For the past 15 years, toasty whiffs of natural smoke would puff out a tiny shop on East Gun Hill Road in Norwood, emitting an acquired scent.

If customers look behind the store’s window pane, a quad of workers carefully roll brown thick cigars. In front of them, a row of brown lounge chairs are available for the casual smoker looking to sit and reflect as they inhale sweet tobacco.

“A cigar is meant to relax yourself,” said Francisco Rosario, owner of Rosario’s Cigars LLC.

Rosario’s family-operated shop is a true family collaboration in every sense of the word. He employs his brothers and cousins who know the art of hand rolling cigars. Rosario, looked upon as the family patriarch, has also displayed reverence to relatives. He’s named one of his cigars “Grandfather” in honor of his grandfather. He also has a cigar named “Mrs. Maria,” after his wife, Maria, who doubles as his business partner. His reverence for family also translates towards his clients.

“I see the client like family,” said Rosario.

The shop is one of 14 in the Bronx, though it pegs itself to be one of the few cigar shops where its cigars solely originate from the Dominican Republic, from where Rosario hails. Rosario, 56, is not only the owner, but the store’s quality assurance representative.

“It’s like being a chef,” said Rosario, of the cigar making process. “If the food doesn’t taste good, you’re not going to make it again.”

Though the store’s been in Norwood for 15 years, cigar making has run in the family for nearly a century, still hearkening back to Tamboril, Dominican Republic. It’s home to the family’s tobacco farm, where raw materials for the store’s handmade cigars are grown and imported.

Imparting Rosario with the art of hand rolling cigars came from his mother, Sejida Altagracia Rosario, and his grandfather, Ramon Rosario. When he arrived to the United States, the younger Rosario worked at a cigar shop in Belmont as he saved money to open his own store.

Clients even include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Rosario quickly pointed out a framed photo of him and Giuliani holding cigars), Congressman Jose Serrano and actor Chuck Norris. He’s even the unofficial cigar man for members of the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct.

The store sells more than 100 cigar brands with prices that range from $5 for cheaper brands to $16 for top shelf choices such as El Sueno Don Francisco #1.

“When I make a cigar, I see it in my hand and in my heart,” said Rosario.

Rosario’s Cigars is located at 323 E. Gun Hill Road. He has another store in the Castleton Corners section of Staten Island.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.