Episode 107 TPE for me! Its the new Zombie Outbreak! Labels? We don't need no stinkin Labels!

Episode Summary

Episode 107 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast finds both Mikes under the weather but still digging into the two biggest stories of the week. The bulk of the first half is a first-hand retailer/brand-owner recap of TPE (Tobacco Plus Expo) in Las Vegas — including a travel horror story involving Spirit Airlines, Expedia-booked one-way tickets, a missed 45-minute bag cutoff, and a last-minute rebook onto United. From there it's a genuinely useful breakdown of how TPE compares to PCA (formerly IPCPR/RTDA): comped hotel rooms and gift certificates for first-time retailers, solid seminars, Karl Malone's opening remarks, the red-carpet/blue-carpet split between cigars and general tobacco/CBD, smaller and more intimate booths, and the cheaper, easier-to-escape Sahara/SLS host hotel versus the Venetian-Palazzo.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Sick Hosts & Super Bowl Weekend
   Both Mikes open the show ill, joking about "the Zika," smoked pork butts, and the Chiefs–49ers Super Bowl.
2. 02
   Spirit Airlines Travel Disaster
   A missed 45-minute bag cutoff, an Expedia booking Spirit wouldn't touch, and a last-second United rebook to Vegas.
3. 03
   TPE 2020 Retailer Recap
   Comped hotels, gift certificates, seminars, Karl Malone's opening message, and the red vs. blue carpet layout for cigars and general tobacco/CBD.
4. 04
   TPE vs. PCA: Which Show Is Worth It?
   Smaller booths, intimate access to manufacturers, fewer new releases, and whether TPE orders are additive or cannibalize PCA business.
5. 05
   Show-Floor Encounters
   Hanging with Steve Saka and Matt Booth, meeting Tommy Chong, opening an account with Kirk Kendall of Twin Smoke Shop, and Patreon listener Art Finch.
6. 06
   How to Fix the Trade Shows
   The hosts argue every brand needs two limited editions a year — one TPE exclusive, one PCA exclusive — to keep retailers showing up.
7. 07
   Court Strikes Down FDA Cigar Warning Labels
   Judge Amit Mehta rules in favor of the premium cigar industry, the second time he's blocked the FDA's warning label requirements.
8. 08
   Substantial Equivalency Is Next
   Discussion of the looming SE deadline, an alleged Black & Mild approval without testing, and why both FDA and PCA want the can kicked down the road.
9. 09
   Show Business: Interns, Rankings & Oscars
   Plans for a podcast intern program, podcast chart standings, the Manscaped sponsorship ending, Oscar picks, and Listener of the Week Stephen Wells.

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

All right, one, two, three, go take five. Hello, friends. This is Joan Rodriguez from Florinata Cigars, and this is Cigar Hustlers Podcast, episode 107. Perfect.

We're going with that one. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Squared, Squared, Squared. I hit the button already. Okay, we're going.

Welcome to episode 107 of a Cigar Hustle Podcast. We're both sick, so this could be the last episode of a Cigar Hustle Podcast. Oh my god. You know, I think, I don't know what the fuck you have, but.

I have Zika. I think that for me, you know, I went out to TPE. You had the I'm a big baby. You went out to TPE.

Yes. I took a red eye back. Yes. So I was exhausted, plus exhausted.

Oh, so tired. And then Saturday night, I started to cook a smoke of pork butt for the Super Bowl. Oh, Super Bowl. Did you have a party?

No. Did you have Drew over? No. Yes, you did.

So, I started, you know, I did a port butt. We stayed home. I just did it by ourselves. I don't, I don't even let fake Kansas City fans into my house.

Oh. Whatever. You better, if you said that you weren't a fan. Yeah, whatever.

I didn't plan on having anybody over. You smoked a butt. You did too. Yeah, because I was gonna have my nieces and nephews over.

They're very young. They don't eat that stuff. And, obviously, my in-laws. And that was it.

Your in-laws aren't allowed over anymore. Kristen and Justin aren't in-laws. That's your sister-in-law, no, see, in-laws to me is the parental. Sister-in-law, brother-in-law, so they are my in-laws.

Hmm, that's not the way that works. Yeah, that's how it works. Anyway. So I think that the smoke, plus the dryness from the Vegas, really fucking hammered me in.

So you thought the best thing to do would come here and smoke. I have to live my life, Michael. Live in your best life, Michael. I can't.

Live in your best life, yes. You know, for the longest time in my life I would always get sick and my wife would let me know how much of a pussy I was. So I can't, you know, I have to be dying in order for me to stop. So you're not dying?

So I went to the gym, I did my workout. Oh, you still worked out? I have no sympathy for you at all if you still went to the gym. I didn't get my full two and a half hours in there.

Oh, what'd you get two? Yeah, a little over ten. And why were you so late today? Because I had other chaotic things going on, kids couldn't get in gear, Jacks wasn't feeling well, I went back, you know.

How's the sound there in those brand new headphones? I do, I have new headphones. They sound lovely, they're so huggy. Yes, very nice, very professional actually.

And now there's no microphone floating around. I don't even know what brand that is, it's how fancy they are. All right, so you went to the TPE. Yeah, I did.

Yeah? How'd it go? Had a good time, and a story. Boop!

Okay. And thank you. That's episode 107. Small show update.

We're now in Paraguay and in Paris. So here's a quick breakdown of TPE. Okay. It's really cool.

Wait, wait, wait. Back up. Let's start with the trip out. Can I understand?

That was quite the experience. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what? I really should be checking my notes.

Because I talked to Greg at one time and he refused to tell me anything other than, no, we're not on a plane, but there's a lot of podcast stuff going on. A lot of podcast content, just before we even get there. Yes. Yes.

So, you know, we didn't know what to expect going into TPE, so we want to make sure that our budget was as low as possible. Yes. Right. So, we flew Spirit, which was entertaining.

Yes. Is that one step up or down from Allegiant? I feel it's a solid step down. Solid step down.

Oh. So, you're sitting on crates? So, the time that I thought we were supposed to arrive at the airport, I was off by about 25 minutes. So, I picked up Greg.

Yes. We get to the airport, and apparently the cutoff time for checking bags is 45 minutes. See, you cut it too close. Well, we were there, we missed it by three minutes.

By three minutes. Was that three minutes in line, or you got to the line and it would have been like 15 before you got to the front? " So we went to go see somebody, like, "Oh, yeah, you have to rebook. " So we go over to there, to that line, where we're treated like fucking cattle, it was crazy, and they explained to us, oh no, you have to rebook, it's going to be a $99 fee, and you're going to rebook, what's the next flight out?

Well, the next flight out's in an hour, and it goes all the way up to Pittsburgh, and you'll be there around 7pm Vegas time. I was like, are you fucking serious? And my brother was like, okay, just book it. So we went, wait, so you're in Florida.

Yeah, I would have had to go all the way up and then across. " I'm like, this is a bad idea. " My brother goes, "Wait a second, but I have the spirit. " And then she starts to get violent.

" And then she keeps repeating it, like over and over. " "You cannot rebook through us. " I'm like, "Holy shit, dude. " So I busted up my app, my phone, went on my United flight, and said, "Dude, there's a flight in an hour.

It's got a layover in Houston. " And we're going that way, at least. Right, and we're heading west. " And they were trying to give a shit.

Like, "Oh, cool. " There you go, sir. Here's an upgrade. Get the complimentary foot massage.

No, well, they put us in the emergency aisle. Off the rip. We had no issues with our luggage. We just got on the fucking plane.

It was amazing. It was so nice. United with the air conditioning and the TVs. Yeah, it was nice.

More than $99, though. So, what? More than $99. It was $130.

Oh, $30 more. What the fuck? Exactly. Did you get to use your return ticket for Spirit?

We did. We did. Because sometimes if you don't use the front half, they don't let you use it. That's what I was worried about with my brother.

He's like, no, no, they were booked separate. I'm like, okay. Oh, he booked one-way tickets. I guess when you go through Expedia, yeah, they'll be one-way tickets or something.

That's good. So we upgraded to the $89 big seats in Spirit. Oh, fancy. Don't be fooled.

They're not bigger. They are bigger. They don't recline. Inch.

It's still miserable. It was still miserable. And it was a red eye. m.

5:00 in the morning, yeah. And, um, brutal. Brutal. It was just brutal.

I will never. Earl, zoom in on him for the brutal. I will never fly Spirit again, ever, in my life. It's never gonna happen.

Never. I mean, now I say that, I'll probably have to wind up flying Spirit sometime, but. So we can cancel Spirit as being a sponsor. No, that's never gonna happen.

We're almost on the hook, it was this close to getting Spirit, you know? Well, guess what? It's over. He's got diabetes, and now spirit sucks the big wieners.

I got a new case for my new lighter. Oh, yes. Get that out. Show everybody how it comes out.

It's brand new, so it needs to be worked. It's like a baseball glove. Yeah, a little tight. A little tight.

I love mine, man. It's right here. Oh, see, look. I've had mine for a while.

Oh, look at these slides right now. Shout out to my boy, Kenny. Nice job, Kenny. Thank you, bro.

I don't know what that is. It can't be good. Something just came out of my mouth. So, TPE.

TPE. So, you get there. Go directly to the show. So here's what's amazing about TPE is TPE actually goes out of their way to cater to their customers.

So was it like a car waiting for you? No, since we were first-time retailers, they comped our hotel stay. They gave us gift certificates for attending. Gift certificates to where?

Just gift certificates, visas. Oh, very nice. They have good seminars. Did you go to the seminar?

No. No, they were good. I heard great things about them. Oh.

Yeah. So TBE's going to be a sponsor. I mean, Karl Malone had his own little thing. Yeah, he did the introductory message thing.

Yeah. It looked good. A lot of stuff that he says that he was saying, it should be obvious to retailers in the industry, but I don't know if they grasped that concept. You know, like, be nice to people.

You know, like that whole thing. Customer's always right. I wouldn't say the customer's always right, I've seen some interesting ones, but that was kind of, you know, like, go out of your way and, you know, you're in the customer service business, like, I don't think that a lot of that registers, so yeah, and they did, like, a Scissors of the Leaf thing, and, you know, how to engage women into your retail shop, and stuff like that, and, you know, different practices and stuff. I watched all of the Dojo coverage.

They did a very good job. Yes. They did miss you guys, but... Yeah, it was weird.

It was kind of weird. I talked to them, like, so many times, too. Did you? Yeah, I was shooting the shit with Eric, like...

Oh, he came by, and did he ask about me at all? Dude, everybody asks about you. Oh, that's nice. In all honesty.

Really? Oh, where's Mike Two? Where's Mike Two? Doesn't he own the place?

I was like, we needed to keep him at the shop. So... Yes. But yeah, no, they all asked about you.

Oh, that's nice. A little side note, I had to come let Greg in on, what, Saturday morning, Sunday morning, he didn't have a key. " All right, so getting back to the TPE. All right, so they have the carpets set up where there's red and there's blue.

Red and blue, yes. Which is, you know... Did you do any of the blue carpeting? We actually did do some of the blue.

Did you? Yeah. See, that would have been so much fun, I think. We checked out some of the CBD products.

Because it's all new stuff and everything. Oh, that's right, because you said we were going to get some here. What's kind of crazy is, though, like, some people would be laying up CBD shit and it fucking stunk like weed. I'm like, holy moly.

Did you get any of the gummies? I saw one booth lady was, like, getting out of a big bowl of tweezers and passing out gummies to people. Oh, I wouldn't. I don't partake in any of that stuff.

Well, they were CBD gummies. It's not THC stuff. I know, but, like, I don't know. That's not my thing.

All I need to do is get hooked on relaxation CBD shit. I'll be like, blah, blah, blah, all over the place. No, but like, you know, they have some really interesting products. All the booths look like they were basically the same, just different graphics?

Uh... They called them pavilions? No, they were all, some of them were a little different, you know, people, uh, people went in there with a low budget in mind, right? Right, so, you know, they were like, Espinosa was with, uh, United Cigars.

Yeah, there was a couple together. Like, there was like eight of them all in a section, um, which is pretty cool. So, but they showed like, the wire rack thing that everybody had? So it was just kind of a complimentary thing.

It was like a standard approach thing. I don't know. Did they give you the graphic? Yeah.

So there was like two sections of that. It was very simple. It was cool. Yeah.

It was cool. It looked like it was nicely done. But like they gave the cigars, guys, the front of the convention. Oh, I see.

They're looking to get the business. Yeah. Yeah. So like, they just went out of their way for us.

Yeah. I emailed today to one of the people on the list from the website trying to get some information on attendance or something, but I got no reply back, but it's very soon, so. That doesn't surprise me. They're probably not releasing that information yet, because the website hasn't changed at all.

I mean, everything's still set up for pre-show stuff. Yeah, it was different. Yeah. You know, what was really kind of unique, too, was just, and believe me, this will get destroyed, was like, it was very, almost intimate.

Like, you know, you were, I mean, I got to shoot this shit with Saka so many times, I got to hang out with Matt Booth so many times, you know? Is Saka coming in? No, but like, you know, my point is that like, all those guys were so readily accessible, and it was just so super chill, you know? Now, from what I heard, from last year to this year, there was a huge jump in cigar manufacturers, and retailers as well, so that just means that it's gonna jump again.

Right. Right. Now, the biggest issue with TPE that isn't going on is the fact that there weren't a lot of new products. Right.

So, like, Aganorsa did. Terrence. Terrence had a new one. Yeah, which is really good.

It looked like Fratello had a new bundle set or something. I didn't really talk to Fratello. Oh, yeah. That was one of the ones they interviewed.

A couple other people had something. See, they did the Year of the Rat at Drew Estate. Yeah. I didn't touch that.

It was a couple of different places. So, there's a couple of... You know, whereas that IPCPR, RTTDA, PCA, whichever, whatever you want to call it, we're going to call it PCA because that's what they're supposed to, that's what they're going for. We'll go with PCA.

So PCA, there's a lot of new cigars. Well, everybody's ready for that, I mean, you work every year for the release to happen then. Right. Right.

Not only that. Southern Draw did the Lancero. Right. Right.

But the weather was also so much nicer. Oh, because it was cold, I saw. Yeah, it was cold outside. I just sent a video of you with pushing a shopping cart at Target and then the wheels locked up on you or something, you can't take it out of the parking lot, I guess, and your car was past the edge, that was funny.

Did he record me throwing it? No. Okay, good. No.

Because I threw the fucking thing. I picked it up and I chucked it. Still full of stuff? No, after it was emptied.

Oh. Oh, nice. Well, hey. It was just so ridiculous.

I didn't want you to steal it. Dude, I was still in the parking lot. It's got to be cut off somewhere. You know what it is?

You know what it is? I think it was a questionable neighborhood, so I think at that point it's like, but that place has, that area has really good sushi. Oh, does it? You had sushi one night, did you?

Two Nets. Did they use your gift certificate? No, no. Oh.

It was all you can eat. Has Bourbon Mike lost more weight, it looked like, in the photos? I wouldn't know. I don't think he's lost more weight.

I just feel like he's getting a little more defined. Is that what it is? I didn't see him flexing or anything. A little more muscular.

But I saw the photos, he looked thinner. He's looking good. He looked good. Yeah.

My boy, Art Finch. I saw, you took a lot of pictures of Art Finch. He came out. Wow, he's a monster of a man.

He is gigantic. He's awesome. He is gigantic. He is awesome.

So it was cool because he's a Patreon listener and a podcast listener. So he's up to date. Oh, he knows everything. So he wanted to meet Pete Hernandez.

" So that was really, really cool. Yeah, I heard Doug, we got good feedback from the last episode. So, you know, I did a post, I did a post, and I said, you know, 'cause we got to meet Tommy Chong. Yes, I saw that.

And I said, you know, Tommy Chong is amazed at the size of my bodyguard. " They'll just call him my friend, but I pay him by the hour. But what was awesome is nobody could say no to him. It was so awesome.

Oh, he's so big. He's just such a nice guy. Yeah. He looks like Bigfoot from the Disney movies.

And you don't want to upset that guy. Right. You don't want to say no to him. So he comes down, he brings down this fucking bottle of scotch that was aged 50 years or something, so it's a big deal.

Right. And I was like, yeah, man, when you bring it down, I want to try something. So he gave it to me. I tried a little bit of it.

I'm like, wow, that's really good. And then Rosales was there. He's like, hey, try it. I was like, no, man, I'm going to drink bourbon.

He's like, try it. Okay. My brother, no, man, I don't want to try it. Okay.

Like, even Sokka. They all came. It was amazing. No, I don't want to.

Yes, you would like to try it. But he wasn't even like that. He just did like a little nudge. He's like, just try it.

Okay. Yes, please. I'm sorry. So, yeah, man, you know, I had so much fun with Art that I told him, like, dude, you got to come to all the shows.

Wow. Where's he from? Cali. Oh, so not tremendously far.

Yeah. Still an airplane flight. Yeah, still a flight. Yeah.

That's probably like an up and down thing. Right. Mm-hmm. Very nice.

Tommy Chong was cool. Yeah? You know, got... Everybody took pictures of Tommy Chong.

I mean, how do you not go... I mean, how do you not take a picture with Tommy Chong? When he had his own CBD line or something? Yeah.

I was trying to read the billboard behind him. Yeah. That was... I mean, that was awesome.

So he's a picture with Matt Booth that looked like they're brothers. So I told Matt Booth... Oh, did you? I was like...

" We went and told Boof, because, you know, he loved the Boof. Oh, so now he's Booth. Yeah. Well, Boofie.

They call him Boofie. Oh, now he's Boofie to you. " So, we went to go meet him, and then the rope- He probably said just like that, too. " I must meet this man.

Right. So, we go there, and it's roped off. Uh-oh. Uh-oh, no more.

So, it's me, Art, and Matt, and Art looks at the guy and says, "Just let the guy in. It's just one guy. " And then after that he opened it up, he opened it back up again, just screw it. So that was pretty awesome.

Very nice. Yeah. So what was bad about the TPE? Nothing.

Nothing? No bads at all? I don't think that there was, okay... Still done.

What was bad about the TPE? Yeah, I mean nothing is really coming... Did you get a lot of the blue carpet people coming over trying to get free cigars? No, nobody, you know, you still have, You'll always have your tire kickers, just like you did PCA, your last show.

And what's really funny is everybody thinks they're slick. Hey, so I just want to come up for some samples and a price list. I'm like, okay. You know?

Nine times out of ten, I'm like, I don't have any. We're all out. Like, that doesn't, you know, like, you're not interested in the cigars. You're just trying to get something for free.

It's like, fuck off. So, yeah. I mean, that's always standard. But, you know, we cut out a little early on the last day because I wasn't going to continue to put up with that abuse.

And, um, but you know, that's standard par for the course when it comes to conventions. Um, yeah, I mean, I can't really tell you anything that's bad, you know, the difference was that it was at the, you know, you stayed at the Sahara, which was the SLS. Um, so it's not quite as bougie as obviously the Venetian Palazzo, but because of that, you're paying less. So that was cool.

I like, to be honest, when you're at the Venetian Palazzo, it's hard to get out of the Venetian Palazzo. And that was the note of the Venetian, the Palazzo, because you're so deep into it. Right. At the Sahara, you can just get in an Uber, and you can go get off the strip in two seconds, go eat wherever you want, you know?

That was awesome. Cool. The convention center, the parking of the convention center, I can complain about. Yeah, that was Coop put up the post about that too.

Because they were redoing something or whatever, so you had to park all the way down. Gotcha. And then they charge you to park, even though you're an exhibitor, which I thought was kind of bullshit. But I guess that's kind of standard, too.

Yeah, for the parking. Um, but the booths, you know, the booths were a little bit smaller, which I actually liked. Yeah, look like you guys had a nice booth. Because, you know, you get a rush, and people saw how busy you were.

Like, they got it. Right. And they weren't shitty about it. Right.

You know, like, I think that you lose something in the size. Like, I want, you know, well, I'm here to talk to Mike. I was like, well, you can clearly see where Mike is, and you can see how busy he is. Right, it's not like the normal booth where he could be on the other side or something.

Yeah, where's Mike? Yeah, you think he's screwing around. Right, but he's right, he's in your face. Right, he's right there.

Rosales sat the entire time talking to every single retailer. I mean, he had appointments booked up and, you know, he reviewed everything numbers-wise. I mean, you know, I think, I feel like a lot of retailers got an opportunity to kind of sit and talk with him, which maybe they don't normally, and he got to kind of explain everything, you know, which was awesome. I don't know what his numbers were for the show, but for me it was worth it.

Now, was it the same as PCA? No, not even close. But I have no problem with going to both. Right, so that was the next question.

You're going to go again next year? Yeah, absolutely. You guys have already signed up for it? I mean, this was kind of a test run, and it worked out well.

We could do a few things differently, and I would definitely go back. Do you think business at the PCA is going to be down because business at the TPE? So what I'm asking is, is a TPE additional business that you wouldn't have gotten? Or is it PCA business that you might have gotten there that you got earlier?

Um, great question. I could say that some of those, some of my orders are definitely recurring customers. Okay. Now, uh, I don't think that it's going to affect their overall number in purchase next, come July.

I think that it's going to, the retailers that I spoke with, a lot of them are smart buyers, they're bridge buyers, you know, so they'll capitalize on both. Now, what is really remarkable is that, excuse me, a lot of people, let me see how I say this, we, I had a lot of fans of the show that were coming up to me. So, you know, I got to open up a few accounts just based on that. They know the product, they know who we are, and I got to shoot this shit with them, they saw how real I was, boom, it's like, all right, we're gonna open you up.

Did anybody say I normally would be at the PCA, but I came to this one instead this year? No, there are people that will not go to the PCA that came to this show. Okay. Now, you know, that's because of, I think, the PCA has done a lot of things wrong.

Right. You know, unfortunately, there have been situations where they don't think about their customer. I've heard a horror story of a guy who has eight locations, well, they tried to charge them for all eight, well, I'm just the one guy, like, you can't, so it's like, it's an aggressive, right, you need me to get eight memberships, like, that doesn't make any sense, it doesn't make any sense, it's one company, and, you know, the constant pricing going up for manufacturing brand owners sucks, it's like, you gotta, you gotta work that out, not only that, but like, the bigger issue is, I don't, I think the PCA does a lot of great things, the problem is nobody knows about them. Nobody...

Right, we've talked about that before. They're not saying what the good things are. Right, it's not marketed. It's not, you know, it's not pushed.

And they didn't have Tommy Chong. So, I mean, you know, that's a big deal. Well, they did have... No, I'm just kidding.

They had the guy who stood the hustler song. Who's that? Rick Ross? Yeah, Rick Ross.

He just checked in. He heard about the convention. He wanted to go. They had Shorty and the dog.

Yeah. It's true. They did. I don't know what that means.

Didn't Karl Malone go to the both of them? Karl Malone did go to both of them. Well, let's see. There you go.

So it's just a Tommy Chong. Just a Tommy Chong. Did you invite him to come? And the red and blue carpet.

I think the other bigger issue, though, is that they embrace everybody, tobacco. Right. Right. Your ESIG guys, they got a fucking, they didn't get a fair shake at PCA.

No, they're not even allowed, are they? No, not anymore. They were there. They kind of got put in the fucking back corner.

A lot of guys lost a lot of money and they got jaded about it. I remember talking to one dude. He's like, "Man, this whole thing cost me $35,000. " Wow.

Oh, at the PCA last year? No, not last year. It was a couple years ago. You know, it's like, fuck, man.

So I'll continue to go to PCA and I'll continue to support them. But I'll tell you right now, the minute it becomes that I'm not making any money on it, I'm not gonna do it. There's no reason to go if you're not making money. I mean, it's a business.

You know, it's, dude, it is hard work, you know. You go out there for four or five days, and it's cool to be with everybody, don't get me wrong. But it's still a fucking trek, right? You got to fly all the way out there.

You're staying in, you're not staying in your house. You're staying in a hotel, the same hotel, which makes it even, believe it or not, makes it even harder. You know, it's a constant go. You go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

You get exhausted, you know. Right, yeah. And then you got to fly back. And then, you know, what caught?

What'd you miss out with your family and stuff like that though? All those things are hard. So, you know, PCA needs to consider that there's a lot on both ends, manufacturers, brand owners, retailers that they should be catering more to, you know, where TPE kind of welcomed you with open arms, no matter what you did. How many years has TPE been going on?

I have no idea. Just curious. I don't know anything about the show. I just know that...

Yeah, I tried to find information, and there's really not any background how long... It became a topic of discussion, and I said, "You know what? " Not only that, I got to open up a couple of good accounts that I was really working on. Oh, good deal.

That I really wanted to get. Good. Yeah, I'm a big fan of Kirk Kendall, so he's one of the nicest guys I know in the industry, and we flirted a bit back and forth in the past, but he opened us up, so I'm very excited about that. And what shop is this shop for the people that don't know who Kirk Kendall is?

724? Oh, 724. Kirk Kendall. Okay, yeah, gotcha.

I'm terrible at names. Clean smoke shop. Right. We're Beau.

Beau works. Beau's sick. Beau, we hope you feel better. I understand you have a case of the Zika, so hope you get better.

Not the coronavirus? No, just the Zika. Okay. I'll check my notes.

Oh, check your notes real quick. So you're so prepared. God. Anything else from the TPA, Mike?

There is other things from the TPE, but I am not going to disclose them on this podcast. Oh, Patreon. Yeah, I'm going to hold out on those because they're kind of a bigger deal. Every Wednesday.

I had a couple of remarkable interactions. I was at the gym with, what's his name? Kirk Kendall? No.

No. Did he have a donut? Didn't he like donuts? Are you not supposed to eat his donuts or his M&M's or something?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Don't eat us.

Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Of course. It's a regular day. I don't know if you heard me with my cigar, but it is Twin Smoke Shop.

Yes. Spirit sucks. Oh! My brother, he used our short names on our tickets.

Short names. Yeah, like Mike instead of Michael. Oh, that's always a problem. I was like, dude, do you, we, this, we got a problem.

Yeah. So, that's pretty funny. Was that a problem at security? No, we didn't get on the plane.

So, yeah, he got it fixed the second time around. " Yeah. I said, "Serious? " Right.

Okay, what else? 'Cause you're not listening to me. Sorry. I took my pants off while you weren't watching.

Perfect. I have no pants. Greg also forgot the price sheets, which was nice. Yes, yes, I had to ship those out.

Did he like the gum? I sent gum with the price sheets. Oh, man, you made it his day. Did I really?

" That's funny. I did it to annoy him, but I guess it's the opposite. On the way back from the Vegas airport, of course my fucking bag gets stopped through TSA. Oh, of course.

Oh, protein. Well, and you know, the lady's like, "Oh, it just checks for masses. " You'd think, coming back from the show, they would have been having that all day. So then, and then of course some fucking slapdick in the background who's also a stop for his bag, he goes, "As long as they're Cubans!

" But yeah man, TPE was good, it was good. It felt right. Good, I'm glad. I'm really sorry I missed it.

And I really think that what's gonna happen next year is it's gonna be even bigger. Probably bigger. It's gonna be busier. Yeah, it'll be bigger next year.

You know, they're doing a lot of things right. TPE's doing backflips. Maybe they're not perfect. Here's where, here you want to know where it explodes, where it implodes actually?

We're at 28 minutes. Okay. But I want to wrap TPE up before the break. Okay, here's where it implodes.

Manufacturers offer deals outside of the TPE. Yes. Right? And nobody incentivizes it with a special cigar.

What? Say that last part again? Nobody incentivizes. If you go to, you know, to PCA and you get, you know, have access to new cigars.

Oh, and they need more new products. Gotcha. You can only limit some of them to going there. Right, right.

You can't offer it at both places. It's a TPE exclusive. Right. Like it should be a PCA exclusive.

So then everybody needs a minimum of two LEs every year. Maybe. One for the TPE, one for the PCA. Yeah, I guess.

Gotcha. Makes sense. Mm-hmm. That way people will go, because if you don't go, you don't get the cigar.

Yeah. Yeah. Good idea. It's Michael's idea.

Yeah, but the problem is that everybody gets anxious, they need the sales, they'll push the numbers, and then they'll sell it to people who aren't there. And then, there you go, there's your conventions. No more conventions. No more conventions.

No more conventions. It's just a matter of time. Just a matter of time. It'll be all video or virtual.

You sit in here with goggles on, walking around. Oh, hey, look at that. Man, if that happened, there's a lot of stuff that's off camera that you're going to be really disappointed in seeing. All right, we're at 30 minutes here.

Commercial. All right, we're going to a break. This will be Patreon, so you can pick up here the stuff he's going to talk about. Boom.

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And we're back! Hey! Ooh, that was nice and long. So, just to wrap up the first half of the show, if you just joined on us, Michael had a great time at the TPA, he made lots of money, he enjoyed it, it's more fun than the PCA, and he agrees that that's probably the wave of the future.

I didn't make lots of money. Okay. I'm not gonna lie to anybody. You made enough money to cover the trip.

Yeah. Alright, now on with the news. The news. Court rules FDA cigar warning labels are illegal!

Yay! Oh, no balloons. Balloons, fanfare, things running. Warning labels will not be coming to premium cigars.

S. Oh, this is from Half Wheel that you have to say that now. S. District Court Judge Emmett P.

S. Food and Drug Administration and its requirement for warning labels on cigars. Yeah. This is the second time, the second different case where Mahatta has favored the cigar industry in regards to warning labels.

In July of 2018, he ruled to indefinitely delay the warning labels invalidating in August 8, 2018 requirements that should require warning labels, box cigars, and advertising. So, as my understanding, his reasoning is that the FDA did not do all their homework, the people that buy cigars are well-educated, Well-funded, and they know that they're either good or bad for them, and they don't need to be told by the government. Well, he also argues the point that FTA had made a statement in regards to that they had other options as far as not going after premium cigars as an option. So because of the fact that they've promoted that or they've posted that as being an option, well, if you're going to argue both sides, it doesn't make sense for you to say, well, if you're not going to go after it, if that was actually something you were considering, then, you know, why is it considered this as, you know, without proper research?

being all those statements. Right. Does that make sense? That makes sense.

I'm a little sick, so I don't know. We both have the Zika now. Great. Not give it to him.

I was going to say something completely. So it's a big win. It's a big win, yes. It's one of many, I hope.

It's in the right direction, hopefully. So, want to talk about the coronavirus, Michael? Well, the bigger issue now with the FDA is the question of the substantial equivalency. That is the next thing on everybody's list, yes.

That is the next thing up. I actually heard that a particular—first of all, nobody else has really gone through substantial equivalency except one alleged company, and it's supposedly a Black and Mild. Black and Mild, yes, that's what he said. So, that is pretty fascinating.

You know, again, we don't fact check on the show, but that is exactly what I heard. That they somehow have it based on their extensive definition of what is in it. Not exactly what tobacco, but this is Tobacco A, and this other cigar also has Tobacco A, so if you said that one's okay, this one has to be okay. So, right.

Step two, this wrapper is based on that same wrapper, so this has to be the same. Right. So it didn't cost them 50 grand. Right.

Well, he was not, from what I heard. Allegedly. Allegedly, there was no testing done. Right.

So there's no testing done. It's a black and mild, not a premium cigar. Right. So if they can pass without testing, anybody should be able to pass without testing.

So, somehow they figured out what exactly they need to implement in the form to be approved, which is interesting. Yes. Yeah. So, hopefully that will be the way to go.

" No, this has been going around long enough. You need to come up with a decision here at this point. " But there's no proper process to doing it. Well, maybe there is, but if there is, it's extremely difficult.

So I think we should just kind of let it happen and, you know, fuck 'em. Well, that's just it. Like you said, the PCA doesn't want it to happen because they might have everything worked out where you have to do this, this, and this. Right.

So everybody's afraid to pull the trigger. But let's do it. Does he have it? I don't know.

Does he have it? Let's call a bluff here. Come on. Let's speed it up.

Speed it up. Get this done. Pull off the band-aid. Let's make it today.

Start the race. Shoot the gun. So I'm intrigued about that. Yeah.

Okay, we have more information on our soon-to-be intern program. Oh! I did do more research. Or we have the coronavirus.

You get to choose. I want to know about the intern, because last time we talked, we had, you know, I had to give you a little pep talk, and then I've been out of town ever since, so. Yeah, so I have done more research. I do have the things we have to do to get an intern.

Okay. Okay. More than one. More than one.

Excuse me. Eventually, you'll get better. Eventually. I heard as you get older, the sickness lasts longer.

It does. It's just, it's terrible. It feels like it's week three for you. It is clear that students gain a great deal of work working as interns.

In today's tight job market, internships have rapidly become a prerequisite for many full-time jobs. Just get to the stuff. Get to the stuff. Okay.

Here we go. I know you hate when I do that. Okay. This is step one.

The opportunity to outline a clear internship process at the onset. So we have to come up with exactly what we want this person to do. Right. I would like, like we did in the last show, we're going to put that back on the person who wants to be our intern.

These are the things they will do for us. I think that's a mistake. Why? I think that we should map out exactly what we need from that.

Editing videos, running the camera. No, no, I still want to edit the video. They can edit the audio, because I'll get that down to easy and easy signs now. I can tell you that people do complain about the YouTube audio.

Yes, the audio is bad, so if we have an intern that can help me work that out, that'd be great. Yeah. So it is a little scratchy. Yeah.

I can get it to a minimum scratch, but not a scratch at all. You can also teach them about cigars in general. Yes. And they can learn about that stuff.

Okay. Okay, we have to get rid of standard interview questions and not take resumes. That's easy enough. Yeah.

So we have to have questions based on what we want them to do. So we would like them to have basic audio and video editing skills. Right. Yes, okay.

We need to test their skills on college campuses or recruiting events. So we have to go to recruiting events to get our intern. Oh, do we have to like bring the mics and stuff? No, no, we just have like a table where we'll put the banner up and say taking interns.

This is exciting. Yeah, that's okay. We have to get them frustrated to see what happens. That's on the list.

That's on the list. I'm really good at frustrated people. You're good at that. No problem.

Not a problem there. Jack, that's done. Easy. See what I mean?

We're rolling right along. We're rolling right along there. You gave up a one. That was number four, yes.

Number five, consider their willingness to learn. Ooh. I guess that would be based on how well they get frustrated and what they do. Yeah, is that like, what do they do in college?

There's like a hazing. Yeah. Oh, we can haze the intern? Yeah, we can.

Not Greg. Greg's not allowed to haze the intern. Really got to put you through the test. Greg's not allowed to haze the intern.

Okay, and number six, give them real work to do. No problem. I think this is a lot easier than I originally thought it was going to be. See, you sold yourself short.

I didn't. Oh, no. I was like, oh, the first one sounds really hard. You got to embrace the change.

You got to work with the stuff. Be the change, Michael. Be the change. Be the change.

All right, so we got to come up with questions. Okay. We have to find out when the next recruiting event is. We do.

What campus do you want to go after? What's the closest one to here? Seminole State? Yeah, probably.

Okay. Or Daytona. Or Daytona or UCF. UCF, that's a commitment.

It's probably about 45 minutes to an hour away. Chet likes to drive. We can have him go. Hey.

Hey, Chet. Good old Chet. All right. That seems pretty easy.

I think we got this under control. Okay. If you really want to do it, we'll do it. All right.

We are. Sure, that's the next thing for the show. I have to get the interview scheduled for the gentleman who's going to help us with the thing, but he's in Washington State at the moment. Okay.

Danny, or Dan. All right, we're not talking about, we don't want to talk about the coronavirus at all? Oh, I thought I got to pick which one I want to talk with first. Oh, first.

Oh, okay. Well then, on to the coronavirus. Since we're going to become the new news media outlet for all your coronavirus needs. As of Monday morning, there were 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the USA.

Ba-ba-ba. None in the state of Florida, though. Six cases have been reported in California, one in Arizona, one in Washington, one in Massachusetts, and two in Illinois. Nothing in Vegas, huh?

Nothing in Vegas either, no. Greg said that he thought somebody in Vegas had it, though. Yeah. No deaths have been reported in the USA, and 99% of the cases still remain in China.

Major American carriers, including United Airlines, Delta, and American Airlines, have suspended all service to mainland China amid the ongoing outbreak. S. State Department raises China travel advisory to level 4, do not travel. There's only one level higher, nuclear war.

Really? Five. Yes. You can't just spray some Lysol and some shit?

No. Okay, there's a lot of people that are putting it up on social media that the coronavirus is killed by Lysol. That is not this strain of coronavirus. Oh, this one survives the Lysol.

Yes, this one will survive. I don't know that. I don't know about that. 99% of viruses.

Well, 99% of the viruses are still in China, so we don't know. Oh, okay. There you go. I feel like Lysol and cleanliness will still fix the problem.

You think so? Yeah. We have started taking immunity-boosting vitamins in my house and we wash our hands when you come in the house. Well, you guys are prepping for a nuclear war.

That's right. I'm not getting it. It's the zoo zombie thing. That's how the zombies start.

Oh, okay. The people falling over, do you think those are real videos? I saw them in the real. Abraham Lincoln said, everything you see on the internet is real.

I believe him. Yes, he was known for his truth telling. He's very wise. An exclusive interview with Hannity during the Super Bowl pregame showing Sunday President Trump voiced confidence in his administration's swift response in addressing the threat of the coronavirus.

We pretty much shut it down coming from China, Trump told the— Oh, what a great voice. Thank you, Hannity host. Sounds as like a— But we can't have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem. The Coronavirus, we are going to see what happens, but we did shut it down.

Yes. Good job, John. So, Trump has got everything under control. Thanks for raising the tobacco age, 21.

Yes. Oh, Hawaii's raising the 25. All right. This coming Sunday, Michael, the Oscars are on.

Yes. I thought it would be fun if we would pick our Oscar winners. All right. I'm not picking, I just want you to know, I'm not picking Joaquin Phoenix or Joker for anything.

No, no. Okay, we're only going to do actor in a leading role, actor in a supporting role. Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Sporting Role, and Best Picture. Okay.

We can also maybe do Original Song, but I'm… Nah. Okay. All right. Actor in a Leading Role.

We have Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory. Okay. Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Okay.

Adam Driver, Marriage Story. Okay. Joaquin Phoenix, Joker. Nope.

Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes. Okay. Out of all these movies, I've seen none, and I only know what one of them is. Okay.

So who are you picking? I started to watch Leonardo DiCaprio. Did you? See, that's the only movie I've even heard of.

Yeah, I'm going DiCaprio. Are you? Yeah. I'm going Antonio Banderas, because I like Antonio Banderas.

Okay. Okay, so you get a line this way, and I do a line that way. I mean, we're just, like, this is so ridiculous. This is ridiculous, but we're having fun.

Actor in a supporting role. Okay. Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Brad Pitt.

Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes. Al Pacino, The Irishman. Joe Pesci, The Irishman. the Irishman.

Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt, really? Okay, you know Brad Pitt?

I'm a big Tom Hanks fan, I'm doing Tom Hanks. Okay. We're going to put a wager on this at the end, between the two of us. Oh, we are?

Oh, yes. Oh, you didn't say all that. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Actress in a leading role.

Cynthia... Billy Eilish. No, Cynthia Anivo on Harriet. Scarlett Johansson.

Marriage Story. Okay. I don't know how to I can't pronounce this young lady's name. She was in Little Women, Charlize Throne in Bombshell, and Renee Zellweger in Judy.

Ooh. Cerise Ronan in Little Women. I don't know who the young lady is. It's going to be Renee Zellweger in Judy.

You think so, really? Yeah. I'm going Scarlett Johansson. Of course you are.

You fucking hornball. She's Black Widow. I haven't seen any of these movies either. I watch a lot of movies, but I haven't seen any of these movies.

That's right. You're like the worst critic on the planet. You absolutely hate every movie that's ever made. You know, I saw something good the other day.

I don't remember what it was. Excuse me. Actors in a Supporting Role. We have Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell, Laura Dern, Marriage Story, Scarlett Johansson, Jojo the Rabbit, Florence Pugh, Little Women, and Margot Robbie Bombshell.

I'm gonna go with Pugh. I've never seen any of those movies. I haven't seen any of these movies. I'm going with Margot Ruby.

Oh, no Scarlett Johansson? No, she can't win both. This is ridiculous. She can't win both.

Why? Billie Eilish won everything in the Grammys. Even the stuff she wasn't nominated for. Okay.

Best Picture. Okay. Ford vs. Ferrari.

Okay. The Irishman. Okay. Jojo the Rabbit.

Okay. Joker. Little Woman. Okay.

Marriage Story. 1917. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Or Parasite.

I'm gonna go 1917. All right. Let's see. Now I was going to go with that one too.

All right. That will be the tiebreaker. That will maybe be the tiebreaker. So we're both going with 1917.

Okay. Now what should we bet? We have one, two, three, four, five. Okay.

So the one who gets the best out of – the most out of five. All right. All right. Wait, wait, wait.

Want to just bet a cigar? So Abe has this thing. Abe does this thing where he bets – I'm not dressing as a woman. No.

Oh, okay. He bets people like a dollar. Oh, yeah, and then you have to sign it. Yeah.

Okay, we'll do that. All right. All right. Let's do that.

Okay, bet a dollar, and you have to put on there what? You were right. You were right. I was wrong.

Yeah, something like that. And then the date and sign your name. I thought that was really cool. Kudos to him.

That was brilliant. And we'll start doing this on things here, and we'll put them up around the Rock thing. Did you see your boy The Rock announced the Super Bowl? He did.

I was hoping there would be somebody different announcing the other team because he played up the 49ers so well. I thought maybe then it would be somebody else introducing the other team that would say similar things I think he slighted the Chiefs a little bit. Dude, you're not a fan. Get over it.

I enjoyed it. It's sad that I have to deal with you. We haven't talked about the football. Okay, I'm not a sports fan.

I'll admit that to anybody. Thank you. I'm not a sports fan. Thank you.

I enjoyed the show. I enjoyed the game. It's the first game I've watched beginning to end. It wasn't even good.

Well, see, I enjoyed it though. I don't know if it was good or bad because I'm not a sports fan. But I enjoyed the show and it was nice to have a team to root for. Okay.

So, I enjoyed it for the mere fact of the entertainment value of the event. it i'm happy for you would i ever go to a game and pay well no i would never pay the ticket price but right would i go to a game no no i'd be bored out of my mind halfway through that game right at home i could get up i could look at my phone i could go to the bathroom right so yes and i enjoyed the halftime show i thought the halftime show was very good san francisco was fun at first they're doing like these interesting run plays stuff like that and then they started to repeat them and i'm like oh my god well they only have so many plays and then um kansas city couldn't And then they had one, one, there was one awesome play, there was one bomb to Tyreek Hill, I was like, yes. Oh, where they, uh, where they turned around. That was the turning point, yeah.

Yes, that was the point where my wife had just, uh, went, you know, the big, the diehard fan that she is. Game's over, I'm going to bed. Looks like they lost, so I'm leaving. What, uh, 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Just like a true fan. And I had to, honey, they just scored, come back! Mm-hmm. And then at the end, she was hooting and hollering, and I texted you and said, that's right, the Chiefs just beat the, San Francisco Giants.

San Francisco Giants. What? Honey, that's the 49ers. Well, whatever it's called.

They won. My team won. Case in point. All right.

I'll deal with Kansas City fans, or at least fake Kansas City fans. If you're a real Kansas City fan, I give you credit. Hey, good for you. Happy for your win.

But the reality is, there's a big bandwagon, and now you're being suffocated by said bandwagon. I'm enjoying my ride on the bandwagon. Yes, you are. It's a very fun ride.

I'm enjoying it. I had people congratulating me this morning on social media for my team's win. It was very nice. And I did not buy a Chiefs cigar.

That was a Powstanie cigar with a carefully placed sticker over the fee. So I did plan that, though, for the entire day. Good for you. Thank you.

No, you cannot buy those. Well, you can if you can buy the stickers, not to. All right, we have a quick show update. We have a listener of the week, and then we can get out of here.

Okay. com, we are number nine, Michael. All right. We're still in the top ten, though.

I don't know what TuneIn is. TuneIn is a radio-type website that plays podcasts. Which is exciting. Yes.

Stitcher FM, we are number eight. Okay. Player FM, where we were number two, and then three, now we're number four. You know, I saw David Garofalo at the show, but I didn't get to talk to him.

He probably ignored you, I would imagine. Oh, I'm sure. Because, you know, on all these, but Player FM were higher rated than his. Oh.

I did check that. You're going to hang your hat on that. Yes. But on Podbean, Michael, we are still number one.

Still number one. By over 600 subscribers now. Which is amazing. It is amazing.

All right. Now we have a Listener of the Week, Michael. All right. Hit me.

Listener of the Week is Stephen Wells. Ooh. His IG handle is swells12528. I know that name.

Thank you, Stephen Wells, for listening. Thanks for listening. We appreciate you, sir. We love all our listeners.

All right. You might have noticed we are not a sponsored Listener of the Week any longer, Michael. Womp, womp, womp. Manscaped, I did have contact with Manscaped, and only four people used the code CIGAR.

Brrrr. So, we can either keep chugging along with our free goods. No. And keep saying their name.

And if we get more, then they will reevaluate their decision. Well, we can part ways and wish that everybody's balls would be hairy and we are done. Hairy balls. Hairy balls, everybody.

I take hairy balls for a thousand, Alex. So, uh, we are unsponsored once again. Doo, doo. So, Chubbies.

Still, still waiting to hear back from Chubbies. D. Bill. People.

It's all good. Maybe that would perk you up, Michael, if you had a chubby. No, I just gotta feel better. I mean, I think I'm doing pretty good.

You doing okay? You know, I'm hanging in there. That is everything I have. All right.

What a wonderful show. This has been, Michael. It's nice to have you, Mac. This was a good show.

It always is. It's nice to catch up with you. It is. It felt good.

I enjoyed it. You gave a lot of good information. I got some really good interactions for the Patreon. Are we doing that next?

No. No. We'll have to do it tomorrow. Okay.

No problem. I'm on the clock all day tomorrow. Perfect. We'll figure it out.

All right, everybody. Episode 107. Alright, bye. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience.

This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m. for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Hoostoe-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 Deeb. Hojo! It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way.

I couldn't get past Hojo! Go on! I don't even have to try it. He's not even gonna try.

We're gonna, we're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right. Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast.

It would be like four cigars when I walked in the door. All right, end this.

Show Notes

All sorts of TPE information this week!  A Patreon Teaser!  Zombies are headed our way!  And don't be looking for the Labels on Cigar Boxes!

All this and more on this weeks show?!

You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike Too @fcc_mike.

Please always rate, reply and subscribe on which ever of our providers you use.