Episode 34 Matthew Hunt FQ cigars

Episode Summary

Matthew Hunt of FQ Cigars — the sales and distribution outfit repping Foundation Cigar Company, Chogüi and other boutique brands — returns to A Cigar Hustler's Podcast (he first appeared on the "Easter Bunny" episode 3) for a loose, comedy-heavy debrief of a multi-day Southeast road trip with co-host Mike. The pair retrace the route: Jerry's Cigar Shop in Tallahassee, an out-of-the-way detour to Humidor in Dothan, Alabama, Cordova Cigars in Pensacola (plus a late-night stop at the dollar-covered Irish pub McGuire's), Harbor Cigars in Destin, a big event at R&R Cigars in Tuscaloosa, and finally Lajero Tobacco House in Buford, Georgia.

Beneath the running jokes — a missed Chick-fil-A breakfast, a disastrous empty McDonald's drive-thru, leaving their suits at home, Spanish vocabulary lessons (árbol, yerba, cielo), Inky Johnson motivational tracks and 3 a.m. DoubleTree check-ins with no warm cookies — there's real territory-sales insight. The hosts and Hunt talk about picking accounts that either already believe in your product or have genuine potential, why an enthusiastic greeting at the door (Adam at Lajero Tobacco House, a Foundation-branded lounge) sets the tone for a whole event, how retailers who walk customers into the humidor outsell the ones who point at a wall, and how brand reps read a room and know when to "tippy toe" out rather than become a time suck — a code word Hunt shares from road trips with Nick Melillo.

The episode also breaks news: co-host Mike announces he's launching his own brokerage house, hitting the road with Florinata (with Joan "Johan" Rodriguez) and Cafe 1901, with his first brand event held at Cigar Hustler on September 7 — plus some on-air lobbying for him to add Southern Draw and Robert Holt to the portfolio. They close with September event plans back at Jerry's with Pete and a return trip to Lajero Tobacco House, a nod to Rosales's account-building playbook, Skip stories, and road-warrior survival gear: cold brew, string cheese, pretzel chips and trail mix.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Matthew Hunt returns to the show
   The FQ Cigars rep is back after his episode 3 "Easter Bunny" appearance for an improvised road-trip debrief.
2. 02
   Day one disasters
   A missed Chick-fil-A breakfast, a 10-minute wait at an empty McDonald's and forgotten suits set the tone for the trip.
3. 03
   The Florida panhandle route
   Jerry's Cigar Shop in Tallahassee, a peanut-free detour to Humidor in Dothan, Cordova Cigars in Pensacola and Harbor Cigars in Destin.
4. 04
   R&R Cigars in Tuscaloosa and Miss Jackie
   A standout old-South house shop near the University of Alabama, a strong event where Chogüi moved well, and the unforgettable Miss Jackie.
5. 05
   Lajero Tobacco House in Buford, Georgia
   Both hosts name Adam's Foundation-branded lounge their favorite stop, and explain why an enthusiastic greeting sets the tone for an event.
6. 06
   Road-warrior sales strategy
   Choosing accounts that believe in the product, reading a shop owner's vibe, pop-ins, and the "tippy toe" time-suck exit code.
7. 07
   Mike launches a brokerage house
   Mike announces his new venture repping Florinata and Cafe 1901, with a first event at Cigar Hustler on September 7.
8. 08
   Life on the road
   Spanish lessons, Inky Johnson audio, 3 a.m. hotel check-ins, cold brew and gas-station charcuterie.

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

Every day I'm hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling. Every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling. Welcome to a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we take a closer look at the people of the cigar industry, with your host, Mike and Mike. Hustling, hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle, every day I'm, every day I'm, every day I'm, every day I'm, every day I'm.

Poop-pooing. Poop-pooing on. Poop-pooing. Oh, and you got a little headrest with a little.

That is the soundproofing. Don't get your grease from your gel. Grease? I don't have any gel.

I don't wear a gel. And I washed my hair last night, so. Woo. Oh.

Washed his hair. Well, how do I sound? You got to get a little closer to the microphone. What about me?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. All ready with the words.

That's the end of the chord. As far as it goes. How's that? That's good.

Is that better? Are you going to stay turned that way the entire time? Yeah, I'm going to stay in this direction, I think. Okay.

Can you mix it up on you? I think. How's he sound? Oh, he sounds like he's a professional over there.

Except I hear the "shhh" of his lighter. Mr. Rico Suave. That's the loud lighter.

So this is going to be like kind of an improv podcast, huh? Yeah, you kind of throw it together because we need one for next week. We're also going to use this as Mike's, your little reel of improv for Mike's acting career. Oh.

Hey now, don't put me on blast. Why'd you say blast? This is an opportunity. Wow.

That's all the reason we're doing this, just so we can parlay it into a movie. How does this sound? Like you have gas. Good.

Okay, so anyways. Alright, where are you? One, two, three, go. Hi, I'm Mike.

Hi, and I'm Mike too. And this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. That was nice. I don't know, did you work on that?

34 times now we've done that. 34 official times. 34 official times. Minus the ones that we've deleted.

And the practice. You need more times. More times practice. It was kind of caught off guard.

I wasn't prepared. I always say one, two, three, go! I know, but I wasn't prepared. Oh, I'm sorry.

So we have a Mr. Matthew Hunt. You're turning away from the microphone. I'm right.

I can tell. You turned. How about now? Now it's great.

But I can't put my feet on your chair. Well, you can, I guess. Yes! It's between that and I can't hear you and the microphone.

These are all the sacrifices. We have to all make sacrifices, Michael. All make sacrifices. How can I feel I'm making all the sacrifices today?

Your feet are on my chair. This is the cutest thing I've ever experienced. It's Witty Banter is what it is. It is, oh my gosh.

This is what makes a real podcast. You know, we have Witty Banter, me and you there, pal. Is that what you call it? Is that what you call it?

I call it sex. I was going to say, see, I was going to go with flirting, something wholesome, something wholesome, something nice. So anyways, we haven't even introduced you, so this is Mr. Matthew Hunt of FQ Cigars.

We've had him on before. Yes. He was like episode three, I believe. Yes, the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny. That's right, the Easter Bunny episode. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back to episode 3 and figure that out. That's how they get you.

Now, Mr. Matthew, you just went on a recent road trip, did you not? I did. It was a journey.

I had lots of sex. See, that's how you're going to get started. This is good. I'm going to throw that in.

So, I mean, you've done other road trips with, obviously, like Nick Melillo of Foundation Cigars. So there's videos of them. Yeah, the RVs, traveling stuff. Those were pretty good photos, though, and there were a few boomerangs down in there.

But this is like, this was the first one under the Poshik regime. This is true. Is it a regime? I don't know.

It's a regime. It's aggressive. Welcome to it. Welcome to it.

Welcome to the front line. This is it. Operation Shield. This was, this was the first Poshik road trip for me.

So where did we go, Mr. Matthew? So we hit up. oh yeah i was oh where did you go so where'd you go yeah well i mean i literally went where you took me oh okay oh wait so the photos you were driving uh that was one and that's just because was it i would say that the majority of the time matt drove which was nice that is nice i mean i think it's nice to actually point that out michael likes being driven i know i heard that that's something actually before we left i asked mike hey so like do you like to drive are you against driving.

Like, what's up? He's like, ah, whatever. Did he ride in the back? No, he did not.

But then I spoke to his wife and she's like, what? He never wants to drive. And I was like, oh, good. That's who I want to go on a road trip with.

A guy that doesn't want to drive. So wait a second. Now, at least he rode in the front seat. In all fairness, since you said that you asked me a question, we're going to have to back up a step.

And you ask a lot of questions, Matthew. I would say an appropriate amount. So I have a rule. I enjoy his questions.

I have a rule of thumb. With Matthew. It is a new rule you didn't know you'd have to have. What is today's Wednesday?

So you've been back for four days? Why do you always have to throw the day out there when it's always going to be posted? Because I'm trying to give people context. You've been talking about your rules for four days straight now.

And after the second, we're going to talk about how marriages can be solved. So Matthew has, I have a rule of thumb when it comes to Matt. Matt likes to ask a lot of questions, which is great. However, it's not great for me.

" It could be like, you know... Hey Mike, what time is it? I don't know. Hey Mike, you gotta pee?

I don't know. Oh no, no, no, do not get that confused. Michael always knows he needs to pee, because he has a teacup bladder, so let's just get that out of the way. You should start there with your first question and just throw his whole game off.

" The second and the third questions aren't even acknowledged. So I don't even, I just act like I stare out the window or, you know, act like I'm on my phone or, you know, just... But that fourth one. That fourth one gets answered.

When you get to the fourth question. So he'll do three throwaways and then the real question. Well, it took me like three rotations of that to figure it out. To figure out what's going on.

Wow. And the longing lull of conversation. I was like, "Okay, this is good. " So then it answers fourth question.

What did I get myself into? And then it would reset. I wonder if Greg will go next time. Probably not.

I figured that's what you were thinking. He's got the personality of a wet sponge. If not, he'd be out on the road. You kidding me?

Yeah, I don't know if he can handle all the questions. It's a lot of questions. Yeah, he would have shot Matt at question two. Shot, then stabbed, then used his hands.

It's the reason why we keep him here. Yeah, I thought the road was great. Yeah? I thought it was good.

I mean, I learned a lot, especially in how to prepare. I learned that I need to actually bring our clothes with us, as opposed to getting on the road about 20 minutes in and then realizing that we left our clothes back. Oh, that's true. Oh, man, you're getting all the details.

Yeah, so we get in the car, and we-- This is already after I missed the opportunity to go to Chick-fil-A. Day one of the trip, Matt's life was a complete fucking catastrophe. Yeah, I mean, but it was a test, you know? And he was just an utter mess.

Yes. Did not do well on the test. Did not do well on the test. And no food?

Yeah. So, we go to get the car, pick up the rental, and we drop off his car, and we were going to go to Chick-fil-A, because he wanted Chick-fil-A breakfast. Breakfast of champions. Right.

But by the time we had arrived at Chick-fil-A, the breakfast was gone. It's Chick-Fil-A, get a bun instead of a biscuit. It doesn't matter, he was a mess. Come on, Mike, we're not heathens, but we're not heathens, okay?

It's a bit excessive. So, that's how his day started. And after that, everything just kind of fell apart, right? So, we start driving down the road, we're about 25 minutes in.

Actually, wait, so then we go to McDonald's. Oh, yeah. We're going to McDonald's. We're going to McDonald's.

That was a disaster. He gets two delicious sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffins, right? You guys are getting the breakdown right now. There's no one in line.

There's nobody in this McDonald's. No one in front of us, no one behind us. Nobody inside the McDonald's. 0 customers at this McDonald's.

" Pull forward? There's no one behind us! There's nobody around. So we pull up, and we wait a legit 10 minutes, and nothing fucking happens.

So then I back up, because there's still no customers. And I go, yeah, we're still waiting on these two sandwiches, and it's a new person at the counter. So obviously the last person checked out. She's like, I've got to go on break.

It's 1045. My day's been too long. So that happened. Then we get on the road.

So when you backed up, did you get them at the window then? Yeah, we did. And actually because they had been sitting on the counter. Oh, you mean these?

Yes, ma'am. Yes. The only two sandwiches you have in your restaurant at the moment. He's been baking under the hotline.

I know, jeez. And then, of course, we'd leave, and I really think it was thanks to me that we weren't so far gone down the road that we were able to go back and get the clothes. " Yeah. " Well, no, I mean, we had our luggage, but like, you know, Mr.

Friggin' Rigo Suave is, you know, all about the suit. I had to have my get up. I could have adapted. And then, of course, we have the back and forth of like, no, Mike, I'm fine.

I really don't need you. I got other stuff. And he's like, do you? Are you okay?

Are you all right, man, baby, child, whatever you are? Man, baby. You will whine the entire trip. So you gotta know, you know, Matt is a guy that's always gotta be in a suit.

He could wear his suit pajamas and he probably still had those. I don't have those. What are those? That sounds fantastic.

We talked about that on the first show. Didn't you listen to the show? You sleep in suit pajamas. Well, that's actually, that is actually, I told some lady, we had to know that.

So we go to the, we do our track. But you're kind of getting ahead of yourself. I am, because I just got excited. Miss Jackie gave me so much life in Alabama.

I'm going to note that, but you've got to back up. All right, sounds good. All right, so where did we go? So we ended up hitting Jerry's Cigar Shop, which is up in Tallahassee.

He's got two locations there. Correct, he does. We also ended up actually making a detour and stopping up in Dothan. Yes.

Apparently, the capital for peanuts in the United States yet is vacant of all peanuts, so there's zero peanuts to be had in Dothan. So how did we wind up there though? Because Mike's kind of a big deal. I've never seen someone actually request a humblebrag.

" Thank you. That's not true. So, Mike being the internet sensation that he is. We put up a post.

Mike put up a post. And then Stephen from Humidor. Correct. " That's it.

" And so we ended up going up there, met Seth, great guy. Mike had a fan instantaneously when a gentleman walked in and almost had a stroke and was like, "Oh! " Oh yeah, I know you! And then that was my cue to go sit in the corner while Mike basks in all of his glory.

Which isn't easy for Matt, because Matt, you know… I'm a big body! He is, and he talks a lot. And it's all about center of attention. Ah, rude.

See, and here we go. Did you guys feel that step we just took? I'm just going to turn my microphone off. I'll just turn my microphone off.

I'll let you guys go at it. Well, so then, that was what ended up happening. We visited the shop, great shop, ended up… How did you work into sex with all this talking and this banter back in the day? That's how you work it in.

You just got to be doing it while you're talking. And so, just got to continue. Just got to continue it. But then from there, we ended up going down to...

You got to get him when he's tired. So, you know, when you check into the hotel room and he's exhausted, that's when it happens. " I know. This got weird.

This is the weirdest one. That was from 35. I know. 3 to 35, that relationship developed.

That relationship really evolved. Well, and so then we ended up going down, I always mix this up, did we go to Pensacola first? So we went to Pensacola. Wait, you went Tallahassee, up to Dothan.

Dothan. And then back down. Back down to Pensacola. Yeah, because it was kind of along the way.

Well, yeah, but because wasn't Destin closed? Yeah. Destin was closed, so we ended up going. Yep.

Pretty much. Shut off. And then we ended up going to Pensacola, which we went over there, we saw the guys over at Cordova. Yep.

Cordova Cigars, they were very nice, welcoming at 10:30 at night. And then, they also made the great suggestion to go to some, to Meguiar's. Meguiar's. Meguiar's.

So much money on the walls. Just a lot. Yeah, so Meguiar's is like this Irish pub, and there's singles attached throughout the entire place. I got to teach Mike a new Spanish word.

That was something, this is something else we've got to put on the podcast. Well, we're recording, so go ahead. This is what I'm saying. Right now?

Right now. Okay, now? Well, no, we haven't started yet. Okay, good.

This is all perfect. Perfect. But the material. Shit, I forgot to hit the button.

So some way that we actually spent some of our time was me berating Michael. It was tough. I wanted to stab him. Spanish words, which we'll see if Mike.

He's like, how do you say tree? How do you say tree? And then he asked me 10 other questions. How do you say it?

And then he'd say, I don't know. I'll do some shit. Arbo. Oh, Arbo.

He got it. There he goes. Here we are. There you go.

He only asked me 75 fucking times on the trip how to say tree, and I looked at him and I said, Matt, I'm never ever going to use the word tree in Spanish. No, and even worse was that I was like, how do you say grass? And he's like, what? Never, never am I going to say that.

Next time you're not at the factory, you'll be going tree, grass, tree, grass. They're outside. You guys are inside. Yeah, there's no grass.

There's no grass in Esteli. They'll bring them a tree and grass. And so, that was kind of how we spent a lot of our time. I mean, it was a lot of Spanish speaking.

What was the... I'm trying to remember what it was that... Cielo? Cielo, that's what it was that got you.

Did not make him happy with that word. Cloud. How do you say clouds? How do you say clouds?

Nuis, that's a hard word. How do you say sky? How do you say sky? I'm like, sky!

Get away from me! And so then... Push him out of the car. Yeah, that's, I mean...

hey can you take a look can you take a look at that arbo over there and then I fucking tempers were high and so then that's how the night ended was that just day one that was day one oh this is what I was going to say so back to Maguire's so we're at Maguire's and you got a bunch of different people there so like there's different words that come to mind and I was pretty proud because I actually learned this when one of the times I went down to Nicaragua is what a tortillera is and so I was able to tease I was able to teach Michael what a tortillera was, and it was great, because I've always told Mike, Mike, hey, like, it would be great if you can learn Spanish, like, basically, we have our own little code, we can talk about things, and people won't be like, hey, these guys are jerks, they're talking about us right in front of our faces. So you can talk shit, you know, something's going on, and so, while we were there... I'm not there, I'm not at that level yet, because, like, I start to translate it. Yeah, while we're there, I speak to Mike slowly.

Hey, this. And he goes, oh, those people over there? The hell? You're missing the point.

By the cloud next to the tree in the grass? Exactly. Look at that arbol over there. So, tortilla, for anybody who wants to know, it's a, that's what Spanish people call lesbians because when you make tortillas, you use both hands and you smash them together.

So, there you go. So, there you go. So, guys, if you take one thing away from this podcast, use that word of the day. And tell the ones at Maguire's we say hi.

And so, yeah, what was the next spot? Spent the night. So that's day one. That is day one.

Spent the night in Pensacola? Yep. So that's where you had time. No, we drove to Destin.

Yeah, we drove to Destin. Oh, back. Yeah, we went back, and then we, the next morning... You guys are zigzagging all over the place.

We had no choice, because Harbor was already closed. Oh, okay, Harbor was closed. You want to hit as many accounts as you possibly can within a time span. Gotcha.

And we went together, and then we ended up going to Harbor the next morning. So if you were at Cordova's around 10, did you hit Destin like 1, 1ish? I think it was like 2 in the morning. Yeah, more like 2.

Every night it was basically like 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. If you go with Skip, it's gotta be 5:30. Yeah. That's the only cigar shop that are open at 8 o'clock in the morning.

True. They opened at 10. But Harbor was great, Harbor was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed sitting there. Marvin?

Yeah, Marvin was the man. Cool spot, for sure. Very cool spot. Great stories.

What happened with Jackie? No, we're getting to Jackie. Oh, Jackie. We haven't seen Jackie yet.

But then we ended up going from there. Then we obviously had to make the trip up to Tuscaloosa to R&R Cigars, which anyone who's listening to this, I mean, definitely a shop you have to go see. It's a very unique shop. I mean, it's an old south house just up the street from University of Alabama.

It has a wraparound porch. You walk into an impressive staircase leading upstairs. Every room they have is, they have one room that's basically like the checkout room that has the drinks and whatnot, another room that, I mean, every other room you go to is a lounge, essentially, and it's just a very, very cool shop, lots of sports memorabilia on the walls, great staff, everybody's very, very nice, Reagan and Randy and Debbie, everybody was very, very nice, it was awesome, it was a great event. For sure.

And, while we were there, once the event was dying down, we got to spend some time with the folks outside. That's when the duo is set free. It is, when we can really, when we can really show, oh, and during this event, when we were setting up, when I was like, oh, hey, Mike, you might want to get some coffee, it seems like you're having a tough time, man. He was like, oh, like, just call me out like that?

I'm like, yeah, well, wouldn't you rather me tell you? I was like, if I'm tired, I want you to tell me. And Mike goes, does that ever happen? Are you ever tired?

Is that a thing? So, one day. One day. One day we'll see.

That's right, because Brittany, Mrs. Hustler, is a sweetheart of a woman, and gave me my own cold brew that says the World Traveler's cold brew. So, I mean, I feel loved. He's a world traveler.

Exactly. But yeah, we had a great event, awesome, had a lot of guys, we were able to turn on to a bunch of the different brands. Chogui did really well. Chogui did do very well.

I mean, every one of the post-shake brands did well, and actually, that night, we actually drove from Tuscaloosa. But wait, you missed the Jackie story. Oh, Miss Jackie. Miss Jackie.

So we went outside, talked to Miss Jackie. This is in Alabama. This is in Alabama, and she, I was confused. I was wanting to ask, like, actually kind of dive into the comments she was making, 'cause she was saying that there was weed in the cigars?

Or brownies? I guess so. No, I was very confused. Yeah.

And she had an auburn shirt in Tuscaloosa, so that was also confusing. Right. And then she started asking if I was dressed like this all the time, and that's when I told her I sleep in my suit. It makes for a very light luggage.

And just very, very... Especially when you leave it. Correct. Correct.

And you can just forget it places. It's good. " Let me tell you about it with the week, because I just didn't know. I wanted to know what brownie she was eating.

I didn't even see any brownies. We had many brownies. I was very confused after that. When the fuck did we get brownies?

When the hell did we get some brownies? But yeah, Miss Jackie, she was a sweetheart. But everybody there was just, I mean, the Southern hospitality, everybody was just sweet, nice. Yes, pretty cool.

Very cool experience. So then Mike and I ended up driving over to Hotlanta at, it was what, 11 o'clock, 11:30? Yeah. Didn't get over there until about 3:00.

DoubleTree, not trying to call you out, but they did not have hot cookies for us. Yeah, DoubleTree's good for the cookies, they never had the fucking cookies. It was pretty upsetting. Three o'clock in the morning.

Well, you know what? Everybody and their mother was awake. Everybody was in their birthday suit ready to go. There's only so many cookies they put out.

Well, we needed them in that moment. Birthday suit means they're naked. They were almost there. They were almost there.

The ladies that were strolling were almost there. " The Doubletree is the club. Welcome to the Doubletree. Welcome to the Doubletree.

Do you have your ID? Yeah. And so then, we had a nice early morning, got started. We actually were going to see our boy, Adam, at the Lajero Tobacco House.

Yeah. Just outside of Atlanta. Just in Buford. Buford.

Buford. Georgia. And it was awesome. Just a, such a great guy.

I mean, I had never met him before. And I mean, as soon as you walk in, you're very welcomed. They're very welcomed. " He seems friendly.

Cloud dream. Yeah, I mean, he could be saying anything. It's just with the enthusiasm that he gives. " Dude, I'll buy anything.

He's so nice. Whatever you got. But that definitely was a highlight for me. I mean, I loved going over to his shop, and Adam was a gentleman.

And another, I'm telling you, we went to some spots, and Mike had his following there. So we had Mr. Greg come up to the shop, a big fan of Cigar House, a big fan of Lajero Tobacco House, and just a gentleman of a guy. Just a great, great guy.

Super cool dude. Yeah. He came in and actually had one of his buddies that wasn't a big cigar guy, but was teaching him some things. Trey.

Trey. I think it was his brother-in-law or something. Was it? Yeah.

I remember he had a Pacers hat on, and I felt bad for him. I hope that Trey listens to this podcast, too. She's making a lot of friends on this podcast. But yeah, so that went amazingly well, and after getting juiced up with two Cuban coffees and a little bit of sushi, decided it was time to hit the road.

Yeah, straight tear back. From Atlanta. From Atlanta. From Atlanta.

You guys ran around everywhere. We did. Yeah, we did. We definitely covered some ground, for sure.

For sure. But, you know, you try your best to go to accounts that either A, believe in your product, or B, have a lot of potential with your product, right? Right. So, if you wind up being spread a little thin because of that, it is what it is.

But I will tell you this, it takes me like a day to recoup, apparently, from all that. Oh, thanks. And folks, that's what happens when you're old. Is that what it is?

I think so. Because I just didn't, I needed one more old joke because I don't think I said enough on the trip. He keeps telling me I'm old. Mike, how do you feel about that?

Well, I'm older than you. Oh, God. See what I'm saying? So, if you're old, I mean, you're fucking decrepit.

I'm the same age as his dad. Gary? Gary? Now my dad.

Now my dad's on the podcast. I mean, I would say, see, I see, like, Mike, you're old and then, like, Mike, like, experienced. I'm not experienced. But like, I'm 34 years old.

I don't think that's old. I mean, it's not 26. Well, you're gonna be 27 next month. You're 24 years old.

Seven years difference? It's a big difference. Yeah. It's a big difference.

Alright. You're married, you get two kids. I mean, true. Single guy, lives on an island.

Yeah. There it is. Don't tell him, don't give him the directions. Gets home, fucking crushes him.

I don't even know where the fuck the island is. He does this orange theory competition. Yes. I get my free Lulu outfit, you better believe it!

There's like a competition for all the Orange Theories in the area or whatever. Orange Theory is like a workout thing. Yeah. " And then of course I just sent him a picture of the goods and I said, "See?

" Surrounded by champions. I did. I did. It was good.

Surrounded by champions. Surrounded by champions. Just athletes. And also, Mike and I, we like to stay fit and whatnot.

We did not do a single thing on this trip. It's impossible. I don't know how Rosales does it, man. It's insane.

Because that's one thing that, I mean, every day, I mean, I think it was more the early starts than it was the late nights. Because, I mean, every morning we'd wake up, iron your stuff, and you're out. Right. You couldn't really hit the gym or anything like that.

Well, if you check into the hotel at two, three o'clock in the morning, you're not doing it then, ain't it? Which is a bunch of horse shit. I hate hotels. $150, you spend what?

We spend five hours there? Yeah. Garbage. It's a racket.

It is garbage. Too good a hotel. Go to the hourly places. I also don't want to get raped.

That's also what I'm not looking for. A friend of mine works at one of those hourly places. Yeah? Yeah.

The maid found an Uzi under the pillow. That's a tip. That's a tip. Thank you for your service.

Go kill someone. She ran out of the room screaming, apparently. She didn't just snatch it up and run? In utter fear.

But that's why I left that. I think the guy actually called back. Hey, I left something in my room. I left a lighter and an Uzi.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Your Uzi's gone, and the police are here. They want to speak with you.

You know what? Just keep the lighter. Guy says, "I don't talk to 12. Please.

Hang up. Gone. I'm out. " But that was, I mean, the trip was really, really, I mean, even right after the trip, even on our way home, we ended up sealing up some events for September now, which is going to be good.

Yeah. Which, I mean, that's kind of, that's what you look for when you're on the road. It's great to see the fruit of your labor even before you get back. True.

So, of all the shops that you visited, I mean, we only visited a handful, but of all of them, which one do you think stood out to you the best? Well, that's not fair. He doesn't want to single them out. I'll tell you which one.

It's the same one that you think. Well, for me, it was Tobacco. Lajero Tobacco House. Yeah, Lajero Tobacco House.

Why? Where the guy was standing outside talking Spanish as you're walking? Well, I mean, it was great just because his enthusiasm, and we even talked about it when we were at the shop, I mean, it's one of those things that, at events, when you walk into a humidor, when you walk into a shop, if somebody greets you with enthusiasm, that sets the tone for the whole experience. Right, right.

You know what I mean? And that was something that, as soon as we walked in, and I had a little bit of correspondence with Adam on Instagram and whatnot, but, I mean, it was as if I had known the guy my whole life. Which, I mean, that's the best feeling because I feel like everybody in this room, we kind of give people that vibe a lot of times just because we're friendly, we're genuine, and it is hard to find those kind of people no matter what business you're in, no matter what part of the country you visit, that's kind of a tough thing, so I'm sure that and then the Cuban coffee probably, he had a key to my heart, so. I hope that sealed the deal.

But as a retailer, he does a great job because every person that walks in, he greets them, he takes them into the humidor if they need help, you know. " or none of that, you know? The cigars are over there. That doesn't exist.

Yeah. And also, by the way, shout out to Nick Malillo, because that is a great Foundation Cigar Lounge. Is it the only one or is it the first one? I want to say it may be the only one.

Yeah. I know it definitely, I want to say it definitely was the first, but I mean it came out great. I think I can't wait to go back to see when they're going to do the mural on the back wall. Oh yeah, it's coming up, right?

It's coming up. It's going to be looking good. I mean, I guess if Nick ever wants to hang out with us again, I mean, that'd be cool. Let, hashtag, let's hang out.

Hashtag, let's hang out. So what about you, Mike? What'd you do this week? Uh, no.

What's wrong? Uh, you know, like, cut the grass. Oh, that's good. Oh, cool.

Well, we went out, uh, well, now I've got the high school football games every Friday night where I work security. Whoa! Well, my wife's the cheerleading coach. Oh, just Adrian.

So in order to spend more time with her, I go and get to stand on the sidelines, and look like I'm an administrator. Kind of a big deal. I was about to say. You can live out those high school dreams of killing one of the cheerleaders.

Or the cheerleading coach, I guess. Exactly. There it is. Even better.

Even better than it. Nice. I like that. Then we went out drinking with some people on Saturday.

Yeah. Downtown Sanford. Oh, no events anywhere, nothing, huh? Nope, not this weekend.

Interesting. Nope. But you did start your new job. Oh, go ahead.

No, I was. Oh, that's how I chose it. Not until next week. Oh, so we're saving that for another podcast?

But we haven't announced that yet on the podcast. No, we haven't. Oh my God, this is big. Well, where are you guys going in September?

Give a little teaser to those things. Hold on, don't sidetrack. I want sidetrack. I want to sidetrack.

First you complained there was no limelight, here you go. No limelight. Come on. I'm going to start a new brokerage house.

Woo! That's what I'm talking about. So I'll be hitting the road next week. The life of a road warrior.

The life of a road. So maybe I'll run into you guys when you're peeing somewhere, or drinking coffee. That happens here. Having the sex.

That happens outside, so you can see, you can probably catch us anywhere. Yeah, that's, yeah. Red stops. Well, it's September 7th, my first brand event, and it's actually here at Cigar Hustler, with Florinata.

Really? Florinata. Florinata. My buddy, Joan Rodriguez.

Johan. Dominican Wealth. We like to call him Johan. Dominican Wealth.

Hashtag Dominican Wealth. Hashtag Dominican Wealth. Hashtag Dominican Wealth, yes. Well, that guy, I mean, you guys got to jump on the phone.

on the Flourinata Instagram. It says Flourinata, right? Yeah. And there's pictures of him in outfits, right?

No, that's his personal one. Oh. Which one's that? We've got to put him on blast right now.

Put him on blast? What is it? I don't know. I'll look it up.

Because I'm going to tell you right now, this shit is amazing. He's traveling to Paris. Yeah, exactly. And the weird vests and shit.

Looking like Marty McFly. You guys should hear what they say off the podcast. All nice things. It is.

All nice things, obviously. It is. All nice things. It's Joan Manuel 15, so that's J-O-A-N-M-A-N-U-E-L-1-5, and you got, oh, it says private, I'm not, I'm not even following him, that's weird.

So that's when you know you're a big deal, when everybody knows you, but then you're not even following him. So just, so just send him a request, I'm sure he'll accept you, because, you know, if anybody gives him attention, it makes him happy, so he'll be like, oh sweet, somebody else wants to follow me, and, uh, you gotta take a look at this guy's wardrobe, it's, um, electric, it's fantastic. Eléctric, Eléctric, Eléctric. Mike, are you excited?

This is like a big thing now. Yeah, well, my other business, there's a threat from the current president that it could end suddenly. So, I had to find something else. Interesting how, in this one shop, you had both sides, where it seems like this current presidency has helped the industry, cigar-wise.

I liked him until he started dropping all the tariffs and everything. Yeah, on China. He's getting closer and closer to my product categories. So, you never know.

Thought I'd start something before I had to start something. Just gotta roll with it, baby. Just gotta roll with those punches. Bought a little gas-saving car and hit the road.

I think, you know, you fast-forward a decade from now, and we're gonna be, I feel like I'm gonna be the Bill Belichick of the cigar industry. Like, everything that's successful has kind of stemmed from here. It's gonna be amazing. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the chapter of Humble.

The humility chapter. It's like the Kevin Bacon degrees and shit. To do like a commercial or something for us, he sounds amazing on his thing. That's right.

He sounds like the guy that does all the movie promos. We can make him do the intro and the outro. Yes. If you like a podcast.

Can we also talk about how Michael was hell-bent on trying to get through a podcast, not a podcast, an audiobook. " What? I love my books. Yeah, I love books too, but not in the dead of night and when we're like, okay, no, you're right.

Slim cuts, slim cuts. Sorry, figure out. Why is she screaming at him about peanuts, about the dog? I don't like a fence in my living room.

What? Nobody knows what you're talking about. I know, neither did I. I was listening to the book.

I had no idea. It's okay. So he embarrassed me, so I turned it off. It's okay.

Well, and also. You made me feel stupid. It was, you were falling asleep. Okay, one of my favorite parts of the road trip actually was, so I think it was the night that we were driving to Atlanta, that it was my turn to drive.

Which is always. Correct. It's always. It helps me feel better if I think that it's not always me.

I put 10 minutes in, I'm like, okay. God, I'm tired. Matt, you want to drive? You ready to switch?

I got to pee. So Mike's over in the passenger seat, and he's helping me out with some music and stuff, and then he's like, oh, hey, let's listen to this. He puts on some real pump-up type, like motivational speaking, like hype stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

My boy, Inky Johnson. Inky Johnson. Yes. " And Mike's asleep.

I was tired. And like, just out. Was he driving? No, no, no, I'm driving at this point.

And so, I'm there, and I'm just fucking, I'm just gripping the wheel of the car. I'm like, "Cut, let's go! Let's go! " And of course, I'm looking at Mike and nothing.

Then all of a sudden, the track ends. Mike gets up. Okay, now listen to this one. What the hell?

How'd you even know this was done? You were literally in the deepest sleep. And then, just another track of Inky. And then, we got there.

That's just a talent that I've always had. " Yeah, wow, I was just going to offer to drive. Yeah, I was just going to drive. Tell you what, pull up out front, I'll pull into the place.

That was me definitely being a smartass. Yeah, it's okay. Oh, it's my turn? Oh.

Oh, we're here. No, of course it is. Look, I can see it. Just keep going, Matt.

Yeah, just keep going. Like, if you make a left in the parking lot, that'll be good. But what a trip. That was good.

Mike, you're going to have to one day. So really, where are you going in September? We're going to go to... Where are we going?

Jerry's. We're going to go see Pete over at Jerry's. We're going to do a little event over there and then we're actually going to be going up and seeing our boy Adam. So I think we're doing Adam first at La Haro Tobacco.

Correct, I think it's the 20th. So in places you already went on this trip, you're just going back again for a regular event. Back on popular demand, you know? Yeah.

Kind of a big deal. Depending upon our time lapse, because my son's birthday is the 22nd. And actually, I will be freshly 27 at that point. Fresh.

Super old. I hope shit starts to ache and that you get tired and stuff. That's rude. But then who's going to drive you around?

Who's going to be the one driving if I get tired? Well, he'll pick up a brand with a younger owner. Exactly. That's how he does it.

Typical Patriots. Typical Patriots. A better looking, a better looking, then they're going to retire. We bring in the talent, we polish them off, and when they're ready to shine, we ship them out.

You're right there. You're out of your problem. Just selfless. And that's the end of chapter of Humility.

Just full circle. I love it. It's full circle. I love it.

So Mike, what are the brands that are going to be repping? Well, there's only two Definitas right now. I've got Florinata and Caffey 1901. Classy.

But what he needs to get is Southern Draw. Well, we're talking, but he has not... I know that you're in discussion, but I'm going to throw it out there on the podcast. Putting undue pressure on my friend, Robert.

I mean, he has been on before. Yes, he has. He has. So, there's that.

We spoke briefly yesterday. He got stomach flu in Nicaragua. I don't know if you have a flu in Nicaragua and he's feeling better, but it's not fun. No, stomach flu?

It's Nicaragua? Yeah, it never happened. That never happens. Sure, he never ate a Nacatamal and ate mystery meat and ate a banana plant.

" Yeah, give me one of those. Sounds great. And I was on the rolling floor in nice, hard cold sweats. I was like, I got to go.

I can't be here. This is no bueno. This is not a good one. Get me to the nearest arbol.

Get me to the nearest arbol. I'm going to be sick. Find me the tree. Find me the tree.

Oh, arbol is tree? Yes, it is. So that's where arbor comes from. Okay, sure.

What's arbor? Arbor day. Tree day? I don't know if it came from the Spanish language, but maybe.

It's easy to remember that way. That is easy to remember that way. So what's grass? Is it grass?

I'm glad we solved that. Lone? It is yerba. Yerba.

Whoa. Mr. Palmer with the accent. I can mimic.

I like that. Even in Chinese, I can mimic, but I don't know what I'm saying. Him kow kow. Yep.

Yeah, they'll tell me, say this, and then I can say it, but then after they leave, not again. No, never again. Like, I can't say grass now, but if you say it, I can say it. It's okay.

Don't worry about it. Say grass again. You never have to. It's good.

Just talk real close into the microphone. Say it one more time. Say it one more time. Just one more time.

Yerba. I'm almost there. I'm almost there. Yerba, ooh!

Yerba! So hot. Yerba! What about Mike?

What about you, man? What was your favorite part of the trip? What was your favorite part of the trip, Michael? Oh, man.

Other than the fact you didn't have to drive. I usually ask the questions on the podcast. I don't know if you put me on the spot. Well, here we are.

Here we are. Well, we're at 36 minutes. We can just stop in the United States. Let's see.

That's terrible. This is the most fun I've had all day. I mean, I think that, for me, the... The Yerba?

No, the best part of the trip, for me, was kind of... Oh, the sex. I've done the intro with you and kind of given you what I've learned and like my interpretation of specific accounts, what I like about them, what I don't like about them, how not to be a time suck, you know, you gotta know when to call it, like, and just having that... Did you play the time suck episode for him so he would know?

No, and just having that correspondence with you and, uh, you know... We did a whole episode on time suck. Oh, wow, look at that. Time sucks, it's an important thing, it's an important factor.

Yeah. Well, I remember that was one of the first things that even after the first shot, I was like, oh, yeah, like... I mean, there's different times where one of us will be vibing with a shop owner and the other one will be kind of not having that same interaction, and so it's one of those things you've got to be… You've just got to thin slice of the scenario, right, and how you adapt with that person, and how the click is, and if you instantly hook up, that's great. If you don't, even if it's awkward, you've got to know when to call it.

Yeah, I remember with Nick Malilla, our code word, because both him and I are probably notorious time suckers. Our code word was tippy toe, tippy toe. And if any, for any of you Seinfeld fans, which Nick Malilla is the biggest Seinfeld fan of all time, there was an episode where they had to go up into this girl's apartment to go get a voicemail cassette. " And so, at one point, they had to like, something happen, they go, "Tippy Toe!

Tippy Toe! Tippy Toe! " And so, that's what we mean, Nick. They sound like some Georgians.

Yeah, and so, Nick and I, they do our thing, Tippy Toe. But I think we did some pop-ins. There were some casual pop-ins. Yeah, casual pop-ins.

But all of them, I mean, that was the good part, is that we had no bad experiences, whereas... Well, that's good. On other trips I've had, it's like, turning down a pop-ins. Hey, we're just gonna come by and, like, have a pop-in.

We don't take pop-ins. Well, you must not be a fan of the pop-in! Well, you try and announce yourself before you show up. No, of course.

But when you tell them, and then they say no, that's always fun. And the difference is, too, dealing with the right accounts. Correct, yeah. Which I think that was the best thing on this trip was, these are accounts that Mike and Greg have developed, and you can obviously tell that they've kind of, They hand-picked who they were wanting to work with and really make it a point to have shops that are going to support them and support the brands they carry.

Well, unfortunately, I mean, I wish I could take all the credit for that, but, you know, I can't because, you know, Rosales really helped build that playbook, right? And he's kind of set up the blueprint as to, you know, these guys are good, these guys are good, you know, and we've kind of developed off of Romo. Are we going to talk about the throwback Thursday or the memory that was on Facebook of Rosales when he was Chubbs McGubbs? Did you see that?

Oh, I saw that. He looked like a guy in a bodysuit. It was awesome. He did.

It looked completely different. It was awesome. I missed that Rosales. The Rosales that we used to go to IHOP in the middle of the night.

Did you see Skip's post? " Exactly. Not even joking. I didn't even see that, but in my head, I was like, Skip's probably gonna see us and be like, I still don't give a fuck.

I still don't give a shit. I died laughing when I read that comment. That's awesome. But yeah, that's, I mean, the shops have been great.

I can't wait for our next trip, just 'cause I know that the shop quality is just gonna be top notch, and I mean, I guess the company will be okay. Yeah. I'd refuse a drive. Hey, we tried to invite you there, homeboy.

Just flat out refuse a drive. Oh, me? But you're right, we did try and bring him. I would've ended up driving, make an old man drive.

It would've been great. Dad! Dad, when are we going to get there? He's touching me.

He's touching me. Don't cross this line in the back seat. Also, if anybody wants to ever have, I don't know how many charcuterie fans we have out there, but something that I discovered on the road. I had never had one of those, you know back when you were a kid, people used to have those white mozzarella, The best thing to do is to do with the single packages.

Yeah, man. You've never had one. I had never had one. So, of course, Mike has 72 of them.

And so, you snag one of those. Low-carb, low-sodium. You better believe it. And then, get one of those pretzel bag chips.

God, so good. So good. It's like a charcuterie board on the road. That and then the cold brew saved us a 17-pound bag of trail mix.

I mean, it's really just the essentials that got us through, you know? Cheesesteaks, pretzels, and trail mix. That's right. Take only what you need to survive.

Oh, yeah. Cold brew coffee. And also, never, if you ever go through a drive-thru, if you ever go through a drive-thru with Mike's Hustler, for the love of God, do not order a water, because he'll look at you. We have water.

Dude, I'm sorry, maybe I wanted, I walked sing gas. I didn't want bubbles this time. We have so many Pellegrinos. Okay, fine.

All right. I wasn't there. I had regular water, too. Well, I felt...

Are you sure you guys wanna go out again together? No, this is gonna be great, I can't wait. You might come back married. It's fantastic.

That'll be cute. I think we should wrap it up here, huh? What do you think? For the show?

Yeah. Unless you guys got more, you never said what your favorite part of the show was. Did you see how he just avoids that? No, I did say my favorite part of the trip was, you know, kind of doing the lay of the land with him.

Oh, that's right, yeah, teaching you the ropes. I feel like I talk and you don't even listen to me, Michael. What? It's hurtful.

I turned your mic off an hour ago. Oh, good. Also, I appreciated Mike being in collared shirts all the time, button downs, that was pretty good. Oh, that's his thing.

I like it. I love that. And then today he said that he might graduate with some loafers. That really made my day.

That was pretty good. With the no socks? That's right. The slippers?

Look at that. That's lovely. It is lovely. I mean, it's so easy.

Just so easy. I mean, it's easy when you have good guidance, right? You got, you know, a fashion Sandinista over here. That's what I'm talking about.

He also called me a fashion Sandinista, as in the guy that supported Ortega. So imagine someone in Nicaragua, very well dressed, yet also throwing rocks at the revolutionaries. So, take that as you will! I would love to see him!

God, there goes Matt again, he doesn't have any ammunition, but damn he looks good! I think that's a good way to finish. Paint that picture everybody, next time you try and find the FQ guy. There you go!

That was what she said! She's shooting the rocks! Ugh! Stealing the road!

Throw it! Alright, we'll just cut it in. Alright. Bye!

Bye, guys! This is the operator with a collect ball from... Emeritale. To accept the charges, press one, now!

Uh! Woo! That's it folks, show's over. If you have any questions or suggestions for guests, leave them on our Facebook page at CigarHustlersPodcast.

You can follow the show on Instagram at CigarHustlersPodcast. You can follow Mikey at CigarHustler, and you can follow me at FCC_Mike. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe on whichever product you use. I said we, 'cause I'm here, you here, some places we can go, some places we can go, do you wanna ride, ride with me, your spot is reserved, family, do you wanna ride, cigarette boats, yachts, they know where we can't go, we in South Beach in the Hampton, South Beach, Shed.

See you next time.

Show Notes

One of our best episodes yet!  A second apperance by Matthew Hunt of FQ Cigars.....

Its an all out free for all, as they go over their road trip and events the past weekend!  And all the SEX they had people they met and the food Matt was allowed to have!!!

But don't order water in the drivethru!!!

Your gonna love this episode!

Please make sure to rate, review and subrbe on what ever of our providers you Listen!  You can follw the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike @FCC_mike.