Cigar Hustlers Podcast 287 Joe Lotus

Episode Summary

Episode 287 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast has Mike Szczepankiewicz (Powstanie Cigars) and Mike Palmer holding down the studio with a guest engineer, "B-Dawg," filling in for Phil. The first stretch is pure banter — the arrival of two Joe Rogan cigars sent by Nicholas Melillo, recaps of the prior week's interview, streaming-service gripes, White Lotus and Black Mirror talk, and a shout-out to Steve Saka on his birthday. Mike also recaps appearing on Coop's new-product show alongside Aaron "Fishstick" Loomis, and the hosts plug the upcoming RoMa Craft event with Mr. Rosales at the shop, including event samplers for listeners who can't attend.

The heart of the episode is a rapid-fire news block covering the flood of announcements ahead of the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show. The guys cover ADVentura's Navigator Ponce de León 6x60 Gordo and the La Llorona Corona line extension; Black Label Trading Company / Black Works Studio's PCA-exclusive Poison Dart; Foundation Cigar Company's Metapa, a Rubén Darío–inspired blend with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Connecticut broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan filler made by AJ Fernandez; GTO's 33 Oaks Connecticut Toro Elegante with 12 years of aging (two in bourbon barrels); J. London's The Ripper, produced at Martinez Cigars; and Crowned Heads' Mil Días Topes, a 4 7/8 x 56 parejo from the Tabacalera Pichardo–linked Tacanixa factory — which leads into an explainer on the Crowned Heads/Luciano Cigars (formerly ACE Prime) split. Powstanie's own long-awaited Powstanie Connecticut also gets announced, with Mike reading his own press-release quote and doubling down on it being the best Connecticut at the show. Quick hits include Stolen Throne's Yorktown Fleet and Quesada Oktoberfest.

The news segment closes with Tinderbox International's lawsuit against a former Waldorf, Maryland franchisee (now "The Box Waldorf") over trademark infringement, breach of a 25-mile non-compete, unpaid 4% royalties and "misappropriation of trade secrets" — which the hosts find absurd for a chain they argue has long since peaked. Wrapping up: Martin Kove (John Kreese of Karate Kid / Cobra Kai) was spotted smoking a BDP cigar at Riverside Cigars, courtesy of a late-night text from Hunter Rowe, who earns Listener of the Week while Riverside Cigars and Match 22 Cigar Bar in Jeffersonville, Indiana take Shop of the Week. Next week is the big pre-PCA show.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Guest engineer and studio banter
   B-Dawg fills in for Phil on the board while the hosts riff on streaming services, White Lotus, Black Mirror and a birthday shout-out to Steve Saka.
2. 02
   Joe Rogan cigars from Nicholas Melillo
   Two Joe Rogan cigars finally arrive from Foundation's Nick Melillo, with talk of saving the review for Patreon.
3. 03
   Coop's show and the RoMa Craft event
   Mike recaps appearing on Coop's new-product segment with Aaron 'Fishstick' Loomis and previews the RoMa Craft event with Mr. Rosales plus online event samplers.
4. 04
   Phil's Fun Fact (B-Dawg edition)
   A questionable geography 'fun fact' about Los Antillas and Santiago de los Caballeros.
5. 05
   PCA 2023 release roundup
   Headline-speed coverage of ADVentura Navigator Ponce de León, La Llorona Corona, Black Works Studio Poison Dart, Foundation Metapa, GTO 33 Oaks Connecticut, J. London The Ripper and Crowned Heads Mil Días Topes.
6. 06
   Powstanie Connecticut announced
   Powstanie's first new regular production blend since 2015 — Ecuadorian Connecticut over Pennsylvania broadleaf and Nicaraguan filler, four sizes from $11.20 to $12, made at Fábrica de Tabacos NicaSueño.
7. 07
   Crowned Heads, Luciano and the Pichardo factory split
   How Mil Días production moved to Tacanixa and what the Crowned Heads/Luciano Cigars (ex-ACE Prime) breakup means.
8. 08
   Tinderbox International sues former Maryland franchisee
   The hosts break down the trademark, non-compete, royalty and 'trade secrets' claims against The Box Waldorf and question whether the suit is worth it.
9. 09
   Martin Kove smokes a BDP; Listener and Shop of the Week
   Cobra Kai's Martin Kove is spotted with a BDP cigar at Riverside Cigars; Hunter Rowe takes Listener of the Week and Riverside Cigars / Match 22 Cigar Bar take Shop of the Week.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we bring you the latest news and insights. Slow down. Slow down. It's okay.

Slow down. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, Episode 287, where we bring you the latest news and insights from the world of premium cigars. And then in this episode, we dive into big stories of the week. The King, Mike Stepon-Cavage, and the Reverend BDP, Mike Palmer, are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigar Hustler Podcast.

And me, I'm B-Dawg from B-Dawg Engineering. So grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and enjoy us for another exciting episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Yeah! Great job, B-Dawg.

All right, you saw, we have a guest engineer today. We have Mr. B-Dawg from B-Dawg Engineering. Well, if you would, and if you'd like to vote to have him replace Phil, please let us know.

Yes, Phil and Boots are on a romantic getaway to Colorado together, so, we don't know when or if he will be back. It could be, you know, he could go on another Jeep excavation. It could go, yeah, it could be another press release coming here soon. All right, one please.

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Oh, he's good. Look at that. I know. He's amazing.

Very professional. Oh, Phil is so fucked. And he doesn't watch the show. He pays attention to what's going on, too.

He watches the screen. Oh, my goodness. Right. Oh, my goodness.

Real talent. Real talent. Here at Cigar Hustlers podcast today. So, Michael.

Yes. Hi, how are you? Hi. How are you doing?

I'm fine. You want to show our little package first? So, our little package first? Oh, yeah.

Well, you know, we got a little thing thing here. The thing that Nick said he finally sent finally arrived. Yeah, it finally arrived. And in perfect fashion, we have received two.

Two. Not three. Not one. But two Joe Rogan cigars.

So, you and I will enjoy these. Oh, these are nice. This is going to be fantastic. Very excited about these.

So am I. I'm excited. He came through. He did.

Nicholas Malillo delivered. Delivered. I listened to that show yesterday. It was a pretty good show.

Yeah. I think we do a good job, buddy. A lot of information. Yeah.

We're not InterSanctum Cigar Illuminati, so we asked the hard questions. Yeah. He released a lot of stuff that, uh, some of it came out in a press release this weekend. We're ahead of the curve.

And Charlie could not verify the information, so I have that to cover today. Nice. Charlie doesn't want you to know. That's what I know, Charlie.

Hey, what's going on? All right, so wait, did you mention the White Lotus thing on the show? I don't know, maybe. All right, I watched all of it.

Okay. Because once you're into it, it's like a car accident. You've got to watch it to see... It's stressful.

Yeah. Even Adrienne got sucked into the last four episodes, I think it was. Yeah. " Yeah.

And then she couldn't leave either. It's stressful, man. It stressed me out. It's such a weird show.

It is a very weird show. The first one was better, I thought. Not better, but done where it was like, okay, this is going on, this is happening, there's something going on. The first one was better.

But this one... Stressful. It was. Stressful.

Stressful. Poor Portia, I mean... Which one's Portia? The assistant.

Oh, she's going to be okay. Yeah, I mean, she's like sneaking out of the country, wearing funny hats and weird sunglasses at the airport. She's going to be, she's going to be all right. She's going to be all right.

But there was no real conclusion to the show. What are you talking about? Well, normally with a show, you know, it starts, then there's a story that builds up, and then something happens, and then it sort of ends, you know, there's a finality to it, or a conclusion to it at the end. Okay.

Well, the focal point is, you know, sinning for money is what it's about. Oh, was that it? I didn't get that at all. Yeah.

So-and-so's loaded, right? Well, there was a couple of people in the show that were loaded. Right, and how they act. Right.

And what money and whatever and lusts can do for you, whatever. Something like that. You didn't get that? No, I didn't get that.

Oh, yeah, that's what it was. Oh. I thought it was okay. I enjoyed it.

You know, like, there hasn't been anything good on TV lately. No, it's that time of the year. It's the reruns and stuff. There's not anything good on it.

I turn on Black Mirror. Yeah? Yeah. I've seen some of those.

That's a Netflix show, right? Yeah. Well, this season's supposedly really good. Quickly, lock that door.

Sounds like there's a storm coming. No, no, I think the door opened. It could have been the sponsor. It could be our sponsor lurking.

Right. We need to make a guest appearance on the show that we don't want them out. So we punched out an episode of Black Mirror, and that was pretty cool. It was called like...

Are these new ones or is this the original ones? No, these are 2023. Oh. Some...

I think I watched the first... Joanie's Awful. Joanie? Joanie's Awful.

awful it was pretty good oh yeah i enjoyed it we still don't have netflix yet oh because you know well we pulled the we pulled the trigger on it and we we acquired yeah we're we're negotiating we're talking and we're just you're having a back and forth it's like 10 bucks bro i know i know let's get the fuck over it already i know wait are you trying to figure out who's gonna pay for it like you or or no no just if we really miss it by not having it on that because i guess like i turned it on last night and it went through and like oh look look something's wrong we have it for the night so they hit play for the movies like oh you are not in your home area shut it down yeah dude give me a fucking break i want to i want to get rid of one of the others like hulu this time of year we don't use hulu because that's that's new you can still cheat on hulu i mean cheat on hulu oh yeah yeah but it's my hulu though but they will let you suspend so you can suspend it for the summer this is a this is a hell of a logistical approach for you like what you That's what you have to deal with is next level. Right. I just hit the button, get the fuck over it. Right.

I know. It's only 10 times. We got the Disney Plus. We got the Netflix.

We have Disney Plus. We have Hulu. I did cancel Hulu. So now we steal it.

I mean, allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. You still have it.

It still works or something. Yeah, it still works. I mean, you know, that's only, Hulu only pops up for Kardashian whores and stuff like that. Yeah.

That's it. Oh yeah. My wife watches that too. Yeah.

They just came back out. It's right now. I can't get rid of Hulu. You know what?

I gotta be a To be honest, I'm going to tell you, of all the things that I watch with my wife, the Kardashians, not as bad, like, you know. Oh, that's the one I don't like to watch. When I have, you haven't gone through it, obviously. You haven't lived.

Yeah, I've seen the other seasons. Okay, so wait a second. Wait a second. Yes.

Are you going to tell me that you watched Marriott at first sight? No, we don't watch that one. Okay. I don't even know what that is.

Have you seen 90 Day Fiance? No, we don't watch that one. Okay. Okay, good, good.

We're just housewives. Have you seen 90 Day Fiancé beforehand or some shit it's called? No. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, yeah.

What do you get to watch? Okay, so what's even funnier now is Britney knows when the fucking look is coming. Somebody makes a really stupid ass statement on TV. Right.

Like, I'm 48 years old and I'm a virgin and I'm now meeting with this person and let's pray together or whatever, and she'll see me turn to her. Like, and she, and what she'll do if she does like this look away thing. I'm like, what, like, I'm like, are you fucking serious? You know, come on, come, so I'm gonna tell you right now, if you really want, if you go through the abuse of some of those shows, Kardashians are a breeze, man.

That would just seem so fake. No, I don't think, I think in some scenarios that it's real, and these people are just really fucking stupid, really fucking stupid, so. We did watch the Duggar Conspiracy, yada yada. Oh, did you watch that?

Yeah, that was pretty funny. Oh. Yeah, there's a whole cult thing or some shit going on, it's crazy. She just watches all the housewives.

Well, not all of them either, she just watches Jersey, Beverly Hills, and Orange City, I think. Orange, Orange County. How do you not watch Atlanta? Atlanta's the best one.

We don't watch Atlanta. Atlanta's the best one. It's because you're racist. No, it's not.

There's a white, they always have one. So you are racist, but it's not because... They have the one white person. I don't think there's a white one anymore.

Oh, really? Not at all? I don't know. Oh.

It's the best show. What's her name cheating on her husband? Who? The one that used to be on there.

True? No, no, no. Oh, the blonde one. Yeah, the blonde.

He married the football player. Yeah, he lost all his money, so now she's cheating on him with somebody else or something. She kind of seemed like a hoe. Oh, yeah.

Exactly. Yeah. Right. I did get to go.

I got a little staycation last week. My wife was at that conference. Then at the Omni. Oh, yeah?

And I got to go. That's bougie. Yeah, it was nice. Omni is very bougie, bro.

We did, um, we did the basketball, we did, uh, we did a little universal. Oh, I saw you guys did the, uh, the water. Yeah, we were invited out, uh, yeah, the day before, uh, the neighbor invited, neighbors invited us out to go on Saturday. The neighbors?

The neighbors. Oh. The ones. The ones we like.

Yes. So we did that, which was awesome. We got to eat at like the new little minion place or whatever. Oh.

Yes. It was very nice. And then Sunday we did a little water park thing. I saw The Flash, I didn't even know The Flash came out.

I didn't know, oh yeah, I saw it. It came out Father's Day weekend or some shit. Yeah, you went and saw it? I did.

And? I'm a little judgy on your recommendations right now, but. I liked it, I think that you're gonna be like, eh. Ah, eh, probably.

Yeah. I liked it, I thought it was good. Yeah? You're not gonna like it.

You not so much. Are we gonna Patreon these Joe Rogans? Uh. I think we should do that.

We could. We only have the two though. There is another thing that, so what? Wow.

Oh. You're fine, you're fine. We'll give him something else. You can just smoke something else out of the bag.

All right. Unless you have something else to review the Patreon. No, no, I don't have anything. The BDP.

I'm going to tell you something else that I'm going to tell. I've never reviewed my cigars. We can review. We didn't?

No, we never have. We can review your BDP if you want. We can do the Robies today. Or we can review it on Wednesday.

He wants it on the Patreon. Huh? He wants it on the Patreon. We review cigars on- Oh, I know y'all do it on this one.

Right. I was saying we could do it on the Chet and Palmer show on Wednesday. Oh, review cigars on Wednesday? It's kind of encroaching on my style, but I'm just saying.

Yeah, yeah, I'm crossing a line there, I'm crossing a line. I'm gonna fucking burn this place down. The deal was I don't do cigars on the other show. Listen, listen.

Okay, so Phil's coming back now. You know. All right, well, Phil! Phil, there he is!

Coming through the door now, there's Phil. Yeah. Hey man, if you don't want a problem, I don't want a problem, but if you want a problem- I don't want a problem. If you want a problem, I say no problem.

That's some 50 cent shit right there, buddy. I'm just doing Brittany. Go ahead, you keep talking. Oh my God, this shit was terrible.

So that's when we decided to turn on Black Mirror is when I caught one of those episodes. I'm like, listen, I just... And she's like, I'm not really watching it anyways. I'm like, cool, thank God.

Okay, there's an older one that got a lot of press when it came out. Did you watch that one? Do you know which one I'm talking about? No.

All right, these two guys are doing this virtual video game thing. Yeah. These two friends. But one of them's a girl in the virtual thing, and they find out they've been fucking each other in the virtual game, but they're friends in real life, and it's kind of weird, so it's that kind of show, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's weird like that, yeah. Huh. Yeah, a little weird. Well, you know, I mean, like you, there's a lot of things that you can go, like a dude with another dude, you get along with, right?

Things make sense, right? It's just that when it comes to the whole sex thing, that's where it's like, okay, here's the line. You know what I mean? It's like, we can hang out, we smoke cigar, you know?

We like the sport. Oh, we gotta get Boots to watch White Lotus? He'll like that season. A lot of stuff that I like.

So listen, well, first of all, so I went on Coop's Thing Thing. What's Coop's Thing Thing? I was on Coop this week. Oh, you didn't even say, I would've watched it.

Yeah, I was on Coop. It was past your bedtime. It was like 11:15. Yeah, but I still have to watch it when you're on.

It was 15 minutes. Oh. So he does this thing. Oh, is that what he's doing when you're inviting everybody on?

He talks about the new products and stuff like that. Oh. And Aaron Fishstick Loomis was on. Oh.

I love Fishstick. Oh yeah, he's very nice. Fishstick's the man. Did he talk?

He did a little bit. A little bit? A little bit. Very briefly.

And there was another guy that I think was kind of moving things along, but I don't know who he was. He seemed nice too. Oh. But I have some comments that I wanted.

Was it just the two of them? Coop wasn't on the team? Yeah, and Coop. Oh, and Coop was handling the whole thing, yeah.

Oh, gotcha. Coop was running the, you know, Coop. Oh, you know what? I think it's Steve Saga's birthday today.

Is it? Yes. Happy Birthday Steve, is it today or tomorrow? People are wishing I had a birthday on Facebook today.

Alright, Happy Birthday Steve. Happy Birthday, if it's not, then when it plays tomorrow. Yeah, well, you know. So we're either late or right on time, one or the other.

Happy Birthday Steve. Happy Birthday. He's an avid fan. So anyways, I got some comments to say about some people on the show.

There you go, you got your camera on everything. Look at this, it's amazing. I'm not doing it, I don't think I should do it here. Oh, oh, it's that bad?

I think I should just talk about it. I don't, you know, it's not bad, but I should talk about it on the Patreon. I feel like it, you know, it's valid for Patreon, make a note here, yeah, cool, show, okay, I love the camera movement, it's fantastic, so professional and everything, isn't it? Coop was amazing, he was super nice, you know, very gracious, Fishtick was, oh, you know, Fishtick and I, we're pals now, we're close, are you?

Yeah, yeah, we're tight. Did you wear your shirt from his show when you were out? No, I didn't. I wore my Lenny Smeagol Lenny Approved hat.

Oh, did you? I did. Oh, that's nice. Yeah.

So. What was the other show that sent his shirts? I couldn't remember today. How about that cigar, bud?

How about that cigar? Jeez Louise. I was drawing a blank when I was talking to my friend Barry from Two Guys. And Cigar Authority.

Shh. Dude. I did not know. I didn't know that.

I told you! I have to edit that out or something. Don't edit it out, leave it. No, he told me that.

No, we can't talk about it anymore. More editing. More editing. Oh, okay.

I'll just bleep you. All right, that's fine. Beep! Yeah, just do that.

All right. That's much better. Oh, jeez. Make nice with a conflict and then you're going to ruin it again.

I'm here to start some shit. I guess. Okay, well, hey, we got the Roma Craft event coming up this Friday. We're very excited.

Mr. Rosales will be in the shop. Mr. Rosales will be here.

I'm thinking about doing some event samplers on the site, too, so that should be fun. Oh, there you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People partake who aren't able to come.

Yeah, you cannot be here. We want you to be part of this, so. Roma event. We're going to have samplers just for you.

Just for you. So go ahead and check them out. Don't hit the poop I peed thing. No, no, no, no, no.

He has a fact. He has a Phil's Fun Fact, I'm just making sure it was on the right screen for the sound. Okay. When we're ready, it's 16 after, so.

Well, we're, I mean. There's a lot of, there's a lot of, oh, we're not doing the phone call? He hasn't responded. Okay, we're not doing the phone call.

I kind of fucked that up. There's a lot of. It's not really on him, it's more on me. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of PCA news because there's a lot of stuff coming out.

This is the last week before the show, so. Yeah, there's a lot going on. So there's a lot of announcements. Actually, to the point where I just started doing headlines because I didn't want to talk about another cigar again.

You know, what's funny is, I don't think, I gotta get a Mute press release. For the limited da-da-da-da-da-da-da? Yeah. Well, are you handling those on your own now?

Let me text them now. Let me text them now. Last one without me, you know. Well, you weren't here, buddy.

I told you, Michael. You don't have my phone number? Why don't you do? I wasn't gonna text you when you're out living your best life.

I was in a pool all day by myself. Exactly. Where you deserve to be. Quiet.

That sounds fantastic. It was very quiet. That sounds fantastic. Normally, I don't like this stuff, but you know what?

It was kind of nice. I was like, okay. I got out, went and ate, came back. Yeah.

That sounds fucking amazing. Got out, went upstairs for a minute, watched TV a little bit, came back. Mm-hmm. Then the wife showed up.

I'm like, "Oh, hi, honey. " All right. Well, hey, let's roll on to B-Dog's Fun Facts. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers' podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts.

Or B-Dogs, fun folks. Today is B-Dogs. Just roll into it. Just go.

All right. There is a small country wedged between Argentina and Chile named for its tobacco and cigars called Les Antilles. C. size.

Les Antilles. Right. I'm pretty white. It's called Les Antilles.

This little country is more than just a cigar haven. Roll tide. Actually I am a Roll Tide fan. Are you?

Have you slept with your sister? I don't have a sister. But if you had one, would you have? It would have if you had one.

Depends. No, no, no, no. In fact, it's named after its tobacco fields that were found during the 16th century. Because of Los Antillas, a similar sized area in Nicaraguan was named Santiago de los Caballeros.

Caballeros. Caballeros. St. James of the Kings, or St.

James of the Knights, to avoid confusion between the two regions. Oh, I can't realize how many camera mounts we have on the ceiling. What an amazing fun fact. Right, that was good.

That was something else. That was a legit fun fact. I love my Posante, Connecticut, but I'm really excited about this cigar. I really want to light this bad boy up.

But I can't stop smoking. Don't stop. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. Family Need, the Cigar Hustler Podcast Report.

Hot damn, that's good. One, there we go. ADV and McKay releasing the Navigator, ADV, it says ADV, I don't think they say the word, I think it's ADV. I call them ADV, the Navigator Ponce de Leon, La Llorona Corona, to PCA 2023.

Ponce de Leon, in search of the fountain of youth. I have a pair of new cigars in store next month's PCA convention and trade show. So, both of which are new sizes for an existing line. Ah.

It's not even a new cigar, it's just a new size. We're not going to read anymore then. Well, no, I mean, I don't even know who's Adv. Adventura.

Adventura, the Navigator line. I know Adventura. Yeah, but they say ADV. Adv.

And then the next paragraph, they have Adventura to it. The Navigator line will be adding a Pont de Leon 6x60 Gordo that comes with an MSRP of $13 per cigar, is offered in a 20 count box. Let's see, also getting a new size is the La Llorona line, a limited production line that's only available for the company's elite retail accounts. My Llorona.

Not Llorona. No. 6x44 Corona, that will be priced at $16 per cigar. $16!

Well, if you're going for tobacco, get the bigger one, it's $3 cheaper. Well, this one's special. It's limited. It's because I say it's special.

It's limited, buddy. Come on. The La Llorona. We like a limit.

Debut in 2022, initially offered a 5x50 Robusto Vitola. It gets its name from a character in Latin American folklore. Oh. Blackworks Studio, Dart, Poison Dart, sorry.

Blackworks Studio, Poison Dart to be the PCA 2023 exclusive release. Black Label Trader Company has given retailers who attend the 2023 trade show the opportunity to pick up an exclusive cigar. Everybody got exclusive cigars. I mean, you know, I gotta admit, well, first of all, I like the fact that people are doing exclusive PCA scores, that's awesome.

As long as they hold it to be a PCA. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta be a good person and do the right fucking thing, and not just say, well, we went too many, so here's a good thing. Right, there was one, they overly stated it was PCA, so those of the guys went, well, it's exclusive as long as we sell them all. Right.

We don't sell them all, anybody can get it. I mean. But not Blackworks, we have no problems with it. You know, yeah, I know, but you know, I've been commenting on her Facebook a lot trying to make it.

Oh, you been driving nice? Oh, lovely folks. I don't think that we have. I don't think that they hate us right.

No, I think it's over with. Yeah, man. You know what I mean? Like, we don't, we've never had ill will towards them.

No, no. They got mad at us. Yeah, but you know. That's the way most people live.

That usually subsides. It's like, hey, you know what? They're actually good people. You know, we're good people.

We're good people. Yeah. We did it purposely. But I don't know if I'd call anything poison anything that I'm about to ingest.

Oh, you gonna put it in your mouth? Oh, yeah. It's kind of scary. You know?

Death. Well, black works. This will kill you. I mean, there's like the bumblebee, the hornet, things that sting you.

Those are all cool. They sting you. Those are all cool. You're gonna put it in your mouth, they could sting you.

Yeah, I like those. Those sound cool. Yeah. No, that's cool.

It's not called... Well, poison dart, isn't that a frog? Yep. They have the poison dart frogs.

Right, it's a frog. But it says poison. Eh. I don't know.

Makes me nervous. You're a Brazilian Montefino wrapper? You like Montefino wrapper? So, like, as a marketing ploy, I would encourage everybody to, like, do a post.

Yeah? " And whoever does the best, like, dyed thing, yeah, will get a free box. Would you like to sponsor a contest? No.

I can't. I can't. I don't want to make anybody mad. They're having a short Robusto, a Corona Gorda at the Oleja Negra store or factory.

But I'm just filled with all these great ideas, man. It's crazy. You know what it is? It's because I don't drink that much.

I got a lot of brain cells. Oh. Yeah. Foundations Metapa.

Foundations. They're viewing it to PCA 2023. We take the COD. Mentioned last week on this show, Charlie, so it's been verified.

We verified that. We verified that for you. Thank you very much. The Cigar Company has oftentimes turned to Nicaraguan historical figures as an inspiration for its cigar lines, and one of the company's newest lines will continue that trend at next month's 2023 PCA Convention and Trade Show Foundation.

Foundation. We ship the COD. We ship the COD. We ship the COD.

You didn't ask him if he sent those CODs. Oh, it's taking a long time. You sent them COD. That's funny.

The Metatapa? The Meta? Metatapa. Metatapa.

A cigar inspired by Ruben Dario. Dario. A famed Nicaruan poet. As for the Cigar Line, he's an Ecuador & Sumatra wrapper over Connecticut Broadleaf Binder and fillers from Nicaragua.

Which one is it? What? What's the wrapper again? Go ahead.

Ecuador & Sumatra wrapper. And it's over what? Connecticut Broadleaf Binder and fillers from Nicaragua. He told us all this on the show last week.

Yeah, but that was it. I don't remember that. That was last week. J.

Fernandez in Nicaragua. There are four regular production sizes planned, each box pressed. This isn't a soft box. No, no, that's the...

The oak. Oak's coming out in a soft box press. Charter oak? Yeah.

The Penelope or whatever it's called? Yeah, something like that. Pen and Teller. Pen and Teller.

Pen and Teller? Yeah, the Pen and Teller. Pen and Teller. Let's see.

The Robusto, Corona Gorda, Toro, and a double Corona. 50, and $18, respectively. The new line will be weird. Let's see.

It's a tribute to the poetic soul of Nicaragua, said Nicholas Malololo. Founder of Foundation, owner of a, what's that name, the Underground Bunker. In Connecticut. In Connecticut.

Press release. The image of Ruben Dario is iconic, he is, no, he has high-color castle signs, he does not have a castle. Oh, I get those two mixed up. Yeah, that's okay.

Sorry. All right, GTO makes 33 Oaks, Connecticut Toro Elegante. A little GTO, so the Pontiacs are, they're getting involved in the cigar industry. Yes, yes.

Yes, they are. GTO Cigars is adding a new size to its 33 Oaks brand, and can only be purchased at the 2023 PCA Convention and Trade Show. Exclusive. Exclusive.

Exclusive. As long as we sell them all there. The 33 Oaks Connecticut Toro Elegante is a six and a half of it for Toro Extra. A new size for the line that debuted last year uses a Connecticut Shade wrapper grown in Connecticut over Dominican tobacco grown on the company's farm.

In the Dominican, I'm guessing. The GTO says that the cigars are aged for a total of 12 years, two of which happens, it's spent in bourbon barrels. Also 12 years? Oh, 12 years, but two of those years are in bourbon barrels.

Two years bourbon, 12 years total. Yes. Which by law must be made of American white oak. Does it come with a backpack?

No. No? No. Do I get some knives?

Uh, no. Okay. Just making sure. $12 per cigar, production is limited to 1,000 boxes of 24 cigars.

The GTO says it will only sell the cigars to retailers at place orders during the 2023 PCA. The rest we will burn. Or sell them after. This is the one where I thought they made quite the point there.

Jay London Cigars, The Ripper, getting an official release at the PCA 2023. The Ripper. See, when I say official release, that means it's already been released before. But this is official.

I think this is the one where they said they had released it before. Maybe. Oh, no, that was that one down there. Never mind.

After getting in a preview at the, oh, no, this is it. After getting a preview at the TPE in February and making some appearances at other events where they probably just didn't sell as well, so they're going to carry it over to the next one. Well, no, I mean, you try and build a little bit of hype. I can see, I understand that.

I understand that logic. Did you get a ripper at the TPE? I did not. Is J.

London the ones who make the phone booth? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, you know, we tried carrying it in the store.

It just didn't work. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, I'm not saying no, I'm just saying, you know, it didn't happen right now. You picked them up last, was it last year's show?

Yeah, yeah, I like the guy. Yeah, he's very nice. Yeah. The cigar is a five and a quarter by 50 Robusto that uses an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder, fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

99. Wow. 99. Oh.

A bit less than the originally announced price of $1,380. Scale the back. Yes. One thing that hasn't changed since CPE is that one cigar box will come with a custom tobacco artwork on it.

Oh. One box? Is that one cigar? Yeah, only the one.

Only the one. Specifically, a dagger and some drops of blood cut from a darker leaf of tobacco and then affixed into the cigar's wrapper. Oh, you know what would be cool? If they all came in tombstone boxes.

Can't do that. Coffins, coffins. Can't do that. We found that out.

Cigars are produced by Martinez Cigars, which is headquartered in New York City, 'cause all the good cigars come from New York City. New York City? And produces cigars both in Manhattan and in the Dominican Republic. They, where are those cigars in Manhattan?

I don't know, probably some Dominicans, I would assume. Makes sense. Yeah. Mil-D-E-S, Topes, Topes.

Mil-D-E-S. T-O-P-E-S. Topes, Topes, Topps, Topses. T-O-P-E-S.

T-O-P-E-S. Topaz? Is that a Spanish word? Tapas?

No, not tapas. Tapas? No, no. Is it tapas?

No, that's the muscle flexing people. They like the tapas. Is it the tapas? No, no.

Are we getting apps? No, no apps. No apps. There'll be a new regular production size for the Mil-D-E-S line.

Aren't they sort of just dragging that Meldias out as long as they can? I don't know, man. I don't know what they're doing. It's a whole new one there.

They, you know, they got the whole Luciano thing. Oh, wait, that's mentioned. Shh. I'm sorry.

They mentioned that. Uh, Crown Heads has added a new regular production, Batola, for the line debuted in 2020. Meldias Topes, Topes, Tipes, is a four and seven eights by 56 Parejo with a pigtail. Like the rest of Meldias line, he uses an Ecuador and Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fellows from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Peru.

So it's the same cigar, just a different size. Changes things. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah.

25 per cigar, and will come in boxes of 20 when it begins shipping in stores in August. Okay. "We felt the timing was right to expand the Mildius range, and this will be the largest ring gauge to date in the brand," said John Huber, co-founder of Crown Heads, in a press release. " Emphasizing the unique floral notes and sweetened cream tones that the Mildius become known for.

Well, this might be the first new regular production size from the Mildius, the company has released five different Mildius's. Wow. Limited editions over the years, most recently, the Mariatos. Mariatos.

Which began, which began shipping in April. Of note, the two Mariatos limited editions have used an Ecuador and Sumatra wrapper instead of the Habano leaf found on the normal cigar. Nixa? Taca Nixa?

Taca Nixa? All one word. Taca Nixa. Yeah, not the Nixa that you're thinking, I don't think.

Nixa? No, not Nixa's. The factory led by Aradio Pichardo. Pichardo.

Located in the same building is Tablacalera Pichardo, the factory that made Mildias win the line debuted. The factory's name change is likely related to a split between Crown Heads and Luciano Cigars, formerly known as Ace Prime, both of which made cigars at Tablacolera Pachardo in September. Pachardo. It's hard to keep track of all of these.

Pappalara and Nixa. Yes. In September 2022, the two companies separately announced a distribution agreement that saw Crown Heads distribute Ace Prime will come to an end in October. Previously, Luciano announced he received in production to its own factory and announced a secondary factory The name Spanish for a thousand days referenced the amount of time that passed between when Devil Collier Pachardo factory gave some samples allegedly to, uh...

That was terrible. That's so funny. Gave samples to Luciano and the Crownheads and the Mildias. It was all just confusing.

We don't know what's going on. It just got confusing. We don't know what happened at that point. See, wildfire is getting...

All we know is Pachardo's not in jail. Yeah, Pajardo's not in jail. So apparently he's fine. Right.

And uh, he's making cigars for Crownheads. Dave Hewer, yeah, Dave Hewer's very happy with his move. Dave Hewer? Dave Hewer.

Dave Hewer? It has his name? It's Dave? I don't know, is it not Dave?

No, it's not Dave. It's his brother. It's John's brother Dave. John's brother Dave.

John's brother. And it's J-O-N John. Yeah, it's J-O-N John. D-A-V.

Dav? Dav. Wildfire's getting a new cigar at the PCA, Vertigo Nitro's at the PCA, Stolen Pro. Is Wildfire making it out of Hoya, or no, do you not have that?

I don't know, I just said that. He just wrote that down. I got tired after those four pages of releases for PC. Next week's gonna be worse.

Yeah. Stolen Throne, debuting Yorktown Fleet at the PCA. Quesada's putting out the Oktoberfest again, but it's really weird looking size. It's like fat on one end, then skinny, and then fat again.

You know the one... Like a Dumbo? Kind of, but one end's fatter than the other. Not hugely fat, but bigger than, you know...

Like an odd Dumbo. Yeah, like a dumbbell that's not even on both sides. Yeah. They just sort of lift, you know, this way.

Yeah. Right. Makes sense. And finally, in a not very well press release, never well made press release, Bostani, Connecticut is debuting at the 2023.

Fuck you, in a not very well press release. It's a little wordy, Mike, a little really flowery. You didn't use the right website. I did.

I used the chat GPT. Then you can feed them the wrong information. Well, you know what? Next time, don't go on vacation.

The new long-awaited Powstanie, Connecticut will be on hand at the next month's 2023 PCA convention and trade show that you don't have to be at to buy. It will use an Ecuadorian, Connecticut. They'll buy it first, but they'll have access to it first. Everybody can have it.

All the good retailers. It used in Ecuadorian, Connecticut over Pennsylvania broadly, binder and fillers from Nicaragua, like the other Powstanie cigars, is being made at Fabrica de Tobacos Nicosueño in Nicaragua. It is. This is the first new regular production of Pustania since 2015, the company's first year of business.

Wow. There'll be four sizes. 40. That Toro, man.

Holy shit. We are thrilled to... That Toro is amazing. Do you want to read your own quote?

No. So it's in your voice. No, I want you to do it. "We are thrilled to announce the Pustania Connecticut blend to the market," said Mike Stepankiewicz, co-owner of Pustania.

The owner of Powstanie and a press release. Our team has dedicated extensive time and expertise to craft a cigar that exemplifies our commitment to excellence. The Connecticut Shade Wrapper adds a touch of refinement to the blend providing a smooth and delightful, bold smoking experience. We are confident that our loyal customers and new enthusiasts alike will find the Powstanie Connecticut blend to be one of a kind as well as the best Connecticut released at this year's show.

Yeah, I said what I said, god damn it. Very bold statement. I said what I said. It is the best Connecticut cigar at the show.

Fuck everybody else. It will begin shipping in late July or early August. Yeah. What I didn't include in that is just a question of when Secreto wants to do the...

Oh, the release party, that's right. Yeah. Tenderbox International was suing a former franchise in Maryland. Uh-oh.

This is an interesting story. They're going after Tenderbox Maryland? Yes. What?

TenderBox International, the franchisor of the TenderBox brand is suing one of its former franchisees for trademark infringement, breach of contract, failure to pay royalties, and misappropriation of trade secrets. What? Trade? It's the cigar industry.

That's what I thought, so I had to redefine the trade secrets. The store is the Box Waldorf, which is now called, a business that was part of the TenderBox franchise network for 25 years. In February, the store's franchise licensing agreement came to an end, and the owners of the store listed as Raj, S-I-N-G-H Singh, and Sumit Gupta decided not to renew the franchise agreement. Yeah.

Tenderbox lawsuit broken up to four basic parts. There's no benefit to it, so. The first, well, you know these gentlemen, I'm guessing. Raj?

Yeah. You're a good dude, man. That's where Lightweight Heavy came from. It's pretty, oh, that's right, that's why I know the name.

Yeah, I did an event there. It's pretty straightforward. TenderBox International claims that the store rebranded itself as the Box Waldorf, Maryland. Yeah.

Which TenderBox says is a trademark violation. It has produced evidence showing that in some instances, the store just covered the tender portion of TenderBox and replaced it with the. I saw the graphic. That's not a very good job.

Raj, you got to do it right, man. Come on. There's also a variety of claims that the store is continuing to use the TenderBox name on signage, branded goods, and bags of loose cigarettes. Well, you gotta get rid of that shit.

You gotta get rid of it. What the fuck? Right. As of June 23rd, the store's Facebook page still uses Tinderbox name in various places.

Somebody's just lazy. Oh my god. Give me a fucking break. You had 25 years of fucking pillaging a fucking retail store for no reason.

Take the W and move the fuck on. He could have taken the name off his Facebook page. Okay, but whatever. You know what I mean?

You know what? It's worth suing over? It's like, hey. They're just mad.

There is some purpose to the lawsuit. I think some of the things they just added to be frivolous, but the most part part of the case. Oh, there's a variety of claims. Oh, we read that.

Arguably, the most important part of the case is the third-count breach of contract. The TenderBox International claims that the franchisee, the franchise agreement contained a non-compete clause that prevents a former franchise owner from operating a business within a 25-mile radius of the former franchise that sells similar products. It specifically mentions tobacco, coffee, espresso products, pipes, smokers, accessories, and supplies for one year after the franchise agreement comes to an end. So there's that.

What the fuck ever. Hold on. It's just so ridiculous. TenderBox International also claims that the defendant failed to pay TenderBox International its royalty 4% of gross sales for February 2023.

Oh, it's only nine days? Come on, guys. February 11th of 2023, Tinderbox International, 10 days. 4%?

4% for 10 days. Dude. I thought it was like the whole last year, I didn't read that part exactly. If that doesn't show you that Tinderbox is just so fucking irrelevant.

It also claims that it's entitled to liquidated damages which would be 6% of the gross sales for each month when the franchise agreement is being violated. There's also a count pertaining to the misappropriation of trade secrets. this is interesting tell me the secrets i want to know they can't tell us all the secrets well let's call raj let's get this in short tenderbox international claims that the defendants continue to use tenderbox international systems there are systems that you're using the training that tenderbox provides to its franchisees the training the fucking you're kidding me systems are using The training? How can you prove they're using the training?

Come on. We need you to sit down and watch this video. Don't pay attention to the name on the front. It's not the same thing.

It's completely different. Tinderbox and you. Learning to love Tinderbox. Right?

I mean, holy shit. Learning to love Fox. Did you just say Box? Make sure you say hello to your customers.

Greet them with a smile. 1928, the first Tinderbox location was opened in California by Ed Copeland. In 1959, Copeland began franchising the Tinderbox name. TenderBox name, and grew to be at its peak, the largest specialty tobacco retailer in the USA today.

Yeah, it's peaked at high school. It's over, man. It's over. You're fucking, you're just doing, now you're just doing yourself a disservice.

There are 23 locations listed on the TenderBox International website, one of which is the retailer in question. So they're still listed as a... Not anymore. Still listed as a website.

Good luck with that. There's a Tinder whatever. Dude, okay, how does that play out? You sue, okay, so like you sue, let's say you win.

Oh, we're bankrupt. I mean, well, like, I don't see how much. That was not mentioned in the story. So ridiculous.

But they usually have 4% for nine days. Give me a fucking, all right, here's just $7. Give me a fucking, give me a fucking break. It's the trade secrets, I'm sure, that most of them are.

It's gotta be the trade secrets. It's gotta be the trade secrets. The systems and the trainings. You'd like to send us that.

We would like to implement the trainings here at Cigar House, see if it would help the employees. What the fuck I would, I appreciate the way that we, our systems, and our trade secrets. Maybe while you're going, maybe we happen to come across some of that. Make a little snippet of what it looks like.

Something from the HR department or something? Something from HR. Keep your hands to yourself. Do not touch them.

Surrounded by men, please do not, please do not grope other men. We had the new sundress thing going on upstairs, maybe make a video so the employees will know that no staring at the cleavage. I think the only person you have to worry about that is Keanu. Right, it's for him, exactly.

So you're just going to have to sit him down. Sit him down, have a talk. Hey, listen. You need to watch this video from Tenderbots.

I need you to eye up only, you know, I make eye contact. Eyes up, eyes up, Keanu. And finally this week, late Saturday evening, I received a text message from Hunter Rowe, who runs Riverside Cigars. You did?

Yes. Oh. Apparently, from Karate Kid fame, Mr. Martin Cove, or better known as Mr.

Cobra Kai, John Kreese, I was in the shop enjoying a BDP cigar. Sweep the leg, Johnny. That's right. So, Martin, if you're watching or listening, I'd like to personally welcome you to Team BDP.

Thank you very much, sir. That's fantastic. That is the photo right there. I'm excited for you.

That was nice. It was nice. I was like, why is Hunter texting me at 10 o'clock at night? That's cool.

Yeah, it was. It was. I'm glad he did. I thanked him for doing it.

Yeah, it was cool. It was cool. You know what? As much as I love Jeff, and I love Jeff, I really love Jeff.

Yes. Jeff, you don't know how much I love you. Having Hunter run this store is like breathing fresh life into this thing, and he's active on social media, he's engaging with people not only in the store, but on the interwebs. Yeah, he sent me somebody else, that post, the picture I sent you was somebody else's.

That's amazing. Yeah, that they tagged Matt Cigar Barton. And it's gotta be hard with, you know, raising the baby, you know, baby eating. Baby Eden.

Right, the Martin Mute combo. The collaboration. The collaboration. The clan unition.

Unition? Right. Unition. The clan unition.

Oh, good. My speech is wearing off on you. I think I just had a stroke. I have a Listener Week in the Shop of the Week.

Oh, I should have weighed this. I guess you're going to have to weigh one. I'll weigh yours, yeah. You have a Listener of the Week and a Shop of the Week.

Yes, yes, I have both. Okay. This is loose. That's bad.

All right, Listener Week is Hunter Rowe. Congratulations Mr. Roe You're a listener of the week That's very nice And I wonder who Let me guess Let me guess Shop of the week is Riverside Cigars Match 22 Cigar Bar Which is actually where they were Is that the right next to each other? Match is like the bourbon bar or whatever Ah gotcha gotcha So yes Where is it?

Do you know where it is? It's in Kentucky No it's not you fuck Oh it's right across the line That's right It's very close It's a completely different state. Jeffersonville, Indiana. Goddammit.

I thought it was Jeffersonville, Kentucky. No. No. No!

I've never been. You've never been? No, I've never been. It's a lovely place.

I hear, it's quite lovely. You just redid the patio outside, out back. Oh, nice. Yeah, a little overhangs, a nice little turf.

Oh, that Hunter's idea, I'm sure. Jeff was threatening about it a couple years ago, so I'm sure that it was in the process. " You're right. It's totally Hunter.

Without question. Jeff's busy with the cocaine and the whores. Minus the coke, remember? Oh, yeah, no coke.

Hey. Hey, no cocaine. Hey, there's no cocaine. Can't get good cocaine in the garage.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. But if you need it at the PCA. You don't want to get in trouble with drugs. Who did you have to talk to, Michael, where you discovered last week?

Who has the good coke at the PCA? I don't know. Who has the good coke? Who works for Foundation?

Nicholas? No, the rep. Oh, Alfredo. That's right.

Kredo is your Kinect for Coke. Yes, at the PCA. Allegedly. Allegedly.

We're not sure if that's really true. We're going to have a short show this week. We can just mumble for 15 minutes. That's okay.

We can have a short show every once in a while. All right. So this has been episode... Oh, I'm sorry.

Do you have anything else, Michael? We had a phone call scheduled for today, but it didn't work out because somebody dropped the ball. I kind of fucked that up, yeah. I can't do everything, apparently.

I feel like you should, though. It was your interview. You set it up. B-Dog, do you have anything to add?

No, I do not. No, I do not. We appreciate the excellent work, Mr. Dogg, and we might want to talk to you about contracting you for the rest of the season.

Yeah, that'd be fantastic. So, yeah, I guess that's it. All right, it's been episode 287 in the Cigar Hustle Podcast. Next week will be our big PCA show.

PCA? Is it? Yeah, because it's the 3rd. Monday's the 3rd, I believe.

Yeah, but I fly out the 7th. Right, so it's four days later. So you fly out the end of that week. So that will be the last show before the PCA.

I got it. Gotcha. All right, guys, we got to go. Catch us on the Patreon.

Michael's gonna talk some shit about people. We're gonna talk some shit. All right, guys. Bye.

Bye. The show's host, Dana Bacoul, with any feedback or suggestions you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience.

Show Notes

Join the Cigar Hustlers Podcast team and their esteemed guest, Brian from B-dog Engineering, as they unravel the mysteries of the Joe Rogan Cigar, unveil the most exciting PCA releases, and analyze the captivating world of "The White Lotus Show" on HBO. Get ready for an unforgettable episode that combines the best of cigars, engineering, and pop culture in one exhilarating package!