Cigar Hustlers Podcast 233 Matt Booth Exclusive

Episode Summary

Episode 233 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with an exclusive phone interview with Matt Booth, founder of Room 101 Cigars, days after Scandinavian Tobacco Group announced its acquisition of the brand. Booth frames the deal as the first time a major player has bought a true craft/boutique cigar brand, calling it a signal that big companies are finally placing value on brands, storytelling and "the human heartbeat" rather than just manufacturing muscle. He and the hosts riff on why a cigar needs a soul to have long-term legs — good marketing and a good blend only carry a product so far without authenticity behind it.

Booth gets into the mechanics of the deal: years of "flirtation" followed by a process that took under a year, the internal championing by STG's Justin Andrews (whom Booth has known since Andrews worked for a small craft brand with Lou Rodriguez), and the linchpin condition that Room 101 stay authentic to its original spirit — "empowered by their machine, but not overpowered by it." He confirms production will continue and expand both inside and outside STG-owned facilities, naming William Ventura, Hoya de Monterrey/Hoya and AJ Fernandez among his partners, plus a small-batch project with Oliva. He also explains what his new Creative Director title actually means — product and blend development, brand building and market programming, now with a veteran sales force and without having to chase late cigar bands himself — a question Half Wheel's Charlie Minato had flagged as unanswered. Booth stays deliberately cryptic about future blends, and he's not moving to Florida (Homestead jokes notwithstanding).

The back half of the show covers quick news: Hiram & Solomon moving production to PDR Cigars, a David Blanco aside, and Florida's governor signing a bill allowing local beach and park smoking bans while exempting premium cigars. The hosts then open a gift of antique cast iron (Griswold, Wagner Ware and Lodge pieces) from listener "Romatron," before Mike answers a listener question from Douglas Pendleton about the naming and meaning behind his companies and cigars: Poshik Inc. (the wholesale mother company, from the word for "hustle"), Powstanie (Polish for "uprising," tied to WWII resistance and to fighting back against larger retailers), Bangarang (a nod to Rufio in the movie Hook), Who Shot Ya (a shot at doubters, with its cryptic numbers left unexplained) and The Shepherd (from Jules' Ezekiel speech in Pulp Fiction). Listener of the Week goes to Romatron and Douglas Pendleton; Shop of the Week is Caribbean Cigars in South Florida.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Scandinavian Tobacco Group Acquires Room 101
   Matt Booth joins by phone to discuss STG's purchase of Room 101 Cigars and why it's the first acquisition of a true craft brand by a major manufacturer.
2. 02
   Why a Cigar Needs a Soul
   Booth and the hosts argue that authenticity and meaning — not flashy packaging — give a brand real longevity.
3. 03
   How the Deal Came Together
   Years of informal conversations, a sub-one-year process, and Justin Andrews championing the deal internally at STG.
4. 04
   Factories and Future Production
   Room 101 will keep and expand work with William Ventura, Hoya and AJ Fernandez, plus small-batch projects with Oliva, alongside STG-owned facilities.
5. 05
   What a Creative Director Actually Does
   Booth spells out his ongoing role in blend development, brand building and market programming — now backed by a veteran sales staff.
6. 06
   Industry News Roundup
   Hiram & Solomon moves production to PDR Cigars, and Florida exempts premium cigars from new beach and park smoking bans.
7. 07
   Cast Iron Care Package from Romatron
   The hosts unbox antique Griswold, Wagner Ware and Lodge cast iron sent in by a longtime listener and collector.
8. 08
   The Meaning Behind Powstanie, Bangarang, Who Shot Ya and The Shepherd
   Answering Douglas Pendleton's question, Mike breaks down the names and personal stories behind each of his brands and collaborations.

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

Small hands. Makes complete sense. Welcome to episode 233 of A Cigar Hustler Podcast. I didn't look for the light.

you too can be a part of our podcast family and invest in our show put our show put our products in front put our put your products in front of your your products or ours it doesn't matter you want to pay for ours too that'd be perfectly all right yeah we like that uh listeners and viewers We are heard on 12 different Podcasts of ours weekly all around the world to have your ad read right here without him talking over the top of me. com. Remember to please rate, comment, and subscribe on whichever of our many 13 podcast providers you choose. Yeah, but you know what?

I mean, you might as well just go out to the other ones, too, and go ahead and subscribe to all. I mean, you know, YouTube. Oh, subscribe everywhere? Just subscribe and like.

Just subscribe and like. And if you go to, yeah, YouTube, make sure you hit the bell so you get the little notification. I appreciate the consistent comments that we get from, you know, a handful of people. Yes.

You know? Yes. Well, we might as well just say their name, give them credit. Ann Marie is a constant.

Yep. And now you're commenting back. Can I make one comment and you're, boom, you're all over it. I'm all over it now.

So, I mean, I figured it was one thing. Ann Marie, who else you got? John Yogi. John Yogerlite, Steven Wells, Mark Gordon.

Gordon. Sometimes a surgeon. Sometimes a cigar surgeon. If we mention him on the show, he will comment on the show.

Oh, no. So, yeah. Well, don't do that. Okay, say his name.

The cigar surgeon. Like, oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no, no.

Well, we're going to kind of do this a little out of order, but at least we're going to do one quick news. I have the story right here. And you do that, and then we call the guy. And then we call the guy.

And then we call the guy. And then we go back about how was your day. This is our exclusive interview. Exclusive.

Exclusive, exclusive. Exclusive, mandatory, exclusive. All other interviews were pushed back, exclusive. And you're going to get full on, Matt, I think, right now.

Did you wake him? No, he's ready to go. He's fired up. Oh, part of the story's gone.

Well, as we all know, Scandinavian Tobacco last week acquired Room 101 Cigars and Mabu's soul. Yeah, it came with the soul. It came with the soul for an undisclosed large amount of money, I'm sure, and a helicopter, and possibly a yacht, I heard. I'm not exactly sure.

A yacht and a helicopter. Well, you have to have the helicopter get to the yacht. The yacht is so big, it can't pull up to land. I get it.

So that's why the helicopter. I get it. Yes. So, as you guys already know, a lot of you already know that Matt is a dear friend of the show.

Yes. Yes. And... And you do many collaboration cigars with him.

I wouldn't say many, but a couple so far. You've done more with him than anyone else at this point. Uh, yeah, that's true. No, no, Tide.

No, no, no, no, it is. It's not Tide. Nope, it's not Tide. Just the Bangarang with Espinosa and Who Shot Ya and The Shepherd.

" Right. He's like, okay, and he'll start working on it. Where Eric Espinosa's approach is different. Yeah, you got to talk to, you start with Jack, and then Jack moves you to Hector, and Hector goes, I don't know, you got to talk to Eric.

And you talk to Eric, and he goes, I don't know, you got to talk to Hector. And then Hector goes, I don't know, ask Jack. And then it's just a... Yeah, there's a whole thing.

There's a whole thing. Or, you know, you're talking to Richie, you got cigars coming now. You got to, you know, sometimes you got to handle the labels. Eric's looking for the magazine where he wrote the price down and the margin.

Right, right, it's somewhere in here, I don't know. Hold on, it's in this, who's got my magazine? It's somewhere in the magazine. That's a, somewhere in the magazine.

Alright, so hey, but we're getting off-topic here. I hate these bagels, but give me another one. So let's call, let's call Mr. Boothy, Mr.

Matthew. Yeah, I'm surprised they, uh, they went into business with him because, you know, uh... You know, why, why buy stuff from a dick? Apparently, they, they do, so, I don't know.

What in the happy horse shit is going on here? Are you going from the helicopter or the yacht? Yeah, whatever came with the yacht. You know, whatever came with the deal.

It's actually a gold-plated, 22 carat, not 24, obviously, Saddam Hussein helicopter. Oh, nice! Saddam Hussein! You worked that out on the paperwork, huh?

Very nice. With a gold toilet in the back. Oh, wow. Some people have a limousine with a hot tub, which is what I have.

A helicopter with a gold toilet. It's more like a Qaddafi helicopter. That would be the more appropriate vibe, I think. You can kind of poop in midair and just kind of eject it out.

Oh, it falls out the bank? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Dropping bombs.

Fly over to Saka's house? Drop one at him? No. No, not Saka's house.

You got to be nice to him, man, because he, as an industry veteran, has been very kind. And he's very kind in some of the things that he's had to say, I know, about our recent news. Yes, he did, that's true. And the dude's a pro.

That's true. The dude's a pro, man, you know? Yeah, you know, I think that some people have actually made this comment already, but it is kind of the natural progression of things, right? Some people, you know, you always have your critics.

Everybody likes to fucking call their shots in the cheap seats, but in all reality, more often than not, You're going to see more of this going on in the future, wouldn't you, would you agree or disagree, my friend? What, what is that, what, what are we actually in the clock talking about right now? I have no fucking idea. Are we talking about, we're talking about a boutique cigar brand building itself up to the point where someone as fancy as yourself, consumed by a larger entity, joining the powers of the bigger behemoths.

Oh, you're talking about the first, uh, you're talking about the first crash. This is a brand acquisition by a major player in the history of our industry. Is that what you're discussing? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, that. Just that. Oh, shit. Snaps to the sky.

He puts it that way. It sounds very impressive. You sandbagging motherfucker. I mean, it's highly sexual.

It's what it is. But it's, you know, not only is it erotic and provocative in that type of groinal vernacular, but it's also provocative when you think about it from the sense that, like, that is valid. This is the first craft brand that's been acquired by a larger company, and this is kind of, not that we needed that to occur, to validate what all of us have been doing for many years in the craft segment, including building it to begin with, right? This segment of the market, but to me, I think it's the first, definitely not the last.

I think that this is indicative of an attitude shift towards the value of brands in general, right? Yes. In general. Nice.

Nice. Generally speaking, generally speaking. Is that in the contract? Do you have to drop that name every so often?

Do you like that? Yes. I just thought that was cute. I'd put that out there, you know.

Oh, a little bonus. They didn't have to pay for that. That was free, gratis. No, no, that one's free.

So that's free, you know, but we'll, you know, we'll get, we'll, you know, we'll get, you know, we'll work. Yeah. So, but I mean, I think generally speaking, you know, it's been, and this was actually, uh, you know, over the years I've had, I've shared many conversations with guys in our space and sometimes I've called upon, um, that's senior to me for advice, you know, and I remember, um, a very well established, uh, industry veteran at one point told me, you know, he said, The big companies don't don't value the human heartbeat they can't they can't bring themselves to place value on the human heartbeat you know and effectively what he was suggesting was that a good deal of their attitude towards branding was that it was unimportant it was the might and the power of their machine right and nothing else right and you know you and I could sit here for the rest of well this is a show well yeah cigars need It needs a soul, man. You know what I mean?

That's honestly something that I've been thinking about all week. The reality is that if you're fucking just making some bullshit cigar, good marketing will take you so far, right? If you're making a good cigar that tastes great, a great cigar will take you so far. But as far as a brand or a product actually having legs to last for a really long period of time, it needs a soul.

It has to have meaning to the creator. Now, whether people figure it out or whatever the case may be, I think that that's, you know, who knows if that makes a difference or not? Because I think that you can put a lot of cryptic shit on a cigar and it'd have a lot of meaning to you and it would sustain as long as it was a good cigar, you know? So.

I've said the exact same thing in slightly different words, you know, that's exactly true, and I think that, you know, like, just to kind of echo your sentiments, you know, if you produce a product with soul, whether they can identify that element specifically as what attracts them to the product, it hits deeper, it hits harder, right, and because if your product is authentic, then in some quietly overt fashion, it reeks of authenticity. And as they walk by it on the shelf they are drawn to it because of that, and only because of that, because the flash and the, you know, the nice colors and the this and that only last so far if what you are slanging is actually, you know, generic leaf fodder, you know, and, you know, I think that people like to invest themselves into brands that have sold and invest their money into products that are birthed from brands that have sold. I think that's, I think that's the math, man, and I think that that's one of the critical keys to longevity. You got to come with it and you got to be for real.

Absolutely. Okay. So now let's, uh, moving on real quick. Now, the last time you were here when you were on the podcast, you, I don't know if anybody understood this, but you made a indication of this is where you see the future of the industry going.

Bigger companies acquiring smaller companies. Now you said this and I was like, I may have said such things and I don't know exactly how far ago that was, but I think it was maybe three months ago or so, maybe a little further. It was whenever I had come out and we, and we rocked that little event event. Yeah.

It was during the event. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, yeah, I think that was about three months ago.

So, how long has this been in the making? I'm glad you asked. How long does it take to put a deal like this together? Yeah.

Well, considering that cigar years are like dog years, we started talking about this 75 years ago. Or at least you would feel that way. You know, I honestly, you know, this, to be very open, gapingly, with honesty, I would say that this is a byproduct of years of flirtation. However, the entire process took less than a year.

So I think if you, if you invest yourself in something like that, I think you can expect to be, to be in the, in the driver's seat on that for, for a year. And if you get it done before that, then more power to you. How many hand jobs were required from Justin Andrews in order to get this deal done? Just out of curiosity.

The carpal tunnel that I am dealing with at this point is substantial. But his carpal tunnel, not your carpal tunnel. I can't even. Oh, oh, I thought no.

He's the fanboy. Come on. I'm sorry. Oh, that's why you was following him around at the TV.

Oh my God. Oh yeah, that was a part of it. Yeah. He was very upset.

Every picture, yeah. But he couldn't find Matt. He was like, I cannot find him. It's my job to make sure all his needs, he said in parentheses, are handled.

Right, his needs are met. Right. Erection, handled. You know, I just, I just feel grateful that people want to handle my needs.

That's it, that's it. You know, it's all you can ask for anymore. It's a cold world, so... You're correct.

Yeah, it's a cruel and harsh world, and I mean, if you can, if you can strive to keep your penis hard within this world, I think you're ahead of it, you know, and that's all you could ask for. But now, you know, all kidding aside though, was he an integral part of trying to put everything together or making introductions? Because he's kind of a visionary. He might have found out when the rest of us found out though too.

There's no fucking way. Well, you know, you know, what's interesting about Justin is I've known him since the first year I was in the business and he worked for a very small craft brand at the time with a gentleman named Lou Rodriguez. So he knows the game from, you know, the concrete level and he has worked his way up, you know, into the position he's in today, you know. So he, he and I had actually, um, traded some, I'm sorry, my son is joining us now, come here son, but you must see, I'm recording a show with your uncle, so you got it.

Grayson. Yeah, Grayson's here now. He's, he's shouting you out, bro. Hold on.

What do we got here? We got some. Hello. Hey Grayson, how are you buddy?

Good. Are you having fun? Yeah. You got the day off from school?

It's summertime? Yeah. Awesome, you playing any video games or anything? I have a Nintendo, I played a lot of games yesterday, but I was about to play some games.

Nice, what are you going to play? Metroid, bro. Yeah, I'm going to play... Metroid's a good one.

He did a man, by the way, OT, OT, yeah, teen, adolescence, rating, Grayson is like his, yeah, oh, he's advanced, this was a big deal at the store, he's like, buddy, it's T, and I was like, yeah, yeah, but daddy wants to play them too, oh yeah, oh yeah, so where were we? Justin Andrews moved up on the ladder. Oh, and the carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel.

Exactly, right. Yeah. So, Justin and I, long ago, have discovered that we worked really well together, and I think that he was a champion for this internally as much as he could be, you know? I think a lot of people think that there's some, like, maniacally formed or very solid pathway I would say, in business, or when you work with a larger company that they're just really put together and although I've come to know these guys as a company that are far more put together than most, it's a very fluid, strange, almost erotic process like there's a whole lot of like living, breathing, fleshy type components of a deal like this, right?

In the art of deal doing, yeah, it's a unique experience to go through, it was the first time I'd been through it, so it was very unique. Grateful for the experience. Now, I mean, I guess it kind of is the first time, right? I hope they were gentle with you.

They were. Good. They wore the velvet glove. Oh, it's very nice.

Well, I mean, you know, given your time and experience in the industry and some of the deals that have gone your way and have blown up, And you've had to go backwards and redo all those things, I think that you're a little more prepared this time around for like an acquisition of this type, right? That's safe to say. Yeah, I mean, I was in the best position I possibly could have been, you know, both in time and grade and experience, et cetera. Now, these guys...

And they've always been super fair with me, you know, and that's all I really ask for is like every, you know, we create a situation where everybody wins and that's what we've got. You have to have a win-win. If you don't have a win-win, you have no deal, man. The deal always will blow.

No, I mean, yeah, well, dude, a one-sided victory is, you know, a momentary victory. You know, one person wins, that's a one-shot deal, you know. Right. Now, I mean, for the most part, these guys work out of some of the same factories that you already work with, correct?

They own one of the factories that we work with. However, a good deal of our production rests outside their own company-owned facilities, so we work with William Ventura, we work with Hoya, and are expanding the offerings that we're producing with them this year, as well as AJ, and we've done a couple smaller batch, very exclusive, mind you, items with Boliva. Yes. Indeed.

Indeed, that is accurate. That is correct. No one knows what you're talking about. No, no, he's grinning ear to ear.

Nobody knows what we're talking about. Oh, okay. I don't know if it's a secret. Is that a secret?

I don't know if that's a secret. You know, apparently Delisa's show's over. You know, here's what I can tell you when it comes to some of our ventures together and our collabs. I tend to be more cryptic on those things than I have been in the past.

It doesn't matter. To be honest, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, and whatever you say you want to say, but, you know, when it comes to total openness, I'm very open and honest with everything post-Dania, right? As far as anything else with my collaborations are called, you know, and the creations of them, I'm taking that a different, in a different direction where I'm not giving out any, fucking any, to a point where I think I'm pissing off Charlie Minato of Half Wheel, you know, he's like, get ready to learn nothing this time around.

- That's fantastic! - Yeah, you know, I love it, I love it. - I get a kick out of it, it feels funner, you know? I don't know if that makes sense.

- Funner, is that right? - More fun, whatever. - More fun? - I'm very dumb.

- More fun. - I've barely graduated. - You're the dumbest, the dumbest? - I'm the more dumb?

- You're the more dumb. - More dumb, dumb? - You're the more dumb in the room. - I'm the more dumb, dumb.

So, alright, so you're still gonna be able to continue working with the factories that you've worked with in the past, correct? - Yes. - Okay, because like, the bigger issue, you know, is like, People like to talk shit, right? As soon as something happens, everybody fucking knows it all.

You know, I know this is crazy. This is a crazy theory. And you know, everybody's like her, her, her, her. Well, there goes Matt, you know, well, not everybody, but there are some, right?

So like the first cigar that you make with STG, it's gotta be a fucking banger, right? I mean, you gotta knock it out of the park just to shut them the fuck up, right? Well, here's the deal. We will expand what we do with them in their own company facilities, and we're going to expand what we do outside of their company-owned facilities, because the entire, you know, one of the linchpins of this deal becoming a reality was that this brand would remain authentic to its original spirit in every way, shape, and form, that it would be empowered by their machine, but not overpowered by it, right?

And I think we understand, as brand builders ourselves, I think that we both understand what I'm saying when I say that, is that there's a difference between infusing and then just straight, like, just skull-fucking to death a brand, right? A hundred percent, a hundred percent. And although some people may pay extra for that on vacations to Thailand, this is not the case where we want to apply this type of methodology. Yeah, I know, the skull fucking always ends, so in that scenario what would happen is you'd be the victor, you would win, you would win, you know, with your trucks, and they would have this fucking thing that just bleeds out and dies, which you don't want either, you know, because it's your brand, it's your legacy, it's not, it's incorporated in other industries as well, so, you want it to succeed, you want to see it succeed, it's in your best interest for it to succeed, it's in their best interest for it to succeed, that fucking makes sense, yeah.

And look, this is a space that they don't, that they do not plan. No. Well, now they do. Very much so.

Yeah, because, I mean, because putting a fucking gear on a cigar, that wasn't necessarily the best idea, you know? I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna speak on what I like and don't like. I'm just, yeah, I don't, I don't think you should at this point. Right, no, no.

However, I have no problem fucking harassing. Right. " Don't worry, you'll just be buying this brand another five years. I'll just send you in advance and here's my card.

The P arrow thing, you'll remember that. It's allowed to burn into your gray matter and you'll be back. But I think that that's the most critical message to get out there, that this is, look, I started this brand in my apartment, Melrose and Genesee, In 2003, I was polishing rings on top of my toilet because it was easier to clean the fucking dust from the Rouge up off my bathroom tile than it was in my living room, right? And so, no one cares more about this brand than I do, and I don't really think anyone ever could, to be very honest with you, and that's not a slight to, I mean, because there have been people that, there are people that have come into the fold with us that have dedicated themselves to our brand, our cause, It's, you know, far more than I could ever bring myself, I think, to dedicate to someone else's brand, you know, because of the way that I'm wired, and it's staggering and humbling also simultaneously to see that type of connection to something that you created that you care so much for.

But my point is, is that because I care that much for it, I will forever be its caretaker. No matter ownership, transfer, or not, this is something that I am dedicated to maintaining and continuing to foster the growth, and by the way, when I say fostering the growth, we're going to grow this brand with this company by our side to places where I could have never taken it myself. Never. In my wildest fucking wet ones, as we would have said when we were 13, right?

So, or today, being adult juveniles in the cigar business, so my point is that this is the best of both worlds, and we have a shared vision, and we are aligned in terms of how we want to continue to grow the branded business. Right. So, are you going to have your own booth now at PCA, or are you going to be in their booth? Well, they don't have a booth at PCA.

Oh, that's right, they don't. So I'll just have a Room 101 booth there and, you know, just do my thing. And then Justin Andrews will be hanging out with you. Yeah.

Hey, Justin, he'll be just waters and coffees and things. You know what we should do is we should get, like a branded, like a bowling, like a wrist brace thing. Ah, yes. And you should just give that out to certain folks at the show.

Like, you're gonna need this. You're gonna need this for later. Yeah, you're gonna need this. - Yeah, you're gonna need to.

- And don't explain. - No, no, they, if Matt Booth hands you a wrist brace, you very well know. - Yeah, you'll have an idea. - You'll have an idea what it is.

- It should say Room 101, PDH on it, Professional Dick Holder. - Yes. - Yeah, that's it, you know. - Yeah, man, so dude, it's very exciting.

It's 100% the best thing that could have possibly happened to our brand in this business at this stage The best thing that could have happened to our family, and the best thing that could have happened for all of our brand supporters, too, simultaneously, it's like, everybody fucking wins, and it's, I'm, I'm, to say I'm excited about it would be a slight and an insult to the level of excitement I have for this. I mean, I could tell that you, I mean, listen, man, we, we briefly spoke about this last week, and you were very excited then, and I, I can tell on the phone that the tempo has not changed by, Any fucking degree whatsoever. So I'm excited. That is correct, sir.

I'm excited for you. And I'm very happy for you. And I look forward to continuing to do stuff with you and seeing your company grow. So.

My man. Yeah, man. And likewise, man. Absolutely.

And likewise. Same thing. I appreciate you, brother. And Palmer, do you have any questions to add to Mr.

Booth before we let him go? No, no. Just congratulations, Matthew. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Thank you. My man. Look at that. Yes.

Wow, look at that. He's very nice. Hey, I do have a quick question. What does Creative Director do exactly?

So, basically, what I do is I tell them what to do in the realm of brand building. As it relates to my brand, I direct. What I will do is I will still do everything that I've always done for my brand in terms of product development, blend development, you know, market programming, Mike Szczecin: Right. Mike Szczecin: Right.

Mike Szczecin: Right. Mike Szczecin: Well, now I will have a sales staff of a crew of absolute industry veterans and animals in the streets also peddling our wares, and I will work directly with them to ensure that our messaging is on point, that the brand is flowing into market the way that we see fit to sustain long-term solid growth. Mike Szczecin: Right. I just won't have to pay for it.

Does this mean that you're going to move to Florida or no? Absolutely not. Well, we might move to Florida. J.

has the crib there, they can't take it from him, and you never know what's gonna happen. " And I'd be like, "Oh, cool. I'm in Florida, though. So, no house.

" That's right. That's right. So good luck with that. Yeah.

And I have Homestead. You can't take this. I'm very sorry. So no house for you.

Boom. So there's that. Yeah. I suppose.

Yeah. So basically, I will do all the things that I do best as it relates to our brand's business, but I won't have to call up the band manufacturer and scream at them three times because my bands are going to be two months late. Or I receive my shipment of bands at the factory and my flower is literally printed offset from the foil stamping and it looks like a cheap cut. All these things that you know very intimately are ever present in this business and ever present in any craft brand owner's life, the only challenge for us as small business owners is that it just hurts a lot more, right?

Because you have to absorb every penny of every loss, and that comes in the form of, you know, product mishap or delay, you're delayed, and you can't make business that you would have made at that time, you are now set back, you know, and so, these are the things that in this space, not in the other spaces that I, that I delved in, dell in, dwell, dilly dally, philander about within. Deli-dali. That I philander about within these other industry spaces, you know, I still carry the weight of the daily operation of my business on my shoulders, I've just been alleviated of that in this space. The little tedious problem.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, good for you, man.

Because now I have a machine. Right. That's it. And now you have some power by you.

Awesome. Okay, my friend, well, we're going to let you go. Yes, we appreciate you making time for us and pushing everyone else back so that we could be first. So that we can be first.

Yes. Thank you. That is correct. Oh, shit.

You heard it here first. That's right. That's right. This show will actually go up today.

Well, I mean, other than, you know, like all the people that posted about it. Yeah. Yeah, but see, nobody, and I specifically asked about the creative director because at Half Wheel, Charlie said there had been no explanation of what his creative director job would be. So there you go, Charlie.

There you go, Charlie. We'll handle your work. Yeah, you're welcome, Charlie. Take care of that for you, Charlie.

Still not telling you what's in the next cigar either, just so you know. That's why you're not going to fucking have any idea what's in the next cigar. I don't know what anybody's doing, I don't know what's in anybody's cigars, nobody's telling me anything anymore. Poor Charlie.

That's fucking awesome. Well, enjoy the day with your son, my friend. Yes, enjoy those video games. I will, I will, my brethren, and thank you for taking the time, and I'll see you out there, man, I'll talk to you soon.

You got it, man. See you soon. Bye-bye. All right, guys, take care.

Later. There you go, man. I know, man, Mr. Matt Booth, Room 101 Cigars.

I don't know where to hang up, turn it off. I got it, I got you covered. No, I know, I almost hit stop on here. Don't do that.

Cut the camera off. Shut it down. Shut it down. Okay, we're finished.

We could, that's a solid 30 minutes. We could release this as a special. Well, you know what, we can table the news today. Yeah, there's not really anything good.

All right, cool. I got a couple things I got to address anyways. We have a present here from Romatron. Oh.

Yes. And I meant to open it last week, but. Oh. I was.

Just real quick. We're correct, Hiram and Solomon is going with PDR. Yes. That's where he's making their cigars now.

Right. So you were correct, you said that last week. There you go. And David Blanco is now eating lunch exclusively at PDQ.

No relation, but he announced that also. Don't call us, David. Yeah, David, don't call again. David, don't call.

And the governor of Florida has signed a bill allowing beach and park smoking bans except for premium cigars. Excellent. So you can smoke cigars on the beach, no cigarettes, no pipes, no nothing else. Because they're just fucking leaves, man.

That's right. They're just leaves. The governor is such a nice man. He's alright.

Alright, let's do the present. Okay. Get this out of the way there. There we go.

So, Romatron. Yes. This is an interesting fact that I learned on one of our conversations. Yes.

He is a collector. Yes. Of like old iron pans and stuff. Like frying pans?

Yeah, like stuff that's... Cast iron. Cast iron, hundreds of years old type shit. Oh.

So, then he's like, "Hey, you know what? " Send us some pans? Yeah. Thank you for the pans.

Well, these are unique pieces. Oh, oh, gotcha. You know, this is stuff that, that's hundreds of years old. We can't, I don't know what we're gonna do with these giant pans.

We're gonna, we'll cook with them. Oh, oh, they're usables! Why wouldn't they be usable? I don't know, I thought maybe they were like decorative or something.

He gave me, he gave me a whole long text explaining all of it, but I don't want to read all that right now. I think that I don't read all that right now. Oh, and then, uh, Palmer. Thank you.

That's why, see, Michael got me that knife, I don't know, six years ago, maybe, for his birthday. It's a very expensive knife, and he has never bought one for himself now, because... I got a guy. He just asked me for the knife.

I have a Palmer. It's really rough at Christmas when he calls me to come over to cut the kids' boxes and stuff open after they open the presents, but, you know, you do what you gotta do. It's worth it. It's worth it.

Right. All right, now he was really nervous about the delivery of these things because apparently this sort of thing cracks very easily. Cast iron? Yeah.

Oh. So if anything's broken, don't tell him. Oh, we're gonna find out. Can you do the single camera?

Let's see here. So this is for Brittany to do more cooking. Look at this thing. Don't drop it.

Ah, nice! Look at that, huh? For the solid, for the one egg. Well, it's got the things on the side.

I mean, you can put butter in it and pour stuff. He said that the level of stuff... No, you're not ashy-knit it, Phil. The level of stuff that he has, like the amount of stuff, it's almost, it's literally enough that he could retire of.

If he sold it? Yeah. Oh, a pool floaty. Yeah, he wanted to make sure that they didn't crack, so he's got noodles.

I'll be beating this with you for you later. Oh, all right. I'm looking forward to that. Beat me later.

I mean, look at this shit. This stuff looks brand new. It does. Look at that thing.

Is it like eons old? I mean, it's very well kept. Could he... I feel like this is pretty old.

Could he clean up my ashtray if I send it back to him and get all this rust and stuff off? He probably could. I was just looking at that when Matt was on the phone. He probably could.

All right, Roma, so far... I had to grease up my Blackstone yesterday. I hadn't used it in a while. It's got some rust on it.

So far, we're two for two. Nothing broken. I don't think anything's broken in this packaging. But he was super...

No, yeah, he's... Oh, matching. Oh, I'm sure it all matches. Two eggs.

Oh, maybe one's for me, one's for you. Huh? And they say, they all say different stuff. But they're all, I think they're all American made.

Old school things. I don't think we've ever imported, imported cast iron. There's a whole, this is a whole industry. This is crazy.

Sure, there's a big display at every Cracker Barrel. Is that, I think that may be it. That's going to be it. I think we're good.

I'll double check, but got two little ones and a big one. Two little ones and a big one. Well, thank you very much, Romachon. We appreciate that.

Thank you. This thing is ridiculous, man. Let's kill somebody. What's it say on the bottom of that one?

Let me see the bottom of that one. This one says, used to kill Palmer. Oh, nice. Yeah.

Cast irons kill at eight, Griswolds. Oh, the Griswolds from vacation. Yeah, Christmas vacation, yeah. Erie, Pennsylvania, USA.

Oh, then what are the other two say? Wow, look at the condition of that thing. I mean, if he had to clean this up himself, it's an excellent job. Right.

This one says Wagnerware, made in USA. Oh. And this one says Lodge. Oh, I'm familiar with the Lodge brand.

And he obviously knows more of it than I do, so, you know, I'm sure that there's a breakdown by every company and like, you know, when it was built and stuff like that. But hey. Oh, that's very nice. Thank you, Romatron.

Yes. Um, I had, so Douglas Pendleton. Yes. He asked me a question that he wanted answered on the podcast and it's going to break down this.

It's going to go into this whole fucking thing. Okay. And it's going to be a little bit of a time suck. We have 25 minutes to an hour.

Yeah. I think I can, I feel like I can get, you can get a solid 15 out of this. Okay. So he was asking specifically, why did I name the company Poshik?

Like, why did I name Powstanie Powstanie, and like, what's the purpose of all of it, right? Other than the Jewish heritage that you and your brother have? Yeah, the Jewish heritage, yeah. A lot of matzo balls.

It's a soup, it's a good soup. That's why Greg's so schmied him. Yeah, that's why he's growing out his loxism, right? All right, he's gonna be a Hasidic Jew.

Yeah, 'cause he's getting married, you know. He's gonna have the hat. Yeah, he's gonna break the glass at the wedding, it's gonna be fantastic. Oh, can we do the glass?

We're gonna lift him up in the chair, it'll be great. Oh! Hopefully he drops a few more LBs though. Right, yeah, we're gonna get some bigger people in here.

Yeah. Okay, so, Poshik Inc. is a company, is the mother company for wholesale. Yes.

And Poshik stands for Hustle, so... Oh, even I didn't know that. So it's linked into Cigar Hustler, right? Oh.

, right? Oh. So that's really the creation of Poshik. Gotcha.

Powstanie means uprising, and Powstanie is really kind of unique, and I'm kind of going back to the thing that I mentioned with Matt, it's like every cigar that you make, if you're a real cigar maker, it needs to have a soul. One, Phil. He was so enthralled in the story, he was just listening, not even paying attention. Cigars need a soul, man.

If you want to see a cigar succeed, it has to have purpose. It has to have a soul, in my opinion. So, Powstanie was originally created so that other retailers that have tried to step on me in the past, couldn't control it, right, and it's linked to World War II, soldiers, uprisings, stuff like that, and it's near and dear to me, because the simple aspect is this, we're a smaller retailer, we don't have unlimited funds, we don't have tons of friends, politically, or anything like that, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, if you're coming after us, and you have all these things, I don't give a fuck, we're gonna fight back, and we're gonna win, right?

So that was my purpose of naming it kind of post-on, right? So that's why those two companies are different. Go ahead, you can go back to camera too. But I'm gonna take it one more step and really kind of break down everything else, right?

So because we had, we have these other interesting kind of releases, right? And they all have fucking assaults. Right. Right.

So, I think Who Shot You was the first one. Yeah, I was going to say, Bangarang, that's more of a fun... No. The name?

Bangarang has a purpose as well. Well, that came out before Who Shot You. Bangarang was first? Yes.

Okay, so then Bangarang was first, and I'll go ahead and... Because we got the sample, we tried them at the PCA last year. Did we? Hector brought them there.

Or he shipped them here, and we took a bundle there, and we all smoked them together. Okay. Okay. So, obviously, Bangerang is in reference of the movie Hook.

Right. Yeah. There's a, there's a cat in there by the name of Rufio. Rufio.

So, Rufio, for me, growing up as a kid, was a guy that I fucking loved. I watched the movie a million times. Right. And, you know, he was just this overall badass.

And, you know, he made comments, like, he made a comment at the end that, you know, he always wanted a dad like Peter Pan before he died, right? So, you know, not saying that my dad sucked, but you know, my dad didn't really spend a ton of time with us, and he probably chose a bottle a little bit more than he should have. So, you know, for me, that was a big relation. And like, when Rufio said all those things in the movie, I was like, man, I fucking hear that.

So like, I dug that character, and that's why I decided to build Bangarang. okay all right who shot you is kind of parlayed back into the post on your line in the essence of you know we have had a back and forth with some of our uh some of our enemies yes and you know and they i feel like more often than not they have definitely underestimated us so you know the statement was like when you got fucked up you know the real question is who shot you Yeah, right? So, you know, who actually came at you and doesn't really give a shit. So, that's really the reference point of Hushacha, right?

I think the Shepard's a little more transparent. You want to explain the numbers on the Hushacha? No. Phil would like you to, apparently.

No. He's very excited. No. I think that, you know, look, I like putting cryptic shit on the cigars.

I think that there's putting more... Yeah, but it's not even fun if you don't divulge what it is, though, eventually. And I think that actually, to be honest, it makes it more fun for me. Well, is that cigar ever coming out again?

I believe it will. Oh, yeah. I believe it will. Maybe.

If it's never going to happen again, it'll just sort of, the whole legend and mystery of the number will just fade away unless you tell people. Maybe a different Vitola, who knows? Yeah. A bigger, bullet-shaped cigar.

Maybe. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe a different blend.

Oh. But the same Vitola, you know. Only Time Will Tell. Only Time Will Tell.

I feel it was a hint of some sort, Phil. The Shepherd was a little more transparent, because that's definitely something more and more back and forth that we have on the show, and I feel like more people understand it. Again, it's the same reference when it comes back. Samuel L.

Jackson was Jules in Pulp Fiction, and Ezekiel was the verse that he would always say right before he fucking killed everybody. So then, as the movie kind of progresses, he feels like he shouldn't be saying it the way that he's saying it, and he kind of determines that, you know, the person across the table when they're trying to steal his money and briefcase, he tells them that you're the weak and I'm the tyranny of evil men, but I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd. And that's definitely how I feel more often than not when it comes to working with other retailers in the industry, people that kind of doubt us. It's like, dude, you don't fucking get it.

And please don't make me put my fucking bullet in your head, right? I'm trying my best here. He's saving this for later, I guess. I don't know.

Phil's all over it. Phil, you okay, buddy? You sure? You got anything to say?

I got that mic there for you. Anything to say? Oh, excellent job, Phil, and that's why we keep Phil's microphone turned off. So that's why the Shepherd has its name, and I, you know, and again, I think that all those, all the brand, Powstanie, the collab cigars have all had great success, they've all done extremely well, and I think that they'll continue to do well and will continue to grow as long as the cigars that we choose to create continue to have meaning and a soul.

So, that's the whole story in a nutshell. There you go, Mr. Pendleton. There you go, Douglas.

Douglas Pendleton. What? It's the full name. Why can't I say Mr.

Pendleton? Should I just show him a little respect? No, I'm just saying. He's taking a picture of the camera.

He said shut up. He told you to shut up. Did he? I can't even see his face.

Yeah, he said shut up. Oh, wow. It's fucked up. I'm going to just turn his headphones off.

Do you have any questions or anything like that? Or do you feel like I covered the majority of it? No, you covered it. Okay.

Sure. All right. So, what do you got for this? Unless you want to say what this Oliva thing is that you hinted at with Mr.

I'll say no fucking thing. Uh, no, no, I just threw all the stories on the floor. I get nothing over there. All right.

Well, listener of the week. Uh, listener of the week is, uh, was Romadron, wasn't it? Yeah, I think, I think we could do like a double there. A double?

Romadron and Douglas Pendleton. Oh, well, hold on. Let's get to the gong. We're gonna go this way for the gong.

Episode 233, Listener of the Week is: Romatron and Douglas Pendleton. Mr. Pendleton. Mr.

Pendleton. I hate you, I always hate you. Congratulations, gentlemen. Do you have a Shop of the Week, Michael?

Shop of the Week. Hmm. I think the last shipment went out to Caribbean Cigars. My boy, Alan.

Oh. Alan down south. Yeah. So you make him Shop of the Week?

Yes. Episode 233, Shop of the Week, Caribbean Cigars, out in South Florida. There you go. Alright.

Anything else? No, we're in 45 minutes, I feel good. Perfect. Not quite Pedro time, but a lot of good content on this one.

An exclusive interview. An exclusive Matt Booth interview. An exclusive Matt Booth interview. That's our second exclusive.

We're just over here crushing. That's right. That's right. Fuck all you other shows.

Yeah. Kiss my ass. Oh, Matt Tye's trying to get us for copyright infringement for, uh, I made the engagement for, uh, using, uh, their press release. Oh, yeah?

Yeah, I changed it 20%, Matt, it's fine. Good luck with that. The law is 20%. Good luck, Matt.

Good luck. What are you gonna do, what are you gonna do, fuck with our pots and pans? Right, exactly. There's our pans, come get 'em.

Yeah, there's our pans, come get 'em. Yeah, exactly. Maybe that's why you sent them pots and pans, that was funny. Now nobody can fuck with your pots and pans, I sent them to you.

Yep. Thank you, Romatron. Official pans. We have our official pans.

Now they have to be out all the time. Now they're funny. Now you gotta use 'em for cooking. It's working.

Oh. All right, guys, we're going to go. This has been episode 233. Patreon today?

We're doing Patreon? Yeah, yeah, man. Oh, Patreon today. All right, guys, we got to go.

Thank you very much. Oh, oh, we got to go. Thank you very much. Bye.

Phil, I'll say goodbye. He's turning your camera. He's pointing. Thank you very much.

Goodbye. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m. for all new episodes.

Hi, I'm doing. I'm Hustoy 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 Deeb. Hojo!

It's the Hojo! He didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I can get past Hojo! I don't even have to try it.

I'm 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'd be like four cigars when I walked in the door. All right, end this. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike squared, squared, squared, squared.

Show Notes

The exclusive first time heard interview with Matt Booth on his recent STG buyout from Room 101