Episode 113 It's the end of the world!

Episode Summary

Recorded the week the world went sideways in March 2020, Episode 113 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is Mike and Mike's running commentary on how the coronavirus (COVID-19) shutdown hit the premium cigar industry. One host opens the show hoarse and self-quarantined — insisting it's not the virus — while the other keeps a can of Lysol between them as a "germ barrier," setting the tone for a loose, comedic episode built around very real industry news.

The news rundown is the meat of the show. The TAA (Tobacconists' Association of America) 2020 annual meeting and convention, scheduled for March 22–26 at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar in Cabo San Lucas, was postponed to late September or early October — and the hosts break down what the TAA actually is (roughly 80 elite invite-only retailers and about 40 manufacturers buying in bracketed volume tiers) and why pushing that buying window could cannibalize orders at the PCA trade show in July. Cigars International's CigarFest in Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania — a 6,500-attendee consumer event — moved from May to October 16–17 under Governor Tom Wolf's gathering restrictions, Cigar Aficionado's Big Smoke Miami meets WhiskeyFest was put on hold, and ZT Cigars' Smoke-La-Homa in Oklahoma was rescheduled. Cigar tourism took hits too: Davidoff canceled the Cigar Dojo Camp Camacho factory trip in Honduras as the country shut down for a week, Drew Estate's Cigar Safari and Barn Smoker events were still pending, and retailers like Taylor'd Smoke canceled their own Nicaragua trips to My Father Cigars. The hosts also cover shop closures (Habana Premium Shop in Albany), state mandates in New York, Ohio, Illinois and California, and Casa de Montecristo CEO Brad Winstead's sanitizing and travel-restriction statement — sourced largely from Cigar Coop's reporting.

Rounding it out: a bizarre crime story out of Waldorf, Maryland, where a hookah lounge and liquor store manager was arrested after trading cocaine to an undercover ATF agent for cartons of untaxed Newports and soliciting the murder of the local Tinderbox cigar store owner. The guys also recap the JSK Cigars Rastafari event in Indiana (complete with "dead body cams" and Steve Saka shaving someone's head), Underground Cigar Shop's NFG 2020 in Fort Worth, the KMA Talk Radio cancellation, and a listener-of-the-week shoutout to Boss Cigars. The episode closes on lockdown life — home workouts, remodel chaos, movie recommendations (yes to Ford v Ferrari, no to Uncut Gems) — and a promise that Cigar Hustler stays open and shipping until the National Guard says otherwise.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Self-Quarantine and Lysol Comedy
   One host shows up coughing and hoarse after days of self-quarantine while the other sprays him and the microphones with Lysol as a running gag.
2. 02
   ATF Sting in Waldorf, Maryland
   A hookah lounge manager traded cocaine for untaxed Newport cartons with an undercover ATF agent and solicited the murder of the local Tinderbox cigar store owner.
3. 03
   TAA 2020 Postponed
   The Tobacconists' Association of America pushed its Cabo San Lucas convention from March to late September/early October — the first major cigar event to fall to COVID-19.
4. 04
   What the TAA Actually Is
   The hosts explain the invite-only group of roughly 80 top retailers and 40 manufacturers, its bracketed group buying, and why the delay could dent PCA orders in July.
5. 05
   CigarFest, Big Smoke and Smoke-La-Homa Rescheduled
   Cigars International's 6,500-person CigarFest moves to October, Cigar Aficionado's Big Smoke Miami meets WhiskeyFest is on hold, and ZT Cigars' Smoke-La-Homa is rescheduled.
6. 06
   Cigar Tourism and Factory Trips Canceled
   Davidoff scraps the Cigar Dojo Camp Camacho trip as Honduras shuts down, Drew Estate's Cigar Safari and Barn Smokers hang in limbo, and retailers cancel their own Nicaragua trips.
7. 07
   Retailer Closures and State Mandates
   Habana Premium Shop closes its Albany stores, Casa de Montecristo issues a sanitizing and travel policy, and bar/restaurant shutdowns spread across multiple states.
8. 08
   Events That Still Happened, Plus Lockdown Life
   Recaps of JSK Cigars' Rastafari and Underground Cigar Shop's NFG 2020, a Boss Cigars listener shoutout, home-gym gripes, remodel chaos and movie picks.

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 a Cigar Hustler Podcast Episode 113. Everything that's virus this week, folks, it's the end of the world. Sit back and relax, this may be the very last show. And we'll be back next week.

welcome to episode 113 i really hate saying these longer numbers of a cigar hustler podcast michael yes we could start we could start the numbers over every year episode one of 2020 well we could do Like, Season 2. Season 2, Episode 1. Niner. Some of the people do do that.

Hey, I have to apologize for my voice up front. I do not have the coronavirus. I have the Zika again. Oh, yeah?

I was under self-quarantine since Thursday. Stop. Are you sure? Yes, I was quarantined back to a single-- Wait, stop!

I just want to make sure. Single room. Okay, I think you got it. I think you got me.

They're not a sponsor. Oh. Just breathe that in. Don't worry.

It kills the virus. It kills the virus. Better safe than sorry. I had no fever.

In these trying times. So I'm fine. I shall live. I just sprayed him with Lysol.

You did. For the non-video watchers. He did. He sprayed me with Lysol.

Now I'm going to leave this fine can between us. So if he coughs, I will- As a constant barrier, the germs will not go past the can? I will kill- Like the can of Raid? Raid!

Yes, pretty much. Pretty much. Oh. Yeah.

All right. So hey, lots of the world's ending. Lots going on. Lots going on in the world.

All the shows are off the air but us, apparently. That's right. Because we're dedicated. Things are going to hell.

Because, what the hell? So, welcome to the final episode of this podcast. No, no, no, no. We are resistant.

We are persistent. I'm old, Michael. We will resist the coronavirus. I'm old, and I was the one who was probably going to get it from the entire staff here.

Wait, wait. Is Steve older than me? He might be. Damn it.

But he's got the claw that's afraid of the claw. That's true. I don't know. Do you feel like you're gonna be okay?

I think I'll live. Yeah. I think I'll live. I've done the breathing test every morning that the Taiwanese and the Japanese say.

I like that you're scared about it, though. I love that about you. I was scared about it, but still, I was checking. I was, I made the stupid decision of turning on, I was trying to find CNBC this morning.

Yes. Because I like to look at the chaos on the stock markets. Oh, that's good. Yes, go ahead.

It's just the board falling apart over here. " And I'm like, "Holy shit, this is okay for them to just say that? " Ridiculous. The cobblestone streets and bad health care.

Yeah, exactly. All that red sauce. They don't even speak English. That's right.

It's totally different here. I like how now it's not called the coronavirus anymore. Now they're calling it Corvid or whatever the hell it is. COVID-19?

COVID-19, yes. Now they've got, it's COVID-19. Oh. Maybe the Corona people, the beer people got sued them or something.

I like sticking with, I'm sticking with that name. All right. Did you see Borsiewicz is having problems because he's got a Corona license plate on his car? Yeah, I saw that.

Kids are giving him shit at gas stations and stuff. That's pretty interesting. That's kind of, I thought it was funny. Yeah.

I wanted to go, no problems with Cigar Hustler. No. We don't have, I haven't seen a Cigar Hustler virus floating around. That would have been funny.

Like, son of a bitch. Son of a bitch. We get the Cigar Hustler virus, and then it's like, oh. Oh, then we're done.

That's it. No, no one's coming in. So, yeah. Um, okay.

So what, what do we got going on other than the fact that- That's it. The world's coming to an end. We can't eat at restaurants. We can't, uh, so I'll tell you, I'll tell you.

Oh, tomorrow it's St. Patrick's Day. I can tell you a good story before they close my gym, which I'm really upset. St.

Patrick's Day has been canceled. I'm really, oh, that's a thing? They're still going on? No, it's canceled.

Oh, let's let that go. Ireland is closed. Oh yeah, they shut it down. They shut it down the entire country.

Oh, so I can tell you a couple funny stories. Oh, sure, back to your funny story. Let me tell you some stories. All right, your funny story.

You don't care about my stories? Look at you, you're just a fucking mess. You're sick, you don't feel well. Sick, I don't feel good.

But you can still interrupt me. You still have enough health and energy to interrupt me when I talk. I'm going to get my hands on that can. You're going to get hoes down, too.

I'm going to keep it right here. Go on with your story. So, before they closed my gym, which they closed today, and I'm not happy about that. Yes.

I'm going to scratch my table. I was at RDV. " So I grabbed a couple people and hugged, and you could see them just freak the fuck out. " I'm inhaling the Lysol.

Oh, nope. You gotcha. " It goes that fast, just like in the movie. And here we are.

Now we're both dying. We're gonna be quarantined in this room for 14 days. One long show. It's just one long show.

All of a sudden, you know, our facial hair starts to grow in, we start to look fatigued and dirty, it's going to be amazing. This is our number 72 of the Cigar House of the Podcast. So people, people were freaking, I freaked a couple people out at the gym. I went out in public yesterday, and I'm, I mean, I'm still coughing, but I tried to like squelch the coughs out in public.

I don't want to get stoned or "Get him! Get him! Don't touch him, but kill him! " He has the last water.

Paper? Paper, paper, paper, paper, paper. So, yeah, so I was fortunate enough to, you know, I mean, we usually do grocery buying every week, so prior to the absolute chaos, we pretty much covered, you know, enough food for a few weeks. Oh, so yeah, I start feeling better tomorrow, and I ask my wife, and I go, we're locked up for like a week.

She goes, we don't have any groceries. I go, you spent $180 yesterday, you were saying that you came in the house. I bought a lot of jelly. That was cleaning supplies and paint for the remodel.

I'm like, son of a bitch, there's no food? So I had to go out and get supplies. Yeah. So you just, so you brought, you loaded your gun up and just robbed them of the neighbors stuff?

Yeah, that's right. Like, give me your bread. Got out, count the bullets and, you know, polished up the gun. Me and Betsy went out and stole from the neighbors.

See, now you're dying. You've got, ah, ha, ha, ha. It's that fast. I cough once, he inhales it, that's it, he's dead.

So I sprayed Lysol on this microphone and every time I catch a wind of it, I'm like, oh, oh, God. That's funny. So now I got to work out at home, which is not the same. Good thing you got the rowing machine.

Rowing machine helps, but the dumbbells only go to 52 pounds. Oh, that's just one arm. I know. No, actually I, you know, I need more than that.

52 pounds? Yeah. How do you get a 52 pounds? 5.

5. Oh, the Bowflex would be adjustable. Yeah, the turndown ones. Oh, you're fancy, aren't you?

But they have Bowflex ones that go up to 90. I just couldn't pull the trigger on it. I'm like, it's, they're gonna be down for two weeks. How do I fuckin' justify...

Do they still charge your membership fees for two weeks? I don't know. That's a good question. That is a good question.

I know they're still paying their employees. I mean, look, man. I ain't about to... Somebody will.

" You know, I'm just not that guy. " Exactly. Pete Hernan is calling me. Oh, let's get Pete on the air.

Declined. Hello, Pete, you're on the air. I had to decline it. Oh.

He's gonna try and tell me something. Tell me something. I'm not ready for that right now. At this level of turmoil, how crazy it is.

I need some help, bro, bro. I need some help. It's been a little while. Should I spray you again?

No, don't spray me again. I can still smell it. God, man. You spray it on your microphone.

It's in your face right there. Yeah, it's nice. I have some news. I have some industry closings.

I have a blank piece of paper. I don't know where this came from. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about the news.

Let's see what's going on. All right. I'm excited. I feel, you know what the crazy part is?

Like the kids aren't going to school? God damn did I get some rest. Holy shit, I slept in today. Look at you.

We'll see. According to court documents, at the time of his arrest, Anup Agarwal, 22 of Waldorf, was a manager at Room 301 at Cigar Hookah Lounge in Waldorf. Also a manager at Willits Liquor & Deli in White Plains. On February 20th, 2020, Agarwal met with an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives.

Yeah. They added a thing to it? I thought it was just ATF. No, it's A-T-F-E.

Well, it's just like the whole LBG Q-T-ing. You gotta keep building on it. Ah, okay. It's how they combine departments.

At Willett's Liquor & Deli in White Plains, where he agreed to trade cocaine for 20 cartons of untaxed cigarettes. Ooh. I didn't know that was a thing. And murder.

Well, we're getting to that. Yes, get to the murder. He provided the undercover agent with a quarter ounce of cocaine in return, received 20 cartons of Newports. A quarter ounce?

That's pretty good. I don't know. I don't know anything about cocaine. Deal.

After the transaction, he offered to pay the undercover agent- Was it cut? I don't know. I didn't say. I didn't say if it was cut straight.

Was it pure? Was it pure Colombian Bam Bam? No, I had baby formula mixed into it, done a little laxative. Oh, he did.

He cut it. Yes. He cut it. He offered to pay the undercover agent $3,000 or $4,000 to kill the owner of Tenderbox Cigar Store in Waldorf.

My boy Raj. So that's where we were supposed to be having an event. Well, that was where I thought we were having an event, and then I screwed that up. Good thing.

I mixed up my rashes. We could have been killed. I'm so, you know, yeah. Mix up my rashes.

Keep going. I did. He told the agent he would provide him with a untraceable gun and a photo of the man he wanted to kill. The picture was of a large, stocky man with dark, wavy hair that spiked on top.

Oh, really? Sounded like you. Yeah. On March 5th, he met-- I just slide that in.

Slide that right in there. That's very nice. On March 5th, he met with the undercover agent at Room 301 in Waldorf and traded the agent cocaine Cane for cigarettes again. Yeah.

A lot of cocaine there. At the time, he told the agent he didn't want the owner of the tinderbox killed yet, so just hold on a minute. He needed to wait until a later date. I am not quite ready yet, so just hold on, please.

I'll tell you later. He was charged with solicitation to kill and murder of a person, and, wait, charged with solicitation to kill and murder a person. Oh, no comma. Kill and murder a person.

But he said he wanted to hold on. And two counts of, well, he still wanted to do it, just later. Oh, okay. You know, I need like a week or two.

I need a little time. I need to get a couple more A-balls together. There you go. He's currently being held in Charles County Detention Center with no bond.

But Powstanie has an event scheduled at his establishment next week. I'm not going to lie. I'm a little jealous. Did somebody try to kill him?

Yeah, I want an attempted death threat on me. I mean, how badass is that? Every day, Mike. Every day the employees are conspiring here, just so you know.

Okay, good. That's good to know. Son of a, you know. We draw straws.

Who will kill Michael? Who will kill Michael this week? I have a quarter ounce of cocaine for some cigarettes. That's nice.

That was quite the accent you have going on. I don't know what that is. I don't even know what country this is going. It's so funny because you usually go just straight Chinese.

It's always called Chinese. And you're trying to deviate off of that. That's right. And I don't know what the hell it is at this point.

Oh, you should see around the house, we have a couple Jamaican guys laying the tile. Yeah. Oh, it's all man stuffing down. All man laying the tile.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. A little cough, a little spray. That's right.

Not over here, pal. Not over here. You're making me cough more. That's okay.

Inhale it. Just take it in. It'll kill it all. It'll kill it all.

It's good for you. Yes, yes. More? No.

No more. That's pretty nice. Got to have a good barrier. The TAA 2020 postponed due to the coronavirus.

Dun, dun, dun. Okay, first, I'm not exactly sure what the TAA is. Can you explain to me what that is? It's like a...

It's kind of like... Secret Society? It's like Law & Order SVU. It's like an elite squad of retailers.

They all get together. They get to buy... Special things. Well, not only do they get to buy special things, but they buy in like brackets.

They all buy together, and when certain price points are hit, they get bigger discounts and yada, yada, yada. How do you get to be in this group? Somebody's got to invite you. Oh.

You got to be permitted. The 2020 convention and meeting will be postponed. Postponed the first major cigar event to be affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Oh, they used the whole name there.

COVID-19 coronavirus TA 2020 was scheduled to take place March 22nd to the 26th, 2020 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Oh, they have a nice place. Yeah, they do. They go to cool places.

It's a big deal. Do you have to pay for your own trip if you're in this, or does the Secret Society pay for the trip? No, no, no. The organization issued the following statement.

Due to the COVID-19 global outbreak, the TAA Board of Directors has postponed the 2020 annual meeting and conference schedule to take place March 22-26 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The TAA is working with the host hotel shirt in Hacienda del Mar to reschedule the event in late September or early October. The TAA anticipates having more information available regarding the postponement and changes in the coming weeks. The TAA is a fairly small group of some of the country's top tobacconists, about 80 retailers as well as 40 or so manufacturers.

The association gathers annually to discuss issues facing the country and retailers networking and to sell a lot of cigars. That could additionally hurt PCA. So do they only buy stuff from the 40 manufacturers that are in the group? Correct.

Oh, it's a very hush-hush thing here. Yeah, it's very elite. Like I said, it's an elite squad. But, you know, those retailers, all those retailers are the bigger ones in the industry.

Gotcha. And the Abe's, the Borsiewicz's. Yeah, so if you're pulled, if you're taking those guys that were supposed to go out now, and now you're pushing that back to September, October, then those guys aren't gonna buy a lot in July of PCA, right? Oh, because they know they got the TAA money sitting around.

Yeah, so, I mean, that could have an impact on PCA. I think those guys will know, here's my TAA money over here, and then here's my PCA money. Yeah, but if you're, I mean, if they were originally buying out-- They were going to buy stuff at the TAA that would help pay for the stuff at the PCA. No, not so much, but normally you kind of have a game plan.

Let's say that the majority of those retailers, the bigger purchasing power, their bigger buys are at TAA. The McDucks. Let's call them the McDucks. Okay, let's say that the McDucks, sure, let's just go with that.

Let's just say that the McDucks, the Scrooge McDucks? Scrooge McDucks, yes, the Scrooge McDucks. Let's say that the McDucks do the majority of their buying. And you're more the Huey Dewey Louie guy.

Yeah, the kids? Yeah. Okay. Now that we've established that.

With terms, everybody can understand. Yeah, yeah. Okay. The Scrooge McDucks.

Let's say that they all would make heavier buying purchases. From Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I'm gonna burn you. Now you're crossing a line.

Okay. He's trying to have some fun. Let's just say that they buy heavier at TAA than at PCA. right yes and then they kind of figure out when maybe they buy some new product of pca maybe they capitalize on a couple of deals but they don't go crazy you know so now so now you you just flip that so now these guys aren't gonna go maybe they skip pca oh right or maybe they buy maybe they buy lighter pca pca stop jesus christ talking no you're not even letting me finish one sentence I'm gonna spray this in your face.

I'm emphasizing your conversation. I'm gonna spray you again. The camera's over there, by the way. I like how you're looking at me, but explain to the audience.

I'm talking to you because I'm angry now. Well, you didn't work out. We're all angry. Exactly.

We're all angry now. So, the fact of the matter is that it could have an impact on PC. I'm shutting down now. I'm not talking to you.

Talk to the camera. No. Drink your bang. Don't tell me what to do.

Go ahead, next story. Next. Oh, that's it. That's all I got.

That's a lie. No. Concerns are looming around. Let's see.

Where's it more? Hitting the premium cigar industry. This is from Coop. Over the past few days, a combination of state mandates along with preventive measures has taken its toll on manufacturers, retailers, and events.

Yeah. Three large premium cigar events have been postponed due to restrictions being imposed on large gatherings and travel restrictions. Probably the most notable postponement has been made by the, you already talked about this, the TAA. Concerning the annual trade show, the schedule isn't...

Well, let's talk about the fest, the Cigar Fest that's been canceled. Cigars International Cigar Fest, considered some to be the largest consumer cigar event in the USA, has been postponed. That's a big deal. It's attended by reportedly numbers of 6,500 people.

It's been scheduled for May 1st through May 2nd in Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania. It's now been moved to October 16th and 17th. Everybody's got a lot of shit going on in October. A lot of shit in October.

Cigar International has said the event was put off due to the coronavirus concerns, and Governor Tom Wolfe's recommendations that gatherings of 250 or more be suspended. Cigar International has also said a series of store events scheduled for March has been canceled. Mm-hmm. Now they don't want up to 50 people.

Yeah, now it's anything over 50. If we hire 45 more people, we have to close the doors here. Yeah. Was there more than 50 people here on Friday?

Were you really not here Friday? I was not here Friday. I was here Wednesday night, I was here Thursday night, I chilled Friday night. He had a lot of people here Thursday night, a lot of fancy people.

Fancy people. Yeah. Jack. We had a lot of reps and stuff.

A lot of reps come in. I think they all wanted to see Jack. They were all bullied to go back over across the lake. That was cool.

I would do the same thing. I'm like, oh, you're close? What the fuck? Yeah.

That's a good move. It worked, apparently, because later they were all pictures of them over there. Yep. Except Jack.

Jack was there. Did Jack go back? Because Jack had already been there. Jack was there the day before.

Yeah, no, he went there. How did he go back to? Let's see. Cigar Aficionado's Big Smoke Miami and Whiskey Fest scheduled for April 2nd and 3rd has been put on hold.

Oh. While a formal announcement has not been made yet, the event's website says, "Due to the continued escalation of the coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak, we have decided to reschedule Big Smoke meets Whiskey Fest. " It's also been confirmed that ZT Cigars Smoke-La-Homa, hmm, I haven't heard of that one. They canceled Smoke-La-Homa?

Smoke-La-Homa, scheduled for April 25th in Oklahoma. Oh, who would have guessed that? I didn't see that one coming. It's been re-scheduled.

Cigar tourism is also being impacted. Oh, that's a new sentence. So yes, Smoke-La-Homa, The Big Smoke, and Whiskey Fest have all been put on hold. They're all just going to fall down.

All the major cigar events, and right now Abe from Smokin' is laughing because he crushed it in February. That's right. It's like COVID-19, not today, ISIS. Not today.

Cigar tourism is also being impacted this week. Cigar Dojo announced that Davidoff has canceled the Camp Camacho factory tour trip scheduled for its community members in Honduras. Damn it! Well, Honduras today is closing everything for a week.

Everything, cigars and everything. So they don't, so it's like, all right, we're going to shut it down for a week, even though it takes two weeks or whatever to be totally clear, so. Well, it's Honduras, everything's faster down there. Speed it up, speed it up.

Speed it up a little, faster, faster. God, I'd hate to be sick in one of those places. Oh, there's the people from. Just ride it out.

Fine Asher down at Skip's house in Nicaragua. Yeah, but, ooh. Yeah, but, you know, they'll make it back. They won't have any issues.

And Patient Zero is down there right now, so you know everybody's getting sick. Oh, Costa is down there. Costa is down there. Yeah.

He was in the middle of that picture eating the pizza everybody was eating off of. Uh, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, well, Davidoff has not made a formal announcement. Cigar Dojo reports a decision was made by, oh, it's funny, Coop is reporting Dojo, we're reporting Coop, reporting Dojo. It's quite the parlay.

Quite the parlay here. Uh, Drew Estate has Cigar Safari and Barn Smoker events scheduled for the spring and at press time, well, at broadcast time, there has been no announcement on those trips, some retailers are canceling trips of their own. Of their own, Taylor Smoke reported to Cigar Coop, "It is not going on a distributed plan for Nicaragua to visit my father's cigars. " Huh.

Cigars International is not the only retailer cancelling events. Several retailers have reported to Cigar Coop, our friend at Cigar Coop, that they have cancelled or postponed manufacture events due to both preventative measures and state restrictions now being imposed or recommended for events. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is recommended to halt events with 50 or more people for the next 8 weeks. 8 weeks?

8 weeks. Wow. Sorry, I have to moisten my throat. You want me to moisten your face with this Lysol?

No more Lysol! Okay. Just so you know, I licked the entire table before you came in today. Too late now, your arms went all over it.

Too late. Too late. And that cigar. When you put it down, I took...

Oh, come on! I only had my squirt gun. This is called revenge. It's gonna take the finish off the table.

That's fine. It'll be germ-free. Wait, 22 minutes. So the world is burning.

The world is burning. Cigar places. Oh, cigar shop, there we go. Habana Premium Shop, who operates in the Albany, New York area, has announced it is shutting down its two stores until further notice.

Well, I think they have to. During that time, the company will use the opportunity to clean and sanitize the stores. I feel like some Lysol might have gotten into my bank. It's definitely got like a burning...

That's the new BCAA Lysol. It's a little rough. Andrew Cuomo has called for voluntary closing to private businesses. That's got a flavor.

It's a cost of doing business. Ohio and Illinois is closing all bars and restaurants. California has made a similar announcement, ordering the closure of bars, nightclubs, breweries, and wine, Several other municipalities are also mandating closings or curfews and could impact retailers to operate in those perimeters. Yep.

See, Café de Monte Cristo is taking precautions. Past weekend CEO Brad Winstead commented: "Following the guidelines of public health officials and government agencies, including the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, we're taking a series of precautionary steps, including increased cleaning and sanitizing procedures for our stores, lounges and bars, and bars with special attention to high traffic areas. Like Lysol-ing people with stuffy noses? We also have prepared our stores teams with guidance to respond quickly to any emerging situation.

Aha. What is the... How... Okay.

How did we get here? How did we get here? The guy at... And then I have something else, too.

We're going to take a commercial and come back, I think, because we're at 23 minutes. Okay, hold on. Let's take a commercial. We're going to take a commercial.

I have to blow my nose, and then we'll be right back. And I will spray you again. It'll spray me again, yes. Hold on.

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

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Okay, we're back. And we're back. Okay, this guy that runs Monte Cristo is now saying that he has trained his employees in case, what, somebody with a virus comes in? Yeah.

We have also prepared our store teams with guidance to respond quickly to emerging situations. What does that mean? Somebody comes in with bleeding ulcers on their face or something? You have to tackle them.

But you can't touch them. You have to beat them to death, and then you have to spray them with Lysol. They're dead bodies. We will continue to focus in prevention and encourage any associate not feeling well to stay at home.

S. and travel has been restricted for our field and HQ teams. Okay, are you getting the emails from anybody and everybody telling you how they're handling this? Of course.

I got an email from the National Hockey League. I don't follow hockey! How did the hockey people get my email address? They were concerned about your...

And why do I care what the hockey players are doing? Uh, yeah. Are you saying that it's out of hand? It is completely out of hand.

Yeah. I got an email from some marketing company telling me how all their employees are going to work from home and be ready to handle my marketing needs at home. That's nice. Good for them.

I'm still baffled about the hockey league emailing me. Sitting here in Studio 1A. You know, I feel so much better knowing that the National Hockey League is taking precautions to stop the spread of coronavirus by canceling the season. Me too.

I'm relieved. I'm relieved. Do we have, okay, we have a hockey team in Tampa, so the chances of me even getting close to a hockey game are slim to none. Oh, you sound agitated.

Hockey, Michael. I don't even follow sports, let alone hockey. Is hockey even a real sport? I don't feel like you love the hockey.

I don't love the hockey. I've grown up in Florida. I grew up in Florida. There's hardly any ice here unless it's in the refrigerator.

I'm just more concerned here, you know, like, I want to make sure that the Easter Bunny has a successful visit at my house and stuff like that. Like, those things are my concerns. I want to make sure that, you know, I mean, 'cause you gotta have eggs, you know. That's in April, well, now they're saying the bird flu might be coming back out of China again, so you know, no more eggs.

They want to add to the chaos, and it's working. It's just, it's just gonna-- Everybody's frantic. About everything, now it's gonna add, and as you know, you know what, we're gonna be killing each other soon. And yet here we are.

" Shot my wife. Looters. Looters are gonna come any minute. I'm all ready.

I have approximately 33 bullets on my person. This is just like, it's just like summertime for us in Florida, just without the house boarding, you know? Yeah, it's like a hurricane, but the same thing. Except instead of bread and milk, it's toilet paper.

I mean, I went for the bread and milk. Exactly. Like, hey, well, I need to make sure I get the food, so. Let's see.

Several retailers have informed Cigar Coupe that it is impacting ordering products from cigar manufacturers. The theme is looming threats. Reduced foot traffic are being mandated to close. The retail community is concerned about taking on more inventory at this time.

Oh, here's one good thing, Michael. Tell me the good news. Good news for us. Gas is low.

Cigar media has felt its impact as well. Boom. Boom. Fuck you guys.

We're Cigar Entertainment here. In addition to the cancellation of Cigar Dojo Camp Camacho trip the past weekend, KMA Talk Radio canceled this live show because of closing on the iHeart Radio Studio in West Palm Beach due to concerns around coronavirus. A little fresh content for you. Meanwhile, this past weekend, notable events including Underground Cigar Shops, NFG 2020 in Fort Worth, Texas, JSK Cigars, Rastafari in Indiana were held, The Big Elephant in the Room, and the Premium Cigar Association, who had this annual trade show and convention center to open July 10th at the press time.

They have opted to move forward with the trade show. So are you part of the JSK group on Facebook? No. Anything like that?

It's pretty entertaining. But I did meet him though with the big smoke and he said to tell you hello. So a couple things I saw from that and it looked actually like they had a really good time. Somebody was walking around taking pictures of people that passed out and they called them dead body cams.

It's like dead body cam one, dead body cam two, dead body cam, that was pretty epic. People that passed out from drinking or from the nubs? It's just, I mean, whatever, I don't know, but like, that was pretty impressive, whoever did that, kudos to you, I wish I remembered your name, 'cause I wish you, you definitely deserve a shout out, um, I would've got to. Steve Sako was there.

Oh, he was? Yeah. Did he pass out? Oh, please say he passed out.

He didn't, but he shaved somebody's head. Oh. Which is pretty epic. Uh, the guys from, how about that cigar?

I think they were there. They were there. Yes, Matt, his buddy. Yeah, so, uh, it looked like they had a really good time.

It was pretty funny, I wish, I hope one of them hasn't had it. You hope somebody had the virus? You're so nice. No, of course not.

Of course I don't wish that on anybody. You wish that on people. I mean, but like, some of the photos I was like, fuck, I kind of wish I was there, you know? You're a germ freak, Michael, you would not have gone anywhere.

They went nuts. I'm surprised you're here. The show must go on. Well, I don't mean nothing about the show.

The show must go on, all of it. All of it. All of it's gone. Really showed up in time for this show today.

And yet I still showed up on time. Hmm. Here I am. Here you are.

Gets a little jab. So when will Cigar Hustle close, Michael? Never is what you answer, Michael. Never.

There should not have been a pause or a stream of thought. I can tell you. Never. I can tell you when we close.

" Palmer lockup. Palmer lockup. Palmer lockup when you get that last order up. Until that time, we're still shipping.

We're still smoking. We're still having a good time. We had quite a long meeting today. No, it was 25 minutes.

Seemed long. No, it wasn't. It was just a standard wig meeting. I think it was long.

I think it's just because you're carrying COVID-19 and everything slows down for you. Everything slows down for me because I don't have much time left. If you feel the throbbing against your head, it's going to- You're going to- You're going to- You're going to- The virus grow into my throat. Yeah.

Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah, I'm really excited to be so close to you. Just making sure you're good.

Just making sure you're good. What else you got? Tell me another story. Oh, wait, wait, we got listener of the week?

Who's the listener of the week? I don't know. Okay, wait, let's- Boss Cigars. Corinto?

Corinto, he texted me last week, just a "Hi, how you doing, how you been" thing. Oh, he's checking in. He's checking in, that was very nice. What a sweet man.

He is, he's very nice, he's my friend. He's a good dude. He is my friend. My son's trying to crazy call me on FaceTime.

We should have him on the air. Answer the phone. I'm doing a podcast. Hello?

Put him up the microphone. I'm doing a podcast. Say hello to the people. I'm sorry?

Can I call you after? Can you call me after? Yes. Yeah, I'll call you after.

Call me after. I love you. I love you, too. All right, bye.

Sound important. Must be a girl. No, he's going to try and work somebody to come over or something like that. I know.

Mommy's already said no. Mommy said, can I have Paul come over? What did your mother say? She said no.

Yeah. But to ask you. I mean, I don't really have anything else that went kind of nice. All right, show's over, that's it.

What's kind of remarkable is the fact that everything shut down. Oh, you're trying to leave. I can't leave, but you don't have to turn it off. You know, baseball is done right now, football is done, you know, and the kids are just kind of bottled up in the house, and I will tell you this.

Tell them. Everything, you know, like, we have, we keep a strict regimen at the house as far as it being clean and my wife is like, every Sunday it is cleaning day and, you know, she goes pretty deep. We got a deep clean this Sunday because we had, boy, did we have downtime. There are, cabinets are now, have been sorted out, you know, stuff where shit was just, you know, kind of accumulates.

Right, the junk drawers have been filed and cleaned out, yeah. The junk is now alphabetized with labels. I mean, it's just like some next level, like everything's really, really clean. So, I'm sure the garage is next to follow.

Oh, you're going to get that car out of there. With all this downtime. My wife painted the bedroom yesterday. And this is just getting started, buddy.

Just getting started. She got two weeks. Yeah. Because we were in a transitional part of the tiling where the bedroom was done so she could finish the bedroom.

Right. Except we have no toilet. The toilet hasn't been put back yet. Oh, boy.

The living room is 98% done except for the border around the edge. So if you put the furniture back, you have to leave room for a man to be able to get behind all the furniture, so there's no sense in doing that. So she, at one point, she says, "I'm making an executive decision tomorrow. He is grouting this and finishing that.

I don't care what his plan was. " So this morning she showed him what he had to do today. And he did it? " And got started, so he has to finish grouting the kitchen, the breakfast nook, and the dining room, and then finish the border and all the other, and put the toilet back, so that we can move furniture from other parts of the house that still have to be done.

It's a two-bathroom? Two-bathroom. So if somebody gets the COVID, you have to use that toilet. Well, since ours is dismantled, we've been, so in the middle of the night, you get up, you gotta go to the other side of the house and the bathroom, there's three people, one bathroom.

With the diarrhea, yeah. Hello, are you in there? " Yeah, blew the place up. Blew the place up.

Mm-hmm. Pretty epic. Yes. Apparently girls don't like sitting down on a warm toilet seat.

Do you think that'd be nice? No. You think that'd be pleasant or something? Yeah.

I warmed it up for you. I warmed it up for you. No, that means you were in there for a long time. Yeah, in your house.

You were Facebooking. Yeah, that's where I Facebook. Yeah. I mean, hey, you know what's really great, though, is like, I'm catching up on shows that I let go, you know?

Oh, we were looking for something new to watch last night. Have you ever watched The Good Wife? No. Terrible, don't watch it.

Okay, good. No, I'm catching up on Billions that ended last, you know, that season was over, I think, like, November of last year. Oh, my goodness. Nice to be one of your favorites.

Yeah, so, you know, I just haven't had time to do any of that stuff. Like, yeah, I might as well pop this on, watch Uncut Gems. Whoever said that was a good movie was wrong. Wow.

It's a terrible movie. Terrible movie. The ending is very predictable. I have no idea what you're talking about.

I know. I probably wouldn't like it. You wouldn't. It was not Adam Sandler's Best Role.

Adam Sandler's Best Role. Oh, that movie. Oh, please. No.

Adam Sandler's Best Role is definitely like Billy Madison or some shit. Something. Yeah, no. Spanglish wasn't bad.

We tried being serious, but I didn't see that movie. Yeah, no. This movie was... It's like the Zolar guy, but serious movie.

Yeah. Remember the Zohan or whatever else? What else did I watch? I mean, I'm watching movies.

I'm catching up. I saw something else. Oh, Ford vs. Ferrari.

Great movie. Was it really? Yeah. Yeah.

Totally good movie. Definitely worth watching. So, hey, you know, did you get a little downtime? You want to watch a couple movies?

I recommend, I highly recommend Ford vs. Ferrari and skipping Uncut Gems. So you're right here, folks. That's No Uncut Gems and Yes on Ford vs.

Ferrari. What else you got? That's it. I was out of school 15 minutes ago.

You know, so my acting classes are supposed to start on Friday. Oh, you're taking They're taking acting classes. Yeah. Oh, can I come watch?

It's private. It's a one-on-one section. Oh, I don't think. Sexy?

Secting. It's a sexy thing? No. It's a person-to-person thing.

A one-on-one thing? Yeah. This sounds like too good to not be able to go. Sounds like I really need to go.

Yeah, you would definitely mess me up. So I'm kind of curious about... Can I come, please? I don't know if it's happening.

Oh. Well, it's one-on-one. There's not 50 people. Yeah, they haven't canceled on me.

Is this a Groupon thing? No, my wife bought them for me for Christmas. Ah, ooh. Yeah.

What's the teacher's name? I don't know. You don't know the teacher? No.

Where did she buy them at, like the local college or something? No, I just submitted the name. I'm sure the name is on the paperwork, but I didn't look at that. " The private learning.

So really, private 101 acting list? Yeah. Seems odd. I thought normally acting, you'd be in front of people, it'd be a group.

Well, I mean, I need to learn some simple things. How do I not know about this yet? Because I haven't told you. I'm so excited.

I'm excited. I need information. Brittany! I'll have more information for next time.

It's a whole new section of the show, Michael's acting. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. Wow.

I can't wait. Look at that. It made the leap. I threw it out there.

Look at you. Now it's a thing. What's it called? Acting 101?

I think it's like... Acting for beginners? I think it's like... You too can be a star?

Class Act Studios? They try to take pictures of you with your shirt off, Michael? Tell him no. Yeah, I'm not.

Tell him no. There's gonna be no nudity. There's gonna be no kissing scenes. I'm here to learn.

Well, you have to learn how to kiss, son. This way it works. You must kiss the dude. You have to know.

Just pretend it's another person. Just relax. Bend over. It'll be over in a second.

I'm like, wait a sec. This isn't acting! Act like you enjoy it. Hi, my name's Harvey Weinstein.

" Alright, Weinstein, welcome to Acting 101. You tricked me! Oh, man. So, yeah.

I need you to be free, Michael, so please remove your clothing and get comfortable. You know, there, I've, you know, so I've read a lot of stuff, like, I've read a couple books, and there, I've heard some horror stories of some of these teachers that are, that, like, purposely berate and humiliate people. Oh, that's what's happened to Tanner in the military. Yeah, exactly.

Oh, shit, I gotta write him a letter. Oh, he better do that. He wrote me one. Can you do it with, like, crayons?

Hi, I missed you. Like, different colors, big letters, small letters, some backwards letters. I was gonna take a black marker and redact part of it out of it. I just wanted you to know that, blank, blank, blank, blank.

And that's exactly how we all got STDs. I gotta do that here real quick. Shit. All right, well.

All right, we're gonna wrap it up here. Thank you. Welcome to the end of the world with the Cigar Hustler Podcast. We will stay on the air as long as we possibly can, and we will continue to give you great content moving forward throughout the coronavirus.

If you need news for coronavirus, we are here. This is the place, because we will make it up if we can't find it. Yeah, exactly. It's so true.

We will definitely bullshit it one way or the other. We'll get through this. Together. We're all together.

Together. That's right. Together, Michael. No, I'm not talking to you.

See, I was going to see if you were touching. Uh-uh. Hold on. Yeah, I'll touch you.

Go ahead. Take that hand out again. We should hug. You better get used to this, Michael, from your acting class.

It's going to be so much, so many ideas in my head, we're going to reenact something next week. Oh, great. All right. Bye.

The Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions Thank you for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions or the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike 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.

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

It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I gotta get past Hojo! I don't even have to try it.

They're not even going to try it. 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. It'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this. Squared.

Show Notes

It's the end of the world and we know it......but I'll be fine!!!  All things virus this week!  How it is changing our lives! or emails! and the Cigar Industry!  Plus Mike too gets some needed payback!

All this and more on Episode 113!

As always we welcome your show ideas on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast".  You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast.  Please remember to always rate, review and subscribe to the show on which ever providers you use!