A Baton Rouge-based cigar importer is setting up shop in the Garden District, with plans for a flagship lounge at 1716 St. Charles Ave. that will roll cigars on site and pour from a proprietary lineup blended with Louisiana-grown tobacco. Casa Molina's new location will occupy a two-story maison and include a smoking lounge, a second-floor private suite, and an off-street parking lot — a rarity along the streetcar corridor.
The project was first detailed by WhatNow, which reported that Casa Molina plans its own cigar-rolling premises on site, staffed by rollers assembling high-end cigars in view of customers. Luis Molina, who is bringing the flagship to the Garden District, told the outlet he hopes the space will serve as both a destination for aficionados and an educational hub for people curious about the cigar trade. Casa Molina imports the Molina family's other cigar brands, while Molina described Casa Molina itself as a separate entity that handles that importing work, per the same report.
The flagship will showcase the family's roots in the tobacco industry through a location-exclusive brand called Boeuf Gras — a name that nods to the New Orleans Carnival tradition of parading a fattened cow before Lent, according to WhatNow's reporting. Beyond that exclusive line, the lounge will carry the family's proprietary blends, some of which include tobacco grown in St. James Parish, world-famous as the exclusive cultivation site for Perique, an intensely flavored leaf pressure-fermented in oak barrels using a process Pierre Chenet developed in 1824, according to Louisiana's River Parishes. Casa Molina also sources cigars from partner factories in the Dominican Republic, the outlet's report notes.
A Family Business Built North of the Lake
Casa Molina's founders, brothers Roberto and Luis Molina, launched their original venture, Habana Port Cigar Merchants, in Covington in 2010 before opening retail storefronts in Metairie and Baton Rouge and eventually branching into proprietary wholesale brand distribution, according to the Premium Cigar Association. As of last year, that portfolio already included lines like Lagniappe, a Nicaraguan blend made with Aganorsa leaf, and Molino de Viento, crafted in Honduras by the Eiroa family — evidence of a sourcing network built across Central America well before the St. Charles Avenue expansion.
The new flagship will offer a specialized, brand-focused experience distinct from those earlier retail shops, and its second-floor private suite is designed for hospitality and hosting international retailers. Casa Molina does not have a permit to sell alcohol at the location, but visitors may bring drinks from Avenue Pub, the bar next door at 1732 St. Charles Ave. that Federated Historic Holdings and Blue Oak BBQ acquired and renovated starting in late 2022. Molina said the company does not mind on-site consumption under that arrangement, according to WhatNow.
A Site Steeped in New Orleans History
The 1716 St. Charles Avenue building is a 1,805-square-foot mixed-use structure built in 1900 that once served as commercial office space and, in the mid-20th century, hosted Corinne Dunbar's, a historic parlor-style New Orleans restaurant that operated there for decades starting during the Great Depression, according to real estate records reviewed by LACDB. The live cigar rolling planned for the space also echoes a deeper local legacy: in the late 19th century, New Orleans was a premier U.S. cigar manufacturing hub with nearly 100 factories, including the La Belle Creole Cigar and Tobacco Company, which turned out 40 million cigars in 1892 alone, per the Premium Cigar Association.
Casa Molina's timing also lines up with a friendlier tax picture for premium cigar retailers. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed House Bill 325 into law in June 2025, capping the state excise tax on premium handmade cigars at 50 cents per cigar starting January 1, 2026, down from the state's previous 20% wholesale ad valorem rate, according to Cigar Aficionado. The change, backed by the Premium Cigar Association and local tobacconists, arrives just as the flagship prepares to open.
Indoor smoking is otherwise banned in New Orleans bars, restaurants, and casinos under the city's Smoke-Free Air Act, passed in January 2015, but the ordinance carves out exemptions for dedicated tobacco retailers and cigar lounges — the exception that makes an indoor smoking lounge like Casa Molina's possible. That local legal landscape sits alongside a cigar industry that carries real economic weight in the city: the Premium Cigar Association's national convention in New Orleans generated an estimated $13.9 million economic impact in July 2024.
Joining an Established Cigar Scene
Casa Molina's flagship enters a New Orleans market that already includes Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar on Tchoupitoulas Street, Cuban Crafters Cigar Lounge on Toulouse Street in the French Quarter, and Whiskey & Sticks in the Seventh Ward. Hoodline covered Cuban Crafters' French Quarter debut back in 2018, when the lounge first opened its doors on Toulouse Street. With its on-site rolling, private suite, and BYOB arrangement with Avenue Pub, Casa Molina is positioning its Garden District flagship as a more specialized alternative to those established spots — one built around the Molina family's own brands rather than a broader retail selection.
