Chesapeake Smoke

Well, my career as a professional tobacconist progressed once again. A week ago, I was offered a position with Davidus Cigars, to ultimately work at their new Annapolis store, which will open in October. Over the weekend, I worked both days in their Ellicott City store to get trained up on their systems and processes. I was mightily impressed.

It’s a good-sized store, well-laid out, and very well stocked. And, unlike a certain cigar shop in Gambrills which shall remain nameless, prices are reasonable and very competitive. Which may explain why I spent almost the entire time there on my feet, assisting customers. I only managed to smoke half a petit corona during the day, and even with that, had to keep relighting it as I kept getting distracted from my smoking by those pesky customers.

It was a good feeling, getting back into the environment of a real tobacconist, not an ego-centric hobby shop. Can’t wait until the Annapolis store opens … at 2,500 square feet, and with Davidus’s corporate weight behind it, it should dominate the local market.

Well, it finally happened. I pushed Dave Williams too far, and about two weeks ago, he asked me to turn in my store keys and my humidor key. He never actually “fired” me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him to say the word. Probably afraid of a wrongful dismissal lawsuit. Given that he’s e-mailed the entire staff telling us that his ex-wife is suing him, I guess he’s getting a bit paranoid about incoming lawsuits. All in all, a good thing. I was tired of working there, tired of his lame BS, tired of paychecks bouncing. But I suppose my inner child didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me quit.

Oh, how I do go on. Time to “look on the bright side of life.” No sooner did I turn in my keys and clean out my humidor (damn, but I had a lot of good stuff stashed in there!) than I got a phone call from Bill Walton, a former colleague at Old Virginia Tobacco Company. It seems that Davidus Cigars, a chain with six shops primarily in the western part of Maryland, is expanding to Annapolis, and they’re looking for staff. The icing on the cake is that they’ve hired Frank Elam, formerly the regional sales rep for General Cigar, as the firm’s General Manager. Frank and I go way back. Bill gave me Frank’s cell phone number, I called, and before you know it, I’m scheduling an interview to work at Davidus’ new Annapolis store.

So last week I drove to Monrovia, MD, where the Davidus corporate headquarters is located, for an interview. A formal interview, by God!! It started with Frank and one of the owners, Steve Castro. About halfway through the interview, brother Dave Castro, the other owner, comes in. I can’t believe I sat in a formal interview, dressed in “business casual,” to do a part-time job in a smoke shop! I was there over an hour. On the way out, Steve Castro was kind enough to give me, along with his business card, a six-pack of quality smokes. Not a dog-rocket to be found. The only disappointment was that they had completely run out of their house brand, so I haven’t yet had a chance to sample that.

And I still don’t know if I’ve got a job there, as they do criminal and financial background checks on all prospective employees. Probably not a bad idea, as theft and shoplifting are major concerns in the retail tobacco business.

So, in the meantime, I am “between jobs.” After ten continuous years of retail tobacco work, it feels funny. I still stop at Titan when Jim or Mike is working. Nice shop, great concept, but horribly executed.

So, now that I’m past the trauma of getting my pink slip from Titan, and enduring some recurring lower back problems, maybe I can get around to posting some cigar reviews from my favorite CCT, Dale Green.