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YoungButter

Might Stick Around
Jun 19, 2021
79
891
I am curious to hear about your experiences with cigar and pipe BARS.

I first fell in love with tobacco after visiting the Owl Shop in New Haven Connecticut. I spent so much time in that city in my youth. At first, it was just a place where I could buy my favored Stokkebye Amsterdam Shag and have a coffee but the absolute grandeur of the room was not lost on me-the old wood, the maroon walls, the weathered tin ceiling, the handsome long bar, the glass display cases brimming with cigars and briar, the jars of mysterious house blended tobacco, even the impossibly tiny bathroom. It has an energy all its own, no doubt residual from that millions of epic nights had between those walls over the almost 100 years this place has been in business.

When I started smoking cigars and pipes, it was the first logical place to go. This was the first time that I was really able to interact with the tobacconists and owners on any meaningful level and they guided me through the process of figuring out what I liked. They're OG's, they know what they're talking about and dispense good service.

When I turned 21, I came to appreciate all of those bottles behind the bar, all of the brown liquors, craft brews, house cocktails and bartenders competent enough to talk about them.

I see shades of the Owl Shop in many of the lounges that I visit but never the whole package.

I understand that some places are limited by ordinances and insurance or regulatory hurdles and a generally unfavorable political climate. Or they just don't want to run a bar. As a former bar person, I can totally respect that but right now I'm wanting to focus more specifically about bars that also sell tobacco products and cater to their use on premise.

Many of the places that serve drinks have menus that were clearly picked by their distributors featuring a relatively commonplace selection of slightly-above-average national brands. I like drinking Maker's Mark just fine but I feel like I'm paying an absurd markup to drink something with a smoke and that's less fun than it could be. I would prefer a creative cocktail, something local and interesting, something rare or old, something that somebody behind that bar gave enough of a damn about to choose to serve.

I'm sure there's other spots like the Owl Shop in your town or city and I want you to tell me about them.
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,756
30,563
71
Sydney, Australia
YoungButter, enjoy those while you still can.

There is a total ban on indoor smoking in Australia, and cigar/smoking lounges are but a pleasant memory. There are outdoor rooftop cigar bars, but it's not the same ambience.

Hopefully when we are all vaccinated against Covid and overseas travel is again possible, I can re-visit my favourite hotels and cigar bars in Asia.

On my last French trip, a cigar humidor was offered along with the cognac/Armagnac trolley, but "desole Monsieur, if you wish to smoke, we have an outside area" !

If only we can go back 20 years !
 

YoungButter

Might Stick Around
Jun 19, 2021
79
891
YoungButter, enjoy those while you still can.

There is a total ban on indoor smoking in Australia, and cigar/smoking lounges are but a pleasant memory. There are outdoor rooftop cigar bars, but it's not the same ambience.

Hopefully when we are all vaccinated against Covid and overseas travel is again possible, I can re-visit my favourite hotels and cigar bars in Asia.

On my last French trip, a cigar humidor was offered along with the cognac/Armagnac trolley, but "desole Monsieur, if you wish to smoke, we have an outside area" !

If only we can go back 20 years !
Can you tell me about these spots in Asia and France? I haven’t left the country in thirteen years and I’m itching to gtfo once the coast clears.

It’s a shame. Owl definitely benefits from some hardcore grandfather privileges. It would be nice to see some sort of exception made specifically for new tobacco-focused businesses that takes the valid concerns from that debate into consideration. Ventilation requirements, health insurance for employees?
 
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YoungButter

Might Stick Around
Jun 19, 2021
79
891
We have a great cigar / pipe lounge on the Native American reservation which is where the Seattle Pipe Club holds their monthly meetings.



View attachment 88596

Man, this place looks great, I will certainly visit if ever I am in town. I like the cocktail menu. Concise, all classic. I dig the fact that they have offer a Toki Highball AND a Rusty Nail riff that sounds delightful. Also really in love with the fact that they serve their bbq pork with a big old pile of whole grain mustard, that’s what’s up.
 
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RookieGuy

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 2, 2021
238
559
Maryland
The closest we have is a chain of cigar stores with a lounge and a BYOB (Bring Your Own Booze) liquor license. And there was usually a guy in there with a bottle of dark liquid he's happy to share if you'll contribute for the next bottle. No! He's not selling it, that breaks all kinds of laws. But he's willing to share if you're willing to donate to the cause.

November of 2019 work started on an actual cigar bar about 2 miles away. Then the damn pandemic happened. But a week and a half ago work started back up again. I'm not sure if they'll allow pipes, but I hope so.
 
Jan 28, 2018
12,952
134,613
66
Sarasota, FL
The Blend is very, very nice located on the North side of Indianapolis. I heard there's another place that's new over by Top Golf, haven't been there though. There are multiple cigar stores in Birmingham, AL that have nice lounges to smoke in. Not sure that it survived Covid but Havana Deluxe in Raleigh is/was very nice. There's a nice store and lounge in nearby Apex, NC.
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
Bits & Pieces. Yupe. A neighborhood bar back in Flushing. This is the place I learned to enjoy "Grasshopper", "Gimlet","Sex on the Beach", and many other cocktails. They had smoke behind the bar.. Marlboro Red, Camel Unfiltered.. Every Friday night was free hoggie night. Place was tiny, run down, and so dark, you couldn't see the occasionally rats. But it was few places that served underage teens without asking for ID. Spent many of my school hours there drinking my fill and smoking my Reds.

Oh! Cigar and Pipes. No one smoked those there, but my 9th grade teacher seemed to enjoy a bowl before the classes started. Home room always smelled nice. You could call that a pipe bar, we all had flasks and pack of something.
 

YoungButter

Might Stick Around
Jun 19, 2021
79
891
Most shops near me are cigar centric and don't allow smoking a pipe in their lounges so I don't give them my business too much.
That's a shame. They should be more inclusive. I haven't found that to be the case in my travels. I do see people popping to smoke a cigarette quite often and I've never seen that cause an issue.