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Posted November 27, 2000, 6 p.m. e.s.t.

So you're trapped again inside a constricted airport terminal, your weighty carry-on dislocating your left shoulder while you try to hold the latest unwieldy issue of The Economist in your right hand. Few things in life can be as tiresome as a business trip, especially when you face the anxiety of a prolonged layover. After wasting $30 on a three-minute rubdown from a sideshow masseuse, you seek refuge in the concourse bar with a stiff drink and a fine cigar. No sooner does the woodsy taste of your Churchill begin to ease both your palate and your tensions, than the bartender ambles over to your Frisbee-sized table and asks you to stub out your cigar. He breaks the sobering news: there's no smoking permitted anywhere inside the airport.

OK, it had struck you as odd that there wasn't an ashtray in sight anywhere in the lounge. But just a few years ago, you were smoking away without pause at this exact location, a spot you may have even sought out after reading about its cigar-friendly stature in the May 1998 issue of Cigar Insider. "What gives?" you ask, just the slightest whimper in your tone.

"Policies have changed," the bartender says. It's a response you have no choice but to accept.

That in mind, Cigar Aficionado has returned to 46 airports located on U.S. soil to once again find the precious cigar-friendly areas where a premium smoke may be lit. Most airports find cigars agreeable. Some do not. And since the last time we surveyed the terrain some airports have morphed from cigar-friendly to smoker-restricted. Corporate travelers take note.

This report covers most of America's major airports, as well as smaller ones in less populated areas throughout the country. America's busiest terminals have a mixed view on cigar smoking: Los Angeles International Airport, Boston's Logan International, Detroit Metropolitan and San Francisco International are just a few major airports that completely prohibit smoking anywhere inside their terminals. However, you will find a place to smoke your cigar in all three of New York City's surrounding airports -- Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark International. In 1998, Newark was not cigar-friendly. Today it is, allowing cigars in its bars and in airline clubs. Sadly, it is the only airport in our survey to convert pro-cigar.

Many airports have gone smoke-free. Los Angeles International yielded to California's strict anti-smoking laws, but it's hardly alone. The list of once-cigar-friendly-but-now-smoke-free airports also includes Chicago's O'Hare, Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, San Antonio International, Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan National Airport, and Phoenix's Sky Harbor International, which changed its smoking-room policy to cater solely to cigarette smokers. These converts make up 16 percent of the airports polled.

Before you decide to stow your travel humidor in a suitcase bound for the plane's cargo hold, there is a positive note regarding the airports that remain cigar-friendly: a few have actually increased the number of areas in which to smoke a cigar. Washington's Dulles International Airport, located in Reston, Virginia, now has four smoking rooms -- two more than in 1998. New Orleans International Airport improved from three bars/ lounges to seven. Norfolk International Airport in Virginia also went from three to seven, adding two restaurants and two pubs, and Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina now has another location in which to smoke cigars. Even Salt Lake City International, located in the antithesis of Sin City, added a smoking room. So what if Albuquerque International went from eight places to three that allow you to light up?

So with the proliferation of extended layovers that hamper America's airports, the opportunity to enjoy a soothing cigar certainly exists. Here are a few distinguished airports that stand out because of their welcome atmosphere for cigar smokers:

Denver International: The Aviator's Club is the pioneer of airport cigar bars, the first to open inside a major American airport. The Club stocks six cigar brands (down from 10 in 1998), including such notables as Partagas, Punch, H. Upmann, Zino and two different Macanudos. The walk-in humidor is still a work in progress and may never come to fruition, but the Aviator's Club is still the place to relax with a cigar and a snifter of Cognac. And with two locations (Main Terminal and Concourse B) -- both of which are open nearly 18 hours a day -- Denver International is No. 1 on our list of favorite airports in which to be snowed in.

Charlotte Douglas International: If there's ever a way to enjoy a stopover, it's in North Carolina's largest city. Charlotte Douglas has five bars where cigar smoking is permitted: The Bud House on D Concourse; Carolina Sports Bar on C Concourse; Stock Car Café on B Concourse; and on the Main Atrium, Chili's and Cheers. In addition, the U.S. Airways Club provides a smoking lounge available to members only. And in case you've forgotten your stash on your bedroom dresser, you can stop at the airport's The Gathering cigar shop to pick up some smokes.

Philadelphia International: The City of Brotherly Love's airport has several restaurant/bars to smoke up and drink up: Olde Philadelphia Tavern (Concourse A), Aviator's (Concourse B), Jet Rock Bar & Grille (Concourses B and C), TGI Friday's (B-C Connector), Dock Street Brew Pub (B-C Connector), International Bar & Grille (Terminal D), and Air Bev Café (Terminal E). Smoking is also permitted in the airport's private airline clubs.

Hartsfield Atlanta International: Ten smoking rooms fill this airport, divided into two per concourse. Plus, two smoking lounges allow air commuters to enjoy a cocktail with their smokes -- Budweiser Brew House & Smoking Lounge is located on Concourse A, and Sojourner's Lounge is located on Concourse D.

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International: In terms of sheer numbers of places to smoke a cigar, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky had the most locations of any U.S. airport in our last survey. While that number has sadly dropped from 30 locations to seven, this hub still offers an ample amount of cigar-friendly places from which to choose.

--Mark Weissenberger

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