Cigar Hustlers Podcast228 Show Me the Money

Episode Summary

Episode 228 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the Mikes trading illness updates, studio-remodel progress (including the new first-floor lounge and its much-praised bathrooms) and a running bit about Phil's future sports show. The centerpiece of the first half is a surprise Patreon-perk phone call to Florida sales rep Pete Hernandez, caught fresh out of a New York bathroom while in town for his stepdaughter's NYU graduation. Pete runs through what's coming: a pre-trade-show Tatuaje release called the Tuxtla in four sizes, the new Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust "Bewitched" (a ~52 ring gauge Saka blend the shop is excited about), long-delayed hand-carved soapstone ashtray swag, and a new Aladino Classic arriving after the trade show.

Pete also gets candid about the rep side of the cigar business — how brands build with a regional rep and then "go in house," the sting of losing a line like the Jesús Fuego 777 just as it was growing, and his years building E.P. Carrillo in Florida before the brand brought sales in-house (with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo's son handling it gracefully and paying a three-month severance). There's ribbing of fellow rep Jeff Gruber, some blunt talk about industry personalities, and a plan to book Pete and his brother for a no-holds-barred Patreon episode.

The news block covers Habanos S.A. reporting $568 million in 2021 revenue — a 15% increase — alongside confirmed 2022 price increases and a Cohiba gala, with Spain, China, France, Germany and Switzerland as the top volume markets and Europe at 59% of retail sales. Also covered: Cavalier Genève's event-only 6x44 Lonsdale literally named "Undisclosed" (no blend info, no gold foil leaf), Crowned Heads' Los Angeles 2022 TAA exclusive (5 3/4 x 52 Robusto Extra, Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder), Drew Estate's Nica Rustica Adobe (Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Brazilian binder, $5.20–$6.48) as the follow-up to El Brujito, and Rick Rodriguez's return from CAO/General Cigar with West Tampa Tobacco Company and its Black and White lines, made at the Garmendia factory in Estelí with former General colleague Jack Martinez as president.

The show closes with a Florida story about a Naples man shot in the buttocks by his wife after she hit him with her car, Cigar Surgeon as listener of the week, Casper Cigars as shop of the week for their social media hustle, and a plug for the May 27 RoMa Craft event with Mike Rosales at the shop.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Studio Remodel and Lounge Update
   The hosts detail the nearly finished production studio, permit approvals for the first-floor lounge, and the private lounge membership rules (and its bidet-equipped bathrooms).
2. 02
   Surprise Call to Rep Pete Hernandez
   A Patreon-tier phone call catches Florida rep Pete Hernandez in a New York bathroom during his stepdaughter's NYU graduation weekend.
3. 03
   New Releases from Pete: Tatuaje, Dunbarton and Aladino
   Pete previews the Tatuaje Tuxtla, the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Bewitched, soapstone ashtray swag, and the Aladino Classic.
4. 04
   Life as a Cigar Rep: Going In-House
   Pete opens up about losing brands like Jesús Fuego 777 and E.P. Carrillo when companies bring sales in-house, and the rare decency of a severance package.
5. 05
   Habanos S.A. Reports $568 Million and Raises Prices
   Cuban cigar revenue jumped 15% in 2021, with Spain, China, France, Germany and Switzerland leading volume — and a Cohiba gala plus global price homogenization to follow.
6. 06
   Cavalier Genève 'Undisclosed' and Crowned Heads Los Angeles 2022
   A 6x44 Lonsdale with zero blend info and no gold leaf, plus the Crowned Heads TAA exclusive heading to retailers.
7. 07
   Drew Estate Nica Rustica Adobe
   The second line in the Nica Rustica series gets an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Brazilian binder at $5.20–$6.48, teased for the day's Patreon smoke.
8. 08
   Rick Rodriguez Launches West Tampa Tobacco Company
   The former CAO blender returns with the Black and White lines made at the Garmendia factory in Estelí, with Jack Martinez as president.

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

Welcome to episode 228 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. I should have been that camera. Not now. Oh God, that feels way off.

No, it's not. Let's see. It is slightly. You can't even see my head.

Look at all that dead, see this dead space right here? See all this dead space? Just turn the camera slightly. Cameraman, adjust the camera.

No, move the, you're gonna have to move the whole thing. No, the whole thing. This is fun. Squared, squared, squared.

Oh my god. You too can become part of our podcast family and invest in our show. Put your products in front of thousands of listeners and viewers every week. We're heard on 13 different podcast providers weekly all around the world.

Bring it to me. Remember to please rate, comment, and subscribe, and hit the bell so that you are alerted to new content and new episodes that go up. Hit the bell! Oh, the rest of this is old stuff.

I don't read that. Thank you very much. com. I already did all that.

com. You were talking to the camera. Has anybody emailed you? Nobody, nobody.

Hey, I get a lot of emails from PayPal. Yeah? Oh, you want a loan? Right, yeah.

Yeah, you want a loan? You want a loan? You want a PayPal credit card? Hey, PayPal, you shut me the fuck down for no reason after 12 years of working with me, so fuck you.

Oh, that was you, not me. Yeah, we won't work with you. Studio update's almost done. We have paint.

We'll work with Venmo instead, which is a subsidiary of PayPal. We have roof tiles. That'll teach you. We're remodeling the bathroom.

Oh, we decided to change the bathroom. Okay, so hold on. So we're talking about the production studio. Yes.

So you're remodeling. So why are we remodeling the bathroom? We decided it was going to be two plain white and white tile. We were doing all this fancy stuff in the rest of the place, and then we were shitting in the bathroom.

Literally. You guys are out of your mind. Who cares? If it looks clean, it doesn't...

We want it to look nice. We're just not doing white on white. We're just doing gray on white. Same price.

I don't think anything will look as nice as the bathrooms in the private lounge. The private lounge bathrooms came out fucking amazing. Oh, we thought we could use that for a... Like if we have customers that come in that want to meet with us, we could take them over to the conference table in the private lunch.

Yeah, we could do that, sure. Sure. Whatever you want. Okay, good.

He's going to be a member. Right. I'm a member, so. Are you?

You don't work here anymore. I thought I was still a member. Oh, remember how that worked? I thought I was still a member.

You don't work here anymore. Oh, what's up, baby? Oh, I ain't paying. Oh.

I just won't go in. I don't drink bangs anymore. So then we can take the meetings in the- That means you have to come for the meeting. And he could stand outside.

Fine with me, you can do the work too. No, you're not a member. That's fine. Punish you.

No, punish me. Yeah. No punishment. He's coming in here, fucking taking everything you want, fucking with my pots and pans.

Right, your pots and pans. Yep. Yep. So, you're sick.

I'm better and you're sicker. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm on the mend, but you know, the problem is that I have this CPAP machine, It's a paint machine, and I can't use it. Oh, I was thinking, well, it would recycle the germs. No, it's not that it recycles the germs, and then your nose is clogged, so you can't breathe through your nose.

Oh, you've got the mask. Yeah, I got the little pillow thing. So that's out, which is miserable. Just hit the afrin.

Where are you going to bed? I have been hitting the afrin, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. No, you don't. Yes, you do.

No, you don't have to draw the line. You know what's funny is I hit the afrin two days ago, and when I hit it, it worked for about four hours, and then the nose clogged up again. Oh, because you're building up resistance. And I'm like, oh shit, I need to stop.

So I stopped. You're building up the resistance. So I gave it up. I was going to use it last night, but Adrian moved it to the other side of the house.

I feel like this is the last day of misery for me and then it's just all recovery. Yeah. You know, I had a couple of rough days where you got a little bit of sleep, you didn't get a full, you know, the full night's rest. But, yeah, I'm just about over it now, so.

It's Tuesday, we're doing this today because you didn't feel good yesterday. I don't feel good. So we apologize that everything's going up late. Hey, but it's still coming up.

God damn it. It still happens. We know Miss. We know Miss episode.

Yep. It's true. So, yeah. Kind of a rough couple of days.

Yeah. Yeah. How about you? Feeling better?

Nothing exciting going on. Nothing exciting. It's at the tail end of the coffee sniffle. Now, you said that the Chet and Palmer shit show did better last week.

Yeah, ratings last week for the Chet and Palmer shit show on micro-cheating was a topic. Micro-cheating. Micro-cheating. That's a new thing that's out.

Micro-cheating. That's if you send flirty text messages and things to somebody, or if you have a crush on somebody and you're constantly checking their social media, looking for new pictures and stuff. So it's not really cheating. It's called micro-cheating.

Interesting. That's interesting. If you listen to the show, we cover all sorts of things. Nah, I just get a brief download from you.

Oh, there you go. I don't want to spoil you. Next week, it's on the marital hall pass. Oh.

Or this week, actually. Because the micro-cheating was such a big hit. Well, I read a lot of stuff looking for topics, and that came up somewhere, and I thought, oh, you know what, that would be interesting. The marital hall pass, but wait.

The problems with it, if it's good, if you have one, you know, because we discuss amongst ourselves, if you have a hall pass that you are allowed to have, if your wife has a hall pass, who that would be. Do you have a hall pass? No. You don't have a fucking hall pass?

I don't have a hall pass. So how many hall passes does your wife have? Like six? No, actually, I asked her, I don't know if it's for the other show, but I asked her last night, and she said, no, she goes, it's enough trouble having sex with you, why don't I have sex with somebody else?

What are you talking about having sex with you? What do I have sex with somebody else for? You got a good point there, honey. Mm-mm.

Why are you coughing? I think it's a smoke. Sorry to hear that. I've got way back on my smoking since I've been sick.

Mm. I'm phlegmy. Ugh. Ugh.

Get that out of the way. This morning was the first morning I didn't do the phlegmy gag in the morning. Oh. Oh, that's the worst.

So grainy. Sometimes it's grainy. Yeah, you can't get it up to like a cat. Yeah, it's like a cat with a hairball.

His name is Phil. Phil. Get it right. Phil's getting a little grunt a little bit.

You know, I know that, so you won't let me let him be listener of the week, but I'm going to comment and say real quick that Cigar Surgeon, really, you know, I got to give it to him as far as commenting on the YouTube. Since he's been on the show, he's really finding his stride, you know? You know? He is, Mr.

Like, oh, no. Oh. I think he likes hearing himself on the show. It's like he does a whole nother show.

Yeah. And then, you know, then like he comments. Right. I'd love to have him chime in every once in a while, like get some data, like if an FDA thing drops or something.

Right. We should totally call him in because he pays attention to all that shit. There was an FDA thing last week. Oh, yeah?

Yeah. Because he like reads it all and shit. A lot of the news this week because of their big event was Drew Estate News. That's Drew Estate News, so I just picked and chose.

Oh, we're going to smoke that new fucking Nicarustica Adobe on the Patreon today. That'll be fun. Can't wait. That's going to be a great Patreon.

Because I like the original. I do. Speaking of Patreons, you've got to give some credit to our boy Pete Hernandez, which we have not done on this show. No, the newest Patreon.

A top dollar Patreon. Yeah, there's only two other levels above, I believe. I mean, he's up there. Oh, yes.

He's upper tier. I'm going to tell you right now, of all the reps in Florida, he's number one. Right. Yeah.

Fuck you, Jeff Gruber. You're not even close. No, he's not a patron. Yeah.

He's not a patron, is he? He gets one call in a month. Should we call him today? Do you want me to call him?

Let's call him and see. He'll probably try and sell something. He probably will. I mean, when you're ready, I'll hit the Bluetooth button.

Like, oh, I'm already connected. - Oh, excellent. - Oh, no, Pete Hernandez. - Let's see if he answers.

- He'll answer if he thinks you want to buy something. - I do need to buy some stuff, too. I just spent a lot of money on Roma. - Why don't we have an event?

- Yeah, oh, there he is. - Hello? - Hello? - Hello?

- Hello? - Peter? Pete, is that you? Cough once?

For yes? He said, like, bleh, and then he was gone. Right. But it still says I'm on the phone.

Peter? Peter. Peter Hernandez, sir. Oh, oh, oh, oh, you there?

Is he in the toilet? I'm here. Oh, Peter Hernandez! Hey, you're on the podcast.

Hey, am I live? Am I on the radio? Oh, hello. You have to turn your radio down, sir, you hear an echo in the background.

He's in the bathroom. Hold on a second, hold on, let me turn on the radio. Let me flush, let me wash my hands. I just got out of the bathroom, you guys caught me.

Yeah, gotcha, busted. Got me. Yeah, so, you know, I mean, as a patron of the Patreon and the tier that you're at, you're entitled to a phone call from us. Once a month.

Once a month. For the show. No way. Am I live?

You're on the podcast. You're on the podcast. You'll be on this week. Holy crap.

Is there anything you'd like to plug? You can plug something if you'd like. Yeah, well, Tatuaje's coming out with a cigar that's before the trade show called the Tuxla. and it's four different sizes.

We got that going. You guys might know that Dunbarton Tobacco is coming out. What are they coming out with? I think you guys bought some of it, didn't you?

I'm sure we did. Yeah, I know. I can't believe I'm live, and I don't know what the hell. You guys were really surprised.

Oh, next month. It's so nice to hear from you guys. Next month, we'll give you a heads up that we're going to call. That'll be cool.

I'm in New York, actually. Oh, wow. That's in New York. He was just in a New York bathroom.

That's exactly what I was doing. Wow, nice. Glory holes and everything. They get a little weird out here, though.

I wasn't the only one in the bathroom, man. There was a guy who kept knocking on my stall. You weren't tapping your foot while you were sitting in there, were you? Yeah, that was...

Don't tap your foot, that's a clue. That's a thing. Yeah, you can't do that. Is that the thing?

That's a thing. Yeah. Tap, tap, tap, then get... Yeah, that's how I do it.

I tap and the mood grabs me and then I go. So yeah, no more tapping. No more tapping. No more tapping.

No more tapping. No more tapping. Don't do that. No.

So... What are you doing in New York? My stepdaughter is graduating from NYU. Oh!

That's a big one. That's a big deal. Congratulations. It sure is.

Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you very much. What is her degree going to be in? She wants to make movies.

Oh! So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

She'd like to do an internship with Mike and Mike Productions and live with Daddy Pete. That might, you know what, I'll put a name, I'll put a good word in it. There you go. We're always looking for young, good, good help.

Yeah, that we can abuse it. We can abuse it. I don't know, yeah, but you know. That's how it works.

But, you know, she's a good girl, you know. Nice. So what's the Dunbar Cigar? I'm so glad you guys called me, but you guys really surprised me.

I'm trying to think. What's the Dunbar Cigar? Look, God, can you imagine that they hear this? He's doing ashtrays I saw today, soapstone, hand-carved ashtrays.

Oh! Yeah, those are last year's trade show swag. Oh! Last year's.

They're almost done. He said they're almost ready. You know, which is great, because everybody's kind of forgotten about it. So we get to sell it to you again.

Oh, nice. We didn't buy those, did we, Mike? I don't think we bought those. No.

Actually, it was a gift with purchase, and you guys, I'm pretty sure you purchased. Oh, we did purchase. We did purchase after we beat 'em up for all those samples. After those Stilwell Star fucking- Oh, yeah, that was a little- Yes.

Mike, did you see how Mike was on the edge? Mike was almost offended. Yeah. Yeah, you, Mike.

I know. Not the other Mike. Oh, God. I know.

No. I hope he has something this year where he can try to get all of them. I'll take care of my people, Pete. I'll take care of my people.

Oh, yeah, you do. Oh, there's going to be more people this year. The more things we need. I could give a fuck about me, but don't fuck with my people.

It's your people that matter. Right? That's right. That's the way it works.

Right. That's the way it works. Absolutely. I mean, and now...

Bewitched. It's the Bewitched. - Ah, there we go, the Be-Witch. - Is it like the-- - It's like 52, it's a bunch of Osaka.

Yeah, yeah, the Be-Witch. We're very excited about that. - Very excited. - Very excited.

- How did you, where did you pull that from, out of your head, or like, did you look something up? - Well, like I said, I was just in the bathroom. - Yeah. - Oh, that'll give you a clue.

- His brother's there for the graduation. - Yeah, my brother was whispering in my ear. - Be-Witch, Be-Witch, Be-Witch, Be-Witch, Be-Witch, Be-Witch. - Be-Witch, Be-Witch.

- That's nice. So yeah, yeah, we're looking forward to that. I'm pretty sure that's going to be a pretty hot level. Yeah.

I mean, everything he touches turns to gold. That frickin' guy's amazing, you know? Listen to that. Yeah, I'm a big fan.

I'm a big fan. Don't tell him, you know? I won't. He doesn't listen to the show.

No, he's not a fan of the show. No, I don't think he does. Yeah, who is listening? Do you guys have kind of like...

I don't think any... Fred Rui apparently listens. Fred Rui and John McTavish are the only two. I know two guys that are security guards are at a security gate in Kendall, they listen.

Oh, nice. Oh, there you go. They don't speak English, but they listen. Oh, well, it's the tones.

We have very, very, very tonal voices. It's like, you know, it's how they're learning English is what it is. Oh, from us. That's how they're learning English.

Oh, it's Slepnik! Ha! Slepnik! They get the Spanish captions on the bottom of it.

Oh, yeah. We can do that. We can do that. Hey, so have you guys inaugurated the lounge on the first floor?

We are so close. We finally got the permits approved as of last week, and we just need countertops now, and we're ready to roll. Looks like the end of the month. Wow.

Yeah, that's what they're saying. I'm excited about that. Yeah, we were talking about that just a second ago. Speaking of bathrooms, they're amazing.

Yeah, it's amazing bathrooms. Yeah. I did see the bathrooms. They are amazing.

Bidets now. Now they're bidets. Yeah. Oh, there's nothing like a bidet.

They're really clean. Good clean. Clean, clean as a whistle. There you go.

That's it. Yeah. I don't want to put that, and I don't want to put that whistle in my mouth, but it'll be clean. Yeah, I'm telling you.

So, your brother's very proud of that, of the first floor lounge. Well, he's got to be proud of something. You know, he's not, you know, there's not a lot going on in the Greg camp these days. So, we kick him out of the office when we're podcasting, you know.

He's a bit of a curmudgeon, isn't he? Yeah, he is. It's a little bit. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, but I love him. He's a good guy. Yeah, we all love him.

He's like, you know, it's like, I can call him an idiot, but as somebody else, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's my idiot. You fuck. You can't get up to those things. Right.

Exactly. Right. And you know what? Aladino's actually coming out with something new after the trade show.

It's called, what's it called? The Victoria? Not the Victoria. Ask your brother.

It's called the classic. Aladino classic. Oh. Look at you.

You hit all three pegs. You saw that? The Dunbarton. Look at you.

With a little space in between as comedy relief or you know, some kind of a, yeah, it worked out well, yeah right. Is there any new triple sevens? Triple sevens? From Juego?

Jesus Juego? Are you going back, Mike? Wow. He was originally, that was one of those.

His first lines. Yeah. And we carried the brand. And it was really funny.

You guys, if I remember correctly, you guys went pretty deep on that 777. - Yeah, we were doing pretty well with it. - There was nothing about it. - And then they fired them, right?

'Cause that's how this fucking industry works. - That's how it works. - Hey, but you know what, from the outside, it appears I think it's a bad thing or whatever. - Yeah.

- Lots of times when that happened, there's a little stagnant. It's only happened, I would say it's happened once or twice where it really affected me because I felt that the brand was growing, I felt I was doing well with it. And, you know, when the hammer came down, I was, and it's also a how they do it, you know? - Yeah.

- When I started with Carrillo when he first started in 2009, and I think I grew him to half a million bucks in a couple years, three, four years, and they wanted to go in-house. - Yeah. " When they say I got some bad news, you already know what it is. The hammer's right there.

And he just said, listen, man, we want to go in house eventually. And where am I going to go in house? In California? I gotta go in house.

- Yeah, Florida, yep. - Yeah, so it's, you know, we're very happy with what you guys have done. We, you know, we, we love you dearly. You guys are like family.

That's the other kids at that, when they tell you, you guys are like family. - Family, right. - Yeah. - And now it's, now Groover runs Kareo.

- Well, yeah, but he went in house, right? - Yeah, but they went in house. They, uh, then they hired, I think they hired Groover, they hired another guy, then they fired Groover and they brought him back. And so they've had their, you know, very confusing, you know, you think what's gonna work for you and then you switch it up and that doesn't work.

Yeah. It's all about the business. Now, I gotta tell you what's, you know, I've always heard rumors that when you get the ax, you don't get the last paycheck. Now, that's never happened to me.

You've always gotten the last paycheck. Yeah. And not only that, when I was referring to Karoleo, he actually averaged what I was making per month and gave me the three month severance. Oh, nice, that's nice.

Yeah, yeah, he's a true, true gentleman, true, true gentleman. That's something else. That's not something, you don't hear that a lot in this industry. No, no, no, no.

And by the way, I don't, I think maybe one time I was screwed by that jackass Andreas. Yeah, cause I'll throw it out there. I'm a Patreon, I don't give a shit. I'm a Patreon, pal.

- Yeah, that guy, Andreas, let me tell you, dude, to listen to that guy speak was like listening to someone scratching the frickin' blackboard, what a voice, meh meh meh meh meh, and having to, I remember sitting through sales meetings and looking at my brother, I go, is this fucking guy for real? Is this really his voice? Or is he just doing it to annoy him? No, it was his voice.

And then when you called the office, nobody would answer. The cigars aren't bad and they're cheap, but, you know, he's a jackass. - That's fantastic. Yeah, yeah, I'd love to sit here and just berate the idiots of this business that, you know, that I think are idiots, you know?

I don't know if we have that kind of time. We can do an entire Patreon with Pete and he can just badmouth everybody for 45 minutes. Oh, bro, I would love that, bro. We can break down some people.

I would love that. Hell yeah, we can. Absolutely. We'll set that up.

We'll set that up. Yeah, we can do like a Patreon FTG with, solely with you. You know, and maybe even my brother. My brother's got some stories.

My brother and I did a, I don't know if you guys ever saw her, we did a Facebook Live when, during COVID, and it was like three hours, and we just laid it out there, we just let it all hang out, we were drinking scotch or bourbon, smoking, must have gone through three cigars, and we were just off the chain, and then when we finished, it said, like to, I think it meant, like to save. Right? Yeah, we didn't save it. We didn't need that.

We didn't need that kind of smoke. After all that shit we talked, I'm thinking, yeah, bro, you caught it, you caught it. If you didn't, you missed it. Damn.

Yeah, we did that a couple times. That was a lot of fun. That was wise. You know, it's too bad, 'cause like, if we were onto it at that point, I bet you somebody would have recorded it and we would probably have to tell.

Somebody could have got it for us, yeah. Damn. Hey, listen, it wouldn't be too hard to recreate. Right?

Yeah. I got all those stories in my head pocket. I'll fucking fire them off like a Chinese star. I'm ready.

See how I'm telling you. So, yeah, man, we got to do this again. Just give me a little heads up. That way.

All right, we'll do. See, I'm rolling now. See, I'm lubricated. I am rolling right now.

That's it. We'll set you up. We'll do a Patreon. If I could do a couple shots right now, bro, we'll set it off.

We'll get it. But, yeah, we'll do that. Let's set it up at another time. Absolutely.

And you guys are recording now on Tuesday, right? Mondays. Mondays. We just did it today.

Mikey was sick yesterday. Yeah, a little under the weather. Normally, it's Monday afternoons. Yeah, so I'm gonna have to find my way up there on Monday so we can do it live.

Yes, sure. Anytime. It's always a good time. It's always a good time.

Absolutely. I love doing that with you guys. It's always a good time. Oh, I just wanted to say, hey, we appreciate you supporting us on the Patreon.

That is very generous of you. You're a sweetheart of a guy, and the number one salesman in Florida at this point. Did you hear that, Groover? Did you hear that?

That's right, Groover. Fuck you. Fuck you, Groover. Fuck you, Groover.

He's number one. He's taking back Corilio, too, just so you know. I mean, I would say fuck you, Alfredo, but he doesn't care. He doesn't get reception and smoke on the water, so too much interference.

All right, Pete, you have a good day. Congratulations again with the stepdaughter. Yes, congrats. Thank you, man.

Good talking to you guys. You too, Pete. Love you guys. Love you too, buddy.

All right, bye-bye. There you go. All right, Pete Hernandez. Pete Hernandez, all the reps in the state of Florida, he's number one.

He's number one. He's number one, god damn it. He's number one. Well, what else you got on your second cigar there?

Yeah, well, I started with the Habano this morning. Yeah? Normally, I'll start with an EC, but I ran out of ECs at the house. Oh.

And then like when I ran out of ECs, I moved to BDPs. Oh, so I burned through a bundle of BDPs, and now I just haven't re-upped. So like the next lightest cigar that I have is the Habano, the Postana Habano. So I'm like, all right, I'll start smoking these.

Oh, there you go. Now I'm on to the War Bear. It's good to have a plan, Michael. You know, you really got to have a plan.

It's the only way to go. I don't normally smoke on the way in if I'm going to the gym, but you know, past week and a half, it's been a little rough. Oh, on the way to the gym, or from the gym to here? Like, I used to, I would smoke sometimes after the gym on the way in, but now I try and give myself like a little kush time.

Oh, okay. Like an hour? Right. Like, it just kinda...

Get some good oxygen in. Yeah, get some good oxygen. Feed the muscles. Yeah, yeah, feed the beast.

Let the cereal digest. Yeah, yeah, the whole thing. Right. Oh, good for you.

So, you know, it's, uh... Yeah, so I haven't, but now, since I haven't made it to the gym in a week and a half... Wow. I gotta go.

I gotta go back. It's a horrible addiction. I'm gonna try and go tomorrow. You should do that.

Yeah, go tomorrow. Yeah, if not, I may kill somebody in here. Oh, well, I don't work here, so kill anybody you want. But you're still in here.

Yeah, but I feel you would like to kill an employee. I mean, maybe, but you know, you did try and crash my party downstairs this afternoon. No, I was concerned with your well-being. Yeah.

It's not often you pull up and then don't get out of the car. I was taking a minute. I understand that, but I was making sure you didn't die. you didn't die i know you've been sick it's like it's just like it was very hot i mean if the car was running i would have assumed you were napping it was fine let's take the heat on man just let it go but i mean there was no movement i even looked in the windshield and your eyes were shut and you know no movie so no i wasn't i tried the back door first it'd be less invasive it was locked and then i tried the front door and then you grabbed and slammed it to go okay he's alive he's fine let's let's go yeah after that i'd not like i sat there and kept going hello no no yeah no you You and Phil.

You and Phil. Well, we were checking on the studio down there. Like frickin' frack. We had to arrange two ceiling plugs for the lights.

When is the studio going to be operational? Hold on. Let's bring Phil in. All right, Phil.

Phil, you like to answer that, Phil? Excuse me. Sorry. Next week.

Next week. Vaguely mentioned next week. Vaguely next week. It was this week, but now we're at next week.

So next week it doesn't say. Like, Monday next week? Will we be podcasting from there next week? I think we could podcast, yeah.

Yeah, I'm gonna move furniture on Saturday. Interesting. And set up the back room. Very interesting.

My wife has a celebration of life to go to that I'm not required to accompany her to. For some friend of hers that's husband has passed away. And you don't have to go? No.

No, I offered. She said she's known them forever, and I said, "Well, I've known you for 12 years. " But I'll go. I'll go if you want me to go.

She goes, no, you don't have to go. All right, shut Phil off because I can hear the feedback. It's like, ooh, a bunch better. Uh, so yeah, so I have Saturday free, so I will set up the back room.

You're going to start moving, but we don't move this table. This table will move into the front room. Oh, it will. Yeah, yeah.

This is going to be the front. We're going to fold the sides down and put it at an angle and that's going to be the front room table. We're never going to be in his office again. No, no, never be up here again.

He's never going to see us. No. I mean, you still have your desk out there. Yeah, cause I like to work with my people.

Right, but I, no, I didn't come up and look around for cigars, scourge around, forge for cigars, and go back downstairs. And go back downstairs. We're gonna hang out in the lounge too, private lounge. Oh, it'll just me and Phil.

You and Phil. Yeah, Phil's gonna be our first member. I can be Phil's plus one. I guess he could be, but Phil has to be there.

Phil has to be present for you to be a guest. He's always here, that's fine. When I'm here, he's here. I'm telling you, what's ever said, Mike?

I love the circus that this fucking shop has become. Yes. You know, if we could get a film crew, this would be a pretty good TV show. I mean, we're practically there.

Almost. Almost. I mean, we got a three-tier system here, and then we have Phil. Right.

Well, now we just need Pete's stepdaughter. Right. We need somebody to follow around with a portable. Yeah.

Perfect. Portable unit. We need fucking Instagram reels, the whole thing. Right.

We are back in the movie business, Mike and Mike Productions. Stan the Man is doing a little mini-movie. Oh man, Stan is frustrating for me. That's the thing for me.

Oh, people love Stan. Stan's a big hit. Well, you know, then keep doing what you're doing, but I got to tell you. You don't like Stan?

No. Oh, he's a big hit? No, Stan. The week he was not on, I got several complaints when he was sick.

Stan agitates me. Oh, well, that's, but you'll be watching the movie. I can tell you that, like, Stan agitates me and art paintings agitate me. It's a snowstorm.

It makes me angry. It just makes me angry. Why does Stan make you angry? I don't know.

I don't know. It just does. He might eventually have his whole own show. Oh, my God.

I will not listen to that. No, no. A little 30 minute, you know, life with Stan or something. Life with Stan.

Yeah. Maybe some type of advice type thing from Stan. You know, I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. It's a snowstorm. You know, I, I wish you did like a Mrs.

Doubtfire Stan. Like, you know, you went totally different gender. Well, I'm not Stan. Hi!

I'm not Stan. I'm Stan's wife. Yeah, but then I'd have to shave the beard. I've looked into that, then I'd have to shave the beard.

You've considered it. I've considered it. I would have to shave the beard. Ah, okay.

So, I don't want to shave the beard. All right, well, let's get on to the news. Let's get on to the news. Let's get on to the news.

Because I'm really excited about these Nicarusica fucking adobes that we're gonna smoke on the Patreon. From the four corners of the world, all the cigar industry news you could possibly need. The Cigar Hustler Podcast Report, with Mike Toon. Habanos reports revenue of 568 million dollars.

Million dollars. They also confirm a price increase. And it's not enough. And they're gonna have a big party celebrating the price increase.

568 million, not happy. Confirms price increase and announces a gala evening celebrating Cohiba and the $568 million. Wow. Habanos SA, the company responsible for the sales and marketing of all Cuban cigars, has released the financial data for 2021 financial year, reporting revenue of $568 million, a 15% increase over the previous year.

Yeah. Not enough. We're going to raise the prices, though. In 2021, the results confirmed the solid path we were on, despite the crisis caused by COVID-19, said Nunez Blanco and Luis Sanchez.

Wow, this is a long name. Sanchez Hardique Pardo de Vera, co-president of Habano's SA, via press release, last year we surpassed the 500 million mark for premium cigar sales worldwide, half a billion dollars, and an all-time record for the category and testament to the enormous potential of our business. We are very proud to lead the premium cigar category and to continue to grow despite the situations experienced over the past two years. Shit's about to get rough, bro.

You're gonna hit 460 next year. You think so? Then they won't have the party, maybe. Oh, we're cutting back.

Well, Oh, they're raising prices. The company said its top five markets of volume were, do you wanna guess? Top five markets of volume. Yes.

China. It's number two. Okay. Ooh, it's not the USA, is it that much?

No. Hmm. Europe? Do they have this Europe?

No, it's a little vague. Yeah. Germany? Number three.

Italy? No. Hmm. One more guess and I'm just gonna tell you.

Great Britain? No. Spain is number one, France, and Switzerland bring around the last two. France?

I would have never guessed France. The Frenchies. In terms of retail sales, Europe led the way with 59% of sales volume, followed by Asian Pacific with 16%, the Americas with 14%. I'd like to have my croissant and my corhiba.

There you go. Let's see. Oh, there you go. Africa and the Middle East with 11%.

Oh. Let's see. Habano says a strong performance from its licensed real stores. key this 21 discuss it says that they are currently uh we don't need any of that information i don't need that as a year round this time of anos has updated selling price for the distribution network and portfolio the company wrote in a press release for 2022 they have been established taking into account the current demand aspects affecting sectors including the luxury premium cigar market and a new strategy of global homogenization in the highest segment of the price pyramid did they say well because we're paying more for gas you're going to pay more for cigars No, they just want more money.

Because I got to fill my 87 Maseratis. Ah, here's the reason. They are setting all the prices to Hong Kong standards. Ah, Hong Kong.

They're big in Hong Kong. Hero. Oh, you know what? Yes?

I've been watching a show called Tokyo Vice. Have you heard of it? Is that the one where the news guy? Yeah.

I started watching the first episode and it was too much reading. What? Because it's in Japanese? Yes.

Oh my God. I like to read my movies, Michael. Dude, it is a good, it's a good show. It looked good in the previews, still, I'm gonna, this guy's, this little, this.

They're all speaking Japanese. I don't think. There's a little Korean in there, too. Oh, how do you know, they say Korean at the moment?

It actually says Korean, and then they're speaking. Oh, yeah. Because it's hard to tell the Japanese and Korean apart. I mean, we, I have no idea.

Koreans have a little flatter face. Oh, nice. That's not a racial thing, that's just, that's just the way they look. That's the way they look, huh?

Okay, good to know. Yeah. I appreciate that. Let's see, let's get to the party.

The company is also announced we'll be hosting a gala event in celebration of the 568 million dollars. Can we just go through one episode without you coming off as fucking racist? I mean, you know, holy shit. They said they have a flatter face.

Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. That's not racial. Yes, it is.

No, no, it's not. Oh my God. No, it's not. And when they come for you, I'm going to be like, listen, I've been looking for a new host, a co-host for years.

Jack Taranio, maybe. He's available. You have to get a bigger chair, and a higher microphone, and then use it for two years, and then fuel the growth and replace it. Yeah, and just fucking ax him.

Right. " We never called, by the way. Called who? We never harassed the day of the Hector show.

No, you know what? I forgot it was on until halfway through. And they were very upset about that. Oh, were they?

Yeah. Oh. " Oh. I forgot.

I noticed at 8 o'clock. " And apparently it, like, had horrible views. It was not. It was not good.

Because you took the fun out of it. You removed Jack Teranio. It was very dry. The binder filler wrapper thing is...

He did that. He did that whole thing. There's a serious amount of synergy between Hector and Jack. You can't just remove one part of that equation.

It'd be like if one of us did a show by yourself. I mean, I would flourish, but... I'm doing okay on my other show. I'd be happy to stop this at any given time.

You just say when. No, you wouldn't. Replace it with Phil. Put Phil on it.

You enjoyed it. Phil's doing a sports show. He's rolling his eyes. A sports show by himself.

No, he's gonna bring in different people. Oh, yeah? You're gonna bring in Bo? One week.

From the Magic. Bo Allah. Talk about basketball? Yeah.

J. Simpson and talk about football? And murder? Maybe.

And blondes? And blondes. Wow. Have you met my wife?

Oh, Jay. This is my wife, Nicole. He's going to bring in some Asian man and talk about ping pong? Middle, let Central America talk about soccer?

You haven't dug yourself in a deep enough hole. Somebody from Britain to talk about tennis? Nice. What about cricket?

You can do cricket with a, no, he doesn't like cricket. He's not a big fan of that flat bat. It's the number one watched sport in the world. Cricket?

Yeah. Wow, I thought it was soccer. No, it's cricket. All right, do you want to hear about Cavalier's new blend?

Oh, please tell me. Tell me about the gold. It's undisclosed. It's undisclosed?

That's the name of it, undisclosed. Oh, is it? Yeah, so it's a very short, very short little press release. Nice.

Cavalier has announced its new event cigar. It's not disclosing the blend. The blend is undisclosed. It's the name of the company.

It's the name of the company's new 6x44 Lawnsdale that will be offered at retail stores during the Cavalier events. It will be offered in a 10 count bundles. Beyond the relative lack of information about this blend, the cigar does not appear to use a piece of gold foil that is found in pretty much every other cigar. Oh, and they're removing the gold.

And no gold. That's the end of the fresh release. Wow. It's the whole story.

Look, you know what, I got to give them kudos for kind of going that route, but you got to fucking, you got to give me more. Give a little, yeah, you gotta make more. The undisclosed, you know, and then you gotta kinda lead into it. It's like, the rapper is, I'm not saying, and the binder is none of your damn business.

Right, right, mind your business. It's a VSO. It's gonna be aged for a certain amount of time. It's a SECO, mind your business.

A VSO, don't ask too many questions. It's, it's aged, and then it's, it's aged somewhere between now and eventually. You know, something like that, right? Like, I mean, I could put this, we could have put together a solid press release.

Well, I like why production does help with press releases, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, you know. We can help. Anytime, anyone wants.

You know, like, we get, like, Miguel was dying on our BDP release. Oh, was he? Yeah, he wrote. Miguel Chadell?

Yeah, from Crown Heads? From Crown Heads. Yeah, like, man, this is, this is some epic, epic stuff. Oh, nice.

Yeah. Thank you, Miguel. We can help you anytime. Matter of fact, there's a Crown Heads press release next.

Oh, ooh. The La Karim. The La Karim. The La Karim.

No, the La Karim. We did La Karim last week. Did we? Los Angeles 2022 heads to TAA stores.

Oh, yeah. We're still not on TAA. Inter Sanctum Cigar Illuminati. Brownhead says it's exclusive cigar for TAA.

At the end of the session. Oh, end of the thing. Retailers is now heading to stores. The Los Angeles 2022 is a five and three-quarter by 52 Robusto Extra that uses an Ecuador and Hibano wrapper over a Mexican San Andreas binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, two regions in Nicaragua.

Somebody needs to come out with like a TAA seance, like that's the cigar. Oh, that'd be nice. Yeah. Or the TAA Illuminati.

Or like a, you know, like Temple of Doom, like Kalima Shatideh, with the heart on it or something. Oh, Kalima. Yeah. That's the way you should name one of the bundles of guys.

Oh, this is the Kalima. Kalima. Shatideh. Did you know Short Round after that movie, and then he did Goonies and then he got out of the business?

Who? Short Round. Who's that? The little kid in Indiana Jones.

He was in Indiana Jones? He was the little Asian kid in Indiana Jones. Oh, when you start saying Goonies, I instantly think of the fat kid. Oh, no.

And then in Goonies, he was the little inventor guy. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that was cool. He was like the Bond.

Yeah. After that movie, he got out of the business because there were no roles for Asian actors. Well, that's fucked up. And now he just got back in.

He just did the movie that has all the Asian actors in it. Oh, well, that's good. I'm glad that he finally came back around. Yes, he was working behind the camera, directing and producing.

See, and here you are just beating up Koreans. during the event which occurred late March Cabo San Lucas we never get invited the organization did they pay for them to go to Cabo is it oh no no you don't think so no yeah no it doesn't work that way you gotta pay I think the TA probably pays everybody pays no no you know they pay for the horse or is that included the eyes wide shut a ceremony yes they don't really talk about it yeah I would have to get some people on here to really maybe we You can call Marvin. You'd have to get former people of the TAA and blank them out. Oh, Marvin Montauk, he's up for president in what, four years?

Yeah, it's practically, yeah. He's probably really hush-hush. Shhh, shhh. No, none of that happens.

None of that happens. There's a wheel, there's a discount wheel. Discount wheel. No, it is, it's called something.

It's called like the... The wheel of TAA. The wheel of TAA. The Kalima.

The Kalima. And they sacrifice a virgin, and then they all paint themselves with blood, and then they do eyes wide shut. Yeah. John Carney was talking it up on his little show of How About That Cigar That I Crashed?

" Did you look at him and see if maybe it was like still blood behind his ear or something? Yeah, he had like a, it was like an insect that was attached to him. Oh. Yeah.

And it was controlling his brain. Oh. Oh, I don't want to join if you have to do that. Yeah, no, that's only for manufacturers.

Oh. Yeah. Juristate announces the Nica Rustica Adobe, which we will be smoking on the Patreon. Yes.

During an online event, part of the company's Freestyle Live Series, Drew Estate announced its newest line, Nica Rustica Adobe. Adobe. It is a follow-up to the Nicarusia El Brujito, which debuted in 2013, making its second line in the Nica Rustica Series. It will use an Ecuador and Habano wrapper over a Brazilian binder and fillers from Nicaragua.

While some of the details are still announced, the pricing is as follows. 48 for the Gordo. I think like Brujito is like the Magic Man or some shit, because I know that Brujito is like the witch. Yeah, the witch.

So maybe that's the male witch. Yeah. Probably. Kind of.

Hmm. I like the originals. Yeah, the originals are good. Right.

Especially for the price point. Right. It's one of the few Drew Estate cigars I will smoke on the regular. But they flipped it on you.

They changed the wrapper like three years ago. Oh, is that when they re-released? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know they changed the wrapper.

It went broadly. Oh. It was originally Habano. Oh, I like it better now.

Do you? Yes. Interesting. I think the originals were the best.

Oh. Maybe we can get our hands on some of those, we can try those. Nah. Oh, never mind.

How are you going to know? Who's going to know? They're going to know. Who's going to know?

They're going to know. Adobe's construction raw material that was used in Nicaragua to build houses. You are not him. You are not him.

Mexico, too? I told a bitch I'm him. What? Pedro Gomez, the mayor of Esteli, drew a state's factory spokesman during the- Who is now a US citizen.

Oh, is he? Yeah. Oh, now he's the mayor of Miami? Oh, my God, yeah.

That guy is out just spreading his seed. Those houses build beautiful communities. Those communities bring a lot of families together, and it doesn't matter where you came from. Jack?

Oh, he says Jack. Where you came from? Taranio? No, no.

Maybe he's working there now. Communities in my hometown of Esteli, where I baked saddles, and I was the mayor. Pedro? As your family member.

While the cigar is announced today, many consumers have already had a chance to smoke the cigar, It's a smoke to cigar like it's done with the number of its newest releases. Drew Estate sold pre-release packages, unbanded cigars to coincide with today's event. Oh, what if that's the one we had that we didn't like a couple of weeks ago? It could be.

In addition, the cigars and swag included in the pack of those who were purchased. It could be. Alright, you remember Rick Rodriguez? Yeah, Pretty Ricky.

Retired from- CAO. And also from- General? General. Yeah, CAO.

Oh, he's back. Surprise! Surprise, I'm back! Rick Rodriguez's absence from the cigar industry won't be long, and really one that he has announced the launch of West Tobacco, West Tampa Tobacco Company, WTTC, West Tampa Tobacco, which will reportedly have its first cigars in store shelves in the coming weeks, making the announcement via Cigar Aficionado.

Rodriguez said the company will launch with two cigars called Black and White. And I'm the racist. Wow. Black and white.

Which are expected out by the end of May or early June. The white uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and filler. If he says Broadleaf Maduro on the black, I'm out of here. I quit.

Well, the black uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. They both use Habano? Uh, yes, but it's from a higher priming. Ah.

Oh, wait, wait, wait. To give it a darker color. Yes, 'cause it's black and white. Man, I'm the problem.

You are the problem. And stronger flavor, too. Yeah, I'm sure. It's darker.

If it's a higher-priming. It's darker and stronger. Yeah, it makes sense. Certainly.

So that's like saying that the white, no one's going to smoke the white. Underneath that, the Nicaraguan Brinder from the Volcanic. Nobody loves the white meat. The white meat is like the healthy meat.

You want the dark meat with the fats in it, right? Like you go to, for turkey, like it's turkey dinner, give me the dark meat. I prefer the dark meat. Right?

The white meat's dry and poor. Fuck that. He's not going to sell a lot of whites. Chickens, I prefer thighs, which is a dark meat.

Right. It's Mejor. Yes. It's fucking Mejor.

Mejor. Shh. It's Mejor. 54.

Black is Mejor. Nicaragua from the volcanic island of Omotepe. Omotepe. Where the fillers come from Nicaragua.

Binder from Omotepe. Interesting. Yes, where the fillers come from Condega and SLE regions. Everybody loves Condega.

Both cigars are made at the Garmandida cigar factory in SLE, and we offered in three sizes. The Garmandita. Garmandia. Garmandia.

Garmandia. Garmandia. Garmandia. 99 each.

99 each. Oh. The Black White Gigante. Gigante?

Gigante. 1099. 1099, yeah. Rodriguez is best known for his time with General Cigar when he was best known for his role in Blender and Ambassador for the CAO brand.

Yeah. He left the company at the end of April and has partnered with a fellow former employee of General Jack Taranio. Oh, no. No, no, no.

Martinez, who will serve as the new company's president. They're fueling the growth. Rodriguez has not returned messages from Cigar Hustles podcast and his return to the industry, and the call to the company's headquarters was unanswered and thus far unreturned. Yeah, because he doesn't give a shit about anybody else in the media because he's got aficionado.

Right. Give them everything. Yeah. Just ignore everybody else.

Next time I call, I'm going to say I'm with aficionado. Hey, Ricky, this is Mike from Cigar Aficionado. This is Phil with a Cigar Aficionado. If I say Mike Palmer, he's going to know who it is.

I don't think he'll know. He's not gonna know. I think he's gonna know. Nobody's gonna know.

He's gonna know. " Bye. All right, now we have a Florida story. Tell me.

This is a good Florida story. This one's good. Okay. Hit me.

All right. Wife hits husband with car, shoots him in the butt. Phil is already laughing. I'll read the headline.

So, okay, so... I'm gonna tell you right now, this dude, it sounds like this dude deserved it. From the headline, this guy is fucking up. All right, this is Naples.

And, you know, you need to come correct. From Naples. Yeah. A man was shot in the bud by his wife after she hit him with a car in South Florida on Tuesday.

Okay. Jose Trujulio. Yeah. Claims he was riding his bike on Tuesday evening when his wife, Catherine Cruz, got in front of him with the car.

Took him the fuck out. Got in front with the car and slammed on her brakes. Yeah. And then shot him.

The gentleman tells Cigar Hustle Podcast, she happens to see me headed towards the way, pulls in front of me, Hits the brakes really fast, and I hit the back of the car. Yeah. Boom! According to Jose, then when Cruz pulled out a cocked gun, telling Cigar Hustler Podcast, I'm holding her hands and she's letting off rounds.

Shooting about four rounds, in the fifth round she happens to weasel her way out and she shoots me back there. Back there. In the butt. In the butt.

So she came out with the gun, he's wrestling with the gun. Yeah. Is somebody a gun shot him in the butt? I don't know.

I don't know. Sounds a little sketch. Let's see. The bullet hit him in the right butt cheek.

Jose, what were you doing, Jose? Just riding my bike. No, no, no. I was just riding my bike, and then she pulled in front of me, and then she hit me, and boom, boom!

You were banging her sister or something. Trullo says his wife started screaming he was robbing her, and a Good Samaritan stepped in using a taser to stun him. Oh! Oh!

Wait, he got shot and tased? Yes! That's a smart woman. Help!

Help, help! He's robbing me! He's robbing me! With his fucking bicycle helmet on his bike tights.

He's a bulletin' his ass. And somebody believed it. Oh. That's amazing.

Tregulio, tell Cigar Hustle Podcast, "The Good Samaritan came down trying to protect her and she's tasing me right and I'm smacking her. I'm like, man, I got a gun. Chill, chill, chill. I'm the victim.

I'm the victim. My wife just shot me in the ass. " Are you the victim, Jose? Are you really the victim?

Cruz was arrested and Tregulio was sent to the hospital. Yeah. That's it, though. No, you're not getting the deets.

There's no details. That's as far as it goes. Yeah. Jose, you fucked up.

You know it. We all know it. And apparently, just run, run. You go to exercise, work on some cardio.

Bam! I feel like you got off easy. It'd be funny to watch. Yeah, it would.

He's fighting a lady with the gun, and some other lady comes up and zapping him. I got a bullet in my ass! Cut it out! I got a taser.

It's a crappy taser, nerd! Stop! Stop. It's just bothering.

It's just. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. All right, Michael, you got a listener of the week? I did.

Who was it? I don't know. We had one. Cigar surgeon.

Cigar surgeon? Are you going to make a listener of the week? Phil's throwing up photos. Yeah, cigar surgeon.

Cigar surgeon. Oh, no. Oh, you went the oh, no, too? Yeah.

Like, oh, no. Oh, no. You got a shop of the week, Michael? Minerality.

Oh, no. Michael Joseph fucking there. Burn you with my smoke. You know who I would like to give a shop of the week to?

Who? Casper Cigars. Oh, okay. Yeah.

You know, I got to give them credit because they have been doing a really good job on social media and really trying to build that presence. And they're working really hard. So... They were the one who got us Wyoming.

I believe it. That was the only state we... The original, though. Yeah, that was the only state we didn't have...

Oh, the original, where they're not in Wyoming anymore? No, like, Donovan owns it now. Like, there's a new... They're new owners.

Oh, there's new owners. Oh, back when we were trying to fill up the map years ago, there was a holdout in Wyoming, and we kept yelling their name on the show. Yes. Actually, somebody told them to watch, and we locked them up in Wyoming.

Boom, in business. Yes. Wyoming. I just saw the video for this the other day.

Came up on my TikTok. Did you? Yes. That's exciting.

Yes, it was. Good for you. You got anything else? No, that's it for you.

We got a Romacraft event at the end of the month. Yes, Mike Rosales will be here at the shop. What's that, May 27th? May 27th, and then we'll do a special Mike Rosales episode.

Mike Rosales episode. Oh no. That is his third time on? Or fourth?

I think it's his third. I think it's his third. Yeah. Because we've done another special where he was in, and he's been on the show, and we don't count the call-ins.

So yeah, I think it's his third. Yeah. Was he on the episode when we had Skip on? I don't think he was here then.

No. No. Skip's not coming with him though, right? Intrinsic apathy.

The Ebitda. Yes, that's Ebitda. The Ebitda. Ebitda.

Ebitda. Ebitda. Ebitda. No, Michael.

Michael's coming solo. All right. So this has been episode 228 of a... Can I have this one?

It's been episode 228 of a Cigar Hustler Podcast. Yay. Can you go to this? Thank you for watching and listening.

I'll go back to that one. All right, buddy. We got to go. We'll talk to you next week.

All right. Bye. The Cigar Hustlers Podcasts, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions or the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ.

It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike 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. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production.

m. for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-i-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again.

Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? The Hojo D.

Hojo! It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I'm gonna get past Hojo!

I don't even have to try to hit this. We're gonna, we're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right. Try to keep up.

That's a sign of a good podcast. It should be like four cigars when I walked in the door. All right, end this.

Show Notes

Call in with Pete Hernandez....behind the scenes....and Habanos makes more money and has a party to celebrate the price increase!!