Episode 29, Advice from the Hustler, Weekend Events
Episode Summary
Mikey and Mike record Episode 29 live on a Tuesday morning after scrapping the previous day's rushed episode, opening with a candid post-mortem on what makes a good show versus a half-assed one. From there it's a rundown of a packed Florida cigar weekend: a Friday night Gabby Caffey event at Cigars at Waterford near UCF, a Saturday trip to Executive Cigars in Melbourne to see Erica and tour the new shop opening two doors down, and a Sunday drive to Waterwheel Cigars in Fleming Island for an event put together by Richard Palsa of Swisher Sweet Cigars, with Florida Cigar Club on the marquee. The hosts also preview a Florida Cigar Club night at Cigar Castle in Temple Terrace, Tampa, and a possible Thursday stop at Pelo Coso in Winter Park. Smokes on air include an E.P. Carrillo Brotherly Kindness Connecticut shade morning cigar and an FQ Phenom No. 3 from Matthew Hunt (who was, at the time, snorkeling in Puerto Rico).
The centerpiece is the "Advice from the Hustler" segment, which tackles a topic the host admits he sat on for months for fear of controversy: dogs in cigar shops. He draws a clear line between legitimate service animals, shop-owner dogs that become the lounge mascot, and customers who drag pets into crowded event nights. The argument: small, chill, well-socialized dogs that can be carried (like John and Tammy Crabtree's dog Nacho) are manageable; big or reactive dogs at a packed herf create real liability for the shop owner if there's a bite. There's also a detour into fake "service dog" claims — including a story about a woman who wrote "service dog" on a collar with a Sharpie to get on a flight — plus a tangent on the host's 8-month-old boxer, Dempsey, who shredded a cooling mattress pad in ten minutes.
The back half is inside-baseball on the podcast itself: 4,267 downloads, growth from 35 to 68 listens on a Tuesday, top markets in the U.S. (Florida, California, Texas, Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania), the U.K., Canada, and a loyal weekly listener in Jordan. The hosts break down top episodes by platform — the Dennis Scioli tribute episode leads on Podbean, followed by Bellicoso Cigars and Cigar Life — and put out an open call for more shop owners to come on the show. Two interviews for the week fell through for medical and personal reasons, including one with Cigar Porn that's been a recurring scheduling problem. They also announce Yogi 1966 as the XO cutter contest winner (plus a prototype Cigar Hustlers sticker), note there's no contest this week, and close with the host's upcoming road trip to North Dakota with his Air Force brother-in-law.
In This Episode
- 01Redoing a Bad EpisodeThe hosts explain why they scrapped the previous day's rushed recording and what went wrong without enough pre-show prep.
- 02Weekend Event Recap: Waterford, Melbourne, Fleming IslandA Gabby Caffey night at Cigars at Waterford, a visit to Executive Cigars in Melbourne, and a Swisher-hosted event at Waterwheel Cigars.
- 03How Far Is Too Far to Drive for a HerfMike explains his rule of thumb for four-hour drives, overnight hotel stays, and pairing events on back-to-back days.
- 04Morning Cigars and What's in the RotationE.P. Carrillo Brotherly Kindness, FQ Phenom No. 3, and why Powstanie, Guimaro, and Neanderthal are too much for 8 a.m.
- 05Advice from the Hustler: Dogs in Cigar ShopsThe full case for leaving your dog at home — shop mascots vs. customer pets, event-night crowds, bite liability, and the service-animal exception.
- 06Fake Service AnimalsA Sharpie-on-a-collar airport story and how the rules around questioning service dogs get abused.
- 07Contest Winner and StickersYogi 1966 takes the XO cutter, plus a prototype Cigar Hustlers Podcast sticker and no contest this week.
- 08Podcast Stats and Top Episodes4,267 downloads, geography breakdown, Spotify vs. Podbean numbers, and a call for more shop owners to guest.
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
What's the difference between me and you? Back when Q was rollin' with Lorenzo and Abenzo, I was bangin' with a gang of instrumentals, got the pins and pencils, got down to business, but sometimes the business ended as shit. I can turn your friends against you, but you was a real nigga, I can sense it in you, I still remember the window of the car that you went through, that's fucked up, but I'll never forget the shit we've been through, and I'ma do whatever it takes to convince you, 'cause you my nigga, Doc, and easy I'm still with you, fuck the beef, nigga, I miss you, and that's just being real with you, you see the truth is, everybody wanna know how close me and Snoop is, and who I'm still cool with, then I got these fake ass niggas I first blew with, claiming they non-violent, talking like his, spit venom in interviews, speaking on reunions, and who I'm still cool with, then I got these fake ass niggas I first blew with, claiming they non-violent, talking like his, spit venom in interviews, speaking on reunions. Move units, then talk shit, and we can do this.
Until then, I ain't even speaking your name. Just keep my name out of your mouth, and we can keep it the same, nigga. It ain't that I'm too big to listen to the rumors, it's just that I'm too damn big to pay attention to 'em, that's the Germans. What's the difference between me and you?
You talk a good wine, but you don't do what you supposed to do. I act on what I feel and never stand with emotions. I'm used to living big dog style with straight coasters. What's the difference between me and you?
You talk a good wine, but you don't do what you supposed to do. - It's on. - It's on. It's going.
It's clicking away. Want to just jump right to the intro so we don't forget? - But there's like music and there's fading, right? - Well, that'll be beforehand.
That's before they get to this. - You don't have them fade in together? - Yes, they do. - The fading?
- But I add that after. - All right. - But we do the one, two, three, go. - Okay, ready?
Hi, I'm Mike. - And I'm Mike, too. - And this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. - This is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
Yay! So, man, there's a lot to discuss. There's a lot going on. It's been a busy morning.
Well, we have to review our weeks or whatever. Oh, the weekend, yes. Maybe that, yeah. Yes, but we are taping this on Tuesday morning at the time it would normally post.
Yes, so you can't fuck up the days in the podcast today. That's right, it's actually the day we're doing it. Congratulations. Thank you very much.
Congratulations. Thank you. So, yeah, well, we did do a podcast prior to this one. We did, but it sucked.
It sucked. It was half-assed. We felt, for the listening audience, it was not up to the Cigar Hustler Podcast standards that we have set in all the previous 28 episodes. I mean, if we want to break it down real quick, I can give you a little more analytical review of it.
Oh, please. Please feel free. I think that a few things kind of fell short. A few things.
Yes. All my fault. No, no. No, I mean, you're partially to blame.
You're a producer, so, you know... It was produced perfectly, just so you know. Just so you know. The accountability is on us either way.
You're the talent. I'm just the producer. Yeah, but at the end of the day, we're both responsible. You know, I think that the idea of what it was going to be, without going into what it was, was good, but just not enough content developed because it was rushed.
Because we're so inundated with other shit here as far as... It is a busy time of year for you. Yeah. So it needed more content than what it was.
I have some things going on that we can't discuss on the air also, so... Right. So now people are going to ask. And the second thing is...
It'll come out soon enough. The second thing is... Yes. Do you know what I'm going to say?
No. You know, it's like the analogy of the bulls. The two bulls. Oh, yeah.
The young bull and the old bull. " The young one says that. " In this scenario, you're the young bull. Oh, okay.
Well, I sat out there for hours yesterday waiting until you had time to squeeze. I know, I know, I'm sorry. That's definitely on me. It's a post-IPCPR frantic shipping going on.
So when I dropped the, what we were going to discuss, you kind of wrapped it up in like 30 seconds. Well, we didn't talk about it beforehand. I didn't know where you were going with it. Oh, sweet!
I know, I know. That was definitely, you know, that's my fault. That is my fault. No, no, that's all right.
So where did you go this weekend? Let's start over. Well, Friday night, I was at a Gabby Caffey event over at Cigars at Waterford. Gabby Caffey!
Gabby Caffey, my friend Gabby Caffey. Hello, your friend. My friend, Dr. Gabby.
Love Gabby Gabby. I do, he's a very nice man, he's a very good friend, he makes an excellent cigar. He's a complete package. I apologize for all the torch noise, I'm just getting...
That's not me breathing, for people that think I have a heavy breathing into the microphone. I'm getting the EC brotherly kindness going right now, so, start my morning off right. I'm already into my second cigar today. God, now I'm jealous.
Yeah, well, I've been here since eight. You know, normally I smoke one heading into the shop. But I didn't have a Connecticut shade at the house, so at that point, you could only go like, my options are, mainly my options at my house are, Powstanie Habano, Powstanie Broadleaf, Guimaro, and Neanderthal. That would be kind of a strong morning.
Not that I haven't started the morning with those before. Right, don't get me wrong, there have been times, but I was just like, really craving an EC, so I had to hang tight. Okay, you want to hear what else I did this weekend? Yes, I do, I do.
Wait, did you go with Big Daddy to...? Big Daddy and Cookie and my wife and I, we had dinner beforehand, dinner and some wine, and we went over afterwards. And where was that? Dinner and wine or the afterwards?
The cigar place. Oh, the cigars in Waterford, over in Waterford by UCF. Gotcha. Right?
I don't even know the name of the road. It's Izzy's place over there. It's a nice little place. He puts on a decent little event, and like I said, Gabby's a good friend, so I like to show up and go.
Right on the road with no name. Well, it's off of 408 and University, I believe is what it is. And what day was that? Friday.
That was Friday. And then Gabby Caffey went home? No, he did spend the night, but he left the next day, I would imagine. Oh.
He came up that day, and then I guess he went home. Alright. He doesn't do a whole lot of events. He's not a big event guy.
Yeah. So then Saturday, Big Daddy, James Groves, our technical advisor here on the show, our behind-the-scenes guy. Yes. We went to Executive Cigars in Hilbert's, went down there and saw Erica, so we could take a look at their new shop they're opening, two doors down.
So, how far of a drive is it to Melbourne? Well, from my house, it's probably two hours, but James' is about 45 minutes, and then it's like another 45 minutes to 50 minutes from his house. So, I drove to his house, and then he drove from there. So in your cigar adventures, what is the duration of time that you say, okay, this is good enough for me to drive home, or I need to spend the night out at a hotel that's close?
It depends on what's going on, because this is, you know, I don't get paid to do these things. This is all part of the club. So I have gone four hours round trip, you know, four hours one way before. Depends on the event and what's going on.
And if I can pair it up with something the next day, then I'll spend the night normally. Okay. So, we went down there, and we spent a couple hours with Erica, and then we had dinner there in Melbourne, and then we came home. Very nice.
And then Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, we drove up to Jacksonville, Fleming Island, and went to Waterwheel Cigars. They're all the way in Jacksonville? They're in Fleming Island. It's north of Jacksonville.
No shit. It was two and a half hours from my house, but my friend Richard Palsa from Swisher Sweet Cigars, he, I'm playing with my lighter, I gotta stop doing that. Put that down. Put that down.
Put that down. You have to yell at yourself, which is fantastic. He was, he put together a little vent at Waterwheel. Normally you're just yelling at me, so.
Yes, yes. Seeing you yell at yourself was awesome. We were on Marquee out front, Florida Cigar Club. Welcome Florida Cigar Club, Big Daddy in the press.
We were there for about four and a half, five hours, and then we came and we stopped and ate on the way. We always try to work a dinner and we like to eat. Yes. And then we came home.
I like food. Yes. You eat at someplace nice? We like to stop at a local type place, something that we can't get at home.
So it was some seafood place just north of Palm Bay. Or not Palm Bay, but Palm Coast. Okay. Palm Bay would have been really far the other way.
And then tonight, because today is Tuesday, I will be at Cigar Castle in Temple Terrace, Tampa, for a Florida Cigar Club event. You are quite the journeyman. Well, it's a big club, it's a big state, and I like to get around and shake hands and kiss babies and say hello to everybody. Very nice.
Hang out with my peoples. Very nice. Yes. So you had a birthday, though.
I did. You had a birthday. You were, what, 21 now? I am 21 now.
21. Yep. Excellent. You're a very young person.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I'm 34, obviously. Why is that obvious?
I don't know. Oh, okay. Because a 21-year-old hasn't run a shop for eight years, it just doesn't make sense. Okay.
Right? Okay. So, yeah, no, I had a birthday. I had a good time with the family and stuff.
Just kind of chilled at the house, which is nice. My brother-in-law flew in from North Dakota. Surprise! Yep, from the Air Force before he deployed, which is cool.
Where's he being deployed to? The Sandy area or something like that? Yeah, it's Sandy. I know it's Sandy.
I can't remember the name. He's been there before. I think it might just be Saudi Arabia. I'm not sure.
Well, thank you for your service for me. Okay. I have sort of a niece. It's my cousin, Adrian's cousin's daughter.
She's in the Air Force. She just got stationed in Pensacola. Cousin daughter's former roommate? Once removed?
She's a cousin's daughter. She calls me Uncle Mike. Oh. Can I call you Uncle Mike?
If you want to. It seems weird. She's a very pretty girl, very smart girl. She's going into medicine, but she's in charge of a flight crew now.
Yeah. Son of a bitch. One of those airplanes where the propellers go up for takeoff and landing. Oh, those things are badass.
Oh, yeah. She's a badass. Very nice. Yes.
So, contest winner? I didn't write it down from yesterday. Yogi. Yogi.
Yogi. Yogi, 1966. Yogi Undersecure, 1966. Yes, you'll win the XO Cutter, which I saw this morning is over here on your wife's desk.
Yes. Oh, we're doing a show with our studio audience. I know. Oh, it's terrible.
There's going to be no applause or nothing. But now Yogi's got to reach out to us. Yes, Mr. Yogi, if you would PM to Cigar Hustlers Podcast your address and shipping information, we will send that out and we will throw in as a bonus, because we've had to say your name twice now.
Ooh! It's not a big bone, it's just a sticker. Ooh! We have some Prototype A Cigar Hustler Podcast stickers.
Very nice. We'll send that out. Yes. You're a nice man.
Oh, you know. How many of those do you have? I'll start putting them in online orders. Like, seven?
Oh, we'll put them in. I think I had ten, and now I'm down to seven. Oh, well then, I guess I won't be putting them in online orders. How do we get them in bulk?
We order them. You know, my brother found... I ordered a sample order. My brother found a guy, too, that makes stickers.
Yeah, that's a pretty good price for something like that, so maybe. I've bought stickers from his company several different times, so they always throw me promo specials where, you know, you can buy 10 at a reasonably ridiculous low price. Well, we need, like, a break point of, like, you gotta make a thousand or something. Yeah, well, see, these are too small.
They turn out too small, actually, because they're only, like, two and a half inches or something, so. Alright. So anyway, on to the bulk of the show, which I have no idea what it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So after we talked about how terrible yesterday was, because there was no pre-show conversation, we're gonna run this one without meaning. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that yesterday's show... Oh, and I'm smoking an FQ phenom number three this morning.
Oh, Mr. Matthew Hunt. Mr. Matthew Hunt, who, if you follow him on social media, is snorkeling this morning in Puerto Rico.
That guy doesn't work. He's a very busy man. That guy does not work at all. Well, I'm sure there'll be a picture of his cigar while snorkeling, so...
I need his life. Don't we all? We all need his life. Okay, so, the advice from the Hustler segment.
Yes, this is going to be advice from the Hustler. " Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? Exactly. " Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
All right. You know what I want to talk about? I have no idea at all. All right.
I want to talk about dogs. Cigar smoking dogs? No, not cigar smoking dogs. Dog cigars?
Dogs and cigar shops. Okay. You can run with us, I guess. We only need 15 more minutes.
So I'm not going to crush that. So I'm not going to lie. Like, I have wrote, I have written this down months ago to make this for an Advice for the Hustler, but like, I was worried about it being controversial or pissing somebody off, but you know what, whatever, fuck it, I piss people off all the time. That's sort of your thing.
But let me start by saying that, you know, obviously I'm a dog lover. Yes, you have two dogs. You're a dog lover? I have three dogs.
You have three dogs. One, you have a big dog, a big boxer dog that just destroyed your bed recently. Oh, yeah, he ate the cooling pad. Ten minutes.
He was left alone for ten minutes. What was amazing was the Facebook post, like, your dog did not give a shit. You know, he was like, it wasn't, it wasn't a guilty look on his face whatsoever. We were in the middle of changing sheets, and he was asleep on the cooling pad, on top of the mattress, you know, there was no sheet there.
He was asleep, and I, okay, so I went outside to blow off the driveway, ten minutes, maybe ten minutes, came back in, shredded. And then he murder balled it. It was everywhere. Which is fantastic.
" Look what I got! This is the best day of my life! This is the best day of my life! I caught him on the bed in the pile of pieces, no little pieces, all large pieces, nothing wet, so he didn't chew on it or nothing, he just shredded the bucket out.
Did you say what type of dog it is? It's a boxer. You did. You said a boxer.
He's eight months old. Yes. And he is about 60, 65 pounds now. And what's his name?
His name is Dempsey. Jack Dempsey. jack dempsey jack dempsey the boxer we call him doodle he's a doodle i mean if you can just look at him tell some of the lights aren't on inside there he's the sweetest dog in the world he's very kind and he's even good with our wee little four pound yorkie that he plays with like it's a stuffed animal or something right but there's not a mean bone in his body but sometimes you look at him and there's no there's a very small light he's like he's like uh eddie the hyena from lion king yeah Yep. Wah!
Right, exactly. Yep, yep. That's nice. Sometimes he runs through the house with that tongue flopping, you know, he's just going, wah!
Right. So, you know, obviously, service animals are important, right? Yes, yes. I'm a big believer in that.
Unfortunately, I think our society as a whole has kind of over-abused the scenario of service animals. I have a story with over-abused service animals. We were flying one time, and the lady in the line in front of us had a, I don't know what it was, Kangaroo? No, it was a dog, but it was some type of mutt dog, but she had wrote "service dog" on his collar with a sharpie.
Oh! " So that's not legit? He needs his own seat. No, evidently not.
She couldn't even get the dog to sit while she was waiting too much. But after about 10-15 minutes, they gave in, and the dog was on the plane, because it was my plane. Well, what are you going to do at that point? Well, that's just it.
The rule is, you can't even ask what kind of service dog it is. But you're supposed to have some type of credentials other than a Sharpie written on the fabric collar, service dog. Right. So what's important to me is to kind of give at least my opinion on guidelines of dogs and cigar shops, right?
Yes. So, you know, shop owners, I know a handful of shop owners that are dog lovers. I mean, some of them have it incorporated into the name of their brand, of the shop, right? There's one shop I know quite well up north that, uh, yeah.
And, you know, if it's the same shop I know, the dog is awesome. Like, the dog... There's three dogs. Yeah.
Okay. So, but like, you know, in those scenarios, those dogs are like the cornerstones of the business. Oh, they are. They might as well be part owner of the shop.
Right. Well, they probably are. Probably. You know, so...
On all the logos and all the ads and everything. As far as a shop owner goes, it's obviously the shop owner's shop, right? Correct. And the dog becomes kind of a staple in that shop.
Right. So I can understand a shop owner bringing in a dog to their own shop, right? I'm with you. And in some scenarios, I can see some customers bringing in a dog, right?
And depending upon what the type of dog is, the dog's mentality, and just like the overall continual viewing of the dog in the shop, if the dog continues to come in, the dog itself again becomes kind of a staple, right? Right. Like I've seen that in other shops. Oh, where the customer brings in the dog repeatedly.
But at that point, you know, it's like, you know... It becomes the shop, the shop's dog. Yeah, it's like, it's practically at that point. Mascot, that's what I was looking for.
Yes. Got you. Yeah, so, you know, everybody knows the dog, maybe some people don't like the dog, some people do like the dog. Look, Phil's here with Skippy.
You know, but if you got like a little, I don't know, 20 pound, like a terrier, what's a little white and brown dog called? Shih Tzu. I wasn't going that direction, but yeah. Jack Russell?
Yes. Yeah, like a little. I wouldn't recognize it. Those are wild.
Like an older Jack Russell. Oh, okay. A little more timid. A little more seasoned.
Like, just, you know, not pestering anybody, just kind of chill, you know, it will come over to you if you call it, but it won't go over the top. Otherwise it just sits next to the owner. Yeah, it doesn't really give a shit. Like, that's, I can understand that, you know, if it's a service animal, of course that makes sense.
The bigger issue, I think, is people bringing in dogs that, for one, are bigger, and for two, at cigar events. Like, if you have a massive amount of people... Right. You don't know, even if it's your dog, you still know how it's gonna react to a large group of people.
Right. You don't bring a German Shepherd into a cigar event, right? Right? I mean, maybe your dog doesn't like Rocky Patel, you know?
And then shit gets bad. Like there can be some... Oh no, any dog has been Rocky Patel! The dog can have serious issues, you know?
And, I mean, at that point, if your dog bites somebody in that shop, the shop owner could be held liable. Right, yeah. Well, I guess he would be. Because he allowed the dog.
He allowed the dog. Like, you know, so... You have to draw the line, otherwise you can have a shop full of dogs. Right.
I mean, you could do a dog night or some shit like that, but it's kind of a fine line, right? So as a shop owner, if you want to do something like that, it's got to kind of be stated for a specific day, right? Right, yeah. Like, I don't know, pups and ashes or some shit like that.
Like the Santa Clause's in some of the malls will do a pet day. Right. Yeah. You know, I mean, here we probably have like one or two customers that would bring up their dog.
And I can assure you that those dogs would be a fucking handful if they came in here. Right. I've seen shops where it's great, and I've seen scenarios where it's not so good. You know?
Right. So, I guess my point is, leave your fucking dog at home, man. See, that's where it says, take the advice from the hustler. Take the advice from the hustler, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
No, leave your dog at home. Do you agree with that? Oh, completely. I mean, how do you think Dempsey would act here at the smoke shop?
He would be running around going, You know, even Ruckus, the little Terry, he wouldn't be too bad, right? No, he wouldn't be bad. But he's four pounds. Right, there's kind of a line there.
You would have to carry him. You're no longer enjoying yourself. Well, Rowdy, when we only had him, Ruckus as you call him, he did go everywhere, but we have him listed as a service dog. I mean, legitimately as an anxiety dog for my wife.
Right. He used to fly and everything. I mean, my good friend John and Tammy Crabtree had a dog that was awesome. Oh, that's right, yeah.
Nacho. Nacho. But, you know, that dog was super chill. He was always kept in his little bag.
Yep. You know, you took care of him. You fed him. You drank him.
You know, drank him. You gave him water. He was fine. Took him out on occasion.
But, you know, the dog didn't have free range of the shop. Right. You know, he wasn't tied to a leash and kept on, you know, where-- You know, where required constant maintenance. Right.
And, you know, for the most part, he wouldn't let you touch him. He would try and bite you. He's not like anyone but John. So, like, you know, that's a scenario where the dog's appropriate, right?
Maybe it's a size thing. Smaller dogs are easier to control because you can carry them. If you have a big dog, it's not like you're gonna, you know, throw them over your shoulder. Right, but like...
The entire time. But Nacho's a great scenario, or a great... Example. Oh, fuck, thank you.
Because of the fact that he didn't go crazy when somebody walked in the door. No. Right? Like, you can have a little terrier that goes "da da da da da da da da da da da" as soon as somebody new walks in.
So, like, you can't bring that dog into the shop, right? And then, yeah, of course, when the dog gets a little bit, if your dog's a little bigger, you know, you got a 40 pound, 45 pound, 80 pound. Right. Or more.
Right. Yeah. It could be really, really bad. Yeah, my wife's always wanting to drag the dogs, and I was going, eh, it's no fun.
We're not having fun at that point. Right, it's like kids. We're watching the dog. Yeah, it's like having a kid on a leash.
Right. He'll be fine. He'll sit right there. No, he won't.
And then he's going to pee on the chair next to us, or poop, or like a child. Right. I'm going to slap a diaper on him. So unless you absolutely need the dog.
Right, if it's a service issue. For a true service issue. Or if you're just going to pop in and out, but not on an event night, though. No, definitely not.
Because there's a couple of customers that come in, you know, but it's during the day, you know, you're looking at like three or four people sitting around tops. Yeah, in and out is one thing, you know. I can't leave them in the hot car, I'm gonna buy a couple of cigars. Right, you know, yeah, coming in and out is, it really is a fine line.
Are we really talking about people and their children? Is this code for people and their children? No, man, children's like, that's like a three-part episode, for sure. This is just simple animals.
Right. So take the advice of your hustler, leave your dog at home. Yeah, leave your dog at home, unless you need it. Right, unless it's a service dog.
And it's small. Take the advice of your hustler, leave your dog at home, asterisk, unless it's a service animal. The more I think about it, there are a couple of guys that bring in their dogs that are... Too far from the microphone.
that are bigger. That are bigger, but they don't really hang out. No. There was one yesterday.
Yeah, same guy. Same guy. Always bring that dog. Same guy.
Always bring that dog. Comes in and brings his dog. You know? Right.
So, that's what I got. The Vice from the Hustler. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, as you said. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
What else are we doing? So, you just said where you're going to be at today. Today. I don't know if that might be at this weekend.
Thursday, I might go see Josh Fubello, who listens every Thursday as he drives across the state from Tampa. I might go see him at Pelo Coso. In Winter Park? In Winter Park.
Because CJ is driving from Florida to Alaska, he's currently in Colorado, making pretty good time. You want me to tell you what I signed up for this weekend? Did I tell you? Oh, yeah, you did, but go ahead.
Will I pull up the stats for the show? I will be driving to North Dakota with my brother-in-law, which should be a lot of fun. In a covered wagon like the old days? That would be great.
Yeah, it's like Oregon Trail. One of us may die on the way there. But the car will be dropped off, so he's got to bring his car back. But we'll have a good time.
I've already asked for permission to smoke cigars in the vehicle, so I'm going to be doing that and not sleeping, which should be entertaining. I have my wife's car this week, and so far I've not smoked in it, but I think going to Tampa tonight, there might be some smoking in the car. She doesn't listen to the show, ever, so I can say whatever I want. That's nice.
Yes. Just turn off the air. Yeah. Open up all the windows.
That's what I'll do. Open the windows. And if I have to, I'll spray with that ozo. Yeah, oseum.
Oseum or something. I don't know. Okay, update on the show. Currently, as of right now, and we have not posted today yet, 4,267 downloads.
Hey! I guess we're doing something, right? We're averaging now. It was like 35 on a Tuesday.
Now, like last week was 68, and then the day after was 54. Nice. Blowing up like you thought I would. What else you got?
Keep talking. I'm trying to move the screen. Is Djibouti back? Just the one guy in Djibouti listened one time.
They must, like you said, he didn't understand that at all. He just hit the wrong button. But whoever is listening in Jordan is a weekly listener, because now 26 out of the 28, so I think he skipped the first two. I like it.
Well, good for him. We absolutely skipped the first one. Maybe it's a woman. Who knows?
But yeah. Good for her. We should have Z back in to redo that. Well, you know what?
That would be a great idea. That would be a great idea. You know, what we haven't mentioned is the fact that we actually had two interviews lined up this week and they both shit the bed. Uh, yes.
Yes, they did. The people didn't shit the bed. That's not why they did so well. No, the interview itself.
Yeah, the interviews did. Yeah, they both had to be rescheduled for different reasons, medical and personal reasons. So vague. Yes.
We're big still in the United States. Can we just call them out? No. Why not?
Because then they'll never come back on, and one of them, I'm not going to say which one, I really want to come in. We're big in the United States, so that's our biggest audience. United Kingdom, Canada, and then our very good listener in Jordan. Look, I think the one that you're about to say that had the issue, it's perfectly fine to say, He's like, hey, you know, we understand why you couldn't make it, but we would like you to come out.
Oh, he knows. I've already talked to him several times. It's been a scheduling problem. This is the only reason he hasn't been in.
So you don't want to say his name? Mr. Cigar Porn. Ah, you caved so easily.
You may fold under questioning. I will. I will. I'll just keep it up easy.
I did it! I did it! Yeah, kill that bitch. It wasn't me, but I know who did.
I'll tell you right now. I don't know. Great enough. Hold on, I'll show you your picture.
In the United States, we are big in Florida, that's our biggest audience, Florida, California, Texas, Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois. Yeah, Adam Acri's in Illinois, so that's my dude. 32, so we've had 29 episodes, so one other person's listened to two. Maybe he listens to more than one over and over again.
Huh? Maybe there's one that he really likes. Okay, we've got one guy in Alaska that listened once and didn't like it. You don't know that.
Maybe somebody was visiting. Oh, one person in Connecticut listened and never came back. Oh, that could be Lex. South Dakota?
You know anybody in South Dakota? Oh, you need to wear your shirt when you go up to North Dakota. Well, South Dakota has Deadwood Tobacco, so we're a couple people here. Just, what, two people?
Because we've had two listeners in South Dakota. You're really getting refined here. But what are you looking on? What are your stats from?
That's just Podbean. That's really the only one that gives you any type of information. Right. On...
Apple, it's like, you're doing a good job. Yeah, basically, you just get percentages. Alright. Hold on, hold on.
But wait, there's more. Give me Spotify. Spotify goes... They can't, you're too far away from the mic.
I know. Spotify goes through PodBeans for some reason. But then there are... It's like seven.
Seven people listened last week. On Podbean? No, on Spotify. Oh, well, that's our newest platform.
No, no, no, we're on like five or six now, there's some that I can't even get back into. Kind of a big deal. Player FM and all sorts of different things. But episode 25, Special Guest, which was the one where I interviewed you, that's our biggest show on Spotify.
Ooh! And then La Polina is the second one, yeah, our biggest episode, nine, nine people. Hey, you know, why you gotta piss in my Cheerios, man? I'm pissing your Cheerios.
You're like, hey, good job, and then you slap me down. It's double of the second highest show. And you slapped me down. Which we did Facebook Live.
But just to clarify, this is only on your Spotify. Just Spotify. It's hard to find on Spotify. Which is not our major platform.
I don't know. It's hard to find. It's something I try to turn it on at a shop in the mornings, and it's hard to get to. Yeah.
Yeah, I don't understand Spotify. All right. But that's it, unless you want more detailed information. I mean, at this point, you've broken it down to single digits for me, so I don't think we need to go any further.
Alright, hold on. I can give you our biggest show on Podbean. Tell me. Wow, big surprise.
Not a tremendous surprise. , may he rest in peace, Dennis Scioli. Yeah. Well, I'm sure.
That's our biggest show. It's family. Family must be enjoying the show. Well, that, and then, you know, we mentioned it again.
You know, I had a lot of people actually bring it up to me this past week, you know. So, yeah. The second biggest show is Bellicoso's Cigar, that show, and then number three is Cigar Life, so we need to get more shop owners. So shop owners, if you're listening, you like to come on the show, just give us a call, give us a yell, come on in, and we'll talk all about your shop.
That's definitely your department when it comes to local Florida guys, you know, like, I want to get my boy Alan from Caribbean up here, and he's in Miami, I've already laid the groundwork for that, so I think he's got a problem, he's got an interesting story. He's got a Ford GT500 that got banged up, which is a good story. I don't want to ruin it, though. Joanne's actually doing quite well on his second show, too.
Yeah. A friend from La Florinanda. I think that's good enough with the research. Okay.
He texted me the other day. Wait, wait, just a quick Joanne story. I was talking to him the other day, and I set him up at a shop for him to call. And he goes, "I'm getting my car fixed.
The chauffeur is on his way. " He was getting picked up in a limo from his car service. Oh, poor guy. " All right.
So, all right, we filled 30 minutes and 40 seconds here, we stretched this fucker up. Hey! All right, well then that's it. That was easy to fill.
No contest this week. Nothing, nothing, nothing to give away? No. No, no contest.
You get nothing this week. Nothing this week. We did so good last week, 26 people entered the contest. Triple our numbers.
Very nice. So everything's growing. We appreciate everybody listening. Tell your friends.
All you get is our love this week. All you get is our love. So hashtag our love. Hashtag our love.
And you win nothing. And you get nothing. All right, that's it. See ya.
Bye. This is the Operator with a collect ball from... To accept the charges, press one now. Embrie, what up?
I told you I ain't too good, write letters and all. She don't need right rhymes. Tell me what I will do. I'ma send you this open scribe through the airwaves.
Okay, that's it. Show's over. If you have any questions or suggestions for our guests, leave them on our Facebook page at Cigar Hustlers Podcast. You can follow the show on Instagram at Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
Mikey can be found at CigarHustler, and myself, Mike at FloridaCigarClub_Mike, and remember always, please rate, review, and subscribe on whichever of our providers you use. Thanks for listening. *outro*
Show Notes
More Advice from the Hustler, This past weekends events at Cigarz in Waterford, Waterwheel Cigars Fleming Island and Executive Cigars Melbourne!
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