Maxim May/June 2022

The coolest new cigar lounge in America and possibly the entire world recently opened its doors at the new $4.3-billion Resorts World Las Vegas. Because it’s far more than a mere smoke-filled room. At the sultry and sophisticated Eight Lounge you can enjoy an expertly-crafted cocktail with your smoke of choice, and pick up a rare $10,000 Elie Bleu humidor that comes complete with 25 limited-edition Fuente OpusX cigars. And don’t be surprised if you run into some of the lounge’s A-list members like NBA great Michael Jordan, as well as World Series champion Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez and NHL Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky, who attended Eight’s glitzy opening celebration, along with the likes of Mike Tyson, Charles Oakley, and Dan Bilzerian, among others. Conceptualized by entrepreneur Giuseppe Bravo and celebrity attorney David Chesnoff,…

“What’s so alluring about cars and watches is the level of meticulous design, engineering and savoir faire behind the manufacture of each.” As both a car and watch collector, not to mention a racing driver and TAG Heuer brand ambassador, actor Patrick Dempsey knows whereof he speaks. “They’re both investments spurred by passion and emotion, heritage and futurism—vintage models are sought after like cult totems, while modern innovation ensures a steady evolution into the present and beyond. There’s no limit to the connoisseurship inherent to each.” His remarks appear in the afterword to a new deluxe edition of the most comprehensive and beautifully-designed book ever created celebrating the connection between cars and watches: Drive Time, by Aaron Sigmond, author of numerous top-shelf luxury lifestyle books, just published by Rizzoli. In addition…

Ask any true cocktail enthusiast to name the top ten bars in the world, and Death & Co will surely make the grade. Opened on New Year’s Eve 2006/2007 in Manhattan’s East Village, it quickly became the standard-bearer for the newly emerging classic cocktail and mixology renaissance, which was given a massive boost when a quirky new show called Mad Men premiered later that year. Death & Co has since opened equally alluring locations in Denver and Los Angeles, and has spawned a blue-chip hospitality group called Gin & Luck, along with two essential cocktail books—Cocktail Codex, which won a James Beard award, and Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails—which has now been joined by a third volume capturing the current cocktail zeitgeist, titled Death & Co: Welcome Home, by co-founders…

Jeremy Renner, Dak Prescott, Ashley Greene, Heidi Klum, and Jon Jones were among those who turned out when Maxim hosted the hottest parties of Big Game Weekend at Super Bowl LVI. The Maxim events took place Feb. 11-12 at City Market Pavilion in downtown L.A. and featured high-octane performances from some of the biggest names in music, including the Chainsmokers, Lil Baby, Gunna, 50 Cent, Tiësto, Plastik Funk, DJ Vice, and Loud Luxury. Guests included Dwight Howard, Jon Jones, Porsha Williams, Chuck Liddell, Jerome Bettis, Chord Overstreet, Elle Smith, Scott Evans and scores of pro athletes, models, actors, influencers and sports fans. Maxim surprised partygoers with interactive moments throughout the venue and unveiled the DIRECTV Backstage Lounge, an exclusive space for 300-plus VIP guests, with catering by elite eatery Cipriani. Guests enjoyed…

They say it has the heart of a rebel, and the soul of a gentleman. “It” is the Brabus 1300R, the first collaboration in the motorcycle world for the famed German car tuner, based on the KTM 1300 Super Duke R Evo, already a 180 hp beast of a V-twin wheelie machine. Brabus, of course, is most renowned on the high-end Mercedes scene, taking your G-Wagen, for example, and repackaging it with more oomph than Usain Bolt and extra-special sprinklings of The Dark Knight’s design dust, in what they call their signature “Black and Bold” aesthetic. Having chased one of these super-G’s along the Dalmatian coast in a Lamborghini Huracán indicating north of 170 mph on the speedo, I can confirm that they definitely know how to breathe on things to…

Colombia’s ripening cultural renaissance has never been more apparent, its vivid heritage of European, Indigenous and African influences is rich and runs deep. So go ahead and fall for the South American try-hard who’s like that cryptic-but-lovable teen crush you still think about to this day. There’s so much to love about the sheer effort. From her beguiling history rises an eclectic fusion of tradition and vanguardism in the thriving hotspots of Medellin and Bogotá. A land of extremes in Latin America, geographic diversity mirrors the myriad cultural influences, from soaring snowy Andean summits down to the arid plains of El Paramo. From lively, pretty beaches to the lush Amazonian jungle and aromatic cache of homegrown coffee—this is the Colombia that you don’t see on CNN. Despite only taking up a landmass…