The Cigar Dojo
Ken Clement of Ontario, Canada, exudes ion, the unrelenting kind. He has the type of infectious energy that radiates off of him, inspiring those around him. As you get to know him, it’s not a surprise to find out that he’s been a success. He’s the CEO and a founder of one of the largest martial arts gear and apparel companies in the world, Hayabusa Fightwear Inc.—and he’s a serious cigar lover. The same unwavering drive and all-encompasing focus that led to his success in the business world also helped him create a personal cigar lounge that’s as impressive as they come.
Clement, 46, and his partners founded Hayabusa in 2006. Their timing was perfect, and Clement's background proved pivotal. In the early 2000s, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was starting to explode in the sporting world, and with that came increased interests in many martial arts disciplines. The rise hasn’t lost any momentum either. Clement, a devout martial artist and current two-stripe brown belt in jiu-jitsu, felt the fight gear brands on the market at the time didn’t reflect the true nature of martial arts—like respect, honor, camaraderie.
The void inspired Clement and he dove in, utilizing his R&D background as a university researcher. He took the same analytical, research-based approach to assess performance and protection metrics of traditional boxing gloves, and soon after, he and his team began conceptualizing and creating the ideal fight glove based on their findings, creating Hayabusa. The name comes from the Japanese word for the peregrine falcon, a fast, precise predator that Clement felt reflected essential qualities in a martial artist.
“Those blended together, the product and the branding, we got traction in the market and kind of took off from there,” says Clement. What started with gloves morphed into what Clement refers to as the three arms of Hayabusa: equipment (gloves, shin guards), technical apparel (rash guards, gis) and casual apparel (leisure and workout clothing). Today, the company has an impressive lineup of partnerships with athletes and major companies, including all-time great MMA fighters and boxers like Georges St-Pierre and Floyd Mayweather, as well as a partnership with Disney that includes branded Marvel and Lucasfilm gear.
Clement applied that same dedicated approach when creating his cigar room. It all started when he and his wife were building their new home from the ground-up a few years ago. “My wife said to me if she can design the kitchen, I can do whatever I want with the basement,” he says. “I tried to balance the martial arts and health world to the world I love, which is cigars,” says Clement, referring to the massive gym he also added in his basement, which he says allows him to enjoy his cigar room and bar guilt free.
In the end, Clement installed a cigar room and bar lounge area that’s reminiscent of the classiest, high-end cigar lounges open to the public. His cigar room is positioned as a kind of side room within the bar lounge area; Clement equates it to an isolated “bunker” within the basement, measuring 13 feet by 12 feet. The lounge area is more sizable, complete with a large, fully-stocked bar and loads of seating, at about 16 feet by 40 feet. The entire house project, including the basement installations, took roughly a year and a half to complete.
The room is called the CCLXX Bar & Lounge, which is written on the wall in gold lettering. (It’s the house address, expressed in Roman numerals.) Entering from the front of the lounge, the cigar room is nestled in the back left corner. It’s guarded by a sealed door with one-way, interrogation room glass so that smokers can see out to the lounge, but those outside can’t see in. The room is equipped with ventilation and air replacement systems alongside a custom humidor and a locker area. When conceptualizing the design and layout of his humidor, Clement says he was inspired by the cigar cabinet humidors made by the German manufacturer Gerber. The large, Spanish cedar humidor comes equipped with multiple rows of shelves with pullout drawers underneath. There’s also two glass display cabinets that flank either side of the main humidor; they mostly house old cigar boxes Clement has smoked through.
Clement’s goal for the cigar room, in particular, was to create a spot where time slows down and bonds are formed. “A room where it fosters great conversation and ideas and sharing of experiences,” he says. “I feel like we nailed it with that.” With charcoal gray-colored walls accented with gold and heated, black marble floors below black leather studded chairs, the room certainly has a strong, yet elegant vibe. It’s incredibly sleek and alluring, but serious, almost as if it were a Bond villain's cigar room. The space offers a nice contrast to the lounge area, which pops with bright colors and welcoming furniture.
Clement credits interior designers with helping create such a gorgeous space, which he felt were necessary to make sure no stone went unturned. “My biggest fear was it would be built and I’d have a moment where I’d regret not doing something,” he says. “So I wanted the resources in place to make sure that didn’t happen.”
The lounge area itself offers virtually every kind of bar experience. There are six bright-yellow barstools and a cozy booth outfitted with a gorgeous green felt exterior. There’s also an open, communal area on the opposite side of the lounge, near an electric, marble structure fireplace, with a couch and various eccentric seating options.
Clement also added some unique pieces of decor spread around the lounge, including a realistic eye ball sculpture situated just near the cigar room door. “I was trying to think of what to do coming into the cigar room,” says Clement. He ran through a litany of ideas: a vault, hidden door, telephone booth entrance, samurai suit, the “world is yours” statue from Scarface (which the interior designers and his wife categorically vetoed). But eventually, he settled on the three-by-six feet, mirror-polished, stainless steel eyeball structure that he felt was the most intriguing. “It also has a little bit of the ‘what the hell is that’ effect, which I like,” says Clement. Above the eyeball on the left side, there’s also a small stained glass window that Clement says was inspired by a bar in Toronto. On the opposite side, there’s two more stained glass windows flanking the marble fireplace with sugar skull designs in the middle.
The lounge also has more traditional accessories: an 80-inch television mounted behind the bar, an audio system, two beers on tap at all times, 80-plus spirits on-hand and a stockpile of two-by-two, clear ice cubes for cocktails. “Those little elements I find make a difference. I sound snobby as I say that,” he says with a laugh. Clement even created custom bar menus with 98 signature drinks. He takes cocktail-making seriously: the (mostly) self-taught mixologist can make every drink on the menu himself. “I wanted to make everything as authentic as possible for our space down to every detail,” he says. As for his drink of choice, it varies depending on whatever “kick he’s on,” but he does hold a fondness for the classics, and Black Manhattans in particular. Clement says he has friends over regularly, and occasionally, he and his wife will host parties. For larger groups, he’ll spare himself the legwork and hire a bartender for the evening.
“Most nights I’m down there having a cigar, having a drink, watching a movie, watching whatever it may be, but usually jiu-jitsu instructionals,” Clement says as he chuckles. The latter point illustrates what seems to be Clement’s fundamental nature: when he’s ionate about something, he goes all-in. “There’s just so much to do,” he says. “But down time at the end of the day in the cigar room is nice.”
Clement estimates he has roughly 800 to 900 cigars on hand. “Arturo Fuente is probably my number one go-to,” he says. He likes Cubans as well, naming Trinidad as his favorite brand. He also mentions Davidoff, Rocky Patel, Padrón, Drew Estate and Oliva as other cigarmakers he’s a fan of. Generally, he likes to mix it up, but not just by brand, but also by size, wrappers and even the cut he uses for a cigar. “I’ll usually go through a month or two where I’m latched onto a brand or a size, but I also love variety,” he says. “A lot of it is time dependent.” Clement likes to match the cigar with the context, so the time of day, the mood he’s in, what he’s drinking, it all matters. But sometimes these “kicks” of his lead him down interesting paths in his cigar exploration. Most recently, that’s included a run with candela cigars. “There’s something about the herbal, grassy notes,” he says. “I find myself craving those because they’re so unique.”
Cigar smoking came naturally to Clement. “It just felt right,” he says. “I’ve always had an affinity for it.” What started as an occasional thing on vacations and the like, eventually became a ion as he discovered the many nuances of cigars. Now, he’s smoking a cigar nearly every night down in his remarkably elegant cigar room, and who can blame him? “You have this feeling of winning,” he says. “I feel like cigars bring that.”
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