Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 354: The Aftermath of the Seven-Course Feast
Episode Summary
Episode 354 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike "The King" Stepankiewicz and Mike "BDP" Palmer smoking a Privada Cigar Club "Dead Stock" release — a 7x47 Churchill rolled at an AJ Fernandez factory in Estelí with a golden Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, allegedly sitting untouched for nearly six years after a European luxury brand never launched it. The guys debate how much of that "properly documented aging" story to believe, then recap the weekend: a shop night with Dave Revis, the RoMa Craft customer experience event with Michael Rosales (which produced a separate 30-minute mini-episode), and the aftermath of the seven-course dinner event, including ideas for leveling it up next time. There's also a detour into a Paolo Banchero youth basketball camp at Lake Brantley, Michael Jordan's game of HORSE, and Phil's Fun Facts on the surprisingly romantic origins of bobbing for apples.
In This Episode
- 01Privada Dead Stock ChurchillThe hosts light up a six-year-aged 7x47 Churchill from Privada Cigar Club's Dead Stock program, rolled at an AJ Fernandez factory in Estelí, and question how verifiable "authentically aged" claims really are.
- 02Weekend Recap and the Seven-Course Event AftermathShop night with Dave Revis, the RoMa Craft event with Michael Rosales, and what worked (and what could be improved) at the quarterly customer experience dinner.
- 03Dunbarton Cutter GiveawayA rare Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust cutter worth roughly $400 is being raffled all October, with entries earned by buying DTT products at cigarhustler.com.
- 04RoMa Craft Mastranza Finally ShipsAfter the limited Craft Marquette La Mastranza petite gordo in July, three regular-production vitolas — Cuadatella Catalonia, Castillo Murcia and Caballeria Valencia — ship at $9–$11, and the hosts roast the hard-to-pronounce naming convention.
- 05Dunbarton Red Meat Lovers FritangaSteve Saka announces a spicier 6x52 box-pressed Toro called the Fritanga for the March 2025 Red Meat Lovers Dinner at the Great Smoke, with only 200 bundles of 10 produced.
- 06Tatuaje Wolfman Redux and Warped El OsoPete Johnson confirms the 7.5x52 Wolfman Redux ships with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper at $13, plus a new Warped El Oso vitola exclusive to Smokingpipes.com.
- 07HR Cigars Returns with BlacklineHirochi Robaina revives the dormant HR brand for international markets, prompting a walk back through the Cubanacan, Spencer Drake and White Hat Distribution saga.
- 08Patina Distribution Move and Principle's "Boy Band"Moe Herrera moves Patina from Sutliff to City of Palms, and Principle Cigars assembles a five-cigar sampler from Dominican legends — plus Chad Johnson's 85 Cigars Ocho Cinco Cigar of Honor at $850 a box.
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 been a long time, can't be stopped, shooting my shot. Another Mike and Mike production in 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0.
Yes. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 354. Recorded live at the Mike & Mike Production Studio in Deltona, Florida. This is 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, national sales manager for Pochic Cigars, as they talk about the latest cigars news, reviews, and interview some of the most influential people in the cigar industry. And me, I'm their engineer and sound tech, Phil. Whether you're a seasoned aficionado or new to cigars, this podcast is for you. Sit back, relax, and live your cigar on Cigar Losers Podcast.
Welcome to Cigar Losers 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". Oh, this show is going to be bananas right here. Rose Alice made a mess over here on my table. Mmm, and what are we doing for the Patreon, sir?
Today we are smoking, what are we smoking? We are smoking the LCA dead stock. The cigar industry is full of brands that come and go, leaving their stock to quietly age in rooms across Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras. Costa Rica and beyond, but now with dead stock you get access to these hidden treasures.
Cigars are not just aged, but properly documented. Ensuring you get what others only promise, dead stock cigars by Provada Cigar Club, where you can finally experience truly aged cigars, authentically aged. I don't know if it's coming from a third world country if I believe it to be properly documented, but we're gonna smoke it anyway. J.
Fernandez factory in Esteli. Thank you. It was stumbled upon a forgotten batch of 7x47 true Churchill-sized cigars, age undisturbed for nearly six years, Michael. Six years undisturbed.
Originally crafted for a luxury European brand that never launched these cigars, feature a golden Ecuador and a bano wrapper. We'll get into that on the other show. Yeah, that's fine. Yes.
I'm excited to have this cigar. Yes, I can't wait to... He's a cigar. So, our boy Romachon, he has found the CAO Nicaraguas.
Oh! Yeah. Okay, earlier conversation, Sam is in. Okay.
He has found, he found them at some grocery store or some shit. Did he really? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's like, they have a humidor.
Some Publix have humanors in their liquor stores. But in his standard fashion, I'm like, dude, it's no rush. Like, whatever. I will overnight them right away.
He's like, I'll – he goes, I left, but I'll go get – maybe I'll go tomorrow. You left? Why did you leave? Maybe I'll go get them tomorrow or something.
When did he tell you this? Saturday, I think. So he should have them in his hands. Oh, he went back that day and fucking bought them.
Oh, I got to. Did he only get two? I hope he only got two. Did he get two?
He got one and a half. Close enough. He got three. Oh.
Who got three? Hi, we're doing a show over here. How you doing? How you doing, Phil?
Nice to see you, Phil. Nice to see you. I was looking at the cello on this thing. Nice to see you.
Well, it's been aged six years in some barn in Nicaragua. Well, normally that's just a story, but you can tell by the cello it's not just a story. Or they aged the cello and slid the cigar in. It's privada.
Look, I don't think it's bullshit. But we'll talk about that on Patreon. Sure, sure, sure. Stop it right now.
I'm just getting it going. It's hot in here. It is a little warm. Phil, can you hit the air?
It's still on... 74? Well, that's where the sales staff keeps it because we have any money in there. So we try to keep the thermostat a little higher.
Trying to be reasonable. Right. Because there's a fan in the other room, too. But during the show...
When the talent shows up, you... Exactly. We bring it down to cool up the room for your hot talent. Ah, thank you so much.
I appreciate that. Yeah, open the door and let the fan air in from the other room. I appreciate that. Yes.
So... Yes? How was your weekend? That's broken.
How was your weekend, Michael? It was very busy, actually. Very busy weekend. Yeah.
A lot transcribed, or happened, or whatever the word is. Okay. Transpired? Transpired.
Thank you. That's the word. Well, Friday night I worked here. Uh-huh.
So everybody could go to the local charity event. Yes. So it was not very busy. Was the sales gonna eh?
No, it was a good Friday. Oh, excellent. Not much for the event, for the BDP birthday badge, which I didn't think so. But as I told everybody, I just don't like to work if there's not an event.
It's just not as much fun. You had Dave Revis up here? Dave Revis came up, yeah, I mean, we had a dozen or so people in the shop all night long, we sold a lot of the two-for-one beer, sold a lot of beer, so that's, you know, money's money. It's like beer.
It's like beer, yes, yes, it's like beer. Saturday, we went and took mom for her stuff, she's just a miserable lady at this point. Right. And then we had the event here.
We did. Yes. We had a stellar event on Saturday night with Roma Craft. Yes.
With Michael Rosales. We did a 30-minute mini-show with Mike Rosales, which will come out at some point during the week. We'll release it this week, yeah. That does dilute the original show.
Who cares? I don't know why. Who gives a shit? Because our show is based on ratings and downloads and things.
I don't care. I don't care. I don't fucking care. If we have something cool to share with people, I'm not looking at the bottom line.
We did get a lot of compliments on that, like the best interview I've ever seen, the best podcast I've ever seen. But the other show had better ratings. I don't give a fuck. I'm just talking to you, Michael.
But I'm telling you how I feel about it. It means nothing to me. Well, you don't watch the ratings. I want to provide good content.
Right. Okay, period. Well, I want to provide good content too, but I want a lot of people to hear it. Well, then you keep going and you keep providing good content.
Oh, one of these guys now that I follow? Yeah. Because of the new thing? Because of me?
Yeah. He didn't make it big in podcasting until year seven. So a lot of people think after 90 days, that's it, you get, yeah, so then they give up. So next year.
Yeah, so next year. Next year's the year. Actually, next year's year six. I thought we were in year six.
I thought we were in year six. This is year five. Oh, then we got two more. I thought this was year six.
I thought like him next year was year six. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to expedite this motherfucker, and we're going to hit it. We're going to hit it year six. We're going to hit it year six?
Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be crazy. You got it.
We're going. Bananas. Big bananas. It's going to be right around the time Phil quits.
You ever see the Sopranos show at the end, when the seasons are getting to end, and then Christopher and him get in a car accident, and then he kills him, and then he feels free and stuff? We're killing Phil? I think that's what's going to happen. Phil's going to die.
We've got to take a car ride, Phil. And then we just shoot into the stratosphere. Oh, perfect. Oh.
Oh. Oh. That's right, Phil. I've had good correspondence with my boy John McTavish this week.
Oh, have you? Yeah, he's behind several episodes, so sometimes he says things and I'm like, elaborate. Oh, yeah, you've mentioned that a couple of times. Yeah.
So he's still behind. Wow. I talked to him last week, but it wasn't really about show stuff. But the event...
Excuse me. The event... Oh, it's really good. I inhaled a little bit on that one.
Oh. It was awesome. It was. Everybody seemed to really enjoy it.
Yeah. The quarterly experience events, if they have been called, customer experience events, are doing really well. Yeah, and it was the- Something you don't get other places. The way that the style of they were cooking, I've never seen that before.
No, I haven't either. And every dish was fantastic. From what I had, it was quite good. Yeah, it was fucking remarkable, man.
Right. And without giving away details, but I think that I had some good ideas as far as making it better. Yes, yes, I think so too. I think all those are excellent ideas.
Yeah. Yes. Really kind of level it up. Sure.
Like, how do you know, you always try and look at it and just try and make it better. Right. Well, why do it the same? Yeah.
And I think that my ideas were pretty... I think so, too. I think they will do well. Pretty spot on.
So... I'm looking forward to it. Friday... Friday.
Football. Last Friday. Yeah, a little Friday football update. Jackson's team won.
Silver team lost. Oh. And Patriots lost both their games. Tough weekend.
Yeah, it was a little rough. It was a little rough. How about basketball? How was basketball?
Justice's team won, Jack's team lost. That's not what I mean. The important questions. Did the abuela show up again?
No. We didn't see her. You didn't see her? Did the lady with the camera show up again?
That got her phone snatched away? Yes. Yes. She was there.
Extra security. Was there extra security? She didn't do anything wrong. No, no.
I understand it. But she might have been afraid of the old lady. She doesn't strike me as a person. She's not a fear person.
No. Now we know who was in trouble was the other lady that's not there. Right, so the other lady didn't show up. She was embarrassed by her behavior.
She's laying low. She's with El Chapo. Ah, yes, yes. She's biting the time.
She's with Lito Gomez's wife's ex-husband, held up in some prison somewhere. That's exactly it. You're correct. Ah, yes.
She's with Enrique. Enrique. Is that the right name? No.
Get the name right. It's Eduardo. We have to grow our text group so we're not getting corrections from everyone at different times. So, we have to elaborate a little bit.
So, when we go into detail on things on the Patreon, we don't fact check anything. Sometimes we get people's names wrong. We make things up. So, of course, we screwed up this name of this person really bad and Jack and Hector decide to chime in.
Well, I don't know who this is. We get a weekly critique from them, to be honest. Yeah, I don't know. And then...
It's seven minutes and 54 seconds. You guys really screwed up that guy. And then one day delayed, Skip chimed in as well. Yeah, let me get it from Skip.
Yeah. So we're gonna add Skip and the other two gentlemen together. Right. Into one corrective text group.
Yeah, we would just prefer a massive, you know, berating. I thought we should start another Patreon level where they are in the text group and they get to correct us. And they can tell us how much we suck. Right, exactly.
I love the show, but you guys suck. Yeah, you guys are fucking, you know... That's not true at all. I'm gonna listen next Thursday, but you guys suck.
That's right. So, for $17, you get into the text group. So, a buddy of ours, you know, like friends of our whole family, they had accidentally purchased one too many tickets for this pro camp with Paolo Banchero. Paolo Banchero?
Yeah. Wow. " I don't know who Paolo Banchero is. Who's Paolo Banchero, Phil?
He is a basketball player, but not just any. Oh. All-star for the magic. Didn't even know what sport it was.
He's the all-star for the magic. The basketball. I thought he was on the Three of Migos movie. I thought he was the bad guy.
He was the number. Wow. That was El Guapo. Oh, oh.
He wasn't the second command guy? The little Mexican guy. I can see where the sounding is close. Yeah, it's close.
Banchero, El Guapo. Banchero, El Guapo. Yes. I think Banchero's Italian or something.
I don't know. Is he Italian? No, no. Yeah, Italian, yeah.
So, anyway, there was a camp. Yeah, so we got invited to say, hey, you know, Obviously, we're not going to get a refund of those tickets. You want to bring Jack's. Which one of your children gets?
Jack's. She said, Teddy will enjoy that. She will go. Yeah, Teddy's on her way.
No, it was, I think that it was a best fit for Jack's. Oh, certainly. I think next year, because they do it, apparently they're going to do it annually. Oh.
Next year, I'll have to get tickets and bring Jack's. I was going to say, next year, you're going to hope they buy an extra ticket again. I told them, I actually said, moving forward, if you could accidentally buy a third. That would be great, yeah.
And then in another year, a fourth would be really nice for me. You know, if you really want to up it, you know, but it was cool because he did these little one-on-one things with kids, and then they did like five-on-five. So you get to go too? I mean, you can't just leave your kid.
Well, he might have went with them, and they, you know, they like picked him up and took him. Yeah, you know, for me, I would have been okay with that, I just felt like... You need to experience it with him. No, I just felt like, no, I just felt like that's kind of inappropriate.
It's like, cool, take my kid, fuck off, you know. Well, I mean, they asked, so that's, you know... But that's a cool thing though. But with the ticket, I literally just didn't know if they like, okay, like if you buy one ticket, your child goes and the accompanying parent.
Yeah, no, I mean, they had no issues with the parents sitting there. Okay, so like he had four tickets. He could have taken four parents? The ticket's probably for participation.
Well, yeah, I mean, you couldn't have bought the ticket and you ran around on the court. No, no, no. And most parents, I didn't see any parents that were like dicks. Like there are parents that are focused.
A Boila wasn't there? No, they were obviously there for their kids to be in and interacting and stuff, instead of, you know, like, you've seen these grown ass men and be like, Paula, why don't you give me an autograph? You know, like, that sort of shit. Like, that wasn't happening, which was nice.
It's a different level. Yeah. So, they did, like, five on five. They did, like, competitions and tournaments and stuff.
Did he play horse with everybody? No, that would have been awesome. Like, you know what? You know what?
Everybody line up. You know who does that at all those camps? Horse with a wapo. Is Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan would play horse? What he does at every camp is he plays horse, and if they beat him, he buys everybody Jordan shoes. Really? Yeah, but if he wins, they all have to buy tickets for next year.
Oh, that seems reasonable. That sounds like, it's a win-win for Jordan. Sure. He loses every time.
Yeah, yeah, he loses on purpose to give all the kids shoes, right? Oh, I missed the layup. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, they gave away some PS5s and stuff.
Oh, wow. But that camp ticket is like $800. You're buying the Jordans. I don't know how much Palos is, but it's probably up there.
Well, I think he's part of Jordan. Oh, they call him Little Jordan? They got Jordan backpacks. Yeah, he's part of the Jordan brand.
Oh, the guy with the hand up and the leg spread thing on the backpack? No, the only one that matters. I know the logo. I'm not into sports, but I know the logo.
You're familiar with it? I'm familiar with the logo. So I didn't want to leave him by himself. I felt like I should go.
Yeah, I mean, if it was allowed, certainly, why not? I mean, it sucked. I mean, it sucked. Oh, how was the facility?
Because it was probably in the training facility. No, it was at Lake Brantley. Oh, okay. Lake Brantley High School?
Yeah. Ugh. They have a nice facility. I'm sure it is, but I would have thought it would be over at the training center.
It's not like you can do anything, though, as a parent. You just kind of stand there. You couldn't even sit? There are some spots to sit, but I'm not standing.
They didn't open the bleachers? Yeah, some bleachers were open, but I'm not really. Lake Brantley. Was there anybody else there?
The head coach showed up, but we see him everywhere. You can see him everywhere. Just stood there with your arms crossed? That's me.
Yep. Should have sent your stunt double. He didn't even have to go. Yeah, I could have brought Josh from there.
Right. Could have sent him. Nobody would know. Yeah.
Like, who are you? I'm Mike. I was there. He was standing in front of me and Brittany, and we both looked at him and looked at each other and we're like, that's not Mikey.
That guy's definitely bigger than him. He is bigger. That's true. He's definitely bigger than my husband.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm not aiming to get that big.
No? No. Oh. No, I'm good where I'm at.
I can still scratch part of my back. We have to do a video, though, where we put him in as your stunt double. That would be hilarious. Yeah, that would be hilarious.
You woke up, cut, we put him in. Alright. He picks up something heavy. Right.
And then cut, and then you woke up. I go back. We could totally do that. He's got the dark hair, the mohawk, it'd be funny.
Yeah. Then a close up of your face going, ugh. That'd be amazing. Well, I mean, that's pretty much all I have from the week.
Wow. Last week he ate it up. Now it's only 15 minutes in. It's almost literally time for Phil's Fun Facts.
Look at that. What about your weekend? Where'd he do my weekend? He tapped into it.
It was that fast? Yeah. He said he did a lot, and then he just briefly surmised. Right.
Well, I mean... Did you cut the grass? Did anything? Yeah, but...
It was like a two-part episode again. Yeah, I started on Friday night, so I started on Friday night, so I started on Friday morning. Oh, okay. Okay.
One day, we went to Swamp House with a friend for lunch. Nice. It's so hot. But there was nobody there, because football Sunday, there's no TVs outside.
They have no TVs? Oh, yeah, they don't have any TVs. Yeah, no, no TVs outside. I'll tell you what, that Georgia-Alabama game was crazy.
I saw the catch the guy made. I thought for sure Georgia was going to win that game. Yeah, it was a crazy game. All the way to the end.
Yep. All the way. All the way to the end. All the way.
There's no way this is going to be on our list. Did you weigh it? I did, but then I forgot. There's no way it's going to be on the list.
No. Oh, do you want to explain the cutter you've got sitting there? Is that why you brought it? I do.
Just take the cell off. How much does the cell weigh? It's 15 grams. It usually weighs like one.
Yeah, so online we're going to be doing a giveaway. Do a close-up, Phil. Online we're going to be doing a giveaway all month long. So we're gonna raffle this bad boy off, this is the...
And if nobody wins, we're gonna sell it on eBay. The elusive Dunbarton Tobacco Cutter. Ooh. Ooh.
Ah. It's got a retail value of around like 400, I think, or something. But you can't buy it anyway. Well, except from us on eBay.
Well, here's what... We have a second one up now. So, in order to, here's how you can get some entry tickets to win. com, you're going to get five entries.
If you buy 20 of anything, you're going to get 25. It's just that simple. There's no purchase of the week. Oh, sorry.
No purchase necessary to enter as well. Where's the little iPad? Nice. Yeah.
And you're up to my left. I saw that with a corner of my eye. I'm like, how did you get over there? That's going to be running all October long.
All month long. We have one giveaway in-store, one giveaway online, and we're going to announce the winners. And one for sale on eBay. And one for sale on eBay.
If you don't want to buy this again, look up Phil's stuff, Phil's stuff on eBay. You know, someone's going to look that up. Sure they are, just in case, because they don't, I could be joking, I could be telling the truth. All I need is a nasty phone call from Steve.
All right. What's this Phil's stuff you're talking about? It wouldn't be the first one. It wouldn't be the first one.
I hope somebody goes and makes a Phil's stuff on the eBay page. And they put the fucking picture on it. There it is. There it is.
There it is. Yeah. Well, he calls him like, "Look, it's not us. " It's not us.
Here they are. Here's a photo of all of them. Go away. All right, let's get into Phil's Fun Facts.
What is he waiting on? I can't hit the button. I almost hit the wrong button. I couldn't find the button.
Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast Feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Hello, peoples! Alright, for many Americans, bobbing for apples is a favorite childhood pastime that signaled the arrival of Halloween. However, the origins of apple bobbing, I already see where this is going.
No, it's legit. I didn't make this happen. are actually based in love and fate rather than ghosts or goblins. What?
What did he say? I'm so nervous here. Read it. Start over.
Start over. Bobbing for apples. Okay, you like to bob for apples. The origins of apple bobbing are actually based in love and fate rather than ghosts or goblins.
As adults, we don't play this game too often because of, well, germs. But that wasn't always the case. Apple bobbing was once a popular game in early Europe. While there were different variations of the game, the purpose remained the same: to see the future of the one's love life.
In one early variation, apples were pre-assigned to potential love interests. Once placed in the water, a young woman would try to retrieve the apple. If it took her only one try to grab the apple, it meant the young couple was destined to be together. If it took her two tries, it meant that her beloved would pursue her, but ultimately, the relationship was fated to fizzle out three tries, don't even think about it.
He reads in like a third grade. Wow, I'm proud of you. What, that wasn't dirty? Yep.
That's true. Apparently, they would write the names on the apples somehow. Yeah. And then, like, if they wanted Phil's apples, she would try to get the apple.
If she got it really fast, they're locked. They're going to get married. If they took a couple of tries, then he's going to have to chase her around a little bit. The third one, if she couldn't get it at all, Phil's moving on to somebody else.
She's a dud. I mean, if she really wanted the dick, she could just prep for that, like she could drill, she could get her own barrel. And then it goes a step further, they peel it into one big piece of peeling, throw it up in the air and it lands on the girl, and then it apparently makes some type of letter, like it would have to be a P if it was going to be Phil, if it resembled a P as it landed on her. Man, these guys were smart.
Or very bored and had nothing else to do. I think that's what it was. Yeah, I think it was bored. We're gonna get the word, we're gonna get an apple, and we're gonna, I bet you I could throw this apple peel at her, and her not be upset about it.
Yeah, there you go, right, exactly. Okay. Alright, Phil's Fun Facts. What are we betting?
One lamb. One lamb. Oh, betting a lamb. Yeah, a lamb on the line.
A little steep. How about a pig? Lamb's delicious. I don't know why pigs.
Yeah, big pig. Big pig. Phil's Fun Facts brought to you by Braze Ranch in Waldo, Florida. Beef share is now available safe.
Oh, I don't know if they are, actually. We haven't changed this. They just, they lost a barn during the storm, too. I saw that.
Oh, did they? Yes, they lost a barn. That's not good. Bad part is, Sarah's taking it apart, and she has to pick up every single screw so the cows don't step on it.
So she has to... Get a magnet thing. Well, she has to take them all out of the wood, because they're going to burn it. Right.
But when they burn it... I think Ben purposely deploys. I think so, too. Oh, another hurricane coming?
Oh, I can't make it. I'm not going to make it all. I'm not going to make it all. I'm sorry.
My bare feet, I can't walk all the way home. Yeah, I can't do it with the bare feet. Right. Sharon Dalva will savor the taste of premium beef raised in lush pastures and supplemented with grains.
com and a Cigar Hustler Patreon where the true 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. com and search a Cigar Hustler Podcast. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Does he have problems with the light of their clicky clicky? Yeah, that was cool. Do you think by now he would figure it out? Okay.
What do we got for the news? I don't know. Just stop. Just don't acknowledge him.
Because if you acknowledge him, then I'm going to acknowledge him. And I'm going to lose my shit. I don't have a... Oh, God.
Oh, God. Oh, God. And Phil dies. We're going to make it now.
Here we go. Right to the top. Guess we won't be needing that six-year turn. Guess not.
We're going to do it at five and a half. You had the volume turn all the way down again there. All the genius. Let's try that over.
Oh my God. He didn't even notice there was no sound. This is so weird. I hit this bar.
I was. I was starting to think in my mind. I was like, why is it not playing? It's broken.
Palmer's broke. All the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Tune. Hold on.
I had the wrong thing. I was about to do the intro again. RoboCraft2Bak's new Mastranza line will go on sale the first time next week. Oh.
The sentence that was copy and pasted from a story two months ago and yet, once again, it's true. In July, Roma Craft Tobac shipped the first release of Monstranza to stores, but next week, the company will ship the actual Monstranza cigars for the first time. It was always meant this way. Monstranza is the newest regular production line from Roma Craft Tobac.
Blend wise, it uses a Mexican San Andreas wrapper over a Brazilian binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic. Yes. They're using a lot of Dominican tobacco now, apparently, huh? Since the Quentin Quentin?
No, I think that they've always kind of used some Dominican tobacco. Oh, had they used Honduras and Nicaragua, too? Because they're using that, too. Honduras?
Yeah. What cigar do they have as Honduras? I don't know. I could tell you this.
It's like talking to Rosales in a special interview. No. Oh, wow. That's not nice.
" Yeah. I mean, he should know better. That's not his end. He should know better.
Well, he should, but that's not his end. He should know better. I'm kind of on his side. No.
Oh. You gotta do your research. He knows it's good. Just like Skip.
Can I have a quote, Skip? It's good. Delicious. Thank you, Skip.
Are you continuing with this? There's more. Okay. Because, I mean, there's, I have questions.
Okay. Robocraft considers the darker risotto wrapper to be a Spanish market selection, a term that was once used alongside American market selections and English market selections to describe a lot of selections, it was apparently. When the Mastronza line was unveiled, the company laid out a two-part plan. You got the selection selection.
Right. You have the Spanish market selection, the English market selection, and the American market. And then the selection of the American selection. Correct.
But a company laid out a two part, two part plan, getting the cigars to shelves. One, we ship it. That's a great idea. That's the biggest part.
Guess you gotta start somewhere. Right. It would release a limited edition four and a half by 56 petite gordo size known as the craft Marquette La Mastranza. Okay.
That's what happened in July. That's what we did. Yes. Sometime after that, three regular production Vitolas would ship.
That's what's happening now. Now. Not one, not two, but three. Three.
There they are. Those cigars are: the Mastranza… Yes, I want to hear this. Oh, what the hell is that word? Come on, let's go.
The Mastranza Cudetella Catalonia? Uh-huh. It's very close. That's how Lodella said it.
Yeah. Mastranza Castillo Murica? It's Murcia. Mauricia?
Okay, you said Murica during the interview. That's what threw me off the whole time. Murica. That'd be great if it was Murica.
That one's, I told you, that's the, you know… The red, white, and blue one. Yeah. Mastranza, Caballero, Valencia. The Caballero.
That's what he said. Actually, it's Caballeria. Caballeria. Caballeria.
Valencia. Valencia. $9, $11, and $10. Valencia?
Isn't that like basketball or something? I thought it was orange. There was a Valencia college. I thought it was an orange.
Is it a V? There's a Valencia orange car. It's a V? Or a B?
It's a V. It's a victory. La Mastranza, Baloncesto. Not La, just Mastranza, Caballeria, Valencia.
Yeah. It's a basketball. Box of 40 for $400. Is that what it translated into Spanish?
Box of 40 for $40? Is that what you said? Box of 40 for $400. Ah, so this is a $10 stick.
Yes. Yeah. As for the name, Skip said he can do whatever he wants. That's what he said?
That's what he said. He said, I will do whatever I want. As for the name, inspired by Skip, who has helped people not say correct names for cigars for years. Right.
This is what I'm going to call it. I've really, he's really upped his game. Like, here is a good cigar, it doesn't suck. Right.
That's the standard quote. Right. Okay. What's the name of it?
It's called... Only he can say it. The La Campana de Panama Soberana. That's a legit cigar that he made.
Oh, yeah. That's nice. What are we doing? What are we doing?
Can't we just... If it's just a cigar, can't we just name one cigar? Right. Bob.
Just name it Bob. This is the red one. Yeah, the brown one. The brown one.
This is the Toro. This is the Robusto. Yeah, the yellow one. Okay.
What are your questions? Because that's all I got. Because I got to tell... I was just saying, like, I don't understand why it's got to be so complicated.
Because now, it's like, hey, so look, I reach out to loyal customers, right, and I say, hey, we got these coming in, are you interested? And they're like, yeah, I know exactly what they're thinking. I'm like, okay, listen, here are the sizes. It's a four by 50, it's a six by 52, whatever.
Right. Like, which ones do you want? You know, and they say, oh, I'll take that. I like the medium sized one.
Yeah, I don't, I, I, yeah, of course I want, I I don't know. I would like the $10. I'd like the venti. I'll take venti.
I'll take the merca. I'll take the grande. Give me the merca. Merca.
You know? Murcia. He's like, hey, I just want to make a... Hey.
I just want to make... Can you give me a hey, Phil? No. I just want to make your life a little more complicated.
I'm like, come on. What are we doing? But, everybody does remember the weird names. Okay.
You might not be able to say them. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Yes, that's true. No, I don't. But I don't. If you're going to ask me any names, I don't remember.
To some degree, people identify, like the Izzy Einstein and the Bill McCoy. Bill McCoy, yeah. Right. And then if you actually look some of these things.
The Wild Bill Hickok. If you look up some of the stories about some of those things, they're actually pretty interesting. Right. Certainly.
What size is the Bill McCoy? Is that the Corona Gorda? It's the little fat one. No.
The little fat one? I don't know. I have no idea. That's my point.
Yeah, I mean, yeah. But if you liked it, you would know I like the Bill McCoy. Yeah, Bill McCoy is really good. Yeah, what size is it?
I don't know if it's the one I like. It's good. I smoke, yes. It doesn't suck.
Yum yum. It doesn't suck. Just call them, label them numbers. Do you think other companies...
I like the Mastranza 1, please. Estranza 2. Oh, that would be nice. Yeah, it would be.
Do you think that other companies, like, fall into this naming of things? Oh, wait till the second story, yes. Oh. I don't think that anybody does it like Rome.
Second story? Red Meat Lovers Fritanga. Oh, for fuck's sake. Coming to the great smoke ahead of PCA 2025.
The Red Meat Lovers line from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust will begin in a new size in 2025. Steve Saka announced on Facebook they were releasing a 6x52 box-pressed Toro Vitola called the Fratanga. The Pachanga. The Pachanga.
The Pachanga. The cigar they do at the Red Meat Lovers' Dinner on March 14th, 2025. That is part of the Great Smokin' in South Florida. When is it?
It's in March? Yes, it's in March. Right before the PCA. Well, it's very close.
Sakai calls the cigar a spicier variation of the Red Meat Lovers' blend, but has not yet disclosed what changes to the cigar. The fratanga. He put more pepper in it. As for pricing and a reply to a comment on Facebook, he did say that it will likely be a little more pricey.
Of course. Because... I like money. There you go.
But not crazy! Just a little bit. We're just testing to see where the resistance is. Yeah, where it is.
Pricing has been between $15 and $17 range for the regular production size thus far. He has produced 200 bundles of 10 cigars. It's hard to read when I don't bring it up here. We want to see your beautiful face.
He has produced 200 bundles of 10 cigars for the dinner, but said that none will be sold at Smoke Inn or the Great Smoke. Instead, whatever cigars are left over from the dinner will be sent back to the company's warehouse to hold for the 2025. That's not, they're not doing that. Shipping them by.
No, I bet you he is. I believe that he is. Now. So wait, he receives them in New Hampshire.
Yeah. Is that where he lives, New Hampshire? Yeah. Ships them down to South Florida.
Uh-huh. And then instead of shipping them to Louisiana, which is over, under halfway to New Hampshire, he ships them back to New Hampshire. And then he ships them back. And then ships them back down to Louisiana.
Yes. They're all going to pop by then. I think that realistically, you understand how many people you've sold this dinner for, and you know how many you've sold for in the past. Right, you would think, yeah.
So, you know, you just, you up that by 10%, and you make sure you're covered, and you just ship those down. Right, yeah. Anything's left over. And then Abe keeps them and sells them later.
A little side hustle, you know, maybe, you know, maybe a couple of people are like, yo, I mean, I really want it. Hey, I got cash. Hey, look, sometimes you make people. Mr.
Saka, I got cash right here. Look, sometimes you make people feel special. I hear you like money. I like money.
I hear you like money, Mr. Saka. No, at that point it would be done with. Let's see.
The meat lovers line started. We don't care what it started. That's fine. As Saka notes in the comments below, the name of this new size comes from a style of Nicaraguan street food centered around grilling meat on an open flame.
Interesting. We should have fratagas next time we do the barbecue. time we do the bar. Frataga.
That's almost pretty much what it was, right? Like a frittata? Yeah. It's kind of what it was.
It's a frittata. Oh, that's the egg thing. A frittata is the egg thing. It's the egg thing?
It's like an open-faced omelette. It's a Spanish, yeah. Yeah, it's a Spanish open-faced omelette. Ah.
Fratata. Fratata. Fratata. Wasn't that a cigar?
No, frittanga. Oh, frittata, though, was a cigar. No, it's not. It's an open-faced Spanish omelette.
Okay. Who made the frittata? I'm going to look that up. I remember that name from somewhere.
He'll be busy the rest of the show. F-R-E-T-A-T-A-T-A. Carry the one. Tatuaje, the Wolfman Redux for shipping next week.
It's Tatuaji. You know, the box is Z's old box. So he's proven it. He has the right.
I know he has the right to it. He does it every year to the monster. Every year it's like that. I mean, this one looks almost usual.
Every year, it's like that. That's not new. Oh. You're talking about the Monster Series?
Listen, as much as I like to bash people on entertainment purposes, I mean, the reality is that the guy who made the, this is his thing. I'll do that later. Okay. The founder, Pete Johnson, has confirmed to Cigarser Podcast that the Redux version of the company's fourth Monster Series release will be shipping to retailers, oh, today.
Oh. Are we kidding? No. You want me to text Pete so he can laugh at me?
Hey, let me get some werewolves. " The Wolfman Redux 4 is based on- Oh, the Wolfman. Whatever. I call them werewolves.
Oh, that's why he'll laugh. We don't have those. 5x52 Torpedo, like the original version of the Wolfman. The Wolfman Redux 4 is made with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper covering a binder and fillers from Nicaraguan Tobacco's MSRP of $13 per cigar and production is limited to 5,000 boxes of 13.
There are three different box versions. There's a 666 box. I'm going to text Pete Hernandez right now and just out of shits and giggles. What if he says you can have them?
He ain't gonna. Oh. 34 boxes are numbered XX and 4,300 boxes are unnumbered. Let me get some Wolfman man.
The Wolfman pictured above. Oh, there's no Wolfman picture above. Let me get some Wolfman. Wolfman.
Warped Ed's El Oso. You know what you have to do in order to get those? We're going to need those. You got to send Pete Johnson a picture of your dick.
You're a dick, and then... Oh my god, soft or hard? Wow. Both.
Both? He wants to see the growth. He wants to measure the growth. Yes, he likes to see...
That's important? That's important to Pete. His last name is Johnson. Think about...
Yeah, I guess you got a point. I mean... Think about all the things that... His real last name is Jones, but he likes to be called Johnson.
Yeah. He likes Johnson. It's Pete, middle name Show Me Your. Right.
Yeah. Johnson. That's exactly what it is. Oh, your second letter's coming.
Uh... No, he's pretty cool. It takes a will. com, another exclusive that we don't get.
I don't even know they're still around. Smoking pipes or Tatuaje? No, that's Warped. Oh, Warped, yes, sorry.
I don't know. Warped still in business? Yeah, I guess so. com.
The other Vitola's Warped El Oso line, the name means "The Bear" in Spanish. It's Spanish, the new release uses the Ecuadorian El Oso Blend, an Ecuadorian. It was really, I smoked the El Oso a long time ago. I did too, it used to be good.
It was good, and at that point it was like, I'm like, dude, it's really expensive. Now, I mean, if it's in the same price range, it kind of fits. Um, they don't say how much it is. Okay.
500 Factory, Miami, blada, blada, blada. No, they don't say. All right, Hirochi Rabanya's HR Cigar brand returns with new HR Blackline. Hello, I am Hirochi Rabanya.
This is interesting to me because I'm curious to see who exactly, I am from Piena del Réal, exactly who's handling the distro for them or whatever. Let's read on and see. Yeah, I can't wait. In last week's Enter Tobac 2024 in Dortmund, Germany, most people were talking about nothing because nobody cared about anything that happened there.
Yeah. But, at the Habano's essay, in contrast, a famous Cuban cigar person was making a surprise comeback in his own booth. They weren't talking about overseas because, well, it's overseas and it's going to be number one. Right, it's going to be number one overseas.
You know what? I think that, like, if Skip just did that. Number one, number two. He could have started at the very beginning with the first cigar, the number one.
We'd be at number 875 right now. Well, still, at least we could say it and spell it. Well, no, that's 875. That's not 876.
Oh, my lord. All right, Hiroshi Urbanya and HR Cigars are back. Hiroshi Urbanya? For five years or so, the HR Cigar brand has been dormant.
Who's the guy that used to...? Spence. Spencer Drake. Now he sells houses.
Yeah, real estate and mortgage. I still follow him on Instagram. I still follow him on Instagram. He actually called me today.
Today, really? Out of the blue. Oh, wow. Did he say, hey, would you like to buy some of the black cigars?
I said, yo, let me get three boxes. And he's like, what are you doing? I said, dude, you still have the card on file, don't you? And can you buy back the one box we still have?
We can't sell those at all to the HR Browns. Those are really good. They are, but they're really expensive and nobody knows what they are anymore. At this point, they're not really expensive.
Oh, that's true. They probably have caught up. Yeah, they're like slightly above at this point. A.
created the Vegas Rabana brand, the lone example of a modern Cuban name, cigar, named after the Cigar. He's a living person, and upon his death was covered in the New York Times. Hmm. All right.
Who's doing this? HR's favorite shows? It doesn't sound like they're being sent to the states. I think it's only, apparently, see?
Nobody cares. It's Dortmund, Germany. Yeah. Oh, they sucked me in.
They sucked me in. Nice picture of Hirochi. We had the first podcast he ever did in the United States was on our show. That's true.
You just look at the picture or you didn't read the story for him? I never read the stories. I like to be the first person here. Yeah, I like to live it.
Oh, it's a nice picture. Yeah, it was a nice picture of Rochi. I met him. I sat next to him.
I know that guy. He was very nice. He is Rojo Rabana. The plan was for HR Cigars made in Nicaragua and Rabana serving as a figurehead.
Oh, so he never actually made the cigars. He didn't even make them? He didn't even make them. They were made in Nicaragua.
Yeah. Oh. He didn't go to Nicaragua. He stayed at Palo de Rio.
Palo de Rio? Right. Let's see. At one point, the company hoped to get 50 retailers to place a significant order for HR.
That didn't happen, because this is the bros, so I just went away. I don't, I don't know, man, I don't know, I feel like mistakes were made. I just feel like that could have worked. It could have fucking worked.
It would lead to Rabanya going on a cross-country tour to launch the brand. S. market, his name didn't resonate with the consumers and the excitement quickly dissipated. Nobody knew who it was.
That's how we got him first. Nobody knew who he was. You know, I could tell you this, man, I could tell you that it takes time. It doesn't matter.
No, that didn't happen overnight. Yeah. Yeah. It does.
There's high levels of abuse you gotta take to be in this industry. Oh, furthermore, things quickly got weird. In the summer of 2015, less than a year after the cigars went on sale, Rabanya announced that he would no longer work with Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba. Cuba.
Thank you. That's, yeah, that, that, that one. That's it. And its owner, Robert Medeiros.
Yeah. Who was responsible for distributing the cigars. The same week, La Polina announced that Rabanne would be working with the brand, something that never came to fruition. We'd like to announce he's working with Powstanie Cigars now, too.
That's not true. Well, it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be. It's not a lie, it's just not going to come to fruition.
That's what it says right there. The following week, La Corona Factory, which was making the HR Cigars, announced that it, too, would stop working with CubanaCon. Nobody likes it. Spence didn't even get mentioned with his black hat operations.
Yeah, over claims of unpaid, oh, there's no unpaid bills. Uh-uh. Spence didn't pay the bill. Oh, no, Cubonicon didn't pay the bill.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, gotcha. And La Corolla, along with the owners of the two sides, sued one another. Dispute was settled in 2016.
Oh, Spencer Drake, the former VP of Cereals for Cubonicon, ended up launching his own company, White Hat Distributor. White Hat. White Hat. Oh, and he made the cigar with the white hat on it.
Yeah. And the Scary Old Guy cigars, I really like that one. Yeah, do you remember that one? That one was good, I like that one.
The zombie cigar? The Scary Old Man Zombie? Yeah. Which became the distributor for HR Cigars.
That went on for about, eh, three years, but then Drake fell off the map and exited the cigar business. And started selling mortgages. Sometime around 2020. Today, he's in the mortgage and home buying business.
It says that? Yes, it does. Oh, wow. Since then, HR has been a thing of the past.
Well, there's more stuff about Germany and stuff. Well, who cares then? Patina Cigars Moves Distribution to the City of Palms. Germany.
You know, they did some evil shit. I don't know. You want to hear more about Germany? No.
S. Portman Tobacco. It's kind of a sore subject. We're not talking about that.
That was a long time ago. What are we not talking about? There's no proof. Just leave us alone.
We're sorry. We're sorry. We really fucked up. No one ever forgets.
We really fucked that up. Do you see, there's an interview with Robin Williams where he does, he's been interviewed by a German lady. Yeah. He does a couple things, the lady doesn't laugh or something.
" Oh, wow. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, wow.
And then the interview. That was the end of the interview. That was it. Over.
That was it. All right, our friend Moe. Robin Williams, a legend. Yes.
Our friend Moe is, first he's going, what was it, Netherlands last week? Patina? Yeah, Patina. He had distribution in Netherlands last week.
Now. Aggressive expansion. Yes, now he's moving distribution, departing from Sutliff Tobacco to join the City of Palms. Oh, he's no longer working with Sutliff.
No, no, no, everybody's changing. Everybody's changing. Not us. Not us.
We never fucked with any of you to begin with. That's right. Working with Sutliff team over the past five years was an absolute joy, and I'm proud of what we're able to accomplish during that time, said Moe. That feels like bullshit to me.
Yeah, if it was good, he would have stayed. " Come on, Moe. Hey, man. Call Moe.
Hey, listen, I'm not, I'm not here to, I don't want to give you details, but fuck those guys, that's what he should have said. When reformed the Sutliff would no longer be, oh, Sutliff told him to fuck off. Uh-oh. Oh.
Would no longer be distributing cigars past 2024, I knew that City of Palms was the right place. So they're no longer distributing cigars? His cigars. Just his cigars or cigars in general?
When reformed the Sutliff would no longer be distributing cigars. Oh, I guess period it says. So he's just. Maybe they just told him, look, we're just not doing any cigars.
It's just him, don't tell him, but we're at it. It's all, all, all, all. We're not doing any at all anymore. We're all out.
Put those eight jars back in the closet. Let's see, City of Palms, a press release, all a press release in City of Palms. We didn't get this. Next year, Sutliff announces.
Distributing cigars for Hiroshi and Rabanya. To have Mo join our distribution on the heels of announcing entry into the international market. Could, oh, are they putting any in the Maybe they're doing him in Netherlands. Oh, that could be.
Little houses. Little houses. Little wooden shoes. Cannot be more exciting.
Timing is everything. And having established our company a year ago on October 30th, Ann and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate and to have Moe come over for dinner and bring cigars. Could you fucking imagine? Hey, I think that this, you know, we could take this tree.
Oh, my God. Build a city around it. We can put, we can put our feet in here, and they'll be fine. Right.
A little side note, there are going to be some delays in fulfillment why this changed. We're just not, we're not ready. Yeah. Why Mo makes more cigars.
Knox just won't give you the opportunity because they're busy making the red meat lovers or whatever. Right, yeah, the frittata. The frittata. Which, by the way, we never got back information.
No, the frittata cigar, who makes it? No, it's not. It's not a cigar. I was thinking of fratello.
Completely different thing. Yeah, frittata's a totally different brand. He's an open-faced Spanish omelette, Fratello's a really tall rocket scientist guy. Yeah, yeah, but he wasn't really a rocket scientist.
He's an accountant. Oh, was he really? Yeah. Oh, that's so disappointing.
Yeah. He's not a rocket scientist? No. He's a rocket accountant.
Yeah. Wow. That's all a lie. Wow.
I'm very disappointed. I thought the whole lunar thing and all that. Yeah, he just made a rocket chip box cigar. Yeah.
Apparently, he should have been a cash register or something. An adding machine. He should have been a fucking abacus. He should have been an abacus or something.
Oh, wow. An adding machine. It could have been a debits and credits. It could have been debits and credits in Connecticut and a Maduro.
Oh, that would have made a lot more sense. And little cash drawers. Could have put NASA on it. The boxes look like little cash drawers with those slots on it.
Yeah, there you go. Prohibition. All right, Principal Cigars. How do we get away with all this?
Apparently nobody listens. Oh, my God. No, this is the middle of the show. They've already turned it off by now.
We did a post that segmented specifically what you said about the show. It was shared. Over a thousand times. It has a ton of fucking views.
Yes. Nobody said anything. Yes. Yes.
People are scared. People are scared of it. If you say something, it's just going to get worse. Maybe they called their attorney and they're like, what can we do here?
There's nothing you can do. What are you going to take? They got nothing. Look, man, I could send a letter.
They're just gonna read it on the show. I could send a letter, there's not, it's, we would frame it and put it right here, it's gonna, it's gonna cost you X and nothing's gonna change. All right, perfect. All right.
Principal partners with five Dominican cigar legends starts a boy band. What? What? This is what it says.
Wait a second. Is it real? This is a real store. Give me the headline again.
Principal partners with five Dominican cigar legends starts a boy band. This is cigar industry news. Yes. Okay.
They're Cigar Industry Legends! Okay. Darren something of Principal Cigars had an idea. Who told them that they were Cigar Legends?
Apparently Darren. Pronunciation his last name? C-I-O-F-F-I. Look, if you want coffee?
Yeah, coffee maybe? Okay. Like, who would be a legend in this industry? Well, why don't we read it out?
No, I don't want to. Padron. Eladio, Jorge Padron, Carlito Puente. Wait, wait, wait.
What about the Davidoff guy? Eladio, I said. Oh. Atabe?
No. I'll just read the names. Go ahead. Jose Blanco.
Okay. Eladio Diaz. Yeah. Hendrick Henke.
These are the members of the boy band. These are the members of the boy band. Hankey. Hankey.
Yeah. Ernesto Perez Carillo Jr. Oh. Okay.
Manuel Quezada Jr. Quezado? Quezada. Quezada.
Oh, I know those cigars. Okay. So they're actually starting a boy band. Oh, I think they're just calling them.
You are? I think they're just calling them. Who's the coffee guy? Five, five.
That's the guy at Principal Cigars. isn't that like one kofi isn't that like a uh stop like you get it in my head we can't sing we'll get in trouble youtube is seriously gonna you can see no you can't i can't even say no we can't use people's music we've already have one just by saying those words well you were singing it though unless we have permission to use their song yeah if it doesn't sound like it we already have one uh one strike we get three they take us down okay so i can say i can say bye bye bye Yes. And then I can say, like, I just want to tell you that I've had enough, but I can't sing it. You just can't sing it.
With the melody, you can't sing it. That's just how he talks. That's just how he talks. With the melody.
Let's see. Let's get more into this. Instead of... Hold on.
Kofi told Cigars are Podcasts he didn't want to put too many restrictions on each... Okay, so he had each one of them make a cigar, apparently. Sounds like a... I've watched a documentary.
Isn't Kofi like an old drug lord? I don't know. That was the LFD guy's ex-wife's husband. Oh, that one, too.
Different guy. Maybe they're all. Eventually each... So Peter Hernandez responded, when I said, yo, let me get Wolfman, he says, you want it in regular DVD or Blu-ray?
I think I might even have it in VCR. Little did he know that I was just using him as a segment on our podcast. So apparently each guy made their own cigar. They're putting them in a box.
The Principal's Boy Band Volume 1 is due out mid-November. There will be 5,000 boxes that each contain one cigar from the five makers, and the boxes contain pictures from each man's youth. Oh. So it's not a real boy band, it's just a...
It's a box of cigars that call a boy band. So I was just throwing pictures of children on boxes? What are we doing? What are we doing?
$16 or $80, $16 per cigar, $80 a box for five cigars. Okay, I'm sorry, because I wasn't listening. Who's making the cigar? Principal.
Principal. Principal cigars. Okay. Mr.
Kofi. Mr. Kofi? Yeah, Mr.
Kofi. He's handling the, like, he has a factory. Well, I imagine each guy's making it at his factory. They're making their own?
Yes. Each guy makes their own cigar. And then they send them to each other. Yeah, then they send them all to principal.
He puts them in a box. Right. Sells them for $80. And then he sticks a bunch of pictures, five pictures of kids on there.
Pictures of them as children or of just children. And then does he send the money or not send the money? I don't know. Does it get donated to some type of foundation to save the children?
Of the Dominican. Of the Dominican. Of the Dominican. This is another Enter to Backstories, that's why it makes no sense at all.
Demand in Dormant Germany, the latest year with the artwork for "I Put a Spell on You", it's quite, oh, then they're doing it, the artwork is "I Put a Spell on You", it's an older song. Oh, this is even worse. So five kids, "I Put a Spell on You", right, put a spell on the five children. Okay, listen, here's what I'm thinking.
This is horrible, the course of Germany. Look, here's some thoughts, just randomly throwing this out there. If you guys are going to come up with ideas, maybe you guys should just sit at a fucking table. Microdose a little bit.
And think out of the box here. I mean, what are we doing? What are we doing? We're going to call it the boy band.
What? What are we, what? Wow, there's five of them. These guys are out of their minds.
Probably because the 98 Degrees had five. Look, you know what, just because you can grow tobacco and you can blend it or whatever, that's still questionable. Why don't it have been called like the five Dominican legends? That's still quite, because that was taken.
That was Pedro and Fuente. They already got that, the legends. He got all of them to agree to this. Yeah, so he's like the fucking Weinstein, what was the guy's name?
Epstein. No, no, no, no. Oh, it's totally different. Scratch that out of the show.
Hey, has Diddy hung himself young? No, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet. " Wow. " Oh, that is funny.
That is correct. You know, so, wasn't it Mark Weinstein that did Oceans? I think it was Weinstein, yes. So he's like, hey, here's what we're gonna do, this is gonna be a great idea, or whatever.
I mean, what the fuck? That's what this Kofi guy did. I got a great idea. It sounds like a terrible idea.
I need you to make a cigar and give me baby pictures. Listen, when we're getting close to the end of the year, top 10 cigars, we're throwing that out the door. We're gonna do top 10 worst ideas from 2024. Number one.
Number one there. All right, back to the cigars. Mike, that would, that could be number one. Back to Cigars of Unreasonable Names.
Okay. 85 Cigars launches, 85 Cigars is the word 80, and then the number five. That's the name of the company. Okay.
Launches Ocho Cinco Cigar of Honor. Okay, so it's Chad Ocho Cinco shit. Uh, yes. His last name.
Oh, that is his company. His last name is also Johnson. His last name was Johnson. Yeah.
He changed it to Ocho Cinco. Oh, Ocho Cinco's in parentheses. Yeah. Oh, this is a bad, this is a football guy.
Yes. Ah, I get you. He's making it, they're making a cigar frame. Well, he's made, well, he's made one, but they're making another.
Oh, apparently he's making another one. A new limited edition cigar, it's called Ocho Cinco Cigar of Honor. It comes in a 6x60 Gordo Vitola, with a blend that uses Ecuador and Habano Maduro wrapper, and Indonesian binder and fillers from Nicaragua's Jalapa and Condega regions. Jalapa.
Our goal with the Cigar of Honor is to give a, I don't know how he talks. That's not easy. Yeah. No?
It's not even close, huh? More like, yo, this cigar. Yo, I go with the cigar of honor to give our supporters something truly special, said Johnson. Said Ocho Cinco, apparently.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Said Ocho, did they call him Ocho for short? Ocho. I don't know what they call him.
He's funny. Chad. He's up there for me, like the guy I want to smoke a cigar with. Yeah.
And I talked with them, and he's like, oh, I'm gonna come see him. I'm like, no, you're not. No, he's not coming. Yeah.
He did say he was gonna come. Still to this day, two years later, nothing. Yeah, bring your new cigar. Oh, each cigar's got its own tube like the glass volcano one.
It's got a tube? It's got the glass volcano thing on it, too. Oh, magnetic. Housing a handicrafted glass-coated cedar wood box.
Ooh, very fancy. Oh, it's a box, not even a tube. Well, it's in a tube, too. It's a customized tube.
Glass-coated. And then they put the tube in a glass-coated box. Hmm. You can't get to the cigar at all.
They're not even sure they're in there. I don't know if you can buy them except from this one location. Let's see. m.
Direct to consumer. All the boxes will be signed by Ocho Cinco, so finally change it as Johnson earlier. And one lucky Cigar of Honor supporter will win two tickets to Super Bowl in New Orleans. With the added opportunity to meet Chad, and I was back to Johnson again, to meet Chad Johnson.
That doesn't happen. How many cigars are they selling? 85. Just 85.
6x60, yadda yadda yadda. I don't think you said. They don't say how many. I don't say production.
Uh, nope. They're a young company. They're, yeah. I'm not gonna say.
We're gonna give away Super Bowl tickets? Give away Super Bowl tickets. Just one, one set of tickets. Yeah, well, Chad has to have one and then you get one.
It's the opportunity to win, so they're not even guaranteeing a winner. Right. Right. It never happens.
Yeah. It never happened. I do like the gangster price, though. $85.
I'm going to sell it for $85. No, $85 is a deposit. Oh. Oh, here we go.
They made 850 boxes of 10 cigars, and it's $850 a box. What? $850 a box. Yeah.
Everything's $85. It's a theme. Is there 85 cigars in this box? No, there's 10.
850 boxes, 10 cigars in each box. So they're $85 a pull. Right. I love that.
That's, like, that's so badass, because, look, it's, the price is subjective, and the reason why, and he said, yo, let's do it at 85, right, it's the name of the company, yeah, 85, I mean, what he could have done was even, like, change the name of the company to 99, he could have done 8 pesos and 5 pesos, that would have been, you don't want pesos, that's not much money, no, I mean, you're really paying for the signature, he's, he likes soccer, he wants more money, I like money, I like money, I like money, all right, today's podcast day, Michael, it's national podcast, oh, really, Yes, today's national podcast. How exciting. So to celebrate, I had ChatGPT do a review of our show. I just asked for reviews.
All I did, I just typed in, I would like a review of Cigar House Repository. Yeah, did it say it's Eduardo, not Enrique? Yeah, you guys don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Well, the ChatGPT that you did last week, I tried to do it, and we didn't come up.
Well, I did it later, and we still didn't come up either. So it changes, apparently, because Jack and Hector did it. But this is a, I mean, granted, it only knows, I guess, all ChatGPT pulls from the internet and stuff you tell it. Right.
So it does all our descriptions for us of the show. So you said I'm great, like, to it multiple times? No, I didn't see that. Okay.
All right, go ahead. Because I tried doing top 10 best cigar podcasts, and most of them I'd never heard of. Right. So I don't know.
But here it is. Lies. A Cigar Hustlers podcast is a lively and engaging show hosted by Mike Palmer and Mike Stevonkiewicz who bring a unique mix of humor, industry insights, and a cigar culture to their listeners. Known for its candid and often unfiltered commentary, the podcast stands out for its authentic and irrelevant style, making it a favorite among cigar enthusiasts.
The hosts dive into industry news, current events, and cigar reviews while sharing their own personal experiences, often providing a behind-the-scenes look into the cigar business. Listeners appreciate the show's raw energy, playful banter, and chemistry between the hosts. It's not just about cigars. The podcast covers a range of topics offering something for anyone who enjoys laid-back yet informative discussions.
This balance between humor and cigar knowledge is a big part of what was made a Cigarser podcast popular with the cigar community. The show also features guest appearances from industry insiders, adding depth to the discussion about trends, business challenges, and new releases in the cigar world. Fans of the show often describe it as entertaining, insightful, and relatable, particularly for those who want to get a closer look at the cigar lifestyle. For anyone seeking an engaging, unpretentious take on the cigar industry, a Cigar Hustler podcast delivers both laughs and valuable insights.
I thought that was pretty accurate. Yeah. Um, we're a tad pretentious. I don't think we're pretentious.
I wear, I have five black t-shirts, I rotate them in and out. Yeah, my clothes only change because now I have to wear different clothes. Yeah, as national sales manager. Yeah.
Okay. So... Do we have a listener of the week? Hold on.
I have... Oh, you want to do something else? No, no. My wife just called, but I was reading the voice when she's getting her nails done.
Yeah. I have a shop of the week, but I don't have a listener. Shop of the week is Hutch Humidor in Kansas City. They just opened this past weekend.
So, congratulations. They did really well. Very nice. Yes.
Sold all their private memberships, their private lounge memberships. Thank you, Hutch Humidor. Thank you, Hutch Humidor. He texted me on Saturday to give me an update on how his opening day went.
Very nice. Do you have a Listener of the Week, Michael? I saw you look at your phone. I tried to check.
I feel like I had one, but I don't know. You had one last week. That was Mike Boggs. Right.
Yeah. So how about this week? What about this week? You have one?
Phil, do you have a Listener of the Week? Yeah, Phil. Phil's the Listener of the Week. That's terrible.
Listener of the Week for me. You know what? What about the Gordons? You know who I'm going to make Listener of the Week?
The Gordons, like they're fair. Because she occasionally gives me a hard time about this and then she's never acknowledged the Listener of the Week. Oh, who? Brittany Scheponkavich.
Brittany Scheponkavich. Listener of the Week. Aw, it's so nice. She's an avid listener.
I'm going to need confirmation that you heard that, by the way. It's at the end of the show. She listens to all of them. She listens to all of them.
She does. She never commented back on how often you take your clothes off as many of you walk in the house. Yeah. She did not, yeah.
Yeah, she didn't verify that. She let that go, huh? Good. Yes.
Not now. You're gonna get a text now. I'll get a text message. Twelve.
As soon as he walks in the door. There's a trail from the back door. No, I pretty much, I do change as soon as I get into the house. No, I mean, you strip off your shirt.
We were talking about how often you like to be shirtless. I walk around naked. Well, shirtless. Yeah.
And your yellow banana hammock. I was shirtless yesterday working on house stuff outside. Well, I was outside. That's an observance of the Mastranza, the new one.
Yeah, so the new yellow Mastranza. I've actually taken the labels and I've assembled them. How'd you get labels in advance? I know somebody.
Oh, that's nice. I got to connect. Oh, probably you spelled them wrong, but how would you know? Yeah.
I mean, you know. I mean, who would know? Yeah, except Skip. Nobody's gonna know.
Nobody's gonna know. Nobody's gonna know. Yeah, unless it's spelled with like a X-B-A or something. Still, you might not even know.
Oh, look, it's Mastranza. It's Monstrante, you spell it with an X. Did you find the Castillo de Yada Yada, the good one, or did you like the Cattachal, La Mauricia? Oh, I liked the Cattachal was my favorite one, I enjoyed the Cattachal.
You enjoyed the Cattachal? Yeah, that's my favorite side is the Cattachal. Me too. A lot better than the Valencia.
We're going to get nasty messages about you fucks. Yeah, you fucks. All right, it's been episode 354, four, is it four? Sure.
No, don't look over here. Don't look at the wall. Look at your paper. The paper.
The paper. I think it is. The paper. Yep.
354. All right, let's hit the Patreon. All right, let's hit the Patreon. Got to go, bye.
Bye. The 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, The broadcast 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 Szczefankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. Hey there, cigar enthusiasts! If you're looking for the latest and greatest in the cigar world, then you need to tune in to the Cigar Hustler Podcast Patreon.
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Show Notes
In this exciting episode, Mike and Palmer dive into the highlights of the recent seven-course meat and cigar event at Cigar Hustlers, which turned out to be a huge success! While Mikey enjoyed a quiet weekend with his family, Palmer was busy catching up with friends. The duo also discusses the latest happenings in the cigar industry, sharing their insights on the week’s news. Plus, Phil the Engineer shares a hilarious and unexpected story about how he met his wife—thanks to a memorable bobbing-for-apples experience. Tune in for great laughs, industry insights, and some delicious cigar talk!