Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Why Am I Still Here?

There are times when I wonder why I'm still in P-Ville, especially when I read stuff like this:

Burn is an exercise in design fusion and this was accomplished by incorporating the dark, ambient lighting of a hookah bar with stained-glass embellishments, lit candles and well-researched furnishings. Intricate Moroccan-style lanterns hang from the ceiling throwing an almost ritualistic light on Burn's marble surfaces and inlaid tile floors.

"The stone bar is underlit to look like flowing, volcanic lava," says Patel. "The effect is stunning. All these details combined with the cigar allow you to take a journey."
Burn is a "branded" cigar lounge, aka cigar bar, in Naples, Florida.  The trend in branded, upscale cigar bars is spreading all over these United States, according to the linked article in Cigar Aficionado.  I remember the joys of goin' to a good cigar bar in the wayback, chief among them bein' the opportunity to broaden your horizons by picking and choosing from the wide selection of cigars available on the premises and spending quiet quality time with friends in a well-furnished room.  There ain't no such animal here in flyover country, and more's the pity.

We could claim there's a similar environment here on the verandah of El Casa Móvil de Pennington... but we would be lying.  There ain't no lissome, cigar-smoking brunettes loungin' on the bar and shootin' "come hither" glances my way, nor are there tuxedo-clad men.  Hell, there ain't even a BAR, for that matter.  But the environment is cigar-friendly and that's a beginning.

8 comments:

  1. Interesting piece, Buck. I never had heard about how these "branded" cigar bars are spreading around the US. BTW, I'm gonna show my ignorance here and ask what the heck is a "hookah bar"? I know what it sounds like but it couldn't be that, now, could it?

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  2. Well, yeah... that IS it. But keep in mind hookahs are also used for smoking tobacco. Think Algiers, Casablanca, Cairo and other points east. ;-)

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  3. Do you suppose they'd let me wear my cowboy hat in one of those places? I didn't think so, either. The highbrows would be afraid of me stealing their wimmen folk!

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  4. I read a milblog written by a young man in Morocco. He showed a place that is modeled after Rick's bar. Now that would be fun.

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  5. Buck, I gots two friends in Naples. One is a real life friend (one of the most interesting men I've ever known...if I told you his life story...well...you could Google him, and he's out there).

    The other is just a blog bud, but a helluvagal.

    If you move that way, I'll hook y'all up.

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  6. Do you suppose they'd let me wear my cowboy hat in one of those places?

    Ab-so-freakin'-lute-lee! They have those places in Dallas and Houston and you can guess the rest. But prolly not in Florida.

    Lou: Agreed on the Rick's Bar thang! I'd drink there.

    If you move that way, I'll hook y'all up.

    If I were to move anywhere it would be some place in Tejas. But that ain't likely.

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  7. And, sometimes that's all you need.

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  8. Which is a good thang, Moogie.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.