Lynchburg Business

Up in Smoke: New Cigar Businesses Light Up Around Town

Issue: March 2010 by Johanna Calfee in Inside The Magazine, Retail

You’ve got to hand it to ol’ Christopher Columbus—the man knew a good thing when he saw it. Besides America, Columbus is also lesser known for “discovering” cigars. A quick history lesson: During his 1492 voyage to the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, two of Columbus’ crewmen were given strongly scented dry leaves by the natives upon their arrival. It wasn’t long before Columbus and crew went from witnessing this unfamiliar plant being rolled up into a tube or large leaf for smoking, to partaking in the practice themselves. They soon became so fond of their newfound activity that they shared the methods of making cigars and pipes when they returned to Europe. The resulting popularity spread like wildfire.

Fast forward more than 500 years and cigars are once again enjoying popularity, thanks to renewed interest in the 1990s. From reputable publications like Cigar Aficionado to the resurgence of cigar lounges in the face of smoking bans in restaurants, it’s safe to say that cigars are once again a part of pop culture. Even in Lynchburg, two new cigar businesses, one brick and mortar, one online, are proving that this once taboo pastime is no longer the stuff of smoke and mirrors.

City Place Cigar

Walking into City Place Cigar is akin to stepping into a scene from a movie. Smoke creates a hazy screen around a billboard-sized photo of Downtown Lynchburg as it floats up to the ceiling fans whirling high above those lounging in brown leather furniture. The sounds of two dueling HD TVs (one featuring The Weather Channel; the other, Fox News) are only slightly muffled by the quiet conversations going on between puffs. Enveloping each new customer with an almost lethargic sense of relaxation, this place seems to offer the promise of an escape from time and deadlines, while fostering ideas and amicable “state-of-the-country” debate. But then again, that’s what owners Roger and Robert, as they are known in the store, set out to create when they officially opened the doors at 1507 Enterprise Drive in Wyndhurst on February 17.

Though still very young in its business history, City Place Cigar has all the elements needed for staying power, including a well-traveled location next to The Muse and across from The Summit, wireless Internet, a walk-in humidor and display case. Formerly known as Tarazona Tobacco and Coffee Co., Robert says that they are already seeing walk-ins from those who used to frequent Tarazona.

“I’m pleased. We’ve had a lot of traffic,” Robert said.

Perhaps the greatest allure the new shop offers is an abundance of top-shelf cigars, including Padron, Fuente, La Flor Dominicana, Rocky Patel, Diamond Crown, Perdomo, Kristoff, Alec Bradley and Arganese, with plans to add more lines and pipes in the future.

Of course, like many new business ventures, City Place Cigar has already met its share of challenges. Originally slated to open in the space that used to house City Place Salon in Wyndhurst (next to the J. Crew Outlet Store), everything had to come together pretty quickly when their current location became available. Since it already had a built-in humidor and display case, Robert and Ott decided the spot was too ideal to pass up. While some may look at Wyndhurst’s track record of losing businesses and see a risky investment, Robert says he was undeterred.

“I like the community feel and I like the location,” he said. “There are no issues with paid parking. And we wanted to do something that contributed to the business side of Wyndhurst.”

With the location secured, Robert’s next challenge involved getting better acquainted with the tobacco industry. For that, he headed off to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) trade show in New Orleans last August.

”It was a crash course and kind of overwhelming, but I just asked a lot of questions,” he said.

Of course, the largest and most time-honored challenge for City Place Cigar may be Mr. John’s, the well-known cigar shop in downtown Lynchburg. Open since 1996, Mr. John’s has held onto its “regulars” for the past 14 years; one of which used to be Robert himself. So when the opportunity arose to open City Place Cigar, Robert went to his friend, Will Thomasson, who owns Mr. John’s, to tell him of his intentions.

“The truth is that we can’t compete with Will’s inventory, so we’ve had to determine, ‘Are we going to be a cigar shop where you can sit and smoke like at Mr. John’s?’ We want to offer something different, so we decided to be a cigar lounge instead,” Robert explained.

So far, that decision is working in the sense that a younger crowd is mixing in with the older gentlemen who walk over from The Summit. On this particular day, Reagan, a young man in his 20’s who hails from Birmingham, AL, is working on his laptop as he savors a cigar and a cup of coffee from The Muse, which is also offered in-house. He says that there’s a place like City Place Cigar in his home state, and he craves the “lounge” environment when he wants to enjoy a smoke.

For Robert, a visit from a younger cigar lover brings about a unique chance to teach.

“We want to help cultivate the palates of our customers,” Robert said.

In order to attain this goal, City Place Cigar also stays open later than most Wyndhurst businesses (9 p.m. on weekdays), and offers the opportunity for companies around the region to do off-site meetings and events. In addition, Robert and Ott are also happy to host bachelor parties.

To learn more, visit www.cityplacecigar.com or friend and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Revolution Cigars

Sitting quietly in the back of City Place Cigar are two younger, blue-eyed men; one is content to smoke a 262 Paradigm cigar from his own line, the other is busy clacking away on his computer. Like Robert, both are also in the business of cigars, but unlike him, these two Lynchburg-based entrepreneurs only sell their products online…for now, anyway.

Michael Justice and Clint Aaron are every bit as passionate about cigars as everyone else lighting up at City Place Cigar, but the difference with these two is that they’ve chosen to turn that passion into dollar signs online through Revolution Cigars, an online retail shop.

The pair was introduced in kismet fashion over cigars in 2008 and, through the sharing of world and political views, became fast friends.

“Every time you smoke a cigar, you are solving the world’s problems,” Aaron half-joked.

Soon, he and Justice’s discussions turned from personal outlooks to business and a shared love of smokes.

“It wasn’t until later that year that Clint shared his vision…and I know that he is a man of integrity and was doing all the right things to be a success,” Justice said of his decision to go into business with Aaron.

“Mike is a website designer and I’m the numbers guy. So we said, ‘Let’s try this and go this route,’” Aaron explained.

After months of sweat equity and taste tests, the addition of a third “silent” partner named Jerry and crafting the language behind their 262 Manifesto, (“…the revolution started when the Cuban Trade Embargo was signed in February of 1962,” according to their website), they officially launched smoketherevolution.com and took their first order on Christmas Eve of 2009.

“We have a lot to learn,” Aaron admitted. “We aren’t blenders or rollers; we are just passionate about cigars and the environment surrounding them.”

Currently, Revolution Cigars offers three different blends from their 262 Paradigm line, a product manufactured by Alec Bradley Cigar Company out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Future plans include adding two more lines of cigars plus, selling coffee and finding a retail location. With eight sales reps in place and several stores in Kansas, New York, New Hampshire, Florida, Texas and North Carolina carrying their products, Revolution Cigars is posed for quick growth.

“A lot of brick and mortar stores don’t like that we are selling online,” Aaron said. “They think we are trying to undercut them, but that’s not the case. We simply want the revolution to grow and the Internet is the way to do that.”

So, what is this revolution all about? For Aaron and Justice, it goes far beyond cigars, though inherently, it starts with the conversations that take place over them.

“The revolution is a much broader movement from just cigars, but obviously we are passionate about cigars too,” Justice said. “Many feel the government is getting too big and hurting a lot of small businesses and families. So, this is part of a bigger revolution.”

“Why not revolution?” Aaron added. “Why not a change, an overthrow of the status quo? We really wanted a different angle and to feed the rights of cigar smokers.”

For more information, visit www.smoketherevolution.com.