New York City: A Cigar Smoker’s Eulogy

Well, March 31 has come and gone, and the Big Apple’s new smoking ban has gone into effect. But I promise you, this is not a column ranting about the new law. Oh, sure, I could go on about the even more far-reaching New York state law that goes into effect in May, outlawing smoking in even specially ventilated separate rooms, a move many see as a big “screw you” to all the bar owners who invested in those rooms so they could accommodate their smoking customers and still be in accordance with the law.

I could mention our baby-sitter, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who, in the midst of the city’s worst fiscal crisis in decades, has somehow found a few million dollars to spend on free nicotine patches for smokers who want to quit. I could outline the reasons why, with the threats of firehouses closing, cops and teachers being laid off, and huge taxes being imposed on every service in sight, this is a frightening indication of a government’s misplaced priorities. But I won’t.

I could point out the irony in a policy of vilifying the use of tobacco products as a “public health crisis,” while relying on tobacco settlement money and onerously high taxes on tobacco products to help prop up the faltering budget. Hey, Mayor! Hey, Governor! If you’re so concerned about the health issue, don’t collect the taxes! If that tobacco money is so dirty, you don’t need it, right? Fat chance of that.

But this is not a ranting column. This is a column about a very pleasant evening at a wonderful hotel in the heart of downtown Manhattan. Unfortunately, it was a wonderful evening that ushered in the end of an era for cigar smokers here in what was once, incredibly, referred to as Fun City.

“New York City’s Last Smoke” was the name given to the elegant event held at The Regent Wall Street on March 26, where a host of the city’s elite gathered to savor a final evening in which haute cuisine, great cocktails, and funky modern jazz could be enjoyed alongside fine cigars. The Regent, the first true luxury hotel in the button-down financial district, was an ideal venue for the celebration. After all, downtown New York and cigars go together like Dow and Jones. Legend has it that when Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant directed the building of the “Wall” after which the Street is named, he himself was enjoying a good cigar. Since its construction in 1842, the historic building at 55 Wall Street has played host to a number of cigar-puffing dignitaries in its many incarnations throughout the centuries: as the New York Merchants Exchange, as the New York Customs House, and as an Italian-Renaissance style banking hall. In the dark days following September 11, 2001, the recently-opened hotel provided a place of refuge for rescue workers to end a day of toil in the World Trade Center wreckage with a stiff drink and a warm smoke.

I arrived at the grand ballroom - the same one that hosted the much-hyped celebrity wedding of Liza Minelli and David Gest, a New York society watershed moment that merited nearly as much coverage as the smoking ban controversy - and was greeted immediately by a Cable Car, a tasty cocktail of Cointreau and lime juice mixed with Montecristo Rum (the event’s main sponsor), along with an H. Upmann Anniversario Selection #3, a medium-bodied, cedary-smooth toro. Looking around the room, at the quiet conversations and the gently rising smoke, the whole experience seemed a tad bittersweet.

The tobacco theme was present in just about every aspect of the evening, starting with the Guatemalan Rum named after one of the classic cigar brands, and continuing with the appetizers that started off the fine four-course meal. The charred tuna loin was wrapped in tobacco leaf, and the whipped plantains were prepared in the style I’d tasted in the Dominican Republic, one of today’s acknowledged cigar capitals.

The Mojito, a signature drink of Cuba, was served alongside the second course, a tasso-wrapped barbecue quail with fingerling potatoes, and this Montecristo version was just about as tasty as the one mixed up for me on my recent visit to the famed Hotel Nacional in Havana. Between the authentic Cuban cocktail and the musical accompaniment by Jazz trumpeter Mark Rapp and the PUSH project, I truly felt transported back to the forbidden island. And the ironic thought crept into my mind that Manhattan could be described the same way soon, at least for cigar smoking.

The main course was not only a carnivore’s delight - smoked prime rib of angus beef, with a sweet garlic jus and an iceberg wedge with blue cheese - it also made the perfect companion to a glass of Bertani 1995 Amarone, and the ideal stage setter for a Romeo y Julieta Vintage II, a robust gran corona from the new R&J maduro line. And since this was a night of unashamed indulgence, Chef Jason Avery, the Johnson and Wales graduate who has been with the restaurant at 55 Wall since its opening, finished off the culinary tour-de-force with a sinfully delicious Chocolate Nirvana with Pistachio ice cream.

As I puffed on another rare treat of the cigar world - the Trinidad belicoso - and the Cuban-style sounds of the evening’s other featured musicians, Jose Conde y Ola Fresa, lilted in the increasingly smoky air, we finally had a straight-up tasting of the spirit that was fueling our before-dinner cocktails: Montecristo 12-year-old (This means the youngest rum in the blend is 12 years old; some are aged up to 23). Its distinct flavor, with its hints of vanilla, charred oak, and honey, stood up to the cigar quite well, and provided me a fine example of why premium rums seem to be the “in” spirit these days, as both mixer and sipper. Mark Rapp found himself back at the front of the hall as the emcee of the Door Prize giveaway: a two-day treatment at the Regent’s luxurious spa, a hand-crafted Ashton “Savoy” humidor, and a weekend stay at the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas (It would have been nice to win that one, just to experience the luxury of having an indoor cigar in Manhattan once more, even an idealized pseudo-Manhattan planted in the middle of Sin City - but sadly, my legendary contest winless streak remained unbroken.)

As the evening wore down and the crowd filed out, most of them with bigger smiles and more noticeable camaraderie than I’d noted earlier, it all seemed a bit less like the end of the world. New York is still New York, after all... and those of us that enjoy cigars will always find the opportunity to enjoy one with others. It’s getting warmer outside, the city’s few cigar bars will soon be in vogue again, and who knows? Maybe this legislation will one day go the way of Prohibition.

Until then, it turns out I may not have to go that far out of my way for an after-work smoke: Christopher R.J. Knable, the Regent’s president and managing director, assured me that the hotel’s spacious outdoor balcony bar will remain a cigar-friendly venue, assuring the frequent patronage of at least one satisfied magazine editor.

Governor Stuyvesant, I’ll be lighting up the first one in your honor.

Feedback? Contact SMOKE Senior Editor Mark Bernardo at m.bernardo@lockwoodpublications.com.