Artie Weiner is the manager of Lit Cigar Lounge in Swedesboro New Jersey, Instagram extraordinaire, and even a TV Show Host. He is certainly a guy full of so many stories I’m glad to have been privy to hearing and I hope you all will feel the same way! Although, does he really need an introduction since… “You know who we are!” His famous tagline that has found its way to things I say too often now. He has completely transformed this shop from its time before him, so he certainly is someone we should know. In this interview I sit down with Artie and we discuss who he was before Lit, what he’s done with the shop during Covid, what he’ll be doing after, and even his TV show! Along with so much more. This is definitely a lounge to go to as a beginner, or as a long time smoker.

Can you tell me about your career background before cigars?

Sure, so, how far back you want me to go?

As far as you feel is relevant. 

Artie: Alright, well I came back from serving and so I was already a couple years behind everybody else (making me) the old man in school. I didn’t wanna give up any more time by going into medicine, which is really what I wanted to do. So I went quasi-medical and started going into pharmacy. I went to pharmacy school and I learned the craft pretty good and the most important thing I learned during that time was that you had to intern with other pharmacists. It was an era where guys were making all kinds of money out there because they knew what people wanted, they knew retail. I started learning a lot of my trade in pharmacy, cause it’s not just about counting pills. You can be the best pharmacist in the world and still go outta’ business if you don’t know how to conduct a retail store. This was in New York where the competition is fierce, unforgiving, and (will) leave you on the side of the road. I learned my lessons really well and some years passed and I bought my first pharmacy with money I saved working… like a dog. I took a little break from actual retail and went into investigations, cause that’s actually kind of a funny story. An investigator had come into a store that I was working in on another matter and he saw the way the store was. There was no violations, everything was in order, and he said – actually I was helping him fill out the paperwork on the form and I didn’t know even what I was doing. So he said ‘you should come work for us’ and I laughed. I said, ‘I heard yous don’t really make any money.’ He goes ‘well we’re state workers… really you should come work for us, call my boss.’ He gave me the number and everything, course I didn’t call. Cause I knew they werna making any money. Three days later, I got a call from one of the supervisors whose name was Tony Zolo, and Tony Zolo was a rough and tough Italian ex-New York city detective.

Listen to the rest of Artie’s story dealing with Tony Zolo and what came after!

I was wondering if you could tell me a story about what got you into cigars in the first place?

I was a cigarette smoker first, and I smoked a lot of cigarettes. I was a two pack a day smoker and not a lot of people know this so you’re privy today. One night, I was living in Queens with that first pharmacy. I couldn’t breathe… I couldn’t breathe. So these little clinics that were (open) twenty four hours first started opening. So on Northern Blvd, which was not far away, I went in to see what’s going on. I didn’t wanna go to the hospital. I’m not a hospital guy, I’m not a doctor guy, there was no way. I gotta be really sick to go to the doctor. 

Hear the rest of his story below… it could make you want to switch too!

Going back to what we were talking about before, coming to Lit and whatnot, of course you needed a cigar shop so this is the place you came, but what made you manage Lit?

I started working for them a little part time cause these two guys that were working here needed a third guy just to fill in, so that’s what I was doing. Retail’s in my blood, so just looking around; there wasn’t a whole lotta cigars, there was no money, and I’m wondering how they’re staying in business. Because if that register isn’t ringing; it could be gorgeous, it could be the best place in the world, but if the register isn’t ringing it’s not gonna last. You have to have a strong foundation in order for the building to stay up right? There’s no foundation; then I realize its owners were funding it in order to keep it moving. They would put some money in so that they could buy cigars. Because the foundation isn’t strong the money would be used, spent, gone, and then they were in the same position. Because there was no consistency, there was no foundation, there was no structure. I really wasn’t saying much and actually, the opportunity came and one of them was leaving. One had already left and I actually took his place and the other one was leaving and they asked me (to take over). They said ‘listen’ and it was bad at one point, really bad. They said ‘can you do this?’ I said ‘I can fucking do it, but there’s gotta be some conditions, because this is not flying.’ They agreed, and it’s been an amazing ride since. In fact, last month was the best month this store’s ever had. It did so much, *knocks on wood*, and we’re pacing it this month as well. It did so much, there was some months where two months didn’t give what last month gave. So just imagine the percentage increase, run correctly; and I knew it, I felt it. You got a very wealthy area, right here, and all around there’s people that have some money. When you have money you got cigar smokers, people that don’t have money don’t necessarily smoke cigars, you might have a few, but basically they’re cigarette smokers. Even that’s expensive today. You’ve got money around here, you got men around here that have nothing to do but grow a garden, they’re sitting out in the back… these guys are smoking! Where they getting it from? It’s only one of two things is the answer; they’re either getting it on the internet or they’re going to another place. They’re driving (a long distance) to get there. So if I have what you want, why would you go to Pennsylvania? If I have what you want why would you travel thirty-five minutes north? I knew what I had to do. It was actually, for me, it was easy, it wasn’t like I had a competitor down the road. In New York, if I had a pharmacy on one corner, there were three other pharmacies on every other corner. So I knew how to fight and this was actually for me a ground ball. I started bringing in things that people were asking for, and instead of saying ‘yeah it’s on order.’ Which was the old way of doing stuff, I mean it never really was (on order). I actually got it! That person came back and they said, ‘he really got it!’ And it started to sell. Then in the beginning also, because it was depressed, I brought in things that were low cost, high profit. We were flipping that and the profit from that was turning into being able to buy cigars. I stopped anyone from putting any money in here and that started turning. I brought in the lotto, that started turning. All of these things added cigars. Then finally, it got to where I knew it would. It tipped, where cigar sales were buying cigars. I knew I had it, I knew I had it. Now, it’s almost a full-time job just to keep the inventory properly (stocked).

What have you and Lit been doing during Covid?

That was a little scary; after all this work that I put in, Covid’s gonna kill us? The first month, like everybody else, I didn’t know what to do. Even with all of the experience that I had, and all the knowledge I came to bear, nobody ever thought that a global pandemic was gonna hit. Right? That was something new for me. So for the first thirty days I was just walking around like an imbecile trying to figure out what I’m gonna do. April was a really bad month. I said (to myself), there’s two things here: either I’m going to say it’s done, or I’m going to do something about it. I got the idea since restaurants were doing curbside, that I was going to start doing curbside. Then EVERYBODY started doing curbside in this business! So I started doing curbside and actually had a nice curbside business. The problem with curbside is; for me, the way I set things up – everything in here is also visual. So if you can’t come into the store I can’t really capture everything I know I can if you (were in here). Someone will call up and (say), ‘I want an Arturo Fuente… oh I don’t know a half size…’ So they would get that one cigar, ‘thank you.’ But if you’re in here and you see what I’m doing, you’re not gonna buy just one. So that was hurting, but it kept us alive. Then it got into June and on the 20th (the ninth) we were allowed to reopen. Now, I have my base clients that can actually see, feel, touch, (and) smell what’s in the store. It continued – it was like this, *makes stable line*, then it went boom again, *shoots hand up*. It continued with a little bump in the road, which was covid, and I consider it a little bump. I don’t know where the experience comes in with something like that because you can’t have experience with a global pandemic. Nobody really knew what was going on, everybody was afraid. (And you know), I’m not a youngster anymore, I was at least concerned. You got people coming in, you don’t know where the hell they were, (and) I got people in here that I have to protect that have been customers before. I don’t want nobody to get sick, so (we have been) cleaning everything, I got cleaning women. You know… what do you do? Nobody has an answer really whaddya do. Thankfully we got through it; onward and forward. 

Listen to Artie’s emotional description of this experience below.

(Tell) me about some changes that you’ve made to the store during this period.

We actually increased our inventory and our (amount) of showcases out on the main floor. It really, really had a big effect. Every time I bring in a little more inventory, the sales go up. It’s almost an equation at this point, where this plus this plus equals that. That’s what’s happening, so I know we’re on the right track. The inventory goes up, the sales are going up. Follow me, *makes a graph with his arms*, inventory’s going up and the sales are going with it – everything’s fine. If you stop the inventory… your sales are also going to start to turn that direction. If you’re buying inventory and then those sales HIT that inventory where it flattens while you’re buying, that’s when you stop. These are very big lessons here that people are learning that they shouldn’t know unless they went through what I went through so I’m giving you a lotta information here. But that’s how you track (how much inventory to bring in). We had a meeting not long ago (and the owners asked), ‘how do you know when to stop?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, the store will tell me.’ You have to listen (and) watch what’s happening to (the) numbers every day. I crunch them so I can see what’s going on. 

Since the equation hasn’t met itself yet, what future plans do you have for changes to the store? 

We’re going to continue on… we talked about that too. I don’t want to touch the lounge, because there are times where we don’t even have enough room depending on what’s happening here. But that front counter… I’m gonna do something with glass showcases. There’s a lotta stuff that’s still lacking in here: accessories – nice accessories, I’m not talking about a nine dolla’ lighter. People that have money that are sitting (at) home want to have really nice ashtrays, really nice humidors, really nice lighters, and bunch of other things that I don’t have. I’m gonna rework that. I (also) have a lotta ideas that won’t affect (the lounge). But out there we’re going to definitely do something, so it’s in planning (in my head). I’ll reveal it once I know what it is I’m doing. 

During Covid, events had to come to a stop, but events have started to come up; (how has this) affected your way of planning events, or peoples’ (willingness) to plan events with you?

There are some wholesalers and some salespeople that refuse (to). There are some salesmen that will not come outta their house. It’s unbelievable to me; I don’t know how you sit in your house for nine months cause I would fucking shoot myself. But there are guys that have not left. I understand the ones that have children, little children, I get that, but there’s others that just ‘no I’m not coming out yet.’ There’s one – I’m not gonna name names; there’s one group of cigar company (where) this guy will not leave his house. (He’s) so depressed (that) he’s going on Facebook saying how depressed he is. I’m almost completely out of his cigars so I (ordered) directly to the company; forty boxes cause I have almost nothing left… they sent me two. Covid (has) affected me cause it affected them. Getting supplies of a lotta stuff right now is really hard and I’ve gotta big bandwidth of people that I can order from. If it’s out (the cigar), I can’t have it to sell. This one particular company I don’t think there’s nearly any cigars left, so that’s where it really hurts. It’s not me, it’s my feed has been cut and you got salesmen that don’t wanna come in for events. I just work around it, the ones who do, you’re here and you’re gonna sell your cigars. The ones who don’t; it’s out there, someone could buy it, but I can’t push it. 

Earlier you talked about how you’d let people know about the changes that you’ll make. One of the big things that you’ve done for yourself and for the store is create an instagram presence. What was it that inspired you to do that?

It was almost an accident. About a year and a half ago when I just about first started, I was bringing in a lotta lines that they never had and that the salespeople either dismissed us, ‘there’s nothing there’, or they just didn’t (wanna work with us). I started making phone calls and I got this one beautiful girl from one of the companies and she said yeah. I ordered some of their cigars and we didn’t have this line and two of their cigars number one and number three… and it wasn’t in the store. Like, how can you have the number one and the number three cigar and not have a presence in the store? Whaddya thinking? So I brought them in. We started the event and one of the owners said ‘let’s videotape this… cause this is really nice; all the cigars are on the table, it’s never really been like (this).’ They used to have a really little table. He turned on the camera and I don’t know what happened. I just looked at the camera and I said, ‘this is Artie from the Lit lounge… you know who we are!’ You know we’re here, but you don’t come here, but you know who we are cause you know we’re here. And that phrase caught on. Now if I go to, infrequently, but if I go anywhere ultimately someone in there will be going ‘I know who you are!’ It just caught on. We have over thirty-two-hundred followers from all over the world too, but a lot are from around here. When I put out an instagram (post) about what’s going (to be going on) Thursday – it’s amazing, and it’s free! How do you advertise for free and reach thousands of people… Instagram! So if you’re afraid of it, you’re making a very big mistake in your business.

Listen below to hear Artie tell you the story himself!

Talking about reaching a lot of people, one thing that you put on your Instagram recently is that you’re (going to be) doing a TV show. What kind of content will be on this TV show?

Well obviously we’re gonna talk about cigars, but we’re not gonna talk about the cigars in a boring way, cause I hate boring. I don’t like to be bored. I know if you’re listening to me and I’m boring, you’re not gonna listen to me right? It’s gonna be ‘Ash Your Questions’, and by the way it’s gonna be called ‘Light it up with Artie and Dave.’ I was actually asked to be the co-host by the guy who’s thinking about doing this and we met with a production company and everything is in place. We’re gonna start filming that TV show on the twenty-second of October. I’ve already got two guests lined up. We’re gonna tape two shows at once so that the production company doesn’t have to come in here every week. We were (actually) supposed to start the fifteenth, but we had to be Covid ready, so the production company is gonna come in here and make sure we’re Covid ready before we actually film. Believe it or not there’s a lot with that, we even have to have a plastic glass between the two of us. 

How are you going to incorporate the audience, instagram, (and) also the people here at the lounge here while all this is going on?

Let me just tell you I’ve never been involved with anything like productions and things like that. But I’m already in just about a week (of) putting it together, talking to people who would appear, talking to people who would sponsor it, and putting the content together; this is a major fucking job. I’m talking major. It’s something that I’m not intimate with, I’ve never (done it) so it’s huge. I don’t know about the lounge yet; I’m thinking of selling tickets to have a live audience. I would like to do that because then I’m making money. And (you know me), whenever I’m making money, I’m happy. Or, just block out that hour, put in one of the guys who covers me when I can’t be here (and) just let him run the front while I’m back here so I don’t have to be disturbed. Cause this is a live production with a director and a set and the whole nine yards, I mean this is the real deal and it’s RVNTV by the way. The demographics for this – sometimes you have to say, okay, it doesn’t matter what’s in front of me I have to figure this out cause the demographics are: one million people in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey that watch this show. RVN, which has like fifty other shows: carpentry, cooking, and all those (other things), (but) they don’t have a cigar one. This is a fucking perfect opportunity to have a line around the corner, this is how you do it. And look, it could fail! And if it fails, that’s okay! You know why? Cause we tried. There were things I did that didn’t work – I don’t care, cause there’s a lotta stuff that I did that didn’t work… and sometimes it’s an experiment. This is an experiment, but I think it’s just – there’s so many people that are possible customers that you have to do it. You can’t be afraid. You can’t worry about making a mistake. I don’t even think about mistakes, I just think about moving forward. Also guests, maybe an audience, not sure. But it’s a full-on TV show and I’m committed now to 52 weeks. I’ve spoken to a bunch of manufacturers and they’re all willing to advertise – even guests, I’ve lined up a bunch of guests already. And that in and of itself is a (big deal). The production company wants to know who the guest is, what their email is so that they can send them an invitation so that they know – officially – you’re coming (and) this is the time you’re gonna be on and almost an itinerary.

Hear the rest of Artie’s motivating story below!

What would you say sets Lit apart from other lounges, especially in South Jersey?

We have a great group of people back here. I mean, I would say that most of the people in here are friends of mine – I don’t see them as clients. We have people in here, like this guy sitting right here (an owner) – who actually brings money into the lounge by helping me do things that I could probably do, but man, I don’t wanna take all that on top of me. I can’t say that everything we do in here, but pool tournaments, weight loss tournaments, fantasy football tournaments, (and) some other things. That generates incredible revenue and the revenue that is generated is almost better than that (cigar) revenue. Why? I have to buy that to sell it, so I have to put out my margin, I have to get my profit, I have to make sure nobody takes anything without paying for it. These are things (where) there’s a cost to all of that as well. The revenue that we get from these other things is straight profit. Cause the lights are gonna be on anyway, the smoke eaters are gonna be on anyway, the heat or air conditioning is gonna be on anyway. So there’s no cost to what comes in on that end. (Making it) very important to the lounge. (Which) is another reason why I don’t wanna disturb it, makes sense? 

It does. Thank you for joining me on this interview!

No problem. 

This is definitely a lounge you should check out! Especially for their event this Thursday, October 22nd with Liberty Cigars. Can only be found at Lit and at the White House! Plenty of stories and things to learn no matter how long you’ve been into cigars.

~Connor Coles

Check out my interview with Lit Cigar Lounge’s manager, Artie! Where we talk about all kinds of things he’s got going on at Lit!https://t.co/0c4c1itz4c

— Before the Ash (@Beforetheash) October 19, 2020