Special Labor Day Show, Patreon Style Review and Cigar News CHPOD | 611
Episode Summary
For this special Labor Day edition of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast, Mike B.D.P. Palmer is joined by co-host "Triple G Superstar" Greg and engineer Mike Stepankevich for a lighter, chaos-filled show built around an exclusive look inside the podcast's Patreon-only review format. After a rough (and very funny) cold open involving dead remote batteries and a broken teleprompter, the crew walks through housekeeping: CHPOD swag at chpod.com, the "Boycott the Cigar Hustler for Having Opinions" pre-order, and the dead pig mask auction that listener Chris Weiss sniped with the Buy It Now button before anyone else woke up.
The centerpiece is a full Patreon-style five-star review of the Ligador Fantasma from Tyler at Ligador — a candela barber pole with a black foot ribbon and a pigtail cap. The hosts grade appearance (all three give it a star for the clean look, foot band and pigtail), construction (easy even draw, straight burn line, no unraveling of the barber pole), weight (an admittedly unscientific "it weighs in" — with a nod to Grandmaster Poobah Skip Martin's uncanny hand-weighing at the factory), taste (Mikey notes a bitter start and muted early flavor with a full-bodied finish, Palmer praises how the candela never overpowers, Greg enjoys a salty edge), and finally price at roughly $15 a single / $150 per ten-pack. The final tally lands a little over three stars, and the crew concludes it's worth the buy — with some debate over whether $15 a stick makes sense next to the ten-pack price.
Between star categories, the guys work through cigar news. Quesada Oktoberfest 2026 is shipping for the 15th consecutive year — a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Dominican tobacco, rolled at Tabacalera de Exportación in the Dominican Republic, returning the same five vitolas as 2025 including the Bavarian Das Boot and the Kaiser Ludwig Salomón press. They also dig into Corte Madera, California, where the town council voted 3-2 toward a total ban on tobacco, vaping and nicotine sales (including online orders delivered to residents), with Total Wine seeking a carve-out for premium handmade cigars — sparking a long, meandering argument about states' rights, over-regulation, enforcement realities and whether you should be able to buy wine at Target. Finally, they cover Scandinavian Tobacco Group/General Cigar's new Hoyo de Monterrey New Legends sampler, a four-count of 6x52 Toros drawing from Hoyo Excalibur-era staples plus a new line, La Jolla, made with a Honduran wrapper and broadleaf binder.
In This Episode
- 01Cold Open Chaos and CHPOD SwagDead remote batteries, a broken teleprompter and a plug for chpod.com merch, the "Boycott the Cigar Hustler" pre-order, and the dead pig mask auction Chris Weiss instantly sniped.
- 02How the Patreon Five-Star Review WorksThe crew explains their Patreon-only scoring system: appearance, construction, weight, taste and price point, plus a final verdict on whether the cigar is worth the money.
- 03Ligador Fantasma — Appearance and ConstructionPraise for the clean foot band, black ribbon, candela barber pole and pigtail cap, followed by unanimous stars for the easy draw and straight burn.
- 04Quesada Oktoberfest 2026 ShipsThe 15th annual limited edition returns with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Dominican tobacco from Tabacalera de Exportación, and the same five vitolas as 2025.
- 05Corte Madera, CA Moves Toward a Total Tobacco and Nicotine BanA 3-2 town council vote targets all tobacco, vape and nicotine sales including online deliveries, with Total Wine seeking an exemption for premium handmade cigars.
- 06States' Rights vs. Over-Regulation DebateA long, rowdy tangent on local ordinances, enforcement problems, wine at Target in Minnesota, and where the line on regulation actually sits.
- 07Hoyo de Monterrey New Legends SamplerSTG/General Cigar's four-count Toro sampler pulls from existing Hoyo lines and introduces the new La Jolla with a Honduran wrapper and broadleaf binder.
- 08Taste, Price and Final Verdict on the FantasmaBitter start, salty candela edge and full body earn mixed half and full stars, with the $15 single price debated before the crew lands on "worth the buy."
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
do we have glue do we have glue here's Lou we do actually I order okay all right Labor Day Special Edition, 3, 2, 1, go. Welcome to a Cigar, it's still slow. Welcome to a Cigar Hustle Podcast. No, no, no, we should start over.
Why are we starting over? Because it's just not good. It's a Labor Day Special, it's fine. It's not good.
We're going. We're going. Keep it going. Keep it going.
Premium Cigars, how fast can it be? Oh my God. I'm telling you, you should have started this over. It's a shit show over there.
It might be the batteries. Unfiltered Opinions and Conversations. I bought you batteries. Yeah, I know, I just didn't know they were dead.
How are we talking, do you think we can interrupt him while he's doing this? Happy Labor Day. P. Palmer, your host, joined by my co-host for the day, Triple G Superstar, barely alive, half the man he was.
Half dead. And over in engineering, Mr. I got plenty of sleep, Mike Stepankevich. Here I am, well-slept.
From cigars, sports and business, to pop culture, and the wildest headlines, if it's worth discussing, we're talking about it. No safe spaces, just real... This is really slow. Oh, for the love of Christ.
Just real perspectives, big laughs, and chaos at any moment. Settle in. Welcome to a Cigar Hustlers podcast. Special Labor Day edition.
Special. Special. Emphasis on the word "special". Special.
Emphasis on the word "special". For sure. Yeah. This is the part where we just talk amongst ourselves because...
Yes, well, before we get... Before we get into today's show, how do I get some of that CH-Pod swag, Michael? No, I'll do it. You're fucking retarded.
I knew this was gonna happen. This is beautiful. Did you get on camera? Greg, spin your camera around.
No, 'cause I'll never get the shot right. Oh, you'll never get it right. This is my good side. This is my good side.
Hold on, my boy is fixing my remote. Oh, beautiful. Did you put them in the right way? Yeah, I can see, unlike you.
Alright, thank you very much. Still slow. It's probably still going to be slow. Still slow.
It's a setting, not a battery problem. Yeah, still slow. Still slow. Fast forward's really fast.
Oh, my God. It's like the button's broken. Something, yeah, it's turned up all the way. Oh, that's too funny.
Want to make it bigger? com for all your CH-- There he is! He's so angry! Now that's broken!
He's so angry! It is broken. That's why everything's broken that we have. Go to-- you make me break things.
It's not my fault. Yes, you do. No, it's not. Yeah, you do it.
Just because your mother doesn't love you doesn't mean you have to break things. He pictures everything as his mother, and then just breaks it. Oh, my God. Oh, it's amazing.
com for all your chpod swag. This is going to be the final week of the show. Palmer being alive. To pre-order the, what is it?
I don't know, what are you doing? Boycott the Cigar Hustler. Boycott Cigar Hustler for having opinions. So yeah, do that.
And then I launched the auction. I launched the auction. You launched the auction? Oh, for the mask?
For the dead pig mask? Yes. Dead pig. I like that.
Yeah. And Chris Weiss instantly hit the buy it button. Did he? He did.
Oh, he told me he wasn't going to. Oh, he did. He ripped it. But I said, you do what you want.
He ripped that bad boy. There wasn't even an auction then. It's just a... He said, no.
It's mine. I thought you were going to fix that. I did. I fixed.
I thought I fixed it. I fixed it. You didn't fix it. I fixed it.
I fixed it so that if somebody plays the bid, it would go away. Ah. But instead, he sniped it. He just, there was no bids.
Yeah, he said, I don't know. He got it on first. He's like, here's the conversation's over, I win. Okay, so moving forward, you need to have it do that other thing that we discussed.
What's that? Well, I can't say it on the air, it'll wreck the gag. Oh yeah, it worked. Yeah, yeah, you got it, that 100%, absolutely, yes, definitely, absolutely.
As a matter of fact, if that costs money, I'll pay for it, just so that it exists. Stop it right now. I will. No, no, no.
Yeah, that's right. No, I know it's ridiculous. I want this to exist. That's absurd.
It is absolutely absurd. That's an absurd thing for you to say. But in the meantime, yeah, it's gone. So I'll figure out what we can do.
Wow, he's fast. know like i gotta give the guy credit i mean the guy is a is a baller like he's just absolutely he smashes but but he's taking a little bit of the fun away from it for me yeah so i you know we may just eliminate the buy it now button just a wee i don't oh yeah you could do that what you i said you could do that yeah i don't know we'll see we'll see problem is he's up while everybody else is still sleeping he crushed it yeah he he i woke up this morning and it was boom done yeah because He works nights, and as soon as he gets home, he turns us on. Yeah, he's like, oh, there it is, boom, buy it now. , my mom.
So has Phil been wearing this mask or no? Yeah. All right, 'cause I haven't seen him in it, obviously. I've just seen it over there on the table.
Yeah. All right, okay. Yeah, he's been wearing it, and he's gonna wear it for the entire month of September, and unfortunately, it's already... Chris Weiss gets it at the end of the month again.
Yeah, I mean, that's not unfortunate, that's awesome. I gotta, you know, the guy is... We just wait 'til the end of the year and mail them all to him. Okay, just go, give him son of a...
No, you can't do that. His wife will have questions. Why do you have all these? What's going on with all of this?
I hope they're hung up like in the bedroom over the bed. Nice. That's where I keep my masks. Well, yes.
Not in the sex dungeon? They don't have a sex dungeon. Yes, in the sex dungeon. I don't have a sex dungeon.
In the room where he prepares for the sex dungeon. There is no preparation room either. It's that door at the end of the hall. Palmer decided to tell all of our listeners that you sleep naked.
I do sleep naked. Mm-hmm. That is accurate. See, I'll tell the truth when it's true.
I do. Yeah. Okay. And that you go to work naked?
I don't. Why would I go to work naked? That doesn't make any sense. You get dressed out in the parking lot before you come in.
That's not true. You drive naked. You like to drive naked. It makes you feel better.
Again, more lies like the sex room. Yeah. There is a sex room. There is not a sex room.
It has padded floors. It's not a sex room. And metal racks. Okay, so getting into this, this is going to be a special Labor Day edition.
And because it's a special Labor Day edition, we don't have a lot of news. That's a lot of news. So what we're going to do is we are going to offer you guys an exclusive look into part of our Patreon today. And because of that, what we're going to do is we're going to review this cigar.
The Ligador Fantasma by our friend, sometimes our friend, sometimes he hates us. I would say he's my friend. Yeah. No, I'm always his friend, but sometimes he hates us.
That's accurate. Yeah. But you can say that about most people. Yeah, I don't hate Tyler.
But sometimes Tyler doesn't like me. Right now, I think Tyler likes me. That's good. Yeah.
However, after the show, who knows? So, we're going to give it a review. We're going to give it our honest opinion. And you're going to hear it while we talk about some of the cigar news.
So, what we generally like to do is, is this cool, Palmer? Is this cool I'm taking over here or no? Yeah, no, no, go ahead. Do you have that right?
No, this is the way I planned it. Okay. No, it's not. Shut up.
All right, so go ahead, buddy. No, no. I didn't know what you had. No, seriously, I fully intended for you to explain how this was going to work and run the show like you do with the Patreons.
Okay. When you want to talk about the cigar news, I have three stories here. Okay. And I even added a what's the score just in case.
Perfect. I don't know. Okay, so you and I are in tune. Greg's just full of shit right now.
No, he seems a little hurt. You can't read, you can't read his face? How am I hurt? He seems a little hurt.
How's he hurt? He's just stirring. Greg's just stirring up shit. Look at his face.
You can tell. I'm fine. I can tell. Okay.
I mean, I've known him for a long time. I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to help him. What did, why didn't he make a signal? He did, he just signaled me.
While the camera wasn't on, he did. What did you do? You want to know what he said? What the camera?
No, no, no, no, you can't say it. He lipped the words "I am hurt" is what he said. He did not. I'm telling you.
It did not. If you put the camera on Greg, I'll tell you. This is fucking nonsense. All right.
Oh my God. Okay. So here's what we're going to do. The Patreon consists of five stars and we're going to review all of them.
We're going to go through the appearance of the cigar, the construction of the cigar, the weight of the cigar, the taste of the cigar, and the price point of the cigar. So generally, when we do those five stars, it gives you a conclusion as to what we think is worthy. Originally, anything that was three stars or more would win. However, we've learned that there's been a flaw with that system.
So we're going to give you that number, and then we're also going to give you the final star number, which is really the answer. Is the cigar worth the price? So I'm going to go first, I guess since I'm first here right sure is that how you had it set up yes that's how I look at his face man I'm telling you he's hurt would you stop over there you're turning red again by the way of course I am I have high blood pressure I'm like I'm inches away from a heart attack just so that everybody knows medicine don't you take medicine I do yeah you need more apparently it's not good have you met his brother yeah look that's what I give him I live I live in constant And high blood pressure? Yeah.
And his wife doesn't love him. My wife loves me. What are you talking about? She lets you leave the house with that hat.
She loves this hat. Exactly. This is a great hat. It's a good hat.
It's good to see in your boots, though. Yeah, it was a couple days there. Oh, yeah. Oh, thank God the boots are back.
A couple days, yeah. Okay. They still look wet. Did you polish them when they were wet?
No, they're just thoroughly washed by Popeye. By Popeye? Yeah, I forgot how wet that ride is. Oh, you went on Popeye.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I said. You said Popeye. Isn't that how you say Popeye? Popeye?
No. Popeye. That's how you would say Popeye. He first told me I thought he had a problem at the fried chicken place.
Who the hell goes on Popeye and you don't think you're going to get wet? Well, it's just that I didn't remember the level of wetness. Did you not see the level of wetness of the people getting off the ride? Didn't pay much mind to it.
I was too worried about having a heart attack in the heat. It's a wet ratio of like 100%. It's confirmed during itself. Now I know.
Yeah, the thing fills up with water. So were my boots, by the way. It's a great ride. It took three days to dry out.
It's an amazing ride. I like that ride. com a cigar hustlers podcast because we would greatly appreciate the support and we're going to give you some good insider But I'm going to give it a star here. Palmer, do you want to go next, or do you want me to go to Greg?
Oh no, I'll go next. Okay, you're in charge. I wish he would do a little more with the banding, but I understand what he's trying to do, so the foot band is fine. It's a nice, clean-looking cigar.
I, too, like the pigtail on it. I thought that was a nice touch. You could just snap it off and you'd be ready to go. So I will also give it a star for appearance.
Just so that I understand, appearance is not construction, right? Correct. This is just the overall look of the cigar. Right, that's correct.
Construction is next. The next category is called construction. That's why we're talking about the construction. I don't know, I don't do these things.
Well, but I did say that. Did you? Yeah. I was watching Palmer fucking mouth words to me, "I need help, please.
" I'm hurt. He's not upset, he's hurt. Do you have a tissue? I'm crying.
He was very hurt. Yeah, no, I think it's a good looking cigar as well, for sure. It's got a nice feel to it, it's kind of weird, it's kind of fuzzy. Yeah, it's kind of fuzzy.
It kind of feels fuzzy. Yeah. Like a fur sink. Yeah.
Yeah. Sort of. Everybody needs a fur sink. Yeah.
Well, everybody rich like Greg, with the mink sink. In the sex room? Outside the sex room. There's no sink.
That's where you wash up afterwards. You wash up? You don't wash up before? Yeah, that's kind of...
No, he likes it dirty. If there were a thing, you would definitely wash before. In the fur sink. - And then after as well.
- In the first sink. - Yeah. - Double washing. - The leather shower.
- There's double washing. Leather shower. - Well, you're gonna want to after. Who knows what he's gonna do to you.
- Yeah. - Okay. Alright, so what'd you give it? - You gave it a star?
- One thumbs up. - Star. - Two thumbs up. - We do stars.
- One star, a star. - We do stars. - Star. - Okay, three stars.
- That's it? That's all you gotta say? You like the appearance? - Yeah, I do like the appearance of the cigar.
- Yeah, it looks good. - Yeah. - I'm upset that I'm forced to smoke this rather than what I want to normally smoke It's because of the way that I smoke cigars during the day, but that's fine. It's a good-looking cigar, yeah.
That's in Connecticut. I'm also upset that you're upset. How is that the first cigar of the day? It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
I had a late, I had a, well, it was a late start today. Because his blood pressure is really high and he's trying to, you know. I stayed in bed a little bit longer this morning. A lot longer.
Even out. I mean, I was up at 10. Two hours longer. By 10, I'm having lunch.
Yeah, well, you also get up at 1 o'clock in the morning because you're old. You know, I did last night, it's terrible. See, this is why he's upset at you, Mikey. And I have a headache.
Yeah, he had a nightmare about you. He woke up. Woke up screaming. Where's the SD card?
Yeah, right. Woke up screaming. He's not the only one that I give nightmares to, apparently. Ah.
Okay. I want to know what he did when his wife didn't pack his lunch today. Did he get in trouble? Must have.
She didn't pack his lunch. Oh. Hmm. I don't know.
So, anyways. She'll call in there. We'll find out. and then maybe you tell us a news story or you want to tell us a new story let's go news let's do construction okay all right whatever you say you're in charge you're in charge it's got a good draw it's nice and easy nice and even it's not uh it's not tight for me i'm good i'll take a start it is a nice even draw the burn line is nice and straight there's no problems with the The Barber Bowl coming apart anywhere, I, too, give it a star for construction.
Okay. I lit mine a little bit before you guys. Oh, that looks good. That's a pretty good-looking cigar with pretty good construction.
I'm gonna give it a star. Who knows, wherever this road takes us, maybe James Brown will like us again. Does he not like us? No, I don't think he hates us or anything.
I don't think he hates it, I don't think he thinks about us. Yeah, at all. It's funny, we met with his rep yesterday, and I was looking at his product, and there were basically, there were five in the portfolio, and out of all of them, that was the one that kind of stood out with me that I was thinking about. Black label?
Yeah, having a conversation with you about. Yeah, well, we used to have him in the past. I'm aware. Yeah.
Maybe he's the time. Could be the time. Who knows? Did he mention if he was bringing somebody on to help him?
No. Because Paul ran into a gentleman last night at the lounge over by his house, and the guy was saying how he worked for Adrian, and he was going to be covering the Orlando to Naples area. Mmm, interesting. Well, it's the cigar industry, so a lot of people are full of shit.
Yeah, that's what I told him. Like, I don't even know, he showed me a picture, like, I don't know who this guy is. Okay. All right, well, hey, give us a news story.
Quesada Oktoberfest 2026 is shipping. Hey-o! Did I say that right? Quesada?
Yeah, that sounds right to me. Quesada Cigars is shipped... No, no, it's Queez? No, I think I used to say...
Say it, Queez? No, no, I think I used to say Queezada, and I think... Queez? Jack has corrected me on numerous occasions.
Queez? I'm going with K. I need to say Queez. Queez.
Queez? Queezada. Queez. Queezada Cigars.
Queez... It's Queezada. Queezada. It's Queezada.
Lined to retailers. Queezada. So we're not getting that. Queezada.
This is the 15th year in a row that the company has... This is really slow. What's wrong with it? The company has released the limited edition cigar, which is named after the annual beer festival.
Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest, yes. Yes, the quesada festival. It takes place in Munich, Germany.
The blend of a Mexican San Andreas wrapper over a Dominican binder, this is ridiculous. Uh-oh. Oh, but now you're not going to look at the camera. He's going to fix it.
This is a disaster. This isn't working either. Now it's upside down. Now it's upside down.
I love this game. I don't know why it won't go faster. Maybe you should reset it or something. I have.
You took the batteries out. Did you try unplugging it and plugging it back in? It's obviously not the remote. It's the iPad.
The iPad? You think it's the iPad? Yeah. Talk amongst yourselves.
Talk amongst yourselves for a minute. Talk amongst yourselves. Have Greg talk about this guy that he's not allowed to smoke. No, don't do that.
Don't do that. They don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear that?
We've gotten feedback, that's negative? They don't like that? Yeah, they don't like that at all. So let me ask you, because the next question here is going to be, wait.
Yeah, that didn't do anything. What didn't do anything? It didn't change anything. Now this is broken.
Now this is broken too. Everything's broken here. Did you Bluetooth it? Yes.
Designed to be paired with a Marzen-style beer that is made for October 1st. Just keep going. I am. The cigars are being made at the Tabaco De Exportation factory in the Dominican Republic.
Exportation? That's what it says, exportation, exportation, yes, exportation. Exportation. Exportation.
That's what it is. Exportation. That's what it says. In 2026, the company is releasing the same five atolas that were released in 2025.
That includes, do we care what it includes? That includes? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That includes three core sizes of Oktoberfest that are typically released each year: Bavarian Das Boot.
Okay, okay, alright, alright, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. Now you don't care? He went from one sentence, I want to hear it, after that, I don't want to hear it. Well, he thought it was going to be Toro, Robusto.
Yeah, this is one of the sizes that we've done. The Kaiser Lugwig, the Fifth Cigar Salomon Press. Oh my god, he hates it. It's the Bavarian, okay, we're done.
You lost me at Bavarian. That Bavarian Rock Slide. It's the Bavarian Cream Donut. It's a seven inch long body and an aggressive box press.
I said I don't care. Oh, you don't want to hear anything else. He really doesn't want to hear anything. Anything else any further.
Oh, okay. Nothing else any further. Yeah. Gotcha.
Well, look, now I'm giving you a time to reset your teleprompter for the next one. It's broken. It's broken. There's nothing he can do to fix it.
It's not working at all. He would need to ask the robot how to fix it. It's going to take like half an hour of back and forth with the robot. Yeah, we don't have that kind of time.
Magic robot. Magic robot. It's impossible. Alright, getting into our third star here.
Weight. Now this one's kind of easy. Normally we weigh these things. " But we've kind of gravitated away from that.
It feels like it weighs right. We've gotten the feel for them after eight years. So a completely non-scientific process at this point. It's just like, it weighs good.
It weighs good. Well, we're good. Well, you saw him at the factory. You skip, picks it up, goes seven, whatever, and then he weighs it and goes, ah, I was right.
Well, he was off by like point one or two. I was getting the benefit of the doubt. I mean, point one or two is pretty good. Nevertheless, he goes out of his way and he does that all the time.
Yeah, it's like a magic act for him. Yeah. So you're saying he doesn't now, he just wings it? No, I'm saying that you guys might be winging it unless you've spent as much time doing it like he has as when you go like this and then actually put it on a scale and take notes.
I can't say the exact weight, but we can tell if it's light or not. We can say from this point that we have learned from Grandmaster Poobah himself. You know what I mean? Poobah.
Like him too now. He is now... A master blender. A master blender.
A master blender. Oh boy. com. So.
It's called product placement. Yeah, you see that? Sneaky. Very nice.
Would you like one? No. You gotta give Palmer 40 bucks. Mm-mm.
I thought he wanted like nine superstar shirts. Yeah. For your entire family for Christmas. I do need to order those.
Yeah, he never even did it. Christmas coming out. How many are available? Let me get the sizes of everybody.
We'll do that. Just get all those shmediums. No, no, no. We're going to give you a good deal.
You buy one, you can take one 40% off. Yeah, right. Buy one, get one. Free shipping.
Free shipping. Oh, that's good. When we hand it to you. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Well, Steve hands it to you. Yeah, I'll get the sizes for you. We'll do that.
Okay. So I feel like this weighs in. Do you feel this weighs in? I feel like it weighs in.
Do you feel like it weighs in? I have no way to measure. You don't know how a cigar feels in your hand? I mean, okay, this weighs in.
Not really doing well to convince people to buy the Patreon. Yeah, Greg, we need... What do you mean? This is very entertaining for me.
He's over there very hurt. We need $10 in from you. Here's $10. Yeah, by the way.
Oscar Hustlers Podcast purchased these, by the way, just so you know. Oh, did they pay wholesale? Yeah. Yeah, okay.
Pay wholesale. We're not paying full retail. Yeah, we're not paying full retail. It's ridiculous.
Ridiculous. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
All right, so what's your next story there? Next story? Chief. Next story?
You have three lines and then he's not going to want to listen anymore. I know. California's moving forward with total- Move on, move on. I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding. The whole tobacco and nicotine sales ban. Oh, good. The whole state?
Uh, if you leave San Francisco and drive north via the Golden Gate Bridge, you'll enter Marion County and pretty quickly, the town of Corte Madeira. Oh, it's a town, not a county, not a state. Yes, town of Corte Madeira. Depending on how quickly you get there, you may not be able to, oh, because they're going to stop selling here soon.
Purchase any tobacco or vaping products. How can they? " They can do that. Well, obviously they have, but it seems like, you know, it's a free country, I can sell what I want, it's not a legal product.
So it's the state, or is it just the county? It's just one city, apparently. City, it's even smaller than that. The Corte Madera Town Council voted 3-2 in favor of an ordinance that will ban the sale of all tobacco and vaping products.
And nicotine products, too, so you can't get the bags. You can't even get the little bags that everybody likes so much. Everybody loves to suck on a good sack. S.
Food and Drug Association, what have they approved with nicotine in it? Don't they approve the e-cigs these days? That's vaping, right? Yeah.
I don't believe so. Oh, meaning they are used to transition consumers from cigarettes and other tobacco products. Oh, like the patch. Two things like nicotine, yeah, so you can buy, like, patch or gum.
So you could smoke the gum if you really wanted to, right? How do you smoke the gum? You roll it up like a cigar and you smoke it. It's like little chiclets.
Oh, is it that small? It's not the little sticks? No, no, it's not like the flat pieces like juicy fruit. I've never seen one.
I always envisioned, like, the sticks. No, it's like juicy fruit chiclets. I'm way off. I mean, it's not like juicy fruit, it's chiclets.
Yeah, I get it. The Town Council will hold a second vote at its next meeting. If it passes at that meeting, the new law will take effect. February 1st, 2027.
Alright, so here's my question to you guys. Okay. How often do you think the people on council are actually getting laid? Oh, wow.
You think that's the problem? Yes. Is this one of the things where we're gonna kill 'em because... I like this.
Yeah, speeder. Habitual speeder. Kill 'em! Kill them.
Kill his dog too. Kill the dog. Kill the dog. People start doing things when you kill the dog.
I asked you a question. I don't know the sexual movement. I want you to guess. We're guessing?
Yeah. Well, I think the average is once a week for American married couples, so let's say half. Over, under. So you think it's under?
Under. So they're having sex every two weeks? Yeah, maybe once every two weeks. Greg?
I'm going to say less, but I'm going to talk about something serious. It's like, our city, Deltona, had something like this happen. Now, it didn't involve tobacco. We recently wound up having ordinance put in place making it illegal to ride these motor, electric scooter things.
Electric motorcycle, bike things. So they passed ordinance, but there was such an uproar, and there were so many citizens that said no, this is unconstitutional. They backed it off, and they peddled it back. So you're saying the whole city isn't having sex?
No, basically it would be the reverse. So yeah, the commissioners may be less, but the general populace more as they're logical. - Yeah, but what I'm saying is if this passes in this city, no sex. - Ah, yeah, just maybe it's a small city with six, seven people.
- It sounds like a small little quaint city in California somewhere. - Yeah, they don't want the tobaccos. - Ridiculous. - Totally ridiculous.
- Ooh, in person and those ordered online and delivered to residents in the town. So, I mean, I guess they're going through your packages? How do you regulate that? Yeah, how do they, how do they do that?
They have somebody come to your house and check your page. Greg's texting right now. When they leave them on your porch. I love you more.
No. They're making me do the show again. I'm magnificent. I'm so cool.
Okay. I have to put the phone down, they're mocking me. Now they're saying evil things about me. Hey, how do you let me leave the house with this hat on?
This is why, this is why I- They're making fun with my hat. Why did you not say anything? Yeah, why don't you tell me that I can't leave the house with this hat? A report prepared for the council acknowledged that it's unlikely that the town could effectively stop people.
Right. I mean, how are you going to keep the packages? How are they going to check your mail? This is a podcast, and what happens on the podcast is you're supposed to speak.
He raised his eyes. He had the camera on him. " Well, we were mocking his conversations with his wife. Well, I mean, we love you more.
The town would be able to monitor all online out-of-town sales in real-time. How the hell are they doing that? It'd be impossible. It'd be impossible.
Anything's possible. Let's give a discount to anybody who lives in this town. What do they do? No, we're not condoning that.
They start giving out, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For the love of God, listen, I'm just trying to get the heat to turn down on us a smidge here, just a little bit. Just a little bit, I don't need government involvement, you know, come on. - They're gonna request address-based delivery restriction upon adoption of the ordinance.
How are they, so now they're messing with the mail? - I don't know if you can do that. - That's a US mail. - Yeah, I don't think you can do that.
Yeah, and what are they gonna do for the people walking around smoking a cigarette or a cigar? Like are they gonna issue a ticket, a fine? - Yeah. - That's pretty much-- - It says you can't buy it, it doesn't say you can't smoke it.
I had this before. I have 7,000 packs of cigarettes in my house. I've planned for this. Yeah, I've been planning.
I've planned for this. I've planned for this. Wait, did you see my vape collection? Like Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Right. Right. I'm going to make Cuban cigars illegal. Bring me all the Cuban cigars.
Bring me all of them. I have two days. Yes. Okay.
So you think this is a good idea? No, it's a terrible idea. How are they going to police it? It's just ridiculous.
You think it's over-regulation? It's always over-regulation. Do you think you can get wine at that Target? When you just went on this trip with your family, were you in a city that didn't have wine at a Target and this angered you?
Yes, that's correct. Is that what happened? Yes. Alright, so let me ask you this, Mike, because this is an interesting flip side of the coin.
Oh, okay, okay. Don't you believe in state rights? Yeah. Don't you believe that the way that people are living within one state might be different than the desired way that another state is living?
Yes. So if in that state that you were at, and what was it, North Dakota, South Dakota, where were you? Yes, Minnesota in Minnesota if in Minnesota the people got together and said listen this one thing we really don't like I know how do you not know where your family lives? I it's his family not my family.
When's my birthday? It's still a relation. I have no idea. When's my birthday?
I have no idea. It's in July. It's in July 27th No, well it's like it's in the middle. It's like the 15th.
No, but you don't have to know Palmer. Oh You get a pass on my phone. Yours is like September 22nd or something. Yeah, so you got close like I did - September 29th.
- September 24th. - I got it. - Yeah, it took you two tries. - Okay.
- 29th. - I've said it three times in the last week. - 29th. I got it right.
- You looked it up. - No, I didn't. - Yes, you did. - I remembered a code to one of the safes.
- What year? - What was it, two years younger than me? So, 83? - Nope.
- 84? - Yep. - Okay. - Took you two times.
And by Palmer standards, you suck. that's fine back to my question okay yeah states rights like if the state that you were visiting has decided that you know we don't want wine in target what's wrong with that nothing okay so that's not over regulation it is okay well it can't be both bro it can't be over regulation and that's what they chose to do no it can't be both a good thing and a bad thing i didn't say it was a good thing i said the people are dumb and they did they agreed to have this rule about the About the wine. About the wine. But you don't live there.
Right. So what if people in another state said that, hey, we don't like your rule about you having firearms in the state of Florida? That's a dumb rule. Don't come here.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
But we're not overregulated. But you went there. But we're not overregulated. But you went there.
I can get my wine and my firearm and have a great day. You can get both your wine and your firearm. Yeah. At both the Target.
I don't know. I don't think I can get the firearm at Target. It used to be at Wal-Mart, but now it's really hard to get a firearm at Wal-Mart. Yeah, and they walked that back?
They did walk that back, I'm pretty sure. Okay. Total Wine is trying to get an exemption for premium handmade cigars because there was a Total Wine in that city and they don't want to have to change the stock of their store. Oh, that's interesting.
That's totally interesting, like a grandfathered in. That's what they're trying. Yeah, they should. Yes, as long as they strictly age-gated the retail of those said items.
They guarantee no one under the age will be able to purchase it. I mean, we do that already as retailers. Look, it's a tough conundrum here because the reality is that people give up their rights and like because they're dumb and you can't fix that, I guess, without educating them or something, but you know, I don't know. I don't have an answer for you.
I know what you're trying to get at. I mean, cocaine used to be in Coca-Cola. They removed it because of regulation. Good idea, bad idea.
I think this should stay. You think it should stay. All right, so just blanketing. Yeah, I think, listen.
Look, I believe, oh, do it again, do it again. I didn't get that on film. Go ahead. Ray, you rolled your eyes.
Yeah. Did the eye rolling thing again? Yeah, no, I honestly think that, look, like, the herd's a little too thick. You know what I'm saying?
Like, we should be able to just say, like, look, don't do drugs. Drugs are available. You know what I mean? If you want to be a crackhead, go be a crackhead.
He'll be a crackhead. You want to break into my house because you're a crackhead? Now you got a problem, right? Yeah, okay.
But what if, like, the crackheads unite, right? Like zombies? Like zombies, right? Well, we live in the great state of Florida.
I'm sure I can acquire a minigun. Well, there's a certain amount of force that you're capable of dealing with, but let me tell you something. Zombie crackhead militia, I don't know, bro. They overtake the house.
They overtake the house. They have to have some laws, Michael. You think they'll coordinate? I agree with you.
There needs to be some laws. So where are the... Because that's not what he's been saying. He went from no regulation to yeah, let them all smoke crack.
All right, maybe we gotta have some laws. Yeah, we have some laws. So which one is it? Yes.
I don't have all the answers. I'm a guy smoking cigars on a cigar podcast. If you go to his house and you're doing something he doesn't like, he wouldn't be able to kill you. Right, yes.
But if you're doing somebody else's house, that's their problem. Yeah. Zero regulation unless I'm regulating. That's called a dictatorship.
In my house? In totality. I don't want to dictate what's going on in your house. I don't go to your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth.
Stay out of my business. Maybe you want crackheads coming to your house. Yeah. Yeah.
He doesn't know. Yeah, maybe you like crackheads. I don't know. Maybe.
He doesn't know. We're gonna get zero ad monetization on this one. They said crackheads 75,000 times. That's not one of the questions.
Did you say crackhead? Did you say crackhead? That's not one of the questions. Okay.
Crack it. Stop. I think there is. Did you talk about drugs?
Okay. Let me ask you this. Back to the wine? Let me ask you this.
Do you think, do you think water is bad? Do I think water? Is bad. Like in general?
Water. In large quantities? Water. Do you think water is bad?
I mean, like, if it's in your living room, it's very bad. Okay. If it's in your Popeye Wright, it gets you shoes really wet. If it's coming out of the faucet, probably good.
Okay, I'll take it one step further for you. Okay. Do you think sprinklers are bad? Do I think sprinklers water the grass?
They're serving a purpose. So the sprinkler is good? So, no, I think that what you're attempting to do is you're trying... I have no idea where I'm going with this, but go ahead.
I think I do. I think that you're trying to make a statement that a thing is bad or good, but it's not about that. With water shortages, they try to limit your access to water to have everybody have water. Is that where you're going with this?
Not even close. All right. Sprinkler, good. Fire, bad.
Sprinkler is good. Yeah. Okay. Fire, bad.
You like that. Good reference, right? Yeah. I had a conversation with an individual, and they made a comment, and they said, they asked where we were staying, and we said where we were staying.
" And we were instantly judged by our location. Sprinklers. Do you think that those people, that guy, is capable? But again, like your position is that this guy's an idiot because he's saying sprinklers bad.
No, he's not saying sprinklers bad. He's saying that this type of farming uses an overabundance of water, which, in his opinion, causes a problem. Not that sprinklers or water is bad. Oh, he's arguing that corn is superior without the sprinkler systems.
I mean, don't get me wrong, he's an nincompoop, right? Okay, all right, all right, at least we got there. Yeah. Okay, okay.
That's the same guy that said no wine at Target. He made the law for the no wine at Target? Great, great, great point, actually. You just said, right, in my house, you don't tell me what to do.
That's his house. That's his state. Right, that's what I'm saying. So, they all got together and said, no, we don't want wine in Target.
Do I agree with it? Shit, no. I think there probably should be heroin at Target. All right.
Heroin. Crack. Oh, you do? Yeah.
You do think about drugs? Sure, absolutely. There's a drug box. You think there should be heroin at Target?
Absolutely. Yeah, tax it. It's illegal. I read that somewhere, yeah.
Just so you know. But, unfortunately, that's what they decided as a group. It's their house. All right, it's their house.
I get it. It's fine. Whatever they want to do. That's how they want to live.
But we can agree that maybe they need to be educated differently? Sure. Okay. It's the Bible Belt, Michael.
They don't like alcohol. It's the Bible Belt of Minnesota. They don't like alcohol. That is such a Phil thing to say.
He said it the other day. Oh, did he? That was actually a quote. Now it makes sense.
Okay. That's why it's funny. Fair enough. It's a callback it's called.
Very good. It's a comedy tool. Taste. Okay.
You go first. I'll go first. I'm going to try to fast forward through this story. There's still a lot more going on.
The flavor profile is okay. There's a little bitterness on the finish, which I don't mind, I actually kind of prefer it. Retro is decent. It's kind of full-bodied.
The general flavor at the beginning is a little muted. But all in all, I think it's an okay cigar as far as its flavor profile. I'll give it a half. Palmer?
Hold on, I'm almost through the story. There's 10,000 people in that city, by the way. Oh, it's small. Yeah, very, very small.
There's just the one guy that doesn't want wine at Target and the other guy that doesn't want tobacco. But they do have a total wine in the town. And then there's the other one that doesn't want any sprinklers. No sprinklers.
Everybody probably works at the total wine. Everybody works at the total wine. No sprinklers. No sprinklers.
You're by the sprinklers? Oof. People. It was kind of odd that he judged you based on your...
Oh, yeah. by the sprinklers. Oh, you're by that irrigated corn. But you shouldn't stay in the hotel by the irrigated corn?
Do you think that he was actually judging you or his mood changed because the topic came up about... Oh, see? Don't worry, I'm not talking to you. It's fine.
I'm not listening to you. Or do you think that it's just that, like, his mood changed because the topic came up about the water? Can you put it on Greg? He's doing the talking.
That's fine. He's very busy over there. Don't worry about him. He's FaceTiming his wife.
She always calls, no matter what time you do the show. I should spin the camera on him right now. This is beautiful. Oh, what a disaster.
What's the time I have to edit this out? 38 minutes. Oh. Can I take a call, too, while we're doing this?
I had four business calls. Let's all take a call. Let's all take a call. Let's all take a call.
Let's all take a call. I just sent it to you. Love you too, bye. Love you too, bye.
I love you too. Okay. So what else you got? What were you saying?
" I too just completely checked out and don't remember what I was saying either. That's not what you're saying either. Irrigated corn, bad. Yeah, bad, fire.
There are people that live in that state, that great state, and they say they agree with me. Well, then you should go there and rally the people and show them how to live, right? I don't have that kind of time. You should show them target wine, gun on hip, right?
Sprinklers everywhere. Weed everywhere, not necessary. You don't need weed everywhere. But they have it.
You need sprinklers everywhere. Or not sprinklers. I had a conversation with an individual, I had a conversation with an individual about weed, I said look man, there's nothing wrong with smoking weed, smoke all the fucking weed you want, it's perfectly fine, just as long as other people don't realize that you're doing it, right, just do it privately, don't go walking down the street and somebody have the ability to go, that guy's a pothead, right, you can still be a pothead, but just don't have other people know that you have the ability to do that. Same thing with cigars?
No, no, not at all. I don't think so. Like being an alcoholic. Don't let anybody know you're an alcoholic.
Yeah, absolutely. Unless you're me, everybody knows. So cigars are allowed to be smoked anywhere? Well, I mean, they shouldn't be smoked at, like, church.
Oh, I'd love to have one at church. That'd be so great. Why not? You know, Catholicism uses it for trade.
Well, because it's an enclosed building with people that may not want to be around smoke. You can put a smoke eater up on the top of the church. A very big one. Well, they're very high ceilings normally in churches.
It'll be fine. I like that you came after me about over-regulation, and then you're talking about less regulation. - Because your point is, is that there shouldn't be any regulation. - No, I don't, I don't think that's the case.
- Well, but that's definitely the way that you present it. - Just the regulation he doesn't like. - Right, right, exactly. - That's the stuff I don't like, stuff he doesn't like.
- Right, yeah, it's perfectly fine, you do it the way I want in my house. Yeah, this is your house over here in Minnesota, was it Minnesota? Yeah, you all should have wine here. My house should extend to the Minnesota, even though it's however many miles away, but I'm here.
- Because I'm here in Minnesota. So that's the way it should be. If you travel to a different state, you should be able to use the state, the laws for your state. I love this law.
We'll call it the Mikey law. I can see Mikey right now walking through an airport, smoking a cigar, case of red wine on his shoulder for his wife as he's traveling. No, no, no, it's okay. Mikey law.
I'm from Florida. It's called diplomatic immunity. Mikey law. You know you can buy that?
Can you? Yeah. Can you really? And it's not that expensive, I mean relatively speaking.
It's like a quarter of a million dollars a year. For diplomatic immunity? Yeah. And you can do whatever you want?
And you don't actually have to be a diplomat. You have to be on a list. Yeah, yeah, but it costs two and a half. Makes sense.
I don't know. I don't know if that sounds accurate. I don't either. Any country you want?
Can you just pick a country? I don't know about that. Or is there like certain countries where they sell it because it's a money maker? Right, because like some of the lesser expensive countries that don't have a lot of money.
The Diplomatic Immunity. There we go. Magic Robot, Magic Robot. It's like an eight ball.
Use ChatGPT, the weaker of the two. We should use the more expensive. Like when I hit it and it doesn't do it. Can I buy Diplomatic Immunity?
Yes. I love how we always ask, does Claude not have his own service he could use? Yeah, he doesn't. Magic eight ball.
So what do you make fun of me using? No. Diplomatic Immunity cannot be bought. It is a legal status granted to diplomats and certain government officials through the international treaties.
I'm telling you. Such as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations based on their official roles and functions. It is not available for purchase or personal acquisition. There's got to be a way.
How is Claude better than ChatGPT when Claude uses ChatGPT? I don't. How is Claude better than ChatGPT when Claude uses ChatGPT? Give me an example.
If I wanted to look up and see if I could buy Diplomatic Immunity. It says stop, let me ask ChatGPT. Yeah, he goes, would you like me to ask ChatGPT? I wasn't asking Claude, I asked my phone.
Oh, what part of your phone? I just hold the button. The microphone. Yeah.
But that's Claude, isn't it? No. Because if I ask Siri a question, she doesn't ask me who I want her to use. Oh, well, your Siri sucks.
Well, that's why I use ChatGPT. Here's what happened, allegedly. I'm going to start with allegedly. " And then what happened?
It really wasn't on their phone. So then they linked with ChatGPT. Oh. Yeah.
It sounded more like a Claude voice. It's not. Okay. So, taste.
So, when I see a Candela Barberpole, especially for an LP, I'm always worried about it, 'cause I've seen a lot of them over the years, and they usually fall short. Not the case with this cigar. This is a really, really good tasting cigar. There you go.
The Candela is not overpowering, so I give it two thumbs up. You give it a star. You give it a full star. I give it a full star.
Attaboy. Okay. It started out bitter, like Mikey said. I didn't enjoy the first inch, but now the Candela is giving it a little bit of a salty edge to it, which I rather enjoy.
I enjoy when it's a salty cigar. I'm going to go half, not full, because the bitterness is a little bit too strong for me. Okay. And you're old, so I get that.
Right. And I'm old. And you're bitter enough for everybody. Okay.
And he likes saltiness. I do like saltiness. He's a little salty, but not salty. I like salty pretzels, not salty chips.
I don't know what it is. I just don't... I just don't, maybe it's the potato. I don't know.
Did you know that Pringles aren't really chips? Yeah, I know. I like those. Those aren't chips.
They're not chips. Do you know the inventor of Pringles when he died, he was put into a Pringles can? Very good. Really?
Yeah. You know the human head weighs eight pounds? I was waiting for that reference. I saw that movie too.
My neighbor has a rabbit. Is that what he said too? You know the kangaroo has three vaginas? Look it up.
No, no, we've already established that on the show. I know, I know. So he gave it a hole, you gave it a half, I gave it a half, so a two. Yep.
All right? All right, do you have any one more news thing to do? We're at 45. Hoya debuts a new sampler?
Hoya De Burr? Well, it's kind of cut off. I'm trying to position this where I can read more. This month, Scandinavian Tobacco Group's General Cigar Company will begin selling the Hoya New Legends sampler.
are we getting this hmm not getting that either it's a never mind it's a four count sampler with six by 52 Toros from three existing lines and one new line oh Hoya de Monterey Oscuro Hoya de Monterey Rojo Hoya de Monterey Shade this must be the new one the Hoya Monterey La Hoya La Hoya each samplers in MSRP of Gentlemen. The whole sampler, 5 cigars. 5 cigars. 99.
Michael. I'm gonna say $65. 59. What a bargain.
Oh. Maybe we should carry it. There's no way. 59?
That's what it says. The new line is the last cigar, La Jolla, which SCG says is made by the company's top rollers at its factory. It's gotta be $27 per cigar. No, it's a sampler, bro.
It's a sampler. It's $27. 59. Yeah, no.
I'm gonna go look this up. Okay, if you want to check Half Wheel is where I got the story. I'm looking. I don't see it.
Got a Honduran wrapper, broadleaf binder, pillars. It's a Hoya cigar? Hoya de Monterrey. Oh, it's Hoya de Monterrey.
Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. From Honduras. Okay.
Where they don't go. They don't, uh, they don't charge the, um, tariffs there. Okay. Because they agreed not to use children.
Mm-hmm. All you have to do is say we won't use children. Yeah, less children. I mean, you still can, just say you won't.
Right. Yeah. Right. Hmm.
STG says a full launch of three Vitolas in standalone boxes is still months away. But for now, the Toro is offered via this sampler. Nice. Nice.
Okay. All right. Great. You know what the price is on this cigar?
No. I don't think they're sold in singles, are they? We sell ours in singles. Oh, do we?
Do we have any left? Yeah, a small amount. I was about to say. I love our new site.
It's 15 bucks. $15, little man. Um, $15. The 10 pack's $150?
Yeah. Okay. Just checking. It's close.
I feel like I'm pressing it a little bit. Look at that. I saw that face. There it is.
And one more time. Okay. I think that's a little high for what it is, to be honest, so I'll go no. I agree, I think it's a little high.
Yeah. I mean, it is an LP, the 10 pack for $150 seem okay, but $15 a cigar doesn't, that makes no sense. I don't know, you know what, you're right, it is a limited, I think I'm going to change mine to yes, it's just a little smaller, but yeah, okay, I'm okay with it. You're still not?
No, I can't justify that $150 is okay for $10, but $15 for $1 is no good, so I'm going to say it's okay. Okay, yeah, it's like a... I don't know why that just seems fine. It's just like, I don't know, that number and like the sign, I don't know, it was just, but yeah, I guess it's fine.
Greg? I'd buy this again. There you go. Yeah.
Gonna put it in your daily rotation? No, wouldn't go on the daily rotation. It's not, it doesn't have a P with an arrow on it. Yeah.
Oh. Okay. Alright, so, you know, essentially, are you gonna do the math? Three, six, nine, twelve, thirteen, fourteen divided by three?
okay so a little over three a little over three all right so look it would qualify in that bracket and it it would qualify and my leg and and we we said yeah no problem it's it's worth the buy it's definitely worth the buy so pick yeah i would get it if uh if i hadn't already smoked them yeah so there you go plus the stuff for him is kind of fun from tyler yeah it's always something It's different. It's not just like, you know, a Toro cigar. Yeah. And you got to support your boy.
Right. That too. Obviously. Yes.
Yeah. Even though he sometimes like this. Even though he turned me down this week. He turned you down?
Yeah. Not quite time yet. Oh, I'm sorry. Zero stars.
Smoke this, trust me, is not going well over at the store? At his store? Yeah. He never bought it.
He didn't buy it. He really? Yeah. Yeah.
Are you sure? Yep. I remember him saying, it's not quite time yet, so it was April, now we're at September, still not time. I thought I remembered speaking to him on the show and about figuring out how it actually really would work.
Well, that's very interesting. He doesn't have the power yet. Oh, okay. That's what he said.
Okay, well, hey, we hope you all have a lovely Labor Day Day. Thank you for listening. com, Oscar's podcast. And that's it.
Hope you provided good Valuetainment on this Monday. Happy Labor Day, guys. Goodbye. Boop.
Show Notes
A Special Labor Day Show!The crew breaks down a cigar pattern style on the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.A full cigar-industry news discussion — reviews, interviews, and commentary.In episode of the Cigar Hustlers Podcast, host Mike BDP runs from the news desk to the humidor — reacting to the week's headlines before digging into cigar news and reviews. Honest conversation and industry commentary, new episodes every weekday.