PCA Magazine Fall 2019

54 PCA The Magazine | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG ZENGEL COULD HARDLY believe all the coach wanted were cigars, but he asked around and found a cigar store nearby. Rather than five cigars, Zengel returned with six. Zengel had never smoked a cigar before, but he figured if that’s how the coach wanted to get paid, “theymust be pretty damned good.” The conversation that followed after Zengel presented the cigars went something like this: Coach: “You never had a cigar?” Zengel: “Nope.” Coach, smiling: “Wait right here.” And so, in 1996, on the steps of St. Rose High School in Belmar, New Jersey, Zengel smoked his very first cigar with Pete Carril. The two reminisced about the glory days of basketball and Carril shared some of his most memorable cigars, especially after winning big games. At the end of their smoke, Zengel had created a lastingmemory of his own—one that would ultimately alter the course of his life. A few years later, after leaving a coaching position at HamptonUniversity, Zengel began working as an associate for Scott Regina at Emerson’s Cigars inHampton, Virginia, and this is where his career in the cigar industry began. It was during this time that he decided to return to his home state of New Jersey with a different career path. Inspired by his experiences at Emerson’s, Zengel talked with Regina about opening his own shop back home. Regina’s advice, Zengel says, was invaluable and helped himavoid many of the typical mistakes new business owners face when starting out (see sidebar for the three key pieces of advice Regina offered Zengel). InMarch 2012, Zengel opened Beach House Cigars, located about 1,000 feet from the Atlantic Ocean in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The retail shop did well, and they soon grew fromone humidor and nine boxes of cigars to three humidors and nearly 200 offerings. Armed with themission “tomake the world a better place, one cigar at a time,” and with a commitment to community service, BeachHouse Cigars was making a name for itself in the community. Then Hurricane Sandy hit. Inflicting an estimated $71 billion in damages, Hurricane Sandy walloped the Northeast coast for days in late October 2012, and BeachHouse Cigars was destroyed in an instant. Zengel initially thought to quickly rebuild and continue themomentum he had started earlier in the year, but after further evaluating the economic ebb and flow that is standard to any beach town, he decided it was better tomove the business inland. And so, in August 2013, BeachHouse Cigars reopened, this time 16miles north in Zengel’s hometown of Wall, New Jersey. While he was working to open his shop, Zengel also took a job as vice principal at a high school in Berkeley, New Jersey. One of the first employees at his new shop was a retired law enforcement officer who eventually shared with Zengel the stories of the recent tragic deaths of two local law enforcement officers, both of whomwere killed within about 10miles of the new shop location. Zengel was already giving back to several charities in the community, including helping raise funds for lymphoma, kidney disease and pretermhealth defects in babies, but the stories of the fallen police officers inspired him to want to domore, specifically helping local police and fire organizations that were supporting families of the fallen. “I lost my best friend years ago. It hurt really bad and for a really long time. Still does. When the two police officers near me were brutallymurdered and we (Beach House Cigars) got called to help raisemoney through cigars, I saw how others felt a hurt similar tomine a decade prior. I was more empathetic than community-service- oriented. And I was embarrassed that I could only give $200 or so to help out,” he says. “And when I was lamenting to the guys inmy shop, a few of whomworked at JerseyMike’s (which gives back to communities through the company’s annual Day of Giving), they suggested I shut everything down, sell cigars on a national level, and give $1 back on every cigar. And if I did that I might just end up raising a lot moremoney and helping a greater number of people inmore and better ways, like they did through sub sandwiches. Very soon after that conversation, I took their suggestion and I went all-in.” Not one for half measures, within a few months, Zengel closed the doors to Beach House Cigars and created Los Caídos, a national cigar brand that would give back a portion of every cigar sold in the same way JerseyMike’s gives back through its sub sandwiches. “It was easy for me to go all-in because Villanova University (’92) had instilled inme that sense of community service,” he says. “Whether it was throughmy service on the orientation committee helping new students get acquainted with their new home, my active participation as amember of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity volunteering for Special Olympics events amongmany others, ormy involvement in the Alumni Association building homes for Habitat for Humanity or cleaning Adopt-a-Highway sections, Villanova absolutely set the cornerstone on which I’ve built an importance around general community service. So I’d say that Los Caídos was more cause-oriented and it was easy to do because Villanova created in me a fondness of community service.” As the name implies, themission of Los Caídos (Spanish for “The Fallen”) is to raise $1 million for familymembers of fallen police officers and firefighters. To reach this Steve Zengel, right, shares a story. Zengel’s charity Life of a Ridetime has numerous events around the country.