Cigar Hustlers Podcast 118 Desind of Privada Club

Episode Summary

Episode 200 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast (released as #118 in this feed) features Brian Desind, founder of Privada Cigar Club, in a wide-ranging, unfiltered industry conversation. Desind walks back and explains the viral YouTube video he posted after a targeted attack took down the Privada website — a video in which he vented about a string of cease-and-desist letters and named several industry figures. He makes clear he wasn't accusing anyone of the hack, and details the conversations he's since had with Pete Johnson of Tatuaje, Charlie Minato and William Cooper to clear the air. Johnson's "it's my right to protect my trademarks" phone call becomes a jumping-off point for a frank talk about trademark law, consumer confusion, generational divides in the industry, and why Privada now hand-Sharpies bands on already-rolled inventory (the accidental "Sharpie Collection").

Desind also tells his origin story: leaving the music business and opioid addiction behind, a stint as a chauffeur in Miami, discovering cigars at Tampa Humidor through Las Calaveras and black label Tatuaje, becoming a serious collector with a 400-square-foot cigar room in Pennsylvania, then trying to liquidate that collection into a subscription business when he and his pregnant wife downsized to a 750-square-foot LA apartment. He explains that an auto transport business meant he never needed Privada to make money, which he credits — along with newer technology, a street-culture mindset and, above all, his members — for the club's speed of growth. He shares current scale figures: roughly 10,000 Privada Cigar Club subscriptions, 6,000 in Farm World, nearly 2,000 Brian's Box, and the Local Cigar Alliance (LCA) approaching 500 shops, with around 2 million cigars in inventory.

The back half turns to the future of the category. Desind argues that brand owners and cigar makers are not the same thing, that he now goes directly to blenders and master rollers, and he name-checks upcoming work with A.J. Fernandez, Chico Rivas and Hugo at Raíces, plus collaborations with Kristoff for comedian Rocky Dale Davis and with Uncle Paulie's Deli via John Buscemi. He also discusses shining light on under-recognized makers like Hoyo de Monterrey-adjacent factory blenders and Ocho Blanco, his aversion to over-commercializing cigars with celebrity (citing Marvin Shanken, Cigar Aficionado and the Nick Jonas cover), and Stanford Newman's book "Cigar Family" as essential industry history.

A notable segment covers FDA regulation: Desind describes independently lab-testing tobacco the way cannabis is tested, then having his own blood tested after smoking three cigars a day — finding below-average cadmium levels — and cites the one-to-two-cigars-a-day studies plus Dr. Gaby Kafie's research on the longevity of cigar company owners. The episode closes with Desind's pledge never to tell anyone who they can or can't work with, a nod to smoothing things over with Steve Saka, and his commitment to leaving the industry better than he found it.

In This Episode

1. 01
   The viral video and the website attack
   Desind explains the targeted hack that took Privada's site down and why his emotional YouTube response named names without accusing anyone.
2. 02
   Cease and desists, trademarks and the Sharpie Collection
   Four questionable C&D letters, a heated call from Pete Johnson about protecting trademarks, and why already-banded inventory now ships with Sharpie-marked bands.
3. 03
   Clearing the air with the industry
   Follow-up conversations with Pete Johnson, Charlie Minato and William Cooper, plus an unresolved rift and a company allegedly pressuring factories not to work with Privada.
4. 04
   From music and Miami to Tampa Humidor
   Desind's path out of the music business and addiction, his con-artist uncle, and catching the cigar bug over Las Calaveras and black label Tatuaje.
5. 05
   Building a subscription club by accident
   How a 400-square-foot cigar room, a cross-country move and an unsellable collection turned into Privada Cigar Club — and why not needing the money mattered.
6. 06
   Scale, growing pains and the LCA
   Membership numbers for PCC, Farm World and Brian's Box, the Local Cigar Alliance approaching 500 shops, and the infrastructure the company outgrew.
7. 07
   Brands vs. cigar makers and what's coming in 2022
   Working directly with blenders including A.J. Fernandez, Chico Rivas and Hugo at Raíces, plus collaborations with Kristoff and Uncle Paulie's Deli.
8. 08
   FDA, cadmium and cigar health data
   Desind's own tobacco lab testing and blood work, the one-to-two-cigars-a-day studies, and Dr. Gaby Kafie's research on cigar owners' life expectancy.
9. 09
   Celebrity, culture and growing the next generation of smokers
   Why he wants cool people to think cigars are cool again without repeating the Cigar Aficionado celebrity boom, and his call for retailers to help each other.

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 episode 200 of a Cigar Hustler Podcast. We made it to 200. 200. And we're still alive.

Yes. And you had guests and we took them away. I pushed my guests back a week. Yes.

Episode 201. Because we have another guest. Yes, we have another guest. I hope that wasn't on my behalf.

No, no, no. You're fine. You're topical. Yes, you're topical, like an ointment, yes, yeah, like an ointment, exactly, we have a rash, and we need a topical ointment, very topical, all right, Michael, introduce our guest, Michael, I want the music goes away, you want to do your thing, there's the music, I'll drop that back in, man, come on, I didn't even print that out, you want to do the U2, the la la la la, yeah, but introduce him first, then I'll do the U2, all right, well, we have Brian Descend of Provada Cigar Club, yes, I'm here, I made it, finally, there's a lot of shit going on, and, uh, I made it, finally, We have a lot of shit going on, Ryan's got a lot of stuff going on as well, and I thought that it was a good idea to come on the show and kind of say your whole piece, you know?

Sure. I love cigars. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.

Ooh, I had some Tony the Tigers earlier. Oh, Tony the Tiger. Not Tony. Not the Tony the Tiger.

Not the Tony the Tiger. With Kellogg's or Tony the Tiger. I understand. But I brought you the raw deal.

This is fantastic. This is not how it goes out, obviously we can't do that. But cool. Yeah, it's very cool.

All right. You too can be a part of our podcast family and invest in our show. Yes. Put your products in front of thousands of listeners and viewers every episode.

We are heard on 13 different podcast providers weekly all around the world. com. And always please remember to rate, comment, and subscribe on whichever of our many providers you use. It's the best writers you use.

Yes. Nice. To any Pravada members listening to this, please like, subscribe these guys, check them out weekly. Yeah, man, please do.

All right, so you had a bit of a bomb go off on your website. Yeah. You had some bad experiences. You started selling Persian rugs, I believe.

Yeah. We're about to. Which is pretty fucking comical. It was.

So shit was a mess. You released this video, I believe that pretty much the whole fucking world has seen this video at this point, you know, and it's kind of fascinating, you made comments, not accusing anybody, but there were hypotheticals, you know, because it's important to never ever outright accuse somebody, especially on video. Allegedly. That's why we throw allegedly.

We throw a lot of allegedly's out in the show. We are some allegedly motherfuckers. Yeah. Listen, I don't want anyone to think that the people that I mentioned in that video...

Right in the microphone. Sorry, man. That's okay. I don't want anyone to think that the people that I mentioned in that video I'm saying did that or had anything to do with that.

That's not what I meant. No. It was more me venting like, dude, I'm fucking tired of this shit. Right.

You know, I'm tired of the bullshit. I'm tired of getting, you know, cease and desist, I'm tired, which is again, and I bring some of this on myself, like I was telling you off air, like I live in reality here, I get what I'm doing, it only gets worse, we're having fun with cigars, and this is my way of keeping it exciting, and you know, but we're, as we grow, as the audience and awareness grows, we have to be more and more careful, it's not the boys club, you know, in the basement, yeah, you can get away with doing small runs of, you know, I mean, like, 2000 sticks or whatever, just kind of messed around. But as you continue to build, that's when, you know, shit starts to get real, right? Because at this point, I mean, what you've done is pretty remarkable, whether people fucking don't like you or they do, you know, it should be acknowledged, right?

I mean, it's funny to me when you made a comment on your video of like, we've been doing this for four years, and I'm thinking, I mean, that's not really all that, like, that ain't shit, you know, because then I start thinking about myself, I'm like, fuck, I've been doing it in 12 years. But what's remarkable is how fast you can do it. We grew in that time span, you know, and like, I don't think anybody else in this industry has come fucking remotely close to that, you know? Wow, so that's a big statement from you.

Yeah, but it's honest, you know? So, um, one of the first calls I got was from Pete Johnson, and we definitely got into it a little bit, and it's very important for people to know how much I respect Pete. Pete was one of the reasons why I started the club in the first place. Tatsuahe, the brand, was.

You know, how that has played out doesn't matter. It's just, it's important to know that. So Pete called me like, you know, big bro, like, what the fuck? Right.

I'm allowed to curse here. Of course. He was like, what the fuck? Well, you dropped a fucking atom bomb on YouTube.

He was like, why the fuck would you say that? He was like, it's my right to protect my trademarks. Like, this is a business that we're in. And, you know, you're acting like a young punk right now, kind of thing.

And I was like, I get it, but there's this generational divide here with the, you know, trademarking holidays and, you know, what I can and can't do. It is what it is, but the bottom line is that shit needs to be respected, and I definitely had a little bit of a brat moment where I was like, fuck this, I'm over this shit. I'm also really bad with authority, which is something I need to grow up on. When you start texting me, hey, like, hey, Mike, I saw that sign in your store window, hey, you're gonna have to change your, like, you get like three or four of those over the course of a year, and you're like, dude, fuck you, I don't wanna fuck you, you know, dude, it's, look, I think it's great that you've already kind of gotten to that point, you know, I think that it takes years to really have, like, you've, the pendulum has swung, right, so, like, you're all the way back over here, and, like, you're in full fucking beast mode.

I think a lot of people wouldn't necessarily get to that beast mode until later on in their industry. That was his thing, was like, four years, four years, I've been doing this 20 years, you know, it's like, okay, I get it, I get it, we're still young. But there's no dick measuring contest here, you know, I think that what's even a little more remarkable is that you actually got to a point where you're already like, hey, fuck that man, no, that's not okay, this is my opinion and I don't agree with it. Because the majority of the people in this industry are very happy to throw a fucking rock and hide their hand, right?

Like, oh, who did that? I didn't see that. And it only gets worse. As you continue to grow, you're still going to have more and more of those experiences.

The difference is how you're going to handle it moving forward, right? Because I think that if you took anything from what you said, you realize that it was definitely emotionally driven, right? For sure. And this game is definitely chess and ain't checkers.

Sure. Right? So, go ahead. No, you didn't cut me off.

I think the good point is I got my point across and I also had a conversation with three out of the three people that I named directly or offended directly. And we're all on great terms. Yeah, that's great. Because they're all good guys.

They are. They are. Charlie Monado and I had a conversation. Johnson and I had a conversation.

William Cooper and I exchanged emails. Like, I think we're all moving on and there's going to be no drama. That's good. That's, that's really good, man.

You do get super paranoid though, when, you know, you get four cease and desist, which are very questionable. Almost all of them could be, this is the lawyer's conversation. Listen, Brian, we could take it to court, but why? Just change the band.

You want to pay me to do that? Like, forget about it. Just let's move on. You know, can you get sued for using this?

Probably not. But why? Why go there? So that's the kind of, so when someone sends you a cease and desist, it doesn't necessarily mean that you broke the law or you really infringed on their trademark.

They feel you do. And the whole thing with trademark is confusion. It's one word, right? Is it confusing?

And there are certain things that I can look at both ways that we've done it. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that going forward. I'm not going to look to do that.

And it's going to seem hypocritical, because bro, the cigar that you're smoking, that's at least nine months sitting in our coolers, so it's a year-age project, three months at the factory, nine months here, and it just came out last month, so I can't afford to can the projects that are already rolled, banded, and sitting in coolers at my warehouse, I'm going to have to put Sharpies on the front of them, and put band, and stuff like that. Which I love, I mean, we called it the Sharpie collection. Is that what happened with the last one? Yeah.

Oh, good. You're gonna see plenty more of that for a little while. Right. But I'd say like six to nine months from now, that won't be.

" Sharpie series is badass. Yeah. You know what I mean? I like having fun with things, just kind of rolling with it.

Sure. Like if that's what you're fucking, if that's what happens, that's what happens, you know? Yeah. As long as it's organic.

Right. And that's the one thing I do want to say. Cigars, this isn't boxing, this isn't music, this is something that should have some respect on it. I mean, I wish it was boxing.

You would. Sometimes you would, wouldn't you? I'm out. I'd be fine with that.

I don't want to be the Conor McGregor of cigars, that's not what I'm looking to do. I have so much, a tremendous amount of respect for all the people that came before us, and I want to shine a light on the blenders that have been making these products, These products that we all love so much. So, so yeah, I mean, look, we took lemons and we made lemonade. Right.

There was no way that I was going to spend the kind of money that we had to spend to get out of that situation and potentially start from zero because that's what I thought it was going to be up until Friday morning. Right. I was like, that's it. I'm pulling the plug on this.

Like, forget it. This is five nights of you guys sitting up until four o'clock in the morning doing this stuff like, and then you're costing $500 an hour. Right. Okay.

No, we're just going to start from zero. The members that really love this thing, they're going to come back, yeah, and I'm okay with that, I'm okay with that, you know, I'd be okay with starting from ground zero, because, and you made a point about how far we've come in the four years, it's not me, like, okay, if I'm patting myself on the back, I've done a great job of serving my people, and I've done a great job of facilitating a community, but this is them. Sure. And timing.

Yeah, and I agree with both of those statements, for sure. So cigars were ready to transition into the next millennium. Right. It was being kind of held back for a while.

There's small groups of people like you guys that were doing your things within a smaller niche community. Right. You know, like you have shirts on the wall that I'm like, I want to ask you about on-air, but I'm afraid to ask you about on-air because I think what that shirt means, I think I know what it means, but I don't want to ask because I don't want to offend anyone. Okay, that's cool.

Yeah, you ask, that's when we go. Does it have to do with someone that's no longer there? Uh, I don't know which one you're talking about. The one with the line, the one with the line on it.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. So, we can totally talk about that. Okay.

We can totally talk about that shit. So, I mean, you know, he was always, he was always around like he was a, and I did it as a joke, right? I'm like, oh, so I made the joke of, for the Roma shirts. I'm like, oh, I guess that, so much for the Vasquez shirts, right?

So, fucking Skip calls me and he sends. What's his first name? Danny. So, he fucking sends them all to me.

to me. I, you know, I pay them a fucking, I can't turn it, turn the deal down. Right. Cause if anything, I could just wash my car with them.

Right. So then I got them all. And then I took a fucking white strip to all of them. Really?

Oh yeah. Oh, you did that yourself. Wow. Yeah.

Cause they just had them. You can totally have one. No, no, I'll buy it for sure. So, but, um, look, you know, I, we do a lot of things in fucking in, in poor taste, but just in good humor, you know, we, we have a good time with it.

Um, and, And no one has really come. Here's my point though. Right, go ahead. You have to be such a roam ahead to know that.

Oh yeah. And that's cool. That's inspiring to me. That's what I like about this thing is that there's so many of these and there will be, there will continue to be so many of these, you know, all about that one factory, that one thing, that one blender, you know, whatever it is.

And so it's really awesome. The only thing I can say is, and I don't think there's any way that I was going to do this and I wasn't going to have 5% of people be like, fuck, what does this kid think? You know, that kind of shit. But I wish that they would try to do what I do and critically think and really look at it from a global standpoint.

I'm here to add to. I want to add value. Every single blender I work with, I add value. Who's Stoey Roe would just call me?

He was like, my wife said I never looked better. And I was like, dude, this is what I'm trying to do. Like, we did a video with him, he looks like a movie star, he looks like fucking Ray Liotta was on our set, like, this is what I want to do, I want to add value to everyone, and when you reached out to me over this, first of all, you joined up with LCA without even a question, and that was before it was anything, and I'm just like, dude, I gotta be more involved with these guys, like, you have your own thing, and I think that's really cool, the shop is cool, and the fact that you're so entrenched in the Roma brand, like, that's cool. They're my dudes, they're family, you know.

So Danny's no longer there, he lives in Tampa. Yeah, he kind of fell off, man. He made me feel like Roma did not want to fuck with us at all. And maybe that's true, but I've never spoke to Skip.

I don't think that it's a, they don't want to fuck with you. I think that what they produce, they're so far past capacity that it's not even, you know, it's hard for them to entertain anything like that. And that's somewhere where I learned through this process that I need to grow the fuck up a little bit too. Like, just because Half Wheel isn't the website I want it to be, doesn't mean I need to fucking, you know, feel a certain way, just because Roma doesn't make an exclusive for us doesn't mean I need to feel, it's not personal, right, it's not personal, bro, and that was the conversation of Howard Petey's like, dude, I'm on an 18 year path, I have a specific lane, I'm in no rush, everything is great, I'm back ordered, life is good, like, sorry, you don't fit into my business model, but it doesn't mean I don't love you.

Right. And, you know, I think that that's kind of going on a lot right now in the industry, but like, what's, let me take a step back. What is kind of remarkable about what you do is that, you know, and you did kind of ping this on your video was, you know, what you always try and promote and get more new cigar smokers. Yes.

Right. And that's something that a lot of retailers don't do. I mean, I don't think fucking, you know, we could probably count them on my hand on one finger. You know, I mean, there's, there isn't a lot, there's not a lot of manufacturers They're brand owners that look, you can ask them, what are you doing to get, create new smokers?

And there'll be no fucking answer. You know, we used to do, I, for shits and giggles, I was doing like a cigar mentor thing, trying to promote it and, and have people, um, just introduce cigars, but not burying somebody, you know, to somebody else. Do you feel bad if like a 21, like I saw a couple of comments on that video that I was like, Ooh, I didn't know. Like I'm 21 years old.

I never smoked a cigar before I saw your videos. And now I'm all in. I got every manager at my company signed up for your club. And I'm like, I mean, that's cool and all, but am I like, you know, I mean, I, I, I've done enough research to say that I don't feel like it's terribly unhealthy.

You know, I think that there's a lot of unhealthy people that smoke cigars. Do you think that the CEO of McDonald's is like, man, we really, we really got to scale back the calories? I'm going to help me up these French fries. I want to be a conscious person.

All organic cigars. So it is what it is. I try to influence people, you know, to smoke in a healthy situation. It's a healthy situation.

Well, I mean, there's been some studies that show that, you know, there isn't really a big effect of it. One to two, right. Yeah. Cigars have always been demonized, right?

Yeah. But I don't think that you're doing anything wrong by it. First of all, you're not forcing anybody to fucking smoke a cigar. That video was important and it was pivotal, and I think it changed everything for me.

Right. I know that. I'm sorry, man. I can watch you.

I don't want to lose what you say. You know what? We use like these boom mics when we record. So this is directional.

It's different for you. Yeah. Okay. I got to get used to this.

Hello. Hey, how you doing? Oh, there you go. Hey.

So it changed everything. It changed this industry. It changed me. It changed our membership.

It changed the way that we look at things. And up until now, it's been like, we are Pravada. Hashtag, we are the future. hashtag we are family and like it's not hashtag we are the future we're kind of the now right and i don't want to say that in a cocky way no i want to be really careful about that because i am a humble person to a large degree i make a lot of jokes didn't look like that on the video fucking one second okay well that's what i'm saying so i want i want to clarification right at least that's the way that i want to be seen whether it's completely true or not i think we're We're all, you know, some of us are either cocky or unconfident to some degree.

Yeah, I mean, there's definitely something to be said about having a little bit of swag and some confidence when you talk and like, this is how I feel, this is what I am, you know, oh, you don't agree? Okay, well, fuck you too. Right. But like, it's remarkable that you got to that point in such a short period of time, because for, I don't mean to cut you off, but like, I've got fucking punched in the face plenty of times in this industry.

And when I felt like I wasn't qualified at first, I was like, man, I guess I'm not qualified. But then after a while, I'm like, wait a second, who the fuck are you? No, no, you don't count. You sit the fuck down.

And that makes you even more dangerous than before. I'll tell you where that came from. And I don't want people in the industry to think that, I don't want brand owners to think that this is a bad statement. But it took me four years.

I've been in search of the best cigars that I can possibly find. Right. Okay. You know, and, and to say, and, and like I hear consumer talk, like chatter, like, oh, I tried this and it wasn't that good.

Well, listen, I don't make cigars. I find the best cigar makers I can. And I try to shine light on them. Right.

So you didn't like that cigar from that factory, but keep going. There's more, you know what I'm saying? Don't judge me on one release or one this. And I'd like to think that we don't put out any bad cigars.

You just might not like one or two, you know, like this is an amazing cigar. I didn't love it when it first came in. Other people told me it was so great, Luliga, the asshole that he is. Did you just say they're great, or just so great?

Show, show, Mike, I didn't think about that, that's good, I gotta work that into my routine here, so, you know, okay, here's what I'm saying, where the confidence came from, no, he smoked a bundle of them while he was at my house on a weekend, I was like, are they that good? He was like, yes, yeah, he's a weasel, so, so he sees something, step up, step up his weasel game, let me hold that for you, so, So, long story short, I realized that being a brand and being a cigar maker are two different things, and most of the voices in this industry are from brand owners, I've made cigars for brand owners in the last year, so what does that tell you? You understand what I'm saying? It's like, yeah, it's like, wait, I'm making your cigars now, or at least in being majorly involved, not just like I'm commissioning you to make a cigar, it's like, Like, no, no, we're already at that factory, so let's just, we'll get them made.

We don't want to wait for your money problems and all this shit, you know, to fucking come to fruition. I got to wait nine months and, you know, so that's where we're at now with a lot of this stuff. It's like, yo, you like that blend? Okay, but you want to put this wrapper on it?

Right. And we made it over here? Okay, we'll do that for you. Right.

And then just get me the bands. Yeah, I mean, you know, there's a big learning curve. And, you know, as time progresses, you get better at it. Mm-hmm.

So... But if you're not making the cigars, what are you going to tell me about cigars? Right. You studied?

Well, everybody likes, everybody chimes in from the rafters, man. You know, that's just, that's the fucking society we live in. But that's where my confidence came from, was sitting with the cigar manufacturers and watching them laugh at us. Right.

And I'm like, really? Fired you up. Yeah. Fucking A, man.

It just made me realize that, okay, like, we're all kind of on the same level. Now, maybe you're a Dion and, and you blend your own stuff. Okay, that's, you know, I'm not going to challenge this. There's a couple of them out there.

for sure. But for the most part, it's like, dude, like, come on. We're all, we're all in this thing together. The difference between the only thing that I could say when I analyze myself is the difference between me and a lot of the people that I've, um, that I've seen that could have done this.

There's a, a major difference in generational mindset, not necessarily age, but I was always super young on the thinking tip. Like as far as like music film, I was, I was trying to be a famous musician to like 10 years ago. Right. So like I have a whole different mindset that the websites that I read online on a daily basis are totally different from anyone else in the, in the industry.

Right. So, so I'm bringing a more of a street culture thing into this, but, um, uh, the other thing was, damn it. I forgot. It's okay.

The other thing that, that is different. Oh, money. Right. I didn't need the money, dude.

I didn't think this thing was going to make money. I started this to And get rid of my collection, we were moving from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles. I was going to ask how you got into this. So here's what happened.

I was living in Florida. I moved. Okay. So I got out of music, which is impossible to do.

Most musicians never stopped doing music. Right. And so I got out of music, got off drugs, by the way, because that's a part of the music industry for the most part. Yeah.

And, um, and it was a miserable time. I moved down to Miami. Um, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I had visited Miami often and had a fucking amazing time every time I'd go.

Right. And when I got there to live, I was like, I felt like, A, I'm alone on vacation. Right. B, I have no money.

C, I'm withdrawing from opioids and nothing's that much fun. Right. And, and, and, and I'm like alone and I just didn't feel great. And, uh, I don't speak Spanish.

You know, you really should speak Spanish if you're going to move to Miami. Yeah. I recommend that. So I got into a terrible relationship for like a year or so.

I was a chauffeur. I thought, Yeah. I thought I was going to do it. I thought I was, first of all, I thought I was going to make a killing as a chauffeur.

Second of all, I thought like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to like pick someone up and they're going to see like how serious I take it. And they're going to be like, Hey, I've got this fortune 500 company. You should come run. They're going to hire the chauffeur to run their car.

So this is like a delusion that I had him. I was going to meet someone. Nice 80s movie. Yes.

That's right. Like a cocktail or something. Yeah. Michael J.

Fogner. We got to make the cocktail cigar neck. So, someone's trademarked that already. So, okay.

So, I have this con artist uncle. He's a legit con artist. I haven't seen this guy since I was, I was probably 10 years old. He came to my house with $20,000 in twenties and I counted it out and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

And every time I asked my dad, like, what does this guy do? He's supposed to be my uncle, Uncle Ace. Right. And he always talked about the jungle.

Okay. And I was like, Dad, what's the, like everything about this guy, like, oh my God, the jungle, it's jail, you don't want to go to the jungle. All right, and like the money, and I'd be like, Dad, what is this guy, he's a fucking con artist. I don't know, if he could get his mind right, my father's been best friends with him since they were like 10.

He was like, if he could get his mind right, he could be like the best CEO of any company in the world, but he's a fucking con artist. So I'm going through this terrible breakup, I've got nowhere to stay. And my father's like, "Ace lives in Tampa. You should call him.

" So I go up there and, man, I fell in love with Tampa. I fell in love with it. For a single young person in their 30s with a work from home job, and I was making decent money by then, you know, it was really cool. -Tampa's a lot of fun.

-Yeah. And so I hung out and I just, you know, really partied for a long time, for like a year and a half. Right. And then I'm just, oh, but that's where I got into cigars.

Right. Yeah. So I'm at this place called Tampa Humidor. Mm-hmm.

Okay. And there's this dude named Brian. I've heard of it. There's this dude named Brian there.

Okay. And he used to be like a rep for Oliva. He's kind of a big, you know, big boy. And, and one day I'm just smoking cigars, like just to like hang out.

I don't know what I'm doing or what I'm tasting. Socialize, fucking get out of the house. So one day he brings out this. Not do drugs.

Right. Exactly. He got this, um, this box of Las Calaveras. Okay.

And I was like, what's that? And he was like, oh, it was like, these are going to be gone by like the end of the day. Right. And then, then like a couple of weeks later, he shows me, um, a jar of, um, of black label Tatuaje.

Okay. And, and I, oh, by the way, I was a sneaker head this whole time. Okay. But I was like, all right, I'm like 35 now.

And like, this is getting old with the sneakers. So we've got a lot of hobbies. Yeah. So, so I'm like.

This is getting, what am I gonna do with all these fucking shoes? So I got rid of most of my sneakers and I was like, okay, I'm going to get into cigars now. Right. And you couldn't tell me, I believed from the moment that I caught the bug for collecting cigars, you couldn't tell me that cigars weren't going to at least triple in price.

Like I was like, oh no, no, no, no, like I'm, this is like NFT before anyone knows about it. Like that's, that's really how I felt. And so I started collecting with enthusiasm, went up to Pennsylvania, got with a wholesaler, started collecting even more. We were building this house with my father, he's a builder up there, and the house was 6,000 square feet.

I had a 400 square foot room stocked, filled up to the ceiling with about this, you know, regular ceiling height with cigars. So you paid retail for? Some of them. I got with this wholesaler and he would hook me up.

Okay, that's cool. And so, yeah, I mean, now that I'm a retailer, I'm like, ah, it's kind of, you know, whatever, it is what it is. So, right. It's how you got here.

Sure. You know what I mean? So, I had all these cigars, my wife got pregnant. And we were like, all right, we should move to LA, because our family's like, we're really tight knit.

Okay. They would, they would help. I mean, I was in Pennsylvania for like a year and I saw my dad like three times. He lived five, five minutes.

I mean, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but like, we really, I don't have a tight family. Right. What are you doing Sunday, dad? Yeah, nothing, nothing with you.

Unless you want to smoke a joint. That's all my dad does. If you want to drive by and wave, that's fine. He smokes pot all day and like does construction jobs.

Super focused. Soup is very dialed in. - He has no idea where I came from. - Yeah, so we ended up moving from a 6,000 square foot home into a 750 square foot apartment.

- Okay, that's a big down size. - Yeah, and so I had no idea what I was gonna do with these cigars, so I started getting, bro, I wasn't connected to the community then like on the message boards or anything like that, so I started trying to sell these cigars, and they were, to me, they were extremely special, and no one wanted to give me reasonable price for them. So I was like, okay, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to start one of these subscription businesses that everyone's talking about.

This is like 14, 15, 15, 16, 16. I'm going to start one of these subscription businesses. So what happens was I start this business and then I realized that you can't advertise tobacco anywhere. So I was like, ah, I feel like such a douche.

I paid like $1,500 to have this guy like build the beginning website and everything. I did a video, another thousand bucks, and here I can't even, you know, so. So, somehow, I boxed a lot of this stuff up, I wrote about the cigars, spent a long time, about a year, like, putting this whole thing together, and then I couldn't sell them, and so we moved, and I kept a lot of the cigars at my father's house, and then I had them shipped down to Florida to this guy that was distributing for me, and man, nothing happened, dude. Like, the first three months, I was like, this is a wash.

This is tough. I also started an underwear business at the same time. Oh. Yeah, men's underwear, bamboo, all bamboo with a pocket for your junk up front.

And I was like, that's gonna take off the cigar. I'm just getting rid of my cigar. I actually hear more people talking about the underwear now. Yeah, the underwear now is a big thing.

Check this out, it's a little cup for your balls. Yeah, it's amazing. I love it. It keeps you dry and you know what I mean?

So, I still have, one day I'm gonna put them on the site. I've got thousands of pairs of underwear and the packaging and everything. And I'm just like, I don't know if I want to do that. That would really give the haters something to talk about, right?

Buy one, get one thing. I didn't get one thing. So. Get underwear free.

This month you get underwears, guys. Right. Congratulations. So.

I gotta move 'em. I gotta move 'em. That's so funny because that's when I met Pete Johnson. I was calling his office so much that he was like, stop calling.

Like, they were just like, all right, enough, enough. We don't do clubs. We have our own club. Leave us alone.

Right. So, a week, literally, like that was like Monday. Friday, I'm at this. LA has a lot of like private stuff once you get in the scene there.

Right. So I met this dude, Life of Lux, on Instagram, he actually hit me up, he was like, yo, come through to this thing, I see you're in LA, come through to this thing, we're having, so we're in the back of this restaurant, and I'm telling him this story, I'm like, damn, I can't get Tat's White to like, sell me anything, he was like, so I asked my boy, hold on a sec, and like, within two hours, Pete Johnson walks through the door, and he sits down, and I'm like, like, part of me is like, alright, tell him who you are, and the other part of me is like, nah, I'm not gonna tell him who I am, let's just We just have a great conversation about cigars, and honestly, probably the best conversation I've ever had about cigars. When you smoke a cigar with Pete and listen to all his stories, it's just like, wow, this guy, he loves it too. Okay, we're going to stop right here for a quick commercial.

We will be right back. Tell me about the Xy-Fi. All right, Michael, this week, the show is brought to you by Xy-Fi Cigar Cutter. Stainless steel, V-cut, cigar cutter, built-in cigar punch.

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Now, welcome back to episode 200 with Brian Desen. So, I didn't need the money, is the whole point out of this, right? Like, my house was paid for before this. I have an auto transport business.

It pretty much runs itself. I have three employees there that run it. They do a great job. I'm able to make passive income off of that.

So I didn't get into this thinking that this would be money. When people tell me that they're going to start a cigar business, I try to talk them out of it. Because, I mean, you see what it takes to make something successful. Look how ingrained you are in the community.

You can't talk about this part of Florida without talking about Cigar Hustler. It's 14 years. I don't know how many of those were a major struggle, but I'm sure some were. It's still a struggle.

Dealing with these employees. You gotta really love this thing, is what I'm saying, you know? Of course, 100%. Yeah.

So I didn't need the money, and I had the newer technology and the newer way of thinking, that's what sped it up. And then the members, the members have done it all. I put the battery in their back, and they put the battery in mine, but like, I can't do it without them. If they left me, I'd just be some douche with cigars in my, you know, studio.

With a lot of cigars. Right, a lot. Way too many. But, you know, I mean, you've done a good job, you know, joining other retailers as well with the whole Provada Club thing.

That was cool. You know, and you kind of get to understand some retailers who are really cool about it. I was shocked you signed up. Really?

Why? I was. You have a very tough exterior. Like, even the first time we went in here, I was like, this guy hates us.

And then, like, by the time we're leaving, you're, like, giving us stuff or having drinks. I'm like, wow, he's a really nice guy. But just, you know, you're a little intimidated. I guess I have that.

Yeah. I'm just being honest. I told you. You come off angry.

I'm just being honest. That's cool. I appreciate the honesty. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Well, you know, I guess, you know what? That kind of boils back down to like having that hardened shell, right? You know?

And you see me coming into this industry. That was two years ago. You see me coming into this industry. Like, you know, I don't, you know, like you shouldn't just immediately be like, oh, I'm all open to it.

Like you got to feel people out too. Yeah. But you know, you're right. So you kind of, right.

You got to do some research, but I mean, I'm always a big proponent of helping, helping people. I mean, there's probably one person in the cigar industry that I would never fucking help ever. Other than that, I would... Who is it?

We all know who it is. " Yeah, man. Well, I mean, that's just, I'm built that way, right? Like, I want to see everybody win, you know?

I think that that's a big deal. Like, if you think about how many people live in the United States that could smoke cigars, And how many people are actually smoking cigars, we're doing the fucking industry a disservice, right, there isn't enough encouragement and kind of building for this industry, so of course when you're doing something that I, that's totally different, that you know, and you deserve the fucking accolades of how quickly you develop. Thank you. You know, why wouldn't I fucking help?

I truly appreciate that. I wish everyone felt that way. And we're here to help people too. Right.

I mean, that's what the whole business was, was built on. Me helping the consumer by finding them the best products they could get and making it an experience. You can't just get a cigar from the club. There's reading to do.

It's not for everyone because of that, but the people that want that experience, they can't get that anywhere else, and they're thrilled to have it. And so I get a lot of support for what I do from the members. They encourage me. When I'm exhausted, I open up my email and I have five thank yous.

it's like that's cool you're thanking me like wow so when i say you're the only person in the industry that offered to help i had hundreds of the members right emails but what's up in the industry you know you're the only person that reached out like dude what can i do right like other people like what's going on right but no one was like hey what can i do i was like what the fuck most of them were like hey is that did you send the check yet it's like all right guy can you give me a week hey just wanted to just wanted to check in on yeah uh did you get my Right. Right. Totally. You know, like that boils back down to how this, a lot of people would do terms and fucking kind of space out shit and then you saw a lot of these retailers not doing anything right and then they couldn't pay that back.

So, I mean, it still exists to this day. Yeah. But like that's all fucking bass-ackwards in this industry, right? Yeah.

And I think that it's completely bass-ackwards to not, for retailers not to help other retailers. Oh, that's the next generation. Right. So there's a few people that were here ahead of their time, and you're one of them.

You are. And that's going to pay off soon. And if anyone's listening that is also a little bit ahead of their time with the collaborating and wanting to work more with people in the industry, that's going to come. We're going to harness that.

100%. I am pushing that. I am going to leave this industry a better place. There's no doubt about it.

If a few of you want to call me, I mean, I have one guy tell me that he… I was doing a cigar for this comedian. We're doing it with Kristoff. Great cigar, by the way. And Rocky Dale Davis.

And Rocky almost pulled out of the deal because he couldn't understand. He got a phone call from a guy he knows that owns a shop and said, this kid is the devil. Wow. That's what he said.

And so he called all these people. And he was like, is he really that? And they're like, no, he's great. So there are these few people that have this weird, dude, call me whatever you want.

I'm here to better this thing. We're going to better this thing. We just ushered in the next generation of cigar smokers. We are the industry, our industry anyway, and that's another thing.

I don't need, I've been looking this whole first four years for acceptance. I've been looking for a partnership and we've gotten a lot of it, but I need to stop with that shit. Right. We have our own thing.

Right. We're going directly to the blenders now, you know, we're always going to support the brands and I'm I want to support your brand, okay? And we should talk about that. And, you know, it's, the point that I'm trying to make is, we're building something, this is the new thing, you know, so, like it or love it, I also look at it the other way.

If I'm a dude, you know, 50 years old, and I've been smoking cigars, and I love my cigars, I love my local lounge, I don't want change, I get it, I get it, I get it, I get it why you won't want me to come out of the blue with this, you know, the same thing. This crazy new way of doing things and you know all that stuff I get I get that too but eventually it'll be like Facebook you'll be the one that's all over it and your kids are gonna make you're fucking lame. Enjoy your Romeo and Juliette's. Right exactly.

Oh grandpa's still smoking that. Pravada please. So yeah I mean I'll look all that makes sense dude you know I just when I heard the video I was I'm glad that you came out and you talked to some of those guys cuz honestly you know I know that you didn't accuse any of them but you know you did bring up their names and all of those dudes they are they're solid dudes they really are and i think that even with the bigger retailers you know you can still develop a good relationship with those guys it just it might take a little more time you know for sure for sure um but what i have come to see in in this fucking i don't know 12 13 years of being in this industry is i've seen a lot of retailers that were bigger that have have really kind of um been more accepting right to other retailers which is astonishing for me because i know i've heard fucking horror stories about all of them yeah and some of them i've experienced with you know and and i don't believe that that guy's ever going to fucking change right so but people that are bigger than him have always been courteous to me sure you know so i think i know who you're talking about now i do want everyone i do want everyone to understand I understand something. The reason why I was mentioning people and kind of taking the gloves off was because I had two different sets of IT professionals look at this thing and tell me this was targeted.

This was not. This is not, you didn't just download a plugin and get some malware. This was someone that was looking to stop your business in particular. So that was disheartening.

But it still could be fucking anyone. We don't know who it is, and I'm not going to be paranoid about who it is, like, in the moment, that was just how I felt, you know? It's in the past, there's nothing you can do about it, right? But now the site's back up, right?

Site's back up on its own, yeah, thing. I don't want to, like, describe to whoever did this, like, what, you know, what this is. This is how you get back in. And the login and password.

Right. But we took a lot of measures, and it's finally, it's finally there. So, like, so this situation occurred, but you kept pushing through it, you made some adjustments, and you're probably going to come out a hundred times, It was better because of it, right? We were doing things that we shouldn't have been doing as a company that got to where we got.

Right. I mean, we have 6,000 people in Farm World. Right. None of the other clubs even have 6,000 people.

Most of them are around 1,000, maybe 500, something like that. Right. We have almost 10,000 subscriptions in Provada Cigar Club. Right.

Brian's Box has, we're getting closer to 2,000. You know, LCA, we have, oh, we're going to approach 500 shops any minute now. That's pretty impressive. Like, we shouldn't have been on a shared server.

Right. So there were a lot of things that we were doing that, hey, we, it just grew so fast that we didn't get ahead of it. Same thing with our accounting. How many, guy walked in there from the, from the department of whatever, and he's like, how many cigars you have in here?

And I'm like, yeah, I should probably know that. Yeah. It's a fair amount, firm, it's a firm number. Like, you know, like, and he was like, you'd say, right.

Okay. Well, it's speculative. I'm like, nah, a lot. Yeah.

We're going to turn you down for this. Call us when you know what you're at. Gives that. Yeah.

When you have that number. Right. For sure. I'm glad that you got some clarification, you know, that you got the opportunity to really kind of speak to those guys.

And I'm glad that, you know, you, you kind of, you, you took this and you made some adjustments to make what you're building better. Yeah. And, uh, I think that you, you learned a valuable lesson because when you did it, I was, I was worried about you. I'm like, shit.

Like it felt like me, you know, when I was kind of getting, get going, you know, I'm like, well, fuck you. Like you'd lose it. Right. But the platform now isn't the same as it was 12, 13 years ago.

Instagram was kind of new. Sure. You know, and that's how we started building this whole business. I'm sorry.

Go ahead. No, but, but that's, that's where it changed my thinking. Right. We are our own thing.

We are the next generation of this industry. I'm not going to use that as an ego booster. I never have used this company as an ego booster. I was supposed to be, in my mind, until about 33 years old, some famous musician that ruled the world, not the cigar industry.

So for me, this is awesome. You know what's great about it? It's like walking to a cigar shop and I might get recognized. And that's nice.

It feels good. It is cool. It does. It feels good, right?

But anywhere else, no one knows who the fuck I am. And that's even better. Yeah, that's true. And I've seen that happen where people have pivoted out of the industry to promote other goods and there's no more lines.

There's no more, you know, it's like, they just, oh, hey, okay, what do you got? Oh, nice to meet you. It's like, so when you develop that far and you step out, it's good that you like it, right? Yeah.

You know, but it's kind of curious to see if you do decide to make something else out of this, else out of this this whole realm like you know let's say you go back to underwear or whatever you know no no no i know but just as an example we're gonna do something else in the industry okay i'm very excited about all right you'll benefit from okay that's cool yeah no it's gonna be awesome i i would for me if anybody brings up your name i always you know i don't ever say anything negative about what you're doing um and i want some of the the people that have a bad opinion about you to just fucking hear what you have to say you know they don't have to it's okay to not agree with somebody you know what do you think this cigar honestly it's really good okay it's really this is hochi blanco so okay how many cigars has this guy made that we don't even realize you know what i'm saying so now people are talking in the last year they're talking about hochi blanco because of this and the uncle paulie that we had and it's like and also that right so so so we're shining a light on the people that never got light shown on them before right uncle paulie's deli you're good no uncle paulie's deli right i did that with um john buscemi okay it's a famous sneaker maker out of la he's also steve buscemi's like cousin okay right and him and his his so he he's out in la and he can't get like good like deli food right right big boy like steve so he like calls his cousin paul from queens and like brings him out there he's got tons of money They sold his company for who knows what, and he starts this place called Uncle Pauly's Deli, and so we're bringing, we did a cigar for them with their phone number on it and everything, and it's like we're bringing the next, you know, culture into cigars, we're gonna lose this if we don't do that. - Right, you have to integrate other things. - Have to, I have to make cool people think cigars are cool again, and the only way to do that is by collaborating with these people. And in the end, you know, when this stuff gets to someone's desk, and they're going to sign off of it, and they think, you know, I was just in that box at that football game with those guys, and they really loved cigars.

They weren't unhealthy. They were, you know, good people. Maybe I'm not going to sign this thing. That's, I don't know if that's a dream or a fantasy, but I think it's reality.

I think that it has to get to that point. Yeah. And so I don't want to over-commercialize cigars with celebrity. I think that was where Marvin Schenken and Cigar Aficionado really took cigars.

He took it to a level that it shouldn't have been taken to in the sense of you can't keep up with that demand. Right. Okay. But it was awesome for cigars.

Look, I read, and this is a book that I recommend everyone reads because we think we know this industry, but we only know like 10 years of it or 20 years of it, right? When you read Stanford Newman's 100 years in the cigar business, you get this global approach to cigars. Right. Where you're like, well, first of all, when he started, or when he was taking over his father's business in the 50s, I think like one in three men smoked cigars daily.

Right. So it's like, it was a total different business, yeah, and then just through Cuba, and this, and growing in Florida, and all these things that we think we're doing for the first time has been done before, and like, it's just, it's just truly amazing to look at the business from that, with that much history, and so, he said that the best time of his life was when Cigar Aficionado started and threw the boom, that that was the only time that he really made serious money. And when I was sitting with Eric and Bobby, his kids, I said to them, hey, we're going through like a good time in the industry. You know, was there ever something that you went, you know, like, was there a lot of struggle in this business?

And he was like, Brian, he was like, it's always been a struggle. It's always a struggle. The pandemic. We've been through, that company's been through two pandemics.

They've been through the Great Depression. They've been through four or five wars. I mean, there's just always times where it wasn't good. And so for Stanford, that was like his, his way to exit the business, like on a, on a big hurrah.

And that's really cool. We don't want that again. The market has spoken. They don't want celebrity.

Nas has his own cigar brand. You know, they've been calling me to work with me, like, and I'm just like, I don't know that it, you know, aside from a few guys that are huge Nas fans, which I am, Nas is, I don't know that he's into cigars like this. Like, we don't want that. This is a cool thing.

So we have the ability to create this sort of mini boom, but make it all about the craft, the actual tobacco, the people making it, the flavors that we get from it, the enjoyment, make it more of a culinary experience. These are all the things that I want to bring to the table. And we're going to do it in the next 10 years because that's what this generation wants. They don't want a cheap stick they can throw in their mouth at a party and just hang out.

Right. We have those, you know? Yeah, of course. Well, normally, you take your good cigar smoker and say, "Here, so pick out yours, and then here's the shit that you're gonna sell to somebody else that's at a decent price, it tastes okay, and you're not gonna be upset if they fucking take a few draws of it and then leave it in the ashtray, right?

" For sure, for sure. But, yeah, I mean, so Nick Jonas was on Aficionados Magazine. Huge, it was their biggest cover. I think that that's kind of a big deal.

I mean, the guy gained nothing. Well, he got a lot of shit for it. Right. Always.

C. Slater. I don't, Mario. He smokes and he supports tobacco.

And when he tweeted about it, he got fucking hammered. Yeah. You know, so like, I mean, that's got to change too. But the only way that that changes is, like you said, you have more consumers over time, right?

So. We got to address this FDA shit. Okay. So one of the things, no, I'm saying we have to address it, Not just in this conversation, but as an industry.

So the tobacco is at the National Science Academy or whatever. The FDA's basically said, "We don't know what the fuck we're doing. We're gonna give it to the scientists. " So I've tested tobacco, okay?

And I haven't really talked a lot about this because I don't want any backlash. If they come back and say, "Oh, this is terrible for you. " And by the way, Mr. Dessen contributed this, you know, this document.

So basically what I did was, I tested tobacco, like you would test marijuana, I looked at the things, which it pretty much passes all inhalable tests, okay, there's a couple of things that it's high on, and those are things that are found in our food, cadmium, there's more cadmium in a bar of dark chocolate than there's anything that comes from volcanic ground has cadmium in it, so any coffee, all that stuff, so basically, then I said, okay, well, it has these things in it, right, so let me go get my blood. So I smoked three cigars a day before I went, I got my blood tested, I'm at lower levels of cadmium than the average person, so it's not getting, I talked to a scientist, he said there's no way it's getting through your saliva into your blood, it's just not gonna happen. So, we're pretty good, man. Like, they're gonna test it, and they're gonna find out that it's really, it's fine.

Like, if you're not inhaling it, you're great. Right. I mean, the real question is, why are they doing it? And it's just for money, right?

They, you know, they always... I don't look at it that way. And that's where my opinion differs. You're right.

There's always a money component to this, right? They want that tax money. Right. At the same time, isn't the FDA supposed to be here to keep us safe?

Oh, yeah. A hundred percent. Okay. So shouldn't they have done this a long time ago?

Shouldn't they have thrown a cigar in a, you know, whatever the hell they put it in and say, And say, okay, this is what it's got in it. So now you know, if you smoke cigars, you're at, you know, blah, blah, blah. But then the FDA scientists did that study, one to two cigars a day is nil, doesn't add anything. And then, by the way, Dr.

Gabby Caffey did a study of his own, and he went around getting all the information on all the owners of the cigar companies and what age they live to. The average age was 89. It's 11 years older than the average American citizen. So, those guys are smoking five to ten cigars, you know factory owners, they got a cigar in their mouth all day long, and they're around secondhand smoking everything else, so this natural tobacco doesn't seem to be a terrible thing.

A hundred percent. What cigarettes did, what vape could be doing, they're making it in their bedrooms, I mean, come on, of course, who knows about that. And your bathtub and bathtub gin. There you go, but, you know.

So, what's next for you? So you've kind of worked things out, maybe not with everybody, but you know. I think with everyone, except Abe, I have no problem saying that, you know, I've extended a few olive branches, I've asked people to have him reach out to, you know, it's not something he wants to do, and that's fine, I'm not here to, I don't think he's, you know, the worst guy in the world, it is what it is, I just hear like a lot of like, you know, and then there's another company that's been, and I think that's added to my rebelliousness and my paranoia, there's another company that's been on me from day one, and that's where I said, like, you saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, like, this company has been spreading lies about it. And now they're at the point where they're like telling factory owners, if you work with him, we won't work with you, because they have some brands kind of affiliated with them, and the owners laugh, you can't tell a Latino man that takes pride in what he does, who he can and can't work with, that is the worst thing you could do, it's like telling Eric Espinosa, yo, you can't sell to this guy if you want to sell him, he'll figure out a way to sell twice as much, you know what I'm saying, so you could do that all, That's where I think a little bit, but that stops now, because I saw from the support on this video, 700 comments, 700 comments, and my algorithm is fucked up, because I believe that that same first company has been reporting me from day one, so 700 comments, and they're all amazing, one's more amazing than the next, I'm like crying every time I pull up my laptop and start answering these comments, I'm like, holy shit, the support, bro, I love this, I love all these people.

I love what they've done for me. They've enriched my life, and they've really put the battery in my back to want to do better and represent them and get them the best product. Look, at the end of the day, I would have these euphoric experiences with probably drinking with a cigar. And I'd be sitting in my backyard in PA or in Florida alone.

And I'd be like, man, I'd love to share this with someone. And that's where the writing came from, it was like, yo, I want you to have the same experience that I'm having. And some people are, and that's catching on, and it's really awesome to be a part of that. But I do want to make one thing very clear, I don't care how popular we get, this isn't about my ego, and this isn't about me throwing my weight around.

I'm never going to tell people who they can and can't work with. I had someone call me. Because it's shitty, and you've had it done to you. Of course.

Of course. It's just not right. You know, I was always, I was always like the bully's bully, you know, like I'd always stick up for the kid getting, that's just who I am. So I would never do that to someone.

I'd never, never intentionally, you know, mess with someone's livelihood. If you can be popular, do it. I mean, there's a company out there right now that's like, everyone hits me up. How good?

This guy's doing everything you're doing. I'm like, okay, but he can't cause he doesn't have you. You're what makes, that's why I say it's about the members. You guys are They're what make this thing work, I can facilitate, but you guys make it work, and somehow we made this connection, and you're on board, and I'm on board, and that monthly club, that PCC, that's us pulling, that and Farm World, that's us pulling our money together every month to get really cool stuff, right, you know, and it's a fucking cycle, man, because the money comes in, the money goes, oh, yeah, yeah, and, and by the way, and you continue to grow, it gets more expensive, and, and by the way, even the best, some of the best cigar makers, like I can only name, I shouldn't say, I can only name two cigar manufacturers that I can smoke their cigars as soon as they get to me.

Right. Most of them, it's at least three months sitting because they say they age it for three months and it usually takes like 90 to 120 days to get the cigars, so I believe them. But even then, with the humidity conditions there and everything, especially time of the year has something to do with it. Like now we're getting into a time where we might get cigars a little less humid.

Right. But at the end of the day, like I have to sit on these things for at least six months. So I'm sitting on 2 million cigars right now, you know, for the LCA, and we have more to come. One thing I do want to tell you, though, is that these people, these members, LCA enthusiasts, you guys supporting this thing and growing this, has made the cigar manufacturers prideful.

They're no longer just selling a commodity. Their name is on it. Right. You know, uh, I don't want to name anyone's name in particular because I don't want to piss off the brands that have given them business forever.

Right. But these people are calling me like, wait till you see what I have for you. And I don't tell them, like I'm at the, I'm at the level of master blenders that I don't tell them what I want. I say, give me your best stuff.

Right. And, um, I can tell you that there are some people that will change our smoking lives in 2022. J. " - Yeah, okay.

I'm looking forward to it. J. " - Right. J.

found me through his daughter. - No shit. " And so he hit me up like, yo, I'm ready to work. What's up?

And I was like, I need your best stuff. He was like, I've got stuff for the last 10 years that I've been sitting on. He's got a ton of shit. A ton of tobacco.

And he sent us these samples and the only way I can describe them is it's bubonic tobacco. Right. Bubonic. Bubonic.

Okay. I'm going to bring them to you directly. It's going to be nuts. Cool.

I saw you guys doing things here. He's just watching the time. Okay. Cool.

So yeah, but we can wrap it up from here. Do you have anything else you want to add or anything at all before we let you off the hook? Yeah. If you're a cigar smoker and you're watching this and you've been involved in regards to leaving comments So if you're someone who is a real enthusiast and you're, you know, getting some of the tasting notes and you're wanting to contribute, we're going to have a way for the, this community to really add value to the industry and I'm going to create something very communal that's also very commercial at the same time so that we can have our voices heard and different opinions heard of consumers because the consumer at the end of the day runs the industry, they run the show.

And if we're not listening to them, then we're just doing what we want. Right. It doesn't work. Yeah.

And I love to, you know, make jokes about my elevated palate and all that shit, but at the end of the day, I cannot pick, out of those three cigars that come out every month, out of the LCA, I cannot tell you which one is going to be, I mean, because a lot of, there's been some cigars, not many, but there's two this year, that, you know, a week before they're coming out, because they sit in the bags for a couple months, and then I smoke them. It's because I want to get what you're going to get, right? And there was one in particular that I smoked, and I was like, I want to pull this whole thing. And they're like, you can't.

You just can't do that. And that was the one that they loved the most. So you never know. You never know.

Right. Yeah, even with my elevated palate. Even with your sophisticated palate. Definitely sophisticated palate.

It's fucking hilarious, dude. Well, you know, like I said, you have our support. We wish you the best. If there's anything we can do to help you, you know, we're always down.

You already do. Yeah, I appreciate that, you know. And I need to support you guys more, and I want one of those. Can we get one of those?

Which one? The deck. How did we, who made that for us? The guy that died.

Oh no, I guess we can't get one. Yeah, we can't get another one. The guy in Alabama. Son of a bitch.

That's cool, that's cool. Guy had an auto shop where he remodels, not remodels, but what's it called when you redo cars? He made custom. Custom cars, he made custom cars, he made that for us, but he died of COVID.

Well, we don't know if it was COVID. Oh, we don't know if it was COVID, sorry. We're guessing. Slow down, no one died of COVID.

You know, I mean, like, that's been kind of fucking rough, man. We've had a lot of people die because of this shit, you know, and I don't know for certain, like, somebody was supposed to get back to me on that and kind of confirm it, and they did not say. So, but yeah. Yeah, that's where it came from.

We've got to find another skateboard guy. Very cool. So, yeah, man. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, thanks for coming on, man. And like I said, we'll keep rolling with you. And I'm glad that you got another opportunity to kind of clear the air, let people know that you're not a complete asshole, right? Because you're not, you know?

No, it came out very well on the show. Right, and in your video, it's okay to be emotionally charged, because fucking, you know... We don't want, you know, reserved for special occasions, right? We don't want everyone just coming out and like wiling out.

We don't want to turn this into UFC, right? Right. But the, but there is something that there is some validity of conflict that actually does help, you know, as long as it's pure. Right.

Cause for one, without conflict, you never have resolution. And for two, people are always like, Ooh, what the fuck? I mean, like I had more phone calls about your video. Wow.

And I'd be like, can you believe this? What's going on with it? You know, like, I'm like, I don't know. I guess I guess I go watch this fucking video.

So, and, and again, like, you know, there was another situation that you helped out in. Um, yeah. Sokka. Yeah.

And he's a great guy. Yeah. We're on great terms. Cool.

Good dude. Right. Again, a little bit me pushing a narrative where everyone's supposed to work with Fervada. Right.

And he has his own lane. He has his own thing and God bless him. Like, you know what I mean? So that's awesome.

And not that he's not going to contribute to this movement. Right. I do think he'll, you know, be a part of it, but, and he is a part of it in many ways. But, yeah, you looked out then too.

Of course. So I appreciate that a lot. Any time, man. Yeah.

Any time. And Saka's, Saka's still Saka. He's gonna be like, what the fuck does that mean? He was like, I was gonna bury you, but we'll talk it out instead.

It's better that way, you know what I mean? Like, we're too small. This industry is way too fucking small. Right.

And it's gotta, it's gotta be leveled up. Yeah. Several times. Yeah.

So. All right. All right, we're ready? Anything else to add, Mike?

No. You guys did a great job. He doesn't say shit when we have a guest. I don't do interviews.

Yeah, he just hits the button. All right, this has been episode 200 of The Cigar. Cigar Hustler Podcast. All right, thanks.

Done. A Cigar Hustler Podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike & Mike Productions or the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings.

We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczevankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. This has been a Cigar Hustlers podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m.

for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing... I'm Hoostoy Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again.

Perfect! I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? The Hojo, the...

Hojo! It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I gotta get past Hojo!

I don't even have to try it. He's not even gonna try it. We're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right.

Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. It could be like four cigars when I walked in a door. Alright, end this.

Show Notes

This week we give Brian of Privada club a chance to explain his video from last week, what has been going on with Privada Club and where they are heading next!

Check out some of our favorite accessories that we use on Cigar Hustler Podcast !

Lighters, cutters, humidity packs, etc...

XIFEI Cigar V-cutter:

https://amzn.to/3wgcsjO