Ihave a really cool beer mug; it’s big, made of pewter and has “Vita Est Bonus” engraved on the side. In case you don’t know, that’s Latin it means “Life is Good.” Around the bottom is a quote from Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic. They are the last known words (or at least, last known to my knowledge) that he said: “We are dressed in our best and prepared to go down like gentlemen.” That’s pretty bold considering he was one of the richest men in the world and could have had a lifeboat all to himself, if he had wanted.

The mug holds more than a pint, so I sort of take advantage of the draft beer prices. I also own a cool marble cigar ashtray with my name on the bottom. Why is this noteworthy you ask? Well, it’s important because of where I keep them; they both reside behind the bar at Murfreesboro’s only premium cigar and beer bar, Liquid Smoke. When I venture up to Liquid Smoke, there they are, anxiously waiting to help me indulge one of my favorite pasttimes, cigars and beer.

“The Smoke” as a lot of the regulars refer to it, is located on the north side of the city square, one of the most historic areas in the city. For a person whose enjoys a good beer or a fine cigar, Liquid Smoke is a little slice of heaven, because they have a great selection of both and a friendly place to enjoy them.

I sat down with the owner of Liquid Smoke, Mike LaMure, and asked him how this place came to be.

Mike didn’t start out in the bar business; he worked at Goldenrod Dairy, in Madisonville, Ky., as a production coordinator for 17 years. I asked Mike how he went from milk to cigars and beer, and he said, “I went from something I didn’t like to something I did.”

I asked him why he chose Murfreesboro. “Kelly, my wife, was a regional manager for Scruple Professional Salon Products, a company that sold professional hair care products.”

That explains why there are always these exotic hair products in the bathroom. A bathroom, which I must add, is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen.

“Kelly covered a ten state area and Murfreesboro was more centrally located. We had some money saved up to start a business, so we made a move,” Mike says. “We looked into a beauty supply store, but there was so much red tape. Since that was a dead end, and funds were low, I went to work for Purity Dairy. About six months into that, I said to myself, ?this is not why I came here.’ While sitting back one day, having a beer and a cigar, I thought, ?Why not open a cigar shop?’ I always had a problem with cigar shops; you have to go through bobble head dolls and knick knacks to get to the cigars. I knew I could do that better. But, I couldn’t see me making a living, just selling cigars, so I decided to open a beer and cigar shop.

“I had a kiosk in the Stones River Mall at first, I used it as a stepping stone.”

That’s were I first met Mike and I filled out a survey to get a free pen. Mike used the surveys as market research to determine if Murfreesboro would support his idea. I think we all know that answer: yes it would.

“Coming from a dry county, it was like heaven here. If I would have tried this back home, they would have stoned us,” Mike said.

I asked Mike who are his target customers and he responded, “We don’t really have a particular crowd; good cigars and good beer attract good hearted people. It feels like a brotherhood.”

That feeling of brotherhood has a lot to do with the success of Liquid Smoke, a brotherhood of regulars with a taste for something other than the usual beer.

“I got my taste for import beers from home brewing. I lost my taste for the yellow, fizzy water (domestic beers) but I still drink it on hot sunny days,” Mike said.

Mike smoked his first cigar in high school to stand out from the crowd. He smoked his first hand-rolled Honduran cigar in a restaurant in Indiana after a Notre Dame game.

“This restaurant had a walk-in humidor, and I was on vacation. So, I bought about six cigars and walked around Notre Dame campus puffing away. I remember seeing this old guy in a Cadillac. He was smoking a huge cigar and he waved at me, just because I was smoking one too, kind of like a brotherhood.”

“Friends don’t let friends smoke bad cigars” is the motto of Liquid Smoke. Mike obviously believes this, because he stocks over 300 cigars and adds new ones almost monthly. With over 200 bottled beers and several drafts on tap that are changed regularly, he obviously doesn’t want you to drink a bad beer either.

Mike wants Liquid Smoke to be a Murfreesboro tradition. “We have a good core of regulars, it’s like Cheers, everybody knows your name. When you visit or come back home to Murfreesboro, I want this place to be one of the places you must go.”

I asked Mike if the smoking ban hurt his business. He said no, but it hurt him personally. “It’s not right to be told how to run your business; it’s not illegal to smoke.”

He admits since his bar went 21 and up a full year before the ban went into effect, it has helped his business.

“There have been new costumers because of the ban. It’s one of the few places left where smokers are welcome,” he said.

Liquid Smoke is just about to celebrate its sixth anniversary and Mike has big plans for the future.

“We are now selling cigars online and April 1 we will be opening our smoke shop, The Humidor, in the building adjoining Liquid Smoke. It will be more than what people are used to in a tobacco store. We are expanding our current lines and will be carrying many new items, more cigars, pipe tobaccos and accessories. More humidors, cutters, hookahs and hookah tobacco are also among the new and expanded lines. We have remodeled the interior of the building to make the entire store a humidor. You will be able to take your tobacco right off the shelf, it won’t need packaging or a special room to store it.”

That makes The Humidor the largest smoke shop/humidor in this area, arguably the largest in the state. The fact that you can choose from one of the largest selections of tobacco products in the state and just walk next door to enjoy it with a great beer certainly seems like a winning combination. The store will be open for business April 1, but there will be a grand opening the first weekend in May, the same weekend as Jazzfest, with vendor specials and other events.

Mike is building on what is fast becoming a Murfreesboro tradition, a tradition of good hearted people having a good beer and a quality cigar, at the place us “regulars” have come to know as The Smoke.