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Founded in 1984, the Briar Patch quickly became and remains northern California's premier smoke shop. We have the finest name brands in cigars, pipes, tobaccos, lighters and other accessories. Our knowledgeable employees are known for their friendliness and desire to provide the highest level of service in our industry. The Briar Patch is an Authorized Alfred Dunhill dealer and a Davidoff Appointed Merchant. We are also an authorized dealer for ST Dupont, Design Berlin and Rosenthal.
The Briar Patch carries over 300 different cigars. Cigar brands include Davidoff, Arturo Fuente, Diamond Crown, Padron, Cohiba, Partagas, The finest names in pipes are available at the Briar Patch. Some of these include Alfred Dunhill, Caminetto, Castello, Don Carlos, Ser Jacopo, Bjarne, Ferndown, Former, Joura, Peterson, Savinelli, Tsuge, Design Berlin, Karl Erik, Comoy, Charatan, Wiley and Ben Wade. We will provide you expert assistance in selecting the right pipe for you. Our lines of lighters include Alfred Dunhill, Davidoff, S.T. Dupont, Corona, Colibri, Porche Design, Lotus and Zippo. We carry the best lines of humidors and other accessories including Alfred Dunhill, Ashton (Manning), Davidoff, Diamond Crown and Savinelli.
Personnel
Meet Ron Michelson Ron grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Northern Arizona University, graduating with a degree in Business Management in 1970. Ron smoked his first cigar at the Circus when he was 14. Returning home with a fever of 103 degrees, you can imagine it was a while before he had his second. He began smoking pipes while a freshman at college. For most of his career, Ron worked in the computer software industry in positions ranging from software development to sales and sales management. After helping build two dot com startups in Silicon Valley, Ron decided it was time to move to a lower stress environment. He, his wife Jeri and daughter Lauren moved to Sacramento in 2001, purchasing the Briar Patch in early 2002. Ron has a collection of about 70 pipes. His favorites include several Dunhills, Jouras, Formers and a couple of Castellos. He smokes mainly aromatic tobaccos. Ron's favorite cigar is the Davidoff Special T. Meet Greg Scharon Greg has been an employee of the Briar Patch for over ten years. He has managed to survive two owners and is in the process of training the third. Prior to joining the Briar Patch, Greg spent 29 years in the US Air Force as a Pilot and Navigator. He retired as a Lt. Colonel. Believe it or not, working for the Briar Patch is Greg's second job. Greg began smoking pipes and cigars over 30 years ago. His level of expertise on both is unsurpassed. If you have any questions on cigars or pipe smoking, Greg will be happy to assist you. Greg works from 10AM to 5 or 6PM Monday through Friday. Stop by and say hi to him. Meet Chris VanBuskirk Though Chris is our youngest full time employee, at 28, he is very knowledgeable about pipes, tobaccos and cigars. Chris was given his first pipe when he was 18. Since then he has collected over 30 fine pipes. His favorites are his Alfred Dunhill churchwarden and his Bjarne Signature. Chris graduated from high school in 1995, having played varsity basketball and soccer. He has been attending college ever since, inching his way to a teaching degree. Chris began working for one of our competitors in 1998. After two years, he saw the error in his ways and joined the Briar Patch. He's been with us ever since, becoming a full time employee after four years with us. Chris was recently appointed to the position of Store Manager. In the ten years Chris has been smoking pipes and cigars, he has become quite an expert. He smokes aromatic and English blends and is intimately acquainted with our line. Chris is also an avid cigar smoker. He has smoked nearly every cigar we have in our humidor, so he can help you select the best cigars for you. His current personal favorites are the Davidoff Double R, Padron Anniversario, Diamond Crown and AVO Maduro. Meet Sean Soares Sean grew up in beautiful Los Banos, California. He is currently enrolled at the University of California, Davis majoring in Biological Anthropology. Sean is hoping to graduate sometime before 2015. Sean has been smoking pipes for about seven years. In this time he has learned enough to qualify as an expert on pipes and English blend tobaccos. His favorite tobaccos are Penzance and Navigator (a Briar Patch blend he helped develop). Sean can be found in the Briar Patch smoking a straight pipe. He has a very nice collection of older GBDs, Castello, Charatan, Dunhill, Hedegarrd and Tinsky pipes. Sean should be able to answer most any question on either pipes or English tobaccos. Meet Phil Hess Phil smoked his first cigar in Monterey, CA and has since been enjoying fine cigars for over 12 years. Among his list of favorite cigars are the Graycliff Blue label, Partagas Limited Reserve Decadas, Zino Platinum Crown Series, and Davidoff Special T. In his off time, Phil enjoys a variety of hobbies from fly fishing, photography and literature. He has also had some of his photographs and writings published both personally and professionally. His favorite places to smoke his pipe and take photographs are San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. Phil started out as a regular cigar customer of the Briar Patch when he moved to the Sacramento area for graduate school in 2002. Since then, he has been introduced to the fine art of pipe smoking and has already established a hearty selection of fine pipes. He enjoys Aromatic, Virginia, and English blend pipe tobaccos with McClelland's Dark Star and Torben Dansk's Black Velvet (Gentle Dream) as two of his favorites. Next time you visit our shop, try to guess which type of tobacco he is enjoying in one of his S. Bang, Former, or Dunhill pipes as one of these pipes are sure to be in his hand that day. |