Famous Smoke Shop is one of the largest

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

mail order businesses in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

.SIC 2121 Cigars - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History
Published by Reference For Business. Accessed November 5, 2009.NEW NO. 1 IN RETAILER RANKINGS
Published by Cigar Cyclopedia September 8, 2009. The company was formed in October, 1939 in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

as a cigar and

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collect ...

. In 2000, increasing rents and taxesFamous Smoke Shop: The Backstory
Published by CigarAdvisor February 14, 2007. forced the company to move its operations to

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river tha ...

,Ford, William J. "TOBACCO FIRM OPTS FOR FORKS". (Dec 20, 1999) ''Morning Call - Allentown, Pa.'', p B3 a state that currently imposes no cigar tax.Pennsylvania Escapes Cigar Tax
Published by

Cigar Aficionado ''Cigar Aficionado'' is an American magazine that is dedicated to enjoying the good life and the world of cigars. Published since September 1992, the magazine is known for its profiles on celebrities including Michael Jordan, Jack Nicholson, Th ...

October 9, 2003. Famous Smoke Shop is engaged primarily in the

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

and

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

of cigars,

humidor A humidor is a humidity-controlled box or room used primarily for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor's primary function is to maintain a ste ...

s, and cigar accessories through mail order catalogs, a

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

retail shop, and several websites.Operations and Management: Famous Smoke Shop
Published by MultiChannel Merchant Jan 1, 2003.

Incorporation and growth

David and Rose Zaretsky incorporated Famous Smoke Shop in New York City in October 1939. In 1970, their son Arthur Zaretsky began working for the company. He assumed sole

ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

in 1984. Famous Smoke Shop has maintained a brick and mortar retail shop since its incorporation. The original shop was located at 1433

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in New York City. The 350 sq. ft. store primarily sold imported and domestic cigars, as well as magazines and other sundries. In 1975, the company moved to a 550 sq. ft. location at 1450 Broadway. In 1986, unable to absorb increasing Midtown rents, the company moved its cigar store to a 1550 sq. ft. location at 55 W. 39th Street. Its current retail shop is located in the north end of its 24,000 sq. ft. Easton headquarters. In 1970, Famous Smoke Shop published its first mail order cigar catalog. The catalog consisted of a typewritten pricelist of available cigar brands. The catalog is currently produced

in-house Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

by a staff of

copywriters Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

and

graphic artists A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published me ...

, and mailed monthly. Between the years of 1992 and 1998, the cigar industry experienced an unprecedented

boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfi ...

. Cigar sales increased by as much as 36% in the first quarter of 1996.The Cigar Boom: What It Was (and Is)
Published by

The Free Library ''The Free Dictionary'' is an American online dictionary and encyclopedia that aggregates information from various sources. Content The site cross-references the contents of ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', the '' ...

May 19, 2009. Increased sales during this period provided the company enough capital to upgrade its telephoneLines of Fire
Published by

Inc Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

June 15, 1998. and computer systems.Famous Smoke Shop Selects JunctionRBI to Manage its Multi-Channel Retail Business
Published by

. During this period, the company also diversified its marketing efforts, expanding its catalog and developing a

web presence A web presence is a location on the World Wide Web where a person, business, or some other entity is represented (see also web property and point of presence). Examples of a web presence for a person could be a personal website, a blog, a profil ...

. Famous-Smoke.com was first published in 1997. The company now markets cigars through several web properties. In 2004, the company published an

online auction An online auction (also electronic auction, e-auction, virtual auction, or eAuction) is an auction held over the internet and accessed by internet connected devices. Similar to in-person auctions, online auctions come in a variety of types, with d ...

website
CigarAuctioneer.com
which sells humidors,

lighters A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or ...

cigar cutters A cigar cutter is a mechanical device designed to cut one end off a cigar so that it may be properly smoked. Although some cigars are cut on both ends, or twirled at both ends, the vast majority come with one straight cut end and one end in a "ca ...

and cases to the highest bidder(s).Famous Rolls Dice With Retail Auction Site
Published by Smokeshop Magazine August, 2004. In December, 2006 it publishe
CigarMonster.com
a

one deal a day Deal-of-the-day (also called daily deal or flash sales or one deal a day) is an ecommerce business model in which a website offers a single product for sale for a period of 24 to 36 hours. Potential customers register as members of the deal-a-day w ...

website.Cigar News
Published by

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

December 11, 2006. It also operate
CigarDomain.com
a cigar wholesale website.

Cigar manufacturing

Famous Smoke Shop is the sole owner and

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

of numerous cigar brands manufactured on its behalf by

Rocky Patel The Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company is a manufacturer of cigars, founded by Rakesh "Rocky" Patel and based in Bonita Springs, Florida. History The company was founded in 1995 as Indian Tabac Cigar Co. by Hollywood attorney Rakesh "Rocky" Patel ...

Padrón Padrón () is a ''concello'' ( Galician for municipality) in the Province of A Coruña, in Galicia (Spain) within the comarca of O Sar. It covers an area of 48.4 km², is 95 km from A Coruña and 23km from Santiago de Compostela. , ha ...

, La Aurora, and Don José "Pepin" Garcia, among others.Buying Cigars Online
Published by

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 40, 44, 24, N, 75, 13, 24, W, type:landmark_region:US_type:landmark, display=title American companies established in 1939 Retail companies established in 1939 Companies based in Northampton County, Pennsylvania Easton, Pennsylvania Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania Mail-order retailers Online retailers of the United States Cigar retailers 1939 establishments in New York City

Incorporation and growth

Cigar manufacturing

See also

Notes

References

External links