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A Smoker's Last Refuge
Glen Greenberg, the owner of The Owl Shop, relaxes in his spacious smoking lounge.
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Today, Shapiro owns Cigar Factory Outlet in South Norwalk, Connecticut, with his son, Brian.
Inside the huge store, which sells cigars by the box, is a roped-off area with about a dozen
leather chairs, where members gather and smoke. They've dubbed it Club Perfecto. The members have
become friends and know each other by first name. Three have grown so passionate about the cigar
business that they have since taken jobs with cigar companies.
Holt's Cigar Co., a Philadelphia shop owned by the Levin family, owners of the Ashton brand,
has had a smoking lounge since 1995. "Back then, I think the concept of a cigar lounge was a
novelty—not every smoke shop had one," says Sathya Levin, vice president of Ashton Cigars. "We
always had people hanging out in the lounge, but ever since Philadelphia passed the smoking ban,
it's been packed."
The lounge has a few sofas and chairs, an espresso machine and no television. "Cigar lovers
hang out, talk and smoke, and shoot the breeze," says Levin, who travels to many cigar shops
across the United States as part of representing the cigar brand. "I think [having a lounge] is
becoming more of a standard nowadays. In certain parts of the country, it's almost a
requirement."
In Kansas City, Missouri, The Outlaw Cigar Co. has taken the cigar lounge concept to an
extreme: once a month owner Kendall Culbertson extends his lounge, which typically holds about 30
people, by adding a 30- by 30-foot tent (it's heated in the winter, air-conditioned in the summer)
and partners with various companies to attract men to his shop.
And attract he does: his parties draw hundreds of customers. "At our last event I had no way of
knowing how many people were at this party, but we had 1,200 people buy something at the
register," he says. "My entire focus for the last three years has been to create cigar smokers.
Instead of trying to sell wholesale or sell on the Internet, I had to get nonsmokers to come to my
parties." His method is hardly revolutionary, but can't be argued: give away free food and
beer.
"You should come to our party on Saturday," he enthuses as he lists the attractions that will
be on display: Pepin Garcia rolling cigars, a pro analyzing golf swings, Colibri lighters,
Benchmade knives, girls from Hooters as well as his Outlaw calendar girls, and an Apache
helicopter from a nearby Army base.
The parties have made Outlaw a must-stop for many of the bigger names in the cigar business,
including Jorge Padrón, Litto Gomez and Christian Eiroa, each of whom has visited the store for an
event.
Culbertson views the lounge as a man's place to escape and relax. "I see it every day in the
lounge," he says. "A guys sits down, he's all wound up—this is truly his place to unwind."
One of the largest, best-stocked cigar shops in America is Corona Cigar Co. in Orlando Florida,
located about 15 minutes from Walt Disney World. (It's not quite so close that you can leave the
wife and kids in the line at Space Mountain, slip out for a quick smoke and get back before they
figure out your evil plan, but you'll be tempted.)
Corona centers around a vibrant bar and lounge area. A couple dozen wines and beers are
available, as well as a variety of coffees. The bar proper has a dozen stools and several tables,
and nearby is an "L" of wooden chairs arranged around a big-screen TV.
Midday on a Tuesday there's about 20 people in the lounge, some drinking beer, others eating
Cuban sandwiches, most watching ESPN on one of the three big TVs. Everyone is smoking. "Burn your
fingers," one man jokes to another, who has removed the cigar band from his robusto and is in
danger of setting fire to his silver mustache.
The shop proper has five long aisles of cigars and seems to stock just about everything made in
the premium cigar world today, big names and small names alike, from bargain brands to some pricey
rarities.
"Cut that for you?" asks a man behind the counter, ringing up cigars. "Straight cut? Wedge
cut?"
The Corona staff is hospitable and inviting. The clients are a mix of locals and tourists: one
man is here with his wife, visiting from North Carolina. They used to come to Orlando to take the
kids to the amusement parks. Now they come to Corona for the smoker-friendly atmosphere and for
its proximity to a nearby bar, which makes killer Martinis. It's the golden years, and time to
take care of themselves.
Owner Jeff Borysiewicz started Corona as a mail-order catalog, then realized he couldn't
compete against big discounters. "I said, 'I want to build the best cigar store, and differentiate
myself from anyone else,'" says Borysiewicz. "The typical cigar store had a country club feel, or
the look of a pipe-smoking den. It wasn't really my style." He opted to make his smoking lounge
look like a room from Nicaragua, Cuba or the Dominican Republic, with lively Latin music playing
in the background.
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