www.havacigarshop.com

 

On September 15, 2008, I wrote an Open Letter to Our Customers in which I shared what I was feeling the night before I drove into Galveston, Texas to find out how Hurricane Ike had impacted our business. I remember that as I sat in my room writing the letter, I was hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Being unsure of what I would find, my mind drifted from contemplation of the possible loss to a deeper reflection on how the business came to be and on the significance it had on my life over the prior three years.

 

I drove to Galveston the next day, but it took me almost a week to compose my thoughts on what I found there. After The Storm is the raw account of my first few hours on the island. It was written, almost entirely, on the back of a mud-stained piece of trash as I sat under a generator-powered drop light in Texas City after 20 hours of the most filthy, exhausting and emotionally draining labor you can imagine.

 

Almost a month later, after a period of frenetic recovery efforts I posted Don't Call It a Comeback to update our customers on our status and to answer the frequently asked question: "Are you going to re-open." At the time, the answer was 'indefinite'. In this update, I mentioned that one of our key considerations was the economic environment on the island after the storm.

 

After five months of further consideration and analysis, we answered the question in our post One Chapter Closes and Another Opens. The political and economic realities of post-Ike Galveston made any hope of a short-term recovery almost impossible. Even though my prior partner ultimately made the decision to pursue a separate venture almost a year later, I believe that, as difficult as the decision not to return to Galveston was to make, it was the prudent course.

 

The fifteen months that followed Hurricane Ike were tough for the entire industry In Hold Manufacturers and Tobacconists Accountable, Parenting 101 vs. The Nanny State, Village Idiot Proofing Your Right to Smoke and Points of Differentiation and the Future of the Cigar Industry I shared my perspective on the phalanx of anti-tobacco jihadists and other challenges that have made the business environment almost too risky to pursue a recovery, even outside of Galveston.

 

However, as the song says, "..the names have all changed since you hung around, but those dreams have remained and they're turned around." As I wrote in our blog, The Brotherhood of the Leaf is as strong and viable as ever and despite looming smoking bans and state tobacco tax increases, Texas is still one of the two best states for the cigar business.

 

So...beginning in 2010, Hava Cigar is back in business. Don't call it a comeback, because we've been here for years!