Over the past few weeks, the world has become a very different place. Gone are the laughs at your local cigar lounge and, worse yet, the company of family and friends.

During stressful times in my life I’ve always used the local cigar lounge as a way to decompress. A place to bust balls, make crude comments, and laugh until I had tears in my eyes.

As my time has gotten more and more limited, I sometimes feel like I’ve been neglecting my cigar shop. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve spent a great deal of time there but I can never seem to break away from work and actually spent time with the guys.

You see, the lounge at Gilbertsville Cigar Factory has become my second office. A place where I can take my laptop, fire up a cigar, and get away from the ruckus of my children.

Now that the store is closed and the lounge shuttered due to the nationwide quarantine, I’m beginning to realize just how much I miss sitting and talking with the guys.

Once per week, for the past three weeks, we’ve been getting together via Skype for a Virtual Lounge Experience. It’s been a lot of fun but it just isn’t the same as laughing with someone in person.

It is my hope that we can get a handle on this pandemic in the near future and bring some sort of normalcy back to our lives.

Being that this is a Cigar Blog – I don’t want to get too deep so we’ll end with a question. How has the pandemic affected your cigar hobby?