blessednxs65
Is it Nicaraguan
Men who smoke cigars and a few hardy women are unfazed by the Michigan no-smoking ban.
Instead of driving them underground or forcing them to quit, the May 2010 law has unexpectedly enhanced the Michigan cigar-smoking experience.
Long-standing, prosaic cigar shops are morphing into sleek clubs decked out with lounge chairs, plasma TVs, free Wi Fi and the opportunity for patrons to meet and mingle, eat and drink, with fellow stogie lovers. Denied smoking privileges at swank steak houses and nightclubs, these seeming exiles are meeting up in luxe surroundings with fellow aficionados.
Meanwhile, cigar bar owners are smiling. They cleverly lobbied for an exemption in the law that allows existing "cigar bars" to provide increasingly comfortable surroundings for exiled smokers.
Even as cigarette smokers huddle on street corners, drawing furtively on Marlboros and Winstons, stogie smokers head for clubby venues where they can happily puff cigars, and only cigars. No pipes or cigarettes are allowed in these bars by law.
"Business has never been more stressful and I find that I can go in there, crank out a document on my laptop, conduct a conference call, all with a cigar in my mouth," says Mark Gilman, a Southfield marketing executive who frequents a store with big screen TVs but no bar.
At the Cigar Factory Outlet store in Troy, which includes a lounge tucked into an industrial park, smokers relax in a homey, easy chair atmosphere. "It's just a different environment. You meet different people, from all walks of life," says Monte Holliday, a police officer who stopped at the Troy store to smoke a $9 San Cristobal and schmooze.
This week, the Birmingham City Commission approved a plan to re-invent Churchills, a venerable cigar shop, as Churchills Bistro/Cigar Bar. The move a few doors north will triple Churchills size to 3,500 square feet. The new location will serve food and drinks, sell cigars, rent humidors and provide comfort to those whose smoke is not elsewhere permitted (by the state) nor likely welcome (at home.)
At La Casa De La Habana's three stores in Metro Detroit, customers pay $100 a month for access to a private lounge, special events, two cigars a month, and personal humidors where they can stock their cigars.
The cigar store owners say they're being clobbered by Internet sales, which are exempt from the 32 percent sales tax they pay in Michigan. But they're prospering anyway, because the state ban exemption allows them to serve food and drinks if at least 10 percent of their business is derived from cigar sales and humidor rentals.
"A lot of people don't like to smoke at home, and if you can go to a place with a nice atmosphere it's really increased our business," says Churchills owner Nash Zaitouna, who created a lounge-like West Bloomfield store in 2010. He plans to invest more than $1 million in his Birmingham bistro, expected to open in November.
Despite all the accoutrements permitted to this small niche, who comprise about 3 percent of all smokers, the cigar world isn't picking up recruits from exiled cigarette smokers. Cigarette smokers don't switch, the experts say. They are willing to stand in the rain.
Instead of driving them underground or forcing them to quit, the May 2010 law has unexpectedly enhanced the Michigan cigar-smoking experience.
Long-standing, prosaic cigar shops are morphing into sleek clubs decked out with lounge chairs, plasma TVs, free Wi Fi and the opportunity for patrons to meet and mingle, eat and drink, with fellow stogie lovers. Denied smoking privileges at swank steak houses and nightclubs, these seeming exiles are meeting up in luxe surroundings with fellow aficionados.
Meanwhile, cigar bar owners are smiling. They cleverly lobbied for an exemption in the law that allows existing "cigar bars" to provide increasingly comfortable surroundings for exiled smokers.
Even as cigarette smokers huddle on street corners, drawing furtively on Marlboros and Winstons, stogie smokers head for clubby venues where they can happily puff cigars, and only cigars. No pipes or cigarettes are allowed in these bars by law.
"Business has never been more stressful and I find that I can go in there, crank out a document on my laptop, conduct a conference call, all with a cigar in my mouth," says Mark Gilman, a Southfield marketing executive who frequents a store with big screen TVs but no bar.
At the Cigar Factory Outlet store in Troy, which includes a lounge tucked into an industrial park, smokers relax in a homey, easy chair atmosphere. "It's just a different environment. You meet different people, from all walks of life," says Monte Holliday, a police officer who stopped at the Troy store to smoke a $9 San Cristobal and schmooze.
This week, the Birmingham City Commission approved a plan to re-invent Churchills, a venerable cigar shop, as Churchills Bistro/Cigar Bar. The move a few doors north will triple Churchills size to 3,500 square feet. The new location will serve food and drinks, sell cigars, rent humidors and provide comfort to those whose smoke is not elsewhere permitted (by the state) nor likely welcome (at home.)
At La Casa De La Habana's three stores in Metro Detroit, customers pay $100 a month for access to a private lounge, special events, two cigars a month, and personal humidors where they can stock their cigars.
The cigar store owners say they're being clobbered by Internet sales, which are exempt from the 32 percent sales tax they pay in Michigan. But they're prospering anyway, because the state ban exemption allows them to serve food and drinks if at least 10 percent of their business is derived from cigar sales and humidor rentals.
"A lot of people don't like to smoke at home, and if you can go to a place with a nice atmosphere it's really increased our business," says Churchills owner Nash Zaitouna, who created a lounge-like West Bloomfield store in 2010. He plans to invest more than $1 million in his Birmingham bistro, expected to open in November.
Despite all the accoutrements permitted to this small niche, who comprise about 3 percent of all smokers, the cigar world isn't picking up recruits from exiled cigarette smokers. Cigarette smokers don't switch, the experts say. They are willing to stand in the rain.
