Puff for officers passed
Law enforcement supporter
creates cigars for Los Caídos
■ BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
There’s just something about a cop with a cigar, and Steve
Zengel thinks he knows why.
“There’s a very calming effect to enjoying a cigar,” he
describes. “When you are a law enforcement officer who is putting your life on the line, you just want to relax with a good drink
and a cigar at the end of the day. You can go into a smoke shop
among people with whom who you only have the similarity of
cigars and just let it all off. People don’t bring their B.S. into a
cigar shop.”
In addition to being a refuge for cops who need to put the day
behind them, Zengel’s Manasquan-based Beach House Cigars
(formerly located in Seaside Heights pre-Superstorm Sandy) has
been providing cigars for fundraisers at law enforcement
outings for years. In fact, Zengel has had plenty of run-ins with
law enforcement– often before the cops even have joined the
force.
Throughout his career as an educator, which began in 1993,
Zengel had the opportunity to teach kids who would go on to
work in law enforcement. So in January 2011, when Lakewood
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■
FEBRUARY 2016
Steve Zengel
Officer Christopher Matlosz was shot and killed in the line of
duty, it hit home.
“We discussed the ‘what if?’” Zengel said about a momentous
conversation with members of his hometown PBA – Wall Township Local 234 – some time after Matlosz’s death. “Then we discussed Marc Castellano, who died after being hit by a car. Officer
Castellano did have a family – a wife and two children. These
discussions prompted me to do something. It made me realize
what’s left behind when someone so young is lost in the line of
duty. They think their pension will carry on but it doesn’t. I wanted to give back but I didn’t know how.”
With the advice of Matt Catania, a former student and now a
good friend who owns a number of Jersey Mike’s Subs franchises
and who uses the restaurants to give back to the community,
Zengel realized the answer rolled up right in front of him.
“That was the spark to the decision to give back through
cigars,” Zengel recalled, quickly pondering what to call his new
endeavor.
After discovering that his first choice – “The Badge” – was
taken, he went to Google and started searching for words that
would highlight the support for law enforcement – and those