Episode 123 Craft 2020? Underoos!! No more Bras!!

Episode Summary

Episode 123 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike Palmer and Mike Szczefankiewicz riffing on a rained-out Memorial Day weekend, battery-powered lawn mowers, quarantine haircuts, and Joe Rogan's reported nine-figure exclusive licensing deal with Spotify — a deal the guys jokingly claim they lost out on because they never finished their own advertising pitch.

The centerpiece is a surprise call to Michael Rosales, co-owner of RoMa Craft Tobac, who gives the show the most detailed look yet at CRAFT 2020. Rosales confirms the 10th-anniversary release will go to just 10 retailers, is a 5 1/4 x 46 vitola, and comes in 10-count boxes at $125 ($12.50 per cigar) with roughly 1,500 boxes / 15,000 cigars produced. The box contains four different wrapper variations — U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf, Ecuador Habano, Ecuador Connecticut, and a Candela (Cenadres) — with heavy striping and unique colorations. He explains the selection process for the 10 shops (year-over-year growth, brand support across the board, then names pulled out of a hat), says the list will be announced that Friday via RoMa Craft, Skip Martin's and Danny Vasquez's social channels, and confirms cigars ship in June. Rosales also discusses the cancelled PCA trade show and RoMa Craft's plan to run virtual video conference "mid-annual reviews" with each retail partner, plus the challenge brick-and-mortar shops face winning customers back from online retailers after the pandemic surge.

Industry news rounds out the episode: Drew Estate cancelled its entire 2020 Barn Smoker season and created the "Barn Smoker Goodwill Act of 2020" — full ticket refunds, free shipment of the swag sets (no cigars included), a $10,000 donation per Barn Smoker totaling $50,000 to Cigars for Warriors, and two-hour virtual Barn Smoker herfs on Facebook Live. Illusione will sell its PCA 2020 Exclusive (5.5 x 56 double robusto, Ecuadorian Habano Claro over Nicaraguan binder with Criollo '98 and Corojo '99 fillers, $9.95, 1,500 bundles of 10 in blue foil) via Zoom sessions with sales reps. The hosts also break down Cigar Coop's updated 2020 Cigar of the Year eligibility rules and whether RoMa Craft's Neanderthal LH and Mike's War Bear qualify.

The back half goes off the rails with Florida-man news, Bolivian kids letting a black widow bite them in hopes of becoming Spider-Man, Victoria's Secret closing 250 stores (and Mike's personal grudge over a post-mastectomy bra design), Listener of the Week Danny Vasquez, and Shop of the Week Ronnie Heysha of Secreto in Michigan.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Memorial Day, Mowers and Joe Rogan's Spotify Deal
   The hosts catch up on the holiday weekend, battery-powered lawn equipment, and Joe Rogan's reported $100M+ exclusive Spotify licensing agreement.
2. 02
   Michael Rosales Calls In: CRAFT 2020 Revealed
   RoMa Craft's co-owner details the 10th-anniversary CRAFT 2020 — 5 1/4 x 46, 1,500 boxes of 10 at $125, four wrappers per box, shipping in June.
3. 03
   How RoMa Craft Picks Its 10 Exclusive Retailers
   Rosales explains the selection criteria — year-over-year growth and across-the-board brand support — before names are literally drawn from a hat.
4. 04
   PCA Cancellation and Virtual Retailer Meetings
   RoMa Craft plans Zoom-based mid-annual reviews with each shop and discusses how brick-and-mortar retailers can win back customers lost to online sellers.
5. 05
   Drew Estate Cancels the 2020 Barn Smoker Season
   The Barn Smoker Goodwill Act of 2020 brings full refunds, free swag shipments, $50,000 to Cigars for Warriors, and virtual Facebook Live herfs.
6. 06
   Illusione PCA 2020 Exclusive Sold via Zoom
   A 5.5 x 56 double robusto with Ecuadorian Habano Claro wrapper at $9.95, limited to 1,500 blue-foiled bundles, sold to retailers in July Zoom sessions.
7. 07
   Cigar Coop's 2020 Cigar of the Year Rules
   The hosts pick apart the updated eligibility window and exclusions, and whether the Neanderthal LH and the War Bear are in the running.
8. 08
   Listener and Shop of the Week
   Danny Vasquez gets Listener of the Week for the Hot Ticket shout-out, and Ronnie Heysha of Secreto in Michigan takes Shop of the Week.

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

Episode 123 with Craft 2020, Underoos, No More Bras. Let's listen in. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Squared, Squared, Squared. Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump.

Oh, that's it. The music just started right up. Mic, mic, mic, mic squared. Welcome to episode 123.

One, two, three. Of a cigar hustler podcast. One, two, three. Yeah.

Yeah, Michael. Yes, first we'd like to apologize. This is going to be late. It's going to be late.

Yesterday was the day of the memorial, Memorial Day, where we honor the fallen soldiers of the United States of America. And I did not come into work, so I could honor those soldiers. It rained. What'd you do?

I redid some screens and continued to work on the fireplace. Is it hot back here today, or is it just me? It's just you. You're probably about to have a heart attack.

Oh, again. Again with the stroke. It feels really nice, actually. Nice and cool.

Alright. Anyway, like I said, episode 123. One, two, three. Everything's running.

Everything's apparently running. You know, the good thing about Memorial Day is you get the leftover burgers. Oh, see, we did hot dogs, and they didn't turn out well. I didn't like them.

How do you fuck up hot dogs? I don't know. I don't know what was wrong with it. I didn't like it.

I didn't eat the whole dog. I had pretzel rolls and everything. You didn't like the taste of the hot dogs. You're hot when it's cold.

Hot when it's cold. You know. Anyway, guess what did happen over the weekend, though? Tell me.

I've officially made it. Someone tried to hack into my Twitter account. Oh, my goodness. I got three emails over the weekend.

They were trying to hack into my Twitter. I don't use Twitter. Just my Instagram feeds it. That's the only thing I do with it.

Uh-huh. But once in New Jersey, once from a unknown location, and once from Los Angeles. Hmm. Sounds like they're using some kind of a IP hider.

m. m. It's the Russians. It's always the Russians.

They're after Mike Palmer's Twitter. Uh-huh. It's 'cause of your Chinese ties. Is that what it is?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, I got a new mower over the weekend. Oh, my goodness.

You got a lot going on. Busy weekend. Busy weekend. I got one of those battery-powered ones.

Oh, yeah? Yes. That's nice. Whisper Quiet.

Whisper Quiet. Really fast, too. I couldn't turn it up all the way. It's too fast.

Is it self-propelled? Self-propelled. Oh, yeah, I'm not pushing. I got a big front yard.

I'm not pushing. Nice. But I was like three minutes short. And then the battery died.

Yeah, I finished in the front yard. I know. I'm going to have to shave three minutes off the cutting process somewhere. I'm going to make it go a little bit faster or something.

It's a little critiquing. They only make a better battery? That is the biggest battery, and I was going to buy an extra battery, almost the cost of the entire mower to buy an extra one. Holy shit.

A new battery was $200. It would almost be better to buy two mowers. Yeah, I like my lawn mowers with gas. No, now everything matches.

Everything's battery powered. The blower, the trimmer, now the lawn mower, all the same color, all matches. It's all green? All green.

Yep. All green. All matches. Oh.

And you got the big battery? 40 volt. Yeah, but there's three different 40 volts. Hmm.

Wow. Oh yeah, buddy. Well, I mean, you only come, it's either self-propelled or pushed. Yeah.

So, I mean. But there is a battery. I looked at batteries on Amazon and they only had one 40 volt and it was just under $200. Go to Home Depot.

That's where I bought it. I didn't see extra batteries there anyway. There's three batteries there. Oh, they sell batteries?

Mm-hmm. There's three batteries there. They're all 40 volts. " Yeah.

Right? " That's the one I have. Yeah. And then you have the "Holy shit, what else can I do" battery.

What else can I cut? I'm cutting the neighbors. Yeah. " Because I have the battery for like the edging, the hedger.

Yeah. Like I use that one. I have two of those. One 40 volt for that, and it would die, and then I'd have to go fucking plug it in, charge it, and, you know, it was like a whole...

Oh, it takes like a day to recharge it, too. Yeah, it was just complete bullshit. So there's none like mowing, then go to chill, you know, take a break, and charge it, 'cause you're at the next day. So they have a $160 one that is just fucking balls to the wall, crush it.

I just need the cheap one to finish. No, no. Why? I got the big one already.

I'm telling you. I'm fucking telling you. But $160, for three, I can buy a whole new mower. You know what your problem is, Mike?

What, what, Michael? You don't learn from my mistakes. Oh. You know, I've made my mistakes, and I'm trying to pass this shit on to you so that you get it, so that you understand what's going on here, that way you can avoid these mistakes.

You're so kind, Michael. You're gonna spend $100 on the battery and not get the, and not spend the- I only need three minutes out of the second battery. But if you get the $160 battery, you're fucking good to go. But I don't want to mow the neighbor.

The battery's gonna die, start to wear out anyways. So go buy the battery. Yeah, but I just got it. I mean, it's like brand new.

All right, go ahead. And it's got like a gauge on it. You can see how much battery size is there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, good for you.

Yay. Look at you. Look at your battery. So angry.

Mm-hmm. So angry. I got two of them that are broken. You can have those.

They're broken. Why do I want them? They're broken. I'm gonna make them look like they're brand new.

Like, here, enjoy this battery. You're gonna get all excited and cut your grass. If it'll give me three minutes, I need three minutes. It'll give you zero minutes.

Because I got the weed eater out, just a little section that didn't finish. So, Florida has now moved into Phase 2A, Michael. Ah. All these summer activities.

You're all business today. All the summer camp. Well, no, this is just nishmash stuff. Summer camps.

You can go to summer camp now. Yeah. Well, you got to dump off the kids somewhere. Right.

But how are summer camps safe now? You know, what was really funny was, my buddy was at my house last night. Yeah. And he proved, my boy Tater.

Oh, is it at your house? Because he's here now. Yeah. Great point.

There's this, I guess, somebody was, a little kid was talking to their parents, and they said, hey, so the people that are still going to work, they're essential? Yeah. And the other people that aren't working are non-essential? Correct.

Okay, well, I don't have to go to school, so I guess that's not essential. Oh, teachers aren't essential. No, like students. The education aren't essential.

Learning is not an essential. But he's learning at home, isn't he? I don't know. Just saying.

I got a point. I guess so. It's cool. It's cool.

So what's with the hat? It's cool. Well. Is the hair at that in-between space?

Yeah. I'm at that spot right now. You gonna just whack it again? Where it's very frustrating.

Like I, you know, I'm like, I wanna just maybe just shave it again. Yeah. But I'd like to get, start to get back to, you know. The new normal?

Yeah, I'd like to just fade this out and just deal with the small spikes. Oh. For the time being, but I just gotta get to the fucking barber and that's the hard part. You should've got to wear a mask at the barber, don't you?

Maybe. I know the barber does, but do you have to wear one, too? I don't know. It seems like they would cut the straps if they're not paying attention.

Next thing you know, your mask is in your lap. Let's be honest, if your barber isn't paying attention and they cut the straps, you probably shouldn't be there. You probably shouldn't be in the business. Well, maybe he's not used to the straps.

Like the one on TV, he's cutting, or in the movies, and he's yelling over at the other guy. I'm like, "Oh, God! " Oh, the mask is in his lap. There you go.

And an ear. There goes the ear. yeah i don't know but you know i'm at yeah i'm at now at the point where i don't my hair when my hair gets like this on the back it's frustrating for me it frustrates frustrates yeah i want it it's not clean it's sticking out and now and now it's like uh you know i'm getting older now so i can see some grays and shit uh-oh yeah yeah they're just gonna go white like that you know just they're little pieces of wisdom is that what you think That's what it is. It's stress.

It's stress. I'm not really stressed about anything. You know, you'd probably look good if it started growing gray on the sides. Oh, like Mr.

Fantastic? Yeah. That'd be nice. Yeah, Mr.

Fantastic. A couple wings. What's they calling you? Fantastic?

Hey. Like the one guy from Sopranos. Yeah. Oh, that'd be a good look for you.

Pauly, right? Pauly. Get the little flat top thing going there. Oh, that'd be a good look for you.

That'd be nice. That would be a good look. Yeah. Well, we tried to work on our advertising thing, but- We did.

I sent you an email. You sent me comments. Revised it, and then nothing. Yeah.

Then nothing. Yeah, no, you made some good progress. But you didn't say anything that I said. What day was that?

I don't know. Saturday? Sunday? I don't know.

I don't know either. I think I was doing the fireplace. Well, you told me to go ahead and send it, so I sent it. Yeah.

And I was like, yeah, we'll talk about it later. Oh. You didn't even say that. You just stopped answering.

My hands are covered in grout. You could talk to Tex. I just gave it up. Dictate to your lovely wife.

I'm sorry. I fucked up. Brittany, can you type this in, please? I fucked up.

Moving on. I'm sorry. Alright. Well, because of that...

Forgive me. Something happened for somebody else, not for us. Oh, really? Yes.

Oh, I didn't know that it was time-sensitive. Time-sensitive, yes. Really? Yeah.

You didn't say that. Well, you know, I assumed that it was important. The right opportunity will present itself. Because, you know, now Joe Rogan has signed an exclusive deal with Spotify because we weren't ready.

Oh. Joe Rogan, the stand-up comedian and host of the Joe Rogan Experience. Yeah, nobody listens to his show, I think. Well, it's because he's got his advertising budget all worked out.

His partner was Spotify and a reported nine-figure multi-year deal, Michael. See what we missed? We were so close. That will make his full show an exclusive to the company by the end of the year.

That's so smart. Yes, bringing the JRE, which is also a cigar brand, to Spotify will mean that the platform is more than, yeah, 286 active users, 286, that's it? Active user access to one of the culture's leading voices, said the company, in a statement which referred to Rogan as having helped lay the foundation to the modern podcasting renaissance. The times, they are a-changing.

It's confirmed. Spotify also emphasized that the show will remain free to all users. How does he get paid? The advertising, see?

It's the advertising. It's a combination of things. He's, you know, a smart businessman. And that Rogan's full-linked video episodes, each of which is hours, hours long, hours.

And Karakin' Millions of YouTube Viewers will be made available in an in-app vodcast. Ooh, vodcast. Ooh, vodcast. Ooh, vodcast.

That's a new word. We should use that in our advertising that we cannot get worked out. Video vodcast. I like vodcast.

Vodcast. Starting on September 1st, the entire JRE library--oh, we have a library. This is episode 123. 123?

Ooh, 123. Very nice. We'll be available on Spotify. We're also available on Spotify.

Okay. Oh, Jesus Christ, if I can say the story already. Holy shit. I have half a sentence.

Starting September 1st, the podcast will be available on Spotify as well as other platforms. At the end of the year, we'll move exclusively to Spotify. Smart. A source familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the multi-year license deal is worth more than $100 million.

Do you think he's still going to announce at UFC? I don't think so. Well, I don't know. I mean, how much more money?

Sure, that's probably worth a mil easy. " The journal could not verify the length of the agreement, and the hours after the announcement, Spotify stock closed at, I don't know, who cares, over the last- What did it close at? 175 and a penny. That seems up.

8% increase. 8%? 8%. Over the last seven years, Rogan has grown his podcast into, oh see, we're four years short, into an internet phenomenon, releasing near-daily episodes?

I can't get, I can't tie you down for once a week on time, I can get, daily, hmm, features free-form discussions with comedians, scientists, journalists, cultural figures, among other guests, see, we need scientists on the show, each discussion typically rivals the length of the most movies, and the most popular ones command millions of views, it's 2018 episode with Tesla CEO Elon Musk has drawn 34 million views on YouTube alone, we need to smoke pot on the show, I heard that was a good one, they smoke pot, on the show. Yeah, he's a pot smoker. Yes. And his two-and-a-half-hour discussion with Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro last year has been viewed over eight million times.

Eight million times. Our biggest episode to date is the one with the beer guys. Was the one with Elon Musk? We gotta get Elon Musk on, that's the problem.

He's a very busy man. Hey, let's talk about this. Rogan's show has also featured discussions with politicians including Congressman Dan Crenshaw, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and Senator Bernie Sanders. Burnt, feel the burn.

Bernie Sanders. Yes. So, that's, that's what I was, that's why I was working all weekend, Michael, on this show. What are you looking for?

I'm gonna plug this in. Oh, 'cause that is the next story. Let's talk about this. Okay, Romacraft.

Lovely Romacraft. Oh, can I see that now on the camera over there? Sort of. Romacraft announced that Craft 2020 is going to be available to 10 retailers soon.

Oh, here we go. Are you one of the retailers? I don't know. Are we one of the retailers?

Do you want to call and find out? Oh, let's call somebody. Who are we going to go? We're going to call-- Let's call Danny.

No, let's call Michael Rosales. Daniel's going to say, no, you're not getting him. We're going to go right to the top. Oh, is that the top?

Does he know we're going? Yes. Oh, okay, good. He's a very busy man.

He's going to send you the voicemail. No, come on. Got to have faith. Oh, three rings.

Voice mail. Hello? Hey! Hey!

Hey! Michael! Yes, sir. He's in the bathroom?

Are you in the bathroom? Are you pooping? Are you in the bathroom? Are we live?

We are live. We are live. We are live. Well, recorded, but as live as we get.

That's right. I'm smiling. Very nice. What's there?

Nothing, man. So, we wanted to talk to you about the Craft 2020. What can you say? What can't you say?

What's going on? We're getting them here. Palmer wants to know. How are you doing?

You speak Spanish? Yeah. No Spanish? El Quiero Craft 2020.

Say something about a monkey? You know what, a monkey? You know what, a monkey? I'm reading the list for Crab 2020.

It's a success. We're very happy to be able to be able to get that success and get out of that Liga, which is always a great experience with the shops and all that. He said that we're not getting it, is what he just said. Is that what he said?

" That's what he said. Oh. So it's kind of the basics of it all? Yes.

You know, every year we come up with something different, you mean, this year it's a 500 quarters by 46. There are approximately 1,500 boxes, which is about 15,000 cigars that were made. S. Connecticut Broadleaf, obviously the Habano, the Connecticut, Ecuador, Connecticut, and the Ecuador Habano as well.

And then I think there's one that has the Cinen Dress on it, right? So it's the same size, four different cigars in the box, and they're all different wrappers. Actually, let me, while you're talking about that, let me pull up the picture, because that's, it will help me better give a better detail on that. That's nice.

It's so covert, the owner of the company doesn't know. Doesn't even know. Hey, I don't know what the hell is. I just don't walk around with this kind of information just like, you know, in my head.

Plus, it's also fairly new, we've talked about it at a given time, so, you know, so I think that at the end of the day, you know, it's gonna be, it's gonna be, it's gonna be, it's gonna be pretty exciting to do, so. It is, it is pretty exciting. Five and quarters, we didn't really disclose the blend, there's 1,500 boxes, the chain count boxes, $125 retail, so $12 per cigar if they sell them individually cigars. So, you know, and they'll probably ship out in June, so we'll import them in, kind of, you know, on the next ship in June and then they'll go out, so, yeah, so there are, looks like, yeah, so Broadleaf, Connecticut, the Habano, Cenadres, so there's four, and then there's variations of them, so there's, you know, four unique different ones.

There's a lot of striping, so it's-- It's fancy. Like you said, they're just different, varied colorations in unique words. I'll tell you what, man. Not unique, but-- I didn't see the-- I didn't see the post immediately, you know?

I can tell you, though, that I received notification that the post was up from various parties that, "Hey, so what's up with that? " You know? Obviously in the past, you guys have, you know, you release it to exclusive people, I know that you're not prepared to announce who's going to be receiving it. To disclose the 10.

Right? Yeah, so because it's our 10th anniversary, there are 10 shops, and typically the way that we kind of narrow it down to the stores is, you know, it's obviously year-over-year growth, As well as, you know, the support across all brands across the board, and then we throw them all in a hat, and then we pull the shops out based on what comes out of a hat. Oh, nice. Wow.

So a hat's involved. What type of hat? I don't really know if it's a real hat. Is it a sombrero?

It's also called your hat, so however that works. Oh, what can I ask? Nice. But you know, I was trying to keep it PG, so since we're not gonna be PG.

We're not, we're definitely not PG. I like that not friendly for children every week. Yeah, we're almost as popular as Joe Rogan, apparently. We're just, we're number two.

There you go. Yeah. Spotify. Can we get the other mic, a better microphone?

Like, he sounds like he's about 10 feet away. Really? I have the good microphone. It's because it's your phone.

I know you're not very tall, so maybe you stand up and then. Oh, look at that. He's got jokes today. Hey, listen, you know, you can't have both of them support you all the time.

I mean, Skip is just like, he's a big-- Can we call Skip? No. No, we can't. He won't answer.

That's true. You've got to be scheduled. He's got to be scheduled. You've got to be scheduled.

Yeah, you are not even, uh, you've got to call in another two hours to get Skip on phone. Yeah, exactly. You know, he's got to wake up and-- Apparently, it's only Wednesdays. There's that window.

You haven't had anybody yelling at you yet about content, so he's definitely not up yet. That's true. - He works the wee hours of the morning. - It'll be coming soon.

- All right, so we don't know who the retailers are yet. - Yeah, we'll release the stores on this Friday. - Oh, this Friday. - So where can our listeners get that information?

- Probably either, you know, Chief Hava on Instagram, the Weasel Facebook page of my Instagram, Smoke Roma, I'm sure Half-Will will probably put out an article. Nobody reads that Half-Will. Fuck that guy. They have burn issues.

They have burn issues. Burn issues. His website's now. Is it?

I clicked on some story and it asked me if I wanted to log into WordPress. That son of a bitch got me for death buckets. God damn it! Charlie strikes again.

So, no, I love Charlie. I love Half-Will. Alright, well, you know, appreciate the information. Yeah, and we'll look forward to Friday, and if anybody else wants to see what's going on, you guys gotta check out one of the various forms of social media that is tied to Romacraft, and I'm sure that we'll have the information.

Except, maybe Danny won't have it. Probably not on his social media or something. Maybe check out Danny Vasquez or John D. Oliver as Romacraft.

I think the last post I saw from John D. Oliver was the fact that he made a special color gun on his Call of Duty. I was like, wow, that's pretty impressive. I think he put up a picture of his bike.

He got one of those assault bikes there in lockdown. It took about six weeks to finally get there, but I don't even know if they're using it. You got to spend the stimulus somewhere, dude. You know what I mean?

You got to do something with it. Yeah, right. So, is there anything else you guys want to cover while I'm here, or is that it? I think that's it.

That was it. We appreciate you taking the time. So you're not going to PCA, right? We are not going to PTA, right?

We are not going to PTA. I don't think anybody's officially canceled. I don't think anybody's, yeah. So that's going to be interesting to see kind of how that happens.

We are actually working, probably what we'll start doing is we'll basically set up video conferences with each store and kind of do a mid-annual kind of checkup review, kind of like what we do at the trade show. I think it's a brief review, kind of like what we do at the trade show, we do it virtually here from HQ, and so that obviously is kind of a new way to kind of engage with the retail partners, and so looking forward to that, it's gonna be interesting to see how people participate, and I think for the most part, everybody's kind of having a unique year, I wouldn't call it a down year, but it's definitely unique, and I think people are having a unique year. You know, people who have websites and, you know, the business already in play, you know, have kind of managed their way kind of through this a little bit easier than those that don't. Right.

And, uh, so it'll be, it'll be kind of a, you know, like I said, an interesting kind of way to see how people kind of make up that gap and support. And I think one of the bigger challenges is going to be is, especially as the bigger retail channels have obviously had tremendous growth during, you know, a little bit of time, you know, over, over the pandemic that, um, you know, how, You know, how, you know, shops that, that, uh, lose those customers, get them back and what they're going to do to try to get those guys back into the store, and, um, you know, so that, that's definitely going to be, you know, one of the topics that we try to discuss and, you know, help people, you know, bring those consumers back into the stores. Nice. All right.

Well, excellent, sir. Well, thanks so much for, for having me on, and... Yes, thank you very much. You know, once, once we, once we release the information, I'll send it over to you guys.

But I think I've given you more than I've given anybody else if that helps. Well, I appreciate that. Oh, thank you very much. You're a nice man.

Very nice. You're a good guy. You can hear it first, right here, on this podcast. Right here, on this podcast.

The "We'll Let You Know Friday" release. We'll let you know Friday comments. That's right. All right.

Well, have a good day, guys. Thank you, Michael. We'll talk to you guys later. All right, brother.

Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Danny mentioned the Zoom thing.

He was on Hot Ticket, the episode that went up yesterday, I believe. Really? He said that was all his ideas. The Zoom.

I don't know if he did it. I don't remember. He's a genius. Well, this whole show is his idea.

Yeah, if it wasn't for dating. We wouldn't even have a show. Here we are. That's right.

And on that note, we're up against break. And we're going to break. So we're going to take a break and we'll be right back. Bye.

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.

And we're back! Hi! That was Mr. Michael Rosales from Romacraft.

The Roe in the Romacraft. That's right. When we call him, he answers. It was on the line.

I was, when we rang. You were close. You thought, I'm sure we were fucked. But it worked out.

Thank you for calling Mike Rosales. At the tone, please leave your name and message. All right, today, or not actually today, but the other day, Drew Estate announced the cancellation of the 2020 barn smoker season. The entire season has been canceled.

Womp womp. Due to the ongoing health concerns surrounding COVID-19. Additionally, Drew Estate creates the The Barn Smoker Goodwill Act of 2020. Do-do!

Uh, Barn Smokers are among the highlight, wait, wait, wait, wait, not. We are disappointed that we will not be able to hold the festivals at the farms this year. Drew Estate is proud to announce the introduction of the Barn Smoker Goodwill Act of 2020, which is designed and funded to show appreciation, love, and fellowship to our inner circle during the difficult times we are all facing. You didn't want to keep them all six feet apart?

No, it'd be hard to do. If you've been packed into that drying barn, it's very hard to be six feet apart, isn't it? Uh, the Barn Smoker Will Act works in the following manner. Let's put some X's on the ground.

It's dirt. Draw 'em out of sticks. For God's sakes, man, must I think of everything? All attendees who purchase a ticket at any or all tier levels will immediately be refunded 100%.

What's a bigger deal? Theme parks or the Barn Smoker? Well, there's no Mickey Mouse Goodwill Act of 2020. I'm just saying, the theme parks are gonna be open here next week.

Are they really? Yeah. Oh, you know, this past weekend, Gatorland here in Florida, And the hot spot or whatever, the big spot, I don't know, the one with the go-kart thing. Fun spot.

There you go, they opened. It's huge! So, I mean, yeah, Gatorland makes sense, you know, if you come in, they check your temperature, you're a little over 100, they just throw you into the gators. It's like, here you go.

Outside the whole time anyway. Go, go, go! In addition, each ticket holder will be asked to submit their address via this link. Yes.

I don't think really, not this link. And Drew Estate will be shipping, free of charge, Michael, the complete 2020 Barn Smoker Swag Set that they would have received by attending the event. Can we just submit our information to the link? You want to see what I have in this stuff?

We should do that. This package does not include cigars. Oh, there's no cigars. Oh!

Oh, it does, sorry. It does not. No, it does not include cigars. It does not.

So what do you get, the sticker, the hat, that silly box? So you can't read. So you can't read. That silly box.

Silly box. But this package does not include cigars... Beyond this, Drew State will donate $10,000 per barn smoker for a total of $50,000 to Cigars for Warriors, doubling down our commitment to our deployed troops. Oh, that's nice.

Finally, on the date of each scheduled barn smoker, Drew State will launch a two-hour, two-hour Michael, virtual barn smoker herf. I feel like two hours is too long. It is quite long. Hosted on Facebook Live, open to everyone.

So now you don't have to have a ticket to watch this. That's nice. While these hearfs are not designed to be exact barn smoker replicas, we plan on celebrating each date together. Each date together, yes.

These unique experiences will include Drew Estate Ambassadors and four farmer partners and tell a new... Oh, that means your friend will be on one of them. Yeah, probably. Probably.

Uh, and tell a new part of the story not previously showcased during our usual barn smoker festivals. Uh huh. That sounds very exciting. It is very exciting.

It's big news. I feel like they could have made it happen. They could have made it work. Yeah, probably just to the safety of everyone involved.

You're right at the cusp, man. Come on, six feet, let's go. You know cigar smokers don't give a shit about this thing. They're blowing smoke at each other.

Whatever, pal. Thanks. Let's see. On to the next story, you have more you want to disparage the Drew Estate name some more.

I'm not disparaging the Drew Estate name. You don't like them. I'm just saying that if Mickey Mouse is going to open up. Have they submitted their plan?

I heard they have not submitted their plan. I can tell you that June 1st through 4th is pass-holder only through Universal. Then June 5th is to the public. Boom.

So are you going right away? Does that include the water park? It does include the water park. I don't know how I'm going to wear my face mask at the water park, but I'm telling you, I'm willing to try.

Maybe you just wear like a regular diving mask. Now, I'm, you know, there is some. And a snorkel. I am experiencing some pullback from the rest of the household.

But we are working on that. We are working on that daily. Didn't Greg get a pass too last year? He did, but you don't know.

You and Greg should just go. But now he's not, you know. Oh, he needs more than one pass now. We're not, yeah.

I know how to hold a grudge, Michael. I'm fucking good at it. You know, there's just some things that you just, I'm okay with. You staying over there is fine.

See, this is where it starts. My brother's birthday was this weekend. Yeah. Didn't call him, didn't text him.

Oh, well, you know. This is where it starts, Michael. No. Yep.

No, I still love my brother. Well, I don't dislove my brother, we just have nothing in common. So why don't you call him? We have nothing in common.

We're gonna call him and say happy birthday. He started dating a woman I didn't like years ago. And that was the end of it, huh? That was it.

And you couldn't call him? No. Because of that? I don't think I even have his number, no.

Wow. That's sad. Well, you're on your way to the same thing, Michael. Not even close.

On your way. Pretty soon it'll be the days you're here, he's not here, there'll be alternating days. No, no. Because he's super busy.

We're one step away from taking this table somewhere else and it's not coming in at all. See, that's what I told you. Can't wait. The Illusion PCA 2020 exclusive will be sold via a Zoom meeting.

Welcome to selling cigars in the world of the coronavirus pandemic. Like a variety of other brands, Illusion has planned to sell a limited edition cigar to retailers who place orders at the 2020 PCA Convention Trade Show scheduled to take place July 14th, 11th through the 14th in Las Vegas. Last week, the PCA Convention show, it was cancelled, ummm, eh, thank you, man. 95 and limited to 1,500 bundles of 10 cigars.

Cigars will be sold and wrapped in blue foil, ooh, very nice. Blue foil. Retailers who wish to purchase a cigar now need to participate in a Zoom session, which is scheduled to take place on July 13th and 14th, with Illusion sales representatives. Who's that for here?

It's Alfredo. I placed an Illusion order like a year ago. Don't wait now to come in? It's still not in.

Illusion PCA 2020 exclusive for Illusion Cigares Priva Series. It will ship to stores in July. Sounds exciting. Should we call him and see if you're gonna...

I won't hold my breath. Say, uh, I prized an order a year ago. Am I gonna get those? I don't even remember what the fuck I ordered.

Do I gotta ask if you gotta be on the Zoom meeting to get your order? Say, I'll take those and this. We'll start small. We'll go from there.

Alright, cool. Wah, wah, wah. Alright, Michael. A Florida woman was busted for trying to kiss strangers at a bar.

They called 911 about her non-social distancing. And did you pick up your wife afterwards? Was she out of control, or what? A Florida woman was busted after repeatedly trying to kiss strangers at a bar and also calling 9-1-1 five times, oh, she called, five times and complained about patrons that were not remaining socially distant inside the establishment, according to a report.

Yeah. Audra Adams, 32, she wound up getting arrested for trespassing after she refused to leave Monkey's Bar & Grill in the Atlantic. It feels local. I mean, I don't know.

Adrian, get in the car. Get in the car. G. Clicker Lando, Citing a Rushing.

Stop trying to kiss those people. She has that fake ID, so she can just keep her job. Oh, perfect. Okay, Michael, now into the world of superheroes.

I like that you moved on quickly. Quickly from that story. I didn't know I was going to go towards my wife. Boys let a black widow spider bite them in hopes of turning into Spider-Man.

Oh, my God. Three young Bolivian brothers were hospitalized after getting a black widow spider to bite them, thinking it would turn them into Spider-Man, according to officials. The Marvel-loving siblings, aged 12, 10, and 8, found the spider while herding goats. Okay.

A Ministry of Health officials revealed at a coronavirus briefing Saturday according to Telemundo Television. Oh, my God. Thinking it would give them superhero powers, they prodded it with a stick until it bit each of them in turn. That's very smart.

Which one went first? Okay, you go first. No, no, you go first. Let's get the little one.

Let's get Mikey. He's only eight. This is what happens when you leave your children on the table. They were successfully treated and discharged last Wednesday, almost a week after they were bitten, the report says.

Look, I mean, they're kids, man. What do you, you know? They are now in talks with Elon Musk about becoming Avengers or the Tesla superheroes. That's the thing?

Well, I added that out. That was funny. That's the only millionaire that would be similar to Stark, I figured. Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

But Stark, I guess he has a little affiliation with Spider-Man, at least via the movies. Well, yes. He called them Underroo. Yeah.

Underrooos! Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, um...

What? Look, man. Kids are gonna be kids. I mean, you know, that's fucking...

These are goat herders, and they know about the Marvel superheroes. I mean, yeah, but they don't know, obviously, that it was a lab spider in a lab. Well, but... In a lab.

But if you look at the Black Widow spider, it's black with the little red thing on it. Yeah. Looks just like the one that bit Peter Parker. Stop it.

Well, it does. Not in a lab. It doesn't count. Maybe they thought it escaped from a Bolivian lab.

He's a Bolivian lad, maybe there's one nearby. I will tell you one thing that my four-year-old son did this week. Oh, he didn't let a spider bite him, did he? No, he didn't.

Oh, okay. Thank God. I watch our children. However, you know, you just turn your head for one second, and they're in a heap of shit.

It doesn't matter. There you go. What are you doing? Poking a spider with a stick, daddy.

So, Baby Teddy, we keep Baby Teddy in like this little play area. You know, you gotta move her. You know, you gotta keep him. You gotta rotate her.

Rotate her around, right, yeah, yeah. If not, you know, she gets pissed off. All the photos of her now are quite lovely. It's hard to believe she's screaming madman all the other time.

Well, because if you just look at her and you say something, she's like, boom, instant smile, like, ah! Like, yeah, it's like, oh, this is awesome. You not move her? Yeah, yeah, you gotta, you know, she does enjoy watching the other two boys play Call of Duty, so, you know, she sits there and she's like, yeah, get him.

Yeah, get him, man. Kill him, motherfucker! So, she was in her playpen, and she's laying on her belly, and no one was watching at that one particular second, because she's safe in the playpen. Well, Justice...

Freed her. Well, Justice tried to tickle her, and by tickling her, he grabbed her by her ankle and started to lift her up. Oh, my word! Yeah, so...

How'd he get inside the pen? He wasn't inside the pen. First of all, he does jump inside the pen and hang out with her and stuff, but he wasn't inside the pen. He was lifting her.

He bent over and was lifting. Oh. This is going to be funny. And mommy saw that and said, what the hell are you doing now?

So then Justice instantly had a nervous breakdown. Did he drop? No, no. No.

Justice instantly had a breakdown, was terrified, and started crying because he obviously had no intention of hurting the baby. Right. Yeah. He doesn't know.

He wanted to tickle her. So he needed to move her closer. Maybe. Was he just gonna tickle the foot maybe?

I don't know. Who knows what the foot... Where was going from there? You know, into the mind of a four year old can be very scary.

We should've let that play out and see what was gonna happen. I'm glad that it was addressed at that time that it was addressed. Yeah, so, that was, you know, kids will do crazy shit, man. Oh, I can imagine, yes.

You can imagine. You had two kids, I'm sure you did. Eh, they weren't around each other very often. Ah.

Every wife gets a child, so, you know, Bryce. Every wife gets a child, right. Except, Adrienne, she gets three dogs. That's nice.

I like the unit that we have. The three of them, they're pretty tight. Even with the seven, four, and five months, they love her to pieces. Oh, that's good.

That's nice. Yeah, it's very special. It's cool to watch. I mean, shit, one almost had her elevated by one leg.

I'll free you. You can get out of here. We can go somewhere. We can go somewhere.

Come on, we'll go out to the pool and to the trampoline. Let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, let's go to the bar, alright, Coop has updated his requirements for making the Coop 2020 cigar. Yeah, I already think it's fucked, but go ahead. Cigar must have been released in a two-year window from release ending the day before the IPCR of the current calendar year.

This is not limited to a new line, but new Vitolas for existing lines are eligible. Does the Warbear fit in that? I don't know. See, and this is how it's already fucked.

Because the factories have been closed, some of them 30 to 60 days. Oh, that's right. So they've already been delayed. So if they were earmarked to be released at the show and they have test blends on that show, then you're already screwed.

Right? So, that doesn't work. Oh, wait, he gives actual dates here. For the 2020, to be eligible for the 2020, you must have been released between July 10th, 2018, to July 9th of 2020.

Yeah, so it should probably be... Well, I think normally it's what he does. To get into 2020, you're not released in 2020. You have to be before the show.

Well, he said that you could be released in 2020. Before the show. But that's what I'm telling you. If you're, you know, if all factories had an average of 45 days You're in the window.

You're okay here. You're in the window for the cigar of the year. First of all, calm down. Okay.

If, for whatever reason, there's a delay in the release, you know, of the fact that you're being closed down, kind of blanketing, then that should be extended past the PCA. Well, normally though, if I remember correctly last year, to make the 2019 list, you had to be released before the show. Right. So it doesn't matter when the show was or if they didn't come out at the show, anything that came out at the show is not eligible for 2020.

Okay. It would be eligible for next year. But this is designed for eligibility at the show, right? No, if you were not released before the show, you could not.

But if you were- I mean, you had to be released before the show. Anything released at the show or after will go to next year. Gotcha. All right.

So for 2019, cigars must have been reviewed on- So it's not fucked. No. No. Cigars must have been reviewed on Cigar Coupe between November 1st, 2019, and October 31st, 2020.

Hmm. Okay. Okay. Uh, uh, uh, exclusions from eligibility are shop exclusives?

Mm-hmm. You're not one of those. Nope. Regional releases?

Mm-hmm. Nope. Nope. Uh, event cigar?

Mm-hmm. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Nope. TAA release? Nope. Nope.

Well, that hasn't happened yet either, so... Yeah. Hmm. Uh, reissued lines?

Oh, listen to this. Last year, Cigar Coupe made an unprecedented move to start the eligibility window for a cigar year, the IPCR PCA trade show. The reason for this change is to give Cigar's release to the IPCPR PCA a more competitive chance. Thoughtful.

So, you have a chance, Michael. Okay. He reviewed the Neanderthal LH, the Box Proof. Yeah.

The same rating that you got for the War Bear, but in the purchasing, yours was multiple, that was singles. Really? He said single purchase. Wow.

Well, for me, I mean, the LH was... That was our number one cigar of the year for the show last year. Yeah. But we don't have these strict guidelines.

I smoke a ton in the LH. If it's a cigar and it came out, we're okay with it. Yeah. All right.

So... So it could happen. It could happen. You are in the running, apparently.

All right. Should I start holding my breath now, or...? I think we should start planning for the release of the information. The celebration party?

Are you having problems with that microphone today? It's never worked right for me. Well, it's not crackling and breaking up this time, at least. Yeah.

All right, Michael. Victoria's Secret is permanently closing a quarter of its stores in the United States and Canada over the next few months, and in another blow to the beleaguered retailer just weeks after its half-billion-dollar plan to go private was scrapped. I'll tell you why that's important Michael, you want to know why that's important to me at least? Years ago my wife designed a bra for women who have had breast cancer or are in breast cancer reconstruction because the current bras do not suit those women.

So I went to China, she designed the bra, I went to China, we had it made and everything, they would not take our meeting, Victoria's Secret was not. And I have been planning their demise ever since. Oh, so you're excited about this. Yes, this is good news.

That's right. They said that they do not want to cater to those women. Those women are not their targeted customers. Their staff is not qualified to help women measure who have had breast surgery, and they do not want to create that kind of appearance in their store.

Hmm. I'd be rooting for their demise as well. Yes, so that's why I brought that up, because I'm very happy that this happens. They're closing 250 stores that might just be the start.

It warned it could close more stores over the next few years. So I just have to twist the knife a little bit more into this. That's nice. Yeah, Adrienne used to do a blog, a very successful, highly rated blog, well, actually I wrote it for her, but I put her name on it, for about a year.

Really? Yes. That's very nice. She did several podcasts and was on local news in St.

Louis, and it was kind of a big deal. That was good. Yes, it was very nice. All right, moving on.

Oh, apparently that isn't all I got. That's all you got? Well, we do have a Listener of the Week. Yes?

Listener of the Week. And then you have a Shop of the Week, I believe. Yes. Okay.

Would you want to do yours first or mine first? You do yours. All right. Listener of the Week is Mr.

Danny Vasquez. Aww. He was on an episode of The Hot Ticket, and he mentioned that he was a regular listener of our show, amongst others, but he did mention ours by name. And the two brothers from The Hot Ticket said they also listened.

So, honorable mention to them. Hey. So, we appreciate that, Mr. Vasquez.

We feel the love. Yes, it was very nice. We feel the love. So who's the Shop of the Week, Michael?

The Shop of the Week would have to be, and he answered, and he called, and I didn't answer, I was supposed to call him back. Oh, don't call him on the show, we don't have that much time. It is Ronnie Heysha of Secreto. Oh, my friend Ronnie, very nice.

Secreto, Secreto. We mentioned him last week with his Kirkus special. Yeah. Yes.

Michigan's got a lot of problems right now with the mayor. Poor Ronnie. The mayor's husband evidently wants to buy a boat, or has a boat, or he did something. He's on a boat?

The governor, the mayor, on a boat. I'm on a boat. I saw some kind of post. I didn't read it, but I saw Ronnie going.

I saw Ronnie's post. Yeah. Look, I didn't know what was going on. If my wife was the governor, I'd be getting special treatment too or something to that effect.

Yeah, exactly. Which I fully agree with him, if my wife was some big, big, I'd be walking around going too. I'd probably never wear pants. Oh.

I'm like, yeah. You can't stop me. Can't stop me? My wife's the governor.

She's a very attractive woman, too. She's been on the news. The media coverage of me, pantless, would be amazing. Well, your wife, as the governor, would probably put you something in front of you.

Put some pants on, will you? Put some pants on, for God's sakes. What the hell's wrong with you? We're not at home!

That's the point. That's all I got. You got anything? We're only 45 minutes.

Oh, this Friday, here at Cigar Hustler, we're still doing the movie. Yeah, we are. The six-foot social, movie social. That's right.

Stay six feet away, and we all watch a movie, together. Unlimited popcorn! Unlimited popcorn. Unlimited popcorn.

Mike Palmer's going to really abuse... I'm going to abuse the hell out of the popcorn. Yes. And I heard that there's going to be some strange woman trying to give everybody kisses.

No. No. No. It could happen.

I don't like it when she kisses your brother. You don't know where he's been now. It's true. Good point.

I always tell her, "Don't kiss him. " You're still okay. I still like it. I appreciate that.

Your family's very clean. Yeah, we are. We're very clean people. Very clean people.

Very clean. You and all the children. Yeah. Yes.

Okay, I guess that's it. All right, this has been episode one, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three.

You know, Hot Ticket, we're like gaining on them. They just did episode 150 something. I thought we were more than 23 episodes behind. Maybe they take breaks.

Maybe. Not here. We just put it up late. We're fucking relentless.

Just put it up late. We got nothing to talk about? Don't worry. We'll figure it out.

We'll talk about something. Like, turn it on. Turn that machine on. All right, guys, it's it.

Oh, he's taking off the headset. You want to show your hair? Show your hair. The fans want to see the hair.

It's not much different from last week. It's a little furry. It's almost some gray in there. Oh, there is.

It's on the side. Yeah. Oh, that's nice. Start calling you Mr.

Fantastic. Embrace the gray. All right, guys, we're gonna go. Bye.

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 Szczefan Kiewicz, 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. Be sure to listen every Tuesday at 10am for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-E-Raw.

Yeah, we just don't have to do a single podcast ever again. Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike, how are you guys doing? The Hojo de Mon- Hojo!

It's the Hojo! 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 it.

We're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right, try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. It'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door.

All right, end this. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Squared, Mike Squared.

Show Notes

Another Great show but up a few hours late...our apologies...

Find out about the Craft 2020 Release!  Why Mikey wants underoos and finally they end has come for the bras!  All this and more on this weeks show!

Please make sure to review, rate and subscribe on whichever platform you use to listen to the show!

Thanks!

Mike and Mike