The Smokemaster Blog: Shop Spotlight: Cutter's Cigar

Cutter's Cigars

Interview with: Alex Bliss

-Alex Bliss opened Cutter's Cigar in October of 2015

What is the origin of your shop?

"The origin of the shop? Let's see, probably a ten year compilation of me visiting over 300 hundred different cigar shops, trying to figure out what they did right and what they did wrong. This is my version of what they did right."

-Alex Bliss is behind the counter and ready to help.

What is the best part of owning the shop?

"I got to throw away my alarm clock. Being a lifetime 9 to 5 guy, I actually got to put my alarm clock away."

Why did you want to get into the cigar market?

"Um, I was at a cigar shop in London, Davidoff of London, and it was there that I realized the meaning of the word hospitality. It's very difficult to, I guess quantify with what the whole cigar lifestyle is about. It's kind of why I coined the phrase Cigar Life, you can see it branded in here, because it is a lifestyle, it is a mannerism, it's an honor amongst thieves kinda thing. You know, one of the quotes I put, my favorite quote, is:

'Any cigar smoker is a friend, because I understand how he feels.'

That's why it is right above the cash register, its what my shop is founded on. Someplace where people can go and, all walks of live, rich people, poor, happy, sad, they come in, they light a cigar its the great equalizer. It equalizes everybody around."

-With quotes bordering the entire ceiling and beautiful photographs on the walls, this shop is very beautiful to look at.

Do you organize your humidor is a specific way?

"No, but it is labled very specifically. All the labels have the manufacturer, the type of cigar that it is, as far as if it was like a General Cigar, it would be labeled with, you know, the type of, like it would be General, CAO, Steel Horse. And then, binder, wrapper, filler, the countries that the tobacco came from, all listed. We rate a lot of the cigars that we smoke, any other ratings are on our label, then stick price and discounted box price. So, while we're not so particular about where, besides keeping everthing clean and, you know, lights to dark, darks to light, or something like that. We think its a lot better to put stuff in groups like Connecticuts and that kind of thing. But the labeling system is the most important thing. Something else I picked up from another shop. When I was there, you see all this, how do people label stuff and all the different tags and stuff? And I was like, if you're standing in your humidor and you listen to these guys talk and everybody is asking, where did this come from? Well, I'm not a genius so I can't remember all of this. So what I don't know I find out from the tag,

'Oh yeah its Nicaraguan, its a puro, its all from Nicaragua. Its a Puro! Look at this, it is a Puro!'

It helps the sales people too. They are in there, especially my bartender, you know when I am tied up in something and I can't be in there helping somebody, 'Ok, so I need a light bodied cigar.' Well if you look at the last line on everyone of my tags, its light, medium, medium to full and I color code them so they are easy to see. The lights are green.. and you know you look around."

-The long and narrow humidor holds a vast assortment of brands and blends.

What do you want your customers to get out of the shop?

"... actually, peace and quiet. That's why, even though we have televisions and so forth, you rarely see them on. I want my cigar shop to be the barbershop of 50 years ago. I want it be that place where people come and commiserate in fellowship and realize that they are not alone in life, that everyone is having the same problems, everybody is dealing with same bulls#!t and maybe if they could walk away with a better way to deal with it, you know, make connections, for friendships and bonds that people can grow from. and raise their lives from.

Leave a happier, more well rounded person then when you walked in."

-Equipped with comfortable leather chairs and a long L bar, Cutter's will make you comfortable.

What are your best selling cigars?

"The best selling cigars here, The Persian King, would be one of them, by Gran Habano. We sell a lot of Leaf by Oscar. We sell a lot of boutique blends. We sell quite a bit of mainstream stuff, but we specialize in the boutique, more obscure, harder to find, the stuff you are not going to see whored all around the internet. To name a few, yeah"

-If also enjoy a pipe, there are 85 different tobacco blends, as well as a beautiful selection of pipes.

Besides cigars, what else do you offer your customers?

"Um, wine and beer. Different, manly accouterments like walking sticks. We have a whole pipe station. We are a true tobacconist, which means we have 85 pipe tobacco. We sell shaving equipment, mostly straight razors, double edged razors, shaving soups, brushes, that kind of thing. We even teach straight razor shaving classes for those of us that don't know how to straight razor shave."

-They also offer a locker service you're cigars' home away from home.

Why should cigar smokers come to your shop and what should they expect when entering?
" Well, clean, well lit, nicely appointed, knowledgeable staff, true cigar people, people who will understand what the true Cigar Life is all about. Great selection, nicely displayed, adequately labeled. A very Cheers like atmosphere, if you remember the TV show Cheers, would be a reasonable expectation