Mystery Shack Cigars & Coffee Gives an Old Shallowater Service Station a Second Act

On Clovis Road in Shallowater, a building that once housed K.L. Young Service now holds a walk-in humidor, a coffee counter and a wood-paneled lounge. Mystery Shack Cigars & Coffee is locally owned, and owner Titan C. restored the building himself.

“Mystery Shack may be new, but the building has been part of Shallowater for generations,” Titan C. told Hub City UnCovered by email.

A coffee shop and a cigar lounge under one roof

The idea started at home. Titan C. said his wife originally wanted a coffee shop, but he figured coffee alone might not carry a business in a small town. He had wanted a cigar lounge for years, after visiting cigar shops across the United States, some welcoming and some not. Together, the plan became premium cigars, good coffee, reasonable prices and a comfortable spot to watch football, play poker, catch a movie or just relax.

“I believe a business should make a reasonable profit, but I also believe in giving customers genuine value rather than charging every dollar the market might allow,” he said.

So why “Mystery Shack”?

The name came out of the renovation. When curious neighbors asked what was going in, Titan C. mostly told them a coffee shop and left out the cigars, the lounge and the rest. “I just let people wonder,” he wrote.

He names a new pet only after he gets to know its personality, and he treated the business the same way. As the town kept guessing, the project became a bit of a mystery, and the name fit. “By the time I formally established the business in 2024, I’d already settled on the name,” he said. Mystery Shack was established in 2024.

A service station with a long local history

K.L. Young was Kinsey Lee Young. According to an Aug. 19, 1976, Suburban Today article the owner cited, Kinsey and his wife, Eva, moved to Shallowater from Arkansas in 1943, and he worked in the service-station business until he retired in 1973. The owner says a 2021 Lubbock Senior Link local-history article also includes a photo identifying Young in front of his station around 1950. That doesn’t necessarily mean he ran this station the whole time. Local history suggests it may have been Shallowater’s second gas station; the station’s original opening year hasn’t been confirmed.

Newspaper records the owner described show what came next. In February 1975, Jim’s Standard Service, run by James and Glenna Reeves, was advertised at 701 Clovis Road. Robbie Oakley bought the station in March 1976 and ran it as Robbie’s Standard Service. By January 1977, Mary Penny Real Estate had moved in. The building later housed a restaurant before Titan C. took it over.

A historic photograph of K.L. Young Service had hung in the building, on the restaurant’s walls, for about four years before he took over. It shows the station’s windows, roofline and trim, much of it still recognizable today.

Building on what was already there

The front of the building had been a deteriorated, metal-covered patio area. Titan C. enclosed it, put down flooring and finished the interior. He stripped about 16 layers of paint from the original wooden doors, and rebuilt one original door that had been left outside, returning it to its spot. When he built the walk-in humidor, he made its door to match the originals.

Other details survived. Some original windows still have their rope-and-weight mechanisms, and a row of upside-down picket-shaped trim runs beneath the roofline, the same detail visible in the historic photo. A former window behind the counter is now part of the vape display. Titan C. knows one of K.L. Young’s grandsons, who appreciates the preservation work.

“There’s a difference between covering up history and building upon it. I chose to build upon it,” he said.

There’s a difference between covering up history and building upon it. I chose to build upon it.

Titan C., Mystery Shack Cigars & Coffee

What’s inside

Mystery Shack keeps premium cigars in its walk-in humidor and also sells vapes, cigarettes, pipes, pipe tobacco, accessories and gifts, along with fresh coffee, specialty and cold drinks, and snacks.

The lounge and patio are made for lingering. Football is a big draw, from the NFL to college games, and the shop also shows UFC events and hosts movies and poker.

Its motto sums up the mood: “Where Outlaws Relax & Legends Gather.”

Always another project

Titan C. doesn’t consider the shop finished. He plans to expand the cigar selection, add specialty coffees and drinks, and improve the displays and lounge. He is also working toward adding a food truck, though he isn’t promising an opening date.

“We’re not trying to be the biggest shop around. We’re trying to create one of the most enjoyable places to spend your time,” he said.

A thank-you to Shallowater

Titan C. describes the business as rooted in hard work, honesty, fairness and respect. He offered special thanks to customers and friends, to veterans and first responders, and to the people of Shallowater who have supported the shop.