I can't believe I spent so much time on this.

After starting on this demo, I kept at it. Part of it is that I remembered to look up Cerulean (darned if I know where he's at) who does ambigrams professionally: https://cernames.tumblr.com/ You could say I got a bit more inspired.

The finalized simplified version came first.
Then I realized there were a few shapes where I could use different bar implements in the letters. I was kind of pleased how everything is upside down on the left half and correct on the right. I actually had a draft I didn't save where the N/g/O were different and all the negative space between the letters were also bar shapes. Couldn't retain it for the final bit with the coasters and cigarettes.
Then I realized ALL the letter shapes could be bar items!
I think I'm going with the final version, since the beer mugs seem more apprppriate and I like the ambiguity of which way they're facing. Some concerns about the legibilitiy, but the thumbnail seems ok... Still a few tweaks to be made but I think it's going where I want it...