The Country Squire was opened in August of 1970 by Jim and Gwen Reeves and has been a tradition for many families for over 50 years. Mr. and Mrs. Reeves worked to create a pipe and cigar experience that offered the finest smoking products and accessories for the sophisticated enthusiast. Regulars in the shop included Mississippi personalities Jerry Clower and Willie Morris and countless state politicians, professional athletes, authors, and the occasional actor. But the most important of them to me is my dad, John W. Smith Jr., who has been their customer since the 70s.
Once my parents married, stopping to “get tobacco” was a routine for Mom. I have vivid memories as a child tagging along to get Daddy’s “pound of Cherokee.” A tobacco order that has stayed the same for my dad in five decades.
Jim Reeves passed away in the early 1980s, and I never got the chance to meet him. But Mrs. Reeves stepped up to run the business faithfully for another three decades. At the height of the business, there were four locations, but eventually, they condensed down to one on Lakeland Drive.
As a little girl, Mrs. Reeves was a mysterious woman. I can still see her, slender in stature, standing by the counter in the dimly lit store. Maybe now I realize that was the haze of customers enjoying a cigar or trying a new pipe.
Mrs. Reeves lived in what appeared to be a man’s world (at the time) but managed to do it with class and grace. When I was old enough to know her name, she was slow in motion, soft-spoken, and always welcoming.
When Mrs. Reeves saw Mom and I walk in, she’d smile and say, “A pound of Cherokee?”
Mom would nod, and off she shuffled to take it off a shelf, measure it out on a scale as old as the shop, package it, and send us on our way.
Eventually, I began driving, off to college, married, living away, and forgot about the routine trips to the tobacco store. Over the years, Dad has worked to decrease his smoking and went to more economical tobacco.
Mrs. Reeves died in 2012, leaving the shop to her daughter, Kim Owen. Kim Owen began transforming The Country Squire into a modern tobacconist without losing its quirks and charm.
In 2016, The Country Squire manager Jon David Cole purchased the business. Trained by Mrs. Reeves herself, Jon David is devoted to carrying on the legacy and tradition of this Southern institution. Cole has a talented staff of Certified Retail Tobacconists who work to continue the tradition of hand-blending high-quality tobaccos and carrying the latest and best premium tobacco products, including the world’s finest cigars.
Reaching beyond the shop’s walls, the Country Squire Radio Podcast connects smokers abroad to this unique Mississippi institution’s charm, sophistication, and story.
Today, I enjoy the trip to The Country Squire to get Daddy a pound of Cherokee on special occasions as a treat and a trip down memory lane.
After all these years, the door sounds the same as it swings open, and a tiny bell rings. There’s still a mysterious haze of smoke in the air and customers sitting, taking in the company or the day.
And while Mrs. Reeves isn’t there to greet me, friendly faces are still using that same old scale, getting well-kept loose tobacco off the same shelf to fulfill a five-decade order for our family.
A lot has changed, but the quirks are the same. And a pound of Cherokee will always smell like my childhood.
Mrs. Reeves used to tell me that pipe smokers live longer because they take time to sit and contemplate essential things.
I don’t know if that’s true, but pipe enthusiasts regularly make unique plans to visit the shop, sometimes visiting from as far as Europe and Asia. Luckily, I don’t have to travel that far to get to the Country Squire, and I look forward to popping in on occasion for a fresh pound of Cherokee.
*Photos courtesy of Rebecca Turner
