Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 317 Company Of The Year
Episode Summary
Episode 317 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with hosts Mike Szczepankiewicz (Palmer), Mike B.D.P. Palmer and Phil trading stories about youth football coaching, a Heat–Magic game, and the value of cutting negative people out of your life — before turning to the meat of the episode: end-of-year cigar rankings and who decides them.
The main guest is Matthew Tobacco of Smoking Tobacco (SmokingTobacco.com), who calls in to explain exactly how his outlet's year-end top-cigars list is assembled. He walks through the growth of his review team beyond himself and Nicole, the move toward a review-score-driven model like Half Wheel and Cigar Coop use, how ties among 90-point cigars get broken, and how much weight taste, construction, tobacco quality and packaging each carry. He also confirms the Bolsania/Cigar Hustler Connecticut's placement on his list and discusses how the cigar first got buzz through the Puro Sabor sampler in Nicaragua. There's plenty of good-natured ribbing about not landing on Cigar Coop's top 30 — and a running bit about bribing Coop with Junior's Cheesecake at the PCA trade show in Las Vegas.
The crew then celebrates RoMa Craft Tobac / Nica Sueño taking Half Wheel's Company of the Year, reading the citation aloud and arguing that consistency across six years of Company/Factory of the Year nods is harder to earn than a single top-25 slot. They credit Skip Martin, Mike Rosales and the factory team, praise the Volstead release and the Dominican-made Quincuagenario, and talk about what it's like to blend at a factory that pushes back on you. Palmer also reflects on landing two cigars on Half Wheel's top 25 (No. 15 Connecticut Perfecto and No. 20) and how uncomfortable he is receiving industry praise after 14 years in cigars.
The news segment covers Luciano Cigars entering New Zealand distribution via Mason Corporation's Shosha stores, HVC's February 1 price increase (with the Hot Cake Maduro Half Corona exempt), EP Carrillo raising prices, Howard G Cigars holding prices and ending direct-to-consumer online sales, and Drew Estate's 2024 Barn Smoker dates (Connecticut, Kentucky, Florida), the new festival format, the Drew Estate Family Reunion at the Kentucky Castle, and a Freestyle Live pack with a mystery Willy Herrera blend coming in March. The episode wraps with wish-list guests (Cigar Coop, Dean from Epic, Andre Farkas of Viaje), a Listener of the Week nod to Matthew Tobacco, and a shop shout-out to Smoke Rings in Merritt Island plus Greg's event at City Wine and Cigars in DeLand.
In This Episode
- 01Cold Open: Coaching, Basketball and Cutting Out Bad PeopleThe hosts swap weekend stories about youth football coaching mistakes, a Heat–Magic game where Michael's son met Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs, and why surrounding your family with good people matters.
- 02Matthew Tobacco Interview: How a Top Cigars List Gets BuiltThe Smoking Tobacco founder explains his expanded review team, the shift to a review-score-based ranking model, and how ties between 90-point cigars get resolved.
- 03Taste vs. Construction vs. PackagingMatthew breaks down what actually counts in a ranking — flavor profile, construction, tobacco quality — and how much (or little) the band and packaging matter.
- 04Cigar Coop, Bias and the Junior's Cheesecake BitA running joke about ad space, grudges, and bribing Cigar Coop with Junior's Cheesecake at Resorts World during PCA in Las Vegas.
- 05RoMa Craft Tobac Named Half Wheel Company of the YearThe crew reads Half Wheel's citation and argues consistency at Nica Sueño is harder to sustain than a one-off top-25 placement, crediting Skip Martin and his team.
- 06Two Cigars on the Half Wheel Top 25Palmer reflects on landing the Connecticut Perfecto at No. 15 and another blend at No. 20 without ever buying ad space — and how odd industry praise feels after 14 years.
- 07Industry News: Price Increases and New MarketsLuciano Cigars enters New Zealand via Mason Corporation/Shosha, HVC and EP Carrillo raise prices, and Howard G Cigars holds prices while ending direct-to-consumer sales.
- 08Drew Estate 2024 Barn Smokers and Freestyle LiveThree 2024 Barn Smokers in Connecticut, Kentucky and Florida, a new festival format with VIP amenities, the Family Reunion at the Kentucky Castle, and a mystery Willy Herrera blend due in March.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 317, the number one cigar podcast with a world 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. P. Palmer, are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captain Van in 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. Hey, I'm so angry. Where's my bubba?
Where's my bubba? Bring me a titty. Square, square. Camera one, please.
Thank you. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Just a heads up, we are still proudly sponsor-free, but a massive shout out to our amazing patrons of the Patreon, thank you to your unwavering support, we're able to deliver unfiltered, unbiased options, oh opinions, sorry, and options, on all things cigars and personalities in the cigar world, your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners, cheers to you. com and then search A Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
I believe it's important you put the A in the front. A-Cigar Hustlers Podcast. A-Cigar Hustlers Podcast. A-C-H-P.
A-C-H-P. A-Cigar Hustlers Podcast. That's a tattoo on my arm. Oh, that's nice.
Give it to a plate. Thank you. You get the Cigar Hustlers Podcast sweatshirt on. Show day.
You're committed. Show day. I appreciate your commitment. Okay.
Yes. So, do you want to get right into reviews, yadda yadda stuff, or do you want to talk about-- We can, if you want to, nothing exciting happened, I mean, Sunday, we did nothing. Oh. Absolutely nothing.
You sat by the fire. Oh, well, that's on the patio, though. That's nice. Well, no, Greg gave me an assigned cigar for my wife to smoke and to give him an opinion of it.
Did you see the picture of the cigar? What? The cigar he was smoking? The cigar he was smoking?
Oh, the ice, but I wasn't the one my wife smoked. No. She smoked one that the guy left who came in last week. I forget who he was.
Yeah, Mike Denny's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a craft. Yeah, I smoked a craft.
Oh, shit. Did you find out what year it was? You dropped a craft? Yeah, no, I have no idea.
Damn. You must think you're getting close to the end, huh? Like, you're about to die? Yeah, I'm smoking the good stuff.
You're smoking the good shit. Right, yeah. Oh, my goodness. Smoking some of the saved ones.
It looked like a 20. I don't know. What was the shape? It was short.
Okay. Yeah, I think that's a 20. Green near the end. I think it's a 20.
I thought it was a 22, but I'm not sure. Yeah. I thought it was a second dollar, actually. I'm going to tell you right now.
Why? The best one was the best. The La Campania, Panama. La Campania, Panama, De Soberana, Cigar.
That was the fucking best. What was that? That was the OG craft before they were called crafts. Oh.
The fucking. When did they start making them? I don't. You know what, dude?
I can't calculate. I think, 20, 19, 20? The reality is that I can't calculate life anymore. " How does it feel?
Terrible. I feel old. I see that you went back to your stand. We got rid of this.
It was a good run with the stand. Now we're back to this. Well, we only did it at the one joke. I had it down for a previous customer.
I think it looks better with the arm. Uh, it's more comfortable. I don't know if I'm just used to it or not, but I did like not having to look through it to see you, but that's okay. But the wire going across the table here kept bothering you.
Yeah. I was like, cause I'm used to putting my arms on the table. Well, I had a very fun, uh, fun filled weekend. Yeah.
We had two football games. Oh, back to back. Yeah. My, my, my defensive coach had to leave early.
Oh, sadly. And, uh, sadly. Yeah. Is there a problem?
Well, he had to go play football. Oh. Oh, he plays football. Yeah, they were upset.
The coaches were upset that he was on the field. " What? Was he little? Oh, Jax.
Oh, yes, it's Jax. " I can see that confusion. Can he put on a different shirt or something? That's not a bad idea.
So I did put on a different shirt. You want a safety vest for him? I got a yellow safety vest. I'm going to get him like these stilts.
Oh, make him taller. Yeah. -He's not actually on the field, is he? -Oh, yeah.
-Oh, the coaches can stand on the field? -Yeah, for eight-year-olds. -I think people are just mad that he's a coach. -So, I mean, we were doing well, then he left, and we wound up tying.
-So, it's really not you, it's him. -Yeah, so he's the powerhouse on the team. -Well, I went back and I looked at the film, and there were definitely some mistakes that were made. We made some mistakes, and what happens-- -Not him, you.
-Yeah, him. -Well, for one, I'm a big believer in always owning things, you know, and the reality is that-- -I'm sorry. -That-- He's choking. He's fine.
I'm sorry. What's so funny? I think, I think, I think it was you. I think it was you.
It was definitely me. He's saying it was him. He's talking about owning, owning the mistake. Yeah.
I mean, he works. He's under me. He's not sorry. He's gonna do better.
Yeah. Okay. Right. You're like the Tom Brady.
Yeah. So, I'm, you know, like I think that, so I looked at the film and I, and I saw the mistakes that we made on defense, especially that I made when I was running the defense by myself. Right. We're going to make some mods.
He's got some cool ideas that I think we're going to implement. There are things that happen when the team on the other side gets excited and rowdy, and people are going nuts, and your kids kind of implode, and you've got to learn how to cultivate those kids through that. It was a tie. It was a good tie.
I think even a loss can be a good loss. Sure, if you learn something. Exactly. So we're going to take from this, and we're going to move forward.
I mean, I didn't sleep for two nights. I was angry, but I got over it. The new rule is Jackson's not allowed to leave. He's not allowed to leave.
Well, yeah, he can't leave. Well, he had a game though. He can't fucking leave. Doesn't matter.
Yeah, like, you're gonna have him missing. You're gonna have to choose. What's more important, the team or you? I just love the fact that, I gotta be honest, I love the fact that- Oh, he's a coach.
He's a coach, but he's a kid. Not anymore. Are you fuckers done? We're not allowed to talk?
No. Oh. We're not allowed to talk, Phil. We'll just let him go.
I just love the fact that he gets a coach with him. Oh, I'm gonna put it on camera three. You know, it's, thank you. It's pretty amazing.
You know, it really is. And, you know, it's hard to, because I'm very commanding, especially because he's my kid, and then I look back and I'm like, damn, I just should have just let him do his thing. Like, I need to let Jax, Jax, you know? So, this next game, we're going to let Jax, Jax a little bit more.
So, and this is going to be a tough game. So, I'm looking forward to it. And then, what did we do Saturday? I don't know what happened Saturday.
Something Saturday. Well, but I could tell you that... That Sunday, we went, him and I went to the basketball game. Went to the Heat Magic game.
Are you ready to talk? Just don't run me over, you fuck. Don't be assholes. What?
Oh, I'm sorry. Is it okay now? We can talk now? Okay, you're back.
Okay, now we can talk. Thank you so much. Put it back on camera, too. So, we went to, so, um, one of his best friends, his dad took us to the, uh...
Magic game. Yeah, the Heat game. The Heat Magic game. In the heat.
Yes. And he got photos of Apollo. Oh, nice. And he got a card autographed.
He's converted. Yeah, I think it's, dude, we got a Jalen Suggs towel. Jalen Suggs threw him the towel. Oh, I was sweating on it and everything?
Yeah, they did. Yeah, he's converted. Like, you know, here's what's cool. I'm going to tell you this.
And like, this is life advice, so write this shit down. I'm going to tell you. All right, I'm writing it down. Go ahead.
When you have shitty people in your life when you have okay got that shitty go ahead you need to cut them out immediately all right but you ready to go I'm gonna tell you right now you have to because wow look if you remove those people if you remove those if you remove those if you remove those negative people yes you give room for good people to come in I tell my wife that all the time and you know the reality is that you know the reality is that you're a We have told some people to fuck off over the course of the years, and now because of that, we have these great opportunities, I mean like I'm working with a dad, or I get to go and hang out with a dad who's just as invested as I am in my kid, which I don't see that often, and this guy is all about making sure that the kids have a great experience, so he made sure they were on the court, he got to do high fives to the team, they hung out afterwards. He got to meet Paolo, which worked out great. He got Caleb Martin on the Heat. Yeah.
They got a signed basketball card from that. So, you know, his kid had all these cards. When they got signed, he gave them to my kid. He gave them to my son.
Oh, nice. Did he have two or just the one? No. Oh.
Yeah, he just had one Caleb Martin. Here you go. Like, you know, those are the type of kids and the people that I want around my kid. Right.
If you keep the bullshit around your family, you're going to continue to have bullshit. So I'm very grateful for the friends that we've acquired, you know, over the course of giving us that freedom, and man, it was just amazing. You know, this dad was running around, like making sure that they had everything perfect. He was up, I'm like, you know.
It was a great experience for the children. Yeah, they had a, well, his kid has had, he's had a lot of those experiences, right? So he's a little more dialed in with that, so like Moe Wagner coming off the court, he calls the kid's name out and gives them a high five, you know, like something like they know him, which is awesome, you know, that's gotta be a great feeling for him, but, you know, just the whole experience was absolutely fantastic, and that's just because of the fact that, you know, you gotta surround yourself with good people, man. So I'm very grateful for that experience for sure.
Awesome. For sure. Good. Glad they had a good time.
Yeah. It was fantastic, man. Good. Did he add on the magic jersey?
No. So remember the magic shirt that I bought when I was with you? Yeah. " Like, I don't give a fuck.
Like, you know, I'll do whatever he wants me to do. You know, like, I am with you. The goal. So, um, so yeah, we were rocking.
But he's got a magic jersey. Oh yeah, he's got a, he's got a Palo's jersey and he wasn't wearing it when he met him. He's gonna be wearing it now though, cause he's converted. I'm sure that he's...
The sign card or the experience of the person in front of you. Oh my God, dude, he would not... Sweaty towel. On the ride home, he would not stop talking about it.
At the house, he would not stop talking about it. He was smitten. Dude, he had a blast. He had a fucking blast.
Nice. That's what it's all about, man. That's what it's all about. It makes an impression as a child.
Yeah. Did you ever go to basketball games or football games when you were a kid? Fuck no. Man, when I used to go with my grandfather.
I know, you're upbringing, it's kind of funny. They went to the liquor store, they went to the Piggly Wiggly, your grandfather. No, I used to go with my grandfather when Shaq and Penny were there, and Nick Anderson and all those guys. Yeah.
And I met Nick Anderson when I was a kid. Right. That was like the biggest thing ever for me. Right.
I never met any other player except for him. Right. Still weighing on his jersey. Yeah, now I see him, you know, all the time.
I'm like, "Oh my God, it's Nick Harris. " Right. I mean, that's a problem. You know, that's totally different.
Now he's a little obsessive. That's silly. And there was another, there was a baseball player there. Vladimir Guerrero or something?
Vladimir Putin? Oh yeah. From Russia? Oh, no, a different Vladimir.
He's good? Yeah, totally different guy. Totally different. Yeah.
I think Putin's a lot. So yeah. Nice. That sounds like a good time.
So, hey, smoking tobacco, are we going to talk about that real quick? Sure. So, they did their review, they did their list, yes, and we briefly tapped on it last week. Right, you were number 13, the Connecticut.
And then they reached out to me after the show. Mitchell or? Mitchell did. Yes, he thanked me for the shout out, and we talked all day Friday.
Did you really? Hi, very chatty young man. So, he's in Canada, it's cold, there's not a lot to do. That's true.
Those poor Canadians. I know, it's cold up there. Yeah, they step outside, they get taxed. Right.
Yeah, yeah, right. So let's give-- Call it an ice tax. So I wanted to give-- Oh. Did you previously set this up?
Yeah. Oh, because Mitchell knew nothing about it. Well, I was calling Matthew Tobacco. Oh, I understand that.
Is Mitchell's last name Tobacco? No, he is not related. Oh. His real last name is Tobacco, by the way.
No, I know. I asked him that at the show last time. I was like-- Oh, well, that's weird. Your last name is Tobacco?
Is legit Tobacco. Yeah, it is. He's like, yeah, I'm like, you're lying. You gotta change it as well.
So is it just the fluke that you fell into the cigar this year? Yeah. Well, I used to sell cars. I wanted to give them a buzz.
My last name is Tobacco, I thought I'd smoke cigars. They're gonna work out. It was either that or vaping. I think you chose the right one.
Is there tobacco and a vape? I can't connect. Hit me. I feel like it was like pixie dust.
Oh, John Parrish connected to somebody. Let me see if it's on mine now. If it's connected, then you can connect. Because I called somebody last week on the other show.
Hmm. Um, Bluetooth? Yes, I am connected. I have disconnected.
Ooh. Delicious. That's not like what follows that. Did you get the new things on there or not?
No. By the way, Phil last week was fantastic. I don't know who you guys are judging. We haven't seen him in a while, the Phil one, and I, you know, sometimes he's a little on edge.
I didn't want to upset him, but next week. Yeah. I'd like to talk about the other ones after this. The other what?
The other rankings. Sure. That we're not on? No.
We're not on anybody else's. Well, let's not take away from this segment. Okay. Hello.
Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.
Hello. Hello. Hello. You're on the air, sir.
Say the phrase it pays. What's up, Matthew Tobacco, smoking tobacco. How are you, sir? I'm well.
How are you, fine gentlemen, this Monday afternoon? We are doing fantastic. A little warmer. We're doing fantastic.
So I want to tell you a little something. So, I was kind of sort of I'm surprised that we didn't get top 25 on some of these guys' lists, like how about that cigar, and I mean, developing palettes we haven't seen yet, correct? Correct, that still doesn't come out. So they still have time.
They're holding tight. Yeah. And then Coop. Well, he's the cigar bid, cigar page.
He's a little bit crazy with his reviews. We'll talk about that. But, you know, but we did, we did, you did give us a nod, man, and I, you know, I really appreciate that. how do you come up with your shit?
Because I don't give you any money. I don't pay for ad space or anything like that. He knows he has a good cigar. He would like to talk to you about that.
I'm just kind of curious. So what do you do? Walk us through the process. The Matthew Tobacco process.
Smoking Tobacco. It's a show. The smoking tobacco. Of the ranking.
Ranking. So as you guys probably know, We have a whole team now, we've evolved from just more than Nicole and myself. Yes. Um, so, I mean, look, we're going through a lot of changes, you know, we've brought three other people in, in the last year and a half, um, who are doing most of the reviews, um, the goal is, that in the long term, hopefully for this year, that we have more of the, the half-wheel and coop model of, the list is completely based on all of the stuff that we're doing, that we're doing in the long term, hopefully for this year, that we have more of the, the half-wheel and coop model of, the list is completely based on all of the stuff that we're doing.
cigars that were reviewed in the year um it's the most fair way um the last few years obviously we haven't been able to do that because we just haven't had the capability to review that many cigars in calendar year so um you know this year in particular it was pretty straightforward um you know that the team was told like hey you know we're putting the list together obviously that's time of the year and um you know everyone's gonna you know submit what they like and all of And then we kind of go over it one by one. And it was kind of easy because, you know, everyone submitted stuff and half of it we all had, we all agreed on. We're like, all right, well, that's on the list. We all agreed.
And then there was ones that I had and Nicole had, and then there was ones that, you know, maybe they had that we didn't. And then from there, it was like, all right, and it just kind of went on the voting system. And, you know, it got enough votes. And the majority of the team liked it.
And so we were like, yeah, it's going to go on the list. And it was, it was a good cigar. It was a great release. Delicious.
I know that people who went to Puro Sabor, I know that cigar was included in the Puro Sabor sampler, kind of before it was officially launched. Right. And I know that right out of the gate last year, I wasn't at Puro Sabor, but several of us were, and I know people were talking about it, and so I said, okay, this is definitely one to keep an eye on. We saw you guys at the show, and, you know, we knew it was coming out and all that, and then just, you know, through the course of the year, as we, you know, go through all the new releases and smoke the cigars, you know, guys were smoking it, and, you know, we liked it, and I made it on the list, and that's pretty much it.
It's not too complicated, other than that, and we just try to be as fair as possible. That's, you know, it's a great cigar, and everyone loved it. Yeah, we got to find a good spot for it on the list, and that's about it. I mean, you think that's exactly how it would go down.
You just think that, hey, we smoked a bunch of good cigars, we figured out what we thought was really good, and we just kind of went from there. Right. Yeah, I mean, and, you know, obviously, there's some that kind of stand out as being higher on the list, there's some that stand out as being good. Want to be on the list?
Probably not at the top of the list. The middle of the list is really the trickiest part, because that's when you have a lot of cigars that are pretty close, and I'd say the hardest part is just trying to figure out, you know, like, did we put this one here and that one there? It's tricky. And that's where, going forward, doing it all based on reviews, we look at the scores and be like, alright, and kind of whittle it down from there.
I mean, obviously, it's not foolproof. I mean, you're gonna have probably five cigars that all scored, you know, 90. And you gotta figure out, well, where to all 90, where all the 90s go, they're all 90. But, you know, you'll go through the reviews and kind of break it down and kind of figure out which ones were better than the others, even though they got the same score.
It's pretty uniform that way. Right. Are you going based solely off of taste, or do you look at how the cigar is made, the band, all that stuff as well? Yeah, we take everything into consideration.
You have the taste, the flavor profile of the construction of the cigar, how well was it made, the quality of the tobacco. Packaging, I think it does have a small percentage. I don't like to say it doesn't matter, but I also don't like to say it's a huge thing because at the end of the day, The tobacco and the cigar and how it's rolled and all that, that's the experience, not the band, but as you guys know, packaging is, it's eye-catching, people like it, you know, so it's hard to just leave it out completely. But yeah, we take all the factors into consideration.
Do you think that Palmer's trolling of Coop affected my chances of being on Coop's top 25 list? Absolutely not. I mean, because bias comes into place at some point, right? We're going to see a Dean Martin concert now.
Hold on, I want to hear Matthew Tobacco's opinion, sorry. Shh, shh. Sorry, man. No, no, no, no, you guys are good.
I mean, no, look, I mean, Coop does his thing. I love Coop. He's, you know, on a personal level, him and I are very close. He's been there for me and taught me a lot.
And taught me a lot. What I will say about Coop is, I know he's very particular and he's very conscientious about how he puts all his stuff together and I can't really speak to how he came up with the cigars on his list. I mean, I know he does it based off his reviews for the most part of the year and kind of puts it together that way, but you know, personal factors aside, I mean, I don't know, I mean, it's hard to say. You think maybe a little passive aggressive by not including me?
I mean, just a little bit? What do you think? This is awesome. I don't know.
Maybe. I know who can hold a grudge. I know who can hold a grudge. Because he was one of the first...
I'm not saying that's the case. He was one of the first guys smoking from Purma Sabore, right? Yeah. And I think he was super excited about it.
I think he was. I think he said it was good. It was a really good cigar. It just wasn't that good.
This is great. And then I feel like there was trolling involved. You know, like, he wouldn't acknowledge you on the social media thing, and then he was like, you know, this could be on the list. But Palmer's a pain in the ass.
But fuck Palmer. I don't, I honestly, I don't think, I don't think that, I don't think that situation would, would be enough. I mean, there's far greater beats that Coop has. Do you think I, do you think if I had ad space, would that have helped me on the top 25 list?
Does he have ad space? Does New World have ad space? You don't think so, you think it's entirely unbiased? Yeah, I mean, look, I've had conversations with Coop on that subject, you know?
Allegedly. Could you specifically ask him about us and me and then tell us at the PCA what he said? Yeah, I'll bring it up, you know, I'll just say, "Hey, you know, what happened there? " Was it that Palmer pissed you off?
I can't wait to see Matthew. I'll bring him a present to PCA. I'm mad at HPTC. Maybe you'll get honorable mention, fucker.
Just bring them a nice, fresh slice of Junior's Cheesecake, and that might change it around. Oh, that's it, Junior's Cheesecake. I'm just going to slap down, write that down, Junior's Cheesecake. I got roasted, as you guys know, I got roasted because I walked into a Junior's Cheesecake last year, had no idea that it was a big deal, because I'm not from New York, I'm from Boston.
I didn't know anything about Junior's Cheesecake. Oh, that's a brand. Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant like a small piece.
And he yelled at me. Oh, I was bringing a small piece. And he held it all over my head until I redeemed myself. I'm going to bring him a little piece and go, "Look, this is Junior Cheesecake.
" Is Junior Cheesecake accessible in Vegas or is it just in New York? They actually, no, they actually opened a Junior Cheesecake at Resort World. Ah! Which is the host hotel, so it'll be very easy.
We need to schedule our dinner with him. Oh, it's very easy. It's right there. Fantastic.
We should bring him one every day. Yeah, bring him one every day. We are gonna fucking... We're sorry.
We're sorry. We don't understand. We're going in with honey. We would like an application for an ad, too, maybe, if you have those with you.
Yeah. We're gonna go in... He would like to be on the 24 list, somehow. I don't know how he always becomes our whipping post, but I do enjoy...
He's really a great guy. He's the top of the heap in the cigar media, so he's a very nice man. Yeah, he's fucking amazing. He makes it easy.
Who is the man? I gotta give it to him. He's the man. And his reviews, his top 25 list is suspect, but all he's got to do is just rank you in the top 25.
We want to be a whipping post. Yeah. Well, to be fair, he also doesn't do top 25. He does the top 30.
Oh, it's even worse. We'll take it. Yeah, we're below 30. Thanks a lot, Coop.
We're 30. We could be 31. Like, I understand that, you know, everybody's kid is the best kid, you know what I mean? So it's like, you know, if you're going to ask me what's the best cigar, I'm going to tell you.
Yours. Right. Well, the fucking ones I make, I think, are the best. We're not in the consensus.
Right, right, that's why we don't qualify. That's why we don't qualify for the consensus. Yeah, I mean, to be fair too, I mean, that cigar, Skip made that cigar in Nico Sueno, correct? Yes.
Delicious. Yeah, I mean, so, I mean, his Quinquantinario was on the list, the Volstead was, it barely, barely missed the list, it was, it was almost, I mean, this is a handful of good cigars that were in consideration, that, you know, some made the list, some didn't, you know, for us this year, that came out of that factory, so. Well, if it barely made Miss Coop's list, probably could have made the list with some cheesecake. Probably.
Yeah. Do you remember, what was that movie? Ah, shit. Shawshank Redemption when he dropped off the pie with the cash over there.
Cheesecake with the money. Yeah, that's how we got here. Here, have this Junior's cheesecake. We'll get him cheesecake and put a Connecticut under it.
Yeah, try this out. And a little stack of money on top. Handful of change. Alright, brother, I won't keep you We've been waiting for much longer, but I do want you to plug your show, please.
How can people find you? Let us know. Go ahead. Yeah, no, I appreciate it, guys.
Great to talk to you both. Smoke and Tobacco. com, that's where you can find us, for all of our news, reviews, and other content covering the cigar industry, as well as all the links to our shows, both of our shows. Everywhere podcasts can be found on all the podcast apps, on our YouTube channel.
m. m. com. Perfect, bro.
Well, thank you so much, dude. Hey, I've hit Mitchell up for some shirts. He has our sizes, just so you know. Three of them.
Yeah, we'll wear them on the show. We'll wear them on the show. Yeah, we'll get those out to you, no problem. So, I appreciate you, dude.
Thank you so much for giving us a review and putting us on your list. You know, it is a lot of hard work. It's not something that I take lightly. So, it is really appreciated to get a nod from other people in the industry.
So, thank you so much, dude. And thank you for doing what you're doing, and keep up all the good work, bro. Absolutely. Thank you guys, too.
You guys do a great job, and I appreciate the time. Thanks. All right, brother, I'll talk to you. We'll see you at the show.
Goodbye. Bye, guys. There you go. Matthew Tobacco I'm smoking tobacco.
What if his last name was like Smith if it would have been Smokin' Smith Matthew Smith. He would have never smoked cigars. He probably would have never touched it. He'd be like, you know what?
Cigars are gross. Those are gross. I don't know. Why would I smoke that?
Ugh! I think I'm going to take this vape. Right. Take this vape.
I think his wife met him and goes I don't want the last name tobacco. People don't like calling it tobacco. What if they call him tobacco like people call me Palmer? That'd be fun.
What's up, tobacco? What's up, tobacco? What's up, tea? You know, when he tells people his last name, they probably think like he's an owner of like some big cigar company or something.
Right, grows tobacco somewhere. Right. I am with the Plasencia and the Oliva family. Right.
It's only right. I'm the tobacco family. We are in between. Yeah.
I wonder if he goes through his ancestry, like, he would find... - Some guy picking tobacco way back when from-- - Yeah, yeah, they own fields or-- - Cuba or something? - Yeah. - Oh, my uncle's Fuente.
- His grandfather probably sounds like Hochi. - Oh. - Do the Hochi goes. - You mean, who's the-- - Hoosta, Hoosta.
- No, Hiroshi. - Hiroshi, I said-- - Hello, you said Hochi. - Oh, that's what I call him. - Hello, Hiroshi or Avion.
From Playa de Mar. - Hello, Darrio. - Hello, Darrio. - Yoba.
- Yeah. - So there was no other rankings? I thought there was one from, uh, oh, you're talking about Shows. Shows.
What are the rankings are there? No, we're talking about general media. Did the Miami Dolphins put out a cigar ranking or something? Was it Half Wheel one real?
Half Wheel is a ranking, that one counts there, they are a, uh, the place to go. Yeah. The cigar information. They're the big dogs.
I didn't know this is one of the Palmer's things. It's on there. No, Half Wheel is a real thing. I didn't make that up.
Yeah, Half Wheel exists. I've concocted this elaborate scheme. Palmer has fucking just gotten so mad that he's just going to start editing everybody's fucking top 25. You know, I thought about screenshotting and making you on the half-wheel list, but I didn't know if you were listening or not.
Today, the consensus, it would have been easy to plug you in and match up the font. Well, it would only have been, you know, it would only have been on the two. What you should do next year is take a screenshot of the one this year, edit it, And then next year, release it before they release thirds. Oh, I got this.
Yeah. Secret. I got this. There we go.
Cigar House's podcast releases half-wheels consensus. Yes. The day before. I'm going to tell you right now, we could probably put together the top ten easily.
Yes. For one, Sokka will take one and two. I'll just start there. Yeah, third year in a row.
Yeah, big shocker. Sokka's going to take one and two. But pick his worst cigar and put up on it. Mmm.
Whatever his lead, the umbegog. Not that it's a bad cigar, but it's probably the least selling of the cigar. Ah, it'd be a totus list, yes, I think, is his worst name. Oh, there you go, let me put that one.
Bumbleguy would probably be a good seller, because it's cheaper, right? Yes. But they're not on the list, anyway. They didn't make anybody's list, because it's a value cigar.
Yeah. CIs. Or apparently Skip Cigar. Didn't he get value cigar somewhere?
No, he was pissed that he didn't. He was pissed, but the next day, somebody made him the value cigar. Me. Industry then.
No, no, I think it was somebody else. Was it you, Phil? Oh, yeah, it was, um, it was not Coop, it was, uh... How about that cigar?
I think it was. Could have been. I didn't see their list at all, unfortunately. You weren't paying attention.
Without Garrett on the show, I just didn't want to follow him. Will we see Garrett at PCA? No. We won't.
No. Yeah, but how about that cigar? It's a fish stick, right? No, fish stick is Aaron Loomis undeveloping palates.
Oh, yeah. Jeez Louise. Sorry. No, it's Matt Tai, and then that guy always confused for somebody else.
I mean, she's really... Raul Julia, or whatever. Do we get to call him industry? If he doesn't know what's going on.
Well, that's Phil. That's Phil. Oh. Yeah.
Yeah, Phil has no idea. Better than your brother upstairs, both me and Edgar were telling him something the other day. He had no idea what we were talking about. He doesn't even know cigars anymore.
Oh, I know what it was. Grand Habano would come in. Oh. To see him.
And we told them what they were known for. They were making their rounds, because they hit up cigars on the end, too. Oh, okay. So we told them what they were famous for.
Yeah. Like, well, careful, if he gives you this, don't take it. Yeah. And he goes, why not?
Wow. You're famous for this. Yeah, no idea. No idea.
No idea. No idea. Later's on smoking one, so he must have liked it. I don't know.
He's probably a big fan. Greg only knows three cigars. He's probably taking on a... That's right.
The Agrodors in Connecticut, and everything Bosania. It's the only cigars he knows about. He's probably taking on a full panel. Probably, yeah.
I got these at a deal. Yeah. We're wiping this whole section out of these padrones. That's right.
They said diesel's all better. Yeah. I got such a deal. Oh my God, please don't.
They're really big in Norway. They're really big in Norway. By the Polar Bears, love them. The Polar Bears, love them.
Well, Roma Craft got Half Wheel's Company of the Year. Oh, I saw that. I think that's spot on. It is, I totally agree.
Yeah, I totally agree. They said, "In a year that I value consistency more than ever I have before, it seems necessary to acknowledge how we feel about this company and its main factory since 2018. " Since 2018. While the award may not be as prestigious as winning top 25 or even consistently finishing in our top 5, today, Roma Craft Tabac's best finish was number 3 in 2016.
I think the above streak is probably tougher to accomplish. Random chances has a much greater impact on the blend than it has on the six years of work. Yep. So true.
That was nice. I think it should be the most prestigious because if you're winning company... That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying.
He's saying it's harder to get this than to show up on anybody's list. Are you in the room? I was listening. He doesn't pay attention.
Even though it's not as prestigious. He asked me a question about an episode three weeks ago, and he didn't know it. He had no idea? He doesn't remember doing it.
Not a fucking clue. He might need to get looked at. Maybe he needs a red light. I'm tired.
He might need a red light. We're all tired. Bro, everybody's tired. Anyways, I think it's, I think that's a great, I think that's spot on because the cigars that come out of there, the upgrades that he's done, the way he treats his employees, everything as a whole is just...
Great, I mean, there was a guy, funny thing, when we were down in Smoke on the Water, remember the guy that knew of Nick Sueno? No. Wasn't that the guy at the table? Oh yeah.
Omar? No. Pedro? No, this was just a random guy.
He was from Nicaragua. yeah he said and it was so funny because we sat at the state you know my buddy brought him in right and he goes you know um one of have you he goes one of my favorite cigars my cigar companies that i like to smoke have you ever heard of romacraft oh he said this yeah as he's smoking a post on so i look at i look at my buddy sean and i go is he fucking with me is like is this really going down right now like is this a fucking joke and i go yeah they're we We work with them, but they're the same factory. Those are my guys. You're smoking.
Would you like me to get him on the phone right now? I could FaceTime him, but he would just chastise me, and I don't. Every once in a while he does. Yeah, I know, he has been doing that lately.
You know, it's getting out of his comfort zone. That's good. It shows growth. Yeah, it does.
You know what I mean? It does. It's nice to see him. Yeah, it's good for him.
And when you say he, it's not just he, because I think that there's a lot of moving parts there. You got to acknowledge Mike Rosales as well, and Alex that helps work on that factories, you know, and the expansion division, you can give Skip a lot of the credit to, but, you know, it really does take the team. Yeah, it's always a team game. So, I think that they, you know, this last year was fantastic for them.
I think that they did a lot of things really well. Releasing that Volstead, I think that thing was money. It's a fucking banger. Quing Quanginario, even though it wasn't made in Nicosueno, it was made in the Dominican Republic, it tastes like it was made in Nicosueno.
It does taste like he made it at his factory. Which is amazing, you know, they made our blends. Maybe he took some factory where they went, boo-loo-loo-loo. Right, they made our cigars with our blends.
" Yeah, okay, yeah. " Fuck that. Like, you know, I have my vision. He's off the phone, do what I told you to do, not what he said.
Right. I have my vision. He has his vision. And, you know, we figure it out.
We navigate through it together. Like, that's the people I want to work with. I don't worry if someone says A, B, or C, fuck out of here with that bullshit. And I don't really know too many other factories that would do that.
He's a, he's more of a build the suit factory is what you're saying. Well, I just think that, I just think real recognize real, bro. Like he's a hundred percent in and he's invested with people that are also invested a hundred percent. Well, that's the only people he works with.
Yeah, somebody that's not fucking around. " You will make me, you know, I really like it. Alright, what do you want it to taste like? I don't know, you make this cigar and we will put your name on it and it will go good.
I mean, out of, you know, all the factories and stuff that are making cigars, I can pick up anything out of Nicosueño and it tastes great. Yeah. You know, versus other companies, not bad-mouthing or anything, but, you know, you pick up, there's a couple cigars that you don't like. They're just not good.
They just don't fit your palate. Yeah, I mean, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, see, that smoke is going over it.
See, we were talking, that thing sucks from the bottom. Maybe you've got to clean the bottom. Well, I wiped it out the other day. I wiped the entire outside off.
Something is wrong. Well, I think the fact that it's nine years old has something to do with it. Yeah, I think I'm going to take the TV down and move it up. I don't think that's the case.
I think that there's something wrong. Honestly. Well, that's good. I'm glad I didn't see that they won that.
That was great. Spot on. And then you got number 15, Michael, and number 20? I did.
On the half wheel list. That was very nice. What was 15? I got a twofer, baby.
15 was the Connecticut Perfecto, and 20 was the Vogetec 2023. Vogetec. The Vogetec. Yeah.
Nice. You know, look. Two great cigars. Well, Polsania doesn't give any money to Apple.
Right. We don't pay for ad space. You used to, do you just don't anymore? No, we never paid for ad space with Polsania.
Well, not for the cigar. Oh, Cigar Hustler. Yeah, Cigar Hustler. And all it was was a mention at the end.
Yeah, we were attached to their link and stuff like that. That isn't, so, you know, it was awesome. I knew something was up. " I mean, that week was, that was a tough week for me to process, because I had never, like, 14 years in the industry, retail, 10, this is our 10th year as wholesale, and, you know, it's a lot of fucking hard work, I'm going to tell you right now, and I've never really gotten the, all right, yeah, you guys are fucking doing some good shit, so that was really hard to get, to not only get those 291s, but then to have people, like, big guys in the industry, I'm like, hey, congrats, hey, I'm fucking, you know, like, oh, shit.
Oh, oh, oh, God, you know, like, you're not the new kid on the block anymore. Well, thank you, Luciano, it's nice to hear from you. Yeah, like, I'm just not used to like, I'm like, I'm just not used to that. I'm not used to, I'm just used to, I'm used to praise, yeah, I'm just used to fucking getting the shit kicked out of me and just keep moving forward.
Well, because you've never had the not. Yeah. Didn't you make Coops list last year, the SBC? Uh, I might have.
I think you did. I might have, you know, so, but even still. Still, it was like, like I can take some positivity, I don't know, this is fucking weird, right, but I can take some, like, hey, good job on this, or whatever, I'm like, oh, thanks, man, this is really nice of you, but like, when it became a lot, I was like, oh, God, you know, I'm not used to that. Too much.
So, would you like us to give you more praise, so you're, when it happens again? So I can get accustomed to it? Right. I started processing it, it took some time.
We will, I'll make it another, I'll tell you what a great job, more often, at least once a week, I mean, I'm, you know, it's more accustomed. This is why I fucking hate you guys, because I'm being honest, and I'm being open about a situation. We're trying to help you grow, Michael, as a person. Yeah, I'm gonna help you grow.
It's nice to be acknowledged. I'm sure after a while, you'll get tired of hearing it. It was fantastic to get acknowledged. Right, because you've been going through the years, working your ass off, and you don't only do one side of things, you know, just making the cigars.
You do making the cigars, you do the wholesale side, you do the retail side, you do everything. Yeah. Everything that comes with the cigars and everything. You don't have a full team, unless you call Greg a team, but it's nice to be acknowledged.
Palmer, you matter. Thank you. Thank you very much. No, I'm not used to praise.
Please come. But I just mean as a whole, like every day you come into work, it's just like, fuck, man, just getting the shit kicked out of me every day. And then finally someone goes, hey, great job. Great job.
Nice work. I think the easiest way to reference it, honestly, would be from Good Will Hunting. You ever see Good Will Hunting? " He's like, "Yeah, I know.
No, it's not your fault. " That was a whole thing for me. " You gotta give me a minute to fucking process that. 'Cause I'm not used to it.
But now I expect... No, I'm just kidding. Well, no, it probably goes way back to your mother who never tells you. I mean, yeah, let's unpack all that.
No, I'm just saying. No, I'm serious. That's probably where it started, right? Of course.
Greg, you're great, Michael. You're fat. Who are you? Be better.
You're still alive? You're still alive. Are we feeding him still? What is this?
Is he finding the snacks? Greg is so thin, he needs more food. He's got a good metabolism. He's the best.
Where are we getting the food for the big one for? Well, that's good, though. I never wanted to. Yeah, so, fucking kudos to Half Wheel, man.
You know, as much bullshit that we give them sometimes, and sometimes the, you know, we like to break their balls in their descriptions and stuff, um, man, they fucking put in the work, dude. Holy shit. Not even close. As far as what's...
Oh, how we said they do the consensus today? Ugh. Way too much work. Yeah.
And what they, like the, all the information on the politics, you know, I, they used to do, I remember they, they said, "Hey, here are all the trademarks that are fucking signed up from everybody in the cigars Coming out this year, I'm like, holy shit, god damn, who's got that kind of time, you know? Well, somebody is doing it every day, all day. Yeah, but still, you have to have a mindset. Right.
You know, 42 media outlets sent them ratings. Well, inclusive to us? No, not inclusive to us, because we weren't allowed, we weren't allowed to send any. But I can't even think of 42 cigar media shows.
Right, which we tapped on before about how I think it's kind of fucked. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, we were excluded. I mean, I understand the rules, fine, it's, you know, whatever. Yeah, it is what it is.
Yeah. Actually, it means now less work. I don't even have to do it half a year. Yeah.
And don't all 42 of you send information to me because I don't have time. So, actually, if you just send a copy and paste version, that'd be a lot easier. Charlie laughed about some guy called Bob the Cigar Smoker or something even sending his stuff or something. Yeah.
Bob the Cigar Smoker, something. We even got one from Bob the Cigar Smoker. Wow. Fucking Bob's a legend.
I wonder if he vets the 42 shows. I'm sure he does. I bet you he fucking knows. I bet you he fucking knows.
I bet they do, right? I bet you he fucking knows. I think you would have to, so that way- You would have to, because I mean, we could send one under- Yeah. We could send one under a different- My name is Chet Steponkevich.
Oh, don't even put that on me, that's a flag. The Chet and Palmer show can send one in next year. Oh. Oh.
Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?
Why do they like Pestañas so much? Let's just make a new page now. Three guys smoking a cigar. There you go, it's a new show.
Three guys smoking a cigar. Three guys smoking one cigar. We'll call it Trace Ombuds. I don't wanna smoke one cigar.
Trace Ombuds. No, we're only gonna smoke the one. We split... No, I don't wanna do that.
Boots always goes last. Oh, yeah. Alright, hold on Boots here. There you go.
I'm good. That's Phil. Yeah, Phil. That's Phil.
No, we'll have Boots do it. Okay. Boots is one with the issues. yeah still somewhat normal i had to taste that cigar that um greg gave adrian because i couldn't smell anything on it go is it even sweet and she goes no not really so i tasted it and she had gotten it all wet and it still grossed me out a little bit yeah dude because i didn't expect it to be that wet yeah dude like i shoved my tongue down your mouth i'm just right this is this is wet leaves like i don't know it's kind of strange kind of weird i gotta tell you you can you got one.
All right. Time for Phil's fun facts. Apparently he's getting ready. Oh, he's panicking.
It's going to get that baby out. It's like 40 minutes. Swaddle that child. We were just talking about so much good stuff.
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast feature. Phil's fun Hello, peoples! Did you know the longest recorded Cigar Ash was so colossal that it earned its own zip code and started receiving fan mail? " Wow.
Apparently that's true, I don't know. But I mean, I found it online, so it must be real. Yeah, I think it's own zip code. I mean, that takes a lot of work to make you a zip code.
I wonder what the requirement is. I don't know, we would like to have one here. A zip code? How do you get your own zip code?
We have our own. No, we share one with the city. Yeah. I think if you had your own zip code, you might be part of those 42.
Maybe. It might be 43. But we have our own zip code, Charlie. Right.
Well, 32725. Oh, to Charlie, yes, yes. We have a designated. Three guys, one cigar has its own zip code.
That's what we're gonna send it in, guys. Are you sure about that, Charlie? We don't see a rating from three guys and one cigar. But what he sees at the top ten are all Pustanias, he's gonna think of something.
Cigar guys with their one puff review. We didn't ask him about that, I forgot. Oh, you didn't ask a question? You know, the ratings weren't as high as I thought they were gonna be.
What do you mean? For that show. I thought they would share it to their TikTok-y people, and they did repost it twice. Oh, you didn't ask them?
What? Can you call them? We need to figure out this one tough thing. No, no, we didn't bring it.
They're going to come back on. Oh, we do their show. We can insult them on their show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let's insult them on their show. That would be more fun than on our show. Insult them on their show. That one guy was so nice.
Oh, Jared? Gonzalez. Alex. Alex?
Alex is a nice guy. Yeah, he was very nice. The other guy only talked twice. Yeah.
Yeah. Hmm. Secretive. He's the muscle.
" Oh, that was a drill voice? Yeah. It's kind of like when SNL did the Adam Sandler skit, where all of his family came in, they all sound like the characters. Yeah, yeah.
" Oh my God, that's my voice. I do that. All right. I saw an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He can do almost a clean American accent. Really? But people like the other one. Yeah.
Yeah, because I think when he was in True Lies, he didn't have a very heavy accent. No, not that when he didn't. Yeah. And who's the guy that did that, who was the producer on Terminator?
James Cameron. Yeah, he told, yeah, I couldn't think of his name, I could see his face. He said one of the reasons Terminator did so well was because Arnold sounded like a machine. Oh, yeah, sounds like a robot.
It sounded different. I mean, he had the motion, the walking down pat pretty well. Well, that's the way he walks. Muscles protrude.
Muscles. Muscles. That's why he got Conan, because they didn't have to fake somebody. He was Conan.
He was. Yeah. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, listen to the lamentations of their women. It's just a fucking mode to live by.
I mean, I don't know what else to tell you. Are we running out of time? 47. We're getting tight.
You want to just cut it? We can cut it. No, let's go. Let's roll.
We're doing it. From the four quarters of the world, For all the cigar industry news you could possibly need, the Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Toon. Luciano Cigar is now available in New Zealand! Oh my god.
Cigar smokers in New Zealand will soon see a number of cigars from Luciano Cigar Portfolio, whether they wanted to order them or not. As the company has entered into a distribution agreement with Mason Corporation Limited, we are told that we are immensely proud and grateful for the opportunity to bring Luciano Cigars in New Zealand, said Luciano Morales, President and co-founder of Luciano Cigars. It said that? Yes.
Oh. Maybe. We are so excited to continue growing this company and conning cigar enthusiasts around the world. Conning cigar enthusiasts.
Nice. Yes. In addition to a distribution operation, Mason Corporation operates 126 stores in the country under the name Shosa, which offers diverse portfolio of smoking products as now is called Luciano Cigars Shosa Stores. Products will debut.
HVC is increasing the prices in February. Uh-oh. Everybody is. Effective February 1st, 2024, HVC cigars will increase the prices of the cigars by...
It's a dollar amount. Well, it's not... It's money. It's not...
It's not a percentage. It's not a percentage. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'll tell you.
Yeah, this is fine. You go to two, he's talking to. You get... It's not on.
I'm gonna say 30... Wait, retail, 60 cents. Wait, let me go! Oh, come on!
Sorry, 20 cents per cigar. Okay, yeah, so that's probably wholesale. The changes will affect virtually every cigar in the company's portfolio, the one exception being the relatively new HVC Hot Cake Maduro Half Corona. There you go.
Which won't increase its price. Yeah. P. Corilio is raising the prices.
Yeah. Let's just jump to the amount here. Nothing going on with the rent. 7%.
7%. They don't say. They don't say. The price is going up.
I got news for you, Polsana prices are going up too. Yes. Cost for Everything is fucking up still. I don't know what to tell you.
Howard G. Cigars has announced they will not be raising prices in 2024. Look at Howard. In Q1 of 2025.
Howard G. Cigars has also announced is ended direct to consumer sales of its cigars. Oh. Shut it down.
Yes. We got action. In an email communication, the company says, "We have come to a point in our journey of expansion where it is key to shift from competing with our retailers. We decided to discontinue the online sale of cigars through the Howard G.
Cigars website. Effective February 1st, 2024, this pivot is a testament to our growth and is a milestone that would have been achievable without the steadfast support of you, our valued company. Man, that guy is just out fucking putting in fucking work, man. Oh my God, he is fucking everywhere.
Everywhere. He's always out. He is hauling ass. Jason Sharpe is always toting his thing on social media.
He's gonna have a birthday party. He's having a birthday party here. Like Cigar Hustle. Yes, and Howard G will be here.
Yeah. We had Howard on the Patreon last week. Oh, it was on the Patreon. Yeah.
Howie! Howie! And he's gonna bring Leon. He's just a good dude, man.
But the other dude- To the birthday party. He's gonna bring Leon. Nice. It's here at Cigar Hustle.
Nice. Yeah. Drew Estate announces the 2024 barn smoker dates and locations. And another Freestyle Live Pack is coming next week.
I know. I don't know if we're gonna buy that one. We don't need, we need stuff for next year, so, but, customer appreciation. That's not the Freestyle Live thing, that's a pack.
Oh, this is the one where you gotta, you gotta buy the pack. Yeah. Oh, but maybe they're also. Oh, but do you have to pay for these?
Yeah, you gotta pay for them. Okay, never mind. I mean, I could buy something. On Thursday evening, Drew State hosted its first Freestyle Live event of 2024, and during the show announced that it has three barn smokers planned for 2024.
Don't they normally do four? Three? The company is not yet announced specifics on where the events will be held, but said as more information is forthcoming in the 10th page and in the 10th page, they will be releasing a new freestyle live event pack that will showcase a new cigar that will be announced in March. The three barn smoker events will return to some familiar sites, first in Connecticut on August 10th, then in Kentucky on August 5th, and finally, Florida November 9th.
The company has not yet announced specifics on where the events will be held, but said as more information is forthcoming in the 10th page, the company is not yet announced on the 10th page. I guess we'll be going on sale on March 15th. Why'd you see you can get it here? I don't have a barn.
I think it's a technical. We can get a barn. We can get a barn. We could build it.
We could build it. If you build it, they will come. Yeah, it's true. We just start leveling the wetland back there.
Build a barn around the wood. Right, right back there. Don't worry about the penalties later. Right.
It's only one day. And then we'll put it all back. Oh, yeah. Put the trees back.
It's fine. Well, can't we just put up like those sunshade things? Call it a barn? Yeah, of course.
Sure we can. We can buy like a greenhouse from Costco or Home Depot or some shit. Oh, there you go. Yeah, and just throw some tobacco plants in there.
Right. You don't even have to bulldoze for that. It'll just let it pop through the roof. Yeah.
There's a short station. Yeah, they pop it like five, six feet, something like that. Right. Uh, let's see.
It's announced that they will be moving into more of a festival format. Ooh. You do not need a barn. Oh!
Will there be Twister? That's my only question. And there will be some new amenities for VIP tickets, like Twister. Perfect, because nothing makes me happier than grown-ass men with a high BMI ratio doing Twister.
The company will also be hosting a pair of other events, the first of which was referred to as the West Coast Situation. Oh. Except for July, while the Drew Estate Family Reunion, that's where they bring in all the people they fired. Nick Malillo, Fabian.
You guys should just come. Can't wait to see you. Bring all these people back. We'll give you a sandwich.
It'll be fantastic. The real estate family will take place September 7th. Oh. Ken at Kentucky Castle.
What is that? Which is owned by Wes Henderson. That's Nick's house. Nick Malillo?
Yeah. In Kentucky? He has a castle. In Kentucky?
Yeah. The Kentucky Castle is owned by, oh, right here, Nick Malillo. Yeah. The co-founder of Foundation Cigars.
Rounding out the news in the show was a new Freestyle Live of Mimpact. We'll be heading to stores on Monday, January 10th. More cigar holders, cigar stands, lighters, and some unidentified cigars. Oh, I suppose that already happened.
Oh, along with a keychain luggage handle. Oh, a lighter and a cigar cutter. Oh, that also functions. So that already happened.
Oh, yeah, it happened. No, it happens today. It's today. Oh, did they ask?
So I guess we didn't buy them. No, I guess not. I wonder if the Secret Cigar is the Undercrown Eleven. Maybe.
Oh my God. It could be the Nika Rusica Red or Green. Nothing was disclosed about the cigars during Thursday's show, but Willie Herrera, master blender for Drew Estate, who is still employed there, did say that it's something that I've been very, very excited to work with in referencing the blend. Willie Herrera.
You went the wrong way. Let's keep going. I did. That's all I got.
Herrera. Cigar Hustler is the goddamn fucking best! That's why it's here. That's right, Pedro.
That's what Willie Herrera said. Thank you so much. It's not Willie Herrera. Oh, sorry.
In a follow-up interview, Pedro was heard saying: Cigar Hustler is the goddamn fucking best! That is what Pedro said. Exactly. Thank you, Pedro.
Okay. It's handmade in Estelini. Yes, it is, yes. The New Cigars are handmade in Esteli, Nicaragua.
That was the best show that never fucking saw the light of day. Favorite show ever. Who would you like to have on this year? We have a minute here.
How many time do we have over there? Uh, 55. Yeah, there we go. We have five minutes.
Who would you like to have on? Oh, do you have a listener of the week? Oh. Let's skip the listener week and do it.
Who would you like to have on this year? Who have we not had on? Who would I like to have on this year? Hmm.
I can't. Well, you know, I think I hit the button every time you do that. Oh. Because there's a sound there.
Yeah, it does have a... Mmm. It's on the board. Mmm.
Who would I like to have on this year? I don't know. I'd like to have Coupon. I know he's been on before.
You're just kind of setting that up. But I would like to, yeah, I'm throwing that out there. Coup, we would like you to do the show in the 2024 calendar year next time you're rolling through Florida. Can he get Charlie?
Like, in here. In here. In here. Not on the phone.
In here. You want an in-person interview. Where you can't leave. He comes to Florida, right?
He comes to the floor all the time, he was just here two weeks ago, he drove the professor around Tampa like he was an Uber. Did we lock the door on him so he can't leave? Eh, Phil just slides back. Yeah, I'll stand in front.
He gets up, Phil slides back. Now you can't sleep. We get him some cheesecake, we're slipping money. Hey, we'd like to make your list.
I really think that number one's important, so... We'll go for top ten. We need you to sign this contract right now. I mean, if cheesecake's involved, I'm going for at least top five.
Okay, top five. Yeah. We just ask him, what does it cost? What's it going to cost?
How much cheesecake, cash, cigars? What do you need? What are we doing? You want Phil to blow you?
Phil will blow you. We're going to talk brass tacks. We're going to get down to the nitty gritty. Phil, commit to the team, Phil.
I don't think so. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, Phil. Take one for the team.
I guess we'll get second Phil in here to do that. The problem is that you'll take pictures while he's blowing them. It'll be on the fucking screen up front. Sure.
I'm not going to be blowing anybody. Oh, you might be. Not knowing that you just gave me that idea. Hey, I love how you put the Jesus cameo on.
Yeah, I figured I would rotate that through. Wait, what did you do? At the end of last week's show, the credits run, and then there's the disclaimer. No, I don't.
I live there. No, he doesn't. There's the disclaimer, you know, that runs. So I threw the Jesus one at the end over the disclaimer.
Cigar Hustler is... Number one. Oh, the cameo that you brought. Yeah, yeah, the cameo that you brought.
That was good. That was good. I don't know if I still have all three. I like that one.
I want to say that one. That one was pretty epic. That was nice and clean. Awesome.
I did want to shout out, again, real quick, too. I wanted to shout out Matthew Tobacco from Smoking Tobacco. He was going to be my Listener of the Week. Yes.
Okay. Number one. You know, all these guys do listen, too. That's nice.
Yeah. Yeah. That was cool. That is cool.
Matthew Tobacco, Listener of the Week. And for the Shop of the Week. Yes. I would like to acknowledge Smoke Rings in Merritt Island.
Oh, that's right, we should know, that's where we're all gonna be, Thursday night! Yeah. And who's gonna be there? Thursday night, we're gonna have a cutting light at Smoke Rings, Merritt Island.
Besides us. Shirtless Mike? There he is. Is that what you're excited about?
Well, it's his event. He set it up. He'll be closed, Mike, though. I never knew the name of his place until that came out.
Smoke Rings? Oh, really? Yeah. Oh.
Greg will be... Greg is doing his first event of the year. Yes, surprise. Now he's going to be at City Wine and Cigars over in Deland.
Yeah. His first ever event? No, this year. Oh, it might be his first event ever.
We don't ever let him out. Yeah, he's never done one by himself before. We didn't have any. Didn't he do one once up north somewhere, these Polish people own the shop or something?
It was years ago, before my time, I believe. In Ohio? I think so. I don't think he did.
He went and the lady didn't show or something? I don't know, maybe. Maybe. I think you remember telling me that story.
Hmm. Maybe. All right, Greg, we'll be doing his first ever event. That's the first ever event.
That had to be like 10, 12 years ago. Well, we've only been in the industry for 14. Wholesale's been 10. Well, how long is your cigar?
It would have been for your cigar. 10. 10. So maybe it was 10 years ago.
Back when he thought he could still do events. Yeah. So. Mmm.
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. So who do you want to have on the show?
You never said. Who do I want to have on the show? You just want to shout out Matthew Tobacco, which we did. He's listening to the lead.
Smoke Greens is a shout out of the lead. I know. That's kind of a tough question for me. Who haven't we had?
You know, because, like, here's what... I messed this up. Yeah, don't move back. Here's what I would look for.
You run the show on a shoestring budget. You know, I need people to kind of be so open and honest that I don't... " Well, you just end the show like you did on those other people. You had to do that, I think, three times over the last year.
" This was... Have a good day! Yeah, you know, so... Palmer wants Coop.
Who would you like to have, Phil? I would like Dean from Epic. Dean from Epic? Okay.
That probably wouldn't be hard to do. You know, I think it would be kind of cool. Especially if we got him, like, when he was a little fucked up. Maybe, like, high or something.
I don't know. I don't know if he does. Peter Hernandez? I honestly don't know if he does.
He does both of those. Andre Farkas from Viaghe would be cool. Oh. I never does interviews.
I don't even know who that is. He's a nice guy. I bullshit with him every once in a while. He's with who?
Viaje. When we hit him up at the show. He ain't coming. He doesn't go to the show?
Oh, he's there. He's there. I'll talk. We'll have a good...
We'll bullshit. Like, you know... Right. I have a good conversation with him all the time when he's there.
Like, we just catch up on whatever. But then after that, you know, I don't know. I don't know. " He doesn't do interviews.
No. All right. Interesting. Well, those are three.
I think that'd be fun. I don't know anything about them. You know, I like some of my old, the old school dudes, you know, I like having Hector and Jack on. Yeah, but we have them on all.
Yeah, I like having Matt Booth on. Yeah. I love having Skip on. Yeah.
You know, I would like to have Alex on again, see, hey, what's going on, talk about production, all this other stuff. Oh, we have to have Lightweight Heavy, because he did request, remember? Yeah. I thought we had him on.
We had him on. Yeah. But didn't he want to do an in-person too? Oh, if he wants to come here.
comes in town. Absolutely. I'd love to have him on. I see he's got his own Facebook and all that now.
Facebook page for White We Heavy. Yeah, what he said. Oh, it was just his regular Facebook then. Yeah.
He acts a little more like Greg. Thanks for having me hang out with Greg too much. He's been gone for like two weeks and this is what I have. Hello.
I had to call him today and ask if he was even doing the show. He's totally disconnected. You didn't ask me that. Yes, I did.
Did you? Yes. Oh, when I called you. Right.
No, I called you. You didn't even remember that. I called you. No, no, I called you.
Oh, whatever. He doesn't have no idea, he doesn't know what's going on. Yeah. It's oblivious.
Oblivious. It's just terrible. He goes upstairs blindly in the blind. I know.
Yeah. Crazy. Maybe we should make him go with Greg. I'm not going with Greg.
Why not? Why did he just get so angry? Because I'm going with you guys. I'm not going with Greg.
Yeah. Greg needs help. No. There's no help.
There is no amount. Alex will be there. You don't want to help stuff. He's not allowed to go out at night without him.
He's not allowed to leave. Yeah, they'll be fine together. He can't go without a five-foot vicinity. He'll be okay.
He'll just be sitting there smoking and drinking wine like he's just out for a night. Yeah. More wine for my wife. It's Friday.
I would like the filet, please. Yeah. And the $5 potato and salad. Oh, it's tapas?
Oh. Oh, shit. This is gonna be hard, guys. I'm trying to get the group to go to smoke rings, but now there's an event.
Locally. Local. Well, maybe if you drive a bus. Well, it sounds like there's like four or five of them coming.
Take your wife's truck and pick everybody up and take them. Grab the fifth wheel, stick them all in there. No, I left the fifth wheel out of the raceway. You left it there?
Yeah. It's theirs now? No, it's mine. Oh.
So, do you sleep there? Yes. m. What do you do for it?
What do you do there? Me, I'm just supervising the crews. Oh, so you are, so your pictures are what you're doing. Walking around, watching the race, smoking a cigar.
Yeah, because there's a guy sitting in the infield the whole race, and I go down there, get him food, or check on him, or if he needs help, like, they had a leaky toilet, so I went and fixed the toilet for him, the guy in the infield, so most of the guys, like, what we got contracted for was trash duty, so emptying trash cans, picking up trash off the ground, making sure paper towels and toilet papers and all the bathrooms and stuff, but it's kind of I turned into, uh, because the guy knows I do more. Gotcha. It's like more of a maintenance. That's how that works.
Yeah. That's always how that works. Well, they're having trouble. I used to just smoke cigars upstairs, Michael.
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true. I smoke cigars upstairs.
Yeah, but now I'm director of social media because I smoked cigars upstairs nine years ago. Yeah. Well, yeah. That's awesome.
And you're an engineer for the most successful cigar podcast because you smoke cigars upstairs. Yeah. The number one. Yeah.
I said the most successful. We're not technically number one anymore. Yeah, we're just the most successful. Most successful.
Listen. Coop, last time I checked, Coop was still number one. He can't be number one. Sure he can.
I don't know how Feedspot does it, but the rankings change. Listen. Like, I'm the number five midlife crisis show. I don't know how that happened either.
He's number five. Probably 'cause Coop's ranking them. They sent me an email, congratulated me. He didn't give him any cheesecake.
Yeah, I didn't give him cheesecake. He doesn't have to. You gotta give him cheesecake. They're like the same age.
Yeah, but he doesn't like it. Junior's cheesecake. Maybe, maybe you should put the Jesus thing on Coop's page. Maybe he'll, you know, understand.
I've upset the man enough. He thinks now it's affecting his rankings. Yeah, I think that, you know, guy was excited about the Connecticut and he said, you know, I don't know, that's why I was, that's why I was mentioning to him, like, how did New World get ranked over Pasadena? It's the Cigar Coop New World Studio, man.
Yeah. Coming at you live. Coming at you live from the New World Studios. I think it is, actually.
I'm not saying that's why, but I think it is something like that. It's a good way to get ranked. It is. It's a great way to get ranked.
McTavish better pick you to be the number one. Hey, yeah, they have time. I'm going to tell you right now, you fucking leave John alone. I talk to John all the time.
We text back and forth. He's my friend. I'm going to tell you right now, if John decides not to rank me, it's because he felt that it wasn't warranted. I don't think that will happen.
I don't think that will happen. Fishstick and John are going to... He speaks very highly of you. Not so much Fishstick.
John speaks very highly. John is a great guy. He doesn't like him because he calls him Fishstick. - They're both bodybuilders.
- Aaron Loomis is a bodybuilder? - He used to be a Waylander, yeah. - He has no idea who Aaron Loomis is. - Yeah.
- Fish sticks with the glasses and bald head? - Is he bald? - I don't think he's bald. - Yeah, he's bald.
- Oh, then yes. - Did you not listen to the conversation we were at dinner with him in Vegas? - He's mixing it up with the other guy. - He is.
- Who's the other guy? - The guy from Don Dorito. - Yeah, no. - It wasn't the Don Dorito guy?
- No. - Well, it wasn't Garrett. - It's Matt's High. Matt Tice is a tall guy with a beard.
I'm drawing a blank right now. Justin? Oh, Justin, yeah, the other bald guy. How about that cigar?
With a bigger beard. That's Justin. I am mixing them up. Thank you.
Yeah, Justin used to be a bodybuilder. Now he's a beard grower. Yeah, now he's a beard grower. Right.
He has a huge beard. And he has so many hobbies in line. That poor guy just sits by the snowblower. Right.
All right. Well, he has to run that right after the show. Yeah, exactly. They're in Minnesota.
All right, now go take care of the driveway. Alright, this has been episode 317 of Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the most successful podcast on the cigar world. Alright, bye. Bye.
It is not our attention to Bibles, incites, or her, or any of our students. We invite you to write to the show's host, Mike Szczefankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Squared, Squared, Squared.
Show Notes
Welcome to Episode 317 of A Cigar Hustlers Podcast!
This week, we dive into the well-deserved recognition of Roma Craft Tobac as Halfwheel's Company of the Year, exploring the remarkable st
reak of achievements since 2018. From consistent excellence to their recent triumph, we dissect why Roma Craft Tobac stands out in the cigar world.
In a special segment, we connect with Mathew Tobacco of Smokin Tobacco to express our gratitude for our spot on his Top 25 Cigar list – cheers to the hustle!
But that's not all! Luciano Cigars is making waves in New Zealand, HVC and E.P. Carrillo announce price adjustments, and Howard G Cigars shares updates on pricing and sales strategies for 2024.
And of course, don't miss the exciting news from Drew Estate about the 2024 Barn Smoker dates and locations, along with a sneak peek at their upcoming Freestyle Live Pack. Tune in for your weekly dose of the latest cigar industry insights, laughs, and all things smokin'!