Jeff Frizzell knows that you don't often find women smoking cigars, let alone Cuban ones, in public.
So when he found Suzan Kaufman doing just that 18 years ago at Croc's, the film-and-TV producer had to say hello - and share a stogie with her on the restaurant's patio at the Oceanfront.
Now, nearly two decades later, the cigar-smoking buddies are man and wife, and they've created a place where they can enjoy one of their favorite pastimes at home.
But unlike most folks, who set up a smoking area in a screened-in porch or a well-ventilated garage, Jeff and Suzan had a burning desire to turn the basement of their 100-plus-year-old house into a wine cellar and cigar room.
At first, it looked like carrying out their plan would be a breeze.
Little did they know that the troubles would come in waves.
After living on a golf course in the Chesapeake suburbs, the couple six years ago decided it was time for a change.
Suzan, who was born in the Midwest but had been working in Los Angeles before coming to Hampton Roads, and Jeff, a Norfolk native, decided they'd like to move to downtown, probably the Freemason area.
Suzan got her hands on a flier detailing a home just a couple of blocks from the Hague, and she was sure she had found the perfect place. Jeff, however, wanted nothing to do with it, saying, "I don't want to live in Ghent."
So his wife crumpled up the paper and thought that was the end of it. Three days later, she received a phone call from Jeff, who excitedly informed her that he had found the perfect place.
He was standing in front of it, ready to buy. He had spotted it in an ad. As it turned out, it was the same house that Suzan had tried to interest him in.
It seemed like it was meant to be, and the couple walked through the door and almost immediately made an offer on the home at Fairfax and Colonial avenues.
The house - constructed in 1893 by lithographer Samuel Bowman - was one of the first 10 built in the neighborhood. The previous owners had taken good care of it, and the only immediate need was freshening up some interior walls with paint.
But Jeff and Suzan had a grand plan. They wanted to finish and renovate the basement, so they could have their own cigar room.
The two came up with a design, which included creating a bona fide wine room, bricking in the walls and installing a ventilation system to clear out the smoke.
For six months, Jeff and a handful of tradesmen and friends toiled on the project.
They ended up staining the concrete floor, cracks and all, because they liked its character. They redid the duct work and electrical outlets. They gridded in the copper-colored tin ceiling to hide the wiring. And they installed a speakeasy door between the stairs to the outside and a cellar door.
When it was done in 2009, Jeff invited over some poker buddies. Suzan played the role of cigar girl - her outfit complete with a tray slung over her neck and a short dress.
Soon, the problems began.
In most Hampton Roads homes with basements, water is a threat.
With the area's shallow water table and frequent rains, flooding is common and some sort of moisture saturation seems inevitable.
That's why "almost no one is building" basements, says Lynn Underwood, Norfolk's top building code official.
Underwood says the best way to keep moisture out of a basement is to install a drainage system before the floor goes in. Water - like everything else - can't escape gravity. It has a tendency to flow from a high point to a lower one, and that makes basements a target.
If water does get inside, and stands in one place too long, it can cause materials, including parts of homes, to decay.
"Nature has a remarkable way of tearing things apart," Underwood says.
Jeff and Suzan would witness this principle firsthand.
The home had come equipped with a sump pump, and the previous owner had said the basement never flooded.
Jeff learned differently one weekend when Susan was out of town. He found an inch of water on the floor but was able to handle it by squeegeeing it into the original sump pump. The second time, the water went a bit higher and remained in the basement for six days.
The third time was not a charm.
During a November nor'easter, the water rose to almost a foot. There, it remained for 35 days. After trying to stop the deluge and failing, the couple retreated.
"We just gave up and left," Jeff says.
They had visions of backing up a truck and filling in the basement with concrete. Instead, they called the professionals.
JES Foundation Repair sent a worker, who gave them a hand and - literally - a boot. He clamped his shoe over a gushing pipe, which stopped the torrent of water rushing inside.
Then it was time for the expensive work, making sure that such a disaster wouldn't happen again.
The original floor was removed, and a series of drains, similar to French drains, were installed underneath to carry water away from the house. JES also put in a rubber membrane for additional protection.
A larger, more efficient sump pump was brought in, and concrete was poured 3 inches higher than the old floor.
The couple estimates that fixing the problem cost as much as some parents spend on a child's four-year college education.
But, with the repairs complete, it was time to relax in their rebuilt playroom.
Jeff and Suzan finally had their cigar room and wine cellar back, and they took advantage of both.
The couple moved a leather sofa from upstairs to the basement and bought a painting that, appropriately, shows three men smoking cigars. Using reclaimed bricks from a factory in Norfolk, they built a patio with a large fireplace, where the party in the basement can relocate through the speakeasy and cellar doors.
They're relieved they didn't overreact when the problems began.
"I'm really glad we didn't fill the basement in," Kaufman said.
Because now - at last - they can exhale.
Toni Guagenti, tguagenti@cox.net