Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 350 Mr Jay Davis PCA Board Member

Episode Summary

Episode 350 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast welcomes PCA board member and Blue Smoke of Dallas owner Jay Davis, who calls in fresh off a site-visit trip to New Orleans, the new home of the PCA trade show. Jay walks through what retailers and attendees can expect: the renovated convention center, the host hotel lineup (Hilton Riverside, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, plus upscale options like the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons), the short walk from hotels to the show floor, dramatically cheaper food than Las Vegas, and — the big question for cigar smokers — plentiful outdoor and lounge smoking options near the French Quarter. He also notes that hotel room blocks are already open at pcashow.org/travel and that French Quarter Fest overlaps the show dates.

Before the interview, Mike and Mike run their usual news block. Topics include Privada going private, John Kearney leaving his longtime VP of sales role at La Flor Dominicana to lead Bentley Tobacco USA (the German Schuster family's brand, unrelated to the car company) while also turning The Purveyors into a cigar-industry marketing agency, and RoMa Craft Tobac swapping the Belicoso out of its four Intemperance blends in favor of a 6x54 Toro Extra — with new vitola names that the hosts joke only Skip Martin will understand. They also cover the FDA finally publishing the Tobacco 21 rule in the Federal Register roughly 1,700 days late, the UK's proposed expansion of its smoking ban under the new Starmer government, and CAA data showing premium cigar imports holding roughly even with 2023 through May.

Along the way the hosts vent about how brutally hard the cigar business is, reacting to a newer brand owner publicly complaining about not getting media attention — their advice: if you can't take being ignored, get out. They discuss the relative weight of Halfwheel versus Cigar Aficionado, mention Halfwheel's 90 rating for their Broadleaf Corona Gorda and a 91 for the Connecticut "Justice" Corona Gorda, and close with Phil's Fun Facts and a pair of Florida stories, including sloth fever hitting Central Florida and a naked man arrested in a St. Petersburg trash can.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Opening banter and Patreon fallout
   The hosts recap a Patreon episode that ruffled feathers and an unreturned phone call from someone in the industry.
2. 02
   Why the cigar industry is brutally hard
   A rant aimed at a new brand owner complaining online about lack of media acknowledgment, and what it really takes to survive against generational cigar families.
3. 03
   Halfwheel vs. Cigar Aficionado
   Discussion of which outlet retailers should actually be reading, plus recent 90 and 91 ratings on the hosts' own Corona Gorda releases.
4. 04
   Phil's Fun Facts
   The board monkey delivers a fun fact about Sweden's 2009 religious same-sex marriage milestone.
5. 05
   John Kearney joins Bentley Tobacco USA
   Kearney exits La Flor Dominicana after more than a decade to lead the U.S. arm of the Schuster family's German Bentley Tobacco brand.
6. 06
   RoMa Craft Intemperance vitola changes
   Skip Martin's RoMa Craft is replacing the Belicoso with a 6x54 Toro Extra across all four Intemperance blends, with new names to decode.
7. 07
   FDA Tobacco 21 rule and UK smoking ban
   The FDA finally publishes T21 in the Federal Register 1,700 days late, while the UK weighs expanding outdoor smoking bans.
8. 08
   Jay Davis on PCA New Orleans
   The PCA board member details hotels, smoking lounges, food, walkability and logistics for the trade show's move to New Orleans.
9. 09
   Blue Smoke of Dallas and old-school retail
   Jay explains why he won't sell online, preferring to know every customer personally and add a handwritten personal touch.

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. It's what I've been, who I am, all the ways I've grown. Blood in the sweat, tears are regretting my own stone.

B. Yeah, I'm dead. It's my destiny. Make way for the king.

It's a long time. Can't be stopped. Shootin' my shot. Another Mike and Mike production.

In three, three, two, one, zero. It's gone. Alright, I'm making my production studio over the top of the floor. Talk louder!

This is Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Mike. Mike. Mike.

Mike. Mike. Square. Square.

Square. Welcome to the Cigarsler Podcast, a show brought to you commercial-free, but a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on Patreon. Thanks to 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 listeners.

Cheers to you! com. And search, A Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Thank you for keeping Cigar Hustlers Podcast ad-free.

And the lights on. And the Wi-Fi running. Yes. We appreciate each and every one of you.

And continue to help us. Tell your friends. We need more power and more Wi-Fi. Yes.

Last Patreon, I got in a lot of trouble. It only cost $10. Oh, that one. Yes.

So, I actually called him. Are we going to talk about it here, or on the Patreon? Because these people really don't know what we're talking about. We can talk about it briefly here.

We can just leave that at that. I mean, I called them. Okay. You're not going to say who it was, though.

I think they know. Didn't we talk about it? No, because we... We didn't say who was going to be on it?

Strictly Patreon. No, we did not. That's okay. We don't have to.

So, you called him. I called him. And he didn't answer. He didn't answer.

He has not replied to my ticca-tacca message. Yeah. apparently he's just threw us which is okay that's the way it is i already wait when i have them in advance michael i try to streamline the show for you that's just the way it is so today on the patreon we're reviewing um the uh the banker a jumpman banker day trader the newest in the a jumpman banker series i'm a day trader i trade the day apparently with a lot of So, how was your day, buddy? How was your week?

How was the grass? Uh, fine. I did the grass over a two-day period because I had Friday morning off. Look at you.

Yeah. Just crash. Actually, over three days. Oh, three days.

'Cause it started raining on Saturday. I didn't get finished, so I finished on Sunday. And the Monday we went to the beach. Aha.

Yes. The wife has been painting the countertop. She is now done. Fantastic.

Well, how does it look? Look, she has people that watch this, Michael. I didn't mind, she hated the color before, I guess they were kind of this peachy, this peachy black color or something, I don't know how to describe it, but I never had a problem with it, but apparently it just, it just made her crazy. Okay.

So, she's, she's happy with the, I hate that click, it makes you feel like something went off. Uh, she's happy with it, which is what's important. That's plugged. Is it really already?

Would you like his? Get his. No, that's right. He can give it five stars.

It's great. No, it's Dominican. He won't like it. He likes Dominicans.

Remember? No, no. It all depends on when you ask him. What are you smoking?

Really? A blood candy? Cut it. Stick the end of your scissors in it.

It's all not fun if you're not... I'm gonna smoke this Posada Segunda for the rest of this. Yeah, but if... Oh, but you will smoke it for the Patreon, though?

See, it's no fun if I have to suffer alone. So, what did you do, Mike? I did all kinds of things, Michael. I saw a lot of posts from your wife.

She had some kind of a Disney thing or something? Disney thing. I'm assuming it was Disney. I don't know.

Oh, she went to Disney on ice. Oh, I was going to say it's some on ice thing. Yeah, she went to Disney on ice with Justice and Teddy, and I took Jax to the Gator Canes game in the swamp. Oh, so you went up?

Yeah. I went up. I went up. We had a great time.

A buddy of ours got us tickets. We all went together, the four of us. Oh, nice. Had a good time, good experience.

He's a Gator, he's, you know. Alumni? Yeah. Ah, yes.

Yeah, so, it was his son's birthday. Oh. So we had a good time. No photos, no nothing, no, uh.

I took a couple pictures. Yeah, nothing? Yeah, I took a couple pictures. Okay.

I don't know, I didn't post them, you know. Right, that's what I mean. It was, I was running around a lot that day. Right.

I haven't stopped, man. So I was running around that. You're a very busy man. I drove there, I drove back.

You know. Then, uh, was it Sunday after that? What did we do Sunday? I feel like it was busy.

I did something. It was crazy. It's tough. Busy weekend.

Busy holiday weekend. Yeah. Sunday was something. Something.

Something important. Something important. Something you really enjoyed. And I did enjoy it.

It was an excellent time. I don't remember what it was. Thank you to whoever took him wherever it was. He really meant a lot to him.

I don't remember what I did Sunday, but it was probably awesome. It probably was. Oh, you know what we did? What'd you do?

We cleaned the house. Oh, that was not awesome. Yeah, we did like a whole dusting thing. Oh.

Spring cleaning. Oh. It was epic. Only dust seasonally?

It was like a... A thorough. Yeah. Like I vacuumed on top of the cabinet countertop, like up top.

Oh, yes. I did all that stuff. Crazy stuff. It was nice.

So we did that. And then Monday, we took a second stab at Volcano Bay. Oh, yes. We got 45 minutes in before the lightning.

Oh. So, we all got like a little- We got several hours at the beach before the storm came. Yeah, no, we got, you know, and then we had to leave because then we had football. Ah, that's right.

We had football practice. Yes. And, yeah. So, 45 minutes before Mommy started the thunder and lightning that time, huh?

Yeah. That's a terrible thing. Pretty epic. But, hey, at least we got there.

Yeah, at least you got 45 minutes. Yeah. Kids got to go down a couple slides. Oh, that's good.

Yeah. That worked out. Good for you. Thank you.

Yeah. Non-stop, buddy. Good. And you're going to go to West Palm?

Yeah, sorry, just checking the time. We have a call in 20 minutes. You're on your way. You're going to visit some locations?

Yes. Yes. I don't know how else to establish. Have you indicated where you're going to stop?

I've got Wednesday all locked down, but not knowing where you're going to be. Thursday sort of has been started because I obviously don't want to go north and have to come back and get you. And I don't want to go too far south, and then have that longer drive back up. So, you know, it all depends on where you are and what time you think you would be done Thursday.

Late. How, what, what, late? Eight o'clock. Oh, okay, so I really can do anything I want on Thursday.

Yeah. Oh, okay. It'll be fun. Sure, it'll be, I'm looking forward to getting out and visiting shops, so that's, that's fine.

Me too. Sure. And then I'm not really by myself, so, you know. Yeah, for the most part.

Right. I mean, the visits will be, which is fine. I'm local, I'm like your, I'm like a hub. Right, right, you just give me a central location.

You can find me here. I haven't booked a hotel room. That's not recording. Everything else is.

Yeah, the camera's out again. How do you know the camera's not recording? There's no red light on my side. Oh.

You know, it's weird. I cleaned it all off and then it shows there's stuff on it again or something. I don't, I don't know. So you're not cleaning it all off, right?

Well, I deleted everything. There's two different places you have to go. When you deleted, do you empty the trash? Yes, before I take the cart out.

So take the cart out. Hmm. Something's wrong. I don't know.

But when you go to use it next week, it'll say it's empty, and I will not have touched it, so I don't know what that means. Interesting. Yeah. I thought maybe you have to reset the camera, so I turned everything off, and then turned it all back on, and apparently it doesn't do it yet.

I don't know. I can tell you a couple things that have gone down that I have found fascinating. Cigar things? Yeah.

You know, for one, I see that Privada has gone private now. You mentioned that earlier, what does that mean they've gone private? I don't know, so I'd like to try and get him in here to talk to him. Is he gonna be in here, or is he going through the call?

No, he's gonna be in here. He'll be in here. Oh, I gotta get the chair back out of you. Yeah, the chair.

Oh, nice. And we did a great interview with Jack Heyer. Yeah, I cleaned it up this afternoon just to make sure we had it. Yeah, it's an hour.

It's like a whole show. Yeah, it's pretty. We can almost use it as a show. We probably will.

Right. Maybe bumper it or whatever. Here's what I saw. Oh, I think I heard Phil coming.

Oh, look at that. The board monkey cometh. Yes, the board monkey. There he is.

Well, it must have been more than eight minutes because we've been doing the show for eight minutes, and he texted 10 or 15 before. No, like that's, that's like the shtick, you know, it's like, hey, it's, I'm eight minutes away, but that doesn't say what time he said it, yeah, he didn't say when he was leaving, yeah, had to get something done, sorry, yeah, he had to get something done, I don't get paid with this, so I have to do something to make no money, you know, you mean both, pal, yeah, nobody makes money doing this, all right, well, hey, he's having a heart attack, Phil, we've already done the intro to the show, so yeah, oh, welcome to Cigar House podcast, episode 351, there you go, we already did it, So I saw this post on Facebook, and it was pretty funny to me. Right. Was it from him or from the club?

No, I'm moving on already. I'm curious as to what's going to happen with Brian, and I want to talk to him. Oh, that's the end of the story. I have questions, and hopefully we can get him in here.

Okay. So that's not confirmed? Yeah, it's pretty much. Okay, you said hope.

Yeah, I'm hoping. He said that he can be here next week, so hopefully he'll be able to be here. Gotcha. You know, this industry is extremely difficult.

I know that I've said this a bajillion times. Sure. I saw a post where a guy who's in the industry has a relatively new brand, and I'll name names and all this other stuff on Patreon. We'll get into it a little bit more in depth.

Okay. And he kind of went off on the fact that he's not really being acknowledged by media and the fact that media is acknowledging other things There are things that are going on in the industry. Well, yeah, Coop now is trying to find the best cheese pizza. After his massive turkey sub showcase that he did.

Barstools is well in advance ahead of him when it comes to finding the best pizza. Oh. Barstools? Sports?

Just cheese pizza. Yeah, it's Barstools. Oh. Yeah.

They've done that. Okay. Do they, like, decipher who he thinks media is on this comment? No, he just says media in general.

He braises Coop, but here's the thing. Oh, sorry. I said that out loud tonight. Here's the thing.

He listens. I love you, Mr. Coop. He's the media king.

Yeah, right. I've been retail for 15 years. Right. I've done wholesale for almost 11 now, 10 years.

Okay. You would think you'd have more money. Is that where we're going? No, but what's funny to me is that in six months of doing it or a year of doing it, However long this guy's been doing it, he's already getting upset that he's not getting acknowledged.

Oh. You've been, you know, I've been metaphorically punched in the face so many fucking times. Should we call him? That it's just, no.

Oh. It's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of remarkable, like you just have to kind of, if you're going to get upset that people aren't acknowledging you. Right. And this is like the beginning for you.

I highly, I highly recommend, I highly recommend you fucking liquidate and you just get out of this game. Maybe make sandwiches and pizza, then Koopa's still talking about you. Yeah, it's probably in your best interest. I know you're trying to make a lighthearted joke here, but I'm being dead serious.

No, no, I, you know, this game isn't for fucking everybody and you're, and you're going up against some fucking giants, man. Some guys that have been in this industry, you know, for 100 years, man, you know, like families, families, generations. And to some degree, you're competing against those guys. Sure.

So, you know, if you don't have... I'm dying to find out who this is. If you're not going to get acknowledged and you feel like, and you're going to get upset about it. Right.

And, you know, I don't know, man. I think it might, you know, you're probably in your best interest just to stop. Just stop. Yeah, doesn't he smoke cigars before he had a brand?

Yeah, but it's just going to end in heartache. I don't think that people realize that. You don't have that perspective until you're on the other side of that battle, you know? Sure.

Half Wheel just gave us a 90 on the Broadleaf Corona Gorda. It's a delicious cigar. So we've got a bunch of high ratings on a lot of our products. products we've been we've been acknowledged top 25 twice last year with half wheel i mean how about that cigar nothing i'll get people not taking my phone calls right that's exactly my point certainly that's exactly my point i should just lead with that hey we have three highly ranked cigars if you'd like to call me back yeah right they don't care they don't care a couple of them that didn't heard that actually spoke didn't don't even know what half wheel is so it's not you know it's the industry where everybody should go for the industry information but it's still like greg i mean greg You can hardly ever look at Halfway.

He's like, what's Halfway? I didn't know what Halfway was until, you know, I really got deep into with you guys. Right. Sure.

But you don't own a cigar shop though. You have an excuse. Yeah. I don't understand how if you're a retailer, you don't stay on top of some of these things.

Is Halfway the top or is Cigar Aficionado? If you went news, I'd say Halfway. It depends upon who you ask because the reality is that Aficionado is a little more mainstream. half wheel is more involved when it comes to everything like they're more in depth yeah charlie knows so much shit that's going on i mean that that whole team it's incredible so whether you like them or not whether you get mad about their reviews or not right they're fucking doing it sure you know so and then of course yeah coop coop right have they ever given 100 no no well any idea what the highest ranking they've ever given i don't know That's an interesting question.

We should have Charlie on the show and interview him. What's the highest? Is he going to talk? Sure, he'll talk.

He does other people's shows. Oh, does he? Sure. And he likes to promote that he's doing them, so we should have him on.

Okay. No problem. So, when I saw that, I was just like, man. Wow, I'm really dying to find out who this is.

Yeah. Do I know them? No, but it's funny because there's things involved here. And I'm not getting into that until we get on the show.

Sure, sure, sure. But when you say the name, it's not a recognizable name? No. The brand or the person?

Yeah. Yeah, so I think we can just kind of roll into the Phil's Fun Facts and get some news in. Or do you want to get Phil's Fun Facts? We have time for him, but then we'll have to call Mr.

J. Davis at 3 o'clock. Perfect. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers' podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts.

That changes to the monkey's bananas. Hello, people. Should I change this episode to start calling it the monkey's bananas? The board monkey?

The board monkey's bananas. Well, you have to play the Camacho interview first. Oh, no one's gonna know what we're talking about. Even better.

I'm sorry. Go ahead there, Phil. I just gotta read the fact you wrote: "Did you know that in 2009 Sweden became the first country in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry in a religious ceremony? This was a significant milestone in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, showing how progressive and inclusive societal attitudes can be.

This move allowed same-sex couples to have their marriages blessed by religious institutions, further cementing the The recognition and accepting of diverse relationships in various aspects of life. So please forward all my mail to my new address in Sweden. How does that make you feel? You have a little piece of tobacco on your front tooth, Mike.

I don't know. I mean, is this from the ranch guy or you? You wrote that. It's your Phil.

It's your Phil. How's it now? I don't think so. Thank you.

Okay. This feels fun fact. Brought to you by... Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, sorry. This feels fun fact brought to you by Braze Ryan. Sorry, I was distracted by his Phil's Fun facts. You were caught in his enamored yada yada.

Yes. Uh, Phil's Fun fact brought to you by Braise Ranch in Waldo, Florida. Beef shares are all available. Savor the taste of premium beef raised on lush pastures and supplemented with grain.

com. And... Sorry. Oh.

Why is he beeping? Why is he beeping the sponsor? He's not being nice to Braise Ranch. A Cigar Hustlers Patreon, where the news and info come out every week in easily digestible 30-ish minute episodes for just $15 a month.

You get full video access to everything the cigar industry doesn't want us to talk about. Yeah. com and search A Cigar Hustlers Podcast. I mean, and that's confirmed to be the last messages that we got from our last Patreon.

Yeah, from the last one we did. I love that we do the Patreon and we're like, do you think we sent anything that could have crossed the line? And you're like, no, no. So I called Jack Durano just to confirm.

I'm like, did we say anything that was really bad? And he's like, uh. Yeah. Yeah, kind of, guys.

Yeah, I mean, dude. Even Skip was like, wow. He said stuff, too, to be fair. Not to the same level we did, obviously.

But no. Right. Well, people can afford to be mad at us. I can't really afford to be mad at Skip with everybody's pots and pans sitting over there in his kitchen.

Yeah, all the pots and pans. All the pots and pans. All right, you want to connect your phone and call Mr. Davis?

Sure. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Two. I slide in my chair and you don't.

It's very uncomfortable. The big story of the week. Jeans, buddy. I was just looking at the pants, thinking it's the pants.

The big story of the week is that John Carney bought a Bentley and he purchased a 1997 Coupe with 220,000 miles. I saw that post you made. Yeah, it was funny. John Carney, we don't fact check.

We don't fact check. For what I heard, he needed it to pull his food wagon, the Shake and Bake Shack, where he is now selling chicken and Leo is helping him. Shake and Bake. I'm not sure of the accuracy, but we don't fact check our stuff.

Wow. So Carney joined Bentley. Now, you know who owns Bentley? Who?

Schuster's. That's right. So you stayed up on your reading? Yeah, I actually have the real story, too.

Yeah. Yeah. You want to read that? John Kearney, the longtime VP of sales for La Florida Dominicana, will now lead Bentley Tobacco USA, the new American division of the Bentley Tobacco, a German company.

Bentley Tobacco, which has no relationship to the car brand, which I didn't know, because it looks similar. I feel like they got away with it. Well, it's a different industry. They asked for a blessing or something.

It's a different industry, so you're allowed. Maybe. The bee is different. I think that there was...

Is the bee slightly different? Is it? Hmm. Uh, is led by Martin Schuster.

He is the son of Philip Schuster, who runs August Schuster and... It's McBentleys? McBentleys, yes. Based in Bundel, the Schuster family has been involved in tobacco for more than a hundred years.

A hundred years. Over the years have served at German distributors for a number of American companies, including CLE, Drew Estate, La Florida, Minicana, and Roma Craft Tobac. Karnie spent more than a decade as the VP of Salesforce for London, a tenure that ended last month. And it's over.

And it's over. And it's over. You know, it was interesting. He must have had a, what, a 30-day no-compete?

No, I don't think he had an on-compete. I don't think he had an on-compete at all either, right? You know, I have questions. I know that he went on Bear.

I guess I could listen to that. Well, he went on, he made the announcement. Well, it was funny. He said he had a big announcement.

He was going on Dojo. Right. When the morning Dojo was supposed to do their show, he did the announcement on Facebook. Oh, really?

Yeah. He scooped his own scoop. He scooped the scoop? He scooped the Dojo guys.

" Must have been, yeah. I don't know. You know? Yeah, but then he went on Bear.

I didn't watch that. Private eye, Palmer on the case. I didn't watch Bear. That's pretty interesting.

" His lighting looked good. His lighting looked decent. Did it look good? Coop sent me a Facebook message of another guy in a car doing an interview.

He goes, I guess it's a thing. It's a thing now. I said, at least I can see him. Oh, he had the dome light on.

He heard us and he turned the dome light on. But yeah, that's pretty good. Let's see. We're delighted to have found the perfect distribution partner for our Bentley products in Jonathan Kearney.

Oh, so he's the distributor in America. Like the opposite everybody else is doing. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Well, they live over in Germany.

Well, yes. Well, yes. You know, I got to tell you, did I tell you this industry is fucking tough? Yeah, you did.

All right. So just so that we know that, you know, he's got an uphill battle. He's got a lot of challenges that he's going to have to do. I don't know if he's going to build a sales force.

I probably should listen to the Bear interview. But, you know, he told me about this. We don't fact check. He told me he was doing this when I saw him at the snack shack.

Oh, I didn't know you saw him at the Snack Shack. Yeah, I did. Oh, no, that's right. You said there was not a truck.

There's a table. Yeah. Was it being pulled by a Bentley? He told me that Bentley was happening.

And I said, oh, cool. Did he give you one? He didn't give me one, no. Wow, that's a mistake.

I probably would have traded for a Ferrari. No, no, the cigar. Oh, Ferrari. The cigar.

Yeah. No, he didn't give me one. Oh. The picture looks like it's the same cigar.

Maybe it only has the one. It says, mm-mm. Right. Use it for, like, my little stash upstairs.

I thought I saw a box of them somewhere. I'm sure somebody found a picture of them and used it in a press release of some sort. Oh, okay. You would think they would send them a box.

I don't know, man. Look, there's going to be challenges. There's going to be a lot of challenges there. Do we know where these are made?

I think Hoya. And can you leverage the relationships that you have grown over the past decade in order to help provide and facilitate that company is the real question. Sure. I mean, I would support Carney.

Well, it's funny. This morning, Greg and I were talking about this, and I asked Greg how long till we carry it, and he goes, yeah, you're probably right. Yeah. Right?

Swipe the card, Greg. I mean, we gave- We bought them all, Greg. We gave Mickey Peg a shot. I mean, we'll give anybody a shot.

Sure. We're slamming that door again. There we go. Probably should have called me back.

Oh, see, I told you. We didn't mention the name now. No, you did. At least it was you this time.

He should've called me back. Oh boy. That should be the shirt for this year's PCA. Should've called me back.

Look, that would be a great shirt for us to wear. Listen, I have no problem going out and saying, hey, I'm sorry if I crossed the line, if I offended you or anything like that. Sure, I apologize. But the reality is that if you are upset and you want to have resolve, pick up the fucking phone.

Sure. Let's have a dialogue. Let's talk about this. Let's work this all out.

It's all out. Yeah, pick up the phone. Right. We're not holding any URL.

Palmer's the one that holds the grudge, not me, it's fine. Just shoot me a text or something. Right. Okay, but I called him on Friday.

You know, I haven't seen him on social media, period, since then. And it's Tuesday. I mean, I know that he was going through some other shit again. Sure.

Throughout the weekend, but, like, pick up the fucking phone. Pick up the phone and call me. Right, there's driving between these things. Yeah, you could give me a buzz, even when you're sitting down chilling, you know.

Right. Shit's on you, homie. So this is a branch of LFD? No, no, this is a whole new brand.

Holy moly. No, yeah, but you said that they own LFD as well. No, I did not. Didn't say that?

Didn't say that at all. Okay, Schuster's... He's gotta be doing drugs. He's gotta be.

He's gotta be doing drugs. Read the first part. The first part? Yeah, the big story of the week is that John Carney bought at Bentley.

He's talking about... The Schuster's. So they handle distribution for brands. Oh, okay.

They're not the creators. In Europe. Yeah. In Europe.

This is their brand that's only sold in Europe. I was unclear on who the Schuster's are. Isn't that a German guy that we met at PCA one time? The bald head glasses?

No. No. That's Saleh. Oh, okay.

Saleh. Saleh. Saleh. Saleh.

Saleh. All right. Uh, okay. S.

operations. In addition to his role with Bentley, Carney's also transforming the Purveyors, a project He started during his time at La Florida Dominicana into a cigar industry-focused marketing agency. Is he still doing that? Oh, wow.

I guess. On the shoulders of giants? Yeah. Okay.

Just curious. No. Rommel Craft Tobac's Intemperance Lines swapping out Bellicoso for new Toros. Yes.

Rommel Craft Tobac has announced that it will be adding a new 6x54 Toro Extra size to its 4 Intemperance blends. 5x54. 254, Bellicoso, that is currently sells in each of those lines. Is Bellicoso becoming an unpopular Vitola?

No, I don't think that's the case. But I think after 13 years of making a particular cigar, you would think that we would make the Vitola that's the most fucking common. Well, Nika Rustica is also discontinuing their Bellicoso. No, I don't think that it makes, I think that the Toro is the most sought after size.

Sure, right, right, right. You know, you should really try this easy. You got it in Toro? And, you know, retailers, like, a lot of retailers will say, no.

Right. Um, no one says, no, but I have, I have this, um, I have this Bellicoso and you can do different cuts on it and, you know, different cases, like, they don't think all that. They say, oh, no, I don't have that. Well, yeah.

They don't go past step one. Yeah. Uh, so they're doing a, let's see, they're doing the Treachery, the Fidelity, and the Tully. Oh, and the Fiorella, La Guardia.

La Guardia? La Guardia. La Guardia? Not Guardia, not like the airport.

Airport? Guardia. La Guardia? G-U-A-R-D-I-A.

Guardia. What's that mean in Spanish? Guard. In a post on Instagram, Skip Martin, co-founder of Romacraft Tobac, said, "The pricing for the new Toro exercise is expected I was expected to be the same as the current pricing for Velocoso.

We originally weren't going to say anything and just made the switch, but then I realized I could make some new names that no one will understand, so now I have to guess what the new names mean. And that's a great approach, Skip. Good job. That's not what he said.

You have to understand Palmer at this point. He said three-quarters of that, though. You know, I really want to make it a little more confusing. Just change the names again and let people say what I mean.

You have the industries? No, but the industries are no longer being produced. Yes, no, no. We got rid of the ambition and now we make a treachery.

But the treachery is available. Right. You don't have the industry? No, no.

I have Fidelity. You can now get the Fidelity. How about the Washington? Nope.

It's Tully now. I know him personally now. I'm going with his first name. Yeah, it's Tully.

FDA finally issues the Tobacco 21 rule. Yeah. Yes. FDA is now saying it's a rule.

Okay. When Donald J. R. 4 trillion spending bill contained a provision that increased the minimum to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 years old federally.

However, Trump's signature wasn't all that was needed. Oh, yeah. Uh-oh. S.

government's official books. There's an official book, he didn't put it in the book. Oh. Per the bill that was supposed to happen within 180 days of HR 1865 being published before the end, which would have been before the end of May 2020, let's see, last Friday, some 1,700 days later, and then will finally happen.

S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the rule will officially be published in the Federal Registry on August 30th. It will officially go into effect 30 days after that. Maybe.

I mean, they're kind of wishy-washy on the days. This whole thing is just horseshit. Yeah, it makes no sense. In practical terms, the change will absolutely have no effect on anything.

Nothing. Okay, well, let's review. So was it a rule? So here's the thing that's really kind of fucked.

Trump made it a rule, but for it to be official, they had to put it in the book, and they had 180 days, but now 1,700 days later, now it's in the book. Okay, so not only did you slide a regulation into a fiscal budget, which I think is completely fucked. Yes. You know, and the reason why nobody thought about it is because, oh, it only affected kids 18 to 21, like, oh, it's not us who gives a shit, right?

Sure. So, eh, whatever, right? Then, it was a requirement of the FDA to put it in the books, and they were supposed to put it in within... 180 days.

Okay, six months time. Sure. It took them four fucking years, over four years... 1,700 days.

To get it into the books. If I did something that required, was supposed to require six months of effort and took me four years, I'd be fucking fired. Well, they only audit every four years, though. Yeah, they only check the books once every four years.

It's coming up to the end, they're like, oh shit, we didn't put that in. Nobody put that in. Don't worry, nobody cares. Nobody cares.

Better hurry up for the new boss when he gets here. He'll notice it all. The sad part is that's how you guys lose, we lose laws and regulate, like we lose. Sure, things just sort of fall to the wayside.

" Yeah, no big deal, it's 18 to 21. " No, no, no, no, no, tobacco. Tobacco, tobacco. I just, it just doesn't make sense to me.

Just make it make sense. You can't have a drink either. No drinks. No drinkies?

No. Yes. Alright, the UK eyes expand smoking ban. Oh, wow.

The United Kingdom's new government is considering an expanded smoking ban as it works to decrease tobacco use. I'm moving to Green Bay, Wisconsin. I can smoke on the stadium. Lambo.

Is that the only reason? They have a lot of cheese there, too. I don't know. That's the only reason.

Just so you can smoke in the stadium? I'm going to become a Packer fan. Fuck it. Just to smoke in the stadium?

Yeah. Smoker friendly? Yep. No, smoker friendly is out of Tampa.

We talked about that a couple of weeks. They're the only ones that are progressive. Lambo Stadium. According to reports, the government is working on a proposal that will expand non-smoking areas.

It's unclear how firm the proposals are at the moment, but places such as pub gardens, hookah lounges, as well as areas outside the bars, stadiums, universities, and hospitals were mentioned. In a report by The Sun, which claimed to have seen a document related to the proposal, when asked about the report, the Sun Prime Minister, asked a report by The Sun. The Prime Minister, Mr. Starmer, head of the new labor government, did not confirm nor deny that plans were being worked on.

Furthermore, it is unclear that this will mean for the Tobacco & Vapes Bill a generational tobacco ban that was introduced by Mr. Sunak, the former Prime Minister. Last year, Sunak began working on getting that proposal, which would ban anyone born after 2008 from buying tobacco and vaping products in the UK, passed into law. So to summarize, the new law may or may not currently be in the works, but the local newspaper has seen a draft of the law, but the labor leader will not confirm nor deny the possibility of such a law.

And if it passes, we have no idea what effect do India will have on the current smoking bill. And if we did figure it out, it's probably going to take four years for us to implement it anyways. No, that's here. That's just us.

Oh, that's not us. Sorry, sorry. It takes them longer. Yeah, and not for nothing, but they knew when to get rid of Aaron Rodgers.

S. Green Bay? Oh, we're back to Green Bay again. Sorry.

K. It's so stupid. Cigar, right? Their rules and their regulations are absurd.

Yes, they're stupid. Yeah, they're dumb. That's why we left you. Right, that's why we left.

Cigar Imports Keep Pace with 2023 through first five months. Cigar Imports Keep Pace? With 2023. Yeah.

Through the first five months of the year. Of 2024. Not for the last five. S.

is roughly the same as last year's record-setting year. Slightly down. It's gotta be slightly down. They say roughly the same.

I bet you it's less. Well, they only have it to May. Yeah, but I'm just saying, even those five months. Oh, you think by the end of the year it's gonna be down?

Well, they say roughly the same. Right. I bet you that's like, they're ploughing that. Oh, you think so?

I bet you it's still a little less. S. S. Customs Services, and information from cigar companies themselves.

So yeah, the people are getting them from, it's just ridiculous. The Census Bureau is counting cigars as they come in? I thought they counted people in the house. Two.

The trade group numbers are not exactly because of reporting differences, it estimates how many large cigars were actually premium cigars. S. definition of a large cigar, that those cigars would not be considered premium cigars. Ah.

There's a lot of confusion with what's a cigar, apparently. Wow. So you're right, so they can fluff it all they want. Yeah, that's all bullshit.

It's brown, you light it. It's all smoky. Was it in a machine or was it, because that's not premium, but it's in a machine, but it's really big. Oh, they got to roll it and lick it.

No, big does not mean premium. But I keep telling my wife, big is not premium. Guess all those JFRs aren't premium, huh? No, apparently not.

Actually, those are premium. Those are premium, even though they're big. Oh, you know who reached? Terrence reached out to me recently.

Terrence Riley? Yeah. Oh, is he coming on the show too? No.

We gotta wear tan pants. " Oh, all the clips and stuff? Yeah. Do we even put that on Instagram?

Oh, we do, the show. Yeah, I put it on the show page. Yeah. You should give him a flex.

You should give him a flex just real quick. I'm going to do a video clip for him. All right, with him in it? Oh, Terrence, yeah.

Oh, how are you going to put him in? He's down in the show. I'll figure it out. Oh, this little piece right here we just said?

Yeah, oh, there you go. Look at that. We should just mention people's names so we can put them in the clip. Yeah, I mean, I love the last one where I whipped in Justin looking like a fucking idiot.

Yeah, that was nice. Yeah, still want one of those cutouts. We would put it right here. Oh, wait, how did you ask for the lighter and the cutter?

Use dry bag? Is that what it was? Dry bag? Yeah.

No, I took a picture of my lighter and posted it on Facebook. And you said: It was broken. My letter's not broken. I'm right here.

No, no, no. Why did he send you that? The old one? I have it right here.

I just showed him how worn out it was. Ah. Oh. Yeah.

So if I set up the Powstanie one, I can go, oh, it doesn't have Justin in it. It doesn't have Justin in it? Yeah. You mean for the cutout?

You want him to send you a letter? No, I want his cutout. That's what he's talking about. Justin Andrews.

Yeah. The gay one with his foot up. That is a cute one. It is.

It's very nice. Yeah. I think that picture was taken down. I can't find that one picture with him standing right next to it.

Yeah. He probably got razzed enough. Probably, yeah. Oh, now I have Florida stories.

Yeah, because Jay's available in 10 minutes. It's 3:15. Wow, an hour went by quick. Oh, did he?

Yeah. Oh, okay. That was the first hour. Sloth fever spreads to central Florida.

What is it and where is the outbreak? It's coleslaw. What? He said sloth fever.

Sloth. Oh, sloth. Sloth Fever? Sloth Fever.

Sloth Fever. But the animal. The animal. Nearly a dozen cases of new sloth fever virus have been reported in Florida over the last week, according to a state health officials.

Sanford Zoo. Among the cases, some of, people have it, not animals. Among the cases, some have emerged in Central Florida, the, I can't pronounce it, some type of virus, also known as sloth fever, was first identified in 1955 in Trinidad and Tobago, and the virus is currently an epidemic to the Amazon region. Epidemic.

So, Ed, come on, I got him in Panama. It's in Panama? Yes. The CDC reports the outbreaks of the virus began to pop up late last year in South America, and the Caribbean health officials explained that the virus has spread to humans via infected, biting midges and some mosquito species.

Wow. Midges are the little no-seams. Yeah. Okay.

That's funny. I'm pretty sure I just got bit by some no-seams recently. Oh. As a result, some travelers to affected areas like Cuba and Brazil and Panama have been identified as carrying the virus upon their return home.

Your arms are getting longer Do I start moving slower? Okay, here's the symptoms Fever? Nope Muscle pain? Oh yes Headache?

Yes Fatigue? I'm always tired Joint pain? Of course Diarrhea? I mean some joint pain Only on Monday mornings Abdominal pain?

Nope Nausea and vomiting? No I've had all that but the fever today Wow I woke up with most of these today. Oh, good. I can't wait to get in the car with you.

You should tell Greg about this. He'll have it. With the virus now having popped up in Central Florida, Orange County Mosquito Control is conducting daytime and nighttime sprays in local neighborhoods. Oh, that's why they're spraying.

Yeah, it's for the sloth fever. Spray away. Kill them all. When I was a kid, we used to chase that on our bikes, those spray trucks.

Oh my god, that explains why you have all the problems. Yeah, that explains why you can't remember fucking anything. All right, another Florida story. Florida man was arrested if authorities reportedly found him drunk and naked inside a garbage can.

Another naked guy. Inside a garbage can. In a garbage can. In a garbage can.

Uh, Whiteland James Weeks, 35, was taken into custody after he tried arguing with cops about whether he was allowed to engage in such a bizarre behavior. According to the arrest records obtained by the smoking gun, St. Petersburg police officers alleged Weeks was intoxicated, unsteady on his feet, and reeked of alcohol when they discovered him in a downtown street Saturday evening. " He literally acted like the grouch from Sesame Street.

Right, that was the law. It was the official law. I can hide in this can. I mean, technically, he's not drunk in public, I guess.

I guess so. The 35-year-old also said he didn't have to tell police his name or his demographics. What's her name? I'm not going to tell you anything.

The Grouch. I'm completely in the law here. I can sit naked in this trash can. I'm not hurting anything.

I'm fine. This is why I could never be a cop. I instantly would have tased that guy. You know, like stop.

No, no, no, no, no, no. There you go. Sorry. Okay.

And then put the lid back on. He'll be asleep for a while. After officers pulled the nude man from the corner trash can, they arrested weeks for disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer without violence. According to other reports, he pleaded guilty to both misdemeanor charges.

The next day, he was fined $520. This wasn't the only time he's been drunk in public and naked. He was caught on a drunken escapade. The smoking gun reports weeks, and a male friend was spotted drunk and naked on a Tampa street after they left the bar.

Oh, this is a dare thing. They allegedly told cops they thought it would be funny to take off all their clothes. Yeah. We just thought it'd be funny.

It'd be funny like we're naked. Okay, that's the news. Wow. All right, you want to give Jay Davis a call?

Has it been 10 minutes? It's only been five. He's ready. Hello, gentlemen.

Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis.

Mr. Davis, sir. Sorry about the time problem. It was my mistake.

Hello. Not a problem. Yeah, sorry about that. Apparently, in his youthful years, he used to chase around the mosquito van that would spray out pesticide.

Jay and I are about the same age. I'm sure he's familiar with that summertime. I have a lot of memory locks. See?

So did you also chase around the mosquito sprayer when you were younger? No. No, he did not. No.

I saw the big skull and crossbones in the back of the truck. We didn't know what it was, that's just what we did. Lawn darts. Oh yeah, lawn darts, jarts.

Jarts. So, go ahead. So, you just got back from your trip from Louisiana for the PCA? That was a lot of fun.

They took... Thanks for calling. They took really good care of you then, I'm guessing. So, I mean, what's not to like about New Orleans?

The food is phenomenal, people are friendly, and even though it was a little warm for, you know, being in August, I mean, it was still a lot nicer than being in Las Vegas for 105,000. Oh, yeah, that's for sure. Absolutely. Absolutely.

So, tell me some of the big takeaways here. Mike, what'd you got? You gonna ask something? No, I didn't go.

Yeah, but you're staring at the table. Well, I just looked at the question. That was actually the first question. Okay, so yeah, so what were some of the big takeaways from the meeting?

Well, I thought we got to look at the Convention Center, which, you know, they've been updating a lot of it, so part of it they're still working on, but the parts that we saw looked really nice. Brand new carpets, super nice. It's not a very far walk at all from the hotels. And I think that the overall experience of being in New Orleans is going to be so much nicer.

The food is a whole lot cheaper than it is in Las Vegas. I mean, yeah, obviously, you know, you're in a touristy area, it's going to be expensive, but compared to Las Vegas, you can get a lot more calories per dollar. Have you done a show in New Orleans yet? I actually have not.

It's kind of weird that the last two shows we had in New Orleans, One, I had to go see my aunt in Colorado and I think the one before that was we were at weasel in our second or third trade show and I was sick so I couldn't make it. So this will be a first for me. Interesting. I know that they were having a conversation before about possibly doing a set up place on the outside with tents where everybody can kind of congregate.

Yeah, Joshua Bersky had mentioned something to us about possibly tenting the entire area between the hotels and the convention. Yeah, so there was a spot for everybody to kind of congregate. Is that still in the works or no? Well, I don't know if they're going to tent like a three block area, but we definitely found, first of all, I guess I should let you know the hotels.

Do you want to know that? Yes, certainly. So the hotels, if you're familiar with that area, will be the Hampton Inn, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Embassy Suites, and the Hilton Riverside, the Hilton is the main one, but there's also like, if you really want to spend money, there's also a Meridian, there's Four Seasons, there's the Ritz-Carlton, there's all kinds of great places to stay, but, you know, a lot of great places to stay. That are all pretty centrally located, and one of the things that we looked at was places to smoke, and there's lots of places to smoke that are very close to the hotels, because hotels are not far from the French border, so I think that people are going to find that this is a lot more doable than, you know, I think they are anticipating.

Okay. Is it mostly going to be outdoor smoking? Yeah, I think for the most part. There will be obviously some places you can smoke inside, certainly on the train show floor.

There's a number of cigar shops and some other options. But I don't think that it's really going to be that big of an issue. If we think about how Las Vegas was last year in March, it's going to be a little bit warmer than that, but it's not going to be uncomfortably warm. In fact, I think some people were like a little chilly last year in March in Vegas.

So it's going to be very comfortable. Another cool thing is the French Quarter Fest is going to be happening over the date, so there's a lot of cool things that people can do to kind of get that local experience. I think that it's going to be awesome. We're also going to publish a list of lounges where you can smoke and coordinated spaces that are near where the hotels are and where the French Quarter are.

So we've got some options. So if you only want to walk a block, there's going to be options. If you feel like, you know, maybe going a few blocks to the French Quarter, you can do that. So there's a lot of great options.

I really didn't expect there to be so many options for smoking, and particularly when you compare it with a couple of years ago where you had that one little bar of Luca where, you know, we had a group of 30 people and that was it. You've got a lot of options. Okay. Do you have any concerns or anything that came up during the trip that they have to address before the board will be happy?

Well, I'm sure that there's always concerns. I mean, for me, this was the first time that I ever went and visited a trade show location, eight months ahead of time, and what really impressed me was all the people you have to work with, you know, there's a, there's the, obviously there's the, the convention center people, then there are the people within there, like Shepard, then there are the people that handle food and beverage, then there's the tourists, there's like a name for them, the tourist people that, that welcome tourists to New Orleans, there's also the city council. So there's a lot of moving pieces, and what really impressed me is Lisa Cox and Shannon and their team, they ask questions, and I'm just sitting there feeling stupid, because obviously they're very good at what they do, and it's a lot of moving parts, but I was pretty impressed with eight months before the show, how organized they were, and I think that people are going to be very pleased with the final result. Absolutely.

You know, I'm looking forward to it. Thanks, bro. Yeah, I love the option being in Texas, because I can drive, which is eight hours. Now, the only reason I flew was because we had our first meeting with nothing.

I mean, even in the airport, they had an emeralds table, so you can get like a really good bowl of gumbo or great food, even in the airport. You know, it's just so different than Las Vegas, that horrible, soul-wrenching weight and all that. And they had things organized with, like when I flew back, if you have, see, here goes the memory again, the TSA pre-check or whatever, I mean, it was so much easier getting in and out of that airport than it is out of Las Vegas. Okay, cool.

Well, hey, what else you got, Paul? Anything else to add? No, he's covered a lot of the questions. You didn't ask me what I was smoking, bud.

What are you smoking? I'm actually smoking a prodrome. I was going to smoke one of your cigars, by the way, I don't know if anyone's rated, I'm sure, how much that cigar hasn't, but your Connecticut is just amazing. Thank you.

I appreciate that. I mean, obviously the Surrounded by Champions is probably my favorite, and I love the Habano, I love the Broadleaf, but the Connecticut is something that I just go back to that, and I love the different sizes, because you get different flavor profiles. You guys have done an amazing job with us today. Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.

Halfwheel just gave us a 90 on the broadleaf of the Corona Gorda. What? What was that? Yeah, what was that?

Corona Gorda. It's a new size we're implementing. It's Corona Gorda. The Gorda.

Yeah, so... Nice. And then I know that the Justice got a 91, which is the Connecticut Corona Gorda as well, so... We're moving along.

You know, we're doing our best. We're trying to make great products and continuing to deliver. So, I appreciate you smoking it, even though you're smoking a Padrón now, you bastard. You know, the reason I wanted to smoke a Padrón is, you know, I did, I wanted, when I smoke your Connecticut, it's one of those cigars you kind of just fall into, and it's just a whole experience, you know, Padrón just I don't have to think about it.

Yeah, fair enough. All right. Perfect. Anything else, Ed?

No, we appreciate you taking the time, sir. Yes. Yeah. Where do I go?

Four hours? No, that's it. No, this isn't Coupe, we don't do a Coupe, just check in, get some information, give yourself a plug, Blue Smoke Dallas, do you have a website, or do you want anybody to call in for any product or anything like that? Go ahead and give it.

Yeah, it's Blue Smoke of Dallas, but generally just call the store. We do ship all over the country, and in fact, several international countries as well, but we don't do it through a website. Part of dealing with T21, and part of it, just because I'm a cigar lounge owner, I don't want to ship cigars to anyone that I haven't talked to enough. " Great, let's get on the phone, let's get to know each other first, because to me that's important, you know, I don't want to just sell this to people I don't know, and I know that makes me a dinosaur, but I know every one of my customers, and if I haven't met them personally, they were a direct referral from another customer, and that's just how Apple works.

I think that's important, man. That's a great way to do it. Customer service is the only thing that makes anybody different in this industry, so. I got a buddy of mine, he gave me a hard time a few years ago, he's like, I want to build a order of cigars in my underwear at 2:00 in the morning, I said, well, then we're not the store for you, and then, since then, he's called a couple of times, and like, last time he called, he's like, look, I want to get a box and such and such, I'm like, okay, because I want to send two boxes to these guys, and I want to let them know that, you know, I appreciate doing business with them, so I went out to the store, got a couple, you know, cards, I hadn't bought Hallmark cards in a while, you know, and then I just personally wrote, you know, sort of what he wanted to address, and that way, just add that personal touch, and then I just personally wrote, you know, sort of what he wanted to address, and that way, just add that personal touch.

And as you know, personal touch is important, and as opposed to, you know, you know, here's your printout from the computer and what have you, you know, that's one of the things Abe does really well, too, and you guys do, you know, it's always that personalized service, and I think that that's important in, you know, today's, you know, e-commerce society, you know. A hundred percent, a hundred percent. I did want to let you know that hotel room blocks are open, actually, and you can go ahead and log onto that. org, backslash travel, and so if people, you know, are anally retentive and they want to get their hotels early, you can go ahead and do that.

I thought the Host Hotel was really cool. They've got a great restaurant, I think it's called Dragos, and they've got, you know, red beans and rice, they have jambalaya, they've got cornbread, they've got the fried oysters, they've got everything that you'd want to eat that's traditional. And there's a couple of beignet places that are literally like a two or three minute walk away. Oh, that's an magic word, beignet.

Nice. Yeah. And, you know, I decided not to do Café des Mons, although I've been there before. It's just kind of old and sweaty and went out.

And I went to this place called Benny's. I'm not going to say it's the best beignets in the world, but they are hot and the place was clean and spotless, except for I didn't have any fork, so I looked like, you know, Al Pacino and Scarface. And the powder all over me, you know? But yeah, there's just a lot of stuff that you can do.

It's a very friendly city to get around. And some of the cigar shops are just awesome. And I think there's different flavors of cigar shops there that, you know, they're all different. You know, some of them have, one of the cigar shops we went to had an impressive liquor collection.

I mean, they had Michener's 25. They had six or seven bottles of Michener's. They had a lot of pappies because the guy used to work in Las Vegas and he's tied in with all those alcohol people. And then there's other shops that are kind of like a corner shop, and then there's like, you know, you know, mine import, and that one might require a cab, but they've got so many great different options there, I think people are going to be very impressed with the options.

Alright, fantastic. Sounds like it, sounds like it's going to be really nice. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I enjoyed myself, and you know, my feet were a little sore, but that's because we walked a lot, but there's Ubers all over the place, you can get Ubers and Lyfts and all that, it's very easy to get around, but we decided to walk it, and it was just awesome.

Awesome. Just the sounds, the smells, the music. I mean, anyone who enjoys jazz or blues music or good food, I mean, there are so many great options. Perfect.

All right, Jay. Well, thank you very much for calling in. We appreciate the intel and we look forward to seeing you out there. That was great.

And I'm going to go listen to this and I'm going to subscribe. I had not been following your podcast, but, you know, I'm excited to be invited. Thank you very much. Oh, you're welcome.

Thank you for being on. Okay. Take care, guys. Bye bye.

There you go, Jay Davis. He's very enthralled with the local flavor there. Yeah, he's eating it up. Yeah, he's really enjoying the trip.

It sounds nice, the way he's describing it. I mean, yeah, I've been there before, but when you go on July, it's like... Well, I was gonna say, when you guys went, there's only been a few pictures that I saw, and everybody was sweaty, and they talked about the humidity, and... That was when I met the legend, Alan Schumann of Caribbean Cigars.

Always been nice to me. You know what? I don't know what everybody's complaining about. Mr.

Camacho that we did the show with, he had a terrible age. He's scared to death of Mr. Schumer. I love it when people are scared of other people.

Yeah, I know. I dig that. Especially when they're my friend. That's fantastic.

Right. All right, well, let's end this and let's get into the Patreon. All right. This has been episode 351 of Cigar Hustler Podcast.

Thank you. Who's number one? Cigar Hustler, the podcast... This is Mike Szczepankiewicz with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows.

These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. We'll be right back to the next episode of the podcast. So grab your favorite cigar, sit back, and light up with the Cigar Hustler Podcast Patreon available weekly. Subscribe today and become part of the Hustler family.

Show Notes

**Episode 350: Cigar Hustlers Podcast** – Tune in for our Weekend Update as we dive into the latest happenings with your hosts. We’ve got an exclusive interview with Jay Davis, PCA Board member, who gives us the inside scoop on his recent planning trip to New Orleans for the 2025 Convention and Trade Show. Plus, we cover the latest industry news and hear from Phil as he announces his big move to a more gay-friendly country. Don’t miss this action-packed episode!