Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode Title: "Smoking Dragons, Naked Threats, and Cigar Industry Surprises"
Episode Summary
Episode 319 of A Cigar Hustlers Podcast opens with the crew recapping their trip to Smoke on the Water in Weston, Florida for the shop's chili cook-off, where Boots finally got to meet Miami Dolphins legend Jason Taylor (and made Chet haul in the helmet, jersey and a pile of other memorabilia to be signed). Channing Crowder was also on hand, and Steve Hernandez took home the People's Choice Award for best chili. Mike also debuts the new Powstanie 10th anniversary tins — a box-top-and-UPC redemption item — and floats the idea of launching a dedicated Powstanie Facebook group to give some away.
A listener question from the Patreon drives the best retail-insider segment of the show: how does the King actually choose the cigars for the monthly club drop? He walks through his selection logic — new releases first, then underappreciated brands that deserve attention, then opportunistic deals when a company offers aged inventory (as happened with the Oliveros in a recent box). He's candid about the economics too: at $34.95 for five cigars, the club sometimes runs at a loss, so a break-even or slightly profitable month is welcome — and subscribers still get roughly $7-a-stick value on cigars that don't exist at that price anymore.
The news block covers CAA president David Ozgo's resignation after taking the role in December 2021; Davidoff of Geneva USA's 2023 Golden Band Award winners (The Tobacco Shop in Richwood NJ, Club Humidor in San Antonio, Tobacco Leaf in Jessup MD, Tender Box in Charlotte, and Robusto Cigar Bar & Bistro as U.S. Appointed Merchant of the Year); Quesada's 50th anniversary debuting at PCA 2024; and the flood of Year of the Dragon releases — Habanos' Montecristo Brillantes (5 x 53 in 18-count boxes), Plasencia's Year of the Dragon 6¼ x 54 torpedo, plus themed smokes from Oliva, My Father, Rocky Patel and General Cigar — with plenty of running jokes about Gurkha's trademark claims on the word "dragon." They also break down ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons launching Billy Gibbons Cigar Company at TPE 2024, with the Virtue line (Bellicoso, Robusto, Toro, Toro Maduro) sold in 5,000 numbered humidors at $300 including a signature Zippo, developed with Phil Zanghi of Debonaire House, plus mass-market twin-turbo packs.
Rounding out the show: a weekly price increase list featuring Aganorsa Leaf and Sinistro (which blamed rising tobacco fertilizer costs), talk of TPE's thin attendance, a baby announcement, youth football coaching stories, and the requisite Florida Man segment — this time a naked, drunk St. Petersburg woman who allegedly threatened gas station staff with an apple peeler. Shop of the Week goes to Smoke on the Water in Weston, FL, with Larry named Listener of the Week.
In This Episode
- 01Smoke on the Water Chili Cook-Off RecapThe crew recounts meeting Jason Taylor and Channing Crowder at the Weston, FL shop's chili cook-off, where Steve Hernandez won the People's Choice Award.
- 02Powstanie 10th Anniversary TinsMike shows off the new Powstanie tins earned via box tops and UPCs, and pitches a dedicated Powstanie Facebook group and giveaway.
- 03How the Monthly Cigar Club Is CuratedA Patreon listener asks how the monthly club drops get picked — new releases, overlooked brands, and occasional aged-inventory deals like the Oliveros — plus the real margins on a $34.95 five-cigar box.
- 04David Ozgo Resigns from the CAAThe Cigar Association of America president steps down after taking the job in December 2021, with no reason given.
- 05Davidoff 2023 Golden Band Award WinnersDavidoff of Geneva USA names its top retailers, including Club Humidor, Tobacco Leaf, Tender Box and Robusto Cigar Bar & Bistro.
- 06Year of the Dragon Release BlitzHabanos' Montecristo Brillantes, Plasencia's Year of the Dragon torpedo and themed smokes from Oliva, My Father, Rocky Patel and General Cigar — plus Gurkha trademark jokes.
- 07Billy Gibbons Enters the Cigar BusinessThe ZZ Top frontman launches Billy Gibbons Cigar Company at TPE 2024 with the Virtue line in numbered $300 humidors, developed with Phil Zanghi of Debonaire House.
- 08Price Increases and Florida ManAganorsa Leaf and Sinistro raise prices — the latter citing fertilizer costs — before a naked St. Petersburg woman and an apple peeler close out the show.
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. Yeah, I'm dead, it's my destiny. Make way for the King. Can't be stopped, shootin' my shot.
Another Mike and Mike production. In three, three, three, two, two, one, zero. All right, we won't do it. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 319, the number one cigar podcast with the world's famous cast, where we bring you the latest news and insights into the world of premium cigars.
In this episode, we dive into the big stories of the week. The king, I'm passionate and not angry, Mike Steponkiewicz, and Mike, BDP Palmer, who always brings the funny, are two dynamic individuals who co-host the Captivating Cigar Hustlers Podcast. And me, I'm Phil. I'm the best.
That's not what it says! Come on, come on! Grab your favorite smoke, sit back, and choice for another exciting episode of the Girl Houses Podcast. " Oh, that's so sweet!
Go ahead, Michael. Oh, sorry. I'm not used to you doing those. I was waiting on him.
I'm on top of it. Welcome to the Girl Houses Podcast. Just a heads up, we're still proud of you. We're still proudly sponsor-free, but a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons of the 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.
Make sure you use that A in the front. Sign up. All right. All right.
All right. I am running the cameras today. Yes, you are running the cameras. What's funny?
Excellent work. Went right one to two without it. Just seamless. Flawless.
Thank you so much. Yes. Well, I could tell you that Phil should have his mask on at all times because he never knows. And now he doesn't know.
Oh, that's right. You'll never know if he's going to switch to you. What if I hit it? You won't have the camera on.
If we're going to do that, we have to talk about the mask. I'll put a, if the nose is the problem this month, I will put the nose hole in it for you. Perfect. Okay.
So we went, so, where did we go? Well, we had the team go, we sent the team. Oh, yes, yes, yes. We sent your peoples.
We sent the team to smoke on the water. Smoke on the water. Yes. Yeah.
For the chili cook-off. Industry got to tickle Jason Taylor's balls a little bit. Yes, yes. And someone else, you met someone else, too.
Who was the other one? Fragile Freddy. Who did he meet? It was Fred Taylor, Channing Tatum, no not Channing Tatum, Channing Crowder, Channing Crowder, Channing Crowder, Channing Crowder, Channing Crowder, the erection, Charles Wooden, that he probably had, the entire day, oh you know who else was there, who, the People's Choice Award, for the best chili, Steve Hernandez, oh, he won, he won the People's Choice, yeah, he was really, you know, if they didn't pick him, he was gonna burn that whole fucking place down, oh, there's a Yes, I'm sure.
So Chet's talking about the level of excitement that, what's his name? Industry had for Jason Taylor. Boots. Boots.
Boots industry. I don't want to screw it up. No, no, no. Don't confuse Phil with boots and industry.
So, you know, boots geeks out when it comes to athletes, especially athletes. Especially Dolphins. Yes. Well, he's been trying to meet Jason Taylor for like two years now.
Yes. We've been trying to facilitate this and we have failed miserably time after time. Yes. Always been some reason he couldn't go.
And we finally made it work. It did. Did you... Did he have the...
It's hard to ask questions. Did he have the jersey with him or did he scurry off to the car and get it or did he carry around all day long until he saw him? I brought all that. I know, but did you carry it around?
Did he carry it around with you? No, I left it in the truck and then... Jake Taylor, you had to scurry off to the curb. I was very nice about this whole situation.
Yeah. Because I met him when he first walked in. You mean he was, not you. Well, yeah, but both, because I didn't want to, like, put him out in front of everybody.
Like, oh, sign all my stuff. I mean, Phil, not Phil, Boots did not want to put him out. Yeah, Boots. You guys are talking to the third person.
Boots didn't want to put him out. Yeah. But I didn't want to put him out in front of everybody. So, once the chili cook-off was almost done.
You followed him to the bathroom. Boots, no. Boots then asked. excuse me excuse me then ask danny like hey uh hey danny is there a way i can get this done you know maybe we could do it in the private lounge or whatever and he was like no i'm gonna do it right here he's my friend yeah he'll do whatever i say i'm like oh okay yeah man they're tight he's only a partial shareholder of the uh place here i'm his boss so then after they did the award ceremony then he was coming back towards us and daniel asked him for me he signed it There you go.
Nice. There you go. I'm glad Boots enjoyed that. So yeah.
And then, you know, and Chet was out there. Chet was subbing. He was putting in his work. Yes.
Do we want to do the switch now? Spreading the Powstanie. You want to put him on the camera now? No, we're not.
Oh, we're not doing that. We're not doing that. But we did, this was a parlay as well. So not only did you guys go down there to make Boots' titties happy.
Right. Right. You also got to speak the gospel of Postana, and you had a pickup of something special down in Miami. Oh yeah.
I'm going to show it here for the first time. I'll put it on our social media posts later, but we now have... Ohhhh. Look at that.
They're very nice. Postana tins. They're very nice. So what are you, are you going to like, just get these things out frivolously?
No, no, no, so I have a, I have to have seven box tops from the, uh, from boxes and then you send them in with all the UPCs from the cigars. Well, so you gave a couple out at the event. Yeah. Uh, and you left some for Daniel and, uh, the store, which is cool, fantastic.
I think here's my game plan. Here's what I'm thinking is I would like to build a Facebook group solely for Powstanie. And what we'll do is For the first few members that enter We will Randomly select 10 of them And give them away to 10 of them Just for joining The original 10 Not the original 10 But let's say you get a few hundred people Oh we will do a drawing We will give away The goods Maybe Patreon members Maybe like That's not, no, no, no, just stop messing with that, we haven't fixed that, yeah, it's messed up, we haven't fixed it, okay, there's been a lot going on here, yeah, I mean, is, is there already a Powstanie, no, there is not a Powstanie Facebook group, oh, he has tied my hands for a while, it wouldn't let me do it, call it Mikey's Powstanie People, I was thinking like, we are Powstanie or something like that, oh, then we can play it, we are the world like that, we are the world, oh, stop, yeah, that, no more, that's it, that's all you can say, we get flagged, no more, shut it down our new intro music got flagged it did but then there was a second coming like oh we're sorry you have used to use that on facebook on youtube oh you're right i do shut up so it was original music yes but it's original free music all right we have a website where we get all our music and sound effects and video clips and she was on that gotcha wasn't there a show that just They just got banned from YouTube. Somebody did, yeah, yeah, I forget who it was.
They're getting tapped left and right, man. Yeah. It's crazy. Oh, the Cigar Guys got some taken down.
Did they? Because they said theirs were child-friendly. It's not child-friendly. You're not child-friendly.
They thought that would help them with their algorithms. Well, there was one that just got shut down for, I think, Jeff Borchowitz was on it, actually. Well, I probably got shut down. And they said that they were trying to sell cigars.
Sorry to hear that. Oh, well, they are doing cigar commercials. Well, that's unfortunate. That's why we are sponsor free.
Yes. Hold on, let me read it again. No, it's okay. Okay.
So, how was your weekend? Nothing. We didn't do just regular stuff. We did nothing?
No. Yard work on Saturday, Sunday. It was supposed to rain all day. This is your thing.
Well, we went out to dinner Saturday night. Oh, where'd you go? Your yard work. Where did we go?
Oh, where did we go? We went somewhere. Oh, yeah, yeah, we had wings. So we went to O'Leary's over in Deberry.
Oh, delicious. Very nice. If you wait too late on a Saturday night, everybody's busy. Yeah.
So. It's true. And we hit a couple and we're like, ugh, we don't want to wait. Fuck this, there's so many people.
O'Leary's is great. Yeah, O'Leary's always has good food. All right. It's not, you know, it's not terribly busy.
Irish pub. Okay, so nothing going on for you? Standard? Yep.
We've got to work on that. Standard. I want you to have a good life. I have a good life.
It's a very fun fulfill of life. I'm at home Monday through Friday, so it was nice. You like to sit home. I like to sit home.
You're a homebody. What'd you do Monday through Friday? I'm up here. Did you red light?
I did this morning, and I tried my wife's mask on Sunday. Yeah. I don't like the mask. You don't like the mask?
No. Is she still using the mask? Yeah, yeah. But it's set up for her, so I can't, there's not elastic straps there, Velcro things, so I can't adjust it.
You don't want to fuck with it. Yeah, I have to hold it and then do that. That's a thing. Yeah, so I did, but I did red light this morning.
Okay. For you. Well, are you coaching any more teams? No, he has a big announcement.
For one, we officially have a baby. Yeah! Good thing we got that pre-baby show out last week. Congratulations.
Fastest pregnancy ever. Right, two weeks. That's how they should all last. And baby.
Boom. It looks so weird to see her in her baby pictures, because two weeks ago, I saw her at a bar. I mean, she wasn't drinking, but, you know. Two weeks ago, I'm at a birthday party with her, hanging out.
And now, oh look, I had this baby. And now, boom, instant family. Here we go, you get the whole baggage. Now we are three, I think, that was a cute label for her.
And then there was three. And you guys got to go to the hospital? Yeah, it all happened Friday, of course, the night of, the day of Catholic schools, yada yada was going on. Oh, that's right, it was dress up week.
So Brittany volunteered for the Jump for Jesus thing that they do? So that's what they do. Oh, jump for Jesus. Yes, but she couldn't stay.
Oh. Oh. So I skipped for Jesus. So she was there temporarily, and then I came in.
Oh, you subbed in? And then she went into the hospital. Oh, nice. Oh, wow.
And then I went to the hospital afterwards, I think. After you jumped? After I jumped for Jesus. Oh, that's nice.
How many jumps did you do? I didn't jump at all. I maintained the jump rope. I did the helicopter.
I spawned the helicopter for the kids. maintained for Jesus. Yeah. It was fun, though, because, you know, coaching dad came out and I said, hey, listen, we're going to go on three.
Like, you guys are second graders, right? I'm like, yeah. Yeah, second grader. So we can all count to three, right?
Yeah, count to three. Yeah. Because some of them would just run in. One.
Oh. Yeah. So the teacher said, so you're spinning the rope this way. Yeah.
And then they jump in and they all have to try and survive. Right. Oh. Yeah.
So the teacher is like. So the rope has that little bend The rope has a bend. Does it have a bend in it when you're doing it sideways? Well, if you keep the momentum up.
Right, right, it has the little bend in it. I'm just trying to picture what the kids were doing. They all get in the circle. They get whacked in the side of the head.
If they can't jump, they get whacked in the side of the head. No, it's down on the ground. Well, you go fast when you don't like Johnny over there, you know. " "Hey, Johnny fell down.
Too bad. " That's a big welt on the side of his face for falling down. Well, he didn't count to three. - He only went to two.
- I'm very passionate about the county. - Yeah, very passionate. - Go ahead. - Nevermind, I'm moving on.
So it was a good time. - Ah. - And then we had the football. - On Saturday?
- Oh, Friday. - So she had the baby Friday, she was sent home Saturday. - No. - She got to stay until Sunday?
- She had to stay until yesterday. - Complications? - A couple complications. - Ah, okay.
- Normally that went you in and out. We got to rotate that bed. Yeah, we got to move the table. You got 24 hours.
They originally had intentions of getting her out, but they did have some irregularities. I wanted to make sure that things were okay. Good. So things are fine.
Yeah. Nothing like Mad Hunt. That's good. Yeah.
It's a cute baby. It is a cute baby. It is a very cute baby. He is very cute.
Yeah. He grew on his own. No vitamins or nothing in there. It goes to show you.
I guess you don't really need those. Yeah, that's all bullshit. And he's got hair, too, so none of that special vitamin for hair and nails. I mean, look, no heartburn or anything he had?
Wow. Look, when you were born, your fucking mom was drinking plenty. You know what I'm saying? Well, she's never been a drinker.
But yeah, she was out working in the field, so you had me, and then we're right back to work. There was no fuck, you know what I mean? If she was a cigarette smoker, she was fucking hitting the fucking cigarettes. Running from the Indians when they attacked one day.
Yeah. And you turned out just fine. Yeah, when John Smith came to town. Right, John Smith came and then took him to the New World.
So, you know, it's not like dinosaurs running everywhere. Now, you know, obviously there's some extremities here. Crack, probably gonna fucking have a problem with the baby, right? Like, heavy drugs, the faces that Chet are making right now is fucking hilarious, by the way.
You know, but realistically, listen, you had a few drinks or whatever, or you know, what? Right, occasional cigarette. It's not the fucking end of the world. Not the fucking end of the world.
Builds character. Right. I mean, we have a whole society that survived off that. Sure.
Yeah. So, whatever. No seatbelts. No seatbelts.
Right. I mean, come on, man. Laying down the back of the station wagon, giving a finger to the car. Palmer story.
Those are the memories that you remember. Sure. And you love those things. Yeah, I don't know.
Kids would not survive the back of my day. In the car. Right. I mean, gas smells good, dad pours them out in the back.
You were telling us a story about how you remember sleeping on a window sill driving or whatever the case may be. Yeah, in the back window of the car. Yeah. They have a little ledge back there.
Yeah. It's nice and warm. The sun's beating down. Right.
Nice little nappy as you drive into grandma's house. The good old days. He slams on the brakes when he gets there. Hey, we're here.
You wake up on the floor behind the seat. I remember when we went to Naples and stuff, it was like a two or three hour drive. We had a caravan. So they would remove the middle seat.
Right. And they would put like... Blankets and stuff down on the floor. Yeah.
Lay there, rest, whatever. It's all good. Right. Play games, play with the sharp toys.
Yeah. Play with the scissors. Right. Run with the scissors.
I'm fine, I'm fine. Right. We survived. So, we had football.
Yeah. Win, lose, what was the outcome today? A couple dubs, baby. Oh, good.
Nice. Yeah. Finally, after last week's debacle. First game.
Yeah. We're very disappointed. We're past that. We're very disappointed.
Well, my 1-2 team, the team that I head coached, they did great. We were up big, and so we got to spread the ball a little bit more. We got to test kids out. Yeah.
Some kids did okay. Some kids, you know, there's more to work on there, you know. Back on the bench, Bobby. You know, it's funny.
It's fun for me because when things go sideways and like they melt, I'm like, okay, get off the field. You know, hey, I don't have my gloves. All right, then I don't know. Then why are you standing here?
Do you have a lot of meltdowns? No. Oh. No.
Or it's like, hey, my mouthpiece is dirty. I'm like, okay, well, clean it. Mike, okay, little Johnny got off the field, I need another kid. With a clean mouth guard, please.
Bring on your, you know, well, what happened? Give me a body. You gotta be ready. Right, you gotta be ready to go.
Coach calls, you go. And they're like, hey, so. We go. So, you know, we go.
So, the 1-2 team, great. They played great. They played great on defense. They played great on offense.
We can, stuff we can work on, period, right? Right. The 5-6 team, I got to head coach this time. Don't you head coach the 5-6?
Both teams? No, I coach with the 5-6. - He's close. - Camera three please, Michael.
- Thank you. - He's close. - I coach with the 5-6, well, we were having a conversation, I didn't know you just wanted me solely on. - Well, you're about to tell about your 5-6 thing.
- Okay, I coach with the 5-6 team. I am not the head guy. So there's a head offensive coordinator. - Oh, I thought you were the head coach on both of them.
- No, and there's a head defensive coordinator, defensive coach, a head offensive coach. - Oh, you're the defense on that one. - And I help, no, I help on offense. - Did you used to be the defense?
- No. - Last season? - No. - Were you ever?
I remember you being the defensive coach on Sunday. - No. - Maybe it's basketball. You're probably confusing his son on his team.
I was, no, no, I was gonna ask him if he was Jaxing on the other. No, you're right, I was defensive coach on Justice's team when they were smaller. Gotcha. But now I run everything on Justice's team.
How many years ago was that? What do you bring him up the pass for? And Jax, Jax is my defensive coach. Yes, yes, on your, well, you're the head coach.
Yeah, right. So. In basketball, you're the head coach. No, I'm an assistant coach in basketball.
Oh. He's also the timekeeper, though. What about pickleball? You doing pickleball?
Can I tell my fucking story? Okay. Or do you want to keep talking? All right.
No, no wrong. I just want to make sure because this is like the third time that I've tried to get some shit out and both of you guys continue to run me over. You have to ask questions, Michael. I understand, but I at least need to talk.
Can I talk? I thought we were going to talk about cows, first of all. We were supposed to talk about nothing about cows. We gave that up.
We're moving on, Sarah. No cows. So, the first half of Jax's game, our defense was a little shaky. We would get a touchdown.
They would get a touchdown. We would get a touchdown. They would get a touchdown. Oh, high scoring game.
It was a very high scoring game. And we, um, Jacks threw an interception. It was a stupid play. Oh, we'll fix it.
We'll work on that. Right. So we wound up being down a touchdown or two at the half and they were getting the ball. Okay.
So our kids are getting kind of dumpy. Yeah. And, um, I was like, Hey man, don't worry about it. It's a dogfight.
We're in it. We're going to stick it out. Well, the offense continued to drive. We continued to make plays.
And on defense, we actually had a couple of stops. So we wind up winning the frigging game. Oh, nice. By one touchdown.
That's all it takes. Just hit the one point. It was amazing. We had a huge stop at the one yard line.
Oh, nice. The kids played out of their minds, dude. Did they run it back from the one all the way in eventually and score? No.
When you get turnover and downs, you just start up a little bit. Oh, okay. So it was, it was amazing, man. It was a great game, I mean, and I'll tell you what, it was hard play because I had to make a Baldwin call afterwards.
I had to get my doctor to take a look at Jacks. Oh, the kid get injured? Yeah, Jacks got banged up. There was a couple times where these kids, they were playing hard.
The other team, when things were going sideways, they started to kind of lower the shoulder a little bit. It was actually, when I watched the film, and it was actually just one kid. It was one kid in particular. Did you talk to his dad afterwards?
Did you beat his dad up? No, no, I mean, like, when you're in the thick of things, you can see a couple plays, and you're like, okay, that was messed up, that was messed up. But you don't realize, they all look the same, right? They're all in blue shirts.
Yeah, all the kids do, yeah, in the moment, right. They're all in blue shirts. It's like, you don't know exactly, hey. Which one it is, right?
Yeah. So, but I went back and I checked the film. Saw the number. Do they have numbers?
No, because I'm that psychopath that records. Right, you want to see which one it was. I record all the games. I want to make the team better.
Insurance purposes. I want to see where the mistakes are made. Drones and things. So I can correct things on defense and offense.
Certainly. And this one kid, he didn't shake hands at the end of the game either. Oh. So he can beat up his dad next week.
Yes. Next week he beat up the father. Yep, at the PTA meeting. At the pre-game.
I will find you. He's coming looking. No, but you know what? He's coming.
I was going to tell you, as a coach, don't say that word on our show, to place with the crowns. Dude, you are off the charts today. I'm going to hit you. He's still excited from his Celebrity Weekend.
Unbelievable. That's not him, though. Well, I know, but they share a lot. Oh, Detroit definitely.
Chad chimes in with Detroit, could have used those children. Detroit definitely could have used them. I don't know what happened with Detroit. All of a sudden, they decided not to catch balls.
So yeah, man, it was fantastic. They played amazing. There's a lot of stuff we can work on, but they played great, dude. I'm really proud of the kids.
Everybody took the field. Some of the kids were a little confused as to where they were. The kids that are kind of newer to the team, we'll work on that and stuff like that. Oh, where they were supposed to stand.
Yeah, where their positions were supposed to be, you know. I thought maybe they couldn't find your team and they were running around. And then some of the older kids, the kids that have been on the team forever, were making some big mistakes. We'll work on that.
We'll work on all of that. But you can't fix that without looking at the footage. Right. That's why you tape everything.
I see what you're doing now. No, it's a good idea. I'm sure nobody else does it. Does your wife run the camera?
Who runs the camera? Usually it's the sideline, one of the kids. One of the kids? Yeah, so on Justice's team, I actually have a person helping me.
Oh. It's one of the kids' older brothers. He loves doing it. " Right, that's what you said kid, that's what I'm picturing.
Yeah, and sometimes I'll see a glove get in the way, or, you know. So you wanna come in and be our Phil? I mean, he would be a fantastic Phil. We should have him come in, that'd be funny.
Yeah, yeah. I wonder if you like, maybe, you know, he's kind of young, I don't think he likes cigars. We have to wait until he's 21. Well, we don't give him a cigar.
Yeah. We give him a bubblegum one. Oh, perfect. Tell me he can have a tin if he comes in and does it.
Do they still make those? I believe so. I'm sure we can find some, you know, retro candy store or something that carries them. Of course.
Sure. I'm sure they exist still. I'm sure. And then Saturday, I don't know what happened Saturday.
Oh, the game was, oh, so this was Friday night. Yeah, Saturday. Oh, so you didn't stick around for the baby long. I thought the game was on Saturday.
So, Saturday was baby stuff again. Right. I feel like something else happened Saturday. Did they get the nursery?
Do they have an extra bedroom where they live? No. It's a one bedroom. A one bedroom.
They're growing into it. It's a process. Baby thing in the bedroom. Yeah.
The only picture is on a car seat. So, I assume they're better than car seats. That's where he sleeps? That's where Cooper's going to be.
Oh, Cooper sleeps in the car seat. Yeah, from now on. It's very safe. Well, we don't let Cooper out of the car seat.
Oh. Except for like- They get used to the idea that they have a baby because it's still so new. Yeah. Makes sense.
Except for diaper changes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you gotta change the diaper, feed them, and then put them in. They know to feed them?
Does somebody explain that to them? Well, listen, if not, that baby will let you know that he's hungry. Well, he's broken. He's crying.
We have no idea what it is. You know, I will say this. You don't get to read that book, What to Expect, What You're Expecting? I will.
Yeah. I mean, they bought that book. Did you get it for that? Did you have enough time?
What to be expected if you're fooled. I think Nick was blasting through it. I think that he, yeah. You should listen to the book on tape.
Get a book on tape, just patch forward. Audio book? The audio book. Cliff nodes or something?
Cliff nodes, that'd be good. I think that they're going to be good parents. Yeah? They seem, yes, I think Mika's going to be a great mom.
Sure. She's very- She's babysat for you. How do I, you know, she's very, okay, what am I doing? Not like, ah, God, if I'm a kid.
Somebody else take it. Yeah, you could see that she wants to, and it seems like Nick is the same way. He seems very engaged, he seems like he really wants to work with the baby, and he's all You're a little intimidating. I would be doing that around you, too.
Okay, I mean, yeah. Maybe you're passionate about that baby, too, Michael. Who knows? I think he's got to watch.
Look, I'm extremely passionate. I know. I think, no, no. Listen, he's a really good guy.
He is. He's very nice. Yeah. A few times I've met him.
Yeah, I think, I think they're gonna be just fine, so. Good. I mean, if not, I'm here. We'll have another update next week.
Yeah, I'll keep you posted. Great. Keep you posted. The baby minute on Cigar Harser Podcast.
The baby minute. So, uh, that's, I know that there's more for the weekend. I'm just gonna let it go from there though. Okay.
We can get right into this. Where are we at? Phil's Fun Facts? I don't know, I forgot to start the timer.
Oh, you're not even ready. Not even ready over there. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers podcast feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Hello, peoples.
All right. Did you know that cigars were originally invented as a secret communication device during the Renaissance? Supposedly, each puff emitted a different Morse code signal, allowing spies to convey... Sorry.
Allowing spies to convey messages discreetly while looking suave. Suave? Suave? Yeah.
Suave. Suave. It's the, uh, Phil's Fun Fact from Mr. Nobody.
Phil's Fun Fact. Oh, camera's still on! Put it back on! Camera's still on!
It's not red. I need a red button. Yeah, you definitely need a cutout for the nose. Alright, they'll be cut out for the nose.
Just take a drill bit to it, bro. That's what I'm gonna do. I'll put a paddle bit on there and just eat the nose out. It'll have to be big enough.
It's just gonna be round to get the tip. Okay. Don't draw on it. Good job.
Very expensive. I see that. Hey, before we go to the news, we have a request from the audience of something they'd like you to explain. Okay.
Oh. Hey, I got this message. Palmer, can you have the King talk about the monthly club drops and why he chooses them? These Olivieros, was that something that was in this one?
Olivieros. Olivieros. Looked pretty old, so I was just, was it something that just was not moving? Olivieros were old?
Those are aged. That's what I said. I said they were aged. Somebody's mad about aged tobacco.
No, they're curious how he picks them, if he just, you know, throws in what doesn't sell or if there's actually a method to his madness and how these are chosen. No, I think that there's a, there's a determination on several levels. One is I always look at what's new. That's usually where I start.
I'm like, well, this is new. Then, you know, people need to try this, you know, uh, and then what happens along the way is there might be product that I'm like, Hey, this doesn't get the attention it deserves. People should try this. Right.
And then sometimes a company will approach us and say, "Hey, we have these. " Right, would you like them? And I think that's what happened with those Oliveros. " We give you a deal.
We'll give you a good deal, and you can put in Month Club. Right. Here's the harsh reality of the Month Club. 95, I think.
95. 95. 95. 95.
95. It's $35 for five cigars. Great deal. So when we run the math, sometimes we're negative, right?
It's, all right, we're losing $3 a month per customer, right? So it's not really a good business plan. So every once in a while, if I can find a way to at least break even or make two bucks... Gotta make that money back from the previous month.
Guess what? I'm gonna take it. I'm not, and you're still gonna get a great cigar out of it. They're going to get cigar out of it.
So, you know, that was a scenario where if an opportunity presents itself, something's got some age, it's probably going to taste really, really good. And you guys got to taste it for, what's $35 divided by five? $7. $7 a stick.
Yeah, it's a great deal for $7. I don't think there's anything in there that costs $7. Nothing. I don't think there's anything that's really made at this point.
Yeah, I don't think there is a $7 cigar anymore. And I usually start with, "Ooh, that's new. Let's do that one. " I'm like, okay.
I don't care. You only get three this month. No, I don't even look at it like that. I was like.
Nope, they're getting in the spot. Yeah. So. Maybe we can find a brief exhale to ruin or something.
So tell Mark Gordon. It was not Mark Gordon. Tell Mitch Smith. Okay, maybe it was him.
All right. It's a great deal though. I mean, seven bucks and then you can smoke around the humidor. You know, what's amazing too is Mitch Smith has the direct text number.
He's got, you know, he can, he could always ask. Yeah, he wants to be on the show. They feel safer asking through me. I'm going to ask for the podcast.
Yeah. That way they won't know. Like, you're not hard to figure out. You sent me the message.
Oh, I already knew, Erik. Yeah. So there's your answer. Well, technically he sent it through the Patreon, and they all know the Patreon messages go to me.
Ah. Well, maybe he wanted the question answered solely on the Patreon. Maybe he did, but I thought it would be something better for the open format. Oh.
So everybody would know. Well, the harder questions can be answered on the Patreon. Right, yeah. But, you know, I want to...
That's not, you know, some secret. Yeah. No, I'm an open book, man. I'm pretty honest about everything.
I don't... That's the one thing that the cigar industry needs, is more honesty. I'm a big believer in it. No, they don't do that.
It's a lot of fuckery in this industry. Aged 17 years. Yeah, right, okay. Hey, is Powstanie 10 years old?
It is. Ah, you're gonna get a recognition in Stogie Press. Yeah, they asked, I saw that message, Spiro Powstanie, right. We are officially 10 years old.
Congratulations. Congratulations. Oh, God. It makes me want to hold my head and just go like this.
What did I do? Right here. Is it too late now to get back out? It's already been 10 years.
It's too late to get back out like we're here. At this point you can't start over. What are you going to do? There's no money in coaching for you.
There is no money in coaching. Right. Well, there's no money in podcasting either, but we're still doing that. How long will we be doing this shit for?
Let's see. Oh, this is your six. This is your six. This is your six.
Oh my God. Take 319 divided by 52. Oh my God. You're halfway there.
Add the Patreon. How is the Patreon catching up to the regular show number? That seems a- We're just closing the gap. That'd make things so much easier if it was the same number each week.
Actually, if you do by 52, you're actually past six. You know what, here's our- Well, this is year six, so I mean, we're February, so we're, what, four, five, seven shows in or whatever. Listen, nobody listens to the show or watches us anyways. No.
So here's what I want you to do. Okay. Moving forward? Yeah.
Just make them the same. Secret Show 319. Secret Show 319 and Show 319. Yep.
Perfect. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. It'll actually be good because you can, at that point, if you watched or listened to Episode 319 and we parlay it into- Oh, that's a good idea.
So we're doing it for a particular reason. Yeah, and you parlay it into the Patreon because sometimes there are things that we- We'll explain in more in depth something we talked about on the show. Yeah, we don't disclose particular things on the regular show. Right.
There you go. Oh, good idea. Oh, you're so smart. Oh, you're so smart.
See, I'm just trying to make everybody's life easier. Make everybody happy. All right, you ready for some news? Sure, we'll do the news.
Let's hit it. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Two. He can't hear it.
Yeah, it's in the headset. " Oh, yeah. So now they're collecting your information and selling it to other people. Okay, good for them.
I feel like they always have. They might have. " They should collect the data. All right, CAA President David Ozgo, O-Z-G-O, do you want to tell me how to pronounce it?
People like that. How do you spell it? O-Z-G-O. O-Z-G-O.
Go to two. O-O-Zigó. Zigó. David O-Zigó.
O-Zigó. He resigns. David O-Zigó has resigned from his position as president of the Scar Association of America, CAA, a role that he has occupied since December 2021. No reason was given for his departure, an unconfirmed report of a letter from a Mr.
Lucy Anno was found in the trash. First name Lucy, last name Anno. Oh, first name Lucy. Yes, last name Anno.
It's not in his trash. I heard that he changed his name. Who, Lucy? No, the other guy.
Oh, did he? I don't know anything about that. Yeah, last name Ozu Stop. Oh, oh, oh.
Yeah, he's done. Oh, David Ozigo is now Ozu Stop. Yeah. It's over.
Spelled much longer. Yeah. Davidoff announces the 2023... It's Polish.
Oh, it's Polish. One of your peoples. Yeah, it's got the Z in it. Oh, did he get a 10?
No, but... Would you like to show it again in case he wants one? Yeah, sure, sure. Okay, show that again in case he wants one.
- Mr. Ozestop, if you're interested in a Powstanie 10, I will have- - The Powstanie Ozestop 10. - I can send this to you in honor of your retirement. - Ah, very nice.
- And with the submission of nine box tops. - It's only seven, but you have to have the UPCs. - Oh, seven. - From the cigars.
- Is there UPCs on the bar? - On the, well, there's not even UPCs on the cigar. - We're working on it. - We're working on it, coming soon, coming soon.
- We can't be great out the gate. - I said Davidoff five times, can I read the story? - Doesn't that suck? No.
I just want to know when you're ready. I'm ready. Okay. I know you were going to interrupt again.
Somebody won. Davidoff announces the 2023 American Golden Band Award winners. Oh. Davidoff of Geneva, USA, has announced the winner of its annual Golden Band Awards.
These awards are a way of Davidoff to recognize its top performing retailers, but also get a trophy and the rights to sell Davidoff Golden Band cigars for the next year. S. market is, do you want to try to guess any of them? Uh, okay, hold on, hold on.
We like, we like guessing. Well, for one, um, my friend up the street will probably be on there. Nope. Ooh, not on there.
Not on there. Your friend. Um. JB.
I would say Santa Clara's on there. Nope. Casa de Monte Cristo's. Nope.
None of that, huh? Wow. Interesting. We have been to one of them, I believe.
Cigars International? No. They can't carry David off there and be in the catalog. Why couldn't they?
Well, the one in Winter Park. I'm sure they can. No, Cigars on the Avenue? All right, I give up.
I give up. All right, the Tobacco Shop in Richwood, New Jersey. Exactly. The Club Humidor in San Antonio, Texas.
Oh, Club Humidor. Oh, wait, they have specific titles. Best Performance Single Locations. Is this in order?
Okay. No, no, there's not top five. They each won something. This is like the Grand East.
Best Performance Multiple Locations, it's Club Humidor in San Antonio, Texas. Best Growth Single Location, Tobacco Leaf, Jessup, Maryland. Best Growth Multiple Locations, Tender Box, Charlotte, North Carolina. Oh.
S. Appointed Merchant of the Year, tell me, Robusto Cigar Bar & Bistro in Sturgeon Heights, Michigan. Wow, really? Didn't we go to that one?
Yeah, we went to Robusto. Went to Robusto's. Did we? Yeah.
That was the guy that we saw before we went on the plane. Did we have a good time? Oh, the fancy place. Yeah, the fancy place.
Were we fun? Palmer was very nice. Yeah, because I wanted to make, our planes were earlier than yours. Oh.
Oh, Robusto's. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a cool guy. He had the cool Scrooge McDuck picture on the wall.
Uh, yeah, that was a cool place. Hey, that was good. All right. According to Davidoff, the 2023 Golden Award winners will be honored during events scheduled to take place on April 9th, 2024 in Miami will be broadcast on live television.
Listen. Live television? No, I added it. Oh.
Yes. Live television on TBS. Go ahead. Listen.
Can't wait for the comments on that one. If Barbie can get a Golden Globe, anything is possible. You know what I'm saying? That was a terrible movie.
Like, terrible. You know, Brandon and I have all sons, but still my wife didn't like it. It saddens me a great deal that you watched it. Well, it was a, it was a thing.
Everybody was saying how, you know, it was getting awards and all this stuff. So it came out on Disney or something. You have no reason to watch that show. I like Margot Kidder.
I like, or Margot Robbie. Sorry, not Margot Kidder. That was a different movie. I didn't know who that is.
Who is that? She played the original lady in Superman. Look. Here's what I want you to do.
The love interest of Superman in the original movie was Christopher Reeves. Here's what I want you to do. Yeah, sorry. If you find yourself a little...
Is this pre-Christopher Reeves? Shut up over there. Christopher Reeves. And you want to find yourself dabbling into some...
Lois Lane. Go ahead. Don't do that! We have problems with these like it is!
I'm going to beat you with your own mic. If you have this moment of weakness... Where I want to watch a kid's movie? You want to watch some girly show or whatever?
I'll just let you borrow Teddy. Oh, she can come over for movie time. I love it. Hey, you know, I really feel like...
So I have an excuse? Yeah, I feel like Teddy... What about my wife wanted to watch? I feel like Teddy...
Not enough. It's gonna be weird if I ask the little girl next door to come over and watch a movie. Yeah, exactly. At least Papa Palmer can watch it with Teddy, and that's perfectly...
Oh, did she like it? Hey, Mikey, can I really watch Mean Girls? Can you send Teddy over here? Oh, there is a new Mean Girls.
She hasn't seen it. Oh! Why don't you guys let her watch it? She got mommy a Barbie mermaid for her birthday.
I'll watch it with her. I gotta tell you, Teddy, she's a... She's more a... She likes a Godzilla.
John Wick. Teddy is more of my aggressive child. Teddy is the baby version of me. Yes, yes, yes.
You know, she loves Nightmare Before Christmas. Oh, I thought it was going a different way. You know? I thought it was the Kruger Nightmares you were about to say.
She loves Nightmare on Elm Street. We have quite the montage of music when we drive. She loves the Chipmunk's Christmas song, and she loves the heavy death metal rock that I listen to. " Oh.
So, that pretty much defines who Teddy is. Gotcha. So, yeah. You know, she hasn't asked me for Barbie.
I mean... Well, she might not know. I'll ask her. Okay.
For you. And I'll watch it. And then we can talk about it. Then we can review it.
It was terrible. Was that a 50th anniversary? High-anniversary debuting at the PCA, 2024. Quasada.
How do you say it? Qua. Q. Quasada?
Q. Q. Sad. What?
Sad. A. Q-sad-a? Q-sad-a.
Q-sad-a, 50th anniversary debuting at the PCA 2024. That's definitely not. Now the TPE's over the PCA announcements are starting to come up. I heard TPE was very sad.
Oh, did you? Yes. Very lonely there. Oh, not many people?
No, not so many. Not many people, so. Well, what's his name? What's his name was there?
ZZ Top? ZZ, we have that story, they're putting out a cigar. Oh, and Mike Tyson was there. And Mike Tyson was there.
Oh, he was in a lot of photos, so he must have a lot of free time. Well, I mean, the weed side, I'm sure, was super busy. Yeah, as usual, right. Weed likes the weed.
Ah, the appropriate, blah, blah, blah. Save that clip, please. Save that clip. I don't have the time, but I'll find it.
Weed likes the weed. Weed likes the weed? Yeah. Habano's essay is celebrating Year of the Dragon with Monte Cristo Brilliantes.
Oh, another year of the dragon. For the fifth time in as many years, Habano's is celebrating the Chinese New Year by releasing a new cigar. This year, the company is celebrating the Year of the Dragon by releasing the Monte Cristo Brilliante, a 5-inch by 53 Robusto Gordo package in 18-count boxes. This appears to be the first time Habano's has used this size for a commercial release.
Is that how you say "brilliant" in Spanish? Gurkha's got to be moving through so much paper with the sea synthesis. I was going to ask that question too. Hold on, we have to come in.
All right, sorry. How many people are getting sued? I'm being sorry. It's been the case, very blah, blah, blah, celebrated the year of the rabbit, they did that, fifth consecutive year, the Habanos, I say, that's all they've heard cigars.
In an unconfirmed report, Gurka may be suing Habanos over the use of the dragon. In an unconfirmed report. Unconfirmed report. Placentia, year of the dragon, shipping in February.
Oh, another one. Might as well just do these back to back. Placentia. Placentia.
It's placenta. Placenta. Here it comes. For the fourth consecutive year, Placenta.
Thank you. You just had the baby. You got those on your back. Placenta.
Placenta Cigars will release a limited edition cigar that celebrates the Chinese New Year. The Placenta Cigar of the Dragon is a six and a quarter by 54. Torpedo. Oh.
Placenta. And then there's a bunch of their stuff. An unconfirmed follow-up story. Gurkham may be suing Placenta over the year of the Dragon.
Why don't you just call it like. And note, dab it off. Uh-oh. I can't read these.
Oh, General Will Cigar, Oliva, what do you mean you can't read them? They go to yellow when it's a link, and you can't see them, they've all announced- What am I saying? He's got young eyes. Just highlight it so I can- Right there in the middle, but then I need it back.
Oliva, Maya Seva, Silva, Silva, Silva, it's Mia, Me, Me, Ya, Silve, Silve. Silve. Yes, that's how you say that. That's okay.
Do you see the other one here? This Rokai Patil? Yes. Wow.
Rokai Patil. Rokai Patil. Yes, that's very nice. Definitely the fanatic.
They've all announced Year of the Dragon themed cigars in which of the Gurkha list, oh, and all of which are on the Gurkha list of cigar enemies along with the several racial themed brands. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. Hey, why don't they just like call it Year of the Dragon?
Why don't they say Year of the Dragante or something? I think that still falls outside of the trade, like you know, it's close enough. It's not, it's not, it's not changing. That's like Euro.
Say it in a different language does not nullify the copyright. It's like, we said it in German, you know, it's fine. Big Mac. How would it be in German?
Big Mac versus Big Mick. Come on. No, no, no. I can't my throwers.
ZZ Top Billy Gibbons is entering the cigar business. Whoa. I would love to play the ZZ Top music, but we're not gonna do that. Yeah, Billy Gibbons, the front The man of ZZ Top, he's the one with the beard, is entering the cigar business at this week's TPE 20 and 24 trade show in Las Vegas, where he was the only one there, Billy Gibbons Cigar Company will launch with Gibbons in attendance.
The project includes both premium and mass-marketed cigars, both of which will be on shelves in February. The company has worked with Phil Zingales of Debonair House to help develop its tobacco products. So there's doing a Virtue by Billy Gibbons, Bellicoso, a Virtue by Billy Gibbons, Bellicoso, a Virtue by Billy Gibbons, Robusto, Virtue by Billy Gibbons, Toro, and a Virtue by Billy Gibbons, Toro Maduro. It's a lot of Virtue.
A lot of Virtue. You know, there was a customer here. Ooh, let me go to your camera. Hold the mask up!
There was a guy here named Clint. I always thought he was in that band. Oh, yeah? I was gonna use his picture, but...
Clint's amazing. Rather than selling the cigars in standard boxes, cigars will debut inside of a humidor. There are 5,000 numbered humidors totaling 1,000 of each SKU, and each humidor comes with five cigars and a numbered Zippo lighter, not ZZ Top lighter, a Zippo lighter. A Zippo.
With Gibbons and its signature on the body, that is a torch flame insert MSRP, it's set at $300 for a humidor. That's pretty cheap for a signature of ZZ Top. A virtue. Not anymore.
It's all a virtue. They're not that popular anymore. And it's only one guy. It's not the whole band.
He's not dead yet. On the mass market side, there are three different Billy Gibbons twin turbo packs. He loves putting his name on things. Yeah.
Classic, Coco Mojo, and Sweet Spot. And Virtue. No, no Virtue down there. Which all include two cigarellos.
49 for two cigars. By Virtue. Gibbons has partnered with Brand Candy, a creative agency focused on artists for this project. In addition, the company sets its distribution deal with the Cormark Global Tobacco, LLC, McLean & Zippo.
McLean, wow. McLean. Heard you. Heard you.
Heard you. Long. Okay, this week's price increase list. Uh-oh.
Argonosa? Uh-oh. How much? Yes.
Ooh. See, Argonosa's tough, because realistically, they have no legitimate reason to really raise costs. Fabian's there? Well, I talked to Terrence through via Facebook, and it's for his security team to keep Gruber away from him.
Oh, that's what's gotta be high. That's what the cost is mostly going to help. Wow. I'm gonna say 4%.
7. Damn it! That's my number! That's your number.
Why didn't you say 7? Big security guys. Big, big security guys. Because I just laid heavy on them saying that there's no justifiable reason for them to go so high, so then I tried to walk it back by giving it a nominal number.
That's my own mistake. Sinestro? Sinestro? They're, they're a solid.
8%. Five? But, but, they attribute the increase to the rising cost of fertilizer for tobacco. Very specific reason.
I mean, that could be. It is very possible. I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned it. That could be, or that could be the, whatever, the fucking level of fuckery bullshit they have been fed.
Oh, that's true. You know what I mean? Well, hey, you know. Yeah, hey, the fertilizer's real expensive.
I will tell you this. Look at this, especially in the Dominican Republic, I have heard that fertilizer has become a big issue. Oh, yeah? Yeah.
Oh. Like, not available? Yeah. Did they not have livestock?
So what happens when it's not available? It costs more. When supply exceeds demand, when supply is, you know, less than whatever. Well, the tourist rates down in the Dominican Republic because of all the problems they're having.
Yeah, but you guys remember when there was like no chicken wings, but there was plenty of chicken thighs? Right, right. Mm. so you're calling bullshit plenty of cows but no poop there's probably plenty of bullshit down there oh there you go it just said podcast on on the pet it's because he has a timer that's okay it's a timer that shuts my phone sound off ah we started early gotcha oh yeah it's time for the meeting upstairs all right we almost wrapped up we got it we have a florida story it's a really good florida let's go naked florida woman uh barges into a gas station threatens to kill staff with an apple peeler was this the same lady that did the ocean thing no an apple peeling yes a A Florida woman was arrested this week after she allegedly barged into a gas station while naked and then threatened to kill staff with an apple peeler, police said.
What's the list? Celia Barrett, not like a woman you want to see naked. Celia Barrett, 35, was arrested on Sunday after she allegedly entered the racetrack at 2551 54th Avenue North in St. Petersburg and began swinging around a peeler knife, which is often used to peel fruits and vegetables, and began threatening staff, Fox 13, Tampa Bay reported.
She's also alleged to have verbally threatened to kill the store manager, according to Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. She was naked and drunk during the incident, police said, and she was charged with six total offenses that include two felony counts of aggravated assault. Now, another story said when they refused to give her the money, this is true, when they refused the money, she began masturbating. No!
No, not with the people, I assume with her hand, I would assume. Why has it always got to go sideways at a gas station? In a racetrack. In a racetrack.
Racetrack. That's the upscale gas station. Did they hit her for anything with drugs? That's the upscale?
Wait a second, that's the upscale gas station? Well, if you compare to like the regular mom and pops, yeah. What are you talking about? Racetrack.
No way. Sure, if you go to, if you find a nice one. Okay, wait, which one's higher? Racetrack?
Or Wawa? Wawa. Okay, so Wawa would be the... Would be the creme de la creme of the...
Would it be the premier... Yes, yes, with the... Gas station. Food ordering, and specialty sandwiches.
Now that we got this kind of determined, Wawa or Buc-ee's? Oh, Buc-ee's. Buc-ee's is next level, right? Yeah, but they probably have apple peelers there.
They probably have security guards on standby. They probably do. They probably do. They do.
I mean, I go to Costco. With bigger apple peelers. I get Costco, guys. They're probably going up 7%.
Zero fuckery. You can't do anything else. You gotta be a member. Right.
At Costco. They're changing their membership, do you hear that? Are they? You're going to have to show, they're going to have a picture ID or you're going to scan the IDs or something?
Oh, because you can walk in without showing the IDs? Well, so that I can't use his card. Right. And they scan it, your picture comes up.
Oh, okay. I believe that. Sure. I got to be honest.
My wife goes there so much, I don't even think she pulls her card out anymore. " Hey, Brett, how you doing? Oh, kids are getting big. What happens if I want to use my wife's card?
You can't. You have to have your own, you can't. Yeah. They won't.
I know that there have been times where she's tried to use my credit card. Like, uh, if it's a business card for a business transaction and she doesn't have that particular one, like, oh no, you don't match on this. So she would have to use the personal card and then we have to do whatever. Sure, whatever.
Hmm. Well, there's that security. All right, that's it. You got a shop of the week, Michael?
Oh, yes, you do. Jed, do you have a shop of the week? Would you like to give a shop of the week? Oh, man.
Come over here, come over here, come over here. Go ahead, go ahead. Camera, camera one, camera one, camera one. Yes, sir.
I apologize. This is super easy. He slides in. Drum roll.
Smoke on the Water, baby, in Weston, Florida. Shoutout to Daniel, he should be the Listener of the Week, too. He's an animal. That's next, Listener of the Week?
Okay, now you come back again. And Larry. Don't forget Larry. You know what, we're gonna skip over Daniel as the guy.
We're gonna go with Larry, 'cause Larry's the guy. Larry's the guy. Larry. Larry.
Larry. Oh, sorry, Larry, that wasn't intended for you. Listener of the Week. Wow, where did that go, bro?
I don't know, wrong screen. Can you turn it off? Turn off the crickets. Larry, Larry, Steve, what was the name?
Larry, Larry's Listener of the Week in Smoke on the Water. Who is the guy whose head you cut off in the photo? Look, I deleted the photo and I put up the... Oh, I still saw it this morning.
Yeah, who was the guy? It's a guy wearing a suit coat with a Super P-shirt. Oh, wasn't that Brian? What was his name, Brian?
He was the military guy. Yeah. Nice. Another guy.
He's definitely gonna listen to the show, though. I like it. 'Cause he said he was gonna... Brian, you're my listener of the week.
Fuck you, Larry. Was Larry wearing a post on his shirt? No. No, he wasn't.
He kept calling you a nerd? Oh, Larry, yeah, he called me a nerd for getting my stuff signed by Jason Daly. Who did he have for you with his helmet? Oh, I didn't know a picture of the helmet.
You take the helmet in for him. Oh, I gotta carry the helmet. Yeah. Ahh.
Cheers. How many things did the poor man sign? Chet, two. So, so, so Boots made, so hold on, hold on, let me, hold on, let me, cause you're, you're off mic.
So, Boots made Chet carry the Dolphins helmet in. He left that out of the story earlier. Yeah, because he didn't want. He was embarrassed to be carrying so many things.
Hey, you go ahead and you carry that. So, there was a helmet, there was a jersey. There was about 15 items. 15 items.
Stuffed animal. There was a little teddy bear with Jason Taylor's number on it. Oh, I assumed it was an athletic supporter. Shoes.
Oh, now it says Jason Taylor crossed his face when he sleeps. Oh, that's nice. Larry just kept going. Nerds.
I'm not even a part of this shit. Right. I don't even know who these guys are. Poor Chet's just trying to help his friend.
Yeah, yeah. Guilty by association. Well, Larry, we're very sorry, Jet's not the nerd, it's just Boots. You know what's really kind of crazy?
Phil isn't even defending. Phil didn't even defend Boots' actions or nothing. This is the quietest I've seen Boots or Phil this entire episode. Why do I need to defend right now?
You guys are just gonna say your stuff as usual. We're just gonna say your stuff. All right. Uh-oh.
All right, well, hey, let's get upstairs. We got a meeting to go to. All right. Thank you, everybody.
This has been show 319 and secret show 319 to follow where we're smoking these zombie, what? Yahe zombies. Yahe zombies. To our Patreons.
All right, guys. Bye. Bye. A Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest.
and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczepankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience.
Show Notes
In Episode 319 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the hosts dive into the latest buzz in the cigar world, bringing you intriguing updates and unexpected turns. The episode kicks off with the shocking resignation of CAA President David Ozgo, leaving listeners curious about the behind-the-scenes dynamics.
Davidoff takes the spotlight as they unveil the winners of the prestigious 2023 American Golden Band Awards, and the team explores the much-anticipated debut of the Quesada 50th Anniversary at PCA 2024. Meanwhile, Habanos S.A. celebrates the Year of the Dragon with the release of Montecristo Brilantes.
Rock legend ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons makes an unexpected entrance into the cigar business, sparking conversations about celebrity ventures in the industry. Plasencia Year of the Dragon adds to the excitement, with news of its imminent shipping in February.
The hosts then tackle the sobering topic of price increases, dissecting the Aganorsa Leaf and Sinistre hikes attributed to the rising costs of tobacco fertilizers. Listeners are advised to keep their firewalls on as the discussion touches upon the data collection disclaimer found at the bottom of the Halfwheel website.
And if that's not enough to keep you hooked, the episode takes a wild turn with a bizarre news headline featuring a naked Florida woman armed with an apple peeler. The hosts share the outrageous details of her gas station escapade, which resulted in a series of charges, including felony counts of aggravated assault.
Tune in for a rollercoaster ride through the cigar industry's highs and lows, seasoned with unexpected twists and a dash of Florida's eccentricity. Grab your favorite stogie and join the Cigar Hustlers as they unpack the fascinating world of cigars in Episode 319!