If you’re a bit further uptown, however, and craving a cigar as you stroll near such New York staples as Carnegie Hall and the Russian Tea Room, pop in to De La Concha, located at 1390 Avenue of the Americas (between 56th and 57th streets). This place literally has a century of history behind it.

Like Barclay-Rex’s Vince Nastri, De La Concha president Lionel Melendi is a third-generation tobacconist. His two sons, Ronald and Randy, are also involved in the business, so the fourth generation is already in place. Melendi’s family has been in the cigar business since 1901, when his paternal grandfather was growing tobacco in Cuba.

De La Concha, which Melendi opened in 1963, remains in its original location, and even expanded to the property next door three years ago. He has personally seen the neighborhood and the clientele grow and change from the old days.

“It’s gotten very upscale over the years,” Melendi explains. “We have an extremely upscale clientele. Celebrities and captains of industry - Mayor Giuliani is a regular customer (Rudy sure gets around, doesn’t he?); as is Joe Torre, the manager of the New York Yankees; and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Business people, lots of tourists.”

Following the cigar boom, Melendi admits that the cigar business “leveled off and slightly decreased, but we still have a good cigar business. The majority of our customers are return customers. We still get a lot of newcomers coming in, still a lot of young people wanting to try cigar smoking. And some women, too.”

De La Concha has a small lounge in the back of the store, where, Melendi explains, “It’s a club-like atmosphere. Sometimes, we have seven or eight people having coffee, talking - the cigar smokers are always talking about the types of cigars they smoke, comparing notes on brands they’ve tried. It’s a place to come to get away from the stress of everyday business.”

Melendi clearly takes his role as a tobacconist very seriously. “What is a tobacconist?” he asks. “It’s a place you can go and have knowledgeable and professional people to serve you, to help you, to guide you, to follow-up on the sale, and to stand behind the product that it sells.”

What does Melendi believe distinguishes his shop from his competitors? “The main thing is the people that we have on the selling floor - George Vasquez, my manager, has been with me for about 27 years, and my two sons are here, too. The key thing is courteous, personal, and professional service, on a consistent basis.”

De La Concha offers a membership to its customers. For a $750-per-year fee, you get a private storage locker and key, and special access to the private humidor. The shop carries “mucho, mucho, mucho” brands, including its own De La Concha and Casa de Rey lines, and a wide variety of pipes, tobacco, and accessories.

Speaking of accessories, there is a shop across town from De La Concha that sells so many items besides cigars, you might wonder if you’ve even entered a smokeshop. This is Alfred Dunhill, a posh boutique at 450 Park Avenue, on the corner of 57th Street. Items such as ties, pens, cufflinks, and fragrances are prominently displayed on the first floor. Once you reach the second floor, you’re surrounded by displays of suits, tuxedoes, dress shirts, sunglasses, and wallets.

But tucked away at the back of the second floor is an enclosed humidor, with a rear secondary room that customers can reserve for use as a temporary private office or meeting room.

“This is the best place in the city,” declares Evan Darnell, a beverage manager for a local restaurant, and a regular Dunhill patron. As he sits back in an easy chair and puffs on his cigar, Darnell adds, “The gentleman who runs it is, by far, the most knowledgeable in the city for cigars.”

That gentleman is Jose Lisboa, Dunhill’s tobacconist, who has worked for the company for 18 years. How has he seen the business change over that much time? “Eighteen years ago, the cigars were a little cheaper than now,” he says with a hearty laugh. And what are things like now?

“We haven’t lost the regular customers - mostly lawyers and doctors. And one thing that hasn’t changed is that we’re still keeping cigars of the right quality, and that’s why I think they keep coming to us.” But there is no air of elitism or exclusivity at Dunhill, according to store manager Barbara Leeds. The humidor, she points out, is open to all customers. “You see all classes of people here. Young men just starting out, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, and CEOs of companies, and you see them talking about sports, restaurants, cigars.”

Members of Alfred Dunhill pay $300 to join and must spend at least $1,000 on cigars over a period of twelve months. As part of their membership, they get to keep private lockers in the humidor. The shop carries all the major cigar brands (Montecristo, Dunhill, Ashton, and Macanudo are their biggest sellers, according to Lisboa), and, as noted, an amazing variety of accessories and merchandise.

The final stop on our little walking tour around the Big Apple, just a few minutes’ stroll from Dunhill, is Davidoff of Geneva, Inc., located at 535 Madison Avenue (between 54th and 55th streets). It takes up two floors (with the lounge and humidor on the second floor), has plenty of open space, large windows, a separate section for pipes and tobacco at the rear of the first floor, and display cases stocked with Cartier pens, leather briefcases, and Davidoff’s own brands of cognac, coffee, and fragrances.

“This is not just a men’s store,” declares Robert Seise, the assistant store manager. “Having a wide selection of accessories allows us to be more versatile.”

As part of that versatility, Seise points out that Davidoff makes it a point to carry flavored cigars, specifically with women in mind. “Women come in with their boyfriends or husbands who are smokers, and they may not be,” he explains. “But if they’re willing to at least try a cigar, it might be a more palatable experience for them if the cigar was flavored.” Seise adds with a chuckle, “I tell them, ‘Look, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!’”

Seise has been with Davidoff for five-and-a-half years. The New York store, Davidoff’s first in the U.S., has been in business for 14 years, although it moved next door to its present location last April. That move was not completely problem-free, however.

“At the moment, we’re having a little smoke issue,” Seise explains. “Due to some construction issues, smoke is seeping into the tenant [space] above us. We’re working on finding a solution so that the smoke doesn’t keep going up there.” Until then, ironically, Davidoff is a smoke-free environment, even in the lounge area. Seise insists that this is only temporary. “We will be cigar-friendly, of course - as soon as we resolve the issue.”

Davidoff will soon offer a membership to customers, and only members will have access to the small lounge on the second floor, which features a flatscreen TV and an electronic stock-market ticker. However, the membership fee, like the smoke issue, remained unresolved at the time this article was written.

Nevertheless, Seise predicts that Davidoff will have “a club-like situation up in our lounge, where customers will become members by buying lockers, and then they can go up and have a smoke. We’ll also have chairs downstairs, where non-members will be able to smoke cigars.”

Situated in what is primarily a business district, Davidoff’s clientele reflects its surroundings. “The majority of our clientele is generally high-net-worth individuals, with some banking or trading background, or lawyers,” Seise explains. “They’re mostly male, late 20s to early 50s, mostly businessmen.”

Seise says that what he enjoys most about Davidoff are the day-to-day challenges of meeting new people, including the celebrities who occasionally come in. “You look up, and you see someone like James Gandolfini standing right in front of you. As a regular viewer of ‘The Sopranos,’ that was pretty exciting for me.” Other celebrity customers mentioned were actor Andy Garcia and boxing promoter Don King.

One of the virtues of Davidoff, according to Seise, is the distinctive atmosphere of the place. Music with an unmistakably tropical flavor is piped in throughout the store. “We’re going for a tropical sound. We want you to feel like you’re in the Caribbean, where the cigars generally come from. Davidoff cigars, our number-one brand, are made in the Dominican Republic.”

And what advice do Seise and the Davidoff staff offer newcomers to the world of cigars? “Generally, we tell customers to try a lot of different brands, to just go out there and smoke. Find the time.”

Seems like the same advice can apply to anyone looking for a cigar shop to call home in the concrete canyons of Manhattan. There are plenty of places all over the city to choose from, all of whom stand ready to welcome you with open arms, all with their own special qualities and atmospheres. Happy hunting!