Episode 69 Back to Normal Business and this week Video Drops!

Episode Summary

Episode 69 marks the return of "regular business" for A Cigar Hustler's Podcast — and the first episode ever shot on video, complete with the hosts awkwardly figuring out where to look and naming the camera "Earl." Mikey and Mike (Mr. Palmer) open with shout-outs to listener Yolanda White and Halfwheel's Charlie Minato before diving into the meat of the show: a blow-by-blow recap of their recent Florida-to-Georgia cigar shop road trip.

The travelogue names names, covering Roz's in Ocala (where they ran into Robert Allen of Cigars for Warriors), Parkway in Tallahassee, a closed Jerry's, Boss Cigars with its log-cabin humidor build-out, and Blue Havana. The trip capped off at La Jerro Tobacco House for a RoMa Craft event that turned into something of a Powstanie crash party, with Danny Vasquez of RoMa Craft working the room. The hosts hand out shout-outs to the listeners who drove hours to meet them, debate their favorite shop of the trip, and then stage a full scripted "reenactment" of the rainy midnight drive home — the one where they hit a chunk of metal in the road and tore up the front end of Mike's car, requiring a $25 gas-station wiper blade, duct tape and a $15 Amazon replacement part.

The back half turns to industry news. The guys chew on the Altadis / Imperial Brands fire sale and what it says about big-company expectations for FDA regulation, the new ability to sue companies profiting from confiscated Cuban property and what that could mean for the Cohiba trademark fight, and the looming 25% China tariffs — including a clear-eyed explanation that U.S. importers, not China, actually pay the tariff, and that costs simply get passed down to consumers. They also cover Villiger pulling out of IPCPR in favor of TPE (and why Mike remains committed to IPCPR), the death of Florida's Tobacco 21 bill and the failed beach smoking ban, and Albany's attempt to ban flavored tobacco.

Rounding things out: Mikey's two appearances on the Rebar podcast with JP Fingers, download stats and new international listeners (including a second listener in Romania), the launch of the YouTube channel, and a wish list of future guests — Matt Booth, Robert Caldwell, and a Spencer Drake "redemption" episode.

In This Episode

1. 01
   First Video Episode & Studio Growing Pains
   The hosts fumble through their first-ever video shoot, name the camera, and promise a year-end gag reel of lost takes.
2. 02
   Shout-Outs and Listener Love
   Thanks to Yolanda White, a jab at Halfwheel's Charlie Minato, and praise for the Skip Martin chronologue series driving record numbers.
3. 03
   Florida-to-Georgia Cigar Shop Road Trip
   A shop-by-shop recap of Roz's in Ocala, Parkway in Tallahassee, Boss Cigars, and Blue Havana, plus a Denny's dinner debate.
4. 04
   RoMa Craft / Powstanie Event at La Jerro Tobacco House
   The trip's highlight event with Danny Vasquez, listener meet-ups, and a look at the only Foundation lounge in existence.
5. 05
   The Reenactment: Hitting Metal on the Highway
   A scripted comedy bit recreating the rainy midnight drive home where road debris destroyed the car's front end.
6. 06
   Altadis Fire Sale and Imperial Brands
   Why Imperial may be dumping its premium cigar holdings and how softer-than-expected FDA regulation changes the math.
7. 07
   Cuban Trademarks, Lawsuits and the Cohiba Fight
   New legal avenues to sue companies profiting from confiscated Cuban property and what it means for dual-trademark brands.
8. 08
   Trade Show Shake-Ups and Tobacco Legislation
   Villiger leaves IPCPR for TPE, Florida's Tobacco 21 bill and beach smoking ban die, and Albany targets flavored tobacco.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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

Transcript

Welcome to a Cigar Hustlers Podcast episode 69 this week Mikey and I get back to regular business the video cameras on we don't know what to do enjoy the show. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Squared, Squared, Squared. Then we do this, and now we're at. Okay, good.

I am Mike, and he's Mike, too, and this is Cigar Hustlers' Podcast. Video! Hello, camera. Hello.

Remember we named him Earl. Hello, Earl, the camera. Oh, the camera. We need two more cameras.

The three camera shoot? Yeah. Dude, I can barely handle the one. You're getting there, though.

This is the first time we've ever done a video. Now you want to add two more cameras. I mean, I've seen what you have done in the past week with your video techniques. I'm getting quite good at this.

Hey, we have matching shirts on. Yeah. Oh, no, you don't have yours on. No, no.

Sorry. Sorry. That's the way it goes. So unprofessional.

All right, so this is actually take two. Take two. Take two. Because one, we had a medical emergency and I had to leave.

So what I'll start doing is the ones that we don't save or we don't broadcast, put up, whatever it's called, upload, we'll make like a gag reel. The lost files? We'll make it like a gag reel at the end of the year. The lost podcast files.

Since now I know how to edit. So I apologize for my breathing, I was a bit under the weather, I had the strep, the strep throat. The large spacing here between us. I'm gonna lick you.

It's just a matter of time. We're not doing porn. No porn. So we got to give a shout out to Yolanda White.

I mean, we got to knock this out of the way. Get that out of the way. Okay. She's a huge fan of the show.

She's a great friend. She even took a tour of the studio the other day. She did. She did check out the tour of the studio, which is pretty cool.

This is kind of weird. That's what I'm saying. So like, that's why I wanted to sit over there. No.

If I sit over there. You can't sit over there because that is where the not ready for primetime cigar hustler players reenact things today. Okay. Okay, so, Yolanda White betrayed our Powstanie event.

If you sit over there, though, then you look, I'm still not looking at you. Yeah, we're gonna have, this is, you know. This is a learning curve. Preliminaries.

We're trying to work this out. We'll have to tweak this. She betrayed our Powstanie event. How dare her!

She went to the Drew Estate event. Where the fuck that was? That's just not. And then she showed up later.

Now she works at, you know. The place that shall not be named. That other guy's place. That other guy's placed over on the other side of town.

Yeah. That we don't talk about. But we're, you know, hey, man of my word. Did you see her photo she put up the other night?

She has a very beautiful smile. Yeah. It was a very nice photo. I didn't see it.

Oh. How awkward. I saw it, Yolanda. Avid fan.

It's a great picture. It's a great picture. It's a great photo. So, there it is.

Shout out to Yolanda White. Got it out of the way. Out of the way. Boom.

Done early. So, what do you want to talk about, Michael? I got a couple things. It should be music.

I have some things, but let's get your stuff out of the way because you were prepared a week ago when we tried this before. Okay. Some of this stuff might not be pertinent anymore. Yeah, I'm already deleting some stuff.

Let me start by saying Charlie Monado of Half Wheel is a huge fan of the podcast. Hello, Charlie Monado. Loves the podcast. We would love a nice little blurb about us on your...

He won't talk about it. He won't talk about it. Then don't say his name. What's his name?

Fuck that guy. No, I mean, come on. This is funny. I tag Half Wheel every week when we put up a podcast.

He said that he listened like halfway through one and then he said that it sucked or something. You know what? The back half is the best part, Charlie. Yeah.

Just so you know. I feel like now we should call the camera Charlie. Charlie. Nah.

What are you texting over there? What are you doing? No, I'm opening back up my notes. Oh.

So unprepared. And then I get right back- Texts not to sponsor the show. It's the wrong energy drink. I don't have the other energy drink, and either one of them aren't sponsors.

An official sponsor of the show. No way. Yes. But I definitely need this in my life right now, I can tell you that much.

Well, we went on a trip, Mike. Oh, we're going to do the trip? Yeah. We're getting right into this.

Should we get to the- So, you know, I mean, first of all, before we get into that, Epic Proportions, I mean, like, the fucking, the Skip Martin chronologue, I've heard nothing but great things. The week three was our highest rating ever. Really? Ever.

Just absolutely crushing it. He's just crushing it now. So I feel this week that we had to do video to try to just keep the numbers rolling. And I love the fact that he calls you out on your spelling errors.

Fucking Palmer. I don't know. That was not technically my fault. It was an autocorrect.

It was your fault. Autocorrect. You could have checked it. Well, it was right on Pondbean.

iTunes is where it went bad. Fuck you, Steve Jobs. Is that the guy on iTunes? That's Apple.

You know, he was the guy. He's dead, isn't he? He is. Talking ill of the dead.

Winter has come, Michael! Are you stuck? Coolest little teenager ever. Putting in that work.

Alright, so we went to Atlanta. Yes. We took a nice little romantic getaway, as my wife calls them. Yes.

It's nothing but fun and exciting. Fun and pleasure trip. Working 14 hour days, driving 9, 10 hours a day in the car. Well, you refused to let me drive.

Kicked in the teeth. Yes, getting kicked in the teeth. Yes. Yeah, I'm kind of over that shit.

Like, I don't know, man. I don't want to. Since this trip that we just took, I have a whole different perspective than I did before. Yeah?

I'm sort of the, eh, you know. Oh, well, okay. Move on. I mean, if they're not.

Then after I lost my book, I really liked walking and just carrying a cigar. It's a lot nicer. What's your email, buddy? I'll just send this to you right now.

Oh, you've got it, look at this. There you go, now you have their email. Well, I have your email, too, so, boop, boop. Mm-hmm.

So, are we going to do it blow-by-blow, or just talk about it as one large trip, 'cause that was, like, two and a half weeks ago? Well, I mean, we should talk about where we went. All right, we went to, uh, Ocala. We did.

Are we specifically naming shops now? I don't remember how. If you'd like to. I think we should name them.

I don't have a problem naming them. Okay, then we have to name all of them, because if we say something bad and leave one out, They'll know who they are. Yeah, but you can skip over ones that were uneventful. I don't know where I'm supposed to...

You gotta look over here. I keep glancing over there. You go back, and then back, smile at the camera, who? Alright, um...

Roz's. Roz, we went to Roz's first, saw Mr. Robert Allen from Cigars for Warriors. He's your boo.

He is, he's a good friend. And then some, another gentleman who recognized me came in from Cutters, I had met him at Cutters a long time ago. Yeah, they were, what were they doing, something crazy. No, no, no, no, not even squirrel, it was rabbit hunting, but not even rabbit, they were pre-rabbit-spotting, pre-rabbit hunting for August, look at the rabbits will have moved.

It's like a dome within the dome, some crazy shit by then, you would think. They packed their shit and get out of there. Well, because their families got bigger, because, you know, rabbits. You know how the rabbits work.

That's right. Like, oh, this two-bedroom hole in the wall doesn't work anymore, I gotta move on. So? So from there we went to Tallahassee, went to Parkway, and then we went to, where did we go up to Parkway?

Uh, Jerrys? Jerry's is closed. Well, I was gonna say, uh, don't ask for Jerry when you go to Jerry's. There's not really a Jerry.

There is no Jerry. I asked for Jerry the first time I went. Hi, is Jerry there? This wasn't my first trip.

Yeah, there was a woman working, I said. I was making a joke, you're not by Jerry by chance, are you? You're not by Jerry. You're not Jerry by chance, are you?

She goes, it was a woman working. It's funny, you're a little different because there's a camera here. I feel weird like somebody's watching. Somebody is watching.

The world is watching. At least three people will watch this YouTube. Well, the little video I put up yesterday has 12. Hey.

And the behind the scenes last week has 24. Heard about that one. And we have 26 subscribers now. You're a beast.

We're not even doing anything. You're a beast. Wait until the porn starts getting put up. Oh boy.

All the licking you discussed earlier. Yes. So, anyway, we went to Jerry's, and they were closed. Yep.

So, you said, "We must push on! " Onward! " Is that what we did? Yes.

Okay. But we went to just outside Atlanta. Yes. Arrived approximately 11:00, 11:30-ish, because we had to stop for dinner at 10:00, because you wouldn't feed me.

We had a wonderful dinner at Denny's. It's amazing. Okay, I told you. Here's the problem.

You always order breakfast at Denny's. No matter what time of day it is, you order breakfast. You know, my food wasn't bad. Denny's is known for breakfast.

I just don't like road food, man. You got Mediterranean chicken or something. It was fantastic. I didn't die.

Well, maybe that's how you got the strep throat. No, I got the strep throat from my kids because that's what they do. They weren't at Denny's. They weren't at Denny's at all.

Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. Anyway, I had the, uh, the grand slam or the American slam because it comes with cheese. I like cheese.

I like that you're breaking down the breakfast. It's nice. Well, we're only eight minutes in. I gotta fill up the whole show.

We have plenty of time. Plenty of time. So then we checked in a hotel and you had to work out? Yep.

Did you work out that night or the next morning? Next morning. Oh, alright. Anyway.

And then it was off. We were off once again. Where are we off to, Michael? No burning daylight here in this crowd.

Where were we off to? No wasting time. Gotta get back on the road. We wasted time.

Well, in case you had to work out. But that's okay. Cigar shops don't until 10. So we had time.

That's true. We had time. Uh, where do we go? We went to...

Corinto's. Boss Cigars. Yeah. I like that place.

It's very nice. Cool shop. Cool log cabin set up. Very nice humidor.

Very well lit. I like those little pictures he does. Yeah. Those are nice.

Wanted symbols. The wanted symbols. And now it's fun to watch the people that come in after us. Yeah?

Yeah. I don't know. " Wow. Jesus Christ.

Cheese and rice! All right, so um, oh, this might have sounded bad. I forgot to turn something on. Oh, that's much better.

Oh, good. That's okay. We're only eight minutes in. So then, then where we go?

Uh, I forget. Where'd we go next? Blue Havana. Blue Havana.

Rich? And who do you not ask for there? Well, so the first time I went in there, like, I'm a big guy on social media, like, so I know Rich from Blue Havana. Right.

So the owner's name is Jim, and when I went in the first time, I said, hey, is Rich here? And Jim's like, Rich? Yeah, the guy who runs the place. I didn't say that.

And he goes, no, he's not here. I was like, oh, okay. So the second time I went in there with Mr. Palmer, Jim was a lot nicer.

I was like, hey. Well, it's because we saw Rich first. Hey, he's got my introduction to Rich out of the way. " You know, that's when I figured out that I guess I probably should have said hi to Jim first before.

Maybe then this trip wouldn't have been as awkward. Yeah. " He did. That was pretty cool.

The Voightech was in the IPCPR mag. Yes. And we had a good conversation. We had a good time.

Yeah, the, what did Skip call it? The, I forget what he called it. He didn't call it the Warberry. He called it something else.

Oh yeah? I forget what he called it. War Pig? Maybe he did say War Pig.

The War Pig. The War Pig. The War Pig. Yes, and then from there we went to...

The event. The Roma Craft event. The Roma Craft event. The Roma Craft event slash Powstanie event.

It was like a Powstanie crash party. But it wasn't a Powstanie event. Yeah. Please go ahead.

At La Jero Tobacco House. At La Jero Tobacco. Yeah, I couldn't remember the name. I'm terrible with names.

You can say you're in sales if you don't know names. I'm not technically in sales. I guess not. You're technically a fucking producer though, I can tell you that much.

Oh, well thank you very much. So, congratulations. It was a very nice event, a lot of people. A lot of fans of the show showed up.

A couple of guys drove several hours just to say hello. Want to give some shout outs to those people? If you wrote down their names, because we are used to. Since you remember.

I'm terrible with names. Oh, we have Drew @RefinedSoutherner on Instagram. We have Sarge, Steve, Sarge, Waldrip, @drillsarge_waldrip, something like that. Did you write all these down?

No. My boy Greg Noggle, you know, at, uh, I think it's like @southerndryel. Yeah, that would be him. That's my dude.

Um, we saw Chris was there, who's recently got an Instagram, @Chris something or other, Chris Clibborn. Oh yeah, him, uh, he, well, we'll talk about that off air. Yeah, and then, you know, obviously, Adam, Vanessa, and AJ, Adam owns a store, and Vanessa owns the store's wife, AJ is their son, who's fucking, he's got like this badass camera, he's taking some dope pictures, just living it up. It's a fucking awesome store.

It is the only, what, foundation lounge? Yes. In existence. In existence.

It's very nice. Very well decorated. Yeah. So of all the stores, Michael.

Should we, uh, too bad you didn't, you should've got a picture there in front of one of the murals and hashtag, let's hang out, where are you? Hashtag, let's hang out. For the lock, Nick Monster. Well, it was that motherfucker's birthday, when we were out on the road.

Yeah, yeah, you called him. " No, you called him. Oh, I called, you're right. You called him, sang into the phone.

I sang, "Happy Birthday" in the voice. Happy Birthday. And that motherfucker didn't call me back, so then I text him, I'm like, "Dude," the next day, he's like, "What the f... " I mean, he's like JD, just too fucking busy for everybody.

Wasn't there something going on or something? I don't know, he's just busy working or something. Your grandfather was sick or something? Nah, that's all bullshit, come on.

That's all bullshit. That's a lie. That's a lie. Everybody's fine.

So, yeah. So, what was your favorite shop? That's my question to you. Oh, no, I'm sorry.

I said it first. My favorite shop was Lajero Tobacco House. Next, what was your favorite shop? I like Boss Cigars.

Yeah? It was different. There's not many log cabin cigar shops that you're going to. You switched it on me.

Why would I say it was last time? I think you said Lajero last time. Well, it doesn't matter because that tape didn't exist. Yeah, the tape didn't exist because of medical issues.

Medical issues, that's right. So, yeah. So, uh, then, uh, on the right, oh, then, okay, the event got over, like, 9:30, 10 o'clock-ish. It's downpouring rain Yes Raining cats and dogs So I very nicely Go get the car Get soaked I know As soon as I pull the car off You're too good to me It stopped raining You're too fucking good to me Like God goes Oh no Michael's coming out now I cannot rain on Michael So even though he just has to walk A foot and a half to the car now I'm sitting in the car Wiping the water off my eyes Should we mention Danny Vasquez?

I mean he was there The legend of Roma Craft Oh was he there? I don't remember He's the Roe and the Ma Of Roma Craft Danny Vasquez. Oh, that's right. He was there.

I completely forgot. Wow. He was hustling and selling the cigars. He's doing a good job.

Well, he told me to wait in the car and then didn't thank me afterwards for going to his event. Nice. It's the way it goes. You pissed him off, bud.

Good job. Well, you know. Good job. So you want to keep talking about your adventures?

The drive? The drive home? Well, we have a reenactment I have set up on the other side of the studio. I'm interested to see what you want us to do.

I have a script for you to read, but you have to promise to read the script word for word, with no looking ahead. I can't guarantee that. Yes, you can. Yes, you can.

You can guarantee. You can guarantee. Now, it's only scripted for you. I didn't let you see what I've seen.

So, shall we set up and do the reading? If you want to do that. I mean, I got a couple other things to talk about. We can circle back to that afterwards.

Okay. All right. All right. So, let's go.

Let's go do this. I thought we were circling back to your notes, or circling back to-- We do the notes afterwards. Oh, okay. All right.

I need one second. Michael right now is getting out of his podcast production area. He is making his way to the other side of the table. He has a script for me.

I don't know what-- One, two, one. One, two, okay, now these two should be on, I don't know if people can hear me, okay, but they can't see me. All right, your script is three sides, so it's front, back, and then front, okay? Okay.

All right, this is your seat here, okay? Okay. All right, don't look at it until you get there. All right.

I have to move the camera. All right, you go ahead and you move the camera, adjust it. I have to adjust the camera. Adjust the camera.

Just pan slowly so people don't get sick. And look, you can see another part of the studio. Oh, that's lovely. Ok, now I have to zoom in.

Ok. You can go ahead and move to the second seat. I'm moving. I'm relocating for the...

For the reenactment. For the reenactment. I'm knocking off shit. Did you move that already, huh?

No, you son of a bitch, you're tearing this down on the wall again! Ok. A big guy. Just like in the car, you sit in the back, I sit in the front.

That's not how this works. Sure. We sit next to each other. That's exactly what happens.

I have photos on Instagram and social media. On Instagram and social media that prove- Those are just set up- Wow, complete horse shit. Oh, the glasses are broke! I brought the wrong pair.

Good. That's okay, this will work anyway. Put these on. I have my own.

I have my own sunglasses. Okay, put your sunglasses on, it's even better. I didn't know these were the broke ones, my wife- What are you fucking doing to me? This is the most outrageous podcast we've done.

Face the front, just like you would, you know, sitting right behind me in the car. What do you mean? Put on your hat, because you always have your hat on. I didn't have a hat on.

Yes, you did. I didn't have a hat on this, Chip. Yes, you did. You always have a hat on.

Oh, I have a hat? No, I'm in the front, driving. Okay. Michael's in the back.

Okay, you do have the first line, so you can turn it over. No, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Alright, there's your script.

Alright. Okay, we're driving. It's raining. It's approximately 11:30-ish.

Going down the highway. It's very, very dark. Don't read ahead on the script. Okay.

I'm driving. Thanks for driving, go ahead. That was a great event I just had in Atlanta. Who is that from Rovercraft that attended?

That was Danny Vasquez, Michael. You remember him, right? What time is it? It was his idea for the entire podcast?

It just says what time is it? Well, you gotta let me say my line. Oh, okay. See if there's a space for my name, that's where I say my line.

If I knew that. Okay, go ahead. I can't believe you tore up the wall. Okay.

Okay, go ahead now. What time is it? It's about 11:30, 12 o'clock, Michael. I'm really tired.

Keep driving, James. Lower his head, close his eyes. I'll close his eyes. Don't read the stage direction!

Keep driving, James. Okay, yes sir, I'll keep driving. And I hate it when you call me James. Ah!

What was that? I think I had a giant piece of metal in the road. I think it was another car. Sounds like air coming out of your tire.

That's not air coming out of the tire, I'm dragging a piece of the fucking car. You need to pull over, I'm scared. No, no, I'm an excellent driver. Hold on.

Oh, the piece just fell off. It just fell off. See, no more noise. A nice Chardonnay from, uh, Wenti Vineyards would go great right now.

Yes, I know, but you can't drink while you're, while I'm driving. What's Wenti Vineyards? We just hit a plug. Oh.

With my wine, I believe, I'll have a Dominican Puro cigar from Florinata. That would be an excellent choice, Mike. It comes in a Maduro, but I believe I have the natural. That would be a great idea.

Maybe when we stop. Is that the end of this? Is that the way it ends? That's all I got.

Okay, that was it. Anyway, we hit a piece of metal in the road. It tore up the front driver's side of the car. You know what we should have done?

We should have went live right then and there. Oh. How fucking... Because you were so pissed.

That would have been funny. Like, you were so stressed out. I think it would have been pretty fucking epic if we went live. All right.

Now I know. Next time. Next time. Break out the camera.

Boom. I say, what's going on, Michael? And you're going to say, I hate my fucking life. I hate my life.

I hate you. I hate everybody. Okay. Give us a second now.

Now we're going to go back. We're going to regroup. I'm going to sit here while you reposition. Once you're repositioned, I'll jump over and then fuck up the screens a little more in your back area.

Wow. Two plugs on that one. That's nice. Wow, you're amazing.

Can't wait till the checks come in. You have to give away so many free ones first. Oh. So what's 1-T wines?

That's Jessica Baranski. It's Miss Baranski. One of our biggest fans. A little shout out to Baranski.

That's right. Well, I have to show her how well it'll work before they actually get integrated. Okay, good for you. So we're going to try to do that every so often.

That was fantastic. I love that. That makes us a little different than the regular. But the sets will get better.

Yeah. The sets will get better. What would be great is if I could see the stuff beforehand. No, no, because then it's funnier if you don't know what I'm going to say.

I think I'd be like, you know, maybe memorize some of those lines. Oh, well, we can as we go. It's a learning curve. Or just use me as a fucking whipping post every single time, you cocksucker.

That's what makes people laugh. So, yeah. On the other side of here that you can't see, we'll use that as a set, maybe, or something. You failed to mention a couple things with your car.

Number one... Well, I didn't talk, well, okay, we did pull over, we had to pull over, because we didn't know what the noise was. Okay, but your windshield... Well, the wipers needed to be replaced.

You couldn't see dick out of your windows. That would have been funny if I put that in. So, Michael did spring for a $25 wiper at the pilot gas station. Because they only had one.

And we had no idea what it was we hit, we still don't know what it hit, but it was a... It was actually a fisherman, and we threw his body into a lake. It was metal. It had to be metal.

And it's going to be, I know what you did last summer, 12. Because it fucked up the front end on one side, which is still duct tape. Yeah, you had a hook. The hook?

The hook pulled the thing out. So anyway, Greg and I got the bumper back on the day after we got back. The piece that actually came off that we threw in the trunk went right back in. I wasn't even broken.

That's good. And I ordered the replacement part from Amazon for $15. You still have the tape on there? Yes, the part came yesterday, and Mr.

Drew Carpenter is going to help me this weekend, because he has one of those hydraulic jacks, so we can take the tire off, put the piece back in, and then put it all back together. Very nice. So for like 20 bucks, it's... It was well worth it.

It's going to be... Will you get a rental next time, or no? No, we'll take your car. I mean, I would have taken my car.

For one, we would have seen the fucking object in the road, first thing. Even if the wipers had been working, we would not have seen that. I think you're right, we passed some campers about a mile down the road who were out looking at the back of their truck. Yeah, it looks like they realized that they forgot to put the fucking tail bed.

Yeah, something. I think it was a tailgate. I think it was a grill or something. It was metal.

It's definitely metal. Yeah. And your car is such a piece of shit that we could have just thrown it to the curb. It's all plastic.

Yeah, exactly. It's one of those disposables. But it gets 38 miles to the gallon, so we bought like a tank and a half of gas for the two days. Yeah, a little more.

Maybe two, maybe two, tops two. So anyway. I mean, the Atlanta area is kind of fucking weird, right? So you had, I mean, we were spread out.

Right. We weren't in Atlanta, we were on the outskirts. All the way around the suburbs. And like, from one to the other is an hour and a half away.

Right. You know, five miles, one hour, 45 minutes. Worse than fucking I-4 in Orlando. Who knows how many shops we passed going from shop to shop.

In Orlando, you're an hour away from anything in Orlando. - No? - Yeah, pretty much. - No matter what.

- Pretty much. - So yeah, yeah, so we destroyed your car, we had a good time. - We always have a good time. - Yeah, you know, but you were definitely on more edge this time around than you've been in the past.

- Well, we weren't, nobody, when we're in Florida, people know me when I walk into somewhere. - But you're the famous producer of a Cigar Hustlers podcast now. - Yeah, well, you tore the shit off the wall again. - I did, I did.

You gotta get some glue for this or something. this or something they have like a spray adhesive i have tape i'll just two sides or the spray adhesive no i don't like that he just doesn't care i don't care so um you spend 20 minutes a week down here in this place yeah okay yeah i do you're right you live down here i mean i got nothing i'm i'm just coming and fuck everything up you turn up the back one so i went on rebar Oh, yeah. I went on rebar twice. Twice now.

Twice. Still not up. So the first one was really good. I thought it went really well.

I think JP Fingers was a little drunk, maybe a little high. I think that's part of the show. His questions were kind of not well thought out. Episode the first time.

And what happened was. What happened? Apparently, there was no audio of me talking throughout the entire thing. Oh, the second time?

So, I told them that they should take that and, you know, reach out to you and have you dub in and talk shit about me. I think that would be fantastic. So, tell me, Mike, what do you think about this? Just let me answer.

Oh, that would be great. So, the second time around, I thought it was a really fucking good podcast. I think you just emailed that to me. I can do it.

Yeah, we'll have to reach out to them. All right. So we got some stickers and stuff coming from Rebar, so when it comes out, we'll put them in orders and stuff like that. I'd like one for the door.

Okay. The inside of the door. Done. All right, done.

So Rebar went-- So when are they gonna air the episode with you? I think in like two weeks. Two weeks from now? Because it was two weeks.

Well, if this thing drops on Tuesday, I think it might be that Friday. Oh, so next Friday. Yeah. Excellent.

Exciting. Exciting stuff. All right, good. And they're out of Canada.

One of them is. JP Fingers is. JP Fingers. Uh, J-Dub is in Texas.

Texas. Oh. Houston Chicks. So you got anything else?

I think it's Houston. Um. Checking your emails during the show? That's nice.

Yeah, no, I'm looking at my notes. Never get your stuff. I'm just looking at my notes, brother. Yeah, you should have them down in front of you so it doesn't look weird.

Is that better? So moony. See what I have to deal with every day. Hey, let's talk about this Altidus bullshit.

Okay, Altidus bullshit. With the for sale thing. Did it sell while we were not doing the sale? I don't think it sold.

I don't think it. Or it has sold and somebody's doing their due diligence. I heard nothing else about it. So, Altidus is selling everything.

Fire sale. It's a fire sale. Fucking, fucking. Getting out of business sale.

Like, hey, we're out of here. Well, it's not actually Altidus. It's the parent company Altidus. Yeah, what's the parent company name?

Imperial. Imperial. " Don't they make butter? Imperial Margin?

I have no idea. Same guys? But that'd be fantastic if it was tied in. You know, there's way more margin in fucking butter than there is in...

In margin. In leaves. Way more margin in margin. There's more margin in margin.

So, um... So anyway, uh, yes. So, uh, so what's happened since, uh, since you announced it? I haven't seen any updates.

I mean, there's just stupid to talk about then, why not? Well, I mean, it's just kind of crazy to me because, like, they have, I think that they have a lot of opportunities to kind of grow as a company, even though they really are at the top of the heap, but there's a lot of miscommunication in so many different parts of that business that cause major problems for them. Well, maybe they don't think it's going to go their way. I mean, the big companies were hoping for more regulation to weed out the littler guys.

So now it doesn't look as bad as it was going to once be. So you think they look at the situation and say, hey, you know, there's not going to be so much regulation, so we're out? Maybe. They're still at the top of the heap, or at least one of.

They have all those holdings in Cuba also. Yeah. And that was one of the things I was going to talk about, because now you can sue a company in America that is making profit or something from lands or things that were taken from you in Cuba. " They'll go, "No, fuck you.

" But you can sue them now if they've made money off your property that you can prove that you won't. What about brands? Brands. So, like, these companies have...

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, whatever... Like, the Cohiba that you can get in a cigar store in Florida is not a Cuban Cohiba. Right, but it would have to be the company that sells the Cuban Cohibus.

They can sue? They can sue the owner of that company if they also have like a branch in the United States. I mean, because that's been like a back-and-forth ongoing battle for years. Right.

Well, back in the 70s, they took it off. You couldn't do it. So now Trump said, "Eh, it'll be okay. " Oh, good.

So, yeah. So, I mean, that could have been a huge loss for them at some point. Yeah, boy, Trump's making your life fucking miserable, huh? Yeah, yes, I know.

We're going to talk about that here in a minute. Possible tariffs, on or off the air? On. Okay.

In our international news section. Oh! Do-do-do-do! International news!

Are we jumping to that now? No, I got a phone call, I have to pass. Look, you're disheveled again. See, one phone call, he's a fucking mess.

Look at you, why don't you read some more notes off your phone, pick it up and we'll go dead air. I already did. Here, I'll just turn your mic off. I don't have any more notes.

There you go, now you can't talk. I can't? No, that's a lie. Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, so, well, China reneged on some of their agreements with the tariffs. We're talking about international news, please. Mm-hmm. I'm going to insert international news.

You were fried that in? Oh, that's a great idea. Oh, I still had interesting news. Anyway, boop.

So, China backed out a part of the deal, so Trump got a little pissed off, and he said, "If you guys don't sit back down to the table again by Friday, which is tomorrow the 10th, Which is tomorrow the 10th, we're going to slap the 25% margins back on again. I got an email from people last night, China already thinks it happened. They already got notification that it's already happened, but it has not happened yet. It has not happened.

It has not happened. But what I think a lot of people don't understand is, China doesn't pay the tariff. Ah. The United States company who buys the thing manufactured in China pays the tariff.

Well, it just slows production, is what it does. No, it doesn't slow production. It raises prices. It raises prices.

But what is going on is, and even from my particular customers, they're just passing it on. I mean, it's not like they can go somewhere else and get the goods. Right. So, they're just passing it on to me and you.

Oh. " So, your price goes up 25%. Oh. So, they're saying...

It's kind of like the S-chip in cigars. Yeah, same idea. Well, but retailers just keystoned it. Right.

So, they made money. Oh. Well, they just up the price 50% instead of 25%. Right.

S. household $760 a year, extra, above what they're already paying, put 96,000 people out of work, because it'll be smaller factories, smaller companies that just go out of business again, like happened last time. Smaller factories where? Smaller companies here that buy goods.

Oh. They're just going to pass it, they're just going to pass it along. And you're upset about this? Well, yes and no.

No, I mean, I'm upset because I don't think it's good for the economy or good for the government. But my customers aren't running scared. So, I mean, it doesn't, I mean, I'm sure there'll be some of the smaller guys. But like I said, you can't go somewhere else and get it.

Right. So you don't have any choice. There's not another country set up that can handle the manufacturing. So after we already did the 10 and then the possible 15, everybody just took a look at it and went, there's no place else we can go.

So here we are. So here we are. So we're just going to raise prices 25%. Okay.

So all your made-in-China goods are going to go up. I'm sorry. Not my fault. Well, allegedly.

Allegedly. We'll see how that ends. Right. So we should know Friday night at midnight.

" The reenactment was fantastic. I want to circle back. You're still taken by that. You plugged some people in.

Be not ready for Prime Time Cigar Hustle the Players. Yeah, that was fantastic. I was going to try to do it without you and have somebody play the part of you. Oh.

But everyone is scared. Like who? It would have been one of the employees or your brother. Your brother won't go on the air and the employees are that.

That would have been funny if you had like a famous actor or something. Well, yes, I had Charles Bronson, he was gonna come down, and then I was talking to Dustin Hoffman, but you know. That would have been fucking perfect. Only one I could get was the Stacey guy, but he wanted me to do it without my pants on, so.

Oh, I don't know who that is, but-- The guy that did that show on Netflix who got in trouble and then he got fired. Oh, Kevin Spacey? Kevin Spacey, not Stacey, Spacey, yes, Kevin Spacey. Maybe his way didn't come, I gotta-- This is what I gotta fucking deal with.

I'm terrible with names. That Stacey guy. That fucking Stacey guy. The Stacey guy.

The Stacey guy. I was gonna have that Stacey guy, but he wanted my pants on. That's right, he did. So, in other industry news that you just jumped right past me, Villager pulled out of the IPCPR.

Yes. They're gonna go to the TPE, which I think is a better choice for them. What's your choice for them? Doubling down on the TPE.

Because they're machine-made products anyway. Well, they have some premium cigars. Well, they don't feel it's a big enough market share to... Yeah, they don't have a good demand in the US.

That's the problem. The problem is... Have you ever been to the TPE? No.

Is there a reason you don't go? I mean, it looks like a very nice show. It's just smaller. I go to IBCBR.

Why not both? Because here's the thing. The only other one I would consider going to is TAA, right? Yeah.

IPCPR needs full support, and I believe in supporting the IPCPR. Gotcha. A lot of other retailers go to IPCPR, that's where, you know, you kind of meet and have, you get to meet everybody in a small period of time, right, instead of flying all over the fucking world and beating your head relentlessly. So, TP is not an option for me, IPCPR is, and it'll continue to be until I either A, leave this industry, or B, it implodes.

The second I brought to you by the IPCPR. Yeah, I don't think that'll ever happen either. You're such a negative Nancy. No.

You are. So, what else you got? The Florida law to increase the age to 21 to buy tobacco died. Shot down.

Shut down. Florida has spoken. Jose Oliva. Fucking handling that shit.

" What do we say to the dead? Not today. Not today. Not today.

Not today. What do we say to the fucking regulation? Not today. Also, the ban of smoking on the beach did not pass.

Mmm. You can still smoke on the beach. I love this Lala Swamp. America.

I actually, the few times I have to go to the beach, that's the biggest thrill, My biggest thrill is being able to sit there and smoke. Right. I dig a little ashtray in the sand. Oh, that's nice.

I ash my little ashtray. It's a leaf, like you said, so I take the band with me and I bury the cigar butts when I leave. You leave it with its... Back in the sand, I just...

Oh. I should probably just take the butt, too. Why? It's all natural.

It's not like I'm leaving a cigarette filter floating around. That's true. It just leaves. I guess you got a point.

It just leaves. See, Albany, New York is attempting to ban flavored tobacco products. Yeah. That doesn't surprise me.

That would surprise me. Well, they're mostly after the vaping people, but... I think New York eventually tries to start banning people, which just eventually happens. No more people are alive.

We really don't want anybody in New York. What else you got? Oh, we have a show update. Oh, tell me.

Big numbers here, big numbers. Tell me. Thank you to all the many listeners and our new YouTube followers. Our one guy in Romania has a friend.

Oh, there's two of you! No, because they have been-- He told somebody. That's right. About us.

So, shout out to Romania. We had two of you now. We should learn how to say something in Romanian. Well, I think when we reach five, we'll work on it.

Okay, because we had-- We're gonna set a goal for you, our Romanian friend. We appreciate the referral to one of your buddies. Now, we need three more at five. Mr.

Palmer's gonna say something very nice. I will do a very nice Romanian monologue for you. There you go. Because we have 73 downloads in Romania.

What if he doesn't, what if he doesn't, what if he doesn't, what if he doesn't, what if he doesn't speak Romanian, what if he doesn't speak something English? Well then he can Google what I said. Oh good. Well, when I say it in Romanian, you can whisper it in English.

Perfect. He said. Okay. Because there's 73 downloads now.

I like it. We only have 68 shows. That's, that's amazing. That means there has to be two people.

That's awesome. Two people. 4% against last year's numbers currently. Excellent.

I would like to also welcome our Norwegian and our Swedish listeners. Ooh! We're fuckin' international. We're international.

Kind of a big deal. That's right, that's right. And then in the United States, we'd like to welcome our Hawaiian, our one listener in Hawaii. That's gotta be Mike Kissel.

All right, we have one in Nebraska. Mmm, I don't know that one, off the top of my head. Indiana? Indiana can go so many different directions.

Maybe Jeff Boutte. Oh, is he technically in Indiana? Yeah. Or maybe downloaded it at home or something that way?

Yeah. Ah, and Wisconsin. Wisconsin. We have one.

I got a couple in Wisconsin. We have one downloading all those new states. Nice. The only states we don't have any listeners in.

Let me guess. Let me guess. Let me guess. It's Utah.

Yeah, but no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, we have a Utah? We have a Utah. But no, it's an area.

It's an area. It's an area. C.? No, no.

C. I like to think it's Donald Trump. It's definitely not Donald Trump. He's never there, he's in Florida.

Barack Obama? He's never there either. Senator Bob Dole. Okay.

Just tell me. It's the northern Midwest. Like the vicinity? But there's like five little states up at the top of the Canadian border.

They're not cigar fans. No, it's too cold, you can't smoke. It's too cold. Too cold.

How long have you got? That's it, that's all the information. All right. What else you got?

We're only at 39 minutes. I think that's pretty good. I think that it's important that we remind our listeners to subscribe. Subscribe to our YouTube.

Subscribe, rate, and reply. Oh, we had a couple of new reviews on iTunes. They were very nice. We were called Slabdicks and Amateurs.

Yeah, that was Skip. Whatever. That's it. He's not allowed back on.

Who are we going for now? Oh, well, I was gonna say the guy who owns the shop that we don't say the name of, but that's like impossible. Yeah, that'll never happen. He hates me.

So let's go with Boofie. You want Matt? Matt Booth. Matt Boofie, baby.

Matt Boofie, baby. I think we could easily do that. I think so, because he hangs out with Robert Caldwell all the time. " Can you get your buddy Boofie?

Can you guys come on together? Oh, they come on together. I feel like... If Boofie needs his own show.

Yeah, that might be a little too much. If you put them together, it's just, you know, we would just literally hit the record button and just walk the fuck out. I think if Robert came back on, that's what we do anyway. He just wants to tell stories.

I liked when he was here. You know, I really would like a Spencer Drake redemption. Oh, I don't know. But that motherfucker comes into town and doesn't even check in.

No, he won't come close to Orlando now. Kick his ass. " Right. That's where he's, you know, yeah.

That's where he's strongest, I guess. That's where he does corporate stuff. You know, if we don't talk very loud, it doesn't register. It's so low now, yeah.

Whatever. As long as it works. Hey, you know, I'm just getting better at the settings. So, yes.

So, everybody on YouTube, tell a friend. Subscribe, please. Subscribe. Review.

Tell a friend. Tell us if it sucks. We'll do another skit next week, so something has to happen. Oh, really?

@CigarHustlersPodcast on Instagram? You know, it's blowing up. Oh, yeah. We're almost at like, what, 600 followers?

No, we're close to seven now. Approaching, I can't wait to reach 1,000. When you reach 1,000, we should do something. Do what?

I don't know, we'll give something away or something. A prize? Yeah. Not one of my people.

These are my people. Well, no. Do you like the new one from the happy field out here in the end? I'm going for it.

Oh, you got the warmer. I got to take that home. No, that's mine. You lost that.

No. Do you have a double of something? I have two dragons at home, and they would love that. There's only one, they'll fight.

No, they have a whole set, they don't have the war machine though. I think I have two Captain Americas. Oh, I'll take a Captain America! Alright.

You can't wait, when you bring the Captain, you can take the war machine. Wow. I don't appreciate that. Not that I don't trust you, but I'm not dealing with your wife, I'm dealing with you.

Wow. So, Miss Brittany, if you'll please make sure he brings in the Captain America, please. I will work on that for you. I will work on that for you.

Did she hear any of the Amazons this week? Oh, you guys don't have it, do you? have it do you no she was in all of them did not hear we got it we're gonna get it on alexa just a little flash news action yeah every day still goes up every day uh your lexus skill uh i'll wait till you're here tomorrow's yeah yeah fuck with me will you what did i do nothing what did i do you stood me up this week michael i'm here now yeah but i got sick like what the fuck do you want from me i'm sorry but when you were in the car and your wife found out that you You stood me up, even she was giving you shit for standing me up. She always gives me shit.

Because you didn't sound sick in the car. I don't know what to tell you, bud. I had a temperature of 103. Oh, you're such a baby.

I have a temperature of 104 right now. Great. Good for you. Alright, shout outs to anybody else?

I mean, we covered a lot. Should we give a shout out to our number one fan, Mr. Jean Jurgalette? Sure, if you want to.

Well, let's not. Okay. Alright, let's not. I didn't mention his name anyway.

Okay, what else you got? That's it. Come on, we got 18 minutes to get to an hour. I feel good.

I feel good about the podcast. I feel like, you know, hey- You should sing a song. I don't want to fucking fill it with bullshit. I want it to keep it to be real.

Sing, sing, sing. This is where I can get up and walk away. Thanks for listening, everybody. And thanks for viewing- Wait, wait, we need a- Our viewers.

Is that the thing? And, um- I feel like an 80-year-old man, though. Hey, nice to see you. And as the weeks kind of go by, we're going to start gearing up towards IPCPR, so we'll work on that fucking chaos.

What are we going to do there? I don't know. Are you going to be there? Oh, yeah.

For sure? I already got my ticket. You got to bring that thing. Well, I figured I'd bring the camera.

I think it'd be awesome. I'm not bringing all this. No, but we can get some footage and shit. We need a microphone other than the clip-on, because if you go to interview somebody, you're going to...

I'm not gonna... So, how are you, sir? But, at least, you know, just kind of put in the work. Yeah, we'll figure that out.

All right. Now we have 17 minutes. All right, good. Kill it.

All right, everybody. Thank you for listening. Enjoy all the credits and everything that roll afterwards. I've been working really hard on this stuff, so...

This is where they close the window. This is mic two and... Mic one? Nice.

What am I? Odd. All right, bye. Bye.

This call is subject to recording and monitoring. To accept charges, press one. To refuse charges, thank you for using T-Netix. This has been a Cigar Hustlers podcast, a Mike and Mike production.

m. for all new episodes with some of the biggest names in the cigar industry. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m.

for all new episodes with some of the biggest names in the cigar industry. You can follow the guys on Instagram at CigarHustler for Mikey and FCC_Mike for Mike2. You can also follow the show on Instagram at A Cigar Hustler Podcast and on the Facebook page and the all new YouTube channel. Please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on whichever podcast provider you choose.

Thanks for listening.

Show Notes

This week the video version of our podcast drops!

We finally sit down and catch up everyone on where all we have been and what we have been doing!

Coming off the three week Skip Martin Chronicles, we would like to thank everyone for downloading the episodes and welcome to all our new listeners!

As always e welcome your input and show ideas on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast".  you can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike Too @fcc_mike.

Remember to always Rate, Review and Subscribe on which ever of our podcast providers you use!

Enjoy the Show!