Kyle Weiss
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 11,988
- Reaction score
- 7
Who could forget my visit to the Briar Patch in Sac-town just a week ago? Very good, sir. Excellent choice, sir. Okay, maybe it wasn't my kind of place. To each his own.
Finding ourselves stir-crazy in Reno and had to go on a day trip, my buddy James and I stopped in at Tobacco Road (at Fulton and Marconi, next to Trader Joe's)--and boy are we glad we did. What a cool shop.
Big, clean, and an unhindered atmosphere--it had decor declaring two things:
* Welcome, we sell tobacco, and things to help you smoke it.
* Please, make yourself at home.
Abundant, large leather chairs, a generous cigar humidor (plus small "cabinet-style" humidors around the perimeter), glass display cases with various pipes, ash trays, lighters and cutters, an impressive bulk and tinned pipe tobacco selection (along with a great selection of pipes), a big flatscreen playing sports, and plenty of guys of all kinds laughing, talking, smoking, and hanging out. Modest yet spacious and masculine, vaulted ceilings showing load-bearing beams and plenty of daylight (without seeming like a bright greenhouse) it was like someone's middle-class man-cave living room than a shop.
I met Zee, the owner, by starting to joke with him about a 500g box of SG Best Brown Flake tag innocuously declaring $6.00. I figured it was the price by the ounce, but I told him I'd happily take that box for six bucks, with a smile. He immediately said, "Oh, you're one of those, gonna give me a little sh*t, coming in here like that?" he laughed and grinned. Zee, originally from Afghanistan, now American as apple pie, I could tell immediately was my kind of folk. Big-heart, welcoming, down-to-earth and a proud shopkeeper--as he should be. This place is amazing. Pipe tobacco blends he puts together himself (and many brand-name blenders/companies) were inviting and numerous, all available to try.
James and I picked out some tobacco, and sat for a while. Zee, James and I shot the sh*t, Zee with cigar, James with his new CAO King meer, me coveting a half pound of Billy Budd (yum), smoked, talked about Reno, pipes, the SPCA club in Sac, and the various characters that hung out there (one being a particularly talkative gent name Gary, who was there briefly, but also super cool). We were invited to help ourselves to the beverages in the fridge, stay a while, and relax. Talking with Zee further, he's been doing this quite a while. He's no pushover, but gracious as any gentleman.
This, my brethren, is what I was looking for. This was a larger version of my Tinder Box, immediately familiar. I knew the instant I walked in it was homecoming. No high-pressure sales, no pomp, no bullsh*t--except for the good kin that happens when good folk congregate in comfortable chairs with tobacco and beverages in hand.
On their sign above the pipe section (as I recall):
"TOBACCO ROAD: Cigars, Man Cave (No wife...No kids...No problems), Pipe Tobacco"
Before we knew it, three hours absolutely flew by. I ended up with a great Brebbia bent bulldog (pictures to follow), at least a pound of various tobacco, James, his meer and tobacco. Zee remembered our names from the first mention, and addressed us as such. Handshakes were real and with substance. I found the model shop owner all B&Ms should be, and his shop is exactly to what B&Ms should aspire. Knowledgeable and passionate about pipes and cigars, he declared best at one point while talking with him: "I'm a tobacconist."
Tobacco Road is a slice of perfection in an otherwise mad world. I was proud to spend my hard-earned cash there, and look forward to doing so again in the future.
8)
Finding ourselves stir-crazy in Reno and had to go on a day trip, my buddy James and I stopped in at Tobacco Road (at Fulton and Marconi, next to Trader Joe's)--and boy are we glad we did. What a cool shop.
Big, clean, and an unhindered atmosphere--it had decor declaring two things:
* Welcome, we sell tobacco, and things to help you smoke it.
* Please, make yourself at home.
Abundant, large leather chairs, a generous cigar humidor (plus small "cabinet-style" humidors around the perimeter), glass display cases with various pipes, ash trays, lighters and cutters, an impressive bulk and tinned pipe tobacco selection (along with a great selection of pipes), a big flatscreen playing sports, and plenty of guys of all kinds laughing, talking, smoking, and hanging out. Modest yet spacious and masculine, vaulted ceilings showing load-bearing beams and plenty of daylight (without seeming like a bright greenhouse) it was like someone's middle-class man-cave living room than a shop.
I met Zee, the owner, by starting to joke with him about a 500g box of SG Best Brown Flake tag innocuously declaring $6.00. I figured it was the price by the ounce, but I told him I'd happily take that box for six bucks, with a smile. He immediately said, "Oh, you're one of those, gonna give me a little sh*t, coming in here like that?" he laughed and grinned. Zee, originally from Afghanistan, now American as apple pie, I could tell immediately was my kind of folk. Big-heart, welcoming, down-to-earth and a proud shopkeeper--as he should be. This place is amazing. Pipe tobacco blends he puts together himself (and many brand-name blenders/companies) were inviting and numerous, all available to try.
James and I picked out some tobacco, and sat for a while. Zee, James and I shot the sh*t, Zee with cigar, James with his new CAO King meer, me coveting a half pound of Billy Budd (yum), smoked, talked about Reno, pipes, the SPCA club in Sac, and the various characters that hung out there (one being a particularly talkative gent name Gary, who was there briefly, but also super cool). We were invited to help ourselves to the beverages in the fridge, stay a while, and relax. Talking with Zee further, he's been doing this quite a while. He's no pushover, but gracious as any gentleman.
This, my brethren, is what I was looking for. This was a larger version of my Tinder Box, immediately familiar. I knew the instant I walked in it was homecoming. No high-pressure sales, no pomp, no bullsh*t--except for the good kin that happens when good folk congregate in comfortable chairs with tobacco and beverages in hand.
On their sign above the pipe section (as I recall):
"TOBACCO ROAD: Cigars, Man Cave (No wife...No kids...No problems), Pipe Tobacco"
Before we knew it, three hours absolutely flew by. I ended up with a great Brebbia bent bulldog (pictures to follow), at least a pound of various tobacco, James, his meer and tobacco. Zee remembered our names from the first mention, and addressed us as such. Handshakes were real and with substance. I found the model shop owner all B&Ms should be, and his shop is exactly to what B&Ms should aspire. Knowledgeable and passionate about pipes and cigars, he declared best at one point while talking with him: "I'm a tobacconist."
Tobacco Road is a slice of perfection in an otherwise mad world. I was proud to spend my hard-earned cash there, and look forward to doing so again in the future.
8)