"Espinosa Cigars' Blender Hector Alfonso" Ep. 40 6/20/26

Join us for a very special live show with the man behind all of your favorites, Espinosa Cigars, Hector Alfonso. From the famed Warhead Series to the 601 Blue to Knuckle Sandwich, Hector has blended them all! Check out our special raffle sampler and get amazing prizes along with a fantastic deal on new releases from Espinosa!

Espinosa Sampler LINK: https://oakglentobacconist.com/product/espinosa-601-blue-20th-anniversary-warhead-12-sampler/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

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 crafts I love. Learning never stops. And I invite you to follow in our cigar journey.

SPEAKER_00 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_01 1:00

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live, where conversation lights up. Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode OGT Cigars Live Podcast. We have a very special show for you guys tonight because for the first time ever, we have one of the gentlemen from Espinosa Cigars that hasn't been on the podcast yet, but I've been excited for this one because this is where like the mad scientist comes into it. This is where we get into blending the uh the background behind favorite blends we enjoy from Espinosa Cigars. So it's gonna be a great show. Now, unfortunately, tonight I don't have Mallory with me. Um we had some stuff go on today. However, I am excited for tonight's show. And thank you guys so much for being flexible as well and being here on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday with schedules. We had to make certain we uh this was gonna happen. And so we needed to make it happen on a Wednesday. So thank you for joining us. And as I see, we got some comments dropping down. As usual, uh, I will not only encourage you to drop down comments, I will say it is a must if you're here to hang out for the virtual cigar lounge here at OGT Cigars. We want to know what are you enjoying tonight? Are you pairing it with anything? Also, if you have any questions for our guests tonight, this is the time to ask it. This is the time to really like delve into it. So highly encourage you do that. Drop those comments down, and I will do my best to pull those up as we continue. Uh, we got Dapper Prof on saying, What's up, peeps, in the uh vernacular of our times? Well, thank you so much for jumping on, Dapper Prof. Thank you for joining us tonight. Uh, Daniel Frazier, hello fam. Sneaky day uh early, but I caught it. Smoked a new Don this afternoon, but couldn't sneak away for an evening smoke as I have errands to run, sipping from on some Heaven Hill. Heaven Hill is not one to miss. That one is a fantastic bourbon. It's one of my main go-to's. So good on you. Uh we got uh my guy Hector saying from uh Tim uh Mick7124. Yes, that is our guest tonight. We're uh looking forward to it. And my brother saying Wednesday podcast. It is about it out of the ordinary. We're always Thursday nights, but hey, it's a Wednesday night and we're enjoying cigars. So for tonight's show, we had to put something together really special. And I have to give a shout out to Espinoza Cigars and our guest Hector tonight because the prizes uh were made possible by him, and these are very, very special. So we have put up for this evening an exclusive and fantastic uh sampler pack, uh raffle sampler pack from Espinoza Cigars. And I'm gonna go ahead and pull this up real quick. There we go. And this is in regards to some of the new releases and favorites here at OGT. So in our sampler pack, you have two of what I'm smoking right now: the brand new 601 Warhead 12, one of my favorite renditions. I really like the size on this one. The Vitola on this one, it's beefy. Like you know, you're enjoying a cigar. Uh, we also have the sold-out 601 20th anniversary blue. We have the normal 601. I did this on purpose so that you can kind of compare the two, go back and forth. And then two of my favorite knuckle sandwiches from the line. You have the Habano on the left, and then my personal favorite, the Puro Nicaragua. All these in a fantastic sampler. When you pick one up, you'll be entered into a raffle. You'll get a raffle ticket that we're calling at the end of the evening. But if you pick up two sampler packs, we're gonna give you guys three raffle tickets. And here are the prizes. You may see this and be like, hmm, what am I looking at? We have a five-pack in each one of these bomb tins. So we sold out of these tins from last year. However, we did keep a few of the tins extra left over. So our three winners are gonna get their cigars delivered in these Labamba tins. Uh, pack one, uh prize one, sorry, prize three and two each have a five-pack in it, and then prize grand prize number one has the five-pack sampler as well as a five-pack of Warhead 12, also included. So you're gonna get 10 cigars and the Labamba tin. Now, this five-pack sampler that everyone's gonna be winning includes the new Laranja hybrid that's not even released yet, the new Chef Special that's not even released yet, a Knuckle Sandwich Corona Gorda, which is not on the market, a 10-year Espinosa 10-year, and then a Las Provencias that's been aged about five or six years. So it's a custom like from the vault Espinoza sampler pack that is included on a prize. Pick up our sampler tonight, get a chance to win. There's gonna be three winners, and we're gonna be calling that at the end of the evening. So I'm looking forward to it. As those uh come through, we'll go ahead and enter you into the raffle. Don't miss out. You get a bit of cool swag from Espinoza as well as some like from the vault and unreleased cigars in the portfolio. That being said, uh, thank you guys again for jumping on. I'm gonna pull up a few more comments and then we're gonna get to having our guests this evening. Uh, let's see here. We're gonna pull up Mike saying, What's up, everyone? Smoking a Padron 1964 with an Eagle Rare 10. Eagle Rare seems to be not so rare anymore. I see it a lot more places, but it's a great bourbon. Let's see. Tim says just finished up a warhead 7. There you go. Talk about something from the vault. Very nice. Uh, let's see here. Uh freeze smoke cigars says, I'm glad I'm catching the show. Smoking a Leva V. Maduro while watching. Nice, nice, nice. Daniels and enjoying a Monte Cristo Dapper Prof saying, uh, let's see here. I'm smoking uh the oil vapors of a Swift lathe because I'm at work. Well, there you go. Hopefully, uh the podcast will make it go by faster. That's that's the hope. Uh, Raider Dave, good evening, everyone. Tonight I chose a Labamba 12, pairing it with 13th Colony Cast Strength. Cheers. I gotta say, everyone's bringing out the big guns when it comes to bourbon tonight. So very nice. Uh, let's see. Andrew's saying, what a special night, great sampler. It's a full portfolio sampler, but also like the prizes are insanely cool. And Josh is saying 601 Blue 20th is absolute fire. Hashtag Espinoza everyday. So here, instead of just hearing me uh continue on and talking about uh the cigars of Espinoza, let's have the man who actually created them, the person who blended these cigars. Let's have him jump on. So please help me welcome for the first time on the OGT Cigars Podcast, Mr. Hector Alfonso from Espinoza Cigars. What's going on, man? Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

So I'm on a podcast, right? The guy has never had me on, and he's taken all of my fun. It's incredible. He's over here talking about the cigar. Oh, hey, what's up? Sorry, sorry. Uh hey guys, how are you? How you doing? Man, you're doing great. Quite the little intellectual crowd going on there. I'm watching the chats in the other window. Nice selection of guys, guys drinking, a lot of bourbon going on. Got some guys smoking some really good cigars. That's incredible. So welcome. Thanks for having me on. I'm welcoming you. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. I think you were you were very kind and didn't tell them how much shit I gave you. Oh, can we curse on the show?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Yes, you can. You're fine.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Okay. No, if not, it was gonna be a really short show. Anyway, uh, how much trouble I gave you at the show when I found out all the people who've been on before me. You know, that's a core subject. We're not gonna bring that up again. So uh no, I'm really glad to be on. You know, uh, anything that I can do to help the brand and talk about the brand and promote the brand, that's what I, you know, I I I think that's my main, my main mission and at the company now, and you know, outside of helping make you know these good blends that that have done really well for us in the last you know 10 years. I think I think we really kind of turned the corner around 10 years ago. Okay, but uh you know, I'm really, really excited. So thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Of course, of course. Now, if anyone's wondering what Hector's talking about, is that we we have been talking on the phone for some time because we've got a little bit of a a project happening in the the background. Um, we can't tell divulge too much, but we've been talking, texting, calling. So we actually were able to meet in person at PCA, and I think we we hung out for like an hour at the booth.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Um, yeah, I appreciate that. That was great. That kept me away from uh that kept me away from all the uh I am the taster for this shop, and I was oh get out of here, you know, get out of here with that shit.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah, no, it was a great time. It was a great, but we found we came to a discovery, uh, much to my chagrin, that uh Hector had not been on the show before. And so we made a promise on the PCA show floor we were gonna get Hector on, and I'm honored to have you on the show.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Well, if you're honored, then we've got to talk about you know where you're at in life. But anyway, anyway, I'm glad to, like I said, I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Definitely. Um, we got actually to open things up, we're gonna get into a lot of Espinosa cigars, but I have a question here in the comments that I think you would be the perfect person to ask, and that's coming from uh let's see here, I'm gonna see if it pulls up. Corey is saying, Never had an Espinoza. What should be my first one?

SPEAKER_03 9:50

Well, here, here, I think we we've had this conversation before. Uh, I think we might have had it at the show, because we we talked about, I know we talked about gateway cigars, and you know, companies should have a gateway cigar, an entry-level cigar, but that might not be the case with Corey, with uh Corey, correct? That might not be the case with Corey. Corey might be a full-bodied smoker already. If I knew, my second question to Corey would be what do you smoke now? Because then I can put him in the right, you know, in the in the right positioning. You know uh we're we are trying, you know. I would like before this is all over, that we have something in every flavor position, you know. Okay. Uh I want uh heavy and spicy, I want heavy with moderate spice, I want heavy with no spice, I want light with a lot of spice. You know, I I want to be able to have something. Our companies have something across the board that everybody can enjoy. So if he's listening and he can he can he can answer back, if Corey Hamill can answer back what he smokes regularly, I will more than happy to put him in a cigar. Because the worst thing I try, and you can ask my uh Oliva V's and JFR Maduro's. Well, hell, if he's smoking oliva V, you can he should try to win one of those packs tonight. Yes, you've got you've got a warhead, which is you know, it's it's it's an it's a nice fuller bodied cigar. Uh the 601 blue. Uh like he'd be doing he'd do very well with the 601 blue.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

I that's what I would recommend the 601 blue to him. The 20th is, you know, I'll I'll share a little trade secret. All we did all we really did was make it oval, and the oval really changed the dynamic on that cigar. And uh maybe this the Habano, the Knuckle Sandwich Habano might be a little too spicy, not enough body for him, and the Poro might be a little bit not enough uh trying to see Poro Poro Poro might be a little uh a little not a little linear, okay. It might be a little linear for him.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

So okay, yeah. Well, and that's the great thing is like you were saying, so many different profiles. Um, I think that, and you correct me if I'm wrong, but I think some people, when they see Espinoza cigars and like the warhead, they hear the name, they see how dark it is, and they might think, oh, this is full throttle, gonna be overwhelming. While there's a good amount of strength on this warhead, I wouldn't say like at all, like, oh my gosh, it knocks me out. Now I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

No, but listen, when it first came out, yeah. When it first came out, it was it was strong, it was it was strong. Uh, but you know, the dynamics, the dynamics have changed as the vitolas change. The the cigar, though, the one that knocked everybody kind of on their ass when it first came out was the warhead six. The warhead six was a little short rope, uh Figueroa and it's the same blend year in and year out. All I do is change the Vitola, just to just to change it up a little bit, just to give it enough nuance, enough change that it's it's not the same year in and year out. Uh some have been stronger, some have been milder. Uh, a lot of people thought the 10 was really on point. Uh, the three was very the Lancero was uh Lancero was a kick in the nads. Uh but that number six was really, really strong. But I have uh we have a couple of cigars that are that are I think a little stronger. Again, uh let's let's not say stronger. I have one or two cigars that are a little spicier, and one or two cigars that I think are a little more full-bodied than the warhead 12. But you know, it's it's it's all preference. Listen, I yeah, there are a lot of guys who want to smoke. They like the Independence Day. The Independence Day is not a war, it's it's a Warhead only in name, but it's not, it has it's a different blend. It's a different, it's a different style. It's you know, it's more I want to say it's heartier, it's a heartier cigar. Uh, you know, it's a little more full flavored, it's a little more, it's it's got so much nuance. Uh then you have a cigar like the Asulejo, who is not strong body-wise, but it has such great spice. Yes. I've seen that, I've seen that punch people in the throat as well. You know, it's kind of it's kind of bitch left some people around too. So the Warhead was when we first launched it 14, 13 years ago. Not 12 years ago. No, 13, because then we missed a year. Uh it really it was one of the stronger cigars, but you know, people have caught up. People have caught up. And you know, that's that's the name, that's the name, that's the way of the world. That's the way, that's the nature of the game, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, and the thing that you everyone should realize too about Espinoza is while there are a lot of cigars strong in the portfolio, none of it is fake strong. And what I mean by that is unfermented, corners cut, like this is like natural tobacco cured correctly, so there's always balance in the strength.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Well, that's what we're hoping for. Listen, there are a couple of cigars that we make uh probably in the Lazona at the Lozona factory, they're a little more not as nuanced, more linear, a little more, a little more straight, punch in the mouth kind of cigar. Uh, like the hybrid. The hybrid is not super nuanced, it's not super super fancy, but it is the kind of cigar that the Lizona smokers want. It's tobacco, it's it's flavorful, it's got some spice, uh, and then you know, you don't have to it's not a cigar that you need at the source when you're reading it to try to figure out what you're smoking, you know. Yeah, I asked the guy, how was it? He goes, Hmm, good. He gave me like a caveman answer. Boom, good. Should have that should have been the marketing pros, you know. Uh uh Laranja Reserva hybrid. Good, you know. So, you know, yeah, listen, we we've never we've we we we've come a long way since the first years where you know we we struggled because we were small and you know we we had trouble finding tobacco, but we we still never we still never cut corners like that. Eric Eric doesn't play that game and yeah, yeah, you know, remember Eric didn't Eric didn't come into this with Espinosa as a while he it was a new company, he wasn't a new guy to the game, he was a he had been in the industry a long time. So, you know, you can't ask people to come and and support a new brand and support you from all these years of experience of dealing with him and then provide him, you know, provide a product that's sub, you know, substandard, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So yeah, guys, we're gonna be getting into all this. And before I uh I just want to drop this one more time, uh, check out the sampler pack because what we're talking about are a lot of the cigars in here, as well as the hybrid that like that Hector was mentioning, or the new chef's special, which we'll be talking about, those are included within the five pack prizes tonight. So if you want to get in on this raffle, jump on the sampler now. It's at OGT. Now, that being said, this is also, as I said, the moment. Drop down your comments and for Hector if you have questions, and I will pull them up because we want to get into understanding more about Espinoza cigars, but also I I I'm just gonna say, like, I feel like Eric Espinoza, rightly so, is always kind of like at the forefront, and a lot in terms of our community here at OGT might be new to the basic your role and what you do, even though everyone enjoys the cigars that you have created.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

So listen, it's it's an eponymous company, it's you know, Espinosa cigars. He is the face of the company as he should be. We have gotten where we've gotten in these 14 years firmly on his shoulders. I mean, you know, had it had it been me starting this company 14 years ago, 12 years ago, we would I would have ended, we'd have cut, we'd have we'd have closed the company 12 years ago and I'd be selling mangoes on the side of the road. He'd be going to Hector's car wash. You know, uh deservedly so. He is uh he is the personality in the in this in this in this shop, but in this in this office, but uh in this, I'm sorry, in this business, but don't don't don't take don't take this the wrong way, but he's he's really put together a a money ball kind of team. Sure. He's got you know his son who's the heir apparent. His son has really you know become quite the marketing, quite the marketing guy. I mean, you know, uh his his designs and his concepts are you know are really if you look at the last five years, what we've done with the six provinces and the and the tins and the bombs, oh yeah. You gotta you gotta give the man his props. Yeah. You know, he's and and this is all while starting a family with two young kids and you know, and and and the responsibilities of fatherhood, which a lot of people don't understand, you know, when you're yeah, you know, when you're like I had my my had my first child when I was 19. I was you know, he grew up with me. Now, you know, junior is in his 30s, more established, and you know, he's he's he's you know he's he's got a position in the company. Yeah, you've got Richie. You've got Richie Otero who who came over with us, he's been with us now six years, if I'm not mistaken. You know, he he came over his key accounts, established some really good key accounts for us, but has really found his niche in as as a Florida rep, possibly, you know, possibly one of the best reps in this in the country, you know, just the way Richie, the the way Richie, Richie's sales game is next level, you know, and then you know you got Jack who's director of sales or national sales manager. Jack's a guy with 25 years of experience. Well, you know, uh made his bones with Tarano. Then he went over and got uh you know a uh uh best practices master's degree working with general for three years, and then came to work for us, and then they've built together a really good team. You know, we've got six in-house guys. That's fantastic for a company our size that's six in-house guys, and you know, and then he, you know, you have myself that uh that you know, I'm though I'm not I'm not really I'm not a sales guy. I believe it or not, people I I I go to I do events because people want they want nirvana, they want to hear, you know, they they want to hear about rapper and filler and what were you thinking, what are you drinking, and what's this and what's that. And I I love that, you know, and then and we we have we have something for everybody, you know. It's like you come into the you come into your dealership, what do you want? You want a party, you know, you want a show? Eric, Eric's an entertainer, Jack's an entertainer, storyteller. Richie, Richie's the schmooz. You know, Junior doesn't do that many events, but because you know he's still, you know, he's you know, he's got those two small kids, but he does some events locally, and you know, and and junior junior's charismatic and he's an Espinosa. The the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, right? You know, I don't do I don't do stories or but I you know if I have a couple of bourbons with me, I do get a little happy. And you know, uh as I I just was in a shop in uh I just did an event in Kansas, Gardner, Kansas, at a beautiful shop. Uh oh my god, why does the name I'm the name is oh Ash and Handel? And you know, the bourbon, you know, I was a little beat up from the flight because I was cramped in a seat and my knees hurt and my ankle hurt from the surgery last year. And after two bourbons, you know, you know what the best thing for knee pain is? Bourbon. Is the best thing for any kind of knee pain. So I you know, it was great. And then I, you know, I did an event, uh, I did another event in Iowa, a great turnout of that. I had Iowa City Cigars, then it burned in Indiapolis. These are these are shops where Eric was going for years and Jack is gone for years, and you know, now you know I'm getting my chance to go in because I I bring a different perspective. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we're all flying the same flag. It's the big E, you know, big white E on the red background. That's what we're flying. Yeah, man, you got you got some really good questions in this industry.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

We we do, we do. I want to pull this up actually. It's funny. Okay, so first part I'm gonna say Daniel Frazier said, damn, Andrew stole my question. And the question was, how long have you been in the industry and what made you get into it?

SPEAKER_03 21:17

All right, so I have been in the industry in February, it'll be 15 years. I, you know, before before I got into this, I was a I was an Intel guy uh working for the Miami Dave Police Department. I worked there for 30 32 years. So uh about uh I think I worked for Eric for like nine, I worked part time for Eric for nine years, and then I retired and I'm uh no, let me rephrase that. I worked for Eric yeah for nine years, and then uh I retired and came to work full time the last five years. It may have been five years that I retired. So it's been you know 14 years right now. Uh it was one of those things where Eric called. And asked me to come over and meet him, and I did. And he shows me this empty warehouse, and it's going to be Espinosa cigars. And I said, Well, what are you going to do here? And he says, Well, you know, we'll see what happened. I think uh he was looking for a guy that I mean we weren't we weren't boys and we didn't grow up together, and okay, uh you know, we're polar opposites on the all the way across, all the way across the board.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

But he wanted to sorry, real quick, I was saying, how did you meet Eric then?

SPEAKER_03 22:29

I met him at a cigar shop. I was working, I was working uh on the weekends of a cigar shop, and Eric was in the back uh playing cards or dominoes, I forgot what it was, and and loud and making a lot of noise, and you know, being him. That's that's that's part of his persona. And I told the owner, I said, Who is that guy? He goes, he's a rep. He reps Rocky Patel and Drew Estate. I go, shouldn't he be working the humidor trying to get sales? He goes, It's Rocky Patel and Drew Estate. I need him more than he needs me. And you know, we started talking a little bit, and then we saw that we had friends in common that from high school, and we ended up figuring out that we lived like a mile and a half apart from each other, but we're divided by a main thoroughfare. One side went to one high school, one went to the other. But that was it, that was the extent of our you know, our our of our of our gracia. That's all you know, that's we really that's all we knew. But I guess he he wanted somebody who was squared away and organized to come in, and and he's he's a good uh, you know, he's very observational, he's a good, you know, a good recruiter of talent. Or so far this has been his best one. So uh we'll we'll go with that. And here we are, man, you know, 14 years later, and you know, who to thunk it. I always tell the story at Christmas time, and I know some of the people in the office are tired of hearing it, but we started an 800-square foot warehouse with no product, and now we've we're in a 7,500 square foot warehouse that we're we we're outgrowing. Congratulations, that's so cool! It's a great thank you. So it's uh we he has done a great job to lead the company, and he's had some really good, you know, really good guys behind him, uh pushing, helping, helping push the cart and get stuck in the mud every once in a while.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Okay, so yeah, and and kind of tail like uh jumping on that question, but also one that leads into this would be uh Mike says, What inspires you when you're blending a cigar? Are you making it for the taste for your taste, or do you think others will like? How do you Mike?

SPEAKER_03 24:20

It's usually porn. Uh no, I'm just kidding. Uh when it's at the beginning, at the beginning, uh there was there was really no inspiration, it was need. We had it, we were a company with didn't have enough cigars in our portfolio, so it was just kind of throwing stuff against the wall to see what you know, see what came up, you know. And uh that's how the first couple of years went. Uh then you know, we we had our first big hit with Laranja, then the company started to tighten up a little bit. All right, I think we need to fill this hole in our portfolio. Okay, so let's go fill this hole in our portfolio. We need to fill this hole in our portfolio and that hole in our portfolio, and that's how it's been ever since. I mean, I want to tell you that I'm there are moments that I'm like, I'll smoke a cigar from a competitor. I don't I really don't call them competitors, they're friends. Most of these guys are friends of ours. I mean, we're we're so close to some of these. Uh I don't call them boutiques anymore. To me, they're independents, uh major independent, minor independent, smaller independent, whatever. Uh, some of these guys are our friends. I smoke a lot of cigars, and I'll smoke something from somebody else and go, I really like this. We don't have anything like this. Let me let's see if we can make something similar to this. And that's probably the the the the the the high point of the inspiration.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Nice. Well, I mean, and how how do you just go about being like, okay, I'm gonna now go into blend a cigar? Like, where did that start? Did you like spend a bunch of time in Nicaragua around tobacco?

SPEAKER_03 25:43

We took our first trip to Nicaragua right before a couple of months before we launched. Okay. And you know, I I've I've always considered myself a it's an ongoing argument at the office about best palette and who has the best palette. And you know, uh, and and I I always it's listen, I I you can't argue. He brought me into this industry. It's it's a fool's errand to argue with the guy who brought your industry, but you know, I I know what I know. I know you know and you know, and and and and bias, bias is a I don't I'm not biased when it comes to cigars. If I don't like Connecticut, I can smoke a Connecticut and still tell you this is not in my wheelhouse, this is not something I would purchase. However, it was well built, it was nuanced, yeah, it was balanced, it it you know burned well, had a nice burn cone, had a nice ash, uh, you know, it wasn't underfilled. I can do that. So we've had this argument back and forth, but the most important thing when I first started wasn't learning every single tobacco because it's it's impossible when you're a small company, you're only getting three or four different varietals to begin with. The important thing was knowing what he liked, and he likes he has a certain profile. Habana medium body, he likes hello, habana. He likes medium body, there's got to be habano. Medium body, and he likes a high spice note. He likes a high spice note that tickles the nostrils because you know he when he's retrohibling, you can see that he doesn't even tell you it's good, he's just yeah, he's digging that, you know. Yeah, and that was the important thing. Then once we had those set up, then we try to reach the masses, you know, and that's what we've done. So, you know, when I'm working on something, you know, if I want to do something new, I I have a baseline of what what what tobaccos work well for us and what tobaccos I like and what tobaccos that he likes, and you know, it's kind of been a really nice synergy, you know. It's uh I can't complain.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Okay, nice, nice. Now we we have a several other really good questions here. Um I'm all ears. Awesome. I don't want to jump the line, so I'm gonna I'm gonna do a few out of order only because of the subject. Uh, so I'm gonna pull up Raider Dave saying, Hector, I'm a huge fan of your blends. The 20th anniversary is amazing. I'm interested to know what goes into your blending process. Now, let's specifically break that down. You had mentioned 601 was changing the size, finding nuance between similar blends and different sizes. How does that go about?

SPEAKER_03 28:04

You don't want to mess with a 20-year-old, a 20-year-old cigar, a cigar that's got 20 years on it and still has plenty of legs, and one of the best sellers in our company. So you don't want to start introducing you tobaccos. Uh, you don't want to do an ode to the 20th to the 601 blue. You want to I want it to stay with what the 601 blue meant. So it was either go round or go oval. And I've been on a kind of an oval kick for the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Uh I like it's a little, it's a little nod to AJ because you know, he came out the oval 15, 20, 16 years ago, and I and I like what the oval does to the blend. I like how it kind of, and this is gonna sound weird, I'm not trying to be funny, but it kind of rang rind rounds it out a little bit. Okay, you know, it really does round it out a little bit. And I remember giving them the cigars, and they're like, this is good. What did you what's different? Oh, there's nothing different, but it's the same blend. It's the same blend. It's you know, and and when you smoke the 601 in a round cigar, it tastes completely different, but not as good, in my opinion. I didn't think it was as good as the oval. That's how come we went with the oval.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Now, the thing I found interesting too is the 601 anniversary, that's a big cigar.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

It is. I wanted you to enjoy this, I wanted you to enjoy 20 years of 601 blue and give you a six by three quarters by 56 oval. I mean, I wanted uh I I listen, I I I I just we we are a blue-collar company for every doctor and lawyer and you know, uh uh politician or big wig who smokes us, but also we have a school teacher and a garbage man and a mechanic and a policeman. You know, you're gonna spend 18 bucks on a cigar, we want you to smoke it for two. We want you to have to get your money's worth, so that's why we went with that big size.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Yeah. And honestly, when you see a big cigar like that, especially with a broadleaf wrapper, and I mean, this has just been personal, this is an anecdotal experience, I guess. But sometimes you deal with like some really bad construction issues in terms of tight draw, such like that. Now, I know the oval press probably helps, but that thing smoked flawlessly. And the first time I lit it up was actually on this podcast. We were doing like a return from PCA show, and I was just like, oh man, this is a definite winner, like right out the gate. And so uh I was really impressed with how big it was using a broadleaf and how well it performed.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

So yeah, it's it's it's a great size, it's a big size. I know that the nerds, the nerd in all of us wants to smoke a corona, a corona corda, no Ansaro. Yeah, but if you're listening the way with the price with with what's going on with tobacco and how tobacco prices have come up and the tariffs and all those other crap, let's give you the most bang for your buck.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Now, uh question here from Mike Ross. He's wondering what will change with the new factory? Now, this is of course, for those unaware, a big announcement from Espinosa, which is really cool, and a new additional factory in the Dominican Republic will be launching soon. So, let it what's the backstory on that? What's what what can we understand from the Dominican Republic?

SPEAKER_03 31:10

All right, so I'll answer the first question. What will change is the sale sheet. There will be more cigars to sell. I'm looking forward to making cigars in the Dominican. Uh, you know, we're gonna continue our relationships with our our our partners in Nicaragua. Uh, we would be you'd be a fool to stop making, you know, the knuckle sandwich cigars or the 601s or some of the laranges at AJ's, you know, when you've got it, why would you change it? You know, uh there's a couple things that consumers don't want to hear, they don't want to hear, they don't want to see a band or a box change, and they definitely don't want to hear about a factory change. So and I don't blame you know the box and band change, that's you know, that's marketing and they want to give it a new look, but if any people right away assume those mean there's been a change to the blend.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Right.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

And you know, even if you know, even if you do change the blend, going to the Dominican, why why would you risk that? I mean, I don't we don't want to do anything like that. And the Dominican will be you we're gonna launch some new things in Dominican. And I think if I'm not mistaken, we're looking at like a September startup date. So I'm excited about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Now now when you say startup date, that's not cigars hitting shelves, that's like in production thing.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Yeah, that's in production. From what I understand, it's in the that the shop will be the building will be completed and they'll be ready to start going. Once I get, I'll let you, once I get my ticket to go to the Dominican, then I know we're now then we're cooking with Greece, you know?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Okay, okay. And then do you think there might be a possibility that PCA 2027 might see new cigars from the factory?

SPEAKER_03 32:39

I wouldn't say why not. I mean, unless unless we unless all of a sudden we forgot how to make cigars and can't make something worthwhile. I mean, I'm I'm expecting to, I and I'm expecting the first debut from the Dominican factory to be a an incredible hit. Yeah. Because of the anticipation that that Eric's developed and built up over the last uh seven or eight months, you know?

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah, and from what I understand, uh it's also in partnership with Guy Fieri, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:05

Guy is Guy is a partner. Guy uh Guy's wanted to be a part of he's been wanting to be a factory owner since day one. So, you know, listen, uh, this factory is not about, you know, it's not just gonna be about making cigars. Eric has always wanted to have a place that is a home away from home, uh, a place that you can show off and bring consumers and retailers and other other manufacturers looking to make cigars for their you know, extensions for their their brands. And you know, that's the place we want to have it, you know, a nice place, uh a place that's welcoming, a place that you know that we can eventually do tours as well. You know, it's it's it's a it's a whole experience. We it's we we want to make it an experience, yeah. But listen, it's not gonna be, it's not gonna happen overnight. It's not gonna be, you know, we're not gonna start on a Monday and then Wednesday have a group of 50 from Macron. That's not how that's gonna work. It's gonna be everything will take its time, and the most important thing is getting getting the place up and you know having the people in place and and making sure that we're we're consistent, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Yes, now uh we we talked a little bit in the blending process how some people like nuance. And I'm gonna say that Espinoza is a layered company in terms of you make amazing cigars with in Nicaragua, you made a brand, Knuckle Sandwich, and you got Guy Fieri involved, who I will say to this date, in my opinion, the most successful and cigar made for cigar smokers, celebrity cigar ever to come out, which is a feat in and of itself.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

Listen, I will tell you that uh Guy Fieri, Guy Fieri cigars uh has been his cigar line, Knuckle Sandwich has been successful for two reasons. First of all, Guy's invested. Yeah, he's invested. Eric didn't want to do his cigar. Eric told him celebrity cigars don't work. Because a celebrity, a lot of these celebrity cigars start their line at the show and they'll have a great show. They'll sell three, four hundred thousand dollars worth of cigars at the show, and whoever's making it for them, and not to drop any names, but whoever's making it for him says, Hey, you had a great show, are you ready to travel? And the guy's like, Yeah, man, I'm ready to travel. Where are we going? Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Miami? The guy goes, No, we're going to Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland. And the guy's like, I don't know if I can go to Cleveland. I mean, yeah, my point is he doesn't want to go there. He wants to do the he wants to do the high-end tour, LA, and let's go to Vegas. And people think that's what drives the market. What drives the market is the guy who buys boxes in Columbus, or the guy who buys boxes in Gardner, Kansas, or the guy who buys them in Des Moines, or the guy who's buying them in outside of Minneapolis. Those are the guys who move who move the who move the needle. Those are the guys who keep you going, support us, you know. And the second reason, you know, and the second reason is the cigars are good.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

The cigars are good. If these if these weren't knuckle sandwich cigars, if these were Espinosa cigars, they would just they'd be just as good.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

They'd be just as good. It's not a novelty. He's a cigar smoker, he's involved, and trust me, he's a little too involved. He wants, you know, that font's got to be right, the images got to be right, the color, but you want that because he's never he's never just said, I'm slapping a name on it, let's go forward. That's not his, you know. I I've spent time with him. He's uh he's a regular dude, just like you and me. He's just got regular problems, he's got different kinds of problems. His problems are at a different level, you know. So, but still, he's just a regular guy. He wants to smoke and he wants to he wants to have a good time, and he wants, you know, he wants to do events. And yes, look, he had an event, he had an event in Arkansas, the best event that shops ever had. Nice. And that shop, that shop wasn't one of those bandwagon shops that jumped on as soon as as soon as Knuckle Sandwich came out. The guy did his homework, he wanted to see it, make sure that it fit, did all his metrics, and all it he brought it in, and look how well the and look at the event that he had.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Yeah, I mean, I will say full confession. Like, uh, I remember talking to Eric long time ago. I think it was at a TPE show when he first mentioned, hey, I'm gonna be doing a Guy Fieri cigar. And I was like, Okay, and I like in the back of my mind, I'm like, so it's a celebrity cigar. Yeah, I'm not really interested, but then seeing it grow and then us jumping on as well. And I was like, I have to admit, like, these cigars are just they are made for cigar smokers. These are this is a quality product, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

And it's like I tell people, it's not a cigar for it's not a cigar made, it's not a celebrity cigar, it's a cigar made for a celebrity that you know that that he just happens to have it made for him. He's you know, he's involved, man. He's he he wants to know sales numbers, he wants to know trends, he wants to know, he wants to do zooms, and where are we and where are we going, and this is where I'm gonna be from diners dive into drives. Is there a shop in the air? He's involved. Yeah, it's uh it's he loves he loves smoking cigars. Nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

That's so cool. Now, uh, in terms on a more personal note, Daniel Frazier is wondering, and I know that you've uh talked a little bit about this, but he's saying if you were to retire from the cigar industry tomorrow, what would you do next?

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Well, I first of all I'd open my OnlyFans page. That's the number one thing I wanted to do. Uh listen, uh don't it and and Daniel, it's funny Daniel says that. I mean, don't get me wrong. That's I can see that in the I can see that in the horizon. I'm 60 years old. You know, uh I you know my kids are grown. Uh I hate living in Miami. Miami's just so hot. It's you know, every time a little a little rainstorm turns the corner of of the good Cape of Good Hope in Africa, it's uh everybody's yelling that a hurricane's coming. I'm just tired of that shit.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

Uh I I want to move, but I I don't know, I don't know what I'd do because you know, I I've I've been with this company since day one, and and you don't want to, you know, you you don't want to see something that you've helped grow that as you've been there since the beginning, uh, you know, you don't want to not be involved in that. So I mean that's a conversation for a later day, but I think sure what I really like to do is write. I'd like to write a book or two, but uh maybe about the cigar industry and then make sure I can never work in it again. So that's I would burn every bridge in the cigar industry I have and uh not have to worry about never never working again. I don't know though. To answer Daniel's question, I don't know. I love the idea. I love the idea of sitting on my porch and drinking sweet tea and yeah and having having a cigar and telling the kids to get off my off my lawn, but I don't know if I'll be able to do that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

So so okay, so a different question, similar type vein. Let's say not what you would do. Uh we got a few comments here saying come to South Carolina.

SPEAKER_03 39:47

Another one's saying South Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Yeah, another one's saying come to Riverside and work at the cigar lounge. If you were ever to move, where would you like to move?

SPEAKER_03 39:57

Uh, I like the uh eastern, the far eastern tip of Tennessee. It's a great tax state for retirees. Uh it's uh it's a little they call it the Tri-Cities area. So it's Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol. It's kind of like right in the middle there. They have a mother, they have an airport. So if I were to need to, you know, if I need to fly, fly to Nicaragua, I fly from there to Atlanta, Atlanta, Miami, Miami, Nicaragua. I have to make change some planes, but I could do it.

SPEAKER_04 40:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

Uh I'd I'd like to, I'd like to go somewhere where. Let me see. Let me let me just give you a reason why I'm moving. Why I can't wait to move. It is currently 84 degrees today, outside right now, a muggy 84 degrees, high humidity. Where I'd like to move, it is a lovely 73, and the low was 56 today. Where the high today here was 96. So, yeah, I yeah, I'd like to I'd like to sweat, not walk into the car. Yeah, in the morning, you know.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

Um, okay, so I could never I could never work at a shop. As much as I love shops, I always had the idea of having a shop. Man, I wanted to have a shop until I became a regular shop and went. I don't know how he does this. Uh that guy's been sitting here for three hours. He's had two edges, and he's gone to the bathroom three times and has never hit the toilet once. I mean, you know, I could never, I could never do that. Yeah, yeah. But I think I would spend some time at a shop, you know, be like that guy in the corner. What are you smoking there? That's crap. Here's what I might be that guy.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Okay. Uh Joe Childs is saying, Did you blend the psychedelic rabbit? That was such a hard bundle to get. That was an exclusive, I believe, with Dojo and Dojo, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:39

That was a cigar dojo exclusive, yeah. Um listen, I mean, I we did that one. I did the turtle the both turtles, and uh I think uh, you know, uh I think it's a numbers. I don't want to say it's a numbers game, game might be the right word to use, but it's 300 bundles. Anything Espinosa does, and you make less than a thousand of it. If you don't sell it out, it's because you're not trying. I mean, we we did something called uh many several years ago, we did a warhead sampler, it had the first five warheads in it and then a coin. And we said, Well, let's be safe, let's make 500 of them. And all we did was piss off customers, uh not consumers, but retailers who wanted 10 and only got one. So, you know, 300 is just that's uh you know, that's like that's that's chalk, man. Yeah, if you ask me, that's chalk, it's almost not worth doing, but I don't make those decisions, those are those decisions way over my head, you know. But it to me, it's like chalk, you know. 300 is nothing.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, as we've kind of talked through these blends, and you had mentioned the size changes with Warhead 601. Chandler is wondering why does the shape change the experience so much? Like, what's the science behind that?

SPEAKER_03 42:50

Man, you know what? I I'll I guess I'll have to do some homework as to the size, but I think you have you know, you have a wrapper to filler ratio. You have you know, you also have a you know, it's since a man-made product and my my roller or that my buncher is used to working with 52, and now all of a sudden he's gotta make a 58 or a 56, and I'm hoping that he paid attention in math when he started breaking down, you know, I needed a leaf and a half here, but now I'm gonna need two leaves. Oh shit, you know, listen, it just does. I mean, I I wish I I wish I had a better answer for you, but it just does. Yeah, I mean, there are some guys, you know, there are some guys who talk about blending, they blend each Vitola specifically. I've never had a cigar ever that the Robusto tastes like the Churchill or the Churchill tastes like the Toro. I never have. Yeah, you know, even Padrones, you know, or you know, the I smoke the I smoke the number nine, doesn't taste like the number one, doesn't taste like the number five, you know, they they all taste different. Yeah, and I mentioned them because they're you know they're they're my they were my you know my go tos always when I was uh uh starting in this industry before I got into into the cigar industry myself.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 43:58

Sorry, sorry, that's I mean I'm if you want Some cool fucking answer, I'll lie. But I don't want to I don't want to lie to the man, you know?

SPEAKER_01 44:04

No, for sure. Now we had mentioned uh in terms of our sampler tonight, we uh to get into the raffle within the the prizes uh is the laranja hybrid, which is yet to be released. Now, where what was the evolution of the cigar? What can be expected about it? It's coming, I think what in a couple months, a month or so?

SPEAKER_03 44:25

It should be ready before that. We're just waiting for some boxes to come in. Okay. The first the first run. The first run should be should be should be soon. Uh the hybrid was developed kind of while I was while I was injured. Uh I got injured uh last year, January. I spent you know five months kind of on my back.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 44:45

So uh the idea was to make a cigar with a little bit of Brazilian tobacco in it, and and you know, it's they used one of the old blends that we had and just sprinkled, you know, put a little Dominican in it, change the perspective, change the outlook of the cigar, and and here we are. Come move to Buffalo. Tim McCabe wants me to move to Buffalo. I got a good story about Tim McCabe in a minute. I'm looking at the chat here as well. Uh so that's really what it was. I mean, you know, it's it's a it's a nice Nicaraguan blend, it's a but it's a straightforward Lazona, the the kind of thing that the Lazona guys love. You know, it doesn't have a lot of uh uh not a lot of pompous circumstances. It's tobacco, it's strong, it tastes good, and you know, it kind of fills that nick nicotine need that you might have, you know, in the middle of the day when you need something to keep it going.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

Um Tim Tim wants me to come move to Buffalo. I went, I'm a dolphin fan, you know, dolphin fans and Buffalo Bills fans. We have a history. So I went up there to do an event, expecting to hate every minute and every person I met there. They were the fucking nicest people I ever met in my life. They were just great, great people. They took me everywhere, and that nobody lives past 65 up there because they they fry their hot dogs, they wrap them in bacon, you know, they drink a soda that's like pure sugar, and this candy that's incredible. And and they had uh they had the the the oh my god, what's the name of the coffee that he brings me every year from Canada? Um well, I can't. Man, I'm telling you, I'm kind of short circuiting, but those guys are great guys, just good dudes up there, you know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the show for a second.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

No, no, no, not at all. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

Um, and here's a question's Tim Horton's coffee. Tim Horton's coffee.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Okay, okay, nice. Here's a question that uh similar to where I was gonna ask you. Uh sorry, and that was Mike saying, What's your favorite tobacco to work with? The question I was gonna also say is I've noticed recently a lot of Mexican Claro kind of making its way into the portfolio. Do you have a favorite tobacco to use?

SPEAKER_03 46:48

Uh let's see, Mexican claro. We did with Seattle Oro, and then we did we only did two of them, Chef Special. We've only done two of Mexican Claro.

unknown 47:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:03

That's not a lot. Well, that's not a lot. It's two in the last couple of years. I'll give you that. There you go. I'll give you that. I listen, I'm a huge fan of Pennsylvania Broadleaf as a rapper, okay, which is a huge problem because Eric doesn't, Eric's not a big fan of that brand, of that rapper. Okay. And I know he he knows as well as we all we all know that you can't make cigars that you just like, but it helps when it you do. It helps when you do make them. But like, for instance, that TAA cigar that I made last year was man, that what a great cigar that was for the company. What a great it was, what what what a great cigar it was for TAA, what a great cigar it was for Guy. But it was Pennsylvania Broadleaf, and you know, and uh every time I say bro, people love it, uh he doesn't like it. But you know, the it moved the meter and and it moved, and you know, and and that's the most important thing in my opinion. I love Pennsylvania Broadleaf. I like to work with Pennsylvania Broadleaf. Uh I like Brazilian Tao Aqua, I like Arapiraca, I like Mata Norte, I like Matafina.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

Um that that last year's last year's chef special, Matafina, is one of my favorite renditions.

SPEAKER_03 48:10

I think that's a strong, that's a tough dog, right? That's a tough puppy right there. Yeah, that's a that's a serious cigar. The year before that was broadleaf, but the Matafina was something special.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 48:19

Uh and filler-wise, I like to work with Ometepe, and I like uh I like I like Estelini Hero. I do, I like the Advisor from Esteli. I like the I like the I like to work with the Fernandez tobacco. It's really good tobacco. Their Corojo is spectacular. Uh you know, but now I'm looking forward to uh going to the DR and you know working a little more with Wano and and see if I can work my way around San Vicente and get some of the get some of that metal taste out of it. And yeah, and some of you know some of the some of the some great blenders are in the Dominican that I don't really know personally or as well as I know the ones in Nicaragua. But I'm looking forward to you know spending a little time with Henderson and spending some time with Ernie and you know, and you know, that's that's awesome. Yeah, I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

Definitely okay, guys. So uh before we get into our last segment of questions, because we're coming down to the wire, I'm gonna remind you check out our sampler because we're gonna be calling the raffle at the end of the show. And there's still a little bit of time. The rafflers the raffle sampler is almost gone. So if you pick up one, you'll be entered into our uh raffle at the end of the evening. If you pick up two, we'll give you three raffle tickets, which each prize has a five-pack, grand prize, a 10-pack, all delivered in these uh Labamba tins. Uh so get in on the raffle before we call it. We'll enter your name and best of luck to you. Um, let's see here. Uh, Raider Dave is saying, speaking of Chef Special, what can we expect of this year's release?

SPEAKER_03 49:48

Well, I mean, you had it at the show, and I had it. I uh now I'm sure, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure Eric's not watching. I must have smoked 30 of those things at the show. I I thought I thought it was the best one. I thought it was the most well-rounded of all of them.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

I thought the, you know, I I thought the Sumatra, which was the second one, was really good, and the broadleaf was good, and the Mapafino was good, but I thought this Mexican Claro was the most well-rounded, it was just strong enough, just you know, not too strong, not too mild. It was just perfect, especially when you're at the show, and you you people bring you cigars to try, but you know, it's it's such a hard place to to try other cigars. And and these are your friends in the industry. Hey, have you tried? You know, here's my new cigar. You want to try it, but it's not fair. So I just went with something that's great that I liked before we got to the show, and I smoked it. And you know, if ever it tasted a little weird, I knew it was because I was it's probably my 30th cigar. But I really I enjoyed it, it's Mexican cloro, it's got such a good aroma. It's I mean, listen, it's it's not it's not the strong, that doesn't have the strength or the of full of uh of last year's or the body of the years before, which was broadly, but it's it's no slouch. I think it's I think it's a grid.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Yes, yes. And you mentioned like with the warhead, you're you're dealing with the same blend, different sizes. What is the similarity from Chef's special from year to year?

SPEAKER_03 51:12

Every year it's a different blend. I I changed Chef Special every year is a different one.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Okay. So when you and this is something I'm curious about, especially with the new cigars that come out, with the tried and true ones you have in the portfolio. Is there ever like a lot of pressure to do the next one, or is it always just starting from scratch, a lot of excitement on the new project?

SPEAKER_03 51:36

I don't think we I don't I don't think we uh I don't think we have any pressure. Matter of fact, we may be at the point where we we we may slow down because we've got so many things that that are coming up. I mean, just think on on re on reissues next year alone, you know, warhead's a reissue, independence days are reissue, yeah, or a re-release. So two two re-releases there. Six province, I think we're done for a while. I don't know if that'll come back, but I don't see why we couldn't do something in the future bringing that back as a sampler or a collector humor or something. That's not my that's not my gig. That's junior. I that's junior's ball game. Uh all if he turns to me and says, I need 800 of these, or we're gonna make 800 of those. Okay, whatever he needs, but that's that's not really my my my direction on that. But you know, we we do a lot of the warhead again. Uh let's see, warhead shut special. We got three, we got three that are re-releases already off the off the off the ship. So, you know, and next year's 15 15 years for Espinosa. We I'm sure we got some stuff planned for that. Yeah, we have a lot, you know, we have a lot. There, I think there's more pressure in what might get left out than what might get done.

SPEAKER_01 52:45

Okay. Yeah, no, 100%. And I mean it's really cool too to see like the following and the build-up of the Warhead series, but to see the most anticipation behind the independence, and it's really cool as you guys kind of tied it into the 250th, but there is a lot of anticipation on the newest rendition of Independence Day. And I I gotta say, last year's was a like flavor bomb. It was insane.

SPEAKER_03 53:09

I think I think this year's is superior. Last year's was a little, was it's it's it was a it was a smaller, it was a smaller Vitola, it was a longer cigar but a smaller Vitola. This year it's a shorter cigar, but a wider a bigger Vitola. Uh I I really dig this, I really dig this year's cigar. And the reason Chef Chef Special changes every year, you know, there's not a lot of blends you can just change a wrapper on. Blends change, you know, a blend that works with Havano might not work with broadleaf, uh, might not work with Matafina. So, you know, you have to, you know, you have to be true, you have to try. You have to you have to make these little these little changes. Warhead, we already know Warhead works. It's just a matter of the Vitolas. The Vitolas, they're it's it's a strength issue, but never a flavor issue. It's always it's always tasting good, knock on wood, you know?

SPEAKER_01 53:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and I mean, kind of as we wind down here, question I have is we hear a lot, especially on like media podcasts such as this, about like, oh yeah, this is a great coffee pairing cigar, this is a great bourbon pairing cigar, whichever. For you personally as a blender, do you what is what is pairing cigars to you look like? Is it really like anything you have to hand? Is there a go-to that you have? What do you what do you normally gravitate towards?

SPEAKER_03 54:22

All right, so it's funny you mention that. I've been I've been doing a lot of writing lately, and one of the one of the things I've been writing about is pairing. Cigars are one of the few things that you you you do you enjoy by itself. You know, you either have coffee with it or tea or sweet tea or a bourbon or a beer. You're you're always drinking it with something, you're always having it, which is always accompanied by something. I uh I don't really drink that much. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy, I I have more bottles of liquor than I know what to do with, and I I I enjoy bourbon. Ask anybody who saw me this last week. But um, I don't, I I it's very rare that I'll say, Oh, I'm gonna have this with this. When I'm in Nicaragua and when I've been working on blends, you know, the I I enjoy drinking Nicaraguan soda. I like the Coke from Nicaragua, it's got it's got real sugar in it, yeah. It tastes great. And actually, I I do kind of enjoy Nicaraguan coffee when I'm working there, but I I don't really have anything per se that I that I'll pair. Now, favorite bourbons, yeah. I have a bunch. I love I'm a whistle pig guy. I love whistle pigs.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Oh, nice, nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:31

But one of the what and I'm looking, I'm looking at the Wolfert I have here. I have all these damn bottles of old elk and you know, but uh I I don't for some reason I like the way Basil Haydn, uh the dark the basil hydens dark rye tastes when I smoke, especially with the profile of the cigars we have. When you know when when I'm smoking the knuckle sandwich stuff, I enjoy something a little I I enjoy a regular rye like redemption rye or the whistle pig rye, or but or even I might even have a single malt or something with the lighter stuff, but the heavier stuff, the stuff from uh the stuff from uh on the on the knuckle sandwich side, I just I I I enjoy it like that. That's I I like it. I know a lot of guys are like, oh that's uh that's not a bourbon. I understand.

unknown 56:23

I know.

SPEAKER_03 56:25

Listen, I didn't I wasn't born in Kentucky, all right. I did I do the best I can, you know? And you know, uh it's listen, what if there are there are people who drink seven up? I I see people drink seven up and and smoke cigars at the shop. Guys drinking iced tea in a can. Yeah, you know, one guy was having a matcha or a hot matcha or a watch, whatever the hell that is. Yeah, that tastes doesn't that taste like homeless man's ass? Who the hell also drink that one cigar? But you know, that's why that's why they invented colors, you know, colors for people to choose, you know.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Right. So, final question, and a bit more in interesting. I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I think it's really funny, especially like through the years of you working with Espinosa and blending all the cigars and such. Do you have any like what's an interesting moment, whether it was during the blending process, at a show, at a party, uh at a at a shop, at a show, whichever, something an interesting event that happened through your career as a cigar blender?

SPEAKER_03 57:25

Man, I mean it's the question makes the the career sound so fabulous. And it's it's not just you know, it's just another, it's just the cog in the machine. I think uh the funniest one I talk about all the time, uh it's it's and it's it's old it's all the people who who are watching and who you know who know who've heard this before, it's the the guy who asked me about Honduran tobacco. So I'm at a shop and uh it's one of the first events I did. We launched the cigar, and this guy walks over and asks me if it has Honduran tobacco in it. And I said, No. And then he goes, Are you sure? And I go, Well, yeah, you know, pretty sure. 15 or 20 minutes go by, he comes back again. Uh listen, I'm in the industry. Uh this this is really drying my mouth, blah blah blah. You know, does it have under tobacco? No, it doesn't. Are you sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So now, even though I'm making it sound like I'm really cool, uh, I was really kind of hot about it. I was still on the department. It was many years ago, I was still in the department. I used to get hot quick, you know. So I said, let me let me leave, let me let me go elsewhere. So I went into the back and I was having some beers and I was having fun, and I completely forgot about the guy. Uh and as I went to go get a beer, I'm standing next to Eric. I went to get a beer. I turn around, and the guy's standing right in front of me. He goes, Listen, I know it has, I said, it doesn't have any fucking Honduran tobacco. What the fuck is wrong with you? Stop fucking. I heard somebody go, this guy's got me crazy with the fucking tobacco in the Honduran and the Honduran. So that was uh that was the highlight of my, you know. Needless to say, I didn't do events for several years after that. It was uh, you know, it was uh event-free zone. But I I don't really, you know, listen, I when I do event when I do events at shops and and it's not about me blending the cigar, it's about, you know, yeah, I I did it or whatever, but it's more about where we're at as a company. And I think a lot of people enjoy that because uh listen, I've never I've never wanted to be the guy in my career. I never wanted to be the guy. I always wanted to be the guy the guy came to. I don't have the personality to be the guy. Being the guy is a lot of work, and that's I don't want to do all that kind of work. I'd rather just, you know, I'd rather do it and then you know hide over there and get get an acknowledgement every once in a while and then and move on. So I you know, I I we always talk about the cigar and the release and how good it is for the company and how it fits the portfolio and what we're working on next. That really is that's really what we did.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:04

Okay, nice. Um, we have one final question, which I think is an interesting one. Daniel Frazier saying, No limitations. What cigar are you picking up every day for the rest of your life?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:19

This is this is the pressure. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Like asked me which one of your kids do you like the most? Yeah, yeah. We all have a favorite, don't let anybody fool you. Um, that's a motherfucker. Um I smoked about 30 of those chef specials this year, but I'm closing in on about 25 of the Independence Day.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:47

So I'm thinking the Independence Day might be my jam.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

When I first started with the company, it was 601 Blue, it was 601 Green, and then it was LaRanje Oscuro, and now it's I think it's the I think it's that one. I think it's the Independence Day.

unknown 1:01:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:01

Independence. If I can have one every day, I'd be happier than a pig and shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

Okay. Nice. Nice. Okay, and speaking of uh limited releases, it is time for our raffle. So, what we're gonna do here, these are the prizes. I am going to uh we put everyone's names on a random Google generator, and I'm gonna go ahead and call out uh the first winner, which will be a prize number three, a five-pack and a la bomba tin, and that will be going to Mr. David Garcia. Raider Dave, congratulations. We'll be sending that out to you. Five pack of cigars as well as a tin. All right, here we go. We're gonna go for number two, and this is gonna be for also La Bamba and a five pack. And we have it's going, it's going, it's going. One second, almost there, and our winner is going to be Dustin Abner. Congratulations, Dustin Abner. You're gonna get a five pack as well as that. Finally, for the grand prize, Labomba tin five-pack sampler plus a five-pack of Warhead 12 is going to Mr. Brian Cook. Brian Cook, congratulations, Dustin, Brian, Raider Dave. Thank you guys so much. Congratulations on winning those prizes. We're gonna be sending that out to you. Um, Hector, thanks for hanging out with us tonight. It's been a great no problem.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:24

Learning the background, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:27

It's been great, and we will keep you guys posted. We can't say much, but there's an exciting project with Espinoza and OGT that will be coming later this year. So looking forward to it. Yeah, secrets, secrets, secrets, but uh all right, people.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

Thank you for having me. I appreciate the convert great questions on the chat. Uh really, really not really well run show. I like it. I like it. And an hour.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:53

I love it. It's not a three hour show. Awesome, man. Well, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:57

It was good, it was good.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

Everyone have a great night and