Wright-Dunbar Lounge Builds Community Around Cigars
A long-vacant building on West Third Street turned into a lounge built around conversation, membership, and a neighborhood some call home.
By RoShawn Winburn, Dayton Weekly News
Jeff Jackson and Dallas Webster were neighbors long before they were business partners. They led their neighborhood association together, one as president and the other as vice president. Somewhere along the way, they started sharing cigars.
In fall 2024, they opened Wright Dunbar Cigar Shoppe & Lounge at 1153 W. Third St., a two-story lounge and retail shop in the historic Wright-Dunbar business district. They wanted a place where people would stay awhile. So far, Dayton has taken them up on it.
For Jackson, it started nearly 10 years ago on trips to Miami to see his older brother, who introduced him to cigar lounges. He liked them. Eventually his wife did too. Back home, winter was the problem. There weren't many comfortable places in Ohio to enjoy a cigar indoors.
The idea came together at Nicky Blaine's, a lounge in Indianapolis with velvet couches, mahogany walls and classic music. People weren't just buying cigars there. They were settling in for the night.
"I leaned over to whisper to my wife, I want one of these so bad," Jackson said.
In love with my mom or something. It'll be a long drive back. So you're not hungry?
Webster found cigars another way. During the COVID-19 pandemic, neighbors started meeting outdoors in a local park, and cigars became part of those gatherings when most other ways of getting together had shut down. Already working side by side through the association, the two men began talking about what it would take to open a place of their own.
They found it in a building that last housed the Smoking Joe’s Cafe and, by the founders' count, had sat empty for about 15 years. The space covered roughly 4,000 square feet. It had no usable subfloor, no heating or cooling, no electrical system and no plumbing.
They rebuilt it anyway. Webster said the project was financed with help from CityWide Development and the City of Dayton's West Dayton Development Fund. Construction took about 13 months. One of the biggest investments was a custom ventilation system that brings fresh air in near the floor and pulls smoke up and out through the ceiling. The plan put retail on the first floor and a more private members' lounge upstairs.
Before any of that, the partners spent about a year studying the business. They visited lounges in Indianapolis, Columbus and Toledo and looked at inventory, customer expectations and operating costs. Their research pointed to a revenue benchmark and told them that selling cigars alone wouldn't set them apart. The experience would have to.
Wright Dunbar Cigar held a soft opening Sept. 20, 2024, and a grand opening Nov. 1. Signs in the windows had told neighbors for close to a year that something was coming.
The founders say Dayton already had cigar smokers but few indoor places for them to gather. People came in to buy, and they also came to talk, watch games and attend events. Today the lounge has about 120 members, with room for more members and lockers. Membership drives the business, especially upstairs, where the owners keep the room private and relaxed.
The goal is regulars: people who come back for the company and the room as much as for what's in the humidor.
Why Wright-Dunbar
The location was a deliberate choice. The district carries the names of Wilbur and Orville Wright and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, and it has long been a center of Black business and culture in Dayton. Still, perceptions of West Dayton keep some people from shopping or going out there, and the founders say the location has kept some potential customers away.
They decided to stay and bring people in. As membership has become more diverse, customers are driving in from across the Dayton area. Many of them stop at nearby restaurants and shops while they're there, and the district's shared free parking makes that easy.
For two men who met through neighborhood work, the lounge is a way to keep doing that work.
What Comes Next
The shop carries a variety of cigars, including Montecristo Blue and The Judge. As more customers buy boxes to take home, a walk-in humidor is on their wish list. A walk-in could roughly triple their inventory and increase the number of premium manufacturers they carry. For now, they work with wholesalers to carry brands that would otherwise require large up-front orders.
Growing retail sales and membership, while building out regular events, are all part of the plan. A good-looking lounge can bring people in once. The owners say steady service, good programming and careful planning are what will keep the doors open.
The lounge will mark its second anniversary with a weekend of events Oct. 30 through Nov. 1. Friday opens with Cigars Under the Stars in the Cigarden, the lounge's outdoor space. The weekend also includes a new Halloween event Saturday and the lounge's annual "All You Can Smoke" event.
The lounge keeps a steady lineup. There's the twice-monthly Smoky Room Music Series, a monthly Ladies Night with DJ Soxx, 1st Friday’s with DJ Kevin White, and quarterly Cigar Rolling Sip events where Chantelle Brown teaches cigar rolling. Member and brand ambassador Keith Byars helps organize Ohio State football watch parties.
Women are a regular part of the crowd and the calendar, which pushes back on the old idea that cigar lounges are only for men.
The partners have taken the culture outside their own walls too. In September, they organized the first Cigar and Funk Festival at the Rose Music Center with cigar vendors and other cigar related products. The format borrows from the Cigar Soul Festival in the Pacific Northwest, and the founders say Dayton hadn't seen anything like it. The festival was a success, and the primary sponsors have signed up for next year.
When You Go
Wright Dunbar Cigar Shoppe & Lounge, 1153 W. Third St., Dayton. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 2 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 7 p.m.; closed Monday. Guests must be 21 or older. Call 937-640-3066 or email Info@WrightDunbarCigars.com. Online at wrightdunbarcigars.com or find Wright Dunbar Cigars on social media.
Health Note
Cigars are tobacco products and are not a safe alternative to cigarettes. Cigar smoking exposes users to cancer-causing chemicals and increases the risk of several cancers, including cancers of the mouth, throat and lungs. Secondhand cigar smoke also carries health risks. Source: National Cancer Institute
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