Episode 243 A Starwood Is Born! Ft Miguel Schoedel Of Crowned Heads Cigars

Jerry Lewandowski (0:06)

Welcome to Down to Herf, the podcast for cigar smokers, whiskey drinkers, and for the people just looking to kick back, light up, and have a good time. I'm your host, Jerry, and I'm joined by, as always, my co-host, Gio and Caleb. Fellas, fellas, fellas, it is a Wednesday night, and I feel like we have hit this point where the show has now officially come full circle.

We'll talk a little about that in a second. Caleb, how you doing?

Caleb (0:38)

We've come full circle. Do we just go around the clock again, or what do we do?

Do you stop, or keep going?

Jerry Lewandowski (0:44)

I'm actually not sure how that works. Like, do you just keep going around the circle?

Giovanni (0:48)

It's like skateboarding. Like, it's a 360, then, you know, 720

Caleb (0:53)

Okay, just add more rotations to it.

Giovanni (0:55)

More episodes. So you just add more episodes.

Caleb (0:58)

More.

Jerry Lewandowski (0:59)

That being said, we have a guest in studio.

We talked about it a little bit last week. We said he was coming on, it was all set in stone, but we are joined by Miguel Schoedel, Crowned Head Cigars. He was our first guest ever on our podcast.

Giovanni (1:16)

Are you serious?

Jerry Lewandowski (1:17)

Yes, and it was also like our third episode.

Miguel Schoedel (1:19)

I had no idea.

Jerry Lewandowski (1:20)

And here he is, he's back in the flesh, in Buffalo.

Giovanni (1:23)

Here we are, what is this?

Caleb (1:25)

243 today.

Giovanni (1:27)

Yeah, 240 episodes later.

Miguel Schoedel (1:31)

I'll see you guys on like episode 500, and if I keep going this 250, let's say.

Jerry Lewandowski (1:36)

486

Miguel Schoedel (1:37)

There you go, good math. You and John Huber with the math, I like that.

Jerry Lewandowski (1:42)

Come on, man, it's super simple. That's easy math.

I could be wrong. Somebody's going to be like, you did the math wrong too, dummy. But dude, what's been up?

Miguel Schoedel (1:51)

Life is good, man. It's always exciting. Crowned Heads is a brand that we're always growing. We're always evolving new blends.

Mike Condor, John Huber's business partner retired in the last year or two, and Mike is someone we all look up to. He's a veteran of this business. Been in it since 1980 And obviously, Tim Osgenor has always been a part of the company, but Tim has obviously taken a larger role, has launched Oz Family Cigars. And so John and Tim have been really, I think, setting a new path for Crowned Heads and Oz Family Cigars. It's been a lot of fun. Trade shows have been great. Events, sales guys.

It's been a ton of fun, man. The industry, no matter what happens in the world, I think cigars are always there. You know, if you're down, if you're up, whatever it is, cigars are there for you all the time. And I think the industry is, believe it or not, a very healthy place. We've won some battles with the FDA over the last couple of years that I think a lot of people didn't expect we would win. And so I think we're in a healthy place, man. I think we're in a very healthy place.

Jerry Lewandowski (2:56)

I totally agree. But I want to just throw it out there. And this is going to be kind of funny. Gio, you have some words, right?

Giovanni (3:02)

Well, guys, as always, got to give a shout out to the title sponsor of our show, Crowned Heads. Hey. So this episode is basically going to be one big title sponsor.

Nah, honestly, Miguel, we give a shout out to you and John and all the guys every episode. And, you know, we appreciate you. It's you guys have been a big part of this show's growth. And like I said, 240 episodes between appearances. But Crowned Heads has always been a fixture with the herf.

Miguel Schoedel (3:35)

You guys are awesome. I remember coming to do that show. You said it was episode three.

Giovanni (3:40)

Yeah.

Miguel Schoedel (3:40)

And I remember you guys reaching out.

You may have been the one who reached out, but said, hey, I said, I'm landing, but I got all these appointments. I got like a couple hours and you're like, yeah, just come by and do it. And I remember thinking, oh man, I shoot a lot of these in people's garages. They're crazy. I'm next to like a, you know, a dead body or like some, you know, like a cage.

Jerry Lewandowski (4:01)

I've seen Dahmer. Yes.

Miguel Schoedel (4:03)

Yeah. And when I walked in, I was blown away. And I remember talking to John going, man, these guys, if they keep going at this, they're really going to set a trend, taking it to a whole nother level. And I specifically remember telling John, I was like, I felt like I was doing a Stern show. It was like so professional, the equipment and awesome. And kudos to you guys for doing it. Congratulations on all the episodes.