Cigar Hustlers Podcast 243 NFTs, King Tut and wow that Crocodile is Fast
Episode Summary
Episode 243 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a news-heavy, off-the-cuff hangout with hosts Mike Szczepankiewicz and Mike (Mikey), recorded a few days before the crew heads out to Weasel Fest. The first half is pure shop talk and life talk: youth football coaching chaos (pre-K through second grade, and why the parents are worse than the kids), a batch of Powstanie "Outwork Everybody" retailer t-shirts that accidentally arrived in mint green, a dog emergency and vet-bill war stories, new studio production gear, and the podcast network's growth past 100,000 downloads.
The news segment digs into the week's real cigar industry stories. Warped Cigars released a limited El Oso Petit Robusto (4x50, 160 bundles of 10, only 10 stores) — which sparks a long, funny debate about manufacturers, retailers and who's actually bad at answering emails. Room 101's 13th Anniversary, a 6x52 Nicaraguan puro made by AJ Fernandez at $11.30 a stick (nicknamed "Stinky Pinky" by Matt Booth for its bright pink packaging), has arrived at stores. Foundation Cigar Company began shipping three new line extensions — the Wise Man Maduro Macho Ratón and Highclere Castle... er, Wiseman Maduro and Wise Man Corojo figurados plus the Menelik Toro — and the hosts explain why adding vitolas to a core line reinvigorates the whole brand, name-checking Padrón, Fuente and RoMa Craft as examples. They also tease Foundation's upcoming Olmec and the Egyptian-themed Senejter honoring the 100th anniversary of Tutankhamun's tomb, which spirals into a running King Tut/Indiana Jones bit.
Rounding out the news: All Saints raises prices 1.8–4.3% on most vitolas across its All Saints, St. Francis, Dedication and St. Francis Colorado lines effective September 1; La Flor Dominicana's seven-piece Andalusian Bull "Golden Bull" NFT project on the Ethereum blockchain generated more than $600,000, with individual tokens selling from $78,001 to $98,001 and each token holder entitled to buy 70 cigars per month — the hosts dissect whether the resale market will hold up and admit they don't fully get NFTs; Eddie Tarazona of Tarazona Cigars finished fifth in the Republican primary for Florida's 18th Congressional District; and Cigars International received approval for a new three-story Bethlehem, PA headquarters with an attached superstore, cigar bar and tavern, tied to STG's ongoing warehouse automation. The episode closes with a viral Gatorland video of a Cuban crocodile galloping at a man, Listener of the Week honors for Aaron Loomis and Jason Wolpert, and Shop of the Week going to Tasting Room in Monona, Wisconsin.
In This Episode
- 01Weasel Fest Travel and Studio HousekeepingThe hosts prep for Weasel Fest, double-book rental cars, and show off new production equipment and a stress-tested studio laptop.
- 02Youth Football Coaching ChaosCoaching pre-K/kindergarten and first/second grade teams at once, parent mutinies, and why coaching kids is harder than it looks.
- 03The Mint Green Powstanie T-Shirt MishapAn Outwork Everybody retailer shirt order shows up in mint green instead of the intended color, spawning Thin Mints and Grinchmas jokes.
- 04Warped El Oso Petit Robusto and the Email DebateWarped's limited 4x50 El Oso release to just 10 stores kicks off a spirited argument about manufacturer outreach, sales follow-ups and unanswered emails.
- 05Room 101 13th Anniversary ShipsMatt Booth's AJ Fernandez-made 6x52 Nicaraguan puro, nicknamed Stinky Pinky, arrives at retailers at $11.30 per cigar.
- 06Foundation Cigar Company Line ExtensionsNew Wise Man Maduro and Wiseman figurados, the Macho Ratón and Menelik Toro, plus a look ahead at Olmec and the Tutankhamun-inspired Senejter.
- 07All Saints Price IncreasesBreaking down the 1.8–4.3% increases across All Saints, St. Francis, Dedication and St. Francis Colorado, and why only some vitolas went up.
- 08La Flor Dominicana NFTs Top $600,000Seven Andalusian Bull Golden Bull NFTs sell for $78K–$98K each with 70 cigars per month attached, and the hosts question the secondary market.
- 09Cigars International's New Bethlehem HQApproval for a 40,000 sq ft office with an attached superstore, cigar bar and tavern, plus STG warehouse automation and retail expansion in Texas and Florida.
- 10Florida Story: The Galloping Gatorland CrocodileA viral video of a Cuban crocodile charging a man at Gatorland leads to talk of run speeds, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Listener/Shop of the Week picks.
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
Wait and see if you're gonna look up. Welcome to episode 243 of a Cigar Hustler Podcast. Running and gunning, bro. Today is...
It's Tuesday. We're a little late. We apologize. Crazy week.
Do do do do do do do do. Oh, yours is getting so soft. You're gonna have to like, refix that. Really?
It's like an application that you put on it so you can make it hard again. You too. Oh. Well, he told me there's some type of oil or soap or something, but he's always amazed about how well it's held up.
It's getting thin, though. I can tell. You too can be part of our podcast, Family Invest in our show or any of the shows on the Hustler Podcast Network. Put your We're in front of thousands of listeners every week on 13 different podcast providers all around the world.
All you have to do is email me, Mike, at Mike and Mike Productions for pricing and more information. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. Hit the bell. On whichever of our providers you use.
And Mikey. Hit the bell. Hit the bell. Is my camera crooked?
I feel like my camera's crooked. It didn't look like it in the shot. Is it crooked, Phil? It's crooked.
Is it crooked? Yeah. But don't, don't, keep it on that camera. Oh, you're going to fix it right now?
Mid-show. Mid-stride. Here we go. Oh, God.
That looks pretty good. That was a little better. Okay. Look at you.
Multiple camera angles. It still looks like it's tilted back. That's better. Look at you.
We forgot to turn the air down last week, so I had to switch to that camera so Danielle could get up and turn down the air. Turn down. Oh, yeah. Hey, you know.
Hey, what are we going to do? Weasel Fest. Weasel Fest, uh, what do you guys, what is today? Today is Tuesday, you guys leave Friday.
We are leaving Saturday. Oh, Saturday, not Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta run and gun, baby.
You gotta, you know, you want to go and make as much of an impact as you can in the least amount of time as possible. That's the, that's the reality of things. I mean, if it were up to me, I'd get there Friday and, you know, leave Tuesday. I am concerned.
Until it gets to a point where Skip and Michael are like, okay, are you leaving? When are you going? You stay in a hotel? You stay in a guest?
Yeah, I got to book the hotel. I don't think I've done that yet. I thought that I didn't book the car. I was like, oh shit, I better book the car.
So I booked the car last night. I had already booked the car. So I have two cars. I have two cars.
No one for each of you. No, I canceled the car. Oh. So now we have the one car.
You probably canceled both cars. Nope, still got the one. Still got the one. Yeah.
So that's exciting. Got that going on? Yeah. I'm a little tired, man.
Whew. If you want to have Brittany call in, just tell you that, I'm always tired. But I'm going to tell you right now. There's no plan for her to call in today.
I'm feeling the pressure. There's been a lot going on the past couple of weeks. We are going, man. Yeah, you have been quite busy.
Yeah. With the football. Football is back. Oh, you're starting again?
You're starting coaching again? Mm-hmm. Hence the gray shirt today? Yes, because I'm going out into the field.
We have- Is that the team color, I guess? Gray? No, this is just a long sleeve shirt that's comfy. It's so comfy, you know, protects me from the sun.
We didn't wear a black one, so we would have matched again. I don't know. It looks so nice when we match. I wore a black one recently at the...
You wore a black one every day, except Tuesday, apparently. I like my gray. I gotta get the gray and the blues going. You know what I mean?
You really gotta mix it up. You've been black for years. I look in my closet this morning going, let's see, there's black, black, blue. He's gonna wear black.
No, gray. Gray is not an option. I audibled on you. " This is a fun game.
This is a fun game. So yeah. So next week. It'll be easier for her to determine that on Monday than it will be on Tuesday, just for the record.
I figured she'd get your clothes ready anyway. She doesn't get my clothes ready. She packs when you travel, why didn't she pack when you leave for the gym? No, come on.
What, she's slipping up? No, she's got a lot going on. Um, let's see here. So yeah, man, so football's interesting.
Football, football, football, you know the sports show is on the Thursday night. The kindergarten class. That sports talk every Thursday. That we have, the pre-K kindergarten, they're out of control.
Pre-K, so how, so these kids are five? Four and five. There's like three kids. It's the herding cats thing.
Yeah, there's like three kids that just don't engage. The one sitting on the ground, pulling the grass out? No, no, they just stand there. While the ball, while the other team runs with the ball, you gotta go get him.
Nah, I don't really want to. Do they like hike the ball still and everything at four and five? Yeah, yeah. There's probably not a lot of passing going on.
I would say that there's, I think we have like eight kids and I think that so far we've trained, like some practice with seven of them. Right. And I think of that seven, there's like three that just don't give a shit. So, Teddy's not playing.
I'll tell you right now, if Teddy were playing, she'd run that offense. Well, I'm sure she would. Crazy. She's doing ballet.
Yes, I see all the photos. Yes, the stomping. She's good at the stomping. Well, that's how crushing the skulls of her enemies in Florida.
Exactly. So these kids aren't yours, none of them, you don't have an investment on this team. No, so what happened was our teams had to split apart, so we're coaching two teams. Right.
So pre-KK is what the other coaches have. Is it you and the gentleman that came to your birthday thing? Yes, Eric, yeah. And then we're doing the first grade, second grade one.
Now the first grade team, they're pretty together, you know, because they've worked together a lot, and we're kind of upping things. So it was Justice on the first grade team? Yeah. Okay.
You can run a little more harder punishments and stuff when they make a mistake. It's like, I need you to pay attention and look. Right. And if you miss the snap, you're not paying attention, back of the line, now you missed your time to run.
Oh, no. Yeah, exactly. That registers, they're like, oh, no, I didn't get to run. Yeah, no kidding.
Like, oh, no, no, no, the kid says. Uh, so does Eric, that's his name, Eric? Yeah. Does he have a child on the pre-K team?
If he didn't, it'd be weird. Well, that's why I'm asking. Yeah, that'd be strange. " We just like to coach kids.
" Well, I thought maybe no parent stepped up. Check out this white van. So does he have a kid on the first grade team too? No.
Okay, so he helps you with your group and then you help him with his group. " That makes perfectly good sense. If we grind this season out. Right.
Next season, they'll all be together again. Pre-K moves up to second grade? Well, the kindergartners will advance to first and then first and second grade is in one unit. Oh, so that's what we're trying to do, but I'm going to tell you right now, this shit is hard.
So pre-K, kindergarten together now? Yeah. Okay. All right.
So that's why it's five and six. Pre-K, kindergarten. So next year, his kid, his kid, oh four and five, his kid's not pre-K, his kid is kindergarten. I think so.
If not, he's moving them up regardless. Oh, okay. Is it a big kid? No, but he's a smart kid.
He'll be fine. Traumatize the child the rest of his life. It's hard, I'm going to tell you right now, it's hard doing this thing, it's not, I don't, any, any parent that coaches a team, I commend you. Oh, yes, hats off to them, that's, yeah, I'm only subbed in and it was exhausting.
And the kids, okay, so the kids are tiring and things can be hard with them, that's not the real big problem. And I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again, the real problem is the parents. Oh, right. You know, we had a mutiny on our hands and all types of shit, it's, this shit is crazy.
Mutiny with the parents? Yeah, yeah, we had some defectos because we wouldn't cut kids, all types of other shit, man. Ah, take your kid and leave, I don't care. Wasn't less child to run after.
Yeah, that's true, but... It's not like you get paid by the kid. The problem is that when you kind of invest in kids, and like, you get them engaged and you get them going, you hate to see them go somewhere else. Especially now you're gonna go against them.
Like, I just taught you everything you fucking know. So it's season time now So you are We're running How many days a week is this now? Well we do practice twice a week Okay And then the game time So what's that? Tuesday, Thursday?
No, your off days from the gym My off days from the gym And I see how that worked Isn't that interesting? And then games on Fridays Games on Fridays Now, as the season kind of progresses, we may split the team so that Tuesday we just practice for one, or two. Oh, wait, wait, you practice both teams on Tuesday? We run them at the same time, baby.
Oh! Oh, yeah, man. I figured like Tuesday you did one, and Thursday you did the other. No, no, we're efficient as fuck.
Oh, apparently. Yeah. So how do you not get the kids mixed up? Are they different colored shirts or something?
No, you just look by height. I mean, you could tell. There's a significant difference from a kindergarten to a first grader. But if you move his up, he might be a little shorter next year.
Yeah, I'll be able to identify my coach's son. Coach's son, you know what I mean? Right. He's clear.
From the back, though. No, you start, believe me, you start developing the names, you understand the kids. Shirts and skins or something. Nah, you don't want to do that.
No. You don't want to upset a kid. I'd put them on different colored shirts. Nah.
They're in just practice gear. It's not that hard. You have all those lime green t-shirts. Here's what we do.
We separate, oh, the mints. The mints. So here's what we do. We should talk about that.
That's funny. Well, he coaches one team, he does pre-KK for offense, and then I'll do first grade, second grade for defense, and then like running specific drills. Oh, okay, so he's offense, your defense. And then what will happen is, we'll switch, and I will run defense, and he will run offense for the one-two.
But the difference is that I can't help myself, and I get consumed with everything, so then I'm like, okay, let's do this with offense. What do you think about those with offense? You're a control freak. You think so?
I completely understand, Erik. It's easier to just go with the flow. He's pretty go with the flow. He's pretty chill.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Good deal. That's been going on.
So I'm working on these t-shirts because we got this thing going through. Yeah. So the Outwork Everybody shirts, people seem to love for the Powstanie line. Right.
So I offered an incentive package for retailers, and a few of them popped off on it. Wholesale. Yeah, yeah. How many of you get a shirt?
Yeah, like Tobacology, definitely got it. There's a handful of them. Right. I mean, Brett always pops in my head, because he always talks...
The guy's not doing a podcast? We always... Yeah, the guy's not doing a podcast. But we always review this podcast every week.
He talks to me about something. Oh. So... I don't know why I'm looking at the day camera.
So I ordered the shirts. Once I had an idea of a batch, I ordered the shirts. Right. The shirts came in, and I ordered the wrong ones.
I ordered the wrong color. That's what you should have sent. So I ordered mint green t-shirts. The very lovely, very lovely shirts.
And I don't know. And you used black lettering. Like the price is low enough for me to not care. Oh.
But then, you know, to not say, hey, I made a mistake. Cause do I really want to deal with it? Save over Christmas and you do it at Christmas too. Mint green post on your shirts.
Right. Christmas. With red writing. With red.
But they're mint green. They're not like green. You know, they pre-faded. That's not like a forest green.
Pre-faded. Pre-faded. We could do like Postana Fresh on them or something. There you go.
Oh, that'd be nice. Yeah. Put Scratch and Sniff on it. These are super limited.
Super limited Scratch and Sniff Postana shirts. I want to do the Superman ones too. Like the P. Oh, sure.
Eventually. That would look great on the green. You got to do Royal Blue on those. Maybe do Green Lantern.
Green Lantern? It's still mint. Look, there's nothing in mint. This isn't an apparent...
You know, I bet you when they were packing them, like, these are fucked up. Oh, yeah, the guy's going, nobody orders these. Hey, somebody bought the mints. Hey, hey, we got a guy over here with the mint.
Is this good? Where, where are they at? Where, where are the mints? Um, it says mint on the form, boss.
I don't know what to tell you. It says that he ordered the... All right, send the asshole to mint green. Send them out.
We're getting these bags, just so you know. So I'm hauling ass that day, and I open up the box, and I'm like, "Fuck. " Is Grill Scout cookies already come out? Oh, that'll be great.
No, you do something, something with Thin Mints and Postanies, you do a Skinny P, Thin Peas. Thin Peas. We make JSK t-shirts on them and we send them to fucking this day. Here you go, sell your fucking...
Hold on, Phil's gonna speak. Can he do something with Cigar Hustlers Grinchmas? Grinchmas? It's closer to the color green.
Mint? It's still mint, guys. It's not green. I don't know how many times I gotta say that.
I understand it. It's mint. It's fucking mint. What, the Grinch is more of a neon?
He's more of a green. They're still green, Michael. Okay. I'll tell you what.
Something faded '70s-ish then. I'll tell you what. You tie-dye 'em. We'll go upstairs.
Blue and green. I'll show you the colors. You can all have a laugh. I've seen them.
I saw them sitting in there. I figured they were wrong. Who was that that was here visiting from somewhere in Texas? The guy that was here on Monday.
This was a few days ago? Yesterday? No, it was last week. That was last Friday.
It was Friday. He wasn't from Texas. That was Christian Doe. I thought he said he was from Austin or...
No, he's from Nashville. Oh, did he manage... He runs Casa de Monte Cristo in Nashville. Right.
Did he ever manage a store in Texas? I think he was originally from Texas, but I know that he ran Cousins in Ohio. Yes, that's right. He's a good dude.
He is. He was very nice. Yeah, that's it Phil, that's it right there. That's the mint green shirt.
That's the mint green shirt. Got to catch them all. Google things to do with mint green t-shirts. Things to do with mint green t-shirts.
See what comes up. Holiday ideas with mint green t-shirts. Oh God. Coming into the season here.
Offer them from our points customers. You get this limited edition mint green post onion. Mint green post onion shirt. No one else will ever have one.
And I'm going to misspell post onion on it. Oh, perfect. Yeah. These are limited.
It says money talks. Money talks. Yeah, okay. There you go.
Whatever. Oh, money talks Powstanie. Money talks Powstanie. Powstanie money talks.
You guys are just legitimately putting words together. Polish money. What's Polish money? What's the currency?
Yeah, currency in Poland. The euro? Is it the euro? Yeah.
Eurotox. And you put the P on it. Eurotox. You put the P on it and you're good.
You're good to go. We can't see that. Okay, go away. What are you doing?
Go away. We cannot see that at all. For fuck's sake. Stop engaging, Phil.
I had the cigar radio thing, but we don't have to talk about it. Well, your dog got really well. Oh, he got sick, yeah, Friday. He's okay now.
He never acted like he fell bad, but he exploded blood in the bedroom and then was pooping blood outside on Friday. Exploded blood? I, well, after I get home from here, I usually go home, sit on the couch, and then I fell asleep. Adrian came home, went in the bedroom, and it was his puddle.
This puddle. Looks like a murder scene? Yeah. Right at the edge of the carpet before that long haul that goes into the bedroom.
You got a lighter? Yeah. This lighter's out of fuel. So we figure it's the little dog.
Like we're saying, he's 12 something. Yeah. He's 110. But I'm thinking, there's a lot there.
That's a lot of blood. If that type of blood came out of that dog, he'd be dead. Yeah, there'd be none left. Yeah.
So I take all the dogs outside where she's cleaning, and then I see Dempy pooping blood. " Right. "Hold, please. Can you be here in 15 minutes?
" I'm on my way. I'm on my way. So they gave him a bunch of medicines, some shots, $450, special food, pill pockets, the whole thing. So they went by yesterday, he's fine, whatever was in him, another poop sample, and it's out, whatever it was.
They never tell you exactly what it is, though. They don't want you to know. Right, yeah. So you can avoid this altogether.
Yeah. Normally for the recheck, we don't go back, but since he was pooping blood, figured... Eh, why not the recheck? Yeah.
Make sure it's okay. Oh, he's got four pills? Finish the pills. And then he'll be fine.
I'll tell you, man, my vet... Yeah, we obviously need to change vets. My vet is fucking awesome. He really is.
I have no issues like that. He's like the Chris Baldwin of the dog world. Yeah, he is. Yeah.
He's so backed up, because he's a good guy. Oh. You know? Yeah.
I don't think that he wants to... to book you out two months and like hey i got a problem my dog and like we the tapeworm came back on for one of them which means you got to give them both right right so bernie called this morning hey it came back though he's already been in for the tapeworm once they were in for the tapeworm i mean it's like i don't know four months ago or something like five months maybe that's why you got the no because something else went down and they have to go there to pick up oh so like Okay, so with Chapo, El Chapo's blindness, I mean, hey, there's a problem with the dog, they take the dog, they park the dog, they keep an eye on the dog, they see, alright, there's something wrong with the dog, obviously, it looks like the dog ate something, got into something, here's some meds, $55. Right? Not even a...
No vet visit, nothing. No vet visit? No, there's the meds, thank you. Now, I mean, I'll do vet visits, you know, to be honest, at this point, I'm even more encouraged to give this guy more of a He's got my money.
You know what I mean? Okay, I need to see you. Dog has a sniffles. Take him to the vet.
He's a nice guy. We need an annual checkup. Right. I need to stay on top of it.
Stay on top of it. All the monthly. I need to do a better job of that. Because my dogs, I fucking neglect the shit out of that.
When it comes to the heartworm things. Oh, you don't do the heartworm pills? The other two dogs never got heartworm stuff. Maybe that's why they didn't live a long time.
They lived a long time. They lived to like 13, 14 years old. We do the heartworm thing, but we're a little slow on keeping up with it. So you're not, so here you are judging me.
No, no, we still do it, just it might be a month and a half before they get the next one. That's no, that's no good. Yeah, it's not like we just avoid it altogether. Oh, I bought the Mets.
Oh, you bought it now. No, no, I've had it for about five or six months. You have them and don't give it to them. Yeah, that's the thing.
Oh, see, no, we only buy one, we buy a month at a time. Oh, yeah, no, I'd rather buy in bulk and then leave them on the shelf. Oh, because it's much better. It used to be, you didn't have to take the dog in, you could just go in and pick it up, now they've changed, well now in Florida, they have to have a check, I'm not sure they don't have it, you can't give them the medicine, if they already have heartworms, it'll kill them.
Really? Yeah. At least that's what my vet's telling us. Sounds like bullshit to me.
I know. Your vet's a fucking, your vet's a shyster, motherfucker. Your vet's a shyster, motherfucker. That's the way it was in Missouri.
Yeah, so you look for the shysters, is what you're saying. Apparently, I don't know. I'm gonna tell you right now, if you ever have a dentist, I'm not going to the one that you recommend. No, I don't go, no.
I went to a dentist. No, no. Six grand. What?
That's too much. Three. What? How did we just- We just went half.
Because I said six was too much? That's too much. Yes, sir. Would you like make payments?
No, we're just skipping it. We're not doing it. No. No, it's fine.
Oh, I'll just skip by. That'll be $6,000. I can't afford that. That'll be $3,000.
Right. You didn't even leave. Go check with the guy or something like a car dealership. You know, they go and talk, drink coffee.
He said that's too much. I'm sorry. We have to go back to the other price. I'm like, you know, but no, the nurse just went half.
Three thousand. Three? No, it has three thousand. Does it hurt less for three?
How about you just, like, how about you just be a good person from the get and charge the appropriate amount off the rip? Like, you'll never go back to that dentist. Oh, no, never been back. Done.
Done. It's over. I'm out. Where's the guy on TV?
He does it for 60 bucks. I don't care he's in a fan. Jeez. That's why people go to other countries to get stuff done.
Yeah, sorry, I'm just making sure this is still recording. Yeah, it's gone. Okay. I'm looking at porn on a screen.
Screensaver has not been turned on yet. It's turned off. Is this the new computer? This is the new computer.
We've upgraded. We've upgraded some more equipment because now we've got some more money again. Well, we don't just upgrade to upgrade. No, no, no.
We needed it. It was not enough for the... Well, we have three on our channel. It was efficient for the one, but it's not efficient for multiple, for an actual production company, which is what we are now.
This screen's a little smaller, but I think I like it a little smaller. That one is soup to nuts, like, top of the line. Yeah? Yeah.
It works very well. I will tell you exactly what Sean said about that. Sean's our tech guy. We went boating over the weekend with our friends that we went before that used to work at SeaWorld.
You used to work at SeaWorld? Yeah. And the guy from the Navy? Uh-huh.
Boating on disappearing island. Oh, very nice. Yeah. We spent the day pushing other people off who apparently were not in the Navy and didn't know you don't beach your boat when the tide's going up.
That's fantastic. Yeah, as we're parking, he's going, okay, it's an outgoing tide, we need this long on the anchor rope, and then I'll put the poles down on the back, and I'm like, okay. And as we're watching boats just beach themselves while they're going down the island. Okay, Sean's exact quote.
I've seen it stress tested at work That computer For a techie like me It was like being at a strip club Oh That's exactly what he said In reference to the laptop That we have acquired for you Oh So It's like being at a strip club Did it take off clothes or something? I don't know I don't know either It was very exciting for him They purposely stress tested This computer What does that mean? So they bog it down with all types of shit Oh, they're not like somebody sitting there, open and close, open and close, open and close, no, no, no, they uploaded a bunch of shit, a bunch of things are going on, you know, to see how, right, and it excited him, oh, apparently, yes, he enjoyed the pain that this computer went through, and it handled it in stride, a little lint on it there, yeah, you better take good care of that thing, that's why, you know, you ever, you ever, take care of the other one, you ever quit and leave this company, the laptop stays, pal, it's property of, take the other one, I'll take the other one, the other one that my uncle skipped, the other one is definitely yours, Skip has to re-up his Patreon now apparently because we don't use that one as much. Okay.
Just saying, Skip. Hey man, we just had a conversation about Powstanie price increase for manufacturing level, you know. Uh-oh. Oh, hey, Patreon prices are going up.
Patreon one up too, Skip, don't tell ya. That'll be $700,000. Right. Next time he sends a message, where's the Patreon?
I go, I don't know, where's your money? Send them the link to sign up. Here you go. It's right here.
Here it is, right here. It's right here. Just need your credit card information, please. Just go ahead and punch that in.
That's funny. And then you can't get cigars. And we're closed. And we come back next time when the pans are gone.
And guess what? We can fuck with your pots and bins. We have the capabilities. We have the pans are gone.
You get nothing. We get nothing now. Oh, great, thanks. About those cigars that you wanted?
Yeah, not happening. Want to jump to the news? Yeah, yeah, let's go. All right, let's get this thing moving.
From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Szczecin. Warp launches El Oso Petit Robusto, El Oso, El Oso Petit Robusto. Over the weekend, Warp Cigars launch the El Oso Petit Robusto, limited edition 4x50 Ventola, in the El Oso Blend.
The cigar uses Ecuador and Habano Obscuro, this microphone keeps getting moved. The cigar uses Ecuador and Habano Obscuro wrapper, Ecuadorian binder, where the filler comes from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua. The release is limited to 160 bundles of 10 cigars. Total run of 1600 cigars.
Not only is it limited edition, but it's getting a limited release with the just 10 stores carrying the cigar. We're not getting that, are we? No. No, I didn't think so.
The company has not yet responded to an email sent by Half Wheel asking about pricing or a cigar host or a podcast. Apparently they're not answering us either. In confirming the factor that made the cigar, two retailers told Half Wheel that Mike Stebankevich never answers emails from anyone, so that's why you didn't get it. I don't respond to emails to anyone.
That's what it says. Listen, you can, you can ask any customer. Not customer, I would say. This is manufacturers.
Oh, so what? You don't answer them. How bad do they? We don't get, we don't get cigars from customers.
You know, I spoke to Kyle. See. I had a back and forth with Kyle. This is how this works.
Manufacturers make cigars. They email you, ask if you want the cigars. Is that how that works? You say yes.
Then the customers email you and say, I would like to buy said cigars. And then we ship them the said cigars. See how that all works. Now, if something happens or there's a breakdown in this process, like you don't answer the emails, then the customers can't send you the emails to buy the cigars that we can ship to them.
See how that falls apart right there. Okay, so let's talk about this. Yes. If you're trying to sell a product, you think the one reach of contact is the efficient way to get it done?
If it's a limited 1600 cigar and I've got 10 people that already want it and you don't answer, I'm not going to hunt you down. If it's somebody that personally does not answer my Viaje emails. I respond to the Viaje emails sometimes. What was that phone call we got today upstairs?
Somebody wanted to know? I didn't want those. Well, so you didn't, you didn't say I don't want them. You just didn't respond to the email.
A lot of times I will say, I will respond to the email and say no. This one I did not respond to. Right. No.
So, you don't want the cigar? Yeah. Right. Hey, move on to the next story.
Now, what if they called me afterwards? Hey, just wanted to follow up and see if you wanted these. We already emailed you. How many times do I have to chase you down to see if you want to buy my 1600 cigars?
Well, I could tell you what the answer is to that. The answer is three. Three? Yeah.
Why is it three? The average consumer, you have to contact three times before they make a purchase. You're not a consumer. I am a consumer on a retail level.
Now you're just picking at hairs. I sent an email to Brett. You're my example, Brett. I'm sorry, I love you.
I sent an email to Brett. Brett. Brett doesn't respond to me right away with the email. You have a personal relationship with Brett.
So what do I do? I call Brett. You have a personal relationship with Brett. Or I text Brett.
Does whoever sends you the Viaje email, the young lady, does she have a personal relationship with you? Where she might just call you anyway? Does she have my phone number? I don't know, maybe it's wrong.
First of all, it's not a she, it's definitely a he. Maybe it's wrong. Maybe it's wrong. Wrong.
Maybe the phone number they have is wrong. " And then you don't answer that one either. Then at that point, I would tell the company to fuck, they would tell me to fuck off, but that's not the case, because I do respond to them. Not every time.
Not every time. There you go. But just enough. Room 101, 13th.
You gotta know when to hold them, and know when to fold them. Oh, okay. That was last week. Know when to walk away.
Know when to count your money. Know when to ruin. Don't count your money at the table, though, Michael. Yeah.
Room 101, 13th anniversary, arrives at stores. Room 101 is celebrating its 13th anniversary this year. The day of the cigar being released in honor of that celebration has made its way to stores. Yeah, where the fuck are we?
See, now if you emailed him, if he emailed you and you didn't answer, he would call you. I just want you to know, I text him. 30 per cigar. Yeah, text him right now, they ship?
Question mark. See, look, see how that works? $226 for a box of 20. J.
Fernandez, Dave Fernandez also made Room 101's 10th and 12th anniversary release, as well as the bangerang from Espinosa Cigars. That's not true. J. made the bangerang.
That's what I said. Yeah. J. made this, this, and that.
Espinosa made it. J. actually made this cigar. Yeah, wow.
It'll be immediately recognized by the bright pink boxes that come with the packaging, as well as the pink bands it wears, which earned the cigar the nickname Stinky Pinky from Matt Booth. See, look, check this out. I just text Matt, they ship, he texts back. Checking.
See how that works? Do you see the communication? Like, easy, easy, easy. Because he answered you though.
Yeah. What if he didn't answer? Then he wouldn't be good at what he does, I guess. Well, maybe then, maybe then you're not good at what you do.
Because you didn't answer. Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm not. I'm just using your analogy.
I think you're very good at what you do, Michael. Yeah. I respond to every consumer that wants products. Yes, consumer.
Yes, you do. Yeah. Just not manufacturer. Just not dry beggar who's trying to push a sale for a product that I don't necessarily want.
So now you don't want them to contact you more than once. No, I do want them to contact me more than once. I would probably cave if they continued to push. Oh, did you hear that, guys?
That's called sales. All you have to do is keep pushing. That's called sales. All right, Foundation Cigar Company begins shipping way one say.
Ask the guy once. Tell the guy once. Tell the guy twice. Macho Raton.
Tell the new guy. You didn't say foundation. I wasn't listening to anything that you said because I'm still on the other subject. We've moved on, Michael.
Okay, start over. Moved on. Foundation Cigar. Foundation.
Thank you. You're welcome. Three new cigars from Foundation Cigar Company are on the way to retailers today. So today is, I bought them.
Yes, I know. I bought them. I was there when you bought them. At PCA.
Yes, you did. Yes, you did. Was warped at PCA? I have no idea.
Me neither. I don't think so. They were. If they were, we might have bought them.
Oh, completely your fault, warped. Let's see. There's a lot of information about them. About those cigars.
We're just moving on. That was it? Oh, no, we need to. Wow.
You just shit all over. Yeah, go back to Nick, man. The poor guy. Listen.
What? The guy is The guy is doing the right thing here. Let's elaborate on this before you get into the fucking story, because- Yes. Okay, so here's what they did.
They made extensions on lines. Yes. They made extensions on the Weiwensei Maduro, the standard Weiwensei, right? Uh, the Wise Man Maduro Macho Raton.
The Weiwensei Macho Raton. Okay, they made extensions on the Wise Man and the Weiwensei, yes. Right. And the Menelik.
Right. To Game of Toro. Uh-huh, they did. And what's amazing about doing all of those things is you create relevance back into the world.
This is Patreon shit, by the way, you're welcome, they're creating, they're creating more of a relevance, I'll turn it down so that they, no, no, no, stop, bring it back up, it helps reinvigorate your core line brand when you extend the line, right, hey, now we have this size, don't forget about our other awesome sizes of the cigar, right, so what happens is a consumer comes in and they want to purchase the Macho Raton, right, yes, and they say, shit, you know what, the Maduro Churchill was really good, I need to pick up some of those, too. - That's how it works. - I had to turn Phil down, I heard him yawn. - Yeah, right?
That's how it works. It's important. It's important to continue to address a line. That's why you see all of these things, all of these brands that are really successful, they have a ton of different Vitolas.
- Yes. - Per core. - Roma Craft. - Well, yeah, I mean, I wasn't even thinking Roma, I was thinking everybody else.
- Always. - Fuente, I was thinking Padrón, I was thinking, you know, like all of those guys. - Yes. - Right.
- Right. It makes sense. I'm glad, I'm glad to see Nick doing it, you know, and I think that it's important that he does. And I'm excited for the sizes.
I think they're really good. And I think that the other cigar that they made, the Olmec, that shit was good. You stole that, I didn't get one. That thing was delicious.
I'm gonna tell you right now, when that thing drops, it's box worthy. Oh, okay. The Macho Raton is a four and three quarter by 60. Figurado is being added to the Wei Winsay and the Wise Man Maduro lines.
Two lines of similar blends. Both use fill It's published from Nicaragua, Esteli, and Jalapa regions. The Weywin Salon using Nicaraguan Corojo 99 wrapper with a Mexican San Andreas binder. The Wise Man Maduro reverses the placement of those leaves with a Mexican San Andreas wrapper in Nicaraguan 99 binder.
Price is $14 per cigar in both blends. It's offered in 12-gallon boxes of $168. Skadooshkins. The Menelik Toro is a second size, and that debuted an event-only cigar.
Fantastic. Yes. Yes, it's a very good cigar. Phil, I just gave you a couple of Meneliks the other day, right?
Yeah, you're gonna shake your head, yeah? Okay, 'cause I can hear you on that. I'm giving you an opportunity to come on the show here. - Yes, they were super good.
- They were delicious, right? - Mm-hmm. - Wouldn't it be fucking good in a Toro? - Yeah, I think so.
- Oh, you guys are smaller. - Hell yeah! - Yeah. - Let's see, Toro.
- Love the expansion in the lines. - That's fucking the way to go. 50 per cigar, and offered in 12-gallon boxes, used a Mexican San Andreas wrapper, a Corojo 99 from Nicaragua and Jalapa region, and fillers from Nicaragua's Condega Esteli and Jalapa regions. For the other lines, those are slated for the upcoming weeks and into the fall months, Melillo told ACHP that Olmec, a line, a Cigar Hustler podcast.
I understand, I got it. The lines are slated for the coming weeks and into the fall months, that is a tribute to the Mexico and its ancient Mesoamerican people. It's scheduled to begin shipping in mid-September. The Heiklaire Castle, Sinjiter?
That's the Egyptian one. Say it again? Come on, I love what we can say. S-E-N-E-J-T-E-R.
Sinigitur. Sinigitur? Which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankham's tomb in November 1922. Tutankham's?
Tutankham's. What is this? Tutankham. He must be the new Egyptian king.
It's the brother of the other one. Tut? Yeah. King...
No, I didn't say tut. It's scheduled to be... Tutankham. Tutankham.
Released in either October or November, that line uses Ecuador and Bambano wrapper, Brazilian Modifina binder, and undisclosed filler is an MSRP of $33 per cigar. Tottencom. Did they find the cigars in the tomb? Yeah, they actually used rare tobacco.
Oh, rare Egyptian tobacco? So what they did, when King Tide had passed, they actually created pylones around him. Oh, wow, nice. And then because they sealed it, it was properly fermented over hundreds of years.
Oh, hundreds and hundreds of years. So when they, when it finally came out, right, it was perfect, ready to go, it was done, and Nick got it, and then Nick had obtained it, he probably found the tomb, and I think he actually did discover the tomb, he was with the other professor, right, yeah, yeah, it's very, Professor Jones, and a lot of people that had actually gone there got really ill and died, right, when they opened it, the acid sprayed out, not the acid, but the giant rock, like they inhaled fumes, no, no, that's Indiana Jones, it's totally different, Dr. Jones was there, yes, yeah. Well, Dr.
Jones. I mean, Dr. Jones has also uncovered very rare tobacco. Oh.
Yeah. Oh, that's nice. But that's a totally other brand. Oh.
That we're not getting into right now. No, no. We're not talking about that one today. No.
All Saints increases price of September 1st. Hmm. The majority of cigars sold by All Saints cigars will increase the price due to what Mickey Pegg, All Saints going to have cited as increased costs associated with production and transportation of our products. Five of the seven Vitolas in All Saints line will increase.
2 percent. Depending on the Vitola, both the Coach and Vesper size will remain the same price. In addition, five of the six sizes in the St. 1 percent, while the price for the Vesper Vitolas will not change.
3%, more remaining five sizes in line will not see a price increase. Finally, three sizes in the company St. 3%, while the price of the huge Mitre and Vesper Vatolas will remain unchanged. The increase goes into effect September 1st.
Nice. That's exciting. Why is that exciting? exciting.
Did you hear about their competitor? Some Saints? Some Saints? No.
It's only a few of them. Only a few of them? It's not all of them. And the prices only went up on some of them.
The prices, there's a small increase on some Saints. So if he's, just help me out here. I will do my best to help you. The wise and experienced man you are.
There's a lot to unpack with you. So, you know, I can't guarantee that I can help you, but I will do my best. Alright, the cost is associated with production and transportation of our products. Nothing about raw materials.
Okay. Okay. Why is some not going up? You would think that would cover, I mean, everything's getting transported and everything's getting produced.
Right. Well, let's say that they already acquired the tobacco and they've had it for so many years. But raw materials isn't what is affecting the price. It says just production, which is making the cigar.
Yeah. Cost of labor. Right. And transportation.
So I guess they could have already had them made. Well, they still got to transport everything. Not only that, but let's, well, first, they obviously didn't have them made because cost of production is going up. Well, no, I mean, the ones that the price did not go up on.
Oh, well, maybe those are in the aging room, aging. That's, that's a possibility. Right. You know, who knows?
There could be all types of other variables. Like, maybe they feel like, maybe they had already had that price raised. Right. Because it was a bigger cigar, they figured that they could make a more, more margin on it.
Oh, because it is, it's the Churchill's, which is a smaller cigar. So now maybe they're bringing the other ones aligned so that the percentage is all kind of tighter. I mean, you know, it's like, hey, maybe they don't want to push the limit on that, right? do we really want to sell this for more i don't know if that'll work you know we got a good thing going here let's not fuck that up but in order to offset those costs okay well we need we definitely need to raise our prices on some of those other things gotcha that makes sense makes sense all right la florida lfd nft project generates more than 600 how about that shit dollars we got nfts everywhere now i'm just wanting to know i'm gonna fucking there's gonna be so many We're going to NFT the shit out of everything.
Kudos to those guys for just crushing it. Oh, it's just these numbers they got on the seven of them is just ridiculous. The LFD sold seven NFTs using the some type of UREQA platform offered on the Eurethium, ETHERUM, ETHERUM, ETHERUM? Blockchain, NFTs, look like LFT, Andalusian Bull, Toritos.
A six and a quarter, a 41 Lonsdale version of the Andalusian Bull. Yeah. So number one went for $85,000. Yes.
Number two went for $78,001. Somebody got that on discount. Some guy went $78,000. Would you like to bid, sir?
$78,001. I think one and two are the first two winners. We're the same winner. Yes.
Main Street or whatever. And then from there, the prices just go up. $90,000 for number three. $90,000 for number four, $92,000 for number five, number six was a steal at $81,777, and number seven, the big winner for the entire project, $98,001.
Now we know one of the winners, I feel like I had guilted him into this a little bit, wasn't he three or four, or three and four? No, he was just one, Matul. Yes, I know, but he partnered with Danny. Right, but didn't he, wasn't it three and, I thought there was two maybe they got.
No, they just got one. Just got one. Yeah. But I think it was the $90,000 one.
It might have been. Now, they were talking, when I talked to Matul, they didn't want to go that high originally. And I'm like. Well, you get excited when they're bidding.
Don't be such a pussy, bro. Go for it. Yeah, you get excited with the bidding. So he, so of course, when he won, he's like, did you see the, you check out the news?
Did you see the news? They go, yeah, I saw the news. Congratulations. You spent a lot of fucking money.
And then I said, guess what? Don't worry, I'll be leaning on our friendship for some cigars. Thank you very much. Oh, yes, because owners of the NFTs are able to purchase 70 of the Golden Bull cigars per month.
Yes. Actual cigars, not an NFT. The actual cigars, which is really where the value is for that as a retailer. Yes.
Right. And if you sell the token, the new owner gets to buy it. The warranty goes with the cigar, with the NFT, for as long as you own the token. I wish I understood NFTs more, because I'm curious to see the value relation.
I have no idea. It's just a picture of it, right? It's not even like a fake cigar. It's a picture of a fake cigar.
I mean, but it's all relative. I understand it to some degree. I'm curious to see the first resale. When the guy goes, okay, I got my 70 cigars this month, I would like to sell this.
Well, somebody says, okay, I'm sitting on, you know, I don't know, where's the line? Somebody did buy two of them, though. Somebody did. Yes, I think it was Main Street.
So you buy one and do you think you're going to sell the other, I guess? Yeah. So what do you sell the other one for? I mean, I just want to see.
More than $98,000, you hope. You would hope so. So I'm hoping that the, I'm curious to see the secondary market of it and see what, you know, if the guy doubles his money, holy shit. Oh, right.
Yeah. You know. I'm falling off from a dollar. I'll give you $1.
$1? I have $1 here. It's just a picture. Come on.
It's just a picture. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it.
I don't get it. Five. I'll go $5. But hey, you know what, kudos to LFD for putting it together, you know, they didn't just kind of throw one out there, because didn't somebody else make an NFT?
Yes, it wasn't, we covered that last week. A lower name brand. Yeah, a smaller name brand. It wasn't last week, it was a few months ago.
No, no, we covered the story though, we mentioned it, it was in last week's story, it was, what's that brand that David, the guy who loves our podcast. Who's number one? United? United, I think it was United made one.
United did an NFT. I think it was United. Hmm. Who's number one?
Maybe Epic? Cigar Hustle Up. The Podcast. Yes.
Oh. I really have to turn the screensaver off. Yeah, you do. Good news is, it does not stop recording when the screensaver goes off.
I'm really going to get your shit together. Embarrassment. Look, it's a brand new computer. I'm still figuring it out.
It's brand new. First time I've used it. Stress testing. Eddie Tarzona's bid for US House of Representatives falls short.
Oh. Get it, 'cause he's little. Paul Short. Damn.
Play on words. That's cold. That wasn't my headline. Eddie Tarzona of Tarzona Cigars has come up short in his bid for the Republican candidate for Florida's 18th Congressional District in an area that covers a large amount of land to the west and northwest of Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida.
In the primary election held on Tuesday, Tarzona came in fifth among the five candidates... Oh, came in fifth. For the seat, incumbent Scott Franklin was declared winner by the Associated Press and other media outlets. , after receiving approximately 73% of the votes, Arizona had won just over 3% of the vote.
I'll tell you what, that's got to be a tough district. If somebody came in at 73% and running up against that dude. Other media outlets, hold on. No, they called the winner after 73% of the votes had come in.
Oh, but that's what I'm saying. But that guy did not win 73% of the vote. Oh, how many did the guy win? I don't know.
There's a link here. Would you like me to click it on the paper? Could you click it on the paper? Is that working?
No, doesn't work. It's the damn Wi-Fi down here. It's starting to go. It's the damn Wi-Fi.
Tarzona billed himself as a conservative leader that is pro-constitution, pro-family, pro-freedom, and pro-you. Pro-you? Who promises to take the fight to the establishment and stand for Florida and America first. Tarzona issued a following statement about the outcome of the primary election on his campaign's Twitter.
Thank you to everyone for your support. There's still a fight to be won. Hey, you know what? It was his first run in it.
Yeah, I mean, he gave it a shot. It's a realm that he's never dealt with before. Right, to my knowledge, he hasn't been big into politics or anything. So, if he's looking to do it again, I mean, just learn from your pitfalls and just keep going.
Right? Right. So, kudos to you, Eddie. Good trying.
Cigars International plans new Pennsylvania headquarters with attached retail store. There will be a new Cigars International Headquarters and eventually an attached retail store and cigar bar. Last week, Bethlehem Shared Services, one of the legal entities for Cigars International, the world's largest cigar retailer, received approval for the construction of a three-story building at 1810 Spillman Drive in Bethlehem, PA. It obviously wasn't Del Tolan.
No, no, no. The building includes nearly 40,000 square feet of office space, 6,000 square feet of space earmarked for retail space, and the cigar bar. Pretty big. Pretty big.
Sarah Santos, president of Cigars International, told Cigar Hustler Podcast that the company plans, I really should read these beforehand, on using the new space for pretty much everything we want to do other than the warehouse. That will mean office space of roughly 250 employees, but Santos said will support future growth, including potential acquisitions. You know, we are for sale here. Everything's for sale.
In case you're interested. Let's see. com, Cigar Big, Pipes & Cigars, and Thompson Cigars. Earlier this year, Cigars International went fully operational with its updated warehouse.
$20 million upgrade. It includes the implementation of auto store robotic picking system called Skynet. Skynet. Skynet's pretty impressive.
It is. It's going to be the downfall of everything. You know, what's funny is, you know, you talk to some of these people and when that thing displayed in like some of these bigger dogs. Yeah.
You know, the conversation was like, wow, we really need to get our shit together. I mean, these fucking guys. I want to see the robots run back and forth across the street between the headquarters. Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.
Robot crossing. I need some cigars. Send over the robot. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
R2D2 runs across the street. Shroom, shroom. Or the little toaster-sized guy. Yeah.
With the one. One cigar. That's for the NFT. Do you want that cut?
Slides out. Would you like that light for you? Let's see. Following that upgrade, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, the parent company of Cigars International, moved the warehouse and fulfillment operations of General Cigar, another STG company, to the Pennsylvania warehouse.
Santos said the company is planning to move He's moved into the new office in the fourth quarter of 2023, though acknowledge that there's uncertainly due to supply chain issues that could affect construction. You know, the big problem right now is there's no rail cars. Yeah. Getting stuff from the port.
I'm having that problem right now. Rail cars are full? Or they're just stuck? There's not any empty ones to send in.
Right. So, stuff sitting in the harbor. Yeah. Because it all sat for a long time.
Right. Because you couldn't move stuff because of COVID. Well, in California. Makes total sense.
California doesn't let trucks in unless you've passed a certain standard, so fewer trucks, rail cars, not as much of a problem. California's really, well, all about a bunch, you know, we should just raid California. Right. Just take them over.
Yeah, right. I think if you got Texas and Florida together, and you just went in and just, you know. We'll just go in, right. We'll get Arnold to give us a secret plan.
We just have a problem with the, with your land and your regulations, so, you know. Yeah, we're gonna cut a path between us and the port, just a trail. A Free Zone or something we'll call it. A Free Zone.
I like it. I like where your head's at. Part of the new headquarters, Cigars International gained approval for a 5,986 square feet of retail and tavern space, oh a tavern, which will eventually turn into Cigars International Superstore, complete with a walk-in, humidor, lounge, and covered patio and cigar. Oh, a tavern.
Will there be sandwiches? Maybe. Did anybody ask if there was going to be sandwiches? Uh, let's uh, Charlie.
Santos said an ongoing date for the retail store is TBD based on the sandwich availability. It's right here. But there's a problem with supplies. The problem with supplies, yes.
Rail cars are burning. We can't find the buns. We can't find the bread. In March, STG disclosed its plans for six to eight new sandwiches at the Cigar International store by the end of 2025.
Oh, wow. We've got a roast beef, a ham and cheese, a tuna. Tuna doesn't go with cigars. Oh, you don't think so?
No, no. It'll compliment Connecticut really well. Oh, yeah. Maybe, I guess so.
Company recently opened a store in San Antonio where they have tacos. Ooh. Announced stores in Conroe and Katy, Texas. Uh huh.
Where they have Chick-fil-A's. Excellent. So they're closed on Sunday? Just a Chick-fil-A.
Oh, just that section. God's chicken does not come out on Sunday. Oh, yeah? Yes.
Well, you know, it's funny. As we were flying in the airport, we were flying back on Sunday, and we flew Delta. Right? Right.
So we land, like, well, we might as well eat something. So we go in, and the fucking food court's packed as shit. And where we go, the guy's like, I don't have that. After we're ordering, he's like, I don't have that.
I don't have that. I don't have that. He's like, can I just put, I'm like, just give me Philly cheesesteak. I don't give a shit, whatever.
He's like, well, I don't have a bun. Do you want it on like the hero bun? I'm like, I don't give a fuck. Just put it on the- Why don't you tell me what you do have?
Let's cut this, let's cut out- Just put it on whatever. Just here, I'm meat. I want some meat on some type of bread. Yeah, if you don't have bread, just- Put it on the plate.
Put it on a piece of paper and just send it over and I'll, whatever. I'll still pay full price, I don't care. Yeah, so then you look over though, and you see Chick-fil-A, and it's a Sunday, and I look at the guy, I go, Chick-fil-A does not give a fuck how busy you guys are on a Sunday. Oh, they don't care.
Oh yeah, no, we're closed. Yeah, no, we're closed. Nice. Let's see, two cities outside of Houston, and oh, they're opening two cities, two more stores.
They're opening two cities? Oh no, hold on, hold on. San Antonio announced stores in Conroe and Katy, Texas. Two more cities outside of Houston and Deltona.
They're gonna open a store in Deltona. Fantastic. Fantastic. Cigars International, there's two stores in Bethlehem.
It's not necessary, they could just buy this one. Well, maybe that's the plan. Perfect. As soon as we get the, you know, the plumbing issues.
Once we have the ones we have created. Once we allow people to go to the bathroom in here. Yeah, right now we shut that down. Yes.
Addition to the Air Form Engine Storage Company also has a location in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, and two stores in the Tampa area in Florida. Oh boy. Santos told Half Wheel that now there are no plans to put anything closer to either Bethlehem location. There you go.
All right, now we have a Florida story. Yeah? Sent in from the lovely Brittany Stepankiewicz this week. Oh!
And there will be video here. Video. Or here, I guess. Yeah, so there will be video here in the middle.
You're used to hearing about an angry alligator chasing Floridians or snapping at law enforcement. Now it's time for the cousins to get in the spotlight of the most heart-stopping way possible. Gatorland, a theme park and wildlife preserve in Orlando. Have you been there?
I have not been there. Never? Never. Not with your children?
Have you ever seen the gator jumperoo? No, I love my kids. I would never bring them to Gatorland. You don't feed the children to the alligators.
I wouldn't do that to them. They don't eat children. I wouldn't terrify my kids. You know what the kid who would like that the most is probably Teddy.
Yeah, I would say I see her riding the alligator to do the thing. Let me ask, I'm going to ask this question and I'm kind of sandbagging you because you're never going to get this question right. Okay. She watches like three movies and she watches them over and over and over again.
Yeah, there's no way I'm going to get these right. It could be anything. What do you, it could be anything. What do you think her number one movie is to watch right now?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Nope. No, not even close. "Crocodile Dundee".
Nope. I'm trying to go with "Alligators". I'll give you one more guess. Is it a kid's movie?
It's not a kid's movie. "The Exorcist". Uh, no, no, but that, I mean, I could see her watching that. "Damien Omen" where the little kid is...
It's not that, it's not to that level, but it's "Godzilla vs. Kong". Oh, it's a good movie. And she calls it "The Monster Movie".
The Monsters, I want to watch The Monsters. The Monsters. The Monsters. Yeah, if she's not having nightmares, it's not a bad movie.
And then when the movie ends, turn it back on. I want to watch The Monsters again. I want to watch them. She was on this tear for Frozen for a minute.
And she would mix that in with a Little Mermaid action. And by the way, Skip actually sang to us in Disney one of the Little Mermaid songs. And now whenever I hear the song, I'm like, yep, Skip did it better. It's so funny.
Wait, Skip sang the song? Yeah, because we did the whole ride. Could you sing the song into the phone? Could you submit the song to the phone?
We still didn't have Pete's voicemail. Oh, yeah, damn it, I forgot about that. Shit. You have to, oh, he has to hear it.
You gotta send him, do you have the audio? No, your brother does. I'll get him to send the audio. Okay.
So, yeah, "Godzilla vs. Kong" is her favorite movie. She's two, guys, she's fucking two years old. Does she jump off the back of the couch with a little rubber hatchet or something at her brother's like she's King Kong?
No. Is that Godzilla? No, but you know what she does? Bubbles, the German Shepherd?
Oh, he's Godzilla. He's Kong. Oh, he's Kong? Yes, he's Kong.
Oh. So, Kong chases her around. Oh. He says, "Kong is chasing me.
" So, she's Godzilla. Yeah. Well, perfect. Which makes sense.
Makes complete sense. She is a gigantic lizard that destroys cities. " No, she's not. No, not yet.
I got Godzilla. Let's see, shared a shocking video on Facebook showing a chainsaw, a Cuban crocodile, charging at a man inside the enclosure. The clip immediately begins with a chainsaw leaping to its feet and rushing toward a man in a blue shirt who's seen darting off camera. It appears the massive reptile was hissing at his target before stopping and walking away.
I've seen this video several times and I've compacted so we can show it, but this crocodile is galloping like a horse, like a dog, all four. It's not, you know, like you said. Oh, it's ready. Oh, it's running.
So why is this guy in the cage? Well, let's read on. Okay. Let's read on.
Nobody knows why the man's inside the enclosure. Okay. So we, so, and this guy doesn't work there? Or if he was an employee.
Okay. So we don't know if he was. No, he's not dressed like a traditional Gatorland. You know, he doesn't have the khakis on or anything.
He's got on like a blue, looks like sort of like a Guy Harvey shirt. Okay. But it could have been a publicity stunt. Could have been, I guess.
Yeah. He runs around the lake, as you see here in the video, he runs around the little pond, and then the crocodile comes galloping like a horse and then snaps, and then the video goes off, so I don't know if he caught the guy, and we're just not allowed to see it, or what, I don't know. 3 million views in under a week, and many Facebook users were surprised at how fast the beast moves. Yeah, I didn't know they could move that fast, but you zigzag on the crocodiles too?
Yeah, he runs straight. It didn't sound like that guy gave a... He can't turn. I don't think that crocodile gave a fuck which way you're going.
Well, when he turned the corner around the pond is when he lost the alligator, the crocodile. Allegedly. No, in the video, the alligator, the crocodile stops. Oh, yeah, he's like...
I'm exhausted. I just ran from here to Phil. He doesn't run far, but he does run fast. But he'll get there quickly.
Right. Like a little powerhouse. It's like Derek Lewis, UFC fighter. As a Floridian, this might be the most terrifying thing I've ever seen, one person wrote.
One person wrote, you won't see an alligator gallop like that, another posted, it's gonna be a no for me, bro, says another, what an adorable swamp puppy defend its territory, I use a joke, this critically endangered species grows up to 10 feet long, can run between 15 and 22 miles per hour for a few seconds. That one felt like 22. For a comparison, humans typically run between 10 and 15 miles per hour. So it's twice as fast.
Twice as fast as a human is. So you just gotta outrun the person next to you. Right, exactly. Right, I don't have to be faster, an alligator is going to be faster than you.
It's got to be faster. Trip, and we're good. Shoot 'em in the leg. Shoot 'em in the leg.
That's what you did to Greg, so I got away from the bear. I saw that post, yeah. Did you see yesterday's on how to fight the king? Yes, that was hilarious.
I thought that was funny. But wake up, you probably died somewhere around step two. Step two, yeah, you're right. Alright, do we have a listener of the week, Michael?
No. We have a shop of the week, Michael? I don't have anything today. I'm a mess, bro.
I'm a mess. Do you have anything? I do the entire show. You're in charge of the last two minutes of the show, Michael.
Just the last two minutes is all you got to do. And the Patreon, which we're not going to do today. I'll pick one right now. Hold on.
All right. Ooh. Okay. Okay, so first of all, our Listener of the Week, he has been a Listener of the Week in the past.
Yes. Oh, I got a Listener of the Week. Can you put it on one? Listener of the Week is Mr.
Aaron Loomis. Today is his birthday. Happy birthday, Aaron Loomis. Aaron Loomis.
Okay. Well, my Listener of the Week is Jason Wolpert. Why is he Listener of the Week? Because he sent the pens.
Oh! Yeah. Thank you for the pens, Jason Wolpert, Listener of the Week. Individual pens for all of us.
Oh, that was nice of him. Yeah, very nice of him. Oh, that was another mystery solved. Another mystery solved.
Because for sure I thought that one of you guys were just spinning my recklessly again. Was it mine? The pens are fantastic. They are.
So. The light up pens. Phil's looking. You remember the pens, Phil?
Phil got a pen. You're on. Shop of the Week. I remember.
Okay. We got blamed. Yes, we get blamed for everything. Shop of the Week would be Tasting Room.
Shop of the Week. Where's that at? I don't know. I'm familiar with that one.
Monroe, Wisconsin. Wait, wait, wait. What? Jason!
Monona, Wisconsin. Tasty Room Shop of the Week. Is that where Winona hangs out? At Monona?
Winona, Monona. Winona Ryder hangs out at Monona. Tutankham sends it. Tutankham.
I hear he loves that place. Yeah, he smokes the Sajutajutas all the time. That's where he gets the sandwiches. He gets the sandwiches there.
He gets the sandwiches there. Yes, the very good sandwiches. All right, this is episode 243 of a Cigar Hustler podcast. There you go.
Oh, by the way, we should have something. I'm expecting something from Podbean. We have reached 100,000 downloads. Oh, yeah?
5 now. We should be getting a letter or a trophy or a new car or something. They always send us something. I'm looking forward to that.
Yes. Can we eBay these things or whatever? No, we put it out there on our trophy shelves. Those are our awards.
That's great. We have an award shelf out there. I just don't care about the awards. It's very impressive when people come in for us to do their podcasts.
Why do you feel good about that? It doesn't mean nothing to me. It's because you don't have to sit with these people and get them to let us do their podcast. Yeah, neither do you.
He does. He sells it. I have to produce it. Yeah, you have to sit there.
Yes. But he's got... He sells it. Phil's the guy.
He's the guy. He even came in last night because it was time for somebody to re-up. I was very impressed. I got a phone call very late.
What's the password? Phil's not messing around. Nope. What a great acquisition.
All right, say goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you so much for listening and watching us today. We hope that you had a great time and enjoyed your experience with the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
Oh, that's going to be a commercial. We're going to cut that at 5840. Thanks for listening. Hey, if it's important to you, it's important to us.
Just like the smoking truth. I'm plugging everybody else's shows. A Cigar Hustlers 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 and Mike Productions or the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ.
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m. for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-E-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 de...
Hojo! It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I couldn't get past Hojo!
I don't even have to try it. He's not even going to try it. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right.
Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. I'm going to be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this.
Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Squared, Mike Squared.
Show Notes
Over Half a Million Dollars in NFTs, Palmer can't pronounce anything! Crocodiles are so fast!