Anyone who knows me or reads this blog with any regularity knows that i love smoking cigars. Pretty much daily whether at home or away. It’s just one of my favourite things. This means that when i travel anywhere, part of my travel planning is researching where I can smoke and if there are cigar lounges and stores. Antigua, Guatemala is an unusual place in this regard.
Guatemala is in the part of the world where tobacco is grown and cigars are rolled, but, unlike many of its neighbours, Guatemala doesn’t really have a cigar industry. Perhaps connected to that, smoking (at least in Antigua) is mostly not allowed. Smoking is not allowed indoors and not in any outdoor courtyard. (Harumph)
Antigua has all of these charming cafes and restaurants, but, due to the style of the buildings, the outdoor areas are all courtyards (super lovely ones), which means they are smoke free. It was a bit disappointing, however, i could smoke on the patio of my air bnb and no one complained when i smoked on benches in parks, – but there were even better options.
If you like cigars and are in Antigua, your home away from home will be Antigua Cigars. It is this perfect cigar store/lounge in the historic centre of Antigua. It has a small humidor with a limited selection of Cubans and a selection of excellent non-Cubans, including their great house brand and a wide array of Plasencia cigars, which I enjoyed.
Attached to the store is a small and inviting lounge with just the right decor and music and, best of all, great people. (I swear to god, they aren’t paying me; i was just so happy there.) The owners are lovely people, a husband and wife, from Canada, and they have lived in Antigua for years. Full of great stories and hospitality. The other clientele at the lounge were mostly expats/immigrants and every single one of them were delightful company. I went there maybe 4 or 5 times in my 8 days there and felt like I had friends.
The owners at Antigua Cigars also let me in on two places that allowed smoking: one is the rooftop patio of an Irish pub called The Snug. It has a casual and fun vibe and excellent views of the volcanos and no one had an issue with my cigars.
The other place is called something like Primavera and it is a restaurant maybe two blocks from Antigua Cigars. It has a romantic courtyard with a fire and fairy lights and cozy nooks. It also had excellent food. I went twice and ate and drank more than i needed so i could keep enjoying the ambiance, which also included live music.
There is another cigar store/lounge: Cigar Boutique and Lounge Antigua. It is just half a block down from the yellow arch towards the end of the street. It has a very well stocked humidor of Cuban cigars and a nice room of leather chairs. It didn’t seem to have a crown of regulars, but was a nice place to smoke. I’m not totally sure about the quality of the cigars though. I bought four there; two were excellent, and two smoked so badly i would have bet they were counterfeit (but maybe they were just duds), and on my second visit, i found a box in the humidor that had cigars riddled with beetle holes. So i don’t think i would buy a lot of cigars there, but i would still visit and buy a cigar and use then space.
I also spied a lot of egregious counterfeit Cohibas at the local crafts market. Don’t be fooled.
I smoked an obscene amount of cigars in Antigua, even if it was not as open as i might have liked. And i brought back a couple bundles of the house brand cigars from Antigua Cigars, which I am still enjoying. But the best thing, as is often the case with cigar smoking, was not the cigars themselves, but the connections made while doing it.
