It is every business owner’s wish to spread the word that customers are invited and welcomed with open arms, that unique products and friendly service await each visitor, and that the store will bring an added value to any customer’s life. However, the unsmiling perils brought by government regulation mean that tobacco establishments face special challenges in cultivating a public image.
This topic could fill a college textbook, but a few business basics are worth repeating.
Federal Regulations
Ever since the 2009 Tobacco Control Act and the 2016 “deeming rule” came along, bringing cigars and other tobacco products under federal authority, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been the primary legal regulator dominating the world of tobacco retail. It is that agency which primarily delineates permissible ad placements, describes required warnings, prescribes bans on the targeting of youth, and stipulates regulations of flavorings, labeling and pre-market review requirements for new products.
Thanks to numerous victories in federal court, premium handmade cigars are not subject to many such federal regulations, but it is still crucial that tobacco retailers be on familiar terms with the rules that the FDA has published. You can start with “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act – An Overview” at fda.gov/tobacco-products/rules-regulations-and-guidance-related-tobacco-products/family-smoking-prevention-and-tobacco-control-act-overview.
State and Local Regulations: A Patchwork
Americans take an idiosyncratic kind of pride in the legal distinctions that arise when we cross state and even municipal borders. Part of the charm in American life is our system of federalism. Washington, D.C. does not uniformly dictate what we can and can’t do from sea to shining sea. But this brings the downside of uneven, sometimes byzantine or out-of-the-blue laws and regulations, whose complexion simply depends on where you happen to be standing.
States and municipalities can and do create their own restrictions: point-of-sale advertising limits, flavor bans, licensing and proximity restrictions (e.g., near schools). Coverage is disparate, so retailers must know their own state and local codes. Summarizing these tailored regulations for the entire country is beyond the scope of this article. But state organizations can help us navigate the legal landscape. Associations such as the Cigar Association of Virginia, the Colorado Premium Cigar and Pipe Association, and the California Premium Cigar Association exist in part to help guide their members around the legal and business pitfalls of tobacco retailing. If you are not certain whether your state has a tobacco retailer’s association, email PCA at info@premiumcigars.org to ask. If in fact your state does not presently have a tobacco retailer’s organization, consider starting one. See PCA’s “State Association Handbook: A Guide to Establishing an Association in your State,” which is linked from our website at cigaraction.org/grassroots.
Some Ideas to Try
In all of its public communications, a tobacco business must bear in mind that certain self-protective measures will be necessary no matter the legal requirements imposed by any given locality. Some of these measures come down to common sense—e.g., strict age compliance (21+ everywhere) and avoidance of any health claim. We may deem pipe and cigar smoking “safer” than cigarettes; we just can’t make that claim. Other measures can involve a bit of clever strategizing. Just getting your store mentioned in a local news or human-interest story might work wonders for awareness with no effort made in the way of any advertisement. For instance, you or your friends can pitch stories to the local press. A neighborhood periodical might well be interested in running a profile of a store employee or owner who has an interesting personal story to tell, and this can raise community awareness of the store itself as a merely incidental matter, absent any obvious advertising intent.
- Your email blasts and social-media posts should be tuned to deliver more than just the cigar du jour. Research shows that engagement increases when you are teaching or telling an interesting story, not just delivering a photo of a product. Therefore, mix up your content. Rotate between product features, educational messaging, pairing guides, customer spotlights and event promos.
- You might also consider sponsoring some (adult-only) sports leagues, hobbyist clubs or community events. Supercharge the power of “word of mouth” advertising via a referral program, loyalty points, “bring a friend” promotions or humidor member clubs.
David Garofalo, the proprietor of Two Guys Cigars in New Hampshire, reflects on the state of play in tobacco advertising: “It’s interesting how times have changed,” he says. “In the past, to get your product noticed you simply put an ad in the newspaper and you instantly got noticed”…and you could even run ads on radio and TV. “You could get a wider reach and go national with bigger programs.” But today, Garofalo fumes, “TV, radio and newspapers choose not to accept most cigar ads even though it’s a legal product that can be legally advertised, unlike its often-confused cousin, the cigarette. Sure, they take beer and hard liquor, marijuana, and some of the most absurd products I blush to even bring up, but cigars is where they draw the line.” Further, Garofalo notes, “Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and all the rest, just like the old-fashioned newspapers, choose not to accept our legal product for advertising. Even billboards have a problem, even while they willingly advertise guns, marijuana and booze on the roads across America.”
Still, you can’t keep a good man down. In his book David vs. Goliath: How to Compete, and Beat, the On-line Retail Giant (available on Amazon and well worth reading cover to cover), Garofalo offers more than 100 workable ideas for promoting your business. Take, for instance, his “Fish Bowl of Business Cards” technique: “Upon paying their bill for services or products, customers are offered the opportunity to throw their business card into the fish bowl. Every week a card is picked from the fishbowl and a winner is chosen” to win a prize. The retailer can then harvest the information from all of those business cards to enrich an email list and rev up online campaigning. “Companies pay thousands for this data,” Garofalo points out, “but you got it for almost nothing.”
Kathleen Kelly, who owns Queensbury Cigar and Pipe in Queensbury, New York, says, “Some things that have been successful for us have included keeping our social media accounts active and engaging. This goes for our website as well. Keep it active and updated. For our events we also use Eventbrite,” which is a live events marketplace and website. “Another thing we do is a monthly reachout via email to our customers about what’s new in the humidor and events coming up at the shop.” Kelly continues, “One of the many requests we get, and I consider advertising, is for gift baskets for different events and charities. We are careful about who we do these for. I do not want to donate a basket with cigars to a high school fundraiser. I am happy to help these causes personally, but when it comes to cigars, they are strictly for adults, and our advertising should reflect that.”
Despite the appearance of being a highly regulated and controlled enterprise, the marketing of a community cigar shop can be readily accomplished when keeping two cardinal themes in mind—caution and creativity. Always remember, you’re being watched, so use sound judgment as a guiding principle.
– Story by William C. Nelson.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 3, 2025. To receive a copy of this magazine, you must be a current PCA member. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.