Cigar Hustlers Podcast 284 Fear The Fucking Bird
Episode Summary
Episode 284 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with a Facebook caption contest recap before The King (Mike Steponkiewicz), Reverend BDP (Mike Palmer) and cameraman Phil place a (spotty) FaceTime call to the Dominican Republic to catch up with Victor Nicholas of Chogui Cigars. Victor explains where he disappeared to — FDA regulation headaches, family obligations and COVID — and how he re-entered the business with investor partners and distribution through Venture 1492 in Jupiter, Florida (tied to Warped Cigars' Kyle Gellis), a partnership that didn't work out. He has since bought out his partners and returned to manufacturing with Chico at his original factory, and the hosts confirm they have his Corojo robustos in hand and plan to release them to retailers soon.
The conversation turns into a genuinely useful look at blending and patience: Victor describes his 7/10 Corojo as the first blend where he used four different tobaccos, and pushes back on investors who wanted cigars shipped after 30 days — in his experience a cigar needs at least 90 days of rest before it's ready. He teases new tobacco he's been evaluating at the factory, including Dominican broadleaf and Palo de Oro, and breaks news on the show that Chogui will relaunch with a Heartbreaker 2.0.
The news segment covers the first PCA 2023 releases: the Aganorsa Leaf Aniversario Connecticut (Ecuadorian Connecticut over Estelí and Jalapa fillers, Grand Robusto and Toro), the Alfonso Gran Selección from Selected Tobacco — a darker sequel to the French-oak-aged Extra Añejo, aged five years partly in Spanish cedar-lined rooms — plus a new Cigar Brothers Boveda humidor, Epic Cigars' A Bronx Tale collaboration with actor Chazz Palminteri made at Tabacalera von Erhen with Paul DiSilvo, Thomas Briant's retirement as NATO executive director, and Ryan Gallimore joining Nisolo-branded consulting work. The hosts also recount the Smoke Inn/Abe Dababneh family trip to Universal, name Tom Minty the caption-contest winner (prize: unreleased Powstanie Connecticut), run a Florida-man story out of Daytona Beach, and close with a surprise call to Matt Tye of How About That Cigar, who reveals he landed a sponsor and will be covering the PCA trade show after all. Next week's guest: Nick Melillo of Foundation Cigar Company.
In This Episode
- 01Caption Contest RecapThe hosts read fan captions from the Facebook contest and announce Tom Minty as the winner, with unreleased Powstanie Connecticut cigars as the prize.
- 02Victor Nicholas Returns to the IndustryThe Chogui Cigars founder explains his absence — FDA rules, family, COVID — and why he's back making cigars.
- 03Partners, Distribution and Venture 1492Victor discusses bringing on investors, working with Venture 1492 in Jupiter, Florida, and buying out his partners to go it alone again.
- 04Blending the Corojo and Why Rest MattersVictor breaks down his first four-tobacco blend and argues a cigar needs at least 90 days of rest, not 30, before shipping.
- 05New Tobacco and Heartbreaker 2.0An exclusive tease of Chogui's relaunch cigar plus talk of Dominican broadleaf and Palo de Oro leaf from the factory's grower.
- 06Universal Studios and Shop TalkMike recounts the Smoke Inn family trip to Universal, running into Abe Dababneh, and the Knights of the Ash herf at the shop.
- 07Cigar Industry News RoundupFirst PCA 2023 releases from Aganorsa Leaf and Selected Tobacco, the Cigar Brothers Boveda humidor, Epic Cigars' A Bronx Tale with Chazz Palminteri, and NATO leadership changes.
- 08Matt Tye on PCA 2023 CoverageThe How About That Cigar host calls in to reveal a last-minute sponsor means he will attend and cover the Las Vegas trade show after all.
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
And away we go. Phones turned off? Yep. Go.
Are we recording? We're recording. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, where we bring you the latest news and insights from the world of premium cigars. In this episode, we dive into the big stories of the week.
We also discuss the latest cigar releases, trends, and hot topics in the cigar world. And share our thoughts and opinions on everything cigar related. The King, Mike Steponkiewicz, and Reverend BDP, Mike Palmer are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigar Hustlers Podcast. With their unique perspectives and vast knowledge of the cigar industry, they offer a truly engaging, insightful experience for cigar enthusiasts and novices alike.
And I, and me, hello, I'm Phil, your cameraman. So grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and join us for another exciting episode of Cigar Hustlers Podcast. I like the energy. That was nice.
You look like a broke-ass Raphael. Is Raphael the red one? Yeah. Wow.
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It's going to be big. It's going to be huge. Huge. Huge.
Huge. So, if anybody was paying attention on the world of the Book of Face this week, we did a little contest. Oh, a big contest. I did it on my personal page.
Yes. We tied it into, where did I tie it into? Weasel Team. Weasel Team and Florida Cigar Club.
I should have did it on the Cigar Houses podcast page as well, I suppose. I didn't really think that through. It doesn't really matter though, because we had a huge... It just doesn't matter.
We had a huge, huge response. Huge. Huge. Huge, huge.
Donald Trump, huge. Huge. Huge. So, Skip was so generous to unveil the, I don't know, the picture on the box.
The false dead, the box labeled? Yeah. And so, you know, me and my, I always like to be entertained, I suppose. And I said, "Hey, caption this image.
Best one, maybe you'll get some cigars. You'll get a prize, maybe. Possibly something that might not be out yet. Maybe good, maybe shit.
No, it's going to be good. Oh, it's going to be good. It's not going to be shit. It's going to be good.
You know what we should include? A lighter. Ooh. Ooh.
Oh, the very limited Cigar Hustler podcast lighter. Super new. With the QR code that takes you right to the Patreon. Yeah.
Where we do all the tea. Wrong camera. Oh, all the tea. There it is.
Nice little lighters. So I think we have a ton of comments, and what we're going to do is we're going to talk about it later, and we're all going to kind of say which one we believe is the best comment for the caption, and we'll review and kind of determine, of our three, who we want to... Who's going to be the ultimate winner? The final winner.
Are we revealing names with the comment? Of course. Oh, yes. We have some pretty funny names.
I'm going to give you one real quick that I thought was funny. Is this your favorite? No. No, no, just one.
And like I said, we'll reveal it later on in the show, so we'll see how. You'll have to be paying attention. You never know when it's going to drop. I might just throw it in somewhere.
But my man... Hey, you know what I did this weekend? And the winner is... So, two here that I really like.
" I thought that was fantastic. That's where I'm at, 'cause I'm in the under below. " I like all the references to spaghetti. Yeah.
That was funny. I didn't even think of it until I started straight. " It's spaghetti. I got all the spaghetti.
Alright, so, let's get right into this. I have a phone call that we have to make. Oh, we're doing that right now. Yes.
Are you okay? Phil just lost all those air. We're calling the rock. I'm gonna try it via FaceTime, I think that's probably best.
Are you connected to the board? Mark Wahlberg. I am connected to the board. Mark Wahlberg.
Does the FaceTime sound better, or a regular phone call? Oh, is this Mike Rosales? Skip, skip. Oh my god.
Let's see what kind of spaghetti he's having today. Matt Booth. Turn off the face. It's Buster, it's Doug.
Oh. Oh, the new dog. The new dog. Yo.
Yo. How are you, sir? We'll say who it is. Oh, good.
This is... Putting my balls off over here. We might have to do a regular call. It sounds windy.
Windy. Oh, let me get my earpuff. All right. Introduce the guest member.
Oh, he just fell into the hole. He just fell into the hole. Somebody just poured the spaghetti on him. Somebody poured the spaghetti.
Is that better? Oh, much better. Much better. So we have Victor Nicholas of Show Gui Cigars on, on a Cigar Hustlers podcast.
There he is. I know. I know. Oh, welcome, welcome.
The studio audience is very happy to see you, Victor. So, we used to do distribution back in the day. The good old days. You were getting started.
You were making some really fun cigars. You were putting your heart and your soul into these blends and stuff, then you kind of went AWOL without going into details, you just kind of fell off the face of the earth, but you've recently come back into the industry, right? Yeah. So, I took pretty much all the FDA stuff and then I had some family things I had to take care of.
They were more demanding than I thought, and then I pretty much thought I was going to be out of it. I just said, "Fuck," but when, once COVID hit, and you were, I had a lot of time to think about it and just, you know, something I really, I feel I have a calling for, and I enjoy it, so it makes you, all that time off, It makes you think about a lot of stuff, like you're not working, because I do other things, like I'm on a real estate development right now, and I just said, you know what, we have to come back. Okay. So where'd you go?
You came back. You sort of kind of came back into the industry. Where did you wind up going? Because we broke up.
You said you love me, but you, it's not you, it's me, I swear, it's me, it's me, it's me. Best thing about breakup is makeup. So what happened? Where'd you go?
Too many mics on the team. Heartful, heartful. So initially I brought in some business partners and we were, we were three people. So, and when I went back to manufacturing whites, I went back with Chico.
He's my tobacco dad, you know, so it just makes sense to go back to the same factory. But on the distribution side, I was talking with you, but another opportunity, let's say, came up, and business-wise, we took the decision of going with, there was a new company called Venture 1492 out of Jupiter, Florida, almost your neighbors. Right. Which is pretty much Warped Cigars with Kyle Delis, and we worked for a year, and things just kind of didn't work out.
So now I bought out my two business partners. So I won them too. All right. So without going into details, the grass is not greener on the other side.
Let's just say it. I mean, you know, it is kind of what it is, right? You know, it's just, It is what it is. You missed me.
Just say it. It's okay. It's okay, Victor. You missed me.
We missed you, too. We missed you, too, buddy. We fucking missed you, too. He's like, I'm not saying shit.
I don't know why I have to go back again. It's okay. I can't believe we missed a fucking podcast. No, I'm no English.
Nobody listens to us anyway. Yeah, yeah. We're not the number one podcast or anything. We don't have the most followers or anything.
All right. So you're doing your thing. I mean, first of all, partners never makes anything fun, right? It's partners make everything difficult.
There has to be so much transparency and you have to have so much foresight into seeing how things are going to develop and grow. And, you know, your visions all have to be on the same page. There's a lot to it, right? So I could understand how, you know, doing that opinions differ, right?
And, you know, working with a distribution company you know maybe they wound up not being what you had expected them to be i mean everybody has their own their plan in their own vision right see it's almost like i know what i'm doing when i know what i'm saying it's crazy nice uh so you know so so we're getting the band back together it's official oh yes sir okay so i uh i now have We have in possession the release of your Corojo Ragustos. We're going to work on that. Oh. They're fantastic, by the way, dude.
They're really good. We stole some. Super delicious. We stole some, we smoked some, and, you know, I didn't know what to expect.
I was, I was concerned at first. You know, you think, okay, is this something that was just kind of meant to be like a marketing thing? Was it rushed? I mean, other people are involved.
So your passion isn't the only thing here in this equation, right? Well, let me just, that's the main part of it. I was the only one involved with tobacco. They were pretty much investors.
And you know that when it comes to tobacco, money is in everything. There's time, sourcing, aging, and that's where we had the biggest misunderstanding of it. Because that cigar, those 710 Karole, was actually the first time I've worked with four different tobaccos in a blend, we usually work with two different tobaccos in different timings, so it's, to me, at the time it was the most ambitious cigar I've ever worked on, but they didn't understand that. Yeah, you know, you got to let the chef kind of do his thing, right?
You got to stay the fuck out the kitchen at the end of the day, right? Which I feel like is what you're trying to say. You were working on this, you were developing this, you know, and you can't have somebody else integrate and say, hey, I want to know what's going on here. You know, I need to do this or we need to do this or we're even cutting yield and making things different for profit and all that stuff.
You know, you're you're the visionary to your your brand. You're trying to create and paint the picture as to what exactly it is and what it's supposed to taste like. Right. Which is delicious.
Yeah. In my experience, I've never smoked a cigar that's been manufactured since people are... It keeps freezing. It's Wi-Fi there, probably.
That's cigars that need... You losing me? Yeah, a little bit. You're back now.
Well, what I was saying is that in my experience, I've never smoked a cigar with 30 days of manufacturing. manufacturing right where i can say it's ready it takes at least 90 days of rest for a cigar in my experience right to be ready so i've had these people pushing from one side saying oh let's give it 30 days um uh let's make something new let's make 5 000 cigars and we'll ship them out have them running 30 days and i'm like no that's not the way it works right and as much as Because I hate the cliché that Fuente has, it's just too fucking good, that don't rush the hands of time. Right. Yeah, it's true, man.
You know, you want it to be ready when it's ready. You know? You can't control that. So, so you're back.
So now, so anyways, we smoke these cigars and they're really fucking good. Yeah. I mean, so much to a point where Palmer's up my ass about buying a box. It's like, hey, I just want to know, you know, what's going on with that.
I only have one of the originals left. " I'm like, "Okay, let's relax. So, you know, let's iron this out. " But he's here.
A lot of holidays done. A lot of holidays. A lot of holidays. You still there?
Yeah, I was losing you a little bit over there. Okay. That's all right. I'm just cutting jokes and making jabs.
It's all good. You're not missing much. It's not at your expense, though. You're not missing much.
Uh, so now you plan on making other cool new shit, right? Yeah. So I was actually at the factory this week, um, checking on some new tobacco that one of our primary tobacco suppliers for the factory grew. We, he actually has some Dominican broadleaf, which is really interesting.
And then some, uh, Pedro de Oro. Okay. All right. Both of those are very interesting.
Palo de Oro, I love. I think it's a fantastic leaf, man. It's got some very unique flavors. It does, and the Dominican one's got some kick to it.
Nice. Okay. So I guess what we're going to do is we're going to get going here. We're going to start working on, we're going to figure out when we're going to release what we have here to our retailers, our partners.
And then we'll determine kind of the game plan as to what you're building and developing, and we'll keep our listeners and, you know, the media in tune as to what you're doing, and when the time comes and you're ready to rock and roll, we will release the Kraken. Right after Palmerville. 0. 0.
Oh, great. That's a little teaser. That is going to be a fantastic way to get things going and really kind of reintroduce Chogui Cigars back into the market. Look at Balmery, super excited, isn't he?
Terribly excited. Super. Oh, there's the camera. I got an exclamation mark on my phone right now.
Is there a pre-sale of it? No. There he's back, he's back. And you lost me.
And he's gone. He's gone. Oh, he's gone. Hola.
Adios, amigo. I'm going to try calling him from the regular phone real quick just to wrap this up. We'll see what happens. El número que usted ha marcado no está disponible para contestar.
Por favor, trate su llamado más tarde. Claro. Accept the charges. Si, si, bueno.
Just try calling me back. You have a call from a Dominican prison. Yes. Hit one for yes.
Hit 1 for C, 2 for no. C-C-no. C-C-no. C-C-no.
Oh, no, he just tried calling him. Operator. No, you answer. No, you answer.
Oh. He's trying to call you right now at the exact same time. The first thing he's going to do with the first lump sum of cash that he gets from the original... Wi-Fi?
Buy Wi-Fi? He's going to upgrade his internet. Yes. Was he bald?
No, he's not totally bald. Not Tully Ball, he's always, um... Oh, he didn't have a hat on to what the difference was. I'm used to him always wearing a hat.
Where's he at? Dominican Republic. Oh. Oh, wait, oh, wait, one moment.
Victor Nicholas, FaceTime... We should take a cruise. Take a vacation, I'll go. One more time, one more time.
Connecting. Connecting. Oh, it spills the water. It's still connected.
Oh, there he is. I can... Welcome back. Hello.
You there? 0 exclusive It's an exclusive interview here at Cigar Hustler Podcast. This is an exclusive media release. We will make sure that the proper channels receive the media, the news that we just broke.
Some people get it first. Some people will get it before others. So we need a press release? We do need a press release.
I love press releases. I like the press release. Chappy, GPT it up, baby, let us go. That's right.
If I don't use it so often, it sends me a little card. there you go. Victor Nicholas Shogui Cigars. Nice.
Back in the fold, baby. Does that mean we can smoke more? You know what? They always come back, Michael.
Yeah. He says that he has good Wi-Fi. He doesn't know why it's lacking. Well, it's Dominican good Wi-Fi.
Yeah. There's a difference. Do they really know? That's very good.
The Dominican standards is number one. This is the best one possible. This is the best one. We're going to need some type of satellite.
You need to get a sat phone. With the first money you get, Nicholas, buy a sat phone. Buy a sat phone. Alright.
So, a little bit of Phil, fun fact real quick. No, fuck you. We're not done talking. We're not done talking about Victor.
Relax. Holy shit, fucking. He's all excited over there. I remember Raphael being relatively patient.
He was quieter, too, I think. He was a little agitated at times, as far as being a Ninja Turtle. Well, first of all, they fed him all the time. That was Michelangelo.
Oh, yeah, Raphael, too. Michelangelo loved the pizza. He's the pizza. What are you saying, Raphael was just nobody?
So you want us to have food for you next week? Yeah, I felt like he was kind of the curmudgeon-y fuck that, you know, always wanted to bang April O'Neil and just never formulated it. Oh, make half people have turtle babies? I felt like he was number four on the list.
I mean, Donatel and Leonardo definitely... That's how Chuck Norris was created. Oh, was it? Oh, that's interesting.
The love child of a ninja turtle. Did his room get smaller? I keep touching the back wall. No, you're just getting bigger.
No, I'm not getting bigger. Uh oh. It looks like there's more room on that side now. There is way more room on this side.
Oh. You are correct, sir. Well, I had to angle the table, too, for the other thing. I had to work the whole thing.
Yeah. It's a thing. So, I went on the Abe family trip to Universal, the Abe Devinas Smoke Inn. Just you?
You didn't take your children? No, it was family and family. We all went together. Nice.
You did a lot of that. You did the one with Skip, and I didn't do it with Abe. It was fantastic. Wow, look at you.
What was your first ride? Are you and the Fuentes having Thanksgiving together? Yeah, we're gonna work, yeah, we're actually gonna have a bonfire party. Oh, nice.
Oh. But I'm too soon. Too soon. Too soon.
I think a little too soon. So. It may help out. I didn't ride on any rides, it just, you know, we let the family, the kids hang out with the kids and you know, they all got to mingle and stuff.
Oh. His little boy is hilarious. Is he? Oh my God.
So, you know, once my kids and them kind of linked up, all hell had broken loose. They started throwing shit, and, you know, security comes over, the whole shebang, you know, the synergistic approach of three boys getting together, it's just absolute chaos, so. And his daughter, does he have any, any daughters that are the ages of your sons? No, oh, you know what, he does, one of them's 11, but, yeah, but, but she's really tall, she doesn't look like she's 11, she looks like she's, you know, 14 or 15 years old.
Oh, wow. I mean... Is that the violin player? You know what?
Because she looks tall. I don't know. I don't think so. No.
But... Any sparks merging the clans? No, we're not... Any plans for the future of the...
Listen, this is baby steps, okay? Of the Stepankiewicz, Dabba Dabba Dabba. The Universal Trips, apparently it's an eight year gap between going... The number of consonants in the two names if they were combined.
Yes. Close to 26. You would have to hyphen, yeah, without a question. Poor child, I would have to hyphen there, as I am, uh, Mary, uh, Stepan, Kevin, Tabadabada.
Sign your name, I need another piece of paper. You know what, it was cool to meet all of the kids, because they're all so different. Yeah, lovely wife go to? Oh, yeah, of course, Brandy was there.
She's very nice. Brandy was there, you know, the whole squad. So, what's really kind of funny is, you know, obviously, like, how we, like, met up there, I never, ever bring cigars to Universal. Right.
Never. Since the old man and you had the fight. No, I mean, that isn't why I let that go, it just, I never think, I'm never gonna, I never sit. It's not only a place to smoke.
Yeah, it's like, hey, I'm not gonna sit and, alright, okay, you guys just run around. Yeah, run around, I need an hour and a half. But I brought these little LFT Correjos with me. Oh, the little pin thing.
Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, maybe I'll have a cigar this time, I don't know. And, sure as shit, the Cigar Kingpin's just kinda hanging out in the area, and I'm like, holy fuck, what are the odds, you know? So we got to, you know, chalk it up a little bit with the bullshit a little bit.
It was really cool. So, I said, hey, I gotta send a picture to Palmer. He's gonna be so angry. He goes, yeah, tell him it was a vacation.
So was this an accidental thing? Yeah, we totally just kind of ran into it. Oh, so that's what I assumed when you was at the biggie. Yeah, I wasn't coordinated.
Oh. But it was awesome, you know, so it was cool to see the whole family, that was fantastic, I had a good time. A lot of celebrities at Universal all the time, a lot of celebrities. Yeah, yeah, a lot of celebrities.
A lot of celebrities, you know, who would have, I mean, who would have thought, like, the two biggest cigar retailers in the world. Right, right, would be there on the same day, right, just let their businesses run loose without them. Yeah, and we were both confident that our businesses were going. Well, probably him more than you.
Yeah, I know. I mean, I came in and... I mean, you already found out Greg just throwing shit on the shelves. It's like, I walk in...
This game in? Put it out! I walk in the door, and we have forgotten fucking everything. I'm like, what the fuck?
They're not online. Doesn't matter. We sold them all. Like, get them all out of here.
Get them, get them. All right. No, it doesn't work that way. How much is it, Greg?
Oh, I don't know. Let's throw a dart at the board. $17. I mean, so what happens?
I don't show up and everybody's walking around going... Poor guy's been in that hole out front since Friday. He might be dead. He might be dead.
They had... Boot's had his little thing up here last night and I came. That poor guy, when he got up out of the chair, they thought there was ash all in the chair. It was full of sand if a lot of his pockets.
That poor bastard. Yeah, quite the good turnout for the Knights of the Ash. I'll call it the Knights of the Ash. Yeah, they voted on the name.
They don't want to change the name. Oh yeah? Yep, nobody wanted to do. Really?
Yep. Wow. That's kind of hurtful. He did bring it up.
Boots told me he's thinking of doing the thing. The change. Nobody's fond of it though. He got a lot of backlash.
He'd like to talk with you. I don't care enough. You're not getting anything out of me. Boots doesn't want anything?
Sounds like Boots wants something. Sounds like Discount, T-shirt, something. We're gonna need something. Sponsorship.
No, no, no, he's not Discount Doyle. Yeah. And that was pretty much it for my week, you know, I was just, I was kind of on the mend, you know, just working, you know, and finally got out and about this weekend. I don't think I left the house all weekend.
Surprise, surprise. I feel like this is, well, Adrian had graduation Saturday, so she was, she was gone all day. It was Saturday. But you did show up.
I didn't go. I can't go. I'm not in the school. Hold on, hold on.
But you did show up to the Knights of the Ash meeting here at Cigar Hustle. I did show up last night, yes. He did. He did show up.
Showing my support for the group. Wow. Yeah, that was a wow. Me and Boots were super surprised.
Yeah, you and Boots were super surprised. Stayed till closing and then I left. Boots took a picture of them. How late did they end up staying?
I think 10 o'clock or so. Yeah, it was like 10. Oh, no, 8 o'clock. No, no, actually, I think 11:30.
Oh, wow. There you go. A late night soiree. Yeah.
Fantastic. So, you stayed at home, other than that, standard. Cut the grass. Yeah.
Didn't do, I mean, it was just a... You know, listen, your clock is ticking, buddy. Okay? I'm trying to speed it up.
All right? Trying to speed it up. Your clock is ticking. You got to get out here a little bit.
We got to air you out some. You guys were all busy on Saturday. " I'm like, nah, they're all busy. they're real busy he was at somebody's graduation i don't know what you were doing something oh yeah you had the thing yeah you had the thing you could always call you were put you were at somebody's graduation you could always call i'm not gonna call you're your phone's ringing who's your wife who's that's palmer i don't know what he wants it's saturday he must be dying boots is all about crashing any type of city like you could be oh yeah no i'm just you know i'm at dinner with my wife like all right um ethan ethan was the other young man in the photo yes i have not seen him in He took a while without a hat.
I didn't know he had that much hair. Yeah, he has the lacrosse hair. Oh, is that what that is? Yeah, that's the thing.
I mean, he can man bun that if he wanted to. Probably. I hope he doesn't. Please don't.
Please don't do that. You did it for a while. I man bunned? You had man bun for a while, yes.
I never had man bun. Yes, you did. I have never. You grew your hair long, yep.
Because I have pictures that come up every once in a while on my Facebook of you man bun, and then like a Chinese guy, there was all sorts of ninja samurai jokes I did. Okay, first of all. You should put it out. I may have had longer hair.
I have never, ever done a man bun. Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Okay.
Show me the phone. Well, you should call Brittany. Let's call Brittany Steponkiewicz right now. Let's not.
She'll comment. She'll hear this eventually. Oh, you're still there? There was never a man bun.
Okay. There was never a man bun. I know me. Okay.
Didn't happen. It did. All right. You want to get into Phil's fun facts?
Oh, he's done now, huh? Okay. You know what? Let's just give Phil's fun facts.
Fuck him. He's obviously got it, you know. The crazy thing is Phil has a camera. Yeah, well, we have the board.
Hello, peoples. Hello, peoples. All right, cigars. Cigar facts.
Yeah, it does have a woody. You have to fucking suck the shit out of it. You know, that'll add days to it too, in 28 minutes and 52 minutes. Cigars, did you guys know, cigars have been used as a form of currency in certain historical contexts.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the parts of Central and South America, cigars were considered valuable commodities and were even used as a form of payment. You could buy a cow for a box of cigars, a beer with three cigar, and who was just one cigar based on the size? Of the. What?
Is it in English? Of the. Sorry, I'm talking about the cigar. Of the whore, not the cigar?
Well, there should be a price in there for a prostitute, too. Yeah, this is your fun fact. Raphael, let's go. Or, you know, sometimes Bootsy does the plumbing for the three bucks or something.
It's still a commodity to this day. It's still a form of payment. He'll give you a cigar, you know, you go make, pick a, pick a package, I'll give a cigar. You know, Palmer, you know, there's a spell check.
Oh, you spell check. My guy just kinda, he wings, he wings life. I don't, he doesn't spell check shit. Well, the thing, like, I don't read these before.
Right, you're not supposed to read them before. And then when I'm reading, I'm like, what the hell? Maybe I should read them before and say, ah, this doesn't matter. It makes a lot of sense when it comes in my head.
Or I'm looking it up online, I mean. So, exchange whores for cigars, I get it. No, that's all in his head. He knows all the cigar facts.
All the cigar facts. All the cigar facts. Hey, we jumping to the news? I believe we are.
Is there news? There's always news. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon.
First PCA 2023 releases this week. The Agronosa Leaf Anniversario, Connecticut, will debut at the 2023 PCA Convention and Trade Show. Which takes place, now we are in a little minutes, before heading to stores in August. The blend uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a binder and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa, Nicaraguan Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a binder and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa.
Oh, I read that already. Esteli and Jalapa, Nicaragua. Oh, okay, anyway. Production is handled by Aragonosa Gandonera.
Gandon, is that how you pronounce it? Gandonera. G-A-N-A-D-E-R-A. Gandonera.
Say it how you want. No, they're factory initially. Same factory that makes the Anniversario Corojo and the Maduro. It'll debut in two sizes.
50, and a box of 10 to run $55. Excellent. Wow. See, last year, Selected Tobacco SA released the Alfonso Extra Anejo, a cigar noted for its use of French oak in the aging process.
And now the company is preparing to release what is described as a sequel to the Extra Anejo, the Alfonso Gran Seleccion. The Extra Anejo isn't going away, but according to the company, those wanting a darker flavor profile should look to the new Gran Seleccion. It uses Ecuadorian Havana wrapper over a Peruvian binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic of Nicaragua. This line was aged for a total of five years.
Part of that process is done in rooms lined with Spanish cedar where the humidity is increased and decreased throughout the process. Okay, Grandpa, let's get you to bed. Fuck it. Let's make it wet or no hotter?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hotter? No, no, no, no, no. Five years.
Five years. Five years. How many years has it been? It's been two years.
Well, it's been ten minutes. How long? It's five now. It's five years.
See, there are five sizes. This is a Estelaris, which is that one from last week that we couldn't pronounce. Five and a half by 54, Exclusivo, a six by 54, the Enormes, the six and a half by 60. I'm sorry.
5x40 and an 8x50. I don't even know, never heard of these sizes before. Precocious and a Grandiose. Well, they're real.
Are they making up their own sizes now? People making up their own? I mean, we all, it's just, it's kind of been a thing for this industry. Let's do whatever we want.
What's the size called? A fucking banana. That's what it's called. Pricing has not been announced.
99 per cigar. Wow. Well, it's 75 years age. What do you expect?
Production will be limited to 200 boxes of 25 cigars per size. That's why they're charging so much, they don't have many. Well, it's a 5,000 stick run. We gotta make money.
Right? Something like that. They're super old. Cigar Brothers, a company that sells unique single-serve cigar humidors for businesses, is launching a new humidor designed for consumers.
Ah. It's called the Cigar Brothers Boveda Humidor. Oh. Very unique name.
Oh, man. Fueling the growth. And it's made of... It was actually Rob's idea, no.
Right, I didn't get rid of it. They're just shikandum, so they don't pay him any... Expanded micro... What?
EPP. It's made out of EPP, which is some type of plastic. A type of clothes... Oh, foam.
88 inches tall. 7, which the company says can allow up to 80 cigars to be stored. 10 inches... There's a reason we don't do accessories.
They don't transcribe with them. I'm gonna fucking... I'm gonna take a Ziploc bag. Yes.
Oh, yeah. And I'm going to put it on the site and call it The Cigar Housler's Traveling Humidor. Traveling Humidor. Yeah.
I'm going to charge like 35 bucks. Wait a second, can you say the sizes one more time for me? It'll hold up to 20 cigars. The size of the humidor?
Yeah. 7. And you can fit 80 cigars in an 8 inch? Maybe that's feet.
Maybe it's feet. There's no... It's 8 foot by 12 foot. There's no mention of what the scale is.
7. Jesus. 7 feet. You can lay in it.
Right. Or it's a coffin. If you felt the need to humidify yourself. Is there a picture of this thing?
Yeah, but I don't have it with me. It just looks like a little black box. The Epic teams up with actor Chaz Palmitari for A Bronx Tale. Oh, Epic.
Dean. Chaz Palmitari, who starred alongside Robert De Niro in The Bronx Tale, but they couldn't get him for the cigar, He has partnered with Epic Cigars for a new cigar by the same name, a Bronx Tales, a new 6x54 box press, Toro Extra, that uses an Ecuadorian Havana wrapper over a Dominican binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Cigars made at Tablicalera Von Elken in the Dominican Republic in collaboration with Paul DeSilvo of La Casa Grande Tobacco Company, a cigar factory in retail location, Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. The MSRP is set at $20 per cigar, Bronx Tale comes packed in boxes of 10.
Nice. A launch event is scheduled at that shop that guy has. Epi Cigars will have the cigar on display at the 2023 PCA Convention of Trade Show, which takes place July 8th to the 11th in Las Vegas, blah, blah, blah. In addition to a Bronx Tale, Palmeteri was nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Bullets Over Broadway, but that has nothing to do with the cigar.
No. No. There's not a second cigar call on the Bulletin Roadway. He's trying to slide that in there.
So this is a guy that was in the movie that you teamed up with? Chaz Palminteri. Yes. I don't know who that is.
Oh, if you saw his face, you'd recognize him. Oh. He was in The Bronx Tale with Robert De Niro, who didn't want to make a cigar. A movie that was made like- He's busy fucking dumping loads and making babies.
Well, this movie was a while ago. That is true. 1993. What?
1993 is with The Bronx Tale. Yeah. Robert De Niro was like 110 years old. So 30 years ago.
Yes. Chaz. He's done other movies since then. He's an actor you would recognize if you saw it.
It's an all-time classic. No, no, I've seen it. I know it's a classic. I just don't remember Chaz.
I remember... Are you fucking kidding me? No. He was the mob boss.
His name is Chaz? Chaz Palmateri. " The same with the bikers in the bar? Yeah.
Okay. He's the guy. I mean, in all fairness, I was six. He said the working man's a tough guy?
He did a lot of mob movies. Very mob-esque. So, like, what's the other guy's name? Robert De Niro.
No, no, no. James Galefini. No, the one that's the biggest. Ray Liotta.
Yep. Al Pacino. No, Ray Liotta. Robert De Niro.
Ray Liotta did Goodfellas. He's one of the best gangster-looking guys of all time. And then he died right after Cocaine Bear. Don Rickles was in the one with...
Can't remember. That was a good movie. I love Don Rickles. He's very funny.
Thomas Bryan announces retirement as NATO Executive Director. Did you know there was another cigar group called NATO? No. I did not either.
I thought he was actually part of NATO. What does it stand for? It stands for National Association of Tobacco Outlets. Oh.
Outlets? Outlets. Discount double check. Has announced that Thomas Bryan will be retiring from position as NATO Executive Director in charge that will go into effect before December 31st.
What are you doing? Which one's you? I'm one. Loud.
Well, it's probably your headphones, not the microphone. I'm turning you down. So, yeah, people. There, is that better?
Yes. Thank you. I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those NATO members that I have worked with over the years and who supported the association since it was formed in 2001 and look forward to seeking the new challenges in industry, Bryant said in the press release. I've never heard of this group before.
Who's the new president, Robbie? Me neither. Don't worry, somebody will correct us later via watching the podcast. Ryan was instrumental in founding NATO 23 years ago and has grown the association to be a leading voice in the industry during his tenure with the organization that we have never heard of.
Leading voice. Leading voice in the organization we know nothing about. " I mean, it's not like we're some new kid on the block who have been in the industry for fucking 13 years. 23 years.
75 years. You know, they come on Cigar House's podcast. Well, Michael, if you're interested, they're in search for a new executive officer. I bet they are.
Oh. Well, how big's a check? Retainer. Retainer.
Retainer. Retainer. Okay, here we go. As well, what do they do?
The mission is to enhance the business interests of retailers that sell tobacco and nicotine products, As well as to support the legislative and regulatory interests of its members and encourage the expansion of the retail tobacco nicotine market in responsible matter, NATO currently has 66,000 members. Are they like the government of tobacco? 66,000 members? Yeah.
And we've never heard of them before. How many members in the PCA? 66,5. Oh, 66,1.
Yeah. One more. Slightly better. Ryan Gallimore joins NS Nisolo Consulting Group.
Never heard of that people either. They must be with Nano. Whenever I hear "consulting group", I always think, I would go, "That's a scam". It's a company behind many of the cigar industry's most interesting packaging and swag items.
It's true. As added, Ryan, as its new director of business development, prior to this, he was a senior manager of a consumer engagement for Drew Estate. I don't believe he was there long though. He is also the founder of...
Swinger Cigars. Oh! The golf cigars they had to pay money to. Oh, that's what I was thinking, yeah.
Allegedly. Allegedly? Allegedly. Well, I don't know if it's true or not, so I don't want to know.
No fact. Best of my knowledge. The company says that he will focus on identifying new business opportunities. So he's going to find new ways to make swag.
Oh. Oh. I mean, you know, I feel like Consulting Group is right up there with fucking waste management. You know, what do you, it's just fucking, you know what I mean?
It's like, it's just mobbed up, it's fucking... We have problems getting our trash picked up here already. Don't make comments about the trash pick-up, guys. Hello!
We watch your podcast, fuck you guys. He's never picking up your trash again. And I don't know who Ryan is, whatever. I wish him the best.
You would recognize him if he saw him. He's a larger man with a dark hair and wears a hat. Oh, Ryan. Yeah, well, I mean, if you saw his face.
Yeah. , he was in on that thing. He was there? He was part of that, too.
With the swag? Well, that's good. He's been in here once or twice. Has he?
Trying to sell his golf cigar. Interesting. But we're like, well, we have a front nine already. Right.
And a 19th hole. They have those. And a back nine. And a back nine.
Should call his the mulligan. All right, a Florida story. It's rather lengthy, so you have to pay attention. Uh-oh.
Okay. A Volusia County man and woman were arrested. Do you want to get into the winning thing before we do the Volusia? Add it in, that way it's not right at the end.
Oh, if you want to, sure. Is that cool? All right, yeah. Bing bong.
All right. So tell me what you got. Tell me what you got. All right, here's the one that I like the best.
Okay. It's from Jason Hawkins, The King, Mike Stepankevich, and Phil watching the guys from Two Guys Cigar cleaning the port-a-potty at the next Weasel Fest after they see the ratings for the week. That's a pretty good one. That's the one I like.
And what do you got there, Phil? I like from Tom Minty, I told you, Ro. I don't care how much inventory we have. I want this code gone.
I've switched to Pepsi black. Oh shit. Did you really pick that one? I picked it.
That's the one I picked. Oh, because, you know, and I'll tell you why I picked that one because that's so involved. You know what I mean? He's, he's on the up and up.
He's obviously listening. He knows what's going on. He's paying attention. Right.
C. Black is far superior to anything else I've ever had before. So I'll give you one of my other ones that I liked, but I'm going to tell you right now. But if you pick that one and he picked that one, then that's got to be the winner.
You think so? That's the majority. Then the two of you have to talk me into it, I'll give. I surrender.
I surrender. I mean, you guys picked the same one. What are the odds? I got to give Fred Rui a shout out here.
Fred was good, but do we have enough time to read this? Once again, Jebediah unintentionally made pasta sauce for six and pasta for 600. This directly led to the 1924 rat population boom that New York would only recover from in 1983, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would rise due to a similar situation with pizza. I thought that was pretty good.
He gets honorable mention. This is great. He does get an honorable mention. Oh, and then I do like John Richards, so I'll plug that one as well.
The Cigar Hustlers dumped toxic chemicals into a sewer grate. Nine months later, Keanu is born. I like that one too. I mean, fuck it.
Dude, you guys are hilarious, man. Some of the shit that you guys entered. I can't read all of them. I wish I could.
How many pages? This is like 18 pages long, and it's a very small font. How many pages was it originally before you shrink it? 38.
There you go. I like the details. Let me tell people, listen. Yeah.
So, look, I have, honestly, here's Tom Minty's highlighted with a star, and it says, I told you, Ro, I don't care how much inventory we have. I want this Coke on. I've switched to Pepsi Black. I mean, all right.
So we're only announcing the winner on the show. The winner is Tom Minty. Congratulations, Tom. Congratulations, Tom.
What you need to do is you need to message me on Facebook and say, hey, I'm the guy. I'm Tom Minty. I am Tom. And with your address.
And I'm going to send you some goodies. What we're going to send you is definitely some Postana Connecticut. Ooh! 'Cause they're not out yet.
All right, do it again, say it again. Definitely some Powstanie Connecticuts. Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Thank you, thank you.
'Cause they're not out yet, so you'll be one of a handful of people that have gotten to try them. They're fantastic. Nice. Oh, nice.
They're so thrilled. It was good. So, congratulations, Tom. I like where we slid this in.
It's perfect. Alright, now get into your Florida story. Alright, Florida story. Volusia County man and woman.
Ooh, local. I like when they're local. Were arrested on Tuesday evening after trying to break into a home in Daytona Beach, according to the police department. Police said that they were called to a shooting at 426 South Beach Street, though they were later revealed to have instead been a burglary.
Upon arrival, police found a man, 38-year-old Andrew George, lying on his back, covered in blood, So, crying out in pain, an affidavit shows a woman, 36-year-old Natasha Kanchuki, was found with him, police said. Natasha Kanchuki, 36, Daytona Beach Police Department, while speaking with the pair, police found that they had gotten a room at the nearby travel inn, but after hearing the bathroom window opening, they demanded a refund and believed that someone had been trying to break into the room, according to police. Court records state that both George and Kahuki then fled toward Beach Street while believing that a shadow was following them. Ooh, what do they do, bath salts?
Investigators say the pair began running around parking lots in the Halifax Marina due to being chased by an unknown person, and Gregory became separated when he ran away and fell into the water. Greg was there? After helping George out of the water, the two then raced to a business at 432 South Beach Street. I'm going to give all the addresses here.
They began knocking on the door and George picked up a chair to smash the window, the affidavit reads. At this time, the residents were awakened after hearing cries for help outside. Police said, as a result, the woman in the home went out to investigate, seeing both George and Kahuki on the business's front porch, according to court records. " However, the woman asked what was going on.
George immediately turned and ran at the woman, causing her to... Paper stuck together. Bang, bang. To run back into the home and lock the door.
George then began pounding on the door, and the woman armed herself with a knife in her kitchen, threatening to kill George if he managed to break through the breakthrough. Kuhuki then began trying to stop George from breaking into the home, according to detectives. Eventually, another woman, the homeowner, called 911. Police stated, according to the evidence, George later told police he and Kuhuki had left the hotel and began fleeing because they believed a ghost was chasing him.
And wanted to harm them. George confronted, continued, saying they ran into a business but was unable to get due to God telling him Kahuki was a bad person to hang out with. So he turned on the woman. He also told investigators that he decided not to enter the home because he could hear children's voices and didn't want to scare a child.
Investigators say George admitted to taking Molly, another name for ecstasy that night, which is what George blamed for his bad choices, both George and Kahuki. Kooky were arrested following the incident. George faces two counts of burglary and is held in bond for $20,000. Kooky faces charges of principal to a burglary and a drug offense.
She was held on bond for $5,000. They never say how come he was bleeding. Yeah. It's not mentioned.
Yeah, was he stabbed? I'm guessing the lady stabbed him. Yeah. " Seriously?
So there was no ghost? That's right. We're totally crazy here, Florida. Please don't come.
It's insane. You know, there's just- No one's gonna listen. It's just all, yeah, you don't want to. They're still coming.
That's Daytona, the vacation capital of the world. That's where all the pedophiles and the drug dealers live. That's it. But it's got a great beach.
It's a great beach. I think the West Coast beaches are better than the East Coast beaches. Well, yeah, because we're from Florida. Right.
We know better. I think the beaches are prettier on the East Coast. Do you think so? Yeah.
Really? I don't like the Gulf. The Gulf is all black and dirty, and there's always goo on the beach and stuff. Not a big Gulf Beach fan.
Interesting. Glarewater Beach, where I grew up, it's not the same anymore. It's almost like Daytona now. Really?
And it's a very small beach, technically. Which is the East Coast. Yes. Well, just Daytona.
New Smyrna is a very lovely beach. They just have the sharks. A lot of sharks. Shark by Capital World.
So we have sharks, we have mollies, we have meth. Just reviewing. Dangerous. Alligators.
There were three alligator stories this week, but those are getting old. Yeah, we did one last week. We did an alligator last week. Well, it's mating season.
They're everywhere. Are we going to smoke Chogweez when they're released? Of course. We should review the ones we have.
We should. We need to open them up to retailers first, though. You got a Listener of the Week? I do have a Listener of the Week.
You do? I do. Listener of the Week. Did his homework.
Listener of the Week is Jason Hawkins. Oh, he mentioned me quite a bit this week. He got calls from John D. Oliver and he thought he was in trouble for something he did with us.
I don't know what I did. I don't know what I did. Why'd you guys have John D. Oliver call me?
It wasn't me. Call him back. He's been very active lately, so that could have been a believable thing. It could have been.
It could have been. You have a Shop of the Week? No, I do not have a Shop of the Week. I have a Shop of the Week.
Uh-oh. What's Shop of the Week, Michael? Caravan Cigars. Caravan Cigars, Shop of the Week.
Where are they located? Where are they located? In the United States. In a caravan.
They move around all the time. We never know where they're at. Yes. All right, so.
Nice. Is that it? Yep. We need an event, but we have an event this month.
Well, we're working on a Rome event June 30th. Nice. I'm trying to get someone here. Nice.
So I'll know in the upcoming... Skip and we'll serve spaghetti. Ooh. No, Pepsi Black.
You buy a box, you get a Pepsi black. Oh. Yeah. Spoil everybody.
Spoil everybody. We're going to have a special guest on next week. Did you see Fiorella's new puppy? Yes.
Buster. There's a lot of comments. I told him you should have bought both, and named them Chet and Palmer, and he could yell at them all the time. Damn it, Chet.
Damn it, Chet. Damn it, Palmer. Stop shitting on the floor. Guest next week?
Next week? I don't know. June 19th. Don't we have a guest June 19th?
Do we have a guest? I thought we did. Maybe we do, I don't know, I don't remember. You set it up.
I did. I forget who it is. Me too. Do you know who it is?
We'll find out June 19th. I feel like there's something. Yeah, hold on, let me see if I put it on my phone. I know I'm going on, how about that cigar?
Nope, it's Juneteenth, it's a holiday for some reason. Oh, the 19th and Juneteenth. Yeah, 19th and Juneteenth. For fuck's sake.
Hey, good news is, the summer's a quarter of the way done soon. No, don't bother me. Who is this going to be on? I don't know.
We'll see. We will see. Do you remember, Phil? I don't remember.
You don't remember either? You know, I mean, I feel like the blood's kind of losing around his head because that bandana is a little tight. It's not tight. I gave him plenty of...
Yeah, the holes are like, kind of like folding up, kind of folding up and like hitting my eyes. Yeah. But I would just want to put you in like a intersection with the cardboard sign and that and that fucking bandana and see what kind of reaction we get. Thanks.
We'll work for, we'll do a cartwheel for food. We'll do tricks with my size for food. Oh, Nick Malillo from Foundation Cigars. That's right.
I remember there was something. That's right. That's a big one. And we couldn't remember who it was.
Well, I got some guy who makes cigars or something. I don't know. Yeah. Super busy guy.
Super busy. I'm going to text him right now. Can't wait to have you on the podcast. Who is this?
He's going to, who is this? June 19th. He'll go, what? They didn't tell me.
Yeah. That's me just laying the groundwork. I'll give you one guess. If you can't guess, get a box of Egyptians.
He hasn't been on the podcast. Since we were in the office. Holy shit. Long, long time ago.
Is he coming in studio? Yeah. Wow. Wow!
With Alfredo? With Eduardo. Oh! Oh!
Well, you can sit over there with Phil. Eduardo? Yeah, Eduardo. Yeah, he likes to talk.
He's not getting a microphone. There's two spaces. He's, uh... I gotta bet with him.
I don't like to bet. Oh, what's the bet? That the Heat are gonna win the whole thing. Oh.
Oh, yeah, that's right. 20 bucks. 20 bucks. Yeah.
If you wanna do sports, you gotta do it on the... How about that cigar? You gotta do it on HBTC. HBTC.
It won't be at PCA, by the way. Oh, they're not going? Yeah. Oh.
Which is weird. Are you, you said you're doing, how about a cigar on the 19th? No, no. 19th is when they're going to be here.
Oh, that's a, they do their shows on Monday night. Oh. No, but he said he was going to be on. Wait, the 19th is a Monday.
Oh, we record on Mondays. That's right. Never mind. This week has messed us up.
Okay. Oh, who do we call him? Matt Ty. Oh.
I mean, I'm sure he has a regular job. We can't answer. everybody thought we were done but we're not hello hey you're on the podcast what's up buddy how are you don't burn burn cigars yeah you're we're fucking torching everything here are you lighting a lot of fires yes like this may the bridges I burn light the way that's the saying here on the podcast so hey I just got it real quick so why aren't you going to PCA well we that actually has a very They recently changed. Oh.
Oh. Another exclusive. A new press release exclusive. Twice in one day.
No wonder we're number one. So you're going? We are going. Nice.
Literally just found out to literally like six hours after I sent the email to everybody saying, "Hey, sorry, we're not going to make it this year," something came through. So we're in. Don't tell you about that. Excellent.
So was that a personal matter or something? No, it was just, you know, it's expensive to attend the trade show, and we didn't have the capital on hand, you know, ad revenue is, you know, that's how we pay for keeping the show alive and covering trade shows and stuff, and we didn't have what we needed, and I don't like covering those expenses out of pocket, 'cause, you know. Good for you, man. So, and somebody came through, and so we have a sponsor for our trade show coverage.
Oh, Drew's Day came through. Yeah, Drew's Day. All will be revealed in time. Brought to you by Liga Privadares.
Don Doroteo. Don Doroteo. Oh. Don Doroteo should, I mean, you know.
Yeah, they should. Brought to you by NATO. I mean, 'cause they gotta pay for Garrett's anyway. Yeah, I mean, he's gonna be there.
All right, what's two more? Yeah, what's another? I can share Garrett's room. What's a couple extra hunts, you know what I mean, amongst friends?
Yeah, we'll all swim together in one big room. That's it. I mean, dude, Venetian rooms are big enough if you're staying there. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, that's, flights are booked, hotels not booked yet, I don't know where we're staying yet, but we will definitely be there. Well, that's a relief, because, you know, nothing makes me a little bit happier than seeing the look of stress on you and Garrett's face, visiting 75,000 fucking people and doing the, you know, it's just like, how are you? Like, man, we're, whew. Day two, we're not even halfway done.
Day two. If the look of anguish on my face can bring you a smile, then it's all worth it. And that's why I love you, Matt. You're a great guy.
I appreciate that. When are you doing their show, Michael? We're going, I think, next week, right? Or something like that.
Oh, yeah. Monday night. Boom. Oh, look at you.
Ba-bam. Ba-bam. Monday night. Yeah, the 12th.
Yes, sir. That should be fun. You're hearing it. Always a good time.
Always a good time. Always a good time. So many exclusives. That's three today.
Three exclusives. We need a break from all the exclusives. Yeah, you guys got to save some exclusives for the rest of us, guys. I mean, come on.
I mean, jeez. Oh, we had Victor on from Chogui today. Yeah. Oh, yeah?
Announcing his return. Yeah, he's coming back. So that brand's going to be at the trade show? He won't be at the trade show, no.
He won't be at the trade show. Oh, okay. Got to listen next week, Matt, to find out. Don't worry, we'll have a press release for you soon here.
Yeah, I appreciate that. We stopped publishing press releases, so it's - You gave that up? Well, we just, it, the main reason is because doing it all myself, you know, was just too much, and I couldn't keep up with everybody's, and it felt unfair to, like, publish some and miss others, so I was like, in order to be fair, until I can get like a full-time, or not full-time, but like a regular, like, news editor person - Right - Where I was like, the only way to be fair It's to publish none until we're able to publish all. You know, it's probably best you just not fare like everybody else in the rest of the industry and just kind of roll with who you like and then fuck the rest, you know?
Yeah. You know, just keep building the bridges that you prefer, is all I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's all about destroying those relationships and leaving a wake of flames behind me. That's it.
And I'm gonna tell you right now, if you force yourself to do every single press release, We are going to fucking unleash the most hilarious fucking press releases and expect them to go up. If not, our feelings are going to be fucking hurt. Oh, yeah, I would want something, you know, like, you know, that the, you know, the mutant apocalypse has fallen on, on Deltona, Florida, and, you know, all the, all the details. It'll be something worse than that, like, epic shit happens at Cigar Hustler, you know, toilet clogged, news at 11, some shit like that.
Oh, we have a septic tank problem at the moment. Yeah. Cigar Hustler makes bid to purchase Cigar Aficionado. Exactly.
Oh. Yeah. For $5. And the bid was accepted, you know, and some people would get that press release and just click, copy, paste, and publish it.
Yep. Exactly. You know, that's okay. That's all right.
That's fine. Yeah, I mean, we need the Weekly World News as much as we need the Chicago Tribune. Exactly. Exactly.
All right, brother. Well, we'll let you get back to work. And, you know, I'm sure that you're doing something serious today. It's Tuesday, unlike the rest of us.
Yeah. So, you know, my day job, it's, you know, it's got its ups and downs. Absolutely. As does everybody.
So, good luck for you. Have fun today. Thanks for answering the phone immediately. I appreciate you, bro.
Yeah, right on. Take care, fellas. All right, man. Bye bye.
Matthew Tie, how about that cigar? Oh, who else should we call? I think we're good here. We're at an hour.
Alright, this has been episode 284 of Cigar Hustler Podcast. Thanks, guys. Call Greg. Uh-oh.
That was the end. Thank you. Thank you. The End.
The End. #######################
Show Notes
Tune in to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast and join us as we unravel the latest PCA releases, tease the upcoming Bronx Tale collaboration, discuss Thomas Bryant's retirement, and enjoy an exclusive interview with Victor Nicholas. Grab your favorite cigar, sit back, and indulge in the world of premium cigars with us. Let's light it up!C