So, yesterday I finally got the chance to go check out a local B&M that recently opened up. I have been itching to get by for a while now, but time has been something I am rather short on these days. Anyhow, my dad came up for a visit, and we made it a point to get by there and have look around. To be fair, my phone is not a good camera, and my photography skills are, well, nonexistent, but here is what we found...
Winston's Pipe and Cigar Emporium is true to it's name. Not your run of the mill tobacco shop, Winston's actually has a solid selection of pipes, tobacco and accessories for pipe smoking. I got spend a while talking with one of the owners, Sam, who, as it turns out, is a pipe smoker himself. Sam gave me a little background on the store.
Back in the 1970's, the location housed an old school pipe shop, but as trends changed toward cigars, so did the store. They maintained a selection of house blends, but little else, as tends to be the case most times. The old shop shut down about two years ago, and Winston's opened their doors in May of this year. Sam had a vision of a reincarnated pipe area within the new shop and set about making it happen. He succeeded beautifully. With somewhere around 200 pipes on hand, a counter of house blends, and 6 shelves of tins waiting to be bought, Winston's is the best stocked B&M I have ever been into.
Of course the pipe wall, as you can see, is pretty spectacular, I wanted a closer look into that glass cabinet. Oh, the wonders I found. Just browsing the top shelf you find some awesome meers, and even a couple of Tsuge Tokyo series pipes.
Moving down a shelf, I found a good selection of Petes and BC pipes.
The next one was housing a nice selection of Savinelli pipes.
Down there at the bottom I found a few Don Carlos, Il Ceppo, Castello and even Radice pipes.
We talked a good while, mostly discussing tastes and such, and Sam showed me a few blends he is working on at the moment, which may make their way to the house counter. I am certainly hoping so. He offered me a few samples, and I decided to give one a try, which I later left with a couple of ounces of. Further exploring the room I discovered a small wealth of tins, MM cobs and pouches.
Oh but that's not all. Winston's, aside from being one classy tobacco shop, is also a smoking lounge. Leather seating abounds the shop, and a large HD TV was playing baseball highlights on the wall. Gentlemen, so we are quite clear, this amazing shop happens to be located directly across the street from the mall. I know where I will be hanging out next time I take the misses out to get her hair done, lol.
Several humidor lockers grace the room, just beneath the TV, and there are, surprisingly, a few left unrented. Beside that, a nice wall of personal humidors indicates just how well planned out this shop really is. The sign says "Pipe and Cigar Emporium", and that is truly what you get. Not just one or two simple humidors, but over ten. Options to suit most anyone's taste.
Now, the actual walk in humidor is one of the largest I have ever seen, and it is well stocked. My dad and I browsed the cigars for quite a while before making some selections and heading back out to the lounge to relax.
There are a dozen or so pipe lighters in the glass counter, on top of the numerous cigar lighters. Of course pipe cleaners and other accessories are on hand as well. Overall, this is a classy spot, very nicely remodeled, and extremely friendly. Sam has got some great ideas for expanding the pipe area even more, and they are good ones. He has done the pipe community justice, not just being another out of the box cigar shop, but a true gentleman's shop. If any of you guys are ever in the area, you definitely want to swing by and check Winston's out. I couldn'the help myself and wound up leaving with a tin of Quiet Nights, a tin of Orlick Golden Sliced and a few baggies of bulk tobacco to try out.
Winston's Pipe and Cigar Emporium is true to it's name. Not your run of the mill tobacco shop, Winston's actually has a solid selection of pipes, tobacco and accessories for pipe smoking. I got spend a while talking with one of the owners, Sam, who, as it turns out, is a pipe smoker himself. Sam gave me a little background on the store.
Back in the 1970's, the location housed an old school pipe shop, but as trends changed toward cigars, so did the store. They maintained a selection of house blends, but little else, as tends to be the case most times. The old shop shut down about two years ago, and Winston's opened their doors in May of this year. Sam had a vision of a reincarnated pipe area within the new shop and set about making it happen. He succeeded beautifully. With somewhere around 200 pipes on hand, a counter of house blends, and 6 shelves of tins waiting to be bought, Winston's is the best stocked B&M I have ever been into.
Of course the pipe wall, as you can see, is pretty spectacular, I wanted a closer look into that glass cabinet. Oh, the wonders I found. Just browsing the top shelf you find some awesome meers, and even a couple of Tsuge Tokyo series pipes.
Moving down a shelf, I found a good selection of Petes and BC pipes.
The next one was housing a nice selection of Savinelli pipes.
Down there at the bottom I found a few Don Carlos, Il Ceppo, Castello and even Radice pipes.
We talked a good while, mostly discussing tastes and such, and Sam showed me a few blends he is working on at the moment, which may make their way to the house counter. I am certainly hoping so. He offered me a few samples, and I decided to give one a try, which I later left with a couple of ounces of. Further exploring the room I discovered a small wealth of tins, MM cobs and pouches.
Oh but that's not all. Winston's, aside from being one classy tobacco shop, is also a smoking lounge. Leather seating abounds the shop, and a large HD TV was playing baseball highlights on the wall. Gentlemen, so we are quite clear, this amazing shop happens to be located directly across the street from the mall. I know where I will be hanging out next time I take the misses out to get her hair done, lol.
Several humidor lockers grace the room, just beneath the TV, and there are, surprisingly, a few left unrented. Beside that, a nice wall of personal humidors indicates just how well planned out this shop really is. The sign says "Pipe and Cigar Emporium", and that is truly what you get. Not just one or two simple humidors, but over ten. Options to suit most anyone's taste.
Now, the actual walk in humidor is one of the largest I have ever seen, and it is well stocked. My dad and I browsed the cigars for quite a while before making some selections and heading back out to the lounge to relax.
There are a dozen or so pipe lighters in the glass counter, on top of the numerous cigar lighters. Of course pipe cleaners and other accessories are on hand as well. Overall, this is a classy spot, very nicely remodeled, and extremely friendly. Sam has got some great ideas for expanding the pipe area even more, and they are good ones. He has done the pipe community justice, not just being another out of the box cigar shop, but a true gentleman's shop. If any of you guys are ever in the area, you definitely want to swing by and check Winston's out. I couldn'the help myself and wound up leaving with a tin of Quiet Nights, a tin of Orlick Golden Sliced and a few baggies of bulk tobacco to try out.
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