“The smoke was so thick that there was many a time when you could not see who was across the room at the table.”
That’s how longtime state Sen. Francis Bardanouve remembered the start of his legislative career in Montana. The nights were long and smoky back in 1959, when Bardanouve recalled lobbyists handing out cigars like candy.
These details and others waft out of a 1991 profile of Bardanouve in the Great Falls Tribune. At the time, Bardanouve was the longest serving Montana lawmaker and a veteran of smoked-filled rooms.
Now, in the thick of the 2025 legislative season in Wyoming, Colorado and Montana, there’s a push for more smoke-filled rooms. It’s part of a national upward tick in the popularity of premium handmade cigars.
And it’s recreating a world once inhabited by the likes of Bardanouve, who insisted some of the best bars in Helena were the legislative leadership offices inside the Montana Capitol.
“Smoking and deal making weren’t the only activities,” reported the Tribune. Lobbyists and lawmakers bantered over card games and passed a bottle of whiskey. Then out came the cigars.
Today in Helena, the face of the pro-cigar movement is Sen. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, who has introduced Senate Bill 150 to the Montana Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee.
“I bring before you a bill to legalize cigar bars,” Galt told the committee. “This would allow an establishment to become a cigar bar. It would have the 21 and over and all of that. It would be very confined. And it would also have to have a humidor built in the place.
“So, this isn't going to be just throw one (cigar) on the bar and call yourself a cigar bar. It’s to allow the cigar people of this fine state to have a place to go and enjoy a cigar.”
Galt was followed by a host of opponents who presented all the world now knows about the harms of second-hand smoke. A Helena doctor reminded the committee that when the city of Helena banned smoking in local bars, the number of heart attacks dropped by 40%.
Acknowledging the problems with second-hand smoke, SB 150 calls for requiring adequate ventilation systems in cigar bars that suck out the smoke and don’t recirculate.
Supporters of the bill concede that cigar bars can’t ventilate themselves into compliance with clean air laws. That’s why an increasing number of states and municipalities are rewriting air quality rules to support the opening of more cigar bars.
Cigar Rights Of America
The allure of comfortable leather chairs, the sound of ice gently clinking inside whiskey glasses and the smell of good cigars is encapsulated in Montana SB 150. Galt’s proposed bill awaits a committee vote, and supporters are pointing to places like Greeley, Colorado, as proof that there’s a growing demand for the cigar lifestyle.
Greeley passed a cigar bar friendly ordinance back in 2023, and according to a leading cigar bar advocate, what’s happening at the state and local level is all evidence of a growing trend.
Glynn Loope is the director of state advocacy for the Premium Cigar Association. He points to “Augusta, Georgia, communities in Indiana, Waco, Texas” and states like Connecticut and North Dakota in his pitch for nurturing a cigar-friendly business climate.
In Mandan, North Dakota, Big Stick Cigar Lounge just opened, “By virtue of the legislation that passed there,” said Loope. “They just recently got their permit and were able to open for business and people were able to enjoy an adult beverage with a cigar for the first time together, in a welcoming atmosphere, if you will.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Loope was preparing to testify in Colorado in support of legislation to cap taxes on premium cigars.
Wyoming is currently considering similar legislation. Senate File 163 would repeal the state excise tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes, benefiting local cigar shops, said Loope. SF 163 passed 4-1 out of the Wyoming Senate Revenue Committee on Monday.
Along with SB 150 in Montana, recent cigar legislation is part of a national push to grow a niche segment of the hospitality industry.
“They're not going to pop up like Starbucks on every corner. The market's too small,” said Loope, who is the former executive director of the advocacy group Cigar Rights of America. “It’s an older demographic. It's really 35- to 65-year-olds that are really generally sitting in cigar bars and cigar lounges. They're not going to spread like wildfire.”
But what about cigar bars paving the way for businesses catering to vapers and marijuana smokers? Might new pro-cigar laws lead to a world where next thing you know, there’s a neighborhood doobie lounge opening up down the street?
Loope brushes off those concerns, saying, “The ‘slippery slope’ is always the convenient excuse not to do something.”
The Executive Cigar Lounge is an upscale experience offered at The Office Bar & Grill in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (The Office Bar and Grill) 
Montana state Sen. Wiley Galt, left, told his fellow legislators he wants “to legalize cigar bars” in Montana. Right, Pro-cigar lobbyist Glynn Loope doesn't openly hand out cigars. 
The Executive Cigar Lounge is an upscale experience offered at The Office Bar & Grill in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (The Office Bar and Grill) 
The Executive Cigar Lounge is an upscale experience offered at The Office Bar & Grill in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (The Office Bar and Grill)
For The Love Of Cigars
Last year, cigar industry publications like Cigar Aficionado and cigar-industry focused websites reported increased sales and evidence that cigar smoking is growing in popularity.
Cigar Aficionado surveyed nearly 400 cigar shops across the U.S. and found sales were up for nearly half of retailers. At the same time, online cigar industry analyst Grand View Research projected a 7.4% growth rate in the premium cigar industry from 2024 to 2030.
In Montana, cigar smoking spans across all kinds of demographics, and reaches deep into the state’s history. It includes trout anglers and campfire storytellers, real estate deal closers from the go-go 1980s and mutton-chopped gentlemen of the 1890s.
A story from February 1890, in Helena’s Independent Daily reported, “Every man has his own way of smoking and of holding a cigar.”
The article went on to declare that, “A good deal can be told about a man’s disposition by watching the way in which he smokes a cigar.”
Those who let the ash burn long and untapped project confidence, while those who constantly tap ash into an ashtray reveal themselves to be nervous, even twitchy, explained the Independent Daily.
A little over 100 years later, the Helena Independent Record spotted a rise in the number of women smoking cigars.
The paper told the story of Brenda Brewer, who expanded the cigar selection at Helena’s Main Street News and General Store, then picked up the cigar habit herself, describing it as, “a relaxing process.”
These days, the prevalence of cigars smoking remains strong, but cigars are no longer the centerpiece of deal making at the Montana Capitol.
When Loope, the lobbyist with the Premium Cigar Association, works the halls of power at the state level, he’s discreet about how he distributes cigars to those he’s lobbying.
“I don't walk up to the dais and start handing out cigars,” said Loope with a laugh. “That's not the way it works and that would not be the right image.”
When pressed on the issue and asked if he travels with a breast pocket full of premium cigars, Loope said, “Of course I do … for me.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
