Matt Booth Special

Episode Summary

Room 101 founder Matt Booth drops in for a bonus "special" segment of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast, recorded in-studio during a stop on his road trip through Florida. The conversation starts loose and personal — the studio's switch from Bang to Ghost energy drinks, a G Fuel sales pitch gone sideways, a two-hour morning session at the "bougie gym" (with a cameo from WWE's Omos), and Booth crashing at the host's house with dinosaur toys still in the tub. There's also Booth's now-famous photo policy: you can take a picture with him only if you promise to post it when he dies.

The heart of the episode is a candid look at life in the cigar business after two years of restricted travel. Booth and the hosts discuss how the pandemic forced a re-evaluation of the "road warrior" life, how much time brand owners lose away from family, and how the industry discovered it can build relationships over Zoom and social media rather than pure mileage. They run through the upcoming calendar — a Room 101 gin tasting with Cigars International in Tampa, La Zona Palooza with Erik Espinosa, PCA, and the Great Smoke — plus a bit of ribbing about TPE, a failed international call to Justin Andrews of Diesel/STG, and a tease that Room 101 and the Hustler crew already have another collaboration in the works after BDP.

The back half turns genuinely substantive. Booth reflects on 14 years in the business and the "golden era of boutique brands," when the big houses treated upstarts like Room 101 as a passing fad — before eventually releasing their own "tribute" products. He argues the industry is now in an era of throwaway brands with short attention spans, and that a purge is coming. His central thesis: the cigar business should look at the spirits world, where large companies long ago accepted that small craft brands are the creative engine, and acquire or partner with them while leaving them free to operate. The first major cigar company that empowers craft creators without smothering them in corporate politics, Booth says, will be an unstoppable force — with nimble boutique operators acting as that machine's "special forces." Along the way he explains Room 101's "shelf-resistant technology" (put them in good light and they walk out the door) and reminds everyone Room 101 is the industry's only "salon" brand.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Bonus Show Setup & Studio Banter
   Matt Booth joins for a tacked-on "special" segment, riffing on the Room 101 skull ashtray and the studio's switch from Bang to Ghost energy drinks.
2. 02
   Gym Day & the Photo Policy
   Booth recaps a nearly two-hour workout with the host, why the gym is his sanctuary, and his rule that you can only take a photo with him if you post it when he dies.
3. 03
   Life on the Road After Two Years Off
   Booth and the hosts talk about how COVID reset industry travel, the pull of family, and learning to work smarter instead of living as a road warrior.
4. 04
   Upcoming Events and Appearances
   A rundown of the Cigars International gin tasting in Tampa, La Zona Palooza with Erik Espinosa, PCA, TPE fallout, and the Great Smoke.
5. 05
   Shelf-Resistant Technology
   Booth's running joke-turned-retail-lesson about why cigars need visibility and good lighting to sell themselves.
6. 06
   A New Collaboration in the Works
   After the success of BDP, Booth and the Hustler crew confirm another project is already underway — with no name or band details revealed.
7. 07
   The Boutique Era, the Throwaway Era, and the Coming Purge
   Booth on being dismissed as a fad by the big houses, the "tribute" products that followed, and why today's short-attention-span brands face a shakeout.
8. 08
   Craft Brands as Special Forces
   Booth's big-picture argument that cigar conglomerates should follow the spirits model — acquire and empower craft creators without leashing them.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

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Transcript

Okay. Hello. Hello. Hello.

Hello, Mr. Booth. These are nice. We're not doing the intro because this is going to be a piece of another show.

You're just going to roll right in. We have started rolling. We're officially on. I mean, you can, I can start it whenever you want.

I thought you were going to do the whole, welcome to show, but that's cool. No, we usually put the specials on the end. That way they got to watch the whole show. So we're actually in show right now.

We're in situation. This very moment. Right now. Like it just, it just happened.

Like there was nothing. This is going to be like a special, like an after-school special. It's like, ooh, bonus round. Okay.

Yeah, bonus show, there you go, bonus show. Okay, bonus show. It's like you, if you want the booth, you must come all the way to the end for the booth. Travel down the road.

All the way. Because we've disabled the fast-forward. We've disabled, we've disabled. No fast-forwarding.

And no pausing. No pausing. That's right, that's disabled. You have to sit the whole time.

It's an eight-hour show. Watch the whole, ooh, wow, very long. I mean, I'll do it. If you want to go eight hours, I'll do it.

And at that point we determine who is really devoted. You know, we should do like a telethon type show, not we're going to get money for other people, but where we just do a long show. No, we can get money. That's fine.

Save the Hustler. Save the Hustler. Save the Hustler. Send money.

Send your cards and letters. What was it? Save the Empire? What was it?

Empire Records? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Screw the man, Save the Empire. I don't recall.

It's a movie, right? I'm assuming. I'm assuming. Ah.

I'm so tempted by this microphone, it is like... It's nice. Your voice sounds very groovy. It creates this entire reverberation situation in my...

Yeah, it's amazing. If that mic's too low, you can drop your chair a little. Seems like you're having to lean down. I think that makes it worse.

That's more frontal now. Okay. I kind of like that. Okay.

You looked uncomfortable. But do I look shorter to you now? Like in contrast. Like he's the superior being.

Yeah, a little bit, but that was on purpose. Do you see what he does? That was on purpose. Do you see how he does it?

Do you see what he does? There you go. Now you have two arms. Oh.

It looks much better. Oh yes, I'm well aware of his mind fuckery. Michael, yours is a little high too. If you could drop yours just a little smidge too, that'd be nice.

Thank you very much. No. I just got got on this show. I'll set up straight.

That's why we call him BDP. Hey, so. We're sitting here with Matt Booth. We're sitting here with Matt Booth, Room 101 Cigars, and...

Room 101 Gin, Room 101 Jewelry. He's just, you know, he's trying to take over a little bit of everything. Trying to make it happen. This is an ashtray.

You can hash into that. It's an original Room 101, a Matt Booth ashtray right here. It's right there. Look at the skull.

When it's time. Oh, it's a skull. Yeah, Room 101. It's a skull.

It's an original artifact, yes. It's one of your first pieces. Thank you very much. You can rest your little cigar right there when you need to.

Honestly, it's my honor that you would have this on the table here. Of course, without question. I like this too, man. This is fabricated.

This is very nice. It is. That's from Uncle Skip. That is, yeah.

You could also subdue an intrude. Oh, see. I think that that's Wicked Anvil. It's a wicked anvil.

Yes. Yeah, it should be. I think that's who he rolls with. So, we have to talk about the bang abandonment.

The what? I'm on pins and needles. You're floored here. Oh.

I'm very curious. Yes. What's the Bosania glass for? I have...

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm jumping ahead of you. I don't want to cut you off and piss everybody off again. Exactly.

You know the rules. Oh, my God. You know the rules. You and your whiny ass people.

Don't be silly. Whoa! It is very hot in here today, too. It's all the lights.

It's because Mr. Booth is here. It's my pheromone game. So here's the deal.

The ghost. Yeah. The ghost. The flavor.

Amazing. Okay. Amazing. Okay.

Tell me. Tell me. And it says tropical mango. It's not.

I don't know what it is. It's not tropical. Mystery mango. What do you want to call it?

I don't know. Put this on here. Yeah, this sounds nice. We have orange cans.

Make it something orange. So there's this thing called L-Carnitine that's in here. Okay. Right.

Theoretically speaking, it's kind of... It's a small city of Mexico where they have really good burritos. There isn't a ton of research about it, but it is believed... See, he appreciates me.

It is believed that carnitine will actually help the body burn fat, right? Now, but there's a whole loading process involved and there's a whole fucking thing. It is hot in here. It is hot.

It is very hot. Greg turned up the air. It's a bit of a sauna today. Maybe we get Greg to turn down the air for us.

But now, but the bang, if I'm not sure... I might remind you has… The creatine. Cock 10. Oh yes, the Cock 10.

The Cock 10. Cock 10. And does this have Cock 10? I mean, are we getting off of… 11.

Cock 11. It's Cock 12. Ooh, 12. Wow.

It's really up there. True. But you don't know… So the ghost is now, we're on the ghost, we're off the bank, effectively. And it's been this way for a little while.

Why didn't you tell me? Were you waiting to spring this on me? I don't, you know, I don't… It's like… It kind of happened gradually. We have a few bangs left.

Yes, their banks still exist. Yeah. Just not here. Just less of them.

You know what happened? Okay. I'll tell you what happened. You can tell the truth?

The sales guys fucked us. They stopped coming in. Stop coming in. We weren't buying enough.

It's like, hey, you know, you know what happened? I fell in love with the fucking, the coffee one? The keto. Oh, okay.

Oh, the keto coffee. Because it was like a protein source and it was tasty and I really liked it. And like, I kept asking, I'm like, hey, I'll buy 30 case, I'll buy 40 case. I'll buy, you know, it's not going to go to waste.

What, you know, we don't have that. " And we just got this, you guys will like it. So you know, he started with G Fuel. Oh, that's right.

Right. " One's six and one's eight. " And they kind of look at each other, and they look at me like, yeah? What do you know about G Fuel?

What do you know, daddy? Are you getting us G Fuel? I'm like, no, I'm not getting your fucking G Fuel. Is that right?

Yeah. Yeah. Go ask your kid. Smooth move, sales guy.

Yeah, he dropped the fucking bomb on me. I'm like, okay, I'll take the G Fuel. Yeah. And then that parlayed into the ghost, and now fuck the G Fuel, I'm all about the ghost.

Okay. So I have this fancy little Powstanie glass here, and I'm going to pour a little. You are my, like we did the tequila, right? We did tequila with him.

Yeah, we did. Oh, did you do tequila last night? No, no, last time he was on the show. Oh, that's right.

We hammered back some of that tectonic. Yes. It's very nice. It's like an annual thing.

Every time he shows up, he gets a little in the flavor. We ingest something. Something. Yeah.

Can you turn on the air, please? It just kicked down, but it went off again. Okay. So, I want you to try this before we kind of get a little further into it.

I would be enchanted. This is good stuff. Once it touches your lips. You know, there is one, there is one flavor, okay?

Now, up in the northwest, they have an energy elixir called rain, but not like the rain is falling. Yes, they went after bang, because there it is, magic. But they have a flavor that is very reminiscent of Orange Julius, if we recall. Do we remember Orange Julius?

I knew it. Back in the day? Yeah, you're not too young for Orange Julius? No.

He's like on the cutoff. Yeah, he's right there on the edge. I've seen. They're in the mall.

Yeah, it's a long orange Julius. It was a complete trip to the mall that way. But this flavor is basically, it's clearly modeled after that, and I find it very tasty. But the effect, I'm more for the effect.

What if I told you that I have a ghost with the same flavor? Oh, that's right. It's not that one, but I do. No, it's not this one.

I might go ghost. I might go ghost. S. of A, from the top left to the bottom right, to the crooked penis steak.

Yes, that's correct, you know, we've kind of gently touched on the fact that everybody in the industry really had two years off, right, when it comes to travel, like, travel was very, very minimal, and now things are already kind of gearing back up, where it's very easy to get sucked back in to becoming The fucking this road warrior per se, right, but we've also kind of learned that being oh like there's a line life is a bell curve right and you know the line for road warrior ask isn't as much as it used to be correct right if you so choose to take that path right we I mean everybody goes their own way but it's got to suck to fucking to you know and you're making the most of this trip you're doing we're doing a thing here you know obviously we're going to see then you know you have we'll plug everything you got the CI thing on Sunday with the gin tasting that's correct in Tampa the throat goat they don't want that on the promo material but that's what I call my tastings yes the throat goat the throat goat and like part of you thank you I would say part of you definitely doesn't want to fucking leave at this point your family correct it sucks it does it does man And look, on one hand, you will always and forever have to do what you got to do to provide and also build your business, but for me personally, and I can only speak for myself personally, this was a time where I had the opportunity to evolve. We worked smarter and harder simultaneously during that period of time to become, I mean, I worked to be as effective as possible considering the circumstances. Yeah. And as a byproduct of that, found new and phenomenal ways to actually pilot our business.

Sure. But even fuck all that, like you had, I mean, your son was four when- Fuck it. When COVID hits, right? Everything you just said, just fuck it.

Correct. Because at the end of the day, business is great. I thought it was lovely. I thought it was very heartfelt.

You did a good job. Look, at the end of the day, business is great. Being successful in business is important. Yes.

Not nearly as important as it is as family, right? Well, yes. So, figuring out that balance. What I'm saying is like, alright, so, COVID hits, your kid's four, Grayson's four years old, and holy shit, like now you have a lot of time for involvement with a kid that's actually at the age where things get interesting, right?

Yeah. Right. And I would have missed it 100%. Right.

Right. And then, okay, so now we have two years of this, and then it's like, okay, and I'm just kind of telling you from my experience, like, I don't fuck, I travel a fraction. Mm-hmm. A fraction than what everybody else does in this industry, including yourself, right?

So, but we went to fuckin' TB, right? Right. And we went to Austin. And we went to fuckin' Austin.

And then the PCA's coming up. And now we're going to see A-W-W-W. Yeah. And then Eric Espinosa's invited us to La...

Oh, La Zona Palooza. La Zona Palooza. Oh, I forgot about that. Right?

March 24th, I believe. Oh, jeez. And I'm just kinda like... It's like all hittin' at one time.

Right. And I'm sure you feel the same way, I love going and seeing people and having a good time, and you know, it's obviously not like it's hell that you're doing it, but still, you don't, you know, a part of you is just like, man, I'm gonna, I just don't want to go, like, I want to, well, man, I mean, look, man, this is like my stepdad says to me, Tom, shout out, big dog, he says, well, this is your job. Right. And I'm like, you are right.

It's true. It's like when my kids says I hate school. I'm like, pfff. Yeah.

Well, okay. Right. Me too. I hate to travel.

I mean, when you're there and in the moment and you're in action. Totally different. It feels good. It feels good.

And it's, you know, for multiple reasons. One is because you feel like you're being productive. Right. And building something, continuing to build something.

And you're also seeing people, I mean, our industry is a community, right? So you're seeing people that you know, that you care for, you know, some that you don't, but most that you do, right? Yeah. And having a great time.

There's, I mean, there's a line of people at PCA trying to take a photo with him. Oh, this man. Oh, yes, yes. TPE.

Oh, that's right. TPE. But they have to, you can only take a, now the policy, 2020, I just, can we, can we also, we've announced ghosts, can we now? Sure, your photo policy.

The photo policy. The new man booth photo policy. What's your photo policy? Well, it's just, it's very simple.

You can only take a photo with me if you promise that you will post that photo when I die. Yes. Okay. Because I feel like that's the most, the most important.

And like, you need to get an updated one after a couple of months, a couple of years. Yeah, yeah. I mean, hairstyles change, things change. Yeah.

You know, I'm going to get yoked in the next like year. So you're going to want. Which we will segue into now. Is it going to be like this, which one, you know?

Right. Oh, that was 2012. I see what, you know, or whatever. So we went to the bougie gym this morning.

Yes. " Oh, excellent. You're all right, you're with the... You're with the big guy.

He's here every day. Excellent, excellent. He moves the equipment around for us at the end of the day. But yeah, so it was really cool, and Jordan was there, Omos, the WWE guy.

He always asked me about my kids, you know? Oh, that's nice. So, you know, it's just like... And then, you know...

Did you introduce him? Of course. He walked away, and I made him come back. Oh, very good.

This is my friend, Matt. So we went by this really quickly here, you know? So, yeah, of course, we, we touched the chest, we did, we did the back. How do you feel?

You feel okay, right? I feel great. Yeah, I feel great. I mean, quietly as it's kept, you know, I used to work out, you know, pretty frequently.

And I just, I kind of, I shifted to CrossFit. Then last year I was, I was out more than I was in because some injuries, being sick, whatever. Right. And so I've been focused on going back, but also back to weights.

And this was like, this is the wake up. This was the wake. A hundred percent. This is it.

A hundred percent. I mean, now, even if you do CrossFit every fucking day, it doesn't matter when you come in and when you do that, you're going to get sore tomorrow, regardless, right? Yeah. I mean, if I take a week off from the gym and then I go work out, I get sore.

Correct. Right? So, you're going to feel it. I mean, but he was a fun guy, I was pushing himself.

Yeah. Did a good job, did he? Yeah, we had the sweat going. Oh.

I had a real workout. Yeah. It was very nice. It was very legit.

Good, good for the two of you. Good stuff. Good. You want to come one day?

No, no, I'm fine. You sure? Matt held his own, I believe in you. It's a, it's not, it's not what you think.

What? He needs that Lululemon. He needs the Lululemon. That's the, that's the...

What's the Lululemon? I want a Lululemon. I'm just not sure what it is. That is the bougie gym outfits.

Oh. I wanted to do like cheetah tights or something. Right, no, no spandex? And then, no, I didn't have time.

And I was like, man, what dope photos, obviously. No photos? Yeah, there was no photos. No photos.

No photos. No photos. I'm like, well, yes, but with the Mr. Booth, though, now, so you are.

I considered it. If I had the tights, then it would have been mandatory. There's an opportunity there. Yeah, and it would have been more for the visual.

I mean, hair in the ponytail, sweat in the beard, it would have been a lovely photo. That's nice. The two of you flexing. Getting it.

Getting it. At the gym. I think you missed an opportunity here. Life-changing, man.

It's possible. Thank you. It's possible, but it's kind of like my sanctuary. You know what I mean?

It's like my... Yeah, but I mean, you just don't tag the location. Even still. It's like, I don't want to share it with everybody.

" And then they'll be looking for you. You know, I think more along the lines for me is, I don't want to hear advice from other people that I didn't ask for. You know? Yeah, even with Leo's picture today, LFD Leo, there were people telling him like he was standing wrong or straight in your knee.

You gotta pump different. Right, like, give me a fucking, you know what, like, stop, just stop, you know? " Right? If it feels better like this, or we're like, don't fucking do it.

Right. Right? You know, there's some people that do squats that go all the way down, ass to the fucking ground, you know, or some stupid shit like that. But that really doesn't make sense.

At least in my world. Right. For you, it doesn't work. Like that, I would hurt myself if I did that.

Right. You know, I have short stubby legs. Yeah. No, same, same.

Right? At least you don't skip a lot of vert. No, we did skip it today. Well, you know, I still have things to do.

Yeah, we had a limited It was a limited, limited time, but it was still, I mean, look, it was almost a two-hour workout. It was an hour and 40 minutes or something. Oh, a long time. It was nice, you know.

Yeah. Well, I'm not used to having somebody with me. Right. But it adds time and means you have to cut back on the things.

Yes, certainly. So, we have you staying with us at the crib. That's correct. You're with the family, that's correct.

Who did you kick out of the room? The kids. Ah, I guess that. " That's awesome.

But, you know, I want to make sure that this is a good experience for Matt. Like, I feel like I'm under analysis at this point. Oh, you'll be talking about it. I'm having an amazing experience.

So, I'm trying to. I've rarely been tended to like this. I'm trying to cover all bases. Did you switch beds like in the middle of the night?

There's two beds in the bedroom? No, no, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't.

But I felt very comfortable because there were some, some Jurassic, you know, some T-Rexes that we have at the crib for my son. And he's like, hey, you want me to clean these toys out of the tub? I was like, no, no, no, no, that's fine. Leave the toys.

Leave the toys. It makes me feel a little, you know, a little home, you know, everybody, you know, a little toys in the tub. A little taste of home. Yeah.

Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that, you know? So yeah, it's like, but it's like, he's a very meticulous person. Like even whether you know it or not, he's paying attention to everything.

Oh no. Right. Yeah. You can tell.

So like I'm walking in, right. And I, I'm on, I'm in my flip flops and I always take my shoes off when I walk into my house. Right. Are we doing shoes off in the house?

I'm like, no, that's cool. You can come in, you know, whatever. I mean, I want to be respectful. Right.

I would say 90% of the people just walk right in, right? They don't, they're not paying attention to that, you know? Well, we've passed that line. I don't, I used to take my shoes off and I was like, I just got to put them back on.

Yeah, Farmer just takes his pants off. Yeah, it's a better approach. Well, I have to run from the dog, so I need a little... He's had, he's had some issues with the dog.

Oh, did you? Both dogs. Really? Oh, no, you.

You. Oh, yeah, yeah, they've been, they've been, I have, I have not had mixed feelings. I've been nothing but loved. Nothing but love.

Right. You know, I'm new in the house. You always lock the German Shepherd up when I come over. I do.

Well, I let him go. I let him turn him loose this morning. Ah. But yes.

Even Chapo. Chapo was like, hmm. Really? No.

Yeah. See what I mean? Chapo's nose is up my ass every time I'm back. He's a fucking hugger.

Oh yeah, Chapo stands up and we hug. We're almost level. What's going on? He's like right here on me.

You come back tonight. Yeah, you're at that. Oh, you're here. Oh, you're bad.

I like this, man. He smells good. Oh, welcome. I like the way he smells, and then you're standing there and his nose goes up your ass, woo, hello!

I think the road trip tomorrow is gonna be very interesting. Oh, it's gonna be fantastic. I've been looking forward to this trip, man, and a great deal of that has to do with this whole smorgasbord of activity and interaction, right? Yeah, it's powerful stuff, right?

I mean, we fucking, we covered a lot last night. Dude, that should have been on the show, well, not all of it. It's a very, uh, some maybe, no, it's a sensor. But, yeah, you know what I mean?

Like, I don't know, it's very seldom that you get to kind of have that, those kind of conversations that's, you know. Right, completely off the books, nobody sees what's going on. Right, where we just, where we can discuss fucking everything for one, and for two be completely uninterrupted. Correct.

Yeah. Dude, I lost track of time. Like, it was fucking 2:30 in the morning. I was like, oh.

We're in the flow. We're flowing. Mm-hmm. In the flow.

How did you normally sleep by then? So would I. On the couch. Well, he's normally sleeping on the couch and Brittany entertains.

Right. His lovely wife Brittany. But we actually had that conversation as well. What has fixed that?

What has fixed that? Yeah. The test has fixed that. The what?

The test has fixed that. Oh, the testosterone. I must visit this. Yeah.

Small doses. Nothing. Yeah, no, no, no. Nothing crazy.

Shot in the peepee? I was waiting for it. going to lead me with when I said, you know, we've already discussed that. And then you said test and I was holding, you didn't quite get there.

Hello. This is my wife. Oh, just put her on the ship. Hello.

We are podcasting. Okay. All right. Oh yeah.

That would be the appropriate time. I feel. Yes. Yes.

Okay. All right. Love you. Wait a minute.

We have a lot going on today. We'll just set this up so the kids can see. It's leaning up against the lighter, and then it shoots all sideways that way. There you go.

I just want everybody to, you know, because some people don't watch or listen or whatever they can figure out that they need to watch the... Well, more him, less me. No, put it sideways, well, you can't put it sideways because then it's going to be... Then everybody's cameras are...

Oh, not just me. Not just me. You can't. Move the can though.

The can, the cans, it looks like we're all photo bombing the can. It's too much ceiling. Now, now is the podcast called The Cigar Hustler Podcast? It is called A Cigar Hustler's Podcast.

A Cigar Hustler's Podcast. So today we are on A Cigar Hustler's Podcast. Yes, but you have to understand that you're talking into a mic. Yeah, they can't hear you.

They can kind of hear. Yeah, maybe a little. You're on A Cigar Hustler's Podcast. Can they hear?

Are they saying they can hear? Can you hear? Can you hear this? Can you hear me now?

Oh wait, are we on? Are we on? Are we on? Are we on, Jack?

Are we on? Okay. Is Jack Rodgy? So this is good.

I'm watching You Have No Pants On. Oh, none of us, correct. Not that kind of show. It is that kind of show.

Oh, it always is that kind of show. Yes. So this way, these kids can discover, it's just a, you know. It's an introductory to the podcast of the Cigar Hustler with the bad ceiling up top here.

Look at this. They're not, it's not really not in the shot. It's not in the shot. It's not in the shot.

It's in the shot. At least it's red. Let me see. Closer.

We should talk about something provocative. Oh, we already said we had no pants. Well, tell us. Tell me what would you like to discuss now that we are in.

Well, did you have any schedule of topics here that you want? I mean, I feel like we need to shift gears to something provocative. Hmm. Hmm.

I mean, you were kind of going down the road of some industry related stuff, right? Yes. Which I think is intriguing. Yes.

We're all participating in this like real-time experiment with each other, right? This life-changing event has caused all these changes in movement and approach to life, business, etc. Yes. The industry has definitely shifted.

There's been a paradigm shift. Things have definitely changed significantly, right? I would agree. And to a point where you don't have to take a piece of your life, like a huge fragment of your life and lose it to the road, right?

That's correct. You can lose some of it to the road, and still have- It's like they've discovered technology. Right. It's like, oh, we can FaceTime in.

Yeah. Oh, cigars have technology. Look at this. We can discuss this on so many different platforms.

These Zoom things. Well, I would just like to add, my cigars do have technology. Yes. They do?

Absolutely. Bluetooth. No, that's coming. The Bluetooth is coming.

Bluetooth is coming. Bluetooth smoking experience. But, you know, I always tell my retail partners that, you know, they have shelf-resistant technologies. Shelf-resistant.

Shelf-resistant. They won't stay on the shelf. Well, they don't stay, yeah, because so many people I've dealt with, we come to this point, we're having this conversation, we engage in business, and then the conversation comes like, hey, these, you know, they're not, like, selling themselves independently of any effort. Right, right.

And I say, well, they have to get enough sunlight, right, or some sort of direct light. Some kind of sunlight. We can't battery power. Which makes sense.

Right. But then the shelf resistant technologies will kick in. So you have to put them in a nice place, a place highly visible. We need proper lighting.

Yeah, proper lighting to engage the technology. So what you're saying is, if you put cigars in a dark corner in the bottom left area. And like under other boxes. Also.

There's a significant chance. That they may not resist the shelves. That no one would see them. Right.

Or resist the shelves. And resist the shelves. So our shelf resistant technologies activate and basically the cigars automatically leave the boxes and exchange the exchange of monetary units and then they float out the door with, you know, the consumers. I like that.

Yeah. Do you want to tell them that we're doing stuff? Do you want to drop a little fucking egg to them or no? I mean, it's up to you.

We can drop eggs, man. We can drop eggs. We're working on something. Yeah, we are working on something.

Yeah, which I just overheard. He was so upset. He was keeping secrets from me. Why would you do that?

I wasn't. Why would you do that to me? Why would you do that to me? Unbelievable.

You know, I apologize. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, too. You know what?

Here's the thing. We go. We run. It's true.

You know what I mean? We have had one already, and it fucking went. We rocked it. It went very, very well.

So, of course, we repeat. Let's do more. Well, certainly. I figured eventually.

Right. I just didn't know it was already going. Well, you know. You know.

I mean, now's the time. We're still working on this one, and then I didn't know you already had the next one. You know what the best cigar is? The next one.

The fucking next one. I understand, but I was not aware you had already started another one. The fucking next one. Now, you can't talk about it too much, though, because they might get bored of it before it happens.

Oh, that's it. This is where we leave it at. There's more to come. Yeah.

Yes. We will let the 25 viewers know. Oh. There's only 25.

Abe is on. Abe Froman. Well, that's nice too, but I thought you meant the other eight, I was going to tell them we'll see them tomorrow. It's a work day, that's why there's not that many people on there.

Indeed. Unbelievable. They can see it later. It's fine.

I don't know that they can. Even if there was the one. Doesn't matter. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. Something new is always coming, right? " Right.

And if you don't fucking start working on it right away, you know, you're fucked two years well right 18 months men you must take action right so if you like we started putting this together right after the last one dropped hey let's you know let's work on some other projects okay well what are you thinking here's what i'm thinking but we have back and forth back and forth back and forth okay what's the band what's the name we're not gonna tell you you're gonna fucking find out you know and we're like we're it's slowly getting pieced together and even once it's all kind of formulated then it's fucking hurry up and wait Right? Especially in this industry, it's just fucking, you sit around, I mean, how long we went on BDP? It's been a long time. And we fucking green, let's do this.

Right. Right? Hey, okay, I love, you know what, fuck, this is a great cigar. Yeah, yeah, let's do this.

5 years for that, thank you. 5 men. 5, yeah. It's like, son of a bitch.

So, yeah, I don't like to... Oh, it's taking two weeks just to get the bands from here to there. Right. Yeah.

And then they got to put them on. Right. And then if it's the weekend, they're taking off. And then it's got to come back.

Oh, holiday. Oh, holiday. Yeah. Especially in Nika, man.

Right. You know, they got a lot, there's a lot of paid time off. I'm kind of, a little jealous of that. Just, just a little bit.

But then I realized that I have AC in every single building that I live in. Indoor plumbing. Indoor plumbing cable. Water that I can drink.

Floor. Right. Floor is nice. Oh yeah, floors are nice.

I like floors. They're very important floors. Alright, you can have the time off. Right?

Fair trade, I guess. Yeah. I can get medicine if I need it. You can get medicine there.

It's no problem. Yeah. Yeah, probably not as good. Oh, someone said BDP.

Oh, it's Yogi. Ah, my friend. Of course it's Yogi. My friend.

So, um, hi Yogi. Yeah, so we're working on that. You know, it's, um, it's kind of remarkable with the whole, this whole fucking approach is what we're doing with the personal lounge and having to kind of come down. Yeah.

I'm trying to But I'm trying to contain you, right? I don't... It's probably a good idea. You know, like we put...

I don't know how to act. in the one room... We're staying sequestered. with a small area of people.

Protected, where you're protected. But it's more exposure to those people that enter, right? Indeed. They're heavily exposed.

Because I think that what happens is it's very easy for... More intimate. Right, because, you know, everybody wants to talk to you. Right.

Yeah. I left TPE upset. You know, I broke your balls for several days. I know.

And this is the return. Now we hang out. Yeah. Right.

Now you're getting all this one-on-one time. Yeah. That's why we're talking about the gym. Next trade show though, you're going to get your feelings hurt again.

I feel like if TPE didn't go down the way it did, we probably wouldn't have wound up at the gym today. Oh. Maybe. It's possible.

There was a lingering sense that there was not enough time spent. Yes. It was a miss. It was a miss.

Special Matt Booth time. This is good. Yeah. I like this.

Yeah. We spent all that time together. I don't get to spend more time with the trade show. So, photos, hold my camera, hold the camera for me, Michael, hold the camera.

But that, you know, that's the time and the opportunity to do those things, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I'll, I'll guilt him later though, yeah. Yeah, of course, it's appropriate.

Right. I won't break your balls about fucking discounts and fucking, and, and special LEs and all this other bullshit. I will say, oh, you know what, you didn't hold my hand enough. Be careful what you ask for.

Justin's in the Dominican. Be careful what you ask for. Justin is in the Dominican. He is.

'Cause I already asked him if his phone works down there. Oh. You want to try? You want me to call him real quick?

Let's see if he answers and tell him we're having lunch with Matt Booth because, you know, that was one thing that he missed out at the trade show. Oh, amazing. You're right. He's not going to answer.

Probably not. There's no fucking way he answers. But we will call him. No, they're not back.

I guess Fred Rui's not back. Let me see. Because last night was the white, the white party. That's the big one.

Yeah, that was the big one last night. It was the big gala. Yes. How many of them are running back to the, it won't let me connect.

So, um, I'm going to hit the button. Okay, you hit the button. There's a button. This button.

Okay. You ready? I hit the button. Are you infusing your phone line to the show?

Yes. Whoa. Oh, that's gone now. Oh, are you already connected?

No. All right, now go. What's Mevo J23? Oh, there it is.

No, I don't know what you... Oh, Mevo's the camera. Lord, don't connect to the camera. I'm going to connect to that.

And the camera goes off. All right. Let's call Justin Andrews of STG Diesel Cigars. Oh, you connect to the camera.

No, it's okay, it's still red light, but yeah, disconnected from the iPad. I didn't connect, though. Oh, okay. I promise.

Now, I think it's important... Yes? that you understand. Well, he has a code name.

It does? Oh, that's a beautiful international ring. That sounds international. Yes.

Oh! No minutes. Five more minutes. You'd think that SDG would kind of have that covered.

I mean, he's the face of diesel. Where's the minutes? For your phone, it worked internationally. For fuck's sake.

I mean, it is 2022, for God's sake. Ridiculous. They have their own satellite. Upgrade your phone.

That's fucking insane. Wow, that's embarrassing for you. I can see why you skipped out on lunch with him, I can understand. Yeah, I get it.

Yeah, I get it. Totally makes sense. I mean, you call me internationally, I answer. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Same. Right? Same, same.

Just the standard ring. Yeah. Yeah, not even a different ring. I wonder if that was like a pitch he had for like, you know, his girlfriend or something.

His girlfriend is like, oh, you're not going to be able to get in touch with me. Oh, good man. Don't blow up his spot. Oh, she doesn't listen.

'Cause she's an avid listener. Right. You never know. She's at Home Depot getting a lumbar.

Well, hey, you know, come correct, Justin, or I will destroy your relationship. Damn. What else are you talking about? We're at 33 minutes already.

Greg's out there looking at his watch. He's like, son of a bitch. I told him he couldn't do 30 minutes. So, yeah, I told you how that worked, though.

Like, I just needed to get him in the door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, fuck me, fuck the rest of it, you know, it is what it is. It's not like he listens either.

So, what else you want to cover? I hear him yelling at people out there. Yeah. I don't know what all you guys have talked about, or what you want to talk about, or...

Well, I think that a lot of things on the, you know... First of all, I think that a lot of the conversations that we have are Patreon shit. It's not... Well, we could shift gears.

Mmm... No? No time? I don't think so, yeah.

So he's going to go see somebody, but we still have a few more minutes if you want to cover anything else. Keanu's here, Keanu loves you. I told him what gym you were at, and he was going to go, but I couldn't talk him into it, thought it would have been hilarious. He creepy text me.

He told me he did. Last night, and I didn't, I said, he goes, hey, he goes, hey, if you're, you know, tomorrow I'm going to come in with you to get Matt Booth. I just text back, I have him. And then he text me, this is where I no longer engage.

So I'm not going to engage. I will, I will, uh... Oh, you disconnect, disconnect. Oh, clickety-clack.

Sorry, I went silent. Oh, disconnect. I'll disconnect. I said, I have him.

So he sends dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot. Then he sends, send coordinates. Then he sends, JK, JK. He wanted to come hang out at your house.

And then he sends, unless, with the fucking eyes. And I just, no fucking response. I'm like, okay. He would have been in the other bed, in the bedroom with Missy Bird.

Hey. Hey, Matt. Hey, Matt, are you okay over there in the other bunk? We're there in the other bunk.

Are you good? You're fine? I just think it's, I think it's very unique, man. I have expressed, and this is as it applies to us, but this has, I think, significance for a lot of, not only newcomers to the game, but just guys that are not, I mean, I've been in the business 14 years from the factory level, 13 in market, right?

Yeah. So still, you know, younger than many in the game, right? Yeah. But you know, when you hit that decade point, you're like, Christ, I've been doing this, like the time flies.

Yeah. Yeah. And in cigar years, you're basically a hundred at that point. Right.

Yeah. I've been in the business a hundred years. A hundred years. Yeah.

Basically. And it's, it's abusive. It can be thrashing. The thrashing is real, but I, I think it's, I think it's really inspiring to see all these new channels opening up.

Right. And because of, I think fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit. Right. Yeah.

And the undying will, right, to build, right, in spite of, and you could fill in the blank, right, myriad of challenges, especially for a newcomer in the game, right, that guys like yourself are blazing new pathways to consumers' mouths effectively, right, that did not exist when I came into the business. Right. It was like this, you know, bend the knee to the top retailers type of a fucking scenario where this is who you, you know, we, we are the gatekeepers and the controllers and that has definitely shifted. Yeah.

Tremendously. Agreed. You have these mid-level retailers that do a great job presenting themselves on social media and online and stuff like that, and they can make an honest living and then they can help establish and build brands as well. Correct.

And those are the people that we like to fuck with. 100. You know. without question.

So I think it's, I think it's never been, I mean, I remember coming into the business and it was a very exciting time. And, and in years to follow, I referred to that time period as, as the golden era of the boutique brands, right? This is when this really came into the forefront and, you know, unbeknownst, I think to a great deal of us, including myself at the time, you know, because we were just trying to build our businesses, build our brands, but we We're effectively, as a group, carving out a new segment of this market globally, really, you know? You know what's really kind of funny is, you know, you hear, you know you're doing something right when you hear fucking, like, undertone threatening stories from other reps of older brands and shit like that, and they're like, I've heard occasionally drop, like, well, you know, if FDA comes in, you know, I mean, then you got nothing, you know, and it's like, oh, okay, I got nothing.

And then, you know, 10 minutes later, here is my new cigar that we are representing. I'm like, but wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. So are we worried about what?

Like, are you just worried for me? You're trying to fucking. They're very concerned for you, obviously. I appreciate their concern for my well-being.

As do I. You know, I mean, it's very thoughtful. It's very thoughtful, you know. And it is definitely interesting to see a lot of those brand owners and manufacturers think that they want to build bigger fucking booths at TPE and just completely do exactly what they did at PCA.

Fucking remarkable. Makes no sense whatsoever. We're going to make it bigger. Fucking bigger.

Go big, go home. Go big or go home. Or something. Fucking, well, we go home.

We go. I think that when we started, and this again is just my own personal opinion, And maybe people would chime in on this, but I think that when we were picking up steam, and when I say we, I mean we with Room 101 and other guys kind of in that sector, right, in what was considered the boutique sector at the time, I think that if I was to guess, I would say that a lot of the bigger companies, a lot of the larger companies just viewed us as an annoyance that was going to go away. Yeah, this is like a... Just don't pay attention, he'll go...

It's a little fad, these guys are going to be in and out the door in a couple of years. Skulls. Skulls, skulls, skulls, skulls. It's nonsense.

And then, and then, you know, you fast forward years and they're actually creating, um, I'm not going to, I'm not going to say plagiarized versions. I'm going to say creating tribute, uh, products that are tribute. They have the big Mac. We have the big Mick.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. They have the golden arches and arcs. And that's when, and that's when you realize like, Oh, we actually changed the game.

Right. And not individually, I mean as a collective, as a movement, and that has continued, not only to flourish, but evolve, because now if you look at what the boutique segment looks like, or whatever fucking word, and by the way, Room 101 is the industry's only salon brand, we've been the industry's only salon brand out of the gate, several years, several years, yeah, and so, you know, some people went boutique, I went salon, you know, thus far. That thus far no one has followed me. Yeah, you can get a perm.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But I got off topic. There's no sound on Instagram Live, I was just told.

There's no sound. That's okay. That's okay. Just watch.

What happened to the audio? Well. I need to hear you sing, but I hear nothing. I don't know how to do that.

Okay, bye. Yeah, okay, bye. Wait, as long as you stop from me, take a photo for me of me and Matt Booth. Oh, wait, Daniel's gone.

No, I'm not talking to you, Daniel. And now, here, as we're talking, yeah, with the gear, oh, as we work. Excellent. So, well, oh, I'm sorry, what, you know, the other thing that's really, I think that's, that's gonna fucking happen is, we're about to hit a turning point where you're gonna see, I feel like some new ones popped up.

And, you know, the reality of how hard and how much work this is. Correct. You're gonna see another, like a purge of course of this, like we're at that cyclical point where, what ever happened to that guy? I have lived through there already.

Some of the smaller brands will just sort of- Right, we're coming back full circle. Correct. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Like, oh, where'd he go? I think, and you know what the funny part is that you don't really recognize it until you're over halfway through it. Correct. Correct.

And that conversation is already kind of popping up. Do you remember? I'm like, well, I mean, look, this is, if that was an era of boutique brands, this is an era of throwaway brands, right? Like there's, it's the attention span is shorter and it's one and done, like quick hit type stuff.

And that is also going to cycle, you know? Right. And fatigue, right. And, right.

And some will survive. Some will survive and evolve and become maybe something more than they started as and so on and so forth. And I think, I think the real threat, But if it exists, right, if I may be so bold. Please.

May I? Don't hold back. Okay, I will not. I will not restrain myself.

Well, I've always said one of the main differences in the alcohol space versus the tobacco space is that these much larger companies have long since respected and identified the fact that smaller craft brands are really the creators, right? So the large houses have long since, I think, accepted the fact that they are not the creative driving force in the business. They just simply are the dominating force in the business. They are the machine.

So this is why they absorb and acquire these. The smaller branch, right. And put their machine behind them and empower them to go out into market with the full force of their machine behind them. And I think that the first juggernaut, right, in this business that actually gets over, I guess, themselves in some way, right, and they actually place value on the creatives and on these craft creators, and then choose to form intelligent partnerships with them to empower those brands, I think that will be an unstoppable force.

You're 100% correct. I believe. If that occurs. If that occurs.

I think that that does occur. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, it would make sense in terms of the timeline and what effectively would be the next move on the chessboard, because we've long since been identified that we are far not an annoyance, and that collectively we occupy a very respectable amount of market share that used to be all theirs. Similarly, guys like you in the retail space that are creating these new channels are also creating your own cutaway in that segment of the market as well.

Right. So in essence, it's kind of like, hey, buy the company, give me salary, access to tobacco, we move forward together. And, you know, the killer will be the ones that don't allow their larger company politic and to get in the way of these people operating the way It's not the way that they do, right? If they can actually create...

Give them the free reign that they need to keep creating and doing new things. Yeah, if you put fucking parameters on, you know, you fucking put a line in the cage, then we're good. You can't put a leash in a rattlesnake. Right.

You can't do it. Oh. You can't do it. I mean, you can, but it doesn't work out.

Oh, God. It's gotta be like a stiff leash. Like a stick. And then they can't operate.

Then they can't move around. It can't be effective. Right. And what's the point?

Now you have a pet. You have a toy. A pet rattlesnake. Right.

Like if they're They buy you and go, okay, we don't really like the Polish thing because of what's going on over there, so we're going to change the name, we're going to get rid of the Polish thing, we're just not going to go with that anymore, we're going to make you Swedish, everybody likes the Swedes. I'd say, but can you get us access to small arms and explosives, because that's totally fine. Right, exactly. Make this work is very good.

I'm just asking. Yeah, so that's, I mean, whatever, for whatever it's worth, a little fodder for the brain, maybe people think about that, you know, but that's going to take, that's going to take executive level players That are willing to step outside, because they themselves, even as larger companies executives, will actually effectively be almost rebelling or boundary breaking from what, you know, is, we operate within this box, this is our company politic, this is our company philosophy, and some of the ways that we've all achieved some, and I don't want to be so bold as to say, some level of success, I don't want to abuse the word success in the conversation, but that we've been able. As it still is the cigar industry. Correct, thank you.

Thank you. But, but, you know, there are things that we have done and, and methods that we have employed that, that, uh, they clearly would not. Right. Right.

It would be out, outside of the boundaries of how they normally operate, I think. So do you think that that happens when? On orthodox. Right.

So does that happen when companies are no longer like at the capacity, right? Like if, Hey, all right, so we want to have another 15% growth this year. Looks like we're kind of struggling. They, they finish off the year.

6% up, 5% up, and they're like, okay, so what's the next step? And then someone says, well... Well, we could buy this little boutique company. The number is X, this is what they're producing, we've stroked this check, we have growth, we continue, EBITDA.

EBITDA, EBITDA, EBITDA, EBITDA. A lot of EBITDA, a lot of EBITDA. Well, I mean, look, if you imagine these smaller, more nimble operators, if they're allowed to continue that way, they're effectively going to become these companies' special forces, right? They're the guys that go out and operate differently.

They have a different set of rules or less rules that they play by to enable them to do what they have to do to get their job done, which is not the big machine's mission. The big machine's mission is almost separated, but the big machine's mission is also to empower them and support them in any way that they can to ensure their success. Yes. You need the bands.

It won't be eight months. It'll be two weeks. And if everyone is playing, you know, also, you're talking about this growth. Well, how are you going to, They continue, I mean, some of these guys, even at the, at the top of the food chain, their, their factories are bursting at the seams with, you know, they're continuously extending timelines, like production is peak, they're, they're, you know, so also to embrace partnerships with guys that either have factories or, or have working relationships with viable factories that they can, could manage that, there you go, take alleviate some of that, there you go, some of the pressure off.

And by the way, that would continue to keep that entity authentic to itself, instead of just saying, okay, just bring it all here and we'll put your pretty paper pictures on our stuff and then, you know, cause that then deletes everything that that person is producing. You don't need to grow in production for your brand, but you need to alleviate what's going on here and fill that void as, as our new, you know, extended or acquisition, the new, the EBITDA increaser. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Ebida Assassin. Ebida Assassin. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, anyways, I think I see that as the next...

Yeah. If, you know, if, you know, fill in the blank, certain things, certain dominoes fall in a certain way. Right. I think that that makes sense.

I think that this is where we need to leave this podcast. I was thinking the same thing. Right fucking here. Boop.

Boop. I had to turn it off. Because, like, that is fucking brilliant. That is fucking brilliant.

That's fucking brilliant. I mean, I would say mic drop, but this is a beautiful piece of equipment. I'm not going to do that. But I totally agree with you a hundred percent, and I never really considered that, you know?

So it's going to be, the next coming years in the cigar industry are going to be quite interesting. I think. To see who goes where. Do you have foreshadowing sound effects?

Do you have something like... That one, the creepy one. Kind of horror movie, but you know, it might be a horror movie. All right, well, I have a football game to run to, you have a friend to go see, we have an event going on tonight, we have road to take on tomorrow to go and hang out with Abe at the Great Smoke.

True story. And, you know, so let's end it at that. Perfect. All right.

Thank you, Mr. Booth. Thank you guys very much. Yes.

All right.

Show Notes

A limited Chat with Mr Matt Booth of all that is ROOM101