Rolling Along
Nick Cassanelli, co-owner of Connecticut Cigar Co.
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The store sells hand-rolled cigars made by a specialist who goes by the name of Max.
Connecticut Cigar Co. also sells premium cigars by such top-shelf producers as Rocky Patel, Fuentes and Partagas, as well as tobacco accessories.
“I”™ve always had a passion for cigars,” said Peter Falcetti, co-owner of Connecticut Cigar Co.
Falcetti, a Stamford resident, was looking for a comparable experience to the New York City cigar rooms that he frequents.
“Pete loved the New York-style cigar shops, loved the New York-style cigar lounges,” said Nick Casinelli, co-owner of the company. “He was new to Stamford and realized there wasn”™t anything in Stamford matching up to that New York style of shops and lounges, yet there was a lot of New York-style business being done in Stamford.”
With several luxury towers being built in the city and RBS on its way, Falcetti gained the confidence he needed to set up shop.
“There really isn”™t anything else on this scale in the area,” said Falcetti. “There are a few variety stores that sell the typical cellophane-wrapped cigars, and the nice ones in Connecticut don”™t let you smoke in them.”
According to Casinelli, the holidays give the cigar room an influx of business.
“Cigars, unlike cigarettes, is a very social thing,” Casinelli said. “There are obviously people who smoke cigars because they enjoy it, and they”™ll have cigars on their own, but for the most part it is a very social form of entertainment. Prior to me joining, Peter did a lot of leg work to get members to come here. When we first opened there was a good group of guys who right away got the concept of a members club.”
The company currently has about 20 members.
Before joining Connecticut Cigar as an owner, Casinelli, also a Stamford resident was an artist and repertoire representative at Atlantic Records and then worked with Columbia Records.
“It was a great run, I had really good successes, and enjoyed myself enormously,” Casinelli said.
After becoming disenchanted with the music business, he divested.
“Peter needed someone to take this to the next step,” he said. “To me this is not only about cigars, it”™s also about the social environment. I”™m applying different entertainment ideas and networking ideas here.”
The bottom line for the business is that people have to experience it to really appreciate it, he said.
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Max rolls a cigar.
“Over the summer we started going out to a lot of country clubs and just basically golf outings and we would bring our cigars and roll cigars at these outings and guys would smoke them. Right there business immediately turned up because not only were people smoking them but we ended up getting online orders and guys coming in to check out the shop and the lounge.”
Casinelli said the company”™s hand-rolled cigars provide a huge offering for the company as a regional, homegrown business.
According to Cassanelli, it”™s important to let people know the company is creating these cigars in house.
“Hence the name, the Connecticut Cigar Company,” he said. “We”™ve made this our base. People know our cigars are from right here, made close by, close to where they live, and they support it, not only because they are good cigars, but because it is a good regional business to support.”
He said he has also made efforts to take the gender stigma out of cigar smoking though it remains a male-dominated pastime.
He said the business is looking to expand into Hartford as well as to continue to have the cigars sold in shops around the state.