Any city dwellers having a hard time finding a place to enjoy a cigar?

[ColdCuts]

I'm sure it's different from city to city and inmate to inmate, but for me, living as I do in Brooklyn, it's hard to find a suitable place to enjoy a cigar anymore. It's expensive to live here, so I share an apartment with roommates. This is a common NYC strategy -- one that honestly, the older I get, the less I can abide. But in any case, those I live with don't want me puffing away inside the apartment. That's fair. I won't fault them for that. Probably wouldn't smoke inside even if I could, in the name of keeping the place smelling nice. So that leaves me with the outside world.

My front door lets out directly onto a busy sidewalk. There's no stoop, stairs, driveway, garden, lawn, or other peaceful bit of distance between my door and the foot traffic. The instant I step out, until I start walking in one direction or the other, I feel much like a parked car on a busy freeway. It doesn't feel like the right place for a cigar. Perhaps here you're thinking, 'Dave, it's a free country. You're at liberty to smoke a cigar on the sidewalk.' Well, perhaps that's true. But between dodging oncoming pedestrians, and simply knowing that I'm upsetting people with my cigar smoke at such close quarters, it goes a long way toward ruining my cigar experience. I dunno. Once I feel that weight on my shoulders, I have trouble enjoying the cigar. So, where do I go to enjoy a cigar?

The park is out due to the smoking ban, the apartment is out, and outside my front door is out. That leaves me either combing the neighborhood for an unlikely deserted side street, or making a big to-do of it by taking two trains into Manhattan in order to visit an expensive cigar bar with a dress code. Know what option I most often choose? The save-the-cigar-for-another-day option. And sadly, that that day keeps not coming. And I end up enjoying fewer and fewer cigars.

I'd love to know how other city-dwelling inmates handle this. Thank you so much.

[688sonarmen]

When I'm on travel and without my shed I opt for my car and a less busy parking lot if I can't find a scenic place.

Your sit. makes me appreciate having a place to smoke when I choose... An dlike you i prefer to not have smoke in living spaces... (when I was younger had an apt above a bar and also shared one with cig smokers..)

What about friends who have a place? CoWorker who enjoys cigars etc? Annoying about the park, that would have been ideal!

[68TriShield]

Well you said you are coming to a point where you'll be done with the room mate thing and I don't blame you.
Now is the time to do your research on where you will go.Maybe it's time to think about taking a train into the city and living where you have more freedom to do what you want to do.

[ColdCuts]

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful replies.

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

Well you said you are coming to a point where you'll be done with the room mate thing and I don't blame you.
Now is the time to do your research on where you will go.Maybe it's time to think about taking a train into the city and living where you have more freedom to do what you want to do.

You know, Dave, I really like this idea. I like it a whole lot. I only need to convince the girlfriend.

She says she's not quite ready to leave the city. But I think I could grease those wheels by taking the plunge and putting a ring on her finger. I've been thinking of proposing for awhile, and she's dropped hints. With a ring would come plans to start a family, and with that would come a serious case for leaving the city. Just think, a wife, kids, a house in the country. And I was just looking for someplace to enjoy a cigar! HA HA HA

Perhaps I should go ahead and get that done. She's a keeper... She's crazy as hell and mean as a snake sometimes, but she's a keeper.

Originally Posted by Les Nessman

Where in Brooklyn? How long have you been here?

I also live in Brooklyn, and you are right, it can be difficult to find a spot where you can stop and sit with a cigar where you can feel comfortable. But there are a lot of great neighborhoods in Brooklyn to explore, so sometimes I just grab a cigar, my flask and go for walk.

I'm currently in Greenpoint. I've been in NYC since 2000. I lived for many years in Astoria, Queens where I had a nice little back patio on which I enjoyed countless cigars. That nabe is much quieter, i.e. more cigar friendly than this one. Randy, your cigar, flask, walk strategy may be my best bet until I can implement 68TriShield's strategy.

Originally Posted by kelmac07

Move to the country brother.

Originally Posted by maninblack

Amen.

I'll second that amen.

[neoflex]

I used to live on Long Island and work in Manhattan and never really had a big problem as I always knew of shops I could hit when I was at work or I would just smoke in my office if I was really pressed for time and couldn't get out. Working in a shop that ran solvent printers sometimes had it's perks as the smell of inks was even tough for cigar smoke to take over. Lived on the Island so it wasn't an issue.
Now I live in NC but return back to NY for business pretty often. What I usually do to get a stick in without having to make a trip to a shop or lounge is I usually go for a walk while puffing on a cigar in the evening. I try to not be like the cigarette smokers that act like the world revolves around them and their smoke. I try to be aware of the people around me and make sure to exhale away from them if passing by and just try to avoid the crowds in general and stick to the not so common areas so there are less people to bother with my smoke. I have yet to have a person complain so I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have had people stop me to ask what I was smoking or if there was a shop nearby that they may not have known about.

[PCR]

+1 to what Dave said above. Life's too short for encumbrances, time perhaps for a new address (with space to do what you want).

[Les Nessman]

Where in Brooklyn? How long have you been here?

I also live in Brooklyn, and you are right, it can be difficult to find a spot where you can stop and sit with a cigar where you can feel comfortable. But there are a lot of great neighborhoods in Brooklyn to explore, so sometimes I just grab a cigar, my flask and go for walk.

[Ogre]

Do you have roof access of your building??? Perhaps that may be an option.

[kelmac07]

Move the the country brother.

[maninblack]

Originally Posted by kelmac07

Move the the country brother.

Amen.

[area51]

I was going to say roof access, or put a chair on the sidewalk and puff away. Oh how I miss NYC.

[cmitch]

We were going to vacation in Savannah, GA this year until I learned of their tobacco ban in 2011. They can kiss it. It's Destin instead.

[mosesbotbol]

Take a chair outside your apartment entry to smoke.

[357]

On the "move to the country" note, I've never been to NYC. Heck Chicago is the biggest city I've been to. Anyway, I grew up in the burbs of Detroit. Plenty of back yards to enjoy cigars, but I moved to the country a little over 2 years ago. I'm on 10 acres now and I couldn't be happier. I love it out here. I drive about an hour to work, but it's worth it to me, my wife, and my kids. It's just different out here. My in-laws visit once in a while. They're from Texas. They noticed the differences too. They told us people are nicer, not rude, or always in a hurry/rushing them. It's a slower pace of life I truly enjoy.

[timj219]

Another vote for the roof. When I visited my son in Bushwick we enjoyed cigars on the roof every day.