going to do the opposite of that. Right. I mean, yeah.
Well, maybe they're having Islamic religion there, too, I'm guessing, maybe in Thailand, but that's what he's comparing it to. Men get four wives, wife gets four men. I wonder what the agenda really is behind all this. It's probably just a guy trying to be controversial and stand out, because if he's from a small political party, this is the only way he'd probably get attention.
Plus, with that name, I mean, how do you pronounce that name? Yeah. His signs and posters have to be huge, unless names like this. Look, man, there's no real man on the planet that's gonna say, "Yeah, you know what?
" Right, exactly. You know what I'm saying? And that's going to be good to go. No, it's Tuesday, not your day.
Sorry. Exactly. This is not possible. It doesn't make any sense.
There's only one way I would go for that. If she came from a mega rich family, I'm like, okay, no problem. But now you're not having a sack at that point. You're not the dude anymore.
Bro, as long as I get my paycheck every single month, I don't care. He gets his gold room 101 helicopter. You say that now. I don't, I can't see that happening.
You know what I'm saying? Get you an apron. A little amorous and you get ready to go to bed and there's three guys, there's a line. At this age, we don't care anymore.
If I was younger, absolutely, you know, the ego kicks in, you're 20, 30, you've still got a lot of testosterone, but at my age right now, dude, who cares? Okay, okay, I'll tell you. There's a line of three guys at the door. Wait, wait, wait.
Okay, so I'm here. Oh, shit, I don't have that kind of time. This is gonna be fun. Okay, so you have three kids, right?
Right now I do. Yeah, how old are they? I got two, six, and nine. Two, six, and nine.
Yeah. Okay, so, how would you feel about another dude being in the kitchen telling your kids how to do things? I'll wait. No, no, there's stipulations here.
Yeah, exactly. No, no, no, no, no, no, no stipulations. He's in charge of, maybe he's in charge of that part of it here. That's it.
Well, maybe he's in charge of discipline. There you go. You handle the dishes, and he gets to raise the kids. You okay with that?
Right. And then, you know, the guy with the biggest one, he gets to-- Okay, so you're bringing a lot of reality in it. Yeah. Yeah, I just took the fun right out of this.
Yes, you did. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Exactly. You're going to have some problems.
Right, no shit. I know who you are, buddy. I know who you are. You get to tell his seven kids what to do.
I don't want him. I don't want his seven kids around me. I don't want seven more kids. Yeah, I don't want any of the other kids around me.
And that gets even more complicated. But the thing is, I just caught myself. If I don't want to tell his kids what to do, he probably doesn't want to tell my kids what to do. I'm back into fantasy land.
Maybe he's that guy, though, that likes to push the kids around. He wants to push the kids around. Maybe he also wants to diminish all the availability of whatever your kids have because they're not his kids. Oh, man, you think too much reality.
Anyway, yeah, it's not going to be cool. We've all seen that. I've seen the stepdad that doesn't want to invest time and energy into their kids. Yeah, no.
That's going to be bad. Exactly. Very bad. There are good stepdads too, obviously, but there's obviously some that I've seen.
I'm like, oh, man. Good or bad, I don't want anybody... Raising your kids. No, I don't care.
Hell no. Exactly. Exactly. The karate teacher gets one hour.
That's it. You know what I mean? Yeah. You get one hour, bro.
After that, they're mine. Right. Yeah. You can bring in some perspective, but at the end of the day, I'm going to mold them how I want to mold them.
Exactly. Yes. So it's more than just giving up the vagina. You know what I'm saying?
There's a lot there. There's a lot to give up. Okay. All right.
At this point, it's important to note that this is not a law that has not been introduced as legislation. Legislation is simply a proposal from a political candidate that has sparked widespread public debate. Yeah, he's just trying to get attention. He is, he is, he's just trying to get attention.
Wow, it's a long story, I don't really think it's been that long. Alright, Elizabeth Waddell, W-A-D-D-E-L-L, was vacationing with another friend in Grenada. And the women were staying at an Airbnb. The friend was talking, taking an online course in the Airbnb, and Elizabeth Waddle left for a swim the last time anybody saw her.
Granada? In Granada. Granada? Not Granada.
It's Granada. Granada. Isn't that in Africa? Granada?
No. No, it's in the Caribbean somewhere, isn't it? It's where? It's in the Caribbean somewhere.
Is it? Yeah. Oh, I'm way off then. Sorry.
It's not in Nicaragua. Central America? Could be Central America. Why don't we look it up?
I'm pretty sure it's in Nicaragua. Yeah, we only had something we could look it up in. It's in, it's, I'm pretty sure it's in Nicaragua. I think it's its own country.
No, I meant the continent. I thought it was in Africa. That could be way wrong, dude. No, I don't think it's in Africa.
Where is Granada? Anyway, she had her swimsuit on, will you guys look it up? Oh, it's part of the Caribbean Sea. Sitting north of Trinidad and Tobago.
So I was right. Oh, how weird. She had her swimsuit on and she went outside the Airbnb, Romano Harmony said. They had a pool that overlooked the bay.
Liz was set up out there just sightseeing from her pool and her friend was taking her He was taking her online course. When she got through her course, she looked and she didn't see Liz outside. Just for the record, there is a Granada in Nicaragua as well. Is there really?
Yeah. Okay, cool. Not in Africa, though. I was way off.
Yeah, not in Africa. We could make one there if you want. We'll just say there's one there. And we're all three right.
Yeah, two out of three are right. That's okay. That's 66%. So she went outside to walk around and look for her friend.
She saw her towel down on the pier, but still no Lee. So they think maybe she went for a swim and then something happened, or she was absconded by someone. What do you think happened, Gerard? Do you think she was taken, or do you think she was eaten?
Well, the investigator in me is coming out. So how was the rip current? Right, they're more concerned with the rip currents. I checked on sharks in the area.
It's not, uh, there's hardly ever a shark attack off the coast of Grenada. Okay. Rip current is pretty serious. Rip current is pretty serious.
So I was looking to that, and in any foul play at all. I don't know. Crime is relatively low. Okay.
This is probably because nothing's reported. Well, there's not a lot of gangs there. That's a good point. There's just minor crimes and things.
Right. It's not on the list of places not to visit. But countries like that, a lot of things can go unreported. Oh, sure, sure, sure.
I believe in that. We're not filing this. Yeah. Right.
We don't know what happened to her. She could be missing. She's from America. Her husband and daughter have flown down there to help in the search.
Oh, terrible. But it's been five or six days now. Uh-oh. I don't think it's going to turn out well.
You're not going to get any answers? You don't think so? Can we go on the next topic? No, we like to talk about some of the dark stuff, too.
We'll talk about some of the dark stuff, but just don't go to Granada, you'll be fine. Would you let your wife go on vacation to a Caribbean without you or anything like that? Hell no. No.
Sorry. Not the Caribbean. Yeah, no, I mean, it's just, it's not a trust thing. It's a, look, I don't want you to get taken.
It's dangerous. Yeah, no. I don't know about your wife. My wife is not that observant when she's out walking around and stuff.
Oh, I'm aware. You're always on high alert whenever she's around you. Right. Yeah.
Even in safe places. I'm like, you're in my house, dude, relax. No one's stealing her. You're like, no.
Guarding the door. Stop looking at her. My wife has no desire to do something like that anyway, so. No?
No. Not at all. I mean, she'll take the kids cross-state for the BMX state races if I'm not in town. Yeah.
But then again, who wants to do something to a wife with three little kids? It's going to be a lot of nagging, bro. That's true. I mean, but like, I mean, that's, that's still difficult, but doable, right?
I mean, three kids traveling anywhere solo is miserable. Yeah. And she's going to be rendezvousing with all the other families there. So she's not going to be really solo throughout the weekend.
Right. So it's a very safe place. And today's day and age, you know, the minivan has Wi-Fi, her car has Wi-Fi. I mean, I already said that twice, but her phone has Wi-Fi.
What I'm trying to say is the communication within the United States is very strong. The infrastructure is there for emergencies and things of that nature. S.? Is there any country you'd be like, "Okay, she can go here"?
Canada. I was just going to say that, maybe Canada. Canada's fine. Maybe.
Mexico. Hell no. I didn't think so. I didn't think so.
I've been there. I was just there last week or two weeks ago. Yeah? Yeah.
Nice. You're looking at tobacco or something? No, no, just for fun. Yeah?
Yeah. Nice. It lasted two days, we came back. It lasted two days and you said we're good?
It's just so bad down there, dude. Is it? Is it really? Yeah.
It's just, I mean, as soon as you cross the border, the poverty just, boom. It just really sets the tone, you know? Yeah. I couldn't wait till I get back.
Right. Whoever says that the United States sucks really has not been outside. You haven't been anywhere? No.
Yeah. I couldn't wait till I get back. Right. Oh, dude.
All those soccer people loved it here. Yeah, well, you saw the people that came in from FIFA, the World Cup, I was just going to say that. Yeah. " They have everything here, look at the food.
Yeah. Bro, we have so much here, abundance of food. Yeah. You can't starve in this country.
I know for sure, if I don't have a penny, there's food shelters that I'll go and pack up big time for free. Well, we were talking about this the other day, you can go to Chick-fil-A and go, "I'm hungry," and they'll give you a sandwich. There you go. Yeah, it's wild.
I love it here. -It's the greatest country in the world. -Murica. -Murica.
-Murica. -Murica. -Murica. -Murica.
-Okay. -All right. Two men jumped off the space needle. Seattle police are searching for two men who allegedly climbed over the glass safety barrier.
-Oh, I saw that. -Went past security officers, and then BASE jumped off the top of the space needle. -Nice. -Do you know what BASE stands for?
-Don't know what? -BASE stands for. -No, no. -It's an actual, it's actually-- -It's an acronym?
-Yeah, it's buildings, antennas, Skyscrapers, and Earth. - Oh wow. - Really? - Yeah, that's why they call it base jumping.
- Both parachutes opened successfully and the men landed safely before disappearing into crowds. They were wanted on criminal trespassing charges. - Well, who cares? Nothing happened.
- Well, I know, but it's still against the law. - So what? - So what, we have no laws now? - But nobody got hurt.
- It's illegal. - So if I rob a bank and nobody gets hurt, it's okay? No, I don't see the harm in that. There could be a lot of harm in that.
How so? Yeah, but nobody got hurt. It's fine. Yeah, it's an FDIC.
I just walked away with the money. It's insured. Yeah, is FDIC insured? You don't have the correct parameters set up.
You don't have anything. So if something does happen, you don't have... Yeah, but nothing happened, it's fine. I know, but if something does happen, you don't have things already set for you.
Like, you should have EMTs on site, you should have... Oh, for this thing, not the bank robbery. No, bank robbery. No, no, we're talking about case jumping.
Am I off course here? No, no, you're fine. No, I'm with you. It was illegal.
So they should go to jail. That's what happens when you start playing with your phones. Well, I'm looking up bass jumping, making sure it stands for antenna. Yep, I was right.
Okay, cool. See? My membrane bank is so smart. You know what?
We just wait on people to correct us. Yeah. Same here. Yeah, we don't fact check.
We don't fact check anything. That's what the people that watch and listen are for. Yeah, they say, you idiots. You idiots.
Oh, so I can be myself? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Do whatever you want.
The Space Needle is 605 feet tall. It's one of the most recognizable landmarks in the USA. Pulling off a jump without permission requires getting past security, getting close enough to the railing, and then climbing over the protective barrier. So there's a lot involved for these guys.
It's impressive. I just feel like this isn't something. That's a rush for sure. Yeah.
How did nobody stop them? I just feel like this isn't something we need to pursue. You know what I mean? Like, okay, it's illegal.
Got it. Mike, are you really going to go over the glass railing to stop them? Nobody wants to stop them? No, no, no.
Once they got that far, there were several things they had to before they got to the glass. Yeah, they walked in with parachutes. Yeah, they walked in with parachutes. They don't walk in with parachutes, you walk in incognito.
And they got the little fluffy suits on as they're walking by and the helmets. Guys coming in with a helmet with a GoPro attached to his head. Wow, look at those guys. I wonder what they're doing.
No, they come in incognito, they know what they're doing, man. They come in incognito. Dude, I was just playing that in my head. Really?
Yeah. See, we're on the same page. Wow. This is incredible.
The telepathy in here is just... It's all the wires and things. It's the aura. It sort of connects you.
It's the aura, yeah, as the kids say. So much aura. The aura. Yes.
Okay, what else you got? All right, now we're into cigar news. Perfect timing. Oh, look, we've done this before.
5%. Here we go. So is this a tax on top of the tax already? I mean, we're paying?
No, I think the other tax has gone away, like it expired and then this one is renewed and then it's- Well, I'm still paying on a lot of invoices that I'm seeing coming in through my office. Yeah. So nothing expired. We're still paying for things.
No, so I think it expired at the end of July or like July 22nd, and then this one was announced, right? Right, this started on the 24th, so this started on Friday. Got it. Right.
So what was it before? 18%? No, I think it was lower. Was it 10?
I think it was 10. It was 10. Yeah. And now it's 12 and a half?
Now it's up to 12 and a half. Yeah, which is ridiculous. For the major cigar producing countries, these new tariffs will amount to the slight increase for the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, while Honduras will remain at the current rates. Oh, Honduras stays at 10.
No, they're probably always at 12 and a half. Oh, you think they're already at 12? Yeah. 5% is for forced labor.
Okay. The use of forced labor is not a regular talking point from the White House, but it does serve as a pathway to enact these tariffs, which can be done without approval from Congress. Okay. Have you traveled to any of these countries to see cigar rollers and stuff?
Oh, yeah. Okay. Have you seen any forced labor? No.
No. Okay. Have you traveled? No, you haven't.
I will look for forced labor. I have never seen forced labor. Not only have I never seen forced labor. I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, but not only have I never seen forced labor, I've seen them not show up to not get paid.
And they're like, you know what, fuck it, I quit. Oh, dude, I do see that. Yeah. They're like, eh, especially on Monday.
They just did no notice. Yeah. Like, hey, went a little hard in the paint this weekend, not going to show up. And I got news for you, when the guy, when the filler guy doesn't show up, you got to, the pair, you got to figure out something to do with the other person for that day.
Yes, and they get paid per cigar they roll. Sometimes, yeah. They don't want to roll as many cigars as possible. Right.
So, yeah. And the thing is, whenever I went down to the Dominican Republic, I think they have 24 holidays per year. So every time I went down there, there was at least one day per week that didn't have to work because it was a holiday. Oh, yeah.
It's so frustrating. The culture and everything is definitely frustrating, right? Yes. But that doesn't mean...
There's no forced labor. Right. That doesn't mean that there's forced labor. So, like, that's bullshit.
I can't stand it. I hate when media does something like that, and they try and portray something, or if that's coming directly from the White House or whatever, you know? Not in our industry. There's no forced labor in the cigar industry.
Right. That's what we're talking about. Okay, so then why are we being taxed? Why is Honduras not?
Because according to this, they've always been at 10 and they're still at 10. I don't know. That's a great question. Why all of a sudden they excluded?
I figured that they were just at 12 and a half with us. Yeah, I thought so too, but it has the article, it has everybody's percentage. And there's this 10, 10, 10, 10. Nicaragua started at 19, 10, 18, 10, 12, and now it's at 12 and a half.
It's absurd. It's absurd. Oh, here's something about Honduras. 5".
It doesn't explain why. Hmm. There's no forced labor in Honduras. They don't put up with that.
Ah, so frustrating. Let 'em have it. 5%, whatever. Let 'em have it?
Just let 'em have it, man. I don't think you should let 'em have it. I don't think I should let them have it either. I just, I'd rather just move on.
You're already going to pay everybody's two and a half. You can't push, you have to push back. If it's a big percentage, yeah, we have a problem. Two and a half to get away with it, let them get away with it.
Well, the problem is there's no justification for the tariff whatsoever when it comes to cigars. S. at the same price, then okay, then we can argue tariffs. , right, but if you can't grow it and produce it and then sell it at the same price, then you can't go with that tariff.
You know what I mean? Like, we don't have the capabilities of growing it. Right. It's not possible.
We don't have the infrastructure. Not here, we don't. Right, exactly. So, you know, can you build an iPhone here?
Yes. Absolutely. Yes, you can. So, you want to go after those tariffs?
Okay, I have no problem with that. You want to even that up? Okay, whatever. That doesn't bother me.
But there are things that we need from outside of our country that we cannot produce. So, the fact that there's tariffs on those things is not okay. But that's not the reason why I believe they're putting tariffs. Well, that was the reason that he ran on.
Yeah, that's the reason. Oh, that's the part I missed. Okay, that's what you're arguing. " Four years have come and gone.
" And we said, "Fuck no, we're not gonna endorse you. " It's just that simple. I don't care if you're Democratic or Republican. " I scratch my back, I scratch your back.
Build the community, work together, but the second that you start to say one thing and then you shift and you pivot towards something like, hey, forced labor, like, wait a second, I've been there, I haven't seen it, I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but that doesn't make much sense to me, like, I got a problem with that, right? So, this is funny, because they got me, I'm a dum-dum, so I'm thinking only two and a half percent, I'm like, okay, I'll just pay it. A lot of times I look at the value, the cost analysis, however you want to terminalize this thing, whatever it's called. 5%, I don't care, let it go.
I pay attention when it gets a high percentage. 5%, now that you're shedding some light on this, across the industry, that could be millions of dollars. Huge. Sure.
Huge money. It's set up to be a deterrent so that you won't buy them from there. They're not charging Nicaragua the two and a half percent. It's the consumer.
Right. It ends up being more money that you pay to have it made or have it here in America. Right. Like the Chinese tariffs up to 35%.
China's not paying that. We are. Right. Walmart pays it and then you pay it because Walmart raises their prices.
Which again, same scenario. Like, look, as far as I'm concerned, if the theory works and you're trying to provide jobs here, no problem. Right. I'm okay with that.
But we can't do that here. You're not doing that with cigars. Right. You're not doing that with cigars.
So, why isn't that exempt? It needs to be exempt. Period. It should be 0%.
There you go. I have no argument against that. I just got schooled right now. Burr, burr, burr, burr, burr.
Oh, edumatainment. It's edutainment. Edutainment. Is that edumatainment?
No, it's not edumatainment. It's edutainment. Oh. Edumatainment sounds aria-ta, that's all I'm adding.
Sounds what? I'm not, I'm leaving it at that. Wee, ta, okay, go ahead. All right, in the great Canadian cigar rush of 2026, Christophe N49 goes on sale in Canada.
Another company's making a Canadian exclusive. This week, Canadian retailers are getting a brand new Christophe cigar, whether they want it or not. The Christophe N49 is the company's new Canadian exclusive. I believe it's a 5x50 Robusto with an Ecuadorian HVA wrapper over a Sumatra seed binder from an undisclosed country.
And Dominican Criojo 99 and Orlo Fillers is an MSRP of? You can either do Canadian, you're gonna guess the price of the cigar, either you can do Canadian money or Freedom Dollars, either one you want to do. I have both. With their taxes, 25 bucks.
Is that Canadian money you're saying? Yeah, 25 dollars. Michael? I'm going to say $13.
99. Holy moly. He's practically right on the money. Look at that.
There you go. He's a retail extraordinaire. If we had a soundboard, I would have just saved that sound. There you go.
Wow, that's crazy. Sold in boxes at $24. Nicely done. Jared Trudeau, EVP of Christophe Cigars, is in Canada's week to do launch events.
The first cigar of which took place Tuesday in Toronto. The N49 refers to 49 degrees north of the equator, the line they use more than 1,000. Oh, it's named after the border. Isn't that nice?
JB Cigar Company is Christoph's distributor in Canada. I heard of JB Cigar Company. JB? I think there's a couple guys that are really kind of trying to bring...
What do we call our cigars here? There's a term that we use. The world cigars? Yes, thank you.
The new world cigars to Canada. All around the world. It's growing exponentially. It really is.
This is the third story in less than a week that people are going to Canada. Yeah, Europe is growing when it comes to the new world. Asia is growing when it comes to the new world. A lot of places in the world are growing in the new world cigars.
- Because of the increase in the Cuban Cigar prices, that's why, and the obscene amount of counterfeits going on. - Sure, right, yeah, sure. - A lot. - That and Cuban cigars are terrible.
- Yeah, the quality's going down. - Oh, come on, Cuban cigars are not terrible. - What's your favorite, okay, what's your favorite Cuban cigar? - It is the Ramon Aiones, the Robusta, I think it's called Selectos or something like that, comes in a cab of 50.
Not the dress box 25, those are terrible. - Terrible. But the Naqaba 50. You like those?
They're delicious. How many Cuban cigars do you smoke? Oh, lately I've never. No?
Lately, none. Lately, none? No. Do you really miss any type of, like, man, really?
Absolutely. You do? When was the last time you had that one you just talked about? The Ramon Aiones.
The Ramon Aiones, I would say a year and a half to two years ago. Oh, that's not that long. Two years ago? A year and a half to two years ago, yeah.
I was in California, a friend of mine gave me one. That was really good. I used to get the Ramon Aiones, Schwa Supremes, those were $85 a box back in the early 2000's, shipped to my house for a box of 25. Those were amazing.
The Bolivar, Bellicozo, SLB, the Slide Lid Box, those were always really good. So do you think that Cuban cigars are better than New World cigars? No, they're different, different characteristics, different way of doing things, I guess, they do. Yeah.
So it does have a distinct flavor characteristics, absolutely, yeah. It's amazing how, okay, it's the one with the slide box, it's not the regular box, it's the slide box. Well, 'cause they have dress boxes. No, I'm just amazed that, I mean, to you, there's such a difference in the packaging, or either that's how you distinguish one from the other.
Because they're different factories. Not the one in the jar, the one in the cabinet. No, because there are different factories that kind of stuff. I'm just impressed.
Oh, really? Yeah. Well... It's the one with the red stripe on the box.
Make sure it's only the red stripe. No, it's because that's the world of Cuban cigars. So you have Cohiba that are made at multiple factories, right? Right.
The best factory that makes Cohibas, I believe the acronym is AME. That's like the best factory for Cohibas. All the other factories are not going to be as good. So like real Cohiba geeks, they look for that box code or that factory code at the bottom of the box.
So those are the cool things that is very, not necessarily nostalgic only, but there is significance behind those box codes, or excuse me, factory codes on the box, and knowing what you're doing gives you that, you know, ability to have better cigars, lets you know that, you know what you're doing among your peers, and you can, and if you're in a primary, excuse me, in a secondary market, you can get top dollar for that. So yeah the Cuban cigar culture is really cool and I really do enjoy it I just haven't been in it in so long because the prices got so crazy and being a retailer and understanding cigars I just did not see the value yeah I'm just like this is ridiculous it really is so I was like I'm done right but if you give me a Cuban cigar I'm going to be ecstatic because I don't have to spend that money on it. Michael, give him the Cuban Cigar we have for him. As long as it's real.
It's authentic. It's got the clear top on the box. You can see that it's real. The glass top, yeah, you can see it, right?
It's got the plexiglass, not even glass. It's got all of them. It's got the Cohiba, it's got the Monte Cristo. Yeah, it's a disorbit.
We get you a parting gift. Yeah, it's great. They're all the same size. Right.
Yeah, it's great. Box is made out of what looks like an old pallet. I got it on a cruise. And they're so cheap.
Some guy on the beach. Yeah, I paid 20 bucks. Yeah, I paid 20 bucks. Yeah.
It's amazing. S. retailers today. Oh.
S. retailers. The line uses a broadleaf wrapper and a Habano binder, both of undisclosed origin. Not saying from where.
S. " While the binder contributes spice, then enhances the complexity and depth of flavor. Cigars are made at Artista's factory in Tambor, Dominican Republic. The Buffalo 10 Broadleaf is offered in a six-by-fifty box-pressed Toro, is priced at...
This is a purse cigar price, gentlemen. -Gerard? -Yeah? -What's the price?
-What's the price? Tell us, did you get so close before? Yeah. Well, you missed it by a penny.
El Artista? Mm-hmm. 6x50, box-pressed, broadleaf. 750.
Let's say 10 bucks. 610. You went the wrong way. Holy moly.
Look at this. Give it to us again. Go ahead, go ahead. El Artista?
Yeah, give me the brr, brr, brr, brr. Go ahead, do it. There you go. It comes in three packaging options, a 40-count box, a 20-count refill bundle, paper wrapped in five packs.
All three options come with some updated designs, the line's signature look, which debuted in 2019 with the original Buffalo 10. You think it's short filler? No. You think it's long filler?
El Artista has so much tobacco. Yeah? They have a lot of, yeah, Ram. It's a good acquaintance.
I don't, I don't know if we say we're friends, but we definitely hug it out when we see each other. You hug it out? I've been there to El Artista. A little bromance?
A little bromance, absolutely, he's a great guy, will do anything for you. - Yeah. - But, yeah, they have a lot of tobacco. - Does he give you Cuban cigars?
- They don't make Cuban cigars. - Well, I know, they might just have some. - I think they may sell tobacco to Cuba. I don't know, but they sell a lot of tobacco.
They do that more than they make cigars. So, the fact that, you know, they have so much tobacco, they can cost a lot. - Is this Dominican Republic, right? - Yeah, and Temporil.
- Yeah. - Dominican Republic. - Okay. Buffalo 10.
Buffalo 10. Broadleaf. Broadleaf. Broadleaf.
That's all it says, though? No, I read what it was in it. It's like Connecticut Broadleaf. Part of it's undisclosed.
Oh, it just says Broadleaf. So is this their fourth of their lineup? Because they have a Connecticut, I believe they have a Habano, they have a Maduro. Let's see, they have a Natural in 2021, added the Buffalo 10 Connecticut after that.
So, all three lines are offered in the same box press, 6x50 Toro size as the Buffalo 10 Broadleaf with comparable pricing. So, maybe they replaced the Maduro with a Broadleaf? Maybe. Maybe.
They only have the three. Huh. They used to be $550. Oh, another $610.
Prices are going up. Weird price. 5% now. And they got rated like 89.
Really? Yeah. You can pull it up if you want. By who, Half Wheel?
Yeah, I think it was the Maduro. It rated 89 at that point, and it did really well for them, sales-wise, it helped them a lot, yeah, that 89. Hmm, hmm, I have to check that out. Yeah, this was five, six years ago.
Really? Yeah. Interesting. I don't mess with a lot of Dominican stuff, so, unless it's Sidney Zafina.
And while you're smoking? Yeah. Did you already show it? I did, when you were talking.
Well, it comes from a fantastic factory. Yeah. Yes. It does.
I've actually been there, too. See, you're my Dominican guy. Yeah, well, that's where I've, I've only been to the Dominican Republic, I haven't been to Nicaragua yet, or Honduras, but, uh… Tariffs very low from Honduras, apparently. Yeah, Dominican Republic, the labor's higher… Yeah?
Yeah, than Nicaragua, at least that's what I've heard, I haven't really witnessed it, but it's what I've heard. But, yeah, Hostos' factory, I remember when he was just getting it together, he had just finished it, excuse me. Excuse me. Very clean place.
He's Cresada's nephew. And he makes some fantastic stuff. No kidding. Oh, yeah.
Absolutely. He does a lot of stuff for Warped. Yeah. He's giving me his own special blends that he likes to smoke.
He likes to smoke some strong stuff, man. Really? Yeah. And very complex.
That's cool. Yeah, for sure. That's cool. See, you're going to have to educate me more on Dominican stuff.
Make me a better person. Well, he's not leaving, right? He's not leaving anytime soon. You can chit-chat anyway.
Yeah, we're on bromance. There you go. The bromance continues. Yeah.
All right, now it's time to play the industry's favorite game. Now, wait, wait, wait. " Yeah. So they say the score right after?
No, no, no, no. I'm going to say, we'll start again. " We'll pause for a second, and then we'll all three say it together, as loud as you can. " And then do that brum-brum-brum at the end.
" What's the score? All right, Michael, you ready? Do I have to say the score too? No, no, no, just the word.
Got it. Just the word, all right. Now it's time to play: What's the score? I'm going to have to do that all over again, I'm sorry.
All right, do it again. I didn't know you say it slowly. Yeah, I tried to help you with that. Okay, okay.
Now it's time to play: What's the score? Players share clues from a Half Wheel Cigar Review and try to predict the score before it's revealed. As more details are shared, the challenge gets easier, or does it? The closest guest of the actual score wins the round.
Can you read between the lines and predict the score? " All right, today's first cigar, July 26, 2026. Patrick LeGreed is the reviewer. Okay, I know Patrick.
All right. He's got the baseball. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right. He's a baseball guy. This is a Perdomo cigar. It's the Perdomo Legacy Father and Son Shade Grown.
Okay. I'll go first since you're our guest. There's several points of it where you will guess the score based on the information. I already have a score in my head.
Okay. Okay, go ahead to Michael. I'm going to say 90. 88.
All right. Do you know this one? No, I've never smoked it. But did you see the review?
Nope. Okay. All right, now I'm going to tell you the makeup of the cigar, and then you'll vote again. Yeah.
Okay. Okay, cigar review. It is the Perdomo Legacy Father and Son Shade. It is from Nicaragua Factories Tabacalera Perdomo.
It is a Nicaraguan Cameroon Seed Habano Hybrid Wrapper. Binder is from Nica Cameroon Seed Habano Hybrid. Filler Condega Esteli and Jalapa. It is a 6x48 pressed, they smoked three cigars for the review.
90. I'm still at 88. Alright, clue number one. The Perdomo Legacy Father & Son Shade Grown delivers a refined smoking experience with rich notes of toasted wheat bread, cedar, earth, black pepper, and a subtle tangy sweetness.
The lighter, creamy portfolio found in the best performing sample adds an elegant touch that keeps the cigar engaging from start to finish. It's going to be three clues. And then a final thought. And then a final thought.
90. So, I know Patrick a little bit. He's sometimes generous. After you're reading that, I'm going to bump it up to 90.
Oh. All right. Clue number two. Construction is solid overall with an excellent draw, abundant smoke production, and a long, leisurely smoking time of around three hours.
The medium minus strength makes it approachable while still offering enough flavor to satisfy experienced smokers. Ninety. I'm staying there. Ninety.
All right. Third clue. While the flavors are enjoyable, the profile lacks depth and complexity as it progresses. The cigar also required multiple touch-ups and relights in the second half, with combustion becoming the biggest drawback during the final third.
On third. 89. I'm back to 88, but I want to say something else. Yeah, go ahead.
We need to know the price, because they do put that into the factor of their scoring. That does not factor the price. Huh? They do not factor the price.
They do not factor the price. They never do? I thought they did. No.
Okay, I'll shut up. No, no, you're fine. No, I like it when you talk. It's nice.
All right, final thought. I can point to a moment when the Perdomo Legacy Father and Son Shade Grown showed This is just what it is capable of. During the first cigar, as it gets into the second, third, and the profile develops the sweet and tangy sensation which gave the cigar not just depth, complexity, and nuance, but also intrigue. This is a blend that features an aged hybrid seed wrapper and binder that the company developed and put front and center for two high-profile projects, yet in too much of the cigar.
I felt like I couldn't tell what its contributions were. The backing notes are good, but also note the Well, what its contributions were. The backing notes are good and familiar, but unfortunately, they are shallow and lack the depth and complexity of a stellar cigar. As alluded to above, I would love to try this hybrid seed tobacco on its own, so I could really lock into the flavors, as it might give me a better appreciation for what has contributed to this cigar.
But for now, it was too little of what could really make this cigar and this collection special. I'm going to say 89, I'm going to stick 89. I'm going 86. 86!
Wow! On the nose! Wow! Wow!
Congratulations! Wow! I do read a lot of their stuff. Yeah?
Yeah. Nicely done, because you're a good retailer, you know? I guess so. Yeah.
All right, second cigar today. Oh, we got two, that's right. Wow. It's two for Tuesday.
All right, now you gotta go first this time. All right, this is from November 14th, 2016. Charlie Monado is the reviewer. He's tricky.
This is a limited edition cigar. This is the Nomad, from the Nomad Cigar Company. This is the Nomad GB-19. Gerard?
He's thinking. I'm going to start with an 84. Michael? 87.
Alright, this is a Nomad GB19 from Nicaragua, Factory Fabrica Ove Negra, Wrappers Honduran Candela. Oh boy. Binder is Ecuador, filler is Nicaragua, length is a 6x50 Toro, it's a $10 cigar, I have the price if you would prefer having the price. Released date was September 8, 2016, they smoked three cigars.
Now is this the Nomad Cigar, as in like Ezra Zion Nomad Cigars? This is 2016. This is 2016. It's possible that it was sold at that point.
I just don't remember that name of a cigar by Nomad. GB19, it's obviously the Candela because it's the wrapper, but it's that one for Green Bay. Yeah, this is actually Fred Rui's. Yeah, it's Fred Rui's cigar.
They made this cigar for, like, in honor of Aaron Rodgers. Oh, so it's not Nomad Cigars out of Texas. Ezra Zion, you guys know those guys? Yeah, so Fred Rui sold it to them.
Really? Yeah. Okay. So this is back when Fred Rui still had it.
This was probably one of the last cigars that he made, because after that, that was the big deal with the whole FDA compliance as far as pre... The substantial equivalency thing? Yeah. When you made cigars, they were in market by XYZ.
Right. Yeah, that's... Right. Um, 86.
I'm gonna drop 85. Clue number one. The Nomad GB19 offers a unique and memorable flavor profile, combining creamy nuttiness with floral notes, citrus, kiwi, green licorice, Is there green licorice? Rye bread and a distinctive mocha ice cream sweetness.
It's an adventurous Candela that stands out for more traditional offerings. Gerard? 86 still. I'm gonna go 87.
For a Candela, the GB19 delivers exceptional body and intensity, full strength with impressive smoke production and evolving flavors. It provides a bold smoking experience that proves Candela wrappers can be both flavorful and powerful. Gerard, 89, that's a good move, 88, here comes the drop, third clue, construction is inconsistent with multiple touch-ups required and one sample suffering from an extremely tight draw that persisted even after several cuts. These burn-and-draw issues detracted from an otherwise interesting blend.
I'm going all the way down to 75. I'm going to go 85. I'm going to go 85. Final thought.
Even at its best, the GB19 is not one of Nomad's better cigars. It's played with construction flaws, unbalanced, two words I've applied to any Nomad release I've smoked to date. While it certainly fits the bill of a strong Candela, it's not a cigar I'd recommend. Ouch.
70. Ooh. We'll play it safe here and go 71. You went the right way, 75.
Ooh. This is what happens. Bum, bum, bum, bum. Nope, nope, nope.
That is amazing. Wow. Yeah, when he wins, he gets sparklers. Victory.
All right. Yes, sir. That was amazing. All right.
Anything else, Mr. Palmer? That is it. Anything else to add, Mr.
Gerard? Where can they find you? Without saying the website name, because we are monetized. Right.
So, the name of our company is Marto Cigars. There you go. Perfect. Okay, check him out on Instagram.
He used to do a lot of videos. He's, you know, not as much as late, but he's going to get back into it. I'm going to come back. Yeah.
Can I come back? Well, you're always welcome. Yeah, you can make any time you want. All right, cool.
Of course, you're inner circle, dude. Aww. You know? Yeah, exactly.
Just like that. Just like that. Just like that. You're always welcome here.
So thank you very much for coming on. Like and subscribe. We're reviewing and listening to the show. com for all our swag.
I'm getting the second one 40% off. com. And we hope we provided some edutainment for you today. That's it.
All right, guys. Thank you very much. We gotta go. Bye-bye.
Don't get too high on it. Try it again. Lower it. There you go.
Right there. Right here? Yep. Bloop.
Show Notes
According to the agency, the business owners used multiple space heaters to keep the animals warm. An electrical breaker later tripped, cutting power to the heaters and causing the sloths to die.
A second shipment arrived from Peru in February 2025.
FWC said two sloths arrived dead from disease. The remaining eight animals were already sick and later died, bringing the total number of deaths to 31.
The agency said it first learned about the business in December 2024 after receiving a general inquiry from the mother of a man who had seen an advertisement saying Sloth World was hiring. She wanted to know whether the business was legitimate.
“As far as FWC is concerned, our first reach-out about Sloth World was just inquiring to see if it was a business,” an agency official said. “They did not yet have any animals, nor was the business open.”
FWC said it did not receive its first tip prompting an inspection until July 2025, months after the sloths had died.
A veteran captive wildlife investigator then conducted multiple inspections over the following months.
Agency officials said the animals present during those inspections appeared healthy, had adequate food and water and were being kept in enclosures that met state requirements. Investigators documented one minor issue involving a quarantine cage.
“During their inspections, they didn’t see anything with the care and maintenance, with the food, water, nutrition or cage sizes,” Maj. John Wilke said.
The agency also stressed that its investigators are not veterinarians and are not responsible for diagnosing diseases.
FWC officials said the lead investigator assigned to the case has more than 30 years of experience, including nearly three decades working with captive wildlife.
“If he saw any kinds of neglect or abuse, he would have addressed it right there,” Wilke added.
FWC leadership said it fully supports the way its Orlando staff handled the investigation.
Although no criminal charges were filed, the agency said it has changed its policies in an effort to prevent a similar incident.
Sloths were previously brought into Florida under a blanket import permit that only required the state to be notified after the animals arrived.
Under the new policy, importers must provide advance notice. That will allow investigators to inspect facilities before sloths are brought into the state.
FWC said it can strengthen oversight once exotic animals enter Florida, but it does not have the authority to stop sloth imports altogether. Officials said much of that authority rests with federal agencies.
Florida serves as an entry point for a significant number of exotic animals imported into the United States, and officials said there is no indication that will stop anytime soon.
FWC also acknowledged that sloths present unique challenges. The animals can hide signs of illness and are highly vulnerable to stress during capture and transportation.
The agency said it is now working with accredited zoos and wildlife experts to provide investigators with additional training specific to sloth health, behavior and care.
Meanwhile, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the deaths. Its report is expected in early August.