The resurgence of cigar smoking spurred a Will County business owner to open a cigar lounge in Joliet.

The new Goodfellas Cigar Lounge hosted a soft opening on Sept. 28 but saved its grand opening celebration for Oct. 16.

That’s when National Baseball Hall of Famer and former White Sox great Frank Thomas – aka the “Big Hurt” – will appear from 5 to 8 p.m. at Goodfellas, located at 2138 W. Jefferson St. in Joliet.

Thomas will sign bottles of his FT35 brand of spirits.

[ Hall of Famer Frank Thomas coming to Joliet cigar lounge ]

Goodfellas Cigar Lounge co-owner Ammar Sheikah said he feels opening the cigar lounge was a natural business progression.

Sheikah said his parents opened Joe’s Beverage Warehouse in 2005 in Joliet and opened a second location in Romeoville in 2019.

The Joliet location was sold in 2022, and his parents bought the building that now houses Goodfellas in 2023, he said.

Sheikah said he started smoking cigars a couple of years ago and noticed family stores selling more cigars, too.

Additionally, the building at 2138 W. Jefferson St. in Joliet “seemed like a good place for a lounge,” Sheikah said.

“It seemed like [cigar smoking] was coming back,” Sheikah said. “There’s other lounges that we know of that have been around a long time and [are] always busy. We figured we had the business acumen to do it, too.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 8.6 million adults age 18 and older smoked cigars in 2021.

Smoking cigars at a cigar lounge offers the comforts of smoking at home but without the lingering smell, Sheikah said.

“If you smoke in your house, your house will smell like cigar smoke,” Sheikah said.

But at Goodfellas Lounge, a state-of-the-art system eliminates most of that, he said.

“It pulls the smoke from the air,” Sheikah said. “You will barely see any smoke when you’re smoking.”

Features of the Goodfellas Cigar Lounge include a 500-square-foot humidor and a selection of more than 600 different boxes of cigars, Sheikah said.

“Or you can go into the lounge and order a hookah, and you can just hang out,” Sheikah said. “We have seven big-screen TVs in the lounge itself and an over 3,000-square-foot seating area.”

No alcohol is served, but patrons can enjoy a wide variety of other beverages, Sheikah said.

Hookah flavors currently listed on the Goodfellas website include Double Apple, Orange Mint, Exotic Tropicool, Grape, Watermelon and Starbuzz Blue Mist.

A cigar club membership is coming soon, according to the website.

Goodfellas Cigar Lounge also has a separate room for private events and parties.

Sheikah said even noncigar-smoking people can come out with their friends and “explore a new hobby.”

“There’s no loud music,” Sheikah said. “It’s just a fun place to hang out.”

Sheikah said cigar smoking is more “elevated” than cigarette smoking in terms of flavors and aromas.

“It’s an experience,” Sheikah said.

Goodfellas Cigar Lounge is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

For more information, call 779-206-4176 or visit goodfellaschi.com.

For tickets to the event featuring Thomas, visit joesbev.com.