Cigar Hustlers Podcast 288 $10,000
Episode Summary
Episode 288 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast is the crew's pre-PCA show, and the centerpiece is a phone interview with Alex Nowogrodzki, the Polish-Canadian manufacturing consultant who oversees RoMa Craft Tobac production at the Nica Sueño factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Alex explains the difference between working for RoMa Craft versus the factory itself — he handles tobacco buying and selection, fermentation planning, sorting, and making sure the processes and quality standards Skip Martin demands are actually being followed on the floor. He also walks through his unlikely path into the industry: growing up in Montreal, working construction, taking a job at a cigar shop, being told he'd never make it, learning to roll after an encounter with master blender Crisanto Cardenas of Azan, teaching himself blending and Spanish over six years, landing a fermentation manager role at Oliva, and finally connecting with Skip Martin, who had answered his questions on Facebook for years.
The technical heart of the conversation is Neanderthal. The hosts rave that recent Neanderthal HN production has had perfect draw and flavor, and Alex credits a more heavily fermented broadleaf binder, keeping the Pennsylvania-style thick fillers and ligero in balance, and the fact that a single bunching pair — Adonis on the bunch, Raquel passing wrapper — makes every HN. He also explains why Maduro-on-Maduro cigars shrink as they dry, making weight and draw control doubly tricky. Alex then details Volstead, RoMa Craft's new Sumatra hybrid–wrapped line with a Mexican binder (his suggestion to Skip during a car ride with Luciano), listing the five core sizes plus the Blind Pig, Senator, Noble Experiment, Revenuer and Gran Perfecto specials, and confirms RoMa Craft and Powstanie will share booth 10131 at PCA 2023.
The back half is a rapid-fire PCA 2023 news roundup: El Septimo's $10 million masterpiece ashtrays (five of them, one per collection), Tatiana's 25th anniversary, Adel's new vitolas, Eroa, Gurkha's invitation-only Year of the Dragon plus 35th and 25th anniversary releases, Mule Kick 2023, the Knuckle Sandwich Prix Fixe sampler from Guy Fieri and Erik Espinosa with its numbered coin, Drew Estate's return to the 2024 trade show (and its 2023 presence in the Joya de Nicaragua booth), and a deep dive on the Tatuaje Anarchy NFT project with its Pale Horse edition cigars, humidor, and allotment rights. There's also talk of Fabien Ziegler's move, a listener/shop of the week shout-out to Heritage Cigars in Sarasota, Phil's Fun Facts, an unboxing of gear from Lenny Approved Cigars and Cigar Coop, and the hosts' PCA shopping lists including Black Star Line, Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth, HVC Connecticut, Charter Oak and more.
In This Episode
- 01Pre-PCA setup and next week's takeoverThe hosts tease a special Chet and Palmer episode, travel plans for the July 7–11 PCA trade show, and the Patreon segment on the Don Doroteo Daruma Toro.
- 02Alex Nowogrodzki joins from EstelíRoMa Craft's manufacturing consultant explains what he actually does at Nica Sueño — tobacco buying, fermentation timing, sorting and quality processes.
- 03From Montreal construction to NicaraguaAlex's path into cigars: a Canadian cigar shop job, learning to roll from Crisanto Cardenas, self-taught blending, a year as Oliva's fermentation manager, then RoMa Craft.
- 04Working for Skip MartinGetting yelled at in English versus Spanish, Skip's rare engineer-plus-artist brain, and why he's right about 90% of the time.
- 05Why Neanderthal HN is smoking so wellA more fermented broadleaf binder, thin Vito filler, on-point ligero, a single dedicated bunching pair, and the Maduro shrinkage problem behind draw consistency.
- 06Volstead: the Sumatra hybrid projectHow a car ride conversation led to a Mexican binder under Sumatra hybrid, plus the five core sizes and the Blind Pig, Senator, Noble Experiment, Revenuer and Gran Perfecto specials.
- 07PCA 2023 news roundupEl Septimo's $10 million ashtrays, Tatiana 25th, Gurkha Year of the Dragon, Mule Kick, Knuckle Sandwich Prix Fixe, Drew Estate's 2024 return and the Tatuaje Anarchy NFT details.
- 08PCA shopping lists, gear unboxing and shop of the weekWhat the hosts most want to smoke at the show, packages from Lenny Approved Cigars and Cigar Coop, Phil's Fun Facts, and Heritage Cigars in Sarasota.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
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Transcript
Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 288, where we bring you the latest news and insights from the world of premium cigars. In this episode, we dive into big stories of the week. The King, Mike Stevonkiewicz, and Reverend BDP, Mike Palmer are two dynamic individuals, Who co-hosts the Captivating Cigar Hustlers Podcast. And me, I'm Boots.
I'm not B-Dog Engineering. I didn't change that part, see if you would know to read it B-Dog Engineering. So grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and join us for another exciting episode of Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Unbelievable.
Camera one, please. com for pricing and more information. Yes, we're at this again. So light up your favorite cigars, sit back and allow us to take you on an unforgettable journey through the captivating realm of cigars.
Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, where every episode is an indulgence in the finer things in life. Let's ignite the flame and elevate our cigar experience together. Thank you, Chad, GBT. Cars.
Oh, no? No. We don't do that. No.
No. No more cars. No more cars. Sorry.
I'm so sorry. What are we doing for the Patreon? We're doing the Don... No, not Don.
Don Dorteo. This is... How do you pronounce this? The Darwin?
The Daruma. The Daruma. Daruma. The Daruma Toro.
Daruma. Paintgate. A. Paintgate.
Paintgate. Oh. Are we weighing it with everything on it? I'm going to tell you, I smell my box.
And my box don't smell like a paint. Yeah, they didn't smell like paint. No. I don't know.
Do we wait with the paper and the pepper? I'm going to take the one paper off. Just the one paper. Tissue is sort of like cello.
Yes. We have Alex from... Oh, you arranged that today? Yeah.
8 grams, just so you know. 16... He's uh... He's ready.
We're waiting in the wings. He's in the green room. He's in the green room, as I like to say. It's lovely.
Nice. This is our pre-PCA show. Yep. We got a lot of pre-CA information.
We got a lot to cover. Oh, we have a box. You want to do the box before you call him? No, no.
We'll do the box after. He's getting antsy. I don't want to, you know. I'm sure that.
Do I have to hit the button? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to connect. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
It wasn't that. Did you connect? Connection. Unsuccessful.
Who is this? Alex? Alex Trebek. Yeah.
You never heard of him? I think so. My Bluetooth is off. That's the guy that's on TV, right?
Son of a bitch. It's gone now. Is it pairing? Yes, it's flashing.
Flashing. Splashin, da-da-da-da-da-da. Special show next week. We did something.
Now it's gone. The Chet and Palmer Show is taking over Cigar Hustler Podcast and we'll be doing the show next week. Really? We have lots of surprises ready.
Special guests by phone call we have set up. We have special videos. By proxy. Next week.
Next week. Well, you guys are gone. Boots will be gone. Boots will be gone, yes.
Wait, quick question. Yes. Oh, I thought you were going with Boots. No, no, no, no, Phil.
Well, I think Phil is, I think I am gone. I think I am gone. Yes, yes, you are gone. You are gone.
A quick question. Yes. What day are we coming back? It goes through Monday, so I think you come back Tuesday.
Oh. Is it an extra day this year? 7th to the 11th? It feels like a lot.
I thought it was only three days. So does it start? It's not three days, no. I thought normally, was it normally Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday?
And we would fly in on Friday normally? We fly back, it's over the 11th. Yes. Okay, so that's Monday.
Oh no, that's Tuesday. Last day. And then we fly back on the 12th. Oh, so you guys are gone 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, six days.
" Which is how we normally come back. Yeah, exactly. And then I'm an asshole. Yeah, then we're just dead for the day.
" Get some sleep. Yeah, just leave the asshole in Vegas. Yeah, please, that'd be much better. It's rough, man.
It's a rough flight. It is a rough flight. It is. It is a rough flight, but I don't know what it is, but it's just dead.
It's traveling east. It's brutal. And after three or four days, you're just standing on your feet. Right.
And saying, Oh, yeah, hi. Nice to see you. You just turned it on and turned it back off again. Yeah, because it wasn't working.
There it is. You're doing something wrong. I don't think so. I believe I can fly.
I believe I can touch the sky. You should stop saying that. We're just waiting on you, Michael. I mean, you'd think you'd have all this set up and ready to go.
I forgot about it. Uh-oh. Last week, you didn't. Hello?
It stopped ringing, then. Hello? Hello? Hey, what's up?
Hey, it's BDP, the owner of Cigar Hustler, Poshik, and everything Polish. Ooh. Yeah, just a joke. Let's keep Polacks in the Floridian, right?
I'm a Floridian, right? Ooh. Uh, uh, right, yeah, are you Pola? I'm both.
Oh, yeah, two Polags on Floridian. Floridian's bout like a Polag, so, you know, three, it's practically the same thing. It's practically the same thing. I could take the heat better.
You think you can? No, I'm old, I'm old. I feel like you can't handle the heat, brother. Let's be honest.
I think, I'm not even gonna say the joke. So, Alex, you are the rock star of- The guy that runs, that makes all the Roma Craft cigars. I'll just shut up, don't worry. Alright, you go ahead.
You were stuttering. I was trying to help. I was stuttering? Yes.
Interesting. I didn't feel like I was stuttering. And go. Okay, good.
This is why I love watching your show. You guys always make me laugh. Because it's a fucking circus? That's why.
It's a train wreck. No, no. You can't say that. Why not?
Espinosa just went on a train. You can't say train wreck. Well, they're not on it now. Yeah, but it's not safe.
It's not safe? So now you can say train wreck again? For the love of God, can we do an interview here with somebody who's actually working here in the fucking cigar industry? And go.
Hi, Alex. How are you? What's up? How y'all doing?
Can you pronounce your last name for us, Alex? Novogrodzka. It should be Novogrodzki, because, you know, the way the Polish language works, but it's my mom's name, and Canada just kept it the same way. So, women finish in A, and men finish in I, in Poland.
I'm just letting you know it's gonna be spelled wrong on the description for the show. Alex something something. Alex something something long name with a ski on the end. So how does a Polish-Canadian find his way into Esteli, Nicaragua and then starts working with the legendary Skip Martin and Nikosueno?
Let me ask. I gotta ask that question off the rip. How does that happen? Long journey.
Well, I'm going to say one thing first, and it's really not to be a kiss-ass, because I'm not a kiss-ass. Okay. Skip lunch, though. Like, if you asked me, if you asked me about, what would it be, seven years ago, what would be my dream job in the industry, it would be exactly where I'm at, exactly where I'm at, too.
Well, I got to tell you, seven years ago, I'm sure that the grass seemed awful greener on the other side. Welcome to Thunderdome. So what do you do there exactly? Oh man, it's a simple answer and a complicated answer at the same time.
Let's have the simple one, it's an only-an-hour show. So shut the fuck up and let them talk. So, I'm a manufacturing consultant, so basically, I work for Roma Craft, I don't work for Nica Tueño. And to clarify that, it's basically, I'm here to make sure that Roma Craft cigars are made the way that the company wants them to be made.
So, when it comes to buying tobacco, it's Roma Craft that's buying the tobacco, so it has to be selected the right way for it to end up I mean, I'm not going to buy thin wrappers. We don't use that. I'm not going to buy, you know, light tobacco. All we use is taste-toast-the-romanbaco.
Right. I'm here to make sure that happens. I help on projecting when are we going to buy what tobacco, at what moment. I'm here to help making sure that when they sort the tobacco, it's being sorted the right way so we efficiently use the tobacco.
The best part of the Pilon, but also, you know, we don't let any stuff, any bad stuff into the cigars, and we don't let any good stuff not end up in the cigar. Okay, so you verify the quality of the cigars, or at least the tobacco. Yeah. Do you verify the quality of the draw and all that other stuff too?
Yeah, every single cigar, I put them in my mouth. That's amazing. That's amazing. Wow.
No, I'm joking. Oh, I thought you were serious. Yeah. That's some quality control.
Of course, right? Well, I mean, you know essentially that cigars by the gram, you know, for the most part, when you exceed a specific number, those cigars are going to be plugged, right? Yeah. So, like, I'm sure that you oversee some of that.
No? Yes? Maybe? Well, I make sure that the processes are respected in order for the team to be checking that.
So I make sure that what we need to do is clear for the team, I make sure that we have the right tools, I make sure that it is done, but it's a work that the team does, it's like, you know, I'm not some magician that just makes everything happen well, you know? No, but you're a person that's present, you're a person that's there, and when you're there, that's usually when people don't fuck around as much, I would assume, right? That's the idea. And, you know, having a company culture where everybody brings it together and, you know, creating a nice work environment, creating, you know, the best team we can have in this city because, you know, the idea is to take care of people too, right?
Because you're only as good as your team. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, how'd you find Skip?
How'd Skip find you? Well, so... Fucking Jobber or something? com, Nicaragua.
It was on, it was on, uh, Craigslist actually, it was for another thing, but, uh... They still have that? You were on, uh, what, what's the, what's the fucking dating thing called? Backpage?
Um, I was on Bumble, I was on Bumble. But you were on Bumble? Bumble. Seeking...
Skip a swiping for... Seeking double XL man, looking for, needs tobacco love. Doesn't like to sleep. Nocturnal...
Yeah, exactly. Must put every cigar in his mouth. Actually, he was, he was looking for somebody that's on the opposite, you know, So, when he's sleeping, he guards, and when I'm sleeping, he guards, you know? Gotcha.
Good teamwork. Nice. For 24 hours. Okay.
Basically, so about eight, nine years ago, yeah, that'd be already nine years ago, I stopped working, I was starting to work in construction, and I wrote, I've been wanting to, I was interested about cigars since I was 16, I was smoking cigars, watching interviews, all that stuff. I was 21 and I stopped working construction for a little while. I went to work at a cigar store because I just knew I had to do something with the industry. Which one?
It's in Canada. I don't know. I just want to... Hey, hey, hey, hey.
We also... I'm going to give a shout-out to Trey at the Smokin' Cigar in Toronto. There you go. Oh, my favorite.
It's my favorite one in Toronto. Yeah, in Toronto. Exactly. But to be clear, I'm from Montreal, I'm not a Torontonian.
Please don't call me a Torontonian. So you speak French then too? Yes, sir. I speak French, Polish.
Oh, talk some Polish. You, Michael, you guys talk some Polish. Yeah, what's up? Yeah, what's up?
Yeah, what's up? Yeah, it'll go well. Oh, we called you a name. Yeah.
What about Spanish? Do you speak Spanish? A little bit? Of course.
Of course he does. I mean, he's in Nicaragua. Who knows? Skip Martin, a guy that only speaks French and Polish to run his factory in Nicaragua.
Must speak French and Polish. You know, he's got Google Translate. Who knows? Roll really fast.
Is that what it sounds like? Oh, interesting. I translated. Roll really fast.
I have a broken phone. It just doesn't work. Nice. So, you, so, go ahead.
Well, I worked at a cigar store, every, every rep that came in or every company owner that came in, I would ask them, you know, how can I be in the cigar industry, and they all told me, you're crazy, it's not going to happen, you need to be born in the industry and all that, and you need to speak Spanish. So, I got a little, you know, discouraged, but I said, no, I'm going to find a way. So one day, Crisanto Cardena, the master blender and roller for Roberto Pelayo from the Azan brand, he came into the store and was rolling cigars, and by the end of my shift, I asked him, like, hey, like, could I roll a cigar? And he was very serious the whole time, you know, this serious old stupid man.
And when he showed me how to roll a cigar, I saw a spotlight on his face. And I was like, you told me you have good hands for rolling cigars, so, pause. And, you know, that gave me the motivation, so cool, like, if nobody's going to teach me, I'm going to start making cigars myself. So I started buying tobacco and started learning how to basically, you know, smoking individual parietals, started making blends, started making cigars, and, you know, after a while, I was making cigars for a couple of clients by myself.
I was growing in construction. I mean, I became a foreman and everything, you know, a layout guy. So I had a stable job, but I was also making cigars for events and for people. Nice.
And then somebody I knew, I mean, I started making connections in the industry. People started paying attention. They were interested in what I was doing. They respected, you know, the hustle, you could say.
I learned Spanish that whole time for about six years. And eventually, Oliva Cigars, you know, they got me to Nicaragua for an interview and I ended up working for them for a year as a fermentation manager. No shit. Nice.
Yeah, that was a three years ago. And then you ran into the skip at like Finkasumesa or some shit? I don't know what it is, can't laugh or anything. Yeah, in fact, I gotta give a lot of respect to Skip.
When nobody wanted to keep me, he was the one that would always answer his messages on Facebook, and he taught me a lot. So as I was playing with Liz, I would come and ask him questions, and he would always help. And then when I came to Esteli, we met, you know, through people we knew in common and slowly we built a relationship. My situation, I mean, I have a fiancé in Canada, so with Oliva, I couldn't go back home enough.
She didn't like Nicaragua that much, so she wouldn't be here, so I just, I had to leave Oliva, because when asked for, to be able to go back home more often, they said no, so I had to leave Oliva, and, and when I was free, you know. Somebody has supervised them. Fermentation, they can't leave. Yeah.
These leaves aren't just gonna watch themselves. Yeah, they're not gonna ferment if you're not here. Yeah, you need to, I mean, come on. Yeah, you know, if you don't watch, they start sleeping, right?
Exactly. They might burst into flames. Yeah, I mean, yeah. It happens.
Did you work for Fuente or something? And every time we traveled to Canada, there would be a fire or something. I've only been home twice. I've been home two times in two times.
These guys are bad, man. Yes. Nobody likes us. Yes, we are.
Yes, we are. Terrible people. So, yeah, and then, you know, I'm with Romacraft, and it's really, really a doing job. It's a lot of work.
We have a lot of things that, you know, we can keep doing better, but I'm in, man. Well, I got to tell you. When did his name show up on the shirt? Oh, Rosales.
I mean, there's a lot of room at the bottom of it now. And Dizla. There was. It was Crosstown Dizla.
And Crosstown Vasquez. It would be Roman. It would be Roman. Roman.
Roman. Roman. Oh, he's put himself in the name of the company. Yeah, he's just working.
I mean, he's just, he's right there. Yeah, he's passing the shirt. Oh. Yeah.
Interesting. Wow. Well, I mean. You heard it here first, everybody.
You know, there has to be some type of parameter to be added onto the shirt. I feel like... Well, look who got on it before. Apparently, it's kind of easy.
Like, yeah, so we got to walk that back a little bit. There's got to be some type of term and then like a feedback survey, you know, like, are you satisfied with the company, you know, and like all these things, you know? Yeah. A little vetting process.
Yeah, we can't just put them on the shirt. There's no lightweight, heavy or John D. Oliver on it. Yeah, see, lesson learned, you know what I'm saying?
It's called a climate survey. Yeah. Right. If your name's not part of it.
You should put the Servi on the shirt. Yeah. Are you happy here? That was an hour thing.
The shirt should be the Servi, right? Yeah. Alright, so I'm going to start asking the hard questions. Ooh.
How often does Skip yell at you? All the time. Standard. Does he yell at you in Spanish or English?
In both. Depends how angry he is. Oh. Is he angrier in English?
Angrier in English. Angry in English, you think? Because he has to think to do the Spanish. It just goes from angry to very angry, you know, so it's like very angry, when he's very angry, he just turns into Spanish.
Oh. You know, Spanish sounds better when you're using bad words. Yeah, but you know what? If you don't understand it completely, then it doesn't mean anything to you, you know what I mean?
Yeah, it's like Tony Montana, right? He speaks Spanish. What's that, Alex? It's like Tony Montana, right, you know?
Yeah, exactly. You know, you start yelling at me, I'm like... You ever talk back to him in French so he doesn't know what you're saying? No, no, no, I got, I gotta, I gotta say, you know, get my good mad at me and stuff, but, uh, I'm learning a lot from him, so, there's every right to, uh, to criticize, you know, yeah, he's got a lot of processes, you know, he has a, he has a, a specific approach on things and he wants things done his way, I've kind of learned that about him after fucking with him for over a decade, so, yeah, I could see that, I could see that.
And honestly, like 90% of the time, he's right, and that's a lot of, that's a big percentage of being right, so nobody's always right, but pretty often. How many years you've been working with him? How many years? Oh, only eight, only eight months.
All right, so it's probably going to drop to about 60%, give it, you know, I mean, you know, yeah, you could still give him the fact that he's right more than you, but it's not, it isn't going to be like a 90% thing, I mean, maybe, maybe 70% or something. He can't say that. At eight months, he can't say shit. He's right a hundred percent of the time.
There's no way for him to bust him out of. We'll bring you back in a year. The hard part is when he's not right, then you really have to maneuver the whole thing. Like, okay, how am I going to angle that?
Yeah, yeah. It could be dangerous. It could be dangerous. It's easier to say.
It's easier to say, yeah, you know what? You're right. I'm gonna fuck up. It's harder to try to convince him that he's wrong.
you know that makes him you know what i've done that for years that makes him super angry i'm like yeah you're right and he's like you're just fucking saying that i'm like okay no man i swear i swear it's because you know uh i'm an idiot so so that's good it's good that you've learned that tactic that's very successful for a while but you know it'll only last so long just so you know yeah uh did you have some were you have you so you've been there for eight months Do you oversee like the last batch of Neanderthal HNs? Whenever they came to market, because I gotta fucking tell you, bro, the draw on them have been fucking perfect, the flavor has been fucking money, and I smoke the Neanderthal HN, I smoke about two every single night, okay? So, when you smoke a cigar that much, you can pick up on these tiny little nuances of something being different. So, I got to tell you, man, whatever the fuck you're doing, you're doing it right, you know, things are definitely progressing in the right way, so, I just want to give my hat off to you, man.
Well, don't that to skip. I did. Don't that to skip, because that's the binder being more fermented. I did already, I said, bro, you know, these- He's real good at the fermenting.
I said- It's the fermentation of the binder, because Broadleaf, if you fermented, if you fermented more, it's not that it's fermented right than it was fermented wrong before. That's not the thing, but when you have, when you have one that's more fermented, it burns better, and the flavor, the profile, the profile will change a little bit, and it helps a lot with the blend. The other thing for me is the Vito Canvego we have in there, we actually need to have it, like, on the thinner side. Right.
You beefed it up. And the Ligera Sili has to be on point. The Ligera Sili has to be on point. I'm going to tell you, man, I'm going to tell you, I noticed it, I fucking, as soon as I, I think I messaged him a week ago, or two weeks ago, I said, man, I got to tell you, this last batch of Neanderthals, fucking stupid good, fucking stupid good, so...
And the draw, the draw, I've got to give that to the two productions. Yeah. The two productions we have right now, as a new guy, and he used to be, well new recently, not from yesterday, And he used to be a bunch after 10 years for us, so he knows exactly how to have the weight of the cigars, because what happens when you have a Maduro cigar, what a lot of people don't know is that it shrinks and shrinks and shrinks because of the wrapper. So if you have a good draw on a Maduro cigar when it's fresh, it might end up being a little tight after it's dried.
Gotcha. And imagine we have a Maduro wrapper, we have a Maduro binder. It's a binder. So it's double the trouble, you know?
Well, and the shape of the cigar in itself. I mean, it's a chopped Solomon, right? Or some shit. But the HN, right now, the HN, we only have one pair making it.
We always keep that same pair making it that Adonis... Only two people? Adonis who's bunching it. Yeah, one buncher.
You know, people, like, there's Raquel that passes the wrapper. There's Adonis that makes the bunch. And Adonis, I love Adonis. I love Adonis.
He works a little slower, but he takes his time, he puts all the rights of actors in the right place. Hey man, it's got to be done right. You know? What a strong name to make the Neanderthals.
Adonis? I am Adonis. Adonis! Dude's 65 pounds.
The name doesn't fit, you're saying? Yeah, yeah. He packs a punch. Where's Adonis?
Move, little guy. I want to see where Adonis is. Oh, he's just sideways. Oh, that's him.
Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you, fella. Nice to meet you, fella. And he's been bunching for us for a long, long time.
Nice. But I mean, everybody that works at Nicosueno is, you know, stellar. There's no bad bunches, there's no bad rollers. Yeah.
But for the HN, given there's thick fillers in that cigar, it's better when it's honest. Alright, so tell me a little bit about the Volstead, because we're getting into the PCA. We had a little pre-release, I got to spend, we got to spend a little bit of time with Mike Rose-Allens, he had a couple of goodies that he shared with us this week. I'm actually smoking one of those right now.
Okay, what size? One of the pre-release. Okay. The Senator, yeah.
Okay. So, how many sizes are coming out? How did it come to fruition, you know? Because this is definitely, a Sumatra hybrid wrapper is way out of left field.
It's just something that I didn't see coming from Rome. I didn't think that it would happen. And it doesn't taste like a Sumatra wrapper at all, which for me is fantastic because I'm not really a Sumatra fan. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on how it kind of came to fruition and what are the sizes and are you excited about it?
You're not, I mean, you're smoking, so you've got to be somewhat excited about it. No, no, I'm actually really excited about it because my favorite cigar maker is Ernie Carrillo. Oh, so then you and Skip must dock together. I mean, what the fuck?
You're like, oh, did we just become best friends? Let's talk about Ernie. Can we talk about Ernie? You want to go do karate in the garage?
I love Ernie. You love Ernie. So much. You want to know the funny thing?
So, you know, my, my fiance hears everything of my life, right? Because, I mean, it's not her who, right? Mm-hmm. So, she knows all the, you know, the hard parts.
Uh, I mean, you know, being dropped in the position I'm in, uh, I can handle it, but there's a lot of hard parts. She knows all the hard parts, right? Yeah. I mean, obviously with Skip, it's a boss-employee relationship, so it's not like we're chilling at, you know, Finka Smith, it's fucking work, and there's a lot of work to be done here.
Right. So she knows all the hard parts, but she's like, it's so funny because, you know, there's so much of the hard part, but you guys are really the same. Like, she's laughing at how similar we are yet, you know. Yeah, I know.
Oh, so you guys have a lot of things in common. Yeah, yeah. I mean, nobody's like Skip. I've never met anybody like Skip.
Yeah, me neither. You know what's crazy about Skip is that he really is an engineer, but I've known a lot of engineers in my life, and none of them are creative like Skip. I've never met somebody that has a brain that can think like an engineer and then switch to an artistic, creative side and have good taste, you know? I'm sorry about the engineers out there in the evenings.
That's why he was always up so late, you know? Yeah, exactly. That's when he's like, all right, there's no one else around, and then he just fucking drops one, and they get some good ideas and shit, and he's got like a notepad next to him or something. No, but seriously, man, like, if you look at the names he puts on Vitola, the concepts of the brand, all the freaking artwork is done by him, the lending, he's freaking amazing.
Like, so, we're talking about Volsan, right? So, I was already, I was spending time with him, when I was at Oliva already, and one day I was with him and Luciano in a car, and we were just going to see the semester industry, like, on a Saturday, for fun, you know? With charcuterie involved? With charcuterie, exactly.
Okay, cool. Cheese and grapes. And, and so, he's talking about, he wants to do a Sumatra cigar, and I said, my favorite binder for, uh, Sumatra is Mexican because it's just the way I blend, right? Right.
And he took that. He said, okay, I'll try it out. I don't think so, but I'll try it out. But then he put all the fillers together, which are very different from what you usually make.
It still tastes like aroma, but if you read it on paper, it's completely different from the other stuff you make. And it works perfectly. It does. I'm telling you, he blended it.
You know, the whole seminar thing where people say you can make a hundred blends to get to a blend. Dude, Skip just went like, he did like three iterations or something and then it was on. Yeah, I mean... It went from his brain, it went from his brain to paper to the table and it was good, you know?
If you're good at what you do and it takes you a hundred fucking blends to get there, you're not really good at what you do. I mean, let's be honest, you know, if you don't know the flavor profiles of the leaves and stuff like that and the combinations And, and, and kind of how to put things together, and it takes you that fucking long, I mean, dude, you should seek another occupation. It's just ridiculous. Exactly.
'Cause you're just making, you know, you're just faking, you're just faking work. There's other shit to be done. Cigar making, like, blending is like, not even 1% of cigar making. Yeah, I think the harder part is...
And besides, besides, blending is like, it's not like you sit down, you mark it on paper. Blending is like, how you buy the tobacco, You know how you ferment it, how you select it before production, and how the bumper's blending itself, you know? Yeah. If you put too much of one leaf, then he fucked it up, you know?
Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. So when it's coming out, it's coming out in how many sizes since you work for Rumor Graphic, not Nikaswani? How many sizes?
One, two, three, four, five. 5x54 Belly Coco, those are the regular production sizes, like the core sizes. 5x60, we've got the Senator 5x50, we've got the Noble Experiment, So we got the Revenuer, which is an Anthropology size, you know, five and three quarters by 46. We got the Gran Perfecto, and we're gonna have a six and a quarter by 44.
Nice. All right. And how close are you to shipping some of these things? It's coming, man.
It's being packaged. It's coming. That's about the right answer. The right answer is it's ready when it's ready, but it's coming.
It's close enough. I don't know. It's not a... What's the normal answer?
It's ready when it's ready. It's ready when it's ready or you need to say soon, right? Yeah. Soon.
Yeah, that's usually his Instagram posts. It's like three O's or two O's? It's the standard two. Just two, just two.
I just ain't go, I just ain't go, that's what I said, two. Yeah. No, no, there's gonna be, there's gonna be a fair, there's gonna be a fair lot for sale at the PCA. Yes.
So, could you see yourself blending your own cigar there? Oh. " For me? Like, for my own brand?
I don't know. No, no, maybe not for your own brand, Maybe onto the Roma flagship or something like that. Yeah, you know, like a Viso Horny or stuff like that. Well, I always, I mean, listen, like, that's what I did for eight years, so it's just like a habit of mine.
I always have to be making cigars. So I have like, under my office desk, I have a cardboard box with a bunch of fillers, and I'm just always playing around with stuff. I got about, I got like three blends I want to make. I just turned 30, and I wanted to make some for my 30th anniversary.
I mean, I've been so busy that, we're so busy at the factory that I don't want to, you know, put some bunches to work on that, but I'm always-- You know, you grab Adonis, you grab the lady. You grab Adonis. He's the best. He's the best one.
You know what anybody else doing? Hey, Adonis. Adonis, we got a special project. Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
He'll be fine. But he works a little slower, so, you know, he's gonna slide it in. Yeah, so now I'll know. He's taking a long time.
He's very good. Just leave him alone. Yeah, you just bring us down there. We'll help you out.
Just throw Adonis some cash after hours, bro. I'm just like, hey, stay in for another hour and you need to make some shit. That's probably what I'm going to end up doing. That's the move.
That's the move. Soon. Sure. Skip knows I love blending stuff, so he's cool with it.
He's very supportive. Alright, cool. What's his favorite Roma scar to smoke, Alex? My favorite Roma?
Yeah. I would say Promagnin, Promagnin Knuckle Dragger, Neanderthal LH, the box press one, you know, Aquitaine, the Aquitaine Anthropology, and in EC, in EC, the little 4x46, in BA, the little 4x46. and it involves that involves that almost anything i mean i'd say the george the i'd say the senator would be my favorite vote for the five i think it's a box all right well we're going to wrap this up real quick and ask you one last question oh you think you're going to get yelled at for doing this podcast and say were you or is you going to be critiqued as to where you fucked up - We all know the answer to this. - Great.
Say that again? - Do you think you're gonna be yelled at or critiqued for the way that you carried yourself on this podcast and what you said or what you did not say? - Skip's gonna be making notes as he's listening. - Yeah.
- I will have constructive commentary. - In Spanish or English? - It depends. - Yeah, how bad he is.
- It depends. - It depends. - Hopefully you don't get that constructive criticism this week prior, you know, in the midst of PCA going on, so. It will be soon.
You know, maybe, maybe in the middle of the booth or something, you know, there'll be a good time for that. Oh, is he coming? Are you going to be at BCA? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, fuck yeah, dude. No, it's, I'm telling you, I'm living the dream. It's been, like, my fiance's like, she's like, so happy. It's like, it's been 10 years I've been wanting to go to BCA, like, so I'm going to be there.
I land there at the 7th at night, so I'll be there at the 8th and the 9th, and then at the 10th, really early in the morning, I'm leaving. So it's really eight to nine, I'm there, I'm at the booth, getting coffees for people and, you know. So pretty much what you just said to me is you're gonna miss the build-out of the booth and you're gonna miss the breakdown of the booth, you fuck. Sounds like a great, you fucking rat bastard.
He did it right. " They said the other ones were full. Yeah, right. " And I'm like, hell yeah.
When am I coming? I'm like, you know, check it out with Jamie. And then they booked me like right in the middle. That's what I was thinking.
I was like, shit, I get the easy part. Oh, no. Jamie did it. Jamie's a doll.
First of all, hold on. First of all, you did not get the easy part. What so fucking ever. What so ever.
No, no, no. I never get the easy part. I wore the wrong flip-flops. Take these back up to my room.
There will be extensive bitch work, for sure, for sure. You know. It happens, it's going, it's going. And you know, it's an, it's honestly, it's a, you know, it's a significant part of the whole fucking thing.
You need somebody to kind of fill that void when shit needs to get done, so. Well, I'm happy being the water boy. Water boy. That's what I call from High Quality H2O.
Water! Water! Juice box. Juice box.
All right, Alex, well, we're going to let you go. I know that Adonis is already behind on the Neanderthals, so you might want to get, You've got to get back to work. I want to get over there and check that out. Yeah, actually, the driver's here just looking at me, he's like, "Hey, you told me to come here to go to, to go to Protonica," and he's just waiting for me, staring at me angrily.
All right, so go do your thing. Tell him me on this Cigar Houser podcast, he'll understand. All right, so just, just so that everybody knows, Roma Craft is in booth 101-31, right? Nice.
101-31, yes. 101-31. And come meet Alex if you come on the show. And maybe he can get you a cup of water or something.
Who else is in that booth? I heard there's like the tall, you know, skinny Playboy that's gonna be in that booth. Tall, skinny Playboy? Jeff Moutet?
Yeah, I heard of it. Well, listen, that motherfucker, he'll be hovering around the booth with his cocaine and his hookers, but son of a bitch has yet to give me a press release in regards to the Fosforo Limitada. And, you know, the PCA is three days away, so there's that. Time's ticking.
I can tell you that Powstanie's gonna be in that motherfucker, though, and we're gonna dominate the entire booth, so. so pow pow boom boom boom boom there you go there you go all right brother well thanks again thanks so much for coming on i know it's been took a little bit to get you here and uh you know we've had some back and forth for for a few weeks but we got there so no no worries i'm really happy all right i'll see you i'll see you on friday perfect yeah guys all right brother thanks bye no it's saturday uh the seventh is friday friday yeah he doesn't come in till the eighth he's like You can see him on the floor till the 8. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't know how, do you know how Roma Craft works?
I've been there before. Yeah, you think, you know, he's gonna land, he's not gonna go up to his room, he's not allowed to. No, he's not going to his room, no, no, no. Quickly, get here, we need something.
Yeah. Well, Skip and Lisa might keep him company till 3 o'clock in the morning. Good little interview there, man. And then show up on the floor at 8 o'clock, where Skip sleeps in till 10.
Yes. That's the way it works. Mm-hmm. I was gonna say bye to him in French, I completely forget.
Sorry. That's okay. Some updates on that'd be some horny shit. We'll save that for the Patreon, by the way.
Oh, okay. But in the meantime, let's kind of get on to, we got a... Yeah, let him do, let Phil do his. Phil, you got a package.
Oh. Yeah, no, not that. No, we'll do the package first. Yeah.
And then after our box, then we'll do your Phil's Fun Facts. I don't want to show the top of it. Well, it's just the Owlier address. It's not his home address.
There it is. Lenny. Lenny. He got your own box because he forgot you.
Because you broke his balls. You're aggressive. You're a little aggressive. Lenny's a good guy.
I don't know about the guy that's on your table. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't even talk about it. Hey, hey, hey.
This is the El King Supremo over here. Don't talk about our package. Talk about you just, you know. Okay.
Lenny, you're a good guy. Take the W, for God's sake. This is why none of my pens work. This is what happens.
They don't give me knives around here. You're dangerous. We don't let you have sharp things. There we go.
Use your teeth. Oh, my God. Oh, I broke it. See?
Ever since you got lost on the Doom Buggy thing, we don't let you have sharp things. Doonberg, you think? The Jeeps. The Jeeps.
Oh, Lord. Hope to God it's a dildo. No, that would probably be Brett. I saw the video.
It was hilarious. Those were boots. Yeah, those were boots. What does boots like to eat?
What does boots like to eat? I can tell you that Phil lacks the capacity to open a box. Open tape, apparently. Jesus.
I'd say there's... This guy has great labels. There's a pair of scissors in the drawer there in the control room. Did you ever see, I'm gonna show you how, I'm gonna show you how to do this, just so you know when you're done.
It's only an hour long show. Yeah, I mean, if you could expedite that a little bit. Bing, bing, bing, bing. Oh.
What'd you get? Let's see. Stickers. Oh.
Oh, lighter. You got your lighter and your cutter. Cutter, the stickers. Oh, there's the St.
Patrick's ones on the wall behind you. You're collecting lighters and cutters from retailers around the world. I just want to tell you guys something. What?
It must be a standard package. I have a hat. Two hats. Oh, two hats.
Oh, one for boots, one for Phil. Yeah, one for boots, one for Phil. Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up. Thank you.
Thank you. It's bad luck. Bad luck. Put it back in the box.
Oh, sunglasses. Oh, those Lenny sunglasses. Oh, this is great. Wow.
Yes. Oh, you have to take those to PCA. Very hot in Vegas. A lot of sun.
There is not two more pairs in here. Oh, we don't care. We already got our packages. We got our packages.
A week ago or two weeks ago. Okay. He sent me three pairs. See, there's stuff for us in your box, but there's not stuff for you in our box.
And there's paper. Oh, from Arizona. You know, if you're in Waterworld, that'd be worth a lot of money. Paper?
Paper. Why'd you watch that this weekend? No. No, we just always do the paper thing.
No. Paper? Paper? You wanna open it, Michael?
So this is, I just want you to know, this is how you open a box. Let's open a box. Okay, let's see it. So we got a package from the king of media, of cigar media.
King of cigar media. Mr. Coop. William Coop.
What you do is you say, Palmer. See how that works? Boom. Knife.
And then you just open it. What's it say on the side of the glasses? Does it say Lenny or something on the glasses? It does.
com. Oh, nice. And LennyApproved. Nice.
And they're UV protection. Oh. Gotta have UV protection. This day and age, with all the climate change.
Please just be two. Please just be two. Of course it's just two. I'm gonna see Coop here soon.
Of course it's just two. Oh, look at this. Oh. Oh.
What is that? He's number two. Throw in some casual shade with the number one cigar Coop on the top. You can't see it on the camera.
Oh, you can't see it? No. Because of the shine? Yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry, you can't see that. Oh, it's too bad. That's too bad. It's a damn shame.
Oh, we'll put one of those up on the door there behind Phil in the control room. Yeah. And look. Oh, look at this.
Oh, what is that? It is a Cigar Coupe Camera 3 Polo. Oh, yeah, there's only two. Woo!
I believe you have mine. What, are they different sizes? No, this one's maroon. Oh, yeah, then I have yours.
Mm. Aha! I don't mind the colors. Mm.
- That's nice. - Oh, yes. - Lovely. Thank you so much, Coop.
That's very fun. - Oh look, they're from Cigar Authority. - No, it's Port Authority. - Port Authority.
Oh, sorry. - Only two. - Yep. Just two.
- Well, Lenny and Brett Frye are my favorites. - Yeah, Brett Frye's gonna send you a condo, or a dildo, apparently. - That's not me. - Camera two.
- Camera two. You didn't want to hold your shirt up? Yours is a different color. We already did it.
We already did it. Oh. You just didn't do your camera. He didn't hold this up.
He did. Remember how smooth the camera work was last week? It was so nice. Smallest.
I'll make it smooth right now. Smallest. Smallest. All right, Phil.
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Well, it's time. Is it? It's time.
So, fellas, did you know a cigar can burn for more than one hour? Yes. They call it puffing on a cigar when you're smoking one. So, yes, you do puff on a cigar and not light it up or smoke it.
Cigars can burn anywhere from 40 minutes to one hour, depending on the size of the cigar. a tobacco blend and how far down you have lit it far down yep that's a long time to hold something in your mouth okay did you give him that you did that all on his own oh it's not funny when i do it just when you guys give it sounds a little gay you know when you do whatever when you do it to yourself i'll clip up when you hold it yeah sure it just loves uh okay only got a second one time when you hold it in your mouth. You know what? You do whatever you got to do, Phil.
Yeah. You know? Yeah. We encourage you to be yourself.
I appreciate you guys. Yeah. We're here for you, bud. Mm-hmm.
It was lonely last week, wasn't it? Oh, without you here? No, I mean, it was... Oh, B-Dog did a great job.
Yeah. I mean, I miss Boots a little bit, but I miss Phil. I was like, oh, he's leaving. No.
No more camera shot to him. He's got his segments down. He's taken away. He's removed his piece.
Oh, my God. That's what he looks like? Oh. I can see you on the monitors.
It's terrible. Hey, what's the time over there? I forgot to start the clock. It's 44-42.
Oh, we got to get moving. Yeah, I mean, we can't even talk about our week. Uh-oh. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need.
The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Zune. El Septimo's debuting a $10 million masterpiece ashtray. Get out of here. The $5 million lighter was not enough.
Now they have a $10,000,000 ashtray. Well, I spoke to Mr. Elsevdino? No, Mike, what's, I can't think of my question.
Mike Wasp. Yes, thank you. Oh yeah, he was here last week. " He didn't leave them, so.
He did leave five cigars. Did he? Yeah. Oh!
It's funny that he left five, though. Why five? You said five ashtrays, so it's funny you just left five ashtrays. That might be just a number.
I heard those cigars are like $10 million a piece. Probably, yes. Each of the Elsa Timo masterpiece ashtrays is based on one of the collections within the Elsa Timo cigar portfolio. Oh, so there are five cigar blends.
So it's like a collector's edition? Yes. $10 million each? $10 million ashtray.
So $50 million for the collector for the whole edition. So if you guys are there, go over and ask if you can ash in the $10 million. No, what's going to happen is the guy is going to tell you on day one that he sold them all. Oh, like the Leiters last year.
Wow. And we won't know if he's full of shit or not. We just won't know. Oh my God.
He may, it could have happened, they may be sold, or they may not be sold. Could be, who knows? " Raise the prices! We have a $10 million, $11 million Leiter.
There's a quote. "The industry needs a collection of luxury products that work well and excite consumers," said Yunnan in a press release. We saw the need for this over the last--who didn't see the need for a five--I mean, you know what, he's hanging out in a different circle, you know what I mean? Ten million.
You know, there are no ten million dollar ashtrays. We should make them. Five. I feel like you should link with like Toto or something, you know, the toilet bowls, Japanese people or whatever, something that cleans itself and it talks to you, gives you some type of meditation music, I mean, you know, maybe even a Bluetooth speaker or something.
A Bluetooth speaker? That'd be nice, yeah. Yeah, you know. Something tacky in the ten million dollar.
Thank you for smoking. Let me ask you a question. Who's buying these? Really rich people.
Prince Abagua's friend. Prince Abagua. At the show. Sheiks.
Sultans. Yeah, you know. I mean, the oil tycoon is, you know, when you own a bunch of castles, you own a bunch of castles. You gotta have the connects.
You know what I'm saying? There's got to look, there has to be people in this world. Own a castle. Aren't they abandoned?
No, he's owned. No, no, there's a castle people still live in a bunch of castles. I could say he's, you know, there's probably a bunch of people in this world that 10 million dollars This means fucking dick all to them. Like the guys in the submarine.
I mean, they would have bought one. But they can't now. Well, maybe they can't on the island they're on. Oh, yeah.
Oh, that's a conspiracy now? Oh, yeah, they're not dead. They vanished. Right.
Interesting. You can come out in the news, it was something on each one of them. " The amount of energy people waste on all these conspiracies is just fucking... If you had that kind of money, would you go on the experimental $250,000, Is it a $150,000 submarine, or do you go in the one that James Cameron went in that doesn't crush?
I don't know. I mean, you know what? If it's sold right, and I think that it's safe. I would have told you to send me a video of the Titanic under the water.
I'll just watch the movie. How much do you want for it? Because you're not a Titan, but you're like not... I don't know.
If I had retarded money... You'd be retarded? I would try and go to space. I could tell you that much.
Space is different. You could go to space. You can buy that. There's a lot of people that go to space all the time.
And you can buy a trip to the Titanic. Well, it's a one-way ticket, though. I think the only other person that has ever been 13,000 feet, or whatever. James Cameron went down dozens of times.
25 times. Yeah. Okay. But he went down in a real submarine.
Right. Yeah. Not a fucking tuna can. Right.
His had a door. That thing looked like the submarine from Spongebob. We could make one of those. I've got an old Xbox in my garage.
Yeah. Well, there's a controller for it right there. You have an old Xbox? We're going to go to the ashtray guys and ask if they want to go down to the fucking side.
Ask if they want to make you a submarine. Five ashtrays would cover the cost of the submarine probably. Yeah, listen, these ashtrays, you don't want these. Submarines are where it's at.
Submarines. Jesus. Tatiana is making a 25th anniversary, which is debuting at the 2023. Tatiana?
Tatiana. Is it flavored? Yes. They don't say what flavor though, it's unreleased.
Oh. Oh, it's a mystery flavor. Mystery Flavor. Ooh, like the Starburst.
Mystery Flavor. Adel Cigars adding Nuvitolas to the Good Trouble, Adel Black, and Adel Magic Lines for the PCA 2023. Okay. Adel, Adel.
Eroa doing a PCA exclusive. Eroa, yeah, okay. Gurkha's debuting the Year of the Dragon at the 2024 PCA. Ooh, Year of the Dragon.
Oh, Year of the Dragon 2024 at the 2023 PCA. Two dragons. They're not disclosing any details about the blend of the Year of the Dragon. 'Cause they probably don't even know what to do.
Yeah, they haven't found them yet. It has confirmed the cigars are being produced at Tabla Calera El Arteza factory in the Dominican Republic. In addition, a press release indicates that the cigars will be offered by invitation only. Oh, like a tea party.
Right, but they're also coming out with a 35th anniversary beauty, wait, the 35th anniversary and beauty 25th anniversary, both debuted at the PCA, but you don't need an invitation, anybody can buy that. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Do I get a backpack?
And a steak knives and a coffee cup. Ooh, stay, I love steak knives. When you say debut, that means you're going to have them there? They're going to, well, they're going to have them in a probably sealed plexiglass container.
You can see them. You can see them. And you can buy them. They might give you one.
I feel like we've seen this before. What are you talking about? In a sealed container. Everybody does that.
They were going to come out. Are you talking about, are you trying to do a submarine joke right now? No, no, no. We're still on a submarine.
It's all about submarines this week. In a sealed container. Mule Kick 2023 is debuting at the PCA 2023. Okay.
Did I already say Auroa? There's another Auroa. Yeah. Did I say Auroa?
Oh, it's the same headline. Never mind. Is it PCA Auroa? Yes.
Knuckle Sandwich Pricks Fix. Is it Pricksie Fixie? Or Pricks Fix? Pixie Fixie?
Pixie Fixie Sampler coming from the PCA 2023. I'm excited about that. Knuckle Sandwich Cigars was created by celebrity chef and restaurateur Guy Fieri, along with Espinosa Premium Cigars, And train engineer, Erik Espinosa, will be getting a new sampler with a new size in next month's 2023 PCA convention, a trade show. com, yes.
It's called the Knuckle Sandwich Prix Fix, Prixie Fixie Sampler, and inside are nine cigars and a new 5x58 Figurado Vitola. Three of those use the Knuckle Sandwich Habano blend, three use the Knuckle Sandwich Maduro blend, and the remaining three use the Knuckle Sandwich Connecticut blend. Is it Prix Fix? Apparently there's a coin, and it's numbered, and if they're going to pull a number, and if somebody wins the number, I think you get like a flight and all expense paid to Lazonapalooza or some shit.
I'm great at this game. I buy one. That's not mentioned. Yeah.
The pricing said $162 per sampler, with 1,500 samplers produced, so every box has a coin, you're thinking? Yeah. I think they would mention that in the thing. Maybe only some boxes have a coin.
Well, if they're gonna pull the number. No, they all have coins. So they all have coins. And all the coins are numbered.
But here's what's really crazy about this industry. Here's what's really crazy about this industry. People will buy these boxes. Yes.
And they won't fucking open 'em. Right. They're gonna stay sealed. They're gonna stay sealed.
So the winner will never know. Sometimes the winner doesn't even know he won. So maybe this is an attempt to get everybody to open it. Once it's open, maybe you'll smoke 'em.
I don't think that anybody really cares if you-- like, they care if they sell them. Well, you bought it, that's true. Well, they care if you're smoking or not. You know.
Because there's only so many of them anyway. There's only 1,500 boxes. Right, so it's not like we can make more. Yeah.
Do you think people that like Guy Fieri buy the boxes and just throw the boxes away just 'cause they get to be around-- or no, they're not for sale there. They get to touch 'em? I wanna touch 'em? Yeah.
No. No. God, that'd be horrible. Let me touch 'em!
We're always looking-- We're gonna fuck up Frank this year, I'm gonna tell you right now. Tony. He's a Tony. Yeah, Tony.
It's Tony. I was like, who's Frank? Trust me. We're going to fuck up Frank, too.
You're on the list, just so you know. We don't know who we are. Frank, we're going to fuck up Tony. We're fucking Frank.
Yeah, Frank. The 2024 PCA Convention and Trade Show will include the return of Drew Estate. It's next year. Yeah.
Next year. We are sorry. The company announced it would be exhibiting at the 2024 PCA Convention and Trade Show, the first time the company exhibited the trade shows in 2019. You mean you don't want to set appointments and bring them back to your hotel room?
Like you did this year or last year? Can I keep... Sure, go ahead. Okay, thank you.
I mean, you interrupted me all the time. It's fine. Let's keep playing it down. Ultimately, the 2020 trade show was canceled, blah, blah, blah.
Let's see. It's not been exhibited in the previous trade show, the two most recent trade shows, nor will it happen with the 2020 trade show next month, but they will have people at the... You could have whipped it together. You could have put it together.
Well, there might not have been enough space for the castle and stuff there. Well, the boutique place... Well, the boutique place. We could have just put together like a 10 by 10 and had everybody.
Well, they got employees will be at the Hoya De Nicaragua booth. So you can, I mean, they're kind of there. Kind of, sort of? Yeah, it's like.
Joey will be there, like Joey. Joey runs Hoya. Oh. S.
while Drew Estate sales orders will be in the Hoya booth. They will not take orders for Hoya while on the trade shop floor. So we're going to put all these people in here, but you can't tell my cigar. Not for sale.
Not for sale. So they can only sell Drew Estate cigars. Makes complete sense. Honey Booth, they will only take orders...
Oh no, I'm sorry, they will only take orders for Hoya. They want no Drew Estate stuff. Ah, that makes more sense. Tatuaje releases details on its Anarchy NFT project.
Late August, Tatuaje announced they would be venturing into the world of non-fungible tokens or NFTs by way of a project designed around the Tatuaje Anarchy, a cigar that debuted in December. And in September as an exclusive release for Smoke In, the South Florida retailer. Today Tatuaje released additional details about the project, most notably as it'll be the first to display the Golden Bears at the 2023 PCA convention. What?
I just added the Golden Bear. Yeah. I'm looking for a place to slide that in. I saw his head light up first over there.
Yeah, I was like... They hurt us on the show. There'll be a total of seven NFTs produced, though only six will be available via auction. As the 7th is being issued to Abe Dabba Dabba Dabba Dabba Dabba, the owner of Smokin' and the creator of the Anarchy brand.
As for the six NFTs, it will be auctioned by Eureka, but it's spelled different, U-R-E-E-Q-A, which will provide a digital marketplace for the auctions as well as utilize their package of proof technology to provide security and authenticity to the NFTs. Those auctions are scheduled to begin late August with six separate 48-hour long auctions. Wow. Alright, you wanna make a bet on what's the highest priced one's gonna go for?
Sure. Okay, what do you think? We'll write it on the board after the show. $32,000.
$32,000 from Michael. Boots? 90. I mean Phil?
Phil, 90. 90? Wow, shooting the moon with a 90k. I'm gonna go with 48,000.
What was the LFD ones? I think like 70 to 80. I think these ones go more. They're 60s.
I think people fucked up last time, they didn't get in, they're going to want this one. You think so? Yeah. I don't think so.
The winner of the auctions will win not just the NFT, but some real-world items as well, including steak knives, coffee cup, and a backpack. Is this like a Tupperware party? 75 count Tatuaje Anarchy NFT edition humidor that was made by hand by my father's cigar box factory in Nicaragua, which includes 60 original Tatuaje Anarchy cigars And 15 rarer Anarchy Pale Horse Editions exclusively made for NFT holders. Is that an ER?
The Anarchy Pale Horse Edition blend replaces the original Anarchy's Nicaraguan Habano Maduro wrapper with a Clairo color Grande wrapper, a lighter color of the leaf. Pale Horse. Yes. Disclose origin and varietal.
So we're not telling you what kind of tobacco is. And it's none of your goddamn business, and I'll thank you for staying out of my personal affairs. The American Pale Horse has been released just once before the 2020 Great Smoke Pre-Event Dinner hosted by Smoke-In as part of their annual consumer event. This is what Abe was telling us about when we were there.
Yes. Is this the cigars that you're getting with the NFT? Yes. Okay.
Yes, you get 60 Anarchy, the original Anarchies, and you get 15 of these, the horses were not telling you what it is. Do you get to buy more of them? Let's see. Johnson told Cigar Hassler podcast that the cigars and the humidor wear a slightly different blend, blah, blah, blah.
Additionally, the winning bidders will receive a 24 by 36 frame print version of the NFT artwork, as well as one of the two lighter. Oh, you get a lighter from DuPont. Not $5 million. Not the Elsa Timo lighter?
No, it's not important because it's not expensive. Nearly developed a perfect cutter, a Zykar, a lot of this stuff. Oh, here we go. The opportunity to purchase a quarterly allotment of 15 boxes of 15 Tatuaje Anarchy NFT edition cigars at a price point of $14 per cigar.
There you go. $14? $14 per cigar, you can buy 15 boxes per quarter. There you go.
So it's not like the other one? No, it's kind of similar, but you just jack up the price. Similar deal, yeah. So my question is, you're reading the blend, is that a different blend than from before?
They say it is slightly different. Okay. Which means they lost the original recipe. Recipe.
We don't know what's going on. We didn't plan on making these again. We didn't know this NFT thing was going to happen. We can't find it.
We did this on the weekend. And they yelled it to some guy. Where is it? I don't know.
You had one job. Call Alex. He was in Georgia for imitation. Does Adonis have it?
Adonis. He probably does. He probably does. I'll talk about the lighters.
There's a story that I like that you haven't mentioned yet. What? Because that was the last story I had. What story?
How about the Fabian Ziegler acquisition? Oh, you know, that's technically last week's news, so yeah, it didn't come up when I was working through. But that is a big deal, yes. What is that?
Huge. Yes. Fabian used to be the national sales manager for Drew Estate. He was there forever.
And now, and you know, it was very, like we've stayed in touch. Right. You know, just whatever, just had back and forth. He was big on social media during the pandemic.
He was doing like some hookah shit. Yeah, and in pajamas or something. Lots of pajamas. Right.
He was doing funny posts. Right. But it wasn't for anybody special, though. No.
It was just for him. It makes you wonder. I bet you when he, I'll have to ask him and I don't know if he'll give me a straight answer or not, but I feel like there was some kind of non-compete there. That's what I'm thinking, too.
But how long has he been gone? Like three years. Oh, so that's probably reasonable then for a non-compete. Yeah.
Somebody at his level. Yeah. Because, I mean, this is like, this happened fast. Well, as far as we know.
It's like, boop! It could have been in the works for a year. It could have been in the works for three years. Hey, when the time comes.
Right. Terrence is out and you're in. We got you ready. So, Terrence was trying to make funny jokes to me or whatever.
He said something. Here, I'll tell you what he said. That text message you sent me. Yeah, on Facebook.
I'm a horrible person. Without the background, it didn't make a whole lot of sense. So, John Carney made some kind of post. Oh yeah, that somebody was, yeah, I remember, I saw that.
" He hasn't done any videos yet, you'd think he would just jump back into it. He's done some pictures and stuff. Yeah, but they need to give him a shirt that fits. He's wearing a shirt that's too big.
His shirt's too big? The shirt he was wearing, unless he's trying to hide and maybe, you know, not as svelte as he was before or somebody let himself go a little bit or something like that. He's kind of chilling out for three years. But if your company is, you know, the flexi arm, you want a flexi arm, not a shirt that's making your arm.
He's got to hook up with Pete Hernandez is what he's got to hook up with. That guy's going to... Dude, I got a feeling when you see Pete Hernandez again... Which is next month in July, he'll be here.
Oh, you won't see him on Friday, but I got a feeling that when we see Pete Hernandez, dude's going to be relatively jacked. I'm going to see if he has a six pack. If he doesn't have a six pack, then he needs to work harder. That's fucking cold.
Is it? Yeah. It'd be okay if you had a six pack. No, I got kids.
So does he. So does he. Oh, does he? Yeah.
Oh, I didn't know that. Hmm. How many? Phil's been kind of a little off today.
A little angry. I mean, he's out of his box. He's mad because he put sunglasses in for us. He doesn't have abs, so fuck 'em.
Right. Geez. I didn't say fuck 'em. Hot.
He said he wanted to fuck 'em. I didn't say I wanted to fuck 'em either. If he has abs, I want to fuck 'em. He wants to fuck 'em.
51's not accurate. All right, Michael, I have my list of cigars I want you to get me at the PCA. Oh, okay. It's a short list.
Wait, wait, before you give your list. Yes? You guys, what is going to be the favorite cigar of yours? The one that you want to see at the PCA?
The one that I'm looking forward to? Yes. Somebody else's? Yeah, well of course, yeah, because we already know Powstanie is...
Powstanie Connecticut is going to rule the show. It's going to be the best Connecticut ever made in the dawn of time making cigars. Right. Does that include the Volstead?
No, let's stay away from Powstanie and Roma. Okay, so let me first off, first of all, I'm going to tell you, if I've said it before, I'm going to say it again. Powstanie Connecticut is the best fucking Connecticut, possibly the best cigar that's coming out of this show. Period.
And it's in booth 10131. Let's not fuck around. Let's just get this done. Okay?
Because it is. It's fucking legit. And I am very excited about the Volstead because of its price point and what it actually offers. Outside of that, what am I excited about?
Yes. I would say that I'm excited about Eric's cigars. That's top of my list. The new Black Star Line.
Black Star Line. I like, I mean, dude, I have liked this guy. Yeah. I have liked him from the beginning.
He just did Dojo. He's a good guy. He's got a good heart. You could tell that he's no bullshit.
He's working his ass off. He's taking his lumps. He's continuing to build. He's building more relationships.
He keeps growing. He's got these ideas. And I'm excited about his cigars for sure. Nice.
For sure. I mean, yeah. And I guess Nick Malolo's stuff, what he's got rolling out, the new Charter Oak and stuff like that, those things look pretty cool. I gave him, uh, I gave Phil his cigar from that box when he wasn't here.
Yeah. I gave him that today. The, uh, holla holla? Yeah, Boot says he's gonna have to go see him.
You're gonna, you're gonna go touch him? You're gonna rough him up? I wanna touch him. He talked to him about the photo shoot, whatever.
Photo shoot? You don't remember the photo shoot? No. I don't remember anything.
It was on Facebook. He had a photo shoot? His photo shoot. It was several, he's on the cover of a magazine.
Oh, yeah. There were several photos, I guess, optional cover magazines. Ah. Coverage for the magazine?
You're not really watching it. Oh. I'm just busy grinding over here, guys. I don't know what to tell you.
Alright, I want the new Cigars from the Black Star Line. Yeah. Which ones? The two new ones.
The fireman's foot, and whatever the other one is. No, there's one, uh... Shit. Clunk.
We'll be right back. We gotta fix something. The fire breather, or something like that? Yeah, there's one.
Smoke Eater. Smoke Eater. The Fire. Yeah.
There's the Anniversary of the Fire. Rose, Rose. Rosewood or Rosewood. Yeah, Rosewood.
Rosewood. Rosewood. Those two. Which is cool because he like, you know, I enjoy that shit because it's, it enlightens me as a person.
Oh, yeah. I have no idea about any of this shit. Right. So learning about that is fucking fantastic.
Yeah. It's not the same story. Yeah. You know, about cigars.
Right. Yeah. You know, and that's what's important is you have to give it some of you. Right.
So it's got to have your own personal touch on it. Right. Character. Yeah.
So I'm excited about those cigars. The new Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth. Oh. Oh, yeah.
75 year age tobacco. 75? Is it 75? Oh, no.
76. 76. One of them. Okay.
That's a good one. I have foundation on the list, but really he just sent us all the new stuff, so... Yeah, we'll milk them again. Yeah, yeah, okay.
All of it? I want to try the new HVC Connecticut. Okay. It won't be as good as yours.
Yeah, we're gonna fucking blow it out. Yeah, it won't be as good as yours. But he doesn't make it connected. He released it at a bad time.
He obviously did not plan ahead. Man Lorenzo, you really fucked that up. The new mule kick. And the new chicken cigar, the chicken with the head cut off or whatever the hell it's called.
It's like when the Drake album drops, you don't want to fucking release yours on the same date. You just don't do that. Stupid. Chicken head?
The chicken cigars. They released the... The drunk chicken. The Drunken Chicken?
Yeah, the Drunk Chicken people. Oh. Yeah, Boots knows those people. I've never tried any of their stuff.
Oh, really? So just anything. I just want to try something. We were bullshitting with them a little bit.
Right. You guys talked to them last year. Yeah. He knows Boots well, I guess.
Howard G's got the front nine coming out, too, and stuff. Oh, does Howard G's got? Okay, then the Howard G cigar. Okay, well, you're just going to have to text me the list because- Okay.
Well, I think- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, this is a short. I mean, the one I gave you that other year, I didn't go with like 17, 18 different cigars. I give you credit, you got like 15 of 'em.
You're a little more seasoned into the industry now, so I feel like of those 15 of 17, probably 12 of them disappointed you. Probably, probably, so, yeah. And then anything, any Aroma Craft you can get, just throw in the bag. Just dry bagger.
Yeah, that's all. Alex, more cigars. Palmer would like cigars. I like how he slid in the little Jeff Moutet thing.
You did a shot of Jeff, oh, the tall skinny guy? No, the tall skinny beautiful man or something. Yeah, I didn't know he was talking about Greg at first. I mean, you think they're sleeping together?
He's got that new house with the tiny pool. He's taking pictures of his house. It's not Skip's house, it's not on a mountain. Yeah.
And the pool's like half the size of Skip's pool, but it's got beautiful lights in it. Well, hey, listen, listen, we all can't be Skip. Right, right. You know what I mean?
And I know he just moved in, but he had like the one chair on the patio. Hey, you know what? Do you need more than one? I got one for the hooker.
She got to sit on the lap. I don't know if you give her a chair, that means that you want her to stick around a little bit. I don't know, I've never had a hooker before. He doesn't want him to stick around me neither, I just understand the term.
He'd have chairs cocaine and stuff. You got one line. One, have a bum. You got one line.
You got to snort off my taint. Wow. Come in the bathroom, I keep it on the back of the toilet. That's an acrobatic move.
Oh, it would be legit. Oh, it would be logistically speaking. Oh, my God. How have we not been canceled?
I don't understand it. Well, there's no sponsor. Who's going to cancel us? That's true.
What are you going to do, shut us down? Who's going to shut us down? Podbean? They still take our money.
That's it. That's the list. What about you, Boots? I mean, Phil, who the fuck you are?
Well, I just saw that Espinosa's coming out with the new Las Provincia. I don't want that one. 6 something else. Oh, there's another one?
Yeah. They're coming out with a new knuckle. A knuckle sandwich? Yeah, another knuckle sandwich, Chef Special.
Well, they do have that, but they- Well, they came out with that, all right? Is it just a new size? No, there's another one. A new size?
Yeah, I think, well, today they just came out with the new Los Provincial. Yeah, the Los, yeah. Tyler put up a picture. Did you see the pictures from their train trip?
I saw some pictures of Tyler's train trip. That looked pretty cool. That was nice. Yeah.
It looked interesting. It did. They turned one train car into a cigar shop. Well, do you think they had to get like a permit to smoke on the train or well the cars that allowed smoking had like no side in one of them because it was a picture of everybody.
I think Corey Davis had the camera like out here in front of him and everybody's packed in behind him. They're all hanging out the train. They're all like a cargo car or something. Yeah, but instead of windows, it like had a open panel down the side.
Yeah, nice. That's pretty cool experience. It's gotta be something different, something different. I haven't thought that.
Do you guys know the I don't know if anybody else has done a smoke? A train? No. No.
Never heard of such a thing. Yeah. We should do one on the Rivership Romance over in Sanford. Oh.
Sounds fantastic. The Rivership of Romance. You know what it's called, Rivership of Romance? Let's just not call it that.
That's what it's called. I got bigger planes. My second wife's mother got married on that boat. Jesus.
We could just get a... What's those boats that people get in? Pontoon boats? Yeah, pontoon boats.
This is a paddle boat. Okay, all right, come on, let's go. That's it. That's it.
I mean, we're done. We're probably over the time anyway. You don't listen to the week? No, I don't listen to the week.
You don't? You have a shop of the week? This is your part of the show, Michael. But sometimes you have these things.
I just want to make sure. Yes, yes. Oh, no, I don't. I don't today.
All right, I'll have a shop of the week for you. Oh, let's go. What's the shop of the week? Heritage Cigars.
Oh! In Sarasota, Florida. Do they listen to the show? They do listen to the show.
Oh. Yes, they do. Can they be the listener of the week too? They sure as shit can.
What's his name? Jamie. Jamie, listener of the week. Listener of the week.
Hell yeah. Got to drive down there this week. Last week. Last week, whatever.
Hang out with them for a little bit because, you know, even though my frickin' frack couldn't join me. You wouldn't wait a day for us. No. We could have both gone on Thursday.
Rosales was in town on that day. He wouldn't wait 45 minutes for the other one. He chose Rosales over us. First of all, it's not 45 minutes, the way that that played out.
If I had waited 45 minutes to pick you up, the entire fucking thing would have spun back by an additional two hours for me arriving there. I would have arrived at four, not two. And, when we were done with that place, I wouldn't have been able to check into other locations, and I would have had to have brought you home, which would have put me probably close to being home at 11 o'clock. It wouldn't have worked out.
That's where we draw a friendship line, I guess. Was that it? Oh, so you flew in on Wednesday? I was in a car at 11:45, or Boots was in a car at 11:45.
Oh, at the airport, though? Mm-hmm. At the Orlando airport? Yeah.
At the Orlando airport. Yeah, you would have had to take them all the way back. Then I got traveled back north, then back west. Right.
Would have passed your house. Yeah. If he was smart, he would have left a car at your house when he left. Well, this was not, I don't think I was playing seven days before that.
That would have shaved out 45 minutes, but, I mean, it still wouldn't have worked. He would have had to have arrived at 9:30, 10 o'clock, the latest. Yeah. So, hey, you didn't have to kill an extra day in Colorado doing fuck all?
I don't know how this conversation has gotten on me. You did. You complained that he didn't wait 45 minutes. No, I was just saying.
You could have got on the plane. You said he wouldn't have waited a day for you. How did he come on to me? Because you were specifically with 45 minutes.
You said I could have made it work. He said I couldn't wait a day. I answered his question. I couldn't wait a day because Rosales wasn't there at that day.
Right. Well, he could have waited a day, too. Yeah, I guess so. I just suck as a person, guys.
I'm sorry. That was a great event. Yeah, the Roma Craft event was fantastic. Greg is very pleased with the event.
And as long as he's happy, that's all I care about. So pleased. He's giving away free cigars upstairs right now. I doubt that.
I am extras. Here they go. We sold so many, I could just give them away this week. Hey, guys, you guys want any padrones in the humidor?
Yeah, sure, Greg. All right. All right, that's it. All right.
It's been episode 288 of the Cigar Hustlers podcast. Remember, next week, special show next week. Don't miss next week's show. All right, we gotta go to the Patreon where we're doing the Don, where we've almost already smoked them all.
And he's gonna talk about the Be So Horny. Yeah, he's gonna give us the Be So Horny information. Yeah. All right, bye.
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Show Notes
Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast! In this episode, we dive into the exciting world of premium cigars and the latest buzz from PCA 2023, the premier event for cigar enthusiasts. Join us as we discuss some of the most anticipated releases and exclusive announcements from this year's convention.