The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Stogie Heaven: 'It's a place to escape and hang out, to get away from work or the wife,' says Willow Glen Cigars manager Athan Zes.

Put your feet up and light up at Willow Glen Cigars

'Free Men Smoke' is the store's motto

By Cecily Barnes

It's 3 p.m. at Willow Glen Cigars on Lincoln Avenue. Two men recline in easy chairs, watching baseball on the big-screen television. Another man lies back on a green- and white-striped couch, his feet up and his hands behind his head. All three grip cindering stogies between their teeth.

"I come here for the clientele and camaraderie," Greg Lester says from his reclined position on the couch. "It's a pretty close group of guys. Also [my wife] doesn't appreciate it if I smoke in the house, and neither do I. This is pretty much where I come to smoke."

Back issues of Playboy and a couple copies of Esquire clutter the coffee table, stacked between glass ashtrays. A large deer head with groping antlers extends from the back of the room, and on the right wall, dozens of framed photographs act as wallpaper, snapshots of regular customers and celebrity visitors. Above the cigar counter in the front of the store, a sign nailed to the wall announces the store's motto-- "Free Men Smoke."

Willow Glen locals Tim Moreno and Joe O'Loughlin bought Willow Glen Cigars two years ago after the store had been in business under a previous owner for one year.

"I knew the previous owner," Moreno says. "He and I were really good friends, and when he decided to get out of the business, he offered me the shop."

Once the store was theirs, Moreno and O'Loughlin appointed lifelong friend Athan Zes to be the manager.

"All three of us have been good friends since third grade," Zes says. "We grew up together and went to Kirk Elementary School, Markham Middle and Willow Glen High School."

Moreno and O'Loughlin say they've seen about a 10 percent increase in business since the smoke-free bars and clubs law went into effect on Jan. 1. When The Resident questioned local bars at the end of January, Plaza Inn and Goosetown Caffe said the law was definitely reducing business.

"Compared to last year's numbers, it's affected us probably by 20 percent," Plaza Inn owner Ed Martinez said in January.

According to owner Moreno, the judgment-free atmosphere of a cigar shop is a big attraction to most of the clients.

"Most people refer to it as their club," Moreno says. "They call it a safe haven, where they don't have to smell up their house and they know that they're not offending anyone."

Currently the shop has 40 members, about 250 regulars and a mailing list of 1500. Zes estimates that 98 percent of the clientele who come to smoke are men.

"It's literally like a 'Cheers,' where most of the regulars know each other. That's the best thing about it," Zes says. "It's a place to escape and hang out, to get away from work or the wife--just a place to pop in."

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