{"id":26957,"date":"2018-12-19T11:49:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T10:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/?p=26957"},"modified":"2018-12-19T11:54:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T10:54:58","slug":"burning-down-barriers-shirley-mcclellans-way-into-the-cigar-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/burning-down-barriers-shirley-mcclellans-way-into-the-cigar-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Burning Down Barriers: Shirley McClellan’s Way Into the Cigar Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking around the landscape of the cigar industry, one thing notably missing is the presence of African-American brick & mortar owners, especially females. This void is one of many reasons that Shirley McClellan, owner of Fire & Smoke Cigar Parlor in Baltimore, MD<\/a> decided to not only open a premium cigar lounge but to burn down cultural and industrial barriers.<\/p>\n

McClellan\u2019s love of tobacco started at an early age, as a young woman sitting on her grandfather\u2019s front porch. \u201cGrowing up in Darlington, South Carolina, my grandfather and relatives before him worked in tobacco fields. My grandmother always made me come inside while the men were enjoying their cigars and talking, but I\u2019d sneak back out to the bottom of the steps to enjoy the aroma.\u201d<\/p>\n

She states that she couldn\u2019t wait to get older and try cigars, as partaking was a \u201crite of passage\u201d for family members upon graduating from high school. This family passion, combined with an early desire to be an entrepreneur (motivated by a 4th<\/sup> grade teacher that told her she couldn\u2019t own her own business), and encouragement from family and friends, lead her to cigar lounges around the world to build a model for the perfect lounge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know until far into my adult life that cigar \u2018lounges\u2019 existed,\u201d said McClellan, who had always just enjoyed them on her porch like her family before her. \u201cBut when I moved to Baltimore, I was introduced to the lounge experience and I immediately fell in love!\u201d<\/p>\n

McClellan\u2019s vision became clear: open a premium cigar lounge where she could create the ultimate inclusive experience. Her plans didn\u2019t include a member\u2019s only, business attire-only type of atmosphere, but research, a developed business plan, authentic connections, and community support.<\/p>\n

The next step, determine a location. One of her associates informed her of the current location in a shopping center in Towson, a growing city in Baltimore County with a very diverse community. Having to completely renovate this space, contractors, friends, and family came to her aid offering the manpower (in exchange for cigars from her personal collection) needed to transform what was once a tax preparation office to what Fire and Smoke Cigar Parlor is today. \u201cIt was a sight to see,\u201d says McClellan, \u201cas we were patching holes in the walls, hanging pictures and painting, while all enjoying cigars together!\u201d<\/p>\n

December 19th<\/sup>, 2017, the last free cigar had been smoked and it was time to open up shop! Support started flowing in and the lounge was packed daily; days before the official January 2018 grand opening.<\/p>\n

McClellan\u2019s mission is to ensure her customers feel as if they are a part of the cigar community, because there are still times when she as a woman and as an Africa-American doesn\u2019t receive the same reception and respect in shops as her male counterparts do. \u201cI\u2019d walk into a shop and one race of people would be on one side, another race on the other and both would give me looks and comments as if I didn\u2019t belong because I was a woman.\u201d McClellan remembers entering lounges and being immediately told, \u201cWe don\u2019t sell those sweeten, candy cigars\u2019, assuming that she wasn\u2019t familiar with premium, non-infused tobacco because of her gender.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things have changed the \u2018good ol boy network\u2019 that exists in the cigar industry. The cigar enthusiast demographic is changing, along with the way new products are introduced and marketed. It\u2019s all contributing to the evolution of the cigar industry,\u201d says McClellan. She also credits the opening of shops and lounges in more diverse neighborhoods with changing the way cigars are enjoyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take pride in promoting the cigar industry among the African-American community and bringing all cultures together. We\u2019re all trying to enjoy the same thing, so there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t all do it all as one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking around the landscape of the cigar industry, one thing notably missing is the presence of African-American brick & mortar owners, especially females. Shirley McClellan opened the Fire & Smoke Cigar Parlor in Baltimore, MD with a mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":26961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[177,49,2808,2796],"tags":[5592,626,5524],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}