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If you’re a cigar smoker today, you know that the opportu-
nities to smoke—in situations where you would normally
socialize with friends—are few and far between. You also
might agree that those are the best times to enjoy a cigar.
The laws enacted, both nationally and locally, have served
to isolate smokers by making it increasingly difficult to eat,
drink and smoke in the same space. Yet, when people face
stiffening odds, they tend to get creative.
And what better town to find an example of this than
in America’s unofficial home for underdogs, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania? It’s here that two brothers in their early 30s
have created a new model for a cigar business that is thriv-
ing and finding a new clientele for the industry.
As the old adage proclaims, sometimes the solution is right
in front of you, and that was the case for brothers Michael
and Andrew Cappelli, who had no experience in the cigar
business until a few years ago. “Andrew and I had different
careers; he was in the hospitality industry and I was in the
construction industry,” recounts Michael Cappelli. “I ended
up moving across the street from a bodega-ish cigar shop. I
thought it was a really cool place. My grandfather smoked
cigars, my father smoked cigars, and I occasionally did.”
Cappelli began frequenting the spot, enjoying the chance
to socialize. “I could ‘BYOB’ my alcohol and have a cigar,”
he says. “The store had some character, but it was more like
a convenience store with some cigars and cigar products. It
wasn’t much of an enthusiast’s type of cigar destination place.”
The bring-your-own-bottle (BYOB) feature is an im-
portant one here, because in Philadelphia the rules that
go along with a liquor license are very strict—and those
rules definitely don’t allow smoking. On the other hand,
BYOB venues are a staple of Philadelphia’s nightlife, and
one growing in popularity.
Cappelli and another patron began chatting one day
about how to make their favorite smoking spot even better.
“We started taking notes; we started coming up with ideas
[and] concepts,” he explains. “As it became more realistic,
I started to snoop around the building itself, seeing if it was
mechanically possible. And a lot of things fell into place.
With Andrew’s background in hospitality, I saw it as an op-
portunity for us to be innovative in the cigar retail space.”
This was in the second half of 2014, and from the begin-
ning Cappelli had big ideas about the possibilities. “I had
some money saved up, my brother had some money saved
up. I said, ‘Andrew, I think we’ve got a good concept here. I
know our location is hands-down incredible and the rent is
affordable. I think we should try to take this business over.
There’s an incredibly busy pizza place next door; if we do
[well] with the cigar shop, we will get the pizza place [too].’”
They renamed the store “Cappelli Brothers Cigar Compa-
ny” and renovated the interior, getting customized humidors
from Newsham’s Woodshop, another Pennsylvania-based
company, which provided an attractive display space for cigars
while leaving enough interior space for a full wet bar and 18
bar stools. The BYOB cigar bar area is on the street level, and
there’s a smoking lounge downstairs—Cappelli’s Cellar.
Here’s how the BYOB works: “You bring the bottle, you
bring us your beers, [and] you’ll never know you weren’t
O Brothers,
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PHOTOS BY TAYLOR KOGUT