Transcript
Norm Kopesky on Cigars, Business & Appleton Cigar (Hour 1)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Wed May 27, 2026
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It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
Connecting the dots on the stories shaping our world with smart takes, sharp humor, and plenty of personality.
You know, I really expected more professional behavior from you.
It's news and culture without the noise.
Yeah, come on!
Here's Pete Schwabba.
Dude.
And Greg Bach.
Dude!
Welcome to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
We're so happy you're joining us this evening.
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And yeah, I'm Greg Bach coming to you live from Radio Park here in Racine and coming up all the way to the coast.
in Northeast Wisconsin, in Marinette, AKA Christmas City, USA, is Mr. Pete Schwabba.
And then all the way over in Madison, the one, the only, Dom Lee on the ones and twos.
We are your Yadarhe triangle.
So excited you are joining us this evening.
Pete, how are you doing tonight?
I am doing very well.
I forgot to turn my microphone on, but
that happens periodically, but I got it.
I got it together.
I'm doing well.
It's a beautiful day here in Northeast Wisconsin.
Hope you guys had a great day too.
Yeah, really, nothing to complain about.
Just a lovely day.
How are you guys doing?
I'm doing good as well.
Again, another beautiful day.
I gotta mention the weather every single time.
How polite we are.
We are so polite.
We don't want to step on each other's toes.
We're just here to have a good time and make each other feel good.
It's the
Midwestern.
I know,
very much so.
Plus, it's the other
thing of like, oh, you go.
You go.
You go.
You go.
Same here.
It's a very nice day outside.
It was like in the upper 60s, lower 70s all day.
I got to get in some housework done.
Bridget is out of town in Canada right now because she works for a Canadian bank.
And so she does a lot of work up there.
So I thought, well, you know what?
I think I want to get some stuff done.
So I'm just doing some cleaning projects I've had in my mind.
It's nice, it's nice to get things, although I don't know how, Dom, I'm sure this isn't the thing for you because you're young and your body hasn't, you know, turned its back on you yet, but I'm at the point now in my life where just doing like simple cleanup, like I did some scrubbing in the kitchen and did some, you know, sweeping, nothing big.
I wasn't like replacing tile or, you know, installing anything, but my body hurts.
That's brutal.
It's like workout hurt, like where you're like, oh, you did some basic exercise.
No, I just, I just like wiped down the floor.
Like that's going to hurt for a couple of days now.
You know, the best thing you can do, and I get it.
There's times I feel like I'm 80 years old,
but when
I stretch or do yoga, I feel like I'm 14 years old again.
I cannot believe.
Like your dexterity is the first thing that goes and once it goes it's tough to get it back But I don't know if you're into yoga or stretching, but oh my gosh does it feel it makes you feel The cliche is young again, and it does
it really does I used to do a thing called yoga Lotties, which was yoga and Pilates So it was a little more aggressive than yoga, and it was absolutely Fantastic.
I miss it.
I miss yoga a lot.
I just and then honestly, there's no reason why I can't I'm not incapable.
I'm just lazy
And it's like, typically the first thing that goes off, when you have a busy day, well, stretching.
Okay, I'm not doing that.
That's 10 or 15 minutes or 30 minutes if you do yoga or whatever.
So I totally get that.
But I, as I've gotten older, I really do try to make time for it because it is remarkable.
It doesn't- That'd be taking notes
here, Dom.
I was gonna say, I don't have those issues yet, but all in due time.
I
got time.
I got
a lot of time.
But it's coming.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's gonna happen.
One day you're gonna wake up in bed and you're just gonna stretch and be like, oh, my ankle.
That's just what happens.
That's so scary.
Just what happens, buddy.
Just enjoy the
moment, dude.
Live the moment.
Exactly.
Live in the now, man.
Because life really does, Dom.
If I could just take a moment here, it starts to really suck.
So I'm kidding, Dom.
You're just...
No, no, no,
no.
Dom, Dom.
Life is a highway.
You want to ride
it.
All night long.
All night long.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We got a great show tonight, guys.
Yes, we do.
I can't wait to get to this, and then I can't wait to tell you what I did today.
It was part of my walk, but I'm going to just tease that, and it involved a very tall tree.
That's all I'm going to say right now.
All right.
We do have a great show.
One of our sponsors, Norm Kepesky from Appleton Cigar, will be joining us at 535 to talk about a really, really cool event he does every year.
This is
their
third annual
Smoke on the Fox event.
It's a great, just a great event.
They celebrate cigars and Norm has a full bar.
They're doing it in conjunction with Lion's Tail Brewery, I believe.
And it's just a great event.
So we'll talk to Norm about that.
That's coming up on June 8th.
And then in hour number two, Martin Alvarado will be here.
He is the business and technology librarian at
a Madison, a public library.
Martin is a regular on the guest or on the show as well.
We talk books and what's going on at the libraries, not just in Madison, but around the state.
This guy does his homework and we always love when Martin.
I sometimes I want to call him Martin and sometimes I want to call him Martin.
And you know who I blame?
Martin or Martin.
I can't decide who to blame because I don't know what to call him because he says, call me either one.
Yeah, exactly.
So I just, I just call him Martin because that heard, I heard him refer to himself as Martin once.
So I'm just like, I'm going to go with that.
There we go.
What if I started calling him Marty?
You think he punched me in the face?
Well, first of all, um, that's you.
Wow.
It's a very quick, uh, really quick punishment for that question.
There's a bit of an
escalation.
I don't think so.
He seems like a really laid back guy.
I think at most he may say, please don't call me that
dude.
He's awesome.
Yeah,
I think if I called him Marty, he'd be too nice to correct me, but I think he pulled me later.
Yeah, he'd do the nice thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hey, Pete, you know, it's just, you know, you know, very polite, very nice.
And yeah, that sounds like our Martin.
You never know.
Yeah.
That's our, that's our, or he might just go mortal combat on you and
be like, Oh my goodness.
While I'm in a headlock and he straightens me out and tells me what to call him.
And you know what?
I would deserve it.
I would accept that.
Where did this go?
I have no idea.
Let's get back to the show.
So we got two great guests, a really fun question that's coming up, and a reminder, folks, that on Thursday in the second hour of our show, a Nightlight Thursday edition, it is Nightlight Movie Club, and this week's movie was one of my selections.
With the timpani again.
My God, we're just burning
cash right now.
Spending all my money.
Oh my God.
I gotta keep doing
that.
The outsiders.
The Outsiders is this week's night light movie club selection.
I can't talk today.
So check out The Outsiders.
If you haven't already watched it or if you want
to
give it a rewatch, check it out.
Join us Thursday night in hour number two and tell us your favorite scenes, your favorite actors.
I mean, think about the careers that were launched from this movie.
Diane Lane, Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise.
Cruise was on his way anyway, but I think this movie did benefit a lot of like...
Emilio Estevez, Ralph Machio, Machio or Machio?
Machio,
Machio.
You called him Machio last night and I was like, I've never heard anyone call him that.
I didn't
correct you because
I was
like, let him, let him journey
his journey.
I struggle.
I like to play around with names as my friend Martin will attest to until I settle on what people should be called.
But a great movie and a classic Francis Ford Coppola based on the Essie Hinton novel.
We'll talk about that second hour Thursday.
So you have time before tomorrow night to check it out and join us.
Enjoying the fun.
It's
going to be a really packed show.
And coming up, I think next week, we've got another text-to-win contest coming up who will have more information coming your way about that.
I think it's next week.
I may be wrong.
I think I'm wrong, actually.
But I know it's coming up.
Yeah, it's right around the corner, either next week or the following week.
So it's another reason to have the Civic Media out, my friends.
Yes,
and you'll need it to play and you'll need it to correct me and Greg when we give you information.
Oh,
yeah, trust me There are a lot of people out there who always want to correct us because we are I Wouldn't say we're wrong.
I just say, you know, we're learning Work in progress.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're yes.
What was it?
To quote a show that you love Ted Lasso.
We're a work in Progmas
Now see I didn't stick with Ted Lasso, so I have not heard that quote, but I love that
We'll
talk more about that.
I'll tell you what.
One of these
days.
Yeah, we'll talk about the wire and Ted Lasso about how we should maybe both give them another shot.
I love it.
Yeah, I love
it.
Listen, I'm a reasonable.
I'm a measured human being.
So what happened to you on your walk today?
Okay, so I'm taking a walk today.
It's gorgeous.
I often take breaks throughout the day when it's nice out, get a couple, we call them laps because we live in a circular community.
And they were taking a tree down.
Have you ever watched somebody
line up the purposeful taking down of a tree, put the rope around it.
I love watching people do what they do.
And especially when I have no knowledge or I couldn't do it, I'm fascinated.
And these guys lined up, they were taking this huge tree down and they did not move their truck.
And it missed the truck by two feet.
I'm a layman.
I'm like, move the truck just in case.
What if an updraft comes up?
Whatever.
No.
It doesn't matter.
They know what they're doing.
These guys were experts.
And the tree fell exactly where they planned.
And I had a neighbor do this about three years ago.
And the guy took the tree down.
And I said, that was pretty good.
Like he got at the land right where he wanted it.
And he said, I actually wanted it to be about three more inches to the right.
And he was serious.
Like, I'm in awe of what these guys do.
It's
unbelievable.
It's just imagine you as like the rookie kid on the team and you're like, what are you doing, Schwabba?
I'm moving the truck just so they don't, don't move the truck.
Why not?
We know what we're doing.
If
I wanted the truck to be there, I would have put it there.
I've been on this job for 32 years now.
I'm three weeks from retirement.
I'm too old for this junk.
You punk kid.
And that's
right when the tree would fall on him and he would die.
And my character would go on to resurrect and to make good on his legacy of teaching me tree removal.
Guys, this thing writes itself.
Let's go.
I've got, I think you've got a movie on our hands right here.
I think so too.
Let's get to our question of the night.
Let's talk about the question.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Pregunta.
Question.
Question.
Okay, I have a question.
Questions.
This question.
Domanda.
Question.
Questions.
Sports question alert.
Here
it comes, folks.
Sports?
Sports contest.
The New York Knicks are going to the finals for the first time in 27 years.
Most of the people listening probably don't care, but it begs the question, and I am excited for New Yorkers.
They got a lot of friends.
What's your favorite all-time sports moment?
That is tonight's question of the night.
855-752-4842, 855-756-CIVIC.
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And if you're watching the radio on YouTube, Facebook or ex Twitter, drop us a stream comment and be part of the show.
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Let us know what's on your mind and what your all time favorite sports moment is.
There's a lot of good ones to choose from,
guys.
We're going to have fun with that.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You were talking about tree removal.
That's a job that's very much a skilled profession, like a trade profession, if you will.
And, you know,
our very own Tom Tiffany was in the news sort of in the news.
He was caught by TMZ DC and asked about AI and young people graduating.
There's been a lot of people been booing commencement speak commencement speakers because they're talking about the importance of AI and kids are getting really upset because they're like, these are.
you know, this is what's taking jobs or making them not available.
This guy asked Tom Tiffany, well, what do you think about AI and kids with, you know, their thoughts on this and not, and being afraid that their jobs will be taken by AI.
He goes, well, they should just get jobs that AI can't, can't do.
Now I understand it like, and we can't play the interview because it's copyrighted by TMZ.
And I don't
want
to get sued by that little guy with the, with the water bottle, but Harry, Harry, Harvey, Henry, Harvey, Hoover, Martin.
But the thing is, is that like,
to understand that that's the concern is great.
But all he said was like, just go to college and find jobs that can't be done by AI.
Don't put in a position like legislation.
He said, oh, we made Pell grants accessible for tech colleges.
That's great.
But he then like touted the big.
beautiful bill for billionaires and basically told kids, Hey, just do it.
Do something that I can't do.
That's the option.
And then they asked him, well, what would happen if you went back to college?
Would you study political science?
Oh, he's like, Oh, no, I would never do that.
I grew up on a farm.
I might study agriculture.
Yeah, you know, it's like, there was no real answer there while he was trying to be magnanimous also while running for governor of the state.
So he really doesn't know what to tell kids other than, Hey,
Uh, I don't know cut down trees.
So it was really disappointing to witness but not unsurprising.
I think he uh Yeah,
and I think he studied agriculture
in
college.
No, he didn't.
Oh really?
I don't think he did.
I yeah, I think yeah All right, we'll dig into this.
We're coming back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
It is so great to have you with us on this Wednesday folks.
This is the Civic Media Network
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Welcome back.
Well done, Dom.
You know what?
An AI robot could not have remembered that I said I liked that song yesterday, but Dom is on it.
You never know.
You're crushing it.
I'm not saying they couldn't.
I'm just saying you do it better.
I prefer you.
You could have stopped a while ago.
He prays if you cut it short.
All right.
Our question of the night, folks, is what's your favorite all-time sports moment?
This was inspired, I think this is our senior producer, Tucker, who came up with this question.
The New York Knicks are going to the finals for the first time in 27 years.
It's a long time, but you know what?
There are only like what, 32 teams?
One a year?
That's about, that's not terribly long.
I could be wrong too on the amount of teams.
But what is your favorite all time sports moment?
That's our question.
So join the fun, answer the question.
We will get to your texts throughout the show.
Greg, you found this story that I thought was just hilarious, and the headline is simply, Trump says a new drug can bring dead people back to life.
Yes.
If nothing to worry about, folks.
And I was really surprised that we didn't hear this, like, come up sooner than later.
Like, this actually happened.
This story came out about a week and a half ago, but he was sitting in the White House, sitting in the Oval Office talking about something that would, like, a piece of legislation that
would help folks try, I don't want to say, well, experimental drugs or things of that nature, but let's just let him tell us what he thought of the drugs themselves.
Dom, can you play that clip real quick?
We know the drug works because we've taken people that were dead.
We had a person given the last rights, God, the kids are crying and shot at them on this drug.
And the person became better.
It works, you know?
And some don't work.
But you learn really fast.
It's called the ultimate test, I think, correct, you know?
They test all these things.
They use animals.
Well, I would apply to use everything to test.
A person's going to die.
So what he's referring to is a drug that someone could have taken under what's called the right to try act.
It came out in 2024 and this would give people the option to opt for experimental treatments before they, before it was passed.
The problem is, is that people were already allowed to try to do this, but this right, which I think is really funny is the right to try act really just solidified the drug companies, if you will, because it
the law itself, which was passed, seeks to undermine the rights of individuals to legal recourse if they were preyed upon by quack doctors in a highly vulnerable moment of their lives, which when you have people like Dr. Oz and not Dr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
behind you, I think it's important to have that fallback if you get, you know, someone's like, just take these medicines, just take this special Jell-O and you will be cured.
But yeah.
I don't even know what to say to this like like They're giving the last rights and all of a sudden kaboom.
They're healthy and happy and there you go The dog's happy again.
Everyone's happy.
I laughed because he said we've taken people that were dead
Like he's kind of shoe-horning himself into the, and it's like, oh, is this what he was doing when he made the picture of him as Jesus?
Like, is that what he was doing?
Is that what the guy that we're trying to bring back?
And I don't be surprised, Greg, if all of a sudden, Trump Pharmaceuticals comes up and here's the bring it back from the dead drug brought to you by Trump.
Oh, baby.
Well, actually, what's really great
about the new Trump phone is the new Trump phone has a super-duper flashlight.
You can flash onto your skin or in your mouth if you get COVID, because that's all you need, too, is just some...
concentrated light in your face.
Is that true?
Well, that's what he said.
He said, if we just shine light in the body, it will kill the COVID.
He also said that once it gets warm, COVID will go away.
He also said we could take bleach and ivermectin.
There's a whole bunch
of things.
He said, we'll wrap this up in a couple of days too.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, he also said that about
the Iranian war too.
So people were coming to his defense saying, he didn't mean dead.
They said, it sounds like Monty Python, mostly dead.
Yeah.
That was a doozy.
And we didn't hear about it for a week because there's a lot going on right now.
You can't keep up with what's happening.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
What was the other, we had another great story here.
Uh,
Oh yeah.
A, a NVIDIA says that AI is more expensive than actual workers.
And what's funny is that you said something very interesting is that
right now it's more expensive.
It will probably be less expensive as we go.
But like not only do these AI executives say that it's more expensive, but they say that companies just don't care.
And it kind of goes back to the whole thing with the Tom Tiffany discussion too is like, you see these young people who aren't getting out of college and want to get a job and what an Oracle fired 30,000 people via email.
So
It's just funny to me that they're saying like, yeah, it's more expensive, but we don't care.
It's fine.
We got the money.
It's so scary.
I totally get why graduates are booing people that even bring up AI.
I mean, it's here to stay.
I use it for some stuff, but, you know, I'm part of two unions, the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America and
You know, they're battling AI right now with the studios and what's appropriate and what's not.
I mean, it's one thing to Google search.
It's another thing not to have a livelihood because of AI.
And I think in this article, too, someone made mention that AI works around the clock 24 hours.
People can't do that.
So yeah, it'll it's going to be really interesting.
But I mean, I guess, yeah, I guess.
I don't know.
Like, I'm not, again, I'm not against AI.
I really not.
I just feel like we talked about this yesterday.
This is something that needs guardrails, regulations, studying.
It's
still
too new of a technology to just throw us into.
And now all these folks are out of a job.
all these people who worked for Oracle, and guess who that guy is?
Larry Ellison, guess who his son is?
The guy buying Paramount, who owns Paramount, who wants Warner Brothers.
I mean, it's coming for everyone at all points from all directions, it seems, whether you are in tech or in art.
And it's just to me, we are going to be in trouble.
We should have someone on from the world of the arts because I do think there are some things that can be replaced or AI jokes, which are terrible.
You can usually tell when they've written a script.
That's awful.
But
I
do think there are some things in the world of arts and culture that AI can't replay or maybe can, but just really terribly.
And I don't think people go for it.
But anyway, absolutely.
That's for another day.
When we come back, we have our pal Norm Kepesky.
He will be here.
He might be smoking a cigar.
We don't know, but we allow him to do that because he'll be joining us over the stream.
He's the owner of Appleton Cigar and he's going to be talking about a really cool event coming up next.
This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
Welcome back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
I'm Pete Chihuahua coming to you live from northeast Wisconsin.
That is Greg Bach, if you're watching on the stream, banging on his air drums coming to you live from Radio Park in Racine.
And the fabulous Dom Lee holding down the fort in Madison, working the board, producing the show, Dom Lee.
We are the Otterhay Triangle in case you were squaring at home, folks.
If you're watching on the stream, you can even see we're set
up like a triangle.
We should start doing like a yadda hay yadda hay yadda hay and then be like yadda hay.
Yadda hay.
I like
that.
It's got a very
three stooge's vibe.
Very
much
so.
Exactly.
The inspiration.
A radio shop trio.
We don't have a quartet unless we would get senior producer Tucker or maybe our guest to join in.
But
we'll
see what
Norm says.
But just a quick reminder, folks, before we bring our first guest on, what is your favorite all time sports moment?
That is tonight's question of the night here at Nightlight.
And there's so many great ones to choose from whether it's I've got some that from my teams and I've got some that I had nothing to like I don't root for these teams, but they were just truly amazing Majestic sports moments.
It's just absolute great theater.
So let us know what your favorite all-time sports moment is.
That's our question of the night All right, without further ado, it is my pleasure to welcome our first guest of the night
He's a regular on the show.
He's the owner of Appleton Cigar, which has the largest, ladies and gentlemen, selection of sticks as they call them.
Greg, did you know cigars were called sticks?
No.
I did
not know that.
I'm about to learn and I love that.
I love to
learn.
I love that word.
The largest selection of sticks North of Milwaukee has also appeared famously in a music video.
He may or may not want to talk about.
He joins us now over the phone.
Mr. Norm Kepesky.
Hey, Norm.
Doing well.
Doing very well.
It's great to have you back on the show.
Before we get started, Norm, do you have a favorite all-time sports moment?
Molliter pitch it.
Filling in at second base and he made a tag that I I still don't know how they did that I mean it was it was the throw was right on the money is is Mitt didn't have to move more than an inch to make the tag and Just between the the relay throw and that catch.
It was it was just fantastic
That
so that's like a great little moment, right?
Like just in the middle of a game just a moment.
I love it.
That's great
I had something recently.
I went to the Brewers game when they played the Yankees a couple of weeks ago and Bryce Terrang, who I kind of believe could just be his own baseball team at this point.
He's just so talented.
He did a jumping leap tag out that they had to go back and look and it wasn't like they called it safe and they were like no challenge and we saw it in the whole state.
You heard one part of the stadium go insane because I knew he was safe and then one small part just like, oh, it was the Yankees fans.
That was great.
That was a great moment and I loved being it was the greatest baseball game ever been to my life But yeah, I love those great moments, especially what happens for the Brewers
Yeah, excellent choice Norm my co-host approves for sure Hey, so all right, we brought Norm on because he has this great event Coming up right around the corner is the third annual smoke on the Fox which Appleton cigar is co-sponsoring with lion's tail brewery company brewing company.
It's Monday, June 8th
Norm, what can you tell us about this?
Every year you come on to talk about this, it sounds like it gets bigger and bigger every year, and it sounds just fantastic.
This is our fundraiser that we do for Fox Cities Veteran Council.
So the proceeds of our event goes directly to Fox Cities Veteran Council, which helps our veterans that are at risk in our community, whether that's housing or medical care, mental health care.
It helps these guys get plugged in and helps them to stabilize when they get out of the military for whatever reasons that they be, medical or injury related.
Or maybe it was just the time to muster out.
So we want to do right by these guys, especially with Memorial Day just behind us, a veteran stay not too far away.
So it's our opportunity to give back as a cigar community.
And that's really what we try to focus it on.
We got a cigar roller coming in.
So that's called a torsador in the in the Latin vermin's in the Spanish torsador So these guys will take Your your filler tobacco your wrapper and your binder and they're gonna be making cigars and kind of hand them those out as we're going through the night We got several different reps from across the nation that are flying in the town Julio Roa from Aladino cigars is coming in that's
kind of a big deal if you're a uber cigar nerd like I am.
He's kind of one of the OGs of the boutique lines of cigars.
So that's pretty cool for us.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and honestly, I'm looking at this, I'm looking at this poster here, this flyer that was sent.
I mean, it
it could just be like, Oh, we're going to have fun.
We're going to smoke some cigars.
This is a big thing happening.
I mean, it's I mean, it is it is a it is a good price tag, but you get a lot for your value.
And as you said, you are helping the vets, which is something that I believe we can all stand behind as well.
But like this isn't just like a come smoke some cigars and you know, have some fun.
This is like a real super like is this really for folks who are into this world of cigar smoking?
Or is it for everyone really who just wants to have fun and help out?
Linesfield's got a great line with beers for the night.
We've got food trucks coming in.
So come in, hang out.
We'll pass the bucket at the night.
If you want to contribute directly to Fox News Veteran Council, you can help facilitate that.
It's really, it's geared towards the cigar people.
So we try not to dial in so hard on the nerd crowd that we wipe out the occasional, you know, the golf course smoker.
Yeah.
But yeah, we try to make it approachable for anybody that that either is a scar, fishing auto themselves or his family to one.
Yeah.
It's for a great cause and your money.
Tell us where we can get tickets, Norm.
And then I'll let people know what they get for the money because it's pretty impressive.
Yeah, so if you go to our website, AppletonCigar.com, on there, you're going to see options to buy tickets for Smoke on the Fox.
We still have our early bird pricing going on.
We're going to run that for, I think, until next week's Friday.
And then from there, we're going to date prices.
But yeah, that's really what it's about.
AppletonCigar.com.
It's so great because you get two drink tickets for beer.
18 premium cigars.
Oh
my gosh.
That's worth the price of emission right there, depending on the cigars, I'm sure.
And then bonus event cigar entry.
There's raffles.
And is our pal Tim Cote involved in this from the Fox Valley Veterans Council norm?
He absolutely is.
Oh, that's great.
Tim's a great guy.
So it's for a great event folks.
Check it out.
And you said you still have early bird pricing available.
There also is a swag bag norm.
What's in the swag bag?
Can you give us a sneak peek?
Yeah.
So our vendors are cigar reps that are coming into town.
Those guys are going to be bringing whether it's miters, cutters, ashtrays, eyeball glasses for your bourbon that's actually with the brand name on it.
So that kind of stuff, you know, wherever, whatever table you end up sitting at, those reps will be giving you, giving you table gifts that goes in the swag bag.
But then also we've got Nate from the La Vida.
They help with keeping your human, human or at the correct humidity.
He's going to be bringing stuff along.
We've got the raffle prizes.
So I know we're going to have at least seven entire boxes of cigars.
So you have a chance one out of seven.
one in seven chance to take home an additional 20 cigars.
And those will range anywhere from a $300 box all the way up to a $900 box.
My goodness.
up.
I've worked in the brewery world and I've met a lot of beer people.
I've worked in many different, like where there's a lot, there's like,
a culture where there's a deep dive and like you just referred yourself as a car nerd.
What, you know, what brought you to this world?
Was it something that just came to you or was it something that, you know, like a family member was like, here kid, try this, you know, not encouraging smoking of minors, of course, but just saying like, what brought you into the world of cigars because it's a very niche world?
And it wasn't really anything that interested me until I was in my mid-20s and my brothers were grown.
And we would get just five of us, so four boys and then my dad.
We would get a five pack of cigars and we would sit around and smoke them and kind of catch up on life.
And so it was kind of that oriented around community.
It happened to be family community for us.
It was oriented around community and just kind of catching up on life and kind of building that brotherhood that we as men need to build to keep our heads screwed on straight.
And it just kind of kept going from there.
We went from quarterly to monthly to try to get a smoke in every week as often as we can.
And then you start building other little satellite communities out of that.
Different friend groups that enjoy it periodically and volunteer groups, whether it's
working out at Life Fest or working at Crossroads and different things like that where you've got people that are kind of working together on a shared mission and we kind of pass some cigar rounds, sit around the campfire and do some catching
up.
That's so great.
Our guest is Norm Kopesky.
He's one of the co-owners of Appleton Cigar.
Definitely check out this place, folks.
They have the largest selection of cigars north of Milwaukee, 710 cigars to choose from.
Walk in Humidor.
It's just a great spot.
Norm, you just talked about community, and I think I told you this before.
The first time I went into a cigar lounge or store, I remember telling you a friend of mine invited me, and he said, we'll go smoke a cigar.
I'm like, what are we going to do?
Just sit there?
And it was one of the best times.
You're so right about community.
You just start jawing with other people, and it's great.
What can people expect?
If they go into Appleton cigar, what's that experience like if someone hasn't been to one before?
Yeah, so you're gonna get greeted at the door That's one of the things that we've really pride ourselves on that everyone gets a warm welcome.
You get a personal tour into the human order to help you find A cigar that it's gonna help fit the night for you whether you're celebrating whether you're wanting the loss of someone's clothes and good dog Or you're just out and you want some company for the night
Um, we're going to help you pick out a cigar that, that fits you.
It fits what you're trying to go for that night.
And then we're going to get you hooked up with a drink, soda, coffee, bourbon, one of the lion's tails beers.
And, uh, we'll get you lit up.
We'll get you comfy in one of our chairs.
And from there, it's maybe the baseball games on, maybe it's the Packers.
Um, we're watching old school Lord of the Rings or something like that on TV.
You could run into Navy fighter pilots, Air Force fighter pilots or other.
We got a Navy recruiter who's in the house often, retired Marine, three star general, corporate executives, blue collar workers, young guys that are attending Lawrence, going from the music majors in the various fields that can be firefighters.
quite a variety.
So it's usually, it's very common to run into an interesting conversation.
That's fantastic.
Nothing else you just listening.
Yeah, we try to write.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Cheers Vibe.
Yeah, yeah nice nice
they have poker nights, too We can find out more about that when we come back.
We've got Norm Capesca.
Can I just give
you 20 bucks and not play
because I'll be terrible Save yourself the gas money.
Yeah We're coming right back.
We'll have a few more minutes with our pal Norm Capesca Don't go anywhere folks.
We'll tell you more about smoke on the Fox We'll tell you what cocktail goes perfect with a good cigar.
This is Pete Schwabba and great vodka nightlight on the Civic Media Network
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Welcome back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach, and that is how you light it up, folks.
You have a cigar aficionado on your show as your guest.
He is one of our sponsors.
Norm Kepesky is here from Appleton Cigar.
Definitely check it out.
It's just a great spot right there in Appleton.
He's got a great event coming up called Smoke on the Fox, June 8th from 6 to 9 p.m.
at the Lion's Tail Brewing Company in Nina.
This is a great cause, folks, and all the proceeds go to the Fox Valley Veterans Council.
Not all the proceeds, but a substantial amount of the proceeds go there and to help veterans.
So, first of all, I think, Greg, you said this earlier, it's a great event when you just see the lineup and what they're offering, but when you see where the money goes, it's
even
better.
Norm so you also I've told you just at the break and over the course of our friendship that I used to loves a smoking a cigar with a glass of whiskey neat You've got a couple whiskey samples you're offering at the event
Yeah, so we got old station 31 which is out in the Dale, Wisconsin the big old town of Dale, Wisconsin they took over a fire an old abandoned fire station and set up a distillery and
They're bringing out their stuff.
We got Jay Henry is bringing up their their portfolio of different bourbons.
They're red corn bourbons.
And those those are the two guys that we're highlighting.
I think Ledgerock out of Fond du Lac has come up as well.
And yeah, so we're going to have some different samples going on.
Line sales got a full bar.
So if you're more bourbon than beer, step on in there and they can hook you up as well.
It's the different samples just want to whistle.
I've
had a lot of good conversations with local business owners and one thing that I always see the through line and the connective tissue regardless of whether it's a scar shop, whether it's a printing press, whether it's a tattoo shop.
I don't know why I said printing press.
This isn't the 1920s, but
whatever.
Cotton
gin.
I went for it.
a commitment to the community and community service and serving the people around you.
And, you know, something like this shows a real, you know, commitment to that.
What are other things that you do with, with Appleton Cigar Company in the community that people like other events that may be coming up or just ways you also give back, whether it's, you know, it's people coming in saying hello, that's enough for a lot of people just knowing they have a space, but are there other events you take part in?
My whole family, personally, were heavily involved with LifeFest on an Oshkosh.
It's a four-day Christian music festival.
And so we're on the volunteer teams that helps build the grounds, runs the grounds, and then packs it up at the end of the event.
A lot of my core customer base is either attendees there or they're volunteering with me.
And then during October fest I'm part of a of another nonprofit called the bearded villains northeast Wisconsin bearded villains and Yeah, you can't see me, but I have a pretty heavy beard We see we see the power
awesome.
Yeah.
Yep, and So we do a fundraiser for that during the October fest.
We have a beard competition best in class six inches or under and six inches and longer
And the funds that go from that, then go back into the community, whether it's like Levin, which helps get homeless people off the streets for the night, specifically during our cold response in winters, whether it's like the Christian Center, open domestic abuse victims, different organizations like that that we will do fundraisers for and then funnel the money back into those entities.
And so it's,
Like you said, like we communities, we all need each other.
I need customers.
Customers need the products we're offering.
And without each other, life just gets a lot more boring.
Boy, that's a great, great answer.
Thank you, Norm.
Yeah, absolutely.
Norm, I want to geek out a little bit more about cigars while you're here.
I have a question.
You said earlier you have a cigar roller that will be there.
Getting technical, we've got about
a couple minutes left, but getting technical.
How important to a good cigar is how it's rolled?
Because if you roll it too tight, it's impossible to get the cigar to stay lit and draw through it.
If it's too loose, it feels like you're smoking a forest fire, and it just goes crazy.
Like, Bugs Bunny smoking a cigar that blows up in his face.
Um, so it's the torsador is very critical to the, to the role.
And then you would say the blender, which is the guy that was picked a different, um, plant types.
So you have different strains of tobacco and they'll take different leaves off of different places on the tobacco plant to give you different flavor profiles.
Boy, that's a great answer.
Um,
It's so
interesting to me.
It's so interesting.
I think the only thing that could make this cooler is if we did a remote from Appleton Cigar and we could actually smoke cigars while we did the broadcast.
Norm, I'm just floating it out there, Greg.
I don't know how you guys feel.
I'm halfway there.
Sounds like a great way
to spend a casual
Friday there, Pete.
That's right.
Yeah, let's do it man.
We got about 30 or so seconds left.
Any more plans on your part to be part of a music video?
I know you're an extra in a music video.
You seem to get a kick out of
there any other acting gigs coming your way?
So that one caught me off guard.
My wife, my wife's time enough to be an extra in this music video.
And one of the guys gasped him.
He didn't show up.
And so they started looking around.
and I was sitting there in a lawn chair smoking a cigar and they said hey we need the help and my wife looked at me and I knew what that looked like so it was a great experience but uh yeah I did not see that one coming and we'll see maybe again someday but it's not on my bucket list
You
did
great, buddy.
Thank you so much, Norm, for being here.
We'll try to squeeze you out one more time before your big event.
It sounds great.
And just have a great night.
It was great catching up,
You got it.
Norm Kepesky.
Check out AppletonCigar.com for all the event details.
And just if you want to learn more about cigars, it's a
great
spot.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
And Dom Lee's here too.
We are coming right back after the news to read your texts and talk to Martin Alvarado about books.
Hey, it's nightlife.
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