Speak about a breath of contemporary air! One look across the ocean view patio, the glowing blue glass crammed fireplace pits, and the comfortable out of doors furnishings and it’s clear that this isn’t your grandfather’s cigar lounge. This al fresco terrace setting has beautiful hand-painted murals, and overlooks the resort’s spa pool, permitting for mild breezes and a way more welcoming ambiance for many who aren’t indulging in cigars.
Which isn’t to say that traditionalists gained’t discover a lot to understand on the new Cohiba Expertise at The Bacara, which opened to the general public this week.
As one may think, the primary everlasting Cohiba Cigar Lounge within the U.S. does have a surprising cedar-lined, walk-in humidor, dominated by Cohiba’s well-known brand — essentially the most recognizable cigar title on the planet, it was as soon as Fidel Castro’s non-public label model and in the identical sort of luxurious class as Dom Pérignon Champagne and Rolls Royce — and an assortment of alternatives from the storied model such because the Purple Dot (Dominican Republic), Cohiba Blue (Honduras), and the Royale (Nicaragua).
It’s additionally stocked with an ogle-worthy assortment of effective spirits, equivalent to LOUIS XIII Cognac by Remy Martin and excessive finish whiskies like Van Winkle Particular Reserve and Talisker 18 yr. “We’ll minimize and lightweight all the pieces tableside, in addition to serve the spirits,” stated Brittany, a Bacara server who defined she acquired intensive coaching on cigars and the choice, ageing and mixing of tobacco in preparation for the opening.
Additionally on faucet within the new cigar lounge are two specifically crafted cocktails from the Good Lion Hospitality Group. Mixologists from their standard downtown and Funk Zone bars had been readily available to pour their particular creations that can be on the Cohiba Expertise menu — the Shaker Mill Outdated Common and the Free Canon — each of which I needed to pattern, together with, after all, a couple of puffs on a Cohiba.
Victoria McKee Jaworski, the PR Lead at Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which owns the Cohiba model within the U.S., has been within the enterprise for greater than 20 years, touring everywhere in the world telling the tales of the cigar’s mystique. She instructed me a bit about how distinctive the Ritz-Carlton partnership is, “as the primary of its sort everlasting (not only a pop-up) cigar lounge within the U.S.”
After slicing the ribbon on the brand new cigar lounge, alongside Steven Janicek, GM of the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Cohiba Lead Blender and Model Ambassador Sean Williams additionally had a wealth of data to share. Initially the founding father of his personal artisanal model cigar firm, El Primer Mundo, Williams joined the worldwide tobacco firm six years in the past partly, he defined, to have the ability to make an influence on a big scale with partnerships like this one.
Whereas a lot of the cigar tobacco is produced exterior of the U.S., the Connecticut River Valley has been repeatedly farming tobacco since 1646, stated Williams. Connecticut Shade Tobacco continues to be utilized by premium manufacturers like Cohiba, whose distinctive white and gold foil Connecticut label, with an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper, is on show within the humidor on the Bacara.
Williams can be again on the town and showing on the Cohiba Expertise at The Bacara October 20-22. It’s a uniquely cool area, and he’s an important storyteller — I like to recommend you keep tuned for extra particulars as plans develop. He plans to be on the town frequently for issues like cigar pairings, handmade cigar seminars, unique cigar launch events, and different particular occasions. In the meantime, The Cohiba Expertise at The Bacara is now open to the general public (age 21 and over), Wednesday via Sunday from 6 – 10 p.m. Reservations are inspired. See sevenrooms.com/reservations/cigarloungesbarz/sbarz-cigar-lounge-marriott-com for particulars.
