Am planning to to the the Great American Beer Fest with some buddies in October. Had been there in 2001. Wasn't sure if there are still good places to have a cigar in Denver.

I will be going to Denver when the steelers are in town playing the broncos and am also interested in any good joints to visit.

The Churchill bar in the Brown Palace Hotel has been turned into a cigar club. That's one place you can have a cigar and I am hoping Scottological will come around to tell you more about it. However, this is not a joint. While the "unsinkable" Molly Brown might have had a mixed reputation, the hotel that bears her name is the classic old hotel of Denver. Worth a visit even if you don't drop in at Churchill's.

The Churchill is a great place. (I call it simply, "Church" since I have no religious affiliation other than fine cigars.) But it's also very quiet. A great place to go with friends for a quiet conversation.

Other places in town are:

Celtic Tavern (18th and Blake). This is an Irish pub that qualified as a cigar bar under the smoking ban. They have a mediocre, but reasonably priced selection of NC's, and don't mind if you bring your own. It's very casual. Go on a weeknight if you don't like crowds. Go on the weekend if you do like crowds. (It's a real meat market every Friday and Saturday night, though not in a good way. Lots of Jagermeister being thrown up on the floor of 21 year old fledgling drinkers.)

Sullivan's (18th and Wazee). Classy steak joint (the best in town, actually) that lets you smoke at their bar. It's often crowded, but in a good way. Jazz trio most nights and a good selection of NC's. Again, they don't mind if you bring your own.

Trios Enoteca (Between 17th and 18th on Wynkoop). A wine bar for the most part, but it has an excellent assortment of scotches, cognacs, etc. It's not expensive, but not cheap either. Smoking is allowed in the back. The atmosphere is cool/casual, but don't be surprised if you have to stand around waiting for a seat. They charge a $5 cutting fee for outside smokes and the prices for their rather mediocre selection of NC's are outrageous.

One final note, wherever you go, be sure to buy at least one cheap cigar from the place. The cigar bars have to maintain a certain percentage of their sales from cigars if they want to continue to allow smoking. So just drinking there and not buying a stick is adding to the problem. These weird Denverites are too polite in most cases to charge a cutting fee or tobacco minimum, so the onus is on the patrons to step up and do the right thing.

Also, the Celtic, Sullivan's, and Trios Enoteca are all within two blocks of each other. So make a night of it.

With the state's meager 5% in tobacco sales needed to qualify as a "cigar bar," I'm surprised any bar has a problem qualifying.

When I was there a couple months after the ban started last year, Churchills had no problem with me bringing my own-- I e-mailed ahead of time.

I even found a strip club downtown that claimed they were exempt and were smoking everywhere.

I hope the state doesn't kill the cigar bar exemption like the casinos'.

Scottological, are those exemptions-- Sullivans, etc.-- current?

They're current as of about last week. I followed the progress of the anti-cigar bar bill pretty closely and rejoiced at it being defeated.

The ones I mentioned will likely remain exempt until at least next year when the legislature will no doubt take up the issue again.

Yeah, there are apparently a few topless places that allow smoking too, though I'm not sure where those are.

No place really minds if you bring your own. I just buy one - except at the Churchill where I'm a member - out of courtesy.

Het thanks for taking the time to list all those places. I can't wait to come to Denver to try some of them out.

There are several good cigar shops in Denver. If you want some more information, don't hesitate to ask.

A bit further south, there is Stag's Tobacconists in Colorado Springs, near the corner of Academy and Austin Bluffs. Open 7-days a week, and a great crowd.

I was in Denver last week and stopped in at Churchill's...great place! The lady bartenders were wonderful, and very easy on the eyes. Had a very dry Bombay Sapphire martini and a Partagas black label. The martini was served with a reservoir of drink surround by ice...kept it nice and chilled.

Yes, Churchill is possibly the best place to enjoy a cigar and good cocktail. Unlike some of the other joints, you can get everything from beer to a mojito to an old-fashioned there. Most of the bartenders - with the exception of the excellent daytime guy, Michael - are women. Some are even cigar enthusiasts themselves.

As an added bonus, you can order food from any of the restaurants in the hotel.

I know I sound like a commercial for Churchill, but I'll be damned if it isn't one of the finest bars in the world.

Just a note to cigar enthusiasts going to Denver: Trios Enoteca has withdrawn the welcome mat for you. They voluntarily went smoke-free as of last Saturday.

It was an idiotic business move on their part as the smoking area was the only one consistently full.

Luckily, there are two other places within two blocks - Sullivan's and the Celtic Tavern. The Churchill is on the other side of downtown, but only about a fifteen minute walk.

Just to add to this thread for anyone who is looking through old threads for a place to smoke.... Sullivan's Steakhouse was forced to become non-smoking as of 1/1/08. They were unable to reach their 5% quota leaving Churchills & The Celtic Tavern as places to enjoy a drink & cigar while in Downtown Denver. Enoteca's web site still lists their cigar bar, but I have not visited in quite a while & can not confirm whether they are smoke-free.

Actually, I heard Sullivan's went smoke-free voluntarily. Because of its excellent location, a lot of people were just coming in their for the bar, smoking cigarettes, and getting hammered. You may be right, though.

There is now a new place called Oscar's, apparently owned by the Sullivan's people, that permits smoking right at one's table. They got around the law by being located entirely in a strip club that had an exemption - so, evidently, it's just another part of the strip club.

Then again, I'm happy with just Celtic and Churchill's.

I read in the Denver Post or Rocky Mountain News that the reason Sullivans lost the exemption is they didn't meet the 5% tobacco sales threshold in 2006. They made it in 2005, 2004 and 2007, but not '06, so they lost the permit.

Could very well be. I just don't know. The funny thing is, the law is so poorly written that there are no permits, per se. In fact, a court ruled that local prosecutors aren't even entitled to subpoena the information necessary to verify the 5% threshold. It's totally asinine.

Once the weather gets warmer though, Sullivan's excellent patio will still allow smoking, i'm sure.

Yeah, the law is among the worst-written I've read, and I travel so much, I've taken to following state and local smoking regulations very closely.

The Sullivans in Palm Desert, Calif., has great cigar-friendly patio, athough the tables are very close together, so I've never smoked a cigar there, although others were.

Scottological, I'll be in Colorado Springs next week. Aren't there a couple cigar bars there?

I'll also be seeing my buddy in Denver while there. Is your old cigar bar list in this thread still pretty accurate?

Here's the Sullivans story:

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7627413