Cigar Shops and Pipe Smokers

[tobefrank]

I have occasionally smoked a pipe at the local cigar club here in town, but I typically prefer to smoke cigars when I’m there. I have bought enough cigars over the last year to smoke a pipe without feeling guilty. I always bring along a tin pipe tobacco I bought there as well just in case. Most guys smoke cigars but there is also the occasional other pipe smoker.

 

[mso489]

Some places it just seems compelling to smoke a cigar, but it's not necessarily a smoking lounge. The horse track is one. A cigar isn't a bad prop if you are in a strange city and aren't familiar with the neighborhoods. If I were a mugger and was looking for a mark, I might not choose the guy with the cigar, especially if he had had an ordinary watch and ordinary shoes, unless that was the only person around.

 

[DAR]

I don't go into pipe and cigar stores much anymore. I used to spend quite a bit of time in them. I haven't done so in many years but I don't think there will ever be another tobacco store as welcoming and comfortable for both pipe and cigar smokers as Sherlocks Haven was in San Francisco. That was THE place. Gone but not forgotten.

Telford's Pipe and Cigar in Mill Valley Ca is still there but I haven't visited in years. It used to be a place to light up and enjoy your pipe but other than that, I don't think there are any others in my neck of the woods.

 

[Jaylotw]

As with many social settings, company in any cigar/pipe lounge is problematical. Sometimes you catch some good conversation that is reciprocal and interesting, but often there are one or two people who want to hold forth and want an audience to passively listen. If they are raconteurs, that can be worthwhile, but if they are opinionated and arrogant, it makes you want to move along. I think some people just keep talking as a defensive measure to keep others from speaking and in some way seeming to offend them, whether they are or not. Ah humanity. But if you run up on interesting folks who can share the time and sometimes enjoy a silence, that's a fine moment.

Yep, add farts and belching and you've hit the nail on the head,at least at my local shop!

 

[saltedplug]

Recommended smoking lounge etiquette: Be friendly and buy something.

 

[stoutreader]

A couple lounges in my neck of the woods have a pipe guy or two on staff and welcome the odd pipe smoker, but with the understanding that you buy something, usually a cigar, ounce or two of bulk, or on occasion a tin.

 

[magicpiper]

I have found that smoking a pipe in a cigar shop is more of a spectacle than anything. They don’t seem to know what to think of you. I feel like an abnormally tall guy or something. People stare as they walk by and finally someone works up the nerve to say something to you. They usually break the ice with “ hey..is that a pipe?” or fond memories of their grandfather smoking a pipe. It always helps to have a couple of sticks you purchased in house laying with your bag of pipe smoking possibles. Keeps the proprietor happy.

 

[That Guy]

They usually break the ice with “ hey..is that a pipe?”

Normally a response like " yea you dumb Fker can you leave me alone so I can smoke this crack rock" will ensure your not bothered. ?

 

[Streeper541]

The local cigar shop in Medina, OH (Havana's) has offered to let me bring a folding chair & smoke my pipe outside, but I am not welcomed to bring my pipe or tobacco inside the building or sit in the lounge... so, I don't go there.

 

[saltedplug]

The local cigar shop in Medina, OH (Havana's) has offered to let me bring a folding chair & smoke my pipe outside, but I am not welcomed to bring my pipe or tobacco inside the building or sit in the lounge... so, I don't go there.

Not going there is by far the best response. Who needs cigar fundamentalists? For that matter, who needs fundamentalism?

 

[Model 29]

we have a huge Cigars emporium close by,with a pipe counter added as an after thought. Its a very lonely corner of their store

 

[Geronimo_Von]

Up-market cigars became a big trend a decade or three ago and have become a steady revenue stream for small cigar shop owners and chains. Usually, the cigar shops include a walk-in humidor and a lounge smoking area. From time to time, Forums members have mentioned not being welcome to smoke a pipe in these places. Many cigar shops consider buying a premium cigar for ten to umpteen bucks the cost of admission, and don't want pipe smokers pulling out their pipes and tobacco pouches. Besides which, they don't want cigar smokers to discover that a tin of premium tobacco provides about twenty smokes and costs about as much as one of the less expensive premium cigars. It's the way people are discouraged from bringing their own snacks to the movies, in light of the fact that the snack bar at the movies is their main source of profit. Have you found any pipe friendly cigar shops? Grand old pipe and cigar shops like the now-closed Nat Sherman in Manhattan and Iwan Ries in Chicago welcome(d) both, but they are the exceptions, I believe.

I'll usually buy a tin of tobacco at Iwan Ries if I'm going to smoke in their lounge. Never felt right to me to walk in with my own stash and use their space to have a bowl.

 

[HopHand]

Rem's Tobacco Shop in Grand Junction Colorado.
It's mainly a small cigar shop with a very small selection of VERY over priced Pipe Tobacco and pipes.
BUT it tends to be pretty friendly to pipes. I've yet to take them up on it asI 'm typically in to big a hurry to stop and spark up when I'm in that part of the world but the counter man and the cigar guys/gals in the lounge always not only offer but do a dang good job of trying to talk me into sitting down and packing a bowl.
Someday.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I've never been in a tobacco store, with a smoking lounge, that wouldn't allow me to smoke my pipe. As a matter of courtesy, I'd always purchase something and not be a complete bum. There are higher end cigar bars that might frown upon it but they also sell over priced drinks that make up for it. When I used to travel to Raleigh, NC often, I'd most often hang out at Havana Deluxe. They never objectdd to me smoking my pipe but I also purchased drinks while there and tipped generously.

While I'm certain there are exceptions to the rule, I think the issue has mostly been with complete freeloaders looking for a comfortable place to smoke without spending any money.

 

[jafo1989]

Just my observations (and the plural of anecdote isn’t anec-data). Most people inclined to visit a smoking lounge already understand that the etiquette includes buying something as an admission ticket. Savvy cigar-dominant lounges at least have a rack of bulk pipe tobacco jars & some basic supplies to facilitate pipe smokers’ admission. And above all it’s hard to generalize: I’ve stopped into lounges where in 60 seconds I’ve decided “Oh man, the vibe in this place, no thanks. They’d have to pay me twenty five bucks to hang out here for a smoke.” Or “OK, this sure seems like my kind of place.”

 

[augiebd]

The idea of purchasing before using a smoker’s lounge is common sense as many have mentioned. I felt more than welcome at Nat Sherman’s in New York when I made purchases but it was definitely cigar dominant. The other places I’ve been were small places that had equal pipe and cigar representation, so no issue.

In the province I’m in there aren’t any tobacco shops with lounges. Cigar bars are also rare. We have one and it is the only one west of Quebec. They charge a $10 fee to smoke a pipe. I’ve found the management and cigar smokers to be very welcoming. That said, I haven’t been for a long time.

 

[boston]

My local shop is Watch City cigar. I go in from time to time, but not regularly, because I don't buy tobacco by the pound. When I do go by, generally accompanied by my son, Ernie Q. is always a gracious and informative host, and knowledgeable about pipes and cigars. And there's a smoking lounge for pipe smokers and cigar smokers. I think that Ernie's blends are top shelf, and the cigar selection in that shop is absolutely bananas. Of course being a Massachusetts resident I get to pay a premium to purchase my local shop.... so it goes.

 

[mso489]

It shouldn't be a contest between cigar and pipe smokers, but I think cigars become the revenue stream at shops that sell both and somewhat take over the business. The Tinder Box at the nearest big mall gradually drifted that way in the 1990's, still having a selection of pipes and tins of pipe tobacco, but it was obvious the humidor was the money maker. And they couldn't even allow smoking, being in the mall. One or two premium cigars giving one or two smokes cost about the same as one tin of premium pipe tobacco that gives twenty smokes. You don't even have to do the math. Shops that emphasize pipes, or give them equal time, are unique specialists and somewhat rare. After smoking fifteen quality cigars, everyone has an "expert" opinion, whereas, knowledge about pipes is harder to fake and harder won. Real cigar experts are equally rare.

 

[dctune]

Just wanted to chime in with a couple points on this thread.

1. I feel like flatulence & belching have taken a few unnecessary hits below the below the belt here. Granted, I live with three frilly females, so gas is basically all I’ve got left. And while my dog is still intact, he was partially named after Barbie’s family. Plus, he’s a mama’s boy.

2. who has the time to sit around and smoke at Ye Olde Tobacco Shoppe? I just run in, handle business, say something friendly/witty, and then I’ve gotta get my butt to ballet on time. Maybe I’ll just start smoking in the waiting area at my girl’s ballet class. Then I won’t have to participate in small talk with all the yoga pants moms who really should know better than to still be wearing those.

 

[jafo1989]

Maybe I’ll just start smoking in the waiting area at my girl’s ballet class. Then I won’t have to participate in small talk with all the yoga pants moms who really should know better than to still be wearing those.

Careful brother. Between the obvious (1) virility shown by smoking a pipe and (2) sensitivity shown by being a happy ballet dad, you’ll have to beat the yoga pants moms back with a calabash. ?