I just visited Tobacco Road in Sacramento

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Kyle Weiss

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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)
 
Told ya ;)

Really wish I could have joined you, can't wait until I'm done with these friggin night shifts :x
 
Puff Daddy":1h9v9kor said:
Told ya ;)

Really wish I could have joined you, can't wait until I'm done with these friggin night shifts :x
Dude, don't sweat it...we're going back, probably quite a few times. We'll get loneredtree there, and really get some smoke cloudin' up the place. :twisted:

8)
 
Guess I'm going to have to hunt this place down next time I'm in that area.
 
That's the kind of place that DESERVES to prosper.

Hope he makes more money with it than the state of California can tax him out of.

:face:
 
Yak":gqw9d5et said:
That's the kind of place that DESERVES to prosper.

Hope he makes more money with it than the state of California can tax him out of.

:face:
Hear hear. I'm going to do my part to make sure he sticks around. Zee's probably in his mid to late 40s--he has quite some time ahead of him. I think he does pretty good business, the place has double the walk-in customers and people hanging out than I witnessed on my Briar Patch visit--even considering we were at Tobacco Road on a Thursday and at Briar Patch on a Friday night. I'll just have to dig up more work, pun intended, to keep heading over the hill to visit.

I can't forget my Tinder Box, though, but I'm there once a week as it is. :lol: (...smoking myself poor?) :p

8)

 
Kyle wrote:"We'll get loneredtree there, and really get some smoke cloudin' up the place"

You bet! I was on a bike ride in the area yesterday too. On second thought, I have only combined riding with pipes once and it was not the best. Give me a heads up next time. :cheers: Sounds like we could have a BoB pipe club meeting with all the interest!

:cheers:
 
We'll get together. The Sac trips have been whimsical, mostly. More will happen. Either here (Reno), there (Sac)... we're all pretty ridiculously close by. 8)
 
Wow !

Only 132 miles apart !

Distances "out West" being what they are (Miles and miles of miles and miles) I'd assumed a trip like that would be an odyssey.

Neat !

:face:
 
Yak":op5c2nji said:
Wow !

Only 132 miles apart !

Distances "out West" being what they are (Miles and miles of miles and miles) I'd assumed a trip like that would be an odyssey.

Neat !

:face:
Not much of an odyssey, many of us are used to it. I had to explain to relatives back east, many, many times that Las Vegas is not "right next to Reno." Anything under 300 miles can bea simple day trip.

For my work, a 300+ mile journey to a town and another 90 into barren wilderness along dirt roads to a mining property is quite commonplace. 8)

 
Also...

https://www.brothersofbriar.com/t18283-new-brebbia-624-bent-bulldog
 
Damn. Tobacco Road certainly sounds like what all B&M tobacconists should be like. I can just picture it from your description Kyle. Only wish it was a bit closer to me. I'd be a regular.

Used to have a place much like this near me about 10 yrs ago. It was a TB, and I hung out there for several years. Learned much about pipes, pipe weed, and bought my first Petes there. Plus my Wiley. All have been great smokers.

Sadly the WA state tax nazis drove them out of biz!

:cry:


Cheers,

RR
 
It made me thankful to have such a good place with our Tinder Box a bit more close by... which incidentally, sold me my first Pete and Wiley pipe too! :cheers:
 
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