Ed Sullivan with Cigar Tech, Tips and Tools – HGG419
Ed Sullivan from The Cigar Authority and Ash Holes, and a long-time listener to Home Gadget Geeks is on this week to talk about Cigars. From the production line to the sales line, Ed gives us an update on the industry. Still a handmade product, cigars are resurging again as very popular products especially here in the United States. We cover humidors, humidification and temperature, bags and lighters and just about everything else that goes in making and smoking a good cigar. I think you will enjoy the show.
Full show notes, transcriptions, audio and video at http://theAverageGuy.tv/hgg419
Join Jim Collison / @jcollison and Mike Wieger / @WiegerTech for show #419 of Home Gadget Geeks brought to you by the Average Guy Network.
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Podcast, Home Gadget Geeks, cigars, smoke, cutter, humidor, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, tobacco, Ed Sullivan, The Cigar Authority, Ash Holes,
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Justin Simmons – Big thanks for the Bundaberg – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmw0u2G9kw
Ed Sullivan – Producer/Podcast Engineer at Sonic Cupcake Podcast Production – The Cigar Authority – https://thecigarauthority.com/
Ash Holes Podcast – https://theashholes.net/
Jim Collison [0:00]
This is The Average Guy Network and you have found Home Gadget Geeks show number 419, recorded on October 17 2019.
Here on Home Gadget Geeks we cover all your favorite tech gadgets that find their way into your home news reviews, product updates and conversation all for the average tech guy. I’m your host Jim Collison broadcasting live from the average guy TV Studios super beautiful Bellevue Nebraska Of course, we post the show, with worldclass show notes this week. So we post those to the average guy.tv. And and for this one, you don’t want to do the archive.tv slash HGG 419. You can also join us live on the mobile app Tony was going to be out on the road and the best way to join us on the road is to the mobile app, go to Home Gadget Geeks calm Android iPhone either way free you can download them best way to Listen live and on the road is streamed through our Spreaker app and we’d love to have you do that again free Home Gadget Geeks. com join the conversation in our discord group the average guy.tv slash discord or in our Facebook group the average guy.tv slash Facebook both seem to be moving along or humming along nicely so if you want to join us there as well you could do that a quick shout out to Justin Justin Simmons sent me some I know I have been practicing this because I didn’t want to get it wrong but Bundaberg Bundaberg rum he sent that to me from all the way from Australia. I guess it’s really good Australian stuff, you might want to go to the show notes. So the average guy.tv slash HEG for one night. I’ll have a link to a YouTube video that’s got a really funny song about just how the Australians I think, think about their run at least this kind of run anyways. It may not be the best to drink straight, you might want to cut it with something but man, it seems like you can get messed up so Justin, thanks for doing that. He also sent me a few cigars Anna, appreciate those. And if you want to do that, let me know I will always smoke cigars you send you at Sullivan has joined us tonight. Speaking of that, Ed, thank you for sending Mike and I couple cigars. I got to enjoy the one last night Mike hasn’t yet but thanks for sending those. I appreciate it while I’m home.
Ed Sullivan [2:15]
Is there any chance you might smoke? Mike?
Jim Collison [2:18]
Yes, there’s a good there’s a good there is a very, very good chance that that’s going to happen. But, Ed, welcome to Home Gadget Geeks, you are a podcast producer. And you are also you also do podcast here on shows you’re on the cigar authority. And so that’s really easy to find, by the way, just Google’s the cigar authority everywhere and you can you can do that. But how long have you been on that show?
Ed Sullivan [2:43]
So I’ve been producing that for two years just hit my two year anniversary. They’ve been doing this show for almost 10 so we’re coming up on the 500th episode. I think we’re at 498
Jim Collison [2:57]
weekly, a Saturday right Saturday live Is that right?
Ed Sullivan [3:01]
Saturday live from 12. Eastern to two and they have never missed a week has never failed to go live at noon for about the last 10 years.
Jim Collison [3:14]
That’s amazing just with all the technical things that can go wrong with all the people things that can go wrong with all the stuff that has to happen. We’re at 419 so I mean that’s that’s I’ve missed I probably missed for a year due to vacation or I was sick when we had you scheduled two weeks ago that almost never happens. I’m almost never sick
Ed Sullivan [3:35]
but no and you know with four people on the show if somebody can’t make it, the other people carry on.
Jim Collison [3:42]
Yeah, yeah. I very informative. If you’re a cigar guy or gal and you want to kind of get a variety of what’s going on the business who’s doing what some reviews, they smoke of live, great show the cigar authority is what it is. And how often do you think you’re on that?
Ed Sullivan [4:05]
on it in what is know
Jim Collison [4:06]
as far as camera being on camera I know you’re never on camera oh you’re you’re on every once in a while Are you Are they just talk about you?
Ed Sullivan [4:15]
They talk about well, I speak I have a speaking part okay but the production board is off to the side so
Jim Collison [4:22]
you’re always better
Ed Sullivan [4:24]
disembodied voice and I get to play all the sound effects and mess with the other hosts. Yeah,
Jim Collison [4:33]
yeah, it’s good show
Ed Sullivan [4:34]
and so fun we have a lot of fun doing it
Jim Collison [4:37]
in available in all podcast form you can subscribe on YouTube you can do all those things right?
Ed Sullivan [4:42]
all the places as I say nowadays you know yada yada.
Jim Collison [4:49]
Anything else when we think about what you do any other passion projects or things that you well do are on it you want to promote
Ed Sullivan [4:55]
Don’t forget them also on the shoals.
Jim Collison [4:58]
Oh yeah.
Ed Sullivan [5:00]
is on Tuesdays now at 4pm. Eastern net that goes out live to, you know, I work at the podcast studio. So all of the shows we have folks come in to do their shows we actually stream everything live. And then post show. I just, you know, pull the audio from net, do a little quick processing on it, and it’s out the door.
Jim Collison [5:28]
Yeah, it’s kind of what we do here. Very, very, very similar. Get it done a few edits, almost none and get them out, right.
Ed Sullivan [5:36]
Yeah, we’ve, I think in boy in a year and a half to two years counting cigar authority. I’ve done about 1000 episodes out of there. And I think I did three edits. Yeah, it’s going out the way it came out of
Jim Collison [5:52]
419 episodes. I’ve maybe done three edits on this, where people have kind of said, Hey, I made a mistake. Can you cut that part out? And sometimes that always says you’ve been easy, but we’ve got it done and how long you been smoking cigars?
Ed Sullivan [6:08]
Let’s call it about 30 years. Okay, so it’s been a while.
Jim Collison [6:11]
Yeah. And so you’ve actually seen we were talking about this in the pre show. you’ve actually seen I thought the golden age of cigars was kind of maybe the last five years but you said no, there’s they’ve been pop more popular than they are right now.
Ed Sullivan [6:24]
Our boom was, you know, a lot of what precipitated the cigar boom was cigar aficionado kind of came on the scene. And then I think a more general audience started to become aware of it. And really, I think at that time to with all of the economy.com stuff going on, I think it just really got some popularity, some sports figures, you know, start to be seen with cigars so it got a little bit of a cool factor to what and at that time, You know, became so popular, they couldn’t keep up with production Really?
Jim Collison [7:05]
So this is like 99, 2000, 2001. Yeah, that can Yeah.
Ed Sullivan [7:10]
Yeah. But it is a resurgence now. Yeah. It’s interesting. If you look at it, the country of origin changes over time, right? If you go back to pre embargo, which was what 1962 You know, it was all, not all but a lot of Cuban cigars. And then at one time, subsequent to that there were some from the Canary Islands, the Philippines. But then the Dominican Republic really emerged as the big one after that, but Honduras and now Nicaragua in particular is a hot area these days.
Jim Collison [7:55]
Yeah, I think I’ve heard that Nicaragua their number one export overall. Its tobacco to the United States. that’s by far their number one.
Ed Sullivan [8:05]
I would think that’s probably the case you know, I think they may have reached the top of the food chain and number of exports
Jim Collison [8:16]
so well in popularity to I mean, I think as I look at some of the cigar I you know, I get cigar magazines now and those lot of tobacco coming out of Nicaragua and and country it stabilize the country in a lot of ways. Course money does some amazing things. Not always countries, but when the money is good, life is a little bit better. And Nicaragua has not always been the most stable country but in the years that the exports have been good. It’s not what’s interesting on the tech side. cigar making hasn’t changed right in 200 years, right. Oh,
Ed Sullivan [8:50]
I would say it’s in that regard. It’s a lot like wine, right? Has it changed? Not really. There have been refinements right there. Not necessarily aging it in wooden casks anymore and cigars are similar that used to be all hand carved wooden molds, right, but now they’ve gone to plastic molds. Right and the factories have become much more sanitary you know, you see stainless steel rolling table so it’s definitely improved the actual process it’s a handmade product
Jim Collison [9:30]
yes still gathered by hand still rolled by hand still ended by hand still pressed into a into the mold by hand and oftentimes gravity is what holds the box like this come up and
Ed Sullivan [9:45]
right. harvested by hand.
Jim Collison [9:47]
Yeah, no. Yeah, even and I and I think I’ve been watching some videos on it over the last couple months because I’ve gotten I don’t do anything once I get into something I go like, you know, I go all the way in. So the different cuttings and how to keep your track of the different cuttings of the Leafs kind of based where they’re found on the plant, right in in the, you know, the Connecticut versus the non as far as the wrappers and the colors of those Right. I mean, so but that’s that doesn’t take a lot of tech, right? That’s still kind of old world right?
Ed Sullivan [10:16]
So it is still kind of old world but if you look even at technology advancements in agriculture, there have certainly been some the farming techniques have improved significantly, right. So, in terms of things like soil analysis, if you look at a company like Perdomo, I mean, he’s made his own equipment for certain things, right? So even with the seeds he’s planting, they’ll look at those under a microscope, right to say, okay, are there any imperfections in the seed, right, because once it’s in the ground, it’s out of your hands for a while, then they’ll do a lot with soil analysis to make sure that the soil is consistent from crop to crop. irrigation has changed, obviously. So a lot of it is in farming technique. The other thing is, you know, back in the cigar boom, boy, you might find 20 to 30% of them didn’t draw well. And they were making them fast. And now they’ve got drug testing machines and most of the factory so you do tend to get a more consistent product these days.
Jim Collison [11:30]
Yeah, I was. It’s interesting. I was watching a video and it’s just really just a tube, they put that in it. It’s got a little meter on it and just test the draw. And they’re just running those through by hand kind of, you know, thrown him in. I do imagine with this current boom, and I think it’s going to continue to get more popular. Yeah. Again, boom means more money, more profits. You had mentioned these cigar companies are still a lot of them family owned. Sure. Right. And so still small families in these countries that are running it. Do you think our Are we in? Are we in a spot maybe we’re corporate is like they did with with beer. I mean, American beer, you know, this craft beer movement took over and then now we’re having the bigger brewery starting to buy, right all the craft beer, right? Because something happened like that. And
Ed Sullivan [12:16]
if you look at the company out of Honduras from the original boom company called Camacho at some point, Davidoff which is a much bigger company came in and bought them out. So you know, there is some consolidation happening and some of the bigger companies like l Titus, and some of them have, let’s say, ties to more of the cigarette industry and they’ve sort of diversified into cigars. I think the positive note on that front is they’re finding there’s not enough money in it for them.
Jim Collison [12:53]
It’s a hard this is it’s a hard thing to manufacturing labor intensive to put these together. Right
Ed Sullivan [12:59]
there. You cranking out cigarettes, you know, vape product? This is all handmade.
Jim Collison [13:06]
Right? Yeah. But But I think more passionate consumers, don’t you think? I mean, one of the things you don’t have somebody, most people aren’t smoking five or six cigars a day like they would cigarettes where you might be smoking. People may smoke an entire pack in a day easily in some cases, but it seems like the people doing it, they’re more passionate, they’re more educated about it. And there may be willing to spend a little bit more, don’t you think? Oh, I think so. And if you
Ed Sullivan [13:35]
look at the manufacturers, a lot of them have been doing it in their families for generations. And you know, the next generation will take over and, you know, the point about cigars is, it’s really not the same addictive quality as cigarettes. You know, what I say to people is, did you ever see somebody run off an airplane to light a cigar? It really is. Not the same thing at all, you know, people tend to smoke fewer of them. They don’t inhale them. And it’s really an event, right? I’m gonna actually sit, I’m gonna relax. I’m going to have a nice cigar. So it’s very different from other tobacco products.
Jim Collison [14:17]
Yeah, kind of celebration. I mean, there’s often tied around celebrations or, or special events. And, and you’re right, and now this week has been an exception for me. My marine son was home and I wonder, I don’t want a special event.
Ed Sullivan [14:34]
Yeah. And, you know, I think the other thing about cigar smoking is it tends to be a very social event. You know, and I know, Jim, you’ve been going to some cigar lounges are people talk to each other? You know, it’s not that it’s a situation where I think it’s more social. Yeah. And what I love about cigar lounges is sort of the great equalizer, right? You’ll have the FedEx man sitting there with a blue collar guy with the CEO of a company. And everybody’s just having a conversation relaxing and enjoying their cigars.
Jim Collison [15:12]
Yeah. And I’ve kind of noticed as I’ve been perusing YouTube through the videos, there’s kind of a movement amongst at least the youtubers that I’m watching of, hey, let’s not get hung up on what’s right and wrong. Let’s get like, let’s do what we enjoy. So if you enjoy doing it, do it that way. Do you sense that as well?
Ed Sullivan [15:32]
Absolutely. And you know, I’ve said that for a long people get obsessive about it. Right? Well, you’re not cutting it right. And you know, this humidity is not well, why don’t you let everybody just enjoy their cigars?
Jim Collison [15:45]
Yeah, yeah. And
Ed Sullivan [15:48]
so there there are certain things you know, as a new cigar smoker, you kind of really need to figure out how to cut it properly. Yeah. know if you cut too much off, then this is good. can unravel on you if you cut past the cap of the cigar. If the cigar is over, humidified or not kept at the right temperature, then you enter a danger zone. You know, if you go too high on the humidity, the cigars will get mold on them. And at that point thrown in the trash. I don’t know about you, Jim, but I don’t want to smoke mold. You know, the one people are less aware of is the temperature danger. Right? So somewhere around even 72 degrees and 72 plus percent humidity, tobacco beetles can hatch. And they’re nice little boring creatures. not boring as hell but they’ll bore right through the wrapper leaf, even right through cellophane, so if you’re not careful, you can get an infection. station in your whole humidor. And, you know, some people have hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of cigars. So temperature becomes important as well. So, you know, for most folks, you want to find the coolest spot in your house to put your humidor if you’re really in a high temperature area without air conditioning, you’ve got to make accommodations to control temperature. And fortunately, there’s more products these days for that.
Jim Collison [17:33]
Yeah, and we’re going to talk about those here in just a second I want to let’s let’s start with some basics because I think sometimes when people think cigars they think of big box human doors, or they think about like, you know, their dad something their dad had or their grandfather had and and I’ve really kind of taken on to the new movement of kind of acrylic in a lot of ways and you can see I gotta you know, he missed out there. That Telling me temperature and and i think you know this is 76 I got a little warm because it’s sitting on my desk and I think the the heat from my computer’s is I’ll move this back into a cooler zone when we’re done here but good to know like a 76 69% I got this acrylic I also bought I went to Walmart and bought just a clear acrylic you know $6 waterproof air proof right so you can see them in MI. I mean is this Okay, and can I get Can I get away with kind of starting my cigars this way?
Ed Sullivan [18:39]
Absolutely. You know people will call those a tough adore.
Unknown Speaker [18:45]
humidor. Yeah.
Ed Sullivan [18:46]
You know, the only thing to be aware of and it’s not a problem for most folks is it is airtight whereas a wooden humidor really isn’t right. So cigars are still Aging and fermenting. Even, you know, once they’re in the consumers hands. So some folks will say you actually need to burp your top a door now and then so, you know, just and it happens naturally, if you’re smoking anyway, you’re going to open it to take a cigar, a little bit of air exchange is certainly helpful.
Jim Collison [19:22]
That’s good. That’s good to know. These just pop open like this, and then you can hear the seal. And man, I smell so good. I gotta put it back on.
Ed Sullivan [19:34]
You know, the thing for folks to be aware of though is then it becomes important to control the humidity right and have something that can actually absorb as well as add humidity to the air because especially in an airtight if you don’t have the right product, you’re going to over humidified those cigars.
Jim Collison [19:55]
Yeah, yeah. And that is that right product, so I’ve noticed the boba.
Ed Sullivan [20:01]
Ovid is a very popular product. And
Jim Collison [20:06]
right there you and I’ve got the 69 you know 69% humidity, and is that a great job? They do and, and let me just so for those who don’t know the bulk of the product, it’s a packet. It’s got some kind of substance inside it looks like a paper bag, a small paper bag of sort, and it’s got some gel or something in there that both adds and removes humidity based on the the spec that’s on it, right? So if it’s too humid, it’ll pull it in if it’s not human enough to put it out. pretty ingenious, especially if you’re in a tough a door. I know it. It’s keeping it consistent because I haven’t you’ve got one of these two you were showing earlier. We have a remote
Ed Sullivan [20:46]
right here. Normally it’s in the humidor.
Jim Collison [20:50]
Yeah remote temperature in in humidity sensor that sits in there. I think I paid maybe 2022 bucks 25
Ed Sullivan [20:57]
bucks for their relatively inexpensive you know Know that this particular product isn’t necessarily designed for human doors, but it works perfectly fine you know, I think they they sell it more as put it in your greenhouse or something.
Jim Collison [21:14]
Yeah, but work works out pretty well though sits sits right in there I she goes to my I have a Android tablet that that I actually run the software on. It sits on it’s telling me to it’s it’s 77 degrees. I need to get these to cooler.
Ed Sullivan [21:28]
It’s the Yeah, I mean, it’s a relatively rudimentary app, but it does what you need it to do. Yeah, I know you can set said alert if it goes below a certain range or above a certain range. So you know, I keep it in the humidor but that’s sort of my general house temperature alert to you know, if it goes below about 50 degrees. I know I got big problems,
Jim Collison [21:56]
but ya know, for sure, and we’re in this weird spot now in the fall. Where it’s not cold enough for the heat to kick on. But it’s the houses insulated well enough that it stays pretty warm. It won’t the air conditioner won’t come on and so we get kind of a little bit a few degrees warmer even in the winter. Yeah, we get a few degrees warmer in here. So I need this is probably the time of year this is the first fall that I’ve had a human door working and it’s probably one of those things because of the Beatles probably need to be careful. How long would it need to be at let’s say close to 80 degrees for those things to emerge Is there a time
Ed Sullivan [22:35]
you know it might be within a week or so but and it’s not a guarantee right some of the manufacturers now deep freeze their cigars and then you will not have a problem with beetles if you do that. The obsessive consumers sometimes will also freeze everything that comes into their house, but I don’t know that doesn’t hurt.
Jim Collison [22:59]
That doesn’t hurt the cigar does it does.
Ed Sullivan [23:01]
If you do a search, there’s a whole process, right? So you got to get it in an airtight bag. refrigerate for a little while first to let them start to adapt to it. And then into the freezer for I think it’s 72 hours, you know, but a quick online search will yield. But I’ve never bothered.
Jim Collison [23:23]
Yeah, yeah. And I’ve been in the year or two I’ve been doing this I’ve never had I know. It’s a legend thing. A lot of guys and ladies talk about you know, you don’t want to get those.
Ed Sullivan [23:33]
Well, you don’t I mean, it’s really bad if it happens
Jim Collison [23:37]
in the world, unless you have thousands of
Ed Sullivan [23:40]
cigars right. I’ve been smoking cigars for 30 years never froze a single one never had a single Beatles OJ.
Jim Collison [23:49]
But so it’s the one of the things that freaks people out. And so I think good to know if I was in a space and where, say I’m in a really, really dry area. zona, and it just doesn’t get the house doesn’t necessarily cool down to that, to that optimum temperature. It’s not I don’t want to throw in the fridge, right? This isn’t one of those kinds of things, right? Because the humidity will drop pretty severely at that. Yeah,
Ed Sullivan [24:12]
it’s very dry in the fridge. So you definitely never want them in there.
Jim Collison [24:17]
Could I could What about a wine if I had a wine fridge, which isn’t quite as cold can connect something like that work?
Ed Sullivan [24:24]
So you know, as it turns out, some companies are actually marketing their wine fridges,
Jim Collison [24:32]
if you and we can screen share here if you want to, if you want to show something we can do that you don’t have to buy Yeah,
Ed Sullivan [24:37]
I’ll describe it beautifully. Yeah. There’s a company called new air that really started out making wine coolers. You know, these are thermo electric, right? So they don’t have a compressor, which is part of what you know, with frost free refrigerators and all of that. That’s Part of what draws the humidity out of the space. So these will not draw the humidity out. And you can set the temperature where you want it. Right. So you could set it at you know 68 degrees. Now you still have to deal with Okay, how am I gonna humidified this? And there’s you know, lots of solutions for that. Some people you know for something of that size, you know, wine fridge sighs
Jim Collison [25:30]
What about I bought some of these gel pack? They need to be I need some water to him. But these Mr. Dry Mr. Mr. stat, I think it’s the way it’s pronounced. Yeah, you like these at all that that you can you can
Ed Sullivan [25:44]
throw in, they work well, you know, if you’re dealing with a big space, they actually sell separately humidifier cation beads, which are basically what’s inside of there. And you know, a lot of folks will just take a pound a little And throw them in a Tupperware container and add some distilled water to it.
Jim Collison [26:06]
Yeah, and I think that’s important that you use distilled. It is nice, right? You don’t want to add any any additional. But I’ve thrown them in to the acrylic around gets them and then I’ve got boba packs also in here,
Ed Sullivan [26:18]
you know they’re great for it just because they’re shaped like a cigar. Yeah. Oh yeah, it’s not taking up any extra space.
Jim Collison [26:26]
Yeah just sits sits nicely with the cigars. Yep. And this one’s a little empty. I’ve been smoking a few of them. So, this one I usually keep this very, very full.
Ed Sullivan [26:35]
Yeah, which is another point right? It works better if you have it, you know two thirds full right. So, the cigars themselves and once they reach the proper humidity level are basically serving as other humidifier cation units. Right. So, same thing is a refrigerator right? If you have a case of cold cans in there and you put one in a new One, it’s going to get colder than putting it into an empty fridge. It’ll get colder faster. So, yeah, then so
Jim Collison [27:08]
a good a good reason to keep them. Sorry, I’m half so it’s time to make a half is Okay, time to make an order
Unknown Speaker [27:15]
and you know worth it. Jim.
Jim Collison [27:19]
Is there a difference when we think about buying them? Is there a difference between buying online and buying locally from price wise for sure. But is there a difference? You know,
Ed Sullivan [27:32]
couple points on that. You know, somebody will say, Well, I paid this much for a cigar and somebody else will say, you know, you got ripped off? Well, not necessarily. It depends on where you bought it. Right, because every state has their own tobacco tax. And in fact, most of them are specific to cigars. Right, so I work in New Hampshire, zero tobacco, zero cigar tax 07 tax. Right. And then if you drive a mile down the road, Massachusetts has a 40% tax on cigars. Plus, I don’t know where we’re at like six and a quarter on the sales tax on top of the 40. You know, so it’s a compounding tax. Yeah. Now on the internet, it’s become somewhat interesting, right? Because most big operations now, I’m going to charge you whatever the sales tax is of your local municipality. But there are a couple of states who have legislation pending, I think one will go into effect, where they’re also going to require the internet shippers to collect the cigar tax. So before long at some point, the bargains may end on the internet.
Jim Collison [28:53]
So maybe a good maybe a good time to stock up on that. I’ve been For whatever reason I’ve been a Thompson’s cigar purchaser that’s just where I’ve chose I think them in cigars com or something are very similar the same companies. Is there any been very fair, I get a pretty good I’m a drew estates fan and I like those are infused and flavored and the some of those are things it’s what I enjoy their, you know and get them from two to $4 a stick, which you know, I bought it when you buy them and you buy them in bulk, you get free shipping and all those other kinds of things. Is that okay, is there better places to do it? Or if I was gonna do it online?
Ed Sullivan [29:32]
Yeah, what I would recommend to everyone is, is start now this doesn’t work for everyone. You may not have a local cigar retailer, right, but to get you educated and try some things right. You could go buy one single cigar Well, that’s not very cost effective on the internet, although a lot of them offer sampler packs. Yeah, you know, and really, that’s the best way To start, right try try a few different things because they’re all different in terms of flavor and strength. But if you can find a good local tobacco retailer, and I understand if you’re in a high tech state, well, that may not be financially feasible to keep buying from them. But, you know, as far as online goes, you know, there’s a whole bunch of good companies out there. You know, big ones that Cigars International is big, but yeah, I think they own Thompson’s now.
Jim Collison [30:38]
And maybe that’s what I was thinking. So our international Yeah,
Ed Sullivan [30:41]
yeah, I mean, a lot. There’s a lot of consolidation in that space. Sure.
Jim Collison [30:45]
And in the price has been, at least for me, and because I love sharing them. One of the things I’ve done is, you know, I buy a bunch, and then over time sharing with friends, and it’s given me a great opportunity to try different flavors. Different things. I’ve also noticed what you’re drinking with them can make a big difference as well. Right?
Ed Sullivan [31:07]
Huge difference. And, you know, I think there’s a lot of good pairings the rum works well if you think about it, that’s probably the predominant alcohol product in the countries where they manufacture cigars. So, it certainly is a pairing that happens quite a bit for me. I’m also a cigar taste tester for cigar journal magazine. And, yeah, when you’re doing that, you get water. That’s about it, ya know, cuz you really have to focus on the flavored cigar,
Jim Collison [31:50]
which kind of bummed me out. I’ve kind of enjoyed the pairing. You know, we actually had a really, we kind of had a dry read the other night, we were drinking and and it so I kind of looked for a cigar that I thought wouldn’t be too sweet. But necessarily wouldn’t have a lot of bite to it either. I’ve had, I’ve got some that have, they’re kind of just nasty and you kind of want some kind of want something rough with them. Right. And so for me and I think back to our beginning, I think for everybody this is different of kind of finding that sweet spot of like, what do you pair with what? Because I do think they just go really, really well together.
Ed Sullivan [32:29]
Yeah, and, you know, especially for something like a wine you can’t get a cigar that’s gonna completely overpower, right. So you know, you may go to something lighter to pair with a wine and you could go with something much more full bodied if you’re going to drink a bourbon or cognac or something like that.
Jim Collison [32:52]
Yeah, well and some of the sweet cigars I’ve even had a Riesling with. Oh yeah, it’s been it’s been delightful and So it’s one of those. I’ve spent some time now thinking through the pairings like oh, this would really go with this or for for, you know, I’m a big Java fan. And so Java latte, which is a pretty light cigar for photo
Ed Sullivan [33:16]
trainers, you could have that with coffee, right? Yeah.
Jim Collison [33:19]
And we were the other day we were at Havana having a garage, our local staff here in Omaha. And the gal Sarah came with me, she wasn’t smoking cigars, but she came just to enjoy the time and she was like, hey, do you guys have an Irish Coffee? And typically we make those which is Bailey, Bailey’s. And the gal said, Do you want Jamison in there as well? You do that. And so I have not been doing coffee a lot but that seems to me that I think that’s what I’m gonna. I’m going to try the next couple is coffee with one of those cigars that have the light you know, that might be a lighter So, so I’ve used the internet to kind of inexpensively. I try some things out. So that’s okay. I mean, so for most people, they wanted to try something, go into a local store if you can, but you can internet and buy a package. I see a Thompson’s I see sample packs for $30 that gave five or six or seven cigars to try
Ed Sullivan [34:20]
it, and then you get a good variety, you know. And once you’ve zeroed in, I mean, part of the reason I do like, local cigar shops is they get to know you, and they get to know what you like, right? So something new comes in that, you know, in your flavor profile. They’ll say, hey, this might be one you want to check out. And, you know, internet is just sorta, I don’t know, I’ll try that and see.
Jim Collison [34:49]
Yeah, you know,
Ed Sullivan [34:50]
but, again, once you find something you really like then you can buy in quantity. You know, most most places offer Box discount, so it’s cheaper by the box. Then it will be for single cigars. But now we’re starting to get into more storage space.
Jim Collison [35:13]
Yeah, or human edification more, you know, more division. Hey, speaking of that in my human doors, I don’t have any cedar anywhere in these. Am I doing it wrong because I’ve always been told you got to have some Spanish cedar, or it’s not a real humid or Is that true?
Ed Sullivan [35:32]
I don’t know if it’s true. It certainly doesn’t hurt anything right. So if you age something a long time in contact with Spanish cedar, which by the way, is not cedar at all. It’s in the mahogany family. Don’t put aromatic cedar near your cigars. But if you age, the one I turned to you, for example, is age in
Byron
Jim Collison [36:02]
and I cannot thank you enough for this cigar like, okay, let’s just Is it okay if I disclose the price on the hell Absolutely. So we looked him up and I’m kind of used to smoking online cigars that are four or $5. Like I a big cigar for me is 10 This was 30. And you were very, very generous to send this to me as I was worried about your further education. So I thought I’d take you all the way to the PhD level you you Okay, so you told me that and I’m not sure I necessarily believed you the whole way. Right? But then we we, I took this out last night because I couldn’t have you on the show and not have at least so v cut it because that’s the for me, that’s what I like most of the scars be cut. If it’s a boxed. If it’s box, if it’s square and box, I’ll punch it. And I’ve kind of gotten away from full cuts isn’t just just my preference. That’s what I like but started on this A little peppery to begin with, I think most cigars are Right, right. And then it’s settled into the most mild, smooth, delightful, delicious.
Ed Sullivan [37:08]
And you do catch a lot of cedar on, you know, in the background.
Jim Collison [37:13]
Yeah, it was. So I said to Sarah, you gotta try this. Like, she, she, she tried it, she’s like, Oh my gosh, that is legit. And so there is a big difference. Like, you know, this is a celebration, cigar hearty, good size, not Churchill size, but, but but a good you know, good length. Good, good. That’s that’s
Ed Sullivan [37:36]
probably a 52 or 54 ring gauge or
Jim Collison [37:39]
Yep, and
Ed Sullivan [37:40]
the ring gauge for whatever odd reason is the number of 60 fourths of an inch. So a 64 ring gauge would be one inch across. Mm hmm.
Jim Collison [37:54]
It’s well, it’s delightful. So again, thank you for doing that. You enjoyed this was the Reserva five annals Am I pronouncing that right five cinco cinco cinco
Ed Sullivan [38:07]
on come on. Sorry I Spanish though that one
that one. Well you’ve listened to the cigar authority in the way some of the folks butcher English language nevermind the Spanish language. But yeah, that one is interesting in that it is manufactured in Costa Rica. Mm hmm. And you know, there’s a few small factories in Costa Rica and you know, in the old days of cigars, you could say okay, I’m going to smoke a Nicaraguan cigar. Sure, because they grew all the tobacco in Nicaragua, and then they manufactured it there. Now there’s a lot more blending going on. So you may have, you know, four or five countries worth of cigar of Tobacco of origin from four or five different countries that they’ll blend so things have become more interesting and more complex in some of the taste.
Jim Collison [39:12]
I have also and let’s talk about lighter tech for just a second. So we talked a little bit about cutters, he doesn’t matter before we move off the cut right so I said v cut, you can straight cut it, you can watch it right those are kind of the three most common ways of doing it. Any you have a preference on what you do and do cutters matter I have a cheap little $6 be cutter that does the job. Do I need a $30 be cutter so
Ed Sullivan [39:37]
as with anything else in this world, I mean you get what you pay for right? The cheap cutters are as sharp as can be for not a long time. So as as soon as you know you start to feel any resistance because over time as they get dollar built Hair the rapper a little bit. VE cutters. Khalif Murray, the Culebra Yeah, they make the best v cut. And I say that because stay sharp virtually forever. And it’s a very deep VK. You know, the lot of the times the cheap ones are just kind of skimming the surface.
Jim Collison [40:23]
It gets pretty small. I mean, it’s a small cat across the top when I do it, would I get I would just get more of a draw the deeper it is.
Ed Sullivan [40:31]
Yeah, a little bit more. But you know, the reality is, I don’t know, it’s whatever people like not a big fan of the punch cut just because it’s a very small opening. And if it’s a big cigar over time, you’ll get a little build up, you know of tars and particulates in that small opening, but if you’re enjoying it, who cares?
Jim Collison [40:57]
Yeah, well, we we punch up the smaller The job Brand that I was talking about those are a really those are a lot smaller though I sure that seems to work well for those the lighter I have has a punch cut punch cutter on the lighter itself they’re usually
Ed Sullivan [41:13]
fairly small yeah that’s amateur
Jim Collison [41:17]
This one is not very not very big at all but we it’s in a pinch kind of comes in I send some people to off the
Ed Sullivan [41:26]
the old timers still bite the end
Jim Collison [41:29]
what cigars were made a little bit different to for the old timers where the torpedo the torpedo ends were a little more common and so you would bite that tip off right now.
Ed Sullivan [41:37]
And yeah, they used to make a lot more perfect Oh shapes, shapes cigars rather than what they call puree hoes, which are you know, straight sided. Oh, yeah. But you know, the important thing is cut it.
You know, you can’t smoke it till you cut it unless you got a cheap machine made.
Jim Collison [42:00]
I don’t say that too loud because Justin is trying to get me to smoke this thing right now in the chat room, so I have to be have to be careful there. So it can from a from a cutter standpoint, notice cutters, the cheap ones are a few dollars to the more expensive which while medium would be in the $30 range where the more 60 $65
Ed Sullivan [42:23]
at some point, you know, they go crazy and they become more decorative collectibles. Which then people put them on a shelf and don’t really use them.
Jim Collison [42:35]
Yeah, yeah. Well, I looked when I left mine outside, didn’t know it. The other night we were looking for the we’re going to go out and smoke and we’re looking for the counter. I’m like, wow, I must have left it in a pair of pants or something. Well, it’ll come up it’ll show up. So we get out there and we start and and then one of my one of my kids goes oh yeah, there’s your cutter and I had left it on the rail of the fans. It’s dark up there and I didn’t see it now. Okay, I left that cutter out overnight. not such a big deal there is that you
Ed Sullivan [43:03]
know, if you invest money, you are likely to leave it somewhere.
You know if you’re the kind of person who loses things yeah, just keep buying $6 disposable cutters.
Jim Collison [43:17]
Well and I’ve also learned like as I go to Havana, I cannot take cutters and lighters with me sometimes. The VN is crazy about the sometimes they they’re out of lighters or they’re all around it’s like now I’m just gonna take my own with me. I went on to Amazon and picked up some inexpensive lighters and I have seen some guys go crazy over these things. This is really just a one flame jet. So it’s a jet flame butane on the bar or not. It’s butane right on the bottom. Easy to fill. Gets me Oh, I don’t know three or four and evenings with people, multiple people using them which is pretty good. Some guys like the flame, some like both offline Yeah, well yeah software Yes. Yeah. Do you have an opinion or is there as we think about lighters do i do i need to get one because I’ve seen them where you they turn on the jet and you can flip them over to a sauna for the for the actual draw any opinion on that?
Ed Sullivan [44:16]
I think for cigars I mean, really the the jet flame lighters were designed for cigars, right. I mean, people obviously you saw flames before there were jet flames, but you know with a good jet lighter, you can hold it somewhat away from the end of the cigar and toasted a little bit before you go to light it. And the important thing is just make sure that it’s evenly lit to start right. You don’t want to start off on the wrong foot and then not have a good burn on that cigar. But it’s interesting, you know, I look at it a lot like razor blades, right? Originally there was one jet. Then there were two and then three and then four, you know, and I think the the most popular ones now are the three jet lighters.
Jim Collison [45:13]
And I think that’s that’s what this is on. I got it as a deal on Amazon 20 bucks. They were 24 two but they sent me for by mistake. So I’ve been given, gave one away to one of my kids excited to keep this in the store. We play poker, keep this in the grind. So we always have one that’s there. I’ve got another one just in case. Yeah.
Ed Sullivan [45:33]
Now the important thing on the refill is to make sure you bleed the lighter.
Jim Collison [45:38]
Okay? So and that just means run it all the way out.
Ed Sullivan [45:42]
And you don’t necessarily have to because what you can do is, you know, yeah, turn it upside down and let the propellant out of there, right because over time, you won’t be able to refill refill it completely right because you’ve Still got all the propellant in there. And so after a while people say, Okay, my letter doesn’t work anymore. Bring them into the store
Jim Collison [46:09]
and upside down and turning it on and in,
Ed Sullivan [46:11]
turn it upside down. And they actually make a bleed tool, right? So what you’re trying to do is on the little nipple underneath, and you could use this tip of a pen, or I’ve used a toothpick, okay, right, just to press that. And when it’s upside down, it’s really going to be the propellant that’s coming out of it. And you’ll know if there’s actual butane coming out, because you can feel how cold it’s coming out of there. And then that’ll let you get a full refill on it.
Jim Collison [46:44]
Yeah, these have been good and easy to refill clear on the side. So you can kind of see the fluid in there. And if I hold it up to it, it’s really easy to see and so I can kind of see where I’m at with that. In getting that done.
Ed Sullivan [46:58]
Let me grab my day. stuff off the desk.
Jim Collison [47:01]
Yeah, no right on Joe in the chat room while you’re doing that, john, the chat room says hippos are just so cool. And of course, when I was in the military, the guys that did smoke always had Zippo lighters, that sound that kind of patented sound as you flip that open Of course, that’s the soft. You get out of it early, so an old school, an old school Zippo.
Ed Sullivan [47:26]
And I have more expensive stuff than this. I just don’t use it anymore. You know, for a cutter
I use a straight cut. This particular one is made by Lotus. And it’s actually called the Lotus jaws cutter. There’s a little bit of a separation on each of the blades. I think those retail for about 30 bucks. And this is very similar to what you’re using Jim. It’s really
Jim Collison [48:00]
Yeah, I think those have become the most popular, don’t you think is Oh, yeah. RS. Yeah.
Ed Sullivan [48:04]
Oh, yeah. And you know, I think at the store where the studio is there about 10 bucks. Okay.
Unknown Speaker [48:13]
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker [48:14]
And this is the colleague Bry v cutter.
Ed Sullivan [48:22]
So, it’s hard to see here, but
if you can see the blade and where you put the cigar and you’re going to get a much deeper cut with that V, then you will on the cheaper plastic cutters.
Jim Collison [48:40]
And again, that’s kind of personal preference, right?
Ed Sullivan [48:42]
It is. Yeah, it is. You know, if you’re getting a good draw on the cigar, that’s what’s important.
Jim Collison [48:49]
Yeah, and I think it just takes practice. You gotta kind of, you gotta kind of figure out what you do. You had mentioned this early at the top of the show. I think one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about it is the social aspect of it like, I don’t want to go on my deck and do it alone. Like I’m not interested in. It’s not a it’s not a single player sport, right? I mean it. I want to be out there with somebody.
Ed Sullivan [49:10]
Yeah, people people relax and they tend to, especially us, men folk who don’t talk to each other, tend to relax and you know, I find I have better conversations with people when we’re sitting in smoking a cigar.
Jim Collison [49:27]
Yeah. Yeah.
Ed Sullivan [49:30]
Yeah, so let’s hit a couple things on humidity.
Jim Collison [49:35]
Yeah. 70. Do I is that is that do I have to have 7070 degrees 70% humidity, and I’m sure gunnin for that for a
Ed Sullivan [49:45]
while and you see all kinds of stuff. The ideal 7070 that was kind of
I don’t quite want to go with propaganda but that was put out in marketing live. I think there was a product originally called 7070. And as luck would have it, if you mix propylene glycol 5050 with distilled water, it has the property of maintaining 70% relative humidity at 70 degrees. Okay, so 7070 is safe, right? You’re not going to get mold, and you’re not gonna get any tobacco beetles. Does that mean it’s the right humidity for that cigar? I think not know. I’ve got active humidifier and mines dialed in. I was going to check it but I have all of them out right now.
You know, right. Last time I checked, I was running at about 64%
Jim Collison [50:53]
a little lower. Little Oh,
Ed Sullivan [50:54]
yeah. And really what that’ll do is I find the burn a little bit better. Okay, you know, a little bit drier, some folks will keep them at 70% and then even drive box and for a day or two, take them out of the humidor.
Jim Collison [51:12]
Yeah. And I kind of keep mine that 6869 and then that’s perfectly fine. Yeah, works. I don’t throw in a bag. And so I have a little Ziploc bag that when I’m when I go to Havana, let’s just bring our own so you just buy the drinks and they let you smoke your own.
Ed Sullivan [51:27]
Yeah, and you know it in a Ziploc bag. They’re actually going to keep fine. Yeah, for a week. Maybe more. Okay. You know, I mean, without even throwing a boba in there. So, yeah, you know, because especially if you’re keeping them at 70. Okay, you lose 5% humidity in a week. Guess what, it might smoke better.
Jim Collison [51:50]
Yeah, it might. So this one’s sitting out. It’s kind of bothering me that it’s sitting out right now because I want to,
Ed Sullivan [51:55]
it’s not harming
Jim Collison [51:56]
it. I know. I know. I know. It’s not but it’s what I am. I don’t when I do things I go crazy like I I am not. I am not normal about these things. I can see him in the humidor.
Ed Sullivan [52:09]
Yeah, in fact, in the studio, I probably have some stashed away with no humidity. I might smoke them two weeks after me no harm no foul. Is it optimal? No. Do I enjoy it? Yeah.
Jim Collison [52:23]
Yeah. Is there any tricks? You said you had a bunch of different humidifier or or ways of measuring? Or those are those different measuring devices? You have to measure you humidity that you have out there?
Ed Sullivan [52:36]
Yeah, I mean, I’ve got the one you have, which is Bluetooth, and that’s made by a company called go v. Yep. Probably a Chinese company. I didn’t really research it. Then they also make one that Wi Fi and and for whatever reason the part that measures the humidity tends to Be a whole lot bigger, maybe because they actually want to put triple A batteries in here and make it more replaceable. But when you buy that it, it comes with a unit, you just plug right into an outlet that actually handles the Wi Fi. And then I’m not 100% sure whether it communicates Bluetooth back to this device or it’s some other proprietary communication
Jim Collison [53:31]
but a very big be one of the Yeah, yeah.
Ed Sullivan [53:34]
So it works. Well. You know, it’s a map, right? It’s just, it’s just the Wi Fi unit. And so I can when I’m at work, make sure my cigars are safe. Although, you know, if you stop to think about it, does that matter at all? No, really?
Jim Collison [53:54]
No. Every once in a while, like, hey, what temperature there? Oh, there okay.
Ed Sullivan [53:59]
It’s It is fun, but you know how it is with that stuff. You just sort of get obsessed about it. And then one day you realize, yeah, I don’t think it matters.
Jim Collison [54:09]
Yeah. Now,
Ed Sullivan [54:10]
you know, it’s the let’s call it the same trajectory is the Fitbit for most people. You become absolutely obsessed, you know? Yeah.
Jim Collison [54:19]
Yeah, for a while for a time.
Ed Sullivan [54:22]
And then
Jim Collison [54:22]
you kind of get longer.
Ed Sullivan [54:24]
You you reach a state of equilibrium at some point.
Jim Collison [54:28]
Yeah. Yeah. But
Ed Sullivan [54:30]
yeah, I mean, so for this, you know, I think make sure that when you’re connecting it, I put it on my lock down. Guest Wi Fi network, because you are giving it the password. Yeah. To Chinese companies.
Yeah, yeah. No, you’re kind of opening up your network a little bit.
Jim Collison [54:54]
Do you deploy any other tech to kind of help you Enjoy this this this habit know
Ed Sullivan [55:04]
hey you know it really like you say it’s not a big
technology thing right this this is kind of traditional old school stuff
Jim Collison [55:15]
sort of right i mean when we talked about the the farming industry for tobacco it’s changing it that’s changing but I think also the way we store them is changing in some ways to and the devices we use and the different you know this the different kind of humidifiers or the different human doors
Ed Sullivan [55:32]
if we want to go back to the antique
human doors. Those were mostly wood but actually a lot of clay and ceramic jars as well. And you know so what’s old is new again, just the acrylic jar. Now,
Jim Collison [55:51]
these come and you can buy them in a ceramic jar right there beautiful jars, you know,
Ed Sullivan [55:55]
they’re starting to move away from that, guess what, they weigh a lot and They don’t ship well. No, they’re beautiful. But they for those now they come in very nice box that has a built in humidifier cation unit. So even when you’re done with the cigars, you essentially have a humidor that you can use.
Jim Collison [56:18]
It’s an $800 box, though.
Ed Sullivan [56:20]
Yeah, it’s not not cheap.
We did have one guy when the guy who manufactures cigars a guy named Nelson Alfonso, he was in the store for an event and one guy bought eight boxes that day. Oh my gosh.
Jim Collison [56:39]
Well, yeah, when you have that kind of money and you don’t really care that
Ed Sullivan [56:43]
you might as well smoke what you like, right.
Jim Collison [56:45]
All right on I listened I went 25 in a box.
Ed Sullivan [56:49]
Yeah, those are 25.
Jim Collison [56:50]
So you know, to 200 not okay. That’s be fun, fun to have friends over
Ed Sullivan [56:59]
and Say everybody have one.
Jim Collison [57:02]
One of the best cigars you’ve ever you’re ever going to smoke, right? Yeah. Would you say you’ve smoked Cubans? So many? How do you think this compares? You know, there’s this myth around Cubans, right? everybody’s like, Oh, it’s a Cuban. Is it real now or has Nicaragua and Costa Rica and everybody else caught up?
Ed Sullivan [57:21]
Everybody else has surpassed them. Okay. You know, I was, was in Cuba 2000 ish writer writer almost 20 years ago, and I’ve heard from people who have been recently it hasn’t really changed. They haven’t really upgraded anything, you know. And then they had a real problem with the wrapper leaf at one point, a problem with blue mold. So they actually started experimenting with hybrids. And this is curl Whoa. Is that variety of rapper and it’s never been as good again. You know, I would say in the late 90s, early 2000s I don’t know conservatively I smoked thousands of Cuban cigars, and they’re very different today. The other thing is they are still made with single origin tobacco, it’s all Cuban. So you get more interesting things happening when you know, let me take a rapper from Ecuador, a binder from the United States and filler from Nicaragua, you know, it’s Yeah, it’s a whole different world of blending.
Jim Collison [58:37]
Yeah, well, it’s become the craft beer I think of cigars are absolutely
Ed Sullivan [58:41]
and there’s a company called Roma craft. And that’s their big thing that they are a craft company.
Jim Collison [58:51]
Yeah, well in their craft or boutique cigar companies now.
Ed Sullivan [58:57]
There are there’s a whole boutique thing that goes On and, you know, it’s really cigars have a strong parallel to wine, right? Because as people say, well, is French wine the best? Well, it’s good. Is it the best that’s kind of up to you to decide, right? California makes some pretty good stuff nowadays. And much like what happened with me, you know, people taking cuttings, really from France, right, same, same thing, same variety, and you planted in California, guess what, you don’t get the same line. And so almost all of the seed is Cuban seed. It was smuggled out of Cuba, and then grown in places like Nicaragua, but now you’re dealing with soil differences and climate differences. And Nicaragua is interesting in the they have a lot of different soil types. They’ve got some very volcanic soil and Then they have microclimates. So you could grow the same thing in different places in Nicaragua and get a different result. And you know, Connecticut was a big cigar tobacco production side a lot of that has gone the way of development shopping malls and the like and it’s difficult to because you can’t compete on labor cost with Nicaragua and those cheaper companies for a long time you know, Connecticut had two big things Connecticut broad leaf use for rapper and Connecticut shade right that’s the light one. Then Oh while back they kind of figured out and the shade is interesting. If you’ve ever seen a grown they they basically put cheese cloth tents over it, you know to shade that tobacco, then I think a genius figured out It’s kind of cloudy in Ecuador so really they are growing you know, they took the seeds and they’re growing Connecticut shade and Ecuador almost all of the Connecticut shade cigars today are made with Ecuadorian rapper. Oh,
Jim Collison [1:01:18]
well in the US I mean, they’re adjusting was mentioning Australia where he lives they’ve gotten pretty aggressive about really putting the clamps down on cigar Australia is one of the toughest places on the planet now to be a cigar smoker. And there’s some in the US it’s easier, but we we are we have gone through and we continue to go through a pretty a pretty strong anti tobacco lon here, you
Ed Sullivan [1:01:46]
know. Yeah, I mean, the scar industry has taken a big hit in recent years because of vape.
Unknown Speaker [1:01:54]
So, sure, oh,
Ed Sullivan [1:01:56]
everyone wants to regulate vape Well, on 40 Generally, and this is a fairly recent thing within the last five years, the FDA decided they need to regulate cigars in the same way that they regulate cigarettes. So what that means on the cigarette side is you can’t put new product out without going through FDA testing, which costs many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Well, guess what we’re not. If you’re in the cigar business, you’re making small quantities of, you know, a handmade product, you’re not, you know, manufacturing your hand making these things. So, you really, it may become impossible, depending on which way the FDA goes to introduce new cigar products.
Unknown Speaker [1:02:50]
And that’s kind of a shame.
Jim Collison [1:02:53]
Well, it’s always a lobby, and it’s always it’s one of those things we’re going to fight if you’re in Australia, we feel for yet but there’s always a I mean, it’s it’s, it is one of those things and it’s open. It’s just a part of getting around things. I think a lot of Americans wish they could get more Cubans, of course. Yeah. Otter and
Ed Sullivan [1:03:10]
you can’t get them. It’s the forbidden fruit. Yeah. And I think in Australia, they’ve gone to generic packaging. Okay. And it’s also a shame because if you’ve seen some of the boxes, I mean, there’s cigar art, really beautiful packaging. I mean, if you look at the band on that, Byron, and there’s a lot going on, I mean, somebody spent a lot of time in design on that. You notice they’ve got raised gold.
You know, so a lot of the designs are very elaborate.
And, you know, that’s part of the tradition.
Jim Collison [1:03:52]
Yeah, it’s a beautiful product. Right? I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s just a beautiful, it’s a beautiful product and a beautiful experience. I do It is one of those things. Okay, so let me let me say this here at the end of the program as we think about this, I am in no way I’ve had some folks say to me, Jim, why are you encouraging? You know, I was a runner for a lot of years. And in fact, for the last 10 years, five marathons, big
Ed Sullivan [1:04:16]
list, you know, long distance cycling, is what it interfered, not one bit with it.
Jim Collison [1:04:22]
Yeah. Well, I’ve had some folks you say that, but I’ve had some folks who say, Jim, are you promoting a really bad habit or a really bad? And I, I don’t want to add, we don’t need to argue about it, or we don’t need to talk about it too much. I want to tell the listener if you’re if you’re thinking that, you know, I can’t believe I sat through this, like, here’s an hour of my life, I’m never gonna get back. And am I going to turn Home Gadget Geeks into a cigar podcast? No, no, that’s what we have the cigar authority for like, go go listen, go over and listen to scar authority. But I’m not gonna if you don’t want to do it, don’t if you want to do it. It’s It is one of those kinds of things, there’s a lot worse. But it is one of those kinds of things that I’ve I’m looking forward to for the next. However long I’m laughter enjoying it as a thing we do with with friends in in folks who enjoyed that as well. I have certainly enjoyed it. And so you make your if you’re listening, you make your own decision. There’s no not trying to pimp anything or push anything or say you got to do this or you got to get into this. You’re not comfortable with it. Don’t do it. I didn’t do it till I was 50. Like it was late 40s. But it’s probably for me. I’m so crazy about these things. It’s probably a good idea. I waited for me till I was the fact that I’ve smoked for this week. You know, you’re kind of like okay, that’s probably a little for me. That’s a little more than I kind of wanted to do maybe one on one every other week.
Ed Sullivan [1:05:50]
Yeah, I think you make a good point. I don’t enjoy fishing, so I don’t know. Yeah, really. I think I’ve found this Especially with cigar smokers, they tend to be considerate. Right? I mean, they’re not out to interfere with anybody else’s enjoyment of life of fresh air, they tend to go to specific places, smoke their cigars, and not to interfere with everybody else’s right to pursue whatever they wish.
Jim Collison [1:06:24]
Yeah. Yeah. And I’ll just keep it that way. Like that’s one of those. That’s one of those kinds of things here in the community. One of the things I’ve always appreciated and, and you’ve been a, you’ve been listening, you’ve been in our community a while I was kind of surprised when you first reached out to me, right?
Ed Sullivan [1:06:38]
Yeah. I mean, I enjoyed the show. Yes. I was in tech for 34 years before I decided okay, I’ve had enough. Although, you know, I don’t know where Where’s Wieger this week?
Jim Collison [1:06:53]
Oh, yeah, I didn’t mean I just blew him off.
Ed Sullivan [1:06:55]
He had more interesting but
Jim Collison [1:06:56]
you are to be asked and Mike had a family obligations he pinged me on Wednesday. He was like, Hey, you think you could just talk to Ed? And I’m like, Yeah, I think we can I think at night. So he took the night off
Ed Sullivan [1:07:10]
on last week’s show. He almost had me hooked on that iPhone 11 talking it up, but I’ve been an Android guy since forever, you know, and I’ve been thinking, Okay, maybe I should move over to an iPhone. The, the big impediments for me are deeply embedded in Google Voice. Yeah, just because I work for mobile companies for years, right? So I would have to test multiple carriers. And it’s so much easier for me to you know, okay, I’m just going to grab an at&t sim and plug it in here and my phone number doesn’t change. All right, I got to go to Verizon. Now. Even recently, I thought, I don’t know if you have looked at visible horizons pays you go plan 40 bucks a month all in. And I thought, hmm, all right, I got a coupon code. I’ll spend 20 bucks. I’ll get a sim. And if I if it works for me, yeah. Yeah. hard to beat. Yeah, they they throttle it at about five megabits per second. Okay, which Yeah, for some people listen, if you’re going from work to home and you know you’re on Wi Fi. That could be a perfectly workable solution for you, but for me, it just wasn’t going to cut it. Then yesterday, I think was yesterday. b&h photo sends out an email and says, Hey, if you preorder the pixel for will give you $100 gift card. I said, All right. Oh, man.
I got one of those on the way.
Unknown Speaker [1:08:51]
Yeah,
Ed Sullivan [1:08:52]
the other tough thing too is if you’re on Android, I’m used in podcast addict, subscribe to rough 120 podcaster wow and I’m thinking
Unknown Speaker [1:09:04]
I can’t go put all those in
Ed Sullivan [1:09:06]
again I just who knows how much time I left I have left on this earth
that was kind of the final decision was just not gonna move by
Jim Collison [1:09:19]
now I think that you can export and the file move it and then pull it back there’s yeah no I get
Ed Sullivan [1:09:25]
that for a living i get i get my life now
Jim Collison [1:09:29]
and one of the in the chat room shadow shadow PO or maybe the supposed to be people says how did you deal with the transition from it just left when it job for another now only five minutes from home thankfully, any recommendations on getting out which is I don’t know if I’ve ever kind of covered this on my show. But as you’ve transitioned out of it, how’s that gone?
Ed Sullivan [1:09:51]
My biggest recommendation is make a lot of money.
Unknown Speaker [1:09:55]
No hobby. I
Ed Sullivan [1:09:56]
most recently this goes back to 20 17 I was at a medical technology company, publicly traded company, VP of Engineering and I had teams in Lexington, mass, San Francisco, right downtown and Santa Cruz.
Jim Collison [1:10:18]
And I was great place.
Ed Sullivan [1:10:21]
It’s a great place. I worked at a company whose headquarters was in Santa Barbara one time. But the thing is, if you’re on the East Coast, really going out to California twice a month wears on you. And at some point, a private equity company came in to buy the company I was at. I said, Okay, this is not going to end well. But let me give it a quarter and see how it goes. Yeah, I stayed a quarter and the guy I went there to work for Well, he’s gone already, right. So I went in to see my boss that didn’t know me and said Yeah, I’m gonna be leaving the company. And he said, I’m really sorry to hear that. Where are you going? I said, just to my house. You know, so I really I intended to go back. Right. But I think you were talking about commutes last week.
Jim Collison [1:11:17]
Yeah. And yeah.
Ed Sullivan [1:11:18]
So all the jobs are in Boston now. Really? Anything you’d want to work on Boston, right? Um, I’m only 23 miles away. That would be over three hours a day of commuting for me shadow. And so I look at jobs and say, yeah, I’m not going to take that that’s in Boston. I had Lucas Helmand say, Yeah, I don’t want to work on that. After six months, I realized, guess what, I’m out of that business now. So I thought, What do I like to do and actually went and worked in the cigar shop retail for a while. And they just opened the podcast studio two years ago. I said, All right, that looks like fun.
Do that. Yeah. I thought
Jim Collison [1:12:02]
I, I’ve contemplated it. Like I’ve enjoyed the scar so much. I’m thinking, Okay, maybe in the next decade, I’ll learn enough that I can in kind of semi retirement, right? Well, kind of work in a store. You know what really matter?
Ed Sullivan [1:12:15]
What really happened is, you know, I sort of felt guilty, because now I’m not working. I painted every room in our house, so my wife wouldn’t yell at me. And then she said to me one day, can I ask you a question? I said, Yeah. Are you ever gonna get another job? Gee, I’m not really sure. She said, Well, you at least have to cover the cost of your cigars. Yeah. I thought, here’s a great idea. I’ll go work at the cigar shop. I’ll get a discount problem. So
Jim Collison [1:12:48]
do you guys with the podcast you get reviewed? Do they send you review cigars to to try and how does that work? Yeah, I mean, maybe I need to get more into that space.
Ed Sullivan [1:12:58]
Yeah, you do. I don’t really want to reduce cigars I just wanna smoke them. No you don’t because as an example I mentioned I’m a blind taste tester for cigar journal magazine. So last month, a bag of 13 cigars shows up and okay get us the reviews in two weeks. Yeah. And you know you don’t get the same enjoyment out of it. And guess what, some of them are not good. Yeah.
Jim Collison [1:13:25]
Yeah, well, I really enjoyed last night Even though it was kind of like Okay, I gotta get this cigar smoke and obligation at that. I couldn’t I couldn’t look you in the eye and come on the program like hey, I sent you these are really nice cigars. And they’re still in humidor. And it was really fun to one to know they had been sent by you which is great. It’s always fun to to do that when somebody else gift him Justin sent me some and I will enjoy those two as it’ll be nice this thought of. They were a gift. I give so many of these away. myself with to my kids or to my co workers right when we do this. So to get them from somebody else is is pretty great. And then just to sit on the deck for two and a half hours in the dark I’ve I built this deck especially it’s funny when I was building it I didn’t know I was going to do this but I built this deck particularly to sit out in the evening and enjoy the night sky. And why not with a cigar and so that’s worked out pretty well and then technology wise I talked to Justin for because I was thanking him I got the box and I got the rum from him. And I said I was just saying thanks and we had this we had this conversation and steps and pictures and you know, I got a picture of me smoking a cigar with him and he’s like I hate you because he was at work so just even virtually fun to do it that way.
Ed Sullivan [1:14:50]
See that’s part of the reason I work in that studio. I how many places Can you smoke at work and
Jim Collison [1:14:57]
yeah yeah They have air filtration systems for in there as well. And that’s another that’s another bit of tech. Maybe we’ll save it for another show. But that’s another bit of tech right as is an H vac that that removes all the smoke, right?
Ed Sullivan [1:15:14]
Yeah. Actually, that’s what I met we downsized our house and that’s what I miss most about the last house. We built it. I had my custom built cigar room. It was over the three car garage 625 square feet and I put in separate HPC for that room. Right so it was actually pulling fresh air in research relating air so worked out well. Now, I can’t smoke at home.
Unknown Speaker [1:15:48]
I had to get a job or I could smoke.
Jim Collison [1:15:51]
Did the the buyers when they bought it to they know what they were getting there that it had been a smoke room. They did.
Ed Sullivan [1:15:58]
Okay, I did this Make a secret of it. But yeah, I mean, the reality is if you’re smoking in the room all the time, yeah, you’re gonna have to repaint every time. No doubt.
Jim Collison [1:16:10]
Well, but it’s in I was watching a YouTube video and we’ll wrap it here in just a second but I was watching a YouTube video and the guy painted it like a jet black. The walls like a jet black and it looks he had really dark furniture and he had and it looks pretty good.
Ed Sullivan [1:16:25]
Yeah. furniture, no carpets, no drapes. My walls were painted to start with kind of nicotine stain.
Jim Collison [1:16:37]
start that way.
Ed Sullivan [1:16:38]
warm brown color. They wouldn’t suffer too much.
Jim Collison [1:16:43]
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and thank you for that one reaching out to me and saying, Hey, have you thought about talking about this? And while it’s not necessarily super tech heavy, I think there’s a lot of tech and I just, it’s my show and I can do whatever I want.
Ed Sullivan [1:16:58]
Just to get better. I appealed to you. I noticed you just talked about drinking one day.
Jim Collison [1:17:05]
We did it. We don’t do it all the time. Next week, we’ve got the we’ve got the guys coming from next cloud. And it will be very techie in that point, but I think actually, the one you said was the BBQ you were like, Hey, you guys talk about grilling all the time. Could we do a cigar one? And I think we should maybe think about doing this every other you know, every every six months or so whenever it comes up and everyone hated it first, Jim. There’s always now I think there’s always haters, there’s always gonna hate, but
Ed Sullivan [1:17:36]
they actually produce a barbecue show too. So that one’s a lot of fun. Well,
Jim Collison [1:17:41]
we may need it. We may need to come Mike, Mike Howard, who was who was doing that show got really sick. And he’s doing he’s doing better now. He has really bad cancer. And so he’s been going, Yeah, he’s been doing the whole, you know, not chemo, but he’s been taken all the poison to kill. And, and so I need to check in with him but certainly he has not been feeling well and so now that I know that and I know you got a great microphone, we made a
Ed Sullivan [1:18:10]
barbecue I know that you love the guests that comes in with real equipment. I produced so many and I had one it was on pit life barbecue. He joined in his car I said oh, this isn’t gonna go well then he decided he was going to start driving
Jim Collison [1:18:31]
schedule yet check your schedule if it’s so tight that you got us drive during a podcast.
Ed Sullivan [1:18:36]
It depends on the guests you’re getting to a lot. Just don’t know tech at all
Jim Collison [1:18:41]
true. No, that’s very true. Very true. Tony said in the chat room. I don’t even smoke and I like the show. So we got one. We’ve got one thumbs up hopefully.
Ed Sullivan [1:18:52]
One person likes me. I’m good.
Jim Collison [1:18:55]
Well, I like you at all right guy we got to now you’re good now.
Ed Sullivan [1:18:59]
Wieger we don’t Even
Jim Collison [1:19:00]
though now he’s a little sketchy, I’m just gonna be honest, that guy gets in and out of things faster than anybody I know he’s an attorney, right? Yes. I said strike number one. Strike number one. Well, Ed, thanks again, hang tight here, we’ll do a little bit of an hour. But a couple reminders as folks, as we think about wrapping this up. If you want to financially support the show, you can do it really one of two ways, Patreon ZZS, the average guy.tv slash Patreon or you can send me cigars that works to that works that actually, if you got a favorite, they’re pretty light and they don’t cost that much to ship. If you got one you want to send it and I’ll review it for you, like I did with EDS, and I’m going to do with Justin’s coming up and some others that we’ve done. I think Joe sent me to Joseph, he sent me one as well. You’re welcome to send them just email me Jim at theAverageGuy.tv. I give you my address. It’s a lot of fun. Likewise, if you want some recommendation recommendations, or you just want to chat about it, let me know love to, I love to talk about it and now we know Ed as well and so we can certainly Get some good recommendations on that as well. Don’t forget you can subscribe to the show or really not download the show player. Do you want to get it I think Tony did that tonight Home Gadget Geeks calm free for Android and iPhone you can do that I think our Patreon subscribers there, they helped me pay the $200 a year to keep those apps running and actually it’s a steal at 200 bucks on Spreaker because they do all the hard work and it just works for me just to be 100% honest so you can get that Home. Gadget geeks.com We are live and one more thing Don’t forget Maple Grove partners. If you need any kind of hosting fast reliable from people that you know and you trust Christian of course is behind that. I know I know and I need to get him on a cyber frontiers it’s coming. Maple Grove partners comp plan start as little as $10 a month and a couple of you have jumped on there and I just get great reviews and I really appreciate Christian in his sponsorship of the show as well. We are live every Thursday 8pm Central nine Eastern out here theAverageGuy.tv live stop Hello Fresh got a whole new Hello Fresh coupon lyst for you So if you want to try a week for free, I don’t make any money off but I don’t want to make any money off but I just want you to have great delicious food. Let me know Jim at the average guy.tv and ship your code will be back. Stay if you’re listening live stay with post show with that guy.
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