A Mad Men-Inspired Cigar Room In Texas

[JohnS]

A Mad Men-Inspired Cigar Room In Texas

Steve Courter of Austin, Texas, created a cigar room that’s simple yet classy, one meant to reflect the refined splendor of the 1950s

Mar 31, 2026 - By Garrett Rutledge 

Photos/Ryan Davis & Jen Rachid/CG&S Design-Build 

In our modern age, it’s common to feel a longing for the past, for bygone eras when the world was simply different. These sentiments can be rooted in nostalgia, reminiscing of the good old days, or sometimes pondering how we might have fared in another time. Whatever the case may be, it’s captivating when someone manages to bottle up time and create a space that allows us to step into yesteryear. Steve Courter of Austin, Texas, has done just that. His Mad Men-inspired, 1950s-era cigar room subtly goes back in time, offering a quiet elegance with the air of a post-war study room, where a good smoke and a stiff drink feel like mandatory requirements. 

Courter, who says he’s in his mid-to-late 60s, says he feels like an old soul. “I should have been born in 1920,” says Courter. “I play golf, I drink Bourbon and Scotch, I smoke cigars, I’m a dinosaur.” He’s a down-to-Earth, well-traveled man with a sly sense of humor, and he’s quite established in simplifying the art of relaxation. He’s been smoking cigars and sipping whisky since he was about 19 years old, employing the two as a way to let the weight off, but the quality of what he enjoys has evolved with age. “Back in my college days, it was a Swisher Sweet with Passport Scotch in the chapter room of a fraternity house. After college, I was in the Army and I graduated to White Owls and Cutty Sark with other soldiers in the field,” he says. “After the Army, I went into business and I graduated to H. Upmann and Dewar’s with people I probably didn’t want to be smoking with in the first place.” 

After serving in the Army, Courter says he spent about 30 years in telecom and software, as CEO for several companies, before eventually becoming a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, where he’s still employed. Courter’s previous work has positioned him all over the country and world: Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Boston, Washington, D.C. and beyond. Wherever he was, finding a cigar lounge was paramount, but he often dreamed of the day he’d have his very own smoking room. 

Courter and his family moved from Boston to Austin nearly 20 years ago. For many years, he made use of the warmer climate, reserving his cigars for local cigar lounges or nearly anywhere outside, from hotel rooftops to the golf course. But he always knew that a particular room on the second floor of his Austin house would one day make a great cigar lounge. The room measures roughly 15 feet by 30 feet and for many years, it served as the family’s catch-all space. Courter called it the “go to hell room,” where you put “stuff” that you can’t find a home for. He always saw the potential of the space—especially a small nook in the corner that was the perfect size for a custom humidor he had back in Boston—but he had to wait. It was this very piece, along with his son still growing up in the house, that put his cigar room plans on hold for years.

Full Article: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/a-mad-men-inspired-cigar-room-in-texas

[sactochris]

It's a very nice room, but I don't see how it was inspired by Mad Men, which happens to be my all time favorite show.