Byron Cigar Lounge — Attraction in Schaumburg Township

Unwelcoming pompous staff that do not seem to understand nor respect the cigar lounge culture and care far more about enforcing policy. Definitely not managed with the same love, quality, and character as the other locations.

This is a dry bar, but you're able to go to and purchase from a nearby restaurant if you'd like to have a drink. Byron's does not welcome you to BYOB.

Their VIP section is monitored like Ft. Knox, and if you visit it for the feels, which could be their only selling point, management is swift to whisk you out of the small room; which easily feels like too much management overreach. Some kid came up to us to let us know this was a Members Only section, and members pay for their sectioned space. Yes, we know. Yes, we wanted to feel the vibe and figure out whether or not to buy another cigar and stay or travel to another spot. After we were approached, we chose the latter. Truly, their Members Only room is just not that serious, humble yourself.

We visited from out of the area for my friend's 48th birthday, who's a longtime fan of the franchise and who's a solid cigar collector, aficionado, and smoker. We've visited other lounges together, and separately, but by far, Byron's felt the coldest, least inviting, sales driven, and farthest from authentic vibe (although decent looking inside), smoker's lounge ever.

Obviously, we discussed the experience after we left. Management takes themselves far too seriously and killed the excitement we had about being there. Given that they're the baby of their franchise family, there will be some smoothing out of things until they get it right. But we're not too sure about it with this one. Enter with discernment, you've been informed. They're somewhat product knowledgeable, but their hospitality blows and not in a good way for a smoker's lounge.

The area needs an inviting and legit, quality lounge. Byron's has the amenities, but that staff killed the experience, and their dry bar policy is a big negative for anyone looking to have a stick with their own special spirit.

Special note: we noticed that what they DO have was arrogance, poor customer service, and no recourse on how they treat their customers.

Long gone is the friendly, warm, family vibe of the mature cigar smoker's lounge with this one.

It's "pretty on the outside, but ugly on the inside" if ya know...

I really would like to give this place a better score but I had a pretty bad experience my first time there.

To start with the good points... a good amount of lounge area, multiple rooms with plenty of TV's. They also have a great cigar selection and accessories.

I few negative points... The place needs to be ventilated much better. It is by far the worst ventilated cigar lounge I have ever been to. The only thing I noticed was fans on the ceiling.

Their prices are a bit high.

My main gripe.... I'm a bit new to cigar smoking and I asked the person working there if they could point me to a medium body cigar as I hadn't eaten in a couple hours and I do not want anything strong. He recommended a stick, and I asked him the price. When I went up to the register the price ended up being $4 more then he told me. I really wanted to try the stick so I bought it. In the back of my mind I was thinking the stick he gave me was a full body, and I really should have double checked online.

I smoked about 3/4 of the stick and became incredibly nauseous I had to leave. On the ride home I asked my friend to check the cigar online... and as I thought, it was a complete full body. I spent $17 on a cigar, couldn't smoke the whole thing and became sick. Not a very good first visit.

If I end up going back I will not likely smoke in the lounge as my clothes wreaked beyond belief. I will also not ask for help choosing a cigar and go by what I have learned over the last months and if I need help I will just...

I had a really negative experience here.

I'll say first that as a whole, their lounge is new and clean, their selection is decent, and their filtration is top tier.

I went with a friend and bought two cigars. They were busy, and we discovered there were only two seats available which weren't next to each other. I asked one of the associates if there were any options to sit next to each other, and he told us the only two options were to sit apart, or to pay for entry into their member's area. After a LOT of polite persistence, they finally let us into the (extremely nice) member's area as a courtesy, but it felt really uncomfortable the whole time feeling forced to pay just for the privilege of sitting next to my friend.

After everything, I personally think that having 70% of your seating in some premium, paid member's area is pretty lame. Their prices on their cigars are already on the high end, so it's reasonable to expect a place to sit without paying an added premium. I won't be going back, because there is a better option in the area without a cringe class system, the sales driven attitude of the associates, and the cold atmosphere in the lounge. Also, their associates weren't the most informed guys I've met and all their humidors are behind lock and key which is just more annoyance.

This lounge...