Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 304 - Premium Cigar Association Drops Media Member Dues and More

Episode Summary

Episode 304 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast opens with Mike Szczepankiewicz, Mike Palmer and Phil catching up on a busy week — guest spots on El Oso Fumar and Down to Herf, a trip to South Florida that included stops at Downtown Cigar Bar in Fort Lauderdale with Ozzy, Alan Schumer at Caribbean Cigars, and Aficionados — plus a Halloween party debrief and an honest gripe about slow post-PCA order fulfillment (specifically waiting on Dunbarton's RoMa Craft-adjacent releases and the Red Meat Lovers).

The news block covers the Premium Cigar Association ending its $450/year media membership dues beginning in 2024, while still requiring a vetted media badge application — with the added perk of show-floor access at the same time as exhibitors and entry to the opening reception. Other stories: Foundation Cigar Company shipping the Metapa, a Nicaraguan puro-style blend with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper (a first for Foundation) named for the hometown of poet Rubén Darío; Luciano Cigars' new "It's My Lounge Now" sponsored-lounge program at Lit Cigar Lounge in St. Louis and Industrial Cigar Company in Frisco, Texas; the Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Año 2023 figurado; and Steve Saka renaming the original Sobremesa line as Sobremesa Solita with new packaging. The hosts also take a surprise live call announcing the Lightweight Heavy cigar — a Skip Martin/RoMa Craft-made project — going exclusive to The Box in Waldo as brick-and-mortar and Cigar Hustler online.

The back half is an extended in-studio conversation with Erik Espinosa and Jack Torano. Topics include the long-stalled "Potheads" house cigar for Rudy's Cigars in Fort Wayne (with owner Joe Pasquale calling in to confirm it's happening), Espinosa's competitive streak and the infamous pig-roast cook-off trophy story, La Zona Palooza logistics for November 2–4, and the realities of the Guy Fieri / Knuckle Sandwich partnership, including chasing his filming schedule around the country. Espinosa closes with candid advice about why he turns down aspiring brand owners — good tobacco isn't enough without distribution, relationships and capital — and a genuinely touching story about stopping in to thank Nora at Nora's Sugar Shack, a small Orlando retailer who supported him back when he was a rep.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Week in Review and Slow Shipping Gripes
   The hosts vent about post-PCA order fulfillment delays and recap guest appearances on El Oso Fumar and Down to Herf.
2. 02
   South Florida Trip and Halloween Party
   Visits to Downtown Cigar Bar, Caribbean Cigars and Aficionados, plus a Married with Children costume that nobody recognized.
3. 03
   PCA Drops Media Member Dues
   Starting in 2024 the Premium Cigar Association ends its $450 media dues but keeps a vetted badge application, and grants media earlier floor access.
4. 04
   Foundation Ships the Metapa
   Foundation Cigar Company's new line uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper for the first time and is named for the hometown of poet Rubén Darío.
5. 05
   Luciano's 'It's My Lounge Now' Program
   Luciano Cigars begins branding and sponsoring retail lounges, starting with Lit Cigar Lounge and Industrial Cigar Company.
6. 06
   Oliva Melanio Figurado and Sobremesa Solita
   Oliva's Serie V Melanio Edición Año 2023 hits shelves while Steve Saka renames and repackages the original Sobremesa as Sobremesa Solita.
7. 07
   Lightweight Heavy Exclusive Announcement
   A live call-in reveals the Skip Martin-blended Lightweight Heavy will be exclusive to The Box in Waldo and Cigar Hustler online.
8. 08
   Erik Espinosa Interview
   Espinosa and Jack Torano talk the Rudy's 'Potheads' project, La Zona Palooza, the Guy Fieri Knuckle Sandwich partnership, and why he turns down would-be brand owners.

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 304, where we bring you the latest news and insights into the world of premium cigars. In this episode, we dive into the big stories of the week. The King, Mike Stepankevich, and Reverend BDP, Mike Palmer are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigars Cigar Hostes Podcast. That's his fault, not mine.

And me, I'm Phil. So grab your favorite smoke. Phil McGroin. Sit back and join us for another exciting episode of Cigar Hostes Podcast.

He's from Australia now, Phil McGroin. Phil McGroin. McGroin. One, please.

I can't wait for the music. Maybe you'd like to put your product 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 number one cigar podcast, and go down to history as supporters. Go down to history as a supporter of this iconic show.

But the fact is, we don't want sponsors. We don't like people telling us what we can and can't say. So as of October 2023, the Cigar Hustler podcast has remained sponsor-free. Thank you for your time, and you can kiss Mikey's ass.

Why my ass? But if you'd like us to wear your shop's t-shirts, you can send those to Cigar Hustler Kara BDP and we will wear those on the show. Those for shits and giggles. Right.

Or if you want to send cigars, I'll put those on the show. As you can see, I am wearing... You can't see. You can't see, because you're on camera one.

You can see me. I didn't wear my... Oh, hi. Oh, look at you.

I am wearing the Caribbean cigars. Well, as Mr. Schumer explained, Honduran sizes are slightly different than American sizes. Yes.

My extra-large was slightly bigger than a medium, maybe. Yeah. I would have lost feeling in my hands by now, and possibly my head. It was very snug.

What does it say on the back? It says something. It says, "Don't tell my mother I work in a cigar shop. " Yes, yes, yes.

I showed that to my wife. She didn't laugh. You know, it's so funny. It's the same thing happened to me.

" And I started laughing. " Yeah, so when are you in a whorehouse, Michael? Yeah. No whorehouse for you.

No whorehouse for you, mister. No hooters either. There'll be no wings and things. All right, well, what are we doing for the Patreon?

Today, because they are releasing, this week, we are smoking the Metatapa Nicaraguan from Foundation Cigars. Foundation. We ship a COD. 3 grams.

3 grams. You were going to explain something. There's a thing going on in this industry that kind of is starting to frustrate me. Not just the industry in general?

Yes. I mean, yeah, yeah. Yes, do tell. I like a taste of it.

So, I mean, you know, everybody and their mothers already got their fucking red meat lovers. We haven't gotten ours. So we're two or three weeks behind. Why didn't we get ours?

I don't know. I ordered my shit at the show. They sent out a Facebook post on that. Did they?

I don't, I can't read. What does it say? What did it say? Mike Clafferty said that he is very, he is very apologetic that if you don't get yours right away, the way that they ship, certain places will get them first.

Yeah. So, I mean, that's good to know moving forward. We adjust that here. We always ship California first.

Isn't that weird how that works? So then they get it time everybody else gets it. That we consider, I don't know, it's called me crazy. Yeah, it's just, I don't, I don't.

And now, maybe New Hampshire's got a weird mailing problem. And now these fucking things are starting to pop up and we'll probably get them in December. I mean... For the re-up.

For Christmas! For the re-up. Meat lovers! Only ones that still have them.

Let me tell you the difference though. The difference with having PCA in July and having PCA in March is I'll still be fucking fired up in March. And when all you motherfuckers want me to place an order, I'm going to look at you and say no, I'm not ordering shit. I still haven't received my red meat.

Yeah, because I don't get it. I still don't have last year's show. I won't fucking get it until, you know, am I dead last on the fucking list? It's like, oh, yeah, put him down there.

Fuck that guy. Who is Mike Stepan? Alphabetical. Stepankevich is near the end of the alphabet.

So give me a fucking break. Alan Schumer got his first season A. Oh, is that how that works? Yes.

Don't be sorry, be better. I don't want to hear your apologies, David fucking Lafferty. Get on it, god damn it. Where's my cutter?

I don't know. You don't need the cutter. I want to cut it. Oh.

It's got the little... It's got the little piggy tail. Yeah. So, you did a podcast that nobody knew about.

I did. I did two, actually. Two? Yeah.

Well, I didn't even really know the one until it was about to start. I mean, there's a lot of ground to cover. But if you want to go into Sunday, we can start there. That's fine.

Well, that's okay. All right. I was confused if it was tonight, or if it was yesterday. El Osofumars?

Yeah. It's always Sunday night. Well, I know he's always Sunday night. But the way the post read, it could have been last night or today.

Or today. Well, you can watch it again today if you like. But then, you know, because then they show the little tiny portion of the video as it's starting, and you were on it, so I was like, I don't know. I feel like that's now.

It's an hour later or something, I don't know. Did you watch? No, I didn't watch. You didn't watch?

No. I would watch if you were on. I didn't have advance notice. I know, I don't do any much.

I don't know, but everybody's afraid of what I might say. Everybody's afraid of what? I don't think so. I don't know, I believe that.

Well, that's what I'm going with. Okay, fine. Well, I can tell you that it went... Me too.

So, was it a last-minute substitution, or has it been planned for months? No, that one was planned. Oh, did you normally plug it on the show before anything? I didn't, dude.

Or tell us. Yeah, or at least tell us you're gonna be on it. I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm in the family group chat when you're busy, and it wasn't mentioned at all.

I just gotta add you to our cozy, our family calendar. Yes, you do. Dude. You know, a whole video of me watching you on the video.

This shit has just been so crazy for me that, you know. I'm sorry. And I'll be better. That's okay.

No, no. We didn't get to promote it. Yeah, we didn't get to plug you or anything. Who was the other guy that was on?

Aaron Nielsen. In charge of Nielsen ratings for TV? Yeah, that's him. I don't know who he is.

He's a good guy. I've done other podcasts with him. You've met him several times. You met him at Smokin', Grey Smoke.

What does he do? Smoke cigars. I mean, is he just a guy? He's kind of a guy.

Yeah, he's just a guy. Oh. He's a good dude. His dad is Cheap Trick or some shit.

shit. Oh, that guy. Okay. Yeah.

All right. Yeah. No, I'm terrible with names. He's awesome.

My, my next door neighbor was a next door this morning and I walked in to get something came out and said hi to him and he said hi back. And then he sort of said something else. I didn't recognize him. Kenny?

No, uh, Andrew. I think his name is Andrew. The guy that's right outside my gate. Oh, okay.

You didn't recognize him? Not until he spoke. Then I recognized the voice and I was like, Oh, it's my neighbor. Oh, I know you.

Yeah. He had It sounds like a flannel or something you've never seen. You're just such a big deal at this point. You're big deal ponder.

You can blame it on the red light. Well, actually, I didn't get a chance to do it today. He didn't do it. I couldn't do it today.

I was called in early. There it is. We forget now. I quickly got ready and I looked at it on the way I'm like, I just don't have the time.

You know, so that podcast was really good. Bear does a good job. Bear does a fantastic job. I really love Bear.

Show's a little long, but. The show, yeah, their shows tend to run for a little bit. Yeah, yeah, the whole Coupa network stuff. You know, but what was cool, I really get along with Aaron, I really get along with Bear, so we can break each other's balls, we have, you know, there's a good back and forth, we're totally open about everything that we have to say, you know, and not that I'm reserved in any fashion, but you know, no, but it's fun to talk with Aaron and Bear and those things to be received instead of being returned with, Well, I don't think you know.

Right. Well, you guys are on the same page more. Yeah. That's exactly the case.

And I also got a random call that morning, Sunday morning, to be on the Down to Herf podcast. That's tonight, though. I've already recorded it. Oh, they don't do live anymore?

No, I recorded it with them already. Oh. 30. Nice.

He's like, so you want to come? I'm like, kind of last minute, but sure, I'll show the fuck up, so we did that, that was a good one. Oh, that was probably a hard episode for them, huh? That was the- You recorded it last night?

Hector was on it with them, was he? No. Did they do Lizana Palooza yesterday? No.

They were plugging Lizana Palooza, maybe that's what happened. Oh, no, I mean- You recorded it yesterday? Yeah. Because I asked- That was a tough loss.

I asked them if they were going to the- Oh, yeah. I asked them if they were going to Lizana on their post. I could not wait, because Gio was already talking shit, is it, well, we play the Bucks on Thursday, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I'm thinking, they're playing the Pats fight today. Wait, you did Down to Herve, too?

Right, right, right, right. Yeah. I'm confused. I thought you said you did, how about that cigar, yesterday?

He did both. No, I did Down to Herve. Oh, you did Down to Herve yesterday. And also Fumor.

Oh, I thought you said you did, you did, how about that cigar? No. I'm confused, okay. Go get the light.

Yeah, go get the light. Go get the light. Well, talking again, you'd think he'd put two back on, but no, it's just, no, it's a terrible camera. I don't know why I put camera three, because he wasn't looking at the camera, he was looking at me.

Because I wanted to answer a text message on my phone. Oh, it was for you, okay. It was for me, yes. Yeah, just go along with it.

Yeah, yeah, I'll go along. Yeah, don't explain, if I put up three, go to three. God damn it. Sitting here waving like I'm on fire over here.

Well, we've had an adventure, we went on a trip to South Florida, we haven't talked about that. Oh, that's right, so much has been happening. We've been to a party? Yeah.

We, I think that I got a nice friendly cup check when we were down, which was nice. We can talk about more about that on the, on the Patreon. Oh, okay. It took me a minute.

I'm like, who grabbed your tank? Yeah, no, it wasn't. They didn't grab my tank. I understand.

I got the reference. You said you can't talk about it. I didn't, you know, I didn't know how to refer. I feel like it needs a thing.

Right. It needs a name of something to happen. Yeah. And I usually say kicked in the teeth.

Right. That wasn't really kicking the teeth though. It doesn't, that doesn't, doesn't resonate well. It just doesn't flow.

right so i feel like a cup check is when somebody says oh you know and just kind of hits you you're like oh god right okay it makes yeah i got one i got a i feel like i got a good cup check right we have another we have another possible trip tomorrow too and we can elaborate on that yes we do have another another i'm so tired dude you know it ain't easy bro it ain't easy right but Hey, I'm going to keep showing up. I'm going to outwork every one of you motherfuckers. I promise it. God damn it.

So you got more text? Camera three. I have a worker at my house. Ah.

D. King Palmer? No, she's at work. It's my son.

Why would you ask that? I don't know. It's Connor. It's my son, Connor.

She said, come in the bedroom. No, sorry. I'm in the bathroom. I meet you there.

Look, look, look at him. I'm not even listening at this point. I'm not engaging you. So, Joran, how about that cigar, huh?

That's good. No, I was not. Oh, oh, down to her. Yeah.

Sorry. So sorry. But that, that podcast went well, too, because, you know, same scenario. Yeah.

Right. Yeah, same idea. They're good, guys. So, yeah, I'm just out running these streets, baby.

So what was their show on where they needed you at the last minute? They wanted to talk about the War Bear. Oh. Were they smoking it?

Yeah. I think they could have planned that in advance. You know, big shocker. Yeah.

No, it's a great show. It's on our, it's on Wednesdays on the Cigar Hustler Network. Yeah. Yes.

The Hearth Boys. Yeah. Yeah. So it went, that went really well.

We did get to meet Ozzy at Fort Lauderdale Cigar Bar. See Ozzy. Oh, wait a second. That was probably.

Oh yeah. See Ozzy. Cause I met him several times before. Was that the first time you ever talked to Caleb?

No. No, no. I did an interview. Wait a second.

We were in Buffalo. Oh yeah, you guys were in Buffalo on the show. I did an interview with Caleb there. Was Caleb there?

Yeah. I only remember Jerry and Gio. Wow. Wow.

And it's called Caleb's Down to Herf and everything. Is that called Caleb's Down to Herf? Yeah, it's Caleb's Down to Herf. No, it's not.

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's in Jerry's place. He's got the room.

It's definitely not cool. Jerry does everything. He would never allow it to be called Caleb's Down to Herf. You know what's funny is he's so quiet, too.

He didn't speak a lot during the whole thing. Jerry or Caleb? Caleb. Yeah, he is.

He is very quiet, very quiet. He's like how you used to be, or how you are during interviews. But you were pretty, we got an Espinosa interview on this one, and you spoke a little bit. Yeah, at the end.

Well, I mean, you got Eric's in here, nobody talked. I don't think Jack said but two words. Hey, can I tell you one more story? One more, one more, one more.

That'll be real fast, real fast. 30 minutes later, he's halfway through the story. So he got a sandwich in his gas area? Oh, you're gonna talk about it?

Yeah, well. He what? Somebody put a sandwich in his gas area? No, hold on.

So he was talking about pranks and stuff, and I caught wind that this was going down, and I had some concerns, I was, oh, they did it out here? Yeah, I had some concerns, because I'm thinking, God forbid this gets sucked into, because I know that the Tahos and shit that are newer, they don't have caps, they don't lid. Oh, this is just, so, yeah, so I'm like, so I'm thinking to myself, how do I respect the The integrity of not narking out the person, and still trying to inform them, yeah, so I wouldn't know, fuck no, I'm not, I'm, you know how to keep a secret? No, not at all.

Me too. Oh, you don't either. No, of course I do. So, we just released it on the show.

So I said, hey, how is it funny? So what? Shoving a sandwich into his guest tank. I don't know.

So I said, hey, do you guys, do you guys have plenty of gas? And Jack's like, yeah, we got a full tank. We got a full tank. We're good to go.

I'm like, are you sure? He's like, yeah. I said, okay. You might want to check.

You might want to go get some gas. Check before you turn the motor on. And he makes a comment. Well, what are we out again?

Would you steal my gas? I said, hey, look. In Del Toro, brother. So they left it alone.

They didn't check for gas until much later on, and I got a text the following day. Now they think you put it in. They did. Yeah.

They did. And it's, hey, you know, payback's a bitch. I'm an overnight air to you, blah, blah, blah. I said, dude, I had fucking nothing to do with this.

You know, keep me the fuck out of it. Because I'm going to tell you right now, if Eric launches a fucking missile and attacks the wrong country, the wrong country is going to come back at full force. Yeah, we're going to be like, what was that one recently? I don't know.

They went up against Russia. No, not Russia. Ukraine? Ukraine is getting the shit kicked out of them.

What are you talking about? In the beginning, they were coming back, baby. You remember the little ninjas and everything? A little bit in the beginning.

Farmers are towing the tanks away with their tractor. Yeah, yeah. Oh, we dig tractor. I'm a mushroom clown and fucking atom bombing motherfucker.

Oh, you're just going straight back. His booth would have burned down at the PCA. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry.

Did that happen? Oh, is there water damage? I'm sorry. You shouldn't have fucking blamed me.

You know, the Drew Estate booth is very well constructed. Bro, I showed up at the PCA and everything's gone. Oh, my God. Oh, what happened?

Should have asked Jack. That's so crazy. That's so crazy. I wish we knew who did that.

What else happened? We did other stuff. We'll find out. Well, we went more than to see Ozzy.

We went and saw Alan Schumer at Caribbean, obviously, from the Honduran shirts. Yes. Where else did we go? We went somewhere else.

Ozzy, what's our four snaps? I mean, I really feel like Alan's. Oh, we went and saw Aficionados. We did see Aficionados.

Aficionados. Yeah. I always enjoy stuff. I like him.

Gary's fantastic. I think Gary's a great guy. I feel like we're missing somebody. No, that was all four of them.

That was all four? Yeah, well, the one we're not mentioning, so. Oh, he already slid it in. Oh, did he even hear the name?

Oh, we did not go. We did not. I did not have sex with that man at that show. We'll talk about it later.

Okay. We'll talk about it later. I got, for football, Jax's team played fantastic. They did great.

Justice's team, man, all we did was throw pick sixes. My wife asked you at the party, so I sort of turned away and put my fingers. Yes, you did. I'm not allowed to hear this before the show.

It was, it was a rough go, you know, but it sounds like a lot of the kids are coming back for the next season, and I'm gonna tell you right now, we're close to just being, when we, when they click, they're gonna fucking dominate this league. It's gonna be ridiculous. But they're not clicking? No, it's just a confidence thing.

Oh! Quarterback holds, holds one second too long. Right. And, you know, I have a mix, I have two teams of six that rotate in and out.

So you have two or three really good catchers and then two or three that we're working on, right? So as time kind of progresses and we continue to build up and there's more comfortability with everybody and catching and throwing, you know, the whole thing, we're going to light up some motherfuckers. Oh, good for you. It's going to be good.

Light 'em up, light 'em up. I just can't lose my quarterback. If I lose my quarterback, I got to go back to square one again. Oh, that's the normality of football.

Yeah, no shit. Yeah, and a standard problem with most teams? They lose their quarterback? " Oh, you get more than everybody.

Two free donuts. Just tell them you're going to double it. I'm going to double your dum-dum consumption. Right.

Don't tell your parents. Is that your wife? It's time for her to call. No.

Oh, okay. No. So. Oh, we're early.

Wow, we're way early. We're way early. She already called. Right, that's what I mean.

We're starting early. We started early. So then we went to a Halloween party at Boots' house. Oh yeah, that's right.

We did do that. That was a very nice party. He does throw a good party. That one seemed a little different than the last couple.

There was more dancing and interaction with the people. Everybody wasn't just sitting around. I think it was a good mash of people. I think you had a good, you know, and a lot of people are kind of getting to know each other a little more at this point, different worlds kind of colliding.

I will tell you, it started off really fucking rough for me. It really did. It had nothing to do with the party. It just had to do with how all of it was rolling for me.

I went in, I was a little tired, and I just kept dealing with shit. There was something going on with the kids all the time. They needed something, and that wasn't a big deal. I could deal with that.

I was navigating that accordingly. And then Jax ripped his pants. So I went to go change, help him get clothes and stuff, And I saw that Brittany brought this bad-ass charcuterie board, which I think might be the last charcuterie board she ever makes, just for the record. Why is that?

I don't know. She may, you know, she felt like it wasn't the right thing. It wasn't, uh, people didn't eat it enough. Oh.

Man, I'll tell you this much. I'm feeling it today. You're feeling it? You know, I ate a lot of cheese off of that.

I think it was the placement. It was hard to get to. Maybe. Because I didn't take anything off of it because I couldn't reach past all the other delicious food.

I was afraid to take the meat off the skull because I didn't know if it would like all unravel. Yeah, it was a skull, one big block of cream cheese or something? No, no, it was a regular skull. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's a skull with the meat all wrapped on it. So, yeah. So, when I went to go and help Jack's with clothes, her bog bag was covered in like olive juice on the bottom.

Oh, boy. So I'm like, "Oh, fuck. " So, but I want to take care of it. I want to clean it.

Right. I'm, I'm hobbling around because I broke myself. I don't want to get into that too much, but I broke myself. Yes.

So I'm in pain and I'm starting to clean this stuff up. And my brother comes in and he says, hey, just so you know, and he sees that I'm dealing with shit. Right. That you're doing something.

Hey, just so you know, I gave out some of your cigars to people that were asking for cigars. Thank you. And I'm like, oh, he got very concerned about that, didn't he? Yeah.

Oh, wow. I was so fucking pissed. Well, he was guilty. He felt guilty.

Yeah, he was feeling guilty. I was so pissed because, you know, I don't mind sharing at all. I don't, especially the people that were at that party. You know, I love the majority of people that are there.

However, I had like specific, like two, two, two. The ones that you wanted to smoke. Yeah, I had extras of the stuff that I was going to smoke. But, and I could give those out and still cover the stuff that I wanted to smoke.

Right. Where he just kind of reaches in the bag and fucking passes shit out. And I'm dealing with fucking, I'm in the midst of chaos. The only thing I love and you gave it away.

It's like, hey, I know that you got your hands full and you're dealing with a bunch of bullshit. Just want you to know I'm passing your shit out since you're busy. That was a cup check. That was definitely a cup check.

Oh yeah, wait a minute. So that fucking makes me irate, right? I'm like, fuck, you know, so now I'm starting to get angry and now I'm still tired. And Brittany's looking at me, and she's like, you wanna go?

You wanna go? I'm like, no, no, we're gonna have a good time. We're gonna have a good time. So, I got some coffee, which helped, but things, other shit happened too.

My cigar disappeared, it rolled up, because where the table was at, the table's at an angle, it rolled into fucking juice shmegma on the floor, so that was ruined. You know, everything kept fucking hitting me, was continuing to slide, and I'm sorry. Murphy's Law. It was just a chain of events that kept happening to me.

Those days are rough. And I love my wife to death because she's the only one that reads me extremely well. And she's like, you want to go? We can leave.

Let's just get out of here. This isn't going the way you planned. And then I got kind of slighted. I was affected, too, by people.

A couple of people were upset with my costume. They felt like I slighted it, like it wasn't a good enough costume. Oh, you kind of cheated. Elvis made the comment.

Really? Yeah. Elvis and Priscilla. Yeah, well, you know, I'm like, what does Albany wear?

How could you compete though with the Elvis one? Like, I mean, he like, we wanted to be, we were married with children and Ricky kind of saved me at the end. He goes, oh, and he picked up on it right away. I hate it when people don't know what no ma'am is.

Oh, well, it's no ma'am. I didn't. He wore that. I don't know.

Well, then that's the outfit he wore when he wore the shirt. Yeah. Well, when he created the group. It was a movement against little wives.

Well, if your wife wasn't dressed as Peggy, I wouldn't have known what you were. That was me. That's when he first came in. That was very frustrating.

I was the same. You should have known. Maybe him not so much. Well, I got it when I saw your wife was Peggy, then I put two and two together.

But I mean, when you walk in, you're wearing tan pants and a white shirt from the back. I mean, that's what he wears. I know. Yeah, I didn't know if you're part of a cold or what was going on.

Yeah, did you just come from, you know, hanging out with the Winter Park people and you had to wear your khaki pants? So there was a lot of trigger points, but the coffee helped. There you go. And I just started to stand instead of sit.

I mean, I tried to go away from everybody, too. I said, I'm going to sit over here. And that didn't work because then Elvis took my spot after I took care of the kids. I was just fucking, there was just, everything was going wrong for me.

It was all wrong. And I was like, man, I was excited about coming to this. And now I want to kill everybody here. I love you.

I don't care if you smoke my cigar. And, you know, Teddy wanted me to push her on the swing, and I never, ever, ever want to tell my kids no, because I know that there's the window of doing that is so small. Right, yeah, yeah, it's gone before you know. So, hey, swing again, push me on the swing again.

So now I'm, I'm hobbling around, dying, and I got a request of three people wanting to push me on the swing. I'm pushing Maddox, I'm pushing. Ooh, this guy's a pusher. He's a pusher.

My eldest son is asking me to push him. There's a line there. Yo, you got legs, man, move them back and forth. Back and forth.

Give me a break, bro. You're 10. So, but I had a good time. I did.

I did. I rallied. Yes. I wouldn't let it keep me down.

God damn it. And your wife had a great time. She had a great time. Her and Megan had a good time.

You know, it's good when she's in good spirits and, you know, like, she lightens the whole mood. Yeah. You know. And Palmer had it.

Well, Palmer brings somebody to take that oomph. To take the edge off of me? Yeah, I just worked out, which is smart. Yeah, we just started talking to Megan again recently.

She's back in rotation. Yeah, she's back in her life again. She's back in rotation. Palmer, I saw him get up and dance though.

I danced with my wife, sure I did. And I did the hokey pokey, we all did the hokey pokey. Oh, the hokey pokey. The hokey pokey's nice.

Yeah, you turn yourself around. Right, that's what it's all about. You gotta put your whole self in. That's what it's all about.

Turn yourself around. Yeah, I can't believe Greg gave your fucking cigars out. Like, I'm just like baffled. You never ever reach into somebody's shit.

No, well, somebody mentioned something about wanting to smoke a cigar, but they didn't bring one or something. " Yeah. So then he picked it up in hand and did... Anybody could have got boots.

You have that cool door over there. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, you weren't there at the table. I get, I get all that.

Believe me, I know that you would have happily given anybody cigars, right? But I'm just talking about as like a cigar courtesy, like, bro, you don't just go in and like grab someone's shit. Not only that, but it made it worse because I was dealing with shit. Things had gone wrong.

It was a bad time. I can't wait to get back to that bag and smoke this one cigar. Right, nigga, turn it's gone. Yeah, I just want to, I want to sit down and chill a little bit.

Right. Oh, you're dealing, oh, you got some chaos going on? Just letting you know I'm fucking handing out all your shit. So, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Yeah. Yeah, I hope you have more in the car because it's the wrong time. I'm going to fucking kill this guy. Oh, that's classic.

It was a good weekend. I mean, it was a good weekend. Yeah. It was a good weekend.

I had a good time. I feel like I did more on the weekend, too. I don't remember anything else. Well, then you had Football Sunday.

Yeah, but... You did the podcast. Yeah, I did double podcasts. Back to back.

I'm just dominating the cigar industry. Yeah, just talking sports all over the place. Taking over. The Bills lost to the Pats.

Ooh, makes me so happy. Makes me happy. Then the Dolphins lost to the Eagles. Ooh, also makes me happy.

You know, it's funny. Different cigar shows do different sports. Yeah. Like, I love that.

Cigar's always baseball. Yeah. Baseball is... Matt Tobacco, Tobacco, whatever, Smoking Tobacco, whatever the name of that show is.

Yeah. They do hockey. Yeah. Because one of them is from Canada.

Baseball's not a real sport. Oh, baseball's less a sport than hockey? Yeah. Is that because there's less fighting?

Yeah, there's a whole... George Carle did a whole... There's a hierarchy of how it works? Yeah, baseball is America's pastime.

It's lame. Sorry. I'm sorry, baseball fans. It's lame.

I want to see contact. Sorry, Hector, Eric Espinosa, Jack Taranio, all the guys, you know... It's lame, man. All the guys we're gonna see in another week.

Richie, I didn't say it either. Hey, there's no clock, you know, huh? They have a clock. No, they don't.

They have a pitch clock. Baseball? Yeah. Do they really?

Yeah, you only get 20 seconds to pitch. Okay. But there's no time on the game. Yeah.

I mean, that technically is time on the game. We could go extra innings. We could go extra innings. You can have overtime in football.

Yeah, it's a clock. Yeah, but it's a clock. It's the same. It has a pitch clock.

It's not the same thing. Don't you fucking dare compare baseball to football. There's a clock to start the play, so that's like the pitch clock. Yeah.

Mm-mm. He's not going to, first of all, Palmer, who's nothing you're going to say, that's going to convince him. I'm not saying it's the same. You get a touchdown.

You run home. There's a big difference there. What? I don't see the difference.

Run home. You strike out. Carlin did a whole thing. No, don't find it.

No, we can't play it. We've got to pay money. You're bringing it in. You're coming in from third.

You're bringing it in the home, baby, and you're going back in the dugout. All right, we're at 16 minutes, actually, we're at 28 minutes, we're probably at a half hour, nobody sees you when they do that, welcome the Cigar Hustlers podcast feature. Why do you do something over it? Well, there's a video intro.

Whoa, hello peoples. All right. You can only see out of one of these eyes, though. In the 19th century, doctors used to prescribe cigars to treat various ailments, believing the smoke had healing properties.

Imagine a world where puffing on a cigar was a cure for everything from a cold to an STD. It turns out, putting, sitting around naked smoking cigars is good for my health. Let's all get naked again. He loves to get naked.

He does. He always wants to be naked. Around other men. Oh, he's supposed to be naked with men.

Thank you so much, Phil. That was fantastic. Yeah, no problem. No problem.

Apparently, Greg has been watching the show. Oh, yeah. " And I go, "Good. " He's got a PG text after he fucking listens to this one.

Hey. Yeah, he like texted me. " He's got a lot of free time. His wife's out of town.

Looking for things to watch. He said she normally picks the shows they watch, so maybe he doesn't know what to do. She's not home. Well, they have a Cigar Houses podcast.

I guess I could watch that. They've been doing it for over five years. I should watch three or four shows I could watch, I guess. I should watch a few episodes.

Catch up on what's going on in the industry that I'm in. They're never letting know what's going on. Unbelievable. All right.

Right to the news. You want to cover some newsies? From the four quarters of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon.

Premium Cigar Association drops media members dues. Dun, dun, dun. Premium Cigar Association has announced that it is ending its requirement for the members of the media to pay dues in order to gain access to the organization. That's smart.

Yes, it is a change that will go into effect in 2024. So you still have to pay money now. What are you talking about? The next event is?

In March. Yes. Well, March is when you can start, when you can sign up. We're practically in the end of the year.

Well, it's still two months, three months. Yeah. Dues for media members were most recently $450 per year. Media were considered industry partners, a category that also applied to cigar brokers, distributors, and suppliers, What are you doing?

Nothing. Don't touch my buttons. I'll do whatever I want to do. Members of the media will still be required to apply for a specialized media badge in order to attend the trade show, a process that will involve submitting previous articles, videos, and other work to verify that an individual or entity applying for a badge does indeed cover the cigar industry.

This refers back to the policy that the PCA had in the early 2010s. When the organization was known as the International Premium Cigar Pipe and Retailer Association. In terms of show floor access, the PCA has modified its policies to allow media on the floor at the same time as exhibitors, meaning those covering the show will no longer have to wait for the show's... He's doing stuff into the microphone again.

Yeah. No longer have to wait for the show's official start time to enter. Media badges will... Media badges will also grant access to the trade show's opening reception.

That's good. That's good. The PCA said that the change is being made in response to feedback from William Cooper regarding the price of membership and how the association handles media attendance in the trade show. It is our hope that this change will cut down on the number of emails from William Cooper using the media registration for the wrong reasons.

The PCA wrote in a press release adding that some exhibitors at the show had been providing media members with a badge that should have been meant for one of their staff or employees. Who's he talking about? We've got to do what we did here. What?

What? I think we applied for media and did something. Bam, you got to go to work. Bam!

Oh, you changed the whole thing. Yeah. Foundation begins shipping the Metatapa. Oh.

The Metatapa. Bam, you got to go to work. Well, he's not shipping things. I mean, that's what they need to do.

They need to get to work. David Laver needs to get to work. He needs to fucking start boxing up some of my shit. Yeah, like red meat.

Does he live in New Hampshire? He does live in New Hampshire. I think he's over in that area, yeah. Is he?

I doubt very seriously he goes over there and boxes stuff up. You don't think he's a boxer? I think they have people for that. You think so?

No, no, they're a small family company. Saka's wife. The one person? Right, because his son's no longer there.

It doesn't work for him anymore. It's true. He couldn't take the abuse. I get it.

It's garnished. Sucks. " I'm done. That big guy was very angry.

But our cigar company is now shipping Metatapa. It's a cigar line inspired by a famed Nicaraguan poet. Oh, yeah? Yes Metatapas blend is made up of Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper Covering a Connecticut Broadly binder and fillers Tobacco is grown on Nicaragua This is the first time Foundation has released a blend Using Ecuadorian Sumatra tobacco Oh Also of note there are two versions A Claro and a Maduro This is Sumatra?

I don't know It's the dark one That's what it said Oh okay That's what she said Oh that they're only shipping the one? This is the dark one Hmm Guess so The new line is named after the hometown of famed Nicaraguan poet, Rudo Dario. Although that town has since been renamed to Cluedad Dario, Dario was considered the founder of, ah, something, I don't know, some type of Spanish literary, literacy, literary, Spanish literary movement focused on poetry that also included the Cuban poet, Jose Martí. How high do you think Nick is when he decides these names?

I don't know. Want me to call him? No. Think he answers?

He's not going to know what he answers our calls, Michael. Foundation answers. He's going to read us a poem or something. Foundation.

He'll read us a poem. We ship this. All right, I won't call. Are you going to call or do I go to the next story?

Go to the next story. Go ahead. Luciano Cigars announces a new lounge program. Our favorite person.

Luciano Cigars has announced that it is a new lounge, which we'll see the company's branding added to brick and mortar retail lounges around the country, whether they want to or not. The program is called It's My Lounge Now. A nod to a cigar line the company sells by the same name. The tobacco company describes the program as taking over or sponsoring.

They also call it sponsoring. As the lounges are owned and operated by retailers, though branded with Dreamer name, the first of these lounges has recently opened Dreamer VIP lounge at Lit Cigar in St. Louis. While the second sponsored lounge will be an industrial cigar company in Frisco, Texas.

Beyond the branding, the lounge will also receive priority shipments of new products from the company. More involved opportunities are also available, which could include furniture or even assistance with a remodel, providing couches. Assistance? Wow.

That's nice. It could. Assistance. The Endeavor's...

But not guaranteed. No, no, it's not guaranteed. It's possible. It's possible.

They might buy a chair, maybe, or a small table. Give you credit? Yes. Credits.

The Endeavor symbolizes the incredible partnership between our families and the future we are building together, said Luciano Morales, founder of Luciano Morales. In a press release, as we venture into sponsoring lounges, our vision is to invite our clients to experience the artistry and complexity of our cigars, bringing these spaces to life through shared experiences. Nice. One of the aspects of being a sponsored lounge is that these stores could receive exclusive cigars.

Whoa, wow, my goodness. For example, Lit Cigar Lounge received an exclusive version of the Dreamer. I don't care what it is. We're truly honored to introduce the Dreamer VIP Lounge in conjunction with Luciano Cigars, said Brian Snyder, We're co-founder of Lit Cigars.

This exclusive space is a testament to our joint commitment to offering unparalleled premium cigar experiences, catering to those who appreciate the finer things in life, like charcuterie and wine. Lots of charcuterie. We are thankful for the relationship with Luciano and his family and could not have picked a better partner for this incredible space. It's a true privilege to join forces with Luciano Cigars in introducing the Dreamer Lounge, said Dave, Frank Mike's co-founder of Industrial Cigar Company, the collaboration that provides not only our deep connection with Luciano and his family, but also our commitment to creating something extraordinary for our industrial cigar community.

Bam. Pages have been messed up in... Oh my God. Who did that?

I don't know. Somebody went and traveled your pages? It's probably Erik Espinosa. It was Greg.

Oliva, Series V, Melanio, Figurano. Figurano. Oh, we have those. Do we?

Yeah. Oh, they are arriving in the stars. Oh, they were a lot faster than red meat. Oh, they were, yeah.

A lot faster. You got those before the story. Yeah, no kidding. Officially, it's called Oliva Ciri V Milano Edicion Anno 2023.

Oh, excellent. But it will likely be known as the Figurano. Do you have the Figurano? What's the difference between a Figurano and a Figurata?

A Figurano and a Figurano? Masculate? Oh, yeah, there you go. It's definitely a different shape.

Smaller, maybe a little more petite. Almost like a Robusto. Oh, it's a new to most Vitola of Olivia's popular Series V Millennial line. It's arriving at shelves around the world.

It's unique five and a half by 52 doubles. Wow, there are a lot of them are out of order. Oh my God. Oh, a lot of them are missing.

Oh, let me go to camera three. That way you can reorder. Hey, here we go. Hi.

I'm cigar hustling. Oh, they went to the back. Here we go. It's double printed.

It double printed. Only half of them, though. Okay, back on it. Yeah, it's weird.

Not all the pages were double printed. You're on here. Yeah. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust updating a Sober Mesa packaging.

Renames original line as Sober Mesa Solita. Bam! You gotta go to work. Oh, bam.

Yeah, bam, you gotta work. We're renaming everything. You may or may not receive it. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust's Sober Mesa line is getting a new packaging and a new name via a post on Facebook, Steve Saka, the company's founder.

announced that it will be known as the Sober Mesa Solita. Solita. Solita is a Spanish word for little sun, which Sokka said is appropriate to describing its sun-grown Habano Capa-grown in the valleys of Ecuador, which often have cloud cover, hence filtering the sun, which results in the exquisite texture and smooth flavors. Like, oh, no.

Oh, no. In announcing the change, Sokka wrote that describing the original Sober Mesa as the old one does not do justice to the Liga, Which has now remained strong in the market for eight years. So then he's doing, let's see, the Sober Mesa Robusto Largo becomes a Sober Mesa Solita Robusto. The Sober Mesa El American becomes a Sober Mesa, the Sober Mesa, Sober Mesa Solita Toro.

Says Sober Mesa twice. Sober Mesa Elegante. The cigar's so nice, we named it twice. Sober Mesa Elegante and Cedros becomes Sober Mesa Solita Churchill.

Sober Mesa Short Churchill becomes the Sober Mesa Solita Short. So they're just replacing Solita. Yeah, they're adding Solita to all the things. What does Solita mean?

A little son. Do you not pay attention to the show? Hi, welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast, hi.

I'm just asking. He can't see with the mask only one eye, so he can't hear either, apparently. You know what's funny is when I did the Down to Her podcast, Jerry would always say, I have one question. I got one question.

I got one question. I'm thinking, do you guys get together and you guys ask each other one question? He watches our show. They sit there and take notes.

I'll tell you the questions. Lightweight Heavy. Oh! Oh!

Newsflash! We're not covering that story, but we can now. Oh. Hey, you're on the podcast.

Finally! On the podcast. Lightweight Heavy. On the podcast.

It's taking us forever to get... Can you go to two? Because there's two more stuff, I think. Hey, this is some shit.

Yeah. So, are you calling to plug your new cigar? Yeah. The famous...

I was calling to talk business with husband, but I guess I'm on the podcast. Yeah. We call everybody during the podcast for the business, too. Yeah, we don't, yeah, we're not.

It's all good, man, it's all good. So you, you, you showed off this cigar in this fancy packaging, it's called, it says, it says lightweight, heavy on it. Is that correct? Yeah, you are correct.

" Is that what happened? So it was basically a pity party. Yeah, it was a pity party. It was a pity party, it was running pity for me to get a little shine, so when I went down to Nicaragua in '21, you all know when you go down to the factory, you do the tobacco school, right?

So Skip sat me down and he gave me like a 35 minute crash course in tobacco from his viewpoint. Right. And I've been making this very clear with people. There's a difference between somebody that blends a cigar and somebody that comes up with a recipe.

Yeah. I came up with my recipe. No, you're a master blender. Shut the fuck up right now.

He is now. I'm a master blender. You are a master blender. Welcome to the show.

Based on the good tobacco that is available at Nica Sweeneyo, and y'all know how that is. Yeah, yes. It actually was a good fucking cigar. Yeah.

And for the last couple years, Skip would make me a bundle, and I would smoke it and give it to a couple people here and there. Just a little something, just a little treat. All right, so where's it being released at? You were telling me that there's a specific store that's gonna get some of this cigar.

So, Brick and Mortar, Brick and Mortar will be in the box, Waldo. It's called the box, sir. I'm sorry, yeah, the box. The box.

Cut that out, cut that out. Nope, I'm not cutting it out. I'm too lazy, I don't like to edit. One shot, Willie's here.

Brick and Mortar, the Brick and Mortar retailer will be the box, Waldo. And the exclusive online retailer will be Cigar Hub. Oh, all right. Oh!

Holy moly. That's exciting. That's actually what I was calling you for. Really?

That's good news. You need the address. That makes me, that's fantastic. I love that.

You heard it here first, everybody. It's exclusive. You heard it here first. You're talking about, I'm talking to the number one cigar podcast in the land.

That's right. In the world. In the world. Don't slight us there, buddy.

So, in the world, so, you know, where else can you go and get hot information, like fresh off the press? Yeah. I mean, it's like, I'm playing, like people calling in to give you this information. That's it.

Where else can you go? Yeah. Cutting edge press releases only here at CigarHouse. Yeah.

Always relevant. I just want you to know, Coop, when he's listening to this, he just threw his fucking papers everywhere. He just threw his fucking clipboard through the window. Yeah, he's super angry right now.

Super angry. We gave him credit for the PCA thing, though. This is unbelievable. I can't fucking deal with this.

This is breaking news. Who are these people? This is CNN, Bernard Shaw, Rest Your Soul type shit. That's it.

That we're dealing with right now. Fantastic. Well, that's great news. I'm excited to smoke this.

I spoke this. It's awesome. It's really good. I bet.

Well, thank you so much. You made the first bundle in my lap last night. So yeah, man, I'm happy about it. I'm excited about it.

It's something fun to do. Yeah. And I'm grateful for the opportunity, bro. Thank you so much for doing that to us.

That's really, really awesome. No doubt. I mean, you know, between yourself and Raj, you guys have done a lot for me. Aw, that's very nice, man.

And by this being my project. That's Coop going on right now. Yeah, that's Coop right now. Well, I appreciate that, dude.

You know, you've always been a fucking great guy. You've always had our back. You've always supported Posagna when you were working at retail. And, you know, it's always been great having you at Roma because you're my guy, man.

You're my guy, man. Whenever some shit's going sideways and I need the end, you got me covered always, and I am very grateful for your friendship and all the things that you've done for us in the past and currently, so. As you say, the long way, bro. The long way.

The long way. The long way. The long way. Absolutely.

The long way. Literally, the long way. Well, thanks, bro. Yeah, man.

When you get done podcasting, give me a call. We got some particulars to work out. " Right, no, no, we gotta get you on the show. The universe is guiding you.

That's it, man. The universe puts you where you need to be when you need to be there. 100%. All you gotta do is not fuck it up.

Yep, you gotta show up and fucking deliver. That's right, that's right. Alright, man, I'll let you get back to it and we'll talk in a little bit. Alright, thanks, man.

Appreciate you, brother. Later. You got it. Lightweight, heavy.

Lightweight, heavy, exclusive. Oh, that's awesome. Only on Cigar Hustle. That's pretty badass right there.

It was. I better go get my checkbook. Yeah, he needs more money. I'm excited.

There's not going to be samples. You're going to be paying. He heard the deal you gave Viso Horny. He wants a little bit more.

I'd like to negotiate. I'd like to negotiate. I heard Viso Horny got a little bit more than I did. Well, I spoke to him earlier.

Yeah. You know, because some retailers just call me for Roma Craft Orders. Right. " You know?

So, that's cool to hear that, and that's fantastic. We should ask him the new guy's name, because we still get on that. Jason. Oh, Jason what?

Forhees. It's not Jason. It is Jason. I don't know the last name.

All right, I can figure it out from there. Yeah. Jason, that Roma. We have to get him on the, on the show.

Yeah? Sure, we have a new guy. You know, Boots and I were talking, you know who sort of disappeared? Who?

Frenchie. He's not on social media anymore. Yeah. Well, that company doesn't like social media.

You know what scares me is the Madden Curse, though. I feel like there's a Madden Curse in Roma now. Oh. French Cigar made, French Cigar gone.

Oh. Lightweight Heavy made, he's gotta break the curse. Viso's still here. He's not part of Roma.

He just hovers around Roma. He just hovers. Yeah, he's not, like, in it. So.

I don't want there to be, there can't be a Madden Curse. Everybody know those Madden Curses? whatever guy shows up on the cover of the video game yeah he winds up getting hurt or whatever yeah but i think lightweight heavy is different i think so too yeah i think so certainly hope so we are going to will it yeah yeah absolutely wow visa visa didn't do an exclusive cigar now i gotta do two press releases yeah he did oh did he we we sold it online oh yeah that's right yeah well it wasn't exclusive though it was so fast no because he did some by himself then it It was... Yeah, he sold a lot of them.

Yeah. He sold the majority of them. That's true. All right, the FDA sends proposed flavored cigar menthol cigarette bans to OMB.

Oh, yeah? What's OMB? YUMMB means YUMMB. Last Friday, FDA plans to ban the sale of flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes in USA took a notable step.

The US Food and Drug Administration formally submitted the proposed rules... You say OMB? Like letter OMB? OMB.

Yeah. Original menthol bans. Oh my me. I don't know what's going on there.

What page is this? I don't know. Camera three. I don't know.

Pedro, I just want you to know, this is going to be a special one. It's going to have Erik Espinosa afterwards, so we're going to be well over an hour. We'll just move to the Florida story. We don't care about the FDA.

Camera one. Florida cops went to a house to arrest a suspect. They saw a sign in the window. Oh yeah?

The Florida story. Oh, it's about Katie. Central Florida man wanted on numerous charges. Thought of a creative way he could evade arrest over the weekend.

No one's home. But he was unsuccessful. , deputies on a tip went to the Lakeland home of someone that had been seeking in connection with the series of alleged crimes. The 41-year-old suspect was wanted on charges including aggravated battery, false imprisonment, and tampering.

When they arrived outside the house about an hour south Orlando, they noticed a large whiteboard on the window ledge. " Wow. There you go. So you gotta keep looking somewhere else.

It should have been, we'll be back in five minutes. One of the worst things about being a cop is you always have to open, you always have to be open to the possibility that people are going to lie to you, said the law enforcement agency. Gee, a dry erase board never lied to us before, should we believe it? A witness leaving the home was asked about the suspect's whereabouts, and after being pressed, eventually gave up the goods.

All right, he's inside. Ah, he's inside. He surrounded the house and began calling out via a loudspeaker. This went on for about an hour with no response.

You're surrounded. You can't answer because you said you're not here. I'm not here. He's not in the house.

He's not here right now. He left already. The giant race board has said that he's not here. Okay, I'm here.

This went on for about an hour with no response. " Oh, smoke them out? It was dispensed and four people filed out. Was it menthol-based?

Because the FDA being... No, its flavor is grape. It's a great flavor. A second helping of noxious substance was sent in, but still no success.

He's old night. They gas-bombed him twice. Oh, that guy. Went to washcloth.

Oh, is that all you need? Oh, apparently there's a wedge of washcloth. I feel like, you know, he was 41. You know, 40's kind of the breaking point.

Things aren't going your way. You just kind of lose your mind. I get it, dude. I understand.

I'll write on the board and tell him I'm not here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't they see the fucking board outside?

I told you I'm not here. Eventually, with the help of a canine, the man was discovered hiding in a chest of drawers and arrested. In a chest of drawers? How do you hide in a chest of drawers?

Yo, that guy is the ultimate fucking hide-and-seek winner. Yeah, previously the hide-and-seek winner of 2021. Yeah, used to be the Sasquatches, now it's this man. The four folks who were cooperating with the investigation also got arrested and charged with resisting and an all-expense-paid trip to Grand Judd's Bed and Breakfast.

Grady Judd's. Oh, Grady Judds. Grady, that's the guy that says, that's the badass, yeah, come here, we tell them to shoot you first. Yeah, he's that guy, right.

Yeah. The nickname for the county lockup, the post included such commercial. He might be in those drawers, just start shooting the drawers. How do you hide in a chest of drawers?

I don't know. Well, if you open a little bit, there's a space behind. Oh, so all the drawers were slightly askew about like that far? So you know when they walked in the room, they were like...

The dog keeps looking at this dresser, but there's no fucking way he's in there. One of the guys at OCD starts shutting the drawers. Earl, Earl, your fucking dog is broken. I don't know what's going on here.

He keeps barking at this dresser. He must have left the drawers open when he grabbed all of his shit and ran out. All the clothes were all over the floor. Maybe that's what tipped him off.

I saw an episode of Cops where the mom was like, "Yeah, she's not here. " And then they went and said, "Well, do you care if we can look around? " They found her in the closet with clothes on top of her. I'm just thinking, probably not the best approach.

You're lucky your mom didn't get arrested as well. All right, exactly. All right, you got a Shop of the Week, Michael? Do I have a Shop of the Week?

Yes, we're at that portion of the show, Michael. I do. Oh. Fort Lauderdale Cigar Bar.

What is Fort Lauderdale Cigar Bar? Ozzy's Place. It's not what it's called. What's it called?

Tobacco. Downtown. That's Tabacón. You'll hear that on the Espinosa interview that we say it wrong.

Oh, yeah. No, it's called Downtown Cigar Bar. Downtown Cigar Bar. In Fort Lauderdale.

Yeah, well, I don't have the information yet. It's Downtown Cigar Bar. Do you ever listen to The Week, Michael? Yeah.

I don't think he listens if you're going to say his name. No. So, no, you don't have it? I do have a listen to The Week.

Oh, okay. Go ahead, go ahead. It's Greg. Oh!

Greg Stemmage, you're listener for The Week. Thank you so much for listening. If you show up for the show next week, you can get a prize. Five years of hard work, and you're finally paying attention.

Right. Good job. Good job, Greg. Thank you very much.

Wait, it's actually six years. Yeah, I think it's six years. It's six years. We're going on six years now.

We're number one because we're the second longest show that's been on here. Yeah. Relentless. You know, it's weird.

We're catching up in episodes. They must take a lot of time off. Yeah. Episodes don't go up as fast as ours do.

Yeah, you know, I thought that was weird too, because even with Bear, he was at episode 280-something. Oh, so we passed him. " Number one in the cigar world, number one in your hearts. He says that a lot.

Who does? Him. Him? And then he usually has a question.

I got a question. He wants us to take our shirts off. No, I do have a question about the first story you talked about. Oh yeah, which one?

That's so long ago, I don't remember. Is that the red meat lovers? No, no, no, that's the PCA we don't, the media thing. Yes, go ahead.

So you had to pay before? If you wanted to be a PCA member in your media, you had to join. In the same category as Groover. There have been struggles with PCA, you know, and there has been shunning in certain areas, especially in the media.

Now, in all fairness, I will defend the PCA here, because what happens is, you get a lot of these Instagram fuckers. Yeah, and they say that they're media. Oh, that's probably what they're saying, right? So, well, that's probably why they charge before.

Yeah, so when that line gets blurred, it's like, fuck, you know, you don't, there's a big difference between, you know, the actual media coverage and somebody just saying hey check out this cigar yeah right not saying that those people are bad but there are a lot of them i mean they come and they go they phase out a lot faster than so then what would happen like uh the one girl that covers uh fuente she would go she's coming in a different day she would go under fuente yeah she's right so that's what happened to a lot of those people yeah they were absorbed by companies Oh, okay. So they get them a pass. Yeah. Like, technically, we go on Postana, or Cigar Hustler, which I don't remember which one it is.

Poshik. Poshik. So next year, we will go on our own. Yeah.

You go rogue. Nice. Yep. You're covering your own airfare and your flights and a hotel room stay and all that.

Oh, I'll see beautiful videos. Congratulations. That's different than any other year. What?

Oh, not a hotel. Yeah. No, not anymore. You guys are media.

But that's free. That's free, though. Ask them to cover your hotel stay. You know, it'd be great if we got, you know, a little bed and breakfast action.

Yeah, it'd be nice. You would think maybe they would just because you want coverage. You know, if you work, you know what you could do if you worked it well? You guys could get into the meaty house.

Nah, I guess they gotta pay there too. They don't get it for free. They didn't have a lot of candy though. You guys can just lay in Coop's bed.

A lot of snacks. Yeah, there's a lot of snacks and candy. You know what? Coop would let us.

We would just have to pay our portion, but he would just up the house to another day. He's just up the house to another side's bed. Yeah. He goes to bed early though, right?

He does. He runs away, he just disappears. Well, he's out at midnight now, so I'm okay with that. Yeah, but I think Coop goes at like 10.

Erik Espinosa is not okay with that. No, you can't, well, he can't go home from his early killing. He was very mad. He kept asking me.

Yeah, I know. " I like that he was, you'll listen to the podcast, and he was, It was, oh, I knew exactly what you were doing, but I was like, you know, Erik didn't even have a fucking clue of what I did, I just fucking said, oh, no, no, no, just disappeared. Yeah, and he kept asking. Yeah, and then afterwards he figured it out.

Oh, yeah, you're a smart man, Erik Espinosa. Yeah. Anybody got anything else? I think that's it, I think that covers it.

Hopefully they find the thing. The what? Oh, they found the thing, I told you. Oh, they found it.

Yeah. What is going on? He doesn't listen to the show. He's not running the cameras, or listening to the show, I don't know, do we need him?

They're gonna find out. I don't think we do. Just let him go. He's gonna phase out.

He might disappear again. Put Brandon back up. Oh, that'd be so nice. So many camera angles.

Oh, yeah. Look at him, look at him. I love it. They're gonna find out on like the second or something.

Oh, who is responsible for that? Yeah. Maybe. Why are they going?

Uh, no, I don't want to give anything away. You're getting started, you're leading ahead here. Oh. Are you confessing?

What was it meant? It sounds like something he would do. Mm-hmm. No, that is childish.

I like to do, like, annoying sounds. A rubber penis on the window is okay? I'd put, yeah, I'd probably put a rubber penis on the window. Draws a line at wasted food.

Or the steering wheel? Hmm. Oh, so he can hold it in turn. You could go and see it on the camera.

He said, you would do it that way, you could drive like this, hold it on the wiener. Okay, we're done. All right. Alright, it's been episode 304 of Cigars Podcast, make sure you stick around for the Erika Spinoza special, we'll be on next, alright, bye, bye.

Alright, you wanna start this? I don't know. It's not my show, but I can start it. Hi, how are you?

I'm so, I'm just incredibly nervous. This is my first time. And so am I. But I really do like that name for a cigar.

- You want shitheads? - Shitheads, yeah. - The Powstanie shitheads, or the Eric Espinosa shitheads? - Whatever you want.

J. Fernandez. - There's a guy in, we make a, it's in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and their minor league baseball team are called the Tin Caps, because that's where, little did I know, Johnny Appleseed was from there, so the name of them, so I told them, let's make a house cigar, and call it the Potheads. - The Potheads?

Fort Wayne, Indiana, Rudy's? Rudy's, yeah. Yeah, it's the tin cap, so I gave them that idea. I don't know if they're going to go for it, but I mean, the pie heads, I like that.

You didn't make it for them? You gave them that idea two years ago. I gave them that idea. They're trying to make it for them.

So the logo is a tin on the guy's hat. Like a big pot. Like a big pot. Right, right.

Let's call it the pie heads. I know you got me, but apparently they didn't get it. They don't get it over there. That's sad, man.

I can't believe that they didn't go with that. You know, I'd wear smaller clothes than Jack, it'd be easier to take me on. There you go. Is the roadcaster available?

Who are we calling? None of your fucking business. Oh, sorry, I thought it was my show too. It's not.

Unpaired, tooked into somebody. You're on Justin Andrews? I'm connected. We're done with that guy.

He doesn't answer. Justin Andrews doesn't answer his phone ever. You call him during his one meeting a week. We tried on a Tuesday, it didn't work either.

No, you called me. Right. You're just calling somebody random? Yeah, you're just random, that's what we do, that's what we do, you might not make phony phone calls, you might not answer, don't, surprise, he's probably not gonna answer, nobody answers you, nobody answers, nobody wants to talk to me, we need to stop using your phone, only Jack, Billy, I'm in, who wants to be a millionaire, and I need your help over here, buddy.

Two? Yeah. There you go. I gotta be honest, you know what, I think that if I was dying, no one would fucking answer.

I would answer. I would answer. You know, you would answer. I would answer.

You know, like, you've always been like that for me, and I appreciate that. I answer when you call. But you're like three and a half hours away. Jack, you gotta talk into the microphone.

Who else is like that? Who else doesn't answer? Who else answers? You answer?

Jack. Oh, very sensitive. One ring, Jack we call him. That's what your phone's for.

So what do you got going on? Let's talk some cigars and some bullshit. La Zona Palooza's coming up. Calizona Palooza.

Oh, he's calling back. Red circle. He's calling back. Oh, a red circle.

It's a red circle. Oh, we know who it is. Hey, listen, you're on the podcast right now with Erik Espinosa, and we wanted to ask you a question. Yeah.

How do I get the potheads? What happened with the pothead cigar? Oh, man. How do we get the pothead cigar?

We're waiting on you. We're waiting on you. It's Joe, right? Yeah.

It's waiting on you to make a decision. This is Joe Pasquale of Rudy Cigars. Oh. Joe, we'll stop Eric.

What's up, Erik? How's it going, man? So, about two years ago, I told you about that, you know, when I threw out the first pitch, that it was a strike, by the way, I threw out the first pitch in the 10 caps. Right?

You're my proof, correct? It was a strike? Yes, it was a strike. All right, you were there.

And then you gave the smoker to the second game? I was going to deny that shit. So, you know, I was talking to Rudy, and since they're the 10 caps, and I came up with the idea to do the potheads. Do you remember that?

Yeah, what's going on with this? Yeah. I mean, it's a project we've had to work. So again, like when they, when the Tin Caps moved downtown, they used to call it the Fort Wayne Wizards.

They became the Tin Caps. People joked that it was this apple with a pot on its head. So they're like, okay, Fort Wayne's gonna be the Fort Wayne pothead. And it was a joke.

But then the Tin Caps became a beloved, beloved team. And we're right next to the stadium. We have a relationship with the baseball team. And so while we're sitting around smoking, Erik said, that's it.

We got to call the cigar the pothead. How would we not call it the pothead? And so that's how it kind of took off. Now I've had some experience working with the Espinosa crew in the past.

What are the hangups? Have you made a blend? Have you had any thoughts or anything like that? Are labels an issue?

What's going on here? Where are we at? We have a blend. " That's always Hector.

We actually just had an event with Tyler last night here at the shop, and people were asking, "Where's this Rudy cigar? " And HVC Tower, of course, like, I don't know. So we are going to do it. So just so you know, Eric, it is happening.

All right, cool. It's confirmed. They don't tell you anything, Eric. But Hector apparently is kind of dragging his heels on labels.

I'm not, uh, should we call him next? What do you want? Leave me alone. I didn't come for a reason.

All right, well, hey, well, that's good to know. I mean, now, now it's been announced on a national level, actually, worldwide level. Worldwide level, so. So, what's going on, dude?

Like, do you have dead hookers in the basement or something? Like Godzilla grabbed him. It sounded like a pickaxe against you. Yeah, it's like, "No, everything's fine.

Shut up! " He hasn't said a word in a few minutes. Yeah. All right, anything else, Joe?

Anything else to add? You want to, any, any compliment? Making a cigar with anybody else that's not happening? You got a plug right now, brother.

Take in a run with it. Let's go. Hey, no, just good business as usual here at Rudy's. We've had a lot of fun events.

We had a great train event with Eric earlier this year that I don't know if he talked about it already or not. I hear the train are coming. He's been singing all types of songs. I feel like he's losing his mind a little bit.

Dude, I gotta tell you a story about that. Joe, you got a second? No, I'm good. He's in retail, bro.

He's got time. We're doing this train. It was a badass event. They let us smoke in the train and all that.

Oh yeah, that was cool. And then one of the kids, I don't know, I've never been in the train. That's the first time actually in the train in my life. I've been on subways, but never an actual train.

They moved. So, you've been one that sits still, okay. " Billy Joel? " Doesn't Abe know Billy Joel?

Well, I met him one time. Yeah, he goes to smoke in. He gave me a hug one day. Did you give him a hug?

He was... Like a John Travolta hug? No, no, no. Two hands.

This is... I just want to know. I'm in South Beach. Okay.

And I... Like around 9:30 in the morning, I go see a cigar shop, Deco Drive Cigars, a good friend of mine's, and I walk in, and he hadn't even opened yet, it was at 10 o'clock. So he opens the door for me, he goes to the back, whatever, the gentleman walks in, and this guy reeked like alcohol. Yeah.

I mean, just coming out of his veins. Gives me a hug and, um, hey, what's up, buddy? And he looked familiar. I just, I didn't know who he was.

Right. And, um, but he's a drunk hugger. The guy comes by from the back, Joe, who owns the shop and say, Billy, I still don't know who he is. Talks to the guy, whatever.

His girlfriend wants to take a picture with him. They take a picture and stuff like that. And as soon as they take the picture, his girlfriend said, that guy reeked like a motherfucker. And then I tell, uh, and I tell the owner, I said, Joey, who was that?

He was Billy Joe. Right. Apparently he has a drinking problem. He gave me a hug.

Yeah, he thought you were me, bro. You know, he comes in like that, banged up all the time. He bought a box of 6-1 Toro Maduro's. No, it wasn't that.

You have a history. You have a history of not recognizing celebrities. Dr. J one is...

I'm not starstruck, bro. I like this. I like the Mike and Mike show and Phil McGroin over there. Bill McGroy, Bill McGroy, that's a new name.

Hey Rudy, before I cut you off, do you want to plug your website or anything like that, you know, where you get your images or just let me know. Come on, let's plug it. com, we steal most of our images from Hustler. Perfect.

And, you know, we got to get this stuff out in the interwebs, but yeah, I mean, all the greater Spinoza and Pistania and other random ass shit's always out there. And I look for, I look for train events next year where I get Eric on another 2-2 train at some point and if we ever see Mike up here in the Midwest, we'll throw him on a train too. I love trains. Come on, right.

All right, one more time with the website. Go ahead. com. For all your cigars, you could probably also buy in Hustler, but we carry shit.

There you go. Attaboy. All right, brother. Well, thanks so much for taking my call and call me back.

No problem, dude. If I have a dead hooker in the trunk, I may call you. All right? Is Justin there by chance?

Can you put Justin on the phone? Is Justin Andrews there? Is that Andrews there? Andrews there?

No, it's me and my dad and a bunch of guys. I'm actually watching Tropic Thunder right now at the shop. Oh, nice. A movie that couldn't be released today.

Everybody knows you never go for a return. Exactly. Exactly. You just got through one of the simple jacks.

So I thought it was a flow day at the shop. You mama make me happy. All right, brother. Thanks, man.

Appreciate you. Be good, dude. All right, later. You know, let me tell you a funny story about Eric throwing out the first pitch.

Yeah, we were banking on Erik throwing the ball. Yeah, poorly. So we had Tyler Jones videotaping this. Oh, for it to go wrong.

For it to go wrong. And I said, if the throw goes wrong, I need you before Erik gets to you to forward me that. You gotta send it down. Because Erik's gonna have you delete it, bro.

And Tyler sends me a message, he threw a fucking strike. I did. I played ball all my life. I still play softball at my age.

Yeah. What's that look like? Well, I carry a bottle of beliefs. I'm not gonna lie to you.

Listen, everyone, these aspirins or whatever, reacts to people differently. I swear on my life and I will swear on whatever. I take a cup of beliefs. It's a muscle relaxer.

And I don't feel anything. I run just as fast as I did maybe 20 years ago. Yeah. In your mind.

Well, it could be in my mind. But I'm telling you, nothing hurts now. Now, come seven, eight o'clock at night, 'cause I play in the morning, everything hurts. I'm not gonna lie to you.

You got a cold plunge or an ice bath at home? What do you got? It's that ice, I bought one of those saunas that's only ice, that you throw the ice on it. Yeah.

What's that called? Saunas that's only ice? It's a cold plunge. It's a cold plunge.

Is that what it's called? Yeah, I got one of those. You get in the water? Get in the water.

All the way down? I get shrinkage all the time. It doesn't matter anymore. I've had shrinkage since day one, so what's the difference?

No, I mean, I'm a big believer in that sort of thing. Shrinkage? Yeah, I love it. He loves shrinkage, he's a big fan.

And I still play softball, but I did warm up. You know, we didn't have no gloves or anything, so we got a baseball, and I just started throwing to Tyler. I played ball, and so did Tyler. Tyler got a pretty good arm.

He's throwing to Tyler. So I was warming up at the shop. The shop is right next to the park. the park you know he's gonna walk Tyler said he was throwing your hardest shit at me but no gloves I used to pitch in high school I mean you know I haven't done that in a while but ever since I got operated from rotator cuff whatever and and you know if you think the same for one second that Eric is gonna go and fucking lob the ball to anybody out of your fucking mind yeah no seriously no not only that he's like he got out of the way of it's like you it's like you have a friend of yours that I have an issue with this because you know Last time I was here, we had the event, we had a cornhole event, and guess who won?

Who won? Eric won. Yeah, so the guy, I'm not going to mention his name, Phil, and you're not going to take the prize. " So he's got a participation smoker, is that fair to call him a participation smoker?

So people go over his house and say, "Where'd you get this? " No, you didn't. So anybody who goes to Phil's house and he ever turned out a smoker, that was a participation smoker. Any comments on your participation smoker?

You know, it was a cloudy day, I don't know. Is it a cloudy day? I don't know if that's how that worked out. Maybe, yeah, I think maybe it worked out like that.

But hey, I have the smoker. So let me tell you that story. I don't know if you remember it, but... " Who told you to lose?

Greg? Sounds like Greg would tell you. Somebody told him. Yeah, I wouldn't tell you.

Yeah, don't win. And then they asked me. I'm like, kick his ass. The finals would have been me and Eric.

They asked me. And the third place would have gotten the first. Wow, wow, wow. And then that would have been the third place.

I said, I'm not fucking losing, bro. I'm not gonna do anything to lose. I don't do nothing to lose. I'm not playing.

And then, um, I forgot who I talked to. I believe Eric's words were, you're a pussy if you lose. I told him that. I said, fuck no.

You represent my company. Don't fucking lose, bro. You're not fucking losers. You are a cornhole fucking champion, goddammit.

And I don't want to hear anything about losing. If you can dodge the wrenches. I mean, I've heard some stories about dominoes where people aren't purposely setting you up. And even though you win, you're pissed off about this sort of thing.

Yeah. Right? Dude, you gotta win. Listen, your personality is a little bit similar to mine's.

I can tell you don't like to lose in nothing that you do. No, I don't like to. I mean, would you take home a participation trophy? Fuck no.

Neither would I. I don't care if my kids, one year, two year, three years, fuck you, you're leaving that. Listen, I'll tell you the story, and I know people listening. So, we're doing a cook-off, a big cook-off, with Cigar Snob, okay, the magazine.

There's five companies. J. J. Fernandez, you had Oliva, you had Fuente, and Villiger, and ourselves, so a good friend of mine, that's what he does, and he's great at it, so I took him with it, but he's a big cigar smoker, so you brought an ace, I brought an ace, sure, a ringer, so I'll tell you the whole full story, so we're cooking, and around, everybody who walked in there gets a wooden chip, and everybody had a It was a big piggy bank.

So, it was a pig. So, it was a wooden pig. Actually, it was ceramic or whatever. So, after you tried it, you got to put the chip inside the piggy bank that you like.

So, they're announcing the winners. So, the guy who's cooking is like an ex-body builder, big dude. " So, I told him, "Look, get behind every piggy bank. " Whichever weighs the most.

We switch it. We switch it. Yeah. A ringer and a cheat.

So, we weighed out. Dude, it was not even close. We had about 80% of all the chips in ours. So, they're announcing it.

The winner of the Pig Rose Cook-Off, Espinosa Cigars. We'll get up there, and we had the little trophy, a little bit smaller than your beer can there. It was great. It was happy, no big deal.

So then they make an announcement. J. Fernandez, which is my dentist that was cooking it. J.

Fernandez. , none of his reps. Just a dentist. Just a dentist.

Bobby Singer. Who's my dentist? So they give him this big-ass trophy the size of Jack. So now I'm pissed.

I'm fuming. I would be too. What the fuck, there's 300 people, what makes three people better than 300 people? And one of the judges was the guy who makes the Cuban box, I mean the Chinese box where you roast a pig in.

And I didn't use that, so you know that fucker ain't gonna vote for me. Rahachina, Rahachina, Rahachina, we have one, thank you. I really was pissed about it, I don't even know what happened to the trophy, I definitely wasn't gonna take it home, even though it was first place, I didn't give a shit, I didn't want that trophy, I don't know who took the trophy. So, every time I go clean my teeth, the fucker puts the trophy in the seat.

" That's nice. Because he knows I was pissed about it. So, I got a phone call from Eric Convino. That sounds like my kind of dentist.

Eric Convino, who, by the way, is a real good friend of mine. He's a real classy guy. " I don't give a fuck if it was a charity thing, dude. I mean, what, you need a donation?

You want a thousand dollars? I don't care, but I ain't losing. And then, the next year, we get Cigar of the Year. The Cigar of the Year.

Now I'm not telling you. From Cigar Smoke. From Cigar Smoke. I'm not telling you that I had anything to do.

They're making up Derek, he's really mad. Nah, I'm just busting his balls, bro. It was a fun time, but I refuse to take a participation, like your employees. I don't know what you're building here.

A rat ship for minnows. What's the scent of a woman, was it? Wow, he's just a customer. He's not an employee.

I don't know what you're building here, bro, but there ain't no fucking way I'm gonna have a smoke in my house that I came in. He's a second and possibly a third place smoker. So we're here to pick up the smoker. Listen.

So you need to bring it up here. So you brought a bigger car. It's in my house. It's in my house.

If you want it, you can have it. Wow. That's yours, buddy. You can keep it.

Oh, thank you. Okay. So what's going on with Lozona Palooza? What are we doing?

All right. So it's, yeah, November 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. And I'm having a lot of issues with it because we can't find a venue. And basically what this is, it's just us giving back to our consumers and, you know, some of our retailers, and the only retailers that we invite are people whom we make house brands for, like you said.

And you guys. And then us. And then us. So Rudy's will be there?

Will Rudy's be there, or they won't be there? We haven't made the pothead here. It's in works, so it doesn't work. By the way, I got a pothead right next to me right there.

Yeah, exactly. There you go. It's ashtray. Yeah, and then it's hard to find a venue.

You guys know, being in the cigar industry, you know, you can't, so I got to do it in the warehouse, and we're getting bigger and bigger, and I've outgrown that place, and we had to AC the room, the back, there was no AC before, but, you know, in order for us to maintain our cigars, we had to AC it and put the humidification system in the back, so we've been looking for a place, and there's nowhere, and then the problem is, if you go outside, it's still rainy season, and, you know, there's just no venue to be able to do it, so we got to go back to the warehouse. And I think we've got like 200 people coming this trip. And, you know, it's always a pain in the ass. But it's good, man, because, you know, you always got to give back to the people.

I'm a very loyal guy. I'm a very loyal human being. And you give back to the people who help you get to where you're at. You know what I mean?

And it's sort of like we're trying to build this. You can call it a cult. You can call it whatever the hell you want to call it. " And that's how we build our business.

Look, we build our business through social media. No different than what you've done with yours. And you get to reach so many more people than anything else. That's my opinion.

So, you get a lot of loyal people that go out there, and it's just a blast. I've never had any incidents there other than you leaving early last year. Listen, man, I'm surgical. And by the way, and you left early in Vegas in the room, don't think that I don't know.

Yeah, hey, look, when I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. I don't think for one second that I did not know that, but I just wanted to share that with you. Oh, it took you a minute to figure it out. No, it didn't take me a minute.

I hadn't seen you since then. Where is it? I saw you slip away, but it was hot as balls there, dude. I wanted to leave myself.

Okay, wait, wait, let me be perfectly clear, and I'm going to say this because I have no fucking issue saying it. Number one, what you did was awesome. When you held court and people were telling stories and shit like that, when it turns around midnight, I'm going out the door, I'm done, because I got to get up and I got to do all this shit, right? You left with Mickey Pegg out of the room.

As soon as Mickey Pegg got up and started to tell his stories, I'm like, that's it, I'm fucking out. I am out, I am done. I'll listen to Sokka, I'll listen to Skip, I'll listen to you, I ain't listening to Mickey Pegg. Mickey cleared the room.

Look at that time. There's nobody here anymore. Where'd everybody go? Where'd everybody go?

Where'd everybody go? He was up here last night, actually. Really? Yeah.

Was he really? Yeah. He stopped in on his way to the airport. Yeah.

Popped in. He called it a meet and greet. He's a good dude. He is a good dude.

You know why I did that, man? Because, look, I really get along with mostly everybody in the industry. And I try. I really do.

I try. And we're all here for the same thing. I don't look at anybody as competition. I really, really don't.

There's enough room for everybody. Sure. And I take care of my friends. I would never, I don't do it to anybody, I would never walk in the humidor and tell them, hey, put my stuff here or whatever, you know, I give a suggestion, I say, listen, you mind moving it somewhere?

But I would never say, hey, take this off and put mines here or whatever. I don't do things like that. And I expect the same from everybody else. And when you get along with people, I just feel they're going to reciprocate and do the same thing.

I was shoveling your shit out of tobacco con when I was there in Miami. So the truth to me, the more people you get along, I just feel that people would do the same, and look bro, my dick and my ass touches all my competitions in every humidor. People have issues, I don't, I don't have issues with that. I try to support all my friends, because they have a family, you have kids, you have a family, you gotta survive and support them.

them and and do whatever you got to do and i i try to help out you know everybody who i can and that's the reason why i did that i wanted everybody there to you know just to bust balls and but i tell you what i i don't think i can hear that uh skip mar and ashtray story one more time i've heard it so many times it's a great story it is a great story but uh you know like i think i'm going on 17th yeah we'll mix it up yeah i mean there's other stories i'm sure we're not If you're not going to be there this year, I don't know about... You're not going to PCA? I am, but we're not at... We're going to be at the Palazzo.

I don't think we're going to be at the Palazzo, I don't know. So who gives a fuck, you can just... I would have to rent, I would see if they have a suite that you can smoke outside at the other one, but definitely, if they have it, I'll definitely get it. I'll pay for it and get it and just...

I mean, dude, I thought that... As long as you don't leave before midnight. I'm out at midnight. Alright.

I'm out at midnight. I love you, but I'm not in love with you, and I'm fucking done. I'm going to tell you right now. And now, after midnight, we're gonna let it all hang out.

That's fine. You go let it, and someone will send videos. Red circle. Oh, he's calling back here.

Yeah. I'm a popular guy. No, it's a different guy. Oh.

Everybody's red circle? Yeah, so I take all my retailers on my phone and I mark them with the red so that I make sure that I engage all of them. I don't miss anybody. You calling somebody else now?

No, someone's calling me. You want me to take it? Sam. Sam from Finash.

Yeah, fuck yeah. He's got the shirt on. Hold on, hold on. I got a shirt on.

He got the shirt on. He does have the shirt on. Oh, that's right. Hey, you're on the podcast.

Uh-oh. You got Eric Espinosa and Jack Taranio in the house, and he, and Eric is wearing the Fine-Ass Cigars shirt. My man. For a Cigar Hustler event.

Sam knows I don't give a shit. What's up, buddy? What's up, guys? Not much, hey.

While I was calling, it's probably not appropriate on the podcast. Don't say it. Don't say it. Listen, if I didn't make the cigar, I don't say it.

I know they were tunneling. Yeah, that's what those Mastanias were tunneling. Listen, I know. I've had them before.

Yeah, they're fucked up. I'm just joking, bro. We'll send you a call tag. Well, I can change the conversation, bro.

How are your 49ers doing, buddy? Hey, baby. We're looking good. Not last week.

We had a little let down last weekend, but it's all right. By the way, Sam will be at the Lozola Palooza. He will? Yeah.

Yeah, they were there last year. They're bringing Tyler Jeffries. I love Sam. Yeah.

I love the Lopez family. You guys can hash out whatever you wanted to ask him at the Lozola Palooza. We can handle it then. I'll call him afterwards.

Hey, all these things are fucking broken. Those products suck. I don't know. Hey, this is, I don't know, this might be breaking news, we might, it might behoove me to go ahead and talk about it right now.

Let's do it. Oh, go ahead then. Oh. I'm just fucking, just fucking with you.

Go ahead, man, have you got to, you know, if not, I'll call you back. As long as there's nothing bad, bro, go ahead. About us. We can talk later.

I feel like there's something, there's something going, there's something good going, there's something good going, there's something good to say. He doesn't want to put you, you know. He won the lottery. All right.

I won the lottery a long time ago, and I didn't have to work a real fucking job anymore. There you go. You enrolled, you won the lottery when you met me, buddy. All right, well, hey, I guess I'll give you a buzz back.

I'm dying to know what the fuck. Me too. Me too. Okay, we're off the air.

Go ahead. Actually, you know what? I think I know this. Yeah.

I think I know that's all right. So we'll talk, we'll talk. Fuck that guy, bro. I got you, bro.

Hey, so, so what are we talking about, uh, Zona Palooza, y'all, everybody, everybody that's, uh, listening right now going, we got a lot of, we got a big party going on, or what? There's gonna be over 200 people, it's gonna be, uh, at maximum capacity, there's no AC, and, uh... Yeah, come, come in shorts, bring your own water, and, uh, those little, those little bottles of blattens that you bring all the time, bring a lot of them. So there you go.

All right. And that's it. I got a horror story to tell you later on, Sam. It has to do with bourbon.

I can say it right now. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right, so Sam, listen, I'm in Kentucky, right?

And I do an event at a place, and it's called the Party Source. Every year I do an event there, and they always get me a special bottle of bourbon. And they were generous this year and I was able to buy, you know, three bottles, they sell it to me, they don't give it to me, but they sell it to me at the right price. They set it aside for you.

They set it aside for me. And it was a bottle of Pappy, the other one was an Elmer T. Lee, and the other one was a Weller, I don't remember which one it was, but it was hard to get Weller, so I bought them. And then I tell, I'm not gonna say who I told, but I told somebody to double box it, wrap it, all this.

dude so this was two weeks ago richie a week goes by and i call the guy and i ask him and i ask him dude where did you send it out he said yeah you should have had it already can you send me the tracking number well anyway to make a long story short the bottle was broke all right it was like it was leaking all over everything but it was like five thousand dollars in the gray market uh of bourbon so and the post office discarded the box Yeah, it was a bottle that I was going to open, all three of them in the Zona Palooza, for R U guys, yeah, fuck you too, Thomas. Fuck you, Thomas. How are you going to open shit? But anyway.

But anyway, dude, that's a sad story. I've been bothered by it the whole time, but it is what it is. And it's your fault, Sam. Nothing.

He's not even listening. He's not even listening. Did you hear me, Sam? Houston.

Houston, yeah. " So what do you gotta say about that? I was just my fault now. I wasn't the one asking my fault.

Yeah, he said you did it. He said you were responsible. Anyway, so listen, the moral of the story is, if you have a bottle of Papi Van Winkle or Wellers and Amartilli, let me know. Don't let Richie pack it?

It wasn't Rich. It wasn't Richie. But anyway, Sam, thank you, but Richie's still with us, somebody's no longer with us. Oh, Alfredo, it is Alfredo.

All right, brother, I'll let you go, man. You got it. Later. Hey, Sam, I'll talk to you later, buddy.

All right, bro. Take care. All right, man, I'll talk to you. Bye, guys.

All right, bye. There you go. And there you go. See?

Good people. Yeah, I like to work with the good ones. Yeah. The other ones go fuck themselves.

I had a crazy, I mean, I'll tell you what, man, South Florida, whew, I mean, you called that shit, my goodness, I got a little bit of sandbag action, well, that's Patreon content, though, I'll have to hold that for later. So, Lozona Palooza, we got an event upstairs about smashing pumpkins, we got some cool giveaways, Guy Fieri's upstairs right now cooking, and it's pretty amazing, we were gonna have him on the podcast, but fuck that. He's busy, he's gotta, yeah. We'll get him on one day.

Yeah. I mean, what are you talking about? He was in the area, he never came by, he was cooking something at some of the- That's because we didn't know. That's because I didn't know he was in there either.

Yeah. Listen, we got this issue all over the country. People get upset at us. I don't really get upset.

No, I know. It's not really our fault. And I was telling Jack the story. And I'll say it here because I really don't give a fuck.

But there's these guys that own some shops in a state. And I promised them if he's ever in that state, I would take Guy Fieri. So he happens to be, and by the way, we get this like a week before he's there, okay? We have no time to promote or whatever, and he wants to do an event, and either Jack Fly's out there, my son, myself, or whatever.

So we set it up, I mean, you only have like a week to promote it, but they're always bang, there are always a lot of people there, so. Right. He happened to be in a state, and not in the same state. It was the neighbor state, and we did the event at a shop that warrants it, a shop that we do a lot of business with.

We did the event, and then the other people called and said, you know, they were gonna throw our cigars out of their stores because, you know... No matter what we said, I said... You're not in our state, dude. He said, Erik promised an event if he was in our state.

He's not in your state. He's 40 minutes away, but he's not in your state. And by the way, 40 minutes away, for us is nothing, but for him it's huge. Remember, he's filming Diners Driving and Dice.

But the moral of our story is that... It's not us, guys. We gotta go where he goes. Yeah.

So, the first event... Well, I'm still angry. It's nice that you get access to his schedule. Oh, yes, but we get it.

Listen, he's got carte blanche for diner's drive. He can film wherever he wants. So, depending on where he hasn't been in a while. So, we launched the Knuckle Sandwich Cigars in Puerto Rico.

" That's where he was gonna be. Right. Right. I didn't choose Puerto Rico.

That's just the way it is. Right. You know, and we got to do whatever, look, the guy, he owns a hundred restaurants, he's on TV, says we've been here on the show for what, 30 minutes? He's been on TV maybe 30 times already.

Listen, we found out yesterday, he wants to do an event in Boulder, Colorado on Halloween. Yeah. I am now flying to Boulder, Colorado, Halloween morning, to do that event with Guy, to get on the Red Eye, to come back for Lozano Palooza. As you fucking should.

Absolutely. Listen, I know you're saying that, joking around, but here's the thing, you got a guy who's got a lot of enthusiasm, you understand, and he helps the whole industry, in my personal opinion. You know, a guy like that, you know, he's always got a cigar. Every show he does, he's got a cigar in his mouth.

Every event he goes to, he's always with a cigar. And, you know, he's just gonna help the industry. So, I'm not gonna take away that enthusiasm that he has. So, no matter when he tells me, if he tells me tomorrow he's gonna be in Utah, is there a shop in Utah, I'll call the shop in Utah.

And I'll take the next flight down there, because he wants to do this, and no celebrity has ever done that, that's why this one has worked, and I'm not going to take that away from him, so. You call the polygamist in Utah? Now I can't go trick or treating. Yeah.

That's, I'll send you a candy bar. Do you have like some kind of chicken guy card that you can just buy food anywhere you want with him, or, I mean, like, how tight are you? You know what I mean? Not that tight.

Not that tight? But that's not my style, though. I don't walk in any style. That's not my style.

That's not my style, like, you have a big humidor, I would never walk in a humidor and get a cigar and expect you to give it to me, I will pay for it, and if you don't charge me, then I won't take it, because this is a business, and those restaurants are his. " Yeah, so, can we charge you a double? So, is that cash or card? Yeah, I stole a cigar last week.

What? You stole a cigar last week. I did steal a cigar. I stole a cigar at Allen's.

From Allen's. Caribbean's. It was my own shit, too. I felt so bad.

Not on purpose? No. He had a Perfecto Warberry. He had one sitting in the box.

I'm like, holy shit. I'm like, I'll buy that. I put it in my backpack. Because we all sat down to bullshit.

And then afterward, we fucking left. I was like, oh my God. So I called him instantly. He's like, hey, I fucking, you know, I don't know, charged the card or some shit.

But like, I left with that cigar. Here's the question. Did he charge your card? No.

Yeah, don't worry about it. He made the video up like he does everybody who sees it. Yeah, he said, "You're going to Facebook. " That's just my style.

It's a business. You know what I mean? You pay for my cigars, right? Why the hell am I going to pay for yours?

Even though you've never given me a cigar, but that's okay. We'll keep the streak alive. I don't want to spoil you, bro. We'll keep the streak alive.

But that's just my style. I would never ask him. But I do get a lot of perks. I tell you, you know, the perks I get is the people I've met, you know, through-- The bottles are happy.

They get smashed. They get smashed. The people I've met through him and, I mean, you know, and when you're around him, you know, the people that you meet, just the contacts. Right.

I mean, it's outrageous. You know, it really, really is. And the amount of money that, like, the Food Network has. I'll tell you what happened one time.

I'm in Puerto Rico, that same trip. And we landed and I go to film a couple of the shows he's filming. And then I go back to the hotel, I'm tired of it, and he goes, all right, no, I'll see you there. So I get to the hotel, and I give it a reservation, and I pay for my own room, then I pay for anything, but my reservation's under theirs.

" Now this was like $900 a night. We're staying at the Vanderbilt or something like that, the best hotel in Puerto Rico. And I'm not spending $900 for a hotel room, but I'm with him for one night. I mean, I got to stay where he stays, whatever.

So the guy says, dude, I cannot find your reservation. So I call his secretary, and I told him to put him on the phone, and I put the guy, I put her on the phone, and he go, oh, I'm sorry. And he hangs up, he goes, Mr. Espinosa, I'm so sorry.

He goes, what happens is that we checked you in the day before. So we check you in the day before for you not to have to wait, depending if he wants to go back to the hotel, whatever. So those rooms have been checked in already, like the day before. You know, I don't have that status to do that, you know.

So now I don't know if they pay for the, I'm sure they probably do. But, you know, 10 rooms at $900 is nine dimes, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, or one roll at the craps table. Or one room for me.

All I need is one hot shoe. I need one hot shoe. You say that playing around, this guy, I don't remember his name, But you know who he is, and I don't remember his name, 'cause he wanted to be in the cigar business, and he wanted me to make him a cigar, and I told him no, and I said, "Listen, I'm telling you no because I like you. " And there's a lot of people out there, and I'm sure, you know, look, you have an outlet, you have your shop, okay?

And then you know how tough it is. Listen, you know, I've always been a fan of Skip cigars, and I'm not saying that because you guys are here, but it's the truth, and I've always told them. And I'm a fan of a lot of people's cigars, but Skip or whoever makes you a cigar can make you the best cigar in the world, and does it really fucking matter? Nope.

It doesn't matter, because if you don't have the relationships to put them in the stores, then you're not, and I tell everybody, listen, okay, you're going to sell it to the store you hang out, then what? Right. Then where are you going to store the cigars? Right.

Who's going to sell it for them? Right. So I go, look, how much you have to spend? You know, and the guy was telling me, oh, I got, you know, 20 grand.

And I, you know, I don't want to disrespect the person, but I thought this would you do. You go to Vegas, you put it red or black. Hopefully you win. Now you got 40.

Do it again. You got 80. Do it again. Now you got 160.

Do it again. You got 340. I go, do it two more times. And when you pass that million, come and I'll make you a cigar.

You're going to lose it. You ain't going to get nothing back from it, but you're going to do it. That's what the cigar business is. I mean, I don't need to tell nobody that.

It takes a long time before you make money. It's knocking on so many doors and, you know, and I mean, no disrespect to you, but I promise you that, you know, you make a hell of a lot more money what you do in sales here in the shop than you do with your own brand until you get it to another, you know, to another level. Yeah. And the truth is dealing with a lot of retailers, you know, I'm not knocking them, but, you know, some people pay on time and some don't, you know.

Yeah, it's true. It's the truth. That's true. And even though you have wonderful people out there, you do, but it's a struggle.

They're really, really just struggle, and you do an event with them, look, like what you did, what did you do last week? You were in Miami, right? Yeah. So you got to sell cigars to, what am I doing here today?

I'm doing an event for you, right? And I mean, no disrespect to you, but I sell you the product, and then I got to come sell it, you know, out of your shop. Right, sell it for them. You're right.

I mean, you sell a product to Walmart, they don't give a fuck. Hey, you know, they're selling it and you're done. You're getting paid and you're done. No, we got to keep knocking on doors and knocking on doors.

It's a struggle, but you know, if you have a lot of luck, and you make decent cigars, because there's a lot of great cigars out there, there really is, but it's not just about the cigar, the cigar not only has got to be good, you got to market it, talk about it. You got to like the person that makes the cigar. Correct, and that's the only way you can, and a little bit of luck, you got to have a little bit of luck, you know, the people like you, and then, you know, it starts growing, and growing, and growing, and that's the only shot you have. So I don't like to take money from anybody, you know, somebody new, look, if you have an outlet to sell it, if you want to open up your own website, and sell it, okay, I'm in.

That's still hard. And I'm sure it is. Yeah. But, but you first, yes, it's hard, you know why?

Because nobody's heard of your cigars. Yeah. Why would I go to your website and buy your cigars? Right.

But, once you start, start in retail, you can't go back to the website. Yeah. And that's the problem, you know what I mean? But, it is what it is, but, but that was a story, and like that story, I got like four or five people in the country that, They're upset at me because I didn't make them the cigars.

But little they know, I shaved their ass. Trust me what I tell you. I'm not here to take anybody's money, especially some young kid who's working hard. You know, I'm not about that.

Right. That's cool. Well, I appreciate that. You took my money.

I've never seen you lost for words before. Me? That was the first time. Which one?

Who? Me? Yeah, you. I'm not fucking lost for words.

I'm just taking it all in. You're listening. Yeah, I'm getting all these. Am I wrong with anything I said?

No. No, I mean, you know, look, I mean, I think that this whole industry is fucking hard. Whether you're, I mean, retail is hard, you know, and you see a lot of guys that they take, they take the bait at some of these PCAs and they get the deals and, oh, I got 20%. It's like, great.

You got 20% off of cigars. You can't fucking sell. Congratulations. Right.

You know, you got eight boxes. Yeah. Or, or, you know, like, like you were saying, Hey, I want to make a cigar. Great.

Here's three options here to A, B or C. Try which one. Oh, you think this is good. You may get that, but I'm, or I may just make something else for you.

Fuck you. And then I'll send you the bands, and then, you know, hey, it's not selling, I was sorry to hear that, thanks for the fucking 60 G's. You picked it, I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, I mean, but there's, you know, there's all those pitfalls.

And yes, you are right, it does make a difference to have the person come into the store, you know. I will do the same thing, but, you know, I'm a little bit different. I don't, if I travel to a store for an event, I'm generally not going to another store. I'm going to that store, and then I'm getting the fuck out the next day.

Out of respect, you should do that, but while you're there, you visit other shops without doing events, I mean, because, you know, you've got to take advantage of your airfare, I mean, where you went, you probably drove, but it's not, but when you get on a plane... No, I flew to Wisconsin, I saw the one store, and then I fucking left, so you probably lost your ass by the airfare, really, I mean, you know, listen, for us, for us, you have to, you know, if you go to Wisconsin, you've got to visit all the stores, The shops are around there, and then people get butt-hurt. " Listen, though, you have no idea the shit that we go through. I'm sure it happens to you, too, people get butt-hurt.

If I have a good relationship with somebody and they're in that area, of course I'm gonna go see them, right? I would stop in and say hi, but the reality is that I'm not there for them at that time, you know? This guy invested in our brand, wants to spend and invest with us, so I'm going to them. You should give him that respect.

But here's the difference, I don't drive in these places, because I have my rep driving around, so I really don't know where the fuck I'm at, I ain't gonna lie to you. I don't know what city, I mean, Florida I know, because I was a rep here, but you put me in Georgia, and then I'm in Atlanta, and then I'm here, I don't know how far this shop, I don't know how far Long Island is from Queens, I'm not from there, how would I know? It could be next door, and I wouldn't have no idea, now I've been to that shop, but I really don't know, 'cause I'm not driving, and when you're not driving, you're not paying attention, you don't know where the hell you're at, you know, I'm playing poker on my phone, I was doing that on the way up, I was driving, but it's a problem, it is, it is, and then people get butthurt off, ah, dude, listen, this funny story, I know I'm talking too much, but, this is the greatest one, this is the greatest one. I meet Guy and all this stuff and he puts me on one of his shows.

We hadn't made La Ronge for a long time because we didn't have that wrapper, you know, because of COVID, they weren't growing tobacco in Brazil, so we couldn't make it. So, for like two and a half years, almost three years, we didn't have that cigar. So, but when you film, you know, these shows, it takes like five, six months before, at least that one, before it airs. right so you fucked up right so before before we had that issue okay this um i do one of his shows and i hand him a box of larange at the show and and and while they were filming and that that aired and some guy saw it and i got a text and he said it's unbelievable that you will give If Guy Fieri, a Box of La Ronge, when I have 10 boxes, I'm back on it.

That's a true story, bro. That's a true story. I'm like, what the fuck, bro? You can't win, bro.

You can't win. You know, it's, it's, you know. It's amazing. Dude, you have no idea, you know, the way this business is, you know.

It is what it is. No doubt. All right, well. Then you got Phil here.

Then you got Phil just, you know, riding third place, you know what I mean? Wow. I hate, listen, he wanted us to take our shirts off for this podcast. I knew you were gonna come out with it.

He didn't come out with it. Yeah, he wanted us. Of course we were going to bring that up. We were going to bring it up.

Not you guys, just one of the three of us just all of a sudden take our shirts off. Yeah, we all take our shirts off. How would that make you feel? I'd give three flying fucks.

I'm real. As long as the table is covering my stomach. I don't have a six pack, but I'm happy with the way I look, like, you know, my arms and all that. But my stomach is a little big, but I really don't give a flying fuck.

And that's exactly what I said. Did I know? Why does Phil want to see all these men topless? That was the question we didn't understand.

That's not what it was about. Yeah, you wanted everybody to get naked. No, I didn't say naked. See, now you're taking this stuff further.

Now, if I got to take my pants off, I have a problem with that, because we're going back to what I said about the shrinkage, you know, the cold plunge, yeah. All right, well, we got to wrap this up. Thank you so much for coming on for the podcast, dude. Look forward to hanging out with you at Lozona Palooza.

I hope I didn't hurt anybody's feeling. I don't think you did. Nobody listens to this podcast anyway, it's not a big deal. So why are we doing this?

Number one. It's just fun. Yeah, it's just for shit to go. Yeah, I had a blast.

Yeah. Number one with no listeners. Yeah, we're not, we're, I mean, we're, whatever. So, yeah, well, so thank you for coming on.

Check out Lozona Palooza. If you're not invited too fucking bad, sorry to hear about that. Just look for the photos. Yeah, we'll send you pictures.

Hey, um, before we go, um, can you call Sam back? We're gonna call Sam before you do. Knowing Jack, Jack, everybody probably knows. " I can tell you right now, I know, I know what it's about.

No, no, no, no, I don't want to know. It's a thing for him. I don't want to know. It's a thing for Sam.

All right. Okay. Yeah. All right.

I don't want to know. I do want to know, but once we cut this shit off. Here, I'll leave it perfectly blank. Here's the reality.

And I'm going to tell you this. And I've stood by this since I've gone into this business. I love and support all my retailers, and they love and support me. And whatever they're looking to do, I'm willing to help.

Absolutely. Just that simple. I'm no different. I stopped on the way here in a little place.

I don't know if you've heard of it, in Orlando. This woman, when I was a rep, every time I went to her shop, she would buy two or three boxes from me. Really? And I've never forgotten that.

Oh, shit. And she has a little shop. It's a little, I don't even know what it is, Nora. Nora's Sugar Shack.

Nora's Sugar Shack. It's in like Baldwin Park or whatever. Yeah, we had lunch at Pig Floyd. Yeah, there you go.

And she's right there. And I didn't know she was right there. And when I drove by, Jack tells me, that's Nora. And I said, look, she's standing outside.

And I made a U-turn, I stopped, and that's the reason why we were a little late, and I stopped in there, and there was nobody there, and I want to thank you for everything you did for me and my family, you know, back in the day, you know, I love you, this and that, so I bought a bunch of shit from her, stuff I don't need, so I got some CBD's and shit there if you guys want, or whatever, but, I mean, no, seriously, I supported her because I remember, you can never forget where you come from. Of course. " It was a very touching moment. You helped make my career.

You didn't film it? I didn't think she was gonna get, you know, emotional, sentimental? " And I've never forgotten that. " And, you know, and, and that was my moment.

Well, you've always been cool as fuck with me, bro, from the, off the jump, you know, we, I think the first time I met you, you were at Smokin', and you had just launched Espinosa Cigars, so. Yeah, can I, I got time for one more quick story? Go ahead. All right, real quick, before you go.

Go ahead, one more. So, one of my, I, I'm a big, loyal guy, like I said, I played a lot of softball, and I still do, and I was watching this program called Heist. It's three robberies, and one is in Vegas, one is in Miami, the other one is Bourbon, the guy who stole that pappy and all that. So, I'm listening to the story, and the guy, it was a great story, and it's similar to something that happened to me back in my day.

" And so, I said that to myself. So, Chrissy and Curtis over there, the Executive Cigars, they sent me a bottle signed by him. and I was there two weeks ago, and I said, Chris, I want to meet him. She said, well, he's friends with a friend of mine.

And the guy called me, and I talked to him and said, we're going to meet up, and said like that. But, you know, he lost all his friends and all that, because when he was selling them bottles, they were stolen. You know, everybody wants them, but now when he got jammed up, nobody talks to him, you know. Yeah, so, I mean, you know, dude, that's bullshit.

I mean, you're either with somebody or you're not, you know. You've got to be loyal to the end. And I had a similar story, you know, back in the day when I was younger, you know. So him and I, we talked once a week and said, I don't know, have you never seen it?

You got to see it. It's called Heist. Yeah, it's really, really good. Where is it on?

Netflix? Netflix, yeah, I think it's on there. It's called Heist. Okay, I'll check it out.

Guy's name is Toby Baldinger or Kobe Singer or something like that. Yeah, check it out. It's really good. But anyway, I just wanted to share that with you.

Okay. Yeah, I'm done. You're a good guy. I'm done.

You guys leave me here again. I'm going to keep talking. That's it. All right, well, I got another story.

I got another story. And we've got another podcast waiting to go outside. All right. Well, fuck you guys.

That's all you get. Hey, I mean, you can drive up any time you want to come on the show, you know what I'm saying? Three and a half hours. That's it.

It's a little drive. You can go see Nora and then you can come see us. There you go. There you go.

We'll meet you at Nora's. I'm going to stock up with CBDs. Yeah, let's do it. Let's go have some CBDs.

Yeah, sure. We'll take a nap. There you go. Perfect.

All right, well, thanks everybody for listening. 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 Szczepankewicz, 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

Description:

In this episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, we dive into the latest developments in the world of premium cigars. The Premium Cigar Association has made a significant move by dropping media member dues, and we discuss the implications of this decision for the industry.

Foundation Cigar Company is making waves with their new release, Metapa, and we've got the details. From the various sizes to the pricing, we'll explore the offerings of this Nicaraguan-made cigar produced by AJ Fernandez.

Luciano Cigars has something new up their sleeves with a lounge program that brings their branding to retail lounges across the country. Whether these lounges are ready or not, we'll delve into the impact of this branding strategy.

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust is shaking things up by updating Sobremesa packaging and giving the original line a new name, Sobremesa Solita. Find out what this means for fans of this beloved cigar.

The FDA is in the spotlight as it sends out proposed bans on flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes. We'll break down the potential consequences of these regulatory proposals.

Oliva Serie V Melanio Figuriño, or Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Año 2023, has hit stores, and we'll explore what makes this limited edition release a must-try for cigar enthusiasts.

We also share a quirky and amusing story about Florida cops going to a house to arrest a suspect, only to be greeted by an unexpected sign in the window.

Plus, an exclusive announcement from Sean Coleman, also known as "Light Weight Heavy," regarding his exciting new cigar release.

Tune in for all these intriguing updates and discussions in the world of premium cigars and beyond on the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.

Please note that this description provides an overview of the topics covered in the episode, and the actual podcast content may contain more in-depth discussions and insights.