Indio Cigar Factory Opens on the Square

Source from:  Tuesday, July 31, 2007 CHARLESTON 08/01/2007

The new Indio Cigar Factory on the courthouse square offers a variety of tobacco products for sale and for customers' enjoyment in a cigar lounge. Owners Marvin and Gena Mirick of Charleston opened Indio on July 14 at 503 Seventh St., a former photo studio space, on the square's east side. Marvin Mirick said he decided to open the business after being laid off from Arkwright, where he had worked for approximately 20 years. "I had been rolling cigars in my spare time, so it seemed like the right opportunity to do something," Mirick said. "I roll my own brand, the Indio brand, in all different sizes and flavors." Mirick hand rolls Colombian and Dominican tobacco in an Ecuador wrapping leaf to create cigars he said have a very mild flavor. He also creates personalized labels for these cigars to help his customers celebrate birth announcements, golf tournaments and other special occasions. Indio carries nearly 30 types of brand-name cigars in its walk-in humidor, including Cohiba, Fittipaldi, Macanudo, and Punch. Mirick said this selection will grow as he gets to know his customers' preferences. Indio also offers a variety of cigarette, hookah, other tobacco products, and snacks in its retail shop and cigar lounge. A hookah, often associated with the Mideast, is a multistemmed water pipe device for smoking that operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. Mirick said the moist hookah tobacco is available in many flavors. Customers can play arcade video games and watch television in the cigar lounge, play cards or video game systems in the game room, and grab a cold drink or warm up a frozen sandwich in the break room. Retail tobacco shops, like Indio, are exempt from a statewide ban on smoking in all public places that starts Jan. 1, legislation that was signed by the governor earlier in July. The ban covers bars, restaurants, and most other public places. Enditem