Episode 59 Mr. Michael Knight from Great Britian
Episode Summary
Episode 59 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a wide-ranging conversation with guest Michael Knight, a retired British businessman from Christchurch, near Bournemouth, England, who the hosts met years earlier through a Facebook connection. Notably, Knight doesn't smoke cigars — the episode is a cultural and personal interview rather than a product review. The show opens with a tangent on the Wim Hof ("Minhoff" in the transcript) method of cold-shower and breathing therapy, sparked by Ross Edgley's "The World's Fittest Book" and Edgley's swim around Great Britain.
Knight talks about his career in water, irrigation, dust control and odor control, his current one-day-a-week consulting gig, and his Airbnb near the famously expensive beach huts of Christchurch. The conversation covers British vs. American slang and meal customs, the total absence of American-style cigar lounges and indoor smoking in the UK, Brexit and the push for a second referendum, outside perspectives on President Trump, British affection for the royal family, and shared TV favorites like Peaky Blinders, The Crown and Downton Abbey. Knight shares two powerful personal stories: raising charity money through pre-release James Bond premieres after losing his infant son to cot death — including the Queen Mother personally donating a Crown Derby tea set for auction — and surviving the IRA's Harrods bombing after recognizing a coded store announcement and walking out minutes before the blast.
The back half turns to the cigar business. The host lays out his plans: growing wholesale, keeping retail small and unique rather than expanding, adding a liquor license and a private lounge, and possibly exporting to Europe or the Far East (citing how RoMa Craft works with the Schusters for European distribution). They also preview the new Wojtek cigar — a Habano/San Andrés barber pole in a perfecto shape, rated medium-full and complex — slated for a June/July release with pre-orders at IPCPR in Las Vegas and a 10,000-cigar (about 500-box) production run. The episode closes with a rant about why nobody in the cigar industry ever gets "fired" in press releases — everyone just "agrees to part ways."
In This Episode
- 01The Wim Hof Method and Cold ShowersThe hosts riff on cold-exposure therapy, breathing techniques, and immune-system claims after reading Ross Edgley's The World's Fittest Book.
- 02Meeting Michael Knight Through FacebookHow a friend-of-a-friend Facebook connection turned into repeat visits from England to the lounge in Florida.
- 03Life in Christchurch, EnglandKnight describes his sleepy town near Bournemouth, his Airbnb, and beach huts that sell for over £250,000.
- 04No Cigar Lounges in the UKKnight, a non-smoker, explains that indoor smoking bans mean nothing like a US-style cigar lounge exists back home.
- 05Brexit, Trump and Outside PerspectivesA British take on the EU referendum, talk of a second vote, and how Americans' gun culture and Homeland Security look from abroad.
- 06Royalty, Charity and the Queen MotherKnight recounts losing his son to cot death, his James Bond premiere charity events, and the Queen Mother donating a tea set for auction.
- 07Surviving the Harrods BombingKnight tells how an unusual store announcement tipped him off minutes before the IRA bomb detonated at Harrods.
- 08Business Plans and the New Wojtek CigarWholesale growth, a private lounge, possible European export, and a first look at the Wojtek — a medium-full Habano/San Andrés barber pole perfecto debuting at IPCPR.
- 09Nobody Ever Gets Fired in the Cigar IndustryA rant on press releases that say companies 'agreed to part ways' instead of admitting someone was fired.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
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Transcript
Yeah, hi, good morning to, or good afternoon, or good evening, whatever time of the day you're listening to this. Welcome to episode 59. This is a Cigar Hustlers podcast. And this week, they're talking to me, Michael Knight.
I hope you enjoy the show. Okay, it's on. You always start with that. That's like your go-to.
That's my thing. Makes you more comfortable. I should have adjusted my microphone. I think it's falling down.
I don't think mine works anymore. Just kind of. Well, I'd turn yours off anyway most of the time. If you did that, then there'd be nobody talking.
It's a more interesting show because they don't know who I'm interrupting. See, here's the thing, is if you turn me off, then you'd have nobody to interrupt and you'd have nothing to fucking say. But I can still hear you. They can't.
Yeah. So they're trying to figure out who I'm interrupting. Whatever. Do you interrupt?
Yes. Constantly. So we have a special guest today. Yes, we do.
Mr. Michael Knight. Well, you complained the last two weeks that I had no show content. You never do.
Well, this week, I brought the entire show. So, we have a gentleman with us from the other side of the pond who doesn't smoke cigars. Doesn't smoke cigars. See how the mic does?
I'm not sure why I'm here. Did you say his name? Yeah. Say hello, Michael.
Hi. Good afternoon, good morning, good evening. God damn it. This is going to be a rough show.
fucking lighters flocked i can't find my other lighter that's the way you're through you'll tunnel and canoe through the whole thing we'll make do oh man i don't know if i'll make do okay anyway uh michael knight's a friend of my family yes we met him several years ago okay so i'll stop talking now okay but um you want to get right into just talking to michael knight no if you get something to talk about That's, I'm, I'm okay with either. What have you been doing? It's boring? It's boring to you?
We're boring him already. We're already boring him. Alright, I got a question for you. Have you ever heard of a guy by the name of Minhoff?
I've never heard of a guy by the name of Minhoff. So have you ever heard of the Minhoff method? No. I don't know.
Is that some type of proctology exam? No, it's pretty cool, actually. Yes? So, you know, I like to read.
Right? You want a new thing? Are you going to only eat between the hours of three and seven? No, it's worse than that.
I don't know, it's worse than that. It has to be raw eggs. It's way worse than that. You can only chew on the left side of your mouth with the right foot in the air.
It is way worse than that. So, Minhoff is this guy who's actually a Guinness World book holder for a couple of great feats. And he climbed Kilimanjaro and Everest in shorts. In shorts.
Yeah. So, he's a guy that's all about like, you know. Being cold? Yeah, they call him the Iceman.
Oh. So, he has a theory. From Batman? No, no, no, that was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So he has a theory that being exposed, exposing yourself to cold and like target stressing your body actually boosts your immune system. What about if you just expose yourself? I mean, I'm sure that that helps too in some methods. I'm not 100% positive, but I bet you it will at least help your tan lines, you know?
So I started, so it starts with like cold showers. You start doing cold showers. Oh, my Lord. So, I'm starting to do that.
Cold shower. Have you seen that cold therapy where you get into the little cylinder? The little cryogenic thing? Yeah, I've seen it on Shark Tank.
Blah, blah, blah. And on the housewives, the housewives do it. Yeah. So, it's a similar, it's probably similar to that.
Okay. So, you take a cold shower? Yeah. What?
It's pretty fascinating. I feel like, I feel better. Well, I, when I lived on the farm, I outdoor showered every day and it was just from a hose. So, I mean, it was...
Cold? Cold. Well, there was no hot water. No hot water.
But I didn't know it was a thing. It's pretty badass. There's also breathing methods, too, that he does. So how long have you been doing the cold shower?
Since Friday. I mean, I only got to that part of the book on Friday. But hey, I shower, you know. " How many times do you shower a day?
Once to twice. Okay, so I definitely shower at least twice a day. So how's your sex life now you're taking cold showers? I mean, my sex life is always consistent, I'd say.
They're young. I'd say firm. They're young. Firm to strong.
So I'm not really that concerned about that. I'll let you know if I grow an extra inch though. That'd be fantastic. Not obviously during the cold shower, but afterwards.
But I wanted to mention that. I wanted to bring that up to you. So what else do you do besides a cold shower? So there's like this whole breathing thing of like a process you're supposed to do on an empty stomach.
So you don't get the hypothermia when you're in the cold shower. Well, you're supposed to kind of take it in small doses, right? It's a quick cold shower. No, well, eventually you build up to being able to sustain in like a cold ice bath for like 20 minutes.
So it's like cold and turned to hot? No. No, just cold. Just cold.
But sure cold. No, well, you turn it on to cold and then like you start with your feet and then you work up your legs and then you kind of get your whole body in and up to your head and then you kind of sustain for however long you're comfortable in there. If you can stay within a minute or two or the longer you stay the better. You stay, the better.
It's just like stressing any other, like when you work out, when you work out your muscles. Yes. Like, could you put 500 pounds on a bench right now and do a bench rest? Oh, no.
Right. So what would you do? You'd start lighter. Not with my feet, though.
No. But this is a different form of target stress. So just so I understand, you step into the shower and the water just hits your feet, and then the next time maybe you hit your feet up to your knees? No.
Oh, it's all the same time. Yeah, you slowly increase until you... So you just gradually get in. Right.
Well, I do that, but I only use my hand. I'd turn the water on, stick my hand in, oh, it's cold, so I'd pull my hand back out, and… Because you're a sissy lala. What is the purpose? Why are you doing this?
Well, apparently… Because he read it in a book. Apparently, like, you know, it restricts, it does some kind of restriction to your veins. Yeah, it shrinks up your veins. Yeah, it shrinks up your veins.
Right, and forces them, right. So it supposedly helps boost your immunity, boost your tolerance, helps your blood pressure, overall circulation of the blood. Did you just happen upon this book, or did someone tell you about it? So, well, actually-- You're Googling ways to make myself more uncomfortable while I work out?
No, my buddy Greg actually mentioned this guy that I looked up, this guy by the name of Ross Edgley, so the book that I'm reading is called The World's Fittest Book. And Ross Edgley? Yeah. He actually-- He mentions the frozen guy.
Yeah. Oh. He mentions the frozen guy. He actually just-- Swam around-- Great Britain.
He did? Yeah. All the way around the island? All the way around.
He did, that's right. I heard that on the news. So you know that guy. I don't know him personally, but I watched him on TV most days.
Right. I figured they all know each other. It's a small island. So you see the link here?
That's why I bring these things up. Oh. Right? See what I did there?
That's clever, the link. It's crazy. It's almost like as if I know what the fuck I'm doing. I feel back in the day, you would have been the one that bought the snake oil from the guy going around.
Nope. Definitely wouldn't have been that guy. Drink this, it'll make him stronger. I'm going to get a lighter.
I'll be right back. Oh, he's leaving the show. And we need to start taking breaks, so when the commercials start rolling in… That's never gonna happen. Yes, it is.
So we're on break right now. Okay, we're back. Thank you very much. So Ross Edgley, he's a young buck.
He's like in his, I think, mid-30s or something like that. He's probably about my age. Yeah. Pretty fascinating dude.
Yeah, he was. It was followed with great interest at home. That was one hell of a feat going around like he did. It was a tremendous feat and well applauded by everybody.
And I think he looked a bit crinkly when he came out the water at the end. I'm sure he did. Shrinkage. Now, he does Minhoff.
He does the Minhoff method, too. He also did a triathlon with a tree attached to him. What? Yeah.
What, you mean he was branching out? Yeah, something like that. Michael's good for jokes. Yes.
Wait, how did he have a tree attached? Like, he's carrying a tree? On a bicycle, in the water, and running. And running.
I don't know, you have to look. Sapling? A big redwood? From the way he was talking about it, it doesn't sound like it was fun.
I can tell you that. Well, I would imagine not. I can tell you that much. I am really close to having this thing lit and rocking and rolling here.
I think the show will be over by then. Brr, brr, brr, there you go. So, hey, Michael, how are you? I'm good.
Thank you for inviting me on your show. Yes, yes. Thank you for coming. So, um...
Had to pay for my own coffee this morning, guys. Well, it was just after the speech of no more free coffee. You know, the struggle is real here, so it is what it is. So how did you go about meeting our dear friend here, Mr.
Palmer? The Prez. The Prez of the Florida Sierra. I mean, you've been known as the Prez in Great Britain, just so you know.
Yeah, but you didn't know shit about Ross Edgley. I don't know the Michael Hoff or whoever from Baywatch was either. Minhoff. Minhoff.
Is he German? Sounds like a German name. I don't know. Excuse me, you asked me a question.
Is he German? Lindelof. Sounds like it. Yeah, exactly.
Thank you. He's not the same as Paddy. I'm sorry. I won't stop interrupting.
He asked you a question. So Michael has a tendency to just interrupt people mid-sentence. Yeah. Yes.
That's an American thing, isn't it? It's my thing. It's my thing. Just being fucking rude.
Yeah, I think it's just a Palmer thing. To a point where I've had people contact me and be like, God damn it, that guy just never lets you talk. And I go, no shit. That's why we're so popular.
It's a drinking game. Every time I interrupt, they take a drink. Okay. So, I had a friend called Sarah, who used to go to school with my eldest daughter in England, and she now lives over here, and we were keeping in contact via Facebook, and Mr.
" So, we became friends like that, and we just conversed with each other over Facebook, a few photos, this, that, and the other, and… Like dick pics, or was it standard? No, they were just standard. I did ask him for dick pics. I did ask him for dick pics, but he said he was embarrassing.
I wouldn't do it. Well, it's all in cold water. " That was a couple of years ago. That's when I met you.
Right. For the first time. I had free coffee, then. Hey, I had free beer earlier.
The novelty's worn off, I think, now. So, yeah, that's how we became friends. We became friends and here I am on my second visit. He did say that he was going to come and visit me, but apparently they got shit scared of the bombs and things that we have occasionally.
" I don't know what it's from. It's feedback from something. But the part of the country where I live, we don't... Are we talking?
Are we live? Ah, it was Michael's phone too close. Okay, you gotta get all the phones off. Oh, that phone's off.
Nope, that's not it. Well, that's good, Mike. Glad to get you together. Is it working, though?
King producer of the show. It works, but there's a hum. It's new. It just started.
You wanna take a break? Okay. No, no. It just stopped again.
It's something Michael's doing. What am I doing? Touch your microphone. Touch it?
No, you had your hand on it. You've been holding onto it. That's it. Don't hold your microphone.
Son of a bitch. Don't do anything. Where I live, we don't, we don't have, I live in a sleepy town called Christchurch, which is on the outskirts of a holiday town called Bournemouth, we don't have bombs and things like that, occasionally, occasionally, occasionally, there's a main headline in the local paper that a Wendy house has been stolen from a garden and everybody's shocked. So, you're a big fucking baby, pretty much, you don't like to, you don't want to leave, it's not like he lives in North Korea or some shit, dude.
No. It's great fucking Britain. But when we were going was when they were having terrorist attacks. Attrax?
Attrax. Terrorist attacks. Is that like a ride? Like a roller coaster or some shit?
It is. It's very scary. There's a big boom at the end. Yeah, but what were the terrorist attacks?
Did they get in a car and they run people over? So stay in your car. There was poison gas in the train system. There was people running over people.
People with knives. Okay. That just sounds like a fucking day in the Bronx. You don't like to leave your house, so, you know, like a day where?
In the Bronx. In the Bronx? I'm not going there either. So, like, I mean, you know, this shit happens all the time.
It's not a big deal. It was several years ago. You let the media get to you, Michael, is the problem. That's the way it works.
Better safe than sorry. You live in fear. I don't live in fear. I come here every day.
You missed an opportunity. Well, you still do any time. He's got his own Airbnb. Would you like to plug your Airbnb?
Yeah, you can do. You can plug my Airbnb. Don't plug my Airbnb. I get very busy, get quite a few people from the States actually come and stay with me.
There you go. Just look up Christchurch, UK. Don't confuse it with Christchurch, New Zealand, because you'd be in a completely wrong place if you went there. So Christchurch, UK, and my one, if you want to look it up, it's got a picture of beach huts as the main feature.
They're not just ordinary beach huts, they cost just over £250,000 each, which I suppose is about $270,000, Why people want to pay that for a piece of wood on a beach, I don't know, but they do, it's a special beach, and I'm lucky enough to live there. Well, it's Christ Beach. Christ Church. Yeah.
Christ Church. That sounds horrible. Where Christ went tanning. So, okay, so, I guess every single major event in your life is linked to Facebook at this point, Mr.
Palmer. Apparently so, yes. Because, you know, you fucking, you meet everybody on Facebook. Everybody's met on Facebook.
It's where I found my wife, my friends, my parents. Even though you won't go see your friend in the UK? No. So, I'll eventually come over and see you.
It's a disappointment to me, really. You can come over anytime. Yeah, I'll hit you up. And charge you for fucking coffee if you do.
You can get an upgrade for the breakfast. I'm fine with that. So, what the hell did you do? What kind of a job do you have where you can just kind of up and go?
Well, I don't. I'm retired now. I just do one day a week as a consultant for a business. I used to be MD of a business, and the guy who owns it is a really, really nice chap, so I go back and help him out.
I like doing that. Doesn't pay me a lot of money to do it, but I don't want him to pay me a lot of money to do it. I just like doing it. Bit like Mr.
P comes in and helps you out sometimes. Oh, we pay him nothing. Yeah, I know. That's totally different.
I know. He made me pay for breakfast this morning and told me that was the reason why. The struggle is real. We just give them a key to the place, that's all.
Yeah, I used to be involved in, well, anything to do with water, irrigation, so we would export stuff to the Africas for irrigation, but also now big business is dust control, so quarries, waste transfer stations, dust control, odor control, anything to do with water and chemicals, that's basically what I'm involved in or was involved in. Now I just do what I call schmoozing. Ah, a bit of schmoozing. We have a few free lunches, stuff like that.
So what do we do here that's so different in comparison to, like, what stood out as far as your visits here in comparison to everything? Everything. Every time I come to America, I enjoy new experiences. I think I drive Michael crazy because I always want to do something different.
We try to find something to do that he didn't do last time. Everything. Someplace to go. So if you want to take this place, your Cigar Hustler shop, we don't have anything like that in England, sorry.
Well, if there is, I don't know about it. We just don't have anything like this over there. So this is a real experience to come in here. You know I don't smoke.
Just to see guys sitting there drinking port, which, by the way, we only have with stilt and cheese, and smoking cigars and a little social atmosphere going on. That's good. Don't have that. Not quite that.
So cigar lounges are non-existent? No, you want to start a franchise over there. I don't know what the regulations would be, but everything in the UK is expensive. Yeah, there might be a reason they don't smoke inside.
Maybe they're not allowed to. Yeah. No, you can't smoke inside. But I suppose if you had to go in a lounge, that might be different.
I don't know. Interesting. I wonder how you get it. Maybe a side business for you.
Could be. Outside business. Out by the beach. Yeah, you can smoke outside.
Well, you know, in your garden. Yeah. Yeah, I've got a nice garden. Yeah.
Well, you call it a yard. Yes. Yeah. I grow everything.
I like the fact that we were talking a little bit, yeah, Friday, and you were talking about how people get pissed, and for you, like, the term pissed, for us, pissed is like people are angry, but for you, it's like, they're drunk. Yeah, they're drunk. That's pissed. There's all sorts of words like that.
I was telling Mr. P some stuff in the car earlier, and he's sort of scratching his head. He thinks bangers and mashes for breakfast, which, of course, it isn't. And he couldn't understand how we can have breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, high tea, dinner, supper.
Dinner and supper is two different things. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, pissed is, we can use that, that someone's pissed off, we can use that, but pissed is drunk, yeah, he's well gone.
Pissed as a newt, is the actual saying. Pissed as a newt? Pissed as a newt. As a newt.
" Is that why she went to bed early last night? That's why. She gets headaches from the conversations. She's got to run it.
She's got to be in charge. Yeah. If she's not in charge, then it's not good. So, obviously, the culture over here is totally different to us.
But, like, Americans love English people, or England. I don't know if that's because of the historical content or not, but also we have a fond regard for Americans. We're in many ways not dissimilar to you. We would describe Americans as being more gung-ho, we would describe ourselves as being more stiff upper lip, but if we don't want to move, we're not going to move.
So we like America, but we didn't like it when Obama said that if we came out of the European Union that we would go to the back of the queue. We didn't like that. We basically said, fuck you, we're going to come out anyway. So, you're happy about Brexit then?
There's a mixed thing in England. The youth are quite lazy in England. " But they didn't do that. So now, they've got to live with it.
I actually believe, as do many other people, that there's a movement within the government to hold a second referendum, which they're talking about now, hoping that it would reverse the decision that the more people would vote to stay in Europe, because we don't think the government actually wants us to come out, but the people want to come out of Europe, so along with most English people, we don't like people telling us what to do, and what started off as a good thing with Europe ended up with them telling us what we could do, what we couldn't do. I think that's what we do, and we don't like that. You know, we want to export somebody because they're a terrorist, and we have to go through all sorts of procedures before we can do that, and they can appeal to the European Court, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And it takes a long time.
We don't like that. We don't like being told what we can do and what we can't do. Right. I don't think anybody does.
No. Well, some people are conditioned, I think. You know, go to Japan, places like that, they're conditioned to go along and do what they're told. In China, places like that.
China's a lot like that. Nobody will take leadership for anything. If there's a table of eight or nine guys, they won't make a decision unless they all sit around and chit-chat and vote, even if it's just where we're going for lunch. Right.
Because nobody wants to make a bad decision. Well, you told me stories before in the past where, you know, if somebody's hurt in China, you can't help them. No, if you do, you're responsible for them. Right.
Forever. Forever. Forever. So if somebody gets hit, everybody just keeps driving.
Don't stop. That's pretty amazing. So, I mean, like, you know, it's a big deal, anybody, the royal family, babies, fucking marriages, the whole gamut, the United States eats that up, right? Yeah, well, we love our royal family anyway.
So we do. They have no power, but we love them. So, is there anybody in the United States that, you know, you guys are like, "Oh, hey, this is a big deal"? I think we follow Trump quite a lot.
None of us could believe that he actually got elected to be your president, but I spoke to another friend of mine who didn't vote for him in America, and I was quite impressed by what she said. " So, you know, we've got to go along with what he's trying to do. And I think there's a glowing admiration, some of my friends may disagree, but I think there's a glowing admiration back at home. For what he has done for your country, you know, and he doesn't boast about it too much, or doesn't seem to, other than on Twitter occasionally.
That's why I don't have Twitter anymore. But he, I think he set out to, he said he was going to do some things, and I think he's setting out to do them, and it looks to me like he is. It's crazy to hear a perspective from the outside, you know, because it's definitely interesting right now in the United States about him and, I mean, politics as a whole, so. You often get to see politicians in any country that would sort of swagger the swagger, not necessarily do the walk.
Right. I think he's doing the walk. I think other people, other presidents you've had sort of go along with the popular consensus. He's prepared to buck that.
Whether that is always a good thing or not. I mean, all these guys that didn't get paid when you had that thing going on, I felt really sorry for those people. Even some of those that we saw being interviewed on the telly still backed him. Still backed him.
I know that's something. That's crazy. But he's not getting married anytime soon. He's not having any babies.
So you don't have anything like that. Do you guys follow the Kardashians or some shit? Is that a big deal? Any of our celebrities or movie stars or something?
I'm sure the younger generation probably follow some of those. I'm more into country now. I'm sort of big in your country music. I love it.
Eric Church, people like that. I play them all the time on my car at home. Do you watch any TV shows? Yeah, of course.
Do you watch Peaky Blinders? I love Peaky Blinders. Do you really? Yeah, it's a new one.
We're just waiting to come out now. Oh, we don't get to see it. We have to wait like six months. Oh man, I've got a Peaky Blinder cap.
I've got everything. I love Peaky Blinders. No shit. That's a fabulous, fabulous.
You like it? You watch it? Hell yeah. You do?
Yeah, it's like one of three shows that I watch on the regular. That's great, Peaky Blinders. Really, really good. Do you ever watch The Crown?
No. That's a good show. Yeah? Yeah, the woman, I can't remember her name, but the actress who plays the queen, she is the queen, she's amazing.
Really? Yeah, really, really good. What about "Last Kingdom"? No, no, I don't think I've seen that.
What's the one with Highclere Castle? What's that show? Downtown Abbey? Downtown Abbey?
Downton. Downtown? Downtown Abbey. I'm on American Abbey.
Is that big in England? It was, it's finished now completely, there's no more being made. They might do a Christmas special here and there, but there's no more, that was a great show, we watched that. Yeah, we like that.
Up, up, up, upstairs, and downstairs type. There's a friend of ours that has a cigar company who deals with a guy who lives at Downton Abbey. Oh, in the real, in the real Downton Abbey, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
That's open to the public. You can pay money, you can go in and walk around. Go check it out. It's not, it's not that far from where I live, actually.
Oh, really? You wanna go there when you come visit? Certainly. Okay, we do it when we do Stonehenge.
Are you gonna provide armed fucking guards for this guy, or what? He won't be able to bring his P-shooter, that's for sure. Can Nick go? Nick, if you'd like to meet me there, we can hang out.
The Loch Nick Monster? The Loch Nick Monster. But you want to meet Harry. You keep going on about Harry.
Yeah, I'd love to meet Harry. Harry's my favorite royal. Yeah. He's got all the power.
What is it that attracts you? No responsibility at all. What is it that attracts you to him? Is ginger hair or what?
Yeah, I think that's what it is. He's kind of buff. The ginger hair. No, it's because he can do anything he wants, but he doesn't have to do anything.
I've met some of the royal family, only very briefly. I mean, I was very, very lucky to meet them. I had dinner once at a place where Prince Philip was. I've seen the Queen, but not Messa.
I've spoken to Princess Anne, and I had the pleasure to speak to Prince Charles. You can't speak to them, they have to speak to you first, and then you can speak to them. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, yeah, so that was, that was really special.
And the Queen Mother, before she died, I think she was 101 when she died, I had a fantastic experience. Unfortunately, I lost my, I lost my son. And so I was doing a big charity thing for two or three years, and we had good negotiations with the people, the Broccoli family that produce James Bond films. And so in England, the day before the new film would be released, they did this for two years, they would give it to us so we could do our own premiere before it premiered.
So each city would do a really big event. So in my case, I had the big searchlights going around the sky. Everybody had to come in DJs. I had the mayor there and everybody.
We had lots of celebrities there from people that I didn't know the celebrities, but people that I knew did. So they had loads of celebrities there. So it was a really big thing, but to make extra money, we would have loads and loads of show business people give us things, which we would do. We could auction or have what we call a raffle tree, so all the restaurants would go on a raffle tree, and then you'd have other things, and then we'd have big prizes to auction, so for example, in one of the films, when they had the BMW sports car, BMW provided a trip for two people to the Detroit Motor Show as a prize which we auctioned on stage, but I thought I'd chance my arm, and so I wrote a letter to the Queen Mother, "Oh, Just incidentally, it was still alive at the time.
And I asked if she would care to donate something that we could auction. And I didn't get a reply at all until two days before the auction, my phone rang. And this very posh-speaking woman said, how do you do? She was one of the Queen Mother's ladies in waiting.
And she said, Mr. Knight, the Queen Mother's had your letter. She apologises for not getting back to you, but actually, she'd been in Canada, and she'd like to help, but obviously, it's too late for now, so when you do another one, will you come back to us? So I said, well, it's still two days away.
If she wants to give something, then I can get it collected from Clarence's house, where she lived. So she said, oh, okay, just a moment, and she went off, and then she came back on the phone, and she said, well, we can offer you one of three items, and one was a big cup and saucer, one was a crown derby, small tea set, third item, I can't remember. So she said, which one would you like? So I said, well, I'm not sure, could you recommend one to me?
And she turned around and she said, Mr Knight is asking, ma'am, which we would recommend. " And so I had that, I was stunned, and not only did they do that, but they gave me a card from her as well that I could put with it to show it was genuine. So then how do you get it? So we didn't have a lot of time, so I contacted a local taxi company and asked if they would do it, if I tried to negotiate a fee, which I managed to do, because it's charity after all, we're trying to get as much as we can.
So I had to ring their security and tell them the make of the car, the colour of the car, the name of the driver, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, for when he got there, and this guy turned up, he had a suit, he wore a suit, a three-piece suit, and he had his hair all done and everything, I think he thought he was going to meet the Queen Mother and she was going to hand in this thing, but we got it down, and this was some time ago, and I think we sold that at auction for something like $2,000 for four cups and four saucers. No kidding. Yeah, that probably would have sold for, I don't know, maybe $20, $30 maybe, just because it had the card from the Queen Mother. And the following year, she gave me, she gave me, not the year, sorry, two, I think it was the next, James Bond, it could have been two or three years later, she gave me another gift as well.
And we auctioned that. And I thought that was really, really nice. So do you still do the charities? No.
Unfortunately, my wife at the time, we were divorced and it wore us out because, as part of the area, Involvement, we would talk to people, it was cock death that I lost my son, so we would talk to people, and quite often it would be on the day that they lost their child, and the Cock Death Foundation would give them our number, so we would get calls, it could be two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning of people, they just want to talk, when someone has something like that happen to them, all they want to do is talk. My wife and I would walk down the street and we'd see friends and they would cross the road, not because they didn't want to talk to us, but because they didn't know what to say. When, in fact, we would be more than happy to talk about it because it was a release for us. One of the nicest things happened, I belong to an organisation called Round Table, you probably have something similar over here, and they had a raffle, and this guy won a bottle of champagne.
And he had it delivered to me, bearing in mind that I just lost my son, so why would he give me champagne? Here's some champagne for you, and that gave my wife and I a lift that someone would think like that. So, yeah, so I was very appreciative. The royal family are very, very popular at home, very popular.
I mean, that's got to be tough, man. I couldn't even imagine going through that. Don't even try to imagine it. You get over it, but you never forget at all.
My son is buried in a beautiful little church where my eldest daughter got married, not far from me. And when my mother died, she wanted her ashes put with him. So that's where it is. But no, you can't imagine it.
I tried to give him, I just, I'd been on business, and it was so funny, because when I say funny, it wasn't funny, I'd stop to have coffee with a colleague, if I'd got home, maybe 20 minutes, 30 minutes earlier, maybe I could have done something, but I didn't, I tried to give him my little baby, the kiss of life and all of that, but it was all well too late, yeah, he was still warm, yeah, it's horrible, but then I have a beautiful daughter now instead, well I have an elder daughter, But then my youngest daughter was born, Kelly, and she's the light of my life, I love her to death, and her two children, my grandchildren, they're fantastic, really brightened me up. Grandkids are awesome. Yeah, I've got four. Four of them?
Yeah, four. Two fairly well grown up, and two little ones, yeah. I love them. Because you get to mess with them, you get to shake them up, you get to give them a bunch of stuff, and then you shoot them up and everything.
The elder ones, the elder ones not so much now, because they sort of grow, not grow away, but they have busy lives. The little ones, I have them sort of every week on a Monday for a few hours, and in a couple of weeks' time, I've got them for a couple of days, and I'm taking them away somewhere nice, just to have some fun in a fun park somewhere. I should look forward to that. Nice.
I don't think they realize how much pleasure they give me, yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, I would love to be your grandkid if you're taking new ones. What are you saying?
We can go on trips and stuff. I'm not that old. Things we know, like a lady-in-waiting, we think of like a secretary, right? It's actually a lady like a lord and lady.
She's semi-royal to herself. Lords and ladies are not actually, they're not really royalty as such, no. So what is their level in the...? They're the upper class.
They would be the upper class. They nearly always would be. They're not always ladies, but they would nearly always be ladies married to a lord or they might be a duchess or something. Bit like your wife, she's a duchess.
Yes, my wife is a duchess. She is? She's technically related to Lady Di. Yeah.
He verified the paperwork. I've seen the paperwork and it goes back a long way. And there's a very good chance you could be related. Yeah.
No kidding. So if there was some type of massive accident in England, and the entire royal family was wiped out, they might come and tap around us. God help us all. The United Kingdom, as we know, it would be fucked.
It would be just over. And I don't know if they've got a crown big enough, Michael, for your head. Right. Well, I would be a prince.
There was a movie about that back in the day with... John Goodwin. Yeah. King Harry or something like that was called.
I talked about that the other night. They always go up with a flashbulb that went off or something. Well, you've got a fascinating story, man, and I can't believe that you put up with Mr. Palmer here on a regular basis.
You know, kudos to you for taking the leap, for becoming friends with some random guy on Facebook. I promise he's going to make me an honor, even though I don't smoke and I don't live in Florida. He's going to join the club. He wants to be an honorary member of the Florida Supreme Court.
Oh, FCC export. Mike Szczecxport. Very nice. Mike Szczecxport.
I've got a picture of him and your brother to go on my freezer now as well. Mike Szczecxport. Very nice. Mike Szczecxport.
Very cool. I mean, you can look up my Instagram for photos, it'll just be pictures of my hand, unfortunately. Mike Szczecxport. I notice that your right arm is much bigger than your left arm.
Is there a reason for that? Mike Szczecxport. Yeah, because, you know, you know why. Mike Szczecxport.
The one where it's not in the cold shower. Mike Szczecxport. I keep myself occupied. Do you have any questions for me, or for him?
Well, I was, I found out most things about you and your brother through Mr. P over there, and... So none of it's true. Yeah, none of that's accurate.
None of that's true. I have to congratulate you, because it seems like you're having a unique working relationship with your brother. I do. And you very kindly let me attend your monthly sort of sales meeting today, and I quite respected the fact that how you allowed the interaction between your staff and you.
I mean, you're not sitting there telling them what to do. Yeah, that doesn't work. You're listening to them. That was quite good.
So, what are your, I'd like to know, what are your big, big plans for the cigar business as far as you're concerned? I mean, my big, big plans, I don't think that they really exceed too much further past where we're at. You know, our wholesale operations continuing to grow. On a retail level, I'm really kind of happy with what we have here.
You know, maybe get a liquor license for this location. Obviously, we're focusing on a private lounge. But I don't believe in expanding retail to a massive extent. That's just not for me.
Retail is a lot of hard work. Are you saying you'd rather be unique? Yeah, I mean, I would like to kind of diversify this into its own special thing, which is kind of what it's obviously becoming. Also, you know, expand more on our production and our contact with additional retailers throughout the nation.
I like to help those guys, you know, and always compare notes, if that makes sense, because a lot of guys, a lot of retailers have different avenues, and they've done things differently, and normally when I'll go on a trip, if I see something that I like, I'll implement it into the shop, and I like to kind of share and compare. That's a big deal for me. But that's probably the extent of the cigar industry for me, you know. It takes up a big portion of my life, but it isn't going to be a huge focus once it's kind of capped at production and stuff.
So when you've capped it, because you see, I don't think what you're saying is probably true, it's probably true as you stand at the moment, but I think when you've achieved it and you've capped that, I think you'll want to do some more, so what about export? Export's definitely a possibility, you know, it's just questions of production and where we lay as far as what the factory can do for us. You know, we've definitely had conversations about that. You know, there are other markets out there, for sure.
Would you be looking to Europe, or would you be looking sort of Far East? Yeah, I think that both are definitely possibilities. Far East and Europe, it depends. The Roma Craft family, they do business with the Schuster's, so they're really big in Europe and they handle the majority of the distribution there.
there so that could be a path in the future um who knows who knows what about uh how do you feel can i ask you this how do you feel about all the controversy about the gun laws in this in this country how do i feel about gun laws because people outside of america don't truly understand the gun culture uh so we see news uh so many times of school shootings and right other things And everybody says, you know, why the fuck they have guns? Well, they just get rid of guns. Right. So I think that, you know, gun laws as a whole...
Look, at the end of the day, is our system broken in so many ways? Yes. But with that being said, I've gone to other places where people have protested, or I've heard stories of people protesting, and they've been told to clear out, and when they didn't, they were just shot by their government. So, that's a problem.
But not in Europe and not in America. No, well, not in America, because America's armed, you know? It's your back. You know?
So, I mean, I think that, for one, Mike's choking, which I love. I'm dying over here. I just believe, I believe that people have a right to be free, right? People, as a community, as a whole, it shouldn't be difficult to take care of the people that need to be taken care of.
Determining where that line is is where everybody kind of gets upset and kind of in a tivvy, right? Take care of the people. I don't need the government to save me from myself. I don't need a Surgeon's General warning on every single fucking thing that exists in the world.
I think that that's just ridiculous, you know, so, you know, do I think that they should do a better job of protecting our kids and our future and our schools? Absolutely. Do I think that they should be taking away our guns? No, I don't think they should be taking away our guns.
So, I'm an admirer of your, what do you call it, a home something? Home Guard, is it? Is that what it's called? Homeland Security?
Homeland Security, yeah. I'm a bigger buyer than that it's a dedicated force to do. I mean, I was saying to people at the airport when I came in, they were in the queues through immigration, they were just moaning and groaning, bearing in mind they'd already done an extra form, et cetera, et cetera. You're talking about customs?
Yeah. But nevertheless, you've got homeland signs all over there. And then people moaning and groaning about the times coming through it took to get through. And I said to them, you know, okay, so, listen, you know, they might have gun problems over here, But you don't have terrorist problems, do you?
Well, I think we do, but not to a crazy extent. And, I mean, hell, all they had to do was just destroy two really big buildings for it to become a significant problem that needed to be addressed. I was involved in the Harrods bombing. Do you remember the Harrods bombing?
No. It was very famous in England. You've heard of Harrods? The store Harrods?
No. You've never heard of Harrods? No. Howard's, I thought, was probably the most famous store in the world.
You've got your Macy's in New York. It's like a big department store. It's huge. It was the man that Lady Di was having an affair with, her father owned Harrods.
Okay. Okay. And there was an IRA bomb in there. And I was inside the store with my first wife, and we were doing some shopping for Christmas.
And we were on the top floor. And this announcement came out. Would all departmental managers report to the manager's office? Would all departmental managers report to the manager's office?
And I was in retail at the time. And that's not an announcement that goes out. That doesn't happen. You could have a departmental manager go to the manager's office, but not all of them.
So I said to my wife, just put everything down, we're going. And she said, what are you talking about? We've been in the queue. I just put everything down, we're going now.
Come on. We're getting the lift. No, we're not getting the lift. Out.
We walked out through the door. Just got literally around the corner and the bomb went off. And that was horrific. I couldn't hear for days.
There was a knobby hotel opposite and I was staying there in the hotel. They were amazing because they were bringing in police that were being blown and bleeding everywhere and they really looked after them. And then as these things go, we received a call ourselves from the police in the hotel to say that our burglar alarm at home was going off. We'd be able to come back.
" Our car was parked in the Harrods car park, which was not near Harrods. It was on the other side of the road. It was underground. So we walked around Hyde Park, and we kept being stopped by police all the way, and this brave young man said, because it was very scary.
You're walking past in the middle of the night with nobody on the street, and you're walking past cars, and if all you knew there was something else in that car that was going to go boomer in a minute. Right. " And I went down, I had a Volvo estate at the time, and I went down, and I literally laid and looked all underneath, And we went home. But, I mean, that's a really scary situation.
So I understand very much the stance that America takes against terrorism. Very much so. Well, I mean, you live something first hand. Yeah, that was a long time ago, but you don't forget things like that too easily.
When was that bombing? Oh, blimey, I can't remember the year. It was a long time ago. A long, long time ago.
It was famous at the time. I thought, I'm surprised you don't know. But then again, you're so young. Right, I'm a millennial.
Lazy fucks. Exactly. We did nothing. Come and go as you please.
Blame everything on the producer. Yeah, pretty much. Well, you know, at least I'm here. Tim, this is a month of time.
But thank you guys for being so hospitable. I'm not talking to Mr. P at the moment because apparently I'm taking him out tonight and paying attention. You've got to run up that tab as much as possible.
More champagne, please. Champagne over here. But for the Hustler Brothers, thank you. It's been great.
Twice I've been in your country, twice I've been in your venue, and it's been really nice. You've made me feel welcome. Yes, you have to change it again when he comes back in two years. I've never had to pay for coffee before, but okay.
We appreciate you coming out, and we do appreciate your time. And we appreciate you paying for the coffee. And it's good to learn about your culture and your points of view in life and your perspective, because it's fascinating to me. I've never experienced any of it.
Well, you should come to my country, I can do you a good deal. I can assure you that it's gonna happen sooner than Mr. Palmer will be going, so. Okay, I'll take that bet.
Oh. Yeah. You'd like to make a bet? We can make a bet.
Sure. Okay. That's because your missus is giving you pressure now, but she's stating next June you can win this bet if you go before. Yeah, you go before next June.
When she finishes her new, her recent degree, she wants to go there to celebrate. Go and plop the degree. She's a clever girl. She's clever girl.
It doesn't matter. I can just fake some headlines and fucking email it to her and say, you know, terrorist attack. Maybe by then the wall might be up and we can't leave. Not that people can't get in, but we can't leave.
Side note before we close this out. Yes. The War Bear pic. Oh, that's right.
Yes. I'm touching the microphone every time you touch it. I had to adjust it. I had to adjust it.
Stop adjusting. Ask me. I can touch the back. That's just weird.
So, the Vojtech. The Vojtek. Are you going to give it to me to put up? Yeah, the Vojtek, we have an image.
He has a new cigar coming out, that's what we're discussing. Okay. And I think that it's best that we share it on the podcast Instagram. Oh, certainly.
That'll be great. So we're going to take the picture, I'm going to give it to Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Palmer will put it up on a Cigar Hustlers podcast Instagram.
So if you want to check it out, it's pretty badass. It's a bear. Is that the one you sent me from Nicaragua? Yeah, it's a bear, and he's rocking the Postanya necklace and, you know.
But what about the flavor of the cigar? Is it light? Is it heavy? Is it spicy?
I'd call it more of a medium full. What's really unique about it is it's a barber pole, so it has a Habano with a San Andreas barber pole, and because its shape is a perfecto, there's a lot of complications to it. It changes throughout the entire cigar. The complex of the taste?
Yeah, it's very complex, and it's super good. I mean, I was really, really impressed with it. I can't think of the word. It's not a badge, but it's rough.
You mean it has like an edge? Yeah. So when are you guys launching that? Well, we're hoping that it'll be released June or July of this year.
If Skip's listening, he may be laughing at that. You're going to take pre-orders? We'll take pre-orders for it at the show at IPCPR in Las Vegas, and we're going to produce 10,000 sticks, which is about 500 boxes. What's that?
Just an LE? Yeah, it's unlimited. So, well, you know, it's obviously got a lot of excitement around it already. So, we'll see how it kind of goes.
Yeah, it's already been, it's already come out in the industry news. The Half Wheel? Yeah. Oh, that was another thing I want to talk about.
You want to talk about this too? Sure, why not? Why the fuck doesn't anybody get fired in the cigar industry? You ever notice that?
If you go look on Half Wheel, nobody has ever been fired before. You know, it's mostly, you're right, it's mostly news about their new position. " Right. So-and-so has agreed to part ways.
I mean, even Jack Taranio. Jack Taranio got fucking fired. There's no question about it. He got fired.
There wasn't an agreeance to part ways. Come on, man. That's ridiculous. There was a story last week about somebody who was leaving from somewhere.
Yeah. A CEO. Either they chose to leave, or they part ways. Right?
Right. No, no, nobody's fired. It's never, this guy's a fucking mess, we had to get rid of him, he's not doing anything that we needed, and he's fired. Like, that doesn't happen.
How, why doesn't that happen in the industry? I don't know. Is it, uh, Half Wheel's fault, because it's the way they always write the article? No, it isn't Half Wheel, it's, it's the release that the companies give.
Like, their press release. Oh, the press release. Oh, they're just being nice. Nobody says anybody gets fired.
We've agreed to part ways. Yeah. Whatever. And we'd like to thank him for everything he's done.
It's fucking lame, right? Yeah, he's a tremendous help, a major benefit to this company. We appreciate his leadership over the last several years. " I mean, just something, you know?
Is that not known as the FO award? The FO award? Yeah, a "Fuck Off" award. It's a "Fuck Off" award.
Yeah, I guess. But like, I don't know. I mean, if I'm going to fire you, it's probably because you fuck, I mean, not that I'm a big corporation or anything, but it's like, well, the fucking guy's a liar. They were out there talking at the meeting about how fast people have been fired during the meeting, before the meeting, after the meeting.
Oh, yeah. Because, like, I've had times where we'd sit people in. But, you know, there have been times where I've had to let somebody go, where I've fired them. Is that the same, letting them go?
Is that the same as firing them? Or is that media talk? It's more media talk. More media talk.
But if I got to own it, I might as well own it. But I've fired people right before a meeting, and we've left on good terms. There have been other times where it's not possible, just because of how it's played out. Like, you have no choice but to let them go because they've done something that is fucking terrible, I mean, it's been, you know, stealing, or skimming, or, you know, something of that magnitude, or just flat out lying, you know, to you.
Like, if that team mentality doesn't exist with that individual, then that person isn't a fit, right? I mean, that's pretty self-explanatory. But when they get creative, and they figure out ways to fuck you over, then, yeah, then they're fired. " I can understand on something like that, but do you ever get to it?
Do you ever hear things I ever hear about unfair dismissal laws or anything like that? Oh, of course. Of course. I mean, there's all types of stuff like that.
But, you know, more often than not, if you document it, your termination is justifiable. " You know, so you can build a sheet. Constructive dismissal. Right.
" but so crazy we've agreed to part ways here's their nice severance package but you'd like to thank him like thank you for your time please so that's all i got for uh all right that's it we're just under an hour it's a great podcast it was people have been complaining we had any guests lately so so here we go michael knight michael knight your roommate not from the the reason i Mike started following him on Facebook because, you know, Knight Rider. Because he was cute? Yeah, he was cute. I don't understand.
And he has a talking car. Knight Rider, what does that mean? Knight Rider. Can you explain that to me?
Michael Knight from the Knight Foundation with the talking Trans Am. Never heard of it. I'm sure you get that all the time. " So we won't go to the questions.
Alright. Do you want to ask the five questions? Because you can't ask what's your favorite cigar. Who would like to smoke a cigar with?
Yeah. He doesn't do that. Alright. Well, what's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
That's a good one. It doesn't matter where you come from. What matters is where you go. That is very true.
Very nice. That's a good place to end. Absolutely. Well, Mr.
Knight, thank you for coming on, sir. Been my pleasure. We hope you have a safe flight home. Sooner than later.
And Mr. Palmer, thank you for being here. Yeah. All right, bye.
We're going to let you go now. Thank you. Goodbye. Hello.
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Show Notes
Welcome to Episode 59...this week we have my good friend Mr. Michael Knight from the UK happen to be in town o we take advantage of him and dragged him in for an interview!
Join us as we hear his stories about the Royal Family, affiliation with James Bond and what he likes and dislikes about the USA.
As always we welcome your thoughts, ideas and show suggestions on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast". You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, MIkey @cigarhustler and Mike Too @fcc_mike.
Make sure to rent, review or respond on which ever of our providers you use. Make sure to check out our new YouTube page!