La Casa Del Puro Cigar Lounge

My turn. Week number two of our date experiment left me scrambling for options. The Plaza Classic Film Festival had begun and it also happened to be Chris' birthday weekend. The week had been a hectic one, and the weekend promised to be the same with finishing up assignments and running errands, but that was the point of the experiment right? To overcome the obstacles that keep us cooped up in the house. We had just finished some Costco shopping when I decided to spring Chris' date on him. Lesson learned, never tell him in advance where we're going. I told him about the Cigar Lounge and immediately he was concerned we weren't dressed properly, etc. This is El Paso, I have yet to see a dress code posted.

We put the address into OnStar and headed downtown. We ended up near the Plaza Theater in a little area of row houses. The middle home was the cigar lounge. We went inside and were immediately impressed. The home was newly renovated and filled with luxurious leather furniture. A huge walk-in humidor took up almost half of the first floor. The downstairs was full of guys relaxing and smoking, although the house's ventilation system kept the smoke from choking us out. We each picked a cigar, Chris also picked out a cigar ash tray, and the owner invited us upstairs to the "members only" section. As first-time guests, this is the standard treat. We were the only patrons upstairs which consisted of more plush, leather furniture, a poker and pool room, a stocked bar and two flat screens. As a member, patrons are allowed to keep their own beverages in the refrigerators that are provided.

The environment was extremely nice, as was the owner. I quickly found out that as much as I love the occasional cigar, I cannot smoke an entire one by myself. I became a little nauseous and struggled to drag myself out of there. We decided to grab some dinner before we headed home and I nominated Julio's. The food was fantastic, and a live singer was a special treat. By then we were both ready to head home again. Exploring and trying new things is turning out to be exhausting :)