West Coast Cigars - San Jose, California

Crisius

Was there with @Yakster, had more than a couple cigars in my time there. Actually made it out twice on my trip, once to scout the place and had an Undercrown Shade while there, loved the cigar and the atmosphere.


The second trip was to meet @Yakster, was a great time all around. Had 3 cigars while there, one was another Shade, tried my first "NUB" the Cameroon which had a great taste and was really creamy and while talking with the owner, "Bill Davis" about wanting to try one more that I may have a hard time finding, he talked about his "10 Year Anniversary Stick". Ended up comping both me and @Yakster a stick each. I started mine early and after noting some leathery-ness and some sweetness with a creamy side to it, I suggested Yakster try one, after he showed interest I motioned to Bill and told him my friend would like to try one and got one for him to try as well. As I smoked through it, there was some strong peppery notes and the sweetness stayed with it to the very end. I liked them so much I requested 2 more for the road (sitting in the Humi now) but asked if I could have one of their "Evil Clown" boxes to put them in. They were out of empty boxes so they opened a new one in their humidor room and emptied it so that I could have the box, which was also free. It should be noted I previously asked about buying an empty box and another guy there told me they were 20$ a piece.

While there I also met an Oliva Rep, who is the Regional Sales Manager, named Joe who is actually based here in Monroe, WA. As I posted before I have been having issues with my lighter and he took time away from his event to take a look at and even fixed it for me. I had a great time over-all and as I said goodbye Bill handed me his card and told me any time I'm in town that when I drop by, to shoot him an email and he will make a special trip out to visit with me.


It's definitely going to be my go to place if I am ever back in that area. I enjoyed the entire experience and look forward to my next one.

Yakster

It was fun to meet up with @Crisius, lots of folks BYoB to this place, but I was still surprised to see someone toting a bottle of aged whisky around. 

Usaf06

Always cool to meet folks on the road

CAcigarguy007

West Coast is a awesome spot. They do a fire pit, bbq's, and it's BYOB! It's one of the last full-fledged cigar shops in the south bay area. Much better than some of the other small shops that are more or less smoking rooms. They used to have another called Knickerbockers in Menlo-Park and myself and some others from the sister forum had a nice herf-n-trade there but they shut it down. West Coast is a gem in a hostile tobacco-targeted environment. I'm going to the tobacco mecca soon (Vegas) and plan to smoke like a king and not feel like a social pariah. I plan to do mad puffing! 

Yakster

 West Coast Cigars is having an Espinosa Cigars & Evil Clown event Friday, August 12th from 5pm - 9pm, I'm hoping to make it down there to join in the festivities.

I really like the Evil Clown cigars.

dirtdude

Evil Clown, thought you were talking about my wife for a minute, jk, not really 

Ryan1990

Shoot! Next time I'm in town, we should meet up there.

Yakster

Let me know Ryan, we can make it happen. 

Yakster

From West Coast Cigar, not sure how I feel about this:

Saturday, September 24 at 4 PM - 9 PM

This will be the event of the century - and you dont want to miss it - meet Jonathan Drew - You know things are going to be crazy. Crazy deals, raffles, amazing cigars, great food, churros and what ever else we can pull off. Dont miss the event people will be talking about for years.

miller65rod

Yakster said:

From West Coast Cigar, not sure how I feel about this:

Saturday, September 24 at 4 PM - 9 PM

This will be the event of the century - and you dont want to miss it - meet Jonathan Drew - You know things are going to be crazy. Crazy deals, raffles, amazing cigars, great food, churros and what ever else we can pull off. Dont miss the event people will be talking about for years.

Get some pigs (re-release) and see how they are if they have them. Curious.

Wylaff

Go for the churros!

Yakster

Not a big churro fan.

Wylaff

No wonder your not excited...

Ryan1990

I got a couple pigs the other day. Haven't lit them up yet. Better with rest or no? I've heard they're better sooner than later... think @Wylaff told me that

Yakster

There's a local restaurant that makes a killer Churro waffle, though, that's out of this world.

90+_Irishman

Ryan1990 said:

I got a couple pigs the other day. Haven't lit them up yet. Better with rest or no? I've heard they're better sooner than later... think @Wylaff told me that

Agree with Wayne and Nick here, they are better fresh as they haven't lost the punch and kick that they're known for. I've had several aged Ligas and while I still enjoy them immensely they are one of the few that I think are better without age. The stalk cut broadleaf is amazing as is and loses something after time. 

Ryan1990

Man. Well I'm glad I get an excuse to smoke them sooner than later, I guess, but I think I'll still have to hang on to a couple of them.

90+_Irishman

I smoked an OR release T52 Pig with about 5 years on it about a year and a half ago and was absolutely stellar. Never did try the No. 9 Pig so cant say, but hope the re-release are just as good as the originals. Enjoy Ryan and good to see you back man, hope you had a great honeymoon and aren't too "sore" HAHAHA

Brett

Ryan1990

Haha, nope I'm hanging in there just fine. Throat has felt terrible for the last week though. Hoping to light my first cigar in 8 days here in about an hour.

Yakster

Stopped in at WCC after a long day of work and errands, place was busy. They sold out of the good stuff early and I still had to rustle up grub so I just picked up a pack of 10 Evil Years barber pole house sticks and called it good.  They were having whiskey tastings, raffles, and meet & greet with Jonathan Drew.

 

Ryan1990

Pretty cool, Chris!

Yakster

Any locals interested in a WCC herf?

NorCalR1

@Yakster schedule looks good towards the end of the week. 

Wylaff

Possibly.

Yakster

WCC is hosting a Dapper Cigar (La Madrina, etc.) event tonight from 5 - 9. I'm considering stopping in.

KenpoKnight

Sounds like fun!  That was cool reading the first post.  Nice to hear them taking care of customers. 

Yakster

Dapper cigars & the band Groove Foundation is pretty good

Yakster

WCC has changed ownership and it looks like some improvements will be forthcoming. Bill had stepped away from running WCC while he ran a shop in Lodi, I believe, and had his son running the store for a while, and now a new team will be taking over.

West Coast Cigars is under New Ownership!
After 16 years of caring for the cigar smoking community and providing a spot that welcomes anyone and everyone to hang out and enjoy a cigar, Bill Davis has decided it's time to step away from West Coast Cigars. We wish him the best in all of his endeavors and thank him for having given us a shop with a yard in which we could smoke in over the years.

Knowing that West Coast Cigars has been a part of so many lives over the years, we (Kyle McCue, Bob Gray, and Chris Sanchez) decided that we didn’t want to see it go away. So we acquired the permits and licenses necessary to open a new cigar shop at the same location. Similar name, same location, with a few changes.

Our first priority has been re-stocking the humidor with some of the more popular cigars and will be growing our cigar selection over the coming months. We ask for your patience during this process as well as your input.

We are also making a few cosmetic changes (paint, floors, and various upgrades) so please excuse the dust as we make these improvements. We are now in the midst of painting the interior of the shop. The prep work alone was a tremendous amount of time and effort. However, Kenny, who owns Vivid Painting, and his crew have made short work of it. We’re aiming for completion this week.

You’ll also see that the back door has been replaced, as has the door-jam. The heritage door was swollen, compromised, and the jam was completely rotted. Everyone has experienced that door. It was a living tragedy. Our friend Rob Scott took time from his company, Scott’s Handyman Repair Service, to accomplish that work.

Now some astounding news. The air outtake unit has been rendered operational -finally. Thank you, Stan Bapu, for deciphering the problem and finding the fix. As most of you know, Stan owns/operates Bay Area Rodent Solutions and, coincidentally, has had extensive experience with this air-evac system.

Each of these people has been a longtime supporter of the shop. They willingly brought their expertise to the tasks and made them work. I couldn’t be more thankful.

The next item for the near future is the floor. We will start the installation around the 15th. The “vintage” area rugs won’t be returning once the floor is in place. We will follow that with furniture on the inside of the shop

We certainly appreciate your patience with us as we try to render the place more appealing. We are very grateful to the staff of the shop for their flexibility in this regard. We are open during this process.

We would also like to thank all of you that have supported West Coast Cigars over the years and look forward to many more years with you all.

Brokegunner

Chris, the other shop Bill opened 3 years ago is here in the huge metropolis of Valley Springs, which is my new home town. I hope you can make it up here some day, it's only 30 minutes east of Lodi.

NorCalR1

Last time I was in WC it was completely empty. Had a total of 100 cigars… Was disappointed to say the least but hope it gets turned around.

Yakster

West Coast Cigars changed ownership a while ago. I haven't been in in a while, but I did get an email that they're opening a Diesel Lounge next week. West Coast Cigar used to have an Espinosa Lounge.