Any Good Places To Smoke In Des Moines, IA?

[carolinachurchwarden]

The wife and I are taking the long drive back to Des Moines, IA, in a couple of weeks and I wondered if there were any good places one could enjoy their pipe while I'm there. The drive will be a little long, but I do love road trips. If anyone knows some good spots, then lay them on me! If not, then maybe I can find a few and pass them along to others.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Better question would be if there are just any good places in Des Moines (period) Ha ha. JK. There has to be at least one good place there... somewhere... maybe... ::

 

[techie]

Perhaps some of the tobacco shops can help. I'd give a few of them a call for info.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Cosmic, you have no idea just how much I let her know that... Ought to be the whiskey capital of the world with all that corn.
I might just call around, techie. Don't plan on smoking a lot while there, just wouldn't mind finding a nice place to pull up a comfy chair and smoke a bowl or two while I'm there.

 

[prairiedruid]

There is a pipe club that sometimes meets in Des Moines; I forget which forum member posts about it.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Yeah, I just saw they had it like last night, so I will have missed it by a week or two, unfortunately.

 

[npod]

Very few places left to smoke a pipe in Des Moines. That’s my home town and I still get back often to see my family. The cigar joints are not pipe friendly in my experience.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The cigar joints are not pipe friendly in my experience.

The trick is, to know HOW to ask. Pick up a whole box of MY Fathers from the humidor, and walk up to the counter and ask, "Do you mind if I smoke my pipe?"

And, of course thinking that you are about to drop a couple of hundred, they will say, "Go ahead!!" Fire up you pipe right then and there.

Then leisurely remove a couple of cigars from the box in your hand and take the rest back to the humidor. ::
If they turn into asses on you, so be it. That is just the nature of cigar guys. You've got to hold you own among men to be able to hang with the cigar guys. They start bustin' you chops, bust 'em back.
The key is... cigar guys all think they know something you want to hear, or that they own something that you want to have.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Thanks for that, npod. My wife is from there as well, born and raised, then moved to NC to be with me. I found a place I might be able to go to, but nothing more about it. The places is called David's Fine Tobaccos over in Clive. Might be worth a stop at least.
I'm starting to think I just look for places on the way, turning it into a tobacconists discovery mission. I've already found several incredible places I want to stop through, time depending of course. I'll just have to stop by ones I find along the way to scratch my itch and then go outside in the evenings for a little puff during my week there.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Cigar guys don't bother me. Most I've met act like they're better than you are for some odd reason. All I have to do is imagine just how much better my English blend is going to taste in my cob once I get what I came in there for. Not all are this way, but a lot that I've met just look down their noses at you when they're in a store smoking and you walk in to buy your tobacco. That's fine, because I know my vice is cheaper than theirs, for the most part, excluding pipe purchases. I just smile and carry on.
I'm also in the market for a new pipe, but I'll have to see what's available along the way....really, really, really hoping we can make a slight detour in our route over to The Briar & The Burley in Indiana....just watched muttnchops video tour of the place and now I'm literally vibrating to go there!

 

[3rdguy]

Cigar guys are some of the smartest people out there, they told me as much!
You are coming in from the East on I-80?...

 

[rmpeeps]

West of downtown you can find several miles if greenbelt park areas; Waterworks Park, Raccoon River Park, and others. In town maybe at the White House, an AA recovery center/meeting spot along the river. I doubt you’d be the first one there getting a nicotine fix.

 

[3rdguy]

I'll be in a van....down by the river!!

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

You are coming in from the East on I-80?...

Yep, that's the route I'll be riding in on!
That's good to know peeps, in case we end up out and about. Need to find a good place for beer too. Love my craft beer, but just no IPA stuff. Anything else is good.

 

[smokeyweb]

David's Fine Tobaccos is a great place to smoke a pipe. It is BYOB and a very nice smoking lounge with comfy chairs and televisions and a well-stocked walk-in humidor.

 

[3rdguy]

House we are closing on will have a smoking room so if you make the trip ever again I will be just an hour North of your route. Plenty to see where I live... for a few days anyway including the worlds shortest, steepest railway. Field of Dreams and other stuff.

 

[npod]

David's Fine Tobaccos is a great place to smoke a pipe

David died suddenly a few months ago. The webpage for the shop is now offline. I don't know what will become of the shop. David was a great man. He had a tobacco shop in Merle Hay Mall when I was young. I would stand outside and smell the pipe tobacco. That was one of the memories that stirred me to start smoking a pipe.

 

[smokeyweb]

Greg was a good guy. May he Rest In Peace. As for the shop... the family has been keeping it open. By far the best tobacco shop in the Des Moines area. Greg also owned a shop in Westroads mall in Omaha many moons ago... "David's Briar Shoppe." Started smoking cigars in the 90s after visiting that place.