A ‘puff’ article about a classy one-year-old Hill cigar store

Display cases are loaded with a remarkable variety of high-quality cigars from all over the world at BNB International Cigars and Accessories, 7920 Germantown Ave. Call 215-242-6776 for more information.

by CATHERINE BOGGS

“What’s a ‘legal’ Cuban cigar?”

Brian DeCesare is standing at the cash register of his store, BNB International Cigars and Accessories, fielding a popular question from one of his customers.

“It’s pre-embargo tobacco,” DeCesare answers. “Imported in 1958 to Trenton, N.J.”

DeCesare explains to the customer that soon after the tobacco arrived, the United States began its trade embargo with Cuba, increasing the tobacco’s value. The bales of tobacco were stored in a warehouse for decades until Bill Clinton came into office and began talks about lifting the trade embargo. The then-owner of the tobacco, afraid of losing his investment, sold the stockpile to a company that in turn rolled it into the rare legal Cuban cigars that DeCesare now carries in his store.

Though the Cubans are a rarity, they aren’t the only matter of interest at the Germantown Avenue shop, whose business is growing despite the smoking ban bill being debated in Philadelphia’s City Council.

“I don’t think a smoking ban would really affect us here,” DeCesare said, pointing to the fact that a ban on smoking in bars would have a bigger impact on the cigarette industry than his own.

“Most guys smoke cigars out on the golf course in nice weather,” he said. “It’s more of an outdoor thing.”

But even in regard to the negativity that’s been associated with smoking since bans have become more common, DeCesare maintains that smoking cigars and smoking cigarettes are two very different things.

“Cigar smoking isn’t typically as habitual as cigarette smoking,” DeCesare said. “Someone who smokes cigarettes smokes 30 a day, whereas a cigar is more of an occasional thing for pleasure.”

This kind of pleasurable experience is exactly what DeCesare has been trying to give customers of BNB since he opened the shop in June, 2004. DeCesare, who lives right above the store, has tried to create a relaxed, homey atmosphere for BNB: more like a coffee house than a smoke shop. And as the warm weather approaches, he has set up chairs in his backyard where customers can bring a bottle of wine and smoke their latest purchase during the store’s evening and weekend hours. The result feels more like spending an afternoon or evening with friends than shopping among strangers.

And though BNB is new to the area, DeCesare says that more and more people are beginning to notice the shop’s presence.

“I get a lot of, ‘I didn’t know you were here,’ and ‘How long have you been here?’” DeCesare said. “But it seems like people are finally realizing we’re here.”

DeCesare predicts that this summer will result in even more business because of the walking traffic that the nicer weather brings. He is already preparing to entertain the new clientele by scheduling monthly promotional events like cigar tastings and poetry readings, the next of which will be a cigar rolling demonstration by Cuban cigar roller Luis Cortez at Chestnut Hill’s Home and Garden Festival.

For more information about BNB International Cigars and Accessories, 7920 Germantown Ave., call 215-242-6776.