The Humidour smoke shop keeps it all in the family

(Patch) In 1997, Jim Pecunes was still working full-time as a Realtor in the Cockeysville area when his son, Ben, a commercial painter, asked him to be the third partner in a new cigar store Ben and a friend from Annapolis were opening up on Padonia Road. “They just wanted me for my money,” Pecunes jokes. But after Ben’s wife died of breast cancer at age 30 and his Annapolis partner jumped ship, Pecunes was thrown into running a store, The Humidour, that catered to a clientele and he knew virtually nothing about in an industry he knew virtually nothing about. Continued

Photo: "Pride of Columbus" Tobacco label showing Native American presenting Christopher Columbus with a sheaf of tobacco leaves; three monkeys, a dog, and a rabbit are smoking on a branch above, circa 1866 (Library of Congress).