TOB Magazine

TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

First,the Aromas main bar (which often

highlights live musicians on stage) features

more than 100 vodkas, over 50 tequilas, 50

scotch and whiskey selections and nearly

150 rums.

Close by is the humidor, or what

Aromas refers to as the “tobacco mecca,”

boasting brands such as Opus X,Diamond

Crown, Ashton, Arturo Fuente, Graycliff,

Romeo y Julieta,as well as top brands from

General Cigar and Altadis.

The wine cellar, next to the humidor,

features more than 300 wine varieties with

vintages dating back to the 1960s.

All of that is present in the first room

alone under the Aromas roof.

A private room is reserved for the

members of Club Robusto, Aromas’

cigar club. Club members utilize their

electronic key fob to access entry to a

cigar oasis of stone flooring, plush leather

seating, membership humidor lockers and

a private bar boasting Louie XIII, Deleon

Anejo Tequila and other $100-plus-per-

shot adult beverages.

Just beyond Club Robusto, the Beer

House at Aromas provides customers

with more than 200 beers to choose from,

ranging from local brewery selections

to unique beers from all parts of the

world. The Beer House features a unique

LED-lit ice bar: a six-inch-wide flume of

ice flowing down the full length of the bar,

meant for patrons to set their frosty adult

beverage upon.

The Beer House opens up to the Ultra-

Lounge, featuring a laser light show on

the dance floor and a thumping sound

system,as well as couch seating with coffee

tables, go-go dancers and an old-school-

nightclub light and fog effect.

Aromas even has three distinct outdoor

seating areas for customers to kick back

and relax.

But an expanded building with distinct

venues is not solely howAromas has stayed

vibrant with a vibrant cigar generation.

Here are some of the merchandising and

marketing ways in which Aromas appeals

to its hip, ever-evolving cigar clientele:

Big, Bad Ring Gauges—

It used to be

that 60-ring-gauge cigars were the biggest

ones that Aromas would carry—“Then

we caught on to the trend emerging in

massive cigars,”Gray tells

Tobacco Business

International

. So now it carries cigars like

CAO’s 80x6—“a beast,” as Gray refers to

it.He also mentions stocking a lot of 7x70

cigars from Drew Estate.

Females = Flavors—

Aromas expanded

its flavor line specifically for its female

clientele, which is steadily increasing in

size, says Gray. “Now we have almost the

complete Acid line, we have Javas from

Rocky Patel, CAO flavored lines…and

we take flavored requests. Basically we

are catering more to the ladies with a nice

assortment of flavored cigars,”he adds.

Beefing

Boutiques

—Aromas

is continually expanding its smaller

boutique lines so that it’s not all about “the

800-pound gorillas in the humidor,” he

tells

TBI

. “We want to support the little

guys, too, plus we get customers now at

least once a day who come in specifically

looking for what’s new and asking what

‘interesting’ cigars we brought them. I

sell a ton of Montecristos and a ton of

Romeos and those big brands are always

good to us, but there is definitely more of

a calling now for boutique cigars to satisfy

on-trend customers,”Gray relays.

Perfect Pairings—

Aromas is in the

process of developing a cigar/liquor pairing

menu. “We are taking influence from

Corona [Cigar Company] in Orlando,”

Gray maintains. He mentions that even

without the menu, Aromas has done well

pairing Quesada cigars with Oktoberfest

beers and Kentucky Fire-Cured cigars

with smokier scotches. “A general pairing

rule of thumb is that the shade of tobacco

on the cigar should match the color of the

drink. So a real dark, oily cigar and white

wine is never going to taste good,” Gray

offers. “Of course,my general rule is ‘drink

what you like, smoke what you like and

have a good time.’ But we are recognizing

that a pairing menu would satisfy a lot of