Episode 37 Advice from the Hustler Birthday Show
Episode Summary
Episode 37 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is the "birthday show," with co-hosts Mike and Mike recording as a two-man conversation (no guest) on Mike's 51st birthday. Much of the first half is a road-trip recap: a multi-day sales swing from Florida up through Georgia with Matt Hunt, including a pop-in at Old Town Cigars in St. Augustine, shop visits to Smitty's and Five Points Cigars in Athens, Georgia, an event at Lejeros Tobacco House in Buford, and an FQ (Fernandez Quesada) event at Jerry's in Tallahassee. The hosts also discuss an SBC release party, an unnamed retailer that made for a genuinely bad visit, and what that shop represents.
That bad experience turns into the episode's most useful industry commentary: the hosts argue that a large share of brick-and-mortar retailers have "checked out," relying on old-school mainstream inventory while ignoring new brands and changing consumer tastes. Their point is blunt — if a shop doesn't grow, its aging customer base eventually dies off and younger smokers walk out looking for products the store never bothered to stock. There's also housekeeping: a hashtag contest winner is drawn (Kelly King takes the Cordova & Morales hat), plus mentions of guest spots on the Cigar Brothers YouTube show and a Tampa radio appearance to talk about Florinata and Cafe 1901 cigars.
The "Advice from the Hustler" segment covers cigar bands. The hosts explain the band's origin (giving gentlemen a place to hold a cigar without soiling white gloves), how bands became marketing and collectible art, and why band construction matters: thicker or smaller bands need more glue and are far more likely to tear a wrapper. The recommended technique is patience — let the cigar burn close to the band so the heat loosens the adhesive, clear your ash, then use middle finger and thumb to slowly work the band off toward the burning end rather than peeling it. If you do tear the wrapper, they suggest unflavored ChapStick as a quick patch to hold the leaf down. Examples include the two-piece RoMa Craft bands (Intemperance) and Chogüí, whose heavily glued bands hide a secret message underneath.
Along the way there's plenty of banter about new iPhones, Bang energy drinks, podcast mic technique, and how much advance notice a rep should give before a shop visit — pop-in versus appointment.
In This Episode
- 01Birthday show openThe hosts kick off with a birthday singalong for Mike's 51st and the usual back-and-forth about phones, beards and going gray.
- 02Southeast road trip recapA rundown of the Florida-to-Georgia swing with Matt Hunt: St. Augustine, Athens, Buford and Tallahassee.
- 03The shop that won't be namedA bad retail visit sparks a candid take on why roughly 80% of shops feel disconnected from the modern market.
- 04Retailers who stop growing, dieWhy sticking to old-school mainstream inventory loses younger smokers as the legacy customer base ages out.
- 05Media appearances and social pushUpcoming spots on the Cigar Brothers YouTube show and a Tampa radio show to talk Florinata and Cafe 1901.
- 06Listener contest winnerOnly a handful of valid #ACigarHustlersPodcast entries, so Kelly King wins the Cordova & Morales hat.
- 07Advice from the Hustler: cigar bandsBand history, paper and glue differences, and the proper technique for working a band off without tearing the wrapper.
- 08Wrapper repair and pop-in etiquetteUsing unflavored ChapStick to patch a torn wrapper, plus how much notice a rep should give before visiting a shop.
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 hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin'. Shipper slap, Rockefeller, Jack G, One umbrella, Shipper slap, Rockefeller, Jack G, One umbrella, Shipper slap, Rockefeller, Jack G, One umbrella, Shipper slap, Rockefeller, Jack G, One umbrella, Shipper slap, Rockefeller, Rock Feller. 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. Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, dear Mike! Happy Birthday to you, Woooo!
We love you, Mike! It's me, Richard. Sing some more. Hello.
So, Michael, how are you? Hi, Michael. Hello, Michael. I'm well, Michael.
Guess what today is, Michael. It's your birthday, Michael. It's my birthday. Happy birthday, Michael.
Thank you very much. How old are you today? Too old. Oh, are we, like, at the age where we don't talk about it anymore or something like that?
51. 51. 51 years old. I wouldn't have pegged you a day over 52.
Oh, okay. Oh, thank you very much. You're so kind. Thank you.
Something other should be music. I don't know why. There should be music. So, what'd you do this weekend, Michael?
Where'd you go? What'd you do? Well, I could tell you... Oh, wait.
One, two, three, go. Hi, I'm Mike. And I'm Mike, too. And this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast birthday show!
Yay! Okay, now what'd you do? Besides all the sex you went on down again. -No, we didn't.
It was nice. -Oh, it was sexy. It was his birthday. -I'm gonna keep it professional.
-It was his birthday. -What, the podcast or the trip? -It was. It was his birthday.
I don't know. Maybe both. Maybe we're trying to be both professional. -Oh, isn't that funny?
So, we're just gonna talk on our phones as we do? -No, no, but... -You're distracting me. -I got a new phone today.
-Oh, you got a new phone today, too? -I did. -What'd you get? -I got the little XS.
-Oh, fancy boy. -And the iPhone XS. This is good. Hey, listen, dude.
In all fairness, my last phone was the 6. Okay? The battery would last me up until 9 o'clock in the morning, and then I'd have to plug it in. The SIM card would say no SIM available.
They haven't had SIM cards in years. That's not true. There's no SIM card. Mine has a SIM card.
I had to put the SIM card in- They have Uncle Bob's cell service? I have Verizon. Same thing. How is that the same thing?
Because I have AT&T, we haven't had SIM cards in 15 years? You know what's funny is, as we're traveling, my partner in crime, Mr. Matthew Hunt, for this trip has AT&T as well, and he didn't have service in a lot of areas where I had service, buddy, so... Well, yeah, but he spent all the money on jewelry and clothing.
Well, I guess the point is that you can pick on my SIM card all day, but... Exactly. So, hey, where'd you guys go? Come on, Bartley, when are you going next?
I think I might tag along next time. Well, I think next is going to be the end of October. Where are you going? North or south?
I'm going to be north. Where do you keep going north? I'm going to tinderbox in Memphis. Memphis, Tennessee?
Yeah. I have to check my category, my territorial list and see. I think there's like a multi-vendor event or something. I got to call them today.
Oh. Well, I don't think they carry me there yet. Iron that whole thing out. Gotcha.
But yeah, so we went out traveling, it was Mr. Matt Hunt's birthday, so he was super excited about that, leaving on the day of his birth. But is he 18 now? He's 27.
Ooh. 27. He's getting up there. I gotta tell you, I wish I had...
Must be all the moisturizer you use, because he looks so young. Well, he's 27. Yes, but he looks 18. And he's always so tan.
All right. He's from the island, living on the island. His conversation just kind of got awkward. His pants is so tight.
He looks so good outside. So, anyways. Today's my birthday. Today's my birthday.
Yeah, we already did that. All right, sorry. You're 51. 51.
Yes. And you asked me if I dyed my beard. What, do you think I made it whiter? Bleached?
I don't know. It's yellow on the mustache and it looks like- That's cigar smoke, probably. From, like, the center of the goatee, it looked like he had a line on one of his FaceTimes. It did earlier on the phone, didn't it?
It does have some black specks in it, but that's always the way it is. Don't ever dye your hair. You know, I did one time. You did?
One time, a long time ago, yeah. I tried to match the top, because this has been white forever, ever since I've had it. Nope, it went like tan, tannish brown, and it looked terrible. You gotta embrace the gray.
It's white, it's not even gray, it's white. It shows wisdom, yes. All right, I'm sorry. So where'd you get, you guys went up to see my friend Yvonne?
My friend Spencer Drake calls it Nordic Blonde. Nordic Blonde. Yes. I ran into Spence the other day.
Yeah, he was here when we were, when I was out of town. Yes, but I ran into him at a shop on a sales call. Oh, very nice. Yes.
So, yeah. You went, you went from here to St. Augustine? Yes, went to St.
Augustine. Saw my friend Yvonne? She wasn't there, but we did go to Old Town Cigars. Oh.
Was it a pop-in? Yes. Pop-in. A little poppin'.
Poppin'. Saw Tyler there. Yes. Put your sticker on the window?
I did. I'm going to cover it with my sticker this week. Okay. It's kind of messed up, but okay.
You have two. I don't have any yet. Anyway. I've made an appointment.
Mine's not a poppin'. Yeah. Good for you. That's okay, but you were on a mission.
You were on a thing. Mm-hmm. So where'd you go for that? A shop that I will not disclose, but I can tell you that it was a horrible experience.
If I say it didn't go well. Will you say the city? No. The state.
Nope. I'm trying to think where you went. But I can tell you this. Does it begin with a J and end with an E, the city?
I can tell you that it starts with a "shut the fuck up" and let me say my whole goddamn sentence. I'm so angry. So, let me tell you this. Let me tell you this.
I'll turn off my microphone. For one, I'll tell you what it is off the air, because you should not go to this shop. And it's kind of sad that this shop is kind of like the 80% of retailers in the industry, just very disconnected, really doesn't care about the industry whatsoever, more concerned about just your standard kind of churn of your old school mainstream cigars. But here's the problem with that is that as time continues to progress if you don't if you check out and you don't grow you die if you check out and you don't put in the time and the effort into the into your brands or into the into your store and kind of pay attention to what's going on in the marketplace your older consumers eventually die off right and young people come in and you start to lose sales because people are looking for different products.
It's a product that you don't have. You know? Does the shop have the two letters the same? I am not going to disclose the name of the shop.
What's the odds he listens? On this podcast. He doesn't listen. No, it doesn't matter.
It's just that that's not appropriate. Yes, please talk into the microphone. You sounded bad there for a minute. Do I sound better now?
No, you sound magical. You know, I gotta be honest, I listen to a couple of podcasts on our adventure, and I always sound really good. It sounds really good. Because I keep you on point on the microphone.
But sometimes you don't sound good. Well, I'm busy over here working the board and on the laptop and back over here. I don't think that that's the case. Well, we did just get the new sound proven on this one.
I listened to recent ones. I sound wonderful. Z sounded... I couldn't get him on the microphone no matter what I did.
And that sucked. And Emil wouldn't even talk. Yeah. It's very quiet in here.
It seems kind of weird. Which is kind of unique. I think that's what it is. It hasn't been just the two of us in a long time.
There's usually a third person yammering away. So yeah, so that shop was terrible. So go ahead and say it, and I'll edit it out later. No.
I'm dying to know. And they were a little bit of a time suck, and then we learned to get the hell out of Dodge. They should have listened to episode 15, time not to be a time suck. Exactly.
No, they don't listen to anything. They have all the answers, unfortunately. And if you have a local retail shop like that, um, I feel sorry for you. Go in and feel free to yell at the owner of that shop at any time.
Tell them that the Cigar Hustler said it was perfectly fine for me to come in and yell at you and tell you that you suck at your job. The Cigar Hustler told me to tell you that you suck. And, yeah, so then, um, where else did we go after that? You went to Atlanta.
We did, we did, uh... Went to Lejero. Yeah, we had an event at, uh, at Lejero's Tobacco House. Lejero.
No, just Lejero. Lejero. We gotta roll your eye. I think I hurt myself.
Um, we checked into a place called, uh, Smitty's. That's the shop or the hotel you said checked into? In Athens, Georgia. Uh-oh.
What was that? That was you. Your new phone. Your new golden phone.
How do I turn this off? How do I turn this off? Golden phone. Turned it off.
The man with the golden phone. So we went into Smitty's. That's a pretty good shop. They're revamping.
They're remodeling two doors down, and when it's done, it's going to be super badass. So Athens, Georgia. Wait, no. Athens, Georgia is five points.
Five point cigars. Oh, I thought you were giving them points. They got five out of five. You did really good.
We went to Five Point Cigars, which is a really cool shop. Good guys there. Good guys at Smitty's. Had the event at Lajero.
And that was really good. Did the little SBC release party there. Oh, yeah. What's that taste like?
I still don't know. That's really good. And it's my birthday and everything. I still have no idea.
It must taste like betrayal and disappointment. Nope. It doesn't. It doesn't at all.
And then, where else did we go? After that, we did... Yeah, where did you go after that? Wait, okay, okay, wait.
I'd just like to follow the timeline. So you left here midday on... Well, you're trying to figure it out, but I purposely left it elusive enough so that you'd never know exactly where the location was. No, no, no, no.
Not the bad shop. No, no, no. Just trying to figure out how many shops you guys hit. you guys hit because you really got what'd you leave on Wednesday or Thursday you left Thursday didn't you Wednesday Wednesday came back Friday night yeah okay so you left Wednesday midday so you went St.
Augustine mystery shop all the way up to Atlanta the first day uh yeah well we ended up in Athens is that north or south of Atlanta I don't remember where it is off the top of my head it's in Georgia yeah I know but did you go through Atlanta northeast yeah did you go You went through Atlanta to get there? So where's Lagueros? That's in Buford. Oh, that's not in Atlanta.
It's just outside of it. South of Atlanta. North of Atlanta. You guys drive me crazy with your zigzagging around.
Okay, so that was Thursday's event. Thursday's event. Which is awesome. Do you spend one or two nights in Atlanta?
We spent one night in Atlanta, but we spent both nights in Georgia, one of them was Atlanta. So where was the other one? Because it sounded like you were right around Atlanta, just a different hotel. In Athens.
So we could wake up and see Five Points. Oh, I thought Five Points was before Lajero's. No, we went as high north as we could. I think that we, I think that Five Points opened earlier too.
Wait, so Lajero's is a Thursday night event? Correct. Okay, because nobody does them during the day, that'd be silly. It was like four to eight.
Okay, so what did you do during the day Thursday? We hit shops. What shops? Smitty's and Five Points.
Smitty's and Five Points. If you weren't on your phones, then you would know. I'm a very important man. Because I said that.
I'm a very busy man. Stop whispering in the phone. It annoys people. Into the microphone.
So then after Lajero's, so then Friday, did you drive straight home or did you go somewhere else? No, we went to Jerry's in Tallahassee. Oh, you went back to Jerry's. Jerry's, okay, that's what I missed, I didn't realize you went back to Jerry's.
For the FQ event at Jerry's, which went really well, they got, you know, Farznorquinguang, whatever the name of the company is, I don't know how to pronounce it. Fernandez Inquirora. There you go. So that went really well.
Lo siento. We have a really good customer base. I got a new app on my phone, I'm trying to learn Spanish. Does that fucking app tell you when to let somebody finish their goddamn sentence?
Vámonos! No. Because if there's an app for that, Michael, you need to download that instantly. Lo siento.
Instantly. Lo siento, por favor. So, he's got a good customer base. They're really loyal, really cool guys, really nice shop.
He's got two locations up in Tallahassee, but we did his bigger one, and then we headed home. Can I talk now? Sure. All you have to do is wait for me to complete my sentence.
I have questions. Okay. I've got a lot of questions. So you can still wait until I'm done.
No, I'll forget about them. I don't have anything to write on. I'm traveling light today because, you know, it's my birthday. I should have had something set up every time I say birthday, I go, dun-da-da-da, into the phone, into the speaker.
That'd be funny. You give me agita. Yeah. All right, so go ahead.
What were your questions? I don't know now. I had them at the time. That's why I say them then.
I can't remember. I have no short-term memory. Oh, good. Oh, good.
I'm like the fish that swims around the thing. Oh, look at the bush. Swims around the other. Oh, look at the bush.
Cool. Yeah. Well, Thursday night, I went to Bellicoso and I was on Cigar Brothers, their YouTube video show. Yeah.
Talking about Florinata cigars. Do they have more viewers than us? They have viewers. We have listeners.
It's different. Do they have more viewers than us? Not yet, but we've been on, this is, by the way, By the way, that wasn't episode 38 last week, it was episode 36. I know.
This is 37. No. Not yet. I'm going to have them come in, they're going to come in and do our show, because Josh has been on before, but his partner, whose name is escaping me at the moment, they do it.
I'm going again this Thursday to talk about Caffey Cigars this Thursday, Caffey 1901 Cigars. This episode brought to you by Caffey, Caffey 1901 Cigars. It is not brought to you by anybody. But this Saturday, I'm going to be on the radio over in Tampa.
Yeah. Up In Smoke, I think it's called, the local radio show. That's cool. In Smoke, I think it's called In Smoke.
Yeah, I'm making the, I'm making a big social media push. Nice. Yeah. Because I feel I'm not getting some of the bigger accounts because I'm new.
Okay. So, what else did you do? You went to Pelicosos? Well, that was just at nighttime.
I was out on the coast last week, Merritt Island, Melbourne, Rockledge. Palm Bay, not Palm Bay, Palm Bay, Palm Bay, Palm Bay, I don't know, just running around, seeing people, I saw a lot of people that already carried the products, and then some new people, and things went well, but you know, open a shop in Vegas, so, What shop? I don't remember the name, it's not open yet, it's a new shop, I get all the internet leads. Interesting.
For Caffey 1901 Cigars, that this episode was brought to you by. It is not brought to you by Caffey. " Don't you dare do that. I'll beat you to death with one of these four mics.
You don't listen! You'll never know. We're only 16 minutes in. Holy crap, we gotta talk some more.
That'd probably be like a 30-minute podcast. So we got 15 more minutes to fill. That's not a problem. Because we're gonna do an advice from the hustler, no?
Oh, are we? You have one? You came into no papers. I figured you had nothing.
I figured you had nothing. Well, we talked about this before and then you made it like a two second thing and we're gonna revisit this. I'll turn my microphone off and you can just talk. We're gonna revisit this.
What are we revisiting? We're gonna break this down. Because you should take the advice of the hustler and something, I don't know where you're going with this. We're gonna talk about cigar bands.
Oh, we have the contest from last week. We have to pick a winner. Ooh, who's the winner? Well, what'd you have to do?
You had to go on and hashtag a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, correct? So we don't even have a winner drawn yet? No, no, because there weren't many people. Hold on.
It's easier to do. Because I already looked. Phil. Phil.
Phil. Phil with something, Michael. Phil with something? Talk.
Well, I type. I don't want to. Because one of the entries, it's a friend of the shows, but she's not a listener. I didn't know she was that much of a listener.
And I was surprised that she entered. Oh. " Okay, here we go. All right, see, only four people.
You had to hashtag CigarHustlersPodcast, right? Yeah, so, and I can identify... Yeah, that's the one. Ms.
Kelly King, why did she tag us in a picture of her husband? But it was for the contest. Okay. Yeah.
So there is her. There is Yogi in 1966. Okay. Well, he won recently.
And then, um, what's the name of this one? See, and it's really just those two, because the other ones are older ones. Mr. Dominic Gianelli hashtagged us, but that was back in July.
Okay. So then let Kelly win, goddammit. And Spencer Drake back in February, so... Alright, so Kelly wins.
We should let Spencer win. No. He's my friend. No, he doesn't get to win.
Well, Kelly's my friend, too. Yeah, Kelly wins. She has all her hair and Spencer doesn't. So, Kelly wins the hat.
Kelly wins the hat. It was a Corover and Morales hat. It was a Corover and Morales hat we'll have to get from them this Friday. Yes.
And then we will send that out to, is she going to be here for the event? I have no idea. You're on your phone again, Michael. Taking pictures of yourself.
You're selfie-ing. I was trying to log into Instagram. Damn, this thing's going nuts. I'm breaking into 18.
Okay. So cigar bands. What about cigar bands? Pro, con.
Talk amongst yourself. Okay, so cigar bands. The bands around cigars. Or a band that plays cigar music.
What are we talking about here? The paper. Do you drink coffee? No, but we do these new things, these bang energy drinks.
They are great. That's quite obvious. They're good. They're all healthy.
They're healthy. They have no fat, no transphenicose, what the hell is that? It's nothing. Sodium, potassium, no carbs, no sugar, no protein.
I don't know what it is, but they're delicious and they wake me up. That's got a built-in heart attack for you. No, no. Well, it does have like 7,000 grams of caffeine, I think.
Okay, okay. So listen. So this episode brought to you by Bang Energy Drink. No, it's not!
I know, it's Caffeine 1901. No, it's not! You will be replaced. Nope.
I will break the machinery. Go ahead. I'll hit one button. Okay.
So, anyways, can we talk about the cigar bands? Oh, you didn't specify. Is it the little piece of paper around a cigar? Yes.
Or the group that plays music? No. It has nothing to do with any musician. No musicians.
So, cigar bands kind of vary, right? There's a ton of different kinds. Some are thinner, some are thicker. Some use too much glue and they tear your cigar and you take them off.
Some have regular paper that's kind of thin that's usually easy to remove. Some are on parchment. And some are like a wine stock. Some have secret messages under them.
That are thicker. I'm going to kill you. I just want you to know I'm going to kill you. It's my birthday.
Is it my birthday? Yeah. Well, hey, the day that you entered Earth is the same day you'll be leaving. Oh, I was sick yesterday.
I thought I was dying. I'm glad you recovered. 110%. Told my wife, I go, it's kind of poetic justice, honey, I'm going in and out on the same day.
Okay, anyway, back to the bands. So bands kind of vary, right? Obviously the bands were originally, do you know why bands were originally created? Yes, but I'm trying not to interrupt.
So tell me, why were bands originally created, Michael? Because it gave you a place to hold the cigar, so you did not get your white gloves dirty, Michael. Correct. Thank you, Michael.
Correct. But now they're more of a selling point. Because you know, I'm in the industry now. You are in the industry.
Yes, they are. They're a type of an art form, if you would. Some of them get quite artistic-y looking and people collect them and save them and have bags and jars of them around the garage like me and have no idea what to do with them. Yeah.
Yeah. I need a cigar. Well, whether you admit it or not, your subconscious definitely will draw towards bands. Oh, certainly.
Yep. See an interesting band, you have to pick it up. So there's a thought process in putting art on a band at least to some degree I wouldn't say that everybody in the industry puts a lot of thought behind their bands and some people that put too much thought in their bands and it looks like dog shit however either way subconsciously you gravitate towards bands I get a lot of positive feedback for the new Florinata bands yeah no they look really really good so this episode brought to you by Florinata brands no it's not just my two brands it's okay Okay. So, however, with some of these bands, you know, they're easy to take off, as you kind of progress, and some of them are very difficult to take off.
Aren't they made to supposedly, when the cigar burns to a certain point, it's supposed to, like, heat the glue under the band and make it easier to remove, or is that just a byproduct that just happens to work that way? I think that it just kind of happens that way. You know, when I've listened to the podcast… You can hear the seat move? Yeah.
You listen for things. You're a pain in the butt. I have to move my chair. I get uncomfortable.
I have a bad back. I broke six bones in my back one day. Yeah. I mean, a couple things that kind of drive me crazy about the podcast.
One, you constantly interrupting me. Two, your chair. That's it? So everything associated with me bothers you?
No. Sometimes if we use like a higher torch, like the triple flames or whatever, you don't have to give a demo. Put it down. Thank you.
thank you or like the constant ruffling of one of our new interviewees with like the cellophane cellophane noise and shit like that and if they would just pull away from the mic slightly to light the cigar yeah but no when they're on the top yeah yeah and then it sounds like they're lighting the mic on fire yes it does okay anyway back cigar bands so some bands you like the hard rock music What do you think of yours anyway? Some bands... Like Led Zeppelin? Normally, if your band is a thicker paper, and especially sometimes thinner or smaller than your average band, it requires more glue.
If it requires more glue, it's definitely more difficult to remove. And some people try and peel and pull it off... You tear the wrapper. And that's what happens, yeah.
Tear the wrapper. Tear the wrapper. I hate when that happens. So there's actually an art form as to how to properly remove...
Ooh, you gonna teach us? Maybe. Ooh. It might be after I kill you.
So excited. So, but it's actually a really simple practice. Yes. So the first thing is you don't want to rush it.
You want to take your time and let the cigar burn close to the paper. As you were saying before, when you get a little bit closer to it, it heats it up a little bit, right? Yes. Once that happens, you want to clear your ash, make sure that you don't have any access kind of looming around, and then you take, I take my middle finger and my thumb, and I slowly pull at it towards- Oh, you're working it off.
You're not peeling it, you're working it off. Correct. I work it off towards- Is that just because of the cigar you normally smoke? Because with the Romacraft, since it's a two-piece band, it is harder to get off.
Well, I do tend to smoke a lot of Romacraft. Yes. Well, I noticed as you were holding it up, you were smoking a Romacraft Intemperance. And that is...
This episode brought to you by Romacraft Intemperance. That'd be fun. I'd be fun. Oh, sure.
What are your brands? It's okay. It's not my brand! How is it my brand?
Might as well be. Anyway. oh my god. I can't get it off, that was gonna be a lot shorter.
Why did you do that? I thought it was gonna be the thing I was talking about earlier. Oh my god. Come on, people like it when we cut up on this show.
So, and you're turning red. I was laughing, it was funny. I thought that was funny. I do feel a little warm.
So... My fever's coming back. Middle finger, thumb, and just kind of slowly pull it off towards the burning portion of the cigar. If you do that, it's kind of dirty.
Middle finger and thumb and slowly work it until it comes off. Oh my god. I'm beginning to rethink my entire life as a whole right now. Just for the record.
it's too often do i see somebody struggling with the wrapper and they're trying to pull it off and they really wind up damaging their cigar so do you know what to do once you tear if the wrapper does tear slightly how you can fix it no tell me chapstick chapstick works really well you just sort of paint over the tear and it'll hold it down till you can smoke fast like cherry flavor well i'd I prefer a non-flavored chipstick. A medicinal flavor? Yeah, some kind of flavor. Well, but I don't think you taste it when it burns, it just melts away because it's wax, like material.
I don't know how I feel about all that. You've never done it before? No. Oh, I have.
Generally, for me, if... Well, see, we don't all own cigar shops where you can just toss a wrapper-torn cigar and grab another one. Did you tear the wrapper? Man with the golden phone.
Well, let me ask you this. Did you tear the wrapper? I have torn the wrapper, yes. Okay, so that's your first problem, is you're tearing the wrapper.
Well, sometimes when they put too much glue on the band, it gets under the band, because they put too much glue on it, period, and when they fold the one side over on the other side, there's excess. Where, what, what brand overglues? I didn't write it down. A lot of people overglue.
Now, one of my favorite cigars, the Chogui Cigars, I've never torn the band, the wrapper, but his are almost impossible to get off in one piece. That's true. Because he uses a lot of glue. And he's got a hidden message under the band.
Don't say it! Don't say it. But he does have a hidden message under the band. Take care of the fanfare again?
What? Stop. Stop. No.
Thank you. I'm glad it didn't work. Didn't work. It's loading.
damn good so uh that's my advice to so take it from the cigar hustler uh don't peel your band i don't know where we're going yeah pretty much don't peel it all don't jeopardize the band while you're smoking forget completely and just burn through it yeah more often than not does it change the flavor of the cigar i didn't think so either i've done it before too it does not you're not inhaling it no no you're not it doesn't make sense no i did put the wrong into the cigar in my The other day. Did you? You don't do that more than once. You know what?
I did that too, like a week ago. Yeah. You're just not paying attention and you don't realize you spun the cigar in your hand and go to put it back in and... Doesn't taste good.
Burned your tongue. I didn't burn my tongue, but I did eat some ash. When you're on the road with Matt Hunt. oh my god oh i got you anyway can't say that uh can't say you guys are look man i've done my best to tone down my cursing this time you did what's wrong with you i don't i don't curse much but you're the colorful flavor flavor to the show i just listened to the podcast i'm like man i'm so aggressive you are you swear all the time like a sailor swear like a sailor all the time it's amazing you'd think that i wouldn't be able to get to say anything with the amount of times you You interrupt me during a sentence.
I'm shutting down. Just shutting down. That's a lie. It's not possible.
Especially after you drank your bang. Bang. This is cherry vanilla. It's very good.
They're hard to find. So where are you going to be this upcoming week? Uh, this week, where am I going this week? I'm going, I'm going to go see Yvonne.
Oh. I'm going to go to Yvonne's one day. Uh, I'm going to go, I'm going to do the Ormond Beach run. I'm going to do the Daytona, uh, like, um, uh, St.
Augustine. St. Augustine through, is there one in Port Orange? St.
Augustine through Daytona, and then tomorrow I'm going to run over and sit at Corona Sand Lake and see if I can get in over there. Very nice. I have to renew my license, and I really have to make an appointment to do that. Can't get in until next week.
What kind of license? A driver's license. Oh. I'm old, they do expire eventually when you get older.
Oh. And they only let you do it online once. So I thought, you know, I went on Friday and figured, ah, I'll get some day this week. Nope.
Two weeks out. Can't go till next week. You want to know what your noise is in your background? It's not your AC.
I think it's the computer. I think you're right. Yeah. Well, it's old.
It's working now, though. Last week, a lot of problems last week. But now it seems to be working. As soon as we can turn it on, there's a delay, and I can't do the headphones because you'll talk and then a second later I hear it.
Oh, we're gonna... Michael popped a beer. Another set of headphones? None of these work fine.
Oh, another computer. Those other ones are so small out there. I'll just take this until it dies. We're at 31 minutes.
If you want to wrap this up, read it again. I believe that's... It's really just me over-talking you for the last 30 minutes. I'm gonna add music and sound effects and think of this one.
Seems like there should be something else going on. It's very quiet in here when it's just two of us. No, this is perfect. Just the two of us is very quiet.
Leave it alone. Well, let's just keep talking then. No. Where are you going this week?
You going anywhere? I'm not going anywhere. I got SBC stuff I gotta ship out. Oh, what do those taste like?
They're amazing. That's all I've seen photos. They taste like loyalty. Evidently not, considering I'm opening tomorrow.
I still don't know. Yeah, I'll cut it in half. I'll give you half of it. Oh, half of it tomorrow.
I'll leave it here for you. There's a new window open on the screen, I just noticed. I don't know what it's doing. Oh, good.
All right, so that's pretty much it. That's it this week. Thank you for listening, and send in your cards. Oh, you're gonna do a contest for the Postanya hat?
I guess I should do the Postanya hat. That's the one everybody wants. But let's hold on. We did a contest last week.
We won't do one this week. And we'll do it next week. Maybe some random guests will scroll in during the week. Okay.
Because I'm around, I could swing back in if somebody's in town if I have enough notice. How much notice do people give you before they come in? Because I think I'm giving too much notice before I stop into a shop. Yeah, normally you call like an hour or two in advance.
That's it? Hey, I'm stopping in. Oh, what if they're not there? It ruins your day.
No, you just go on somewhere else. No, I like to give them like three or four days. Set up appointments. That sounds great.
How's that working out for you? Everybody's been there when I got there. Perfect. Except for the ones I didn't call where I popped in and nobody was there.
So, hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, bro. Just trying to get the flow here, how everything works and stuff. All right. So, okay, that's it this week.
Thank everyone for listening. Remember to send in your cards and letters and tip your server. Goodbye. This is the operator with a collect ball from...
To accept the charges, press 1. All right, folks, that's it. Show's over. Thanks for listening.
You can send any of your questions or suggestions for guests to a Cigar Hustlers podcast Facebook page. You can follow the show on Instagram at a Cigar Hustlers podcast. You can follow Mikey at Cigar Hustler. You can follow me at Cigar Hustler.
You can follow me at Cigar Hustler. You can follow me at Cigar Hustler. You can follow me at Cigar Hustler. You can follow me at Cigar Hustler.
That's fcc_mike. Remember to please rate, review, and subscribe to whichever our providers you listen to. Outro Music.
Show Notes
Welcome to Episode 37 The Mike Palmer Birthday Show and Advice from the Hustler!
Sit and down and get ready to laugh as Mike keeps cutting Mikey off and driving him crazy!
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.
Make sure to always rate, review and subscribe on which ever of our providers you listen on!