Dumbest idea ever - opening a cigar bar?

sounds like a fuckin horeible idea. why dont you also add ping pong tables, it will attract ping pong players.

What do you do when they outlaw smoking in public places? Don't laugh VA passed an anti-smoking bill.

With out a liquor license, it doesn't even make sense?

Creating a nice cigar lounge atmosphere would be expensive as hell.

I think you would need a high population density to make this work even in the best of scenarios.

Instead of Ping Pong tables throw in strippers.

Its not a cigar bar if there is no liquor. What you have is a cigar shop with a lounge. There is no reason this would not work, but you have to look at it more like a retail shop and less like a hospitality outfit. Cigar smokers are very loyal, and if you give them a space to smoke in peace and offer them great service, they will be loyal. Without serving liquor it will be very hard to be successful as a lounge. DO NOT add hookah, hookah people and cigar people tend not to like each other and I have a feeling that you will attract neither if you solicit both.

I think people will assume there's liquor if you call it a cigar bar instead of a lounge.

hookah bars tend to be full of hipstery college kids and high school kids that go because they can't buy cigs and hookah bars only card sometimes. I don't think you really want to cater to those people, and I agree that if you do both, you'll keep away both crowds.

Is there any reason that you wouldn't have liquor? I'd love a cigar bar with liquor, the two tend to go together really well. I've never been to a cigar bar but almost every smoke shop has a smoking room in the back where people will lounge about and smoke.

I think the most important thing is having a solid crowd of regulars who will be loyal and comfortable at the bar. The problem is having a solid crowd of regulars that are so loyal that they'll overpay for cigars that they can bring from home in order to support a place that they love and keep it in business. I don't know if it's profitable at all, which is why smoking rooms are in the back of cigar shops.

I'd say your best bet is having a good selection of whisk(e)ys, maybe wine too, in order to have a steady cashflow. It'll also be incredibly helpful especially at the beginning to establish a relationship with some sort of local club/group of regular smokers who'll come to your place for something that you offer that they can't get anywhere else they'd smoke. I think a good balance between exclusivity and class without the pretension and clubbiness that is often associated with tobacco beyond cigarettes while understanding the culture that surrounds serious smoking is crucial. I assume your friend has an understanding of this since he's trying to open a cigar bar in the first place, but I thought I should mention it especially since I have friends who are very serious about tobacco. At the end of the day, smoking cigars and pipes is most often about the shared experience and conversation as well as the tobacco itself and the bar would have to facilitate this comfortably above all else.

Also, a really good air filtration system.

Edited by Nosu3 - 12/2/11 at 3:01pm

You'd do better giving your 25% of the investment to a Chinese restaurant that doesn't cook rice. And you could still smoke there too.

what about smoking while playing ping pong stipping!

I don't smoke cigars (or anything), but doesn't it seem to be the case that in an enclosed environment, the cigars' unique flavors would mingle, causing something that is not what the customers desired?

I'm not a smoker, but I think this is tough. I hesitate to say "bad idea" because I'm sure it could work, but it's sounds unlikely. Is it more like a cigar shop where guys can smoke? How rare is that? Why would customers go to this place over 1) a bar where you can smoke 2) an established cigar shop?

What barriers are there to BYOB with a stem charge?