Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 316 The Cigar Guys
Episode Summary
Episode 316 opens with Mike Steponkevich (The King), Mike "BDP" Palmer and Phil running through a loose weekly catch-up: a missing hat from the Down to Herf crew (Jerry calls in mid-show from snowed-in Buffalo), a Buccaneers playoff game Mike attended with his friend Chris and his kids, Phil's Dolphins season ending, Patreon automatically deleting back-catalog episodes after a year, and Mike's ongoing weight loss, red-light therapy and workout routine.
The meatiest front-half segment is a candid gripe about halfwheel's annual Consensus rankings. Mike explains that after Palmer had spent part of the year scoring cigars, he learned retailers are barred from participating, and that Charlie Minato declined to include their data even with Mike's own scores removed. Mike's counterargument: many participating media outlets take marketing money from the brands they score, which he argues is a far bigger bias problem than a retailer voting. He also predicts the usual suspects — Aganorsa, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, Tatuaje — will again dominate the list, and gives a shout-out to Mitchell of Smoking Tabacco for ranking a Cigar Hustler cigar at No. 13.
The second half is a long interview with Alex and Jared Burroughs of The Cigar Guys podcast, who also own Basis Cigar. They cover their first year both as a media outlet and as a brand: the grind of cold-calling retailers, why they batch travel (New York wedding turning into a JR Cigars podcast taping in New Jersey), and their goal of going from 10 accounts to 60 by year's end. Standout stories include a shop owner who demanded consignment plus 30-day terms, and another who interrogated them about exact ligero and San Andrés leaf provenance before condescendingly asking if they knew what a Boveda pack was — sparking a good discussion with Mike about how much leaf minutiae actually matters to consumers.
They also talk about the retailers who've done right by them: Jimmy and Matt at Celery City Cigars, Blend & Barrel in Sanford, and Don Cristo Cigar Room near Detroit, where an Albanian connection helped them outsell Padrón for a stretch. The conversation closes on why small, curated humidors beat being one of 300 brands in a giant chain humidor, their plan to attend PCA as media rather than exhibitors, respect for Don Patel and Richard at Cigars on the Ave, and Mike's story about converting a stubborn regular into a box buyer by simply handing him a free cigar.
In This Episode
- 01Weekly banter and the missing hatMike, Palmer and Phil open with group-chat drama over a hat Jerry from Down to Herf never delivered, plus a surprise live call-in from Jerry in snowbound Buffalo.
- 02Bucs game, Dolphins misery and offseason talkMike recaps taking Chris and his kids to a Buccaneers game and ending up on TV, while Phil mourns the Dolphins and picks the Lions.
- 03Patreon archive purgeThe hosts explain why older Patreon episodes are disappearing and why they're fine keeping only the last handful up.
- 04halfwheel Consensus and media biasMike details being excluded from halfwheel's Consensus as a retailer and argues that media outlets taking brand marketing money are the real conflict of interest.
- 05Meet The Cigar Guys and Basis CigarAlex and Jared Burroughs introduce their one-year-old podcast and their brand, Basis Cigar.
- 06Worst retailer meetingsConsignment-plus-terms demands, ego-driven shop owners, and the infamous 'do you know what a Boveda pack is?' encounter.
- 07Leaf transparency and what consumers actually care aboutA discussion of ligero, San Andrés sourcing and why disclosing exact leaf and vintage matters far less than consistent quality.
- 08Growing a young brand: accounts, events and PCAFrom 10 retailers to a 60-account goal, why small curated humidors outperform giant chain humidors, and their plan to work PCA as media.
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
All right, Phil, go ahead, Phil. Hello, peoples. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, Episode 316. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the number one cigar podcast with the world's famous cast, 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 Steponkevich, and Director of Social Media for Cigar Hustler, Mike BDP Palmer, are 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 the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Switch the cameras.
Now go to camera two. There you go. There you go. I don't know what I'm doing.
Well, Phil never does. Phil, I got to tell you, I don't know if you took your multivitamins this morning or whatever, something, whatever's different. That had to be the most captivating intro that we have done in the history of this podcast. You know, this little microphone thing's not bad.
Yeah. Without the big arm thing. Now we're going back to that. We might go back to these.
Now you're going back to that. Maybe. After all this time. All this time.
You can see me. I'm looking through your equipment. We might. Okay.
Camera one, camera two. Did you guys give me a cigar or no? No. I don't ever get a cigar.
I give you a cigar upstairs. I give you a cigar upstairs. Can somebody send me some cigars? Jerry sent some hats.
Didn't send us any, just send them to Jerry. Some hats, cigars, anything? Just send me anything. yeah i'm reading them the riot act in the um and like we have a down to her group chat with you know me geo i guess you're not i guess i'm not in it you're not part of it i'm not part of that uh i'm gonna add you right now oh just so i know what's going on yeah i'm gonna keep you because when they talk to me they do tell me hey we were talking to mikey the other day and i'm like oh right okay i'm going to add you right now is phil part of the uh group chat yep it's me jerry and geo and phil yeah oh nice i'm gonna add mike palmer done now you're in it thank you very much yep all right people so i asked for uh i asked for a a hat yes yeah i understand they they at phil's house apparently it was shipped to them and i'm and i'm fucking livid about this oh because they went to phil's house yeah because I've wanted to give this guy this hat forever.
Like before Christmas. Oh, it's been that long? Yeah. Oh.
I would know I wasn't part of the group chat. And I'm like, well, this wasn't part of the group chat. Like, I reached out to Jerry personally. Oh, I gotcha.
And he's like, oh, yeah, bro. I'm gonna send it. I'm gonna send it. I said, it's funny.
If I fucking operated like that when you guys needed something, and I had to handle some shit. Yeah, I sent the check pretty quick. You know, you guys would lose your I don't know your fucking mind. Yes, that's true.
So, the fuck is this about, man? So, as we're going back and forth, you know, they have little smart comments to respond. Yes. " Oh.
All of a sudden, not feeling it. Slight delay. Well, they do have four feet of snow up there now, but that doesn't cover 'em Christmas. Yeah.
Yeah, they haven't gotten mail. When I talked to Jerry over the weekend, they have not received mail in four days. It's been over a month. Well, no, no.
That does not excuse the December. I guess they just got the snow. Imagine shipping an order. Imagine placing an order for a product or like, you know.
Oh, and it doesn't, you know, we'll send it. I'm gonna, I've been really busy. I'm so busy. Like, ugh, so much going on.
So much going on. So many crackheads that I got to arrest. Right, Phil? that will be on the board by the way okay don't talk for me can we just get a clean laugh real quick there phil perfect that's amazing so we got a couple things we want to cover really quick and we're going to do an interview here yes we have a um the cigar guys cigar guys cigar boys yeah I don't know.
I don't know. I better figure that out before they get here. The Albanians. The Albanian.
Only one of them, apparently, is Albanian. Oh, yeah? The other ones are by injection? I don't know.
Mm-hmm. So, first of all, once I went to the Bucks game. Yes. What are you smoking?
Aroma De Cuba Reserva. Oh. That's a new one from the blue box? No, because it's purple.
I don't know. Reps upstairs. Oh, yeah, you fist bumped me. Didn't have a cigar in the sand.
Weasel game, homie. What's up? I don't really like much of his stuff. So, the Bucs game was fantastic.
Yeah. You took the doctor, I saw? I took the doctor. " I didn't know if I was going to go to this game.
Right. Oh, that's right, you talked about that. Yeah, I was back and forth about going. Right.
And for whatever reason, it clicked in my head that I haven't gone to a game with Chris. That's kind of a thing. Like, I like to bring him. Haven't you?
You have before. You just met recently. Like, this season. Oh, gotcha.
So, I messaged him like, "Hey, we didn't go to a Bucs game this season. " Right? And then I told him to bring his son. I told him to bring Landon.
So, Landon's not a huge football guy. He's a shocker. I'll tell you right now, after that game, he's a football fan. Is he?
Oh my God, what an amazing game. Was he sitting next to you? Yeah, yeah. So, Jax, I'm...
Jack's was one further down. Jacks likes to go all the way to the left, because usually they throw beads and stuff, and he likes the dry bag for the tchotchkes. Ah, weasel. Yeah.
So we made... Tchotchke weasel. He's a tchotchke weasel. Right.
So we made the television. I saw the photos. I saw, so there was a camera there. That's why I asked you if Landon was on the other side, because there is one photo of, from the thing, there's one photo of Landon is yelling.
He's yelling like you and Chris are yelling. Yeah. Then there's another one where he looks extremely scared looking up at you. Oh, I shouldn't be scared.
He's on my side. I know, but you're very passionate. I am very passionate. You might've scared of a little at the thing.
But the gorilla yell and the beating of the chest and stuff. Yeah. But, you know, there was no beating on the chest. There was no gorilla yelling.
I'm not sure if I like this. I can't decide. But Chris was, I don't like him. But Chris was pumped.
He was, he had a great time. Oh, yeah. He looks like he's bolted up something since I saw him last. I don't know.
I don't think so. I think it's just the shirt. Maybe the jersey with the hoodie under it? Yeah.
I think he was layered. Gotcha. So, what was I gonna say? So, yeah, man, we had an awesome time, you know, and this camera comes up to us as they score their last touchdown and stuff, and Chris doesn't even see the camera.
He's just losing his mind. He's a huge Bucks fan. So I see the camera, and then the camera goes away, and I go, we may be on TV. Like, we'll know in a second.
And then like, and then a few minutes later, all of a sudden, the texts are coming in. Your phone starts going, hey, are you at the game? Are you at the game? Are you at the game?
Text messages, you know, Instagram, Facebook message, all of it. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't remember who got the photo, but that was nice of him to do that. Who got the photo?
Somebody took a photo of the TV with you on it. That's what I saw. And put it on Facebook and tagged you. They fucking tagged you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's three photos. Yeah. Oh, no, there's a video and two photos.
Brittany put the video up. Oh, I didn't see hers. I didn't realize all those people tagged on me. I need your lighter.
I'm a terrible person. Phil, sorry to hear about your dolphins, buddy. Well, you know, that's where it goes. He kept saying Saturday night he was cold.
He was cold? No, that's why they lost. They got ripped off. They should have canceled the game.
It should have canceled. It should have been in warm temperate level. It should have been perfect situation. Yeah.
With all the healthy players. And I think we might, may have, possibly, could have won. Oh. Possibly.
That would have been delicious. Yeah, it's okay, because I'm selling all my dolphin gear. Oh, you are? Oh, wow.
Yeah, I have a jersey for sale if anybody wants it. What is it, does it say Phil on it, or what's it say? Yes, industry. Oh, it says industry on the back, yeah.
Nice. Well, we're gonna miss that, you know. Who are you gonna root for now? Well, I'll probably just, I don't know.
I'll probably go for the Lions, most likely. Yeah, oh, the Lions. Yeah. You know, Chet, my, you know, Chet, my buddy, he really likes those guys.
He's a big Lions fan? Yeah, he's from Detroit and stuff, so, you know. And you want to support Chet? Oh, that's nice.
Yeah, I mean, because you know, I mean, the Bucs are good. They don't, they don't need another one. So we'll give it to Detroit. Detroit definitely needs one.
I could tell you that much. So there's something I want to talk about. I want to talk about it briefly. Okay.
Because I need to give you time. To do whatever it is that you're about to mention. To kind of process it. Okay.
Because you're not going to like this. Oh, great. So, oh, then I have something to announce too, but go ahead. Sorry.
I just wanted to put that up in my head, so I wouldn't remember. No, no, no. You go ahead. No, I got mine.
Go ahead. Oh. Apparently, after a year, Patreon starts deleting back up. We had a full year up there, and now they're making room on their servers, and they take the old ones down.
Yeah. So that's what's going on to the Patreon people, just so you know why they're disappearing. Well, we need to regulate that anyways. We need to bring that down.
Yes. So I would prefer. You would prefer. Well, they're doing it anyway.
They're doing so many at a time. All right. Because we had them up from February of last year, and now it's almost February. Did we do the thank you for the Patreon thing in the beginning of this?
No, we didn't because we jumped right in. I can do it on the other half if you want. Oh, okay. We jumped right into it.
This is thrown together very quickly. So, the reality is that we're gonna keep like five episodes up. Right, yeah, they would prefer that anyway, I think. Yeah, yeah.
They're getting quite big. Their new website looks amazing. We wanna, yeah. That's just the reality of things.
Right. We don't wanna have full access to that. We say some shit on there. We haven't in a long time, though.
We used to. Oh, we used to all the time. First of all, if there's over a year worth of data on that thing right now, there's definitely some shit that we've said on there, without question. Problem is, we put two shows up every week.
So it's double. That's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot. So listen.
Yes. Half Wheel announces the general consensus. Yes. And you have worked all year?
Well, I stopped halfway through. Oh, you did? Yeah. Okay.
So I looked at the rules, and if you own a retail shop, you're not allowed to be part of the consensus. Oh, then we couldn't anyway. So I reached out to Charlie. I said, "Hey, Palmer's been working on this.
I knew you were working on it. " I said, "Palmer's been working on this. you know, if I'm excluded from it, like we could, he could remove me from the data. Would you consider still doing?
Well, they're about to announce it. So wouldn't it be too late to send it to him? No, you have until the 20th to submit it. Oh, I said, you know, would you consider it?
He goes, no. I'm like, well, that's kind of odd. Why? Like why?
And without naming names, he's like, well, I've had things in the past where, you know, there are other media sources that make their own cigars, whatever. And, you know, they wind up ranking. There's obviously high and, you know, and I said, okay, I mean, I guess I kind of see your point. Like, I mean, for me, my cigars are the best, right?
I feel that way. I believe in them. So yeah, I'm going to rank them high. I don't think we did many.
Uh, we probably every time I said, I said that we skipped them. And I said, we, but we didn't, I don't, I'm pretty sure we didn't review ours and, But it's still fucked. Even if we were removed ours. Right.
That's fucked up. Like that ain't right. Why would I remove mine if I thought that mine were the fucking best? True.
And then I said, well, you know, I don't mean to nitpick here, but if we're looking at general consensus of people, right, and we want an unbiased opinion, well, is it people or other, it's all the shows, the shows or whatever. Are these shows taking marketing money from other? Oh, good point. Because wouldn't that be a But couldn't that potentially make a biased decision?
Sure. I would say probably 80 or 90 percent of the time. Oh yeah. Because you don't want to low score your sponsor.
The dude is paying you. Right. Right. So, I don't understand how, and I guess maybe we can just end the conversation here, but I didn't know if you wanted to have time to retort, but like, so I don't understand how we are They're excluded in that scenario, but these other guys can be included no problem, even though they're being funded by these brands.
Makes sense, right. They're being funded. We're not being funded. Right.
Yeah. Right. Anybody. Right.
Right. So, like, if I had a top 10, I mean, first of all, I gave out my top 10. You did your top 10. Yeah.
Yeah. Right. And that was just me. But that isn't our general consensus from our Patreon.
No. That isn't the score of three of us smoking a cigar together and coming to a conclusion. Right. And we're excluded.
Hmm. So what was his final decision? No. The answer is no.
Oh. Yeah. You know, but I was fighting for you. I wasn't, you know what I mean?
Because you thought it went to all the work. Yeah. It became too much with everything else I had going on and it just, it was, you know, something that just went to the side. Yeah.
I mean, for me, it's, you know, it's awesome if they would have included it. Right. Great. Because, you know.
Do they label the vote or do they say who all voted or just from the consensus of the media people? I don't remember how he does it. I don't think so. So I can tell you that the general consensus will show some Roma.
I can tell you the general consensus will show some Sokka. Sokka will be high again. And I think that... He got their, what, customer choice or whatever the hell it was?
On Dojo? Yeah. No, no, no, he did on Half-Wheel. Oh.
And then I think that... Micarita Black, I believe. You'll sprinkle in a few Tatuajes here and there. And the consensus will continue to be the same thing over and over again every single year.
So these are the ones that other shows have rated? Mm-hmm. Gotcha. Has anybody reviewed any of your cigars last year?
Somebody had to, didn't they? I'm sure some people did. I think Development Pallates did. Yeah, but we kind of fell to the wayside.
Like, I did that post this week, I said, "Hey, listen, don't worry about it. " You made number 13 on Mitchell's Santiago, or whatever his name is, from Smoking Tobacco. Oh, Mitchell Santiago? Out of Mitchell's.
Matthew Tobacco? No, no, not him, the other guy on the show, Mitchell. Oh. I like Mitchell.
Number 13. Mitchell, you're all right. You're Connecticut. Oh, look at that.
I tagged you. I don't know. But it was at three o'clock this morning, when I saw it. I got 75,000 tags too, man.
Well, you think you don't at least see mine. If you just bring it to my attention, that'd be great. Well, that's what I just did. I just did.
I do my best. I do my best. I just did that. I try and repost as many things as possible when people are smoking Posania.
Right. I do. We are quite busy with it. People tag us every time they smoke a Posania.
I love it. They tag me, you, B-Dog, I think maybe Chet, Edka, everybody. Please don't stop. I love it.
Oh, no, no, no, don't stop. I'm not complaining by any means. Tag industry too. Tag industry.
And Cigar Hustler Industry. So yeah, I mean, I thought that that was interesting. I don't, I can't, couldn't believe that that was removed from the equation for the general consensus. It was just a way for them to remove us.
Nobody likes us. No, I don't think that it was us. I think that we're the only one that it affected. No, who else didn't?
I'm not going to put somebody on blast like that. Well, what other show? I'll put them on blast on the Patreon. There are other shows, buddy.
Yeah, but what other shows are retailers? They exist. Maybe I don't watch them. What?
Maybe I just don't watch those shows. No, I mean, I think that you're just missing. You are well aware of who they are. Oh.
You're just not thinking about them. You're just not thinking about them. Gotcha. So.
All right, I don't like this now. Too many wires. It's very interesting. That was it.
You loved it for about 10 seconds. Yeah. I like that you can see me, but hi. But it's too much.
It may just matter getting used to. And I don't have my pan because this was set up for the second portion of the show. What pan? What's a pan?
My smoking, my frying pan. Oh. I set it up for them. That's not a frying pan?
No. They don't get to use my pots and pans. They don't get to use your pots and pans? They don't get to fuck with my pots and pans.
They don't get to fuck with your pots and pans. My pan is over there with the industry today. Industry? You mean Phil?
Phil, yeah. Sorry, Phil. Did you red light today? I did, matter of fact.
You did? Yes. It was long because I lost track. I was waiting on Jet to show up.
It was extra red light. Yes. Uh, do you wear eye protection when you do yours? I do.
It says to, but I don't. Like, my wife's got that mask, she can't wear eye protection, so I figure what's the difference? I mean, there's eye holes. Yeah, but that's not direct contact into her eyes.
Well, it's, you know, this far away. You probably don't want to do that. I figured I'm old when my eyes are going to get worse. You should just wear sunglasses or something.
Well, they scent safety glasses. So where are the sunglasses? But I can't see the phone and the TV that I piddle around with while I'm doing it. Just take a nap.
I don't know. Naps are good. Yeah, but I do it in the morning after I work out. Okay.
Right before I leave, actually. Why do you do it before you work out? Because I have a set system set up now of everything that I do, and I have to do it in order, because that's the way I work. That's how it works?
That's the way I work. Interesting. You do your little punchy thing now, don't you? Yes, for the last three weeks, I've been doing the punchy thing, yes.
What is the punchy thing? It's a, um, it's the thing that you hang on the wall, and you follow the lights, and you punch where the light is. So it's a hand-eye coordination thing, and it's got to be doing something to my shoulders, because, but I don't punch it really hard. No.
Yeah, they say you're not supposed to. You don't have to. Beat it through the wall. Yeah, you don't want to break it.
Right. But you're down like 20 pounds? I am down 20 pounds. You announced it.
You made it Facebook official. You announced it on Facebook. I figured that way, I'll keep going. The COVID was a nice jumpstart to the...
The COVID, when you were sick? When I was sick, because I wasn't eating, so it was a nice little jumpstart on the weight loss. Get you going. I just kept it up, yeah.
I started adding the exercise and eating better. My problem was when I'd get done here in the afternoon, I would snack almost from the minute I walked in the house till dinner. Right. And now you don't do that?
Now I don't do that, no. New year, new year, buddy. That's right. That's what I'm trying.
Maybe I can live another five, six years. Get another five out of it. Yeah, maybe another five. Before the mind goes.
That's hereditary. Both parents have it. It's in the cards, I feel. We gotta get Phil on the...
On the red light? On the diet regimen and... Oh, the diet would be good. That would be good.
Yeah. Just too small. I like dieting as long as I can have a bowl of spaghetti and like a couple subs. Oh, high carb, high carb diet.
High carbs, high carbs. I can't do, you know, all that skinny dieting stuff, you know. Yeah. Well, my bones are bigger than you guys'.
You know, I just got bigger bones. Bigger bones? I'm a larger baby. My mother used to say that to me.
That you're a larger baby? Yeah, big bones. Yeah, big bones. " I'm like, son of a bitch!
Son of a bitch! You bitch, you lied to me! Oh, because Carmen's fat! Right, Carmen, Cartman.
I got Carmen, Cartman. So your wife had a birthday over the weekend? Indeed, she did. I did miss your post with the half...
Happy birthday birthday birthday. Half the Britney face that you do every year. Yeah, you know, uh, is that on her birthday? It's her birthday, or is it your anniversary?
I think it's more anniversary. Oh, it could be anniversary. So my birthday one is always like half-assed. It's always happy birthday.
Ah, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. You know, I wanted her to have a good birthday. She seemed to.
Yeah. But like, you always worry. Right. Oh, sure.
Yeah, every guy worries. Throughout the course of it. Right. So, a couple things happened.
So, all the kids gave her little gifts. Right. Jerry's trying to call me. Are we linked here?
I don't know if you're linked. Hold on one second. Hold on. Calm down.
I'm linking. Right now. Are you there? I'm here, buddy.
You're on the podcast. This is Jerry from Down to Her Podcast. Oh, God damn it. Yeah.
Is it only one ear on you? Yeah. I don't know what that is. Yeah.
We were just talking shit about you earlier and how you failed to send me my fucking hand. Do you don't have it in your hands right now? No. Boots didn't bring your hat?
I don't know where Boots is. He's not here. Phil's here. Phil?
Phil, say hi. Oh, Phil's there. Hey, Jerry. Hey.
See, there's Phil. Who is that, like Beavis and Blackhead, dude? That's a terrible impression. That's Phil.
That's Phil. Don't be so mean to my Phil. That's the real Phil. Well, Phil should have your hat.
I sent you guys all stuff. I thought I was being nice, but here I am, a degenerate on the spectrum. A month later, you sent my hat to somebody else at a different location other than this place, and I don't have it still. It's hurtful.
I'm sorry. It hurts. It could be another month before it shows up. Baker Mayfield's got you on some next level shit, bro.
Who's that? What? Baker Mayfield's got you on some next level shit. He's a fantastic quarterback.
I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. I'm in. I'm in. You're in.
Yeah, you're definitely in, bro. He's got you all motivated. No, he doesn't have me motivated. I think that the road ends for him in Detroit.
I think that, you know, I called Detroit at the beginning of the year. They're a fantastic team. They have an amazing offense, the most creative offense in the league. And a fuckin' coach that's just bar none, he has huge...
Our coach worships Al-Qaeda, so... Does he? That came out? You didn't hear about the Sean McDermott thing?
No, I can't be bothered with what goes on in Buffalo other than what's the Down to Herf podcast. Ah, dude, we actually, one, we got absolutely fuckin' shit-pumped by fuckin' snow this weekend, it's still fuckin' snowing here, like four and a half feet. And then secondly, to get back to Sean McDermott, it like came out, he said communicate, like he was talking about communication and how communication is key if you guys want to be successful. And then he made some like comparisons to, I'm not saying it was right, but, you know, Al Qaeda only had like 12 guys in America and they were able to crash a bunch of stuff.
So communication is key. " Dermott is now 6-0 since he came out saying he worships Al Qaeda, like every week, it gets funnier and funnier. Got it. Well, I mean, you know, it's really good to have a, it's really good to have a coach that chooses his words wisely, you know?
Goes to show you the type of culture that's going on. He's going to sit on the sidelines and clap. Sidelines and clap. Who does that?
He just stands on the sidelines every play. They show him, and he's just clapping on the sidelines. Who does that? The coach you guys are talking about.
Sean McDermott. Sean McDermott. He's a clapper. Sean McClappy.
Maybe his hands are just always cold. Yeah, he's just very clappy. Maybe he has a clap. All right, well, we're going to go finish this podcast.
Finish it up, boys. Give me a call after, Mike. All right, buddy. Love you, Ben.
Yeah. All right. So that was Jerry from down to her. Jerry from down to her.
So it was not your wife that calls every week. Apparently now it's Jerry. Now Jerry likes to check in. Now Jerry likes to check in every Monday.
Yeah. So yeah, no, but the birthday party went great. I think that it went well. You know, I made sure that the, like, I wanted the kids to get her a little something.
Right. I got a little gift. And, you know, I, like, it was hard to figure out where we were going to go. Like, you ask the question, hey, where do you want to go?
Right, where are we going? I'm like, fuck, listen, I don't have a lot of, you know, because her birthday is so close to after Christmas, you know, it's like, if we don't book something and square this thing, like, oh, you know, isn't the, I, I'm stuck holding the bag here, I look like a fucking idiot, you know, like, I don't want to, I want to make sure that you have a good birthday, so, and then, uh, Teddy, my four-year-old daughter, she says, I want to do decorations for Mommy's birthday. Oh, at the house? Where are the decorations?
" Should've done... There's no decorations. I should've done the decorations. So, in a short time span...
Yes. And I whipped it all together. I fucking put decorations up. I had the team, man.
The team came through. Jax, Justice, even Teddy. Oh. We made a ton of balloons.
We had... Yeah, it was great. Where was Mommy when this was going on? Mommy was busy.
Mommy had... Out of the house? He was out of the house for about two hours. Oh, plenty of time.
Plenty of time to pick up the stuff. Right. Oh, pick it up and... Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
That's a little tight. I went hard in the paint, baby. A little tight, waiting until the last minute. Not only that, vacuumed, mopped, the whole place was fucking a mannequin.
Oh, yeah, I was done on the spot, bro. It was awesome. Good for you. Yeah.
So, it went well. Good. Do you have anything else to add before we roll out? Uh, no.
Yeah. Phil? Phil, anything you want to add? Before we jump into the interview.
You're getting food on the computer. No, I'm good guys. You got a pizza coming later? Oh, I got two large pizzas.
Oh, good, good, good. Pineapple, pepperoni. You like pizza? I'm salivating over here.
I love pizza. Salivating. It must be a dolphin thing. And bowls of spaghetti.
Oh. Bowls of spaghetti. He's carb loading for the workout. First afternoon workout.
Yeah. I'm big bones, so I gotta feed the bones. A lot of bones, a lot of bones, a lot of bones, yes, all right, mmm, delicious, loves that spaghetti, mmm, delicious, sounds exactly the same, I might change that one too, incredible, incredible, all right, well, hey, all right, next up is the cigar fellas, I don't know what they're, it's the interview, the interview, stay tuned for the interview, it'll be up next, these poor guys, we've kicked them back so many times, we're sorry, I know, we're very sorry, we're horrible people, let's just cancel. We're not canceling.
All right. Bye. Bye peoples. All right.
So gentlemen, go ahead and let's start with just introducing yourselves and we'll get that going. All right. Who are you? And what is this?
All right, guys. Hello, my name is Alex, I'm sitting here with Jared Burroughs, we are from the Cigar Guys podcast, we have a podcast about cigars, obviously, we talk about whiskey sometimes, kind of like these guys, you know the drill, we bring on guests from the industry, sometimes we go off tangents, we go talk about crazy stuff, we also have a cigar called the Basis Cigar, which we'll be smoking and talking about today, but I wanted to thank you guys for having us on and let us hang out with you. Dude, we've been trying to get you on for a little bit now. It's been a minute, yeah.
Like four times we've rescheduled these guys? It's going to suck, we're going to have to try and get you on now, that's going to be a whole other thing. Oh yeah, that'll be fun. That'll be fun, yeah.
We'll be down, you know, like... Absolutely. That's, you know, that's the one thing, is when we set a schedule as a commitment to something else, I mean, I'm already cringing at some of the things that I got coming up, I'm like, fuck, oh my god, I gotta do that too, I gotta do that too. I feel you.
Like, we're going out to Merritt Island, I think at the end of the month, dude. It's on the 25th, I believe, on Thursday? Yeah. So, we got to do an event there.
Yeah, shout out to Merritt Island. That's my hometown, actually. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I was born in Cape Canelo Hospital, so.
Is it far from here? An hour and 30 minutes. That's not too bad. That's not too bad.
Take 417 to be even faster, though. So, like an hour. Yeah. Take 417 to get there?
Okay, yeah, you go. Yeah. Well, what are you doing out there? Smoke rings.
Yeah, I got an event, smoke rings. Nice. Shirtless Mike. Have you guys met them?
I don't think I've met them, but I follow their stuff, and keep up with what they're doing, yeah. So, I mean, we met, has it been like a year? I think, well, not the last time we met, but the first time we met, it's probably been about a year, yeah. Okay, yeah.
Alright, so now you've officially taken some abuse in the cigar industry. Some. Right? So what's your take on some of that, you know, because I'm pretty open about all of the fuckery that kind of happens.
Yeah. Excuse me, but it's always kind of cool to see, but people don't understand how difficult it is to kind of build and kind of keep going and then, you know, to constantly kind of get no's and sometimes those no's aren't like a hey, go fuck yourself, you know, it's like a hey, time isn't right or whatever the case may be, right? But it still sucks to hear that, right? And, but, you know, I've kind of followed you guys along throughout the years.
I've seen that you're making more progress, and I saw that you guys hit the JR podcast too. We did, yes. That was fun, yeah. Yeah.
They seem like pretty cool guys. Yeah, they're really cool guys, yeah. They hosted us for the whole day. We did the podcast, then we did some more videos and stuff with them.
So they're up in Jersey? They're up in Jersey, yeah. So you've been traveling a little bit. Oh yeah, yeah.
So we did, I mean, the way it works for us is if we get, you know, the opportunity to go to a different state, immediately it's like, okay, So we have to do as much as we can while we're up there, you know, two birds, one stone, three birds, one stone, you know, like some guy is trying to get us to go out to Tulsa, Oklahoma, so I'm like, okay, well, I know these three guys, let's hit them up the same day, let's try and get everything done while we're there, because you can't waste time, you know, and it's hard to go to all these different states just to go, you know, you got to have a reason, you got to make sure it's worth it. Right. We have two totally different approaches. Oh, yeah?
Yeah. So you guys travel all the time. You avoid traveling? What do you mean?
He likes to go in and go to one shop and then we leave. Yeah, I go in and it's surgical as fuck, man. I'll go in and I'll see the one, and people argue with me all the time, like, you shouldn't do that, you gotta go check in with everybody. I was like, listen, if this person paid for the event, they paid for that stuff.
Yeah, he'll have an event scheduled at one place. Like, I will fly in, we'll go do the thing. I mean, if I had good friends or somebody to get along with and I have the opportunity to check in and smoke a cigar with them, I will totally do that. But more often than not, I'm just kind of running and gunning as fast as I possibly can.
So, I will fly in, we will do the event, and I'm on the next flight out. I'm, you know, like, if it's the first thing in the morning, or whatever the case may be, I'm gone. Right. Sounds like you'd like to schedule out in advance, you know.
Yeah. It's on the schedule yourself. Not always. Right.
Well, there's, I mean, there are times where we'll go, all right, next week we're gonna go here. If it's local or something like that, you know, if we're taking a three-hour, you know, if somebody says, if somebody needs something that needs attention, and they're within a two or three-hour span, Yeah. I can make that work. You know what I mean?
So I can fit that in on this upcoming week at this specific time. But then again, we're still not hanging out in that area, bro. No. We go and hit that.
We go and hit that. And then we get the fuck out of here. But I understand the process that you're doing. Like, you know, you want to kind of make contact with retailers, consumers, and shit like that, and kind of continue to develop, right?
Absolutely, yeah. So you did Jersey. We did, yeah. So we did Jersey.
Technically, that was more New York, and then Jersey was just for them. So we went to New York for a wedding, so that kind of like I was just saying, so okay, we're going to New York, let's hit up the lounges. Okay, that's smart. " So it kind of just worked out like that.
So things kind of end up falling into place. Right. You're looking at opportunities and you're expanding, right? Exactly, yeah.
All right, so like tell me the fucking worst experience that you've had. You don't have to include the retailer's name, but like you walked into a store. We would appreciate it if you did though. Yeah, I figured we're out there.
So it was Cigar Hustler actually. No, they're assholes all those days. The worst experience, um, there haven't been really bad experiences. I'm trying to think of what the worst one was.
Oh, you're gonna travel more. Well, yeah, there's been a few, I would say more annoying, not like catastrophic, But it's just very like, you know, annoying the way that they responded. And usually it's an arrogance kind of thing or, you know, greater than thou sort of mentality. Yeah.
And that's enough for me to be like, okay, well, you know, we can just pass over this one. Like if that's how they're going to fuck this guy, because I like working with people, whether it's on the podcast or whether it's in the cigars, uh, people that, you know, first of all, are respectful, uh, you're going to get, you know, attitude all the time. It doesn't matter. But people that want to, you know, work with you or whatever the case may be.
And if it's, if the answer is like, not right now, or we just can't, that's different. I'll still reach out to them. I'll still keep in touch with them. But if you're just like, I'm good, you know, I don't need anybody.
I got three cigars in my shop. That's all I need. Then it's like, okay, cool. You know, you do you.
I mean, the ego is rampant in this industry, dude. You know, I think that it is always difficult to really kind of make, you always try and when a new brand comes along, I think that a combination of things have to occur, like one is kind of cultivating and building your name, right? And I think that you're definitely already working on that, right? And you're doing a good job because I'm seeing things, right?
And I'm like, okay, there they are again, like, oh shit, like, okay, right? Like, that's a positive for sure. For so many years, I felt like that I was doing that and I kept doing that. And I would feel good, and like, for me, PCA would always fucking knock me down a peg.
Really? Yeah, it's like, okay, you know, so you realize how many people actually aren't in tune with you yet, and you're like, alright, I just gotta keep going, I gotta keep building, I gotta keep building. You realize that it wasn't as great of an impact as you're thinking. Right, yeah, it's like, I'm doing, this is awesome, this is fucking awesome, things are going great, and then you're like, huh.
No one knows who I am. Here I sit at PCA, and nobody's coming up. They still have no fucking clue. I mean, our mentality going to PCA is nobody knows us.
We have to be 100% honest with that. We'll obviously see people we know that recognize us, but 95% of the people, it's going to be a teaching moment. Who are these guys? So do you have a booth?
We're not doing a booth this year, we're going to go as media, and then kind of do the networking and stuff. It's very sneaky. Yeah. It's very sneaky.
How many times have you gone? Me? I have no idea. Too many?
That many times? I mean, over 10 years, probably 13 or 14 years at this point. Yeah. So we're waiting too for, you know, when it's in Louisiana in 2025, it'd be a lot easier to do the booth.
To really get kicked in the teeth. Right, exactly. Exactly. Get kicked in the teeth.
But too, I mean, like, we're looking at, like, you know, cost-wise, is it going to be worth it to do all that stuff? More efficient. Right, exactly. If it's in Louisiana, like, I would drive there with all our stuff in a truck.
No problem. Right. So we're kind of deciding we'll go as media and then, you know. Yeah.
Is this the first year you guys are going to go? This would be the first one. Oh, shit. Okay.
Yeah. It'll be a great experience for you guys. Absolutely. Yeah.
The first year that I went, I remember it. Like it was, that's the one part I remember, like it was yesterday, you walking like, holy shit. Everything's new to you. Yeah.
Look at this place. This is amazing. Like all these cigars and like everything is just fucking ginormous. Now it's been, it's dumbed down over the years.
It's, you know, booths are a little bit smaller and stuff, but there's still a lot of magnitude. For sure. Yeah. Um, now, but now I just walk around and yell at the people who are my friends and give them a hard time and harass Nick Malillo and shit like that.
Yeah. It's more fun now. Uh, I mean, to some degree for me, I hate, I hate going, I don't like being away from my family for five days or six days or whatever. Like there's a long period of time and there's set up and like, I'm never satisfied with the turnout.
Even if there's positive growth and development, and there are always positives from it, but I always leave feeling like, I don't know, I could have done more, something else could have happened, or some shit like that. But if you didn't go, there'd be like a negative drawback, right? Oh, yeah. So you have to go.
Yeah, if you don't go, you're not, you know, as my friend Rocky Patel says, you're not relevant, you know, like he's, as he dropped that bomb on you, you know, it shows, you know, you want to contribute, right? You want to be a part of that, and you know, like you hope that that also turns into sales and more notoriety. You don't want to feel like you're wasting time going there just to like stay relevant. Right, right.
And then, you know, you see a lot of the people that go there just to get shit-faced and gamble and all this other stuff, and I'm like, bro, I'm fucking killing myself. And, you know, you're just, you're kind of showing up middle of the day from a hangover the night before or whatever. Shout out to Pete Hernandez. Pete Hernandez.
I was thinking Pete. See, they just gotta learn to stay drunk the whole time, that way they're not hungover. Well, Pete has a tendency to say some really dumb shit. Once he gets liquored up, he likes to insult people.
Yeah. He's a lot of fun. Do you know who Pete is? Pete from who?
Pete Hernandez. Oh, yeah, yeah. He does the twat and all those other things. Not when he's drunk, but...
Bro, you're in for a major treat. I'll get to meet him for real. A major treat. Like, a lot of times he says he's not going to be drinking, so, but he usually drinks and it's pretty fantastic.
So you got to tell me the retail story, man. So like you, cause you just kind of dumbed it down. Like you, like I could tell you here, I'll give you one. Okay.
All right. So I want to jog my memory. All right. So I walked into one when we were just kind of getting going, probably maybe year two or year three.
And the place looked like fucking circa 1970. It had like plaid fucking curtains. Okay. Like a ridiculously brown carpet.
And like a pub almost like a, like, yeah, but it was, but it was well lit. Okay. You know, it was, might've made it worse. Actually.
I actually think it did make it worse. And there was, it was open concept humidor. Okay. Which I mean, I always have a question with that.
Yeah. Yeah. But whatever. You do what you want to do as a retailer, and this guy, he goes to start telling me about pretty much how accomplished and how great he is in this industry.
Okay. I'm there for about two hours. I think I saw three people walk into the store, and nobody said like, "Hey, Earl," or whatever the fucking guy's name was. Nobody was excited to see him.
" Okay. Okay, so like, wow, so I got, so what kind of terms? Well, he wants 30 days, okay, okay, but he wants to be able to sell it, me, report to me is that what he sold and then give me like the percentage on the sale, right, right, so I'm like, all right, bro, like, I don't fucking, I'm not that desperate, you know, like, I'm good, I don't, you know, I was just getting going, like I said, it was probably like year two or year three, you have to do that too, you have to be able to walk away. You gotta say no, man.
You gotta say no. Like, no matter, if they feel, if a retailer feels that you're desperate and they're a shady fuck, dude, they're gonna take your lunch, man. Yeah. Without question.
I will say that when we were first getting started, this might have been even right before we came to you guys, there was a guy that we went to, and it was just more, this was more annoying, it was his attitude, and he basically talked to us a little bit, he was like, oh, you know, introductions, whatever, and I told him about the cigar, and he was like, And this is one of the guys that has three, four brands, like not exaggerating. He has very little inventory. Right. They do mostly like roll their own cigars kind of thing.
So he's like, so his attitude was like, I want to give you guys a shot. I'm going to help you out. Right. He kept saying that.
And he's like, so he's like, what's the blend? And I'm like, oh, well, it's Egredore and a bottle wrapper, a Sumatra binder, Nicaraguan Dominican filler. He's like, okay, but do you know the leaves? " And he's like, "Well, you gotta be able to tell me.
" Like, what is he talking about as far as a leaf? Like, the actual leaf, like, the name and what year it's from, and all that stuff. Like, for example, you have Gonzales '98 or something like that. Like, what the actual leaf is.
That's cute. right okay so i'm like i mean i know i have the formula but like i'm not i don't just you know share with anyone he's like well i gotta be able to sell it because like does it have la hero in it i'm like i mean i'll tell you yeah it's got la hero in it okay so but like if you got san andreas like let's say you're making purchases like the factory first of all you're not the factory right right and i'm not the factory right so let's say the factory purchases san andreas pre-industry from a particular buyer right and then that buyer can no longer fulfill That quality that they are used to identifying, and then they go and get the San Andreas from somebody else, do you think, if the factory understands that the quality is the same, or pretty fucking close, do you think that the consumer or the brand owner making the purchase is gonna say, oh, this is different, this is fucking Hochi's bullshit, you know what I mean? And that's what I was saying, too, is like, you know, he's like, well, people ask, you know, if there's Lajero in it, and they're only going to smoke it if there's Lajero in it, I'm like, dude, maybe 1% of people are going to ask what the actual leaf is, or how much Lajero is in it. I know there's some people that get like a big kick out of like, you know, certain Opus X cigars, because they can see the Lajero that's in the foot or whatever.
But like, 99% of consumers, like you're saying, they're either not going to know the difference, or they're not going to care, as long as it's still a high quality product that tastes good. I mean, La Jero is La Jero, right? Like, if you buy La Jero from one place or La Jero from another place, as long as the factory knows how I identify the quality, that's all that matters. No, you're exactly right.
Yeah. So, go ahead. So, yeah. So, I mean, and then I finally- So, he's fucking with you.
Yes, exactly. He's fucking with us. I finally give him a cigar and he goes, "Ah, it's a little dry. " And the next guy we went to said, "Oh, this is perfect.
" Right. And I mean, I knew it wasn't dry. Like, these were in the humidor, I carry them, usually I do carry a Boveda pack in here, but these were like fresh out of the humidor, so they're ready to go, but yeah, he was just, you know, greater than thou, like, you know, fucking with us all the time. When he said, like, do you know what a Boveda pack was?
In my mind, I was like, all right, we can just pass this guy, like, it's okay. We're done. Time to go. This isn't gonna work.
Yeah, exactly. This is gonna be a waste of time. Mm-hmm. So, who's been the best for you?
Man, actually, so Jimmy's been a really good one. He's a hell of a guy. Yeah, Jimmy's gone through boxes since he picked this up. Yeah, he speaks the world to you guys.
Oh, he does he? Yeah. He does. We love Jimmy.
We always shout out Celery City Cigars. I mean, he and Matt, great people. Jimmy himself, I mean, Jimmy's, we've known Jimmy for five, six years now. Yeah.
Great guy. Yeah, he's been moving through boxes. Another good one, actually a really good one is one in Michigan that we got with. Yeah.
So they're Albanian as well. That works. So that's kind of how we got in contact initially. That helps.
What's the name of the shop, bro? Plug them, man. So Don Cristo Cigar Room in Michigan, they're near Detroit. Okay.
So, and it's a big Albanian community up there. So, you know, it was kind of relatively easier to get in with them. Right. But, turns out, they now have three different brands of Albanian cigars.
Really? Yeah, so a bunch of Albanians are making cigars now, which is crazy. But the good news is, I mean, he's probably... Will there be some type of war?
Will we have a... I hope not. I hope not. Will there be some type of Albanian food?
Some type of turf war? That'd be kind of fun. Yeah. But, so he probably, within the span of three months, I think he went through like, not exaggerating, I think 20 boxes within three months.
That's pretty good. Which is pretty good. And then we asked the customers and went there and we asked them like, hey, give us your honest opinion, like between these three, you know, which one do you think is the best? Right.
And the answer was us. Right. Yeah, as far as quality goes, you know, because they all this, you know, you can put a story behind it, you know, it's about Albania, it's about Skanderbeg, it's whatever, but I mean, the cigar itself, I believe it should be really high quality, it should be enjoyable, so he gave us, you know, compliments for that, and we had him try a new blend we're working on, he likes that too, so he told us that for that period of time, he was selling more bases than like Padrones and all the other stuff he had, so I mean, it's exciting to hear stuff like that, you know, it's motivating. Well, I mean, you know, at the end of the day, like having a retailer that's invested with you.
Right, exactly. Is what really makes the big difference. And we love working with retailers that like, for example, if we do a cut and light or an event there, they're helping push, you know, hey, these guys are here, go talk to them about their cigars. Because sometimes you do an event and it's like, all right, you're on your own.
Right. There's no like, hey, go check out these guys. Right. You know, you have to really like.
You like to see that effort. Exactly. Yeah. Because too, like, I mean.
This is what we got going on today. These are the guys. But two, I mean, it's going to help you as the retailer make money anyway. Right.
So you might as well get the buzz going and have all these people, you know. You mean sitting on your ass isn't necessarily a good thing? Just kind of just... Not all the time, you know.
Yeah, doing nothing. Hmm. All right, so, so where do you want, okay, so where you, how many retailers are you in now? And where do you really want to, what's like, do you have a goal as far as where you kind of want to see yourself?
Yeah, I think officially we're in ten retailers officially. Okay. So our newest one was actually Blend and Barrel down at Stanford. So they picked us up.
Our goal, I would say, is to, I mean, I want 50 this year and 50 more. That's my goal. So you want a total of 60 by the end of the year. Right, exactly.
And then from there, keep going. And we've learned, I mean, the first year was definitely a learning curve, for sure. Yeah, man, I mean, I think every year is going to be kind of a learning curve. Yeah, but this was like, you know, the introduction, like, this is how it really works.
So now that we know a lot more about how it does work from the wholesaler standpoint, we know different ways on how to be quicker about it, be more efficient about it, like you were saying earlier. I mean, part of the traveling thing, too, is like if we're going to go to, let's say, Tampa, for example, it's an hour and a half drive, we're not just going to go show up. It can be an hour and a half. You're right.
It could also be a three hour drive. It could be three fucking hours, man. So we call beforehand and say, all right, let's try and get like at least five guys to set up like a meeting with. So we don't just go and show up unannounced, we try to set something up ahead of time so they know we're coming, we know the owner or the decision maker is going to be there, because if we're in Orlando, we'll go drive around Orlando, show up, it's no big deal.
Anything outside of an hour, it's like, let's try and set something up, let's try and at least let them know we're coming. And you solely handle the sales? No, so Mark and I handle the sales mostly, Jared is actually getting in on the cigar side, so Jared has been podcast for the most part. Jared is the muscle.
Jared is the muscle, yeah, all three of those guys are muscle, I mean, you've seen them there. So Jared, we've been training Jared on cigar sales, and then Jared's also great tech on the back end, so anything like website related, genius. I feel like you guys need to just be walking around with like an accent, though, but like, usual day, you need to talk about this. I'm working on it, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Please come sit down, you know, some shit like that. I think it'd be dope. Palmer likes to add a lot of things to these interviews, by the way. I'm very busy over here, Michael.
This is harder than you think. It is hard producing. I'm usually the producer, especially when we're first getting started, making sure, you know, the cameras are switching and all that. It's hard.
I know that. So how long has your podcast been going? So we just hit the year mark last week or something like that. Last week.
And it happens every week for the most part, right? It happens every week. Recording is different, though. So we'll either record twice in one week or once.
Sometimes we've done like three in a week. For example, I had to leave the country for two weeks. So it's like, all right, we've got to get four recorded now and then just schedule them, get them all edited. And you weren't on some watch list or something like that?
You got to leave the country successfully? I did get to leave the country. I did come back. Actually, there was a problem coming back.
Because it's always coming back, it's always coming back, it's like, welcome to our country, you're not gonna leave, I went to Paris, France, because my sister's living there for a year, so as a family, we went to go visit her, and my now fiance and I are trying to come back, and we miss our flight, because, actually, technically it wasn't our fault, we were in London for like a weekend, and we had to take a train to get back to the airport, and there was a We had a strike for the train operators. So that delayed us by an hour, which was partially poor planning, but also that was the hour we needed. So we missed the flight after 20 people telling us different things. Some lady said, "You won't make your flight.
" I'm like, "Okay, no problem. Where do I go? " Gets that lady. " "No, no, no, go.
" And I've never been in this airport before. " Maybe it's not that big. Maybe it's not going to be a chaos. It was absolute chaos.
It took us an hour and a half to get through everything to get to the gate. So the plane's been gone for like an hour now. m. And I'm like, great.
So we call, we go through like three different people, same thing. Call Delta and they were like, and this point is three the same day. They're like, oh, they could have put you on a flight at three today. You could have just left.
I'm like, great. So she's like, let me try, let me try, let me try. She's like, I'm so sorry. Like, now it's too late for sure.
Like, you have to fly out tomorrow morning, though. So I'm like, okay. But the whole time, man, I mean, you're speaking to French people. Right.
So they don't really speak English. And every single person I talk to is like, no, no, no, you got to go talk to this guy. Get to that guy. No, no, no, no, you got to talk to this guy.
So eventually I'm like, listen. Nobody wants to be bothered. Exactly. So by like the 10th guy, I'm like, you all have the same computer.
It's all connected to the cloud. Like, you can do anything that guy can do, and vice versa. Right. So just put me on a new flight.
No sir, we can not. American. This is France, we do not do that here. American needs help.
Ha, ha, ha. Exactly. They don't care. I missed a connection in Japan one time, and they wanted to send me to a different airport.
And I refused. I wouldn't leave. I had my wife with me, and I refused. So I went upstairs and went counter to counter, next flight to America, next flight to America, next flight to America, until I finally found one, and we got out that day.
And then when I got back, I checked with the United. They didn't transfer me to the other airport on United, they were just getting rid of me, and then I'd had to deal in Japanese, which I obviously don't speak, at the other airport, tried to tell them how I got there. Yeah, their whole thing is, we just don't want to deal with you. Yeah, we don't want to deal with you, we just want to move you to the next thing.
Check this out, someone else will solve this shit. Right, we don't want to talk to this guy. Get him the fuck out of the airport. He's very angry, we don't want to talk to him.
He's so small and white. Right. So do they give you brand new tickets, or do you have to buy new tickets? No, no, no, no, yeah, so everything was, there was no extra cost or anything like that.
Oh, I bought new tickets. Well, Delta's usually pretty good, yeah, yeah, and then too, I think, I explained to them the whole strike thing, and they're like, okay, that was out of your hands, so I think, but I mean, no one really gave me a hard time about it, which is surprising, 'cause like, I was like, okay, they try to get me to buy a new ticket, like, this is gonna be an all-out war. You just sort of stuck, I mean. I was mostly worried about the money, if it took me an extra day to leave, I was like, okay, sure.
If you were going to try and get me to buy a new plane ticket from France, I was going to be like, no, absolutely not. Right. I'll drive. I don't know.
I would have been like, what's the next plane? Get back on that train. I'll pay, what's the next plane? The fuck out of here.
I want to go right now. It was getting to that point though. It definitely was. Oh, the luggage too.
Oh my God. So they put our luggage through and I'm like, is our luggage leaving or is it going to go on the next plane? They're like, it's going to go on the next plane. I'm like, cool.
Okay. So I'm like, now we need to get a hotel for tonight. So I go to get my bags. my bags i'm like hey i need my bags back because we're staying overnight and i need all my stuff like my toiletries and everything like that my clothes i don't want to sleep in the same clothes and they're like okay but your bag's in transit i don't know where it is you need to give me like an hour and i'll see if i can find it i'm like okay but it's still here right she's like yeah i'm like okay and we have a backtracker it's like tag or whatever yeah it's under us it's legitimately under us it's right there below here i'm pinging it and i can hear it exactly so after an hour she's like well it's still in transit i'm like where does that mean she's like it's gonna be on the next plane i'm like i understand that but it's not in the next plane right it's underground take me downstairs with my phone floor can we go get it she's like i don't know where it is i can't find it but it's gonna be on the next plane so of course i'm like that makes no sense but whatever right so i'm sleeping in the clothes that i'm wearing oh yeah you know you don't have it bought a toothbrush you know all that stuff so you know and she still wanted to marry you after that she She did, actually, because she had to sleep in the same clothes, too.
So it was like fair. Yeah, but you know... We both smelled like crap. You're stuck together for 24 hours, like shit's not going right.
You planned this trip. You know, we're not on the next plane. We're visiting your family. Your fucking family.
I mean... Your sister would go to school in America. We wouldn't have this problem. She's like, fuck this guy.
It was all part of the test, though. So if she stuck with me, then it's okay. Then it would have worked out. Okay.
All right. She gets home. She's like, you're not gonna believe this shit. If I can find her on Tinder.
She's got a hell of a toast. She got a hell of a toast at the wedding though. Right. Exactly.
He stuck me in France, left me all alone. So have you like marked specific, like there were times when I looked at retailers that I really wanted to be working with. Have you like said, hey, you know, like these are the guys I really want to work with or whatever the case may be? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we've made like top three lists that are in Florida and then we're looking at some like out of the state, like who's the biggest in, you know, Michigan, for example, or New Jersey. So, like, JR Cigars, their Casa De Monte Cristo, that would be a big one, I mean, they have 20-something places. com with them, he used to work for Famous. And in the meeting, they go like, all right, so do you want to be in the Casa stores as well?
com. And I said, honestly, I don't want to be in the Casa store. And the reason why that is, because I know that even though that they're the one of the biggest retailers, if the employees aren't invested and aren't excited about your cigar, you're going to go in there, you're going to see them, they're going to be fucking dust on them. No one's paying attention to cigars.
Yeah. And they're just fucking sitting there. Well, that's too why a place like Celery City, smaller humidor, it's very specialized in what's in there. So Jimmy only puts stuff that he likes in there, stuff he knows is good, stuff he knows he's going to sell, and he knows this personally, so it's easier for him to push it.
So yeah, I mean, we've done really good at those smaller lounges that know what's up, they know the story, they know it's a good cigar. Right, they know who you are. If you get into a place like Casa de Monte Cristo, you're absolutely right. That Humidor is massive.
Well, the Humidor is massive, too. So you're competing with 200, 300 other brands right off the bat. And a lot of those people, too, going to those places, they're going in and they're grabbing their Perdomo or their Padron. They know what they're getting.
Yeah, but you know what, dude, those people come in here as well. And we would say, hey, listen, if you really like that, you should really try this. Right? Like as a retailer, my job is to educate a consumer.
Yeah. You know, and if this fits you, you know, there's some Albanian guys that are lunatics that you might really like their cigar, right? Or whatever the case may be. Right, exactly.
You know, they go to Paris and they want to stay there. You definitely have to. Don't go to Paris. You definitely have to have a retailer or have someone there that is promoting your product or just different products in general.
So, like, usually when we do an event, it's easier because we're there. We can explain the cigar. We can tell you about it. Like, we did an event at Cigars on the Ave.
Oh, Dom Patel? Yeah, and it actually did really good. And, you know, that's one place, he's cool, but that's one place you go to, you're like, you know, the clientele there, it's going to be a harder sell for certain people, but we were able to sell that whole box for their leaf and barrel event, do a pairing and stuff, so they were impressed with that, because, you know, those guys, depending on the day, too, it's hard to get them to not smoke their Padrón, or their Davenport, or the Dragon. Who do you like more, Richard or Dan?
Ooh. Yeah, I want to know. So, I've known Richard longer, let's just say that. You know Richard longer?
Yeah, I've known Richard longer. I think I like Richard a little slightly more than Dan. Slightly more than Dan. But Dan's growing on me.
And it's only because I've known Richard longer. Let's say that. I just think it's because Dan's a Steelers fan. You know what I mean?
So I don't know. You know? See, I didn't know that. But now I do.
He's a big Steelers fan. But we had Richard on podcast, right? Yeah, so we did a podcast over there at their place. At their place.
And Richard was the one that was on there. Don doesn't want to be on the podcast. Hell no, man. Dude, he's really cool.
Great guy. Don has helped me out, shit, for longer than I can remember. He's a really genuine guy. Yeah.
He's super cool. He's down to earth, super chill, and when you're in with him, you're in. Yeah, exactly. So he's always been really cool with me, always taking good care of me.
This was right before we got in, but this was kind of like the point I knew. We were kind of in there. He just got the out-of-bay Black Ritos in, and that was that day. So we showed up, and I was like, I got to get him.
Why not? I just get one. So I got one. Hey, open that door, Palmer.
He was smoking it. So about halfway through, I went up to him and, you know, I was like, oh, hey, how do you like it? And we're talking about that. And then hit the fan.
Okay. Is it? Jesus, man. Dude, this filtration system is not working like it used to.
We don't normally have four guys smoking at the same time. Yeah, that's how ours is starting to get. We got to replace the filters and maybe get a second one. He says he replaces the filters.
I think he got some Alibaba shit or something. I don't know. Oh, I bought a new filter, but we probably need, that machine was the one that used to be in the church next door. Right.
It's probably five, six years old. Man, my eyes are watering. My eyes never water. You should see how it looks on the camera, it looks like a fog.
Yeah, now that they pointed it out, I'm like... Right. So anyway, Mike. We're gonna get goggles for interviews moving forward, dude.
Holy shit. Maybe when he puts an exhaust fan in the ceiling or something. Oh, yeah, let's have boots do that. Oh, let's have an electrician.
And then just send it straight up. Take another six months. Send it into the lounge and then they can... Yeah, they'll never notice.
It'll be their problem. But anyway, so I'm talking to Don and we're talking about the Atabe and he goes, oh, have you tried the new Alfonso's yet? And I was like, yeah, I did. I wasn't super impressed with them compared to like the original one.
I thought the original one was fantastic and the new one I wasn't a fan of. And he was like, oh, really? I was like, yeah. He's like, I got to get that out of my head now before I smoke it.
I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. He didn't have it yet. And he's like, he's like, no, it's okay. Like, you know, but, uh, you know, cause a couple of people have already told me that, but since you said it, now it actually means something.
Cause like, you know, these other guys, like, they don't really, you know, it's whatever, but now that you said it, cause you kind of, you know, what's going on. Yeah. We're the cigar guys, but yeah, he's like, now that you said it, I kinda, you know, I gotta really try to take it in my head. So I was like, okay, at least there's some respect there, you know, in terms of you actually kind of know somewhat what you're doing.
Yeah, genuinely I don't, but you know, as long as he thinks that. Yeah, man, of course. Well, we talked about this with your brother too, I mean like, when you're actually in the industry, when it's your product, and when you know the process of how it gets blended, and what the blend is. Well, I want to know exactly if it was Lajero, and if Gonzalez, and what year did Gonzalez make to Lajero?
So, 25%. But when you, I mean, when you know the product, when it's your product, and when you know how, you know, at least to a general understanding of how the industry works on that end. Right. You know, you can't just let people like tell you their opinion about it, especially if they're not in it, you know, if you've got a guy that's been going to the cigar lounge for 15 years, you might think he knows something about it, but he just smokes the cigars.
Right. So, you know, you got to take it with a grain of salt, depending on who you get your advice from. Sure. Yeah.
It's always good to have that guy, though, that guy who's been in the lounge for 15 years smoking cigars. Of course. Oh, yeah. Because if you get like, you can hook that dude up and that guy feels like, hey, these guys are awesome.
These guys are awesome. I could tell you that when I have done specific events, there have been times where guys buying a cigar. And for me, it's I take no prisoners, man. I'm fucking, we're, I'm, we're talking to every single person that comes in this place.
If they, if they don't know about the event, we're going to tell them about the event, we're going to tell them about the products and we're going to figure out what they smoke and see what we can give them that I think they'll like better. Right. So there's this guy and he has, he had a brand cigar in his hand. And for me personally, I don't think that is a really good cigar.
I think it's more lower quality, more higher production without like really kind of throwing out a name. " And so like, I kept going, like, you know, so how long have you been smoking, right? Like, how long have you been, how long has that cigar been your cigar? " I'm like, this is the one thing I'm going to smoke, and he's like, I've always liked to smoke a cigar, and blah, blah, blah, like he's just relentless, I'm like, all right, well, listen, you know, if you want, I mean, I really think you should try this, and you know, and we went back and forth for, I don't know, it felt like forever.
The entire event. Yeah. And, you know, eventually he just said, like, he just flat out said no. And he goes, you know, he's like, I'm sorry, man, I really just don't want it, and this is my cigar, and blah, blah, blah.
So he goes to register, and he goes to buy a cigar. And he rings up the cigar and he's, you know, he made his transaction or whatever, and right when he's done, I walk up to him and say, "Hey, listen, take my cigar. " No one says no to a free cigar. Right.
Exactly. Smoke my cigar. I promise you, it's 10 times better than a cigar you're fucking smoking. He's like, "Okay, man.
Thanks, dude. That was really nice of you. " So I leave, and then I hear from the retailer. " And I said, yeah.
He goes, he buys by the box. He comes in every month, and he always re-ups the box. Yeah. And I'm like, fucking A, man.
That's awesome, right? And he's one of those guys, one of those regular guys that's always set in his ways, doing the same thing. So if you can convince some of those dudes to try something and get kind of out of their realm, and if you really feel like your cigar fits their profile, dude, I mean, you know, that's how you build your consumers. com slash socials, everything's on that page.
You can find everything there. com to check that out as well. com. You can find the cigars.
You can find all the social media on there, the podcast as well. Everything's there. Perfect. So even if retailers want to reach out to you, they can just go there?
Same thing, yeah. Everything links together, so you'll be able to find it. Whatever you're looking for, whether it's podcasts, whether it's cigars, you'll be able to find it on there. All right, perfect, man.
So, oh man, the camera response is so remarkable today. I know what I'm doing over here. Oh my goodness. It's not Phil watching the show and not paying attention to what's going on.
He's a veteran. It's incredible. Well, hey, thank you so much for coming on, guys. Thank you for having us.
We really appreciate you guys coming out. Absolutely. You know, I continue. Again, sorry about all the rescheduling.
Yeah, man. I mean, that's totally on us. I forgive you. You know, the saying is don't be sorry, be better.
That's what I like to say. So, you know, again, I apologize for kind of moving things around. And I'm glad that we finally got to get it together and get to work. And we've got to have you back on again.
I want to continue to kind of track your progress in the industry. Of course. And as you get a little more jaded, I want to get some more of that because I really feel like that, you know, being open and honest about some of those things really kind of shows the world. We'll try and get like Zach or Mark on here, too, because they're better at remembering the bad stuff.
I try to forget it, but they'll have some stories for you. Oh, you're like Vince McMahon? It's not on purpose, either. I just like, I don't know.
I just like to focus on the good stuff. Gotcha. But yeah, for sure. No, and then obviously you guys are welcome to come on ours too.
Yeah, man, we're totally done. Just say when and we'll set it up. Okay, tomorrow. All right.
I'll see you tomorrow. Tomorrow's not good for us. We'll have to reschedule. When do you guys record?
Usually it's Wednesdays. Okay. Yeah, but we're flexible. And are you...
Daytime or nighttime? Is there a certain time of day, you guys? Like six. Six at night?
Yeah. But again, flexible if you have to do like a morning on a weekend or whatever, like, you know, we'll talk about it. All right, cool. All right.
Well, thanks again for coming on, guys. Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks, guys.
Jerry, you talk too much, by the way.
Show Notes
This week we sit down with The Cigar Guys and talk about their new Cigar 'The Besa"