Cigar Hustlers Podcast Plasencia Alma Del Fuego Ometepe Edicion Limitada Episode 339

Episode Summary

Episode 339 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast opens with Mike "The King" Stepankevich and Mike "BDP" Palmer battling a studio full of failing cameras, printers and lighters while teasing the Patreon review of the Plasencia Alma Fuerte Ometepe Edición Limitada — a roughly $100 cigar built around a rare Ometepe wrapper. The guys explain why the full video review lives behind the $15 Patreon paywall, and joke that the review will either save you $100 or confirm the splurge.

The bulk of the first half is a recap of the weekend: a Saturday appearance on the Cigar Jukebox podcast with Dave Burke and Coop (complete with microphone and audio mishaps), a family beach day, and Mike's Sunday flight to Virginia for an in-store event at Tobacology. Retailer Brett Fry calls in to thank Mike for working the humidor and selling not just his own brand but Roma Craft as well, and the conversation turns to the still-unsolved theft of the shop's Saka Swatch/Sasquatch display and whether a reward should be posted. There's also a shop talk detour on last-minute scheduling, plus Phil's Fun Facts on Operation Inherent Resolve and the "CJOA bear," a Syrian brown bear follow-up to the Wojtek bear stories.

The news block covers CAA import data showing 127.4 million premium cigars imported January–April 2024, keeping pace with last year's record, with Nicaragua supplying 58.7% of the total. Davidoff's record 2023 revenue of $613 million (up 10.5%) gets a full breakdown, including 48.8 million handmade cigars produced, Dominican factory expansion plans for a new blending center and short-filler center, and the Davidoff and Zino brands as key growth drivers. The hosts also rant about vague brand interviews where a rep couldn't name his own wrapper origins, and briefly touch on Freud Cigar Company's Super Ego release.

A surprise highlight: Justin Andrews of Scandinavian Tobacco Group actually answers a cold call, leading to banter about STG's size versus Davidoff, the Room 101 acquisition and Matt Booth's success under STG, upcoming Diesel releases, and a case of mistaken wallet-loss identity involving John Carney and Richie Otero. The episode closes with a Central Florida alligator attack story, Lake Country Cigars as Shop of the Week, and a listener of the week shout-out.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Patreon Review Tease: Plasencia Alma Fuerte Ometepe
   The hosts unbox the $100 Plasencia Alma Fuerte Ometepe Edición Limitada with its rare Ometepe wrapper and explain the Patreon-only video review.
2. 02
   Studio Chaos and Cigar Jukebox Recap
   Camera, printer and lighter failures derail the video feed while the Mikes recap their Saturday guest spot on Cigar Jukebox with Dave Burke and Coop.
3. 03
   Tobacology Event Recap with Brett Fry
   Retailer Brett Fry calls in to thank Mike for working his Virginia family reunion event and selling from behind the humidor counter.
4. 04
   The Missing Saka Swatch and Shop Talk
   The stolen Sasquatch display, possible rewards and wanted posters, plus the realities of last-minute shop scheduling.
5. 05
   Phil's Fun Facts: The CJOA Bear
   Phil follows up the Wojtek bear saga with Operation Inherent Resolve and the Syrian brown bear rumored to steal ISIS lunches.
6. 06
   Cigar Industry News: Imports and Davidoff Revenue
   CAA import figures for early 2024 and Davidoff's record $613 million 2023 revenue, production increases and Dominican facility expansion.
7. 07
   Justin Andrews of STG Calls In
   The STG rep finally answers the phone for talk on Room 101, Matt Booth's growth, STG's global scale and upcoming Diesel releases.
8. 08
   Florida Story, Shop and Listener of the Week
   An alligator attack at Lake Monroe, Lake Country Cigars as Shop of the Week, and a listener shout-out.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Everybody stand by. Industry is in the house. P. Make way for the king!

Another Mike and Mike production. In 3, 2, 1, 0. Is that a paper over there, is there? Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 339.

This is where Mike 1 and Mike 2 will talk about- Recorded live at the Mike & Mike Productions studios in Delta Oto, Florida, this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a show where two guys share their passion for cigars, business, and life. Join Mike the King, Stepankevich, and 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 him, that's our sound tech and engineer, Phil. Whether you're a seasoned aficionado or new to cigars, this is Podcast Views.

So sit back, relax, and light up a cigar with your cigars podcast. Yeah, what he said. I don't know, you said passion. It's not- It's not a passion anymore?

It's no longer a passion. No longer a passion. Now it's just, what is it? Is it a job?

It's this fucking unrelentless, I don't know. It's a passion. Incredible task. Still a passion, but it wasn't a passion.

I don't think we should remember doing that. I don't know, you ever see Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino? No, never seen it. You never saw it?

No. What happened? He talks about how he'd take a flamethrower to this place. Oh, take a flamethrower to this place!

That's how I'm feeling today. Well, we always feel like that, regardless. What do we got? We always feel that way?

What do we got for the Patreon? It's in your hand, the dildo. I know, but you're supposed to fucking talk about it. No, I know, I don't tell the other show!

You say, what do we got for the Patreon? You bring it in, and I do it on the other show. I ask you, what do we got for the Patreon? No, I'm supposed to ask you.

And you say, we're going to be reviewing the blah, blah, blah. You say it every day, every episode. I'm going to beat you to the death of one of these things. Well, there's the flamethrower.

There's your paper. What paper is that? It needs to fill a fun fact. Okay.

What are we doing for the Patreon? We're doing the Plasencia Alma Fuerte Lava Rock. It's got like a fucking magnet on this thing. They're magnetic on this thing.

Yeah, they're magnetic against, right. Okay, so this is the Plasencia $100. Oh my God. I would have went under the front, to be honest.

I can't deal with the chaos today. It's supposed to be summertime. Like, what's going on, man? I don't know.

The Alma Fuerte, Oma Tepe, yada yada. Oma Tepe, that's it, the Oma Tepe, yada yada. Oma Tepe wrapper, very rare. Very, very rare.

So look, we're gonna review, this is a $100 cigar. Yes. We're gonna review these motherfuckers on the Patreon. Yes.

And we'll let you know. It's $300 worth of cigars. It's $300 worth of cigars. Just hemorrhaging cash on this.

I'm going to tell you right now, for 15 bucks, you can get video of us telling you if the cigar is worth the shit or not. And you can either A, save a hunch. Right. Or you can save 85.

85, you save the 15. Right. Yeah. And then you could be supporting a good cause here.

We have a video production team that is doing absolute fucking chaos garbage right now. Cameras aren't working. Shit is hitting the fan. Palmer's angry.

I'm angry. You're angry. I am angry. I mean, we got Phil that doesn't even exist anymore.

I'm here. He doesn't even get a camera. He's just a creepy voice in the background. Here, take your dildo stick.

Palmer, do me a favor. Take a picture of the fact and just send it to me. Well, that didn't print. You printed out all your stuff.

Oh, I printed out the wrong one. Here, take your uh... That's funny, I said Phil's fun fact on my phone. Phil was just on camera.

Printer's no longer available, it says. Cancel the print, Jeff. Yeah, big shocker. Nothing wants to work.

Nothing, nothing I want to work in this room. So anyway, welcome to Cigars, our podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free, but a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on Patreon. Thank you to your unwavering support. We're able to deliver unfiltered, unbiased opinions, all things cigars and personalities in the cigar world.

3 grams. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners. Cheers to you. com and search "A Cigar Hustler Podcast".

Hopefully that works. Yeah, go check it out. I think this is going to be a cool review, they better get on there. So Palmer, how was your weekend?

We did, are we going to that first or are we going to the other thing first, what were we talking about first? We do, we do, we do, we do no show prep at all. Uh, Sunday went to the, see I'm already on the Sunday. When do we ever do show prep?

That's why, that's the problem. I've never seen show prep. That's the problem, you just don't make it for the show preps. Oh, there's a show prep?

There's a show prep meeting. You just don't like it. Okay. That's okay.

Phil doesn't normally make it either. I'm usually just in it by myself. Oh, so it's just you prepping in your head? It's just me prepping in my head.

But I spent the bulk of today. So you didn't prep is what you're saying. Right, yeah. I spent the bulk of today trying to get that new, it's a very expensive camera to work for the third time.

I got it to work once, now I'll work again. All of a sudden it doesn't want to connect. It don't want to. It's like everything else.

They don't want to work. Nobody want to work. Including the camera. -And that lighter.

-Apparently this lighter as well. -And the lighter. -Son of a bitch. Do I have fuel anywhere?

-In the, oh, he's showing you another lighter. -Can you do? -Oh, I have one over here. I have one over here.

-Yeah, baby. -You have a lighter over there? -Yeah, I have a lighter over there. -Or do you have this fucking welder of a lighter?

-All right, I texted you your Phil's Fun fact, it's in the Eminem Productions one. -All right, I got it. -My lord. -So what'd you do Sunday?

-So what do you take this Sunday? -You went to the beach. -We went to the beach, we went to the beach Sunday. We had a beach day.

Was this your anniversary weekend? No. Oh, that was last week. Told you.

Yeah, I guess. What is this little nubby thing that- Let's not talk about it. Let's not talk about it. You know what my problem is with you, Phil, is that I fucking always believe you.

I don't know why, but I always believe you. I'm like, oh yeah, no. And then we fast forward two hours later, I'm like, motherfucker, he didn't know what he was talking about. You want to know why you believe it?

Why? Because we all have anxiety. And it starts getting the best of us. I don't know.

It was a nice day at the beach, I mean, it got crowded, but we went super early to get a spot. That's cool. Yeah, I think I saw you post at like 7:00. Well, we left the house at 8:00, we were on the beach by 9:00, you know, and stopped getting gas and ice and...

Prior to that... Yes. We did a podcast. We did a podcast on Saturday.

We did a Saturday podcast with Dave Burke. Hey, do you use a cigar jukebox? Do you use an external microphone on your laptop when you do those? Why?

Because I got the advanced audio copy of the show. Yeah. You sounded much better. Mine sounded terrible.

Really? Yeah. I plugged in my DJI. You know, I thought that's what you were using.

So did you use your little clip-on microphone? I tried to. It didn't register. I think that the mic was still the Mac, to be honest.

Does the DJI have a microphone? It does. Maybe you use that one. use that one maybe it went to that as the webcam option maybe i went to go plug it in but it's my dji mic right but when i did it still said that i was using the macbook mic so i'm like okay well and i was already late right i had already fucked that up yeah you already fucked up that you were so yeah so i thought it started at six not at five so at five o'clock i'm sitting playing video games with my kids you know we have a jack's buddy over levi right we're all just kind of hanging out or whatever i'm like man i got plenty of time i'm thinking at 5 30 5 30 maybe i'll set up everything i'll put out the big screen i'll just i'll get decked out or whatever i get a text at 506 where the hell are you i'm like i'm on my couch what do you mean he's a podcast started i'm like it starts at six in here with dave and coop we're just in there chit-chatting looking for you starts at six they're like oh he'll be here a minute give him a minute like no no it's five He's forgotten, or something's happened, or...

Yeah, Palmer knows. Something's wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Right.

I thought it was at 6:00. But me, at 4:30, I'm panicking, because I have to go to the bathroom, and I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough time to get set up by 5:00. Really? And then I'm trying to figure out where to get set up at, because I was going to do the dining room, but then the wife and the dogs, it's too much background noise.

Yeah. Garage is too hot. You had a bit of echo. Did I?

Yeah. I was in one of the back bedrooms, which she uses as an office. Got it. That's the table in there.

Hmm. Interesting. But I ordered a $9 cord so that I can hook this type of microphone to the laptop. That's cool.

See if that makes a difference. I figured that you would've came here and did it. You know, um, well, right before- With all of this vast technology that we fucking have here. Right.

As we slowly, well he says, I slowly go broke buying more shit and none of it fucking work. Right, right. Uh, no, because right before we started, I was gonna go with my wife over to somebody's house, So I had, you know, time restraints. I was like, "Well, I don't want to be another 10 minutes away.

" Right. So, I just did it at home. " Right. Yeah.

" So she ran through the list, and there was a couple of women that I had met before. I'm like, "Okay, they're gonna be uncomfortable. " So many uncomfortables. I'm just not.

I'll pass, you go ahead and go. I've got two minutes before this starts. Yeah. What kind of instrument did you guys talk about?

Bass guitar. Bass guitar? The fuck are you talking about? He's talking about Cigar Jukebox.

I know he is, but... He never listens. He doesn't listen. He used to commit.

I didn't see any link for it. He used to be all about it. It doesn't come out till tomorrow. It's not all about it, but if you need drugs...

Actually, tonight it is. If you need drugs... If you need drugs, we know the guy to contact. We know the guy to contact.

I got quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. Wow. Who is that? You don't know who that is?

That is a clear, distinct, apparent voice in the cigar industry. I got quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. Is that the doc? I don't know who that is.

Who's the doc? The doc. I don't know who that is. There's something that I wanted to talk about that was on a Patreon a couple weeks ago, which is fucking amazing, by the way, since Phil is continuing to insert his foot in his mouth.

Someone said "Puerto Rico". Right. And... Who were you, wait, we were...

We were on the phone. We were talking Alan. Yeah, we were talking Alan of Caribbean cigars. Alan of Caribbean.

Because we didn't want the... Wait, we're talking about patrons? Yeah, yeah. Just a brief little snippet.

Because they gotta hear it. I mean, if they want to buy it in here, they gotta hear it. Right, right, right. He was talking about Puerto Rico, without going into context.

Okay. And then... Phil wasn't there. Boots was there.

Boots said... Yeah. Is that in Miami? Is that in Miami as well?

Right. Puerto Rico. Is Puerto Rico in Miami? Did I say that?

Yes. Or South Florida. Is that South Florida as well? Is that South Florida as well?

That's what he said. Well, kind of. Is that South Florida? Way South.

My goodness. Jack Toronto said he almost fell out of his fucking chair. Yes, we did get a phone call from Jack about that. Well, I'm glad that the Patreon is funny.

And now, what instrument did we play or talk about on Cigar Chirp? Talk about on Cigar Chirp Box. What instrument did we talk about? I love how Palmer went along with it.

No, I was thinking, what? I did the cello. Right, I did a clarinet. But I did it like old school blues.

Yeah, not with the harp. He was clicking it. My baby. It's great.

Dave Burke played that Australian instrument. Oh, yeah. Oh, like Crocodile Dundee did with the Aborigines when he's trying to call them and stuff? Right.

Oh, yeah, the... He whips it around. Yeah. You know, sometimes I don't know if I'm believing you guys or...

You know what? You should believe... And then Coop definitely saxophone. That was saxophone that was played.

Coop is a sax guy. He's a sax guy. That's a guy, right. So we had quite the...

Is it not recording? I don't see any red dots. There's a red dot. Oh, is it on your side?

Yeah. Yeah, the lens is just so goddamn big that... I hit record over here. So I went to go return the black magic and they pelted me for $250 on the software.

Right, yeah, you sent me the thing. I'm like, you motherfuckers. We'd already opened it and scraped it anyway. I messaged them back, they didn't respond.

I'm like, if I sent it back to you, can I get my $250? I said, even though we already used it and deleted it off the computer, it was a really big program file. So after you light this, do you sit on it? Yeah, you put that right in your...

Right in your... Yeah. That's good. That's good.

Nice. So, yeah, we did a great podcast. Yes, it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.

Yeah, and I went ahead Sunday morning, got on a fucking plane. Yeah, and then you left, whoop, right away. Went to Virginia. Right.

Did our event at Tobacology and came home. Only pictures I saw were pre-pictures from Mr. Rosales. You know, it is...

Dude, I brought my DJI. It's hard, it's hard to do when you're, when you're there as a participant, and then to have time to videotape everything. Yeah. So you flew in.

I flew in. Did Brett pick you up? No. You got your own car?

No. Rosales picked you up? Rosales picked me up. Oh, not lightweight heavy?

No, not lightweight heavy. And, you know, I think I would have guilted, if Rosales tried to send, flex and send somebody else, I'd be like, motherfucker, what are we doing here? Like I would have been, I would have been upset. I would have been upset.

He's the boss, he sent somebody. But we're tight. I understand. We're boys.

I understand. You know what I mean? Like, Michael to me is the way that you guys are to me, right? Right, right, right.

So there are situations, like when we would travel on the road sometimes, if I was getting a cup of coffee and he was busy doing something, I would just get two coffees, right? Right. You know how he takes it. Yeah.

He's a double espresso. There's like an 80% chance he's going to want that coffee. Right. And then there were some times...

I get what he gets because that's just easier. Yeah, just roll with it. There were some times that he would get coffee and he wouldn't get me coffee. " Oh, yeah.

What was that? A little hard one. What was that? You took care of yourself?

Yeah, that's bullshit. Just don't mind. I always get you one too. Yeah, I know.

You're so thoughtful. I'm just saying. So, yeah, if he said... When it comes to who gets the kids, just remember that.

So, he came and picked me up. Right. " He let you ride in the back? So I thought that maybe Sean was going to be with him, I was like, ooh this is going to be great, I'll be in the backseat, like a chauffeur, it's amazing.

So did you still sit in the backseat? No, I sat in the front. You should have still sat in the backseat. I want to sit in the backseat.

You should have sat in the backseat. I sat in the front. " Yeah, you're supposed to open this door, is this how this works? I'm paying for this, Michael.

Just be a backseat. Where's my sign? What type of service is this? Where's my sign?

Where's my damn sign? I don't know if it doesn't say his last name, it says Mike. Yeah, it just says Mike. It's a slapdick on it.

So, yeah, we drove, so we stopped by Starbucks, picked up some coffee, went to the yada yada, went to the event. Did Rosales get one and have to go back in and get you another one? No, I ordered for both of us. Oh, yeah, he's got the app.

Yeah. " Oops. Sorry, I didn't look. He just assumed he didn't.

Just send him the link to the Patreon. Give me 15 bucks. Oh. Uh oh.

So you guys arrived? Yeah. And what activities? Because I remember there being activities.

There was some type of lawn dart thing or something, but I didn't stay outside. I was in the humidor the whole time. Oh, yeah, you gotta work, gotta sell. That's it, baby.

Gotta sell the cigars. Will Brett Fry answer? Of course. Just saying, he did last week what I called him.

Oh, One Ring. One Ring. What's up? What's up, bud?

You're on the podcast, obviously. Oh, great. How you doing, man? Wow.

He sounds thrilled, doesn't he? No, what's up, boy? Nothing, so I just wanted to check in on you, make sure that you enjoy the event. Did you have a good time?

I personally had a great time, and thank you very much for having us out there. You have a hell of relationships there with your customers. It was you out there, brother. It wasn't us.

It was just you. It was me. And you out there. Yeah.

Well, you know, I was giving this some thought and I was going to send you something because it really is, it's refreshing to have a brand owner come and work their tail off to sell with and for the retailer. Because, as you know, that doesn't happen all too often. This is true. You know, and you even did it selflessly in the sense that you helped out selling Roma as well, which was, it's unique.

And it means a lot, man, you know, because we had to really, not understaff, but the normal humidor crew wasn't there because they were out cooking. So it was, it was nice to see, and it was much appreciated, and it didn't go unnoticed. Oh, you're such a sweet man. And speaking of the cook that was...

Oh, is that where that came from? Yeah. Wait a second. Why is there two on here?

Holy shit. Did I carry two this whole time? Apparently. I have two license plates of Voightech.

Oh. I didn't even realize that, Brett. Yeah, because we sent you the other one. No, these had to be attached to me.

When you handed it to me, there was not two. I mean, they're not that sticky. Did you bring one down from upstairs? No.

So now we have two. Now we have two. This is so weird. This is the fucking Twilight Zone, Matrix shit's going on.

That's deja vu. I got Quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. Yeah, that's all the Quaaludes that Coop sent us. I always hear about Quaaludes.

I've never done Quaaludes. They really sucked at all in a way. I feel like, you know, you're too young for that. Well, Coop's got 'em if you need some.

Yeah, just reach out to Coop. No, he doesn't. Really? Listen, listen to the soundbite.

I got quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. There you go. No, he doesn't. He puts out a buffet before you do the Cigar Jukebox podcast.

It's all about the Cigar Jukebox podcast. So, hey, dude, I honestly, I really do appreciate you. And Mike was fantastic, too, cooking out there and, you know, having Michael and Sean there are awesome. And yes, of course, I'm going to fucking, look, you're my dude, bro.

When I, if I'm going to show up to an event, I'm not, I'm going, I'm a hundred percent, man. I'm going to outwork every motherfucker. We're going to talk to every person possible and, you know, um, yeah, man. So, and I know that you're on the same page with that.

So, so I truly appreciate you. I appreciate the opportunity. Um, and we're going to keep this thing going, buddy. This is not the last, this is not the last time of me, me arriving at tobacology.

m. and you left at 10. You weren't even here at 12 hours. Yes, sir.

That's crazy. I don't fuck around, man. Look, I got shit to do, baby. I got shit to do.

I get it, buddy. You know, I got a podcast to record. I got football practice to attend. You know, I got businesses to run.

Run them right. Even if they're running right into the ground, it doesn't matter. Somebody's got to drive. So I'm still going to be here.

You've got to go forward, even if it's down. That's it. That's it. So, you know.

I appreciate you, man. I really do. Of course. Of course, bro.

So, thanks again, man. If, you know, if you ever need anything else from me, anything else I can do to help you, you know, I'm always here for you, buddy. I appreciate that. Will do.

All right, man. This is the chill, Brett. This is the Brett after the event, Brett. Well, I'm doing the schedule for the next few weeks, so I'm in that zone.

He's that zen of trying to figure out all these puzzles, all these pieces. He's reflecting. He does his in advance? Wow, that's nice.

Listen, I can't do the schedule, too. No, you don't do the schedule. Greg does the schedule. I can't do the schedule, too.

" It's so funny because you missed the meeting, and they were talking about you're working today upstairs. Yes, I work tonight. And Greg's like, I think Ryan's explaining this to Greg. Oh, he doesn't understand?

" I'm like, Ryan's in shorts, he's not working today, dude. Right, Ryan had something he couldn't wear. I don't think that he's fucking with anybody, he looks like he's ready for the fucking beach. Right, Ziggy's not back yet either, I don't think.

Yeah, and Ed gets, it was either me or we closed, so... I mean, we could just close. We all have the last-minute calls, every shop owner's got a last-minute call. That's it.

Someone who's flexible and can say yes or be there when needed. " I'm fuckin' sitting on my couch, like, I know you haven't worked here in eight months, but- We did not delete your alarm code yet. But you still have a code here, and uh- Last minute, definitely the bar can get lowered for last minute. Yeah, if you wanna come in- Hey, we fired you for theft, just don't take much tonight.

Yeah, just keep it kinda low key, just take one or two things, we're okay with you coming back in, so. Just watch our Sasquatch, that's all. Yeah, if you could figure out where the fuck the big Saka Swatch went, that would be fantastic. I haven't even been able to address that shit, yet.

No, no, nobody's talking about it anymore. Yeah. Do you put a reward up for the guy? Well, it did go out, it went out to, like, Deltona City, like, local boards and stuff of photos, so we've definitely done that.

We haven't initiated a reward. I was just kind of hoping that somebody would say something at this point, but we'll get to the bottom of it, man. I just haven't had it. All right, well, I'll put up 500 if they can tell me who it is without going to believe.

500? No, no, listen, listen, listen. Now go into the police. Okay.

It was Boots. Boots did it. Boots did it. I'll give you $100.

Are you kidding me? This is Brett. Brett's going to come down here with a bunch of fucking dudes, and Boots is going to die. Oh, beat his ass?

Boots is going to die. It was Boots. It's not going to beat his ass. It's going to die.

Not a bunch of dudes. Just one shovel and some plastic. That's it. That's all you need.

There you go. And I feel like he has those things in his truck. Yeah, he just... At all, at any given moment.

Allegedly. Allegedly, of course. Yes, if you have them before, it's preempted. Yeah, no, they're just there for-- They just happen to be there.

I dig a lot of holes when I drive around. Yeah, I love holes. I love holes. Just go deep enough, it don't matter if it's preempted or not.

All right, brother, I'll let you get back to it, man. All right, bud. Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you, Jim.

I appreciate you too, bud. Later. Take care, guys. Mr.

Brett. I mean, think about it, if you give me the photo, I can make a wanted poster, We can put it on the TV upstairs. You might alarm that person, though. Well, if they're putting it out on the wire anyway.

We can put it out on social media, on the podcast. Do me a favor. Yes. Circle back to me on this hunt tomorrow.

Okay. And then we'll see. He's got a lot of stuff. And we'll see how we can address that.

We'll see how we can address that. All right. So, yeah, man, it was a great event, dude. It was a great event.

Good. Did you meet any new people that made an impact? Is there an impact? Yeah, I mean, I met a bunch of new people.

There's two guys with cars that no longer have license plates. Yeah, no, well, it's the same guy. Oh, front and back. No, I met a lot of, you know, a lot of his great regulars, and he's got...

That's how you start saying girls. No. I met a lot of girls that like the brand. I met a ton of bitches at a cigar store.

Right, in Virginia. No, I met a lot of great customers. There are a couple of dudes there that are fucking hilarious. Was there a potluck?

No, he did burgers and, like, sausages or some shit. Nice. Okay. Yeah.

So, it was cool. Sounds cool. It was good stuff. He does this once a year?

Yeah, he does the family reunion event once a year. He does, like, three or four big events. Yeah, no, the crawfish boils one. Yeah, that's the Drew's Day one.

Well, what do you do with Drew's Day? Do we? Halloween. Are they doing Halloween again this year?

I guess. Smashing Pumpkins. Smashing Pumpkins. Smashing Pumpkins.

Hmm. We should do Smashing something else, like eggplants or something. Just mix it up a little. Sounds smaller.

Sounds a little gay. Okay. Smashing... Kumquats.

Kumquats. Kumquats. Smashing coconuts. Oh, that'd be harder to do.

Watermelons. Ooh. That'd be bigger. Expensive.

And more expensive, yeah. Well, that's okay. Greg just drives around and he finds something that are going bad like this with the pumpkins. I need some partially expired watermelons.

Sure, not a problem. Here you go. All right. Are watermelons even in season that time of year?

How the fuck should I know? What am I? Watermelon connoisseur. Yeah.

Go ahead, Phil. Don't go yet, Phil. Phil's fun facts brought to you. That's the old, that's your AI one that you've removed, allegedly.

I don't remove, I got complaints. They like when I do. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers' Podcast Feature, Phil's Fun Facts. Hello, peoples!

Alright. Operation Inherent Resolve is a multinational coalition of forces assisting in the defeat of ISIS throughout areas of Iraq and Syria, commonly known as the CJOA. Did I read that? They put it on there phonetically so you could say it.

And while the coalition forces don't have a Wojtek bear to help them on the battlefield, there has been sightings of a one C-J-O-A bear. You're supposed to pronounce it, they put it on there phonetically for you. C-J-O-A bear, a Syrian brown bear of similar heritage that fights ISIS in his own way by stealing their lunches. Most of Sajoa Bear's exploits are highly classified, but wanted posters are reportedly making their rounds in towns and villages.

Sajoa? Yeah, I didn't write it. Oh. It says, I spelled it out, and you still said it wrong, Phil.

Yes, you did, apparently. It came from the front. Yeah. From our fans at the front.

In the sandbox. Sajoa. Sajoa. So now there's a Sajoa and a Wojtek.

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Yes. Fantastic. Fan-tastic. So you got back on the plane.

You didn't get to finish this. So you got back on the plane, got home, everything was fine. No delays. Yeah, no, it was pretty seamless.

Oh, wow. I've been seeing a lot of these guys traveling, and a lot of them are having issues. You know, what's so funny is I was going to post and, like, throw some shade at Jack. I was like, hey, a ride.

First of all, here's what's really weird. So there's this reserve thing that you can do now at MCO, you can book a reservation. To check in, to go through security. But it doesn't do TSA and it's not, TSA pre-check and it doesn't do clear.

So I did it, I did it, and I'm like, hey, I did the reserve, like, okay, go right here. And I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Right. But when I got there, I was like, where is the pre-check?

Like, oh, this isn't pre-check, if you want pre-check, you gotta get out of this line. I'm like, well, I'm here, so I guess my shoes are coming off. So if that's the only difference, you wouldn't have to take your shoes on? Yeah, and then the guy threw the laptop out of the bag and I purposely brought my laptop that way I didn't have to use it.

Would it have been faster if you did a pre-check? No. That's what I'm saying, so take off the shoes and pull the laptop out of the bag. The reserve thing was ridiculously fast.

And then the plane showed up on time. I had no issues on the plane. What airline did you fly? United.

I flew United. I arrived on time. My chauffeur picked me up on time. Perfect.

Didn't open the door, though, apparently. No. I had dinner with my chauffeur. Oh, you didn't eat at the event?

We had shawarma. I ate at the event, but it was, you know. Oh, wait. So you had dinner before the event?

No, we got coffee before the event. Okay. Then you did the event. I ate in the middle of the event.

Right. And then after the event, I had shawarma. Oh, you had time afterwards. Mm-hmm.

Ah, I see. Shawarma, what's that? Yeah, they had a flight. That's what they eat at the end of the Avenger movie.

They had a flight at like 7:05. Right. And then, but I wouldn't have made that one. Oh.

So then I jumped on the 10th. So you had three hours to kill. Yeah, a couple hours. I'm in between 7 and 10.

Yeah, so we sat. At the show. We ate, and we got some more coffee, sat and bullshitted and had a cigar. And then we go.

Held hands, a little kissy kissy. Held hands, kissy kissy. I understand, you don't see him that often. Nice.

He's the Roe. Yes. I'm aware. Sounds like a good time.

Yeah. It was a good time. Glad you had fun. Had a good time.

All right. It's been episode three. Oh, we have more. What's the news?

There's some news. We have some news. From the four quarters of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report with Mike Toon.

Through April, premium cigar imports keep pace with 2023. S. He imported roughly the same number of cigars as it did last year. That means 2024 could shape up to be another record-setting year for cigar imports.

S. S. 4 million premium cigars from January to April, roughly 500,000 fewer cigars compared to the same period last year. S.

57 million premium cigars. But there was a dip last year. Yes. But this year it's a little less, but it's very close.

It's about the same. About the same. S. According to JR, that's where the wrappers come from.

JR? JR Cigars. That's for the rap. Oh.

Oh. You're not even paying attention. You're talking about the... The podcast thing last week.

But that wasn't, it wasn't the JR guy. That was the... Oh, true. It wasn't JR cigars.

It was the... The Ernie guy. Ernie. Ernie, yeah.

David something or other. Right. I was gonna save that for the Patreon, but since you lobbed it up... I thought we talked about it last week.

No. We talked about it upstairs. Oh, no. You mentioned it on the cigar jukebox.

I did mention it on the cigar jukebox. That's right. I mean, it's kind of crazy. It's just...

So much podcasting going on. The bullshit is just so rampant in this industry. And it's like, a lot of it's not even good bullshit. No, no.

It's gotta be good bullshit. People like good bullshit. " Right. Six different kinds of rapper.

The fuck are we talking about here? One kind is Nicaraguan rapper. One of them is Nicaraguan. Nicaraguan what?

Just Nicaraguan. We can't tell you. It's one of the kinds. So you don't know?

So if he's got six, what other countries is he getting this? I was like, uh, well, one of Ecuadorian. Oh, okay. Ecuadorian what?

It's from Ecuadorian. It's from Ecuadorian. Ecuadorian. It's just like, dude.

Dominican. Dominican. It's from Dominica. Put your shit, you know, and...

Put your shit together, man. Be fucking, you know, if you don't know... Well, I like to think he's sitting there thinking, and sometimes the words come out a little faster than you can stop them. Right.

" He's going, "Well, that sounded stupid. " But I'm committed now, I just have to go with it. And then he says, like, "The sky's the limit" or something, I'm like… Right! Who knows, I'm making different kind of rabbits we can find.

Yeah, yeah. Well, of course, because you didn't narrow one down, man. That's right, you didn't… And for whatever reason… There's those Connecticut ones. Like, this clip kind of stuck in my head.

I guess I reference everything via movies. I'm fucking… I don't know what's wrong with me. But it was the Dirty Dancing. Right.

And the guy's announcing, he's like, "This year, we're gonna dance to…" The Pechanga. Like, that's what I got out of that. It's like, no one gives a fuck, and it makes no sense about what you just said. Right.

I give you no points. Yeah, there you go. And may God have mercy on your soul. I'm just like...

Everybody is now dumber in this room hearing what you just said. And that was pretty much what it was. That's probably a better movie clip. The guy interviewing him just went, oh yeah, he just went with it.

Do you think, do you think, had he been on our show and had been sitting here as a guest that had to come from somewhere else, you would have called him out and you would have just let it go? Oh, the response would have been, Nicaraguan what? You don't think it would have been nice because he traveled a long time, came in specially for the show, and you just let him, and afterwards we're going, what the hell was that? You know, I think...

I would like to think we went, what the fuck are you talking about? I think four years ago, maybe when we were in our infancy, we've done some interviews that we were just like, "Oh, this guy is just a waste of space," and we just let it go. Right, yeah, yeah. But we just wrapped it up.

" And if they're not going to give you answers, maybe you look for a fucking job somewhere else. Because like, that's why, that's one of the reasons why that company's struggling, man. It's just like, there's no fucking information. Who was he anyway?

Ernie. P. Corilio. No, I know what the name of the company.

David Pratt or something, Chris Pratt's brother from fucking Jurassic Park. Oh, I like Chris Pratt. Yeah, they're the same guys. But I hadn't seen him before.

And the other guy fucked up his name, and he said, like, he said that- Maybe he wasn't the real guy, he was just acting like he was the guy. And he said that he fucks, he always fucks up his name. Listen, and I like their clips. I'm gonna tell you right now, I like watching the JR Cigars clips on...

It's because the video's so nice. It's so nice. You like the video? Their equipment's amazing.

You don't even listen to the sound. I was like, man, there you are. Oh, it's so pretty. Look at the colors.

It's nice. They have really good equipment. They have a lot of money in there. They're so, so fluid.

It's just amazing. The set's so nice. It's like watching the news show. They just clip back and forth.

Their shit just works. Because it works. I don't know what they're saying, but... They have the camera here and the camera there, and they just, as the guys talk.

I don't know what they're saying, but I believe them, because their video quality is good. It really is good. It's fucking good. Son of a bitch.

We've switched to our stories on iPad instead of the paper. Fucking Nicaraguan. That is an upgrade. We're going to start with a wrapper.

We can't afford paper. We're going to start with the wrapper. Start with the wrapper. Oh my God.

So what did you do last time? Well, we just looked around, whatever the fuck we had. We just kind of meshed it together. This time we started with the binder.

Yeah, the binder is our origin base. That was where we were going last time. Well, we got a lot of this shit. Right, we need to bind it really well.

Yeah, so... We already got the labels, so I mean... This is the quest. Next time we're going with the bands.

We're starting with the bands? Yeah. Well, I mean, hey, Gurker used to start with the boxes. Yeah.

Well, this is the box, so here's your Vitola. Right? This is the size. Nice.

We have to make one to fit in this box. Right. This is the thing. We're going to call it Steak Knife.

We're going to call it Backpack. Backpack. Davidoff Revenue, top $613 million in 2023. 1,600?

That's a lot of fucking bones. No, 613. Oh. That's a lot of bone.

Revenue. Revenue. What's the EBITDA? Tell me the EBITDA.

I'm not running yet. Hold on, let's get to it. 5% compared to the company's previous record-setting year in 2022. Crushing it.

8 million cigars rolled. That's from two pairs. Just the two of them. Just the two.

Just two guys. Due to increased production. Well, there was a lady and two guys. Yeah, the lady is the rapper.

She's the, right. The roller. The roller, the rapper. She does a rapper.

Oh, she puts the rapper on the bunching. Ah, I see what you mean. More often than not, the lady does a rapper. Yes, 'cause it's a more delicate operation.

Yeah, 'cause they pay attention to detail. Where else, man, we just kind of fucking... Right. It's where the bunch is.

Due to increased production, the company says that it's working on expanding its production facilities in the Dominican Republic to include a new blending center, a short filler center, there's a filler, there's a center just for short filler, and employee cafeteria. Oh, more food. There you go, sandwiches. Sandwiches.

Sandwiches. Sounds like a Disney World. See, I would love to see the interview from that guy. What we did was...

Sandwiches. Sandwiches. We wanted everybody to have sandwiches. We wanted a room where everybody gets together.

We bring them to them like a ball game. That's how you get your money back when you pay your employees. Oh, they got to buy the sandwiches. Punch in your code.

Like school lunch, punch in your code. Comes out of your pay. Bus, bus, and they get $50. Yeah.

Well, you had to eat, didn't you? You had to eat. We're not letting you go home. A lot of bologna sandwiches you eat, fella.

Well, it's goat. It's goat in Dominican. It's goat? Oh, really?

They don't have bologna? They don't have bologna? I'm sure. Yes, I'm sure.

But they have goats. Do they import bologna? No. Is it like a delicacy?

No, they don't bring in bologna. They don't bring in bologna? No, but it has a first name. But other than that, no.

Bologna is literally all the other meats put together. Is it right? They can't do that. If you get all the meats together over there, it's olive loaf.

Bologna is like a flat hot dog, is what you're saying? Right, exactly. Davidoff operates two factories in the Dominican Republic: Cigars Davidoff and OK Cigars, as well as a number of other ancillary operations. I got that word right.

Ancillary. 2% brands were key drivers of growth, as well as strong sales in Asia and global travel retail. Yeah, I believe that. Well, these numbers are record-setting for the current area of Ottinger, David, AG.

They are not the highest. I believe that, too. Through 2016, the company generated revenues of more than $1 billion through much of what is thought to through Contra Adidas, AG? A distribution company that was once used by a company, but has since been sold.

Excellent. I don't know anything about Davidoff. But I could tell you that a lot of the things that I do know as far as how they run their operation, like their corporate structure, Right? They do some pretty impressive things.

I look at that, even from a retailer aspect, I'm like, man, that's pretty fucking smart. Well, they got rid of Matt Booth, so they saved money there. Yeah. You know.

Right. They know when to cut and run. Right. I'm just kidding, Matt.

I love you. Well, he doesn't need that anymore. He's got... He's got STG money.

He's got STG money. Screw you guys. It's a gold helicopter. He's flying over in the gold helicopter.

He's giving his finger to... And I think STG has more money than Davidoff anyways. He probably does, yes. They should buy Davenport.

That's probably the plan. That's why they have these Monday meetings. Somebody's gotta buy somebody, right? Did you see, he lost his wallet, by the way.

Who did? Justin? Justin Andrews. Yes, and he didn't know he lost his wallet.

Somebody picked it up or something. I didn't read the whole thing. American Airlines. God's punishing him.

It was very long. God's punishing him. They brought it to him. Right, yeah, they brought it to him.

So, did they put it on another flight? No, he was sitting down, didn't know that he lost his wallet. Somebody had turned it in, and the… Who puts their wallet in their back pocket these days? Right.

Where do you put it? Front pocket? Really? Backpack?

Little man purse? He's not going to answer the phone. I know, but I like to call him anyways. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail.

I'm going to leave it. Does it show the number? Yo! Oh, my God!

Wait, wait! You entered the phone! Oh, my God! Wow, this is his voicemail.

This isn't really him, it's his voicemail. Oh, he's fucking with us. Holy shit. Did that just...

I just wanted to mix it up a little bit, actually answer the phone this time. Wow. We don't know what to do now that you answered. So I feel like God was punishing you for not answering us for all these years, and that's why you lost your wallet.

I lost your wallet. Yeah. He's trying to make a change now. You didn't have a plan for me to actually answer.

I always have a plan, don't worry. We always have something we can answer. Yeah, I can wing this shit, no problem, dude. That's no problem, dude.

Dude, you just point me in the direction. I'll show up and I'll fucking bat a thousand. Don't worry about it. There you go.

So you lost your fucking wallet? When did I lose my wallet? It was on Facebook. What?

Wasn't that him on Facebook that lost his wallet? Yeah, did you lose your wallet, Justin? No. Oh, see, my friend Mike Palmer, he's getting...

I read it quickly. He's kind of losing his mind a little bit. Mike, Mike, you need to take a multivitamin, man. I mean, is there another Justin Andrews out there that's your friends with?

That's driving a Hennessy fucking pickup truck? Is there another one? I didn't say that. Oh, it stopped recording.

Um, no, I'm looking at my wallet right here, so I don't, uh, I don't know about this lost wallet stuff. Oh, no. Somebody lost their wallet at an airport. It wasn't you, I guess.

Dude, the, is the power coming onto the camera? Yeah. It was not me. It was not Justin Andrews.

And right now, is this recording here on this? Yes. Okay, thank God. Dude, we are dealing with some technological issues.

We're trying to upgrade here, and it is absolute fucking chaos. Well, it sounds like you guys are dealing with a lot of issues. Misinformation, fake news. It's so much easier to talk about when you're going into the phone.

So he didn't lose his wallet. I can't believe it. Hang up on him. He lost his wallet.

So God's not punishing Justin is what you're saying. He still is. I want to look on Facebook now to see if there's somebody tagging something about losing their wallet. Oh, man.

You don't fly American Airlines? Let me ask you, have you been hacked? I do. Did you?

Yeah, I mean, everything else fits. Did you click a link or something? Were you trying to look at some porn on Facebook? I mean, I'm always doing that, but I don't know.

Let's see here. That was hours ago I saw it too. It's going to take forever to find it. Oh, my God.

I'm looking at my stuff. Let me ask you, do you keep your wallet in your back pocket or do you keep it in your front pocket? Let me ask you that. I actually do not carry my wallet on me.

I keep it in my backpack because I have one of those things on the back of my phone that has like my credit cards and some cash and all that stuff in it. So at this point, you got me curious now. It's kind of weird to have your wallet in your backpack or in your back pocket. Could be Richie.

Yeah, I agree. Could be who? Richie Otero from Espinosa lost his wallet? It could only be Richie.

It could only be Richie. I mean, I believe that. I mean, I believe that. That lines in, you know, Justin losing his wallet didn't really...

You guys confused me for Richie? I mean, you're practically the same person. We don't know what you sound like or look like anymore, you never answer the phone. Yeah.

Oh, no, it was John, it was John Carney. Carney lost his wallet? He kind of looks like Justin Andrews, just with glasses. He lost his wallet, and he made this whole post about thanking American Airlines for returning it.

Wow. Okay, we got to call John Carney, Justin, we'll talk about it. Wow, you know what's funny is Carney usually flies Delta. Yep.

Now you've mistaken me for Carney, I can live with that. You're okay with that? He's a little more, he's a handsome guy is what you're saying? He's very big.

He's got his act together. He's doing some good stuff. So you find Carney more attractive than Richie, is what you're saying? Is that what you're saying?

Carney's probably more important than I am. That's probably the thing. He's not driving a Hennessy fucking pickup. Well, Carney's married with a kid.

He's a little more expensive than I do. Okay, so what you're saying, Justin, is that Carney's willing to commit, and you're not. He's not committed, man. He went full in.

He got married and had a kid pretty quickly, I think. Yes, sir. Are you going to have a kid? What's going on?

What are we doing? I mean, I had a couple people text me and wish me Happy Father's Day, so apparently I got a few smoking out there. Were they wishing you Happy Father's Day to be an asshole or they're just oblivious and they assume that at this point, at your age, you should probably have kids? Might have been for John Carney.

Probably a little bit of both, but now, just like I was just worried about my wallet, now I'm worried about my man, maybe I have to follow up on it. I have traveled internationally a lot for the last decade, so, you know, do not. All right, well. How have you guys been?

What's new with you besides the technical difficulties? Oh, we're doing fantastic. We're doing fantastic. We're not recording video anymore because that shit the bed just now.

Oh, did it overheat again? That thing is never overheated. Oh, it was the other one. Who was the other one?

Yeah. It says no space. Oh, the card's full. I thought you cleaned it off.

There you go. I've removed 11 fucking gigs, but I guess apparently that was not enough. Not enough. Were we on about the Davidoff news?

What's the Davidoff news? No. They made a lot of money. Is STG bigger than Davidoff?

I believe we are. I think so, too. Like I said, we claim to be the largest in the world. Yeah, do you think that the Matt Booth acquisition is really what kind of put you over the top?

That really, that really moves the needle forward. I gotta tell you. Financially, we were not going to make our year that year, but thankfully to the acquisition of Room 101 and, you know, tremendous growth, we've really looked like a bunch of geniuses now. Absolutely crushing it.

Okay, that's fantastic. That makes me very happy, you know. Mike, you making right decisions and then partnering with him, and then, you know, the whole backstory of originally being with Davidoff and now being with STG, I'm glad that it's a high success story. STG is bigger now.

Is it possible to get him a second helicopter? 'Cause he wanted me to talk to you about that. He's gonna come see us. If his brand keeps doing what it's doing, I don't think that'll be an issue.

Yeah, I believe that. You know what, I gotta tell you, Room 101 sales are up in our store for sure. Hey, he's, he's killing it. So he's, uh, widely distributed, global brand now.

He's a big deal. He, and he normally, he answers the phone sometimes on Mondays. Matt, I think Matt's a little more accessible. Yes.

Than I am. He's, he's, he's a much better person than I am, honestly. Yeah, I know. And you think if, as far as like order of like, you know, importance, because he's higher up.

Like, you would be more available, but, you know, you're not, so, but here you are. You would think that's, maybe that's why I'm not climbing the corporate ladder because I'm not as accessible. I could learn a thing or two from old Boosie. Yeah, you just gotta work harder, buddy.

You just gotta work harder. That is, you know, just do better, Justin. I need to, I need to work harder and have more time for random phone calls at three o'clock on a Monday afternoon. Absolutely.

Right, you can reschedule that meeting before. A hundred percent, yeah, the, yeah. So what I'm understanding, though, is that there is no meeting on Mondays. Well, maybe it's 3 o'clock.

Well, I gotta tell you, you guys are in luck, because for whatever reason, the meeting has been moved from 3 to 3:30. Oh. Slid it in. Weekly call.

Booth did it for us. Yeah, Booth. That was Matt Booth. He got tired of us calling him.

" He's back half an hour. He's like, son of a bitch. Who told him? We get the newsletter.

You want to talk about people with anxiety? He's also in that group, and he's like, son of a bitch, they have to know. How do they know? How do they know?

If they don't enter the phone, they'll just keep calling and calling. They haven't called in months, and all of a sudden they're calling this one time when there's not a meeting. You know, you guys haven't called me in a while. I assumed you just gave up.

Oh, no, we don't give up. We'll never quit on you, Justin. We won't quit. Ever.

Ever. I love it. But we'll let you go prep for your meeting. Wait, does he need to place an order with Coop too?

If you need some. I got quaaludes, I got acid, and I got cocaine. So if you need any of those. If you need any drugs.

Go ahead and give Coop a call. Oh my God, that was great. You know, I know that you guys are kind of in the vicinity of each other too. So I'm sure he might be able to drop it off for you.

There you go. Man, we could try, you know, a little cash exchange. Yeah. It makes it a lot easier to try to ship that stuff.

Leave it down to the receptionist, just a little slide back across the table. Yeah, that's it. You know, it's funny, I am surprisingly low on Quaaludes right now. They're hard to come across.

They're hard to come by. He's got a niche market there. That's hilarious. If Coop this whole time was a drug peddler, that would be the best thing I've ever heard.

You would never expect it. Didn't see that one coming. All that international travel. That's so weird.

Yeah. We'd never expect it. We've been running Colombian Bam Bam this whole fucking time. How do you think, how do you think he gets through his ad so fast?

This is brought to you by... Before you start, he's good to go. That's also why he refuses to pre-record his ads like most normal people do. Exactly, right, exactly.

All right. Well, thank you, sir. We appreciate you. Let us know when the next Diesel's coming out.

We'll have you on. We can talk about it. We got a couple coming out pretty soon. I'll let you guys know, and then just also be reminded that the next week's meeting will be moved back to 3 o'clock, so I won't answer the phone again.

That's the preemptive meeting of the meetings, before the meetings. And then I had the follow-up meeting after, so I'm really tied up for about 3 to 7. All right, buddy. All right, you guys be good.

All right, brother, thanks for answering, dude, and talk to you. Bye-bye. Justin Andrews of STG. Wow.

It was a star-studded show today. Look at this. Dude, it was on the cusp. It was.

I said, your call has been pulled. And I'm like, we're going to leave a voicemail. Right. Answered.

Answered the phone. Because I thought he lost his wallet, but he didn't. Oh, apparently it's John Carney. Yeah.

What do I know? Maybe we should call Carney. Hey, we have your wallet. We got to wrap this up in a couple minutes anyway.

Oh, how much time you got? I got one new story and a Florida story. Both or one? You can do both.

We'll do both, but we're not going to have video for the- We're not going to have video for the last half of the show anyway, so- Yeah, and what about- Oh, the other show, completely. Oh, yeah, hmm. Well, you still do audio. Yeah.

Okay. All right, the Freud Agape Limited Edition. Oh, the Agape. I didn't say Agape this time.

Oh, it's the Agape Limited. It's the Agape. The Agape. The 2021 David Staduski, a venture capitalist and Luis Torres, formerly the CEO of Casa de And the head of the retail for Davidoff of Geneva launched a new brand inspired by the founder of psychoanalysis himself, Sigmund Freud, carrying the somewhat obvious name of the Freud Cigar Company.

The new company's first release is a Ford Vitola regular production line named Super Ego. Is this an old story? It sounds super, yeah. Oh, it was in this week's news flow.

Maybe he's just trying to get more sales. Could be. All right, skip that shit. Yeah, they're talking about the PCA 2022.

That's weird. That's weird. Yeah. All right, we got a Florida story.

You know what? I don't think you know what's going on anymore, buddy. Somebody lost the wallet. We don't know who.

Then he started blaming poor Richie. He gets involved. He blamed Richie. Guy had nothing to do with it.

He blamed Richie. No, it was Palmer. It was Palmer. Palmer did it.

All right, well, it was an alligator attack. Yeah. Man loses arm while swimming in Central Florida Lake, Fish and Wildlife says. Central Florida, that's here?

Yes. He was swimming in a Central Florida Lake early Sunday morning when he was attacked by an alligator, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife officials. He survived, but his arm was amputated at the elbow. The FWC told local media that the man was swimming in Lake Monroe.

Wow. That's right at the bridge there. m. , you're gonna lose something.

What the fuck is he doing out there at 2 o'clock in the morning? A few details have been released. He's been released. Yeah.

The FWC is investigating what led up to the attack. Alligators are the most active between dusk and dawn, the FWC said. Right. This is also mating season for the alligators, and they may be more active.

Tallahassee police removed one from a resident's front yard Sunday in Jacksville. Police were called to one last month. Last week, a kayaker captured the video of a black bear taking on two alligators in the St. Johns River.

Oh, I saw that. That was amazing. He started swimming from one side of the river to the other, and an alligator attacked him. He beat up that alligator, went a little bit further, his second one grabbed him, he beat up that alligator, and then climbed out the other side, sort of looked over his shoulder like, "Oh, fuck, that was hard," and then went off into the woods.

You two idiots. I was just trying to go for a swim. Whoever swims in the fucking Lake Monroe. m.

In the dark. That guy had to be drunk as shit, man. It was a homeless guy, I read, but yeah, he had to be drunk. Oh, maybe he just wanted to end it.

He's like, "Fuck, now I'm amputated? " Maybe he was dirty, didn't want anybody to see him skinny dipping. Oh yeah, maybe he was cleaning himself. Cleaning himself in Lake Monroe.

Well, now he's got less body parts to clean, so. There you go. Well, it's hard to clean with the one arm. You can only clean one side of your body.

Wow. And I'm the dark one. I'm the one that says evil shit. And you're like, oh, maybe if I could fucking beat on a homeless guy.

Maybe. Oh, my goodness. Well, now he's got three squares for a while until he gets out of the hospital. Yeah.

Yeah, I guess that was one way to get in there. Yeah. Would have been better off robbing somebody and going to jail. He's saying you still have both your arms.

All right. All right. You got anything out of the shop of the week, Michael? Of course you have a Shop of the Week.

Uh-oh. I do have a Shop of the Week. Uh-oh. Go ahead.

Lake Country Cigars. Why not where you were? I just did Tobacology. You did it last week.

Oh, that's right. So, okay. Lake Country's where I'm going in July. Oh.

Lake Country. What are you releasing? I'm not releasing anything. They have their big main event.

Family reunion event. Well, it's not a family reunion, but it's... Family get-together. I can't think of the name, but then you're driving me fucking nuts.

It's a very themed summertime. I'm cutting my sentences off. I can't think of what it is, but it's like a multi-vendor. Oh.

It's a multi-vendor. Go ahead and take that. It's Phil. Phil.

Phil. And take that, Phil. Yeah. Alright, you got a listener of the week?

Sure. Oh, I can't wait. Michael Eleftharou. Did you say that correctly?

Probably not. Probably not. He's a listener of the week. Yeah.

How do we know him? I got to send out his tin. He helped on the group thing on Posanya Mafia's Facebook group. Oh, for the get a friend of Get the Cigar?

Yeah, he did a bunch on the mentor program, and I wanted to send him a tin. And I haven't got around to it, and I shipped it today. Nice. Good for you.

Well, it's on its way, Mike. Yes, sir. I don't need to look at the camera because it's not working. Another mic.

I wonder when it shut off. It showed off probably a little bit after you called them, because it was on when you called them. All right, so at least we got a lot of it. Yeah, we got most of it then.

Okay. All right, this is episode 339 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. That needs to be updated. Yeah, I know, it's very busy, very busy.

All righty. All right, guys, we got to go. Thank you. Bye.

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Show Notes

In Episode 339 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, we have an exciting lineup! Join us as we chat with phone guests Brett from Tobacology and Justin Andrews from STG Cigars. We delve into their latest projects and insights into the cigar industry. Plus, hear all about Mikey's experience at The Family Reunion event in Virginia and our special appearance on The Cigar Jukebox. Don't miss out on this episode filled with industry updates, event highlights, and entertaining conversations.  The Guys Light Up an Plasencia Alma Del Fuego Ometepe for the Patreon