Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / From the Badge to the Blend Jeff Amendola’s Comeback Turnbuckles and Stogies
Transcript
- 0:00The station where our veterans voices are heard.
- 0:04MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
- 0:07channel by watching and listening find.
- 0:09Us on the web at MB radio dot US.
- 1:47Yo, what is up? What is up?
- 1:48Happy Sunday, Happy fun day. This is the big dog, the vanilla
- 1:51gorilla and we are turnbuckles and stogies spot.
- 1:54You can find us on all streaming networks and anywhere else you
- 1:58can see. We can see so.
- 2:03Happy Sunday. Today the Giants query 1:00
- 2:06Check them out. We got almond almond dollar on
- 2:10today. I believe he's in.
- 2:14The yes. So let's real quick.
- 2:16Obviously you guys see me in a sweatshirt that doesn't have
- 2:18that logo. For John.
- 2:22'S well, we will. I got to get with the guys.
- 2:24I got to get some sweatshirts up there for everybody.
- 2:27We got to turnbuckles and stogies hat up there nice and
- 2:30stitched in this one. You can get on another merch
- 2:33shop, but go to 4 John's, get all of our merch over there.
- 2:36We got hats, we got T-shirts. Designs are being updated, Some
- 2:40are being taken out, some are being put in.
- 2:43We'll have some sweatshirts up for you guys because you know up
- 2:46here in the Northeast is getting colder.
- 2:48So you know, we got to, we got to have the hoodie swag for you
- 2:50guys. Turnbuckles and stogie cigars
- 2:55will be in hands in the next week or two.
- 2:56Whenever they get here, we got to call and order them from our
- 3:01guide. Those will be here.
- 3:03So we'll have those on hand for you quick kind of rundown in the
- 3:09next couple of weeks. So October 4th we have Cayman
- 3:17Cigars, which is next week. October 11th we will have
- 3:19Bootleggers Coffee on the show and October 25th we have RM
- 3:24Cigars coming on as well. November is being booked out as
- 3:27we speak, but there there's going to be a lot of fun things
- 3:31to come. Now I think we've kind of done
- 3:35some housekeeping that's kind of yeah.
- 3:36We. Did wasn't really a whole lot of
- 3:38housekeeping, but just kind of an update for you guys on what's
- 3:41going on. You know, there was there was a
- 3:46lot that's going on this weekend.
- 3:47We can do a whole another episode on that another day.
- 3:49Also October as well. There will be a special
- 3:53Wednesday show in October, October 21st Black Stogies will
- 4:02be live on the podcast on Wednesday night.
- 4:06Special episode not done too often.
- 4:11We got clearance already, so it's OK.
- 4:13So we're. Doing 1 on Sunday.
- 4:15So that we'll have so that went. So we'll have our Sunday show,
- 4:18which would be the 18th, excuse me, that we don't have anybody
- 4:21yet, but that's being worked on. The dead, That one died for some
- 4:33reason. So we can take these off then?
- 4:37So. Hold on.
- 4:38You can't. Nobody can hear you.
- 4:39Hold on. Can you hear me now?
- 4:43There we go. Now everybody can hear us.
- 4:46Yeah. So we'll have that 18th show,
- 4:48We'll have that Wednesday show with black Stogies, and then
- 4:51you'll have our Sunday show with RM cigars.
- 4:55Oh, I guess there you go. There you have.
- 4:57It So that'll be a That'll be a busy week.
- 4:59You'll get to see us three times in a week, from Sunday to Sunday
- 5:033. Times I don't ever have to work
- 5:06again. You don't even worry about that.
- 5:08But that's a whole nother issue. That's a whole nother story.
- 5:09I'm so good. I'm on permanent disability.
- 5:15You don't have to share that with the world.
- 5:17Fuck the. World what?
- 5:21Yeah. So let's, let's kind of, we did
- 5:25some housekeeping. We told you guys was coming up,
- 5:27told you guys some things we got in the works.
- 5:30You will be seeing us doing a little bit of travelling here
- 5:32and there. Now things are starting to ease
- 5:36up for us work wise and and busy wise.
- 5:40So we'll get moving with that. We'll be out on the road a
- 5:43little bit more, not all the time, but you'll see us.
- 5:46Allentown, PA. October 10th.
- 5:48Well, no. October, realistically, we'll be
- 5:50there for the event October 25th at at New Tobacco Village too,
- 5:56but that's the big event we're going to.
- 5:58We're going on both events. There's no event that weekend,
- 6:00October 10th. There's no event.
- 6:02Yes there is. Well, there's not.
- 6:05There's no event. Yes, there was.
- 6:07No. That's October 10th and then the
- 6:1025th the. 25th is Mccalla. And October 10th, you have
- 6:14another one. I know I spoke to Joe.
- 6:17I don't think there was an. Event there is.
- 6:19There's an event in Allentown, there's Little Tobacco Village
- 6:22on the 10th. We will be there.
- 6:23OK. So on that note, we're going to
- 6:26take the commercial and come back with on this.
- 6:39I'm about as far as I'm going. Welcome home.
- 6:42I'm sure your family and all your friends are going to be
- 6:44glad to see you. Thank you, Sir.
- 11:01Do it dummy. What is up?
- 11:02What is up? Turnbuckles and stogie spot.
- 11:04I am the big dog, that's the vanilla gorilla.
- 11:06And today we have a very special guest.
- 11:09I believe he is the CEO of Amandola Cigars as.
- 11:15You guys can see. As you guys can see, and he is
- 11:19here with us today, we want to thank him.
- 11:21So guys, let's bring in Mr. Jeffrey Amandola.
- 11:26The interview of the week is brought to you by Jersey Mike's,
- 11:31a sub above. And there we go.
- 11:38Yo-yo, what up? What's going on guys?
- 11:42There we go, you. Tell me what's happening bro.
- 11:44You tell me, how's my mic? How's the audio?
- 11:48Good, good. Can you hear us?
- 11:49Good. Yeah, yeah, yeah 'cause I had a
- 11:51mic but it's not working right now, so.
- 11:53Yeah, we we have them too. Except for some reason the one
- 11:56didn't charge fully and the other one did.
- 11:59That's what happened to mine, Yeah.
- 12:01I was like, whatever happens, we'll figure it out.
- 12:03Yeah, exactly so. Jeff yeah.
- 12:06Tell us what you did before you started cigars.
- 12:14What made you got into cigars? All right, so before I got into
- 12:20cigars full time, I was in the, I was in the police Academy in
- 12:28North Carolina. I was a cop for about 8 years.
- 12:32But I got into cigars right when I moved down there.
- 12:35I was actually training and I was looking for like cigar
- 12:42rollers or a cigar, like a cigar community in the Raleigh Durham
- 12:46area and they didn't really have one, You know, they, it was,
- 12:50I'm, I'm from New York originally and I used to hang
- 12:53out in the Bronx a lot at a Casa Grande cigars on Arthur Ave.
- 12:58Paulie. Paulie Yeah, yeah.
- 12:59Yeah, we had Paulie on here last year.
- 13:02We actually did you while we were sitting there.
- 13:04Yeah. Yeah, So a lot of my, like, I
- 13:07learned a lot by just hanging out there and watching them,
- 13:09like, as a kid, right, Right. So when I moved down to North
- 13:13Carolina, getting into law enforcement and I'm like, man,
- 13:17no one's doing cigars down here, like up there, like Florida,
- 13:22whatever. So I actually started buying
- 13:24cigars from Paulie and I was like, man, just give me a deal.
- 13:28I want to do a host an event, you know, and I was just get
- 13:31some cigars he made and I'll post up on the weekends and all
- 13:35my cop buddies will come. And that kind of that stirred
- 13:40into something, you know, that create.
- 13:42They started calling me the cigar boss and it became like a
- 13:46thing, right? So after that couple events,
- 13:50small events, I was like, man, I should learn how to roll cigars.
- 13:54I've watched it so many times. I love the craft.
- 13:56I study it. And a year, about two years into
- 14:01my career, I went down to Ybor City in Tampa and I met a lady
- 14:06there. She's still, she's still around,
- 14:10started with a factory. Now she's got a whole retail
- 14:13side. Her name is Odelma Matos.
- 14:15Who la parona? Yeah, la parona.
- 14:17Yeah, you know, yeah. OK, I know who she is.
- 14:19Yeah, I haven't haven't had the pleasure to meet her, but I I
- 14:22know. Oh.
- 14:22Yeah, awesome lady. Listen, I I walked in there.
- 14:26This is 22,013, maybe 14. And I was like, hey, I would
- 14:32love to learn how to roll cigars.
- 14:34Can you teach me? You know, she's like, yeah,
- 14:36yeah, what? I would love to.
- 14:38And she told me to pick two weeks, come back.
- 14:41I did that and they took me and they treated me like family.
- 14:46I, she told me everything from my bunching, rolling, where to
- 14:50get tobacco, like pretty much set me up.
- 14:53And after I did that, that, you know, it became my, it was a
- 14:56side hustle. And I, I was, I just took that
- 14:59brought it back to North Carolina right when Facebook
- 15:03came out. I don't remember what year it
- 15:05was. Yeah.
- 15:06Like 2014 maybe? I I posted a picture of myself
- 15:10rolling cigars and they weren't good really, you know, but I
- 15:13could do it. And somebody hired me for their
- 15:17wife's 50th birthday party and that was the game changer.
- 15:21I said yes, I'm like, yeah, I'll do it, whatever.
- 15:24And I got like 5 events out of that.
- 15:26And that's just streamlined into a whole cigar business
- 15:29basically. And I was doing that while I was
- 15:32a cop selling cigars out of my police car.
- 15:36I was hustling, you know, and that kind of spearheaded
- 15:41everything. Doing that right there ended up
- 15:44me. I had a old cigar lounge and a
- 15:46little factory in Durham, NC had my first brand.
- 15:50It was Bull City Cigar Company, later rebranded to Amendola
- 15:54Family Cigar Company sold the shop.
- 15:58We went all wholesale Bistro using factories in Dominican
- 16:03Republic working with Espinoza, AJ Fernandez, Agonora saw and
- 16:09two years ago, well about two years ago or so, all that kind
- 16:13of came to an end. I had rock bottom lost
- 16:17everything business agreements, you know, we we separated and
- 16:23here I am today I'm I'm rebranding and remarketing
- 16:26myself. I'm getting back into business
- 16:29as a Mendola scar company. I'm.
- 16:32Sorry. Well, that's a That's a good
- 16:35thing. Yeah, man, had to take a
- 16:38sabbatical. That's something.
- 16:41That's something we hear quite a bit throughout this industry
- 16:45with a lot of people we've talked to, business deals gone
- 16:47wrong, people essentially stealing factories right out
- 16:52from under the. Oh yeah, it's crazy.
- 16:55It's a grand mafia. Yeah.
- 16:57It's like it's crazy when you think about it because you know,
- 17:00like you said, you put all this time effort into building your
- 17:03brand and then to have those deals go sideways, then you got
- 17:07to kind of step away, revisit things and start.
- 17:10Especially with a small company, right?
- 17:13Because we're, you know, we were a small company.
- 17:15I mean, we were starting to trend.
- 17:17But you put all your eggs in, in one basket because you, you
- 17:20know, we're not funded by anybody.
- 17:22It was just me and my business partner put all our money into
- 17:26production and Bubba, one thing goes wrong, you're screwed.
- 17:30You know, there's no backup, you know what I'm saying?
- 17:33And that we had a couple issues, little things that built up and
- 17:37then personal side, you know, I was just, I married the wrong
- 17:43woman, put it that way. And I came home one day to just
- 17:49nothing. Everything was gone.
- 17:51I was on the road for like 7 days doing hustling, doing
- 17:54events. Just moved to Florida for the
- 17:57business really, and I came home on my birthday to a completely
- 18:02empty house. I mean, I was talking.
- 18:05She had a moving truck, bro. Like yeah, clean me out.
- 18:08That's. That's.
- 18:10Wow. And when I say lost everything,
- 18:14lost everything except my soul almost and but that had to
- 18:20happen. Honestly, it had to happen.
- 18:23You know, I was, I was devastated for like 3 months.
- 18:25But in that time I was like, all right, I had an experience with
- 18:29God. I had nothing.
- 18:31But I felt that peace and something in me was like, now's
- 18:35the time to do it all, but do it right, right, right.
- 18:39And people were leaving my life. They had to leave relationships,
- 18:43business, everything. Man, I had to start from zero.
- 18:48And the past few years have been a journey.
- 18:51Crazy, crazy things happened to me.
- 18:53Spent the day in jail. Cars blew up on me.
- 18:57It was wild man. It's just crazy.
- 19:00That's. Wow, so you may let me tell you,
- 19:04but I learned my mindset has changed.
- 19:07I've realized that the things, a lot of things like we chase and
- 19:13go after don't matter. I was the most at peace in my
- 19:17life when I had nothing, just my kids.
- 19:22You know, my, my parents came down to help me out a little
- 19:25bit. I was like, this is all I need
- 19:28really. All the other stuff can go.
- 19:31Sometimes it all it takes, like you said, it's something like
- 19:34that to happen and you know, family stepping in and it's
- 19:37like, this is really all I ever needed.
- 19:38I didn't need nothing else. Yeah.
- 19:41Good. Even now it's my whole, you
- 19:43know, the less is more philosophy that I preach
- 19:45constantly on Instagram. It's true.
- 19:48Less is more like less. She she took all the stuff.
- 19:52The only thing I was really mad about was my Bluetooth speaker
- 19:55ironically and all the furniture's got on my everything
- 19:59artwork on the wall. And so I have some hand me downs
- 20:01from Italy which that upset me. I mean.
- 20:04But but I'm like, I'm, I felt, I'm like everything's gone.
- 20:11I got nothing. I got to walk.
- 20:13I don't have a car. I'm like, I like it though.
- 20:16I felt free. I felt free and it was wild,
- 20:21bro. But I was like, yeah, I didn't
- 20:23think I I would have a chance to get back into cigars because a
- 20:26loss like that, I had to go back into the work world, which is
- 20:31also crazy because I was self-employed for the past six
- 20:35years. You know, I left the Police
- 20:37Department to go full time into cigars and I had to go get a
- 20:42little security job, actually not making enough money at all,
- 20:49but I did it. It was humbling.
- 20:53A year, a year into it, I get offered to be a director of
- 20:56security at three major hospitals down here in South
- 20:59Florida. And I was just like one blessing
- 21:02after another and everything I needed was provided for.
- 21:08And yeah, just that created what where I am now with that $1.00
- 21:12and that less is more Lim that's going to be portrayed through
- 21:16the brand too. Yeah, 'cause I, I had like I
- 21:19found his cigars. I believe it was, what was it
- 21:21Kenny Shop or somewhere else? I've come across a couple of
- 21:25boxes of. There was the I think it was the
- 21:27purple label, the red label, and the green label.
- 21:30Oh yeah, the Padrino and the cannolis.
- 21:32Yes, yes, yes. Wow, where'd you find that?
- 21:35I I haven't, I haven't been there in a while.
- 21:38J and. Rs No, they were in Fanatics
- 21:40time or Fanatics in Jersey. Oh yeah, Fanatics.
- 21:44Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Couple.
- 21:45Boxes there. Well, because that stuff is now
- 21:48gone. Like whatever shop has.
- 21:50I mean, yeah, the warehouse is cleaned out.
- 21:52I got nothing. That I can find, but I I had
- 21:56those and then I've seen you guys.
- 22:00Was it you guys that did the release with Martinez?
- 22:02Yeah. The West Side Story, I saw that,
- 22:05which was when we we meant to try but never, never got our
- 22:09hands on because they've sold out so fast.
- 22:12Yeah, man, yeah, that's what, yeah.
- 22:14That, but that's that's a good. Thing happened.
- 22:17That they they went out because that means there's still a
- 22:19market for them. Exactly.
- 22:21So the cigars, you said. Joey and I were the newspaper.
- 22:25The, the pigtail oscuro and then the one we're smoking now, which
- 22:29is the, the, I believe the, the Maduro oscuro without the
- 22:33pigtail. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 22:35So. When when we got him the IT was
- 22:38ironic. I was actually sitting out on my
- 22:39front porch and I went on, you know, because TikTok you're
- 22:43allowed to smoke now. So I have a bunch of guys on
- 22:46there. I smoke.
- 22:46Oh, how nice. And and yeah, and, and I went on
- 22:49there to smoke and they're like, what are you smoking?
- 22:51I'm like, well, I was like, we're we're getting ready to
- 22:54interview Amendola, I said. And he sent us a couple cigars
- 22:57that are, you know, some prototypes and that that pigtail
- 23:01lost girl was phenomenal. Damn man, that's my favorite.
- 23:06The the ash was super white. Yeah, clean.
- 23:11Oh my God, it was, it was insane.
- 23:13And and just the notes coming off of it, like you got that,
- 23:17that like cinnamon, the espresso, you got that pepper on
- 23:20the retro hail. There was like a slight, A
- 23:24slight hint of like the leathery notes.
- 23:26It was like it was insane. Because I'm sitting there and
- 23:29they're they're like, you're not talking.
- 23:30I'm like, yeah, I know. Yeah, don't interrupt me.
- 23:34Yeah, and I'm, I'm puffing away and I'm like, I got done.
- 23:39They go. So what did you think?
- 23:39I'm like, yeah, I need more. But like, seriously, I'm like,
- 23:44yeah, I swear. I'm like, I smoked this one.
- 23:46I'm like, and I wish I had four more behind it because it was.
- 23:50Good. So, So what I've been doing now,
- 23:53right? Getting back into everything,
- 23:57You know, it's just me. I'm, I'm doing this solo.
- 24:03I've kind of been a little limited with resources, but what
- 24:07I've been doing for the past, I guess six months to a year, it's
- 24:12just getting whatever tobacco I could get.
- 24:14And I've just been rolling at my house 'cause I'm like, all
- 24:17right, how am I going to do this?
- 24:18I got no money, but it's in me. Like there's this passion in me
- 24:22like I got to, I can't not do it.
- 24:24So I'm going to do something and I just started putting out like
- 24:28rolls of the month or whatever tobacco I had.
- 24:30I'm going to roll them and just sell them on whatever Instagram,
- 24:35Facebook, I put out a little little blurb, say I got these if
- 24:39anyone wants them. And just to try to bring in a
- 24:41little revenue and put some feelers out there, you know?
- 24:46So these two, the two I sent you are I'm coming to a point where
- 24:54I'm going to be doing a, a new release.
- 24:55It's going to be the first one I've done in like 3 years that's
- 24:58going to be on the market. And I narrowed it down to kind
- 25:02of, well, you guys are smoking right now.
- 25:05It's, I'm not going to say it's going to be the exact same, but
- 25:09it's the notes are there, the profilers there, the tobaccos I
- 25:13want to use are there, I'm going down to the factory in Dominican
- 25:16Republic February to just fine tune and tweet.
- 25:21And it's going to be, it's going to be called the Amendola 646.
- 25:27That's the size and yeah we're just going to tweet it might be
- 25:311 blend, I might do it in with another like an off blend with a
- 25:38maybe a Connecticut wrapper too. I don't know yet.
- 25:40But you guys are smoking like what is going to come basically.
- 25:45So you don't, you're not in any stores now, right?
- 25:51Well, whatever's in stores was from the Amendola family cigar
- 25:55company side and that's been dissolved and we, we just sold
- 26:00out of everything. So stores may have it, they're
- 26:06out there somewhere. But I'm what I'm going to do,
- 26:09what I'm doing now is reinventing.
- 26:12I rebranded and it'll be a brand new product, different,
- 26:16different business outlook, different mindset.
- 26:20I'm going with the whole lessons more philosophy like 1 blend a
- 26:23year, if that limited runs, they'll be boxes of 10.
- 26:29The other, the other business, you know, the cigars you've seen
- 26:32on the market that we were chasing wholesale accounts to do
- 26:36distro and that's what everyone encouraged us to do, you know,
- 26:41get on the wholesale side, get your brand out there as a brand,
- 26:45ba, ba ba, sell to these guys, sell to the big distributors.
- 26:49And not to say there's nothing wrong with that.
- 26:51I mean, big brands do it all the time, but I kind of want to do a
- 26:56different approach. And how do I say I I want to?
- 27:02We have the one issue we had was complaints from the consumer
- 27:05saying, man, we love your cigars, but we can never find
- 27:09them anywhere. We can't, we can't, you know, we
- 27:11can't access them. You know, we don't know where to
- 27:13go. And that was always a dilemma
- 27:15because we're small, we do a run, we do production, we sell
- 27:20out to maybe Jr. some other online stores and some big
- 27:23wholesale accounts. And then they own the market.
- 27:26They have it right. So this time I want to like
- 27:29refocus, focus more on the consumer and I'm not going to I
- 27:34don't want to chase shops anymore.
- 27:36Like if they want them, if they want to sell my product, the
- 27:40answer is yes. I would love to do business,
- 27:42right. However, I'm going to have my
- 27:45own website. It's it's up now.
- 27:47It's not the shop's not open yet, but I want to sell direct
- 27:51to consumer where everybody could get it.
- 27:53You know, it's not going to be this.
- 27:55If you like Amendola, want to want to support Amendola, smoke,
- 27:58smoke my cigars, you could get them here, you know, and then
- 28:03the plan will be to pick and choose select retailers that
- 28:09share the vision. I don't want anyone to diminish
- 28:12the brand that I don't want to, you know, do all these deals.
- 28:14I'm just not doing it anymore. Like the minds has changed.
- 28:18Either you want it or you don't. You know, either you think you
- 28:21could sell it or you can't. And either way, I'm fine with
- 28:24it. I'm not going to chase like, you
- 28:27know, my father said, don't chase money.
- 28:29Let the money chase you, you know, because I want to put a
- 28:35cigar. The cigar community is a big,
- 28:38it's a family, right? Why I want everyone to be able
- 28:42to smoke my cigar. I mean, not maybe not everybody
- 28:45will, and that's fine. It'll be limited, but at least
- 28:48there's access, you know, Right, Right.
- 28:50I don't want to provide that access.
- 28:53And and that's, that's a big thing because again, there are a
- 28:56lot of companies that don't do direct to consumer.
- 29:00It's like, well, you got to go here or you know.
- 29:02Yeah, because they all want you to go wholesale and then they'll
- 29:05they'll get, they'll dictate all, but you can't sell them
- 29:08yourself because my customers will just go to you.
- 29:11Right. I'm not playing that game
- 29:13anymore. No.
- 29:14And the shops too, it's like, you know, some of the shops get
- 29:16mad if you're selling direct to consumer and then you're selling
- 29:20to them because it's like, well, why would they get from me if
- 29:23they can get from you? But The thing is, if they're not
- 29:25in New York, California, Texas, where are those people supposed
- 29:30to go if you don't ship online? Exactly.
- 29:33And look, the business is big enough for everybody, OK?
- 29:37And that's. There's some there's some guys
- 29:39that don't. They don't like buying online.
- 29:41They want to walk into a shop and get a cigar.
- 29:44True. And and there's I tell
- 29:46everybody, you know, online is great, especially because there
- 29:48are sometimes deals that you can get better than in a store, but
- 29:52that doesn't mean you should stop shopping at your brick and.
- 29:54Mortar. So that and that's the pitch
- 29:57right there. Put them in your shop.
- 29:59I guarantee someone's going to walk in and introduce them to
- 30:02the brand. They're going to like it and
- 30:05then now they know they can either go to you to get it or if
- 30:08you don't have it, they're going to come to me.
- 30:09But if you don't want them to come to me, put it in your
- 30:12store. And make sure you have a back
- 30:16stock of it so that when it goes out you put a new box up.
- 30:19Exactly. And I'm going to tell, you know,
- 30:20that's the other thing. This is going to be limited.
- 30:25I'm doing everything opposite than I did the first time.
- 30:28OK. That makes sense, no?
- 30:30Last time we tried to go big. I was going to say, instead of
- 30:33going big production, you're going limited runs kind of
- 30:36testing the market because, you know, and and I think that's
- 30:39lost on a lot of companies is because of those limited that
- 30:42you do. If there's a market for him, you
- 30:45can then turn that into your regular line.
- 30:48Exactly. And, and I think that's where a
- 30:50lot of companies get lost is they're putting too many
- 30:53limiteds out. And you know, it's like, well,
- 30:56now we're going to introduce this cigar, but we like that
- 30:59limited well that. Was that?
- 31:00You know, it's not going to come back out for another three years
- 31:04where a lot of come some companies like the smaller
- 31:06boutiques are here's a limited if you like it, OK, good.
- 31:09There's enough demand for it. Hey, that's going to be the new
- 31:12cigar, the new line. You say, hey, this was the
- 31:14limited from 27. Yep.
- 31:17And you know, you guys liked it so much we made it a regular
- 31:20production. Exactly, that's kind of the
- 31:22mindset and like, you know, I'm going to do one or two blends
- 31:28and it and it will remain limited, but it'll be like it,
- 31:32you know, testing the market and it might be one run a year of X
- 31:36amount of boxes, you know, first come first serve, right, but
- 31:40guaranteed that cigar will then be reproduced again and you just
- 31:45got to wait till it's it's on the market again.
- 31:48Right. That's the model.
- 31:50This is this so far is fantastic.
- 31:53Thanks, man. It's a great cigar by the way.
- 31:55Thank you. You know that and that that
- 31:57pigtail was. What size is that pigtail?
- 32:01That was 6 by 48. I'm torn.
- 32:06I was torn around with sizes, but my favorite size ultimately
- 32:10is a 6 by 46. So that corona size.
- 32:13Like a yeah, like a what do you call them?
- 32:16Like a Corona Gorda type. Yeah, OK.
- 32:19But that size, that is more than just how my head works.
- 32:27It's the size of the cigar. But it's also will be an
- 32:30identifier of Amendola Cigar Company.
- 32:33OK. 'Cause I don't like to make a
- 32:36lot of different sizes with cigars.
- 32:40Never, never did really. Even with the other company.
- 32:43We would make one blend, one size, that's it.
- 32:47We wouldn't put out like 1 blend in 10 sizes, right, 'cause then
- 32:52you're like, I don't know which one do I smoke?
- 32:55And we just didn't have. It's too much.
- 32:57And yeah, it's like what? What do you pick?
- 33:01So now you see that. You smoke them all, you buy one
- 33:04of these guys, and then you narrow down what size works for
- 33:07you. So you're doing the cigars and
- 33:11you're a director of security still?
- 33:14Yeah, Yep. Wow.
- 33:17Which is challenging, but it's got to be done.
- 33:23You know, it's got to be done. Oh yes, I'm working full time,
- 33:28plus I'm rolling cigars at night on the weekends and thankfully I
- 33:35have a thankfully this is I have a great job.
- 33:37Like I'm blessed because I have flexibility, you know, to go
- 33:43down to Dr. couple times a year if I have to.
- 33:47I got time to burn. I'm going to use that for the
- 33:50business. It just kind of worked out.
- 33:52You know, I don't got to stress. Yeah, things are just lining up
- 33:56the way they should be. Things are falling into place,
- 33:59absolutely into place. Alignment.
- 34:01And that's, you know, that's the same thing that, you know,
- 34:04people have asked us and, you know, where everything's
- 34:06starting to fall in line for us too.
- 34:08And it's like, you know, you get to a certain point where
- 34:10everything starts to kind of domino effect.
- 34:14You know, and I, I think some people try to rush things and
- 34:20you can't rush the process. I learned you can't one day at a
- 34:23time. Like if this is something you're
- 34:26passionate about, you just kind of have to do your due
- 34:29diligence, stay active, don't stress and just let things kind
- 34:34of, I didn't, you know that I went into this again thinking
- 34:38this is like a five year plan. I might have to work this job
- 34:41for another, you know, 10 years, maybe retirement so I could get
- 34:44back in it. But I started writing down in a
- 34:47notebook every day. I'm like 5000 cigars, the size,
- 34:52the blends. I need this money this time
- 34:56period. And ironically, little by
- 34:58little, things, just people coming out of the woodwork, you
- 35:03know, things have just been lining up and it's crazy and I'm
- 35:07here for it, so. You know what though?
- 35:10Sometimes that's the best way is when it's not planned and it
- 35:13just kind of it all falls into place and it's like, well, wait
- 35:17a minute, I had this plan for next year or two years from now,
- 35:21but it's falling into place now. So let's just move that up and
- 35:24get back, like you said, kind of get back into the industry and
- 35:28the cigar game and kind of rebrand yourself and put
- 35:32yourself back out there to be able to kind of show people,
- 35:36hey, we might have went away, but we're still here.
- 35:39Yeah, I want to give, you know, the best version of myself.
- 35:43I was chasing all the wrong things.
- 35:46I was like barely slept. I was on the road just trying to
- 35:50make money. Money, just trying to make it,
- 35:52you know, and that's cool. But things are a little bit
- 35:58different now. My my purpose has changed.
- 36:02My vision has changed. I don't worry or stress anymore.
- 36:06Like I said, I don't chase money anymore.
- 36:08It's just everything I need or have needed has been, thank God
- 36:13provided for me in some way. And that's kind of I'm going to,
- 36:17you know, go with this. And it's I'm at peace.
- 36:21It's peaceful. A lot of people stress too much,
- 36:24takes years off your life. You know what, it's, it's funny
- 36:27because that was that was one of the very that I remember you
- 36:31guys talking about that in one of your videos you did about
- 36:35sitting down. Oh yeah.
- 36:37Or living, you know, living for the moment instead of trying to
- 36:41live for down the line. Yeah, but I.
- 36:44Was like, you know, that really couldn't be said any better
- 36:48because sometimes we all do we let life get ahead of us of.
- 36:51Course. We're too busy rushing around
- 36:53trying to do 10 different things.
- 36:54It's like we sit down maybe once or twice a day for that cigar
- 36:59and it's like everything kind of just.
- 37:01Stops. Yeah, push things into
- 37:04perspective. You might be watching your
- 37:05favorite TV show, you might be sitting with a cup of coffee
- 37:09watching a movie, and you're just relaxing, like you said,
- 37:12just slowed down in your own space, living in the moment,
- 37:16enjoying what you're doing at that point.
- 37:19That's it, man. That's the key to life.
- 37:21Life is short. I realized and I was looking at
- 37:26things. I'm like, man, when I'm when I
- 37:29die, none of this is coming with me.
- 37:31You know what I mean? You're not, you're not.
- 37:34It's not coming with you. You know, what am I really
- 37:36doing? I'm not spending enough time
- 37:38with my kids. I'm working too much and this
- 37:42and that, and when you slow down, you kind of realize what
- 37:46matters the most that you know. No, 100%.
- 37:49And that's, you know, that's where we, we had to learn.
- 37:53You know, we did this. We've been doing this now almost
- 37:56four years. Yeah, good.
- 37:58You know, when people are like, are you getting paid from it?
- 38:01I said no. I was like, again, I said, is
- 38:05that saying if somebody came to us and said, hey, listen, we
- 38:09want to bring you on to such and such network, we'll pay you.
- 38:13OK, cool. But here's my conditions.
- 38:15You. Know I said you have to make
- 38:17your own conditions. You have to tell them hey
- 38:18listen, you can't have like the name is mine, the show is mine.
- 38:23You guys, you know, you have whatever, I guess TV rights or
- 38:27whatever, streaming rights for it is fine, but everything else
- 38:30is me. You got to do it your way.
- 38:33Exactly. Because no one can replicate
- 38:36you, you know. No.
- 38:38And that's the thing too with the business.
- 38:40I, you know, I, I was taking on business partnerships and things
- 38:43and they were great, but I felt like part of me was dying off.
- 38:47You know, even some points I thought the brand was
- 38:51diminishing in a way because we're doing these big deals, but
- 38:54we're having to sell out a little bit, like cut deals that
- 38:59diminish and going forward, everything's changed.
- 39:03It's not that I don't care. I don't want to do business.
- 39:05I'm just not like there's no deals, like I can't.
- 39:09If you want my product, this, this is the cost.
- 39:15You pay me, I pay you, I give you product, you sleep, we all
- 39:18make money. But I'm just setting the
- 39:20standard like this is what it is.
- 39:22I'm not going to beg you for anything.
- 39:25I would love your business, but I'm not sweating it either, you
- 39:28know, I'm OK with not selling out.
- 39:31Because that just means they they get to age a little longer,
- 39:33yeah. They just get better and better.
- 39:37Absolutely so. This is my shop dog right here.
- 39:40No luck. There you go all.
- 39:42Right. What's up love dog?
- 39:46Dogs are the best. And we rescued her.
- 39:48They're best friends when you go to smoke.
- 39:50Man, I. Swear.
- 39:52She's my. She's my shadow.
- 39:53What's up? I rescued Harvey.
- 39:56She might have saved me a little bit.
- 39:58You know what though, Sometimes you both might have needed
- 40:01saving and the time just aligned for you both to kind of be saved
- 40:06by each other. So on that note, we're going to
- 40:09take a quick commercial break and then we'll be right back.
- 40:12Yes, Sir. No, no, no, no, no, no.
- 40:20Look at that one. And we are back.
- 44:43Boom. Yo-yo, yo, what up?
- 44:48What up? So you know, we were talking a
- 44:57bit about a few different things and you know how you were
- 45:00talking about business deals and stuff like that.
- 45:03Now you guys did the the West Side Story with with Martinez.
- 45:08Is that something, would you be open to working with guys like
- 45:12that again in the future? If it's right, if it works out
- 45:15right, would that be something you'd be open to or or you just
- 45:19trying to do everything kind of more or less just just you?
- 45:24I think as of right now, I think I'm, I'm going to focus more on
- 45:30me because it's become, it's just more personal lately for
- 45:39me. And I, I think I need to keep
- 45:40that. Not that it's a bad thing to do
- 45:43collabs and things, you know. I don't want to say it's off the
- 45:46table, but that's not going to be my focus, at least not in the
- 45:49beginning. Right.
- 45:52You know, I got to keep my authenticity.
- 45:57It's it's a person. This is it become has become
- 46:00personal for me in a way. And I don't want to sometimes
- 46:05other people if they don't understand or you're not on the
- 46:09same page. Right.
- 46:11It gets lost in the IT gets lost.
- 46:15So yeah, I'm kind of just The Lone Ranger right now.
- 46:20You know, I'm, I'm built up right now, just building up a
- 46:23small team, like a support team basically.
- 46:26And I would like to keep everything as much as I can in
- 46:31house. I don't want to become too
- 46:33accessible either. Right.
- 46:35There's nothing wrong with being with yourself bro trust me.
- 46:38That's the one thing you can't mess up, really, you know, only.
- 46:43People that support me and my wife, my kids, and that's it.
- 46:47And a lot of times that's all you need, bro.
- 46:50I mean, everyone else. Hey, you can get on board if you
- 46:53want, but if not, we're still going.
- 46:57Yeah, the train's going to leave without you, whether you're on
- 46:59or not. That's that's what we've told
- 47:01everybody, the same thing. We've kind of, you know, stepped
- 47:04back a lot from certain things and, you know, like you said,
- 47:08made ourselves a little bit less accessible to certain people.
- 47:13Yeah, yeah. And.
- 47:14Then, you know, you once you start building up the brand and
- 47:17the following, it's like you can step back and kind of make
- 47:22yourself less accessible. Correct.
- 47:25And you know you having the people are going to recognize
- 47:28the name already. So you.
- 47:31Being out there, it's going to be a recognized name.
- 47:34So when you start putting them out and they say, Oh well, you
- 47:38know what happened to this brand?
- 47:42And you can say, well, that brand is no more.
- 47:43We don't own that. We deceased it and now this is
- 47:47the new brand. This is the new.
- 47:50Correct, this is the new. Almond Dolan.
- 47:53The new and improved there. You.
- 47:56Go. I'm, I'm, I'm actually, I'm
- 47:57really excited actually, I'm getting that like.
- 48:03That that it almost getting that itch back.
- 48:05Yeah, my God, I got it. Because you started scratching
- 48:08it just a little bit and now everybody else.
- 48:12When your new brand comes out, you got our address.
- 48:15You want to send us a couple? Yeah, bro.
- 48:18Bring it back on or we can talk about that.
- 48:20Oh. Absolutely try out you want.
- 48:22To sound record. Bro, you let us know, send us
- 48:24some whatever and we'll we don't.
- 48:26Want to, I want to, I want to use like more like platforms
- 48:29like you guys. This is this is actually the
- 48:33first podcast I've done since 2023, maybe, maybe 24.
- 48:41Yeah, that was right about the time we had just kind of
- 48:44started. Yes, we started like.
- 48:46That the end of 21, beginning of 22 and I believe I went.
- 48:50Out to Amandola and nobody ever got back.
- 48:53To it, well, it was a it was a mess over there.
- 48:55At that time I was probably half alive, contemplating life, you
- 49:06know? You know what it it it happens
- 49:07when you get to a certain point. Like you said, you're always out
- 49:10there on the road and essentially living out of a a
- 49:13suitcase. I was burnt out, you know.
- 49:16That's like me. I was working full time for the
- 49:18post office and I was wrestling on Fridays and Saturdays and I
- 49:23have to leave on Thursday, so I got to take some days off.
- 49:26So I was never home. I was, I was, I was home.
- 49:29I was at work. I was home.
- 49:31I was at. Work.
- 49:31Yeah. Yeah, You know, that's a lot.
- 49:33And after a while. Got to stay 10 toes.
- 49:37Absolutely. After a while it drags out your
- 49:39body 'cause you're not getting asleep, you're getting an
- 49:42attitude with everybody because you're tired.
- 49:44Then you can't enjoy the people you want to be around.
- 49:47Correct. Absolutely.
- 49:49That's why I say sometimes less is more.
- 49:52I enjoy everything now. Well, that's that's also because
- 49:56you had a change of events in the last year that had really
- 49:59made you contemplate life again. Yes, so.
- 50:04Yeah, he. He almost, he almost wasn't here
- 50:07to talk to us right now. Oh, you almost skipped out on
- 50:10us, huh? If they would have caught it any
- 50:13later at the job that he was at yet I'm.
- 50:15Glad you're here, my friend. That's I told him I made, you
- 50:20know, you got a whole new lease on life, you better enjoy it.
- 50:24That's all I feel too if. They tell you to do something
- 50:27and not do something, then let's not do that.
- 50:31Different perspective. I told them, I said if they tell
- 50:33you to, you know, stop drinking liquor or stop drinking this,
- 50:37I'm like you follow exactly what they say.
- 50:40I said, 'cause you just got a whole new second chance on life.
- 50:43Well, that's the other thing too, man.
- 50:44I stopped drinking. I was drinking a lot.
- 50:47Like not like it's just everywhere I went, I was
- 50:50drinking, you know, I got a bottle for the house.
- 50:53The bottle's gone in two days. And I'm like, what am I doing?
- 50:57You know, And I just you caught up and I'm like I.
- 51:03Was at the liquor store every two days.
- 51:04I was at the liquor store. Yeah, me too, man.
- 51:06It just became like this. So I didn't even want it
- 51:09sometimes. Just like a habit.
- 51:10So like, you got to have a bottle in the house and I was
- 51:13drinking one night. I'm like, I don't even want
- 51:17this. Like, what am I doing?
- 51:19I stopped tasting. I used to love, I don't say I
- 51:22still love it, Bourbon. I love bourbon and some
- 51:24scotches, but I didn't appreciate it anymore.
- 51:28You know, everything was starting to blend in.
- 51:30It tastes the same. I'm like, what am I doing?
- 51:32I don't even like it right now. I just stopped like cold.
- 51:38And then I, I remember it was a year or so last year.
- 51:41I want to have AI want to have a bourbon again.
- 51:43I want to have a bourbon to see what it's like.
- 51:45I poured one. I sipped it slow.
- 51:49I'm like, I don't weird. I didn't miss it.
- 51:52I was nice to appreciate it. I just was there, you know, I'm
- 51:56like. Yeah, I might.
- 51:57I might. I might go buy a bottle this
- 51:58weekend. It's tasty.
- 52:00Yeah, now, like if I keep now, if I get a bottle, I might, I
- 52:04might take a couple sips off and I'm like, all right, that was
- 52:06cool. Just my little taste.
- 52:08I'm not missing nothing. And you buy a small one, but he
- 52:13he did the same thing because of his his scare that he had.
- 52:16He basically just was like, that's it.
- 52:18Yeah, like, yeah, yeah, sometimes it got, I mean, it's
- 52:21a, it's a slow killer really. It is slow killer like.
- 52:26And like you said, when you're visiting every two days to you
- 52:29know, when you're going to the store every two days, it's like,
- 52:32you know, even you start to realize it in your pockets.
- 52:35Yeah, I can't, but you're. Spending, you know, anywhere
- 52:38from 20 to 40 to $50 a bottle every two days.
- 52:41It's like. 1999 every two days. You know, it's like now.
- 52:46Yeah, it's a lot. You you realize how much money
- 52:49you spent and how much money you're saving by not doing it.
- 52:52Now I just drink beer. Yeah, and I feel better.
- 52:55I feel better when I wake up in the morning.
- 52:57I feel more vibrant and alive. And I feel like this is now is
- 53:03how I'm able to do what I do. Security.
- 53:07I manage 25 officers or 30. I'm just, I get up now like
- 53:13clockwork. I work out do my thing.
- 53:17Every time I was drinking, I wake up and you know, I got to
- 53:21have it in the morning. I got to have to sip.
- 53:24You got to have. You used to have fucking cups in
- 53:27the morning. His man had to have his medicine
- 53:29all right, I think, except. When I go to work, I go get my
- 53:32coffee from the. From the.
- 53:35Speedway and things like that. Then I come home and I start all
- 53:39over again. It's like a habit, like a
- 53:41comfort. Then you start to be like, oh
- 53:43wait, oh wait, I need that now, you know?
- 53:46Correct. And then it kills you slowly.
- 53:50Correct. So this is this is there's the
- 53:53guards that were smoking, you should have going to be coming
- 53:55out, right. Yeah.
- 53:57So it's going to be a version of those two.
- 54:01I'm just tweaking it. It's going to be a 6 by 46 box
- 54:05of 10. And yeah, what's the box going
- 54:08to? Go for.
- 54:10It I don't know yet. OK, I don't know yet.
- 54:14You're in Florida, correct? Correct.
- 54:17So it's cheaper in Florida? Of course it is.
- 54:19It's cheaper in Florida than it is.
- 54:21There's no there's no tobacco tax in Florida.
- 54:24And that's that's why the the cigars that we were talking
- 54:27about at the beginning of the show are coming out of Florida.
- 54:30Exactly. Because we.
- 54:32It's way we. Get killed on pricing.
- 54:35It's way better to do business. That's why I moved down here.
- 54:39I mean, even licensing, you know, it's cheap, it's easy.
- 54:45When I was in North Carolina setting up the business and they
- 54:48treated me like, I don't know, they I had to get a
- 54:52manufacturing license wholesale. Bite me.
- 54:57Manufacturing license. It's like 2522% tax at the end
- 55:01of the day for every cigar. When?
- 55:03I, when I retired, we were going to move and then my daughter
- 55:06started college and you know, now she's going to college, she
- 55:11graduates next year and then she's going over to Newport
- 55:14across the bridge. So the house works out perfect
- 55:18because we're right by the bridge.
- 55:19It's a 20 minute ride to drop her off to come back, pick up my
- 55:22son and my wife, go back and pick her up, drop my son and my
- 55:26wife off at work, pick them up. So basically I'm dad's taxi.
- 55:32You are, yeah. So that's who you call in your
- 55:36life it. Gets me out of the house.
- 55:40That's awesome. These days, when I don't have to
- 55:42go anywhere, so my wife, there's that, They take the car to work.
- 55:45There's that spice. Wow.
- 55:46But like you said, it's a blessing to have less than more
- 55:51because there's not a lot of stress.
- 55:56Nah, if you're happy with your family.
- 56:01I mean, there's so much value in that alone, you know?
- 56:04Like when we're living in a condo and we had to get out last
- 56:09October and I found a realtor. He said I got this house in
- 56:15Poughkeepsie. I said where he goes, come and
- 56:16see it. I came and see it.
- 56:18I said call a guy up, tell him I want to take it right now.
- 56:21You know what? It's nice too.
- 56:22It works out for the winter time for us because we have the mud
- 56:26room, the den, the Florida room, whatever the hell you want to
- 56:28call it, and they allow us to smoke out here.
- 56:32As they should. It's all.
- 56:34It's all enclosed, he said. You can't smoke inside the
- 56:36house, but I don't care if you smoke out here, just open the
- 56:39windows. Yeah, that's another reason why
- 56:43I moved to Florida. There's smoke everywhere.
- 56:46Yes. Nobody.
- 56:48It's like nobody cares what you do.
- 56:50Just. You know, nobody really cares
- 56:53down there. Yeah, yeah, you own it.
- 56:55Or you. Rent it, huh?
- 56:58You own your house or you rent them.
- 57:00I'm renting right now but I lost my house.
- 57:03I was almost homeless. Yeah, I got, I'm in a little
- 57:07like beach shack, right? 10 minute walk to the beach.
- 57:11This is another example of less is more.
- 57:13OK? I had a three bedroom, beautiful
- 57:16town home. Great.
- 57:21Lost all that. And I'm like, well, I really
- 57:23want to live by the beach because I'm like, I'm changing
- 57:27my life. Everything's gone.
- 57:28I got to be by the water or something.
- 57:30And I remember I drove around this neighborhood.
- 57:33I don't know, I'm like, I want to live here.
- 57:34I probably can't afford it, but we're going to put it out there.
- 57:39I prayed to God, I want to live here.
- 57:42Found this little it's a duplex, like one of those old beach
- 57:45shacks, right? Like a shanty.
- 57:49And I called the guy I saw a for rent sign and it was in my, you
- 57:54know, I can manage it. Just got a job.
- 57:57I said listen man, oh 'cause I got denied like 5 places, I
- 58:00couldn't, my credit was jacked up, you know, I couldn't do
- 58:03anything. I was crippled and I told the
- 58:06guy, I said listen bro, I lost everything starting over.
- 58:11I would really want to live here.
- 58:15I say, but if you run my credit, it's going to look bad.
- 58:18You know, I, I was very honest upfront.
- 58:21He called me back the next night and was like, listen, man,
- 58:24you're not the only one that has been through what you're dealing
- 58:27with. He's like, I'm a rent it to you.
- 58:29Just pay me on time. Don't worry about the credit
- 58:31check. So I'm, I'm in this beautiful
- 58:34little shack by the water and it's been a blessing.
- 58:39And now I'm working to save up to get A to get a house down
- 58:43here with a little. I want to build a little cigar
- 58:46factory in the back, you know, that way I can.
- 58:50Just basically are doing all the rolling and stuff for your
- 58:53cigars at home. Yeah.
- 58:57Wow, so that that's how you're doing all your your test blends
- 58:59and. Stuff.
- 58:59That's how I'm doing all the test blends, the little stuff
- 59:02you see me put online, that's all me just messing around.
- 59:06Ish. You know, BAMF cigars.
- 59:09Yeah, I know, Ish. Yeah.
- 59:10He owns 2 factories over in Dominican Republic, but he still
- 59:15rolls in his house. Yeah, same, same thing.
- 59:18So when I'm ready to put this, you know, do a big run, that's
- 59:21where I'll utilize the factory. You know, they're going to be
- 59:25branded, labeled, boxed. That type of production I, I do
- 59:29down there. But everything else I do over
- 59:32here, I do a lot of events. So I got a rolling table in my
- 59:36living room and I got tobacco in bins and the climate is great
- 59:42here. So stuff stays humidified
- 59:45correctly. They just kind of worked out,
- 59:48but yeah, we don't. Get that hero, unfortunately.
- 59:51So it's. Just you, you're the CEO, the
- 59:54sales Rep and everything, correct?
- 59:56Yeah, so I'm the CEO founder. I am working with a good friend
- 1:00:00of mine. You might have seen him online,
- 1:00:02The guy I do the videos with Rome, DJ Rome.
- 1:00:07So he's going to be taking on the role of a marketing and
- 1:00:10brand ambassador where he'll, he'll basically be a mouthpiece
- 1:00:14everywhere he goes. He's got Amendola.
- 1:00:18He'll be, you know, doing some events, probably popping in on
- 1:00:21podcast and he's moving down to Florida I think within a year or
- 1:00:26so. But yeah, so he'll kind of be my
- 1:00:30my guy for that. Having someone else on the back
- 1:00:33end. Logistics, man, I've just been
- 1:00:36blessed, bro. Cuz I mean, I'll say it, I'll
- 1:00:40probably won't say his name or whatever, but I just got to tell
- 1:00:43this story. You know, to get back into this
- 1:00:46business, you have to have money, right?
- 1:00:48To go manufactured by tobacco, whatever.
- 1:00:51And I, I just been scraping by. So let's just write everything
- 1:00:55down. Oh my God, if you want me to do
- 1:00:58this, you know what I want. But here it is.
- 1:01:01And I'm like in my head, I need X amount of dollars.
- 1:01:04My, that's realistically probably going to take a while,
- 1:01:07but I'm like, whatever I'm planning like it's going to
- 1:01:09happen tomorrow. And two weeks ago I'm doing a
- 1:01:13rolling event down in Fort Lauderdale at the Burnt Leaf
- 1:01:15Lounge. And a friend of mine came and
- 1:01:19we've been, we've kind of been each other's like support.
- 1:01:23Both kind of got sober at the same time and back in the
- 1:01:26church. So we bounced off each other a
- 1:01:28lot. Feedback and things.
- 1:01:31He has a, he has a, one of his businesses in Dominican
- 1:01:34Republic. He sat down next to me.
- 1:01:36We're just talking bullshitting. And he goes, I mean, how much
- 1:01:39money do you need? Again, I said for what?
- 1:01:41I'm like I need a lot of money, but for.
- 1:01:43He said, no, the cigar thing. You know, I know you got a plan,
- 1:01:45right? I said, yeah, the numbers, You
- 1:01:48know, the numbers are this. He's like, don't ask me
- 1:01:50questions. I got it for you.
- 1:01:54Don't ask me questions. It's in the Dr. It's waiting for
- 1:01:57you. Book the flight, make the deal.
- 1:02:00Just whatever you need is there. And I said, what?
- 1:02:05Had to pinch myself. You know, he's like, he's like,
- 1:02:07I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but don't ask
- 1:02:10me questions. It's just I got the money in
- 1:02:13there. I want to invest it in Dr. And
- 1:02:17he's like, I, I don't know who else to give it to but you.
- 1:02:20He's like, you know, and bro, I almost cried like I'm like, you
- 1:02:26know what I'm saying? I thought this was just so,
- 1:02:30yeah, I said, man, you, you don't know what you just did.
- 1:02:34You know you just kicked started something that you you kick
- 1:02:40started something to get you back to where you you want to
- 1:02:42be. Yeah.
- 1:02:45And that's sometimes, man, that's.
- 1:02:48There's no rhyme or reason I have.
- 1:02:50A blessing in disguise sometimes.
- 1:02:52Bro yeah, I mean, out of nowhere, I was not expecting
- 1:02:55that. Like in my head I'm like, this
- 1:02:56is just going to be at me having to do it old school, save the
- 1:03:00money, you know, whatever time it took.
- 1:03:04And I didn't want to borrow money.
- 1:03:05Like, you know, I, I didn't want to do that again, go down that
- 1:03:07hole. And this is something more of
- 1:03:10like, I'm like, well, you want me to pay you back or what?
- 1:03:14He's like, we'll worry about that later.
- 1:03:15He's like, I'm thinking, just take the money, keep investing
- 1:03:19in it and maybe, you know, down the line, just dump it into your
- 1:03:23own factory down there. He's like, don't we could, you
- 1:03:25know, don't we talk? So it's like you have a plan.
- 1:03:30Everything's stripped away and now things are coming back
- 1:03:35little by little, in the right timing, with the right people.
- 1:03:40It's the right way. And I.
- 1:03:42Was going to say, you know it's meant for you to redo the right
- 1:03:44way. Yes, that's, that's the, that's
- 1:03:47the whole story right there, brother.
- 1:03:49You know, and it's sometimes man, you know, and I tell
- 1:03:51people, you know, we're doing this podcast and having, you
- 1:03:55know, MB Radio kind of give us a shot.
- 1:03:59And because we this is something we wanted to start.
- 1:04:03And people ask us how come we haven't been paid?
- 1:04:05I said it because I have really haven't reached.
- 1:04:07Out that's what we were talking about is, you know, we we're
- 1:04:10doing it just because we, you know, it's not like looking to
- 1:04:15get paid, I said, but if the opportunity is right, you know,
- 1:04:17like you said, make your own terms.
- 1:04:19That's it. That's the thing when you're not
- 1:04:21like when I I said this earlier, when you start chasing the
- 1:04:25money, it starts to get funny. And funny money is never good
- 1:04:29money, you know what I'm saying? You got something you're doing,
- 1:04:33working on. I I just feel like the best
- 1:04:36thing is to keep doing it. And if you're supposed to be
- 1:04:38doing it, the payoff will come and not be like right away.
- 1:04:42It might not be when you want it, but it'll come at the right
- 1:04:45time to where you need. And it's going to make sense.
- 1:04:49And you can be like, yeah, all that work, all that time I put
- 1:04:51in that was worth it. And that, you know, that's like
- 1:04:55when when we got the opportunity to do our own cigars, you know,
- 1:04:59people like, well, you guys should do them.
- 1:05:01I said yeah, I don't have the money.
- 1:05:03Yeah. You know, and I'm.
- 1:05:05Everyone's like, oh, just do it. Yeah, 4000 we met a guy who we
- 1:05:12got a not a bad business deal, but it wasn't conducive, you
- 1:05:16know, that was going to sell for like 100 and something dollars a
- 1:05:20piece that we didn't have to put money up, but it was a four
- 1:05:24pack. I think it was like 115 dollars
- 1:05:27Stuart Turman got brought in and then obviously that work.
- 1:05:32We all know $114.00 for cigars is absolutely insane.
- 1:05:37Per Crazy. Then we somebody else through a,
- 1:05:43a friend of ours who did his own cigars with and guy was like,
- 1:05:49there's no, there's no minimums. You can order a bundle at a
- 1:05:52time, you know, like I, I work with all the guys that got
- 1:05:56screwed over, you know, once people passed over and you know,
- 1:06:01here's money for the samples, send us 5 samples and we decided
- 1:06:06and now we the opportunity to order some and have them in hand
- 1:06:11so that people can see what they are.
- 1:06:13Yeah. People like, you know what, What
- 1:06:16took you so long? I'm like, bro, it's so fun that
- 1:06:18I got bills to pay. I got other stuff to take care
- 1:06:21of. It's not something like I can
- 1:06:24pull right away and be like, hey, I got this.
- 1:06:27I'm like, if people buy it, yeah, I'll order them.
- 1:06:29And you know, once I get the money, I'll send it to him.
- 1:06:31It'll go to him and he sends out my order or he sends it to me
- 1:06:35and then I send it. Some people don't realize, like
- 1:06:40everything costs money. Like, you know, I don't come for
- 1:06:44money. I don't have money lying around
- 1:06:45'cause you just dump into them. You know what I'm saying?
- 1:06:49Cigars too, like all the time. I mean, oh, when are you guys
- 1:06:52going to come out with this? So when are you going to add to
- 1:06:54that? I'm like, well, you want to pay
- 1:06:56for it, You know what I mean? Like right, it's an investment.
- 1:07:00It's a it's a it's not something you take light, especially if
- 1:07:04you don't care about it. And that's the thing with
- 1:07:07pricing like I don't I want to this project, you know, tobacco
- 1:07:11has gone up. Like what's your take on cigar
- 1:07:15prices? Right?
- 1:07:16Like what's your? Well, up here in New York.
- 1:07:19As you know, it was. Like 75% per cigar.
- 1:07:23To pay like $10 a cigar, Now we're paying 15 and the cigars I
- 1:07:27like, yeah, you know. Which we didn't.
- 1:07:30We didn't understand the pricing until it was explained to us
- 1:07:34when we were filming a show at one of the lounges.
- 1:07:37We go to one of the the workers there was like, yeah, it's like
- 1:07:4120. I think it was the, the Harley
- 1:07:43Quinn by Fratello. We were smoking that day because
- 1:07:46that's, they gave us, it was a new stick that had just gotten
- 1:07:48in. And I'm like, what's the retail
- 1:07:51price? And he goes, oh, 20, I think it
- 1:07:53was like 17 or $20.00. I said, why is it so expensive?
- 1:07:57So he said, you know, hey, it's, let's just say it cost them $5
- 1:08:02wholesale us, we got to put 75% on top of that or $7.00 and 75%
- 1:08:07on top of that. You're looking at $10 before it
- 1:08:10hits the shelves. And then we have to pass that
- 1:08:13tax on to you guys. So that $10 cigar now becomes
- 1:08:1717/18/19. And once that was explained,
- 1:08:23it's like, wow, it's like it's really is insane market to try
- 1:08:28to get into. And you know, now people like,
- 1:08:30well, these companies need to come here.
- 1:08:31And I'm like, some of these companies don't need to come
- 1:08:34here. I said because it's expensive.
- 1:08:36So let me ask you this. So if somebody wanted, let's say
- 1:08:41me and Joey wanted a 10 pack of these cigars, yeah, we got to
- 1:08:45hit you up on Instagram. How?
- 1:08:48Did they get of those that you're spoken now?
- 1:08:50Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like yeah, hit me
- 1:08:56up if I, if I have it, can make it happen from here till spring
- 1:09:07of 27. Yeah, I'm really just rolling
- 1:09:11like the blends kind of locked in for, for those it's just a
- 1:09:16matter of if I have the can get the tobacco to keep rolling them
- 1:09:20or if I wait till I do the production.
- 1:09:23OK. The big one, but I will have
- 1:09:26stuff that I'll post on Instagram, whatever I'm rolling
- 1:09:29that month. I did, I did just do my website.
- 1:09:33I didn't put product on it yet because it'll change now like
- 1:09:37monthly. But I'm thinking about doing
- 1:09:40like a 5 or 10 pack. Whatever I'm rolling I just put
- 1:09:43on the website. OK, OK.
- 1:09:46And do that until we get I'm. Loving this so far.
- 1:09:49This is yeah, this is a real. This is really good and and.
- 1:09:53Thanks man and. I want to thank you for coming
- 1:09:54on. Of course I know.
- 1:09:55You. Guys, yes, we appreciate you
- 1:09:57jumping on with us. We.
- 1:09:58Appreciate you coming on and taking the time out of your busy
- 1:10:01schedule. So no, I'm honored to do it.
- 1:10:03I love it. It's, you know, we, we love kind
- 1:10:06of bringing because we, you know, we've had a few brands
- 1:10:09like yourself that have kind of stepped away, rebranded and came
- 1:10:11back, you know, and they're like, oh, I haven't done a,
- 1:10:15you're the first podcaster. You're, you know, only the
- 1:10:18second or third podcast. And we like that because it
- 1:10:20gives other audiences that may have not seen them before or
- 1:10:25heard of them before or kind of knew the name but didn't know
- 1:10:28anything to kind of really learn and and, you know, kind of see
- 1:10:33what you know, went on and what you know, everybody's willing to
- 1:10:37share what went on behind the scenes.
- 1:10:39And you know, hey, like you said, business deals gone wrong,
- 1:10:43stuff on sideways, it's gone. We're rebranding.
- 1:10:47Here's what. It did.
- 1:10:49We had Kiki Momo on. We were his first podcast.
- 1:10:52He was sitting in the pool and pick me up and he's like, I want
- 1:10:57to come on. I said, bro, we need some of
- 1:10:58your cigars. He sent us both 25 packs.
- 1:11:01Yeah, nice. And.
- 1:11:02He hasn't been since I'm up and having.
- 1:11:04He's been so busy though. He's another one.
- 1:11:06He's another one that's a former cop, Yeah.
- 1:11:10The NYPD moved to Florida, started cigars.
- 1:11:12He was smoking cigars while he was a cop.
- 1:11:15Living the train. And then he, he retired, moved
- 1:11:18down there and dude, he's been off to the races.
- 1:11:21He's got celebrity smoking his cigars well.
- 1:11:24What's his name tells? Him.
- 1:11:26Oh, from, from. Hardcore porn.
- 1:11:29Less gold. Less gold.
- 1:11:31Oh yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, he tells you, but
- 1:11:36he's. Think about it like, you know, a
- 1:11:40lot of firemen and a lot of police officers and military
- 1:11:44people all kind of start the cigar game when they, when they
- 1:11:48retire, while they're getting ready to retire, are still in
- 1:11:51because that's what they do. I was going to get my cigars
- 1:11:55going when I was in the post office, but then my wife got
- 1:11:59sick for three years. I.
- 1:12:00Couldn't we did now we, we did start testing blends.
- 1:12:03We did start testing. People loved them, but they were
- 1:12:0560 ring gauges for me at the time that I picked for my
- 1:12:08blends. So we we stopped because she got
- 1:12:12sick and then, you know, I had to take care of them, my wife
- 1:12:15and it just got out of hand. So then they offered an early
- 1:12:19out last year and I took it. So what the fuck?
- 1:12:24And now what are you going to do?
- 1:12:26I can't do nothing, brother. Yeah, one day at a time 7.
- 1:12:31Absolutely. So I know you said you don't
- 1:12:34release a lot at when you release the even with your your
- 1:12:37other company when you released them, you only released in one
- 1:12:40size. Was there a thought process
- 1:12:42behind that or was that just kind of this size worked well in
- 1:12:45this blend and that's kind of what we we went with?
- 1:12:50Yeah, yes and no. Because what I realized, well,
- 1:12:55when I I had when I left the Police Department, I opened up a
- 1:12:59little like a little lounge small just we appreciate.
- 1:13:04That old neighborhood spot enjoyed.
- 1:13:09It and it was I only sold cigars that I made so and I had another
- 1:13:13roller with me there. So in that store we would have a
- 1:13:19bunch of everything, kind of like Connecticut's different
- 1:13:24sizes, Lionel Maduro. And when I got that going
- 1:13:28tomorrow wholesale, I was like, there's no way I can maintain
- 1:13:33like putting all these cigars on the market.
- 1:13:35It's just too much, too much upfront money.
- 1:13:39I don't know what's going to sell.
- 1:13:43So I cut it down to like 4 from that and then I was working with
- 1:13:46factories and the blending. I was like man, even if I really
- 1:13:52it was because of money honestly.
- 1:13:55But that kind of it started to become my thing and kind of like
- 1:13:57a signature thing. I just kept because as I started
- 1:14:01doing it, I'm like, well, I can make this cigar really good in
- 1:14:03this size. Why am I going to take the
- 1:14:06chance and do other sizes invest that money?
- 1:14:09And what if that's that size isn't popular right now?
- 1:14:12You know, then then you you got to go on clearance and whatever.
- 1:14:16Now you're stuck with product that I couldn't afford to be
- 1:14:19stuck with. So the whole thing became one
- 1:14:23size 1 blend. And now I think subconsciously
- 1:14:27that's what's leaded up to now with the whole less is more.
- 1:14:31I don't want to have 50 million cigars.
- 1:14:33I just want to make one good cigar in this size.
- 1:14:37And that size will become a signature that the Amendola
- 1:14:41name, you know, like the Amendola 6646.
- 1:14:45That's a size that's like our size, you know, that's the size
- 1:14:48we make, you know, and that becomes almost like the
- 1:14:53Churchill cigar. You know, the Churchill cigar is
- 1:14:56just named after Winston Churchill.
- 1:14:58He just sort of smoked that size.
- 1:15:00It became the Churchill. I'm making six by 646.
- 1:15:06The Amendola. It's my it's signature size.
- 1:15:10Less is more. There's going to be a good cigar
- 1:15:14in there Now. I might, I might venture out a
- 1:15:16little bit and maybe do another size down the line, but that'll
- 1:15:19be the the bread and butter, the.
- 1:15:21Core size, yeah. What is besides your cigars,
- 1:15:25what other cigars do you prefer? To smoke.
- 1:15:28If I'm not smoking mine, I gravitate a lot to AJ Fernandez.
- 1:15:35I just love his tobacco. I would say Aji smoke a lot of
- 1:15:41my father's cigars. What's that one like?
- 1:15:46Flo de Las Antilles, the judge. Love those.
- 1:15:53I like everything AJ makes. I don't know.
- 1:15:57I just know that's a bad. It's like a signature thing he's
- 1:16:00got. I always say he's got like that
- 1:16:02signature pepper bomb. Yeah, it's just I'm always
- 1:16:06satisfied when I smoke them. And he was making us cigars for
- 1:16:10a while too, so I got kind of spoiled with that.
- 1:16:14I was going to say you got you got spoiled by him making your
- 1:16:17stuff with you. You knew what you were getting
- 1:16:19before you even got into it. Exactly, exactly.
- 1:16:23So yeah, yeah, I spoke a lot of those.
- 1:16:26Fantastic. I'm loving this.
- 1:16:27This is, it's got that pepper. That pepper really stays
- 1:16:30consistent on the retro through that second and last third.
- 1:16:34Like I want this cigar to be memorable, you know, I mean,
- 1:16:39like you're going to be like, ah, that was, you know, you're
- 1:16:42going to remember it. I'd be like, I want more.
- 1:16:47So I got to guess some before they sell out.
- 1:16:50And you know, that's I like I when I smoked that that other
- 1:16:53one, the the pigtail us girl, I was like, I came inside, I seen
- 1:16:57my dad the next morning and I'm like, yeah, I was like, I got to
- 1:17:00figure out how to get more of these.
- 1:17:02I was like, and it released. I'm like, I definitely need to
- 1:17:04buy the release too when it comes out.
- 1:17:06I said because, you know, it was so good that it was, it was
- 1:17:10different. It was like you said, it was
- 1:17:12that perfect size. Yeah.
- 1:17:14And it just, it hit, it hit the pallet right.
- 1:17:17That's why, that's why I love that size.
- 1:17:21Yeah, For me, it just crosses off all the boxes.
- 1:17:24Absolutely. And I smoke, you know, up to 52,
- 1:17:27sometimes 54. But whenever I'm in that 4648
- 1:17:33range, I feel like that's where you get the best of the rapper
- 1:17:38leaf. And it's a perfect size.
- 1:17:41And yeah, I was, I was doing this thing for a while, like
- 1:17:46trying to find the perfect blend.
- 1:17:48And they have made some posts about it.
- 1:17:49Like me and me and Ron were like, man, what's the perfect
- 1:17:52blend? Who has the perfect blend?
- 1:17:55Because it's all subjective, right?
- 1:17:58What's perfect to me? Perfect.
- 1:17:59Blend, you know, and that's another thing Jeff, that you
- 1:18:03know, and I and I asked everybody this and my question
- 1:18:07to you is do you make your cigar for you or the consumer?
- 1:18:11Because everybody we spoke to said they made it for them and
- 1:18:14if they don't like it, they can go F themselves.
- 1:18:16Did. You freeze out on us.
- 1:18:24Hello. But yeah, you'll break it up a
- 1:18:29little bit. So.
- 1:18:33It's me. Do you?
- 1:18:33Make it for you, or do you make it for everybody else?
- 1:18:39What did you say that other people said?
- 1:18:42Oh, basically, if you don't like what they make, if it's made for
- 1:18:45them or for the consumers, you can go fuck yourself.
- 1:18:49Oh, I have a different approach. I don't know what the I'm gonna
- 1:18:56make cigars that I I want to smoke, of course, because I'm a
- 1:19:00smoke them right, But I, I try to make a cigar where it'll
- 1:19:06crawl it'll appeal to everyone's palate, if that makes sense It
- 1:19:11might not be your favorite cigar you.
- 1:19:14Try to make it for the mass, but I want it.
- 1:19:18Yeah, because you can't please everybody, right?
- 1:19:20So I'm just going to make a good cigar as best as I can.
- 1:19:25And it might not be your your everything, but I wanted to.
- 1:19:31I want it to be hard to say. I didn't.
- 1:19:34I didn't not like you like you know, I'll smoke it again.
- 1:19:38Put it, put it that way. I don't want to make anything
- 1:19:40too strong that's going to put somebody out that turn people
- 1:19:44off. I don't want to make anything
- 1:19:46too mild. That's going to be like, it's
- 1:19:48like smoking air. I'm just going to give you
- 1:19:51quality. And then you could decide on
- 1:19:53where that falls on your palate. And I realized something too,
- 1:19:58though it's not about perfect disc because you'll never win.
- 1:20:02It's just like being the most authentic.
- 1:20:06Right. So what being that we're on kind
- 1:20:10of that subject of, you know, making it for you and what do
- 1:20:14you prefer to smoke? Full bodies, mild, medium?
- 1:20:18What is your go to and what is your favorite rapper?
- 1:20:21I guess I would say. Yeah, I would say I I smoke a
- 1:20:28lot of Havana, like Oscaro, OK, that's like my go to a lot of I
- 1:20:35love Habano, but like the darker Richard Leathery rapper.
- 1:20:41I I but I love Maduros. I love San Andreas, Broadleaf,
- 1:20:47you know, those are my two favorite Maduros.
- 1:20:52I don't always smoke Connecticut's.
- 1:20:54Not that I don't like them. I, I just, if I smoke in
- 1:20:57Connecticut, it has to have like a distinct flavour.
- 1:21:03It's got to be like creamy and spicy.
- 1:21:05Right. And that might be part of what's
- 1:21:08coming out with this production. So, so our buddy in the
- 1:21:14comments, he actually, he has his own company, it's called
- 1:21:18Wyndham Reserve. And oh, it's the perfect, it's
- 1:21:20the perfect blend. Yeah, he came out because he
- 1:21:23came out with five lines of Connecticut, a Habano, A
- 1:21:27Cameroon, a Colorado and a Maduro.
- 1:21:30So he kind of tried to cover all the bases.
- 1:21:33And I've smoked them. They're actually that
- 1:21:35Connecticut has like what you're talking about.
- 1:21:38It's got that creaminess, it's got that, it's got that spice,
- 1:21:42but it's not overpowering. That's kind of yeah.
- 1:21:47And if I Connecticut's, I think I do need to do 1, but that
- 1:21:52would be a great like, do you hear that honking in the
- 1:21:54background? Yeah, a little bit.
- 1:21:57Yeah, welcome to the neighborhood.
- 1:21:59Yeah, somebody, somebody's car alarm is going off.
- 1:22:01I heard it, but I just ignored it.
- 1:22:02I'm. Going to go close my door, hold
- 1:22:06that door I just hit. Up.
- 1:22:10I think we hit her up once before too.
- 1:22:12What's Yeah, messing up the flow,
- 1:22:44doesn't it? Doesn't it?
- 1:22:48Sound like home though? Yeah, it does.
- 1:22:51Always, said South Florida. South Florida is like New York
- 1:22:57with palm trees for real 5. Minutes to wind down the shelf.
- 1:23:05Yeah. So.
- 1:23:07Again, I want to thank you for coming.
- 1:23:08On. I'm going to reach out to you
- 1:23:12and probably get some more cigars.
- 1:23:14Yeah, man. Talking to your boys over at
- 1:23:18Black Stokes at the next month. Oh yeah, that's right.
- 1:23:22I heard. Yeah, you told me about that.
- 1:23:23That's good. Yeah, we'll be we'll be having
- 1:23:25them on on a Wednesday night. And I just hit up La Ferona
- 1:23:30again and next to the Corner podcast, she's.
- 1:23:33So busy, though, that's another one that's always busy.
- 1:23:35Yeah, but we can record her whatever.
- 1:23:37I don't. Care.
- 1:23:37Yeah, she's. Nice.
- 1:23:39Who you said La Ferona? Yeah.
- 1:23:42Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that'd be good.
- 1:23:47Jeff, I want to. Yeah, thank you for being.
- 1:23:49Thank you for the cigars. I thoroughly enjoyed them.
- 1:23:52Yeah, thank you for having me. Definitely would love to do it
- 1:23:56again for sure. Ever you put out your new cigar?
- 1:24:00What's up? You, you can roll and both want
- 1:24:02to come on again. You let us know and make it
- 1:24:04happen. Yeah.
- 1:24:05Can I give you guys the website? Absolutely.
- 1:24:08I was going to say it's website yeahamendolacigars.com.
- 1:24:15Right now I'm looking to get. I'm not going to be spamming
- 1:24:18people, but I want to build up a e-mail list so I could drop drop
- 1:24:24news about the release because I want to give like the people
- 1:24:28that follow me and my consumers like first dibs.
- 1:24:32You know, I don't want to, like I said, I don't want to go and
- 1:24:35sell out to all these stores right off the bat.
- 1:24:39I want, I want to be able to give like my people the
- 1:24:43opportunity to get them first. So yeah, go go to the website
- 1:24:49amendolacigars.com show on the e-mail list.
- 1:24:52I don't write a lot of emails, but I will drop news, updates,
- 1:24:57photos, videos of the factory, a little behind the scenes stuff,
- 1:25:02you know, And then that's where the store will be housed too.
- 1:25:05So you guys can check out there for all the releases and all the
- 1:25:08news and updates. And of course, follow me on
- 1:25:12Instagram. Amendola Cigarco.
- 1:25:15We appreciate it and yes, Sir, thanks for coming.
- 1:25:22On all right fellas have a good day thank you guys talk soon
- 1:25:25thank. You.
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