How it started: In 2016, the mobile business’s co-owners, Mark Franklin and Chris Abernathy, were sitting around on a back porch smoking cigars and began talking about what they could do to share their passion for cigars with others. They started a private Facebook group centered on cigar smoking, and when Franklin, who’d been a cigar smoker for about 13 years, got married that year, he reached out to a friend who was a local cigar rep to bring some to his wedding.
“The whole ambiance about it was just great,” said Franklin. “I wanted to offer that to people.”
He and Abernathy then grew their passion for cigars into a business offering cigar bar services for events in Chattanooga and the surrounding areas. “It’s all about education and preserving the art of cigar smoking for the next generation,” Franklin said.
What the business offers: Franklin and Abernathy create a custom cigar bar for each event, such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, golf tournaments, bachelor parties or baby showers; “anything our client has to celebrate,” said Franklin. “Cigars are a celebratory symbol.”
They explain the subtle nuances of the cigars they bring, including the wrap, the tobacco blend comprising the fill; the binder, and the country or region from which the cigar comes. They also instruct the uninitiated on cutting and lighting their cigars. “It’s kind of an art; you can’t just light a cigar with a Bic lighter,” Franklin said, explaining that cigars need to be lit with a smooth, continuous flame, and that there are several different ways to cut them. He and Abernathy also talk to guests about palate and explain the complexity of flavor in the selected cigars.