While cigar bars have been around for years, interest in them developed in the 1990s when cities and government entities began instituting smoking bans but provided exceptions for establishments that catered to smokers.
Many of the upscale cigar bars such as the Grand Havana in Beverly Hills, California and New York City as well as those in Paris, Spain and Germany, create a gentlemen's club ambience with plushly-appointed interiors, sometimes including a piano or pool table.
[8]As of 2021, Alberta and Quebec are the only two provinces or territories which permit cigar lounges or any ventilated smoking rooms outside of nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Following the indoor smoking ban in the UK in 2007, various establishments in London have managed to accommodate patrons by adhering to the legal allowances in the law.
Exemptions are permitted for specialist tobacconists, where patrons are allowed to sample cigars and pipe tobacco on the premises under specific conditions.
[citation needed] In the United States the Private Smoking Club in Cincinnati, Ohio claims to be first cigar bar opening in 1995.