Business is up and rolling for the Cumming Cigar Company, which recently opened in the iconic and long-vacant Sinclair gas station that has been in downtown Cumming since the 1930s.  

With the new spot, local business owners say they hope to bring a relaxed hangout spot to the downtown area, providing premium cigars, wines and craft beers for local residents to enjoy in a historic and care-free environment. 

“I’ve wanted to do something with the building for a long time; it just had to have the right opportunity,” Cumming Cigar Company co-owner Eric Bennett said on Wednesday.

“I called Carter up (Carter Patterson, a local entrepreneur and one of Cumming Cigar’s three partners) and I said, ‘Hey, what do you think about a cigar shop in the old Sinclair gas station?’ and he was like, ‘Roll with it, let’s do it,’” Bennett said. 

With some discussions and stipulations over how the cigar shop would preserve the building’s history, Bennett said that the city of Cumming embraced the business idea and in May, the Cumming City Council voted to approve a lease for the new business. 

And after months of work getting the business ready for opening, Bennett said that they haven’t really changed anything about the space beyond removing a bare sheetrock wall to put up a bar and replacing a fake garage door in the lounge area with a functional one. 

“I think there was a little bit of a scare that we were going to take away from the history of the building,” Bennett said. “We want to keep the foundation of the building; we don’t want to change anything. We walked in and basically had to make it functional.”

Instead of major renovations, he said that they have brought in a designer to outfit and decorate the space with a style similar to the historic gas station. 

Outside the shop, patrons can now sit, smoke and watch the daily bustle of downtown Cumming just feet away from the old Sinclair gas pumps. Inside, the shop’s wares are displayed in several unobtrusive humidor cases, while a lounge area offers a dozen or so low leather chairs to relax in. 

“We want a laid back environment,” Bennett said. “In today’s environment, where everything is running 100 miles per hour, we come up here and things are going to move a little slower.” 

Ken Pruitt, a resident of Canton, was one of several patrons to visit the business at lunch time on Wednesday. Pruitt said that while he often travels for work and visits many cigar shops around the country, the fledgling Cumming Cigar Company might be one of the best.

“Eric and those guys have done an excellent job,” he said. “What I like about them is that they are very friendly, very personable. They remember your name and they remember what you like to smoke ... it feels good to be appreciated.”

As someone who has been coming to downtown Cumming for a long time, he said that the addition of a new gathering place is something the city has really needed.  

“I think if you look at the first night he was open, how many people just sat here and socialized and relaxed, it’s a great place,” he said. “That’s what makes cigar shops unique. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, at a cigar shop everybody is here to relax and enjoy themselves.”

But as far as public gathering spaces go, Bennett said that their aim for the business is to keep things laid back and low key. They serve alcohol, yes, but they are not a bar, he emphasizes.

“We don’t want a party scene. I don’t want any problems here,” he said. “We’re looking for a laid back, calm experience.”

And even if you aren’t a drinker or a smoker, the owners of Cumming Cigar say that the new shop is ultimately going to benefit the city and county by drawing more people and business into the city. 

“With the change of political administration, there are a lot of new thoughts and insights about how to make Cumming a better place, and the city center is a great vision that’s going to be coming soon,” Patterson said. “We think that this is one of the first steps, to open up a place where people can come downtown again.”

The Cumming Cigar Company’s grand opening event will be held from 4:30-7:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, and will feature music, food and drinks. But the store is also open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.