Cigar Travels, Cigar Talk
I just returned from a visit to NYC which was my first time back in about 5 years. There were many highlights including seeing the play Hamilton, which might be the best musical I have ever seen. However, when ever I travel I try to take in a cigar lounge , meet some local folks, chat cigars and hang out. This was the case in my NYC return.
The Battery Park area has become a mecca for tourists , sightseeing and development. The Hudson river was always a great waterway and playground. It is lined with a beautiful landscaped walkway and bicycle path which starts at the southern tip of Manhattan. Hip restaurants , high-end shops featuring all types of objects you can purchase. It is a consumer’s dream. The jewel of this shopping mecca is a mall called Brookfield Place. Hundreds of shops, fill this expansive edifice. It would take you days just to casually visit each store. However for me , I discovered my own little oasis of consumer heaven. The esteemed cigar label Davidoff of Geneva has a lounge which begs you to sit down and smoke away. Their humidor is well stocked with of course their full line of products with several other brands represented. Also included are a large array of high end humidors, lighters and other cigar delights.
In my first visit I chose the AVO Ritmo Torpedo a very solid cigar with a complex flavor profile and well constructed. It burned steady for over an hour while I read several cigar trade publications. In my second venture to the lounge I found a Room 101 Blend I never have had. As you know , Room 101 cigars is closing up shop and the brand will either be put in hiatus or join the big cigar lounge in the sky. The cigar i chose was named Sole Agency an attractive lancero with a medium flavor bent.
I spoke to the affable and knowledgable sales agent Ismail Torres who has been with this Davidoff store since they opened. He was interested in my web page, and said he would read it.
I journeyed into the lounge , sat in a very comfortable leather chair and eavesdropped on three friends who were watching the Mets, Atlanta game on the tube. True Met fans, they were lamenting the team’s poor performance as the expectations were high at the start of the season. Key injuries and lack of consistency from hitters put them under the 500 mark. They were puffing away with their Padron’s and optimistically thought the club were due for a winning streak.
It was very tempting to tell these men what I thought about the Mets chances but used better judgement and just listened to them while they smoked and I smoked a couple of chairs away. What I did know that just about all cigar lounges, and cigar smokers are the same. They enjoy talking on all subjects and they like their cigars. This is an universal truth for lounges big and small, fancy or not. Hence my definition of an Urban Fishing Pole.
The visit to New York became even better with my stop at the Davidoff Lounge .
Keep smoking