36
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
MAY/JUNE 2014
architect/builder remarked to her
how much fun the hotel used to be
decades earlier when men could
smoke cigars inside.
“I’m a vintage girl at heart, and
when we were waiting outside for
our cars, it struck me from a business
perspective that the hotel should
provide cigars for sale and set up a tent
or outdoor seating area so people like
this gentleman could sit outside and
smoke,” Carlon relays. She thought
about it that night and continued to
think about it for months afterwards
with her girlfriends, realizing that
there was “a real market out there for
a portable cigar environment” that
traveled to events “so people could
relax, talk with friends, and enjoy
cigars.”
The business was born in 2013, and
by the first week in April, it had set up
shop at its first outdoor event—Arizona
Bike Week. It offered a variety of
premium cigars sold out of the trailer’s
two humidors, but one crucial mistake
in assortment was made.
Bigger Is Not Better
“We learned that when we go to
bike events, people don’t typically
want a Churchill or a huge Torpedo,
they want mostly smaller nubs or even
half-Coronas because even if they’re
sitting around, they don’t want to sit
around
too
long. Ultimately, they’re
there to ride,” says Carlon, reflecting
on the experience. “We had a lot of
large cigars left over from our first
and second events.”
4 Smokin’ Blondes currently carries
a variety of cigars from about 30
different (mostly popular) cigar
brands—approximately 50 SKUs in
total—with a lot fewer large cigars.
But overall, and right from the
start, 4 Smokin’ Blondes was on to
a cigar concept that works. “We
hit the mobility part right on the
head,” believes Carlon. “We can go
to a lot of different events and cigar
smokers everywhere will flock to
us.” She says the idea that they can
purchase premium cigars, rather
than “something they’d find in a
7-Eleven,” is a real eye-opener for
event attendees who are not used to
finding such an indulgence. “They
see the trailer, they see the premium
cigars, and their eyes go wide,” she
adds. “They get it immediately and
walk in to make a purchase.”
Inside the trailer there is bar-type
seating—stainless steel high tables
with bar stools around them. “If we
have the space outside for a tent, we
will also do a wicker furniture lounge
areawithnice cushions and end tables,”
Carlon explains. She is sensitive to
the fact that at biker events, “people
are riding all day; they want to come
in and cool off under the shade,
enjoy a cigar, and then off they go.”
The Party Globe
The transparent trailer instantly
got a reputation for being a “party in
a globe” and was then subsequently
nicknamed “The Party Globe,”
according to Carlon, “because people
can literally see inside that we’re fun,”
she says. “They see this clear trailer
that has a little bit of an upgrade[d]-
retro-party look to it, and they’re
drawn to us. We light it up at night,
we provide seating inside and out,
and we make it fun.” In Carlon’s
mind, she is extending a fun shopping
experience to the many male cigar
aficionados who are typically left out
of having a “wow” retail moment.
But that’s not to say that the 4
Smokin’ Blondes mobile cigar lounge
doesn’t attract women. Not only
does it have a female cigar consumer
following everywhere it goes, it also
attracts non-smoking shoppers from
all walks to its clothing and jewelry
lines sold alongside its cigars at the
events.This is a natural diversification
for Carlon, who, at one time, owned
two boutiques and had her own
children’s clothing line.
“We brought in biker apparel
and jewelry and set it up in another
tent at Sturgis [Motorcycle Rally],
and who would have thought we’d
sell the same amount of clothing as
