Listen to this insightful chat on with Tracy Jones, as he and StickMan #1 discuss the local Cigar Bar scene, his shop, Truly Cigars and the keys to success as a small business owner.
Truly Cigars
Duration: 08:19
[Music Playing 00:00-00:40]
StickMan #1: When did you actually open?
Tracy Jones: We actually opened in March 2008.
StickMan #1: Okay [Inaudible/Cross Talking 00:52]. Alright, so man, we’re 12 years in
Tracy Jones: 12 years
StickMan #1: That’s a long time as a small business owner.
Tracy Jones: Yes.
StickMan #1: You must be doing something right.
Tracy Jones: Well, you know, I try. I try to do things right.
StickMan #1: Yeah.
Tracy Jones: You know the thing with small businesses, you know, just watching opinions, watching experiences, make sure you give a good product.
StickMan #1: That’s true.
Tracy Jones: That’s basically what we’ve done over the last 12 or so years is make sure we’re giving a good product and a good price.
StickMan #1: Yeah and great service. Every time I come here, everybody here, including yourself is extremely helpful and friendly and knowledgeable about the cigars, you know, you think about going to cigar bar folks. You have to make sure your local shop owner knows his stuff. And I can tell you this guy knows his stuff [Laughing/Inaudible 01:35]
Tracy Jones: I’ve been smoking since 94 or so—
StickMan #1: Okay. Since 94, so 94 and then 2008 GLP have been what to do before?
Tracy Jones: I was actually in the mortgage industry.
StickMan #1: Okay
Tracy Jones: I ran a couple of mortgage companies and we sold—I sold my first one back in 2008. And open the second one and sold is shortly after that
StickMan #1: Wow
Tracy Jones: And, but yeah my
StickMan #1: That’s two hits.
Tracy Jones: Yeah, definitely, two hits.
StickMan #1: So you went through the—I guess the mortgage boom really, right. Because really we’re doing well before 2008
Tracy Jones: Yeah, it was time. You know I say time in the first one was great timing [Inaudible 02:19] get out of the second one. That’s where things started to go crazy.
StickMan #1: Okay
Tracy Jones: But, you know, at least we got out unscathed. That was good for us
StickMan #1: And then I guess at that point, you decided to do this. So, what made you want to do this?
Tracy Jones: Well it was funny because once we sold the first two mortgage companies, I’m sitting around the house and smoking cigars and drinking scotch and playing golf. That was pretty much my life. And I got bored. So I was telling my wife
StickMan #1: Wait! Bored?
Tracy Jones: I got bored, man. I mean
StickMan #1: That’s okay. Go ahead, keep going. Keep going.
Tracy Jones: There’s only so much Scotch that you can drink and cigars you can smoke and I got bored and I was telling my wife that I want to open a cigar store. I said, you know, something small in the beginning
StickMan #1: Okay.
Tracy Jones: Just to see how it goes. And I knew I had a competitor down the street, but I wanted to, you know, open something up because you know, even though he’s down the street, you kind of look around a lot of times you have a McDonald’s or Burger King right beside each other.
StickMan #1: That’s right?
Tracy Jones: Right. So I said, hey, no harm, no foul and we open up something. And I open it up, back in 2008. And it was slow going in the beginning. You know, and it was only 1000 square feet but we kind of grew the business
StickMan #1: One thing I’ve noticed is that every cigar shop kind of has its own vibe, has its own feel. Some are kind of more sports bar-ish. More, maybe upscale, elegant. You feel like you have to put your smoking jacket on and walk in the door. Some may be just like kind of a man cave. We just got to go hang out. What would you describe your bar?
Tracy Jones: I would say for us, we’re kind of laid back, more like a laid back atmosphere. We don’t you know, we’re not a sports bar crowd. We’re not the—you know high society crowd which is regular guys who like to come in and want to de stress and see their fellow cigar smokers and just relax and have a good time and good conversation.
StickMan #1: All right, okay, so that—you check all the boxes, I would say—I’ve always felt like this is kind of a man cave-ish, but it’s a little bit of everything.
Tracy Jones: It’s everything that I mean. And you do have guys who treat it as men cave it. I’ve got guys that come in here at 10/11 o’clock in the morning. And they don’t leave until 8 o’ clock at night and they’re here all day. You know, they think this is their own private location. They’ll come and they’ll just hang out. But you do get that but I think I like to think that we’re just a laid back kind of group and everybody just kind of gets along with everybody.
StickMan #1: Yeah. So 12 years in business. What’s been the most rewarding thing in this life in the cigar since you open this shop? Let’s—man, I’m so glad I did that. And this has really been fulfilling. Let’s make—
Tracy Jones: Well you know, it’s a—starting a business is not easy. And if anybody’s ever started their own business, they know that but I think it is, I think your business you kind of look at it like your child, you know, two children, of course, and watch it grow up, watch it mature and grow up and be a success. And you know, at the end of the day, you go home and you feeling good that you know what, I was able to see it from nothing. It was a vision, you know, and then now to create—to what it is today. And—
StickMan #1: That’s a staple here
Tracy Jones: Correct? Oh, yeah and you know, it gives you good, it gives you a lot of pride that you know, you’re able to create something. Yeah, that’s kind of what we’ve done here.
StickMan #1: So, I know I’m a scotch guy. I know. I like the puffing. I like to talk about sports. What you said what’s my favorite cigar I like to puff on, what would it be?
Tracy Jones: Whoo! That’s a tough one because I have several favorites.
StickMan #1: You can give me one
Tracy Jones: I’ll tell you that probably—there’s a cigar called Hellcat and Hellcat to me is an awesome smoke. It’s an awesome smoke and it’s made by Esteban career.
StickMan #1: Okay
Tracy Jones: And it’s called Hellcat. It’s a box pressure door, and I usually smoke the
StickMan #1: Fan, yes.
Tracy Jones: And it is an outstanding cigar.
StickMan #1: Oh, wow. Okay, so Hellcat and when you’re not puffing on a Hellcat, what’s your favorite?
Tracy Jones: You know, I’m a scotch guy.
StickMan #1: Okay, yeah, me too. I love it.
Tracy Jones: Now I’m not so much of a p guy. But I do like my scotches and my probably my favorite is probably a Glimmer on G is what I like. Yeah
StickMan #1: I have a bottle of that on my shelf at home!
Tracy Jones: That’s a—it’s probably one of my favorites. I mean, I think that scotch you can drink not only when it’s cold out but it’s also light enough for in the spring, in the summertime. It’s not too heavy of a scotch
StickMan #1: Okay. Yeah, it is. That’s a good point. That’s a great point. And when you sit around puffing in sipping, what topic of conversation you find yourself flowing into most often.
Male Vice 2: Well we talked about it already, you know the one thing about cigar shops we’re always in here trying to solve the world’s problems
StickMan #1: That’s true. That’s true, you know, and I bet we could probably solve a few problems in shops, no doubt.
Tracy Jones: I would probably say that I talk more sports
StickMan #1: Okay
Male Vice 2: Than anything in the shop, you know, unless it’s about my kids, they’ve done something great or phenomenal with my wife and she’s done something great as you know she helped us out but most part its sports, I’m more sports. If you go out there you notice that pretty much every TV is on some type of sports channels, sports station, so we’ll get the latest news and what’s going on in the in the sports world.
StickMan #1: Okay, all right. That’s right. So puff, sip, chat. We talked about Hellcat, Glenmorangie and we talked sports
Tracy Jones: There you go.
StickMan #1: Hey, everyone. This has been awesome. Tracy. Thank you so much, man. It’s great sitting here and chatting with you. Come to Truly Cigars. I’m Reggie, aka StickMan #1, come check us out at stickman.blog. This is just one of many videos you’ll find. Read our latest posts. Our podcast starts up soon in February. Thanks for checking us out.
