Founded in 1984, the Briar Patch quickly became and remains northern California's premier smoke shop. We have the finest name brands in cigars, pipes, tobaccos, lighters and other accessories. Our knowledgeable employees are known for their friendliness and desire to provide the highest level of service in our industry. The Briar Patch is an Authorized Alfred Dunhill dealer and a Davidoff Appointed Merchant. We are also an authorized dealer for ST Dupont and Rosenthal. The Briar Patch carries over 300 different cigars. Cigar brands include Davidoff, Arturo Fuente, Diamond Crown, Padron, Paul Garmarian, Cohiba, Partagas, La Aroma de Cuba, Graycliff, CAO, Macanudo, Griffin, La Aurora, Cuesta Rey, Punch, Dunhill, AVO, Ashton, Don Diego, Hoyo de Monterrey, Perdomo, ST Dupont, Torano, Zino and many others. We stock nearly 100 of the finest bulk tobaccos available, many of which are our own blends. The finest names in pipes are available at the Briar Patch. Some of these include Alfred Dunhill, Baldo Baldi, Caminetto, Castello, Don Carlos, Ser Jacopo, Bjarne, Ferndown, Former, Joura, Peterson, Savinelli, Tsuge, Design Berlin, Karl Erik, and Wiley. We will provide you expert assistance in selecting the right pipe for you. Our lines of lighters include Alfred Dunhill, Davidoff, S.T. Dupont, Corona, Porsche Design, Lotus and Zippo. We carry the best lines of humidors and other accessories including Alfred Dunhill, Davidoff, Diamond Crown and Savinelli. We are also very proud to carry fine writing instruments, including pens from S.T. Dupont, Davidoff, Dunhill and Visconti.  Policies  Newsletters February 2007 April 2006 | February 2006 September 2005 | February 2005 July 2004 | February 2004 September 2003 | May 2003 September 2002 Personnel Meet Ron Michelson Ron grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Northern Arizona University, graduating with a degree in Business Management in 1970. Ron smoked his first cigar at the Circus when he was 14. Returning home with a fever of 103 degrees, you can imagine it was a while before he had his second. He began smoking pipes while a freshman at college. For most of his career, Ron worked in the computer software industry in positions ranging from software development to sales and sales management. After helping build two dot com startups in Silicon Valley, Ron decided it was time to move to a lower stress environment. He, his wife Jeri and daughter Lauren moved to Sacramento in 2001, purchasing the Briar Patch in early 2002. Ron has a collection of about 70 pipes. His favorites include several Dunhills, Jouras, Formers and a couple of Castellos. He smokes mainly aromatic tobaccos. Ron's favorite cigar is the Davidoff Special T. Meet Greg Scharon Greg has been an employee of the Briar Patch for over thirteen years. He managed to survive two owners and trained the third. Prior to joining the Briar Patch, Greg spent 29 years in the US Air Force as a Pilot and Navigator. He retired as a Lt. Colonel. Believe it or not, working for the Briar Patch is Greg's second job. Greg began smoking pipes and cigars over 30 years ago. His level of expertise on both is unsurpassed. If you have any questions on cigars or pipe smoking, Greg will be happy to assist you. Meet Chris VanBuskirk Chris is very knowledgeable about pipes, tobaccos and cigars. Chris was given his first pipe when he was 18. Since then he has collected over 30 fine pipes. His favorites are his Alfred Dunhill churchwarden and his S Bang. Chris graduated from high school in 1995, having played varsity basketball and soccer. He has been attending college ever since, inching his way to a teaching degree. Chris began working for one of our competitors in 1998. After two years, he saw the error in his ways and joined the Briar Patch. He's been with us ever since, becoming a full time employee after four years with us. Chris was recently appointed to the position of Store Manager. In the thirteen years Chris has been smoking pipes and cigars, he has become quite an expert. He smokes aromatic and English blends and is intimately acquainted with our line. Chris is also an avid cigar smoker. He has smoked nearly every cigar we have in our humidor, so he can help you select the best cigars for you. His current personal favorites are the Davidoff Double R, Padron Anniversario, Diamond Crown and AVO Maduro. Meet Sean Soares Sean grew up in beautiful Los Banos, California. He is currently enrolled at the University of California, Davis majoring in Biological Anthropology. Sean is hoping to graduate sometime before 2015. Sean has been smoking pipes for about ten years. In this time he has learned enough to qualify as an expert on pipes and English blend tobaccos. His favorite tobaccos are Penzance and Navigator (a Briar Patch blend he helped develop). Sean can be found in the Briar Patch smoking a straight pipe. He has a very nice collection of older GBDs, Castello, Charatan, Dunhill, Hedegarrd and Tinsky pipes. Sean should be able to answer most any question on either pipes or English tobaccos. Meet Peter Kagstrom Intelligent. Good Looking. Hard Working. Witty. That's enough about his wife. Peter began smoking a pipe at age 18 when he marched into the Briar Patch and bought a Bjarne pipe and some W. O. Larsen Signature tobacco to get him started. A collection of pipes along with a love for all things tobacco soon followed. Some of his hobbies include playing with computers, playing music, and general playing. He loves working at the Briar Patch and learns something new every day. Some cigars you can see him smoking at the shop are the Graycliff Professional, Padilla Series 68, Davidoff 3000, and San Cristobal. In between cigars, he enjoys smoking Dark Twist, Penzance, Kingfisher, and Dark Star out of his growing collection of pipes. Meet Justin Meshew Justin grew up in the very un-scenic Lodi, California, amidst the many grape vineyards that are sprinkled through the area. Quickly growing bored of the small town, he got a job working at Tower Records, where he spent the next 11 years, moving up and down the west coast. While working at Tower's Bellevue, Washington location, Justin smoked his first cigar at a friend's wedding. Being a novice at the time, he soon discovered that inhaling cigar smoke after several glasses of champagne, was not a good decision. Undeterred by the incident, he fell in love with cigars and has been smoking them ever since. A few of his favorites are the Graycliff Espresso, Davidoff's Double R, Ashton Maduro, and the AVO Maduro. Justin hasn't been smoking a pipe quite as long, but has acquired quite a collection in the last couple of years. Justin started out with a Bjarne pipe, and some Da Vinci tobacco. Once again, he found himself hooked on the wonderful hobby. You can come into the Briar Patch and find him smoking one of his many Dunhill pipes, or maybe even his meerschaum. Justin is a fan of most English Blends, but his favorites are Penzance, London Blend, and Kingfisher (which is actually a Virginia). When it comes to aromatics, you might find him smoking W.O. Larsen's Signature blend, Da Vinci, or the Briar Patch's own Yosemite blend. Stop in and say hi, he loves to talk about pipes, tobacco, cigars, comic books, music and the paranormal. He was recently appointed Assistant Manager.