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Join us at the cigar-friendly Jazziz Bistro in the Paradise Shops
at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for a night of fine cigars,
savory drinks, gourmet food, and hot live music.
CigarFox.com recently sponsored the annual cigar night fundraiser for St.
Sarkis Armenian Church. The April 30, 2008 event was held at the
Big Rock Chop House
in Birmingham, Michigan. More than 80 guests gathered to raise money for the
church by enjoying cigars, dinner and drinks. Upon arrival to the
invitation-only event, each participant received four free cigars along with
some swag like hats and cigar cutters.
The night began with a silent auction in which bidding was at a flurried pace as
always. For every box that would flow off the auction tables, more money would
be raised for this worthy cause. The attendees were in stiff competition for
some elite brands that CigarFox.com had supplied for the event. It was a flexing
match among the super elite of Armenian businessmen in the metropolitan Detroit
area. Bidding was followed by dinner and the enjoyment of fine cigars.
A live auction was also part of the event where rare humidors, including
replicas of the White House - and wine racks by Romeo y Julieta were also
auctioned off. The auctioneer was no other than Cigar Dan himself. That's right,
in addition to being the CEO of CigarFox.com, this gentleman also offers his
time to charities to help them raise money for their cause. Dan has been doing
this for almost ten years now and has developed quite a talent.
Gatherings such as this are common in the cigar industry. In fact, they have
earned their own nickname, "Herfs". Whether it is on a golf course, bowling
alley, fancy ballroom, or just your backyard, this brotherhood of cigar smokers
sure do know how to have a good time.
Tommy Gerjekian, the event coordinator from St. Sarkis Church, pronounced the
event another success. Tommy, a local watch retailer at Diamond Crown watch
company in Troy, Michigan, has been putting the event on four eight years now.
With every year the event gains popularity and hype. Cigar smokers are a loyal
group, they keep returning for this great cause. In the short four hour event,
more than $6000 in cigars were sold.
CigarFox.com looks forward
to helping out again next year with new ideas and additional boutique items for
auction. Congrats Tommy and St. Sarkis for another great year.
Event was held at The Big Rock Chop House Pictured Above
It’s never just a cigar at Victory Cigar Bar in Sudbury where patrons may
linger in a walk-in humidor where they can choose from a selection of 350
hand-rolled beauties and then sink into a leather sofa and enjoy a cocktail and
a smoke.
Victory Cigar Bar celebrated its first anniversary under new ownership in April,
and according to partners Gino Allia and Bob MacDonald, business has grown about
40 percent in the past year.
The store boasts the biggest walk-in humidor west of Boston, and while other
storeowners keep their cigars under lock and key, Victory Cigar Bar believes
selecting the right cigar is a hands-on experience that should be savored.
"We’re not over-the shoulder guys, we wait until they want our help," said Allia,
a Framingham resident. "We want you to relax."
"Our customers are pretty educated. They know what they like. One of the
compliments we’ve heard is that the cigar selection has gone up since we’ve
taken over," said MacDonald, a Sudbury resident. "We have a lot of customers who
call and request us to order a certain cigar for them. We’ve probably doubled
the capacity of that humidor in the past year."
Allia and MacDonald know their cigars.
Whether a customer is a Montecristo or a Perdomo kind of guy the partners know
just the right cigar to recommend, especially if he wants to try something new.
"We’ve probably smoked every cigar in our humidor," said Allia. "We have
hard-to-find cigars like Ashton VSG. Those are the cigars they have on
allocation, salesmen only have x amount of cigars to give out each month, but I
have Padron 1926 series, 1964 series and 40th and 80th anniversary series, all
very hard to get. I even have salesmen coming up to me and saying of the 80th
anniversary, ‘How did you get these?’"
Cigars, all hand-rolled, range in price from $3 to $35 with the average cigar
priced about $8. The store carries many of the cigars listed in Cigar Aficionado
including the magazine’s number one choice the Padron 1926 #9.
They also sell a full line of cigar accessories, and with Father’s Day coming
up, cigars and gift certificates are hot items.
"Fathers appreciate getting a quality cigar instead of a tie," said MacDonald.
The sweet, earthy aroma of fine cigars is the first sensory impression upon
entering the cigar emporium at 615 Boston Post Road. Next is the visual effect
of vintage photographs on brown walls that draw patrons past the walk-in humidor
stocked floor-to-ceiling with cigars and into a cozy bar with deep-cushioned
leather sofas and chairs.
"We have a lot of retail business, and we’ve had people come in and not realize
we have a bar back here," said MacDonald. "We’re a haven for a lot of guys who
tell us their wives don’t like them smoking in the house. And in the winter it’s
too cold to go out and smoke on their deck."
Once settled in the clubby, low-lit lounge customers feel right at home. Soft
music or four plasma TVs, tuned to financial programs, news or sports, don’t
intrude on conversation, a business meeting or a patron checking e-mail via the
bar’s complimentary Wi-Fi.
An air purification system pulls out the smoke and brings in fresh air.
"We get a real big crowd here in the 4 to 6 p.m. time frame, and we get a lot of
women in here too," said MacDonald. "Our staff is friendly, knowledgeable and
attentive."
While there is a regular crowd, the bar’s intimate atmosphere promotes a warm
welcome to newcomers.
"We have new people coming in all the time. The whole group embraces you," said
Allia who pulls customers from as far as Hamilton and Dover as well as the
closer MetroWest suburbs. "It’s just a relaxing atmosphere. No loud music, good
conversation. We just want people to come in and enjoy themselves."
The age mix is broad too, said Allia, "going all the way from 21 to 75."
In the summer there is seating for 20 on an outdoor patio.
Allia and MacDonald have stocked the bar with a wide range of single malt
scotches and fine vodkas and bourbons as well as 40 brands of beer.
The store sponsors monthly events from cigar promotions to scotch tastings as
well as private events. There are also regular jazz nights.
Friends from their childhood days in Waltham, Allia and MacDonald had talked
about going into business for several years. Allia has 20 years in the
restaurant business, while MacDonald’s background is in sales.
They’ve both smoked cigars for years, so when they saw that Victory Cigar Bar
was on the market a year ago they jumped at the chance to buy the business.
"The common thing in both our backgrounds was service," said MacDonald. "People
like to know the owners take pride in their business and are here, and one of us
is always here.
It was also an incredible year to have a bar in Boston, said MacDonald, with so
many hometown teams drawing a large group of regular fans to watch games on the
bar’s four plasma TVs.
"It’s fun being here. It’s not your typical bar - we haven’t had one incident,"
added MacDonald. "There are nights when we struggle to get people out of here."
Victory Cigar Bar at 615 Boston Post Road, Sudbury is open Sunday - Thursday
11:30 a.m. - 12 a.m. and Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. - 1 a.m. For information
on events and promotions visit
www.thevictorycigarbar.com
Smokers have been booted out of every public place in Illinois, but a
Homewood shop is welcoming them to come in and light up -- provided their smoke
of choice is a cigar.
Bogie's Fine Cigars & Smokehouse opened quietly at the end of last year and
falls under one of the exemptions to the statewide ban on smoking in public
places. The retail store and cigar lounge, 17816 Halsted St., will celebrate its
grand opening from 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The retail side of the store opened in late December, followed by the cigar
lounge, said Lance DeVries, one of the owners of the business. The business
features a state-of-the-art humidor, Wi-Fi access, high-definition plasma TVs
and personal cigar lockers.
This week the lounge will begin serving beverages including coffee, soft drinks
and energy drinks, DeVries said.
Cigar consultant Andrea Vasquez works in the humidor at
Bogie's Cigar Shop in Homewood.
"We have become the only oasis for cigar smokers where they can go, outside of
their own home, to smoke," he said.
There is another Southland cigar lounge, Belicoso, in Orland Park, but DeVries
said he and his three partners realized there was nothing in or around the
Homewood area. One of the other investors lives in Homewood, but DeVries
declined to identify him.
DeVries is vice president of sales for Pave Man Inc., a paving contractor in
Lisle, but he's also a cigar aficionado. He said the aim of he and his partners
wasn't to cater to cigar snobs but to smokers who appreciate a fine cigar.
"We don't have the most expensive cigars, but we stock the best, highest-rated
cigars available," he said, adding that prices start at $2.50 and go up to $30.
The partners were looking for a classy image and settled on Humphrey Bogart. The
shop's logo is a silhouette of him wearing a tux with smoke wafting from his
mouth. While most associate Bogart with cigarettes, he did puff on cigars in
films such as "The African Queen" and "The Maltese Falcon."
DeVries believes cigars have been unfairly linked with cigarettes in the quest
to ban smoking in public places.
"Cigars and cigarettes are so different," he said. "Cigars are more of a social
event, such as celebrating births and golf outings, while cigarettes are more of
an addiction."
Store manager Mike Vargas lights up a cigar with help from
consultant Andrea Vasquez at Bogie's Cigar Shop in Homewood.
Bennington Tobacconist on St. Armand’s Circle, in Sarasota, Florida has been a landmark since it’s founding in 1965 by Bill Bennington. This small, but well-stocked store has been serving the needs of local residents and tourists alike for the past forty years.
