Red Snapper Cigar Company

From an idea over a cigar and a scotch - to a national phenomenon.

As with all great ideas, The Red Snapper Cigar Company was founded by Michael Copt and Nathaniel McCoy over a stogie and a glass of scotch during a late night barbeque in the Spring of 2007. The two Binghamton entrepreneurs were tired of the same scene of lamp-shade donning college kids and steroid riddled Neanderthals at their local Binghamton watering joints. In a time when you're barely allowed to smoke a cigar on your own back porch due to concerns of 2nd-hand smoke in the local blue jay population, the pair decided to build a place where good friends could gather and enjoy the world's finest hand-rolled tobacco.

Binghamton and booming in the same sentence

After nearly getting kicked out of the local library, the two dug up a rich history of the once-booming cigar industry in Downtown Binghamton. As it turned out, in the late 19th century, the City of Binghamton was a bustling mecca in the world of cigar manufacturing. In 1884, over thirty million Red Snapper Cigars were produced by the Barlow, Rogers & Simpson Cigar Factory, then located on Wall Street in the Downtown District. They decided to humbly embrace this rich heritage by naming their new venture the Red Snapper Cigar Company. If you come by and visit the shop, you'll see an original hand-nailed Red Snapper Cigar box on display.

If you build it, they will... smoke?

After scoping out several locations in the area, the pair found a pristine location in between the toxic plume and the angry laid off IBM'ers up on what’s known as "The Knob" in Endicott, NY. As it turns out, the basement was once a speak-easy back in the prohibition days and still sports a 3 inch thick concrete door and a peep hole to look out for the fuzz. They began work in the Summer of 2007 and 42 cases of beer and 6 boxes of cigars later, they opened the doors to the public in the summer of 2008.

An excuse to roast in the sun

The two are already eyeing a second location on the sunny boardwalk of Ft. Lauderdale with hopes to open up their second cigar lounge in early 2009. Stay tuned for more news of expansion!