Stogie Mountain Cigars brings brick-and-mortar location to Johnson City, Tennessee

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Stogie Mountain Cigars brings brick-and-mortar location to Johnson City, Tennessee

By OLIVIA PERRY [email protected] - Jul 2, 2025 

Stogie Mountain Cigar Lounge's storefront is located at the Peggy Ann Bakery building in Johnson City. A mural is in the process of being painted on the side. By OLIVIA PERRY [email protected] 

The relaxation and leisure of smoking a cigar brought together the dream of owning a brick-and-mortar cigar lounge.

Dianne and Kevin Flett, co-owners of Stogie Mountain Cigars, are in the process of making their dream a reality. The storefront they selected for their lounge is the previous Peggy Ann Bakery building, located at 803 W. Walnut St., and will offer customers a variety of cigars to choose and smoke, a lounge to relax, a beer and wine bar and homemade hors d'oeuvres.

Kevin (left) and his wife, Dianne Flett (right), are the co-owners of Stogie Mountain Cigars. By OLIVIA PERRY [email protected] 

However, while the location is new, their start with their business began after they moved to Johnson City almost three years ago, with Kevin preparing to retire and Dianne coming up with a business plan based on her husband’s enjoyment of smoking a cigar.

“I said (to Kevin), ‘So, what are you going to do with yourself?’” said Dianne. “I said ‘You’re not going to sit on the couch, you’re going to do something, but do something different.’ And he’s sitting there, smoking a nice cigar, just kind of relaxing–it’s what he does when he relaxes–and he said, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘You like those cigars?’ and he goes, ‘Yeah.’ He’s always had a little key interest in a nice cigar, and how they should be appreciated and enjoyed. And I said, ‘Well, how about I come up with something for selling cigars?’ So, I put together an idea.”

In 2023, this idea morphed into the first rendition of Stogie Mountain Cigars: an enclosed travel trailer that got its start within Johnson City, setting up at local restaurants such as Burg'r and Barrel and Tulips Grub and Pub. Kevin and Dianne said the business really caught its stride when he attended his first NASCAR event in Bristol, which led to the trailer traveling to different events across states.

For the next couple of years, the events helped to establish the business’s name, and Dianne said she and Kevin agreed it was time to take the next step and open Stogie Mountain in an official location.

“I told my husband I think the natural progression of this business is a brick-and-mortar,” Dianne said. “Everyone knows Stogie Mountain Cigars now–we’re a name people are familiar with. A lot of people have been asking…so we built on that idea, and we started looking for a location.”

The duo said the selection of the building happened by chance while they were out dining in downtown Johnson City. It was shortly after they signed the lease for the building in March, solidifying the first brick-and-mortar storefront for the business.

Stogie Mountain Cigars started as a travel trailer business, setting up in downtown Johnson City for people to enjoy before traveling across states to grow the business. Pictured here is when the trailer was set up in front of The Label restaurant in downtown. CONTRIBUTED 

“We were out for dinner at the Red Meze, and the lady that owns the Red Meze owned this building,” Kevin said. “She overheard our conversation and she got as excited as we are about owning this business.”

“She was just as excited,” Dianne added with a smile. “She said ‘I love cigars, I have a building!’”

Due to the building being a bakery, Dianne and Kevin said there were some renovations that had to be made to the 3,000 square-foot space. Dianne said most of what had been done was cosmetic, such as painting, taking out some of the old equipment from the bakery and knocking out a few walls to open up more space.

Despite the work being completed in the building, the couple hopes to have a soft opening to the public in the fall, with a grand opening date tentatively set for November.

“We’re hoping to open late September, if all goes well,” Dianne said.

“We got all our ducks in a row with the city, beer and wine (license) is going to take a little while, but we don’t want to open until we’re 100% ready to go,” said Kevin.

Dianne said their business was set apart because of the experience it offers to customers who purchase a cigar, as well as the relaxing environment it will provide for people to smoke in.

Inside the trailer holds cigars and their correlating boxes for customers to browse and choose from. CONTRIBUTED 

“We create an experience to how to properly learn the etiquette of smoking a cigar,” Dianne said. “That’s what sets us apart from anyone else, and we’ve been told this from customers, like ‘Wow, we’ve never ever had anyone show us how to do this when you go into a cigar place or a cigar lounge.’ That’s what we want to do–we want to give that personal service and create that environment.”

“I really want Dianne to create a relaxing atmosphere here,” Kevin added. “Not an in-and-out atmosphere.”

With Stogie Mountain Cigars bringing both a new vibe and option for customers to enjoy, Dianne and Kevin said they were eager to make a lasting impression in Johnson City, wanting to become “part of the fabric” that brings the district together by offering a leisure environment for veteran cigar-appreciators and new customers willing to experience the craft.

“I’m going to do one hell of a job," Dianne said with a grin. "I’m going to make sure when they come in, they’re going to want to come back.”

“She’s going to do the job to this brick-and-mortar that I did to the travel trailer,” Kevin added.

Source: https://www.timesnews.net/news/appalachian-highlands/stogie-mountain-cigars-brings-brick-and-mortar-location-to-jc/article_a7fb164f-503b-5fd1-942a-172b54d6af57.html