The updated cigar lounges of Phuket
In October of 2023 we published an article about the cigar lounges on the Thai island of Phuket. It’s time for an update as a lot has changed in the first months of 2025 yet a lot also stayed the same. What stayed the same are the players and the names, with one new kid on the block, but what changed are the locations or Churchill’s and Moat. La Torcedora is still located in a beautiful spot in Boat Avenue, but upgraded the lounge with a brand new, classy bar and a spacious walk-in humidor.
La Torcedora
Lawan “Wan” Charoenwong opened La Torcedora in March 2021. La Torcedora in located the beautiful and centrally located Boat Avenue area on the popular west coast. The cigar lounge quickly gained popularity and expanded from one small unit to the full six units in the building.
Last year Wan decided to upgrade the humidor and triple it in size. That made space for more cigars and to display them properly. Cubans on one side, new world cigars on the other side. The selection is good for Asian standards with many of the big brands available.
In June 2025, La Torcedora closed for a few days to install a brand new bar. Just like the rest of the interior and owner Wan, the bar looks classy and beautiful. The selection of alcohol is great too, with both local offerings (try the Sahena gin or Phraya rum) and international spirits.
Churchill’s Cigar Lounge
The same weekend that La Torcedora closed for the installation of the new bar, Churchill’s closed too. But for another reason. Not for renovation, as owner Richard Valentine and his staff had been renovating for weeks. Not at the lounge, but at the new location. Churchill’s moved to a much bigger building in another part of town.
While the old location was in a cozy and touristy part of town, the new location is much bigger. Churchill’s now offers space for at least 40 customers comfortably. A brand new walk-in humidor was created and the bar, although small, is fully stocked with a wide variety of spirits.
Churchills is also the place to be if you’re looking for accessories in Phuket, or if you’re a hotel or bar owner and you’re looking for a wholesale supplier. When in Phuket Town, Churchill’s is the place to go for a smoke. Especially in the weekends, when you can combine it with a stroll over the famous Naka Weekend Market, which is a stone throw away. Fill your stomach with amazing Thai street food and then go for an after dinner cigar at Churchills.
Moat
Also located at Boat Avenue is Moat. Moat is the cigar club from Cigar Emperor. It’s the sister of Moat Bangkok, and Cigar Emperor has plans to open more lounges all over Thailand. Members of Moat get discounts at all outlets and have other perks as well. Members have their personal lockers where they can store their cigars in optimal conditions.
The old location was hard to find, tucked away on the second floor of a row of shops and restaurants. The new lounge is just around the corner but more in sight. Follow the walkway between the frangipani trees and find yourself a beautiful lounge with a large selection of cigars.
The new lounge is also slightly bigger, with ten seats inside compared to the four seats at the previous spot. But if you like the hot weather, you can opt to sit outside as there is al-fresco seating as well.
Moat has a full alcohol license and carries a good selection of both Cuban and non-Cuban cigars.
Cigar King
The new kid on the block is Cigar King, opened earlier in 2025. I can’t tell you exactly when, as the staff didn’t understand the question and kept repeating the opening hours when asked when Cigar King opened its doors.
Cigar King is located in Patong. That’s the area of Phuket I always avoid. Phuket is a family friendly island, except for Patong. Patong is Sodom and Gomorra, it’s the type of place that gives Thailand the bad reputation for sex tourism. Shady happy ending massage parlours, bars full of prostitutes, ladyboy and transvestite shows. Now Inspector X is happily married and too old to party hard. I’m not in Phuket often and don’t want to waste valuable hours or days with hangovers, while the 18+ action is reserved for Mrs. Inspector X. Hence I avoid that area of the island, and with the opening of Cigar King, I hoped there would be a reason to visit Patong once in a while.
The lounge is located outside of the buzzling area, about 2 kilometres away from the infamous Bangla Road and at the end of a small street. When I walked up to the lounge I was greeted by a loud barking chihuahua. I don’t know if it belonged to the lounge, but the yapping was annoying. Luckily the dog didn’t come inside.
The lounge is divided in two rooms, both rooms have six seats. Classic dark colours, leather sofas and chairs, it looks al very promising. But then comes the bad. The selection of cigars was quite limited with just a small selection of Rocky Patel, Oliva, Drew Estate plus a single box of Casa Carrillo, and La Aroma del Caribe. I did not spot any Cuban cigars. Most of the cigar boxes were on display on the bar and the rest of the boxes were in a display cabinet without any humidification. The La Aroma Mi Amor I purchased was rock hard. So hard I had trouble cutting the cigar and it took me three tries.
Now, I don’t like to write negatively about cigar lounges, but this experience isn’t giving me a reason to go back to Patong on my next Phuket trip. Maybe these are start-up problems and the owner of Cigar King will improve on the selection of cigars, the storage of cigars and the contents of the bar. If not, then I expect that the lounge won’t last long.
Header photo by Maksim Zhashkevych on Unsplash
