Tucked inside Essential Hemp, The Backroom brings cigars and calm to downtown Greensboro

The tagline for The Backroom cigar lounge: Downtown's quiet burn.

The lounge is tucked inside Essential Hemp at 529 South Elm Street, serving literally as the back room of the business.

Photographs of movie stars, artists and athletes line the walls as soft jazz music and subdued lighting set the mood. The portraits include Jack Nicholson, Frida Kahlo, Babe Ruth, and Che Guevara.

"It's quiet, cozy, comfortable," The Backroom co-owner Hector Sanchez said.

Sanchez said he and his business partner, Kattya Castellon, decided to open the lounge after five years of running Essential Hemp.

Why? Because they want to see local businesses in Greensboro grow, he said.

"We believe in Greensboro," Sanchez said. "We see a lot of things leaving Greensboro. So, as things leave Greensboro, we think we have to inject into Greensboro."

Castellon said the lounge basically named itself. "It's because we had this space in the back," Castellon said. "It is the back room."

Castellon said it took roughly three months to renovate the space into a cigar lounge.

Sanchez said the most difficult aspect of the remodel was installing a smoke evacuation system to ensure the room was properly ventilated and that smoke didn't linger and become overly suffocating.

"The hardest part about that was breaking the wall on the outside to get the smoke out," Sanchez said. "It's a very old building. It's 14-inch walls. So, that was very hard, but we have a great smoke evacuation system."

When you enter Essential Hemp, at the back of the store, before you get to The Backroom, there is a cigar menu and a display case.

Patrons can then select a cigar they want. The owners take it from a cigar humidor, and the customer takes the cigar into the lounge.

Castellon said they try to keep the cigars fresh and at a relative humidity optimal for retaining flavor.

"Between 65% and 75% (relative humidity)," Castellon said. "Seventy-five, you can't go beyond that. It will be too humid."

The Backroom offers a variety of cigar brands, including Oliva, Romeo y Julieta, and Arturo Fuente, among others. The price ranges from $6 to $22.

"I know there's a lot that are more expensive," Castellon said. "I mean, you can buy a cigar for $75, but we want to make it affordable to the community."

Sanchez noted that the lounge is for cigars only. Hemp smoking isn't allowed in the store.

"This is totally just cigars," Sanchez said. "Although we sell hemp, hemp is for go somewhere else."

Most of the tobacco from the cigars sold by The Backroom comes from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

"Those are the two cigar capitals of the world right now," Sanchez said. "So, after the Cuban Revolution, when Cuban cigar makers fled Cuba, they ended up in two places: Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic."

The Backroom lounge can seat around 30 people. Sanchez said the plan is to create a membership club for regular patrons.

"A monthly membership is going to be around $40 a month, and a yearly membership is going to be somewhere around $350," Sanchez said. "But there are a lot of benefits to having a membership. There'll be discounts, there'll be special invitations to special events."

Sanchez said they would like to have special events at least once a month in the lounge.

"Probably every first Friday of the month we'll have a live event," Sanchez said. "So, members will get special invitations, priority RSVPs, stuff like that."

Sanchez said nothing beats enjoying a good cigar.

"A good cigar makes you feel better," Sanchez said. "So, the draw, the rolling it around, the taste in your mouth, the way it couples with whatever you're drinking right. It's just a relaxing, enjoyable experience, and it's a personal experience."

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