An item that hasn't been a standard part of dinner for just about a century is back on the menu at The Barn in Gahanna.
The Cameron Mitchell restaurant known, as many of his are, for a great selection of steaks now offers a beefed-up cigar menu for an after-dinner service that comes with a tucked-away spot outside to enjoy them. The 10-cigar Finish & Smoke menu includes a signature Avo XO Intermezzo, highly rated by Cigar Aficionado magazine, that's infused with a Woodford Reserve bourbon blended specially for The Barn.
The menu was curated by dining room manager Storm Ivory, an aficionado herself who talks about cigars the way wine lovers describe a good Cabernet Sauvignon. The Barn has offered cigars in the past, but Ivory said they were closer
to "gas station cigars" than the $15 to $45 selection now available.
"I wanted to revamp it and make it a full experience," Ivory said. "The Finish & Smoke is just exactly what it is, you know? You had your dessert. You had your entrée. Now you're ready to smoke."
A small spark of an old tradition
Cigar menus and cigar smoking are less common two decades after Ohio enacted its indoor smoking ban in 2006. And they're nowhere remotely close to the days of 19th and early 20th centuries when men – only men – would retire to another room for cigars and scotch.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2021, the most recent year measured, just 3.5% of American adults were cigar smokers. According to the American Lung Association, Ohio is one of 28 states in 2026 with laws that ban smoking in bars and restaurants.
In central Ohio, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse in downtown Columbus offers diners a cigar menu, and the Prohibition Gastro Lounge in Powell has a cigar patio. Dedicated cigar lounges such as The Apothecary in Dublin, La Chaveta in Clintonville and The Governor's Cigar Lounge in Westerville and Reynoldsburg sell cigars and provide space to smoke them but don't sell food.
In a recent interview about other topics with The Dispatch, Cameron Mitchell categorized cigars at The Barn as just another thing the restaurant does to make guests happy.
His Big Rock Italian Chophouse in Birmingham, Michigan, includes a dedicated cigar lounge, but The Barn's cigar service is much more low-key. Other than one Instagram post in April, the Finish & Smoke menu hasn't been given much publicity. Its menu isn't posted on the restaurant's website.
Good bourbon and a fine cigar
For those who seek the menu out, though, it's thorough and helpful. It describes each cigar as mild or medium in strength and includes tasting notes such as "toasted almond, candied cherry and sweet citrus" for the bourbon-infused Avo XO Intermezzo or "rich, sweet and bold with dessert-like undertones" for the Drew Estate Fat Bottom Betty.
Aside from the bourbon-infused cigar – Ivory injects the liquor into each, and it leaves behind flavor and aroma as it dries – they're a natural accompaniment for The Barn's extensive whiskey book, Ivory said. She has added wooden pairing trays for the enhanced cigar service that allow servers to deliver a customer's drink and smoke together.
"You get the deep undertones of the bourbons and you have the smooth cigar, so it just matches," Ivory said. "They both have that smokiness, that kind of caramel."
The outdoor cigar-smoking space, next to The Barn's patio and fire pit, is encircled by shrubbery about 15 feet high, which Ivory said keeps the smoke "fairly well insulated" from others. Eight red Adirondack chairs set around a fire pit give the area a backyard campfire feel that invites people to sit back and relax.
"Cigar smoking is a conversation piece," Ivory said. "You get with some of your girls or with your guys. You're smoking cigars, and then you have spent hours."
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: The Barn is lighting a new spark for post-dinner cigars
