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TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
trench marketing
BY MICHAEL GELFAND
F
or some tobacconists, working in their own stores
can sometimes be a hard slog, but for others it’s
a dream job. Take Larry Christopher, president
and owner of The Pipe and Pint in Greensboro, North
Carolina, who says he always wanted to own a pipe shop
and tobacco store. “I started smoking pipes and cigars
in college, and every time I went into a shop I would
think how lucky the person was who got to work there all
the time,” he says. “I love the allure of the products, the
packaging, the aromas...”
Christopher finally realized his dream of becoming a
tobacconist after spending a few years at home working
around an entirely different aroma. “My wife and I had
our daughter a few years after I received my graduate
degree, so I stayed at home for about two years and in
that period, when I wasn’t changing diapers, I had a lot
of time to think about what I really wanted to do,” he
recalls. “Since I smoked pipes and cigars at the time and
tended to look for higher-end products, I saw that there
was a need for a place where people could buy these
products, and owning a shop seemed like the best thing
I could do.”
Christopher opened the original The Pipe and Pint
Living the Dream
at The Pipe and Pint
Selling boutique cigars and craft brews is easy when your
customers can’t wait to tell you what they want.
