Sterling Cigar Lounge & Bar, Ybor City, Tampa
Tampa Bay’s Ybor City is the historic and spiritual cigar capital of the United States, where factories once produced as many as 500 million handmade cigars annually. That heyday is long past but the tradition lives on, and Ybor City today is full of Cuban eateries, a handful of cigar producers (including the venerable J.C. Newman) and one of the densest concentrations of cigar bars in the country. But a new option, Sterling Cigar Lounge & Bar, is going about it in a different way.
While most places on Ybor City’s main drag, East 7th Avenue, spill onto the sidewalks in a way that’s reminiscent of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street with its rowdy nightlife, Sterling sits four floors up, with a private lobby elevator that whisks guests above the fray. Inside, visitors are greeted with a hostess stand and a selection of Fender electric guitars hanging on the wall. This is an instrument-lending library, and the owner is a music buff offering up these instruments, along with amplified headphones, loaners for strumming while you enjoy a drink and cigar. You do not see that every day.
Sterling is a single, long, narrow rectangular space that runs like a long hallway from the front to back of the building. It has large outdoor terraces at both ends, directly overlooking East 7th or a slightly calmer view out the back. In the summer, they also open the rooftop above the lounge with misters to fight the Florida heat. Between the two patios there is room for about 40 guests, and either or both can be rented for private group events. Inside the main room is the bar, with about a dozen stalls, and at either end, leather couches with coffee tables, smaller round cafe tables and a couple of banquets.
The finishes are upscale, with lots of cabinetry-style wooden s and glass display cases for the best cigars built into the wall around the bar. It’s very comfortable, and in midday people come to chat, have a smoke and chill out. The night brings a more out-on-the-town vibe and Sterling has live jazz or R&B every night from Tuesday to Saturday. In just the year it has been open the spot has become so popular that it attracts Grammy-award-winning musicians and national touring artists.
The night-time feel here is elegant—people get more dressed up here than in typical cigar lounges. And as it is the calmest such spot around, with its own security, it has also attracted a lot of professional athletes.
Opposite the bar in the middle of the space is the walk-in humidor. Sterling carries several major cigar brands such as Arturo Fuente (which makes its U.S. headquarters here), Padrón, Oliva, Rocky Patel, Davidoff, E.P. Carrillo, My Father, Plasencia, C.L.E., Drew Estate, La Flor Dominicana, A.J. Fernandez, Tatuaje and Tampa's own J.C. Newman.
Downstairs are private lockers for 35 regulars. Cigars are quite affordable in Florida and for the most part Sterling goes modest, with no pricey rarities. The high end of the list is a La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull at $48 (Cigar Aficionado’s No. 2 Cigar of the Year for 2022 sells for just $21, very close to its suggested retail price. There are a lot of choices in the $10 to $15 range, including a local favorite, a toro from West Tampa Tobacco Co. ($13). There is also a small assortment of lighters, cutters and small accessories in a glass case by the hostess stand.
The bar has a modest but well-curated list with about 25 Bourbons, 30 other whiskies, and three dozen selections each of rum and Tequila, fitting for the Florida vibe. There is a long craft cocktail list, local draft craft beers and a midsize wine list. Unlike many other area cigar bars, Sterling does not serve food, so they are able to allow smoking indoors and out and everywhere, including the bar.
Besides the guitars, perhaps the most unusual touch here is what sits between the fourth-floor lounge and lobby: several brand-new studio and one-bedroom apartments built by the owners as cigar-friendly lodging. Available on Airbnb, each includes an outdoor patio with ashtray, and you can stock your rental from the lounge. The owner and his wife built the four-story building from scratch around Sterling on a former parking lot site, including the apartments below it, making this perhaps the most smoker friendly lodging option in Tampa.
Sterling Cigar Bar & Lounge
1531 East 7th Avenue
Tampa, Ybor City, FL
813-466-5723
https://sterlingcigarbar.com/
Monday-Thursday: 12 pm to 12 am
Friday-Saturday: 12 pm to 1 am
Sunday: 12 pm to 11 pm
Coming to Tampa? Don’t miss Cigar Aficionado’s return to Cigar City on March 29, with Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest. Click here for more information.
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