I know im a bit late to this party but any of you local SD guys have any recommendations for good B&M's in SD outside of gaslamp? I was there last friday and went by a few of the shops in gaslamp and suffered from sticker shock at some of their prices. Nice shops but some seriously premium price points, would love to know where to go next time im down there.
There are a few shops outside of the downtown area with decent prices IMO.
Racine & Laramie - Old Town SD, the first tobacconist in SD. Nice selection.
Liberty Tobacco - Clairemont Mesa area. Last time I was there the prices were at MSRP.
Churchills - Old Town & Miramar. Miramar has the largest humi in SD. They typically have all the new releases.
House of Cigars - Rancho SD area. Small humi inside a smoke shop that pleasantly surprised me. They sell close to MSRP and carry a lot from Tats, to Viaje, to Fuente Anejo. No smoking area here though, unless you go to the patio if the sports bar next door, you can smoke there.
This bar, the Pressbox, has a nice taplist and some pretty good top shelf bottle choices
Hoffer's - La Mesa - prices are higher than I'd like, but it is more boutique style cigars that you mostly can't find online.
I like all these B&Ms, just depends what you are looking for. Hope this helps.
+1
And you can smoke cigars at Small Bar which usually has Pliney ON TAP... and 40+ other beers, plus killer scotch and bourbon. It is just hard to get a seat, because it is so small.
And yes, the Gaslamp B&Ms are waaaaaaaaaaay overpriced - because it is the Gaslamp/Tourist Trap.
Another idea would be to hit up O'brien's which is the oldest craft beer bar in SD. They have a small tap set-up, but great food, and a giant smoking patio... you could visit Modern Times, Alesmith, Societe, Ballast Point and Green Flash, which are all nearby.
You could also visit my old place of employment, Hamilton's, for some great beer/pub food, and then go smoke cigars at the patio at South Park Abbey (which has an pretty nice beer selection as well.
In the East Village (next to Gaslamp) you could also hit up Mission Brewery and Monkeypaw Brewery (owned by the people that own Hamilton's and Small Bar).