Manhattan cigar bar suggestions

[floydpink]

I will be spending a week in Manhattan and will have a few hours alone one night while my wife and daughter see a Broadway play which I am not interested in.

I was wondering if there is a recommended lounge where I could enjoy a cigar and not feel too out of place in jeans and t shirt?

We are staying midtown but I am fine using my subway pass to go downtown

Thanks for any advice!

[milhouse]

Merchants is probably your only choice. Bring your own sticks, and there is a $5 cut fee. Anything else will require at least a collared shirt, a jacket or a membership.

There is a restuarant called Florios in Little Italy. They too are casual, not sure if they are still open. Maybe someone else can chime in.

[The Poet]

Merchants is a nice place for sure, though you may feel a bit out of place in jeans and T, even if they don't exactly ban that. For sure you could not get into Club Macanudo (which would likely be a bit closer to your hotel), as they wouldn't even let A-Rod entry in jeans and sneakers . . . and that was when he was still hitting!

Don't know when JRs on 5th Ave or Nat Sherman's off 5th close, but you can likely smoke a stick in those places too.

[VirtualSmitty]

Davidoff has a nice little lounge as does Nat Shermans and neither has a dress code. Seating can get a little tight though.

[floydpink]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Cigar Inn was also suggested as another good place so at least I have some options in a tough place to smoke

[racerX]

Go to the play. Sounds boring but they are not. Smoke your cigar afterward as you walk the streets of NYC.

[dave]

Agree with RacerX. Unless you've been to a number of them, it is always a great experience. Shouldn't have any problem walking the streets, either. Only place I won't anymore is Central Park, where you aren't supposed to smoke at all.

If sitting vice walking, I like to just find a seat in Times Square and watch the people. Great place to have a cigar.

[floydpink]

Originally Posted by racerX

Go to the play. Sounds boring but they are not. Smoke your cigar afterward as you walk the streets of NYC.

Probably the right thing to do. I'll see if they'll switch from Mama Mia to something else.

The last Broadway play I saw was Beatlemania in the 70's, which is sorta depressing and a reminder of how old I am

[dave]

Originally Posted by floydpink

.... Mama Mia.......

I'm sorry. I retract my earlier suggestion. I'd find a seat in Times Square.

[floydpink]

I might be talked into Wicked!

The thing is, in Florida, it's normal to find patio seating at cigar lounges and my limited experience in NYC has been stuffy bars filled with Wall Street types and that is not my scene at all

[dave]

Wicked is pretty good and I generally don't like musicals so much. But, another musical that's even better is Newsies. Not as much fancy production, but a lot of fun - I'd think you could sell the wife and daugher on either if you want to go.

[The Poet]

Central Park is maybe out, but I recall that there's a "private" little pocket park somewhere east of 5th Ave midtown (high 40s, low 50s) where it is absolutely legal to sit and smoke cigars. It was established by some muck-de-muck at CBS, and is "private" only in the sense that this allowed him to skirt the anti-smoking Nazis, so anyone is welcome.

Maybe somebody here has more precise info.

[floydpink]

If you're right, I can be like Mick Jagger and say I'm walking through Central Park, singing after dark, people think I'm craaazy

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by floydpink

If you're right, I can be like Mick Jagger and say I'm walking through Central Park, singing after dark, people think I'm craaazy

Yeah, OK, but don't expect there's gonna be some Puerto Rican girls who's jus' dyin' ta meetcha!