The Wall Street Humidor

A few weeks ago I attended a cigar lesson and tasting (for women only) at The Wall Street Humidor, hosted by Maraya and UrbanGirlSquad.

The 3 Maraya Cigars we sampled

The process of hand-made and machine-made cigars was fascinating to me. We got to break them open and see the difference in how the tobacco is put inside. Machine-made have tobacco in bits just all smashed together in pieces, whereas the hand-made are literally hand rolled in and out kind of like an accordian, nice and neat. The obvious reason of why they are more expensive.

Live entertainment

We learned how to properly cut the end

And how to light with an insanely long match stick or a torch lighter

My favorite was the Winston Churchill style. A very long, narrow and slow smoking cigar (it lasted well over an hour being passed around to the 9 women at my table) The flavor changed over time, kind of like how the taste of wine changes as the air reacts with it.

Notice the smoky haze?

The cubes in the back are being transformed into seasoned, humidor "lockers" that you can rent to store your prized cigars to retain prolonged freshness. Kind of like a wine cellar or a cheese cave.

This is the original space upstairs. Quite a difference from the updated space down below! The furniture makes me think of Wallace and Gromit.

One lucky lady won all of this.  A seasoned humidor with 12 Maraya cigars, a torch lighter, a cutter, and a tube holder. Not going to lie, I was insanely jealous. As the night went on, I had become fixated on the sleek, sexy black box. I kept thinking of how much fun it would be to have a Madmen party and get all dolled up, drinking scotch and puffing the night away. Luckily, we all got to take home a cigar of our choice. I'm saving mine for our Cabo trip next week!

Some cigars smell awful, but I love the sweet vanilla and woodsy smell of others. I personally own 2 hookahs and love the taste and smell of flavored tobacco every once in a while. I don't smoke cigarettes (although I did for a few years after vagabonding through Europe) and am by no means promoting the act of smoking tobacco on a daily basis, but every once in a while for social relaxation doesn't seem terribly harmful to me. Have you ever, or would you smoke a cigar? Do you think they should just be for men, or no one at all?