Episode 50 Danny Vazquez of Roma Craft Tobacco

Episode Summary

Episode 50 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast welcomes Danny Vazquez of RoMa Craft Tobac for the first show of 2019 — a loose, profane, and genuinely funny hangout episode that doubles as an industry insider's teardown of Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 Cigars of the Year list. Before getting to the list, Danny clears the air on the podcast fantasy football league drama involving Jack Torano and Hector Alfonso, who vetoed his Julio Jones trade, and recounts how he and host Mike first met working Wing Ding in Houston shortly after Danny joined RoMa Craft (including leaving his luggage at headquarters and having to buy a whole new outfit). Danny also lays claim to the original idea behind the podcast's format — hanging out with industry people instead of doing another new-release review — and explains why he's such a relentless trash-talker with the hosts.

The conversation turns to social media's impact on the cigar business, particularly the RoMa Craft "Degenerate Weasels" Facebook group that exploded from roughly 10 members to over 1,300 in 48 hours after Skip Martin started inviting everyone he knew. Danny explains why he stepped down as an admin — being an admin puts RoMa Craft in a position of responsibility — and talks about the trade-off of free reach versus group drama, keyboard warriors who are nothing like their online personas, and why he prefers to keep his own online tone flat and friendly.

The back half is a cigar-by-cigar walk through numbers 25 down to 1 of the Cigar Aficionado Top 25, with Mike's son Jake reading (and hilariously mangling) the names while Danny provides the correct Spanish pronunciations and honest verdicts. Along the way they discuss whether magazine placement can be bought, the "set the hook" rumor of ranking a brand so it advertises the following year, and why Mike throws away the cigar magazines that arrive at his shop rather than field requests for cigars he'd have to stock three facings of. Highlights include praise for the Illusione OneOff +53 Super Robusto, La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Chisel, Padrón Family Reserve No. 44 Natural, and Nick Melillo's Foundation Wise Man Maduro (Danny insists the Churchill is the best vitola), dismissals of the Montecristo Nicaragua and Alec Bradley Black Market, skepticism about Villiger's comeback, and a closing discussion of what the list actually does for a brand — Danny tells the story of a retailer whose bargain-bin E.P. Carrillo Encore boxes went straight to the center of the humidor the day the list dropped. Part 1 of two.

In This Episode

1. 01
   New Year Intro and Fantasy Football Beef
   Danny Vazquez settles the record on the disputed Julio Jones trade that Jack Torano and Hector Alfonso voted down in the podcast fantasy league.
2. 02
   How Danny and Mike Met at Wing Ding
   The origin story of their friendship — visiting Houston accounts, a Raptor that won't fit in Texas parking lots, and luggage left behind at RoMa Craft HQ.
3. 03
   Who Really Came Up With the Podcast
   Danny claims credit for the 'hang out with the person, not the new release' format and explains why shop-talk interviews beat product reviews.
4. 04
   Trash Talk, Tone and Friendship in the Industry
   Danny on why he's hardest on the people he likes most and why online jabs don't translate the way face-to-face ribbing does.
5. 05
   The Degenerate Weasels and Cigar Social Media
   How the RoMa Craft fan group went from 10 to 1,300 members in 48 hours, why Danny stepped down as admin, and the cost of free exposure.
6. 06
   Does the Top 25 List Get Bought?
   Rumors about paid placement, the 'set the hook' theory of ranking a brand to land next year's ad buy, and why retailers throw out the magazines.
7. 07
   Counting Down Cigar Aficionado's Top 25
   A rapid-fire yes/no/maybe verdict on every cigar from No. 25 to No. 1, with Danny correcting pronunciations and calling out which ones actually earned the spot.
8. 08
   What a Top 25 Placement Actually Does
   The bargain-bin-to-center-of-the-humidor story behind the No. 1 E.P. Carrillo Encore, plus whether hype lasts once the next list arrives.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Every day I'm hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling, hustling. Every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling, every day I'm hustling. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we take a closer look at the people of the cigar industry, with your host, Mike and Mike. Okay, now we're on.

I'm going to wait to hear you saying something very important. We don't say anything important on this shit. See, we recorded that. Now everybody thinks it's not important.

Oh, wow. Oh, wow. That was horribly awkward. That's just kind of true, though.

Well, you don't start out like that because then they just turn it on. Well, we only have like four people that are listening to. And I'm one of them here. Yeah, that's right.

Now there's only three listening this week because Danny's right here. So how was you? You wanted to do the intro and just get into this shit? I want to go ahead and go.

Okay, well we're gonna, this is the first show for 2019. Oh, yeah, okay. This will actually go out, I think, on the first. Nice.

Which is next Tuesday. All right. So, how was your New Year's, Michael? How'd it go?

It was amazing. Yeah, we had a great time, too. We saw the ball drop and everything. Why are you lying to the people?

I'm trying to make it a better show. I appreciate that. Make it sound more important and exciting. Hi, I'm Mike.

And I'm Mike, too. This is the Cigar Hustle Podcast, 2019. So, you know, hey, you put some shit out there. " Yeah, no shit, and then bam!

Here he is. It's only like four days ago. The man, the myth, the legend has arrived. Yes.

Mr. Danny Vazquez. Mr. Danny Vazquez.

For all four people that know who I am, two of which are in this room. We have avid Roma listeners. Oh, that is true. What up, everybody?

John and Adam. John and Adam. And Dave. And Skip listens.

Yeah, he does. Oh, see, we got Skip out of the way earlier. I already mentioned him. Now we're done.

Oh, Jesus. He's gonna be mentioned a lot, I'm sure. Yeah. We can call him something else.

All right. Yeah. You wanna give him a different name? Like, what, fucking Fernando or something?

I call him Fernando? Oh, Skipiticus. Fernando. Skipiticus?

I don't think he likes it, though. Hello, my name is Fernando Martins. Did you see his recent Facebook post of him and the fucking throne? The big throne?

I saw that. Yeah, it's a new profile pic. Well, we also have one of my sons here with us tonight. Oh, yes.

Jake's here tonight. Jake, say hello. It's nice. When we get into the list, he's going to read the names because he can't say any of them.

Oh. That'll be good. Yes. We have topics to discuss.

Yes. Oh. So how'd you get into the cigar industry? I'm just fucking kidding.

We don't need to do that shit. You already did that shit on Hot Topic. It was okay. It was like YouTube, Dan, it was weird.

Which one? Oh, the Hot Ticket? Hot Ticket Podcast. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Whatever. I'm sorry. I apologize to the people at Hot Ticket. Topic.

Whatever. I like them. They're cool. No, no.

Oh, yeah, so if you guys want to hear that story, click over to Hot Ticket. And they will tell you what's up. It's like episode 70, I think. You'll get the origin story of one Danny.

Except he called in there. He's live here. Yeah. Truth.

Do you want to talk about how your Christmas was before we get into this? It's just okay. Nothing exciting. Nothing exciting?

Nope. Mine always sucks. It's a lot of work. It is a lot of work.

Because we have 30-plus people at our house every fucking year. And it's cool. I mean, it's great to have everybody there, but it is a tremendous amount of work. None of those 30 people apparently listen to the show because you just talk shit about them.

No, I mean, you know. Just your wife. Your wife does. But now, I saw you did, like, location decorations to make it look like another place.

I mean, she, uh... She's definitely taking it up a notch. Dude, she's, she's, yeah, she's not screwing around. She's kind of a big deal.

Next year, you'll need, like, a whole movie studio or something. I mean, we had snow outside and shit, too. Oh! Yeah.

Oh, wow. Yeah, for the kids. Nice. The soap bubble snow or arugula ice snow?

No, it was the bubbles. The bubbles, yeah. It's Florida, bro. Did they get the cake pops?

They got the cake-pop maker. Oh, very nice. But we haven't done that yet. I was going to say because you don't have any with you.

A lot of those toys are just like more work. They are for the grown-ups. That's what I really, really think about. That's right.

Like, is this shit done already? Yeah? See, when they get older, now he just gets booze and cigars. That's nice.

There you go. So my sister-in-law did Christmas presents with us, and we got her a present. And she's 18 years old, so we got her a shoe rack. So she opened it up.

She's a girl. Well, girls love shoes. " In a few years, you won't get anything. Yeah, it's just a matter of time before it just continues to dwindle and then you need to start buying your own shit.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. So, what about you, man? You know, Matthew, presents, the whole, come on.

Fuck, man. He, the first present he opened, which he rips open, right? He doesn't know what he's doing. Yeah.

He's just more excited about the paper. And he's doing everything his sisters are doing. He gets this, like, one of those little dump trucks where you put the ball and push it through and it pops off the other side. Right.

And that was it. He didn't open any more gifts. No, he just stopped. He just pulled -- he has a little string, he pulled it, walked away, and -- It was a good day.

Oh, man. So we looked, and we're like, well -- But you have stuff away for next year. Yeah, we just go open another gift tomorrow. He has no idea what's going on.

So, yeah. So he's Jewish. Yeah. Yeah.

Sure. " So, I don't know, that's actually pretty fantastic to watch him do that. But yeah, we're in town for the holidays, for Christmas, so that's what we did. I mean, I had friends from, I was staying in Pasco County, so Trinity, had friends from Miami, Orlando, St.

Pete, they all came for Christmas Eve. That's cool. Yeah. I can't wait till we get to the point in this podcast where we break you fucking wide open.

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm waiting for you guys to start. Okay, well, I... I see a sheet of paper. Drink more of the, uh...

The Red Bull? Red Bull. We just need to see a blank sheet. Yeah.

No, no. Don't judge my blank paper. I'll write it down as we go. That's good.

The first thing we need to address, I feel like you need to address. Oh, that's right. Fantasy football. Exactly.

There has been a little back and forth regarding the individual piece. This is the shit I do with. As you can tell by the intro music, they don't care about licensing. It was only seven seconds, we're okay.

Um, so, you know, I've already addressed this with a one, Mr. Mike Rosales, and Jack Taranio. Right. And Hector Alfonso.

No, so what happened was they had accused me of, uh, accused me jokingly, half serious, and I get it, but after, like, a certain amount of half joking, I'm like, alright, bro, I had to put an end to this shit, right? So, um, I'm gonna talk about this specific subject of, of this trade. Yes, give us the details. So I put out on the, because nobody pays attention to the ESPN app, so I made a Facebook page with all just the guys that are in the league so we can communicate a little better.

I said, hey, I'm looking for a wide receiver. Of course, I get some bumps on there, some guys making some offers, and Taranio and Hector Alfonso take it upon themselves that it is an unfair trade because these guys are Roma fans. " The guy had offered me Julio Jones, which is a decent receiver, not a big touchdown guy, but you know what I'm saying? Yeah, he's a big deal.

Up until this year, the most touchdowns he's had in a year is seven. Yeah, but he's like 100 yards every game. Right. So, he gave me that, and I gave him a few players that he needed to fill shitty holes.

So, like a two for one. So, they start kind of preaching that it's not fair. Right. So, Alfonso and Taranio go on and vote no to this trade.

But as I, the reason I made the Facebook page is because no one pays attention to the league. As we're kind of going back and forth, the guys in the league are like, no, this is fair, I vote yes, I vote yes, I vote yes, I vote yes. Right. And I'm like, guys, so I come up and I say, guys, I appreciate you voting yes, but since you're not actually voting in the league, it doesn't count.

So my thing is, but I've already got two votes on the no. So no matter how much you type, you comment on this post, it doesn't count. So I wasn't looking for yeses. Right.

Well, you needed yeses. I needed them. They were there. I needed them from here to here.

They existed. But I wasn't becoming a politician for, or what do you call it, like campaigning for your campus. Right, I got you. So then they called me out on that.

I'm like, dude, that's not, I'm like, alright, you know what, sorry I handled it wrong, but at the same time, I already got Julio Jones, right, so I don't give a fuck. Right. So, you know, that was that. But there was never any, you know, any foul play.

The bullshit is, the guy that gave me Julio Jones won the whole fucking thing. Ooh. With your players. Well, he ended up kind of trading those off, anyway, to kind of keep building his team.

Right, oh shit. Come on, man, we got the mics on. Sorry. Don't wipe the cloth either, man.

Oh yeah, you can hear that? Oh yeah, you can hear everything. Yeah, we changed that. So, yeah, he went to the whole thing, which is like, I don't know, a few hundred cigars and a dope-ass trophy that we had made.

No shit. But congrats to him, and I'm kind of glad that I went. Honestly, I would have gave the cigars to the second place and I would have just kept the trophy. Right.

Just the simple bragging rights. Yeah, yeah. That's all I'm about. So there's that story.

But then what the funny part is, is Jack and I kind of got into it online, we got into it on text messages, And I said, Jack, you know, I love you, you know, fuck this shit, whatever, and he never answered back. Right. But I'm like, you know, Jack's been, I really didn't think about it. And then I guess he comes on and does the episode and makes him think about it.

Realize that he didn't text you. And then he, yeah, he FaceTimed me, which is pretty funny. But we're all good. Yeah.

I mean, what's kind of funny now is I need to join this league because... Yeah. Well, there's all sorts of background stuff that go on. Well, like, if a trade, if I'm offered a trade, I know I'm gonna hit it with leverage.

Mike, you know, I'll give you the guy, but you know, I really could use some additional swag or, you know, I need to be the top of the list for the Crab 2019. Yeah, those Sabretooth? Yeah. Give me five extra boxes.

Yeah, Hugo Jones is on his way. He's already packed up, you know, he's ready to leave. He's out of my team, just need that tracking number from you and it's done. That's fuckin' fantastic.

But yeah, that was it. But my team, like, was a beast. I lost the first game, won my second game, I lost two in a row, and then I won like nine straight. Nice.

But I didn't get the bye week, because I tied him, but he was one of the guys I lost to, so he was ahead of me. And then my entire team just took a complete shit. So you tied him and he got the win? Well, he got the bye week.

So first place got the bye week. Since he beat me during the season, I was in second, so I had to play a guy. Todd Gurley did another thing, which is, you know what I'm saying? I think he was playing injured.

Whatever. Fucking hate fantasy football. I hate fantasy football. Until next year.

Hey, it's time. Fucking bullshit. So one thing I kind of wanted to bring up. I mean, are we going to talk about, like, our origin story?

Because we don't have to talk about my origin story. Yeah, we can do it. Because Mike, you probably don't know, like, how me and Mike. You have the mic, dude.

Go ahead. I know about your, uh, your luxury, uh, vacation in Nicaragua where you guys shared it with you. Oh no, it was before that though, it was before that. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Nope, I don't then. So, uh, I had just started with Roma, so it was probably, it was end of September, so this was probably October, November, for Wingding. Right. The first Wingding.

So, Mike is gonna work Wingding with Roma for some reason. Yeah, who, I have no idea. I really don't know why. Yeah, I don't even know how I went up there.

But that was, you know, but it was, it was kind of good. It was kind of good. At the time it was a little annoying, but it turned out to be a great thing, because, well, it was like, hey, you're gonna go pick up this guy, and you don't know who the hell he is, and you're gonna be with him all fucking day. Oh, I remember when that happened.

Yeah. So you were complaining that that Danny guy had to pick you up at the airport. Yeah, piece of shit. Yeah.

Totally. What was funny with that story, side note, was that Rosales was flying somewhere. Yeah. And then we, he, I beat him to Houston.

Yeah, he flew in. He flew into Houston, and I beat him to Houston, because he was going somewhere. So Mike and I pick him up. Hey, how you doing?

What's up? And then it was just like visiting accounts, right? So this is the first time I actually at this level and for AromaCraft where I'm visiting accounts just sort of on my own, right? " We go.

We go. Oh. And then when you're ready to die, we just do one more store. Right.

Just check right in one more time. Yeah. So, now I'm grumpy and tired late at night. And do you remember that I left my bag at headquarters?

Do you remember that shit? Yes. So, now I had no clothes. That's true.

And I was just like, son of a bitch. I was like in the worst. I was in the worst fucking mood. You handled it well.

No, I cried. I got a little bitch. Because the next day I'm like, fuck, now I gotta go get clothes, because one, I just visited every account, well not every account, but most of our accounts here in Houston, they saw me in these clothes, I have to go buy new clothes. Yeah, but we, I think we stayed at a hotel that was linked into the mall.

A mall that I cannot afford. No, I could have, I just, it was all timing, it was just really weird, so I'm like, you know, let me, I went somewhere else and just got a whole outfit or something. That sucks, yeah. Yeah, the mall gallery is no joke about that shit.

Yeah, that's true. I mean, I could have afforded it, but then I don't need a $90 LaCosha for no reason. True story. " Oh, I hate it.

Just leave me alone. What was I going to tell you? So that was it. We did Wing Ding.

But it was good. But you showed me a lot, because there was a couple of accounts that, you know, you just knew the people better. Like, the first time I met Paul at Heights and all those guys, so I kind of just sat back and watched how you interacted with them, because you knew them already. Yeah, I mean, you know, that was a cool trip for me.

You know, I had a good time. You know, sorry about your clothes. I didn't even lose them, I just left them at work. Yeah, that sucks.

But like, I feel like in the Romacraft realm of the world, you don't necessarily get your job description, per se, as to what exactly you're going to be doing. I was like, hey, you're just going to go, yeah, we're going to do winging, but oh yeah, I'm not going to be there, and you need to hit all these other accounts, and oh yeah, by the way, this is a guy Mike's coming in from the plane, so you just go ahead and pick him up, too. Yeah, and I'm really, really good at, oh, fuck, sorry. I'm really good with, you know, rolling with the punches, so I did that.

But at the same time, it was also like one of the first times I was driving the Raptor. Right. For whatever reason, trucks do not fit in parking lots or streets in Texas, like the number one state of pickup trucks. Yeah, you'd think Texas, they wouldn't have room for pickups.

And then the Raptor's like six inches wider than a normal F-150. Yeah, pain in the ass. You just can't, it's just a pain in the ass. This doesn't go anywhere.

And, you know, I text when I drive, right? No, I'm just kidding. It's really hard to watch movies while I'm driving. So on that trip, though, and I don't know if you remember this, but I'm going to call you on that.

Oh my God, okay. So I came up with the idea, so Mike tells me he wants to do a podcast, right? Yeah. Do you remember the guy that called me?

Do you remember the conversation with the guy that was trying to start a podcast, and he wanted me to give him the questions that he would ask somebody? No, but keep going. " I'm like, okay, you know, like, let us know, whatever. He's like, well, what are some of the questions that people would, I'm like, bro.

Yes, and you said, dude, I mean, like, what do you want me to fucking run your whole podcast? Yeah, I did. I was like, well, do you want me to do it for you? Like, what the fuck do you want?

I said, listen, man. I'll just say your name as it starts. Right, I'm like, hey, you know, everyone's audience is a little different. Right.

So, like, you need to find out what your guys like to know and want to know. They want to know about the scars, they want to know about us, you know, what it is. Get all that together and then do it. You know what's funny, a year later, that was Marto Cigars.

Like our number three, four, five account, you know, going into the show this year. So I was like, man, I'm glad it was somewhat... I'm glad I wasn't a complete dick on the phone. Right, yeah, so a really good account.

But then I was like, you know what would be a great show is like, everyone talks about the new cigar coming out, like, who cares about that crap? I wanted to know about like you, hang out with you, like what is it, give me an hour of hanging out with you, and you guys kind of did that, and I was like, man, this is awesome, I'm like, wait, this was my idea. Good job. I'm like, this motherfucker.

I appreciate that. Yes, thank you very much. I just like to see him fruition. Which, you know, Hector Alfonso and Jack Taranio completely took, like, they took it, right, 'cause Jack tells the story about the movie theaters and shit like that.

Like, that's a day in the life of Jack Taranio. " Right. The flavors of this. It tastes like marshmallow and shit, so it's like, that's the interesting stuff for me, right?

Right. So, hey, I mean, kudos to you for building our podcast. Thank you very much. Yes, thank you very much.

Yeah. I mean, I'd be lost without you. Well, no, I'm glad you guys. I'm actually, you know, very, very happy you guys did it, because now I see it would have been a total failure.

Yeah, exactly. So I'm glad I did. Yeah, so thank you very much. I thought it was my idea, but, you know.

No. No, I mean, dude, in all honesty. You probably would have came up with it anyway, but it was just, it was a conversation we had. Yeah, but in reality, you know, a lot of the shit that comes to fruition, I mean, even the cigar we're smoking right now, that name wasn't my idea.

Like, it just comes from people that I hang out with. Sure, sure, no. And it just kind of develops. So, I mean, I'm for sure you were definitely a part of it, you know?

Oh, see. See? I acknowledge, I give credit where credit's due, you know? Oh, I was taking the credit.

I didn't give a show if you were getting it. That's cool, but I'm still going to give it. That's cool. " Oh my God.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I wanted to address that too. We have that kind of a relationship. I am super, super dickish to Hustler.

And there's a couple reasons for that. One, because I really see it, like, I can see him and I being really close. Yeah. And I'm probably a bigger, I'm a bigger asshole to my best friends, and they know me, you know, that said, behind your back, I'll, I've never, never or would never, right?

If anything, I've always talked great about you and the cigars and your brand, and I've, you know, I've had, "Hey, this account asked, I gave me your info, here it is," all the time. The other thing, too, is like, for me, shit-talking is like a boxing match, right? And when you connect, it energizes the boxer, right? And then the combo comes.

But with Mike, it's like, but in a boxing match, when you miss all that, you know, when you ever miss boxing, and that, that's, it's a, you know, it wears you out. It takes the wind out of you. Yeah. So with Mike, it's what it is.

I can never connect because he's so fucking nice, right? Like the shit I get back is like a compliment or like a, like a shit talking compliment. And I'm like, fuck, he's so nice about it. I can never just get the energy.

You're a funny guy, you know? See? You're doing it right now. You're doing it now.

We slept together. Yeah. Mike brings this king-size air mattress to Nicaragua. I'm a professional.

No, but he's like, what are you, like 5'6"? Jesus. I'm 5'9". My NFL stats are 5'9".

The dude's like 5'4", and he brings this, he brings this massive, uh, it was huge. I slept like a baby. You sure the fuck did? It was great.

It was great. It was great. Remember Skip had us making sure we made our bedroom winning? That was fucking hilarious.

Yeah, that dude. But so like, you know, the reason why that played out the way he did was because it was Nicoprosa. I mean, normally we're not, we're not all just crashing at Skip's because, you know, I don't think Skip would ever want that. But it's just kind of the way it is.

Everything's booked. Hey, we're talking into the microphone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Thank you very much.

The food was better at his house, though. But it's, yeah, we don't, sure it is, yeah, for sure, but it's not even that, it's just the food in Nicaragua sucks, yeah, but like, what's also kind of crazy too is, sometimes, I feel like he's toned it down over the past couple years, but sometimes he's spiced that shit so much that I want to fucking die, I'm like, dude, you know, toilets are hard to come across in this city, and like, you know, you're really limiting me here, if, you know, I don't want to blow up the factory, I don't want to blow up your house, like, come on, so, yeah. No bueno, but like the last time wasn't as spicy. Even when it's spicy, it's fucking ridiculously good.

Alright, let me get to, let me ask, let's see what else I got here. I mean, well, you already touched, we already did the fantasy football saga. Is that it? Alright guys.

Well thanks, Danny, thanks for coming in. You took credit for our podcast, we did the, you know. You know, one topic that people were talking about is just the social media impact on shit, and just kind of wanted to lightly touch on the Degenerate Weasels page, And obviously that isn't something that you created, but you know, you're definitely an admin on it now. And um, actually not anymore.

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. I kind of removed myself from that. It was like, um, that's gotta be hard.

Well, I mean, being an admin then puts Roma as a, um, in a responsibility role now, right? So, um... Who the fuck wants that? Yeah, just because you never know when, you know, stuff can become a shitshow, right?

But you were there kind of for the beginning of that, right? So it was like, there's a Degenerate Weasel page, it was like 10, probably 10 guys, Super Roma fans, made this page. And then Skip found it and just invited everyone he knew. " And sure enough, I all of a sudden became an admin, and then it was just like, that weekend, it was like the weekend before we went to Nicaragua, and it went from 10 people to like 1,300 people, that fast, like from 48 hours, and then it was just like, but I think, you know, a lot of you guys, a lot of retailers took advantage of that, and it's like, hey, I have a direct Roma audience here, and it's undeniable to say that it didn't affect, you know, Roma.

You know, across the country, you know, with stores getting hit up and us getting hit up with more accounts, like, "Hey, you know, we've been hearing about your cigar," and it's not like, you know, how it happens. Right. And, you know, so I made, like, little care packages for those admin guys and sent them, you know, to say, "Hey, you know, thanks for the love," and whatever. And, you know, the problem is when you get that big so fast that, like, you know, 2,000, 2,300, 2,500 people, you're gonna get the drama, you know.

So there's a lot of times where I'm like, I'm not an adamant, but like, hey, this shit needs to go, you know, you got your meme machines out there and all that stuff, but... Well, I mean, I'm gonna put somebody directly on blast. And the reason why it is because, like, more often than not, a lot of these guys come across as fucking highly opinionated, complete assholes on these Facebook groups. But they get to hide behind their computer.

No, it isn't so much that, like, you meet some of them in person, and like, dude, you are nothing like that. Yeah, most of them are like that. You know, so Ellis Philly is a complete asshole on Facebook, but he's really nice in person, like, dude. I've never met him, but I've heard that's kind of his thing.

Yeah, but I'm like, dude, you know. Why don't you be that guy? Yeah, why can't you be like that on Facebook? Yeah, yeah.

So, but yeah, that is kind of the crazy aspect of it, or like, you're gonna see a fucking comment just totally go out of control. Like, somebody says something that's opinionated, whether it be whatever, cigar-based, politically-based, whatever the case may be, and then all of a sudden, man, it's like, everybody is fucking pissed off and everybody's got an opinion on it and it's like, dude, calm, everybody needs to just calm their tits for a second, you know, it's not, it's really not that big of a deal. So it's pretty, it's pretty comical, I mean, but it does have a huge impact as far as exposure is concerned. For sure.

I mean, it's free, right? So just the amount of people you can touch as far as their eyes with your product or whatever, there's no better way to do it. Right. But with that free, right, there's— It comes at a price.

It comes at a price. Right. So sometimes you've got to deal with that shit, right? Yeah, like Ronnie.

It's a credo. Oh, bro. I love that guy. He's awesome.

You got to need a translator. " Then I gotta break it down, you're right, you need a translator. Sure. But, yeah.

I'm the complete opposite of that. Like, I'm typically really cool online, just one, because you can never figure out tone with people, right? So like, it was a jab. I don't really like jabbing, because you don't know, you can't tell, like, seriously how I meant it, right?

So I don't even like doing that stuff written for him. So was he fucking around? Yeah, I'll do that on your face because you'll see me laugh or smile or you know where it's coming from. But online I'm like really just kind of cool, laid back.

" It's just like, if I'm coming, it's to completely shut you the fuck down and it is over when I'm done speaking. And then I just go back to me. And then when you meet me in person, you're like, oh, this guy's, he's like, made fun of me for two hours, but I laugh the whole time, so there's that. Super true, man.

Yeah. So, since it is a new year, you want to talk about the cigars? Top 25 cigars? You want to talk about that?

What were you going toward? That's what I was... Oh, sure, we can do that. I guess they're done with me.

You want to talk about it? I'll see you guys. Bye, everybody. We're not, uh, we're just getting warmed up.

Oh, let's do it. If you want to beat Hector, I mean, how close is he? It's not even... No, we're only half hour in.

Yeah, you're not even... If you want to be a two-parter, we've got to stretch this. Oh, no, we got this. We got this?

I mean, you took out half of my story with the origin. I thought we were going with that, but I'm glad we didn't. Where else are we going? No, no, I'm so glad we didn't.

We can go back there. No. I mean, with the Toronto thing, we tried to end it like five times, and we kept going. Wow.

So that could totally be us right now. No. No? Okay.

Well, so, I did want to talk about the top 25 cigars of the year. Okay. This is the aficionado list. I mean, there's, like, four or five of them out there now.

That's the only list. It really, unfortunately. It's the only one that moves on a massive mainstream level, right? The other ones, including the ones my picks, I mean, those are the guys that know what's up, but, in reality, they're still not-- Like, Snobbe hasn't even put theirs out yet.

They don't even put it out until 2019. Well, because they're not done. Like, you don't go up again. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, you don't go at the same time they are. Yeah.

We're going to release it at the same time in aficionado. Right. The Journals is out, but nobody's talking about Journals. So...

Nick my little eyes. That's true. So, yeah. So, there's 25 cigars.

25? What, do you want to go groups of five, or...? Probably, like, three of them are actually really good. The other 22 are, you know, I don't...

Well, there's always those rumors that you can buy your position on the list. position on the list. Right. With that magazine.

That's true. There are those rumors. There are those rumors. Do you think we'll get like a fucking cease and desist order?

I didn't mention who the rumor is or who it was about. Right. Specifically allegedly. You throw allegedly out there, you're fine.

Well, if you say rumor. Yeah. That's not a fact. Yeah.

The rumors, too, that sometimes people make the list so that they will buy the next year. Set the hook. Yeah. Oh.

Like, hey, congratulations, you're in the... You know what you should do is... You're in the top, you're in the top, like, 25, but you're in 10 to 25, if you want to get in the next year. That said, we are talking about it, right?

So it's just like, it does... It serves its purpose. You know what I'm saying? People do talk about it, everybody's talking about it.

Well, it's just like fucking Half Wheel and their hints of... Hints of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Puffs? I mean... Burn issues.

At the end of the day, and burn issues. I don't think that you get like, I've never gotten those flavor profiles, but you're right, we always talk about that shit. I probably would never smoke it if I tasted all that shit. I'm like, Coco Pebbles, get this the fuck out of here.

Yeah. Right. No doubt. So, you want to talk about, like, what, the first, the bottom 25?

There's 25 total. Yeah, but we can start there. Oh, start with the bottom five? Yeah, just, can you tell us what- What are the bottom five, Jamie?

20 to 25 are, and I'll tell you if I think that any of them are worth the shit, and Danny can disagree, or whatever. So do we want to go with 25 to 20, or 20 to 25? Whatever you want to do. All right.

These are the last five. All right, so to the four people listening, I apologize for butchering these names. This is awesome, because he knows nothing about cigars. I don't know shit.

Oh, nice. All right, so coming in last place. He's a fireman, he didn't know anything. Wow.

Nothing about cigars. He just had to put out fires and hoes. They canceled the first responder game because of the lightning. Oh, did they?

Yeah, it's like the first responders didn't show up. Oh, we were, just a quick story, we were sitting at lunch today with some other people from the family, they're all together, and one of them asked about, what was it he asked about again? Oh, he was, so, for a little backstory with that, for the fire department, your biggest line you use to put out fires is two and a half inches, and he was talking about how he got to spray off a hydrant. Hydrant pressure isn't shit, like, it's, like, turn on your faucet, and that's how much you get off that, all the power comes from the truck.

And he was bragging about how he got to do it, even though he was struggling and everything like that. He got to run the hose by himself. Yes, and then he asked me how many guys we typically use, since it took him so much time, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that our high school candidates can do it by themselves. Well, this is awkward.

What do you mean you didn't have the heart? Yeah, like, yeah, no, I mean, realistically, nobody actually does, just, we just turn it on. We just turn it on. Yeah, we just kind of leave it and, yeah.

Sort of dribbles out the side as we put the fire on. It's all automated at this point. I'm really excited, though, now that I'm getting fire hydrants installed in my neighborhood. They're destroying the entire fucking neighborhood, and apparently they don't really have a lot of power, so.

Yeah, but that's why we bring the truck, though. But the water's here. They're running the hydrant to the truck, I learned that today. Ah.

And then the pumps on the truck force the water out. Excellent. Or more, you know, but it can ruin the plumbing in your house if we have to use it. Really?

Oh, really? Yes. If they use a hydrant, houses around the hydrant can cause plumbing issues. Oh, good.

Well then. I'm excited. I'm gonna go check my insurance, make sure it's up to date. Hey, why you wanna do that?

You wanna check that resale value today. Sell, sell, sell. Hell no. Alright, so, you know what, I'm even more energetic about the fact that he's gonna say the names and I really hope he fucks something up.

Yeah. So, go ahead. Go ahead. Number 20.

25. We'll start at 25. Okay, 25. Bottom up.

Okay. See, he just kind of cuts you off as you talk? It happens to me all the time. He gets short with me all the time.

It's a drinking game. It's ridiculous. Alright, so, number 25. Oh, shit.

How'd I have heard of that one? The Roman Alones by AJ Fernandez Churchill. We'll do the Ramon Allones by AJ Fernandez Churchill. We'll do the Ramon Allones by AJ Fernandez.

Okay. There's no little over the end though. Alright. I've never had it.

Go ahead. Keep going. Have you had it? I had that one for you there.

No? Alright. I'm not in Churchill. No.

Fuck no. So number 24 is the Pussina. Oh. Hey, hey, hey there.

This is amazing. This turned out better than I thought it would. There's some letters in there. Get them in the right.

The placenta. I thought you said pussy. the can't buy a vowel Plasencia is the first word Plasencia Koschecha 146, San Luis San Luis, I've never had it either I've had it in my hand it may be in my humidor because I did become friends with our Plasencia rep local, cool guy but we're batting a thousand we're all in the industry here And we've never had either of those. But you know what's funny, when talking to him, where he has to explain to retail, and not you, but to retailers who Plasencia is, you know?

Right. And if you guys are listening, don't know who Plasencia is. Hit 'em. Tell 'em.

I mean, most of the cigars, especially in the last, like, ten years, not most of them, either had tobacco from the Plasencia farm, or rolled at a, if you've ever had a Rocky in the last, or the last ten years ago, or ten years ago, From when Rocky started, essentially, until maybe a few years ago when he had his own factory, was a Placentia factory stick. Yeah, in reality, he's the owner of the gold mine, right? Yeah. Their family has to be in the billions.

I mean, they have to be a net worth of billions. He can do whatever he wants in Nicaragua, for sure. Yeah, for sure. " Never heard of him.

Never heard of the guy. The Placenta. And they're $25? There we go.

Next one. Alright, this one I can read. No one I can read. Now we're all gonna get arrested as soon as we fuckin' arrive in Esteli.

Oh. Oh, you've been flagged, sir. Sorry, go ahead. Alright, so number 23 is the one-off 53 Super Robusto.

Still messed it up. It's the plus 53, but anyway. Well, I thought that might have been a typo or something like that right there. Now, that cigar I've had, have you had that?

I have not, I've had the one-off, but not the plus 53. Ah, okay, so it is a really good cigar. Is it? But it does.

Is it true? is it was what you like the tobacco or whatever so the myth of it's possibly that it's cuban or whatever the shit is yeah i don't think so um but i can tell you the flavor profiles are definitely unique and it's a really good cigar and i would i would probably put that i definitely put that on the list i don't know where it would fall category wise i mean but it definitely deserves to be on It's expensive as fuckin' all get-out. 30 bucks. Yeah.

Um, so I don't, I mean, I don't know how... It's hard to say is it worth 30 bucks, 'cause really, I don't know how many cigars are, but... Yeah, so like, I mean... Look at the competition at 30 bucks.

Kudos to Dion for getting away with it, because, you know... Sure. I mean, it's a really good cigar, and I would love to sell a $30 cigar. You know?

No doubt. So, fuckin' A. Alright, that one, that one's approved. Have you had that, Michael?

No, I've not had that one. No, no. You know, I'll have to get a couple boxes. Is that a good seeding, what is it, 23?

I don't think that I would put it at 23, I'd put it higher up. I would definitely put it higher up. Maybe they need to spend just a little bit more money. Yeah, like the issue, hey, probably.

Well, he's another guy, you know, he doesn't give a fuck, right? So, I couldn't see him... Oh, doing that. additional marketing for promotions.

Especially now, he's going direct. Is he? He started like his own really thing. Yeah, we'll look at it.

We'll talk about it. Yeah. All right. We'll look that up.

We got to get, we got to get to two hours. Yeah, no doubt. Right? See, I came in kind of tame.

I wanted to see where you guys took it, but we'll... We're out of control. We have no plan. We have no plan.

No. That's the new plan for 2019. No plan. We're not prepared for this.

Nope. All right. So... And plus you came early, so, you know.

All right. So, so far we've... That's what she said. Yeah.

That's nice. Nice, nice, nice. See, I worked that in nice and calm. Slide it right in.

Slid it right in. That's what I do. All right, next one. All right, number 22, Trinidad, Santiago, Bellicoso.

Yeah, anybody? I have not. I think I might have had it, but not in a Bellicoso. Is that the Cuban, or what is that?

Not Dominican. That's the Dominican? Nope. Next.

I don't remember it, so. Yeah, I mean, like, none of that shit, like. Is this saying something about us that we haven't had a bunch of these? Maybe it's us, not the industry.

What did we say? Four? I've only had one. Oh, I haven't had any.

We kind of talked about this, and here's the problem in this industry. The fact of the matter is that a lot of these companies just recreate and reproduce bullshit. So, unfortunately, I bet you we smoke it, and because we use the cigars that we smoke already as a standard, we're going to be like, yeah, no, sorry, that doesn't, mm-mm. Not to mention, I don't think anybody gives a fuck about the 20 to 25.

And nobody's going in saying, "Hey, you got that Trinidad, number 21? " That was the last one on the list. I'm really looking for that one. Right?

All right, go ahead. All right, number 21. Oh, I'm going to butcher the hell out of this thing. Yes!

Yes. I was trying to practice it while you guys were talking. You didn't give me really enough time. Awesome.

" Same. Cristobal, Quintessa... That's even in English, bro. Shit.

I went to public school. Did you study while you were there? Absolutely not. Corona Gorda.

Nice. I've had the cigar. I think I've had that cigar too. I don't know what I've had in the Corona Gorda.

I can't remember. I don't know about the sizes. The Corona Gorda would make it wider. But it's still a 46, so it is not Gorda.

Short and fat? It would be, well, I mean, it should be a Corona Extra or something. Well, I mean, that's the other thing about the cigar industry is there is no fucking, you can call it whatever you want. I work for a company that does that.

Yeah, exactly. Right, right. Which I love. I take it, oh, to handling the trash.

Hope to God he doesn't leave, because I don't have a key. Oh wait, you do. I do, I have a key. That's awesome, I have a key.

I don't know what's going on here in my own fucking business. Yeah. Whatever. All right, so I haven't had that cigar, but you know, I mean.

I used to smoke a lot of San Cristobal, so I'm sure I've had it, but I don't remember it didn't stick out anywhere. Yeah, realistically, you know, Pepe and Garcia does make some good cigars. Sure. So, maybe that warrants being on there, but...

It's far enough down the list. All right, so that's a maybe. It's a maybe. So we got one yes.

Three no's. Three no's and one maybe. All right, keep going. This is fun.

I like just to hear you fucking say the names. That in itself is worth it. All right, number 20, the Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary Toro. In a tubo.

Okay. Which they had to say. So, I mean, I don't smoke a lot of Rocky. I've had this cigar a ton of times.

Yeah. It's a good cigar. Top 25 worth it? No.

Have you had it in the tubo? No, it was not in a tube. So that guy spends a lot of money on advertising, and it's kind of unfortunate that he still only follows, I hope that he's got something higher than that. I think he has a couple more cigars.

Okay, well, I mean, he deserves it as far as spending money-wise, you know? It is a good cigar, but I had it years ago, like I haven't had it in years. Yeah. I'm sure it's, it had to have changed a little bit.

For sure. So because it's in a tubo it's better. That's, that's the only thing they made different. They put it in a tube this shit.

We need Roma Craft Tubos. What cigar would you put in a tube? Uh, Cro-Mag Anthropologie. What?

Yeah, I love that cigar. So. What, the EH? Let's put the Kraft in there, La Campagna, with the fucking, with the closed foot and have shit everywhere.

That would be fantastic. Everybody would be so excited when they open up their fucking tubo. All right, no craft to this guy. All right, Jake, next.

All right, number 19, Cohiba Siglo, er, 6. You just said it in English. I did. No, you didn't know.

Why did I mess that up? There's five letters. I'm not laughing at you. I am.

That's Cohiba Siglo. Siglo. Damn, boom. What did I say?

Cuban. Cuban? Something else. Does it say it's Cuban or not on the list?

It's a Tubo, though, this one. It has to be. 'Cause they don't make Coiba Siglo's in Dior. You sure about that?

I mean, I feel like I can go to the Bahamas and I can get one. Oh, yeah. Can you go to South? Hey, man, I got the Tubo here.

That is a good cigar. I've had it where it's unbelievable, and the one right next to it, couldn't draw with the shit. Yeah, that's the problem with Cubans. So let's go with, this is a really, oh this box is from September 2017, so it's not even very aged, you got a 92 rating, the one I had, the really good one I had, I'm gonna go with, that's the one they got, right, really good one, really good, not plugged, I would put it, I would put it in this top 20.

Okay. 46 pounds, the price, which makes it like what, 70. Damn, so that's a $70 cigar? It's about, yeah they're pretty expensive, Sigla 6's.

Holy shit, oof. In the tube. For sure. In the tubo.

Maybe we get David Colon to give us one. That guy's very generous. He is a very generous man. Come on, bro.

I probably have, but that doesn't mean that I remember it. Oh, okay. The problem is that, you know. I remember that specifically because I had a really good one.

Right. And I'm like, this is amazing, I'm gonna grab it. And then it was like, I, what the fuck? I'm like, maybe it'll heat up.

No. Maybe if I jam it with a, like a. Coat hanger? The pick thing, you gotta make it with nothing.

I like it if you buy it, you know. If you buy a Cuban overseas and it's plugged, they're like, cool. We're not replacing that, so enjoy. Good luck with that.

But this was $75. We really don't care. All right, keep going. All right, so these next eight are all going to be a shit show.

They're all in Chinese. What number are we at now? 18. Good thing we didn't make this a drinking game every time you fuck something.

Smash. That might have been what I should have done, He's gotten drunk, then tried to read this. All right, so number 18, Nacico, Anniversario, 1965, Liga number four. I have no idea what he said.

Let's just take that in for a moment and kind of reflect on the Liga. You know, I've never even heard of this guy, this company, this cigar. So, like, that's the other thing, too. So these cigars, in theory, are supposed to be really well accessible in New York, and da-da-da-da, whatever the case may be, but if that's the case, then how do you come across Cubans?

Well... Gotta find that guy, that one guy. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of influential people in New York that would have... I got cigars.

that are just kind of sitting on the shelf, because that's the big argument. No, no, no. It's like, hey, you just go to a retailer and you can get these and, you know... They used to buy from Nat Sherman a lot, but I don't know where they're buying their cigars now.

Right. So Nat Sherman's got Cubans? Anybody know how many... How many do they pair these down to?

I mean, did they start with like 400 and either the best 25 or is it just 25 big stoners? Like I don't know what they're doing. No one seems to know. First.

We need a list of who spent what, please. Right. Let's start there. Let's start there.

Exactly. All right, Jake. I really don't want to do this. So that's a bus for all of us.

I really don't want to do this. It's awesome. We're at 19. We're at 19.

We're gonna get two hours just right here. We're trying to speed it up for you as best we can. Yeah. I like it because, you know, Danny's looking them up as you're going so I can see what's coming, and then you butcher it, which is fantastic.

I'm glad you all are getting the kick out of this. I really am. This is amazing. This is great.

I mean, do you want a second place trophy kind of a podcast? Yeah. You did great! Yeah.

I'm so proud of you. " All right. Go ahead. All right.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. That first word's in English.

I'll give you that one. Is it really? Is it a name? Shit.

Michele, Reverso. I like how you tried saying it in Spanish. I just said it was in English. Yeah.

Alright, go ahead. I needed the phonetic version of this. Limitada. Millennials.

Stop preparing. I'm so hard. I gotta stop, this dude probably whooped my ass. I'm not gonna stop.

I'm gonna need my safe space after this. Hit it, let's go. Privada? Sure.

Sure, why not? That's the name now. Privada. I'm going to be the translator.

So what he's trying to say is the McAuliffe Reserva Limitada Privada. A $42 cigar. I know why I've never had these cigars. Negative ghost, right?

It is Mexican. It says rapper Mexico, so it has to be San Jose. San Jose, right? So you'd probably like it.

Yeah. But they could totally fuck the blend of any of it. For sure. I have not had it.

I mean, if they use a good wrapper, it's going to be okay, right? I've had good wrappers, so. But San Andreas in itself is kind of an overwhelming dominant flavor profile. Sure.

So like, you know, it might not be complex, but it should still taste relatively good. Yeah. I don't know. Well, there's another good question mark.

Yeah. That's the other thing. Who knows? I mean, where do you get the audacity to say, you know what, that's just going to be $42.

Yeah, I don't know how you come to that. Carry the one. All right. 25.

I think I'm going to wholesale this for $21. And you know what the shit is, is like, there's stores like, yeah, I need that. Right. Well, how many can we get?

Yeah. I don't know how many people are going for fucking McAuliffe, or whatever the fuck it's called. It made it on the fucking list, right, so they bought it from somewhere. Somebody had it.

Allegedly. Somewhere. 'Cause you can't buy the Cubans. But they bought it, dude.

Whatever. I can't get into that. I don't know how that play works, right? But it's like...

" Yeah, but you're gonna sell 10 boxes of 'em, as opposed to, you know, whatever. That's the comical part of this industry, amongst other things. That's, you know, we, people have said that, it's like, man, you guys should raise your prices, you know, and that's kind of the sales guy, I'm like, yeah, you're fucking right. But at the same time, it's like, you know, why, right?

Like at $42, you're in this competition of just crazy, is that sound coming up? I hope it is. No, no, I didn't. Damn it.

So, you know, there's just some steep competition at $42. And if I'm looking at like Opus and McAuliffe, I'm like, mmm, I know, or Padrón, McAuliffe, one out of $42 Padrón, that's a dope Padrón, that's an awesome Padrón, and you know Padrón's just gonna be perfect. Right. 9 times out of 10.

My favorite Padrón was the Millennium. Oh, I, fucking Jeff at Riverside sent me one. Really? I saved it for a while and smoked it.

Jeff has never sent me a Millennium. Awkward. Well, this is awkward. You know, my buddy Eckert actually sent me one for the birth of my son, and I spoke that shit, and I'm like, damn.

Yeah. This is fucking amazing. And like, fuck, that's why they are who they are. Right.

No doubt. All right. Next. All right, next.

Next one. 16. What did you think we forgot about you? Did you see his face?

He was like, oh, fuck. They remembered. I was really hopeful. Just stay quiet and didn't move.

Yeah. Don't move. His vision is based on movement. All right.

Joya De Nicaragua. Yes! Joya. So close.

Joya! I should've had it. You don't have any alcohol in here? Where's the back circle alcohol?

We don't keep it here. There's no booze. Alright, next. Oh, that's right.

Okay. Yeah. I fucked up some wine. Go ahead, let's do it.

The Joya? Go ahead, tell us about the Joya. The Joya? Um...

That's a long ass name, too. I was really... There's a lot of... Oh, I can't wait to get the eight.

It's two sentences. Can't wait to get the eight word. I think it's the 8 word. I'm gonna, I'm.

Yep. This is awesome. Just keep hacking the waiver. Do it.

Just chop it up. Just chop the leaves. It's fine. Just say it.

Come on. Antoneau, Grand Reserve, Roberto Grande. Just because you say it faster, doesn't mean we're not gonna catch how bad you fucked up. You just gotta pull it off quick and just roll with it.

They're not gonna notice how bad I fucked up. They won't understand me, I'll talk real fast. So the translation, for everyone that wants to know what cigar we're talking about, is the Hoya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva Robusto Grande, I have had the cigar. Yeah, I mean that's kind of your quintessential Hoya.

Yeah, it's a good, it is a good cigar. Top 25. Question mark. Question mark.

Next? Thanks. Alright, this one, a little easier for that one. Number 15, I'll probably still fuck it up, Villager San Duro, Colorado Churchill.

That was pretty good! Hey! There we go! Maybe we should just stop.

Yeah, can we get in there? Don't puff your chest yet. So, I don't know how Billiger is still in existence. I mean, we were just talking about that.

We were just talking about that. I haven't seen them. They screwed everybody that one year. Dude.

So, I'm friendly with the guy that did their PR. Yeah. And when they won, like, Summer Cigar Fisciano, like, last year, they were in the top five or ten or something. I had to send them a quick text message.

I'm like, dude, congratulations on the job you did with that company. Because I remember dealing with them, like, I'm dealing with him when I launched my cigar. Hot Ticket Podcast, if you want to know what I'm talking about. And he was dealing with them at the time, and he was just like, yeah, man, it's a total shit show.

So what they did, I mean, they just dumped a bunch of money on their show booth. They dumped a bunch of money here, a bunch of money. And it's just like, I mean, look, and this is going to be pretty shitty, but we're going to take it there. If Chris Brown could beat the shit out of Rihanna and make a comeback, that's kind of what to compare it to.

These people beat the shit out of these people. I mean, no, they bounced back much faster than I anticipated, but kudos to him and this brand. I mean, not really kudos, but geez, you did it. You're still here.

Congratulations. You're still, I guess, relevant to some degree, but I've never. Have you smoked it? Have you smoked it?

Not that cigar. I've had Villager cigars. Right. I don't think I've ever had a Villager cigar.

I mean, I like to think that we smoke a lot of cigars, you know? I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I smoke a fuck of cigars.

We're probably smoking the same five, though. I mean, that happens, but like, I'll always try new shit. Like, I just smoked a Hedley Grange Black Lab, surprisingly good. Like, totally caught me off guard.

" You know, but no one's, CA ain't gonna talk about that shit, you know? No. All right. All right, next.

I'll still probably figure out how to screw that up. Oh, he's definitely gonna screw that up. Oh yeah, he can't say that, he can't say that one. Yeah.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Just say it fast. Pull the band-aid off.

Pull the band-aid off. This is the best podcast of all time. Tatooji! Whoa!

Tatooji! I don't know! Yes! I love the Tatoojis.

That almost felt on purpose. But you look at his face, and that was not on purpose. was not on purpose. Tatuji.

That's all I'm going to call it for now on. Tatuji. Alright, next word. Fausto.

Yes. FT 153 Toro. Okay. I got the last half of that though.

Yeah, letters. Dang it. So that's tatuaje. Fausto.

Tatuaje means tattoo. Right. So you were kind of close. I was close too with the tattoo heat.

Not even close. I have had the cigar, it is, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a P. Johnson. Yeah.

I mean, I like that cigar. Sure. I've had it. Top 25.

Right. It's a reasonably priced, right? Eight, nine bucks, I think. Yeah.

Last time I checked. Yeah, he fit. Good cigar. Yeah.

I mean, he's, I guess he's a little more mainstream. I don't know. It's a... Yeah, it's funny when people kind of put, you know, put Tatuaje still on the boutique side.

I'm like, I don't know if they're there yet, you know? Like, I mean, anymore. Right. I don't know if they're there anymore.

It's hard to come into a store that doesn't have Tatuaja. Right. Well, we don't have a lot of it, to be honest. But you have it, you know what I mean?

Yeah, it does exist. That's 'cause Pete Hernandez won't go away. Can't wait to get him on the podcast. Oh, we haven't done Pete.

We have to get him loaded, though. This next cigar is the one that's like, you can't have this cigar in a blind taste test. Yeah, it's like the number one cigar of the Andalusian Bowl. You know what that is.

And there's some Romas that are like that, too. Like, you can't do the HN. Oh, okay, Lacopan. There's no way.

That's clearly... You take the band off, it's... It's still the same as good. Sorry.

I know you're anxious, number 13. Oh, no, it's all... You know what? La Fleur, Dominicana, double, Ligario, Chiselle.

Pretty good. Pretty good. The last word is English. Chiselle.

Chiselle. I felt like it was... He tried to say it with a flair. Chiselle.

Everything he got is Ligero. So G's in Spanish are H's, pronounced like H's. I mean, you fell apart at the end, but it was solid. I felt like it was a trap, though, with how easy it was.

There had to be something coming up. There's no trap. There's no trap, you're just that dumb. I love you, bro.

You're huge, you're gonna beat the shit out of me. That doesn't change the fact that you're dumb. No matter how hard you punch me in the face, you beat the shit out of me. It's tough, if you don't know the language.

Okay, so LFD? We have a box of these at HQ. Right. Right?

So that says a lot. Yeah, that's a great cigar. It is a great cigar. It is.

I've had that one. It's a good cigar. And that definitely qualifies in the top 25. Sure, especially since right now we only have about two cigars that we've voted yet.

We have a lot of room to have. Yeah, so I think we have three. Don't read ahead, Jay. Don't read ahead.

I'm playing ahead. No, read ahead. Yeah, no, you know. Because I want to make fun of him when he does read ahead and still gets it rough.

The next one doesn't count, though. No, I like the number two. That's probably my favorite one on the list, the number 12, the Punch After Dinner. Yeah.

I have not had it. But it's pronounced Poonach. Oh, is it? It's the pooch.

No, it's the punch. Punch After Dinner. Haven't had it. Yeah, me neither.

Nope. A little too mainstream. I kind of know my opinion on the company is already kind of formulated, right? So it's kind of hard to be like, "Oh, yeah, this punch is amazing.

" It's what it is. They do have those big punch... I was going to say, I like the little guys. Which is nice.

The guys, those are pretty good. They used to have Jack Taranio too, right? As the same company? General?

I think so. I don't fucking know. Dude, what you did with those Taranios, that was fucking baller, bro. Hey, that was a good note.

That was fucking baller. It's a brutally honest type of guy, you know? Is what it is. No Jack, no Taranio sampler.

There's a guy, Jack Taranio, who used to work for Taranio Cigars. He got let go last week, so Mikey's cleared out all the Taranio cigars. No cigars. Oh, wow.

No Jack, no Taranya. At the end of the day, like, I wasn't even like a, I wasn't doing it out of anger. I was doing it out of like, these cigars aren't going to sell without Jack. Right, right, right.

Right? So it's a smart business move to clear it out and get the shelf space. Plus, it's a matter of time before Jack hits me up with some new shit that he's going to be repping, so. It was a good business move after the bad business move of bringing him in the first place.

The guy doesn't go away. No, okay. I mean, I'm still sitting on Naya's, for fuck's sake. Pretty much, you know, Jack is just a nice guy, too.

guy too he really is you just do it i'll do anything but i do that guy he's a he's a solid guy okay never had it next all right number 11 the the quiet diorce number 54 i'm gonna give him that because i i think like yeah i probably fucked that one yeah that kind of qualifies i guess that's a cuban cigar i've never had yep never had it nope never even seen it before this is awesome why are we in the cigar industry I feel like we don't know anything I'm questioning my life as a whole so go ahead we can just keep going keep going number 10 is the Monte Cristo Nicaragua series Roberto it's an AJ cigar I mean it's it sucks Sorry, I wasn't impressed with it. It's just kind of one-dimensional and, you know, it doesn't, for me, it doesn't qualify on the top 25. It's a great beginner cigar. Not the price though.

It's like, as we've kind of gotten a little deeper into this. I didn't know it was $12. It's Monte Cristo. Anything, you know, I didn't, I didn't like it.

Sorry, wasn't a fan. Okay. I think that's a good starter cigar. What are they going to do, not send me Monte Cristos?

I'm sorry, I didn't like the cigar. All right, Jake, next. See, I like this last nine. These are getting a little easier as we go.

A little more mainstream. Damn it. Get the hell in. Go.

All right, number nine is the Alec Bradley, Black Market, Estelle Torpedo. How'd that even get on the list? Oh, there's a letter at the end there. Come on.

Estelle. Estelle. Estelle. Oh, I didn't see the little...

It's an I. There's a little... No, there's a little... It's an L-I.

L-I. Oh. There was just nothing else to be funny about. I have not done that.

Uh, no. Yeah? No. Not for me, not top 25?

No. No, I've had it, but it shouldn't be on the top 25. He's bringing his kids into the fold now. They're doing events.

Yeah? Alec and Bradley. Well, I would have done that shit when they were five. I mean, fuck it.

Wow. Like, this is Alec. He smokes. Yeah.

Prince Huttles. You know? It is what it is. Those aren't box press.

Those are diamond-shaped cigars. No, you just turn them sideways. I'm just glad that those AJ ovals, like, that is amazing. The San Lanzanos?

Regardless of the cigar, I just mean that shape. Yeah. I love that shape. I wish we could do something like that.

It's not easy to do. No. I wish more cigars were like that, though. And I wish it wasn't a CI exclusive.

No. It wasn't, but it was. No, it wasn't. Now it is, yeah.

Alright, next. AJ has awesome tobacco. And AJ makes some really good cigars. I mean, the new New Wave was really, really good.

The new one? He made a Cameroon, New Way, Cameroon, New World, New World, New World, I'm like, New Way, I'm like, I don't know, I think at the end of this, I'm just gonna stroke out, I don't know, I'm sorry, I'm just gonna have a stroke, like die, you and I stroopin' a long fucking week, long week, yeah, Christmas, sorry, I've been on vacation all week, yeah, that's awesome, alright, Jake, alright, number, what number is that, number 8, Olivia Siri 5, Melania Churchill, Olivia, try it again, I'm gonna do what I do with my kids. Just try it again. Let's look at it one more time.

Go ahead. Slowly, slowly, read it again, that first word. Go ahead. Olivia?

Nope. One more time. There's no I at the end of it. Oh, there isn't.

No. That is... Oliva. Oliva.

The Oliva. The Oliva City of it. A lot of people call it that, though. Yeah.

I haven't had it in a Churchill, but I do like the V. Yeah. That's a good cigar. Do sizes make that big a difference with the flavor of the cigar?

Sure. But you've got to think about it now. You get more tobacco, certain kinds. Yeah, I mean, but, like, if it's blended right, it shouldn't.

I think the ring gauge makes a little bit more. Yeah, that way, because then you get more. Yeah, more oxygen. Right.

A lot of people don't realize that. Like, if you got a newer smoker, I would give them a little bigger cigar, because you get more air. To your tobacco mix. Right.

A 50 is a smaller-ish ring gauge. Right. Well, I have a comment about that, but I'll wait until we get to a specific one on this. this.

Okay. Top 25. Okay. And I'll give you my opinion.

It's okay. Thank you, boss. Are you falling asleep? Fuck no.

I told you. Are we boring you? Stroke out. Are we boring you over there?

It's not exciting. I mean, you fucking bore me. Can you butcher the next one for Michael so he gets a little wound up, please? Please.

Give me. Give me another Olivia. A Joya. There's another Joya.

Do you want me to throw that first word and try to say it as a word to make you feel a little better? Yes. The Jiffer. The Jiffer.

Lunatic Habano. Short Robusto. Robusto. Robusto.

Never had it. Never fucking had it. I mean, we sell a lot of lunatics. I've had it, but I don't remember it all.

It's a good value cigar, you know, as far as blend and price point. You've had it? You've had it, you said? Not that one.

No, I have. I don't remember. I smoke so much, I just don't. A lot of them don't just stick out.

Okay. All right. Number six on the list is the Arturo, Futin, Hemingway, Work of Art. Yes!

The Futin. The Futin. That is the Arturo Fuente, Hemingway, Work of Art. I like that Danny does the phonetic spelling, or like the correct pronunciation.

The Fuente. Yeah, he's like Arturo Fuente, Arturo Fuente. Okay, so. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Arturo Fuente, period, because I grew up in St.

Pete, Tampa, right, so. They got a lot of great sticks. Yeah, this is one of them. I do like this cigar.

For sure. Top 25? Sure, not this close to the top of the list. But definitely you could argue some Puente cigars for sure on the list as well as that one.

Certainly, yes. Mike's got a lot of opinions. Yes, certainly. You really kind of dominated over him, which I like.

Oh, yeah. You didn't know that was totally going to happen. Bring anybody in here. The whole show is his idea.

I don't know, we throw Jack Tarano in here, it's pretty interesting. I'll just turn on two mics and we'll just step out and go grab some lunch or something. There you go. How'd it go?

Fuck your train! Okay. Can't run an hour. This is where we would normally break for part two.

Nice. We'll have to wait till the end of this segment. We'll see. We'll see where you lie.

So what happens after this? Oh, we got a lot to go. All right, number five is H. Utman, Sir Winston.

Cuban? It's Cuban. It's Cuban. I've, I've had the H Upman, again, not in this, the Tola though, another semi-47, what's that?

That's a, that's a, no, that's a Churchill-ish. Yeah. Um, again, it's kind of one, the ones I've had, I can't remember having a, a plugged H Upman. I actually smoked one this weekend.

So, but like, here's the thing. I actually have one of these in my, in my thing out there, but it's not the Churchill. So these are, you know, I mean, again, alright, so these cigars are Cuban. Like you're gonna go after this shit?

And how much is that cigar retail? It's cheap. No, it isn't. Fuck no, it isn't.

32 pounds. Almost 33 pounds. So that's, uh, 50 bucks. Yeah.

Shit, man. Nah, I'm out. Okay, next. Number four, the Padrón Family Reserve, number 44.

Okay, the natural. In the natural, though, yeah. He said Padrón, right? No, he said Padrón, right?

Yeah, congrats. That's because we talked about it before. No, these are Now you just fucked it up with that little comment. You were, you, you got the, give me the kudos back, that's Patron, with a T.

This is Patron. Oh, right. Oh, yeah. Just kidding.

Now you just fucked it up. That's what I was reading. " It's a Mexican, it's a Mexican Cuban. You know who the "he" is in that Patron?

You know who owns Patron? No. Fucking, uh, Paul. I know he's worth a lot of money.

The hair guy. Um, Paul Mitchell. Paul Mitchell? No shit, really.

Paul Mitchell started Patron. Really? Baller. Shit.

That's ridiculous. And that's why Karl Malone should have named his fucking cigars Karl Malone. He should have just had a dope ass cigar, and then people find out later that Karl Malone owns this shit. By the way, it told him to his face.

Really? Did he ask him what was with the basketball on the logo, too? No, because I know what's up in the basketball, because he thinks that's all people give a shit about. Cigar people don't give a fuck about that.

Make a good cigar. True story. I did tell him at the show, though. " Anyway, let's go.

Alright, so Padrón 44. I mean, for me, in a natural, that's an amazing cigar. I really like that cigar. Yeah, I don't even know what the price point is, but yes, it's worth it.

It's probably $25, $30. It's $32, $10. Okay. That's a weird number, but yeah, it's a dope cigar.

I love Padrón. Yeah. Whatever it is. I mean, my favorite is probably the 85 Maduro.

I just really dig that stick. The 50th Maduro is pretty good, too, as far as accessibility, other than that. Other than that Millennium. Which is ridiculous.

Which is not accessible. Which is not accessible. Okay, so, how are we doing? Where are we at?

Like four? Number three. So we're at top three, and so far we think that four could make the list. Oh yeah, and I'd put four at number four.

Yeah, for sure. Alright, number three is the wise man, Maduro Robosto. Okay. Here we go.

Here we go. You sell these, right? I do. All right, so here we go.

And Nick is awesome, in my opinion. He's a hell of a blender, and he's working his way as far as the sales aspect and kind of learning that whole part of the business, because he's never done that before. Wise Man Maduro, I thought it was a stellar cigar. Now, in my opinion, the Churchill is the best in that cigar.

I don't know why. It just tastes better. So, Robusto is kind of your easy go-to shape and size as far as your regular consumer, but the better cigar is a Churchill. For sure.

I haven't had a Churchill. It's fucking amazing. I've had it in a couple of different sizes. I think they make a bigger like Toro.

Yeah, like Toro Huaco. Something like that, yeah. That one's... That's pretty good.

It was decent, yeah. It has a 95 rating though. Yeah. And, you know, I don't...

Has he spent money with CA? I don't know. Well, maybe, I don't know. I don't think he does.

I don't read the… I get the magazine. I don't… I don't… If we get them, if they show up here, we throw them away. Really? Yeah.

You don't even just… for your guys to read? No, because here's the thing. Like, I'm not gonna… Why would I put that in my store so that people can say, "Hey, I really… this ad looks good. " So then I have to buy that cigar.

You can't just buy one box. You gotta buy three different facings, back it up by one, Plus whatever other bullshit you got to get, right? " "Oh, cool. Cool story, bro.

Thanks. " So I just don't even waste my time, you know? Sure. So I'd rather just give people my honest opinion on cigars and throw out all the magazines.

All of them. That's right. We used to put magazines out. Yeah.

Even the ones I like, I throw them out now. But you still have subscriptions to them? No, they just show up. I don't pay for that shit.

And just show up. Okay. I get it, though. That makes sense.

Like, why would I, you know, why would I subject myself to that? Well, you can just tell these people no. Like, no, I'm not gonna bring that in. Yeah, so I look like a complete asshole.

I mean, I could break it down, like, so, I mean, the hard part is there, like, if you can have an open conversation with somebody and they respect your opinion, yeah, no problem. The problem is that that doesn't happen all the time. Like, oh, fuck that guy. I want to hear your name.

I want to hear your name. Who did it? Who did it, Mike? I mean, dude, I've been in the game for eight years, I mean, there's more than one person that's like, you know, so, no.

All right, here we go. All right, number two, my father-in-law, oh, shit. Nope, that's not how he says it. Opulencia Toro?

Sure, good job. Opulencia. Have I had this cigar? I don't think so.

Me neither. I did the... No. Why do I want to say The Judge?

Is it? No, it's the... The Judge? No.

They have The Judge? Is it The Judge? That? That's why it came out last year.

That's why it came out last year. The band looks familiar. No, I have not had the score. Are you talking about, like, the exclusive one and the nice casing or whatever?

Yeah, yeah. The limited edition? My Father's limited edition? Yeah.

I haven't had the score. So, like, you know, I mean... Yeah, me neither. San Andreas?

You know? We used to have a good broker that came up here all the time. he'd be great on the show, too. I'll just leave it at that.

I mean, I liked that guy. I did, too. Joaquin was badass. I really liked him.

He's a nice guy. Joaquin. Joaquin. Maximum accessory man, is what I like to call him.

What? Yeah, everything. He's got fucking... Everything.

Cowboy boots, cowboy hat. Bracelet rings, necklace, sunglasses. All of it. A horse.

Maximum accessories. Cadillac with the big horns on the front. Everything. No.

That's a lot of miles on that caddy. All right. All right. The number one.

Here we go. Even though everyone knows the music, Dad? No, I'm not allowed. Everyone already knows.

I can't wait to hear you say it, though. Why? Do it. Do it if you're bad.

Come on. Go ahead. The number one, the EP Carleo, Encore Majestic. Carlito.

Almost. So everyone says EP Carillo. Yeah. In Spanish it's EP Carillo.

So, let me tell you this. So, I was on, you know, my job. I was on the phone with a retailer. I was like, man, do you know I had those in my bargain bin?

And he goes, some guy came in and asked if we had them. I said, yeah, they're over here. He had them for like three, four bucks a stick. The guy's like, I'll take, you know, whatever you got in there.

He's like, all right, random. That's weird. That's cool. And another guy comes in and asks about them.

Another guy comes in. He's like, it was about two hours later, he saw the list. And he was like, oh, shit. So he looks at his computer and he had ten boxes.

Those now went from the bargain bin to the middle of the damn humidor. Nice and shiny. So, I mean, when we talk about, you know, what the list does. Right.

I mean, it can literally take a cigar from the bargain bin to the middle of the damn humidor. I mean, Skip, right there, he's made posts about it, it's like, time to dust off those cigars from the bargain bin. And, you know, put 'em at the, put 'em front and center in the humidor. He's a good guy, too, though, this guy.

Well, Ernie? Ernie. Yeah, I mean, you know, he's one of Skip's all-time mentors and, you know, loves the dude, and, you know, everybody speaks really, really highly of him, as far as an individual, especially in the industry. I mean, I thought the La Historia was good.

I don't think I've ever had that particular cigar. I for sure haven't. so there's that so i mean i just get so many free roma crafts right so it's it's again like that you know as crazy as it sounds i mean you know well it's part of the problem because around the industry we all have access to a different cigar that we yeah this is just not a cigar i actually come across right as obviously a lot of people haven't or they may have seen it just walk past it right so right not anymore i just hope we can i just hope this year i mean it could fuck He's going to pick you up, though, getting this number one, right? Like, if he, if he was just like, ah, we're not going to make it, and all of a sudden, like, like, oh shit.

Oh, we're number one. And then you can't rush it, right? So, like, if you're... Well, you still can't find the bulls.

Right. They're just starting to pop around. They're just starting to come back out. Hey, it's too late now.

Yeah, I mean, they'll still sell. Well, they'll sell, but it's not the rush is it when it came out. Well, the bigger difference there is, like, the Andalusian bull stands out because it's kind of unique in its size. That's true, yeah.

So like... And LFD had already had supply issues, period. Right, yeah. So, you know, when that cigar pops up, I think that that cigar will still move.

The problem with the EP Carrillo cigar is that I don't know what stands out about it, right? So like, it'll obviously, you'll be able to, I mean, if you had 500 boxes, you'd sell them all in a day, but... Right. But when he comes back, nobody's going to remember.

I mean, the Bull had the Big Green Band and all that stuff. Right. After a year of it, when they move on to the next top 25, I mean, look at the Prince Otto. The Prince Otto was the number one cigar.

How's that doing? I mean, I don't even... I'm not trying to bash anybody. Not so much.

Like, I don't hear about it anymore. Yeah. You know? I don't hear about anything Alec Bradley.

Except the black market, apparently. Made the list. So... Alright gang, we're going to stop part one right there.

Stay tuned next week for part two of Danny Vasquez from Romacraft. Thanks for listening. This is the operator with a collect ball from Emma Retail. To accept the charges, press one, now.

I know. I know. Some places we can go. Some places we can go.

I know. I know. I know. Some places we can go.

Some places we can go. Do you want to ride? I'm out. Alright, this is episode 50, so there's just two episodes left to the big anniversary show, and this week's hashtag is Roma.

Hashtag R-O-M-A.

Show Notes

Mikey's wish list is getting filled early!  First episode of 2019 and one of his "wanted" guest has arrived Mr. Danny Vazquez!

We skip over all the usual BS about his origins and jump right in to the mix!

Top 25 of 2018 with Jake Palmer and our usual Hustler Spin makes for a great show!

Lets us know how you like or dislike the new poster and as always we welcome your comments on our FB page A Cigar Hustlers Podcast.  You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike @FCC_Mike.

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