Rolling In The Big City
There’s an orange neon sign that reads “handmade cigars” on a shadowy stretch of West 29th Street in Manhattan. It’s been burning like the lit end of a robusto since 1974 when the neighborhood was still industrial and the city was in serious economic turmoil. Behind the sign in the window is Jesús Martínez. And he rarely takes a day off.
“Everything we do here has a New York theme,” says the lean 48-year-old, who stops at the gym for a workout every morning before opening his doors. Latin music plays on the speakers while two pairs of rollers work in cramped quarters making cigars with names like Flatiron (after the building only a few blocks away), Riki Taki (a popular bodega sandwich) and, of course, the New York City Blend.
“My father made the first two blends, but I made the rest,” Martínez explains. The business was started by his father, Antonio, and Jesús has been working at the shop since the 1990s. He took it over entirely when his father passed away in 2003.
The small space has a definitive workshop feel, where you can watch the rollers make cigars if you feel like sticking around. Look up and you’ll see the decorative tin-stamp ceiling so emblematic of the city’s disappearing prewar buildings. Look down and you’ll see tobacco scraps piling up on the concrete floor. Jammed in between the stacks of cigar molds and New York Yankees memorabilia is the shop’s one and only lounge chair. It’s usually occupied.
“We get a lot of tourists come in, not just tourists from abroad, but from all over the States,” Martínez says. “They end up going home and become online customers.”
Most of his walk-ins, however, are locals who buy their cigars in the morning before work or come in at the end of the day. Some stop in while walking their dog. “People on Fridays want to stock up for the weekend, especially in the summer.” The area has become very residential over the years. His dedicated local clientele is undeniable, but walk-in traffic alone isn’t enough. It’s the wholesale business that’s kept that neon sign aglow for 51 years. Stores around the country carry his line—shops that want to bring a little bit of New York City into their humidors. It’s open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday, Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
As it’s a handmade-cigar operation, you might think that Martínez would try to evoke Cuba, but this rolling room is 100-percent Dominican. Martínez was born in New York from Dominican parents. His rollers are Dominican, and they work in pairs and bunch the tobacco in folded accordion style, the hallmark of Dominican factories. The shop has many blends, but you should try the Pasión (Nicaraguan wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and filler from Honduras and Nicaragua) and the Martínez 50th (Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic).
Evening approaches and more people start to file in and out, some asking for “something smooth,” and others just letting Martínez pick the cigar for them. He knows what his regulars like. An older man, who’s been sitting in the shop’s only chair for the better part of an hour, takes his last puffs. He gets up, shakes Martínez’s hand and turns to leave. As he departs, a younger man walks in and immediately plops down into the chair. When asked about the possibility of maybe offering a second seat, Martínez looks around the room and lets out a small laugh. “Another chair? I wish I had the room.”
Martínez Cigars 171 West 29th St. • (212) 239-4049
