Episode 36 | My Father La Gran Oferta Lancero | Cappuccino

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. And we are back for another episode of the Sticks and Stones podcast. The Sticks and Stones podcast is where we talk about life. We talk about love, and we talk about the brotherhood of the leaf, premium tobacco products. And today, we are I just got back from the uh there was a local event, my father's event at the Cigar Heaven, and I was there picked up some some stuff, so probably some good stuff. Couple of Don Pepins that I haven't tried yet, and I saw this little guy, the La Grande Oferta. And I have been slowly joining the Lancero movement. These things are [ __ ] packed with flavor. Because it's it's mainly binder and wrapper, not a whole lot of filler. So, this is like this is Flavortown, guys. Flavortown. So, I'm going to remove the ribbon. I actually thought it was going to be warm outside, so I only had my polo on, then I had to go grab this hoodie because it's it's pretty damn chilly. I'm not going to lie. The weather across the country has been pretty schizophrenic lately. One day it's hot, the next day it's cold. This is why people are getting sick. A lot of colds and viruses going around. Snippy, snippy. Snippy, snippy time. Let's give this a light. And I am enjoying a three-shot cappuccino. So, three shots of espresso and a little special mix of whole milk and heavy whipping cream, no sweetener. Trying to limit my intake of sugar. I'd love to limit it to nothing. So, I had this conversation yesterday about lighting cigars, and I agree that lighting your cigar with a cedar spill or even a match is better than a torch, but people don't have time for that. Like this the cedar spill will die out before you can light it. You may have to use several to get a cigar lit. The matches, cigar matches have the sulfur on them, so you get a little bit of a nasty bit of sulfur. You know, the torch just works because it's just a factor of speed. And we are off to the races. And so far, holy [ __ ] This is This is [ __ ] good. I had a different lancero last night, and it was like It was like trying to drink a McDonald's milkshake. It was the draw was so hard. No, ma'am. I'm good. Thank you. I put that thing down right away. Oh, man, the draw on this thing is amazing. Silence my phone while recording. Flavor town. Damn. You know, the one thing that you got to say about My Father's Cigar Company is if you look at I'm not going to say all, cuz I think the Cameo one is is pretty sparse as far as detail in the band, but the detail in the graphic design in most of their labels, I mean, is is really top-notch. You know, there's a lot of intricate artwork that kind of kind of intermingles, and there's like images of the tobacco fields, and their logo is really, really cool. And then there's a lot of like old-world design and seals, and like gold leaf. I mean, it's well done. I do like the My Father's brand very much. Man, this thing is great. So, I I didn't notice this before, but under the My Father's logo, there's it says Garcia and Garcia. I mean, cuz obviously the Garcia family, but never noticed that before. Let's find out about this particular stick. Let's see. While I'm doing that, you know, we go through life, and we go through ups and downs, right? Wins and loses. Recently, I had a few losses. And what do you do when you go through a you hit a speed bump, you hit it a pothole in life, do you spiral down? I think, my personal opinion is when you hit a speed bump, when when your life gets the runs, when when your life gets the shits, you know, you get the Taco Bell's and things are not going your way and everything kind of goes sideways, there's there's a couple of ways that you can go. You could like you can wade in the [ __ ] you know, you could just sit there and be status quo. You can spiral downward and go through a really bad time and and make your life worse, or you could rise to the occasion and you can level up and rise up. And that is the path I normally always take. So, what am I doing? Personal mastery, a lot less TV, a lot less social media, a lot less doom scrolling. Don't get me wrong, we all do it, we all fall into the trap. I'm trying to limit myself on the phone as much as possible. When I make sales calls and things like that, it's off it's off to a business phone system. I don't use my cell phone when I'm calling. So, I'm trying to limit myself from the social media and all of the bad stuff of smartphones. I'm limiting myself from programming, TV subscription, you know, Netflix, all that. And I'm doing a lot more reading. I'm doing a lot more audiobooks. Um our firm kind of put together a book club. Shout out to Charlotte, best manager in the world. And she started Ninja Selling and I've learned so much. Guys, the moment that you think you you know it all and you don't need to learn anymore, you lost. You you lost the fight. Pack it up, go home. Go the [ __ ] home. You lost. You can always learn something new. So, we did we went through Ninja Selling, that was a great book. Then I did Your First Year in Real Estate by Dirk Ziggler, also another eye-opening book. And doing more journaling, so this is this is my gratitude journal. So, you know, every day I wake up and it's it's kind of like routine-ing. Build a routine that you do every single day not to fail, and I'm working on that. And don't get me wrong, that's difficult because when you go from a life of you wake up in the morning and it's kind of like Young Guns, you know, you're you're just six-shooter and shooting from the hip and all that, you get so used to that lifestyle, which has been kind of my whole life, that getting into a routine where you do the same things every day as you wake up on, you know, day in day out, it's a little bit of a fight, I'm not going to lie. But, that's one of the things that I've been doing consistently for some reason that was kind of easy for me to adapt and adopt into my routine. So, doing the journaling, the affirmations is something that I'm still struggling with. Uh the schedule and the routine, it's a daily fight, but I'm getting there. And just reading a lot more, and it's personal mastery, guys. So, elevate yourself, rise to the occasion, don't let your losses be the end of you. Don't let your losses end your story. You have to You got to woman up, man up, and understand when you took a loss, learn from it, and grow from it. So, that's the thing. It's the personal mastery thing. Like, right now, I I also on, you know, I do a multitude of things, not just commercial real estate. I like to say I am rebranding as a trusted advisor. I can be your trusted advisor in a lot of different fields because I've done so many different things in my career path and in my life, and business brokerage is one of those things. So, you've never you've never learned everything. And I've been doing business brokerage for a while as well. I'm going through all the books and stuff and finance courses and stuff like that because I want to be the absolute best so I can give my clients the absolute best and in turn give my family the absolute best. So, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. That's all I got to say about that. So, what is the story behind La Grande Oferta? The Garcias drew inspiration from vintage cigar brands that date back to 1913. La Grande Oferta Oferet Oferta. Oferta was an actual old brand and the name translates the great offering. The beautiful iconic artwork, which I just mentioned, on the band and box is fashioned after the original early 1900s brand. It dropped as the 2018 IPCPR, which is now the PCA. So, it dropped as the 2018 IPCPR show release and generated serious buzz. Don Jose Pepin Garcia and his son Jaime crafted it with an oily Cuban seed wrapper grown in Ecuador and an aged interior all Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. So, the wrapper is an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado dark chocolate with red orange uh with red tints that are visually striking. The binder and filler are Cuban seed Nicaraguan tobaccos grown at the Garcia family's own farm in Esteli, Nicaragua. So, it's a medium-body with notes of sweet tobacco, black pepper, chocolate, earth, coffee, and baking spices. On the foot, you get the classic Don Pepin black pepper up front followed by dark chocolate and a rich fruity sweetness. It is positioned as more accessible than some of my father's heavier hitters like The Judge, medium to medium full, not a bomb, but with serious complexity. So, the ratings and sizes, it was rated 91 points by Cigar Aficionado, available in five vitolas. The robusto, which is 5 by 50, the toro or total, which is 6 by 50, the torpedo, which is 6 and 1/8 by 52, the total gordo, the 6 by 56, and what I'm smoking, the lancero, 7 and 1/2 by 38, which is the fan favorite. Reviewers consistently rave about the 90-minute burn and flavor evolution. So, the coffee's gone cold, but it's okay. This little bastard is magic, guys. Speaking of the PCA, I I have booked my rooms for Nola. Actually, my first time in New Orleans. I've been all over the world. I've never been to New Orleans, Louisiana, which is like a 3-4 hour drive max for me. So, I'm going to be doing my my first PCA. I hope to be doing it every single year, God willing. I am so excited for this. And then after we'll be before PCA, I'll be in New York. Um for by April 8th. I've got some business up there. Going to be visiting a bunch of lounges. I'll be taking you guys with me. Probably not going to have all the equipment, the microphone, and the lighting, and all that, but I'll do what I can. So, yeah. That's going to be That's going to be a lot of fun. I was planning on getting to Scottsdale, Arizona before my New York trip. I don't know if that's going to happen now, but maybe after PCA, I'll head over to Scottsdale. I know there's a great little lounge and bar that I used to go there a lot, Foxes, and probably stop in to Cigars Daily. Got with Tim for a minute. So, I'm not getting too much of a flavor change. For me, the profile hasn't changed. I did get a little bit of baking spice right there. I mean, this is just And I mean, this is the This is the thing that you can anticipate with a My Father's cigar, any one of their cigars. Premium blend. I mean, they do [ __ ] right. You know, it's not overtly spicy, it's not overtly sweet. It's just like It's like it's the like an echocardiogram, you know, the the the spikes up and down, but they just do it so flawlessly that you have both sides of the spectrum, the the bold, the intense, the the spicy, the sweet, the mellow, and they do it so well that it blends to the point where you can't It's hard to tell. It's hard to tell the intensity from the mellow and all the in-betweens. To me, that's personal mastery. I mean, you have mastered your craft, sir, madam. Like, you know your [ __ ] If you're able to do that, I got to check with the PCA website and see because it starts on April 17th and it goes through the 20th. And I know there's some special stuff for early entrance if you go to get your badges and stuff early. Uh so, I got to see when that happens because I don't want to miss out on that. And we will be podcasting and vlogging from PCA, which I'm also very excited about. This is not a thing that I am majorly comfortable with, guys. Like, I I'm not And a lot of my friends and people know this about me, like, when I go and do something, if I'm if I go have an amazing dinner, crazy experience, or travel somewhere, they always ask me, "Okay, where where are the pictures?" You know, "Send me send me a pic." I don't take pictures of stuff. Like, I live I live in the moment. I'm not there like oh grabbing my phone. That's That's not me. So, doing a lot of this vlogging and podcasting and social media and Instagramming and all the It's like I'm such a fish out of water with it because A, I don't like being on camera. B, I'd rather live in the moment. I'd rather be there present and taking it all in and experiencing the experience than worried about lighting and angles and how does it look and how do I sound? It's not me. But, in the in the age that we're in today in the world that we're in today, we want to share content with people. We want to put, you know, good content out there and it's also today the best way that people can find you. So, if you are in any business, it is the best way to do it. And don't get it twisted. People who are content creators, that is that's their business. Regardless of what you think, people who are out there doing these challenges and putting, you know, content out there that you know, they've streamed themselves gaming and all It's a business, guys. They're making money and they're making serious money. So, whatever business you're in, this is this is the new This is the new thing. I mean, I I remember I mean, I'm I'm pretty [ __ ] old, but I remember like the thing when I was starting out was having your your company, your business in some sort of a directory, a printed directory, whether that be the Yellow Pages, if any of you remember the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages or there were industrial directories that you could put your business, your your logo, you know, all the stuff that you do, your menu of services, your your one-liners. That was what you did and that's how people found you. And then, you know, there was broadcast faxing, if anybody remembers that. You know, people would just send out a [ __ ] ton of faxes to a bunch of people, hundreds, maybe thousands of people and people would, you know, pull your advertisement off of a fax machine and they would call you. And then, it was websites and then there was email marketing. And now, this is like the new thing. This is This is it. This is how people get found. So I'm still learning, guys. I'm I'm going to be very honest with you. I'm still learning. I'm still evolving in this method of putting the messages out there and the content creation and doing the vlogs and the podcasting and all that kind of stuff. So just keeping it real. Keeping it real with you guys. This thing is so solid. I mean the lancero that I smoked last night, I it was so underwhelming. I forgot the name of it. Let me see. I think I took a picture of it. I was going to post it on our Instagram. And then after that experience I was like, "Nope, I'm good." Dude, the name is on the side of the band. Interesting. No, I don't Yeah, so this thing is fantastic. And usually I usually keep the cigar in my hand because I'm puffing it like crazy. And they say that this is a 90-minute stick. And I think I think I smoke way too fast. Kind of like the way I drink. When I drink alcohol, I just I pound the damn drinks because I like the way it tastes. I like the way bourbon tastes. I like the way scotch tastes. If I do vodka, I usually just do vodka on the rocks. I just like the way it tastes. And I drink the [ __ ] way too fast. I think I smoke way too fast. This started off at 7 1/2 inches. And this is where I'm at. And I've been doing a lot of talking and not a lot of constant puffing. And I'm We're not even 30 minutes. I would say I've smoked almost 2/3 in less than 30 minutes. Which if anybody ever tells you guys there's a right and wrong way to do cigars. I was going to say anything, but no there there are some right and wrong ways to do certain things. But if anyone tells you, you know, you're doing that wrong with smoking a cigar or you know, whatever, it's [ __ ] It is personal preference. Whatever you like, that is your thing. So if you like to, you know, chain smoke cigars, that's up to you. If you like to smoke them fast, fine. If you like to savor the moment and sometimes it dies out and you got to relight, it is what it is. That's the That's your thing. Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're doing something wrong in the cigar world. Don't Don't let anyone ever tell you that, "Oh, you're lighting that wrong." or "You're smoking that wrong." or "You're doing that wrong." or you you cut that wrong. It's your thing. Listen, for the most part, nobody pays your bills. Nobody's going to step up and take over your obligations as a functioning member of society. You do things how you like things done. I'm not going to go to the extreme and say, you know, do everything how you want and do what feels good. Uh I'm not saying all that. I'm saying when it comes to cigars, you do what you like. If you want to dip your cigar in coffee or honey or whatever the [ __ ] you want to do, that's completely up to you. You do that [ __ ] the way you like it. So, for the next chapter in my cigar life, I am planning a an international trip to either go to the DR or Nicaragua or Honduras or maybe all of them and check out the chateaus, check out the rolling factories, kind of blend my own cigar. I have some ideas of what I want and just got to find it. Just got to find it out there. I know it I know it's possible. I know it could happen, but I just got to make it happen. And I got to tell you, on the lancero thing, I am am very quickly becoming a big fan. I get it now. I understand what the what the buzz is all about. And I got to tell you, I'm in a hoodie right now because I need to be in a hoodie. It is It is chilly out here, which I'm not I'm not mad at. I'm not complaining. I was sweating like a sinner in church yesterday. It was like 85 or something and spent a lot of time outside yesterday and it was borderline uncomfortable. I'm good at an 80° temperature and depending on humidity because sometimes, you know, where Houston gets very, very [ __ ] humid. You know, dry heat is better, obviously, but constant 80° all summer, I'm good with that. That's solid. Anything warmer than 80 gets to be uncomfortable for me. And I do favor the cooler weather than the really hot, muggy cuz look guys, you can always layer up. You can always add more clothes in cold weather. You can't take skin off. I mean, once you get down to naked, you can't go any further than that. And it gets pretty miserable in some parts of the country and the world for that matter. I'm down to the bands now or pretty damn close to it. This thing is it's just special, man. My father's is that company's got some good [ __ ] going on. They know what they're doing. So, I think that's it for this episode. It's always a pleasure sharing my smoking experiences with you guys. Personal mastery, pick up a book, read something, do an audio book, fill your mind with other things than social media, TV, movies, stuff like that. I'm not saying go completely overboard and don't do any of that stuff. I'm saying in moderation, anything in moderation. Don't doom scroll for 6 hours. Obviously, do your thing. It it's it's your your life, you do what you want, but in in my opinion, pick up a book, listen to an audio book, do things that elevate your life, elevate your mind, give you some new skills, things that you can learn that you can apply in your life and your career, enjoy really good cigars, really good beverages, enjoy really good food. You know, life is all about living it to the best you can, the best experiences, being a good person, loving God, and loving people, my opinion. So, with those words of wisdom, I leave you there. So, stay blessed, stay loved, and above all else, keep it rolling, baby. Sticks and stones, we out.