Setting up a smoking room or cigar lounge in your home is a safe haven for the tobacco lover in you. You can relax with a pipe, cigar or other tobacco product without exposing the rest of the family to the odors or potential health risks associated with smoke. Depending on whether you're looking for a view, a living-room atmosphere or a game-room ambience, there are several ideas for small smoking rooms which can give a particular character and style.
Choice of location
Unless you want the smell of smoke to permeate the rest of the house, choose a room away from the main living areas. Since smoke of any kind has the ability to penetrate anywhere, setting up this area in a secluded spot will allow smokers to enjoy without harming other family members. It also reduces the risk of impregnating other parts of the house with smoke.
Space ventilation
Install a ventilation system that properly removes smoke before you start designing a smokehouse. A window-mounted exhaust fan may suffice as a ventilation system. If your smokehouse doesn't have a window, you can opt for a more advanced ventilation system. As an intermediate option, you can install a high-quality air purification system to help clean the air, whose filters need to be cleaned or replaced regularly.
Depending on the configuration of your space, you can choose between units that install in a ceiling grid, units that hang from the ceiling and units that install directly on a table. Ceiling-mounted models offer a more industrial ambience and are better suited to large rooms or large quantities of smoke. Table-top units are smaller and work like a kind of table vacuum cleaner, absorbing smoke when you hold your cigar or cigarette close.
Decorating a smoking room
The style of your smoking room can be rich and classic with chunky furniture, leather and dark wood, or light and airy with lighter-colored walls and flooring. Use wood panels on the walls or paint them in a rich, earthy tone such as brown, cocoa, dark cream or sage to give the space a typical look and feel of depth and darkness.
Avoid using rich brocade-type wallpapers, which can accumulate smoke or yellow over time and fade. Decorate walls with artwork that appeals to the main smoker. Since thick or shaggy carpets absorb and retain smoke odors, consider tile or wood floors with washable rugs.
Window treatment
While heavy curtains, such as velvet, contribute to the atmosphere and richness of a smokehouse, thick, absorbent fabrics collect and retain smoke. Light-colored curtains, on the other hand, can accumulate smoke and turn yellow over time. To avoid these inconveniences, choose easy-to-clean fabrics like heavy cotton or burlap, or cover windows with blinds or wooden shutters. When installing window coverings, keep any ventilation system in mind.
Furnishing the smoking room
Take into account your previous decisions regarding ventilation, view and general comfort when choosing the furniture and layout of your smoking area. Install your ventilation system in an appropriate place and arrange your furniture around it if you want to be able to look out of the window. Place ashtrays close to your furniture on tables at the right height if you want quick access to them.
Consider tall ashtrays if you want to stand. Even if you don't stand, installing an ashtray near the entrance can provide you with a safe place to deposit your ashes. Some models prevent odors from escaping. As for lighting, whether amber sconces or string lights, mood lighting can set the right mood.
You're likely to get hungry or thirsty while enjoying your cigar lounge, so consider installing a bar area or mobile cocktail cart. A mini-fridge can be used to store ice and cold drinks of all kinds. Instead of a simple space heater, a wood or gas fireplace can add a little something to the ambience.
Humidor or storage cabinet
No cigar collection would be complete without a humidifier hand-crafted. This device, which resembles a vault where air and temperature are controlled, prevents tobacco products from becoming polluted or losing their taste. If a stand-alone humidor is out of the question, invest in a countertop humidor to store tobacco products, and keep accessories such as cigar cutter, lighters and ashtrays decorative.
