A true Sticks & Stories Episode feat. Kyree: Part 2

The Sticks: 

• Padron 1926 Serie - Kyree
•  Norteno, Esteli Herrara (discontinued) -Tina (not mentioned but it's what I smoked during this episode). Available at select shop across the valley including Churchills, Cigar King and Trevor's (while supplies last)
•  Esteban Carreras 211 - Gary

The Story: Within this episode, Part II we continue our discussion on valley cigar lounges / shops. Kyree tells his origin story in learning from "life stories" beginning at 19, amassing a collective of over 43,000 years of knowledge, wisdom and experience from his interviews. He's talked to a range of individuals from monks to  the ultra wealthy at the end of their journeys and there is something common in those experiences. Check out the podcast for more details. 

Location of Event:  

This episode was recorded at Churchill's in Scottsdale, AZ in February 2026

Lounge / Cigar Shop Mentions:  

• Churchills: traditional (there are 2 other locations)
• Cigar King: shop 
• Cedar Room: traditional, great patio space (has 2 additional locations opening soon)
• Trevor's : has food and lively (has 4 locations)
• Magnum’s: Speakeasy (off 101 at 7th)
• Fox's:  entertaining and lively (has 2 locations and 1 coming soon)
• Ambassador's: traditional-upscale (has 2 locations)
• Fumar: traditional, quiet (has 1 location but hosts many events nationwide)
• Puro: (listen to podcast for details), 1 location
• Out of State Mentions
  • Boston Cigar Club (Charlestown, MA)
  • Stanza's (the one I could not remember...lol) Boston, MA
  • Cuban Creations (New Orleans, LA)
• listen to the podcast for more.... 

Cigar Education….

• The IACS’ Cigar Sommelier Certificate
• Certified Cigar Sommelier Tobacconist (CCST)
  
  

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So let me first welcome to Sticks and Stories, another episode of Sticks and Stories. We'll probably have some of that in there. But welcome to another episode of Sticks and Stories. It's Tina and Gary. And today, Gary, who's our special guest today? Kyrie. Kyrie. So Gary's been trying to get Kyrie on for quite some time. Yeah, so this is part two. And this one, we talk a little bit more about the cigar bars and the cigar spots that we've actually been to, how they were, and what we recommend about them as well. And then Kyrie kind of goes into depth a little bit more about how he does what he dup does right now, or some of his businesses, and how that came to be. And so there it's a very interesting origin story. So definitely pay attention to this one. It's a good one. Thanks so much, guys. Dixon stories. Every once in a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Like somebody.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess I can't talk about the stuff at Travers. There's so much drama at this mail across the street. We'll have to talk about that offline, though.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

So now I'm interested.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah, really. Should we say it on the podcast? Why not? You don't work for them. That's true. So I mean, at that one, there's been well, this was in public news though. There there was the robbery where some guy came in and he took bottles of wine. What else happened? There, they found lines in the men's washroom of some substance that was white.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

I know a lot of other places that have had that, and it's not been in the news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Well, that part is not in the news. There's been just a lot of drama over there. Fights over there. At the even at the PV one, some guy, I guess, I mean, this can happen anywhere. Some guy wasn't filling some girl. Or no, it was the opposite. She wasn't filling him. And then so he like kind of follows her outside or whatever, and eventually she gets to her car safely with the help of you know some of the people from the bar. Yeah. But then he goes and attacks his own car.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Smart man.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

I like I like I'm like, what? What? Like, what? I mean, your money was he trying to molest it or what?

SPEAKER_02 2:04

No, he was his thing in the gas tan.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

No, I think that because he thought he had money, he thought that means I can get any girl I want.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

So good for him. Good for him. That is so ridiculous. What a genius.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

So ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Those are usually the most intolerable people to men and women.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

I know.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Guys who want to hang out with you because I think that's the thing. Again, I work with guys a lot in my coaching business. Yeah. But they think that the money's a solution and that everybody's gonna like me and want to be around me. And sometimes they're right is the thing. You'll get attention. You just won't get anything of any depth. Yeah. And that's the hard thing for a lot of people. Very shallow. So you'll get like you can be invited to more things because you'll donate to this fund or you'll do business with this person, whatever. You'll be invited out. But it doesn't mean people people tolerate you more. Yeah, it doesn't mean people want closer connection with you. Yeah. So that feels even more isolating to that because they thought the money was going to solve that problem.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Well, what they can do is pay for counseling, just to usually end up paying for escorts.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

Less counseling, more escorts is usually the path they go.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Well, counseling counseling would help the issue that absolutely it would.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

But then you have to look at yourself. Then you have to think an honest assessment of who you are and what you aren't. Well look and that's a lot harder to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Well, I mean, it would fix a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Or it would attempt to fix a lot of things. Well, that's that's right. Because they were like, Well, what do you think the problem is?

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

And they'll try to make you figure it out. And you're like, no, that's why I'm coming to see you, Doc. Um, so so we talked about Trevor's, we talked about or a little bit about ambassadors. We really didn't talk that much about it. We've been there once. So I do like ambassadors. I do go there maybe once a week. Typically on Thursdays, I'll hang out over there. They do have a members' lounge. So there's two different locations. I don't know that they're gonna get a third, but they kind of have a lot of people from PV that are at this location on Tatum, Tatum and Shea, I think. And so that particular spot I like because they do have a good selection as well. They have a great humidor. Some of the sticks that you can't get in anywhere else you can possibly get over there. Yeah, they have a lot of tatahe, but they have good tatawahi here. So one of the tatuajes that I do absolutely love, I can only get at Churchill's, which is the TAA. So I think you have to be a TAA member to have that or something like that. Interesting. I'll have to ask Ryan about that. But anyways, it's such a good stick. That's I think that's the only uh tatawahe I actually enjoy. Yeah. Um, people love tatawahi, and I was like, I don't get it. And so I ain't gonna smoke something like Aunt Brnoun's.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Tatawahi. Tata sick area. Tata Wahi. Oh shit, you did a Gary.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

If I could talk like Gary, I would I would only ever do that. You should do it right now. I can't wait to be old. I hope I smoke enough cigars to have like the gruff, rumbly voice without cancer.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

So I'm hoping to find my balance there. Figure out how many cigars I gotta smoke. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. So this reminded me of a s of a story of like why I started coming to Churchill's. Okay. Oh my gosh. It felt so good when this place closed down. And I hate that the person I never saw him after their place closed. But I started going to this place. It's called Boliviar. I guess they have one in Los Angeles. They have a few locations. Oh, just down the street? It was just down the street. Yeah. It was only open for like six months.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

But I started going in there, and one of the brothers, there's two brothers who owned it. Okay. They're both probably mid-50s, early 60s. Okay. One of them was really nice. Okay. And he was the only one I ever saw on there. I bought a few cutters, a few lighters. They had DuPonts there too. Okay. But I would just go in there and work on my laptop. Yeah. And it was really nice. It was quiet. Yep. And it was it was actually after I stopped going to Fox. Okay. I started going there. I was just looking for a quiet lounge and it was perfect. I never once saw another person in there. Oh. And I had asked them about it. It was a like it was a pretty big floor and it was super dark. It was almost like uh like a movie theater in there. And I had asked, like, why did why is nobody ever in here? What's in that spot now? Uh I don't know. It was right next to like a pita jungle. Um but I don't I don't know what's there. I don't feel dry past it very often. But it's on the way down to like the Optima over here on Scottsdale Road. Okay. And um he said that oh, we're opening up memberships and it's gonna be like relatively expensive, but until we open up memberships, like we're just kind of letting people in if they want to buy a cigar or whatever. And so I was doing a photo shoot one day with my photographer, and I asked if I could use the lounge, and I said, I you guys get a choice. You do you want me to post about it and like help bring people in? Yeah, or do you want me to like have nothing in my photo shoot show where I'm at and you guys want to stay kind of secretive? That's fine too. Just let me know. And he said, Okay, well, my brother's gonna be in, but he'll be so fine with it. And he may want you to not mention it at all. And I said, But either one of them's super fine. It's gonna be me smoking a cigar, you know, in different like different places in that back room, but no one's ever in there. Not a big problem. So I showed by my videographer the next day and the brother's there, never met it before, and I said, Hey, I talked to your brother so and so yesterday, and he said I could do a photo shoot in here. Well, what's it for? I was like, Okay, you probably should have told him what this was for. Yeah, but I said it's just like for my personal brand. I do coaching and I own a marketing company, and it's just like for me posting on Instagram, it's just me smoking cigars, not a huge thing. Well, how much of the lounge are you gonna show? I was like, None of it if you don't want me to, sir. It's completely up to you. Like I'm being super nice. I can show the full lounge and I can tag you guys online, or I can show absolutely nothing. It can be me in the corner. Yeah, I won't even show any of the pictures that are on the wall. Yeah, it'll be me in a dark corner and not a big deal. And nobody else is in here. Yeah, and he said, Well, we only do that for memberships. And I said, Okay, our memberships open. Well, I don't know. And he totally tried to like big dog this thing. And he goes, Yeah, if you had a membership, I would probably say yes and said, Sir, how much are memberships? And he like gets this. Well, they're gonna be three thousand dollars a year. I said, Great, so if I pay you three thousand dollars right now, I can come in and film. I'm not too sure about that. I I still don't think that's gonna be. I was like, So you're just full of it. So just like say no, that's fine. Yeah, but don't give me a BS reason as to why because if I paid for a membership right now, you still wouldn't let me. So don't say it's because of members. Yeah, I came up there again three days later, closed. And I was like, Yes, yes, yes, yes. Because you're an asshole. Yeah, and I looked for another cigar lounge, and this was the closest one. Yeah, and I started coming here instead. Yeah, way, way better.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

That is crazy.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

I told him I was like, You guys aren't gonna be open for another two weeks, guaranteed. I've never seen another person here. I kind of got mean with the guy. Yeah, he was being a dick first, yeah. And I was like, You guys won't last very long here, and that's unfortunate. This was a really nice place. Your brother's very nice. Yeah, I was like, your brother, super nice, very nice guy to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

That's I mean, that's a lesson though. Like, people have to really be careful who they do business with and also who their employees are as well, because that could make or break a business. Yeah, yeah, very much so. In that case, it probably broke um Noel.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

That was it was just weird that like they weren't even opening up memberships yet, they weren't trying to get people in yet. But you're paying rent, they'd been open for like six, seven months.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

And Scott Scottsdale, right? Scotland just on the streak here. It was Scottsdale Rhine is insane.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

On Scottsdale Road, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's insane. Like not have been cheap.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Yeah, and they weren't selling like I never saw another person buying cigars there. Yeah, it wasn't even like they're not just hanging out.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

So every time you went there, did you see other patrons like sitting there?

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Not a single person ever. It was me and the one brother that I knew. And he would always sit at the front, yeah, and I would always sit at the back if I had a Zoom call or a meeting or something. I put on my little light because it was very dark in there, but facing the back wall so it wasn't like impeding on him at all. Yeah. He would sit in there, read the newspaper, smoke a cigar. I would sit and do my meetings. I would smoke a cigar every once in a while. I'd have a friend come and hang out with me. And I would ask him, Do I need to hit a minimum in order to sit in here for the day? Never had a problem. I would always buy one cigar.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

You are so nice. There are certain people that will come to cigar lounges and they won't even buy anything. They will just sit, they'll smoke maybe their own stuff. And it's insane. And then they'll drink water, they'll drink soda, they'll drink something that's like two bucks and leave. And they'll be there for day.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

A lot of places now will make you buy one of their house cigars. So there's a really cool spot in Tampa I went to called Cathedral Cigars. I I think I heard about this. It's so it's built-in old church. That's what I heard. So it is so awesome. I'm like, you can only buy their cigars. So you are not allowed outside cigars. I don't care. I would do that there. But this is the hard thing. It's probably them trying to overcome the amount of people who probably come in and just smoke their own cigars and don't drink and don't buy anything from them. Okay. Why would you want those people in there? Yeah. As it like you're still running a business. Yeah. And people don't realize that. Yeah. So anywhere I go, I buy at least a cigar from it.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Me too. Me too. I don't just go like even though I say, you know, I'll um get cigars and go to Fox or, you know, stuff like that. I still always buy a regular. I always, but I always buy a cigar wherever I go. I don't just sit there.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

I think it's a courtesy thing. Yeah. And again, like even if they don't have that rule, I'm gonna buy a cigar everywhere I'm going.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

But also they probably have things except in Vegas.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Oh. I don't buy cigars in Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

But they also probably have in most places cigars that you can't get anywhere else, or you may want to try something different, or maybe you didn't get what you wanted at a different spot. And so you just pick up a stick there because nine times out of ten, they do have something that you like in the arremidure because they do have a cigar lounge.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Yeah. I've I've had some house cigars that I paid four dollars for that blow most other cigars I've tried out of the water, too. Yeah. So that's why I I like expanding the palette in that way. Like Cathedral has their own house cigars. They had a honey one that was not super sweet. Okay. It was like, oh, this is really good. And it was just something they make in-house. They have a bunch of the other brands. They have the Fedrones, they have the Davidoff, they have everything else. Um, and their humidor was like pretty big.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah, I think I've seen pictures online of it because they took a they took a long time to open up that place because they had to do a lot of renovations.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

And the inside kind of looks like a hunting lodge. Yeah. Like it's all wood paneling. There's like deer heads on the wall and stuff too. Like it's it doesn't match the outside at all.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah. I think so, like, um, so I'm pretty like, you know, I pretty much like wherever I go, I kind of get to know the people that work there. And so, like at Fullmar, so we didn't talk about Fumar. I like going to Fumar too because they have some brands that I can't get anywhere else as well. Where's that? Um, so Fumar is on 19th and Park side. So it's by that other airport that's that tiny airport over there. So they are clientele. So most of their money they make from events. So they do a lot of events around the valley. They're probably gonna do a lot of waste management events, they do a lot of Christmas parties, any and everything. They look do a lot of like kind of boys' outings, stuff like that, company outings. So their bread and butter is from that, but they do have a lounge as well, and so they're open, I think Monday through Friday from nine to nine, and then on the weekends from nine to five or something like that. So, so yeah, Gary, I was talking about Fumar. So uh we've recorded before at Fumar. So, Gary, you want to talk a little bit about FUMAR, what your experience there was, and you know, if people are listening about how that setup is at Fumar.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

It's like a VFW. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Well the upstairs is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

The downstairs is too.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

A little yeah, but a lot more upstairs because they have all the uh the flags and I like going here because I'm one of the younger guys. Oh yeah, there's a lot of older older yeah, yeah. So it's also in kind of a blue collarish area too. So you have a lot of people that are blue collar that work down or that go to that particular lounge. How do you know that? 'Cause I talk to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

You ask 'em.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Well they talk about what they do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

What are they saying? Well blue collar worker.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Well, some work at the well, there's quite a few that work at the factories down there. Ah, Honeywell. Yes, Honeywell. Yeah. So but yeah, you have wealthy people that come in there too. But I definitely like Fulmar Phoenix. Yeah. So I definitely like it. The folks in there, Moose, he is one of the folks that you know I talk to a lot. He's the one that allowed us to do podcasting there too. Because it's really quiet, especially upstairs. It's super quiet. Nope. Every now and then they'll have events upstairs, but very infrequently.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

They have the table you like.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Oh, yeah. So they have this thick, huge table that they got specially made for that particular lounge. So what else? What are some of the other spots you that we've really not much?

SPEAKER_03 14:46

I don't get over to the west side at all. Yeah. So I don't know any of the lounges over there. I know Torch, a lot of people go up to Torch over here. Oh, yeah, I've been to Torch. A few miles away. Yeah. But really, like I find a spot that I like and I just I go there. Yeah. And here, if somebody wants to meet up at Trevor's, like one of my clients likes Trevor's, so we go meet up at Trevor's probably once every six weeks. We go hang out there. Fox, if my friends are in Old Town at somebody's birthday party or something, they want to go grab cigars, or they just know that I like cigars. Yeah. If they're asking me to meet up and ask me questions or help with their business or something, yeah. Then we'll go meet up at Fox because a lot of them live in the apartments in Old Town. Okay. But I go to Churchill's. Yeah. And then Auggies down the road here. So I haven't been there yet.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

I think Sam goes there.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Well, he's he that was his first job after he left college. Yeah. Was working with Pete at Augie's. Okay. And so I bec I've become good friends with Pete. We hang out there a lot Wednesday nights. And so I like the place, and their humidor is like their humidor is probably bigger than their seating area. Oh wow. Probably almost just as big as their seating area in there. But it's usually Pete or this guy Joseph working in there. The owner was like a big real estate guy. Yeah. And it's right next to uh like a sports bar kind of place. Yeah. Shots, I believe. So you got a lot of like trickle over from there. Yeah. It's mostly cigarettes. Yeah. Um, but you'll have people coming in and grabbing cigars. But if you wanted, like it is the quietest cigar lounge you could possibly want. Pete's also super good with people. Yeah. He'll show you everything you want to know. He uh I think he moved over here in high school or something from Italy. Oh, nice. And um he still has the accent. No. I I mean he puts it on if he wants to. Um but he came over like he's been here long enough, I think it's pretty much gone. Oh, okay. Unless he gets mad, then the accent comes back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

It's really that's usually when you hear people's accent, is like when they get upset.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah. So I'm just trying to think of what else because I think I've been to quite a few. So I've got King's.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Yeah, over by the Scat Steel Airport. King's cigars 38 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Oh, I haven't known. I I didn't even know about it.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

I don't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

What so what do you know about Kings, Gary?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

It's over there by the location.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

The location.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Here's all of my knowledge. It's over there by the Scotts.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I just told you. They don't have any alcohol there at all. Is it beer? You can bring your own.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Oh, BYOB. What's the one off of Shay? Castros. Castro's. I love that place. So I've been to Castro's. I like Castro's. I have one of my friends there a few months ago, and I was like, this is the spot.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah. So they don't have the liquor license yet, but it's a super char spot.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

They said they're figuring out if it's like financially viable. Like, yeah. Is it worthwhile to get the liquor license? Because they're so damn expensive here. Yeah. Is it like, are you going to get that return? And how long and how long does it take and all that stuff? But they have a good selection. And it's a nice little like kind of U-shaped lounge around the bar. And then they have a little outdoor patio.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah. So the space over there is really nice. It's big. Sometimes I'll meet Odie over there because her one of her businesses is over there.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

And so sometimes we'll meet and we'll just kind of hang out. She'll normally have her dog with her. So yeah, that's nice. So speaking of Castros, I went down to the Tempi location. I'm supposed to go to the Awatuki at some point, but I think Piro might be the next one that journey to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

I love.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yeah. So um, so what I like about the Castros here, I do like their humidor. They're getting more selection, but they have a bigger selection, I guess, at the ones that have been around for a while, the one in Tempi and Awatuki. Which makes sense. Yeah, and so they do have Fuente there as well. They used to have something that was very rare to get, but I don't even know who would have it right now. Is the LFD TM Bowl and Illusion Bowl? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

It took me two years to find that cigar.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

You know, I know where to find well, I know where to find it right now.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

Tell me.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Offline.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Because you know, I found a place was funny. I found a little place in Phoenix.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

A whole nothing cigar lounge. I was meeting up with a friend. Yeah. And they had six boxes on the shelf. And there was one out for display, but they had six boxes upstairs. And it was the first time I ever saw them. I bought four boxes.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Now they don't have any. I couldn't find them. And I said now they don't have any guys.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

I've heard that they're only allowed to sell two boxes. Yeah. If they've been there for a certain amount of time and not sold, they're allowed to sell two boxes. Yeah. The lady didn't know any better. And so she sold me four boxes of them because I love the cigar. I mean too. A friend bought it for me and was like, oh, this is great. And I understand why it won cigar of the year. Yeah. Was that 2016 or 2017? Yeah. And I just happened upon it at this little place I will never ever go back to. But it was such a cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

It was here in Arizona.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

It was in Phoenix. Oh my gosh. There's a little rinky dig across from a Chick-fil-A. That's all I even remember. I don't know cross streets. I don't know anything. But it was across the street from a Chick-fil-A because we went and grabbed food. Yeah. Came over to the lounge, ate, and then had our meeting. I'm sure she got reprimanded for that. Good. I'm not going back. I don't know. But they've been so hard to find even still. They've had a few of them here. Yeah. And then Sam tried to get me to buy that whole sampler pack that one of them in there. I said, if the sampler pack lasts more than a year here, I just buy the Andalusian bowl out of it. Yeah. He's like, sorry, we can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

So they had a sampler pack at Cigar. Oh, that's the other place, Cigar King. I forgot about Cigar Clean. So they said. Oh, so Cigar. Oh, you said King though. Oh cigar king, you know. I didn't know what you're talking about. Cigar King. So Cigar King.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Well, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

I didn't know because I still I'm still trying to get to know this place. I've only been here a year and a half. So so yeah, Cigar King. So Cigar King probably has the most cigars because they have warehouses full of cigars. Yeah. And then, you know, they do have some of the harder to find cigars there. Cole is great. He's the owner's son, Mitchell's son. So he's a great. So I always say he's a great sales guy when it comes to cigars. But him and I think him and Sam went to school together. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. And so they all know each other. But um, so they did have the Andalucian bowl, but they also have it in the sampler pack right now. But I'll tell you about the other place. Okay. I don't buy sampler packs. Offline. It's not a sampler pack that I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

There's also what is it, Cigar Emporium or Cigar World or something like that in Mesa.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

That is like a front shop, but then they have the warehouse in the back. I guess they do a lot of online sales. Oh, okay. But you get a lot of like really good deals on cigars. They'll be like overstock cigars, outlet kind of things.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Well, that's how Cigar King, they like if you want a lot of great deals online, they'll they you know, once you sign up on their list, even if you go in person, they'll tell you about all the specials and all the deals that they have some stuff that's like 40-50 percent on.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

See, that's so nice.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Insane. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Again, if you're smoking on a budget, which a lot of people are, yeah, because it's an expensive hobby to have.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

But people I think everybody should like look into that because especially if you're smoking a lot, then it's cheaper just to get a discount.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

That's not the average person that's able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

And I'm not rich, guys. I just have a little bit extra.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

Well's a priority too, right? If it's something that matters to you, yeah, you're not gonna do as much of other things so that you can do your I know, but this is a mental health thing for me.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Yeah. Gary, is it mental health for you too?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

It used to keep me from killing people, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah, I feel that.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

I mean it probably takes a lot of people make up a fake film story. I'm gonna make one up for you. No, we'll have Chat T BT write it.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Right. Feed it a little bit and then and then it'll make a whole story. You know what I want to know?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Yeah. All right, so everybody from your generation What's with all the tattoos? What's with all of them? I love tattoos. Funny, my my wife's grandfather asked me this. The first question he ever asked me. He said, Do you ever worry about getting a job with those tattoos? Self-employed. Don't worry about it. Yeah. So actually, what's funny, her grandma kind of tapped him. She's like, Hey Rob, I think Kyrie makes more money than all of us. He was like, Oh wow. Then then yeah, fine. Whatever. Whatever. He's also like, he was old and kind of grouchy. And so he would even ask waitresses at a at a restaurant, hey, you ever worried that those cigars or that uh those tattoos will like make people think a certain way? Yeah, nobody has a good answer for it. For me, I I've enjoyed the process of getting one. Yeah. And then all of them kind of tie back to something that matters to me. So I have my grandfather's initials, I have like some Western African tribal, I have the state of California with a bear. Um, I have a like a poem that I really like on the inside of my arm. No shit. My first one I got was uh blessed on the inside of my I see it inside of my bicep with mine and my brother's initials when we both got our first scholarship offers for football. Um, I have Atlas carrying the world, I have Zeus and the Parthenon.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

What does the Atlas mean?

SPEAKER_03 23:25

The Atlas is um basically a responsibility, a reminder of responsibility. Like to give back to the world. My job is to carry responsibility responsibly. And I felt I work on masculinity with a lot of people. It's what I do with one of my businesses, and so not seeing um obligation as a negative thing, but as a positive thing.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

And that like oh, I love that. Yeah, you can you can use your responsibility and turn it into something positive. It was kind of like the who is it that was pushing the boulder up the up the hill in Greek mythology. It's like imagine him with a smile. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. So it's imagine him and he's smiling the whole time. Like, yeah, can you handle responsibility and actually be um emboldened by it and it's like bearing the cross make it a possible, like a positive thing? And so for me, it was like the the weight of the world, whatever that is, for you. Yeah, can that be something that you actually enjoy and that yeah actually works for you? So for me, as a leader, as a father, as a husband, I shoulder the responsibility with joy. Yeah, and so that's kind of the point of this one.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

And then I just wanted to you're like Gary, you're like an old wise man inside of a young guy's body. I found out with a bunch of old wise men and a bunch of old dummies, and it's well Gary's a wise man though, yeah. Even though he jokes a lot and kids a lot, he's a very wise guy.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

You can tell, you can tell these people a lot, and usually they're the quieter people who aren't trying to give you all the information all at once. Yeah. Um, but I interviewed I've interviewed a bunch of people. I've always kind of been, let's say, mature from my age.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Um but I started you were you were like an old young man.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Yeah. At 19, I started interviewing people. I've interviewed over a thousand people now, and I want it was to gain life experience, it was to figure out who I am uh based on other people and what did people do right, what did people do wrong, what ended them happy and Kyrie?

SPEAKER_00 25:10

That's cheating.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

I know it was. I actually calculated it was about 43,000 years of life experience that I got through those interviews. Damn. I took about the average age of the person I interviewed.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Uh it was about 43 years old on average. Okay. I did end-of-life interviews. I interviewed 65 terminally ill patients. Wow. Um, I've interviewed monks, billionaires, homeless people.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

What did you learn from the end of life people?

SPEAKER_03 25:32

Oh my gosh. It was the saddest thing. But I realized that I got such a different story out of them than the nurses, than their families, than anybody else, because I was 19 and I was curious. Oh my god. And I just want to learn. And they don't have to prove anything to me. No, they know that they're kind of at the end. These people were all terminally ill. A few of them like died within a week of me interviewing them, or a few weeks of me interviewing them.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

And um did you share that stuff with their families?

SPEAKER_03 25:58

I didn't know their families. Oh, and some of them like weren't speaking to their families. There was a guy who made over a half billion dollars throughout his life and hadn't seen his sons in 12 years. Oh my. He had met two of his grandchildren out of like nine, and he had met none of his great-grandchildren. He was like 82 or 83 years old, and he died five days, I believe, after I interviewed him. Okay. And I was one of four people at his funeral. Was he a happy guy though? Not at all. I didn't think so. No, I watched I sat with him for about seven hours, and he was like, You're seeing a man who's gonna die empty. And this is one of the last meaningful conversations I'll ever have. And again, I had no idea I was 19 years old. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just wanted to learn and I was curious. Yeah. And so because I was a kid, people were way more open with me. Yeah. And and a lot of times I would get people to tell me things that they never told their spouse, never told their children, never told so a lot of it was regret at the end of life. Yeah. Just because they're thinking about all the things they didn't do and all the things they weren't able to become.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

So, how did you were you like a volunteer or how did you come to interview people like that?

SPEAKER_03 26:56

Kid. And I was curious. So I started off with friends and family.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

Um, I set out to interview 20 people. Okay. And I got obsessed with it. What makes us who we are? Why did we become this? Whatever that is, yeah, whatever stage in life, why did we become this person? Yeah. And it was all based on stories we tell ourselves about our life experiences. And now what a lot of what I do is help people change those stories. So any story that has a negative outcome, can you change your relationship with what happened to change how you view yourself because of what happened?

SPEAKER_02 27:25

So that's why I listen to them all of that.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

I remember, so you know, just to mention something that's kind of similar. I remember when I attended this church in in Boston, so I would go and I would have what do you call it, like Bible class, or they call them small groups there. So with people that were, you know, working at MIT, rocket scientists from Lockheed Martin, wow, stuff like that. But they didn't talk about that at Bible study, obviously, because we were like it was Bible study.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

And it was like super chill, you know. Um, and they even brought beer and wine to the thing. And you know, being from Chicago, that never used the body of Christ, okay? Well, the blood of Christ. I know, but being from Chicago, that was never a thing.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

And beer is made from wheat, which would be the body of Christ, like the bread. That's what's up. So really it's a religious experience.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

That was it was so it was insanely.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

That's what I always shared.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

But I remember, I remember I was talking to one of the assistant pastors during one of the small groups, and I said to him, I said, Look, you know, I have a problem, you know, forgiving and moving on and still being in a relationship with people that have wronged me. He was like, Well, God never said anything about you continuing that relationship. And he was like, Forgive and move on. I was like, and it was forgiveness is for you. It was right, and it was such a release in that moment. I was like, Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:43

It's hard until you hear somebody say it, it doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

And a lot oftentimes you can't get to it on your own. Yeah. You have to have had somebody put it to you in the right words at the right point in time, because there's a time at which you would have heard that and still been like, nah. Yeah, no thanks.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

That's not right.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Yeah. So so you what did you get out of interviewing the monks?

SPEAKER_03 29:06

That the that that's something that most people shouldn't aspire to because it it removes like it solidified for me that we shouldn't be detached from everything. We should prioritize what we're attached to. Okay. And so I got that extreme. Okay. I got the extreme of you created detachment from anything, from money, from happiness, from personal connections, from anything else. Your job is to serve in this way and be uh thoughtful. And your job is to reach enlightenment, which is the extraction of anything that you're supposed to care about. And so you don't actually care about anything because everything is so much further into the spiritual realm, and that gives you access to that because you don't have any worldly attachments. Okay. And again, it just as I've been listening to this guy, while I can respect his experience, I was like, that doesn't sound like anything that I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

And I also saw the other side where everybody cares so much about every single thing that you end up drowning and also like losing pieces of yourself along the way because everything is for everybody else. Yeah. That's how I realized that the goal, at least for me, and what I believe to be true for most people, is find the right things to care about, find the right attachments to have, and then give everything you have to those attachments and learn how to clear the way of all the clutter.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Yeah. You sound like a counselor.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Sometimes. Sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

So I remember my experience with a monk. I was in Japan in school a long, long time ago. Long, long time ago. I was 21. And I had gone to Sato Island, and the bus schedule had changed. We were riding a bus to get to this. We were going to visit different sites around Sato Island there. And the bus schedule had changed. The bus was never going to come. And so this monk and another lady from that uh is it monastery that they they're at, and they had passed us in the snow and because it was snowing. And we were just walking and we were like, well, I guess we're gonna walk to the next site. And then all I could think is they're gonna find my little black body remains in the snow of Japan. And so they stopped, they came back and picked us up. And I remember taking a picture. I had this Buffalo Bills pullover on or whatever, with uh I just look so hood with this rag on top of my head or whatever, and it was blue, so blue, blue, you know, red, white, and blue that I had on. And I took a picture with the monk. I just looked like this little ghetto girl with the monk and this other lady and this Japanese girl with Americans. I was like, that is so American of me, right there. But yeah, that was super cool. So they, you know, came back, rescued us out of the snow, and took us to the next site, and then after that, I think somebody else took us, you know, to the bus stop so that we could get back to the main island. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

Cool to talk to. Say what? Were they cool to talk to?

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yeah, yeah. They're like pretty much like, Why are you out here in the snow? Yeah, but they knew perfect English.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Yeah, yeah. Well, they have to for their like ministry things. Like they go out and and their first half of the day is all like public service. Yeah. And so they have to because they're interacting with new people all the time. They probably also have a lot of tourism to their places. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

I'm like, but on Sato Island, I mean, they pro there's like plenty of Japanese people, natives that they don't really necessarily need it, but you know, for the service, probably, like you said, yeah. What what has been like your most impactful interview, I guess? I mean, I know it's still developing because you continue to do it as your work.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

Yeah. Well, probably that guy, Frank, that um if he had prostate cancer, made all the money that you possibly want. Okay. And I I always ask people, especially in the end of life interviews, if you go back and change one thing in your life, what would you change? And he said, Can I have three? And in my head, I'm like, Yeah, dying man's wish. Yes, you can have three, sure. And he said, I I would have shown up to at least one of each of my son's baseball practices because I think that would have made a difference or started me making a difference. Okay. He had never shown up to a single one of their practices. He went to one of their weddings, he went to one of their college graduations and had shown up kind of with nothing else. Yeah. And he in his mind, and in that generation as well, me being the good father is me providing financially. And so he went out and made all the money. Yeah. But then ends, you know, at the end of his life, he's not the father anymore. Yeah. He's not the anything else anymore. He's just a sad old man. And not I don't want to say just a sad old man in that like he didn't have all the experiences that he had had. Yeah. But when he had to summarize what his life had been up to that point, he was not proud of any of the things that he had done. Okay. Because he hadn't done the most important things, but he didn't realize they were so important until it was too late. His sons were already out of his life, and his sons already decided they didn't want anything to do with him. It was on his fourth wife, and none of them were uh had died. They all had divorced him for pretty much the same reasons. Okay. He had his job was to provide financially, and what he told himself is this is just what I am.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

But I have a video that I I have coming out soon about this of like I think the goal, if you're wanting to be successful, is be a family man with a business, not a businessman with a family.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Like one of them has to come before the other. Most people do is they put the the wrong one first.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

The business first.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Yeah. Which which feels good in your 20s.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

And leaves you completely empty, I think. As I've seen multiple times at the end of your life.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Wow. So Kyrie, where can we find your um do you so you have a podcast?

SPEAKER_03 34:21

Not really. Um video sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Okay. So where can we find information about the things that you want to promote?

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Instagram is it easiest just at Kyrie, K-Y-R-E-E on Instagram. My better purchases. I bought my my name on Instagram. Um I have a course that is helpful. It's it's around identity, especially for young men that I that I work with. Um, a lot of times it kind of goes back to these stories that we tell ourselves, and that's who you've become. This collection of stories that you've told yourself have happened.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

But so much of the attachments from those stories are things that you didn't choose. Okay. It was given to you by your parents or by somebody else. Yep. And you have to first go back and analyze how did I become, who else, who I am right now, whose script am I running? Who has actually told me that I am this way? And start questioning a lot of those things. Yeah. And then who do I desire to become? So that you have to have the self self-authorship at that point to say who do I desire to be from now on? And then how do you craft that? And then how do you go take that and interact with the world differently?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

So, like reprogramming.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

Yeah, yeah. Essentially.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

Yeah. So I that's the biggest thing that it does. But I've got a bunch of free stuff. I've got a bunch of podcasts that I've been on. I'm trying to do a video a day right now, like a real or a YouTube short. Okay. Um, every day right now, uh, since the beginning of the year. So I've got a lot more video content that I'm kind of working on and okay, doing a little bit better at. I'm gonna be starting a newsletter, um, kind of like longer form writing stuff for the next month or so.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

All right.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Um, yeah, Instagram's probably the easiest.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Okay, awesome. Gary, more questions for Kyrie before we wrap up this edition of Sticks and Stories.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

I like the end-of-life stuff. But I don't know what to ask. I did find out though one thing though. I just we're doing the right. We're just towards the end. Yeah. Life is like a toilet paper roll. The shorter it gets, the faster it goes. Damn. Damn. I mean, I just discovered that the other day and go, oh shit. So I'm always amazed. At uh what you put out. Thank you, man. Not very many people amaze me. So you've done good. Really good. Trying. Yeah. Trying my best.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Sorry, you're running the bed ones. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Okay, I'm trying. I but I so much of it was learned from what people did wrong. Yeah. I think about the Bears team bears book. I've made a video on this too. Uh, how to ride a bike. Okay. The son gets a bike for like Christmas or something, and uh he wants to go ride it, and the dad's like, no, you don't even know how to ride it. Let me tell you how to do it first. And then the dad goes and does all the things wrong. Yeah. And at the end, the son has to save the dad by riding the bike, and then the dad's like all beaten up and bruised riding on the head of the bars. And I I view my life oftentimes similar with my own dad, but then also for so many other people. Yeah. I've learned a lot of things to do right by just seeing them done wrong. Yeah. And then I get to decide what do I believe does this better? What would achieve this same outcome with all the things that they've sacrificed on the way there? So, like, make a lot of money. These guys have sacrificed everything else that mattered to them in pursuit of money. How do I achieve a level of success without having to give up these things that are actually gonna matter so much more? Yeah, so a lot of what this is and what people see now, and again, I started this at 20. So I was getting all of that when I was 20 talking about these things of like, why is this important? Like, go party, go have fun with your friends, go do this other thing. And nothing else has really mattered all that much, uh, as much as I want to learn about people. I want to learn why we become who who we become in life. Yeah, um, so it's just a continuation of that. Now I get to like actually have an impact on people before it was my curiosity that kicked it.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Yeah. Well, that's that's great. Um, so we're gonna end this edition of Sticks and Stories, Kyrie. We can have this conversation all day long because you sound like you have a gazillion stories, but you have stuff to do, and um Gary doesn't. I don't really. I I just want to eat my food. Um it's getting chilly back here, but it was really hot when I first got here. So this kind of feels good though. Um, so that's it. Thank you so much, Kyrie.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Yeah, thank you guys for having me on. Really, thank you. This is fun. Thank you guys. Oh, and there you go. With a dad. Hi about that.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

Now I know my buttons. Thanks. Thank you. Bye.