Episode 43 Mike Rosales Roma Craft Tobacco

Episode Summary

Episode 43 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast welcomes RoMa Craft Tobac's Mike Rosales back to the shop for a wide-ranging industry conversation recorded mid-renovation (drills, vacuums and all). Rosales is six days into a Southeast swing — Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Naples, Tampa, Orlando — before flying home to swap bags and head out to Dallas, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Along the way he recaps running into Jack Toraño, Charlie Toraño (making one of his first appearances since the Toraño family sold to General/Scandinavian Tobacco Group) and Hector from Espinosa, plus the fantasy football drama surrounding RoMa Craft's own Danny Vasquez.

The heart of the episode is an honest, insider look at multi-vendor cigar events: the traditional lanyard "trick-or-treat" format versus the bag-at-the-door sales model pioneered by Ron at Serious Cigars in Houston, and how Santa Clara carried that model over to Tampa Cigar Bash and Smoke on the Carolinas after acquiring shops like Tampa Humidor. Rosales explains why the lanyard change confused longtime Tampa attendees, how FDA regulation has killed event-exclusive releases, why Texas events (Serious, Stogie's Wingding in Houston, the Jerry "golfer" herf) set the bar, and what the Tender Box Memphis Smoke does right because Jeff and Lynn actually ask for feedback. He also breaks down the economics for a brand: attendees arrive with $300–$500 to spread across every table, so swag and price points matter, and a single-brand event delivers a far more captive, educable audience than a divided multi-vendor floor.

Other threads include the state of the Tampa/Ybor City market and why RoMa Craft treated Florida as a neglected, traditional market ripe for reintroduction; matching the right blend to the right smoker (don't hand a mild smoker a Neanderthal — steer him to Intemperance instead); the shop's renovation plans for a craft beer section, bigger shipping area and a possible live podcast space; and a long, genuinely useful tangent on road-warrior travel — Hilton Amex instant Diamond status, Hyatt Globalist, status matching, Centurion lounges, and the DoubleTree cookie. Rosales closes on the real cost of 11-day trips and how he stays engaged with his wife Jamie and kids between them. The hosts and Rosales smoke a 2018 RoMa Craft CRAFT throughout.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Chaos of a Monday and Part Deux setup
   The hosts open with a flat tire, a power outage, a check engine light and an audio mishap that forced a second recording session.
2. 02
   Six days on the road in Florida
   Rosales recaps his Fort Lauderdale-to-Orlando swing and running into Jack Toraño, Charlie Toraño and Hector from Espinosa.
3. 03
   Fantasy football drama at RoMa Craft
   Danny Vasquez's questionable use of Facebook to push a trade through becomes industry roast material.
4. 04
   Shop renovation and a live podcast space
   Plans for a craft beer section, expanded shipping department and Rosales pitching an interactive podcast viewing area for customers.
5. 05
   Tampa, Ybor City and a neglected market
   Why Florida was a late priority for RoMa Craft and how Santa Clara, Casa Montecristo and Cigar Castle changed the Tampa landscape.
6. 06
   Multi-vendor events: lanyards vs. bags
   A deep dive into event formats, the Serious Cigars model, Tampa Cigar Bash, Smoke on the Carolinas, Stogie's Wingding and the Memphis Smoke.
7. 07
   What consumers actually spend and want
   Attendees budget a few hundred dollars across all tables, FDA rules have gutted event exclusives, and swag drives purchases.
8. 08
   Matching blends and educating smokers
   Rosales on steering new or mild smokers toward Intemperance rather than Neanderthal or CroMagnon at events.
9. 09
   Travel hacks and family time
   Hotel status matching, Hilton Amex Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Centurion lounges, and staying engaged with family between 11-day trips.

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

Thank you. All right, now it's on. See how that works? Now do I sound better?

Oh, you sound great now. Like a professional, on-air talent. Why do only you get the headphones? Because I'm the producer.

He's the producer. They're not even plugged in, I just like to wear them. My ears get cold. So you fucked up, then.

Yesterday? Evidently, the button got hit with all the stuff that was back here. The button? The dial, the switch.

Let me see your scissors. So I blame... Okay. So you want to blame it on the sound?

Yes. I'm not going to consider some shit. Because he was barely off. Just a smidge.

Just a smidge. And that was the result. Evidently. Evidently.

So, I'm going to tell you briefly about my morning, because it was absolute chaos. Do you want to do the start first? What? You want to jump in?

Sure, sure, sure. Alright, one, two, three, go. Hi, I'm Mike. And I'm Mike too.

And this is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Brought to you in part by... Oh no, you won't ever let me have a sponsor. That's right.

Romacraft Cigars! Yeah, yeah, Roma. Today's show brought to you by Roma. So, um...

I'm gonna get this late. This is Part Deux. Part Deux. Part Deux.

Part Deux. Part Deux. Part Deux. So, I dropped my son off.

You wanna say who the guest is before you start talking? Just in case he wants to- Sure, sure. We have Mr. Michael Rosales from- Yo, hello.

Thanks for having me out. Oh, no, bro. Ooh, he's a little amped up today. I like it.

Cigar royalty in the house. Yes. Cigar lineage. Something.

All right, so I wake up this morning, take Justice to school, my youngest son, and when I get out of the car, I hear... Yeah, kind of like that, only it was air leaving my tire at a rapid rate. So I drive it over to Advanced Auto Parts, try and put Fix-A-Flat in. It doesn't take any of the Fix-A-Flat.

So I see where the hole is, I pull out a plug, I put the plug in. Would it just not go in, or was it just going in and coming right back out? No, it wouldn't go in at all. So I put the plug in, try and put air in it, it doesn't take air.

So then I drive it over to the tire place, and he's like, oh, you're screwed, you need a new tire. Literally, there's a screw. No, there was no screw. So we lift it up in the air, make a long story short, get air in the tire, good to go.

All right, cool. Well, now the gym's screwed, so I can't go to the gym, it's too late. So I go home, go to get ready. Power dies at my house.

So, no power, getting ready. And I'm like, alright, well, screw it up. You know, nothing is gonna stop me today. That's not today, Isis.

Powering through. That's it. That's it. So I get in my car, start to head to work, check engine light comes on.

You just can't win today. So I dropped it off at the mechanic, and the producer of the show gracefully picked me up. Did he not? Way to come to the rescue.

He was the producer. It was UberX and shit and everything. Yeah, it was good times. So, hi, Michael.

Hey, what's going on? How are you, my friend? Good, man. Good.

So, you're in town. Yes, I have, this is day five or six. Day five? I don't know how you do it.

No, this is day six. Day six. I landed in South Florida on Wednesday, and so I've done kind of Fort Lauderdale, down to Miami, Over to Naples, up to Tampa, and then now in Orlando, finally heading home, change bags, say hello to the family, and then up to Dallas, Tulsa, Oklahoma for the weekend. Nice!

Did you see my boy Allen down top? I did. Yeah, Allen was good people, man. " All right.

That was pretty fantastic. But yeah, so Jack Taranio... Maybe move his mic? Yeah, a little bit.

Jack Taranio and Hector from Espinosa showed up, and so it was a good time. Ooh, so it was an episode of Fuck That Guy. I guess, yeah, it was a lot like that. It's the FTG.

There was zero fucks given. Zero fucks given. You know, so they're quite upset with Danny Vasquez, who works in our office, is running a degenerate He's on the regenerate weasel Facebook page. It's a Facebook page, but he's also doing the NFL fantasy football.

Ah, this is dangerous. So he's the commissioner. " And so they were quite upset with Danny. He's the power.

Yeah. So, you know, apparently he should not have, because the deal wouldn't have gone through. Right. And then apparently he, I think maybe Mike, they were convinced that he sent out some shirts and hats to get the Ye's.

Ooh, a little swag. A little swag. So this is why I did not partake in the fantasy football of the Roma Craft. It's drama.

Because the shit always ends bad, right? For sure, yeah. I mean, someone always gets butthurt in fantasy football. It's a game.

Yeah, I know, but you know, and I totally get that. And if everybody had that mindset, that'd be cool. But you know, even myself, I'm like, you know, if I feel like I'm getting screwed over, I'll be like, alright, cool. So check this out.

I'm out this bitch. You guys need to just move on without me. So I'm fairly competitive, but in this kind of stuff, I usually just don't even set my team. I just kind of, you know, if I lose, I lose, but I'm, you know.

You know, I know that about you. I know that about you. But, you know, hey, so, it is what it is, but I just like the fact that they are just roasting Danny about these. That's, and you know what, Hector's got a lot of love for Danny, so, you know, if the hatred is real, that's, that's nice.

I mean, but to use his, his, uh, Facebook power to leverage, you know, that's a little shady, a little shady, potentially, I don't know, I don't know the full speech, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly, so what had happened was, what happened was, so we're gonna see, uh, how that kind of plays out. Then, the other cool thing about the trip was I got a chance to see Charlie Taranio from the Taranio Cigar Family that sold out to General Scandinavian Tobac a few years ago. He had, I guess it was like the first appearance he's made since he's actually sold. Okay.

Yeah. So, he's helping Jack out. So, Jack told me about the event. So, while I was up in, there's a shop in Brandon.

Cutters. It's called Cutters. Yep. And it's a great shop.

And so the guy there also is like a master knife guy, so he created a, you know, a knife for me. So it's somewhere in the car, but it's, apparently, it's pretty fancy. So I like it. You got check baggage or no?

Yeah, I got some check baggage. So, you know, I don't think I can just walk to the airport with that. Yeah, it's kind of frowned upon. Yeah, that might get me in a little trouble.

But don't you know who I am, motherfucker? I'm Michael Rosella. Yeah. But we got a chance to sit down and really talk about what he's been up to.

Trying to take Jack's job? Yeah, right. Jack's like Johnny Dangerfield. He gets no respect.

Everyone loves him, but he gets no respect. Rodney Dangerfield. Rodney Dangerfield. " Yeah, I know.

I know. That's what makes it great. But he's a good dude. Has he been on the podcast?

I think he has, right? Yeah, he has. Jack Terranio. Yeah, Jack was on a while ago.

Yeah, really good story. Worry about beating that guy up in the movie theater. Yep. He's so angry.

I mean, he was ready to beat up Danny Vasquez, so maybe he's got some anger issues. He's a big guy, though. He is a big dude. He's a big dude.

A lot of testosterone flowing around. I guess so, yeah. If he looks to, you know, I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that fist. If I didn't get respect everywhere, you know, I'd probably be that angry, too.

But he's my boy. I like him a lot. He's been a big, big, of Roma Craft, Nico Sueno. He's been a big supporter.

And that's a really cool thing about the industry as a whole is when other brands, other companies reach over and support other teams, that's a good deal. No doubt. So I asked Charlie, what do you do with your day now that you don't have nothing to do? Because he was a pretty busy guy at one time.

And, you know, he just said, you know, now I'm on a, I do a lot of nonprofit and I'm on the couple of boards and that's, that's really about it. And he never puts his pants on. He just walks around and just, yeah. I think I see him sliding around in socks and just as, you know, like, risky business, do, do, do, do, do, do, but like the Cuban version or something, a little jumps going, a little salsa dance, a little, little reggaeton, and so, but, uh, so no, it was good, it was a good conversation.

So he, you know, he was, you know, he stayed pretty late. Yeah. We were probably at about 11:30, 12:00. It's like right in the face.

It picks up from the front, not the side. All right. Oh, look at that. That's nice.

It's like a kill shot. That's a kill shot. That's a nice look for you. We have to cover the vacuum noise from outside.

Yeah, so we're still under renovation here. Oh, yeah, so how's that going? Let's talk about that. It's a fucking disaster.

Shit show? It's a shit show out there. But it's going to look really nice when it's done. I like watching Greg try to talk to them in broken English.

Spanish. Try to explain. They're broken Spanish. They're broken Spanish.

He moves to a broken English, which is even funnier. Yeah. You know, you gotta take it down a step. Yeah.

I mean... Whatever. He's not even speaking any Spanish, that's right. So it's broken English.

I try and, like, look out and say, like, you know, I guess that's kind of where you gotta start to kind of develop, I guess. I don't know. You know, 'cause I don't try. So...

But he sounds like a complete idiot, so... He probably doesn't listen to this podcast, so there you go. He definitely doesn't. No, he doesn't.

After, like, episode three, he stopped listening. He listened to three episodes? Yeah, the first three. He said we could check his investment.

His investment. See if we were actually doing a podcast. He's funny. Back here, just playing cards.

When I upgrade the equipment, I swipe the card again. Charge to the game. Charge to the game, baby. So what is the plan for this section?

So you guys have pretty much, to get everybody kind of an idea. Yeah, they've stripped everything out of the left-hand side. Yep, which is kind of our pipes and pipe, tobacco, glass pipes section, we're going to actually make it a craft beer section as well, move that over, kind of open up the lounge a little more, increase our shipping department a little bit, make that a little more streamlined, you know, I know you dropped- That needs to be bigger. You guys have gotten quite busy in the shipping department.

Yeah, you dropped the idea of doing like a podcast section, which would be awesome. It wouldn't be. I mean, you're talking about moving us downstairs out back. Right now we're on second base, and then you jumped in and said, hey, this is what you've got to do.

And it's like, we're kind of like the ball's already fucking moving. I think so, man. But, you know, listen, I think if you have an opportunity. You've got to be bold.

You've got to be bold. You've got to, you know, you can't shoot for second base. You've got to go all the way to home. So, you know, if you were to utilize this section and to create an area where people come in and can watch these podcasts come through, you kind of get this interactive, you know, people come, again, a cigar shop is a destination, so the local people who are in town or in Florida or whatever, if they knew that there was a schedule, they wanted to come in and check out the podcast and kind of, you know, get a chance to meet the manufacturers and people who are in the industry, I think that's a really cool idea to basically, you know, it's an extra draw.

When I think about, hey, where am I going to go smoke cigars at today, and I'm going to plan where I want to go, if there's something going on that's of interest or somebody's in, I'm like, how cool would that be to go in and kind of meet people of the industry, right? No, that's very true. Just what the fuck do I know? So we're going to...

you know nothing. Nothing. You know nothing. So what was a major event that you did when you were down here?

So I went, I did the Tampa Cigar Bash in Tampa. So, you know, when we kind of launched, everybody in Florida is related to Fidel Castro in some capacity and has a cigar brand or, you know, as a manufacturer or something. So, you know, so Florida for us for a long period of time is has, you know, it has grown quite a bit. But at the same time, it was not necessarily one of those wasn't an immediate kind of area or focal attention point.

Right. So now that we've kind of grown and taken over the world, now it makes sense to kind of come back in and kind of, you know. So, Tampa, for the most part, we've had one shop out there called Cigar Castle, which is in the far northeast section of Tampa, and we've never really kind of grown, so now that Tampa Humidor has been acquired by Santa Clara, and then Santa Clara has opened Casa Monte Cristo, it's two locations, we're also in the Davidoff location there, you know, so it's starting to grow, it's starting to pick up, and so there was an opportunity for me to really come in and go, you know what, it's time to, you know, that area, that pocket, you know, it's got such a history of tobacco. So, growers and rollers and, you know, I mean, it's Cigar City, right?

So, it's… Cigar capital of the world. Cigar capital of the world. So, you know, Ybor City has a rich history, you know, of producing cigars, and so it's a really, you know, it is a very neat area of Florida, and especially if you're a cigar enthusiast, it's even a better place to go. I mean, it's super friendly, the cigar bars there are really well done.

So, you know, I really took the chance to kind of, you know, circle back around, and I have, I've really, it's been a neglected market, so it was really kind of a priority, you know, for this time, to really kind of go in and kind of hammer the idea that, you know... You're stepping up your podcast game, bro. You know, you're like super, you know, he's just on point. Well, we're talking about stuff that I haven't talked about.

You know, the other stuff, the other questions and stuff, I talk about it all the time. So this is, this is, you know, you got my attention. We're talking about, you know, real life stuff. So here you go, so we were talking about multi-vendor events with Loch NIC Monster.

The Loch NIC Monster. That's something I'm working on. The Loch NIC Monster. All right.

I haven't listened to that podcast yet, so I'm out of the loop. It just went up this morning. Yeah, the first part aired. Part one.

Yeah. Okay. It's a two part. It's a two part.

It was right on the cusp. It's extra long. So, you know, what's kind of funny to me is like, now that I've experienced some of them with you, and now that I've kind of gone out and done some by myself, it's like... In events in general, right?

Like outside? Or multi-vendor? Yeah, just solely multi-vendor. You know, there's some that have done things differently than others.

What do you think your best one is? Which one do you like to look forward to the most? Man, you know, the ones in Texas really have... they've really got it going on.

So, I'll start with Sirius, because Sirius Cigars, which was, you know, one of our biggest accounts in Houston, Texas, another account that was acquired by Santa Clara, and this actually will transition into kind of the pros and cons of what people do. So, Ron had this system where instead, so, majority of multi-vendor events historically have been, like, where you get a badge, you walk in, you check in, you get a ticket, some drink tickets, you know, a food ticket or whatever, and then you get a bag full of cigars. Or you get a lanyard, in this case, most multi-vendors will give you a lanyard, and then it has logos from every table that is there. And then you go and you kind of trick-or-treat and fill my bag with, you know, cigars.

So, the problem with that is, is people kind of get in this line and they get herded down the line, and you don't really get any one-on-one time with people, you know, it's just like, "Hey, give me my cigar, what cigar are you giving me? " You check it off, and then they go onto the next table. Right. So, all the sales aspect of the cigars are actually done at some table in the center section that is ran by the staff.

Right. So, if there is, excuse me, if there is some type of special, so let's say, you know, you buy a box and you want to get a hat or a shirt, or whatever it is, you know, you go buy it from them, and then you come back to the table and get whatever swag is given away. But again, you would punch or check off, so that way the guy couldn't double dip and get a second or third cigar, right? Right.

So, what Ron had done, is Ron didn't do any of that, so he just had a bag. You got a bag as soon as you walked in, when you got your table, and then, you know, it was, but it's a sales event. Right. So, I mean, if you didn't sell 35, 40, 50 boxes at that table, it was a slow event.

I mean, it's a sales, people come in there to buy. But, you know, a lot of manufacturers at the time were doing, you know, a lot of exclusives, That you could only get at that event. Right. So, you know, La Flor, we've done some things and other people have, you know, it's a, you know, Texas Cigar Fest.

And the other thing is, is, you know, this one of our friends, Jerry, golfer3615 on Instagram. 6315. 6-whatever it is. 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.

No, I'm just kidding. So, anyways, he would always host a, the Jerry Herff and, you know, and have 40, 50 guys the day before they would come in, they would, you know, smoke up and drink and have a good time. And the next day, they do the event, and it was just a fantastic weekend. So, I haven't really experienced that in other multi-vendor areas.

Right. So, you don't, I mean, there's usually like a, you know, a VIP dinner someplace, and you kind of entertain the VIP guys, you have dinner, you know, the Friday night and then Saturday night's the event. You know, that's kind of cool, but it's not a, it's not a real hearf, you know, those are just big buyers that kind of, the whales that come in that want to spend a lot of money. Right.

And that's cool too. I mean, you want to mingle with those guys and, I mean, anybody who's an advocate of cigars, right? So one of the, so whenever Santa Clara acquired Tampa Humidor, they recognized and realized how well Ron had ran his event and then started changing the other events, Smoke on the Carolinas and Tampa Cigar Bash, the way that Ron had done it. So instead of getting, you know, the lanyard with all the names and logos on it and checking them off and going one by one, they would just give you a bag.

And so the guys here in Tampa were really, really upset about how this is, you know, it confused them. So they went and got their bag, you know, they sat down and then it was like, you know, then you had some guys kind of come in and, you know, you know, people who are fans of certain products would go and kind of see them. But it really frees up the day to kind of mingle and socialize and then kind of take your time on your purchases and you know but nothing is really rare or special for these events so the idea about going to get something that's exclusive that's only for this event doesn't really happen because these other these other multi-vendor events haven't you know captured that and you know and now even with the FDA it makes it a little bit harder to do because you can't really bring anything new in that's really super exclusive. So, now again, at the Tampa Cigar Bash and at the Smoke on the Carolinas, you know, you get a handful of guys that are like the cigar nerds and cigar geeks that look for the, you know, the rare and funky cigars, but there's not a whole lot of these guys because these guys are smoking traditional cigars, again, because the Tampa market for me, from my perspective, is it's a very traditional kind of, you know, it's not, I mean, there are some BOTLs, I don't want to say that there aren't, you know, but they're not looking, no, like, You know, hey, where's the black Irish?

Where's this or that? You know, it wasn't, it wasn't part of the conversation. So, so, you know, you kind of, you know, from a perspective, my perspective, it's really, it takes you back, I mean, it humbles you because you've got to go back to, hey, I'm Michael Rosales of Romacraft, you may not know who we are, this is the story, this is why we're different, yada, yada. And so, from that perspective, you know, it's, you know, it's, it's untapped, right, from, from a Romacraft perspective and maybe some of these other smaller companies that are just, They're just starting to get going.

Right. But that's kind of the general feeling. Now, this event apparently has been going on, how long is the Tampa Cigar Restaurant? This is the fourth year I went, I think it's been going on, six years?

Okay, so the six years, right? 67. So, the other thing that I noticed was that you had this tailgating group of guys that didn't even come in into the event. So, they took advantage of the idea that you could sit around and smoke and drink all day, but they brought their own cigars and they brought their own beer, They brought their own beer, and they pitched a tent, and they cut down.

That was my guys. Yeah, so, you know, how many guys were there? 70, 80 guys? We had just under 50.

Okay, but then there were other groups, though, too, right, that were doing the same thing? I didn't see these groups as big. Okay. I'm sure there were.

But if you were to add it all up, that's, you know, 100, 20, 100? Well, not all 50 didn't just sit outside. We had maybe a dozen that didn't buy tickets. You don't got to protect for them.

No, no, no, I'm not. We had about a dozen guys that didn't go in. Okay. " Yeah, we're just sitting in the parking lot.

Yeah. So, so, you know, I mean, now, again, if you, you know, if you're loaded down with cigars, then obviously there's no need to go in, but at the same time, you know, it's one of those things that-- You're missing out on an experience. You're missing out on the experience. And so, now, kudos to them for, you know, allowing that to happen.

I mean, obviously, if, you know, I was in that situation, I'd probably be like, you know, that's a pretty cool idea. Let's just hang out here and get our group that we want to be with and our environment that we created because it's a lot more comfortable, right? So, I get that too, and you can still hear the music, you can still, you know, it's kind of like tailgating at a football game. So, you know, that was one of the, that was the main differences that the people in Tampa, when they did this shift from the lanyards to just a bag of cigars, they didn't quite like that, they didn't get that.

I mean, you're arguing the opposite of what we argued. No, you're right, they didn't like the change. Right. But after six or seven years, you know, everybody sat in their ways, they don't want to change.

Yeah. It's different. Yeah. And now I don't have another lanyard to hang with my collection either.

Exactly. That's true. Yeah. So the, you know, now Stogie's at the Wingding, which happens in October, so Ron's Fest was always kind of third week in March.

Right. And so down in that area, it's usually, you know, starting to be, you know, 75, 80 degrees, usually a nice afternoon, weather's kind of broken. This Wingding is in October, and, you know, so a lot of people who, you know, have kind of migrated over to the Wingding with Stogie and Jorge, they run a really good operation down in Houston, and that's becoming, you know, a pretty strong event as well, and, you know, so a lot of manufacturers turn out, a lot of principles, and you're still getting a lot of excitement, you know, but again, people are coming to look for the exclusives and rare cigars, where that conversation wasn't really part of the, it wasn't part of the conversation here. So Sirius was your favorite?

Well, it started for me there, so, you know, I really liked how it was, I mean, they all run very similar nowadays, but I think, you know, now that Ron's not in the game, you know, and he was a good friend, so I'm, because that's kind of how I cut my teeth for multi-vendor events, and that's kind of the standard for me, like, you know, that's, you know, that's why I say that. So, like, the only thing that I really hated with the serious thing is just how the amount of work that it takes as far as carting the product in from the garage. Yeah, you check it out, you go get it, you check it out, you bring it to your table, you set it up, and then when you're done, you take it back, where, you know, other places, you know, kind of pack it all up for you, and you just kind of, when you're done, you're done. Now, the thing about Ron's event that was really kind of, you know, you get there, you know, 4:30, 5:00, and then, you know, I don't know, probably 9:30, 10:00, it was kind of done.

You know, this event that I did the other day in Tampa, you know, I was there at 11:30, and it was, you know, it was done over 5:00, but, you know, the, probably from 4:00 to, 3:30 to 4:00, you're just kind of talking to other manufacturers and kind of catching up, because it's, you know, there's all the excitement's kind of over with, and it was hot as all get-out, oh my God, it was hot. Right. So, how do they make that better? I mean, do they even care?

Right. So, like, yeah, you think that they would. I got a survey today from them, and I put that kind of stuff on the survey. I took the survey.

Right. But why wouldn't they send that to brand owners and manufacturers as well? " They don't want to open up the opportunity for me to start laying into them. Could be, yeah.

Yeah, but the fact of the matter is that they ask a lot. They do. You know, I'm not just saying just them, but I'm saying multivendors as a whole, they have to in order for it to be incentivized, right? There's a lot of cost on there and there's a lot of work on there and so I understand all that, you know, but like, I don't know, just the overall feedback to making things more efficient and more enjoyable for all parties, I think is what's kind of missing.

Well, I think that the bigger question is, do people still enjoy them, right? So, so, you know, if you are a cigar enthusiast and you just started smoking cigars and you're, you kind of walk into something like this, you're just like, oh man, this is cool, man. It's like going to the World Series, right? It's just an opportunity to really kind of see a lot of different people.

It seemed like there were less people this year, but since they didn't do the line, everybody wasn't in there at one time. Yeah, so they kind of, they brought in VIP guys, and there was another wave, and so it's, you know, and again, I mean, you know, as my understanding, they sold over 500 tickets now. Yeah, the VIP sells out in like five minutes. Yeah, so who knows exactly, you know, people just buy the ticket, come by and pick up their bag later on, or do they even come?

We'll do a Nika Suenio multi-vendor event here. Oh, yeah. Just me and you. You know, so...

We'll have a skip in the corner. Yeah. So, you know, just give him some craft beer and he's good, you know, a couple cigars. It's a...

So... It'll be a two hour event. Yeah. So, you attended one in Memphis this weekend as well, the Tender Box, what do they call it?

The... Lakeland? No, it's called the Tender Box Smokeout. Oh, Memphis Smoke.

Memphis Smoke, yeah. With Lynn and Jeff. Okay, yeah. And so, you've been to some big ones and you've been to some smaller ones, so I mean, this is not as big.

Yeah, so I mean, they had a good turnout. I think that one of the bigger factors there is the fact that Jeff and Lynn do look for feedback, right? They're like how, you know, whatever they worked on the year prior, they tried making it better this year. And it looks like that that's kind of their mindset, you know, moving forward.

Like Jeff sat down with me at the end, he's like, you know, what'd you think? And then, you know, I gave him my suggestions for, you know, table layouts and stuff like that. And he's like, yeah, this wasn't set up the way, ideally, the way that I thought it would be. Just because it was like, kind of on the edge of the tent, you have sunlight beaming in, and like the customers aren't really covered by the overhang and, you know, stuff like that.

But, you know, they work, they work their asses off all day. Sure. Yeah. No, it takes a lot to put on one of these events.

I mean, it's the venues are bigger. You got to bring in staff. You got to get the product. There's a lot of product.

You got to buy it. And then, you know, you hope that you, you know, the food, the booze and everything else. So that it is a lot to manage. It is a lot.

There's a lot of chaos. And, and, you know, anytime you host something, you're, you're pulled, you know, so you're working on something and say, well, hey, what about this? Next thing, you know, directions. Yeah.

So you're going over and you're trying to put out a fire and something, something else. And, um, so, Yeah, that is a challenge, but again, I think, you know, as these multi-vendor events, so in your event that you went to, how many principals were there? 20. Principals, like actual owners of that?

Oh. Well, there was me. I don't know, probably, I mean, what would you classify? Did they have to be an owner, or would you say national sales manager?

No, I would say, no, I mean, so, you know… Because you got Wes from Crown Heads, you got Casey from TAT. Okay. You had Paul from... From Aganorsa.

Yeah, from Aganorsa. You know, that was the majority of the big wings, everybody else was pretty much reps. The sales reps, local territory reps. Yeah.

So, you know, one of the things that I think that, you know, some of, even though that's a big deal, do some of the people that come out, do they really even care about that? You know, so, I mean, has it lost its luster? You know, so I don't I don't know, but, you know, there was... I don't know, I think the people still like meeting the owners.

Sure. I think it's important, right? You're a draw. No, absolutely.

I mean, you get a chance to really kind of connect a face to the brand, which is really important. And some of the guys that I met at the Memphis Milk were, you know, amazing dudes, right? And I would have never met them if I didn't have that opportunity for the multi-vendor. Sure.

Well, I think multi-vendor events... Well, I think all cigar shops in America, for the most part, are relatively the same. And there's, you know, this camaraderie within the cigar shop, you know, there's, you know, that you can pretty much kind of peg, you know, everyone's, there's, you know, the guy that knows everything about cigars, but can't really afford to buy cigars, there's the guy that doesn't know. Yeah, same five guys in every shop.

Yeah, same five guys. And, you know, and then there's, you know, so you can kind of walk into any store across the United States and really kind of get into the conversation, the flow of things, because it's generally, you know, the same topics of, you know, it's either ESPN, Fox News, or CNN, rarely CNN. So that's, you know, depending on what side of the state you're on, but, you know, for the most part, again, these guys are really good guys, and I am fortunate to get to meet a lot of them in my travels, and, you know, they become close, and they become advocates of brands, and really help push the market in that area once you finally get them dialed into your brand, you know, so even if this was just a Roma Craft event, you know, you know, we've had several here, right, and so, you know, So there's 20, 30 guys that come in that are loyal to Aroma Craft, they smoke it, you know, every day, it's part of their rotation, and then you got guys that, you know, yeah, I tried it, you know, it's really not for me, so you're trying to, and then you got some guys that have never even heard of the brand but come in and they want to check it out, right, so, you know, I kind of approach any kind of event, so I want to spend some time with the guys that are really, really pushing on social media and talking about the brand, you want to give them some time, and then the guy who is kind of on the fence, you want to really kind of So kind of dial down and really kind of educate him as to why these cigars are different and what maybe is more in his profile. So, you know, if he's not smoking full-bodied cigars, I would never want him to smoke a Neanderthal, right?

Or, you know, Cro-Magnon. I would try to kind of get him into the intemperance stuff. I hit him with a Neanderthal. Every time.

I like something light. Here you go. So, are you doing anything in the next 30 minutes here to smoke this? Here, lay down.

Just lay down. And then, you know, and then the guys that come in that have no idea, you know, who Roma Craft is or what our brands are, you want to educate them and just kind of get them in, you know, kind of, let me just get you to try something that, to kind of open your eyes and see the light. So that's really, you know, you know, when you get a, when you do an event and it's focused on your one brand, you know, you get a captive audience, they come there, they want to see what you bring to the table and what your products are all about. And whenever you do a multi-vendor event, it's so divided because the reality is if someone comes in, they probably have $300, $400, $500 at the most they really want to spend.

And so when you come up to a table, it's like, yeah, I want to get a sampler. I want to spend $50 at this table, $50 at that table. I want to spread my money out a little bit. And try as much product.

Exactly. Or who's got the most swag? Who's got the ashtray? I want a backpack and a knife and everything else, so you're really, you know, you're kind of handcuffed in that kind of situation, because...

You don't have backpacks? I don't have backpacks. If we did, we'd have Tumi backpacks, and they would be about $600 a pop, so no one box of cigars, whatever, you know, I couldn't give you a Tumi backpack, so... But, you know, so it's...

If you buy 10 boxes. Yeah. So, that's kind of the difference in some of the events, you know, again, you know, the guys that come, I mean, they have a limited amount of money, they want to spread it around, so, if you don't have something that's kind of in that price point, you're really kind of handcuffing the event. Right.

So, what else going on? That was a good one right there. That's 30 minutes already. Well, I was going to say, what are we all smoking for starters?

We're all smoking the same thing, aren't we? No, well, we are, me and you, because you stole that from me. Yeah, I grabbed one of, what is it, Nick the Monster? Nick the Loch Ness?

The Loch Ness Monster. Yeah, so whatever his event cigar's called. The Menelik, the Menelik. Yeah, that was actually a Palmer's that you stole.

Oh, right on. So it's kind of evened out, now you got the craft. I am sneaky, sneaky, sneaky, sneaky, like a ninja. So we're smoking some craft, some 2018 craft.

Haven't had this, I don't think I've had this since down in the factory. Oh, okay, that's in January? Yeah. That's a minute, yeah.

Yeah. You didn't smoke any when they came out? No. Okay.

They're all gone. Wow. I watched them come in, I watched them go out. Yeah, things don't sit here long.

Yeah, depending upon what it is, of course. They move fast. You know, where are you going next? So you said you're going to be Dallas?

Yeah, so I go home, fly home tonight, change bags, see the family, and then take off to go do the Halloween event at Michael's of Ulis, which is right there by the airport. They're a great, great store if you're ever in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Do you have to wear a costume? Yeah, peacocks.

They do do a Halloween event. Do you go a skip? You should go a skip. No, I usually don't wear anything.

So, let me tell you what we did, Mr. No Fun at All, Mr. Costume. So, we're doing this Halloween event coming up.

Smashing Pumpkins. Smashing Pumpkins. By the time it's there, it'll already have ended. " So we got him a big fucking inflatable pumpkin costume with a nice little hat.

How's he gonna work? He'll be knocking shit down. That sounds like a character. The ones you kind of blow up, it looks like a little Asian sumo wrestler?

Yeah, exactly. You got the fan blowing and stuff in it. So we're really looking forward to that. It's gonna be fantastic.

What if someone smashes him? Uh, well, you know, that's called assault. I don't know. If you're Trump, you know, he'll pay for your fees if you go punch out, you know.

But anyway, so that should be fun. That'll be, that'll be, you know. Yeah. So you got Peacocks and Michaels?

Yeah. And then I go to Tulsa? I go to Tulsa, do Cigar Box, and then I go down to Oklahoma City and do a Muerta. And then, I don't know, man, it's just nonstop, never ending.

Right. So how do you find the time to manage quality time with your family, right? Because it's got to be tough. Obviously, still being a husband, still being a parent.

Yeah, no. So FaceTime is my friend. So I spend a lot of time. My daughter calls me multiple times to the day and so that that's always you know fun so I mean she just gabs you know so I just you know so I spend time that way and I check in on my son he's got his phone so I'm kind of constantly texting him and then you know then obviously with Jamie you know we talk several times throughout the day so you know it is depending on how long I'm gone and where I'm going and if it fits up with like a three or four day weekend I usually fly them out with me and spend some time so you know keep So from the trade show forward until kind of mid-December, you're constantly in and out, and then, you know, the big deal is whenever you are home, is being engaged, because it's really easy to just say, "Hey, I'm home, but I don't really have time to do any of this stuff," or "I don't feel like doing any of this stuff," and you're kind of checked out.

So, when you are there, you really, you know, it's being engaged, it's spending time and, you know, really trying to make it count, right? So, that's the big key. But, again, you know, my kids are pretty spooled. I mean, they've been pretty much everywhere.

I mean, they've been to, you know, Disneyland, Disney World, San Diego, New York City, you know, I've been to Mexico. So, I mean, these kids, you know, they've traveled more than most, you know, adults, so. Yeah, that's true. I mean, that is definitely one of the, it's a pro and a con, right?

Because, like, I would have never gone to Memphis, I would have never gone to Nashville, you know, the couple of times I've gone to New York, you know. Did you get some hot chicken while you were in Nashville? I did not get hot chicken, I was told to have the barbecue sandwich. Man, come on.

The pulled pork, and like, this is our number one thing. Was it super saucy? It was a little saucy, I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of disappointed, I was like, you know, it wasn't there for me. Here's the thing.

Why are you trying to cover up the meat? You know what I'm saying? Like, if you gotta put so much sauce on it, you know, like- And there's something wrong with it. Yeah.

Something, you know, I'm just saying. Otherwise, just give me sauce. Now, Martin's in Nashville, that's good. They got some really good barbecue.

Okay. So, like, that's cool. You know, they're, I don't know, I guess it's kind of a trade-off, right? So, like, it sucks to be away, but it's cool, especially if you can pull out the family every once in a while and give them that experience.

But, like, the other opportunities of you visiting these places and, you know, eating what's there, you know, what the talk of the town's about. Yeah, so that is a challenge. , it's like, you know, you're going to see the monuments, you're going to see the cemetery, like, there's a lot to see and a lot to do, right? Yeah.

And, you know, the reality is, because of Roma Craft's model, we don't necessarily saturate any one market, you know, I would probably say Philadelphia and maybe Scottsdale because, you know, they're, they're, you know, five miles apart, but that's a 45 minute, you know, 30 minute drive. So people, you know, so you can kind of be a little bit, maybe Houston, but for the most part, we don't really saturate a bunch of cigar shops. So when I set up my event, for example, you know, if it's a long trip, and typically a long trip would be Thursday through the next following Sunday, so it's, you know, 11 days on the road. That's crazy.

, but I'm, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, doing events, visiting accounts, Sunday's kind of a down day, that's your one day to kind of go around and see something. Maybe eat some different food. Right. And then, you know, Monday through Wednesday, you're kind of driving, you know, three or four hours to the next major market.

Right. And then, you know, you spend, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday visiting accounts and, you know, just checking on people. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you know, you do the next following events and then you fly out on Sunday. " You know, they're coming running at you.

Right, right. You're dead. They fall over on the front doorstep. " Because they use a lot of points to rack up to bring them around.

I'm almost a Goldman member of Hilton. There you go. You're getting there. There you go.

So I'm going to tell you right now, a shortcut to that is Hilton has an American Express card. It's about $495. And you just pay the membership fee, get the card, you're automatically diamond, right? So that's one of those shortcuts.

Once you get the diamond membership with Hilton, then you do a status match with Hyatt, because that's my favorite. I use Hyatt Hotels. But they're not as big as Hilton, because Hilton's portfolio with Doubletree and Hampton Inn, Hilton, Hilton, Garden Inn, all that stuff is pretty vast, but once you get the diamond, then you can do the status match, and then you can do the status match either with IHG and/or with Marriott SPG, so I keep a status with all of them. I don't do IHG, I'm not a fan of their hotels, but I do the other ones.

Why didn't you tell me this before, man? Motherfucker. I don't know, because I had to put the work in myself. Wow.

You got to pay your dues, man. You got to pay your dues. This is information I could have used like two years ago. So the reality is, is that because you have to maintain the status once you get it, you still have to spend 40, 60 nights with each hotel, and as much as I'm doing, whenever you go into these markets, you're kind of forced based on what's available.

Right. So, I was kind of juggling these statuses, right, you know, four different brands, you know, 60 nights each, right, that's, you know, it adds up pretty quick. So, I was like, you know, there's got to be a faster way or, you know, to just maintain something just by paying it or get lifetime for it, so then that way I can kind of focus on the ones and twos, you know, the other two brands, so then that way I don't necessarily have to, you know, break my neck to maintain status, right? Because once you get Diamond or, you know, now Hyatt called the Globalist or Platinum with, you know, these other ones, like, when you get downgraded for a short amount of time, it's like going to purgatory or something.

It's just horrible. Right. You would think that, you know. I didn't get my cookie.

Don't you know who I am? You know, it's like, well, you were. You were somebody, sir. Unfortunately, now, no.

So you get the Diamond member, but then you have to remain. No, so that you just pay the credit card fee and you're in. So $500 a year. And it doesn't go bad in the next year.

No. No, if you pay the $500 again. You pay the $500 fee for the-- Son of a bitch. So, you know, it is-- I need my executive access to the Espresso's.

I mean, yeah, the lounge is really-- you know, I could care less about the food. The food is really not, but it's really-- I want 24/7 access to the Espresso machine. Right. So that's a big deal.

See, so this is the problem with rolling with you and then not without rolling with you. You know what I mean? I'm like, ugh. So that's what I'm saying, though.

So that's what I'm saying though. I get to be in your shoes whenever I lose in status, right? So then I just don't go to those hotels. I feel your pain.

" So you get to use the upgraded status while you're in this kind of game. Right. But, you know, anyway, so it really works out. So now...

It's like a lot to keep track of. It is a lot. It is. Three nights at Hyatt, four nights at Hyatt.

You know what's crazy? Well, it's all on your phones. It's easier than you think. But I will tell you this, that, man, I've been pissed off at some Double Trees.

I walk in, I'm like, "Hey, alright, I'm here. " I'm like, "What? " Yeah. If you don't have a cookie, you're just a regular Hilton, okay?

Let's just be honest. You're just a standard, you know. It's like Motel 6, come on. Right.

Nothing wrong with that. If people have to stay in Motel 6, there's nothing wrong with that. But we need our cookies, goddammit. I put in my fair share of staying in people's, you know, on their sofas and crap hotels.

Right. Well, thank God I'm not at that level. Yeah. I am.

Actually, he was sleeping in his car. He was waiting for the place to open up. He was napping in the car. They just go gold at La Quinta.

Ooh, that's nice. You know, again, if La Quinta, some of the newer ones are actually fairly nice. You know, it's the ones that are dated that you kind of have to worry about. But for the most part, man, I just kind of streamlined it.

I try to focus on Hyatt. Hyatt for the, you know, I get these suites that are just as big as your shop here. It's stupid. I mean, it's just me.

You know, the funny thing about it is, like, when I have my family and they're traveling around with me, like, I have to, like, beg, borrow, and deal to get a suite. Right. " I can't wait to sleep here for four hours to get back here for about five hours, and I'm leaving. So the whole suite is, like, unused, and I just go to my bedroom with the one bed, right, and just kind of use that one space.

Yeah, I'll just turn on the TV for ten minutes, and I'll turn it off. " But then when my kids are with me, and I need the suite, it's like, "Oh, Mr. " Of course you are. Of course you are.

Yeah. The struggles. The struggle is real. Yeah.

But, you know, that's one of the things that... So anyways, hey, Mike, let me tell you about this story, man. If you get the American Express Hilton card, you know, you just get diamond status right away. Now everybody knows.

Now everybody knows. Now everybody knows. Son of a bitch. The secret is out.

I'll be applying today. It's well worth it. You know, so, you know, then, you know, with the platinum card, you know, with the Centurion lounges in the airports, those are, you know, their lounges are very, very nice. So, you know...

That's considered a Platinum card, too? That is a Platinum card. Hmm. So, two different cards: Platinum, American Express, because it goes to the Centurion Lounge.

Right. The other one is just for the Hiltons. So, again, you know, I'm not trying to tell people to go out and get debt, but, you know, it really kind of depends on, like, what your goals are. My goals are to have, you know, the nicest hotels for at least some amount of money.

Yeah, well, the fact of the matter is that when you travel, you know, and you have those kind of experiences, And you have those kind of experiences, it makes life a little bit easier. Sure. You know? Well, you're already, I mean, traveling around airport to airport, hotel to hotel, because I don't just check into one hotel and stay there for a week.

Like, I literally change hotels every night. Every day, yeah. So, that's moving around, and that's part of the frustration is because it just, it wears on you, you know? I mean, it's cool on one hand because you get to see a lot of different places, but on the other hand, it's, you know, lugging, you know, cigars and swag and, you know, You know, everything else and your luggage is, you know, it's, it's just, it's just cumbersome, right?

So, but, uh, but I, I enjoy it and that's why, you know, Roma Crafts, you know, I get to go out and kind of preach, you know, what Roma Crafts all about. And I, you know, hopefully the, uh. That should sound great. Yeah.

The drilling on the wall next to us. Yes, pretty much. So, the, uh, so that's, that's kind of fun and I like that. What else is going on?

I like that. Yeah. Oh, I think we probably should have ended at that, right? Yeah, we can wrap it up.

Because of the fact that apparently the renovation is now at the wall that we share. We've got a lull to say goodbye. Oh, we didn't talk fast enough. Yeah, so I guess let me say thank you for having me on again.

I appreciate every time I come through this part of the world. I always make it an effort to stop by. And I appreciate you guys turning the mics on and getting this done. Yeah, man.

Love you, bud. Thanks for coming on. Yes, thank you very much. Always nice seeing you, Mike.

All right. Take care, guys. See you, guys. Bye.

This is the Operator with a collect ball from Emery Tells. To accept the charges, press 1, now. Alright folks, that's it. Show's over.

Thanks for listening. You can send in any of your questions or suggestions for guests to a Cigar Hustlers podcast Facebook page. You can follow the show on Instagram @acigarhustlerspodcast, you can follow Mikey @cigarhustler, and you can follow me @fcc_mike. Remember to please rate, review, and subscribe to whichever our providers you listen.

Outro Music.

Show Notes

One of our favorite guest stopped by this week, Mike Rosales of Roma Craft Tobacco!

We talk with Mike on his views on Industry Events!  Travel tips and tricks, what life on the road can be like and how he balances work and family!

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

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to whichever of our providers you listen to!