Cigar Hut to celeberate 25 years on Fort Myers Beach

The Cigar Hut will be celebrating its 25th anniversary on Fort Myers Beach this Sunday with special anniversary cigars, specials and raffles.

Originally opening as a small hut in Times Square in the fall of 2000, and now at its present location on Old San Carlos Boulevard, the Cigar Hut has been serving customers from all over the world on Fort Myers Beach for 25 years.

“I had been wholesaling Cigars throughout the area from Tampa Bay to Key West for several years, but lived on Fort Myers Beach and came up with the idea to open a Cigar store,” original founder Steven Light said. “The town of Fort Myers Beach had (recently) been incorporated. I was told by the property owner to not bother with the permit because things happened pretty freely back then. But I decided I needed to do it properly just in case the venture turned out to be successful.”

Before speaking with Town Manager Marsha Segal-George, Light said he was concerned “she might have a notion that a cigar store might not fit, but she indicated to me our Town’s original concept was to be like a mini Key West. Of course a cigar store was a perfect match and I was given the green light to proceed. At that point I had to go downtown Fort Myers to get the actual permit as none of that was done at the Town level yet.”

The Cigar Hut eventually moved to a location on the current Margaritaville Beach Resort property before being destroyed by Hurricane Ian.

“We were not open one year when Tropical Storm Gabriel came through in 2001 and devastated the Times Square and North Beach area with wind and flooding,” Light said. “We were wiped out as were many other places. Of course in the end it was nothing like Ian but at the time it was the worst disaster the beach had seen since Hurricane Donna in 1960 and there weren’t many people around who had seen that including me.”

Now in its third location on Fort Myers Beach, The Cigar Hut is located at 440 old San Carlos Blvd, across from Wahoo Willies. Their recipe for success has always been keeping fair prices, consistent business hours, high quality of products, with friendly and courteous service.

“All of us here at the store work really hard for our customers. We enjoy being a part of the beach community and serving the people who come through our door, many of whom we’ve known now for 25 years,” Light said,

For this special event they will be featuring their 25 year anniversary cigars which include three blends of the finest hand rolled cigars available anywhere. There will be food, specials and raffles for customers. The celebration ends at 7 p.m.