GIRARD -- Dr. Phil Accordino has been around cigars most of his life. He worked at a cigar

GIRARD -- Dr. Phil Accordino has been around cigars most of his life. He worked at a cigar wholesaler as a teen attending Niles McKinley High School and frequently hung out at his uncle's cigar shop in downtown Girard.
When Accordino's uncle decided to retire seven years ago, Accordino and his wife bought the business, Cordy's The Cigar Box.
Accordino, a 1999 and 2001 national champ in competitive powerlifting, said he and his wife used to own two gyms in the '80s but sold them because they were too time-intensive.
A chiropractor for 23 years with offices in Ravenna and Niles, Accordino acknowledged that a doctor's owning a cigar shop may seem like an odd situation. He argued that cigar smoking isn't as harmful as cigarette smoking.
"Cigar smokers don't crave a cigar; it's everything associated with smoking cigars -- the ritual of sitting down and cutting a cigar and lighting it and sipping on your wine or coffee after dinner," he said. "I can go weeks and weeks without a cigar and I don't really miss it, but I miss being able to sit back and relax."
A place to socialize
Accordino said his store, which sells cigars, cigar accessories, and nonalcoholic beverages and coffee, is a place where customers relax and socialize, much like the atmosphere of his uncle's store back in the '80s.
All the judges, the lawyers, the doctors, the politicians used to come in there. They would sit around and talk, and I would learn what was wrong with the world and how to solve all the problems," he said, laughing.
Accordino said the biggest challenge when first starting was surviving in an area that's oversaturated with cigar stores.
He said the Youngstown area has an atypically large number of cigar stores compared with the national average.
To meet this challenge, the Accordinos branched out into wholesale sales.
Accordino said the wholesale branch of their operation now accounts for 70 percent to 80 percent of their business.
"There's a real niche there because the manufacturers don't want to deal with small operations. Manufacturers demand that stores have so many open boxes of their product displayed, and most little stores can't meet those standards, so they have to have suppliers, and we fill that need," he said.
Internet sales are also a boon to his business, said Accordino. People who live in states with high taxes on tobacco and alcohol often buy cigars online from businesses in other states to avoid the tax.