Bayview fixture The Smokin’ Cigar relocates
[attach]6784[/attach]The movie The Mask had a hand in naming Trae Zammit’s cigar shop.
“I was toying with names and I was having a cigar, enjoying it and I was like, ‘man, this cigar is smokin’,’ he says. “That was coming from that Jim Carrey movie when everything was smokin’ and I just liked the name.”
A Bayview Avenue fixture since 1997, The Smokin’ Cigar recently relocated to a larger space down the road in the former home of Leaside Cleaners at Millwood Road.
“When I came across this property and I just saw the size of it, it was just this is my new home and I knew right away we were moving in,” Zammit says. “We went from [50 square metres] to [150 square metres], plus we’re going to be using half the basement as well to display product and that’ll be an additional [100 square metres] almost.”
In addition to premium cigars, pipes, humidors and accessories, the shop will also carry lifestyle items, including bar and wine accessories, men’s gifts, cufflinks and pens.
“I got into the cigar business for selfish reasons because I actually enjoyed a good cigar and it was tough to get back in 1997 and I just really enjoyed the nature and aspect of the cigar culture,” he says. “Some of the best conversations I’ve ever had or some of the best experiences I’ve ever had have been with other people over a cigar. It’s like a great glass of wine.”
Zammit, who has a cigar in his personal collection dating back to 1951, also opened another location in the Beach on Queen Street E. near Woodbine Ave. 18 months ago. The shops carry cigars ranging in price from $2 to $100 each, which are stored in their humidor kept at roughly 20° C and 70 percent humidity, he says.
“Pretty much all the tobacco comes from Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Mexico,” he says. “You just want to recreate those nice warm climatic conditions that cigars come from so we’re just recreating those conditions in our humidor. We are already officially the biggest tobacconist in Canada and we also have the largest walk-in humidor in Canada.”
Although he lives in area and enjoys being part of the community, he says they average 2,000 visitors a month at the store from all over the GTA.
“I always joke that what I sell are rolled up leaves,” he says. “They’re not that special but we have people that want to celebrate maybe a special occasion, it’s something that they enjoy doing for good reasons usually, they like having a cigar with friends and we just like to make that whole experience enjoyable from the minute they walk in to the minute they leave, whether it’s their first experience or their 100th experience, I always want it to feel like they’re special.”
