Comments on: New Cigar Lounge Coming to Alexandria, Embracing Stereotype

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:57:05 +0000

Where establishments in Northen Virgina are cigar friendly–specifically Alexandria and Arlington?

By: The Exquisite Contrarian | Irony: smoking law goes into effect, cigar club geared toward men-only membership opens.

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:24:21 +0000

[...] A New Cigar Lounge is coming to Alexandria, Virginia. Why? Because Virginia’s new no smoking law gave a restaurant’s owners no other choice but to move their successful cigar smoking clientele to a membership only format. ‹Previous Post Osama bin Laden says the magic words indicating an imminent attack. [...]

By: brittany

brittany — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:56:45 +0000

Oh, indeed I do...

By: Tiffany Bridge

Tiffany Bridge — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:48:54 +0000

I think there’s a non-trivial portion of Hooters’ clientele that are indeed women, but I think that if Hooters decided to go upscale and start charging $5000 for the privilege of eating their wings and looking at their waitstaff, I expect that number of women who would do so would immediately drop off.

Which is NOT to say that women wouldn’t spend $5000 for private club membership, only that they wouldn’t do it to join a club that is so obviously not intended to cater to them, just as I expect most men would not pay $5000 for the privilege of joining a club not geared for THEM. For 5k, you expect some accommodation, no?

By: brittany

brittany — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:42:05 +0000

My brief google turned up no reliable-looking current stats, so I have no idea how many women smoke cigars. Anecdotally, back in college when cigars were briefly “in,” there were generally equal numbers of boys and girls having a Scotch and trying to seem “grown up” and “sophisticated”. Do the kids even do that anymore? That said, I have never been in a Hooters, so maybe plenty of women do go there also?

By: Tiffany Bridge

Tiffany Bridge — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:14:30 +0000

It seemed to me, Brittany, that the reason such a choice is economically feasible is that the proportion of female cigar enthusiasts (enthusiasts to the point where they’d pay that kind of money to be a member of such a club) is so vanishingly small that it made more sense to be the rich guy’s Hooters.

But perhaps I am staggeringly underestimating the proportion of wealthy female cigar enthusiasts?

By: Carl Weaver

Carl Weaver — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:52:43 +0000

Must be a douchebag or wear a crappy man scarf to join, I am sure.

By: brittany

brittany — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:42:44 +0000

I have no real problem with cigar-smoking and used to occasionally indulge myself, but the “all female waitstaff” thing is beyond hostile to women who might otherwise want to pony up the $5000 to join. Great marketing, bros – you just lost a big segment of your market.

By: Kirk

Kirk — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:33:50 +0000

Or I could just sit on my back porch and smoke for free…

By: Younce

Younce — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:09:33 +0000

It’s too bad it is going to be members-only. The DC area can you use another cigar lounge besides Shelly’s Back Room.

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:38:04 +0000

I’ll have that lung cancer with a side order of emphesyma to go, please.