Lounge And Light Up
New cigar lounge offers clean, comfortable environment for men and women.
Susan Fishman

Inside the humidor at Ash Cigar Company.

With tobacco restrictions being enforced in more and more cities these days, there aren’t many public places one can go to just sit back, relax and enjoy a good cigar. And it’s something more and more people are looking to do, according to Tom Patton, creator and proprietor of Ash Cigar Company. The Atlanta-based retailer is a different cigar lounge that caters to both men and women and not just a place where one stops in, buys a cigar and goes home.

“Traditionally, most of the cigar stores were what I like to call the ‘old farts clubs,’ where the same guys hang out, and they were very myopic in the sense that it was all about sports and such,” says Patton. “The stores were not conducive to a wide variety of folks who wanted to come in and have a clean environment and a more comfortable area to smoke.”

Patton developed the new concept with his partner, Sondra Hankamer, who used to manage Georgia Cigar & Tobacco. From their due diligence, the two discovered that there was an emerging group of female cigar smokers who had no desire to sit and enjoy a cigar in one of the traditional, male-centric cigar stores. So they decided to do some further research and found out that what both men and women wanted in a cigar store was cleanliness, from the furnishings to the air environment. As a result, The Ash Cigar Company store design includes two high-efficient air cleaners, which, in addition to the air filtration portion of the system, includes an odor-eater component.

“We now have twice as much as what’s required by state regulations,” Patton notes.

The interior of Ash Cigar Company is more like a living room than a traditional cigar store.

Patton and Hankamer also wanted to design a place that was comfortable and, realizing that most everyone feels comfortable in their living rooms, designed a store with warm colors, clean furniture made of leather and suede, nice rugs, soft pendant lighting and flat-screen televisions. In addition, the stores have 15-foot ceilings to create an open, airy feel, as well as distressed, solid oak flooring and high-top bistro tables. The cigar store also includes a unique gazebo-shaped humidor, which features Spanish cedar from floor to ceiling.

“We wanted a place that man or woman would immediately feel comfortable walking in, sitting down and enjoying a cigar,” says Patton.

The first Ash Cigar Company location opened in Atlanta’s Buckhead area at Sembler’s new Lindbergh Plaza in June 2006, and a second location is planned for summer 2007 at Camp Creek Marketplace, just west of the Atlanta airport. In addition to cigars, the second location at Camp Creek Marketplace will feature wines and ports, as well as possibly cognacs and scotch. The third Atlanta location will open in Sandy Springs in late spring 2008. The company also has plans to open a store on Jekyll Island, on the Georgia coast, near three new hotels that Patton is developing with his company, New South Development, which builds and develops Marriott and Hilton hotels.

“People who are cigar fans typically look for a place that gives them what they want from a product standpoint, but the other thing they look for is a place that’s easy to get in and out of,” notes Patton. “So we look at egress and ingress and keep a very keen eye toward that magic formula — location, location, location. We want to be a place that becomes an icon and want to be sure those areas in which we set up shop will be there for some time.”

Ash Cigar Company recently opened its first location at Sembler’s Lindbergh Plaza in Atlanta.

One thing that adds to the magic formula of a cigar lounge is special events, according to Patton. The Ash Cigar Company has wine tastings in which wines are paired to cigars, and vice versa. The store also has plans for “Football Sundays” and is holding a woman’s guide to cigar smoking one day a month, in which those who want to learn about cigars — from their construction to the packaging to the proper way to cut and smoke a cigar — can enjoy it all. The company also sends cigars to the troops in Iraq.

The Ash Cigar Company features a wide selection of cigars, averaging $5 to $8 for a moderately priced cigar and $10 to $15 for a higher-end smoke. Cigar selections include Diadema by Camacho, Liberty 2006 by Camacho and Acid Cigars by Drew Estate, popular with the college crowd. But the company’s customer base is predominantly professionals, from contractors to people in the IT business, says Patton.

“People who buy cigars are those who are successful and have disposable income,” he says. “Whether it’s the smell, taste or visual aspect of cigar smoking, it brings successful people to an area.”