Episode 98 Its Mike Too's Podcast Now! Mikey's Top 5 but with rules! All Great Cigars Come From. great Cigar Factory
Episode Summary
Episode 98 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the hosts noting their nomination as a Best Cigar Show finalist in the 2019 CigarScore Awards (alongside shows like Bearded Bro, Bob the Cigar Guy and Cigar Obsession), plus a Best Cigar Lounge nod for the shop. From there Mike Palmer hands Mike Steppan a challenge: name the best new cigars of 2019 entirely off the top of his head, no notes, no list — but with rules. Steppan can't pick his own brand (no Powstanie Wojtek "War Bear"), and he's limited to one RoMa Craft entry, which he protests loudly and repeatedly.
The resulting list: #5 Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Todos Las Dias Mi Querida (with a debate over Robusto vs. the larger size, and a note that Sobremesa Brûlée sales at the shop have boomed thanks to a customer's word of mouth); #4 La Colisión, which they'd just reviewed on Patreon (he prefers the Corona Gorda over the Gordito they smoked); #3 originally the Foundation Tabernacle Havana Seed CT No. 142 Lancero — later bumped to the Guayacán Rothschild after Steppan negotiates an exemption, since it's made at the same factory he works with and is a standout value at roughly $7–8; #2 the Wanderlust Grand Corona Fiorella edition with its Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper; and #1 the RoMa Craft Neanderthal LH, a San Andrés box-pressed release he calls his new favorite cigar. Honorable mentions go to the RoMa Craft Baka (including the Pygmy and the Cameroon-wrapped release), the Intemperance EC box press, and Foundation's Menelik.
The back half is classic shop talk: Thanksgiving and birthday recaps, the Florida Cigar Club Great Smoke ticket giveaway winner (Hannah Crosby), Listener of the Week Adam Acri and the custom Powstanie onesies he and his wife Nicole sent, and Shop of the Week honors for the newly opened Executive Cigar in Sanford. Steppan also gets candid about the hard part of running a boutique brand — resisting deep online discounting and aggressive door-knocking in favor of slower, sustainable growth so retailers aren't left sitting on product. The episode closes with podcast-industry ribbing aimed at The Cigar Authority and Ash Holes, a Podbean follower-count race, international listener shout-outs, and a tease for a mystery guest on episode 100.
In This Episode
- 012019 CigarScore Awards nominationThe guys react to being a Best Cigar Show finalist and the shop's Best Cigar Lounge nod, and joke about what winning actually gets you.
- 02The rules of the top 5Mike Palmer forbids Steppan from picking his own Powstanie cigars and limits him to a single RoMa Craft entry, sparking a long protest.
- 03#5 Mi Querida and the Brûlée effectSteppan picks Dunbarton's Todos Las Dias Mi Querida and debates Robusto vs. the larger vitola, while noting how Sobremesa Brûlée became a shop bestseller.
- 04#4 La ColisiónA recently reviewed cigar with a genuinely unique flavor profile — he prefers the Corona Gorda to the Gordito.
- 05#3 Tabernacle Havana Seed Lancero, then Guayacán RothschildFoundation's Havana Seed CT Lancero takes the slot until Steppan wins an exemption for the Guayacán Rothschild, a single-digit-priced standout.
- 06#2 Wanderlust Grand Corona FiorellaThe Brazilian Mata Fina–wrapped Fiorella edition gets called "stupid good."
- 07#1 Neanderthal LH and honorable mentionsThe San Andrés box-pressed Neanderthal LH takes the top spot, with nods to the Baka, Baka Pygmy, Intemperance EC box press and Menelik.
- 08Boutique brand growth, giveaways and shop talkSteppan on refusing deep discounts and forced sales, plus the Great Smoke giveaway winner, Listener of the Week Adam Acri, and Executive Cigar in Sanford.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
Welcome to a Cigar Hustler podcast episode 98. This week, Mikey does his top five, if I hit him with some rules. Evidently, it's my podcast. Welcome to Cigar Hustler podcast with Mike Palmer.
And, you know, all the great cigars come from a great factory. I'll listen more this week on a Cigar Hustler podcast. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared, Mike squared. The button.
I already hit the button. Hit the button. Welcome to Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 97. So professional.
No, it's not. It's episode 98. 98! Yes, it's 98.
It's right there on the board. I need to move the board where I can see it. Yeah. You didn't work that out.
I didn't work that out. Put it on the bathroom door. On the bathroom door, yeah. That'd be much better for you.
Episode 98 of Cigar Hustlers Podcast, two away from 100. Yeah. Are they ever going to go to 100, Michael? Yeah.
I mean, you know. Is it going to make it to 100? I don't know. Yeah.
You're successfully carrying this team at this point, you know. Successfully carrying. It's the Cigar Hustlers Podcast with Mike Palmer. Apparently so.
It's my own show now. Oh, he's running my own show. I didn't even realize that that's what they did, but hey, whatever. You know what?
They couldn't spell your last name. It's all good. So they went, fuck it, don't even put his name again. I don't care.
You know, the pay is the same whether you get the credit or not, so. There you go. That's nothing. Pays nothing.
All right, well, we'll just might as well jump right into that then. Yeah. com Awards. Yeah!
We are up for show of a Best Cigar Show finalist. We don't know what it means. We don't know what it means. Well, the winner, what does the winner get?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. What does the winner get? Exposure, something like that. You get a one year commercial on their website, get an ad, you get a little thing to hang up on your website, which we don't have, so we'll hang it here, we'll get a banner made, if we have one, we're going to make a banner, right here, 2019 Cigar Score Award Show of the Year, also up for Shop of the Year, Best Cigar Lounge, it's called, yeah, there's quite the, hey, we're doing He's doing alright over here.
Evidently, quite the shows we're up against here. Bearded Bro Show, Bob the Cigar Guy, Cigar Obsession. I don't know what the rest, that's just the top ass. Somebody didn't print all of them.
We're gonna take you all down. We're already ahead in the voting, I understand. Crushing it. Crushing it.
Crushing it. Hey, so hopefully we'll win. I don't know what that means, but you know, either way. We would like to win every award show possible.
It's very nice that we were nominated. I nominated, you know, thank you to everybody for nominating us. I nominated us. Oh, good job, thank you.
But people had to vote for the nominations also. Yeah. When I first read it, I thought we like, because we're listed first, I was like, oh, we must have got more nominations than the rest. We're A.
They're alphabetical. Right, yeah. We're A++ cigar hustlers like you did in the other papers. If somebody else comes up with A and their second word is more, we're going to be AA cigar hustler.
Yeah. So, hey, here we are. The three A's. Crushing it.
We're the two A's, the automobile people. There you go. So, A. A-A-A.
You mentioned, I believe, on our Patreon last time, Michael, that you, off the top of your head, with no list, no paperwork, no nothing, you could come up with the best new releases of 2019. There's nothing on this sheet. There's just... Shaking.
Garble. He's just shaking. Shaking. Shaking paper.
We don't like shaking paper. There's nothing on this piece of paper for me to tell you what I think. Oh, it's a magic show. It's a magic show.
There's nothing in my hand. Nothing up my sleeve. Presto! A list!
This shit's a no-brainer. Okay, but as a list, can you do the top 10 off the top of your head? I would probably, I'd probably dumb it down to top 5 or 6-ish, to be honest. So you can't do the top 10 then?
I think that after, I mean like... I need you to take up enough time to do 10. If I went to 10, I feel like I'd kind of be, it'd be a little diluted. Okay, can you do them in order?
5, 4, 3, 2, 1? I don't think that there really is a particular order. Okay, now you just list in the, now all you're gonna do is just say the cigars list of 2019. All right, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, I will go through them, okay?
All of them? I will list the ones that I think deserve to be in the top five or six or whatever, right? Okay, yeah. And then if you want me to break them down in an order, I'll break them down in order for you.
Okay, we have a few rules. Okay, oh, now there's rules. There's rules because I know how you pick things. Okay.
You can't pick your own. Oh, fuck that, I'm definitely picking my own. Well, you'll make your own number one. Of course I will.
Well, see, can't pick your own. own can i pick your own and you can only pick one romacraft entry then this is a waste of time they've had two they've had more than two this year yeah have they well no because then you're just going to name off all the new romacrafts well of course i'm going to name off all you can only pick one only one per vendor one per company so so you want the top four then okay whatever you're gonna do you just reduced me to make it fair and unbiased Because I'm going to, I have something else to talk about in a minute, and I'm going to question your... Look, look, here's the deal. The fact of the matter is, I can't, I can't help it if one company is just absolutely crushing it in everything that they do.
That's not my fault. Yes, we both agree, and everyone agrees, RoMa Craft makes the best cigars. Right. Nick Eswenya makes all the good cigars.
We both... I wouldn't say all, but I would say... The majority of, I will give you that, we will... I would say the majority, but now some of those things you might not be able to get.
You also have the best laptop gifts in the industry. S. S. cigars.
Why not? A fucking Half Wheel number one cigar is an event cigar that you can only get from, you know, if you jerk off somebody at Hoya or something. Like, that was what they did last year. You can specify that when you want to make it a cigar?
Yeah, like, that was the request for, I mean, you know, that was their number one cigar. I mean, Cigar Aficionado says that, you know, they do Cubans, but they only do the cigars that you can get that are accessible in New York, even though Cubans aren't accessible in New York. We're still in New York. Calm down.
You know, but you're limiting me. What's the name of the show, Michael? It upsets me. What's the name of the show?
Mike Palmer's podcast. The Cigar Hustler Podcast with Mike Palmer. That's what it says. So, I can make the rules.
Okay. All right. So, you can list top five cigars, can't pick your own, and only one Romograph. No way.
Yes! That is how it works today. No. Michael, what's the name of the show, Michael?
No. Listen, I can tell you right now, the Baca Pygmies, banging, right? So that's just one off the list, but that still wouldn't be my number one cigar that Neanderthal made this year. And if I had to choose between two in particular, I think that it's not fair, because they're two totally different blends.
They're two totally, completely different cigars. Alright, name your cigars. And then I guess I will have to do an actual list next week. Okay.
Okay, go ahead. Do you want me to just start with Roma Craft? Number five, the number five favorite cigar of the 2019 releases by Michael Steppan. Okay, so my number five cigar would have to be the Tricky Traca Mi Carita.
Okay. Now, I can tell you that I've been going back and forth on the two sizes, because I thought that the, the, it's not like a, it's not a Toro, but it's almost like a Toro? Maybe it is a Toro. Yes.
Yeah. Hey, how you doing? Welcome to the conversation. Like, I love that cigar, but I also smoke the Robusto now, and I'm like, oh, maybe the Robusto is the better one specifically by size no less look at you yeah because i like i do this for a living it's amazing you don't make a list for a living no yeah but i would tell you that the meekarita tricky truck podcast so you do i would make the meekarita okay number five the meekarita tricky trucker tricky trucker tricky tricky now i mean like by steve socca dunbarton what's kind of funny is we probably sell more brulees now in this store do you then we do just because of chet I think that Justin himself has boomed our brulee sales.
Yes, he has boomed the brulee sales. And he's pushing it, not pushing it, but he's recommending it to other people also. Right. But for me, the Tricky Chaka is a better cigar.
I like that cigar. Okay, number five is the Robusto Tricky Chaka. Alright, but now since we're doing five, we're doing five. Okay, that was number five.
I can't do the War Bear, which is complete horseshit. No, can't pick your own. Pick your own. The Powstanie Warbear is the number one cigar.
Yes, we all know, Michael, the number one cigar. Yes, we all know. It is. Sorry.
Look, last year, your number one cigars were SPC 18, Romacraft, Romacraft, Romacraft, Romacraft. That's the way it worked. Yeah. So, you know, pick something else for a change.
My number four cigar is the La Coalition. Really? Yeah. The one we just did?
Yep. The one we just did the review of? Uh-huh. Oh, okay.
You like that? Very strange. I think it's a good cigar. Okay.
It's got a unique flavor profile. It tastes unique. It tastes good. I mean, I'd smoke it again.
So, as far as brand new cigars this year, it makes my top five list. Okay. That's number four. The La Collision.
You're going so fast. I'm not going fast just repeating what you said. I mean, I'd probably like, I think that the Corona Gord is the best one in that blend. Is that the one that we smoked?
For our review on Patreon, where if you become a Patreon member, you can see all our reviews. Can we hear all our reviews? I think that is the one we did. I'm not sure.
No, we did the Gordito. Yeah. We did the Gordito. Which is a ridiculous name.
Yes. Whatever. It's like half an inch difference between the other one. Yeah.
I like the other one, the Corona Gordo. Okay. Okay. What's the number three?
The number three cigar would have to be the Tabernacle. Tabernacle? Havana? Oh, the Havana Seed.
Seed! Lancero. The Havana 18 or whatever, 88? Yeah.
Oh. I really like that cigar. Yeah, that's a good cigar. I mean, I enjoy the Menelik as well.
That would definitely be below the top five. It'd be in the other 678. I didn't have one from the normal production. Yeah.
No. They sold out fast here. Nick does great things. Yes, he does.
With the Menelik? I have them here. Oh, are they still here? Yeah.
No, they're here. I bought a ton of them. Oh. Just for you.
That could have been your $10 gift. No, that cost more than $10, didn't it? I think they're like $12. Yeah.
I have to pay $2. Who wants to do that? Who wants to do that? That's ridiculous.
Okay, number three is the mental-- no, the-- The Tabernacle. Tabernacle. Havana Seeds AD. 1429er.
Whatever it was. The Lancero. The Lancero, okay. The Lancero's the best.
I do like those now, Lancero's. I did shy away from them years ago. I like Lancero's money. Okay.
I don't feel like it's fun. Shit, man. I hate the fact that you made me do this. What's the number two, Cigar Michael?
Because they're, I'm telling you right now, like the fact that you made me, for one, I'm going to force you to take, except two Romas, but you left the phone in here. Look, it's quarter to six. Oh, man. You're lucky I'm still here.
Let's let, should we just wait till it rings and rings and rings? No, no, just talk through it. Just talk through. Nobody's going to answer.
Oh, they got it. Oh, they got it. Because there's no employees out there at the moment. Yeah.
You're on the air. We're down a couple employees right now. It's just us and Greg, I mean, that's it. So here's my full disclaimer.
First of all, I would have picked more Romas on this top five. There would have been all five Romas. You're probably right. Yes.
You're probably right. Yes. Tell you what, you can get an honorable mention to the entire line if you like when you're finished. Okay.
Okay. Number two. Number two is going to be the Wanderlust Grand Corona. Wanderlust.
The Fiorella edition. The Fiorella edition. It's a fucking amazing cigar. Yes, it's a very good cigar.
It is. So how, you know, you're going to… We reviewed that on Patreon also. Okay, we get it. So, but… I'm plugging the Patreon.
Okay, all right, let it go already. We get it, we get it. We have a Patreon. So, like, how can I, you know, like, that's a great cigar.
You don't want me to not include that cigar? No. But you're like, ooh. You can't pick all Roma Craft.
Why not? I'm not! For you, I'm not. Yes, I understand you have it.
Look, I'm not for you. The Wanderlust Fiorella, number two. Not only am I not for you, but I totally audibled what my thought process was. This was on the spot and putting this together just for you, Mr.
Palmer. This won't stay late. Sorry. Go ahead.
Because we're sitting here debating. Yes. The number two was the Wanderlust Fiorella. The number one cigar.
New. The Wanderlust Gran Corona. I highly recommend that cigar. Brazilian Modafina wrapper.
Delicious. I mean, just delicious. Stupid cigar. Stupid.
It's just stupid good. It's just stupid. Yeah. No, it's good.
It's a good cigar. I really enjoyed it. It was a good cigar. It's another piece.
I know, you did like a, it's really good, like a whisper thing. Another piece of magic from the family that is Robert. It's not magic, bro. As Skip would say, it's not magic, it's just tobacco.
It's man-baco. It's tobacco. It's man-baco. Number one?
The number one, 2019. What am I going to say, Mike? Introduction to the line. Since I can't say War Bear, what am I going to say?
You're going to say the LH. You're goddamn right I'm going to say the LH, because that cigar is amazing. It is really good. It's my new favorite cigar.
The Neanderthal LH, Box Press San Andreas, Bar None, Greatest Cigar of the Year, that came out this year, with the exception of the War Bear, Postano War Bear, because Postano War Bear is amazeballs, too. So yeah, the Neanderthal LH. Now, honorable mentions, because I can't do, because you won't let me do more Romas, the Baca, absolutely amazing, the Intemperance EC Goodness. And you picked the Bako for, like, number five.
No, number five's Mi Corita, number four's La Colision, number three's Tabernacle, number two's Wanderlust. " Yeah, and you started to poop all over me. Poop. That's ridiculous.
That's a different video, you gotta pay for that, too. The abuse that I get on this show, on the Mike Palmer show, is ridiculous. Cigar Hustle Podcast with Mike Palmer. Yeah, with Mike Palmer.
That should be the way it's built on the science and everything. Oh, man. If it isn't one thing, it's the other. You think the laptop went to my head.
Yeah, my life is over. A Baca. Alright, when I make my speech, I will thank you in my speech. Cameroon wrapper.
It was a very good cigar. Really good. Totally different. Somebody else just come out with a Cameroon cigar.
Who was that? The Espinosa's. No, no, somebody else did too. Somebody else did too.
Yeah. I forget who it was. It's not going to be as good as the Baca. No.
So. Sorry. The Intemperance EC Goodness. Edge Condition?
Yep. The Box Press, Ecuadorian, Connecticut. Banging. What do you think Skip came out with box press this year?
Why? Does it sound different? I'm not as familiar with the line as you are and I apologize to the entire Aroma Craft team, but do they have a lot of box press in the line? I think that they have those limiteds and stuff like that, again, we don't fact check, so, you know.
But I feel you will get a phone call. Yeah. Hey, just for the record. Tomorrow afternoon.
You know, so that format exists already in their catalog, so it's easy to look at that size And make modifications with your other blends so that they're similar. Do you have to modify it for, to put it in a box press? Yeah, you have to make, probably do less tobacco. Oh, because it has to mash it up, because you're not just, yeah, makes sense.
And then when you do that, you still have to figure out what you're going to add, what you're going to take away, which will give it its right flavor profile. So yeah, EC, goodness, all the Bacas, the NFL, LH, Wanderlust. See? See?
That would have been the entire list. If I had not clamped you down, it would have been the whole list. " So, say that one more time for the people in case they want to write you down. Okay, so top five.
Top five. Highly regulated top five. Highly regulated. Because I could have just easily put together ten here.
The problem is that five of them would have been Roma, and then... Can I throw in Guai Moreau in this, or no? Yeah. Well, you're gonna make an honorable mention?
Like, does this fall, does that not fall in the... In the what? Because I might change this now. Now you gotta change it, 'cause you can add Guai Moreau?
'Cause I feel like the Guai Moreau-Roschild should be number three. What was number three before? The Tabernacle. So you're bumping somebody off, then you gotta bump off the, uh...
Well then... The Tricky Traca. The Tricky Traca would fall with six. Drink your talk is number six.
So it's okay if it comes from the same factor, because technically that's kind of my cigar, but it's not my cigar. Well, you don't, just because you represent it doesn't mean... I just want clarification that I can incorporate that cigar. Well, hold on, let me check with the judges.
Okay, the judges will allow. All right, so I would slide the Guimero Rothschild as the number three. Number three. Amazing cigar.
Yes, it is. And a ridiculous price. It is. How much is it at retail?
I don't know, like six, seven, eight, nine, ten. I think it's like $7,8. Ridiculous price, somewhere in the single to double digit range. Somewhere, nothing above the chiclets.
Yeah, I think it's like $7,8. I didn't think I was going to enjoy this episode. It's an amazing cigar, and it comes from a great factory. Yes.
All great cigars come from a great cigar factory. Oh, you guys feel free to use that. They should use that in their marketing. All great cigars come from a great factory.
What marketing? If they had a marketing. They don't mark it. They don't mark it.
" Long time listener, first time caller, Danny Vasquez. Danny Vasquez. It was in town, it didn't come by. That's okay.
You know what, like, I actually thought about that, and, you know, I was like, "Oh, it'd be cool if you stopped by," but, like, I get the fact that you got other shit going on. Be busy, and it was a holiday weekend. Yeah, it's like, "Oh, hey, you gonna stop by and see me? " You're like, I can't, I can't be that guy, you know, like, hey, if you want to come in and hang out, awesome, if you have time, great, if you don't, I'm not going to hold your feet to the fire and be like, oh, thanks a lot, man.
He's got family here, they had people to see, the kids, the wife, and yeah, you know, they went to a basketball game or whatever, like, I just feel like putting that pressure is kind of a dick move, and not only is it, I think it's not necessary, it's like, you know, he's good in my book, right? Like, you're good, you know, you're good in my book, whether you come by or not, I get it, you know? " I would like to think Mr. Vasquez is smart enough not to take photos or check in there.
" That would be messed up. That would hurt my heart. But he didn't do that. Hurt your heart.
That hurt my heart a little. He was downtown. You know. Then I would have to send him a glitter bomb in the mail.
Oh, those are nasty. Have you seen the videos of those? To the office. My lord.
To the office. Oh. Boom. He'd make somebody else clean it up.
I'm like, I don't know who did that. Oh, man, somebody didn't do that. That's fucked up. That fucked up, man.
Who did that? So there you go. Cigar is a podcast sticker in there, but don't really take credit for it. Yeah, so it's really easy to do.
You know, I could put together a top 10 list, I could put together a top 10 list, the majority of them, unfortunately, are going to be from the Nico Sweeney factory because, well, they make great cigars. That's just, all great cigars, they're made from a great factory, that's going to catch on, catch on. People will be saying that for years. Um, so yeah, you know.
When I'm dead, put that on my tombstone. But Postano Warbear, the Wojtek is number one. Of course it is, for sure. Why would it not be?
Yeah. All right. Ready? Are we moving on now?
You done? Well, if you kill five more minutes on this list thing, we can just take a break. Take a break? Nope.
We're going to make a little quick announcement. And I've not discussed this with you, so I am making an executive decision since it is a cigar. I also want to apologize to anybody I forgot, because that was off the cuff. But I'm sure there's maybe one or two other cigars that I'm like, hey, that's really good.
That might be good. Maybe somebody else. That's really good, too. Sorry.
Off the top of my head, no brainer. This is what I'm looking at. Boom. Here they are.
All right. You done? You ready? Feel better now?
Feel good? I feel great. You feel good? I feel good.
All right. He's ready to go. Okay. After January 1st, we're looking for a sponsor for Listener of the Week.
Oh, what is that? Yes. And then it'll be like, let's say, for example, it was Bang. So it'll be the Bang Energy Listener of the Week.
Oh my God. We're moving on, Michael. Why? Because.
Why are we doing this? Because we're taking a sponsor. Why? - Because I want one!
- For what? - Listener of the week, we just said that. They'll have to pay to be the sponsor! - I don't really care about any of that.
- Well, too bad, you don't get to... - So if you're interested... - It's The Girl Hustlers Podcast with Mike Palmer. - With Mike Palmer.
Well, all these notes are just whipping past these. - Well, we'll see how that plays out, if that happens. I may have put the kibosh on that. - Contact me directly.
We can work something out on the side. Venmo or Paypal, he doesn't really know. Alright, we're in 21 minutes, we're going to take a quick break, and then we'll be right back. Boom.
Hey, it's Mike Toon from Cigar Hustlers Podcast, looking for high-quality swag from the show? com backslash the Cigar Hustler Podcast. We have everything from t-shirts and hats to phone cases and beach towels. com, backslash TheCigarHustlersPodcast.
Get your show swag and become a true hustler. He says it's fine, whatever. And then I see it, and I'm like, oh my god. Oh my god, this is terrible.
So if it's blurry, it's his fault, he's approved it twice. All right, we're back from the commercial. Hey! We didn't talk about what we did.
It was a holiday weekend. Yeah, it was. So we had Thanksgiving. Adrian decided to cook in my house.
She likes to do all the holiday cooking, but God love her, she has problems with holiday cooking. Her problem, we only have the one oven, the one stove, the one stove, one oven, one oven, one oven and one stove. You only have one stove. We only have one oven.
She has a hard time getting all the food ready at the same time. Yeah. So, you know, things tend to cool off while you're waiting on the other stuff. It's a process.
It is a process. Well, we ordered Boston Market. Yeah, I think next year if we, well, we decided the last minute just to do something at the house. Right.
So, it's just us and our son Alex came over. It's also her birthday weekend. So, we had a little birthday thing at Celery City Cigars. And he finished off here.
And then, yeah, she, you guys were very nice. You gave her some cigars at the thing. Of course. She lit one up right as she got in the car.
Boom. And so, I mean, where are we gonna go? No. This is the only way this is here.
Where else would you go? Was she blackout drunk at that point? No, no. She wasn't drunk at all that night.
Oh. What kind of fun is that? More fun for me, let me tell you, because I didn't get in trouble. Those were the best times.
We showed up here at like quarter to 11, and the shop closes at 11. Yeah. So we come storming in. Don't close!
Nice. We're coming in. 45. I started drinking her beer for her when she wasn't looking.
Speed it up, huh? Speed it up a little bit, pay the tab. I mean, at the end of the day, you could have just let them go and you have the key. Yeah, I understand, but they wanted to, I don't think they would have left me just sitting there at the bar, conscientious employees as they are.
I would have been okay with it. Well, I'm sure you would have. Yeah. My Thanksgiving was awesome.
Yeah? Yeah. A lot of people? No, it was half the number as usual.
Oh, that's always nice. Yeah. It was good. It was good.
We had a good time. Yeah, it was very nice of you, actually, to come to Adrian's little thing. That was very nice. Oh, well, I've done it before.
Really? Yeah. I don't know. I don't usually have.
Two years ago, we went down to some Sanford place. Not, was it Sanford? Lake Mary. It was like a restaurant place and like a town area.
It's like a bar, sports bar. Oh, that's right. You were there. See?
I think Brittany was, too. Thanks. She was. Yes.
I mean, she's a little incapacitated right now. Yeah, she's poor thing. She's miserable. she's she's she's a champ she's down to the wire she's hanging in there she was explaining to me her baby growth rate for the next four weeks today poor thing yeah i think it's gonna be like the size of an eight-year-old when it comes out it's a big don't say that it's a big baby so we would like the we'd like this baby to happen now that'd be great okay so i was i was curious i mean i know it's not you know done in the oven for another four weeks yeah is it at a certain because of its The size?
Yes. It is finished being built? Is that the way that works? So what they look for is like full lung capacity and stuff like that.
And right now, she is capable of breathing on her own with the lung sizes that she has. That's gotta be big lungs at this size. Yeah. I was curious how that worked.
It's a big baby. It's a big baby. It's a big baby. It's a moderate baby.
She watches the podcast. It's not a big baby. She looks beautiful as ever. Yeah, she's amazing.
She's glowing. I mean, she's very happy. She's very happy, full of energy and life every time she's here, she's just bounding around like she's a teenager. Like it's nothing.
She's handling it so well. She is. She's very good at the baby-making thing. Yeah, well, we're done now.
Beautiful children always come out, so, you know. It's totally worth it. It's totally worth it. It might not be worth it now for her, but it will be worth it.
It will be. Well, at this point, none of them enjoy it, you know, 30 days from the end. They're all miserable. So I've had babies with two different women.
Neither one of them enjoyed the last 30 days. Yes. So, you know, everything's working. Yeah.
Let's see. I need to make a small announcement. A small one? Small one.
The winner of the Florida Cigar Club Great Smoke giveaway. Oh, yeah. We're going to have a winner, based on last week's secret word. Yeah.
Thank you. Miss Hannah Crosby is the winner. Wow. So, Hannah, I will be getting ahold of you how to get your ticket for The Great Smoke.
Oh, Mark didn't win? No, Mark Gordon did not win, I'm afraid. So, how did you pick that winner? They were random from all the entries.
They had to go back onto the post, and they had to hashtag #ThankYouAbe, and then they had to put the secret word, which I announced last week, bacon. Some people got confused because I said originally I was going to post it over here in the corner, but I completely forgot. So, I said the secret word. " Well, I said the secret word.
It became much easier at that point. Ah. So, then I put all the names in a hat, and my wife chose a name last night. So, there you go.
So, there you go. Miss Hannah Crosby is the winner. Congratulations, Hannah. It's also the young lady that sent the nice thing about your child's sleep study.
Oh, thank you, Hannah. Just to give you a reference on who it was that won. So, she's alright in my book. Yes.
I figured you'd be okay with that. I had nothing to do with this giveaway. No, you had nothing to do with it. You didn't even know what was going on.
It's only four Florida Cigar Club members. Yeah. I have something to talk to you about. Yes.
So I feel like you're going to have to start scaling back the hostile work environment comments. I have completely stopped until today. At this point. And the only person that saw it were other employees.
At this point, we have no employees. Well, that's what my reference was, you were no longer the hostile work environment, it was Mr. Shindell. So here you are, I feel like you're rallying the troops for a non-existent hostile work environment, and now they've all quit, so I blame you for all of this.
Oh, it's not my fault. Yeah. It's not my fault. So, yeah.
But if you want to put it on my shoulders, that's fine. I blame you for everything. It's just a lot easier. Wow.
Hostile work environment. Things just got hostile around here. Yeah. Good thing I got my own show now.
Look at this hostility. Poor Trang. What else you got over there on your blank piece of paper? We're at 27 minutes.
You know, I was looking at a couple things here. Yes. What were you looking at? Other than the porn.
One note that I'm talking about that I have here is hard for me to explain. So I don't know if I'm going to go into it or not. Something I've done? Something not involved with me at all?
No. I guess I can go into it. So, you know, handling sales on your own, on the retail aspect and the wholesale. You got a lighter right there.
Yeah, I do. Sorry, can I use it? Sure, because I'm in the industry. I have one.
I do, too. So, now that you interrupted me again. So, you know, it is difficult to go kind of against the grain in every aspect of the industry and kind of map your own path. Yes.
It's very easy to be an online store and do deep discounts, it's very easy to bang on as many doors as possible in sales and demand sales and push and force people to continue to buy product, but I'm not about all that. Right. But there are times where you're like, man, you know, I really wish I could just get a few extra sales, or you want to push, you know, but like, so convincing yourself to hold back on some of those things can be very difficult. Okay.
Right. So, I don't know why I'm just making this conversation. Is this a thing you had a hard time explaining? Yeah.
Good, because I'm not exactly following you. Okay, good. How do you, how do you sell, like as a, as a wholesaler? Yes.
It's very easy, oh man, fucking Danny's gonna call me or some shit. There's a disclaimer at the end of the show for a reason now. Right, I just think that, you know, the pathway that I'm going is the right way. For you personally.
Right, for me personally, it's the longer way, but I wouldn't have it any other way, right? Okay, now I understand. I don't sell... I don't do a deep discount online for retail.
I'm not walking into every cigar store possible. Like, we've done that before, and that's, you know, that was not fun. Yeah, that was not fun at all. The trips were fun, but there's kicking in the nuts every time you walk somewhere.
Yeah. And there are times where I want to do that, want to do those things to boost numbers. But I hold back, like I'm like, no, that's not me, that's not what I want to do, and you know, for me pushing into that, continuing down this path, it makes the most sense. The way that you currently do it.
Right, but sometimes it can be hard. Right. Sometimes it can be, it can be hard. It's hard work, you know, it can be challenging.
Now, seeing it's the last 30 days of the year, are you, as a company, in any type of push to, Do you want to move a certain number that you wanted for the year? No, I mean, you look at overall sales in the store, and you have, you know, your goals and intentions to hit those numbers. Right, right, here at the store, I'm talking about wholesale. And you have your wholesale numbers, and you look to really, you know, to continue growth.
Right. But you don't want to, like, toting that line's hard. Like, you don't want to push growth to a point where you have an extreme amount of growth, and then you have retailers that are sitting on product. Right, unsupportive growth.
Right. So, sometimes that can be hard. I would imagine. And that was what I was going to talk about briefly.
Oh. I thought we were going somewhere with it. Well, it does kind of parlay. Oh, okay.
Into? Into our Listener of the Week. Oh. Yes.
Ah. Who's our Listener of the Week? Our Listener of the Week. Hold on.
Let's get ready here. It's Mr. Adam Acri. So, the guy's never been a Listener of the Week.
He's a listener of the week. No, it's hard to believe he has never been listener of the week. So, you know, he's a, Adam Aker, he's a great friend of mine and the show. Yes.
I've met him. Yeah, he's come up. I would consider him my friend. Numerous times.
He's been here. He's part of our month club. I mean, like, the guy, I can go on and on about his accolades. Right, and he's up in Illinois somewhere.
He is up in Illinois. So it's not like you're a local shop for him. No. No.
Well, but he says that I'm his local shop. Well, that's what I mean. Yeah. He should obviously not be, geographically speaking, his local shop.
Right. Right. So, I came… His wife is also expecting a baby. Yes.
Yeah. So, I came home the other week, like a week or two ago, and I had a little present came in the mail, a little package, and I posted it on my Instagram. Yes, she did. He made… I'll grab the photo and it will be right here as we're talking about it.
Perfect. Him and his wife, Nicole, made awesome onesies with Postanya logos. I mean, they're amazing. That was very nice.
It was really, really, really, really thoughtful. " it's like god damn man you know sometimes shit just doesn't go your way and it's just like god so you're going home you're kind of strung out it was kind of a long day and uh the package the timing for the package couldn't have been better i was like this is why you're doing it right right this is this is the shit that you live for like these little things where people show appreciation for you and like and you build these relationships and these friendships and um it was just amazing It was just absolutely amazing. It's very nice of him and his wife. So I know I thanked him on Instagram, I thanked him via phone, too, but again, it was absolutely amazing.
I really appreciate it. We'll give him another gong, too. Ooh, a double gong. There you go.
The accessory of the year is the gong. The accessory of the year is the gong. The accessory of the year was not mentioned in Cigar Score. Yeah, it seems odd that the gong was not mentioned, I mean.
The gong on the Cigar Houser podcast with Mike Palmer, so, we should get you a shirt made, Cigar Houser podcast with Mike Palmer, with Mike Palmer, so, um, yeah, that was, that was, uh, that was awesome, man, and, um, you know, I guess that was kind of what I was parlaying into, you know, having, having your path and going the way that you want to go, it can sometimes be hard, and, like, getting something like that, we really, uh, re-energize you, yeah, it was like, all right, keeps you going, uh, All right, things are working. Let's get back to work. All right. Let's keep doing this.
So, thank you again, Adam. Yes, thank you. That was very nice. And Nicole.
And Nicole. I don't know if she listens or watches. Okay, as long as we did listen to the week, we'll also do Shop of the Week. Ooh.
Not sponsored Shop of the Week. Executive Cigar in Sanford. It's a new shop. She opened up in the last 30 days here in our local area.
Yeah. It would be probably the closest shop here now. If you go right across the lake, it would be the closest shop. Mr.
Dak Knoll is the manager at the location, I've been there several times. He's a listener. He's a listener, and a frequenter of the shop, and a patron of the Patreon. Yeah, he's a good guy.
He's a good guy. He's a good dude. Everybody get a chance, go over and check out Executive Cigar in Sanford. It's a cool bar.
Unfortunately, I don't have the address here in front of me, but it's right on the other side of the lake. If only there was a device that you had in your hands where you could look that sort of thing up. It's running the camera. I'm not even talking about you.
I'm talking about our listeners. Oh. You're so aggressive. Sorry.
Just look it up. I'm sorry. Stop on by. Stop on by.
Give yourself a drink. Go in and see Dan, say hi, and say you heard about him on our show. Yeah. They're going to have a new private lounge.
They're opening it up soon, I believe. Yeah. So, all sorts of things going on over there. Nice lake view.
Oh, beautiful lake view. Uh-huh. Very nice. Very nice shop.
State-of-the-art air filtration system. State-of-the-art. Yes, thank you for emphasizing. We have a state-of-the-art air filtration system here too.
Yes, we do. That Greg built. But it's amazing. It was state-of-the-art eight years ago.
Now it's just of the art. It's just art. No, it works fine. Yeah.
It works fine. Everything's nice here. Everything's nice. What else you got?
Let's see. We got a little bit of a show update. Oh, how many times is that phone going to ring? The phone never rings.
Never rings. One time we forgot to get rid of it. It is 4:30, so maybe that's when the phone starts ringing here. Yeah.
We, hold on, wait until it finishes. Nobody wants to answer. Nobody answer the phone out there. Tell your brother answer the phone.
Oh, there he is. Okay, they got it. Cigar Hustler, I'm going to help you. Home of the prime rib.
Okay, there is only 265 followers between us and the number one spot on Podbean. Told you we're coming for you. We have two episodes left to get that number one spot. By the end of the year, Cigar Authority, we're very sorry, you're about to be bumped.
We're about to get you. You know, while I was talking about that, I did some furniture refinishing over the weekend. Yeah? And you thought of Cigar Authority?
No, I played it while I was... Don't you say anything mean about them. Why? Because that's not nice.
I'm not going to say anything mean. Because you tried to fucking call out Mr. Coop and he let you know. I can't say anything about the show.
Okay. They're on the, what's it called, a Podcast Authority thing or something? Yeah. So they share that beautiful set with other shows.
Oh, do they? Yes, that's not just their set. Oh, okay. Studio 21 Podcast and like that is a place where anybody can go in.
That's why they have the video screens and stuff. Ah. You can change the names. Really?
Yes. Yes, that's not their place. I thought it was like in front of people and stuff. You can go and watch, apparently, but it...
It's not in their shop? It's connected to or something, because I'm going to tell you something else in a minute. I'll admit it. Oh.
But wait, there's more. But. Do tell. They are, I think, over-sponsored?
Oversponsored. Is that possible? They have. Here comes the aggressiveness.
No, it's not aggressive. But I listened to it for about a half hour. That's all I can really take. Right.
Because every time they talked about something, it was sponsored. Right. We're going to. And that's why you want to sponsor the fucking.
The cigar of the week. Oh, wait. Cutter is sponsored by Perdomo Cigars. So even though they're not smoking a Perdomo Cigars, it gives a Perdomo Cigars.
Right. Okay. Ashtray. Oh, man, we're going to have to cut this out.
But that's why we built this podcast in the first place. That was the whole purpose. Yes, I know, we're the post-townia of the podcast industry. No, so we don't even talk about it.
I don't want a cigar listener of the week. I want, like, you know, Uncle Ben's ED drug of the week. Oh, okay, yeah, so that's fine. Yeah, no, no, no.
I don't mean we're taking cigar sponsors. But I don't want anything inundated either. But if it's just listener of the week, I mean, we're not saying it's good or bad. I'm not saying it's good or bad.
You just want the one thing. I just want the one thing. I just want the one thing, Michael. Just give me one thing.
What do you charge for that? $20,000 a clip? No, no, no. $50 a month.
That's it? That's it. Oh. It's a gong and a name.
It's not like we're going to go on and on about the product. I don't know. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that number. I feel like you're shooting too low.
You think I'm shooting low? $100 a month? That's $1,200 a year. I don't know.
That'll keep us in bang energy drinks. I don't know. Your number is too low. Okay, anyway, they also share the set with Ash Holes.
Okay. Have you ever listened to the Ash Holes? No. Okay, it's a 30-minute show, it's quick in and out, it's in the exact set, because they started doing videos here too, and they're also Podcast Authority or something, whatever the name of the group is.
Which I don't know if you pay them or they pay you, I'm not sure how that works. Okay. But I very much enjoyed their show, but it's a 30-minute show, they pick one cigar, and then they talk about that cigar for 30 minutes, then they're out. Well, we're well aware that you don't fact check.
I can tell you that much. Well, it was a 30-minute show, I watched it, but no, we don't fact check at all. Coop's on this thing and there's these guys, I don't even know who they are. There are these guys, I don't know who these guys are.
Oh, by the way, Mr. McTavish is on his way to Dominican Republic right now, so if you're listening to this while you're traveling, Mr. McTavish, thank you very much. With his airplane posts?
His airplane posts, yes. With the airplane posts. And he does now follow us on Instagram. There you go.
All you have to do is tell him that he's not media. I didn't say he wasn't, I just said I didn't know who he was. That's an angry phone call from David Garoppolo. Let me tell you something.
Let me tell you. We all have accents. How do you say Robusto? Is it Robusto?
I mean, they said it three different ways. It confused me. Wow. It's the accent.
I think it's the accent. Here he goes. Here he goes. I can't protect you from everybody.
All right. There's just too many of them. Well, speaking of too many, we'd like to welcome Iceland to the Cigar Hustler Podcast family. Got 'em.
Got Iceland. There you go. Also got Tanzania. Yeah.
And another small country. I don't know how you say it. Tanzania? Tanzania?
Tanzania? I don't know. It's another small country in Africa is on. Good job.
So I'm flicking them suckers off one at a time. Nice. And Iraq. Oh.
We're now all through the Middle East. Nice. We haven't had Iran, but somebody in Iraq listened to this last week. Global domination.
Global domination. So that's welcoming Iceland, Tanzania, Tanzan, Tanzanana, Tarzan. I don't know how you say it. Fred Rui hasn't come around since the Sam-Ran rap threat.
That's funny. And Iraq. That's pretty nice. Good job.
Good job on your world domination. Thank you. Thank you very much. We're almost, almost complete.
You got Japan? Oh, we got Japan. Years, months ago. A long, long time ago.
We have the, the bulk of Europe is taken care of. Southeast Asia is done. I mean, they're big, we're big in North Korea. Yeah.
Big in North Korea. They like us there, huh? No, they don't. Do they even have internet in North Korea?
I don't know, apparently. Does Kim Jong-un let them listen to podcasts? Keep it calm, we might get attacked. There's just the one podcast in North Korea.
Everybody listens to it. Everybody listens to Kim Jong-un's show. , Kim Jong-un. He says how great he is and everybody agrees.
All right, well, that's all I got. Man, you did a good job of finishing that off and pissing off a bunch of people. Episode 98 of Cigar House with Podcast. So.
Yeah. That's it. You're doing a great job. Sometimes it's hard.
I'm proud of you. It's hard to get stuff to talk about. I don't think so. Yeah.
I had some political stuff because you wanted to talk politics, but eh, I didn't print it. It just, it seemed funny when I was looking it up, but not so funny. Right. You were drunk at the time?
No, I don't drink as well. I do drink a lot, but I don't get drunk. That's the problem. Like, you drink a lot.
I don't drink a lot. Yes, you do. I don't. You have a problem.
It's okay. I don't have a problem. We're fine with it. I don't have a problem.
You know, whenever I see the background show for the Cigar Authority, I always, for whatever reason, it always reminds me of the Seinfeld episode. Do you remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer found the show and like the dumpster? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the Mike Douglas show set.
" Oh, that's what it looks like with the color in the background. Yeah. With no camera and he does his own show in there. I don't know why, but I think of that for whatever reason.
Now I'm going to also. I'm not going to be with that. Awesome. We can make that a thing.
That's not a thing. Bang. Tastes like diabetes. Birthday cake.
And Tegara 30 looks like the Mike Douglas show. The Mike Douglas show. That was funny. You have people come in and they would sit and talk like they had a camera and he would take breaks.
I feel like it's just a matter of time before somebody flies down here and legitimately comes to kick our ass. I mean like it's going to be a thing. " We have a special guest lined up for the 100th episode. We're not saying who it is, but we have a special guest.
And I have some questions. I have some serious questions that I need answered from this guest. You know, I was going to do something special for the show, but that is going to be the show. Okay.
Just a special guest. What if it flops? What if it's a complete show? Perfect.
It's a disaster. Maybe we can offend the guest and he will get mad at Storm out. That'll be nice. I don't think so.
He's uh, I think he'll- We're gonna put you over here. Why? Because there's two of them. Oh.
He's got a handler. Let's keep the handler over here. You want to put him here and the handler over there next to you? Yeah.
Alright. Okay, fine. That way you can rub my back. The handler?
Yeah, I'm like here. Oh! I'm cutting that out. That's getting cut out.
Oh, mark that 44, 25. Oh, that's awesome. That's getting cut out. Oh, that's...
Teller, 4425. That's getting cut. So there's gonna be a space edited on this podcast. It's just a beep, there'll be a bleep.
'Cause he mentions the name. I said the name. Oh, there'll be a bleep. That's awesome.
What if they read your lips? You're gonna have to cover your lips. I can't, sitting by the microphone. You're gonna have to cover your lips.
Live with a black line. I don't know how to put the black part. Oh my god. All right, we better get out of here before I say something else.
Have you been drinking now? No, I have not been drinking. It's very late. I don't know what's going on.
What's going on? It's like 9 o'clock now. It's turning into a Skip Martin interview. It's like middle of the night somewhere.
Nice. All right. Well, we didn't say his name, so I had to get his name in. Well, we talked about all of the stuff that he makes.
Because all the good cigars come from a great, all the great cigars come from a great factory. There you go. All the great cigars come from a great factory. Feel free to use that, gentlemen.
Take that with you. All right. Bye. Bye.
This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. Be sure to listen every Tuesday at 10am for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Hoostoy Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single podcast ever again.
Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? I don't even have to try it.
He's not even going to try it. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right. Try to keep up.
That's a sign of a good podcast. I could be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this.
Show Notes
This week, How Mike Too has Taken over the show, A top 5 list but with rules! And all Great Cigars come from a Great Cigar Factory! All this and more on Episode 98!
As always we welcome your comments on our facebook page, "A Cigar Hustlers Podcast". You can follow the show on IG @cigarhustlerspodcast, Mikey @cigarhustler and Mike Too @fcc_Mike.
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