of South Texas has long been known for the rough-and-tumble history of the Alamo and the state’s fight for independence from Mexico. The images and stories from that time permeate the present and contribute greatly to a growing, sophisticated culture whose epicenter is in the city of San Antonio. The cities of Dallas, Houston, and “Keep Austin Weird” are better known, but San Antonio is still the most authentic “Texan” town in the state. Authenticity is a valued trait in these parts, and is wonderfully demonstrated in the retail cigar business by Keith and Tiffany Rumbo of Club Humidor.
Family Beginnings
The first thing you notice about Keith and Tiffany is that they are humble. In a world full of larger-than-life personalities with all of the answers, they are refreshingly thoughtful and reasoned in both their operations and their analysis of the retail tobacco industry. Their history, one they speak of and remember often, is one of blessing and is firmly rooted in family.
Keith was introduced to the business when his late father, the legendary Ralph “the Colonel” Rumbo who passed at age 77 in October, purchased a small tobacco shop in 1982. “It was supposed to be a little retirement job he was thinking of,” Keith said, “but it grew and did very well. In 1984, I started working with Dad part time and by 1985 I decided that this business was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” As is often the case in one’s early years, Keith also worked a second job - in computers - before later attending business school at San Antonio College. The business moved two more times and then a third when the Colonel bought a building. Ralph continued to expand the business by opening in the River Center Mall (where future wife Tiffany made a brief appearance to manage the store) in the mid-1980s before moving that location to its current site in the historic Menger Hotel next to The Alamo. He also opened a location in a large retail shopping mall, Northstar, and that was Keith’s first opportunity to manage a stand-alone store. “By 1989 we were operating three locations and growing, well before the boom,” Keith says. “We were very much on the front end of the premium cigar wave that later became the boom.”
Building Before The Boom
“When Dad first started there was very little business - cigars weren’t popular and pipe tobacco was the big seller,” Keith recalls of the early days. “I was afraid of the cigar room! But near the ‘90s - even before the cigar magazines started - there was a subtle change in the cigar industry.” Like many other markets in America, the seeds of the cigar boom in San Antonio were planted with the introduction of one of the first high end cigars - the Zino Mouton Cadet - and the Rumbos quickly embraced the high-end offerings. Tiffany adds, “In the late 1980s and early ‘90s the highest priced cigars would be around five dollars - and people freaked over that price but still bought them. That set the stage for the business and we knew there would be a market for the person who always wanted the most expensive cigar. So that really was the beginning for the premium cigar store - the moment when the business changed from the “sawdust floor” place where old men played checkers and smoked inexpensive cigars.”
New Love, New Locations
Love enters the plot here. The story, of course, is told differently by both of them, but after hearing both versions I think Keith married up. “I was working with Dad in the San Pedro location and Tiffany was the bakery manager next door at the Handy Andy donut shop,” Keith says. “I called her the donut girl, knowing that Dad was trying to get us together for several years. It didn’t work out then, but eventually…” Keith’s voice trails off, as he realizes what a lucky sap he is. The Colonel hired Tiffany on a part-time basis when Keith went on vacation and several years later in 1995 she started helping Keith with bookkeeping at the Northstar location. At this point love finally blossomed. “Dad had agreed to let me buy that location,” Keith said, “and we began dating while we were working together and eventually fell in love.”
The couple was married in June of 1996 and by August of 1997 they were opening two new stores in affluent areas of San Antonio - Heubner Oaks and The Quarry - with locations they named Club Humidor. The Club Humidors were designed to sell hand made cigars, custom-blended tobacco, and high-end hand crafted pipes. They operated independently from the existing family business with the Colonel’s blessing and help while he continued to operate the Menger Hotel and San Pedro locations. The couple remembers this time with great appreciation. “We wouldn’t have what we have without Keith’s parents. Ralph really took a chance on us,” Tiffany says, “opening his wisdom and contacts to us and we worked hard to prove his faith in us. He opened all of the doors - but most of all he taught us that when you’re blessed, you give back to others. We’ve learned that well: not just how to run a business but how to share. We’re so grateful and thankful to him. We will never, ever forget him.”
As was the case across America, opening new locations in the boom time was both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because customers were pouring in, but a curse because the best high-end product wasn’t available in sufficient quantities. The Rumbo’s made an early decision to run each location together but separately, with Keith managing The Quarry location and Tiffany managing the one in Heubner Oaks. The object was to have a family presence at each store. The couple also abided by an age-old adage, “Play to your strength,” with Tiffany managing the majority of the accounting and office tasks and Keith managing marketing and new products.
In 1999 they closed the Northstar mall location because of a new, draconian anti-smoking rule that was instituted by the mall ownership. “Our focus shifted exclusively to the two newest locations at that point and we’ve increased sales every year in double digits in a nice and steady pattern,” Tiffany says. “Throughout that time, most importantly, we’ve had the opportunity to establish long-term partnerships with the manufacturers. It would be much more difficult to do that now.” In today’s anti-smoking environment, the biggest challenge is keeping bad legislation at bay.
Fighting Back Legislative Disasters
The Rumbos are brief and to the point regarding the future of the retail tobacco industry. “We are absolutely worried about the efforts to legislate our business out of existence,” confides Tiffany. “In San Antonio, people can smoke in our shops and there are varying levels of smoking allowance in restaurants and bars. A restaurant owner ought to be able to offer whatever smoking environment they desire. It doesn’t need to be legislated any further - you can’t smoke in offices and office buildings as it is. For the places that are left where you can smoke, legislators are going after them by pointing to the negative effects on the businesses’ employees. The last I checked though, people aren’t forced to work anywhere.”
Tiffany is the president of the Texas Cigar Merchants Association (TXCMA), a state industry group devoted to monitoring smoking-related issues in Texas government. “Legislators will often go off half-cocked with poor information when they are considering smoking legislation,” Tiffany says. “Just last spring, there was a major anti-smoking effort statewide in Texas,” she explains. “We stood up as a group and fought it off, but these types of efforts are ever present.”
A Golden Era of Cigars
Still, it is a terrific time to be in the business, and Keith sees a bright future based on the quality of the cigars currently being produced.
“The complexity of cigars today is fantastic and is moving well away from the trend several years ago of rolling super-strong cigars,” Keith says. “Today’s cigars have many more dimensions and well-rounded flavors. There are a lot of truly great cigars being made right now. It’s a great time to be a cigar smoker because taste is good and availability is good.” Keith also notes the rise of the “hot” blenders as a welcome development in the industry. “There’s a great amount of creativity today from the master blenders and they are adding a lot of buzz to the sales floor,” he says.
And what of the future? “We’re not planning to grow immediately and are watching the industry closely as the Federal smoking legislation settles out and the elections take place,” says Tiffany. “The competitive environment in San Antonio is good and while we’ve had several new tobacco shops open up, we’ve maintained or increased our market share. We watch our business closely and don’t spend a lot of time outside of that focus - except to count our blessings.” Blessed they are, deep in the heart of Texas.
Club Humidor: