"How To Grow A Cigar Brand Feat. Cigar Clowns." Ep. 43 7/18/26

What does it take to grow a cigar brand in 2026? Joe from the Cigar Clowns breaks down struggles and highlights in the process of merging Chaffiot Cigars and Cigar Clowns together, and even launching new cigars!

Cigar Clowns LINK: https://oakglentobacconist.com/product-category/cigar-clowns-cigars/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live Podcast, your neighborhood virtual cigar lounge. Each week we share in 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_03 0:43

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_00 1:02

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live, where conversation lights up. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of OGT Cigars Live on a Thursday night, as we always meet. And uh I'm very excited to welcome you here to the virtual lounge. My name is Eric Drazen from OGT Cigars, and with me tonight my co-host, my beautiful wife, Mallory.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

And we are coming to you from the very warm, very hot summer evenings of North Carolina on the East Coast.

SPEAKER_04 1:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Still getting used to the kind of like the heat of uh of humidity as well as like high temps, but I don't know. It's still not like 120 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Good. Went to the beach today.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Went to the beach. There you go. So um, as I see, we have a first comment drop in, and people are jumping on. So we have an awesome show for you guys tonight. Something that's really gonna be kind of like behind the scenes, not so much on tobacco, but in terms of like a cigar brand, what it takes to have not only a cigar brand, but a successful cigar brand. Uh, and honestly, some topics that I feel like should have been highlighted and talked about some time ago. So this will be the opportunity for this evening. So it's gonna be a very special show, special guest with us tonight. Uh, so drop those comments down. I highly encourage you to do so. This is your virtual cigar lounge, so it's not necessarily a lounge if everyone's silent.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

No, we need some conversation in here. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

So let us know what are you smoking? What are you enjoying? What are you pairing with tonight?

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Uh, what have you been up to today?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Exactly. What is going on? I will also inform you, as some other people have realized and learned from earlier this week, we have two ways to enter into our raffle tonight. I'm super excited because two different, well, what used to be two different brands, now under one umbrella, which is super cool. And you have the opportunity for either side. So let me go ahead and show you this. This is our Shaffio sampler, which we are nearly sold out of. We are down to the very, very last ones. And this one is especially special because it's the very last opportunity, last chance to pick up Mr. Penstripe, Pennsylvania Broadleaf on the right hand side. That was an exclusive we did with Shaffio like two years ago. And then it also is Bruno the Butcher on the left side, which has been there's been murmurs of being maybe the cigar of the year for this year. Everyone loves it. So that is one of our raffles. And then the second one, take a look at this. I like searched the vault, I searched the OGT vault and found just enough. This is the very last bit. If you'll notice, there is a sort of a festive-looking cigar in there. That is Cigar Clowns Festivist 2024. This is the very last of it.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

So it's definitely from the vault, super special.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Um, and so what we're doing is as usual, you pick up a sampler pack, you get a raffle ticket for tonight's prizes. But if you pick up two, and yes, you can mix and match, you get three raffle tickets.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

And thank you to the Cigar Clowns uh for making this possible because the three prizes we have for you tonight is first, which will be a five-pack of Cigar Clown cigars. They will be a mystery until they show up.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Mystery Cigar Clown cigars. Uh, the second is a print of Pagliacci. Now, uh, they do a series of different prints, so it will be somewhat randomized, but this will be our second. And then finally, the coolest prize is a Cigar Clowns travel case humidor.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

That is a very cool prize.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

It's really cool. And I know that uh our guests will talk more about it. So we're gonna be calling this raffle at the end of the show, if you have the opportunity. There at OGT. Yes, get those entries on. Secure Festivist 2024, as well as the all the other hits, as and also Shaffio, Penstripe, and Bruno. Um, fantastic lineup. But I think it's time to start pulling some comments. All right, let's see what we got. So Daniel is on tonight.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Just finished a Perdomo father and son Bellicoso.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Very nice has been putting out some fire recently. I uh was recently the really good conversation with Daniel Lanson Domain. Uh, and he and I were both just remarking like it's impressive to see the trajectory of the Perdomo family. So it's really cool, really cool. RJ is on.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Uh, good evening, everyone. No smoking a cigar tonight due to Canada wildfire smoke here in Philadelphia. Yeah, we were just hearing about this.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Uh just sipping on some crystal light iced tea, though. Well, thank you for joining us, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yes, sorry about the air quality. We we've lived through that a number of occasions. So it's Southern California.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

I'll do it to you for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

In fact, at one point, we even had to like try to go stay at a hotel. It was so incredibly bad. Yeah. But I'm sorry to hear that. So hopefully it clears up.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Uh Raider Dave says, Good evening, guys. It's Christmas in July, Smoking Festivus 2025. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Very nice, very nice.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Uh, RJ, if I was able to smoke, it would be the 2025 festivist. Love that cigar.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

I do too. It was uh my brother Andrew, he's been on the show. Uh, it's one of his top cigars, and he's upset that we're like, they're gone. So he's he's he's he's missing.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

When they're gone, they're gone.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Jack is on saying cheers, guys, and Chris is on.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Says Buffalo Trace, no cigar because it's hot as hell outside. Gotcha. Fair enough. Gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

And oh, Daniel Fraser just jumped in.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

So between the humidity and the rain, just too wet to smoke tonight.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Well, if we weren't inside, I completely understand. Understand, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, understand. I think the craziest time we ever did a live was during COVID, and it was like 45 degrees in the hills of Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

It was closer to 30 something.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

It was freezing.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

We had a heater at our feet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

And we were just like, well, this is a great cigar. But we were outside, so definitely. Uh Mike Mitchell's on. He was just on the East Coast.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

It says, Great seeing you two. Smoked a black label trading company hyena. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Very nice, very nice. Awesome. Well, it's time for us to light up our cigars. We've each chosen one from our raffle samplers. Uh, tonight I'll be smoking the Geppetto on the far right, and Mallory will be smoking the Speak No Evil Sumatra that's in the Shaffio sampler. And that kind of led to me asking you, like, when was the last time you smoked that?

SPEAKER_03 6:55

It's been a little while, so I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

The thing about Shaffio cigars is like it's I always love everything they do, but that one in particular, I feel like was the one I maybe smoked the least of. And I was like, put this on your radar.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

You've been revisiting, yeah. Yeah. No, I'm excited to try it again. And because I do not have your photographic memory, I feel like my impressions fade over time. So I'm I'm excited to try it again as if it were new.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

Because that's how my brain works.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Now I chose the Geppetto because I feel like this is out of all the clown cigars, everyone loves the cigar clown cigars, myself included. I feel like this one in in the OGT realm might be the most like unappreciated out of the portfolio. Like, if we take a look at this lineup, uh, everyone loves Goldie. The rodeo clown has always been my personal favorite. Everyone's going crazy for the Pagliacci. And we recently got Geppetto back in. And I'm not lying, I I like smoked for three days straight. I had one like back to back. I was like, this cigar just is like amazing. So I want to also talk to our guests tonight about this. Let's get this lit up and then let's get the show on the road. 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. So I'm just getting mine finished lighting up here. Um, and we're gonna take one more comment and have our guests jump in. We got whiskey uh sipper saying just smoked a Rojas blue bonnet with some stag. Ooh, very nice. Rojas has got some good stuff. And Faceless Orchestra. I'm trying the Moon Flyer this evening, pairing with a Buffalo Trace. Great lineup. Okay, so let's have our guest jump in. This is a gentleman that is by no means a stranger to the OGT community. In fact, uh, it makes me very happy to look through all the years, and I want to say maybe one of the most repeated guests on the show because he's just an awesome dude to hang out with and continues to drop bangers. Please help me welcome Joe from the Cigar Clowns. Good to have you back on, man. As always.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Yeah, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Oh, thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it. Appreciate all the love.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

I know that you're you're taking one for the team sitting outside. It's also hot, it's also muggy right there, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Oh, yeah, and smoky. So uh I got those wildfire, you know, that smug down here in New York City as well. Oh, what are you gonna do? Let's say we we love you guys, so we'll do anything for you.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Thank you. Well, we appreciate it, and uh, we're excited for the samplers going on, the prizes. Uh, what are you smoking tonight?

SPEAKER_02 9:44

I'm smoking uh Pagliacci Viola. Okay, it's also available in one of the uh the packs uh that you guys are selling tonight. This is my favorite rendition of the Pagliacci's today. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Now, I know, especially for like when you guys are dropping cigars, there's personal favorites and such like that. Out of the two, what does the reception seem like in terms of favorite?

SPEAKER_02 10:08

It's 50-50. It literally, like when we dropped it with uh with you, Eric, and we got the um replies back from everybody, it was you know 48, you know, it was like 48, 49, you know, 50, whatever it was. It was so close, and it's still it's still like that. It really is okay, it's still like that.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

It's kind of impossible to choose.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

It is.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

I feel like they were they're both so good.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I mean, I would I would say I'm right there with you. Like the typical thing what I smoke, I would normally go for the oscuro, but that that claro has some kind of like special sauce in it that's just incredible.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

I'm I'm a big fan of it. I I smoke it all day long, I'm not gonna lie. It hits my palate so right. I could smoke it in the morning, afternoon, nighttime. It just I could I could slip it in anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Nice, nice. Jack is right there with you saying, got a viola on deck making an apple old fashioned. Nice, nice, nice, very nice. So um, I know we're gonna talk a lot about company situation, but I have not been able to reach out and talk to you about Geppetto. I mentioned why I chose this cigar. Um, this cigar, I don't know like if my taste buds change to like I do firmly believe in palette change as you go through, but there is some magic in this cigar that I just like maybe didn't pick up on originally. Uh, and I'm telling you, it's it's climbing the chart, is one of my favorite clown cigars.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

I appreciate that. Yeah, the Geppetto is um, you know, it's it's an underdog, right? It's uh it's it's a tried and true cigar, it always hits, it always smokes well. Yes, it definitely does not have the fanfares as some of our other cigars, but we keep it in the line because we love it. Um, and you know, it's and it actually just got a facelift. I think the the order coming your way, you'll see the new bands that that uh we have. So you you you will, I think, be one of the first shops that gets the new bands. Nice. So you know, we're always working to make our product better, and um, you know, we we've been working and one thing it needs it just needs a just needs a better band. That's it. I think we got it. I think we got it. So I if you see the humble beginnings of that of that cigar, the band was okay and then much better. And now where you're smoking at it's a nice band, but the face of uh Geppetto is is pretty dark. So we were able to to enhance it and you can see the detail on his face, so it's really nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Nice, that's really cool. Well, and and I think when I say like underappreciated, it's not because oh, the cigar just isn't really hitting, it's more of I I really mean it when you stack it up against heavy hitters like Rodeo Clown, Goldie, and these other ones that just like knock it out of the park, it might get overshadowed. But I was like, you know what? One day I was like, I'm gonna light this up, and like I said, for three days I was having one. I was just like, I can't stop. This cigar is fantastic. So great stuff. Thank you, brother. Appreciate that. But partly what I want to talk to you about uh in this evening, and we'll we'll pull up some of these comments here in a second as well. But uh, you guys announced that you were merging with Shaffio Cigars. Um, I think what was it, November of last year? Around there, November-ish.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

I think it was about November ish that we we uh we started telling select people like yourself that we were doing the merge, yeah. And it was been in the work a long time, a long time it was in the work, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

I imagine behind the scenes all the work that has to go into something like that, having to get to go, and then you hit into 2026, and one of the biggest things you guys released the uh the Pagliacci duo. Um, but I want to draw attention to what a lot of people don't know is that boutique cigar companies normally have a life expectancy of about 18 months. That typically, from what I have heard from other people in the industry, they're like if you if you stand the test time of 18 months and you're on a better situation. The Cigar Clowns and Shafield have not only accomplished that, but then they merged and at the same time release repackaged see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil, and they are able to do the unthinkable in this economy and also lower the cost. Now, Daniel was just pointing out a really good cigar from Perdomo. Perdomo made some really big waves. Yeah, there you go, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Repackaging, I love the new packaging, it's so great.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Thank you so much. And Daniel was drawing attention to like Perdomo lowering their prices a while ago. You guys are a boutique company, but you just did it. So hats off to you. And I feel like it didn't get enough recognition.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Well, thank you, Eric. Um, yeah, man. So, you know, we we got a good look at our business in 24 and the first half of 25, and you know, we really connected with our consumers, right? And uh we we needed to, you know, we really needed to know what the consumers were thinking, and um so you know, in in discussions and and thing like that, we we felt that uh we called the the craft market, the boutique market, it's all like $14 and above. And um the average blue-collar smoker, which is uh cigar clown, you know, army, you know, that's that's who we we, you know, that's who our our people are. They're they're more into the the budget, you know, what what we would call the budget line under $12, under $10. And then, you know, and um, you know, nothing wrong with that. They these are our people, you know, and these are the guys that smoke and the girls that smoke multiple cigars every day. And we said, this is this is our market. How do we get to it? And um, and and that was the goal. And and the goal is not to cut any corners, create yes, yeah, the best possible cigars. And um, you know, what is what is that, what do we have to do to get that? So for Shaffield Collection, it was buying a lot more tobacco, yeah. That's it. Yeah, so that that that's how that's how you do it, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Numbers, numbers, okay, yeah, volume. And to to that point of not cutting corners, this is in a situation of like, okay, so to cut cost, we had to basically reduce uh certain like quality aspects to the cigar. Instead, it got enhanced at the same time. The five packs that you just showed off, like um, I think part of the market too that you mentioned with connecting with your consumers is the five-pack market. And there's only a few other companies out there that I know kind of do that kind of five-part packaging, but I think it's brilliant because honestly, it makes it more accessible to feel uh like you're actually getting something more displayable in your uh humidor, and it's also not going to end up in throwing a bunch of wooden boxes away. So, overall, I think it's a winning combo.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

I appreciate that. Yes, the for us, the the five packs really really work so well. Grabbing goes. Um, you know, that nice display. We made beautiful displays for the shops that they can fill with singles or they can fill with the five with the five packs, and uh you know, they're they're just great point point of sales for our for our retail partners. Yes, uh, yes, look at that. That's I mean, man, I wish I had your camera skills unbelievable. Unbelievable. My wife's camera, I stole it.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

I mean, you make it but you the skills are yours, so you make us look real professional.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

That's exactly the way I envision it, you know. It looks beautiful, it looks beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, and the packaging um, you know, took a while to get, you know, we were working on the packaging before we closed on the deal because we knew we had to get it out to market. Okay. So um, and and even you know, it's just it it works really well for us. Um we put a little sticker inside of it, you know. Um every five, there's like a medium-sized sticker, every 20, there's a bigger sticker, you know, all little things that that go into you know the little nuance of being a cigar business. Um you know, we have quotes on the on the back of on the back of each little packet. Um, you know, to help Justin and Crystal tell the story because they're the founders of the company. They're still, you know, they still are the company's Shafield collection.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:18

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

And and I think too, with that, like I've seen a lot of companies get bought out by other companies. You don't see a lot team up, and also when you do see those team up, it's even harder to keep the integrity of those brands. And I mean, these are all hurdles that you guys have been accomplishing uh in 2026. And I I must like I feel like not enough people are talking about like how impressive this whole situation is. Um, so hats off to you guys.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Thank you. It's a different market, right? 2026. We're out of the we're out of the COVID era. Um, the market's tight, you know, uh interest rates are high, so money's not free right now, as we like to say. So um people getting car loans, they're getting car loans at eight, nine, ten percent or more. Um, you know, maybe if they're military, they're getting them at four or five percent. You know, you know, maybe I see the now the big American companies and some of the um overseas manufacturers giving zero percent loans to move their cars. So, you know, where that comes, where I'm saying it in the tobacco industry is like money's tight. We're burning, we're burning money right now. So if people need to spend extra dollars on their car, their gas, and this, you know, this is discretionary income. Um and for our market, you know, eight, ten dollars, it's it's good. It's good because you know, um we're getting we're giving our clients a premium stick. Yes, yeah, and you know, and you know, and uh why you know why wouldn't they go for this as an everyday smoke?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Right, you know, right, and it and I mean especially too if you look at it, like a five-pack Pagliotchi at 3750. That's that's a pretty unbeatable price.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Yeah, you can you can't go wrong with that. You can't go wrong. You have to stack them, keep keep one in your car, keep one in you know, at your office, you know, keep one in your back pocket. You should have them all over the place. Pagliotchis for all.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right, so we got a few comments here before we uh move on.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

We got a bunch of comments, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

We might have to rapid fire a few to catch up. So we got one right here.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

So Civus Comedy says beautiful cigars, and uh Christopher Cospin says, My fellow NYC brother. There you go, and David King says they are both awesome. That was in reference to the Pagliacis.

SPEAKER_04 20:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

Uh Jeffy Civis Comedy says, My favorite is the Goldie Grace. The Viola is a close second. I've got one viola left, might as well smoke it tonight. Well, thank you for joining us with your last one.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Um, Rob the Cigar Czar says, Welcome everyone's favorite clown to the show.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

We might have to put up a vote like who is the favorite clown?

SPEAKER_03 20:55

I love the Geppetto. It's a very classic cigar from Jack. You need to try the Geppetto with my version of the Brooklyn cocktail.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Oh, nice. I can I can give you the uh recipe for that. Oh, okay. Is it bourbon-based? Scotch base?

SPEAKER_02 21:10

It's bourbon-based. Okay, but I believe Jack, don't kill me, but I believe so. We have Jack is actually our mixologist.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Yeah, and Jack has been putting together unbelievable cocktails for our for our cigars.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah, so I I will send them all to you, and you know, you can sample them and you can you know show us share them with your audience, man.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

That'd be very cool. Yeah, heck yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Do a full like if you got a lineup, we we should do like a a sampler of clowns with what drinks with the recipe to pair it with.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

That would be really cool.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

We can definitely do that. That'd be pretty cool. Daniel's giving more love to Geppetto as well. Candler's on.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Cigar Glowns is one of the best brands in the industry. No doubt, absolutely. Christopher Costman says the packaging is great and the Bovida in the box is ingenious. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yes. That um I will say as a store owner, uh that makes my job even happy too because it's pre-packaged with the bovida. You don't have to worry about it. It's nice and clean. I love it.

unknown 22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

We're we're we're we love our um people in bovida. We've been with them since like 2018, since the beginning. Nice. And they treat us right, and you know, it's it's a great product. I know there's many different humidity things out there, but we go with uh the original.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Nice, nice, nice. Well, and that is another question I would have in terms of the repackaging, in terms of the volume and stuff. What was when all this was happening in the background? What was some one of the like the biggest hurdles in terms of coordinating packaging and bovida and the blends and the tobacco? Like it sounds like it's a it's a Tetris game.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

It really is, right? So um yeah, you have to get everything right, you know, and uh we're dealing with um uh companies that are not in America, right? They're in Nicaragua, they're in Dominican Republic. Um, you know, so when it comes to packaging, you know, spelling, there's issues on spelling, there's issues on sizes, you know, you have to get your cigars made first, and then you have to have your packaging made around your cigar sizes. Yes. Um, the the the rings were, you know, the the cigar bands were not an issue. We we went with the cigar bands that were already designed by uh the Shaffield Collection by Justin and Crystal. We love the bands. Um yeah, we really love this the see here and speak no evil logo together. Yeah, um, so we we made sure we put that on every on on all the packages. Um and um, you know, it's just it's just yes, getting everything right sucks. It's it's really hard, but it takes time. You have to put a lot of effort into it. There's a lot of phone calls, a lot of measuring, a lot of samples. Yeah. Um, and uh even even to the day, like you know, the Freedom Fighter boxes are our hair off. You know, we have to sand them down a little bit, you know, to get to get the the 20 cigars to fit. Now, we don't know if that's because when we age the cigars, the hum the humidity, I don't we don't know. We we don't know. It is what it is. So when when when the boxes get remade, they'll they'll be they'll be they're really cool though.

SPEAKER_03 24:30

I love that color.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

The box is beautiful, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Yeah, the emblem in the red is just gorgeous. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

I mean I'll say the the selfish part of me is that I have I have tried now Freedom Fighter in 6x50, 6x54, uh a Lancero, Lancero, yeah, and a Churchill. And a ri the original, like one we did as a small collaboration with Shafio was the six by 54. So when you guys re-release it that size, I was like, that size just sings, and I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

I I agree. It it's to me, it's the perfect size. It the smoke output's unbelievable, the flavor profiles on point. Um that that was the size for us to bring to bring it back out. Now we we did cut down Justin and Crystal's offerings because they had Robustos uh on the See Here and Speak. They uh a couple different sizes of the Freedom Fighter. When we came to market, we wanted it to be very simple across the line. Six by 52s for the the sp the see here and speak, uh, which is a classic size, right? It's uh yeah, yeah. And then the the Freedom Fighter, the box press six by fifty four, right? Six by fifty four, six by two, uh six by fifty four. Sorry. And um, you know, and that's the same size as our uh Pagliacci. So, you know, it it's just when uh in in the tobacco business, when when you consolidate like that, it makes things easier. Yes, you know, we're we're we're only holding inventory with turning. Um, you know, we're we're bringing in inventory every month. We just had cigars land, and it's not a little inventory, right? You know, we're talking you know, tens of thousands cigars. Like, you know, what we used to bring in 500 cigars. I'm like, oh my god, you know, we stole 500 cigars. You know, you know, now it's just like, you know, uh, you gotta make sure your credit's good, you know, everybody gotta get paid right away. You have to collect your money. Um, it's it's a different animal now as you grow, and there's multi multiple steps. And um, as we get licensed in more states, there's more and more reporting. You know, Ohio, uh, Pennsylvania now, uh, you know, New York, of course, New Jersey, of course. Like, you know, the the Northeast loves reporting, you know, they just yeah, let's report everything. You know, we we're not in California because we're not gonna pay those fees right now. Yeah, yeah, you know, it doesn't make sense for us. Um, but you know, Florida is a different ball game. When we you know, we we're growing in Texas, which is unbelievable. You know, it's just like it's just it's just different. It's different. Yeah, you know. Well, we just I think we just sent Pennsylvania, I don't know, a couple of grand just to be licensed in the state. Wow, crazy.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

We have a whole lot more comments.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

I feel like they're just pouring in the yeah, we're gonna have to probably pick and choose a few here. Let's see.

SPEAKER_03 27:25

RJ says respect to the cigar clowns and Justin for keeping the price down. You don't get that anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah, it's it's definitely more difficult than that.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

And then Dapper Prof says I got packs of both the Pagliacci di Cigari, best cigar for the price, in my opinion. Also, the Cigar Club Society Cigar Clown release was fire.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Yes, sorry, 100% mouthful.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

I didn't read that very clearly.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

100%. In fact, I feel like uh with the inception of like Pagliacci and such, every year we uh vote on it's a crowdsourced voting of what is the cigar of the year from OGT. We might have to create a new category of like best affordable cigar, like or sub-10 dollar cigar on the market. I'd be curious.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Um because I I mean I would say for my palette personally, I've seen some companies kind of do some releases on the better price point. Uh, but Pagliacci is the biggest shock I had when I was like, Yeah, I remember like smoking with a porch samples. I was like, I bet it's probably gonna be about 12 bucks. I was like, 12, anywhere 12, 14. This is I would totally pick the cigar up. And then when you said it was below 10, I was like, What?

SPEAKER_03 28:28

I think we also should have categories for like limiteds versus you know regular runs because I think that that makes it tricky too. It's like we need to expand the cigar of the year situation.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

It does, it does.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

Uh RJ is saying, very excited for the future of the clowns and Shafiel Collection. Very happy to support an awesome brand.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Um let's see here. Uh Rob the Cigar Czar says the Pagliacci punches way above its price point.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

And I pulled that up because Raider Dave's got an interesting commentary.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

My counterpoint to that is I never like the term smokes above its price point. I believe a good cigar is just that no matter the price, and the PDS is proof of that. The clowns don't miss ever. Shout out to Cigar Clowns Army.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Nice, nice. Well, and I think this is an interesting thing in the eyes of a consumer, because I definitely had this too, is regardless if you think a uh cigar like price if price point should affect purchasing a cigar or not, I do feel it's somewhat, whether it's subconscious or not, going to play a role in your experience with the cigar. And I feel like some I don't know if there's like a cigar that gets too expensive, but after a while, I feel like it puts too much pressure on the cigar because you had that in your mind.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Yeah, we talked about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Yeah, so I think uh there's truth to the statement of smokes way above its price point. At the same time, if the Pagliacci did not deliver the experience it did, it would be like, all right, it's a good cigar. I mean, I wouldn't smoke it all the time, but obviously it made such a big splash because of the quality of the blends. Yes, absolutely. That did that.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

And and we train our uh we don't we don't call them sales reps, right? We we we're um we we're we're brand builders, right? Um, so we're we're we're not sales reps, uh our team. So we train our brand builders when they're smoking the Pagliacci or the um the Shafield collection with the owner of the lounge or the the purchasing manager. Thesk, what do you think this cigar is? How much you think this costs retail? And you know, you get that 16, 15, 14. And then it's oh no, this is eight dollar MSRP. It's like what eight dollar MSRP? Yeah, you know, let's go. My the guys and the you know, every shop has a good client's like uh when you when you guys were out in California, you'd say, Hey, try this, you know, and uh you know, you get that feedback as well. Yeah, and it really works for us.

SPEAKER_03 30:49

I have one like design question about the Pagliacis. Um so this one's a little bit of a departure artistically from other Cigar Clowns drops. What what kind of like informed those choices? Because I love like the script and I love like the simplicity of it, and um and your other like bands are amazing too. So I was just wondering what um was the idea behind that design?

SPEAKER_02 31:16

So in uh 2024, early 2025, we had a real heart to heart, me, Danny, and Ray. Uh, we were getting a lot of pushback in shops about the clowns. You know, the cigars are unbelievable, but they're just not gonna sell here. And you know, why are they not gonna sell here? It's just the the imagery of your company, you know. People not gonna people not gonna take it seriously. Now we built our company on these limited drops and we have this great following, but as we grow the company, right, we have to become a little more mainstream, okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Um like kind of diversify it, correct, correct.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

So, you know, Pag Pagliacci di cigar just means the cigar clowns in Italian. So it's like, oh, you know, it's the same thing. We have a logo very small on on the back. So um, yeah, it would it was a tough pill to swallow, you know. You know, are we getting away from our identity? We're really not, but we're changing, we're evolving, you know, as as as any business needs to do, you know, you need to grow, you know, you you know, and um that's it. And it's a hard decision. I love what Ray came up with with the Pagliacci di Cigari. You know, I I I really wanted something very simple, and I I said what I wanted, and Ray created this. Um, and I think it's a little more fancy than I wanted, but I love it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

I think it really achieves something. I really, I I really love it. I think it's amazing. So um, but yeah, I know what you mean by the fancy, but I think I think that that also adds to that um the impression of value too, that's just amazing against the price point. So um, yeah, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Really curious thing, I I I'm wondering is have you on the flip side had ever any retailers give pushback of being like, I prefer to sell like more expensive cigars? Oh, yeah, we get that all the time. And it's bizarre to me, and I've heard that before.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah, we get that all the time. Oh, you know, my my clientele, they they you know, they only want XYZ brand and you know, whatever. Hey, I understand that, but there's gotta be people who come into the shop that need you know this, or they're gonna have their friends over and they want to give them a good cigar, not just a yard gar type of thing. Um, you know, introductory to to uh premium cigar because they're blue-collar premium cigars to what we sell. Um, you know, it's it's okay. You know, if somebody wants to smoke a $50 cigar, hey, how about you want to smoke a hundred dollar cigar? How about it, man? I'd personally rather smoke, you know, 15 cigars than $100 cigar. And you know, and we're you know, we're in the business, man. You cut open a cigar, you look at the tobacco, yeah. There's you know, there's not much difference in the tobacco you're buying from there's only so many farms, right? Sure. And we we all have access to most of them.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:05

Well, and I I think um sorry, we got an interesting comment there too from Jack right there. It says there's an Easter egg on the band. Can you tell us about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 34:16

Yes. So uh you really can't see it on the white band, but on on the blue band, um you could see there's lines that go across it, right? And that's like the so it's like the New York City gates. Like when businesses close in New York City, you have the metal shutters, and and the bands have this texture that go uh go you know left to right on them, and it has that you know that that gate look. So on our first couple of images that we did, like the street art, we had the gates um like in New York City and uh with the bands on there, yeah. So that's like a brick wall. I don't know if I don't know if I sent you the one when they had the gates on it. Okay, sorry. But uh yeah, so it had just just a little just a little texture to it, just a New York thing. Um that's cool. Yeah, yeah, for for us, it's just a little thing, you know. Um but it's better than just a plain band, right? No, that's really cool. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

I I was gonna say too, it's like we've been talking about this a little bit, maybe it was a little bit on the last episode. Um but how there's that there's a changing nature in the industry in terms of the consumer, because I think that there was a lot more focus on like luxury and um like sort of a the appearance of smoking a cigar just based on the status.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

And it's not that that has disappeared by any means, but I think that there's sort of a misunderstanding, I think, especially with some retailers who are wanting a higher price point, um, in that there's a shift into the sort of like intense cigar nerd boutique hunting, you know, like there's a different community growing that's more about craftsmanship and the artisticity and the authenticity and and finding brands that have something to say that's a little different from what's been well, and it's funny because I I still to this day remember like the days of AVB and the days of like uh uh scaramouche and such like that.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

And I'd have people walk in and be like, cigar clowns, and my my normal response to that be is like, look, it's a couple of guys in New York, and they just have the secret sauce. So when they drop their cigars, they go really fast. But that type of connection, it's well, it's not this corporation that that put a bunch of like sales force marketing behind all this type, and there's nothing wrong with that. But what Mallory is saying to the point of authenticity, you see it in the bourbon community, you see it even in restaurants. Like, I feel like the market, like overall, whether it's cigars or something else, is craving something that's more real, that's more authentic, and it doesn't always have to have a massive price point attached to it.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Yeah, that's that that is correct. I I agree with you guys 100%. And it's not that difficult um to achieve it, right? You know, the bigger guys are doing it right now. You know, they see a small guy like us, and uh believe it or not, you know, when we when we talk to different players in the industry, I know who you guys are. Oh, really? That's that's awesome. You know, when you hear it's like, I know who you are. It's like, all right, let's go, let's go. I appreciate that. Or a small, small tadpole in a big, big lake, you know, and uh, you know, we'll make a little wave, make a little wave. But we we hope, you know, that all the cigar manufacturers bring down the prices because the end of the we love the leaf. Yeah, you know, more people should be smoking, you know, if you're over 21, of course, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Yeah, it's a good cafe.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Yeah, we got our basis covered here, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, so um, you know, it's uh it's a great thing, and um, yeah, I love the industry. I really do. There's not many bad people. There are some bad people in the industry. You know who you are, you know. If you're a bad guy, you're a bad guy. Yeah, it is what it is. I can be painted as a bad guy in a lot of different situations, but at the end of the day, I I do what's best for my family. And you know, my my and I I say my family, I mean my cigar partners, my you know, my brand, my clients, you know, and uh, you know, we want to move forward together. And um obviously our retail partners like yourself, Eric, right? You know, like you know, we we have a goal and we're gonna achieve the goal. And every day we wake up and we say, How do we get to it? Um it's it's uh, you know, and and I I do, as you know, I have other businesses and and I have the same motto in all my businesses. It's growth by acquisition or conquering. And I take no shame in saying it. Yeah, you know, I I'm gonna grow my business and I'm gonna acquire or I'm gonna conquer, or you gotta partner with me. And and that's it, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, and we have some great partners. We do, we have some great partners. So that makes sense. I'm I might be a little New York cocky, but it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

No, it's great, it's it's yeah, no, it's awesome. It's it's the the force behind it. So just as a bit of reminder, uh guys, we're we're a little bit past the halfway mark. If you haven't gotten a chance to get in on a raffle yet, I think we're down to like one last sampler of Shaffio. So this is your last chance to secure the Mr. Pen Stripe. There's also Bruno and the the new priced C No Evil trilogy. Uh, and then also check out Cigar Clowns uh if you want to secure that festivist and the great cigars that we're talking about right now. Um, if you pick up a sampler pack, you'll be entered into a raffle. Three different prices happening. If you pick up two, even mix and match, then you're gonna get three raffle tickets. Our raffle prizes is a five-pack of cigars, a print pagliacci, and also a limited edition cigars clown uh humidor case. So get those in. We're calling the raffle at the end of the the show.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

Um that case is nice. It has uh has like a uh multiple color uh tray on the inside and a little cigar travel holder thing on there. It's a it's a really nice it's made by uh Legion uh Lisa Legion Customs, I believe. Okay, so bad with names, man. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I butchered your name, brother. You know, uh really, really cool stuff for the cigar industry. And speaking of like cool stuff, I just got samples in from Josephus, who made us some pretty unique samples for a product that we're gonna be raffling soon. So stay tuned to the clowns. Heck yeah. Um, you know, just just some cool stuff, man.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Oh, there you go. Rob the cigar guy says Legion Concepts. There you go. Rob, you're the man.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Thank you so much, brother.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Appreciate that. Uh, you had mentioned other manufacturers. Chris Cossman has a really interesting uh comment right here.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

He says, I think Pagliacci and McAuliffe Color Series are the best under 10 smokes.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

So, this is what I think people need to understand is McAuliffe is also a really cool brand. Uh, we actually don't carry McAuliffe, we've had their our eye on them for a while, but they're really cool because they refuse to sell to like massive online corporations. They want to support the brick and mortar, and so they put all their efforts in that. But I will also say that uh the amount of revenue behind McAuliffe's brand is very impressive. So they are able to accomplish such like this, like you were also saying, through volume, and that's why I think it's so awesome with you guys is seeing what you were mentioning, like bringing in 500 cigars, maybe a couple thousand uh per drop, and to see where it is now, seeing the support to accomplish that type of volume to be mentioned even within like McAuliffe's and such that already had that, it's it's awesome to see that. Your guys' growth is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Thank you, brother. Yeah, we're we're trying hard. We are trying hard to be a household name, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

It it's great. So, and I know that you've gotten into bigger retailers and such like that. I I just I think Malor and I feel really blessed, not only to be on the ground floor of I don't necessarily say ground floor, but earlier days of cigar clowns, but also earlier days of Shafio cigars. Yeah, and to think think back, I remember seeing his post of I think it was Speak No Evil, and I was like, that band's awesome. What is this cigar? So I looked out, reached out, he sent me a thing, and then likewise the same with Ray, and to see it kind of where it's come, it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_04 42:21

Yeah, it's it's great.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Yeah, and sorry Ray isn't here. He is um camping with his sons and and Boy Scouts camp.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Oh no, that's a great that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Yeah, and it's really that that's awesome. It's really hot, and the smog is is there. Oh man, he's he sent me a video of his boys like after like a two-mile hike, they had to go take shots and just totally dragging. Oh no, you know, and Ray's a ball breaker, you know, he's breaking his kids' balls. Like, come on, you know, just why you're videoing me so I can show you this to your kids, you know. I love I love the idea. So sorry, Ray wasn't he was gonna try to jump on, but his reception's real spotty. Getting a phone call is out, so yeah, you know, completely understanding jump on is tough.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

No, you're representing wonderfully. Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Yeah, once in a while I can do all right, you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah, no, you can do great now. Now, something uh Jack put down a comment here, and I don't know how much you can disclose, but I know it's always as we get past summer, it's on a lot of our minds. Uh he says, one thing I can't wait for is Festivus 26.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Oh yeah, oh yeah. They're they are they are aging, they are aging there, ready to go. It's gonna be a Nicaraguan banger, I can tell you that much. I can tell you that much.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

That's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Um, uh, I'm not gonna disclose this year's factory yet, because as you know, we like to change factories every year, people that we work with. Um, but it's it's gonna be on point. I mean, if you like some of the other cigars we're putting out, you're gonna love this one. That's all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_04 43:55

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Nice. And we keep as we're growing, we're keeping the festivist limited. So we're not we're not growing the festivists, you know, it's still gonna be 10,000 cigars. Okay. So it's it is what it is. It's you know, of course, Eric, you get your your allotment. We're not gonna change up. But the other ships, the other ship uh shops, they can fight for it. They can, you know, they can wrestle and do whatever they need to do.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Well, and in terms of festivists, I mean the very first one we actually put through the actually the only one we didn't put through the society was the 2023, and there were some issues with that in terms of shipping and customs, which I understand. Yeah, yeah, that was that was rough. But I like last year's uh was interesting because it was a bit different than the other releases, but the feedback I got it was a lot of people were saying it was their favorite festivist. It was a unique cigar for sure. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

We we got some really good rapper for that for that cigar, very hard to come by. Uh so we were we were blessed, you know. We we mentioned it a few times, you know, we were on the search for it, and uh we were able to get our hands on it, that uh Colorado Red. Yeah, you know, um, and um I love the flavor profile on it. We most people most of us cigar nerds know who uses that a lot of it, and you know, that's why they cornered the market in it. Yeah, and so for us to get an allotment of it was unbelievable. Um, and I I think our blender really knocked it out of the park for what what we wanted to achieve. And um, I love it. I it was a sleeper, you know, it was a sleeper, like you know, it's not not what you you we're we're normally producing, right? The the clowns were known for that you know, pepper bomb up front, that heavy smoke, multiple transitions. And as we grow, we're changing, right? Because we're on the journey to find this this this perfect stick. Yeah, and that that's what our evolution is, you know, that that's part of our goal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

Well, and as you mentioned, like the festivist being a limited release, that's how everything was in the beginning when you guys did that. So I imagine there's a lot to growing pains and shifting of mindset to be like we now have to maintain consistency beyond our limited releases, correct.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Maintain consistency and maintain uh top of mind of our consumers. You know, when you're coming out with a with limited drops that are limited releases at 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, whatever it is, they go quick so people have that FOMO. Now, when you're when your cigars are on the shelf all the time, you have to create a how do I get my client to go back and grab the same cigar? Well, they have to have a great experience, right? They have to have a consistent smoking experience. Every time they grab the cigar, it has to be the same cigar, you know. You can't, you know, and and that takes a lot to do. Like the the rodeo clown takes nine months to marry. And you know, as you know, we're out of the rodeo clown. It got mentioned in a little magazine that you were on the cover on, and um, and the they just went flying out the doors. We did not realize you know that was gonna happen. Uh, and it's a great thing, you know. What they're coming back in, but you know, the boxes that are coming in are pre-sold already. So as soon as we get them in, they're gonna be out of stock already for another three months because we have them coming in every three months, yeah. So because that's the way we forecasted, you know. Always to have extra cigars, but yeah, no, and yeah, no, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

And I think those are the things it's like, how do you I mean, even as a real retail shop, that's the constant thing of like trying to predict what's gonna happen in that realm.

SPEAKER_03 47:37

Um, and when something blows up, it's like that, yeah. I mean, it sounds like it's like kind of just massive growing pains on your guys' end because it's just like yeah, it's a good problem to have, I guess, but it's gotta be kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

It's it's frustrating, right? Yeah, I hate telling somebody we don't have it in stock, right? Because we we've always had stock. Yeah, you know, we always had extra stock because you never know when something is gonna go crazy or it it really hits in one area and and you're selling them like crazy. I I can tell you the the I keep on going back to the Pagliacis. The Pagliacci uh the blue, the Azori. Yeah, we cannot, you know, if it flies, it flies. The Biolo sells really well uh as well, but the the blue down south is crazy. People love it, they they love it. Um, and and uh you know, I it's a the the speak is the speak no evil. No, oh yeah, this the the yeah, the no the sea no evil is the best seller besides the uh freedom fighter for the uh Shaffio collection.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

And in a way, I mean I can understand it in terms of like when we we did a custom with uh Shafiel back then. We the first one I jumped to was the C No Evil. I was like, it's a brilliant cigar. So we did that box press Lonsdale with it, uh, one cigar of the year. Um, and then Freedom Fighter, uh, when we did that one number two of the year, I mean they're absolute bangers, like the blends are perfect. They really are.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Justin went um, he did an unbelievable job on them.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

I really did.

unknown 49:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

Chris is saying, uh yeah, it's an interesting question.

SPEAKER_03 49:18

I have begged my local shops in Charlotte to look into clowns, but they look at me like I'm a clown. What are the barriers of growing geographically?

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Uh okay, that's a great question. For us, it's it's having somebody local, right, that believes in us and wants to work with us. Because we have found that um most relationships in this industry are shaking hands and eye contact and being a person of your word. Um, when you don't have a trusted brand builder or sales rep, or whatever you want to call it, um, in the in the area that the shop is, that can be there every two weeks. Talk to the clients, talk to the owner, talk to the managers, you know, and it's it's your company's not gonna grow there. It's not, you're gonna have no traction whatsoever. Um, you'll make the sale, you know, you'll get that first sale, and then the cigars will sit there and they're gonna they're not selling. No, so we we we have protocol, like um, you know, hey, I I don't want to spill all our secret sauces, but you know, we we have protocol when our people make a sale, what they have to do within the first uh third uh first 30 days and the first 60 days now. Okay, so and it's all it's all about building the brand, it's all about being there with with the shop because if you make the sale, you drop off the cigar, CLAI, I got paid. Right. No, that's not it. We want to tell our story. We want the we want to interact now. Eric, you know we interact all the time, we're on her swear, you know, yeah, and we're still like that. I can't be in all these places, right? So that's that's why growing is tough. Yeah, because you have to find people you can trust and not just you know, like uh some guys just looking to make some money real quick, or some girl just looking to make some money real quick, make a whole bunch of sales and and then not be around because that's the worst. Yeah, we learn we learned that we learned that the hard way.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Well, and I've never appreciated the and I've seen it a lot of other places, but I've never appreciated the argument of like, yeah, well, that cigar just sits because we we want cigars that will just move themselves. And I'm like, regardless if it's a big brand, if it's a small brand, I feel like you should hand sell both. I feel like it's your that's your job. And and so that's got to be frustrating as a brand owner, I imagine.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Yeah, so we we've taken the um we've taken the position, it's not the shop owners' uh job to sell our cigar. Okay. We want to, we want to sell our cigar, we want to connect with the consumers directly. So we we want our team to because I'm gonna 99 out of 100 shops aren't like you, Eric. They like you know, you know your clients' palates. You know, most people, you know, most shops, they have they're very good tobacconists, and but then they have staff, and their staff are just there to ring the register, sure. You know, and then what what's easy for them to point to? Oh, point to this brand, uh, that has a big display. It's not like, well, what do you enjoy? Oh, have you tried this? You know, yeah. So we want to get into the shops and make it a home and you know, learn about the shop, eat each shop's clientele. That's that's the goal. That's that's the goal. Then we, you know, hey, maybe, maybe the pagliacci is aren't gonna work, but you know, the see no evil's doing great, or you know, uh, you know, they they really like African Cameroon. So we have we have a you know, yeah we have a version, the he and o evil that that's a ten dollar price point with real African Cameroon. You know, it's like blow dry it, you know. Yeah, let's let's go. And then you know, you grew you gravitate, and um, it's it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. We have we have a weekly national sales meeting now, which is my kids torment me, you know, and uh you know, and uh my wife video tapes me because I'm always giving motivational speeches and things like that, you know. But yeah, that that's what we do, man. Um, and you know, I I I I was in insurance sales, so when I was young, when I was a young man, when I was like 20 years old, and that's that's how you you build it, right? It's connections. You gotta you gotta you gotta connect. You gotta connect.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

So and I feel like you had mentioned too one of the key elements in all that also is that you love the industry, and that is such a big part of it. Um, to where I mean, I've always I would tell our our guys at uh the brick and mortar all the time, and be like, if this was just about selling cigars, I get bored real quick. Like retail, not necessarily, it's more of the the what we're doing this evening, what we uh did at the shop, the events and such, that is where the excitement happens.

SPEAKER_03 54:08

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

So yeah, um, okay. But speaking of which, guys, we are down to the last two minutes. We're gonna call this raffle. We're coming down to the end. If you haven't gotten a chance, pick up your sampler now. We will add you to the raffle. Uh, this is your last opportunity. Don't miss the Shafiel collection, don't miss Cigar Clowns. Uh, get in on that once and we'll add you to it because we're gonna call the raffle in just a few minutes. I what about if they buy a box to get like 10, like 10 or 20?

SPEAKER_02 54:35

Buy a box of freedom fighters, like 20 extra. I mean, I don't know. Yeah, the box, I mean, it's unbelievable. The cigars are unbelievable, the price is unbelievable on the freedom fighter. I I think I think if you could if you can get like if you could sell two boxes right now, I'll throw in another another canvas print. Okay, okay, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:01

You heard him.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

If anyone jumps in we'll we'll uh we can even extend that to if you want. I'll let you decide one. If you you know that's up to you. I hate to put it on the spot.

SPEAKER_03 55:11

Like an after-the-show raffle. Yeah, we could do that.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

We'll we will we will uh we'll do this. Pick up a box by the weekend, and uh we'll uh we'll add you into the raffle to get uh an extra print for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll give you five raffles, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 55:27

Uh so many good comments here that we didn't get to, but uh Jack down here says here no evil has an interesting pairing, mead. I like mead, and that sounds like a really great pairing.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Nice. I like that. I haven't seen that anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 55:40

And yeah, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_00 55:42

Yeah, very nice. So uh I guess last question uh before we call this raffle. Um, with all the growth that's happened and such like that, uh, what is there um anything new? I mean, we know Festivus is coming, but do you see adding to the core line? Do you see more like infusing more just keeping with the quality with what's existing? Like, where do you see with clowns? So the core line is growing.

SPEAKER_02 56:08

Uh, we have almost finalized two more blends that are going gonna go into the Pagliacci line. Um just little little tweaks back and forth. Uh, I think first quarter 2027, you know, uh they'll be out. Um, we are working on bringing back some of our old blends. Okay. We we got one one fizzled out, unfortunately. We just can't duplicate it, but one we we are very close, if not spot on. Okay, but it's gonna be in a different Bitola. So, you know, so that um nice that's gonna be uh 2027 as well.

SPEAKER_04 56:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Um, and you know, we're always we're always looking to acquire other companies. So if anybody has a you know smaller brand or even a larger brand that you know might need some help, you know, we can have conversations and um there you go, you know, whatever. We're uh we're we're we're grown. We're we're gonna be in we're gonna be a household name, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

Nice. Uh Candler's saying, I don't see a box of freedom fighters on the website. I can't, we're on YouTube, so I have to be very discreet about this. Uh, but actually no, no, no, it's okay. If if uh Candler, if you can go uh to either if you just look up Shaffio in the search bar or Freedom in the search bar, then it should come up and it will give you options whether you want to do a single five or a box. Um, so yeah, I just go through either the search on that, or even if you go to like just cigars under the brand name of Shaffio, that should follow up as well, but that should give you the options and we'll get you in on that. Um final question here. Chris Costman saying Dancing Bear and saying yes, Dancing Bear was awesome. Uh, do you ever see that returning?

SPEAKER_02 57:58

Um Dancing Bear has definitely potential of returning. If if um if the audience is they're still out there, so um, but we we definitely thinking about returning it in a different vitola.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

So that was a great project. That was a lot of fun. Uh we can get the tobacco again. We we spoke to our people, and um that was a lot of fun, man. I I really I really love the marketing we did with the dancing bear. Yeah, yeah, that was that was that was that was great. And I'm not sure if you've seen some of the new Pagliacci stuff we're doing. Yeah, we're doing like the throwbacks to like the 1990 cigarette ads, you know, things like that. Just just funny things, you know. We're clowns, we don't have to be serious.

SPEAKER_00 58:48

That's the best thing about being a clown. Yeah, yeah. Well, and that one it's something like Russian tobacco or something in it.

SPEAKER_02 58:56

Yeah, that that had Russian tobacco in it, the dancing bear, and and a little Transylvanian tobacco. Wow, yeah, because the Russian tobacco is really strong, man. I mean, it really, really creeped up. Uh, you know, it's a very, very nicotine heavy tobacco, which very sweet, too, very sweet. Nice, and uh very, yeah, very heavy, very black, black tobacco.

SPEAKER_00 59:19

So, so I guess final question is out of the portfolio of core line that you guys have now, Pagliacci, Rodeo, and all those, which would you say holds a lot of personal significance to you personally, that you really enjoyed getting off the ground?

SPEAKER_02 59:34

Yeah, uh, it's the Pagliacci's to me. Um, it really it's really special to me because uh we had a goal of being uh having a ten dollar stick come to market. And originally the project was gonna be a six by sixty. Uh, but as you're going through the blending process, when you when you get your blend down before you put a wrapper on it, right? Before you when you get the nuts and bolts of a cigar, we'll say for for everybody, um, you tried in different Vitolas, and the box press six by 54 just slapped, you know, and then then we started throwing wrappers on, and it's just like, oh my god, this this is the this is the way it has to be. And then when we were able to price it at $8 and some places under MSRP, like you know, you're selling the five pack for $37.50, which is like under eight, eight dollars a stick. It's unbelievable. Yeah, it really is a cigar smoker cigar, you know. You can have a premium smoke experience for under eight bucks, eight bucks and under. Yeah, price is right, price is right. 100%. And I smoke a lot of cigars, as you guys know. I smoke like you know, some days three, some days six. So, you know, I I can't I can't burn $20 sticks all day long. You know, it is it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:46

Yeah, yeah. Alrighty. Well, it is time to call our raffle. So thank you guys for jumping in on this. Uh, we have it on a random Google generator, and we are gonna call our first winner. This is for the five pack of cigar clown cigars, and the winner goes to Mr. Daniel Frazier. Daniel Frazier, thank you so much for all the support every time we will be sending that five pack of cigar clown sticks out to you. Uh, second will be for the uh print of Pagliacci, and this is going to Jaime Duncan. Jaime Duncan, thank you so much. We're gonna be sending that out to you as well early next week. And finally, for the Cigar Clowns uh travel case, travel humidor. This goes to Mr. John Roberts. Congratulations, John Roberts. We'll be sending that out. Thank you guys so much for all of the support. Uh, and also supporting two great brands, Shaffio and Cigar Clowns. Uh, amazing stuff. Uh Raider Dave is saying bring back taste test Tuesday. So the live streams are great.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:55

Uh we want to do that. That's definitely on that's definitely on the drawing board to get that back going. Um, I appreciate that, Raider Dave. That was a lot of fun back in the day. And and Eric Mallory, I really appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for having me on again. Uh, hopefully your your audience enjoys us. You know, we oh absolutely we we love you guys, you know, we we love the fans. We you know, we're happy to be part of the OGT Society family and the OGT family, man. Thank you guys so much. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

Thank you for being here tonight. Thanks for this awesome. Thanks for hanging out. And again, it's just awesome to see your guys' growth, and we're looking forward to festivists and everything else coming forward.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:33

Yeah, awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

Thank you guys so much. Thank you guys. Have a great night. Thanks for joining us for OGT Live Virtual Lounge every Thursday night. We'll be back next week, but thanks for hanging out with us this week. We'll see you next time.