Episode 95 Gregg has a Sex Room, Jack Torano The Grill Master and Bo Fights Back!
Episode Summary
Episode 95 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast leans on the show's new call-in button, with two unannounced phone interviews. First up is Bo Zaryckyj of 724 Cigars, who calls in from the road to make his case for Twin Smoke Shop in Londonderry, New Hampshire, after the hosts picked Boss Cigars for the Tobacco Business retailer award. Bo talks about owner Kurt Kendall — the shop's massive walk-in humidor, full-service bar with single-barrel whiskey and tequila picks, certified retail tobacconist staff, and Kendall's reputation as one of the nicest people in the industry — before answering the show's classic Five Questions (an H. Upmann with JFK, the 724 Hustler Corona barberpole, and Dunbarton's Neanderthal HOXD as his current daily smoke).
The second call goes to Jack Toraño, live from La Zona Palooza while he's grilling burgers and hot dogs. Jack explains how the invite-only Espinosa fan event works (hashtag activity all year earns you a save-the-date) and then walks through the backstory of Warzone, the new Espinosa/General Cigar collaboration. He clarifies that the original Cameroon project never "fell apart" — it was the Esteban Liberation-era effort that stalled — and that once he joined Espinosa, Justin Andrews moved the Espinosa collab to the top of General's boutique partnership list. Warzone is a Cameroon-wrapped, Honduran-bound cigar rolled at Espinosa's La Zona factory and distributed exclusively by General Cigar, setting up a friendly rivalry with Skip Martin's RoMa Craft Baka.
Between calls, the hosts read the new legal disclaimer, cover industry news: Kretek International's restructuring and Ventura Cigar Company staff cuts, Imperial Brands' expected sale of its half of Habanos S.A. to a China-linked buyer, Florida Senator David Simmons reintroducing SB 810 to raise the tobacco purchasing age to 21 (with Jose Oliva as House Speaker seen as an obstacle), the PCA lobbying firm story out of the Washington Post, and J.C. Newman's Ybor City factory renovation ahead of its 125th anniversary. Lighter segments include Ash Quarterly's Jason Falkenberg visiting the shop, a stolen Bigfoot statue in Boynton Beach that resembles Steve Saka's Sokka Squatch, and the crew shooting up the shop's old POS system.
In This Episode
- 01Disclaimer and Listener DramaManagement makes the hosts read a legal disclaimer at the top of every show after listener complaints about their opinions.
- 02Call-In: Bo Zaryckyj on Twin Smoke ShopThe 724 Cigars rep pleads the case for Kurt Kendall's Twin Smoke Shop in Londonderry, NH, for Tobacconist of the Year.
- 03The Five QuestionsBo picks an H. Upmann with JFK, the 724 Hustler Corona barberpole, the Neanderthal HOXD, and Tony Soprano.
- 04Industry News: Kretek and HabanosKretek International restructuring slashes Ventura Cigar Company staff, and Imperial Brands moves to sell its half of Habanos S.A.
- 05Florida Tobacco Age 21 BillSenator David Simmons reintroduces SB 810 with new retailer penalties, and the hosts rail against over-regulation.
- 06Call-In: Jack Toraño at La Zona PaloozaToraño explains how the invite-only Espinosa fan event works and the origin of the Espinosa x General Cigar Warzone Cameroon.
- 07J.C. Newman's Ybor City FactoryThe last working cigar factory in Ybor City preps a museum and factory tours for its 125th anniversary in 2020.
- 08Stolen Bigfoot and Shop ShenanigansA Bigfoot statue resembling Sokka Squatch goes missing in Boynton Beach, plus Ash Quarterly's visit and destroying the old POS system.
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
Star Hustlers Podcast Episode 95. Greg has a sex room, Jack Tarragno is the grill master, and Bo fights back. Sit down and relax, everybody. It's a hell of a show.
Welcome to episode, look at the board, look at the board, 95, Michael, of a Cigar Hustlers podcast. You sure that's accurate? That's accurate, I changed it after the last episode, which was 94. Okay.
Welcome, everyone, to another episode of the Cigar Hustler podcast presented by Roma Back to Back and my friend Skip Martin and your friend Danny Vasquez. Vasquez? Vasquez. What about Mike Rosales?
Mike Rosales, of course. What about Frenchie? Frenchie. What about my boy Sean?
Amy. Lightweight heavy. Everybody. Jamie.
Jamie. Jesus. I said Jamie. He lost points.
Oh, damn it. Let's start over. Take it from the top. Nope.
Welcome to episode 94 of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. So, we gonna, there's a little, there's more drama associated with the show. Hey, you know, it's, hey, your drama. Hey, we got listeners.
Come on, that's cool. Apparently. People are upset about our opinions. You complain and you get on the show now, so.
That's how it works. That's how it works. So, before we get started. Okay.
I must read something from management. Oh God. We must say this now at the beginning of each show. He did this.
He did this before. Michael. Hey, Cigar Hustlers podcast. Can you do it at the end?
Its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show hosts or their guests. Can't you just work it out? Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike & Mike Productions or the podcast providers and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. Did you add the radio part still or did you remove that?
No, I fixed it. I fixed it. It's not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show host, Mike Szczepankevic, with any feedback or suggestions you have for the show.
These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. I just want you to know that hurting some of your feelings is my entertainment, so there you go. There's your fucking disclaimer. Great, so now we have that at the beginning of every show, or the end of every show.
Yeah, work it in or something at the end, that's ridiculous. Okay, so explain the drama this week, Mike. Okay, so... I'm going to smoke my cigar.
So, my good friend Bo, over at Twin Smoke Shop, was very upset about the fact that we picked Boss Cigars over Twin Smoke Shop. Okay, I'm very sorry, Bo. I love you. Mike is very concerned.
I love you desperately. I enjoyed meeting you at the IPCPR or the PCA or whatever the fuck it's called. Bo's the sweetheart of a guy. Yes, he is.
So, we're gonna give him an opportunity to pleat his case and try to sway us to vote for Twin Peaks. Yeah, we'll see. Twin Peaks. Twin smoke.
We'll see how this goes. I'm excited. Okay. Let's get my window phone.
Alright. Is the volume up? Get this. A highly technical, proficient show now, with all our new gizmos and gadgets.
All these toys. Well, he's toys now, so we have weekly call-ins. Oh, I can't wait. It's ringing.
Is this his shop or his personal phone? This is personal. Hello? Hello?
Bo, hello, you're on the air! Hey, Mike and Mike! This is Mike and Mike at the Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Can you make him louder?
Uh, no. You can't make him louder? No. You sound kinda quiet, Bo.
I got you on full blast. Do you have us on speakerphone? I just took you off, is that better? Oh, yes, yes.
Oh, lovely. Yeah, I tried to put the Bluetooth on, but, because I'm just sitting in the car. Just like they say on TV, turn down your radio while you listen, and take us off speakerphone. Nice.
Yeah, you're off speaker. There you go. I don't listen well, I guess. Long time listener, first time caller, as Danny said.
I am a listener from the first episode. Look at that. Oh, we're very sorry you had to hear that one. See?
About 40 is a good time to come to the show, actually. Oh, yeah. It was rough at the beginning, but you guys are doing well. Hey.
Yeah, hey, he stuck it out, and you know, that's more than anybody else. So we appreciate that. Okay, so Bo, you know, you were a little upset with us about our choice of retailer that we felt deserved to be the vote for the tobacco yada yada, whatever the fuck we were looking at last week. The Tobacco News Awards.
Ah, yes. Tobacco Business, yeah. Yeah, so, why don't you tell us why you're such a fan, for one, of Twin Smokeshop, and two, why you think that they should win? Well, I wasn't upset with you guys, I was just, I like to joke around a lot, and I thought...
I feel like you're upset. I was just a joke, Mike, and no, but no, so, Kirk Kendall owns Twin Smokeshop in London, New Hampshire. Yeah. We were honored to be nominated for that category of tobacconist of the year.
And so when you guys were talking about it, I figured, hey, maybe they'll give a shout out to Kurt and stuff like that on the radio, on the podcast. And then, so when I was listening, I think it was Wednesday morning on my drive to Buffalo, I had to text you and be like, why not? Why didn't you give a shout out to them? But anyway, so I, you know, obviously I work for Kurt because I sell the, his brand as well, the 724 brand.
But, Dunes is a place that's unmatched, so the humidor is, it's a walk-in humidor that's, I mean, I don't know how many boxes that we have on the shelf, but you could get lost in there for days, and then that doesn't even include the full service bar with the barrel picks and the single barrel picks that he has and the deck and the patio, and, you know, we are all, you know, all of his management staffs all retail tobacconists from Tobacco University, and they just do it the right way, and so, you know, I know a lot of these things are popularity contests, especially with, you know, you've You nominate and stuff like that, but I just wanted to give Kurt his due. Well, it sounds like a wonderful place. So let me tell you something. You guys should take a road trip.
Well, yeah, no, we definitely need to get up there. And let me tell you one thing. Kurt has been here. Oh, has he?
A long time ago. He told me that. He said he told me that, actually. Is that the Hustlers cigar?
Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, so we still have the product. Yeah, we still have the product.
So, Kurt, I'm going to tell you right now, Kurt Kendall is probably the nicest guy in the cigar industry. I'm sure they'll get somebody to call and say, hey, fuck you, I'm the nicest guy, but, you know, but I will tell you this, that, you know, I mean, he was, the first time I met him, I was super impressed, really down to earth, just a really nice guy, you know, you never guessed that looking at him because he's all tatted up and, you know, he's got like a, you know, he looks like this angry biker guy, but he's not, you know. He looks like a guy you don't want to walk into an alley at a dark night. Yeah.
He is the nicest guy. He would give you the shirt off the back if that's what you needed to get through your day. Yeah, I believe that. And so at the end of the day, too, just because I work for him doesn't mean I've always been a customer.
I bought my first cigar from him in 1999 when I was 18 years old when he was basically like a little shack across from a gas station. I've always been a customer of his for a very long time. But he is a super nice guy. His staff is super friendly.
It's not one of those places where someone sits at the register and they let you walk in the humidor. It's customer services, top notch, and you're not leaving there with a bad cigar. Okay. So I'm gonna be honest with you, when you were doing the voting, Mike, when you gave me the list, I honestly didn't even hear Twin Smoke Shop.
I don't remember anything. Well, he also said the name wrong. He said London Berry or something like that, New Hampshire. Yeah.
Okay. The pronunciation is not on point. No, it's not even close. It never is.
So, you know. As a matter of fact, we discussed how to say your last name and we just gave up. It was that fuck, I was going to do Bo. But you know what?
It was your last name. Yeah, exactly. In all fairness, it's not like anybody's going to nail my last name anytime soon either. No, no, no, no.
So, you know, honestly, I didn't hear that. I didn't hear Twin Smoke Shop. Now, with that being said, Twin Smoke Shop does not carry Postanya, does not carry Guai Moreau, and you know. And, and we've been close, we've been close to getting it done, but it was just never happened, so, um, you carry his, but he doesn't carry yours.
" Yeah, I did. Of course I did. " You know, like, I mean, he's just a good guy, you know, he's like, I was eating donuts. So.
He has a sweet tooth, which if you eat his Reese's Peterborough cups that people bring him. People will die. He does not like that. I learned that the hard way.
Oh, ooh, ooh, don't do that. So, you know, you know, but like, I'll reach out a couple times and, you know, we'll have like a back and forth. And then, you know, you send the price sheet or whatever. But like, after that, I'm not the guy that's going to try and force anything.
You know what I mean? If you want it, great. And I want to build that relationship. But I'm not desperate for the sale and I don't want to push anything on somebody and have a product to sit.
You know what I mean? And do I think that it'll sit in the shop? No, because I think that it'll do well there. But there and again, everybody's got to kind of be on board.
So hopefully it'll be revisited and we can open up and then I got a reason to go up there. But I'll tell you right now, I ain't fucking... We do a lot of Roma business and one of our managers, Dan, he actually, he has a pretty big online following, his name is Pastor Padron or Sacred Smokes because he's actually a pastor as well, he's a huge Roma guy and so he's built the Roma business a lot and so I feel like that would be a good fit with them, so he's one of those guys that if you've got it in his hands, which I've given him a few of his stuff that if he got it, you know, he could, he could get that going too because we have a good Roma selection right now as well. Right.
Yeah. And then I'll totally come up there. I mean, you know, I'm from Boston. So, you know, there's...
Can we wait till summer? Yeah, we're not going up anytime soon. We're not coming, no. Well, you would want to go in the summer, because I remember on one of Kurt's posts where you posted him in the dog, Basil, in front of the lake drinking the tequila.
Yes. He loved that picture. Yeah, that was a great picture. And now that you're into tequila, Kurt has a single-barrel tequila that he picked himself from Peridora or Respirado, or I always say that wrong.
Reposado? It's Respirado, right? It is fabulous. So, it's your kind of spot.
Okay. Yeah. So, you know, we've got to do a couple of things, but hopefully we'll be able to get up there. Yeah, definitely.
That'd be great. I just wanted to let you know that on Wednesday was my birthday, and I bought myself a birthday gift from your shop. Oh. Because you guys are like some of the only people that have chrome magnets left.
Yes. Yeah, we are. Well, happy birthday. Yeah.
He gets... There you go. You got the gong for your birthday. And we do sell big as well at our retail shop.
Boom. Oh, boom, there you go. We're so there. We're so there.
Do you want to ask the five questions? Bo was asking me about the five questions. Does Bo want to do the five questions? See, I am an original listener.
See, he knew. You guys don't do them very often anymore. No. Alright, Bo, here you go.
Name one person, living or dead, you would like to share a cigar with. So, I've thought about this one a lot, because there's a lot of different people. And I think like a historic figure, I'd probably want to smoke an H up in with JFK. Oh, very nice.
Yeah. And if it was like a living person or a group of people, I'd want to have a cigar with Kurt and Dave Garofalo, the two retailers with Skip and Nicaragua at Skip's house. Oh, an actual location as well as. Yeah.
Oh. David Garofalo just started following us on Instagram. I was gonna say that. I know you guys talk a lot about his show.
Now you guys should, if you guys do come up there, not that I don't want to talk about it, Kurt's, One of Kurt's competitors, because Kurt was just on Dave's show, but you should go check out that podcast studio they built. They have like a whole coffee shop. I've seen pictures of it, it's very nice. It's really cool.
Oh, we could heckle them from the audience. Boo! Boo! It's like our podcast is better!
We're number two show, we're coming after you! Yeah. All right, number two question, Beau. Best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
It was from my dad, and it was to make hay when the sun is shining, so when you can make that money, you make it. Nice, nice, yeah. How old are you, Bo? 37.
Officially 37. Well, 38 now, actually. I just turned 38. So, you know, yeah, these are your earning years, man, so he's fucking A right.
You gotta, you know, you gotta get in while you got it, while the getting's good. Alright, number three, what's your favorite cigar? So I'll answer two ways because I sell 724. So my favorite 724 is our Hustler Corona, which is our Barberpole cigar.
Which is a great cigar. Yes. And that Corona size specifically is phenomenal. And then for non-724, I always used to say the Neanderthal HN, but what I'll say now is the HOXD from Neanderthal has been like a daily cigar for me, so I have to switch it to the HOXD.
All right, great choice. All right, question number four, fictional character you would like to have a cigar with? Tony Soprano. Nice.
There you go. See, like, he's researched, like, he's asked himself all these questions. He's been waiting his whole life to get these questions. This is it, you know.
All right, final question, how to get a hold of you? Do you want to give out your social media information? Yeah, the Insta, well, it's hard to, yeah, it's on Instagram, it's my, it's Beau, B-O, And then Jay, and then my last name, which is insane, Z-A-R-Y-C-K-Y-J, and then you can also follow, I use the 724 Instagram page a lot too, which is the 724cigars. Pronounce your last name for us, Bo.
Zaritsky. Yeah, you would have never gotten that. Not even close. Just like it looks.
Yeah, just like it looks, right. Fanatically, spelled exactly the same word. Yeah, you and me both, pal. Well, hey, you know, I wish you a happy birthday before but now it's on the podcast so officially happy belated birthday, you know, and he loves his gong and, you know, stay safe out there, don't, I know it's like snowing and shit somewhere, so I hope you're not there.
I have about two more hours to my next stop and then three hours home after that. Oh, he's in the car, oof, yuck. Have fun, brother. Good luck to you, brother.
Yeah, thanks for, I appreciate you having me and let me talk about Twin Smoke Shop, I appreciate that. - Yeah, absolutely. - Thanks, guys. - All right, brother.
- All right, Beau, thanks for listening. - Have a good one, guys. - All right, bye-bye. - All right, so there's Beau.
- That was Beau, yeah, and I did figure out how to turn him up, but the camera didn't start when I hit the button the first time. - Oh. - So, we present the show already in progress. - So, how far in were we?
- About eight minutes. - Oh my God, so you got four minutes worth of film right now. - Well, no, no, we're at eight minutes of film now. Oh, so you missed the first four minutes, which is just you yada-yada-ing your bullshitting.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the audio is still there, so it's just not the video. I mean, the audio started without any problem. So can you, like, do the audio with, like, a blank?
Yeah, actually, I can. There you go. With the new software. Which is, like, a little dingy-dingy or something.
A little dingy-dingy-dingy-dingy. A little dingy-dingy-dingy. All right. So there you go, Bo.
Bo. I like Bo. I like Bo, too. He's a nice guy, but I've never been to this shop, as beautiful as it sounded, I'm still voting for Boss Cigars.
Yeah, because they carry Pustania. They carry Pustania, and he reached out and thanked me for voting. He did! Yes.
He did. So he's also a listener, the boy Corinto. That's right. Boom.
So Shop of the Week, Boss Cigars! Sorry, Bo. Listener of the Week? Bo Zielinski.
There you go. I don't know if that was close or not, Bo, I'm so sorry. But you've got three gongs, so, you know, that's something. All right, I have a short Greg story, which just happened recently.
Okay. Do you have anything you'd rather talk about? No, man, you're at the helm today. What do you mean, today?
You're at the helm every day. I'm at the helm every day. I got nothing good for you. You got nothing good for me today?
Nothing bad. All right, years ago, I started a rumor that your brother had a sex room in his house. Have you heard this rumor? Yes, I have heard this rumor.
Yes, yes. There was a lady that was interested in him that he was not interested in, and to discourage her, I sort of said he had a sex room at his house. So you were the culprit of this. Oh yeah, I started the rumor.
Okay, okay. But unfortunately, that did not dissuade her interest, that just made her more interested. It just increased things. It just increased interest.
So anyway, that was several years ago. Okay. The night before last, we're sitting around the house talking, and there's a friend of Megan's, the young lady that lives with us, that Greg is interested in. Ooh.
So I've been putting in on a good word for my friend Gregory. Oh, you're doing, you're a nice guy. Yes, and Adrian overheard me talking to Macon. " She goes, "He's weird.
" "Yeah, yeah, he's got a sex room. " Wow. Now it's come full circle, back to my house. And now Greg's just this S&M freak.
He's an S&M freak. Everybody thinks he is. She did not know that I started the rumor. No, that is fantastic.
She heard it from someone else. You know, because he mentioned that to me a while ago. " Yep. Good job.
Mission accomplished, brother. Thank you very much. Good job. So what else we got going on there, Mr.
Palmer? Yesterday, we had Jason Falkenberg... We did! came into the shop from Ash Quarterly.
That was fun. That was. He did a nice little interview. It's on you, the shop, and the show.
I'm interested to see, I mean he was here for a long time. Long time. So I'm interested to see what is going to be... You might be in like the next four issues with all the information you got.
What's going to be on, because, I mean, you know, I always say some off-color shit, right? Right, yeah. I'm wondering if any of that makes it or not, and it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting.
But he's a good guy. He is a good guy. It's an entertaining, informative, and educational magazine that has great articles and stunning pictorals. 99 this month with a coupon code BLACKNOVEMBER.
Give him a little plug there. I love it. That's very nice. You're a nice man.
Thank you. Did he take more photos after I left? Uh, just one. Joe.
Okay. I thought he might do like you sitting in a chair by the microphone. No. Oh, he took pictures of the podcast.
Oh, of the table by itself? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. Cool.
Cool. Alright, we have some news. Getting into the industry news. Oh, industry news.
This is reported on Cigar International because now I have to say where I get my information. Oh, you check CI? I check everywhere, Michael. I'm very thorough in my prep for the show.
My Lord, what do you think this is? I would just check Half Wheel & Coop. No, no, sometimes you don't get enough information from them. Crytek International is restructuring and Ventura Cigar staff has been reduced, Michael.
Wow. Crytek International, the parent company of Philip & King International Tobacco Media Group and Ventura Cigar companies, The company is undergoing a major restructuring that will include layoffs throughout the company. For Ventura Cigar Company, which is Crytek's premium cigar of 50, the company's staff has been reduced from 9 to 3. Ooh, 3.
Total number of layoffs at Crytek is unknown, so those last 3 people might want to get your resume brushed up there, folks. Fueling the growth. Fueling the growth. Fueling the growth.
Fueling the growth. Here's the thing, we're looking at Q4, we want to make sure we wind up in the black, so you're all out! You're all done now! And you're fired.
Look at that, we made more money! Yes. Wow. Wow.
Allegedly. Allegedly. Tell you what. Oh, no.
We have eight extra minutes on the clock. Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. I can't wait.
So, another Cigar International story that follows up to our other story before about Altidus. Yes. Imperial Brands is expecting to sell Altidus and half a cigar to a Chinese company. To your friend.
To my friends in China. Yeah. This is close to negotiations, have told Halfwheel that Imperial, a British, evidently this is from Halfwheel, that's Cigar International. Oh, boom.
Boom, how'd that happen? Yeah, because that makes more sense. Selected a bid from Habano, which is a presence, which has a presence in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Tibet. It's called Habano?
I thought it was called like Hubana or some shit. Hubabao. Hubabao. Hubabao.
Hubabao. Hubabao. Hubabao. Hubabao, ching chong, ching ching ching.
Oh, Jesus. We've been able to confirm a purchase price through sources that have indicated that it is likely It's likely to be less than $2 billion. About 20 bucks. 3 to $2 billion from sales on the premium business.
Wow. Weeks ago, sources told Cigar Hustlers Podcast that a bit of it accepted that Imperial Brands had begun the process of setting up new companies in preparation for the transfer. , has approved the deal. Hmm.
" Isn't he dead? " Communists talking to communists. Imperial will likely provide an update on Tuesday. Can't wait.
Apparently it didn't happen because that was last Tuesday. I'm really excited. Okay. We're gonna take a break here.
And we will be... That's it? You giving up? No, we're gonna take a break.
Take a break. We're gonna take a break. We'll be right back, Earl. We'll be right back.
Earl, we'll be right back. Want to be part of the show? com/cigarhustlerspodcast and pick which tier works best with your budget. We appreciate the support.
And we're back! And we're back! Episode, check the board again, 95, Cigar Hustlers Podcast. If you're just joining us now, you missed the first eight minutes of the show, just like everybody else.
Wow. No, you missed the first four minutes of the show. The first four minutes, sorry, yes, yes, yes, four minutes, which is just bullshit anyways. It's just me reading the disclaimer, which now I have to read again at the end of the show.
No, you don't. Oh, yes, I do. They can still hear it. No, no, no, no, I'm going to take a drink.
Okay, so what else you got? Because you said you had so much stuff today. I have more. So much.
Right off the presses, right off the IP wire and the Half Wheel website, Florida Tobacco Purchasing Age increase introduced again in the Senate, Michael. They're raising the age again and further, trying to. We're here? Yes, in Florida.
Senator David Simmons will once again try to get the minimum tobacco purchasing age in Florida increase from 18 to 21. You know what, David? You don't have my vote. Sorry, David.
Earlier this week, Simmons introduced the SB 810, which seeks to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, as well as vaping in e-cigarette products from 18 to 21. Yeah, because, you know, that's the way to treat it. That's how you fix a problem. You just over-regulate the shit out of it.
That makes total sense. Keep talking. I mean, that's all I really got, though. That's right.
I just had to light my cigar. You know? This is actually the second bill that Simmons has introduced to try to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products this year. In April, the Florida Senate passed the SB 1618 introduced by Simmons by a vote of 33 to 6.
However, the bill failed to get approval from the Florida House of Representatives. Way to go, Representatives. So since it didn't go through, we're just gonna do it again? We're gonna try again, yes.
I mean, like, how is that okay? Like, how is that a thing? It's not a thing. The people voted.
We said no. We're done. Like, why? Oh, here's why it didn't pass.
Jose Oliva, the current co-CEO and former co-owner of Oliva Cigar Company, is the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. " Oliva has stated that he believes it will challenge for a tobacco person age increased to pass the house. Challenging. " I feel like if you try and get the vote in, and then it gets shot down, and then you bring it again, I feel like, you know, you should get fired.
Like, it didn't work the first time, so, you know. Well, they just changed the wording, and all of a sudden, it's like, oh, we're gonna switch this around, carry the one, and no tobacco! Well, now we're going to include penalties. Penalties?
Penalties. Oh. For people that sell it to people under 21. First offense, $500 fine.
Death by Bufo. Bufo. Second offense, within 36 months of the first offense—oh, there's so many rules here—$750 fine and suspension of ability to sell tobacco products for seven days. You get a pair of steak knives.
Holy crap, let's see, 36 days, every seven. Yeah. Third offense, within 36 months of the first offense. Lashing.
You get lashing. $1,000 fine and a suspension to sell tobacco products for 30 days. Look, here's the deal. I mean, the fact of the matter is— By the way, we have one more offense.
Fourth offense within 36, what is this 36 month thing? First of all, you shouldn't be selling to anybody under the age of 18. I mean, it's not that hard. This shit ain't rocket science.
This shit ain't rocket science. Three years. Wow. Seven days, 30 days.
They like the number three, apparently. It's in all the rules. Three, three, three. Oh, Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
Maybe it's a devil thing. Oh, it's for the, oh, for the thing, the thing. The Satan. The Satan.
So, they're gonna give that another shot. We'll see what happens. Yeah. Thanks.
Thanks, David. David Garofalo? Is he on the phone again? No, David Simmons or whatever.
Richard's brother. Okay. I appreciate you trying to save me from me. You're my fucking hero.
Oh, he's so angry. Yeah, it makes me angry. We don't need the regulation. We need common sense.
Common sense. Not that hard. Common sense. Okay.
Moving on. Now you got me fired up. Take a drink of that bang. Get a little while right there.
Let me calm down here with this bang. Calm down with the Bang Energy drink. Oh, speaking of which, the CEO just had a baby. Congratulations, CEO of Bang Energy.
Just had a baby. Oh, good for you. I hope that David sees this video. Much, much younger way.
Maybe I should rethink my whole life and my over-regulation. Now, reported by Halfwheel, one of the two lobbying firms currently used by the Premium Cigar Industry, Premium Cigar Association, the PCA, formerly known as IPCPR, Is under attack by President Donald Trump. Oh! They're lying about the ties to him and his family.
, that has gained high-profile clients while touting close ties to Trump, his family, the administration, and Republic leadership, some of which doesn't hold up to scrutiny, Michael! Okay, so, Trump says he's not friends, we're not friends? Yes, the guy's getting a lot of clients and things by saying, "Hey, me and Trump, we're buddies. We're Twitter buddies.
We talk back more than Twitter all the time. We tweet. We tweet. We tweet.
" And apparently, Trump does not know him. " Like, that's just-- I think you do do that, Michael. What, I do? It's all the time.
I'm running out of stuff. Give me one example. You're really not contributing much to the show. I'm done in the last three pages.
I told you I wasn't. I wasn't doing it today. So who do I do that? Do you know who I am?
Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? I am Michael Stoffer. I am Cigar Hustler.
I am Cigar Hustler. Yeah, that works out well. I have a bear. Remember the bear?
That's me. I am the bear. Yeah. And then I say, hey, I'm really close to Trump.
I mean, Jesus. Play some more music, Michael. You know? I have another, some more music.
It's just me and Donald. Let's call Skip. Call my friend Skip. I call him Don, I'm also friends with Barry.
Oh, you should call Trump right now, call Trump on a phone. You know, me and Barry go way back, you guys call him Barack. I mean, like, who does that kind of thing? You know?
The printer was running out of ink on this one, I can't even read this. I'm friends with these people. These are my friends. Ridiculous.
Are you done? Are you done, or are y'all finished? You ever see that? No.
No, I don't know what you're talking about. That's Birdman. That's Birdman. The Birdman?
Yeah. Oh, what an obscure movie reference. No, that's a guy. It's not from the movie Birdman?
No. Oh. Who's Birdman then? He's a guy.
All right, Michael. General Cigar Company, Espinosa Cigars has announced a joint project- Yeah, this is kind of unique. I'm glad you brought this up. Known as Warzone.
This is interesting. It's going on right now, actually. They had just passed out samples today at the Lollapalooza thing. The Warzone.
Yeah. What is that exactly? It's a cigar. No, no, not Warzone, the La Zona Palooza?
Yeah. It's where everybody gets together and they sit on chairs and they break. Yeah, I have found that out, yes, apparently. It's like a big, it's like a big thing.
Is it invite only or purchase tickets? It's invite only. I don't know if, I don't know if you can purchase tickets. I mean, we can get, we can call, you want to call Jack?
Oh yeah, I figured we could go. Hey Jack! Coop did a live show from there yesterday. Yeah, yeah, they made a nice thing for him too, I just saw that.
I did that, we should go next year. Listen, I was contemplating going this year. But it's hard at this point with the level of pregnancy. Oh, yeah.
She was miserable today when she was here. You know, it's funny. " It's because we love you, Brittany. Yeah.
She listens. Oh, I know. They watch every week. Her and your son, they put it up on the TV.
That's nice. It's nice. Every week, we talk about Miss Brittany. She looked lovely today in her black outfit and her new blonde hair.
She's not happy. You know, it's pregnancy. Poor thing can't fit through the thing out there. It's terrible.
I feel bad, I keep trying to carry her bags for her and stuff, she won't let me. She's stubborn. I almost knocked her over today. Oh, that would have been bad.
She was doing the money stuff and I had to squeeze by and I'm so afraid I'm going to knock you off balance, I'm just going to squeeze right by. You couldn't have just waited? I was already committed to the move, Michael, I didn't see her there when I came around the corner. Anyway, General Cigar Company Espo Cigars has announced a joint project known as the New Zone.
It's a Cameroon wrapper. Okay. Like the Bacca. Mm-hmm.
Cigar that is produced in Espinosa Lozona factory, and it is now brand that will be distributed by General Cigar, and by your friend and mine... Jack Taranio. No, no. Eric Espinosa.
No, keep trying. Hector Alfonso. No. He works for General, Michael.
Oh, Justin Andrews. There you go, Justin Andrews, who was just on the show a couple episodes ago. I like Justin. I like Justin, too.
Okay, so... It marks the first time both companies have worked with each other. It's also the first time Lizona has produced a Cameroon wrapper cigar. All right, so here's...
Is everybody coming up with a Cameroon wrapper? So let's see how... Well, I can explain all this. Okay.
Let's see how this played out. " Yes. Skip has told that story. Then Jack...
So then Jack gets shit-canned. Right. From General. For fueling the growth.
Right. Okay. And then he circles... Fueling the growth.
Fueling the growth. And we made money! You're fired. No one works here, but look at the fourth quarter.
Hey, check this out. Look. So allegedly. Yes, allegedly.
So then he circles back with Espinosa and says, hey, we can do a collab with you for the Cameroon. I still want to do the Cameroon. See what I'm saying? So Skip already had the Bach in play.
He was already working on it. He's like, well, the fuck it. I'm going to make it myself. That makes sense.
Right. Yes. Again, we don't fact check. We're assuming this is how this works.
We don't know anybody. And then, yeah, I have no friends. Except Donald Trump. We're close.
Let's call Jack at Lollapalooza. I threatened to do that. I forgot though. He's in it right now.
We can hit the button. Hit the button and call. You really want me to do that? Oh yeah, we want to know all about the Cameroon Rapper.
Wow, you just want to tie that right in, huh? No, no, go ahead with your story. No, no, go ahead with your story. So, I don't know, you got me all disheveled.
Now I'm in. Call Justin Andrews. Do a three-way call with everybody. No, no, no, no, no.
We're calling Jack. Please hold why we call Jack Taranio. I'm going to text him first, though. I'm calling you, and I'm recording you.
On the podcast. On the podcast. You never know who we might call on this show. Now we have the button.
Now we have the button, so. I mean, it's really fun. It's fun for us because we don't like each other anymore. All right, I sent the text.
Now I'm doing the call. What's up, buddy? Hey, did you get my. Hey, Jack.
Did you get my text? I just did, but I didn't even get a chance to read it. I know, I just instantly hit the button. So hey, you're on the podcast right now.
We're recording. What's going on? I'm actually cooking. I'm cooking hamburgers and hot dogs.
Nice. So you're doing the La Zona Palooza, right? Yes, sir. All right, so I have two quick questions.
Number one is, how do you get invited to it? Is it invite only? Do you buy tickets? How does that work?
It's invite only. It's kind of a celebration of everybody that supports us and posts on social media and goes to our events. And it's for the 150, 200 diehard Espinosa fans that really support us through the year, so they hashtag everything, hashtag Espinosa every day, and we look at those hashtags and see who's been the most active, and we give out invitations. Some people are left off, so you have an opportunity two months out to state your case if you want to come.
Oh, nice. Oh, wow. So as far as the invites, do you send something in the mail or some shit? Is it like a cordial wedding thing or what?
Do I have to RSVP? It's a cordial wedding. Can I bring a party? It's an invite.
I think we might even send save the dates. Nice. Ooh, save the date. Nice.
And then once you get that, you know you're getting invited, you can start making plans and you know the dates, and then we go from there. And then we go from there. Is there a special media pass that we can apply for or something? So no, next year we just crash this fucking thing.
Yeah, you guys can come anytime you want. Hell yeah. See, next year we are so in. Alright, so we're gonna go do that.
We would like our own table, we want to share a table with Coop. Nobody does. Okay, so my other quick question. Alright, so now the Warzone's coming out.
It's a Cameroon wrapper. You're working with General. Yeah. Okay.
Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Put your pants back on, God damn it.
Tell Eric you'll get him a hot dog in a minute. Bro, give him a hot dog. Oh, we're on hold. Oh, we are.
I thought somebody else was. Oh, he's walking, probably muted us. No, no. Oh, here we're back.
And we're back. Hello? Oh, Spanish. Way to go.
All right, I'm back. No respect on this podcast. Just fucking mutes us away. He had to get Eric a hamburger.
Leave him alone. Jesus. Here's your cheeseburger, sir. All right, I'm here.
What's up? Okay, so you made the The Warzone, this Cameroon wrapper, so I mean, so because it fell apart originally, you decided to go ahead and do it anyways with General? Like, how did that play out? Uh, it didn't fall apart.
Okay. It was just that at the time, with the Taranio days, we were pursuing the Esteban liberation. Right. Gotcha.
And then, that's the one that kind of fell apart. All right. So we never had a chance to start the Espinosa one. And then Skip continued, and then we have Baca, so, you know, I mean, it just seemed like a natural fit once I came to Espinosa, that when General wanted to pair with Boutiques, we were the first one, so.
Wow. I mean, kudos to you. I mean, they fuel the fucking growth with you, they throw you the fuck out, and then you swoop back in and you work out, you know, hey, no hard feelings. Let's work this out, you know?
With his buddy Justin to list. That's nice, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
Me and Justin are in cahoots on this, man. The moment I went to Espinosa, Justin was put in charge of seeking out collaboration boutiques. Gotcha. Espinosa was always on the map.
But the moment I went to Espinosa, it moved to the front of the list. Right, you solidified that. That makes sense. And then we presented it to Eric and Hector and the team here.
And we looked at the pros and the cons of doing that collaboration, and the pros far outweighed the cons, and we moved on from there. Cool. So can I get Warzone from Espinosa? Nope.
You've got to get it from General. Yeah. Okay. So it's Ibaka versus Warzone.
Oh, what a great show. I sent Skip a picture of Ibaka the other day, and I said, "This is good. " Oh, shit. Shots fired.
I got back. Shots fired. I got back at LOL. Line drawn in the sand.
" Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, well, we won't keep you any longer, but we now have this tool, so we like to call and harass people at random. You know, you know, the, uh, yeah, you guys got a pair of tools sitting there. Yeah, no shit.
But, uh, the, uh, the, uh, Skip's no fun to troll anymore. He already knows my game. So I can't even troll him in argument. He's on top of you.
Yeah. He's a professional, man. He's a professional. Yeah.
All right, brother. All right, bro. Have fun, man. Thanks, Jack.
Thanks for calling. Yeah, man. Take it easy. Bye-bye.
Bye. Two calls. Two. How cool is that?
One episode. You never know who we'll call on this show. Because we don't know what we're doing. You should have had him put Eric on call.
And we're having a good time. Should have had him put Eric on call. No, we need Eric. I want Eric in person.
I want Eric in here. We can get Eric in here. Nope, that's no problem. All right.
Oh, Warzone. You got to order it from fucking General. Yeah, but you get him to come up for the event, and then we do them on the show. Okay.
I'll make him listener of the week. But like, I mean, you're talking like three or four months, because we have, you know, events already logged in. I just want them to come up. Oh, okay.
Right? Right. Right. What are we in here?
Plenty of time. Okay, I guess I don't need radio, unless you know about the cigar. Amazing, amazing stuff. It's a Cameroon rapper with a Honduran binder.
Yeah, we already get all that. Go ahead. We're moving on. We're moving on.
We're moving on. Yep. Let's see. From the Channel 9 News Desk.
Ooh. The last working cigar factory in Ybor City is undergoing renovations before they celebrate the 125th anniversary in 2020. C. Newman?
C. Newman. Yep. The purpose is to make the cigar factory a tourist destination and to remind everyone in Tampa, the cigar city, between the hard...
Will they put a slide in there? I don't know. Did you hear they found that secret staircase? The Staircase, I didn't, I haven't read the article to see where it goes.
The Staircase? Yes, you'd think after all these years somebody would have already found it. Let's call John Oliva. No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding. John, can you go down the stairs now? John, so you're in the office. I want to know, where is the staircase?
Where is the staircase? C. Newman Cigar Company is still producing up to 60,000 cigars a day. I believe it.
This is a quote. They're the only one left being owned and operated by a family, explained. Eric Newman, grandson of the founder. Julius Caesar Newman, my grandfather.
Oh, I didn't know that's where the name of the cigar came from. That's where it came from. Yeah. Well, they got the real Julius Caesar out of the thing.
This fucking guy. My grandfather always wanted to be the last man at the crap table. I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but we're still here. Next year, Erik explained the factory will have a large museum immersing visitors into Tampa's history and the history of the cigar industry.
What about a bounce house? There will also be factory tours. Well, let me keep reading. Factory tours where people can witness cigars being made by humans and machines.
And here's the bounce house. Oh, robots. Robots are making machines there. Can we get balloon animals?
Today, those same machines are being used. It takes up to 14 months to train an employee to use them. So they're not fueling the growth there with those people. No.
No, they're not. The machines have 10,000 moving parts. You know what? What's really funny is like, I mean, I've never heard Fuente fueling the growth.
You know what I mean? They take care of everybody. Right. If you do good by them, they're never going to burn you.
That's right. Isn't that so weird? It's the way the family owned businesses are. The same with Roma.
Roma's got a small squad. They just select, and they knock the camera off. Oh, boy. That's not good.
Oh, man. We're going to go to break. Go on to break. Technical problem.
Break. Audio again. Sorry, technical problem, sir. We don't know if the camera's working or not.
It says it's running, but it won't let me view it now. Fine producer. Hey, it's not my fault. I'm limited to the equipment we have.
I know. We're working on that. When we say, no, I'm going to have to get an iPad. But anyways, that's my point, it's like, you know.
Yes, the family owned businesses, they take care of you apparently. Always take care of you. That's right. So, you know.
Crazy. Yes, crazy. Crazy for feelings. Okay, final story I have here.
We're just winging this. We're not sure if we're recording anymore. Well, we're recording, at least you'll have an audio one. We don't know if you have a video or not.
Just blink back out some fucking logo. The Bigfoot statue, yeah, it'll just be the thing on the screen. Yeah, yeah. The Bigfoot statue, which is very similar to a Sokka Squatch, was stolen from the Mattress Factory store in Boynton Beach, Michael.
Oh, really? Now, Sokka is in town. It's located in the 400 block of East Boynton Beach Boulevard because he's got a big event tomorrow night down at Smoke Inn. So you think Steve's the culprit?
I think he might have. Police said the store didn't realize it was missing right away because there were many other large decorations outside for Halloween. Allegedly. The official said that there is no surveillance video of the incident.
The statue is valued at $3,000. Is there a picture of a SUV, red SUV? I don't know. Anyone with information on Sack of Squatch's whereabouts is urged to call the Boynton Beach Police Department at-- Let's call Steve.
Let's call the police department. Or Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers. Oh, let's call Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers. You know, what's funny is it would be crazy if it showed up at that event.
Oh, that would be great. Because it looked just like his, but without the cigar in the mouth. Right. That would be some shit.
Oh, that would be something. Check out what I got. Yeah, some dude shows up with it. Oh.
Oh. Wow. So. And then they go to jail.
So if you're the one that has it, send us a photo. My brother-in-law stole a goat once for a party and then he brought it back. Maybe this is the same thing. You think your brother-in-law stole it?
No. Oh. He's far away. Oh.
I'm just saying, you know, sometimes you take stuff to have a good time with it and then you put it back. Somebody might have. There's probably guys in the cigar, you know, fanboy world. Yeah, so they jacked it and maybe it pops back up.
They pop up in front of the Boynton, or the Smoke-In down there where they're having the thing. And in other news, miraculously, a Saga Squad showed up in front of Smoke-In. Nope, won't let me grab it. All right.
All right, well that's all I got, Michael. So we got the Listener of the Week, we got the... Shop of the Week. Shop of the Week.
There is no update, there's no new countries that have jumped on board lately. Oh, you've been lazy. No, no, well, yeah, okay, blame me, it's all my fault, all my fault. The first step is realizing that you're the problem.
Next week, on Monday, starting Monday, on the 10th of November, we are a featured show on Podbean. Ooh. Watch out, Cigar Authority. We're only a thousand people behind you.
We're coming. We will be the number one show by the end of the week, Michael. I mean, you know, with all these technical difficulties, I don't see why anybody wouldn't want to listen to us. It's amazing.
It's going to be amazing. This will be the best show. Oh, ratings were way down for the Hunt show. Nobody likes Hunt.
And then they went back up the next week, back to normal. It's a Matt Hunt thing. He will no longer be on the show. Oh, yeah.
I think he's too pretty, and they just don't like looking at him. All right, so next time he comes on, we put a bag over his head. Huh? You like that idea.
I love that idea. Here, Matt, we're gonna do, no, just put this. Put the bag on, and you have to talk with a voice changer or something. So, his voice is too deep, and he's too attractive.
He'll be like, "Sick. " That's what he likes to say. Sick. Dope.
Sweet. Dope. Sick. The shop went shooting this week.
Ah, yeah. Yeah, you didn't mention that. We took the old POS system. Yeah, the old point of sale register that was complete garbage.
Hunt Casa. Yeah. Packed it up in front of a giant pile of trees that Mr. Hunt is clearing from his vast property holdings.
And we shot the shit out of it. Yeah. So... We'll put some video clips up on the page and stuff.
Yeah, so put some videos up of the... Of it being destroyed. Being destroyed. And it's very entertaining.
Yeah. Sean's quite funny when he shot. I think it might have been the first time he ever fired a gun. Probably.
So, and then Garrett. And it probably is going to be the last time. Might be. Garrett, the gentleman who's no longer with the show.
Yeah. Not because he died at the shooting, but because he's moved. Right. He moved on with his life.
Yeah. He's, what is he, pursuing other interests. Slappy. His name is Slappy.
Slappy is pursuing other interests in the great north of Wisconsin. Yeah. However, the name will still follow him. Yes.
And nothing will change. We should have got him a shirt that said Slappy. He'll still be Slappy. Slappy, Slappy.
Slappy, Slappy, king of the world. Slappy. 308 on the machine. So you guys might go disc shooting, whatever the hell it is.
We shoot computers. We kill our old registers. I wanted to throw, Hunt was eating granola when we showed up for some reason. He comes walking out with a giant bowl of granola.
I believe it. I wanted to throw his bowl in the air and shoot at it, but no, he wouldn't let me. He wouldn't let me do it. Sorry to hear that.
Yeah, so very upset. He was very ranchy dressed in his boots and his camo-sleeved Hulk armor shirt. He looks very professional, yeah. He does.
He does. Now I feel we're just... For any occasion. chattering on for no apparent reason.
Yeah, we can end it here. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. This has been episode 95 of Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
Cigar Hustlers Podcast is owners and sponsors. Oh my god. If you're upset with the show, just keep calling him. com for all your swag needs.
Oh, your hair is a mess now, it's all flattened down in the back. com/cigarhustlerspodcast, you want to be part of the show? He's just walking out on me now. Finally, my own show.
David Garofalo, this is my reel. All right, Michael, hit the red button on the top, Michael. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m.
for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-E-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again. Perfect.
I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? I don't even have to try to hit the record. We're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike.
All right, try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. It's going to be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this.
Show Notes
Welcome to Episode 95!
Find out about Gregg's Sex Room! We have questions about the new General/Espinosa Cigar so we do what anyone would do and just call Jack Torano in the Middle of Lazonapalosa to find out all about it! Then Bo doesn't like our picks for the Tobacco News Awards so we give him a call and see if he can change our minds!
As always we welcome your show ideas on our FB page "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast". Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on which ever of our providers you use!