The Cigar Lover’s Oasis

A clever approach to pairing food with cigars could be the start of something beautiful.

As smoking bans swept across the country—and the world—many of us feared the battle was lost. Come on, if Cuba were willing to limit the places you could enjoy a fine cigar, how could we expect to ever enjoy a great steak, fine wine and exceptional smoke outside our homes. But when De La Concha Tobacconist in New York City recently began to partner with local restaurants to serve its patrons full-service dinners (see The Good Fight), it may have marked the comeback of the complete cigar oasis. And this cigar lover couldn’t be more excited.

Leave it to the tobacconists to save our traditions. After all, cigar smokers were panic stricken about the smoking bans until they found safe haven in a familiar friend—their local cigar store. The bans and the taxes once meant a life-threatening setback in sales to the stores, and doomsday for their patrons. No more local place where you can talk about cigars or grab a smoke with friends. In fact, when the bans were proliferating around the country, so too were the sales of our beloved cigar stores. (Note to self: I should’ve bought then!)

But in the past five years, more and more cigar shops around the U.S. invested in new lounges, complete with comfy leather chairs, flat-screen TVs for the big game and premium coffees. It’s certainly helped the shops recoup some of that lost business. And it helped to reassure cigar lovers that our smoke-friendly sanctuaries wouldn’t fade away.

Sure, plenty of cigar shops around the country have been serving take-out, hosting parties and turning their stores into Starbucks-like communities. We even know the ones that have created private parlors that require annual dues and monthly minimums. As long as they keep a section of the store open for walk-ins and non-members, more power to them! But what I like most about the De La Concha cigar & steak dinners is the way these guys are bringing the real full-service meal back to the cigar experience.

I hope more cigar shops do the same. It’s all part of an important trend that has reached a new level, thanks to the ambitious tobacconists who have learned to adapt. We rely on these retailers, and we need to do our best to support them. They represent the last refuge for the cigar lover’s way of life—one that should expand as more and more creative trends like this one takes off.

John von Brachel

1/18/08

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