Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 328 Solar Eclipse
Episode Summary
Episode 328 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Szczepankiewicz recapping his brand event at Bull Weevil (and Mike Palmer's location-tracking pranks), a running gag about the April 2024 solar eclipse, and a road-trip story about a panhandle gas station with no premium fuel. It's a loose, funny first segment before the show pivots to two unannounced phone call-ins.
The centerpiece is a roughly 30-minute surprise call with Nick Melillo of Foundation Cigar Company. He explains, for the first time in detail, why the Matatapa was renamed Axum: a trademark issue tied to the imagery (not the name — Matatapa is the birthplace of Ruben, the man pictured), which he resolved by rebranding rather than fighting it after only one October shipment. He also addresses the industry chatter around Foundation leaving Aganorsa Leaf to produce with Pepín García, saying the press coverage from Cigar Aficionado and halfwheel overplayed a factory falling-out. The reality, per Melillo, is that Highclere Castle's sister line Wiseman — his first Aganorsa brand, launched as a tribute to Nicaragua — had stagnated for a decade and was hard for consumers to pronounce, so he discontinued it and launched a completely re-blended, repackaged Wise Man Corojo and Wise Man Maduro at the new factory. Melillo also talks Year of the Dragon trademark drama, the 2024 Northeast earthquake, and delivers a history lesson on Connecticut's 1944 Jamaican shade-tobacco work program and its connection to blunt culture.
Matt Booth of Room 101 then calls in from his return from Japan, riffing on his infamous New Orleans PCA night, his Down to Herf "F/Marry/Kill" footwear logic, and lobbying for his own segment. The news block covers PCA 2025 and 2026 both landing in New Orleans (with the Friday-meetings, Saturday–Monday show format and the state smoking exemption), Gurkha's four Year of the Dragon cigars, Time Out Cigars' Lumpia, the White Panda Domino from Luciano's factory, and S.T. Dupont's eye-watering Game of Thrones and Maharaja lighters. Phil's Fun Fact covers Ulysses S. Grant's 20-cigar-a-day habit, and the show closes with shop of the week, listener of the week, and a giveaway drawing.
In This Episode
- 01Bull Weevil Event Recap & Road Trip StoriesMike recaps his brand event turnout, the location-tracking prank posts, a hotel room with a hot tub in the bedroom, and a gas station with no premium fuel.
- 02Solar Eclipse BanterThe hosts joke their way through the April 2024 eclipse, eclipse glasses, and past 'end of the world' predictions.
- 03Nick Melillo Call-In: Why Matatapa Became AxumMelillo reveals the rebrand was driven by a trademark issue over the band imagery, not the name, after only one shipment went out.
- 04Leaving Aganorsa for Pepín GarcíaMelillo says the move was about growth and opportunity, not a falling out, and that press coverage overstated the factory angle.
- 05Discontinuing Wiseman and Launching Wise Man Corojo & MaduroA stagnant, hard-to-pronounce brand gets retired in favor of a completely new blend and packaging at the new factory.
- 06Year of the Dragon Trademark Fight & Connecticut Tobacco HistoryMelillo weighs in on the Gurkha dragon trademark saga and explains Connecticut's 1944 Jamaican shade-worker program.
- 07Matt Booth Calls In From JapanThe Room 101 founder recounts his Japan trip, his legendary New Orleans PCA night, and pitches a gossip segment.
- 08Cigar Industry News RoundupPCA 2025 and 2026 in New Orleans, Gurkha's four dragons, Time Out Lumpia, White Panda Domino, and S.T. Dupont's $130,000 lighter.
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
The Controversial Legendary VDB. Make way for the king. A long time, can't be stopped, shootin' my shot, another Mike and Mike production, in 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 328.
Recorded live at the Mike and Mike Production Studios in Deltona, Florida, this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the show where two guys share their passion for cigars, business, and life. Join Mike, the King, Stepankiewicz, and his co-host, Mike BDP Palmer, as they talk about the latest cigar news, reviews, tips, and interview some of the most influential people in the cigar industry. Interviews. And me, I'm their engineer and sound tech, Phil.
Phil! Whether you are a seasoned aficionado or a curious beginner, this podcast is for you. It's for you. So sit back, relax, and light up a cigar with Cigar Hustlers Podcasts!
Oh, this show is gonna be bananas right here. Bananas. Bananas right here. Welcome to the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free, but a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on Patreon.
Thanks for your unwavering support. We're able to deliver unfiltered, unbiased opinions on all things cigars and personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our customers, for our listeners. Cheers to you.
com and search A Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Hey. Hey, you didn't start your thingy. Hey.
Bam! Does it really matter? Bam, you gotta go to work. Oh.
Bam, you gotta go to work. I don't think we have that one anymore. Bam, you gotta go to work. He's gonna shit!
Not what I thought it was. It says he's gonna on the board. Oh, this is a riveting podcast, Michael. Make sure you get that lit.
Was that it of the read? Yeah, that was my read. That was my read. So, I did my event at Bull Weevil?
Yeah! Oh, yes. I hurt my shoulder sleeping over the weekend. Oh, no.
That's how you know you're getting old. It's my shoulder blade. If I put any pressure on that side, pain down my shoulder blade. Oh, no.
That's just another thing. I added it to the list. Red light it. We'll be fine.
Oh, I didn't think about that. And I gotta lay on my face. Red light the fuck out of it. So, yeah, I did my event.
Yeah, how'd it go? How many people showed up? Was it a lot of people? Did you have a good time?
It was fantastic. The drive looked wonderful. All your updates and everything. It looked marvelous.
The updates were hilarious. They were funny. They were good. You know, I'm very in shape.
Nobody else does that. Nobody else does that. Nope. You didn't share your locations on the way back.
We couldn't do it. My kids loved it. I heard your wife told me. That was nice.
He's all worth a while right there. My kids loved it. And to confirm that my kids loved it. Yeah.
" Ah, excellent. So, he definitely loved them. But the event was fantastic. Yeah?
A lot of peoples? Yeah, there was a great turnout. Did they know who you were? Some of them knew.
Yeah? Yeah, some of them knew. You got a couple of... Who is this guy?
This guy. No, are you the rep? I love those. I love that.
Yes. I always say something like that. Something. Something like that.
Kind of. You know, so it doesn't matter if they knew me or not. You know, the opportunity to talk to those guys. Well, I didn't mean really if they knew you, but if they were familiar-- Do you know who I am?
Right. Were they familiar with the brand? " I'm the Polish guy. Right.
Why'd you put on a light bulb? I need three other people. A lot of people knew me, like knew that I was coming. Right, right.
Oh, they advertised it. They did a good job. They did. And it was a great turnout.
It looked like a nice shop for the video, I saw. It's a great shop. Great human order. Did you get to touch the giant cigar that's outside above the building?
I did not get that. It was too tall. I was out of my reach. And my boy Dan Stanley drove all the way up to fucking area.
Oh, wow. How far a drive has ever been there? It's over two hours. Oh, not bad.
Yeah, that was really cool. I think McCreary would have been. It was kind of close, right? Where does he live?
McCreary? Did you ever go to Indianapolis? That's not that far, wasn't it? Oh, my Lord.
I think that's that far. First name to get in my head. I know Mitch did. He's in California, apparently.
You think Mitch could have made it. Yeah, Mitch could have made it. You're halfway there. Yeah.
What the hell? Did Tyler Jones come in? The world's greatest. Yeah, Tyler swooped in.
Nice. We have to mention him every show. He gets upset. But it was a great event.
Good! And we love Jack Toronto. Yes, and we love Jack Toronto. And we love Jack Toronto.
Because that guy tried to tear us a new asshole. He did. He did. He lost his mind.
He didn't listen to the whole podcast, got halfway through. You know, and it was literally minutes later. He'd stopped it. If you would have just let it play for another second, we would have went, "Oh, we went to the Espinosa house.
" A lot of people were just choosing violence last week. They were. It was a tough week for us. My goodness.
So angry. So we're in the middle of the solar, sorry to the polar eclipse. We're in the middle of the polar eclipse. It's very cold outside.
It's very polar-y outside. At last check, it's still, we have a crescent out. We have a crescent sun. It's amazing.
It's just absolutely astonishing. I think it's in my head. The back of your neck is probably hurting from stretching up. That too, that'll be tomorrow.
I gotta crank. These things are so dark, that's all you can see with them on is the eclipse. You can't use them for sunglasses. No.
Not at all. Well, it's not strong enough. The sun? No, the sunglasses.
I mean, they're too strong. Well, those ones are strong. Yeah, that's what I mean. They're the regular ones you can't use.
Right. Right. I so want to look, though. Don't you?
It's so ridiculous. I'm not, no. I'm really not. It's like, don't touch that pan, it's hot.
You did! I gotta touch the pan. I'm really not that intrigued about it, but because you had- Nah, it happened, well, I was here when I happened in 2017. I'm surprised.
You just went to Kennedy Space Center. You're not intrigued of the eclipse? No. And there's not a thing at the school.
I'm sure there was. Like, the world is coming to an end now. God is mad. It's Matt, it's putting these covered up the sun.
I'm surprised I haven't seen it. The only post I've seen is your alien one. Oh. The UFOs.
The UFOs. I liked your email blast for the shop today. Well, you know, I'm gonna add little things in it that's not, you know, this topical stuff, too. It's entertaining.
Yeah. I like that. And then Wednesday is the story day. The ongoing story of Macabre.
M-I-K-A-U-D. B. B. It's a B at the end.
Macabre? Macabre. Macabre. Yes, the Polish cigar guy.
On his quest. On his quest to give everybody top-level cigars for a good price. Look at him. He's out there crushing it.
Only get it on email blast, people. So yeah, and then I did a podcast with Cigar Hound and Mastery Rash. Yes, I saw your wife's thing. You'd never tell me anything anymore.
I'm sorry. Was that like a private thing or was it? No, it was live, YouTube or whatever, Facebook. Oh, was it?
Yeah. I could promote those things. Dude, I am so sorry, man. Which is part of the thing of having you on there.
They get, you know, attention drawn to their show. Not like it's your job. Right, not like it's my job at all. Dude, that's on me, I apologize.
" I apologize, you know, I like the Lenny Schmingle hat that you have. So how'd you get the location then? Thank you. Oh, so you did see it.
What'd you get that from Brittany? " Oh, that bitch, she's something else, huh? Don't call her name, she's my friend. Oh boy, yeah, I'm not agreeing with any of that.
Yeah, no worries. Don't call her names, it's terrible. What are you talking about? We just called her a bitch!
You did! It wasn't hurtful. It sounded hurtful. No, it didn't.
Oh boy. I love her tremendously. It's what I do, but probably not the same way. Not in the same way.
We better not be the same way. No. We'll have a problem. No, no, not in the same way.
You were gone, but not in the same way. Yeah, I was gone. Oh my lord. They called me second daddy when you're gone.
Michael? Oh, is that why you're tracking me, Michael? Is that why you're tracking me? I texted him that morning and got him to share his location with me for the next 24 hours.
So apparently he hit 12. Oh, he didn't contact you, but he put his tracking on. Yeah, he put his tracking on. So every two hours I'd go and see where he was and then come up with something.
And then he would notice. I thought maybe you got it from Brittany. Does Brittany have you located? Of course.
I didn't know if you guys know. We do that in my house too. No, he only shares it with you, Paul. No, he turned it off.
It wasn't there for the ride home. It was at end of day, I'm like, yes, at end of day. I looked the next morning to see what hotel you were in. Well, it's because Palmer's gonna start posting like, when you're going to the bathroom and stuff like that.
Yeah, there was one stop, he was at a rest area, eating a Kit Kat. So I stayed at an Empton Inn, Hampton Inn. Guys, she put a Kit Kat in your bed, she's a surprise. What?
You stayed at a Hampton Inn? I was surprised they had one at Enterprise, to be honest. That's usually where I stay. Yeah, he's the Hilton guy.
Oh, they don't have a hill in that though. Oh, he was surprised you stayed at one that low, not that it was that high. No, Hampton Inn is the baseline world. They got the waffles.
Oh. Yeah, so you had a waffle. I'm down with that, yeah. And the pillows are usually really nice.
Pillows were kind of rough. But I will tell you, there's two parts of the story I can tell you. Yes. Why can't you tell us the whole story?
Because we don't have that kind of time. Number one, the hotel I booked had a hot tub in my bedroom. Ooh. That is the best type of room.
It was the freakiest shit I have ever seen. It's like in the middle of the bedroom when they do that. Yeah, you walk in and it's right there. I don't like that.
It feels weird. Like I'm sleeping in the bathroom. What is going on here? Did you use it?
Of course I did. No, I didn't. Why not? I went to bed.
I slept for about six hours. Long day in the car. I would have took a bath in there. Bubbles.
I'd like to go to room service, please. No, when I got into bed. Bring me cookies and some water. When I got there, I got ready for bed.
I like my waffles in the morning. Buy that. I would take my waffle here with these sorts of things. So there's that.
What was the second one? So in the bathroom, was there a tub or a shower? Shower. Yeah, because you could use it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just curious if they like two baths. No, it was weird. It is.
I'm uncomfortable with that because, I mean, one, you think, I might fall into it in the middle of the night if I get to turn around. Is that like a standard room? I just booked a room. He's got a lot of points.
He hit honeymoon. So when I turn on the light to walk in, it was the noise that it made. I'm like, oh, God. Well, it instantly left.
Where am I? The water, the light had to come on. Are you sure this is a Hanton Inn? There was a bug zapper in the room.
Yeah. Oh, another mosquito gun. That's good. Well, I'm driving home, and, you know, the drive home is always better than the drive there.
That's why I'm there. Well, yeah, because you're going home. You're going home, and it seems so much faster. Yeah.
And, you know, I'm just kind of zenning, I'm just kind of zoning out, smoking some cigars, whatever. Driving my shirt off. Yeah, things are great. You know, I have this apparent, I have this truck driver's tan.
Oh, yeah, on one arm? Yeah. And if you took your shirt off, it'll be the whole shoulder. Next time, I'm going to take the shirt off.
Right. Yeah, you're right. Brittany did not want that. I saw the comments.
He better not be driving with his shirt off. She says you drive slow, too. Yeah. I don't know if she's been in the car with you.
Yeah, like, have you ever been in the car with him? Because it's the opposite when I'm in the car. Yeah. She goes, I'm always yelling at him, telling him to go faster.
I go, I'm praying, asking him to slow down. Yeah, we're just holding on to our life. Sure it is. Holding my soul in my body.
You've got to get the thing to kick out on the motor. Take off. Guys, listen to this. Listen to the reaper.
Normally, when I'm with her, I got the most important things to me in my life. We have a life in the car. So you drive home. Makes sense.
We're not working. We can all just die together. Fuck it. Great.
Perfect. Let's go outside and just all stare at the sun. Yeah, let's all go blind. So?
I'm driving home, and I'm kind of just zenning out, whatever, and you know. Have you ever, I'm sorry, I keep it wrong, but do you ever lose time when you're driving? " Yeah, that's kind of what happened. I looked down, and I was almost out of gas.
Oh, I've done that before. Oh, my God. Oh my god, I remember that day. I'm like, shit, 30 miles until empty.
And I had just gone on 75. It seems long, but when you're on the highway, it could be that far before you get to the next gas station. Yeah, you could be fucked. Especially where you were.
Nervous. So I got down to about 20 miles until empty. 10 more miles. Yeah, and I stopped off at a gas station.
And I'm in my car, so my car takes premium rent. So I pull out of the gas station, I go get gas, and I hear ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, the guy playing banjo on the porch. No, but I mean, shit. Somebody came out to fill up his car.
No, I'm back in Florida at that point. Oh. You're in a panhandle. Yeah, I guess so.
Tilt could be the banjo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, it was probably... You're on I-10.
It was probably deliverance. So... Hey, party over there. Look at that name.
I go to put gas in it, and it says... and it puts 20 cents in. Ah, they're out of premium. That's not right.
Maybe this pump is broken. Oh. Do you want to ruin the story? You want to go ahead and speculate it?
I said oh! So I move to the next pump. Right. They give it a shot and nothing.
I'm like, okay, something's up here. So I go in. Hey, Elmer. You had a gas out there, buddy.
No. I go in and I say, hey, I'm sorry. Are you guys at a premium? Because, you know, I went to go and pump it and it didn't work.
And the guy goes, oh, really? And I say. He didn't believe you. And I said, yeah.
You sure you know what you're doing? No, he wasn't that type. Oh. So I said, yeah, I went to a second pump.
And that didn't work either. " And he goes, "Well," and looks at me like I'm a fucking idiot. And I almost lost my shit. I turned around and I said to myself, "You know what?
" It was close. I was like, "I bet you I can wreck this entire fucking place and be in my car before they even fucking... I wonder if their cameras work. How's that sound?
What did he say? Obviously, premium doesn't fucking work. What did he say? I didn't say any of that.
Oh. Oh, he was thinking. Yeah. Oh, man.
I was borderline ready to fucking... So did you put the regular people gas in it? No, I drove to the other side of the road and they had premium. Ah.
There's another gas station right across the street? One of the odds. Well, there's one on eastbound, one on westbound. Oh.
So the other side of the highway? Yeah. Oh, okay. So I could not fucking believe that this guy looked at me and spoke to me.
Did you mention it at the new gas station? Like I was a fucking idiot. Fuck that guy across the street. Yeah, he's stupid.
We don't like him. I like how you just assume. He's in a panhandle. Better odds that he's talking like that.
No, he does not have the gas there, sir. I don't know. I don't know what accident that was either. What was that?
I don't know. I don't know if I can do that again, to be honest. Yeah. I watched Tropic Thunder yesterday.
Oh. Everybody knows you never go full retard. I didn't watch the whole thing. I thought it was stupid.
I didn't. What? It was stupid. What a movie.
It was stupid. I watched... " Oh man, what a great movie. I've been wanting to watch it because everybody said how good it is and everything.
I can't stand those stupid funny movies. Oh. You watch Adam Sandler movies? No, I really don't like him either.
I finished Tokyo Vice. Oh, did you? Yeah. I don't like that one.
Oh, great. " Isn't there a lot of subtitles on that too? If you think about it, the white kid was fucking talking Japanese the majority of the time. I understand they're all talking Japanese, but that's modern day.
They could have spoke English. He speaks Japanese fluently now. I'm sure he does. I don't need to know that for the movie.
I can pretend... It's in Japan. I can pretend they're speaking Japanese. Don't freaking English.
English only, please. I mean, what the fuck were you expecting? English. This is a new thing with the movies.
They have a lot of the subtitles. I thought it was great. Because I can't pay attention to just the movie. Right.
I have a lot of other things going on. Figuring out where you're at, making AI photos. I have a lot going on in my life. You're a very busy man.
Very busy. I can't pay attention to read the movie. Kind of like Nick Malillo. Kind of like Nick Malillo.
Nick Malillo is a very busy man. We should probably call him. You want to give him a call? Let's call him and see how he's doing.
Let's give him a buzz. All right, get your phone out. Let's call him. Okay.
So let's call Nick, see if we can get him on the phone. Okay, let's do that. Because the guy never is available. He never answers the phone.
For anything. Ever. He's a very busy man. In his fortress of solitude.
In his fortress of solitude. Hello, it's Nick. He doesn't fucking answer. I swear to God.
It's called Jack. Let Jack talk about it. Hello? Oh, my God.
It's Nick Malilo. Hello, you're on the podcast. Who is it? Oh, yes.
This is Blind Man's Puff. This is Coop from Cigar Coop. This is Cigar Coop, and I'm John McTavich from Canada. Yeah.
Thank God. I thought it was those other guys. Yeah. I mean, I could talk to Coop.
You could have a Coop. Are you guys like the only people that you call in? We have a call-in on radio still? Isn't that awesome?
Yes. We love this. I love the call-ins. We do the call-ins.
Why aren't we doing a video chat or something? Everybody does video chats. Because that's lame. Everybody does that.
If you can't be here, we're not going to have you on video. Yeah, I want to call in like Howard Stern. You know? I think it's pretty cool.
Yeah. Old-score. Retro. We're very retro here.
We keep it real. You're like retro, like retro hailing? Yeah, like retro hailing. Right.
So thanks for answering. Thanks for answering, we gotta go. Uh-oh, what was that? The hack one.
Why has it got... Why has it got... Is there a Nanko? Is there a Nanko?
What did you do? What did you do? Nothing. Nothing.
Nicholas, you there? Hold on a sec. Uh-oh, it was him. It was him.
Here we go, here we go. It was him. What did he do? See, you blame me.
What did he do? He hit speakerphone. He went crazy. You're going to have to re-record this.
No, no. We're going to do this. We only do this once. You want to call me back?
No, no, this is fine now. This is fine now. We're in it. It's like on the radio.
You can't listen to yourself talk because there's a delay. Got it. Yeah, dude. Come on.
All right. So please turn down your radio. Look, we're going to get into the nitty-gritty. I know that we only have a specific amount of time with you.
You're super busy. You're rolling cigars. You're fermenting things at the same time. The eclipse is in any minute.
He's probably going to go dance or something outside. Yeah, he's yelling at Eduardo. He's telling people that they have to buy 75,000 wise men before they can get anything else. There's a whole process.
He's watching Indiana Jones, looking for the name of the next cigar. Watching Indiana Jones, yes. All right, so. You guys are having too much fun down there.
Listen, if you're not having fun, what are you doing? We don't make money at this, we gotta do something, gotta get something out of it. This part brought to you by, go fuck yourself, Hank. Well, hopefully we make it through this solar, what are we having?
Eclipse? Listen, man. Here's what I could tell you. I could tell you that in 1999, I was worried about my microwave attacking me right before the fucking, the bell hit, right?
At 2000. You remember that? Yep. And we made it.
Okay. All right. And then you fast forward 20 years later, and then I'm worried about keeping away from everybody, at least six feet. Oh, for COVID.
You skipped 2017, which was going to be the last eclipse in our lifetime. Oh, that was the final eclipse? In our lifetime. Okay.
And we made that. And we made it through that, and now there's another one. Now there's another final eclipse. Right.
Okay. So at this point, you know what? Just fucking come for me. I don't, you know what?
Like whatever. We're ready. We're ready. Yeah.
Just take me, take me away. I don't care. Keymaster, Keylockmaster. Yeah.
We had an earthquake last week, which is pretty crazy. Oh, that's right. Are you in New York City right now? No, I'm in on the farm in Connecticut.
It would be epicenter was in Jersey, but we felt it here at the office, which is crazy. You know, he did barn protocol and locked everything down. I can only imagine, it's so calm and there's nothing going on there, he's just sitting in the chair that he could feel the rumble. I was actually on a Zoom call and my colleague was in, where was he, in Queens, and I saw the wall moving.
It was kind of crazy. Oh, wow. Because usually, you know, you get smaller, but there you go. You know, I could just hear you guys shaking over there.
Yeah. But, yeah, it was pretty wild. Pretty wild. You know what else is pretty wild?
What's that? Moving the name Matakba to Axum and not saying shit about it, and then just having a press release. What do you mean, not saying shit about it? So let's, hey, press release, boom.
Changing the name of the cigar. Yeah. Nothing else is changing. Isn't a press release communicating the change though?
There's not really elaborate. But you didn't say why. There's no elaboration as to why you did it. I mean, I know why, but I don't think the world really knows why.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Do you want to let it go or are you going to say anything or what? What are we doing, Nick?
I'm going to say the following. There was an issue with the trademark. Okay. And instead of dealing with, as you know, in our industry, trademarks are very, very difficult, I'm sure you've come across that, naming cigars, hence I try to name things that, you know, have no potential issue, because the last thing you want when dealing with a new product is you're spending, investing, in packaging material, all this stuff is to come in the trademark issue, so on Fortunately, we had one with this one, and instead of wasting time, I decided to rebrand it and move forward.
You know, if we were five years in and the brand was, you know, a huge brand, I probably wouldn't have done something like that, but I decided to just, because we only shipped one shipment of Bataba. Right. That was in October. So that's why there was none after that, because I ended up holding it, you know, rebranding, and then we started shipping again in, what was it, February, end of February?
Gotcha. March. Did you consider changing the name to Year of the Dragon? I was about to say that.
That's a great name. Yeah, it's very popular right now. I mean, it's very easy. Apparently, you know, if you flood Kaizad with enough fucking Year of the Dragons, he eventually has to give up and surrender.
That's pretty much what happened. Dude, I don't, can you break that down? I have no idea what's going on with that. I mean, he went, from what we're following, he was submitting, you know, trademark yadda yadda's to stop it because he possessed dragons.
I am the dragon holder. I am the dragon. I am the grand dragon. Something about a dragon.
But at the end of the day, I feel like more people came out with it. Everybody came out with it. And there's really not, I guess there's nothing that's gonna come of it. Well, there's a story today that he's come out now with four Year of the Dragon cigars.
Oh, four dragons. Wait a second. Wait a second. Yes.
Hold on, I think there's a question. He, somebody else, a bunch of people came out with the Year of the Dragon? Yeah. Like four or five companies.
Davidoff has one. Pacencia, Drew State. Drew State's got a dragon. Everybody's got a dragon.
So they all have to co-exist, basically? Well, they do now, but what I heard is the final thing is the Year of the Dragon is a lunar calendar thing, so he can't actually copyright that term, Year of the Dragon. The Dragon. It feels like Band-Aid all over again.
Yeah, that's what it is. And Pop Tarts. Yeah, Year of the Dragon is according to the Chinese calendar. Correct.
Like I was born in the Year of the Horde. He was suing them too. He was suing the Chinese also. Yeah, he was also suing the Chinese because they can't have dragons.
Those people he kept saying. Those people. Those people. Those people.
Those people. And he won? No, no, no, no. He lost.
So he came out with four dragons and a story that's going to break today. Yes. Really? Yes, we'll cover that later in the show.
Yes. Okay, great. All right. So thank you for For clearing up the AXIM Metapa.
What are the odds somebody has used that name? Metapa? Yeah, as a cigar. No, but it wasn't the name.
It's not the name. It's the imagery, which is the issue, not the name. Oh, gotcha. Yeah.
You just can't find these things on Google, bro. You know what I mean? Yeah, you should've used AI. You should've used AI.
I mean, obviously, Metapa is not a... Mattapa is not a, Mattapa is the name of the town where Ruben, the gentleman in the picture, was born. Got it, ah, gotcha. But you know, hence, you know, I try to always do my due diligence before releasing a brand, because we've all seen so many issues throughout the year, and, I mean, that's just, it's just terrible, right?
Yeah, well hey. Especially when you're starting off. Of course. So, was it his family or something didn't want you to use the phone?
Did you use the photo? He's not going to elaborate. He's not going to elaborate. He's not going to elaborate.
Hey, you moved swiftly. So, Axum, now. That's nice. You got to know, you got to learn where to plug and stuff.
What is on the edge of that cigar? Piece of tape because of the end cracked. You taped the cigar? I taped the end because of the cap.
With electrical tape. The cap cracked. It's very soft in your mouth. Oh, my God.
Okay. You know, that's an old-school technique, Matt. See? Holy shit.
Wow. Yeah, can we swear on this, bud? Yes, you can. Yes, you can say whatever the fuck you want.
That's an old school technique is doing the tape at the end of the cigar. Electrical tape, that's what I had handy. I don't know about the electrical tape, but... Well, I'm hoping it somehow corrodes into my mouth and kills me, in case the eclipse doesn't.
Yeah, in case he, yeah, it's very smart. You're ahead of the curve there. Okay, can you imagine we have a massive super earthquake on the eclipse then? While we're talking to Nick, that would be great.
And his fortress of solitude, he's safe. Well, actually, I bet you it's starting to hit. People are starting to see it now. It comes across Connecticut at 3:30.
We've got another hour and a half. That sounds like I'm excited for you. I'll be busy. But there's got to be people seeing it right now.
It's got to be hitting. Yes, yes. Yeah, and they're losing communication. Actually, 1:40 it's supposed to start.
Their worlds are shattering and they're losing communications, what's happening. We don't even know that it's shutting down the entire world again. I'm going to have to look this up. Yeah.
All right. All right. I got one more question. Yeah.
All right. Listen, you fucking packed your shit and you got out of Aganorsa and you opened up cigars with Pepin Garcia. Now, again, just kind of a press release hits and there's no real intel as to why or how What the fuck is going on? Yeah, I think our press release was somewhat clearer.
I think Cigar Aficionado and Half Wheel made it more about the factory and Aganorsa and whatnot, but that's not how our press release read at all. Okay. Had a great relationship with Aganorsa. We had a good 10 years.
You know, I launched Wawente. That was my first brand with them. You know, Wawente, for me, served a purpose. When I first came out, nobody knew who I was, really.
Nobody knew Foundation, obviously, except for the hardcore guys, and I think the hardcore shops that kind of knew what I was doing behind the scenes at Drew Estate. So I knew naming a Cigar Wawente, they would get it, because they're, you know, the hardcore guys, they're more into it. So I knew I could represent Nicaragua, name a Cigar Wawente, and they would get it. The brand over the past 10 years just really hasn't performed like our other brands as far as growth.
It stayed pretty stagnant compared to the rest of our brands, which have been growing tremendously. So I felt like it served its time, and this opportunity came to work with Pepin, which I've known Pepin for 25, I met Pepin when he first moved to Nicaragua in '03, that's when I just moved to Nicaragua, so we've had a relationship for a long time, and as you know, those guys don't make cigars for too many people. And I jumped on that opportunity and thought it was a good, you know, change for the next decade of foundation to, you know, it was a tough decision to make it to discontinue a Wednesday, but I felt like it was a good move to kind of, you know, re-blend, re-brand and move into the next 10 years of foundation. So, it was less about, like, you know, having issues with the factory, or anything like that.
It was more just, you know, moving forward and change, you know, which is tough. I mean, because those two guys don't fucking like each other even a little bit. Yeah, to be honest with you, you know, I don't get into all the controversy. Obviously, I know, you know, there's history there.
Yes. You know, I've kind of maintained, Mike. You keep the peace. Yeah, I just, you know, never made, yeah, I just never made, you know, it's such a small industry, I've always been friends with everybody, and I've never made other people's, you know, issues my issues, because you just can't do that, otherwise you wouldn't, you wouldn't be able to operate in our industry.
Yeah. So, I can see how that optics looked a little strange, but, I mean, it's more kind of press made it more about the factories than I think it was really the reality of it. So, that was weird, you know, Cigar Aficionado and Half Wheel kind of made it foundation out at, you know, Aganorsa and, I don't know, they kind of made it a little bit. They puffed it up a little too much, I think.
So you're still on good terms with everybody, is what you're telling me? Yes, yes, yes. I mean, and they're a big, you know, Aganorsa's a big part of my history. I've dealt with Aganorsa since, you know, all three, you know, again, when I started, before I even started making cigars with them.
Obviously, I have other colleagues that make cigars with them. And yeah, I just thought it was time for, for change. - Got it. - Which, you know, Wednesday is a tough one, Mike, you know.
- You're right. - It's a tough one, it's not even Spanish, so if you speak Spanish, you can't even pronounce it. So that makes it difficult, you know, we've had conversations, Mike, about branding and, you know, I'm learning, you know, this part of the business. I've learned a lot, still learning.
Obviously, I knew it was going to be a difficult one for people to pronounce, but when I started, I felt an obligation to Nicaragua to represent the culture properly, so, you know, that's why I went for it, and again, I was targeting, I think, a target market, a much smaller group of consumers when I first started. But getting it to kind of reach out to that next kind of circle of consumers, you know, Wawente's a tough one. So now they're called Wise Man, correct? Correct.
Wise Man Corojo, which is the lighter shade, and then Wise Man Maduro. But the one before it was called Wise Man Maduro too, right? Yeah, so before it was called Wawente, Corojo, and then Wise Man Maduro. so now we're just going wise that was with agnostic correct okay yeah and updated packaging you know it's a completely different blend i didn't want to try to like you know i didn't want to do a read uh kind of like a re-blend like re-blending yeah yeah so it's the same blend So, essentially, it's just a different factory?
No. No, it's a completely different blend. It is, okay. Completely different blend, completely different packaging.
It's like that would be easier to move into a new factory. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
So, I didn't want to, you know, I want people to know that, well, Wednesday is discontinued, that, you know, that blend is, if you like it, grab 'em. No mas. No mas. No mas.
No mas. Which is crazy, 'cause now you hear, you know, I can't tell you how many people are calling, constantly. Oh, I really know. That's my favorite cigar.
I can't believe that. Yes, yes. We actually had our Monday morning call this morning, and that was, you know, two of my sales guys. Also, he does his in the morning, unlike Justin Andrews, who does his in the afternoon, just so we can't call him.
Yeah, we do our, we usually do Monday morning meetings at 11 to kind of get the week going. Do you have Wi-Fi in your bunker in the, in the, in the farm or like, how, how often do you see daylight? Just out of curiosity. What do you mean?
Do you come out at all of the- Well, you're down below ground. You're always hiding now at this point. The Fortress of Solitude. Yeah.
I'm trying to hide. No, we can see, I mean, we're right on a 300 acre farm here. Well, yes, but you're underground, though. Yeah, is there some type of...
You look very pale at the PCA. Is there a trench around the farm with alligators in order to get too cold? Yeah, I am too pale. I'm going to try to change that this summer, now that the PCA is not in the summer.
I can actually take a vacation and get some sun. I mean, you're always... Go ahead. You're always in the tropics.
We're actually, yeah, but you know, I never wear shorts in Esteli because then you look like a gringo and a tourist, so I'm always, I'm always in, in my jeans and, um, yeah. So I'm trying to change that. Our office, our office is actually in a bunker. Now that you, now that I think about it.
We told you. We told you. We knew it was. This office is an old, actually, bunker for housing Jamaican, Connecticut shade workers.
So, excuse me, excuse me if I told you this, guys, before, but in 1944, the state of Connecticut and the government of Jamaica made an official work program because everybody was fighting in And there was a huge demand for cigars of course, and Connecticut was of course growing and manufacturing cigars, so there wasn't enough workers to work the shade fields, so they went to Jamaica, because Jamaica was making a lot of cigars, and their growing season was the off season for our on season, so Connecticut has the third largest population of Jamaicans outside in the United States, the other is, you know, outside of Miami. I see a cigar coming from Nick, see, Jamaican worker, but in different languages. Isn't that cool? Unfortunately, you know, that's still happening, actually, there are farms in the valley that have, I was actually last May coming up from Nicaragua in Miami, and on my plane was coming up from Nicaragua.
And there's a ton of Jamaican farmers that were coming up for the growing season, so they usually come up, yeah, they come up in April, seedbed start, and then they usually stay until right before Thanksgiving, because that's when most of the tobacco comes out. Yeah, so it's cool. People don't really realize that. Always a history lesson when you talk to them.
So smart. Such a smart man. Yeah. And this is where this whole idea of smoking, you know, blunts actually, in my opinion, originated here in Connecticut because of that relationship and because of the growing of Connecticut broadly, as you know, a lot of people use Backwoods for rolling the lyrical Chiba Chiba, and Backwoods is traditionally Connecticut.
So that started here in Connecticut a long time ago. Oh, the Chiba Chiba Chiba. The Chiba Chiba. The Chiba Chiba.
All right, now I have one more question. You said that before. One more after this, after the last one. Okay.
Do you know who Ben Lee is? Ben Lee? Of course. Okay, because that poor guy asked you a fucking question at your Connecticut yada yada that you did, You did.
And he said- And I didn't answer him. " And you go, "Who? " Who are you? " The poor man was crushed.
I was totally fucking with him. No, you weren't. No, you weren't. There's bright lights in his eyes he couldn't see.
Does he really think I was being serious? He was depressed and distraught the rest of the PC. I don't know if he knows that you were kidding. That you were kidding.
I thought Nick knew me, but I guess you don't know me. Yeah, I think that, listen, it sounded pretty serious to me, I feel like you didn't know who the fuck the person was because you had beaming lights going on in your face. That was the only part of your speech we saw. And look, and I died laughing, and I gotta tell you, look, these media guys are very sensitive.
They are, they get very hurt. They're very sensitive, they're very hurt. They don't get in on time, if you don't know their names. Yeah, they got no recognition, the PCA shits all over them, okay?
Okay, they're not allowed in at the proper time. It wasn't a good time for a joke. Do I have to message Ben? I'm gonna message Ben.
You better message Ben. Better send him something. " Send him some chiba-chiba. " Come on.
What should I tell him? "I know who you are, and I love you," is what you need to say. Okay. Then spell his name wrong.
L-E-I-G-A. Hey, Richard. thanks so much for your question for your question at the bca i'm sorry i didn't recognize you michael herr class told me you gotta be smoother than than that nick you gotta be smoother dude i'm totally fucking with him i thought he'd do i didn't know it sounded like you didn't know it was so there's no termination clause there's no uh cease and desist there's no contract of That's bullshit, just for clarification, when you jumped one factor to the other, right? No.
Yeah, I didn't think so, I didn't think so, okay. No, not at all. No, not at all. Yes, Matt Tye, there isn't one.
There's no Matt Tye, Matt, fucking Coop, nope. No, not at all. Not a thing. You can ask any question you want, apparently, guys, you just have to do it.
You just gotta ask the question. Listen, you know it's tough, it was a tough move to make. Shoot, yeah, bro. No, no, so, you know, you have an opportunity to work with a team, that's something I couldn't say.
I couldn't pass out, you know? It's almost as good as Skip, I get it. That's right. Skip online going off on somebody.
That was hilarious. Yeah, buddy. " I'm like, okay, here we go, he chose violence. Let me tell you, I read the response in the comments and I have to say he summed it up pretty well.
Yeah, he has. Sometimes he does have some great, great insights, Skip. He is. He's pretty intelligent.
He's pretty intelligent. I think he's a little too intelligent for his own good. You know what's so funny? I feel like I'm talking to the same fucking guy.
I was going to say, how does it... Somebody else is a little too fucking intelligent for their own goddamn good. You might be right there. You might be right there.
You should be like a history professor in some college or something. So there's that. You know, I think that's where I'm headed, man. I think I just want to, I want to spend the rest of the second part of my life in dealing with books.
They don't talk back. Yeah. Dude, you know what? This is a rough fucking industry, man.
This is a rough industry without question, and it will chew you up and spit you out, right? Tell me I'm wrong. No, you're right. It's a lot.
There's a lot of, um, it's not like regular business. No, no. There's a lot of feelings. There's a lot of feelings.
A lot of feelings, man. And I'm, you know, you have creators and people that take things, you know, really seriously. They're passionate. So, it's tough to not have feelings when you're passionate, I guess.
But, sometimes it is a little too much like the seventh grade, though. I mean, I don't know if any other... That's a good analogy. That pretty much sums it up right there.
It is definitely like the seventh grade. Yeah. Some of these retailers. I'm sure other...
Some of these retailers. Oh, my goodness. They like to drop names? I'm sure.
Yeah. I'm sure. Go ahead. Let Nick talk.
Go ahead. I'm sure these other industries are, you know, I'm sure it's because we're in it. Yeah. You know, I'm sure if you're in other industries, I'm sure there's, you know, similar issues.
Of course. I think this is definitely different because it's such a social business. You know, you're selling, you know, enjoyment, social. The lines get crossed a lot, I think, because we're selling something that's social.
So that line between business, friendship, and all of it gets, I think it's blurred a lot, and that's where you have a lot of problems. I agree. Maybe? I don't know, just my thoughts.
Yeah, absolutely. And then egos too. Egos are fucking crazy. Crazy?
Across the board. Brand owners, manufacturers, retailers, just fucking all of it. Yeah. Customers, some of them are dicks, too.
I mean, it's just, it's a lot. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot.
It's a lot. It's a lot. Yes, sir. Yeah.
I don't think people, I've seen so many people, I'm sure you have Mike, you know, they come from other industries maybe, you know, more corporate, and then they think they understand the cigar They don't understand the cigar market, but they don't, because they don't understand, you know, the little, you know, details of dealing with, you know, retailers or brand owners, and there's a lot to learn in our industry. For sure. For sure. Which doesn't carry over, I think, to just normal business practice.
Not at all. Well, I told you that this would be a five-minute conversation. And we are approaching 30 minutes. Oh, wow.
Listen. Time flies. You know, if you give me some heads up, I'll give you more than two or five minutes, Steve. Yeah.
Well, I don't want to keep it too long. I want these little pop-ins. But listen, how about we do this? Whenever you make some crazy fucking press release, okay, and you're about to drop a bomb, let me know the bomb's about to be dropped and we'll make sure that you're scheduled to come on.
Alright, that sounds good. Sounds good. Get the word out for you. All right.
So that way you can explain it from just the regular press release. I know you want to give it to Aficionado first. That's fine. Whatever.
Like, go ahead. Go ahead. You know, like, but whatever. Give it to the people you got to give it to.
But then, well, let's talk afterwards. Hey, all right. I did this. Let's talk.
Sounds good. All right. All right, guys. Good talking to you.
Thanks for taking the time. Thank you so much. Turn the Wi-Fi back off so nobody can find you. All right, yeah, but go get the tinfoil hat back on, okay?
All right, I'm getting ready for this, one hour, one hour and count. All right, good bye, Nick, bye, bud. All right, guys, take care. I can't believe he answered the phone.
What a great interview with Nick Malillo. What a great interview. With the Jamaica Shishi. Chiba Chiba.
Chiba Chiba. Chiba Chiba. The Chiba Chiba. All right, well, you want to get into some news?
What's on the news? Why should we have no? Do we have a Phil's Fun Fact? All the cigar industry news.
Yes, matter of fact, we do. Let's do the Phil's Fun Fact first. Oh, I thought that got canceled. No, no.
It just last week because the staff didn't pick it up. They were unaware of what was going on. They thought that there wasn't a new show. Well, they were a little behind this week, too.
They apologized. They were going to rally and try to get it. But we have a new sponsor for Phil's Fun Fact. Which one is it?
Oh, really? Oh, that one, it's on two pages, is there two or two pages? It says, one says after Phil's Fun Facts. Oh, that's mine, I need that one.
Sorry, I didn't know that that got stuck with yours out of the printer. This is the sponsor read. You didn't pull the camera. Pull the camera!
There you go. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Hello, peoples. Okay.
Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President and Union General who defeated the Confederate Army, had a close relationship with cigars. In pictures, he is often portrayed with his beloved cigar. Grant was reported to have smoked about 20 cigars a day.
Wow. That's a lot of bones. That's a lot of bones, man. Uh, one, please.
One. Phil's Fun Facts brought to you by a Cigar Hustle Podcast Patreon and Yogi's Backyard Lounge. Oh, look at that. Cigar Hustle Patreon where the true news info comes out every week in easily digestible 30-ish minute episodes with the new segment, Taranio's Gossip Minute, the weird, the dirty, or maybe even a fake cigar industry rumors.
Just for $15 a month, you get full video access to everything in the cigar industry, oh, everything the cigar industry doesn't want us to talk about. com and search A Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Boom. I would be so interested in this Taranio's.
Taranio's Gossip Minute. Gossip Minute. That's a new feature we started last week. This is perfect.
And you can go to, oh, you can leave on one because we're doing the news now. Okay, news. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon.
PCA 2026 is April 17th to the 20th in New Orleans. The next two PCA Convention Trade Shows will take place in New Orleans. Two. Two.
The next two years. At last month, 2024, PCA Convention Trade Show, the Premium Cigar Association, the trade organization that hosts the event, began informing exhibitors that the trade show would be at the New Orleans Convention Center on both 2025 and 2026. The dates are, let's see, 2025 is the 11th to the 14th, and it's this, the 26th is 17th through the 20th. So they just announced 2026?
Yes. 2026 is also going to be in New Orleans. And then 2027, they're going back to Vegas. They didn't want to see like how 2025 went?
Apparently, no. They got a deal. I got to be honest. It's possible that that information was already on the way of being leaked out, so I'm glad they said it.
And the reality is that when you fucking bring everything over there, you know, you don't want to ship everything back to Vegas. Right. It's a pain in the ass. Right.
So, I mean, just to get the most for your money, at least I can leave it there for a year. You got to do it for two days. So that's an extra expense, right? Because now everybody has to take all the stuff out of storage, ship it, put it in storage over there.
Well, that's what people are talking about. They don't know if they're going to maybe build another booth for New Orleans, maybe something a little smaller, less expensive and leave it there. C. Newman cardboard building shipped all the way over there and back, or even Skip's giant metal erector set and ship it down and ship it down.
Yeah, that guy, you know, as far as weight's concerned, right. Well, you did a great job assembling, Mike, you did. Um, I didn't, uh, I didn't put much of the bigger pieces together. That was all Mr.
Atwell, and I helped too with Mr. Atwell. You were hobbling on your leg. You were more in the takedown than the put up.
You think so? Well, because I got angry and just started doing stuff and then you were trying to keep up with me and do stuff. I feel like I did a lot on the build up. You did more than I thought you would with your foot or ankle or knee, whatever the hell was wrong with you.
But I thought you were more involved on the takedown. Because your leg was better, you know, it was five days later. I think we're doing a pretty good job at helping them build up. I just feel like you don't know all the hard work I do sometimes, Mike.
No, I'm very, very observant, Mike. I keep track of everything you do because your wife always wants to know. For both years, the event will be kept. The format we use as this past year, Friday will be a day for meetings and presentations, while the trade show portion, which the cigar manufacturers set up their own booth as exhibitors to meet with retailers and others, will take place Saturday through Monday.
Previously, the trade show portion ran for four days, three full days, and a shortened half day on Tuesday that John McTavish was not allowed to attend. This year, the PCA got rid of the half day and John McTavish's access to the show. PCA wants to make clear that smoking will be allowed on the trade show floor. Yes.
PCA wants to make clear that, oh, okay. Because that was a rumor. Yes, the ability to smoke in one or more, in one of the more challenging aspects of hosting this trade show is many convention centers are are unwilling to allow smoking indoors. The PCA has successfully lobbied to keep an exemption on the books.
That specifically allows for cigars and other tobacco products to be smoked during the premium cigar season. Last year, Governor John Bel Edwards signed the more recent version of the exemption into law. Unfortunately, though, Mike. Yeah.
Smoking is no longer allowed in most bars and restaurants in New Orleans. Scott Pierce, the executive director of PCA, told Cigars Podcast that the organization is working to set up multiple smoking venues near the New Orleans Convention Center that will allow attendees to congregate. In 2012, the organization set up large tents for after-hours events where this trade show was in Orlando. Was it in Orlando 2012?
That was a long time ago. Yeah. So you're not allowed to smoke on the streets out there either? No.
Not in New Orleans, apparently. Really? I know you can pee in the streets. Right.
Flash your boobs in the streets. He's in the streets. Yeah. Can't let us in.
No, we are the, we are the demons of the society. He also added the organization that tends to continue hosting the trade show in the spring. The last time the trade show was hosted in New Orleans to the 15, blah, blah, blah. It's old name, blah, blah.
Last time, Matt Booth got crazy wild. Yes. Yeah. It's true.
Will it happen again? That'd be so great. It's the real question. We should take him out drinking.
I think he answers. Matt Booth? He's still in Japan. He's still in Japan?
I don't know. - Well, his last post was. - Yeah, his last post was. - How long ago was that?
- I think like yesterday. - Something like that? - Oh, I went to a wedding Sunday or Saturday by accident. - By accident?
- Yeah, how'd you wind up there? - We were at a resort meeting our friends, Jeff and Becky, and we were all the way down at the end of the beach there. Apparently there was a, they had a chain, and then there was a wedding that happened next to us. So I mean, we had like front row seats for the wedding.
- Oh, that was, did you bring a gift? No, but I did yell things. Did you say, "Don't do it"? Yeah.
You did? I did. If you don't have a priest, I can do it. Oh, you said that?
Yeah. Bridesmaids prettier than the bride. You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch.
Ah, you son of a bitch! Yeah. Hey. Oh, wait, how do you say hello?
There you are. Matt Booth, Room 101 Podcast. What's up? You're on the podcast with the podcast guys.
What's up? Oh, hello, I'm one of the podcast guys. Oh, hi, podcast guys. Hi, podcast guys.
Hi. Hi. How are you? Fine.
It's his podcast. We're just the guys. You know, I am. I.
Oh, this is my comment. Yeah. This is a BDP show. Yes.
Always. Always. Yes. Well, obviously.
Put a BDP in your mouth. Oh, yeah. Fucking right. That's right.
I enjoyed all your posts from Japan. They were very lovely. I hope every one of those was for you. Oh, thank you.
You went to like Karate Kid Japan. Yeah. I did the whole thing. It was it was the best trip I've had over there out of all of them.
It was just it was simply amazing. How many have you had to Japan? The guy is practically Yakuza if he takes off his shirt. Have you seen him?
Yeah, I wear it. There's no tattoos from the waist down, just so you know. Yeah. They're all from the waist up apparently.
No, no, there are. Oh, I'm sorry. It must be new. Wow.
Hey, so just a quick question. Oh, is that boots? Oh, shit. Boots.
Phil, let's Phil, Phil, Phil, don't ruin the magic, don't ruin the magic, let's Phil. I am so elated right now. I cannot even know. This is Johnny on the spot.
All these tones just... Listen, we're gonna ask the real, I gotta ask the real questions here. Listen, I gotta ask the real questions. Oh my God, you ask it.
The people want to know. The people want to know. We're going to New Orleans next year for PCA. Great.
The Tijuana of the United States. Will you wind up naked somewhere in a bush again? That's the real question. That's what I want to know.
Look, first of all, I was clothed. Second, it was not a bush, it was the gutter. See, it was a gutter, I knew it. And I was just, I was going through a few things, and I have since chilled.
There's more chill, you know, there was a bit of reflection that took place after that, I mean, look, in the spirit of everything, I mean, what a performance, I mean, you know, I, to this day, still run into people that give me, like, these snapshot reviews of my evening that I have no recollection of any of it. And there were so many different storylines going on, like, if you could capture that and put it to film, you know, I think you'd have a, you know, I think you'd have something there. I think you'd have a fine piece of cinema. You know, Matthew, with your wallet and my on-set dementia, we could have a lot of fun there.
I mean, you know, anal bleaching for everybody. You know, bonus for days. We're in. Everybody's in.
Phil's terribly excited. Buy 10 boxes, hit and run. Is that all it takes? I have 10 boxes of hit and run, and I will breathe heavily on you for 17 seconds.
No, no, no, no, seven. Fuck that. I don't have 17 seconds. So much time.
17 seconds is a lot. I gotta tell you, the best... That's a lot. That's a lot of huffing and puffing.
" And it was, I almost fell out of my chair, dude. It was hilarious. I mean, my, look, as a retired predator, okay, let's just call it what it is, you know, I immediately, intuitively went for the footwear. I was like, who is, you know, gonna be, you know, identified as the most fuckable, and it's gonna come from the quality of footwear.
And he was wearing a very stout pair, I think, some Red Wing type boots, he clearly cared more about himself than the other two guys, and I mean, this also translates to grooming and other things, but I don't want to have to, you know, you know, trench through the foliage to get to where I gotta go, you know what I mean? I need smooth sailing, you know? I like your thought process. I'm a little uncomfortable.
Oh, you're a little-- I stand by the-- Oh, you're uncomfortable now, motherfucker? You're uncomfortable now? Okay. Well, you got tattoos on the bottom half.
I didn't know. I feel a little left out. Yeah. I will show you all the next time I come.
There you go. Oh. Uh-oh. All this fucking painted meat.
Uh-oh. All of it. All right. Well, I guess we looked for the-- So we're looking forward to the dumbed-down, well-versed, all-together Matt Booth at PCA New Orleans this time.
Who will be very busy and not able to talk to us there either. Super busy. Super busy. I should wear a suit.
I should just go full pro. We did a clip of all your interviews that you did for us. For us, yes. Last week, and it was astounding.
It was astounding. Really? Tons of views. Tons of views.
It was very, very, very, very well accepted by the cigar industry. Yeah. You know, they, they like to view, they, whether they want to admit it or not, like to listen, because the things that come out of my mouth are not, you know, there's no thought prior to them exiting my mouth, and what comes out is sometimes delightful, I think, and you know, I enjoy saying things, I enjoy our time together. Yes.
I know that. Yeah. We enjoy our time together with you as well, sir. I think we need to do a show.
I'm sorry, it sounds like you're trying to dismiss me, but the problem is that you called me and that's not how this works. So the idea for me really is like, okay, within our community, we know it's a tight-knit world, right? You know, just because of how close it is, you have, you know, somewhat of a, I think, a more intimate understanding of one another, either directly or by one degree of cigar separation. And say, you know, like if you were in the software business, you might not know each other so well, right?
Right. You know, I think we dig into topics like who's bleaching their record. You know, I think we dig into topics like, you know, who, you know, like in the more savage sense, like, you know, I mean, we all know my, my story seemingly is apparently known about my, you know, endeavors, unconsciously, into the drinking world, into the dark, into the, into the, into the blackness. Into the ether.
Yeah. Yes. I mean, it was, it was, I mean, not, not one, not even a whisper. Of a memory, not a shred of recollection, there's just complete lights out, and still perform, still in a state of performance, but you know, who does certain things, you know, I think, I mean, I obviously went for the butt stuff immediately, but like we could come up with, you know, who gets out of the shower to pee, who does, you know, it's like all kinds of stuff we could talk about.
Yeah, very interesting things, yeah, absolutely. The things people want to know. Yeah, I guess there's a lot. I still feel like I'm being dismissed.
This is bullshit. You are. You are being dismissed. This is bullshit.
Well, Mr. Berth, it was nice having you on the phone, sir. I have been slighted. I am not given my just due.
I am a sterling conversationalist, and I want to be heard. We have Justin Andrews on the other line. I'm sorry, I have Michael Herklotz on the other line. Oh, dear God.
That's right. Yeah, he's friends with Michael Herklots now. Now we're tight. I get it.
I get it. I told him that, listen, we could be friends. I just have to be more friends than you and him. That was what was important to me.
He said, no problem. He's like, easily done. He said, it's a big ask, but no problem. Yeah.
Heavy lifting, complete. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there was a slight pause and he said, okay.
So. Yeah, I get it. Well, Boots, you can call me anytime. Phil, Phil, Phil.
Whatever you want to call me. Well, we are glad that you are back safe. We hope you had a great vacation with the fam. It looked fantastic, dude.
Yes, your family's adorable. Yes. Thank you, man. I greatly appreciate that.
We look forward to hanging out with you soon, bud. I see you soon. We talk sooner. I miss you and love you all.
Love you, too, buddy. Love you, too. Bye, bro. Bye, bye.
I sounded like my grandma when he did that. You should have hung up on him because nobody hangs up on these people but us. You know what, Matt? We gotta go.
Is there no meeting today? The meeting was earlier. It's 3:45. What's talking about for them?
Matt doesn't tend to lose. He doesn't. It's every once in a while. He's like, yes, cigar, okay.
All right, we've done an hour. You want to just scrap all this and go? We'll punch it in real quick. Let's get it done.
All right, hold on, because we have two good stories. Let me get to them. Let me get to them. Oh, we have three, actually.
Time Out Cigars releasing the Lupia at PCA 2024. Now arriving in stores. Did we buy that, the Lupia? No, we didn't.
Greg didn't buy it? No. Time Out Cigars, which made its debut at the 2023 PCA Convention Trade Show, has begun shipping Lupia, a new limited production release that is featured at this year's PCA Convention Trade Show. Can you spell it?
Does that porken sound? L-U-M-P-I-A. Wow. It's exactly the same way.
And the picture on the, it comes in a bag, it's not even a bundle. Does it look like? Yeah, it looks like a little stack of egg rolls on top of the thing. Greg is going to buy it.
Production is currently being limited to just 2,500 cigars per year, which Greg will buy all of. The company expecting that more cigars will be released later this year, but has not yet announced the date. They're waiting to hear from Greg, obviously. They're waiting to hear from Greg.
You know, that sounds like a great marketing plan. It does. Lumpia. Gurkha is coming out with four cigars.
We mentioned that during the interview. Four dragons. Four dragons, yes. There is a Gurkha Year of the Dragon, Ernesto.
So, there's one made at Oliva, one made at Oscar, and one made somewhere else, I already turned out. So many dragons. So many dragons. Hold on, hold on.
One more story? DuPont has announced a Game of Thrones collaboration by Charlie Minato. We saw that at PC. Yeah, they had that there.
It's $33,950 for a custom lighter. What? And then they've announced the Maharaja Maharan Leiter at $130,000. How much?
$130,000. American dollars? Yes, American dollars. The least expensive option of the two lighters are priced at roughly $40,000.
God, I would love to sell those. D. DuPont pay tribute to Notre Dame bronze lighter and pen, both pieces are priced at $16,950. A pen?
A pen and lighter combo, they're each $16,000 separate, sorry. And they also... I'd use that at the gym. They did a collaboration with...
I lost my pen. Casablanca, the Fashion Brown funded by Sharif Tajir. Why are you stressing about losing your pen? It's a $16,000 pen.
What is this, like the LIV series? Apparently. Those are from, let's see, $299 to $1,800. Oh, those are reasonable.
So we've come out with the Hustler Cigars, Hustler Lighters. It's a limited edition cigar. Oh, perfect. Limited edition here.
So it comes in four colors. Tell them how much it is. They're $500 each. It's a steal here.
You can get all four for $1,800. Oh, a disc 10% off. Oh, I love it. Those are beautiful.
So those are nice. Those are the Hustler lighters that we're putting out. You know what's great about those? Yes.
They last forever. And they're refillable. Right. Yes, yes.
And it's sawflame, not that obscene torch stuff that burns everything. If you lose one, you could send us a letter and... We'll replace it. Yeah.
For only $200. Yeah, for a deal. So, yeah, we'll give you a deal. When we can get back to you.
Yes, when we can get back to you. Yeah, when we respond. And finally, limited edition Wide Panda Domino debuted at the PCA 2024. Oh.
Wide Panda, a new line that debuted at the 2023, and at its first limited edition at the 2024 PCA Convention Trade Show, it's called the Wide Panda Domino, and it's a 6x52 Toro that uses a modified blend from the original. The Domino uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, two binders, and a Brazilian Ataparaca, and the other Mexican San Andreas, And an all-Nicaraguan filler. The regular production White Panda uses Ecuadorian Coroho 98, a double binder Brazilian, blah, blah, blah. 10 for a cigar, and offered in boxes of 18 cigars.
Production was initially being limited to just 300 boxes, which were available only to retailers who attended the 2020 PCA Convention Trade Show in late March and ordered the cigar there. However, the company said that those retailers may be able to reorder once more, which would increase the number of cigars produced. First batch of cigars is supposed to ship at the end of April. White Panda's creation by Linux, L-I-N-X-U, Panda Yann, who worked with Luciano Morales to create a cigar line after he spent more than a year as an intern, allegedly what Luciano calls all his employees so he doesn't have to pay them at all.
Jan now serves as a brand ambassador for the time, now that Luciano has declared he owns the cigar brand. Oh my lord. Got a shop of the week, Michael? I'm not Panda.
Do I have a shop of the week? Yeah, you were gonna start, you know, having a shop of the week? Yeah. You said last week in the thing.
I did say that. When do you leave for Nicaragua? Is it next week? A couple weeks, yeah.
Wait, wait, a couple weeks or next week is not the same thing. Do we have one more show before you leave? Yeah. Oh, okay.
Is that the farewell? Yes, we'll do something special for your trip to Nicaragua. Oh, really? Yes.
That sounds fantastic. We'll try to work something out where we can do one while you're gone. We'll do one whether you're on it or not, but we'll try to do it with you. Would be the optimal choice.
We don't want people not to have a show. Yeah, I agree. Well, are you able to use your phone or no? Yeah.
Yeah, they have electricity there. Yeah, it's amazing. Well, I remember there's two different ringtones or whatever. Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi. Oh. They have Wi-Fi at the factory?
Yeah. Because it would be factory time when we did the thing. While you're learning to roll? Well, maybe.
That would be nice. Skippy's yelling at you. That's wrong! That's wrong!
Okay, anytime you want to come up with the Shop of the Week, my friend. Smoke and sip. Oh, you know, I was going to pick that one. Yeah.
Smoke and sip fluorescent Missouri. Oh, that's not the... There's also a smoke and sip chat that bought cigars. They're in Tampa.
No. This is smoke and sip fluorescent Missouri. I know that's not them. I was just saying.
I was thinking the other one. " I did not have that. What's happened? Did the hat fit?
The hat fit. You took a hat? Yeah. To the event for someone special.
They already had the hat. They already had the hat. Oh. So it worked out well.
So did you bring it back? It's in the trunk. Listen to the week's Dan Stanley. The fucking guy drove two hours to hang out.
Damn. Stanley. And he knows what's going on. So what's amazing is I haven't talked to him for a while.
Right. Since like Christmas. He's still up to date. Well, we do this little thing once a week where we say who you've beat up and who you've gotten to fight with and who's made you angry.
But that's my point. He listens every week. He's my guy. Oh, I got you.
All right. We got to give this away. Okay. So 15 people entered the contest.
Yeah. I can't look up subscribers. We have 2,672 subscribers. No, I'm not going through that.
Palmer is proud of me or you. So, these are people that, no, you didn't comment, that went and, because we told them they had to go over and comment on the Instagram. Yeah. Okay, so 15 people did.
Okay. 15 gentlemen, I'm guessing it is. So, I have... They have to be 21 or older, they have to live in the US.
Continental United States, and blah, blah, blah. So, I don't know that from this, because I have their Instagram handles, we'll have to love to contact us. Yeah. So, I have number 1 through 15, you have no idea who 1 is or who 15 is or who the other ones are.
So you pick a number between 1 and 15, I will open the paper and we will say the name. I'm going Lucky 13. Pick a melon. Swells!
So that's Stephen Wells. Oh, perfect. Perfect. Congratulations, Stephen Wells.
Stephen Wells. We will get this off to you. You can put it in your office at the car dealership. Boom.
We're gonna send it to the wrong address. Oh, do we do that with you? We have done that, Tim. Yeah.
You might want to email me and verify the address. No, I have the address. I got the right address. I'm the one who's going to be doing it, so send it to me.
I still can't get the… No, I don't… I don't need that. I still don't have the ST card. Oh. No, no, I got two of the interviews.
We need to get the Justin one and dub in the thing like we should do. Oh, yeah. No, you be him. I'll be him and you be you.
We'll play it and we'll do just a mini… We won't do the whole interview. It's a segment. All right, this has been episode 328 Cigar Loser Podcast. Mikey's got to go.
He's got football. Football. All right, bye. A Cigar Hustlers podcast its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest.
Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions or the podcast providers and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczepankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the host of the show.
I hope that they will be entertaining to the audience.
Show Notes
Episode 328
Join us on this special episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast as we bring you exclusive interviews with two legends in the cigar industry. First up, we sit down with Nick Melillo of Foundation Cigar Company to discuss the recent rebranding of one of his iconic cigar lines and his exciting move to a new cigar factory. Nick shares insights into his creative process and what enthusiasts can expect from Foundation in the future. Later in the episode, we dive into a captivating conversation with Matt Booth from Room 101 Cigars as he recounts his recent trip to Japan. Matt takes us on a journey through the vibrant culture of Japan and shares how it inspired his craft and vision for Room 101 Cigars. And as always, our News Director, BDP Palmer, brings you the latest updates and insights from the cigar industry, keeping you informed and entertained. Tune in for all this and more on the Cigar Hustlers Podcast!⸻