How do we love thee? Consider this an official public display of affection...

I was just writing a super bunch of stuff for our forthcoming website and decided, hey! I should self-plagiarize! So here's a portion of what's to come...

n.b.: If we left you off the list even though we have publicly professed our love for you in the past, it's because your lovely blogger was distracted by the bubbles in her ginger ale. Literally, it's not you; it's me.

Another n.b.: These are in no particular order.


Anyway, these are folks who actually speak to us in public. We support them, their businesses, their endeavors. They don’t look away when we make eye contact. Win-win!

Habanos Cigar Lounge—Where the magic happens. And by “magic,” we mean where words are written, friends made (where we found Caballero #2!), and cigars smoked. We consider this our “home base.” (Hi, well, everyone!) If you come by and we aren’t here, there’s a good chance we will be soon!

 

So...many...things...

Mr. J’s Havana—Owned by our SuperFriend Paul Joyle, this cigar shop in West Warwick, RI (located within Joyle’s Liquor) requires your immediate presence. Go ahead. We’ll wait. While you’re there, say “Howdy” to Mark and Nate and many of the regulars. They’re all awesome. Oh! And make sure you try the J Grotto cigars. You’re welcome in advance.

Actually, there's a new sign outside and the inside has been completely redone!
Broadway Cigars: Now! With more coziness!

Broadway Cigars—We’re big, big fans of this cigar lounge in Providence, RI, even though we don’t get there nearly as much as we’d like! They have fantastic in-house events and cigar dinners. Go for the ever-expanding repertoire of cigars and regulars, stay for the conversation and fun. Tell Bobby and JV we sent you! Oh! And it’s BYOB, just so you know!

This picture doesn't do The Humidor justice. But when you're swiping
pictures from the mighty internets, beggars can't be choosers.
Well, they can...

The Humidor--With three Rhode Island locations, all unique and yet amazing, our favorite is the East Greenwich, RI, shop, which features a huge lounge area, big enough to hold an excellent Drew Estate dinner, which we went to this past Thursday. Owner Jana is one of the coolest chicks we know; she hosts fabulous events and provides a fantastic selection of cigars and accessories. Tell her we said "Hi!" when you go!

Cigar Cellar and Lounge—A bit further from home than we’d like, this Miami spot is heaven. We happened upon it by accident and now we’re trying to figure out how to relocate the business, owner Rhea Planes, and all the regulars up to us. (And no, relocating to Miami is not an option. Too hot there for one of us.) Learn how to play dominos before you go and tell Rhea we said "Hi!" and we miss her, when you get there!

As wonderfully eclectic inside as it is out.

Leaf + Bean, Pittsburgh’s Strip District—There are almost no words for how eclectically awesome this place is. Owned by our pal Jim Robinson (he who created the Leaf by Oscar cigar, among others), this shop happens to be near Valentino’s hometown and not too far from Penny’s son’s home. We visit both a lot more now.

Churchill's Smoke Shop--Not a huge place, but definitely a hugely welcoming place! Valentino found this on his own, and when I eventually got there myself, I felt the need to arm-punch him for holding out. Owner Bryan and Joe are definitely guys you want to be friends with--trust me on this.

Yes, an actual old firehouse.

Old Firehouse Smoke Shop--This is another shop we'd heard about for ages and then practically stumbled over by accident while we were in Fall River, MA. So so so glad we did! John only carries boutique cigars; if you wander around for even a bit of time, you'll say, "Hey! I heard about these..." or "I've been looking for these..." more than a few times. Plus...there's a shop dog named Wyatt to love while you're there...

Premium 70/70 Cigar Shop and Lounge--Who's an ass? Make that a clueless ass...This girl. Premium 70/70 is in my hometown. The town I lived in for mumblemumble years! And I've driven by no less than one hundred million times, making a teeny tiny mental note of it. One day we had some extra time and said, "Hey, we should go there.." And we did. And we loved it, especially Nolan and the great cigar selection. Plus, there's a shop cat named Bob... If I still lived in town, I would make that my homebase for sure.

Havana Cigar Club--If you have an hour or ten, you should visit Havana's humidor. Take it in like an art gallery; that's what I do, while Valentino stands there saying, "Come onnnnnn" and one of the awesome staff members tells me about the cigars I regard with obvious longing. If you do actually choose (because you aren't indecisive like me), settle into a cozy leather chair and...ahhhhh. Become a member and you can settle into even cushier chairs in the private member room.

Ale House Cigar Bar—This really cool place to hang out, located in downtown Providence, RI, has its cache upped by the staff—welcoming, funny, and thoughtful. Honestly, we don’t get here nearly enough.  That needs to change—stat--partly because we miss Humidor Manager Jake!
 

Boulevard Cigar--A newcomer to the greater Providence area, stepping into this  place is like visiting your best friend’s living room—it’s welcoming, cozy, and…well, your BFF probably doesn’t have an amazingly stocked humidor, but ours does! A great cigar selection, especially for a new place. Bet you'll love it so much you'll want to be a member!

 

The other day, I said, “I’d like to quit my job and travel around the country in an RV, checking out cigar lounges and going to cigar events.”

Simultaneously, two friends looked at me and said, “Don’t you already do that?”

Oh. Actually, yes. Except we don’t have an RV.

What cigar lounges should we visit next? Tell us--we have the summer off, although can that possibly be long enough? Anyway, we want to find new favorites. Without an RV, obviously (harumph), but I can try to overlook that. I'll just have to settle for Valentino's luxury vehicle... 

A Tale of Two Cigar Shops/Lounges, Part the Second (but about Nos. 4 and 5) (Numbers are confusing.)

When we last left you, we'd visited Broadway Cigars and kept Will from licking the cigars. Check out Part the First and Part the First and a Half.

Then we hopped in the car and headed to a place we'd been meaning to go for ages: The Humidor in Cranston, RI. As you may remember, we visited their East Greenwich shop not too long ago.

The Cranston store is their flagship and, while not as big as our earlier jaunt destination, man oh man do they have a ton of cool stuff! In fact, we had a really hard time deciding what to get. Apprently, for the fiscally responsible (Valentino), "Let's get all the things!" is not a reasonable alternative.

But first! We want to tell you this interesting fact: The Humidor was one of Drew Estate's first five accounts and the first in New England.

Now I wish I could say, for continuity's sake, that we bought a ton of Drew Estate cigars, but we already have a ton ton ton in the humidor, so we went in a different direction and got these:

I know!

We've been looking for the My Father Cigars lancero, also known as the My Father No. 4, for just ages! And here they were! We suspect we're going to love them, and when we got home, we were all d'oh! Why did we only get one of the 7 1/2 x 38 cigars, with their Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrappers and Nicaraguan binders and fillers? We never do that! We always get at least two, usually three--one to smoke right away, one for the humidor, and one for a second smoke. The humidor looked angry* when we only fed one of these lovelies into its maw.

We'll tell you more when we set it on fire, which will probably happen soon-ish.


Then! the lovely Jana, owner extraordinaire, brought this box from the back room:

...and Will jumped right in. Sigh.

This lovely box is half-filled with the Fuente Fuente Opus X (FFOX) Perfecxion No. 5, which may seem owl-sized at 40 x 4 7/8, but we triple-dog-dared him to light one up. We stared him down--or tried to but were seriously losing--so we walked away and passive-aggressively said, "You do what you want." 

We should probably tell Will that our friends at Famous Smoke** say the "cigars are stunning little fireplugs handcrafted by Carlito Fuente's most talented rollers using vintage, all-Dominican, Cuban-seed fillers capped in mouthwateringly oily wrappers. The smoke is full-bodied, heady and spicy, laced with a deep dark tobacco flavors." Yeah, we should probably tell him.

This is another instance where we say, "What were we thinking? Why didn't we just grab the box and run?"***

Jana, we're going to be back soon, because we really should hav ebought all the things. Is there an opposite of "buyer's remorse"? Like, "Didn't buy it remorse"? Because if that's a thing, we have it. Big time.


*It truly is a living beast, with wants and needs that must be fulfilled.  And you should never, ever feed it after midnight.

**Of course, our friends at Famous Smoke also say "Hahaha, good luck finding these!"

***Probably because we aren't really runners. Plus, we're pretty law-abiding and we'd feel really badly before we ever reached the car. Plus plus, Jana is wicked nice.

The Humidor in East Greenwich, RI: Another new favorite place! (How are we ever going to keep up???)

So you guys! I am currently being consumed by the world's most comfortable chair in one of the coolest new (to us) shops we've been in.

First, let me tell you that most pictures in this post are taken from said chair, as I now live in it.
 

You thought I was kidding, didn't you?

This is the East Greenwich, RI location of...

First (again), let me say, we've been hearing pure awesomeness about The Humidor (which also has locations in Cranston, RI and Newport, RI) for ages, but just never got there.*  Then, one day not too long ago, Valentino was chatting with our friend Jarrid (he of Kristoff) (Hi Jarrid!) about the Partagas/Ramon y Ramon 150-year anniversary humidor we have, and how one drawer was missing, which made him have the sad.

Ours is not filled with cigars, however

Will chose a couple of 30-year-old cigars for Valentino.

Jarrid said Jana Polofsky, owner of The Humidor, had one of those. She might let us have the missing drawer. And after a series of text messages, blammo! She said we could have it. Valentino's day?** Made.


Within these humidors (and those in the first picture) lie some gorgeous sticks.

In addition to their fantastic selection, including things that will make you say, "OMG! I've been dying to try that!"  We found and picked up the Alec Bradley Fine and Rare, which was both fine and difficult to find. Well-played Alan Rubin. Well-played.

 

Bravo!

 

Drew Estate is seriously represented in the store as well.  Did you know The Humidor was the first in the country to carry Drew Estate? If it's good enough for Jonathan Drew...just saying.

While we were there, we met Austin Trudeau, a super cool dude, who I was trying to convince to become my BFF, but Will did what Will does and now they are BFFs.

Rats! Foiled again!

When you go to The Humidor--and you WILL go to The Humidor--you should poke around and check out the treasures. They have some cool and unique stuff, like a humidor with the (I believe) second Cigar Aficionado cover.***  And this:





Will would like to have this. 
And he would like to keep it on my desk.

And the people who go to The Humidor? Fantastic! While Valentino and Austin were cigar shenaniganning,**** I had a lovely chat with a couple who hang out there. From the comfort of my chair, of course.

Valentino and his drawer and a nice lady.
Plus! Look at all that cool stuff in the background!

 And and and there's so much room there! And that's super great because they seem to have the most fantastical events there! That's the other reason why I'm mad we didn't know about this place sooner! All the things we've missed! Kristoff events! Camacho events! Drew Estate events! Cigar dinners next door at Siena! D'oh!!



I would like to be sitting on that couch,
but getting out of the chair is quite difficult.



Make sure you like their Facebook page so you can get all the info before the fun happens! The events are much more engaging that way! (They don't have a website, which makes a researcher like me nutty.)

The Humidor's East Greenwich shop is at 5600 Post Road. "We are located right next to Siena in Benny's Plaza. Come on in! Have a smoke and relax in our comfy leather sofas. BYOB! We also have a poker table in the back."  And when you go, tell Austin and Jana we said "Howdy!"--unless we're there; then you should say "Howdy!" to us! And them!

 

Next stop! The Cranston shop! Wahooooo!

*We're creatures of habit. This should not be news to anyone.

 

**Not Valentine's Day.

 

***Full disclosure: We have the humidor with the premier cover.

 

****It's a word now!