Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 301 - A Rollercoaster Ride of Cigar News and a Mischievous Bear

Episode Summary

Episode 301 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Szczefankiewicz, Mike Palmer and Phil recapping a road trip to a Warbear release event at Lake Country Cigars in Wisconsin — a packed shop, multiple box sales, a 3 a.m. TSA misadventure, a flat tire on 436 fixed roadside, and the people they met along the way, including a retired musician named Bill whose story became the episode's Listener of the Week nod. The crew also talks about the new heavy metal Warbear lighters (now available in-store only), Mike's youth flag football coaching feuds with an overzealous ref, and Palmer's long-running quest to finally meet the anonymous cigar Instagrammer Stogie Trooper, who turned out to be a highway patrolman spotted at a Blend and Barrel event.

The news block is the meat of the episode. The hosts break down the reintroduced Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2023 from Senators Ron Wyden and Dick Durbin (plus a House companion bill), which would scrap the current 52.75% federal excise tax capped at roughly 40¢ per cigar and replace it with a weight-based tax of about $49.56 per pound — a change they estimate at roughly $1.40 more per robusto, $1.80 on a toro and $2.41 on a gordo before retail keystone markup and state taxes stack on top. They also report that the Department of Justice will appeal the recent Cigar Association of America v. FDA remedy decision, meaning the premium cigar lawsuit isn't over, and that the PCA responded with an all-caps press release almost nobody picked up.

Also covered: new CAA import data showing 252.81 million premium cigars imported through July versus 261.63 million a year earlier — down year over year but still well above pre-COVID levels — with Nicaragua holding roughly 55% share and the Dominican Republic the only origin country up. The hosts discuss the industry headwinds behind the numbers: Nicaraguan labor shortages and emigration, tobacco supply that hasn't recovered, blend changes driving prices up, and flooding plus a looming El Niño in Ecuador threatening wrapper leaf. Industry moves include Crowned Heads adding sales reps Andy Yaffe (from McKay Cigars, formerly La Flor Dominicana and Nat Sherman) and Craig Smith for the Western territory, with a quote from national sales manager Miguel Schoedel, and Maripel's redesigned 25-count chest boxes with better airflow over the Boveda tray.

The show closes with the viral Lake Mary, Florida story of "Tripod," the three-legged bear that broke into a home's screened lanai and drank three White Claws, plus Shop of the Week honors for Blend and Barrel and a preview of the upcoming ticketed Espinosa "Smashing Pumpkins" event at the lounge.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Lake Country Cigars Warbear Event Recap
   The crew recaps a busy Warbear release event in Wisconsin, box sales, and the travel chaos getting there and back.
2. 02
   Warbear Lighters and Release Availability
   New heavy metallic red Warbear lighters are in stock in-store only, with online availability a week or two out.
3. 03
   Meeting Stogie Trooper
   Mike finally meets the famously faceless cigar Instagrammer at Blend and Barrel — and refuses to reveal his identity to Palmer.
4. 04
   Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2023
   A breakdown of the reintroduced weight-based federal excise tax at $49.56 per pound and what it would add to a robusto, toro and gordo.
5. 05
   DOJ Appeals the FDA Premium Cigar Ruling
   The Department of Justice will appeal the Cigar Association of America v. FDA remedy decision, extending the long-running lawsuit.
6. 06
   Premium Cigar Imports Down from 2022 Record
   CAA data shows 252.81 million cigars imported through July, still above pre-COVID levels, with Nicaragua dominant and the DR the lone gainer.
7. 07
   Industry Headwinds: Labor, Tobacco Supply and Ecuador Weather
   Nicaraguan labor shortages, unrecovered tobacco supply and Ecuadorian flooding plus El Niño threaten wrapper leaf and pricing.
8. 08
   Crowned Heads Hires, Maripel Boxes and a Florida Bear
   Andy Yaffe and Craig Smith join Crowned Heads, Maripel updates its 25-count chest trays, and a three-legged bear raids a Lake Mary fridge.

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 episode 301, where we bring you the latest news and insights from the world of premium cigars. In this episode, we dive into big stories of the week. The King Mike Steffan Kovic and Reverend BDP Mike Palmer are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigar Hustlers Podcast. And me, I'm Phil.

I am Phil, the alien. I'm Phil. Wow. Delicious.

So grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and join us for another exciting episode of Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Hey, Phil the alien. Camera one, please. Oh, this is right in front of me.

Maybe you'd like to put your products in front of hundreds, if not thousands of cigar smokers each week. Maybe you'd like to partner up with us, become part of the #1 Cigar Podcast, and grow in history as a supporter of our iconic show. Who's #1? But the fact is, we don't want sponsors.

We don't like people telling us what we can or can't say. We don't. The Cigar Hustle Podcast is to remain sponsor-free. So, thank you for your time.

Kiss my ass. No, no. Go ahead, Mikey. You say it.

What? You can kiss my ass? Hey. Sorry.

We will do what we want to do. -I have this new lighter here. -Isn't that a song? -Oh, it's the new lighter from upstairs.

-Yes. -Oh, is it ours for the show now? -No. It's for me, for Del.

-Oh, so we do have a sponsor. They just don't pay. -Camera 3, camera 3. -Camera 3?

-Camera 3. -Ooh, we put them on the site, but we only made like five of them at the start, so. -They're very heavy. -I like it.

-I like it a lot. -Now that's a new color. The smaller ones came in that color too. -Did they?

-Red. It's like a glossy metallic red. It's a pretty lighter. It's a boss lighter.

That's pretty badass. If you're going to use it as a holder, can you move your ass straight closer? Because you'll just ash on it then. No.

Of course not. Even if it's... No, you also will not tell me what to do. Just like the sponsors that we're never going to have.

You are also not going to tell me what to do. Damn, kiss my ass. Even if he moves the ass straight closer, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to change anything.

There's going to be a disaster. I really like the mask. Yeah, alien. It's fogging up.

That's nice. Well, don't breathe. I'll cut a hole for your nose. Don't you do it.

You cut half of it off. I like when he laughs. Only two teeth. So that was the event.

Poor Phil. At Romatron's Lake Country. This event was delicious. The event was fantastic.

I didn't hit the button. It sounded like the button. Yeah, he just said it. Everybody's been telling me that now.

Are you delicious? No, no. Mmm, delicious. Yeah, they're doing my phrase.

It went. Yeah, it does have a hoodie. Nope. That's the one they should do.

Yeah, it does have a one. Just needs one blow. It was fantastic, man. I gotta tell you, there were a lot of people there.

Yeah? And the store is very well ran. It looks like it's a beautiful shop. Romatron was sending me photos.

A lot of people bought boxes. Some people bought multiple boxes. Oh, multiples. Yeah.

Wow. It was really cool. It was a good event. Nice.

I was very tired, though. Were you? Yeah. Well, you guys left very, very early.

Apparently, TSA doesn't open till 3:30. We got there at 3. Note to self. Oh!

Yeah. Note to everybody except only self. Were there already people in line? You know, what was funny is there were people in line for the TSA pre-check, but there was nobody in line for the standard TSA, so we just walked right through.

It's the standard. See you, peoples. Didn't do the clear. Hello, you weirdos.

m. Oh, my Lord! Yeah. So we just walked right through.

I will tell you this, Clear was clutch in Chicago. People were mad. Oh, man. Because they, excuse me, they have Clear.

Yeah. We made it through TSA, everything, on the little train that gets all the way to the gates. And their train's fast, by the way. They're trains.

Chicago trains? Yeah, they don't fuck around. Fast, fast train, fast. We made it in 16 minutes.

Oh, nice. Yeah, we threw it all. Like, okay. Wow.

Nobody got stopped? No. You guys always get stopped. No.

Torchlighter and everything. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah, they don't care.

They don't care anymore. It's fine. We don't care. It's fine.

Up to the anniversary. Up to the 9/11 anniversary. Then we don't do it anymore. That was it.

But it was awesome. We had a great event. We had a good time. Boot slept well on the car ride home.

Yeah. No photos. Yeah. But did you see my reel?

Yes. You did a good job. I told you you did a good job. Thank you.

That was nice. If you would have thrown in one of him sleeping, it would have been even better. You know what was funny is the video of me in the car, it did have him sleeping. I don't know why it didn't.

Oh, it cuts off a little maybe. I'm glad it cut it off. I just missed it in the editing. You get so mad when people take pictures of you when you're sleeping or anything.

That's the rule, you can't sleep. You can't sleep in the car. " If you sleep in the car, you get your picture taken. That's the rule.

That's the rule. That's not the rule. That has been the rule forever. It's always been the rule.

It's been the rule. Yeah. It actually started when we went down to Stuart with Chet. Yeah.

They took a picture of me. And then we said that was the rule. And then that was the rule from there on. That was the rule.

You guys got a flat tire on the way back? We did get a flat tire. On the highway or at the airport? Yeah, Boots went ahead and ran over something on 436 and it instantly starts going tsss.

I go, you have a flat. You officially have a flat. Those are big ass tires too. Yeah.

So you picked up the truck. Yeah, I just lifted it. And he changed the tire. Pretty much.

Yeah. Yeah, but we fixed that within like 20 minutes or so. That's not bad. Didn't call Auto Club or something?

No, he called his dad and brought a big jack, which is so much nicer. Oh, yeah, a little jack. So I start to have a little tripod-looking thing in the truck. Yeah, I start to loosen the lug nuts and whatever, and he's looking, and I see him looking at this jack.

I'm like, "Oh, my God. " That's a heavy truck. Yeah. " It's like this little big, it's like a coffee can.

Probably wasn't going to be tall enough. " So his dad changed the type? No, no. No, he just brought us a jack.

Yeah. Come on. Boots and I did it. Yeah.

We did well as a team. We did a little duo action there. Yeah? Yeah.

Good for you. Put us a good little video, clip that in. I think we were so fucking tired, we just weren't fucking around anymore. " Yeah, and then I had-- You mean, Phil, that's what Boots told you.

Yeah, yeah. Boots told me that. And then, um, and what did I do after that? I did the football.

You did the football. It was not easy. No. You didn't make it here for the event, though.

No, I was too tired. I didn't make it anything else. Yeah, I was exhausted. But I did do the football.

Well, now that Jax is 5'6", 5th grade, 6th grade, his games start 7'8", 8'40. Oh, wow. Really? I got the little one at 4:30 to 5.

He's at 4:30 or 5 o'clock is when his game starts, and then we got this lull between games, so it's a bit crazy. He's gonna have to start driving himself, huh? Yeah, exactly. So the 1-2 game didn't go the way I planned it to.

We ended up in a tie, and I was so disbanded. I was a bit frustrated. The line judge, the ref line judge, he was kind of a dick. That wasn't good.

I don't like that. You know, like, you can miss calls. I thought you had kids that were, like, scared of you last season. No, now we have professional refs.

Oh, so you gotta go back to the bribes. Well, the professional refs, I would say, the professional refs that do it for a living, they're pretty good. Now, they're all different. Some of them are more strict than whatever the case may be, which is fine.

And, look, plays are gonna get missed. Shit's gonna happen, you know. Yeah, they're only human. Yeah, you just let it go.

I let it go. So, this guy was an asshole, like, he was just kind of berating me a little bit, and I'm like... Are they trying to throw you out? You gotta calm down.

Back off, coach, or I'm throwing you out! You know, he was yelling at me about my kids' false starts, I'm like, one of 'em's six, you know, they're not, we're not getting over on anybody, they're like, well, what are we, missing a step, or they're not lining up, right? They can't, they have an invisible line, you know, and, okay, so my six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds, they're not gonna be perfect every time, but I'll keep working on it. I'm sorry sir, I'll put that back in training for next week.

He yelled at me about my flags, he yelled at me about a bunch of shit, and I'm just like... Your flags, why aren't they on your flags? " So it turned Brittany low down. And then he called the two-point conversion a touchdown, or he gave me the score, and then he decided to walk it back a few minutes later.

" Oh, no, that wasn't good. " What the hell? I already gave the kids the juice. Okay.

They got orange slices for this. And then at the end, I was in a huge debate with everybody, and I'm tired as shit. Right. So you're cranky.

So I'm like, it's 12-12. Okay. And then my assistant, my coach who goes with me goes, no, it was 18-12. Your assistant coach.

My assistant coach. It was 18-12. It was 18-12. And I'm like...

18-12. The other team? No, us. I'm like, okay.

I don't think so, dude. I think it was 12-12. And the ref's getting agitated with me, and so I call over Brittany. " And as she's coming over, this fucking guy is yelling at me, "Sign the papers!

" I'm like, "Relax! " The scorekeeper here. You know? Very pretty.

Let her talk. Fucking chill the fuck out, bro. And he had like his girlfriend keeping score, which is weird. She had a wife or whatever, and she had a baby on her chest.

It was weird. It was just weird. Press feeding and stuff. Yeah, it was just fucking weird.

Wow. You know, all the other refs, because I've experienced a lot of them because I have the older kids. Right. And the younger kids.

Right. You know, we've been on almost every different field at this point. They're all good. Except for this one guy.

Yeah, this one guy was just an ass. You need to have a talk with the one guy. This one guy was an ass. Get him on the payroll.

" Go get the head guy and have him replace you because I'm not, you know, your shit. I just won't. Is that possible? Oh, absolutely.

There are floor people that run around. I'm going to say, listen, you know, this guy's got a fucking attitude. Look, you're out for the game. He throws you out.

No, no, no. I'm the customer here. And not only that, but I have a reputation. I'm not the type of guy that just-- You're kind of angry, Michael.

I'm angry when people fuck up. I'm angry when people aren't decent human beings. Not when people fuck up. When people aren't decent human beings.

Gotcha. That's when I get agitated. Like if a kid is flicking off another kid, I get agitated. Right?

You know, stuff like that. So I could see me saying, hey, look, you know what, bro? We're just going to part ways. You can go sit down.

You go over to the three-year-old. You go take a break, and I'll have the floor judge run the floor. Send Kenny over. I like Kenny.

The guy's name is Javi. He's actually really nice. Send Javi over. Yeah.

Which is actually Indian for Kenny. Yes. So. What, uh, Indian?

Indian, Javi. Javi is Middle Eastern, isn't he? I gotta tell you something that I forgot to tell you last week. What?

I love you, too. I met Stogie Trooper. Oh, did you really? I did.

Oh! I did. I thought that was about to get weird for a sec. He put up a picture, or I used one of his pictures for the board upstairs today.

Yeah, I met him. Where at? He was at... Cigars on the Avenue.

Blend and Barrel. Oh, okay. That's where his picture was taken at. At the event, yeah.

At the event? Yeah. How'd you know it was him? He showed me his Instagram.

Oh my God, I feel like I just met Santa Claus. Right. And I was like, Palmer's going to be so jealous. What'd he look like?

I can't tell you. Wow. Because he comes in here all the time, but he never puts up his face, so I don't know who he is. It's a mystery.

It's probably Greg. No. No. He's a highway patrolman.

Super nice guy. Short. What? Short.

I can't tell you. I won't give any information. White, Black, Hispanic? Yes.

Wow. All of those. Yep. All of those.

Probably a little Asian dude. It was amazing. Oh, don't tell him who I am. He'd never know.

I've waited on him, apparently, because they know he's outside and take a picture as he's leaving. Yeah. And it's just his hand. Like, son of a bitch.

Son of a bitch. Which one was he? He was just here. He was just here.

He never says anything. You didn't go back to the camera with Greg? Come on, man. Wow.

What am I looking for? Seven different guys? Too much, huh? You never know what it is.

Super jealous. I even text him every once in a while, back and forth on Instagram. Yeah. Hey, you should meet me here.

I've tried that before. And then he'll put a picture. He goes, I was just there. I'm like, son of a bitch.

Oh, he's like a Liam Neilsen or something. Yeah, something. I will find you. I will find you.

I have a certain set of skills built over a lifetime of stogie. Ooh. Nice. Super nice guy.

Yeah, he seems like he is. Yeah. Well, if you're listening to Mr. Stogie Trooper.

He listens. He listens. He's a listener of the show. Please show up at Cigar House so Palmer can see who you are.

I spoke to him the other day. I said, "I forgot to mention last week. " Great. You take your mask off, I take mine.

Come in in uniform or something. Give me a tip. He won't do that. Yeah, he does do that.

He has posted pictures from inside his vehicle. Yes, but never of him in uniform. Nope, nope. A lot of the guys won't do that, that are, uh, no, he doesn't want to, you know, even Jerry and Gio wouldn't do a birthday video for you because they don't want it up on social media.

Yeah, well, because you don't, you don't want it to come across that you're encouraging something and you're also facing the community. Yeah, so I don't want anybody to know who you are on social media. Insurance purposes too. I feel like he's, it's okay, like everybody knows that he does this.

Yeah. I just think that it's not, it's just kind of, well, he doesn't want to pull somebody over and they find out who he is He's through social media, and then they can track him down, blah, blah, blah. Well, or it's just inappropriate to be a representation of the law and then encouraging cigar smoking, whatever the case may be, you know? So it was that.

But he was awesome. Yeah. It was great. I'm sure he is.

Perfect. Sure he is. Yeah. And you missed it.

We had Jeff and Becky in town again. We went to Disney Springs Saturday night. Nice. It was their anniversary.

How was that? We ended up at... what's that wine place? Crap, I can't think of the wine place.

In Disney Springs? No, it's not in Disney Springs, but it's over at International Drive. Oh, I don't know. I can't think of the name of it.

It's a nice place. Bought a dinner and we had a good time. Is it like a wine bar or just a wine restaurant? It's a wine restaurant.

It's a chain where they have wine tastings when you come in. Brittany loves that place. Yeah. Oh, it's great.

The food's amazing. Shit, why can't I think of the place? yeah yeah total wine no no damn it go to go to adrian's facebook she tagged us here canope springs no that's not what it is martha's vineyard that's it martha's vineyard that's it martha's vineyard cooper's hawk cooper's hawk oh i knew his name what do we have from johnny a nice warbear lighter A $75 drip wine decanter from a piece of glass, blown glass. They got them stacked up right by the door.

It's the one they bring to the table. So is that when, like, so you went out for their anniversary? We didn't realize it was their anniversary until later in the evening. When they tried to coax you into the sex?

No, no, they don't do. No sex? No, no. Adrian's known this lady since his second grade.

Yeah. So just her with the sex then? It was their 29th anniversary. I don't know.

No? We were fine when you guys came over Sunday. Were you holding? You know, to get right there.

Okay, good. Yeah. You were well rested? Well, yeah.

Okay. Perfect. I got, I got all my- Well, how was the hotel sex? The, it's always good.

Yeah. He's, yeah, he's unconscious. That's true. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Doesn't put up a fight. Did drug him like Mr.

T. He blew up the bathroom a couple of times. That was, that was intense. You're gonna bring that up?

That was, that was intense. At the hotel? Oh my God, yeah. It made me gag, bro.

How many, what'd you guys have for dinner? Oh, all the food you said that a lot of people brought. It was the potluck. We're in Wisconsin.

Oh, where's my cheese curds? I ate them all. I have a couple more at the house, so if you come to the thing tonight, I'll give you some. I've got to be Tara's security.

She's coming. Yeah, but not until later. Well, then you come with her. I can't.

I have movie night with Edgar. No, you don't. She's on payroll. No, I know, but we...

Tara's until 7. Gives me 45 minutes to get over to Edgar's and get the movie started with Yolanda before Edgar gets off from work. Yeah. It's Harry Potter 7 tonight.

How many years are you going to do this for? Just roll with it. At least I don't have a court order like Sam and I can't go. I had one guy try and jump the line on the plane.

Uh oh. He got mad. When he was getting off? Yeah.

Well, there was two things that happened on the plane. The armbar. Yeah. There was one that happened to you.

Yeah. And one that happened to that lady. We witnessed it. Yeah.

What happened to the lady? Now, our tickets got changed and I was stuck in this window seat. I saw you, you sent me the lovely photo. Which drives me nuts.

I mean, kind of gives me anxiety. Yeah, I can't do the window. Oh my god, I'm like, oh. Especially with him in the center.

Yeah, yeah, forget it. It's like a wall there. Oh my god, I'm trying to sleep and this fucking guy is just fucking. You can't turn.

Son of a bitch. We're like laying on each other, this is ridiculous. Oh, just like the hotel. So, she goes to get off the plane and then there's like this guy, he's probably mid-twenties.

He's extremely socially inept. You can tell that he does not have correspondence with civilization. Like the friend from Ferris Bueller? Yeah, exactly.

That's a similar aspect. And she, and this lady's nice and polite, and you can tell that this lady travels a lot. Right. And she said, "Listen, just relax.

You gotta wait your turn. " It was where first? Yeah, I don't, I don't, and I said... Sir, we all got on the plane.

Actually, we all arrived at the same time. So, you know me, I'm like, I have to comment, and I say, well, actually... Motherfucker, back the hell up. She's correct.

We're all trying to get off, because I'm stuck. I'm in this, by the way. I want the fuck out. Right.

And I'm going to be damned if you're getting in front of me, dude. Right. Because I will fucking dive in front of you, in front of this fucking aisle. Who was on the aisle?

The girl. That girl. Oh, the lady. Oh, it was this lady.

Yeah. So, I said, "Technically, she's right, bro. " And he just kind of stood there. And we got off.

" We'll stand up for a sec. Yeah. Excuse us. So then when, so we got on the next plane, and of course the plane's broken.

Where did you change planes at, Atlanta? Atlanta. Which actually works out well because we were on another plane in about an hour, 45 minutes. minutes oh yeah a lot of planes there thank god and we you know i mean we had a little bit of cush time but it got a little bit tighter because of that right so this guy he gets up right away and he starts to why so i so i put my arm out and i stop him i said hey just relax man we all got to get my turn we all got to wait out get off the plane and he instantly he's like i don't speak I don't speak English.

Now? Now you don't? I don't speak English. So I said Espera, which is Spanish for wait.

I'm like, wait. And I get up. Parle Bouveronci? So then I get up, and all of a sudden, he speaks a little more English.

" And he just turned around and inflated. " Espada. So, you know, there was one guy, he was nervous. The guy, he was nervous, he wasn't ready to go, come on man, come on, come on, I'm like, I'm waiting, I'm waiting.

He's letting the whole plane go. Don't worry, don't worry, we're all getting up, we're all getting up, this fucking guy is gonna wait. Yeah, yeah, bring her wheelchair, bring her down. Pam, just go ahead, take your time.

Take your time, don't worry, no rush. I mean, I mean, honestly, what are we rushing for? You're rushing to get off the plane to wait another hour to get on another fucking plane. He's claustrophobic.

We're all claustrophobic. Nobody wants to be on the plane. No, nobody wants to be on the plane. The Chinese get up when it hits the ground.

It didn't land. It never took off. The Chinese get up. They get up.

Oh, yeah. They're ready. It's terrible. No.

And they won't let you get out of the way. Like, if you're on the aisle, they'll slide in. Don't give you a chance to get up. First of all, when this happened, this is when we were changing planes.

Right. So then we got to see him again. Oh, he was on your second flight, too? Yeah, he stood right next to you.

Because we had to change the plane. The plane broke. Oh, you're getting off the broken plane. You hadn't landed.

Yeah, exactly. Oh. So. Oh, so you got on a plane, and they go, alright, broke.

After about 20 minutes, yeah. So a guy came up to me as we were standing for the next plane, he's like, that guy was such a dick. And I said, listen, man, yeah, he was, but I feel like, you know, maybe he just doesn't know. I can't get...

He doesn't speak English, maybe he doesn't know. I can't get to a point where I'm going to be irate and physical with somebody unless they turn around and be physical with me. And I got to try and give everybody the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he just doesn't understand.

He doesn't understand. I tried shoving the guy into Mikey. Maybe, maybe he just, you know... Did you see what he did, Michael?

He doesn't, he doesn't get the courtesy of, you know, just being a decent person. Right. So, I just chalk it up to whatever. " He had ignored me.

He didn't speak English. If you want to be, if you want to be angry, go ahead, be angry. " And he got a little loud about it, so I... " That was another time.

Oh, that was another time. That was when I sneezed. " So then I started screaming, salute, every time he's... Fucking ridiculous.

I don't understand it. It's not hard to be a decent person. It isn't. I completely understand.

Hannibal Lecter had it right. Eat the rude. Just fucking mow him down. You're an asshole.

That guy was probably Hannibal Lecter. Taste your liver with some fava beans. A nice Chianti. A nice Chianti.

Hey, ready for Phil's Fun Facts? You guys got anything else? Try to keep the show moving along. No.

Oh, by the way, you want to know what food it was? What food was where? There was a lot of fucking cheese. Oh, he said upstairs.

I'm sure. It's a cheese steak. The soup we had? Cheese soup.

Was like blue cheese chickens. Oh, nice. It was great. It was delicious.

It was good. Were they cheese egg rolls? He said they were egg rolls. They were Reuben.

I didn't get to any of that. I tried to give him some food at one point, but he said, I'll get it. I'll get it. Oh.

I'm going to try and send me pictures of you sitting there in the chair just looking at your phone. That's pretty much, yeah, that's what he does. The floor is dirty. " That wasn't true.

People came in there. " And he came right on over. And then he retired. Then he was done.

That's a lot of work, man. My work here is done. That's right. I had the one customer.

I had one guy that was a complete asshole. Uh-oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There was this one guy.

Yeah. " I was trying to talk to him, and he just fucking ignored me and kept walking. " and he just got into his minivan. Maybe he didn't speak English.

No, he did. He was just angry. Just getting a bit of a doubt. It wasn't the guy from the plane, was it?

He'd already heard of you by then. No, but that guy was obviously having a bad day. Now he's at the cigar shop. That guy was obviously having a bad day.

Well, you know. Because, for one, he's driving a minivan. And, you know, as a dad, you don't want to drive a minivan. If you're driving a minivan, I feel you, man.

That's rough. It's a tough life. You know? It's good for the kids.

Not good for you. No. You know? No.

Not a good look. I like to threaten Britney with that all the time. You're going to get her. I'm going to get her minivan.

Minivan. I'm going to get your minivan. I'll fucking kill you. I'm like, okay.

It was a good time, though. Those guys were a great group of guys. Oh, my God. Fantastic.

Fucking bear. Burn you with my smoke. Okay, no minivan. No minivan.

Oh, sorry. Sorry. Don't hurt me. She hasn't called.

What's going on? No, she hasn't. Matt was awesome. That's his name.

Oh, yeah. I learned a lot of cool stories about Matt. Pretty fascinating. The owner of Lake Country.

There was this really cool guy. His name was Bill. Yeah. Older gentleman.

Yeah, he was an older guy. And he starts talking about how his wife passed a couple years ago. And I'm like, God, man, this guy's fucking. Oh, what a party building.

Punching you around the heart, you know. He was going to work for this one company. I don't remember the company. And they would have leveled him up as, you know, but he decided he didn't want to do that.

Right. He wanted to be a musician. Oh! , and did what he wanted to do, and he had a great time, and, you know, then when he got a little older, you know, they did a bunch of things together with his wife, and she passed a couple years, two years ago, today, or something.

It was on the day, or some shit, and I'm like, God, this is intense. Tearjerker. I gotta call my wife. I love you.

I love you, Brittany. That's crazy. But that's really what's awesome is, you know, you get to travel. Sure.

And you get to meet some pretty fascinating people. He never smoked Pistania before though, he said. Yeah, and he bought two boxes. Oh, nice, he liked it.

Yeah, Bill's all right. He did. Bill's a solid guy. Nice guy, Bill.

Do you listen to the show? I don't know, I'm sure Romo John put him on though. All right, what am I, they talk about you. All right, go ahead, Phil's fun facts, hit it.

He's got to put his mask back on. You mean he's not an alien? He's not? I saw that and knew he would just love it.

It was a huge video. Yeah, I love it. It's not even on his camera? You know what I know is?

Welcome to Cigar Hustlers' podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Hello, peoples. All right. You guys ready?

Ready. This must be a good one if you're fucking laughing already. It's the mask. I love the mask.

Oh, is that what it is? I love the mask. And your two, your two teeth that show. All right.

Well, the White House has a dedicated cigar room known as the Cigar Den. That's really what it's called. It's a private room. I'm sorry.

Don't read ahead. Where presidents can enjoy cigars. It's hard because I'm such a fast reader. Yeah.

I'm reading ahead. Don't read ahead. I have a private room at my house where I can enjoy Playgirl magazines. Calls Phil's Special Room.

Really? That's nice. Congratulations. You spelled calls.

It should have been called. Sometimes I type fast. Not that I can't spell, it's that I can't type. Are you sure?

Yep. Oh, you didn't talk about my red light stuff. You wanted to talk about that the other day before? Oh, yeah.

How's the red light therapy going? I did five days last week, took the weekend off, started again today. Yeah? Yeah.

How do you feel? I haven't noticed the difference. Nothing different? Nothing I've noticed, but it's only been five days.

Yeah. Well, you seem like you're remembering more here. I haven't seen you guys in four days. I mean, you remember to talk about the red light therapy.

Oh, that's true. Yeah, that's pretty good. But now I've added, for the time I'm sitting there, I listen to a motivational thing on YouTube. Yeah?

Who's the motivator? Oh, I don't know. I just pick one that's around six to ten minutes. Oh, you just say this one?

Yeah. Right. No, Chad Palmer Show? No, no Chad Palmer Show.

Is it Eric Thomas? I love Eric Thomas. I don't know who it was there. It was a bunch of different people put together.

Oh. Collaborated? I guess. Jocko, whatever.

Cut it all up or something, I guess. I don't know. The seal? Jocko Willings or something?

So, before we get into the news, one more thing. Yes. So, we released the War Bear in Wisconsin. Yes.

Is that coming soon here? It is now available in store only upstairs. I feel like, yeah, you know. When's it available online?

Some of the questions. Phil, whatever. It's so stupid. When's it available online?

I don't know, maybe in a week or two. Oh, do you have the next event scheduled for the, what's next? Yes. The SBC 16?

No. Or SBC 23? Oh. No, I don't.

Oh. But that's the next one, right? It's the only one left. Yeah, well, for this year, yeah.

Well, that's what I mean. No. I don't know what I'm going to do with. Here's the thing.

Ideas. Ideas, Paul. Here's the thing. Yes.

I ain't going far for this last one. Yes. Well, I should be in Florida. I thought I should be in Florida somewhere.

Yeah. I ain't going far. Maybe Sarasota. Sarasota.

It's a new shop in Sarasota. Oh, Heritage? Maybe. Smoke on the water.

I mean, I might go to Smoke on the Water. You did one with them already. Did I? Well, last time we were there, we did something there.

Yeah, but it was just an event. Oh. Or Caribbean. Ooh, Caribbean would be nice.

Or Cigar Castle over in Tampa. Or you could do a multi-one. Probably not Cigar Castle. Not Cigar Castle.

Can you do a multi-one? A multi-what? Where you do like multiple... Where we drive around and stop at all these days for an hour?

Where there's like only three, like if they're close by, yeah, and you do like two hours at each one. That sounds silly. It does. I don't know.

Somebody's gonna get mad. They got there two hours and 15 minutes and you've moved on. Yeah. Hello!

I came here for the guys. We're the guys! Yeah. All right, they moved on.

You got to go to the next shop. So we'll see. We can't spend money here. Smoke on the Lord has got a nice clubhouse.

I mean, but you know, I mean, Humidor, maybe, Steven Dothan up in, or not Steven Dothan, but he's in Dothan, Alabama. I mean, that's not far. That's a plane, though. I've never been to Alabama.

That's a drive. We could drive. Dothan, Alabama? Yeah.

Oh, we could record our whole trip. That's a long-ass drive. That's right you don't want to fly. Nah, I do drive.

He's into the reel thing now. He likes the reels. I am into the reels. Yeah, he wants to drive and do the thing.

Oh, yeah. It was a good reel. Facebook, my creator thing on Facebook, I'm supposed to do more videos. I said, we need more videos from you.

I have to feel like, I liked my video. I thought my video. I thought it was great. What are you using to edit?

Instagram. Oh, okay. Yeah, this one. You could put iMovie and it's real easy on your phone.

I just hit all the videos that I did and I cropped them and adjusted them. I was like, "Oh, this is perfect. " It did. It was good.

Yeah. Well, I think it covered a lot. Yeah. Flat tire and everything.

So a trip to Alabama? You had to look close to know it was a flat tire. I think it was just a picture of him next to the truck with the tire. With the bear in the back.

I was looking at the flat tire. I started the video on the flat tire. Yes. Oh, then did it pan to him at the truck?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Palmer only watches the first three minutes of any video. No, I watched them, but it self-edits, I guess.

So the cuts are where it wants it to be, not where you want them to be. I went through them and I adjusted them. Oh, can you do that? Yeah.

Oh, okay. Then it'll let you save it, and you can put it on Facebook? Was it on Facebook too? I don't remember.

Me neither. But Facebook has Reels too. I didn't see it on Facebook. Yeah.

I thought I saw it more than one place. Oh, because you tagged me in it or something. I did tag you. Yeah, so it was in your messages.

It was in my messages too, yeah. Yeah, I tagged you and I tagged you. Yep. That's how I saw it.

Yeah. Yes, that's how I saw it too. So there's that. Anything else?

Anybody? No. No. Because there's not a lot of news.

But we're OK. Oh. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Tu.

Massive tobacco tax increase bill reintroduced in Congress. Oh. Now the Tobacco Tax Equity Act is back as a standalone item. Senator John Whaden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, It's the Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2023 in the Senate, while Representative Rajah Prisimor from Illinois introduced a bill in the House of Representatives, tobacco tax related language is copied and pasted from previous bills, it includes: new taxes, free cigarettes, double the tax on roll your own tobacco, more than 16% increase on pipe tobacco, doubling the tax on small cigars, and a massive tax hike for premium cigars.

Uh oh. What's massive, man? We'll get to it. Hold on.

56 per pound. 50. 56 per pound. Wow.

That's humongous. Yes, it is. Because it's a weight-based tax, the difference between the existing tax and the new tax would vary depending on how heavy the cigar is. For Cigar, Robusto, or Smaller, it would likely be more than triple the current federal tax rate.

50. 29% increase. 80 additionally, almost $3. 80 per cigar.

So if you're paying $13 for that cigar, you're paying $16 for that cigar. It's okay, everybody's charging $30. They're all ready right now. Is it high taxes based on the price?

How are the state taxes figured in states that have high taxes? It varies, but it's normally just based on percentage of the sale. Of the price. So, does it add this tax, the federal tax to it, and then they...

That's beforehand. So, it's beforehand. Yeah, so it's a double. That's when it's imported.

It's a double, what you're asking. It's a double. Yeah, you mean, is it double taxation without representation? Yes.

It doesn't matter. It's a federal tax versus a state tax. Say it's $5 for the cigar. Okay.

50, then does the state tax go on that again? Correct, correct. So they're taxing off the tax money that you already got taxed on. Correct.

That's a lot of taxing. Double taxation without representation. That's a lot of bones, man. 41 per cigar.

It depends on the Gordo. I've seen some shit that doesn't weigh. We've weighed a couple. You know, Aldino would become very popular.

Very cheap. Very affordable. Very affordable cigars. So you think that means people make their cigars lighter?

No, first of all, it's got a pass. First of all, it's got a pass. Right, this is the second time, but before it was part of something else. We're gonna separate it.

I hate politicians. Y'all are a bunch of folks. Well, this is just something that they've put into where they're going to vote on it. God forbid we should focus on something that's productive.

So let me, so, so we just, what just happened is, the cigar industry just won, and. We have a story on that. There was a bill that was cleared, right? They weren't doing it.

Well, the FDA. It was the FDA regulating cigars. Yeah. Had nothing to do with the tax thing.

So then somebody came back and said, you know what, this wasn't in that one. Right. Now we have more money. I know what we're gonna do.

They're trying to make them so expensive, nobody wants to buy them. Right. Well, that's not true. I mean, people still buy fucking cars, look how expensive those things are.

Yeah, but they figure you're not going to finance a box of cigars. Right. Well, you might have to. Maybe we should do that here.

Ooh, 30 years? Synchrony. Synchrony. They'll finance anybody.

Oh, yeah. Synchrony will do anything. They'll do anything. I think I pay them three different times on three different different products.

The government will appeal the FDA premium cigar lawsuit decision. Oh, good. Oh, good. The FDA premium cigar lawsuit is not over just yet.

Multiple sources have informed Cigar Housers podcast that the Department of Justice will appeal last month's decision in Cigar Association of America, United States Food and Drug Administration. It's never over. They granted the relief that the plaintiff in the case three Cigar Industry trade groups had sued FDA in 2016 on behalf of the premium cigar industry. Mahata, Mahata, oh, he took it off.

I didn't know what he was doing over there. Mahata's ruling determined the form of remedy the judge The judge has already decided in July 2022 that the US Food and Drug Administration erred when considering how to regulate premium cigars. Specifically, he found the agency ignored comments that showed the premium cigars large, unflavored, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Mojada.

In response, the PCA released a very strongly worded press release that they believed the judge was also right. Only one person picked up that story. Smoking tobacco. Oh, really?

The only person that ended up, though, that the PCA responded with a strongly worded letter. All caps. All caps, right. All caps.

All caps. And Havelica. So, it's a little slanted, too. So, it really looks like...

Talisizing. Yeah. Very angry. Premium cigar imports dropped from record high of 2022.

Yeah, no shit. New reports from the Cigar Association of America shows that, that's the CAA. The CAA. S.

Are they the only ones that track how many come in and out? Did he come in and out? Not the Retailers Association of America. Not them.

Not the PCA. What's the one that's the... I don't know. The one we found out that existed last week.

That's huge that we don't even have ever heard of? Right, that nobody knows about. Just for Cigar Retailers of America. That's the FDA.

Or no, the... Oh, we've heard about the FDA. We've heard about the FDA. No, that's Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Yeah. I thought there was another one, though. Isn't that the one you're talking about? I don't think so.

No, I think an acronym for that. I think it's like FAA or something like that. Yeah, they have like something that... Something that somebody else, somebody else is already doing it right.

Yeah. S. 63 million in the same period during the year before. While numbers are down compared to last year, the trend line for the first seven months of the year is actually closer to 2022 than the Q1 numbers.

More importantly, the numbers are still significantly above pre-COVID-19 levels. Right. On a month-by-month basis, imports have actually begun, have been up in four of the seven months, though March and April were down because tax season, people aren't spending as much. S.

have gone from roughly 55 percent of imports to the first seven months, according to CAA. 2 percent compared to last year. The CAA breaks down individual imports from seven countries and all were down except the Dominican Republic. Wow.

37 million more cigars compared to the same period last year. 3. Or it's because Skip did the... Yeah, Skip Cigar.

Skip Cigar. Yeah, it's not because of Skip Cigar. 8 percent, which is exactly the same amount of Quentin Quantaneros. Same number.

Yeah, it's practically the same. S. imports numbers might be down, many, if not most, cigar factories continue to operate at extremely high production levels due to the Cuban cigars being so expensive. Your Cuban is very expensive.

Supply chain challenges have improved compared to 2022, 2021, because there's no COVID, but the cigar industry faces a diverse group of significant issues that are impacting both production and quality. So many issues. Labor issues remain especially in Nicaragua. Yeah.

Which has experienced record immigration in recent years. Where? Nicaragua. Nicaragua.

Thank you. Furthermore, due to both the increase in cigar production and other factors, tobacco suppliers have not recovered from the pre-COVID-19 levels, which have caused blends to change and lend to higher prices. We will rebuild. Ecuador, a key supplier of wrapper leaf for non-Cuban cigars, experienced heavy flooding, and Ecuadoran government recently raised an alert for an El Nino.

Oh. Which is expected to be strong this winter from yellow to orange. Oh, it's orange-level nino. Did you see the flooding in New York?

Uh, yeah. I did. The subways are flooded. Well, yeah, 'cause they're underground.

Yeah. Yeah, but the streets are flooded, too. What? The streets are flooded, so the subway is under the streets, so the water's running into the subway tunnels.

So they're having to close the subways. Mm-hmm. How much fucking water came here? They were like waist-deep in some places in New York.

From the subway up. No, no, the street, and then, you know, it runs into the little thing, so it's raining in the subway. Hmm. Huh.

Over the summer, many cigar factory owners-- There's a button. I know, but I couldn't move, hit the button, and hold the paper, too. We're concerned about the damage done to Ecuador's most recent tobacco crop, though the effects of all shouldn't likely be felt for at least another year. That said, given the decreased supply heading into the summer, the cigar industry will be impacted by the winter climate in Ecuador.

Huh. So. So there's all that. All that.

A lot going on. Andy Yaffe, Craig Smith joined Crown Heads. Yeah. Thank you.

Ooh. Appreciate the chime in there. Yeah. No, I have some.

I have a theory behind that. Oh, Crown Heads has announced that it has added two new sales representatives. Andy Yaffe will serve as the company's new representative for Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, in the company's home state of Tennessee. Yaffe most recently served as the National Sales Director of McAuliffe Cigars.

Last month, McAuliffe announced that it had hired Mickey Pegg to serve as the President of Sales. Yeah, and then Andy fucking leaves. I feel like Mickey Pegg was too much for Andy, so he packed his shit and got the fuck out. Huge.

Huge. " Oh, he was the National Sales Director for McAuliffe, but now he is a regional salesman for Crownhead. Yeah, he took a step down. He took a step down.

He was like, you know what? As long as I have to deal with Mickey. That's fine. Salesman.

Salesman. He went from director of to regional salesman. What's up, huge? And he said, you know what?

You're so huge. You know what? I don't like you. I'm fucking huge out of here.

Prior to his time at McAuliffe, Jeff, he worked at La Florida Minicana and Nat Sherman. He did work at La Florida Minicana. He didn't like John Carney either? They're friends.

Oh. Yeah. Nice. In addition, Crown Heads has announced that Craig Smith will serve as the company.

But maybe he didn't like him too. Maybe. It's possible. It is.

Maybe he's a vegetarian. I know that he doesn't like his potatoes. I can tell you that much. Nobody likes chicken potatoes.

Don't eat the potatoes. Don't eat the potatoes. I saw you put that on Andy's congratulations. Yes.

Yes, that was nice. Don't eat the potatoes. In addition, Crown Heads has announced that Craig Smith will serve as the companies represented for Arizona, California, Nevada, and New Mexico. Craig.

Yes. He's excited. I am excited to welcome these dynamic individuals to Crownheads, said Miguel Chadell. The guy who had the shingles.

The shingles. Yeah, the shingles, Chadell. National Sales Manager for Crownheads and a Pressure Lease. Their addition will go to a long way towards our goal of providing an unparalleled level of customer support and attention to our retail partners.

I love Miguel. Is he feeling better? The shingles gone? The shingles are gone.

I heard they don't ever really go. It doesn't go away? You get like a flare up. Every once in a while?

Yeah. Oh my god, it's horrible. Like herpes? Yeah, herpes.

-Gonorrhea? -Like gonorrhea? -No. -Herpes.

-Herpes. I knew it was one of the others. -I mean, those are both STDs. -Yes.

-I don't think shingles is an STD. -No, no, but you never really get over herpes. -I mean, I'm kind of hoping that one day I get shingles because then I could just use the flare-up as a reason why I'm not coming in. -It hurts.

-I got a flare-up. Even though I don't. -It's very painful. -Not coming in.

-It's a nerve disorder. -I'm feeling a little off. -I'm feeling a little shingly. -I got some shingles.

-Or you could just say that you have it. -Yeah, who's going to have it? Yeah, I don't know what he's going to check. Oh, I have shingles.

Just so you have it. From now on, everybody, Michael has shingles. I have shingles. So if he doesn't show up, he had a flare.

I'm not... Yeah, go to two. I'm not coming... Yeah, for the love of God, he's been on one for like 20 minutes.

Well, it's his time. Maripel cigars. The Maripel family's flagship brand. Maripels?

That's how you pronounce it. I looked it up. Yeah. Maripels?

Maripel. Maripel? What about that? It's silent.

I looked up how you say it. Why is it even in there? I don't know. Why did they put a B on the end of climb?

Is that climb? Climba. Climba. Climba.

That's true. That's a silent B. It's a silent B. It's a silent F.

Maripels? Yeah, Maripel. The Maripels. The Cameroon Kings of the cigar industry.

They have updated the internal tray for their 25-count boxes. Oh, really? Oh. This is mind-boggling that they thought of this.

Yeah? The company says that for 2023 shipments, each of the 25-count boxes will come with an updated tray that allows for better airflow. Solar panel? Maripel's standard box, which the company refers to as a chest, are unique 25-count boxes where the cigars are placed in a single row of 25, blah, blah, blah.

Those cigars sit on a floating shelf that has a Boveda humidification pack underneath. Now the boxes will have greater airflow thanks to the updated some type of wood I can't pronounce. Royal Paloovian? What is it?

Royal Paloovian. Hold on. The original version of the box just had a wide opening all the way across. Right.

Now they've put many little holes. Oh. Very well done. Ah, yes.

Very well. The technology. It's so advanced. I thought there was a labor issue.

Sounds like there's a lot of labor going on. There's more labor. They've got to drill the little holes. So it's not a bit.

It's not a drill. They're just pounding it. Right. And hoping the wood doesn't crack.

Hold up. I don't want to. Never mind. Did you get some pounding in the hotel?

I told you. No, I was going to say like. Maybe he was semi-conscious. I actually said, I made him, I had to yell Mike a few times.

Oh, did you? Yeah. I would say like a BC style. BC.

Before Christ. Oh, it's not the same. It's not the same, not the same. You really aren't that funny.

Why, because I don't talk about getting pounded? Because it makes you uncomfortable. It is. It's uncomfortable.

46, I don't talk about getting pounded. Wow. And this is from Jason Walpert. Oh, my friend.

Walberg? Walpert. I love that boy. Jason Walpert.

He's getting the race car put back together. Yes. Oh, the race car guy. The three-legged bear breaks into Florida home and drinks three White Claws.

That's a Florida story. Really? Get out of here. A teen boy filmed a three-legged bear as it broke into his Lake Mary, Florida home, opened the refrigerator on the screened-in lanai, and drank three White Claws, hard seltzer beverages.

Ain't no laws. This boy's mother, the boy's mother. Who is very upset. Oh, wait a second.

Is this a story from the boy? No, no. This is an actual story. He sent me the link for the story.

Show me the video. Well, okay, afterwards. The boy's mother sent Fox 35 the video of the bear, which is known in the community as tripod because he has three legs. Get it?

Showing it wandered around the driveway near the family pool. Then the bear entered the home through a screened-in lanai in the backyard. Oh my God, look at him, the 13-year-old son can be heard saying in one of the videos. This is crazy, he added.

He says the bear opened the refrigerator door, helped himself to three of his mother's white claws. I've got to see the video. Then the bear eventually walked off. Because I feel like the kid drank the White Claws and then told everybody the bear did it.

No, you can see the bear doing it. I saw the video. Oh, okay. I have questions.

What's the question? Which type of White Claws? Oh, I don't know. We don't even know.

We don't know? It's the mom's White Claws? Yes, supposedly. We don't know her weapons of choice?

It's probably watermelon. You think it's watermelon? Yeah. If White Claws does not grab hold of this bear thing and use it in their advertising.

Yeah. I mean, that's just stupid not to do that. I mean, the one bear wound up at Disney. Right.

Yeah. He did. He was just trying to go. There was a bear in Space Mountain?

Actually, he was in the Country Bear Jamboree section. Was he? Yeah. He was by the...

He was trying to hang out with his ancestors. The Thunder Mountain? Yeah. He was right by Thunder Mountain.

Wow. Turns out there's an access gate right behind Thunder Mountain. Yes, there is. That's how he got in.

That's how we get in during grad night 110 years ago. Oh, was it? Yeah. Uh-huh.

Things you learn. Things you learn. Yeah. Grab it.

And that's the news. And that's the news. You got a Shop of the Week? Ooh, do I have a Shop?

Nothing. What the hell was that? That was one of your new things. It should be if it's not.

Listener of the Week, Bill from Lake Country Cigars. We like Bill. We do too, Bill, yeah. I'm very sorry about the patching of your weapon.

Yeah. Oh, stop. We're gonna tear-jerk again. It's tough, man.

What was her name? He never told me. Never said the name. No.

No. No, but he told me stories. About his wife? About him and his wife.

Oh, that's lovely. Yeah. He smokes in his house. Well, he can.

Now there's no way. He's got a rabbit air. Oh, does he? Yep.

And it works. You know it says replace filter? Yeah. I replaced the filter.

The light wasn't on before. Oh. Did you clean the other filter? I threw it away.

It was terrible. But there's certain layers. Oh, yeah. No, I didn't throw just the replacement parts went in.

Yeah. The other parts, yes. There's got to be a reset button. You do it.

I left it unplugged all weekend, see if that would do it, and I didn't do anything. No, there's a reset button. Oh, I'll have to find the reset button. It's starting to turn yellow, I want to clean it.

A little bleach. Knock yourself out. I changed out my cold points water. Did you?

Why are you coming so aggressive on me? Why do you tell me I got to clean it? I do everything in here. I had to clean the toilet today.

That's why I'm telling you. Somebody replaced the toilet paper, but didn't unwrap it. They just took the new roll and slid it on the thing. Who would do that?

We weren't even here. Well, I wasn't here either. I didn't do it. I wouldn't have brought it up if I did.

Oh, my God, someone's coming in our building. Somebody's taking a shit in here. It's Greg. It's probably Greg.

He doesn't have the other key. He's asked me for it twice, which is pretty funny. Oh, he does not have a key. He does not have a key.

He only has the bottom key, not the top key. Yeah. He keeps asking me, but I tell him that I don't have the keys. I really need the key to the room.

Oh, dude, that's not me. Palmer's got the keys. Well, four, Greg. He always says he needs it, but there's no hurry, so I'm like, okay.

Then I'm not going to hurt you. No Shop of the Week, huh? Come on. You got one?

Go ahead. Blend and Barrel. You want to go with Blend and Barrel? Oh, we can do Blend and Barrel.

Sure. Blend and Barrel. Blend and Barrel's Shop of the Week. Jason and his lovely wife were up here on Thursday, I think it was last week.

Saturday? Thursday. Thursday? I've seen them with the pictures.

They were here Thursday. I popped in briefly to help Steve find the, uh, the prize winner thing. He'd already found it, but, uh, so they were here then. Yeah.

Yes. I was, I got lectured by Steve. I need to do a better job communicating things. " He is right about that, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, he's not wrong. " Yeah, we can't do that one. We can't do that one.

All right, just a minute putting it together. Did you go to Howie G's event at all? No, when? Oh, he's the October event for here.

Yeah. Wait, October? He said he was. There's a Saturday event with him here.

A ticketed event. Yeah. We got to get on that, too. Oh, wow.

It's on a Saturday. Got to do that. But it's in the private lounge, so it's not like that. Very busy.

Super busy. So Espinosa is the October event? Is the October event here, yeah, it's Smashing Pumpkins. Oh, that's right, it's Smashing Pumpkins.

Is Eric coming? Yeah. Nice. Nice.

You better barbecue him somewhere, whatever. No, we have the cornhole. Smoke it or whatever. Cornhole.

Yeah, I said I'd do a brisket. We should bring a domino tables upstairs, not play it though. Just have it there. Just have it.

No dominoes. No dominoes. Can't play dominoes here. What do you mean dominoes?

He probably has them in the car. Have Greg put one of those signs on there. No dominoes. No dominoes on the domino table?

No dominoes. Is Jack and Hector coming too? I know Jack is. Well, somebody's got to drive.

Come on, Hector. I know you're listening. Maybe Hector. Let's see.

Richie? Oh, Richie. The whole gang should come. They should bring Tyler.

All of them. I want Tyler here. We want Tyler. I want my rep, Tyler.

Yeah, my rep. Not that other guy. I haven't seen him in a little bit. He stopped in a few weeks.

It was like a few months ago. Who does cigar? A few months. Yeah, there you go.

The guy who used to do cigar culture. I don't remember his name. Adrian? Adrian.

He came in on Friday. Did he? At like 10:02. Is he still doing cigar culture or is he done?

No, I don't know. He's done that one. Now he's doing Black Label and he's doing some Mexican cigars. There's a bag of cigars.

Rojas. He's probably doing Rojas. I don't know if that's in or not, but he gave me one. I'm interested to try it.

Oh, I saw the bag. Okay, yeah. It's like by the file cabinet. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll smoke some now. Episode 301. 301.

301. The Cigar Hustler Podcast. Thank you for listening. Still number one show, but no ads.

No ads. Dammit. We don't want any. Unless you send a check for like 50 grand.

Send a big check. Or send cigars. Me and Phil will smoke them on the air. Goodbye.

Thank you. I put that on. The 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 & 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 Szczefankiewicz, 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. We'll be right back.

Show Notes

In Episode 301 of The Cigar Hustlers Podcast, get ready for a whirlwind of cigar industry updates and some unexpected wildlife antics. The hosts dive deep into the following topics:

MASSIVE TOBACCO TAX INCREASE BILL REINTRODUCED IN CONGRESSDiscover the latest developments in Congress as a substantial tobacco tax increase bill resurfaces. How might this impact the cigar industry?

GOVERNMENT WILL APPEAL FDA PREMIUM CIGAR LAWSUIT DECISIONThe FDA premium cigar lawsuit continues to evolve. Learn about the government's decision to appeal, keeping the industry on its toes.

PREMIUM CIGAR IMPORTS DROP FROM RECORD HIGH OF 2022Explore the reasons behind the drop in premium cigar imports from their record high in 2022. What factors are at play, and what does this mean for cigar enthusiasts?

ANDY YAFFEE, CRAIG SMITH JOIN CROWNED HEADSExciting news for Crowned Heads as Andy Yaffee and Craig Smith join their ranks. Get the inside scoop on these industry professionals' new roles.

MEERAPFEL CIGAR UPDATES PACKAGING TRAYFind out what's changing with Meerapfel Cigar's packaging tray. How will this update enhance the cigar experience for aficionados?

Wildlife Alert!In an unexpected turn of events, Jason Wolpert shares a wild story about a three-legged bear breaking into a Florida home and enjoying three White Claws. You won't want to miss this humorous twist!

Join The Cigar Hustlers Podcast hosts as they break down these intriguing topics and provide their unique insights into the world of cigars and beyond. Whether you're a seasoned cigar enthusiast or just curious about the latest industry happenings, Episode 301 is a must-listen. Tune in now and enjoy the ride!