| With a total of four retail stores at one time,
Sautter's London-area shops catered almost exclusively to the pipe trade.
Later in 1975, Sautter saw the writing on the wall as pipes became less
and less popular, and slowly began making cigars the
focus of his retail business. The Mount Street store
was the first store in the U.K. to install a walk-in humidor
and is, indeed, a cigar haven. What is considered by most to be the quinteessential London cigar store, Davidoff of London, did not open its doors until 1980. Proprietor Edward Sahakian who now refers to cigar entrepreneurs who are |
jumping on the booming market bandwagon as "cowboys," was once
thought to be one himself. Over lunch one day with Desmond
Sautter and Edward, Desmond admitted, "I thought he'd never make it."
But now, over 16 years later, Sahakian's business is still booming,
even stronger than it ever was. The newest kid in town, The Havana Club, is an odd curiousity. As part of the very posh private supper-club Monty's, it is more cigar lounge than store; a small place with more room dedicated to the art of smoking than to cigars themselves -- much like the cigar cowboy stores found throughout Beverly Hills. |
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