Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 305: Celebrating Diversity and Cigar Community News

Episode Summary

Episode 305 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike "The King" Stefanakiewicz, Mike "BDP" Palmer and Phil attempting to smoke an absurd 10 x 100 JFR giant cigar — a Patreon idea suggested by listener Romatron — only to find all three sticks cracked straight down the wrapper with almost no draw. The attempted "review" becomes a running gag about vegetable glue, ratchet straps and cigar shops that should probably stock repair supplies, plus some good-natured shots at Terrence Reilly for the monster format.

The middle of the show is the usual mix of personal catch-up (Edgar's 80s-themed birthday party at the shop, Howard Jean's "Stick or Treat" shirts, Halloween costumes, youth flag football playoffs, fantasy football trade gripes) and Phil's Fun Facts. Mike Palmer then reads a prepared statement about his promotion to Director of Social Media for Cigar Hustler and how almost no cigar media outlet picked up the press release — with a thank-you to Cigar Inspector for covering it. That gripe sets up the episode's hook: calling cigar media people live to ask why they skipped the story.

The news segment runs through United Cigars' Veterans Day boxes, Pat Potter's restructuring of Tobacco Trading Company, Crowned Heads La Pâtisserie No. 2 (a 6 1/8 x 52 belicoso, Connecticut Broadleaf over Nicaraguan, $13), Gotham Cigars adding the Five Boroughs line to go with Flatbush (212, Bowery, Chelsea, made in Nicaragua), E.P. Carrillo's consumer-crowdsourced Escapade Project launching November 1 after Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr.'s Zoom sessions, the HVC Black Friday 2023 (4 1/2 x 56 Petit Gordo, Mexican San Andrés wrapper, viso and seco Nicaraguan filler), and Foundation Cigar Company shipping the Charter Oak Pasquale and Charter Oak Pegnataro — $13 each, $156 per box of 12, limited to 500 boxes per blend quarterly, rolled at AJ Fernandez's Nicaraguan factory.

Wrapping up: a Florida man story about an iguana in a Hollywood, FL toilet, Shop of the Week Robusto's in Dearborn, Michigan (Harry Berry), mentions of new shops Vine and Ash and City Wine and Cigars, and Listener of the Week Jason Hawkins. The guys phone Nick Melillo (voicemail) and reach Matt Tai of How About That Cigar Live, who explains his site stopped publishing press releases entirely, previews his Steve Saka interview, and confirms Raul Ramos as full-time co-host. Next week's guest: Jason Jackson of RoMa Craft Tobac.

In This Episode

1. 01
   The Cracked 10 x 100 Giant
   All three hosts light a massive JFR 10 x 100 — a listener-suggested Patreon smoke — and every one arrives cracked with almost no draw.
2. 02
   Weekend Recap and Halloween
   Edgar's 80s birthday party at the shop, Howard Jean's Stick or Treat shirts, Jack Skellington decorations and youth flag football playoffs.
3. 03
   Phil's Fun Facts and Fantasy Football
   Phil's bit on cigars-as-camping, plus complaints about lopsided fantasy trade offers and a Kirk Cousins deal that never happened.
4. 04
   Prepared Statement on Media Coverage
   Mike Palmer reads a statement about his promotion to Director of Social Media and which cigar media outlets ignored the press release.
5. 05
   Cigar Industry News Roundup
   United Cigars Veterans Day boxes, Tobacco Trading Company restructuring, Crowned Heads La Pâtisserie No. 2, and Gotham Cigars' Five Boroughs line.
6. 06
   EPC Escapade and HVC Black Friday 2023
   Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr.'s consumer-designed Escapade Project and HVC's thickest Black Friday release yet, a San Andrés-wrapped Petit Gordo.
7. 07
   Foundation Charter Oak Pasquale and Pegnataro
   Two new Charter Oak blends named for Nicholas Melillo's grandfathers, priced at $13 each and limited to 500 boxes per quarter.
8. 08
   Cold Calls: Nick Melillo and Matt Tai
   Melillo goes to voicemail, but Matt Tai of How About That Cigar Live answers, explains his no-press-release policy and previews his Steve Saka episode.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast episode 305, 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 Director of Social Media Cigar Hustler, Mike BDP, Mike BDP Palmer, are We're two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigar Hustlers podcast, and me, I'm Phil. So grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and join us for another exciting episode of Cigar Hustlers podcast.

You can skip the kiss our ass thing, we'll just roll through it. Oh, we're not going to do, maybe you'd like to put your products in front of? Go ahead. No, no, no, that's fine.

I'm okay. I have a prepared statement for later, though. You have a prepared statement for later? Yes.

All right. What are we doing for the Patreon? We're doing these gigantic cigars, Michael. Giganticus.

Phil already lit his. Yeah. And you cut yours, and it's busted. Mine busted.

Mine busted, too. This one's cracked. Can we talk about this, Terrence? Terrence, can we talk about this?

Fuck. Let's see yours. Let's see yours there, Granddaddy. This is cracked all down the side.

Cracked right down the middle. Mine's cracked on the end. So, when you cut it, it cracked? Yeah, I haven't, yeah, but I haven't even touched mine.

No, mine was like yours. When I opened, it was like that. I'm not gonna. Busted?

Yeah. Busted. But I have a huge crack going down through here. Oh, you have one too.

You're gonna have to figure it out. I need tape. Maybe just lick it. It's not gonna seal it.

No. No, I need. Mine did not crack on the cap. Yeah, but yours just cracked all the way.

I didn't weigh it either. Well, we don't have this on the chart. 10 by 100, they don't go up that high. Is there such a thing as like a cigar glue that you could buy?

Yes. Chapstick. No, it's called vegetable glue. Oh.

Chapstick works too. Why don't stores sell that, like cigar shops? They do, some places do. Oh, do they?

Can I have that other lighter, the blowtorch? Yes, this is not gonna work. Listen. Oh, you have one too.

If you gotta fucking apply glue to your cigar, and I'm not doing it, I'm not, okay, let's say you had bought this, I know you bail on things that are plugged or cracked or whatever because of your situation, but let's say you're a regular consumer and you paid $45 for this monster, and you get it home, you take, just remember this isn't a Patreon, I understand, I'm just asking a question, would you have bailed on it if you bought it? He would've never bought it. Would you bring it back? I'm supposed to tell you Romatron says hello.

Oh, I love Romatron. During the show, he said to tell you. Well, this is actually Romatron's idea. Oh, was it?

Yeah. Oh. Oh. Get it.

Get it. Get it. I'm struggling. I see you.

I'm struggling. Off the rim, I'm just like... My hand's not long, my arms, I don't think they're long enough. How do I...

Now on to the BDP. He lights it slowly, yet vigorously. Oh, my goodness. What were we thinking?

Tron, I hate you. We're sending him the bill. $300 for these gigantic sources. You, too, can purchase the slightly busted.

Please, I'm trying to breathe over here. You know what's crazy, though? Like, even though it's busted, like, there's nothing, like, it doesn't, like, affect it? It does.

Oh, it's affecting yours? Yeah, it has a draw issue for me, so mine does too. I'm trying to clamp down in the, where it's busted. Oh, I got a ratchet strap in the truck, you want me to go grab it real quick?

Like, I'm not nearly getting a lot of, I'm not getting a lot of smoke out of this. So, what's going on there, Michael? Oh, how you doing? My whole thing is peeling.

Like minimal smoke is coming out of this thing for me. Let's not call it a thing, let's just call it a cigar. He's upset because it's the shape of a penis over there. If that's a penis, I'm highly irate right now.

You wouldn't consider yourself a male. I heard Terrence modeled for these. Oh. He's a very large man.

Wow, that's weird. So how was your day, man? How was your week? What's going on?

Talk to me. I went to Edgar's birthday party Saturday night up here at the shop. Yes. With the Howard Jean?

With the Howard Jean, yes. With the Howard Jean. I got a stick and treat shirt, but I didn't think you got one too, so I didn't wear it today. I did not get one.

No, he did not get one. Stick or treat? That's only because you were there. Oh.

Well, I didn't feel right wearing it on the show when you didn't have one. So I'll just wear it tomorrow night when we pass out candy. It's a new thing. Well, I mean...

He saw it, he asked for it. I scheduled to get them for us, for the show. For the sticker treats? Yes.

That's what I'm saying. Like, that night, he had just picked up a couple, he said. Oh, did he? Yeah, because there's only like two or three on the table.

He didn't have no order. " Why is it on camera one? Guys, I'm very... Well, he was talking.

I was talking. Yeah, so I asked him so we could use him for a promotion for him, because I'm a nice guy. I can't get a draw on this thing at all. I'm struggling too.

It's because I have this extra long. And it's because I have this extra long. Maybe we wrap him in tape. Is this how Castro feels?

Poor guy. He seems to be doing really well over there. No, it's just burning itself. They got this fan hitting it.

You just hold up to the fan? And then we had the kids come, Alex and his fiancée. We'll have to do a different cigar for the Patreon. I think.

Oh. Oh, he's fucking over it. He's fucking over it. What do you think about that kid, huh?

I tried, Terrence. I love you. You're bothering me. We tried, Roman John.

We tried. These are ridiculous. Oh, my God. I feel like I'm smoking a fucking pencil.

Oh, see, once you go bigger. Yeah, once you go black, you gotta go black. I didn't say that. I said bigger.

Oh, there we go. Racist anyway, so much fun on the other show, we're all racist. What other show, what's wrong with you? We're all racist.

Ow, it's hot though. Yeah, it's a cigar. It's gonna burn through the entire show. Back it up now, let's go, so what did you do now?

Somebody came over, Alex? Alex's fiancee came, they had a wedding in Sanford on Sunday, so they came Saturday, spent the night with us, and then we all had breakfast, and then they went to the wedding. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, it was nice to see the kids.

We hadn't seen them since Tanner's wedding. Oh, so they used you for bed and breakfast. Yes, yes, exactly. That's pretty much how that plays.

But we made sure they didn't bring the dog. Normally, they bring the dog. But we have decided... No dog.

Well, if they want to take the dog to the wedding, they can bring the dog. But they're not leaving the dog at a house. He said he decided, him and Addie decided. We decided that we were not doing that, so she clarified that the dog was not coming.

Gotcha. And that was all that occurred? Yes. We just watched movies all day Sunday.

Okay. That sounds lovely. It was. That's our Sunday thing now.

Movie day? Movie day, laundry, you know, just stuff inside. Since I don't have to cut my grass anymore. See?

Look at that. Well, I still cut the side and the back, but I can knock that out in less than an hour on a Saturday. Right. Boop, boop.

Get it done. Boop, boop, $25. Bye-bye. Well, we had football on Friday.

That went great for Jacks. Yeah? I don't know what the fuck is going on with my one-two team. Are you still not getting flags?

No, they're still not getting flags. They're, uh, we're going backwards, and we're going backwards, but hey, we're gonna keep going. They're putting flags on people. We're gonna keep going.

Here, you drop this, put that on, yes sir. We're gonna keep going. You know, I got a couple kids that have really turned a corner here. Yeah?

Yeah. Which is fantastic. You said you're going backwards. So you have some stand-out.

I got 12 kids. Right? Jesus. I got 12 kids, and like two of them have advanced.

Oh! Better than what they were doing. You should move them up. No, they're not that level, but I think that there's some things that we can do here.

Is there thumping going on? I don't know. And then Saturday I had a little Halloween party that I went to. Oh, I saw the thing.

You know, again, nobody knew what you were supposed to do. Well, you wouldn't know who I was at that point because... Brittany explained it on Facebook. Yes, I was the crazy neighbor.

I was a crazy neighbor in our neighborhood. Oh, it was a neighborhood party? Yeah. Oh, so everybody knew who you were who was at the party.

Well, the people who were hosting the party knew. Right, right. So, that was fun. I thought Jacks looked great.

John Wick. He was very excited about that. I won't let him wear that during normal Halloween because he wants to carry a gun that's painted all black. I don't want to do it with some fucking idiot.

Somebody make a phone call. " and whatever. Next thing you know, Jack's in jail. No, not that.

Normally it's some other bullshit with some fucking hillbilly. " Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, they opened the door and a kid's standing there with a gun. Yeah, whatever.

Don't think about that. Idiots. Idiots. Idiots.

Idiots. So, you know, I gotta protect my, I gotta protect my kid. So, so, but he'll be Jack Skellington again for Halloween. Well, you know what's cool about my Jack Skellington 13 foot thing that I bought?

Yeah? Jack's gonna wear the outfit? No, I think I can, I can keep him up for Christmas. Oh, just put a Santa hat on him.

That's what I'm thinking. Throw a Santa hat on him and he's got, you can do a little Santa beard or whatever. You have to take him down, he's 13 feet tall. He's all the way up there.

Right. He's up on my roof. That is pretty far. So this can scurry up the skeleton.

I could probably bring him down. I don't think he's heavy. Just leave him up all the time. Just keep him up all year round?

Yeah. Put an Easter bunnet on him. Oh, yeah. A little Easter bunny.

Nightmare before Easter. Nightmare before Easter. Yeah. Nightmare before New Year's.

Right. Nightmare before Valentine's Day. Right. The gift that keeps on giving, Michael.

I think it's fantastic. It is. I gotta move his motion sensor. I think he's coming.

Oh, he moves. He does. Oh, I didn't know he moves. I gotta bring him down.

Are there airplanes? Nothing. Yeah. Yeah.

Squirrel crosses just right. Right. A squirrel goes right across. And then Sunday, we did a little basketball practice, and I got to chop down part of a tree.

Is this the same tree you were going to have removed before? No, no. That's a totally different tree. A totally different house.

He's on to other trees. Oh, it went so well. You just moved. Just chopping down trees.

A new business. Yeah. I'm in. Oh, you're the tree guy now.

Yeah, I haven't sent the invoice yet. Oh, I sent the invoice. Yours is still smoking. By itself.

So is yours. Mine is, yeah, mine is, too, apparently. Right. Yeah.

It practically smokes itself. It's like a Yule log. It's so good it smokes itself. I'm going to go home and put it in a fireplace or something.

We tried, Terrence. I'm sorry. We tried, Terrence, and manufacturers problems. Yeah.

It's, yeah, it's severely cracked. I can't, yeah, mine's got this giant, like, Grand Canyon go up the side up here. So I can't wait to hear this review, Terrence. It's going to be fantastic.

Are we really going to review it on the Patreon? No, this is the review. I mean, that was pretty much as far as we're getting on that review. I think that's where it's ended.

Oh, this is where it starts. That's where it's done. But Jax's team, man, they are fucking, they are banging right now. Yeah?

We're going into the playoffs. Oh! Yeah, we are number three on the list as far as the seeds are concerned. Right.

So, we could play three games on Friday and figure out what's going on. Ooh, that's a lot. Yeah. That's a lot of orange slices between games.

We don't do orange slices. Everybody does orange slices. No, man. Isn't that the thing?

You don't like orange slices? No, I'm not saying. They don't really snack that much, I mean, but usually if they snack. There's three games, they're gonna need something.

They'll help, they'll, we'll snack. Maybe some pre-workout or something. Yeah, it's gonna be something a little more intense. Yeah, prime.

Cocaine, maybe. Ooh. Oh, so it was cute since it was an '80s party at Edgar's birthday party. On the bar, they had these little glass squares every so often.

And they had piles of what looked like 80s drugs on them, they had one pile that looked like Quaaludes, then they had marijuana, not marijuana, they had cocaine, so they had drawn the lines and everything. Well, it was cocaine. No, I was told it was baking soda. You were told not to sniff it?

Yes. That's what Brandon said. That's what Brandon said. But he had white stuff over his face all night, I don't know what it was.

Yeah, it was really weird. The piles kept getting smaller. Yeah. Quaaludes were mints.

The party went, I guess the party went well. She had a nice turnout. She did. You know, I mean, Howie didn't give me the stick or treat shirt, but it's okay.

I got one, but I didn't. He didn't get me one. I didn't want to wear it. You don't ever get one.

No, we make sure we only get two shirts. Yeah. You know how that works. So this Thursday, though, we're going to be down to Lazonapalooza.

Oh, yeah, we are. It's Thursday. Oh, shit, I've got to mark that down. What time is that?

We have to leave really early. Yeah. Starts at like nine. Yeah.

You look tired, Phil. That's three and a half hours or four hours? It's three and a half, I think. You look tired, Phil.

Am I tired? How can you tell? He's got the green mask. Yeah, I've been up since six working.

He's got bags under his eyes. He's very tired. I feel like he's turned that corner in life where the bags, they just show up. They just stay there, yeah.

Yeah, they don't go away. Congratulations. No, last night was a long night. I had a great football Sunday.

Yeah, of course you did. Yeah. Fuck you. Oh, the Dolphins won.

Yeah, I got some bats, yeah. and then I watched all the football after that yeah I think I'm done with your fantasy league though you say this all like no I'm serious I think I feel like you're doing it as like a you know if I'm gonna quit or you could trade me no you sucked me in before I was trying to get something uh 14 minutes you sucked me yeah go ahead sorry go ahead yeah keep going go ahead Oh, thank God it wasn't me this time. That's okay, I mean, he's in arms. He does have a winning.

See, he's trying to walk it back down, trying to regain his territory. No, but at the end, and he sucked me. He's in arms reach for me. I'll hit you with my giant cigar.

That's fine. Funk. That's about what it's good for right now. You better bring a little more than that, pal.

No, man, there's no fucking trading. It's so aggravating. I'm Indiana Jones. I don't understand why people hold on to their pretend people like they're so fucking, oh my precious.

Like no, it doesn't work that way. Here's a legitimate trade. Here's a fair offer. And that's the other thing.

Everything's gotta be so fucking slighted. The only offers they get are such bullshit. Like what the fuck? Well, I'm glad you didn't take the Kirk Cousins deal because you would have been fucking pissed off at me.

Right? Yeah. Well, you can't, you can't predict an Achilles tear. Yeah, but who am I going to give you, Kirk Cousins or Jared Goff?

Jared Goff. Well, now, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know who he's talking about.

No, but I don't need a quarterback. Well, you need it at the time because everybody was injured. No, I like my quarterback. Larry Zonka.

I like Jordan Love. I'm sticking with him. Jordan Love. What are you saying over there?

I'm just yelling out names. I don't know. But, you know, just wouldn't be part of the conversation. The Kelsey trade was fair.

Kelsey Grammer? More than fair. But I didn't need to run the back. Let's get a new show.

Ricky Bell. Shut the fuck up. That's wouldn't be part of the show. No, but now, do you need a running back?

I feel like your running backs sucked. That's why I offered the running backs. No, I don't think I need one of them. Oh, well, you know what?

To be honest, fuck it, I'm just gonna keep my team the way it is. We're doing fine. I got to play JJ this week, so he's not even fucking playing. Yeah.

Oh, JJ's still around? So, no, he's not. He's not around. He's not.

I used to follow him on Facebook, and I don't even see him anymore. You're never gonna get your 50 bucks, by the way. That's gone. No problem.

Is he the guy that never puts his team together? That you talked about on Down to Herf? No, yeah. Ah.

Mm-hmm. He talked about the league on down to her. Oh, did he? Yeah.

'Cause they're in the league. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, Jax is beating all of them.

Well, Jax beat him last week, and he was pissed about it. Oh, they beat JJ. Yeah, but he didn't put his guys in. Yeah, he was pissed that he didn't go up against his best.

And I get that. Why are you really wrong? Why, because the Cowboys won? Is that what he's talking about?

What? Who are you talking about? Jax was mad. Oh, I thought you were talking about JJ.

No, Jax was mad because the guy he was playing against has checked out and not put people in to play against. Yeah, but he won. Jax won, right? Yeah, but that's not the champion's mentality.

You want to play a person that has their best selection set up. And he was pissed. I tend to remember a certain movie where it doesn't matter if you win by a mile or an inch. Winning is winning.

winning. Yes, winning is winning, but you want to play, you want to compete against somebody. Yeah, but that's a good bye week. Not somebody who just fucking checks out.

So anyways, what do we got going on, man? What's going on? Talk to me. Give me Phil's fun facts or something.

I don't know. Are you guys done with the football? Wait, don't hit it. He's got to put his mask back on.

This thing is very hot. It's just because of the bags under your eyes. They create heat. The mouth is okay.

You're not even close. I can't wait till next month. Next month's a goodie. Next month's a fantastic mask.

Do it. Here we are. It's coming up. Welcome the Cigar Hustlers podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts.

Uh-oh, uh-oh. Here I am. Uh-oh, uh-oh. Hello, peoples.

All right, fellas. Feeling stressed? Here's a pro tip. If you smoke a cigar outside, it technically counts as camping.

So grab a tent, your favorite stick, and Vitola, and voila. You're a seasoned outdoor enthusiast. And not all winners. Camp what I gotta tell you.

Not all, not every swing. Who knew relaxation could come with a side of wilderness adventure. Happy camping. That was terrible.

What, do you want me to, do you want him to say like I was gay or something? Like, was that this? Yes. Why are you gay?

Why are you gay? If I knew we were sucking these big things, I would kind of, you know. You know, the word voila. Yeah.

Is not something you see all the time. Oh, voila. Voila. Could have been ta-da or cha-ching.

Yeah, because when I looked at it, I thought it, you thought, I thought you meant to spell Vitola. Oh, that's when you said Vitola? So I'm thinking, I don't remember Vitola in that at all. Huh.

Voila. Voila. Sometimes I just hit the microphone and say the word, because I could spell voila. Voila.

Yeah. So you hit the button, you go voila. I think you have ash just right under your nose. Do I?

Yeah. No, it's cocaine still. It's cocaine. You know what I've been watching is Loki.

Have you been watching Loki at all? The new one? Yeah. No, I didn't watch the first one.

Oh, it's pretty good. We watched the Santa Chronicles, I think that's what it's called. Santa Chronicles? I have no idea what's going on.

Santa Closes, sorry. Oh, I have no idea what's going on with Loki sometimes, like, wait a second, it's very fucking complicated. But I'm still enjoying it. That's a Disney one, right?

Yeah. Yeah, on the Disney Channel. Yeah, they got the guy who was, who got accused of beating somebody and then they pulled his show or whatever. He was in, he was in the Rocky movie.

Oh, it's not the real Loki? Yeah, no, it's the real Loki. No, this guy plays a different character in the show. Oh.

He's on the show is what I'm saying. So I'm glad that whatever, you know, he, he, I'm glad that they kept it going. Hmm. Have they figured anything out with this writer's thing?

I think it's gone. I think we're good. No, it's still on. It's still on.

Still on. Oh, God. I heard it was over. Uh, I don't know.

We're getting close. Matthew Perry died. He did die. That was, that was horrible.

Yeah. Drowned. Apparently, you know, had a heart attack and drowned in his jacujo. Apparently hot, hot tubs are really deep.

Well, if you have a hard time, you slide in. I guess that could be there for you, though. Nobody meant that when they sang it to him. Yeah, I'll be there.

That's the thing. His assistant found it. He looked rough, man. He's had a little rough life.

Yeah, you seen him in his last interview? They showed it on Facebook? Yeah, he's only been clean for two years. Drugs, man.

Drugs. All right, we're moving? Yep. Let's go to some news after that.

From the four corners of the world. All the cigar industry news you could possibly need, the Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Tu. All right, first, Mike, before we get into the news, I have a prepared statement I'm going to read. Uh-oh.

In the world of cigars, diversity is not only found in the rich blends and aromas, but also in the voices that represent the industry. P. Palmer to the esteemed position of Director of Social Media for all things Cigar Hustler. Oh, God.

This move was met with little response from different media outlets within the cigar community. I knew that was coming. While some media outlets acknowledge this news, some chose not to report this achievement. However, Cigar Inspector, a platform known for its commitment to celebrating diverse voices and recognizing significant developments in the cigar world, stood out by embracing and endorsing this announcement.

Cigar Inspector understands the importance of acknowledging talent and contributions regardless of the platform. Recognizing Mike Palmer's promotion, Cigar Inspector continues to uphold the commitment to inclusivity and supporting the entire spectrum of voices within the cigar industry. The cigar community thrives when diverse talents are acknowledged, celebrated, and given a platform to shine. Cigar Inspector's decision to embrace this announcement reinforces the values of unity, recognition, and respect within the industry.

You know, it is kind of fucked, I'm not gonna lie. Yeah, nobody did. Nobody picked it up but then. Because if it had happened with a bigger retailer, you know, someone who's, I don't know, whatever, like one of the top five big dogs, so-and-so becomes chief marketing officer, whatever the case may be, it'd be fucking covered.

Nobody would know, nobody would care who that guy was, but they would do it anyways. Like Tiago Splitter, of the Dream Team. He was in the news like five weeks in a row. I don't know what the fuck is Giannis.

That was the Luciano's dream team. Oh, the Luciano's dream team. All those promotions have been reported. Well, but that's, but that's a brand owner or manufacturer.

I'm, I'm referencing as far as on a retail level. A bigger retailer. Oh. Like a JR Tobacco.

Yeah, JR, Santa Clara, Casa de Monte Cristo. They're all the same people, but you would hear that name, right? Oh, okay. Uh, CI or whatever.

You know, if they announced it and did a press release, it would be covered. Oh, okay. It'd be covered. Right.

Thank you, Cigar Inspector. So at least we know who the true media coverage is, and that's Cigar Inspector. I'm a cigar inspector. Right, apparently.

Yeah. Yes. Excellent. You're doing excellent work over there.

You did a great job. Great job. Doing a great job. Very proud of you.

Did you reach out to any of those guys? Why would I reach out? He sent it to everybody. No, no, I know, I know.

What do I do? Hey, please, please cover my story? No, fuck them. No, but normally...

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, fuck those guys. Yeah. No, normally you would...

They all got the free media stuff at PCA, and now everybody's all happy and not talking about anything else. Yeah, they don't have to fucking do anything. Right, now they don't have to do anything. It's free.

It's free. All you can do is show up. It's ridiculous. But normally what you do is like if there was like another post or something else, like you would go into that comment and go, oh, what about this?

I thought about that, but I decided to be above that. I mean, we can start calling people. You want to call them out? Yeah.

Jay and Silent Bob at the end of the show, they're like, you wrote at this point, fuck those guys. You know, so we can start calling these media guys. I have all their numbers. We sent you a thing, but you didn't cover it, why didn't you cover it, you're on the podcast, hey you're on the podcast right now, why didn't you cover it, because normally you get like a, oh I didn't see it, or that's when United created special boxes for Veterans Day, oh my god, horribleness.

Or Pat Potter restructured the tobacco trading company ownership. Oh my god, please, please go through the list, I want to hear more. That's that email, oh my goodness. Or Tyler, or what Tyler, Ross, Riley put out a giant cigar that breaks when you're smoking.

Oh. Oh. Sorry. Sorry.

We're gonna get a cease and desist. We need one. We never got one. You know what?

That will pop in the news. Listen. Cigars are podcast. Bad mouth.

Terrence Riley and his new cigars. Listen. They're scared of us, bud. It's okay.

Who are we gonna call? We make people nervous. Oh, I know we make people nervous. Oh.

What about, uh... You have to do all their shows now and give me the tie-in. The tie-in, and I'll go, Director of Social Media is here, what would you guys like to say about the show? Yeah, I'm sorry, let me get the Director of Social Media on for you.

Yeah, he has to answer that question, I don't handle that. I don't handle that. All right, United Cigars create special boxes for Veterans Day, blah, blah, blah, next door. Pat Potter, who owns a mercantile business, is now in storage, it's a back-trading company, supposedly.

Keep going, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. La Patisserie No. 2, Shipping to stores tomorrow.

I just pulled down because I like saying La Patisserie. La Patisserie. Can I say it right? Not many of these names anymore, I can say it correctly.

The La Patisserie No. 2 will begin shipping to stores tomorrow. The newest size in the Crownheads, La Patisserie Line, like so many other cigars that are called No. 2, the release is a Bellicoso.

Why does that happen? In the case, measuring a 6 and 8 by 52 blend-wise, in the same as the rest of the La Patissier line at Connecticut Broadleaf Wrapper over Nicaraguan Binder, fillers from this place and that place, the MSRP is set at $13 per cigar, not $45. Huh. The cigar won't be available to every retailer that carries a crown hits.

Oh, well, then we'll just move on. Yep. Moving right along. Oh, my goodness.

Gotham Cigars adds five boroughs lines. Gotham Cigars is a Florida-based internet cigar retailer. You familiar with them at all? They're called Gotham?

Gotham, like Batman? I heard them back in the day, man. I heard that name a hundred years ago. They've announced a second series of cigars which say they'll sell to other retailers.

Oh, that's so nice of them. Yes. The new release is called Five Boroughs, another tribute to New York City's Gotham's first line cigars is called Flatbush. There are three different lines of all which are made at Tabla Galera, Pages.

Never heard of them before. Tabla Galera, Pages in Nicaragua. You ever heard of them? Pages?

P-A-G-E-S, Pages. Pages. Huh. They make the 212, the Bowery, the Chelsea, the five boroughs.

Does it taste like dumpster? The Bowery? I don't know, let's rain on and see. The individual line's name won't reference New York City and their dumpsters.

I have a lot more questions. Oh, okay, go ahead. Oh, really? I had a dumpster.

Bowery and Chelsea are neighborhoods in Manhattan, 212. Which one do you want? Bam, you got to go to work? Shh.

More reading. Less talking. I'm supposed to read, but not talk? You know what I mean.

Oh, okay. This is a reflection of what we have learned and honors amazing art that is premium cigar making. We are so proud of these cigars and are anxious for consumers to try them. P.

Corilio's Escapade project is launching November 1st. P. Corilio, who made the Qui-Gon Gennaro, and he made the Qui-Gon Gennaro? Okay, I got that right.

Dubbed Escapade and which was created with the help of consumers is set to launch November 1st. November 1st, what? The consumers made it? Hmm.

And the company is once again asking consumers to help if not only to say we really have too many people working here and we need the people we don't pay to help us make cigars now. Come, all of you. The Escapade Project began over the summer with Ernesto Perez-Carillo Jr. hosting a series of three Zoom sessions with small groups of consumers who had the opportunity to share their preference and ideas for the new blend directly with the cigar maker.

Each session was limited to just 10 participants. Could you imagine if you did that? Mm-mm. Yeah.

A Zoom thing and 10 people tell you what to put in your cigar. It would be 10 different answers. Yeah, you know, here's the thing. I'm a big believer in building the cigar around what you like.

Right. And then... Build the plane that you like on the way down. Yeah.

" Right. And they'll smoke it and they'll continue to smoke it. Interesting. " I'm pretty sure that's what he said.

That's probably a standard response. Right. " You know, I understand that, because a lot of people have those, you know, listen, it's great to have those opinions and stuff, don't give it to me unless I fucking ask, unless we're just having a conversation about something. You get a Zoom specifically to get input.

Ernie did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but Skip did not. No, no, no. Right, that's what I'm saying.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Hey, you should do this. Like, pfft. No.

Yeah. A. and Santiago Dominican Republic. It is important to me that I listen to what our consumers are seeking, said Ernesto Perez-Garellio Jr.

In statement with Escapade Project was announced, "It gives me such a satisfaction to create a blend for others It's one of the best to enjoy around the world. When our consumers expressed that they wanted something lighter, we had one thing to do: lighter. So everybody got lighters? No, no, they want a lighter.

A lighter, a cigar that has less tobacco in it, like the other people. I love the fact that you guys both fucking explained it to me, like I'm an idiot and I have no idea what's going on. It was more for them, Michael. I thought you were just, you know, helping so we could explain it to the crowd.

It's good to know where I stand. The process for Escapade's project sounds familiar because it is fairly similar to that of the Platinum Bash that came out in May of 2023, so apparently he's asking everybody for all his cigars now. Everybody. Everybody.

You get a cigar. You get a cigar. You get a cigar. HVC Black Friday 2023 released update.

Oh. For the 10th edition of its Black Friday series of limited edition cigars, HVC Cigars is releasing its thickest Black Friday cigar to date. A 10x100. No.

Get out of here. The HVC Black Friday 2023 is a $8. A 10x100 for $8. 5x56 Petit Gordo that uses a Mexican San Andreas wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua.

The company says that those Nicaraguan tobaccos are visos and secos, meaning the tobacco come from the lower two-thirds of the plant. They explained it just like we did for you. Oh. Why was it bad what we did for you?

What did you do for me? Well, we explained the lighter for you. No, it's lighter. Right, the less weight.

No, it's for gas. That's how you light the cigar. Well, only the ninth year Black Friday releases is the tenth release in this series. Oh, the tenth.

That's a weird math problem. Yeah. Nine years, ten releases, carry the one, subtract. Oh.

So one year they had two? Who are we talking to over there during the podcast? I'm busy working. Well, we're working here, too.

We're, we're working here too, we'll just call him on the phone, we'll just work. Wait a sec, wait a sec, you had nine releases in 10 years. No, 10, nine releases, 10th release, nine years, 10 releases, yes. Okay, so one year they had two.

Oh, nothing gets past him, does it? He's pretty sharp over there. He's fucking sharp as a tack. Amazing.

How can you have two fucking Black Friday cigars? What are you talking about? There's a new one every year. He just said it was one year.

Right, but one year they did two. No, they didn't. Nine Years, Ten Releases. Hmm, I don't know about that.

I haven't seen-- It's in the story. I haven't seen two. While only the ninth year of Black Friday releases, this is the 10th release. HVC Black Friday 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, and 2023.

So it's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Yeah. There's only nine. Oh, there is a dot here that's something new.

Oh, shit. Oh, God. So, nine releases in 10 years is probably what they meant. Huh?

They probably meant nine releases in 10 years. It says nine years. Which still doesn't make any sense. It says nine years in 10th release.

It's the 10th release in the 10th year. Maybe one year they didn't come out with two. They didn't. Six, six, four.

Oh, 2018, only 150 boxes. Oh, they didn't. Maybe they got a guy extra that year. They didn't count that one?

2017, only 100 boxes. All right. Foundation is shipping... We're going to run the ball.

I'm going to go after them. I can read those other two stories. Foundation. Foundation shipping Churro, Pasquale, and Paganatero.

Paganatero? Paganatero? The Peggy. Paganatero to retailers.

No, it's Pega. Paganatero? Yeah. P-E-G-N-A-T-A-R-O.

P-E-G-N-A-T-A-R-O. P-E-G-N-A-T-A-R-O. P-E-G-A-T-A-R-O. Paganatero.

Two lines for Foundation Cigar Charter Oaks series are on the way to the retailers, the Charter Oak, the one, and the Charter Oak two, we're going to call them. No, no, no, no, same again, same again. Charter Oak. I need to hear, which ones are they?

Pasquale. Pasquale. And the Charter Oak, Pegnateoro. That's it, that's correct.

That's it, that's exactly how you say it, in that, like, in that space. Man, you're on your way. The name there for the grandfathers of the company founder, Nicholas Melillo, both are, that's his grandfather's name? Pasquale, okay, I've heard that name before.

Pasquale. Pasquale. Pagnotero. Yeah.

Pig. Pig. You guys say it like a pig. Pig.

Yeah, it's more like it's a. Like a New England-y thing. No, it's. No, it's.

Like Boston. Like North Dakota. Oh, oh. Oh, pig.

There's people there? Pig. Pig. He uses a Connecticut shade wrapper, while the Charter Oak Pasquale uses a broadleaf wrapper.

Both cigars use Nicaraguan tobacco for the binders and fillers, but the blends are described as being different from one another. They're totally different. Totally different. Just from one another.

They're similar of other people, but they're different from each other. Yeah, they're similar. But different. Not like the Knights of Columbus, which is the same cigar.

The Knights of what? Knights of Columbus. That's Columbus. Well, the Knight Commander.

Winter is coming. Winter is coming. That's the name of the cigar. North of the Wall.

North of the Wall. Each cigar is priced at $13 per cigar and $156 for a box of 12. Production is limited to 500 boxes of each blend on a quarterly basis. That's not bad.

$156 for a box of 12? Yeah. That's pretty good. Works out to $13 per cigar.

Is that okay? Yeah, that's not bad. Listen, that's... look.

Here's the thing. Yes? This is their value cigar, right? The Charter Oak?

Yeah. Yeah. I was surprised it was so expensive. I didn't know that.

Ryan and I were discussing that upstairs. It kind of falls out of that value thing because it's an especial. Now. Right?

Well, isn't there a cigar with a band that's like green and has like a duck on it or something like that? It's got a duck. A duck. A bird on it.

A bird? A bird? - I must be confused. - No, what, what are you talking about?

I'm curious. - What's the one with the green band? - One with the green band? I don't.

Why? - With the football player running? - Foundation doesn't have that? - Foundation has a green band?

- Yeah, I thought they had a green band. - Well, you're sitting over there smoking your cigar, why don't you Google Foundation green banded cigar? - With a duck? - With a duck.

Or a pigeon? - I don't think that exists. - Is that the cuckoo bird? - The cuckoo bird.

Cuckoo bird. That seems like something more like Nick would have would be a cuckoo bird. - I went cuckoo. - Than a duck.

He doesn't leave his office anymore. He just hangs out there. Oh, his fortress, he told us. It's underground or something.

Forges to solitude. Right. Sits there and meditates all day. He eats cigar.

We read that. Recently released Metatapa. Both new Charter Oak blends are rolled at Tabla Calera, AJ Fernandez cigars in Nicaragua. Yeah, the Metatapa is a Sumatra or a Sumatra?

What? It's Sumatra or a Sumatra. I thought it was a Claro and a Maduro. But they're both Sumatra.

Are they really? Yeah. Boy, that's weird. In an announcement published on Cigar Aficionado, who also didn't pick up my story, Foundation confirmed that boxes of both cigars begin shipping on Monday.

We have them here. They are available upstairs for purchase. They are available upstairs. I was confused.

No, it was the Menelik, but that's not the one I was talking about. Oh, that's a cross. There's no duck on the Menelik. No duck, no pigeon, no cuckoo bird.

No cuckoo bird. That used to be his event-only cigar. The cuckoo bird? No, the Menelik.

The Menelik? Now it's in the production because why make cigars that I'm giving away for free? I can charge people for them. Everybody wants them.

Everybody wants them. All right, we've got a Florida story. Then we're going to call somebody and ask them why they didn't take the story. Perfect.

Let's call Coop. Let's start at the top and work our way now. Oh, yes. He won't answer.

Oh. Okay, call... Aaron Newman. Smoking Tobacco.

Now, they don't really cover that stuff. They're more just a reviewer. Oh. I gave him a pass.

Oh, Smoking Tobacco. Aaron Newman and John McTavish. Yeah, they're a review site. They're a review site.

We like them too. Yeah, we like them. They gave us shirts. Of course, Coop gave us shirts too.

Oh, we should burn those next week. On the show? Sure. Like in here?

Well, we'll do it out there. Okay. All right. Florida man finds iguana in his toilet, claims he doesn't know how it got there.

Interesting. Hollywood, Florida. Imagine waking up to find a large iguana in your toilet. That was the reality for Florida resident Gary Greenspan, who found an iguana in his toilet Saturday morning.

I don't know if it was just looking for a spa day or what, but it's huge, and I don't know how it got there. You think that's how he talks down in, where is it, Hollywood? I saw a picture of it. But it's huge.

Greenspan said in a video he recorded of the animal, Greenspan said he called a friend in animal control for help, removing the iguana and releasing it back into the, wow, not the toilet. Oh. I guess you can't just flush that. It's kind of big.

It's an iguana. Those things are violent as fuck, they can whip the shit out. Yeah. It was a James Bond movie where the bad guy had an Iguana tail as the whip that he beat people with.

Really? Yep. James Bond. It's a James Bond movie.

My Iguana whip. Right. I saw the photo. I don't know how it got in there either because it wasn't going to fit down the hole.

It didn't come out the hole. Well, so here's probably what usually happens when something like that occurs. Are you going to talk to us like we're stupid? I actually learned this this week.

It's pretty fascinating. They're probably thirsty. Uh-oh. Oh, what is it?

He let this door open. Hey, we're podcasting. - Oh, alright. - Brittany, can you believe nobody picked up the story about me on social media, on Cigar Media?

- What? - Yeah, don't listen to him. - How can I help? - Don't wait, he's rambling, he's old.

- Oh. Red light's not working. - Red light's not working, yeah. - Damn.

- I did a long one on Sunday. - I had a lot of free time. - Teddy's Parade's tomorrow morning at 9:30. - We're all going!

- Oh, perfect. Okay. I mean, I don't think it's a big deal, you know, over there, so, alright? Alrighty.

Alright, love you. Love you too. Just so you know, Phil, we're not doing a Patreon tomorrow morning. I wouldn't think it was going to be in the morning anyway.

Where's the parade at? At the school. Oh, not like down a certain street? No.

Oh. They just marched through the office. Oh, really? The little kids marched through the office.

Oh, then we can't go. Oh. That's all I got? That's all I got?

You got a shop of the week? No, so here's what happens with the, with, with the iguanas in the toilet. Yeah, so, apparently, if you have like trees that go over your roof, yeah, they can fall into the vent, okay, and fall all the way down. Oh, you mean like the poop vent?

Yeah, ah, and then fall into the, oh, he didn't say he looked up to see if the vent was open. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, that's a thing.

I would imagine. It's more common with frogs, apparently. You should always leave it on, then. If you found a frog in your toilet.

Right. You would think it could swim up and the frogs are smaller. Yeah. Hmm.

Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Do you know tarantulas keep frogs as pets?

Tarantulas keep frogs? There's a certain tarantula that keeps a frog as a pet, and it gets all the other bugs from getting on their eggs. You need to stop watching Netflix. I wasn't on Netflix.

Where did you find that? I don't get Netflix again. I'm not a fire station anymore. Apparently, they found out.

They figured it out. They figured out I wasn't a fire station. So, again, now they're wanting money. Well, I have a Shop of the Week for you.

Oh, Shop of the Week. Robusto's in Dearborn, Michigan. Like, oh, no. Sorry, somebody changed my thing.

That's where the gong was. Oh, there it is. Oh, you passed it. And where is it?

Robusto's in Dearborn. Robusto's in Dearborn. Dear Boyd. That's Harry Berry's place.

Harry Berry! Oh, Harry Berry! Harry Berry! Did he pick up the cigars?

He did. Oh! We love Harry Berry! Such a nice shop.

Yeah. Looks just like Tabacababa or whatever. What's that? Tobacco.

Tobacco. Tobacco. Tobacco. Tobacco.

Tobacco. Tobacco. Tobacco. I found a new shop on Instagram that looks nice down there, called Vine and Ash.

Really? Oh, yeah? It's very fancy looking. And we did open up a local place, Blend and Barrel, or not Blend and Barrel, the wine, Hefe.

City Wine Cigar. Oh, City Wine. We did open up a Hefe too. What's the other place?

City Wine and Cigars. City Wine and Cigars. City Wine and Cigars. Pedro, you can go there now too.

I heard it's right by your house. Yes. Did they place their order? Yeah, they came and picked it up and everything.

Oh, so they did show up Thursday. Yeah. Oh, it's nice. Yeah.

Is there a thing? It did a thing? We got to work out a date, but yeah, there will be a thing. Nice.

It was in like December or something. Yeah, whenever they want. Okay. That's cool because it's local.

Yeah, I like working with local shops. Yeah. That's fantastic. Let's see.

Do I have a listener of the week? Do, do, do, do, do, do. Hold on. I have a listener of the week.

I have a listener of the week. You do? I have one. I have one.

It's definitely not going to be Coop. My Coop. Jason Hawkins! Whoa!

Jason Haugen, your Lizard of the Week, sir. Congratulations. If you would like, I will make you this Cracked JFR Suga. Previously smoked.

Previously smoked. By the BDP. By the BDP. Or you might get the one from the King.

You don't know. We'll, we'll fucking play Rush and Relash. By greatness. BDP.

It probably gets some spit on it. You can make your own BDP if you want. It's got my DNA on it. You can make your own BDP.

All right. And we have solidified Jason Jackson from Romacraft for next week's show. Oh. That's exciting.

He's out with Skip and Mike today or would have done today. It'll be the first interview. Yes, yes. I told him the Roma fans need to be introduced to him.

We need to know who he is. Yes. Because he's just out here. Yes.

I was friends with him on Facebook, didn't even know who he was. Oh, I sent a friend request after... Oh, I wish him happy birthday. After our...

Still didn't know. After our special detective. Oh, after our group found him? Yes.

After Interpol. Yes, Interpol. Discovered. Cigar Hustler Podcast, Interpol.

Yes. Let him down for us. This is the guy. This is the gentleman you're looking for.

I turned the timer off. We're only like 40 minutes. Yeah, who are we calling? Call somebody, Michael.

Pick somebody at random. You don't want to? Call somebody. Okay, you don't have to.

Nobody knows. I got to connect to it. Alright, don't bother. No, you know what?

I'll tell you. We'll just wrap this up. Do it. We're not fucking leaving.

We're not fucking leaving. I'm going to call Nick Malillo real quick, because he'll probably be in a meeting. He's like, oh, he doesn't care about my promotion. She would've told me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Oh, is that what you care about? No, no, I wouldn't call anybody you want. No, that's what he cares about. No, no, it's fine.

No, that's, he said it. I made my statement, I slighted everyone as the group, so I don't care. I mean, we can call Monado, but he'll be a dick. Yeah, no, he'll be a dick, I don't care.

I'm gonna wear, I'm gonna get a shirt for the PCA. We can call Matt Tai. Yes. Oh, yeah, we can call Matt Tai.

Is that Matt Tai, or is that Nick Malillo? It's Nick Malillo. He's not gonna answer though. Matt Tai has a show tonight, he might still cover it.

We can get a mention now. We're not fucking leaving. We're not fucking leaving. Can he start releasing his phone number again?

You agree. This is Nick Malillo. Nicholas Malillo at Foundation Cigar Company. I can't get to the phone right now, but please leave your name, a brief message, and a callback number.

He's in trouble. And I will get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day. You think in your fortress of solitude you'd have the ability to answer the phone whenever I call?

He might have the big door shut and then the cell. Yeah, it doesn't get reception? Or he's going down the slide. You think he's going down the slide?

Yeah, that could be it. I wonder if he's doing a meeting prep for the meeting. Yes. Is he in the optimization meeting?

Are you in the lead optimization of timing meeting? Have you been bought by STG? Yeah, is that happening? Preacquisition.

Is this going on? So thanks so much for getting back to us again, Nick. Yeah, from last week. It's great talking with you.

Thanks so much. Did you get the text message that says, "I'm on a Zoom"? I'm zooming. I'm zooming right now.

I can't answer. Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom. Well, let's put Matt's high on the chat box. All right, let's put Matt's high on the chat box.

Zoom, zoom, zoom. Did they release stories during the week, though? Well, we'll ask him if it's going to be covered. We'll ask him.

Good idea. When did we release that? But we released it over a week ago. It was last week.

It was middle of last week. Middle of last week? Plenty of time. But their show's on Monday, so they would have missed it last week.

hello hello oh is this matt ty from how about that cigar i i hope so hey welcome to a cigar hustles podcast how are you oh i'm doing just fine how are you i just cherish the fact that we call random people at random moments on this show it's i love it i absolutely love it i absolutely I absolutely love it too. Are you at work? Do you have to go like hide in the toilet or something? You know, do we need to give you a second?

Do you need to say important things into the phone? Like, buy this, sir, right away or whatever. I'm in my home office and I have all the time in the world for you guys. Oh, that's so lovely.

Oh, that's nice. So listen, we did a press release last week. We just want to make sure that you received it. Did you receive it?

I did receive it, absolutely. Is that something that you're going to cover on How About That Cigar? Yeah, will that be mentioned this evening on the show? We're just kind of curious.

Well, so on our website, you guys may or may not know this, on our website about, I don't remember when it was, maybe a year and a half ago, we made the decision to stop publishing press releases because we, since we all, you know, work regular jobs, And we came to the decision, okay, we were missing some press releases, like we weren't publishing all of them, so to be fair, until we have the time to publish every press release, we're going to publish no press releases. So one person, Chis or Prants, we all wear diapers? Is that what I'm hearing? That's what I'm hearing.

Right. Nailed it. Nailed it. Okay, so, so look, so you got to let him off the hook.

You got to let him off the hook. Well, I said he's not really a print guy, so I did. So I did, we did say it before we called, but we knew you would answer, so we knew you would answer. Oh yeah.

I mean, if, if, if I get a call from Palmer or, or the King, I'm, I'm answering the phone. Seriously. You're an amazing person. If you could just mention it to Steve Sakka tonight when he's on your show.

How about that cigar has Steve Sakka on tonight? Oh, well, it's actually last night because it's released tomorrow. Oh, that's right. So now you gotta go back and listen to it last year.

Go back and listen to yesterday's show. Yeah. I talked to him today, by the way. Steve Sakka?

Yeah. Oh, I told, I got an email from him on Friday. Oh, nice. And Matt's going to speak to him tonight, right?

Yeah, it's going to be a good time, always, when he's on the show, we learn a lot, and we're going to take some deep dives into some of the more untalked-about aspects of making premium cigars, some of the subjects that people don't like talking about. Oh. You know, he invented cigars, if you ask him to tell you. How long is the show?

Five hours. Well, I told Steve, I commented on one of Steve's posts today. Because Steve was kind enough to repost it on Facebook, and I commented and I said, I promise to keep it under four hours. Under four hours.

No, it won't be, it won't be that long of a show, but I mean, when you get, when you get people like, I mean, there's a small list of people you guys know that if you get them talking, they just keep talking. And it's great because they have a lot of good knowledge to share, but if we have Steve Sock on the show, it's going to be a longer show. If we have Skip Martin on the show, it's going to be a longer show. So, and we just, we prepare for that and we love it because they have a lot of good info to share.

Yeah. I mean, that was going to be my question. Out of the two hour show or three hour show, however long you go, how many sentences do you think you're going to get? I'm just going to, you know, six?

Oh, it's basically just the intro and the outro. Welcome to, and thank you for listening. Don't forget your sponsors, you gotta do your sponsored ads. Well, yeah, the sponsors, we definitely gotta pay the bills, but otherwise, we just let the guests go where they're gonna go.

Excellent. Do you have a new sidekick now? Raul Ramos is the official, officially announced. I didn't send a press release.

We would have covered it here on the show for you. We covered everybody's press release. It was officially announced. I mean, he's been the co-host for about the last eight episodes or so, and it was officially announced on last week's show that he is the full-time co-host of How About That Cigar Live, along with our fantastic producer, Justin.

Yes, he's the best. His beard seems like it's gotten fuller lately. Really? His beard is taking over the studio, bro.

Yeah, I like that. It's gotten quite fluffy. It's very nice. Yeah, he has literally not trimmed it at all since January 1st.

Oh, wow. All right. Yeah. Yeah, he looks like a homeless guy, but a nice homeless guy.

A lovely homeless man. Oh, I see. Is he cutting the hair on his head, or is he letting that go, too? No, he typically just shaves that.

Oh. Like the caddy from Happy Gilmore. All right. Right.

Yeah. Well, Mr. Tai, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate you answering the phone for us, as always.

Absolutely. You are a great person. We love you too. All right.

Well, good luck on the show tonight. I hope it goes well. Yes. Congrats on 300 plus episodes and just keep them coming.

We love what you guys do. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. We love you too, buddy.

Take it easy. All right. Take care, fellas. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. You want me to call Smokin' Tobacco?

Yes. Should they cover that? Yes. They have a new website.

Yes. How much time we have? What time are we at? 52.

Alright, we're good. We got one more in us. We're not fucking leaving. He's gotta be working.

This guy's gotta be working. Yeah, these guys all have day jobs. Let's see. We're working.

I think he works in a cigar shop, though. Smoking tobacco. We're all working. Palmer's definitely working.

I stop at one. And now we're rolling. I want somebody to lose their minds on us. I want somebody to be like, you know what, fuck you guys.

But that's never gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. Please.

Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. That was sent. The person you're trying to reach is not available. Start the narrative.

Please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up. No problem. Hey, this message is for Matt Tobacco.

This is Mike and... Mike. And... Boots.

Phil. To hell. From the Cigar Hustlers podcast. Yeah.

You always say that you want to be on the show. Here was your opportunity and you decided not to answer. So I don't know what the hell's going on and what you're doing. What are you doing?

That's more important than us. Yeah. But... This answers a lot of questions for us.

We know exactly where we stand with you. So... Oh, wait. Coop's calling my phone.

Okay, let's go. We gotta hang up on him and talk to Coop. All right, Matt. Take care.

Wow. Oh, man, you guys put me on the spot. A. Boot.

Doesn't even know. I'm cutting that out. I don't know at the time, but I'm gonna cut that out. Don't cut it out.

I'm gonna put in the word boots. Or Phil. Phil. Phil.

Come on, call, what, you wanna call Coop? He won't answer. No, that's all, he won't answer. We're good.

He's selling Xerox copiers or something. Call three people. Alright, let's wrap it up. This has been episode 305.

I didn't know going over 300 was such a big deal. You know, when you're of champion caliber, it means nothing. We're just rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin'. You know, we're looking for Guy Fieri numbers.

At this point, you can listen to, when we hit 365, you can cover an episode. We'll upload every single day for an entire year, that's what we'll do. Oh! Yeah, exactly.

That'll be, okay, we'll do something at 360. Yeah. But if you think about it, it's 60 more weeks. That's another year.

Yeah, yeah. So, I won't remember. We got more time. Oh.

Plenty of time. Yeah. Plenty of time, right. I don't have that much more time, Mike.

You think it's limited? Well, it's more limited than two of you. You think so? Well, he's got a lot of bags.

He's not that healthy anymore. He's not healthy. He's a guy's stressed out of his mind. A lot of stress.

Yeah. Comes in eating candy. to us on the stress level. Comes in eating candy and everything.

He's rubbing his eyes. Oh my goodness. Rocking in the chair like Grandpa. I'm rubbing my eyes because that fucking cigar, two puffs, all that shit.

It's like five cigars. Wow. Okay. Alright, whatever.

Whatever you say. Alright guys, thank you very much. We gotta go. Monkey's gotta get out of here.

Yes sir. Gotta work. Bye. Bye.

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Show Notes

In this episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, we dive into the world of cigars, where diversity is not only about rich blends and aromas but also about the voices that represent the industry. Mike "BDP" Palmer's recent promotion to Director of Social Media at Cigar Hustler has made waves, with some media outlets remaining silent and others acknowledging the achievement.

We discuss how Cigar Inspector, a platform committed to celebrating diverse voices and recognizing significant developments in the cigar world, stood out by embracing and endorsing Mike "BDP" Palmer's promotion. This move highlights the importance of inclusivity and supporting various voices within the cigar industry.

In addition to this insightful discussion on diversity in the cigar community, we also cover some exciting industry news, including United Cigars creating special boxes for Veterans Day, Pat Potter's restructuring of Tabac Trading Co.'s ownership, and the arrival of Le Pâtissier No. 2 in stores. Gotham Cigars has also added a new 5 Boroughs line to their collection.

We take a look at E.P. Carrillo's Escapade Project launching on November 1st, the release of HVC Black Friday 2023, and Foundation shipping Charter Oak Pasquale & Pegnataro to retailers.

To add a bit of humor to the episode, we share a quirky news story about a Florida man finding an unexpected guest in his toilet – an iguana! Join us in celebrating the diversity that makes the world of cigars vibrant and exciting and explore the latest developments in the cigar community. Cheers to inclusivity, recognition, and unity in the world of cigars!