Our Story: Born in a Cigar Lounge

By Katherine Espinal, Managing Director & Head of Operations

My mother's water broke inside our family's cigar lounge. One of the regulars drove her to the hospital. That is how I came into the cigar world: born into it, quite literally, in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. My mother, Brenda, and I have spent a lifetime in this industry, and today we run Sun of a Gun Cigars & Spirits together in Yuma, Arizona, an official J.C. Newman Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge.

It began with my father

My father is Dominican. His family grew tobacco in the Dominican Republic for three generations, and he started in the cigar industry at 15, coming by way of the Bronx to San Diego and a cigar lounge at Fifth and Island in the Gaslamp Quarter.

My mother, who is Mexican, was in high school when he introduced her to that world, and she fell in love with it from day one: the family, the camaraderie, the customers in their thirties to sixties who all got along so well. Her favorite part of their story is that he brought her into the cigar industry. Once you're in the cigar industry, you can't go back.

My mother brought her siblings into the business, and together my parents and my uncles built everything from the ground up. The lounge started in a small spot that is now a pizza shop, moved to the corner that is still a cigar shop today, and later grew into the back with a restaurant and nightclub. They were part of Mardi Gras and the Gaslamp's street events, and in 2006 Cigar Aficionado featured the lounge in Where to Smoke.

Growing up in a cigar lounge

My entire upbringing was in a cigar lounge, and I loved every day of it. I would stay silent in the back seat so my parents would forget to drop me at school and take me to the lounge instead. I had my coffee and wanted to be part of everything: the register, the humidor, the people. I still have the pictures. The Gaslamp then was the most fun, beautiful, family-oriented place, and my little brother and I were influenced by such amazing people.

I had so much fun, I learned so much, and growing up in a cigar lounge has helped me immensely. Everything about it is so nostalgic to me. The regulars used to tell me it would all be mine one day. I told them no.

Cigars, my third language

I loved fashion and went to school for it. It wasn't for me, and I don't regret trying. It was my brother who showed me what I had: he didn't share my knowledge of cigars, and only then did I realize how rare it was. Cigars are my third language, and I love them.

I started helping my mother at the lounge, and little by little I took on more. Today I serve as Managing Director and Head of Operations, a one-woman show of everything, and I learn something new every day. I also write the cigar buying guides on this site.

From a shop that once looked like a taco shop

When the San Diego businesses were sold, our family ended up, almost by chance, with a cigar shop in Yuma, Arizona. It was rough compared to what we were used to in San Diego. It once looked like a taco shop. My mother worked it tirelessly for years and years, and we continue fixing the place up every single day.

Today it is Sun of a Gun Cigars & Spirits: an official J.C. Newman Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge with a walk-in humidor, a patio beer garden and a 300-bottle spirits menu, more than 170 of them whiskey. We are an authorized Arturo Fuente retailer and a Drew Diplomat retailer.

Yuma is a small military town, about two and a half hours from San Diego and two and a half hours from Phoenix and Scottsdale. If you know Yuma, you know the drive usually goes the other way, out to San Diego. Now people drive from San Diego to us. For some, our lounge has become a little oasis in the middle of that drive, and a destination of its own. That just warms my heart.

A lounge for everyone

When I was a girl, the cigar world was pretty much all men, and mostly older ones. Bringing everyone in is something we have actually done at our lounge, and I see it slowly happening at other lounges as well. On any night you might find women and men, couples, young women on a girls' night, young men, older gentlemen and people trying their very first cigar, all under one roof. Everyone blends. Everyone mixes.

It isn't only us. It's the cigar: a little stick of tobacco, so calming, so peaceful, so relaxing, that brings together people from every walk of life. Everyone gets along over a cigar. For me, cigars don't signify what they are in the physical, but what they bring: community, friendship, fellowship, friends who turn into family.

That is the feeling we share here. You're a complete stranger, but you walk in and you're family. That's our entire goal. Our regulars become our friends, and our family can be with us at work: my dog comes to the lounge with me, just like I did as a little girl, and our guests are so sweet to her.

Two cultures, one family

My dad is Dominican and my mom is Mexican, and I think it's cool to bring both of these cultures into the cigar industry. Dominicans have a long history in cigars. And my mom being Mexican, being a woman and being in the cigar industry is, to me, the coolest, most empowering thing. It is very special that my mother and I get to share this together, something I was born into with her and my dad.

This is only the start

The cigar industry is growing, there are more women in it than when I was a girl, and we are putting our heart and soul into this place, with more projects planned. After a lifetime in cigars, being born into it and going through a lot of different things, my mom, Brenda, and I have a lot left to accomplish. This is only the start.

Come and see us at 1651 S Arizona Ave, Yuma, Arizona, Sunday through Thursday 9 AM to 11 PM and Friday and Saturday 9 AM to 1 AM. Directions and common questions are on the lounge page, what's coming up is on our events page, and the store at a glance is on About Sun of a Gun. Can't make the drive? We ship cigars nationwide from our walk-in humidor; see cigar delivery. Or call 928-276-3500.

Katherine Espinal
Managing Director & Head of Operations, Sun of a Gun Cigars & Spirits