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Home > What's New > Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals
Posted: Thursday, December 02, 2004
By Michael Moretti
Ray Grinere (left) and Donna and Scott Stanley (right) stand with Cano Ozgener at the 2004 Retail Tobacco Dealers of America Convention.
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Sometimes you have to jump in with both feet and go for your dreams. For Raymond Grinere and Scott Stanley, two frequent Internet bulletin board posters, and Scott Stanley's wife, Donna, that dream was to open a cigar shop and lounge.
Port Jefferson, a quiet little cove on the North Shore of Long Island in New York, is where we lay our scene. Scott Stanley worked in insurance automobile claims where he met Donna. Donna introduced Scott to cigars at a family gathering one year and things took off from there.
"Needless to say, Scott took an interest in the cigar and has now taken it to a whole new level for us," said Donna.
Scott met Grinere in an online cigar club a few years ago and they became very close friends -- it turns out they lived only a mile away from each other. Grinere had always wanted to open a business in Port Jefferson but had not been able to get the ball rolling. One day, while having a cigar and coffee with the Stanleys, the subject came up and the idea of a cigar business in the town began to take shape.
"Like a fine cigar, our distinct talents have blended into a fine product. There were many roadblocks and frustrations, yet our friendship empowered us to be honest and to support each other," said Grinere.
"The sense of community that the cigar world had to offer has helped all of us foster many great relationships and has been a wonderful journey," said Scott Stanley.
The journey came to fruition on October 30, with the grand opening of Smoke Signals tobacconist and lounge on Main Street in Port Jefferson. The establishment features premium cigars, 900 square feet of lounge space, a walk-in humidor, humidified lockers for members, a big-screen television, a coffee bar, a library nook and access to wireless Internet services.
Grinere is known as RaymondUSA on the Cigar Aficionado Online forums and Scott is known as VDracul. Donna is not a member of the forums, yet. Also in Cigar News:
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