Cigar bar etiquette?

[rickcr]

I'm a new cigar smoker and have yet to frequent any cigar bars. I've waited tables for several years in the past so I want to be respectful of eating/drinking establishments. I'll be going on a cruise in a few weeks on Royal Caribbean and I noticed they have an on-board cigar bar. I plan on bringing some sticks with me on the cruise to smoke where I can, but is it considered taboo/disrespectful to bring your own cigars into a cigar bar and smoke them there? I'll obviously be buying some drinks while in the bar, I'm just not sure about the proper etiquette in regard to purchasing a cigar there or not?

Thanks for some information.

 

[TheVitaleMob]

Welcome to the board Rick, mind posting an intro over on the intro board?

As far as cigar bar etiquette, I live by a simple rule. If they just sell cigars, and have a lounge, buy a cigar or 2, but feel free to smoke something that you brought yourself. If they sell alcohol and other stuff, ie. a bar or restaurant that allows you to smoke, buy something that they have, whether it be food or drinks, and certainly smoke your own stuff if you have it.

Basically, give them a bit of business, and smoke what you want.

Have fun on your cruise.

 

[Flushnutz]

Welcome to the board Rick, mind posting an intro over on the intro board?

As far as cigar bar etiquette, I live by a simple rule. If they just sell cigars, and have a lounge, buy a cigar or 2, but feel free to smoke something that you brought yourself. If they sell alcohol and other stuff, ie. a bar or restaurant that allows you to smoke, buy something that they have, whether it be food or drinks, and certainly smoke your own stuff if you have it.

Basically, give them a bit of business, and smoke what you want.

Have fun on your cruise.

I agree with this except on a cruise. The ship is different, the lounge is there primarily to give cigar smokers a place to smoke not to make money. They obviously sell cigars, but on my most recent cruise everyone I saw was smoking from there own stash not buying them on board.

Hope this helps

Dennis

 

[rectifythis]

As far as cigar bar etiquette, I live by a simple rule. If they just sell cigars, and have a lounge, buy a cigar or 2, but feel free to smoke something that you brought yourself. If they sell alcohol and other stuff, ie. a bar or restaurant that allows you to smoke, buy something that they have, whether it be food or drinks, and certainly smoke your own stuff if you have it.

Basically, give them a bit of business, and smoke what you want.

x2. This has been my experiences as well with regard to cigar bars [on land].

 

[merkinmullet]

You have already paid for the cruise, so I wouldn't worry about supporting the cigar bar. A lot of people bring their own bottles of wine and liquor on board, besides, what if they only carry Acids. :0

As for a B&M, I always buy a couple, even if I take them home and smoke what I brought.

 

[TheVitaleMob]

Welcome to the board Rick, mind posting an intro over on the intro board?

As far as cigar bar etiquette, I live by a simple rule. If they just sell cigars, and have a lounge, buy a cigar or 2, but feel free to smoke something that you brought yourself. If they sell alcohol and other stuff, ie. a bar or restaurant that allows you to smoke, buy something that they have, whether it be food or drinks, and certainly smoke your own stuff if you have it.

Basically, give them a bit of business, and smoke what you want.

Have fun on your cruise.

I agree with this except on a cruise. The ship is different, the lounge is there primarily to give cigar smokers a place to smoke not to make money. They obviously sell cigars, but on my most recent cruise everyone I saw was smoking from there own stash not buying them on board.

Hope this helps

Dennis

Ah, yes. I'm too young to have gone on a cruise before. I imagine that you could smoke there because it's a cruise. Thanks for hitting what I missed.


Edit: I suck TOO much with grammar.

 

[rbbrock]

I do the same thing as the guys above - if the place sells drinks, I'll buy a drink or two and smoke my own. If they don't sell drinks, I'll buy a stick or two and smoke my own. On the cruise, though, I'd not worry about it at all, just smoke what you brought and if you want to buy a drink or a stick, fine, but you shouldn't feel like you have to.

 

[Eshaw99]

I've only been on one cruise, but I brought my own sticks. Our server at the cigar lounge didn't seem to mind, and actually provided exceptional ashtray service. He even offered us cutters and lighters.

 

[Gonz]

x3, you absolutely don't have to and shouldn't feel the need to buy your cigars in the ship's cigar bar. Besides, chances are you'll be buying a drink while in there anyhow. On my last cruise I was in the cigar bar at least twice/day, and talked quite a bit with the bartender. He never thought twice about my having my own cigars, in fact he was very interested in what I had and wanted to know all about them.


ps - use the search function if you're wondering about where to buy certain forbidden cigars while on your cruise. It's been discussed many times before and there's alot that you'll want/need to know about it if it's been on your mind. Feel free to pm me if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

[Golfanatic]

I went last night, brought a cuban with me, and purchased some sticks from them. It's cool, just buy something.

 

[CyBeRDiVeR]

When I go to a cigar bar I always buy a stick or two. I usually try to smoke something I've never tried before. As others have said, if I go to a bar that serves alcohol, I will smoke my own and buy a drink.

 

[Mowee]

What has been said before is correct. On a cruise, heck you have paid for it. Buy a stick if there is something decent and not at a huge ripoff price...the sales do indicate to the ship they should keep it and not turn it into another casino. As for land based cigar bars, today with the new legislation they NEED to sell cigars...many states and cities are putting on some percentage of sales of tobacco versus drinks so they need to sell the cigars to stay in business.

 

[smokintexas]

The only time I've smoked a cigar in an establishment was at a restaurant here in DFW. I didn't have any with me so I decided to purchase one from the restaurant. He showed me a list of the Cigars (no prices of course) so I decided on a 1964 Mad Diplomatico. When I got the bill I had realized that they charged me $30 for the cigar! If there was that much of a markup at a restaurant I don't want to know what they'll charge on the cruise!!

 

[eruption]

Agree with the above posts, but I wonder if your ship still actually has a cigar bar?

The reason I ask is I went on RC a few years ago and the ship had a wonderful cigar bar up toward the front of the ship.

However, when we went last year(2008), again on RC, the cigar bar had been closed down, and several smoking restrictions had been implemented. Primarily, smoking was only allowed on the deck above the pool deck and only on one side of the ship.

Enjoy your cruise,

Kevin

 

[rickcr]

Agree with the above posts, but I wonder if your ship still actually has a cigar bar?

The reason I ask is I went on RC a few years ago and the ship had a wonderful cigar bar up toward the front of the ship.

However, when we went last year(2008), again on RC, the cigar bar had been closed down, and several smoking restrictions had been implemented. Primarily, smoking was only allowed on the deck above the pool deck and only on one side of the ship.

The RC Freedom class of ships supposedly has a cigar bar ("The Connoisseur's Club") mentioned on the website virtual tour http://www.royalcaribbean.com/multimedia/v...hipClassCode=FR

The website could possibly not have been updated though. Actually, I'll be happy just smoking on deck somewhere anyway... I don't really care about needing bar that much, but it might be nice to hang out there one night.

That brings up another question... Well my cigars keep ok for the cruise if I just put them in a tupperware container? I can throw in a piece of some oasis foam with some distilled water added to it. Not really high tech I know, but I want to bring about 15 or so.

Thanks again for all the posts.

 

[Jam1173]

They will hold, or you could grab a 15 count travel humi for like 25 dollars.

 

[rectifythis]

You could make a small device for beads if you wanted to toss that in your tupperware, though I strongly recommend just buying a 15 ct travel humi. I bought my Xikar travel humi here from Rod, and drilled holes into a small plastic container (about 1/2 the size of a roll of nickels) filled it with beads and keep it in my traveldore at all times. I can take it anywhere and it keeps for a very very long time. Best $ I've ever spent.

 

[PuroEsq]

What has been said before is correct. On a cruise, heck you have paid for it. Buy a stick if there is something decent and not at a huge ripoff price...the sales do indicate to the ship they should keep it and not turn it into another casino. As for land based cigar bars, today with the new legislation they NEED to sell cigars...many states and cities are putting on some percentage of sales of tobacco versus drinks so they need to sell the cigars to stay in business.

Yes ... more and more ships are closing the cigar bars and limiting smoking to the extreme. The cruise I was on in April 07 had one small bar where smoking was allowed but the only place other than that was the open air bar at the back of the ship. I would suggest that you purchase something to show those with the power that they should keep their ships open to cigar smokers.

 

[SewerRanger]

As for land based cigar bars, today with the new legislation they NEED to sell cigars...many states and cities are putting on some percentage of sales of tobacco versus drinks so they need to sell the cigars to stay in business.

That's what happened here in Baltimore when they banned smoking. Outside of one place, none of the bars that allowed cigars (which wasn't many more then 2 or 3 anyway) had enough business from cigars to be able to file for a license to allow smoking in the bar. The one place that did survive is $1000/year for a membership. I smoke at home now.

 

[mrcigar]

On the topic of Cruise cigar bars RickCR fill us in and tell us how it was. Which ship was it?
What types did they sell on the Ship? Where the prices reasonable?

On land cigar bars I'll sometimes bring one to start, but then usually find one I can't find or wouldn't usually buy to enjoy there. Last time I went to Shelly Back Room (DC) for a Birthday party. We had brought some cigars but ending up buying a bunch of sticks to celebrate and enjoyed some great food and some great drinks.