Gordon Mott
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Just Another Winter Afternoon
Posted: 02:55 PM ET, February 12, 2009
Dave Savona and I hit the Davidoff Columbus Circle smoking lounge this week. It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon, and we were helping Jack Bettridge finish off an upcoming video for cigaraficionado.com. Like all big-time film talent, we showed up and were just sitting there, twiddling our thumbs in the Stone Rose bar, watching Jack learn the finer points of Martini preparation from Nicole, the sun-kissed bartender. We could tell it was going to be awhile before they were ready for our cameo, so instead of watching the traffic whirl around on Columbus Circle below the bar’s floor-to-ceiling windows, I said to Dave, 'let’s go hit the Davidoff store.'
We walked in, were greeted by David and Kevin, and we asked if we could smoke in the lounge. We both picked out a Don Pepin Garcia corona, (which happens to be one of David’s—not Savona, the other David—favorite smoke these days) and went into the lounge to find the Three Amigos sitting there with another shop employee, Ron Zeligzon. Some “hellos” and nods of the heads greeted us, and it didn’t take long to figure out that the boys in the room had known each other for awhile. Conversation jumped around from the public debacle of Chris Brown and Rihanna to A-Rod, to the current state of one guy’s dream of being a writer. Dave, in his innocence, asked the aspiring writer if he worked near the shop, before quickly realizing that at 2:30 on the Wednesday afternoon, there was a pretty good chance work wasn’t on his agenda. There was a pause, and then a quick, “I’m between jobs right now.” Oh well, nice try, Dave.
Dave and I started chatting about our video and, we were quickly asked what we did, and whether we worked around there, and we gave a quick reply about our roles in Jack’s video, and how our offices are downtown, so we don’t get up to Columbus Circle that often. That got the nod to Cigar Aficionado from the buddies gathered in the small living room-size lounge. The coronas were burning down, and it was time to get back to the shoot. It was all friendly and relaxed, We’d been welcomed for a few minutes into a little cigar clique, which apparently shows up most afternoons by their own admission. It was a pleasant break, and a great way to spend the time waiting to go on camera.
Nice to know that it is possible to find a place to smoke on any given Wednesday in New York. And, I hope you all have places like that in your hometown to take a cigar break.
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User Name: Michael Herklots, New York, NY Posted: 12:15 PM ET, February 13, 2009
I'm so pleased you had such a great time! The camaraderie that occurs in cigar lounges around the country is just one of the things that makes the "in-store" retail experience so wonderful! Come back soon. PS- I find it difficult to believe that Jack was lacking in Martini Making skills!