PCA Magazine Winter 2020

46 PCA The Magazine | WINTER 2020 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG an era of seemingly ubiquitous cigar lounges, Stag Tobacconist of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is something of a throwback. As its name implies, Stag is a full- service tobacco shop, offering a wide selection of pipes and pipe tobacco, as well as an extensive array of fine cigars, lighters, cigar cutters and humidors. Like many cigar shops, Stag holds frequent cigar events, but it also caters to pipe smokers with a pipe club, which meets in the store after hours. The monthly meeting frequently features a representative from a pipe or tobacco company, allowing pipe enthusiasts the opportunity to keep up with the latest products, and to socialize with like-minded smokers. Further, Stag features, in addition to their cigar humidor, a separate walk-in tobacco humidor, where pipe smokers can peruse the tobacco selection, and even sit and puff on their favorite briars. “Our pipe tobacco humidor is a walk-in, just like our cigar humidor, but they’re separate,” says Stag’s owner, Veronica Fenner. “We’re able to stock a couple hundred types of tobacco in there. It’s a great environment to be able to spend time with the pipe smokers. They’re a different type of consumer than cigar smokers. So we were able to create an environment that they were comfortable with. It’s a quiet space in the shop, a really great place for the pipe consumers to do what they do, as they contemplate.” Stag was founded in the mid-1970s as a branch of the original Phoenix chain, and was purchased from the owner in 1979 by LouWinterfield, who had just retired from the Air Force. Located in the Citadel Mall, the small store displayed their cigars in a cramped humidor, where, as their website states, “Two customers in at the same time was maximum capacity!” mentor, and he is still a friend of mine to this day. We talk all the time, and when he comes to the Springs we get together.” Fenner became Stag’s managing partner when the store moved in 2005, and while Winterfield, who has since moved out of state, remains a trusted advisor, Fenner is the owner of Stag Tobacconist. Fenner oversees a staff of about 10 people, which may seem like a lot for a single- location store. But Fenner points out, “When you have two walk-in humidors, you need to have people in the humidors to help the folks.” She explains that while the entire staff is trained to be able to wait on customers in all the departments, “where your passion lies is where you In As the business grew, and additional products were introduced to accommodate the growing clientele, the need to relocate became increasingly obvious. Two moves later, once in 1998 and more recently in 2005, the store’s 1,200-square- foot walk-in humidor is larger than the entire original store. When Stag was in the original mall location, a young woman who was managing a women’s apparel shop began frequenting the tobacconist. It was during this time that Fenner discovered her love of cigars, and met her lifelong mentor, Winterfield. “Louie just was a wonderful Colorado Springs is a military town with five bases in the area. Stag Tobacconist has made sure to cater to the military market.