This is one of the less than a dozen or so heated smoking venues in London. The room itself is actually an underground outdoor patio, but with the heaters and club-like leather chairs, it's as good as smoking inside in your favourite gentlemen's club with a slight draft. As it goes, smoking inside is a thing of the past here in England as a result of the smoking ban enforced beginning in 2007.
The garden room is a bar and cigar lounge. The prices are pretty high, but ensures that the rowdy crowd stay out. The minimum charge being 25 pounds. The hotel keeps a wonderful selection of liquor from vintage cognac and whisky to vintage ports and burgundy's. The cigar menu is one very long list with just about anything you can think of from all the cuban cigar makers, from fresh cigars to vintage cigars.
The environment is top notch, and the service provided for cigars is of a very high quality. Although, it is not necessary to purchase cigars from the premises to smoke them there, their walk-in humidor is perhaps one of the best maintained in London ensuring optimum smoking pleasure. They open until 11pm, or 1030pm on Sundays, but I stayed until midnight and never felt rushed; I was never told to leave. I highly recommend the Lanesborough as one of the best heated smoking venues in London; an excellent place for a light business meeting or just to relax with like-minded friends over a good cigar. While smoking, the waitresses also bring around handmade chocolates - these compliment cigars very well.
I had a Cuaba Piramids Limited Edition 2008, it was smooth unlike any Cuaba I've tried in the past, and the notes of cocoa were very evident. A relative bargain in the cigar world at 20 pounds. I paired this with a glass of sherry. A torch lighter service is offered by the Lanesborough, but I prefer to use the wooden match method, warming up the cigar with the first match, charring the cigar on the second, and finally light the cigar on the third. read more
