Blue Flame Cigar Lounge, Old Torrance: Open Daily From 10 am

Blue Flame Cigar Lounge, at 1305 Sartori Avenue, Suite B, in Old Town Torrance, is the South Bay's sports-on-the-big-screen cigar room. It opens at 10 am every day, stays open until 11 pm on Friday and Saturday, and welcomes walk-ins with no membership required. Two retired LAPD homicide investigators own it, the humidor holds more than 100 cigars, and the house has one rule worth knowing before you arrive: everything you smoke inside has to come off its own shelves.

Lyman and Nancy Doster took over the lounge on November 1, 2022. Lyman retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after 26 years, including a stint as an investigator in the Homicide Division, which is where he met Nancy. She started in the medical field in 1991, joined the LAPD seven years later and ended her career as a homicide detective. The two were friends for more than a decade before they went into business together.

Lyman has been smoking cigars since 1997, when a friend introduced him to them, and the couple describe the lounge as the moment their shared hobby became a business. Before them, the room operated as Bo's Cigar Lounge, which opened in 2009, according to a 2023 Cigar Aficionado profile written after the Dosters renamed it.

The Dosters' pitch for the place is hospitality first. They promise professional staff who will help you find the right cigar, a steady rhythm of sports and entertainment, and new events every month, and they say they have no plans to slow down.

The main room sits under a large domed ceiling, and Cigar Aficionado's visit noted blue lighting around the dome that echoes the name. The same report counted 70-inch televisions and a built-in surround-sound system, and the lounge's own pages talk about catching the game on big screens from a leather armchair.

That makes Blue Flame the right pick when you want a cigar with a ball game on rather than a silent reading room. If you'd rather talk than watch, come on a weekday morning soon after the 10 am opening, when the screens matter less and staff have time to chat.

The owners sum up the look as old-time charm with world-class cigars, a place where elegance meets casual comfort. In practice the room leans relaxed rather than formal, with plush leather armchairs angled toward the screens and plenty of space for a group to settle in for a second cigar.

The walk-in humidor carries more than 100 premium selections across every price level. The lounge singles out Padrón Anniversary, Davidoff Winston Churchill and Rocky Patel Aged Limited as its luxury picks. In the middle sit Oliva Series V, Tabernacle and Olmec. For newer smokers it recommends easy-going favorites like Brick House, Punch Knuckle Buster and Perla del Mar.

The full list is long. It runs through the Arturo Fuente range up to OpusX and the Hemingway shapes, a wide spread of AVO and Camacho, CAO's flavored Flavours line, a deep Cohiba shelf, and Davidoff's Year of the Horse 2026 edition. A Featured Cigar of the Month is posted online, which is a sensible starting point if you don't want to browse 100 boxes.

The brand wall also reaches into boutique territory: Alec Bradley's Black Market and Prensado, Ashton VSG and ESG, Crowned Heads, Crux, CLE, El Septimo, LFD, Tatuaje and Jaime Garcia all appear, alongside everyday staples from Romeo y Julieta, My Father, Nub and La Aroma de Cuba.

Blue Flame is open to the public, and the owners say plainly that there's no membership gatekeeping. Their one request is that every cigar smoked in the lounge comes from their humidor, so leave your own sticks at home. The lounge tells first-timers to relax: staff will guide you from picking the right stick to tasting the subtler flavors and getting the technique of each draw right. Seasoned smokers are pointed straight at the deeper shelves.

The official site doesn't mention a bar or a BYOB policy, so ask staff about drinks when you arrive.

Members get a private lounge in the back with climate-controlled lockers lined with Spanish cedar, overstuffed leather seating, Wi-Fi and dedicated ventilation. They also get discounts on every purchase, priority invitations, members-only cigars and member events.

The lounge keeps membership limited and doesn't publish prices. To join, fill in the inquiry form online or ask the lounge manager in person, and you'll be offered a tour of the private room first.

The events calendar is the best reason to visit on a particular day. In 2026 the lounge hosted Plasencia from noon to 3 pm on Saturday, January 24, with guided tastings of the family's signature blends. A month-long Ashton promotion peaked from 5 pm to 9 pm on February 27, with a Blackstone griddle as the raffle's grand prize. Drew Estate filled the room from 3 pm to 9 pm on Saturday, March 21, and Rocky Patel followed from 4 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, May 23, with limited releases on the table. You can sign up for the lounge's SMS list on its website to hear about new events and arrivals.

Sartori Avenue is the spine of Old Town Torrance, the downtown laid out in 1912 when the Olmsted Brothers planned the city for Jared Sidney Torrance. The low brick storefronts along Sartori and El Prado still hold diners, Thai and Mexican kitchens and a brewery, so dinner before your cigar is a short stroll. El Prado's tree-lined median makes a pleasant loop after a long smoke, and Torrance Beach is about 15 minutes away by car if you want a sunset first.

Address: Blue Flame Cigar Lounge, 1305 Sartori Avenue, Suite B, Torrance, CA 90501.

Hours: Sunday to Thursday 10 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 10 am to 11 pm.

House policy: open to the public with no membership needed, and only cigars bought from the lounge's humidor may be smoked inside. Membership with a private lounge and lockers is optional and priced on enquiry.

Contact: call the lounge or use the inquiry form on blueflamecigarlounge.com, which is also where membership requests and event sign-ups are handled.