“For a person who hasn’t smoked before, we try to start them with a mild cigar—something that’s not going to make them sick and get them turned off to cigars before they get started,” Gipson said. “We will probably recommend something with a Connecticut wrapper or [coffee] flavored.”

The store opened after Starling and Fields, longtime cigar aficionados, asked Gipson to forego retirement and join their venture into the industry.  

“I retired three years earlier and was looking for something to do,” Gipson said. “I’m not a stay-at-home person. So my son and his friend approached me because they had this idea about opening up a cigar spot, a retail shop, and wanted to know if I was interested in managing the day-to-day operations.”

Since opening its doors in 2014, the cigar shop has continued to grow thanks to customer input, Gipson said.

[caption id="attachment_161872" align="alignright" width="220"] La Flor Dominicana is a customer favorite at Top 10 Cigars.[/caption]

“When we first opened in 2014, we had less than 100 different types of cigars,” she said. “Now we have 350. Part of the way you [build] that inventory is by customer request. Someone comes in and says, ‘Can you get this cigar?’ Then we do the research. We bring it in. If it does well, we keep it. If it doesn’t do too well, we may end up phasing it out of our inventory.”

Top 10 Cigars

9502 Beltway 8, Ste. 111, Humble 281-506-8461 www.top10-cigars.com Hours: Mon. 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Tue. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Wed.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 12:30-6 p.m.