For cigar smokers in State College, downtown offers an abundance of specialty shops to choose from.

In the basement of 256 Calder Way lies D.C. Tobacco, formerly Tobacco Taverne.

Shoppers will find tobacco of a copious variety and a place to relax.

Several lawn chairs are laid out in the front of the store and toward the rear rest leather couches, which are occasionally occupied by owner Chad Glunt's small dogs.

An entire section of the room has been transformed into a humidor for keeping cigars fresh.

The smell of mixed flavors from glass jars full of tobacco line fills the store.

Glunt has noticed trends in the cigar industry. "The more popular things are flavored cigars and clove cigarettes," he said.

Although students are the ones who seem to purchase clove cigarettes, the market for cigars ranges. Women seem to be in favor of the flavored ones, Glunt said.

Scott Sussman (sophomore-secondary education), a customer at D.C. Tobacco, sees a rise in the popularity of cigars. It is due to exposure on TV and in magazines, he said. "It's definitely growing with college students," he said.

Another trend is the purchase of cheaper cigars of a higher quality.

Buyers have shifted toward a mid-priced cigar.

They are staying within the $3 to $5 range.

"It used to be people bought expensive cigars because they simply thought they were better," Glunt said.

Bill Reynolds, manager at Grahams Confectionery, 124 S. Allen St., inside Ben and Jerry's, agrees.

"I've always thought that the best cigars are better quality within medium price. I think that's what the market is right now," he said.

Smoke-n-Joes, 128 Locust Lane, is a café in the lower level of stores, next to College Pizza.

Described as "a cross between a '30s and '40s jazz club and Mediterranean café" by the owner Josh Dillard, Smoke-n-Joes offers a wide variety of cigars.

Dillard also sees the mid-ranged trend in buying. He said older people are buying the more expensive purchases, in the $10 to $300 range, but students stick mostly to the $1 to $10 cigars.

People buy cigars for the experience as opposed to just the value of the product, Dillard said.

"I personally find them to be a very satisfying escape," he said.

Some students agreed. "It doesn't matter the quality of cigars we buy. It's just a reason to gather. Actually, we call it 'old man time,' " smoker Ryan Stegman (freshman-industrial engineering) said.

He finds that smoking cigars is a time to sit around with friends, usually outside his dorm, and forget about classes and homework.

"Its kind of like the coffee house thing, except for guys," he said.