TOB Magazine

TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

the venue provides an appropriate liquor

tasting. “For the next one the drink will

be Four Roses and we will provide cigars

that match that drink,” explains Barnes.

“It’s outside under humongous umbrellas.

We’ve been there in snow, rain and wind,

and the number of people who show up

will vary depending on the weather, but

those who come always have a good time.

Our customers get to try new cigars and

it helps the bar keep its customers happy.”

Keeping people happy is a Southern

specialty. B&B has been offering customer

rewards programs where customers can

earn free cigars but, as Barnes reflects on

the new ruling, “I don’t think that’s possi-

ble now.”So the best way to save is through

a membership, which is a reasonable yearly

cost that allows for 20 percent off boxes,

or the equivalent amount of loose cigars,

and includes a humidified cigar locker—

created literally from small-size, old-style

metal gym lockers. “We’re not a store that

caters to high-end customers, necessarily.

We have some wealthy customers who

come and hang out, but for the most part

it’s working [class] guys.”

And they have a separate, private mem-

bership to a back room—“lair” might be

a better term—with a small stage where

members can bring their instruments and

play live music. There’s also a huge video

screen with a gaming setup and all the usual

amenities for good times: a pool table, ping-

pong, darts and chess. It’s created a follow-

ing of 20-somethings, so Barnes plans to

make more investments in the space.

Asked about interesting new cigars on the

horizon, Barnes answered that he’s too busy

thinking about the regulatory landscape to

think much about new cigars. “Right now

everything’s in limbo. I read everything I

can about the FDA ruling, the FDA’s pre-

dictions, and predictions about the industry

and I just don’t know what to say.” While

being in a holding pattern may make some

folks uneasy, it’s not necessarily a bad thing

for a Southern shop with a steady clientele

happy to come to a friendly place that’s as

comfortable and welcoming as a rocking

chair, sit a while, light a cigar and let the

world go by.

TBI

Future Focus:

FDA Ruling

Having spent a lifetime in law enforcement, David Barnes, the

owner of B&B Tobacconists in Asheville, North Carolina, is well

acquainted with upholding the letter of the law when it comes

to rules and regulations. Yet even he is scratching his head over

the new FDA measures.

“The FDA may have tried to keep young folks from becoming

smokers, and I have no problem with that at all, as I’ve said,” he

explains. “But I think they went a little further than they needed

to. Instead of focusing on retailers who would do things like

selling single cigarettes—which is illegal—or blunts…they fo-

cused on the whole thing. I’m not sure that’s all that helpful.”

Even though he worked for the government, Barnes has a

healthy respect for setting boundaries around a person’s abil-

ity to choose and legal coercion. It’s a no-nonsense view: “If

adults, who are perfectly capable of making a decision know-

ing what risks they’re taking, are allowed to do it, I think things

will be fine,” he says. “You make a decision to drive a car, well,

that’s dangerous. You make a decision to ride in an airplane,

well, that’s dangerous. You make a decision to run six miles

a day near a highway, the pollution you’re pulling in[to] your

body over a long period of time is dangerous. You make a de-

cision to drink an alcohol[ic] drink, or drink a sugar[y] drink,

or eat hamburgers at McDonald’s every day—there’s only so

much the government can do to protect people.”

Like many in the cigar industry, Barnes also sees a big dif-

ference between the appeal of cigars and addiction to nico-

tine. “I honestly think that cigars aren’t nearly the danger that

cigarettes are,” he says. “It’s a different type of tobacco; the

processing’s different. I’ve gone a year without smoking a cigar

while working in the shop every day. The thing about it being

addictive is a fallacy; it’s not true. My career was in narcotics

enforcement and I know what addiction is.”

For now, Barnes is taking something of a wait-and-see atti-

tude in terms of how the new regulations will shake out, though

he does expect the cigar associations to have the backs of the

retailers. “I’m a member of Cigar Rights of America (CRA), IP-

CPR and the state association,” he says. “Several years ago

we wanted to do a fundraiser. We contacted one association

repeatedly and got no response at all. So we decided to do

something that would benefit the state association. I contacted

all of our wholesalers and said, ‘I want cigars from you guys,

but I want you to give them to me, because we’re going to put

them in packs and we’re going to take one day of sales’—it

ended up being two—‘and every penny that we make selling

those cigars goes to the association.’ The response was abso-

lutely fantastic. I’m hoping this association will have a footprint

in Raleigh [the state capitol] that will help the new laws be not

as draconian as they could be.”

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016