Troy's Community Newsletter

J. Cabrella Cigars - A unique cigar experience

Deanna Bove and Markus Vessella are married and soon to be living in the Washington Park area of Troy. Deanna is originally from Troy and is related to the Bove family in Troy. She attended the Fashion Institute in New York City for Marketing. She lived and worked in Manhattan's garment manufacturing industry as a product developer. Markus is from Cranston, Rhode Island and is an HVAC Engineer.

We met in NYC and decided we wanted to find a way to have a life outside of NYC. Three generations of my family comes from cabinet making. So we saw the trend of the cigar business becoming very prevalent in New York. That's when we decided to marry the cabinet making together with the HVAC engineering and we started manufacturing Humidors; like walk in humidors for clubs in Manhattan. Other places we serviced were a clothing store, a restaurant, a barber shop and a cigar shop.

That's basically our background on how we got started in this business. After we started manufacturing the walk-in humidors, people started saying "you're making these beautiful, gorgeous units, but where are the cigars?" We had then gone on vacation to Puerto Rico and were sitting at a pizza bar having a drink and smoking a cigar. There was a couple next to us doing the same thing. Come to find out, they were cigar suppliers. That's how we actually started bringing cigars into our business. It was our first connection prior to working with anyone in the states.

Once we got into the cigar business, we became a wholesaler and began a mail order. We decided we needed to be in Troy because our main manufacturer (only right now) for the humidors is here in Troy. We felt we needed to have hands on, quality control and to be closer to the cabinet maker so we can work with them on a daily basis. The company we subcontract out to is Troy Cabinet Manufacturers.

Then we happened to stumble on this building as we were walking in Troy one night. We are both very civic minded and really like this city and it's grandeur so we said let's stroll the streets of Troy. We saw a sign and we tried to peek in the windows. We contacted Gary Doyle, found this awesome spot and looked at it, fell in love with it, did a lot of work and decided we would open up a retail store as an extension to the business along with the humidor manufacturing and the cigar wholesale company. So we saw this building and really envisioned a lot of things. We started work in April of 97. We redid the ceiling, we did the floors over, and had a mural painted. We turned the vault into a walk-in humidor. This used to be a bank in 1852. Then we decided to actually add the art gallery. We believe in art and the area has a lot of up and coming artists. There's a lot of local talent and our intention is to utilize the building for reasons other than cigars. The Uncle Sam Gallery has been doing fantastic, I am very happy about the outcome. People are really receptive. It's interesting, I have cigar clientele and before they go and get their cigar they take a little walk up the stairs and see what's featured. We try to change the exhibits monthly. The art that I have downstairs doesn't necessarily change as frequently.

It was very time consuming, we both spent night and day here because we were very determined to get it done. We did most of the work ourselves, it was a feat. No great ghost stories here, we didn't find any money hidden away anywhere in the building.

It is actually a combination of three peoples names. Markus was thinking of something with a friend who's last name is Cabrera. The correlation between the Cabrera name is that his father own a plantation in the Dominican, and it's the Cabreras. Markus was actually on the subway one night mixing around these names and his last name is Vesella. So we combined the Vesella and Cabrera and came up with Cabrella! Who is J? That's my middle initial. Markus is very creative and he kind of does these things and he came up with this name and we thought is sounded great, that it sounded like a cigar, so we said, "lets use it"!

People come from as far as NYC and Rhode Island. The uniqueness of this building/business is the variety. The Art Gallery, Cigar Smoking Room which is available for our cigar club members, enables them to come in during the day and have a cigar. We have humidors that are custom made to specification. We try to do everything creative and custom in that respect to cater to the individual For instance, we made a humidor for a customer that was significant to the size of cigar she smokes, so it was custom made to her needs. Then we had mahogany unit with a heather flower lithograph that was put on humidor face. We've done a lot of antique pieces for people that were passed on down to them and covert them into humidors. Another interesting part of our business is that people come to us with pieces that "were their grandmothers, and they don't know what to do with it" so it's nice to recycle things and maintain some antique pieces.

We have our own private events for cigar tasting and wine tasting, We're actually opening our building to other functions; whether it be a political fund-raiser, a rehearsal dinner, private birthday parties, things of that nature. We're leaning towards that because we have a very interesting and unique building. Most people that walk in are in awe and are interested in the building. This is not just about the cigars or the art. It all kind of compliments each other. Our plan is to market the use of the building as a function hall as a unique aspect of J. Cabrella. We also have Uncle Sam cigar cuff links in sterling silver made by Hummingbird Designs, located on Third Street. We took our Uncle Sam cigar label and they made it.

Cigars: Dominican republic and Nicaragua.

Humidors: All are made in the United States. Actually, right now 100% in Troy!!

Art: Is all local artists. Anytime I feature any work, the priority is that it's local artists.

Antiques: Are a collaboration of many place but I've purchased a lot of the antiques here from Historic Home Supply.

For the experienced cigar aficionado, the Bahia Cigar. That is a Dominican Cigar with and Ecuadorian wrapper. It's a very mild, a very smooth smoke. The owner, Tony Barhani has commissioned us as the only distributor in the area for his cigars. There are three styles, the Torpedo $9, the Robusto $8, the Esplendido $6.50. They all also come in a darker wrapper leaf "Maduro" cigar.

As for the novice, I would recommend our own label, the Uncle Sam Cigar, $5 for all styles. It's a very mild, well burning cigar. It is manufactured in the Dominican Republic with a Connecticut wrapper. It was actually reviewed in the winter issue of National Smoke Magazine and it got a very high rating.

In cigars it's the Avo and the Fuente. All the art work is very unique with much diversity in what I get. Each work is unique in nature and I can appreciate all of them. The humidors I tend to like are the ones we manufacture that have really great lines. Typically, humidors are just boxes, but I like to create units that have more design to them whether it be like columns or claw feet.

Architecturally I love Troy. Coming from a business standpoint, I feel that things are changing and I hope that will be moving in the right direction. At what pace, I wouldn't considerate a very rapid pace, but I do feel that there is some kind of upswing movement going on. But it's going to take time. It's not like an industry right now that's really booming. Businesses have to really stick it out.

There's so much opportunity here with being on the Hudson River and aesthetically. There's so much that can be done. I hope that people will take part in things like this and maybe do things like we've done as far as putting the time and effort into actually restoring a building that should be restored. We certainly hope that the difference will be a factor with time.

To reiterate, I think things are on an upward swing and we've only been here six months as a retailer. Once people come into the city and are exposed to what's happening, they like it. I think we just need more people to enhance that and further it along. If that happens, people will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome. But I can definitely see the difference, even from six months ago to now. There's definitely a buzz as far as the art world, a lot of creative things happening over on River Street, such as JB Designs an upholstery business and a couple new antique businesses have come into town.

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