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Smoking lounge...Rant
So, a strange thing happened to me today...twice!
Y'all know that smoking our pipes is looked down upon because of tobacco use is evil. Cigars, same thing. I found two shops today that offer killer smoking rooms so had to check them out. How do fellow cigar and pipe smokers get along? I didn't think there was a difference. Well, today I discovered there is. After browsing, I was told by the two establishments NOT to smoke my pipe in the lounge!! Pipes we're not welcome there. Even though they sell pipes, tools and tobacco! WTF is up with that? I was told that the cigar patrons complain to the owners that the pipe tobacco affects the cigar smoking experience. So, naturally, I did it anyhow! Your not going to push me around. Has anyone ever experienced this where you live??
Y'all know that smoking our pipes is looked down upon because of tobacco use is evil. Cigars, same thing. I found two shops today that offer killer smoking rooms so had to check them out. How do fellow cigar and pipe smokers get along? I didn't think there was a difference. Well, today I discovered there is. After browsing, I was told by the two establishments NOT to smoke my pipe in the lounge!! Pipes we're not welcome there. Even though they sell pipes, tools and tobacco! WTF is up with that? I was told that the cigar patrons complain to the owners that the pipe tobacco affects the cigar smoking experience. So, naturally, I did it anyhow! Your not going to push me around. Has anyone ever experienced this where you live??
Comments
Quite possibly, it could be just a cigar preference at those lounges but seems to me, if the places are selling pipes and tobacco, then there should not be any issues as to smoking either or in the lounge.
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Here is a message I posted last year about the very same thing that happened to me in the only smoking lounge near me.
Hope you're treated better by the cigar crowd than I was when entering the cigar bar near me in Merriville, Indiana called Karma Cigar Bar. As it turns out the place only sells cigars, lighters, and mixed drinks ... no pipe tobacco or supplies what-so-ever. Not even pipe cleaners. I entered the place recently because before moving to their new location the owners did sell pipes and pipe tobacco ... but at that location did not have a liquor license. So l guess once they made the transition from tobacco store to Cigar Bar they dropped everything but cigars. And man did they have a nice assortment of quality cigars throughout the establishment. Very nice longue ... unfortunately I walked in smoking a pipe and was immediately singled out as something of an oddball. There were six gentlemen seated on the four couches and large chairs which made up a square around a massive coffee table - only two of the gentlemen seemed to be together watching some sporting event on the flat screen TV, while the others busied themselves with a variety of activities from reading magazines, to fiddling with their phones or iPads, and one fellow just stared off into space enjoying his cigar. They were as different as night and day ... a well dressed businessman, a gentleman in what appeared to be a hooded jogging suit, a seriously tattooed biker dude wearing a Rock & Roll T-shirt, an overweight gentlemen who took up nearly a third of one of the couches, and the two guys watching TV who may well have been construction workers. I couldn't find anyone at the counter and asked the closest guy to me seated on a couch if he knew if they sold pipe tobacco in the place. He looked up at me as if I'd just shaved his dog and made a grunting sound. I wasn't sure exactly what that meant. Then the businessman who seemed annoyed by my presence looked up from his magazine and said, "Sorry Professor Pepperdine, the lecture hall is in the next building." Everyone got a big laugh at my expense then went back to what they were doing, leaving me to stand there with my pipe in my mouth feeling like an old fool. There is an ongoing discussion on pipe and tobacco snobs also on this forum so I'll post this comment there as well. Now it has me wondering if there are also cigar snobs who look down upon pipe smokers.
Here is what is going on as I see it. There is a new breed of cigar shop out there, that to me is similar to the discount gyms, making more money off smoothies, than they do memberships.
The way to usually solve this problem, is to do your research, and find the oldest cigar/pipe shop in the area. Chances are, they will be holding on to tradition fiercely, and would never dream of such crap.
I have heard seasoned cigar shop owners ask folks not to smoke inside the cigar humidor. I have also heard cigar smokers complain about Acid cigars and the like, which seem to appeal to the new smoker, but I have never heard of a shop owner not allowing them in a smoking room.
To me, cigar odors and cigar smoke has the potential to be more offensive, because of the volume of smoke the cigar produces compared to a pipe.
I have been in some of the newer shops that opened around here and am willing to bet they will shut down within three or four years. Younger generation that frequent these shops are more into hookahs and vaping rather than traditional pipes and premium quality cigars. Not my thing and not my seen.
@Londy3 - Di' loro fratello!
The more I'm around people, the more I like dogs.
I have a friend that stopped in a tinderbox one time to buy me a pipe lighter for my birthday. The clerk behind the counter was adamant that my friend should buy a cigar for himself, even though that wasn't what he was there for. The clerk even made him smell a humidor to try and sell him on a cigar. My friend has smoked cigars in the past, but he wasn't there to buy one, and he seemed amused that the clerk would push them so hard. I know there are pipe snobs out there, but for the most part, all the pipers I've encountered have been very friendly and helpful.