On Tuesday, Jan. 23, Co-Founder of Tequila Avión, Jenna Fagnan, and Executive Director of Retail & Brand Development of Nat Sherman, Michael Herklots (above), partnered up to offer bartenders and media a special pairing experience with Tequila Avión and Nat Sherman cigars. While Scotch is the traditional choice, guests discovered the wonder of ultra-premium tequila pairings with fine cigars in an intimate setting within the Nat Sherman member’s only Johnson Room.
In order to guide guests through how to make the perfect cigar-tequila pairing, both Michael and Jenna presented two pairings: Tequila Avión Reposado was sampled neat with the Nat Sherman Metropolitan Union (Natural) cigar and Tequila Avión Añejo was sampled neat with the Nat Sherman Timeless (Nicaraguan) cigar.
Learn more about Nat Sherman on their website, or follow them on Twitter @nat42nd
As most FTNYC readers know, I’m a huge fan of Nat Sherman. Scratch that, it is my single favorite cigar lounge in New York City, and here is the reason, distilled into its simplest form:
The Nat Sherman team knows what kind of customer experience it stands for, and the team goes above and beyond to deliver that experience to customers.
What do I mean by “above and beyond?” I mean, they don’t just sell cigars – they sell an experience. Take SPIFF Wednesdays. If you visit Nat Sherman between about 4pm and 6:30pm on Wednesdays and spend $10 (basically, buy a cigar), Nat Sherman will treat you to a free manicure and shoeshine.
You heard right: free.
I dropped in last Wednesday with a friend to smoke a cigar and realized that I had dropped in on the right day! So, I grabbed a cigar (Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary toro) and sat down on the shoe shine chair. The shiner was friendly, professional, and did a fantastic job shining my shoes, all while I sat and smoked a cigar and conversed with my friend.
That is service you just don’t get at more than a handful of cigar lounges in the country.
Here’s a description of SPIIF from a recent Nat Sherman e-newsletter:
Come in and get Spiffy on us…EVERY Wednesday! Enjoy a complimentary manicure and shoeshine when you make a same-day in-store purchase of $10 or more.
SPIFF for Men, offers the quintessential experience for the modern man’s grooming needs. We offer one-stop shopping for all your traditional barbershop services like haircuts, straightedged shaves and shoeshines as well as hot towel treatments, waxes, manicures and pedicures.
It goes without saying that, next chance you get, drop by on a Wednesday and enjoy a shoe shine and manicure.
A few weeks back, we announced voting for the first annual NYC Cigar Lounge of the Year award. Well, about two weeks later and with votes coming in from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and email, we are ready to announce the lounge who took the most votes.
But first, a disclaimer: this was our first year running this survey, which means it was far from perfect. Some lounges that should have bene included in the official ballot were left out (we got some angry emails for that), and we heard a few comments that not enough time was given for an adequate vote. We will take measures next year to assure these problems don’t happen.
Still, even with the problems, we are confident in announcing a winner this year. Out of 24 New York City area cigar lounges, The Cigar Inn (53rd and 2nd Ave) took first place with a commanding 42.5% of NYC area cigar smokers. Refugio Cigar House came in runner-up with 21.3% of the vote. The remainder of the vote was split between 22 other lounges.
Since opening just a few years back, the only Cigar Aficionado lounge and humidor, better known as The Cigar Inn, has been a favorite for NYC area cigar smokers. They are known for their incredible selection of new and hard to find cigars, as well as their solid collection of more well known brands like Fuente, Romeo y Julieta, and more. They are also big community players – they host events for cigar groups like New York G&S, help cigar brands launch new products, and even help with charity events as well.
It has also been a personal favorite of mine and the rest of the FineTobaccoNYC team, especially for business meetings and birthday parties. Cigar Inn was the first lounge to be listed on our “New York’s Best Cigar Lounges” page, and there is a reason why: it a lounge for new and veteran cigar smokers alike. You can read our full review of The Cigar Inn here.
Haven’t been to the Cigar Inn yet? Here is the contact information:
We at FineTobaccoNYC are pleased to announce the first annual FineTobaccoNYC “Cigar Lounge of the Year Award,” based on a survey of cigar smokers in the New York City area (including Hoboken). With the upped levels of regulation in recent years, many a NY cigar smoker has noticed the rapid increase in cigarlounges in the city. I’m proud to say that our team has helped launch some of those lounges. But, taking into account the characteristics of a good smoking lounge, what are the best lounges in the city?
We have put together a short, three question survey to get a community response to this question. There are certain lounges missing (especially fromthe Bronx) so please feel free to use the “other” box if your favorite is not listed. We’ve also limited the options to exclude cigar bars like Merchants, Grand Havana Room, etc that serve liquor as liquor licenses are for all intents and purposes unobtainable to any new lounges.
The survey was sent first and foremost to our email subscribers, then announced via social media. If you are a NYC area cigar smoker, take the survey! Otherwise, await the announcement of the winner.
We’ll be announcing the winner and runners-up via our website at the end of the year (probably the 30th or 31st) – so stay tuned! VOTING ENDS DEC. 30th.
On behalf of the whole FineTobaccoNYC team, David, Kelvin, Ronnie, Tim, James, and I would like to say Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
2012 was a long year of cigar reviews, momentous cigar events, Cigar Wars, and new lounges in New York City. We are grateful for all of our readers, for all of the new cigar companies trying to make it, and lastly for all of our friends in this crazy industry that is in its good moments a lot like a family, and in its worst more like a cult!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
