"NEW Sumatra Feat. Mike Palme from Powstanie Cigars!" Ep. 37 5/30/26

Mike Palmer, national sales manager of Powstanie Cigars, joins us for a very special release show of Powstanie Cigars' newest addition to their portfolio, the Powstanie Sumatra! Learn the story, history, and portfolio of Powstanie. What makes this brand so special in the world of Boutique cigars? Check out our exclusive sampler that highlights the best of the Powstanie Cigars line! 

Powstanie Cigars LINK: https://oakglentobacconist.com/product-category/powstanie-cigars/

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live Podcast, your neighborhood virtual cigar lounge. Each week, we share the cigar experience with the OGT Cigars community. Join Mallory and I as we explore the world of boutique and unique premium cigars. I'm Eric, founder of Oakland Tobacconist and the OGT Cigar Society. I have a deep passion, and some might say obsession, with cigars and cigar culture. Working as an artistic theater director previously inspires me to infuse entertainment into the craft I love. Learning never stops. And I invite you to follow in our cigar journey.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I'm Mallory. While I don't ever claim cigar expertise, I've always been a foodie who's obsessed with scent and flavor. I can be counted on to provide bizarre tasting notes, such as the Home Depot Garden Center or Grandma's Basement, which always leads to good conversation. And good conversation is truly my favorite part of enjoying cigars with friends.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live, where conversation lights up. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of OGT Cigars Live on a Thursday night. Thank you for joining us. As always, I'm one of your hosts, Eric Dresden from OGT Cigars. And joining me tonight, my beautiful wife, Mallory.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Hi, how's it going?

SPEAKER_04 1:21

We have a very, very special guest tonight and a special show because we've tried to always like highlight and have cigar manufacturers and cigar blenders, cigar makers on the uh channel. But this is the first time we're having uh someone from this brand join us. So I'm super excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

It's gonna be pretty cool. But as always, as I see we've got some comments dropping down, I will highly encourage you, please drop down your comments. What are you smoking tonight? What are you enjoying? Are you pairing it with anything? We want to know because it's always more engaging when you engage in the show. Yeah. And so it's not only highly encouraged, we definitely say it's a must if you're hanging out because this is a virtual cigar lounge. It's not just two people talking the whole time. Uh, so we want to know what you're enjoying, what's good out there. Uh, let's see here. We got a comment here for my brother Andrew.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Uh, Andrew says, hello everybody, watching a great podcast, watching the Spurs game and smoking in Crimson Night. Life is good. Ha ha ha.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Crimson night for the win. Let's just hope the Spurs also win. I'm usually Golden State. Uh, unfortunately, they had a bad year, but now I'm pulling for San Antonio. So we'll see. Hopefully, it's a do-or-die game tonight. Daniel Frazier's on.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

This evening, fam. Had a bucephalus earlier this evening before the storm rolled in, drinking a Coke Zero cherry float. That's nice. Very good.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

There you go. Bucephalus is a great one as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Um, um, Andrew says, nice, that sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

And let's see here. Stumptown Rider.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

I'm guessing there's going to be a few nights being smoked tonight. I just got my crimsons myself. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 2:45

Yes. So if anyone's watching this, and if they don't know what the Crimson Night is, this is the most uh recent exclusive drop for the OGT Cigar Society. In fact, if you are confused, this is what it looks like. It is the second installment in our night series, the second uh cigar to drop in the society, African Cameroon aged just over two years, six by fifty fox press. Certainly hope you guys enjoy it. Very special cigar, and I'm glad to see a lot of our members getting it. Next week, we'll, of course, will be highlighting that as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Uh Daniel Frazier says wife would kick me out if I smoked inside. It's it's raining out there, you said. Oh, okay. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

Totally. It's your sometown rider.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Same here, best time of year in the Pacific Northwest for outside cigar time.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

Yes, there you go. And the Faceless Orchestra is on.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yes, I just had a crimson. Great. Second one this week paired nicely with a Guinness. Already looking forward to the next release. A Guinness sounds like a great idea. I feel like we have some in the fridge. I should try that.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Well, and I think too mostly because I mean Mallory out of the Drazen clan is the the beer drinker, the beer enjoyer. I'm not really a beer drinker, so I'm always talking about whiskey, but we're gonna have to explore that aspect. Cigar with a stout is just like I I remember at one point back in the day I had a bishops blend from Black Label with a uh porter, and that really worked well.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah, I feel like a porter sometimes it just feels like a watered-down stout to me. Like it's there's just no oomph. Is there a cigar equivalent of that for you?

SPEAKER_04 4:12

I don't really want to get into politics. I feel like a lot of Dominican Habanos out there. Okay, like if a Habano from Nicaragua versus a Habano from Dominican Republic, not to say one's better than the other. Like I obviously enjoyed the portable. Sometimes you have that sort of there's lack of spicy, like kickiness to it, and that's sometimes what I want.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Yeah, it's just when you're comparing two things that feel similar. Yeah, that's all I'm trying to do.

SPEAKER_04 4:44

100%. Uh Daniel's also on said had a crimson night. Great Cameroon cigar. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Rob Brown is on smoking a note broke right now. Oh, nice. And with an emerald night on deck. Now, is that the original note broke? Because that means you've had two green label cigars back to back. Very nice. Both monochromatics are the monochromatic choice. Yeah, yeah. Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

Uh, let's see here. T Money is on.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Smoking a Postania SBC 24, of course.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

Someone's someone's uh jumping on the Postania train tonight. Uh awesome, which which we're yeah, what we're gonna be talking about tonight. Um, awesome is I see a lot of uh comments dropping down. We're gonna pull a few more, and then it's time for us to get into our cigar. Um let's check out RJ's.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Uh hello, Eric and Mally. First off, Eric, that was an awesome interview you did last night with the Dead Bull Cigar Podcast. Tonight I'm smoking a Bruno the Butcher along with Crystal Light. I see Bruno with the very nice.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Yeah, no, we were really honored to be on that podcast. That was really cool. So thank you guys for watching. Um, and let's see if there's some time writers.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Hockey fan, let's go nights. RJ up here says go Spurs.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

Yep, we're rooting for the Spurs tonight, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

And then Rob Brown.

SPEAKER_04 5:58

Uh, let's see here. Rob Brown.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Says Eric, you might have your hockey team going to the Stanley Cup. See, we needed to get into hockey before this.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

We should have.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

I feel I would feel like a poser, but congratulations to them.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

Well, thank you guys. Keep the comments going. Uh, and not only uh in terms of just comments, but also questions, because we have a very special guest tonight, and we've got to light up our cigar because that will move us into what we're talking about tonight. So, Mallory and I each are going to be lighting up the brand new released Postanya Sumatra. So uh I myself have chosen the Robusto because I feel like it has a little more of an aggressive kick to it, which I really like. Mallory smoking the Toro, both of which are fantastic. Um, and I have to say, too, like not to sound biased or anything, but I have been really enjoying Sumatras lately, and this is definitely one of them. They knocked it out of the park. So uh we're gonna go ahead and get this lit up, and then we're gonna uh have our guests jump on very shortly. Today's cigar is brought to you by the OGT Cigar Society membership. Enjoy a five-pack of premium custom cigars each month at an undeniable price. Join the community and smoke with us on the Oakland Tobacconist YouTube channel as we delve into the rich experience of boutique and craft cigars. You can find out all about the subscription and a whole host of amazing blends by following us on social media. Look for us at Oakland Tobacconist or OGT Cigars. All right. All right, just getting the first puffs. Now I say the Robusto out of the two, I feel like is a bit more uh pronounced in its flavor. A good amount of pepper up front, um, but there's also this kind of like floral rosy aspect that happens on the back end. Good sweetness too, and a hint of like cedar, and like you had mentioned this last night we were smoking it, and I can definitely see it now.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Orange peel, like a sort of citrusy, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

I definitely get that again. Well, and I would say too, like, if you want a more smooth, balanced, longer experience, the Toro is the way to go. If you want something a bit more uh, like I said, pronounced, I feel like the Robusto is the way to go. Either way, this new release is incredible, and we've made it very easy for you to try both because we are featuring tonight an awesome Postana sampler pack that features both the Toro and Robusto in it, as well as some favorites like the San Andreas, the Connecticut, that one on the far right, which is a Bellicoso, that is a broadleaf, Connecticut broadleaf, which is going to disappear. It's not going to be around for much longer. So check that out. And then on the far left, their limited Warbear this year, which is a very prestigious cigar. Not only do you get a fantastic deal on this, but it's like the perfect way to expose uh your palette to Postania cigars. You get to try everything from their portfolio, you get to uh get an incredible deal, and also the brand new releases. So check that out at OGT. This is available now. Don't miss out on it. Uh, that being said, uh, it's time I think that we add our our guest in. What do you think? So, as I had mentioned, we're talking about Postania cigars tonight. And I remember I used to have a hard time. I was like, is it Postani? Is it but uh as I understand, hopefully I don't get corrected, but I think it's Postania. Um, they're a fantastic brand that I had been watching for some time, and we brought them on earlier this year. I have been incredibly impressed by everything that they do. Great couple of guys. And so tonight, for the first time ever on OGT is live, we have the pleasure of having Mr. Mike Palmer, National Sales Manager of Postania. So please help me welcome Mike Palmer. Thank you so much for jumping on, man.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Hey guys, not a problem. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

And as you guys can tell, uh, Mike is got professional podcasting equipment. He has a podcast for himself, and it's actually it's a big relief. It's pretty cool to have.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Nothing but the best for you guys.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

There you go. There you go. Well, thank you so much for taking the time, jumping on, hanging out with us tonight, talking about the brand. Um, as I had mentioned, we brought uh Postanya in earlier this year. So while your guys' brand is pretty well known, I feel like for the OGT community, they're might be not as well known. So I was hoping tonight we can kind of get to know the brand even more.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Sure, whatever you guys would like to know.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

Awesome. We have uh Josh Bowling saying uh Palmer is my best friend.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yes, he's very excited. Uh Josh is one of the sales rep for the uh Espinosa group.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

Oh, very cool. Okay, nice, awesome. We also got uh let's see here, Rock uh Brooks Coding.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, he does some uh some stuff for us at the cigar shop. He's uh that's Charles.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Nice, awesome. Well, yeah, so guys, if you have any questions about Postania cigars tonight, tonight is the time to ask. Learn about the blends, learn about the company. And where I would like to start with it is uh Mike, I know that you're a national sales manager for Postania, right? Um, when did the company start and like how did it come about? Like how long has Postania been going on?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Uh the brand goes back 10 years. That uh that giant war bear you showed is the anner the 10-year anniversary war bear. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

And that war bear, you you guys do a different blend every year? Is that right? Uh the blend stays the same every two years, but we changed the Vitola on the war bear. Gotcha. Okay. So the SBC, uh, which I don't know, I don't remember if that was in your I don't think that was in your sampler, but the SBC, Surrounded by Champions, comes out every two years also. The way it's supposed to work is war bear one year, SBC the next year. SBC, the Vitola stays the same, but we do change the blend.

unknown 11:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Oh, that's cool. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

That's a neat way to do the limiteds, too. I think we said we had someone up in the comments saying they were smoking an SBC. Yeah.

unknown 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Somebody uh T Money, I believe, was smoking one. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_04 11:41

Daniel Frazier is saying had a Postana San Andreas Maduro. Fantastic. Um I honestly will say like the Maduro is one of my absolute favorites, the San Andreas. It's such a good cigar.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah, it is, it's very good. That's the one that was uh the number two cigar from Half-Wheel uh in 2025.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

Awesome. And of course, like I mean, well, well deserved. Uh and it's really cool. And I I will say too, I heard a lot, I think previous year you got a lot, a lot of accolades about the Connecticut that you guys did as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

The Connecticut came out two years before and it did really well. It made it up on a lot of the rankings also.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Nice, nice. So Postania Cigars, what where does the name come from? How did it come to be?

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Well, the two owners of the company, Mike and Greg, Stepankevich, are uh first generation Polish emigrants. Their father came over from Poland. So Postania means uprising in Polish. Very cool. That's where they got the name. They own a shop in uh Deltona, Florida that they've had for quite a while, and they decided to make they had some run-ins with some of the bigger brands and some of the bigger shops where they were trying to stifle us getting uh certain cigars and things. So they originally the idea was they just wanted to have a cigar that they could always have access to. Something somebody couldn't control, something somebody else couldn't take from them. So that's how they started making their own brand. So they were lucky enough to fall in with the Romacraft guys over Nick Aswena, and that's who's made our cigars for the last ten years. Yes, yeah. So there's we don't have any problems with the cigars. There's never a production issue, there's never anything wrong with any of them. And they taste good, luckily. So when the word got out that we were doing our own cigar, uh other friends across the country who have shops wanted to carry it as you know, sort of support us and help us along the way. And it sort of took off from there. Now we're in uh between two and three hundred shops, you know, in any given day. So uh luckily you guys are one of them now. We're glad to have you guys.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. So what like when you guys started that way and kind of starting off like originally wanting to start it just in-house, what was that feeling like in terms of other people saying, Hey, I want to carry this too, I want to support you guys? Like, how did uh was that through relationships you had built through with other shop owners?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Yeah, relationships that Mike and Greg had made with other shop owners over the I mean uh so the the brand goes back 10 years, the shop itself I believe goes back 15 or 16 years. So you know, over five or six years, they had gotten to know people and met people, and you know, it's just the way it worked out. Yeah, and then let's say like you guys carry it, a local shop near you might come in and go, Hey, what's that red and white thing? And then he tries it. Next thing you know, there's another guy added to the list.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and I will say Posanya, the brand, the cigars themselves, has a way of doing that. So the first time I was ever exposed to the brand um was a shop out in Arizona called Embargo.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

And unfortunately, I don't think Abe Prolman has the shop anymore.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

No, I don't I think it might have closed.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

Yeah, but I mean he always had an amazing selection, and I honestly I I became friends with him somewhat. We talked a lot, and and seeing your guys' brand there, I was like, oh, this is something really interesting. And if he brought in a brand, there was like this mutual respect that I was like, you know, it there's something to it.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah. He uh he was a he was a real nice guy. I think he had some health issues and things, and I think that's what uh sort of was the downturn for him at his shop.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

Yeah, yeah, to some degree. Yeah. So when you say that uh the company started about 10 years ago, were you working at the shop at that time, or when did you come on scene?

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Um, I come in about nine years ago. They had just come out with the cigars, and I was just a customer that started hanging out at the shop. Um back then I was doing business with factories in China, so I was setting out factories to US companies in China. So my days were pretty much free. You know, all the busy stuff's in the morning because of the time difference. So I had a free, you know, time in the middle and then busy again in the afternoon. So I started hanging out at the shop. Uh one day turned into five days, and all of a sudden I'm I'm standing out front waiting on somebody to show up. So they eventually gave me a key. You know, I can turn the TVs on, I can turn all the lights on. You guys show up at 10 o'clock and you know, and and start ringing people up. So that's that's how it happened. Nice. Yeah. And then when they started making the cigars, actually, they both had to go to Nicaragua and they were they only had uh Mike and Greg and then they had a guy that worked at night, so they had nobody else working the days. So they were, you know, they couldn't figure out what to do. What are we gonna do during the day? Who's gonna run the shop during the day? And I went, I got a key. Show me how the register works, and we're all good. So that's so cool. Yeah. So I worked for free for quite a while. I've helped them out in different aspects over the years, and uh started doing social media and stuff for him for a while, and then the the sales thing just sort of opened up at a time where you know, because of COVID and everything else, the Chinese business sort of went down and the tariffs started going up, and then everybody's going to Mexico instead of China. So I needed something about the time they got busy to the point where Mikey couldn't do the sales by himself anymore.

SPEAKER_05 16:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

So now we're almost two years down the road.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

Yeah, I mean it's always cool to to experience the growth like that, but it's also not easy to go through those growing pains. I imagine there was a lot of learning, a lot of trial and error.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Certainly, yeah, always, always something. And now they they uh I've I'm there all the time and I have been for so long. I'm like a lamp. So I mean they don't really notice you know what where what I'm doing and why I'm so there might be something happening, and I just go, what did they just say? And now I gotta figure out what they're talking about. We got a new cigar coming out. Oh, oh you know, so it just that's just the way it happens. I always tell the joke that I could I could walk through the building. I'll ask to take a picture because I'm doing social media stuff, so I might need everybody's face to do something AI or something. Nobody wants to know why. Everybody just goes, you know, they just turn for me and I take their picture. So I'm like, I could walk through here with you know my head on fire, carrying a camera, and everybody would be getting oh, he's doing something else.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

Some kind of stun on social media.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah, something on social media. We'll see it in a couple of days, it'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Just don't pay any attention to him, don't look at it.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

I think we we have quite a bit of comments.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna pull up a few comments here, uh, some really cool ones as well. Let's go with uh Data Cash.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Uh, the Sumatra Grand Toro is by far my favorite.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

And so this actually brings up something that I don't mean to put you on the spot. Like I said, I'm I'm smoking the Rusto. Mallory's smoking the Toro. Do you have a favorite Vitola out of the new Sumatra release?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I've only had the Churchill and the Toro. Um I'm really excited to try that Robusto tomorrow when I go in, but uh my favorite is the Toro. Now, Mikey was like in the Churchill to like convinced him to try a Toro, and now we're fighting over them. So uh I I we're with Mallory. The Toro is the better of the one as far as we're concerned.

SPEAKER_05 18:28

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

Yeah, no, and we we both uh reviewed it last night smoking. We both had a Toro, and then um at the show at PCA, I tried it in the Robusto, kind of going back and forth. It's it's a phenomenal cigar, and it's not a blind release. As I understand it, this was originally a limited release before this.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah, it was the catastrophic failure that came out a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

And uh where'd the name come from? Well, uh there was a guy at the factory who in uh Mikey was going down to do the new war bear. And so this guy thought, oh, well, I'll I'll blend a war bear and then it'll you know it'll move everything along a little faster, whatever thing. Well, he didn't know that we never changed the blend on the war bear. So he actually blended the catastrophic failure to what we ended up calling it, because it's a good cigar, but it's not the war bear. So it was you know a failure as a warbear. So that's kind of how it got the name. And it and it was so good. Mikey tweaked it just a little bit, and then uh when we put it out, it didn't sell at first because of the name. You know, because catastrophic failure. Why am I gonna smoke that? But once people tried it, I mean, we just blew through them real quick. So that's when they supposedly, because like I said, they don't tell me things, they decided to make it part of the core line and then make it the new Sumatra.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

I I am very happy they made it part of the core line. I think that especially now in the last couple of years, and correct me if I'm wrong, I mean, also working on the retail side, but I feel like Sumatra's really made a push recently in the cigar industry.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Yeah, that seems to be the way it is. Like when we came out with the Connecticut, everybody started doing Connecticut's. And now, you know, there's trends, there's trends in the industry. Not that we're setting the trend, but it just sort of everybody sort of jumps on it at the same time. You know, so now you're right. I've seen a lot of Sumatras that are coming out too, and you always go, Well, who did the first one? Who's the uh you know, yeah, who's the guy? Who gets credit for this?

SPEAKER_04 20:17

It's definitely up there. I mean, it's it's such an incredible cigar. And um, I mean, I don't know if I told you this, I've I've said it kind of on our channel before, but uh, I was at a lounge, this was uh I think November or December of last year, and I picked up a Postana San Andreas because I was like, this is one of the few that I actually haven't smoked. And that cigar was like, all right, enough of this. Like, we can't keep playing around, we've got to bring this brand in. It's really, really special. So it was cool to come in on the San Andreas and then have the Sumatra added. And I think, especially from Connecticut to San Andreas to Sumatra, you guys are just you're on this upward trend that is really awesome to watch.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah, we've gotten lucky, huh? It's uh I don't I don't know how they did this, but yeah, it seems to be the way it's working right now.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

Yeah, it's it's great, great stuff. Um let's see here. Uh Rob Brown's got a comment saying, Always smoked Postania when I visited Oregon. Shout out to Cigar Chapel in Ben, Oregon, a great shop.

SPEAKER_05 21:15

Nice. Yep, that's a nice nice.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

Uh Raider Dave is wondering the Sausage King of Chicago, Abe Froman.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

That's always what I say too. Yeah. Sausage Sausage King of Chicago.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

So you had mentioned when the crack the this failure came about, the original Sumatra, and then Mike kind of tweaked it. Is Mike doing the blending for this? Is that the people at Nicoswania? Like who how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Uh we they kind of a tough call. Uh Mike and Greg both blend. Like Greg blended the neck Greg made the last trip. Uh so he blended the new S P C that's gonna come out third quarter of this year, the S P C twenty six. So he did that. Um so they both do it depends on who's making the trip uh and what the cigar is. So um it it it all depends. But they originally they both blended a cigar. Greg blended the broadleaf and Mikey blended the Habano, and they were only gonna have one. So they did this blind testy tasting where they put three of each in a bag and let everybody smoke them. And the vote was so close they just went with both.

SPEAKER_05 22:17

Okay. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Yeah. So now the broadleaf is out of production because you can't get good broadleaf right now and skip at the factory. He's not gonna make something if he can't get good tobacco to make it with. So yeah, so so the idea was the San Andreas was gonna replace that, and then we sort of fell into the Sumatra uh in a good way. So now we're back at four again.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Definitely, definitely. So as uh Mike is kind of mentioning in our sampler pack, we mentioned the war bear, the Sumatra on the far right is that bellicoso broadleaf. Um coming down to the to the wire in terms of availability, but uh we put a pack like this together to one kind of give back to uh all of you guys, you get a great deal on it, but also uh check out this sampler because Postania, if you haven't tried it yet, has some amazing stuff and you don't want to miss out on broadleaf once it's gone, as well as war bears. I understand you guys are coming down to the end of that allotment as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Right, yeah, those are almost gone. We still have some left if there's some people out there that want them, but yeah. Uh the new one, I believe, is slated to come out in either December or January.

SPEAKER_05 23:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 23:20

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

We have a question here.

SPEAKER_04 23:23

Uh which one are you seeing? This one here.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

One more.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

Uh let's see here.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Mike uh Tackett official asks any place for a larger cigar, like a seven by seventy or even an eight by sixty?

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Not currently. That war bear, the six by sixty Grand Perfecto, or five and three eighths, whatever it is, uh, is the biggest one we've ever made.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, where do you fall in terms of preference of Vitola? Do you prefer rip bigger wing gauges or like Churchill's or something on like the petite corona side? Like, where do you normally find yourself?

SPEAKER_00 23:56

I'm more of a Robusto Toro guy, you know, standard sizes. The big ones, uh contrary to most people, what they think. I don't have a big mouth, and it just uh it's just not comfortable, you know. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. We have a Gordo coming out, and I've been smoking the where's the camera? I've been smoking these, and this this is about as big as I go.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 24:18

Okay, okay. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

I think the thing that I noticed like with the gordos or whatever is somebody showed me that they did the V-cut like as a cross.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Yeah, the X thing on it.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

The X thing, and that definitely made it like better for me smoking those ring gauges, but um, yeah, I definitely prefer and I know.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

I mean, of course, as everyone knows, like the old adage of like the the bigger the ring gauge, more filler tobacco. And I feel like to blend a good Gordo that you're not just having that kind of like mainstream, like kind of mild flavored, all filler uh is not easy. It's difficult. There's only a handful of go gordos out there that I'm like, wow, this is really impactful. Uh it's a very difficult scene thing, it seems like to capture.

unknown 25:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Sorry, I was reading uh Mike Tack Tackett. What was that one? Mike Tackett Official?

unknown 25:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

That's actually the S the blend on the new SBC that's coming out in the fall.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

Well, there you go. Man, this guy needs to go to Vegas. Like he's on it.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah, I know. It's like, how do I work this cigar in? Thank you very much. There we go.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

So uh in terms of Warbear, that being your annual to kind of celebrate, what is the process behind SBC? Like, how did that come about? What is what is the movement behind it?

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Uh SBC stands for surrounded by champions. Uh it's sort of Mike and Greg's uh homage to everyone who helped them get where they're at. So every two years a cigar comes out and it's you know to celebrate the people that have helped them.

SPEAKER_05 25:55

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

Is uh well yeah, it's the way they say it, but you know and it gets a little artsy with the the barber pole aspect to it.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Right, yeah. And then with the color, the color changes every year too. Like last year, um I guess they can't get T money to show his because he's smoking it somewhere else. Uh we like this this one is red.

SPEAKER_05 26:15

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

So with the SBC across it, the uh last time was a sort of a blue turquoise, so it's it'll have a blue turquoise P on the box. This will have a red one on the box, and then we individually wrap every box like it's a gift. We gift wrap it.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Nice. That's I mean that sounds a little tedious, but uh cool.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

My my wife does it actually. Oh, well, there you go. That's awesome. That's so cool. She'll come down, uh, like she's it's uh she's in the school system, so it's almost summer, so she might be rapping here for a couple of weeks in the summer. That's awesome. That is so cool.

SPEAKER_04 26:49

So do you you said that the shop started. What is the name of uh Mike and Greg's shop?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Uh Cigar Hustler.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Okay, so with Cigar Hustler, that's the name of the shop, but also it is one of the most popular cigar podcasts out there. Um tell us a little bit about the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Uh well, it's called A Cigar Hustlers Podcast uh or Cigars Podcast. You only have to use the A on Patreon, apparently. And that was my mistake, I guess. And they and they don't let you change it. So uh no. Yeah. So uh eight years ago or so, uh Mikey decided he wanted to do a podcast. So uh he goes, Hey, you want to do a podcast? I went, Okay, that sounds like fun. He goes, Okay, learn how. And then he walks away. And I'm like, what? What do you mean? Learn how? How do how do you do this? So that's the way you got started. So I started watching YouTube videos and uh you know, trial and error, and I always say the best way to learn how to do something is to mess it up the first time. Sure. I know exactly what that's like. Right. So our very first episode, we had uh one of those uh snowball microphones it's called. Uh it's just that big round thing. Yeah, we had we had no headphones, we had a card table, and we didn't do video, only audio, and it was terrible. Uh we had uh Cordova and Morales on it, which is a um uh pretty good sized brand.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

Yeah, but we actually we carry Cordova and Morales.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Okay, gotcha. So originally it was Z and uh and his ex-wife, and all she does is really giggle. So the entire hour long, it's uh Z telling stories, her giggling, and me and Mikey trying to figure out what to ask him to get him to keep talking. No, it was it was it was terrible.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

So what's your Oh go ahead, sorry. No, no, you go ahead. What is your favorite question to ask when you have a guest? Because this is something that we're still new at, relatively new at. And so I'm always intrigued by how other people interview, like what their you know, what their favorite thing is to to hear a good story, or um yeah, what's your favorite question to ask?

SPEAKER_00 28:52

We don't do a lot of interviews uh anymore. We sort of change the format over the years, and it's pretty much on uh right now we do we do an hour-ish show, sometimes a little under, sometimes a little over. We do the first half is current events, and then we switch over to cigar news, and then at the end of it, we play this game. But when we have somebody show up, like uh like a Matt Booth or or somebody like that, and Mikey's gonna do an interview if he has an interview before, he goes and meticulously watches everything they've ever done, every podcast they've ever been on, everything that they've ever been interviewed about, and then he will not ask a question that someone else has already asked.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Yeah, so like when he had Pete Johnson on, he almost had Pete Johnson in tears at one point because he starts asking stuff about Pete's wife and his children and their relationships and how it works with the cigar thing. And Pete was like, you know, almost like, what are you asking me? What are these? You know, where is how did I get started and what's my favorite cigar? You know, where does that get stuff at? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, so Mikey's become really good at the interview without asking cigar questions. Okay, nice, and it yeah, it changes for every person. So there's not like a a you know, not like a script he goes through at all.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

That's really cool. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Well, and it sounds like too, I mean, between the podcast, the retail shop, the the brand, I mean, you guys are running at a hundred miles per hour.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Every day. It's just ridiculous. And then we sort of joke like, we do it five days a week. What if we did six? So, and now on Saturdays, uh, we we do so we started doing what we call a b-roll before every show when we're setting up, we're sort of just cutting around, you know, calling each other names, whatever it was. We'll shoot about five to ten minutes of what we call b-roll. And now on Saturday mornings, we do do six days a week. On Saturday mornings, I put all the B-roll together and we put up like a little behind the scenes, you know, mismatch type stuff on Saturday. So but we do joke about a nighttime show, uh, which would be good. We've never done a live show, we just don't have the time to do it every single day at the same time. So, like, yeah, the show we did today goes up tomorrow, but we shot it at 8 a.m. today because of scheduling with everybody, because there's three of us, so there's three guys' schedules you always have to put together. So we we squeeze the show in somewhere between 8 a.m. and 3 30 p.m. every day. It's always at a different time. So so you'd never know. So it's hard to do live because you have to like you guys, you do it on you know at nighttime and you do it at the same time, so people expect it. We could be 1 15 in the afternoon, you know, and doing a live show and everybody's at work or something and no one's watching. So it's hard to do.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

No, that makes sense. I but that that answers a question I kind of had when we were pre-show talking because I was like, oh, that seems like it would be a lot to do it every day. It is, but that that makes sense if you're able to record in the okay, that makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

Now, something I normally have asked, like when we've had cigar reps on, we've had cigar manufacturers on, uh, I guess it would also kind of carry over to the podcast format. What is one of the like most interesting things that has happened during the podcast? Like, for an example, I asked this of a rep one time, and he told me, Well, one of the craziest things is I was at an event and a car came crashing through the store front. And I was like, wow, that's wild. So, do you have anything like really interesting that happened during a podcast, if anything?

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Uh, I can't get specific, but one of the reasons that we do tape is because sometimes people say things that maybe they they had second thoughts about what they should have been saying. Sure. So then so then you have to cut it out. So we've had uh three episodes. We've had one episode that didn't air at all because of the things the man the the person was saying. We had one where we had to edit something out, and it really wasn't that bad, but it could have been perceived that bad.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

And then we had um we had an older gentleman that came into the shop like every day. He's just a regular, just a just a good old guy. But he was an old guy, so his language was you know bad by by today's standards. So we so his show, I mean, we edited his uh like we talked to him for like two hours, and the show was like an hour and and a half or something. Oh my goodness. It was just some, I mean, uh they weren't he didn't mean them in a bad way, but they certainly sounded that way though. So yeah, yeah. So he happened to pass away shortly after that, so it was really good that we got him on the show and did it. And then we gave his wife uh, we gave his wife the original copy of the show. We're like, this is not clean, so but I'm sure you're aware of the way he talks. So here's this for you. She would she was thrilled to have something like that. Oh, that's so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

That's really special. Yeah, that is so cool. I feel like we have a few questions and comments.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Here we'll pull up another one from Mike saying, Mike, I met you last year at Holy Smokes in the uh villages, Florida. Thank you for not just being a great businessman, but also a great guy. You need we need more guys like you in the industry.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Wow, it's like I paid these people to say this myself. Thank you very much. It was nice meeting you too.

SPEAKER_04 33:56

That's awesome. Uh let's see here. Boxers, Christopher.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Oh, we have a question, yes.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

Yeah, Christopher asked boxers or briefs.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Boxers.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Um, and then down here we have 005AS enjoying the stream with the gin and tonic. Oh, nice, and a great cigar from OGT Laranja. Oh, so Espinosa, okay. And love the unique cigars you guys curate. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

Yeah. Well, and what something I'm curious about too is uh Roma craft and Skip, it doesn't seem like they work with a whole ton of different people. It it seems like it's pretty exclusive. So um, did that come about from just like Mike and a relationship with the shop originally?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Um Mike and Greg became tight with the Roma guys uh early, early on to the to the shop and a Roma at the same time. And now I believe we're the largest distributor of Roma craft in the state of Florida. I think we carry everything. Oh wow. We carry everything, whatever they come out with. You know, Skip goes, you know, this is the one I made while I was eating a sandwich. You're like, we'll take it. We'll take it. Five boxes. We don't care, we'll take it all. The sandwich cigar. Right, yeah. It's called the sandwich cigar. Like, oh, perfect, we'll sell all of them. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

There's a non-cigar related question. What's everybody's favorite sandwich?

SPEAKER_04 35:15

Oh, that yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Gotta do that.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Uh here, here. Let's very quickly, let's see. How long have you been smoking cigars? And do you remember the first cigar you had from my brother Andrew?

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Uh yes, I was 18, and it was uh in those foil packs, the um crap, now I can't think of the name. Uh the really rough um rolled ones that came in a foil pack. Uh Outback. Outback cigars, I think they're outback cigars are called. Yeah. Yeah. Yep, that's what I smoked first time.

SPEAKER_04 35:45

Nice. I I mean pretty much we used to joke around this around the shop a lot, uh, where it's like, yeah, first cigar, a lot of people swish or sweet and such. I remember the first premium handmade cigar I had, I think was a Grand Habano. And I had bought it online and it was like maybe $3.50. And I'm like, I'm living the high life. Like $3.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Look at me smoking a premium cigar.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Oh, we've got a question from Daniel Fraser. Daniel Fraser saying any Habano projects in the pipeline?

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Uh, we have a Habano cigar that's out already. It's called the Habano cigar. It's one of the original cigars, it's still available. And it's one of my favorites. It's a it's a really good cigar.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

We're gonna have to bring that on. Let's see here. Double of five is saying his favorite is a Pastrami Rubin.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

That's a good choice. There you go. Like a mufaletta.

SPEAKER_04 36:33

Mufhaletta?

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

What about you, Mike?

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Uh, I'm a peanut butter and jelly guy.

unknown 36:39

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

You can't meet it. I feel like you can't. It has it, everything is represented.

SPEAKER_04 36:44

I feel like even more so. Question is a hot dog a sandwich.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

Oh, that old question.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Well, it is meat and bread, so there you go.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

And who's to say you can't like have a hot dog in like between rye bread?

SPEAKER_02 37:01

You have everything on rye bread.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

Rye bread is king.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Rybread is everything rye bread.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

I don't think I don't think a PB and J would be great on rye bread. Maybe pumpkin.

SPEAKER_04 37:10

Daniel Frazier has the vote. Yes, a hot dog is a sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

All right.

SPEAKER_04 37:15

Uh, for sure. Uh Christopher Costman's saying absolutely not. Um Data Cash is saying Palmer loves the food in New Orleans. What is your thoughts on New Orleans?

SPEAKER_00 37:25

I hate the food in New Orleans. Really? Why? Terrible. It's spicy. I don't like spicy food. Everything is spicy. Everywhere we went, everything is spicy. And then we went to someplace that has the world's greatest fried chicken. It came kind of like, oh, I was like, finally I get to eat. And they're like, this is spicy too. Yeah. Pass the bread plate or something, you know.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

I love spicy. I like my like ears to clear out if that spicy. Like I like to I like to hear colors.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Oh, whoa, look at you.

SPEAKER_04 37:54

I like to hear it. I remember so. Mike, are you familiar with the uh YouTube show Hot Ones?

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Uh is that the guy that eats the hot wings?

SPEAKER_04 38:01

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

Yeah, with the movie stars and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

That that's a current events thing.

SPEAKER_04 38:06

In 2022, uh back then we actually hosted, we bought the pack and we hosted a cigar event, hot ones. We bought like 50 wings, and we're like, okay, here's the deal is that see how long you can make without any water or milk, and you have to be smoking a cigar while doing it. So we myself and two other guys made it to the end with no milk, no water, and we're like, okay, final test is we take like the hottest one and we like slather it as much as we can over this chicken. And like I take a bite, and that's when I was like, okay, this was a mistake, and it was so overwhelming. I was like, this must be what it feels like to be high. Like my entire body is vibrating. I and I can't even focus. It was it was wild. It was wild.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Really crazy party. It was really yeah, it was tough.

SPEAKER_03 38:52

Yeah.

unknown 38:53

No.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

Oh, we got some. Oh, more votes on whether a hot dog no hot dog is a hot dog. Hot dog's a hot dog from Scott Nunn.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

I'm sorry, Scott Nunn. I don't know if I can agree with you.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Uh we've got Charlie. Oh, wait, we we missed one. Sorry, Mike Tackett. Uh no.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Hot dog is a sandwich. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Bing right there.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

Oh, yeah. My first ever cigar was my father the judge. Talk about setting the bar high. That is setting the bar high.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

It's a big cigar.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

Yeah, it is. It's not for the faint of heart.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

Yeah, and we have more sandwich answers. I'm sorry, I'm going off lobster roll. Lobster roll. You gotta say it right. It's lobster.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Lobster roll. Lobster roll.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

That that is a solid choice.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

And Arizona loves Palmer. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Oh, the entire state apparently. Hot dog. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 39:37

So, really quick before we pull up another question, is you had mentioned you're not a fan of New Orleans uh food. However, which do you prefer? The PCA New Orleans experience or the PCA Vegas experience?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Now I like the venue better at New Orleans, but that's it. That's the only thing I like about New Orleans. It's the venue. Okay. I I like it long and skinny instead of fat and wide. Yeah, okay. You have to walk because it's a lot easier to just walk straight to one end, turn, and then come back out the other side, you know, when you get a chance to walk away. Yeah. But no, the the city's dirty. Everything smells like everything smells like pea or marijuana. Just a terrible place.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Oh, I I love it.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

She's a totally New Orleans fan.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Apparently God hates it because he sends every hurricane there that he has. So you know. I'm with him. Just send the hurricanes there. Let all the people all the people need to survive. You know, get there. All the people can survive. This is a caveat.

SPEAKER_04 40:32

Yeah. Right. Well, and and how many how many years have you been going to the PCH trade shows?

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Uh I've been going since 2016, so so 10 years. But until three or four years ago, it was just fun for me. I mean, I was just, you know, just there. So now you have to work. It's yeah, now, yeah, yeah. Yeah, last year I was like, oh my God, I can't leave the booth. Last year was my first year as national salesman. We're like, I really can't leave. They're like, nope, you can't leave. Everybody's gonna talk to you.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Good problem to have, I guess. But it is it is weird going now that we are we've grown a lot more because when we first went, we're just Starstruck, we're just walking around like Yeah, first time you're just going, Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Yeah, the whole time. So that and saw everybody. Now I have Fred's phone number. We hung out over the weekend, so like a big deal anymore.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

It's a very small world once you're in it for a little while.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Once you get in there for a little bit, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Yeah, yeah. I'm asking people how their dog is. Like I can't remember everybody's dog's name, everybody's kids' name.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Yeah. Saturday, Fred fell asleep in a hammock, and my wife and I are standing behind him, taking pictures, pointing at him.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

We we did have an interesting question here from Scott Nunn.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

But says, What's the profile of your Connecticut? I like more full-bodied cigars, but I'm gradually adding more Connecticut to my selections.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

Our Connecticut's a medium body Connecticut. It's not a light body Connecticut. When it first came out, they would say it's not your father's Connecticut, your grandfather's Connecticut, which Mikey hates, but uh it's got some pepper, it's got a little bit of power, uh, it's still got that smooth and creamy, but it sort of hides behind the pepper and the power. It's it's it's really good. Mikey originally made that cigar 11 years ago for the birth of his son. It was called the Apollo Danny. Nice. If there was a boy, his name was gonna be Apollo. If there was a girl, it was gonna be Danny. Uh it was a boy, and his name is Justice because his wife is not going to let him name his son Apollo. So that didn't work out for him. Uh, but that's where it came out. And then um, what two, three years ago, he decided to bring it out. You know, that that was the third core line we added. Then we had the broadleaf, the Habano, and he added the Connecticut.

SPEAKER_04 42:42

Okay, nice. Well, and and uh Onions 1.1 is saying Postania, Connecticut has a very nice kick, it's not your regular Connecticut. Um go to your point, too. And I I feel like for a while there, that was like the trend. Like every brand was like now. Let me tell you, this is not your grandfather's Connecticut.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

And it's like right, okay, so at some point what is now what is the catchphrase though that's correct, or that would be better? Like, how do you convey or is it just that Connecticut's in general are just being blended a lot of different ways now?

SPEAKER_00 43:16

I think they're they're not like the original Monte Cristo White, where you know, or Ashton, Connecticut that had you know, no no offense to those people, but uh little to no flavor, you know, very, very, very light cigar that you know the old timers just keep smoking because that's just what they're used to.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

You know, but there's there's a lot of good Connecticut's out there right now. The Espinoza crema is really good, that's real smooth and creamy.

SPEAKER_04 43:40

Um, and what is uh your your thoughts on in terms because we always I always hear all the time like the highest selling type of cigar in the American market is the Connecticut cigar. Do you find that that is true in relation to when you added a Connecticut to your portfolio? That really added that much more, or is that what happens at the shop? Like, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Uh, until the San Andreas came out, it was probably our best seller in our in our line. Now, once the San Andreas came out, because then everybody was like, well, we've been smoking these light Connecticut's for a while. Now we need something heavier, so everybody's making heavier cigars. So yeah, the the San Andreas sort of took over, which is still our number one seller, but you know, the Sumatra just came out a couple weeks ago. It's gonna catch up, it's easily gonna catch up.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

Nice, nice, yeah. For good, for good reason. I uh right now I'm in like a tug of war between the San Andreas, the Sumatra, and the Broadleaf. And on that, Chris Costman is saying the Broadleaf was badass. Wish I bought more.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Um me and you both, buddy.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

I I will say OGT is down to our last ones, so we do have a few available if you're looking for the Broadleaf. Um, I have to let it go though, because I mean I'm a huge Broadleaf fan. You guys did an amazing job. But if if I have to let it go, the San Andreas is a very good one to do so with.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

So right, yeah.

unknown 45:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

Yeah. We don't um I'm trying to think. I think all we have left is the corona gorda in in broadleaf.

SPEAKER_05 45:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Which is weird that that like that's the last one that that's left. I mean, there's no bundles, there's no segundos, I mean, there's nothing but maybe 30 or 40 boxes of corona gorda. It's so strange that that's the last one left.

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I will say too, that is it that is interesting because here at our shop, the Corona Gorda San Andreas almost moves more than the Toro does.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

Yeah, isn't that weird?

SPEAKER_04 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Maybe the broadleaf corona gorda wasn't as strong as the like say like a bellicoso that's that's bigger or a toro that's longer. Yeah, the other one that uh the Robusto was the next one that was left and eventually got whittled down to to nothing too.

SPEAKER_04 45:52

So yeah, yeah. Frasier is saying Corona Gorda gets overlooked. I think it does. I mean, uh what is your philosophy on Lanceros? Do you guys ever see doing a Lancero?

SPEAKER_00 46:03

Uh the Sumatra's got a Churchill, that's as close as we've ever gotten. Um the the new war bear, I heard is a Churchill also, you know, from people talking around me and not telling me things. Um, we've never done a Lancero, though.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

Okay, okay. I mean, it's one of those things I feel like so many people will talk about, like, oh, this needs to be in Lancero, but then unfortunately, the volume just never justifies that type of situation.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

Right, yeah. I think they're hard to make too. I don't think the factories like to make them.

SPEAKER_04 46:32

Yeah. Well, and what I find really interesting too with Roma's factory, with even your guys' blends, like take the Sumatra filler being Dominican and Honduras, and then uh in your I believe in the broadleaf, it's Nicaraguan and Dominican. You guys, you guys work with a lot of different tobaccos. It it's not just strictly Nicaraguan down the board, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:53

No, no. Luckily, uh they have quite the selection of tobacco there at the factory.

SPEAKER_03 46:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

What the guys like to do, they like to go there and sort of play into what the factory is not currently using. So you know, like, hey, we've got, you know, they'll go down there and talk to Skip and Alex and go, okay, we've got this, this, and this left. And they'll go, okay, let's see if we can make something out of that, because you guys aren't using it, you know, so it's easier to work into their production that way. And if they can, you know, make a cigar out of it instead of selling it back to somebody or selling it to somebody, it just works out better for everybody.

SPEAKER_05 47:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

And it's and it's all high quality tobacco. It's not right, right. Not like skipping down here buying scraps from somebody, you know.

SPEAKER_04 47:33

100%.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Yeah, you would mention a deal on this pile. Look over here.

SPEAKER_04 47:37

You would mention when they like you kind of watched the shop when they left Nicaragua. Have you made it down to Nicaragua yourself?

SPEAKER_00 47:44

No, I have not. Let's bring that up several several times because um I keep asking. Uh, it does actually on I get confused with the shows because we do it one day and then it comes out the next. But uh, somewhere in the last couple of days, it actually came up on the show. And Mike, you know, Mike and I were talking about me going. He's like, You're right, you should go. Next time we go, he goes, You will go with whoever goes. And I was like, okay. And he goes, Maybe in the fall we just send you. I was like, okay, I have it recorded, just so you know, because you have a microphone. So yeah, they're talking about me blending my own cigar. Uh, I had a cigar come a couple years ago, but this will be one after you go through uh Skip's got a tobacco school, which uh I understand is is quite extensive, and uh I'll blend something with him is the idea at this point.

SPEAKER_05 48:31

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

Oh, we got one from uh Team Money and we we personally actually have not made it to uh to Nicaragua. It's on the bucket list. We eventually would like to go, so we're right in the same boat.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Yeah, so come on, we'll all go together.

SPEAKER_04 48:47

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

We'll all go at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 48:49

Let's see, Team Money 007.

SPEAKER_02 48:51

Says the San Andreas Corona Gorda is the best cigar I've ever smoked, should have been number one.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

There you go. High accolades. Yes. Um and Data Cash is saying, when are we going?

SPEAKER_00 49:04

That that's actually Paul Carlson. He works with us uh on the on events and things. He's like our special teams guy. So he just happened to mention it the other day. He goes, you know, we should go. I was like, well, we can go if you want to. But now we just sort of worked out where we uh we actually may be going.

SPEAKER_04 49:19

So yeah, there you go. Chris Costman saying a lot of brands are doing a budget-friendly line. Will you guys?

SPEAKER_00 49:26

We have uh it's called Trust Smoke This Trust Me. It's these amazing, these people that just get to bring all these things out. It's right here.

SPEAKER_04 49:36

Now, this this was also launched at PCA, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:38

Yes, it was, yeah. It is a long filler bundle cigar that's banded and it'll retail for eight dollars. Comes in three sizes and three wrappers, comes in a Connecticut, a Habano, and a Maduro, and it comes in a Robusto, Toro, and Gordo cigar.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Very nice.

SPEAKER_04 49:56

Nice. How's the reception been on that?

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Uh well, they just arrived at the uh we just got them in yesterday, so they got put away. But we sold enough at the at the show or had enough interest at the show, whichever the political way is to say it. I'm far too political most of the times. Um was good. So you know, it it it did good enough to where we we still think it's a good idea type thing. So yeah, heck yeah. I mean, we've had this type of cigar in our shop for for a decade. And okay. We we Greg worked hard to find a shop that could match the price, you know, where you can retail it for eight dollars so that you can compete with the bigger box stores, you know, yeah who have uh who have bigger buying power. So yeah, it's made to be a uh a three in one or a ten in seven.

SPEAKER_04 50:42

Nice also, yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

Yeah, you know, they're surprisingly good. It's so weird. So like all at the show, all we had was that one tray. So I didn't get any at the show. We only gave out just a couple, so it still looked nice. We looked at it. We got back, I had the uh had the Abano, and I was surprised, you know, because it's yeah, it's an eight, it's an eight dollar cigar, but it is long filler and stuff. So um then I smoked in Connecticut and it was good. And then I had just yesterday, I had the Maduro and I mean I would smoke this every single day. Nice, right? Yeah. You know, it's it it I have access to just about anything we make, and I keep snatching these, but you know, there you go. So we just go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

Oh no, well, aside from that, what is your daily smoke? Like what is your thing you go back to?

SPEAKER_00 51:27

Um with the su I I smoke secundos normally at the shop, just because you know it's uh they're you know cheaper, less expensive as far as that. Um I like the Habano a lot. Um I was smoking the broadleaves till they disappeared. Uh I usually have at least one Connecticut somewhere in there. Um so it's it's you know, it changes by the day. I'm not one of those guys that have to have a Connecticut in the morning, a Habano at lunch, and then a Maduro or San Andreas at the end of the day. My palate's all messed up anyway. So and I don't get it so lucky, you guys get that fruity citrus stuff and and all that kind of stuff. Uh it's just tobacco. I just you know, either I like it or I don't. I wish I did. It sounds so much nicer when guys like you, you know, talk about this guy and go, well, it was good.

SPEAKER_04 52:09

So there you go. Well, and and I I know there that is always like the endless debate of like, are there flavor notes, is there not? Um, and I think really what it comes down to is I think the common ground to meet is like, okay, I can at least pick up some sweetness here, or I can pick up some spiciness here. Right, yeah. That type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

I I can do that, you know, sour, sweet, salty, yeah, you know, bitter, that type of stuff. I can do that, but no, like Charlie goes, you know, Charlie Monato Half-Wheel goes, tastes like cocoa puffs and you know tastes like milk at 82 degrees, not you know, not just for cold milk, but I'm like, that's just silly.

SPEAKER_02 52:45

We have tester on a couple of things like that around here for sure.

SPEAKER_04 52:49

Uh let's see here. Scott Nunn saying OGT trip to Nicaragua.

SPEAKER_00 52:53

Let's make it happen.

SPEAKER_04 52:54

Chris is saying, I've been on that trip.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

We're gonna need a bigger plane. We're gonna need a bigger plane.

SPEAKER_04 52:58

And onions 1.1 is saying just bought the sampler pack. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 53:02

Awesome. Thank you so much, man.

SPEAKER_04 53:03

I appreciate it. Appreciate the support. Yeah. Now, as we're kind of winding down here, um, I do have another question, but very quickly, I want to highlight. So every week we try to highlight a picture that's shared in our community, uh, whether it's in our OGT Cigar Society monthly, like uh Facebook group or the tag us online. This one actually came from a tag, uh, an Instagram uh from BMW Stogie. This is a really cool picture. So we released a custom cigar, about a five-pack or sometimes ten-pack if you double up every month. And that way you can smoke the cigar, you can age it because it's a limited project, it's not just one and done. You get five of the same. So uh he actually has a double up 10-pack. So he goes to him, but he also ages them. So he sent me this photo of a collection of stuff over the last year or so. I thought it was such a cool picture because you have something as early as uh there's the elusive in there with that black band, uh, and the no-probe, which earlier last year, 2025, so those have been aging nicely. And even the new additions, the the Crimson Knight, uh, such like that. So shout out to BMW Stogie. Thank you for sharing the picture. Such a cool lineup. Um, it's really special to us to kind of see all those moments put all together. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

It is, that's neat.

SPEAKER_04 54:20

Um, but Mike, I do have a question. Being from being a consumer to helping out with retail to now uh national sales manager, what is something that you wish that some consumers would understand in terms of challenges or rewards when it comes to having a cigar brand? What is something that you'd like to convey?

SPEAKER_00 54:42

You're not just sitting around smoking all day. There is a lot of work involved. You know, that that's what they go. Wish I had your job. All you do is sit there and smoke all day. No, it's not even close. And some days you know they didn't even enjoy the smoking because you're doing so much work or something. You're like, Yeah, and you go, last thing I want to do is light up another cigar.

SPEAKER_05 54:59

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

But you're like, well, I gotta try this one, I guess. So let's pick this up and see how this tastes.

SPEAKER_04 55:05

Yeah. Now are you the type Go ahead. Oh, sorry, sorry, I was gonna say, are you the type of person while you're working that you want to be smoking at the same time, or do you want to do that after you've gotten the work done?

SPEAKER_00 55:14

No, it's become a habit, you know, as far as I just like to have one burned while I'm working. You know, when I was waiting on you guys, I was doing stuff for the podcast and because it's raining, I couldn't smoke. I was eating candy and I'm like, I know I'm getting sick, you know. Used to having something, you know, in your mouth or in your hands or something.

SPEAKER_02 55:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:36

I've got a little wooden cigar that's about a little bit bigger than uh like a little bit bigger than a Robusto or about a Robusto size. That sometimes I'll just hold it in my hand, you know, and it just looks like a cigar. Yeah. Just just to trick myself, you know, to know that it's there.

SPEAKER_04 55:50

There you go. That that's an entirely new market, like a comfort cigar. Like for the moments you can't smoke, like having an easy button or stress ball. It's like I got my cigar that I'm like working with.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

That's great. Yeah, I have a stress ball too over in the uh in the dining room table if I'm sitting over there. Just something. I it was I have a lot of issues.

SPEAKER_04 56:13

Well, it's something I would always joke about, like when at the shop, like I'd be working and I would come out, like I'd I'd get at the shop pretty early, and but normally around four o'clock or so, I'd be all like, okay, I'm gonna sit down and try to hang out with everybody. And I would same thing. I customers would be like, Man, here's Eric, easiest job in the world since around smoke cigars. I'm like, you've already had three. This is the first cigar out of the day.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Yeah, you definitely wait until it's we were talking about this earlier because he was cooking dinner, and it's so when I'm cooking, I'm eating the whole time. And like, I would probably like if if we're like you know, running around doing something, I wouldn't mind smoking a cigar at the same time. He always has to like wait and like eat the food once it's on the table or smoke the cigar after everything's done.

SPEAKER_04 56:58

So it's just funny how that is, like personalities differ and like well, and likewise, too, as you were saying, like, oh, I have to review like a lot of the cigars, because we're producing a lot of media and content. It's like okay, I gotta review the cigar, I've got to go through it, sample it, whichever, before we bring it in or whatever. I don't necessarily want to do that while I'm distracted with work because I'm like, uh, yeah, that was good. And it it doesn't really mean anything. So it's definitely like, okay, I have time to work and I have time to like have the first cigar of the day, which is normally around like 4 30 or something like that, unless it's the weekends.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

I light one up on the way in. I walk outside, light one up before I get in the car. But then somebody, you know, somebody will go, so what'd you smoke today? And I'll go, I have no idea. Yeah, I I don't just don't know.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

Oh, we've got a good comments here. Up here, rooks coatings.

SPEAKER_04 57:45

Uh yeah, saying uh I like to smoke while I work.

SPEAKER_02 57:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 57:48

Frazier's saying the pet cigar. Like you have a pet rock pet cigar. And then Palmer's fidget spinner.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

There you go. I can make it so it spins. That'd be cool.

SPEAKER_04 58:00

And then it like glows on the end when it's spinning.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

Then I would just sit there and play with it all day. What'd you do today, Palmer?

SPEAKER_01 58:09

Somebody's gonna make a lot of money off of this.

SPEAKER_04 58:15

Awesome. Well, Mike, thank you so much for jumping on tonight, talking Postania cigars. It's been really cool talking and hanging out with you. Um, as much as we brought in the band uh brand earlier this year, uh, we really haven't been able to do something like this, so it's really special to us.

SPEAKER_00 58:31

Sure, it was great. Anytime you guys want me, just give a yell.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

Yeah, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 58:36

Sure, and it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 58:37

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

I'm so glad.

SPEAKER_04 58:39

And uh, anyone watching, make sure you check out the Postana Sampler pack. Get some rarities, as I say, that war bear and that broadleaf is almost gone, but also you decide for yourself whether you prefer the Robusto or Toro of their new Sumatra. Um, such an incredible lineup. Um, but thank you guys so much for joining us tonight. It's been great hanging out with you guys as always. And again, Mike, thank you for taking the time. And uh everyone check out Postanias haven't yet.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Oh, yeah, we gotta see this.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

Yeah, I couldn't find it. It must be in another room somewhere. It gets left late around a lot.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

To be continued.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

Yeah, I'll post a picture when I find it because I'll find it. Thank you. All right, guys, thank you very much for having me on. It's been a blast. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_04 59:21

Have a good night.

SPEAKER_00 59:22

Thank you, everyone, and have a great night.