NEW SMOKE SHOP DEBUTS IN MURRIETA
 

Murrieta, CA - Located in the strip mall shopping center eastside of Margarita and Hot Springs Roads that has a Jack-in-the-Box and the upscale Evolution Gym, is a new smoke shop named SMOKE + GIFTS, look for the neon sign. The store layout is broad and open for the ‘shotgun styled’ store and the motif fits the uptown look of the neighboring merchants. Inside the store, it is stocked with the usual fare found in a smoke shop, except the usual fare here is trendy. Case in point: every store has cigarettes but this place has the trendy ones, the ones that aren’t made by the ‘suits’ and the machines. Also the same thing is true with flashlights and rolling papers, i.e., a 3” tall squat LED red alloy case light and transparent cigarette rolling papers. That’s right, Sports Fans, you can see what you are smoking. They are called ‘aLedinha’ and are from the Brazilian smoke culture. It seems changing their cars from gasoline wasn’t the only innovative thing the Brazilians have done lately.
Upon seeing such tasty wares, my eyes wandered back along the poster clad walls to where the highest concentration of ‘Bob Marley’ art hung and sure to Nelly, Hookah-Ville. With the usual ‘for tobacco use’ stickers as prescribed by law and city council tradition firmly in place, there was shelf after shelf of ‘glass’, hookahs, water-pipes, and bubblers. Some real works of art are available here. The total décor is tasteful and shopper friendly. It has neither the sexual side component like Dream Box, also Murrieta, CA, or the dark violence side you find at Innerworld (Oceanside, CA), which has now expanded into the next door store.
Pulling store owner Fredy (pronounced Freddy) aside, I asked him if he had any trouble getting a business license from the City (as Dream Box experienced) and he said ‘no’. “As long as I have up the tobacco signs I’m fine.” This is good news for those shopping for Christmas and looking for another outlet of unique utensils for the smoker you know, the smoker you love, or the smoker you want to impress. SMOKE + GIFTS (951-894-1282)