Also in this issue:

• Up Front
  Letters: Out of the Humidor
• Good Life Guide
  Leica D-Lux
• Good Life Guide
  John Jaques Croquet Set
• Celebrities
  Return of the Terminator
• Celebrities
  From Cigars to the Big League
• More from this Issue

Clearing the Air

Can you still smoke a cigar in New York City?

Michael Moretti
From the Print Edition:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, July/Aug 03

The ban has also improved business at Uncle Jack's Steakhouse in Bayside, Queens, which is applying for a cigar bar exemption. Director of Operations Andy Senese says Uncle Jack's can no longer allow smoking throughout the restaurant, but still offers smokers a spot at the bar, as well as humidor rentals. "We are getting more nonsmokers in the dining area since the ban, and more smokers at the bar," he says, adding that he's seen many new faces from Nassau County -- which has its own smoking ban -- and Manhattan.

Bennett Breen, a manager at Aubette, says, "Business now is as good as it ever was." The establishment, which opened in 1996, is now a relative old-timer in its Gramercy neighborhood. Locals who have frequented the place for years are now mixing with newcomers
who are visiting because they hear they can smoke. Some are cigar smokers, others are cigarette smokers.

Cigarette and cigar smokers historically haven't meshed well, but today they stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of dwindling venue choices. At Merchants NY, a posh restaurant and cigar bar on the Upper East Side, cigarettes are as evident as cigars in the cigar bar downstairs, which is packed with a hip 25-and-up crowd. Reinforcing the idea that New York has something for everyone is Soho's Circa Tabac. Dubbed as a cigarette lounge with a 1920s flair, Circa Tabac has a cigarette menu, with 200 types from which to choose, plus an eight-cigar menu, with brands such as Partagas and Macanudo. Business is booming, and cigar and cigarette smokers share the space. "The same people who were calling me a moron are calling me a visionary," says co-owner Lee Ringelheim.

You might even sample a smoke with rapper Jay Z at his new venture the 40/40 club, which was slated for a June 18 opening as this issue went to press. Despite the prohibition on new cigar bars, co-owner Desiree Gonzalez claimed that the club already had the city exemption in hand, and had applied for state exemption.

"Jay calls it a cigar club," says Gonzalez, who owns 40/40 with Jay Z and Juan Perez. "It's a cigar bar, sports bar and a hip lounge."

40/40 will consist of 8,000 square feet of plasma screens, crushed suede and slate paneling, reflecting the extravagant taste of the cigar-loving, hip-hop superstar, who is often seen puffing on a cigar in his music videos. The cigar room will feature two cabinet humidors stocked with an assortment of high-end smokes.

One of the more unusual places that is applying for an exemption is Scores, a topless bar and nightclub on the Upper East Side that still allows smoking. Scores could most likely survive the resurgence of Prohibition, so it's no surprise that it may come out of the smoking ban unscathed. Scores spokesman Lonnie Hanover says the gentlemen's club has been a cigar bar for 10 years, and has humidor lockers belonging to many high rollers. "Scores loves cigars and the gentlemen that smoke them," says Hanover. Smoking in the main room and at the bar is still permitted, though your smokes are not allowed in the restaurant.

Ah, but that's the way New York works. Smoking has been cut back all over, but there's still something for everybody.

Mark Weissenberger contributed to this article. For more on the New York City and other smoking bans around the country, visit www.cigaraficionado.com.

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