New Cigar Store Stokes More Choices, Conversation

It’s been a little more than a month since Paul and Jennifer Groh purchased the former Jack’s Tobacco from owner Jack Cummens, and slowly but surely the Grohs are making changes to the 18-year old Brookfield establishment while retaining Cummens' longtime customers.

The shop, now named Metro Cigars Brookfield, is the third cigar shop owned by the Grohs in the Milwaukee area. Like the two stores in Germantown and , the Brookfield location features a walk-in humidor — a sauna-like room where customers can choose cigars that come from the Dominican Republic to Honduras to Nicaragua. There is also a smoking lounge where customers can smoke their purchased cigars or have a beer or coffee.

“We are excited about the opportunity to learn about pipe tobacco and pipes (something that Jack’s was known for) and growing that side of the business, and also getting to know the customer base here,” Jennifer Groh says. “It’s really the camaraderie of it that we enjoy most. The people are number one.”

There are the “Pipe Guys,” members of the Milwaukee Area Pipe Society, who meet every third Thursday of the month to discuss all things pipes and tobacco.

There are the regulars, like retired salesman Harry Spriggs of Brookfield, who has been coming in nearly every day for the past 18 years.

“Harry comes in every day like clockwork,” says 12-year patron and part-time employee John Losano. “Once in the morning and once in the afternoon.”

Losano, who comes in nearly every day as well, compares a cigar smoker to someone who enjoys wine.

“It’s about the textures, the flavors and the relaxation. A cigar is a complement to the conversation,” he says.

Both Spriggs and Losano are long-time friends of Jack Cummens, and say that the Grohs were the right people to come along and take over and bring the store back to what it once was. Quantity and variety of products are already increasing from the all-time low seen in the past year, and customers are starting to return.

Competition comes from Havana Lounge and Cigar in West Allis, which features a full bar and live entertainment. Metro Cigars Brookfield started offering bottled micro, domestic and import beers two years ago but does not offer hard alcohol. 

“Part of the charm about this place is you come in and see someone you know. It’s a place people can come, sit down, have a cigar and socialize,” says Losano.

Boosting inventory, lower prices

Jennifer says the main priorities are to get the inventory levels back up and make aesthetic changes. The Grohs have already implemented new point of sales and inventory systems to track customer purchases.

As for the economy, Jennifer says it has affected the industry as a whole. For example, manufacturers have had to lower the prices of their cigars, but that can actually be good for businesses like hers because it makes products more affordable. “Our most expensive cigar right now is around 30 dollars, but we also have ones for five, six or seven dollars,” she says.

Another pressing issue Metro Cigars has escaped is the statewide smoking ban that went into effect July 5, 2010. Like other tobacco shop and cigar bars that already had a smoking lounge established before the ban took effect, it was “grandfathered in” and not required to abide by the ban. Now, however, new shops that open are not allowed to have smoking lounges.

“The cigar community is like a family because it is so niche. They lobbied together and really helped against the ban,” says Beth Urpanil, manager of the Brookfield store.

Jennifer says cigar smoking differs from cigarette smoking because “it’s not habitual, it’s about the socialization.”

Whether it’s the daily patron like Harry Spriggs, after-work customers, sporting event crowds, or people who come in with laptops to sit with a cup of coffee, “you usually know someone when you come in, and if you didn’t before, you do when you walk out,” says Urpanil.

Losano admits the store sees significantly more male than female customers, “about 90/10,” and there are especially more males that hang around on the high-top stools at the bar or on the brown leather couches. But, whoever happens to be hanging around on a certain day, the conversations never turn into debate.

“We talk about everything from politics to sports,” says Spriggs, and, oddly enough, “It’s rare to talk about cigars.”

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Metro Cigars Brookfield

Grand Opening Party

Noon to 4 p.m. Sat. Nov. 12

13640 W. Capitol Dr.