The Sanctuary Tobacco Shop

This is a great, legitimate, cigar, pipe and tobacco shop. There isn’t a hookah or vapes anywhere inside! Doug carries a very well chosen selection of cigars. If you’re a pipe smoker, you’ll feel right at home. The Sanctuary carries a wonderful selection of blends, a few of their own creation. Best of all, guys, it’s an excellent place to pass the time in their smoking area while your other half shops away.

Great little tobacco shop. Friendly and knowledge staff and regulars. Smallish selection but the cigars are all very well picked out. All excellent cigars. Cosy lounge to enjoy a cigar.

I’m not deployed in the desert anymore, but still to far away to visit regularly on Thursday nights. But have made a half state drive recently to stop by and say hi.
Best night to stop by is Thursday, always a good group of folks to chat with.
(sure it’s pricey to buy tobacco in CA, but it’s a great place to enjoy a stick, and a great local business to support)

Great selection of cigars and pipe tobacco … A lot more fun shopping for my husband. They have a custom brand called a Tolosa that I’ve had before and purchased again today. A really nice and smooth cigar at a very reasonable price. The owner is very helpful. I haven’t been up stairs to the smoking lounge area but it looks nice.

Finally somewhere I can buy and burn my cigars. Something about smoking inside makes me feel I’m cheating the system! Now the trees won’t get cancer!

I was told about The Sanctuary by the fine fellows at Santa Barbara Cigar the week before. I didn’t even know The Sanctuary existed! Was there last night, and was thrilled to find a *real* tobacconist fairly near me.
Great selection of pipes, custom-​blended pipe tobacco (will dive into that next time – I’m stocked up for the moment), and a decent-​sized walk in humidor with a nice selection of sticks. Prices are in-​line with most brick and mortar stores.
The owner was friendly and helpful, and I headed up the stairway to the small smoking loft. It’s pretty cramped yet cozy, but to even FIND a place like this in neo-​fascist-​smoking-​attitude SLO was amazing. Chatted with a couple of knowledgeable smokers about this, that, and cigars. Great experience.
After my tasty stick was finished, my lady and I went next door to the restaurant’s patio where they allow some fresh-​air drinking, dining, and partaking. Farmer’s market for tomatoes and Jaffa Café for some tasty shawarma.
Yep, it was a good day. And I’ll be back. Oh yes, I’ll be back!

You know, I don’t know how many college students this shop gets, but when I asked for Doug and told him how I was interested in smoking cigars but knew nothing about them, he took me into his cigar display in the corner and really impressed me. Just Doug and I and hundreds of cigars. Once he closed the sliding glass door it was like nothing else mattered except the knowledge of cigars. He is very friendly, extremely knowledgeable and knows exactly the right cigar for each person. He’s kinda like Olivander the wand maker in Harry Potter– knows what suits people.
The Sanctuary is cozy. Small but the inventory is quite large and impressive. I’m not a smoker at all so a lot of the other things didn’t interest me. But I did notice very beautiful pipes and heard that he has some of the best pipe tobacco in his shop. Not to mention, there’s a kind of get together every Sunday evening where the guys just hang out and smoke cigars in the shop. Pretty cool.
I’d say that of course the cigars are a bit pricier, but with Doug, he offered me several cigars for the beginner and a comfortable price range for each one.
Always friendly and smiling, this is «the spot.» Thanks Doug.

Doug is the best and the cigar shop is a perfect if you need a 3 hour vacation. The selection is great, prices are fair and if there is ever a problem I know doug will take care of it. If you’re from out of town, ask to look upstairs (local favorite place to chill).

Very nice. Always a friendly welcome and they’re willing to answer questions. The selection rotates and they don’t always have my favorites, but they know their stuff and generally give me good suggestions for replacements.
One very raining day during the Christmas shopping season of last year, I found myself sharing the place with about half a dozens guys who were «shopping» with their wives. That is, the ladies were out shopping and the guys were enjoying sticks.

The owner Doug is really knowledgeable about what he sells. I mainly go there for pipes and pipe tobacco. Some if not the best in America. He is great business man and just the friendliness enough would make me want to drive hours to go there. The place really is a sanctuary for those who want to break away and enjoy a smoke. He has a loft that you can smoke in that is really awesome. A must for people who enjoy smoking

Stopped by this place while on business in the area. The selection was decent, and prices were about average (thanks to Mr Obama’s cigar tax jacking the prices up).
The owner was super friendly, as were the 3 or 4 patrons that were enjoying a stogie in the lobby together. They invited us back for cigars during the Thursday street fair, and invited us to bring our own booze too. I’ll be intown for a bit, and I just might take him up on that offer…

Used to go to this tobacco shop when I lived in SLO. Great selection and the owner was a really cool guy. He was into cigars and stuff but wasn’t a total snob about it.

decent selection of cigars that rotates, but they’ve always got padrons and fuentes. they no longer carry my favorite lines, but they’ve still got a nice selection and the owner (doug) is kind and helpful. the prices aren’t the cheapest, but we live in california, people… you’ll pay for it in tobacco taxes.
every so often, i see people come in and ask for a cuban cigar as a gift. people, cubans are illegal… the cigars, not the people. get a nicaraguan.