Yes, You Can Smoke in Coral Gables

The Galiano Cigar Room is a Stogie Lover’s Dream

By J.P. Faber//Photography by Jonathan Dann

October 2019

You can come here for a drink, or to buy a cigar from the temperature/ humidity controlled walk-in humidor. But people come here to smoke, in a leisurely and comfortable fashion.

While smoking (especially cigarettes) has disappeared from virtually all drinking and dining establishments in the Gables, it is alive and well at the Galiano Cigar Room. According to state law, you are allowed to smoke at an indoor bar so long as it doesn’t earn more than 10 percent of its income from food. That eliminates places like John Martin’s Irish Pub, which does a hearty business in pub grub as well as drink.

But Galiano Cigar Room is no smoke-filled man cave (though most of its clientele are male). Thanks to a 10-ton AC unit, a powerful exhaust system and an air purifier, the indoor atmosphere remains refreshingly free of smoke. Just think of the top casinos in Vegas, like the Wynn or the Bellagio. No sour odors.

“We get lots of compliments for the air filter,” says Ozzie Gomez, one of the owners. “We had a mechanical engineer design it… we went above and beyond, about three times [the capacity] the space called for.” The patrons definitely appreciate the difference, as well as the amenity of a full bar, comfortable leather couches and lounge chairs, and a broad selection of cigars in the humidor room, ranging in price from $6 to $100; Gomez says the sweet spot for a good quality cigar is about $12.

“I drove to the Gables just for this,” said one patron, as he puffed away. “It’s one of the few places in Miami – and the only place in Coral Gables – where you can smoke.”

And while the bar can’t sell you any food, you can order small plates from nearby Mara restaurant, which will walk the dishes over.

For the more hardcore cigar aficionados, you can become a VIP member of the Galiano Cigar Room for $2,000. This gets you a personalized locker that is climate controlled and can hold hundreds of stogies, discounts on your bar tab and cigar purchases, and priority for cigar tours to places like the Dominican Republic.

“We’re in Coral Gables because it’s a more affluent crowd, and this is not a cheap hobby,” says Gomez. “So we fought long and hard to be the first – and only – full liquor cigar bar in the city.”

Galiano Cigar Room | 2310 Galiano St. | 305.753.8888