TPE - Tobacco Plus Expo 2020

Paul Copeland
Co-Owner
Shore Thing Cigars


Paul Copeland has been serving and loving the premium cigar industry since 2012. He began his cigar retail career in Nashville, TN by taking a failing cigar shop and turning it into the most successful and most awarded store in town. This was not only accomplished by changing staff and inventory, by creating a cigar culture and environment that Nashville had not seen.

In 2016, Paul and his close friend, Luke Bryan, opened up Shore Thing Cigars located on Florida’s Beautiful Emerald Coast in Watersound, FL. He found an opportunity in that market to create an environment that was clean and chic as well as a place that would be unlike any other store in the country. He refers to it as a lifestyle lounge. He visits and touches the store and its operations daily to ensure that it is held to his very high standards of look, smell, feel, and sound.

Paul has served as President of the Tennessee Tobacco Association. He has also earned two Davidoff Golden Band Awards. One for Best Merchandising and one as Davidoff Appointed Merchant of the Year. He has spent over 7 weeks in cigar fields and factories and has worked with rollers and manufactures to create over 9 blends for cigars, three of which have become private label cigar for his stores.

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