This week, we’ll be looking at several cool places around the country to enjoy a cigar, plus a tiny but potent new smoke to try. Also, something every cigar-loving golfer won’t want to hit the links without.

The Carnegie Club is a Smoker’s Oasis in NYC

New York City is not exactly a great place to be a smoker, since the current mayor has been on a one-man crusade to stamp out the habit. Still, there are a few places left where cigar lovers can still enjoy a cigar and a drink. One of them is the Carnegie Club.





Since its inception back in 1996, this club has been catering to cigar lovers, and since it was granted an exemption from the city’s 2003 smoking ban, The Carnegie Club represents the ultimate in establishments where patrons can both smoke and drink in the Big Apple.

The club is even more inviting since undergoing a major overhaul that included new carpets, cozy leather furniture, an upgraded sound system and three flat-screen TVs. Those televisions come in handy for all the sports events shown in the club, while weekends offer live jazz music.

Of more interest to cigar lovers is the expanded cigar menu, thanks to help from retailer Davidoff. Patrons can choose from cigars by Padrón, Romeo y Julieta, Alec Bradley, La Flor Dominicana, Davidoff, Ashton and Nestor Miranda.

The Carnegie Club is located at 156 West 56th Street,
New York, NY 10019, 
212-957-9676.


Charlotte Marriot City Center Offers Getaway for Cigar Fans

Just because the Marriot Hotels are all smoke-free doesn’t mean they’ve shut out cigar lovers. Instead, the chain has come up with a new package that lets the cigar smoker enjoy his passion in a luxe private setting.





The Charlotte Marriot City Center and its Cutter’s Cigar Bar are offering the A Cut Above/Experience Cutter’s Package for the utmost in cigar loving pleasure.

One of the few remaining smoking lounges in the Charlotte area, Cutter’s Cigar Bar is definitely worth a visit, since it offers a tempting collection of legal, pre-Castro Cuban cigars as well as 35 varieties of Scotch. A very private lounge separate from the hotel, Cutter’s provides a cozy nook with elegant leather and Honduran Mahogany furnishings.

For $144 per room, per night, cigar lovers can enjoy deluxe accommodations, two cigars, Cutter’s signature matches and a cigar cutter, plus Altoid Mints and Torn Ranch Chocolate Pearls candy. The offer is available Thursday through Sunday nights until August 30, 2013. For information, call 800-228-9290.


St. Louis Landmark Facing Smoking Ban

For more than 100 years, the Missouri Athletic Club has been the chosen spot for the city of St. Louis’s most distinguished citizens to enjoy a fine dinner of prime steak with aged Scotch and a good cigar, but those days may be coming to a close.





The city began enforcing a smoking ban in January 2011, a ban that has been ignored by some members, who figure that paying $350 per month in dues gives them the privilege of flouting the law. All exemptions to the smoking ban are due to expire in January 2016. The club has been fined by the City Health Director, but the case was dropped after the MAC board agreed to limit smoking to certain areas of the club.