Brandon Harris - USMC Veteran and Entrepreneur

Meet Brandon Harris, USMC Veteran and Entrepreneur in the Houston, Texas area. 
https://smokenmemories.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome back to Tripwire. It is Thursday afternoon,
four pm Eastern, three pm Central, and it is the
thirty first of July. We are excited to be here.
We've got a great guest with us today, or former
United States and fellow Marine, Brandon Harris, and he's coming
in from Houston, Texas area. Brandon, how are you, brother?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Fantastic, fantastic, It's been awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
How's the weather down there? Still Africa hot?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
It's hot, man. I did the yard today and uh
it's been raining about every day for the last five
or six days.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
So gotcha, gotcha? Yeah, Well, I'm I recently moved to
Virginia and uh, I haven't been in the southeast effectively,
you know, Dixie Land for quite a while. And uh
now I remember why. I don't like the humidity. So
I understand you guys are humid down there in Houston.

(01:37):
Aren't you on the heat? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, it's it's a different type of heat man. Obviously
I've done a lot of time and places that have
you know, dry dry heat. But something about the humidity, man,
it's it takes takes all your energy out of you.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yes, I got you. I got you. Well, Uh for
the uh, for all of our guests are joining us
and our viewers, let's let's kick this off. And So
United States Marine Corps. Where are you originally from? And
when did you decide that the dress blues were the
best uniform for you? Brother?

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, funny story. So I grew up north of Houston,
Tomball Spring area, and post military, I'm back in the
same area. For the most part, I lived twenty thirty
minutes from where I grew up. But yeah, I mean,

(02:39):
Houston's a good spot. It was on the east and
west coast while I was in So it's Scott's pros
and cons wherever you go. But I like the Houston area.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
So you joined right out of high school? Was that?
Or did you spend some time before you Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
So, so I went into an Army recruit office believe
it or not, first, and uh spent maybe five minutes
in there, and then UH told them I'd be right back,
went down the hall. Long story short, never went back
to the Army recruiter's.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Office yet it that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Just something different about you know, the grooming standards and
the uniform, and that's just something that I wanted to
be a part of too push myself. And I was
twenty one at that time, so I needed a lot
of maturing. So I felt like the Marine Corps was

(03:39):
the best best choice for me.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Agreed same same for me coming out of high school
at eighteen, I again, Yes, I went to Uh, I
went to San Diego. Did you go Are you part
of the ninth Marine Recruit? Okay?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
So?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Or that side of the Mississippi. So you went to
you went to Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, what and what what?

Speaker 1 (03:58):
What year was that for you?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Two thousand and nine? So I went in a couple
of years after high school got you yep.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Cool, awesome, uh so, And I didn't get a chance.
I forgot flat. I forgot to mention this to our viewers.
You know, former marine, once a marine, always marine, we'd
always you know, we know that. But I want to say,
you know, USRM C veteran and we'll get into your
entrepreneurship as far as what you all the shenanigans you

(04:29):
got yourself into down here in Houston, and I definitely
want to talk about that because I love fellow a
fellow entrepreneurs and we'll expand upon that as we get
into this podcast. So what what did we do in
the Marine Corps? What was your mos? And then you
said you did time on both both coasts, which is
unique I think for some for most Marines, it's unique

(04:51):
because they usually stay on one side or the other.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, depending on how long you're in UH. I was
on active duty from nine to eighteen, and then I
tried the reserves for about a year down here in
San Antonio with the Ricon Unit and decided the reserves
is not for me. So yeah, I did about nine

(05:16):
years though.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Cool and so Pendleton, Connie oe, ok or and then
where were you at on the East coast?

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I was in Lea June. That was my first four years.
I'll be honest with you. That was not my cup
of tea. Then went to Pendleton and was much more enjoyable.
I was on the north end of the base, away
from majority of the Marines, so I was in a
nice a nice town north of Pendleton, so we we

(05:49):
really enjoyed that. My wife's from California too.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
So nice.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Cool. We obviously then you guys met out there. That's fantastic,
we did.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah to me getting stationed at Pendleton actually oh wow, Okay, yeah,
I did about six months out of twenty nine Palms
TAD and I was on a temporary assignment out there
training people going through At the time it was called
CAS but basically like combat pre deployment type training. So

(06:22):
we met, then went back to the East Coast, and
then shortly after I got orders to the West Coast.
So it worked out pretty good there you go.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Awesome. So from nine to eighteen and so you know,
almost ten years, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, up ten with reserves. Yeah cool.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
And then so when did you make the transition from
I'm assuming you left the core out process the core
out in California. When did you make the transition to
come back to Texas and in secifically the Houston area.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, that's a good question. You know, I didn't know
how my wife would feel about it. Again, she's from California,
so a big difference. She never really spent any time
out here, but my grandma actually still lived in the
in the Houston area. And so my my third deployment

(07:22):
was to Iraq and uh I actually I actually volunteered
to go on a small task force to Iraq, so
I extended my contract for a year, and so leading
up to that deployment, we we decided to send her

(07:44):
and my two daughters at the time to Houston to
stay with her while I was deployed, and just decided
that we were going to come back here whenever I
got out, so kind of made the transition a little
bit easier for them. And yeah, we just kind of
decided that we're going to come here. Cost of living

(08:05):
is good, school systems are good.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
So that's great and and thank god, you know, you
had family in the area for her to stay with
while you were over in Iraq. So you said, third deployment?
How many? How many deployments did did you know? Chesty
ask of you just puller, ask of you this when
you're in the cores.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yes, so I did. My first appointment was a MEW,
so got to, you know, travel the world and be
on a boat for eleven months, which being on the
boat itself wasn't any fun. But I have a communications background,
so I was a radio guy, so a lot of
opportunity there. I got to be attached with a lot

(08:49):
of different teams and so I got to do different
things in Kuwait, Spain, Morocco, Africa. So for a MEW,
and I feel like that's pretty good was down the
boat the whole damn time, so right.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
At all.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
No, it wasn't. It wasn't a lot of downtime. Didn't
get a lot of cool libo, if you will, on
that deployment. But UH definitely got to do a lot,
see a lot of countries while I was there, and
then UH, while I was on the West coast, I

(09:27):
did six months in Okinawa, and then I did about
nine months in Iraq before I left active duty.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
So I got you and were you in UH in Iraq?
Were you in Baghdad or north or south of that?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, we were Western Province, so we were based out
of Ali Sad. But I was attached to our PSD
team and I was a radio chief for our whole unit,
so I was outside the wire for probably majority of
our deployment. So we pushed up through all the cities,

(10:07):
all the way up towards Syria, so on a ray
ona all those cities we cleared the first most of it,
the first half of our deployment and at the end
of seventeen and then our small eighty person task force.
Actually you're the ones who officially liberated Isis from Iraq,

(10:30):
so that was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, absolutely, those were those were bad times back then
when ISIS was running amok.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
So yeah, yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Transitioning back to Houston, how how's the family doing in Texas?
And then you know so and how are you doing
as far as the transition, and then you know, obviously
did what's going on with the VA? Because uh and
if I hope, I hope you have filed for the
disability Okay.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, it's it's important that you get on that right
before you get out because a lot of people don't.
It makes it makes for a difficult time going through
the VA process and trying to backtrack and get all
of your documents, and it's not a fun time if
you don't do it properly. So that's something I definitely

(11:27):
made sure I did before I got out. So by
the VA process, the VA is never fun. The system
is is just crazy messed up. I mean, they've made
improvements over the years, but it's still a disaster. And
but at the same time, it's it's gotten a little
bit better, and for me it hasn't been too bad

(11:51):
of gradually gone up and got you know, the ratings
and stuff that I feel like I should have at
this point. It took a while, but.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, yeah, most most veterans I talked to, it's it's
almost like a piecemeal moving forward with maybe some minor hiccups.
I my own story. I was doing mental health with
the VA, and it's the fastest response I had ever
received from the VA when I completed my mental health

(12:26):
program and they were like, well, you've showed improvement, so
we're going to reduce your benefits. And I'm like, what
this is? Yeah? So, and don't get me wrong, And
that wasn't from the facility, that's from like you know,
VA headquarters whatever. And I talked to other veterans and
the people. There's a lot of good people out there
working for the VA, and they try. But if the

(12:49):
system's not working properly at whatever facility they're at, then
it's just crap. Yeah, you know, and you alienate the veterans,
you alienate the staff. And unfortunately, as you mentioned, it's
not or it has been mentioned, that's not consistent across
the board at every VA system. So or you know,
district or location, I should say, so, yeah, and a

(13:11):
lot of places, a lot of places they've got a
main one that you got to go to. But it's
a three hour drive and they don't have any satellite
offices or anything like that, you know, depending on where guys,
because we as veterans, a lot of guys like to
live out. You know, I'm gonna live about thirty minutes
from my neighbor type stuff, you know, because they prefer
to be alone. I live. I understand all due time.

(13:35):
You're a young guy. You got plenty of time to
figure that out. Yeah. So so okay, so you're in Houston.
I'm glad. You're glad to hear that you're the VAS
working for you and that you feel like you're getting
your dues out of it, because a lot of people don't.
One last thing about the v I got back from
my first deployment No. Three h four and from Baghdad,

(13:57):
and I was like hard headed, shocker, Irish Catholic family
from Chicago. I'm talking to my uncle. He's for a
Vietnam VET, and I mean like pounding it into him,
go get your go, get a rating, go go do something,
because he had and I understand the mentality. Back then,
they didn't want to deal with the VA. They didn't
want anything to do with the government because of how
they were treated when they got home, you know, uh,

(14:21):
you know, uh, as far as watching it, it was
the first time we'd actually been live coverage of combat.
But back home it was just a disaster for these
these kids, you know, coming back from Vietnam and everything.
So but he finally did and he's doing well. And
uh so, Houston, when now you have the smoking memories

(14:48):
And then I was doing a little I was doing
a little snooping and a little stocking going on there,
and I couldn't actually pinpoint how you're involved with this
business suit thing that you got going on in Houston.
I'd love to hear about all this. So let's talk
about your entrepreneurship and how you got to this point.
How's it going. Uh, Veterans that are in the Houston area,

(15:11):
how do they get to you know, seek you out
and be a part of this type thing.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, sure, great question. I mean to start, you know,
I've been out for going on six years now, and
it's like most veterans, been a whirlwind of you know,
trying to regain and find your sense of identity and
purpose and all of that post military, and it was

(15:40):
the same for me. So, you know, bouncing around several
different industries. I was in the oil field for a
while with the big international oil and gas company, and
then ended up in transportation for a few years, and
this and that, and you know, entrepreneurship was never on

(16:03):
my radar my whole life growing up. You know, both
of my parents worked. They both had good jobs, but
worked for at the time it was Continental United now,
but they both worked for the airlines all the way
up until they retired. So I didn't know anything about
business or entrepreneurship. And not only that, but you know,

(16:26):
with less technology and all that back then, it wasn't
as easy as it is today to in terms of
resources and all that stuff. So it really started to
peak my interest around the time, maybe in Iraq or
right around the time I was getting out, so I
started making some connections and networking. And that's actually around

(16:53):
the time I don't know if you're a part of it,
but it's around the time that I got involved with
the vpreneur tribe I am.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
That's how I found you.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, so and all those guys, that's when I rich
I've met all those guys way back when when I
first got introduced to that group, and so that was
a great first start. So yeah, man, just bouncing around jobs,

(17:22):
trying to juggle that in the family and making me
get into our first house and all these things. And
so I just focused really heavily on the networking aspect
and developing the right relationships in my community and the
area here and learned a lot from from the guys

(17:44):
in that tribe, and so it just kind of progressed
over the first few years back here in Houston, and
I just got to a point finally where I was
still working my job and I started this cigar company
on the side, and you know, I just found like

(18:07):
a just wanted to fill a gap. So I took
my passion for you know, networking and connecting people and
something I enjoyed, which is, you know, cigars and bourbons.
So I wanted to do something that was low overhead

(18:28):
and that I could provide, you know, an unforgettable type
experience for people. And so that's kind of the business
model that I was focusing on. And so I did
that for a while, and then last year around this
time in the summer of last year, I left my

(18:49):
job and just kind of put my hand on faith
and went for it full time and so since then,
I mean a lot of different things, like you just mentioned,
have kind of my path and niche, if you will,
and the direction I want to go with business ventures

(19:11):
and that sort of thing has got narrow and narrower
over time. And so that's progressed into Bluefine Men'swear, which
you're referring to. And so we have an office here
in Houston. Our partner, Steve, he's been in the industry

(19:31):
for over twenty years and he created Blue about four
and a half years ago, and so he's a cigar
guy himself. He's a Navy veteran, and him and I've
been friends for quite a while and we have a

(19:52):
lot of the same target audience and interests. So we
just sat down one day and kind of organically came
to the cl vision that would be good to team up,
and he brought me on and so it's just just
him and I. We we specialize specifically in bespoke men's

(20:14):
wear and custom suits. So what that essentially means is
that all of our garments are made completely from scratch.
You know, We've got five thousand different fabric options and
everything down to the inner lining and monogram stuff. It's
it's specifically made to fit and shape your body perfectly nice.

(20:39):
So that's what we make. We don't make any off
the shelf stuff like Men's Warehouse or Joseph A Banks
or any of that.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
So right, that's great, that's great. I'll definitely be coming
in sene I once again.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
So I'm in that.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
I'm in that, you know, just turn fifty, trying to
get comfortable with my fluffy uh a phase of my
existence right now. So uh, let me let me get
back at it a little bit and then I'm when
I come to Houston, I'm definitely coming to see you
guys for a suit. Absolutely. That's fantastic. I like that cool,
that's great.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yeah, We've we've got a fun office. Man. I I
offer some you know, compliment one of my complimentary cigars.
We've got some some good bourbon in the in office
and uh so we uh, we have fun and I
want to relaxed environment for our clients when they come
in for us to go through some different fabric options

(21:36):
and do measurements and that kind of thing. So that's uh,
that's pretty cool. I enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
That's awesome. I'm flipping through the Rollo dex of movies
that I've seen in my in my head, and I'm
thinking of those moments where somebody goes in, like I
realize it's not John Wick, but John Wick goes in
to get a suit, you know, he talks with the tailor,
stuff of that nature. And then there's a whole bunch
of other movies even even it's been and James Bond
movies and stuff too, And that's that's brilliant. I love that.

(22:03):
I love that concept of a relaxed environment, you know, uh,
just professionals, professional men talking and then uh coming out
with some great dress wear. That's fantastic that.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
We've we've kind of partnered up to and we created this.
We call it the Ultimate Groomsmen Experience. So it's it's
wedding focused on the grooms and their groomsmen. And so
we've kind of paired my company in Blue and have
created that package to where we can come to them

(22:38):
or or a designated location and and tell the groom, hey,
bring you know, get all your groomsmen together, come here,
and we'll make it an enjoyable experience. So basically like
a fitting celebration if you will bring all the guys
in and instead of them all just sitting around waiting
for each other to get measured and fitted and all

(23:01):
this stuff, and to be super boring, we bring some
some quality whiskey, some complimentary cigars and music and just
kind of make it like a fun, enjoyable experience. One.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
So that's awesome. That's a great that's a great concept.
All right, let's talk about smoking memories.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah. Man, it's definitely a passion of mine. It's uh,
you know, I've been bootstrapping this thing since the beginning,
so I take a lot of pride in it. I
don't have any loans or anything of that sort, and
so since last year I've been just running and gun
and trying to grow it on my own. And you

(23:47):
know how it is, wearing multiple hats and so it's uh,
it's definitely been developing, and I've made a lot of
connections and especially the wedding industry, but also you know,
corporate type events and golf tournaments and that kind of thing,
and actually introduced at the beginning of this year my

(24:10):
own cigar line too. So I've got my own cigar
brand and and signature blends and stuff out of Nicaragua
that I offer for all of my events as well
as anybody that wants to, you know, buy some of
my cigars if they go on my website or you know,
shoot me a message like hey Brandon, let me get

(24:31):
a box of whatever.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, it's been fun. It's been fun. I'm eager to
keep scaling and growing and have a lot of plans
for you know, the rest of this year. Finishing up
revamp in my website right now, and have some plans

(24:57):
in the future for building out a custom trade as
another additional service. I've brought on an employee or two
this year. I have my own Master's cigar roller as well,
and so it's been a lot of fun and definitely
looking back from last year to now, you know, the progression,

(25:19):
even though it's been kind of slow, slow and steady progression,
but it's definitely getting there and it's pretty cool to
look back at where I started and where we are now.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
So that's great. And congrats on the on your own
cigar line. That's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Thanks, Yeah, it's really cool. I love it.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Good deal. So so, now where I have dabbled from
time to time in cigars, where what kind of a
cigar would your your line be? Close to as far
as as far as flavors and stuff. So like I've done,
and I realized that they're not. They're probably not. You know, uh,

(26:00):
we get them overseas and packages as such. You know,
so you get they'd come in the Pelican cases back
in the early two thousands and then you know that
would be like the little human door and we'd smoke
them while we're you know, when we're over in the
combat zones and stuff. But like we get some acids
and some other stuff and sure, yeah, so you know

(26:20):
it's uh, but I was just wondering, like where do
you see your line in in the cigar as far
as like flavor and full body like like taste.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Uh. So I've got a few different blends. My my
two main blends, which are a robusto size, which is
your most common traditional size of cigar. Right, I've got
two different blends that are that size that I specifically

(26:55):
tailored to majority of my clientele for my events, and
most of them are not your everyday aficionado. These are
mostly people that have either never touched a cigar or
like yourself, they'll have one on on occasion a couple
times a year at most right, So I kept that

(27:16):
in mind while developing these blends, and so I created
a Connecticut blend with a Connecticut rapper that's more on
the mile side, and then I have a Habano wrapper
blend that is closer a medium body of cigar, which
is still very much so tolerable, tolerable for just about anybody.

(27:42):
But I did, however, just this year, a few months back,
introduce my limited edition year of the Dragon cigar, and
that is very much so a medium to full body smoke.
It's a it's a box, it's a little bit bigger
cigar with a hybrid rapper, so it's got an a

(28:05):
scurrow wrapper on it, which is basically like a dual rapper.
It's got a Maduro and Habano rappers on there, and
it's like a nineteen dollars cigar. But I would argue
that it's probably a top three cigar on the entire
market in my opinion, under thirty dollars. So it's it's

(28:29):
a very very quality cigar. I had a lot of
compliments on it. I'll actually show you one.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah, that'd be great, real quick.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
I had a single one out. But this is a
I don't know if you could see it. But yeah,
these are are the the Year of the Dragon cigars here,
so I've got to open this new pack. But uh,
but yeah, they're they're excellent. I mean, all of all
of my tobacco is quality tobacco, but that one specifically

(29:07):
is for your you know, true cigar guys and people
that can handle a little bit heavier in terms of
strength and a little bit longer of a smoke and
that kind of thing. So it's definitely for kind of
a special occasion or people that really appreciate the art
of cigars. You know.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
That's great, and all these are and you I guess, okay,
so two questions. All these are advertised all your line
of cigars are advertised on your website? Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yeah, they're technically they're on there, But as I said,
I'm revamping my whole website, so I think there's a
tab temporarily on there where it's like a form you
can fill out to say how many you want and
this and that. But since the Year the Dragon Cigars
are fairly new, I'm getting all of that integrated on

(30:00):
the site officially, like built into it right now. So
they are technically on there for a purchase. But the
easiest thing right now to do is just give me
a shout and I can got it ring up in order,
you know.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, I understand. And do you ship?

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (30:20):
You ship within the States?

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Nice? Nice? Any problems with any problems with a POS
or have you tried a POS yet?

Speaker 2 (30:30):
A POS? So? Uh?

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Give an example. I own Master Blaster Coffee. I'm in
the entrepreneur uh private group that that's on Facebook. I
want to talk to you about the Houston Veterans Chamber
of Commerce here in a man so please remind me
of that. So we've been able to so I've been
able to send our mail coffee to a POS merchandise

(30:57):
and coffee to UH to American? Is anybody actually to
be honest with you overseas without any issues? So I don't.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
I don't. I haven't had any issues. I mean, there's
a very specific process with tobacco. I can't just I
can't just run down the street to USBs and say hey,
ship off. You know, I I have to go to
the main headquarters and there's a process and stuff so
you don't get in trouble. But right, you know, I've

(31:29):
I've got that down pretty well, and I use pirate ship,
which is a most cheap process for for shipping stuff.
So yeah, I've got it down pretty good where it's
it's not too hard and my shipping costs and stuff

(31:49):
like that stay fairly low. So it's worked out. Okay.
But I haven't had any issues.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
With that, I got you. So the apos would have
been any bases overseas where we send a packages that
type of thing.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Oh okay, yeah, No, I haven't touched any of that yet.
I have supported things like I know the guys like
Trey Boring over at Cigars for Warriors, have supported several
fundraisers and events for those guys and donated cigars to uh,
you know, help facilitate what they do. But but me personally,

(32:23):
I have not sent anything internationally.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Got you, I got you. I understand. Have you if
you're interested, let me know and I'll we can have
a we have a sidebar conversation about that.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
Sure. So okay, uh have you have you done anything
or have you seen any of the events that the
Houston Veterans Commerce of Chambers has been putting out?

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Brother? I know everybody here and there you go. That's
that's so.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
I just I figured I figured that was probably the case, but.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
I just wanted to Veterans Chamber of Commerce.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yeah. Yeah, I don't even live in Houston, and I
because of the entrepreneur tribe, and so with the coffee business.
My roaster is a Navy veteran. My my merchandise people
is a Navy family of veterans. My the guy that
does my stickers, he does he's former marine and he

(33:26):
he was the one that brought me up, brought me
up to speed about the Veterans Chamber of Commerce and
they they're doing, I mean, they do great things and
they're trying to do even more great things. So I
just want to make sure that people know there are
versions of that in other cities too, not just Houston,
but Houston was the was the big one that definitely
was brought to you know, put on my radar.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
So yeah, they've been growing exceptionally well over the last
year or two. I'm friends with Dave Weaver and John
who run it, and they've been doing a great job.
You know. They anybody that's a member, they put their
business up on their website directory and uh, they've they've

(34:09):
been growing a lot. But they also have been partnering
with a lot of other great organizations that I, you know,
support and am a part of here locally as well.
So yeah, they're they're definitely they've got a good thing
going on, for sure.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
That's fantastic. When I was a couple of it, i'd
say just over about a year ago, Uh, attended some meetings,
virtually talk to some guys, got a couple of leads
off of it for networking and whatnot. They were offering
for people outside the Houston area to be to register
and become members. Uh is that still for our viewers?

(34:48):
Is that still an option?

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Uh? Say that again to register to be Well yeah, well.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
So they to to become a member of the Chamber
of not an officiating member, but like they can attend
the meetings so that they can hang their web their information,
their website up there, you know, stuff of that nature.
The perks that go with being a part of you know,
attending to Maybe my words aren't helping me out here

(35:17):
at the moment, I apologize, But they were doing like
an outreach program, is what I was getting at back
way back when I was doing it.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yeah, I know they've done a few things in partnered
up with Bunker Labs. As far as I know, maybe
they've changed some stuff. Like I said, they've been doing
a lot of things differently and growing a lot the
last six months to a year. But as far as
I know, you can attend any of their you know,
public events or functions that they do. But but I

(35:49):
do believe that you have to be a member in
order for you to obviously get your company put put
out there on their website and some other benefits. I'm
sure I don't. I couldn't answer all the details. I
would reach out to, you know, Dave or John or
somebody that is a member over there. I mean, I
I could ask, but I don't want to give you

(36:12):
a wrong answer.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
I understand. But I do believe it's a great organization
that ultimately it's just a great organization. And I was
very impressed with what they're doing. So that's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
I'll actually see some of them tomorrow night. So they've
partnered up with a place here called Honored Cafe. It
was a VET that runs it, and they've been doing
I metily monthly mixers there and Houston Chambers partnered up
doing that with them as well, And so I'll be

(36:46):
there for this month a little mixer.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
So that's great.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
They're doing good stuff for sure.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Good deal. All right, speaking of mixers, let's talk about bourbon, sir,
don't talk too dirty to me, so as our audience
can see, that is a that's a very nice looking
shelf shelving unit of bourbon that you have there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
So what.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
I've been through the years, I refer to it as
uh in depending on who I'm talking to, and most
of the guys I've spent time with overseas refer to
it as you know, my favorite brown water. So, uh
what what's your favorite? What's your favorite go to? And
then do you recommend for the new person that might

(37:38):
be wanting to try bourbon for the first time, what
would you recommend for.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Them a good starter bourbon or a weekly bourbon? I
would definitely have to say that Basil Hayden, any of
the Basil Hayden's is good. You're looking at like a
forty forty dollars price point for that, Yeah, any of

(38:05):
the the Redwood Empire Urban's same price point? Excellent?

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Where's redwood from the Redwood Empire were they out of?

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Well, it's a it's a it's a Kentucky bourbon. But
I don't know where that name is generators are sparked from.
Could be Redwood, California or something.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
I couldn't tell you what the story behind that is.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
But gotcha.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Double oak Wood for double Oak is great. That's a
kind of a next step up. Another one that's really
really good, that's around sixty dollars. Also are the old four.
Nineteen twenty is my favorite, but the nineteen ten is
also really good. Nice, But man, there's there's a bunch.

(39:09):
This is one of my the'se up here. One of
my favorite bourbons, the Weller Antique oh seven Joseph Magnus.
This is a brother's bond cast Strength, which is good.
Another starter would be Penelope, but I've got a Penelope
barrel strength up there actually, which is phenomenal. Yeah, that's

(39:32):
that's hard to find though.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
A good deal. Yeah, very impressive, very impressive. So you
said you got some things coming up this year or
towards the end of the year, before January, I'm assuming,
is that correct? Yeah, yeah, So anything you any tidbit
you want to throw out there for any of the viewers.

(39:54):
You're doing, any special events, between.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Now and the end of the year of course. Yeah.
So we've got my next quarterly Veterans Cigar and I
will be in early October. Don't have an exact date yet.
I'll probably have the details and date out for that
probably in about a month. Everything else is the same.

(40:19):
So if they attended the last last quarter, which was
last month, I believe in June, yeah, that that flyer's
got all the same info that it would be for
this one. Other than the date. It was good turnout
last time. We had about forty five people come out.

(40:39):
Oh nice, and all vets and first responders. Their cigar
and first cocktail are covered as well as appetizers. So
that's really been going for that. In the event, it's

(41:00):
just I just named it Cigar Veteran Cigar Night, Okay, Yeah,
that's what it's called. So it's a it's at al
And Ivy here in the Woodlands north of Houston. It's
between Spring and the Woodlands. But yeah, really really cool place.
The owners are awesome, They've been working with us really

(41:21):
well for that and yeah, it's it's going good. It's
been getting bigger and better and so just another thing
for me to try to support the veteran community doing,
so we've got that coming up. I'm actually in the
works right now. I've got a very high level business

(41:43):
networking event that I'm doing in September here locally as well.
That'll be kind of like a private invite only type deal, right,
And then, uh, just some big events for smoking memories.
I've got a golf tournament in September for a big

(42:06):
oil and gas company and so I they wanted to
book me. I decided to just do it for them
at costs. They're doing a charity event partnering up with
Meals on Wheels. Oh, I just told them I'd do
it at cost for him. And then I'm doing a

(42:27):
big event for Dyiking, which is like the world's largest
h VAC company coming up here in a couple of months.
And got a wedding coming up here soon.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
So you can be busy.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah, I got some some things going.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, good deal, that's great. Uh, any pearls of wisdom
as we wrap this up for the evening, like a
famous quote or uh, some famous person in his throughout
history that that said anything.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
I don't have a quote for you, but if I
could give kind of a nugget to any vets that
are watching, especially that are in that kind of transition process.
It's easier if you're younger too, but just fail forward,
man like, if you can fail as fast and as

(43:26):
often as possible, trial and error and find the quickest
ways to get to a point where you figure out
what your passions are and what your strengths are and
you mesh those together. That's how you're going to figure
out what your purpose is and what you want to
do on this earth. And so the only way to

(43:46):
really do that is to just do stuff, try stuff
until you do enough things that you see a pattern
to where you're like, this doesn't work. I really suck
at this. Let's not ever do that again. I learned
a lot from this. I'm good in these areas. I'm
starting to figure out a pattern, and that will lead

(44:09):
you to you know, whatever industries are calling or you know,
so that would be that would be my advice.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
I got you, and I think it's sound advice. You
hear different versions of that, you know, depending on who
you follow a lot of there's a lot of obviously
a lot of talk last month because it was Men's
Health Men's Health Awareness Month for in June. A lot
of things coming up, you know or talked about as
far as you know, take a look at the man

(44:41):
in the mirror that you're dealing with every day and
try to strike to strive to start off with something
positive every day. You know, learn from your mistakes from
the day before, even if you're only taking one small
baby step and still a step forward for the day.
And try to count your blessings at the end of
the you know, at the end of the evening as well,
because not every day, not every day is going to

(45:03):
be perfect, as you and I both know, but you know,
the you can find small blessings that even if it's
that just enough hope for you know, the outlook for tomorrow.
You know, God, God willing we have another day. We
get we have breath in our lungs and we open
up our eyes in the morning. We get going on that.
So this is kicked off and reminded me of something

(45:27):
that I've been seeing over the last couple of weeks,
because we I wanted to do this, I wanted to
do this a month ago, but weather was not permitting.
All you got all that rain down there. I was
back in the chicag Land area and we lost power.
And thank you again for your understanding and rescheduling it
for today. This is a it's been an honor to

(45:47):
have you on the show. But I have noticed that
you've been putting these kind of phrases out there, like
good morning to a certain fount of people, but then
not not these these guys over here, not these people
except you. So uh, first off, what started that? Because
I think they're absolutely hilarious.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
And then second is is where'd you get your inspiration
for it.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
I've seen a friend of mine that that did one.
And I like to try to kind of mix up
my content just you know, see how engagement works with
certain people and certain type of content and stuff. So
that was one reason. But I just kind of wanted
to stir up my network a little bit, piss some

(46:37):
people off, and and uh, you know, just do that
a few days at a time here and there for
for a week or two and and kind of just
throw people off and and get some engagement that way.
So and it definitely works good.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
I was gonna say, if you need some you know,
if you need people to vote for you for you
to continue that, put me down, I'll vote for it.
I think it's awesome. Some of those were absolutely hilarious,
So absolute hilarious. Yeah, oh yeah, man, I do the Uh.
I've been doing a lot of traveling in the last's
say six months or so.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
My first unit that I went to for EO D
I was uh, I was myself and five other guys
were kind of labeled as the Silverbacks because a four
or six man lift of equipment and this isn't in
the EOD community. It would only take two of us.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
You know.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
It's that ridiculous strength that we had. And uh, so
I've been kind of bringing that back as far as
me being the gorilla, and uh, there's been similar to
what you're doing. But in my travels, I do uh
like the Escape Gorilla sightings and with the you know,
like with me own and master Blast for coffee, I'll

(47:52):
take I'll get one with a picture of Starbucks behind
me and uh and I'll be like Escape Guerrilla spotted
in enemy territory, that the thing, and you know it,
just having fun with it just to get laughs out
of it. And similar to what you're doing, you know,
get the content moving and get people engaged in what
you're doing. So I put the pledge up every day

(48:13):
do that, and I got to start back up with
my I did. I brought awareness to suicide in veterans
and first responders. I had my moment June fourth, twenty
twenty one, so I bring awareness to that and I
went eight hundred and forty one days straight with pushups,

(48:34):
putting them out there every day. I got to start
that back up. And you know, if if you're up
for it, when I get to Houston and I come visit,
maybe you'll join me. If when we can do do
it together, bring awareness for the it, we'll make it
an event or do whatever. So but I definitely want
to come visit you because I'm looking forward to having
some with a fellow bourbon lover as you are, having

(48:58):
a good bourbon and enjoying one of those Dragon cigars
with you. That's gonna be awesome.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
I'll treat you, man, you'll you come down here. I'll
take care of you.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Brother. I appreciate it. This has been fantastic. Any any
last any last thoughts, anything you want to share with
the viewers that have joined us today.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
No, man, I really appreciate you having me on the
shows and Blast and maybe we can.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
We'll definitely do this again. I'm gonna We've only been
doing it since May first, so I'm I'm trying to
figure out, Okay, we had to show here six to
eight months. Maybe later, you know, come back check in
on how things are going. You know. I love the
fact that you said business is moving at a snails pace.
I'd rather do that than you know, kind of crash

(49:46):
and burn because we're it's moving too fast, you know,
the way the economy is. I'm just glad people are
still buying my coffee.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
No kidding, man, You're not kidding.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Yeah, excuse me, I've got a tickle. So, uh, I
always uh what was I just saw one from uh
and I'm a huge I'm a huge Gladiator fan. I
love that movie. Uh, Marcus, really is I just saw
one that it was a replay and uh, what we

(50:18):
do in life echoes in eternity. Yeah, So I'm gonna
throw that out there because I think what you're talking
about is farkin as far as move always moving forward.
You gotta have that drive, you know. And I'm I'm
obviously I'm a huge proponent for for veterans and suicide
awareness and suicide prevention. For veterans and first responders. Let

(50:38):
me throw that out there, make sure throw that out there.
So but uh, it's been an honor semper fi separate
fidelis brother, and UH really appreciate you joining us today. Everybody.
We're gonna wrap it up today with Tripwire. Great chat
with Brandon Harris, if he, if he, If you want
check this out again, you replay for a week in

(51:00):
a half or so. Listen to the audio if you
can't see the video. Thanks again for your tenants, Brandon,
God speeding God bless to you and your family. And
I'll check in with you soon. And that wraps us
up this episode of Tripwyre. Thank you for joining us.
We'll catch you next time sixteen and four pm Eastern
Time next Wednesday. God bless