Cigar Hustlers Podcast Friday Night Fun Episode 341

Episode Summary

Episode 341 is a Friday night pre-recorded hangout with Mike Szczepankiewicz and Mike "BDP" Palmer, with engineer Phil behind the board. The first half is pure studio banter: the guys walk through the ongoing camera, lens and video-board upgrades at the Mike & Mike Production Studio (and last week's hum complaints), talk about five years and 341 episodes of investing in the show, and swap weekend stories — a visit to Cigars on the Ave with Greg, a date-night steak dinner at Linda's La Cantina, youth football practice, and Mike's upcoming Fourth of July trip to Lake of the Ozarks. There's also an La Flor Dominicana event happening upstairs that night, plus riffing on The Boys, House of the Dragon and Billions.

The news block leads with Joshua Habersky being named executive director of the Premium Cigar Association after serving as deputy executive director, head of government affairs and interim ED — the guys compare him to outgoing ED Scott Pierce, note he'll stay on as PCA's chief lobbyist, and campaign (jokingly but repeatedly) for PCA to buy social media man Antoine better camera gear. They then dig into the return of the Traveling Roadshow for summer 2024, with Altadis, CLE/Asylum, Oliva and Rocky Patel doing multi-city retailer events at stops like Burn in Naples and Pittsburgh, Casa de Montecristo locations in Mooresville and Dallas, and Outlaw Cigar in Kansas City — and point out that since it's regional reps rather than the principals, nobody is actually "traveling." That leads to an extended bit about turning the roadshow into a single-elimination sales-rep death match.

Other industry items: Scandinavian Tobacco Group's acquisition of Mac Baren Tobacco Company (DKK 535 million, roughly $76.8 million) and its Sutliff distribution arm in Richmond, plus a rundown of STG's eight acquisitions in six years including Thompson Cigar, Peterson, Agio, Room101 and Alec Bradley. They also touch on new S.T. Dupont lighters, Xikar's Year of the Dragon cutters, a new Aganorsa Leaf release, a J.C. Newman leather case, HVC Hot Cakes Broadleaf, Battleground Cigars, and a surprisingly low review score for the Chogui Doce 77 Corojo Robusto — where the reviewer blamed a tight bunch and draw issue, prompting both hosts to note they've never had a plugged one. Hector Alfonso of Espinosa Cigars is named Listener of the Week, along with the announcement that Lozano Palooza returns November 14–16 (still invite-only).

In This Episode

1. 01
   Studio Upgrades and Five Years of the Show
   New cameras, lenses and a $500 video board — plus last week's audio hum — as the hosts explain why they keep investing in production.
2. 02
   Weekend Recap: Cigars on the Ave and Date Night
   A visit with a favorite retailer, Perla del Mar spotted in the humidor, and a steak dinner at Linda's La Cantina.
3. 03
   La Flor Dominicana Event Night
   An LFD event upstairs with no John Carney or Leo in attendance, and a ribbing about an owed cigar.
4. 04
   Josh Habersky Named PCA Executive Director
   The guys break down Habersky's promotion from deputy ED and chief lobbyist, comparing him to predecessor Scott Pierce.
5. 05
   Traveling Roadshow Returns for 2024
   Altadis, CLE/Asylum, Oliva and Rocky Patel hit Burn, Casa de Montecristo and Outlaw Cigar — but it's local reps, not the big names.
6. 06
   STG Buys Mac Baren Tobacco
   Scandinavian Tobacco Group's $76.8M acquisition of Mac Baren and Sutliff, and a list of STG's eight deals in six years.
7. 07
   New Releases and Accessories Roundup
   S.T. Dupont lighters, Xikar Year of the Dragon cutters, a new Aganorsa Leaf cigar, J.C. Newman leather case and HVC Hot Cakes Broadleaf.
8. 08
   Chogui Doce 77 Review Score and Listener of the Week
   A sub-80 review blamed on a tight bunch sparks debate, then Hector Alfonso gets Listener of the Week and Lozano Palooza dates drop.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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Transcript

Everybody stand by. Industry is in the house. Here he is. P.

Make way for the King. Another Mike and Mike production. In three, three, two, one, zero. Maybe you should get rid of the ones that you don't...

Uh oh. We never hook this to the laptop anymore. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 341. But I gotta get the blue cable back out.

Recorded live at the Mike & Mike Production Studio in Delta, Florida. This is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Sure, I'll add it to the list of other things. The show where two guys share their passion for cigars, business, and life.

Join Mike, the King, Stepan Kiewicz, and his co-host, Mike BDP Palmer, as they talk about the latest cigar news, reviews, and interviews some of the most influential people in the cigar industry. And me, I'm the engineer and sound tech, Phil, whether you're a seasoned aficionado or new to cigars, the podcast is for you, sit back, relax, and light up a cigar with Cigar Oster's Podcast. We've eliminated paper, I texted that to him. Bing bong.

Really? Now he just reads it off his phone. Bing bong. Bing bong.

I put that on him. We're going green. Bing bong, man. What?

What does that mean? We're going green. Oh, I thought something happened. You texted me.

Yeah, we're going green. Wait, stop recording. Stop recording? Is that what green means?

Welcome to the Cigar Oster Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free, but a massive shout-out. Thank you for joining us. On the YouTube. Just follow.

Do something. Give us love. We need love. Digital hugs, as Kendrick Lamar says.

Yes, we're all about the Kendrick Lamar. We are all about the Kendrick Lamar. So, how was your weekend? Well, we haven't had one yet.

We're doing this show early. This is pre-recorded for your enjoyment. We are. We're doing it for two reasons.

One is you're going to be out of town next week. Yes. And we could have done some kind of Zoom yada yada. Sure.

But I think it's more important that we show our listeners and our viewers that we're making some progress. How come when you travel, we get to do the remotes? When I travel, we have to squeeze in it. I just explained to you why we're doing it.

He wanted to see the new cameras. Because you've been working diligently on this. We, Michael, we. Okay.

We have been working diligently on this. Yeah, what a mind Jedi that was. And we're making some progress here. And I think it's important that we show that.

They make these cables that you can HDMI to your phone. Yeah. I'm going to buy one just so we can play with the other connections, see if we can run it as another camera. Okay.

I'm pretty close to buying another camera, just so you know. Did you win a lottery or something over there? What are you doing? No.

No, I haven't. I haven't won the lottery. Actually, it took out a refi. We haven't.

Is that what that meeting was for? Did you just refi the entire building? No. Take the equity out of the shopping plaza.

No. But let me make something perfectly clear, and I know I've said this to you before. Yes. I believe in this.

Yes. We've been doing it for five years. Eight years, Michael. The podcast?

Yeah. It's been more than five years. No, it's not. Sure it is.

Episode 341. This is our fifth year. 52. Seems longer.

I'm glad that it feels like eight for you. Feels like eight. We've been doing it for five years. All right.

And I want it... At what point do we make money? Maybe you're 10. Okay, wait.

I'll do a different. What? In what year do we stop spending money? Well, you've stopped spending money.

I don't have any, Michael! Neither do I. But I'll continue to invest and continue to build this thing. Right.

And, you know, we finally have ironed out the next step. Yes. We've linked the camera in. We have the right lens.

It's going into a board. The board's probably recording in 1080p, so we'll eventually have to fix that. Well, I mean, it looks like the screen, though. I mean, it looks good.

Oh, you're talking about the zooming thing. Well, no, the overall recording, yeah. Are we touching feet? No, we're not touching feet.

I think we're touching feet. Hector can't stand this, by the way. To see your feet? No, that we face each other.

When we get two more people? I think this is great. Well, sure. I mean, basically, people are now just paying for us to talk to each other.

We can put a camera upstairs by your desk where my red chair is. That's what this whole show's been about for the last five years. Oh, is it really? Yeah.

The reality is that they don't pay for anything on the regular show. Well, no, the patrons, patrons don't. The people that truly love and support us. So, anyway, what I meant to say, if there's two other people, do we just put another chair there, another chair there?

Oh, you can re-modify. Then we turn. Yeah, you modify this. Okay, does that, because if you look at the shot, it's from this chair to that chair.

Yeah. So, does it zoom out, or do we have to move the camera back? Probably have to move the camera back. Because there's not a whole lot of room without putting it in the other room.

We'll figure it out. Well, I'm trying to learn as we go, Michael, instead of just... And we are. No, no, we normally just buy something in panic.

We learn as we go. I mean, realistically, at the end of the day, what you can do is you can leave that there, you can add two people, and you can just do two separate shots with your cameras. Well, I figured that's what we'd do like we did before, it'd be a four-shot, and then, you know, one camera shoots me and whoever, and one camera shoots you and whoever. What's important, though, this week is that the sound is fixed again, because, man, did you get a lot of...

Oh, a lot of complaints last week about this. Oh, it's terrible, all the humming. All the humming. Look, it's a process, man.

It's fine. I don't know what you're doing. We're doing everything we possibly can to get better and better and better, so. Yes, because now Espinosa's going to sponsor the show.

No, he's not. Oh, wow. No, he's not. Keep in mind.

Espinosa can sponsor down to her. No, we don't get as much money that way. I know, but at least they'll cover a camera. He'll cover a camera.

No, it won't. Yes, it will. Depends on how much they pay. As long as I facilitate the deal.

Oh, okay. Oh, he'll cover all three cameras. Drinking cameras for everybody. Oh, yes.

Well, I have camera crews following us around. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of like looking at the back of his head now.

I just can't wait to see him at work flipping the cameras. Well, he used to do it before, but he touched the screen. But he always complained about it. Right.

Well, yeah, there's no delay on that, it's live. Yeah, it's direct feed. Direct feed, stuff. So, as far as the week has gone, I've just done some football practicing.

I went to Cigars on the Ave. Oh, did you? Yep, to hang out with them for a little bit. Man, that guy is just, he's a hell of a dude.

Did you see Perla Del Mar's there, apparently? Who's Perla Del Mar? It's a cigar. From Fuente?

Yeah. Greg's getting him in now because Pete Ernest wants them. Yeah. He got one there.

That's like a lower end. Yeah. I've heard of it. Just you admit, he said that's where he got it the other day.

Oh, really? Yeah. He must have been rummaging. He said there was a big box of them right inside the humidor.

Interesting. On the lower shelf. Was that for the birthday? No.

That was just for a date night with the missus. Oh. Yeah. Take her to a cigar shop?

It's a nice spot. Well, so we went to Linda's La Cantina. Yes. Perfect steakhouse.

And the only reservation I get was at 8:00, and I already booked a sitter at 6:00, so... Oh, time to kill. Yeah. Ah, I see.

So, yeah, let's go to the shop. Okay. And a story pulled up, and then I touched the screen and it went off. Okay.

Was the steak good? The steak was really good. Everything else was kind of meh. Oh, the sides and stuff?

Yeah. The sides, the apps. It kind of reminded me back of my old bar days. Oh, that bad.

Was that the first time? The wine glasses. Like, you'd tell that... Nobody cared.

It's old, bro. Our steaks are really good. Fuck off. It should be there.

We do one thing really well. Yeah. I mean, so much to a point where I think that there's just one guy maintaining and making sure that... Oh, in the kitchen?

" Oh. Yeah, just one guy. Yeah. Probably the man that owns the place.

Aronzo Place. Yeah. Or Linda. Who's Linda?

Linda's La Cantina. It's called Linda's La Cantina. Oh, Linda's La Cantina. Yeah.

Is it a Mexican restaurant? No. La Cantina. Just that, maybe.

No. I mean, but they didn't have, like, calamari or anything like that. You thought it was, like, more of an Italian vibe, but it's not. They do, 'cause they have spaghetti.

They have spaghetti, but they don't have calamari. Linda's La Cantina, specialized in Italian food. And the mozzarella sticks, they call them cheese sticks. Delicious.

Oh. Just frozen ones, they don't make them from scratch. I don't know. Did I make them from scratch?

I don't know. They're delicious. Oh, you had them? Yes.

So yeah, we did that. That was really cool. Oh, good. I enjoyed that a lot.

And, uh, yeah, football. Football got rained out on one. Man, these kids, dude. Yeah?

Wait, you playing football again already? I'm practicing with them, yeah. Wasn't that long? There was no break?

About a month. Yeah, I remember it was always like a month. Yeah, but it didn't seem like it was a month. The summer's flying by.

It goes quick, man. My wife's already back to work. Yeah, she's gone. Good to see you.

Summer's over. Well, you're going on vacation the next week. Right, but she should be at work, but she'd already had to sit up. She was like, sorry.

Can't do that week. I got to go on vacation. I have a trip. Going on a trip.

Yeah. So we're going to do a little LFD event tonight upstairs. Oh. Very excited about that.

And now Mr. Carney will not be in attendance? No, he will not be in attendance. Oh, good.

I've been advertising he was going to be there all week. Perfect. Great. Mark, just go upstairs and tell everybody you're John Carnage.

All I need is some Crocs and a red, white, and blue headband. Listen, nobody gives a fuck if he's there or if he's not there. Well, I thought he might be somewhat of a draw. Is Leo still coming, or since he was here yesterday, he's not coming either?

He's not coming. He's not coming. All right, you get Caribbean Cigars on the phone. We need the script for his complaints.

And we're going to start doing it as soon as we get upstairs. Start doing videos. No, those guys are my friends. Well, he was friends with the guys at Crownhead until they show up.

Well, they asked for a pass. I'm like, no problem. I wonder why Leo's here a day early. No, that's why.

Yeah. If I do that, I would have come up and got a cigar from him before I left yesterday. He asked to give you one. Oh.

He said, is he around? I want to give him a cigar. Around? He sat there for 45 minutes.

I guess he forgot. He sat in Phil's seat and ashed on the floor, if you remember correctly. if you remember correctly. Wow.

And you went, ah, Palmer will clean it up. Did I say that? Yes. Jesus.

Don't worry about it, Palmer. Don't worry, Palmer will get it. As you guys were walking out the door, he left his stir sticks in the ashtray, too, by the way, from his coffee. And I wasn't going to say anything because I figured, oh, I'll get a cigar from Leo tonight.

No, you say it. You say it. You weren't going to say it, but you say it. I said it now because apparently he didn't leave me one.

I saw him on the app, too. He was there. Oh, he was invited to your dinner, too. No, it wasn't invited to dinner.

It was fine. Carney was actually cooking the steaks. That's why he needs a vacation. That's why the sides were bad.

It was potatoes. Yeah. They were raw. The potatoes are cooked fine.

The potatoes are cooked fine. He put up something on Facebook about potatoes the other day. Yeah. He's not a good potato cooker.

No. Not a potato guy. He's not really a potato guy. No, he's more meat.

Not a potato. Yeah, so that went well, man. And, you know, like I enjoy conversations with good retailers, and he's a good retailer. So you're sitting around, you're having a conversation, and, you know, and it was cool because Brittany was there with me.

And, you know, like, I don't know, she got kind of a taste of it, right? Sure, she was terribly excited. I think that she was to some degree. Oh, it's the guy shopping and they're talking work.

Nice. Okay, good. There was wine. Oh, she's fine.

Yeah. Yeah. What's the new bread and butter wine we have upstairs? That's for her.

I assumed, but it just, it didn't sound high flutin' enough or whatever. High flutin' enough? High flutin'. Are you German?

No, that's not, it's a country. Flutin', flutin'. It's a country term. Flutin' dog.

Didn't seem fancy enough for Miss Brittany. Bread and butter. Bread and butter. Because you think of bread and butter and pickles.

Oh, those are delicious. Well, by the time this comes out, I would have solved the Charles and Charles problem, so. Oh, is that why, because we couldn't get Charles and Charles? Yes, you couldn't.

Charles and Charles? Yeah, it's not the show. Oh, it's not the show? Scott Pao didn't come to your house?

No. Oh, such a good show. Speaking of which, speaking of shows, are you updated on The Boys? I watched it yesterday, actually.

There's the whole episode of The Farm? Yes. Oh, my God. Spoiler alert, and the hospital.

Yeah, that was a really good episode. The thing is so bloody and brutal all the time. They've really, really, I thought that, I didn't think they'd get darker. Oh, no, they've...

They've really turned it up. Where, uh, uh, whatever his name is, killed everybody at the old place where he grew up. Yeah, but I was a different person. Oh, he's same person.

Hey, well, you can do whatever you want to do, son. Same person. I love that. Oh, that girl beating the shit out of the guy.

Yeah, and rightfully so, made me feel good. I was like, this is awesome. Because that guy's fucking abusing his power, you know, trying to fucking make it awkward for the intern. But now the kid was slurping his breast milk, uh, milkshake or whatever it was.

No, it's a different milkshake. I don't know, I figured at this point, they're just gonna be... But then he got the most evil little grin on his face as the girl's beating the shit out of the guy. He was doing good.

Again. Hit him again. Fuck yeah, it was. Hit him again.

I loved it. House of Dragons, are you watching House of Dragons? Yeah, it's a little slow starting. Oh my goodness, yeah.

A little slow. Oh my goodness, episode two, I'm like... I watch anything that's new, I watch. Anything that's not a rerun at this point.

" So, yeah. We had a great Patreon. Yes. Covered a lot.

Yes, we did. Got some different perspectives on things. Uh, I forget what a cigar. Oh, no, I now remember.

Oh, that, by the way, that is on the website. We do carry it. Yeah. Yeah.

Good cigar. Yeah, it was. It was a good cigar. So...

So you're leaving? Yeah, Sunday. Not until Sunday. And...

What are you doing exactly? Uh, we're going to, uh, what? Why doesn't he unpack that? Why doesn't he unpack that?

He seems a little concerned. Yeah, what are you doing? Uh, Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, Adrian's sister-brother-in-law... Oh, where the drug thing was.

What drug thing? The show. Ozarks. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there. Right. They have a lake house. They have two lake houses.

We're going there for the Fourth of July week. Perfect. Yeah, it sounds really nice. We're going parasailing one day, and he's hired a boat to drive us around one day.

Parasailing in the air? Yeah. I've never done that. I'm looking forward to that.

Oh, man. It's going to only go one of two ways. Up or down? Well, you're either gonna like it or you're not gonna like it.

Well, right, yeah, exactly. It's gonna be weird being at a lake with no alligators. That's just not a thing we deal with. Yeah.

It'd be awesome if you got attacked by an alligator. Is there anything else in there? Why are you wishing harm on people when they travel? You hope Jack's plane crashed.

Well, Jack was being a dick. And now you want me to get attacked and eaten by an alligator. Listen, Jack Toronto's being an ass. Okay, then why do you want me dead, killed by an alligator in Missouri?

I just think it'd be funny. Oh, it'd be hilarious. A Florida man gets attacked by an alligator in Missouri. Yeah.

Isn't there other things in their lakes, though? Snakes? Uh, no, not really. I mean, there's a lot of traffic, as I understand it.

I'm more worried about getting hit by another boat. Yeah. That's probably a bigger concern. Yeah.

And when it floods, there are cemeteries around the edges and they go underwater. That's fantastic. Because I didn't go last year, so I just happened to start- Who came up with that design? I started looking, well, I guess the lake gets bigger every year.

Somebody fucked up this whole climate change. Right. And the view for all of her loved ones. Right, Uncle Irv loves the view there on the shore.

Yeah, he will always remember the lake, especially when he's in it. Right, especially when he's underneath the water, that'd be great. This just in, ten dead bodies floating. Oh my lord.

Well, it's just that they don't come out, so, I mean, apparently, maybe there's concrete crypts in the water or something. Oh yeah. The things they put them in. No, no, they don't, they don't pop up.

I saw footage of headstones and things underwater. Mmm, I love that. Sounds great. I can't wait for this.

Should be a good time. Right. I guess. When was the last time you took like a whole week vacation?

It's been years. I don't know. Do you think you're going to function okay? No.

I can't unplug. I don't know what I'm going to do. He's not. m.

I'm going to block you. You're going to block me? Yeah. I'm not going to.

So that way he unplugs? I won't know. I'm going to remove you from Slack. No, Greg will have to find something.

It'll be constant communication. Do you know where? I can't find my shoes. Who's going to wipe my ass?

You're gone. I texted... Oh, I didn't tell you. Two customers in the shop today having a very long, in-depth conversation on the best way to wipe your butt.

Did you? No, not me. Two customers talking to each other. Front to back.

No, like dude wipes, cottonnel wipes, toilet paper. Two customers were talking to each other on the phone? No, at the table. They're smoking cigars, chit-chatting away.

Yeah. I walk up to the register and then I hear them talking about Dude Wipes and Cottonelle Wipes and what works best and how to get it clean and I love that. I'm like, jeez. Listen, we're conquering world problems here at the Cigar Bar.

At Cigar Hustler. Right. Now this is Cigar Hustler. This isn't the other place you go to all the time.

At Cigar Hustler. He said Cigar Bar. He didn't remember what he was. He said at Cigar Bars.

Yeah. Right. Well, no. You got confused.

It's okay. Kind of like the bass thing. Yeah, yeah. What the fuck is he talking about?

Right. What instrument were you guys talking about on the podcast? What the fuck is that? What?

The bass. The bass guitar. We're talking about the bass guitar. So yeah, that's all we got for, I mean, it's kind of a short...

So this has been episode 341. I'm gonna watch the UFC fight this weekend, I'm excited. Oh, is there a UFC fight? Oh yeah, it's a big one.

What day is that on? Saturday. Oh. Over in the private lounge?

No. Oh. Away from people. Away from people's.

Yeah. So, uh, why don't we hit with the Phil's Fun Fact? I got Quaaludes. Oh, he's got Quaaludes.

Uh, we don't have a Phil's Fun Fact. We don't even have a Phil's Fun Fact? No, you told me last night at 10 o'clock you wanted to do this today. I was working upstairs all day, then I come down here and go to Dana's show, which she was in a terrible mood, or did steroids today, or something.

Yeah. He was very angry. Super aggressive. Well, that's because the thing was on TV.

No, they didn't talk about that. Oh. Very briefly, she's yelling at Erik, and... Screaming at him, huh?

Yeah, and then she's asking him to explain something, so he's trying to explain it, and she's just mocking him the whole time he's explaining it. That's awesome. And she's giving him the finger, it was great, I'm laughing my ass off. Very entertaining from my side of the table.

I don't know how Erik felt about it. We got a lot of positive... On the cocaine? Yeah.

Oh, really? They love that. That is the best sound clip. You too can be part of the Cigar Hustler Podcast Soundboard.

Sound clip, yeah. Send in your weird sound clips. Oh, that would be great. I got Quaaludes, I got...

I got Quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. I love that. The best thing is, he was so excited to do it, he sent me the show a day early. Yeah.

So I would have time to cut the clip out. Hey, we really need that clip. Oh, I can send it to you first thing tomorrow morning. Love that.

Okay. That's fucking fucking amazing. And he reset it so it would be clear for us, too. Yeah, and we're going to need to clear us out of that.

Yeah, can you do it one more time, everybody be quiet? Can you just repeat it? You know what, I'm flying down there right now. Flying down where?

He would fly in there. What the fuck is he talking about? To record it. Oh.

Oh, got it. He's doing his own show over there. But it's different when I'm not looking at you guys. Well, you're watching us on TV?

You can see us right now. It's weird. It's live. We prefer it this way.

Every time Mikey looks back, I want to look over it, but I don't. We're going to build a wall, and we can figure out some way for us to get in the bathroom too. Because it's weird for us to talk to you, and I can't look at you, so I turn my head. Alright, well, Joshua Hiburski...

Do you want to hit the news something? Do you want to hit the button? I don't know. Do we need to hit the button?

This is part of the show. Still got to delete that one. It's a circus here. But hey, we got good picture, we got good audio.

From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need: The Cigar Hustlers Podcast Report. Are you wearing your Spanx at all, or no? No, no, I only did it at the one show, and you could really tell. I could have put the fluffy shirt on, it seems to work well.

Yeah. But I just didn't care today. You've given up? I've given up.

You've accepted it? Well, this is black, it doesn't look as bad. Oh, yes it does, look at it. Josh Osbersky has been named the new executive director of the Premium Cigar Association and Cigar Industry Trade Group that focuses on retailers.

This motherfucker. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to do whatever they ask.

Yeah, whatever they ask for me. Well, I guess they ask you to be the boss. Not a bad. Is that a bad?

Being the boss is good. No, he seemed like a good guy. Yeah, but with the term, he is executive director. That's not really the boss is what Scott Pierce told us.

Well, he just, you know, the thing is that we interviewed both of them. - Right. - And Scott's got a little more zip to it, right? - Sure.

- He's a little more open, a little more fluent, just easier to talk. - He's been the boss longer. - Yeah, he knows how to handle himself. - Right.

- Josh has got to learn that. - Sure. - To some degree, right? - He sounds more like a numbers guy type thing.

- Yeah. - Yeah. - And they probably paid him half. So you get half the person.

- Oh, there you go, right. Okay, no pizazz, you just get the-- - Yeah, so you're not as charismatic as Scott. - Well, I mean, look at the terrible photos. There is a better photo out there floating around, though.

Yeah, the image on the half wheel, you gotta love the whole suit thing. I'm not a suit guy. No, I'm not either. If I got that job, I'd be in the fucking same t-shirt.

Right. You know, like, oh, why aren't you in a suit? Because, fuck you, I don't want to be in a suit. It's not a good suit.

It's not a good suit? It's not a good shirt. It's just PCA money, it's not CAA money. Oh, that's true, that's true.

If it was CAA money, yeah. Yeah, Scott Pierce wears a tuxedo all the time. You've seen the other guy, Glenn Lupe, his fucking, he's got the fucking spinning bow tie and all the time, yeah, that guy crushes it. Let's see, he's a deputy, given that verse he was serving as the deputy executive director, as well as head of government affairs.

Aha. This promotion is seen as a likeliest option. Oh, so, I had to. Well, there's nobody else here.

Nobody wants to do it. Well, I guess I guess it'll be you. How about you, Antoine? You want to be in charge?

No, I don't want to do it. That's not how Antoine sounds. No, thank you. That's not how he sounds, either.

Well, I was close. In April, Habersky added a third title, interim executive director. There, he's a bargain. Look at all these jobs he's doing.

You get the Quaaludes. It sounds like a Palmer. He was named interim executive director after Scott Pierce, the PCA's former executive director, announced that he was leaving because he was getting more money somewhere else. Berski joined PCA in 2019 as the Head of the Federal Affairs.

Oh, sounds big. It does, it sounds a fancy one. I'm federal. A press release says that he will continue to serve as the organization's chief lobbyist.

Yeah, that means he can pay people to have a shutdown. Oh, executive director. Hey, Cigar Housers podcast has got to go. Yeah, make sure they shut that down.

They didn't say nice things. They're talking about my pay. Yeah, he won't be on the show again. Yeah.

I think it's the highest, maybe we should get him on now while we're talking about it. Hey, congratulations. Hey, we said you were going to be president, and you said no, so what happened? Yeah, so, why'd you try and downplay it, man?

I said, yeah, I'm pretty much a shoe-in. Where else are they going to go? Who else are they going to get? Who else are they going to ask?

Antoine, he's 12. Yeah, he's 12. He's a very small little fellow. He's the only guy that fucking responds to us like Johnny on the spot.

Well, not anymore. We've been blacklisted in PCA, Michael. He's not listed at PCA, Michael, they buy him a damn, we should give him our old camera. Yeah?

He has to use his iPhone when he interviews people. Does he really? He interviewed you with an iPhone. Antoine?

Yeah. Do you remember Antoine? At PCA. Remember the little guy?

Yeah. Let's see, Habersky is honored and excited to lead the Premium Scars Association to the next chapter. I am- Yeah, let's get Antoine some good fucking equipment. I mean- Right, he's a social media director guy.

He's a representative of PCA. Right. - You are 100% correct. - I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to work.

Well, maybe since Habersky's doing four different jobs, they can free up a little money. - I want to see my membership dues go somewhere, and I think it should go into the equipment of Antoine. - Maybe you could pay next year's dues with a camera. - Oh, I don't have the money, but this is for Antoine.

- And we'll give him a chair, too. - A blue chair. - Here's a nice blue chair. - The press release did not say whether the organization plans to fill the deputy executive director role.

That position has not been used prior to Habersky's promotion And in early 2022. Oh, so they just made up a job for him back in 2022. Yeah. He's going to have to do that as well.

You know what I mean? That's what they said. You know? You did such a good job at being the second banana.

Okay, so who's going to fill that role? Well, you know, we're going to leave that one kind of empty, and you're just going to make the same amount of money. There you go. Oh, here we can talk about this.

It's a lateral move. Thumbing through the news there. No, he's probably making more money. He was just saying that his second...

Sorry. Why don't you ever mute that? Yeah. Yeah, we're going to get compromised from you.

All right, Maverick's going to shut us down. Yeah. Great. Great.

Another hit from you too. Another 5'1" person angry at us. Only short people get mad at us, man. Altanus, CLE...

Punch down! Punch down! This might have been something we were talking about the other day. We were talking about the other day, Altidus, CLE, Oliva, and Rocky Patel bring back the Traveling Roadshow for 2024.

Oh, yeah? The summer of 2024, cigar companies teamed up for a series of multi-city events to sell cigars to retailers, dubbed the Traveling Roadshow. The hope was to serve as a replacement for the 2020 convention and trade show, the annual mid-summer trade show, which canceled that year due to COVID. Oh, yeah, that's why they did it.

Well, they're doing it again. Well, they were looking... So successful, they're bringing it back four years later. So here's what's happening, is the PCA is, what, Q1, beginning at Q2 now?

Sure. Instead of it being Q3. Right. So, they're trying to figure out a way to have their summer sales still be up.

Ah, because everyone's used to it. Ah, that makes sense. Yeah, so it's almost like a double dip. It's like, hey, well, we got the PCA.

Is that maybe the same reason they were doing the thing we talked about? We talked about? Of course. That's exactly why those things are happening, because they're trying to offset.

Right. We can't have the slump in the summer. Right. Screws up our edema.

Yeah. We need a solid EBITDA. EBITDA, yeah. Or ABITDA, as you like to say.

I almost said enema. Which is like a great band. Dancing Queen. ABBA?

I remember ABBA. It's from my age group. All right. The four companies that participate in are...

We already mentioned this. Altadis. Altares, CLE Asylum, Oliva Cigar Company, and Rocky Patel. So, not really anything we need here.

They're just four mainstream brands. Right. Let's see. Where are they going to be?

That have over-inflated their cigars. Well, CLE doesn't really fit into that. So, it's interesting to hear them as a part of it. It's so weird.

The only, they're starting, they must be starting. Oh, that's why. They're starting in Naples. Oh, yeah.

They're not stopping anywhere else in Florida. Well, that's where Burn is. Right, that's where they're starting. Oh, Big Shocker.

Right. And then after that, they're going to Pittsburgh to a Burn. Yeah. And then they're going to hit a Casa de Monte Cristo along the way.

They're going to hit a Casa. All right. And then after Pittsburgh, they're going to an Indian casino. Okay.

Where's the Indian casino? In Washington. Oh. So they're obviously not driving the bus that they show the picture of.

No. No, no, because then they'd be going from Naples to Pittsburgh to Washington to Cleveland. No, the big dogs are flying in and flying out. Right.

A little less exciting for me. Doesn't sound as big of a deal. No, it's just four guys showing up with a briefcase. Yeah, I mean, I would like to see something.

Yeah, right. Pull up the bus, walk me in, show me the wares. Like the four guys go in and there's like some type of death match. Oh, you want to fight?

Maybe there's a title involved. He's still involved. Oh, oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, nice. Yeah. It could be. World Champion Rocky Patel defends his title against Christian Aroa, CLE.

You know what I mean? Something like that. Oh, here they go. Mooresville, North Carolina.

They're going to Casa de Monte Cristo. That's where the tag team match is happening? That's where the Casa de Monte Cristo is. Ah.

That you were so concerned about. The tag team cage match. Oh, they're going to a restaurant in August. And that's the...

Hiber Hill match. That's the Tombstone match. Oh, and then Dallas, another Cassidy microphone. Somebody has to wind up in a tomb, like a coffin or whatever, coffin match, like Undertaker did back in the day.

How far apart is Dallas and Houston? Who's the L to this guy? Three hours. They don't say, they don't give people's names.

They don't say who's going. So, Torelli's just going to be the rep from the area. Yeah, so nobody's fucking traveling. Yeah, nobody's traveling.

Nobody's traveling. Right, it's the rep from the area. Yeah, the four reps. This is not the traveling road show anymore.

Yeah. Right. Right. You know, it sounds good at traveling, but the reality is that the show pops up at different spots, but not people.

Right. Yeah. Your regular rep comes in. All right, so then here's what I want to see.

I want to see a tournament of the reps. Okay. I want to see battles happen in each individual one, and then whoever wins advances at the end. Like, we'll do a single elimination.

But it's a different guy each time. Yeah, yeah, so we'll do a single elimination. Okay. Okay.

And then they'll have to, we'll have to figure out who's like the home team, and then like, they'll fight again. But it's always the home team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like in Naples, it's the four, it's the four reps for the company.

Right, right, right. So what happens is like, so they win, so whoever wins. So those four guys fight. Yeah.

Okay, then there's one winner. Yeah, and then the four guys fight in Pittsburgh, and then whoever has more revenue out of that, like let's say the Altidisc guy succeeds, then the Naples guy has to go and fight. fight. Oh, right.

Okay. And then the other two spots, same scenario. Right. And then you have one ultimate winner.

Seems like a lot of fighting. Who, yeah, it's no longer the traveling roadshow. It's the traveling deathmatch of the sales reps. Oh.

The final show's in Kansas City at Outlaws, so that would be a good place to wrap it up. They love big events. Yeah, they have tanks and helicopters, all types of shit. Right.

It'd That would be perfect there. You know, I really feel like they missed the mark on that one. Yeah, you know, I'm so disappointed now. There's no bus, and there's no traveling.

There's no bus, there's no traveling. It's not a traveling road trip. Yeah. And nobody fights.

It's your rep comes and sees you. Like, so what are we selling here? Ashtrays? Like, what's going on?

Right, what's the big deal? Standard posters or something? I'm terribly upset. You got a pair of steak knives?

Phil, can you erase all this stuff we just talked about, please? Yeah, we're just gonna delete that. This is stupid. We don't care.

Don't care. Ridiculous. It's all gone. You want to talk about HVC hotcakes, fresh out of the oven, Broadleaf goes on sale?

Sure. They're only in one shop. They're only two guys. That's not what I want to talk about.

There's my friend David Garofalo. Who's number two? Number one, number two. Number one, number two.

You put up a one, I'll put up a two. " And he never showed up at the booth. Yeah, he came by, that's where I took his picture. " Yeah, I already embarrassed him by saying he was number two.

He didn't want to come back five. A lot of tools and stuff coming out. There's some tools. Tools, accessories.

A lot of palmers. I kind of like doing it this way. A lot of less work for me. Ah, here we go.

Will you just view it and don't talk about it? I'm just reading through it. No, that sounds stupid. We're not talking about it.

We're trying to make it efficient. I like the efficiency. SCG has acquired Mac Baron Tobacco Company. Yeah, that fucking guy.

Son of a bitch, he was on the phone in the last episode. He never fucking answers. You know what, it's not Tuesday. You want me to call him again?

Call it, or Monday. We'll see if he picks up. Son of a bitch. I'm hitting the button.

I hit the button. Because he'll never think we're doing a show on a Friday afternoon. Yeah, he'll think for sure I'm buying diesel or something. It's 6:20.

He's going to think something's wrong. " Is that the joke? " And then we don't buy it. No, I buy diesel.

We didn't get the last rep. Oh, they didn't have anybody, you know, tell me about it. Oh. Who's their rep?

I don't know. Oh, exactly. There you go. Maybe he lost one round of the fight for the traveling roadshow that doesn't travel.

Yeah. You probably, yeah. He got stuck. Exactly.

There's no meeting going on at 6:20 on a Friday. Call has been forwarded to voicemail. The person in time to reach is not available. At the tone, please record your message.

Message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up. Oh, Jesus. Do the other one.

I got Quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. Okay, hang up. Hang up. New feature here on the Cigars Podcast, phony phone calls.

We're just gonna call people randomly. I got Quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. Okay, now you have to block your phone and call Jack. We're just going to hit the button.

And then just hang up? Well, he's going to see that it's me. No, you blocked the number. How do you do that?

Is it 6-7 or whatever? Is it 6-7? I don't know what it is. Then you've got to dial the number.

I'm not going to block it, because he'll answer, and then you hit that button, and then I'm hanging up. Perfect. Okay. Your call has been forwarded to an automatic...

Wow. Write a voicemail. It's 6-20. These guys are eating dinner with their wives.

All it's been forwarded. Wow. Damn. Well, should we tell if we got Quaaludes?

Hector will pick up. Call Matt Booth. There's only three o'clock. Oh, man.

We just talked to him. He'd get so excited. Yeah, no, don't call him. Who do you got?

I can call Rosales, Roma. And tell him we got Quaaludes? He's gonna laugh. And then just hang up.

Skip's in Austin. Yeah. Call Skip. I don't know how, Skip's, for whatever reason, I can't get Skip on the phone.

My phone's fucked up. Let's see if he answers. There's your block. Just get ready.

Where are you going? I got Quaaludes, I got Acid, and I got cocaine. Hey, where's the party? He's the only motherfucker that's working.

Four bastards on the road. He's fucking trying to take care of shit. Oh my god. Alright, well, Scandinavian Tobacco room.

He's calling me back. Don't answer the phone. No, not answering it. Scandinavian Tobacco Group has announced that it has agreed to purchase Mac Barron Tobacco Company, a company best known for its pipe tobacco from Haldsburg.

The deal is valued at $535 million. Holy shit. Wait, wait, that's DKK. S.

Oh, my God. 84 million. Do they want to buy Mike and Mike? 21 million in profits.

Wow. Yeah, just a little pipe company, you said, Michael. Son of a bitch. Yeah, it's a little tiny pipe company.

I've never heard of them. We're just a little production company. I've never heard of her. They should buy us.

Never heard of her. I haven't heard of any of these things. Also, as cut tobacco brands like Amsterdamer, Choice, and Opal, and Nicotine Pouches. The company was founded in 1862.

They've been stockpiling money since 1862. 1862? Yes. So, over a hundred years of hard work.

150 years almost. Right now, over 150 years. Who owns it? The Indians?

Mac Barron's connection to the cigar world is through Sutliff Tobacco Company. S. subsidiary that operates a distribution company that works with around a dozen independent brands for distribution and fulfillment services out of Richmond, Virginia, Warehouse for those companies that live stores their products in its facility. Jeez.

He just got $76 million. Mm-hmm. They just bought that guy and his kids that long ago for like $85 million? That guy and his kids?

Yeah, yeah, the guy with the two boys. He's named the company after his kids, I can't remember. Alec Bradley? Alec and Bradley?

Alec and Bradley. Look, STG, the only thing they're not running out of is fucking money, dude. Apparently. Yeah.

Right. Wow. Uh, this is the eighth acquisition STG has made in roughly six years. Wow.

So they're just gonna buy the whole industry? Uh, let's see. In January 2018, they bought Thompson Cigar. In July 2018, just, what, six months later, Peterson's Pipe Group.

January of 2020, Agio, November 2021, Mardino, Officiado Del, I don't know. I told you he's got a Hennessy fucking pickup, bro. He's doing all right. Yeah.

June 2022. He doesn't even own equity shares. They bought Matt Booth, February 23. They bought Alec and Bradley.

They didn't even talk about the, they acquired Taranio in that mix, too. Yeah, but they fired him right away. And they fueled the growth of that motherfucker. Right.

And then the brands has disappeared. And he's still friends with Justin, too. It's so weird. Well, it wasn't Justin that fired him.

I think it was his idea. Listen, Jack's overshadowing me. He's gotta cut him. He's gotta go.

He's very tall and everything, I don't like walking with him, it scares me. He'll land on his feet, he'll wind up in the snow. Yeah, he's a big boy, he'll be fine. He's very charismatic.

Very charismatic. He'll be fine. I hear Hector's looking for a roommate. You figured he would have taken over instead of Joshua Harbersky at PCA.

He probably just doesn't pay enough. Jack? Yeah. Oh, yeah, no, he's a big money guy.

He's a big money guy. Right, yeah. Well, he's very expensive. His wardrobe, it's big clothes.

Yeah, I think so. He's not buying off the rack, Mike. There's no way Jack can buy off the rack. There's no way.

He's got to go to a place. There's a store. Don't have a big and tall at the Burlington? He doesn't go to big and tall.

It's all custom-made, tailor-made stuff. Oh, you think so? Oh, shit, yeah. Man of his caliber?

Man of his caliber, his stature. Yeah. Certainly. Think his wife's going to be seen with a man wearing off-the-rack big and tall clothes?

Yeah, no. It's not happening. No. You're right.

No echo, huh? You're right. Let's see. What do we got here?

We got the FDA ask court to dismiss menthol cigarette ban. Do we care? No. Nah.

We don't care. SD DuPont has two new lighters, Michael. And they make the ping. I got the email.

They make the ping. The lighters? Yeah. Are you talking about the lighters or the US Food and Drug?

No, the lighters. Oh, these are a gradient line. Yeah. But they ping.

Well, it's like a Zippo or something? No. Scrim is making limited edition Year of the Dragon Cutters. Oh, he's in trouble.

They're getting on a list. He's in trouble. He's going on Gurga's kill list. Gurga's kill list.

Aganorsa Leaf is shipping another new cigar. That looks the same? Yeah, it does. Yeah, I saw that.

It's a bigger version of the blue one. The one with the blue paper? Yeah. It's longer.

Here's what we're going to do. We're going to put the arm on it with the flex, and we're going to call it Aganorsa Super Rare Limited. No, no, it's a guy's head. Supreme.

Yeah, we got to get rid of all this lunatic tobacco. Oh, it's a guy's head. It's a guy's head. It's a guy's head.

We're going to call it Aganor's a guy's head. Arsenio. Oh, it's Arsenio Hall. I saw the man.

From the Dog Pound. Yeah, from the Dog Pound. That's nice. C.

Newman releases a leather case. So they got that going for him. Yeah, they got that going for him. That sounds exciting.

Shit on People Friday here at Cigars Podcast. Battleground Cigars adds Perfecto to the OPK Fireline. Eh, we don't care. Okay.

He's going to get bought out while SDG's going to buy them. SDG buys Battleground for $75 million. $75. $75.

They sound like they're putting a couple of commas in their purchases. You know, I've seen some more fucking podcast, like, clips now, because it's feeding more on my feed. Yeah? And some of the shit that these guys talk.

How do you, oh, because you watch other ones. Yeah. Yeah, I don't get it. " And I'm like, what the fuck, do you know, our cigars are different than other tobacco, why are we being, I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about?

What are they talking about? This is, this is issues, you're going back 20 years, man, like, stop. Oh, somebody reviewed the Chogui. What?

Oh. Which one, the Ragusto? Uh, Corojo Ragusto. Yeah.

Oh, what again? Corojo. Yeah, just skip all that, all the details, skip the cereal talk. What's the number?

Oh! Oh, it's bad. Don't read the number. Don't read the number.

Guess. I'll turn the show off. 86. No, it's worse.

It's worse than an 86? Worse than an 86. Wait, wait, wait. Who's rating it?

82? It's Charlie. Oh, man. No, lower.

It's in the '70s? Yeah, it's in the '70s. Ouch. Many years ago, I remember hearing Pete Johnson of Totuaje comment on the idea that Cuban cigars must be aged in order to achieve their potential.

" Oh, this can't be good. Oh my lord. "His comment has stuck with me for its simplicity and universal application. I have borrowed that hypothesis to also apply to draw issues.

" Ah, so he had a draw issue. " Yeah. It's a shame, because there's plenty to like about the Chogui Dose 77 with Carajo Rabusco. See?

It does taste good. You just gotta plug one. Namely, how complex the flavor profile should be, despite not having many different flavors. 0 era, as I enjoy the vast majority of cigars I smoke from Victor and Nicholas.

Unfortunately, this release has just never one of them. Yeah. So was it just a draw issue, or was it a taste? I don't know.

I skipped through the rest of the article. Does he not listen to what we're talking about? We surmised it sounds like the draw issue had a draw issue. Right, so why such a low...

Charlie woke up and chose violence, I mean, you know, that's okay. Well, look, the reality is that... Not every cigar can be perfect. Well, yes, that's true, but you should do a good job of making sure that checks and balances to that, you know, minimal plugs happen.

I've smoked several of those, I've never had a plug. Yeah, me neither. I have one in my bag now. Light it up, see if it's plugged.

I don't want to smoke it right now. I don't know. Alright. I like the smoke, I'm by myself.

Anything else you want to cover on the news? I'm looking. I'm looking. Dun dun.

Dun dun. Dun dun. Now I'm into last week's. Okay.

Huh. Alright. I never hit record over here. Aww.

I hope it's working. So do I. It's been red over here the whole time. Oh, it's supposed to be green.

Don't say that to me, it's fucked up, it made me think, you made me panic for a second. It's because they say it so fast, what's the good thing about it? Wait, wait, he said that quick? No, that's not true, it's supposed to be rad.

You're a bad, you're a bad person. When you turn it on now, because we have to unplug the whole thing, that weird screen shows up. Yeah. And you just have to hit this other button.

Because you unplug it all the time. It's got no off button! I'm sure if you read the 3,000 page book. No, I did, I Googled everything.

I googled everything, there is no off button, one guy put a switch in the line, between, he plugged the plug into the switch, and then the switch into the outlet. You would think for a $500 video board that it would have. I think I'd put a damn on and off switch. Yeah.

No. Alright. Anything else? No, you got Shop of the Week?

Yeah. Does it say what you did last week? What did I do last week? Don't tell them, just let them say it.

I'm not telling. Bong. Bong. Shop of the Week is...

Lake Country Cigars. Yeah, that was the one last week. That's the one you did last week. You're going there in July.

That's right. Right. You gotta do a different one. I gotta do a different one?

Can't do say one two weeks in a row. Yeah, I have a job of the week. Okay, hold on. Bong.

Cigars on the app. I knew he was gonna say that. I don't know why. It just popped in my mind.

Houston, we have a problem. We have a problem. You can't say that one either. Why not?

No, you can't. I just had to make a reason for hitting the button. Listener? Listener of the week.

Listener of the week. Hector Alfonso. Hector Alfonso, you're the listener of the week, because of Espinosa Cigars, as you upset him with your sound. Oh yeah, let's turn this way for Hector.

He prefers that we look right at the camera. Right at the camera. And they announced the Lozona Palooza is going to be November 14th, 15th, and 16th. Is that low key, or did it?

No, it was on social media. Several people have re-shared it, Richie's posted it, it's everywhere. Richie's very excited. Yeah, it's the social event of the season.

Yeah. Hector was very concerned that we didn't know who the fuck lost the wallet. Oh, did he call again? He called me mid-podcast.

Oh. I'm like, yeah, we get there, bro. We get there. Yeah, we're fine.

We figured it out. We figured it out. John Carney. Who figured it out on that show?

Justin did. Justin. Oh, yeah, we had Justin on the phone. That's right, because we thought it was him.

He was scrolling through Facebook. Yeah. Ah, gotcha. All right.

We're just waiting on our invitation. It's still invite-only. Is it? Even though they announced the date, they still stressed it is invite-only.

Oh. I think it said that on the post. On the graphic? Are we bringing Phil, if we go?

Nah. He'll probably be busy. By November? He'll probably have some DJs.

He will have left some shit. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, it's a winter Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yeah.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Wow. You know, you should probably switch your arms. I noticed your one shoulder's getting a little beefy there.

Yeah. A little bulky. From the pumping? Yeah, he needs to switch the arms.

Yeah, mix it up. Yeah. What are you drinking, Paul? I've been looking at that can all the time.

It's a monster, a real punch. I found it next door the other day. I wanted to try it. Found it next door?

In the private lounge? No, no, the next door, Circle K. He made Cigar House. Yeah, when I left here yesterday, my wife asked me to bring home a Fountain Diet Coke.

Ah. They're better at the fountain. Yeah, that's what she says. But she always wants the big one, and then she never drinks it.

Then she never drinks it. Like an extra 20 cents. Well, I know it's not the expense, it's the waste. So I always figure, well, I've got half a diet coke I have to drink.

Wow. Yeah, the big one's 79 cents. Well, it's kind of like, you know, I'm at a point almost when I want to go to dinner with the kids, I almost don't want to order something. Yeah, because you're going to eat their food.

Oh, because you're going to eat their stuff. Because I'm going to eat all their shit. Yeah. Because it's going to happen.

I do that. Sure, they're going to be leftovers. Yeah, I mean, especially with Teddy. Oh, yeah.

She takes a bite. One chicken nugget. Done. It's like, okay, that's it.

Okay, we go now. All right, I'm done. I'm like, okay, well, I got to eat yours too now. You can take it home.

I feel obligated. No, so that's why it dies in the fridge? Yeah. Give it to the dogs.

I don't give the dogs food. You don't give the dogs food? They don't eat? Yeah, they don't eat.

Oh, jeez. No wonder Bubbles is so mean. Yeah, I gave them V. Oh, did you?

Yeah. Oh. Yeah, so they're super. Yeah, they're superhero dogs, yeah.

Yeah, that was so weird. Can you imagine if Bubbles became a superhero dog? He would definitely be a villain. " Right.

Bubbles would be just aggressively humping things out of control. I guess you don't want to ruin the show. We kind of did. Nah, they don't know where they're at, what happens, you know, we didn't say he kills the V-Bowl, we didn't say that.

Yeah, we didn't say that. They cut the guy's leg off so everybody thinks he's dead, they didn't say that at all. That didn't happen. That didn't happen.

So now you don't have to watch The Boys. You're welcome. I saved you. It's like 90 minutes each episode or something?

It was long. That felt long. Yeah. It was like over an hour.

Yeah. But it was great. I felt good after that episode. There's not really a lot going on other than people just keep dying.

It's like, how can we gruesomely dismember and kill someone this week? You know what? I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it.

It's because you're a violent person, Michael. Maybe. You're enjoying it. Silent rage.

What would you like to happen, Palmer? I like superhero stories. Let's do a superhero thing. I like how they commingled politics in it.

Now, I missed something because I usually doze off when I watch the TV. Oh, no. So why did every, okay, when they got to the place where the lambs or the goats or wherever they was, they already had blood on them. Who did?

It looked like everybody. Firebug or whatever, she had blood on her face. Firebug? I can't remember the name.

Starlight? There you go, that's the one. Yeah, and then the guy who's in charge of everything, his suit, he had blood on his shirt already, on his collar and stuff, and the CIA guy, whose name I can't remember either, he had, either he had blood, his name was not Banana, he had blood on his sweatshirt, or that's the way the design was, was splashed as a red line stuff, which could possibly be. Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about.

I know that they had some interactions on the farm. On the way to the farm? No, like immediately at the farm. Maybe that's what it was, because when I saw, when I woke up or turned it back on or whatever I'm going to do, they saw the bull.

Oh yeah, they had already gone through some stuff at that point. Okay. They had, there was, there was these chickens. You got to go back.

Oh, I got to go back. If there's deadly chickens. You got to see the deadly chickens. Yeah.

So, they have been practicing with the V on various animals. No, it was an accident. How can you actually give it to that many animals? A hamster broke out.

Oh. A hamster with V broke out and shattered a bunch of the V, and it went into the grounds, the water of the farm, so they all ingested the water. Oh, so I heard somebody mentioned something about the hamster. How did this happen?

Well, it was a fucked up hamster. You never give a hamster V, is what somebody said. God, rookie. I haven't watched the show, but I did see the, I just finished Billions, I did see the, at the start, I just finished Billions, like yesterday, I think it was.

You know what, I gave up on that, when they got rid of Bobby Axelrod, but then he comes back. Oh. Yeah, I stopped, I didn't want to tell you. He comes back in the best way.

I have to. I missed you giving me the excerpts every week and acting out the episodes. First of all, there's only one excerpt, and that's the best excerpt ever. Pretend we're having an argument.

You want to tell me why? Yeah. All right, all right, let's wrap this up, because now we're just rambling. Oh, please, we've made phony phone calls, we've rambled, we've talked about TV shows.

That's all we've done. How was your Thursday? This is a great podcast. And now there's no timer, so we don't know how long we've even been talking.

I feel good about it. We've been going for about 49 minutes. How do you know that? I saw what time it was on my phone.

So there you go. All right, we gotta go. It's been episode 341 of this cigar. Have a safe trip, Mike.

Thank you. I hope you have an exquisite vacation. Thank you very much. I hope that you arrive safe and you have nothing fatal.

No alligators. No alligators. Thank you. Nothing.

I hope the parasailing goes perfect. I'm probably gonna crash in my head on a headstone that's under the water. Yeah, I hope you don't crash into a headstone. Right.

Do they, they crank you back in or they just let you fall in the water? They crank you back in. Oh, okay. Just gonna have to find out.

All right, guys, bye. Now you hit the button. Stop. 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 & 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 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.

We'll be right back.

Show Notes

In this special Friday night episode of The Cigar Hustlers Podcast, we ensure our listeners never miss a moment with an entertaining mix of phony phone calls, silly stories, and show updates. Tune in for some random industry news and enjoy a night of fun and laughter with your favorite hosts. Don't miss this unique episode packed with humor and surprises!