TOB Magazine

15 / 42

34
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
event is becoming more popular, we
had a good interest from vendors that
wanted to be involved,” says Scipioni.
“I think this will be a trend moving
forward,” he adds.
While both the rib fest (and other
monthly or bi-monthly) events are held
in the store lounges, it is the Danbury
store that Scipioni is particularly proud
of. The late-1800s building featured a
vibe that he kept in the store lounges:
tin ceilings and hardwood floors.
“We keep the feel of the prohibition
‘Boardwalk Empire’ style or Havana
prior to Castro,” he explains. “It’s a very
classy, clean look. We don’t do tacky
over here.”
In keeping with that concept, The
Cigar Republic doesn’t overdo cigar
events. “We’ve got competitors in the
area that do something every Thursday
night—I view that as played out and
overdoing it,” Scipioni says. “Once a
week is too much; we usually try to do
an event once a month, and sometimes
we will do two if it’s a special event like
the rib fest.”
Lady Liberty and a Fishing
Vessel—The brethren of stogie smokers
is getting to be so strong in these tough
tobacco times that some of the best-
rated events (as social media would
attest to) are created by customers
themselves, with a unique idea and the
access and vision to execute it.
Such is the case with Jon Davis,
a stogie connoisseur who happens
to work on a fishing/cruise boat, the
Klondike IX, operating out of New
Rochelle, New York from May through
November. The vessel is available for
fishing and chartered cruise experiences,
but Davis saw it as the perfect venue for
a more desirable cigar event.
“Tobacco laws are causing a lot of
shops in the area to close and people
in the metro New York area are really
searching out places to go,” he tells
TBI . “Even the Big Smoke NY has
gotten so crowded, and most good cigar
lounges are packed. So many of them
are all ambiance and show; people need
a more ‘real’ place to smoke, network
and relieve their minds, and what better
place than out in the East River down
to the Statue of Liberty?”
And smoking while afloat is ideal
in more ways than one. Besides being
relaxing, the open water is a non-
regulated zone for smokers, according
to Davis. “Once you untie from the
dock, you’re considered a stationary
vessel; there are no restrictions at all for
tobacco,” he relays.
And so in late June, Davis organized
the “New York Cigar Cruise,” offering
passengers an evening of entertainment
and cigar smoking for $100, whereby
attendees enjoyed complimentary
cigars, all-you-can-eat catered cuisine,
a five-hour open bar featuring premium
liquor and craft beer, the excitement of
cigar rolling, and a live DJ. The 110-
foot Klondike IX, as the newly deemed
cigar boat, cruised the East River to the
tip of Manhattan and to the Statue of
Liberty and back.
In addition to listing it on
, Davis got the word
out for the first New York Cigar
Cruise by passing out flyers at local
cigar lounges and tobacco stores,
and through social media mentions,
including cigar groups that touted it
on Instagram and Twitter.The turnout
was excellent, and Davis was flooded
with requests to make it a more regular
thing.
“We’re going to close out the
summer the right way—and the
same way we started it,” Davis says.
The New York Cigar Cruise Part 2 is
scheduled for September 24—and at
press time, was still open for would-be
cigar cruisers—offering the same perks
and for the same price as the one held
three months ago. The event details
and sign-up information are listed on
. TBI
Putting a focus on food is a win at many cigar festivals like Cigar Republic’s rib fest, held at two locations (New York and Connecticut) in August.