Businesses, NBA champion’s cigar the feature at Niles shop

NILES, Ohio (WKBN) — Havana House in Niles was a hub of small business with a special guest Friday night.

Since last January, Havana House has held “Vice Passport Pairings,” which features a cigar and brewery. Friday night’s feature was Birdfish Brewing Company.

The cigar is called “Underrated,” the creation of NBA Champion Ron Harper and Luciano Cigars. It launched three months ago but at first Harper didn’t attach his name to it — but on Friday, he and the man who helped him make it showed their faces.

“We wanted people to fall in love with the cigar, that’s what [Harper] wanted, and we decided to follow that marketing strategy, it went pretty well,” said Luciano Meirelles, co-founder of Luciano Cigars.

The name “Underrated” is tied to Harper’s rise to the NBA.

“We didn’t want a celebrity cigar, we wanted a good cigar,” Harper said. “Now the word is out, it’s selling good and we’re just having a good time going to events.”

Also there: Matt Skeen played music, and Boards by Angelica, a local charcuterie board business, was featured.

For the owner, it’s all about promoting and working with small businesses.

“My kind of ethos is to bring small business together for the community and bring the community together for small business. I think that’s very important, so I like to collaborate with and team up with local artists, local breweries, local wineries,” said Tony Bellato, owner of Havana House in Niles.

Art by Hector Gonzalez was also for sale.

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