We recently sat down with the owners of The Patio Social Club in Atlanta, GA for an insightful “Chat” session on how they came together to create one of the hottest cigar lounges in the ATL!
(Background Musical sound)
StickMan #1 — We’re coming to you from The Patio in Smyrna, Georgia. And uh, I talked to these brothers a few weeks ago. They were nice enough to have us come out and have a chat session with them. Well to be exact, a puff, sip chat conversation. So, I’m actually here with the owners of the patio cigar bar is Smyrna, and I’m going to start over here. I’m going to start with Gary, we’ve got Gary over here, and we have George, and we have Keith, so thank you guys again for having me out.
Gary, George, Keith — Absolutely man
StickMan #1 — I’ve been looking forward for today for a while now, been playing phone tag back and forth and we finally got it done. All right, so you know, I didn’t think it’d be hard to get people to get together and drink and smoke, but sometimes it can be tough, it’s crazy, I know, I know, It’s tough for me sometimes. So again, thank you guys.
StickMan #1 — So being out here a few times myself as a patron, had a blast, had an absolute blast. I started hearing about it, you know, Stickman, we hear about all the cigar bars as they open, but I heard about this would be in a little bit special and that there are people like, you know Reggie, you need to make sure you get over there. So, I made it by and I was just totally blown away.
Keith — Thank you
StickMan #1 — With the core, the ambience, the live music you have, we’ll talk about that in a second. But, uh, tell me, you know, you, how’d you guys get started with this? What was the impetus to get this started? You know, What kicked it off, George, you tell him what happened.
George — His dream, his vision, it was all his vision.
Gary — That’s it, yeah
George — I mean…
StickMan #1 — Keith is the mastermind.
George — We took his vision because my vision was probably about this size. And then I got with this guy and then turn it like this right here.
StickMan #1 — Okay
George — Yeah, so…
StickMan #1 — Alright, yeah. So Keith, this is your vision.
Keith — Yeah
StickMan #1 — You must’ve been, I mean, you must go way back with say, guys if you always want to own a cigar bar.
Keith — Well, it was actually, um, I had one previously before this one and, uh, I had some aspirations on what I wanted to make it look like and what I wanted it to be. And unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that. But, um, through that process of knowing what I wanted to do and what I want it to look like and getting the feedback from everybody that I encountered, I had an opportunity to come over to Smyrna, and, um, create something from the ground up, which in the cigar industry, you don’t see a lot of cigar lounge is built from the ground up. And, uh, when you have an opportunity to do that, you can take a look and put everything that you want in it and design it the way you want. When I first thought about it, even when I had Georgia over, it was just going to be a metal roof with some sidewalls.
George — He’s suckle me in, he was like, Hey man…
Gary –– He was like, hey billionaires, four walls, come smoke.
All — Yeah, yeah
Keith — And we got food next door.
All — Yeah, yeah
George — So mr, we have got a couple of cigar cases, you know.
Keith — And uh, you know, then at the end of the day, I was like, you know, evolved, evolved. It was something that I was like, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to have these guys involved. I’m going to put everything I have in it, because I want it to be reflective of what I wanted it to be. But then also what I felt that the industry needed, when it came to a lounge, with the humidor, liquor, and food, all in one. And uh, we were just…
StickMan #1 — Is that all, is that the total package?
Keith — No, not at all.
StickMan #1 — You guys have the total package here?
Keith — Yes
Gary — Absolutely
StickMan #1 — Believe me, you top the music off on it
Keith — Right.
George — We top some music in, exactly.
StickMan #1— Yeah.
Reggie — When I first met you, one of the first things that you brought up was the fact about how good the filtration…
Keith — Yes
StickMan #1 — … system was here. And I was actually impressed. I was noticing, but you don’t notice it and which is kind of what you want, right? You don’t want people to notice, but tell me about that. You really put some sciences, some thought behind how the filtration system even is done here.
Keith — There is this science behind it. I didn’t know that…
George — We learned that along.
Keith — We definitely learned that. Um, you know, just talking to some people and talking, uh, not even so much in the cigar industry as much as… you know, when you think about nail salons and how they have to actually, it’s a requirement that they take the chemicals out of the air. Um, I started looking at systems that they use within, you know, um, nail salons, hair salons, and I thought about the cigars and I was like, you know, you could have smoke heaters all over the place, but at the end of the day, it’s about getting the smoke, the air moving around and actually moving it and taking it out. There’s going to be some settling, but we also have some things that we can actually take to take that settling out of the air, that actually, you know, lingers in the air while you’re in here.
StickMan #1 — That’s it, that make sense.
Keith — So, we were able to actually set up the system to where we have ventilation throughout the whole place. It’s ducked to the back of the building and it’s exhausted out 24/7, when we’re not here, it’s still on.
StickMan #1 — Wow, it shows, because I mean the place is popping and even, you know, we’d like to think everyone smoke cigar, but not everyone’s supposed to. But because you’ve created such a cool place, it’s such a destination point, you attract people that don’t even necessarily smoke…
Keith — Absolutely
StickMan #1 — …but they are still at comfort.
Keith — And we’ve actually convert a lot of people who don’t smoke. And that’s, that’s one of the biggest things about it. And that Gary knows more of that because he’s always in the humidors. So, he sees who come in and never smoked a stick before. They feel comfortable in the environment and they see people doing it. So they’re introduced to it. And that’s always good to see, see new people coming into the industry, understanding, you know, smoking a cigar. The process, which Gary actually breaks it down to them every time they come here.
StickMan #1 — He educated me on my first time.
George — There you go.
StickMan #1 — I learned a lot.
George — There you go.
StickMan #1— So, you guys are a team, right?
George — Absolutely.
Reggie — So, you guys are a team. So, when you think about team, everyone kind of plays their part, plays a role. What, what does everyone do? Tell, tell me your roles. What is it, how do you guys split up the division of responsibilities here?
George — How do they roll
Gary — Well, it, most importantly, um, piggy backing off of, um, what Keith had said, you know, education very valuable, but I gotta say this, these are two good brothers. They brought me in. Uh, Keith, we met long time ago. Um, I was already a previous owner at another shop and he brought me in. He shared, I had already saw this body was saying,
Keith — Yeah
George — Yeah.
Keith — Yeah, definitely. What’s interesting…
Gary — This body right here, he had a vision and when that vision, when a man say, Hey, this is where I want to go, let me get the right team on board. He picked and choose who he wants, him and George, they picked and choose. So, with that being said, division came alive.
StickMan #1 — So…
Keith — I was actually sitting with Gary out on a picnic table…
Gary — Yeah
Keith — …right out in the main space before this place was even built,
Gary — So, this is the vision, we all believe in the brother, we believe in both of them. And it just revolved and it’s a beautiful thing when you can see it, you can visualize this vision, George vision, and being part of it, and then bringing me in and say, Hey Gary, partner up. Let’s do this. You gonna run that humidor, because this is what you do…
StickMan #1 — Okay
Gary — …this is your pay…
StickMan #1 — Okay
Gary — …you know, and what I should, what I know, I share with them. So if I’m not there, boom, bam, bam, bam.
George — We don’t miss a beat.
Gary — We don’t miss a beat. You know, and that’s the beauty right here.
George — Yeah.
StickMan #1 — So, I already noticed you guys. But if you come into the patio, you really want to get deep.
George — Yeah, absolutely, because I’ve learned so much from Gary over the last three, four, five months, and my cigar knowledge is going from here, I mean to up here. And I still got a long way to go, but I can sit in and actually speak on cigars now.
StickMan #1 — Wow.
Gary — And that’s what I shared with you earlier about, you know, what I know I share…
StickMan #1 — Okay
Gary — …and I might as well share it with two good brothers that brought me in, from the beginning and say, Hey gee, come on through.
StickMan #1 — That’s amazing.
Gary — Let’s make this happen.
StickMan #1 — That’s amazing
Gary — Yeah, to make this happen.
StickMan #1 — That’s amazing. And George?
George — I’ve just got here, I’m going to send the plates.
StickMan #1 — You’re the ambassador
All — Laughing
George — I’m just here, man. I’m just trying to, I’m learning as I go, from these two guys, learn about cigars, run a little about the business, you know, make sure we keep running.
StickMan #1 — So, you like that chief operations officer, is that right?
George — The COO or CFO house was probably a little bit of both, yeah.
Keith — And I always say this is it, you know, you can go anywhere and buy cigar…
StickMan #1 — Okay.
Keith — …right?
Gary — Right.
Keith — But you can’t pay for an experience.
Gary — You cannot.
Keith — So, what we try to demonstrate here is that, we’ve got a humidor, you can go buy a stick. But beyond that is, it’s the environment, it’s the vibe. When you walk in the door, somebody is there to greet you.
StickMan #1 — Yes.
Keith — You know, and so when you come in here, it’s what you take out, not just the cigar that you take out, but the experience that you take out. And that’s what we try to focus on every day, is that when people come in here, they have a great experience.
StickMan #1 — Awesome experience.
Keith — Yes
StickMan #1 — I’ll tell you this, I’ve been here on multiple nights, but one night that really stands out to me is Tuesday night live.
Keith — Yes.
StickMan #1 — Whose idea is that, is that everybody? For those who don’t know, Tuesday night live, if you haven’t been here at the patio on a Tuesday night, you gotta make it.
Gary — Absolutely
StickMan #1 — They have some incredible bands, some incredibly visitations that play here. Tell us something about it, is that always part of the whole vision?
George — We talked about it, you know, we decided that we wanted to bring live entertainment in. Um, we wanted to do it on an off night, not a Friday or Saturday night when people like, okay man, it’s Tuesday and I don’t have anything to do. You know, so now we’re giving them something to do on Tuesday nights.
StickMan #1 — Okay
George — You know what I mean? So we talked about this as a group, started with what we wanna to do, we brought a couple of bands in, they did a couple of auditions for us and now, I mean this up in proper and it’s been two years.
Keith — And the thing about it is, giving them a different experience every week. You know, a lot of places bring the same band back and us, you know, there’s nothing wrong with that…
StickMan #1 — There is nothing wrong with that, yeah
Keith — …but, I feel like when you’re able to present a different band, it just brings a different person in, personalities in and it gives you a different, it gives you a reason to go out every Tuesday.
Gary — Absolutely
George — Right
Keith — You know, cause you know, you never know what you’re going to get and that’s what keeps it fun.
StickMan #1 — Oh man.
Gary — And on top of that, we on Sundays, you know, we have our day parties.
Keith — Yeah.
StickMan #1 — I haven’t made it to a day party yet, that’s next on the list.
Gary — Absolutely. We have different DJs coming in, blend up a variety different music, and on top of that we have what, $5 mimosas?
Keith — Yeah, that’s $5 mimosas.
StickMan #1 — $5 mimosas. That’s crazy
Gary — I mean, when you leave, you know, worshiping or whatever you do, and you want to get up and go, Hey, come on down to the patio.
Keith — Yeah, we’re playing, we’re playing
StickMan #1 — You mean around, when you said that
All — Laughing
StickMan #1 — So, you came together as partners, you have established the, awesome bar quickly. Uh, what did you do before this? I mean, what, give me a little insight to your life before this.
Keith — Um, I was actually a corporate American.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
Keith — Um, did real estate for a long time, I still do. Um, but, I used to work for general mills, Pepsi and I actually was an account manager, so I had um, a lot of restaurant accounts, and I actually got into the industry through a restaurant that I owned, and we decided to put a cigar lounge connected to the restaurant, and it was a pizza restaurant with a cigar lounge connected.
George — Imagine that
Keith — I had a long time to kind of vision on what I wanted this to be, based upon the previous one. So you know, through that, it was just something that I felt like the network, the people, you know, I’ve only been smoking cigars for about three years…
StickMan #1 — That’s all?
Keith — …and… yes. And I used to actually walk around and I’d have a cigar and at the end of the night they see four cigars laying off and they’d be like, Oh, there’s Keith, he has never smoked…
StickMan #1 — But, you never finished it.
Keith — Yeah, I never finished it
StickMan #1 — I have a buddy like that, I’m going to get him to finish one fully to no avail.
Keith — But now…
StickMan #1 — Because he never actually finishes his cigar, but that’s okay.
Keith — Right. So, but it was the people at the end of the day for me, you know, it’s the people, the people who smoke cigars and, and that it’s not rushed. You know, people come in here for conversation.
StickMan #1 — Yes.
Keith — There, it’s not about turning tables, it’s about enjoying it, enjoying the atmosphere and enjoying the people. And when you can get people together like that…
StickMan #1 — Yeah
Keith — …they don’t want to leave.
StickMan #1, George — They don’t want leave.
George — They don’t want leave.
StickMan #1— But I’ve had to go home a couple of times. I don’t want to go, but I should get going. You got to go home sometimes, and just somebody waiting (laughing).
All — Laughing
StickMan #1— George, what did you do before hopping into this man?
George — Well, I’ve been smoking cigars for about 20 years.
StickMan #1— Okay
George — But I was just smoking cigars. I didn’t know anything about it. I was like, okay, the cigar tastes good. I like it, so I’m going to smoke it. You know, I worked for the, I guess to say one of the largest package delivery companies in the world for 29 years and um, made us drivers, worked in management and aside, I’ll take an early buy out, because after 29 years of hustle and bustle, doing what they wanted me to do, it was tough for me to do something I wanted to do.
StickMan #1— There you go
George — You know what I’m saying? So I said, Hey man, they offered this early buy out. I’ll say, Hey, I’ll take it. I want to take it a run.
StickMan #1— You paid your dues.
George — I paid my dues. Then I met this guy right here and you know, the rest is history.
StickMan #1 — The rest is history.
George — Yeah. That’s pretty much it
StickMan #1 — And you brought in the cigar expert, yeah…
Keith — Yeah
StickMan #1 — … what were you doing? Were you always the cigar expert or how did that happen man? What’d you do before this?
Gary — Well, it’s funny how this all happened. I went to Sacramento state, then I went to hospitality management redwoods, from there…
StickMan #1 — Okay
Gary — …and um, I saw the business in a different perspective in California, and I had a decent sized California [inaudible 14:32] business, and then I moved here, and one thing led to another. I was already smoking, and I’m at the end of the day, when I got really full flare to started getting into construction, I decided to go ahead and go full flare in construction. And one thing led to another, but I always… guys offered me, Hey, let’s go smoke, let’s go to the golf course. Let’s go have a, let’s go chill out. So it intrigued me a little bit more to really, not just smoke but learn about what I’m smoking, because a lot of folk go and they just smoked on [inaudible 15:07].
George — Yeah, that was me.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
All — Laughing
Gary — That was all of it, I guess, and then I joined up with a cigar, the Donya and one thing led to another. He said, Hey, come on, let’s partner up. I partnered up with him and it just took off.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
Gary — You know, it was a night club…
StickMan #1 — Oh, wow
Gary — …and he just said partner up, run it. And one thing led to another and I left there with partnering up with another chef.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
Gary — Learn from it, okay. A learning experience. And I met Keith and then I met George, Georgia crack up.
All — Laughing
Gary — You know, like I say, he said, George said, Hey, come on board. And one thing led to another and it was a good look. And I just really started reading, I’m taking courses and I’m finding this… what this is all about.
StickMan #1 — The science behind it, right?
Gary — Exactly.
StickMan #1 — Yeah.
Gary — You know, like I share with you this particular stick I’m smoking, I’m doing Habana wrapper, Nick Nicaraguan, filler and Dominican, binder. So, with that all being said, you know, you learn it, and that’s what I want to do. I want everybody here to know what we smoking. You know…
Reggie — If he had a new person just to walk into the door and they say, I don’t know about this old cigar thing, I’m just being…
Gary — I will say, go talk to George
All — Laughing
Keith — That shit is about everyday, I’ll be in the humidor, and they start asking me something, I’d be like, hold on a second.
Gary — And you know, phone call, hey Gary, where’s this and this? And I go, it’s like, it’s a beautiful thing and I appreciate the respect from both of these brothers. I really do. Because that’s hard to come by when you’ve got a team.
Reggie — Yeah
Gary — It is too many. But this real talk, you know, but everybody is like, Hey, let’s just sit down and make this thing happen. So yes, I do know a little bit about cigars…
StickMan #1 — What advice would you have for a newbie?
Gary — And if it’s a newbie…
Reggie — Yeah
Gary — I hear them.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
Gary — Most importantly, you got to hear someone that comes to the humidor, and if they say never smoked, never ever smoke, I’m going to try it. So, I always get them on something that we got to deal with in the industry, the FBA, we still got to deal with that. But I introduced them to something that’s called infused or conditioned cigars.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
Gary — Oaky, and then normally, they’re considered… it has a little bit of a certain taste to it.
StickMan #1 — Okay, this is a mild taste kind of?
Gary –– Very mild, but it has an aroma, and therefore… first of all, they’re going to enjoy the aroma. Second of all, they’re going to receive the taste that’s in the cigar, okay. And whatever tastes that may be, you know, and then they’ll sit back, and they gonna get, they’re not gonna, you know, the palate is right there, still cleanser, it’s not too harsh. That’s one of the things that MJ, our bar manager, she comes out with a little shot, and people say, Hey, what is that? Is that a shot, free shot? It’s her combination, which she…
StickMan #1 — No one else does that, I’ve been to a zillion cigar bars, no one else does that.
Gary — We’re class high, and that’s MJ. So, she brings it out in one, you know, at the end of the day you share a little bit about what that consist of, it cleanse your palate. Even if you sipping on something, or you smoking on something, it clear your palate and let’s go for it. So, with that being said, when you smoking a cigar, infused or conditions cigar, it helps you, with a newbie, they’re not gagging, you’re smoking on it, pulling on it. I’m always suggesting, get something on your stomach first, okay, that’s the number one rule.
StickMan #1 — That’s number one rule.
Gary — Yeah. So when you pull it on it, it’s not that harsh, if you end up inhaling it, you tap that water a little bit, you’re okay. And um, it’s always, newbies are always good for it. Something that’s really light and has a little bit of flavor to it…
StickMan #1 — Yes
Gary — …and they’re good
StickMan #1 — They’re good, awesome, great advice.
Keith — And he’s great, he’s great at taking them from that first cigar and stepping them up to the next level, to where they’re actually become true cigar smoker.
StickMan #1 — Okay
Keith — Yeah. And I’ve seen him do that, because a lot of guys come…
StickMan #1 — He’s introducing people into the lifestyle.
Keith — Right.
Gary — It’s a lifestyle, absolutely, it is.
StickMan #1 — So, we talked about Tuesday night live.
George — Right
StickMan #1 — It helped everyone to the Sunday day party. But what else do you have in store at Patio?
Keith — So, one thing that we do have coming as a… it’s going to be kind of like a Monday meetup, where we talk about, we bring people in and we talk about residual income, generation of wealth, and creating a legacy for our families and kids.
StickMan #1 — Okay
Keith — And this is… it’s close to my heart, I’ve got three little girls at home. And, you know, when you build something like this, you get a lot of people coming through and loving the environment and the space. But at the same time, you have to have a why behind it. And you know, when you can have this many people in a platform, it’s like you want to deliver something just outside of just entertainment. And that Monday meetup is going to… we’re going to talk about real estate, trust, and how we protect our assets. We’re going to talk about wealth and wealth building through insurance, through real estate. And I just want people to be able to come in here, and a lot of times you don’t realize the person you’re sitting next to or the person sitting across from, everything that we do in life is based off of encounters. Everything that we’ve done… we open this place was based upon me meeting Vic at the pizza spot here at Chicago pizza. So yeah, and that’s the thing about it, is that if we can start communicating and understand what people do, they sit around you. You never know, we might be breaking bread and making money.
StickMan #1 — Because you never know who you’re sitting beside.
Keith — You know, I talk about my family and some of the things that I’m going through my parents right now, and I speak on it and I’ll have somebody sitting over there like, Hey man, going through the same thing.
Gary — Exactly.
Keith — So, I feel like if we can get everybody in a room, we can start communicating about that kind of stuff. We can start being proactive as opposed to reactive, and wealth building, and preparing ourselves for our parents, you know, passing away.
StickMan #1— Yeah.
Keith — And unfortunately, it’s going to happen.
George — It’s going to happen
Keith — I mean, we just dealt with, right. And you know, I feel like if we can get people in one space to start communicating like that, that’s how we can change people’s lives in a cigar lounge, where we’re not just smoking cigars.
StickMan #1 — That brings a whole new meeting to the chat. The chat box, right?
Keith — Yeah.
StickMan #1 — A whole new meeting to the chat.
George — So, on Monday night, you can check us up on Monday’s night.
StickMan #1 — That’s awesome, Monday night.
Keith — Yeah, we’re going to start this Monday
StickMan #1 — You guys coming, right? So, we got Tuesday night live, we got the Sunday day party and soon as they come, we have the Monday networking event where you learn about wealth building, right?
Keith — Yes
StickMan #1 — It’s important night
Keith — Very much so.
StickMan #1 — This has been awesome guys.
George — On a lite of note, on Wednesday, the first Wednesday next month, we got King broadcast in here.
Keith — Right.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
George — They’re gonna come in and talk about any sports and going to sit up, and they’re gonna sit at a table like this, we’re going to talk about sports. Talk about not just the Falcons, if it was up to me, it’ll be all Falcons football, all Falcons football.
StickMan #1 — That’s okay, alright.
George — They’re gonna talk about sports in general.
StickMan #1 — Okay.
George — Where is boxing, soccer, baseball, football, talk about sports. It’s going to be live interacting where you actually call in, ask questions, and they’ll answer the questions right there, live audience here,, lots of sporting events.
StickMan #1 — And this is a great place to watch sport with any team. Have you guys been doing a fight party here?
George — We’re thinking about it. We’re thinking about it, we’re not there yet.
StickMan #1 — If you do, you let me know. This is where I would love to view a fight party.
George — We haven’t decided on that yet, but we’re working on that.
StickMan #1 — Okay
George — Yeah, so on Wednesday night, we’re going to have that. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…
StickMan #1 — Okay
George — …Sunday, Friday and Saturday. It’s a party one’s gonna…
Keith — Yeah, we’re gonna turned it up anyway, so it’s going to be a party.
All — Laughing
StickMan #1 — Men, this is awesome.
George — One thing I suggest is come early.
StickMan #1 — Come early?
George — Come early. Get it early.
StickMan #1 — Yeah, you don’t want to be standing all night. I’m a little older, so you know, father time is on.
Keith — We’ll make sure you got somewhere…
StickMan #1 — Will you save me a seat?
Gary — Yeah, absolutely.
StickMan #1 — Save me a seat. I’ll call you before coming, so you can save me a seat. Alright, Keith George, Gary, guys, this is fun, I appreciate it, this has been a great conversation. Puff-Sip-Chat everyone, that’s what it’s all about.
All right, come to the patio and, these guys here, it’s the middle of the day, you wouldn’t know, but we getting our Puff-Sip-Chat on, we’re having a good time, we getting in, the Patio with the Stickman. Hey! Reggie, AKA Stickman, number one, I’m out. You guys have a good day, peace, thank you.
All — Peace, thank you.
