Episode 36 Zee and Emille Cordoba and Morales Cigars Redemption

Episode Summary

Episode 36 is billed as a "redemption" episode — Zee and Emille Cordoba of Cordoba & Morales Cigars were the podcast's very first guests, back when the audio quality was rough, so the Mikes bring them back with a proper four-mic setup. The conversation opens loose and conversational: Mike's parking-lot meditation habit and the "mayor" of his gym, new account openings for Cafe 1901 around Florida, and the long-running joke about Zee's Santa Claus necktie from his Jehovah's Witness upbringing (complete with a 13-year-old photo the guests brought along).

On the business side, Zee and Emille describe running a small two-person brand — a "dartboard" approach to travel, leaning on Florida as their home market plus trips to Tennessee, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, and a growing side business in bundle cigars that's opening new accounts. They're not chasing new SKUs right now and are relatively unbothered by FDA pressure, but new packaging is coming: a royal blue box for the 19th Hole (including the torpedo box press), with green planned for Front 9 and orange for Family Reserve. Zee talks about rolling at American-Caribbean plus a small house operation, his love of the Corona Gorda vitola, and the Habano 2000 "Escudo" wrapper as the leaf he'd most like to blend with next — noting how often it's handled badly. There's also talk of Aganorsa Leaf, AJ Fernandez's hybrid tobaccos, and visiting RoMa Craft's early operation and Nica Sueño in Nicaragua.

The heart of the episode is Zee's firsthand reporting on Cuba. Having visited a dozen times in a single year, he explains the dual-currency system (CUC vs. Cuban pesos), why U.S. dollars and American credit cards are effectively unusable, black-market exchange rates, and what to actually bring when you visit — soap, coffee, toothpaste, toilet paper. He tells stories of a cousin who is a Havana judge earning $44 a month, scientists selling fruit on the street, PhDs driving taxis, a young sax player who asked for shoes for his mother instead of himself, and a private pizza joint pulling in serious money. He and the hosts also touch on the Nicaraguan unrest and his pessimism about political change in Cuba, Venezuela and the region. The show closes with an in-store event announcement (September 28th, with a TV giveaway), a #CigarHustlersPodcast Instagram contest for a Cordoba & Morales hat, and recommendations for the Clave Cubana, Finca Santa Fe, 19th Hole and the Connecticut-shade Front 9.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Redemption Episode Setup
   The hosts bring back their episode-one guests, Zee and Emille Cordoba, now that the podcast has better microphones and a more organized format.
2. 02
   The Santa Claus Tie, Revisited
   Zee brings photos of himself at 13 in the infamous Santa tie that got him judged growing up as a Jehovah's Witness.
3. 03
   Running a Two-Person Cigar Brand
   Zee and Emille talk about their scattershot travel strategy, leaning on Florida accounts, and a bundle-cigar side business that's opening new doors.
4. 04
   FDA, Packaging and New Looks
   Why Zee isn't panicking about FDA rules, plus new color-coded boxes — blue for 19th Hole, green for Front 9, orange for Family Reserve.
5. 05
   Blending Talk: Habano 2000 and Corona Gorda
   Zee names the Habano 2000 'Escudo' wrapper as the leaf he'd most like to work with and the Corona Gorda as his current favorite vitola.
6. 06
   Nicaragua, RoMa Craft and the Industry
   Memories of early visits to small Esteli rolling houses, Nica Sueño, and concern over the ongoing unrest in Nicaragua.
7. 07
   Inside Cuba: Currency, Wages and Daily Life
   Zee's firsthand account of CUC vs. pesos, why U.S. cards don't work, $44-a-month judges, and what to bring when you visit.
8. 08
   Event, Giveaway and Cigar Recommendations
   A September 28th in-store event with a TV giveaway, a #CigarHustlersPodcast hat contest, and picks including Clave Cubana and Finca Santa Fe.

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. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we take a closer look at the people of the cigar industry, with your host, Mike and Mike. Hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', every day, I'm, every day, I'm, every day, I'm, ho, love.

Aw. Okay, now you can tell your story. Now we're done. La, la, la, la, la.

And nobody gives a fuck. Was that the story? No. Oh.

So I got a good story for you. Okay. Um, that's a good way to start it. Start the show.

It's fantastic. Mm-hmm. So, you're gonna get a kick out of this. Okay.

So, like, I meditate. I try and do it every day. And, um, You're instantly playing with the cellophane. We're two seconds in and he's already moving shit around.

Do you know Joan? So, alright, so now I like to meditate. I try to meditate in the morning. It kind of gets me focused, get my shit together, you know, for the day.

It doesn't happen every day. And now with the kids in school, like everything's kind of modified, so I can't do it at home, so I legit do it in the parking lot before I go to the gym. - Like, I'll meditate anywhere. If I'm traveling, I'll meditate at the airport terminal.

I don't give a shit. So, I skipped my meditation this morning, right? I'm like, alright, I'm just gonna go in and do this. And I walk into the locker room, and I don't have the lock to my locker.

- Put on the locker? - So I can't put my shit in there. So now I'm starting to get bent out of shape. He's okay.

- Hey there. - You're good, you're good. - It's a cigar show, well that happens. That's standard.

So I'm starting to get bent out of shape. And I'm like, you know, fuck this, I just need to meditate. So I go and I sit in kind of like the lobby area of the gym. I put on my sunglasses, put on my headphones.

Again, I don't care, you know. But when you're in that kind of an environment, you've got to kind of expect that you might be interrupted, right? It is what it is. So I don't know if you have like a mare at your gym, but I believe that every gym has like a mare, Like a guy, a guy or girl, a guy or girl who's kind of like, you know, works out, but like a social butterfly kind of knows everybody and you know, whatever.

Oh, she's, she's the mayor? She's the mayor. Oh, hey, here comes. Here comes a mayor.

Hello. Papi, you work out good? So I'm like 10 minutes into my meditation. All of a sudden I feel like a nudge from the gym bag.

So I stop and I look up and it's the mayor. It's the mayor of our gym is what I call him. and uh he's like yo you okay man i'm like yeah i'm good and i didn't want to really fully explain what the fuck i was doing so i was like i'm just kind of preparing before i go into the gym he's like whoa you're just kind of sitting there looking straight you look like the terminator and um i was like uh yeah so but now so this guy like will stop and talk to anybody dude legit It avoided me for the rest of the fucking, he was like, this guy, this dude is totally strange, so that was kind of my kick this morning, I'm like, oh man, this guy thinks that I'm an absolute psychopath, and he'd be right, so, not too far from the truth, yeah, right, exactly, and that's all that matters, so yeah, I mean, it's not quite a tie story, but you know, this happened, you doing that, and then the guy coming in, you gotta get right up on the microphone, boss. There you go.

Oh, shit. Here we go. It's not like the first one, where we just had the one. Everybody's got their own.

So do you guys meditate at all, or no? I'm just the only psychopath that doesn't. I like yoga. Yeah.

So, that's, yeah. I take that down. I'm meditating right now. Yeah.

It's a Cuban thing. Cubans don't meditate. I've never been doing one day. Yeah, you have.

Meditate? I mean, I guess, whatever. No. No.

My brother says he does when he drives because he doesn't play music, but I like music too much, so I think music is my meditation. Your happy place. So we have Zee and Emil, our original episode one from Cordoba Morales, on for a redemption episode. 38 weeks ago?

Yeah. Yes. Time flies. Time flies.

But it's not really a redemption for you guys, it's more of a redemption for us. I was like, what did we do? No, you guys were good, we just had sucky equipment. We kind of, you know, we got our shit together a little bit better this time, we got more mics.

It's like we're talking in a little cassette microphone, a little tape recorder back then. Yeah, true story. Not only that, but like, I mean, I feel like we're a little more organized. I felt like I wasn't cured, now I got my own mic.

Yeah, now you have your own mic, then you gotta stay right on top of it. You gotta stay right on top of it, yeah. So we got four mics. So you ready for the intro?

Sure. One, two, three, go. Hi, I'm Mike. And I'm Mike, too.

And this is a Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Episode 38. Episode 38. Pretty sure it's 38.

So how was your week, Mr. Michael? I had a good first week. Yeah?

Yeah, it went better than I thought. Opened up four new accounts this week. The Florida Culture Club. I know, I'm always fucking that up.

I'm always fucking that up. So how's it going? Good, it's going good. So who'd you open up?

Down in Havana Tranquilities, Fedoras, Cigar Castle, and Cutters. Oh, very nice. What'd they take on? Anything good?

Caffey, Caffey 1901. Everybody took on Caffey. You're preaching the Caffey Gospel. Yes, and drink the Kool-Aid.

Good for you. Yep. He's a very nice man. Makes a nice cigar.

Yeah. I haven't met him yet. Yeah, me neither. What?

He threatened to come up here a few years ago. " Okay. Never did. Florida-based?

Yeah. He's down in Cutler Bay. He's got a Honduran cigar. What's his address?

Can you tell us his address? I don't know if that matters. I've been to his house. There's an ashtray in the center here, dude, if you want to use that.

I don't know. My cigars are usually there. I stay for two hours. Oh.

Here you go. You've been talking shit. So Z is smoking a Clave Cubana, which is a San Andreas Box Press Robusto. And I'm almost done here.

I'm going to open one of those up, too. So, um, apparently the Ash, this, the last forever stays on forever. So, with the shitty sound that we had from episode one, we did have issues, we did talk about the tie, the tie, growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, and you had like, to kind of summarize and make a long story short, um, you had a Santa Claus on your tie and everybody judged you, in a nutshell, because, you know, he's a pagan, fucking Santa Claus is Satan Claus. Everybody saved them for your whole week.

Exactly. Everybody. Including you two guys. So, we finally...

We were included in that ourselves, but anyways. So, Zee and Emil gave us the courtesy of bringing up some photos of a young Zee. Let me see. Evident.

13 years old. Yeah. In like this dress outfit with his Santa tie. And it is, it's pretty remarkable.

We'll have to put it up on the Scar Hustlers podcast Instagram so people can see. Oh, very nice. I love the bowl cut hair, by the way. It's fantastic.

Sticking out like a sword. It was very standard back then. I'm just kind of curious, like, you know, I mean, the people next to you, they're obviously your family. They seem happy about you.

They don't care about the tie. They're not judging you. I think they were new, too. No, no, no, no.

At that time, they're not even looking at me. I mean, I'm talking about everybody that walk by me and look at me weird. Gave you a fair look. Who is this guy?

Including them when they were done, but nobody had the balls to say anything. Right. So I knew my tie was cool. It was, it was a cool tie.

See all those colors and the reindeers? Very nice. That's fantastic. Set that up from your all-black Johnny Cash outfit.

I wish I had a close-up of the tie. I know. I wish I had the tie. We could scan it and zoom in.

That's true. I guess. Put it on the scanner over there and we're done. So I'm a little nervous, man.

I'm a little nervous, man. I feel like we botched the first episode and like, you know, here we are trying to redeem it. How did we botch it? We didn't botch it.

We didn't botch it. It was pretty bad, dude. Go back and listen and then tell me. I listened to it several times.

Just the sound quality was bad, but the show was good. It just made a meal laughing for about an hour and a half. She's pretty good at that. When it's not the case.

She takes over with her laugh. So what's been going on with you guys since we last spoke? How's the industry? Let's talk about...

I mean, we had a show, we had IPCPR, we had all types of shit, so what's going on with you guys? Let's start there. We are busy. Understatement.

Okay. But not with New Cigar, just with the old stuff, and rolling events, and driving around, and seeing people, and just not. The usual. We've been busy.

How often do you guys leave the state? Not often enough. Yeah, not that much. Well, I mean, that's the hard part, right?

You know. Yeah, we go to Tennessee. Yeah, go see Mike at the Humidor? Yeah.

Your dude. I see him every once in a while. I saw him at the show. Yeah.

He's a good guy. He is a very good guy. So, like, what is kind of your method for traveling, right? " Do you guys kind of have like a strategy as far as event planning or anything like that?

Or do you guys do something similar? No. Dartboard. Dartboard as well.

And honestly, we haven't. We need to get better at that. We've been going out, most of the two people that we know, we haven't been going out for months to open new accounts. Right.

Which we should. Yeah, but it's tough to keep up with what we've got right now, you know? That's true. Yeah, that's definitely a hard part.

And it's just us, you know, so we don't have like other people. Two people. everything. One and a half.

What? Why do you call yourself half a person? Thank you. Thank you, Mike.

She's like half a month with a migraine. Oh, that's another story. So you have super bad, you get super bad migraines. Yes.

There used to be a labor and management problem going on at Cordova and Morales. Strike, strike. Where's the HR department? I am.

I'm making myself that too. You should file a report with yourself. That's a long list of duties. Being a girl, having a migraine.

A girl? - Oh, God! - She's off for three weeks. - She's only good one week.

- So you go out, like, obviously you're going to North Carolina. What are some of the other major areas that you hit? Cricket. - Yeah.

- Cheap. - So we just go out. - No, we haven't been hit, I'm telling you. It's not that we've been lazy, but we're not organized lately to open new accounts.

Right, but not even new accounts. To see people? Yeah. We don't have that many people up there.

Tennessee, Pennsylvania. I mean, I've seen your stuff everywhere. Oh, kind of. To some degree.

I'm like, hey, I know them. I mean, obviously you do very well in Florida, right? Because, you know. Home state.

Right. Yes. And lately, I mean, also, my side gig of the bundles are taking over, too. And yeah, of course, I don't make a lot of money on that, but they keep me busy, and I'm opening a lot of new accounts with the bundles too.

With the bundles? With the bundles. With the bundles. Should have brought them with you, you could have played a little bit.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. The bundles. Bundles. I said bundles.

He was beating on the table earlier, I said bundles. You don't speak Cuban. I don't speak Cuban at all, no. I do.

You don't speak Cuban-American. I'm the whitest guy in the room, let me alone. Still pretty. Thank you.

Thank you. So other than your bundles, are you working on new products, anything? We need to. No way.

We need to get them. Everybody else is, but yeah. Are you worried about FDA still? That is our main concern with FDA.

I am, and I guess I'm not, because I'm not changing anything. Right. So you're not going to make any modifications to your boxes for the Surgeon General warnings? Oh no, that would have to do.

No, but I'm saying, like, I know the FDA is there, but I'm not, like, so scared. I don't know why. Right. You're not scared?

Okay. That's your job. Apparently. Apparently.

I swam from Cuba to here. Oh, here we go with the swimming. I swam in the Santa Claus die. That's all he had on.

In the Santa Claus die. I am changing. Oh, that's something new I'm doing. You're getting a visual.

In a sleigh, yes. The first boxes I'm bringing like that are going to be the torpedo box press, the 19th hole. Yeah. But I'm like switching to have all the 19th hole blend, the box is blue.

And then hopefully I'll do the Front 9 green and the Family Reserve orange. I'll show you some pictures. That's cool. You can show them later.

We'll have to upload those, too. Yeah, we'll upload those, too. Hey, no big deal. You can talk while I...

What about the Sumatras? Or the Platinos? That's cool. That's a very nice blue.

It's like a royal blue. She is. Muy lindo. Keep it simple.

Is it the same box guy that you use? Same box, yeah. Same box guy. So I guess that's new.

Did we talk about what factory you roll out of? Uh, yeah, American-Caribbean. Right. But I do some other stuff, uh, like a house, like a small house.

I mean, dude, that's how a lot of these guys get started, you know? I mean, that's how Roma started. I remember going to, I was talking to Matt yesterday, because we went to Lake Nona, and he's talking about... Mr.

FQ. Yeah. The hospitality tent, and the IPCPR, and how good Aroma Craft and Skip, and what they're doing, and I'm like, man, I remember the first time I went to Nicaragua, first or second time we went, we went to that house, and they had like, four, six rollers? Yeah.

And they were all excited, showing us little things with 200 cigars, but honestly, you could see the quality and the passion behind it, you know? It makes a big difference. Yeah. I think the first time I went and I met Skip and asked Leah, he, I don't know if he knew if I was coming or not, because it was like a, I told them that I was going, but then-- He didn't believe you were going to show up.

When I was there, I was like, I reached out to Mike, I'm like, hey, but yeah, so we're skipping, and then, you know, all of a sudden, like 10 minutes later, he came whipping around the corners, like, hey man. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. So-- I haven't been to their new place, though. Yeah, Nicasueno?

Yeah. I went with you, remember? No, not with you. No.

I don't remember. Was it? You know what, Greg? Greg was down there.

We went together. They went together that one time. I picked him up at the airport in Miami. That's right.

Took him to the hotel, picked him up at the airport. How was the sex? I think it was like Greg came back sick. I didn't went for him.

He had a couple girlfriends in the airport. Oh, Lord. Poor Greg. Poor Greg.

Oh, that is right. Greg did get sick. Yeah, he came back sick with that stomach bug. Oh, yes, I remember.

Yeah. Because he was drinking water while he... Ice, yeah, ice. Yeah.

Yeah. Watching his mouth. Oh, brushing his teeth. Drinking a little water.

Eh. Eh. No bueno. No bueno.

Not for me, I got... I'm built for that. I was like... Well, you swam here from Cuba, for God's sake, so...

If that doesn't build the image, that doesn't build the image. That doesn't build the image. Sharks on the way here. " I rode the sharks over.

So, if you could build a new cigar, hypothetically, So what wrapper would you want to use? Crap. Crap. Crap.

Crap wrapper. Crap wrapper. I don't know how that's going to taste. What's a fermentation property for crap?

If you wait too long, get that white color. Something that I would like to. It's got to be something. Yeah.

I mean, you use a lot of wrappers now, right? But something you haven't done. That's a problem. You use your Sumatras, you use the Habanos, you use San Andreas.

You know, I haven't used, I've messed around but I've never done anything with like a Habano 2000, Escudo, that's a good wrapper, I like that wrapper. So what do you mean when you call it Habano 2000, Escudo? They're not a hybrid from that year, Habano 2000, I mean, I think if I'm not mistaken, like when Hiroshi came out with his free cigars, the first batch, it had that wrapper. Yeah, the original signature.

And also, I think Matt, remember when he came out with the proper, he thought it was a Sumatra and then it wasn't a Sumatra? That's a Habana 2000 school. I don't think it's just a regular Ecuadorian Habana, it's a 2000 hybrid. And I like that rubber.

I mean, you gotta blend it correctly because I taste a lot of cigars and they didn't do a good job with it. Is there a lot of it around? I mean, you gotta figure it's 18 years old. Yeah, but there is.

Yeah. And, I'm sorry, I think they call it Habana 2000 because that year it came out, the wrapper, but there is harvest. So it's still in production? Yes, it is still.

Still being grown and stuff? Is there like a particular factory that kind of dominates with that, that you have to go buy it from, or...? Like, if you want Aganorsa Leaf, Aganor, man, that sounded like I was fucking straight out of Wisconsin there for a second. Don't you know?

Don't you know. If you want Aganorsa Leaf, obviously you work with Costa Fernandez, right? Mm-hmm. I don't know anything about the Habana 2000.

No, I think a lot of people have that. Yeah. That's just, you know? The Oliva.

AJ has a few people. But AJ is doing some cool things too with like his own Hypers, you know? Yeah. Some dark stuff.

What isn't he doing? Is there a particular Vitola you'd use? Yep. Well, which one?

Which one? I'm in love. I'm in love with the stripper. With the stripper?

Dime Island, Jim. I mean, Jesus Christ. I'm in love with the stripper. Yes, yes I am.

Yes. Is there a particular size? Yep. And okay, that'll be the show.

Actually, you gave it to me the other day. My favorite size to smoke right now is the Corona Gorda. Really? 5 and 7, 8 by 46.

Yeah, I love that size, dude. There's a lot of opportunities, you know, as far as the flavor profile. You got a lot from that wrapper. What a smoke.

Thank you. Thank you. I like, I like that a lot. What about you?

Do you want anything, any particular, uh, you don't give a shit? Nope. I'm just the one that gives the final approval, as long as it tastes good. The final approval.

That's it. Do you not trust my palette? Yeah. Who's the first person, the last person?

You look really beautiful to me. Aww. She does, you look so pretty. She's got, she got her makeup on, everything.

I mean, you look like a complete slapdick. I know. I'm going to the gym, I'm like that. I mean, I didn't notice that until Emile said something, but I think you look fine.

I think you look fine. Look at that. Oh, Lord. Sexy tricep.

Flexing the tricep. They're coming out. They're coming. I got to.

Give me what? Six more months. Six more months? Bam!

I'll be half of Mike. You'll be like Schwarzenegger. Terminator over here with the glasses. The Terminator is just staring out into the fucking, yeah, the abyss.

The abyss. I'm telling you, the dude was like, hmm. He's got issues. I'm gonna stay away from him.

This guy is kinda scary. Yeah. Totally avoided me. That's all it took.

He hit you with his gym bag. " He's gonna fucking just hit the ground. Ah! Collective sigh.

So, do you wanna hit him up with any other questions or anything like that? We don't have new questions. We're just winging it today. We're just winging it.

We are kind of winging it. We do have an event coming up with you guys, if you want to do a shameless plug for that. Yeah, there you go. Start coming here and buying cigars so you can get a TV.

That's right. Oh, that's right. Giving away a TV, which is very nice. The Z and Emil autographed television.

September 28th, right? Yes. Be here, be square. What time?

6 o'clock? It's awesome because, like, you guys get a mic stuck in front of you, you kind of get quiet on me. You're not the same as you are, right? I don't know why, because in this show we can say anything we want, right?

Yeah, anything you want. Yeah. But I'm shy. You're shy?

You're the opposite of shy. Certain occasions. Hey, how are we doing on followers? I feel like we're making progress.

I don't know, I haven't looked like that. Oh, good. Very busy, man. Geez.

We didn't pick up two followers this week, but I don't know what the total is. It's gotta be like 40-ish. I saw 41 on Podbean. It's Podbean.

That's the only place that keeps track is Podbean. Oh. It's Podbean. And now since you sort of gave away where all our onesie-twosies from these exotic countries come from, I'm not as excited.

Yeah. Womp womp womp womp. But we are big in Australia, though. What?

Big in Australia. Alright, so, look, I had a couple of people hit me up for about the hat. Because we kind of talked about the hat, and then it just kind of died off. So I feel like we should give away one of the Postanya hats.

Oh, very nice. I don't know how to do it, though. I'm not going to lie. I don't know what you want to do.

I mean, you know, you're the brains behind this operation. We're going to give Juan a lot of hats away. Do you have hats? Yeah, you just got hats.

Ooh, more than one hat. You know what? I'm going to table the Postanya hat and we'll do a Cordoba & Morales hat. You sure?

Fuck yeah. Aww. Absolutely. Awesome.

So, what should we do? We have several people that share the show now when it drops. Yeah. But I don't know.

What should we do? You have to share the show on your Instagram story, and then we need a hashtag. Yeah. But why don't you keep it a little bit more simple, like something with the group, the Facebook group, or something like that?

The Facebook group doesn't do much. Doesn't do much? No. Well, how do you do that?

I mean, you've got to be persistent at these things, Michael. We're bigger on Instagram. We're bigger on Instagram. Okay.

We're an Instagram show. Alright, so what do you want to do, just them smoking a cigar or something? Hashtag Cigar Housers Podcast? Well, it didn't have to be a Z and Emile cigar.

It'd have to be a Cigar Obra Morales. If we're giving away one of their hats. Yep. So how long are you going to run it for?

Yep. We'll run it for a week. Until next week, we'll announce the winner next week. Next Friday, well, next Tuesday.

A week from this coming, a week from Tuesday. This show's going to drop on Tuesday. So let me break this down for you real quick. Here's the problem with that, is like you have people on a national level, right?

They kind of follow. And if they order the product, right? Oh, as in they don't already have it. Yeah, let's say they can't get it.

So then now you're kind of putting them in a position. You're going to have to ship faster. I don't know if that's humanly possible. You're going to have to take it to them personally.

Jump on a plane. It's better off to just send them a hat. You won. Congrats.

We'll figure it out and we'll announce it when we post the episode. Well, what the hell is the purpose of them listening to the show if we're going to do a giveaway? Well, they listen to the show, they still read the intro that gets put up. I really enjoy this witty banter, by the way.

As long as we know we're talking. Exactly. Exactly. Well, I got yelled at for that.

Huh? By who? Who yelled it to? Look, I always ask for feedback, and if I get feedback, I do my best to, you know, make the proper adjustments.

Our last episode, what was that? Our last episode was a couple episodes ago. Which one? Matt Hunt was two episodes ago.

So you put Matt Hunt in the mix with the three of us and it's just a fucking, it's just a total shitshow. I mean, we had a great time on the episode, but we totally over- We were just all talking at the same time. Yeah, just ran each other over all the time. I call them a fashion Sandinista, which is fantastic.

Oh, that's a nice- We're missing alcohol in this meeting. That's what it is. I gotta get you drunk before I get you on the podcast. I'm not drunk, but you know- He's not drunk, but, you know?

Just enough. We could all go have a couple of drinks and come back. What's really good about Zee is when he starts to drink is he just kind of casually sings out of nowhere. He just starts busting out songs.

You know? It's the voice of an angel. My English gets better, too. My English gets better.

Yeah, that's just because you start speaking Spanish and you think it's English. You don't know the difference at that point. It's totally different. So just do a hashtag.

Alright, what? What do you want to do? Just do a hashtag. You've just crushed all my ideas anyway, so you go ahead.

I just shattered your fucking dreams? Go ahead, boss. Makes me happy. Whatever you want.

Just do hashtag. I'm gonna talk over you now, too. I'll turn my mic off again. I'm shutting down.

This is me shutting down. I need popcorn to watch you, too. I'm gonna do... We'll just do a...

Turn off my mic again. I'm done. I'm gonna put you in like a little glass box like Gary Delabate does. Oh, that'd be great.

So you can chime in every once in a while. With like a radio sound. Perfect. So just do hashtag a Cigar Hustlers podcast.

Fourteen. Now I turned your mic off. Now nobody can hear you. Am I on?

Am I on now? You are now. Now you're back on. He's got way too much authority is the problem.

I'm just going to replace him. I have four buttons I know how to work over there. He's going to be gone. Next week he's no longer going to exist.

Oh. I'll have to call your buddy up to learn how to work that shit over there. Oh, James. Big daddy.

So, hashtag a Cigar Hustlers podcast. Well, see, they already put that up anyway. Yeah, but so what? Alright.

So do it for the week, and then we'll announce the winner on next Tuesday for a Cordova and Morales hat. So they have to post on their own Instagram something with the hashtag CigarHustlersPodcast. Yeah. Okay.

It could be anything. Could be anything. As long as it's in there. As long as it's not inappropriate.

It could be inappropriate. We are listed as an adult show. We're down for that. Yeah, but there's like some things you cannot do on Instagram.

Well, that's Instagram. If you know who our listeners are, I mean, you got to kind of know your audience here, if you let them, you know, you say all bets are off, shit could get weird, really, really fast. But entertaining. That's right.

True. More entertaining. Alright, so #ScarHustlersPodcast on Instagram. On Instagram, and we'll choose a winner from all the people that do it, and then we'll pick a winner and announce it next week when the show goes.

Yeah. Okay. And I guess that wasn't confusing at all. I like it.

I guess that pretty much sums up this podcast. no or no no or no we can witty banter from your friends if you want to we're at 2846 oh my gosh all right i have faith in you tell us another story z well i'm just waiting on you so like i just want you to know that you know they did an island gym episode without me and island gym couldn't say shit like he's like yep uh-huh so as of right now i'm categorizing you kind of in that He did that same section, he did that other show a couple of weeks ago, the same thing, the same thing, I do, I do, I hang out with him and he was the same, well normally when he's drunk he's awesome, people were chiming in because you can text in when you watch the show on Saturday mornings, they were like, get him some Heineken's, get him and Jim a Heineken, he loves Heineken's, well that's how he loosens up too, and mojitos, he likes mojitos, mojitos, oh yeah that's right, you hung out with him last time, and the The Aye Aye Aye Aye song. Ay, ay, ay. Yeah.

Ay, ay, ay, ay. So we were hanging out in Esteli, and he brought a mariachi band over, like they were kind of strolling the streets. I don't know if we were in Grenada, we might have been in Grenada. Okay.

And he just made them play, ay, ay, ay, ay, for like four fucking hours. God, stop it. I kid you not. He probably gave them, I don't know, he had to give them probably close to a hundred bucks, if not more.

I don't know how much he gave them, but he just kept giving them money. A hundred Grenadian money? Whatever, the Grenadian dollar. The Grenadian dollars.

Grenadian? Cordova. Yes, Cordova's. But in Nicaragua.

Oh. Okay. Si, Cordova, it's our money. Oh.

We owe that shit too. Yeah. Very nice. Are you worried about, speaking of Nicaragua, are you worried about the revolution kind of going on there or whatever?

Yeah, that is serious stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's cycled off the news, you don't hear much about it anymore.

Yeah. Well, it's kind of quiet, I don't know. " But I've seen that shit happen in other countries, you know? But there's no resolve yet, so if there's no resolve, that means that it's not going away.

You just wait until the people get bored. And honestly, it's never going to be resolved. If he continues to remain in power, yeah. And if somebody else comes, it might be worse.

Who knows? So positive. The story of our countries, I mean, whatever happened in Cuba when Castro died? All the people in Miami were celebrating, "Oh, freak, what the heck?

" Nothing's changed. It's the same shit. Venezuela, Hugo Chávez died, what happened? Maduro is there, it's worse than ever, and the United States is tired of going around and fixing in other countries, you know?

Right. It's true. So you don't think that there would ever be a resolve? You don't think that it would ever evolve?

I think three, four hundred years from now. Three, four hundred years! This is not evolution. Let's be honest right here, okay?

Yeah, when the mentality of all the Latin people in South and Central America and the Caribbean changes, our problems will be resolved for now, not anywhere close. No kidding. Mr. Positivity.

Hey, Puerto Rico's been a baby of the United States for a hundred years. What has changed? Nothing? That's true.

Yeah. That's true. He's entitled to his opinion. How do you feel about it?

She's so quiet over there. I know, I've never seen her shut down. Why don't you shut down? I am a quiet person.

Quiet? Bullshit! You are so full of shit! You are not timid, quiet, or anything.

All of the above. No. No. Face hunting.

Something. This is probably my favorite size in the clove. No, me too. This little Petit Robusto.

Yes, yes. Short Robusto. It's okay. I didn't want to correct you.

That's okay. I mean, like I said, I called Matt a Fashion Sandinista. So, I'll probably live that to the day I die. Make that a hashtag.

Hashtag Fashion Sandinista. But like I say, because I don't want to sound like I'm just being negative, but I hope that it comes down to like, for example, Cuba is messed up the way it is, and it's been like that forever, but at least we don't have that much violence and crazy stuff and weapons on the street, so it's always good, you know? Yeah, but you just don't have a, there's no revolution right now in Cuba. It would never be.

It's not allowed. Cubans are, they evolve. This is my philosophy. Here we go.

Well, you're Cuban, so you're entitled to speak your opinion. My dad was a political prisoner, and I talked to him, and he knew Batista, and he knew Castro. Cubans, it's our curse, too, that we are, I don't want to sound, but we're kind of smart people. Oh, Lord, here we go.

Listen to me, okay? Cubans are smart, and they are not going to do crap to get many more, but nobody wants to get killed in Cuba. If you can get by and steal from the government and come up with some little business or something that you're going to survive, that's better for them because most of the people in Cuba already don't know what a good life is anymore. Nobody wants another war on their hands.

Yeah, and the 60 years of this crap has turned a lot of people into like, is this what it is? They're complacent? Yeah. Yeah, there you go.

That's a good word. They're not gonna go out there and they were like, well, Venezuela started doing, but you see, these gore dictators like Castro and Raul, they know that their escape valve is to, once in a while, let all these people that there are would threaten your government out. So, most of the people that would have done something to freak you, they live here. Right.

They build business, and they don't give a – some of them don't even want to go back to Cuba ever again. Right. So, all the countries do the same thing. Venezuela, a few years back, they had this major – everybody on the street, I thought it was going to, you know, change.

And he let some of those people go, those people now live in every country in the world but Venezuela, and they have a bunch of other people there that support the government, just like in Cuba. Right. And by the way, I met a lot of people going back to Cuba last year that they think they're doing, the government is doing the right thing, you know? Right.

And what's going to change them? That's just the mentality. Yeah. That's crazy.

And most of them are full of shit because they, oh yeah, Cuba is the way to go, we like it here, but they love American dollars. Right. Why don't you live with what they give you? Right.

That would be really hard to do. But, I don't know, it's just the story of our - So, I've never, I've never been to Cuba, so, but like, obviously, if you bring American cash there, it's accepted everywhere? Eh, yes and no. Yeah.

They want to change it to the Cuban convertible peso, they call it. Yeah. C-U-C. Cooks.

Cooks. And, that way, two things happen. The government keeps the dollars. Right.

Right. Because the other pesos that they invented is not worth anywhere in the world or anything. Right. And they take a percentage out of your exchanging the money.

Because I was talking to somebody really high up in the government last year, and he told me something I didn't know. Cuba is not allowed to pay for anything in the world market with dollars. The United States doesn't let them. No kidding.

No. They have now to get those dollars and exchange it for euros and other currencies to be able to buy stuff anywhere in the world. Cuba's not allowed to have dollars. So like, if I go to a main hotel in Cuba, they will not take dollars.

And they will not take a credit card either. Really? If a credit card is from any other country but the United States, you can. If you have a bank in Mexico and you got some money in Mexico, you take a visa, you can.

And it happened to me seeing a concert one time. " It's the Bank of America. So like TD Bank's Canadian. I mean, how does that work?

We're gonna open the account out there. Canadian account. Canadian money. That funny money.

Yeah, you go to the bank over there, you go to the airport, and you get, what, $85, $86? 50 now. 50. But on the street, you can get $95 up to $95.

Which is where we go on the black market and get your money. The 95 gets you a long way. So if I go to like a regular restaurant that's not mainstream, I could pay with American Cash? They don't want that either.

They want you to pay with kooks. Really? Because they get screwed now, and if they tell you that the plate is 10 bucks, and you pay with the dollar, this is what they usually do. They will take it, but it's not going to be 10 anymore.

50 or 12. Really? Which is not a big deal, because these people now, when their goals change, it's going to be 8 for them. Yeah, they lose a percentage when they have to change, because they can't spend them anywhere.

And it's always preferable to take hundreds, fifties maybe to exchange your money. On the street, because the people on the street that change the money for you, they want big bills. Right, it's easier to carry. Yeah.

Because there is people in Cuba making money, man. Right. That's what I'm telling you, some of these people are smart people. " And he has a pizza joint in Havana, and I know he's not lying to me because I've seen it, I've been there many, many times, this guy probably has a business in Cuba that puts in his pocket every day a thousand dollars.

- Right. That's a lot. - That's good money anywhere in the world. - Right, yeah.

- But he can do anything with it, you know what I'm saying? - Right, so he's just building like a really nice mattress out of it at his house. And he has a, I think, a Spanish citizenship, so he can travel to Mexico and Spain and all that, and go there, and he likes to take the dollars now, and, you know, big bills, so this is one of those guys that would change money for you, you know? Right.

But he's insecure, too, in the sense, he's saying, "For now, they're not bothering me, I pay my dues, I pay everything percentage, and I'm friends with everybody, and I take care of everybody," because they know how. " You know, that place, you sit there, right? You feel like you're in Europe. Yeah, that's fair.

It's not the typical, and the rundown, how good is the food? Very good, actually. Very good, but he goes to Spain, he buys tomato sauce, really good quality, flour and cheese. Yeah, so most of the stuff there, it tastes good.

People go there and they go, "Oh, wow, Cuba's good. " You know, that's kind of crazy, too, and I think that's something that you really do kind of uniquely bring to, especially this podcast, as well as just, you know, casual conversation, is, you know, you constantly going back, I mean, you probably go to Cuba, what, once or twice a year, at least? Last year I went 12 times. Only 12?

Only 12. So, I mean, so you go there a lot, I mean... One time. Shit, it's September.

I know, I gotta go. My passport is fire. So I'm waiting for it. As soon as that comes, we're going.

Yeah, I'll probably go. Let's do the podcast in Havana next time. I took the John Watson, the guy who owns Lobo Lewis, his wife, and his brother. John Watson's grandfather was born in Cuba.

So he wanted to go to Cuba all his life. I said, "I'll take you," you know. We spent four days walking around Havana. We went to the farm, we rented a car, we went to a factory.

Yeah, but that's cool. I mean, you know, a lot of people will go once, right, and they'll say, "Oh, everything's great," and their economy's up, but, you know, they don't really know. You know, I mean, you have family and friends there, and, you know, you kind of see both sides of it. Yeah, it's heartbreaking.

Right? So when you go down there, do you bring, like, TVs and shit? No, I never, I usually take money bro, you give these people money, and I mean little things, I mean you can take the stupidest things, soap, coffee, toothpaste, toilet paper, things that are hard to find. Right, your normal daily essentials.

The things that we give, that we take for granted, yeah, is perfect over there. But I've never taken anything, not even a computer, I've never taken a computer to do anything. Right. But, yeah, you will see that in the line.

Yeah, little things help. Little things help. Right. Because, like, I tell a lot of people, my cousin in Cuba is a judge, and she makes $44 a month.

A judge? Mm-hmm. In Havana. No kidding.

And, like, the biggest courthouse in Havana. $45? Mm-hmm. A month.

A month. Is that Cooks or American? Cooks. Is it Cooks?

I thought they had pesos. No. They pay her in Cuban pesos. Mm-hmm.

The equivalent. So if you change it, it's that. Because they have two currencies. There are two currencies.

Cuba has two currencies, yeah. Really? When you go to Cuba, you can change for some Cuban pesos, you can pay everywhere with that too. But now, 25 Cuban pesos equals a dollar.

So if we eat at a restaurant, and if the plate was, everything was $10, it's 250. Right. Cuban pesos. That was good math.

Good job. But it's tough, man, when you really look at it, and she tells you, hey man, with what I make a month, I can't even take my family out for dinner once. Right, and she's a judge. She's a judge.

As hard as you can get. That's crazy. I've met people in Cuba that are scientists, and they sell fruits in the street, And somebody else does nails and people with PhDs just to drive a taxi. That can give you more money in Cuba than anything.

You have an old little beat up car and you drive around Havana and you make $40, $50 a day. - Oh, shit. - Yeah. More than my cousin in a month.

- More than no judges make it in a month. - Right. - Doctors. - So it's just such a...

- Crazy. - But they learn how to live like that, man. And honestly, I know maybe, probably, most of the people that listen to this podcast are Americans, I don't know, you know, but if I say this and Cuban here listen to me, they're like, ah, but, 'cause Cubans are so, how do you say, no, but, they get mad about everything, and if I say this and if, I don't give a shit about that. - Politically correct.

- Yeah. Cuban people, no matter what, for the most part, are happy. - Right. - I don't know how they do it.

- They make the best. - I don't know how, but, This is not, this is coming from the bottom of my heart, I know a lot, and like I said, I visit a lot, friends and family and people that I never met before and I met, these are happy people, bro. They're, if they can get better, they do it, but they're happy the way they are too. And they take you to the house and give you the best shit for you to eat and they give you, they offer the best things, not expecting anything back.

I met a musician sax player and I loved the way he played when we talked we became you know not friends but man when I come back I want to come see you guys again I never asked for anything like seeing the gig for free or anything you know it's 10 bucks and you get 2 drinks so no shit but when I got here you know we became friends on Facebook and this guy touched me because I said bro I know you're tall probably he's like what 6'5 when I go back to Cuba I want to take some shoes because I saw his shoes were pretty This kid plays a gig four times a month at this Jazz Club, and he gets paid $11 a gig once a month. No shit. So he also makes $44. Wow.

Like a judge playing. So check this out. It's like they go on RaidenCube, everybody makes $44. I wrote him, I say, "I want to take some shoes for you.

" What do you mean, bro? That's not a big deal. No, no. Today's day that he ran me, he's like, bro, I'm sorry that I'm being, like, I'm asking for this, but if you really want to bring some shoes for me, forget about me.

My mom needs shoes. She doesn't have shoes. Wow. So when he's, you know, a young guy, because he's 20.

And to say something like that, I could have taken nice shoes from him and he said, no, I'll bring shoes for my mom. And she has a problem in her ankle and something comfortable being super nice. So I'm like, damn. and this, anybody would bring the stuff for me or ask me for stuff, never ask.

I have 100 friends in Cuba and I know what they do to survive, 'cause it's not even for work. And nobody has ever said, oh, bring me this, bring me that, I need, never, never. And you go there and they, I mean, the dinner that his mom did for us, it's one of the best foods I ever had in Cuba. In a little apartment in the middle of Havana, And they treat us like royalty.

No shit. I gotta go with you sometime. Yes, we do. It will change your life.

The way you look at things. Right. Yeah, when I first came back, the first time I went to Cuba, I was like, you have my permission to slap me in the face if I ever complain about that stupid. Oh, can I get in on that?

I love that. And I mean, you travel the world and you've been to China and all that, I'm pretty sure there is other things that I have no idea. Of course, I'm Cuban, and I have that love for, you know, for the place that you were born and all that, but honestly, it's a special place, it's a place that is being frozen in time, it was separated from the world for so long. Right, yeah.

I think it's unique. If you go to Cuba, you're going to appreciate it, you're going to come back and be like, man, I'm glad I went. All right. " He left in 1961 and never went back.

Never came back, yeah. " And I'm like, "It's good for you that you had the courage to go and keep going. You only live once. " Right.

That's crazy. Funny stuff. Powerful stuff. Well, you know, we finally got you to open up a little.

Now I know what we've got to talk about. We'll keep the updates on Cuba, you know? That's fantastic. All their Cuban information.

Exactly. Because you don't get that from anybody else. No. Mm-mm.

You know? You get the... Like, Island Gym has been a lot, but I don't think he... When he goes, it's a different...

It's a tourist experience. It's a tourist experience. You know? Right.

Even though he loves to go into the... Because I know he's done... But he doesn't see it from the... He doesn't see it through your eyes.

He's like Cuban. When I came from Cuba, it was a special period, they call it. From 1990 to 1990. The Communists fell in Russia, and all the help stopped going to Cuba, and it was four or five of the worst years that you can- Are you literally eating worms?

Oh, yeah. Oh, shit. A little bit of water and a spoon of brown sugar and a bread, hard bread like this, with the worst flour you can in mind, that's what I had for the day to go to school, until I come back, see what the heck we find. And egg and rice.

How are you not 500 pounds? I know. Living in the United States. With good sugar, I guess.

I don't know. He's going to the gym. He's exercising. You'll see that tricep coming out of his foot.

Yeah, that's true. I saw him flex. You're right. I gotta go to the gym soon.

My trainer is waiting for me. That's true. Trainer's waiting. She's Cuban.

That helps. But she doesn't visit. Did she go a lot? No, actually, we were talking about that yesterday.

She wants to go either at the end of the year or beginning of the next year. Her dad lives in Cuba, and he's a die-hard communist person, to the point that he won't even take money from her when she goes. " She said, she gives money to him, and he said, "No, I don't need that. I live with what the government gives me.

" The government, take out of me, I'm fine. Really? Still some people like that. That's fucking insane!

Mm-hmm. That's insane. All right, well, I think we're gonna wrap it up here if you gotta go do some push-ups and stuff. Some squats.

You got a little bit of time. He still got some time. He still got some time? He says he still got some time.

Well, I appreciate you guys coming out, obviously. Yeah, thank you for coming back again. This cigar is good, man. I can't believe the meals have been so quiet.

Very good. What's wrong with you? Yeah, so, you know, smoke some Cordoba Morales, try them out if you haven't smoked them already. Good sticks!

For me, personally, I love the Cordoba. Clave, Cubana, obviously. The Finca Santa Fe is amazing. That's, of course, what I tried to hit you up for as soon as you came in.

And then you have a special FSG with Corona Cigars, Jeff, you know, so you should definitely try that out, too. I think that, you know, those are like, I would say that the Clave and the Finca are definitely my go-tos as far as Cordoba Morales. I'm a 19th old guy. You know, the front nine is really good, too, which is a Connecticut shade.

I just want to kind of ding on all... On all of them here? Yeah, the Connecticut Shade is a really good morning cigar for me. And now the 90 Hall is going to come in with blue balls.

Oh, very nice blue balls. It's going to be special. It's going to be special. He didn't say blue balls just to make...

Blue balls. Oh, blue balls. It's going to come in the blue balls. So you thought you were saying bongos?

He said box. I heard him say box. I caught the box. He didn't say blue balls.

But he was playing the bongos on the side of it. My new gig is what? Selling bongos, I guess? No, playing bongos.

Playing bongos. Playing bongos. Yes, at some events, you know, he busts out the bongos and, you know, old school, I guess, Cuban style or whatever. Man, now I want to go to Cuba again.

Right? Yeah, after all that, I'm like, man, I really gotta go, I gotta go witness this shit, you know, but I don't want... Take a computer and do a transmission in Havana. There you go.

Live from Cuba. We don't have to rent a car and go to a farm or anything. We can do that on one day if you really like... I don't really like the experience, but just to go to Havana and stay in an Airbnb in North Havana, walk around a couple of days, it is unique.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to go to your standard tourist shit. I want to see, like, cruise. Yeah, I don't want to do that. You need the real deal, you know.

I want to go eat fucking Cuban food in an apartment that's, you know. Somebody's house. Exactly. You're paying for the food with shoes.

Right, exactly. Exactly. Or toilet paper. Or toilet paper, oh.

Tooth paint. Deodorant. I'll bring a bunch of that shit. I'll bring everything.

Barter system. Right? Don't bring your nice stuff because you're going to leave it. Your heart's going to be like, here you go.

Just take it. Just take it. I mean, that happens in Esteli, too. They're like, you know, your lighter's awesome.

I'm like, yeah. There you go. That happens in Lake Nona. Yesterday, somebody took my cutter.

What? I mean, he's like, oh, man, this is a beautiful cutter. Oh, man, this is a beautiful. I was like, take the cutter, man.

You're worth $10 million and you want to take my $60 million car? Take it. That's how he's worth $10 million. He's trying to never pay for it.

This is amazing. You know, your car is really nice. No, we're not giving you a car. Can you Uber home?

We're not giving the Cordova Morales Mercedes. Could you put Cordova Morales on the hood of this and then I can just take it? That'd be fantastic. Oh, man.

So yeah, well, you know. But you got her to laugh at least. Right, got her to open up finally. Got her to open up finally.

Maybe you're going to say shit. She's trying to be so petite and demure. It's crazy. You're not invited for the next one.

That's right. Licker me up. That's it. We've just got to get them a little drunk first.

You look really beautiful today. Thank you. Oh, that's twice. Oh, that's twice.

So, we appreciate you guys coming on the show, obviously. You're obviously good friends of ours. And, you know, we consider your family. So, again, thank you so much for coming out.

And I'm looking forward to seeing you guys if you disappear for two weeks. We'll see you in the 28th. Yeah. I wish you guys would come around, you know, I mean, I understand that it's hard, right?

But I should come more often because I just noticed my gym is on that road. Yeah, so what the hell? Isn't that Enterprise? Yeah.

Isn't that road? Yeah. I should be coming here after the gym. After or before?

Both. Post-workout cigar? Post-workout cigar. Post-workout cigar.

Protein cigar. Get your sweaty ass in the chair, really? That's it. Oh, please, that would be the least offensive thing in those chairs.

Oh, God. Right? It's true. A Saudi-Cuban would not be a problem.

All right, thanks, Felicity. We're gonna wrap this up. See ya. Thank you, bye.

Bye. This is the operator with a collect ball from... Emery Kills. 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, Mikey at CigarHustler, and you can follow me at FloridaCigarClub_Mike. Please rate, review, and subscribe on whichever providers you use.

Yeah. We're in it, only it's objects, an object for us to explore our process.

Show Notes

This week we go way back to episode 1 and have Zee and Emille from CM Cigars back on!  If you look at the poster this week you will see photos of the famous Pagan Santa Tie from Zee's childhood.

So sit back listen and make sure to enter the contest!!

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

Please make sure to rate, review and subscribe on which ever of our many providers you listen!