The drive from Nashville to Chattanooga takes about two hours, give or take whether you decide to stop in Manchester for gas or push through. On a Saturday in late April, with the windows down and the dogwoods finishing their bloom, it’s two hours that doesn’t feel like work. I make this drive three or four times a year, and a stop at Burns Tobacconist is always the reason.
Lounge culture in middle Tennessee is alive in a way that surprises people from out of state. Nashville has more cigar shops per capita than you’d expect, and Chattanooga punches well above its weight. Burns has been at the center of Chattanooga’s cigar scene for as long as anyone seems to remember, and walking through the door is one of those experiences that reminds you cigars are about more than tobacco.