Episode 104 Nobody likes a Quitter! Biggest Show of 2020. American Idol Here We Come!
Episode Summary
Episode 104 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a news-heavy industry roundtable between hosts Mike Szczepankiewicz and Mike Palmer, centered on the biggest story of early 2020: Altadis, Davidoff, Drew Estate and General Cigar all announcing they will not exhibit at the PCA 2020 Trade Show (formerly IPCPR). The hosts break down the numbers — roughly 27,500 square feet of booth space and over $100,000 in annual sponsorships (General's kickoff party, Davidoff's hotel key cards, Drew Estate's signage, Altadis' State Association breakfast) walking out the door — and then give a working retailer's unvarnished opinion: he's fine without them, doesn't think attendance will crater, and would rather see the PCA forced to adapt than see the four largest manufacturers effectively control the show. They also note Skip Martin/RoMa Craft's positive "the show must go on" response, Fuente confirming they're still attending, and unverified rumors about other brands (which they flag as rumors, not news).
The second big thread is TPE 2020 in Las Vegas (January 29–31, Las Vegas Convention Center), where Cigar Hustler is formally announcing it will attend — likely sharing space near RoMa Craft. The hosts gripe about TPE selling exhibitor contact data to third parties who then flood inboxes, and cover Jassum Kral's plan to launch a cigar line literally called "Fuck the FDA" at the show, complete with a middle-finger band. Other news: Scandinavian Tobacco Group completing its $234.59 million acquisition of Royal Agio Cigars (maker of Balmoral), and Perdomo's 3% price increase effective January 1 — about 25 cents per cigar — with the company reaffirming support for the PCA and Cigar Rights of America.
Lighter segments round it out: the comedy of listeners trolling the shop's job postings, a live birthday phone call to Mike's wife, Jack Toraño busting the hosts' chops over Espinosa being left off a top-11 list (prompting a Las Provincias sampler revision), a shout-out from Sean Coleman of RoMa Craft, Manscaped's Listener of the Week (Jeff Owen), podcast chart battles with The Cigar Authority and Cigar Dave, losing out on a podcast award to The Lounge Experience, and a teaser for next week's "review the reviewers" episode grading cigar media's year-end lists.
In This Episode
- 01Four Big Manufacturers Skip PCA 2020Altadis, Davidoff, Drew Estate and General Cigar pull out of the PCA trade show, taking 27,500 sq ft of booth space and six figures in sponsorships with them.
- 02A Retailer's Honest Take on the FalloutMike argues he's fine without the big four, doesn't expect attendance to collapse, and would rather the PCA adapt than be controlled by the largest corporations.
- 03RoMa Craft, Fuente and Who's Still GoingSkip Martin's 'the show must go on' response, Fuente confirming attendance, and the hosts' warning about unverified industry rumors.
- 04Cigar Hustler Announces TPE 2020The shop formally announces it will be at Tobacco Plus Expo in Las Vegas, January 29–31, plus complaints about TPE selling attendee data.
- 05Jassum Kral's 'Fuck the FDA' LineA new cigar line with a middle-finger band set to debut at TPE 2020, and speculation about the company's past PCA troubles.
- 06STG Acquires Royal Agio; Perdomo Price IncreaseScandinavian Tobacco Group closes its $234.59M purchase of Royal Agio (Balmoral), and Perdomo raises prices 3% while pledging continued PCA and CRA support.
- 07Shop Life, Job Postings and Listener MailListeners flood the shop's hiring posts with jokes, a birthday call to Mike's wife, and a Jack Toraño rant about Espinosa's Las Provincias.
- 08Podcast Charts, Awards and What's NextChart battles with The Cigar Authority and Cigar Dave, losing the podcast award to The Lounge Experience, and a teaser for 'review the reviewers.'
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 104 of a Cigar Hustlers podcast. This week, nobody likes a quitter. Biggest show of 2020 and American Idol. Here we come.
All right, folks, sit down and relax. Light your cigars. The show is about to begin. We ride together.
We die together. Bad boys for life. All right, welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, episode 104, Michael. Episode 1-0.
See, now it's turned up all the way and we're peaking. We're peaking like crazy, we're peaking. So, tweak it. I am tweaking.
All right, that should be better there. All right. Ooh, that was bad. So much technical problems with the show today.
You know, it doesn't really sound that good on YouTube. It sounds better on the podcast. Yeah, I know, I think it's because we have to, because we're actually recording on the laptop, feeding it to the board, and then the board feeds to the camera. Right above the chiclets.
Right above the chiclets, yes. I feel like this should have been music, I'm used to the Patreon with the music playing. Yeah, yeah. No music here.
All right, big news this week, Michael. Big news. Big news this week, Altidus, Davidoff, Drew Estate and General are not exhibiting at the PCA 2020 trade show. We are the last people to come to the table with this news, I feel.
That's great. Everybody's been waiting for your two cents, Michael. No, they haven't. I gave my two cents to Eric Gutter some months.
Were you on a live? And then they posted the comment and then nobody even really knows. Oh, I didn't even see that. Well, four of the largest cigar companies have announced they will not be exhibiting at the upcoming 2020 PCA Trade Show and Convention, formerly known as the IPCPR Convention and Trade Show.
We just mentioned that Altidense, Davidoff, Geneva, and Drew Estate in general will not have boosts due to the number of issues, primarily the declining direction of the trade show, specifically the declining attendance, the increased cost of exhibiting, and the Premium Cigar Association's response to those trends. Right. The four companies are believed to not only be the four largest premium cigar companies doing business in USA, but also the four largest in terms of their trade show presence. Yes.
7%, blah, blah, blah. Furthermore, the companies are also major contributors to the trade show's top-line review in other ways. General Cigar has been sponsored of the kickoff party, which I guess they won't have. Davidoff sponsors the hotel room key cards.
Nobody gets key cards. Drew Estate buys large amounts of signs. There will be no signs. Altidus has sponsored the State Association Breakfast.
Oh, I used to like that breakfast. I guess no breakfast now either. Those sponsorships alone provide over $100,000 annually to the PCA. Okay.
So we won't be able to get into our rooms. Can't get into your room. We won't have breakfast. No party.
We won't know what aisle anything is in. No signs, exactly. Okay. Okay.
So, huge rippling effects in the industry, Michael. Huge rippling. Not to mention those four things that we just talked about. It's not a huge rippling effect.
I mean, what do you want me to tell you, Mike? What do you want to know? Tell the people. Don't tell me.
The people would like to know, Michael, your opinions on this. You'd like to know my opinion? I hope people tune in to hear your opinions in my news. Here's my opinion on it.
We're just entertainment, so entertain the people. I don't know, I mean, media, I got asked as far as the people of media on Cigar Dojo to get my opinion. Did they? Yeah.
No, Eric, I don't want to chime in. Thank you for asking, though. Yeah, well, you know. What the hell?
You know, it is. Cigar has a podcast with Mike Palmer. It is. But it didn't win anything.
It didn't win. I'm so disappointed. We're going to talk about that later. It's still a huge honor.
I mean, you know, the one thing that's kind of unique with me, in my opinion, is the fact that we're Cigar Entertainment slash media. Slide that in. I'm also a retailer. It's 2020.
Maybe we're moving up. I'm also a retailer, and I also wholesale products, right? Right. So that's why I feel you have a unique perspective on the industry.
Yeah, so my take on it's pretty simple. If you would start paying for your own cigars here at your own shop, you would be covering all aspects of the industry at that point. Okay. Yeah, I'd also be a concern.
You know what? I buy cigars, so between the two of us, we've got everything covered. We hit all four quadrants. That's right.
So, how do I feel about it? Look, man. I don't really give a shit if they don't want to come or not. Personally, you know, it's, those are four major companies.
They're always been concerned about bottom line. They always are concerned about control. I honestly don't care if they're there or not, you know. I don't think that them not showing doesn't affect attendances, attendant, attendant.
You don't think it will? No. No. I think that a lot of those people will place orders.
They always spend a lot of money. Those four companies always spend a lot of money. Yeah. And I think that it really boils down to the fact that they wanted to kind of take control of things.
I mean, again, I don't fact check, but look, it's just change. It's just change. Do you think it's change for the good or change for the bad, or just change in general? I don't think that there is, I think that you can go back in five years and say, I'd say, okay, well, was it beneficial for the industry?
Was it not beneficial for the industry? You know, whatever the case may be. But as of right now, you can't make that conclusion. I think that I'm fine without them.
I'm just fine without them. It doesn't, they don't have to be there. Well, they're fine for you, because you are more selling than buying. Well, it puts, it makes PCA, it forces PCA to make adjustments, which is fine.
Which is good, actually. They need to make adjustments. They need to make adjustments. : They've been trying to make adjustments for years.
So, you know, but they have still been working hard. They've still been doing things. It's just that it's not promoted. You don't hear about it, right?
You know. Mike Barrett: What do you think that is? I mean, they have their own magazine. Why aren't they tooting their own horn?
Mike Barrett: I don't know. I mean, maybe they couldn't afford that guy. They couldn't hire the marketing guy. Mike Barrett: Couldn't hire the horn toot.
Mike Barrett: Yeah. You know, it's all good. It's all good. Let them not come.
Mike Barrett: I did like Skip's response. His response. Did you see his response on social media? Yeah, I read his response.
Yes. I did like his, just his attitude actually in general was quite positive. You know, it basically was the show must go on. We are going, we are supporting the industry.
Right. And Aroma Craft will. And that's kind of, you know, yeah. And his thing last year about the cost of his banner was something everybody talked about.
Right. So, you know, maybe you have to downsize to control costs. He did say that. He did say he's downsizing slightly.
They're not doing their regular big party. You get in the boot, I'm fucking, shooosh, shoved right out. Sorry gentlemen, due to cutbacks in the show budget, we do not have space for you. Yeah, so, you know.
But we still have room for Fable because they're on the other corner that we didn't cut. Fable's amazing. Fable is an amazing company that we're still carrying. Yeah, so make the adjustments, keep going forward.
You know what I mean? Like, it's amazing to me how many people have an opinion on this that, you know, that really don't have any skin in the game, you know? No, I was surprised by the number of just, like, cigar customers that had comments and suggestions. Well, I mean, they actually, I mean, I'd argue that they have more skin in the game than some of the other people I heard from, you know?
But the point is that, what's the point? I don't know what the point is. I don't know what the point is. The point is that, you know, everybody's got an opinion.
Which is fine. I'm going to put in the work 110% regardless. And I think that, you know, it'll work out. It's all for the better anyways.
You know, if PCA winds up imploding because of it, then you figure out what you have to do and, you know, host some kind of consumer event yourself, maybe, or something. I don't know. That is something that Roma mentioned. Yeah, they've been talking about doing that for years.
Yeah, they're doing a big party in May. And I think that would be so much better anyways, you know. You would think it would be money better well spent. What's kind of remarkable to me, though, is that I, you know, a lot of people, I feel like a lot of people are afraid of these companies.
They're afraid to speak their opinion on it. Yes. Maybe they're sponsored by them. I don't know.
Or they're not sponsored by them, but they're still scared of them. But like, I don't know what to be afraid of. Like, I don't get it. Well, like Coop, for example, he did very good coverage of it.
He did a little special show on it. But even at the end of it, he said he's looking for sponsors for the show because, you know, he's got to make it affordable for him to go. So I imagine some of those four people helped pay for his trip and some sponsorship. Well, Justin Andrews wants him to take his pants off.
Who does? Justin Andrews. Diesel cigars, it's tied into General. So they want Coop to take his pants off?
Justin, I'll take my pants off if you want to pay for me to go. It's just like, you know, I don't think that you carry as much weight as Coop. That's the problem. It's true.
And it's entertainment. But I don't know, for me, like, you know, they could have scaled back, they could have done a bunch of things, but they didn't. I don't think scaling, because they're trying to make a point to what they're doing. Okay.
They're trying to flex a little and make a point. I don't think scaling back would have made a point. I don't want those companies controlling PCA either. Wow.
So it's like, okay, the devil you know, or you know them. So like, you know, and I... The devil you know them? Yeah, the PCA guys that are running it and may or may not be running it correctly and they need to make adjustments, Or having it being infiltrated by these top corporations that want to implement their own shit, like, you know, look, I've heard horror stories of those guys worry, not those guys, I've heard horror stories about companies allegedly, allegedly protecting their own interests and not being concerned about cigars in general, just just their stuff.
So it's like, OK, why would I want them to be in charge anyways? Like that doesn't help the industry. You should be on the board. I don't want to be on the board.
No, you should. I'd like to start a movement right now. Hashtag Michael on the board. I don't want to be on the board.
You should be on the board. I think I got enough going on. You would bring a new view and outlook, I believe, to the organization? Yeah, let's build an Instagram profile.
An Instagram... We'll go into TikTok. We'll hit PCA TikTok. What is TikTok?
I see it all the time. Is that just a video thing? Mm-hmm. Maybe we should do that.
It's the next level. Oh, we should do TikTok. You know what? We've got to...
Okay, in 2020, this is completely off topic, but we're going to somehow be live when we do this. Okay. We have to tie you down to a certain day. Ugh.
Sounds terrible. Yeah, I know it does. I mean, this is Monday. I don't wanna be live.
It's almost Monday night. I don't wanna be live. We're gonna be live. I wanna do what I want.
More viewers, live, live, everybody's live. And then you put it up later. No. Alright, moving on.
So there you go. There's my answer. There's his answer. I wish those four companies the best.
You know, I have no ill will towards them. And I want PCA to work out, and I think that it will. Keep talking. Say something else.
I'm adjusting. Adjust. Adjust. Adjust away.
PCA. Go PCA. I can't wait to go. I'm going to be at TPE.
I'm going to be at PCA. That's where we're going next, Michael. We'd like to formally announce it. Poshik will be at the TPE.
We haven't formally announced that yet? No, we have not. The largest premium cigar, tobacco, vapor, and alternative trade show ranked one of the top 50 fastest growing trade shows of 2018. Tobacco Plus Expo is the ultimate buying and selling show.
The first B2B Buying Show of the Year held January 29th through the 31st, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, TPE will help you open new business accounts across the retail sectors, including independent retailers, premium tobacconists, importers, distributors, and the hard-to-reach C-stores. I don't know what a C-store is. Convenience store. Oh, vape shops, head shops, discount tobacco outlets, catalogs, beer, wine, and liquor stores, and much more.
It slices, it dices, it juliennes. Exhibiting at the TPE gives you a chance to get your products in front of eager buyers in the Tobacco Conference. Maco Vapor, Alternative and Convenience Markets. But wait, there's more.
If you buy one now, you're going to get the second one free! It's a great way to start the year off with new customer leads and POs in hand. Obviously this is put out by TV. I'm excited to go.
I can't wait to go. I'm going to have a good time. You know, Rosales is going to be there. Skip's going to be there.
So, you know, it'll be fun. Oh, Skip's going too? Yeah, that's... I might have to change my plan.
Oh, you're going to go. No, no, I can't. I'm already scheduled here for one night. What, are you going to pawn the computers?
I pawned the computer to get the ticket to the TV. Yeah, so, if you could get another computer, Skip, that would... Look, but here's, you know, I already have a problem with TPE, and them giving... Yes, we talked about that in a previous show.
Yeah, they email, the emails... They're email blasting you. Do you want the accounts? Do you want the accounts?
How about the accounts? What about the accounts? I'm like, go away, I don't need 75 fucking emails of accounts. Meanwhile, they got my information from them.
It's just a fucking crazy paradox. Yes, it is. I think I fixed it again now. No.
Stop emailing me, you people. I don't want the TPE accounts. I don't want them. The funny part is, they're not even TPE that's emailing you.
Yeah, I know. It's the people that they sold my information to. That they sold your information to. That is who's calling you.
I'm like, stop. Stop it right now. Stop. Hey, were you just doing the TPE?
And they're all worded differently, but they say the same goddamn thing. TPE. So what is your booth number at the TPE? Niner.
4259er. I have no idea. Oh, did you make that up? I'll have to look that up.
We'll bring it to that. We still have one more show, I think, before you go. It's probably just under Roma Craft, so whatever the Roma Craft is. Yeah, whatever Roma is, yes.
459er. 026. Banana. Do you need the banner?
You need to take the banner. It's not weird. We got, like, a little footprint. We didn't.
Oh, not a big. Nobody went. We didn't go balls deep in this, no. Well, it's the first time.
Yeah. Yeah, so. All right. Jassum Kral, how do you pronounce the name of that company?
Jassum Kral? Jassum Kral? Plans a Fuck the FDA for the TPE 2020. That sounds perfect.
After a bit of teasing, the company says that it will sell a new line of cigars called Fuck the FDA at the upcoming TPE 2020. I can't pronounce the gentleman's name either. Riste? Yeah, Riste, Riste, Risteveski?
Riste. The company's owner declined to answer questions about further details surrounding the cigar. Instead, he replied with a band that displays the brand's name along with a background. Comprised of middle fingers.
I think that he got kicked out of the last PCA show because of the fact that he had CBDs in his... Oh, yeah? I'm not 100% sure on that. But there were other people that slid in with CBD in their cigars and they had no problem, but, you know...
The company says it will also take three orders for another new cigar at the trade show, though the rest of Vicky declined to provide any deals about the cigar. The TPE takes place January 29th through 31st, 2020, in Las Vegas. I would like to put in my request now for a "Fuck the FDA" cigar. Okay, I'll make sure I get you one.
Make sure you get one. Is he going to get like a fuck the four horsemen, guys? Fuck the PC. Oh, that might be a bad move.
That'd be pretty fun. That would be funny, though. You should get a T-shirt that says fuck the four horsemen. No, I'm not doing that.
You don't say who they are. I love them. I love them. They're amazing.
Missy should come in more often. Why? I like them. I like them.
No Jack, no Taranio, though. No, of course. But look, I can like them and still make business decisions based on their business decisions. Yes, exactly.
Like if, you know, if I think that what they're doing isn't necessarily in my best interest, I'm going to counter back. It's not, I don't hate them, you know, I don't, I understand what they're doing. I get it. It makes sense, I guess, to some degree.
Fueling the growth. That was the fueling the growth. They need to fuel the growth. They're gonna, you know, they'll probably sock just under a million dollars in expenditures for not going.
Oh, easily. Yeah. Right? You got to figure it's got to be close.
I mean, you know, they have a huge booth. They all have huge booths, not just general. Yes, I talked to someone at Drew Estate actually yesterday about them not going. It's just the company lines, all everybody's saying.
And the majority of them aren't going. So they're not doing like a huge TPE thing in exchange for a huge PCA thing. No. They're not taking the same staff and everything.
No, but what they'll do is they'll just call all their customers and say, hey, you want the show deals? Well, that's just it. They have enough people. They can easily do that.
They're still going to make show deals. I guarantee they'll make show deals. All they're going to do is just call the customer. And it'll just come out earlier.
I'm surprised you're not already getting phone calls. Well, they usually do do that, well, in July. Well, might as well start now. Hmm.
Maybe. For the July buying season. They know what they're doing. You know what I mean?
They do. They've thought this out. Now, just all of a sudden they go, you know what? We're not going.
Cancel everybody's flights. Nobody's going. Right. Oh, it's a delicious Bang Energy Drink.
We have not heard from our friends at Bang lately. We haven't. Since the 100th episode. I'm just surprised that AJ hasn't bowed out yet.
Because AJ makes cigars for all those companies. Oh. I think. At least three of them.
Some of them. He, collaborations. Yeah, big time. Robert Holt just announced yesterday they were going to the TP.
Of course. Yeah, I don't see, I couldn't imagine anybody else. Just thought of his, his cigars are made at AJ's. I couldn't imagine other people pulling out.
No, no, the TPE he's going to. I imagine he'll probably go to the PCA. Well, Fuente announced today that they will still be going. That they're going, so that's one of the big boys.
Yeah, so that means Newman will be going also. I'm sure LFD will still be going. Yes, I heard Oliva has pulled out. Did they?
I was told that from someone else. See, that's the problem with this industry. There's rumors. There's rumors.
Yeah. And there's been other rumors that other companies are considering. Unless you see it on Half Wheel or on Coop, then, you know. Yeah, then it hasn't happened yet.
I don't. Yeah. So. Not on here, though, because we are not the news.
All right. 59 million. That's about what we'd sell this podcast for. Well, maybe just $234,000.
I don't need the extra $59,000. Yeah, okay. Just tax problems. That's fine.
The deal was announced in September, but needed to be approved by both AGIO's Work, what about AGIO's Work Councils and Regulators. 61 million at that time. The value went up a couple of million dollars, a couple hundred million dollars. Fuel the growth, I'm sure they trim some fat.
58 million. A million in revenue in 2018, its primary business is selling machine-made and little cigars, but also has a premium cigar division that sells cigars under the Balamor name. Yeah. Balmoral.
Balmoral. Balmoral. Oh, they're looking at the Netherlands. The factories in Westerlup, Belgium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, San Pedro, and Dominican Republic.
I'm very excited about all that. Yes. All right, moving on. Perdomo announced price increase on selected brands.
Okay. You don't want to talk about that either? We're running out of stuff. These increases happen every year.
Yes, yes, they do. They happen every year. I think we might have discussed this when someone, oh, the last episode we discussed it because JC and Fuente. Yeah, it happens every year, sometimes it happens in January, sometimes it happens right before the trade show.
Perdomo Cigars announced it will be taking a price increase, a portion of his products effective January 1st, just as you said, Michael. And the letter sent to retailers, the company announced a 3% increase. In practical terms, it works out to a sticker price increase of about 25 cents per cigar, Though the various methods of applying OTP and sales tax, the actual amount that will end consumer will see may vary. Right.
In the letter, the company attributed the need to increase due to continued cost increase in manufacturing, there was no mention of cost-related FDA regulation, and the company said it will continue to financially support the Premium Cigar Association. This obviously came out before the other part, so I don't know if that's still true enough. The Cigar Association. Well, you haven't heard otherwise.
Right, exactly. And the Cigar Rights of America, helping to protect our industry from the overreach of the FDA. 26% of the wholesale price. The company said that it will continue to do so in 2020.
Okay. That's great. It's just news, Michael. Just trying to fill the show.
How's the baby? Let's talk about something you're interested in. How's the baby? How about we talk about our job posting on Cigar Hustler?
I mean, some of the shit that we get is really, really comical, but I will tell you that at least we know that a lot of people are listening to this podcast because those motherfuckers all have jokes that are tied in to this podcast. And I'm like, son of a bitch. Yeah, so we do love our fans. I would say that the And the level of abuse that we now take on some of our posts are really through the roof.
I mean, they're funny, you know, like people are making jokes and I totally love it. It's absolutely fantastic. But some people like to just call us out for any apparent reason. Right.
So we needed, you know, we need more. We're trying to hire more people here. We need, we need more employees in the house. And instead we're just getting inundated with bullshit from the people that nobody lives close in.
They just, they all got jokes. So, uh, that's awesome. I've had fake applications from some of you as well, which is – Request for relocation package information. Yeah, which – all of it's good.
All of it's good. But I do find it very, very humorous. So thank you. Thank you for listening.
If you are a local and you're interested in applying – It's okay if you're not interested. You just go ahead and you keep inundating us with the comments. I love them. I laugh my ass off when I read them.
And I'm like, no one who is seriously going to inquire about this job after they read those comments, but still, it doesn't matter, I love it, I absolutely love it. Yeah, so if the actual people who are applying read the comments are like, oh my god. Yeah, they'll look at it and they'll be like, oh my god, no wonder they can't get even worked there. Hostile work environment, I'm not, I'm not gonna submit this, yeah, so, thanks.
Thank you. Is that all you got to say about that? That's good. That's good.
That's good. All right, Michael, the-- Oh. Gong early, sorry. Do you have a listener of the week?
Yes, we're not quite there yet. We have one more bit of news, and then we'll get into stuff. All right, 'cause I have a little tidbit that I can add about that. 'Cause we're only at 22 minutes.
It's okay, this is gonna be a short one. It'll be a short show. We haven't had a short one in a while. All right, the team behind Cigars Daily at Phoenix-- It's my wife's birthday, I gotta go.
Oh, that's right. Oh, well, no, that's at the end. Don't worry, that will be mentioned. Ooh, she's-- We should call her.
We really don't care. We really don't care about the news. Our friend in Phoenix, Arizona, the Dust Cigars Daily, he's launching his own line of cigars with his father-in-law. Okay.
That was that story. Congratulations. Congrats. We wish you the best.
We wish you the best. We're sorry we didn't get a chance to see you. Mardo's is releasing cigars. I'm excited about his stuff.
Who? Gerard from Mardo's. Oh, yeah? Yeah, he's making it online.
I'm curious to see how that develops. Everybody's coming out with cigars. All right, I'm calling right now. All right.
This is exciting. Hey, she's on. It's probably kids screaming in the background. Yeah.
Hello? Hey, you're on the podcast. Ready? Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.
Yay! Yay! Yay! You sound so excited.
This is our new thing, we call people different. This is the second time. I just walked into Justice's classroom. Oh, nice.
Oh, wow. Can we talk to his teacher? They're out on the playground. Get out of there.
Thank you. You're welcome. I love making the podcast. It's been a while, so now you're officially back on the podcast.
Do you have anything to add that you want to add before we let you go? Any news about the baby? Your child attacks you? No, I think I'm good.
I mean, the baby, I try to feed her when I was waiting for Jack's before I picked him up, and she didn't want to eat, and then once I started driving, she started screaming her head off. Sounds about right. Oh, she's getting in line with the other two. So it's just another day.
Lovely family photos you guys took. Those are very nice. Oh, thank you, thank you. Yes, I especially love my husband's sweet post to me on Facebook.
So I crop her out. Him and his family are quite beautiful. So every year for her birthday, I stole that from Ryan Reynolds, but you know, I cut her out of the photo so she's just barely in it. Very nice.
It's fantastic. Yeah, it's quite, it's quite nice. It makes me feel so special. I can't imagine why I get so upset every year when it comes to my birthday.
Hey, the description was very nice. It was, it was very nice, thank you. Alright. We got a little tear.
A little tear? Yeah. That's a lie. Wow, I'm very emotional these days.
all right fair enough all right well hey happy birthday i'll be home soon thank you we're getting out of here as fast as possible all right love you all right love you i love you hey whoa love you oh there you go that's it now i have to kill you both bye bye oh very nice that's the second that's our back-to-back well we did a back-to-back birthday thing because we did it for jack tarano that's right yeah so if you have a birthday coming - No, we can't do it every episode. You know, Jack Tarano was super aggressive with me on the phone the other day. " - After the birthday show? " - None of the ones I liked were on there.
" - Oh! - Wait, you like the LH. The LH is on there. - Oh, okay, I didn't even know.
I just assumed you took none of mine. - Thanks, thanks for paying attention. Anyway. So I had to revise my sampler to include the Las Provencias.
And then he's like, oh, thanks. Not the newest one, though. I'm like, fuck you. And I said, I don't need that.
I go, you had a new one? He's like, yeah. I was like, well, your rep is terrible. I had no idea that there was a new one.
They have a new rep. I go, who's your rep? Who's in charge of the account here now? Alfredo.
Or Richie. Richie Otero's with him now, too. Yeah, well, he's not in charge. Well, I don't know which account, who's got what.
He's not our sales rep. Alfredo is. Well, you know, we've talked about Alfredo several times. So I'm really excited about the new Las Provincias because I haven't had it, but I'm sure it's good.
So there you go, Jack. All right, next year, I'm not fucking calling you for your birthday. I'll call you Jack. Wow.
On time, even. Call him the day after. I gotta call him the day after. Still can't live that down, not living that down at all.
That would be awesome if he called him the day after. Happy birthday! It was yesterday, Palmer. Oh, I'm so sorry.
All right. We'd like to welcome Nigeria. You have to take a break at all? Oh, you know what?
No, it's still running. Why is it still running? It should not be running. You know what?
Probably. Let's take a break. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.
You're welcome. Hey, it's Mike too. Want to be part of the show? com/thecigarhustlerspodcast.
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And we might be back. Well, we know the audio is always there. Well, the audio is back. Hope you guys enjoyed the Red Carton.
I think that we need to take a serious... Take a serious, we need to reach out to the hot ticket guys and see what they're using for their camera. Something similar to that. They are.
What we need to do. How does theirs look so good? I don't know. See, so that's what I'm about to say.
There is a gentleman that has reached out to me, but he gets paid, so I don't know how it'll work. I just need to come in and tweak the settings. That's what I need. I need somebody who knows what they're doing to come in and adjust whatever needs to adjust.
What about that Danny kid? Well, no, he doesn't want to, but there's somebody with a- You asked him? Greg did, yeah. I'm not interested.
To tweak the camera? Not that specifically, no. But to come in here and sit through. But there is a gentleman with a similar name who does that also that we might reach out to.
Danny. Disappoint me. No, no, not Danny. Oh, wait.
Danny Velasquez. Not Danny Vasquez. It's a totally different Danny. No, not Roma Craft Danny.
There's another guy. Right. Velasquez. No, there's two of them.
There's a different Danny. Okay. I'm confused. The guy who came in.
The guy who helped Cordoba Morales. Oh, that I don't know who that is. Oh, same name, I believe. Another Danny.
But it might be like a Brian. Same last name. So it's not the same name. Same last name.
Same last name. Same last name. Oh, good. We're getting a fax.
All right. That happens every year. Okay. Back to what we're doing.
Ooh. We'd like to welcome Nigeria. We've really ramped up here. Welcome, Nigeria.
Peru. To the podcast family. Ooh, Peru. Peru.
The Nigerian prince who sends all that money, he now listens to the show. Oh. He was for real. Evidently, he listens to the show.
Big fan. Big fan, he said. But we are, there's not many places now that we are not heard. Yes?
So it's just, even, it's mostly Africa, but these little things are clicking off the top. If you fill it all out completely, are you gonna do like a, is the, are we gonna do a day where like the globe kind of drops down, it's like a disco ball or some shit? Oh, wouldn't that be nice? Yeah.
Oh, certainly. Yes, we will. Certainly will. I can't wait.
We're having a little problem with Cambodia. Cambodia doesn't come on. Norway is not. You need to just fly to these places.
Oh, on the show budget? That'd be perfect. Not on our budget. All right, now we're doing, we have Listener of the Week.
Ah, yes, the Listener of the Week. Listener of the Week is... Wait, what is it sponsored by? I will do that after I say it.
Oh, you do it after I say it. You, like, ruin everything. All right, I'll leave now. You just ruin everything.
It's just... Who's the Listener of the Week, Mike? com Listener of the Week. com Listener of the Week.
Manscaped has redesigned the electric trimmer, Michael. 0 has proprietary skin-safe technology, will not cut your balls. Skin-safe. You still enjoying the Clipper?
I am. I am enjoying the Clipper. That's right. Manscaped also has the Crop Preserver, Anti-Chafing Ball Deodorant and Moisturizer.
You already put deodorant on your armpits? Yeah, you're not putting deodorant on the smelliest part of your body, Michael. Okay. Well, I will tell you this.
Yes. 0. Oh, are they? We've now reached a new level.
Excellent. So, how do you feel about it? I'm like, I don't know how comfortable I am talking to you about my ball, but you know what? What the hell?
Let's just go ahead and do this. So, yeah. That's great. 0 reviewer.
Nice. Yeah. Well, you can get 20% off and free shipping by using the code CIGARCID. com.
Excellent. Always use the right tools for the job, Michael. Your balls will, thank you. It's the most professional portion of this show.
It is. Right there. Right there. And now we're back to being unprofessional.
Now we're back to nothing at all. All right, we're still number one on Podbean, whew, thank God. Player FM, we are battling with Cigar Authority. Back and forth, back and forth.
Back and forth, back and forth. Earlier in the week, we were number two. Today, I checked, we're number three. Damn!
It's neck and neck with those guys. They're very determined and very upset with us, I believe, for being the number one show on Podbean. Still, Cigar Dave is still number one. Maybe we can have, like, Russia interview or something.
I don't get... What? We can, like, hack them so that they're shut down. Oh.
Well, I do heckle them on Saturdays when they do their live thing. Do they comment to you? Never, never do. This is dead air.
They just never do. I love it. " Somebody Facebook Lives or Instagram Lives or thing, and I just, "Cigar House, their podcast is better. " Oh, my God.
I can't believe you do that. You're a maniac. I can tell you that, you know, like I feel like I've been kind of trolling Coop a little bit lately. I've made some fucking funny comments, and he doesn't get the joke, so he, like, breaks, like, no action.
During his show or? No, just, like, on whatever. It's, like, on his Facebook stuff, and then he'll, like, break it down. I'm like, okay, thanks.
I've been logging into Dojo on Friday nights when they do, and people shout out to me during the feed on the show. Yeah. That's kind of funny. But you didn't see the last post, the last dojo?
No, I don't read all that stuff. You didn't watch the dojo one? I watched part of it, I didn't see all of it. Oh, like at the hour point was when he starts rattling off the comments.
Oh, he starts reading them off the screen? No, he asked people to comment about the PCA thing, so then he reads off my comment and they didn't address it. Oh, that's kind of hurtful. Kind of hurtful, Mr.
Gutterson. I am developing quite the relationship with the pallets, gentlemen, so I've mend those fences. I feel I'm very shortly from being requested to help them do a review. No one respects your opinion, though.
No, nobody expects my opinion, though. You know who does respect our opinion, Michael? Who? Mr.
Sean Coleman at Romacraft Tobac. Did you see his Facebook Live video last Friday? I did. It was very nice.
He said some nice things about us. He's wearing my Powstanie shirt. Mike Powstanie shirt. He's wearing your Powstanie shirt.
Yeah, the guy's a stud. He gave me a little shout out. He said nice things about the show. Lightweight heavy.
He did mention our wonderful Roma Craft laptop we have here. He's a pro. The guy's a pro. He's a pro.
He's a very nice man. He said some nice things about him. I've watched it several times, played it for all members of my family. That's nice.
If I could figure out how to download it, I would make it part of the show. Like a commercial. But we're not at that level yet. No, I don't know how to do that yet.
So that's good. All right, well, that's all I got. That's all you got? That's the last piece of paper.
That's the last piece. Last piece of paper. So, let's see what we got going on here. On the 24th, there's an event here at the shop with Mr.
Pete Hernandez. Yeah. All the reps in the state of Florida. He's one of them.
There you go. He'll be here representing his lines. You did mention today you were going to do a little mini-event this Saturday? Yeah, I think I'm going to do a little post-Tanya mini-event.
Oh. Yeah, because I'm going to be working until 11 o'clock, so what the hell? Might as well give some shit away. Might as well make some money, you know.
We'll give some stuff away. Oh, you know what? I work the Thursday night, you guys are gone. I should do some type of "the bosses are away" FCC sampler thing.
Oh, that's a great idea. All right, we'll come up with something. Yeah. Get on it.
That's a great idea. All right, Mattelagallis, you got something else? No, I mean, the only other exciting thing that happened to me this week is I got a grinder for my dog's nails. All right, so like we said, that's it for the show.
That was a big deal for me, so they haven't had their nails cut in three years. Oh, don't they just break off eventually? They used to, yeah, but now I grinded them down. And you can't even hear them on the tile, it's like cats.
Oh, that used to be a fun thing at your house, you hear. Yeah, you can run it behind you. That drives me fucking nuts. " Why don't you just get sandpaper?
So I pinned them down, and I grinded their fucking nails. " She was a lot easier than the white. Well, they were both pretty easy, but when I figured it out, the best approach was just to lie them down completely. Ah, gotcha.
So I could lay down – when I laid down the shepherd, she was cool. She was like, go ahead and just do what you got to do. Now the white one. The white one's a little crazy.
A little pit bull mix. She knew that she wasn't allowed to move. I had to put myself in a position where I was like, you fucking move. It's going to be bad for you.
So she learned. I'm glad we took an extra two minutes for that. And now their nails are great. Did you paint them?
It was like a mani-pedi day for them. Oh, it's so nice. I pampered my dogs. That's so strange at your house.
Yeah, exactly. Man, we got any pampering since the ground chicken of 2017? You know, when the kids arrived, they just kind of fell lower on the totem pole. I don't know what you want me to tell you.
You know what, that's true, because my kids are gone, dogs are right up to the top of the food chain of my house. Yeah, but no, you know, it's the opposite. Now we have another kid, so they'll be lucky if we feed them. I'm just kidding, I feed my dogs.
Yes, please don't call the PCA or SPCA or whatever. Don't call the PCA. Don't call the PCA, they've got enough trouble. Hey, just want you to know, Mike's not feeding his dogs.
Look, everybody's canceling on the show, we've got enough problems here. " You may want to do something about that. So everybody, please send dog food to Michael's house. No, small hands.
Don't you fucking dare. Oh, I see a new thing, they're gonna grab ahold of here. No, no, no, no, no. They will be grabbing ahold of them.
Oh, you know what we should talk about? Oh, wait, go ahead. You know, I haven't gotten any more random Amazon GIFs. I know.
Maybe you should have mentioned it. Maybe now they're like, "Oh, now I told everybody. " Yeah. Hmm.
Who knows? I wish I would have orchestrated that. That would have been funny. Oh, probably next week's show.
We're going to review the reviewers. Oh, yeah. I thought we were doing that this one. No, no.
We still... Dojo isn't all the way out yet. Waiting on you, Dojo. Coop is all out.
Coop's out. Stogie Price just did theirs yesterday. Did you hear that sound? We just went nuts.
We got, we sound like we're in a tinfoil can now. Not on mine. Must be those really good Microsoft headphones that we have over there for you. Did you sit on the court again, maybe?
No, I don't know. It's weird. Sounds good over here. Anyway, we have taken about 10 or 15 reviewers, and we're going to, now he's having all sorts of issues over there.
We're going to review the reviewers. They were the bad boys of the Cigar Podcast. We're going to put everybody to the test. That doesn't work, that's for your microphone.
All right, he's just lost interest in the show now. So yeah, no, I can't wait for that, it's going to be... So at some point, before next week, we have to go over the list. Yeah, you know, it's kind of, so like, you know what, Halfway will do something really cool, because they do like this general consensus in the analytics.
Yes, they do, they do that every year. But this is totally different, we're not merging them all together, I'm going to tell you who did the best job. Oh, can't wait. Can I light this cable on fire?
No, please don't. Not that one. Not the fat one. Why not?
Because that's very expensive. We don't have a show budget. All right, guys. That's it.
Thanks for listening. It's only 40 minutes. It's still 40 minutes. All right.
That's a perfect podcast. Perfect podcast. For the ride in. Somebody did ask me why our shows are only an hour.
I went, you're kidding me? Somebody's gonna listen to us longer than an hour? Because these other ones are like three or four hours long. That's just ridiculous.
We want to leave you needing more is the problem. " "All right, I'm done with this. " You got to be excited about the next one. So you get a half hour to an hour- After this one, I'm not sure they're going to be excited for the next one.
If you need more content, just jump on our Patreon. Oh, there you go. Oh, man. Unfiltered, unfetted.
The sound is driving me nuts. This was a good podcast. Don't really- I don't think, I didn't, I don't know. I don't feel good about this one.
I don't feel good. I feel good about it. You feel good about all of them. Yeah, I do.
I have been listening to the older shows. We actually do a halfway decent job. Yeah, we're pretty. I enjoy our show.
We're pretty amazing. I enjoy the show. I enjoy the Patreons, actually. Well, you're, those are really good.
You're pretty amazing. No, no, no, no, Michael, please. Cigars Hustles. Stop lighting shit on fire with it.
Cigars Hustles Podcast with Mike Palmer. No, the one with Mike Palmer didn't win the thing. Oh, let's talk about that. Oh, okay.
We didn't win. We didn't win. All right, there you go, that's it. Let's see, the top podcast was the Lounge Experience.
The young ladies up in the Midwest somewhere, I forget who was number two or three. They did a better job. Oh, Cigar Authority, I think was number three. They did a better job of getting the voting.
They're girls. Just all of them are just better, better with the voting. I don't know, we are, there's a new podcast magazine that's coming out, I think it's the first pod, just stop, what the. I started a fire.
It's okay, it's fine. Not equipment? No, not equipment. Just paper.
Do we need to evacuate? Just paper. We need to evacuate the studio right away? It's finishing.
It's looking bad now. It just did on mine too. No, it just got better for me. Oh, it just did for a second.
You nudged something. It sounded gravelly. You know what? I adjusted my microphone.
You know, you're not supposed to touch the microphones during the show. It keeps, it's drooping. It needs an ED pill. We need an ED pill sponsor.
We're gonna have to upgrade some of the stuff here. Nah, it won't be okay. We got another year out of this gear. At least.
At least another solid year. At least another year before we go mainstream media. Okay, that's it. All right, hey.
All right, guys. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for listening. We appreciate you listening.
When did that go off? All right. He's checking out again. All right.
I guess that's it. Bye. For 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 Szczevankewicz, 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. I am 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, the... Hojo!
It's the Hojo. You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I couldn't get past Hojo! Alright, love you.
Alright, love you. Alright, love you. Alright, love you. Love you.
Oh, there you go. That's it. Now I have to kill you both. That's a sign of a good podcast.
It'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door. Alright, end this.
Show Notes
This week we cover the biggest news item of 2020...Talk about the TPE..Sing a Little Song and our general madness and nonsense filled hour!
We welcome your show ideas and comments on our FB Page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast". You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike 2 @fcc_Mike.
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