Kicking Back In A Cozy Illinois Cigar Room

[JohnS]

Kicking Back In A Cozy Illinois Cigar Room

Mar 5, 2026 - By Garrett Rutledge

Every cigar aficionado has longed for their dream cigar room. Perhaps you can picture that imaginary space right now. While some of us merely hold onto our vivid imagination and a faint sense of hope, others have turned their fantastical dreams into reality. But consider a different perspective: maybe a cigar room is in reach and all that’s needed is a hands-on approach and a touch of practicality. Dee Holloway, 46, of Savoy, Illinois, offers a shining example. He didn’t build a lavish cigar room from scratch or a grand lounge that broke the bank. Rather, this passionate cigar lover made do with the space he had, and he created a wonderful smoking room with everything an aficionado needs.

Holloway calls his spot “The Kickback.” The moniker came after a night at a local cigar lounge with his buddies. Closing time came but the group wasn’t quite ready to call it a night. “We can go kick back at the kickback,” Holloway told the boys. “Three or four people came back, three people told three people and next thing you know it became a thing.” He and his wife, Hollie, like to host what they call “bottle-popping parties” in “The Kickback.” For such gatherings, the focus is on celebrating wins in life, either their own victories or those of their friends, by popping bottles of Luc Belaire. When the bottle is done, everyone signs it and they add it to a collection that sits atop the entertainment center and cabinets. Holloway looks at the bottles as mementos of good times and success. 

Holloway’s first cigar space was in a small, 10-by-11 foot bedroom in his basement. The room, however, eventually became too crowded, especially when he had his buddies over to smoke. So back in 2021, he adapted by moving his set-up to the other side of the basement. The new lounge is set up in a larger room where his home office is located, measuring roughly 1,000 square feet. All-in-all, he says it took him about two weeks to get his spot up-and-running, although he’s made tweaks and added enhancements over the years. 

The trickiest—and most time consuming—part for Holloway was figuring out ventilation. “Of course, YouTube was my friend,” says Holloway with a laugh. First, came partitioning off his office area, to give the space a small reprieve from the smoke, by installing thick, floor-to-ceiling velvet curtains that separate the office from the rest of the room. Holloway then closed the air return area in the room, to keep smoke from dispersing throughout the house. He ended up installing two humidifiers on either side of the space, two exhaust fans near a window (one that pulls out smokey air and one that returns fresh air) and two Ozone air purifiers that run after cigar sessions, clearing virtually all signs of smoke. “Finally, I got it down to a science,” says Holloway. “Nobody is sitting in there with burning eyes.” But he does admit, it took several rounds of trial-and-error to be sure, testing out the room with one cigar going, then two, then three and even up to 10 when his buddies came over. 

Holloway’s space is built for comfort. It’s the kind of spot where you sit down with a large cigar and don’t get up until it’s finished. There’s almost a home theater feel here, with two large TVs, several deep leather reclining chairs, an electric fireplace, a large selection of whisky and of course, plenty of cigars. Holloway’s preferred pairing partner with smokes is whisky, typically Scotch. He has about 30 to 40 bottles spread across the room, including 25-year Dewar’s, Blanton’s, Johnnie Walker Black and Aberfeldy, to name a few of his favorites.

A quick scan of the room and you start to get a sense of who Holloway is, or rather, what he’s passionate about. Cigars and whisky are the main theme, and are virtually in reach wherever you are, but Scarface and Marine Corps memorabilia also take center stage. “Scarface is definitely my mantra,” he says. “The world is yours.” Holloway also served in the Marine Corps from 1997 to 2001. A few humidors with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem hold prominent real estate in the space. 

“The Kickback” label is quite fitting for Holloway’s spot, which essentially functions as part entertainment setting, part solo hideout. “We love to entertain people,” says Holloway. “It’s kind of a time warp down here. We have so much fun and next thing you know it’s three, four, five in the morning.” Holloway says they have people over often, especially in winter months, when friends want to get out of their house but don’t necessarily want to go out somewhere. When it gets warm, he fires up the barbeque and they utilize another smoking spot he has in his backyard, a place he’s more or less obligated to call “The Outback”—and he does. Sometimes the mood is more subdued, and it’s just he and his buddies smoking cigars. But even those “kickbacks” can reach 10 to 15 people. 

Holloway and his wife like to relax together in the room as well, though she’s not a cigar smoker. Some nights, they’ll sit down there just listening to music, which can include anything from old school R&B to Metallica. The couple has been together 13 years and Holloway’s quick to admit, he’s lucky to have the cigar space he does. “Without her allowing me to do this, it wouldn’t be possible,” he says. To keep things even, Holloway’s wife has her own spot in the house too. “If I got my own thing, she’s got her own thing,” he says. “It’s called ‘The Girl Bar,’ but it has too many rules for me.”

Holloway is a cigar guy through-and-through. And despite his enviable get-up, he still visits cigar lounges. He’s close to one of the owners at a local spot, who gave him Tatuaje Cojonu 2003 cigars as a wedding gift a few years back, so he still pops in there. He’s also a big fan of the cigar scene in Indianapolis, which is about two hours away. He had his bachelor party at Rocky Patel’s Burn, and names Nicky Blaine’s and Havana Cigar Lounge as a few other favorites in the area. 

Holloway's cigar journey stretches back to his days in the Marine Corps. Early in his military career, Holloway attended the annual Marine Corps Ball, and while he was there, he picked up a Romeo y Julieta cigar. After a failed chewing tobacco experiment not long before, he needed some guidance from fellow Marines to ensure sickness didn’t show its face again. Thankfully, his buddies showed him how to smoke a premium cigar properly, and it left an impression. After the Marines, when he was in college, Holloway started diving deeper into cigars. But in the past few years, his intrigue morphed into full-blown fascination. “In the past five years, I think I went overboard with the cigar life,” says Holloway, noting his palate’s craving for the higher end of premium cigars. “My collection has probably gotten a little out of hand.”

Presently, Holloway estimates that his collection has around 400 cigars. His smokes are spread across humidors in his room, separating them by the high-end cigars he reserves for himself and daily smokes that he’s more willing to share with friends. Holloway points to the Padrón Serie 1926 line as his favorite, but says he’s also a big fan of Tatuajes and Oliva Serie V Melanios. But with the maturation of his palate has come the attention of his wife. Ahead of a recent Father’s Day, she intended to buy him a box of cigars as a gift. After looking at what he had in his humidor, she checked box prices online and quickly shuttered that idea upon seeing the cost. “Now we have an unspoken thing,” says Holloway. “If I get a box of cigars in the mail, don’t say nothing. If she gets candles in the mail, I won’t say nothing.”

“The Kickback” does many things, but its most vital role is as a much-needed place of refuge for Holloway. He’s out-manned in his home, and that’s putting it lightly. He has three daughters and two female dogs. “I’m 100 percent a girl dad, but there are times I just need to get away,” he says. He strategically set up his room so that it's more than just a space to exhale, it’s a one-stop-shop for everything he needs. “I have everything for this to be a separate home,” he says. Along with his office, cigars and whisky, Holloway also keeps all his clothes down there, a microwave, a refrigerator and a bathroom. “If I’m not at work, the majority of my time at home I’m down here.” 

Source: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/kicking-back-in-a-cozy-illinois-cigar-room

[BossHogg]

That's some Man S**t Monday's with Jeremy Siers 👍 

I love his setup. I keep telling myself, "One of these days." 😆 

Thanks for sharing!

[Duxnutz]

Love looking at this. We’re building a smoking lounge and walk in down in the basement currently. Always looking for inspiration!