Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 357 Aaron Rodgers, Donald Trump, Elon, Musk and Hurricane Oscar
Episode Summary
Episode 357 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the Mikes smoking an HVC-made "world's strongest cigar" sample from the New England Cigar Expo courtesy of Jason Sharp, plus a running joke about the cigar David Garofalo reportedly made sick. Before the cigar news, the hosts run through the week's trending stories: Aaron Rodgers getting caught on Sunday Night Football picking his nose, Deshaun Watson's Achilles injury and the Cleveland crowd's reaction, Donald Trump's crude Arnold Palmer remarks at his Latrobe, Pennsylvania rally, Elon Musk's $1 million-a-day petition giveaway, SpaceX booster landings and Starlink, and Tropical Storm Oscar crawling over eastern Cuba.
The centerpiece of the episode is a long, genuinely substantive debate about the PCA's new membership tiers. The Premium Cigar Association has added a $99 annual Consumer Alliance and a $250 annual Business Alliance (aimed at breweries, golf courses and restaurants) — but neither grants access to the PCA Convention & Trade Show. Mike argues this is a step in the right direction while pitching a workable consumer-day model: PCA sets ticket pricing, allots manufacturers a budget so brands are compensated for giveaway cigars, and lets brands participate gratis if they prefer. They revisit the failed 2019 "Cigar Con" concept, the cost of an extra trade show day, and why manufacturers actually enjoy talking to enthusiastic consumers more than haggling retailers.
Industry news includes Pro Cigar partnering with Dominican government agency INFOTEP on a free three-month vocational school to train rollers and bunchers (Lito Gomez of La Flor Dominicana and Pro Cigar expects 40 graduates in the first class), Chip Golden's exit from El Septimo after two decades at Ashton, a rundown of 2024 TAA Exclusives from E.P. Carrillo, Ferio Tego Timeless, Crowned Heads, CLE, Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas, Miami Cigar & Co. and Villiger, Oliva recalling roughly 60,000 promotional lighters (Oliva, Serie V, Cain and Nub versions) for lacking CPSC child-resistance testing, and Aganorsa Leaf's Supreme Leaf sizes launching in Germany. The hosts also play a clip of Steve Saka reporting roughly $10,000 of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust merchandise stolen from a rental car in California.
Lighter segments include the story of Mike's giant Megalodon ashtray won in a bet with Erik Espinosa over a predicted COVID shutdown, a Guy Fieri fantasy booking, an escaped kangaroo in Pearson, Florida, the five ghosts of Wop's Hops Brewing in Sanford, listener of the week Santos Torres, shop of the week Cigar Life in Lakeland, and a Smashing Pumpkins event with Drew Estate.
In This Episode
- 01World's Strongest Cigar from the New England Cigar ExpoThe hosts light up an HVC-made "world's strongest cigar" sample from Jason Sharp and David Garofalo's event, weighing in at 18.9 grams.
- 02Trending: Aaron Rodgers, Trump and Arnold PalmerAaron Rodgers gets caught on camera during the Jets-Steelers game, Deshaun Watson's Achilles injury, and Trump's crude Arnold Palmer comments at his Latrobe rally.
- 03Elon Musk, Starlink and Tropical Storm OscarMusk's $1 million-a-day petition giveaway, SpaceX booster landings, Starlink sightings, and Tropical Storm Oscar dumping rain on eastern Cuba.
- 04The Megalodon Ashtray Bet with Erik EspinosaMike explains how he won an oversized Espinosa Megalodon ashtray on a written-down bet with Erik Espinosa about another COVID shutdown.
- 05PCA Adds Consumer and Business Alliance MembershipsA detailed debate on the PCA's $99 consumer and $250 business tiers, why they still exclude trade show access, and how a paid consumer day could actually work.
- 06Pro Cigar and INFOTEP Launch a Cigar Roller SchoolThe Dominican Republic's Pro Cigar partners with a government agency on a free 90-day program to train new rollers and bunchers in Santiago.
- 07Chip Golden Out at El SeptimoThe longtime Ashton sales VP departs El Septimo with no explanation, and the hosts speculate about sales targets and recent hires.
- 082024 TAA Exclusives, Oliva's Lighter Recall and Saka's Stolen CasesA rundown of this year's TAA exclusive releases, Oliva recalling 60,000 promotional lighters over CPSC child-resistance rules, and Steve Saka losing $10,000 of Dunbarton gear to a rental car break-in.
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
P. Everything I do, so instinctive and so powerful. Make way for the king. If I got that better against people who got it, being negative.
Another Mike and Mike production in 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0. Da da da da da da da. I don't have the log in either of them. Welcome to the Scarser Podcast, episode 356.
Music's very loud. What are you doing? It'll go down. No fill, no fill today.
No fill today. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike squared, Mike squared. com, and search, A Cigar Hustlers Podcasts. Ta-da!
Can I connect to the Rodecaster without? Somebody's got to hit the button. Oh yeah? I think.
Let's see. Who are we calling? Nobody, but if we want to play the clips. Oh, the clip later?
Yeah. And I need help. Do I have to get up and hit the button? No.
I got it. I got it. Can somebody... Can somebody hit the Bluetooth button?
Bring me the ashtray. What ashtray? I don't want to get ahead of myself. Oh, I know what ashtray is.
Yeah. Nobody's gonna... There's nobody left up there. Steve's there.
Oh, Steve's there. Oh, I need him to do something, by the way. What are we doing? We're so unorganized.
We're so unorganized. So what are we... What are we... Today, we are smoking, thanks to Jason Sharp, we are smoking, the The world's, oh, you gotta do the hand thing.
The world's strongest cigar. The world's strongest. That's what we were reviewing on the Patreon today by HVC. Give me a break, come on.
It made David Garofalo sick. And? New England Cigar Expo. It's from the event up there.
It's from the New England Cigar Expo. Yes, with David Garofalo. Oh, just throw that out of there. It's got some good weight to it.
Yeah, it's feels a little heavy. 9 grams. 9 grams. So your buddy Aaron Rodgers has a problem.
Oh, yeah? Yeah, he does. What did he do? And the Jets came last night during the Steelers.
He was caught picking his nose. Really? And then he ate it. Oh, boy.
I gagged typing up the story. He's got more than one problem, dude, because they look terrible. Yeah, I went on to say, and then I guess people attacked him through social media for the rest of the game. Really?
Yes. And he was very upset, and he was terribly distraught, so he was very angry. That's hilarious. But there's actual footage.
Of him just picking a nose and eating it? What's the thought process? Who eats it? What's the thought process on that?
Okay, it's Sunday night prime time. Yes. All cameras, I mean, you got to be in a stadium of what? 70,000, 80,000 people minimum?
Well, he got caught on football feet. It's not like, you know, somebody with their phone got in. Yeah, yeah. He was, yeah.
He picked his nose and ate it. But you got to think, a guy like him, there's always a camera on him. Right. That's what I'm saying.
So he probably doesn't think about it. And he's like, you know, he would have been better if he just went, you know. Yeah, it would have been more masculine. Right.
Then, I mean, his finger's in there. I saw the footage. Maybe that's why I had such an off day. I don't know.
There was some bowl about eating boogers helps the cognitive ability of your brain or something. Oh, that's completely horseshit, and that's not true at all. That's amazing. It's very quiet.
Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers. Oh, because his ear's not turned down. Eating boogies.
Eating boogies. Boogie eating. Now he's going to be the booger eater. Everybody's going to tell him that.
Well, did you hear about, did you see Deshaun Watson? He went down? Deshaun? Oh, you have no idea.
I have no idea. I've got Phil here to help me. Yep, sorry. So this guy, so he snapped his Achilles, and he's a Cleveland Browns guy.
That hurts. Oh, so it wasn't the same game. " Oh, wow. Yeah, that's pretty bad.
It's pretty bad. You don't like him, huh? You know, definitely not a Deshaun Watson fan. Apparently nobody is.
I don't know if I could partake in the chanting. I mean, the guy got hurt. Yeah, he's done. So, you're going to have to turn the air down.
He's done. You're killing me here. You're closer. Yeah, but I will start reading the next trending story and then I will cut you out.
The late golf icon Arnold Palmer was appalled by former President Donald Trump who allegedly started boasting about Palmer's genitals at a campaign rally Saturday And couldn't believe the crudeness of the Republican nominee for president, according to his family. What did he say? Yes! Watch out for the sign.
Thank you. Perfect. I'll grab it from there. Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve.
Hey, I got something. I don't know. I won't tell him on the show. And he's gone.
That's fine. You didn't turn the ear down? I did. Oh.
Okay. I did. To close you, let's see. Senior advisor for Trump's campaign told reporters before his rally in La Trobe, Pennsylvania, that the event would kick off his closing argument to voters as the election nears.
Okay. So he wasn't supposed to obviously talk about. Arnold Palmer's huge dong? Apparently, yes.
" That's like a violation though, right? You're not supposed to make... Yeah, but I mean, he's dead, so he died in 2016. Oh, he's...
Yeah, Arnold Palmer, who died in 2016, would almost certainly have been insulted by Trump's latest crass... Oh, so we're just assuming that he'd been upset? Well, I've never heard any... I mean, he played golf for a long time.
Yeah. I never heard anybody else talk about it. Like, Milton Berle supposedly had a big one, but everybody knew it. Everybody talked about it.
I've never heard this about Uncle Arnie before. Would you be mad if somebody said you got a huge dick? uh well maybe he's the original bdp maybe he is the original bdp maybe you know it's just like uh i don't know it's a little disrespectful i mean the man's dead maybe if he was alive it wouldn't be as it's not like he said he had a small dick well that's true that's true it doesn't seem like it's uh but why why does he bring that up and it showed him going like this yeah like he He was, you know, it's big. Nice.
I don't know. I don't know why he did that. Just got to keep it entertaining, I guess. I guess.
Maybe it was the only fact he knew about Arnold Palmer. Arnold Palmer, huge dick. Huge dick. And when I mean huge, I mean huge.
Huge. Huge. It was massive. That is fantastic.
Biggest dick I ever saw. Well, hey, you know. We called him BDP. We called him B-A-P.
Wait, B-D-A-P? Big Arnold Palmer dick? Big Dick Arnold Palmer? Just BDP.
BDA? Just BDP. Big Dick Palmer? Yes, it runs in a family.
Ah, I got it. The original BDP. Sorry, it took me a second. The original BDP.
Ready, ready for the next one? You think this is going to be the strongest cigar ever? That is actually the name. That's the name of the cigar.
I'm going to tell you right now. Yeah? Ain't no fucking way. Well, we'll find out.
I so hope you throw. I smoke two Neanathals a night. Supposedly stronger. I don't know what's in it.
We haven't got that. We'll get into that on the other show. Okay. But I tried getting them from Terrence Riley, and he said, I didn't make them.
I go, well, you had a box in your hand. HVC made them. HVC made it, yes. So, before you get into the next story, I really want to reach for this here.
Okay. All right, can I reach for it with my headphones on? Let's see. Yeah, yeah, you got a little elastic there.
Oh, I got excited, you leaned into my lap. So, I had this bet. You had a bet? Yeah.
I wondered how we got it. I had this bet with Erik Espinosa. Yes. " Is this that he could beat you up, that one?
No, no, no. Oh. No. But I did see a recent thing, that Erik Espinosa still trends as far as, you know, people.
I think there's a lot of people. If you get into a fight, who do you want on your side? Oh. And Erik Espinosa...
Still becomes one of those people. I think John Jogerlite commented and said, "Oh, it's Mike all day. " Right. So we made this...
You just had a birthday, John Jogerlite. Yes, you did. Happy birthday, Mrs. Jogerlite.
So, I made this bet. Yes. " What was the bet? You skipped over that?
I don't know, I mean... You're not saying what the bet is? I'm not saying... Should I say what the bet is?
Don't worry. Do you think so? Otherwise, we just have an ashtray that you won for some reason. He believed that something was going to happen in the nation.
Okay. What was it? Before elections. A revolution?
No, no, no. Civil War? He thought for sure that there was going to be, I don't know if I should say it. Why?
He thought for sure that there was going to be another shutdown. - Of the, oh, for COVID or whatever. - Yeah, for COVID or whatever. - Oh, nah, they're not doing anything.
- I'm like, okay, I'll take that bet. - Sure. - That was a sure thing. - Right.
- So, here's what I, so here's what's funny. I don't really bet. - Sure, yeah, you're not a gambling man. - Yeah, I don't like to bet.
- You know, you guys used to, every year at PCA, you guys used to make the same bet about somebody winning. - I would. - Yeah, yeah. - I would always bet the Bucs to win.
- Right. - And then, of course, COVID hit, we didn't do PCA. - Right. - And the Bucs won.
And that was the end of it for me. I was done at that point. - Gotcha. I'd like to drop $100 on the bucks to win.
Right. And that would have been a nice payday. But, of course, there was no PCA, so I made this bet with him, and here's what happens. When I do something like that, I write it down verbatim.
Sure. Exactly what the bet is, and when the date is that it expires. It pays off. Greg does that too.
Yeah, I'm not fucking around. Sure. Right? " Oh.
It was before the election, what if it happens this week? " Right. So we worked it out. Sure.
And I set it, marked it in my calendar. Was this always the payoff? No. It was supposed to be a box of cigars.
It was either two to one, two boxes of mine, one for him or something, or two for him, one for me. I mean, I have it written down. So I said, okay, no problem. Hey, guess what?
You lost. Oh, you texted him. Hey, the date came over and we didn't shut down. Surprise.
So Jack reaches out to me and he's happy. You can tell that Jack is happy. Hey, I heard I got a bet that I need to iron out. I said, okay, well, what are my options?
Oh, what am I winning? Because it's supposed to be cigars. I'm like, what do you have? I don't want to, like, I want it to sting.
Right. But I don't want it to be something obnoxious. Yeah, right. Right.
So Jack says, you know, we got these really badass ashtrays. I said, oh, perfect. I'll take one of those. I think there's like 300 of them made or something.
Yeah, I remember when they showed this. I wondered how we got this. Oh, yeah. I don't know what the hell we're going to do with this thing.
Do you need help pulling it up there? It's bigger than Arnold Palmer's penis. Maybe the same size. About the same size.
Maybe that's what he held it with. Dude, look at this thing. How am I going to open this? I'll just pop this out.
Yeah, I was going to say, there's no way it's going to stay in the box. It's a Megalodon. Grab that box. Look, look at this thing.
How funny, baby. It's here! It's huge. It's huge.
Huge. Has it been autographed? I should have thrown that in, Erik Espinosa, I should not have bet. Right?
That's what he should say. We should put Erik's face in the front of it. Somehow put it in? Bet loser.
Oh. So yeah. Nice. I think it's got to go, we got to put it up in the lounge or something.
I want it somewhere. Well, we're on this big... I mean, it's not like it could fit on that table. Well, we have to take everything else off.
Yeah. I really like the gorilla. So. But yeah, this is my winnings.
Oh. I'll have to figure out what to do with it. Look at that. It's nice.
Hell yeah. When this thing got here, and I opened it up, I'm like, my God, this is gigantic. I thought maybe we had an event or something coming up, I wasn't aware of. No, no, this is a bet lost.
We were just talking about it this morning, me and Steve, and I was like, well, I don't know, maybe Guy Fieri's coming to the shop. You want to put that piece back on top? No, Guy Fieri can legitimately come to Deltona and he's over there. It's over there on that side.
Yeah, I'm talking. The phone. I know. Oh.
It's heavy. Guy Fieri could legitimately come to Deltona and... Are you good? I don't want to drop it.
I'm holding out, I can't move my hand now, 'cause it's gonna fall, it's gonna fall. Let go, let go, you're upsetting me now, making me angry, passionate, you're making me passionate. Yeah, all right, well, whatever. So yeah, this is a big deal here.
Pretty soon, I mean, we already have the other thing on the wall, we're gonna be an Eric Espinosa Podcast Studio. Oh, if you hit that camera. Yeah, it's just a matter of time, I want, I mean, I need Guy Fierre to come and say nice things about me. He already did.
Yeah. Unless you got the birthday message. Oh yeah, it's true, it's true. But it's not recent.
I need it again. Oh, you need something new? Oh, goodness. That should have been the bet.
Guy Fieri on the show. He can make that happen. I know, that's why you should have got that. Oh, that should have been my earnings.
It should have been the payoff. Hey, here's what you're going to do. I want Guy Fieri on the podcast. I need Guy Fieri at an event at my shop and do the podcast.
Multiple... I need Guy Fieri's phone number. He's not going to answer that. Guy Fieri?
Yeah. Sure he is. He's like Matt Booth, I think. He's like Matt Booth, I think.
He answers everybody's phone. I think so. He just gives it out probably like Matt Booth. " Oh, that's just Matt Booth, not Guy Fieri.
Yeah, that's not. Be reasonable. " Yeah. " Oh, that would be a cool way to answer the phone.
I found this awesome dive. Hi, this is Guy Fieri, what are we eating? What are we eating? We're gonna go to Chicken Guy.
Chicken. Alright, Elon Musk is giving out money, Michael. Really? Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, who's gone all in on Republican Donald Trump's candidacy for the White House, is pledging to give away $1 million a day.
A day. To voters for signing his action bill. One random, not all of them. Everybody doesn't get one.
Right. Which he could probably still afford that, too. Yeah. Right.
Backing the Constitution. Who would not sign a petition to back the Constitution? I don't know. I mean, we're all for that here in America.
Yeah. Everybody likes the Constitution. You think so? I don't think so.
Who doesn't like it? They can try and make a... What, are we going to be socialists now? Just throw it out the window?
No. I don't want to misspeak and sound stupid. But doesn't the... Oh, come on!
Isn't the Constitution about, like, right to bear arms? That's the Bill of Rights. That's the Bill of Rights. That's the Bill of Rights.
Constitution is the "we the people". It's the "we the people" thing? We the people. See, I told you it sounds stupid.
In order to form a more perfect union, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Gotcha. There you go, there's your clip. You're sounding dumb.
Some experts say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition It also requires a person to be registered to vote. A message seeking comment was left with the PAC on Sunday as was a, I was sorry to say PCA, but it's PAC. Yeah, it's the PAC. It was a request for comment from the Justice Department.
You can't do that. You can't do that. Did you see him land that rocket? Yeah, where?
The rocket booster? Yeah, I mean, it just came right back down. Bro. Right back.
And how about the bots? Did you see the robots? Well, we did the robot last week. That's amazing.
It is. I need iRobots. I need those. We have rockets now that come back and put themselves back on the stand.
The guy's crushing it. You know, so many people hate them, too. He's got to make better cars, though. There's a problem with the cars.
Really? Well, you know, I mean, they're not that, it's not that big a deal anymore. They need better cars. I'm sure he'll up it.
I'm sure. It's like the iPhone 13. Right. So he's making a phone, too.
Is he really? Yeah. Oh, that's nice. Global domination.
Elon Musk is going for global domination. He's going to run it. Well, he sent all that Wi-Fi up to where the hurricane went through. Yeah, all the Starlinks.
Have you ever seen one in the air? No. It's one of the creepiest things ever. No, wait, isn't it a satellite, but you put a thing like on your house or something?
No, so it's a satellite. Right. Right. They're already up there.
Yeah. With his own rockets he has. Okay, so one day I was walking. Right.
In the evening with my neighbor. Okay. " How low was it? it was like this stream of lights.
It looked like... Oh, so you saw the satellite go over. It looked like... I've seen satellites go by.
No, it looked like eight... It almost looked like eight or nine stars kind of linked together, and they were moving in unison. But you saw it in outer space. Yeah.
Okay. Not like you could see at the top of the house. No, it just looked like stars were moving. Gotcha.
You're like, what? Well, he probably doesn't. What the hell is that? I would like my own constellation to look like my face, so he moves the stars around.
For about 45 minutes to an hour, When I was convinced that it was aliens, I'm like, this has got to be a higher being or something, something's up there, that's not stars, that's not stars, that's not stars, and then once we went home, I looked it up, or my neighbor looked it up, and you googled aliens, I said, what is this, why are stars, aliens, and sure, don't worry, this is the star link, like, oh, wow, powerful stuff, oh, sure, crazy, well, he's got his own rockets, puts them up anytime he wants, yeah. He's doing alright. He's crushing it. He is.
He's crushing it. Isn't he like the world's richest man at this point? He's going to end up just taking over. Yeah.
Something's going to happen. Think so? Yeah. In Elon we trust?
I don't know. Seems a bit much. Right? His picture will be on the money.
I don't think we want that, but I like the fact... Well, I'm not saying we want it, but I mean, he's going to control everything. I mean, he's back in the Constitution. Right.
Yeah. Which isn't the Bill of Rights. No, that's... Totally different.
Totally different. That's an add-on. Yeah. Right.
Uh, let's see, what else we got going? Oh, there's another hurricane. Yeah, there's, I figured there'd be a third. It was just a matter of time, right?
This is a little one. Is it poof? It's a little one. Is it a little poof?
Tropical Storm Oscar remained crouched over eastern Cuba when it would drop more than a foot of rain as it crawls over the island. It's only going three miles an hour. Oh my God. That sucks.
And it's Cuba, so it's not like I have any infrastructure anyway. The infrastructure anyway. Right. Oscar was a tiny week storm with tropical storm force winds extending just 45 miles from the center and maximum sustained winds at 40 miles per hour.
, that's today, update, the National Hurricane Center said the storm could continue to weaken as it traverses the mountain terrain in eastern Cuba, but maintain tropical storm strength as it exits Cuba later Monday night. I feel like, look, there's gonna be, the weather is still, the ocean's still warm right now, right? Right, well, Elon's controlling the weather now. Oh, is he?
Oh, I heard that. Sure. Interesting. Just put that out there.
Just throw that out there? Why not? Because I like it when people get angry with us on YouTube. Like, hey!
Oh, that one young lady was very upset. But that one guy was so funny. Oh, yeah. I guess the direction was down.
I guess the direction was down. See, the guy was with one direction. Right. So apparently the direction was down.
Down. Down. Have you followed that story since last week? No.
Apparently there was drugs involved. Of course. Right. Bath salts were there.
I mean, you know. No, no, no bath salts. No baby oil. No, no signs of baby oil.
Apparently he tried to leave or something and leave the country and there's something wrong with his passport or something. So they were keeping him. So that might've fueled the anger, I think, with the drugs. I'm just speculating.
Right. I don't really check that, you are my form of news that's going on in the world, and elsewise, as far as the cigar media, you keep me up to date. Oh, that's nice. I appreciate it.
I'm gonna start making stories up now. Please don't do that. Please don't do that, I'm counting on you. Oh, you'll never know.
Okay. So, what else you got? Uh, I have some news. Oh yeah?
There's no Phil today. So there's no, so yeah, when we found out he was not coming, I did not do it, Phil's fun. That's a fun fact. Oh, we're okay.
We're about halfway through the show already. We got our... That was Phil's fun fact. That was Phil's fun fact.
Eric Espinosa. It would have been something about picking a nose. That would have been the fun fact. Right.
I would have gone more into the cognitive abilities of eating boogers. The cognitive abilities of eating boogers. Phil would have. I'm sorry, Phil would have.
Ooh, got this wholesale order that he's very adamant about us. Oh, who is it? Mardo. Oh, okay, yeah.
Mardo Cigars. Cigars. Bam. Alright, done.
There's one that I want him to check. I mean, I won't get in specifics. There's an email address I need changed, and I've changed it twice, but the invoice keeps going to the old email anyway. " You gotta love QuickBooks.
This thing's tunneling. You want mine? Sure. Just trade?
Yeah. Just trade, just swap them. Alright, well, let's get into some news then, sir. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.
From the four corners of the world. All right, PCA adds consumer membership, but no trade show access. Oh, yes. The Premium Cigar Association, PCA, has announced two new membership tiers, one for businesses and another for consumers that will seek to broaden the organization's membership roster and revenue.
Right. Both members are part of the PCA Alliance. The concept that these are for consumers or businesses that would like to be allianced with the PCA by supporting the organization. So there's Consumer Alliance, which is $99 annually.
Okay. The Business Alliance is $250 annually. What's the difference between the two, Michael? Apparently $150.
That wasn't planned. That was just easy. Previously, consumers had been outright banned from joining the PCA, which is a trade organization. Only entities that were in the cigar business were eligible, such as cigar shops, distributors, or suppliers.
Those memberships start at $472 for industry partner memberships. Distributors and media fall into that category, or $600 for retail sales. Okay. The Business Alliance members are being targeted at businesses at breweries, golf courses, and restaurants.
I guess things that carry cigars. Right. Most important, neither Consumer Alliance nor Business Alliance memberships will include access to the annual PCA. So basically, we would like your money, but you still can't.
I think that's still bullshit. I think it is too. I think that this is a step into the right direction. I think that they're trying to slowly kind of bring that out as far as consumers.
You think they want to let them in? Look. You like the fact they're going to let them in. I love the fact that they're going to bring consumers in.
What if that doubled the number of free cigars you had to give away? giveaway we would figure that out we would figure out there's got to be some form of compensation for that as far as look these things cost money right right so if it's a even if it's a break even for me and that's a contribution to the pca wait i'm confused what it's a break even okay so let's say pca says all right we're officially going to run a consumer day okay all right here's Here's the amount of money that the tickets are going to cost, and here's the allotted amount of cash that we are going to give to you for the product. Oh, you want them to pay you for the cigars? Yeah, I mean, it shouldn't be that difficult to do, right?
Sure. Even if you had specific requirements, okay, you got top 20 guys, right? Fuente Padrón, you know, Altadis, whatever, Davidoff, Drew Estate. Those guys get an allotted sum of X for whatever, like here's what we expect you to, here's the amount of cigars we want you to give away, and here's the price we're willing to pay, and then if you wanted to add additional people for that, you could say, hey, you know, people were asking about you as far as cigars giveaway, whatever, right?
Or you could do it for free on your own. Oh, so they don't get it from everybody. Yeah. So here's the ones that we're going to cover.
If you as a person want to give stuff away, you can do that too, gratis, no problem. You can submit that. We can offset those costs as far as PCA contributions. You want PCA to give you money back.
Yeah. There's tons of ways to do it where it's still lucrative for PCA. They can still add revenue. And it's good for, I believe, myself or other brand owners and manufacturers, because look, I want to talk with consumers anyways.
If you're going to go out of your way to come to something and you're excited to meet me, I'm excited too. I want to talk about it. Let's be friends. Very passionate.
Let's be friends. Let's be friends. Let's be friends. I'll be friends.
You know? So out of that $99, oh, so they're already paying $99. They get nothing for that. Right.
So now they pay $99 and buy the ticket. Well, if they want to purchase a ticket, yeah, they can purchase a ticket as well. Oh, okay. So $99 still does not get you in.
No, no. It gives you access to the ticket. You get a sticker. You get a nice sticker.
It's a nice sticker. I support PCA, like I voted. Yeah, exactly. It's about that size.
Right, sure. Perfect. A little round. Gotcha.
Business Alliance memberships are being targeted at... Oh, I already read that. Members will include as a Business Alliance member... If you're a standard consumer and you receive some type of notification from the PCA saying, "Hey, we heard you smoke scars and want you to support the PCA," please reach out to me.
I want to see what it looks like. I'm kind of curious. Oh. Yeah, I'd like to see what it looks like.
Because many cigar companies display new products during the PCA Convention and Trade Show and notably give out free cigars to retailers to try, consumer access, PCA Convention and Trade Show has been a much-talked-about topic for years. In the summer of 2019, the organization unveiled plans for a Cigar Con, a day of the trade show when consumers would be allowed onto the trade floor. The idea was met with fierce resistance, and less than 60 days after the event was announced, they glanced into the cigar con. Yeah, well, at that point, I feel like it was not, it wasn't put together, right?
Right. You know, they just kind of threw it up in the air and said, all right, we're going to do this, right? So it's instantly going to be met with pushback, and if you can't answer the questions. Well, they were just going to do it like any Tampa Cigar Bash or Cigar Fest or any of that thing.
" Right. And I don't think that that's appropriate, because things cost money. Well, sure they do. Right?
So there should be an option to give stuff away, if they're gonna cover costs, or whatever, there should be different tiers. So do you want an extra day added, or do you want- Of course. Okay, so then that's an extra day you have to also pay for all of us to be there. Uh, not necessarily.
You can send people home. Well, some, yes. But I mean, we're a small group. Which one of us, only, you could really, for that, you can only really send one of us home.
Well, I would tell you that the entire staff would stay. Everybody that's there with us, no one's going anywhere. Okay, so it's another full day of expenses. Right.
Which I'm perfectly fine with. So you're fine with it. Just the cigars. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't mind spending that additional cost.
Sure. It's an opportunity for me to get in front of people that are excited about my cigars or excited about meeting us. Right. I'm already there.
I'm in. I've already spent the money. I've already flown. Right.
I've already done the abuse. I've got the flu there. I'm fine. You know, I gotta be honest, I think that that would probably be refreshing at the end.
To talk with people that are excited about my brand? Sure. I'm sure some people would. Like, if you see George sticking around an extra day to meet, he didn't want to meet us, and we were going to buy stuff.
What are you talking about? George Patron. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, it wasn't happening that.
" You know, I'm, you know, Bobby Dunk is a great, great example of that, right? " Because I know that what we're doing, I know that what we represent, I know that we're honest, and, you know, and it's cool to see that people receive that. Sure it is, yeah. That they appreciate it.
I enjoy meeting fans of the show. It's like, oh, thank God, because I just got fucking kicked in the face three times from, you know, asshole retailers that are like, well, what's the deal you're going to get me? Like, there is no deal. There is no deal.
The deal is I'm giving you the best price I possibly can to all retailers instead of incentivizing specific ones at price breaks, right? Right. So, yeah, if a consumer is excited to meet us, meet you, me, even Greg, that happens every once in a while. It does, it does.
You know? Hell, yeah, that would make me feel good, you know? I think we're the exception, though, more than the rule. I don't give a fuck.
I know you don't care. That's the thing. I don't care. Yeah, well, because a lot of these, look, I think that there's a lot of things that are going to happen in the next decade of cigars.
Right. And a lot of the, I think that you're already kind of witnessing a lot of the bullshit, it has to slowly go away because we're now at a realm where information kind of runs wild. Oh, sure. Right.
Right? So, you know, as that progresses, you're going to see better things happening in the cigar industry. You're going to have some challenges as well. I mean, government's always going to be breathing down our neck, trying the best to regulate and control and stop any type of cigars, because even though there's no proof that it's bad for you, there, you know, They're hell-bent on showing us that.
Right, stopping it for some reason, right. Anything fun, they don't want to do that. But I wholeheartedly believe that in the next decade, you're going to witness a lot of the bullshit kind of being taken away. I think that that's already kind of happened, and it's going to continue to happen.
There's still those hardcore guys out there that believe everything they see. Sure. Yeah, I ran into one last week. Right, it still exists.
It still exists. Yeah. But I think it gets better over time. I hate when it does that.
All right. The PCA is one of three prominent cigar trade groups. Up till the summer of 2019, the organization was known as the International... We don't need to know any of that.
Who cares? Pro Cigar partners with Dominican government for Cigar Worker School. Oh. This is very interesting.
Very interesting story. In an effort to deal with serious shortage of cigar rollers and bunchers, Pro Cigar, the Dominican Republic's leading trade organization of cigar manufacturers, And the Institute of National… it's all in Spanish. Are you about to pick your booger? No, it's all in Spanish.
I had an itch. Uh, so it's Institution of National De Formique, what, I don't know, the I-N-F-O-T-E-P, a Dominican government agency has partnered to create a new vocational school that will train adults to work in cigar factories. Oh. We should go.
Yeah? To slide in as Dominicans? Hola. It's free.
Hola. Rollo, Rollo, Rollo, Rollo, Rollo. Yes, I am Dominican. I've had a sheltered life.
A sheltered life. I have no son. I know who to get in the son. I only speak English.
It's first class underway this month, a three month training program. That makes sense. Ooh, 30 days, 90 days. Training program that will train people to work as cigar rollers or bunchers.
I could be the buncher, you could be the roller. We'll be a team. How long do you think it takes to actually learn how to roll a cigar? 90 days, apparently.
I mean, I honestly think that that would make sense. That seems, yeah, it seems like a reasonable amount of time. Classes are being offered twice daily during the day and once at night to accommodate those who have, you know, other jobs. Right.
In Tamborale, an area of Santiago, there is home, that is home to dozens of cigar factories, Lito Gomez, co-founder of La Florida Manicana, president of Pro Cigar, he's got a lot of free time, they're not really making cigars. Yeah. Told Cigallister Podcast that he expects the first class to contain 40 graduates. 40 people.
40 people. That's 20 pairs. Yeah. It's 20 pairs.
I did that math right off the top of my head. Look at that. Look at that. It's twice the same day I did it upstairs, too.
Sounds like a great program. They're trying to train the next group of- The next generation. Thank you, generation. Of cigar rollers.
So it seems like they're obviously having an issue facilitating- Rollers. Right. Maybe that's why they don't make any cigars. Well, I wonder why that is.
Let's call John Carney. I mean, is the pay enough? The school's free. Yeah.
Is there not enough people interested in it? Well, I guess there's no way to train people at the moment other than if your father was a roller. Well, normally what happens is they join a factory. That's what I mean.
It's on-the-job training. Yeah, they join the factory, and they usually roll cigars that are massively produced. Sure. At the lowest cost.
Right, right. So when they fuck them up. It doesn't matter. Right.
They just, you know. It's an Andalusian bull. People are going to buy it. Throw it together.
They buy it for the name. It was the number one cigar 15 years ago. All right, Chip Golden. Yeah.
He got kicked out of El Septimo. Oh, no. Yes. He got kicked out?
Kicked out. What did he say? I mean, the head, Prince Alba Boa, can say whatever the hell he wants. All of these bad things about all these other brands.
Chip Golden, who has headed up El Septimo Sales for the last three years. He crossed the line. Is no longer with the company. Oh, my goodness.
Zaya Yunnan, owner, is that the Prince? I think so. Okay, well, let's call him the Prince, because I can't say his name, and apparently it upsets people when I get words wrong. It upsets them?
Tyler, Jack, Hector, several other people. Oh, I thought Tyler said it was refreshing. Oh, I don't remember. I say his name right all the time.
Owner of El Septimo confirmed his departure but did not provide any further details. Owner of El Septimo? Yes. The Prince.
Yeah, he's done. He's done. Attempts to reach Golden were unsuccessful. Oh, now we can't find Chip either.
Rumor is he was responsible for hiring their Hernandez brothers and now recently the final straw was trying to hire Alfredo Cruz. Oh, you're done. S. presence prior to the Prince's purchase in earlier 2019.
Okay. So that had to be a press release, right? Yes. " Uh, well, the prince.
" Right. But he didn't explain why. But he wouldn't know, and he's not available for comment. Right.
And Golden is not answering phone calls. Okay. So, I would guess... Yes.
What is your speculation, Mike? That he obviously... I kinda like the, uh, now we're looking directly at each other. Yeah, this is better.
Fuck you guys on the camera over there, we don't care. I would guess that he was terminated because he wasn't doing sales, obviously. Anymore? Sales have slowed down?
Yeah, he obviously wasn't achieving the goals that the company envisioned, right? Maybe. You know. That's what happened.
You know, I got, yeah, that's probably what happened. Sure. Right? So why don't you just say that?
Maybe he doesn't want to... You think it makes the company look bad? I mean... I guess maybe if you're the prince.
Hey, guy missed the... But like, why not just be honest? Hey, guy, missed the mark. Missed the mark for three quarters in a row.
We're moving on. Because I am the prince. We have sales all the time. I am the prince.
We have sales. Sales all the time. So many sales. So many sales.
So many, so many. We're doing so well. We're going to fire this guy. We're doing so well.
He cannot keep up with the sales. Yeah. Or... We have more than he can handle.
Or, I mean, that's... You're hiring Alfredo Cruz. Okay, but you could say that as well. You could have said anything.
You could have said anything, but he just... Hey, here's the reality. The reality is that we've exceeded our sales. We've exceeded our sales, and we've exceeded production, and we just saw no need for him, right?
Okay, hold on, you be Charlie over at Half Wheel, okay? I'm gonna be the Prince. Ring, ring, ring, ring. Hello, Half Wheel.
Yes, hello, I am the Prince of El Septimo. Hello, Mr. Prince. We wanted you to know Chip Golden is no longer here.
Yes, and why is he no longer with the company? Click. He wants to know why. I don't want to say.
Now he's Chinese again. Now he's Chinese. Perfect. I almost slipped into my French accent, but I am a Chinese.
Ah, let's see, quickly join, no, no, no, no, oh, EP Carilio announces a 2024 TAA Exclusive. Okay. There's a lot of those right now, do you want to know about all of them? I think that's funny, you know, every year it seems like the TAA Exclusives come out, and it seems like every year, less and less consumers give a shit about them.
Right. Yeah. Like, nothing is more exclusive, it seems. And this year, they went to Aruba.
Yeah, that's awesome. Why don't they ever go to, like, Cleveland? I would totally be down with joining TAA. Right, okay, now, last year, I wanted us to be a shop, a TAA shop, and I understand that's something we gotta get somebody's blessing and kill somebody.
What are you gonna be to be a manufacturer? Is it easier to go that way? I'm sure. You have to be able to give away a lot of stuff.
Oh, I saw Richie's picture of the table, so everything on that table he's giving away. He's probably just giving away. Ah, shit. Lots of giveaways.
I'm surprised they could afford this in the ashtray at this point. I mean, Jack will tell you. The table is covered in ashtrays. Jack will tell you what it takes to be, TAA.
Oh, yeah, I would like to know, Mr.. Now, will he want us to share that intel afterwards? No, no, we won't talk about it, but I would like to know. Yeah, they have a thing called the Dream Machine, where you hit X amount of sales together as a whole, Well, then you get, everybody gets a bigger discount, stuff like that.
Oh. Yeah, that's how that works. That doesn't sound good at all. That's incentivized.
That doesn't sound like a... Oh, well, you got more sense. Who's to work out for? Who, who's the advantage?
Because if we're a manufacturer, we have to give deals. Yeah, look, I think... And if we're a shop, I guess if you're a shop, you make out. Okay, so, but what happened, here's what I think is what's happening.
Okay. I think that by putting so much pressure on the brand owners and the manufacturers, and then you want them to create this exclusive cigar, what are they going to do? They're going to cut corners making that exclusive cigar. I don't know.
They look very nice. Everybody's doing them. Yeah, well, you put a nice band on it. Yeah, they're very nice bands.
Some of them look like the regular cigar with just a different band. Right. Which says TA exclusive. This has to be right here.
It's got to be like, well, fuck these guys, because it's not like... Mr. Garofalo, this is the one. This says TA exclusive.
It's not like they're making a ton of money when they have to give away all these discounts. Right. So why would they go an extra mile to make something... And who pays for the trip to Aruba?
Does the TA pay for everybody to go to Aruba? I don't think so, no, no. Everybody pays for you. Of course.
We couldn't go without taking our wives anyway. Oh, that's exactly why I would go. Right. I'm like, I'm taking my wife, and we're making a vacation out of it.
We're making a vacation out of it. All right, let's see what EP's doing. He's joining the list of cigar makers producing an exclusive cigar for the TAA this year. It's Tobacconist Association of America.
Why don't they ever meet in America? Just like an eyes wide shut type thing at these little parties, and they're wearing the mask like Tom Cruise. You can cut that in though. Perfect.
Right. Swapping them, doing the key parties, putting all the keys in a bowl, and then you pick out a, oh, put cigars in a bowl, and you pick out a cigar. Yeah, and you leave with that manufacturer. Wife.
That makes sense. A manufacturer's wife. Sure. Who wants to leave with the manufacturer?
You never know what goes down as TAA. Oh, that's true, you never know what happens. But you gotta, I mean, all the jokes aside, you got a valid point. TAA, Tobacco Association of America, where are we gonna, where are we gonna meet?
Somewhere other than America. Somewhere in America. Well, what's a nice little country we can go to? The math, it ain't mathin'.
Right. See, Ernesto Perez, I'm truly looking forward to seeing how retailers and consumers respond to the special TAA-exclusive. , founder and Master Blender, VP Carrilio, via press release. The well-fermented Ecuador and Havana wrapper, combined with the Nicaraguan binder, makes it a unique and harmonious blend.
His cigar looks like a pledge with an extra band on it. Well, I don't blame the guy. I don't either. You know?
What do we got laying around back there in the room, guys? Let's put something together. Right. Hopefully it tracks.
Right. I do want to see what they, because theirs, last year, had the gold. It was good. It was really good.
Yeah, we smoked it. But it was a gold band. It was a gold band. That was a different band.
And it was good. It was very good. I'm pointing at the ice straight on the floor, I'm sorry, from the Knuckle Sandwich people. The Espinosa.
Espinosa. Espinosa Knuckles, Sandwich People. Let's see, Aroa made one. So, at the end of each one of these stories, they have, so far, CLE, Crown Heads, Fierro Tego, Hoya de Canagra, Nicaragua.
Hoya de Canagra. It's a whole new cigar. Wow. The whole new cigar.
That's when they put the thing in the bowl. Yeah. Miami Cigar Company and Villager Cigars North America have announced new TAA ESP releases for 2024. Nice.
Especials. Yes. Yes. See, but like Miami Cigars, that's not a big company, is it?
Miami Cigars? Is that a big company? Yeah. Okay.
How about Villager? Villager? They're big as far as like pipe tobacco and stuff. Right.
I mean, they're going. Yeah. They're in Aruba. Jamaica.
I mean, they're. Ooh, you're going to dig in. Oh, can't sing. They're a pretty big brand, dude.
See, Aurora made one. Oh, there's not coming out until next year. Fierro Tego, Timeless, I bet we could get that one. The Fierro Tego?
Yeah, I bet we could get that one. I bet you. We could make a promo. Yeah.
We could. Timeless TA exclusive, see his looks the same, but with his second band. Right. It looks the same.
For the third year in a row, Fierro Tego is offering the black banded Timeless TA exclusive and be offered in around 80 retailers in the USA. There was a time where a lot of those things were really sought after. Oh, I know, yeah. Crown had made like the Angel's Anvil or whatever, and that was sought after.
They always had the band with the little Indian on it, yeah, Tatuaje's made a couple of TAs, those were sought after, yeah, they were, but eventually people were just like, oh, okay, oh, let's see, he made a black banded, uh, Fierro Tego in 2022, 2023, and now in 2024, he's included a box, there you go, that's the difference, nice, it's a six by 50 Toro, I mean, entirely of Nicaragua Tobacco. Okay, we're moving on, well, that's what all the stories were this week, oh, yeah, what about Steve Saka, well, that's at the end. Oh, okay. Got to get through all this to get to that one.
Gotcha. Flor de Nicaragua Cinco de Cinco, they're made of Cinco de Cinco TAA. Okay. So, I understand they've asked for some back from Tabacology to put the band on, so they would have those.
Because he has all of them. He has all of them. $23 per cigar, that's not bad, I guess, for a TAA cigar. That sounds a little expensive.
Oh, here's a good story. Oliva. Yeah. Recalling 60,000 lighters.
Really? You heard about this? No. Oh, yes.
This is amazing. That's hilarious. Oliva Cigar Company has announced it is recalling about 60,000 lighters due to lack of child safety mechanisms and testing for child safety. So we've given out a lighter that is not child-proof.
Okay. It's a lighter. None of them are. Yeah, when did it, it was okay.
So we're pulling back 60,000. 60,000 of them. They gave away at, they didn't sell them. Right.
So you get nothing back. You have to turn it in. And then we just say thank you. - Good luck with that.
- Yes. - How's that gonna work? - Hold on, I've already had interaction with this entire program. The lighters are all the same basic model, but there are four different colors: a brown, what, a brown Oliva version, a brown Oliva Series V version, a red cane version, and a white nub version.
All four were used as promotional items during the last two years. S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, CPSC, testing protocol which determined whether a lighter poses a risk to a child. The CPSC provides detailed guidelines about how lighters must be tested.
They probably figured we're not selling these, why get them tested? And apparently somebody's child burned themselves or something. I mean, my goodness. What is going on?
Oh sure, but little Tommy here, you can have this. It's fine, they test all those to see if they're good, and you just have that right there. Alright. I legitimately just watched you throw it at me.
I did, you didn't even try. Yeah. , certain lighters, notably disposable lighters that have a value of less than $275 are not subject to these requirements. So why would theirs be?
It's a giveaway. It's not even worth $275. Oh, maybe it's more. Oh, in this case, I guess we read on.
In this case, Oliva says the lighters do not have child restraint mechanisms and were not tested to federal regulatory requirements for child resistance. Because the lighters were given to retailers or consumers and not sold, there's no refund for the lighters. I mean, I guess it makes sense as far as, like, the press. Some of these lighters are harder to press.
Sure. I mean, like that one, it's got the little extra button you gotta push before you can flick it up and before you can flick your bick. It's a big lighter. Okay, so next press...
So I was at a shop. So there's gonna be a press release next week of the Oliva CMO or something is fucking fired for 60,000 lighters. " He goes, "No, that's not the type of recall. You give it to me, I throw it away, you leave.
" Yeah, I mean, he's not... No. Nobody's returning those. Right, but they've offered, so now they're, you know, well...
Boop, we have... We're done. We're clean here. We're clean here.
We've legally done what we needed to do. And they got another press release out of it. Right. Oh, apparently I pulled the Pro Cigar Partners Government Cigar Worker story twice.
It's such a good story. Nice. Supreme Leaf. It's coming out again, Michael.
Oh, yes. Why not one more? Two newest Fatolas of American Horse's Leaf Supreme Leaf line have gone on sale. Okay.
But only in Germany. We put these out in America. We still have some. What do we do?
We sell them to Germany? Yes? Yes. Last month, Ergonosa Leaf previewed two new sizes during Inter-Devac 2024 in Dortmund, Germany, while the cigars have slightly modified bands.
Not really. I saw them. They're not that different. Right.
It's got some German words on them. Via the Germans. Via the Germans. The Cigars have slightly, but the blend is the same as the other Supreme Leafs.
Same as the American one, but now it's in Germany. All the tobacco is grown by Agronors in Nicaragua, and the Rapid Lucid is a Corojo 99 Varietal. Supreme Leaf Robusto, and a Supreme Leaf Euroturo. So they believe that the American consumer and the European consumer likes the same cigar.
Yes. That's pretty much what they just. Pretty much what we're doing. We have extra of these two sizes.
Okay. So we're making them available in Europe. I don't know how well that tracks. Well, you know, we saw Terrence talking to the Vikings.
Maybe they said, "We've liked them very much. " Who knows? Bring the Supremes. The Vikings speak, have German accents as well, huh?
Yeah, you know, they went to Germany. Interesting. Scandinavia, Germany, yeah. Same thing.
Same thing. Yeah. All right, news reporter, break in in Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust rental car, thousands of merchandise was stolen. Yes.
Do you want to play it now? We have a sound clip. How long is this? Oh, here we go.
Steve Saka here from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and, well, this is our last day in California. Okay. They're just all gone, all taken, everything. You went too far.
Yeah, that's fine. Hotels, Cutters, Cigars, Mugs, Badaverro, all the guys that we had. What's a Badaverro? I don't know, but it's gone.
It's gone. We'll never know what it is. We're going to miss the Badaverro. The Badaverro.
We'll never see the Badaverros. Yeah. And like, it was like, it was almost 10k worth of stuff. That's what we're talking about here, man.
So if you take Steve's, so it's probably like $2,500, right? Let's say $10,000 worth of stuff in two Pelican cases. How big were these cases? If you got to 4X that, right, it's a 10k.
$10,000! Somebody, some dirtbag out there just snagged everything. Well, you know when that happens, you then gotta call the police, and then you gotta deal with a rental car that you can't drive anymore. Okay, alright, so yeah, yeah, you gotta, right, you gotta get a new car.
$600 you had to pay for that car for two days. So he's with Lafferty, right? Right. He left Lafferty to deal with the police while he Ubered to another airport to get the car.
How do you not pull the shit up? First of all, what are you driving? It's got a big window. It looked like a big SUV.
It wasn't a van. No, it was an SUV with a lift-up backhand thing. So you got two Pelican cases. Right.
Why isn't Lafferty bringing that into the hotel? Yeah, well, I don't know. What the fuck? Right.
Because they're heavy. Hey, this is $10,000, allegedly. $10,000. Yeah, $5,000 a Pelican case, and we're just going to leave it in the car.
Yeah, you know, it'll be fine. Not important. No, it'll be fine. Yeah, it's okay.
Who's going to take it? Who's going to know? Yeah, who's going to know? Who's actually watching?
In Pearson, Florida, a kangaroo survived a scare from a bear. Really? Thursday night in Florida, and now the search is on for the hopping marsupial. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said on a Facebook post that the kangaroo escaped its enclosure and was spotted hopping along a road in Pearson about 55 miles north of Orlando.
Just when you think you've seen it all, Pearson is hopping tonight, Chitwood said. He later provided an update on Facebook saying, "The kangaroo reportedly escaped due to a bear entering enclosure. " Spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission acknowledged the situation in the following statement to Cigars, or New Six. It was the same thing.
Right, one or the other. "FWC officers are continuing to search the area for the missing kangaroo. The remains an active investigation. The public can report any recent sightings to FWC by calling the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC, or 3922.
So this thing is loose. It's loose. Still. Kristen Turner, Public Information Director for the Northeast Region Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
In addition, the FWC told News 6 that the kangaroo was confirmed to have belonged to a nearby resident. I guess you can have kangaroos, apparently. I guess it's a thing. No other details about the kangaroo, including whether it's a pet or a type of enclosure.
What else would it be if it's not a pet? Does it work? It's Florida, brother. It's a lawless want.
We do what we want. Have been released. Anyone who sees the room should call Sheriff Chitwood directly. Here's the cell phone number.
Here is his number. 386. 888-404-3922. All right, now we have another haunting.
Ah, yes. In the area. Okay. Wops Hops.
Do you know where Wops Hops is? No. I've been there. Yeah?
It's in Sanford. Okay. Wops Hops Brewing Company was Sanford's first microbrewery, but before that, But it was Stokes Fish Market. Okay.
The building was built in 1916 and operated as a fish market until the early 70s, reports from many different mediums, mediums, who have visited a state of there are five ghosts. Five? Five. Is one of them a fish?
Who still reside in the building. No, they're people. Ghost people, not ghost fish. They're ghost people.
They have names. Yeah. They've given their names. Bob.
Jennifer. Yeah. Claudia. Uh-huh.
David. The unnamed fifth spirit. Yes, the spirit to be named later. I've all been seen wandering the brewery on many occasions.
Visitors of the brewery have mentioned feeling cold spots, seen misty apparitions, and dog owners have claimed that the four-legged friends get uneasy in the beer garden. Oh. It's on the outside edge of town. You can visit Wops Hops for the ghost and stay for the beer.
Nice. I've been there. I've had food there and everything, but nobody ever mentioned the ghost before. Nobody said anything.
Nobody said anything about the ghost. Your food didn't move by itself? No. Slimer was not there?
No, Slimer. Nothing. No, Slimer. No.
I mean, I would lean into that. I would have pictures up and things and everything. I'd have next level stuff. Right.
Ghost pepper stuff. David was an IPA guy. You know what I mean? He'd have his own tap.
Yeah. Oh, David, yes. Claudia. Stephen liked a nice ale.
Right. Claudia was a real bitch. She was always angry. Well, maybe you don't want to make fun because you'll piss them off.
The unnamed ghost would be like a stout or something. Right. There was another one, I forget where it was, but there is a busboy, a ghost busboy, and if you see him he gets angry and attacks you. Really?
Yeah. It's not in Sanford, I think it was St. Augustine. So if you see him, you're supposed to act like...
I don't see him over there. I'm not looking at you. I'm not looking at you. " Apparently he throws shit at you.
" And then he attacks you. Yeah. Oh, wow. It's terrible.
You're a listener of the week? I have a shop of the week. I was hoping you had a listener of the week. Oh.
Okay. Do you have a listener of the week? Yep. We don't have a gong.
Gong. Listener of the week is? Santos Torres. Santos Torres.
Oh, now you know his name? Is that the Santos we're talking about upstairs? Yeah. It had no last name?
No. Yeah. Steve, is there a last name? You go, no, it's just Santos.
And I said, it's like Cher. Or Madonna, and you just looked at me funny. Oh, I wasn't listening to you guys. Yeah, obviously, obviously.
Shop of the week is Cigar Life in Lakeland. Oh, really? The newest addition to the Postana family. That's fantastic.
Yes, yes. Cigar Life in Lakeland. Yes. Go over there, see Mario and Patty and smoke all of our cigars.
Excellent. Yes. All right, you got anything else? I think that's it.
All right. We got a Smashing Pumpkins event this Friday. Oh, yeah, Smashing Pumpkins this Friday. We're going to smash a lot of pumpkins.
With Drew Estates, one of our best events. Is KD's coming? Yeah. KD will be here.
And they'll have lots of giveaways. No Pedro? No Pedro. Oh, thank God.
We don't have that much liquor here in the building. It's Hamid. It's Hamid. This show is going to be bananas.
Bananas, man. Bananas. Hey, Jack was just on El Fumar. I watched part of it.
Oh, did you? Yeah. I saw the beginning. I love Bear, and I love Bear's show, but what's that little thing in the beginning where it acts like he doesn't know the cameras on?
oh like yeah yeah right it's like this behind the curtain thing right yeah he likes that oh does he yeah and i i messaged several times in the comments section of i like that hat can i have that hat oh did he have the same hat and uh yeah well you know because he doesn't like right he doesn't like but the hat right and i didn't get him knowledge so i left oh so you stopped watching so then i just watched it i just watched the jets get their ass kicked oh yeah all right all right this has 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, 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 Schott, and Mike Schott.
Mike Szczevan Kiewicz, 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 week’s episode, we dive into the latest trending headlines! Aaron Rodgers makes more than just a pick at the Steelers game, while Donald Trump expresses his fascination with Arnold Palmer’s legendary Big Club. Elon Musk drops a million dollars for a signature, and Hurricane Oscar heads for a Cuban vacation.
Plus, we’ve got all the latest Cigar Industry News and an exclusive look at the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust robbery in California.
Don’t miss this jam-packed episode filled with breaking stories and our usual cigar insights!