A Sunroom Turned Cigar Hangout In Chicago
For some of us, the acronym “DIY” may conjure up repressed memories of times we tried to take a hands-on approach, only to have the reality of our limited skills swiftly check us at the door. For others, the do-it-yourself method allows for an opportunity to expand the boundary between their comfort zone and the need for outside help. But for Filip Jakubek of Tinley Park, Illinois, getting things done himself is just routine business. Jakubek recently completed a year-long project where he converted a sunroom into a full-fledged cigar hangout—and the end result is quite impressive.
Jakubek, who was originally from the Czech Republic, is 53 years old and has been stateside for more than 20 years and has long dreamed of creating a personal cigar room. When he and his family were looking for a home upgrade last year, the original plan was to build from scratch. As blueprints were being drawn up, Jakubek was adamant about including a cigar room. That was until the ideal home went on the market in his current neighborhood, and he couldn’t pass it up.
From the beginning, Jakubek targeted the sunroom of his new home as the perfect space for the cigar room of his dreams, and he got to work. “I just turned my vision into a reality,” he says. Jakubek, who owns a transportation company, is no stranger to taking matters into his own hands. But he was quick to credit his wife for helping him reach a finished product. “She gave me good ideas I wouldn’t be able to discover by myself,” he says, calling it a true 50/50 split.
The room, which sits adjacent to the living room on the main level of the house, is a love letter to the cigar world, with notable devotion to a Dominican fan-favorite. As you walk through two glass doors into the room, a large, rectangular OpusX rug is there to greet you. Just above the rug hangs an Arturo Fuente-themed ceiling fan, and straight on the back-middle wall is a neon Fuente cigar factory sign. Though Fuente paraphernalia immediately grabs your attention, the rest of the space pays homage to the industry as a whole.
The room has dark, charcoal gray colored walls and ceilings that contrast with the tan tile floor. Empty cigar boxes from Oliva, Davidoff and myriad of other cigarmakers are scattered throughout and four display cases are filled to the brim with collectible cigar accessories.
Walls are lined with framed cigar advertisements taken straight from Cigar Aficionado magazine plus black-and-white photographs, including two original Helmut Newton photos. There is also a shot of Jakubek posing with cigarmaker Rafael Nodal at the 2021 Las Vegas Big Smoke.
The most personal wall decor is a still life painting done by Jakubek’s father back in 1965, when his father was just 19 years old. Jakubek said the painting remained back in Europe for almost 40 years without being touched. “But now it found its perfect place here on the wall,” he says.
The octagonal-shaped room is a comfortable size, about 17 feet in diameter with enough space to easily seat four or five. Two brown leather couches take center stage along with a sizable ottoman and a glass coffee table holding ashtrays and more cigar boxes. Lighting is more than sufficient, with seven double-framed windows on each side of the room to go along with the glass doors at the entry. The blinds for the windows, Jakubek laughs, were “probably the most expensive part” of the room. He also installed plenty of lights throughout the smoking space, including red lights that glow under the speakers, table and couches.
The space lacks very little, with some unexpected items that add to the unique, personal ambiance of Jakubek’s carefully curated spot. “It was done with passion,” says Jakubek. “I played with every single detail, and my best stuff finally found its place.” A television and fridge are among the more expected furnishings, while two antique reel-to-reel tape recorders and a star projector for the ceiling are there as well—even though they probably weren’t on your cigar room bingo card.
Jakubek also has a bar in his room, but one may need to do some investigating to pinpoint it in its entirety. On the right-hand side, just next to his skinny fridge and a tall speaker, sits an ornate globe about a foot and change in diameter. But as you approach said globe, the mystery begins to reveal itself as a collection of whiskey and Cognac bottles line the base underneath the sphere. But one mustn't end their investigation there, the globe itself actually opens up, revealing an additional compartment storing more liquor bottles. The globe is mostly filled with bottles Jakubek brought from overseas, as well as various Jack Daniel blends and other Bourbons.
Adjacent to the globe sits Jakubek’s electric-powered humidor; he also has an additional wooden humidor in the room. Jakubek estimates he has about 400 cigars in total, which include a wide array of smokes from some of the most popular cigarmakers: La Flor Dominicana, E.P. Carrillo, A.J. Fernandez and many others. Jakubek was quick to note that he has no particular favorite smoke or brand, but he does enjoy Aging Room, Joya de Nicaragua, Rocky Patel and Oliva, to name a few. “I’m not somebody who just likes ‘this’ and nothing else,” he says. “I like to discover.”
Jakubek’s intrigue and respect for quality is what led him to cigars in the first place. Originally a cigarette smoker, Jakubek frequented tobacco stores searching for the hard-to-find smokes, “the stuff you can’t just get at gas stations and everywhere else,” he says. He can’t remember how or when exactly, but he believes this process of seeking out premium products eventually led him to cigars about 15 or 20 years ago, and from there he never turned back. “Sometimes I average about four or five a week, sometimes one or two. It depends.” He typically smokes in his cigar room or outside when the weather permits.
“One thing I like about cigars, what I have been teaching to everybody, is all the other stuff you can do fast, cigars put you to the seat,” says Jakubek. “They make you relax, concentrate and enjoy the moment.” Jakubek adores everything that comes with cigar culture: the smoking, the collecting, the camaraderie. He even calls Cigar Aficionado his “favorite magazine,” as a long-time reader and a subscriber for the last five years. He just bought two of his cigar-smoking friends' subscriptions as well, of whom he hopes to have over to his cigar room in January to celebrate his 54th birthday.
As a true collector and DIY savant, Jakubek likes to use art from cigar boxes for furniture restoration projects, most evident is his Arturo Fuente ceiling fan. He’s a strong supporter of his local cigar shops who return the favor by gifting him empty cigar boxes, hence why so many fill space in his cigar hangout. With a brother and father who run a furniture restoration company, it’s no surprise Jakubek is quite handy in this regard. One of his recent projects included refurbishing barn doors in his basement that are now lined with cigar box lids. “We like to make designs. This room is not the only one, we’re doing it everywhere,” he says.
His collecting goes beyond his cigar room as well, in his garage sits a ‘73 Corvette and a new Mustang. “If I’m not in the cigar room, I’m in the office, if I’m not in the office, I’m in the garage,” says Jakubek. But with a now fully-complete cigar room, one has to imagine that time in the office and garage will begin to dwindle.
Do you have a cigar room worth sharing? Send us a note and some pictures at letters@cigaraficionado.com.
