How the cigar industry chose me.

From my first cigar with my Dad and brother, back in 1991, I knew it was something I would do forever: The ritual, the relaxation, the bond.

The first couple of years were sporadic, maybe a weekend evening here and there, family vacation, birthdays or holidays. It wasn’t until we found our first brick and mortar tobacconist that things went into overdrive: Saturday excursions, Monday night dinner and poker game, meeting new people from a variety of walks of life, new favorites, and the camaraderie of an accepted subculture.

As the business “boomed”, so did our pastime. It was then we saw the opportunity of what an upscale store could be, for my family and for customers.

No matter what any of us did, doctors, lawyers, inventors, plant workers, we had a single commonality; Cigars.

Flash forward 14 years

I’d been living in Arizona for about 3.5 years and worked a variety of jobs, all of them interesting in their own right, but nothing REALLY satisfying.

One Friday afternoon I found myself no longer employed… I went home dazed, to figure out what to do next. I soon realized I was free! Free to never again work FOR someone, to never be at the mercy of a payroll, or a slowdown in the economy.

Over that weekend, smoking cigars, it eventually hit me over the head…. An upscale Cigar Store, but, like our old haunt, accessible to everyone.

Summer of 2004 my brother came to live with me and we began the initial planning of our store.

Flash forward to today

A little over 2 years later, here we are! Some improvements made, still some to go. A great customer base and new friendships and a selection of cigars I never thought possible 16 years ago.