About Us

A Little About Mr. J’s…

In 1969, World War II Veteran, Arthur Joyal, “Mr. J” opened Joyal’s Liquors after a lifetime of working three jobs to provide for his family trying to make ends meet.  Growing up as a child during the Great Depression and seeing his parents lose everything—their farm, their animals, even their home, Arthur remembered how his family survived during Prohibition and Great Depression Era America—liquor. True story, we will leave details for another time to discuss over a cigar. 

 Over the next 49 years, Joyal’s Liquors became one of Rhode Island’s destinations for the finest wines, rarest scotches, bourbons, and whiskeys. In 1996 Paul Joyal, Arthur’s youngest son, joined the nationwide cigar boom that was taking place and decided that adding a few old jewelry cabinets converted into humidors for cigars would be a good pairing with some of the liquors sold at our family’s store and the rest was history.  Over the next 25 years, the Joyal family has grown to become Rhode Island’s largest volume retail & wholesale tobacconist family, and in 2009 Paul started his own trademarked brand and label, J. Grotto.  The name originated from the afterwork gatherings Paul would hold with close friends and cigar customer enthusiasts in his own backyard by the swimming pool which later became dubbed “The Grotto.”  

In 2019, Joyal’s Liquors was sold, and the family chose to venture into a new business with its years of experience with tobacco, cigars, and fine liquors—that’s where Mr. J’s Havana Cigar Lounge transformed from a thought to a reality.  Over the next 13 months, the Joyal family built Mr. J’s Havana Cigar Lounge in Coventry, which was overseen by Paul’s son and General Manager, Tom, and has become Rhode Island’s finest cigar bar & retail shop which offers the largest variety of the rarest and most sought-after cigars and liquors in the world.  Our 300 sq/ft retail walk-in humidor is one of the largest in Rhode Island offering nearly every major brand, with endless product in a second 300 sq/ft backstock humidor located on site. 

After many years of cigar wholesale distribution all over the East Coast to various tobacconists, the Joyal’s took the knowledge they saw first-hand of what their accounts did well and utilized those observations to make their cigar bar and lounge as efficient and up to date as possible, providing the best experience and atmosphere to enjoy a cigar and a cocktail.  Mr. J’s top priority was to provide a clean and as smokeless as possible environment to make your stay with us as enjoyable and relaxing as it can be.  Our 350,000 BTU HVAC air filtration and circulation unit is the largest, most efficient state-of-the art system in RI, which removes every air & smoke molecule every 100-seconds on a continuous cycle.

Our facility offers a spacious lounge with a variety of bar seating, bar high-tops, and comfortable leather chairs in the parlor by our fireplace, as well as outdoor deck seating with Adirondack Chairs by our firepit.  Our humidor staff is extremely knowledgeable with the products we carry, and our bar staff can build a cocktail to your liking or pour you even the rarest liquors of your choice from our extensive liquor menu which features nearly 300 combined offerings of scotches, bourbons, whiskeys, and sipping rums.  In 1969, our first liquor store advertisement motto was “It’s Worth the Drive” and that still holds true today with our new venture—Mr. J’s Havana Cigar Lounge…come visit us and see what the buzz is about.