Out of All The Reps in Florida he's One of Them Cigar Hustlers Podcast Episode 326

Episode Summary

Veteran Florida cigar broker Pete Hernandez joins the Cigar Hustlers in the studio for a wide-ranging, unfiltered conversation about what it actually takes to sell cigars for a living. He opens by walking through the brands he represents and what he personally reaches for: the Tatuaje 7th Reserva, Capa Especial and Nuevitas, Aladino Classic, Corojo, Maduro and the Vintage Rothschild, and on the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust side, Mi Querida and Sobremesa (he admits he rarely smokes the Connecticut-wrapped Sobremesa Brulee, and finds Muestra de Saka Unicorn territory too heavy for a daily smoke).

The heart of the episode is a candid look at the broker business. Pete explains the emotional roller coaster of the PCA trade show, why the first Saturday on the floor is his Super Bowl, and how you can read who "killed it" on the red-eye flight home. He and the hosts dig into the three-way split of responsibility between manufacturer, broker and retailer, why it takes roughly three years for a shop to forget the sting of a brand that didn't sell, the pain of declined credit cards and unanswered phones, and the reality that a great cigar is actually the least important ingredient in a brand's success — samples, capital, tobacco supply, a dynamic face for the brand and a willingness to grind matter more. Pete also breaks down his actual sales process: identifying what's on its way out of a humidor, helping a retailer blow out dead inventory, and getting a verbal commitment on that shelf space before someone else takes it.

Along the way he reflects on his late brother Paul, 15 years gone, and the doors he opened; his cousin Omar Minaya, the former Mets GM; the Aganorsa Leaf broker shake-up and the JFR box-shortage debacle; and why Florida is the toughest market in the country because nobody there is impressed by anybody. He closes with two great fanboy stories — trying to shake Guy Fieri's hand on the way to a trade show bathroom and getting blocked by his entourage, and ambushing Kevin James in a Delray Beach cigar shop with a rant about Corona, Queens and the Lemon Ice King. Lots of affectionate industry trash talk about Erik Espinosa, Abe Dababneh, Jose Ortega, Alfredo, Matt Booth and more.

In This Episode

1. 01
   What Pete Actually Smokes
   Pete runs through his own portfolio and picks the medium-bodied Tatuaje, Aladino and Dunbarton blends he reaches for most.
2. 02
   PCA Trade Show Emotions
   Why Vegas is both a grind and his Super Bowl, avoiding the hotel bar, and reading the red-eye flight home to see who had a good show.
3. 03
   Retailers, Declined Cards and Honesty
   Pete on shops that can't pay, the value of a retailer like Abe who tells you exactly where you stand, and getting product sent back over an online discount.
4. 04
   Who Owns a Brand's Success?
   Splitting responsibility between manufacturer, broker and store, the three-year memory of a failed brand, and show deals that leave 150 boxes rotting on a shelf.
5. 05
   Aganorsa Leaf and the JFR Box Shortage
   The broker team shake-up under Terence Reilly and how months without boxes from China cost JFR shelf space.
6. 06
   What Really Makes a Brand Work
   Great tobacco is the least important factor — samples, capital, supply, a dynamic brand face and relationships carry the load.
7. 07
   Family, Legacy and Omar Minaya
   Pete remembers his brother Paul 15 years after his passing and shares how his cousin, former Mets GM Omar Minaya, plugged the family cigar bar in a national interview.
8. 08
   Guy Fieri, Kevin James and Fanboy Confessions
   The bathroom entourage encounter with Guy Fieri and the Delray Beach cigar shop ambush of Kevin James that ended in total silence.
9. 09
   How a Rep Actually Opens an Account
   Pete's step-by-step method: find what's leaving the humidor, help clear it, claim the space, and keep showing up until the shop breaks.

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

Everybody stand by. Industry is in the house. Here he is. P.

Yeah, I'm dead. It's my destiny. Make way for the king. I'm on top, can't be stopped, shootin' my shot.

Another Mike and Mike production. In three, two, one, zero. All right, we got, you ready? We got Pete Hernandez in the studio.

First time ever. Were you in the original studio? He's been on before, Joe. He's been upstairs.

Hey, you want this to try G? I just stole these out of this box. Yeah, he does. There it is.

Would you like a scarf? It'd be nice, you know? I have this box here. One in Rome, right?

Oh, nice. It's got one tooth. - I like that. - Holding this thing down, yeah.

It still works. Mikey's got such a nice cigar box there. Isn't that lovely? Make sure you get that back beat.

He's got all the Dunbarton separated in like a separate bag. Well, it's just to kind of work out. He doesn't want them to touch the others. They don't play nice.

They don't want them to touch the Aladinos. They don't play nice. They'll beat up the Aladinos if they're heavier. They got them by a few grams.

Different weight class. Different weight class. That's a tough fucking room. Oh boy, what'd you think you were walking into, buddy?

You know, buddy, this is going to be fucking, this is going to be lighthearted. What does, I'm curious, what does Pete pick out of Pete's own box? You know what, I am going to pick. You have to talk into this black thing.

Oh. There you go. Is that the first time I've heard that? Yeah.

Just today. It's the first time today. Let's see. Yeah, you know what, I'm more of a medium body guy, so.

Bless you. Thank you. So, out of my brands, I find myself smoking. I like the number 7th with Tatuaje.

Capa Especial, I like the Natural, from Tatuaje, also, by the way, I got a lot of those samples, so I smoked the Nuevitas, and it's nice, medium body, smooth, it's a great flavor. With Aladino, I typically smoke the Classic, or the Natural, the Corojo, the Maduro lately, I really like the Vintage, Rothschilds, good size, a lot of flavor. Show up to the camera over there, camera over there. Oh, there you go.

Oh, yeah, a lot of flavor, and uh, I know we have, that's right, it's a podcast. It's a podcast. Right. Audio video.

You're used to just calling in, that's the problem. And it's, it's early morning for you, so, you know, like, you haven't, you haven't had a good beverage yet. You're still kind of, you're just kind of getting going. Right, that's right.

And with Dunbarton, man, you know what, I hardly ever smoke a brulee. Really? Yeah. I'm just not a Connecticut guy.

I think that's one of the best things I make. It's one of the best things I sell the most of. Yeah. But I'm more of a, I hinge back and forth between Mi Querida and Sobra Mesa.

Which Mi Querida? The blue? Yeah, turkey traca is just really heavy for me. I've had it, I don't mind having it after dinner, but it's usually a one and done.

Yeah. You know, that's a lot of flavor, it's a lot, man. Really? Yeah, for me, it's just a lot.

So I just like to keep it in the middle, you know? Keep it in the middle. Right. Yeah, you don't want to hit the edges.

No. You just want to get right in the center. All right. Hot dog down the hallway, right?

Easy peat. Well, when it comes to that, I like to beat up the sides. You like to get the sides? Yeah, I come off the top rope.

I'm not hitting the back here. I come off the top rope and bang the sides. Oh, I love that. That's what they get.

So are you excited for PCA? Let's start there. You know, every year I go through all the emotions. You know?

Partially, part of me doesn't, you know, we're like, oh fuck, we gotta go to Vegas again, see the same freaking idiots that we see every year, and I don't mean the clients, I mean idiots, which I, you know, most of them I like, there's a couple that, you know, I like to stare down, walk by them, and you know, fucking dick, under my breath, so he could read my lips, but I won't say it, and then you see, then you see your customers, and the way you're doing business. And then the real cool part is when you see guys that you only see once a year. Yeah, so you get to see them on the showroom floor, and usually at the bar you see them leaving, going to bed, and then when they come out the next morning you still see them because you're still at the bar. You know what, I avoid the bar.

You avoid the bar. I've avoided the bar the last couple times. Yeah? I avoid the bar.

You know what, you have. I have. Because I saw you at the gym. Yes.

We worked out. Oh, that's right. I was like, son of a bitch, there's Pete. Holy shit.

It's early. We knock out the bar thing. We get that out of the way. Yeah, we get that out of the way on Thursday.

Right. Friday, you're kind of still recuperating and acclimating to the time and the heat and all that crap. And then Saturday, this is what we came for. Yeah, so I, man, I, that first Saturday, for me, it's like walking out of the tunnel with the smoke and the...

It's a Super Bowl. Yeah, it's my Super Bowl. Yeah, yeah. Like the Ray Lewis thing, like France, you know?

I did that the night before. Yeah. Yeah, that's Thursday night. So that's, yeah, so, and you know, as you go through it, and then when you're done, that red-eye back is the best flight.

Yeah. That thing always sucks. I'm not taking that anymore. Well, you know, it's the same, it's all the Miami people.

Yeah, yeah. And you go in there, and you know the guys that killed it, and then you know the guys that didn't. And I always act like I killed it. We're like, I killed it.

We always, yeah. It's fucking amazing. But it typically is. I mean, last year was our best trade show ever.

The year before that was better than last year. Are you saying by all brands or just particular brands? You know, it's hard to tell because the dust didn't settle yet. There's some that you know you blew up with.

And then there's a couple that maybe we'll see when the dust settles. Because you really don't know until everything ships. You know, you can kind of see what your numbers are, but yeah, last year it was spectacular. You know, spectacular.

Are you going to tell retailers this year that they're just, they're at the knee of a-- There was a guy last year that you told him he was not a good retailer. You were all, Abe is the master, Abe is the master. And you were just-- No, I did not say any of that. I did not say any of that.

You know what, Abe came out with this thing, with the NFT, and the concept of it, when Abe explained it to me, because when they told me the price, I'm thinking that's kind of crazy, and then as he went down and explained how it worked, I just thought it was the coolest thing, which isn't surprising man, Abe is definitely one of the most creative retailers, he is one of the hardest working. I mean, there's really not a, I mean, the thing, there's not a lot of bad you could say about him, he's truly is, you know where you stand with him, you know? Guy's always been nice to me, man. Do you wish you could do more business with him?

Yes, but he explains to you why you're not. I mean, you know, he's an open book. Really, that's all you can ask for, you know? He's honest, you know?

I'm honest, you know. So we're all just. Yeah. Have I been screwed?

Have I been screwed? Yeah, of course I have, bro. I used to carry a brand, and it took me a couple years to get him in, you know, to finally get him to place an order. He places an order for $4,000.

And then some fucking pencil neck comes out and says, "Oh, look. Oh, you just brought that in? " For nothing. And it was their last box, dude.

was when thompson was on their way off of that last box fucking abe sent that shit back and i said bro are you kidding me and he said dude i'm not gonna buy some shit that's being discounted online smart and i'm no not smart it was one box i like his swag yeah fuck your bullshit get mad at him i'm not gonna get mad at him hell no he carries it now now he carries that same freaking line the guy with the heavy accent that fucking made a shitty pig out here right and now you know You know who carries it, right? Don't say his name. " You know what I'm talking about. The way that this is going, it may be a Patreon.

I mean, who knows? Oh, yeah, it could be. All right, listen. Oh, we can just drop that right now and then we can say anything we want.

And you know what? If I'm speaking that way about these guys, it's because I truly love them. Right. Yeah, there's no ill will.

If I fucking, you want to go down that road, there's a handful of guys that I'd like to see. Welcome to the Patreon, everyone. Yeah, bro. Tied in the back of the truck and fucking run around the parking lot a little bit.

Hell yeah. You know, so there have been, I've had a couple of awesome experiences with Pete. Just kind of go, I've known Pete for the fucking duration, 15 years of this whole fucking bullshit of being in this industry. And there was one time that we were, we used to carry the triple sevens in this fucking store.

Yes. And Pete got fired, as a broker always do, like you always get, they always break up with you. They always, they always. Seems like it happens more to Pete though than most people.

No, no, no, man. Thank you for public. Thanks, Mike, thanks. Sorry, Pete, thanks.

Dude, you know what? No, this has more cigars. I've been doing it for a while, you know. Go ahead, finish your story.

I mean, I could tell, I was telling you about one that happened last week. Yes. Yeah, so, and that wasn't Pete, so. No, no.

And he's another reputable person in the industry. So we were carrying 777s, and then I think we were just kind of like, eh, we're kind of over it and done, and Pete was like, okay, cool. So we walked by them in the booth. Oh, I know this story.

" And then kept walking. Of course, bro, you got to let them have it. Yeah, absolutely. They can't catch feelings.

I don't catch feelings when I get fired, you know, or get replaced. Right. You know, it's the game I play. Yeah.

And I'm well aware of that going in. Does it hurt? Yeah, of course it hurts. Especially, you know, you put a lot of work into this, you know.

Yeah, you bust your ass. Yeah. Well, dude, you get fucking kicked in the dick half the time when you walk into retailers. You know how they're all amazing.

Right. They're so great. Right. They're great at what they do.

Yeah. They couldn't tell you their profit and loss margins. They couldn't tell you what they did in sales for that year with your product. They couldn't tell you anything, but they're fucking amazing.

Right. And -- Why do we want your cigar? And -- And they can't pay their bills. That's the biggest one.

I mean, with me, nobody gets away with that because everything is a credit card. " Right. And then they don't answer. Right.

Because they know the cards. I got the cell phones. Me too. I get through.

Me too. I get through. You're -- yeah. Yeah, I get through.

You know, me, I'm just like -- I'll call you from another number. Yeah. I'll be like, bro. He's got a burner phone.

Yeah, no, I'll find a way to get through. I'll show up. Right. It's disrespectful.

You know, don't do that to me. That's shitty. We're friends, bro. Yeah.

You know, obviously it's not only about the business because if it was only, you'd be buying more from me. Right. So it's not that. There is a relationship.

And I understand if you're going through a difficult time. I'm never trying to push more than anything one can handle. Right. You know?

Just call me. Just tell me. Don't buy it. You can't afford it.

I don't have it, bro. I'll call you next week, but call me. Don't expect me to always remember to call you, but call me. Call me.

You know, it's a symbiotic thing. We're both trying to make money here. Exactly. You know, and as a broker, I think it happens as a shop as well.

Sometimes you bring in a brand too soon. You bring in a brand, and it's not taking off. You guys have 300 other brands that you need to promote, and then this might kind of fall on the wayside. It doesn't sell.

Guys aren't paying attention. You have maybe the positioning of whatever it is. Whatever it is. Right.

And then guys aren't smoking it. And then you phase it out. And for you to bring that brand back in, my number's about three years. It takes about three years for you to remember the sting of that brand not selling in your humidor.

And now maybe you'll bring it back. Sometimes it's not just three years, it's a new phase. So as a broker, sometimes I bring in a brand too soon. That's happened.

And then it blows up later. You know, it does really well later. They changed management, they hired a new rep, and now it does much better, and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, you know? Look what happened with Aganorsa, you know?

Right. With Terrence? With Terrence. Terrence got in there, they let the whole team go, and let me tell you, Aganorsa, great tobacco, but when we were there, when I say we, my brother, and there's another four or five other guys, Mike Perales, Tom Poehler, Terry Coleman.

Inter-Sanctum broker guys. Yeah, these guys had the Cigar Mafia practically on their team, and man, the cigars, they just kept making a lot of mistakes, one of them, which, you know, I couldn't understand, JFR, that was our, you know, that was like a stronghold, that was a value-priced cigar that was in every store, and we were like four months, six months without shipping because we didn't have the boxes. Dude, nobody's buying that stuff by the box, they're buying it by the handful anyway, just ship bundles, and manufacturers want to see their products, they're buying it by the handful anyway, just ship bundles, and manufacturers want They'll see their product in a certain way, and I understand that too, at the end of the day, it's, you know, all three of us are trying to make this thing happen, and they wouldn't ship until, you know, they receive the boxes from China, and you lose market share, you lose shelf on the, you know, room on the shelf, and, and then we're the ones at fault, the brokers, somebody always has to take the, somebody's always got to take the hit. I've asked manufacturers, so what percentage of the success of a brand do you think you own?

What percentage is the store and what percentage is the broker? And some are 30-30-30 or 33-33-33. Some will tell you, no, it's the store. I mean, once you buy the product, it's your responsibility to sell it, right?

Right. And so then whose fault is it? And at some point, it's the manufacturer's responsibility to get people to walk in through the door and ask for it, ask for it, right? At some point, you carry a brand for a couple of years, and I still got to come here and push it and sell it to you and sell it to your customers and talk about it.

I mean, I don't mind doing that, but at some point, it's got to move on its own, and so who owns that responsibility? I think in every situation, it's different. But yeah, I've been known to bring in a brand too soon, and a couple of years later, you see it kind of dies and i'm i will never not assume responsibility for my part of it right but there's other two guys on the team that are trying to move this product and why how come how come and then they'll tell me but i'm growing in other markets and i could tell you well i'm growing with other brands right what's i mean yeah what's the difference yeah i mean what do you think what do you think i'm not offering your product or maybe when i go there again and i visit the And then on that second cycle and the product is still on the shelf, well then they're not selling it, yeah well there's that, and then you know again we go back to who's responsible, and then there are different techniques, you've got companies, manufacturers that their show deal will be buy 150 boxes get 50 free, sometimes that works, they figure that when you cycle through 150 boxes something's got to stick, I think some of the guys are going to like it, and some of the guys are going to want to repeat it and come back to it, appreciate the price, see the value, and then other guys, next year's trade show, he still has 100 boxes of the 150 he bought, and he's got 200, he's got 200, yeah, he's got 200, yeah, you know, that shit didn't sell, did I take any of these back this year, you need to take some of these back, dude, what did you do, what did you do to sell it, I mean, how, well, yeah, he didn't do anything, right, first thing you do is, well, you make four, You put one of each, one of the free ones, and you push that out, and you get it in people's hands because your money's invested in that. That's what you want to push.

Anyone could sell the big guys, you know? Right. Everybody comes in asking for Oliva, or come in asking for Fuente, no one's going to come in asking for Tatuaje. Yeah.

They can't pronounce it. Right, they can't say the word. Yeah, they can't even say the word. But if the shop guy likes it, if the owner is a big fan of the product, then that's what he's smoking.

" And that's the way it works, you know, and trickle-down economics, I guess, right? Trickle-down. I don't know. I have a question.

Yeah, okay. So you as a retailer, because you also own a brand. Yes, I'm as a retailer. Mute that shit, god damn it.

God damn, sorry. You as a retailer, who do you think you have a better relationship with for sales, or just in general? So a broker or a rep that works for the brand? It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter? It's a personality thing. Yeah, that's irrelevant. Yeah.

In fact, sometimes you have a better relationship with a guy you hardly buy from. Yeah. You have that. That sucks, by the way.

That sucks. That's being put in a friend zone. A proverbial friend zone. Yeah, you know?

You get to go. You hang out. They love seeing you. You go to lunch and all, yeah, and then you walk out.

Fucking empty-handed. Yeah. You didn't buy a damn thing. hey and that happens more often than you would than you think yeah i can't tell you how often you hit the road and i'm on my third day dude and i visited you know 12 13 accounts i haven't sold anything right and you can't i mean i'm writing orders i'm getting emails you're getting orders but you want to see orders from the ones that you're doing from your work from walking in yeah right and they don't have space you still have product from the last time um you know you work It's like the humidor a little bit, but you're there for two hours, you meet maybe six customers, that really doesn't move the needle, you know, and you want to come up with ideas, you want to host an event, but he still has the product, and you know, what kind of an event are we going to do?

I mean, cut and light? Yeah, so I'm going to throw another three hours of my time and try to move the product that you had in hopes that you give me an order. I mean, it's complicated, you know, it's not easy. It seems like, it is fun.

We got that. It is, it's fun if you have thick skin. It's fun if you're successful a little bit, if you can see a little bit of success, if you get a taste of that you bought from you here, they bought from you there, when you're with one customer and the guy carries all your brands, man, that feels great to go into that shop and do business with that guy because you feel he appreciates you and, you know, and then the manufacturers think that it's because their cigars are great. Right.

And it's really the relationship you have. Yeah, they're buying you, really. They're not buying the cigar. I think the cigar-- Well, to some degree, yeah.

Yeah, of course. I mean, if the cigar sells, it sells. Right. That helps.

Right. If I lose Tatuaje, I guarantee I'm not going to--my shops aren't going to stop carrying it. There's a percentage of them that will carry the new stuff because the shelf space kind of belongs to me. Same thing here.

You know, if I lose Dunbarton, God forbid, you know, you guys aren't going to stop buying Dunbarton. No. But you will make some space for me, and then my new endeavor, the new because we have a relationship, but yeah, it's an interesting... And that goes back to what is the manufacturer doing for you?

Like, are they helping to create that demand? You know what I mean? Or is there effort? Some people just don't know how to do it.

Some people rely strictly on the product. There's so much involved, you know? There is. There's so much involved.

I know. Having a great cigar. So let's say there's four or five things, important things for a brand to succeed, right? Having a great cigar.

It's not one of them. It's the least of the important ones. It's not one of them. It's the least, yeah.

Oh, but smoke it. It doesn't matter, bro. It really doesn't matter. If I like it or don't like it, it doesn't matter.

Right. You know? What are your samples like? How much money do you have to do this shit?

How much tobacco do you have? Right. Who's making your cigar? You know?

Are you ready to travel? And the guy's got to be dynamic, the guy's got to be cool, and that doesn't always work, you know, it doesn't matter, it's a, there are a lot of things, and obviously the most important thing is you got to be out there grinding, you know. True. There's no simple.

That's true. Yeah. There's that. I wish I was selling, I don't know, bourbon.

No, I don't know. You'd be dead. Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah, I'd have to sell something I don't like.

Rum. Sell the rum. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like rum, but I just drink it, no, I don't drink it, too sweet, too, you know.

Right, too much sugar. Yeah, too much sugar, you want to avoid that. Yeah, but if you got some shit in the trunk. Well, I'll try anything once, almost, man, twice.

Do you remember that there was a Simpsons episode where Moe, not Moe, what was the, what was the guy's name, the drunk guy? Barney. Barney. Barney went sober.

Barney was, like, super smart. And his hair was straight, and he was, you know, all of a sudden, like, fucking, and then all of a sudden, one day, The first day he took a sip of the beer and went right back to his fucking gut and fucking tears and like... I feel like that's, we get two episodes of Pete here. Like you can have Pete strategizing and like well thought out and speaking everything perfectly to a T and then you can get Pete Hernandez telling Jose Ortega of Pepin Garcia's cigars to go fuck himself.

I wouldn't say it to that guy, but yeah. I mean, I was there, it was pretty close to that. Oh, dear God. Oh, gosh.

I thought it was hyperbole. No, you said something. It wasn't go fuck yourself, but you said something. He's like, what did you just say?

You're like, you fucking heard me. I'm like, this is amazing. Okay. All right.

That being said, just so that you understand, Jose Ortega and I go back a long way. Yeah. Jose Ortega was really... Well, no, the thing is that you can speak a certain way to certain people, people because of the relationship of course and jose or jose ortega are we talking about bowtie or the big one no not the little one so the big one that's a little one yeah the big one and my brother were really really good friends and um and so me and the little one we kind of inherited each other right i'm probably closer to bowtie right to the but that being said jose ortega is like a brother to me right because i and not because of the time we spent together But because he was my brother's brother.

Right. So he, you know, there's a certain level that we have to, you know, because we inherited each other. Right. What was really cool this weekend, I was actually with my nephew, and this was a great weekend.

So we went to see the Yankees play in spring, spring season, what do they call it? Yeah, spring ball. Yeah, spring training. Right, spring training.

Thank you, Mike. And... He's a big sports guy. Big, big sports guy.

Yeah, I love sports. I'm not that big of a... Yeah. He's being sarcastic.

Oh, okay, okay, well. They were scoring touchdowns, right, at the baseball thing. So, my cousin is, my mom's first cousin is Omar Minaya, he is the, an advisor now to the Yankees, he was GM to the Mets back in the day in 2000s when they brought all those Dominicans over and whatever. This guy is the best, he's such a great guy, and I hardly know him.

My grandmother brought his father in the early 60s from the Dominican Republic, and she brought all her family, and so he turns out, you know, we're all from Corona, Queens, and he turns out to play baseball, and he becomes a general manager of the New York Mets, and during the Subway Series, I think it was in 2000, my brothers were able to watch the game with him. ", because he got interviewed by Aficionado and by Illustrated. - Sports Illustrated? - Sports Illustrated, yeah.

- I said Sports Illustrated the first time. - He said Cigar Illustrated. - Yeah, I know. - He did say it.

- He said Cigar Illustrated. - I said Cigar Aficionado. - He said Cigar Aficionado. - He said Cigar Aficionado.

- We got you, we got you, we got there. - So he called my mom to find out what Paul's, the cigar bar's name was, so he could mention it in the interview. - The interview. - Yeah.

- Nice. - He didn't have to do that. - Yeah, he didn't have to do that, you know. Every chance, when I told him, my kids, he couldn't make it yesterday, but I was there with the kids, he would have been the highlight.

But I told him, man, maybe I'll bring my, oh, if you bring your mom, let me know, I'll make sure I'm there, when he was honored in the Dominican Republic, he took my grandmother down there to see, I mean, he was just a great guy, and we're so, I'm really fortunate, so I was able to spend all weekend with my three kids, my nephew, and I went down the line, none of my brother's friends had met my nephew, and so I went down the line, I called everybody FaceTime, and I'm like, hey, I want you to meet somebody. Who? Oh, this is Anthony Paul Hernandez. I can't show you how many guys I made cry this week.

Oh, I'm sure. I was amazed. Oh my God. I kept on.

They went right into, bro, your brother. Let me tell you, we did this. And it was, it was great. Yeah, it was great.

You know, I mean, he was six months old. No, he was like a year old when my brother passed away. Actually, what's today's date? Uh, March 11th.

It'll be 15 years tomorrow. Wow. Yeah. 15 years tomorrow that he passed away and shit.

Yeah, it's a, yeah, it's a shit sandwich, you know, it's, yeah, yeah, yeah, to this day, to this day, it's, I mean, I, I probably, I don't want to say I took it the best, I'm just grateful he was in my life and that he and I never, there was never a go fuck yourself, they wouldn't fix any problems we had, there was never any, we never held a grudge and I wish I could have been able to do this while he did it and, you know, learn from him, but he truly is, he was an amazing guy, he really, I I almost feel a little jealous when I hear everyone talk about him, yeah, how amazing he is, but I'll never, this isn't me, bro, I didn't create all this, you know, he paved the way, he opened the door and paved the way for me, and I was able to walk through, and I'm just grateful I haven't fucked it up after all these years, you know, that's always possible. Yeah, I mean, you know, you can. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, we've seen some times, we're like, oh, can he walk that back? Yeah, I get it, yeah, no, he walked it back. Oh, yeah, I'm pretty good at that, that's kind of my superpower, walking it back. So when do you think that you're going to replace Alfredo For the Guy Fieri brand I'm just curious When do you think that goes down Speaking of which Speaking of walk that back No no no I'm cool We have Jack on the phone right now I'm cool with all those guys I'm sorry Of course I didn't realize I wouldn't say all these things No of course You know like Listen bro I didn't realize What a fanboy I can be That's really what it comes down to.

I could really, athletes and actors, most people I see, I'm not, I don't give a shit, but then you've got these key individuals that I didn't realize, but I've seen all their stuff. Perfect example, I'm a huge fan of Guy Fieri, by the way. Huge fan. I got the book, oh yeah, I'm a huge fan.

Oh, dude, I've watched all the diner, drive-ins, and dives. Have you touched them? I've hung out with him in like 2012, not with him, there was a whole group, and it was in the bathroom, food and wine show, food and wine show in Miami, and I was fortunate enough, one of those guys, they came up to me and they wanted a, back then, it was illegal, it's illegal now, back in the week. And I put him in touch with someone who, you know, they weren't, right, not because I did any, but I, you know, hey, I'm from Miami, right.

He's always a guy, yeah. And so, that was cool, I had met him then, and he was a really cool guy. Right. So, here we are, fast forward, yeah, you know what, fuck Alfredo, not only does he have...

There it is! Not only does he have Guy Fieri, he's got my other favorite guy, Joe Rogan. 29. And so Joe Rogan smokes Foundation.

Oh, my God. It kills me every time he likes a Foundation cigar. But, you know, Nick's a great guy, and Alfredo's my buddy, so who cares? But, yeah, so as the story goes, when I see him at the trade show, I see him at a bunch of events.

I'm not going to wait online. No. Yeah. Yeah, you're peeing.

Yeah. Well, it's not just that. I don't wait online. Dude, I don't wait online for food, really?

I'm going to wait online to see this guy to shake his hand. I shake his hand, I go, dude, we met in 2012. Remember, I got you. I want to talk about that here, I want to talk about that here.

So, I see him on his way to the bathroom, and he's surrounded like he's fighting, he's got an entourage, and as I approach him, these guys look at me like I'm a Taliban. To Tony Gomez? Suck, son of a bitch, Tony Gomez. I like him.

So, yeah, so that's how I went out. He strong-armed us one year at the PCA, wouldn't let us talk to Guy Fieri. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but then we got snubbed real quick. Yeah, we just got Matt Booth in the fucking...

Right, right, here we go. Oh, we'll be right back. Fuck you. So I'm at a cigar shop in Delray.

It's a great story. I'm at a cigar shop in Delray. Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait.

You got to talk about the bathroom story. He's going to the bathroom. No, that was it. No, we saw him.

No, I tried to approach him. These guys are like, dude, like I'm a terrorist. And then... You can't touch him.

Sorry, he's peeing. No, it was on the way. It was on the way. I swear to God, I won't touch his dick.

He wasn't. No, he wasn't dick in hand. I won't touch his dick. I swear.

But I want to see it. And Guy says, hey, man, this guy's got something to say. And I just wanted to say, dude, I'm just your biggest fan. I wanted to step up and say hello.

I see you at these events, and I'm not waiting online. But I just wanted to tell you, dude, I'm a big fan. I don't know. That's what I think I said.

I swear, bro, those are the words that came out of my mouth. We can get Jack Tony on the phone right now to clarify. And if I said some shit about Alfredo, it wasn't jest. Like if I said, yeah, fuck that guy.

Yeah. By the way, when I call Alfredo, the conversation starts. Hey, what's up, cocksucker? Hey, what's up, cocksmoker?

Right, right. And, you know, so Alfredo's not going to take that person. I would never work with the guy Alfredo works with. I wouldn't work with any of those guys.

What are you talking about, man? Yeah, I'm not, I would not work with, I wouldn't work with Nick, cause obviously he's with Alfredo, I wouldn't work with Deion. Yeah, but if Alfredo got dropped, if you got replaced, I wouldn't, I won't, I don't want Deion, and I'm not interested in Spinosan. No, but Deion was originally with you.

Right, so, not interested in with him now. We're not taking him back. We're not taking him back. You're not taking him back.

" I'd say no. 100%. 100%. Really?

You can work with Guy Fieri. No, I wouldn't do it. Bro, swear to God, wouldn't do it. You could touch him.

Bro, you could see his wiener. Yeah. Swear to God, I wouldn't do it. There's nothing against Eric.

You can fire his plane. Dude, no one's more proud for Eric, for what he's done, to start off like us, as a waiter, so to speak, and then to become this manufacturer that he is, and all the hard work he's poured into that. There's no ill will, nothing, only, dude, Eric used to, Eric and my brother worked, they were counterparts, like, you know, like me and Alfredo, like Groover and me. Mike Groover and me, you know, my brother, they worked together in fact, at my brother's funeral, Erik stood out there, there must have been over a hundred guys smoking cigars, and Erik held court, and he was telling stories about my brother and him, and when they would run into each other, and dude, there's no ill will, but I, there are guys that I just wouldn't work with for, there's just no interest, you know, there's no interest.

If I didn't have Steve, I'd love to work with Nicholas, you know, absolutely. With Adoaje, I don't want my father, not at all, I'm good, you know, I like Pete, I like working with Pete, I like that product, I like the way he operates, I don't think I would want to work with Jose Ortega, or, you know, I don't know, and I don't mean that as a dig, you know, I'm just happy where I'm at, you know, I like working with Pete. Are there guys I wish I could work with? Yeah, I'd love to work.

I love Matt Booth. Are you kidding me? That guy's amazing. But I don't think that's ever going to happen.

As much as I like him, I don't even know what he makes. I don't know what a cigar is. It doesn't matter. I just think he's really cool.

He'd be a cool guy. I'd like to travel with him anyway. Oh, yeah, and his gold helicopter. Yeah, he's got a gold helicopter.

He's got an STG gold helicopter. Hell yeah, I'd like to work with Matt. With a Golden Toilet. Yeah, it's a Golden Toilet in the Golden Toilet.

You want me to call him right now? We'll get up on the phone. I'm sure you do. Everybody has fans.

Whenever I see him, dude, it's always a good feeling. Yeah. There are guys that I would love to work with, and there are guys that there's zero interest. I'm glad I work with Gusto and not Christian.

Right. Gusto's an amazing individual. He is. He's very nice, man.

He is. And they're, you know, and I've been fortunate enough to work with some great guys and work with guys that I can't even sell their cigars. I had to work with Casada. That was to work with that guy.

He's such a gentleman, you know, and it's such a, the nostalgia of the family and I loved working with that family. Uh, but sometimes, you know, they're not making money. I'm not making money. You know, it's time to move on, you know, and that's why there's no feeling in it.

But when you think you're, when you think you're doing all right, and then you get, you know, you get chopped off at the knees. Yeah, that sucks, but I don't have to provide expense reports, I don't have to write notes, I don't have to, you know, I go where shops that I want to go to, if I don't want to do business with a store, I won't do business with them, you know, where the office can tell you, hey, I need you to visit them, your job is to visit all the accounts, right, you know, yeah, I'm glad I don't have to, you know, there are accounts out there that, the best accounts take care of themselves. I'm trying to, you know, I'm trying to keep it. It's a walk back.

Well, no, you know, there's accounts out there that, you know, that you don't have to visit all the time. Right. They take care of themselves when they need something, they order, if you wanted, you can visit them a few times, 10, 12, three times a year. Right.

Yeah. They don't want you in there a little more than that. They're happy with the, with the amount of attention you give them, you handle them on the phone and they're happy. Right.

And you want to do an event and you go in and it's a great time and you sell boxes and all that's important, you know, the relationship. I love this business, man. Yeah. I love you guys.

I love you, too. Oh, we love you, too. I love you, too, Boots. God damn it.

Oh, thanks. I feel like you're away from us. I feel, you know, you see. I'm here.

We keep them over there on purpose. That's a good thing. It's handsy. Oh.

Okay. I don't. Okay. So we're going to get a, we're going to bring a camera out to this PCA.

We're going to try and gauge specific things. I'm hoping, we're hoping to catch Pete out in the wild. Oh, you will. No, you won't.

Oh, you will. I'm behaving. Maybe. Who knows what out in the wild looks like?

It could be you just hustling and working. No, I mean, that's what I think it means, yeah. Me and my natural habitat, right? Absolutely.

If you're not sweating, I know that you didn't go hard in the paint the night prior, you know what I mean? I don't sweat anymore. You don't sweat? I mean, I gotta, you know, I gotta be on a treadmill or chasing some shit or hurry out.

Yeah, I gotta be, you know, moving, thinking fast. I mean, I don't sweat that easily anymore. but um how's that uh how's that knee and he's great this is perfect thanks for asking yeah no problem i was in pain last year yeah yeah that was all bullshit wasn't it yeah i had to carry that bullshit for a little while i don't remember why i was saying i had a broken i had a hurt knee it was a reason i know why yeah it wasn't we don't want to he might have to borrow i don't want to yeah i might borrow your scooter michael around let's not let's not do that i don't want to do I might have to walk that one back. Let that one go.

I'm glad he needs back. I faked it at one point, and then I had to carry the fake on. Yeah, just to maintain the story, for like three days I was, oh, oh, fuck. Yeah, if you watch the beginning of the podcast, I legitimately say, well, Pete said he was on his way, so that could mean fucking anything.

You're good, man. Yes, that is true. There are some stories that you have told me that we cannot speak about. I know, we can't.

They're fucking amazing. Yeah. There's a lot of good times, man. We've had a lot of good times.

It's been a good run. So there's a shop in Del Rey Beach, right? Smoke in Del Rey. And I walk in, and then there's this guy, and I'm with the owner.

" Oh. Dude. A thing came over me. You thought I was a fan of fucking Fieri.

Oh, you've never met Kevin James now. I had never met Kevin James. Not only that, at that moment, it all rushed me. So I'm from Corona Queens, from the King of Queens.

You remembered all the episodes. Oh dude, I know them all. Not only that, because of the age of my kids, all his movies are kid friendly. So I seen them all.

What else have I seen of his stuff? I like his comedy, and you know, I just thought he's an, I mean, it comes across as an all around great guy. So instant erection. Oh, instant erection.

Yes. So, he's at the register talking to a friend, and dude, I walk and I, boom, I interrupt the conversation. I went, dude, I can't believe I just did that. I said, you know what's crazy?

And I go on a rant. I go, you know, it's crazy. You just keep talking and talking. Dude, what's crazy is that my daughter is a huge fan of Justin Bieber and One Direction, and her mother and I have no idea where she got that fanaticism from, and I realize she gets it from me.

For me, dude, I've watched everything you've ever made, I'm from Corona Queens, I've been to the Lemon Ice King a billion times. Oh, you gave him the rundown. Oh, dude, I've watched all your shows, all your movies, 'cause my kids are young and your movies are perfect, oh my, dude, he was buying a box of, uh, when I was repping EPC, he was buying a box of the Inch, and that's my brand, oh my God, I went out to the car, got a box of cigars, handed out cigars like my wife gave birth. I just met Kevin James, here's one for you.

Till this day, I still don't know what his voice sounds like, if he spoke, yeah, he didn't say one fucking word, not one word, right? He was probably speechless. He is, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, who is this guy? Okay, cash me out, cash me out now.

This guy's not gonna kidnap me, is he? A couple days later, I get a full, you get a letter from the card. " What a horrible fucking job. That was great, that was great, that was great, put me right back at my plate.

That was amazing. Never saw Kevin James again. That was it. I did see Guy Fieri at The Great Smoke, he was right next to me.

Yeah. Did you touch him? I kept my composure, he didn't look at me and I did not look at him. How'd you know he was next to you?

He was right next to the world. Peripherals, baby. It was a long line of people, you know. Yeah, they weren't waiting to talk to.

It wasn't like there's a wall. I mean, I saw him there. He was, you know, I don't know if he was a little nervous. He knew Pete was next.

He got a little gun shy. You know. He can't go to the bathroom. This guy's going to follow me.

He didn't go to the bathroom. I remember this last time. I'm going to talk to Jack. I really got to pee, but I can't go.

Hey, listen, how can we convince Guy to approach Pete and be like, hey, listen, I've heard great things. I really want you on the team. Just to see how Pete reacts. I'm your biggest fan.

I'm fucking down. Right now, let's go. I'll fucking kill him for you today. We'll fucking bury that motherfucker.

He'll be dead. I actually do a, you know, a little, like, I probably did five or six where I get out of the car and I tell, kind of like the Guy Fieri, you know, hey, how you doing? You used to do it when you walked in. Right.

And I never did that before. I always did that before he was in the second. I just love the way he... I love how he does things, bro.

I just... I love how he's a dad. I love how he cooks whatever. And I just like the guy he is.

And you always imagine him being that guy when, you know, when you're in front of him. And I understand he is. I wouldn't know. There's a cease and desist.

I'm not allowed 50 feet. I have to be 50 feet away from him. I have a restraining order. Yeah, yeah.

That's not that far. You can still see him. Yeah. That's why maybe I didn't say anything at the great smoke.

He was right there next to me. I didn't want him to call the cops. Call the police. Yeah, I do have one of the boxes signed by him, though.

Oh, nice. With the cigars in it, or? Negative. Yeah, I don't know what the cigars taste like, I don't, you know.

Yeah, I'm sure they're good. Yeah, I'm sure they're good. They're made by Eric, or whoever makes them, yeah. And Eric's, you know, Eric's a good guy.

Eric's, you know. Eric is a great guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

His son, Hector's a great guy. I'm cool with Taranio. You know, all those guys are good, you know, and I love what they do, and I, listen man, this is a really difficult business, and I'm so glad that Erik is as successful as he is, and I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart, because everything he's done has been so difficult, he's worked with Rocky, that didn't work out, he worked with Miami Cigar, that didn't work out, and you know, Ortega, or the thing with Ortega, that didn't work out, I mean, you know, it's been a, it's been a tough go here, and he's, you know, not to take anything away from him, but it's not like, you know, the thing with Ortega, that didn't work out. Mike, he's a street guy.

He's a guy who shakes hands and kisses babies and tells jokes and does magic tricks. He does do magic tricks. Dude, he is hilarious. Few people can tell a story the way Erik can, and he does it in his way, and it's so iconically his.

It's his. The way he speaks and the way that he's hard to imitate and hard to confuse for anyone else. Bro. Yeah, bro.

And everybody does their rendition of Erik Espinosa. Have you seen Who Is It That Does It? When Sammy sings, what is it, a Leonard Skinner song that Eric likes? No.

Oh my God. Really? Sammy from La Polina. Really?

Oh my God. He did a Facebook skit once. Oh, bro. That was amazing.

But he is one of those guys that everybody, I've seen Rocky try to imitate him. I've seen Nish. So that's kind of cool that, you know, other guys are mocking you that way, you know? I wouldn't even know how to mock Pete Johnson.

I wouldn't know how to mock Steve Saka. Not that I would, guys. I wouldn't do that. You would never do that.

No, I don't do that. I do not do that. I never do that. No.

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Eric's always fucking awesome with me. I, like, he'll pick up, we'll have a conversation in 30, 40 minutes about fucking just industry shit.

And like, I appreciate that. You know, I would say that there's probably, I don't know, being this far along in the industry, it's cool to have the friends that I have where they're at, you know, like Eric, like Booth, obviously Skip, Michael, like, you know, those guys, they're all fucking inner circle. Not you two. No, not you two idiots.

I'm talking about like actually accomplished people in the industry. I didn't say anything. Don't look at me. It's BDP.

I wouldn't expect it to get you to say my name. I'm not in that caliber. No, you're, you're, you're a part of my team you're you're you're with me yes so it's cool to be to get that like level of respect from those dudes you know i would have never thought that that's you know that's one of the the cool things but like you said at the beginning of this interview you know the levels of emotions i kind of hit you through pca yeah because there's so many different fucking things right i feel like every year i go in and i'm like all right this is gonna be amazing like Fucking yes! Yes!

And then every year, I get fucking knocked back down three pegs, right? You get fucking people, some people treat you like complete shit, you know. Even with the cool interactions and the fun adventures that you have when you're there, and you know, the conversations and shit, there's still those things, like, people still aren't excited as I am about my shit, you know what I mean? Like, it's just, that's the, the kind of the the fascinating part to me you know and then like i had a and it was a big issue going into this like so pca hit last year and we did the connecticut and i fucking love the connecticut and i'm like this thing is gonna be fucking killer right and it hit pretty well and it had pretty good demand and i'm seeing reposts and all this other shit across the nation like fuck yeah this is awesome and then but like still i still got fucking pelted by some of these guys He's like, help out that cigar, not acknowledged, and like, you know, all some of these top 25 dudes who I, who I'm like tight with, I'm like, hey, fuck you guys, you know, like what the fuck, like half wheel fucking got it right, I got, I got two nods on that, you know, but, all right, thanks for letting me know that I still got some work to do, right, I still got to keep fucking going, so, so now I'm going into this PCA, like, I don't fucking know, you know, I don't fucking know.

You just never know. You just never find out. And you don't know who's showing up, and you don't know who's showing up ready to buy, and, you know, yeah, you just, but we will have a good time. Yeah, I mean, my main focus is always just gonna see what's Pete doing.

Oh, yeah, sure. That's pretty much where I lean on now at this point. Like, where's Pete? Where's Pete?

There are two companies that I'm looking at that I'd like to bring into the fold. One of them, yeah, one of them I thought it was sealed up, the guy hasn't called me in a while, he knows I'm ready to place an order, and he hasn't reached out, and so I don't want to, you know. Like a retailer? No, no, no, a manufacturer, a shop, yeah.

I mean a cigar, you know. Dude, it's a lot of work, and I don't want to work with companies that I have to do all the heavy lifting, you know, you know, where I've got to not only introduce the cigar, I've got to talk about the guy, I've got to tell the whole story. Right. And, you know, and...

So he has certain requirements. Of course he does. And I think every store should have a certain, you know, requirements, you know, that, you know, I think it's just as important for me as it is for you, that the guy has some notoriety, the guy is presentable, that he can, if there's a face, if there's a face, that the guy can come in here and talk it up and impress your guys. And if he can't do it, I'll do it, but I, obviously you want the guy from the company to come and do his song and dance.

The character. To some degree. Yeah, have the face of a brand. You know, he's got to control tobacco.

So you want to make sure that, you know, you don't sell the first go around and then you go in the back order and, you know, now you're in back order for two months on a certain size or don't make 12 sizes, just three, four sizes and, you know, kind of get the ball rolling and he's ready to go and grind because Florida's not like every other state. No. You know, no one's impressed by anyone in this business, you know. Right.

The further away from the sun, you know, the less stronger the rays, so when you go, you know, when you're in, I don't know, Indianapolis, or Kentucky, or in Illinois, we got great fanboys there, but I'm sure that when Carlito goes out there to do an event, or Rocky Patel goes out there, or even a smaller manufacturer goes out there, he gets a lot more recognition, a lot more people, a lot more pop than you get here, you know. I'm fortunate that my guys don't even travel with me. You know, Pete Johnson and Steve Saka, rarely do they do, you know, an event. You know, Aladino, that guy is traveling crazy as well.

So I don't have a lot of guys that I can bring to the dance. And everyone's going to be all impressed on how they are and who they are. And my guys are kind of tired of that, too. I ask Pete Johnson the same freaking questions they ask him every year.

How did you get into this? So, you know, how did you come out with the Monster Series? So, dude, all that shit's out there, you know. Right.

So, and Pete's kind of a recluse. He's not really, you know, he's not, let's see, like Steve Saka, who loves being, and I wouldn't want to, I'm not going to call it the limelight, but he understands the value of the media. And he's a great marketer. He's not even out there talking to customers.

You go to his booth, he's got a chair and a sofa, and he's got everything booked. So if you're going there to hang out with Steve as a retailer or as a consumer, unless you're with the media, he's doing interviews, he's pushing his company forward, as he should be, you know? Right. So everybody has just a different style, and you have, you know, the big guys, the padrons, those guys don't do nothing.

Right. We're still waiting on George to come back and talk to us. Yeah. Well, they're at the show.

Yeah. But George is going to give us samples one time. " I'm like, I was shocked. I was shocked at that statement.

That was the guy in the suit? I was like, yeah, I was like, oh, shit, hold on, wait a second, we might, wait, no, he's gone, he's gone, yeah, never mind. Yeah, I don't even know who makes that. And then we saw him with a glass a few minutes later, like, he just went and got a drink, not even coming back.

Hey, you know what, guys, you know what, go fuck yourselves, I'll be right back. That's what he should have just said. You know what, oh, that's great. At least then we would have left the booth.

Oh, you're an account? Okay, you spend money? Okay, cool. I'll tell you, the coolest thing that happened to me this year, which I knew I had made it, right?

So, you had arrived, dude, I have arrived, so I'm at, I'm at the cathedral, and I'm sitting with a group of guys, and I think Cuesta Ray, those guys were having a sales meeting, and Carlito was in the house, right, and I see he walks out of the thing, and he waves, and I wave, and he wasn't waving at me. I put my hand down. Yeah, but what was cool, he did come by. He noticed that, and he did come back later.

He did come back later, and from the top balcony, he goes, Hey, Pete! And he waved at me. I didn't even know you knew my name. That was kind of cool.

That was nice. Well, he probably sat down with his friends and said, This fucking idiot over here, I just waved to him. Who's that guy that thinks I waved to him? Like, oh, that's Pete Hernandez.

Oh, okay. I think it was more like, hey, keep your eye on that guy. Which guy? The one that waves back.

Hey, Pete! Yeah, keep your eye on that fucking guy. Make sure you fucking pat him down before he leaves. All right, well, we gotta go upstairs.

We gotta do a meeting, so. That's it? Is that it? We're not gonna talk about what I'm coming out with and the different blends and the rappers?

No, we don't give a fuck about it. We don't care about any of that shit. Is there a Patreon? Are we doing a Patreon?

Yeah, good luck with that. Well, that's all right, because I don't fucking know. Yeah, exactly. No one tells me shit.

We don't fucking care. Yeah, well. That's just not important. You can go on some of those other fucking podcasts.

Yeah, you know those, that podcast, that's all bullshit. Yeah, that's right. How about that? By the way, do you have any samples of those?

We want to talk about the real shit. We want to talk about the bathroom fucking fights with Guy Fieri, the fucking, you know. We didn't make it to the bathroom. Yeah.

We didn't make it to the bathroom. I do have another funny story. Check it out. You laughed at him at the urinal, I heard.

I heard he's really big, bro. A little guy here, you said, or some shit. So, I'm in a- A lot of real self, man, with a big dick. That's what you said, or something like that?

Hey, bro. So, I'm in the bathroom, this is one of the other years, right? Oh, a lot of bathroom stories with me. No, I wasn't in the bathroom with him.

So, you're in the bathroom with Kevin James? No, I'm in the bathroom by myself, in my own stall, and I hear these two guys speak in Spanish. I kind of recognize the voices. " Oh, I know, little guy.

Hey, you fuckers better keep it down over there. Alfredo, is that you, Alfredo? Higher names, bigger names. Oh, bigger names, bigger names, way bigger names.

Don't even mention them, because we don't need that smoke. We probably know who they are. I mean, I gotta be honest, personally, I don't fucking care about the smoke. I love the smoke, but I won't do that to you.

Well, not to them, they're good guys, you know? That's their shit. That was years ago. Yeah, maybe, you know?

Maybe they handed it to me under the stall. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know.

Yeah. You know? Allergy season. Allergy season.

Who knows? Pollen. It's all the pollen. Yeah.

It's dry out there. It's very dry out there. It's very dry out there. So, yeah, man.

Thank you guys for tuning in this week. I appreciate it. Thank you guys for waiting for me. Yeah, of course.

And, yeah, let's see. We can put some pen to paper up there. There you go. That's what I'm talking about.

All right. Sounds good. Let's get the fuck out of here, quick. Before we each other get a movie.

The PCA recap. Ooh, that'd be nice. I like that, a PCA recap, sounds like a good idea. You should be a regular on this show.

I'd love to be. Like, you need to kind of rotate in. Right. And say, hey.

Mondays. Yeah. Come in Monday morning and then just kind of fucking hit it. I'm in.

I love that shit. I love, you know. We could talk about like, you know, some shit that goes out on the road, like your last gallivant, what happened, what went down or whatever. You know, they're not as interesting as they used to be.

I'm sure, but there's still those interactions. There's still those comments that somebody says to you just like, the fuck was that? Don't get the fuck out of here. You know?

All right. You know, we really want the monsters only from the Twilight. Can you, how do we make that happen? Just the Frankenstein.

I only want the Frankenstein. Oh, can you get me the Andalusian Bowl? Like, I don't even fucking sell LFD. So a guy, two years ago, this guy called me to go see him.

You're triggered. They want me to go see him. They told me, this one, I can open the account yet. We're done, Barton.

We're not going to open the account yet, but we want to taste the cigars. I want to see the price. I want you to come up here and do your job. Kiss the ring.

All right, cool. I'll do it. It's two hour drive. Right.

Get there. We did that. No purchase. I knew that going in.

Right, right. Didn't like it, but I knew it going in. Did it anyways. Calls me back like eight months later.

This time I'm thinking we're putting pen to paper. This is it. We're here. We're here to do this.

Another two hour drive. I go up there and then we have to wait. But as we're speaking, the son of the owner says, so, Pete, if we bring this in, well, can we expect you here again in less than three years? He said, of course, man.

If we're doing business. All the way through a jab. Oh, yeah. Three years.

Oh, yeah. Three years. Yeah. Right.

And I was like, of course, man. We're doing business. Yeah, of course. I'll come by.

I've been here almost twice now in eight months. And then he throws, like 20 minutes go by, and he slides it again. Because, you know, Billy Perdomo comes by here, and Jose Bolte comes by here, and, you know, Jose Hollywood, and, you know, they come by here. And so if we buy from him, you're going to be back.

And I go, all right, bro, let me explain it to you. This is how it works. We're two different business models. Those guys get paid to visit your store.

Right. Right. I sold you Tatuaje, you couldn't sell it. Right.

I was with Crown Heads. Oh, you went hard in the paint. Bro, I sold you. You bought five boxes of crowned heads.

I gave you five free cigars for each box, and I gave you a hat for each box. You couldn't sell it. I brought you Aladino with the owner. You bought five boxes, and you couldn't sell it.

Bro, why would I come here? Right. Why would I come here? Answer me that.

He just wants to hang on. Riddle me that bad. Yeah. Yeah, so I get a call last week.

Dude, at this point, I really rather not do business with this guy. Of course. You know, they're more trouble than they were. Right, it was a fucking pain in the ass.

And last week they called me. No, the week before they wanted the paperwork again and the minimums and blah, blah, blah. All right, perfect. The best part was that they changed the minimum, the buying minimums, the requirement for this company.

He calls me the following day. I'm ready to make a deal, Pete. I said, that's great. By the way, these are the new requirements.

It's a lot more than five boxes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. " Sorry.

Yeah, it wouldn't amounted to a hill of shit anyway. You know? Right. Yeah, I mean, you know what?

Like, for me, being this far in the industry, fucking, at this point, I don't want somebody here all the time. I just don't, you know, like if, if you want, Hey, look, I want to invest time and energy and fucking try and get things going. Okay, great. That's fine.

That's a totally different thing. If you really want to do that, we'll do that. But I'm not going to make you fucking come in here and put on a fucking show so that I can smoke a couple cigars and be like, all right, well, fucking pound rocks. The thing is that as a rep, your job is, if you want to open the account, your job is to go in there, and then go into the month after, and then go into the month after, and then you, you know, at some point, then you begin to apply pressure.

Right. At that point, I'll break. You like the cigars. Yeah.

All right, you like them. And then you've got to ask leading, you've got to ask them the question. So, there's no room, obviously, because that's the biggest objection. Always.

There's never any room, right? Right. So, what's on its way out? Because there's always something on its way out.

Right. Right. Shuffle. Yeah.

Something on its way. What's on its way out? Oh, I think I'm going to get rid of this. I'm going to get rid of that.

Then you consider, can I help to either buy that? Because I can do that. Right. Or figure out how I can help you get rid of that.

Right. Or try to, and then I'll just tell you, all right, so that's on its way out, right? All right, perfect. I can give you bags so you can bag it up and do a buy three, get one, buy, you know, lower the price or the price and get it out you know just change the scenery where it's at and put it in bags and get it out and then i this is the line in the sand bro so this so the line is here when you're out of that line starts here i'm first in line right right right so now i've got a verbal commitment on your part that we're right and then i'll be back again in a month to make sure right and if you in that month bring in something else new oh my god where i get like a little kid i get pouty I start kicking sand, Ro, I'm like, oh, I don't know.

Why would you bring that in? Why would you bring that in? Yeah, Ro, oh yeah, then that's, I have a hard time controlling all my emotions. Oh, really?

That's, Ro, you brought that in? I mean, did he offer you a free bowl of soup? Why would you bring that in? What makes you think that that would do?

Well, no, the guy came in one more time than I did, but who knows how it would happen? You know, he broke weak, who cares? But then I'll be back again. Right.

And that's how you get in. Yeah. You still go back even after that? Oh, of course.

Well, it depends. It has to. That makes sense. That totally makes sense to me from other retailers' outlooks.

And to be honest, if we don't carry you, then yeah, coming in once a month, I'm eventually going to fucking break. " Right? Right. But we have a relationship.

Right, right. Like you don't have to come in every six weeks if you didn't. " Like, do you want to do an event? And that would be it, right?

Right. So... You've done an event, I've not been able to show up. And you still host the event, and we go forward and everything works.

That's it. Absolutely. It's a relationship, baby. I love it.

Love it. Love you guys, man. Thank you for having me. Oh, it's great.

It's always fun having people. All right, let's go do the meeting. We go. Hey there, everybody!

Welcome to the Chet and Palmer Show, the podcast that's all about middle-aged men and their unique perspectives on life. That's right, Chet. We're two middle-aged guys who've seen it all, done it all, and now we're here to share our insights with you. And we're excited to announce that our show is now available on the Digitent Podcast Network.

That means you can tune in every Thursday for any new episode featuring our witty banter, hilarious stories, and insightful commentary. And let me tell you, folks, we've got some great topics lined up for you. We'll be talking about everything from health and wellness to sex and relationships. That's right, Palmer!

And we're not afraid to tackle the tough issues either. We're going to dive deep into some of the most pressing questions facing middle-aged men today. And we're going to have some fun along the way, too. We've got some great guests lined up, including some of our fellow middle-aged men who've got some pretty interesting stories to tell.

So, if you're a middle-aged man looking for a podcast that speaks to you, then the Chet and Palmer Show is the podcast for you! Tune in every Thursday on the Digitent Podcast Network and join the conversation. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll see you next week.

A Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions or the podcast providers and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Stefan Kevich, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows.

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Show Notes

Join us for an insightful hour-long episode as we sit down with Pete Hernandez, a seasoned Cigar Broker from The Hernandez Brothers Organization. Pete shares his extensive knowledge and experience in the cigar industry, offering valuable insights into the world of cigar brokerage and the nuances of the business.

During our conversation, we delve into Pete's journey in the industry, discussing his role as a broker and the challenges and rewards he encounters in his work. We also explore trends in the cigar market, the importance of relationships in the industry, and the impact of current events on cigar sales and production.

Whether you're a seasoned aficionado or new to the world of cigars, this episode provides a fascinating look into the behind-the-scenes workings of the industry, delivered with Pete's signature expertise and passion. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the cigar business and hear firsthand from one of its most respected professionals.