Places to buy and/or smoke in Palm Springs CA

[cuppajack]

My wife and another couple are escaping the City for the weekend and heading to the desert for some relaxation and partying. I'm looking for a place to grab a couple of smokes while the ladies shop.

My google-foo turned up very little. I know there is a Tinderbox on the main drag, but I've never been in there. Can you smoke inside that particular tinderbox? Any cigar friendly bars?

Any place else I should hit up?

Any non-cigar related recommendations (other than lunch @ Shermans we don't have anything on the books.)

 

[BahamaTom]

Cuppajack- There is an outdoor mall (I think it's called "Riverwalk") down Highway 111/Palm Canyon, past Cathedral City, before Rancho Mirage... It is a great outdoor mall for the ladies... lots of high-end sunglass places, specialty boutiques, etc, and a bunch of great places to eat, PF Changs, Yardhouse, etc...

Anyway, there is a Cohiba store in there that has a great humidor. The selection is top-notch, but be ready to pay out the nose... they also have some pre-embargo Cubanos as well... Neat store, but again, pricey. You can smoke in there, too...

The wife and I have a condo in Rancho Mirage, so when we go down there, this mall is one of our nightly stops...

Hope this helps. Have fun down there!

Regards,

BT

 

[cuppajack]

Got back from the desert last night and had a great time.

On the main darg there is a very ncely stocked Tinderbox. 3 vitolas of Opus even, though there was certainly a tourist tax on em. I think the 3 Robusto tins were $75. My big score there was some below MSRP Noellas and a whole mess of Cabaiguan Petites. I've never seen the Cab petites before, and in fact I thought they were a myth. So I was very excited to find them. The owner/operator was a very nice guy (Pete maybe?)

Then, all of three storefronts down, is another place called, as far as I could tell, simply "Cigars and Wine."
Huge walk-in with all the tourist brands. But well in the back was a couple of boxes of Pepin Centurions! I gleefully grabbed one (already WAY over budget) and started chatting with he guys running the place. I think they were very suprised to have a guy walk in who knew what he was talking about. We got to chatting about Pepin's output and evidently Pepin rolls their house-line (the name of which completely escapes me) and after a while the guy asks if I've tried the Serie JJ, I told him it was allright but I prefer the Cuban Classic line. Then he says, "but have you tried the Maduro? I've got a few back here..."

It was like Christmas, even with the tourist tax on the smokes!

Later that evening I enjoyed one of the Cab petites over ceaser salad and a porterhouse at L.G.s Steakhouse, a place I HIGHLY recommend!