SoHo Cigar Bar

On a quiet corner of Watts Street, behind candlelight and deco glass, downtown keeps its grandfathered room — and it feeds you.

Lee Ringelheim opened this place as Circa Tabac in 1998, early enough to make the protected list, and renamed it SoHo Cigar Bar with a 2014 renovation. A 2024 refresh upgraded the ventilation without touching the soul: plush leather, low light, and the Rat Pack — Sinatra, Dean, Sammy — watching from the walls.

The Smoke

The house brand is the signature — nine varieties organized by flavor profile, from light to rich to spicy — sitting alongside Fuente, Padrón, Ashton, and Rocky Patel. Start with the house; it's the story you can't smoke anywhere else.

The Bar

Full liquor with a whisky wall that spans Kentucky, Islay, and Japan — Hibiki 21 and Laphroaig 30 have both held shelf space — plus proper cocktails and, rarest of all in New York smoke, a real food menu. An entire evening happens here without a coat check goodbye.

The Details

They think about the small things: the coat rack hangs full-length garment bags so your jacket goes home smelling like your jacket. Hours run late — 3 a.m. closes Thursday through Saturday — making this the downtown room for the second half of the night.

Why We Picked It

Because it's the complete downtown evening: legal smoke, serious whisky, actual dinner, and a house cigar with a point of view. If the Carnegie Club is uptown's theater, this is downtown's den.