Let me break this down so it's objective.
Service: 5 stars. Fantastic folks, polite, expedient, give you space to browse.
Tobacconist Knowledge: Based on the two who served me, although there was an older gentleman, whom I believe was the manager. For now, the two younger sales crew served me. Based on what I asked and what I already knew, I'd rate their ability as Tobacconists at 3 stars. There were two young customers who knew nothing of cigars. And wanted something mild to medium and creamy. One asked my opinion and I recommended a Camacho Connecticut, which they had in stock, the young lady told them to try a Baccarat in Petit Corona that it tasted better than Camacho and was rated highter...O_o that's a 78 rated cigar and is horrible to start with. Yes, subjective, I know... Camacho Connecticut which rates around 88-89 is one of the best cigars to start new customers with a simple & inexpensive stick.
The young salesman was not very familiar with their stock or the types of lighters and a few of my questions regarding their pricing for a few things he had to check.
Location: 2 stars. Not convenient. It is way downtown, by Wall Street. However, it is accessible from the 2 & 3 trains. If you are coming over from Hoboken, it's a bit of a mess, path to WTC, 1 to Chambers (uptown) then transfer to 2 or 3 (downtown) and get off on Wall...walk a few blocks to Pearl. Relatively simple but in a city with annoying transit issues, difficult to get to by the time they close. If coming from Penn, hop the 2 or 3 until Wall.
Location Ambiance: 5 stars. Gorgeous, beautifully organized location with plenty of space for cigars, pipes, and accessories. Which is odd they don't have huge stocks.
Selection: 2 stars. Not very good. I am only coming for MBombay. That's it. Only Tobacconist who currently carries it in town. They did have Opus X, but only one Vitolla and their price is far above that of Fume or even Hoboken Smoke Shop both of whom have nice some stocked away and aging.
Lounges: 4 stars. There are two. One open to the public until 7:45 PM.
The public lounge is small, but functional. Again, you have to get here early. So for folks downtown this is good. Out of work at five, hop in for a smoke.
The private lounge requires one of two things: a day pass for $25 which gets you 1 house cigar by Yaxel Ortiz (most are retailing around $8-9) which I'm not as familiar with. And this lounge closes at 11. You have to call a number for someone to let you in and there are not many, if at all, cigars in the lounge, but you can smoke your own cigars. I specifically asked if I can bring my Cubans. They said yes, with my pass or membership. There is that. However, the young lady explained if you call ahead they can put the cigars you want upstairs to have access to them with your pass or membership. That is an excellent service.
Membership: Hard to measure in stars. It is $2000 for the year, but you get a box of cigars, unclear which, likely of the house variety, but $1000 of that fee goes to cigars of your choice. It's a house credit and you get one of their in-house humidors to store cigars in the lounge.
They do have coffee and soda, booze is BYOB.
Random Amenities: 1 Star. Random matches. Nothing else. Unless he forgot to offer something. After buying my Gaaja's I didn't even get a boveda pack in my ziplock. That's weird. I had to pay $1 for the small pack. That should be standard.
Price: 3 stars. They are more expensive then Casa de Montecristo for the cigars I noticed they had. Their house blend was decently priced but I'm not familiar with those sticks, and their pricing is a bit on par with Nat Sherman's. But then again this is off Wall Street...
Accessories: 4 stars. They had a lot of fantastic items, prices were decent and on par with manufacturer pricing, but they were limited with selection. It was almost specifically curated. But they had a lot of other items, like hats, and other lifestyle accessories.
They did have a solid selection of Davidoff, but not as solid as Casa De Montecristo.
Overall, this is a 3 Star cigar shop. Not because they don't provide the right experience, but competition is fierce. Within a few miles driving or on a train you have tremendous options with better pricing, selection, free use lounges with beautiful atmosphere, better amenities, and easier access. Not to mention more events. Hoboken Cigars is constantly hosting amazing events, Fume is always very well stocked, Sanj's has great pricing; Hoboken Smoke is almost always open, I think poor Umbren never leaves! Casa De Montecristo is always full of people, has crazy stock, and sell Davidoff more competitively than anyone else.
So really, Barclay Rex might be set for Wall Street folks, but I'm a master of the universe myself but I like sensible.
I'll still be back, because they have genuinely fantastic service and are the only folks carrying one of my favorite smokes, MBombay. But pricing is much better online. read more