Where there's drinking, there's likely to be some smoking — so it should not be surprising to find a cigar pop-up at the World Rugby Classic.

Churchill’s Ltd, whose flagship St George's store boasts the town’s lone humidor, is back at the event this year, offering a wide selection of cigars, tobacco products and accessories.

For owner Alfonso Harris, it's a return to familiar territory after a break since the pandemic.

“We’ve done it in the past,” said Mr Harris, while posted up on the Frog Lane side of National Sports Centre’s North Field. “I haven't done it in the last couple of years since the pandemic. But yeah, we did it for years, for a long time.”

Business, he intimated, tends to build as the tournament goes on.

“The locals don't buy as many cigars as they should, but they tend to celebrate as the event goes on and as it gets to the last day, then everybody’s smoking cigars, or they say they are anyway,” he said. “We have cigarettes and stuff like that. It's just another service to provide.”

He is hopeful the Classic will draw the right kind of crowd, and that is what he is banking on, though he admits it can be hit or miss.

“We try to position — to locate ourselves so that everybody can partake,” he said. “We're a little blocked off by the set-up of the corporate tents in that not everybody — vendors — can go over there, but it's OK, it's what we bought into.”

What he is offering is a lot more than just a quick smoke. At the top of the list are Bermuda cigars, hand-rolled locally by Grant Kennedy.

“He does them near the Clock Tower in Dockyard at the craft market, and they run from mild to fuller flavours,” Mr Harris said. “We have them infused with bourbon, Hennessy, and rum — the local guy uses Black Seal Rum.”

Alongside them are the big three of the cigar world — Cuban, Dominican and Nicaraguan cigars.

“It’s been harder to get Cuban cigars lately because of what’s happened in the world,” Mr Harris said. “So that's made us expand to different Dominican cigars, which has benefited us because you can’t get either one in the States. That's where most of our clients come from.”

Churchill’s itself has been a St George's institution for almost 30 years. “I took it over in 2004. But I think we’ve been going since 1996,” Harris said. “We have the only walk-in humidor in St George’s at our 7 York Street location, at the moment, which was one of the reasons I bought it, because when I took over, there was a designated cruise ship coming to St George’s.

“Cruise passengers love the cigars, so I was like, ‘Oh, OK, here we go.’ I got to learn about the cigars, and here we are.”

So far at the Classic, business has been steady rather than spectacular, but he is not complaining and adds that the important ting is to “give it a shot”.

For Harris, that is the point of the pop-up — not just the sales at North Field, but putting Churchill’s in front of new faces who might later make their way down to York Street. If the last day is anything like years past, plenty of them will be doing it with a cigar in hand.