That first cigar puff at 18 was more than just a coming-of-age moment for Solomon Braaten.

It helped create a passion that would later shape his career. 

“The passion gets developed,” Braaten says. “I grew up watching movies like Scarface and The Godfather, and you watch the guys in suits and these big mahogany desks smoking cigars, and I said, ‘Wow, that looks really cool.’”

Seven years later, Braaten had founded Cigar House LLC, a new smoke shop located at 7314 N. Division, in North Spokane.

Cigar House opened in May and sells premium cigars and premium pipe tobacco, meaning that all the tobacco is harvested, cured, sorted, and packaged by hand, and all the cigars are hand-rolled.

Braaten moved to Spokane from the Tri-Cities, Washington, area in February on his 25th birthday, the same day he was handed the keys to his new store. He previously was employed for six years at a Tri-Cities cigar shop, where he worked his way up and learned the ins and outs of the industry.

Wanting to do his own thing while maintaining a good relationship with his previous employer, Braaten decided to move to Spokane so he could open a store in a bigger market.

“You’ve got a higher population. It’s a different atmosphere, and I wanted to give it a shot here and get the ball rolling,” he says.

In addition to the cigars and pipe tobacco, Cigar House offers a variety of smoking accessories, including pipes, lighters, cigar cutters, hygrometers, and humidors.

Hygrometers are instruments used to measure humidity, and humidors are humidity-controlled cases or enclosures used to store cigars.

“All the accessories are very much driven to just cigars and pipes,” Braaten says.

Most of the cigars at Cigar House cost $10 to $12 each, Braaten says.

“I do have some lower price points for your daily smokers, and then I have some higher price points for either your high-end daily smokers or more of your celebration smokers,” he says.

Braaten’s shop doesn’t carry vaping products or other tobacco products like cigarettes or chewing tobacco.

The majority of the store’s cigars and tobacco come from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Africa, Honduras, and the Connecticut River Valley, in the U.S.

“That’s where tobacco is typically grown,” he says.

Braaten buys all his cigars and tobacco directly from tobacco companies, a strategy that tends to cost him less than going through a single distributor, he says.

“It’s a little more work, but in the long run, it helps the customer get a better price point,” he says.

The direct-from-manufacturer strategy also allows Braaten to run brand-specific, manufacturer-sponsored promotions at his store.

Braaten’s career aspirations don’t end at his North Division shop, as he plans to open additional locations and potentially pursue a larger role within the cigar industry.

Last year, Braaten attended the Premium Cigar Association national conference and got to hear from the organization’s board members and speakers about new trends, products, and regulations in the industry.

“It pivoted my dream,” Braaten says. “I always wanted to own my own shop and maybe have two or three locations, but watching them on the board, I was like, ‘OK, I would love to be invited and have enough experience to be on the board of the PCA.”

At 15, while attending a STEM-based high school, Braaten decided the traditional college route wasn’t for him.

“If I can put all my time and energy into entrepreneurship, like all my friends did to colleges, then let’s see where this path goes,” he says.

Braaten also offers Cigar 101 events, at which he will meet with customers—one-on-one or with groups at events like weddings or bachelor parties, for example—and teach them about the cigars, where the tobacco comes from, how to cut and light cigars properly, and more.

Braaten and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Sandy, are the store’s only employees. He says he wants the customer-service facet of his business to separate it from other cigar shops in the area.

“I want this to be the go-to shop for anything cigar and pipe related,” Braaten says.

The 1,300-square-foot shop includes a 275-square-foot humidor room where all the cigars are stored.

Cigar House is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.

Small Bites

*Brew Peddler, a Spokane-based mobile coffee company that was founded in 2022, is planning a 650-square-foot brick-and-mortar coffee shop at 802 E. 29th, in the Manito Shopping Center, a permit application on file with the city of Spokane shows. In addition to offering coffee catering services, Brew Peddler operates a mobile coffee cart that can be found at local farmer’s markets.

*A Raising Cane’s fast-food franchise, which would be the newest entry in the Spokane-area's growing chicken-oriented restaurant scene, is being planned at 9252 N. Newport Highway, next to the Chick-fil-A restaurant, a permit application on file with the city of Spokane shows. The application calls for construction of a 3,300-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru and patio. The project’s proposed valuation is $1.3 million. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based franchise company’s menu revolves around its chicken fingers and signature Cane’s Sauce.