Episode 111 The Philadelphia Experiment..... New Law?.....The virus isn't that big a deal...

Episode Summary

Episode 111 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a full road-trip recap of Mike and Mike's swing through the Philadelphia area. The pair land in Newark and work their way through Stateline Cigar Lounge in Delaware (hanging with Lou Liga and owner Pat well past closing), B&B Cigars with Vince Hill — where they run into Kyle from La Flor Dominicana — and Smoke Maniac with Costa, Eli and Sam, where the conversation somehow turns to kangaroo boxing. They cap the trip with an event at Philadelphia Cigar Company, where they meet longtime blogger Cigar Craig of CigarCraig.com, who drove over an hour to see the show and is named Listener of the Week. Along the way: airport boarding-pass anxiety, a lost-and-found bag of cigars (including a War Bear meant for Ellis Philly), a legendary peanut butter and jelly bacon cheeseburger at Lucky's, a midnight Wawa dinner, a canceled 6 a.m. flight, and a sales pitch for CLEAR airport screening.

The news block opens with Padilla Cigars hiring Todd Vance as director of sales, prompting speculation about his short stint at White Hat Distribution (now La Familia Robaina) under Spencer Drake, plus a Josh Fabello story about Drake's Cornelius & Anthony days. The hosts then run through Habanos S.A.'s 2019 results announced in Havana — $531 million in revenue, up 2% — and the top five markets: Spain, China, France, Germany and Cuba itself, with Asia the only region down.

The back half covers the House-passed tobacco bill, once called a doomsday scenario for the cigar industry: a proposed ban on online and non-face-to-face sales, flavored tobacco restrictions, user fees on vaping products, graphic warning labels, a ban on most cigar company swag, and a $12-and-up exemption from substantial equivalence that the hosts (echoing Skip Martin) argue is unworkable because retail pricing varies by state tax. They remind listeners it still has to clear the Senate and be signed. A coronavirus update follows — Japan's nationwide school closures, Florida's first two presumed positive cases and Governor DeSantis's public health emergency — with the hosts arguing the media panic outpaces the risk while noting real supply-chain disruption out of China. The episode closes with a Perdomo Champagne question, a late-night call from J-Dub about how to pronounce Powstanie, and a plug for the PodFest appearance.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Skip Martin on El Oso Fumar shouts out Cigar Hustler
   A clip of Skip Martin praising small, social-media-driven retailers like Cigar Hustler for connecting with buyers nationwide.
2. 02
   Airport chaos and the drive from Newark
   Boarding-pass anxiety, a rental car scramble at National, and a brutal Philly-traffic drive with the world's worst passenger.
3. 03
   Stateline Cigar Lounge, Delaware
   Hanging with Lou Liga, owner Pat, and regulars Rosemarie and Honest John until well past closing.
4. 04
   B&B Cigars and Smoke Maniac
   Meeting Vince Hill at B&B, running into Kyle from La Flor Dominicana, then Costa, Eli and Sam at Smoke Maniac.
5. 05
   Philadelphia Cigar Company event and Cigar Craig
   A rowdy Philly crowd, a missing bag of cigars, and meeting veteran blogger Cigar Craig, the Listener of the Week.
6. 06
   Padilla hires Todd Vance
   Vance moves to Padilla Cigars as director of sales after stints at Cornelius & Anthony and White Hat Distribution under Spencer Drake.
7. 07
   Habanos 2019 revenue report
   Habanos S.A. posts $531 million in 2019, up 2%, with Spain, China, France, Germany and Cuba as the top five markets.
8. 08
   The House tobacco bill and coronavirus update
   Breaking down the online sales ban, swag ban and $12 SE exemption, plus Japan's school closures and Florida's first COVID-19 cases.

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 111 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. This week we go in-depth for our trip to Philadelphia, we have a coronavirus update, and then new law in the government? Eh, well, you know, maybe not. All that and more on this week's episode 111 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.

You know, like look at Cigar Hustler, for example, right? Cigar Hustler doesn't have the millions of dollars that some of these guys have had over time to develop, you know, these really fancy big websites and shipping, logistic areas and all those things. You know, like look at Cigar Hustler, for example, right? Cigar Hustler doesn't have the millions of dollars that some of these guys have had over time to develop, you know, these really fancy big websites and shipping logistic areas and all those things.

" And Cigar Hustlers has grown because of that, right? True. Now, are they as big as Corona? No.

Are they as big as Famous? No. But they do a pretty decent chunk of their business by sending stuff to people who want it. Yes.

You know, Michael? All right, that was Mr. Skip Martin. The Michael he was talking about was not you.

Was that us? No, no, another shop. That was from El Oso Fumar last night with Mr. Bear Duplessé.

Yes. I'm going to have to go back and listen to that. I passed out last night, man. I was just done.

Oh, I had a hard time sleeping last night. I was actually asleep and then somebody tagged us in this. It was Mr. Matt Fry.

Yes. Yeah, he tagged us in it. So I thought it was something about our show. So, I turned it on when I was laying in bed, put in my little AirPod, but I didn't know that thing was on until 12:30 last night.

Yeah. Oh, very late show. But he's 100% correct. He is, he is.

We're a small operation, we're efficient in what we do, we've met a lot of people over social media and, you know, if their local shops don't have product, we... Right, they were talking about, Skip was talking about people who get into the industry and don't do it right, they're just using excuses. Yeah, of course. Oh, man, we just had that conversation?

Exactly. With other people using excuses. I was also tagged last night three times that it was my birthday during the show. I imagine I'm getting confused with Mr.

Rosales. Oh, happy birthday, Mike. It's his birthday. But if I'm getting confused for a mic, you know, might as well be Mr.

Rosales. Yeah, absolutely. So that was on last night. Appreciate Skip saying nice things about the shop.

So we just got back from Philly, Michael. That's very sweet of him. It was very nice. You spoke very nice.

We did. It was hard to find. It was like a two-minute blurb. Right.

In three hours of content. In three hours of content. That's right. Very hard to find.

You know, I appreciate you going the extra mile for production. I mean, you know, you're amazing. I turned it on. Well, considering last week I fucked up and everybody got to meet Stan.

Stan's got quite the following now. And here you have redeemed yourself. I have redeemed myself now. It's amazing.

I turned it on this morning when the first thing I got up and just let it run with the earpad in my head when I was doing the last-minute things for the tile guy. It's for the Tile Guy, until I came on, I was like, did you get a final phone? There it is, where's the time? Where, what's the time?

Time, timestamp! Nicely done. Nicely done. So yeah.

So yeah, we got back from where, we went to the streets of Philadelphia. Isn't that the song? I have no idea. There's a movie called Philadelphia.

Yes. With Tom Hanks. Yes. That is the movie poster we're using this week.

Oh good. Oh no, you should see it though. It worked out very well. I just finished it off a little while ago.

Needed no help this week. Okay. From my production team. So where do you want to start with our trip to Philadelphia?

Why don't we start with the boarding pass problem, Michael, when we went to leave, since you were causing quite the problem for me. There wasn't a boarding pass problem, so we were there seven hours beforehand to keep you happy. Why don't we start there? No, no.

Were we there seven hours beforehand? We were there two hours beforehand. And then I got to leave. And 23 people voted with me that, yes, you need to get there early, not, you know, not right at the last minute.

Well, do those people travel a lot? I don't know, but I used to travel a lot, so you would not tell me our boarding number, what group we were in, when the plane was even going to leave, or where my seat was, because you have it on your phone. It was causing me a great deal of anxiety. I know, and I just want you to know, when I saw that, it just, oh man, I just fucking loved it.

You know what, so Michael fell asleep while he was sitting there and fell asleep. I did, I took a little nappy poo. And they were boarding. One and two was already boarding, and he's still asleep.

So I thought, I have two options. I let Michael sleep, and we missed the flight, just to prove my point. Nah. I wouldn't have missed it.

Or I take my ID over to the desk, and I get my own boarding pass. No, that wasn't what you were doing. You weren't going in consideration of me sleeping. You're like, you know what?

No, no, it had nothing to do with you sleeping. I'm going to figure this out. That's right. I'm going to know exactly where I'm supposed to be sitting.

That's right. I'm going to know what my boarding number is. The lady goes, you know, can I help you, sir? " Yeah.

Okay. She really didn't want to do it. Because she left right after she printed my boarding pass, so she was gone. " You have a phone in your hand, sir.

Right. Oh, well, you don't have the app? Yeah, exactly. So that was a little anxiety for me to start the trip.

Which I loved. Yes, yes, you were having quite a lot of fun with that. Yes, okay, and then the plane ride was uneventful, right? Yes.

Yes. I watched Terminator. It was terrible. Right.

It was terrible. And I had downloaded a Mel Gibson movie on my phone, which I actually thoroughly enjoyed. Edge of Darkness? Edge of Darkness, yes.

It's an older one. It's nice that you're catching up from circa 1993. Well, I had seen it. Well, you know, really the only ones that you – I guess I could have used Netflix too, but it's not really my Netflix in my house.

So I downloaded videos on Amazon Prime. Okay. Whatever. It worked out.

Yes. But the flight home, no anxiety. You still didn't give me my boarding pass? No.

I was much more relaxed. You didn't have as well. Much more relaxed on the way home. Wait, but you're jumping ahead.

You just skipped the whole trip. Well, there was a lot in the middle, which we will go over. I mean, you were still edgy and had anxiety in the first morning. No, you weren't as mean about it, let's just say.

You weren't as mean about it on the way. I mean, you did tell me we were in boarding group four. Well, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I surrendered a little bit. You surrendered a little bit. There's two things there. For one, earlier in that morning, 3:30 in the morning.

3:30 in the morning. Oh, yes, yes, we got up at, okay, well, then let's just not get, I forgot about all that too. Oh, you don't want to talk about that stuff? We'll just save, we'll just save that till we get to it then.

Okay, okay. So we got our, we went to our rental? We landed in Philly, went to the rental car. Oh, we landed in Newark.

Newark, yes, I'm sorry, landed in Newark. We found the one rental car with the requirements. Yes, there are several things. With the requirements.

Yes, requirements, thank you, those are the word requirements. So, yes. You did make me check the entire row while you stood next to the car with the sunroof. Next to the car with the sunroof.

Because you didn't want somebody to steal it. Oh, okay. Yeah. " I'm glad that you took it that way.

" But like, with National, it's Thunderdome, man. They come out there, and if you're not in that car... Yeah, if you're not in the car... Even if you leave your luggage in the...

It's not yours. Let's say your luggage is in the trunk, they don't know, they're just... " So, that's why I stood there. But we really didn't need this on our own, because it was too damn cold to smoke in the car.

It was, but we still did. We still did? Allegedly. Once, I think, maybe?

Yeah, one time. The giant FQ Churchill. Yeah, it was a Churchill. It was a commitment.

It was a commitment. We did a good job. Very cold. It was daytime, but at nighttime, windows are not going down.

Mm-hmm. All right, so we landed, and we drove to State Lines, Delaware State Lines Cigar Lounge. My boy, Lou Liga. So I missed it, Lou Liga.

I got to meet Lou Liga. And there was a couple there celebrating their anniversary. Anniversary, do you remember their names? Yes.

Good, because I didn't write it down. Rosemarie, Rosemarie, and John, Honest John. Honest John, that's right, yeah. I missed my other phone.

Oh. They were very nice. Yeah. We were there until well after closing.

Yes, we were. Yes, and then we jumped in the car and drove back. It was cool because, you know, like, we had like a good conversation with them. We covered a lot of stuff.

We really did. Yes. Star Trek and all types of shit. Yeah, she's evidently a cigar Instagram person herself.

Yeah, I believe it. So, yeah. She knew her shit. She knew what she was talking about.

Mike, okay, so you know what's up. She did. Which is awesome. Yes.

So then we drove back. We got back to the hotel about 10:40 I think it was. Yeah. Lou did bring up the house bill, whatever, yada yada, passing.

Oh, yeah, we did briefly talk about that. I have it later for the news, but it's very involved that we spend on time when I get to it. OK. All right.

Don't forget about Pat, the owner of Stateline. He hung out with us, too. That's true. Yes, he did.

He did, yes. There was a couple other gentlemen in the room also. Yeah. The one gentleman way in the corner was just smoking a cigar.

He looked very tired, like he'd come off of work. He didn't want to be bothered. He didn't want to be bothered. He has security.

You know, you got to know the room. When you walk in, you know, you kind of do a hello to everybody. Right. And then you see who wants to chat, who wants to bullshit, and who's like, you know, I'm good.

You just got to know your audience. It's just that simple. That's right. So yeah.

So where did we stay the first night? We stayed in Philadelphia. Yeah, we stayed at Hilton in Philadelphia. We got them to extend the kitchen hours so we could eat finally.

Extend the kitchen hours? Oh, no. We made it there in time. We were right at closing.

I mean, that's the hard part about being on the road, right? It's like, you know, I mean, I want to eat some bullshit. So, when you can finally stop, you really hope that you can make it work as far as what your food options are. Right.

Can I get some veggies and a little salmon or some shit, you know, some chicken? You ate a lot of salmon on the trip. I did eat a lot of salmon. Yeah, no beef.

It's an easy go-to. Uh, I really wanted to, it just didn't happen. Yeah, well, it would have been, it would have been a little late for them to fire up the grill, probably, and throw a steak on. Can I get a T-bone?

Can you thaw out a T-bone back there, maybe, in the next five minutes? Hey, this is a business expense. Can I get the, uh, aged, dry rub, 12-year? Yeah, whatever.

Could you fly one in? Maybe the fresh lobster? Fly the lobster in. Stick the lobster.

So yeah, we stayed and crashed there, then... Well, the next morning we shared the elevator with that very well-to-do dressed family. Oh, you marked everything. This is amazing.

Oh, they did. Because you could tell the difference in you and I, because I thought they smelled like a skunk. Well, they smelled like weed. They smelled like weed.

It turned out it was weed. " They smelled like a skunk. I don't know if it was them, it could have just been in the elevator. Well, it followed them as they walked past me.

Oh, did it? Yeah, so one of them. It was a mother, a father, and a daughter. The daughter was in her late teens, if not early 20s.

It was definitely the father. Oh, you think so? Oh, yeah, it's back in that. Maybe the poor man had cataracts or something.

Oh, sure. Or maybe he was, you know. It's for his glaucoma. His glaucoma.

That's what it was. What are the legalities for weed in Philly? I have no idea, but it was rampant in several places. Well, it seemed like he wasn't concerned.

No. And you could smell it a lot of times. We were out. A lot of times.

Sometimes, it was the smell of the weed. So the next morning, we went to B&B Cigars. Yes, we saw Vince. I saw Vince.

I was going to say Vinny, but I wasn't right. Vince Hill. Vince Hill. Very nice shop.

B&B. Very nice shop. If he didn't have it, they don't make it. He had quite the selection in there.

He does have a lot of stuff for such a small area. He does, yes. You know, really, he's a good guy. And we ran into Kyle from LFD, gave us a couple of cigars for our daily smokes.

And he said that he likes Powstanie. He did, he was familiar with the line, that's right. Yes. And he knew my friend Leo.

So, let's see. I was smoking at Lenox last night and then I died, I just fucking passed out on the patio. You were up late the day we got, well I guess we'll get to that. Okay, never mind.

Okay, okay. And then we went to Smoke Manioc. We did. Costa and Eli.

Yes. That was a very... Costa was patient zero at TPE. Yes.

He got us all sick. I checked us in on Facebook every time we went somewhere, and I got a message from Eric at Dojo that he was patient zero to be careful, and I said he coughed once while we were there. I'm afraid I might die now. Hung out with Sam.

Sam, yes, and some reason we had quite the in-depth conversation about kangaroo boxing. Ah, yes. That is quite the topic there in the shop. Everybody pulled up videos on their phones and showed us.

Evidently, they have a chokehold that they're famous for. So now I know if I see a kangaroo. And that was when I started to drop knowledge on kangaroos. A void, oh yes.

" Nobody believed you. " No, they don't. They don't. Look that shit up.

I'm a plethora of useless knowledge. Yes. I did enjoy his story about his dog, the half hyena, half wolf or whatever dog that he had. That he would let go gallivanting?

Yeah, that he would let run wild in the hills of somewhere. North Carolina? That might have been. I told that story to my wife last night because we were watching something and there was a dog on it.

How his dog had disappeared for several weeks and then came back bloodied. He was already deaf in one ear and blind in one eye or something. So they followed and then he died shortly after that. And so he followed the blood trail and found two dead coyotes.

Two dead coyotes. That's the way I want to go, Michael. Killing coyotes? Something.

I went to die quickly from injuries obtained while I took on two assailants. Oh, when you get a little older and you start to struggle, I'm going to fucking helicopter drop you in by a grizzly bear. Oh, as long as I can kill the bear. It's got to be two of them, though.

I don't know. Two bears, two bears. I die after, not during. Oh, you have to die after.

Yes. And then for lunch that day, my mouth's watering just talking about Mike, we had the... Look at the notes. peanut butter and jelly bacon cheeseburger at Lucky's, my new favorite restaurant.

That was a great cheeseburger. That was amazing. I tried to replicate it last night. I did not do it.

Oh, see, I've not tried to. I was close. I have been telling the home family, we need hamburger, peanut butter. Yes.

And I think it was a grape, or raspberry jelly, but everybody said it was a grape. It was definitely grape. I think I'm going to try the raspberry. I think it'll give it a little bit more of a kick.

The problem is, the jelly that you get from the store isn't as liquidy. Well, I think they were homemade jelly. Did I hear that? Yeah, like the consistency for the jelly that I use was like chunky.

Well, wait, you should just start it up really good and broke it all up. Yeah, probably. Maybe it was a jam. The radar, sir, it's jammed.

It's jammed. Yes. Raspberries. Yes.

Let's see, and then later that evening. Yeah. We were there for a while. We hung out.

Because the other shops didn't get back to you. Yeah, we wanted to go stop by Capelli and Harry's, but... No, no answer. So, dude, we hang out there for a while.

You hang out there for a while. It's a nice place. Very nice. It was cool.

It was very cool. Very clean. It was very clean for the way it looked. You were super efficient.

I didn't go in because I was afraid there might have been some humor on some work because I understand, well, you have to be keyed in, and then you have to be keyed out. So I was afraid if I went in. You would have been left in there? I might have been left in there for a short time.

There's a push button to unlock. Oh, is there? Oh, okay. I thought maybe you had to have the card to get out too.

So I was like, you know what? I'll just look through the window. I like that you were nervous the whole time, that's amazing. I wasn't nervous the whole time.

I'm not going in there, you're not going to stick me in there forever. Well, there's quite the chance for the shenanigans at that point, at my expense I felt. Yeah. Can we talk about the car ride after Maniac?

What happened to the car ride after Maniac? You tried to fall asleep a couple times? Oh, was that when I fall asleep? Yeah.

Did you mention that in your notes? No, no, but I did tell somebody about that somewhere during the trip, I forget where it was. Yes. But yes, I was very tired.

I was very tired, and as a passenger, there's really nothing to do. So I was cold, I was tired, so I tried to go to sleep. And, uh, yeah, I'm, uh... Every time I'd go to sleep, you'd hit the brakes and scream.

" And then, Mr. Palmer would freak out. It was amazing. Well, the traffic was bad.

You were, at one point, you were on your phone, you were eating a salad. Well, look, man. And I think talking on the phone, and driving with your knees, so... I got to do what I've got to do.

So here's the deal. Well, I figured if I went to sleep too, I would not tense up during the crash. That's what you said. That was it.

But you found a way to make me tense up anyway. Yes. So here's the deal. Mr.

Palmer, you are the worst passenger. You are like the absolute epitome of evil. I'm a bad passenger. Because everything that was...

Look, we're in Philadelphia, man. Car is going to be aggressive. You're going to get close to shit. Like, it's going to happen.

And you would just freak out every single... No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was like, Jesus. Again, it's a control problem.

Like, calm down. I'm very rarely the passenger of you. Oh, yeah. You were having a hard time with it.

So the minute after berating me for driving from Newark to Philly, around Philly, the minute that you fell asleep, I took my opportunity, I picked my spot, and I went- Not only once. Oh, yes. I think there were three times. I think it was twice, but we'll go three times.

And then you finally go, no, no, you can go to sleep. I'm like, I'll leave you alone now. I was like, fuck you. I'm not going to sleep now.

But you still went to sleep. I couldn't help it. I was so tired. And I don't understand why you're tired from all the not driving and all the sleeping you were doing.

I wasn't sleeping. You were causing me minor heart attacks. I don't know, because when I slept in the hotel, there was a chainsaw next to me, and that chainsaw was definitely sleeping. Very lightly.

Comfortably. Very lightly. Comfortably sleeping. Very lightly sleeping.

See, then that night, we went to Philadelphia Tobacco Lounge, is that what it's called? Philadelphia Cigar Company? That's what it's called? Where we had the event.

Philadelphia Cigar. I don't believe that was the correct name. Could have been. Who knows?

But yes, yes, we went there. Yeah. It was a little rough. It was rough?

The crowd. The crowd was definitely a Philadelphia crowd. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, at any moment, a boxing match or a drug deal or poker games could have broke out.

Well, a poker game broke out. It did, but that was after hours. Those guys are older dudes. They ain't boxing.

They ain't fucking boxing. A couple of them look like longshoremen, but I think that's just the dress to keep warm. Yeah, it's a standard. You know what?

I rediscovered that I had forgotten because it's been several years since I've lived where it's cold. Okay. Jeans are not very warm at all. Oh, really?

Yeah, but I was freezing from the waist down most of the time. I don't understand how you're cold all the time, it wasn't that bad. Well, you run around the tank tops or whatever the hell you're wearing in all the photos. Yeah, it was fine.

I don't think when you brought the jacket, it was more of a hindrance than anything else. Well, I had to use it at specific times. There were specific times where the jacket was required, like walking to Maniac, Smoke Maniac, in the windy area. Yeah, that was a long walk.

I'm like, okay, this is good. But other than that, you didn't really need it. Your Rocky Balboa jacket. My Rocky Balboa jacket, as you say.

Oh. That's my uncle's jacket, man. He died. Yeah, you like to throw that in all the time.

That's my dead uncle's jacket. That's my dead uncle's jacket. I hope you don't die in it, then. Could be a cursed jacket.

Could be a good way to go out. He didn't die in it. How do you know? He just had it.

Oh. I was picturing you taking off of him in the casket, going, that's a nice jacket. I'm gonna take this with me. I'm gonna take this with me.

I'm gonna take this with me. Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob. No, it was Uncle Rick.

He's a good uncle. Well, at Philadelphia Cigar Company or whatever the place is called, we met Cigar Craig. Yes, we did. com.

Yeah. He'd had that for over 10 years, he said. Yeah. Apparently, he knows a lot of people in the industry.

Apparently, he knows. So, he sent me a friend request on Facebook after we met. Oh, did he? Yeah.

Oh, good for you. Mike Palmer had over a thousand mutual friends with. Oh wow, you guys know all, evidently you know all the same people. Yeah, so that was pretty cool.

That was nice. He had driven over an hour, he said, just to come and see us. Yeah, and he's a fan of the podcast, he listens. Yes, I sat there and had quite the conversation with him while you were doing your event-ish stuff.

While I was eventing? You were eventing. Eventing. Yes, he's a very nice man.

And that's really loud, it's a lot lighter. Yeah, what about my boy, Ellis Philly? You haven't mentioned him. Well, he was your boy, I figured you would, and one I don't think I ever got his name.

So I got to hang out with Ellis, which was really nice. I had a War Bear for him. What happened to the War Bear, Mike? Let's talk about that.

Oh, you lost him, Mike. So I sent you, I said, "Hey, do me a favor. " Yeah. Can you go to the car and get the box of FQs?

Look, man, it comes at a price, okay? Can you go to the car and get the bundles that I left in my suitcase under my underwear? " Well, you were working. I didn't mind.

I'm just really just... I keep sitting there at that point. Right. So bring my balls all you want, pal.

I'm a step and fetch boy on the trips. I don't care. Step and fetch. So when you went back to go-- I'm going to make myself useful.

So you went to go get the Toro War Bear. Okay, now wait. What happened? No, no, no, no.

Explain what happened before you go ahead and defend yourself. I am going to explain. I am going to explain why I defend myself. Now during the course of the day, we had been gifted several cigars from several different people.

Uh-huh. The same assortment of cigars. Hmm. Okay.

Well, when I saw the bag in the bottom of the trunk, because we had a discussion about where I should put my cigars, so you said, just leave them in the trunk, but I think I did actually put them in my bag, but I thought they were drunk, so when I saw the bag, I thought it was my bag of cigars, not your bag of cigars. Now that you've defended your view, without even explaining what happened, they were in the bottom of the thing, and I picked them up and put them in my bag to get them out of the way, so I could move all the other stuff around. So what happened, Mike? Tell the listeners and the viewers what happened.

I had your bag and my bag of cigars in my bag. Okay. So when you went out to go and look for the Toro War Bear, what happened? I said it wasn't there.

You said, "It's not here. I've looked everywhere. " Maybe you left it at Vince's place. So then I went back and I looked through the car with you.

I was like, "Son of a bitch. " I'm like, "I knew. I put it in the trunk, you know? Let me reach out to Vince.

" No, no you did not, sadly no. I honestly don't remember you, I remember you carrying out the few cigars you bought, 'cause you bought some cigars that were there for somebody. Right. So, I don't remember the second bag, so I assumed, well, you know, he just carried out the one bag.

" The minute we got to the hotel, I got them out and gave them. " And you tried to steal it. I did not try to steal it, it was an honest mistake. " I have to wait three days before I steal the cigars.

" He found it. " So he opened up the suitcase. Don't worry, I grabbed a new one from the table today, and I replaced the one you took. The one place- Oh, I haven't touched any of those.

We didn't check. And there was. Well, the minute we got to the hotel, I opened my bag, and lo and behold, there were two bags of cigars in there, almost identical, except for the War Bear. Right.

So we drove back to Newark after the event. Yes. Is that where you're at? Is that where you're at?

Yes. Drove back to Newark after the event. There was literally nothing to eat that night. There was nothing to eat?

No place open. No. We drove around. There was a couple of strip clubs that did maybe say buffets.

But were they strip clubs or were they dance places? I'm not sure at this point because there were no blacked out windows. But maybe in Jersey they don't black out the windows. I don't know if they're strip clubs, dude.

We'll have to fact check. We don't fact check here. They had strip club-ish names. But yeah, so where do we eat dinner at that night, Michael?

The Wawa. We ate dinner at the Wawa. Egg white omelet at the Wawa. I don't think you really had an, oh, was it egg whites?

Yeah. Okay, yours looked like an egg in a bowl with some meat. Yeah, you got it. I don't think it was mixed, though, like an omelet.

No, they just kind of threw it on top. They just threw it on top of the egg. So here you go. I had a very delicious, though, chicken parmesan with bacon.

The bacon sandwich that was basically breaded with Parmesan cheese. Amazing. It was very good. It was quite good.

A little heavy for midnight, but still, it was good. Hey, you know. It helps you get that three hours of sleep that we got. Yeah, so that's what we figured.

m. flight. We got to return the car. We need to get up at 3:30.

Yeah. So I set my alarm for 3:15 so I could get up, brush my teeth, and get out of the bathroom. Right. Because you had to, you know, shower.

Yes. Because I cleaned up the night before. You got a shower. I even slept my clothes.

I don't know if you noticed that. Just to save time. That's amazing. Yes.

Well, I figured, yeah, I'm just going home. We had plenty of time. Well, apparently we did. Because what happened at 3:30 in the morning, Mike?

Yeah, they canceled our flight. Canceled the flight. That's why you booked the earliest flight home. Right.

Because when shit goes awry, you can still make it home. Well, when we checked the night before, we realized it was a 777, which is a huge plane. Right. They changed it to that.

Right. Yeah. The border's empty. It's where I thought, oh, this is perfect.

Look, we'll have, like, whole sections. We're gonna run around in the back. We're gonna sit in the back and play baseball or something. Let's change our seats to where no one is.

Right. And really piss off the one stewardess that's gotta go by. Fuck. Fuck.

There's that. You want a soda? I'm like, no. Here, there's your soda.

Did you just throw something? It was a Sharpie. Oh, good. I should've, I didn't throw it at Stan.

That's good, yeah. Very angry man. Yeah. Very angry.

Stan. Stan the man. So then that flight, like you said, had been canceled, and they put us on the 7 o'clock flight. They did.

Well, they gave us an option. Oh, was there an option? Yeah. What was the other option?

Whatever you want. Book the next, book whatever flight. No problem. Oh.

And I was like, oh, I'll take the 7. Yeah. Why hang around? Right.

So, you got ready, right? Right. And then I woke up. Well, no, I went back to sleep, too.

Yeah. I mean, I was really already ready. I brushed my teeth. Right, so you were ready to go.

I always take my shoes off. You woke up before me again. You got everything ready. And then I got up, right?

Yes. To go get in the shower. Yes. And what did you do?

I went back to sleep. No. I made coffee. No.

You said, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. I gotta blow my nose. I had to blow my nose. The tissues are in the bathroom.

So I go, ah, like that. And what did you say? I will kill you. I will fucking kill you.

I will kill you. I will kill you. I will kill you. I was like, oh.

And it wasn't a jovial I will kill you. I will kill you. " I had no idea. And I'm the one that's hostile.

You are. Huh. Very hostile. You've been hostile the entire trip.

I thought I would fight back. Interesting. I will fucking kill you. I will fucking kill you.

So I went and blew my nose. I think I tried to kill you three more times. After making a verbal threat of ending my life, I decided to just tell you what the boarding number was What were flight numbers were and what we were doing because it just wasn't, you know, I wasn't about to get into a plastic fork knife fight with you to save myself. Oh, wait, let's talk about that briefly.

Okay, we ate breakfast at the airport. It was a good breakfast. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a $65 breakfast.

Yeah, it was very good. I finally got my Eggs Benedict. I make gravy for months. So happy.

But anyway, you get a fork and a plastic knife. Yes. Because it's very dangerous if they give you a knife. But then the coffee they gave me on the plane had a wooden stir stick with a handle on one end and a very sharp point on it, it was about this long, you didn't have to file it down, I could have killed a vampire with that thing, I picked it up my hand, I'm like, I could probably take over the plane right now if I really had to, but I'm very tired, and I want to watch the movie that Michael said was great.

The 777s are very nice, though. It's a big plane. Oh, but the TV. I like a big screen TV.

I slept like a baby. You slept like a baby. You did. You slept like a baby.

I watched a movie. That was nice. I watched Guardian Angel, or Angel is Fallen, or whatever it was. And then we made it home.

And then we made it home, yes. So I made it in time for my son's baseball game. No, they were leaving when we got there. That was the opening day, like, process thing.

Oh. Like, they do like a whole thing, and then the game actually wound up being at 4 o'clock, but when we booked the fight. Oh, so did you get to go home and then come back? Yeah, I didn't know what time the game was going to be.

They didn't state that when we booked the flight. That's why I was like, all right, well, fuck it. m. We're going to make sure we're home, and I'm not going to have any issues.

So, yeah, made it to the game, baby. Good deal. Good deal. All right, we're at 29 minutes here.

We'll take a quick break, come back, finish off this trip. We have a little bit of news. Take a break. And then we'll wrap the show up.

I hope to Christ this video is recorded because last time it was not. Look, they had plenty of fun stuff to watch back then. There was a little bit of Greg playing Snake, they got to meet the new cameraman, Stan. " "Oh, that's the new cameraman.

" He has an Instagram, and he has quite the following now on his Instagram. Alright guys, we'll be right back. Bye. Break.

Hey, it's Mike Too. Want to be part of the show? com/theCigarHustlersPodcast. We have tiers starting at just $5 a month.

For $10 a month, you get a special show swag, and then you're eligible for the weekly secret show. Secret shows cover in-depth cigar reviews, behind-the-scenes information, and sometimes, we just talk shit about people. Choose which tier works best with your budget and become an official show hustler. Thanks for the support.

Hey now, welcome back to a Cigar Hustler podcast. During the break took my headphones off, so now they don't feel right. Oh, I'm very sorry. So, where are we at?

So, oh, we had plenty of time at the airport in Philadelphia. Yep. So the lady from Clear noticed that we were standing there just trying to figure out what to do. Tiara.

Tiara, yes. So she gave us her sales pitch. Yes. And she lied.

She did lie. Because you did have to take off your shoes. Yes, I did. But we did find out that I am apparently a legacy.

You are. Back when that originally started, I don't know when it was, I had signed up, but I let it go because I wasn't flying as much. I mean, it was a great pitch. Oh, she was very good at it.

I think that it's going to be very advantageous for us. For those of you that don't know, clear is a way to expedite through the security process. It is not TSA pre-check, but what they do is-- It's like an express pass. Yes, you have been clear-- you know, I had to wait a while when I originally did it, but they just took you like that.

Yeah, they got a lot better at that. Well, because they didn't have pre-check back then, so it was a way to go faster, but still, what they do is you expedite the line, you go and then they scan your eyes or your fingerprints, and there's no ID involved or anything, they guarantee who you are, and then they, some airports, like in Orlando, they used to take, you know, you pull your stuff in a little tray, and then they walk you up and they would literally put their arm out and go, "Excuse me, this man has clear," and they would stop the line and you would go next. That's nice. Yeah, that was nice.

But in Jersey, it was just a separate line. But we did not have to go through the snaky, snaky thing. Yeah, and that thing was... That was long, so...

It was chaotic. Now we gotta get a TSA pre-check. Yes, so anyway, what we feel that she was misleaning about is she told Michael he may not have to take off his shoes. " Okay.

" Yeah, I mean, I took off my shoes, but it's $179. I don't know, maybe now that I'm a legacy member, if I get charged or not, I've tried looking it up, it is not, the title does not exist anywhere. It doesn't say anything. I hope I've not been paying $179 for the last 15 years.

So you're a legacy member. Yes. " They probably don't even know what it means to you. They probably don't know what it means to you.

Be nice to everybody that pays for clear. Exactly. I'm a Kamehameha member. Oh.

I think that when we got home, yeah, I guess that's... That was the trip. That was the end of the trip. You covered it.

Okay, but that night, I saw you were up quite late smoking with Mr. Drew Carpenter. I was. I didn't, I mean, I went home and it crashed, I mean.

Well, you know, I was tired. I mean, I was tired. I'm sorry, I laid down on my new couch on my patio because my wife was sitting outside, her and Megan were sitting outside in the sun, and I said, okay, I'll just lay here. I guess it got a little windy.

Well, above the couch, there's these two metal watering cans with flowers stuck in them, hanging on the wall. The wind blew so hard, it blew one off, and it hit me right on the top of the head when I was asleep. " Right. " Fell asleep in my chair.

I was exhausted. I didn't make it till seven o'clock, I don't think. I don't know how you were up. I mean, I saw the photo of you drinking Vang with your daughter strapped to your chest.

Yes. So let me tell you, let me tell you my strategy. Okay. And it backfired horribly that evening.

Oh, because, okay, wait. Can we mention what your wife said on the phone first? When you get home, I'm checking out. You have the children.

Yeah, well, you know, she had a long weekend. She had a long weekend, she did. Yeah. But did that actually happen?

No, I mean, you know, I still, I did stuff, but she's still helped. She's not that person. All right. I was so hoping that I was hanging out.

I just picked you and her sitting up at home with a glass of wine. It's your problem now, motherfucker. Clove, cigarette, just going. No, that didn't happen.

Mommy's not here, children. No. Mommy has left the building. She's not like that.

As much as she would love to be like that, it's just not in her DNA. So let me tell you what I did, and it did not work well for me. Yes. Like I'm used to work.

When I worked at the bar, I would work a 12-hour shift. Right. m. m.

So what I would do is I'd go to high school. 40. I'd go hit the gym, and then I'd go to work, right? When were you sleeping?

Yeah, no, I didn't really, so what I would do is, I would take small interval naps for like 5 or 10 minutes in the bathroom by myself. At school? No, at work. Oh, at work.

I'm going to kill it for 5 minutes, and then I'm going to get up, right? So I've done that at home before, when we've had people over, I'm like, I'm going to go fucking- I'm going to go to the bathroom? I'm going to go pass out for 5 minutes and then operate. And it works out well.

I didn't bring my phone with me, so there's no timer this time. time so i went and i was like all right i'm gonna close my house for five minutes well five minutes turned into the 20 buddy so 20 minutes later my wife came in to check where in the bathroom where the hell am i all right michael and she saw me pass down on the floor she's like what on the floor yeah oh not even in the bathroom carpet in the floor on the bathroom floor oh i picked you i picked you sitting on the toilet leaning against the wall i was on the coming out of your i was on the carpet oh so are you fucking kidding me i was like Oh, jeez. Busted! Sorry, this was a little bit longer than I thought it would be.

So, yeah, but I was good after that. 20 minute power nap, boom! Ready to rock and roll. I ran a couple errands, and I think I fell asleep at a red light.

Yeah. I mean, because I heard a beep beep! Oh, hey, here we go! Well, it finally caught up to me last night.

I was dead. Oh, did you? Yeah, I died. I was okay yesterday, for the most part.

8:30, I was asleep on the patio. Yeah, since we had the tile guy coming, the middle of our house is empty, shoved into all the other rooms, so we're all, well, there's really no place to sit, so we went to bed early last night too, thank goodness, but I think I'm back, I'm back to normal now. Yeah, I think I got like 11 hours or something. Woo!

Good joke. See, you're not as young as you used to be, Michael. No, I'm not. It's true.

I'm older than what I once was. Oh, you poor thing. So, yeah. Alright, let's get some news going.

All right, we have some news. Yes. Yes. Padilla Cigars hired Todd Vance as director of sales.

Yeah, I saw that. Padilla said in a formal announcement his forthcoming-- Padilla. It's fucking Padilla. Oh, okay, Padilla.

But added that he wanted to get through some administrative things before the announcement is made. Vance had previously been the director of sales for Cornelius & Anthony. Yes. A position he held back in January 2016 until spring of 2019.

So he was there for three years almost, two and a half years. I'm going to go after that. Then he joined White Hat Distribution, now known as La Familia Robana, and similar, so he worked for Spence for roughly six months. So what happened?

What happened? Well, evidently, it's very hard to work for Spence, I'm thinking. Is it? You think so?

He also... Is that what Todd Vance said in the comment? No, no, there's been no comment from Mr. Vance.

He just posted this. " Yeah, I have his number. Hey, so you're on the show. What happened?

What happened? I don't know if we'd get the real answer. I don't think we would. He seems very political.

But, evidently, it's very hard to work for Mr. Spencer Drake. Huh. Spencer, we have questions.

I wonder if he still has his social media director, because I have not seen any, an overwhelming social media posting. So, we should probably call Adrian Acosta and ask him. And get the 411? I don't.

I think, At this point, he would not say anything bad either. Huh. Maybe Spence is, we need to call Spence late at night when he's out drinking. Yes.

Hey, you're on the show, so what happened with Todd? What happened to Todd? Was maybe some advances that Todd didn't accept, or something with a yoga ball or something? Maybe he didn't pay him.

He wanted to get paid. Oh, shit. Hmm. You know, um, Josh Fabello tells a very humorous Spencer Drake story.

when they were both at Cornelius and Anthony, and in the transition of Spence going to White Hat, starting White Hat, there was a large meeting that everybody from Cornelius and Anthony were called into the office for this meeting. Spence didn't show. Oh. Didn't answer the phone.

Couldn't get a hold of him. And then they saw a posting on Instagram he was in Cuba with Orochi. Oh. So they figured he was not coming to the meeting.

He was obviously gone. He had gone. So, and that transitions us into the next story, Michael. Ooh, tell me.

Cuba Habanos announced in a crowded, camera-filled conference room on the Havana Convention Center, Habanos officials reported revenue of $531 million for 2019. American. Yes, which is called a 2% increase over the sales volume 2018. Half a billion dollars.

Commercial Vice President of Habanos was the lead speaker on Monday morning, and then they listed, I would like you to try to guess, Michael, So I have the top five countries that buy from the Cuban made cigar. Would you like to try to guess any of them or in a particular order, Michael? Ooh, Germany? Germany's number four.

Okay. Let me see, let me see. Italy? Nope, Italy's not on the list.

Okay, alright. Colombia? Not on the list. You get one more guess, then I'm just going to read the list.

And then you're going to give up? Mexico? Not on the list. Canada?

Not on the list. You're just going to start yelling out countries now? I started that at the beginning of this conversation. I knew Germany.

Okay, the number one consumer of these particular Cuban cigars is Spain. Okay. Number two is China. Mmm, China.

Three is France. France. Four, Germany. Yes.

And then number five is Cuba itself. Oh. They're growing 2% in values, and the market of cigars has been stable for some years in our geographic areas, he said, naming regions that were performing particularly well, he pointed to Spain, which had a 4% growth, and Central, let's see, 4% growth, the Americas up 5%, and Central Caribbean up 9%. The only decreased revenue at the conference was Asia.

And they don't know if, well, that wasn't at that time. Gonzalez said sales in Asia were down 3%. And they said the United States is number one in knockoffs? Yes.

Yes, their knockoff cigars are number one in Miami. I believe it. So. Moving on.

Very long story about the thing. We have a coronavirus update, Michael. Okay. Okay.

Japan closes schools nationwide to control spread of virus. Ooh. Japan will close all elementary, junior, and high schools after a plea by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 8 million students at 34,847 schools nationwide, the Education Ministry said, according to the Associated Press.

The decision comes amid growing concerns about the rise in the number of untraceable cases of the virus in northern Japan and elsewhere. Japan now has more than 890 cases of the coronavirus, including 705 from a quarantined cruise ship. An eighth death from the virus was confirmed Thursday in Japan's northernmost island of Hokakido. Now considered a site of growing clusters of coronavirus, AIDS announcement came hours after several local governments announced their own decision to suspend classes.

Aha. Now for the bad news, Michael. Tell me. Coronavirus has hit Florida.

This is as of today. Florida Governor Ron DeSanto has declared a public health emergency after confirming the state's first two presumed positive cases of the coronavirus. Those cases involve residents of Manatee and Hillsborough counties in the Tampa Bay area. Late Sunday night, DeSantis issued an executive order directing State Surgeon General Scott Ravikis, probably saying that wrong, to declare a public health emergency as Florida tries to control the spread of the contagious disease known as COVID-19.

I have been working with federal partners in our Department of Health to ensure that communities are ready to handle the challenges presented by COVID-19, DeSantis said in a prepared statement. The dedicated professionals in our country's health department, as well as those working at local medical providers, are well-equipped to address these and future cases. The cases in Manatee and Hillsborough counties are the first in Florida, as the virus has spread to dozens of countries after starting in China. S.

death from the disease was reported Saturday in Washington State. You know anything about that? Was an older gentleman? Older guy.

With health issues. Yep, there you go. The Manatee County... What, sorry?

Go ahead. No, no. I want you to keep going. All right.

The Manatee County case involves an adult who does not have a history of traveling to countries that have been identified for restricted travel by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Department of Health aid said the person whose name, age, and gender were not released sought health care and will remain isolated until cleared by public health officials. Okay. The Hillsborough County case, though, involves an adult with a history of traveling to Italy, which is under a travel warning from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention Because of an outbreak in the respiratory illness, the Hillsborough County patient is isolated and will remain so until cleared by public health officials, that the Department of Health said.

Okay. Let's see. We have something about Miami here. No, no, no.

Department of Health Facility statement released Sunday sought to give assurances about the state's response to the two cases. Know what were you going to say, Michael? It's like a flu virus. I don't, you know.

It is. The more, the longer this is going on. Right. Right.

You're getting panic stories from the media. They're doing a great job. They're doing a great job of starting panic. But I have, because I follow this, because it's affecting my business.

Right. Because in China now, they are quarantined by area, interstate travel is not, or inter-country travel, so raw materials are getting harder to move around. Okay. Workers aren't going back to work.

There's fear, so some people are just staying home out of fear. In other places, they're told not to go to work, because in those large factories, There's a lot of people to people contacting those. Yeah, but they don't have the medical systems that we have here. No, no, they don't.

That's why it was so worse there. I mean, if you're living in a house with a dirt floor and you catch the flu, you're gonna die. Right. So, I mean, you catch the coronavirus and then the flu takes you and then, you know.

I mean, you catch the flu here, you have a good chance you're gonna live. Right, exactly. They're saying still more people have already died from the flu than this coronavirus. Right.

I'm sorry, I lost track of what we were talking about. So, what's the big deal? Oh, that's right. Doctors here are saying, or the head doctor I saw on some news show, He's been on TV saying it's really not that big a deal, and the mask thing is just kind of ridiculous because if I have it and I'm wearing and you wear a mask, you're still going to get it from me.

Right. But if I have it and I wear a mask, when I cough and sneeze, the germ stays inside the mask, so it doesn't transfer to you. So that's it, and they're all saying, so it's the wash your hands thing, you know, just stay clean people, don't touch people. So let me tell you a couple things that happened that were pretty funny.

So, obviously, we went to Costco, and it was more Thunderdome-y than ever. Oh, yeah. I've read that in different areas. People are starting to stockpile supplies.

Yeah. So, like, it was, I'm like, what? We walked in, we're like, what in the fuck is going on here? It was worse than I had ever seen.

And, like, the level of rudeness, just through the roof. Are they wearing gloves and things? There were some people wearing masks. There was one family that had quite the elaborate mask with the respirator thing in the middle, like they were cutting wood on a saw.

On the airport? On the airplane we were on, I don't think there was any of just the one family, I believe, but even the small child had a mask on. Yeah, but the only one that had the respirator was the dad. That is true.

Well, you know, and the son, but the mother did not, so the family name will live on. But the child was so small, his mask almost covered his eyeballs, so it was, you know, more of a blindfold. Very silly. So, you know, the other thing is, it's really got to suck, it's got to suck to be Asian right now, And, like, sneeze in public.

Oh, I know. Because it happened when I was in Costco. " Did they just club him and kill him? " He probably has no accent and he's Hawaiian.

This is probably this American person who just had to sneeze. When we were walking through the Philly airport, we did pass a gentleman who turned his head to be polite and coughed and coughed right on me. That was good. And just kept walking.

They're like, "Oh, this is where I die. " And then he wipes you with his hands. Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't really get that off of you.

Yeah, so. All right, we have a listener of the week. You didn't want to talk about the HR bill? Come on, we've got to bring that up.

Why? Everybody's already talked about it. Just briefly talk about it. Okay, the HR bill.

You don't have to read the whole thing. I'm not. That's a lot. It is a lot.

So a bill has passed the House. A bill has passed, once known as a "Doom Day Scenario for the Cigar Industry", various exemptions have been added to some parts of the bill. More importantly, the bill will still need to pass the state and be signed into law by President Donald Trump before becoming law. Well, it has to pass the Senate.

This says it has to pass the Senate. What did I say? You said state. Oh, pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

I like how Skip is just posting on Facebook, has anybody seen Schoolhouse Rock? Yeah, if you've seen Schoolhouse Rock, I'm Just a Bill, I'm like, that's awesome. I'm just a Bill. It's so true, though.

It is. It's true. But they will, we'll see, includes a host of changes to the law, most notably a ban of online sales of some cigars. sales of some cigar and e-cigarettes two years after the bill is passed and non-face-to-face sales tobacco vaping products should be banned uh banned on flavored tobacco increase in user fees e-cigarettes vaping products will be charged they get charged special user fees uh let's see graphic warning labels and cigarettes don't they only know graphic but they got photos of maybe people uh banned cigar companies from producing most swag oh i didn't know that no more swag Marketing Restrictions, finally, would create a provision where large traditional cigars that cost at least $12 would be exempt from substantial equivalency.

In the interview last night, Skip explained why that is just ridiculous to start with because, I mean, where's $12 where who? Because taxes are higher in some areas than others. So, I mean, if it's an $8 cigar here, it could be a $12 cigar somewhere else. Right.

So that's just ridiculous. The provision seems unlikely to be upheld as constitutional and enforcement would be even more confusing. Depending on the state tax on cigars, many cigars would meet. That was what we just explained.

Let's see. So it's got to pass Senate, which it won't. It's got to pass Senate, which it won't. But everybody is very intelligent.

That's the crazy part for me in this industry. He's like, somebody reads one article, and all of a sudden, the knowledge and information that they have is just unrivaled. Oh, I know. Some people are so serious about it.

And, you know, even with the FDA stuff, like, I was talking to some people, and I won't disclose where, I'm going to say that now so that you don't throw me under the bus, and they were talking about different things with FDA that were just totally not accurate. And I even told them, like, you're way off base, like, you don't even, I don't know where you heard that, or, you know, where you get your information from, but the fact of the matter is, the things that you are telling your customers are completely inaccurate. I wasn't there for that conversation. No, you weren't.

So, that's fine. You actually weren't there for that. No. But...

But we will get into this more on the Patreon. We will. For those that do participate in that. We absolutely will.

We'll get into more of who, what, where, when, and how this all took place. The details. Yes, the details. You are very correct.

So, I mean, somebody hears something, and they say something, and the next thing you know we're having sword fights over the cigars. Yeah. The argument of substantial equivalence, I'm like, well, do you know that something passed? No.

Oh, I was there for that. Like, yeah, something did pass substantially. Yeah, then you're like, okay, guess what cigar it was. Yeah.

And they're all throwing out these huge names. Yeah, I'm like, nope. Nope, not it. Black and mild, bro.

Black and mild. So Black and Mila can keep making their cigars the rest of their life. Boom. There you go.

You heard it here first, folks. Uh, well, if, if they were, like, entrenched in the information, which I'm not, but I actually have enough friends that are, um, um, they would have already gotten that information, so. Hmm. Moving on.

Moving on, Listener of the Week. Listener of the Week. Cigar Craig that we met in Philadelphia Tobacco Bed. com, that has been around for two years, ten years.

Ten years, sorry. We'd like to thank Craig for making the trip out to see us. Yes. And we appreciate that.

Listener of the week. Listener of the week. Do you know, okay, I listened to Cigar Authority yesterday while I was cutting the grass. Uh-huh.

I listened to them. I mean, I'll admit, I listened to them. Oh, okay. They now have a bell.

Hmm. You think they got it from you? I think they could not get their hands on a gong, so they have a bell. I forget what the bell was for, but they did give somebody a bell for something.

There's a bell involved. They have about ding instead of the gong, so I think it was some type of Listener of the Week thing, I don't remember. They probably got it from you. I would imagine so, you know, because they are the number two show up.

And they got to try and catch up. That's right. And this Friday, we will be at the PodFest, the world's largest podcasting conference and trade show. We have been requested to attend by our sponsor, what do we call the sponsor?

Our provider, Podbean, was very nice to gift us some tickets to appear, so we will be there representing the show. We should get segues for it. Ride them around. Hoverboards.

Run into people. That would be nice. We're at 51 minutes. I have a quick story, and then we can get out of here and let these people get back to their normal lives.

Tell me the story, Michael. Tell me the story. I was talking to my wife when we were in Philadelphia. Oh, yes.

You wouldn't tell me the story. I wouldn't tell you the story. She had a friend call her from Missouri that she grew up with, a woman that she has known for quite a long time, and the lady was either in Florida or coming to Florida, I didn't quite, I wasn't, you know, paying 100% attention to the story, but at some point of the story, the woman brought up a cigar that she enjoys smoking. Yes.

" I can't escape. Her and her friends are now talking about cigars when they have their little chitchats on the phone. Very nice. She asked, Adrian asked me about, you know, have you heard of the champagne cigars?

Like, oh, well, it has to be a champagne Perdomo. I go, do you want to try one? She goes, hmm. I go, because it doesn't taste like champagne.

Not at all. Right. No champagne flavor at all. I think they've gotten away from that saying.

They call it like just the noir now or something. Ah, I got you. Yes. Adrian said she was thinking that she could not get away from me.

Wait for me and the cigars, even if she wanted to. You leave, and I still get the cigars. And my friends are now calling me to talk about cigars and want to know what you thought about it. " So I told you, you are stuck now.

You are the wife of Mike Two. The legend. Soon, I assume, that's what she will be called. Owner of Cigar Hustler.

Owner of Cigar. Well, that was funny because, you know, when they tagged both of us in Skip's comment last night, I naturally assumed it was a show, not the shop. Right. So, but it was the shop of my partial ownership.

I hope Greg's not mad because now he's not included. I wouldn't even mention him. Nobody even talks about Greg. As long as you can tag him on Facebook.

That is true. That is true. That's a great story. Thank you.

I thought it was quite funny. There's no escape. There's no escape. Once you're in, you're in.

That's right. They just keep pulling me back. Yes. So it was a good trip.

Yeah. It was a good trip. But it's good to be home. Let's not go up the cold weather area.

I told you I made a mistake. Well, even if it hadn't been the right shop, it still would have been cold. It still would have been a mistake. No more.

Yeah. Okay, let's go to Hawaii next. Hawaii. Hmm.

Let's go visit that. A couple of retailers in Hawaii. Eh, you know, you only need the one. It's true.

As long as I place an order while we're there. It's gotta be a big order to go. Big order to go to Hawaii. That's true, Erik.

You know what, my wife would be so mad. She wants to go to Hawaii. It's on her bucket list. If I could take pictures of us on the beach.

Drinking arms in her leg, drinking little drinks and pineapples with umbrellas on them. We do the prom picture, you know. Go to the hula show and be amazing. Pictures of us up there hula with the girls shaking our hips.

Absolutely. It would be a great trip. Hawaii. Great trip.

While we're wearing Post Nanya shirts, we go see my boy Mike. We got a call late one night. This is another quick story. Late one night on the trip from, I forget who it was from.

He had a bet with a gentleman in the shop he was in on how to pronounce the brand of your cigars. Oh, my boy J-Dub. J-Dub. That's right.

That's who it was. He just wanted to talk to you for a minute so you could tell his friend how to pronounce the name of the cigar. I really wish I knew how that conversation went down. That's what would have been funny.

" You don't know him. Yeah, okay. No, I'll call him. Yeah.

It's 10:30 at night. He's not going to answer. He's not going to answer. He's not going to call us, man.

Don't put me to the test. Oh, yeah, hold on. Yeah. Ring, ring, ring.

I'll answer the goddamn phone. Mike, tell this guy how to say the name of your cigar. Powstanie. Powstanie.

The guy was calling it Powstanie, I think, which is just the... The phonetic spelling is on the box. I think you did tell the guy that. I couldn't make this any more easy for you other than giving it some simple name.

Jujun name. Just call it the pow. Cigar. With the funny P on it.

With a C. All right. Well, this has been episode 111. One, one, one.

One, one, one. One, one, one. One, one, one. Cigar Hustles Podcast.

Thank you everyone who came out to see us at the event or at one of the shops because we hung out at one shop. We went to one shop, one or two, well, somebody was coming by, so we stayed longer. Fred. Fred, that's right, Fred.

Thank you, Fred. Thank you, Fred, for coming out to see us. And if you'd like to send me a peanut butter and jelly bacon cheeseburger from Lucky's. I can't imagine it tastes really good three days later.

829 Deltona Boulevard, well, overnight. Oh. Because you're worth it. I am worth it, exactly.

Oh, and the onion straws, too. You only ordered them, you took like two bites. Well, it was quite the pile of onion straws. I ate a considerable amount of onion straws, but they just never ended.

It just didn't seem. And you guys are judging me for eating the burger without the bun. Well, that's what holds the peanut butter and the jelly together was the bun. I'm a fork.

I'm happy. I don't think you had the full experience. You will not deter me from my goals, Michael. You did not have the full experience.

You will not deter me. I will kill you in your sleep. Yeah, I know you will. And that's when we started getting separate rooms on the trip.

All right, cool, Mike. So, did you get a room? I don't know. I'm like, okay, well, you can go sleep in the car.

I got the one king size. Kill you and take your room. All by myself. You'll wake up tied up in the bathroom.

I don't believe you. You can try. You want a shot at the title, bud, you go ahead and you try. I'll drug you.

That I believe. That I do believe. You'll feel a small prick on the back of your neck. What was that?

Here, drink this. Bill Cosme. Here, have this bang, Michael. You're like, why do I feel so woozy?

Oh, you did say, you almost drank out of my bang, I could have drunk that. Oh man, that would have been so bad. That would have been bad. I did wait 'til you got it right up to your mouth to tell you though.

That's mine, that's mine. Son of a bitch. All right, guys, thank you very much, we're gonna go. All right.

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

It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike 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. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-E-Raw.

Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again. Perfect, Dave. I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing?

The Hojo, the Hojo! It's the Hojo! Demandre. You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way.

I couldn't get past Hojo! I don't even have to try. He's not even going to try. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, Mike.

All right. Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. You'd be like four cigars when I walked in the door.

All right, end this.

Show Notes

This week we get deep deep into the Philly trip!  A Corona Virus update!  And the H.R. 2339!

We welcome your thoughts and ideas on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast".  You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike Too @cigarhustler_miketoo_fcc.

Please remember to always rate, review and subscribe on whatever provider you use!

Thanks for listening!