A while back, my friend Guy (gpk3) and I visited several cigar shops in the Pittsburgh area. I hadn’t visited him up there since he moved several years ago and decided a trip was long overdue. We had made a list of some places to check out up there and started our adventure.

The first stop we made was at a Smoker Friendly Cigar Express store on Steubenville Pike. From the appearance of the exterior, this place looked like a typical cigarette shop. Surprisingly there was a rather large walk-in humidor packed with some pretty awesome selections. The last thing I was expecting to see in this store was the new Nub brand. They had all three varieties too. Prices were great, selection was incredible, and the customer service was spot on. I have to say this is one of the best cigar purchasing experiences I’ve had.

The next location we headed to was called Puffs N Stuff in the Mall at Robinson. I thought it was pretty cool having a tobacco shop in a mall. I work in a mall, and there’s nothing unique like that where I am. The humidor was pretty big, probably bigger than the previous shop we visited. Selection was great, prices were great, and customer service was great. I even got to see the CAO Vision humidor in person, FINALLY. Geez. I will be visiting this place again!

The third location we visited was called Jernigan’s Tobacco Village Scotch and Cigar Bar. Phew. Long name. So this place is tucked in the bottom floor of the Galleria of Mt. Lebanon. If context clues tell you anything about this place, there was an ’08 BMW M5 on display in the commons area out in the mall. Yeah. Expensive. So we walked in and this place was pure luxury. Dark woods, quiet, nice display shelving and cases. The humidor itself was a bit small compared even to the Cigar Express shop we visited earlier in the day. They had a box of Opus X, some Padron 1926′s and other high end cigars. This obviously was a place for “high rollers”. Unfortunately, the cigar bar was closed at the time of day we visited. I picked up a couple cigars because the prices were just a little too high for what I was looking for. As far as customer service goes, the lady behind the counter was quite rude. She pretty much ignored us while she was doing paper work. I was polite and greeted her with a smile but she didn’t try helping us when we walked in the humidor. On the website they advertise their “Great Staff” but I was very disappointed.

Finally, after having lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Oakland, we decided to hit up one last shop in Southside. This place was called Cigars Etc. It certainly lived up to the “etc.” part of the title. This guy had two cabinets of cigars on display, maybe 8 boxes total. Hardly any accessories to sell, and some cigarettes. It felt like I was visiting someone’s grandpa. It was basically his home, and he even had an old TV where he was watching the Pirates play. Creepy. I literally felt like I was intruding.

I had to get back home to let my dog out of his cage so we wrapped up our Brick & Mortar exploration for the day. Now just so you all know, I really don’t have any cigar shops around my area at all. There are places that sell a few cigars here and there, but nothing like a full-out cigar shop. I’m not an expert at this business, and I certainly don’t claim to be. I just wanted to take a minute and give my opinion on some of the shops we visited in Pittsburgh. If any of you have visited these places before and experienced completely different things, let me know!

I’ll be visiting Pittsburgh again to hit some of the other shops we didn’t get to. Stay tuned for the second installment in the future!