Episode Title: “Tariffs, Tensions & Tobacco: Cigar Wars & National Guard”

Episode Summary

Episode 391 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the crew's June event schedule — Harrisburg Beer and Cigars in Harrisburg, PA on June 20th, a stop at Cigar Vault Oakdale during the Pennsylvania cigar crawl on June 21st, a Dalmore whiskey pairing at Blend & Barrel in Sanford, Florida, and a ticketed 24-person barbecue dinner and live podcast taping with Chip Martin at Cigar Hustler. They also plug the new CHPod website and the limited-edition 4th of July BDP tank top.

The first half is the show's usual news roundup: federal immigration raids in Los Angeles, Trump federalizing the National Guard over Governor Gavin Newsom's objections, protests spreading to Atlanta, and a long back-and-forth on immigration enforcement, compassion versus regulation, and legal citizenship paths. They also cover the Trump–Musk fallout (with a detour into the Epstein-list rumor and Kash Patel), the TSA's reminder that a Costco card is not a Real ID, and a salmonella egg recall.

Cigar news is the meat of the episode. Max Bichler is leaving his national sales manager role at Rocky Patel Premium Cigars after nearly two decades, amid rumors of a broader company restructuring; the hosts note his Amazing Race second-place finish and his PCA associate board seat. The Cigar Association of America reports U.S. premium cigar imports started 2025 down 8.7% (48.4 million cigars in January–February), with Nicaragua down 9.3% and Honduras down 19.3% — and the hosts argue the real drop may be worse if manufacturers front-loaded shipments ahead of tariffs. On tariffs, PDR Cigars added a tariff line item to invoices (Abe Flores says he'll remove it if the tariff ends), and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust raised prices an average of 3.82% on a SKU-by-SKU basis, with Steve Saka warning of another increase if the Nicaraguan tariff snaps back to 19% after the July 8th pause expires. Also covered: the McKAY Black Firecracker from United Cigars ($9, 3.5x50 petit robusto with Mexican San Andrés wrapper) and the Crowned Heads-style history of the Firecracker series at Two Guys Smoke Shop, plus Kristoff's Signature Series PCA/TAA exclusive 2025 — which the hosts note is the same blend and size as a 2020 release at a higher price.

The episode closes with "What's the Score?", the crew's Halfwheel review-guessing game. Mike and Boots try to guess Brooks Whittington's scores for the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Year of the Duque (a 5x48 Nicaraguan with Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper, Mexican San Andrés Negro binder, and Nicaraguan/Pennsylvania filler — actual score 91) and, from the 2012 archives, a Mike Ditka Championship Series Churchill made at the Graycliff factory in the Bahamas, which scored a brutal 65. Shop of the Week is Historic Smoke in Culpeper, Virginia, and Francis Saleto takes Listener of the Week.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Upcoming Events & CHPod Merch
   Harrisburg Beer and Cigars, the Pennsylvania cigar crawl at Cigar Vault Oakdale, a Dalmore whiskey pairing at Blend & Barrel, a Chip Martin barbecue dinner, and the limited 4th of July BDP tank top.
2. 02
   LA Immigration Raids & the National Guard
   Federal ICE sweeps in Los Angeles, Trump federalizing the National Guard over Gavin Newsom's objections, and the hosts' debate on enforcement versus compassion.
3. 03
   Trump vs. Musk Feud
   Threats of 'serious consequences,' whether the split is theater, and a long riff on the Epstein-list rumor and the Oval Office chair.
4. 04
   TSA, Costco Cards & a Salmonella Recall
   The TSA's Real ID reminder that Costco membership cards don't count as ID, plus a nationwide egg recall.
5. 05
   Max Bichler Exits Rocky Patel
   After nearly two decades, Rocky Patel's national sales manager steps down amid rumored restructuring, with the hosts speculating on his next move.
6. 06
   Premium Cigar Imports Down 8.7%
   CAA data shows a soft Q1 2025, with Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras all shipping fewer cigars — and the hosts question how the numbers are counted.
7. 07
   Tariff Price Increases: PDR and Dunbarton
   PDR Cigars adds a removable tariff line item to invoices while Steve Saka raises Dunbarton prices 3.82% and warns of more if the Nicaraguan tariff returns to 19%.
8. 08
   New Releases: Firecracker & Kristoff TAA/PCA Exclusive
   The $9 McKAY Black Firecracker from United Cigars and Kristoff's PCA exclusive that reuses a 2020 blend and size at a higher price.
9. 09
   What's the Score? Game
   Mike and Boots guess Halfwheel scores for the Dunbarton Year of the Duque (91) and a 2012 review of a Graycliff-made Mike Ditka Churchill (65).

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 The Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Welcome to episode 391 of The Cigar Hustler Podcast. Where Palmer is grumpy. Yes.

I'm not grumpy. Grumpy girls, grumpy girls. Alright, the event's coming up. m.

m. m. What? m.

We'll be at the Cigar Vault Oakdale for stop number two on the Crawl. m.? m. People drink it that early in the morning?

I don't know if this is a drinking thing or not. It's a crawl. From what I understand, people have been up all night long waiting on this to start. Oh.

And then we'll follow that up with a special Postagna event around lunchtime. Okay. Until we have to leave for the airport. And then we go.

And then we go. And we fly home. And we fly home. m.

doing a pairing with Dalmor whiskey. So come on out and watch me drink whiskey. Everybody knows I just love whiskey. Dalmor?

I mean, Dumor. Dumor? It's D-A-L. It's spelled D-A-L.

He needs to do more is what he needs to do. Yeah, right. Be a little more angry. And then finally on June 5th, right after we celebrate Independence Day, we're having a ticketed barbecue dinner with Chip Martin here at Cigar Hustler.

With Chip? With Chip in the private lounge. Part of the Hustler Experience series with a 24-person intimate dinner. Is it 24, right?

Yep, 24. 24 people. Intimate dinner and live taping of the Cigar Hustler podcast. You're switching back and forth though, by the way.

So that has really become weak. Well, like the little banter, I don't switch on. Why? No, I think that's important.

You like the little banter? You gotta stay on top of it. Everything. Yeah.

But before, I was switching too much. Well, have you noticed my intros were too long, then they were too short, then they were too long? Yeah, so somewhere in the middle of all that, we're gonna have a great podcast. All right, perfect.

All right, so I need you to work on that. I think that what happened too was you had an audience. You had Ginger in town, and you were like, I'm gonna bring my A-game when it comes to speaking, and you did bring your A-game. Oh yeah, you did talk more.

But I feel like because you were bringing your A-game with your speaking, you kind of dialed the back. You're on your C-game with the button. Yeah, your button C-game. Button C-game.

So what I need, what we need from you is B-game on both fronts. He's just over there. Yeah, I'm clucking, clucking. We need B-game on both fronts, just B-game.

It's like he's got a paintball gun now. All right. All right, episode three. What?

Don't we go with that? Oh, yeah, go ahead. What are we doing for the Patreon, Michael? I don't know.

Unwrap yours and show everybody, Michael. Oh, boy. It is the Tatuaje meat something. The Tatuaje meat something.

Pork. Don't say that. It's not. Pork tenderloin.

We don't love this meat. Can't say that. We don't love this meat? No, that's pork.

The other white meat. Pork tenderloin. He makes pork tenderloin. Yes, you do.

Well, I just didn't want to call it meat, uh, because that's a whole nother thing. Meat, uh? Oh, like L-O-V-E-R. Yeah, right, exactly.

We've already got one. It's a totally different meat. We already got one email from that gentleman. This is a pork tenderloin.

Yes, completely different, it's a white meat, the other white meat. This you can smoke and you will confirm if you're Christian or not, right? Um, okay. Muslims don't need pork?

That's correct. Well, you could be Jewish. You could be Jewish. You could be Jewish.

Jewish people don't eat pork either. Are you Jewish, Palmer? Yes. Shalom.

This is like a Muslim thing then? So the Muslims won't smoke this? Well, Jewish people are kind of, aren't they Muslim? Kosher?

No. Aren't Jewish people Muslim? Yes. And all named Mohammed.

Mohammeds. Mohammeds. All right, Mohammed Palmer. Those Israelis.

Those Muslim Israelis. Muslim Israelis named Mohammed. Okay. A.

and the fiery fallout as Trump calls on the National Guard. The Trump-Musk feud hits new lows. TSA reminds us Costco cards won't fly. What?

Oh, right. And Cigar News is packed. Tariffs hit prices. Import drops.

Max Beachler exits Rocky Patel, plus new releases from Christoph, McAllis, and Dunbarton. And it's game time again with the world's new favorite game, What's the score? Yes. Mike versus Boots in a Cigar Showdown.

You don't want to miss. It's Mike versus Boots. You know what? Just skip all the other stuff.

Let's just get to that. Just get to that? Yeah. Let me ask you.

Did you look last week? On what? On the reviews. He thinks you cheated.

You were pretty good there. No, I didn't look. No? I don't even know where to.

I don't know anything about Half Wheel. Except the things you guys post. To stop any type of cheating involved. I went back in the archives and pulled one from an older review that no one would know where I got it from.

How old? 2012. Oh my God, dude, that's too old. Why?

A review's a review. Was that when they were first tasting cigars? It's still Brooks & Charlie. All right, but let's try and keep it next time moderately up to date.

I think that's kind of important. Well, don't worry. You just sit over there and smile. I can't wait to hear what the cigar is.

But before we get into it, though, before we get into that, CHpod is the new website everybody's going to. So we have officially launched CHpod and we have our limited edition, our second shirt, 4th of July, Palmer. Can you see that? Can you see that?

How's that? It's Independence BDP. Independence BDP. So, you know, we had some, we listened to some feedback from you guys.

We removed BDP. We made Mr. Palmer himself a little bit bigger. Oh, did they ask for the BDP to come off?

Yes, they wanted it gone, and we listened, and we took care of them. That's fine. So now, also, if you buy one shirt, when you buy a second shirt, that same time, you get 40% off on your second shirt. That's a deal.

And shout out to Julian Gordon this time for just jumping on there without any indication whatsoever and just grabbing the 4th of July shirt. Julian, we honor the discount for you, even though you didn't do buy one, get one at the same time, you have been a loyal fan to us. Yeah, they were so close together, it's two orders. And we're gonna take care of you, so.

Can we do like a, like if they buy their shirt and wear it on 4th of July and post it on our website or Facebook or whatever you guys want to do, Instagram, can we do like a giveaway or a game or? We could do a shout out. Okay. How's that sound?

Perfect. Or we can call them in. We already have discounts going on here at this point. Okay, can we do like a phone call?

Yeah, we could do a phone call if they're available, if they want to call in. Perfect, they could be on the show. Well, they can't call in, we have to call them. We will call, don't call us, we'll call you.

Right, because who knows when this thing goes. Yeah. But... It varies from week to week.

com, get your 4th of July BDP shirt. They are extremely limited. Limited, limited, it's unlimited. What's the, do we have a price?

95. 95? 95. Plus, depending on the size though.

Right. And they go all the way up to 4X. These go up to 3X. 4X was a little tougher on the tanks.

So. All right. Got a lot of room to grow out in them. Well, it's a tank top too, so.

Right. Yeah. All right. A.

A. Federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps across Los Angeles on Friday, prompting anger and resistance from onlookers and immigrant right groups that have braced for this type of action for months. By Saturday, tensions were rising between state and local authorities and Trump administration officials who said they were calling up the National Guard in response to what they said were violent mobs attacking ICE officers and federal law enforcement agents carrying out basic deportation operations. Corporations Los Angeles.

Governor Gavin Newsom called the plan to take over deployment from the state purposefully inflammatory, adding that it won't- What the hell does that mean? Yeah, really? Well, normally, the National Guard is under the control of the governor of the state. Okay.

Trump had to do a special thing so he could call him up. Yeah, it's an override. Yeah. So Trump is in charge?

So this is like- Well, he's always been in charge, he just lets the governor over there watch the babies. So this is like Dark Knight Rises with Bane? Go sit down. " That's Trump.

Yes. Newsom said he'd been in close coordination with the city and county and there is currently no need for the National Guard. President Donald Trump? I don't know if that's true.

Yeah, that's speculative. I've seen some videos. I've seen some photos and stuff. Have you seen, what have you seen, what have you seen?

The unmanned taxis are really big out there, apparently, so they're taking them to where the riots are, and then they trash the cars. And they're burning them? That's awesome. They're burning them, they crack the windows with a skateboard, they spray painted graffiti all over them.

Don't forget the brick throwers. I didn't see a brick thrower, I saw a man with a skateboard. There was a guy in the median throwing bricks at every car trying to pass through. I love that.

Oh, every car. And nobody ran that guy over? I'm just trying to figure out where the bricks came from. It was like a pallet of bricks.

Oh, yeah. Well, maybe he's a bricklayer by trade. Like he can order from Home Depot. He's like, I want them right here.

I penned it. Don't go to Home Depot. It's where the riots started. Really?

Well, of course it did. ICE went there and just gathered people up. Yeah, of course. That's where it started?

Serious? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, of course they go to Home Depot.

But now they're all gathering in one place. Yeah, now they're right off the highway somewhere. I saw a video of like eight cop cars sitting on a highway and people just chucking bricks. Bricks, and all sorts of things.

Now do they know, are these all illegal immigrants that are, or are these people that support illegal immigrants? It's a mixture. Is it a mixture? I guess there's no way.

Excuse me, sir, are you an immigrant? " No green card, come get me? We'll throw sticks? I'm an American shirt, that's what he's wearing.

" No, the ones that aren't should be wearing the ones that I'm American, so they don't give themselves up. But it's safe to say things are kind of out of control. I would say so, yes. Yeah, certainly.

This is like history repeats itself. Don't you feel like this is like the whole Rodney King thing again? Rodney King? A.

riots. A. A. and there is...

Pandemonium. Yeah. Well, and also non-whites, that it's the same thing. Oh, I didn't say that.

That's what you said. Borderline racial stories, man. Well, did you guys have you, okay, there's more to add to this. This feels a little different to me than Rodney.

It does feel a little different to me too. Call me crazy. Yeah. Does it?

Yeah, this is an immigration issue, not like, you know, Rodney just got beat up because he was in the wrong place. Yeah, Rodney got the crap beat out of him for no reason. Did he get beat up because he was in the wrong place? Oh my God.

And canceled. There we go. And Boots will be replaced next week with? By an African-American man who has completely different views.

Trump on social media said the move was needed if Governor Gavin Newcomb of California and Mayor- Newcomb? That's his last name. That's his last name. Newsome.

N-E-W-S-C-U-M, Nukesome. Well, it's California. You could pronounce it either way. Yeah, you could go either way.

It's Newsome. It's like carrot and carrot. Same thing. Newcomb.

Yeah. Newcomb. Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't then. I like how he does that.

They can't do their jobs. We all know they can't do their jobs. Right. And the federal government will step in and solve the problem, rioters and looters, the way it should be solved.

Oh, he's just getting rid of them. President signed a memorandum authorizing at least 2,000 National Guard personnel as well as any other members of the regular armed forces as necessary to augment and support the protection of federal functions and property in any number determined appropriate in his discretion. Basically, he wrote a blank check. Well, when you, yeah, it's already a blank check.

He prints the money. Yeah. Right, exactly. They print the money.

Right. They don't, you know. He goes, I'm sending this many people, unless I need more, then I'm sending those. Unless I need somebody from somebody else, I'm sending those too.

And then if we need air support, I'm going to send those people. Okay. Yeah. Don't make me call back them.

Anybody named Mohammed is not allowed in the area, because Boot said so. What's that? Anybody but Mohammed. No Mohammeds are allowed in the area.

Mohammeds. Well, they don't live there. All right. A conflict in Paramount, a city about 56,000 residents south of LA.

That's maybe heard south, south central LA. That's why he thought, assumably, the same thing. Attracted national attention after protests near a Home Depot extended into Saturday. Those protests appear to have begun when ICE agents were spotted in the area.

Sheriff's officials said in a statement Saturday that, as the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior towards federal agents and deputy sheriffs In response to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department requested additional resources countrywide deploying additional deputies to maintain order. So ICE showed up on the weekend or was it like end of last week? It's probably during the week because they're all looking for jobs. That's what I'm asking.

I think it was towards the end of the week. So it was still during the week. It was during a weekday. I don't think the ICE is just a Monday through Friday thing.

I think they need to go. Well, I'm just saying, would Home Depot be that busy with, you know, potential immigrants if it was on a weekend? - I don't know how that works. - I don't, well.

- It probably, I mean, I have heard that they gather there and get picked up by employers. - Yeah. - I imagine somebody works on Saturday. - I like that you're kind of tiptoeing this on eggshells, that's nice.

- I'm not the racist in the show anymore, I'm really enjoying this. - What was the increase in Lowe's stock after this? Was there a lot of people shopping there, a lot of immigrants? - I don't know, let me look that up while we're doing the show.

- Isn't that his job? - Yeah. - Yeah, why are you asking us? Oh, man.

You're the informant. Ginger, was there an increase in lows? Ginger's gone. He left.

I just went to a black screen for him. You get the cruise ship thing, and then it went black screen? I hit the wrong one. He should have been mic'd up yesterday.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday there would be serious consequences. Oh, never mind. I went to the next story. It's also a Donald Trump story.

Yeah, so I was just watching the news upstairs while you guys were doing your stuff. A. Okay. It has now gone to Atlanta as well.

That's a big jump. Wow, that's a big jump there, isn't it? It's coast to coast. Unless you think they're close together.

That's exactly what the title read, coast to coast. He thinks they're close together. Yeah. Next door in Atlanta.

Yeah. No, but it's just spreading now. Okay. Spilled over.

So there's pushback. In Atlanta now. Is it the same reason? Because they went to Home Depot and gathered up?

I don't know if it's the same reason. But what will happen, right, if it doesn't get controlled, then Trump will release National Guard over there as well. More National Guards? Well, he's got the blank check now.

As many as I need. He's always had the blank check. Yeah. I thought we established this earlier.

" Oh, yeah? I am the captain now? I am the captain now. Exactly.

Okay. Because normally the president does not have access to the National Guard. So, are they peacefully protesting, or are they rioting? They're rioting!

I've seen the burning cars and everything. You've seen the burning stuff? No, I'm talking about... They're not a burning man out in the desert.

I'm not talking about California, I'm talking about Atlanta. I don't know, this is new, the new Atlanta, this is new. This is new, all I saw was people outside with pickets, that's it. With pickets, signs, walking around with signs?

That's peaceful protest. No more, no more immigration. Are they for or against? Against.

They're against immigration. No, no, no, like they're against the government. Ah, gotcha. They're for the immigrants.

Oh. Do they have I'm an American shirt, son? No, you know, it's kind of crazy. I would think everybody would wear something like that.

I like that none of it makes any sense at all whatsoever, ever. It doesn't. We riot for any apparent reason. Well, it's, you know, it's.

No more Ford cars. It's a lot of, like, it's very, it's pro-regulation is upset about regulation of, of, of the regulatory regulation of illegal immigrants. Exactly. Like, I don't understand that.

This is why people are upset. And then I also don't understand, on the other side of it, where organizations are anti-regulation, and all of a sudden, like, regulations is swooped in from their parties, and they're like, that's perfectly fine, too. How is that okay if you're not pro-regulation? I have no idea what you just said.

Yeah, I'm fucking lost. Didn't take much. Well, there was a lot of pro and regulation and non-pro and pro. Well, that's the reality, though.

The reality is... Why are people mad that he's enforcing laws that everybody knows we have? Right. That's part of what I'm saying.

Okay. It makes no sense. Well, a lot of people are ignorant to the laws anyways. Well, what's really kind of remarkable is that there are people that are pro-law.

Right. And there are people that are pro-less law. Right. And right now, that situation is completely flipped.

Yeah. Completely flipped. That's what I'm saying. That's my point.

I mean, how did we get to this point? How did we get to this point? I mean, were they all snuck in? CNBC, CNN, MSNBC.

I blame ABC News for all of us. No, how it came about is it was never regulated. I mean, ICE was around, and ICE was grabbing immigrants that shouldn't have been here, But it's only usually like, if they committed a crime, or in jail, and then they would get deported. I've seen the movies, they go to the places where they make all the dresses and stuff, and they usually find them.

We're going to get a long diatribe from individuals, there's one in particular I know, it'll tell us how wrong and stupid we are with our perspective, but here's what I'm going to tell you, it's a fine line of compassion and regulation, right? And what happens is: Laws can sway tremendously on either side. Are you good with keeping you up? Yes, go ahead, please.

I mean, he's not on me. Will you not bring attention to the fact that I yawned? No, I'm gonna bring it up, yeah. So what happens is: when you're overly compassionate, you deregulate too much, right?

And when you deregulate too much, you don't enforce laws of people being illegally in your country. And then when that becomes a problem, the pendulum swings the other direction and then you have overregulation, right? And then overregulation causes upheaval and then things have to go back to the other way. So like somewhere in the middle is where we need to be.

It's just a hard ground to get to. However, where that line is, it's hard to determine because everybody's perspective is different. Well, they're not making new laws, they're just enforcing the ones that were right there. Well, but they haven't enforced those laws in a long time.

Yeah, people are, like I said, ignorant to it, because it just hasn't been enforced. Well, not only that, but like that has been the way, and that's not just the way of our country, that's been the way for Western society, United Kingdom, a lot of countries in Europe, For the past five, six years, right? And because of that, you're seeing this tremendous change in culture in a lot of these countries. Is it good?

Is it bad? I don't know. I'm not here to tell you that. That's not my job.

I'm just a talking head like you are that smokes cigars. Right? What I can tell you is that when you affect your people and your people are not comfortable, you're going to have pushback. And then normally with that pushback, that pushback is too far.

It exceeds where it's supposed to go. And then you bring back and you find yourself in the middle somewhere, right? Right. Like, should a person that came in here illegally, 15 years ago, hasn't had any issues with crime, be pushed out of the country?

By the laws, yes. That's a question, right? And as far as the laws are concerned, the answer is yes, right? And I think a lot of people would agree with, well, yes.

But if it directly affects you, and that's a person that's been in your life for the past 15 years, and they're a sweet person, they do all the good things, you're probably going to stand up and fight for that person. Right, yeah, because emotionally you're attached. Or emotionally you're connected, like he just said. Right.

So, are you wrong for defending a person that you love and you care about? I don't think that you're wrong. Are they wrong for breaking the law? Yes.

Like, is there a midpoint? I don't know. Like this is one of those things where it's people are going to be upset one way or the other. And I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're an immigrant, I will happily collect, correct you if you're perfect, no problem.

Uh, if you're an immigrant in this country and you go to do the, the, the test and become an American citizen, it's not like if you go to do the test, they go, Hey, you're illegal. You got to leave until you get the test, you know, go through a lot of tests. Like, I'm pretty sure, I mean, I have a buddy who did that and he just did it Yeah, he used to own a pizza shop in Deltona. Okay.

And he just did it recently. He was here for 22 years illegally from Italy. And then he went and took the test. He sold his pizza shop, went to go take the test to gain his citizenship, and passed it after, I think it took him almost a year to get everything, all the paperwork and tests and dah, dah, dah, dah.

And then became an American citizen. They didn't ship him back to Italy while he was trying to do that process. So you can come in illegally, be here for a while, and then go, I would like to be legal now, and they just go wait in line, fill out the paperwork. I don't know, maybe, you know, maybe there's some kind of penalties, some kind of, you know, fines or whatever.

I have no idea. Yeah, I don't know how that works either, but it seems odd that you can just, you know, I've been here for 20 years, and now, you know what, I think now is the time, because I hear the money is going to start kicking us out soon. Well, America's not against immigrants coming in. No, but there's a legal way to do it, though.

Right. So I think if, as long as they're just going through the process of doing, you know, gaining citizenship, I don't think the country, like, like you're asking, I don't think America is just going to go, hey, see you later. You know, come back when you pass the test. Don't know.

Don't know how it works. Why did we get rid of Ellis Island? What was wrong with that? It's still there.

It's still there, but it's no longer a processing thing. Well, it's down in California now. Oh, it's down in Cali? Yeah, and that place is a shitshow right now.

My father came through Ellis Island. Yeah. Yeah, my father came through Ellis Island. Yeah, my grandfather.

You know, they dealt with all the bullshit that existed then. He did it the legal way though. Yeah. He came in, he got his hand stamped and whatever they got to do.

But it was like a prideful thing at that time frame, right? Yeah. Like it's, you go to Ellis Island, you sign the book, you do all the paperwork, you bring your name over. And if you want to bring your name over, you change it a little bit, you know.

I don't know how prideful it was, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, did you see what the Yellowstone version of when that lady went? I did. I mean, that was horrific what she went through.

A little intense. Yeah. That was real. I'm willing to bet that some of that shit went down.

Oh, I'm sure. You know. But. I don't think it was like, I'm here, this is all, would you like a...

Come on in! Come on in, would you like a sandwich while we, you know, stick our finger up inside of you? Put your finger up inside of you. Here's a sticker.

Here's a sticker. Here's your $20 and your American flag. Please proceed. Get your lollipop.

Oh, I love New York t-shirt. Don't forget that. Yeah, I love American t-shirt. Wear this no matter what happens if you go to a rider.

Wear "I am American" on your shirt. Save us all trouble later. Or you can buy the BDP 4th of July one. You can buy the BDP 4th of July shirt.

Either one shows you're an American. If you're wearing a BDP 4th of July shirt, you gotta be an American. Right, you gotta be American. Without question.

I would have, you know, instantly assumed that. And smoke one of these pork tenderloins while you're doing it. Yeah. And then you wouldn't be an Israeli Muslim.

Right, from Detroit. They'll never know. Oh, God. Are we moving on?

I think, I think, I think we've beaten this one to death. Yeah. President Donald Trump on Saturday said there would be serious consequences if tech mogul Elon Musk funds Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who vote in favor of the GOP sweeping budget bill. Mm-hmm.

Mom and Dad are fighting. Mom and Dad are fighting. If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that, Trump told NBC News in a phone interview, but declined to share what those consequences would be. Right.

He's gonna get in trouble. There aren't any. What are you gonna do to him? It's trouble, just trust me, it's trouble.

There are no consequences with that. He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that, he added. Right. He won't get the coconut crunch cake from Tom.

That's an empty threat. 100% an empty threat. Yeah, you don't get the Tom Cruise... The president also said he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk after a feud between the two men erupted into public view earlier this week.

"No," Trump said when asked if they had any wish to do so. " Okay. Yeah. He added "yeah" to the end.

So what do you think of, what do you think of this, Boots? Didn't we touch on this last week or so? No, we have not. Mom and Dad started fighting after our podcast.

I think it's silly. Which one's mom? Let me ask you that. Elon?

Yeah, probably. You think Elon's mom? Yeah, I think Elon would be mom. You think Elon's mom?

Trump's dad? Well, dad's got the power. Dad's got the power? Yeah.

Okay. I think it's silly, man. Like, look, first of all, Whatever feud that they really had, because that's not going to come out, they could just be their businessmen. You know, they could have just broke up amicably, you know, whether it was for business or for a personal relationship and just move the fuck on.

Trump doesn't do anything without some big thing. Without it being a fiasco. How can they just, we just all of a sudden see they don't talk anymore and we're going to go, why do they're not talking anymore? Well, I think that's what fueled it.

That they're not talking anymore? I saw a press conference last week and they looked fine, finishing each other's sentences, he's standing behind him like he's his big brother, they looked fine, then two days later, I hate him, he hates me, he's a Nazi. It could be a ploy, it could be a smoke show. I think that's what it is.

That's what I said. Well, I said that too. Before you said it, you can ask Greg. You said it before I said it?

I said it to Greg. Did you? And then you verified my information when you were saying the same thing to Greg. So you guys are just like Trump and Elon, finishing each other's sentences here.

Yeah, look at that. " Interesting. Do you think that... They're finishing the wall.

Maybe they found aliens. Maybe. Do you think that there is value for Elon to uncouple from the Republican Party? No.

I don't think so. No? Why not? I don't, well, I don't know.

I mean, are they all of a sudden, are the Democrats buying these cars now? I mean, they did originally. Trump gave the car back. Trump gave the car back.

He gave it back? Yeah, his special car, he gave him, he gave it back. He returned it? Well, there's no refunds.

Can you return it? Yeah. Yeah? Sure.

He just said, take this back? Maybe the battery ran out. There was some movie stars buying them now or not buying them now. I forget how it went.

Whatever they weren't doing, they're not doing. I don't really know. Well, you know who Michael Jordan is? Yes, I know who Michael Jordan is.

Michael Jordan had a really famous quote. Do you know what that quote is about politics? Did you show me the money? No.

That was Jerry Maguire, that was Tom Cruise, and no, you're not getting the coconut cake. I don't know. I saw his airplane this morning. He's been showing the money.

He's got the money. He just got it painted. Is it Michael Jordan or Tom Cruise? Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan's plane? Yeah. Why are you staring at Michael Jordan's plane? It was on the news.

He just had it painted. Just had it painted? Painted. Yeah, it was probably some type of shoot.

$500,000 paint job on his $7 million plane. Really? Seemed a little inexpensive. It probably was for him because, I mean, he makes that within like 10 minutes.

Right, exactly. Cutbacks. 10% of everything with the stupid jumping guy on it. Well, back in the day...

Jordan. they were pushing him into joining the Democratic Party. Okay. And he would never ever endorse or back anybody in the Democratic Party.

Okay. " Right. So at the end of the day, if you're in a business and you're selling cars, why would you want to split your consumer down the line to solely Republicans? I mean, if anything, it really kind of hurt him because realistically, blue Democrats were probably his bigger customer for the longest period of time.

right and then they flipped on him when he endorsed trump so then republicans were probably his supporting party were supporting cast and you know it seems like this is kind of a mixed bag well why not just stay the fuck out of it and you know could be it is kind of coincidence that the minute he steps down from doge they get in a big fight and now they're not yeah you can't you can't Why would you tell me that two people that own their own social media platform don't understand the concept of an emotional lashing out is the wrong thing to do? Yeah. Well, Trump has a history of doing that all the time. Well, no.

Trump has a history of theatrics. And Elon, I think, is part of those theatrics as well. I think that that's what both of these guys have done at this point. I mean, you call it a smoke show.

They're good businessmen. They turn around, they say, "Hey, we're gonna do these things. You know what? I'm gonna go after you, you can go after me, and we're gonna...

I'm going to go after me and we're going to kind of part ways and you know you still have my support quietly whatever I can do to help or whatever whatever yada yada you know you can still come over for poker on Thursdays and sounds exactly like the mafia because throwing out an empty threat of there's gonna be consequences if you endorse the Democrat is you we all know that that's not true right right yeah all right so well he has been hinting that he's going to take away his government contracts which would financially hurt him well he was pulling back uh the The EV bill, or whatever, anyways, the endorsement, Elon was aware of that, and Elon said that he was done with the Dragon rocket, or whatever. Oh, did he? I didn't know that. Yeah, he said, "That's cool.

" I saw something that, I guess, Elon supposedly uncovered some more stuff off the Epstein list than Trump was on it, or whatever. I heard that's been a threat. Well, he made that tweet, and that tweet's been removed ever since. But it's, but, Elon was never part of the Epstein files.

No, no, he's saying Trump was. " Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah.

He's part of the Department of Government Efficiency or whatever he was doing to some degree, but he was never involved in the other aspect of that, so I don't see how he would have access to that information. You don't think he could find a way to get the list? No. Oh, I think he could.

I think he's well enough connected up there now. I don't know. I'm pretty sure that list is probably very well protected. Okay, so, listen.

If there is even a list. Look, there's definitely a list. But if you want to go down this rabbit hole, if you want to, I'll entertain this with you. Yes.

Who's in charge of the FBI? Patel, or God, I don't know what his name is. Patish? Mohammed.

I mean, he could. You're pretty close, actually. actually. Yeah.

Oh, God. He's bald-headed. Yeah. Okay.

Definitely owns some oil. Definitely owns some oil. That's not it. I'm sorry.

No. He doesn't own oil. Okay. I can picture the guy's face.

I don't know his name. I can't believe he just said that he owns oil. I don't think he can picture his face. Okay.

He's in charge of the FBI. You don't think Trump is seeing the list? Okay. So, wait a second.

He was trying to set this up here. So, the guy's name's Kash Patel. Okay. That's what it is.

All right. He's in charge of the FBI. Okay. All right.

And he's handling the operation of the He's got the Epstein list, allegedly, right? Okay. So, is it possible that Trump has seen the list? Sure, he's the President of the United States of America.

Of course he has. So he's sitting around with Elon one night and he goes, "Hey, you want to see the list? " He definitely did that. Sure he did.

Yeah. He's showing off. They were eating pizza in New York City. Right.

You want to put your hand inside the football? Come on. Come on, put your hand inside the football. Yeah, come here.

Just don't touch the button. Don't touch the button anyway. But you want to hold it? You want to hold the football?

Hey, you wanna know who killed JFK? Yeah, watch this, I push this button, I get a Diet Coke. You push it, Steve, you get a Diet Coke. Okay, so hold on, let me reverse engineer this for you.

Guy makes an accusation on Twitter saying that Trump is on this Epstein list. You're gonna tell me that the President of the United States, who's on that list, shared that list with Elon. Well, I don't, hey, check this out. " You're not gonna believe this.

Hey, secrets don't make friends. Just so you know. He gave him the wrong copy. So no, I don't believe it.

Wait, did you give him the list I'm on? You're fired. Yeah, Patel, you're out of here. That's it.

Now we have to send angry tweets to each other. I gotta call you a Nazi, just so you know. So we can uncouple. We almost kicked the camera.

No, I don't believe that for a second. You don't think he showed him the secret book that has all the secrets? killed jfk come here check this out come here i'll tell you look right here it is here it is no i don't believe that you know they get you want to sit at my desk come on come on sit at the desk go ahead have a seat look in this drawer this is what bill left me i don't i couldn't see that either don't touch that it's that blue dress you could see him saying hey why don't you sit in my desk sure no way oh my god if i was a president all my friends sit at the desk yeah if i was a president and you came in first thing i'm doing is go you want to sit down here you want to sit For one day, I'll let you be the president. Jax, Jax, come here.

Sit at the desk. Now, having a kid sit in the desk chair is totally different. Having a grown-ass man sit in the... Sure, you want to sit in the chair that the most powerful man in the world sits in?

Yes. Have a seat. Sit down. I couldn't see that happen.

I couldn't see Trump... Mary, bring the camera. Take Mikey's picture. He's my friend.

I couldn't see Trump doing that. Sure, why not? Maybe that's why they broke up. Because he's Trump.

He's like this... You know, he believes he's this powerhouse of a person like, you know, you didn't see the interview, who's the guy that runs the MMA, Dana White, Dana White, there's an interview Dana White does about Trump, where Trump's calling him on the phone after fights, before fights, just goofing on the phone with him about how good the fight was, you know, oh, I'm going to come in, we're going to have lunch together, and then we'll go to the fight, and then he calls him the next morning, oh, that was a really good fight, what, send my chair, so he's a human, so he's a human being, yeah, I get that, well, that's what the other part's a human being too, do you think that he'd say, you know, You know what? You want to sit in the chair? You want to sit in the chair?

Yeah, you want to sit in the chair? I feel like that's the only bargaining tool he's got at this point, so I think that could definitely... Yeah, what else are you going to... That Trump has?

You get to sit in the chair and you get to hit the Diet Coke button. And the red button. Yeah. You think the only bargaining tool Trump has is you can sit in the Oval Office chair?

It's not a bargaining tool. He just called it a bargaining tool. He did. Well, he's an idiot.

We all know that. Do you think Trump has a McDonald's like Richie Rich? Yes. In the White House?

In the White House? I think he can get McDonald's stuff. I don't think there's an actual golden arches in it. Well, then he's not as powerful as Richie Rich, Macaulay Culkin is way more powerful.

Richie Rich is fake, just so you know. Yeah, it's not a real person. It was documented. You guys are out of your minds.

No, I think you're being a little naive, that kind of stuff probably happens all the time. Hey, you're a grown ass man, I'm a grown ass man, you want to sit in the chair? How about this? I am the president of the mother-loving United States, the most powerful man in the world.

This is where I sit and work. Would you like to sit in the chair? You want to sit in the chair? Yes.

Or, even better. You want to sit on my lap? Let's go right in my car. No, not sit in the lap.

And let them shoot bullets at it. It's bulletproof. That would be fun, too. That's way better.

I can't wait until Boots is president. Oh, my God. Okay. Watch this.

I push this button? Check this out. Check this out. Watch.

Kim Jong-yong is going to call me right now. Watch. You want a phony phone call, Kim Jong-yong? Let's call Rodman.

He's going to be on a three-way. All right, let's go. Moving on. Yeah, hello.

I'd like to order some Korean food. Shh. Next story. Hello.

Hello. Is this you again, Mr. Trump? Oh, no.

It's not me. No, no. It's not me. Damn you, Donald.

Damn you, Donald. You call again. I told you no more. I said bomb.

Okay, bye. I love you. He has no plans to speak with Musk any time soon after he sat in my chair. I have no intention of speaking to him again.

He farted in my chair. Oh, man. Maybe that's what it was. Maybe.

You know what? That would be definitely something simple. Trump also accused Musk of being disrespectful to the office of the president. I think it's a very bad thing because he's very disrespectful.

How can that be something? I mean, he stood behind him for an hour and a half while Trump said how great he was. Yeah, I'm not buying all this shit. It just doesn't make sense to me.

It's just after that day he became disrespectful. Look, it just seems very WWE ask to me. It's, you know, I may as well talk to Dana White. There's some type of cage match going on or something back, baby, you know, like Elon's doing an interview and then all of a sudden you hear like fucking John Cena's theme music hit.

Yeah. And then and then all of a sudden Trump runs in with a fucking chair. Damn, I missed that. I didn't get the camera on him fast enough.

Do it again. Do it again. Can't see me. There you go.

Can't see me. Can't see me. Can't see me. I need that for later.

You know, he got that from his brother. Oh yeah? His autistic brother or something. He used to do that all the time.

Really? Something like that. Interesting. In the days leading up to the Republic, I like John Cena.

He's done the most make a wish things of anybody else in the world. He has. And he would let you sit in the chair. He would let you sit in his chair.

I don't know if Trump would. I bet he would. You think Trump lets his son sit in the chair? Of course.

Could be his one day. Sit down, this could be yours one day. I think that he would let a kid sit in the chair. I don't think that he would let a grown ass man, could I sit in the chair?

Fuck you. My son looks like a grown ass man. Well, I wouldn't ask, but if he asked me, I'd go, yeah. Yeah.

I don't think that he would sit in the chair. I sit in your chair upstairs when you're not here. Go ahead, I don't care. I'm a totally different.

Most powerful seat in this building, Michael. I'm a totally different being. If you were president, would you let me sit in the chair? Sure.

Then what's the difference? Yeah. I'm not Donald Trump. Well, yeah, so what difference does that make?

You would be Donald Trump if you were President of the United States. No, I wouldn't be. He's a totally different person than I am. Okay, you are all of a sudden Donald Trump.

Do you let me sit in the chair? No. Ask me. Boot, do you let me sit in the chair?

Yes. There you go. Immediately. Boot's been there spinning in the chair in the room.

Hey, guess what? I got three chairs. John Cena's brother with Down syndrome? It's actually Boots.

Oh! Can't see me. Can't see me. Okay, next time.

I'm trying to. Can't even see right now. L. tells...

Yeah, I can't even see them laughing so hard. L. L. L.

A. Costco card. L. A.

tells Americans their Costco cards won't fly at airport security despite love for hot dogs. Okay. Wow, somebody flashed the Costco card. The real ID, oh, not just one, the real ID requirement took effect May 7th amid some confusion.

The Transportation Security Administration clarified this week that a Costco membership card is not sufficient to present at airport security. I like that this got out of hand at some point. People are showing this. Okay.

We love hot dogs and rotisserie chicken as much as the next person, but please stop telling people their Costco card counts as a real ID because it absolutely does not, the TSA wrote on Facebook Wednesday. Sounds like bullshit. It's a national story. More than one source.

I know, but listen, being a Costco member is quite the privilege, and I think that it should qualify. Just like sitting in the chair. Yeah, but anybody can get a card. It doesn't mean you're an American.

But you're a member. So you get the hot dogs and the chicken. Yeah. Illegally.

You know, the chicken's supposed to be very bad for you. Is it? Yes. Who told you that?

I saw a video on TikTok. So it must be real. That must be factual. Must be real.

Which chicken? The rat? The rotisserie chicken. Oh.

They sell millions of pounds of it a day, but it's not good for you. It's full of salt and other stuff. The reminder comes less than a month after the US began requiring a Real ID driver's license when flying domestically May 7th. Yeah, because a Big Mac is fucking way healthier for you.

Right. I didn't say that was either. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. What's your problem over there, Trump?

What's that? What's your problem over there, Trump? You can't sit in my chair. Number one, you can't sit in my chair.

Oh, God. And number two, all I'm saying... You think when he leaves the room, people sit in the chair? Yes.

Of course. Elon definitely did it. That's probably what happened. Elon made his own chair.

It flies. Oh. It hovers. Like George Jetson style.

Here's what he did. He said, I'll tell you what. You let me sit in your chair, I'll let you sit in my rocket. Yeah.

Seem fair? That's a fair trade. And Donald said, no deal. The dragon rocket.

He said, I'm going to buy a rocket and sit in it myself. He said, I am the rocket. Well, he could go to NASA and sit in any rocket he wants. But they're not the dragon ones.

That's true. Well, so he named one the dragon. He can do that too if he wants, I guess. King dragon.

Aside from real IDs, which have enhanced federal standards, domestic flyers can also use their passports or other federally approved forms of identification like Defense Department issued IDs, but not a Costco card. Department of Defense IDs for active and retired military continue to be acceptable form of ID at TSA checkpoints following the implementation of the real ID last month, TSA wrote on Facebook Thursday. How do you think this happened? I think it became a problem.

People were using, trying to use their Costco card. How did we get there? Like, how did they think that that would be okay? Well, there was probably definitely a TikTok.

They didn't have, they didn't have the real ID. And they're going, well, why don't you got, you know, with your picture on it. And somebody goes, I got a Costco card. And three boxes back goes, oh, did you hear that?

Costco cards are okay. You can use those. Just like that? Yeah, somebody tried to use it, and then it became a problem.

You know, if one person is, there's hundreds of them trying it. You think somebody posted on social media, said, this is how you get it? Oh, I'm sure somewhere somebody did. Is that what you think, Boots?

Yeah, definitely. I saw on TikTok I could use my Costco card. Nobody thought. Somebody went, supervisor.

Because, I mean, the regular guy, he doesn't know. Maybe it's okay. He's got this Costco card. It's got his picture on it.

It says he is him. So I don't know what to do. I'd like to see how he presented it. Did he present it with his thumb over the word Costco?

Well, they take the card from you. Oh. Do you think it scans? Do you think I scanned it in?

Definitely find that one out. Well, they hit it with the light to see if it's got the holograms, does Costco cards have a holograms? No. So how would they confirm that they're at least a valid member?

Right. Maybe it's expired. Maybe they have to call it Costco. Oh.

Okay. Maybe. This is ridiculous. It is, but it was hilarious.

I thought it was funny. And it'll make a good short. Maybe. All right, Boots trending topic.

Oh. Stage right. Laugh here. Hello, peoples.

Slaps his lips. Salamander outbreak linked to eggs sickens dozens of people across seven states. More than 70 people across seven states have been sickened due to a salamander outbreak. S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 7 million dozen brown cage-free and brown-certified organic eggs sold under multiple brand names that have the potential to be contaminated. S. Food and Drug Administration, of the 79 people sick and 21 people have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported, the CDC said.

The eggs were sold to restaurants and retailers in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming, according to the CDC. They were distributed at retail locations including: Walmart, Save Mart, Food Max, Lucky Smart, and finally, Safeway, Raleigh's, Food for Less, and Ralph's. Man, Ralph's got some great exposure there. That's it.

That's it? That's it? Neither one of you noticed. He said salamander.

It's salmonella. Oh, he said salamander. What does it say salamander? Salamander is a lizard.

Yes. Is it salam... I know what it says. I wrote the copy, but I mean, he didn't even catch it.

It just blew right past you, too. Because I would think my friend who I would let sit in the chair would write salmonella, not salamander. Salmonella is not funny. You said salamander would have been funny if Mikey would have started giggling and go, yes, we got to let me know about these things.

This is what happened. It's more funny if you think he did it on purpose, not that I threw it in. See, he's Elon. That's what's going on right now.

You're Elon? Yeah, and you're Trump. I'm not Trump. And what just happened, or I could be Trump, whichever.

And what just happened is he wrote the wrong thing and made us angry. There you go. Now I gotta send out a vicious tweet about you. Nope.

You're out of here. You're out of here. You're out of here. All right, now it's time for Mikey's social media moment.

What do you got there, Mikey? I don't have any social media moments this week. Oh, God. I didn't see anything.

Nothing really happened. No dolls were set on fire. I looked. Did you get a doll?

I didn't get a doll. How about Terrence Riley's casting couch in his hotel room? What? Oh, that is a decent one.

That's a decent one. He got a casting couch? What type of casting couch? So Terrence Riley is out traveling the world and he posted about this red plastic couch.

Red plastic or leather or pleather couch in his hotel room. In the cell room. Yes. He is currently also posting that he has a handful of resumes and is doing interviews.

Oh, this seems familiar. Yes. So, if you put one and two together, you get a casting couch. Oh, is that what it is?

That's what I'm assuming. Do you think it's a reigning endorsement? If you were trying to get a job, you're in the market to join a tobacco company. Yes.

The head of your organization has found himself in a hotel room with a red plastic leather-looking faux chair. Would you want to join that company? Well, he's also in Pennsylvania where we're going to be next weekend. Maybe we can find the same hotel with the red leather couch.

This is the chair? This is the Terrence Riley couch. I gotta be honest, if we find ourselves coming across that hotel room... Yeah, you're not sleeping there.

We won't be staying there. What about the requirements for the job? Did you see those? I did.

You have to be working for someone else. Yeah. Must be in the industry. Must be in the industry for a minimum of three years.

Yeah. That way we can take you away. Take you away from someone else. A.

that want to get out. Maybe. Yeah, but they're illegal, so what are you going to do there? Yeah, maybe you can find them at Home Depot.

Just give them the shirt. Yeah, maybe you should drive around Home Depot early on a Monday morning and see who's there. Uh, yeah, so, I don't know, man, not really reigning into, I wouldn't want to work for a company that, the head guy. That is the level, yeah, that they must sleep at.

This is where you, so wait, you're in charge? Yeah, you're the head guy. And this is? And this is it?

And this is your room? Your per diem covers this? So what does my room look like? Well, you don't get the couch.

Like, room? No, the answer is room? You don't get room. He's so tall, there's no way you can sleep on that couch.

You don't have a pillow in your car when you travel as a sales rep? Well, as a sales rep? Well, that's why they want someone who's already been doing it. We need somebody dedicated.

Right. And prepared. Only semi-loyal. Motivated.

We're going to take you away from another company. Life on the semi-loyal. Light on the loyalty. Light on the loyalty.

Willing to cut ties at any moment. That's a good social media one. I forgot about that. You're so smart.

See that? Again, I have to do everything. You're not only handsome, you're so smart. Everything.

Yeah, you got to do everything. It's everything. All right, Max Bichler. Oh, God.

Max, yeah? Bichler, B-I-C-H-L-E-R. Bichler? Bichler.

Probably Bichler, I'm sure. He's leaving Rocky Patel. Oh. So we're getting into cigar news?

Yeah, we're going into cigar news. Is he going to Argonosa? Well, I mean, you know, unless you want me to come up with something else that maybe you should have brought, I don't know. Oh.

We leaked this information and we sort of poo-pooed at it, but now it's come out nationally. Yes, we did kind of poo-poo on it. Yeah, we did. Like, who is this guy?

He looks like Spiderman. Like, Q1 is over as far as all the transitions, right? Right. Where officially summer is almost upon us.

I mean, summer is definitely here. It's definitely here. He's announced that he will be leaving his role as a national sales manager for Rocky Patel Premium Cigars. I just want you to know, Matt, Bichler, Mr.

Bichler? Mr. Bichler? Mr.

Bichler? You're no longer allowed at the weekly meetings either. His last day will be Friday, June 13th. 14th, Bichler spent nearly two decades at the company in a variety of roles, climbing the ladder from local sales rep to his current position, which saw him as a hybrid sales and executive role.

Ooh, hybrid. Oh, are we keeping you awake over there? Yeah, I'm doing it on my own. Did you get his yawn on camera?

Sure. He did not. He did not. He did not.

Bichler told Cigar Sler Podcast that he has no plans yet, but plans to take time off and work on his golf game. During his time at Rocky Patel, Bichler became the only cigar rep to ever appear on The Amazing Race. Yeah. Just weeks after getting married, he and his wife, Kate, entered the show and finished second during season 22.

Recently, Bichler was elected as an associate board member of the Premium Cigar Association. Is that why he's leaving? Maybe he's gonna go after his TV career. Well, there's a rumor going around that there's been a huge restructuring of Rocky Patel, And a lot of people have kind of parted ways.

Oh. Yeah. They have hired a bunch of new people lately. Yeah.

The Belky lady. Yeah. And there's been, one guy was going to quit and then came back, I forget his name. Okay.

What, you know. Very, I know, there's such good news, I know. Yeah. Somebody quit, I don't know his name, and then he came back.

So do you think that, as you like to call him, Bitchler, do you think that Mr. Bitchler is... He bitched too much and they asked him to leave. Do you think that Mr.

Bichler is going to be out of the industry completely, or is he... Nobody's ever out of the industry. You know, they're hiring over at Aganosa. Yeah, I thought maybe you were gonna say that.

How do you feel about red leather couches? You think he's gonna, well, you think he's gonna replace national sales manager material at Aganosa? No, they're just looking for a regional guy at Aganosa. Yeah, so why would he step down to regional?

He wants to go back to his roots where he started. Yeah. Now he wants to work his way up again. He wants to do it all over again?

It's good for his TV career, that way he has time to do more TV shows. Another Amazing Race 2? Or, don't they do like an Amazing Race Winners and Losers or something? I mean, I have no idea, I've never watched it.

The show on the island, I watched it early, early, early into it. The show on the island? Survivor? Survivor, thank you.

Survivor does all these special shows with past winners and losers. You know, the people nobody likes, or the winners and losers, maybe they do one Amazing Race, these people came in second. Can you believe the fact that that was mentioned as far as notoriety for this guy? That's his biggest thing, what do you want?

I was on The Amazing Race. And it came in second. Yeah. Or First Loser, whichever way you want to look at it.

It's like, you know... It's definitely First Loser, it's not Second. Like, I was in a Pepsi commercial, I don't understand, like, what is... Were you in a Pepsi commercial?

No. Oh. I got excited there for a minute. Should that...

I was gonna go find that right now. If it was at a Pepsi commercial, should that follow me around forever? Yes. Well, Pepsi commercials, 30 seconds, he did a whole season of a TV show.

Mike Shevonkevich, formerly of Bosana, did a series of Pepsi commercials. Yes, you could say that. You could say that. You could put it in your bio.

I don't know. I think it's completely acceptable. It seems a bit odd. I don't know.

I mean, I don't care. If I had been a fan of the show, I was like, "Oh my God, there's Mr. " I mean, I like Pepsi. You like what?

I like Pepsi. You like Pepsi? Oh, good for you, I like Mountain Dew. All right, cigar imports start 2025, down nearly 9%.

How much? 9%. Do we have the source of where this is from? It's got half-wheel, it's always half-wheel.

Well, the story's from half-wheel, but that's not who figured out the percentage. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out the percentage. 7%, according to a report from the Cigar Association of America. S.

5 million cigars during the same period in 2024. The slow start is neither surprising nor predictive. S. cigar industry has been adjusting to its peak pandemic imports through, though there have been other years when there was a noticeable drop in Q1 that was made up later in the year.

January's imports are typically the That's anemic compared to the other 11 months of the year, oftentimes less than half of some of the peak import numbers that occur in the second half of the calendar. That said, January 2025 was within 1 million cigars of 2024. While there was nearly 4 million cigars dropped between February 2024 and February 2025. All three of the major cigar exporters to the US, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras, exported fewer cigars.

3%. None of these numbers were impacted by the Trump administration tariffs, which were announced in April. S. S.

Customs Service, and information from cigar companies. What does the Census Bureau have to do with cigar counts? No idea. The trade group's numbers are not exact because the reporting differences.

It estimates how many large cigars were actually premium cigars. S. definition of a large cigar, though these cigars would not be considered premium cigars by most people. So to summarize, these numbers are not accurate.

We aren't even sure where they come from or how they decide what is even a cigar. It says this in the story? No, I added the last part. Oh, okay.

God. " We can't verify any of this. We can't verify any of this information at all. Some are machine-made, some are handmade, some are premium, some are not premium.

Some are chocolate. Yeah, some are chocolate cigars. Do you think that manufacturers and brand owners in Q1 were anticipating the possibility of a tariff They put a tariff on their brands into Q2. I don't know.

Did Trump call Elon in and go, psst, I'm going to do some tariffs? Well, he threatened it. I mean, he ran on it in his campaign. Tariffs.

I love tariffs. I love tariffs. I'm going to do the tariffs. I'm sure there was, because that went through a bill, right?

I don't know. Well, I'm sure there was some type of- It could have been an executive order or some shit. I'm sure there was some type of literature leading up to it. Okay.

I mean, he talked about it forever. Yeah, so I'm sure people were anticipating, and maybe speculated a number, but... So do you think brand owners or some manufacturers were anticipating a tariff in Q2? You think if they were, they would have imported more cigars?

That's where I'm trying to go, so just answer the fucking question. No. No, so they weren't anticipating it. Okay, so no, you don't think anybody was anticipating?

Yes, I think they were. Yes, you think... I don't know, what answer do you want me to give? Did you order the co-bred?

I just want you to give your honest opinion if you feel like people knew that tariffs were going to happen, yes or no. Uh, so wait, they're saying that it's down in Q2, so... They're saying it was down in Q1, they haven't done Q2. Oh, then you would think they didn't, unless they're all idiots.

Okay, so if some of them, but if some of them had anticipated that, you would expect that number to be up to some... Right, that's what I'm saying. Okay, so if, if some of them, let's say that some of them do, because I would assume that some of them would have assumed, hey, tariffs. Somebody, you would think, somewhere.

Tariffs are going to go up, right? Right. So, that means that those people would have imported more. You would think.

But if their numbers were that bad, my argument here is maybe the floor that you're seeing of how down it is of nine and a half percent is actually far worse than what it is. Like it should be maybe down 15 or 20%. Oh, okay, so you're saying they brought in more, but it's, so it would be down, if they brought in the regular amount, it would even be worse. I think that those, what I'm trying to explain, even though you've cut me off three fucking times at this point, is that there's a high possibility that people were anticipating these tariffs, and that they still put more product into the United States for cigars, and that number is still drastically down, is what I'm trying to tell you.

you is my theory and my perspective would that make any sense to you at all yes well thanks i'm so glad i could get there i'm so glad thank you so much perfect okay so in other news there will be no more importation of cigars right now no man i think that you you know you're starting to see a big pullback in a lot of things the real question is is it really It's not really going to affect the economy. I don't think it's going to affect the economy tremendously. No. But I do think that, you know, a lot of these products, there's been too much of them.

There's been too much of them for the past five years. Right. And a lot of it needs to have some pullback. And you're witnessing that in the Q1, Q2 of this year, for sure.

Right. The balloon is deflating. Yes. Can I go on?

Sure. So then to announce the Cigarser Podcast report for the first half of 2025, 25. Cigar imports are fine. Everyone is smoking.

Powstanie cigars are being smoked the most and Luciano's still scamming people as always. Don't look at him in the eyes. Allegedly. Allegedly.

Don't look at him in the eyes. That's not alleged. Don't look at him in the eyes. Oh boy.

It's been three quiet weeks. You haven't said anything. I know. I did throw something in somewhere.

On this week's episode of We've Got Tariffs, we have what seems to be the biggest This tariff announcement as well as a company that has Magic Pricing. Oh, please. PDR Cigars adds tariff-related price increase. Over the weekend, PDR Cigars began increasing the price of cigars due to the tariffs that the Trump administration implemented in April.

The increase has been on the company's radar since the tariffs were announced in April. So much so that it told retailers at the 2025 PCA Conventionist Ratio it would delay the increase until June 1st So that they would have time to prepare and place orders ahead of the increase. So it's a way to bump them orders up. The company is adding the increase via a line item on its invoice with Abe Flores, owner of PDR Cigars, telling Half Wheel that he plans to remove it if the tariff is ended.

Okay. So he's separating it. When Trump removes, we will stop adding it, Flores said, adding that I hope that this will go away. So the fact that I have, or let's say we bought a high tariff and then the next guy can buy it cheaper because we got tariff pricing.

So yeah, right. So do you think that the tariff is actually going to go away? No, Abe Flores says if it goes away. Okay, but do I think it's going to go away?

Yeah. I'm not sure. We're coming up on a deadline where it could go up to 19%. I don't know about the talks in the back rooms and things.

I don't know what's been agreed upon or what's going on. We're not going to know until that deadline hits. Okay. Do you think the tariffs go away?

I don't think so right now. I don't think the tariffs are going away. I don't think they're going away. I don't know if they're going to go up to 19, but they're never going away.

No. I mean, I guess it would probably just whoever's in office next, because that would be who would change it. Yeah, but more often than not, taxes, yeah, they're like, we kind of like having that extra money. They don't really go away.

Right, yeah, taxes normally don't, but, you know. Okay. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust increases prices due to tariffs on June 4th. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust implemented a price increase on its cigars due to the tariffs that Trump administration implemented in April, according to a Facebook post by Steve Sakka, founder of Dunbarton Tobacco and inventor of cigars.

And burner of dolls. And burner of dolls. 82%, though it was done on a skew-by-skew basis, meaning some cigars were more affected than others. It would appear this must be the first tariff-related increase for Dunbarton on July 8th.

The 90-day pause on tariff rates will come to an end, which could mean the Nicaraguan tariff goes back up to 19%, which we talked about. All of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust cigars are made in Nicaragua. If this happens, we will implement another tariff increase accordingly. If the tariff goes away, it will be quite a sticky, wicked as DTT and our purveyors will have inventory we both paid at the tariffed amount.

Saka also said that if the tariff ends, he may keep the current product pricing but reduce the annual inflation cost increase to 2026, so he's already sort of semi-announced he's doing an increase next year. Right. Are we keeping your eyes were three-quarters shut when I looked over that way? Yeah.

So then he announces a 2026 increase now, just not how much? So do you think the tariff increases will replace the increase in price on cigars? Like every year there's always an increase? I think that some people have done that with this.

And that was what I was trying to argue before in the past, where people have lost their minds over my statements. You know, I think that they say, oh, tariffs, they've raised their price. And some people said, well, it's only 5% because 5% is the calculation of less than wholesale, which will affect, raise the price at, you know, whatever. Which doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever, but whatever.

And more often than not, then they still have an additional price increase and all this other stuff. So there's always, with a lot of the brands and a lot of manufacturers, there's always an indirect way of stating what the price increase is going to be and the justification. I think that Saka did it very eloquently. He did a good job saying, "Hey, this is what I'm going to do.

Here's what it kind of equates to mathematically. The average is this, the fact of the matter is that none of it's really important except for the fact that prices are going up, and prices are going up accordingly, and who knows what the prices are going to be and how much they're going to go up until the consumer pays for it. Do you think in the future, say there is no correction, do you think in the future boutique cigars price themselves out of the 1% of smokers? I think that more often than not, when a brand prices themselves out of a market, that potential blend could just go away and then they make something else that's less.

That's what you do, right? If a cigar, you try and sell a cigar for 25 bucks and a cigar doesn't sell, you can blow it out at a discount on wholesale to somebody else, offer them a deal or whatever, just get it out, get it off your books, and then you move on to something else. But the reality is that I think that if you make a good cigar and you give it a fair price, it should do very well. As long as you work really, really hard.

Right? Yes. Sorry, I didn't interrupt. No, you're good.

All right. McAuliffe Black Firecracker starts shipping tomorrow. Tomorrow, oh, this was last week. June 6th, United Cigars will begin shipping the McAuliffe Black Firecracker to stores.

5x50 Petit Robusto, and has a long pigtail. Blend-wise, it uses Mexican San Andreas wrapper over an Ecuadorian binder and fillers from Nicaragua. These cigars were rolled in the summer of 2024 and have more than a year of age on them. How long do they sit in the pylon room?

Well, I'll get to that in a minute. Oh. You sit tight over that. Oh, I'm very sorry.

MSRP is set at $9 per cigar and it will be offered in boxes of 20 cigars. The Firecracker Series dates back to 2007 and Two Guys Smoke Shop, a New Hampshire-based chain of retailers owned by Dave Garofalo, who also owns United Cigars. 5 by 50 Petit Robusto that features a long pigtail. Over the years, various manufacturers have made Firecracker Series, including Agronorsa Leaf, All Saints, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust.

Trust, Eli L. Artista, Fratello, Christophe, La Flor Dominicana, My Father, Perdomo, Roma Craft Tobac, Roja Cigars, Selected Tobacco, and Tatuaje, where early releases were exclusive to Two Guys, the series is now distributed nationwide by United, coinciding with the Two Guys Smoke Shop, hosting a Father's Day weekend cigar dinner featuring Al and Amanda McAuliffe, father and daughter on Saturday, June 14th. Noma Craft made a firecracker? Yes, a couple of years ago.

Oh. You didn't mention pylon? No, I've got two stories running together here. After all that.

Yeah, I may be quiet though, you're interrupting. I hate when you interrupt my stories. You just sit tight there and wait. So I wonder how long they were sitting in the pylon room?

Well, apparently since 2024. Okay. That's what he said. No, that's when they rolled them.

They're doing a father-daughter dinner up in New Hampshire. If you and Teddy would like to go. Uh, New Hampshire? For the release of the fire carter?

Right. My daughter's five. Yeah, hold on a sec. It's a dinner.

It's outside. They're doing a dinner. I'm going to ask you to go smoke cigars with her. And buy cigars and smoke cigars with a father-daughter?

Mr. Pylon's taking his daughter. I'm sorry. Christoph's signature series PCA exclusive 2025 arriving in stores this week.

Christoph's new limited edition, well, maybe it's not new, that was released in 2025 PCA Convention Trade Show is set to arrive in stores this week after the company began shipping them as May came to a close. The cigar is a six and a quarter by 54 Toro Extra with a blend that uses a Mexican San Andreas wrapper. Everybody's using Mexican San Andreas now. An Ecuadorian Habano binder and a Nicaraguan Habano filler.

The cigars are made of Tablacalera Von Elken SRL in the Dominican Republic. The factory formerly known as the Charles Fairmont factory, Fairmourn, sorry, is the Christophe Signature Series PCA exclusive 2025 size and blend, it seems familiar, it's because it's not exclusive and not even that limited, it's the same blend and size that the company released at the Christophe San Andreas Box Press Toro of 2020. Perfect. See, that's what you do, if it doesn't sell, you just, you know, you come out.

Exclusive for retailer members of the Tobacconist Association of America. They have leftover from five years ago, 750 boxes of 20 cigars with pricing set at $14 per cigar, $20 per box, which is slightly more than before. So they are making better margins now as part of the release. Christophe will donate 50 cents per cigar to the Premium Cigar Association, which is half of the new profit margin, allegedly.

Perfect. So it didn't really sell before. We're going to sell it for more money now. Right, inflation for the past five years.

Yeah, we've been storing these things for five years in the pylon room. We gotta make our money back on these things, even though they don't sell. Right, if they don't work here, we gotta hold them again for another five years and come out with a new TAA cigar. After 10 years.

After 10 years. 10 years of age in this tobacco. At least they were truthful about it. Well, I think half we'll find out, I don't think they admitted it.

Oh. " Dun-da-dun-da-dun-da-dun-da-dun-da-dun-da-dun-da-dun-da-dun. Today's contestants... I know, we need music.

Today's contestants, we have Mike, I lift heavy things, Shtepan Kevich from Altamont Springs versus Boots, Alcatraz isn't in the New York Harbor, Hippelhauser from Deltona. Both players have both won one game each, so we start with a tie. Boots isn't in, Alcatraz isn't in New York, you said? Yeah, he's saying that now.

Oh, okay. Everybody keeps telling him that. This week, we have two excellent cigars we start with. First, we're doing the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Year of the Duque.

Ooh. I thought you said he pulled it from 2012 or something. There's two of them. Just relax over there, sir.

Don't hit the buzzer prematurely. Oh, so he looked that one up is what he's saying. Right. Reviewed by Brooks Whittington.

Okay. Cigar Reviews, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, Year of the Duque. Country of origin is Nicaragua. Factory is Fabrica de Tobacco's Hoya de Nicaragua.

Okay. The Rappers, Ecuadorian, Habano Rosado. The Binders, Mexican San Andreas Negro. Fillers Nicaraguan and USA, Pennsylvania.

Length is 5 inches. Ring gauge is 48. Shape is round. 90.

91. Release date, April 18, 2025. Number of cigars released, 2,000 boxes. There's a lot of information there.

Yeah. And it was three cigars smoked. All right, here's the first clue. Okay.

Wait, I thought we just. Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, we got to do it off the bat. Yeah, sorry.

So you said 91? Yeah. I'm definitely going 92. Okay.

He's playing the margins game. It has been okay. Here's first clue. It has been a while since I have reviewed a cigar this small, and it feels small in my hand.

Okay. Clue number two. That was the end of the clue? That was the end of the clue.

Okay. It was funny. I thought it was funny. That's nice.

There are zero issues. So where are you at? 92. I'm at 91.

Are you going to change it on every clue? That's what we're supposed to do. The ability to, yeah. Oh, I thought we did all three clues, and then you vote again.

No, no, we change as we move. Okay. Jesus, this is like the patron. All right, clue number two.

This is the hardest clip to do, by the way, because it's usually a six-minute long fucking interval. It takes forever. And then I got to try and fit it into one minute. Right.

There are zero issues with construction so far, as the burn line smoke production and excellent draws all work together in harmony. Okay. Anybody changing? No, I'm sticking.

91, 92, is that what we're still at? I'm 91, yeah. Construction-wise, two of the cigars run into enough issues that I need to use my lighter a couple of times each. The burn line for the third cigar is razor sharp, but the smoke production remains high, and the draws for all three cigars are excellent.

I'm going 93. 93. 91. Still 91.

While I definitely have my favorites, it's no great secret that I have been a fan of just about every cigar that Saka has released so far. He has been a fan of? He has been a fan. Okay.

And the year of the Duque is no exception. The blend is bold, but refined, with mint, with main flavors that shift from Anise, Anise, A-N-I-S-E, it's a spice, I believe, but I don't know what it tastes like. Cedar, cloves, and earth, along with raisin and bready graham crackers. Sweetness combined with black pepper on the retro hill.

Two of the three cigars needed multiple burn corrections to stab off larger issues, but those relatively minor construction problems didn't disguise the fact that this is an excellent blend and a wonderful tribute to the wonderful person who has played a role. Played a roll. Okay, this is the final thought. That was the final thought.

Okay. All right. Boots? No, no.

You voted first. You keep going first. So I'll go first this entire time? No, on this particular review.

Next time, we'll make him go first. Okay, 91. I'm staying 91. All right, Boots?

93. I think you read this one. It's a 91. I have not.

I swear to God, I have not read this one. It was a 91. Okay, 91. Woo!

So score, Mikey. It was, listen, here's how I got there. Brooks? You said it before you even read any of the clues.

Yeah, Brooks, Dunbarton, and I know the cigars are Corona Gorda, right? So, those three things alone puts me in 91. It's a good cigar, I would think you would grade him on. And you didn't say anything enough for me to deviate off of that 91.

He didn't say anything bad, other than that one burn problem. Yeah, there were a couple of burn issues, and I'm like, okay, would that drop it down? And then when he moved to 93, I'm thinking, maybe it's a 92. He gushed about that cigar.

I could possibly go 92 at this point and still be safe, but no, I held fast at 91. Every clue he gave pointed all fingers to 100, truthfully, but they don't give that. No, he didn't, no, he said there were burn issues. No, there were burn issues.

Two of the three cigars had burn issues. Razor sharp on the third? Yeah, but the third one was perfect. And he said the smoke was good on 03.

Alright. I swear to God, I did not look. No, no, I believe you, calm down over there. I don't look at any of this stuff.

It's a silly podcast game, calm down. We can set this up as an entire- It's not a silly podcast, you're a silly podcast game. We could do an episode where this is the entire episode. We have a series of these.

Yeah, I know, but I just like- But we need to do it with somebody else in it too. Oh, okay. Well, we should do it when we have guests as well. We should do it with Greg.

I'll go with Greg. Oh. Oh my God, that would be so bad. That would be bad.

We could do it with Skip when we do that one. Okay. You want to know who the toughest person is going to be? If you ever do a halfway one?

It's going to be Patrick. I'm looking for other people, but these two seem to do the majority of the reviews. Patrick is going to be the toughest one. Brooks is going to be the most forgiving.

I don't know anything about these guys. Charlie is going to be the toughest. Patrick could go either way. Does the fourth guy ever do reviews?

Is there any other reviews? The guy that lives in London? Brian? He used to, I don't think, I haven't seen anything.

Well, I mean, I went back 2012. Again, the next review is from January 2012. January? It was from Brooks.

Ooh. The Mike Ditka Championship Series. Oh, Camacho? President Cigar.

No. Yeah. No. Really?

Yes. Mike Ditka's cigar was made by Camacho? No, it wasn't. Not this particular one.

Wow. 2012. Okay. All right.

Country of origin is the Bahamas. The Bahamas. Factory is Great Cliff Cigar Factory. Oh, my goodness.

Wrapper, Indonesian, binder, Indonesian, filler, Brazil, Honduran, and Nicaraguan, length is 7 inches, ring gauge 46, it's a Churchill, back then it sold for $7, box of $25, $175, release date is October 2001. That cigar today is $21. Okay, Boots, you go first, what is your number? It was 50,000 cigars released.

A Bahamas cigar? And they only smoked one. Where does Brooks live? They didn't smoke three.

Only one. Where does Brooks, where is he from? Brooks? He's a bald white guy.

If that's what you're asking, he's not from the Bahamas. Yeah. I'm gonna go 87. Fuck.

I was gonna go 88. Okay. Okay, then go 88. Hold on a second.

No, no, no. I'm gonna move to 86. I'm going to 86 on this pig. Right.

Indonesian wrapper and binder? That's gotta be god-awful. That sounds horrific, yeah. In this Vitola, the Mike Ditka Championship Series is seemingly perfect construction with a milk chocolate brown wrapper that is smooth to the touch and has no veins or bumps.

Yeah, 'cause it's Indonesian. That's clue number one. Yeah, that doesn't mean anything. I'm staying.

Still staying? Yeah. There have been multiple versions of Mike Ditka Championship cigars and while I have not smoked any of the other models, everything I have heard and read indicates that any blend other than the Great Cliff blend is inferior. Oh, shit.

I'm sticking. These are good clues in this one. There's a mix. There's a very nice mix.

This is from 2012. 2012. Mmm, damn, this is tough. Which is really how far they go back.

They go back. All the way back to the end. All the way back to the end. They have every single review they've ever done on the website.

I love that. Oh, I do too. We can play this forever. We can play this forever.

They keep adding every week. They add four or five, and we can go way back. Okay. So going forward, there will be a current one, and then an older one.

Ooh. It's like a throwback. Yes. Okay.

Shit. I'm still going to stick with 86. Boots? I'm staying.

You're supposed to go first. You're supposed to go first. This was a surprisingly dry profile and I drank quite a bit of water while smoking it. A lot more than I expected to.

Okay. Boots. I'm sticking. You're saying 87.

Yep. I'm saying 86. All right. Final thoughts.

Time has not been good to this cigar. While there is one Greycliff blend that does very well with age, this blend falls far short after that distinction. After smoking this, I honestly got exactly what I expected from a 10-year-old Greycliffe cigar, boring, mild, bitter, mush. There was some creaminess in the second and final thirds, but it did not ever come close to saving the cigar, and the bitterness was always present.

The band is cool, but that is really the only reason to have this cigar, not a very good one at that. If you ever see any of these for sale, make sure your money runs the other way. Make sure they give you 20 bucks for you to smoke. Anybody want to change their scores?

I'm gonna hold at 86, but my God, that thing has got a pelt low. 65. Holy moly! My God!

If anybody has this cigar, if anybody has this cigar, please, please, I want to try it. A 65 rating, that's gotta be... 65. Well, it's okay, they'll re-release it soon.

Just like the other company. 65. You had to go 13 years into the archives to find a 65. I wanted to find a low-scoring cigar.

You were, like, so happy that we were in the 80s. You're like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right, Shop of the Week.

It's a Brooks 65. Right. Like a Brooks 65. He's the nice one.

It's got to be, like, a Charlie 30 at that point. Right, exactly. All right, Shop of the Week, Historic Smoke in Culpepper, Virginia. Nice.

Listener of the Week. You ever listen to the Week, Michael? Julian Gordon? I have Francis Saleto, but we can go with Julian.

Before I knew that Julian ordered a shirt. Julian popped off with, you know... Francis has worn his on Facebook, though. He did wear his.

Yes. All right, let's go Francis. All right, Francis Saleto, you're a listener of the week. Thank you, sir.

Okay. Is that it? That is the show. This has been episode 391 of Cigars from Podcast.

Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did. All right, make sure you catch us out in Pittsburgh at the end of the month. Middle of the month. Middle of the month?

I guess it's towards the end. Yeah. Third week? Well, the dates, say the dates.

Friday the 20th, we are at Harrisburg Beer and Cigars, and then the 21st, we are at the Cigars Vault Oakdale. Excellent. And make sure you jump on CHPod and get your limited edition BDP 4th of July tanked up. And that's it.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast, the show brought to you commercial-free.

But a massive shout-out to our amazing patrons on the Patreon. Thanks to your unwavering support, we're able to do unfiltered, unbiased opinions, all things cigars, personalities in the cigar world. Your backing makes it possible for us to keep it real for our listeners. Cheers to you.

com and search the Cigar Hustler Podcast. F*** that one up.

Show Notes

Episode Description:

In Episode 391, things get political, combustible, and a little smoky. Mikey and Palmer unpack the explosive immigration raids in LA as Trump calls in the National Guard, sparking riots and a war of words with Gov. Newsom. Meanwhile, the Trump-Musk feud escalates—tech vs. politics in real time. Plus, the TSA reminds us your Costco card won’t get you on a plane (even if you love hot dogs).

In cigar news: tariffs hit hard, imports dip, and Max Bichler exits Rocky Patel. New releases from Kristoff, Micallef, and Dunbarton make waves. And don’t miss another fiery round of "What’s the Score?" where Mike and Palmer go head-to-head with a Saka powerhouse and a Ditka disappointment.

Also—tour dates announced! From Pennsylvania crawls to Florida pairings and a special July 5th Hustler Experience with Skip Martin, we’ve got events you won’t want to miss.

🔥 Cigars. 🔥 News. 🔥 Chaos.

Only on A Cigar Hustlers Podcast.