View Foursquare Tips on CigarPlaces.com

As of today, when you browse to a cigar friendly place on CigarPlaces.com, you’ll see tips from Foursquare users about the location. The site will also display who the mayor of the location is (the person who has checked in most frequently at the location).

Why is this such a big improvement?

As Foursquare’s popularity and user base continues to grow rapidly, it is proving itself to be a useful source of real-time, local information about venues. For example, the venue used in the example to the right (336 Main in Plymouth, Michigan) includes the tips:

• Best early/mid-day patio sun. No food, but you can order carry out from Compari’s, they’ll even deliver it to you on the patio.

• Steve Acho at the piano tonight w/ Karen Newman. Awesome show.

• Hip little martini bar that offers a vast array of martini concoctions and light hors d’oeuvres. free lot nearby (back of establishment).

This is useful stuff! Someone who has never visited 336 Main now knows where to park, when to go, and where they can get some food to compliment their cigar (Compari’s is an extremely good Italian restaurant, btw).

Any time we can get more information about cigar friendly bars and restaurants around the world, we see it as a great improvement.

If you haven’t heard of Foursquare

It’s time to jump on board.  Foursquare is a simple smartphone application that allows you to check in to places you visit.  Checking in shows your friends (people who you’ve granted access to your profile) where you are at any given time.

Foursquare just raised its latest round of venture capital ($20M) to continue its expansion (according to the WSJ  – June 29th, 2010).  The service is approaching 1.8 million users, and is continuing to expand rapidly.

Because of the geo-location aspect of the application and the security risks that come along with displaying your location to people, do some research before you start using it and determine what your personal guidelines will be (for example, everyone gets added to my Twitter account, some get added to my Facebook page, a select few get added as Foursquare friends).

What’s the Catch?

As Foursquare’s popularity spreads like wildfire, a lot of people are jumping on the integration bandwagon (like CigarPlaces.com).  Because of this, you may experience situations where you pull up a location on CigarPlaces.com and Foursquare information isn’t displayed.  We’re getting the data for free, so we can’t complain!

There have been a lot of newsworthy incidents leading up to the May 1st ban, and well … it’s where I live, so I’m compelled to write about it.

Last week the exemption in the smoking ban that allows cigar smoking in establishments that meet the required criteria was clarified.  There has been a long-running discussion here about whether or not cigar bars would be allowed to sell and serve food and beverages, and the matter has finally been settled.

Last week, a regular contributor to the blog (Mike), uncovered a memo issued by the Michigan Department of Community Health Director Olszewski. Click the image to view the memo.

At least the writers of the law realized that there has to be a way for cigar bar owners to come up with the other 90% of their revenue.

Thanks for digging this up, Mike!

Yesterday (April 22nd), I shot down to Grosse Pointe to meet a friend at Robusto’s to catch up over a martini and enjoy a great Padron 4000.  I also really wanted to talk to someone there and confirm first-hand that they had an exemption.

There has been a lot of discussion on this blog over the intricacies of the smoking ban and the exemptions that have been issued.  Perhaps the most confusing aspect is the serving of food and beverages.

It was my previous assumption that if a bar or restaurant was issued an exemption, they would need to isolate the area where cigars are smoked from the portion of the restaurant/bar where food and alcohol is consumed.  Now it seems as though if an exemption is issued, the establishment is exempt from any of the smoking ban’s requirements.

Simply put:  If you qualify for all of the criteria required to earn an exemption, none of the rules of the smoking ban apply to you.  Not a bad situation, if it ends up to be true.

Many of the places that should be exempt from the smoking ban have separate, walled-off areas for cigar smokers (Fuse in Rochester, Big Rock Chophouse in Birmingham).

This was the most perplexing aspect of the Robusto’s exemption from my perspective.  Even if they were only to allow smoking in the upstairs are (where the humidors are), it’s still not a separate room.

After speaking with the people at Robusto’s yesterday evening, they’re quite sure that they’re exempt from the ban.  Great news for a location that has been a perfect place for cigar smokers in Detroit to gather for many years.

As of today, if you check out a cigar friendly place on the site, and it’s a place that you frequent or enjoy smoking a cigar at, you can click the “Like” button to post it to your Facebook profile. Doing this will allow your friends to click through to CigarPlaces to see more about the place.  Pretty cool, eh?

We also added the button to the bottom of each post on the blog, so if you read a post on here that you think would be helpful to your stogie-chomping Facebook friends, click the button and share the goodness.

Also, if you’re not already a part of the CigarPlaces Facebook Group, this is a great time to join.

If you’re a cigar bar owner or you’re in the industry, feel free to post cigar event or industry information to the group!

Early this morning Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press reported that Brooks (@brookspatterson) was planning on filing suit against the State of Michigan over the state-wide smoking ban that will go into affect May 1st, 2010. He took the position because he believed the ban was an unfunded mandate. Basically the Oakland County Health Department wouldn’t have the funding to hire the staff necessary to police bars and restaurants and make sure that people aren’t smoking.

The suit was filed this afternoon (Thursday) with the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The glimmer of hope for Michigan cigar lovers unfortunately vanished as quickly as it appeared. After receiving over 70 phone calls and numerous emails from Oakland County residents that disagreed with his opposition of the ban, L. Brooks withdrew the suit.

Although it was an exciting day for smokers in the state, the ban is still being fought along the wrong lines. This law is about removing citizens rights, and denying people the right to make their own decisions (if you still want to cry about 2nd hand smoke – go read The Myth of Second Hand Smoke).  If the county/state doesn’t have the money to enforce the ban, and that’s what gets it repealed, then it’s obviously a positive thing for cigar smokers.  The bigger picture, however, is still the idea of the government dictating what we can and cannot do.

Like Brooks, I have also never been a cigarette smoker.  I don’t see the appeal of it, and I obviously believe in the scientific proof that it causes cancer and other serious life-threatening illnesses.

However, even if I don’t like smelling like cigarette smoke every time I go to a restaurant or bar, I strongly believe that smoking is a personal decision that people should be able to make for themselves.  Personal freedoms tend to slip away quickly when the government gets involved, and are always incredibly harder to get back.  I fear this is a slippery slope that will continue to a point where the government is telling us how to behave in our own homes.

Enforcing the Smoking Ban

The issue of enforcement continues to come up in discussions about the ban.  It’s clear to me that the patrons of bars and restaurants will do the enforcing.

We’ve seen how loud everyone can whine about the smell of smoke.  Try lighting up a cigar (or cigarette) in a bar or restaurant in Michigan after May 1st, and you’re going to be swarmed with screaming people telling you to put it out.

Patterson, who doesn’t smoke and has never been a smoker, also pointed this out in a live interview with Stephen Clark of Channel 7 Action News (@sclarkwxyz) which wrapped up the day of cigar ban drama.

As the interview wrapped up, Patterson joked about filing the suit and withdrawing it in the same day as, “not my finest hour.”

I’ve always held Brooks in extremely high regard.  In countless instances I’ve respected him for standing his ground for what he believes in, even in the face of extreme adversity.  Today I still respect him, for making a decision which he believes represents the will of his constituents.

The sad part is that it’s the small number of activists that always yell the loudest (calling him today and sending emails) while the rest of us sit idly by while our rights are stripped away.

Complete with surf boards hanging from the wall and a guy playing the acoustic guitar, this place is plucked straight out of one of Jimmy Buffett’s margarita-induced sweet dreams.

During my last visit there a few weeks ago (March 2010), the patrons confirmed for me that this place was indeed cigar friendly.  As I sat with friends enjoying a beer and watching locals and tourists alike dance to the music from the acoustic guitar, I had three separate people come up to our  table to tell me that the cigar I was smoking – a CAO Lx2 – smelled great.

The experience was a fantastic departure from the glares and dirty looks that often accompany lighting up a cigar in a bar or restaurant.

The Smokin Oyster Brewery is two blocks north of the beach on Old San Carlos Boulevard.  If you’re in Fort Myers Beach, don’t miss the opportunity to visit.  Each time I’ve been there the crowd (and musicians) tend to thin out fairly early (11:30ish), so get there before 9 or 10pm.

This week I formalized a few features that make CigarPlaces.com officially international.

Since the site launched, we’ve had a World View option that allowed you to see the entire world map and search for cigar-friendly places around the globe.

Visitors have also had the ability to add international cigar friendly bars and restaurants (and many international locations have been added), but without a way to officially enter the location’s country, it wasn’t a terribly graceful process.

This week, CigarPlaces.com is becoming officially international.  Type your favorite international city into the search box (we still believe that search is the easiest way to find a cigar-friendly spot), and the site will display cigar bars and restaurants in the city.

The Add Location page has also been overhauled to include a Country dropdown, and the State dropdown is no longer required.  This should make it easier for international aficionados to add their favorite places.

I need your help testing out the new functionality.  If you know of good cigar friendly places outside of the United States, add them to the map!

A search for Munich or London currently displays a number of places from our friends on the other side of the pond, so we’re off to a great start.  If you discover that your country isn’t listed in the dropdown (it should be all-inclusive), try adding the spot without it, and drop us a comment to let us know; we’ll add it.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and for adding your favorite locations for everyone to find and enjoy!

Earlier this week the South Florida Food and Wine blog reported that the Smoke Inn VI Cigar & Wine Bar will be opening its doors on April 1st, 2010.

A detailed description of the venue from the South Florida Food and Wine Blog:

Smoke Inn VI is a 3,500 square foot luxurious one of a kind Cigar and Wine Bar featuring an impressive 100% cedar walk-in humidor with 48 cigar lockers. Smoke Inn VI also houses a private Corporate Lounge for social functions and business meetings that is fully equipped with complimentary Wi-Fi and a fax/copy/scan center for any business service needs and the Corporate Lounge also houses 36 personal lockers for members. The retail area within Smoke Inn VI allows guests to purchase cigars either by the box or individually as well as bottles of wines from the ever impressive Transatlantic wine portfolio will open its doors on Thursday, April 1, 2010, and is sure to attract those seeking high quality cigars and wine in a casual, comfortable and inviting environment.

Any news about a new cigar bar opening is big news!

We’re eager to see pictures from inside the new venue, so if you have some, post them to the CigarPlaces.com page!

As we go into our third year and continue to add more cigar friendly locations to the map, and new features (such as our city-specific pages), we’re getting more and more requests from advertisers.

This month we decided to roll out some new advertising options to help increase relevancy for our advertisers.

• Run-Of-Site Advertising (your banner on almost 1,000 pages): $150/month
• City-Specific Advertising: $100/month

See my recent post on our statistics to see what kind of exposure these ads can give your brand.

Run-Of-Site Banner Advertising

For online cigar retailers, cigar manufacturers, online humidor retailers, and other national cigar companies, run-of-site advertising is ideal.  This option rotates your advertisement on nearly 1,000 pages on CigarPlaces.com, with a prominent position in the side-bar of the page.  We think there’s no better time to advertise a cigar brand to someone than right before they head out the door to go enjoy a stogie, so this is a great option.

Run-Of-Site Advertising banner advertising costs $150/month.  See the example to the right and click for a larger image.

City-Specific Banner Advertising

For cigar bars, cigar friendly restaurants and cigar shops, city-specific advertising positions your ad in front of users that are looking for a cigar or a place to smoke in your city.  We have pre-built packages for advertisers in most major metro areas (listed below).  Custom packages can also be developed for smaller cities.

City-Specific packages cost $100/month (multiple-city discounts are available).  See the example to the right and click for a larger image.

City-Specific Packages are currently available for these cities (ask about custom packages if your city isn’t listed):

To see more details or setup an advertising package visit the cigar advertising page on CigarPlaces.com. All advertising packages are month-to-month (no ongoing contract or commitment is required).

Flagging a Cigar Unfriendly Place

If you know of a place on the map that isn’t cigar friendly anymore, you can now easily flag it as unfriendly.  From the page that displays the details of the location, click the Flag as Not Cigar Friendly link.

On the next page, leave any details that you have about why the location isn’t cigar friendly anymore.  The details will be added to the comments section of the location’s page.

What Happens to Flagged Locations

Locations that you flag as unfriendly will be marked with a red pin on the map when people conduct a search.  The locations will be kept on the map to avoid having someone search for a location and then wonder, “maybe the place I’m looking for is cigar friendly, but CigarPlaces.com just doesn’t know about it.”

Thanks to everyone for continuing to make CigarPlaces.com the best resource on the web for finding cigar friendly places!