BTW, this place is open til 10PM Sun thru Wed, and Thu thru Sat they're usually around until midnight or so...an added bonus is that they're about five minutes from where I live and as the nights get hotter through the summer will be a great place to go to smoke indoors in the evening when it's too hot to sit on the patio...
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The one small B&M near me tried the VIP lounge (not sure what the charge was) and it didn't work. This is too much of a plain, good old working folks town. They eventually took down the walls and put in a few more pool tables in the space where the VIP lounge was!!
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The B&M closest to where i work now has a small (5-8 people) area with couch / tv / tables that you can smoke in for free. I enjoy visiting this shop because they have a good selection of smoke and most of the people who frequent it are friendly.

There is a B&M closer to where i used to work that has seating in the front area (4 people) that is free. If you want to use the VIP section it costs $100 a month. The benefit to using it is access to the alcohol bar and the ability to store smokes in your private locker. I have never been to the private lounge except for when they first showed up they had an open house. was not worth the $100 imho.
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My local shop runs $40/year. Nice smoking lounge with comfy chairs and couches with a 10 percent discount on all sticks.
They call it a "Diamond Crown Lounge" they talk about it like it is a nationwide franchise type deal.

I'm not a member, been thinking about it though.
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The cigar bar I frequent has a similar practice as what MJ just mentioned. They don't use actual 'fees' but you must have a $5 minimum purchase to smoke there. ie. if you want to smoke your own stuff you have to have spent $5 dollars in there. Easy to do, and not a pain at all.
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There are actually quite a few Diamond Crown Lounges in the US. My shop while I'm at school is a Diamond Crown lounge. The shop has both a ~1500 sqft private lounge and a smaller public lounge. The membership private lounge is regularly $500 a year with a locker and less with military, student discounts or non resident member membership. The membership allows access to the private lounge area which includes a big TV room that sits 15+ with 4 tv's all with Direct TV HD, a computer nook that has 4 seperated areas to work, a card room with its own flat screen, a quiet room, and a conference room. It also includes invites to members only dinners and priority to other dinners as well, discount on purchases, a free cigar on your birthday, and the ability to "rent" out the lounge for a function.

For everything that you get for ~$500 a year I think this is quite a steal especially when winter hits.
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Unfortunately only full-fledged members can bring in their own stuff. This means people who are not members need to buy a cigar and the $5 pass.
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There is a Diamond Crown Lounge (Briar Patch) here as well in Sacramento. A few of the BABOTL have been there with me. Yes it is very nice, and a great place to smoke during the winter time. I am not sure on how much they charge exactly, I believe it is a $12 day fee to use their lounge, and I believe a $1500 yearly usage.

The guys that work at the shop are pretty easy going though, we have been able to smoke at their lounge for free every time that we have gone, although we do purchase a few singles to support the shop.
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My local shop has two membership rates: $200 yearly just to be a private member, or $250 yearly to be a private member with a personal wall locker humi. That's it. It's nice however, as this place has a small public lounge that all you have to do is buy the cigar you're smoking from the store. The public lounge is just as nice as the private lounge, just smaller.
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