We Got The Connect: w/Troy and Ron of Cigars & Coffee Co.

Sticks: 

• Wise Blood by ATL Cigar Co (formerly distributed by Luciano, but ended in 2024 ).  For the podcast table.  Facings usually follow local figures in great Atlanta. 
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado HVA
  • Binder: Ecuadorian Connecticut
  • Filler: Three Nicaraguan regions
• Vartan Reserva Special , Davidoff . Special blended by Vartan Seferian owner of Ambassador Fine Cigars in PV and Peoria, AZ. Troy started with this one! 
• Tatauje Escasos . Cigar Livia had second and noted that Ambassador's has one of the largest facings in the Valley. Even so, they are a Davidoff and El Septimo lounge. 
• Cigars & Coffee, Maduro Box-pressed.  Connect with Troy or Ron online for details on access to their boutique blends. Troy's second smoke. 
  
  

Stories: 

• Troy and Ron share when they first began, and how they became a part of the smoke community. 
• Troy talks rolling cigars and also displays his practice on social. 
• Ron and Troy talk top 5, Livia adds her top five picks and Tina's top 5 turn into top 5 with 5 honorable mentions. 
• Uh, oh.. we talk cigar buzz shops opening and closing in the Valley and more!!! 

This episode was recorded Ambassador Fine Cigars in Paradise Valley - Arizona. 

Other cigar lounges & events mentioned:

• Royal cigar lounge, San Diego CA

Events

• Cigar & Coffee Meet: Thursday, May 7 at Torch 

 
lounge

Transcript

0:00

Oh, okay. Okay. Absolutely. I'll take it. Okay, so welcome to the next episode of Sticks and Stories. This is Tina. And today I have a special co-host, Livia. I kept telling you guys that I was gonna have Livia on, but she's gonna help me out today. And we have, today, Troy and Ron of cigars and Coffee meet Cigars. Cigars and Coffee Meet. Yes. Oh, good. So thank you guys so much for being here. All right. So we're gonna get into it. So usually, on this, for six- sticks and stories, we normally first talk about, like, you know, how you got started smoking cigars. And then we'll talk more about your business and some of the events that you guys have coming up. So whichever one wants to start. Appreciate you. You wanna go first or I'll go first? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, more importantly, thank you guys for having us. This is cigars and coffee. We, what do you wanna know again? My apologies. Well, yeah. So you can talk a little bit about, so a lot of times what we'll do, we'll talk about how you got started smoking cigars. Okay. And then,, we also go into the sticks that we're smoking as well because, the people like to know what we like- Gotcha. so that they can try it as well. So yeah, whenever you're ready. Yeah. So we, I, we tell the story to everybody. Oh, she was saying yours. Your story when you started. Oh, when I started smoking? Yeah. Yeah. Um, hmm. My senior year of high school, my first cigar- Oh, okay. my prime night, I wanted to be super cool and then stand out and I'm like, if I grab a cigar, I'ma fucking kill a game. Yeah. Nobody could top that. Did you, did you have one, were, were you doing the senior stuff, like, they're doing now with the helicopters and stuff? I don't think- I had, I had to skip one of the problems. I can only do one. I'm like- I drove my mama's car. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I drove a PT I think it was a PT Cruiser. I think I drove my, my- Oh, dear. My apologies. My apologies. Yeah. I drove like a PT Cruiser, like my, I think it was my junior prom, but, but yeah, my first cigar was a cigar gas, so a cigar from a gas station. I think I paid like, probably like seven or eight dollars for it. And I just had it in my hand all the way through prom. Yeah. And everybody thought it was the coolest thing. You got to, I'm, I'm a kid from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm from the hood. So seeing somebody with a cigar, you only thought of people who smoked cigar, you thought they was elevated people, you thought they was, you know, just a different level of like echelon of person. So me having that cigar, it was almost like me kind of representing myself in the future. Yeah. And so that's how I kind of got started with cigars and it kind of, you know, kind of went from there and then you know, every once in a while I have a cigar and, you know, after college I really started to pick up like my smoking habits. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. My story, I mean, so everybody that knows me knows I don't drink, I don't smoke anything. Like I had never tried anything ever and I like- Yeah. always have like a strong personality towards not doing anything. But cigars was always something like, you know, I was a big Scarface fan as a kid, I was, you know, every, every cool person in every movie growing up was like, I'm like, man, one day I do, I think I want to smoke though. I think I want to have a cigar and yeah, I went to, when I moved to Arizona, it's been about what, eight years now. So I, I went to a Cardinals game with a bunch of gentlemen and they were, you know, doctors, lawyers and they were a little bit older, probably, quite a bit older than me, 20 plus years older than me and I'm hanging out with the guys and we went to the Cardinals game and they said after the game, he's like, "Hey, we going, we going to Fine Ash." I'm like, "What's that? And so we go, we go to Fine Ash, I sit down and I'm like, "Oh, okay, okay. Uh, yeah, I don't know how to do that. And so I'm just sitting there watching everybody and that's the thing about the cigar culture, like, you know, everybody made me feel welcome and they're like, "Man, let me take you to the humidor. Let me, let me get you right." And I'm like, and me, I'm always like, "Nah, I don't, I'm not drinking. I'm not doing this and I'm not doing that. Yeah. And I think it was like the one time I'm like, okay, actually this is something I really wanted to do for a long time that I never would have, you know- Yeah. done. And so I went in the humidor, he picked me out of Perdermo. I remember it like yesterday, it was the 12 age, and, the 12 a- 12 year, 12 year age, stick and it was,- Was that the champagne? It was not the champagne. It was the vintage- 'Cause a lot of people do start them- They typically do, but it was like the, it's, it's the black rapper with the red on it. It's, uh, but I don't, it's really actually, they don't really have it in many lounges that I find it. But, um, yeah, I started smoking it and, and, they, you know, definitely made me feel open to it and didn't, you know, make me feel weird about it. I got about over halfway through the stick, took it home, sat on the balcony and I'm like, "Oh yeah, this is my thing." This is, this is what it is. Yeah, I was like, this is my thing. I, I smoked it at home by myself. I said, "Oh yeah, this is, this is for me. I said, "This is what I like. And, uh, yeah, a little trial and error. Sometimes I went a little too fast, got a little dizzy in the first couple times, but then over years, it's been my thing. I, I love it. I love it like, like no other. This is my favorite, you know, favorite hobby that I have, honestly. Mine too. Yeah. I would say, like you guys moving from a different city because I've lived, of course, now here, I know Olivia is, lived in different places too and then, I was, grew up in Chicago slash the suburbs too. Mm-hmm. So I lived in both. And then, I did not know that. Hmm? Yeah. You know I'm from Chicago. Oh, that's what's up. Yeah. Um we'll talk, we'll talk offline. Um, so also I lived in Boston because, you know, my, I work in healthcare, so, um- You got more of a Boston like vibe to- Yeah, she does. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I lived there. I lived in Boston and then I also lived in Virginia, but so, and now I'm here, but what I will say is that smoking cigars has been kind of the way in to the environment, right? And so I don't really have to go out in the wild. This is to me not the wild. Like coming into a cigar bar is not the wild. It's like these are my people. Mm-hmm. And so like just like you, finding that, oh yeah, this is it. Mm-hmm. That's, that's what I found in smoking cigars, so. Yeah, for sure. Because I mean, a lot of times, you know, it's either too wild, like you said, but this is your wild, like, you know, being able to have A lot of us, like for myself, I have a very fast paced life. Yeah. And this is one thing that allows you to like sit down and be in your moment and be in your feelings and calm down. Yeah. Like it's always run, run, run, run, run. Yeah. But this is like something that's way different than any other thing that I've had because I've always, sports have been my reprieve, but that's still running literally. Yeah. It's a, it's a controlled environment. Yeah. You can control it. That's true. You know, you know, anywhere else, it's, it's out of your control. Yeah. Yeah. So Olivia, so do you want to talk about like when you first started smoking cigars a little bit? That's embarrassing because I have been smoking cigars. You can talk into this one. All the time. My first, my first, cigar was Hemingway. Oh my God, you had a great cigar. Yeah. Forte. Fuente. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that was, um, I don't want to age myself, but that was like in the 2000, like 1999, 2000 and I was just in, Palm Springs actually, hanging out and some of my friends were like, "You want to try this? I'm like, "Okay. Didn't know that you didn't inhale." Mm. And, um, that was, eve though it was a good cigar, but, They always say that it was interesting after that. Mm-hmm. Um, but then after that, they like showed me how to properly smoke a cigar and I was like, okay, I got this. I picked it up pretty quick. I'm from San Diego, so I actually went back and forth. I'm still in San Diego and here, so- What part of San Diego? La Jolla. La Jolla. Okay. Yeah. Nice, nice. I lived in Spring Valley, lived in- Oh, yeah.- So your cousin or your, yeah. Yeah, I lived in, right there, by Boy Park, so yeah, I'm, yeah, I love San Diego. So I'm right Case Sessions, right behind Case Sessions Park. Gotcha. My house was right there on Thunderbird and, so I was born and kind, I was kind of raised there when I was, elementary school, we moved to Alaska because my father was a business owner, owned a construction company and so it started booming. And so we moved to Alaska, made a bunch of money, and then we moved to Seattle because the boom went to Seattle, so we went there and then- Wherever the money, yeah. Right. And then it started booming in Northern California. So my family moved up there and then by that time it was college, so I went down to San Diego State and- Oh, dope. Went back home pretty much and lived with my cousin and, um, so I just stuck there. Mm-hmm.. And then how I ended up here is I have twins and they go to college here. So one goes to U of A and the other one goes to Arizona. Oh, that's the boys or girls? Crazy rivalry. Oh, they're twins. They're boy and girl. Oh, I'm a twin.That's why I asked. No way. Fraternal or identical? So I have a girl twin. Yeah, she's like five four. Oh. What? Yeah, I'm almost- Because you're tall. I'm like six four and a half. Yeah. Wow. Crazy. Are your twins the same way? No. Mikey's, Mikey's a tall, yeah. She's five seven like me and then Mikey's like six two I think. Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah. Oh wow. So y'all fought like cats and dogs, huh? For a while? Yeah, yeah, but yeah she's- but real close though, got that twin bond. Yeah, that's, she's beat the crap out of me. Yeah. She won all the fights growing up. Chloe two, he got mad. I feel like she right. I feel like she would've been. Chloe was the same way. The girls are fiery. Yes, they are. Oh wow. Well, I love wins. I used to steal all the food, so that's why I'm sure she got a good reason why. Oh my God, she blames Mikey the same thing. Did you throw it on my food? That's why I came out so little. Girl by. She, no, she gotta hang that part up. So, so big question, did you, did you throw up on that first time? Yes. Okay. Not only throw up. It was like a different, it was a real interesting issue. Got you 'cause she, she jumped away from that part. That's why I wanted, I wanted to get that clarified. No, did not. I mean, we can all talk about that. Never threw up, but it did make me have to like lay down. Like the, like the third time I like, yeah I started spinning and I was like- So they call it, they, they got a name for it when you do that. Yeah. When you, I used to do that. I did it. Yeah. I had to learn. I like, I used to have to, well I had learned, I actually studied like other people that, like had owned cigar factories and stuff and they would like kind of I actually had to teach myself how to smoke because I was still trying to drink the same amount of drink and also like I was trying to keep up with the guys. So I actually started smoking regularly. So I started in my 20s, but I smoked regularly eight years ago in Boston. And so I was, you know, all these guys were like mostly retired. Some were around my age, but most of them were already retired, few girls in there, but mostly I'm like me or one other girl, right? Mm-hmm. And so, I'm trying to keep up with them, but they're smoking like five cigars a city, right? And I'm also like, "Oh, I can do this. mm-hmm. You know, because I'm competitive, right? Start throwing that helicopter. It started feel like the room was moving. So every time I would hang out with them, which is a couple days a week, sometimes more often, um, we would, like I would be throwing up and I had tried to figure it out. And so I looked up some videos and they were like, okay, make sure you have something on your stomach or some chocolate and don't go too fast. And that's what I was doing. I was smoking really fast like you were talking about. Yeah. I think, I think a lot of times what happened too is when people are not educated on a Connecticut or a Maduro or a natural and not understanding what you're smoking, right? Yeah, if it was early in the morning, you probably don't want to do a Maduro. Now if you've been smoking for quite some time like myself with you guys, I can do a Maduro in the morning and be totally fine, but if you not a smoker and you're smoking a Maduro in the morning or even in the afternoon, you don't know the, the, the notes of that cigar and how heavy it is. Can we cut some hair? Yeah. It can fuck you up. Yeah. You feel me? Like it can fuck you up for real. So, you know, when you know that when you know that, when you know, and that's why it's cool to, so that's why you see when you go to a lot of cigar shops, especially at nighttime, you see people have David off that have the most expensive cigar and they only smoke like you still got like this much left of the cigar. They can take it, you see the, the ash tray, you got the whole stick on the ashtray. Yeah. I'm like, come on now. You done walked out the door with the whole- Yeah, not smoker. Yeah. Right. Not a real smoker. So like what I'll do, like if I know I'm going to have a smoke sesh, like, or if I go somewhere and I'm studying or now not studying, but you know, working on business stuff or whatever, what I will do is I set it up, you know, just like normal. I'll start with my light stuff like this, for example. We're going to talk about our cigars in a minute, but the wise blood, I'll start with something a little bit smoother and then, you know, I'll have a closer. So my closer is going to be the one that, you know, it's going to be- You want that punch? Yes, yes. And so, you know, that may be in a scurrio davetof, that may be, a Fuente, a neho or something like that., So whatever's going to end the night is going to end the night and I'm also, that's what, like if I have like five cigars, that's the one that I'm going to enjoy the most. So that's going to be my closer because I, nothing else, it's like having a good time and you have a good time and you're trying to do something else, no. Like after that- You want to build up to it. It's like, all right now I can go to sleep now. I'm good. It's my dessert. Yeah. That's my dessert.h. So just like people have built, like certain people build a tolerance for alcohol, somehow my body chemistry, I can smoke really strong cigars. It doesn't bother me. Oh yeah. Because why hang out in San Diego, right? Which is Royals and Churchill, you probably, um, you know, Churchill in the old town. Shout out to Royals. Yes, shout out to Royals in San Diego and Churchill. Even my guy friends are like, how do you smoke like, you know, you can hang with like, and I'm like, I don't know, my body chemistry, it doesn't, it doesn't phase me at all. Oh yeah. Whether it's in the morning time, it doesn't matter. Oh yeah. I can smoke. Oh yeah. That's why when she's like, oh, try this, I'm like, oh, I like it. But I can detect a, I don't want to say cheap, but a low quality cigar from it fillers. Short filler. Uh-huh. Yeah. So that's my only, like that's it. Mm-hmm. It has to be a real quality cigar. Yeah. When you get to a certain point, I mean, like I, I play ball in men's leagues and stuff, I'm smoking on my way to the game. Right. I'm, I'm going out on the, on the court with smelling like cigars. Right. What happens? You're trying to do a Jordan. Yeah, exactly. It's a Jordan. Exactly. No, I'm to that point now where it doesn't affect me at all. Like I can go lift, run, whatever, go for a full run. Then this guy did a three mile run and, and didn't even drink water after we started smoking cigars. And damn near came first. Yeah. So, you know, that's- Wow. It was a running joke though. I say that running joke, right? Because a lot of times people think that, well, you smoke cigars, I mean you're unhealthy, your lungs, when you- Man. Yeah, because, um- Yeah. Speaking of athletes, so I got to tell you this. Okay. So my, my nephew is Rashid Shahid, he plays for Seattle Sihak. And so my in- law, he posted a picture, he now smokes cigars. How old is he? Shaheed? Yeah, he's, he's young, 27. 20, I don't think, is he 27? Maybe 20. Are you id- do you, you said that's your nephew? That my, his grandmother, which is, is my mom's sister. Do, do you know someone named Ish from New Jersey? Did she, did the dad train him? Um- 'Cause, because the father, um, um, Hanif, he trains all the athletes. I mean, he's been trained- Gotcha, gotcha. He sees them off everywhere. Because I know a guy named Ish said that's his nephew as well. No, that, I have family, she saw my, my family. Gotcha, gotcha. No, no, no, that's why I said like maybe- Maybe you guys are like family. Yeah, maybe guys are family. Yeah. Maybe on the other side. It might be on the, it might be on the Shahid side. Gotcha, gotcha. I think that does sound familiar. Yeah. But no, we're like, I've known- Wow. where the kid was born when my cousin was pregnant without running around, you know. But yeah, no. It's dope. Um, he smokes cigars now, so speaking on the athlete- Which, which one? It doesn't bother him at all the, you know, he still gets out there, got a Super Bowl ring, so there you go. Yeah, it doesn't, yeah. Right? Thought it would affect me more, but yeah, my cardio's been- It's even better actually. Yeah. Really great. Right. I guess because it's kind of almost like breathwork as well because you're working on- Yeah. understanding your breath work and so when you run miles, like me and this dude, like I said, we kicking people's behind us. I mean, there's tons of people that run every week and we ain't even run. Yeah. We, we up there with them. Right. We call, we call this, this is, um, inhale, exhale experience.This is yoga. Exactly. Right. Cigars is like yoga. This is a, like you said, this is a breathing- I work out hard. I peak, you know, not now, but I, you know, because of picking a nice break, but it doesn't bother me and I work out hard. Exactly. So,, we are actually gonna have a sports podcast at some point with, um, it's gonna be with, Lonnie and you can be there too, but, I, I told them, I was like, we should really do this because we, they talk sports a lot. I mean, sports is something that's talked about a lot in the,, cigar, space. So, kind of piggybacking on some of the other stuff that you guys were talking about just right before, well, I guess we can talk about it now since we, kind of introduced it is, you guys do have your own, line of cigars. Mm-hmm. And so talk a little bit about them and also about like kind of how you picked rapper binder filler and that whole experience. I let Troy go. Yeah. So a lot of our tobacco come from Nigaraga, Dominican, so we have a blend of both of those, when it comes to the binder, the leaf, the wrap, most of it is, Nicaraguto. Okay. But we do have some, Dominican there as well. Uh, how we, how we chose to pick it, I mean, more important, I mean, like I'm a full body. Ron is a full body as well, we really wanted to stick with those spicy notes, but that earthy notes, love vanilla chocolate notes in there. So we really wanted to stick with that, but as we started to kind of like venture off to like, you know, doing events, we want to make sure that we, giving back to our people and, and, and not always having full bodies, but giving them something they can smoke too. So our top selling cigar is our sweet tip is a sweet gum. And everybody loved that cigar. So I never had it personally. I, I don't smoke sweet cigars. Neither. Yeah., But, um- Pet Now does like, whenever she comes to the event, she- Yeah, Docegoma is the one that's a hit. Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. Dosegoma is a natural, sweetener. It's not like, like a sweet tip, it's not an acid. So it's not, yeah, it's like- Just a sweet tip, so it's not infused with,, air, they call it aromatic tobacco. Yeah. It's not aromatic, it's just a sweet tip. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's how we kind of like chose the,, I guess the blends of our cigar. And also why? What, what made, what motivate you guys to kind of do a cigar because it's not every day that people are like, "Hmm, I'm gonna make a cigar." Yeah. So I think it's pretty dope, but- Yeah, you can pick, yeah, pick it back on that. Yeah. So honestly, we start off as a more of a social group and it's more or less about the community aspect. The cigar is like a caveat that's something that followed I mean, our story, I guess this time we can tell you the story, but- Yeah. Troy and I used to, hang out on Saturday mornings, have cigars and coffee together and that was like our thing. Like, when we would have great conversations, very, iron sharpens, irons type of conversations and we would talk about some really deep stuff. Eventually, we kind of got to the point where like, man, we need, we should just have, people meet up with us. And so we just posted on our own individual Instagrams like, "Hey, this is where we are, come pull up, you know, come by. We're gonna be at Fox." So we did the first one, the first event, was at Fox. We probably had about 25, 30 people show up and it was like on a whim, like on a Thursday we posted it and it was like a Saturday morning at 10:00 AM and, that they, everybody pulled up and it was like 25, 30 people came. So I mean, it started off from that, then, gradually we, we did another one, then 30, 40 people came and then, now we've had events with over 200 plus people that have shown up in the night. So- Nice. I mean, it was something that was more organic, but the way the ci- cigars came, essentially we was just, having events and such, but it's like some of the events we, some of the venues we have when we host that don't have cigars. So we found that need to, go get a license, go find a distributor, go find, do all those things. And so it kind of grew from there from the need of having cigars at our event. And you know, why, why, why have somebody else's cigars? Why go to Alliance or go buy a bunch of cigars or resell them- Yeah. when we can o- create our own cigars. Yeah, exactly. So the, the cigars itself is a caveat. We're really about the community and about, growing, like Troy always says, one hand shake away from, change your life. So we kind of like to connect, we like to be connectors, we like to be And that's what the cigars and coffee aspect is about. It's more like the connection, the community. Exactly. So my next, my question for you too is a lot of people come out with cigars, it represents kind of their personality. Would you say that's kind of the same thing with the cigar that you two have developed? Does it represent like your palate, your personality, like just- Yeah. Yeah. I would like to think so. I think, I think, I think over time, I think since we have kind of like started smoking or started kind of like creating like the cigars, it, it is, you, it kind of form your own like personality of the cigars. Like I love the box press, we have box presses, we have, uh, torpedoes, like I love that, those- Right. Uh, styles of cigars. So I think that does represent like who we are, like and the style of, of, of us both. Yeah. And, and we do fun stuff like the, uh, barber pole, you know, that, that's like, it's not unheard of or un- that uncommon, but I mean, that's like things that we like. So, we kind of try to incorporate those into our sticks. Yeah. That's what's up. Um, so we can, we'll talk, we'll probably dive more into your businesses as well, like the other things that you guys are doing with it such as the coffee, but right now I wanted to segue into what are we smoking right now? Hmm. So, I can, I guess I'll start. So I gave you guys all the the Wise Blood that I found here, the ATL cigar company Wise Blood, and I know that I'm smoking it right now, Olivia is smoking it right now. I gave you guys for, for later. Thank you. I appreciate it. We appreciate you trying tonight. No problem. And this one is the rapper is Ecuadorian. Binder is Ecuadorian and filler is Nicaraguan. And I actually didn't know about it. Some guys over at Churchill's was telling me about it because one of the guys, he goes a lot to Atlanta, he's like, "Yeah, I can't find these anywhere here." And so it just so happened they had, here at Ambassadors, so I would, I would say, and this is a plug for Ambassadors because they, also allowed us to host again today. The last event or the last, podcast that I did have here was with the owner's daughter, Christine, she's also part owner as well. Nice. And so this is an excellent space for it. It's a conference room, very nice. And, in any case, they have a lot of rare, brands here. So they're Humidor, they have two locations here in PV and then also in, Peoria. But I will say, I've come in here and I've found cigars that have been on the shelf for 15, 20 years. And it's because, you know, they just keep very exquisite things. And if you get into, and talk to the people here and the owners here and the people that work here, you can probably find those gems. Mm-hmm. So that's what we found here. A super dope, super dope. Yeah. I love that. Nice. So what I'm smoking is the Varton, the owner of this great establishment, he had a, a blend with, Davidol, reserver, special. So it is, probably a medium to fool from what I'm tasting right now. A lot of, you know, undertones of some chocolate notes in there and, some earthy tones. But yeah, it's a, it's a pretty good, pretty good cigar, pretty good cigar so far. I mean, Davadolf don't make a bad cigar. No, they don't. Exactly. They don't. Even the, you know, which they're associated with, um, is still very good. Yeah, I'll, every now and then I'll have the light, if I want to start with a lighter smoke- mm-hmm. I'll do a zino. And I know that's like a Davidoff. Um, but yeah, I definitely love it. I've had that one before too, and I love it. There's one member here that, that's all he smokes. Mm. I'm like, dude, you need to branch out. Hey, some people find that wheelhouse. I don't, I don't know the leaf in the binder or the, or the wrap of this particular cigar, but I'm, I'm assuming if it's from, davido, it's probably niggawaga more, more than likely, so. Yeah. And so, you're not smoking. I am out of commission, unfortunately. I'm out of commission for a month and a half having some dental work done, so unfortunately- Smoking for both of us right now. Yeah, he's smoking for the both of us right now. I'm sad, but I'll have my- Thank you for your service. I'll have my Pearly soon, so then I'll be happily smoking with my new Pearlies, so- Yeah, oh my gosh. I'm smoking the ATL, however, my secondary favorite go- to is the Tatawahe Escasos. Um, ambassadors is the only one that has them. Olivia is a big Tata. I hate famous guys, by the way. Yes, Tatawa. I am too though. They don't, they, they don't miss either. They don't mess up. They don't miss. Yeah. So this is, uh, when I go to San Diego, everyone begs me to Mini's bag. They do love it. Well, since we talk about our secondary, my apologies. Our secondary, well, my secondary is definitely going to be a cigars and coffee, Maduro, box press. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, he's, he's more of the Maduro, yeah, like you said, the box press, I'm more of our, our natural is, is, is kind of more my favorite one. That natural, I, I think it, that thing hit different. Pretty good cigar. Wow. So with that said, I don't know, I don't know if I can have this conversation with you guys about- Why not? Like I always- We're open book now. Yeah. Open book. Don't, don't be shy. You got us now, you better use it. Yeah, don't be shy. Utilizes now. Don't be shy now. No, so what I was gonna ask, I always ask people like what your top five cigars are. Ooh. Jesus. That's the question. Top five cigars. And I know good. Dilan, die line, die line, dialline. Like, geez. The, the crazy part is some of Troy's and I, they overlap. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, we, we have that conversation all the time when it comes to cigars because, uh, I love the league as number nine. I love leagues 52. League' number nine. League is number nine, but we like Padron too though. We love Big One. The 64. 64. 64. Those are my two. We, we have a lot of overlapping ones. He got a few other niche ones. He likes some boutique ones that I'm, you know, more of the, the more commercial ones, but he, yeah, we, we- So basically everyone's pretty bougie, like at this- Everybody at the table. The crazy part is though, I told Varton I was like, I, I'm a snot when it comes to cigar. Like I, like I really am like respectfully though because like I smoke bad cigars for a very long time in my life because I couldn't afford a really good cigar that I wanted. Yeah. So I'm able to afford any cigar that I want. So I'm, I'm, I'm going to smoke a really good cigar every time I have a cigar. Like it just, it's just what it is. Yeah. Yeah. This guy, I know he likes the OpusX, uh, Opus X. You can't go run with Opus X. I know. It's Fuente. Yeah. I mean Fut listen, so listen, my 858 Fuente is by far still to this day, I rarely smoke it, but that's a cigar when I knew that I like love cigars, I stoked with that cigar for like three, four years because it was a natural, you can get in a, in a, in a Maduro as well, but like I knew for a fact this was going to be a good stick every time. Oh yeah. It, it, so kind of to piggyback off of what you said earlier, when you find a good cigar, it's kind of hard to deviate from that cigar. That's true. That's really hard. Yeah. Unless it's gifted, then like that'll get you to get off of it a little bit. Yeah. But outside of that, when you go looking at humor door, it's like, ah, you already know what I'm thinking. Like it's just you, you end up going to your go- to. Yeah. And it's, it's at a fault, but that's why, you know, we get into cigar clubs and stuff like that where they send you in the mail. It kind of help you get off what you used to or taking suggestions from, you know, your groups and stuff like that, that's always fun. But yeah, when you find that groove, it's kind of hard to get off it. I mean, I was on a, I Uh, Ashton groove for a real long time. Real long time. Ashton Cabin? Which one? Oh. The cabin. The cabin. Long drag. Torpedo tip. I was for a long time. Like it was like a good year or two where I was like, I kind of did that one like 90% of the time. And I was like, I need to get off of this. I need to switch something. We call him Black Mike. Mm-hmm.. Um, he's a Ashton rep. Mm-hmm.. Oh, dope. Dope. Yeah, that, I don't know. Something about, I, I, I don't really know why I was so hooked on that one or what the notes were that I was, but I think it's just-. Yeah, that's the one for me. One, it's in my top five. I like the ESG. ESG is great cigar. Yeah. So I didn't know really about it until, there was some guy from one of the, you know, on social. He was talking about it. So he was, you know, over Christmas time he was like, oh, you should try this, this, this, whatever. And I was like, oh, I never heard of the ESG. So, because I had smoked the VSG and some of the other ones. And, um, I tried the ESG. I was like, oh my God, this is very different- mm-hmm.. Uh, than the VSG. It's like such a step up. Mm-hmm.. Um, and so I really enjoy that, but we gotta talk to the rep about that. Yeah. I think that'd be, I think that'd be such a cool job. Like I, I- Oh yeah. We've talked about that before too. I always wanted to be a cigar rep. Having my own brand, like I'm a rep for my brand but like- say. Like I, you know, it's something about like that, you know, because I think learning how to row cigars, it, it gives you a different perspective of cigars. Right. So like I'm, I'm in the process of learning how to roll. Oh that's what's up. It is, you really, really get to dive into like the different tobacco versus Laharo. Yeah. You really get to dive into it. So I think being a cigar rep, you just really have a wealth of knowledge- Yeah. Of the cigar. Yeah. Factories. Exactly. So are you guys, did you do the Sommelier? I, I'm not pronouncing that right. The course, yeah. Yeah. No, so, uh- We want to do it. I know. I, I actually learned, a really So are you guys familiar with, Fumar? Yes. Okay. So- I was just over there on Friday night. We do movie nights on Fridays. Got it. Got you. We're supposed to be going on Wednesdays. Bible study. Yeah. One of my, um, I think that's a gym when it comes to human doors in the valley. I think so too. It's a hidden space. I've never been there. It is a gym. Yeah, I told her about it. Yeah. Like if you know, you know, like real cigar smokers know with Fumart because it, I mean, you, first of all, it's so far away. It's like a hole in the wall. Yeah. Wow. But it's great. They have an excellent, selection. But go ahead. Sorry. And they service is like great, you know? Yeah. But- Gustavo knows a lot. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So I learned how to roll there. One day I was there and I saw the guy rolling and, heavyset, Caucasian guy, I forget his name. Wow. Moose, we just called. Yeah, yeah yeah Moose. So Moose was rolling one day. Such a sweet, I mean such a- Yeah. He's such a cool guy. Such a cool guy. And I was just intrigued. I'm like, man, I, I always wanted to learn how to roll. So now I'm gonna have to get on Moose about him not teaching me how to do this. Yeah. And I see him, I text him, I see him, I know his daughter, I know his family. Oh Moose to messed up now. It, to be honest with you, it is a labor of love, but it is work. Yeah. So he showed me how to kind of like the process of it and, I end up getting a birthday gift, a cigar kit for my birthday this past year. Oh, nice. So with the table, with the, with the, with the cutter, with the leaves, uh- Yeah. Oh yeah, it's called a, I forget exactly what they call it, they got a terminology for it. But, so I got the kit and I just been rolling since, so I'm just putting in my 10,000 hours right now. Very cool. I'm nowhere near good, but, it is one of those things where like the goal is to be a master roller at some point. If you ever get a chance, to go to San Diego, go to, the Cuban, Cuban cigar factory downtown. Okay. So every day they have a guy, he works there, but he's from Cuba. Nice. And he sits out there- Yeah. and he just rolls. That's how they do in Florida in Miami. You go to Miami, yeah. Like you can just sit down. Oh my gosh, this guy is like amazing. Yeah, that's, that's amazing. So I think, uh, Olivia, next time you go back not on business though, like me, you and the girls, we have a little posse now, it's growing of ambitious women that are driven and have changed. Um- The lady's taking over the cigar world. But we like, we also, we like to have fun and every time Olivia's like, "I'm gonna take you there and, but you gotta bring your girls here too." We gotta go to San Angelo. Yeah y'all gotta have a girls trip here. I got my tribe in San Diego and they're all cigar smokers they're all cool like y'all and, they're just amazing. I loveDego. Diego is a spot. Do you have like the, okay, so last time- We didn't do our top five though. Oh, finish? Yeah, we didn't do our top five. Yeah. No, no. Ladies first, I'ma let y'all go first. Oh us. Top five. Oh my God. Um- And that changes for me. Dear the headlight. Yeah. Oh great. Thank you. Um, Padron. Tazawa? Tatawai, of course. Do you have like specific ones and those Placentia Black Labels? The Alma Ferte? Yes. That's my number three. Yeah. The green one is like one of my favorites. I just had a, I have a box about it. Yeah. Almoste or the Fuego, uh- Yeah. The blue label? No, it's the red one. That's the volcanical. That one I get. Yeah. The green one is, um- I forgot the name of the green one, but I have a box of that. Amafeta is the black and gold one. Yeah, that's my favorite. And then, um, believe it or not, do not underestimate the Oliva seconds. I know it sounds a little weird, but Oliva seconds that are aged are amazing. Mm. So my business partner and friend in San Diego, he owned, the Cigar Bar in Yuma and then he owned Churchills, Royals in San Diego, but he sold it. But he has so many cigars and he just has this huge stock of like the Oliva seconds, but they're age for years. Right. I gave her one the other night. They are so smooth. Mm. I mean, I love Oliva too, the regular, you know, that's one of my tops. I was wrong. Maladino or whatever. Same name or somewhere or something. Yeah. So those are like- I'm looking, that's what I'm looking at. You got a great, you got a great line up. So it's black. You got a good palate. Black. You got a really good palate. It's been years in development. So this is the one I was talking about. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I like that one too. So I guess my top five, so mine changed. So unlike most cigar smokers, because I do the podcast in different places and I like to travel the valley, my top five has developed, over the years. And so my God, I really don't know what my top five are today. Yeah. But I like- Top five, top five. We only get five- Top five, top five. To save your life. So I do, like last night, for example, like I tried something new from, my father. I was not a fan of it at all. And so I went back to the Norteno. So I do like the Norteno Herrera Estelli. That's something I can go back to a lot. Well, not anymore. That particular brand is, they stopped production two years ago. So Herrera Stelli still exists, but not that specific Norteno. They're by the way, going to be at next week, you guys have to look it up at the Cedar Room. So one of the Herrera Stelli guys, he's gonna be there rolling, talking, whatever. Mm. And so Chris was like you need to come out. And I'm like, "Can I whisper in his ear and tell him to bring back the Nartino?" So- Now did they, did they roller, because a lot of times w- it's almost like- He's gonna be rolling. Okay. Yeah. 'Cause the only reason I ask that, because a lot of times when it comes to like the change of a taste profile of a cigar, it's because they lost they roller. No, so what happened with this one, the story that I got from the cigar people here, because there's so many knowledgeable people in the valley. Like people that work at the shops typically, you'll find at least one person that's very, very knowledgeable. And, one of the guys was telling me with that particular brand, what happened is like when they first came out, they didn't have that great reception. Mm. And so they lowered the price and sometimes when you lower the price a little bit about what Olivia was saying earlier that we were talking off, off camera, quote unquote off mic. Um sometimes when you lower the cost of your, item, your product- some of your juice. Yeah. And then people devalue it, right? Mm-hmm. And so that- And you're like, oh, that's discounted. Yeah. And so- Water off the clear is rack. Yeah. And so that's what happened. But like when I tried the Herrera Esteli um, that part, they were a part of Drew State, that relationship broke apart I think last year. Um, but in any case, what happened is, you know, they lost a lot of, you know, people coming to that. Now they only like some of the other brands, which I don't really care for., So that was it. And then they stopped production about like two years ago now. Mm-hmm. And so the stuff that is out righ now- It's already been, it's been awhile. That's so- And you gotta find it. So when it's gone, it's gone, like the stuff that they still have here, the stuff that they still have at Churchill's, the stuff that they still have at, um, Trevor's, once it's gone, it's gone. Mm-hmm. For the Norteno. So that's one. I do like Placencia, the green label Amar Forte. I think- I guess we found out that there is that- I think they're both the same name or something. That's interesting. Yeah. 'Cause I'm, I usually do the black one. Yeah. But, uh, but now we look and we see the green and the black got the same name. Same name, yeah. So I do also like the black, mm-hmm. Um, that one I really enjoy as well. So,, what else do I like? I like the VSG, which we talked about before., I like, I guess in my top five, I'm running out of fives, but, um- I'm saying we on six now? Okay. I know. Honorable mention. Honorable mention,, is going to be, the 1964. I also enjoy this 26 now. Mm-hmm. So I'm starting to enjoy that one, of, Patron. Padron, yes. Yeah, that- Yeah. That one, boy, yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's number one for me. Yeah. So- I think, I think- I think those are my top. That's your top? I have more. Yeah, of course. I mean, it, it changes. It depends on the day. Yeah. It depends on the day. So like right now I've been on a kick though, like,, the Purple Pledge. So, Ooh, grazing God. So, so that particular Casa Carillo, they call themselves Casa Carillo now that's the- Do they have those here? They do not. They're,, so they're going to get them here. They do have,, Casa Carillo here, of course. EP Carillo is what most people know it by., So they have Purple Pledge. The last place that I got Purple Pledge was at Churchill's, the one on Scottsdale Road- Yeah. But they're sold out because every time they're there, they're only coming in a box of 10 right now, I buy like half of them, and then everybody else that likes them, they'll buy the rest. But they're sometimes on 44th, because I find that the people's palate on 44th and Scottsdale Road are very different. So 44th is, you do have a lot of traditional, cigar people there, but you also have big spenders. And so they'll come in as well and buy like the, the higher price stuff. Most expensive ones they can find. Yeah. And so that is advantageous to people like me and Livia because we'll go in there and be like, "Oh, they didn't pick this. And I'm not gonna say anything about it. So more than likely they do have the purple pledge on 44th. Gotcha. But I have to, just drive carefully down the street and make sure I don't get caught by the cameras. The red light cameras is in there, boy, and speed cameras, they are not play on this area. Yeah. Did you say you're top five already? Yeah, I kinda, I mean, I elaborate. I mean, I kinda hit on it, but, 1964 is before number one. Yeah. League of nine, number two, Placencia, the Alma Forte, that hexagon looking one- Yeah. that one's number three. Yeah. I'll probably say back to the Ashton, like Ashton, like I said, and then I think mine is more or less from like a nostalgia or from like a more emotion based- Yeah. smoking. So I think like things remind me of certain smokes, so that I think I kinda go more towards that lesson about the actual taste profile itself, but more or less about what this remind me of or what moment I had with it or was I doing something or if I was on a trip and it was hitting right, then I go back to it. Yeah. So I think, I think the last one would be back. I mean, I'm really a big Pedermo guy. Mo- I mean, most people aren't for real, but I'm like a Perdermo like- So I'm trying to get into those. Like I was, like Cigar King had like, a bunch of old ones. Mm-hmm. Because the guy, you know, he unfortunately passed away and his wife sold, all of his sticks to, I think he was a rep, but he sold all of his sticks to Cigar King and they had him in a bag for like 40 bucks, like a bunch of them. And so I bought like maybe three of those. Yeah. And one was like at least 20 years old. Oh, oh man. And I sat there and I was like, oh my God. Oh man. Oh man, you got to come up. That's crazy. Well, that's why I go around town. Yeah. You ever had that cigar where you like, I don't want to talk, I just want to be in silence by myself. Like there's some cigars out there you like, listen, I, there's no need for a conversation with this cigar. Dabbing off, the anniversary one. I prefer no one to be around actually. That was good. Yeah. That was like, leave me alone. Yes. It's like 150 bucks. It was just like, it was insane. Yeah. It was the blue. Is it still around? No, they sold out. It was a blue label and it was in San Diego and I don't even remember, but it was in Ambrish. I know they had it here, but it was sold out fast. Yeah, I love those cars. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, go ahead. My honorable mention, since we do honorable mention- Since I had like tens of guys. Yeah, she had about 30 honorable mentions, but I'ma say aging room number two, it'd be for sure the orange label, agent room number two. I know, so that's what I was telling you. They had like some old, old aging rooms. The ones that came in the coffin- yeah, those here. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely an Asian room number two. Yeah. And some, probably another, some, um, Arturo Fuentes and one, and I don't, one, one or the other, but for sure our tuna Fuentes. What, what do you like, Fuente? That's what I'm saying. I, I, I don't, I bounce around a lot with Fuentes, but, but more or less- So they're mostly good. All of them, all of them. You would never, you would never have a bath fuente. Yeah. All of them would never have a battle. It's, it's been a ton of Fuentes I done smoked in the last few months and I, and I just been bouncing around each one and I'm like, trying to figure out which one I like more, but I really don't have like a preference in them. I just- Yeah. It's, it's a fucking good cigar. They shouldn't be, they shouldn't be so fucking good. Yeah. Great to go. Great to go. Yeah. So, I kind of, like, you brought up a good point., I kind of wanted- I didn't give you my five yet. Did you? I don't think so. Okay. Yeah, it's easy though. I don't have an order, just five cigars that I enjoy. Fire away. I love, Liga, number, number nine, chores. I love, Opus X. Mm-hmm. Fuente, of course. I love Master Blend by Oliva. Very, you, if you find it, you find it, it's a really good cigar. They might have it here. They, they may have it here. They may have it here. I know they do have it at, a little cigar shop right off of Thomas in Scottsdale. Yeah. I forget the name of the It's like a little house. So they have it there, I'm sure. Like, that's where I get it that majority of the time. So that's three I love the 26, the pr- 26, yeah, Padron, and fifth is probably going to be,... It's probably going to be the year of the snake, the year of the horse, between those two. I don't know what we had. Yeah. You remember when we went to the house on the hill? We can't talk about the details of that. We signed an NDA, but- Oh. The little house on the hill, that's what we gonna call it. But, but it was, it was business related. I love it. Oh, okay. You have the stick still? Yeah. I smoked mine. I was gonna smoke mine. I'm gonna smoke it. I actually have it. Okay. She dig it in the bag. As soon as I go to my coffee. I said she got the big bag. And of course, the,, the old faithful for me is always gonna be a, a triple Maduro, camacho. Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, so I haven't had that yet. Somebody, somebody was telling me about it, recently we, it was a girl's night dinner and somebody, else that came to join the girls night, they were talking about the triple maduro and I was like, oh, so I know they have that at Churchill's- If you like a heavy smoke? But they told me they were like- Snake and potatoes. I mean, steak and potatoes for sure. Like- They said I gotta be ready for that. Yeah, yeah, yea. Oh, okay. We'll stop them. Oh. Can you see it? 'Cause, you know, I have on my contacts. I can read it. I have on my contacts. I got 2020. Well, my contacts are for far away, so Okay, so- Oh, the Don Carlos. Don Carlos. Yeah, Don Carlos. Amazing. It says Don Carlo Fuente. It's a 90, 90 year. Amazing. That is amazing smoke. What is that like a, a $50 cigar? Probably, probably like between 45 and 50, for sure. It's almost equivalent to how you had the, the black pink yet? So I had that. I wasn't a fan yet. You wasn't a fan? No. What size did you have? So I had both, so I had the little, smaller one- Yes. and, and a bigger one. So they have the- That's a great theater. I didn't see that. Yeah, they, had them at Churchill's. They had them at Yeah, yeah, that's where I got them. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I still haven't developed a pa- palette for the pink and I've tried them this year. I tried them last year and I just haven't. This is an excellent cigar. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. And don't even ask me for right back. Okay. Okay. What is the I, I, I can't see that form. I don't have my contact yet. I wanted to talk about this one. So this is one- I'll be, I'll be the reader. So this is a Rocky Patel, Juneteenth. Oh my gosh, that's excellent. So I got this one. So I, um, had them when I was in Virginia. Oh, man. And so, um, there's a place called O Virginia in Alexandria. So I lived in Richmond, but I would travel up to, Alexandria because they had like older, shops there, and so they got the first pick. They had the better relationships with the, places that had, with the different, retailers, or I'm sorry, with the different cigar companies. And so the Juneteenth, that came out the inaugural year of Juneteenth here in the US. And so it's a very, very good stick. It's the only Rocky Patel that I really enjoy. Mm. Um, and, I forget the flavor profile, but I can definitely look it up. I know I talked about it on another podcast, but, I had to order those. I have a, I have a love, hate relationship with Rocky Patel. Okay. I have a gripe with them because I, I feel like they changed, um, blends, they changed the master, they, they roller, they changed it probably like 10 to 15 years ago. Yeah. But- I know, right? Exactly. And, and you know, so, so Rocky Patel is considered like the top echelon of cigars if you know cigars and if you, especially back in the early 2000s- Yeah. Rocky Patel was like prestige. Mm-hmm. Um, I don't feel like their, their blends is that anymore. Unfortunately. That one is good though. That one is good. I, I, I never had that one, but, I'll have to find it. You smoked a gold label or, or something before with them that you- I did. I had one that was $100. It was, it was cool. It was called the, Deception or, or it, it was something. I can't remember the exact name, but- It was a cold label on it. Yeah, it was in the coffin. Yeah. It was in the gold coffin. But it was good. Yeah. It was a, it was a pretty good car. I mean, pre- pretty good cigar. Yeah. So I really don't have a great palette for Rocky Patel. When I first started smoking, almost like when you were talking about, like, you had to go through all these cigars and then once you got the ends to smoke well, you smoking well, but this one right here I'll still buy because it's a very good smoke. So I did look up- Where do you guys get that one at? So I ordered it from a company in Virginia. Okay. So I went to an event, a cigar event here and, in carefree. So it was a, a cigar festival that I went to. You be making moves. She be on the move. Yeah. I'm, I'm a little lazy with my smoking. I'm like, if it ain't convenient, I'm, no, but she be making moves. Well, I mean, we mostly stay up here- mm-hmm. And smoke. We have a friend NDA guy, that swears he's gonna get that cigar at Cedar Rock because he's good friends with the cars that be. Yeah. Got you. Okay. So this one is, for this Juneteenth cigar, I looked it up. It's, the rapper is Mexican San Andreas., The filler is Nigaraguan and the binder is Honduran and Nicaraguan. Mm. It's so fucking good. Mm. Our, our, our box press, torpedo is a San Andreas. Yeah. Wrapper. Yeah. So I love San Andreas wrapper. Yes, spicy, good. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's a really good, tobacco. Yeah. Yeah. So, I know we kind of touched on it. So I think this will be the perfect kind of setup to talk a little bit about, and I know I wanna talk about some more stuff with you guys and your business, but like real quick, there's a cigar that you'll enjoy alone. There's a cigar you'll enjoy, like at the end of the night, there's a cigar that you'll start with like a breakfast cigar or just your starter. Do you guys have, like, for example, I don't know, because I've been on this kind of search for, to talk to people about, like, their breakfast or their starter cigars. Like what, what would that be for? Troy, Troy like heavy stuff all day. See, I'll, I'm, I, I, I mix it up. I, I'll, I'm really, really-. He's like, I want meat and potatoes every, for every meal. Yeah, every meal. Yeah. I, I'll definitely mix it up. I'll go a Drew Estate to Park or I'll go, a Pedermo, champagne to start the morning off. Like I'll go pretty light oftentimes to start off the day. Not because I have to. If I'm out and about, like actually doing something, I'll go with a Maduro or, or a more full body stick. Uh, but if I'm at the house and I'm sitting at the house and I'm just drinking coffee in the morning by myself, I'll go to like something really, really light like a Tabak or, or a champagne. That's a great choice. Yeah. For, for me right now, because that changes, I'm really on one of ours. It is a robust old pigtail, Connecticut, cigars and coffee cigar. It is absolutely amazing. That's what I've been smoking on for like the probably the last, mm, probably like the last month. Can you bring that to the events because I feel like when you guys come, you have to- So that's part of the family now. You have like three, three selections and I'm like, I want to see all of them. No, we got, we got six selections. We got six. Okay. Yeah, we got six, but we sell out, we, we, we sell out pretty quick. Okay. So- You probably sell out before I- No, no, no. I mean, Thursday, if you get there early, we had that one. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah we have, we have it in stock right now, so- Yeah, we have, yeah, we have six blends. Yeah. So that right now, that's the one that I'm like, I'm, I'm smoking in the morning first thing after the gym. Am I in the same spot on Thursdays? Like- Mm-mm. No. Okay. You go around and- So this Thursday we're gonna be at Torchus, at 7:00 PM. So we're going to this. Yeah. Okay. We're going to this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, that's in our neighborhood. Okay. Our last event, I believe you guys did miss that one at. Yeah, because I had a podcast the next day. Okay, gotcha. I was like, unless I'm sleeping here overnight, I'm not- Yeah, you gotta be fresh. No doubt. Well, because it's also Chandler, it was like a 40 minute drive for me. Yeah. So. So this Thursday is more of a, you know, it's more of a, it's really more of a connection, connect type of meetup, like, cigar lovers and just, you know, cool people, good vibes, cigars. Yeah. Yeah. Expectations a little different because after work, but I mean, obviously we know how we, how we dress and how we are and what the vibes are. Yeah. Correct. Uh, but our Sunday ones is kind of where- And we do got a- And we do got a one, we got one coming up, can't tell you too much, can't say too much on it. I definitely can't- What time is it? I definitely can't give you that. The venue? No, can't give you the venue. But just know. Just know at the end of this month. We dropping it and it's gonna be- You can, you can, you know, scoot us a text. Yeah. There's one right here. Yeah, just the one. Yeah. Yeah. It's the one. So, but yeah, so that's my morning so far. Yeah. So, um, well, I mean, I just like to start with the lighter cigar. So anything that's kind of light, like Norteno for me, that would be a little bit lighter. This is kind of light, even though it was heavier because it was age, sometimes I gotta be careful. If it's age longer, it tends to be, to me, a little bit, stronger- Stronger. than I expected. Mm-hmm. Um, but there are some cigars out there that if it is age, it'll just kind of lose. It'll fall flat. Yeah. And so that happens too. So Olivia, you have like a morning or breakfast or something. I don't smoke in the morning because I'm too busy. So my- She gets up at 4:00. Yeah. Yeah. So that's- Ooh. I would smoke at 40 AM. If I got up because I was like, first of all, why am I up? But I'm up doing assessments and stuff like that and then I'm boom, I'm just like, uh- That's Troy, Troy, yeah. Yeah, I'm up at 3:30 every day. I'm a early bird. Yeah, 3:30 at the gym. You understand, yeah. Done, done by, um, by five o'clock- Yeah. First cigar by 6:30. Yeah. First cigar. Yeah. Yep. You're like, no, that's a huge no. Some people are morning people. My brain, I'm definitely a night person. I can stay up all night long. I'm a night person. But I can't get up in the morning. I can be, I mean, I, I'll get the same lift, you know, here at 30 AM, I'll be like 11 PM doing, doing a lift like, you know, getting a, and running on the treadmill at damn near one opposite. So him and I are the exact opposite. Obviously- At that time, I'm asleep. Like I, I go to bed at nine, nine o'clock, no later 9:30 every night. Yeah. By the time I meet AME girls, I'm just like when I open, I'm looking at them like, I do it them. I'm a trooper. I stay up with them. Yeah. Like girl. Yeah. Yeah, him and I have reverse, reverse schedules. Like I'll be running on the treadmill at 1:00 AM. But you know what? But then he gets up at 3:00. Wow. I'm getting to the age where I need my sleep. I'm not gonna lie, like I used to be able to, uh, be on like three hours of sleep and go to the gym in the morning. Yeah. That ain't, no, that's not happening. I need a good six hours. Yeah. Before I do anything. I need at least four to six hours. Five and a half, yeah. Yeah. Five and a half I'll get., So can we talk, a little bit about the coffee because I love coffee. Yes. Olivia loves coffee. Yes, I want your coffee. Yeah, we coffee snobs too. Yeah. Him and I are both coffee coffee. Like coffee gotta be really, really like good and like- Do you guys name your coffee? No. No. No. Are you going to name it? We haven't got to that point yet. We haven't even got to that point, but, to be honest with you, we probably would name it, but it, it's, yeah, we just haven't got to that point yet. Yeah. But I'm a, I'm, I'm a, for me when it come to coffee, my grandmother raised me, so it's only one way I know how to drink coffee and that's black. Oh, nice. Okay. Nothing in it. European. Black. Well, but I, I- Same. I do like that, like, so I'll put cream in my coffee, but I, if it's a brand new coffee, I like to taste it without anything. So you know what the profile is? Yeah. So I've been drinking coffee since I was three. Wow. Since I was two. I paper baby. Both of my, both of them, both of And that's the crazy part. I was not. I don't know. And it's till this day, coffee doesn't have that effect on me. You like my twin Chloe. Like, like I can drink coffee and go, I can drink this, like I just have to sleep. I can go to sleep. Yeah. But I've been like that since I was a kid. It did not make me I was not a hyper kid. I was never a hyper kid. I was very relaxed. I was sitting around drawing and stuff like that. I was never like a busy body. I was never loud. I was like real, real quiet and real chill. And my parents both were like coffee addicts. Like they would make, like my dad would get up at 4:00 AM, make my mom's coffee and already have it on the heater and ready to go. So when she gets up at 5:36, it was already on there. My dad already made a big- Oh wow. Jug of it and he's been drinking it and they both drank it black and that was like, and I'm like, man, can I have some of that? And so my mom had this little brown glass that she would put my coffee in and it would be like not I mean, it couldn't even been no more than four ounces worth of a cup. Yeah. But then she might have filled it about halfway up. And that was like my thing since I was like a kid. Wow. And like I was- You sound like you were a bougie baby. Yeah. Bougie in the hood, but I, I, it's, I'm from the ghetto, but but, but, but- And it don't, and it, by the way, coffee do not stunt your growth. I know that is running joking. I'm almost 6'5". It is not stung your, it's not your girl. Yeah. Unless I was supposed to be 6'10" But I, yeah, my, I've been drinking it literally since I was like three. Yeah. I, I vividly remember getting cups and my mom would just give me a little, little two ounces and I would drink that and I'm like, I'm like my parents right now, you know what I mean? Did you, did you drink it with your little pinky finger? I used to. I thought it was fancy. Yeah, I did. Yeah, when I was a kid. And these little espressos. These big glasses? Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I feel like that's the one- You almost have to. My finger's so big, I can't even get it into things. Well, I just feel like, you know what, you, you kinda, you kinda dilute it when you start to put, you can't taste the purity of it. You can't taste the elements of it when you start to add the sugar and the cream and I mean to each your own. I never, I never put sugar in my coffee. Yeah. Tuite's own, but I, I mean, if you really wanna enjoy a, I, um- talk about this. At our last event, or two events ago, this one guy, because we always have coffee at our event. Sometimes we forget, but majority of the time we bring coffee. He was like, "I never had a coffee and cigar." And he tried it for the first time at the table. Oh, that's good. He was like, "Brother, I think you just pit me on something." I said, "Life changing." A lot of people enjoy their cigars that way. Like at most, coffee shops, if they don't, even if they don't have alcohol, they'll definitely have coffee. Sure. It's called, it's owned by Akhmed and it's in San Diego and he makes his own cigars. And all he serves is espresso, coffee, no alcohol. Yeah. And it's packed. Right, right to the bathroom, right after that. Literally. Straight to the bath. Well, that's how,, I think the new cedar room that's out on Carefree and, uh, Scottsdale Road out there,, they're new, they were supposed to have a bar there, but they decided that they were just gonna have coffee. And so they have this big espresso coffee situation going. I've only been there once now. I thought, I, I thought he ended up buying it back. The black guy who owned that. Oh. I have to talk to Chris, but I'm pretty sure it's a- I just heard like probably like a week ago, did he end up, uh, because I did hear that they end up, they, they did end up buying it. Wait a minute, wait, wait. Go, okay, you gotta jerk. Mystery. There we go. Ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing about the cigar world, it's so many different conversations happening in the cigar world. Little bit of tea little tea drop. Clock intro. Yeah, yeah. Facts. So, but I did hear that you could be right and I could be right or both of us could be wrong. I don't know. You have to find out. Go figure, figure that out. Yeah. See was what? Yeah. That's crazy. Wow. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, I did hear, and he did have a great selection, of cigars. I went out there one time, but it's so damn far. It's far. It's like a 50 minute drive from my house. Oh. Yeah, like- Well, it's like 20 minutes for us. No, the, I remember the one cigar shop I went to. About. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I can't think of it. It means hand or something like that. Yeah, hands up, yeah. So I was gonna ask that though, because I haven't really seen any yet here, any like black owned or- He was. Yeah, he was. Okay. He was the, well, it was him and another guy probably- Made East. Two years ago. His fraternity brother. Yeah, Maduro East, Madeiro East, yeah. Okay. Yeah. But then, yeah, now that's dragon lounge. Oh yeah. So I haven't been, I haven't gone yet and I know they're supposed to have another big event company- Grand openings this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. But there was maybe a private event that happened not too long ago. We was there. Yeah. We were in there smoking the desert through that event. Of course, of course you guys were. Yeah. Being in the cigar space, we try to support all the cigar culture events here, brands here. There's so many coming out the woodworks now, which we love. Yeah. But- And so many people support us, so it's kind of hard to, to, to reciprocate when it's like one every day. But we try. Yeah. Especially now, like, now I see, like this week alone, I've, I've seen like three or four events and I know like all the people involved and I'm like, which one do I go to? It's hard. It's hard. Yeah. Everybody, you know, supports. Yeah. And, you know, we be tired both. Sometimes it's like- Yeah, because people got family sending out stuff they do. Exactly. So it's, it's kind of hard to really support, but we, we try to do our best, Troy and I to- Yeah. show up and be at everybody's stuff. Yes. So, I mean, we can talk, talk about so your organization, your business, if you guys I know we kind of hit it, you know, hit size of it. We talked about the cigars, we talked about the community and meeting up and all of that, but what is kind of your ultimate, and we're, we're probably gonna wrap up soon because this is a great, we're at like 64 minutes right now. Oh wow. Oh, wow. Yeah. So- Time flies. Time flies. So, if you guys kind of want to talk about like, do you have like a mission statement or anything like that? And like what's the goal when you, when you bring people together? Because what I'm really like about it is like, I like the cigars, I like the coffee, but I love the people. Mm-hmm. Like when it, everybody's having fun, everybody is like, we're, we're talk, complimenting each other, talking to each other, even if we've never met them before, like she came to one of the last events, not the one last time, but the one before that, across the street from Fox. Oh, I met. Yeah. So, and it was just such an enjoyable experience. And I always meet people that I now have connected to. Yeah. Like we have each other's phone numbers. Mm-hmm. So can you guys kind of speak to like what your goal and mission is by bringing people together? Yeah. I mean, we call it cut, light, connect, but that's, kind of what we live by is that aspect of cut light connect and, like we were saying the community aspect of it, I think it's like literally all we really, are about. It's, it's, it's not so much about, I mean, we've, we've, we've had this conversation with other companies and such. It's more about the dollar. Us, we're really big on the community and really big on, that one hand shake away type of aspect. But I'll let Troy kind of go over. Yeah, for sure. To kind of piggyback on that, you know, with your foreign believers that you want one handshake away, one conversation away from your whole life changing, right? Yeah. You just gotta be in the right room at the right time. You just never know what may happen. But, we, again, we started off enjoying cigars, but using, utilizing this, this, this, this platform as a, a networking opportunity for people. 'Cause one thing we do know about Arizona, it's a melting pot. You got people from the Midwest, you got people from the east coast, you got people from down south, down, down south, they come here, people always ask where, where my village at, where my village at. I said, your village is where you make it, but also, stepping out of your comfort zone, coming to these events, because you always- Even if you don't smoke. Yeah, even if you don't smoke, people always ask where the black people at. Well, we, you know, I mean, you know- Smoking. He got a real good saying they were always just, we not what when it come to being black, right? Yeah. So we're not, we're not black only, we, we're black, we're black first, not black only. Exactly. So yeah, obviously we try to do, we try to connect with black venues, try to do, you know, things with black folks, but we're not black only. Do you two want to like, do you think you'll spread your business to other states like- Absolutely. Nationwide? Oh, we already have had the opportunity to Florida, New York. Yeah, s is huge. Our last opportunity we just had, um, they reached out to us, I want to say about a week ago,, it's a cigar lounge and I want to say the Sacramento area. They want to do a lightning cut there. Nice. And, you know, to be honest, over the last two years, there's been several cigar groups- Memphis. companies- Yeah, Memphis. who want us to do it, right? But for us, we really want to perfect what we have and that's why we're not really big on like getting our cigars in like stores and, you know, we, it's, it's a boutique, but also we really enjoy the sister and the brother leaf, hood that we have, you know, brotherhood that we have. So. And I think that's what's, why, why when people come to our events, they feel something special because it's more organic. It's not about, like I said, us trying to chase a dollar or us trying to fabricate something that's not, not real, right? So if we're doing it organically, then it feels different. That's the most brilliant business model. Yeah. And you have a heart in it. Yeah. And it's not just one dimensional. Yeah. Right. You know, it's community, it's crossing the cultures- Absolutely. That's huge. Absolutely. Yeah. 'Cause obviously we could have probably blown this thing up in a way different way already. If it was about, if it was about the dollar, I mean, yeah, we could have been sold ourself. We could have been sold the opportunity to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Right. But at the end of the day, now we taking away from what we came, you know, our, our, you know- The whole thing when we sit down in front of 424 having a conversation and like about the iron sharp and iron and then the community aspect, you're going to lose that and you're going to lose the type of people you bring. Like yeah, we can probably have four, 500, 600, you know, a thousand people come to our events, right? Yeah. And we could probably definitely blow, like the people that Troy and I both know, we can definitely blow it out of the water that way. But at what cost? At what cost? Right. Then, then, then when you walk into that venue, as you were just saying, it doesn't have that same organic feel, right? So when you, when you do that and you blow it up too much, you don't have that same wholesome feel when you walk into the door. Yeah, there's some people psyche too that when they see your cigar, especially if they go to your events, they're like, "Ah, this cigar is not only amazing, but the people that own it are amazing." Absolutely. Right. And that community, that wholesome community too. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I will say that some cigars, I do smoke because of the story behind them. Mm-hmm. Like, the, what is it, Southern Draw. So I like that whole story. So my God, it's such a good cigar. Yeah. So the, the story behind that, which of course I learned from guys at a cigar shop in in Boston at this point, do you guys know the story? Uh, what? 'Cause I don't want to retell. No, go ahead. Go ahead. I don't know. So the, the story goes, the guy that owns the cigar, he was, fighting one of these wars back in the day, and basically he thought he was gonna die. Someone passed him a cigar and he didn't die and he thought it was such a great gesture that when he went back home to Texas, to his family, he, made his own cigar brand. Mm. Wow. And he named the first one after his wife, Rose of Sharon. So that's the story. And when I smoke it, I think about that every time. Wow. Wow. That's dope. What's the name of the stick again? Southern Draw. Southern Draw. Yeah. So Rosa Sharon, I'll smoke, it's a lighter smoke. It's a, I think a Connecticut wrapper, but, I'll smoke that, as a breakfast cigar, you know, but yeah, I think about that story every time. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's deep, that's what's up. Yeah. And I think that's, I mean, obviously, I think that's the biggest thing is just like, I mean, people, the world we live in, like, right, everybody wants money, everybody wants to be able, like Troy and I, we have day jobs. We have what we do already. This is a passion. We do. Exactly. So this, so that's what it is. That's why it's so organic because like it's not like we're like, oh man, we about to make it out the hood on this one. Like it ain't really that type of mentality to it. It's kind of like, man, it's real organic. It's like, man, we need to get people together and we need to have this community and we're gonna continue to cultivate the community and be able to make it organic. Right. So like he was saying, it's not about the dollar. And so we just obviously just keeping that, that, that, that, that nucleus that we have and growing it slowly and organically and massaging it and creating, you know, these relationships with different venues and having these conversations with the venue owner and making sure that they're along with the mission- Right. and that it's not out of alignment with what we're doing. 'Cause obviously some venues it's just like, man, how many dollars can we get in here in the next couple minutes? That's not how we operate. We're operating in more of a space of what type of vibe can we create? Is this something like, like we did an event with the IMAD, you guys were at the IMAD event, right? Yeah, that was awesome. Now I'm drawing a blank on his name, not Ash, Ash is a torch, but the gentleman, the owner of Oh, IMAT, his name is Ima- Imad. Yeah. But, he, what he was saying was, when we, did the debrief at the end and we had a conversation about, after our event, right? The biggest thing for him is what type of time did the people have? That's, throughout the whole time, throughout the whole night, the only conversation he's having is, what type of time are the people having? Are they enjoying themselves? Yeah. Are they having a great time? Are they learning something? Are they moving? Is it, is the, the energy stale? Like that was the main focus of the venue. It wasn't, well, how much are the bar sales right now or how much did you guys spend on, or how many, it wasn't that conversation. It's, are the people here having a good time? I want to make sure that they're And how many times Troy did he ask us? Man, probably more than 10 times. That's the one we went to. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are they having a good time? Is this what, you know- That's great. Yeah. Is this the community like, are they, is this a community, driven moment at the mo- at the time? Like that was literally the focus. And that's what we like to partner and work with. Anything, anytime we do something with someone, it's about that. That, yeah. But also keeping the cigar culture alive. Mm-hmm. Yeah, like we said, there's a lot of different cigar groups and events happening, but cigars should be, we sh- we still have to uphold the integrity of cigars. Yes. Yeah. And the vision that it is, that it looks and what you grew up believing that it was. Yeah. That's why you come to our events, we do, we, you can come, like the church say, dress- I see. Yeah. Come as you are, right? Yeah. But have enough gall, have enough respect for yourself and the people that you have the opportunity to meet, put you, a blazer. I don't care if it come from the Goodwill. Yeah. Put yourself together because again, you never know who you're going to meet at these events. ExactlyThat's right. Exactly. So we always want to uphold that respect of cigars. It sure be uphold, right? That's why like, so I work at a hospital, we won't say the name of it, but I work at a hospital here in the valley and, I will never walk into a cigar bar and sit down and, with scrubs on. Never. Because I know that it's a different environment and I respect, you know- Yeah. Regardless of where it is, I, I respect it enough to not do that and the people that come there. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I like the fact that you guys do that because, when I come to your events, it's just class. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. And that's what we aim for. That's exactly the name for. That's what we say. Put that shit on. Facts. Facts. So, so yeah, I think, this is it. I think we're going to wrap it up. We'll probably do some more with you guys in the future. Absolutely. But thank you so much. We had fun. This man, this, this is cool. You know, we, we thought about doing a podcast ourself at some point. We just got really busy with life, but, I, you know, I, I have done podcasts for the last seven, eight years. I have really successful podcasts and, I always enjoy this time to be able to just, especially being a black man, to be able to have your thoughts to be free, speak freely. Yeah. It's a dope place to be, so thank you guys for inviting us and giving us that time. We appreciate you for having us. This is great. We'll be at your events. We'll, we'll see at Torch. Absolutely. Yeah. We'll definitely come in. Absolutely. Yeah. Go there anyway for our, like, powwows. Okay. Absolutely. So yeah, we, and we appreciate you always supporting us.You've been supporting us from day one. Yes. And, we do, we truly- I support you too. And we appreciate you too. Yeah. We thank you for coming to, as you said, you came to. I'm going to tell Willie, because I'm friends with Willie and Danny in San Diego. If you guys want to go to San Diego, I'm going to tell Willie- Absolutely. Absolutely. We definitely going to be taking on a road. We always with the road trips. We, we always consider- We love you guys. Absolutely. Everyone, I will open my big mouth, everyone will show up because I know a lot of people there and they would love your cigars and your coffee and- We would love to. So that's one thing about Olivia since I've met her. She definitely is, a person that loves to connect people. Connector. Yeah. That's what we talk about. Yeah. Mm-hmm.. So I definitely like that. You probably know a couple of my, like, just people I know out there in San Diego that smoke cigars. A lot of them go to the big church out there. What's the one guy? Say Chapel? The black guy kind of like a football expert at the rock because I went to the rock when I lived out there. I know Miles since before was, when Miles was at Horizon. Gotcha. Okay. Mike McIntosh. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So I go to rock too. And, and he is absolute great guy. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of his members, I know them and I smoke cigars. You know Antoine. You must know Antoine.That's what I'm talking about. Ballhead? Yeah, Antoine. Ballhead. His wife is- His parents live here. Yes, his parents, his brother live here. No, you don't know Antoine. Yes, I do. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's my guy. That's my guy. Yeah. Antoine's my guy. So we going to connect. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Yes. Antoine, we all hang out at Red Royal. Yes. When you said, I'm like, okay, that's what Antoine be all the time. Yeah. Antonio's my guy. Hey, that cigar world is different. I know. It's, it's a small world. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We all hang out. You heard it here first. Yes. Yes. You heard it here first. Yes. He always here. He go to Foxes when he come here. He always call me HR where you at. Yeah. He have his wife, Angie with him all the time. His brother with him. So where are they doing event at? You heard, you heard it here first. Great people. Great people. Where are they doing the event at? At, at Royals. Oh, that's what's up. Okay. Say less. Cigars and coffee coming to Royals. That's what we do. But I've, I've wanted to go to Royals. Could you talk about, and that's where you're box is. Antoine, yeah. Antoine's another very, like, motivating. Oh, man. Antoine is just like- Why are we doing it? He is such a motivator. Yes. Him and his wife, Angie, just great people. Antoine is just awesome. Great people. Yes. Say less. And down to earth, humble and just amazing. Yeah. So we're gonna, with, on that note, on that high note- That's a high note. Yes. We're going to end this episode of Sticks and Stories. Again, thanks guys so much. Thank you. Thank you for having us. And Olivia, thank you for co-hosting today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So thank you guys and have a smoke. Yes, sir.