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THE 4-1-1
Stay tuned for information about upcoming Los Caídos events in Illinois by emailing info@beachhousecigars.com or by logging on to BeachHouseCigars.com.
46 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ APRIL 2016
Puff f offic s passed
Los Caidos cigars providing support for fallen officers
n BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
There’s just something about a cop with a cigar, and Steve Zengel thinks he knows why.
“There’s a very calming effect to enjoying a cigar,” he describes. “When you are a police officer who is putting your life on the line, some days you just want to relax with a good drink and a cigar at the end of the day. You can go into a smoke shop among people with whom you only have the similarity of cigars and just let it all off. People don’t bring their B.S. into a cigar shop.”
In addition to being a refuge for cops who need to put the day behind them, Zengel’s Manasquan, New Jersey-based Beach House Cigars has been providing cigars for fundraisers at law enforcement outings for years. In fact, Zengel has had plenty of run-ins with law enforcement – often be- fore the cops even have joined the force.
Throughout his career as an educator that began in 1993, Zengel had the opportunity to teach kids who would go on to work in law enforcement. So in January 2011, when Lakewood, New Jersey, Officer Christopher Matlosz was shot and killed in the line of duty, it hit home.
“We discussed the ‘what if?’” Zengel said about a momentous conversa- tion with members of his hometown New Jersey police union some time after Matlosz’s death. “Then we discussed (NJ State Trooper) Marc Cas- tellano, who died after being hit by a car (in 2010). Officer Castellano did have a family – a wife and two children. These discussions prompted me to do something. It made me realize what’s left behind when someone so young is lost in the line of duty. They think their pension will carry on but it doesn’t. I wanted to give back but I didn’t know how.”
With the advice of a former student and now good friend Matt Catania, who owns a number of Jersey Mike’s Subs franchises and who uses the restaurants to give back to the community, Zengel realized the answer had been rolled up right in front of him the whole time.
“That was the spark to the decision to give back through cigars,” Zengel recalled, quickly pondering what to call his new endeavor.
After discovering that his first choice – “The Badge” – was taken, he went to Google and started searching for words that would highlight the sup- port for law enforcement – and those lost in the line of duty. He eventually landed on “Los Caidos,” Spanish for “The Fallen,” and made the decision to donate a percentage of sales to family members of fallen law enforcement officers nationwide.
Armed with a strong name and a respectful label design: simple yet pow- erful imagery of a black band across a thin blue line, Zengel set off to pick the perfect cigar to match his bold idea.
He landed at the HalfWheel.com 2015 factory of the year winner Casa