Cigar Hustlers Podcast **Episode 336: Mikey at the Beach, Social Media Crying, and Industry News**
Episode Summary
With Mikey calling in from the beach, the Cigar Hustlers hosts keep this one loose and conversational, opening with dog-escape stories and near-misses with friends in downtown Sanford before turning to what's been irritating them on cigar social media. Their main gripe: industry road warriors using their platforms to complain about flight delays and Hampton Inn digital check-in instead of talking cigars. Jack Toraño gets some good-natured ribbing throughout the episode.
The most substantive segment covers a retailer who disputed roughly $2,600 in credit card charges with RoMa Craft Tobac — six months after receiving the product — reportedly because he disliked Skip Martin's Facebook comments about Fox News. The hosts explain why that's especially damaging: chargebacks are a black mark against a tobacco merchant services account regardless of fault, and hard-won tobacco licenses and processing relationships are not worth risking. Their theory is that politics was just cover for a cash-flow problem, and they use it as a jumping-off point for a broader warning about retail cash management and their prediction of layoffs and job cuts across the cigar industry over the next six months, likely peaking around the holidays.
News coverage includes Espinosa Premium Cigars entering the Canadian market with Brigham Estates as distributor — sending the Espinosa Crema, Espinosa Habano, Laranja Reserva Escuro, Murcielago and the Guy Fieri collaboration Knuckle Sandwich Habano — plus the hosts' skepticism about international distribution deals and Canada's restrictive tobacco marketing rules. They also cover RoMa Craft shipping the Cro-Mag Clovis, a 5x56 barber pole using Pennsylvania broadleaf with Ecuadorian Candela accent (essentially the PA version of the Black Irish), Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust shipping the Sin Compromiso No. 4 at $17.95 in boxes of 13, and the 1114 / El Pupo Fry from AJ Fernandez's factory at $12.40.
They close with talk of pre-order requests from non-regular customers, a defense of the Master Your Ash podcast crew after criticism over a Dunbarton misspelling, Steve Saka's recent podcast appearance, and confirmation that PCA 2025 returns to New Orleans with a new website and floor map live.
In This Episode
- 01Mikey at the BeachA loose opening with the co-hosts apart, covering a lost dog, house repairs and weekend catch-up.
- 02Industry Whining on Social MediaWhy cigar reps posting about delayed flights and hotel check-in problems is a bad look.
- 03The RoMa Craft ChargebackA retailer disputed ~$2,600 six months after delivery over Skip Martin's Fox News comments, and why chargebacks hurt tobacco merchant accounts.
- 04Cash Flow and Coming LayoffsThe hosts argue the dispute was really about a broke retailer and predict industry job cuts within six months.
- 05Espinosa Enters CanadaEspinosa Premium Cigars partners with Brigham Estates, shipping Crema, Habano, Laranja Reserva Escuro, Murcielago and Knuckle Sandwich Habano north of the border.
- 06Cro-Mag Clovis ShipsRoMa Craft's 5x56 barber pole with Pennsylvania broadleaf and Ecuadorian Candela — effectively the PA take on the Black Irish.
- 07Sin Compromiso No. 4 and El Pupo FryDunbarton's new $17.95 Robusto Extra in boxes of 13, plus the 4x48 El Pupo Fry from AJ Fernandez's factory.
- 08PCA 2025 in New OrleansPCA confirms the April 14, 2025 date and launches a new website with an unlabeled floor map.
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
Everybody stand by. Industry is in the house. Here he is, the controversial, but legendary, BDB. Yeah I'm dead, it's my destiny, make way for the king, another Mike and Mike production in 3-3-3-2-2-1-1-1-0, so we can run this as a whole, as a regular episode, episode 337?
Yeah, let's run it. All right. Welcome to episode 337 of Cigar Hustler Podcast. Hi.
Mikey's at the beach. Mikey's at the beach. I'm just here at the studio. I snuck away briefly to do this podcast, so it better be a good one because...
Oh, it's not going to be. This is going to be terrible. Why do you say it like that? I think it'll be fantastic.
Why is it going to be fantastic? There's always stuff to address in the cigar industry and we have stuff to talk about and we can cover that. Do you have a microphone? We can't hear you very well.
I don't have a microphone. I turned up the volume. Maybe that'll help. Okay.
We don't do Zoom calls. I have to hang up. You want to hang up? We don't do Zoom interviews.
Ah, the other room's a mess. I've got it half set up for the Smoking Truth that's going to be on Friday. They need four seats. Well, we would have been done by today anyway, because normally we would have done this yesterday.
yeah okay so uh how was your week how's your weekend uh rowdy got out last night so other than that the weekend was fine he disappeared luckily a neighbor picked him up way on the other side of the neighborhood oh okay they had organized a search party and we found him thanks to some neighbors that we have just met now that's good so when did you leave for the On the Beach, Monday? Yesterday, yeah. Yesterday. Yesterday.
We almost ran into the Baldwins on Saturday night. Oh, yeah? Where at? They went downtown to Sanford for Christy's birthday, apparently.
Yeah. Well, we were down there earlier in the evening with some friends of Adrian's and Jimmy had told them that we were just there. So, when they called us, we were already halfway home. Nice.
Salary City, Craft. Oh. Well, for me, the weekend, I've just been trying to arrange to get my house back in order still. Oh, that's right.
How's that coming? Almost there. I'm almost there. Are they all working this week while you're gone?
Yeah. At your house? I mean, take advantage of you not being there. Yes, they are.
Oh, who's doing the dogs? Greg is doing the dogs. Oh. That's why he didn't get here until almost one o'clock today, then.
Yeah, and I gotta tell you, he's telling me that Bubbles is not very bubbly. He's not... Bubbles is not like Greg. Well, Bubbles is fine with Greg.
He just misses his people. Oh. Yeah. He's like, they're not here.
Why aren't I with my people? Why aren't I with my people? I should eat another room. Mm-hmm.
Right. I'll just eat this next room. I'll get out later when the overlord of the underworld leaves, and then I'll just eat a room. Yeah.
So that's pretty much it for me. I can tell you, like, we can address a couple things real quick as far as things that I've noticed on social media as of late. Sure. A lot of, well, there's one, there's one that I don't really consider bitching, but then everybody else, there's been a lot of comments and bitching on social media.
I mean, there's this one guy in the industry, his name is Jack Taranio. Well, he called me yesterday. Yeah, he was, he's really shitty about his flight being delayed. Like, why is, in the cigar industry, like, oh, my flight's delayed.
Yeah, no shit, it happens. You know, like... Well, I think some of them it happens to more than others. Well, some of them travel more than others.
That is true, too. I guess, by percentage, they would get hit more. Right. So like, look, if you got a problem with it, then fucking just fly private.
I don't, I don't know what to tell you. Just hire, hire somebody. Oh, an Espinosa jet, he means. Yeah, get the Espinosa jet up there.
And, uh, I don't like, I don't know, I don't understand why social media is a platform for you to, to bitch about, uh, about like, normal. I think that it's okay to bitch about specific things, things that are highly regular, or someone who is just being an indecent person. I think that's perfectly appropriate. But to complain about an airfare delay.
Air travel delay? Yeah, on social media. It's just something to talk about, and it gets a lot of response. So just post a picture of you in the fucking, I don't know, airport lobby having a sink, a sandwich, and fucking, whatever.
Like, if you're lonely, watch, we got a podcast for you. I don't know what to tell you, man. There's like, this just seems ridiculous to me. Hey, I'm on a new podcast starting this week.
Oh yeah? What's that? It's called, uh, I can't remember what it's called. It's a daily show.
I do Tuesday morning with the, with the host. It's a morning. From 9 to 10. I did the first one today.
Oh, really? com or something? Yeah, no, it doesn't pay either, but it might eventually. Who knows?
I don't know. I'm sitting here Tuesday morning anyway, so from 9 to 10, I talked to this guy and it's on a network. Nice. They've got 10,000 followers.
It could turn into something. That's good. Hey, make sure you plug Cigar Hustlers podcasts, you know? Yes, I can plug anything I want.
I'm allowed to have guests on if I want to have a guest, if you want to come on as a guest. Nice. I smoked a Senzafino while I was doing my little hour. Nice.
I'll go for a live show for you. It's a live show. I've never done a live show. Yeah, it's like a morning show.
Who knows? Padge the resume a little bit more in this industry, in this podcast world. Yeah, I saw... I saw another social media post.
I don't remember who it was from. Well, what was it? Maybe I can help you out. It might have been the Cavalier guy.
Where he's bitching about the fucking hotel, like, oh, no digital check-in, no this, chicken sausage, like, this is bullshit. Oh, that's a bit much. Super fucking angry. Go to a different hotel.
It was a Hampton Inn. I like, you aren't staying at the Ritz. I don't, like, what are you expecting? Hamptons have never had digital check-in.
Yeah, you can use it now with your Hilton card or whatever. Well, Hilton, but not Hampton. I understand they're owned by, but that's like the next level up, isn't it? No, but you can do that.
You can totally use them. Whatever thing is working. Okay, big fucking deal. Oh, it just wasn't working.
Oh, you poor thing. Pick another hotel. No digital check-in. These road warriors are getting a little whiny.
I do want to talk about the one thing that Skip was brought up about. Which one is that? Because we have a story from them. But what?
The guy who slammed him? Yeah. Alright, go ahead. Unfamiliar.
So, I guess you should paint a picture a little bit here. So, apparently, Roma Craft had a retailer. Yes. And the retailer did not like what Skip's comments were on Facebook in regards to Fox News or some shit.
Correct. Yeah. The end of last week. So instead of the retailer contacting Roma Craft saying, "Hey, I'm upset with...
" Right. You said something about Fox News. I love Fox News. " He just did the charge on his credit card.
Right. After he's had the product for six months. Yeah. So, you know, personally, for me, like, I mean, that's like a, that's one of the tackiest things you can do, especially, like, against a tobacco license, right?
It's hard to acquire tobacco license, merchant services, and you always want to be in good standing. So when you have a dispute like that, it's a strike. It doesn't matter what the reason is, you've done nothing wrong, but it's still a strike. Right.
So, um, so yeah, you know, it's complete bullshit. I can't believe that this guy did that. And I lost my train of thought for a second here. Um, like, I don't think that that's the reason why the guy did it, to be perfectly honest.
Oh, you don't think so? No. I think that the guy's probably broke. Oh.
And he uses that as an out. Could be, to get his, uh, it was like $2,600 or something? Yeah, because if you weren't happy with something, like he didn't have to deal with Skip Direct, he could have just flat out said, hey, I'm not happy with him, like, all right, fine, no problem, we'll just credit you back, and you have a credit towards a business for other products you can use. But that doesn't give him cash back.
Right. So the only way that, I think the reason why he did it is because he probably needs the money to have back. You'd think after six months the product he bought would have been gone anyway if he was any good at it. Yeah, I mean, I don't know who the guy is, you know, I don't know who the retail shop.
Yeah, it wasn't somebody we do business with, like I had asked you. But I can tell you this, retail is really hard, and if you're not in control of your cash flow, you're going to have a problem big time. Right. Probably had a problem.
What are you doing? I'm looking at my neck. I was looking messed up there for a second. You're right here.
It looks fine. It looks fine, Mike. So yeah, I mean, I think that that was complete horseshit. And I think it wasn't because he was, I think that he used that as an excuse, but he probably just doesn't have the money and need the cash.
Could be. I guess we will never know. So it's like, who can I piss off and get away with? Well, if it was a cab, maybe he was figuring, well, who can I, who is the easiest one that I can hit, that can't really, not really big enough to do a whole lot of damage to me.
Yeah, like, I can't shit on Fuente, or Padrón. Right, can't shit on Fuente, can't shit on JC Newman, can't go after STG. You know, I just got $2,600 worth of stuff from Romacraft, let's get that one. Yeah, so that's just complete horseshit.
The funny thing would be to find out, and there's really no way too, to find out if he's done it to other people. You know, you would think $2,600 is not going to make or break a business. I don't know how long he's been a retailer. Yeah, I don't know anything.
But, you know, word travels fast. I mean, if you do shitty things, like, why would anybody... Sure, right. Why would anybody else, Frank?
If you reach out to me, like, I can't, I can't, or I can't take your order. Yeah, that's worse than not paying. Yeah, what if you paid and then took it back? I mean, six months from now, you might you might deny it again.
Yeah, I mean, like, do you go after him for theft? I mean, I guess you could, because that is theft. I guess. Yeah, I mean, he's because he's not returning the product.
Yeah. And so, you know, is it worth taking him to court for $2,600? You're going to spend more than that to get your $2,600? Yeah, maybe he couldn't return the product because he stole it.
You already sold it. Sold it, right? That's what I mean. I mean, after six months, you would think it would be gone.
At least a part of it would be. I'll dispute this charge. That'll be easier. Yeah, I'll dispute it and then I'll get my $3,000, $2,500, whatever it was.
And then I saw one other guy on social media. It was one of these other podcasts. And they were talking about Nick Melillo and the Wei Wen Say turning into the wise man. Like, they gave this whole fucking fluff piece.
Oh really? We weren't recorded why they did it. Yeah. I'm just like, this is not, that's not even close to accurate.
Right. Coop's got Scott Pierce on tonight. Oh, that's nice. Yes.
Well, we already covered that. We already talked to him, several weeks ago, in old news. Maybe another two weeks he'll have Joshua Haberski on. - Yeah, well, that's pretty much all I got for...
- Well, I have a little bit of news. News was really light this week. - Yeah, I think that what you're really, I don't know if this is covered in any portion of the news, but I think you're gonna start seeing layoffs here in this industry. - We had talked about that on the Patreon last week.
- Yeah, I think that's gonna happen, man. I thought you're gonna start seeing job cuts, people being replaced, for people that'll do it for less. You're gonna see a major shift in a lot of these jobs real quick. Yeah?
Yeah, I think within the upcoming six months. The big ones, the ones that suck the most are probably gonna be the end of the year. Oh, not till the end of December? The new Christmas layoffs?
Christmas layoffs, baby, let's go. Right. If things don't turn around, probably so. You know what they say, Jack?
Fuel the growth, baby. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
Those are Jack Taranio-ing people. Yeah. At the Christmas parties. You got Taranio-ed.
Yeah, I got Taranio-ed. Speaking of Taranio-ed, Espinosa just put out a press release. Espinosa Premium Cigars is proud to announce that they will be entering the Canadian market with Brigham Estates as a distributor, said Eric Espinosa. This is the first step in our goal of becoming an international cigar company, and I truly believe that we have chosen the right company to showcase and grow our brand through Canada.
We are extremely excited to add Espinosa cigars to our portfolio. The Espinosa blends are unparalleled, providing unique and innovative blending to the market. That should be interesting, man, because realistically, a lot of the, I don't know anything about that distributor, more often than not, you know, a lot of these distributors are full of shit, you know, they get in, they don't really move a lot of product, I mean, you know, you hope to have that demand inside of another country, but who knows what that looks like, and who knows if the distributor will facilitate it, so I wish them the best, I hope it works out, but more often than not, this shit's kind of complicated, so. Like, how do you facilitate demand for a national product?
It's not an international product. I mean, is it getting there? Like, we're talking about a country that you can't look at bans on cigars. You can't look at all these, you know, the cigar store has to be called Tobacco Shop, some shit.
Like, they have to take the signs. Right, there are different rules up there and stuff. They're sending the Espinosa Crema, Espinosa Albano, La Ranja Escuro, La Ranja Escuro, La Ranja Escuro. Manja Azuelo, and the Espinosa/Guy Fieri collaboration, Knuckle Sandwich Habano.
I mean, I guess that makes sense if Guy Fieri is more international. Right, yeah, put his name, tag his name on it with it. Okay. He did a workout video on TikTok last week, Guy Fieri did.
Was he with Eric? No, no, he was by himself. Because Eric FaceTimed me after our argument. Yeah, you told me.
I'm at the gym. Well it wasn't an argument after our argument. Mark it out. Dude, look how much I can lift.
Bro. All right, Cro-Mag Clovis is finally heading to stores. The new version of the Cro-Mag Black Irish is shipping Roma Craft Tobacco has begun shipping the Cro-Mag Clovis, a 5x56 cigar that uses a barber pole wrapper designed with Pennsylvania broadleaf as the primary visible wrapper in Ecuadorian Candela Tobacco as the accent. The internal blend is the same as the updated Chromac blend, a Sumatra hybrid binder with fillers from Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
The cigar is the same size as the EMH, a 5x56 Robusto Gordo, but differs because the Candela tobacco previously Aroma Craft sold as a similar cigar, but it was called Black Irish and used a different blend. I'm already receiving emails from people about trying to pre-order that product. Yeah. Some of these people don't do business with Cigar Hustler at all.
Oh, right. What the fuck? You don't, you're not a recurring customer, you know? Right.
Go ahead. How's that supposed to work? I'm just supposed to step over everybody else? Right, all the people that have been with us for a while, and we'll just send to you.
We've cultivated relationships with them that we know they appreciate our customer service and, you know, all our hard work and like, I'm just supposed to trump them because, you know, you can't get it from somebody else, the guy that you've been purchasing stuff from, like, Well, everybody figures we're going to get it because we're tight with Romacraft. We are. Not only that, but like, it's not a big difference in the flavor profiles, like a PA EMH, I don't understand the chromatic EMH. It's funny to me how people go crazy about stuff like that, you know?
So that's what it is. It's the PA version of the Black Irish. Yeah. Of this?
Gotcha. Yeah. But hey, you know what, dude? I would take a thousand boxes of them if they made-- Oh, we can take them all if they'd let us.
Yeah. All right, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust is shipping the Sin Compromiso number four. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, newest Sin Compromiso, Vitola, is on the way to retailers, a Sin Compromiso No. 4, is a 5x54 Robusto Extra that is made with Mexican San Andres Negro Cultivo Tonto, I had them said that right, Cultivo, C-U-L-T-I-V-O, and then Tonto, T-O-N-T-O That's the rapper?
That's the rapper? That's the rapper? That's the rapper. Mexican San Andres, Negro, Cultivo, Tonto.
Like, you'd think that the random-ass names and the shapes are fuckin' one thing. Now we're making up names. What are we doing? Hey, no, no, this is the Cultivo Tonto.
Oh! Oh! Oh, how? It tastes the difference!
I can't even taste the Cultivo in this. I don't know, it tastes more like Tonto to me. Ecuador and Habando Seed Binder and Filler Tobacco is grown in Nicaragua. An email Steve Saka, founder of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, said that this specific Vitola required the Liga to be tweaked specifically for this format.
The cigars are rolled at Fabrica de Tobacco's Hoya de Nicaragua. 95 for a Robusto. It's the same case as the rest of the same Compromiso line. The number 4 of Atola's Packages in Boxes of 13.
So, Steve did a podcast recently. Yeah, some no-name podcast, supposedly. The Master Your Ash guys. I recently did those podcasts with those guys.
Oh, that's just what somebody said. I'm not saying they are, but... Yeah, that's what you just said, and that's not true. They're not no-name guys.
Well, that's what I read somewhere. That's what Abe said. It's what Abe said. Oh, is it Abe?
Yeah. Today's mine and Abe's six-year anniversary, so I'm going to side with Abe today. Congratulations. We've been friends for six years.
Well, you shouldn't side with Abe at all, because there was a misspelling, and they call him Dunbarton Tobacco, instead of Dunbarton Tobacco. Oh, I did see that. You know, I'm big on misspelling, so I'm misspelling, misspelling. Yeah, so, I mean, they made a misspelling.
It happens. Like, yeah, if you have ever witnessed or viewed any of our emails or podcasts or YouTube pages or anything. Yeah, things happen sometimes. Spellings.
There's no spell check on any of those things. So, yeah. Yeah, man, so, like, come on, give the guys a break. This shit ain't easy.
When did you do that show? Uh, I think it was right after PCA. Oh, didn't even know. Before.
Yeah, you watched some of it. Oh, did I? Yeah. Oh, wait, was that the one with the four guys?
Yeah. Oh, not many of them talked? That's correct. Yeah, the one scary looking guy in the middle looked like a Samoan street fighter or something?
That's it. That's the one. Ah, gotcha, right. El Pupo the Fry is shipping next month.
El Pupo? El Pupo. This is how bad the news was this week. On June 6, The 114th Artesneo Del Tobacco will release the newest size of its El Pupo line, the El Pupo, the fries, a 4x48 Parejo size with a pigtail.
It uses the same blend as the original Pupo, a Mexican San Andreas wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Tonto and the Lone Ranger. I'm very excited about the Pupo. Cool. A different fermentation process we used for the wrapper.
J. Fernandez cigars. 40, and the cigars are sold in cardboard boxes of $5. Alright.
That's it for the news. PCA did announce, they did guarantee, or whatever, that the date, April 14th, 2025, the PCA will go on in New Orleans. So, they did verify that, and they put up their new website. Yeah, I mean, that was kind of a given.
You figured that was going to happen. Yeah, yeah, they already announced the date, but they put up the new website yesterday with all the information for the new location. It's going to be New Orleans twice. Yes.
Where are we? The map is up, but they don't have anything labeled. They just have open and like saved spaces. I was trying to figure out where we were, but they're not labeled.
We're kind of in the middle. Okay, thanks. Like, how do you want me, how the fuck do you want me to explain it to you, as far as the convention's concerned? Maybe you knew the number of the booth?
Off the top of my head, no. And even if I did, that wouldn't help me decipher shit. Well, no, they're numbered. They're all numbered.
Okay. If you knew the number, I could find it. 7592. That's not it.
That's it. No, it's not. Yeah. Jed, you don't know what it is.
I'll go ask Greg. He'll know. It's a number. Greg's running around like the whole place is on fire.
He doesn't know what to do. Yeah, Greg doesn't. No, he has no idea. He was meeting with some guy in a suit up there a little while ago.
Oh, that sounds important. The guy didn't really look important. But he did have a suit on, though. Never trust a guy in a suit.
Never trust a guy in a suit. How long have we been talking? 15, 20 minutes? I think it's been longer than that.
Are we doing a Patreon this week? 50. I would send it to him in product. Give you credit.
We will give you credit. I don't think I'm able to run a Patreon. If you want to run a Patreon, you can. I'll see if I can find somebody to do one with.
My people are limited now. My optional people. You're running out of friends. I'm running out of friends.
Maybe I'll get Greg to do it with me. oh that's no don't do that i'm not terrible i'll do something so i don't have to send jack two hundred two dollars and fifty cents yeah we don't want to he's not getting his money back not getting any money no no he was mad we didn't ask joshua habersky about uh about our friend yeah he was oh yeah did he call you too yeah oh he called me saying he wasn't calling you i didn't even think I didn't think about that. I didn't either. Didn't even cross my mind.
You know. We would have been better off asking Pierce who just stepped out of PCA, the questions that Jack wanted to know. Yeah. You know, like I don't sit in a harp on that guy.
I mean, it's funny to me and comical to me when he pops up in the news. Right. And then like, you know, if I can find an opportunity to cut a joke, we're going to. Right.
But other than that, I mean, his boy didn't try and sucker punch me. and sucker punch me and then and then get fired and get fired yeah six months later right to think i didn't take a bullet for him oh you wouldn't even meet the six months take the charcuterie board i gotta go thanks for your time thank you for your time sir here's your your parting gift all right it's been episode 330 oh we've been doing it 40 minutes i think that's what that means I'm not sure. Almost an hour. Alright.
Enjoy your trip, Michael. Thank you, Michael. When do you come back? Friday.
Keep everything safe. Everything is safe. I need you to keep everything on lockdown there. Everything's on fire.
Everything's on fire here. Alright. Alright. Talk to you later.
Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you.
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Show Notes
In this lively episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, join Mikey as he takes us on a breezy adventure to the beach, sharing his coastal escapades and cigar experiences. The conversation then shifts to the latest buzz on social media, where Mikey and Palmer dive into the world of online drama and crying. Finally, they bring you the freshest industry news, discussing the latest happenings in the cigar world. Don't miss out on this fun-filled episode packed with stories, laughs, and updates for all cigar enthusiasts!