Business
BY KAREN CHANEY
Viso Cigars sells a variety of cigars in McKinney.
Viso Cigars hosts educational events in the humidor.
Austin Meyer co-owns Viso Cigars with his parents Jenn and Chris Meyer.
PHOTOS BY KAREN CHANEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
Cigars spark camaraderie at Viso Cigars in McKinney
Business owner Austin Meyer said rst-time cus- tomers visit Viso Cigars in McKinney to buy cigars but what keeps them coming back goes beyond a transaction. “When you sit down [in our lounge] with a cigar for an hour and a half, that’s when you really get to dig into your life,” Meyer said. “We’re sitting down with you for an extended period of time where the main focus is conversation—something that I don’t think is commonplace anymore.” Meyer opened Viso Cigars in 2022 with his parents and McKinney residents Chris and Jenn Meyer. The set up Meyer said the shop o ers a boutique cigar selection in that the majority of the cigar brands sold have only been around since 2010. “I learned to support those smaller brands and build a community of people that share the love of the leaf and boutique cigars,” Meyer said. Their top selling cigars are from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Top brands include Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and Foundation Cigar Company, Meyer said In April 2025, Viso Cigars launched their own cigar—Viso Original Blend—which is a blend Austin and Chris Meyer curated. The blend features a Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper aged for three years and aged llers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.
What else? Meyer hosts a weekly Humidor Discovery Night where he elds cigar-centric questions. People who have never smoked a cigar often ask “Do we inhale?” The answer is no, he said. “Then Mrs. Jones might ask, “What’s the point?” To which I might answer: ‘The point is to sit back and relax for an hour,’” Meyer said. The backstory Meyers grew up watching his parents own and operate small businesses, including Walls of Clay in downtown McKinney. In college, friends intro- duced him to cigars and the community around them. After graduating, he worked at a local cigar lounge, deepening his interest in the industry. “I’ve jumped around a lot in my life for di erent hobbies, and I think [my parents] were waiting for me to nd something I was really passionate about,” he said. “It turned out that it was cigars.” Chris and Jenn Meyer asked their son if he would like to start his own cigar lounge and he said he would like to do so with their help. “I feel like this is my legacy of turning him into the next generation of entrepreneurship and letting him be his own boss,” Jenn Meyer said. “As the business grows, I take less of a role, he takes more of a role, and that’s just a proud moment.”
The business’ bespoke cigar blend is named The O.B.
Cigars from the Dominican Republic are sold.
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VIRGINIA PKWY.
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1521 N. Custer Road, Ste. 2850, McKinney www.visocigars.com
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MCKINNEY EDITION
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