Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 264 A Publix Shopping Spree
Episode Summary
Episode 264 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Michael Steponkiewicz recapping his wife Brittany's birthday weekend — dueling pianos at Tuffy's, exploding Publix balloons, the hunt for the "Megatron" candle, and a stop at Celery City Cigars to see Jimmy. The hosts then wade into the usual industry grumbling about year-end cigar rankings, biased reviewers, and who does or doesn't count as "in the industry," with sideways references to Casey Adeline's social-media tirades and Eric Vermando of The Smoking Truth.
The centerpiece is a phone interview with Garrett Robbins, newly named VP of Sales for Don Doroteo Cigars. Robbins lays out his early plan: a social media initiative seeding cigars with influencers, a portfolio placement at the A Bar in Las Vegas, a Chicagoland launch on February 11, a mix of in-house reps and regional brokers (including Ashley Ashes handling California), and vetting an East Coast candidate behind the Poppy Cigar Club account. He also talks about the support he's received from Skip Martin of RoMa Craft and Jack Torano, and confirms Espinosa's Minnesota representation is moving in-house following his departure from the brokerage. The banter runs heavily toward jokes about cocaine, Scarface, and Robbins' laid-back Minnesota demeanor.
The news segment covers February price increases from Espinosa, Joya de Nicaragua and E.P. Carrillo; Dan Davidson named Director of Marketing at United Cigars; Cara Guagliardo promoted to Executive Director of Hospitality and Community Engagement at J.C. Newman; and Lisa Siegler joining the PCA as Director of Membership Development and Industry Relations under Scott Pearce. The hosts also react to Halfwheel's Charlie Minato scoop on a forthcoming Powstanie Connecticut (a Corona Gordo leading the release), West Tampa Tobacco Company's new distribution in Ireland and Latvia, the multiple brands releasing Year of the Rabbit cigars, and new House rules allowing members of Congress to smoke in their offices again. It closes with a Florida story about a Cape Coral Publix shoplifting arrest and talk of TPE media passes.
In This Episode
- 01Birthday Weekend, Publix Balloons and Dueling PianosMichael recaps his wife's multi-day birthday celebration, the dueling pianos at Tuffy's finally playing 'Shoop,' and a disastrous balloon purchase at Publix.
- 02Rankings Season and Industry FuckeryThe hosts vent about biased year-end cigar rankings, reviewer drama, and who really counts as being 'in the industry.'
- 03Phil's Fun Facts: Where 'Cigar' Comes FromA new segment debuts with the claim that 'cigar' derives from the Spanish cigarro and a Mayan root meaning to smoke rolled tobacco leaves.
- 04Garrett Robbins, New VP of Sales at Don DoroteoAn exclusive call with Garrett Robbins on his new role, his social media influencer initiative, the A Bar Vegas placement, a February 11 Chicagoland launch, and building a broker network.
- 05Espinosa Goes In-House in MinnesotaRobbins explains how Jack Torano moved Espinosa's Minnesota representation in-house after he left the brokerage.
- 06Industry News: Price Increases and New HiresFebruary price hikes from Espinosa, Joya de Nicaragua and E.P. Carrillo, plus Dan Davidson at United Cigars, Cara Guagliardo at J.C. Newman, and Lisa Siegler joining the PCA.
- 07Powstanie Connecticut and West Tampa Goes GlobalHalfwheel's report on a new Powstanie Connecticut launching in Corona Gordo, plus West Tampa Tobacco Company adding distribution in Ireland and Latvia.
- 08Smoking Returns to the House and a Cape Coral Publix CaperNew House rules let members smoke cigars in their offices again, followed by the weekly Florida crime story from a Cape Coral Publix.
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, and this is episode 264, with your host, Michael, the King, Stepan Kiewicz, and his producer, Mike, BDP, Palmer, and me, I'm Phil, your cameraman. Henry Reid? February. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, and this is episode 264.
With your host, Michael the King, Steponkiewicz, and his producer, Mike, BDP, Palmer. And me, I'm Failure Cameraman. I've been told I bring so much joy to people's lives when I leave the room. I'll go ahead and find a quick one.
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Lovely. That was quick. Congratulations. Thank you.
So, this is your turn now. Oh, it's my turn. I just spoke. Well, obviously, the highlight of the weekend was your wife's birthday.
Yes. Yeah. Oh, listen. By the post this morning, the extravaganza weekend.
It was an entire, like, weekend, birthday weekend. She deserves a birthday month. She does deserve a birthday month. She's gonna do the weekend.
That's fine. But, yeah, it went very well. I mean, I think she told me this is like the best birthday she ever had. Well, they played shoop.
Yeah, that worked out. The dueling pianos played shoop. I mean, not even CityWalk fucking dueling pianos can do that shit. Every time we ask them, they're like, no.
Two years, no, we don't play shoop. You know what it is, they're just some spoiled bitches, like they make too much, yeah, they make too much, at Universal, they make too much fucking money, like you know that that piano guy at Tuffy's where we were at, he does not know Shoop, no, no, he had to look it up, but there was a $10 bill, and that was enough for him, and he's like, fuck it, I'm gonna have the lyrics in front of me, and I'll figure it out, and, well, the other guy's playing, I'm googling Shoop, right, I'll, I'll put it together, no problem, and he did, it took him a minute because he put pepper, and it's pepper, salt and pepper, yeah, but he got there, alright, Right, right, right. It doesn't matter. Unless he's in a plane in a garage, not in an Irish pub or whatever that is in CityWalk.
Yeah. Yeah. So, fuck CityWalk. Right, we'll never go again.
Yep, that'll be the last time ever. Right. But it was cool how that worked out, because you know what, I actually mentioned, hey, why don't we go do the dueling pianos again for your birthday? Oh, in CityWalk.
And she's like, yeah, no, blah, blah, blah. Oh, they never play Shoe. And I'm like, okay, so, you know, we had the dinner thing, and then we did the Tuffy's Bar, and then we did... I went to go see Jimmy at Celery City.
Right. That was all on the Saturday. And Dana McCool was at Jim's. Yeah, Dana McCool.
The legendary Dana McCool. So, what was cool though, so like Friday though, she had a friend, one of her best friends, like, set up a happy birthday, Brittany. Oh, I saw it in the front yard. Wow, that was huge.
Yeah. Brittany is a big name. And I took a picture of me in front of it, and then like she was really small, like kind of hidden, and that was going to be my post, but it was like early morning, and I wasn't. I wasn't, my hundred percent.
Oh, you weren't there yet. I'm like, oh, that's a little rough picture of me, so I'm not gonna use that. Oh, it didn't look good of you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So then I saw that other picture pop up, and I was like, oh, that one's perfect, me and a... Isn't that the one you used last year, too, I think? No, that was the new picture from... something.
Christmas. Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that wasn't last year's.
I'm a little older. You can see it. I can see it in my face. Can you?
Yeah. Not aging well. I'm a little weathered. Oh, I'm sorry.
Running and gunning. Maybe a nice foundation will bring that glow back to your skin. I need to exfoliate a little. Is that what it is?
Exfoliate? Oh, good. Something. Longer to your morning routine.
Yeah. Exactly. Plus, at the gym, that'll look really nice. You know, putting on your makeup, exfoliating afterwards.
What's going on? It's a soft base. It's a cream. It's a cream.
A nice cream foundation. You have to blend it, though. The other way is you get that line. Yeah.
So you gotta blend it well. I did give... Hold on, let me some focus. So then, Friday she did that, and then she went out on Friday as well, and then we did the, we had the football with the kids, 'cause the kids play the football.
Oh, so she went out before or after football? Before. Like a brunch thing. Oh, during the day.
Oh, I got you. And then we did the football, and then I had a cake at the house. So, but like, here's the thing that Brittany always does. She always does these balloons.
Right. For every kid. Right. And she does like a thing in the doorway.
So every time when they wake up for their birthday, there's balloons everywhere. Oh, I got you. Oh, I gotcha, okay. So I'm like, alright, I gotta do the balloons.
Right. So I go to Publix, and I buy these balloons, and I'm like, alright, but like, I don't have the ability to surprise her the way that she could surprise me, right? Right. Oh, she does the balloons for you too?
No, but I'm just saying, it's like, okay, you know, we're the kids and whatever, so I gotta figure out when to do it. So I'm blowing up these fucking balloons in the car after practice, after football practice. While you're driving? Oh, yeah, yeah.
And these fucking things, don't ever buy balloons from Publix. I'm gonna tell you right now. They're blowing up in my fucking face. They're not gigantic.
I'm like, boom, another one's blowing up. Oh, they're exploding. Yeah. I'm like, holy shit.
This is miserable. You overfilled them. They're not that big. Oh, maybe you mispurchased.
Yeah, don't, don't do it. Don't do it. No Publix. Go to the party store.
Yeah. I, you know what, for whatever reason, I couldn't, I didn't even think about Party City. Oh, so, and she, another thing that she always does is she has this candle and it's this fucking gangster candle. It, it explodes.
So it folds out, and it spins. Oh, I've seen it, yeah, yeah, yeah. I call it the Megatron candle. Right.
I'm like, well, I gotta make sure she has the Megatron candle, too. So I go to Publix to get the Megatron candle, and I'm like, fuck, they don't have this thing. They don't sell that. Yeah.
No, they don't. Where would they have it? Party fucking city. No, at Publix.
Where would they keep something like that? Oh, they have a candle section, and they do have a lot of things. Oh, well, they have candles by the air fresheners. They don't have Megatron candles.
No, they don't have flies out and spins and the doves fly out thing. the yeah yeah no doves no no doves so i'm like fuck and i couldn't think about it so i text her her best friend i'm like i can't find this fucking megatron candle she goes do you try party city i'm like i'm gonna eat no you can always ask me these questions too michael yeah so i got the megatron candle so we did a cake that friday night right we did the party and all the things saturday and then she went out with her friends on sunday for like a brunch thing oh wow yeah yeah busy busy Yeah. Good for her. Yeah.
She had a great time. She got home in time to pack your lunch for today? Um, no, no, no, no lunch today. Wow.
No lunch today. It's okay. She's slipping up a little. It's January, you know.
She'll find her footing soon. That's good. I can't wait for the phone call after that. Don't have to bring somebody new in for your lunches.
I'll find my footing soon. um great yeah that one that went really well i think we you know we had a really good time so and she had a great time that's what's the most important um what else happened football i keep talking i forgot to set something up you go ahead football happened if anybody listens to that sports talk i'm five for five on my picks this week i'm hoping to go six for six because that's the only one that fucking matters to me is the bucks winning you know so i have a back and I've worked with this guy, his name is JJ on that sports stock, and he knows nothing about football, let's just be honest, he's very irritated, I think he has a small penis or something, I don't know. Oh, wow. It's very agitated, very angry, he's very angry, yeah, yeah, and he gets up and shouts and stuff.
I mean, it's so bad that we're just, I'm just on the phone. Oh. For his safety. Oh, because you did the one show.
Yeah, when he's not there. Oh, they had good, they got good ratings on that episode, by the way. Did they? They got a little bump.
Oh. You're welcome. Tell Phil Boots here. Phil Boots that they got a little ratings bump.
I don't know. He's not in a good mood. I feel like he's on suicide watch or something. Something's wrong.
Look at him. It's a hot mess. Yeah, don't shake your head no. He hasn't said a word yet.
Don't shake your head no. I think I want to do the Patreon today. It'd be fucking dim. Well, Boots would come in.
Oh, yeah, that's right. It's not Phil. But yeah, this weekend went really good. I saw that you were using the private lounge this morning.
We did, yes. A little show. We were just sitting around and she has an AR because it's Martin Luther King Day, my wife, so I had to come up here to get something. I go, hey, you want to come with me?
We'll have a, it gets cold outside to smoke at home. Right. So we'll have a cigar and we'll watch a movie. She goes, oh yeah, that'd be nice.
She never had hung out in there before. Right. She rather, she enjoyed it. What's not to enjoy?
Boots' snack drawer. I showed her the snack drawer. I thought that was amazing. What's not to enjoy?
I like that you have Bluetooth problems, too. Well, I'm trying to connect. You have no connection. Connection unsuccessful.
It's going to connect to somebody else, I think is a problem. So I might have to give, if it's you, I might have to give you the number. Let me see if I'm connected. Let me see if I'm connected to you.
I mean, we have a few minutes before that has to happen, but I forgot to set it up. Because we're running a little later today than usual. I'm not connected. You're not.
" There's only one other person. Yes, there's only one other person. With his shiny t-shirt. I thought he was in his pajamas when he showed up.
Pants right past his knees and a white shirt. We need to say some positive things about Phil. But they look amazing. Yeah, those are, you're those, no, we don't need to say positive things about Phil?
No, no, no, I'm not connected. Nobody's connected. I had to hit the Bluetooth thing the other day. No.
Well, I had already hit it. I just wanted to know, you know, You have beautiful eyes right now. All right, I got it. You have great teeth.
Yes, you look very nice. Oh, thank you. Nobody even notices your list, but you're over by now. I love your attire.
I just can't wait till February. He's giving me Keanu murderous vibes right now. Oh. Yeah, like you may wipe us all out.
That could be the mask. It looks a little scary. I just can't wait till February, new mask. Can't wait till February?
The new mask in February. I'm going to request no more rubber masks. Oh, February. Oh, we already have one picked up in February.
February is dead dad month for me, man. Oh, this is Dead Dead. Oh, yeah, this is Dead Dead. Oh, two months in a row.
Yeah, man, it's consecutive. That's right. Yours is Valentine's Day. Day before.
Day before. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
He's feeling it, man. He's feeling the stress. He is. He's very, very...
So what else happened? You know what, what amazes me is, you know, I don't know if I'm gonna name the, say the company or not, 'cause I was gonna save this for Patreon, but apparently we need some fill time, so... You should say the name. Yeah.
I'll say the name on the Patreon. Okay. Thank you everybody for supporting us and being a part of the Patreon by the way. It's very nice of you.
It's very nice of you to support us. We appreciate that. What are you gonna complain about? You know, the fuckery that's in this industry in general.
You know, it's just so bad. Something specifically? Yeah, it happened. This has happened to me before and it's happened again.
Jimmy Brad Korn? No, no, no, that's no, that's just Casey out of the meeting being angry. You know, that's, it's funny because like I always call him out on it and he's like, dude, it's not you. I'm like, I don't think it's me, I'm not, I'm not, like, upset.
He's not normally that way. No, he is, he is, I don't know, maybe he's just, um, maybe he ran out of ED meds or something. He doesn't have a, I mean, he didn't really have a cigar that came out, did he? I mean, you never know.
No, no. It could be anybody. No, what he's saying is that, you know. He's taking a shot because everybody's putting something out.
They have their own opinions and usually it's slated and biased because of whatever. Right. Because they're, you know. You know, I was almost going to make one for Saka, just a cigar we tried.
He tried. Just to see if he would share it. Number one cigar. Number one cigar we tried.
Or no, no, just a cigar we tried, I was going to put on there. Cigar Hustler Podcast, the Sober Maisie Brulee, a cigar we tried. Of all the cigars we tried, we've tried this one. Right.
See if he'd share it on his page. Because he shares everybody. Of all the cigars we tried, this is one of them. Right.
Yeah. I mean, some of them I've never heard of before. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you know, look, man, let's just just part of this fucking industry right and but i don't i don't know it just doesn't anger me you know if like people do casey gets mad he's very upset he's like you know he's all about it's that time of year yeah people have their opinions sometimes they're biased sometimes they're not whatever right i mean you don't have to believe any of them yeah you don't want to but it works out even if you have some followers that believe in you and believe what you're saying they're They're gonna go try those cigars.
Right. Yeah. Oh, you mean the place that ranked it? Yeah.
Right. You know what I mean? Sure. Maybe it's two people.
It's two more than you want to have. It's still two more. That's right. It's still two more.
You know? He's still not talking. Yeah, I know. It's weird.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. Are you not watching the show? About Casey? You make Casey.
Which one? Was that the shingle guy? No, that's Miguel Shadell. Casey Adeline.
He runs Smokin' in Fort Pierce. Smokin' in Fort Pierce or Weston or wherever we were. The first place we went. Yeah, but he's been on like a Facebook tear of anger towards influencers and reviewers and all this other shit.
Oh. Do you just think social media that people all comment and stuff on? Yeah, it's called Facebook. Yeah, but I'm not friends with all those people.
And then Facebook is a big one. Oh. Oh. He should pop up as like a favorite because he's...
Or recommended or something. Yeah, 'cause he's always angry. And he's in the industry, you know, like Phil is. Right.
I think Brett Frye would also say Casey's in the industry. Casey is in the industry. Right, but I mean, he's, Phil's on the Brett Frye, I'm in the industry program. Right.
So I figured he would also say Casey's in the industry. I feel like we need to goodwill hunt in Casey and just tell him, hey, it's not your fault, man. It's okay. It's not your fault.
Stop fucking with me, Sean. You know what I mean? Right. So, yeah, I only know, I only, I only know the, like, Florida Cigar Club people.
Yeah, well, he's Florida, is it Florida Cigar Club? Yeah, yeah, when he moved here. Yeah, he joined. He joined.
So he put this, he put all this in the Florida Cigar Club? No, no, he put it on his own page. Oh, yeah, so then I wouldn't know. Well, become friends with other people.
Yeah, you should reach out. Well, if I, you know, we're on Cigar Hustle Podcast, I'm not gonna be mad if I try it out as a friend, is it? You should try harder. No, why would he try?
No. Are we influencing? We're influencing us. I friended Eric Vermando today from the Smoking Truth.
Oh. I didn't realize we weren't friends on Facebook. Right. No, I mean, every time I comment on his post, he's like, "Dude, you are the cigar industry.
" Well, that was today. No, but like he... Yeah, he didn't mention the podcast. Oh.
Huh. Huh. But anyway, I corrected him. I said I was the one that had all that stuff he listed.
Yeah, that was good of you. Yeah. If you ask anybody not in the industry... Yeah, I don't...
I don't know anything. He's just the guy. the guy i'm just here drives me around picks up my heavy things as a person but you want to jump to the news our phone call is waiting sure we can do whatever you want unless you got more i mean we're okay there's a lot of news today oh i know we're calling now that's right i forgot about all right i have a can i give you guys a fun fact real quick yeah yeah yeah is it about cigars yeah okay please so did you guys know should we start a new segment called phil's fun facts phil's fun Fun Facts. Okay.
At 16 minutes in each week? No, not 16 minutes. Well, we're at 16. All right, here it is.
Cigars get their name from the Mayans. Did you know that? Oh, yeah? Yeah.
You knew that? Yeah. Sure. We're in the industry.
What is it? So, tell me more. Tell you more. I think that might have been it.
16 minutes? No, no. 16 minutes in, we do Phil's Fun Facts. Oh, okay.
It says the word cigar comes from the Spanish word cigarro, most likely stemming from a Mayan root cigar, the original meaning of this term was to smoke rolled tobacco leaves. Most likely. But not definitely. But possibly.
Possibly. I didn't fact check this. We don't fact check on this podcast. Yeah, we don't fact check on this show, so it's perfect.
Have you heard this? Yeah, this is exactly what it says. It says most likely. That's like our slogan.
Yeah. Cigaros are podcasts, we don't fact check on this podcast. Fact check. Most likely.
Most likely. Most likely don't fact check. Or we say allegedly a lot. Allegedly.
Allegedly. Allegedly most likely don't podcast. Wait, what? We podcast.
What are we doing? What are we doing? We allegedly most likely don't fact check. Yeah, that too.
Right. That's why we were the first show to have a disclaimer. Oh. Nah, they all do.
And then everybody copies us. Nah, they all do. You know, you got to be the trendsetter. Somebody's got to do it.
You got to talk shit. You got to say anything. We're not responsible for talking shit. Have you guys ever listened to the other disclaimers and heard them say Cigar House's podcast?
Hey, we're just kidding. No, no, only I screw that up when I read the news. Just kidding. They were smart enough to take our name out of it.
So, did you want me to tell the thing or just tell it? Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot you had a thing. You said you didn't want to talk about the thing. Yeah, I'll tell it on the Patreon.
Tell other Patreon listeners. Okay. Yeah. Can only get on the Patreon.
Yeah. Appreciate you guys supporting us. 'Cause all these things cost money. The things?
The thing you're gonna talk about cost money? These facts. Yeah. This beautiful mic that I'm talking out of, giving you a great sound.
This little thing. And the little thing. He knows yours is a different color, it's more expensive. This one's more expensive.
That's true. Yes, it is. Yeah, that's true. Technically, that's true.
The rest of them came in a kit. I had to order you a separate one. I want a red one, too. Yes.
Okay. All right. And the other red one's on that sports dog, so you don't want to use that. Yeah, you don't want to use angry JJ's or anything.
No, no, no. I meant the Smoking Truth, not the sports dog. Oh, Smoking Truth. No, I gave JJ a yellow one.
He got offended, he didn't like it. Is he still yellow? Yeah. He didn't like the yellow one?
He tries to change it, but I don't know. Oh. He's the white one. No, no, no, no, Boots is.
Boots, yeah, that's what I meant. Boots is the white one, Ginger's the orange one. I couldn't give JJ the black one, so I gave him a yellow one. Yeah, he felt uncomfortable giving the black one.
I felt uncomfortable. I don't know JJ like that. That's so stupid. You're so ridiculous.
If everybody had one, it would have been okay, but you know, can't single them out, there's rules. The Bills should have lost to the Dolphins, by the way. Thank you for that. Even without a quarterback, the Bills are a fucking mess.
This is a sports show, that's Thursday night. Yeah, that makes me feel better, thank you. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Toon.
Espinosa, sorry, premium cigars. Espinosa. Yes, they're increasing their prices in February. Espinosa.
Espinosa. Oh, in February. It's been a couple of weeks still, so it's stock up. Georgia State increases their prices next month, also February.
P. Corilio increases their prices next month. Yeah. And Dan Davidson has been appointed Director of Marketing for United Cigars.
Oh. These are news articles which we really don't care about, but we figured we should tell them. Just wrap those up real quick. Wrap those up real quick.
Man, I just want to be approached by somebody with a fucking awesome job. C. Nguyen promotes Cara Gugliardo? Yeah.
Has been promoted to... I feel like that's not her last name. G-U-A... Gugliardo.
G-U-A-G-L-I-A-R-D-O. I just want to know that if my last name was Gugliardo, I would not call it Gugliardo. Probably Gurdillo. It could be Gugliardo.
It's Gugliardo. Well, there's lyre and doe in it, so it could be Gugliardo. It's Gugliardo. It's Gugliardo.
Gugliardo. C. Newman's Executive Director of Hospitality of Community Engagement. Wow.
I don't know what that is. She gives us cigars for you. So she just got a title. Right.
Oh, man. Apparently. I want a title. Yes.
Director. Oh, you know a title? King of Del Tano. You were the king.
Yeah, no, I want like a... I want to be... " No. No.
Is that why everybody's congratulating me? Yes. Well, it's probably because you're so muscly. Because I'm so muscly.
And they saw you eat the fish while you were driving. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And blowing up balloons.
the same time. Very busy in the car. Hey, man. Very, very busy.
Hey, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, buddy. Oh, nice. But yeah, I don't know what executive, if she's executive director, does that mean there's a junior executive director of hospitality of community engagement?
No, I just want to know what the check looks like. What's the salary? Is it $150,000, $200,000? I never see what the salary was.
She's relatively young looking by the photo. I think the best chance I have is Justin Andrews saying, hey, man, what do you think about that? I mean, that's the only way. Oh, going to work?
That's the only way. That's probably your best shot. That's right. Or Matt Booth.
I would have to be his boss. You could be Matt Booth's executive. Oh, he's not going to. I want to be Justin Boss.
He's not going to hire you to be his boss. Hey, listen, I really think I need to be above you on this. He got rid of Jack so he could be the boss. Oh, yeah, he did.
And they were close. Right. They're friends. It's a very cutthroat industry.
It is. Yeah. C. Newman.
I'm really gunning for the Senior Executive Director position. I'm coming for you there, Julia. Or Cara, whoever your name is. D.
All right. Don Dorito. Oh, my God. How do you say that one?
Don Diorte. Diorte. Names Garrett Robbins, VP of Sales. Yeah.
And on the phone in an exclusive interview with Cigars or Podcast is Garrett, as soon as I call him on the phone. Of How 'Bout That Cigar? Of How 'Bout That Cigar. I'm going to hit the send.
I hope he doesn't answer. Hi, the person you've reached is using a screening service from Google and will get a recording and transcript of this call. This is fancy. Go ahead and say why you're calling.
This is a little different. Because I miss him. Thanks. Connecting you now.
What is this? He's VP. It's a big deal. I hit the wrong button.
We figured this is what the VP of sales has on his phone now. How do I put that on my phone? I was praying to God that you didn't answer. You didn't have time for this today.
I know. Thanks for calling, but I'm not available. That's what the message should have said. The VP is very sorry, but he doesn't have time to take your call today.
Garrett has no comment at this time. So, hey, first, congratulations, Garrett. Thank you very much. Yeah.
So, what are you doing? You, you know, are we, are we fueling the growth? Are you firing everybody? What's going on?
Is there somebody that you had to get rid of to get the job? Yeah. Yeah, what happened? He's like, I have, he's like, this is a mistake.
No, hang on. I'm just going into a conference room. Oh, oh, he's at the office. Oh, yeah.
Do you have a corner office at the... Are you in shorts and flip-flops or something in flip-flops? Like a visor? Yeah, it's sub 20 degrees where he lives.
Right. He walks in with a fucking beach shirt on. Hawaiian shirt. Yeah, with palm trees.
Things are gonna change around here. That's right. Get the sales staff together. Bob, Joe, come on.
No, so I'm doing a little IT gig as well. Oh. Oh, for the cigar company or on the side? No, no, no, no, just on the side.
Oh. So the check's not that big, Michael. Maybe it is, he's just compelled to keep going. Oh, it could be.
Maybe he's just a hustler. At work, everybody, baby. You know? That's what they say.
That's what we do. So you're excited about the job? Bro, yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a game changer for sure.
Are you nervous? Um, I'm not nervous. Okay. Um, I've recognized, um, areas that I have shortcomings for sure.
That you do or the company does? He does. Well, both. Trying to help.
To be, you know, to be, to be honest. And I've, um, I mean the outpouring of support has been fantastic. I've told like three people. That's good.
Just so you know. That's like the Kevin Bacon effect. Yeah. Now we all know Garrett.
Right. Yeah. I mean, Skip Martin has been, I mean, I know that he's a rock star for you guys as well. He invited me to come down and just spend several days with him.
At his house or at the factory? It's a trap. Both. It's a trap.
Yeah, it's a trap. Don't go. Don't go. I know.
I had to cut his grass last time I was there. Yeah, it was ridiculous. Yeah. Mikey had to wash his car.
I walked in there, and I had to start painting. He's like, oh, by the way, we're gonna freshen up. This is part of the whole thing, is what he said. Right.
I need to do luck. Some Mr. Miyake shit. Right.
I want you to understand all scents, including paint. I'm like, okay. It's ridiculous. After that, we did some electrical work.
It was terrible. It was crazy. It was fucking crazy. Tim Taylor rewired it.
He's like, okay, let me show you. Or power, he just kept saying. yeah that's right uh jack tarano um was you know incredible because you know the brokerage was doing the uh representation in minnesota for for espinosa okay and uh when i when i went over um you know jack called me or you know i i told jack um And then he called me a day later or he's like, um, he's like, yeah, I think we're going to make that account in house now, you know, or Minnesota in house. Um, even though the brokerage is going to continue with, um, my business partner and there's another guy coming in to fill my place.
Right. Um, you know, uh, Jack was like, you know, you had Minnesota because I like you and I know you and, you know, these other guys. Don't like them at all. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So… So you're talking about the representation of Espinosa, just to clarify. Yes.
Just Espinosa representation. Yeah. They're gonna make it in-house. Right.
His brokerage, he used to be a partner, he used to do it. Right. Now that Garrett's gone, Espinosa's walking. " That's right.
Yep. Wow. E to D. Yep.
Just like that. How many other guns did they lose since you left? - They're dropping like flies over there. - They're falling off.
Drew Estate's probably gone. - Oh, no, we don't have Drew Estate. - I'm trying to help you care. Just say yes.
- Yeah, you say, yeah, we lost Drew, we lost Fuente, Altadis. C. Newman. C.
Newman gave the account to Cara Gugliardo, the new executive director of hospitality and community engagement. - We lost Qwam. - New Cuba. - The Minnesota industry will never be the same.
Three shops have closed. Yeah. There's a lot of crying going on. A lot of crying.
That's probably why United Cigars gave Dan Davidson, the director of marketing. That's probably what they did. They're like, "Oh yeah? Oh yeah, Garrett?
" Your move. What's up? So, okay, so, like, what are you looking to do? Like, what's the step one?
Just tell me, give me something, you know? We are starting with a social media initiative. I am getting the cigars in the hands of people. Some what I consider to be classy social media influencers.
We won't be trying to do that, so I'm just saying. Yeah, that's not you guys. FYI. We're way at the bottom of the list.
We don't qualify again. We're not relevant, Mario. You know, what's funny is the rest of the media people, they don't even acknowledge the cigars I make or the cigars you make. Fucking nothing.
They're fucking terrified. No, you guys, your cigar should be arriving tomorrow. Ooh. I asked yesterday.
I talked to him a few days ago. Oh. David, you got there first. I do battle the senior weasel, Michael.
And what did I say, Garrett? What did I say? Make sure you include somebody, right? You did.
He said, will you make sure to include some for BDP? Oh, yeah. You didn't say me, did you? " I did us.
I figured it was coming. I just said, I did my, what are those things like? Yeah, he did. A little dry bag.
I love it. Man, I'm looking forward to trying them. Was there a retailer I could find them? Somebody carry those down here, maybe?
Yeah. Well, hopefully soon. Garrett and I are starting a podcast, we'd like to make the announcement here. Yeah?
How about that Cigar Hustler we're calling it? Oh, that's Cigar Hustler. Podcast, yeah. That's awesome.
Guys, we're starting a new show. Call my attorney for a cease and desist right now. Get that out of the way. We already have the disclaimer worked out.
We took Matt's and we just changed it a little bit. Yeah, but maybe like three words. Yeah. Yeah.
We still want them to call Matt if we have a problem though. Right. With a problem, contact Matt. If there are any issues, please reach out to Matt.
He's the one that wrote it. Right, yeah. Yep. Okay.
So, social media initiatives. Um, we are, um, going to be, no, you guys are the first ones to hear about it. This isn't public yet. Breaking exclusive.
Yeah. So I'll let you know when you can use it, but, um, so the eight, the, the eight bar in Vegas. Yeah. Um, they are ordering our portfolio and we are launching that.
And then I'm doing a launch of the cigar in the Chicagoland area on February 11th. Um, we've got, uh, we are like 80% sure we're gonna get, do you guys know Benicia Williams? No. Um, beautiful black girl that works with Adventura.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So she is, um, also gonna be doing some stuff. Nice. Nice.
So you're going to have in-house reps? You're going to have brokers or what? So we are going to do a mix. Do you guys know anything about this guy, Big Poppy?
Yeah. I've heard of him. He played baseball. Not the baseball player.
He's on Instagram as Big Poppy. I can't find his real name. Is that the guy in Virginia, I think, or something like that? Big Puppy.
I know Big Puppy. An older guy with a beard? Let's see here. No.
He's a young Latino dog. Not who I thought it was. Big Puppy. Big Puppy.
Let me see here in one sec. It just comes up David Ortiz. Oh, Say Big Puppy? Is that what you're talking about?
Oh, I can't look. I'll hang up on here. I know Say Big Puppy. Is it...
I know Say Big Puppy. All right, let me find it for sure. One sec. Oh, my gosh.
I mean, you know, just saying, for your first interview, I mean, you really don't feel like you're that prepared, I mean, just in a nutshell, we've got another job, Mike. We've got to work on some things here, Garrett, I mean, you know. Well, here's the deal. Nobody listens to our show.
Okay, his name is, um, so on Instagram, it's Poppy Cigar Club. Huh. Oh, Poppy Cigar Club. " Island, Brother of the Leaf, Coltereno de las Puros.
com. He's reached out to Juan, and he's wanting to represent us on the East Coast. I haven't called him yet, but what I want to know is if he has any relationships with retailers on the East Coast. Like, is he just this, you know, random cigar lover?
Sounds like he's just a cigar guy that likes cigars and has a club. How many followers does he have? I don't know, I can't look them up. Michael, did you find him?
I did find him. How many followers? I've already moved on. 1,000 followers.
1,500? Yeah, 1,160 followers. I have more than that. And nobody knows BDB.
Yeah. Not on the East Coast, apparently. Hey, who knows? Hey, maybe call those guys from Burndown Podcast.
They seem to have a big following up there. So, to answer your question, yeah, we're going to use a mix of some brokers and key areas. Okay. S.
We've got, um, Ashley Ashes, who will be handling California for us. I know, Ashley. Do you think he went, like, to a storage room? Like, do you think he's talking to us on the phone?
Well, now we're on speaker because he was looking something up on his phone. Yeah. Well, you're off speaker now, I just went back on. Right, see, now it sounds better.
But you were talking about the quality a second ago. Yeah. Sounds like he's in a conference room. He's like, I'm gonna, and then I'm gonna, I just, I need like a, I need him to do a bump or something and fucking, let's go, baby, let's go, we're gonna sell some cigars, shit's gonna be crazy.
We're gonna do shit everywhere, you know that burn down cigar, burn down bridge thing, we're burning all the bridges, we're burning bridges, we're at everything, I've left the podcast, fuck Matt Ty, I'm done with him. Yeah, it's like, you know what, I'm fucking, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna, you know. Me and Ashley Ashes are partying, we're gonna have coke, and some champagne. Yeah, it's crazy.
It's crazy. Crazy, things are going wild. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna stop by Big Papi's house. Oh.
Should've been playing the song Big Papi in the background. Shit's gonna get nuts. Shit's gonna get nuts. It's great, with number one cigar on, how about that cigar next year?
I can already see it. I can already see it. That's right. Yeah, what's our game plan?
I don't know, who fucking cares. It's fucking, we're gonna crush it. He's playing and selling cigars. Yeah, what's the problem?
Assholes, what do you think it is? Idiots. God damn it. We gotta fine tune this, Gary.
We gotta work on this loop. Why does our, why do, every time I talk to you, it always leads to Coke. It always goes to Coke. I don't know.
Yeah. We've heard, you know, you guys talk about snow all the time on the show. You know what's funny is, I didn't mention, did I mention the Coke? I did mention the Coke.
Oh, did you? Oh, that's right, you were in cocaine and hookers. Yeah. You know what?
Here's the problem, Garrett, is what I do is I diagnose people over the phone and then I try and find some type of remedy to get them in the direction that I think they need to be. And for you, I feel like it's either Adderall or cocaine. Since you're in Minnesota, I feel like the cocaine is probably more accessible. He is rather laid back, gentlemen.
Yeah. I like when he does a show from the cabin. Yeah. And he's just sitting in his big chair in the cabin.
Yeah. Yeah, everything's fine. But you know what, if you listen to the holiday special with Bear, you'd understand that he comes from a family of felons. And he's just holding it all back is what it is.
He's in another business. Yeah, it's generational, and then he's just kind of brought it down. He's like the Dexter. He's got the blood of the murderers.
The little pieces of the people he's killed all over. Yeah, the collection. Yeah. I just need some cocaine, that's all.
I feel like I just did a rail. Good. Atta boy. Welcome back.
We missed you. Yeah, now I'm on. Now I'm on. All right, let's go do that.
Well, with that being said, thank you so much for coming. Yeah, thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Garrett. It was very nice of you. Take time out of your day.
We appreciate that. We don't condone any drug use in this show. It's really taking a crazy turn here. We've got Big Papi and Ashley Ashes on the other line.
We have to take their calls. They're all excited about their new jobs. Yeah, thank you so much as well. But hey, no, in all seriousness, we are very excited for you, man.
We're happy to be a part of it. We like to see the growth and experience in this industry, and you're a trustworthy guy. So I'm looking forward to see what you do here, and I hope that it builds and you get to do even more cooler and more fucking fun stuff along the way. And more cocaine.
And then make more money so you can then have a mound of cocaine. Damn, you beat me to it. Absolutely. Scarface.
Exactly, Scarface. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like we walk into your office and then you're just sitting there. There's a gun and a big pile of cocaine.
There's a M16 with a Grenade Launcher, check it out man, and you sound like that, sounds like Lorenzo from HVC, tell you about Don Diorte, exactly like Lorenzo, you can't understand Lorenzo bro, come on, hold on, we're going to go to Don Diorte lighting up camera just now, hold on a second, oh yeah, this is our Don Diorte light up session, just getting that ready, we'll send the contract until the cigar shows up. Yeah, actually, Don Doroteo would love to be your first sponsor on your show. I bet he would. I have another show on Wednesday nights, we can work something out.
All right, sounds good. All right, well, hey, thanks, Garrett. I'm a purist, Garrett, I'm a purist. I love you, though.
I love you. Congratulations, thank you very much for taking the time, buddy. Thank you, absolutely. Hey, are you guys, in what capacity are you doing TPE?
Yeah, Mike, in what capacity we go to TPE, Mike? It looks like Mike is going, I can't go. My wife has family members coming in, bringing his soon-to-be wife, that he would be very disappointed if I wasn't here. Bummer.
She said that I could go, but Doug would be very disappointed if I wasn't here. Yeah, that's the, no, no, you go. Yeah, yeah, oh, if you already had a plan, you go, and then I pay for it for the next six years. Yeah, it's fine.
It's fine. No, it's fine. No, no, honey, I need to stay. I need to stay.
No, no, no, no. Doug's my favorite relative you have. He's very nice. He'll understand.
He didn't like his first wife. I'm hoping to like this one. No, it's okay. No, no, no.
Don't worry. It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. We're gonna have a good time without you.
Right. Yeah, it'll be fine. He won't be upset. No, you go do your cigar thing.
Right. Then I get phone calls for the entire weekend. No, no, no. I want you to enjoy it.
Your cute little cigar thing. I want you to enjoy yourself. Go do your cute little cigar thing and you don't make any money at it. Don't worry about it.
You just have fun. No, it's fine. Yeah. No, you just go with your friends.
Right. You and Mike enjoy the hotel room. Yeah, exactly. Maybe he'll put up.
So, yeah. All right. So, Michael will be there. I'll see you there, brother.
I'll see you there. Awesome. I will be at the PCA, though. I'll send a picture to Mike.
Yeah. You guys can FaceTime me. Yeah, we'll do that. I'll FaceTime you.
All right. That'd be fun. Are you taking Phil with you? Am I taking Phil?
No, I'm always in. All right. Phil can videotape you. That'd be great.
All right. All right, guys. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your day, bud.
Yeah. You as well. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
I always hit "stop" on the keyboard here instead of the phone. And we're done! I'm excited for Garrett, man. So am I.
He's a good guy. Good, he is a good guy. So what was his, what was his title again? Bad Motherfucker.
VP of Sales. It's a regular title. At least he has a regular title. He's a senior executive vice president.
He's a director, VP, vice president of hospitality. Chief executive officer of finance. Equestrian work and finance. For the north and southern regions and the east and west coast.
I mean, I just want a company so rich that we can just make up titles to fucking pay people. I mean, that's what I... No, no, no, you are. Here's what you are.
Oh, by the way, our media passes, at least my media pass came through today for the... That's great. TPE, I know. You really fucked me on that.
Look, I didn't. So, Palmer goes ahead and he fucking gets TPE media passes. And, like, I try and sign up under Cigar Hustle for a retailer to go, and they're like, "No, no, no, your name, your email's... " Yeah, no, your email doesn't work now.
I'm like, "What the fuck? " I'm like, "Fuck, dude. " Well, they sent me an email for a free hotel, and I'm always signed up as media. So, I don't know why you still can't use that.
I don't know. I have to call somebody. Well, there's a person, I'm sure. I'm sure.
I'm sure there's the one guy. Well, TBE, there might be two. Maybe two. Now, if you call in the PCA, Lisa Siegler joins PCA as Director of Membership Development and Industrial Industry Relations.
She would probably be who you'd call for PCA. That sounds like a fucking task. Yeah. You ever see a PCU with Jeremy Piven?
Yes. He says, all right, and when they're trying to throw this big party, he looks at the freshmen and says, you're a freshman. Find 50,000 people. And then just like kind of walks out the room.
That's her fucking job. Hey, we need you to find everybody to fucking become members again. She's been hired as the organization's new director of membership development and industry relations. In her new position, Siegler will support the development and growth of the PCA.
It's all on her now. Find 50,000 people. It's all on you, Lisa. You're a freshman.
And will be responsible for assisting with the membership and trade show departments as well as overall sales initiatives. Sounds like she can charge everything. Wow. Do you mind just running this thing?
Here you go. All right. We'll just give you all this. We're going to go golf.
We can only get, what's his name on the phone? Lisa is now a master of all things. We've gotten to a point where it became clear that running the association would require another person because I'm tired of doing it. That's Scott Pierce of the PCA.
I'm tired of people yelling at me. Executive Director via a press release. Lisa comes highly recommended for many of the industry, and I feel confident she will make a great addition to the team, and I'm very tired. Siegler has been in the industry for 13 years, starting with La Polina as the company's office manager, and executive assistant, oh, she's both.
C. regions, representing Cornelius & Anthony, Casacuevas, Gran Habano, JRE Tobacco Company, and Nova Cigars. There you go. Didn't Cornelius & Anthony go out of business?
They did. That wasn't her fault. It's not Lisa's fault. You never know.
You don't know. No, but listen. Look. Yes.
Here's the sad part about this industry, okay? All right. Every fucking retailer will tell the PCA exactly what they're doing wrong. Oh, sure.
You know, here's where you're fucking up. It's where you messed up. Right, right. They're still talking about that, where you could get in and get autographs.
Yeah. You know what? I was a proponent of autographs. You do.
You were a fan of that. You thought it would work. Yeah. I think it was a good idea.
Yeah. So you get all the angriness, all the fucking here's how to do things, I know what I'm doing type shit, and you just dumped it on one person. Right. You talk to everybody.
Here you go, just take this. If you could just take this off my plate for me, that'd be fantastic. The main number for the PCA is Lisa's phone number now, so please call her at 1-800-I-DO-EVRITHING. I do everything.
Well, since he has come out, Mike, with the Year of the Rabbit. We talked about last week as only one company you said does. Davidoff did, right? Right.
Well, there's actually Davidoff, Drew Estate, Maya Selva, Scandinavian Tobacco, and Tablicalera SLU. All right. They all do Chinese New Year cigars. It's like they can get away with it or something.
Do they all just sell here in the United States? No. So you can't trademark that, I suppose? Year of the whatever?
Yeah. No, China probably would own it, I would imagine. Chinese New Year. I'd love to see that season exist.
That's like if you're going to copyright Christmas. I'm the only one that can do a Christmas cigar. I have copyrighted Christmas. Well, Tatuaje's got like Halloween on lock.
Well, he's got the shape of the coffin, he's got coffins, coffins, he's got all the monsters. How does he get away with that? Doesn't MGM own the monsters? I haven't, you know what?
Maybe he spells it different, like Frankenstein is S-T-E-N-I. It's Frankenstein. It's Frankens. Frankenstein.
Igor. Yeah, he pronounces it different, so that's how he gets away with it. Igor, sir. No, this is the Igor.
It's Dracula. It's Wolf Men. And this is why we can never have a cigar sponsor, Michael. Oh, maybe this company would like sponsors though.
Powstanie Connecticut coming out later this year. Oh, a little teaser by my friend Charlie Marano of Half Wheel Cigars. As soon as Skip puts out a photo, it's a new story. Skip Martin had spaghetti tonight for dinner.
" I don't want to comment on that right now. Because you're waiting on the press release. Well, the reality is that what's coming out first is the Corona Gordo. So he posted that last night.
Well, that was the bear. Oh, the bear Corona. That was the bear, yeah. Yeah.
We must acknowledge the Habano and the Broadleaf. Yes. The Corona Gordon. Oh, the Habano.
Don't let Mitch get away with that Broadleaf shit. Yeah, fuck you Mitch. That's right. I'm just kidding Mitch.
I love you. There'll be a new Postaña blend coming out later this year. Skip Martin of Roma Craft Tobac posted pictures of a new Postaña Connecticut to social media. A.
in Esteli, Nicaragua-based factory that makes Bostania cigars. Mike Stepacavige of Bostania Cigars told Halfwheel that he did not have a statement. I did. No, it says you told them they'd come out later in the later date.
Yeah. Should've said no comment. It would've been funnier. Or made up a word.
Sorry, that was light varying. That's where the tobacco's came from. Listen to a Cigar Hostage podcast. Listen for details.
Powstanie was launched in 2015 by the brothers, Shtevankiewicz, who also owns Cigar Hustler, a retail store in Deltona, Powstanie, this is a hobby? Yeah. Maybe that's the problem, Michael. Make it a business.
It is a business. Oh, they give the pronunciation, Powstanie pronounced Po-shania. I thought that's wrong. Yeah, he always fucks it up.
I don't know how he messed that up, how he got that H. P-O-H-S-H-A-N-Y-H. Yeah, I don't know. And he's never corrected it.
Which is the Polish word for uprising. That theme extends over the logo, which was inspired by symbols used by the Polish resistance movement in the World... World War II. But you know what's awesome?
Is what Skip does Powstanie, Grand Corona or whatever, and like Google Trans... or Facebook translates it for you, so it says, "The Rise Corona". Oh, nice. That's badass.
That's bad. It just ain't the name. Yeah, "The Rise". "The Rise".
We're always rising. There are two production blends, Broadleaf and Habano, as well as a variety of limited editions. Got to love Charlie. Charlie, thanks for the plug, bro.
Half wheel all the way. West, go ahead. He's a really good rider. He got all that off a picture from Skip and no comment from Muggie.
Yeah, well, he might have got a hold of Skip. Well, he had all the information prior to all that other stuff. I'm just saying, that's pretty good. That was a pretty long blurb.
It's like he does it for a living. Yeah, I guess. West Tampa Tobacco Company adds distribution in Ireland and Latvia. Nuh-uh.
Yes, I don't even know if I can find Latvia on a map. Latvia, L-A-T-V-I-A, Latvia. Wow. As of January 1st, West Tobacco Company Cigar is available in Ireland and Latvia.
The company announced that it signed distribution agreements with the Decent Cigar Emporium for Ireland and Tobacco's Nams Grupa for Latvia. T-A-B-A-K-S, Tobacco's Nams, N-A-M-S, Grupa, G-R-U-P-A. As part of these agreements, the company Cigar went on sale at the start of 2023. In 2023, West Tampa, Tobacco Company is a relatively new company from Rick Rodriguez and Gus Martinez, both long-time general cigar employees.
Did not work for Justin, though. Didn't work for Justin. Didn't work for Justin. It debuted with two lines, black and white, from the Michael Jackson song.
They did not get the rights of the song. Oh, they should've. And launched the third-line limited-edition Attic series in late 2022. All three blends were produced in Garmidia Cigar Company in Esteli.
Garmidia. I like Garmidia. Garmidia. Garmidia.
That makes more sense. It works better with the way they spelled it. There is an N. There is an N.
Yes. The company says the cigars are offered in more than 20 countries. Wow. Interesting.
Smoking now allowed in the House side of Congress, Michael. What? Yes! What?
You can smoke? S. House of Representatives are once again able to smoke in their offices on the House side of the Capitol with the new Republican majority in the House. There is a new chairman of the House's Committee on Rules, that person is Representative Tom Cole from Oklahoma.
Wow. Tom Cole, the new chairman of Rules, was about the cigars, was about to smoke cigars outside his office. " That's right. Abso-fucking-lutely.
A Republican. She don't, Dana doesn't care. Wait a second. I just got the finger.
Can they smoke it on the camera? No, she's excited about it. No, just in her offices, not out on the floor. Oh, okay.
She's excited about it. I'm excited. Yeah. Look, she's excited about it.
Patricia, I don't know her last name. New rule, we're smoking in the office. You can smoke in your offices now. Just like that.
And just like that. , the Capitol building is not subject to those rules. Instead, members of Congress get to pass rules for themselves. For the House of Representatives, those rules are a responsibility of the Rules Committee.
Love that. Since the new Congress was sworn in, there have been multiple reports of smoking, specifically cigar smoking, The new rules said to once again allow members to smoke in their offices, as well as committee rooms. Attaboy, Tom. You know what, dude?
We're gonna have some progress in the house, which is nice. You know what I mean? Like, we're all gonna sit down, we're gonna light up, smoke some cigars, we're gonna fucking figure some shit out. Smoking is not allowed on the floor of the chamber, but it's likely that members are permitted to smoke in most other places of the house.
All right, we move for ashtrays on the floor. That's it. That's the next step. Then we get a weight room, smoke cigars, and workout.
You should run for office. I don't know. Start out small. It feels like a lot.
Local city council. Yeah, you think so? Local city. And then you move up.
Yeah. Yeah. And before you know it, you're in here doing the smoking truth like they had the state representative on last week. Nice.
It's a guaranteed fit money. Boots give them water in the middle of it. That wasn't Boots. That wasn't Boots.
That was his manservant to his father. No, it wasn't boot. It did not look like that. No, he also opened the outside door for some reason.
I guess he wanted more air. Oh, he had a manservant? He had a guy, I don't know, I don't know if it was his driver for the day, I don't know what he was doing. It's like a protector.
No, it could have been, I don't know, we're getting signals from the governor over there. I would always introduce and say, this is my manservant friend or something. He was actually the president of the HOA of my neighborhood. Oh, and he's a manservant in his spare time.
Did you ask him anything? The HOA guy? Yeah. No, no, we talked briefly, and then you talked to Adrian upstairs, Adrian talked to him about something, until he found out we didn't own the house, that he didn't want to talk to her anymore.
That was it, shut it down. Never show your card. She can't do anything. Never show your card.
Right, I would have said yes if he asked me. Of course we do. Of course we do. We've been here for eight years, of course we do.
We've got a lot of things to talk about. That's right, we've got a lot of problems here, buddy. It was a, let's see, Cape Coral, Florida, Michael. It was an attempted grabbed and smashed after Cape Coral woman...
Is this the Florida story? This is the Florida story, yes. We're running out of time. It was an attempted grab and smash after a Cape Coral woman tried to eliminate her drug paraphernalia right in front of police.
Oh, of course. Abby Davis showed up at the Publix at 127 Cape Coral Parkway with a fellow patron on January 9th. Employees kept an eye on the customers when it was noticed the duo had been inside the store for over four hours. Mmm.
It's a long time. Publix has had great air conditioning. That is. I don't know.
Is that a long time for Publix for people? I think so. I think that's a long time. Even if it's a super Publix, it's still a long time.
Unless you're sitting at a little cafe. Maybe if it was a Walmart, maybe it'd be more normal. Dude, I mean, with the squad, I think it takes an hour in Publix. It's like, capped, yeah.
Oh, with your crowd? Yeah. Well, your wife has a lot of children. I mean, that's going down every single aisle.
Right. Stop touching things. Put that down. No candy, no candy!
No, you're not getting that. You're not getting that. During the visit, Davis was spotted eating a Publix sub and drinking a beverage without paying for it. 99.
Wait, so they're not included? No, no. No, no, no. Only the fruit.
You can get fruit or a cookie nut. Yeah. An adult can get a cookie? If you ask nice, I'll give you a cookie.
Can I get a cookie? Can I get a cookie, please? They'll give you one. Oh, if you throw that in, you're definite.
Right. Yeah. Because then they think you're being cute. It's true.
What do they care? They don't pay for this. It's not my problem. Where's the fruit?
" There's an apple and bananas. Apple and bananas. Yeah, there's not like a papaya or a pineapple or something. The kids like to parlay.
They start with a cookie, then they go for the- Oh, it's like a- Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you do it on a weekend, there's a snack like at Costco. Yeah, and then they start asking. I'm really thirsty.
I'm like, yeah, well, because you just ate all this shit. You just ate a cookie and a banana. What do you want? What do you want from me?
Go to the soda aisle. No, they want a fountain soda. They want a fountain drink, right, with the ice. Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, that's why it takes over an hour. Alright, let's see. On the Cape Coral, a rush report witness even claimed to see Davis and her partner stuffing items in their bags. The authorities were finally contacted when it was believed the duo was stealing vitamins.
Oh, no sub, no drinks, no bags of chips, the vitamins. They're probably going to hustle that as like drugs or something. Oh, good. We're going to crush them up.
Call Gary and say we have cocaine. Call Gary and say, hey, we got your coke. Hey, we got your coke right here. We hid it in vitamin bottles.
m. Are they still open at late? Down south. Oh, down south is different.
Oh, it's Cape Coral. I think they close at 10 or 11. While conducting a search of Davis' bag, they did not discover any stolen goods. However, during the interrogation, officers noticed something inside her bag.
A glass pipe commonly used to smoke crack. The officers would obtain the evidence, which later tested positive for fentanyl. The pipe was placed in an evidence bag, and Davis was placed in handcuffs, and according to police, while still detained, she launched herself off the pavement, snatched the evidence bag, She then hurled it towards the ground before jumping and smashing the glass pipe into fragments. No evidence now.
No evidence. Good luck. The officer explained to Davis that it didn't matter if it was intact or in pieces. Ha!
Showed you, lady. You'll never find the vitamins. Evidence was evidence. You'll never find the vitamins.
With the shattered pipe secured, Davis was arrested and transferred to the Lee County Jail. And is now up for junior vice executive producer of a marketing scheme for Cigar House for Public. She faces charges of larceny, possession of drug equipment, and resisting an officer. Wow.
So they did hear for the larceny. Yeah, for the sub. I was going to say, I was like, man, they hit her for the glass pipe, but they didn't hit her for the sub, the soda, the vitamins. So I guess she'd already consumed them.
There's no evidence there either. You know what? You're going to poop in this bucket for the next six weeks just so you know. Eating the vitamins like they were nothing.
Probably overdosed on vitamins, that's a lot of vitamins. I mean, every crackhead knows when you go to steal from Publix, you don't bring your own drug paraphernalia. Right! It's ridiculous, that's crazy.
I was a stroll and then they were gonna do the thing. When you drink the soda, you make something out of the can. Right, right, that's it. Think it through.
You just need a Leatherman. Just a little handle. Alright, Mike, you got anything else? You got a Shop of the Week?
Uh-oh. No. You got a Listener of the Week? No.
Wow, you're really falling down on your responsibilities. It was a tough Monday, bro. It was a tough Monday. Well, I did most of this work yesterday.
It was a tough Sunday, bro. It was a tough Sunday. No, I didn't. Your wife went out to brunch and you were home.
Which means you don't feed the children. I want... Excuse me? Is that...
He didn't go to brunch. Is that what happened, Michael? I know, that's what I mean. So he was at home.
Really? Were you at home or did you go to brunch? No, Michael, I was not home. Thank you very much.
Did your wife arrange the food before you left? No, she did not, Michael. Thank you very much. So she rolled the dice on the children eating this time.
She took the gamble, yeah. She did. Oh, what did they have? I took Jack's to Catholic school.
Hmm. Nice. Who watched the other children? What other children?
You had more than one. Oh, shit. There's three? There's three.
Mika did. Oh, that's right. Oh. So they still didn't eat.
And then... No, they haven't eaten for two days. They haven't eaten either. And then...
Everybody looked for Paul Malls. And then we had basketball practice. Oh. Yeah.
So at church, could've done it at church. Then we had basketball practice. No, you have to engage with the church people. You bow your head anyway.
No, it doesn't work. It doesn't work that way. You bow your head, you're not a type of do-do-do-do-do, listener of the week. Nobody's looking.
Nope. No. " And then we had basketball practice. Are you the coach?
Not yet. More downtime. More downtime. Not yet.
I'm not gonna be the coach of basketball. Are you the assistant coach of basketball? I know nothing about basketball. No, he was a time clock guy, remember?
I don't know. Oh, you still doing the table clock thing during the games? No, no, no. Fuck that up.
He sits in the very back of the bleachers now. You know, it's funny. Oh, right at the top. I missed a point once and everybody let me know that I missed a point.
Oh. That's what you have to do. You never have to do it again that way. Hey, hey.
I'm like, Jesus. Okay. If you say so, there you go. Anybody else wanna yell at me?
How many you want? How many points you want? Yeah, how many you want? How many you want?
I don't really care. Yeah, we're up 12 now, okay? How's that sound? Squeaky.
The rubber hit the wall back in the back of the chair. Sounds like we're doing some kind of weird electrical sound. Yeah. All right.
All right, anything else? That's it. All right, it's been episode 264 of a Cigar Hustler, I don't know, camera, over there, of Cigar Hustler, oh, that's off, it's yours, you say it. This has been episode 264 of a Cigar Hustler's podcast.
Thank you to all of our listeners and viewers for your support. Please hit the like and subscribe button on all platforms. Oh, that's very nice, you did a good job, excellent job. It's like I've done this for eight fucking years of life.
Yeah, no shit, 264, 264 episodes, over five years of our life, but we're running it, we're starting like year seven this year, are we, yeah, it's so weird, it's year five, long time, still making the six, sure you don't want to get down to your, it's on the table, retainer, Garrett, show me the retainer, I don't know, if the check's big enough, who the fuck knows, you know, we can smoke one cigar, I'm going to say it's good whether it is or not. I'll entertain it. I'll entertain it. That's like an auction.
I'll entertain it. We're taking bids. Yeah, go ahead. Anybody.
Anybody with a check. We'll plug it right in the middle. We really want to know how much money you're going to offer. Yeah, I want to know what the check was.
Big. How about Corona? We'll take Corona money. Whoa.
Oh, sorry. Helicopter. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Went too far.
Sorry, sorry. I'll take Corona money. All right, we're going to go. Bye.
a cigar hustlers podcast its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guests statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of mike and mike productions or the podcast providers and opinions between talk show hosts may differ it is not our intention to libel incite or hurt anyone's feelings we invite you to write the show's host mike stefan kevich with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows these broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they We'll be entertaining to the audience. Dave, I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? The Hojo, Dave.
Hojo! It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I couldn't get past Hojo!
I don't even have to try it. We're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right. Try to keep up.
That's a sign of a good podcast. It'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike squared.
Show Notes
Special Guest Garret Robinson joins us this week to talk about how "excited" he is to be joining Don Doroteo Cigars! Mikey wants a title and a check...Phil is depressed and well Palmer...he's always Palmer