Episode 79 Wes Thornton of Crown Heads
Episode Summary
Episode 79 brings Crowned Heads sales rep Wes Thornton into the Cigar Hustler studio, joined by guest co-host Fred Rewey, the former owner of Nomad Cigar Company. The conversation is loose and conversational rather than a formal product review, but it covers plenty of real industry ground: how Wes's territory shrank from the entire United States to Florida-through-Delaware-to-Arkansas over seven years, why Nashville rarely hosts the trade show anymore, and which IPCPR/PCA host cities were the worst (New Orleans for humidity, Orlando for its lack of a central meeting spot and Disney-area smoking restrictions).
Wes tells the full story of how he got into cigars: an insurance agency owner in Chattanooga whose high school friend Matt Allen managed Burns Tobacco, weekly cigar-and-cards sessions in his office, a Master Tobacconist certification through Tobacconist University under mentor Michael Herklots, and an aborted plan to move to Texas as an independent rep repping 262 (Clint Aaron), El Primer Mundo (Sean Williams) and Savinelli pipes. He instead took over the downtown Burns store for three years, where Four Kicks — then Crowned Heads' only cigar — became his best seller and led to his hire at the company in February 2013.
The crew smokes the brand-new Juarez, a budget-friendly Mexican San Andrés spin-off of Jericho Hill priced at $5.95, named for the city referenced in Johnny Cash's "Cocaine Blues" (the same song that supplies all of Jericho Hill's vitola names). Cigar Hustler expedited shipping to be among the first shops in the country with it. Fred and Wes also debate how much of a cigar's character comes from the wrapper versus the rest of the blend, especially as ring gauge changes and how much a lancero depends on great wrapper leaf.
The back half is classic Cigar Hustlers: albums they'd erase to hear fresh (Led Zeppelin's How the West Was Won, Sgt. Pepper, a Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder live record), favorite movies (It's a Wonderful Life, O Brother Where Art Thou, Shawshank Redemption, We Were Soldiers), Vegas gambling habits, Brian McGee ribbing, and the show's standard five questions. Wes closes with a top five: Padrón 1964 Anniversary natural, Fuente Fuente OpusX Perfecxion, Four Kicks Corona Gorda (Habano), Illusione Epernay, Guillermo León Signature Corona Gorda, plus praise for Aladino.
In This Episode
- 01Meet Wes ThorntonWes of Crowned Heads sorts out his misspelled last name, his real title versus national sales manager Miguel, and the size of his Florida-to-Delaware territory.
- 02Guest co-host Fred ReweyThe former Nomad Cigar Company owner returns to the show and ends up running much of the interview.
- 03Trade show war storiesWhy New Orleans and Orlando were the worst IPCPR host cities, the old Gaylord Opryland hotel-room format, and the costs of convention-center booths.
- 04From insurance to Burns TobaccoWes's path from owning an insurance agency in Chattanooga to managing a Burns Tobacco store, with a detour into a failed plan to rep cigars and Savinelli pipes in Texas.
- 05Tobacconist University and Michael HerklotsEarning Master Tobacconist status and why Herklots is so good at translating complex tobacco subjects for everyday smokers.
- 06Joining Crowned Heads in 2013How selling truckloads of Four Kicks at retail led John and Mike to bring Wes on staff three days after he left Burns.
- 07The new JuarezA $5.95 Mexican San Andrés spin-off of Jericho Hill named from Johnny Cash's 'Cocaine Blues,' plus a debate on how much the wrapper really drives a blend.
- 08Five questions and a top fiveBest advice, who he'd smoke with, favorite movies and music, and Wes's five favorite cigars.
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 Episode 79 of a Cigar Hustlers Podcast. This week, we talk to Wes Thornton of Crownhead Cigars, and we have the ever-popular Mr. Fred Rui, from nowhere important. Uh, see you then this week, sit back and relax, here comes the show.
You like that redneck air freshener thing up there? It's pretty sweet. Yeah. And, and, and they have it on a remote.
It's on a remote control. Oh yeah. High-tech, this is a very high-tech studio. Except for headphones.
Only the one pair. We spare no expense here. That's why I'm in charge. That's why he's in charge.
Because he has the headphones? I have the headphones. We're on. We're recording now, guys, so everybody knows.
I'm curious to see what this looks like on the other side. Where? Can you hit the cough button, please, if you're going to do that? Sorry.
There's a button? Yeah. Three? Yeah.
I think if you have to ask what number are you, it's too late. I got it. It's too late. Go ahead and cough.
There you go. Okay, now it's back on. There it is. Is that better?
Karlo Fuente. Alright, so we have a special guest today, and then a special guest host today. What are you looking at me for? I already know.
Look at Earl. You excited me. Hey, Earl. Earl runs a camera.
So, you guys want to go ahead and introduce yourselves? Sure. Who the fuck are you? Yeah, I'm Wes, from Crown Heads, out of Nashville, Tennessee.
Wes Thornton. Thornton, with an "N" in the middle, that nobody remembers. I fucked that up on our poster. It's a silent end.
I hope my mom's not listening with this language. Yeah, she probably won't be listening. We're literally 30 seconds into it, and you already had to like beep something. Two F-bombs.
No, we don't fucking beep. We don't beep. Three. We just let 'em roll.
We have the adult contents logo on it. Yeah, explicit. We're good, explicit. And we don't have any advertisers, so do whatever we want.
That's a sign of a good podcast. It'd be like four cigars when I walked in the door. This episode brought to you by Crown Head Cigar. Thank you.
Wow. Delicious with the Juarez. So, okay, well, and you are? Fred Rui, formerly known as the guy that used to own Nomad, that sold out, that is still hanging out.
So you were on the show before, Fred. I have been on the show before. And you're a good friend, and you're in the lounge, and I figured we could all tackle Wes together. I didn't know about that was going to happen, but...
Yeah, I didn't know either, so... Yeah, a little man-on-man action. Yeah. Congratulations.
Wow, that escalated quickly. It did. Oh, he's tweaking. Tweaking, tweaking.
We don't usually use that microphone. He's actually turning dials for those of you that are on the podcast, both of you. Moneymaker, Mike. And want to know.
Yeah. He's also the only one with headphones, by the way. I think we should point that out. I'm the only one that can hear the show.
Yeah. I'm the one fan. I thought... I don't even record these.
I just like to hear... Yeah, this is... Sensitive hearing. Not very professional.
It is a nice table, though. It is a nice table. We do have a lot of space here. This is nice.
Oh, you didn't hit the button. Okay, so I screwed up your name. I also called you the national sales manager. Right.
The national sales manager? No, he's not the national sales manager. What are we doing? You see, you're admitting stuff that nobody knows, though.
If they weren't in the-- everybody on the podcast does not know any of those mistakes were made. We don't fact check. We don't fact check anything. He could be president of the company.
So I'm totally fine with that. You know, I'll just put myself on blast. But Miguel, the national sales manager of Crownheads, Oh, he made a phone call? Very, very kindly reached out to me and said...
But the fact of the matter is, I mean, like, how big is your fucking territory anyways? Now? Yeah. Uh, I have all of Florida and I go all the way to Delaware.
Right. Cough button. Right. Over to Arkansas.
Okay. So, I don't know, that's pretty big. So, I mean, it feels kind of national to me. Well, when I first took the job, seven years ago, I had the whole United States.
Right. So then he was a national sales manager. And now, so you've been downgraded? Maybe, but I get paid more, so that's cool.
Yeah, as long as the money goes up. He gets paid. What's that like? So, like, money goes into your account?
It's not bad. I work here, but they don't pay me. Single, no kids. Yeah.
Single, no kids. Yeah. But you weren't really crushing, like, the apps, the Tinder or anything, on Vegas, you know, like, we had that conversation. No, no, no, the pool's too big out there.
Yeah, it's too much. It's not worth it. It's too much. On the swipey.
Yeah. I don't see like, you know, I've been married, pre-married, you know, well before those apps existed. Phones were invented probably. Yeah, so like Tinder and you said Bumble or some shit.
Bumble? Those things are... I didn't say that. I like to meet girls at church.
Oh. That was a really good response. That was good. I like that, yeah.
You go to church? I've been to church. Yeah? Once or twice?
That's good for you. Good for you. Fred, church? No?
I have a group that we have church every Sunday, but it's really us sitting around smoking cigars every Sunday. Yeah? You put it on the TV or something? No, we don't.
We just smoke cigars. That's cool. We solve the world's problems when we go home. That's nice.
Is there a Bible involved? No. No? Okay.
Well, that's good. Bible-ish. So, I mean, I've been to Tennessee, and you know, you're always pretty hospital when I go there, and you know, 'cause the first time I met you, I thought you were kind of a dick, I'm not gonna lie. Well, I am.
You're right. Wow. You were just kind of quiet, a little reserved, but as I got to know, I'm like, "Fuck, man. " You know, I thought the same thing about you.
Oh, he is a big guy. When we met in Memphis. He's very aggressive. " Oh, the head nod.
What's awesome is we met before, but you don't remember that, which is fine. You and David Lafferty have the same problem. You know, that's a lot of your stories go that way. Nobody fucking remembers me.
me david lafferty that same story with fred remembers my name from like 10 years ago go ahead david lafferty yeah yeah i met him like 10 years ago right and he knows my name every time he sees me no i've met him for the first time five times now or so but now it's like a running joke so ran into us we were sitting down at the at the lounge in vegas and uh somebody said hey you know I know Dave, and, oh man, we both capitalized on that opportunity, like, "Hey, how are you? " It's pretty good. It's good stuff. He's a nice guy.
Yeah, he is. So, so go ahead. So, we met for the first time in Memphis, allegedly. Where did we meet the prior to that?
The show, IPCPR. Oh. Yeah. Yeah.
PCA. Yeah, it was IPCPR at that time. Formally known as. I think it might have even been New Orleans.
Were you in New Orleans? Swampy. That was a bad one. That was just, you go outside and, you know, you try to look nice walking over to, you know, the hotel from there, and at some point, you're just like, you know what, it doesn't matter anymore.
No. And that's really weird, you know, for us, especially coming from Florida. Right. When you're saying New Orleans was an absolute armpit to go to, humidity-wise, and we're coming from Florida, it was miserable.
You can chew the air in New Orleans. You can fucking chew it. Okay, so that's probably the worst show. The second worst, Orlando, probably.
Yeah, I thought so, 'cause of smoking rules? It was an easy commute for you guys. It was awesome. I bought four towers after the show, right from Quality, right out of their booth.
I had a guy come over and pick up, I got it for nothing. There was no central meeting spot. Yeah, everybody went to the Corona locations and stuff like that. Yeah, the parties and dinners were 30 minutes away.
I think he made the most money out of the show. I think Jeff and Corona just... He definitely rallied for it. There was two Drew Estate parties, there was a Miami party, tent every night.
Tent every night, I mean, that, but you're right, there was no, the hotel, you couldn't go there, there was no central meeting place, it's a, you know, destination 'cause it's a convention center. Right. Barely a hotel attached to it. And the mouse is in charge, so there isn't a lot of smoking in Orlando.
How long have you been going to shows? It, uh, nine years, eight years, I don't know. Okay, about the same, I think I'm nine or ten. Yeah.
But I've been told that back in the day, they used to have it in Nashville. Really? At the Gaylord Opry. And they would do it, like, as a manufacturer, you would basically get a hotel.
And then the retailers would set their appointments, and you would just go in and out of hotel rooms, and buy your stuff, and that was a great job. That's really, that's back in the day. I mean, but that would be- Think of all the money saved, though. It's true.
Think of all the money that IPCPR doesn't get to collect. Oh, yeah. That's why that never happened again. Oh, you want carpet?
$10,000. They don't get that money. That goes to the union, right? Yeah, I guess you're right.
They'd probably get a piece. I'd be shocked if they do. I honestly have no idea. They get the booth, but they've got the space, so it's whatever their hotel negotiation is.
But since it's not part of a hotel, it is a convention center, I don't think they get a ton that way. That's not where they're getting local revenue, probably. Cut the cost, go back to hotel rooms. Yeah, you still have membership fees from people.
Just lay everything out on the bed, check out my cigars? I don't know, I'm just picking stuff around, you know? I don't know. It's a hot topic.
There's a spitball in here. I'll tell you what, I'd be Ford in Tennessee, I think that'd be awesome. Yeah, well, the problem is, back when CAO was there, they would throw these, at the trade shows, they would throw these giant parties with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tommy Lee as DJ. Right.
And we're not ready to have the obligation to do that. Crown heads isn't? Yeah. Why not?
Well, you know, we were just kind of stacking cash back in the day. Now we're still on the come up. up now it's the reality of this industry there's not a lot of money in it or no there's money in it yeah but there's you know but there's some pretty elaborate parties from what i hear i wasn't there right but yeah i feel like there would be obligation you know right but like you know people in nashville yeah you should you can put something together i don't know i kind of like to I'd like to travel to go to Las Vegas. Yeah?
That's a pretty good year. There's no casinos in Nashville. So? Oh, so you have a gambling problem.
It's not a problem. I found the solution. He wins. So you're born in Massachusetts?
No. Who is? You are? Not me.
Why did I say born Newton, Mass? Wow. Way to do your homework. I just made shit up.
Way to do your homework. That was good. Solid homework. Oh, he asked me earlier out here where you're from.
No, no, but I made shit up for the car just to fuck up with that thing. Oh, right. First job selling cars? So this is complete bullshit.
No, no, he does play the drums, apparently. Yeah, that's true. Wait, does it also say selling cars? Yeah.
Is that your first job selling cars? No, I've never... So you just sabotaged me. I just made it all up.
That's awesome. I've sold a car before. You know, I fucking love you. But he did do one event that had karaoke, and he does play the drums.
How'd you get into the cigar industry? You started at Burns? Yeah. That's true.
That's true. I'll take it all the way back. That's true. That's a fact.
Kind of. I was in the insurance business. Ended up with my own agency. My friend that I graduated high school with managed one of the locations of Burns Tobacco in Chattanooga, a guy named Matt Allen.
So he would come over to my insurance office once a week, and my landlord would let us smoke in the office. Oh, shit. So he would come over once a week, bring cigars, and we would play cards, and buddies would come over and we'd smoke cigars. " So I started going to the store every couple of weeks, and then every week, and then every other day, and then every day.
In Chattanooga? In Chattanooga. And then, um... Selling cars?
He probably doesn't have a degree, either. International business? Um, I'm a member of Tobacconist University. There you go.
There you go. That's nice. I actually have the master tobacconist. So you did that beforehand?
When that was kind of a big deal or something? What, the Tobacconist University? Yeah. I've probably had that.
Are they still around? Nine years. I think so. Yeah, they're still around.
They're still around. Huh. Yeah. I'm on my website.
Michael Herklotz was my mentor. Oh, yeah? Oh, wow. I've always liked that guy.
I like Michael. He has an amazing ability of taking complex subject matter and saying it to just regular cigar smokers if they understand. He'll use analogies like "chicken soup" or whatever it is and stuff like that, but he's really good at passing on that information. I never met him.
Did you see the lady at the show, Karen, around the Michael Herklots cutout? Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, that was funny. You never met him?
Did you see the John Carney, uh, old photo of John Carney? I did see that. With Michael Herklots on the fake thing? Yeah, no, I never met him.
I always thought John Carney was bald, but he just... Shaved his head. Yeah, I thought he was too. He was a choice.
Yeah, for the longest time I thought he was bald. Yeah. I thought he was too. What a mystery.
He is the national rep. National. So, no degree in studies in international business? Hobbies, cigars, camping, karaoke.
You can get a lot of karaoke? No, I wouldn't say a lot, no. You did one event that was advertised. It was a karaoke event.
I came across online. It was years ago. I had one booked recently, and then we swapped territories, so I didn't have to do that one. Who'd you swap it with?
Brian McGee. Oh, the guy, the vegetarian. Yeah. Yeah, the vegetarian.
Brian, if you're listening, I did not say that just for the record. He is not listening. Big sexy shirt, AKA toilet seat. So just to kind of give everybody a background, like this poor guy, he's constantly ribbed by a select few of people, but it seems like that number grows every single year.
I'm going to regret that toilet seat thing for the rest of my life. He works for Crown Heads. He's a good guy, he's a great guy, he's super passionate. He takes it really well, too.
He does, he does. You know what, it's a classic, you know, as long as people are talking about you, though. That's true. And he's a really good guy.
I knew about Bigfoot before I knew Bigfoot, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I knew that he was affiliated with lettuce, lots of lettuce. So, hey, we're smoking the new Crownhead cigar.
Do you want to talk about that, the Juarez? Not really. I'm going to help move this along so the West actually gets something out of this. Is it called Juarez?
It's called Juarez, yeah. Yeah. No, so this is what, what was the idea behind this cigar, why you guys put it out? I'm glad you asked, Fred.
And by the way, I'm really happy to have you on my show. Thanks for having me. Can I get the headphones? I need it.
Yeah, it's cool. I'm gonna go leave now. I feel moderately comfortable. Fred's better.
Can you just go? Yeah, that's Cigar Houses Podcast with Fred Rui. Fred Rui. I like this cigar.
I do, too. So this was your idea of a value cigar, correct? It's a budget-friendly cigar. It's a spin-off of Jericho Hill.
So it's Mexican San Andreas. Jericho Hill is named after Johnny Cash's cocaine blues. All the sizes of that line are from the lyrics of the song. The song references Juarez, Mexico, which is where that name came from, so we just came out with that.
I think Cigar Hustler might be the first store in the country to have that because we expedited shipping. Came this morning before 10:30. I mean, you say budget, I say value, but I'm trying to think in my mind anybody that has a San Andres cigar anywhere near that price point. If I was a shop owner, I'm sure I could come up with one immediately.
I'd come up with a couple. Can you really? Yeah. Well, let's just pretend that you don't.
Yeah, I can't find any. It's a good smoke. Yeah, it's really good. And actually, I was telling him earlier, it is very reminiscent of the Jericho Hill.
Jericho Hill. Yeah. It does have some of those tones to it. This is not a box press.
Yep. It's true. I was surprised. John gives me cigars all the time in the office.
I smoke this. I get no information. What do you think? And I went back, I said, "That was really good.
" Nice. Plus your local state tobacco tax. Right. Well, it's really good.
Or in Florida, so we're super friendly. You know, if you have a good San Andreas wrapper, I mean, 80% of the job is done, right? 'Cause it really kind of takes over the cigar. I am gonna disagree with that statement respectfully.
All right. Well, you're not in the cigar business anymore, so your opinion really doesn't matter. It's moot. You don't count.
Well, maybe you didn't have a good rapper. No, I mean, I think, you know, the rapper is important, especially as you get down to smaller ring gauges and stuff like that, but, you know, like, the one I'm smoking is definitely not a small ring gauge for me. And, you know, at some point, the rapper, like, you get all the way down to Lancero, and yeah, I mean, I'd agree with 80%, that rapper better be good. You can make a good Lancero, you can't make a good Lancero without a great rapper.
Right. And if you don't have a great rapper, you're not going to have a good Lancero no matter what. But as you get to bigger ringgages, the other tobacco does come into play for me. I feel like Fred's a little nervous because he's like co-host.
I don't think so. I have no idea what my role is here. " Hey, did you see there's a Rick Rodriguez bobblehead now as well? No.
No, but we'd love to have one. Well, I don't have one to offer, but I just thought it was interesting. Well, the Polish guy in the middle is Brett. I'll take it.
He's our new edition. This is Colonel Sanders. Wait, who's the Polish guy? Which one's the Polish guy?
Actually, it's Sigmund Freud. I thought that was like one of the wise men, like the guy that brought myrrh or something. I thought that was from a nativity scene. It was like the one guy that he's got like this mug of frankincense or something.
We Three Kings. That's a Polish guy. Yeah, my buddy brought him back from Poland. I'm a fan of the show.
So what's his deal? Why does he have a -- is it beer? Is that what he's got in his hand? Yeah.
Okay. Not a care in the world. That's what's going on there. The original Wiseman actually had beer, but most people don't know that.
Really? Oh, yeah. The way one say? Let's go with that.
Probably a Miller Lite. That's God's beer. This podcast is going really well. Rainier.
I think it was Rainier. So, what else you got? I got nothing. Wow.
I mean, you really fucked me here with these things. So, Wes, what are you smoking right now? We're smoking Norris. What are you smoking?
See, that's why Fred's here. I'm smoking a Luminoso. I know so. Can you come back every Tuesday, Fred?
I never finished my anthology of how I got to where I'm at now. I mean, you never got into how we met. Wow, I don't remember that. You said Memphis.
Yeah, I think it was Memphis. I think we covered it. You were both being dicks. I think we kind of covered that.
Oh, okay, yeah, so we were both being dicks. There was no more to that story. So you were hanging out at Burns. You were hanging out at Burns all the time.
And then you eventually what? Did you ask Matt or Phil? Or did one of them just finally go, "Look, you're here every night. Look, you're here every night.
Why don't you work for us? I'm just gonna sit back. Kind of. I got the wild hair.
I sold my insurance agency. I decided I wanted to move to Texas and be an independent cigar rep. Having never been to Texas, I was gonna have Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, take the money I made from my insurance company, and just go for it. You don't have to look at us.
Fred's running the show. Just look at Fred. So, no cigar experience, never being in Texas, you were just gonna pick up, you were gonna be an independent broker, and just go for it. Oh, I tried it, that job sucks.
Seemed like a good idea at the time, huh? The lines that I had at the time, locked in, were 262, Clint Aaron. Clint, good guy. I had Sean Williams, El Premier Mundo.
Yeah. I had Savinelli Pipes, when they were still based in North Carolina. So I went to--they flew me up to North Carolina to train me on selling pipes, because I didn't really know a lot about that. You got training?
Yeah, a little bit. So, wait a second. So you repped three brands when you started? Well, no, we're not there yet.
Slow down! This story is unveiling right now. Just let me tell a story. Write that down.
I'll just turn them off. I'll just turn three off. Okay, please, Wes, continue. I turned him off.
You sure it's the right one? Yeah, you're still on. You're good. So two days into the training, I decide, and they were really good, Steven Cedron and his dad, Ruben, very nice people, very good at what they did.
Second day, I was like, this is not for me, and I'm glad I didn't do it, because I would have gone down there and lost all my money. I'd never even been to Texas before, but that was what was open at the time. Turn me back on. So I get back from this little trip, and the guy that owned Burns at the time, there were two locations, I said, yeah, I'm back.
It didn't work out for me or whatever. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. And he's like, well, I just fired my manager at the downtown store. Do you want to run that store?
And I was like, yeah, I'll give it a shot. So he met me there on, like, a Tuesday, gave me the keys, and drove the hell off. And so I did that for three years, which is when I met John and Mike from Crown Heads Because they had four kicks was their only cigar at the time, which was my favorite cigar, and I sold a lot of them. It came out and made a big splash.
Yeah, still my favorite cigar we make. And I just go up and hang out at the office, and I sent them, I had other offers from other companies to work for them, but I was pretty happy where I was at, and, but I did, I did send John an email and said, "Hey, just letting you know I'm out here. " So like a year went by and I'd stayed in contact with them and they invited me back to the office and said, "We're ready for you to, we're ready to bring somebody on. We don't know what we want you to do.
" So I left Burns February 15th, 2013, started at Crown Heads February 18th, 2013. And you've been there ever since? Been there ever since. S.
and now you just run the East? Now I'm in Delta, Florida. Living your best life. In a closed-off room with no ventilation.
Hey, there's a fan thing going or something. With a former cigar celebrity. Yeah, at least you were a former cigar celebrity. Did you know Fred was a comedian?
Possibly still is. He writes books. He used to be funny. I'm not sure if he still is.
He had a really good podcast. I'm not sure it was ever funny. Yeah, I'm not sure it was ever funny. Who's the biggest name you've had on this podcast?
Skip? Not biggest person, biggest name. I didn't say Steve Sakka. Oh, okay.
Well, I don't know, they're slimming down. Now he's Steve Flocka. I call him Steve Flocka. Him and Abe and Nish, or Nimish.
Yeah, they're all slimming down in a big competition. You know what I like about Skip? One of the things is, when I have a late night, because I'm a night owl, I know he is always going to be on Facebook Messenger at any time I'm awake, and I can send him a message. Give me a message and he'll go right back.
See, I'm the opposite, though. I am not a night owl, but I'm a super early morning person, so I know when I get up at 4:00 in the morning, Skip's still gonna be online. Well, Skip got mentioned. Yeah, so we got that done.
He has to get mentioned at every episode. This segment sponsored by... Never gonna happen. So, like, who should I get on the show?
I don't know. It was just a fun question. Yeah? Um, look, we'll ask the questions here.
Would you like some more conversations, conversation starter questions? Sure. I have some. Okay, well, let's take a quick break.
Okay, we're getting close. Pause for the calls. Alright, we'll be right back. Hey, this is Mike Tu from A Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
If you're enjoying the audio version, make sure you get over to YouTube to A Cigar Hustlers Podcast so you can see the madness in person. Of course you can. Of course you can. Okay, we're back.
Welcome back. Steve Saka's beard on my mouth. It's on my mouth. It could have been on a microphone.
It could have been on a microphone. You know we're live, right? We never use that microphone. Well, you know, it's just facts.
Okay. Okay, back to your questions. Yeah. So, it has nothing to do with cigars, but, you know, we're here.
It's whatever. If you could erase one entire musical album from your memory so that you could listen to it and enjoy it and experience it for the first time again, what would it be? Oh, that's easy. How the West Was Won by Led Zeppelin, the live album.
'Cause that was a fuckin' sick album. Okay. Yeah. Fred?
Fred, do you listen to music? I do. I do. Oddly enough.
Um... I would probably... I'd probably have to go Beatles, Sgt. Pepper album.
Wow. What about you, Wes? Mike? Mike?
Moneymaker Mike? music guy. Hold on, I'm dealing with Michael's microphone. Technical issues?
Nope, we're good. You meshed with it too much. I fucked with it too much, turned it off, and then back on. What do you mean you're not a big music guy?
I don't listen to a whole lot of music. I listen to podcasts now. So if you're like embarrassed to say Katy Perry or something, just go with it, man. It's okay.
I listen mostly country music. I'm trying to think of a Charlie Daniels. You kind of remind me of Michael McDonald a little bit. I feel like that could be your answer.
It's the beard. I was going to say Kenny G, but yeah, Michael McDonald's good. All right, what about you? Yeah, what about you, Wes?
Mine's kind of obscure. Well, you know, there's nothing else to talk about. It's got to be Johnny Cash. No.
No. Mine is kind of obscure. It's a Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder live album that they recorded in North Carolina. I was going to guess that about you.
That was my second choice. Front of backs. Fantastic. Well, do you want to ask the questions, Michael?
Sure. Wait, I want to do a question, too. Okay, I have a question. Your number one movie.
Your number one movie. You can only pick one. Forget about categories, comedy, whatever. It's A Wonderful Life.
Really? Yeah. Okay. Just because it's a feel-good movie, or you like Jimmy Stewart, or...?
I think it's just, it's got great principles. It's something that I could always watch. I watch it every year, make my wife watch it every year, so... Solid.
Yeah, but she loves that. Oh, she fucking hates it. Yeah. But hey.
I don't think I've ever watched that entire movie. How have you not watched that entire movie? I say the same thing about Star Wars. I've never seen one all the way through.
Star Trek is not my thing. I mean, I understand that. I actually get the fact that you're not a sci-fi guy. I had this conversation at dinner in Las Vegas with a group of guys, and I said I'd never seen Star Wars, and it was like a very Star Wars-y kind of crowd, like probably collect swords and stuff.
And I said I'd never seen Star Wars. And I was like, I'm a Back to the Future guy, and the guy's like, I've never seen Back to the Future. And then you kicked his ass? Uh, no.
" A little note. Nice. So, hopefully he's done. Mike, favorite movie?
Or do you not watch movies through this podcast? No, no, I watch a lot of movies. He's a tough critic when it comes to movies. That movie sucked.
I'm like, Jesus. " Oh, all right, okay. Kind of a downer. Yeah.
Not exactly the feel-good movie of the year. No, no feel-good movie. It's like watching Elephant Man and Mask back-to-back, you know? It's like if you're born ugly and have ability to make things out of sticks, you're dying that way.
I like to watch those backwards. What's that? I like to watch those backwards. If you watch Benjamin Button backwards, it's just a normal movie.
Yeah, it's a standard. Yeah, I just get old. Wes, favorite movie? " Oh, solid choice, solid choice.
It's actually, that's in my top ten. That's in my top ten. Little fun fact for you. There's a guy named Dan Tominski, who's played in Allison Krause's band for like 30 years, he has 18 Grammy Awards somewhere in that neighborhood, he hangs out in the cigar store in Nashville every day, just chain smokes cigars all day, but that's his voice, when George Clooney sings that song, that's his voice on the movie.
I didn't know that. Okay. So I can't, I used to say that all the time, I'd say that I was that guy, but now that guy exists. Only the people who listen to this.
I think you're still good. All right. Sweet. Fred?
Shawshank Redemption. Yeah, that was my number two. Yeah, solid movie. Easy.
In school, when I was in college, I wanted to be a film major, and I got over it, but saw millions and millions of films. And that was the first movie that I remember seeing, especially during that time when you just had to watch all these films. Right. It was the first movie I saw that I walked out of that I wanted to walk right back in and hear the story told again.
It's like your grandfather telling you this really awesome story. I would have picked Notebook for you. Notebook? I've never seen Notebook.
That's more romantic. Actually, you know what, funny, this came up the other day, because we were, actually this came up in Vegas when we were talking about movies, most popular movie you've never seen, I've never seen Dirty Dancing. Really? I probably haven't either.
Yeah. I've never seen it. You haven't seen that? I'm like, no.
That's, that's pretty crazy. Yeah. I probably never have either. Are you, are you snapping us?
He's taking our picture. No, I don't. He's videoing. Oh, Snapchat.
All right, so now we return to the program. So you have questions, I'm sure, all lined up, ready to go for a while. We have the same five questions we ask everybody who comes on the show. Go ahead, he's uploading his video.
Oh, go ahead and multi-tap. Okay, what's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave? This is the most obscure podcast we've ever done. It is.
I wish you would. Since the last time I was on the show. No, that one was good, too, though. I wish we could have pre-loaded these questions so I could think about them.
Yeah, fuck that. No, that's a whole idea. That's probably why they do it. If you listen to the show, best advice.
Yeah, if you listen to any of our 80 episodes that we've had. Best advice anybody ever gave me, don't do the Cigar Hustle Podcast show. Does this podcast have its own Instagram, or do you just do Cigar Hustlers? It's got its own.
Yeah, it does have its own Instagram. He is a beast on Instagram. Thank you so much. He is a beast on Instagram.
What is the tag? Cigar Hustlers Podcast. You'll never guess. Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
No, no, just Cigar. Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Yes. Plural or Cigar Hustler?
Hustlers. Or Hustlers. Hustlers. There's a big sign right there.
Another one right there. Another one there. You can't miss it. There's signage all over this room.
There it is. - What's outside on the building? - Um, dang, here we go. - So, best advice someone else gave you?
- Yeah, just kind of thinking about that. - Don't do it? - Don't move to Texas? - Don't move to Texas and sell pipes?
- Yeah, definitely don't go to Texas. - You can drive all day there and you're still in Texas. - Yeah. - I like Texas.
- Me too. - Um... - You wanna come back? Want to come back?
Yeah, let me come back. Let me try to think of something. The thing that comes off the top of my head is like, don't eat yellow snow, but that's... Solid advice, though.
It's not helpful to anyone. Whew. Alright, one person, living or dead, would you like to share a cigar with? I think my dad.
Yeah? Yeah. You smoked with him before or no? No, he ain't having it.
Really? That's why. Yeah. It'd be like a win for you.
Yeah, he's never going to smoke. " Wow. But you're in sales. How do you get that?
And you're outside. How do you not close that deal? I'm not selling people to smoking. Why not?
Usually, they're already in here, kind of interested. But maybe you should be. That's probably one of the bigger problems in this industry, right? It's a constantly fucking depreciating thing.
Right? You're losing more and more consumers probably on a daily basis. Well, we could be out there getting some, instead we're in this room. No, I have them.
Don't worry, they're established. They're out there. But I'm saying outside of that realm. Maybe that's the best advice I've ever been given.
Yeah? You should make more cigar smokers? Yeah. Okay.
You can't argue with the answer of my dad. You know, it's like, it's not even debatable, you know, it's, it's the perfect answer. But you gotta seal that. " Like, that has to happen.
Yeah, it ain't gonna happen. I'm telling you, it ain't gonna happen. Mine's always been Mark Twain. With that attitude, mister.
Mine's always been Mark Twain. Yeah. We're gonna have to check the tapes and make sure that that's what he said. He said it's Dan.
No, Fred Rui. Oh. I don't know what, I think you say Mark Twain. That's why I'm not answering these questions.
But you just did. I know. All right, next question, we moving on? I guess.
But you already knew the questions. Charming ones. I don't remember the questions. I blacked out this show the second I left this thing months ago.
Wow. That was a long time ago. Fred was in the beginning. Yeah, you're like episode seven.
Just about. Okay, what one fictitious person would you like to share a cigar with? Fictitious? Yeah.
Character from a movie. Well, it's definitely not Luke Skywalker, I can tell you that. Michael J. Fox, maybe.
Michael J. Fox is not fictitious in his own right. His character, I don't think of the character's name. McFly.
Marty McFly. Marty McFly. Marty McFly. Great movie.
I showed that movie to my daughter, and she was like, you know when you like all the ones you liked when you were younger that you show your kids? It's just not happening. That was one of the ones I showed her. You know what's funny is I subjected Jax to Back to the Future 2 as well.
Yeah, they did. And he's like, this is scary. I'm like, this is scary. By the way, the guy, what's his name, Christopher Lloyd?
Yeah. So I just happened to see today that he's worth like $80 million, and I'm like, how did he get worth that high? I mean, he's always done some things. He was on Taxi or whatever, but I mean, I didn't know he'd be worth that much money.
Did he own rights in the movie, Back to the Future? I don't know. I mean, I wonder. Sorry, continue.
Question three. Yeah, I was thinking about it while you were doing your thing. Oh, wait, are we still on question two for some? Oh, yeah, we are, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's three. That's what I was trying to think of. Like a cartoon character or something?
I've never been a big cartoon guy. I mean, I did some Mickey Mouse when I was younger, but these adult cartoons, that ain't for me. Family Guy, Simpsons. You're a lot of fun, Wes.
Yeah. I don't know, you know, I'd rather like learn something, I think. So, if you had to pick another living or dead person then, who would you pick? I know, but he can't come up with a fictitious one.
I'm trying to throw him a bone here. I mean, you know. I don't want to let him off the hook. You can say Dr.
Brown. I mean, he's a big Back to the Futures fan. Emmett? Dr.
Emmett Brown? Yeah. Nah, he wouldn't be my pick, though. I don't want to lie to the people.
So then you do have a pick. So you do have a fictitious person. Right. See?
Now you're getting it right. He doesn't have one, but it's not him. Yeah, it's not that guy. Is it like a My Little Pony or something?
So we're gonna slowly rule out who it's not, so pretty safe Picard's not gonna come on the list. no luke skywalker riker darth vader maybe no darth maul no there's nothing for any of the darths you don't like do the comic books growing up no what the hell did you do growing up wow uh went fishing okay and rode atvs i grew up on on like a hundred acre farm johnny quest that's pretty awesome you probably it's probably too old for you well and he's a kid dude that's just wrong Yeah, that's fucked up. Well, who was the guy? Racer X.
Rex. Yeah, Rex. Oh, no. Racer X?
Rex Racer was Speed Racer's brother. Oh, sorry. But who was Johnny Quest? The white-haired guy.
It was Pence. Looked just like Pence. It did. It might have been Rex, I don't know.
Do you know who Johnny Quest is, Michael? Barely. I. is?
Yeah. I. the other day. Nobody in my house knows who the hell he is.
I had an order for some cigars, so still making it happen. That's nice. That's because you're on the show, that's direct correlation. You're welcome.
Direct correlation. We're live right now. Throw you a cut. So you're not going to have a fictitious person that you can't think of, like a movie character, somebody that you liked in the movies.
Kill Bill, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know why, like the Ocean's Eleven's guy comes to mind, like all of the whole group. Yeah. I really like, I like that movie.
That'd be fun. Yeah. All right, good, all right, we'll go with that. They're in Las Vegas.
Right. Yeah, let's just move along. You like Vegas? Let's just move along.
You're a big Vegas fan. I'm a big Vegas guy. Yeah. You know, this past week, when we went to the show, I was there for eight days.
I went outside once. Yeah, that sounds about right. Daylight. It's crazy.
Yeah. No, it was actually night when I went out, but... It's still hot. It's hot.
It's still hot. It's still hot. But I like that. I like air conditioning.
And you can do that as long as you want there. You don't have to leave that building. Right. It's a big building.
Yeah. A lot of food and stuff. And gambling. What's your favorite thing to gamble?
Blackjack? Currently a game called Spinferno. Yeah. Slot Machine game.
It used to be Wheel of Fortune, but they've kind of phased out the old school rotary Wheel of Fortune, so I got off that and now I'm on the Spinferno. I love the old Wheel of Fortune because I just wanted to spin the wheel. Yeah. And half time I would only get like the 20 credit one, whatever the lowest one was, but.
Yeah. Spinferno is similar. Like you still spin a thing, but. Nice.
So do you have a fictitious person you want to share a cigar with? All right, what's your favorite cigar? We'll move on. Uh, name one?
Yes. Or like a top five? No, just one. We're already at 38 minutes, just the one.
Well, I don't want to be like the company guy and buy us and name mine. That's all right. Let me do a top five. Okay, top five.
Give us a top five. Go ahead. Top five. Uh, Padrón, 64.
Okay. Maduro or natural? Natural. Natural.
Torp or particular size? Nice choice. Nice choice. Principe.
Okay. Four Kicks Coronagorda. Okay. Is that the Maduro or the Standard?
The Standard Habano. Okay. Elusione Epernay. Mm-hmm.
Fred's friends with Dion. They go way back. He'll probably be up at the Area 51 thing. Yeah.
If you're in a few weeks. He's probably leading that back. Me? No.
Dion. Oh, Dion. He's into that, right? I think Dion probably already has the aliens at his house.
I don't think he needs to go on a raid. I think he's already dialed in. That's a good point, Fred. Guillermo León Signature Corona Gordo.
But you don't see a lot out there anymore. It's a shame. Underrated cigar. Extremely underrated.
Highly underrated cigar. And I like the new, uh, uh, the Aladino. Yeah. The one that, I guess the original one that comes in the, it's like a packet of eight different sizes in the same box.
Right. That was a good cigar. Yeah, Husto's doing good stuff. Mm-hmm.
He's been on the show. I think that's about five. Husto's been on the show. Yeah?
Yeah. Yeah, he's a big deal. Is that five? You were gonna say Warbear, too.
I think you mentioned that. Yeah. I don't think he's had it. I just saw that.
I just had it before this one. I just got an email about that. It was solid. Thank you.
I just had it right before this one. Oh. Yeah, right here. From an account.
It's right there in the email. There it is. Oh, there it is. It exists.
It's 40% off. Buy one, get one. Yeah. So, might pop on that.
It's at Ronnie's shop, 40% off. Nice. Yeah. Flying out the door.
The only other question, do you want to go about your social media contacts or anything? People can find you? Yeah, sure. The three people that listen to the show?
Instagram is Cigar Wes, with one S. Nice. Nice. And the Crown Heads Instagram is TheCrownedHeads.
Perfect. Awesome. That's pretty much all I'm messing with. What about Fred?
Do you want to do yours again? Everything for me is @Godfader, at G-O-D-F-A-D-R, whether it's Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. And you're pretty funny on social media. Ah, okay.
You're worth following. I have a lot of misspellings on things. Yeah. Like last names?
Thornton. Thornton. Thornton. But he can't spell my last name.
Nobody can spell your last name. Nobody can pronounce your name. I've never tried. In Poland a lot of people can.
Legit don't know what it starts with. I think it's an S or a Z, but I'm not sure. I think it's actually S-Z. Yeah, okay.
And then after that I tap out. C-Z. And that's where I get back. Wait, it's C-Z?
S-Z, C-Z, and that's where I get back. Yeah. Oh, jeez. That's not right.
Good job, Mike. Thank you. So what's selling cars? Yeah, just make up your career, yeah, make up your career.
I mean, this is brilliant, you gotta give you credit for this, because, you know. So, I heard you went to school for massage therapy? No, no. I don't know.
What was that like? I've actually never had a massage, professionally. So, I guess the other question that I've been kind of asking a lot lately is, who would you want in a fight with? If you got into a fight with anybody, let's see.
You can pick somebody. What about Miguel? I feel like, you know, Miguel's a guy that you'd probably want to fight. He's kind of a nice guy, I mean, but you work for him or with him or whatever the fuck.
Could you take him? I would want to grab him by the neck, but he doesn't have one. Yeah, that's true. He doesn't.
He's short, but he's scrappy. I think I could outrun him. And I'm not very fast, but I still think I could just because of the length of the stride. But could you kick his ass?
I don't know. I've never been in a fight. I'm a lover, man. You've never been in a fight?
No. I like to talk myself out of it. I don't really get hyped up. I don't know if you can tell.
I didn't know that about you. Yeah, pretty chill. Big ball of energy, Wes is. We only got a couple of minutes and we're gonna have to go to commercial again.
All right, we'll go to commercial again. That's more money. That's more money for the podcast. Yeah, man.
Let's just go to commercial. We can go to commercial. We can go to commercial. Let's go to commercial.
When we come back, the fictional character. We can end the podcast here, I think. I think this is appropriate. You think it's a good time to end it?
Yeah, to kind of call. All right. Wes is just getting warmed up. Yeah, we're just starting to get comfortable.
He's got, he's got, yeah, slowly, you know, this might be my favorite episode. I can't wait to the comments on this one. When we come back, the Wes shark cage fight match that happened in the Caribbean. He's gonna bring that up.
Pretty impressive story. All right, end this. All right, end this now. Thanks everybody, that's it, bye.
Hello, this is a prepaid collect call from the Correctional Institution. This call is subject to recording and monitoring. To accept charges, press 1. 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. You can follow the guys on Instagram @CigarHustlerForMikey and @FCC_MikeForMike2.
You can also follow the show on Instagram @ACigarHustlerPodcast 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. Thank you.
Show Notes
This week we have a celebrity interviewer sit in and take over the show...Mr. Fred Rewey was in the shop so we couldn't pass up the chance to have him bust our balls and take over the show!
Wes Thornton the Regional Sales Manager for Crown Heads Cigars was in for an event so we sat down and punished him with a 45 min podcast!
Sit back like Mikey and Mike Too did and just enjoy the show!
As always we welcome your thoughts, ideas and show suggestions on our FB page, "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast". You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodast, Mikey @cigarhustler, and Mike Too @fcc_mike.
Make sure to rate, reply and subscribe on which ever of our podcast providers you use.