Casa de Montecristo

No liquor license, no problem — bring the bottle. The room supplies everything else, until midnight, seven nights.

This was the Cigar Inn on 2nd Avenue, the Fakih family shop that housed the official Cigar Aficionado Lounge, before Tabacalera USA acquired it and raised the Casa de Montecristo flag. The leather couches and easy welcome survived the rebrand; the humidors got deeper.

The Humidor

The house stable is the Tabacalera portfolio — Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta at full depth — flanked by Fuente and the other majors. A twenty-dollar humidor minimum seats you for the evening; fair math anywhere in Midtown.

The Pour

Here's the New York quirk worth knowing: as a retail tobacco shop rather than a grandfathered bar, the room can host your smoke but not sell you a drink — so it's BYOB, done graciously. Glasses and ice appear when your bottle does, and there's a liquor store two doors down. Come prepared and the system beats most bars.

The Room

Nine screens — four of them 54 inches — make this Midtown's best fight-night and playoff room, with ventilation that keeps a full house breathable. Open to midnight Monday through Saturday; the rare polished walk-in room where nobody asks for a membership card.

Why We Picked It

Because the best casual sit in Midtown shouldn't require a license the city stopped issuing in 2003 — just a good humidor, a fair minimum, and a room that wants you to stay. Bring the bottle; they've got the rest.