Episode 49 Christmas Show
Episode Summary
The final episode of 2018 is A Cigar Hustler's Podcast Christmas special, with hosts Mike "Mikey" and Mike Schistler wrapping the year over a Fuente Don Carlos and a Highclere Castle. They open with news that broke in the 48 hours since their last taping: Jack Torano was let go by General Cigar as part of what appears to be a sweeping marketing-staff cut — just two weeks after appearing on the show saying he'd survived the previous round. The hosts spend a long segment arguing that Torano Cigars can't work without a Torano in front of the table, comparing it to Villiger's mass firings years earlier, and talking honestly about which cigars sell themselves versus which need a face, a handshake and hand-selling at events.
In This Episode
- 01Christmas Opener & Podcast Jingle ContestThe hosts kick off the last show of 2018, tease a listener-submitted jingle contest with audience voting, and joke about losing their accidental Podbean sponsor.
- 02Jack Torano Let Go by General CigarA frank discussion of Torano's layoff two weeks after his podcast appearance, what it means for the Torano brand, and why a hardworking brand ambassador is the product.
- 03Brands That Need a FaceWhy some cigars sell on their own and others live or die on the rep standing at the table — plus Villiger's earlier mass firings as a cautionary tale.
- 04Top 5 Cigars of 2018Mike counts down RoMa Craft Intemperance EC XVIII Brotherly Kindness, Highclere Castle Toro, CroMagnon Anthropology, Havana Seed CT No. 142 and Neanderthal HN at number one.
- 05Best, Favorite and Biggest Guests of 2018Nick Melillo for storytelling, Fred Rewey for polish, Matt Hunt and Dion Giolito as favorites, and Steve Saka as the biggest unexpected get.
- 06Favorite and Worst Shows of the YearThe Jack Torano episode and the chaotic very first show top the list, while the scrapped original Floranada interview gets called out as the one that never aired.
- 072019 Wish ListSkip Martin, Terence Reilly, Danny and Frenchy top the guest wish list as the hosts talk about keeping the show honest and unscripted.
- 08The Christmas Party Ejection StoryMike Schistler recounts getting thrown out of his wife's work holiday party after stepping between a drunk ex-boyfriend and a friend, plus a Cuban cigar story by the maintenance shed.
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
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know, where the treetops glisten and the children listen. Out to here, slave elves in the snow, the snow, say a lie. All right, everybody. Hey, this is the last show of the year for 2018.
It's our Christmas show. This goes out on Christmas Day. Michael, say hello. Your microphone's on.
Hello. There we go. Christmas special. Christmas special.
We have stories. We have questions. We have all sorts of things going on. That was Mr.
Michael Buble, White Christmas, because we are racially diversified here on the Cigar Hustlers podcast. Oh my God, I'm going to have to delete you and edit you out now. Nope, nope. It's my show.
I'm taking over. This is the way the new year's going to go. All right, do we do the thing? Are we doing the thing?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, one last time. We'll make it a good one. It's the last one for 2018.
We have to come up with something new for 2019. I can't guarantee that, but maybe. I'll come up with something. Okay, good.
Okay, go ahead. One, two, three, go. Hi, I'm Mike. And I'm Mike, too.
This is the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, Christmas edition. That was not a smooth one. No, that's all right. We're known for our lack of smoothness, smoothness, smoothicity, is that a word?
I don't know, but what we lack in smoothness, we give out in legitimacy or some shit? That beats me. Are we legitimate? We're not legitimate.
We're honest. Brutally. So you had a question? You want to ask me a question, but you want to ask a question until we're recording?
Because we don't even really talk now unless there's microphones in front of us. " So we were out in the lounge area, and he was about to tell a story, and he got kicked out of a party, I'm gonna hear all the details, but we're gonna-- Greg made me tell him, 'cause he's not back here. " Not, not, no! Not yet!
Not until there's mics in front of us. Mics in front of us. Okay, so-- Hey, you know what? If I was telling you, there would be a mic in front of me, and you would have a mic in front of you.
So, do you want to jump to that? Because I've started to write, you know, what's funny is that, like, we recorded a podcast a couple days ago, right? Yes, we did, yes. Tuesday.
And we are flush, I feel like we're flush with content for this time around. It's the last show, it's definitely a good show. Like, a lot has happened, once the button ended, like, when you hit end, like, the information started to flow in. It started coming in.
Because like a lot has happened over the course of 48 hours. Well, let's go with that first. You want to start there? We'll go with that, and then I have some topics here to sort of wrap up the entire year, and then we'll get into the personal stuff.
Cool, so, alright, so I have, first of all, what are you smoking? Oh, I am smoking a Fuente Don Carlos, gifted to me by Hemingway from the Florida Cigar Club. Bill. Yes.
He looks like Hemingway. So we call him Hemingway. That's cool. Hemingway and his lovely wife Lily.
So he looks like Santa Claus. Actually, he does do Santa Claus for the school system down in South Florida. Yeah, because he looks like Hemingway. He's an ex-police officer.
Cool. You want to hear a quick story? I mean, I'm having a Highclere Castle, too, but you don't care. Well, we would get to what you were having.
I was still talking about Bill. Thanks. Go ahead, tell me. He's an ex-policeman.
So one of his final years in the police force, he was a motorcycle cop. He dressed up as Santa Claus, and drove around for the day as Santa Claus on his police motorcycle. Nice. Without permission, and then got in trouble.
Oh. I could see how that could be a problem. Well, it went over well in the community, evidently. A lot of good PR, and he stops at some schools, retirement homes, and everything.
It went over really well. But since he didn't ask permission. Wrote a few stop sign tickets. But the next year, they asked him if he would do it, because it went so well here before.
And he goes, ah, no, fuck you, I'm not doing it. Good for him. Give it a hand. Okay, you're smoking a wine at High Clear Castle, Mr.
Bougie Bougie over there? He should have did it. Nope. Principal.
They wrote him up. He taught them a lesson, but you know, think of all the love and... Well, he still does it. His wife works for the school system down there, so he does it for the school, and he does it for some neighbors who have younger children and everything.
He's a very nice man. Think of the children, Michael. Always think of the children. Well, he went to retirement homes.
There's no children there. All right. Okay. Now let's get into the meat and potatoes of- I'm not even there yet.
I'm not even there yet. I want to do the news. Can I do the news noise? No.
No. That's just in! So, the jingle- Oh, the jingle. Yes.
Within a 48 hour period, it's already getting some traction. All right. So, you know, I think that we should mention it a few more times. I've had a couple- Can you play the one we have?
I've had- no. You can play it through your phone and the microphone. Just shut the f*ck up for one second! By the way, everybody should have just taken a drink.
Oh, there's two drinks! So, I've had a couple people reach out to me, they're asking when the deadline is, we don't need to set a deadline yet, but like I think that realistically, as they kind of come in, if we can put together like the top three or top five and then have people vote and decide. Oh, yeah, we'll let the audience pick. That'd be a good route to go.
You know anybody with a band who can actually play music and stuff? No. I don't either. Oh, no, I do.
I do know a guy. You know what? I actually do. I have a guy.
I do know. I have a guy. I had a guy who reached out to me. I'm not going to put him on blast.
Oh, did you? Like a professional musician type guy? He's got all of it. He used to do it a lot until, you know, you get married with kids and you kind of lose traction with it.
Yeah. And he knows. He knows. He's listening.
He knows who he is. So, I look forward to- Is it Skip? Skip Martin? No, I look forward to see what he's doing.
I just want to throw Skip's name out to get that out of the way. I feel like you want to do that every single time. Like, you have to have his name in the podcast. Well, it's a thing.
We have to mention him at least once every show until he comes in. Oh. So now we got it out of the way. So then we'll have to do it for the rest of our life.
Great. We lost the sponsor. Yes, we did lose our sponsor. Evidently, the doctorate program at the University of Colorado, Denver, does not get a lot of stuff from our show.
So, you know, I wonder how many people signed up. Evidently, not enough. They had to come in droves. So you cigar guys who were going to get your doctorate at the University of Colorado, Denver.
You know, I don't really appreciate the fact that Podbean just went ahead and did that. Like, here you go. Uh, yeah. I never, I mean, I heard the commercial, but I never heard it as part of the show.
Right. Yeah. And then when I went to look the other day after we talked about it, it was gone. I couldn't even play the commercial.
Shut it down. Shut it down. Cancel our subscription, please, to the Cigar Hustlers podcast. I don't want to be a part of that.
Don't want to be part of that. We didn't realize what it was before we clicked there. That's pretty funny. Maybe somebody lost their job over it, that'd be funny.
Got a kick out of that. So we're still looking for a sponsor, though. No, we're not! I thought you said we're taking sponsors now.
I said that, well, you know, I guess we will take one, yeah. Erectile dysfunction, or alcohol. Oh, you like the ED. I like the ED.
You're excited about ED. That would be hilarious if we had that out here. Nothing tobacco related. It isn't...
How about lighters? Do we do lighters? No, I just don't care. Like, that's not why we made this.
No, no, no, it's not. But it would be, you know. And I don't want it to be tainted, so. Well, no, just no cigars, no tobacco.
Unless it's Romacraft. Piped Romacraft. Then at that point, it just wouldn't even make sense because we talk about them enough. But, anyways.
Anyway, we regress. So is this the news now? This just in! So yeah, we need to talk about this.
Okay, let's talk about it. Oh, excuse me. I nailed a Don Carlos Fuente cigar. It doesn't sound like it's bougie at all.
You're saying. So. So Jack Taranio. Big Jack.
Our good friend. Our good friend, Big Jack. Who was recently on this show. Like two weeks ago.
Recently on this show. On this show. Got shit-canned by General Cigars. And we don't remember, he told us a story about other people that got released, and he thought he was going to, but he was told he was okay.
I don't know if that was on the air story or not, but it is funny that two weeks ago he was like, whew, I made the cut, it was close. Yeah. And two weeks later, boop, boop. He did not make the cut, unfortunately.
He did not make the cut. It sounds like they let almost the entire marketing staff go. I don't know. There was a list in the article that I read.
I guess the I didn't read the articles I just went to the source but I'm not going to say anything that he has said because Personally, I think that it's Jack story and if Jack wants to share it if Jack would like to come back in now They have free time. He said that he said that he said that he will come back in and you know perfect Oh, that's three shows one more. He gets a sport coat. I thought at five five you get the jacket.
Oh five you get the jacket. Yeah at four Are you working to get a hat? Maybe. We can work to get a hat.
Wait, how's that big? He's got a big head. It's true. So, I don't know how big corporations do business, obviously.
I think that they just look at bottom lines and numbers and stuff, but I don't know. In reality, to me, that doesn't make any sense, right? If you at all followed Jack Taranio in any way, shape, or form, via Facebook or whatever he was doing, And he was doing his Instagram. The fucking guy was working his ass off.
He was working his ass off. He bled pink, blue, green, and yellow. He flew everywhere to every event. Anything that he could possibly do.
Like, you knew that Jack was 100% committed to this company. Well, how do you have Taranio Cigars without a Taranio? That's true, too. But, like, not even getting into that aspect of it.
I mean, how do you fire a guy that works extremely hard for your company? So, you know... It's just got to be a numbers thing. Let me tell you about...
It's got to be a numbers thing. But that doesn't make sense to me, so... No, not to you, but it does to the accountant who's looking at, okay, if we let this guy, this guy, and this guy go, we save X amount of dollars and then you can hire... See, but they're going to have, I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you because this is an important topic, but they're going to hire like a Bob or a Phil And who wants to go see Bob at the Taranio Cigar event?
But now it crashes. It does. The brand will probably die. So, I mean, Jack, we obviously did an event with Jack recently, and let me tell you, you know, Jack stood in front of the table.
He did. He worked it. He worked it. The entire time.
The entire time. He greeted every single person. He talked about all of his products, he was super engaging, you know, he worked his ass off. Right.
Why would you fire a guy that would work his ass off for the company? I don't, I don't know. So he was completely unsuspected. That's the… He wasn't like anticipated, he didn't like have a contract that was going to be up or some type of deal where, you know, after, I don't know how long he'd been at General, after three years, we're going to renegotiate or… It's the dumbest shit I've ever heard of my life, man.
Yeah. Well, there was a couple years ago, I forget what brand it was, but they like fired everybody right at Christmas. Oh, Villager. Villager, that's right, Villager.
Villager shit all over everybody. Yeah, everybody. And where's Villager now? Yeah, they're not.
They're not. That's kind of my point. I mean, they fired everybody. There was people on the road, I heard, like in the middle of trips.
Yeah. The card's cut off. Yeah, the card's done. Good luck getting home.
I mean, Villager's gonna be okay, because on an international level, they're fine. Right, yeah. As far as on, you know, a national level in the United States, I don't, I mean, not boutique-wise, they don't, I don't even know who the fuck is in charge of Villiger. No, I have no idea.
I haven't even, I haven't seen anyone. You used to have that one lady that would come in here and buy 'em. You know what I'm talking about? That thin lady with the glasses?
Yeah. She doesn't buy 'em anymore. No, she doesn't. She buys something else instead.
I know, I said I rang her up last week or week before. Anna. Anna, yeah, that's her name. Yep, yep.
Mm-hmm. So that's, I mean, like, I don't know, that's just kind of baffling to me, like that, so, I mean, will they project now the loss of sales overall for the, I mean, maybe they already have that number factor in, and they're looking like they don't give a shit and it's okay for it to crash, you know? Well, General's huge, so maybe they are? Yeah, I know.
Maybe they're looking to just dump the brand. They just bought the brand. How long was it? Was it two years?
Or less than two? I think, well as soon as, I mean Jack came on probably six months to a year after they, right, took it on, right, because the pitch was, now all you need is a Taranio, and that made sense! Exactly, it made sense. I don't know man, pisses me off.
Well, I mean, what else could they do with the brand? I mean, just throw it in the magazine or the catalog, whatever, and deep discount it and just blow it out. Well, we're purging it out of this store. He's gone here, the no Jack, no Taranio sampler, that was great, I saw that last night, I immediately showed it to my wife, go look at that, this is really cool.
But like, that decision too, wasn't in a, I wasn't doing it, you know, out of emotion, I was doing it because look, if there's no Jack, no one's gonna buy that cigar, and besides, I gotta make shelf space for whatever Jack Taranio decides to take on, you know? So, you should do one more event with it, whoever it is they're replacing with, and just tell the guy to sit down and don't sell one. " Right. Can't buy it.
Not for sale. Not for sale. And then have the guy take them with him. So, the reality of the industry though, seriously, is you have cigars that are great, right, that will sell on their own.
Right. You have cigars that are okay, but need a face to go with it, right? Okay, right. Yep.
This scenario is one of those, is exactly that. Jack's cigars, the Toronto cigars, they're okay. They're okay. They're not, you're not going like, "Oh my God, man, I fucked that yellow, oh shit," you know.
However, when you establish a relationship with the guy, you're like, "Man, these cigars are good, and this guy's awesome, I want to support him, and I enjoy the cigars," right? I mean, like, I don't know. That cigar needs that, right? Right.
It needs the hand-holding and the personal attention. It needs that attention. It needs somebody to come in, right. How many sold that night he was here?
Was it a good event? A fuck ton. Yeah, they blew out. They did, yeah.
We sold a ton of his stuff. Because he was here. Because Jack was working. That's right.
You know? I don't know. I've said my piece on it. Jack, I wish you the best.
We wish you the best. We wish you the best, Jack. We love you, big guy. I can't wait.
Come in anytime. I hope you don't. We can't pay you much because we have no budget. But if you like to come in and be the third guy for the show every week, we do this randomly.
So just make yourself available. Just please don't take on some bullshit and make it awkward for me. It's going to take you like three or four visits for me to take it on. Just take on a brand that's good.
Who could he show up with that you wouldn't buy? That would be kind of funny. " Hey, I'm back with Villiger Cigars! Villiger had a lot of openings, so...
Right? Alright, hey, so... Tell us about the party. No, no, no, let's recap the year first, then we'll do the party.
You wanna recap the year? Recap the year? Oh, you like, wrote some shit down. Okay, hit me.
Hit me. Okay, first, we want to do the Cigar Hustler Podcast Top 5 Cigars for 2018. Ah, I need a drumroll. So is this like...
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay, so this is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Is it mine and yours together? No, no, just yours.
I'm not picking. Okay, is it... Do I get to include any of my stuff? Okay, only if you think it is...
Well, you obviously do think, but... Right. No, none of your stuff. Because you're going to be like...
Well, then I've got to cross off. You're like four. Let me start over. Okay.
See, the Habano Bellicoso, the Broadleaf Toro. Well, first of all, well, then, since I can't do it, let me at least say that I thought that the SBC 18 fucking well exceeded our expectations, and to me, that was the number one cigar that I got my hands on this year. Okay, so now, let me cross off everything else post on it. Now, what about anything that I distribute?
You know what we should have done? We should have done the top five cigars that we smoked on the show. Because there are some people who've come in who've given us early releases of cigars that aren't out, but that would be hard to do. We'd had to write it down as we could.
All right, but, you know, the train has left the station now. Right, right, right. I'm thinking the best way to do this, because I didn't think of these other options that would give you better. So, I'm definitely axing out Powstanie, right?
Okay, yeah. If you want me to remove the other stuff that I distribute, I mean, the Guaimero Corona, I smoke a fuck ton of it, so I'll take that off. Yeah, take that off, too. But, you know, I mean, that is an amazing, amazing cigar, especially for its price point.
I smoke them, you know, that's the kind of funny thing, is like, I can smoke anything in the humidor. Right, right. Well, it might have, because there are cigars you smoke on the regular. But that might not be your top five.
Maybe there's a really good one that you had that you just don't put in your rotation. So that doesn't happen, though. It doesn't happen for you. No, if I love the cigar, I'm going to go back and smoke it over and over again.
So, excluding everything good, what order do you want me to go in? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay. So the number 5 Cigar Hustler Podcast cigar for 2019 is?
So then that would be the EC Brotherly Kindness. EC Brotherly Kindness. The Intemperance. The Intemperance by Aroma Craft.
Because that is a cigar that I smoke almost every single morning. Almost every morning. Yes. Are you going to repeat everything I say?
No. " In the 5th position, position, position. Okay, the number four Cigar Hustler Podcast cigar for 2018 would have to be the High Clare Castle Toro Cigar, because, again, it's another Ecuadorian Connecticut shade, it's got a Brazilian Matafina binder, so it's not boring, it's got like a lot of complexity to it, and I smoke a ton of those, not as much as the EEC Brotherly Kindness, just because of its overall price point, but, you know, those two I love. I love to smoke in the morning.
Okay, the number three Cigar Hustlers podcast cigar for 2018 is? The number three has to be the Cro-Mag Anthropologie. They're going to be all Roma Crafts except for the one. First of all, the last one was not a Roma Craft cigar.
I said except for the one. No. Okay. The Cro-Mag Anthropologie is a cigar that I've always smoked, right?
I enjoy the Corona size, and I got good memories of that cigar. That was one of the first trips I went down to Nicaragua and I hung out with Skip. He busted out a bundle of Cro-Mag Anthropologies. That was more along the line when the struggle was real and nothing was banded and stuff like that.
And I had a good time. Like a backroom cigar at that point. It wasn't like a back room, but like the original vision of it was that, you know, great cigars don't need bands, that's why the bands aren't over elaborate, right? Gotcha.
I never knew that, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Well, I mean… And all their bands are the same. Well, they're simple but complicated, because now they've worked the embossing in under the labels and stuff like that, which is pretty badass.
So, yeah, I mean, I got a lot of fond memories of that cigar from, like, the first time that I smoked a shit-ton of them, and I always find myself gravitating back to that stick. Memories, right at the corners of your mind, misty watercolor memories. You're so sweet. Okay, the number two cigar.
The number two cigar for me? For you. For 2018 Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Would have to be the Havana Seed Tea 142.
Oh, the new one. Yeah. Yeah, that was very good. The Corona size is fucking banging.
Mike, that is a great stick. Oh, he's got a Corona. What did we have when he was here? Toro's?
Yeah, the Toro's good, too. Toro's good. I bet that would be really good in a Corona. But that is a stupid good cigar, and it's very well done.
It got on a lot of people's list this year. Yeah, I don't see why it wouldn't. Considering it just came out. Yeah.
I mean, that says a lot for Nick. Yeah, for sure. Hashtag, let's hang out. Hashtag, let's hang out.
Hashtag, lock Nick Monster. Hashtag, lock Nick Monster. Steve is not letting that go. No, I saw that.
Dr. Steve put that up. I saw that. That's fantastic.
Okay, and ladies and gentlemen, the number one cigar for 2018, according to Mike Steppon-Cabbage from a Cigar Hustlers podcast is: It's funny that you asked those questions because, I mean, putting together a top five is fucking super easy. And it's a cigar that I smoke all the time, since it's not mine, and I can't include any of my stuff. None of your stuff. So it isn't.
Neanderthal HN. I mean, how would you not? You knew that that was going to be the answer. Yeah, I know.
I'm surprised all five aren't Romacraft to the truth. I smoke a little bit of, look, I'll give credit when credit's due on the outside. I'm trying to think, yeah, you don't smoke really anything but Foundation and Romacraft. The reality is that everything that comes out of the Nica Sueño factory for me is the standard, right?
I compare everything to the cigars that are made in that place. And, a lot of times, not every time, but a lot of times, the cigars fall short of what's made in that factory. So, unless I'm smoking a Padrón 85 or a 50th or some shit, those are good. Those are really good.
Right, you do smoke those on occasion. Yeah, every once in a while. But, still, I mean, the bar has been set, in my opinion. Right?
Right. Right. I think your opinion is slightly tainted. If you didn't have involvement with the factory, would you, well, see, that's a hard question to answer.
If you didn't have involvement, would you still feel the same way? I had that opinion before I got involved in the factory. Well, that's why you got involved with the factory. Right.
Because I know the quality. I know, you know, the flavor profiles. I, you know, I know the trust that's put in the product there, day in and day out. Right?
Right. So, there's your answer. I mean, but you know what, the listeners to this podcast, You just already know that those are the answers. Well, not necessarily.
I mean, a lot of that stuff you don't smoke when we're talking, other than maybe the EC, because we usually do these in the morning when we can. Yeah. Okay, next question. Next recap.
I need to hear about this party fight, man. No, we're saving that. We're dangling that. I'm good.
You covered all. We just hit. No, no, that was just cigars. Now we're going to talk about cigars.
Oh, you have more questions. I have more things. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, who was your favorite guest of 2018?
Holy moly. Favorite guest. And then I'll tell you mine too, I have answers for these also. My favorite, so wait, there are, how many questions do you have geared towards guests?
Let me answer that. Okay, I'll just give you a quick rundown. I have best, favorite, biggest, and favorite show. Okay, wow.
So my best guest. Best guest for 2018. Who do you think was the best guest? Okay, wait, favorite guest?
Yeah, best guest, favorite guest, biggest guest. Biggest Guest. And then Favorite Show. Biggest Guest?
That's a tough one. No, that one's easy. No, it's not. Yeah, it is.
And Favorite Show? Yeah. Biggest as in our biggest get, or hardest get. That's what I mean by biggest show.
Oh, no, I'm going a different direction. But it's the same person, so it doesn't matter. Okay, alright. Ah, shit.
The best guess. You know, I would say the best guess had to be Nick Melillo because of the stories that we got from like, you know, the Nas encounter, and you know, he is a storyteller, you get kind of, you know, like the guys live life, right? He has. And during his age, he has been around.
So, you know, getting him on him on tape and getting him to kind of open up is pretty fascinating stuff, you know? So there's my answer for best guess. Okay. My opinion on who the best guest was?
Yeah. Fred Rui. Fred Rui? I think that show just was very smooth.
It went very well. He's very well spoken. That's a good one. Yeah.
He's really good on the air. I feel like you couldn't have used him though. He's out of the industry now so it doesn't count. Well, he was still a guest.
Yeah, well, it doesn't count. If you'd like to come again and explain to him what he's doing other than putting up food stuff on Facebook, he could do that too. Okay. Okay, favorite guest.
Favorite guest. Favorite Guest. I thought we'd have the same answer for this one, but I'm not going to tell you mine first. I can't, I mean, I don't know.
Can you go first? I want to hear yours. Uh-uh, uh-uh. No, because you might jump right on that too.
Think of everyone we've had. All the guests over the last 12 months. I don't know when we even started this. I mean, like, there's only one.
Honestly, the favorite guest that comes to mind to me would be Rosales. Oh, see, I didn't go that way. His second show was a lot better than the first one. Yeah, the first podcast sucked.
That wasn't his fault, it was more on us. Yeah, that was the question thing. But the second time around, we got to discuss some more stuff, and you get to hear more workings of the industry on an honest level, without the bullshit. We, I have a, uh, someone gave me a topic for a show, which is a really good topic.
I'll tell you it later off the air, but we need to have a guest in and do that for like our first show of 2019. Okay. It's been the wheel of death or something? No, no, no.
Okay. My favorite guest is Hunt, Matt Hunt. That is a great answer. Those shows are so much fun when he's here.
That is a great answer. They're so much fun. We give him so much shit. I forgot he was on the show.
He was on the show twice. Yeah. And he comes back. My fashion Sandinista.
Yep. Yep. His shows are always hilarious. That's true.
Oh, he's hilarious. It's true. The Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny.
Okay, the biggest guest, biggest get that we got. The biggest guest is Sokka. Sokka. Yeah, I know Sokka too.
I mean, but wait, you know, I don't know if we've said the backstory of that. I don't know the backstory. " So, first of all, you just kind of like gave everything away in two seconds. Well, we talked about that last week when Jack was here.
Did we? Okay. Yeah, Sokka towels and all that stuff. Okay, good.
So as long as that was covered. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we didn't, like, nobody had a relationship with Sokka. Like, we have a relationship.
Yeah, he just sort of showed up here one day. Well, he was in the area. Right, yeah, he was doing his dog and pony show walking around. We've had a back and forth.
Bessing out unicorns and stuff. But not to that level. And then, of course, you know, both ACs are broken. Right.
And you didn't want to do the show. You're like, no, no, no, let's not do it. I'm like, fuck that. That's too fucking hard back here.
Fuck that, this is gonna be... And his poor wife was sweating out in the shop where we were sitting back here. Yeah. Because this side was just slightly cooler for some reason.
Well, she's a trooper, she puts up with him all the time. Yeah, that's true. That's true. So.
Okay, favorite show. My favorite show was the last show we did, was with Jack Taranio. Oh, really? I thought it was a fucking awesome show.
It was, it was a good show, it was a good show. For sure, I thought that was my favorite show. My favorite show was the original Zee and Emile show. Oh, the original?
The original very first show, because it was such a mess. That was terrible. We had the one microphone, you couldn't hear anybody, and Emile's just laughing the entire time. Yeah.
But like, I mean, the Jack Taranio show was, for one, like, you always get the real deal when you're with Jack. Right. Which is amazing. And it really does.
It shows it holds true through the podcast. Now, it was also my favorite show because the fact that he was employed and then and then he's not two weeks later. Right. He was not.
So I have to go back and go down and tape the FTG now that he's. No, he's got to come up and it's going to be an FTC, not an FTG. Right? No, he's going to come up.
We'll do another podcast with him for sure. FTC? Yeah. Fuck that company.
Oh, I was thinking, fuck that general? Start with a G. It's still the FTG. So, whatever.
Oh, you know what else was a good show? Because it was some controversy. We had David Mealy on. When that chairman had their problem.
And I had to send the show. He wanted the show to give to his bosses beforehand. And we'd already posted it. And I was like, sorry, dude.
You didn't They didn't say anything. We already posted that, but here's your copy. Right. And luckily there was no problem there.
Because it was up anyway. Fuck 'em, what are we gonna do? Right. See our tiny little show?
The only asset we have is this board. What are you gonna do? Fuck with our pots and pans? Fuck you!
Okay, one more question and then we'll get into the story. And the lawsuits come flying in. And the lawsuits come flying in. Has the show gone where you wanted it to for 2018?
Um, has the show gone? You know, we started this with a simple idea. I think that, to get down to the core of it, my original intentions for the show were, you know, to not only to expose people to kind of what we do in our everyday life, but also kind of give us an ability to get better at stuff like this, right? Right?
Right. And the only way you do that is by having regular access to it, creating those habits, and just learning to relax with the microphone in front of you, right? Yeah. So, has the show gone where I wanted it to go?
Because of the show, I've done other shows, and I come off well, I've been told, because of this show. Because you have practice. I practice, that's right. You have the habit.
So, like, um, what was your question again? Has the show gone where you wanted it to go for 2018? Is this everything you thought it was going to be? I think that the show has definitely gone where I wanted it to go because the, where I wanted it to go was reality.
Like, the real, real talk of this industry. I didn't, I never wanted it to be, I never wanted it to be, um, bullshit and, you know, that was our, always our intention. And I think that as we've kind of progressed, we've become a little more relaxed, we've become a little more open, and if the interview turns to shit, we just cut it off and like, all right, thanks, have a good one. Hey, when they go to shit next time, we should just trash the guest.
No. Just torch them. Start asking questions. So what kind of underwear are you wearing?
I don't believe that, I mean, like, you know, personally, I just don't think that, I mean, people have off days. You don't know how much exposure someone has had to this and you know you might get them clammed up that doesn't mean that they're a shitty person or you know that they have bad intentions they're just not cut out for just yet they need they need to get their reps in just like they do in anything else so yeah I don't believe that we should shit on a person because of that believe me we have tons of other people to shit on for other reasons we didn't we didn't it wasn't one of the questions for but you You want to say what the worst show was for 2018? Want me to say what it is? I mean, the worst show was the one that never made the air.
Okay, well, the ones that made the air. So then, no, I don't want to say what the worst show was. Why not? Because that's inappropriate.
Same scenario. Those people, they need to work on their own things. The worst show was the show that never made the air, and I'll gladly say which one that was. Because, well, it was Johan's original Florinata show, and I can openly say that because we have that relationship, right?
He's a good guy. He came back two other times? We flat out said to him, "Look, we're not airing that show. That was complete shit.
" And then when we had those conversations with him, then he started to get the real deal from Johan. That makes a huge difference. I mean, look at the leaps and bounds from that show to where he was when he came on. There's a big deal there.
Right, it was. So I'll gladly say that that was definitely the worst show, because that was. I don't have that relationship with everybody, so if the show turns to shit, I can't say, "Hey, dude, that was fucking terrible. " You can do better.
We're gonna take it again. Come back tomorrow. You know? Okay, what would you like to see happen for 2019?
What do you want to happen with the show? What would I like? I mean, I want world peace. With the show?
With the show? The show can have world peace. I don't know, man. Just keep going where we're going.
Some new guests, um, you know. Who would you like to have we haven't had? That's a great question. I have no, well, I know, I have the answer for that.
I mean, that's obviously Skip. Well, yeah, yeah. I'd like to get Terrence Riley from Aganoso, I can't say it, Aganoso or whatever. Aganoso?
Yeah, I can't say that. He's around. He's in Florida. Yeah, he lives down in South Florida.
I mean, he's threatened to come up a couple times. Yeah, he's one of Groover's guys, too, so we should be able to swing that. Yeah, he's threatened to come up. I mean, I've seen him in Nicaragua, he's giving me some cigars.
Oh, yeah? Yeah. We've only chatted via text or social media, but he's very nice. I'll tell you who I want on here.
Who? Skip. Yeah. Danny.
Yeah. And Frenchy. John D. Oliver, the new acquisition.
Oh, is that the new guy? Yeah. Frenchy? I think that all three of those guys...
We're not friends on Facebook. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. All three of those guys... I'm sure he's getting flooded with a Facebook friend request.
I know all of them. They would all be uniquely different because they all have totally different characteristics. Different characteristics. Oh, different backgrounds, too.
Yeah. I mean, just the whole gamut. They have built quite the team there. And, you know, I know them all relatively well, so those are the three guys that I would love to see on the show in the 2019 year.
As the recession approaches. Probably the only one we won't get is Frenchy, because I don't think he leaves the office with his job. But who knows? I mean, we are the vacation destination of the world.
Of the world here. I think anything's possible. I think that if we do an event and Rosales brings one of them, the other one gets pissed. So, are you gonna tell us about the fucking party?
Hold on, let me make sure that's all I got. Yeah, that's all the questions. That's everything. That was the recap for 2000.
I just want to know, if this story sucks now, I'm gonna be so upset. I can't use the original names, obviously, for various reasons. Or the actual venue or anything in particular. Okay, but we're at my wife's work party last night, and there was a bar, people have been drinking, and there's a young lady we hang around with who used to date a guy, and due to financial reasons and things, well, they don't date anywhere, but they still live in the same home, separate bedrooms.
Oh, that's nice. Yeah, so she hasn't been able to get out of there. That's nice. Do they bring home their dates and stuff?
No, no, they do have certain rules and things that they... There are guidelines. There are guidelines, evidently. But he got drunk last night and started saying inappropriate things to her about the things that she's probably doing with my wife.
Ooh! Yeah, not the first time he's done that. Not the first time. But it was the first time in my presence.
So he thinks that his ex-wife... His ex-girlfriend. His ex-girlfriend and your wife... And her wife.
Yes. Are fooling around. Yes. Yes.
And they're very good friends. And we hang out with this young lady quite often. And she's actually become like our daughter. So, but they're not together anymore.
No. No, but evidently he still wants to be. Ah. So when he gets drunk, he gets jealous.
Ooh. So, he had said that to her a couple of times during the evening. I guess they had some type of altercation out in the lobby area of the venue where I was not there. I heard her talking about it.
Who was this? Who was fighting in the lobby? The couple that used to date. The ex-couple.
The ex-couple, yes, yes. So after I find that out, all the women are dancing on the dance floor, and he's drinking and sort of on the outside edges, the peripheral edges, and he would come in every once in a while and say something to her, something inappropriate, and make her mad. So once I noticed that was happening, every time he started to come over, I would stand up and put myself between the dance floor and the young man. So they couldn't do it.
So that goes on for about 45 minutes, and then somebody grabs him and drags him to the dance floor, somebody I don't know, someone else who works with him, who probably did not know what actually was going on. So then he leans in and says something to her, and she gets up in his face and says something, and he pushes her. Oh! So I stood up again, and as I'm standing up, the young lady, who's our friend, lunges at this gentleman, and swings at him, and misses, but I immediately then grab her and him, and I'm separating them, so my hand's on his chest, and I've got my arm around her waist, and he tells me if I ever touch him again, he's going to fucking kick my ass, and then pushes me, away from him.
So I lose my grip on the young lady. She lunges at him again, and I catch her mid-air and bring her back down to the floor. Now, at this point, someone else has come over, one of his friends, and pushes me away again from the back. Mm-hmm.
Yes. So you're outnumbered. So I'm outnumbered, yes. Well, my other friend is there.
He is up, too, but I don't--and my wife--you know, my wife's into it, so she's grabbing arms and stuff, too. So then everything gets broken up, you know? She doesn't seem like the stop type. Oh, no, no.
She's not the stop type. She's the swinger. She's swinging at the punches. She's the what?
No, she's swinging punches, too. She's swinging punches, too. Maybe there is some information. So everything sort of settles down for a minute, and I quickly run over to pay my tab at the bar.
A young lady at the bar goes, "Is there going to be a fight? " I was a designated driver, so I was the one that wasn't drinking with my group of five. So then, as we're walking through the lobby, they have removed the drunk young man and put him on the inside bar, and they gave him another beer, which was probably a great idea. Which is the couple guy?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gave him another beer, and the other two, his two buddies, are standing at either door for that bar, so that we can't go in there, I guess. I don't know, like we're going to anyway. And my wife is talking to the woman who brought him on the dance floor, and the lady's apologizing.
She didn't know what was going on, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're yelling at me to get out. To get out now. And I look at both of them and I point at my wife and go, that's my wife, but I'm yelling this.
I'm not leaving until she's done talking to this young lady. Then we will all leave. Right. I like it because you're getting heated right now.
I can see it. I know. You know, don't fuck with my people. Right.
I'm the calmest guy in the world. I know. Yeah, you are. I'm the calmest guy in the world.
But you don't hit women, you don't touch women, and you don't fuck with my people, especially if I'm standing there. Right. So, yeah, I'm all worked up again. So get to the part where you get ejected.
Oh, well, that was it, because one of his buddies is one of the other assistant principals, the other one I think is one of the athletic directors or something, I don't know exactly. Right. So yeah, that's when we were getting ejected. So he got to stay, but the five of us were thrown out.
We were booted out. We were booted out. So now I have questions. Okay, go ahead.
My first question is, so the fight between the ex-couple breaks out. Do they Uber home together? No, no, no, she went home with us. She went home with us.
Oh, so at the end, I mean, like, him getting mad and pissed off and fighting. Well, he texted her this morning and apologized, but I had already told him, like, look, this is crazy, go get your stuff, and you're moving into our house. See, like, he sends the text message of an apology, I'm her, I send a pic message back of you, of her and her wife, under the sheets, kick, selfie. Well, except then he's going to show it to everybody, he's going to go, see, I was right, look at this.
Whatever, I don't give a shit what he said. He should have just texted her, let me know when you want to come get your stuff. So why, if you know that your ex is there, is going to be there on both occasions, why would you go to this party? Exactly.
And his buddies were getting him drunk and egging him on from the other side of the room. We were on one side, they were on the other side. We were some good friends. Yeah.
Well, his good friends, not our good friends. Right. Yeah. So, but like, why go?
Like, I don't understand why the hell... Exactly. Why go? Why go?
I'll show her. Right. Exactly. So what, I'm going to yell that she's a lesbian and she likes to lick vaginas and stuff?
I mean... That's good to know. Yeah. I just love the fact that you got kicked the fuck out, 'cause that is fucking awesome.
No shit, I got kicked out. You're out of here, pal. I haven't even had a beer. I had three beers on the course of a, what, four or five hour evening.
Oh, man. What kind of beer? Ultra. Yeah, so that's...
So, you know. And I did have one Papa Frida cigar that the principal's husband and I snuck over by the maintenance shed in Smokage and I let smoke at this place. Ah. And then another gentleman.
Oh, which is actually another story. I don't remember the other gentleman's name, but I'm the cigar guy every time we go to this thing, so people like to bring cigars and smoke cigars with me. You're Mike Palmer. Yeah, and they like to tell me their Cuban cigar stories, which just drive me crazy.
Good Cuban. I got these Cubans. Yeah, he's smoking something. " He looks at it and goes, "Oh, yeah, you're right.
" Oh, good for you. Cool. He didn't get it on his Bahama trip? No, but he did, I don't know, and then he's talking about how we can tell the difference between Cubans and non-Cubans in Mexico.
Oh, good. He hangs out at the Lake Mary Corona all the time, and he knows the owner, and one time he was there smoking, and it was a bad cigar, and he couldn't get any draw from it, and he's working and working, and they just gave him another cigar, and I'm like, well, that's what any shop should do. Right. So that's general practice.
Right. At least in the states. You're not that special. I mean, in the international markets, that's not the case.
" Yeah. Good luck with that. Yeah, so go ahead and do what you can. Good luck with that.
So yeah, so I'm not, I'm not, I don't know if I'm allowed to go, but I'm not going to any more functions with our work group. I mean, just think of the shit that has happened in 48 hours. It's amazing. It's amazing.
What are we gonna be, yep. So, yeah, that was it. And so, we went to Lake Mary. They wanted to go dancing at Dexter's over there by Corona.
So we got there. And this all happened before 10 o'clock. A lot of cougars didn't even at Dexter's. But evidently, 10 o'clock is when the band stops, because all the lights were on.
They were breaking down everything. Wah, wah. So they're all still wound up talking about it. The waitress comes over and brings us beer, and she hears them talking about a bar fight and all this stuff.
I turn to the young lady, and I go, "Don't worry. That was at the place before here. We're okay now. " What happened here?
" Yeah. So there you go. You know, and these are, we're all middle-aged, if that's middle-aged, so it's not like, you know, we're young kids that are getting in bar fights everywhere we go. Right.
But it was fun. Somebody got shot in that area. Yeah, not long ago, yeah. And no charges filed.
Yeah. He was defending him. He shot the... The guy that, the first, the shooter, shot and killed an innocent bystander, and then the guy that was being shot at returned fire and hit the shooter.
Right. So, boop. All good. Amid the hailing gunfire.
That's right. It's the new normal. Yeah, that's right. " Right.
All right, so... All right. You got any stories? What's this bicycle for that's in here?
What's in here? It's gonna be a giveaway for... Oh, is it for the thing? Yeah.
Is it a... Somebody's been giving away. It's a brand that we don't talk about anymore. Oh, okay.
Oh, I see the logo. Okay. I gotcha. That's the grand...
Oh, yeah, this Friday is... We don't... Oh, no. First of all, this is happening after...
This is airing after... So then we can't talk about it. No, we can't. Oh.
Alright. We can't. It's a special thing. Alright.
Are we closing for the show, or do you want something festive and holiday-ish? Uh, let's do something festive. The rest of the song we played in the beginning? That's so half-assed.
Or a different song? A different song? Yes. Alright.
We appreciate it. It's been a good year. Thank you everyone who stuck with us and watched us grow and become to the podcast powerhouse we have become. The kingdom that we now reign.
The kingdom of podcasting. So, yeah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, everybody. Happy New Year. Oh, yes, because the next show will actually air on New Year's Day 2019.
And we will see you next year. Everybody will notice there is a new poster. I'm going to use it for this one. This is the first one that's going to go up.
Yes? Yes, we're going to use the new show poster. Did you add the logos? No, not yet.
I need yours. Oh. I have a week I can work on that. All right, cool.
All right, so that's it. That's 2018 in a nutshell. Bye. Bye, everybody.
Thanks for listening. It's a marshmallow world in the winter, when the snow comes to cover the ground. It's a time for play, it's a whipped cream day, I wait for it the whole year round. Those are marshmallow clouds getting friendly, In the arms of the evergreen trees, And the sun is red, Like a pumpkin head, Shining so your nose won't freeze.
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 @cigarhustlerspodcast. I'm Mike Schistler, and you can follow me at FCC_Mike. Remember to please rate, review, and subscribe to whichever our providers you listen to.
Okay, for those of you that are playing along with the anniversary game, the hashtag this week is 2018, so that's hashtag 2018. Thanks for listening, gang.
Show Notes
We figured the best gift we could give our listeners was a new episode on Christmas Day!
Its also the last show of 2018. We recap 2018, favorite guest, best shows and biggest get as far as guest!
Sit down, pour yourself a drink and light your favorite cigars! Its time to relax!
You can reach us on our FB page "A cigar hustlers podcast". You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike @fcc_Mike.
The new Show Post was done for us by Jared Weller at Weller Creations! Look him up on IG @wellercreations.
Remember to rate, review and subscribe on whish ever of our providers you use!
And finally thank you to all our listeners for taking time each week to listen to us ramble and argue! 2019 will be even better!