Cigar lovers reach “aficionado” status at their own pace. For some, it’s a slow burn, a drawn-out process of maturing palates and sensibilities. But others have an immediate, natural magnetism to fine smokes, as if they were always meant to be a cigar smoker. Eric Kukucka, of Windsor, Ontario, is one of those destined connoisseurs. For the Canadian native, having his own cigar room was non-negotiable — a necessary requirement to serve his passion. It took building his new home to bring that ultimate smoking escape to life, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Kukucka, 37, has long been fascinated by cigars, but indulging hasn’t always been easy. Canada’s strict smoking laws and varying provincial regulations leave many places with only grandfathered lounges or nothing at all. For cigar lovers in the Great White North, a personal cigar room is more often a necessity than a luxury. Kukucka built his first in 2015, converting an outdoor woodworking shed at his parents’ house into what he calls a “very mediocre” cigar room — but one with hardwood floors, a ventilation system and leather couches.

“When I was building my house I said the one thing I want to have is a cigar room,” Kukucka says. His best friend Paul — whom he met over cigars a decade earlier and who works as a landscaper and contractor — designed and built the home, handling everything except the exterior framing. Paul, a cigar lover himself, recommended a four-season cigar room: fully insulated for frigid winters but able to transform into an open-air layout in summer. The house and its cigar room were finished three years ago, after about a year of construction.

The cigar room is a 300-square-foot indoor-outdoor space that can be fully sealed or opened to the elements via retractable sliding doors. It sits at the back of the house, opening onto a backyard with a swimming pool, a built-in grill area and a bar room/poolhouse that includes a dining table, bar and kitchen. Trees and a high fence surround the area, creating the feel of a private compound. On warm days, the spaces flow together easily; the design suits entertaining but remains intimate enough for quiet weekends alone or with a few friends.

Sleek describes both the cigar room and the house. There’s a slightly beachy, resort-like vibe with modern restraint — not the kitschy look you might find at some waterfront spots. Inside, the uncluttered layout is designed for comfortable smoking: lounge chairs, a large ottoman, standing ashtrays, a fireplace and a big TV. The room also has an HVAC ventilation system, heated floors and separate AC and heat, so it stays comfortable across changing climates. Kukucka says it can hold about ten people comfortably.

“I smoke a lot of cigars and I needed to have something that’s year-round,” he says. “If I’m home, I have a cigar lit and I’m in there.” The challenge is that “home” shifts — Kukucka works full-time in Chicago and stays there during the week, returning to Canada for weekends. He leans on a few favorite spots in the Windy City, like Iwan Ries, Biggs Mansion or a private club called The Penthouse. Still, late work hours often cut into cigar time. “I don’t smoke that much during the week, but I make up for it during the weekend,” he admits.

When he’s home, the cigar room takes center stage. “My fiancée and I watch movies there every night. I’m in there at all times over the weekend,” he says. The couple also hosts gatherings in the space, especially in winter when there are few places to escape with a cigar in frigid Canada. “My friends smoke cigars, everybody knows that when we go to Eric’s we’re sitting in there and the wives join too.”

Windsor, Ontario — Kukucka’s hometown and the location of his house — sits on the Detroit River, just across the border from the United States. That proximity helped fuel his cigar habit, filling a void created by Canada’s regulations. “We’ve been going to cigar bars in all of Detroit forever,” he says. “That was our only escape before we built the cigar room, crossing the border.”

When he was younger, Kukucka started dabbling in cigars to be different from the “cool” cigarette smokers. His father, who kept a small humidor and occasionally smoked, once tried to teach him a lesson by handing him a double corona. “He made me smoke the whole thing and nothing happened, and he was like, ‘well, that just backfired on me,’” Kukucka recalls with a laugh. The story fits: his affinity for cigars was there from the start.

“So, I have a problem,” he says with a chuckle, referring to his collection. Kukucka owns well over 1,000 cigars, and many are high-quality, hard-to-get boxes — some vintage, some several decades old. He keeps them near the cigar room in a large Remington cabinet humidor and four smaller fridge humidors.

His stash includes an unopened box of Cohiba Behike BHK 52s from 2010, Montecristo Sublimes Edición Limitada, every cigar in the Partagás Alphabet Series, a box of Vegas Robaina Don Alejandro from 2002 that were autographed by Alejandro Robaina, every vitola of OpusX The Lost City from 2020–21 (and nearly every OpusX that’s been on the market), Padrón 50th Anniversary and the Oliva 135th Anniversary Edición Limitada, among others.

Kukucka’s favorite brands are Vegas Robaina and Trinidad, but his everyday go-to is the Oliva Serie V Melanio: “Consistent every single time, amazing,” he says — and more affordable than his favorite boutique boxes. He keeps the Melanios in every vitola, natural and maduro. When he buys a box, he sets two sticks aside to age. His humidors are organized in tiers, from everyday smokes to “untouchable” cigars; the Cohiba Behikes are in that untouchable section. As for when he might break those out, “Probably my wedding, which is next year,” he says. “I say it’s probably the rarest, or most special, in my collection.”

Apart from a few rare, unopened items, most cigars in his collection are fair game. “What’s the flavor that I want today?” he says. Mood and context play a role, but he tries to have at least one “special cigar” a week. If picking drags on, he’ll grab a reliable Melanio. He sources most of his inventory from a local La Casa del Habano in Windsor and considers himself a “50/50 guy” on Cuban versus non-Cuban cigars. “I respect, value and appreciate the flavor, the construction, the consistency of both worlds,” he says.

When it comes to pairings, Kukucka keeps it simple: “Water,” he says. “I truly enjoy the flavor of the smoke, uninterrupted or unpaired.” For him, it really is all about the cigar.