Join Boveda's Rob Ganger for a chat with Dissident Cigars. Boveda are those brown 2-way humidity packs you put in a humidor to preserve cigars. When you own a humidor, you need to make sure the cigars inside stay well-humidified or they can be hard to light, burn to too fast or get moldy. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll get better flavor from a cigar. Boveda has been keeping cigars tasting great for more than 25 years.

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- There's a story inside every smoke shop,

with every cigar, and with every person.

Come be a part of the cigar lifestyle at Boveda.

This is "Box Press."

(upbeat music)

Well, Josh and Cynn, thank you for joining me.

- [Cynn] Absolutely.

- We were just chatting, and I thought,

why not sit you down?

- [Josh] Absolutely.

- Have a good conversation.

- [Cynn] Heck yeah.

- Have a good cigar.

- Yeah. - That's right.

- My story with Dissident,

which is pre-you, actually, pre both of you.

- Right.

- Because it was first like Alec Bradley.

- Right. - Uh-huh, it was, yeah.

- [Rob] They were making it for somebody.

- Mhm.

- Those are the ones that I picked up.

I was working at the smoke shop,

and inside the employee humidor,

where all the samples go to get smoked,

so you know what's coming up.

The Dissident 8-Bit

(Cynn and Josh laugh)

happened to plug in.

And, I looked at the band, and I go, "Wow, 8-Bit!"

- Right. - That brings me back.

- No joke, for sure. - Yeah.

- Kind of cool. Hope it smokes good.

(Josh laughs)

- And, it's still floating around.

We still see it randomly on social media, and we're like,

- Collectors still got them.

- I have two boxes. Full. - Wow, really?

- Wow. - Oh my gosh.

- If you ever want one,

and more than one.

If you ever want an 8-Bit from the original release,

I'm down for, to share.

- Oh, heck yeah.

- My experience with you.

- Yeah.

- We're gonna carry on 8-Bit,

(Josh laughs) and Dissident,

and all the other things that you're creating

to the next generation.

- Yeah, for sure.

- Heck, yeah.

- As we do, yeah. - I love that.

- So, I will share.

- That'd be great.

- Always.

- For sure.

- With my friends. - Thank you. Thank you.

- We're down with that.

- You're my friends. I'll share with you.

- Awesome.

- All you gotta do is ask.

- We'll ask. - Nice.

- Or, we'll just hang out together, and I'll just offer.

- Perfect. (Cynn laughs)

- Either, or. - Come to Nicaragua.

- Yeah. Come on down. - I will.

- Come visit.

- Have a vacation. - Bring some 8-Bits.

- If the offer is to come to your house, and stay with you,

I would totally do it.

- Offers there, man.

- Come on down. Have a seat. - Doors open.

- We'll sit and stare at the ocean,

and smoke some Dissidents,

some vintage Dissident.

Let's do it. (Cynn laughs)

- I don't think you guys know how important this is to me.

(Cynn laughs) - Hey, we're open man.

- This is the kind of stuff you can't script.

- [Josh] Right.

- Before this, did we say we were gonna get together,

before the show? Sit down, have a conversation?

- No.

- No.

- Did you at all try to get on the show,

in your own regard, by tapping me on the shoulder,

asking me to get on it?

- Nope. - Nope.

- Did I come over to you at any point before just now,

and say, "Can you be on my show? I really like your vibe."

- Nope. - No, you did not.

- No. - No.

- It just happened. - Yeah.

- You wanna know what happened to me?

Somebody else was supposed to be sitting here right now.

- Wow.

- I'm not gonna name that name,

but, you know, it just didn't work.

It's not them choosing not to,

and it's not me trying to force them to get on the show.

So, when it didn't work out, I turned around,

and who's standing inside the Boveda booth

other than Josh and Cynn from Dissident.

(Cynn laughs) - Right.

- The universe works in wonderful ways.

- I kinda looked at it and I go,

"Is this a sign?" (Cynn laughs)

I don't know. I'm gonna go ask them.

Josh, I approached you first, and I said,

"Hey, would you wanna be on "Box Press"?

Just sit down and have a conversation?"

You went like this.

"Yeah, I'd be interested in that."

(Cynn laughs) I was like, "How about Cynn?

Would she?"

I asked you.

You said, "Yeah."

You said it a little quicker than Josh.

So, I'm not sure.

(Cynn laughs)

- Oh, you know. - If that's a good thing.

- Or you're just the guy that kind of takes a minute

to think about it.

- I just had to make sure we had the time.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- She's the boss. (Cynn laughs)

She keeps the schedule, man.

I just show up.

- Yeah. And I'm kind of the guy who's like,

"Yeah, quick. Boom. Go."

- [Cynn] Uh huh.

- I don't really think.

- [Josh] Right.

- Too long.

- [Josh] Right.

- Sometimes I should.

- Hmmm?

- [Rob] Before I do something.

- I'm very much like you, though.

The best things happen that way.

- I found my wife that way.

- Yeah. See, see. - Nice.

- I told myself I'm just gonna say, "Yes,"

if an opportunity for a romantic person comes into my life.

And, it happened at a baseball game,

with her drunk friend yelling at me.

- Oh my gosh. (Josh laughs)

- Telling me, "Hey, my friend likes your beard.

You should give her your number."

- Perfect.

- And, I did it, and now we're married.

- Nice. - Amazing.

- Nice.

- I love that. - So it's an energy thing.

- Absolutely. - Yeah.

- It absolutely is.

- For us, it was Instagram, man.

So, you just never know.

- Yes! - Who knows.

(Cynn laughs)

- Instagram. - Yeah, right.

- Brought you together.

- Absolutely. - Yep.

- It's not that you're social media whores,

it's just the fact that you use that medium to connect.

- Yep.

- And, something was pulling you.

- Uh huh.

- Into, gosh, I just need to know who this person is.

- Yeah. - 100%.

- On the other end of this picture.

- Yep. - Yep.

- That's exactly how it worked. Yeah.

- That's exactly what happened.

(Cynn laughs)

- Yep. And now here we are,

you know, a few years later,

moved several states,

ended up living in a different country,

and owning a cigar company. Who would've thought.

- Nicaragua.

- [Josh] Yep.

- [Cynn] Yeah.

- You're living it.

- [Josh] Yeah, absolutely.

- You're not going,

you're not flying from the mainland.

- Yep. - You're living it.

- Yep. - 100%. Every day.

- What does it mean to live it?

- Oh man, it's awesome. It's like.

- It's amazing.

We have no regrets.

- Yeah. It's truly paradise.

And, it's true freedom.

Like, you know, it's just unbelievable.

You get to live amongst locals, and learn every day.

You get to, you know, you're not going to Walmart

to make your purchases.

- [Rob] Right.

- You know, or Target.

You're going to, you know, the local market

to pick up all your food.

- Yeah.

- And, to get fresh baked bread, and to do all this stuff.

Get eggs from, you know, the locals who are getting them

straight from the chicken.

- Free range chickens down the road.

- Yeah. - Yep. And it's unbelievable.

- And, you're supporting the local families.

- You know, it's wonderful. - Yep.

- I mean, living there is very humbling.

Every day is very humbling.

- Yeah.

- And, being humbled is very important to us.

It keeps us real, it keeps us appreciative

of everything that we have.

And, you know, to us community is a big deal.

You know, you need that.

You need that in the cigar industry,

you need that everywhere.

- Right.

- You know, and there's a lot of places

that have lost touch with community,

and we're trying to bring that back. So.

- Absolutely. - I love it.

- Yeah. - And, with that,

talking about cigars.

Being there has given us a different perspective, as well,

because it allows us to more understand and communicate

on shows like this, and with others who smoke our cigars.

Like, yes, you're supporting us,

but you're also supporting like 85 families

in Nicaragua.

- It's much bigger than you think.

- Yes. It absolutely is.

- It's much bigger than the two of us and our family,

you know?

- Yeah.

- So, it's wonderful to be there,

and see that.

Whenever we want, we can stop in the factory,

say, "What's up?" when we're,

you know, doing business, doing blends, whatever.

And, they're showing up, they're smiling,

they're stoked to be there, every single day.

- They're some of the happiest people we've ever met.

- Yep.

- Every day. - Right.

- Every day, they're so happy.

- Unbelievable.

- Yeah, it's amazing.

- Right. Because they're doing what they love.

- Uh huh. - And, they're living life.

- Yep. - Yep.

- And, it gets messy.

- Mhm. - It does.

- It's not perfect.

- Right. - Right.

- But, guess what? It's all in how you react.

- Yes, yes. Yep. - Absolutely. Yep.

- Life is all about perspective.

That's a big deal. You know, you can.

- [Rob] Huge deal.

- Yeah. You can look at something one way,

or you can look at it the other way.

Always go for the positive way,

because everything has a lesson in it.

- I'm having a hard time being around people

with negative energy.

- Yeah. - Oh yeah. Yeah.

- [Cynn] Same.

- And, I distance myself from them.

- [Josh] You have to.

- And, I distanced myself from a guy from Minnesota,

who's actually here.

- [Josh] Ah.

- He had some negative energy. I could just feel it.

- Right. - Wow.

- Didn't know what it was, because I didn't want to ask.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- We reconnected,

he admitted to his negative energy,

and I think we're gonna have a really cool friendship.

- Awesome. - Wow.

- That's gonna last my lifetime.

- Nice! - Wow! That's great.

- Awesome! - It's just amazing.

- And, in many ways,

your stepping away was probably part of that catalyst

for him to recognize, you know,

it seems like such a negative thing,

but it was actually a gift that.

- It was. - You're handing him.

- He noted it.

- Absolutely. That's awesome.

- Unbelievable.

- It's bizarre, man. (Cynn laughs)

- And, I can do a corny thing and be like,

"Oh, it was the scars that brought us together."

- Ah ha ha. That sounds tough.

(Cynn laughs) - But, you know what it was?

It was we're both passionate about a similar hobby.

But, it's beyond passion. It's a part of my life.

- Right. - Yeah.

- And, it will be for the rest of my life.

- Yeah.

- Right on. Same. We get it.

- I mean, I don't know, when you have kids,

do you say, "Well, they're only mine until they're 18."

- Right. (Josh laughs)

- [Rob] And, then they're done.

- [Josh] Right.

- If you decide to have children,

that's the rest of your life.

- [Cynn] It is.

- Your life is forever changed.

- [Josh] Right.

- It's like jumping out of an airplane,

and the old person's stuck back in the airplane.

- [Josh] Right on. That's a good way to look at it.

- And, you got a new person,

you got a parachute that's gonna catch you,

but you're free falling for a while, and it's scary.

- Yes.

- Right. Yep.

But it's always worth that risk, isn't it?

It's always worth jumping.

- I'm still falling, Josh,

(Josh and Cynn laugh)

so I really don't know.

- I'll tell you, it's worth it.

- You'll look back. - I'm going to trust you.

- You're going to get a lesson anyway.

- You gotta jump without those wings.

That's what we always say.

- I'm gonna trust you,

because right now I'm free falling.

- Well.

- I got a three week old at home named Finley.

- Wow. - Aww.

- And, I got a year and a half year old named Nora.

- Oh my gosh, yeah. - Congratulations.

- And, I've got a beautiful wife named Abby.

- Aww. - Awesome.

- Congrats, man.

- And, if we get the opportunity to go to Nicaragua,

you'll meet them all.

- That's awesome.

- Because I'm bringing the whole fam-damn-ily.

- All right. All right.

- It's a perfect place for it.

- It absolutely is that.

- Yeah. - Yeah, it's wonderful.

- I need a little break,

because with all the COVID stuff,

I didn't get to travel, and take a family vacation.

- [Josh] Mhm.

- And, I'm thinking you guys might be it.

- There you go. Make it happen.

- Lots of beaches, lots of things to learn from.

You know, it's just, it's wonderful.

Your kids can see sloths, and monkeys, and lizards, and.

- Yeah.

- I saw some stuff raining down

from the jungle that you guys live in.

Is it an often occurrence

that you're out enjoying your space,

and you gotta watch out for the wilderness,

because you're actually interrupting their space as well?

- It is absolutely like that.

We are guests in their environment.

That's the way it is.

- Yeah. The mentality of,

"Hey, get outta my yard," doesn't exist.

- Right? - No.

- Because it's their yard

that you decided to build your home in.

- [Josh] Correct.

- So, you gotta share it.

- [Cynn] Yep.

- How do you respect nature

without having negative energy come from it?

- Man, when we moved there, sorry,

- if I jumped in too quick. - No, you're good.

- Truly, when we moved,

a lot of people move there,

especially as Americans, looking for American amenities.

But we were the opposite.

We wanted to be as immersed in the culture,

and the nature, as possible.

That's why we live where we live.

There's other options, but we're not those people.

- You could have gotten the American culture in Nicaragua.

You could have bought the condo.

- [Josh] Right.

- You could have had the car.

- Yep. - Right.

- You could go to Starbucks, and get a coffee.

- No Starbucks.

- Ya, there's no Starbucks there.

- Okay. You could have gotten a coffee at some big chain.

- There you go.

- You could have went to the grocery store,

and got your goods.

- Right. Right.

- But, instead you decide to live amongst the locals.

- Right. - Yep.

- The ones that have been there before you.

Because guess what,

we're all just immigrants

traveling from one spot to a next.

- Yep.

- Hoping that the community we land in is gonna accept us.

- Yes. - Yep.

- How has Nicaragua opened its loving arms,

and given you a warm embrace?

- You know, honestly,

they actually have absolutely done that, you know.

Prior to moving there. We went there about,

what, two years ago now?

- Yeah, it's been two. Yep.

- And, it's funny because

in America they were warning us like,

"Oh, you guys have a lot of tattoos.

You know, they don't know if they like tattoos there yet.

And, just to let you know."

And, we get there,

and it was the most amazing experience ever.

It was nothing like what people said.

- [Rob] Right.

- Yeah. You know, like people are coming up.

They wanted to touch Josh's beard, they loved his beard.

(Cynn laughs)

- It's funny because now that we've been there,

and the locals know us,

they called me Senor Barba,

which is Mr. Beard, basically.

- Senor Barba?

- Right. Yep.

- I love it.

- It's so funny.

And, it's because, you know,

Nicaraguans by and large don't have beards.

- Right.

- So.

- Same with Asians.

- Yeah. Exactly. - Yeah.

- They just cannot grow one. - Not a lot of beard game

- going on.

- Right.

- It's just a cultural thing.

- And, it's so bizarre.

- The body, I don't know. - Yeah.

- Yep. - Yeah.

- And, it's crazy, because that's exactly how it is.

So, for me to walk in different locations,

and for them to see it, it's rare.

Which is funny, because like here, beards everywhere, right.

- Yeah.

- There for them to see it, it's just.

- [Rob] Tons of beards.

- They do, they come touch it, you know?

It's like, just because, they've never seen a beard.

- Of this size. - I love it.

- It's so funny.

- But they're wonderful. I mean,

we've been living there for a year and a half now,

and the locals know us, and they love us, you know.

If you have good energy, you're a good person.

It always works out, you know.

So, they look for us whenever we're in town,

they look for us. They're like, "Oh, Coburn, how are you?"

- Right. - You know?

- What's the last name?

- Coburn. - Coburn.

- Coburn.

- Coburn. You got it. - Yeah.

- They call you The Coburn?

- The Coburns. Yeah. - Well, The Coburns.

- The Coburns.

- Yeah. - Yep.

- It's like living next to the Andersons.

- Right. That's exactly what it is.

- Right down on good old American Lane.

- Yeah.

- Well, you know, living there,

when I'm walking through the town we live in,

I always think of the stories

my grandfather used to tell me.

- [Rob] "Leave it to Beaver."

- Yeah. About like America when he was growing up

in the 20s and 30s

in the small town where everybody relies on everybody,

and community is real. We lose that.

- Oh, God yeah.

- [Josh] In a lot of places here.

- Society has stripped it as hard as it can.

- [Josh] Yep.

- Out of our culture. - Yeah.

- Yep. And it is absolutely

still filled with community there.

Everyone helps everyone.

It doesn't matter if you have something,

or you have nothing,

you're still contributing. And, it's wonderful.

It's allowed us to give back in different ways

than we ever did previously. And, it's been wonderful.

It's so fulfilling.

- And, everything's simple there, you know.

You don't need to have an appointment

to get your tire plugged, you know,

because your tire's running low.

You literally just,

we know there's a place right down the road.

We just literally pull up. The guy comes out,

plugs your tire, and you're on your way.

- Right.

- Five bucks. Not even five bucks.

(Josh laughs)

So, it's wonderful.

- We're getting the vibe in here, huh?

- Yeah. Now we gotta dance. (laughs)

- If you guys can hear that.

Somebody's got some real hardcore,

what is this? Latin music?

- I feel like it's their version of,

"Hey, we all gotta go people."

I feel like they're like amping it up,

because it's that time.

- We going cha-cha out the door.

(Cynn and Josh laugh)

- Hey, it was good to see you.

Hey, I like your cigars!

Hey, see you next year!

- Yes. - Hey!

- This is how it should of.

- Whoa!

- Getting too excited over here.

- Oh, now you lost it.

- Party foul.

(Cynn and Josh laughing)

- Time to exit. Hey! Hey!

- This is how it should have been the whole show.

- Yes. Yeah.

- This is how it should have been all week.

- Yes. - Music?

- Give him the music. - Like, this, yeah.

- That vibe.

- No, no. no. You guys, I can barely hear you.

And, I'm really worried about the sound quality.

So, no music.

(Cynn and Josh laugh) - I guess you have a point.

- We did hear there was a mariachi band here yesterday.

- So, that was pretty crazy. - Yeah, we missed that.

- Right. - Yeah.

- It was very loud by our booth. We never saw them.

- See, this is just further confirmation

that wherever we go we bring the party.

(Cynn laughs) - [Rob] Yeah!

- It's gotta end at roughly 9:00 PM, because we go to bed.

(Cynn laughs)

- Dude, nude by nine.

- Yeah. - It's my motto.

- Yeah. - Nude by nine.

- Absolutely. That's the way to do it.

- I love that. - Gotta go to bed.

- I love that. - Nude by nine.

- [Josh] I like it.

- It started with one of our workers, Drew Emmer.

He's a great guy. He'll go hard in the paint all day long.

But when nine o'clock comes, "I gotta go to bed, dude."

- [Josh] That's the way to do it.

- And, I sleep naked. He sleeps naked.

We don't sleep together.

But, guess what?

(Cynn laughs)

We both understand the nude by nine.

- [Josh] Nude by nine. I like it.

- I literally just look at him, and I go.

- [Josh] That's right.

- And, he knows

- [Josh] That's right.

- Him and I are getting an Uber back to the Palazzo.

We're going up the second floor,

because we are not walking by that stinking bar

where everyone's gonna drag us in.

- [Cynn] Yeah.

- And, we're gonna miss our appointment with nude by nine.

- Yeah. - That's right.

- That's the way to do it.

- The infamous Bar Luca.

- Right. (Cynn laughs)

- I love it.

- I should adopt that.

We have too many dogs though.

I don't know if I could do nude by nine.

They all end up in our bed.

- I do the whole hanging out at the bar thing.

I absolutely love it.

In fact, if I didn't this weekend,

I wouldn't have met Ra'ed

from The Leaf Master in Dubai.

- [Cynn] Yeah.

- And, I wouldn't have had a cool experience.

- [Josh] Awesome man.

- [Cynn] That's wonderful.

- But, every once in a while

I have to listen to my body and I have to say,

- Right. - "It's time to go."

- [Josh] Right on.

- It's time to go to bed.

- We did that last night. That was for sure.

We were feeling it last night.

- [Rob] Me too.

- [Josh] It was hot.

- But then, I got on a wave.

I was packing up, thinking how grateful I was

for this whole weekend.

And, at 3:00 AM I recorded a live on Instagram

thanking all the people that were on the show

that helped to make it happen.

- [Cynn] Aw.

- And, you guys are a part of that.

- [Josh] Awesome.

- Because, I left a little segment in there that was,

I have some meetings set up for tomorrow,

and those are gonna be great and top-notch.

And, you guys weren't set up.

So, this camera's rolling.

These audio mics are recording.

And, I want you to know,

if you go on my Instagram, it's Boveda_Rob.

- [Josh] Got you.

- If you go on it, and you watch the thank you,

understand that it was recorded in hindsight.

Is that the correct way?

It was recorded before I sat down with you.

But, the thank you and the invitation

to say how grateful I am that you're here,

and sitting with me is extended to you.

- Thank you. - Thank you so much.

- [Rob] On a personal level.

- Appreciate that a ton. - Really appreciate that.

- Yeah. Thank you so much. - Yeah.

- And, now you got me thinking about how,

to properly use the word hindsight.

Because I don't know if you're wrong,

but I don't know if you're right either.

(Cynn laughs)

So, now I'm gonna wake up at 3:00 AM on the flight,

on our red eye, and I'm gonna be like,

"Oh, this is the answer."

- That's the way it works. - Text it to me.

- I'm gonna get some of the best sleep I've ever had.

- [Cynn] Good.

- Once I get home,

even though I have a three week old.

- [Josh] Right.

- I don't know how that's possible, but my wife is amazing.

- Yeah, I was gonna say, you'll figure it out.

You'll figure it out.

- Yeah. - You're gonna crash.

- Nice and hard.

- You might be on dad duty for like another a month straight

while she goes and has a good time, but that's all right.

- [Josh] That's the price you pay, right?

- Right. It is.

And I owe it to her.

- [Josh] Right on.

- Because she supports me a hundred percent.

- Perfect. - Amazing.

- All the way to the point where she even says, "Hey."

She has no idea how my workday went on a Friday.

And, one Friday she just texts me, says,

"I think you should go to the smoke shop, have a cigar,

and hang out with the people at the smoke shop."

- She knows you. - Yeah.

- I said, "Are you sure?"

She said, "Absolutely."

- [Cynn] Aww.

- I'll see you after eight o'clock.

- [Josh] Perfect.

- I got home.

I was the most attentive husband I hope to her,

because I just was so grateful that she just knew me.

- Yeah. - Right.

- And then, gave me the permission,

not that I needed it, but that I really appreciated it,

to say, "Hey, you go do you. I'll sacrifice three hours

of not seeing you, because I know it's an investment

on how well you're gonna come back to me, and love on me."

- Right. - Yeah.

- Yeah. That's huge, man. - You're seen and valued, man.

- That's awesome. - Right.

- [Rob] Return on investment,

and it doesn't have to be monetary.

- Right. - Right. That's for sure.

- That's for sure. - Yeah.

- The monetary ones are actually, in many ways,

the least important, right?

- A hundred percent.

- That's how we view it, all the time.

- Right. - Always.

- [Rob] The money will come and go.

- It will.

- The energy can get you stuck.

- [Josh] Well, right. Yeah.

- The energy can get you stuck in the rut.

- Yes, yeah. - A hundred percent.

- The energy sometimes won't leave,

unless you choose to make it leave.

- Yep, yep. Absolutely, man. Absolutely.

- Yeah. A lot to learn from that too.

- My cigars out. We're gonna exit.

- [Josh] All good, man. It was a pleasure.

- Thank you Cynn, Josh. - You're very welcome.

- Thank you for sitting down with me.

- Yeah! - You got it.

- Absolutely. - Our pleasure, man.

- Thank you so much.

- Final act, right?

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- [Cynn] Roll the credits. (laughs)

- Roll the credits. That's it.

Another episode of "Box Press" in the wraps.

We're closing out PCA 2022.

Thank you all for watching.

I hope you enjoyed this whole series,

and realize how much passion, and that's a buzzword,

how much cigars are part of our lives.

I hope they're a part of yours as well.

Peace.