PCA NOLA Show Day 2

Yo yo yo yo yo. We're here for another episode of Sticks and Stones podcast. Sticks and Stones is the podcast where we talk about life, we talk about love, we talk about the Brotherhood of the Leaf, and we talk about commercial real estate and business in general. So we are here live at the Element in New Orleans. I'm here with my old man, which I talk about a lot, but this is the first time he's on the podcast. Today we are in New Orleans for day three for the third day, but this is day two of the show of the Premium Cigar Association International Trade Show. Today was a great day. We saw a lot of stuff. We talked to a lot of people. We saw stuff that's not even out yet. We've smoked stuff that's not even out yet. It's >> one of them. >> So, if you had to say I don't know how many people we interviewed today. What did we interview? Like six, seven people. >> Yeah. >> What do you What was your favorite interview? It's a tossup between Girka and um Manny and Manny. >> Okay. So, what I am smoking is the unforgettable by Diaz Cabrera uh cigars out of the DR. And this cigar is is named after his dad, Eladio Diaz, >> which his birthday is on May 28th. >> That's when they come out with the uh annual >> they have a new cigar every year to commemorate his his birthday. Manny was very very knowledgeable about cigars in general, like cigars and the cigar making process, cigar smoking, like just everything. So, he went through with us all of the parts of the leaf, of the tobacco plant, cigars in general, a good burn, how you get a good burn, because if if any of you have followed us for any amount of time, you know that I I always go about the quality of the burn, the draw, the ash quality, all of that stuff. So, Manny went through all of that. So, yeah, I would agree. It's a tossup between that. >> The Girka interview, >> amazing. We interviewed Raul with Girka. He is in charge of all their design. So, marketing and design. What an interview >> which will be on very soon. >> Our team is editing that this evening. Actually, all the interviews and we're going to be posting on the YouTube channel. So, Raul gave me their new lighter, their new torch to honor first responders and the military. And then the cigar that is honoring Juan Lopez is this one. So it's it's basically three decades of his life in the cigar making world >> which I'm puffing on now. It's a It's a medium to full body cigar, but he went through the whole process on how they came up with it, what they did with the design, the problems that they had just matching the blue that Juan Lopez wanted for this cigar was crazy, and all of that is in the in the interview. First of all, the Girka booth is huge, and they showed us around all of their stuff, all of the the legacy stuff, the new cigars that they've got coming out. This one is not out yet. This one was rolled specifically for PCA 2026. That was a great interview. However, the interview that is to continue is the the Beda cigar interview. So, we interviewed Jenny Beda, the great granddaughter of Don Chico, and they are out of Nicaragua, all of the main locations, Estali, Halapa, Kondga. and she mentioned one region that is kind of unique for them and they do a very quality blend. They have a handful of their own blends of cigars, obviously different vatas, but they also white label for a lot of people. So, we're actually interested in white labeling our own cigar with them. So, we're going to be talking to them about that, >> visiting with them also. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm I'm really excited to go to Nicaragua, to the Dominican, to all of the tobacco growing regions. We were also invited to the Girka head office in Tamarak, Florida. I also sat down with, and we don't have this on on camera, but the owner, Luchiano of Luchiano Cigars. Really great guy. And the one thing that I will say, all of these people are very humble. >> Very humble people. very very nice, very kind people, which is very odd because these these people, these men and women are worth millions upon millions of dollars, some in the hundreds of millions. And to be that kind and that humble is really eye opening. >> It's a feat. It is. >> We got a lot of different input from a lot of different people, a lot of different walks of life, different cigar companies, different sizes. >> Padrone is going to be a good one. Padron is going to be a good one. We have >> is a great guy. >> George Padron is going to do an interview with us, um, very excited about that. The one booth that you didn't go to that I went to, uh, which I'm very excited about because I'm a big fan, is the Crown Heads booth. John Huberman is going to be interviewing with us tomorrow. These guys have put out so much good stuff. So like Blood Medicine, Blood Medicine Bositive, which I just smoked in New Jersey at Sticks, phenomenal. Tennessee Waltz, La Crema, La Patasier. Everything that they do is awesome. Um, so we're going to talk to them. Their blending is done by My Father's Cigar. So, pretty good quality. Very, very top. >> We have We have a interview coming up with them as well. >> Just so you guys know, we're interviewing everybody. Every everybody we have a chance to to interview, we're interviewing with. Uh we want to pick everyone's brain on on how things work, how they tick, what they do in blending and all that kind of stuff. We interviewed with uh Drunk Chicken Cigar, which was based off of a a farm that the lady grew up on. So much cool stuff. I don't know if you noticed this. This is the one thing that I got from PCA. You know how like when we went to the Shot Show, there was all kinds of stuff, a whole section of people that did stuff that had nothing to do with guns. Every trade show has that element. Like there's just people just for the sake of it to be there to sell [ __ ] That wasn't here. Like everything here is in the cigar world. Whether it's cigar lounge furniture, ashtrays, torches, everything has to do with cigars of life. Exactly. >> So I I thought that that was really cool. Obviously this is our first PCA. Next year it's going to be in Vegas. We're going to that. I thought it was a a really really welldone show. And the one thing that blew our minds, this is at the New Orleans Convention Center. Everybody and their brother is smoking in this place. I don't know what these people are going to pay with this. >> Yeah. For the deodorizing and cleaning fees, but it's hefty. I can tell you that. Now, we're here as media, so our badges are like different price, but I know people who exhibit, people who are retailers pay a much higher price. So, whatever it is, these people are making a ton of money, but they're also putting out a ton of money. Like the >> an amazing amount of money. >> The parties, >> we're doing a podcast right now. >> I don't have any I don't have any. >> It's okay. >> So, the the parties were tremendous. big venues. They had like live entertainment, food, buffets at at every party they had. And you told me this open bar. Open bar for thousands of people. Thousands of people. So the >> the Guy Fiieti thing was hosted by Epic Cigars. They said they had 2,000 people at their event. Can I believe it? 2,000 people. Open bar for 2,000 people. Just imagine what kind of a bar that was. what kind of a bar to have that is to pay for. So, >> and that's every night through the show. >> Yeah. >> Till 2:00 in the morning. >> So, every every night there's different parties at two or three different venues until 2:00 in the morning. So, if you have never been to a PCA, it's something to see. It's definitely something to see. >> Uh, so many parties, so many people doing different things, and this really is an international show. So, I got invited to a cigar shop in Peru. Uh, we're getting invited. We've gotten invited to Nicaragua, to the Dominican Republic. There's people from all over the world here. They're exhibiting from all over the world. And tomorrow is day three. And tomorrow what we're doing is we are attacking all the accessory and merch people to put the sticks and stones logo on high quality items so we can offer it out to you guys. And there's all kinds of stuff like we have seen all sorts of torches and cutters and the fuente ashtrays were remarkable. >> Yeah. Yeah. So the the glass X ashtrays it's like two piece. It's it's crazy the stuff that these people come out with and the thought and time and resources. It's pretty outstanding. Like it's crazy to think that they have teams of people that do nothing but specific sets of product, right? So there's a team that do just their ashtrays like the Fuente ashtrays and the Padron ashtrays. That's a whole team of people doing all that type stuff. So that was pretty cool to see. I think we've been to a lot of trade shows in in different industries or whatever. I think that the the booth construction, like how these guys did their booths was pretty nuts. I mean, they had some of these guys had open bars. I don't know if you saw that. >> Some of these guys had open bars. Girka's booth was huge. That was like a what' you say like a 60 by 30, maybe more. >> So, a little bigger than that. And if anybody knows, if anybody's ever exhibited at a trade show, you pay by the foot, you know, so it's they start at 10 by 10 and they go all, you know, all the way up. Booth was huge. Who else would you say had a big big booth? Mad drone had a big booth. >> Mad drone had a huge booth. The uh the FDL, my father's huge floor Dominican. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> that was that was a huge boo. So, what was cool about the the the LFD booth was they had a huge island in the middle and they had all of their products in there, including the Andalusia Bowl. That was pretty cool. And it was like every iteration of it, every version of it, every Vata of it. It was It was pretty cool. I didn't see much past that because I was just looking in the booth to see all the all the stuff that they had, but I know they had a big one. Sensia didn't have a huge booth. It was nice, but it wasn't huge. >> It wasn't as big as >> I guess you don't have to be when you're placentia. However, >> they had some good lines in there. >> Yeah, I think uh what else is different about PCA? You know, they had a lot of live music coming through. They had mariachi's come through in the early afternoon. Then they had like a New Orleans jazz band coming through there. So, that's kind of different. Don't really go to a trade show and see the organizers pay for live music to come through the the event. There's a couple of booths that we have to hit tomorrow that were pretty wild. Like I've seen them on social media, Outcast Cigar. They had a woman with the their their icon, their mascot is a like a panther, not a panther, a cougar, and they had a woman with a cougar head on and she jumped on on their table and she was like I think throwing out beer or something. So I want to go to the Wild Ones tomorrow. That's definitely one of them. Um >> they also had during the show they had beautiful ladies with fire during uh during the show. >> Oh, you mean the after the uh >> the after show? >> The opening. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The opening parties. >> The opening event parties. There were um >> I don't know what the hell you call them. Fire artists. >> Yeah. >> Spinning. It was crazy. They definitely go all out. PCA definitely goes all out. >> Yeah. I'm going to go to all these shows because I tell you what, topnotch. >> Uh what's the epic? So, Epic Cigar, tomorrow's Sunday. The guy who plays John Crease on The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, he's going to be here tomorrow at the Epic booth. Epic also had Guy Fieti. So, like that's another like wild progressive, you know, new style company. So, we got to go to that. There was a couple of others. Foundation cigar was actually a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. Like, they've put >> Yeah, they were a little on a small side. They they've done a ton of social media marketing, but their booth really wasn't huge. And not like the size of the the booth is everything, but I didn't think it was like I didn't think it was like over the top. Like there's a lot of people here that are like over the top and they weren't really I'm just going to say it. They weren't it wasn't anything to write home about. I love the cigars, love the company. I just think that the booth could have been better. Did you see that one? >> I did. I did. One of the things that we should tell our our followers on the uh Padrome I I would always see a hammer on their >> We don't want to give that away. That's going to be part of the interview. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, there's there's something about the the marketing >> in Patron. You got to stay tuned to the YouTube channel for that interview. That interview is going to be great. And there's a lot of family heritage that goes into everything they do. >> Family heritage. So the opening opening day they had a select few people come up and Padron was one of them. So there's a a docu series called Handrolled about Padrone cigar and the Padron family. >> It's a little over 20 minutes. >> The whole document that was only in a bridge version. The the whole documentary thing is like 2 hours, >> right? >> Super duper great. But what was even better was George Jorge Padron brought his entire family that was here >> up on the stage. >> There were some people that you know there they have offices in Miami and of course Nicaragua, Honduras are now I think but whoever could be here stateside was on stage with him which was pretty cool. >> It was >> big family. Big family. I first interviewed with George earlier today and I I explained to him about the family. He said family is number one. Without family, you don't need anything else. >> Super nice guy. >> Like these people are for sure. Pedrone that company is worth hundreds of millions for sure. And to be as humble and as nice and kind, the guy is very kind. That is super impressive. I mean this is one of the industries that I could say no matter how big you are most of the people are very humble very kind very down to earth >> which you can't say that in a lot of >> industries lot of industries you can't >> right hospitality you have a big restaurant tour most of them are not kind not down to earth you know very egotistical almost every car you know the automotive industry the aircraft industry most of these people that are very uber successful really not cool to talk to. And these people are very approachable, very down to earth. You didn't you didn't meet the guy, but Luchiano of Luchiano Cigars, >> I haven't met him yet. >> Super duper nice guy. Um I mean, and Raul of Girka, >> great guy. >> Super duper guy. Took down my phone number, texted me afterward. Super cool. That's kind >> sharing music with us. >> Of course, the stop right here. >> Perfect. >> Very cool. So to all our watchers and followers, take a look at drones site and look at the claw hammer and Angelo will do a live podcast on what that hammer is about. We didn't know what it was about either. >> Just look. >> We uh we learned about that in the in the opening address. I think that well any one of these PCAs are in big conference centers like New Orleans conference center actually huge. This is my first time in New Orleans. But Vegas is also huge. You are going to do a lot of walking. Now, normally you go to any convention, you do a lot of walking, but this you are going to do a ton. I think I count I I looked at my phone over 8,000 steps today and we did more walking after that. So, you're going to get in at least 10,000 steps. >> I didn't see Did Purdomo have a booth? >> Yeah. >> Pommo? >> Yeah. >> Not POMO. >> Yeah. >> How was theirs? >> It was decent size. Pretty good. >> Yeah. Yeah, their whole line was out. >> I mean, Purdomo's such a name in the industry. It is. >> My father's I'm excited about to see that tomorrow. Warped, that's another boutique. >> I didn't see that one. >> Uh, they are here and I'm excited for that because they make so much good [ __ ] Like the Kina, the Cloud Hopper, all their stuff is phenomenal. But it's all like 38 ring, 42 ring. It's not big diameter stuff. It's small stuff. But for people who smoke bigger ring cigars, to say that Warped makes great stuff really means something because their cigars are phenomenal. >> Tomorrow I'm going to be visiting with Fuente and of course >> JC Newman. >> JC Newman. Bobby Newman I I've known for a few years. Great guy. Wonderful family guy. His two daughters are actually in the business with him. >> The other booth that was good was the Altis booth. So they're featuring Macinto you know their big their Altus is huge they've got so many brands so many they bought so many companies they were huge >> had a great booth >> the we went through General's booth the general cigar booth I know it was a big booth I don't even I don't even remember what they were exhibiting like that was kind of crazy but the other thing like like drunk chicken I had no idea what drunk chicken that it even existed so there's a ton like I think it's called illusion illusion cigars or something. So, we got to check those out tomorrow and Monday, you know, fit it into the into the schedule because I'm sure there's a lot of stuff out there that a lot of people don't know about that might be good smokes. >> Yeah, for sure. >> And that's kind of like why people are here, you know, not not just podcasters and not just, you know, cigar influencers or whatever, but there's a lot of retailers here. That's like the main thing is the for the retailers to get in front of the manufacturing companies. So Warped is going to be pushing a lot of product. I know Crowned Heads is going to be pushing a lot of product. One of the things that same owner is involved with Crowned Heads is also Oz Family Cigar. So the Ozingers started CEO and then they sold CAO. CEO does all the flathead stuff and the >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. The the country cigars, the Brazilia, the American, all those cigars. >> Cool. >> They do those then they sold it off to a bigger company. And I'm not sure who they sold it off to. Then they started Oz Family Cigars and Crown Heads. So I can't remember the name of the newest one. It's it's a mix of a couple of things. It's Lebanese for black, I think, and then something else. Coutura or something like that is the name of the cigar. Looks really really good. I haven't been able to smoke it yet. These brands may not be known to a lot of people cuz they're not the big umbrella brands. They're not the Alec Bradley. Oh, that was another one. Alec Bradley, >> right? They had a nice boot. >> They had a nice boot. >> So there's so many small companies that are not the Alec Bradley's, not the General Cigar, not the Altus, not the Padone. >> They Yeah. You know, like Warped has really good stuff. Crowned Heads has really good stuff. Foundation. >> How mayonnaise? He's a small little company. So how'd you like? >> So this is the second one that I'm smoking of the Garcia Cabrera line. Phenomenal. I mean, his dad was the master blender for Davidov, >> right? They know what they're doing, right? This is a phenomenal thing. >> Super knowledgeable. >> The La Deanna was the one that I smoked with Manny. Crazy good. What's good about them is the construction, the draw, the ignition. So, they stay lit. They don't die. The ash quality, everything about the cigar is great. And just having a good blend with a good flavor profile is just like a kicker. It's like a It's a bonus. So, they were phenomenal. and he said they have what 17 different cigars. Yes. >> Not like 17 cigars but different sizes and you know whatnot. So not like 17 cigar. They have a lot of cigars but 17 different blends under different names. That's not a lot. That's not a huge catalog but great product. So there's a ton of these companies at at PCA. You just got to find them. And then the other thing was we got so many cigars today. People were giving out cigars left and right. >> They were >> I think this is my seventh or eighth cigar today. So that that's awesome because you get to try out all kinds of different stuff. Like I would have never known about this. I would have never known about Beda if we didn't come to this. And I'm excited about that because they grow their own stuff. They cultivate the seed, grow the plant, roll everything, ferment. They've got stuff that's been sitting and aging for 8 years. I mean, >> Padron has got a cigar. He won't even open the box to show you what it is. Debut, I think he said, is in May someplace. >> Really? >> Yeah. George had said it. They they don't even open the box. >> So, that's that's the other cool thing. You get to see things and try things that the public can't see or or get their hands on, >> right? >> So, that that was pretty cool. >> This was one of them. >> Yeah, that's one of them. >> This is one of them girly. Um, one of the other things in the interview is Raul gave me something that no one on planet Earth will ever get their hands on and I am not touching it for no love of money. >> They were pretty cool like giving it to you. >> Yeah. So really great people over there and you would think that I I called a big brand. They weren't a cigar company but the big brand known the greatest outcome. Very uppidity. Very hard to deal with. very hard to work with. You would think a company like Girka would be like that. They're not. Super duper cool. Again, invited us to their headquarters in in Tamarack, Florida, which I can't wait for. Just super down to earth, super open-minded, and gave us a lot of information, a lot of insight, a lot of you'll see in the interview, the band alone has so many pieces in that band. It would blow your mind. >> It's all trial and error. Raul told us that. And he also said that which was a long it was a long time for him but just for the packaging on this cigar took three months which is super duper quick for anybody else but for them it was like an eternity >> cuz they hammered it every day. >> They turned so many different products and so much packaging and Girka is known for their packaging and being a luxury brand and kind of top shelf top tier. For them to put out what they put out in the amount of time is absurd. It's crazy. Most of these companies, like we talked to some of these smaller brands, takes them anywhere from 6 months to a couple of years to do what they did in 3 months. Pretty nuts. >> They got a crew that's unreal. A lot of these companies don't have that crew, but they they work. >> For day two, this was the first day of the exhibit hall. I took away a lot from it. >> So did I. I took away the quality that goes into these products and to actually meet the people that blend them, roll them, design them. There's so many jobs in this industry. Each individual company employ so many people and they contract with so many people. This is like an ecosystem in itself. >> It is. >> This industry has so much capital. It's very capital intense, but it puts out so much money and they pay so many people. No one ever sees >> Yeah. >> No one ever sees it. >> If you if you watch the docu series Handrolled, you will see the impact >> I agree >> that the Padron family has made, not just on Americans, but Nicaraguans and people all over the world, >> right? Because they employ so many people and they contract with so many people because they obviously don't do the printing themselves, right? They don't print their own bands. We're going to find out, but I would assume they don't. I don't think they make their own boxes, right? So, they contract with people. These guys are making millions of cigars a year. That's a lot of product. That's a lot of resources, a lot of capital, you know? So, they're they're putting out a lot of money and a lot of money is revolving, right? It's going from one vendor to another to another to another. And then there's like the taxes and tariffs that these people pay. Now, one of the one of the things that one of the brands was telling us, the laws changed so frequently that one brand had to completely rebrand because one state outlawed something they were doing with their um their marketing. So they had to completely rebrand reprint all of the bands, reprint the boxes, which is it's it's astounding that because one state changed a law, changed a rule, an entire company had to rebrand everything. >> They have team members that just they're just hired just to follow the rules. >> I mean, it's amazing. So I mean you've got people of all walks of life in this industry and providing services and products to this industry, >> right? >> Think about tomorrow like what what is your plan of action for tomorrow? >> Well, I'm definitely going to see Bobby Newman and um Fuente. That's one of the stops I have to make cuz I know Bobby. >> Well, I mean if we're going to go to Florida anyway for uh Luchiano >> stop in Tampa. Yeah. >> Girka, might as well go there, too. So that's that's my that's my >> my father's >> definitely got to hit my father's >> right I I've already stopped at them they've agreed to a uh >> an interview >> an interview we have to just set it up and because everyone is so slammed this is their Super Bowl is this show and so they're slammed but Monday everyone's having the rest our meetings interviews will be done on Monday >> now the cool thing about John Uberman at Crown Heads he was just like look I don't do schedules >> stop it >> he's like bring your bring your stuff, bring your gear. He was like, "We'll do a podcast right here on their couches." He did, at the time that I talked to his guy, they already did two podcasts with two different podcasters. By that, I think it was like 11 or 12 in the early part of the day. >> We did four or five today. >> Yeah. The time that they that they gave us was really humbling. It >> was >> I mean, Manny Manny's interview was how long? 20ome minutes. >> 22 minutes. And then Raul's had to be at least that, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. It was 20 uh 20 minutes and 30 seconds. >> Yeah. Something like that. So, I mean, these are busy guys. This this is the Super Bowl for cigar people. And to give that amount of time, >> was pretty cool. Very very cool. And then John said, "Come by tomorrow whenever you have your gear." Cuz I didn't have the camera on me. He was like, "Whenever you have your gear, come back and you know, we'll just do one." But then I met the guys at Freshbox. Fresh box was so cool because it's a box that looks like a humidor. Looks like a humidor, but it's plastic and the interior can save your cigars and keep them humid for up to a year, which is crazy. And the box is cheaper than a wooden. >> Absolutely. Sure. >> Right. And it and it takes one boa to pack. You put one boa to pack in the bottom. And this is the one thing that they didn't mention in the interview, but it's very true. What is the one thing that happens when you put a bova pack in any humidor? It miscombobulates everything. What? You put the cigars in and then you don't know where to put the boa pack. So, what do you do? You lay them on top of the cigars. >> Right. Right. They have a section on the bottom of this this this form. >> It lays flat and it's molded. >> It ends it ends up flush so you can for the pack >> put your cigars in without a problem. >> Right. >> And then the other cool thing was the threeack boxes of cigars. Did you see that? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> All the boxes there. >> That was cool. >> The boxes are vented so that way you can stack them in the fresh box. >> That was a great idea. >> All of your cigars are vented. >> So you get all of the humidification from the Bova pack. But was even what was even cooler >> was on the box they have at a glance information on what type of blend, what strength, and then >> I like that. >> They have a shadow of the size of the cigar. So you could see the actual like you know Rausto Churchill like whatever. That was super cool. So Fresh Box is relatively new. It's only they they made a splash with their cabinet. They have a humidification cabinet that you can put in a non-traditional cigar environment for like gas stations and places like that. You can put a very high quality cigar in this cabinet and they're in the cigars are individually packed like they're like in tubes and the the the case itself fits the tubes. It's really weird to explain. You'll see it in the interview. That's where they made the splash. That's where they made their money. And now Freshbox is like 2.0. And I think they are going to do gang busters. I think they will >> have a um and you'll see in the in the interview they have a whole lineup of branded boxes. So like AJ Fernandez, Drew Estates's a big one for them. Um Oliva, all the big boys have a branded fresh box. So that was super duper cool. And I think that there's going to be a ton more companies like that. There's a I think the application is a little different. It's almost like a Pelican case for cigar for cigars. I think the name of the company is like travel box or something like that. That's going to be really cool to see. And I'm sure there's some stuff that we don't even know about that we're going to that we're going to find tomorrow. So, this is the wrap-up for PCA day two, which was very exciting. Bunch of interviews which are being edited now. Going to be on the the YouTube channel very soon. Tomorrow's day three. We're going to be doing hunting for accessories and all kinds of merch, new stuff that maybe is not hit the market yet. And then a lot of the other brand of cigars that we weren't able to interview today, we're going to interview tomorrow and Monday, the final day of the show. So, with that, signing off for Sticks and Stones. Stay blessed and above all else, keep it rolling, baby. Stay well.