Episode 77 Post IPCPR/PCA 2019 Show

Episode Summary

Episode 77 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is the hosts' post-show debrief from the 2019 IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas — the last one under that name, as the association announced its rebrand to the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) starting in 2020. The two Mikes trade stories from the show floor and the after-hours: working the RoMa Craft booth, dinners at Yardbird, the Stratosphere and an off-strip sushi spot, getting booted from build day for wearing flip-flops, a $100 bet with a fellow rep over closing a "tire kicker" retailer that ended up on a Buccaneers Super Bowl ticket, and a gym session alongside Summer League Atlanta Hawks players.

On the product side, the hosts run down what they actually smoked and liked: RoMa Craft's Wunder|Lust, Baka and Wombat, the new Aquitaine offerings, Steve Saka's Sobremesa Brulée and the new Neanderthal, La Coalición from Crowned Heads (made at Drew Estate), Guardian of the Farm, a new Esteban Carreras, and Tatuaje's Mexican Experiment. The Superfly, by contrast, landed as a letdown — though they concede show-floor cigars are often bone dry. There's also talk of E.P. Carrillo's new Encore-era releases, Hector Alfonso's Psyko Seven Turtle, and the new Ciclope Highclere from Nick Melillo's Foundation.

The back half turns serious on the state of the trade show itself. Attendance is clearly down despite association messaging to the contrary, the busiest boutique booths were Foundation, Southern Draw and RoMa Craft, and the hosts debate the PCA's planned consumer day — how ticketing would even work through retailers, whether it alienates the retailer base the show depends on, and what happens if a major manufacturer like Fuente, General, Oliva or Padrón pulls out. They also discuss the 2020 dates butting up against the July 4th selling weekend, the possibility of moving the show out of Vegas, and Saka's stated plan to skip show sales in favor of a handshake-and-meet approach. The episode closes with upcoming guest plans, including Hector Alfonso, John Kearney of La Flor Dominicana, and Wes from Crowned Heads.

In This Episode

1. 01
   IPCPR Becomes the PCA
   The hosts read the official announcement that the IPCPR is rebranding as the Premium Cigar Association for 2020 and what the new name signals.
2. 02
   Show Floor Stories and Vegas Nightlife
   Build day flip-flop violations, Casa Fuente, Yardbird, the Stratosphere dinner and the RoMa Craft crew's after-hours antics.
3. 03
   A $100 Bet on a Tire-Kicker Retailer
   How a wager over closing a sample-hunting retailer turned into a longshot Buccaneers Super Bowl ticket.
4. 04
   New Cigars Worth Smoking
   Impressions of Sobremesa Brulée, Neanderthal, La Coalición, Guardian of the Farm, Baka, Wunder|Lust, a new Esteban Carreras and the underwhelming Superfly.
5. 05
   Which Booths Were Actually Busy
   Foundation, Southern Draw and RoMa Craft stood out among boutiques, while overall attendance was visibly down.
6. 06
   The Consumer Day Debate
   Whether opening the show to consumers helps or alienates retailers, and the logistical mess of selling tickets through shops.
7. 07
   Can the Trade Show Survive?
   What happens if Fuente, General, Oliva or Padrón pull out, the July 4th date conflict, and talk of moving the show out of Las Vegas.
8. 08
   Upcoming Guests and Show Plans
   Hector Alfonso, John Kearney of La Flor Dominicana, Terry of Cigar Porn and Wes from Crowned Heads are on deck, plus plans to schedule interviews at next year's show.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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Transcript

Welcome to Episode 77, where we recap the IPCPR/PCA adventures. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Squared, Squared, Squared. Hey, didn't work. Oh, there we go.

Hey, okay, we're here. Hey, it's working. He is Mike. Adam likes when I sing this.

He is Mike, and I'm Mike too. And this is Cigar Hustlers Podcast. It's an amazing operation what we have here, you know? It is.

Just don't look outside the edge of the camera view. It's true. There is a lot of stuff. Please talk to the microphone.

I am like right here. But you turned your head and I couldn't hear you. Right here? So this is our post-IPCPR.

Yes. This will go up literally tomorrow. Fantastic. Hey, shout out to John Perry for making this badass Warbear Yeti for me.

That is very nice. Super dope. Now I don't have to drink all these fucking shitty coffee mugs that you made. Hey!

It's the finest dollar store pottery they had. Well, now I have a Yeti. That's alright, there's still two in the shot. I feel awesome.

Two in the shot? One in the shot? I can't see the shot. Two in the shot.

Two in the shot, one in a hole, there we go. Alright, so, let's review this, uh... The IPCPR? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, now called the PAC. Well, PCA as of 2020. PCA. Oh.

Going forward the... No, no, I have the official announcement here. We have a final announcement here. Going forward, the IPC variable known as the Premium Cigar Association, PCA.

It is a hope of the PCA that the new name, logo, and direct message will put the association in a better position to abdicate and serve on behalf of the industry. Quote, unquote. Okay, so we got to get back to that. Let's just talk about the show.

Let's talk about, you know, the overall experience and then we can kind of address what I said before I went to the show and then, you know, where I'm at now. You know, just a quick little show update. The Hirochi show scored less than you and I's pre-post IPCPR. You know why?

They didn't share it. What? No, I don't think that's why. I think it's because it aired during the show time.

During the show? Could have been. So, you know, because we have a tremendous amount of retailer listeners, brand owners, manufacturers, people in the industry. Even though Hirochi now has done every podcast you could probably think of.

We were first. I saw people interviewing him like crazy at the show. Oh, well, that doesn't count. Those don't count.

He came to us. He came here. Which is a big difference. He called to request to be on the show.

That's right. Well, his people called. And by his people... Spencer Drake.

Oh, yeah. By his people, I mean Spencer Drake. Applebee's Drake. Okay.

Applebee's Drake. So... Hey, can you slide your chair a little bit this way? You want me over here?

I want you a little closer. I miss you. We haven't seen each other since the... Oh, oh, perfect.

How's that? Oh, perfect. You look like a star. Can't even tell you're swollen.

Wow. That's too far away. Don't... Oh, now the tablecloths.

It's all fucked up. You wanted this. Now you're too far away. You got it.

Okay, can't wait till the new tables come. When are we going to start talking about the show? Dan, tomorrow. What was the...

Let me ask you, Michael. Certainly, Michael. What was the most fun that you had at the show? What was the funniest thing?

Well, see, the funnest thing for me wasn't even at the show. Yeah. That was when the four of us were up in the room just shooting the shit. That was pretty good.

That was a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Greg told me, the first time he saw me, what, Friday, did you guys go back?

" I go, "Yeah, what happened? " That's true. " He goes, "Five minutes, if you guys are gone, Mike and I turn to each other and go, "We missed them. " Yeah, this is-- That was very nice.

It's like, you know, it's like losing half the Rat Pack. I mean, it's super important for Hunt to be there, you know, every single day, because it'll just fall off. I was going to say, did his sales drop off after he left? Yeah.

Of course. You know, because... He's a very personable young man, too. Yeah, he's in a suit and tie and bullshit, and he's like, "Hey, hey, how are you?

" Talk to anybody, anybody. Yeah, he's my fluff boy. Yeah. " Yeah, talk to Matt for a few minutes here, will I go sell something to someone else?

Mike will write this order. So, it's super important for him to be there, and it's important that you're there just to keep us entertained. Well, we have a good time when we're together. We do, we do.

I purposely stood outside the booth. I did not want to take up any valuable space. That's so ridiculous. Well, you know.

Because I had a retail badge, so I wasn't supposed to be on the floor on Friday. Was that Friday? Right. Yeah.

But I ran into Jamie, Sean, and who was the other one? I think it was Sean Coleman. " She goes, "No, no, you're with me now. " So I got in, she put me right to work.

I love her, she's very nice. So what was the best meal that you ate? I guess it had to be at the Yardbird. Yeah?

In the Venetian? In the Venetian, yeah. I did have a $24 hamburger that was good. How was that?

It wasn't bad. Yeah. But all that chicken and food that just kept coming at the... Oh, this is with the Roma guys.

Yeah, yeah, the Roma. This is the whole shebang. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you want to know the worst meal I had? Yes. Eat the kitchen fire, please. Yeah.

Because it took 75 fucking hours to eat. It took forever to get the food there. Yes. It was homemade pasta, I guess is why it took so long, but eh.

Mine was very bland. Yeah, it kind of sucked. Very bland. The food wasn't good, especially for the weight.

Yeah. And I was all stressed out because I had a plane, so I'm like, plane. I think I had steak there. It was pretty good.

Did you have steak? You didn't get pasta? Oh, you did get steak, but no side dish. No, I don't eat that shit.

Well, but it should come with one. It was at an a la carte. That's additional. Yeah.

Was that where Spence was eating when you told him it was a steak dinner? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought. He said it was the best meal ever.

Yeah, he doesn't get out much. Spence was the company. Yeah. His lovely wife.

Right. Well, for me, the last place was definitely not there. It was off the strip. There's a sushi place called Sakana.

Yeah. All you can eat. Oh. I fucking murdered schools of salmon.

It was amazing. To a point where I was like. Sashimi? Just the salmon?

No, no. They got to do the rice. You did the roll? But they didn't overdo with the rice, which is nice.

You guys must have went there after I left? That was before you came. Oh, the day before I got there. Yeah.

So it was myself, my brother, Michael Rosales, and Jamie, his wife. Oh. Double date. Yeah.

Everything else was just okay, as far as the food, as far as I'm concerned. " Yeah, your bird was good. It's all a lot of like home cooking. Didn't it taste like restaurant food?

Stratosphere was awesome as far as the experience, like the overall view. Oh, was that the view you guys ate upstairs? Yeah, so Danny took us there. Where you and Danny were feeding each other dessert?

Yes, I'm glad that you saw those photos. Was it his spoon? No. I was about to say.

Maybe it was, but it was a fresh spoon that was his. Oh, okay. All right. Because you have germ issues, you wouldn't have eaten after anyone.

So, you know, that was really cool, we had a good, like, who you're with makes a big difference, and we had a good time, and the food was okay, but it's just like, the view was awesome. The view was really what made that meal, so. Building day I got yelled at for having flip-flops. I heard.

Yes, booted off. You and Skip both got in trouble. Well, I was booted off, and then he was warned, so then he didn't have to come down. " You have flip-flops.

This is a construction zone. I heard the big deal was, too, they had air on that day. That was fantastic. Yeah, I remember the air went.

It was quite hot. Having the AC on build day is awesome. I was called super aggressive, which is entertaining. Yeah, that's every day.

You know, that's true, but you know, like... Who called you super aggressive? I don't think it's appropriate for me to say. To someone from the family?

No, no, no, no. Then I would totally have taken it well. Oh. The funny part is that I wasn't being super aggressive.

Was it the "p-p-p-p-p-p" guy? No. No. Funny you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Once you pointed him out to me. " Yeah, the guy who taught you specific techniques. Yeah, how to taste a cigar. That was awesome.

I did put Nick Malillo in an arm triangle, which was awesome. I purposely went out of my way to harass the living shit out of Nick Malillo the entire fucking time. I saw Nick. But I went with Hunt, which was a mistake, because Hunt and him are like brothers, so I just got the handshake where he was, you know, him and Hunt were having sex.

Right. I had him cornered in the office. In his office? Yeah, with the Cigar Point guys.

It was pretty awesome. I was trying to get a high-clair, the new high-clair. He's, oh, how many? So, like, then he had, like, I'm like, well, what's this?

There was a box of them there, I think. He's like, these are dummies. I was like, okay. So, like, they were glued.

The trays were glued for display. I'm fucking ripping these things out. And he's like, they're not the same blend. I was like, okay, well, now you have three display boxes that are no longer working.

No longer good. He was very busy, actually. His booth was. Yeah.

I kept sort of track as I walked around the booths that were busy in the booths that weren't, and his was very busy. Always. That's why it was hard for me to see him by myself. I won't interrupt, but, you know, Hunt, he'll just walk over.

Yeah, you just, you know, I mean, I interrupted him during a half-wheel thing, but it was awesome. But that was probably funny for a half-wheel. " They started to get mad. I walked by Charlie, I don't know how many times, but he never said a word to me.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. He probably doesn't know who you are. He doesn't watch the podcast.

He doesn't know who I am. Who doesn't know? Oh, Jesus. That was the best part.

" So, did you try anything from the show? Other than, let's exclude the Roma crap booth. I didn't take anything from them the whole time I was there. Okay, because the Baca...

Well, except the Weezolito. The Baca is amazing. Obviously, the War Bear is amazing. I mean, everything that's coming out.

Well, I did, I did. The Guarmer Rothschild is amazing. Steal your guy stuff as often as I could, so. I hijacked some Wanderlust, which, they're always amazing, you know, I got a cool canteen, but like, what, did you get a water, did you get a water bottle from Roma?

Yeah, it's gigantic, though. Oh, the big one. It's huge. I took the big, I already wrapped the big one out of the box.

Yeah. Yeah. I took that, I got that one. Did you?

Yep. Wow. Yeah. Skip gave me that one.

Uh, I didn't come away with a whole lot of cigars. No. No. So nothing really stuck out for you?

Uh, the only really new thing that I wanted that I got was the, uh, uh, the Superfly. So I wanted to try the Superfly. And how was the Superfly? It wasn't Super or Fly.

It was okay. Gimmicky? Felt gimmicky? Yeah, they weren't keeping them humidified.

It was very, very dry. Yeah, but you know what, dude? I've pulled shit off the showroom floor. Well, that year I went and Skip gave, I mean, afterwards Skip sort of divvies up all the leftovers.

And you just gotta let it sit for a while. I did put it in my humidor when I got home for two days. That's what it is. But I don't remember it being super Orfly.

It was not super Orfly. I have talked to other people that have had it since the show, and they all rave about it. Maybe it just didn't hit my palate right. I do have one of the new black labels with me today, but you gave me Ibaka instead, so I didn't light it up.

Right. I think that was a good choice. Ibaka is an excellent cigar. Actually, the new Esteban Carreras was very good, I didn't have that, that was good.

Okay. You know what kind of surprised me? Yes. I didn't smoke a ton of new stuff, because I was busy as shit.

Right. The Roman booth was fucking standard, busy. It was, yeah. Once the crowd got away from the big booths in the front, it was just badass back there.

So, I think it's called the La Coalition, with Crown Heads. Yeah? You know... Was that good?

Yeah, I was really impressed with it, believe it or not. I thought it was really good. I mean, you know, it's made out of the Drew Estate Factory, but I thought, you know, it was good. I was impressed.

I love Crown Heads. How about the new Guardian of the Farm? I saw you had that the other day. Oh, yeah, I did have that.

That was pretty good, too. There's notes on my phone that I didn't print out. Oh, smooth. Um.

And I can't do it because it's gonna... There was one on the one. Oh, the Mexican experiment from Tatuaje? From Tatuaje?

Oh, you know, I saw Pete Hernandez several times, but never in the booth. He, you know, I saw him at the end of the show. We hung out at the bar. Oh, did you?

Yeah, gotcha. So, that was really good. Oh, the fucking brulee was good, too. The new Sober Mesa.

Oh, oh, yeah, over Sockes. Yeah, Steve Flocka. Did you get the Tiki-Tac or whatever the hell it was called? Tiki-Tac?

I didn't get the Tiki-Tac. What was the Tiki-Tac? Somebody was just asking me about that, and I thought you had got one. The Mikarita?

No, no, somebody asked me about the Tiki-Tac. I don't even know what that is. Is it orange? Is it a little plastic king?

It's Sokka. It's not pronounced Tiki-Tac, but it sounds like Tiki-Tac. Okay. I didn't have that.

Oh. Well, then, whoever I talk to, I'm very sorry he doesn't have it. Pete Hernandez. I didn't have that, so.

Oh, I forgot Pete does Sokka back, too. That's right, he's a connect, too. Damn it. We got a better chance to get in from Saka.

So, I won a $100 bet. Gambling? No! No, no, no, no.

Oh, who did you bet? So, as the show kind of progresses, like, you get tire kickers is what I like to call them. And they're not, there's nothing wrong with these retailers, but they're only there to try, they want, it's trick or treat time come the end. Right, yeah.

" So I had-- How are samples? They want samples. Okay, sure thing. Whatever you say, buddy.

So, these guys, they came up and, you know, they did the whole rigmarole or whatever. "Oh, tell us about your brand. Oh, you got some cigars for the time. " Someone was telling me it's sort of like going to a timeshare.

Is it? Oh, you sit there, you listen to the pitch, and you're like, okay, and then, um, I totally could understand. Yeah. But, like, um, you know, there's only really time for that come the end.

Right. So, made my rounds with these people. And, um, Ronnie, Aisha. Yeah?

Forgive me if I'm fucking up your name, bro. I don't know how to say it. We're boys now. Evidently, we, uh, grew up in the same area.

Yeah, he has a type from Secreto Cigars in Michigan. He's like, dude, you didn't close them? I was like, you ain't closing them. They don't have, they're not here.

You didn't close him? I didn't, like, they didn't open up the account. He doesn't carry your stuff? No, no, you're missing the story.

Let me back it up. So he saw that I was talking to these people, and these people got some samples and they were on their merry way. He's like, oh, you didn't open up the account? I was like, no, they're not, they have no intention of opening up an account.

Right. He said, I'll bet you $100 I'll get them to open up the account. I said, done. So, so he is fuckin' all over these two guys.

Was that the last day? I think it was the day before, like, it was right before-- 'Cause he wasn't in the booth very long. I think it was-- no, he came up around. Oh, did he came in?

When did you leave? You weren't there. Oh, okay. I saw him when he originally came in from a distance.

Yeah. I was over on the other corner. So you weren't there this day, you were already gone. Okay, I had already left.

So it was either the last day or the day before. Either Tuesday or Wednesday. Yeah. But it was late in the day.

So, he's fucking following them around, trying, you know, really pushing it hard. Just inside the room? Yeah, yeah, this is the greatest scar on the whole floor, he's following them around. No, and after about 15-20 minutes, you know, they're like, and he just kind of walks away, you know, they just walked away, and he's like, he tries to give me the hundred bucks, I'm like, dude, don't worry about your hundred dollars, just keep it or whatever, and he's like, no, no, no, nope, I made this bet, so I took the hundred dollars and I put it on the bucks.

Oh, there you go. You always do one football bet when you're there. Oh, yeah, it's 101 odds for them to win the Super Bowl. Oh, you bet them to win everything.

Oh, the whole thing. Put 300 on it. Did you bet on the Patriots last year or the year before? I didn't do the Patriots last year.

It's just hard to do the Pats because... Oh, the odds are probably slim. I bet 100, I won $5. And a handshake.

Great, thanks. So I laid it on the Bucs. I'm sure people right now, when they listen, they're like, why are you just out of your mind? I don't think I'm out of my mind.

You think you're out of your mind. I think they're gonna do it. I believe in them. You're out of your mind.

So I went to the gym almost every day. Yes. And last day I got to work out with the Summer League Atlanta Hawks. Oh, I don't know.

That was pretty cool. It was like three guys, three really, really tall dudes. I'm like, Jesus Christ. And, you know, I'm all of 5'9", so...

Right. And those are my NFL stats, as my wife will tell you. Too bad she's not in here. So there's like one bench at the Venetian and, you know, I need to use the bench.

" And this is one of the biggest guys. Right. " And they just all were kind of quiet. " And they started laughing.

I can take him. No, not like that. I was like, I can take him. And I appreciate you trying to emasculate me, though.

That's very nice. No problem. Any chance I can. Any chance you possibly can, brother.

Any chance I can. So they all start laughing, and I go, ha, ha, ha, ha. Toted your arm rustling? No, no.

He just did a set, and, you know. Oh. You know, God forbid we actually did something stupid. And then I, you know, he winds up getting injured, you know.

I'm like, yeah, no. " Yeah. Yeah. Because, me and Hiroshi, we are judo champions.

Judo, I'm not a judo champion. Oh. All right, first of all, I just did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I'm not even like, I mean, I did it for a few years. Whatever.

That doesn't make me anything special. You're always special to me, Michael. I appreciate that. Uh, my brother walks around Las Vegas thinking that he's Frank Castle, like the Punisher.

So, you know, apparently to go up to the stratosphere, it's like walking through fucking TSA, so here he is unloading his knives and all this bullshit, I'm like, jeez, man, come on. Um, so that was pretty funny, and then afterward, after dinner, he had to go back down to the security to go get- Oh, to pick up all his stuff. To go get his equipment. Frank Castle is funny.

So, he's known as the Punisher moving forward. Oh. Um, I did run into a guy, I think it was Cigar Oasis. I'm not positive.

That was you? Yes, I'm going to vibrate. Sorry. I don't remember who it was, honestly, but he said that I T-Rexed him on Instagram.

So, you know, I almost died laughing, you know. That was pretty cool. You know, that's one of my things. I feel like the T-Rex just doesn't get enough love, so I like to drop him in on my Instagram post.

What's wrong with that? I'm sure everybody loves your T-Rex. I do the zombie myself. Oh, you work the zombie?

I work the zombie on Instagram and I do the three horses on Facebook. Three horses, that's a new thing for you. Yeah, I started doing it a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad that, you know, we're mixing it up.

There you go. That's pretty much all I have from notes. You know, the biggest thing for me too, though, that I did not write down because I don't have to, you know, Roma family is everything. They're top notch, they always take good care of us.

Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. They're really, you know, they're really amazing people, and then they're Skip. No.

I thought he gave a very nice speech at dinner that night. Yeah, I know. And that was really awesome, you know, for personal stuff. He thanked me by name, which I was okay.

See, he remembered you. Well, I know he remembers you, but I always feel like I'm imposing, because I'm not actually part of, you know, the family, you know. Yeah, but he doesn't see it that way. No, he doesn't.

You know what I mean? He doesn't. It's my problem. I mean, nobody there ever treats me any different, you know, than anybody else, it's just, I always feel like I'm in the way, or imposing, or, you know.

Wow. This is you breaking down. Well, we appreciate you. I appreciate you, and I'm sure they appreciate you.

They do. " And, well, she's very nice. She runs that place, I mean. She does.

And the new, and everybody knew there was perfect. Like, you know, obviously this is Danny's second year, you know. He was on point. He had no issues.

His wife was running the front, Jessie. I met her for the first time. I mean, we know each other on social media, but I actually met her. We chatted in person.

Yeah. She was very sweet. Yeah, very cool. She doesn't like to be called Danny's wife, though.

Well, I had to say Jessie. You didn't have to do the tie. Yeah, right. But she would prefer that he's known as Jessie's husband.

Ah, I like that. " Why can't he be Jessie's husband? " Very nice. Sean Coleman was the man.

You know, he gets put through a lot. 30 in the morning. He skips hanging more. But I learned his trick.

He naps. Oh. He'll post up. So between the show and dinner, he takes a little nap.

You know, he'll get his three hours of sleep. He'll come in, and then apparently when he's bodyguarding, Skip. He'll take the occasional little siesta. He'll lean back and just get one in real quick.

But dude, that guy was on point. And then, obviously, John D'Oliver Frenchy. I was very impressed with him. The first time I had met him in person, and he seemed to be doing a real bang-up job.

Yeah, those guys are… He's a guy's guy. He's one of the boys, no matter who he's talking to. Right. Well, he's been around forever.

Right. But this is the first time that he's officially Romacrat. Right. And he got his watch, I saw.

He did. Matul and Sean are always comical, fable owners. They are. They're always funny.

Sean's hilarious. It's nice seeing Sean really drunk and high. I mean, it's just remarkable. He's really, really funny.

He's got a lot to say. The crash is kind of depressing, because he just disappears. Just disappears. We went to the bathroom at the Yardbird.

Yeah. And he didn't come back. That was it. That was it.

It's called like the Irish exit or something like that. I walked into a stall and then I left. And then he vanished. Never saw him again.

Poof, he was a god. It's like Kaiser Sose. So yeah, so they're pretty awesome. You know, I had a good time with them.

I'm trying to think, there was one other thing I was just about to mention. You didn't mention Lex. Oh yeah, Lex, dude. Well, that guy, you know, 'cause he's always very stealthy.

Like, he always puts in the work, but you don't hear much from him. I mean, I've never met him before other than social media. Does he work at one of Matul's shops? No, he owns his own, like, cologne thing.

So he's like me. A perfume shop. Yeah. But what's funny is, like, when he talks, he talks really, really low.

" It's like, "I can't hear you in a quiet room. " So, like, he would say something, and then I'd be like, you know, I would repeat it, and it would be way off. I'd be like, "What? " Which is awesome.

Yes, we did Casa Fuente one day. Man, I feel like I'm missing something that was epic. But the whole show was epic. I had a great time.

It was. It seemed like attendance was down. Attendance is definitely down. Now you're kind of getting into the PCA thing.

So we can just, if you want to make that transition. Well, if you get into nothing else. Yeah, that's fine by me. Well, the biggest boost when I was walking around, would that be included in the PCA stuff?

Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, Foundation, Southern Draw, and Robocraft seem to be the three busiest boutique blends. Yeah.

Or boutique companies, I guess you should call it. Sokka said he was really busy. There's a lot of time I go by Sokka's booth and there's a lot of sitting going on over there. Yeah.

Yeah. Maybe they came in waves. I don't know. I think that's really what happens.

You know what I mean? Like, you can't judge. It's difficult to judge the activity in a booth just by like a five-minute glance. Right.

But you know, the downfall is attendance is definitely down, and it's a problem. Yeah, everybody was talking about it. It's definitely a problem. But if you ask the IPCPR, they'll tell you that it's up.

Yeah, of course they will. Well, that's also a problem. I started to go through their magazine to get some information for the show today, and it was, I mean, it was all, we're so great, this is great, we're all doing this. So I was like, a little too one-sided.

That's not good. No. I still feel that the retailer thing is a good idea. I talked to several people about that, and there were some things that I had not considered that other people are concerned about.

Right. Things like, like everybody hangs out at the Circle Bar coming and going from the show. Right. So, if they have the thing on the first day, those people aren't going to go to the thing and go home once they find out, well, everybody's going to walk right by this corner.

So then they'll start grabbing you on the way to try to get to your room. What? You don't think that would happen? No.

I mean, it happens now with industry people. You can't get around that corner without talking to people. So what? So, some people use that as another opportunity to do sales.

Somebody they might not have had a meeting with at the show, or they're meeting with them after the show, or they're meeting with them at the... That's just harsh shit. Well, that was the old timers, it wasn't... I don't buy that for one second.

Now, I do see some concerns on a retailer level, you know, because you're like babysitting. Right. And how would that work exactly? I mean, is they going to have like, you're going to have to put up like velvet ropes and, you know, the people are waiting in line to come up and shake your hand and get your autograph?

Or are you going to hold like every 20 minutes, Skip's going to do a little speech for the next group that's coming through? Well, it depends on what time they start coming through. Well, that's true. I mean, day one, he was there.

I was going to say, day one, he was there. So if they do it on day one, like they said before, I just don't see how it would work well for the consumers. Yeah. Because there are going to be certain booths everybody's going to want to go to, you know?

Does it have its own set of problems? Yes. Yeah, for brand owners, manufacturers, and retailers. The problem is, you know, I don't think IPCPR, PCA, or whatever the hell you want to call it, is financially sound at this point.

No, and I heard the, to get the ticket, like, you'll have to sell them here at Cigar Hustler. That's how people buy tickets. I heard that was mentioned at the uh... That'll go over like a lead fucking balloon.

Exactly. And then what do you have to do? Send all the proceeds to PCA? So then there's accounting issues where, okay, you sent us 20 tickets, we sold five, here's blank.

Right. Or, you know, well, this one guy, we can charge him half because he's a really good customer. I don't, yeah, well, you can't do that. You can't do it, right, exactly.

Otherwise, you got to make up the money. That would be the easiest way for PCA to do the tickets, but online is going to be the only way that we're able to do it. It's going to be super complicated. Yes, it is.

I don't think they've thought it all the way through. The bigger problem I see is if one of these guys pulls out. If Fuente, General, Oliva, you know, I mean, Padron, I guess. If any of those, if any of the big wigs pull out of this upcoming show, you got a serious fucking problem.

It's going to be the end of this convention. Right. Honestly, you know, if attendance doesn't raise up. And the other problem with that is how can you see it raising up if you just pissed off, you know, Even if you piss off half the retailers with this Consumer Day.

Consumer Day, right. It's a big number when it's already dwindling. Right. So if they don't come because of that, I don't know, man.

It's... I don't think it's an easy solution. Something needs to be done. Something definitely needs to be done.

Well, they've got to do something. Something has to be done, or it's going to, you know... Or it's going to be... The next five years, it's going to go away.

Right. I also heard people talking about that the contract that they currently have with the Convention Center, Or Vegas, wherever it is, is going to be up soon, and they might go other places again. Well, that'd be nice. Yeah.

I'm fucking tired of Vegas. It's all the way on the other side of the planet. Yeah, it's far away. Um, it's expensive as shit.

Yeah, I mean, I didn't go outside for two days. You know, yeah, it didn't, it's daylight. I don't know, what, I'm going to walk across the street to another casino? They all look the same.

Right. So, I mean, I wouldn't mind it being in another place. Um. How bad was it when it was in New Orleans?

I heard that was like the worst. It's just so divided in New Orleans. New Orleans. New Orleans.

New Orleans. New Orleans. New Orleans. So I don't really think that's a good fit either.

I mean, I think you'd have to go like mid-range somewhere in Texas or something, you know. Houston or Fort Worth or, you know. That's just about as far as Vegas. No, it's not.

It's half the distance. Is Vegas just up or? No. No?

No, no. It's like three hours flight. Well, from Texas. Oh, instead of five?

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, they got to survive this next year, though. Let's see, you know.

See what happens the first year. If you start to hear stories of so-and-so's not going on the show. They have pushed it back. Next week, it's planned for July 10th through the 14th.

It's scheduled for the 4th of July. That pissed off a bunch of retailers, too. Yeah, yeah. It's a busy weekend for sales.

And for sales. Yeah. So, we'll see where it takes us. I'm interested to, I don't know, man, I'm interested to see what develops.

I'm for it. I'm for the retailer thing, you know, I'm for them trying something new. That's not how it's gonna work. I still, it's okay that if it, but it's totally fine that if it's, if it's released and it's a fucking, and it needs to be fixed, I'm okay with that.

Well, I mean, it's gonna happen. They've already announced it. Right. What's wrong with them trying something?

The hard part is to try something and not piss off your current customers. You can't piss off your retailers. Well, there's not many people I think that are, well, I didn't talk to retailers, but there wasn't a whole lot of people in favor of it. Right.

I mean, you probably saw, I read Saka's thing too. I mean, he's thinking about next year not doing any sales, just doing a dog and pony, handshake, meet people stuff. Yeah. I think that that'd be a mistake.

Yeah. What if they... Because here's the deal. It's like, I don't know, I just think that people are trained to go there and make purchases.

Yeah. Well, if he's not going to do any purchases at all, retailers have no reason to go see him. Right. Yeah.

So, you know, I mean, like, we always tried to release something new and hold the sales at the show, right, to kind of incentivize that. And if you weren't at the show, normally, if you want it, you'll get it after everybody else placed their orders, right? Right, yeah. You have to be out of Bears.

The Bears have to be gone. Yeah, probably. I don't know exactly. I know that David hates me right now, as he's just a box maker.

Well, that's because, you know, that's why he's leaving. Yeah. Yeah, now he's quitting. Now he's quitting.

Great. He's quitting. So we're hiring here at the Sierra Hustler. If you like being...

never mind. Wow. I don't think it is that... they don't have it that bad here.

No, I don't think so either. Come on, man. We're big... we're major team players.

No? You don't think so? Okay. Go ahead, tell me.

It actually makes you feel better. Tell me I'm wrong. No, no, you're not. You're not.

Tell me I'm wrong. You do take a lot of input in the weekly meetings and stuff from the employees. You actually ask for input from the employees, so... Yeah.

We let them make their own schedule. Put them on the spot and go, okay, what are we doing new this week? What's your idea? What's the one thing we should be doing differently?

What's the one thing you should be doing differently? Next week is going to be, have more employees. That's a great answer. We're down two.

We are. It's the rollercoaster of life, man. That's true. What else you got?

I think next year for us, the show, I'm going to schedule interviews. Really? Yeah, and go around. go around because uh this year it was just i took some footage of the show floor some pictures of some of the the bigger better booths and that was really it but a couple people wanted to do like a little interview thing and i i mean i wasn't prepared so you kind of half-assed it oh yeah well this was the first time going as a show i didn't know what to expect or do but that everybody was doing there must have been a dozen podcasts they're doing that kind of stuff yeah and everybody had scheduled none of them talked to us uh a lot of them well half we'll talk to Well, yeah, but they're not a podcast, right?

They're actually... I saw several doing interviews with Skip. Yeah, I think I saw Developing Palettes. They were there.

That's all I can remember. Was Garofalo doing any interviews there? I didn't even see him at the booth. I didn't either.

I didn't see him at all. He still hasn't answered my Facebook message. Well, you look at the camera and you want, I don't think he listens. Oh, good.

So, is that an emergency call? No, no, no. But I think, but I want to come up with, like, three standard questions I ask everybody. Yeah.

But not really industry-related questions. Okay. Because that's sort of our thing. Right.

I don't want to go up and listen to Robert Holt talk about his new cigar when he's told his new cigar to them. 75 times? Yeah, 75 other people. " Oh, you like that line.

I like that. Well, that's sort of our thing now. Who's to ask, would you like to kick and do you think you could kick? Not would you like to kick, but who do you think you could...

Yeah, you can't say that. What industry person would you least like to be stranded on a deserted island with? That would be funny. I think a lot of them would say Charlie.

Charlie Manato. Yeah. He's gonna ask a lot of questions. Or it could be Matt Hunt, 'cause he asks a lot of questions, too.

He does. But they don't know him. No. What else?

What are the questions? That's a good question. Oh, and three is blank. Yeah, I wanted to.

I thought maybe three or four would be a good set, and then it's only like a little five-minute interview. Right. Just hand them the card and have them say who they are, who they're with, and then they can answer questions. You should ask them like a hard, like not a really hard history question, but just something that should be common sense.

Like what David Letterman used to do and stuff like that, where they'd go out on the street and they'd ask questions. Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, yeah. Like, so let me ask you. Who was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence?

All right. " Everybody says John Hancock, but he just signed Bigger. Ah. He wasn't the first.

He wanted the King of England to be able to see his name without his glasses. Oh, that's fair. John's a very considered person. Well, he wanted to make sure he knew they were sticking it to him.

What else? Oh, we have, I don't have a complete show update, but I did a, I compiled all the information. Right. And I did for the entire length of the show that we've been on.

The only state we don't have, never had a download in, is Wyoming. They're holding out. They're holding out. They're holding out.

They're still holding out. So that's why I asked you, do you remember the name of the shop I asked you if you sold to? Casper? Casper, yeah, Casper.

Yeah. Josh, please. You said you don't. Or did you say you did?

I don't remember. Yeah. Oh, well I, because they don't listen. But they follow us on Instagram.

I don't think it's Casper. I think it was Casper. Maybe Cheyenne? Is there a Cheyenne station?

Yeah, I think that's that. I don't know those people. Oh, okay. Well, whichever one it is, I'm going to put them in the hashtags.

I'm going to tag them on the thing, and I have a picture of their shop, and we'll put that in at this point right now, so maybe we can get them to download it. So reward the non-listeners, I like it. No, no, no, but now they will download it to listen to hear us talk about it, but now I don't have that set of nodes, so I'm afraid if I turn this off, why is it not the video went off? We have not been videoing this at all for some reason.

I don't know where it went off. So slow. So slow. It's so slow.

Okay, next week's just an audio show. Let's turn it back on and we'll see what happens. Geez, Louise. I wonder if the card fell again.

I'm so glad I bought this fucking camera. I wonder if the card fell again. Now it's taping again. Ha!

I wonder what happened. Well, how many minutes you had? Oh, that's it. We went over the minutes.

I wasn't even looking for the break. We're at 36 minutes. So we lost seven minutes of video footage. Wow!

Got so excited with the talk here. We couldn't even tell what was going on. Geez, Louise. I got nothing.

I got nothing for that. You're a hot mess. I am. Get it together.

What's going on? We haven't produced in like two weeks. And here you are just strolling in. Oh, we showed up last week.

Yeah, but we did that two weeks ago. Oh, but I still had to put it up though. I still had to put it up. Well, in the, where there's no footage, that's where all the show stuff will go.

Okay, perfect. So I did two videos, one of the day, Friday, of the way everything looked, because it went together really fast, it seemed, it's hard to believe the way it looked on Friday, and then the way it looked Saturday morning, I mean, it's completely different, and the floor stopped, you know, when all the equipment runs by. Yeah, the truck stopped coming in. Yeah.

So that was the commercial where it went off. That was it. And we're back! You're a hot mess, dude.

All right, well, hey. At least the audio always works. We have a giveaway that I did on my page for Pick the New PCA. And we gave Aaron Ellerman his shirt.

Right. So that was the previous contest. We don't have any other contests going right now, right? We don't have any contests going with the show.

I don't know. Did you see his smile in the photo? What? Did you see Aaron's smile in the photo?

No. I'll throw the photo up while we're talking about it, too. Okay. I don't know if he has nerve damage in his face or something, but you can't smile, I've never seen another photo where he tries to smile, one side of his mouth is going down or something.

Great. He's military, so, and I know he had an illness a while back, so maybe he didn't. Well, good, so I'm glad that you just, you know, hey. It means he had some nerve damage to his face.

I'm glad you made fun of him. He commented on it, too, that he has to work on his smile. I figured he just didn't like the shirt. Wow.

I think he loved the shirt. He's a good dude. We have several guests scheduled from the show to come in. Yeah?

Let's see. Do tell. Hector's coming back up. Hector Alfonso?

Yes, he's coming back up in a couple weeks. Mr. Warmth himself? Yes, yes.

He's going to come back up. He said he will not do a three-hour show. I said, what, 30 minutes? He goes, 30 minutes out of the whole day.

Not a problem at all. That's awesome. Who else you got scheduled? He's supposed to be sending me a psychedelic turtle also.

Oh, very nice. I asked him at the show, and he did not have one. I wonder what that tastes like. I wonder what the new Highclare tastes like, too.

Thanks, Nick. He said he didn't have any. I think there weren't many left, but he had some back at the office, he would send me one, and then the next day I saw that Taranio put up a picture, he was smoking the turtle, so I asked the wrong guy. You always go to Jack.

Jack is the plug. Hector walked up to me, Jack was busy. Jack is the plug, Hector's the mule. Get it right.

You need both. In this industry, you need both. Mr. Cigar Porn is coming in.

Terry, he's coming in. Okay. You said that before, though. Yeah, but he asked this time.

He was at the show for the first time. We had a couple of conversations. He's in the process of moving, but when he gets that down, he's going to get that done, he's going to come in. Okay.

Let's see, there was Hector, LFD, what's your boy's name in LFD? Leo? No, no, no, no. Anthony?

Higher up. Oh, John Carney? John Carney. Well, John Carney's not higher up than Anthony.

Oh, I don't know who Anthony is. He's the son. Oh, well, John's going to come back. Who else is coming back?

There was a third person. Three people? You just said three. There was a fourth.

There was a fourth. There was one more. I don't remember who it was. Hmm.

I can't get to my notes. Oh, I guess they weren't that important, huh? Ah, you know, just industry people. So, is there anybody coming this week that we could do for next week?

No, but we're going to have Wes here from Crown Heads this month. Oh, on the 19th. Yes. That's going to be the FCC birthday party and Wes.

Yes. I need to give you my logo to put up on. July 19th. I think it's May 19th to put up on the video board out there when you make this.

Okay. Well, have me do that. I gotta get that done today. I will.

All right. Then we'll just wrap this up here. Yeah, it's cool. Hey, I'm glad you guys got 89% of the video.

Oh, I don't know what happened last week, but after the commercial, there was no video at all. I don't know. We gotta work on some things, Michael. Yeah, we have a couple of technical problems.

It's the, let's see, equipment, I think it's the 1872. I don't think, that has nothing to do with that. Yeah, but I'm blaming it, though. Oh, good.

Okay. All right, buddy, thank you. That's our post. Anything else you want to say about the IPCPR?

What was your favorite moment of the IPCPR? Ooh. Wow. You really put me on the spot with these questions.

What was your favorite moment? My favorite moment was... Did you get around at all to see the booze? Not really.

I got to harass Nick, and I got to harass Nick, because that was fun for me. Okay. Well, anyway, what was your favorite moment? My favorite moment was when Sean got fucking shit-face hammered and high.

And he said, "There are two things I regret the most in my life. One is not spending enough time with my father. " I fucking died, 'cause he meant it. He did.

That drink was bad. That was stellar. I mean, you know, how do you compare that? To put the two together is pretty tight.

And his dad's still alive, I believe, so, you know, he can always make up that time. His dad was still alive. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is. Oh, he wants to do a show, too.

Sean? Dude, we gotta get him ripped? No, he wants just me and him to do a show. Oh, like his own podcast.

His own podcast. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, by phone. Oh, they're trying to...

He's only available like one hour a week. So like he wants you on a Cigar Hustlers podcast or his own show? Oh, his own show. We're gonna call it Sean and Mike.

Oh, that's nice. Trying to fucking pillage my people. He is. He offered me a dollar.

I'm just saying. That's pretty good. That's pretty good wages. Pretty good wages.

It's almost double what I make here. It's more than double. I got that pocket today. That's true.

You did. It's like one of three that I got. I only got three. I swear.

Well, you smoked one. I smoked the other. You only got one left. That's it.

They're all gone now. Oh, that's it. They're gone. I'll probably smoke one later.

You guys bought those, though, didn't you? Are you kidding me? Of course. When did they come out?

October, I think. No. October. And then that new Neanderthal?

That shit is dope. Did you smoke that? Fuck yeah. That thing is fucking amazing.

Largus Humongous or some shit like that? Whatever the fuck it's called. It looks very strong. It's a little intimidating looking.

It's good. It's really good. Gotcha. So.

Alright. I guess that's it. Alright, hey. Hope you enjoyed the commercial.

That was a nice commercial. Follow us on Instagram @scigarhustlerspodcast. A-cigar. S.

@isrua. @cigarhustlers. CigarHustlersPodcast At CigarHustlersPodcast Follow Mikey at CigarHustler And me at FCC underscore Mike And I can fuck up your show too If you want to do one too Yeah, you know, he's available We might lose this whole episode He's not available I'm gonna have a phone He's not available Two dollars, all that's gotta be is two dollars Double my current offer No, but we gotta work on that other thing With the donation thing Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I've, I've done some research.

It's a different way we're doing it. We'll talk about this as we, uh, hang up. All right. Hang up, then.

Uh, hang up the phone. Thank you. Uh, get a look at the camera. Okay, Earl, nice job over there behind the camera.

Earl, you're really fucking us up, Earl. You're doing a good job with this 30-minute thing. You did half the job. We needed you, too.

Earl. Earl. All right, everybody. Uh, thanks for listening.

That's it. We're out. Bye. Bye.

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Show Notes

Sorry its a little late...some last minute editing needed to be done before it could be posted!

This is our IPCPR/PCA 2019 recap show!  Opinions, views and maybe a few secrets leaked about things soon to come or maybe happening next year.  Our best and worst memories from the event and the show!  Lots of information!

As always we welcome your thoughts and show ideas on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast".  You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and me "Mike Too" @fcc_Mike.

Please make sure to rate, review and subscribe on which ever of our providers you use!

Make sure to watch the video version on YouTube for some IPCPR video and photos.