Behind The Bench

Cigar Lounge

A single door off the Courtroom Bar, and behind it the quietest room in the building. A refined sanctuary for cigar aficionados featuring low lights, intimate seating, and a premium selection of cigars sourced locally and from around the world.

Walk-In Humidor
Rare Spirits Pairing
Full Air Extraction

Hours

Open Nightly

The Lounge 24 Hours, Daily
Last Order 12:30 AM
Private Hire Enquire For Rates
Reservations Advised, Walk-Ins as Space Allows

House Rules

Before You Light

Dress Code Smart Casual After 6:00 PM
Minimum Age 18, Identification Required
Corkage (Own Cigars) Enquire For Rates
Walk-Ins Must Buy a Cigar or Drink

The Room

Sixteen Seats,
Three Corners

The Walk-In Humidor

What's The Ruling?

Spanish cedar, a glass door, and roughly two hundred boxes kept at seventy percent humidity. The walls are painted with views of Myanmar past and the shelves equipped with books of past grandeur.

Sule In View

The Conviction Room

The original casement looks north over Sule Pagoda Road. Four wing chairs, a shared table, and the only seats in the lounge that get evening light.

The Lockers

Your Own Shelf

Twenty-four brass-fronted lockers along the back wall, held in the humidor's climate. Members and long-staying guests can keep their liquor or cigars here between visits.

Adjourn Upstairs

Reserve A Chair

Tell us the evening, the number in your party, and whether the window bay matters. Our lounge manager will hold the seats and, if you would like, set a pairing aside.

Send Enquiry

The Service

The Cut, The Light, The Draw

Four movements, the same for a first cigar as for a hundredth.

Selection

Into the humidor with the lounge manager. We will ask how long you have, what you are drinking, and how you like to be talked to about cigars - then we will suggest two.
The Cut

Guillotine, punch or V, cut at the table so you can see where the cap ends. If you would rather do it yourself, the tools are yours. We will simply hold the ashtray.
The Light

Cedar spill rather than a torch, taken slowly around the foot. It takes a minute longer and the first third tastes the better for it. Never a match with sulphur still on it.
The Draw

A pairing arrives once the cigar has settled - rum, aged whisky, or black coffee if the hour calls for it. Ash is left to build; it is not a race, and nobody will clear the tray early.

The Humidor

The Ledger

A standing selection, kept in rotation. Strength is shown as a guide, not a grade.

Cuba

The bench of the humidor. Boxes rotated every quarter.

Montecristo No. 2 Cuba · Vuelta Abajo

Torpedo · 52 × 156mm

The house benchmark. Cocoa and cedar through the first third, pepper arriving late. Ninety minutes if you take it properly.
Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill Cuba · Vuelta Abajo

Robusto Extra · 55 × 130mm

Cream, almond and dried fruit. The one we hand to guests who tell us they are not sure where to start.
Partagás Serie D No. 4 Cuba · Vuelta Abajo

Robusto · 50 × 124mm

Earth, leather and a long finish. Not a first cigar of the evening, and better after something has been eaten.

The New World

Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras.

Padrón 1964 Anniversary Nicaragua · Estelí

Torpedo · 52 × 152mm

Box-pressed, aged four years before it leaves the factory. Espresso and dark chocolate, remarkably even from the first inch to the last.
Arturo Fuente Hemingway Dominican Republic

Perfecto · 47 × 152mm

Cameroon wrapper, tapered at both ends. Sweet cedar and a little spice. Handsome enough that guests ask about it before they smoke it.
Oliva Serie V Melanio Nicaragua · Jalapa

Robusto · 52 × 127mm

Sumatra wrapper, generous smoke. Caramel and black pepper. Pairs with the aged rums better than anything else on the ledger.

Rare & Aged

Held in limited numbers. Ask the lounge manager what is open.

Cohiba Behike BHK 52 Cuba · El Laguito

Laguito No. 4 · 52 × 119mm

Medio tiempo leaf in the blend, and the reason the box is kept behind the manager's desk rather than on the shelf. By arrangement.
Trinidad Fundadores Cuba · Vuelta Abajo

Laguito Especial · 40 × 192mm

Long, slender and unhurried — two hours at its proper pace. Grass, honey and cedar. An evening's cigar rather than a nightcap.
The Eravati Reserve House Selection

Robusto · 50 × 127mm

Rolled to our blend and banded for the hotel. Medium throughout, with a sweetness that sits well against Burmese coffee. A hundred boxes a year.

Stock rotates and some labels are held in single boxes, so the ledger is a guide rather than a guarantee. Guests are welcome to bring their own cigars; corkage applies. Rates are given on enquiry.