Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 278 Who’s Number one?

Episode Summary

Episode 278 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a news-and-banter show with Michael "the King" Szczefankewicz, producer Mike "Reverend BDP" Palmer, and cameraman Phil. The guys open with weekend recaps — a visit to Cigars on the Avenue where John Carney introduced them to a 24-karat gold-flake infused espresso tied to the shop's "Golden Circle" program, plus Padrón and Powstanie smokes on the patio. They're smoking the Powstanie Broadleaf Corona Gorda on camera, and reveal that the Powstanie Corona Gorda in both Habano and Broadleaf officially drops May 19th at Hogshead Tobacco in Virginia, where Michael will be on hand.

The Phil's Fun Facts segment digs into cigars as a historical status symbol (Spanish-controlled Cuban production in the mid-1800s) and a claim that Roman Catholic missionaries promoted cigars by saying "cigar smokers go to heaven" — which prompts a live call to Ronnie Hyesha of Secreto Cigars to clear up the difference between Chaldean, Assyrian and Arab heritage. Secreto Cigars gets the Shop of the Week nod and Ronnie is named Listener of the Week.

The news block covers Alec Rubin, Bradley Rubin and Jonathan Lipson joining Scandinavian Tobacco Group's marketing department as Alec Bradley moves under STG, with founder Alan Rubin staying on as a consultant (and being replaced on the PCA board by Mike Gold of Arango Cigar Co.). Also discussed: Illusione shipping the Original Documents Habano — the first Illusione line made at AJ Fernandez's San Lotano factory in Ocotal with Alberto Padilla — plus K by Karen Berger rebranding to simply Karen Berger, and STG's acquisition of Swedish nicotine-pouch maker XQS International for up to $22.11 million.

The crew also breaks down John Daly's new licensing deal with San Giuseppe Cigars — The Wild One Short Game and The Lion Long Game, with names workshopped alongside Kid Rock — and question the value of athlete-branded cigars from a company that also does Major League Cigars deals with Jose Reyes and Fergie Jenkins. They wrap with the CAA report showing a record 464.543 million premium cigars imported into the U.S. in 2022 (Nicaragua at roughly 54%), and California's ongoing push toward tobacco-free legislation.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Cigars on the Avenue and gold-infused espresso
   The guys recap a guys' night out with John Carney, the shop's Golden Circle program and 24-karat gold flake espresso.
2. 02
   Smoking the Powstanie Broadleaf Corona Gorda
   A slightly dry but well-liked Powstanie Broadleaf Corona Gorda is the Patreon smoke of the episode.
3. 03
   Phil's Fun Facts: cigars as a status symbol
   How Spanish-controlled Cuban production made cigars a symbol of European wealth, plus the claim that Roman Catholic missionaries told smokers they'd go to heaven.
4. 04
   Call-in with Ronnie Hyesha of Secreto Cigars
   A quick live call to settle Chaldean, Assyrian and Aramaic heritage — and a plug for Secreto Cigars as Shop of the Week.
5. 05
   Alec Bradley team joins Scandinavian Tobacco Group
   Alec Rubin, Bradley Rubin and Jonathan Lipson take marketing roles at STG while founder Alan Rubin shifts to consulting.
6. 06
   Illusione Original Documents Habano ships
   Illusione's first collaboration with AJ Fernandez, made at the San Lotano factory in Ocotal with Alberto Padilla, in six sizes.
7. 07
   John Daly's San Giuseppe cigars
   The Wild One Short Game and The Lion Long Game, the Kid Rock naming story, $22.50 price point, and a skeptical look at athlete-branded cigars.
8. 08
   Record 2022 U.S. premium cigar imports & industry moves
   464.543 million cigars imported in 2022, Mike Gold joining the PCA board, K by Karen Berger's name change, STG buying XQS International, and California tobacco legislation.

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 Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we're bringing you the latest news and insights from the world of premium cigars. In this episode, we dive into the big stories of the week. We also discuss the latest cigar releases, trends, and hot topics in the cigar world, and share our thoughts and opinions on everything cigar-related. So grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and join us for another exciting episode of the Cigar Hustlers podcast.

He's talking so fast. He had a stroke or something? With your host, Michael the King, Steponkiewicz, and his producer, Mike Reverend, BDP Palmer, and me, I'm Phil, your cameraman. The only time I'm funny is when I insult myself.

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Call for pricing, 407-474-1214. Don't talk over the phone number. com. get you right today talk over he's trending now on facebook too he is very exciting yeah are you busy over there phil can you change the cameras no oh yeah he was checking his high score no no game no no you're supposed to send me a text oh yeah sorry so my question or my thing is is uh texted me to ask me to send you a text yes what's your question no not a question uh a rack above actually texted me this week did it yeah yeah man he's going through these things like hotcakes yeah he did an event really yeah oh you know i meant to go to that but it didn't work out he did well the uh the golf event yes oh no that's not what i was talking about he said the the porn event you're supposed to go to no he was at the home show out in uh daytona he was out of that as well i was gonna go to that he sold a whole bunch he's crushing yeah he's crushing yeah i love my rack above fucking it's amazing he said he loves us that's exactly what the text is i love you guys It took a while to get there.

Yeah, right. You got to be sticking out. We're not an overnight type thing. Right.

Yeah. It takes a little while to build up. Now he's trending. Yeah, it's not just one meal.

You know what I mean? You just can't take us out to dinner and then we're going to all give it up to you. It doesn't work that way. You got to show up consecutively.

Show up. Day in and day out. Show up, baby. Show up, baby.

Let's go. What are you doing over there? I'm looking for his, Phil's Fun Facts. And it's gone.

Again, something else has disappeared from my phone. Oh boy. Oh. Oh boy.

Wow, that's so weird. Hold on, fellas. So how was your day, Phil? No, no, hold on.

What? There's something going on with the mics there. There's something going on. What's going on with the mics?

There's no... No, sir, we're not connected to the thing. There's something happening here. Make sure the wire's unplugged.

We'll reset the computer, turn the computer on and turn it back off. Okay. What it is... Just keep the video rolling.

Let's have a video rolling. Okay. There's a man with a gun over there. Telling me.

Oh, here I have it. Oh, good job. We're so on point here today. It feels like that type of money, I'm not gonna lie.

Just cranking along here, just cranking along. Things have been a little messed up. Things are a little awry. You know, I had a check engine light on my car.

Oh, yeah. And I threatened, I was telling people that, hey, if this happens again, I'm just getting rid of this car. I don't want to do it. I just don't want to do it.

Give me something cheaper, smaller, I don't care. I'm not dealing with this. I'm not doing it. So did it come back on?

It turned off. It turned itself off. It goes off eventually. Yeah, it realized that it's like, oh shit, he's going to shit can me.

My Pathfinder used to do that all the time. Really? If you wait long enough, it goes off. It goes away.

Yeah, problem solved. Hey, don't worry, I took care of it. I fixed it, it's fine. You know, I asked you to take care of it, but then I realized that it was something that I needed to take care of.

I realized I could do it. I don't need to bother you. I went ahead. I'm so sorry.

Yeah, it's fine. Let me just flick that back off. It's fine, it's fine. Right, it's fixed.

Thank you so much. Don't worry, it's all taken care of. What are we doing for the Patreon? Today we are smoking the Powstanie Broadleaf Corona Gort.

Oh! There it is. Can you turn on camera three real quick? We were going to do the Habano, but I smoked the whole box, so that's camera one, camera three, slightly blurry.

Yeah, it probably was. Yeah, I can't reach one from here. We were going to do, I was going to do the Habano, but I didn't want Mitch to get mad at me. But Mitch was smoking Habano last night.

I saw that. Yeah, now he's like on every post, he's like, you guys are doing it right or you're doing it wrong. It's very judgy. I see him, yeah.

- That's fine. I wouldn't-- - It's a little dry. I won't take out a point for that, though. - I told you, it was in my abused box sitting on my-- - Yes, I understand.

Could've throw a Humi pack in 'em or something. - Nah. - I mean, if you would've mentioned it, I would've done it. - Well, I tell you, the Cobbler's kids have the worst shoes, bro.

- Yeah, you are. - I don't take care of my shit. - So, uh, you guys had a little event that you went to. - We did.

- Yes, what was that? Explain. - Uh, we went to-- where did we go? - Well, the little tea set and stuff that came out.

- Cigars on the app. - Yeah, went to Cigars on the app. I was invited, I understand, but... Yes, you didn't even respond.

I was already in bed. Oh. Adrian did the overnight grad thing, didn't get over 4:30 in the morning Saturday, so by 6 o'clock Saturday, she was dead again, so we went to bed. Yeah, well, you know...

I saw it at 10 and I figured, ah, it's too late. I was overdue for like a small little guy's night out thing, right? I don't know when I've done one last. I like going over there.

Your birthday, I think. July? Maybe. Just guys without the wives.

I see this is like, hey, just go kill a couple hours and change the atmosphere. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So yeah, we went over there and I called Carney, I text him, I said, hey, I'm on my way to the end. He's like, oh. Oh, you don't feel good, I'm so tired. That's what he said, oh, it's fucking stomach flu, blah, blah, blah.

I'm vomiting, I'm pooping. So I had to get aggressive and I wrote, fuck you. Oh. You're always sick.

You're always sick. Like, it's ridiculous. And then, you know, then I kept laying it on thick. Like, you don't come see me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We haven't had sex in months. And then, sure enough, he showed up. Oh, with the gold tea set. He said that we were doing this.

" So, what is it? It's, what is it? So, it was a gold-infused espresso. Yeah, yeah.

Oh. It's really cool. Has that nothing to do with the fancy gold cigars? Yeah, it is.

It's all laced to the Golden NFT. Did you smoke a Golden NFT? No, man, I ain't got that kind of money. I didn't know if you just maybe were passing them out.

Man, that'd be great. So I thought it was all a thing. So is this something that he brought from home or that you have to request? You can, they have it set up there at cigars.

And then they have different. Excuse me, I would like the gold coffee. And they have this thing called like the Golden Circle. Yes.

And everybody gets a Golden Bull Cigar. Yeah. And then it comes with something else. I don't know.

So did you get that? No. I told you I did not smoke that. I didn't.

The golden bowl. I know the circle. I thought it was something else. I went in there.

I smoked a postaña. I bought a postaña there. I smoked a postaña there. Oh, that's nice.

Then I had a Padrón. Oh, your standard cigars on the Avenue night. That's a standard cigar on the Avenue night. Pastaña.

So it was just espresso with gold in it. But what's funny is I gave them the Habano and the broadleaf, and I go, there's no broadleaf box out. I'm like, where's the broadleaf? And they go, no, you never gave us that.

" So, it might be gone, so I might be taking that. Oh. So, yeah, so what it is, is it's espresso infused with 24 karat gold flakes, like basically. Yeah.

Gold slager or something like that? Yeah, exactly. Exactly, we all shit Rolexes the next day. Oh, nice!

Like gold sugar. Yeah. Oh. It's cool.

Golden chocolates. Yeah, golden truffles. Yeah. Oh.

It's very bougie. What's that cost? I don't know, I'm just curious. I didn't even see the price.

It costed John Carney. The John Carney tab. I don't know if he did. You know what, he doesn't do that all the time.

I will tell you that when it comes to guys that are strategic about their purchases and should I or shouldn't I business expenses, Carney's probably number one. I mean, when I took him to the game, I remember years ago, we went to the Bucks Patriots game. I remember when you went. And he took us, there's a steakhouse right there, Morton's or some shit.

I don't fucking know. And he bought, he picked up the tab. Right. I mean, everybody there at that table was another retailer or a guest of a retailer.

Right. So I felt like that could be justified. Sure. Hey, I took care of all these guys, we went out, we had dinner, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever.

Right. He fucking, that was a personal charge. How do you know? I asked him.

Oh, well, that makes sense, then. Like what, the MX doesn't say LFD on it? I said, I'll charge it to the game, right? Right.

And he goes, no, man, I ain't doing that. I'm not doing that. No, you shouldn't have paid for everybody. No, well, that was the beginning of the conversation.

I was like, dude, that was very nice, you didn't have to do that. And then I said, oh, you just charged the game. And he goes, no, man, I'm not. I'm not charging to the game.

It's at least a tax write-off. I mean, it could still be a tax write-off on a personal level. That's what I mean. I mean, it'd be silly not to.

So, he came up, and we did the coffee yada yada, and he had a couple glasses of wine, and the poor guy starts sweating. " But he wasn't missing it. I'm getting over it, but you know, I've fucking skipped out on you enough every time you were here, so... So could you be a carrier now?

Oh, yeah, I could be. Because it's terrible. Well, you were just talking with Chet. Yeah, but I didn't get close and we didn't shake hands.

It doesn't matter. Chet's sick. It doesn't matter. It's out there.

Well, my wife had it and I only had it for a day. So then you're fine. But one of her principals ended up in the hospital who got it. He got so dehydrated.

Wow. He had to go for a banana bag. A banana bag? Banana bag.

Is he a big drinker? No. No? No.

Does he like water? Does he drink water? I don't know. I don't know the man.

I figured you knew all these people. No, no, I don't I don't know him. He's not in her circle. Okay, so yeah, we did that.

We did Jax's birthday party. Sorry, that's a quick, but, and the show's over. Thanks for coming. Long pause.

I thought you were looking up some type of- We did, we had Jax's birthday party, which is really cool, at the RDV. Oh, everybody worked out? Yeah, yeah, his trainer came out and they did like combine stuff, it was really cool. Wow, how exciting.

Yeah, yeah, Boots, let Phil, let Boots know that his birthday present was a big hit. And Sophia is awesome, dude, let me tell you, please let Boots know. Okay. That Sophia is great because she is like one of the boys, you know what I mean?

They all hang out, they all, she doesn't, eh, I wanna go do the, like, there's no girliness. Right. In Sofia, right? She's a weightlifter, for God's sake.

Yeah, she wants to go and do- She was thriving at that place. She's a tomboy. She wants to hang out with the boys. She wants to do the boys stuff, right?

Right. So, she fits right in. Right. I'll let him know.

So, yeah, please let him know. Yeah. And let him know that the gifts that he got him, Jax took them and he hung them up on his bed last night. Nice.

Yeah, so they're like little decorations for him now as he sleeps. Nice. And he's worn both of them already. Explain that.

It's been one day. Sweet. He wore both of them, so... Jerseys are cool, man.

Yeah, you know, I didn't know, I honestly did not know that he would be that well, that it would be that well received. Well, he likes sports. He does like sports, but, and he does wear some of the football stuff, but basketball's all, right now, it's kind of on the cusp. But I guess maybe because it's postseason and all this, it's really kind of ramping up.

Those are guys that he looks up to. Yeah, it's true. - Why'd you put the mask back on? - It's almost 16 minutes.

- Oh! - And we're gonna start the clock. - Doesn't matter now. - Yeah, what are we at though?

- Oh, we're at 14. - So I had 14 minutes to it. - Okay, so two minutes then? - Yeah, two minutes.

- Anything else you wanna talk about, briefly? - Briefly. - No, no, what about, you didn't tell about yours? - We did, I didn't do anything over the weekend.

- Absolutely nothing. - No, I mean, sure, you should-- - Dude, we ended up to four o'clock in the morning, she was shot for the weekend. I texted him at 7:30 to come out, we were heading to the Scars on the Ave, and he was in bed. Yeah, it was Saturday, Sunday I fiddled around the house.

When was the last time you were in bed at 7:30? Fucking ever? You guys have children, you don't have that luxury. It's been a long time.

My children call after 7:30, the one I better be in jail. So nothing on Sunday? You guys usually do some on Sunday. I'll do some on Sunday.

" She goes, "I'm still not feeling good. " I was like, "Well, I can do the bridal show. I got tickets for that. There's a home show or there's a blueberry festival in Orton City.

Any of those? " Took the wheel covers off my car, spray painted those, sanded them down because the finish was coming off of those and spray painted those, put them back down. So you do work on the car? It's just the wheel covers.

Spray paint. It'll flake off eventually, so you don't have to redo it again. So he said something about the Cigar Authority thing. I didn't watch.

Oh, you don't want to do your thing and talk about that after? Okay, yeah, let's do that. Okay, I'll do it right now. I'm gonna tell you right now.

I know, you should do the Cigar Authority thing, because it's worth about 20 seconds worth of our time. And that's about it. So go ahead. No, let's just skip it then.

No, you can bring it up. Put it up, post it up real fast. So basically you were saying that other people were letting them know. Other people posted in the Weasel page, yes.

Yes, on their... Put me on three. We appreciate you guys. You guys are fucking awesome.

Best listeners and viewers in the cigar industry, hands down. For the number one show. I love the fact that you guys handle our light work. That's awesome.

Thank you so much. It really warms my heart. Ben Roland's wife sent me a message on Barry's first post. Oh, yeah?

I was like, yeah, I saw that. I go, feel free. You can say whatever you want. I'm not engaging.

And she goes, no, no, that's Ben's job. I was like, well, then tell Ben to get busy. Ben's got it. I saw a lot of people were...

Ben's got it. Jason Hawkins had it. There was a handful of guys. Tron.

I mean, all our dudes. Yeah, a lot of guys were plugging Phil, man. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Oh, I did see why. I saw something about Phil one day. Yeah, Phil gets the ratings or something like that. Phil's on fire or something like that.

Nice. Oh, I like that. Phil's on fire. Save Phil.

Save the Phil. Nice. All right, well, you're past 16 minutes now. Alright, here we go.

So, I'm going to ask you guys a question, but I don't want you to answer it, because I'll answer it. Are cigars a status symbol, right? This is not what I sent you. You didn't send me anything.

Yes, I did. You didn't go through. You sent it to me. That's why I was wondering why I had it.

Cigars became a status symbol. They began to be associated with wealthy, mostly European men who smoked them. Because Spain had colonized Cuba, the Spanish pretty much controlled the production of the world's best cigars at the time, in the mid-1800s. They were sold throughout the old world.

Yeah. That's it. Do you think, I think you think now, if you fast forward to modern era, that they're, they're associated with men that are, have a body fat percentage of 55%, 4XLs, 5XLs. Right.

It does seem that cigar men are more of a robust and, you know. We're a bit bulkier. We're a tad bulkier, in general. Not many thin, you know.

You're really skinny, you must love cigars. It's like a long-haired guy, you know, with the fucking tie-dye shirt, you're like, that guy is fucking smoking some serious pot, right? Oh, and he likes the Grateful Dead. Yeah, yeah, exactly, a huge deadhead.

That guy's weeding it up. If you're a 4XL, you're probably a cigar guy. Do you think most cigar smokers are businessmen or just regular guys? No, man.

No, not regular guys. Social league guys, social speaker, people who want to talk to each other and kind of get out and shit like that. Give you excuse to get out at the house. Look for something else to do other than getting shit-faced drunk and, you know.

Yelled at by your wife. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

You know what? Cigars are a great avenue for people who don't want to get fucking, He's fucking hammered and then drive home, right? Right. I think that's filled a lot of voids for people.

That's not for everybody, because some people will do both. Right. Right. Like Skip.

Certainly. No, but he doesn't get fucked up to a point where he can't drive, right? I'm just saying. No, but he does have a higher tolerance than the average man, though.

Yes. Indeed. Indeed, he does. Built up over many years.

Oh, and congratulations to Skip, by the way. What happened to Skip? The granddaughter. He's a grandpa now.

He's a grandpa. He is? Yes. I had no idea.

He didn't hear about that. No way. You didn't see the post he put up where him and Arlen are the two most attractive grandparents in the world? Oh.

Hey, you know what I heard? Nice. I heard Jeff Moutet had a grandkid as well. Oh, wow.

How weird. Isn't that something? Wow. Yeah, isn't that funny?

What's the chances of that? So crazy. It had to be planned or something. What are the odds?

Wow. That's insane. I wonder how long Jeff and his son had that plan. Yeah, I was so involved with Jeff.

I didn't even know that Skip had one, too. Oh, wow, yeah. Wow. Incredible.

Nice. They should do a cigar together. They should. A grandparent.

It's a great idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Call the abuelo or whatever. The abuelo?

Abuelo. Call the abuelo. I'm sure that exists already. Some asshat has the fucking rights to it.

Who wouldn't share it? No, it's my trademark. You cannot use abuelo. Or the grandpappy.

Ooh, the grandpappy Van Winkle. Ooh, that's never been. That's never been done. That doesn't exist?

Never been done. Not at all. Sure that's not in there? Or the pool.

You're well past your fun facts, Tim. Am I? Are we gonna move on? Yeah, we can move on.

Hit him with the fun facts. Let's go. You want the one that he sent to me? Yeah.

Of course. I don't know if it's really a fact. Alright, so, uh, Roman Catholic missionaries helped to increase the popularity It's the majority of smoking cigars by saying "cigar smokers go to heaven". Really?

That's what it says. That's what the Roman Catholic said. So he's been giving, he gives you the facts? I have the last three or four weeks.

I found a place that has them. I mean, it sounds like that's so off the wall that it has to be true. Yeah. You know what I mean?

There's no... It's not a Palmer BDP fun fact. I mean, it could be. It could be.

BDP fun fact. Fun fact. I have my own fun facts now. Fun fact.

Huh. Greg is up there cleaning out his office. He found the camera. " They were gonna use it for the website.

Yes. Right. So I don't know why you can do it. Ah.

The Roman Catholic smoking. Yeah. I like it. You go to heaven.

" Oh, is that a Roman Catholic or just Catholic? Oh, I don't know. I think there's a difference. Is there?

One's a little more extreme. Is it? It's like Jewish and Hasidic Jews. There's a difference.

They're like Roman Catholic. I don't know. I don't know if there's Roman Catholic and just Catholic. Yeah, or it's like the number one show and the number two show.

Number one's more extreme. Right. There's a difference. I mean, the Romans were the bad guys, right?

" Yeah. That is true. " It's like Ronnie. Ronnie's like Killian.

I'm gonna fuck that up so bad. I have no idea. I'm sure he'll call though. Yeah.

he'll correct you and tell you you want to no no don't call him come on i'll give him two minutes i'll give him two minutes two minutes it's gonna come on forever no he's not because i'll just hang up welcome to the religious portion of the cigar house this is so funny this is why we're number one he's calling ronnie yeah he's calling ronnie you know he's gonna be really mad when uh you don't get him to the place just It just made me forget the device. That's right. I just hit the button. That's right.

Hit it again. I can't. Again. One more time.

One more time. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh my goodness. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so busy.

Oh, there it is. There it is. I'm at like 10% too. My phone didn't charge last night.

Oh. This is amazing. So I might just hang up with, you know, he might, this conversation might be short regardless. Did you get a new case?

No, my kids stole my case. Oh, so there's no case on it? Yeah. It's MIA.

Like, it's so shiny. Hey, you're on the podcast. Listen, you got two minutes. We're going to be in and out real quick.

I just don't want to fuck up your religion, because you called yourself, like, Kalean, Kalean? What are you? It's whatever my religion. I'm fucking Catholic.

Yeah, but you know what I mean. But what do you call, what do you call yourself? I don't call myself it. Why don't you open up a Bible?

We're Babylonian, Mesopotamian, Chaldean, Assyrian. That's it. Chaldean. Chaldean.

Yeah. All right. Fuck you. Oh, my God.

He was definitely going to go for a while. He was, yeah, he was. He's going to pick up right where he left off. I believe we got disconnected, sir.

Are you there? His phone's going dead. Yeah, I'm sorry, I have bad reception. You better be nice to me, Ronnie.

God damn it. I was just calling because I wanted to get it right as to whatever the hell you called Chaldea. I didn't know. I didn't know.

That's spelled any of the way that you think. Super easy explanation. So when you open up your Bible, Old Testament, we're for civilization. There you go.

Are you from Iraq? He is. He's supreme being. So it's Iraq, the southernmost part of Turkey, borders of Iran, Saudi Arabia, right dad?

Part of Saudi Arabia, all of Kuwait. And so we speak Aramaic, not Arabic. We were originally under, you'd call a Syrian umbrella would be A-S-S-Y-R-I-A-N, and we were Eastern Christian, and then Chaldeans became Roman Catholic. So there you go.

So if you ever need a translation, hit me up. I appreciate that. That's why I was calling to get that information. We do want to talk to Jesus directly, is what I'm saying.

Right. Okay. Well, hey, I love you. I'm glad you clarified that, because what we are not is Arab.

Right. Exactly. It's not that we have anything against Arab, we just classify us wrong. It's all our Arab listeners.

We still love you. Keep sending our Christie's our way. They're just not you. You're out.

Right. Okay. Secreto Cigars, guys. Buy cigars from Ronnie.

He loves everybody. Well, we can't really say that on your show because we don't want to get you kicked off of YouTube. So take that bet. Why not?

It's not a plug. It's not a plug. It's fine. You're fine.

Don't worry about it. We're the number one show. It's okay. Yeah.

Don't report us. And the number one hashtag. Number one hashtag, number one show. Oh, we got, oh, we're the number one hashtag?

All right, brother. I'll let you get back to it. That's two minutes. Love you.

Bye. There's a Chaldean. Oh, there we go. Chaldean's not to be fucked with.

I'm sure. Yes. I don't know what he was. I got it confirmed.

I didn't want to mix that up. That was way up. That was like, Kalean. I might have to read that later.

It's nice reading. Should we get on with the news? Can I go on with the news? Or do we need another religious moment?

Is it, uh, you're not calling Rui? I feel religious enough about it. Call Rui when we do the story about the news. Not beforehand!

It's a new fucking news! Is it hard being number one, fellas? Is it hard? You know what?

I sort of walked into it. You want me to be honest with you? Be honest. It's not hard.

It's not hard. It's not hard, right? It's not hard, no. You just have to consistently show up.

We haven't done anything special except show up every week. Yeah. And be a good person. And keep it real.

Yeah. There's no hook. There's no... We're not dangling a carrot of bullshit.

There's no fluff. There's no ad. We fucking call it. Not even a cigar thing.

We call it like we see it, bro. And that's how we've always been. And that's never going to change. It's never going to change.

And we don't care if we die fucking broke. It's fine. It's fine. We don't give a shit.

This is not a money-making thing. Because you know what? We're going to say whatever we want to say. Right.

And I'm big enough where you ain't going to come and get in my fucking face. Right? True statement. There you go.

Oh, somebody said we were fucking with their pots and pans. Yeah, we were definitely fucking with. And we will fuck with your pots and pans. Because we can.

We have our own pans. We have our own pans. There you go. Alright, let's get into some news.

To the news. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Tu. Alec and Bradley Rubin, Jonathan Lipson joins STG's marketing department.

Oh. The namesakes of the-- Alec and Rubin. Alec and Bradley Rubin. Alec and Bradley.

Alec and Bradley. Alec Bradley. Alec Bradley and Rubin. The namesakes of the Alec Bradley brand, as well as the brand's former director of sales and marketing, have joined Scandinavian Tobacco Group's marketing department with the trio, working to support the brand as it enters a new chapter as part of STG's portfolio.

Yeah. So, daddy got them jobs. Listen, man, how the fuck I would take the, what the fuck, of course, without a question. Sure.

You gonna buy me? You gonna stroke me the check? My kids need a job and the guys, this other guy's been around a lot of time. You know, it's probably in the best interest of the corporation if you take us on as well.

I mean, it's named after them. Yeah. So, hey. I mean, just so there's no Taranios at Taranio Cigars anymore, it doesn't matter.

Give them a nice corner office. Right. Make sure that they can, you know, they have good views. They're brand manager, strategic partnerships, and will focus on developing relationships for Alec Bradley brands.

Sounds like a hell of a paycheck. Among influential lifestyle brands outside the premium cigar category. Comes with a gold helicopter. According to a price relief.

Ooh. Yes, Alec Rubin joined Alec Bradley in 2014 as a brand strategist, and in July 2020 was promoted to director of business development. He is credited with playing pivotal roles in building the brand's blend book and deepening the connection between the Alec Bradley brands and the American whiskey space. Are they going to do American whiskey?

How the fuck should I know? What? They're going to be the first attempt at it. Oh.

Wow. Well, they're in charge of everything that's not cigars. That's even better! I know!

I love that! You know, we need planes! We should be a rarely plane! Let's go on planes!

We're gonna be the aviation specialists of STG, and we're gonna need several private jets. And boats! I think we need boats, too. So we need to check on big boats.

We're gonna be the marine biologists of STG. You know, there's no cigar name on hookers. We need hookers. We're in hooker research, prostitution development.

Sponsor. We need to sponsor hookers and strippers. Nobody's doing that right now. It's an open market.

It's untapped. It's on the ground level. It's on tapped. We're ready to go.

First floor. Come on, Bradley, let's go to the strip club and do some research. We're gonna have the... What the fuck was that meeting?

Oh, man. Oh, the discrepancy. The optimization. The lead optimization.

We're gonna have one of those meetings, too. We're gonna have a lead optimization meeting at fucking Tootsies or whatever the fuck. You know what, if I'm Justin Andrews, I would totally do that shit. I'd be like, you know what, I gotta do another fucking meeting.

I would find the most obnoxious places to post up that has Wi-Fi. That obviously has Wi-Fi. And then I put my laptop open and, you know, fucking blazing lights behind me and all types of crazy shit. I'm like, no, no, no, yeah, no, I'm fine.

I'm at home. I'm at home. It's unmuted every once in a while. And keep the video up.

Do the black, do the green screen behind you. Jonathan Lipson, Alec Bradley's former director of sales and marketing, He's been appointed to role of Senior Brand Manager at STG. Whoa. I have no idea what that means.

For being appointed Director of Sales and Marketing to us, he will continue to steer marketing, product development, and consumer engagement for the Alec Bradley Cigar brands. Wait, he will continue to steer marketing. Oh, so really, it's not. So really, it's not.

He's just getting another check, too. What is this? Oh, let's see. Who else?

Sign me up. Who else here has gotten a job? Let's keep reading. Ridley Rubin and John the Libsyn will continue to be based in Florida because they already lived there and report to Christopher Tarr, vice president of marketing and FGG's brand and rest of world division.

I just need to butter up to Justin Andrews a little more and say, hey, listen, I need a marketing position. They have made another purchase. Senior director. Can you imagine me as a senior director for marketing walking into a fucking meeting like this?

And rest of world division. And rest of world division. What is that? I don't know, but it sounds important.

It sounds really big. I could totally handle that. What do you cover? I cover the rest of the world.

The entire world. Just the rest of it. Whatever they don't already do, I have the rest of it. m.

, and you need to speak with me then. If not, set an appointment for the following Monday. I'm extremely proud that Alec and Bradley and Jonathan have the opportunity to work alongside the talented team at SDG, They will continue to play important roles growing the Alec Bradley brand, added Alan Rubin. Consulted to STG and the founder of Alec, oh, now he's a consultant.

Oh, that's even better. I like that one. That's less work. I like that one.

Give me that job. Consultant. I want to be consultant to rest of the world. I would, yeah, can I, yeah, yeah.

That's what you want. Can I work with you? Certainly. Oh, that was consultant.

I'll be your assistant for the consultant for the rest of the world. Oh, I'll just get your coffee and shit. Michael, Michael, I need coffee, please. The rest of the world is calling.

I'll carry the knife, too, for cutting the packages. Moving forward. Oh, we'll switch. Any packages, yeah.

But I'm gonna need like a quarter of a million a year. That's standard. Whatever you want. Perfect.

That's fine. Thank you. Just a quarter? Not a whole million?

How about half? You do a very good job with the knife and the coffee. Alright, fuck it, half. Okay, I'll take half.

As long as I'm making a million, that'd be fine. Or three quarters, just a little bit more than yours. Yeah, you can make a little bit more. I'm fine with that.

Excuse me. A little gassy over here. Lugion ships original documents Habano. There's a new cord line from Lugion arriving in storage.

It's Lugion original documents Habano. What? A line shown off last summer. The cigar marks the...

Is that the one with all the foil? All the gold foil? I don't think so. No?

Cigar marks the first time Lugion is working with AJ Fernandez as the Habano is produced at the Abedal Fernandez San Lutano factory in Octal, Nicaragua. We're so disconnected with Lugion. We don't know what's going on. You know, you'd think we would.

We know Fred. Yeah, he doesn't, but he hasn't been around recently. He travels a lot, takes vacations and things with his lovely wife, a lot of vacations. He also made it into like that.

He's at that level. He's at that spot. Yeah, he put on Facebook and went TV shopping today, or yesterday, I think. Oh, nice.

And that's Facebook-worthy. Apparently, it was quite the experience. TV shopping. We should call and see how big a TV he got, and where he went to got it, where the good deals are.

I mean, I'm TV shopping, it's on Black Friday. You know what I mean? Right, exactly. Fred just goes whatever day he wants.

Yeah, any day. Any day. I'll take the 9k, not the 8k. Right.

The 9k. It's not out yet, sir. Yeah, go make it. I'll wait.

I'm sure it's around here somewhere. I'm sure if you ask around, tell them it's Fred. Tell them it's Fred Rui. Blendwise uses Nicaraguan sun-grown Habano seed grown by Fernandez with filler tobaccos from the regions of Nicaragua, Condega, Esteli, and Jalapa.

Dion, founder of Lugion, told Cigars Podcast that he was happy to reconnect with Alberto Padilla for this project. Padilla, you can He used to work for Agronosa, a long time partner of Illusion, Ernie, but now runs the San Latino factory. The line is offered in six sizes. Does he?

I didn't know that. It's a Corona, what's a Corona minor? 4x44, is that shorter? Yeah.

Habano Lancero, Habano Robusto, Habano Corona Gorda, Habano Churchill, and Habano just plain Gorda. The original document Habano uses the updated Illusion packaging that will eventually expand to all the original document lines, as well as Ultra, not the beer, but their line. Which is being moved into the original documents portfolio. Ah, interesting.

John Daly gets his own cigar. Like the golfer? Yes. Wow.

While many golfers are known to smoke cigars on the course, John Daly is known... Somebody took his money. Let's see. Let's see where this goes.

He smokes less cigarettes. He doesn't even smoke cigars. Okay. Perhaps his smoking preference will change now that there are two cigar blends with his name on them.

Daly, who won the PGA Championship in 1991 and the Open in 1995, has partnered with San Giuseppe. Cigars. Have you ever heard of them? San Giuseppe.

Can't say I have. Uh oh. For two new line cigars, they'll be in shipping next month. Got 'em.

5x50 Short Robusto, used in Ecuador and Habano. Tell me there's a 19th hole and I'm going to send Z right after them. Dominican, blah, blah, blah. And then Daly came up with the short game part of the name and a golf term.

Wait, that's only the one. Where's the other one? According to Jason Messina, vice president of San Giuseppe Cigar, Daly called the musician and asked him for his favorite cigar name. He replied, Arturo Fuente short story.

Wait, wait, wait. What did you just say? A musician? Hold on.

Daly came up with the short game part of the name. A golf term. When speaking with Kid Rock. Oh, sorry.

I skipped a line. And then he called Kid Rock, and Kid Rock likes the Arturo Fuente short story. My name is Kid So now it's called The Wild One Short Game They put the two things from Kid Rock and John Daly That'll go great So they worked together on the name Didn't have anything to do with the cigar One guy doesn't smoke the cigar The other guy smokes a fucking short story Which is a Cameroon I mean give me a fucking break What are we doing? There's another one The Lion Long Game is the other one It's a 6 and a quarter by 52 Hold on, let's see what they call to get to that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Kid Rock felt that he's the lion, not the bull god. They contacted Disney, who's like the lion king. And they said, yeah, Disney said, yeah, lion.

50 for that cigar. Whew, wow. You must really fucking like it. Offered in boxes of 10, though, Messina said the company would offer retailers the opportunity to purchase bundle refills, which would reduce the cost of the cigar.

We'll give you a deal, don't worry, don't worry, we'll give you a deal, save you $4. 300 numbered boxes will be sold through San Giuseppe's website as well as retailers, so he's competing with his customers. Don't worry, I, well, listen, he does, have you heard of San Giuseppe? Those boxes also include a realistic looking signature, not the actual one, but it looks like it.

It kind of printed on Daley, Daley did not sign the box. Yeah. Wow, is John Daley a big deal? John Daley is a big deal in the golf world.

He hasn't won since 1995. Yeah, but he's the man. He's the man. Interesting.

It's just because Arnold died. Arnold was still alive. They'd be calling them the lemonade and the sweet. Well, Tiger is a bigger deal because he's this era, right?

Yeah. Don Daly is like the era before Tiger. I think that here's what we need to do, guys. Here's what we need to do.

It's made it an undisclosed factory, by the way. We need to make a deal with a factory. In Tiger Woods. No, no, stop.

Don't get ahead of yourself. Let's make a deal with a factory and we make like two blends. Like nothing spectacular. Who gives a fuck?

Just tell him to do, just make me two cigars and then we'll play it stupid too. We'll say, make me a dark one and make me a light one, right? And then what we do is we just go after every single fucking major anything, right? We cover basketball, baseball, football, and then we can just individually label these things for them and say, this is your cigar, would you like the light one or the dark one?

And it's $75. We get them to back it. That's a great idea, except that is San Giuseppe's business model. He's already ahead of us.

They started doing business in 2021. The company sells cigars under the San Giuseppe and licensing deals with professional athletes, which are sold under the major league cigars name. The first of those cigars were released last August. Do they at least include a charcuterie board?

There's no charcuterie board. Not even charcuterie. Oh, this is part of the charcuterie circle. No, no, this is Jose Reyes, a retired all-star third baseman, company that had cigar proofs in partnership with Fergie, Fergie Jensen, a former Cy Young Award winner of Baseball Hall of Fame in Dougie.

Not Fergie from Black Eyed Peas? No, not that Fergie. No, no, no. London, London, London.

The John Daly collection of cigars will be shipping in mid-May. So this is just like a circle of old athletes. Taking money. These are guys that take money from athletes and make cigars.

Allegedly, we gotta say allegedly, allegedly, allegedly. Geez, guys, come on. I have never seen an athlete smoke any of these cigars. It just came out.

They're new. Well, they started the company in 21. You know, normally you don't see athletes. Last August, the first cigar came out.

Unless it's like after a big thing, they'll smoke a cigar. Well, what's his name on Cincinnati? Quarterback. Cincinnati?

Joe Burrow? Joe Burrow. Remember, he smoked it when he won the NCAA. Yeah, that's very rare.

Has he won the NCAA? Yeah. And then he's known as the badass cigar guy. " And now I don't like you, Patrick Mahomes, you are an asshole.

And then who else? This one's very sweet, I like this one. " Because you have to have the ability to tell everybody to go fuck themselves and still be a badass if you're a cigar guy and you're public about it. Cam Newton, maybe?

He owns a cigar shop, doesn't he? Yeah, but you never see him always smoking a cigar or some shit. Michael Jordan? You know what I mean?

A good example is Guy Fieri. Okay. Guy Fieri sits down on a fucking courtside. He's got a cigar in his mouth.

He ain't smoking the cigar. I love that, by the way. " He just did KMA over the weekend. Did he?

Yeah. That's cool. Like via Zoom or some shit, I saw a Facebook post. But yeah, no, no, I seen him on the court side with it in his mouth.

Right, that's dope. That's a hey. Does he chew on them like Eric does? He shoves it all the way back in his mouth?

First of all, no one chews on a cigar like Eric doesn't choose on a cigar. Three-quarters of the cigar is down his throat. You ever see the hamster fucking with the bottle of water? Yeah.

They're going, that's him with the cigar now. It's his back there. It's like he can rest his teeth closed on it or something. You know what I mean?

And the molars way in the back. And he can still take on air. Sticking out just like this. Bro.

Bro. Yeah. So anyways, please continue. K by Karen Berger, changing the company name to Karen Berger.

Okay. Wow. For several years, Karin Berger's Cigar Company has been known as K by Karin Berger. Yeah.

That will change next month. The company's new name will be Karin Berger. Oh, we're going to P, just so you know. Poshik to P.

Oh, Poshik to P. The changes have been introduced to make it easier to say the name of our company. What? It went from K to Karin Berger?

K by Karin Berger to just Karin Berger. Ah. Why doesn't it just go to K? That'd be pretty easy.

Yeah, that would make it a lot easier to say, wouldn't it? Make the checkout to K. WK. Oh, the K stand for Kiki.

Oh. Oh. So now he's been dead long enough. We got rid of it.

We've been dead long enough we can take his name off. I'm going to tell you, I only met that guy a couple of times. He was a fucking pretty badass guy. Oh.

He was. I never met him. He was pretty cool. I've met her a couple of times.

Yeah. No, I met him. Oh, I haven't met him. Down in Miami.

He was a good dude. Let's see. Let's see, Mike Gold, appointed to the PCA board. Which section?

Let's see, let's see what part of the section he's in here. The consulting section. Mike Gold, president of Arango Cigar Company, has been appointed to the Premium Cigar Association PCA Board of Directors. He will replace Alan Rubin, the Alec Bradley's founder, who resigned last month.

Because he's busy now consulting. Because he's consulting. He's consulting. On Mondays.

From 10:30 to 11:00. Gold's term will be a uniquely short one as it will expire and start at the 2024 PCA Convention at Trade Show, which he's mad about because they moved it up to March now, so he's shorter term. And that's probably why they did it. Does he get paid the same money?

You know, it never says about what kind of money they make in these things. Is it a non-profit? PCA? Yeah.

I don't know. Is PCA a non-profit? I don't know. If it's a non-profit, they have to disclose.

Then I don't think it's a non-profit. Or at least it's not in the thing. I don't know, we don't fact check on the show. "You'll be the invaluable member of the board," says Greg Zimmerman, president of the PCA Board of Directors, in a press release.

"Mike really understands the value of our work and states that will be tremendous help in guiding our advocacy strategies," Zimmerman said, for the short time, he said. Okay. "He ran for the board last summer, but he didn't get any. " "He didn't.

543 million Cigars imported into the USA in 2022. 400. Can you read the number again? 543 million cigars.

Wow. 3% increase compared to 2021, which was also a record year. 3 million? 3% increase.

That could just be Pastañas, I mean, to be honest. At this point. There's a lot of them up there. S.

in 2022. In 2022, imports of Nicaragua cigars exceeded 250 million after postanias. Yeah, I can see that. I believe it.

1% increase compared to 2021 postanias. Been on camera one for a while. He's reading the news. I'm reading the news.

Oh, I miss it. I've been going back and forth. Okay. If Carrague Exports USA remained flat in 2022, the overall results would have been only a minor increase.

What did I mention now? I'm stupid. Hold on, something I want to read. STG!

Yeah, it does have a winning. That was one blow. You have to fucking suck the shit out of it. Wow, he just let that go.

I didn't fucking say anything. He just attacked me. You're over there talking about one blow. I can see it over here.

STG made a purchase over the weekend, Michael. It does one blow woo. Who was it? Who was it?

Anybody want to guess? Luciano. I'm buying him? I think I'm buying an empty factory and some charcuterie boards.

What did two? What did two for the game? Oh, let's see. Who did STG buy?

Who did they buy? Who can it be? Then you have to call Justin. Ossinger.

No, Crown Heads? No. No, Crown Heads. That would be a big acquisition.

It can't be so big if you haven't heard of it. Yeah, you've never heard of these people before. But they still bought somebody else? Kay.

Did they buy... No, no, now it's called Karen Bridge. Did they buy... They bought the Kay off of her.

They bought the Kay off of Karen Bridge. Is it announced that it has agreed to purchase XQS International, a Swedish maker of tobacco-free nicotine pouches? Oh my, okay. 11 million.

What son of a bitch? 24 billion dollars in revenue at least half of which was through the sales of handmade cigars Tobacco-free nicotine pouches are a growing segment as tobacco companies look to next generation products to overcome regulations and outright bans on certain tobacco products as well as declining consumer interest. The most obvious examples of these next-gen products is e-cigarettes, which many of the same aspects as a cigarette without tobacco, while tobacco-free products generally face fewer regulations than ones with tobacco. That gap is closing.

Well, they're planning on everybody kind of dropping the hammer as far as smoke-free future. So they're probably just backing that that's smart it's hedging uh California's smoke-free uh thing fell they got put on hold of course they're trying to pass a bill where nobody can smoke in California I you know I feel like some of these politicians yes and some of these states are like disconnected how much shit do you think we could get away with before somebody says okay that's fucking enough that's enough fairly they're almost at that in California they've reached a bridge to Don't have tobacco for anyone. What? Why?

Excuse me? Wait, we were just doing the whole weed thing. Now you're coming after us for the bad tobacco. So that wouldn't qualify?

Because that's not tobacco. Right. That one's okay. Weed's acceptable.

Oh. Yeah. But they said smoke. Like smoke what?

Tobacco? No, it's tobacco. Tobacco-free California. You don't think the cigarette companies would come after them?

No. It's California. What do they care? Listen, man.

The car battery people aren't coming after them. You can't drive certain car batteries in the country, in the state. Car batteries? Yeah, as long as they have more lead in them and stuff, you can't do it.

Oh, really? There's certain trucks, delivery trucks that I use that can't get into California. Really? That's amazing.

So there's a smaller business that picks it up at the port, takes it to like Arizona or Nevada. Unbelievable. To the edge of the state, gives it to the next guy, and he takes it the rest of the way. California, what are they doing over there?

They're like their own country. You have to fill out a special form when stuff comes in that it doesn't have this in it. I feel like you have to fill out a special form to be in the government over there. Are you severely fucked up?

Yes. Sometimes they'll send me the form and they'll go, "What is this? " I could just tell them you don't have it. Is Arnold still over there?

No, he still lives there, but he's not the governor. He's not the governor? No. Yeah, he hasn't been the governor for a while.

Right now he's old. He's old. I feel like anybody that's a politician, I mean, have you seen her president? I feel like anybody that's a politician could be as old as they want.

That's true. There's not an age. They need a stopgap at the top for the ages. Yeah, you think so?

Yeah, you might die during your service here. We need to maybe... They say Ronald Reagan, with the last two years, Nancy ran the country. He didn't know who he was.

Oh, really? You're in a movie, Ronnie, about being the president. Okay. Okay, no problem.

Where's my monkey? So I had a question, because we keep going over these STG purchases. Where's my monkey? He did the movie with the monkeys.

What? Are you talking about Planet of the Apes? Oh, no. He did a movie with a monkey.

A black-and-white movie, they used to do black-and-white movies, Phil. Yeah, I don't remember that. Yeah, you know, you're right. TVs used to only have one knob.

Three channels. Crazy, a knob. No remotes. Everybody would have been very skinny.

No, not really. So, with SDG purchasing so much all the time like this, right, do you think there's at some point... Bedtime for Bonzo. Yeah, yeah, that's it.

But there was a series of them, I believe. I think there's like, "Bonzo Goes to Washington" and... " He's not the only one. Do you think at some point SCG just owns everybody?

5 out of 10. No, because that is called a monopoly and that is illegal in the country. Yeah, that's when you have Boardwalk, Park Place. So they just don't buy Luciano's.

Buy Luciano, correct. You got all the yellows. You can't do that. That's a no-no.

In January 2018, they bought Thompson Cigar. In July of 2018, they bought Peterson Pipe Group. In January of 2020, they bought Agio. In November 2021, Mardino, Officio del Cigaro Italiano.

Imagine having so much money where you just start consuming other companies. That's what I'm saying. Room 101 in 2022 when Matt Booth got his golden helicopter. Yeah, got his golden helicopter.

And now he doesn't answer my calls. I called him last week, no answer. " He didn't answer that either? " Traveling?

His pictures have been at like car shows. The fuckers answered the phone when he's in the middle of an event before. Now, I'm like, eh, that's it. He's lost that love and feeling.

In 2023, they bought Alec Bradley, where he got his helicopter, Ruben did for his consulting job. And now, XQS. Hmm. com.

Yeah, they bought everything, I get it. Jesus. It also owns General Cigar, Forge Cigar, Cohiba, La Gloria, Cubana, Partigas, and other brands. And now, Ex-Q-E-C-O.

Oh. It seems like the number's always north of like 20 million, though. 20's the line. That's the line.

I'm going Jalen Hurts. 19, 19 SGS. I'm going Jalen Hurts terms with SDG. I want 255 million, five-year contract extension.

That's what I want. Send it. You got a Shop of the Week, Michael? I do.

I do. Secreto Cigars. Secreto! Is it Secreto or Secreto?

I think he calls it Secreto. Oh. Well, he's a Caledonian or whatever the fuck. Chaldean.

Chaldean. They're very aggressive warlike people, it said. It doesn't surprise me. No.

It fits him exactly, doesn't it? Yes. Alright, you gotta listen to the week? Uh-oh.

Who did I do last week? I don't remember. Did I do Jason Hawkins last week? Yes.

That's why we got all the plugs from Jason this past week. Excellent job, Jason. Well, I did make one mistake and I have, I'm gonna have to circle back to this guy, even though, and he's been in a few times. Yeah.

And it's wrong with John. Because he was the one that started, I think, the conversation that I was talking about before and I gave somebody else a credit for it. Oh, so, there you go. Do you have a Listener of the Week?

I don't have two, you just had one. Who'd you have? No, you just had one. Did you have another one?

No, I didn't have one. I want you to have one. That's your part of the show. I have one.

I don't have one. Give me one. Ronnie Hyesha. Bung.

Blizzard of the week. War like aggressive little man. War like aggressive. Love him to death.

My favorite Caldonian. Car ride. Chaldean. Chaldean.

Whatever. My favorite Chaldean. You know, the car ride here is a lot longer than the last one. Let me tell you everything you're doing wrong.

The guy's fucking smart, though. I've got to tell you. He's still texting. Yeah, I mean, he was.

I just want to know, he's still texting me, I got like 75, I got all kinds of tech from him, we killed Alexander the Great, he's telling me all these things, oh that's great, he says math, that's us, I don't know, they created math, oh he created math too, they get credit for the numbers, that's amazing, before that nobody was adding anything up, no, how many got there, I don't know, what do we do with this, what do you mean, what do you mean, how many do I have, you know, you didn't include the one in, very important, I think that's a very important release in the news. What was that? Where we're gonna be on May 19th. Oh, the press release is not dropped yet, Michael.

I can only do so much. Well, we're gonna drop that right now without a press release. Are you not gonna do a press release? I'll do a press release.

Oh, okay. Okay, we're through. May 19th, the Postana, Corona Gordo, Habano, and Broadleaf will be released, and they will be released at Hogshead Tobacco in Virginia. So, you will be there?

I will be there, yes. You will be there? I will be there. And I will be there?

Oh, here we go. I said, dude, I was just fucking with you, calm down. Well, Boots will be there, or Phil will be there? Oh, Phil should go with them.

Well, if Phil's gonna be there, he's gonna be wearing the mask. Yeah, Boots will be, Boots is gone. I'll let him go. Oh, that's very nice of you.

You better get your industry shirt, get Boots' industry shirt. So, Tobacology fucked up, though. Why not? He's not gonna be there.

Yeah, I gotta call him. Let's call him. Because we were, I would have done a parlay. Right.

Oh, where's he going to be? He's going to be, I don't know. Vacation? Something about.

Is he part of the industry that takes vacation stuff? I don't know. Yeah. Oh, dude.

He's always golfing. Oh. He's always golfing. He's going golfing?

Yeah. He golfs like crazy. I'm going to text this guy. Yeah, you should lean into him.

Yeah, Boots lean into him. What the fuck? But it's okay. We're going to be in and out now.

Because I'm not going to see anybody else. I feel like that was already gonna happen. I don't think that changed. No, we would have to go by and saw him too on like Saturday morning.

Yeah, or we would have done an event with him on Saturday evening. Oh. Right? I would have done two events.

Would have done an event in Hogshead, drove the hour, hour and a half to go see Brett, done the event there, drove at the end of the event, drove close to the airport, and just fly the fuck out Sunday. How close is that to the Hearth guys? I have no idea. Down to Hearth?

Oh, dude, that's probably like six hours away. Buffalo? Oh, is it? I don't know.

Oh, Buffalo's Northern New York, isn't it? Yeah, man. We're not. Well, obviously, you could drive to Virginia.

Ah, it's six hours. We could drive to Virginia if we really wanted to. That'd be an extra day. Yeah, I know.

I've driven there many times. Yeah, we're not doing that. We're fine, no. It'd be a great road trip.

Is Greg going to let us take the company jet? Uh, maybe. And we take the Lamborghini yacht. The Lamborghini.

Oh, let's go up the coast. Oh, that'd be nice. That'd be nice. Let's get them down to Herb guys to escort us.

Yes. Oh, police escort? Yeah. Just take the cop cars out of Buffalo.

They like to call when they're on duty. I'm going to start asking them to flip the siren. I don't hear the siren. They just got done doing a car chase the other day when they called me.

Did they? Yeah. Listen, FaceTime me next time you guys are arresting somebody. Like, when you guys are kicking the door and FaceTime me right before you get the door.

If you do anything exciting, he goes, we just had a car chase. He's like, oh, that sounds like so much fun. I saw a guy. I'm not going to lie.

It was fun. It was fun. I saw a guy on Instagram whose license plate says, we'll run. And it was like a fucking.

It's just like a ridiculously fast Corvette. I'm like, yeah, no one is going to catch you. What did Greg used to have on the window of his Corvette? Super busy.

No, it's something about his license or something. License and registration, please, or something like that. Yeah, something like that. Okay.

All right. Oh, yeah, we're fine. Yeah. All right, we got to get out of here.

We got to go do The Secret Show 191. And I have some good tea. Ooh. Ooh.

And we're going to smoke these lovely Powstanie Corona Gordas. It's about somebody in the cigar industry. And we're going to discuss, are they full of shit or not? Are they legit?

We don't know. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. All right, quickly, let's get out of here.

Yeah, could be good. That's good. Quick, hit the off button so you can rewind. A Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest.

Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions or the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczefankewicz, 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 will be entertaining to the audience.

Show Notes

In this episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, hosts Mike and Palmer discuss the latest news in the cigar industry. They start by discussing the recent news that Alec and Bradley Rubin, along with Jonathan Lipson, have joined STG's marketing department. The hosts speculate on what this means for the company and its future projects.

Next, they talk about golf legend John Daly's new cigar line. The hosts share their thoughts on the line and discuss whether it will be successful in the market.

Finally, Mike and Palmer  discuss the record number of premium cigar imports into the US in 2022. They dive into what this means for the industry as a whole and what impact it could have on cigar enthusiasts. Tune in to hear their insights and opinions on these exciting developments in the world of cigars.