The Wooden Indian Expeditions

**Smoked!** · 09-29-2010, 06:11 PM

Stogies Castillo

We’re down to our final stop on the tour, a lounge called Stogies Castillo. The store is right out front at the giant mall and restaurant area. The concentration is on lounge space and a small bar area. The humidor stocks only the house brand and a few popular national brands. For some reason I have no photos of the storefront or the lounge.

Here is Chief Castillo:

This is the house blend.

The cigars are rolled and aged off site, so there’s no telling where they are actually sourced. It could be as simple as one of those private label deals offered by the factories in town. We’ll never know. That’s about it. I must remark that the gentleman working that day was a terrific personality. I’m sure they do well when the crowds are in town.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this concludes the Tour D’Ybor 2010. Remember to send all your comments, complaints, and nasty emails to BW. I blame him for everything.

Disclaimer and Full Disclosure:
Do not smoke too much; it is bad for you. I have the utmost respect for our Native American brothers. They never wear metallic armor. Ice cream is good. Sometimes I use Stay-Puft marshmallows in hot cocoa. I have no financial interest or ownership interest in any cigar shop, store, retailer, wholesaler, distributor, manufacturer, packager, shipper, stevedore, roller, farmer, harvester, or tobacco farm land lease holder, nor do I receive any other benefit, explicit or implied, from the inclusion of or review of any establishment herein named, referred to, or otherwise described. One guy did give me a free cigar. I watch the Big Bang Theory on CBS. We should promote more old-school pirates. Arrrrgh. The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential. I think Wooden Indians are cool. I wish more Cigar Store Indians were made from actual wood. Please, no flash photography. Yahtzee! Never trust a Ninja Carpenter. FrankLloydWright did not design cigar humidors.

**TachyCoventry** · 09-29-2010, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Smoked!

We should promote more old-school pirates. Arrrrgh.

Now THAT'S something I can get behind!

On a more serious note this was great, I live in Jacksonville and will be going through Tampa for work next week. I'm going to re-read all the reviews and figure out which shop I'm going to stop at on my way down through!

**TachyCoventry** · 09-29-2010, 07:10 PM

DELETE (Sorry, dual post by my stupid computer)

**Smoked!** · 12-03-2010, 02:16 PM

Cigar Shop News:

The 19th Hole Club has closed its doors. This is a great loss to the cigar community.

Rumor has it that at least one Smoke Inn location is offered for sale, as is Coffman's Tobacco in Stuart. They ain't cheap! Investors take note.

New shops are opening in my area and I shall report in full when the details emerge.

**TachyCoventry** · 12-06-2010, 07:19 PM

Smoked! have you ever been to Cigar Castle in Tampa? I know that it isn't in Ybor City but I stopped by when I was on my way over to Thanksgiving and was extremely happy with it!

**Mizicke5273** · 12-07-2010, 08:15 AM

Awesome thread and awesome pictures. Thanks for the great post!

**Smoked!** · 12-07-2010, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Daigz

Smoked! have you ever been to Cigar Castle in Tampa? I know that it isn't in Ybor City but I stopped by when I was on my way over to Thanksgiving and was extremely happy with it!

I have not been there. I will put it on my list of things to see next time I'm out that way.

And where are the photos?

**TachyCoventry** · 12-07-2010, 09:23 PM

I didn't want to hijack your thread with my own little expedition! I am actually going to be down in Tampa for New Year's and will make sure to stop by and take some photos of the place!

**TachyCoventry** · 12-28-2010, 01:48 PM

Cigar Castle

So as discussed with Smoked!, I went on my own Wooden Indian Expedition in Tampa. Today is Cigar Castle, located in lovely Tampa, FL. It's about 30 minutes or so from Ybor City. The owner and I talked for a while and while he is so close to Ybor he said that he has a lot of customers because of the fully stocked bar and comfortable atmosphere but more of all, his FULLY stocked humidor.

For starters there are two small wooden Indians. The first is pictured below and is a chalkboard for saying the drink specials. The second is a small Indian who is over the bar but I couldn't get a good shot of that one. He said that he has a full size Indian but he took it out of the shop a year ago because it was taking up room that was better served!

They don't have any rolling area as is the case in Ybor City but their assortment of cigars is astounding. In the glass cases are God of Fire, Opus X and several other pricey sticks. Here's a bunch from their humidor, it's huge.

Here's their bar area. It's fully stocked and has the most beers on tap of any cigar lounge in Florida (or so says the owner). It also has a $100 bottle of beer from Flying Dog that I thought was interesting!

And the lounge area...

And my selection for the afternoon.. Tat and Rogue Dead Guy

Overall impression: This is a really cool lounge to stop by and have a cigar. The owner (Atul Solanki) is very friendly and will sit down and chat for a while if he's not busy. The selection of sticks is amazing, they have every major brand and then some small brands that normally aren't stocked in B&M in my area. The prices are pretty good too, they aren't jacked up like some other B&M.