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Review Pop's Safari - Ft Worth

Having only been to the Velvet Taco in the 7th street area in Ft Worth, we had high expectations for the Pop’s Safari adventure.  Almost too high.  There was no disappointment to be found on the streets tonight, only delivery.  It quickly became apparent why Pop’s is on every list of top cigar bars in the metroplex.  Quaint, old school, dead animals on the wall, large soft seating, speaking volumes of comfort.

 Because Pop’s is a no BYOC (thank heavens the website referenced this to begin with - otherwise we would have been caught off guard), it leads one immediately to selection.  We had another friend of the group join us early for the event.  Announced as a cigar rookie, Pop’s took the best care, showing him selection and explaining the different flavors and types of cigars.  A quick 15 minutes of guidance, gave him confidence in his choices.  Dollars are not this sign of a good cigar.  A wine steward once told me, the selection of wine should never be judged on cost.  If one enjoys a wine, enjoy.  The same could be said of cigars.

 Asking for something different, Wendy lit up with joy, explaining their “Don Gonzales” collection.  Apparently Don builds the internals of the cigars and then has an imported Cuban wrap the final product.  Say What?  The gentleman literally has the cigars wrapped on site by a Cuban visitor, named Angel.  A reasonable price and a journey to a new taste, we all jumped at the chance to try something different

 Fantastic! - forget snobbery, forget brand - we were all in.  What a fantastic cigar.  Great draw!, great taste.  Literally worth the journey.  We all purchased cigar’s to go to enjoy elsewhere.  Cigars and libations in hand we headed to the patio to enjoy.  We had the patio to ourselves for most of the evening.  Just good friends and great cigars.

Next on this list is Javier’s Bar & Cigar Lounge in downtown Dallas.  Another top recommendation and a favorite of a new friend I hope joins us this evening.

Quick Reminder - Pop's Safari tonight 16 March @ 7:00pm

Just a quick reminder that our review of "Pop's Safari" is this Thursday starting at 7:00.  They are located at: 2929 Morton St, Ft Worth.

When we queried people for ideas, Pop's was on every list.  Looking forward to this one.

Review 2 - Chamberlain's Cigar Room - Addison, Texas

If you review the website, you're left with the impression of a room as part of a steak house. Arriving in the parking lot, with an abundance of valet parking, your thought is not challenged - then it catches you - the sign for the restaurant is blazing for all to see on Belt Line, but around the corner is its own dedicated sign for the Cigar Bar with its own entrance. Personally, I had pictured having to burst past the wait staff to get to the cigar lounge part of the business. Luckily, I was wrong - dead wrong...

Welcomed by piano playing music we had a reserved table and good thing we did, otherwise no dice, room filled. We wouldn't normally focus on the crowd in the place, but it does strike you as the after dinner, have a cigar and a port kind of crowd with the occasional trophy wife. After a period of time it will also strike you as a place with serious regulars, easily half the crowd. The cigar display is surrounded by lockers; however, there are only 12 lockers total, with ego plates to mark their space. I can't say this would be my destination if my only goal was to enjoy a smoke, but absolutely would be a welcome spot after a nice meal. Since this is a cigar review, our focus was not on the(a) meal, so we didn't have dinner beforehand. Wish we had, or more to the point, our next visit will include the steak before. Maybe with some trophy wives... wait - jk - R E L A X, we're all happily married.

We had a chance to meet Christine, the manager of the room. Energetic, passionate and a surprise to see her and her staff of women provide top notch service. I only mention it because my vision of a cigar establishment is enshrined by the elderly gentleman sitting behind the counter with the facial expression of "this is my life - how could it get any better". Personally, the best service is a service that doesn't stand out or raise concern. Sounds easy, but it takes tremendous attention to pull it off. I can't stand a staff who asks every 5 minutes, nor doesn't ask at all. Almost felt like baby bear, in that, it was just right.


Anyway... Christine, has been managing a cigar room for 12 years, having started at Del Frisco's in Addison. She moved to Chamberlin's 5 years ago, because of the smoking laws (see, we knew the smoking laws were having their effects on establishments - time to return to Grapevine for a second discussion with Tom). Turns out Chamberlin's is tucked into the most western part of Addison not affected by the smoking ban in Dallas. It's hard to describe, but her quick pace of talk with energy to boot spoke volumes as to her commitment to the cigar bar. Why would someone move from Del Frisco's to Chamberlain's simply to manage a cigar bar? The answer was surprising. Community. She had literally grown up with the regulars. She knew them, their wife’s, their children, successes in life, disappointments and achievements. She cares. It very apparent, even within a short conversation.

The Cigar Bar is open 7 days a week with a piano player Tuesday through Saturday. If you want a very quiet relaxing environment, Sunday and Monday are your days since those are the days without live music. The clear majority of encounters are business discussions. Unfortunately, they had the customary tv screens, two if I remember correctly. About the cigars, the selection was impressive, mostly top brands. The case was only 3 bays wide (see photo's), still you can have a lot of choices available from the cigar menu. The prices of the cigars reflected the attachment to an eatery. Meaning, if you want ambiance on a budget, bring your own. We did order one appetizer, a lobster deviled egg. Very unique, very delicious and topped with bacon – how can you go wrong with bacon?

We had the pleasure of Dennis's company this evening. Dennis is the consummate gentleman. Literally, if you were to look up gentleman in the dictionary..., well you get the picture. Recently retired, kids grown and almost gone - his youngest is a senior at University. Trees trimmed, house in order and surprised his wife gladly pushed him out of the house for our event. Clearly, she married him for life, but not for lunch. He enjoyed an Ashton - Kevin's favorite. Dan had a Davidoff and remarked "It was one of the best cigars I have ever had". Yours truly had a Monte Cristo (Dominican) #2. When they draw, there awesome, but I must be a rookie, because after minutes it clogs. The only thing I know to do is to recut and enjoy the new draw. Makes me wonder, do I need a class on how to smoke a cigar?

Next up, Pop’s Safari in Ft Worth on the 16th. We’re looking forward to this one since Pop’s is near the top of several lists.

Quick Reminder - The Cigar Lounge at Chamberlain’s tonight 23 February @ 7:00pm

Just a quick reminder that our review of "The Cigar Lounge at Chamberlain’s" is tonight starting at 7:00.  They are located at:  5334 Belt Line Road, Dallas.  We did make a reservation.  If you do plan on attending, please ping me via text or email just in case we need to bump up the reservation count.

Review 1 - Grapevine Cigar & Tobacco including next 5 locations and dates

Keeping with the goal of reviewing different cigar venues around the DFW area, we started with the closest and most trusted venue.  The Grapevine Cigar & Tobacco Club, established in 1996 during the Cigar boom by Ken Wiles.  Ken's parents were already in the cigar business in Ft Worth and had been for over 20 years.  The shop sees a brisk business due to a central location, specifically surrounded by the Gaylord hotel, DFW Airport and many corporations in the area.  I personally had always thought the smoking ban in Southlake would have helped business, but Tom and Carl stuck to their guns and attributed the bulk of their business to local flow.

Ken owns 2 other stores - one in Arlington, the other in Addison.  We'll have to add those to our list.  The store boasts 3 walk in humidors, an awesome selection and includes a members only smoking lounge in the back of the store.  Membership can be had for $250 initiation fee and a 40, 50 or 60 dollars a month fee depending on having a locker.  The membership also brings discounts on individual cigars or boxes.  Those in the area know how quaint downtown Grapevine is and the shop holds with this tradition.  Tom and Carl were manning the store this evening.  Tom's been there for 12 years and has always been very pleasant, knowledgeable and helpful.  Literally you can see he has a passion for cigars.

I tried pumping the two for other local cigar locations, but their loyalty drew an uninspiring benign answer, as if saying - why would you go anywhere else.  I didn't impede on the member’s area as it appeared to be a place where guys come to enjoy their privacy, watch a game all while escaping from their day to day lives.  What right did I have to intruded upon their desires.  The shops hours are 9-9 Monday through Saturday and 12-6 on Sunday; although the door AND the website indicate closing at 8.  If you want to learn more about the store, visit the website.  There is a great little write up from Jeff Bolton on the About Us  page - Early memories have helped propel Tobacco Lane’s Ken Wiles to a prominent position in the North Texas retail tobacco store landscape.

Fun little fact (meaning I didn't know):  The embargo on Cuban cigars is still in effect.  If you visit Cuba, you're allowed to bring back about 100 cigars; however, because of the embargo you cannot purchase Cuban's in the US.  Tom's belief is if the embargo is lifted, there will be chaos as demand will far exceed supply.  But if you ponder the allure of the Cuban for a moment, won't it lose some of its luster when it is no longer illegal to purchase in the ole U S of A?  Having lived abroad for a while and having full access to Cuban's, I can't say they are miles ahead of their competitors.  Sure, the Monte Cristo torpedoes are excellent, but the Dominican's and others are producing quality products as well.  Certainly, worth pursuing the differences...

We drifted over to the Tap-In Pub  next door to enjoy a couple of pints and smoke our recent purchases.  Dan went with his Dominican Monte Cristo, Kevin's favorite is the Ashton and I stuck to my Arturo Fuente.  Mark was to show, but huh - last minute something changed and he no showed - who would have figured?  The Tap-In tries to pull off the pub experience, but personally having lived in London, I always find it difficult for a place to pull off a London/British feel in the deep south or specifically, the always proud Texas.  Never the less, we had the opportunity to catch up on family and friends before diverting to solving the world’s problems.

We had a brief diverge while Kevin and I talked business, specifically VOIP phones, network packets, and QoS. Dan, rightly so, drifted off to that special place that was nowhere, all the time enjoying the Cristo with his wry little smile.  The Tap-in held, for the most part an older crowd and gauging the west wing, many regulars, while the main seating area for dinner appeared to be true visitors.  About 9:00 Strange Love started playing, which ended all but 20 second sound bites of conversation between songs, as we were sitting too close to the band and the sound system.  Annoyed the conversation had halted, Strange Love allowed us to drift away from the world’s problems and brought back days of our youth when U2 had entered scene.  Strange really nailed some Carlos Santana tunes and I found myself asking - what could be better than a great IPA with a Fuente and Carlos? Yes, I know, she's ...  well we all have our fantasies. Let's stick with reality.  The bass player was their lead singer and was solid enough we all had to stop and focus to see if it was lip sync or the real deal.  It was the real deal.

We concluded the night, not agreeing on the next 10, but did settle on the next 5 venues and dates.  We clearly need more to make it to the end of the year and we all agreed, that one of the venues should be little Havana in Miami, so more planning to come.  We even ventured a trip to Cuba, so make sure your passport is up to date.  Please we need additional suggestions.  Also, need some consensus on the best night - should we shoot for Thursday, Friday or Saturday.  Current thinking is Thursday.

Cigar Lounge at Chamberlain's:  Feb 23rd.

Pop's Safari:  March 16th

Javier's Lounge & Cigar Bar:  April 6th

Cool River Cafe:  April 27th

Havana Club:  May 18th

So please join us.  Make additional suggestions, or give us knowledge of upcoming venues.

And thanks for following Dan and Steve's Excellent Cigar Bar Review

Special shout out to Jarod, who couldn’t be with us this evening as he was helping his wife, bring into this world, the next bundle of joy, Avery at 6lbs 12 oz. and a PERFECT reason to hand out some cigars (hint hint).  A tradition forgotten, but not lost.

Enjoying a great cigar with a great friend around a fire in the back yard, it occurred to us that we knew virtually nothing about many of the Cigar Bar's in the Dallas Ft. Worth area.  Both empty nesters, well almost - there are still spouses, we were looking for a new adventure to explore in 2017.

A quick Google search brought to our attention many establishments around the Metroplex.  Enough that we could make this a every third week adventure on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday evening.  Of course the more friends and new acquaintances the better.

Our plan is to start at the Grapevine Cigar Shop at 120 S Main St in Grapevine.  Choose cigars and make our way over to the Tap-In Pub next door.  Feb 3rd is the date, starting time is 7:00 pm.  During the first meet, we'll map out the next 10 stops and set dates.

Our plan is to also add a blog entry after each hop.  Focus on the good and bad, new friends and old.

Come join us.

website for week 1:   www.grapevinecigarshop.com