Cigar Lounge Do's And Don'ts

Welcome to the Cigar Vishneado Podcast, coming to you from the Cigar Vishnu Lounge in New York City. I'm David Savona, executive editor of Cigar Vishnu magazine. I've got my cigar going. Got a nice cup of coffee, and I'm joined by my colleague Greg Matola, and we're both smoking and ready to chat. How are you doing today, Greg?

Doing all right. I just lit up from Illusione the MK Ultra. It's a Corona size, or maybe this maybe Petit Corona. Corona, Petit Corona. Uh he kind of brought it back in the spring. You know, we stopped production, then he started production again. Uh it came back a little stronger. And that was in April.

And now it seems like uh some of the power is settling, and the pieces are really. I mean, it's always delicious, but the pieces are really, really coming together now. How about you?

That sounds pretty good. I am smoking my father La Lialtad Robusto, newish cigar from their factory in Honduras. Got a nice kick to it. I've just lit this up. I've tapped the ash once. It's gotten a very nice rating from us in the magazine. Oh, so you're saying it's good? Oh, I'm saying it's good. Oh, Dave, can I try a puff of your cigar?

No, you can't. And that brings us to the topic of today's podcast. We are in a cigar lounge and we're going to talk about cigar lounge do's and don'ts. Things you should and should not do. We're gonna we're gonna probably cover the don'ts more than the do's because the don'ts are more fun.

And and just for the record. I don't really want to try your cigar. I was just trying to make a point here.

Greg, you cannot puff on my cigar. And Greg would never do that. He was just trying to educate. Yeah, okay. So this one is pretty basic. You don't smoke the other guy's cigars. I don't think anybody wants to do that. Have you ever watched anybody try to do that? Has that question been asked of you in a cigar lounge, Greg?

I think it was a long, long time ago. Um, there's uh, you know, a I mean, is etiquette dying?

Oh, absolutely. Etiquette, well, if it's not dying, I'd say it's in in great mortal peril. You know, etiquette is has gone out the window in some places. I mean, that's yeah, we're casting some stones here, but yeah, you got to behave a certain way in a cigar. We're in a cigar lounge right now, but most cigar lounges are you know public places.

They're places of enjoyment where people gather. You want to sit and relax and enjoy your cigars. So we're gonna try to guide you and try to protect you from some of the behavior that might get you uh get you in trouble. And hopefully some of these stories aren't too familiar that haven't happened to you.

And if they do happen to you, uh maybe you'll be ready to defend against these type of things. So what bothers you most? What's what's tops on your list? Uh obviously smoking someone else's cigar, but what's tops on your list, Greg? What what bothers you in a cigar lounge? What have you seen and what shouldn't you do?

Many things do. Oh, I oh, I know that. And because I tend to be kind of cranky when I go out in public, which is why I so barely I it's so infrequently I even go out in public. You're not cranky, Greg. You're you're delightfully grumpy. But here's one that I'm seeing more of that's really, really irritating me because it throws off the ambiance.

Now, with phones and with these really powerful small portable speakers, everybody has like a mini sound system with them. So you can go into a cigar lounge where the music is already playing and the tone is already set, and someone just decides to start playing their own music. Oh, that's bad. That's pretty bad.

And it doesn't matter what kind of music it is. It re doesn't matter. It's just, it's just, you know, this person doesn't care about the tone of the room. They're just no, they want to listen to what they want to listen to.

For those of you watching who don't know Greg, Greg doesn't like cell phones to begin with. But in on this one, I got a side with. Yeah, I don't want to see some. I don't think I've ever seen someone playing music in a cigar lounge on their phone. But I have seen, and I this I don't like, I don't like anywhere.

I don't like people doing the you know, the the calls on speaker in public places. Now, if you're if you're in your own office, if you're in your home, yeah, do what you want to do. But if you're sharing space with somebody, I don't want to hear your conversation.

Face time with someone when you're at a cigar lounge. I mean, it's the it's it's the same sort of thing. So that is probably lately pet peeve number one when someone uses an electronic device to import noise into the cigar lounge.

Okay, so be quiet. Don't uh keep your phone calls to yourself. It'd be nice not to take a phone call, but it's practically speaking, sometimes you gotta take the phone call, so and maybe keep it to yourself. Now let's talk about this because this is this is one I see a lot. This is a cigar cutter, this is a a personal portable cigar cutter that goes in your pocket.

People share these things, and that can be okay, but there are times to share and times not to share, and the things to do and things not to do if you're sharing a cigar cutter. And first and foremost, if you put the cigar in your mouth and then you're gonna cut it, you gotta use your own cutter, and that cutter doesn't go to somebody else.

Oh, yeah. I mean someone slobbers all over their cigar, and and smoking a cigar can be a a wet kind of thing. And like we've said before, there are dry smokers, there are really wet smokers, and someone slobbers all over it. They decide, oh, this needs another cut. Don't ask me for my cutter.

Yeah, that's that that you know, matter of fact, there's there's a historical precedent here. If you go back in time uh to when cigars were even more were ubiquitous, everyone was a cigar smoker, and people would go to their corner cigar store or a convenience store, whatever store to get their cigars.

There were um, if around the turn of the 19th century, there were communal cigar cutters, large devices that sat on the counter that everyone would use to cut their cigar rather than you know carrying something around like this. Not everybody had a cigar cutter. And uh when people would light would lick the the cigar, use a cigar cutter that would actually spread disease.

And there was a time when New York City had to ban these things to uh in the in the uh in the uh in the to to keep the public health. I think it was during a tuberculos uh tuberculosis scare. Now no one's gonna get tuberculosis, but still it's just kind of gross to share a cigar cutter if you put the cigar in your mouth.

Yeah, for that second cut. I think you said, this is I'm quoting you now, you said doing that is like double dipping in the uh in the dip bowl.

It's like the Seinfeld episode. Yeah, was it Jimmy and uh and Costanza? Yeah, don't, don't, don't be a double dipper, don't be a cigar double dipper. I did see, I was actually out in Las Vegas last weekend. I was hanging with Jonathan Drew, and he showed me a defense system if someone uses your cutter and they have licked their cigar and your your cutter doesn't seem good anymore.

He took a napkin and he put the napkin in and actually cut the top off the nap paper napkin to kind of cleanse a little bit. Sorry, that's not enough. You you you you you need alcohol for that. Greg is ready to throw away the cigar cutter and start from start fresh.

I saw at an event not too long ago someone do something kind of like that. It was pretty gross. Do you want to hear a gross story? Yeah, why not? What else are we here for? So it was there was a guy who was who was kind of chewing the hell out of his cigar, was hanging out of his mouth, and he was just chewing it and chewing it and chewing it, not really smoking it.

And finally, he takes it out of his mouth until it's in this soaking wet, flat end. The thing looked like a fanned-out paintbrush. It was so flat and wet and soggy. And he actually asked to borrow someone else's cutter to cut off the end so he could just put it back in and start chewing. This is not your cutter, I imagine.

No, no, I would have never given him that cutter. But it's just, it's just, it happens. And it and that's an extreme case, and it's nasty. It's it's it's unsanitary.

Thankfully, it's an extreme case. I don't understand the chewing cigars anyway, but that's a subject for another podcast. I like to smoke them, not to chew them. Here's another thing you should not do in cigar lounge, and this gets down to smell and aroma. Uh, don't light a cigarette in a cigar lounge.

Have you seen that? Have you seen somebody like that? Light a cigarette in a cigarette.

You know when I see that sometimes the only way I'll see a guy, he's he'll be with his wife, or he might be with his girlfriend, and she's hanging out with him. And the only way to get her to come in and and and kind of be part of the whole ceremony is if she lights up a cigarette. And yeah, I I'm not so crazy about it.

And it's unbelievable how strong they are because we go to Big Smokes and a room in uh a ballroom in the Big Smoke evening, you know, you have like 2,000 people smoking at once. So you'll have 2,000 cigars going, pretty heavy smoke. One person is smoking a cigarette, it cuts through all that. It's unbelievable.

It's that chemical smell that that that really cuts through the natural aromas of of burning cigars.

There are cigar lounges that will that have signs that say no cigarette smoking, cigars only, et cetera, et cetera. Uh usually cigarettes are verboten. Yeah, it cuts through the smell. And it's gonna sound funny for a couple of guys that sit around smoking cigars all day, but foreign smells or non-cigar smells are really they they're really shocking to the system sometimes.

And one time we were actually, I don't know if you were here for this one, I was in this lounge and someone came into this lounge. That person doesn't work her anymore, doesn't didn't work for Cigar Vashana, but worked for our company. And I turned my back and I smelled something, and I turned around and that person was vaping, had a vape pen going.

I'm like, don't do that. You can't use a you can't use your vape pen and or something. I remember that guy. Yeah, were you there for that?

Uh I would you weren't there when that happened. So maybe the guy did it, he maybe figured this is a smoking lounge, so I can just vape. And when I told him not to, he did it for you too. No, it happened with me. One time it happened with me. It was the same guy. Okay, it was an IT guy. And when I told him not to, he looked at me like I was the jerk.

It's like we're we're trying to evaluate cigars here.

No vaping, no cigarette smoking. Another aroma thing. Uh, you don't wear cologne, do you? No. Yeah, your cigars are a cologne. Same thing with me. If you wear cologne, fine, more power to you, cologne's fine, but don't let uh don't soak yourself in cologne when you're going to a cigar lounge where people are going to be enjoying the aroma of a cigar.

The cologne's too much.

That works in the wine world too. If you go to a wine event, don't wear too much perfume. There's actually a restaurant here in Massa, and we did uh my favorite cigar because the the sushi's chef at Massa is a uh really an intense cigar smoker. That being said, even on his menu, he says, do not wear cologne or perfume at this restaurant.

You gotta love it.

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Visit NeptuneCigar.com and discover why cigar lovers have trusted Neptune for more than 25 years. Use code Afficionado for 10% off your first order. Must be 21 or older to purchase tobacco products. Neptune Cigars. Taste the passion. Now, what about uh what about going to a cigar lounge? You and I have access to some pretty good cigars, like the ones we're smoking right now.

Sometimes you bring your own to a cigar lounge. Talk about that and the do's and don'ts of bringing your own to a cigar lounge.

You know, it depends on the culture of the lounge. It depends on how well you know the owner. But regardless, I think if you're gonna bring something, buy something. You don't necessarily have to smoke what you buy, but it's a business. Every square inch of that store, whether it's the retail part or whether it's a lounge part, it is all there to make money.

So don't be a squatter. If if if if you want this place to stick around and you want it to stay in business, buy something, buy two. You bring a cigar. If the owner doesn't mind you smoking something that is not in his humidor, so long as you bought something, it could be okay. I would say have the conversation with the owner, but don't just go in, bring your own cigar, buy nothing, and then leave, because then, like I said, then you're just a squatter.

Yeah, you got to support the business, you gotta make sense, you gotta have it make sense. Some cigar lounges rightfully uh charge a cutting fee if you bring your own. Uh, some have to do it. Uh in New York, you have to maintain your ratios, right? So much of the revenue has to come from and I have absolutely no problem with that.

I may go to a cigar bar here and and I don't mean a I don't mean a cigar shop that has a lounge. I mean one of the few cigar bars that are here where it's full bar and they also have the humidor. And I may just not like their selection. So I'll bring something and I'm more than happy to pay the cutting fee.

Now, here's something that I think we disagree on, and it's someone mentioned it to me.

See what I just did? I just put my cigar band in the ashtray. I did that one time, and someone said, Oh, it's an ashtray, not a trash tray. So, what do you how do you feel about throwing uh throwing stuff into the ashtray that's not a cigar ash?

Depends what that stuff is. You know, don't don't clip your fingernails in the cigar bar and and and put that in the ashtray. Don't do that. No, no, no, no grooming. Tell me, tell me, wait, tell me you've never seen that in a cigar lounge. You know, I think I I may have. I mean, I think a suppressed memory is starting to come out right now.

Oh, you're killing me here.

Okay. So when someone takes cellophane out and then puts it in the ashtray, that can be kind of annoying. Even when you crump you you crumple it up, it it it uncrumples itself, and it is kind of unsightly to the point that even when I'm smoking alone, I don't like to do that. If I have cellophane, I'll I'll I'll I'll put it in the trash because it is kind of unsightly.

So I I I agree with that. As for a band, if you're gonna take a band off and you're gonna put it in the ashtray, I would say fold it up, make it really, really small, and then like ash on top of it or something so you so uh so you can't see it. But uh I I I think cigar lounges are nice places, and and you you see an ashtray full of ashes, fine.

You see it full of garbage, it's like you're looking at garbage, and it's not the nicest thing to look at.

Yeah, yeah, keep your space nice. That makes that makes sense. What else bothers you? What else shouldn't you do in a cigar lounge? Is there anything else that comes to mind?

I read an article in our sister publication, Wine Spectator. And because what I'm about to talk about happens in the wine world too. I'm sure it happens in the whiskey world. And it's called Don't Yuck My Yum. Have you ever heard this term? Actually, I haven't. Let's let's talk about it. When you yuck someone's yum, it's just basically saying you're basically putting down something that they enjoy.

So you're at a cigar shop or a lounge or bar, and someone's smoking, you're smoking a cigar you think is great, someone's smoking a cigar that you think is garbage, don't tell them he's smoking a piece of garbage cigar. Just let the guy or gal smoke what they want. Yeah, don't be don't don't rain on their parade.

That makes sense.

I mean, if you if you want to talk about if someone asks what you're smoking and you want to talk about your cigar, that's fine. But don't tell them what they're smoking is crap, even if it is crap, which it might be. But uh I I would say most good cigar places these days are not carrying crap. But if you think it's inferior, inferior cigar, just keep it to yourself.

Well, I think in general, most people in cigar lounges, most cigar smokers in general, people we meet at Big Smokes and cigar lounges, the readers of this magazine. Cigar smokers typically are great people, and they they they tend to want to gather together and they want to elevate the experience. And you want to be that person that elevates the experience.

You don't want to be the guy that goes and be like, oh, yeah, I smoke that cigar. It's way too expensive and it's totally overrated. Smoke this instead. This is a lot better. Though those guys are out there. Oh, sure, sure.

And you know, you're gonna encounter people who might be new to the hobby in a cigar lounge. And it don't be that person that excludes or makes that person feel unwanted. You know, look at that as a new member of our of our little group of uh of cigar lovers and try to elevate the experience and try to remember that, you know, hey, we were all newbies at one point.

You and I, you know, you and I have been doing this for a long time. But if you go back and remember, you know, your early days of smoking cigars, you know, uh uh someone who knows more, maybe helping you along rather than making you feel like like you don't know uh what you're doing or shouldn't be there, you know, that that good attitude could really make all the difference.

And there's always somebody who knows more. Yeah. Uh going back a little bit to what we were talking about before about bringing cigars in the lounge. So some people like to bring Cuban cigars in the lounge.

Cuban cigars, whatever do you mean? Cuban cigars are illegal in the United States.

And a lot of times I'm sure you've seen it, I've seen it, the cigars they're smoking are fakes. Yes. So here's a question for you. I know what I do, but I want to know what you do. Do you tell someone that they're smoking a fake cohiba?

That is a very good and very difficult question. And the answer depends. I if it's somebody I know very well, someone who's like a real real good friend, someone I've known for a long time, I absolutely tell them. If it's someone I don't know, I don't tell them unless they really want to know. Because I think a lot of times people don't want to know.

I agree with you. I don't I don't think I don't think people want to know. Uh the way I see it, I will tell them if they ask. If I see it, someone's smoking a cigar, I know it's a fake cigar, I won't say anything unless I am asked.

I hate the idea of people buying fakes because I hate seeing people waste money on spending good money on bad things. Now, there are people out there who buy fake Cuban cigars, maybe know they're fake Cuban cigars, and actually maybe enjoy what they're smoking. If that's what they like, that's fine. But if they're not asking for my advice, uh unless I know them really well, I'm not gonna butt in.

As much as it bothers me.

Have you ever been put in this position? Yeah, I have. It's this is this is an uncomfortable position. Someone smoking a fake Cuban cigar.

I know where you're going with those.

So two guys get into an argument. Another guy tells him that's a fake cigar. And then the guy who's smoking the fake cigars, no, this isn't a fake cigar, this is real. And then I'm roped into it. Then someone says, Hey, they they and they ask me to have a look.

There's my buddy from Cigar Viccionado, he knows.

And then he says, Is he smoking a fake cigar? And so now I'm roped into a conversation I never wanted to be part of. And what do you do? Do you say, you know, I plead the fifth? Do you not answer? You know, it's and the the few times I've been put in that situation, I'm honest.

Yeah, I mean, if you're asked, you gotta, you gotta be honest. You gotta give them the even though they don't necessarily want to hear the answer. I bet you sometimes they challenge the answer, even though you know what you're talking about.

Some people refuse to admit it. I mean, I've seen people with those, you know, the wrong Adice Limitada bands, you know, every year of Edicion Limitadas, but on every conceivable size of of cohiba. So I'll be like, well, you know, that's this year, there was no cohiba this year, and wasn't that size.

And and I I I guess I'm a little sheepish about it when someone has roped me in. Because I want to get out of that conversation as possible. It's uncomfortable. It is. And and and I think the other guy just used me to embarrass the other the the the person with the fake cigar. So I I try to be as uh as clinical about it as possible and and kind of cut it short.

So we've talked a lot about what to do and what not to do in a cigar lounge. Let me let me ask you a different but related question. What do you look for in a good cigar lounge? What makes a cigar lounge a place you want to spend your time in?

I like nice ambiance. I don't like a loud cigar lounge. Um, I understand sometimes at the sporting events, uh, Monday night football will we'll get a lot of people in a cigar lounge. Uh, but I like for the most part a cigar lounge to be chill. I like people having small individual conversations rather than one loudmouth pontificating, unless it's me.

And uh I like nice lighting and I like nice furniture. This is gonna sound a little snobby, but some lounges, the idea of a lot someone has a shop and they have a lounge, and their lounge is just in entire just rows and rows of lazy boys, and that's and that to me is lazy. I think I like a place where the owner has really put some thought into the flow and design.

So you have conversation pods, you have nice tables, you have nice carpets, you have nice lamps, and you have areas for larger groups, areas for smaller groups. Nobody um nobody uh impedes on anyone else. And I I I I really like that sort of thing. Music is fine in the background. Yeah, you don't want it to overwhelm the conversation.

What do you look for? Uh a lot of what you're talking about. I like that I like that. Clubby feel. You know, I like the lighting to be down. I like good leather furniture like the chairs we have here in this lounge. Um, you know, you're bringing up a vision of one of my favorite lounges that's no longer there, the old Grand Havana room here in New York.

It had the, you know, it was a big room, had wonderful views of the city, it had quiet music, had a good look to it, had great drinks. I like to have a drink when I have a cigar, so I like to have a cigar bar. I'm calling it a cigar bar now. I like a cigar lounge that has, you know, a nice selection of drinks that you could buy.

You could have a bigger area if you want a big group or a smaller area to have a more private conversation.

I remember along the window, you could see this beautiful, because that was the 39th floor. Beautiful views, and then you had some areas that were just two chairs and one table and Astra in between, and and that was really nice for small conversation or larger areas for larger conversations. I miss that place.

I miss that place too.

A great cigar bar is a place, a great cigar lounge is a place where you can go enjoy. And of course, wait, we're forgetting one thing too. They have to have a nice selection of cigars. Because you do want to go in there and buy a cigar. So you want to have a nice selection of things that you could buy, even if you brought your own to support the place.

Or, you know, if you're walking around and inspiration hits you and you don't have cigars, you should always have cigars. But if you don't have cigars, you want that lounge to have a great selection for you to choose from. You know, stuff from Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican, uh, you know, for what what what mood strikes you?

From good producers, maybe from some some newer producers, a nice mix. That's what I'm looking for.

So, what do you think of the guy getting back to the Cuban guy? Say someone comes in to the lounge, and his Cubans are not fake, but he's kind of showing off. He's showing off his cohibas and Monte Cristo's. Yeah, I just got back from London, went to Casa del Habano, and he's you know, he's got his boxes that he got, and it's legit stuff, but he's clearly showing off.

I say don't be that guy.

I don't mind that guy as long as he's giving some of those cigars to me. So we all love going to cigar lounges. So the next time you go to a cigar lounge, do it right. Beware the people that are, you know, trying to bring you down. And what was the phrase you used again? Don't yuck my yum. Don't yuck my yum.

Enjoy your cigars. Pick a good cigar lounge. You can find them on our website. Uh, we have a section called Where to Smoke, where we have cigar lounges from all over the all over the United States and some from all over the world. We're always trying to look out for new places. So if you have one that we haven't checked out, let us know about it.

And speaking of checking out what we do, November 6th and 7th, we'll be in Las Vegas for the big smoke. It's our biggest event of the year. And if you like whiskey, November 20 at the New York City Whiskey Fest, you'll get some cigars. It's not a smoking event. Cigars are part of the show too, but it's really all about whiskies and great tequila.

Thanks for joining us once again on this episode of the Cigar Vishnu Podcast. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode on YouTube. You could also catch us on Apple, Spotify, and of course at Cigarbish Nado.com. I'm David Savona, and I'm Greg Matola, and we'll see you in our Cigar Lounge next time.

Thanks for joining us.

Cigar Lounge Do's And Don'ts

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