Episode 51 Part 2 Danny Vazquez Roma Craft Tobacco
Episode Summary
Part two of the Cigar Hustler's Podcast sit-down with Danny Vazquez of RoMa Craft Tobac picks up with the cigar the hosts had been texting about all week: Danny's own barber pole project, the Wojtek (nicknamed the "war bear"), a Habano/Mexican San Andrés double-wrapper blend he developed and smuggled stateside — only to have Skip Martin confiscate a chunk of them until he could smoke one himself. Danny explains the thinking behind it (San Andrés dominates, so pairing it with Ecuadorian Habano in a barber pole gives complexity without copying an existing RoMa line), why Connecticut broadleaf supply pushed him toward something different, and why the project may or may not ever reach production given that the factory is already maxed out.
From there the conversation goes inside the company: the value of RoMa Craft actually owning its factory and the quality control that comes with it, Danny's humbling tobacco school experience (identifying leaves by sight, burn, smell and taste in Wizzolito-sized puros before he "quit" on day three), white-knuckle rides on the Managua–Estelí highway with Skip driving, and linea continua traffic tickets. He also talks about the hire of John "Frenchie" D'Oliver, how the two will split accounts, why it's growth rather than competition, and RoMa's phone-based sales approach built on relationships rather than pushing product — plus candid talk about retailers who don't treat their lounge as a business.
The back half is a 2019 release rundown: Fomorian's return, Goodness (a 5x56 box-pressed Ecuador Connecticut take on Revenge), Craft 2019 Lonsdale and a Xikar 10th-anniversary cutter/lighter box exclusive for Riverside, the Don Bosco "reverse Black Irish" for Old Virginia (meaning no Black Irish in 2019), a Tobacology witchcraft re-release, plus new Aquitaine Slobber Knocker and Mastodon, returning Chromatic and Saber Tooth, and why limited editions should drive core-line awareness instead of becoming the business. The episode closes with the show's five questions: Jerry Seinfeld as his dream cigar companion, "stop being a pussy" as the best advice he ever got, Opus X Lost City as his favorite non-RoMa smoke, the Envy perfecto in Brazilian Arapiraca as his RoMa go-to, and how to visit the Austin headquarters.
In This Episode
- 01The Wojtek Barber Pole ProjectDanny breaks down his Habano and Mexican San Andrés barber pole, nicknamed the "war bear," and why it may never reach production.
- 02Blending Constraints and Tobacco SupplyConnecticut broadleaf availability, FDA guidelines, and factory capacity shape what RoMa Craft can actually make.
- 03Owning the FactoryWhy owning the factory gives RoMa Craft quality control most brands in the industry simply don't have.
- 04Tobacco School HumilityDanny recounts identifying individual leaves by look, burn, smell and taste — and tapping out on day three.
- 05Estelí Road Trips with SkipThe two-and-a-half hour Managua to Estelí drive, Skip's driving, and linea continua traffic tickets.
- 06Adding John 'Frenchie' D'OliverHow the new hire splits accounts with Danny, why it's growth not competition, and RoMa's phone-based, relationship-first sales style.
- 07Shop Exclusives and Retailer RelationshipsWhat it really takes to earn a RoMa Craft store exclusive, and why 80% of retailers struggle at the business side.
- 082019 Release RundownFomorian, Goodness, Craft 2019, Don Bosco, Aquitaine Slobber Knocker, Mastodon, Chromatic, Saber Tooth and the missing Black Irish.
- 09The Five QuestionsJerry Seinfeld, "stop being a pussy," Opus X Lost City, the Envy perfecto, and where to find Danny and RoMa HQ in Austin.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
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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 a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, where we take a closer look at the people of the cigar industry, with your host, Mike and Mike. Hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', hustlin', every day 'em, every day 'em, every day 'em, hola.
Okay, everybody, welcome back, and sit down and get ready for part two of Danny Vasquez from Roma Craft Tobacco. About cigars that we like, though, this cigar we're smoking. This cigar is... Did I not text the shit out of you about this cigar?
You did, you did, you did. And we busted them out for you for this special occasion, since you drove all the way over here, you know... I drove over here just getting another one. And I hope it was well worth it for you, you know?
I don't know, it was three hours. No, I'm just kidding. I think it was definitely well worth it. You better give an extra one to take with him to drive back to.
Actually, no, I haven't. But no, dude, this is a... It sucks to talk about a cigar that may or may not come to fruition. Right.
It's true. So do you not want to talk about it? No, let's talk about it. Is there a chance it might not go out?
Of course. I mean, the fact of the matter is that the factory is always at capacity. Right. So the difficulty is, for one, the availability of the tobacco, of the tobacco and for two the time to produce it so you got to make sure that all those things work out so that it happens so I mean I do we have to go and talk and hopefully it can be slated what's funny we haven't said what we're smoking so people are okay well what the fuck yeah so it's not such it it's the votech votech that's the easiest white boy how do you say how would you say it though do it with the Polish accent I mean that's pretty I'm white and American So, I know I'm Polish, but it's still, like, it's like Wojtek is the way to say it.
Is it gonna be like, um, Edward Weinstein, that nobody calls it that? Like, you gotta go with the wise man? Because everybody's like, you guys don't want to pronounce it, they're gonna call it the bear? I mean, kinda like the nickname's already the war bear, right?
Because that's what it's named after. The bear claw didn't stick? No. No.
It's not a fuckin' cake. Right? I wouldn't mind a bear claw right now. Right, bear claw doesn't sound good.
But no, this is – so, I mean, you don't want to – do you want to talk about – No, we can talk about it. I mean, it was pretty fire. I've got to be honest. So, like, it has a Mexican – it's a full leaf of San Andreas on the bottom, right?
So the thing with San Andreas is, like we were just saying, it's pretty – it will stand the fuck out. Right. It can dominate. So with this – and what is it, Habano?
Yep, Ecuador and Habano. It changes – you know, it gives you that complexity. And I do not nub cigars. Right.
I get ADD, especially if I smoked a bunch. If it's getting hot, if I've had to relight it a bunch of times, I'm just like, give me another cigar, because we don't pay for cigars anymore. So, but this one I fucking like nubbed, and I'm like, dude, I can't believe I'm still smoking a cigar. A lot of, you know, a lot has to do with, you know, the construction is pretty dope.
I mean, it's not hot. I'm all the way to begin. Who you work with makes a huge difference. But that said, this was your idea?
Yeah. It was, um, it was my thought, you know, and here's how it kind of came to fruition. I'm like, okay, well, Broadleaf is going to be an issue moving forward for the year. I mean, hopefully, that'll be kind of met and we won't have an issue with our production, right?
Pennsylvania Broadleaf? No, Connecticut. You use Connecticut? Connecticut in the, yeah, and our Broadleaf is Connecticut.
All right. Matilda's, for Fable Cigars, does Pennsylvania. Oh, that's who it is. So, it's like, okay, well, I will still, I love creating stuff, obviously.
You know, you have limits as far as, Sizes and you know everything you can do with FDA kind of lurking so you still want to try and play within those guidelines at our factory anyway right other factories don't go right skip plays by the rules so right even if the rules haven't really been determined but that's okay um so I was like okay well what can I do that's different um then you know it's it's hard to deviate from you don't want to do anything that's exactly the same from Roma right so So you need to have your own identity. Of course. So that kind of makes things a little more complicated, right? Because like, it's easy to say, hey, I want a Broadleaf Cigar, I want a Habano Cigar, because those are the things I love, I love the Chromag, I love the Octane, right?
Right. So it's like, okay, you know, barber poles are obviously popular in Roma, they're limited editions, and you know, our SBC has obviously done very well. So it's like, okay, well, if I want to do a barber pole, it needs to be something that hasn't been done yet in Roma. So I'm like, OK, so what two rappers can I do that hasn't really been created?
And I'm like, OK, well, Habano and San Andreas would probably be fucking money. And it hasn't been done yet. So I produced it, I tried to get it here, my mule got shut down, and Skip's like, uh-uh. He did a post, then he says, nobody smokes it until I get to smoke it.
I'm like, fuck. So then I didn't know if they'd ever make it, and then I got the approval they were going to Austin. Right. And then it just kind of blew up from there.
The thing, I didn't even know about it. I opened the box and they're there. I'm like, what the fuck is this? Right.
'Cause I saw the band sticks out and then I was like, I took a double take at the rapper. I'm like, so immediately I'm like, bro, what's this? Or interesting or something. I said, um, and you lost 20% of them instantly.
Yeah, that's a, I mean, you know, hey look, at the end of the day. You're lucky it was only 20%. Yeah, I mean, if, look, the fact of the matter is all of it's his, right? So, you know, if you want to say, hey, fuck you, I'm keeping all this shit, I can't really argue with that.
So I'm like, okay, whatever. But he could have easily said, hey, I'm just going to ship you all of them, which would have sucked too, because that means that he didn't like it. Oh, right. You know what I mean?
, so that was enough. I mean, that was, you know, he took time to get the bands put on, right? He put in the effort, so, you know. No, but I don't know.
In a way, I hope it comes out, because I think a lot of people really need to try this. I think it would really boost your brand. Give you a little more exposure. It's always good to come out with something new.
Yeah. It puts new light on you again. For sure. For sure.
Yeah, this hits fire, hopefully. Hopefully it does. I gotta start building up my bank account, hopefully, and, you know. No doubt.
Slate it for production. So, I'm aiming to get down to Nicaragua in January, February. Yeah. Because Skip is gone for half of it in January, so I don't know if that's going to work out, but what I'll probably do is, I've learned that if you just try and kind of go with the flow, like, you figure out when people are arriving, life is a lot easier, because it's still a process, I mean, it's a two and a half hour drive.
Oh, the worst. So, you don't want to, you really don't want to inconvenience anybody, so you do what you can to try and move with it. So I'll figure out when he's flying in, or at least try and get that date, try and jump on the same plane, and then arrive at the same time. The truth is, from Managua to Esteli is three hours, three and a half hours.
Right. If Skip is driving, it is two and a half at most. It's ten minutes. It's ten minutes and your butthole is clenched so tight.
My anxiety shuts me down. I fall asleep. Really? I fall asleep because it's like that, you know, when people get hurt or shot, they pass out because the shock is so, your body's just like, you know, that's what happens.
I just fall asleep because I'm like, hmm, if I'm going to die. I don't want to know about it. That way you won't tense up during the crash. Exactly.
Right. Exactly. And I'm like, oh, we're here, thank God, because. Oh, we made it, look at it.
For fuck's sake. But I mean, because if it was like a straight shot, whatever, but there's bicycles on the side of the road, there's fucking carts being pulled by horses. Horses. He starts to hit the mountains.
I mean, you know. Dude. The road just drops off. And dark.
I mean, it was dark outside. It can be intense, for sure. But. He got pulled over once when we were driving up.
Oh, where? Linea continua. Gets him every time. Didn't let him go.
He didn't slide him none? He didn't have to slide him none? No, he tried. It didn't work.
Really? The guy was like, real deal. The guy was an actual police officer. He was like, doing the right thing.
He's like, no, no, no. I guess that's. That's fine. Good.
Just, you know, move along. Slow the fuck down. Don't break more solid lines. Right.
And then on the way back, I watched Esteban get a ticket for Linea Continuum. Yeah, Esteban's in the wrong shade. Esteban's nice and dark. Oh, you're Dominican?
Hang on a second. We have a special ticket for you. Yeah, I'm gonna take this driver's license, you're gonna go deal with all this bullshit, and yeah, have a nice day. Have fun.
But, yeah. Well, that's cool. You have to get down there. You got to.
I mean, it's your shit, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't have to see. Here's what's awesome about working with Roma, right?
Is that I have trust in the company. So I know that if I say, hey, I want to do this and it's greenlit, it gets done the right fucking way. Whereas a lot of people in this industry don't get that. Like, no, it's more than a lot of people.
It's most like, it's like all of them, right? Exactly. So, I mean, that's huge. That's a really big deal.
That's what a lot of people don't realize, man. You know, and I kind of say it all the time, especially when I'm doing my events and people that never heard of Roma or whatever. It's just like, you know, we own the factory. Right.
And people are like, oh, okay. I'm like, if I can kind of get, if the guy gets it or not, I'm like, most of these guys you see in this human art do not own their own factory. Right. And which means, you know, they have a very small percentage of QC over their cigars over the year where it's getting created.
I mean, you know, you have to sit there and legit make sure that everything's being produced. And that's to the extent that you can understand. Because, you know, I mean, I've seen Esteban look at a leaf and I'm like, wow, that leaf looks pretty good. And he's like, that's shit.
I'm like, okay. Well, you were there for my tobacco school, which beat the shit out of me. You would think smoking cigars nice and easy, man. Nope.
Oh, that was terrible. Like, it was great the first day. The third day, I quit. It was just, I mean, it was just pretty much every layer of the cigar, and every different leaf that they use, rolled up in a little, small little puro, about the size of a Wizzolito, actually the exact same size of a Wizzolito, and then, you know, but you would look at the leaf, and try to identify it just by look, and then just by burn, and then smell, and then you get to smoke a cigar, you know, okay, well, how does it stand out, and this is on top of us smoking cigars the entire day, and I would, It's just like, yeah, I can't do it.
I quit. Yeah. I got an F. Yeah, it's fine.
Just give me the F. I mean, that's when you get real cigar nerdy. It's like, okay, cool. You know this cigar and this cigar and this cigar because of what they told you.
Right. But now, do you know that cigar because of the, you know, if I took the band off and cut it and lit it for you and say, here it go, could you tell me what it is and what the band is or what the blend is or what you're smoking? Probably not. Yeah.
What flavors of leaf you get. Yeah, and it just humbles you. And honestly, I think that's kind of the idea, too. You know, no one's ever going to go and do that shit for the first time and nail it.
Right. I don't give a fuck who you are. Right. And that was interesting.
That's true. So, I mean, that was kind of, you know, opening up the beginning of my Roma stuff. Even though I, you know, I'm real humble about my cigar background, right? I don't I don't think I know anything right and that just you know really reinforce that just to confirm it's confirmed yeah I don't know anything you'd fucking be lost without us all right thanks a lot right it's like okay thanks appreciate that I can't believe I've been here over a year though yeah man it's been pretty great yeah over a year time flies too we killed it this year it was real fun we got a new guy coming next week that was the next thing to talk about.
Was it? Yeah. You see how we do this. That's nice.
That's a little for a life. The Frenchie acquisition. Where does the Frenchie come from, though? You know, I don't know.
I think that he's French, and people just said it to make fun of him, and then it just kind of stuck. And he's like, whatever, fuck you. And that was when he was skinny, and now he's big. He's massive.
Yeah. He's a big dude. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm excited to have him on.
And for people wondering, so him and I are essentially We're basically going to have the same job. We're going to kind of divide up the accounts. So he's not working for me. So is it like who does better type thing?
Like, is there like a little friendly competition? No, I mean, we both can score 100%, right? So I mean, we can both max out our, you know, so we do, we have bonuses throughout the year, and then an annual bonus at the end, and it's going to be based on growth of the accounts that we get, It's kind of like a regular rep, except for we get, you know, salary, we're not on the road. Right.
I think there's going to be a bit of a transition with him. One, you know, he's really good local and in your face. Right. 9% over the phone.
Right. So, being able to extract what you need, the information you need from the retailers, especially when they don't want to give it to you, they don't want, they don't necessarily want to spend a ton of money. Right. That's tough.
Yeah. So, you know, we've positioned ourselves where it's a relationship. You know, I need to build that relationship so when you trust me, then I'm not trying to screw you out of stuff. Right.
You know, thinking, hey, you should get some of this just because, you know, we're having a hard time selling it, quote unquote. You know, like, that's just not really our thing. I'm trying to help you not miss sales cycles. Right.
And you've said it a bunch of times, like 80% of these retailers are not very good at their job. No. So, and whether it's because they got into the cigar, you know, cigar lounge business because they thought you were just going to smoke cigars all day. Right.
You know, there's a whole other side of this. There's the passion side, which is really fun, and it's sexy on Instagram, and it's real cool. But, dude, it's a lot of work. It's work.
And if this is your business, this is your livelihood, fucking do it. Right. You could easily do it wrong, and you could be sitting on a bunch of cigars and then, you know, you're flat out broke, you gotta pay the electric bill. Or you're, you know, selling these to pay this guy over here, you're gonna, you're screwing yourself at some point, right?
Right, when you start doing net 30s and shit like that in different terms. So, you know, 2019 is gonna be, it's gonna be interesting, it's gonna be fun, I mean, the first time Aroma's had this many employees, it's gonna have two guys that aren't part of the family. There's gotta be like a friendly competition you guys can do though, if the sales are like kind of marked, like if you're close to the equivalent, there's gotta be something, I mean it doesn't have to be like a cash or anything like that, but just something fucking ridiculous. Bragging rights.
Yeah, whatever, the other person got to wear a chicken costume or some shit, I mean so like, I know, his name is John D. Oliver, right? Yeah, it's D. Oliver, too.
I call him D. Oliver, I don't give a shit. Yeah, I thought it was middle name. I thought he had, at first, like, middle name was D, but it's D-O-L-E.
And he doesn't listen to podcasts, so we can make fun of him. Yeah, so that's fine. He might now, because it's not. He's like, son of a bitch.
Yeah. So he started off as a customer of ours on Cigar Hustler. Okay. And then, you know, obviously made it into Zykar, you know, met him in person, just kind of became friends.
Right. I mean, he's a good guy. So I think, you know, and you guys definitely have different qualities, so I think that that'll kind of play nicely. I think that's super important, yeah.
Yeah, if it was just another me, that would be, that would be. Doesn't make sense. Yeah, especially when there's no other me. Yeah.
No, but he was one of the first guys I kind of met, like when I interviewed, I met Mike in Oklahoma, and we did an event, and John was there. And maybe not at the time, and maybe he'll, maybe he'll tell me one day, but I know he really would have loved to have been working for Romacraft. Of course. Instead of Zykar.
Now, I didn't know this shit until way later. Right. So, you know, there could have been that animosity, which has happened with other reps. You know, there's been some animosity that I'm the guy that Roma picked.
Who the fuck is this guy? Right. But, you know, he was cool about it. And, you know, when they kind of brought him up, I'm like, oh, you know, at least he's one of the guys that I get along with.
Yeah, but, like, I think, I mean, you know, in reality, the time wasn't right at that time because he was already involved with Zikar, right? So I don't think that he would have had, like, he's not that type of guy, you know, I've never gotten that from him. Likewise, same, yeah. " For sure.
" Like, the biggest thing is like, you know, can I get along with this guy at work all day, every day? He's going to be sitting across from me. Yeah. Right.
So with that, any help, like, there's a competition friendly, but there's, like, I need to help this guy become so comfortable and good at it so that we can, you know, help each other. Like, there's no, I'm not in any fear of losing my job. No. Right?
It's not like, well, let's see how this guy does. No, it's a growth thing. Oh, yeah. And, you know, we need to get, I always say it, you know, Roman likes to get deeper than wider.
He's deeper than whiter. Right. Which is my motto for a long time since I was . So, you know, I'm pretty excited to see, you know, learning from him because he obviously, you know, he's been doing it a lot longer than I have.
Right. A different road experience. Much different. He's really into a lot of the accounts in Texas, so I'm sure he's going to be handling most of those in whatever his territory was.
" You know, he has really, really, really good relationships with a lot of guys. Do you think he was just hired because it's just cheaper that way as far as getting Rosales a personal trainer? Well, I wouldn't say cheaper because we are paying him. Yeah, but it's a business right at that point.
You don't have to write on a personal level. It's like, you know, this guy, food regimen the whole gamut. No, I think it was a perfect fit. I mean, fuck, I mean, he was a, he's been a Roma rep for a long time.
Yeah, like, since day one. Yeah, so it was just kind of, it just fit in perfect. And then his fiance being a rep. She's cool too, I met her at the show last year.
Yeah. Just them being able to, you know, you just get it now, you know, like, she knows the lifestyle. She ran a retail shop first, right? For a little bit, yeah, I called in Bahia Lourdes down in Houston.
Right. And now she's a Rocky rep. Oh shit, so she must be really excited about the 15, Tubo. Oh, right.
In the top 25. Hey, hey. No, but she's really cool. I've only met her a couple times.
Yeah, me too. But just at the show. Real quick. Yeah, really at the show was the first time I met her.
This year. I mean, you can kind of surmise somebody within the first five minutes of you meeting them. I mean, more often than not, you're at the show, and you can see if somebody's cool, and you can kind of bullshit with them, or if they're like, I'm an awesome fucking retailer, fuck you, this is what I want, you're like, get me the fuck away from this guy right now. Yeah, thankfully we have the ability to be like, just turn those people away.
I mean, you were there, we turned a lot of people away at the show. Yeah. Sometimes it's not because that's just the reason it was just not a right fit, you know? And, you know, I'm gonna, if I sign this account, and you're already a pain in the ass, you're going to continue to be a pain in the ass, and when, if a retail shop has the opinion or the outlook of like, you know, we're, hey, I'm going to do you a favor and bring RoMa Craft in, like, bro, it's not going to work, because you're going to have that same mentality for however long you're going to be in an account, and I just don't want to, I just don't want to.
wants to deal with that nobody yeah and um and whatever but it's gonna be fun for sure um and he can get like heavy boxes down from the top of the shelves jeez yeah i my plan is to not have to do any of it i'm not gonna lift anything oh some of those boxes weigh as much as i do you are delegated john this is why you're here oh you can't do it maybe we need to rethink this ivy take this The shit down. Yeah, it's not going to be me. Ivy works out more than I do, too. But this is cool, man.
I love your shop here. I've never been. Thanks, dude. Yeah.
Just took a couple of threats and you finally, you know. Yeah, no, I did ask on Instagram if you guys were going to ever do it on the phone, and I heard it was no. No, this is good. Well, there's only one more name on your wish list.
No, there's two. Who's that? I'll get them for you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Frenchie? Yeah. I was thinking Frenchie.
I went thinking Skip. Oh, Skip, yeah. The unicorn. The unicorn.
You know what's awesome about Skip is you get them for the events. People really want them for the events, and they're like, fuck, why do we have them here? Yeah, but that's funny. So we did this event in Idaho, right, which is, one, it's cool because you get the draw.
Right. But then I get all the other retailers are like, well, we want to get Skip out here. Like, how did you get Skip to Idaho? And there's like, listen, nobody got Skip anywhere.
Skip decided he would go to Idaho. So, if you want Skip at an event, you gotta work Skip. I have no, you know, no one really has any pull to get Skip anywhere. " But I will say that, Idaho, he stood up in the middle of the store.
" He really got into tobacco. " And it just wasn't the market for deep tobacco conversations. You got any slobber knockers? Yeah.
No. It's like, well, what about femur? Dude, that's like you have an encyclopedia of whatever, and you want to ask about femur. Right.
You still have one on the shelf? Do you? Not for sale? No, of course not.
You won't sell it, though. No. You've had people ask. I've had people offer me, like, I'll pay you guys like $300 for it.
I'm like, listen, it's not, you know, you know, Roma, like, $300, like, dude, this cigar is worth more to us than $300. Right. So. Skip's not like the other guys, though, when he goes out, he doesn't, like, get seven chops and run around, it's just...
No. Yeah, he's just an In-N-Out. He'll do, like, two, three. Right.
You know. I mean, it's not like, you know, when John Converse was, uh, toting Padrón to every, not Padrón, but, um... Nick? Yeah, to every shop he could get them to.
Perdomo. To every shop he could get them to. Cutting you off. That's right.
That means they don't drink. Right. Right. But, I mean, Roma was set up that way.
I mean, Roma was not set up for Skip to do sales and/or events. Correct. Right. He just has the bigger social media following.
Yeah. Which, Roma has a great social media following. " I mean, trust me, the guy you want is, like, Rosales. Rosales is the guy for the job.
Yeah. So are you going to do, are you going to go out and like do events and shit? Because like you did a little bit of it this year. Yeah.
I mean, I helped out as much, you helped out. I mean, that's another reason why I came. You bailed me out of a couple events this year. Oh, I appreciate that.
So, no, I don't, I don't know. I don't know if it makes sense, you know. Right. Because sometimes, well, you know, it doesn't make sense.
There's a cost, right, to it. So if it's these big markets, like in the Northeast, where, you know, we have a lot of good sales and a lot of great shops and stuff like that, well, that's kind of Rosales' thing, right? But then if it's like Idaho or New Mexico, I don't mind doing it. Like, well, I did an event at Primo, which has been an amazing account this year.
We just signed them at the end, like, as soon as I started, we signed a Primo in Santa Fe, and then they, they blew up this year, and, but that's a, there's nothing else around, right? There's Albuquerque, Monty's, and like, that's it. So it's like, if I don't, if we don't do a great event at one of those two shops, where it makes sense to book the travel, book the- It's gonna be interesting. Oh, dude.
I don't think we'll hear him. Okay. He texted me, he's gotta go. Is that Bud Light?
Yeah. Oh, can we lock him in there? No. No, he's a fireman.
He'll just bust out the door, he doesn't get away. " Right. " So, maybe for some things, but not... Yeah, we'll see.
I mean, it would just have to kind of completely make sense. I mean, but, you know, the other caveat to that is, like, you are a family man, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. That isn't something that was, again, you know, what the requirements are of the job.
It's not necessarily in description. It's like, "Okay, cool. You're on board. " Yeah, yeah.
But, like, you know, those things are also difficult, too, right? Yeah. So, you know, do you want to be on the road at all? Not full-time.
I mean, I had, like, when I shut down my cigar company, which you can hear about on the Hot Ticket Podcast. Hot ticket. Hot ticket. Hot ticket.
I had a bunch of job offers from guys. Right. To even... He's washing his hands, which is nice.
Well, that's... I'm happy about that. Right. But he was nice, he must have just hit the side of the bowl because there was no water noise.
He had to go stealthy. There's a guy here taking a shit while we're on the mic. So... And that was part of it.
Like, I didn't want to... I don't really want to be on the road like that. Right. It's like, like, like Rosales, like that much, no way, right, and this is like working with Roma was like a real kind of love passion thing for the for the industry and for random respect for Roma as a brand, as a as a company, because I left a really great paying job and took a chance with it.
Now this is still a great paying job. Right. But... You still had to move your entire family to Texas.
Right. And what if it didn't work? Right. Like, I did sales for my company the way I wanted to do it, but that doesn't necessarily translate into it working for anyone else.
Yeah. So, you know, you just take that big loop of faith, like this is really what I want to do, and I'm kind of, I was just mentally done with what I was doing. Right. And then once Jesse, my wife, got on board, it was just, you know, she's always supported me with everything.
It's just like, well, fuck it, right? So, right, being on the road is not ideal. Right. You know, that much.
Now, if I travel once a month, once every other month, and it's, you know, two, three days here and there. Right. But again, like the big markets that are going to have all these stores are not necessarily something you would send. You don't send Danny.
I mean, I'd love to do it. You might eventually, though. Right, so like, for instance, and I'm gonna name drop here, sorry if I'm taking any sales away from me. No, man.
No, but like Tobacology, you know, you know, Brett, right? First of all, you can name drop any of them, I don't appreciate it. So Brett, Tobacology, and these guys out in Virginia, Maryland, where I'm from, that carried my brand that I'm really good friends with, but are really great Roma accounts, I would love to go visit those guys, 'cause I know them, we're friends, and you know that, and I've known them for years, but at the same time, like, that's a really great account. You know, let's get those people that support Roma, obviously they have a lot of customers that support Roma, let's get them Mike Rosales.
Right. But now, it definitely doesn't make sense if I'm going and Mike's going. Right. So now, that's that.
So... Double the airfare? Right, it's just, you know, and... Double hotel rooms?
Yeah. So, whatever, man, but if I got to do it too, then... You will, but, you know, okay. - How close are we?
- We're at an hour 42. - Oh, man. - Are you getting bored? - We're in the two-parter zone.
- I brought it down a little bit. We were funny, but then we took it serious. - Yeah, I started asking some questions. - Serious questions.
I mean, I just wanted to talk about Romacraft a little bit. That way I can write off my gas and I'm going to fill my car. - All right, so speaking of which... - I'm kidding.
- No, you're not. Speaking of which, so what's coming out this year? Because there are a couple questions because there are some store exclusives. There's one for Riverside, two for Old Virginia.
One for Old Virginia. Yeah, but Riverside's got one, right? Right. Oh, the second one, right.
I thought you were saying there was two for Old Virginia. I thought he did, too. Oh, sorry. Yeah, one for Riverside.
Which, by the way, I got an Aquitaine slobber knocker for you. Yeah? I forgot, I just remembered. Nice.
Okay, so we do have Fremorian coming back next month. That is not, but anyway, a lot of people go crazy about it. In February, we have Goodness, which is the 5x56 box press, right? It is the EC version of Revenge.
I have not had it, but I'm excited about it. Revenge is probably my favorite cigar that we make. Unfortunately, it's a limited edition, so I don't like saying that, but it is what it is. The BA is my favorite blend, but this is gonna be really good.
EC is great. I smoke it pretty much every day. It's gotta be a hard cigar to do in a box press. That's why it took so long.
That was kind of what it was, that was Skip's thing. Box pressing EC, being so thin. But as Willy Wonka's factory does, they figured it out, right? So Skip loves it, but we just don't have any yet.
But it'll be here, it'll be here February. So, you know, we'll all start reaching out to retailers about that and, you know, how many they want to get. So hold on for that. Yeah, like you mentioned, Riverside, which is really This is one that a lot of people are asking about.
It is Craft 2019 in the Lonsdale. These are the multicolored cigars, which I haven't had yet either, and then on the flip side, there will be the Xikar Cutter and Lighter in the box, I think they're only doing 250, 350 boxes of those, shop-exclusive, 10-year anniversary for them, and the number one question is, well, how do I get a shop-exclusive? I'm like, well, you be a top ten account for ten years in a row. And come visit the factory two or three times a year.
Come visit us at the show. It isn't just numbers. Yeah, it isn't numbers. It is.
It takes a lot. It's relationship. Relationship. I was going to say it's relationship.
Yeah. Jeff is a really good guy. Jeff has supported Romecraft from the beginning. And not that these other guys aren't great guys and don't support Romecraft, but it's just, I mean, look, it's been ten years for him, and he just got a store exclusive.
So, well, nine years because Rome has been around for nine, We're about to be around for nine. So there's that. The O'Virginia one, that is going to be the Don Bosco, which is the reverse black Irish. That's going to be pretty interesting to see how that kind of goes, because that also takes away the black Irish.
So there, as of right now, and you know, things can change, there is no black Irish for 2019. I'll do the dramatic pause. So that's gonna be really cool to see that come out. I have had that.
It tastes like black Irish. It's just flipped. The Tobacology show exclusive is actually the re-release of the witchcraft that's going to look like this, the craft 2018, but just not Candela. right it's that version so that means that there is no craft like we saw this year in 2019 so that 2000 yeah that 2000 box release it won't happen again this year yeah there's the maston and aquatane is going to be new the aquatane slobber knuckle like i just said is going to be new mastodon and chromatic will come back out saber tooth which is of the barber poles is probably And my favorite will be released again.
So we got a lot of cool stuff coming out, you know, so the Roma, the Roma weasels are gonna go nuts trying to get that stuff. I mean, these retailers are already getting calls and trying to get their hands on that stuff, which is really cool, you know, to be able to, I mean, it's, listen, man, giving a store 100 boxes of, let's say, Black Irish, right? That is not a sale, like, you as a retailer should not be selling those by boxes, well, if you got 100 boxes, fuck it, maybe, right, but if you got 5 boxes, 10 boxes, or if we sold you 100 boxes, like, that is easy money sell, like, that we are, that is a fucking gift, especially since you're going to be keystoning that, right, use that to move all your other stuff, right, so, and bring kind of awareness to all, to the rest of the core line problems. That's exactly what the LEs should be doing.
And unfortunately, you know, there's some brands that are now living on their LEs, and if you're doing thousands and thousands of boxes of LE, it is no longer, to my opinion, an LE. Right. So, you know, look out for that stuff. But I think strategically, we've got them in these right stores that will do just that and, you know, make awareness of the brand and kind of push everything else.
That said, if it pushes everything else, we are maxed out at the factory, right? Right, so we're not, it's not like we're not, it's not like we're gonna have, um, we're gonna be able to sell anymore, we've sold everything, um, so, but again, it's in the hopes of getting deeper with more of the stores, not wider, not wider, yeah, Mike's falling asleep, no doubt, I'm watching the, no, this Mike, sorry, oh, I'm definitely not falling asleep, so, um, I'm just kidding, yeah, so what else are you going to do? That's it, I got nothing, unless you want to give them the five questions. You haven't done that in a while, have you?
Yeah, because we really haven't had. We haven't done interviews. Yeah, and Jack was a repeat, so you're not going to ask him. Yeah.
Actually, all the interviews we've done lately were repeats. Yes, let's do the five questions. All right. It's five questions, you've got to pull them out.
Five questions. Everybody's saying five questions. Okay, first question. What one person, living or dead, would you like to share a cigar with?
My phone is fucking crazy, we're calling from this one number my answers, hold on. Hello? Answer it on the air. Live.
Put them on speaker. Yes. Okay. I'm so hoping they're trying to switch his car insurance.
I don't know, he looks concerned. Yes. Can I give you a call right back? Oh, it's important.
All right, sorry. Thank you. For everybody listening, Michael was just on the phone. It was totally the phone.
Totally nothing. Like, it looked like a weird number, so I thought it was like the police department. Right, right. It was definitely not.
And when you have a brother that has a dope-ass Corvette, it totally could do. Like, so I'm thinking that somebody's dead. Like, I got three back-to-back phone calls. Right, right.
So I'm like, I have to-- You should have told him that on the phone. Like, I just want you to know. Like, bitch, why are you calling-- you're acting like somebody's dead. " And then it kind of parlayed into just bullshit.
" Yeah. What kind of cigar should I get my cousin? Yeah, I'm first with your mother, and I get my cigars from my husband for his birthday. So if she's okay, and you're okay, all right, well then, this can wait.
So please stop calling me. Okay, I'll call you back in five. So anyways. Okay, so anyways, one person, living or dead, would you like to share a cigar with me?
Yeah, you got a little more time for that. No, actually, it's funny, 'cause I do listen to podcasts. So yeah, you should know. Well, my answer is weird, but it's Jerry Seinfeld.
Yeah? Yeah. I think Jerry Seinfeld and I... Yeah, we were doing Jerry Seinfeld voices before you guys came in.
Oh, really? Yeah. That's a weird father-son thing, but hey, whatever unites. No, I think him and I...
No, he gave me that list at the beginning now. He should have been practicing your Spanish. Especially if you're a cigar writer. Well, we're doing Jerry Seinfeld in Spanish.
Oh, is that what it is? I think him and I are very similar. I'm not a big Jerry Seinfeld stand-up fan, because I think a lot of his are like, set up the joke, knock it down, but if you've ever seen writing in cars, getting coffees in cars with comedians, whatever, dude, him and I are very similar in our, like, even though he made a little more money at it than I did, in our comedic styles, like, he's a very kind of angry person on the inside, which just parlays into, like, funny shit, you say. And I identify with him to the T.
Like, that's exactly what the fuck I would have said. Or even if you watched the Jerry Seinfeld show, or what's the other one? Curb Your Enthusiasm? Like, that's exactly how I see shit.
Like, little shit sets me off, right? Like, my kid could maybe total my car, and I'm like, you know, you okay? I get it, that was a stupid thing. But like, my kid putting this much milk back in the fridge would set me the fuck off for the day, right?
Just like, you cannot be that dumb, or not thirsty enough, or give yourself a little more cereal, but you just fuck with me thinking that I have milk in the fridge. I'd lose my mind. But then he's also a big cigar guy. Is he?
Yeah, he's a huge cigar guy. I didn't know that about Jerry. Yeah, yeah. He actually, in some of his episodes, he smokes cigars.
Cigars in cars with coffee? No, it's like, it's on Netflix. Right. Riding in cars.
With coffee. Getting coffee with comedians. Yeah. Riding in cars.
With the occasional cigar. Whatever, it's great. And then he, there's one episode where they hit a lounge with Steve. Harvey?
Steve Harvey. He's a big cigar guy. He's a big cigar guy. Yeah.
Big cigar guy. But yeah, anyway. Nice. Okay, best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
Oh, um, someone, he was my boss, a new boss, but we were friendly, but he just happened to be my boss, told me to stop being a pussy, and it's weird when you got a guy with a mouth like this, right, to think, but he was, at the, what he was talking about was kind of totally right, and he kind of got deep into it, it was just like, listen man, if you got something to say, you know, respectfully, to say, If someone needs to hear what it is, if they need to hear what it is, don't be afraid of offending them, especially if it's coming from a good place, you know what I'm saying? And like literally from that day on, and that was my career that I had before I was with Roma. Yeah, that wasn't Skip that told me to stop being a pussy. That changed my entire direction with that company.
You stopped being a pussy. I stopped letting people kind of... Dictate what was going on. Yeah, roll right over me, and not that I would ever kind of do that, but I was kind of new to the company and this and that, and then he's like, you know, you run your department, you are the head, stop being a pussy, and fucking tell, say what it is you gotta say.
Frenchy's fucked. Completely changed. There is the level of how much bigger he is than you. So yeah, and that completely changed my outlook on a lot of things.
At first it was like, ooh, like, just kind of like your reaction, like, ooh, but then when you hear it and you meditate on it, I internalize a lot, right, so for as much talking as I do, when someone's talking to me, I'll stay quiet, and my wife kind of warns people about this, like, he's actually soaking in what you're saying, I took that in and I was like, I was like, alright, like, what does he mean, and then I just kind of thought about examples and it just changed my outlook on a lot of things. Right. So, yeah, I mean, that was, that was great advice. All right, what's your favorite cigar?
Non-Roma, Roma, it doesn't matter. Well, non-Roma. We don't know. Probably the Opus X Lost City.
Yeah? I've probably gone ham on that cigar a lot. 2x52 or something weird. Like Perfection Act or some shit?
And it's just if that's the edge can just go back to that over and over and over again. That's your jam? That's my bougie. Now, the price point hurts you a little, but again, I haven't paid for one in a while, so.
What's your favorite Roma cigar? Perks. Probably the Envy, which is a little 5x50 Perfecto in the BA. Yeah, Brazilian Araparaca.
Yeah, that mode 5 size, that little 5x50 Perfecto, we make it in everything, But Neanderthal, and it's just, that's my go-to size, I love it, just short enough where you're like, you don't get bored of it, and you know, you could smoke another one right after. I just like that size. All right, what fictional character would you like to share a cigar with? This is one that I held back.
Do you remember me having a conversation about this? No, but go ahead. My fictional person I would like to have a cigar with would be Jesus. He did say this.
And that's kind of a roast. That was a roast to Rosales, and I told him I'd say it, 'cause I thought that was a pretty funny answer he gave for what real person. Like, you know what? I'm gonna stick with that, just 'cause I don't wanna be a pussy.
There you go, stop being a pussy. The guy that just celebrated Christmas, too, by the way. Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas, that's right.
That takes up if you wanna tell people how to get a hold of you. What do you want to hold of you? Social media contacts, email, personal phone number, your home address. Oh, yeah, yeah.
The underscore Dan, no, the underscore Danny underscore Vasquez on Instagram. Nice and simple. Yeah, Danny at Roma Craft Tobac if you're bored for whatever reason. Right.
We typically answer, you know, as long as I'm trolling. And you're always at headquarters if you stop in. You stop in. Oh, yeah, yeah.
If you guys are in Austin, for sure, come to headquarters. I've never been with you at headquarters, though. Yeah. Your brother came.
Yeah. But I don't remember you ever came. Well, it's kind of the same scenario, right? It was like...
Why would you be there? Why would they both go at the same time? Yeah, yeah. You know?
" I'm like, "Cool. " Thanks. I want to go. Well, I don't want to do that.
If anyone's ever in Austin, shoot us a message, or just come by. Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, Don't Get Cute. If you need to do it on a weekend, you know, we got to book it out a little bit for somebody to be there. We are all busy outside of work as well.
But come by, man, we have an awesome, awesome facility. If you guys haven't seen us on social media, a dope ass bar, a few hundred different craft beers, like different craft beers, probably like 11, 1200 bottles, whatever it is. All the smokes, you can see, you know, how the warehouse looks like, and just kind of hang out, and it's a dope spot. If you're a diehard Roma, you can go onto the Facebook Degenerate Weasels page.
Yeah, find the Degenerate Weasels page. It's pretty dope. You can tell Ellis Philly to go fuck himself, and you will get it back. For sure.
Tenfold. Tenfold. If you want to learn about Danny's origin, again, you can go to Hot Ticket. Hot Ticket.
They're going to love us for all the plugs this week. A lot of plugs there for them. I mean, you know, they're good guys. They're good guys.
So yeah, you know it's they're just interesting they're like a millennial perspective of which is where I mean if you look at social media it's especially like the the snapchat age right of like this 14 to 21 right there as they age up I mean that's gonna be our audience and one day you and I are gonna be there you we're gonna be the older well you're already we're gonna be the older guys in this industry right that's like yeah man you Remember Skip Martin, that, and he's like, remember, I remember, yeah, you know what I mean, and, and, so, you kinda gotta watch these guys, 'cause they are, they're kinda bringing in that younger crowd too. They're the future. Yeah. For sure.
I mean, you're not that you're, I mean, I don't know how old you are, but. 34? 34, yeah. That's kinda old.
No. I'm old. Yeah? Yeah.
How old are you? 38. Okay. Those four years, I would kill to get those four years.
At least I know where the line is. All right. You're fuckin' over. It's free!
You got one more year, my man. I got seven months, and that's it. Alright, so I guess that's- That's it, we can wrap it up. So, what's important though, is did he beat Hector in length?
Because I got- I guess, I don't know where Hector was, I don't remember how long it went, but I believe so, but we're almost at full two hours. Yes! By the time we thank him and say goodbye, it'll be two hours. Hector was a lot more entertaining than I was though, I think.
No, I think you did great. You did good, you did good actually. You did solid. I wasn't falling asleep at all, I was just fucking with you.
Okay. I was stressed about that number that kept calling me. That was weird. It was super fucking weird.
Well, dude, you know, it's not easy to come to the cigar fucking center of the world here in Deltona, Florida, so I appreciate you obviously putting forth the effort and driving out this question on your vacation time. No, I had to. Your poor wife's been sitting out there for two hours. I'm going to tell you now, you got to give her some love, because she was like, I said, "Babe, you know, it's kind of out there.
" And she actually figured out and made it happen, got to be honest. So, you know, definitely kudos to Jesse. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Dude, you know, I look forward to doing more shit with you on the road and in the shop and at the shows and the whole fucking gamut. Oh, we're over two hours. I'm pretty sure we just beat Hector. Nice.
Four more stories. You ready? A three-parter? Never had a three-parter.
This is the new line now. This is it. Yeah. How do we parlay one into a three-hour episode?
Dude, I can totally do it. When Skip comes in, we'll go three. Yeah, but you don't even have to talk. No, like I said, we'll just turn it on.
Like you said, we'll leave. And like you said, we'll leave. Right. If this was like a morning time, if it wasn't already late, are we supposed to say what time?
Are we supposed to keep this? It doesn't matter. It's 8:45 at night. If you could see Mike's eyes right now, you would know what time it is.
Dude, it's been a long week. Yeah. It's been a long week. I can tell.
And it's only Wednesday, my friend. Yeah. You know what I'm doing tomorrow? Disney?
Nothing. Oh. I got nothing fucking planned. That's awesome.
When people say that to me, like, hey, what do you guys... No, she doesn't. Trust me, she's the one that makes plans. She's the one that told me we have nothing.
But what's funny is like, you know, people are like, hey, what do you guys got going on this weekend? I'm like, man, I hope nothing. I fucking hope. I hope my kids sleep all day.
We're getting Benadryl for no fucking reason. That's nice. We drugged him. My kid better not have an itchy nose because she's getting Benadryl.
She's getting fucking Benadryl. You're going to bed. Because mom and dad just want to do nothing all day. A little bit of nothingness.
Yeah. I'm bringing up random stories just to keep this fucking ticker going. Just dragging it out. You've already won.
Because you're not going to tell me where it's over, because you don't have that personality to end it on me, especially when I have some fun shit. I love you, and that'll be it. He got up and just walked out last week. Did you?
I was still talking. He's done, he left. It's over. Dead air.
How's your business going? All right, so that pretty much concludes it. Nobody wants to hear that again. We're going to have to have you back, so.
Yeah, you better move closer to somewhere else. All right, bye. See you guys. to see operator with a collect ball from...
and my recalls. to accept the charges, press 1. Now. Uh.
Woo! Embrie, what up? I told you I ain't too good with writing letters and all. Shit, I don't need write rhymes.
Know what I will do? I'ma send you this open scribe through the airwaves. Ride with me. You're spotters for serve, family They wanna ride Cigarette boats, yachts Ain't no way we can't go We in South Beach in the Hamptons too, baby You know why they call a project a project?
Because it's a project An experiment, we're in it, only it's objects An object for us to explore our prospects Alright gang, one more show, it's the anniversary show, and this week's hashtag is craft #CRAFT #CRAFT# C-R-A-F-T
Show Notes
Part 2 of this excellent show! Part 1 was one of our highest rated shows!
Don't miss seeing how it turns out!
Danny has already taken credit for the show so see what else he says is his idea!!!
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