We started as a retail cigar shop about 1,000 feet off the Atlantic Ocean in Seaside Heights, NJ and officially opened our doors on March 10, 2012 just in time for the local favorite St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Things were going well and we were growing, from one humidor and nine boxes of cigars to three humidors and almost 200 offerings.  Our growth was largely because we set out to make the world a better place, one cigar at a time. So, every time we were called to help out, we went, and people started hearing about us.

Then, Sandy hit that October and we were done in an instant.

It took us some time but we found a new place, about 15 miles north, in Steve’s hometown of Wall, NJ. One of the first employees in the new place was a retired law enforcement officer from Wall, NJ who happened to be one of Beach House Cigars’ biggest supporters.

In several conversations over cigars, Steve learned of the brutal and tragic deaths of two local law enforcement officers, Christopher Matlosz, a Lakewood (NJ) police officer and Marc Castellano, A New Jersey State Trooper, both of whom were killed approximately 10 miles from the new location.

And, just as the foundations Steve was helping served their respective causes such as lymphoma, kidney disease, and pre-term health defects in babies, many local police and fire organizations were, too, raising money for their respective charities, most of which financially supported family members of Fallen police officers and firefighters.  Again, Steve jumped in to help.

But, it wasn’t enough. The families needed $20,000 and Beach House Cigars was giving $200. Then one of Steve’s closest friends who is also a successful franchisee of Jersey Mike’s, Matt Catania, suggested that Steve create a national cigar brand and give back a portion of every cigar sold just as Jersey Mike’s gives back through sub sandwiches.  When Steve asked how much they gave back, Matt responded with one word… “Millions!”

Within a few months, Beach House Cigars was shut down and Los Caidos was born!

We started with only 500 boxes in 2016 and they sold out within that year.  Steve hopped on his Harley-Davidson in October of 2016 and went from Jersey to Los Angeles and back in only 13 days, trying to raise awareness of Los Caidos and Life of a Ridetime, a 501(c)(3)having a sole purpose of raising money for, and distributing funds to, family members of Fallen police officers and firefighters.  It was a great learning experience.

So much so that we took 2017 off to evaluate where we were, where we wanted to be, and what needed to change in order for us to get there.

We announced the return of both Los Caidos and Life of a Ridetime on October 2, 2018 at a celebratory event held at the world-renowned Club Macanudo in New York City. It was attended by those who supported Los Caidos in 2016 and those who simply believe what we believe!

If you want to hear the story from Steve, sit back, light up a Los Caidos, and listen to this podcast episode hosted by the folks at Cigar Snob.