Sigh. We don’t consider ourselves particularly prissy. Our neighbors will be the first to attest that, though we’ve crested the 40 mark and have babe in arms, we’re still wont to kick back and have a good time, old school, on occasion. Indeed, loyal readers will note that when we reported on the Puffin Glass head shop (Puffin’), it wasn’t to disparage the idea of a (gasp) drug-related shop within sacred borders of virgin Wallingford, but rather to applaud them for focusing on accouterments for a simple herb, without sullying their store with nitrous canisters, coke bullets and other foolishness.
No such luck in Western Wallingford. We turn to John Scott Tynes for our report on the grand opening of Best Cigar:
That new cigar shop with the classy sign is open and nitrous-huffers can rejoice, as they sell Whip-It canisters and the brass converter rings that let you empty the gas into a plastic bag for huffing. They also sell a wide variety of bongs, pocket pipes, one hitters, air fresheners, and a wide variety of candy and snacks in case, you know, you might get the munchies later on for some reason.
They do, in fact, sell cigars. Serious cigar fans can continue shopping elsewhere. They also sell condoms, batteries, flasks, lighters, and an actually impessive selection of non-mainstream cigarettes, including what looked like a pretty complete array of Nat Sherman varieties.
Finally, they sell hookahs and some Middle Eastern flavored tobaccos.
You can find stores exactly like this one in the U District and on Cap Hill. I don’t think they’ve chosen their ‘hood wisely in this case but who knows? Maybe this is a sign that Wallingfordians need to kick back, loosen up, huff some nitrous, and enjoy six or eight candy bars.
Perhaps we can hope that instead of six or eight candy bars, the suddenly snackish with supplement their puffing with some fine cuisine from Bella Cosa next door?
Boo hiss! Settin’ up shop in the wrong neighborhood…
BOOOO!!! The convenience store on 45th between Corliss and Sunnyside sells crack pipes. What next? Is it wrong of me to want to put these places out of business? It feels like I should do something more productive, but I really just don’t want another head shop in Wallingford.
i’m all for another head shop, you know, just in case
WTF? Perhaps I’ll stop by to pick up a kit with my toddler after we drop off my shirts for cleaning, stop by the library, and pick up a jacket at Kids on 45th. Not exactly the perfect addition to the ‘hood. Time to speak with our wallets, people. Buy your tobacco at QFC (much cheaper there anyways), and your crack pipes, well, just somewhere else (I hear the convenience store btwn Corliss and Sunnyside has some–should be enough for one community).
Yay! This makes me want to take up smoking.
Sigh!, indeed! I had so hoped this was going to be an improvement over High Maintenance Bitch. Guess not!
Anybody remember what was in that spot before High Maintenance Bitch? Is it a cursed storefront?
It was a music store, iirc– Rubato Records. Not sure how long it was there– it closed about 1 year after I moved in.
I predict a groove will be worn in the sidewalk between this place and Babalu.
Now if we could just get a thai restaurant in this neighborhood….
Am I a total geek or completely old if I say I don’t know what a head shop is?
@anonymous: If you don’t know what a head shop is, then where do you buy your drug paraphernalia?
people offended by high maintenance bitch and head shop are lame-o losers
Judging by the number of hippies and wannabe hippies in Wallingford, I’m guessing this place will do good business. While I’d likely never shop there myself (and never did at HMB,) I can’t see being offended or getting a “yuck” feeling from either place. Wallingford may not be the most diverse neighborhood in the city, however I appreciate how diverse it is.
I agree – HMB was lame in an Ann Coulter kind of way
I lived by Piece Of Mind in Fremont for years and never had a lick of trouble. Getting high in or around a head shop is a bad idea because cops watch such establishments. If you don’t like a place then don’t shop there.
@Karen, actually QFC has the most expensive cigs around. Bars charge less than they do. I recommend any of our fine gas stations, as they often have two for one deals. Either way they are much cheaper than QFC or Bartell’s. I’ll pick up a pack of Gauloises at Best and let you know if there is a price break.
@Jeanne, “neighborhood-friendly proprietors”? I hate Babalu more than anyone, but since they apparently have some local clients they are friendly to at least a certain segment of the neighborhood. It may not jive with what ‘your’ image of the neighborhood is, but if your image was the correct one all of Wallingford would just sit around knitting and organic gardening all day whilst complaining about food allergies and the way other people use Twitter. According to your blog at least. Also, “Scones of Friendship”… really?
I knitted a whole organic garden last weekend, but accidentally knitted some peanuts, which I am allergic to.
Play nice, folks.
Your informant is a boob. I was in there today, and their cigar selection is outstanding. All your major brands — Cohiba, Fuentes, Hoyo De Monterrey, etc., plus some really good ones that are impossible to find around here, like CAO, Ashton, and Rocky Patel. It’s a nice shop. Yes, there’s some bongs and whatnot. Do try not to freak out. I think it’s a fine addition to the neighborhood; much better than HMB (I will never have to see that pixelated photo of the owner with Jessica Simpson again!)
So, who remembers what it was before Rubato? They were only in there a couple of years themselves.
@Flash, the first part of your response to Jeanne’s comments I had no problems with, since you assert the fact that Babalu’s business traffic might imply there are some who would differ with her vision of Wallingford (and perhaps the vision of a lot of other people). But the last part in which you put words into her mouth by stating she would impose her personal interests (as stated on her blog) on everyone else is at best a Straw Man argument, and at worst a mean spirited ad hominem attack. Either way in the end it’s a logical fallacy.
@Robb, not only did your comments in regards to Jeanne’s web site add nothing to the conversation as a whole, but joking about a life threatening allergy of a child is far beyond anything anyone would consider decent. At best you’re being annoying and unthinking, and at worst its just sick.
For those of you who don’t understand what the peanut allergy joking is about, Jeanne has a daughter who is severely peanut allergic. And she could likely die if she were to eat anything with peanuts in it. (Jeanne talks about this on her blog.) She has to carry around an Epipen, and must constantly check the labels on food, and trust chefs haven’t accidentally exposed a meal to peanuts. So you can see how hilarious this must be for a parent of such a child. (Now, I’m being sarcastic.)
In the interest of full disclosure, Jeanne’s daughter is also my daughter.
On the subject at hand (the new shop), personally, I wish a different shop went into that place. I don’t smoke, and thus the shop for me personally is pointless (doubly so to the head shop aspect); and it frankly might have been a non-issue if it weren’t for the Smoking Mudflap Lady. Now I have to walk past it with my kid when we go to the library. It really just means my daughter and I’ll need to talk about what this image symbolizes, and speculate on why the shop owner would put such an image up. It’s not the end of the world to have to discuss this with my daughter (it could be argued we’d eventually encounter such images soon enough), but clearly our conversation won’t be positive for the shop; and from then on this strip of the sidewalk will just be annoying to walk along as we go to get some books.
Non sequitur side note: The sign overall is really quite strange, IMHO. She’s holding an oversized pipe which is fully pictured, while she’s in silhouette. I want to say she’s walking down the street, but it looks more like she’s doing some sort of strange floating. And are those suppose to be buildings on the bottom part of the sign also in silhouette? The typeface and the coloring are a little off for me as well. I guess to each his own.
And is she holding a pipe on the sign for a place with the word “cigar” in the name, because a cigar would have been too sexually suggestive? It was just one of the first things I noticed. Again, probably not that important.