Cigar News & Reviews ACHP 618

Episode Summary

Episode 618 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual chaos — camera autofocus problems, a fill-in engineer while Phil recovers from an eye injury, and Mike "BDP" Palmer explaining why the "Boycott Cigar Hustler" t-shirts were killed (his wife refused to make them), leaving customers to swap for the new Ghost Smoker shirt or take refunds. The hosts also read listener comments from the CH Pod Lounge and YouTube, including tips on how episodes drop early and a note about a wet, shrink-wrapped box of Don Tomás Enigmas.

The pop-culture segment covers a woman who disrobed and behaved indecently on American Airlines flight 1779 from Baltimore to Miami, a Trump appointee's proposal to buy Greenland to source shrimp and revive Red Lobster's endless shrimp, and a UK anesthesiologist at Tameside Hospital who abandoned a gallbladder surgery for a "comfort break" that turned into an eight-minute tryst with a nurse (he was warned but kept his license). A running bit riffs on gas-station ED pills and BlueChew.

The cigar news is the meat of the episode: Caldwell's new Mooncake, a Connecticut-wrapped, limited (2,405 five-count packs) riff on Yellow Cake going on sale September 16; Marifel's ultra-premium Project 18, an aged Cameroon-wrapped 6x50 Toro released in Japanese wood chests of 99 cigars at $99 each ($9,801 per chest); and a detailed breakdown of Altadis USA's pricing moves — refunding import surcharges as retailer credits after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs, cutting the import charge from 7% to 3.5%, then raising prices across most of its portfolio, with a discussion of how line-item tariffs vs. baked-in costs affect state tobacco taxes.

The show closes with "What's the Score?", predicting the Half-Wheel score for the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sin Compromiso Selection No. 4 (Nicaragua Redux), which scored 88 — with the original 2024 version noted at 91.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Show Chaos & Merch Update
   Autofocus problems, a fill-in engineer, and the cancellation of the Boycott t-shirts in favor of the new Ghost Smoker shirt.
2. 02
   Listener Comments
   Reading CH Pod Lounge and YouTube comments, including a wet, shrink-wrapped box of Don Tomás Enigmas.
3. 03
   American Airlines Incident
   A woman disrobed and behaved indecently on flight 1779 from Baltimore to Miami and was met by police.
4. 04
   Greenland & Red Lobster Shrimp
   A Trump appointee's plan to buy Greenland to source shrimp and bring back Red Lobster's endless shrimp.
5. 05
   UK Anesthesiologist Scandal
   A Tameside Hospital doctor left a gallbladder surgery for a 'comfort break' tryst and got only a two-year warning.
6. 06
   Caldwell Mooncake
   A limited Connecticut-wrapped version of Yellow Cake, 2,405 five-count packs, on sale September 16.
7. 07
   Marifel Project 18
   An ultra-premium aged Cameroon Toro in Japanese wood chests of 99 cigars at $99 each, $9,801 per chest.
8. 08
   Altadis Pricing Changes
   Tariff-surcharge refunds as credits, an import charge cut from 7% to 3.5%, then portfolio-wide price increases.

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

Music Playing Okay, I don't know where the thingy is, so... It's on the table. Three... Two...

Uno... Uno. I said I had to light my cigar. We don't care.

Let's go. Uno cigar is bucket. I'm Mike Palmer, and I don't have any teeth. You don't have any teeth?

I can't see anything. You don't have any teeth? You don't have any teeth? I can't see anything.

I'm mean to my wife. What? You're starting already. Uh-oh, I lost the camera.

That's not what the script says. Greg's disconnected. Oh, no. Yeah.

That's okay. It probably powered off. No, it's still on. Oh.

Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast. Oh, you unplugged it. You unplugged it. This is a real shit show.

Oh, nice. It's still not working. Very nice. You unplugged it.

Aha. There he is. All right, go ahead. Carry on.

Yo. Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast. You know, I can mock you too what you talk. I can mock you too.

That's not what the script says. You're not following the script. All right, go ahead, go ahead, get serious. Welcome to a Cigar Hustler Podcast, premium cigars, unfiltered opinions, and conversations.

i'm mike bdp palmer your host joined again today my co-host we're back superstar triple g we love him so much he's returned again here we are and then over in engineering our new engineer the king because phil's on his latest movie i got spooge in my eye there is a problem with his eye and that would make sense that the it's an injury from the he took the weekend off to go shoot a movie did you see him recently or no no is it bad i have no idea that's what i thought you saw no i haven't I haven't seen him. It is a scratch on something and he's got to wear his glasses. Like on his eye? That's what he says.

Nobody want to work. That's the problem. Nobody ever want to work. But he's got to wear glasses is the only bad part.

I don't get that. Right. How can he not sit over there and hit buttons? He just doesn't want to do it.

This may be it. This may be the end of Phil. You are a permanent member of the show. Oh, this can't happen.

No, no. Welcome to Thunderdome. Welcome, Gregory. I have things to do.

Super busy. Shows. - I am super busy. - We have an update.

Oh, well, we don't have an update. He's not back. We have an update for Phil's eye injury. He's still a big baby and not back yet.

From cigar sports and business to pop culture and the wildest headlines, if it's worth discussing, we're going to talk about it whether you guys like it or not. No safe spaces, just real perspectives, big laughs and chaos at any moment. Settle in and welcome to Cigar Monsters Podcast. Dun, dun, dun!

Mike, in stereo, in stereo. On today's show, American Airlines has a new naked seating section. No. Yes.

Awesome. We have a plan to bring back endless shrimp. What? Sizzler?

A red lobster? Is it red lobster? Very good, thank you. And a comfort break goes wrong.

Then cigars, in cigars, we have a new cigar, we have entered-to-back cigars, and a price increase, I mean an increase, okay, we're not really quite sure what it is. I'm not sure what it is. It's a decrease, but an increase. We decrease, then increase.

Yes. Yes. Why? Well, we need more money.

We need more money. Something happened with our autofocus, where it's now autofocus. I'm blurry? Yeah.

Now my camera's doing it too? Yeah. All right, we all need cameras. Greg?

Hold your hand up like this and then bring it back. I need you to make an investment in the show. I don't think we can do that. There you go, let it go, let it go.

You can. You're rich. Heard you talking about a tip you left last night at a restaurant. She really deserved it.

Well, we deserve new cameras. Wow. Is that one of the rich restaurants you go to where they make you leave feedback? Well, it wasn't a very rich restaurant.

The reason why she got a very good tip is because we walked in at like 8:53 and they close. Uh-oh, Greg just dropped his wallet. They close at nine o'clock. " And she took very good care of us.

So, yeah, I left her very good. Did you order something difficult? No, not at all. Just water and a salad?

No, it wasn't a salad. No. No. Alright, but first, what's the latest from the lounge, Michael?

Is the lounge working today? I haven't fixed the lounge completely yet. Oh. Alright, then what's the latest from the YouTube page?

First of all, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you right now. You need to like and subscribe wherever you listen to this. If you want to die.

If you want to die. Moving on. com for all your chpod swag. Thank you everybody for hyping us.

We love that on our YouTube page. We figure out what it gets us, what it means, what happens? Who knows? It sounds amazing though.

Everybody's hyping. It gets hyped. Yeah, just hype away. Hype it up.

Hyping. He's dancing. I'm hyping. Hyping the show.

Yeah. Very nice. Yeah, thank you. You don't have a knife today.

No knife today. Too bad he doesn't hype his wife. Wow. Wow.

My wife's not mad at me. Were you nice to your wife today? Yeah. You weren't yesterday.

I was very nice to her. That's not what she said when you called her. Speaking of which, speaking of wife, I do have a slight update for everybody. It is unfortunate.

Sorry. Excuse me. This is way down here. Wow.

Fix this. I'm going to set this up. You know, it actually didn't move the thing at all. All he did was make noise.

It didn't move at all. It just made noise. I have a brief announcement to make. a.

my wife, has refused to make the Boycott Cigar Hustler t-shirts. Really? Yep. Why is that?

Yeah, she has. She said it's not nice. She goes, it's not nice. This is amazing.

Can one of the children make t-shirts? I think Jack's good to do it. She said it's not nice. Sooo, you're just not going to produce them?

Yeah, so they're not going to be made. I contacted all the customers to purchase them. You can't make them? You're still blurry.

This is amazing. Now you're better. How many of them were purchased? Oh, it was like a handful.

Because I got ahead of it and I turned it off. Before it went crazy? Like mid... We have an investment in this shirt.

Oh yeah, it's a straight loss, buddy. I love that you're blurry. I'm just going to have it on you. So do the hand thing again.

Yeah, because you guys like buy... Look, as soon as you turn, it fixes. As soon as I turn, Torch Greg? Yeah.

See that? Oh, look at that. Isn't that interesting? That's nice.

So yeah, because like you guys buy those iron-ons, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how they get made. What company buys those iron-ons?

I can't give you all our secrets. Why don't you tell me all our secrets? Who do we get them from? No, no, who purchases them?

Was it Mike and Mike Productions? No. No. It's a whole, it's a CH PodSite.

Oh, CH PodSite buys them. Yeah. Okay. So total loss.

It's a total loss, so sorry guys, I gotta accept it, it is what it is, we're saying ever. It's not as what it is, we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out by not making them for you. So, but, so, you know, we subbed out a couple of shirts for some of the ghost shirts, which is now available, the ghost shirt, and we made some purchases on that. So will you just give the customers that purchased the boycott something instead, like the ghost shirt, or are you refunding everybody?

I gave them any option that they wanted to do. If they wanted a refund, they can have a refund. If they wanted a credit, they can have a credit. If they wanted to swap it out for the other shirt.

And these are all good guys, so I'm sure they were okay. Did you give me the option, we would just like to let you guys keep the money? No, that's not an option. They're nice guys, you just said they're nice guys.

That's not an option, Palmer. Yeah. It's a great business model though. Keep the money, we give you nothing.

But go check out the stickers. Shout out to my boy, I think, Lance. What if we sent them the shirts and the iron-ons and they made them themselves? It's done.

The wife put the kibosh. It's done. We should have talked about this before you just refunded money. Well, you know what?

You don't handle any of that. The money part? Yeah, you handle it when it's in there. right sorry you want me to call my wife now and say that tell him tell her that you know i'll tell her you're an up in an uproar right now about this she'll go just like i say i don't believe mr palmer's ever in an upper he's just so great let's talk about you that you bad mouth me about shirts bad mouthed you that's what you said you're gonna listen to this i hear you were mean to her anyways check out the stickers is it because you were mean to her yesterday i was about to say was it the same day that you were yelling at her is it was this like a one thing it was like the strike No, because the strike, she's going to make those ghost shirts.

Look, she said it's a bad idea. She's like, I don't like this. This is dumb. You're not doing this.

Well, then going forward, would you approve all the transfers with our staff to make sure she's okay with making them? I have a pretty good idea as to what's permitted and what's not permitted. Well, apparently not. Well, now I do.

Oh, okay. Standards have changed. Oh, God. She has set the bar now.

Oh, we got some comments in the CH Pod Lounge. " Good. Yeah, he did a great job. " Oh, nice.

I love it when you guys... Would you take a transfer and payment, says Boycott Cigar. m. m.

how much earlier do they want you know I can send over to drop or he could make a comment and then it'd be read two shows away we don't go back yeah I'm not mad either way dude you're doing first of all you're one of the best supporters that we have so it's all good it's all good you want the show to drop at three He's just setting a timer. How was he able to get that comment there in time? I don't know. He did it, though.

I got a question for this guy. I got a question. He comments every day. Hey, just let you know, I can't do this.

Can you make adjustments? How'd you do this? You know what it is? No, you know what he's saying?

He's saying that by the time the episode appears on the lounge, it's already too late. Gotcha. So yeah, I can look at adjusting that so that it's at similar timing on the YouTube. For sure.

I got you, bro. I understand. Smokin' Banger says, banger of a show today. I got the anger of a show today, and it was, it was a great show.

A lot of fun. Okay, look over here, so I can focus. Don't worry, I'm going to mess with it in a second once you start rolling. " Listen, I know, Palmer has that problem sometimes.

No, no, I'm Palmer, not Michael, it's you. " No, no, it's not what I'm called. There's nothing you can do about that. Not what I'm called.

Mitch Smith says, "Also, I once got a box of Don Tomas Enigmas that was obviously a rush job, and they put the cigars in while the box was still wet. Then they shrink-wrapped the entire box and shipped. When I received it, the text on the box was all smudged up and the cigars tasted like paint. " It's like painless sealant.

Yeah, no, it tastes like sealant. Love those. Sealant. 97.

We had that happen here a couple of years ago. I don't remember what the brand was, though. Something showed up and it was wet and the cello stuck to the boxes. It's more common than you think.

It happens. Yeah. It happens. You know?

Some comments on our YouTube page. At Lance Frazier says, "OMG, I really needed this today. " See, that was a good... Aw, we made somebody's day.

I like that. We made a couple of people's day. people's day previous didn't talk the rest of the day yesterday yeah somebody i was debating if i could heave palmer over the uh top of the stairs going up but uh at lance frazier says i looked up the stickers that's awesome thanks bro and thank you so much for supporting he picked up four stickers yeah so we're a solid 29 away from breaking even oh good we got that going for us are you interested in 29 stickers no you can put them in your uh online sales upstairs i've never - I should have been a sticker person. - You're not a sticker guy?

- A sticker guy. - We probably shouldn't put him on his car then. That might be a mistake. - He'll turn yours off, remember?

- Yeah, he'll take part of my motor out again. - Yeah. " Thank you, Captain Oblivious. You're not so oblivious after all.

- He's oblivious. - You're captain apparent. @rookscoding says, "Funniest show in a while, guys. Made my morning better.

Yes, sir. All right. Well, hey, if you want to hear a comment, write a lot on the show. There was a couple of other ones, right?

Here it is. Oh, Rooks Coding also said, by the way, it wasn't about me. He was talking about the ChatGPT thing. They were just testing it.

At CW63A3 says, the animosity today was top notch. What made it better was Triple G playing with the cleaver the whole time. You can't script this kind of podcast. Gold.

However, somebody thinks that we script this podcast, I heard. I, it's impossible. Yeah. The, who thinks that we script it?

You mentioned something. Oh, when Ronnie reached out to me a while back. Oh, it was a while back. Like when, when I first started helping out and just filling a hole, he called me, he's like, man, this is really good.

You're a good fit for it. But listen, you know, like this has to be scripted. And I explained, I'm like, no, dude, like for years I've watched these two knuckleheads avoid each other for the first half of the day until it's time to sit down and do the podcast. That way, what they're speaking about is just genuine, and it comes right off the tongue.

Yeah, it's not scripted. Yeah, this is, this is 100% legit. This is how we live our life. Yeah, this is our everyday.

Yeah, this is the same. And when the cameras come off, it's the same shit. Right. Well, a little bit louder.

Yeah, maybe. A little bit louder. Okay, maybe a little louder. So, there's also a spot on this lens.

You're driving me nuts. CW says, "I'm part Cherokee" and he was very offended by your statement. It wasn't me. Yeah, that's what he said.

I didn't say anything about American Indians. I'm part Cherokee and I was extremely offended, Palmer. It doesn't know. I saw the comment, it's not me that was mentioned.

He said something about Indians. It says Palmer. I don't know. I have no idea.

Okay. S. and National. A t-shirt?

You should be able to ship a t-shirt to Australia. So, you know, what was funny was, yeah, I mean, I think that there's a way to figure that out, we can probably do it. I mean, I'll figure out how to add it or whatever. I'll look into it.

I think it's just a t-shirt that I shouldn't be from. Yeah, I'll look into it. Cigars are tough. Yeah.

Right, but I don't think there's taxes on clothing. Who knows? It probably is. Yeah.

It's Australia. If you if you look at it on the map you owe them money that's how oh yeah yeah it's not even there's actually like it's blocked out it's like blurry right it's like it clears up want to see what's over here yeah you got a deposit oh oh yeah make a deposit yeah if you want to hear a comment read aloud on the show simply comment below on our YouTube channel or on our ch pod lounge now back to you Palmer everything seem off-center even you're a little I didn't set the cameras up. No, I understand you didn't. I'm just saying they all seem a little off to us.

" He's blur. Everything blurry and slightly askew. Female passengers started undressing on American Airlines flight. Oh, this isn't as exciting as I thought it was.

You opened with they are going to have a whole section for nudity. That's not what this is. It's apparently seat 9A. This is just a random nut bag that gets naked.

The incident happened aboard American Airlines flight 1779, traveling from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Miami. Oh, nice. It's in Florida. Yeah.

On Friday, September 11th, the reported behavior of the woman was reportedly seated in 9-D, sorry, not 9-D, 9-D is the naked seat. 9-D. When she allegedly removed all her clothing and began performing what the crew described as indecent acts. Indecent acts.

Indecent acts. Not even interpretive dance. Instead, indecent acts. In view of other passengers.

So she didn't even go to the bathroom. Well, of course it's in view of other passengers. How else would they know? I mean, come on.

You can see the whole plane. Just look over your shoulder. You see everything behind you. Flight attendants notified the cockpit.

Cockpit. Cockpit. It's called a flight deck. Yeah, they couldn't say pilot.

An American Airlines operator sent a center arranged for law enforcement The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM.

The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM.

The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM.

The flight landed at Miami International Airport, approximately 11:23 PM. The flight landed at Miami International Airport. Herman Perky, or Rox and Sox? Like, I want to know -- Oh, Rox and Sox?

Rox and Sox? I think Penny is in Sox. I want to know what's going on. , where officers were waiting at the gate.

Ah. Yes. Yes. She was taken into custody, but officials have not released her identity or confirmed whether she was formally charged, hospitalized, or released.

Yeah, obviously a little crazy. Or maybe she's just hot. Could be hot. Those planes can get stuffy sometimes.

Yeah, when like when they're on like the tarmac and they're just He's getting there and they don't actually turn on the AC yet, I don't like that either. Well, apparently she disrobed while in flight, they had taken off. Oh, well, at that point they turned on the AC, there's no reason that you can't. Right, I mean, she was going to get naked before they took off, they would just escort her off the plane.

Right, yeah, you gotta wait. Yeah, you gotta wait till the point of no return. Yeah, you can get there. Okay, we're up in the air now, time for the clothes to come off.

Here come the girls. Right, and the things that they weren't saying she was doing. Nice. all right i don't know what he's doing back there trying to fix your auto vote acts of indecency thank you very much did you fix it because ramon is now in the building i think so okay i mean i probably made it worse but whatever oh it's fine i think that it's a requirement i think that when they do these sorts of sorts of media releases they need to state height size yeah weight right yeah well i think they're waiting to see what kind of charges they do before they release It's her personal information.

" Oh yeah, definitely not the same thing. " Right, American Airlines, ooh, what it is, from Baltimore to Miami. Oh yeah. Yeah.

And it's gonna be rough. Yeah, it's like the first time when your parents take you as a child to the nude beach and you're expecting something really nice, it's not. I'll never go to the nude beach. Wait a second, your parents took you to the nude beach?

No, no, this is a hypothetical story. Sure she did, she didn't like you, she liked him. Yeah. You and your mother went to the nude beach?

Well, parents. That's weird. That's weird. That's weird.

I'm sorry to hear that for you. Henry, put some lotion on me. He goes, where's my brother? We don't like him.

He didn't come. We didn't bring him. I thought you were watching him. Right, I thought you were watching him.

Your father is watching him. They have been showing everywhere the lady with the poop bucket from Friday Show. Oh, yeah? Yeah, she's making the media rounds.

Poop bucket? Yeah, she threw poop at somebody. Oh, that is horrible. She pooped in a bucket, took it next door because the lady next door supposedly was having an affair with her husband and threw the poop at the lady.

That's disgusting. Why didn't she throw the poop at the husband? Yeah, I mean, like, the neighbor really didn't do her wrong. It was the husband that did her wrong.

And that's all allegedly. We don't even know. Maybe she still loved the husband. He won't want you once you have poop on you.

So maybe she should have approached with a throuple. Kept her husband happy, if that's what he wanted. Well, maybe, I don't know. With poop games.

Yeah, poop games. Maybe he likes to poop. She was trying to help. Could have been two girls, one bucket.

There you go. Okay, moving on. That's kind of an odd reference, but that was funny. All right, we're bringing back the endless lobster and shrimp at Red Lobster.

I thought this company went under. I thought they went bankrupt. No, no, we have a plan. They re-bought or something.

We have a plan. Oh, the plan is to give away more stuff? There's a cap. S.

Arctic Research Commission, an independent federal agency that advises the president and Congress on Arctic research and policy, has a plan. Why this man is involved in Red Lobster, I don't know. What? I'm saying.

Right. Downtime. A lot of downtime in the government. Yeah, when you investigate the Arctic, which is frozen all the time, not a lot you got to look at, so he's like, you know, I got a plan.

Save the lobsters. His plan is we purchase Greenland, and then we have all the free seafood we want. Is that legit what that says? Yes.

He argues that America could purchase Greenland seafood directly, bypass China as the middleman, and potentially obtain enough shrimp to revive Red Lobster's famous endless shrimp promotion. Oh my. So China's the problem, again, again. Middleman.

That's why we don't have endless shrimp at Red Lobster, it's because of China. Right, so we just take it from Greenland. Right. Right.

And then we eat the shrimp. At a reasonable price. Yeah. Endless shrimp.

Probably half off at that point. There's enough shrimp for everyone at that point. You cut out a whole country. Yeah.

Right. S. Treasury Department as counselor to the Undersecretary for International Affairs. So he knows what he's talking about.

What are you doing? Did you ever partake in the endless shrimp at Red Lobster? I think I might have, accidentally. You did.

How do you accidentally? " You're not an American. Red Lobster's not. Texas Roadhouse and Red Lobster are not top.

Texas Roadhouse is pretty good. With the biscuits? Yeah. Endless biscuits?

Yeah. The biscuits are at Red Lobster. The biscuits at Red Lobster are good. Cheddar Bay biscuits, specifically.

They used to be, when we were a kid, that's four-star dining area. Ooh, it's a fancy day, we're going to Red Lobster. Sizzler? Go to Sizzler?

No, never a big fan of Sizzler. How about Ponderosa? What is that? See, you guys don't even know what that is.

It's like a Sizzler. It's like a Sizzler, but better. Oh. Okay.

Melting Pot, not a big fan of that one either. No, you gotta cook your own food, that's stupid. Yeah, it's so dumb. Very expensive, but I'm cooking.

Yeah, I'm good. So when you go to those things where you're cooking your own food, right? First of all, they're not inexpensive, right? No, that's what I'm saying.

They're very expensive. They're not cheap at all. It's kind of pricey. There's not even a kitchen in this place.

And you're cooking your own food. But you do have a server, and the server is bringing you water or soda. So if there's four of you, it's like $30 a clip, right? So you're going to do it at what?

Oh, that's cheap. It's $50 a clip. Okay, so if there's four of you at $50 a clip, you're in it $200, right? You leave the 20% tip for the guy that brought you water all night long?

Like, how does that work? Or should they pay them more? That's a good question. They should pay them more, I think.

Why should they pay them more? Right? Because at that point, they're really not servers, right? They're not paying a cook or a chef, whatever they call it.

I'm saying. Maybe they should tip you. Now we're talking. Yeah.

I like this. I like this. Thank you so much. That sounds like a good business model.

You did a great job. That's what we do here at CHPOD. Right. We give them the money.

That's exactly what we do. They buy shirts and we send them money. That's exactly what we do. This guy also participated in the National Security Council Tax Force.

Oh, he was on the task force focused on acquiring Greenland, so he knows about Greenland, too. That's how he knows they have free shrimp. That's how they know they've got all the shrimp. That's right.

So you guys think it's a good idea, should we just take Greenland for the shrimp? I think we should just move on, we don't give a shit about the shrimp. He did that one pretty quick. Sure did.

Next topic. You know, Greenland is a self-governing territory, Do you have a story with the Kingdom of Denmark? No. Are you going to tell me that it's an island?

No, it's not an island. Oh, like Thailand? It's a continent. I don't know what it is.

It's a continent? I'm not saying anything. You just said it was a continent. I'm not saying anything anymore.

It doesn't matter because you just said it was a continent. I said I was probably wrong, so. You guys jump on something else. Order some more shirts, we'll send you money.

Continent in the Greenland, okay. All right, we got a doctor who took a comfort break, but it didn't go as planned. Oh, boy. And that's what happened.

That's Greg's wallet again. Greg's wallet again. Dr. Suha Ajunam, 44, was a consultant and an anesthesiologist at Tamside Hospital in Greater Manchester, England.

During a gallbladder operation in September of last year, he reportedly asked another staff member to monitor the anesthesia patient while he took what he called a comfort break, which is when you have to go to the bathroom. During the surgery. They don't call it a bathroom break? No, they call it a comfort break.

At least in England. I mean, it could be in America. I don't know. All right.

Chirio, need me a comfort break. " You don't know. Whoa. Yes, I do.

They say he was. So he doesn't have an English accent? No. He's not from England.

How do you know he wasn't just a Native American that was working over in England? Yeah. Because at the end of the story, they say where they sent him back to. Oh, they send him back over there.

back over this. This is heavy. Wow. Instead of using the restroom, he entered another operating room and engaged in a sexual activity with an unidentified nurse.

Nice. I have to go pee-pee. And he goes, nurse, come in here. Let's go.

I mean, no, he said he was going to a comfort zone. I feel like that qualifies. It's very comforting. Comfort break.

I don't think comfort break, even in England, covers sex with a nurse. Now, when you say unidentified, unidentified to us or unidentified to him? Like, was there a sheet involved with just a hole? Well, she had the mask on the mask that's nice surgical man he went into a different operator who are you let me just take this down here for a second i'm the comfort nurse i'm the comfort nurse was there somebody on the operating table no it was an empty one apparently this was a pre-arranged meeting in the middle of a surgery yeah i got an urge i gotta go please tell me it's like something serious like brain surgery or open heart surgery well he was doing gallbladder gallbladder okay That's still pretty serious.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gallbladder? Yeah. You can die.

Well, you could die from anything. Especially if your anesthesiologist is in the next room banging the nerds. Oh, yeah. That's nice.

The anesthesiologist was not. The anesthesiologist was watching over the patient. No, he was the anesthesiologist. He's the anesthesiologist.

" Yeah, which is totally illegal. Yes. You can't do that. No.

The whole purpose of you being there is to make sure that they have the right amount of drugs. Correct. You know, it's not somebody else's job to go, blood pressure's fine, he's breathing. Another nurse walked in and discovered them partially undressed in a compromising position.

What was she doing, or he, in that area? Well, the other nurse, apparently waiting for him. Looking for a threesome. Maybe.

Looking to play doctor. A compromising position. They were working the Karma Sutra while they were in the other room. Apparently, he was only absent for eight minutes because they got caught.

That's still, I don't know, eight minutes has been pretty good. That's pretty good. What the hell did he do for the other seven minutes and 49 seconds? Well, they had scrubs on and a mask, it took time, you know, and maybe some clean up, I guess, I don't know.

Okay. Then returned and completed his duties. The patient was not physically harmed, but a medical tribunal ruled that his, yeah, it sounds serious. Like Survivor.

Right. Medical tribunal. Ruled that his actions amounted to serious professional misconduct. Yeah, definitely.

The hospital dismissed him in February and he later returned to Pakistan. However, the tribunal decided not to revoke his ability to practice medicine in Britain, concluding that he showed remorse and presented a very low risk of repeating the misconduct. And he used a towel. Yes, he received a formal warning lasting two years.

Formal warning. I guess that's sort of like house arrest or something. But it still made the news. " How do you not lose your license over something like that?

I don't know. He just ripped in for eight minutes. What's the problem? Well, it was eight minutes because I got caught.

You don't know how long you might have had. What if he took Blue Chew first and it was going to be an hour and a half long marathon? Is that what Blue Chew gets you? Yeah.

Wow. Greg, tell us more about the Blue Chew. This episode brought you by Blue Chew. What's the gold get you?

Interesting, Greg. There's a new one. There's gold. I've seen commercials.

Are you a member of this? I am not a member of Blue Chew. Have you subscribed? No, no.

Just pick one up at a gas station. One up at a gas station? I think we found something here. Rhino Pill.

Rhino Pill. He knows all the names? I do know all the names. Right.

You know, at least once a week, there's one of those honey packets outside this room. Is there? In the parking lot. I believe that.

It is. So weird. I believe that. Next story.

What kind of... I don't know. Kind of shenanigans go on outside this room. Are you an anesthesiologist, Greg?

What does that have to do with a Rhino Pill? I've never heard of Rhino Pill. What is that? It's the same thing, but you buy it at the gas station.

It's like regulated drugs, unregulated. It's so bad. Is there a prescription drug in the Bluetooth? I mean, I've seen the commercials, obviously, but I don't know.

I don't know if that's script or not. I don't know if you need a prescription to get that or not. You know, I'm not a doctor here, but I'm thinking, I think I know what's going on with Greg's blood pressure. You know what I'm saying?

You know, I don't want to get ahead of myself. But gas station Viagra, probably not the best choice. Yeah, probably not what you should be doing. You know what I mean?

Does your primary or cardiologist ask you those questions, Greg? So, no, no prescription drugs. Fill out all the drugs that you're using. I got the white rhino, the red rhino.

They come in colors? The black gorilla. Black gorilla. Oh, wow.

Okay. Okay, good for you. Good for you. Can't you take some regular, like, blue juicer?

I don't know, I don't know what's going on with me. I just can't seem to get better. Like, look, I don't want, I don't mean to nitpick here, but maybe we should lighten up off the ED pills. jeez louise oh boy okay all right you don't have to call hymns or anything stops by a chevron and grabs a fucking pill hey hold on honey i need to fill up the gas and get my rhino pill and a diet coke you had the gas station yesterday no no it's honey it's honey it's out of gas again great at home sucking all the gas out so he's got this tank on the side of This house is loaded with gas.

Right, because he's not going to pour it out. Yeah, that's ridiculous. I'm not wasting fuel. He's got seven cars at home, he just puts in one of the other ones.

Yeah, exactly. Why is the van always full of gas? Yeah, it's so weird. And it's got a hole in the tank.

Walked himself right into that one. Okay. Wow. Alright, Cigar News!

Transition from Greg's ED addiction to Cigar News. According to Half Wheel, Mooncake uses a cord blend from Caldwell's Yellow Cake, cake but replaces a traditional wrapper with a Connecticut leaf. It's the new cigar released by Caldwell. Moon cake.

Moon cake. Caldwell says the change keeps the familiar character of yellow cake while adding a smoother sweeter dimension to the smoking experience. The binder and filler tobaccos have not been disclosed keeping some mystery around the complete recipe. Moon cake will be released in one size of 5 by 50 Robusto and packaged in five count packs.

m. Eastern, such weird, even at the time, with fewer than 12,000 individual cigars available, Caldwell fans interested in trying this Connecticut-wrapped version of Yellow Cake, probably shouldn't wait very long, do they sell direct to the consumer? I don't think they do. Yeah, I think they do, do they?

m. So it's not like, you know, like, if we got, Got it. 45. But there was a retailer that purchased that brand for Distro.

Pipe something. Caldwell, yeah. It's a distributor. It's not a retailer.

No, they're both. Are they? Yeah, I think so. Are you thinking because Tyler Caldwell works at a place called Pipe and something?

Nope. That's not why I'm thinking of that. It's like Ladis or something like that. I actually gotta contact them.

Okay, did you ever have the yellow cake? No? I have had the yellow cake. Yeah?

What did you think of the yellow cake? I thought it was good. I really enjoyed the yellow cake. You liked the yellow cake?

I liked the yellow cake. I would like to try the new Connecticut moon cake. The moon cake? It's sweeter.

You think it's infused? The yellow cake wasn't. They said all they did was change the wrapper. What about the moon cake?

No, so I mean the moon cake, all they did was change the wrapper from the yellow cake. You think it's an infused wrapper? No, I don't think so. I think that would be mentioned.

Nobody really hides that anymore. How does it taste like mooncake then? I don't know. It doesn't sound like it tastes like mooncake at all.

Maybe that's just what they call it. Why would they call it something it didn't taste like? I don't know. We have a cigar called War Bear.

It doesn't taste like a bear. How do you know? You've tasted bear? Yes.

You've tasted war? Yes. I don't think you've tasted either. I've tasted war.

I've tasted war. I was on the Confederate side. We lost. Oh boy.

And we celebrated with cake. I thought that you were part of the revolution. No, no, I didn't fight the British. I fought the Yankees.

Hey, side note, you know the eyesore on I-4? Yes. You know the gigantic building that's on I-4? Yes.

So I was having a conversation with Jax about the eyesore on I-4. " Yeah, they do. " Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Been there a long time. Before 9/11. Oh, yeah. So think about that.

Yeah. S. soil, buildings were destroyed, replaced by another building, and this building still isn't done. Well, I think it was like a scam, though.

Like, it was involved with a church. Yeah, I heard it's some type of religious TVs. It's not a scam. I think that they just refuse to take any loans out and they're like building it.

Right. They like raise money. Then when they get enough amount, they fix something and then they have to raise more money. That's the dumbest business model I've ever heard.

Yeah. That's crazy. Is it a tax write-off if it's not finished? I have no idea, but you're going to have deterioration because the whole building is still open to the elements.

Right. You know? All right, well, we raised enough money to go clean it again, so go clean it again, 'cause it's been vacant for five years, and there's squirrel crap everywhere. Squirrel.

Squirrel. You think they have any mooncake there? Definitely not any mooncake. No mooncake?

How about yellowcake? Not any yellowcake. Not yellowcake either. Does it taste like mooncake?

Who are you asking? Yes. I thought he was asking you. Definitely, no.

Wow. Okay. Well, you know, I like Caldwell. Mike Caldwell, he's a good guy.

Yeah. Yeah. Look forward to tasting Mooncake, but we probably won't. No, we don't carry their stuff to it.

Yeah. No. Okay. All right.

Next. Tell me about Altanus. Is that next? No.

Next is a Marifel story. Oh, yeah. Marifel. Released today, so I presume it's okay.

Project 18. Marifel Cigars has unveiled an ultra-premium new limited edition series called Project 18. Dun, dun, dun. That's an understatement.

At the 2026 Inter Tobacco Trade Show in Dortmund, Germany. According to Half Wheel, the number 18 represents life in Hebrew tradition. Yeah, have you seen this box? It's ridiculous, it's awesome.

Yeah, I saw a picture on the Half Wheel article. Each year, Marafell will open its tobacco vault and release one aged blend that the company says will never be reproduced. Oh, so they're making this cigar now and then after it's gone, it's gone. It's gone forever.

forever the inaugural project 18 is a 6 by 50 Toro featuring a genuine Marifel Cameroon wrapper because they had those now they have them they have lots of old only 180 Japanese wood chest will be produced with each chest containing 99 cigars arranged in a wheel and secured with some type of fancy ribbon blue de V ribbons two gold plated travel tubes and also included that tobaccos were They were aged at Mason, Merifel, and Belgium before rolling and then returned to Belgium for additional aging. So wait, they stored it in Belgium, then apparently sent it somewhere, and then sent it back. Correct. Well, they actually didn't send it anywhere.

They just sort of went out and kept traveling. Oh, just drove it around in a van or something. Yeah, like the bourbon that sits in the boat. Oh.

Yeah. Was that the Jefferson's or something? Yeah, yeah. Same thing.

Just kidding. Kidding project 18 carries an MSRP of $99 per cigar pricey or it's really old tobacco $9,801 for the complete chest yeah it's a good deal yeah good deal and you might be able to pre-order it somewhere just saying if you're interested can't say where though can't tell where oh this is the part where I'm not supposed to can't talk don't say anything don't make me believe right right down the The minute's rare, and cut that out. Cigars will be individually allocated through select Marifel retailers with global shipping scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter of 2026. Mm-hmm.

It's kind of like, it's like your iPhone 18, if you want to get it now, you pre-order. Yeah. It's very expensive, the new iPhone. The Flippy Flippy?

Yeah, the Foldy Foldy. Who wants the Flippy Flippy? I don't want a Flippy Flippy. I don't want a folded phone.

There's going to be a line around every building. You can pre-order it. - No way, everybody's poor right now. - No, people still will.

- 'Cause they will finance that thing. You would have no money, you don't need any money. - $49 a month. - You don't even need good credit!

- Yeah, cost you $49 a month on your phone. - $2,200 for the phone, how many you want? - For what though, so I can watch Jack Reacher on my Flippi Flippi? - Yeah, so you get more content bigger in your face.

- More content bigger? - More content bigger. - He's become really famous, there he's getting a divorce from his wife. - No, is he really?

- After 20 years. Yeah, they announced it, what is today, yesterday, I guess, or Friday, one of the day. The big guy? Yeah.

It happens. That's terrible. Yeah. They need to work it out.

I think it's too late. You need to call him. Me? Yeah, no, definitely not you, never mind.

It's on me. Yeah, I'm on your track. He's about to do a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Is he?

Yeah. That's cool. Called The Coat? I don't know what that means, though.

It's about a thing that you... About a large jacket. Yeah, it looks like. Might be a Santa movie because Schwarzenegger has a big white beard.

Oh, that'd be cool. Might be. All right, Altidus USA has announced several pricing changes taking effect in the coming weeks. Yeah, this is interesting.

All right, first, the company will refund the import surcharges it collected from retailers through February 23rd, 2026, after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs. Those refunds will be issued as credits to retailers' accounts beginning in October. - Just from February 26th? - Yeah, because that doesn't make sense.

- Collected from retailers through February 26th, so anybody who got a charge prior to... - Oh, okay, great, all right. - All right. - You get a credit.

- I'm getting on the phone when we're done with this podcast. 5%. - Okay. But wait.

That reduction should lower costs for retailers and potentially soften prices for consumers. There's more. But wait, there's more. But wait, there's more.

Then after that, they're gonna increase. Also beginning on October 1st, Altidus will raise prices across the majority of its cigar portfolio. CEO David Morrow cited rising manufacturing fuel and domestic operating costs along with internal operational charges. Does that mean he gets paid too much?

Private jet. Yeah, cost money. Cost money. Did they say what the percentage of raise is?

Allegedly. Allegedly. No. Of course not.

Well, I mean, if we drop it three, we've got to raise it at least four. Right. Come on. It's going from seven down to three and a half, so we're going to raise it four percent.

Yeah, four. Nice round number. They did not announce the percentage of the increase provided half wheel with a product-by-product breakdown. This will be the company's first price increase since January 2025.

All right. So why do you think they did this this way? Well, meaning, are you asking why is it that they did it this way now? Like, why are they undoing the ball of wine?

Twine? Is that what the question is? Twine? Yeah, why?

Twine, yeah. Because they realized that they did what they thought was correct at the time. It has now changed, so they're trying to do good by retailers and consumers. Sure.

By raising the price? Well, raising the price is... Well, we're giving you a credit. It's fine.

That's the first part. The first part is they give the credit back for the tariffs that they wound up receiving a check back, which is actually pretty good. I think that's a good deal. But then they raise the price afterwards just to sort of make it all a wash.

The way that they handle their invoices has always been crazy to me, right? Like they have a line item at the bottom that is for all that stuff, whereas there are other companies that they just integrate it into the cost basis of the product. So it's easier for everybody to kind of be on the same playing field because there are some retailers that won't look at the bottom line and do the math. Instead, they'll just base their cost basis off of what that first line is.

And that doesn't make sense to me. Right, they don't add the stuff at the bottom. Yeah, so what was, the concept here, I think, was extremely flawed. Like, all they had to do was do what everybody else did and regularly increase their pricing, you know, inflate with the, because it had to inflate with the tariffs.

Yeah. And then if they wanted to adjust at that point later, or like, if the tariffs went away, they could have just left its status quo, and then they would have never had to do anything. Yes, but here's the reason why they did it. If you're used to living in the great state of Florida, there are other states that they'll look at the cost basis of the product, and if that tariff line is encompassed into the cost basis, that's what that product gets taxed on.

So in those states, the burden of the tax is lessened by having it being a separate line item, non-inclusive to the cost of the actual product. So now when you pipe it in, though, those prices go up. Yeah. Oh, definitely.

The taxes go up as well. Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Right, because now they're increasing the price per cigar.

Of the actual good. Right. Yeah, 100%. Oh, so we're, well, we're not screwed, but some people are screwed.

Yeah, well, the cost basis is going to go up within those states that have high taxes. You think a retailer spoke up and said, "Hey, this tariff is gone. " Uh, maybe. I'm going to sue you?

Hmm, maybe. You can't collect on something that's not happening anymore? Yeah. What about you, Palmer?

What do you think? I think you are correct. I mean, it's been in the news quite a bit lately that you can get the money back, and companies have been saying, "Hey, we got all the money back. " Or give it to you.

But now look at all the other companies that they integrated that tariff cost into the actual fixed cost of goods. So what, are they going to go through all of their books and then figure out how much money they took from the retailer and then give them back a check as well? Well, no, they don't have to because the price is the price. They didn't say why they raised the price, they just raised the price.

That's a valid point. Yeah, if you said, "Hey, I'm raising the price for this tariff and this tariff is gone and you're still billing me for that tariff," that's a bad look. Right, if it says tariff on the bottom of it and there's no more tariff, or lower tariff. But the other companies that aren't going to lower their prices are just going to increase their margin because of this lesser cost.

But it doesn't matter because they increase their prices too. Sure. So they're all bad. Yeah, pretty much.

Pretty much. In a nutshell. Yeah, you got it. Okay.

Yeah. So congratulations. You're paying more money for that. We're going to reduce the cost of the price.

And to reward you with that, we're going to charge you more. And now your taxes go up. Yay. Yay.

Thank you all for this. You might've been better off if they just left the tariff line. Maybe you can't. That's improper.

Well, let's just change the name of the line. Yeah. We'll just call this the Romeo and Juliet the line. Right.

This is so that your taxes, the tax won't go up line. The, because we can. The Fifi. The Fifi.

Oh, the Fifi on the Fifi. There's a fee on the Fifi. Alright, now it's time for the industry's favorite game. What's the score?

Can you predict a cigar's score from a half-wheel review before it's revealed? We'll give you the clues. You make your guess. As the review unfolds, the answer gets closer.

Or does it? The closest guest wins. Thank you. You're welcome.

Let's play What's the Score? Today's Cigar, September 14th, 2026, Patrick Le Greed is the reviewer. It is the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Nicaragua Redux, the Sin Compromiso Selection No. 4.

Hmm. Volco Compromiso. Mike, you go first. This is the Redux.

Yes, the Redux. So they did it before. Sin Compromiso. They did it before.

88. 88. 88. 88.

88. To send compromiso selection number 4 from Nicaragua, Factory, Fabrica de Tobacco, Hoya de Nicaragua, the Mexican San Andreas, Negro Cultivo? Tanto? Does that make sense to anybody?

White people. White people. The binder is Habano, the filler is Nicaraguan, it is a 5x54 pressed, they smoked one. Ninety.

Eighty-nine. Glute number one, the cigar was beautifully constructed, featuring an even dark brown wrapper, nearly invisible seams, and a very few noticeable veins. That doesn't change me at all, ninety. I'm eighty-nine.

Clue #2. Once the profile opened up, it delivered enjoyable layers of rich earth, thick chocolate, and slightly charred black pepper, supported by a creamy smoke texture and excellent combustion. 89. 90.

You fucked up. Clue #3. The cigar started too mildly and never fully opened up as expected. The final third became increasingly dry, It was increasingly dry and slightly gritty, while the draw occasionally tightened.

Mmm. 89. 88. Final thought.

While I don't think two years in the humidor have outright hurt the Sin Compromiso Selection No. 4, I am more convinced they didn't help. The flavor took a while to come alive and take off, making the first third almost a warm-up act, And while the second third helped promise and got me thinking about what I remembered the blend tasting like, it never fully blossomed into what I was hoping for, after an all too brief performance, the final third sees the flavor tighten back up before the somewhat gritty finish seals the deal for me. I still think the Sin Compromiso selection number four is a fantastic cigar, but this experience seems confirmed that the better version lies in the newer ones where the flavor got a chance to really interact and play off one another.

88. Oh, that was my number. Muhahaha. 87.

Bing, bing, bing, you hit it on the nose. On the nose! I was gonna go there, too. Now, you could still win, Michael, or you could still score.

What was the original score back in September of 2024? 89. Would you like to guess? That was the number I was gonna go with.

Go with a different one. I'm going to go with a different one. 90. You went the right way, 91.

Oh, a goose egg for my brother today. Oh, I was beaten by the brother. That is amazing. Goose egg.

That's why mom loves him the best. You want to hit the sparklers anyway just because you like to hit them? No, no, but I do have this prize for you since you won. Oh, God.

Yeah, yeah. It's Blue Rhino for you. It's Blue Chew. That way you can blast your wife.

Congratulations. Anything else? I love it because it makes him uncomfortable. He doesn't do his ha-ha-ha-ha-ha laugh.

He does like a he-he. My wife listens now. My wife listens now. Look, his cheeks are red.

He's cheeky red. I'll have to hear about this later on today. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Oh, dude. So what talk are you going to now so I can call ahead for them? My general practice. Yeah.

Oh, I know that, Kyle. Give him a buzz. You do know him, actually. Like, hey, I'm a I want you to talk to him about the gas station meds.

Oh, is my cardiologist your cardiologist? No. We share the same doctor. So much as the doctor's actually gotten things mixed up over the years, like a while back, not now obviously, he's going through my charts, he's like, "Yeah, you know, your cholesterol is fantastic and all your levels are good," but none of that really surprises me because, you know, you really don't drink.

And I'm like, "You've got the two of us completely mixed up. You're talking about my brother. " I was like, oh, well, I don't know why these charts are so good, but moving on, eventually one day we'll have to have a conversation about how much you drink, but not today. I drink scotch with my waffles in the morning.

I do drink scotch with my waffles. I dip them in the scotch. All right, yeah, I got to go. All right, anything else?

No. com for all your chpod swag, where we just released the Ghost Smoker t-shirt and stickers. Check it out. Also make it your phone's wallpaper.

It's my phone's wallpaper, I like the little ghosts. There you go. So thank you everybody, we hope we provide a great edutainment for you today. Have a good one, bye.

All right guys, thank you very much, we gotta go. Bloop. Two.

Show Notes

On this episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, the crew reviews and discusses the latest from Caldwell and Dunbarton.

A full cigar-industry news discussion — reviews, interviews, and commentary, plus the Day’s wildest headlines.

In episode 618 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, host Mike BDPruns from the news desk to the humidor — reacting to the week's headlines before digging into cigar news and reviews featuring Caldwell and Dunbarton. Honest conversation and industry commentary, new episodes every weekday.