A Trip to New Orleans

[The Novice Piper]

I was there very recently, and your mileage may vary but...

If you're in the French Quarter and need a bathroom The Copper Monkey on Conti St. will let you use theirs at no charge, and drinks/food are cheaper there anyways. (This information was more useful than it might sound.)

The Mayan Import Company is the only spot for pipe products, it would seem. I went to both locations and found their tobacco selections to be very limited. The employees I encountered at each location were unusually curt, disdainful, incapable of general banter, very interested in monitoring me while I perused the shop but wholly uninterested in making any sales, and could most simply be summed up as "fucking dickheads." This was despite the fact I spent a few hundred dollars on product during my visit.

During this summer I've visited ten B&M's in four different states from the Southwest to the Southeast to the Midwest, and these guys offered by far the worst experiences. On the upside, the Metairie location had a decent selection of new pipes, and both locations had straight perique sourced directly from St. James Parrish and available in bulk for cheap.

Again, YMMV but I did my research before going and wish I had chosen instead to try my luck in Baton Rouge.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The prostitutes still take cash, but if you can only use a card, consider a chip card for a contactless payment.

 

[tbradsim1]

Long time ago wife and I went to Masperios, hope I spelled it tight, for a muffaloto, leaving for some reason we took a side street, passing a dumpster 3 guys started following us, told the wife keep walking, I fished out my Star PD and told them stop or ill shoot all 3 of you, they turned around and boogied out. That’s why you take the route that is not out of the way and carry.

 

[PaulRVA]

I was there very recently, and your mileage may vary but...

If you're in the French Quarter and need a bathroom The Copper Monkey on Conti St. will let you use theirs at no charge, and drinks/food are cheaper there anyways. (This information was more useful than it might sound.)

The Mayan Import Company is the only spot for pipe products, it would seem. I went to both locations and found their tobacco selections to be very limited. The employees I encountered at each location were unusually curt, disdainful, incapable of general banter, very interested in monitoring me while I perused the shop but wholly uninterested in making any sales, and could most simply be summed up as "fucking dickheads." This was despite the fact I spent a few hundred dollars on product during my visit.

During this summer I've visited ten B&M's in four different states from the Southwest to the Southeast to the Midwest, and these guys offered by far the worst experiences. On the upside, the Metairie location had a decent selection of new pipes, and both locations had straight perique sourced directly from St. James Parrish and available in bulk for cheap.

Again, YMMV but I did my research before going and wish I had chosen instead to try my luck in Baton Rouge.

If you find yourself in Baton Rouge
Habana Port, Don Juans and Churchill’s are fantastic

 

[ssjones]

Get out of the Quarter once you have seen it. It is filled with drunken tourists most nights who are not "locals", yet everyone thinks we are all crazy. That being said, it can be fun. Pat O's Piano bar is great. Be warned that the Hurricane Cocktail has 3 shots of Bacardi 151 in it. Probably not great for a work night. Same Houston lived upstairs from the Old Absinthe House after the Battle of San Jacinto (A bit of history knowledge there). Mayan Imports and Dos Jefes Cigar Bar are good places and if you get off work early you can walk the loop around Audabon Park and see a bit more of reality. You can ride the streetcar from Canal Street. There is no schedule. It just shows up whenever it wants to. Say hello to the ducks on Bird Island for me. Dinner at Jacques-Imo's would not be terrible either similar to a beer at St. Joe's bar or The Bulldog. You don't need to carry a gat. Just don't be a dumbass and wander out of the Quarter after dark. Most crime is gang on gang. If you want a taxi, you can call United Cabs and talk to a cigarette chain-smoking old lady that sounds like the Crypt Keeper and tell her your street corner and someone will show up to get you. If you land near to lunch time, stop by Crabby Jack's and get the shrimp creole. Best to get there before noon or after 1 or there is a line.

That is good advice!
We love Jacqu-Imos and I'd add:
Ye Olde College Station

Restaurant | Ye Olde College Inn

Come join us at a true culinary landmark, Ye Olde College Inn. Since 1933, we have been serving dinner and cocktails.

www.yeoldecollegeinn.com

And right behind it, for late night entertainment:

Rock'n'Bowl | New Orleans & Lafayette | Live Music

Premier live music and special events venue in both New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana. Locations feature music, bowling, private events, delicious eats, games and more.

www.rocknbowl.com

After hours, many famous musicians show up there to jam with locals

 

[BayouGhost]

That is good advice!
We love Jacqu-Imos and I'd add:
Ye Olde College Station

Restaurant | Ye Olde College Inn

Come join us at a true culinary landmark, Ye Olde College Inn. Since 1933, we have been serving dinner and cocktails.

www.yeoldecollegeinn.com

And right behind it, for late night entertainment:

Rock'n'Bowl | New Orleans & Lafayette | Live Music

Premier live music and special events venue in both New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana. Locations feature music, bowling, private events, delicious eats, games and more.

www.rocknbowl.com

After hours, many famous musicians show up there to jam with locals

RocknBowl is great. I saw Tab Benoit play there once and he brought the house down.

 

[AreBee]

Get out of the Quarter once you have seen it. It is filled with drunken tourists most nights who are not "locals", yet everyone thinks we are all crazy. That being said, it can be fun. Pat O's Piano bar is great. Be warned that the Hurricane Cocktail has 3 shots of Bacardi 151 in it. Probably not great for a work night. Same Houston lived upstairs from the Old Absinthe House after the Battle of San Jacinto (A bit of history knowledge there). Mayan Imports and Dos Jefes Cigar Bar are good places and if you get off work early you can walk the loop around Audabon Park and see a bit more of reality. You can ride the streetcar from Canal Street. There is no schedule. It just shows up whenever it wants to. Say hello to the ducks on Bird Island for me. Dinner at Jacques-Imo's would not be terrible either similar to a beer at St. Joe's bar or The Bulldog. You don't need to carry a gat. Just don't be a dumbass and wander out of the Quarter after dark. Most crime is gang on gang. If you want a taxi, you can call United Cabs and talk to a cigarette chain-smoking old lady that sounds like the Crypt Keeper and tell her your street corner and someone will show up to get you. If you land near to lunch time, stop by Crabby Jack's and get the shrimp creole. Best to get there before noon or after 1 or there is a line.

This is awesome, thanks. I'm going to have one day completely to myself so I'm going to hit Metaire Mayan Imports. The Old Absinthe House intrigues me and open ay 9:00 AM!

 

[tbradsim1]

Fun fact, I played Acordion with Tab Benoit at Savoys music shop on Saturday at a Cajun jam.

 

[ssjones]

RocknBowl is great. I saw Tab Benoit play there once and he brought the house down.

My daughter started working at the College Inn parttime when she first came to NOLA, then tutored the owners kids. We got to hear Sonny Landreth and Warren Haynes jamming one late night during Jazz Fest. Then, kids came along and she moved to the Northshore (we were now live) and that was it for the Rock & Bowl. I'm hoping, when we get settled to getting more familiar with the NOLA music scene again.

 

[AreBee]

Well, I’m back and had a wonderful time!
I got included as the +1 in several of my wife's obligations so I never got to Mayan Imports in Metairie, but I still did pretty well when on my own.

We stayed at the Marriott on Canal Street and Decatur just a few blocks from Bourbon. Great for access to the French Quarter but away from the chaos. We spent almost all our time in the Quarter and I found it dirty, gritty, grimy and smelly and I freaking loved it!

Food...Everything I ate was incredible.

• Central Grocery was still not serving muffaletta on site, so we went to NOLA Po Boys. The Dan which was huge and was fantastic and the red beans and rice were amazing. Washed it all down with Barq's in a glass bottle. Never saw that before!
• I had a crawfish and grilled onion omelet covered in etouffee and a side of grits at Fleur De Lis Cafe that was off the charts!
• Annunciation in the Warehouse district should go on everyone's dinner list if they visit. I had shrimp etouffee and the Warden had their fresh fish special which she loved. Very affordably priced $160 with tip including a couple drinks.
• Crawfish etouffee at Crescent City Brew House for a group event. Pretty good with a very good beer selection.
• Gumbo at the Palace Cafe was amazing. Service was extremely bad at the upper bar which led to a lackluster dining experience.
• "Taste of New Orleans" at Mr. Ed's included Jambalaya, red beans and rice and etouffee also great. Great bartender. Best I’ve seen anywhere in a long time.
• Fried Chicken at Willie's Chicken Shack soaked up some booze one night
• Watched my UConn Huskies at Ernst Cafe where the most expensive beer was $3.50!
• Beignets from Hot Benny’s on the way home one night we’re fine, but the obligatory Beignets and Cafe au LIt from Cafe du Monde were delicious!

Sights...we walked everywhere in the French Quarter and only walked Bourbon St. that one night just to see it in its "glory".

Sazerac House self guided tour was free and very cool and included some sample cocktails and two complimentary Glencairn tasting glasses. A bottle there was $27 as opposed to $39 everywhere around the hotel. Lesson learned.

We checked out the Christmas decorations at the Roosevelt.

Museum of Death was very cool! Funerary stuff, Jack Kevorkian's death machine, lots of formaldehyde and some really crazy serial killer stuff. Authentic stuff too! Well worth the $20. I felt a little anxious about how much I was enjoying it!

Thrillers and Killers tour of the Quarter at night was OK but turned out to be a cool and safe way to see what the place looks like at night, We had a great guide though, an Iraq War Veteran and Hisrory Professor at UNO with an eye patch who proved why he needed it by flipping it up!

Bars...

• The Palace Cafe (right next to our hotel) (meh)
• Famous Door on Burbon St. had a good blues/rock band
• Old Absinthe House, open at 9:00 AM, (which I took advantage of)
• Lafitte's Black Smith Shop Bar (spectacular dive bar)
• Cuban Creations Cigar Bar which was beautiful but had a small, overpriced cigar selection and overpriced drinks. Well worth it!
• The night we were on Bourbon with my wife’s group everyone wanted a Hand Grenade from Tropical Isle which was thoroughly disgusting.

Lastly, the World War II Museum was epic. No words to describe the roller coaster of emotions I went through. I spent nearly four hours in there and I’m pretty sure I did not see it all.

Bummed I didn’t get to the pipe shop but will look for an excuse to go back. I appreciate all the recommendations!

 

[pylorns]

Lastly, the World War II Museum was epic. No words to describe the roller coaster of emotions I went through. I spent nearly four hours in there and I’m pretty sure I did not see it all.

Bummed I didn’t get to the pipe shop but will look for an excuse to go back. I appreciate all the recommendations!

Yeah it is. Everytime I'm down there it seems they've added on there. Next time you go - let the new orleans pipe club know - I think they have a facebook page or group - they meet down there - at one point it was in meterie.

 

[AreBee]

I

Yeah it is. Everytime I'm down there it seems they've added on there. Next time you go - let the new orleans pipe club know - I think they have a facebook page or group - they meet down there - at one point it was in meterie.

I was going to drop a note to the group the night before I went. I just started to see my plans disintegrate as I kept being invited to more of my wife’s events. I didn’t want to make a promise I couldn’t keep.

 

[AreBee]

A couple pics from Cuban Creations Cigar Bar. Beautiful bar and lounge area, it was a former bath house) with an amazing selection of Rum, Scotch and Bourbon. Expensive as expected in the Quarter.

 

[AreBee]

Some more pics.

 

[Indygrap]

Well, I’m back and had a wonderful time!
I got included as the +1 in several of my wife's obligations so I never got to Mayan Imports in Metairie, but I still did pretty well when on my own.

We stayed at the Marriott on Canal Street and Decatur just a few blocks from Bourbon. Great for access to the French Quarter but away from the chaos. We spent almost all our time in the Quarter and I found it dirty, gritty, grimy and smelly and I freaking loved it!

Food...Everything I ate was incredible.

• Central Grocery was still not serving muffaletta on site, so we went to NOLA Po Boys. The Dan which was huge and was fantastic and the red beans and rice were amazing. Washed it all down with Barq's in a glass bottle. Never saw that before!
• I had a crawfish and grilled onion omelet covered in etouffee and a side of grits at Fleur De Lis Cafe that was off the charts!
• Annunciation in the Warehouse district should go on everyone's dinner list if they visit. I had shrimp etouffee and the Warden had their fresh fish special which she loved. Very affordably priced $160 with tip including a couple drinks.
• Crawfish etouffee at Crescent City Brew House for a group event. Pretty good with a very good beer selection.
• Gumbo at the Palace Cafe was amazing. Service was extremely bad at the upper bar which led to a lackluster dining experience.
• "Taste of New Orleans" at Mr. Ed's included Jambalaya, red beans and rice and etouffee also great. Great bartender. Best I’ve seen anywhere in a long time.
• Fried Chicken at Willie's Chicken Shack soaked up some booze one night
• Watched my UConn Huskies at Ernst Cafe where the most expensive beer was $3.50!
• Beignets from Hot Benny’s on the way home one night we’re fine, but the obligatory Beignets and Cafe au LIt from Cafe du Monde were delicious!

Sights...we walked everywhere in the French Quarter and only walked Bourbon St. that one night just to see it in its "glory".

Sazerac House self guided tour was free and very cool and included some sample cocktails and two complimentary Glencairn tasting glasses. A bottle there was $27 as opposed to $39 everywhere around the hotel. Lesson learned.

We checked out the Christmas decorations at the Roosevelt.

Museum of Death was very cool! Funerary stuff, Jack Kevorkian's death machine, lots of formaldehyde and some really crazy serial killer stuff. Authentic stuff too! Well worth the $20. I felt a little anxious about how much I was enjoying it!

Thrillers and Killers tour of the Quarter at night was OK but turned out to be a cool and safe way to see what the place looks like at night, We had a great guide though, an Iraq War Veteran and Hisrory Professor at UNO with an eye patch who proved why he needed it by flipping it up!

Bars...

• The Palace Cafe (right next to our hotel) (meh)
• Famous Door on Burbon St. had a good blues/rock band
• Old Absinthe House, open at 9:00 AM, (which I took advantage of)
• Lafitte's Black Smith Shop Bar (spectacular dive bar)
• Cuban Creations Cigar Bar which was beautiful but had a small, overpriced cigar selection and overpriced drinks. Well worth it!
• The night we were on Bourbon with my wife’s group everyone wanted a Hand Grenade from Tropical Isle which was thoroughly disgusting.

Lastly, the World War II Museum was epic. No words to describe the roller coaster of emotions I went through. I spent nearly four hours in there and I’m pretty sure I did not see it all.

Bummed I didn’t get to the pipe shop but will look for an excuse to go back. I appreciate all the recommendations!

Glad you had a great time & were able to enjoy the amazing food down here. The pipe club meets the 3rd Thursday of every month, but if your next trip doesn’t coincide with that, DM the club page on fb & one of us can probably meet you for a smoke.

 

[ssjones]

RocknBowl is great. I saw Tab Benoit play there once and he brought the house down.

He is a regular there, lives in Houma LA. A great guy in person.

 

[ssjones]

Sounds like you maximized your time in NOLA!
We were supposed to see Zakk Sabbath tonight at the Filmore, he canceled in the last minute. I was looking forward to seeing the town decked out for Christmas. We're doing the Polar Express on Christmas weekend, but kiddo's in tow for that one.

 

[pappymac]

I was there very recently, and your mileage may vary but...

If you're in the French Quarter and need a bathroom The Copper Monkey on Conti St. will let you use theirs at no charge, and drinks/food are cheaper there anyways. (This information was more useful than it might sound.)

The Mayan Import Company is the only spot for pipe products, it would seem. I went to both locations and found their tobacco selections to be very limited. The employees I encountered at each location were unusually curt, disdainful, incapable of general banter, very interested in monitoring me while I perused the shop but wholly uninterested in making any sales, and could most simply be summed up as "fucking dickheads." This was despite the fact I spent a few hundred dollars on product during my visit.

During this summer I've visited ten B&M's in four different states from the Southwest to the Southeast to the Midwest, and these guys offered by far the worst experiences. On the upside, the Metairie location had a decent selection of new pipes, and both locations had straight perique sourced directly from St. James Parrish and available in bulk for cheap.

Again, YMMV but I did my research before going and wish I had chosen instead to try my luck in Baton Rouge.

The problem with Mayan Imports in Metairie started during the Covid pandemic. The two old guys, who were both pipe smokers, were let go and the first guy they hired knew only cigars and couldn't give a rats behind about pipes and pipe tobacco. His bad attitude about everything didn't help either and he was no longer there after six months.

The next few people they hired were better at customer service but still didn't know anything about pipes and pipe tobacco. This was noticeable because I don't think they ordered any new pipe tobacco for about a year. Fortunately they had a large supply of bulk blends to keep some people happy.

Eventually the did get one young guy in who was a pipe smoker. He kept asking other pipe smokers about what tinned tobacco we would like to see and would make a list of blends to order. Unfortunately, the ones doing the actual ordering wouldn't place the order and kept telling everyone it was back ordered. Matt took a different job back in September. The newest guy they hired is a retired Navy Senior Chief and a pipe smoker.

The New Orleans Pipe Club does still hold its meetings there (usually the third Thursday of the month), but we have all been discussing finding a new place to hold our meetings. I think someone may have actually heard us because at our last meeting one of the higher up people let the club know that they were going to order new pipe tobacco and asked us to give her suggestions of what we would like to see - pipe tobacco that is.

We will sit back and see if any changes are actually made.

 

[Bassman65]

Lucky man. One place I’d love to visit. Unfortunately, only time I go to the states are for hockey tournaments. They usually end up being in the northern states.

 

[ssjones]

Who Dat!

Home - Baton Rouge Zydeco

www.brprohockey.com