El Presidente

Looking forward to it! See you in a couple of hours

silver cigar cutter, modelled as a cannon upon a stepped base, with four wheels and single fall front drawer

Coprova S.A.S., which distributes Cuban cigars in France and Monaco, and Régie des Tabacs de Monaco, the local tobacco authority, have announced the new Ramón Allones Casino Edición Regional Monaco. It’s a 5 1/8 (130mm) x 55 parejo vitola known as montesco within the Cuban naming system, the same vitola as the Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchills. FULL STORY

It is a challenge to get ahead of the AI transformation currently underway. I can't tell you how many cigar deck discussions I have had with accountants/lawyers/data analysts - pseudo be it government or private. From what I can see real time, this is happening everywhere. Starting again (my businesses) in this age of AI, has me thinking long and hard. I have few answers bar trying to be exceptional in the customer experience. However, I am not in that data/white collar game. This is one of the tougher emails I have received.

Here we have cigars bunched by Carlos being checked. We plan to have a video in the coming weeks with our draw machine operator explaining the process, the details of the machine and what constitutes a fail/fail rates and the post fail process. VID-20260120-WA0040.mp4

Hi Rob, Hope you and the Czar crew are doing well. A lot of you here have been in business a long time, across just about every lane there is, so I’m throwing this out to the group. I’m a data analyst based in New York. Last full-time role was in 2022. Since then it’s been contracts: government, finance, insurance, which was fine… until it wasn’t. I’m good at what I do, but my last three 12-month contracts didn’t get renewed. Finding work in 2023 and 2024 wasn’t hard. 2025 was a different story. And 2026 is looking worse as more of the traditional work starts getting replaced or augmented by AI. Bottom line: fewer seats, more competition. I’m 38. Mortgage. Two kids. Dog. Not exactly the stage of life where you can just “figure it out later.” So the honest question is: where the hell do you pivot from here? If you’re open to it, Rob, I’d appreciate this being posted on FOH. Any insight, perspective, or hard-earned advice would be genuinely appreciated. Thanks in advance. __________________________________________________________ Over to you good people. I haven't put together a reply as yet.

https://asiatimes.com/2026/01/why-cambodia-deported-scam-boss-chen-zhi-to-china-not-the-us/ Why Cambodia deported scam boss Chen Zhi to China, not the US Scam center kingpin could have disclosed incriminating evidence about those benefitting from the fraud if in US custody On January 7, Cambodian authorities announced they had detained and deported Chen Zhi, founder and former chairman of Prince Group, a multinational conglomerate accused of fronting a global multibillion-dollar fraud operation. Chen, a former advisor to ex-Prime Minister Hun Sen, became a key figure in a joint US-UK response last year when he was personally indicted for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges and included in an unprecedented sanctions program targeting the Prince Group and other organized crime syndicates in Southeast Asia. Chen’s arrest — and his subsequent extradition to China — surprised many because he had such powerful backers in Phnom Penh. He held the government’s bestowed honorific neak oknha, meaning “prominent tycoon”, and had long been allowed to operate largely unrestrained at the head of a burgeoning network of scam centers. Despite long-standing promises by the Hun regime, now led by Hun Sen’s son, Prime Minister Hun Manet, to tackle cybercrime within Cambodia’s borders, Chen proved untouchable, even as NGOs and cybercrime experts repeatedly called for action against the Prince Group in recent years. This raises questions about why the regime chose to intervene only now, months after Western demands, and why it handed Chen over to Chinese authorities rather than to countries with active warrants for his arrest, including the US and UK. Until recently, Chen lived as a free man in Cambodia. The regime continued to shelter him and deflect investigations into his business dealings, apparently to avoid disclosing the tycoon’s location. Calls for action following the October 2025 sanctions and charges package were ignored despite intensifying Western pressure. This included a report accusing the Cambodian government of colluding in human trafficking for the cybercrime operations and the introduction of a US bill naming several high-ranking Cambodian officials as complicit in the operation of scam syndicates. The reluctance to act in the face of clear evidence suggests that Chen’s detention and deportation were less about tackling cybercrime and more a response to shifting geopolitical developments. Indeed, the decision to deport Chen came just days after the brazen extraction of the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the US on narco-terrorism charges. While observers continue to debate the legality of that intervention and its implications for other Latin American countries, the message was clear: Donald Trump’s America is willing and able to enter foreign territory to apprehend individuals it deems a threat to US national security. While Chen is a far lower-profile figure than Maduro, his operations through the Prince Group have undermined US economic and security interests. In an industry dominated by individuals close to ruling elites, allowing Chen to fall into US custody — where he could potentially disclose incriminating evidence about the players, enablers and transnational nature of scam networks — was a risk Phnom Penh was unwilling to take. That is especially true given that cyber scams are estimated to generate revenue equivalent to 30.2% of Cambodia’s formal GDP. As Cambodia seeks to secure its illicit revenue stream, the decision to deport Chen to China — a country that claims to have solved 285,000 online fraud cases in 2025 and cracked down on responsible groups — may initially appear unusual. However, a November report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China has “selectively cracked down on scam centers that target Chinese victims, leading Chinese criminal organizations to conclude that they can make greater profits with lower risk by targeting the United States instead.” It also suggested that scam centers are used as a pretext for expanding China’s security presence and influence in the region. Given the scale of the problem, it is not difficult to see why some governments may turn to China for assistance. Cybercrime in East and Southeast Asia was estimated at nearly $40 billion in 2023, with Cambodia accounting for $12.5 billion alone. Some ASEAN nations, such as Malaysia, lost more than 1.22 billion ringgit ($300 million) to cybercrime in just 10 months of 2024, while Indonesia recorded 3.6 billion scam attacks in the first seven months of 2025. While regional efforts have had substantial impact — including the release of about 7,000 of the estimated 120,000 victims held in Myanmar alone in February last year — many of those behind the industry remain untouched. A recent UN Office on Drugs and Crime report found weak governance and high levels of corruption allow the industry to thrive. The Hun regime has long been linked to cyber syndicates, with several individuals named in the US Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act (H.R.5490) being deputy prime ministers, ministers and advisors to the government. The October sanctions demonstrated that such actors can be identified and targeted. The Hun regime is no doubt watching closely who may face charges or even extradition next — and responding accordingly. ASEAN leaders cannot afford to let Beijing or Phnom Penh determine who is held accountable for scam center crimes and losses and which countries’ economic and human losses are deemed acceptable. As a regional bloc, ASEAN must push for coordinated action against those responsible. That will require more than statements. It demands coordinated diplomacy, targeted sanctions and multinational law enforcement efforts —all calibrated to avoid overt interference but robust enough to deter criminal elites from using state cover as protection.

You won't be returned to the UK as a US citizen Many like Jimmy have had no issues. However you are flying into Miami where several here have had issues over the past year. Small number of sticks. Roll the dice.

Not legal. Unlikely an issue. Generally not a problem for loose numbers. However: Deband Right now is not the best time for a foreigner to be caught coming into US carrying Cuban cigars

This week, FOH Video Cigar Lounge Tuesday 21st 8:PM PM NY, 11:00am Wednesday local. (AEST). Grab a cigar, pop a bottle, pour a drink and let's enjoy a cigar together. This weeks discussion: Has the "Cigar Influencer" train running out of steam? I am talking about the influencer "genre" in general. What happens when you have taken all the short vids possible of yourself lighting/cutting/puffing a cigar? You start to insta/you tube short vids of you and other cigar influencers lighting/cutting/puffing a cigar together It reminds me very much of what is happening to the podcast world right now. There are so many podcasters and podcasters devoid of interesting content, that shows are taken up by podcasters interviewing other podcasters. They literally do a podcaster circuit. It is certain death So what are the next "trend/s" in the cigar world? Topic of discussion in this weeks FOH Video Room Session Tuesday night NY 8PM.

.....certainly on my long lunch list