Episode 35 Joan Rodriguez Flor Y Nata Cigars

Episode Summary

Episode 35 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast welcomes back Joan Rodriguez, the one-man operation behind Flor y Nata Cigars, for his third appearance on the show. Before the interview, co-host Mike Palmer recaps his first week as a broker for the Florida Cigar Collection, repping Blanco Cigars (David Blanco), Flor y Nata, and Caffey 1901 (Gabby Caffey). He walks through his "soft opening" sales trip — Cigar Life in Lakeland, Ashes in Miami (mid-relocation), and Bellicoso Cigars & Cafe, where Josh Fabello picked up Flor y Nata — and goes three for three on placements.

Joan then opens up about the arc of his company since exhibiting at IPCPR 2015 in New Orleans, where he sat at a booth with no appointments and no connections, handing out cigars to passersby. He explains how walking the 2016 Las Vegas show on an importer's pass was far more valuable for relationship-building, why a booth is a risky investment for a small brand, and how his first U.S. account came through AJ Costa at Smoke Ring in Houston. His approach is old-fashioned cold-calling: fly into a market, walk into shops, introduce himself. He details upcoming events — October 5 at Smoke Manic in Philadelphia, a New Jersey stop October 6, and El Dorado in Dallas (owner Kurt Nauman) — plus a planned swing through Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

The heart of the episode is the Flor y Nata rebrand, a two-year project that involved both a new band and a stronger blend using better tobacco. Joan explains that "flor y nata" is a Spanish expression meaning "cream of the crop," which left him without an image to build on — until trips to Paris (and the Versailles gardens of Louis XIV) and Granada, Spain inspired the "Garden of Good & Evil" concept. The Maduro side is named Temptation (already released); the Habano natural side is Loyalty, launching in October in Corona, Robusto and Toro. Two seven-cigar samplers follow — Betrayal (Maduro) and Devotion (natural) — each containing the three core vitolas plus four sampler-only sizes with names like Flower of Envy, with customer feedback deciding which becomes a regular production cigar.

The hosts also discuss the podcast's growing international audience, where to find the show, upcoming appearances at Vana Tranquility, Fedora's, Cutters, Fusions in St. Pete, Jerry's in Tallahassee, and a giveaway tied to the first five boxes of the new Flor y Nata line sold through the Cigar Hustler webpage.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Week recap: broker life with the Florida Cigar Collection
   Mike Palmer's first sales week repping Blanco Cigars, Flor y Nata and Caffey 1901 across Lakeland, Miami and Bellicoso Cigars & Cafe.
2. 02
   Shop-by-shop impressions
   Comparing the vibe at Cigar Life, the relocating Ashes in Miami, and evening street-side smoking at Bellicoso.
3. 03
   Podcast listenership and where to find the show
   The guys track international listeners and list Podbean, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, Player FM and Stitcher.
4. 04
   Joan's first IPCPR and building U.S. accounts
   Joan Rodriguez recalls his lonely 2015 New Orleans booth and how AJ Costa and Smoke Ring in Houston became his first U.S. account.
5. 05
   Trade show vs. road trips for a small brand
   Why Joan weighs the cost of an IPCPR booth against cold-calling shops city by city.
6. 06
   Fall 2018 event schedule
   Philadelphia's Smoke Manic on October 5, a New Jersey stop, El Dorado in Dallas, and a Tulsa–Wichita–Kansas City–St. Louis swing.
7. 07
   The Flor y Nata rebrand and Garden of Good & Evil
   How Versailles and the gardens of Granada inspired a new band, a stronger blend, and the good-versus-evil concept behind the line.
8. 08
   Temptation, Loyalty, and the Betrayal & Devotion samplers
   The Maduro and Habano natural lines, October's Corona/Robusto/Toro release, and seven-cigar samplers with four exclusive vitolas.

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. 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. Hustle and hustle, hustle and hustle every day of every day of every day of every day of every day of...

I've had Lampetal Edge 45 minutes. Well, we have a lot to talk about. Oh. We have a lot to talk about.

A lot to talk about. Now that we're recording. I don't see the things on your paper. That's not a lot.

Don't look at the paper. Don't you fucking worry about my notes, pal. Take your glasses off so you can't see the paper. No, that's not fair.

Don't you worry about my notes. I'm putting my sunglasses on. Oh, he's going to be bougie. All right, so.

We should all wear sunglasses. Listen, listen, we've got a lot to talk about. We've got a lot to talk about. It's going to be a good episode.

I get a feeling it's going to be a good episode. You want to just, let's do the intro and get it out of the way? Okay, ready, one, two, three, go! Hi, I'm Mike.

And I'm Mike too. And this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. So, oh shit, I'm burning the wall. Good for you.

Sound-proofing. It's fire-proof too. So let's begin with a recap of the week because you had a serious week this week. Well, next week is the serious week.

This was the setup week. Sounds like a soft opening? Yes, yes. So, Mr.

Michael Palmer of Florida Cigar Club, lead producer of Cigar Hustlers podcast. Lead? I am the only producer. Well, I don't know.

I mean, let's see how this plays out in the other upcoming weeks. I may need to fill you in with somebody. Freddy's. Freddy's.

Greg, you hit this one button over here, and you turn this dial. Ooh. And then when they're talking, you turn off their microphone. A brother's podcast.

Oh. So, you are now the official broker for Florida, what's it called? Culture Club? Florida Cigar?

Florida Cigar Collection. Ah. The collection of cigars from Florida. Oh, good.

They're Florida brands. Very nice. Thank you. So, and now what brands are you repping?

I've got David Blanco, Blanco Cigars, Florinada, we have Joanne in with us today, and then Gabby Caffey, Caffey1901s. Ooh. Yes. I was selected as the Honduran Cigar of the Year, Best Budget Cigar of the Year, something like that.

So it's not in Florida? No, no. They're made in Honduras. Oh.

But he's in Florida. Ah. The headquarters of my lines are in Florida. Nice.

Yes. So? Tampa, Miami, and Miami. So you had a soft opening.

Soft opening. I've been to technically three shops, but one was a delivery. They had already picked up the Blanco before I knew they were carrying it. So what were the three shops?

Cigar Life and Lakeland. Just picked up Blanco. They've been on the show before? Yes.

He was going to ship them. I was there. I was like, "No, no, no. I'm headed that way.

" But I already know Patty and Mario. Introduce yourself. Well, the company. I mean, they've been very supportive behind the scenes with what I've been doing, and it was just nice to be able to take something in there.

But the question was, "Did you get paid on this one? " I go, "No. You ordered it yesterday. " I did it today.

I would have got paid on it. I would have got paid on it, yeah. And who else? Ashes in Miami.

They're going to pick up the Caffey line. Oh, that's a hell of a drive between Cigar Life and Ashes. I mean, you drove past a lot of cigar stores. Well, the main reason to go to Miami was to meet with Gabby Caffey at his house where his office is.

He's got a building behind his house that he built that is the office/storage facility. Gotcha. So I spent two days with him, and then I went to Ashes in Miami. I was actually just going to meet some of the guys from the club.

But the owner happened to come in, and far be it from me to pass up an opportunity because the man already knew who I was. Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? And your third store?

Oh, Bellicoso Cicarios & Cafe has also been on the show. They picked up Florinata last night. I had a nighttime meeting because Josh Fabello is only there on Thursday evenings. Okay.

Cool. Yes. So are you three for three? Three for three.

Good for you. Maybe four for four. That's definitely not gonna happen. I hate you.

Greg will buy. You're three for four. Oh yeah, good luck getting out of him. He's my friend.

Yeah, that's nice. He's my friend. Took me to the airport yesterday. I carry Florinata.

Oh, so I can technically count this as a done one already? It depends if he pays you or not. I'm gonna try and cut you out. Oh, very nice.

Your orders will always get lost, too, just so you know. So, I'll just call him direct. Doesn't matter, I'm the shipper, too. That's part of my deal.

In Miami? Yeah. It could be a hell of a commute every day. Well, you know.

You won't order every day. So, of Cigar Life, Ashes, and Bellicosos, which one do you like the best? Ashes is relocating from, it's a huge shopping complex, and they're moving from one side of the property to the other, so they weren't completely set up. But they had their humidor ready to go.

Yeah. But, well, Cigar Life I've been to many times, too. Right. I like Cigar Life and Bellicosos.

It's different. Each shop's different. There's a different vibe in each one. In Bellicoso, if I was going to go there, I would go in the evening, because you have to sit up front and smoke, it's a street type of thing with a nice shop, and they make the greatest coffee there, though.

Okay. And Ashes is moving? Ashes has moved, so they're setting up, so it was a little rough, I guess you could say. It just wasn't there yet.

Yeah, it just wasn't there yet. Sure. And Cigar Life? Cigar Life, I'm very comfortable there, because I've known it since before it opened.

So of the three, you like Cigar Life the best? It's hard to say, really, because I like all of them for different reasons. Yeah? Yeah.

But Tugar Life's the top one? Not necessarily, because it's further away. Not further away than Ash's? No, no, no.

Well, Ash's will not be a regular. So Bellicoso's is your favorite? Out of the three, probably Bellicoso. Oh, okay.

I like the vibe there, and it's a nice, pretty girls walk by while you sit outside all the time. They're all dressed up going to the bars and nightclubs and things. Yeah, there are a lot of cigars and nightclubs and things. Why didn't you?

I thought you had a connect at Fort Lauderdale Cigar Bar too with Ozzy. I do, but I wasn't staying down there. I'll make a trip to Miami and I'll hit a lot of the shops. There's several guys down there I know.

But yeah, I'll go see Ozzy. Very cool. So I solved our Djibouti debauchery. You found out who the one guy was in Djibouti?

I did, I did. How did you find that out? I did. He's a friend of mine.

Oh. And you have a friend in Djibouti? Yes. A Djiboutiite?

I can't go too much into detail about it, but I can just simply tell you that he's no longer there. That he's, you know, he is in other locations. I understand. Oh, is he the one guy that pops up in all these weird countries?

Possibly. He could be. Possibly. We're really big in Australia right now.

Very nice. It goes United States, Great Britain, and then Australia. Well, I mean, you know, Dave Burke of Cigar Jukebox is down there. Right.

Exactly. So, it's very possible that, you know, he's a fan and a good friend and he helps. Well, then that might explain Jordan then also. Has your friend been in Jordan?

Possibly. We might have a small military following. You have a rogue, some rogue... I can't get into the details.

No, no, no, I understand. I mean, you've already given up too much information. I'm not saying he's the guy that's our military following, but I never thought about that. It could be a military base where the guys have found it and they listen.

Possibly. Because we're very entertaining. We are. Yes.

I mean, okay. If you say so. Did you not listen to last week's show? You don't listen to the show, do you?

No. You don't. I lived it, Dottie. I go back and listen several times.

If I listen to it, I'm going to pick it apart and tell you where we went wrong and I'm going to try and... You'll go 32 seconds in or... And all that's not going to matter soon because you're going to be, you know, Mike Palmer the road warrior. Well, maybe we can set up a remote thing where we call it in and...

Fuck that. We can't get the sound right now. Right now. This sounds good.

This is sounding good today. Yeah. You know how many complaints I heard about the static on one of our episodes? That was on the Mealy one.

The static was bad. I told you. I heard that in the headphones. I don't know what it was, but it's not there now.

We're fucking top notch operation here. It's this 1972 Apple laptop we use. That's not 1972. It's like 2007.

Might as well be '72. Wow. It wouldn't come on when we sat down. Did you notice that?

No. Yeah, it wouldn't come on, so I had to plug it in. I couldn't type in the password because the keyboard had stopped working, so after you hit it a couple of times on the side, the keyboard kicks in and then it comes. Well, it looks like you got it going now.

Oh, it's right. Well, maybe. We don't know. Maybe this is not recording at all.

Well, you know, it would be better than... People are going to get 45 minutes to... Oh, so it'd just be a standard podcast for us. There's just one.

Just one. Do you want to announce our guest? I already did, but he won't talk. Who's our guest?

Johan. Johan from Florinata. Makes him sound Swedish. Say hi, Johan.

You have to let me know how you're going to pay me first. You've got to sit in front of them. You've got to talk in the microphone. We're not going to pay you anything for this.

Why not? Actually, you're going to pay us because it's exposure. Oh. So you're welcome.

That's how the thing works. I'll tell you what, we're not going to charge you this time, so you're welcome. So I heard the last podcast when I was in there and I really know that I have to get close to the microphone right now because my voice sounds really sexy. What's awesome is we don't I don't know what type of Johan we're going to get on the podcast because we've had different experiences.

Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. When I first hear you guys, I thought like, holy shit, this is for real. These guys are looking professional, you know?

I even panicked a little bit because, oh my god, wax boys. They actually have headphones and everything. Yeah. We used to have the one pair though.

And now you've come to the reality that this is just a slapstick operation. And you feel better about that, right? Yeah. Good.

So, let's talk about something. You guys pick the subject. Let's talk about you. We are going to talk about you a little bit.

Yeah, I don't care. I mean, when were you last on the show? It was, what, three, four months ago? It was, I think it was May.

May? We were talking about that earlier. I think it was May. So, yeah.

Three or four months ago. I didn't know that the podcast community was so huge and the work that you guys have put into this. He let nobody listen. Are you going to cut him off every single time he talks?

Just you. Just cutting you off. Well, you've cut him off four for four at this point. And that's as good as your track record as you being a sales rep.

So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, John. Go ahead. Go ahead, buddy.

So I was, I was... Hey, my mic runs off, you can't even hear me. Oh my god. So go ahead.

So like I was saying, I was really surprised about the community when it comes to the podcast things, and Mike told me to download this app called Podbean, and I took like five minutes looking for it and couldn't find it. I felt like an animal. And I told you, like, okay, this is how you feel when you're getting old and your kids are growing up and they're looking, they're having new things and you start seeing things that, like, you know, people. Right, but you have an iPhone, right?

Yeah. So you can just go on... Yeah, but it took me a while to get into the app because first, I think it was, I thought I could get it through the Apple Music or something like that. Yeah.

But then I got lost and I started looking what a spot been and what the podcast looked like because they have a thing on iTunes that you can see all the podcasts over there. Right. And I was looking in there and it wasn't there because it had to be on that application, right? Yeah.

But there's another app too? Or not? Yeah, we're on a couple of things now. Like what?

Mike's shutting down. He's not talking. He's not gonna talk now. Why not?

You can talk. I got in trouble. Because I yelled at him. He yelled at me.

Besides the Fogbing application, which other way I can get you guys at? We are on SoundCloud. Oh, that's a new one. That's a new one.

SoundCloud? SoundCloud. Google Play. Yeah.

Wow. There's too many. I don't remember all of them. So let's say I have this iPhone here.

What will be the easiest way for me to access? The podcast thing that comes with the phone. Yeah. We're on iTunes podcast.

The one that you couldn't figure out? Yep. The purple one. It's a purple icon on your phone.

It comes with your phone. Yeah. Okay. Or on iTunes, I guess you'd say.

Yeah. Yeah, iTunes. Good. So, that was one of my first questions when I was looking for the show, and then I saw the people following the show.

Right. So, I actually, before hearing mine, I heard a couple of different podcasts before. Yeah. So I can have an idea of what you guys were doing, and how it was going to be my performance against the other people.

Because for some reason, I don't know, I like benchmarking myself every time. Like a comparison. Yeah, but, you know, it's that thing that you have, like, "I'm doing it right," that doubt that you have on your mind every time. Right.

But if you're gonna be funny or not, but this is just a thing that you have to be myself. It's not something like you can fake or force. It's not like a script that you're going to follow. Yeah, because people know that shit.

If you're fake, they're like, hmm. All right, I have the list now of everything. We're on Podbean, iTunes, Player, FM, SoundCloud. We're on like five different ones.

Nice. It's harder not to find us. Right, at this point. So good job on not finding us on iTunes.

Thank you. Yeah, well good job for putting us up there. Oh, we're also on Stitcher. Excellent.

What the hell, I don't even know what that shit is. So, it turns out that I can talk whatever I want over here, since it's not the script, so the first thing I want to say is, I got a show on TV, I was watching yesterday, it was freaking hilarious, I just got three seasons in it, and it's called The Office, which is really, really funny. Yeah, it's brand new. Brand new.

It's a new TV show. For me, it's brand new. For me, it's brand new. I know that they have like 10 seasons.

Right. Maybe 11. You're pulling away from the microphone. I never heard about it.

Okay. And you know... Isn't there even a movie? No.

It's not from a movie? I think it is. Maybe. Well, I really like the show.

It's like... They seem to get everything out of the pathetic lives really funny. Right. Like, they basically have the show of like, paper office, like they say paper.

And they have this portrait of normal people's life, or like, let's say normal, or I don't think they're normal. So how do you watch the show? Netflix. You watch it on Netflix?

Yeah. So I got a TV show that I want you to watch. What? It's a TV show called Perfect Strangers.

Have you ever heard of that? No. It's on iTunes, it is on Netflix. Is it?

So you are a fucking dead ringer for Balky on Perfect Strangers. Balky Bartakamos. Mike's going to be fantastic when you watch it. Or he'll get terribly offended and never talk to you.

He knows what to expect when he's hanging out with us, or at least with me. With you. Right? It's like an Ike and Tina kind of love-hate thing.

Like, you know, I abuse him. But dude, tell me I'm wrong. My mic's off again. Tell me I'm wrong.

There is a resemblance, yes. I mean, he's obviously not that extremely quirky, but it's still funny. It is. It is funny.

Right. The long hair. At least he doesn't wear the clothes. That would be hilarious.

That would be. Well, I mean, he's got some. Have you seen? He doesn't wear the paisley vest with the striped shirt.

No, but like, you know, he's got some unique. You know, he's a fashion Santa. Okay. You can tell me now what half a fashion.

Because you have a pair of blue jeans, a normal T-shirt, and a pair of sneakers. A normal T-shirt? What type of T-shirt is that? A T-shirt?

The Black T-Shirt. What brand name is that? Oh, I don't know, Express? Express?

Express? I think that qualifies as bougie. Oh, yeah, right. Totally.

So, everything started with that freaking picture that was posted of me in Paris. Right. Yeah, I have to, you know, business is personal now. It's not something that you cannot link with your personal life anymore.

So I did the mistake of allowing a couple of my friends in the history of stalking me on Instagram. Well, I mean, you know, mainly like @golfer6315. Oh, yeah, yeah. Jerry.

So, he's been mocking me off, like the cigar industry, fashion blogger, whatever he was. He was not no mad hunt. Right. The original fashion Sandinista.

But I, you know, I want to talk about more, like, what's going on with your company and your organization. and your organization in the past four or five months from where you were and kind of where you are now, right? I found the Perfect Strangers theme song. Don't play it because it's going to sound like bullshit.

No, no, no. I mean, we... So... We should have played that when he came on.

We still can. All right. Okay. So...

jesus you lost my maybe lose my train of thought perfect strangers balky okay balky so okay i'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt right now so well i mean we had the show we had ipcpr right um were you at the show uh yeah i was there i was just walking in yeah just walking around and Yeah. Let's say that I had a booth in 2015 on IPCOPR on New Orleans, but, you know, I am the only man running the company, so it wasn't. Not anymore. Not anymore.

That's true. Now we need two chairs at the booth. So actually, that's where we met, right? New Orleans?

No. Oh yeah, I was hanging you a couple of cigars or someone. - Yeah, you handed me the shoguiz and... - Yeah, I remember that.

- And the Noxios. - I think I gave you a couple of those, yeah. - Mm-hmm. - And then you, we're gone.

- Never talked to you again. - No. - Just like that. - It was horrible.

- Just like that. - Yep, just came in, weaseled some cigars and ran away. - The audience was more of a learning experience. - Yeah.

- Like, okay, this is the industry you're coming in, this is what you got. - Right. And it was a rude awakening, but it was good, because I knew I was going to be battling against, since the industry is really small, it's really tough at the same time. It's not something really easy to get a market share.

But, you know, I said to myself, okay, I'm gonna fight for it, I'm gonna try to do my best, and see what happens. So on that time I didn't know if I was going to be coming here to the United States because I have that green card process going on. Right. How's that going?

It's done. Yeah? Yeah, it was done in 2016. Oh, okay.

I'm just making sure. He's got an immigration issue. Now everybody's going to know. I'm pretty sure we talked about that actually.

Do you have the ICA number? They're probably knocking on the front door right now. Don't worry, I got my papers. Oh, sound effects.

I got my papers. I got my papers. I don't need no papers. So, at that time, I didn't even know if I was actually going to be able to stay here.

Right. Like, be over here in a legal way, I was supposed to. So, but after that, after 2015, you haven't had... Neither one of you would do the microphone, just so.

I figured if I spoke louder, I'd be okay. No. That's not how it works. I'm okay now?

Yes. In 2016 and '17 and '18, you haven't had a booth, right? No, no, no, because, I mean, okay, I was in there in 2015, and all I did was just sit over there doing nothing, just waiting for people. Right.

Because I had no connections, I had no appointments, and you know, I was, so I basically was just looking around to see if I got anyone to stop. Right. I picture him throwing cigars at people as they walk by. No, I'm not laughing at you, it's just pictures.

I was, yeah. " Thanks. Is the bathroom near your table? I'm looking at my bathroom.

Just imagine the bathroom break, man. What a great place to have your table right by the bathroom. To be, you know, to be completely honest, I got a couple of Dominican friends who stopped by because of the coffee and the sewers. Right.

And I, you know, we had a good time. Right. And, you know, it's not like I knew the industry. Right.

It was just me. And after that, I decided that I was going to be looking for an alternative way of meeting new people. Right. Because that's what I was lacking at that time.

So, I think it was 2016, right, then they moved into Vegas. Yeah. So, I went there in 2016, but I went, that's walking. I got a pass with my importer at that time, and I got in, I stayed there for a couple days, and there was when I actually started meeting new people, bonding with them, and making solid relationships.

Right. And, well, I did a good relationship on the 2015 one, and that's where I got my first account in Houston. And he was a guy that used to be manager of a shop. Now, he's working with a cigar company, and, um...

You can say his name. AJ? Oh, I don't know. I thought you were talking about Jerry.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. His, um... This is... Oh, you're talking about AJ Costa.

AJ Costa. Yeah, yeah. So, he was a manager at a shop called Smoke Ring, which is my first account here in the States. No shit.

Yeah. I like AJ. So, after the IPCPR, I got back home and, you know, we moved to Miami on December 2015, and my first trip actually was to Houston. I stayed with AJ at his house, and he took me into the store.

I met Larry, who is the store owner, and I did my first sale. And that felt, I still remember the day. Right. That's a big, great feeling, huh?

It was a great milestone for me because it meant a lot. Right. And, you know, those are the moments you're going to remember for always in your life. Right.

And after that? So, like, well, 2019 coming up is going to be at IPCPR, it's going to be at the Sands, I believe, this upcoming year. Yeah, they already announced that. So, are you going to get a booth this year?

I don't know yet, but what can I tell you? I don't know. I mean, how can I explain this? I don't...

So IPCBR is a bit of a gamble for a smaller guy, right? Yeah, I just don't know if it's gonna be worth it or not. So, but like at this point, you've definitely made some progress in the industry, right? Yeah.

And, I mean, your name is a little bit better well known at this point, no? Yes. So, why wouldn't you, why wouldn't you take the risk at this point with a brand that's starting to become established in the industry, right? I mean, I know that you had a smaller number of accounts four months ago from where you're at now, right?

There's a lot of different reasons that I was thinking about. And the first thing is, of course, investment, which I'm going to have to choose between that or traveling along the states to meet new people. Right. Because the people, when they go to the show, they don't have a lot of time.

Right. And something as simple as a fire can affect their schedule. So let's say I got 10, 15 friends that are willing to have lunch with me or meet at the show after they have their appointments, if they get their appointment moved, then I will not be able to see them. So let me ask you, when you travel, do you do events at one of these travels, or do you just go out?

I just go out. Okay. Because I need to meet new people. It's like a cold call meeting.

Yeah. Okay. It's not going to be the first time or the second time that I go somewhere, I just start looking for things, and just trying to introduce myself out of the blue. Okay.

But it's not something new for me, because I came to this country alone, knowing no one. So it's not going to be really hard for me just to go someplace and start looking for cigar shops, trying to introduce myself. Gotcha. So you don't want to book any upcoming events at any other shops?

Yeah, I can do it. You should set those up beforehand. Say what? Set those up before you go.

Mike, if you're in smoke-ins in Texas and you're going to Texas. Of course, if I know the area, I know the retailers. Now it's going to be different. But let's say if I go to St.

Louis, I don't have... You don't have any shops in St. Louis. Any shop in St.

Louis yet. So the thing is that I'm going to do my research, I'm going to talk to the guys. Maybe I get to one of my friends to know any store over there so I can make a connection. They spread the word, after I get to the first one, they just prefer me to other stores if they're friends.

So, what makes you pick a particular area to go to? That's a good question. There's many factors, but one of the factors is going to be new smokers. So, what do you think is, so what's on your radar?

You know, I'm assuming that you're going to travel by the end of the year, right? Yeah. So, where's the next place you're going? No.

St. Louis? No. So, I have an event in Philadelphia, October 5th, and I also have an event in the New Jersey, October 6th, and then I have an event in Dallas.

Okay, October 6th is where? - New Jersey. - Oh, okay. New Jersey.

So, October 5th where? B&B? - I cannot disclose that yet. - Why not?

- Well, this is the time to do it. - This is the time. You're plugging the event. - If you're going to be in a location.

- Well, October 5th is going to be Smoke Manage Junk in Philadelphia. - Okay. - October 6th, I don't have confirmation yet, so I cannot say anything until I have the confirmation. - Gotcha.

- Gotcha. Okay. " No, it's a... I'll let you guys know when I'm.

I'm gonna be in the so-and-so area, and then maybe we'll stop by at the shop and... Smoke Maniac's a good shop. Yeah. And a half a store...

Say the name, we'll put them on blast, that way they'll feel obligated to have them come in. Yeah, I'm trying to, like I'm running through my head of the Jersey locations that are in the south, Because if he's going to be in Philly, that's like in the region that he's going to be at, right? Well, after that it's Dallas. I mean, because that makes sense, you know, you figure Philly, Jersey, and then you're just going to pop right into Dallas because it's very close.

It's on the way. No, after that I get back to Miami and then I fly to Dallas. Oh, you're going to swing through Miami on the way to Dallas. So what's the shop in Dallas?

It's called El Dorado. It's a new store. El Dorado? El Dorado?

Yeah, El Dorado. Sounds cooler when he says it. Everything sounds cooler when he says it. Yeah, I know.

Thank you. We got you one compliment. I'm gonna go back to beating you up. So, it was an old store, and the guy sold the store, and now it's owned by another guy.

His name is Kurt Nauman. And I was there for Memorial Day and decided to make a quick pit stop because a friend of mine had a vandal over there. Yeah. I'll put on my journey.

So, it was a long time since I didn't saw Guillermo, one of my friends, so I wanted to hang out with him. I ended up at this shop, and I just made a connection. I didn't have stuff at that time because it was May, so I wasn't back ordered. " - Right.

- And in June, the cigars got in, he put an order, and after that, it became viral. Now he is doing really good on Florinadas, and I appreciate his support, and I'm willing to support him until the end. And that's how you do the relationships. Okay.

And it was just a random stuff, I ended up there just because I wanted to be my friend, you know? So that's kind of your game plan for the remainder of the year? Uh, kind of. Yeah.

Yeah. Is there something else? Uh, yeah. What else?

Stay tuned. Who are we gonna stay tuned to? I mean, now's the time to say it. If you're working on something, or there's a particular region or, you know?

You know, yeah. Is it time to promote yourself? Well, I'm gonna do a small trip beginning on Tulsa and ending up in St. Louis.

I'm gonna visit Wichita and then Kansas City and I'm gonna see what I can do over there. So you're gonna go see Jeff at Classic? Yeah, absolutely. He's a good dude.

Yeah, he's a really good dude. So like... And Tulsa is a huge community when it comes to cigar smokers. I mean, per capita, I think they're going to have the most stores per head in the States, per mile.

I mean, it used to be a really big city because of the old thing, but the oil now is back to Houston, so the things are changing a lot. It's not the oil city anymore, it's going to be more like, let's say, they're getting a lot of tourists now, But it's changing a lot. It's very trendy, Houston is, for what I understand. Yeah.

Got a big millennial group there. Really? Yeah. Yeah, this is something that I think that's going to happen with Tulsa too, like, same thing with Austin, they get new people in there.

I think Tulsa is going to get eventually an influx of people because they're changing, you know? Yeah. And it's not like Miami that people are trying to get out of Miami. Right.

Because the cost of leaving and everything is getting up every day, until suddenly they actually need more people right now. Okay. See, what's kind of funny is, like, you're so polite that you're timid in some things, and you don't want to disclose certain information because you don't want to upset somebody, but, like, I think that, you know, now's kind of the time to say those things and start promoting, you know, it's kind of important. The thing is that since I'm new to the culture over here, I don't know, you know all the political correctness and bullshit, sometimes I try to be reserved when it comes to certain plans and things, but what can I tell you, that's why I use social media a lot, because most of the people will see their Instagram and know, okay, he got an event coming up.

Right. But, yeah, this is actually a good thing to say over here that when are the events going to be happening, but the thing is that I have the, when it comes to Florinata, Florinata is expanding and it's growing really fast. Right. So, the events are one part, but the release of the lines are the other parts.

So, I got to stay focused on the release of the product first before doing events. So, when's the next release? The next release is October. And what are you releasing?

Ah, I got big news. I thought you weren't going to tell us again. Okay, yeah. Oh, you have to wait and find out.

You're going to have to tune in. It's only September. So, actually, right now, I'm the... Okay, okay.

So, go ahead, come on. Are you guys done? Are you guys done? Oh, now we've offended him.

No, I don't think we're done. Tell us. I already know. This is getting me pretty excited because I'm going to talk about my line.

Okay. He's starting to bounce and see if he's getting so excited. Come on. Please, Mike.

Go ahead. Go ahead, boss. So, we did the rebranding of Florinata, which consisted of two things. We had two things, and one was changing the image of the product itself, and the other one was tweaking the blend to be a little bit stronger, and since we had better tobacco in hands, because we sold all the inventory of the old stuff, we can actually do better cigars.

Okay. So, the Maduro is a little bit stronger than the other ones, and it has finer tobacco. Okay. But I didn't want to stop on that because I wanted to do something more, right?

So it took me two years to do the rebranding of the brand and it took me a lot of thinking and a lot of traveling to get to this whole idea and whole concept. So, I was looking for something to associate with the brand because Florinata is just an expression. It's the cream of the crop. It's not something that you can associate a thing or an object with it because there are two translations from the Spanish to the English.

One is going to be the cream of the crop, the expression, and the other will be the straight translation, which is flowers and cream. Okay. Which is, it doesn't make sense, right? Right.

Because it's an expression. So, I was looking for something to change the band, because the first band that I had was like a generic band designed by myself, because I was focusing first on the quality of the cigar, what blend I want to achieve, what was the flavor profile, and was going to be the public for it. It took me a trip to, at that time it was July 2016, I went to Paris, I was watching a television show called Versailles, which they had a garden in it, it was Louis XIV who did the garden, he designed the garden, and the whole drama and the whole thing goes around a lot of things. You know, I was looking for something that I can believe, and most of the people can believe that I can sell.

Mm-hmm. And so I started thinking about it, and you know, I was looking for something that I can believe, and most of the people can believe that I can sell. Mm-hmm. And so I started thinking about it, and you know, I was looking for something that I can believe, and most of the people can believe that I can sell.

Mm-hmm. And so I started thinking about it, and you know, I was looking for something that I can believe, and most of the people can believe that I can sell. Mm-hmm. Because you have to believe in something in order for people to connect with you.

So after that it was another vacation that we did to southern Spain. A lot of vacations going on. Yeah, I guess it's two times a year vacation, like normal people do. So we went to Spain, we went to a place called Granada, and guess what?

In Granada they also have gardens, and they have a mix of Jews, Spanish, Catholics, or whatever, And they have the same history as sex, murder, cheating, and betrayal, and whatever. Stop. Go ahead, keep going. So, suddenly out of nowhere, I was obsessed with the gardens.

Okay. And all those histories about the princess or whatever. Right. You know.

And that's how the name of the collection for Florinata came into my head. Okay. So, I decided, okay, I'm gonna name this collection. They're going to have a Maduro and a natural version of it, and they're going to name it in the Garden of Good & Evil, because of the gardens.

Right, so they're not out yet, the Good & Evil, or that's what the Maduro… It's the calculation between the Maduro and the natural. When you put it together, the Maduro is the good, the Maduro is the evil. Okay, so you're calling the other one natural, but the wrapper is a Habano, correct? Yeah, Habano Natural Wrapper.

Okay. Yeah. It's natural in the name. Habano natural wrapper.

Okay. So, the Maduro's out already. The Maduro's out already. And the natural...

The Maduro line, I decided, because I don't want to name it Maduro, because everyone's name is Maduro, so I decided to put a name and stick temptation in it. Right. And I have another name for the natural, and the name of that line is loyalty. So, they're two different things.

Same profile, but they're related, but at the same time they're not. So, I have big news. I'll be putting up a sampler. Yeah.

And the first thing I'm going to release is going to be the naturals. Uh-huh. It's going to be Corona Rubusto en Toro. Okay.

That will be October. October. Loyalty. Loyalty.

The samplers are going to be later. And the samplers are what? The samplers are going to be seven different cigars, seven, seven, seven different cigars, okay, of each wrapper, but different Vitolas of the seven? Different Vitolas.

Okay. So you're going to get Corona Robusto en Todo, which is going to be the main core lines, and then you're going to get four cigars that they're just going to be available on the samplers. Okay. So the cool, the really cool part is that, depending on what my public says on And those four cigars, I'll be picking one of them and going to be introducing them as a regular protection.

That's the point of the Sampers. So, I also named the Sampers, and you have a Maduro Sampers and then you have a Natural Sampers. And the Maduro Sampers has a name, and the name is Betrayal. And the Natural Sampers is Devotion.

So, you have two different types. That's cool. So, now, let me ask you, are you worried at all about the FDA? Is there any of that type of regulation, because, you know?

Well, I'm just doing the paperwork, I'm working with my guy. But those are the four lines, the four new Vitolas have never been in market yet, correct? How do you know? I don't know, that's why I'm asking you.

That's the purpose of a question. I did a sale a couple years ago. Yeah? Yeah.

So those Vitolas have been... Before 2016. Yeah. have been in market.

Yeah. Well, that's great. If you remember well, on my first IPCPR, I had on display a Robusto Natural on the Florinata line, and I had like maybe a thousand cigars of those, and I sold them out to just maybe two or three stores, and they flew off the shelves, and that's when I really got this idea of doing something light, and then something dark. I had the idea in the mind since 2015, but it just took me time to complete the whole idea and the whole concept.

So, the whole concept of Samper is that betrayal, the Maduro one, the process of betrayal, begins with something and that's with another thing. Like, if you're betraying someone or betraying certain things, the first thing that you're going to feel is envy. And after you betray and you go through that process, you end up feeling guilty most of the times. So you get a beginning and then you get an end.

And I decided to name the Bitolas with those names. Let's say that the Corona, that's why it's called the Flower of Envy, and it's gonna be the first one on the Samper. Then you got the Flower of Sloss and then the Flower of Fury. So should I smoke them left to right or something like that?

Yeah. And then I'm going to feel bad about it at the end because I'll be having guilty. You'll be. Oh, yeah, there you go.

Right? Yeah. See what I did there? You'll be betrayed.

Betrayed. And then it'll make you guilty. Well, very nice. And the other sampler is going to be the completely opposite.

Okay. And it's really cool. And those are going to come out in? I don't know yet.

It depends on the process. Okay. And they're going to be their own. - I mean, all I can say, all I can say...

- When you feel guilty, you break into the other sampler, and it'll bring you back. - All I can say is that the cigars were made already in October 2017. - Right. - And I'm just waiting for the boxes.

- Right. - But I'm not rushing it. - Very nice, man. Well, it's nice to hear that you're progressing and do, you know, I know that I give you a hard time, but I really do wish you the best.

You're a good guy. - You're just asking a question that take me some time to translate from Spanish to English? - Yeah. I just think that you're nervous to answer some of these things because, you know, nobody's ever really asked you on, like, a public forum, but I think you did pretty good, man, and I appreciate you coming back on.

Explained it very well. He's the guest we've had on the most now. He now has three times on the show. Well, one time never aired.

Oh, that's right. It still counts. No. Played back when Saturday Night Live was good and they would count the guest host.

We'll give you if you get the five you get a key to the office really or but we're about to take yours away cuz you're not here anymore I don't have a key to the office well the front door oh I'm just kidding we never take that away well one last thing I want to say about Florinata is that the most beautiful thing is that the process when you see people starting and smoking your stuff and then you start going back for it and uh the compliments the That feeling when you get when you work really hard and then at the end they say like really well done, without you expecting it to say that, it pays off the day. Yeah. It pays off, I mean, when I saw the design and I saw the cigar finally landed on Miami and I got like a couple boxes for myself. Right.

And the first thing that I did it was I show up the box to my wife. That's cool. " It was worth it. The Monday went away to the Dominican just to pack everything and get everything right.

It was worth it, and that was priceless for me. So, where are you gonna be next Friday? Do you have any events anywhere or anything like that? Next Friday, I'm gonna be in the Dominican.

Oh, so you're gonna be back in the DR? Yep. What about you for next week? Are you gonna be in any particular area?

You wanna let anybody know? Say they can try and meet up with you or whatever? It's going to be on Monday down in Punta Gorda. I'm going to go to Vanna Tranquility and Fedoras.

Tuesday, I will be at Cutters in the Brandon area. And then Thursday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'll be around Tampa Clearwater. Very nice. Fusions and St.

Pete. Fusions is a good guy. Yeah. Well, I'm going to be, during this week, there's a couple days I'm going to be to a store next to my house.

It's called Smug Shop downtown in Miami. If you're around the area, make sure that you stop by, say hello. And also, I'm going to be on the day before I leave on Tuesday. Tuesday or Thursday?

Before Friday? I don't know. I didn't book your flight. Thursday.

Oh, before Friday? Yeah, before Friday is Thursday. Like you need the English? Yeah, Thursday.

Yeah, Thursday. Sorry. Thank you, Mike. So, Thursday, I'm going to be in the cigar shop at Bird Road, visiting Jorge, saying hello.

And I'll be around. And if you guys want to hang around, you're welcome to join me. When are you taking off again, Mikey? I don't know.

No? Yeah. I think at the end of the month. I think you and Mr.

Hunt are going out again. Yeah, we got to go back, we got like a little thing at Jerry's in Tallahassee. Where you have all the sex. A lot of sex.

And then the SBC will be released at Lajero Tobacco House. Oh. Oh, that's Atlanta. Yeah.

Oh, nice. Yeah, that's cool. And we got hats in today, or the other day. day.

I heard. I heard. I saw the rack out there. I haven't posted them yet.

Should probably do a giveaway for it. Watch Greg's head pop off. He's in the room. He's in the room.

He's been on Instagram the entire time. Yeah. So, should we give one away? Yeah, let's give one away.

No! Let's give them all away. How many did you get, Greg? 50.

50. Okay, the next 50 people That's what they call the 1-800 number. We get to give one away. They only have 49.

Well, I already gave one away. Oh, you know what? 48. They're disappearing, Greg, like crazy.

How about this? Do you want to do a giveaway? I'll do something. I'll do something.

The first five boxes to sell be a CR Hustler webpage of the new Florinata line. That comes out in October? That comes out in October. Yeah.

We're going to get a special surprise from me. Okay. Oh. That's cool.

That's very nice. We can do that. You got to buy a box, though. He said you got to buy a box.

Yeah, you got to buy a box. You got to buy a whole box. You get the whole box, and you're going to get something from me. Okay.

That's not for sale. And he sits with you and chit-chats. So, you know, lately I've been really good at teasing people with stuff, so. All right.

Just get ready for it. Sounds good to me. Alright, you'll have to put that on the website. I feel like I'm going to cut into @nickstagrammin's product that you always ship him, so I'm really happy about that.

Right, Nick? Nick's a loyal listener. He is. We've got several now that actually post, I mean, they get excited waiting on the show to drop.

Oh, I get feedback. Yeah. I get a lot of feedback now. Are they all Instagram their stories?

Yep. Yep. They're good. Alright, so I think that pretty much wraps this up.

Alright, let's wrap it up then. We know what we're smoking. Well, we're all smoking Florinatas, the Coronas, the Habanos, the Naturals, is this a, so this is on the good, the good end of the spectrum. Yeah, this is the, this is the, yeah, happy, happy, yeah, this is the happy cigarettes.

All right, everybody, that's it. Thanks for listening. Bye. This is the operator with a collect ball from Emerald Hills.

To accept the charges, press one, now. B. what up? I told you I ain't too good, right?

Let us know. That's it folks, show's over. If you have any questions or suggestions for guests, leave them on our Facebook page at Cigar Hustlers Podcast. You can follow the show on Instagram at Cigar Hustlers Podcast.

You can follow Mikey at Cigar Hustler. And you can follow me at FCC_Mike. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe on whichever product you use. I know some places we can go.

Some places we can go. Do you want to ride? Ride with me. With me.

Your spot is reserved, family. Do you want to ride? Cigarette boats, yachts. They know where we can't go.

We in South Beach in the Hamptons too. We know why they call a project a project, because it's a project, an experiment, we're in it, only it's objects, an object for us to explore our projects.

Show Notes

This week we have our good friend and favorite guest Joan Rodriguez from FlorYNata Cigars on this week.

He shares the new direction and rebranding plans for his Dominican cigars.

Mike and Mikey get into it again but its all in good fun....

#letFCCmiketalk

As always we welcome your comments, suggetsions and guest request on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast".  You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerpodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike @FCC_Mike.

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Thanks for listening!