New Orleans smokes on a technicality. The city banned indoor smoking in 2015 and grandfathered only the bars already trading, which means every indoor cigar room inside Orleans Parish is a survivor and no new one can ever be created. Dos Jefes still puts live jazz and a lit cigar in the same room. Cuban Creations has held the Quarter since 1982. The Black-owned rooms on Bayou Road and out in New Orleans East work their patios, and across the parish line in Metairie the rules fall away entirely.
Tap a gold pin to see the lounge and jump to its card below.
A speakeasy living room on the Bayou Road cultural corridor. Leather club chairs, tobacco leaves set under glass at the bar, rare scotch alongside gin, rum and cordials. Smoking is on the private rear patio, not inside.
Pip’s Tip Black-owned. Patio smoking only, opened after the 2015 ban
A full Creole restaurant with a stocked humidor and a cocktail bar attached. Chargrilled oysters and crawfish cakes lead the menu. Call ahead on where you can light up, indoor status is unconfirmed.
Pip’s Tip Black-owned. The one place here you can eat a real dinner and smoke
The original Don Villavaso. Premium cigars, drinks, food, live music and a patio, holding down a part of the city that has nothing else like it.
Pip’s Tip Black-owned. The anchor cigar room for New Orleans East
Likely the last room in New Orleans where you can hear live music in a club setting without stepping outside to smoke. No frills, top-shelf spirits, and a nightly calendar that has run since the nineties. Never a cover.
Pip’s Tip Live jazz seven nights and never a cover. Grandfathered for indoor smoking
Trading since 1982 and grandfathered under the 2015 ordinance, which is why it can do what nothing new in the Quarter can. Plush leather, a fireplace, real ventilation, a full bar pouring Sazeracs and cognac, food brought in from next door.
Pip’s Tip The only indoor smoke in the French Quarter, grandfathered since 1982
Wood-panelled, stately, and the most grown-up room on this list. Craft cocktails, single malts, ports and reserve bourbons, a real humidor, and live jazz on Saturdays. The best date-night cigar in the city.
Pip’s Tip Cigars at the eight courtyard tables with full food and drink service
The largest retail tobacconist in New Orleans, in the historic Orphanage Building since 1997. Around thirty brands in a big walk-in, plus pipes and pipe tobacco, an indoor lounge and a patio shaded by old oaks.
Pip’s Tip The patio under century-old oaks is the best daytime smoke in the city
The newest serious room in the metro. Leather club chairs, charcoal walls, antiqued brass and a Prohibition-era mood, with cocktails built to pair with what is claimed to be the region's largest walk-in humidor. Jefferson Parish, so smoking is indoors. About fifteen minutes from downtown.
Pip’s Tip The only real cigar destination on the Westbank, and it smokes indoors
Couches and big leather chairs set around card tables, a full bar and ballgames on the screens. Hand-rolled Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan tobacco, and space to actually spread out.
Pip’s Tip Roomier and calmer than anything on Bourbon
A high-end lounge with a bar, memberships and private rooms, but no membership needed to walk in. Jefferson Parish rules mean you smoke indoors. Cutting fees may apply to cigars you bring yourself.
Pip’s Tip Open past 1am on Saturdays, the late suburban option
A working factory since 1999, with rollers at wooden booths, an aging room and a walk-in humidor on display. You can watch the whole process happen and then smoke the result.
Pip’s Tip Watch it get rolled, then sit down and smoke it
The same operation as Decatur Street with later hours, dropped into the middle of the Bourbon Street action. Convenient rather than contemplative.
Pip’s Tip The later option once Decatur has closed
The suburban twin of the Magazine Street shop, with an indoor smoking lounge and an outdoor patio. Jefferson Parish sits outside the New Orleans ordinance, so the indoor room is a real one.
Pip’s Tip Same humidor depth as Magazine Street, no membership gate
Five hundred-plus cigars, mainstream and boutique, in a custom walk-in. The lounge is the main room here, with televisions, comfortable furniture and plenty of seating.
Pip’s Tip Retail-forward, so don't count on bar service
Established in 1998, with one of the largest walk-in humidors in the city. Regulars sit and smoke and bring their own drinks. Confirm indoor seating before you plan an evening around it.
Pip’s Tip Strongest boutique selection in the Quarter. Shop first, lounge second
A small clubhouse: one couch, a few chairs, exposed brick and a television. No walk-in humidor, but humidors line the entire right wall with more than a thousand open boxes to pick through.
Pip’s Tip The best solo stop in the Quarter
A Bourbon Street cigar bar and cocktail lounge with a courtyard and balcony, historically the largest cigar space in the city. Address and indoor status both need confirming, older guides place it elsewhere.
Pip’s Tip Courtyard and balcony, good for a group. Call before you go
A retail-first tobacconist with a real following. Come for the humidor and the staff knowledge rather than for an evening in a chair.
Pip’s Tip A buying stop rather than a hangout
Live jazz seven nights, never a cover, and the last room in the city where you can hear it without stepping outside to smoke.
Destination weekend & Wave 1 celebration. Travel packages for members.
Sixteen cities in. Come find your people in the Crescent City.