Smoking has long been a great source of cinematic stylistic magic. During the Golden Age of Hollywood and cinema one would be hard pressed to find a movie or movie star that did not light up. This afternoon during my midday reading session, I read a wonderful little featurette in my brother Vincent's favorite magazine Robb Report. The Robb Report is luxury from a man's man's point of view and this article on "Hot Spots" has nothing to do with technology, shopping nor the female anatomy. A Robb guy is beyond such pedestrian activities.

Hot Spots are the new evolved cigar lounge trend.  The first cigar lounges appeared in the 19th century. And in spite of Queen Victoria’s disapproval of tobacco, it became a cherished bonding ritual for like-minded gentlemen to puff and unwind over cigars in a well appointed space. The tradition soared to new levels during Wall Street and technology boom in the late 1980s and 1990s. However by 2008 cigar clubs and bars were largely snuffed out due to escalating cigar prices, tobacco shortages, and the economic downturn.

Over the past two years, there has been a new take on the cigar lounge around the country. Partly, it is a development related to the cocktail trend coupled with reaction to modern-day Queen Victorias: 27 states and countless municipalities enforcing antismoking laws, thus a growing need for puff havens.

Today the cigar lounge is being rekindled by a combination of classic clubs and creative new sparks. Robb Report puffed through them, eliminating the ordinary, the smoking rooms attached to cigar shops, the lone bench in a hotel garden, to find the best spots around the country for a smoke. Each of these places offers something exceptional: exceedingly rare cigars or spirits, or the chance to have a smoke on a bluff above the Pacific, in an under-the-radar airport lounge, after a relaxing spa treatment or with a finely prepared meal. Check it out: Robb Report.