Sadly the smoking ban in England is looming.June will be the last month to legally smoke in public places.

No more smoking in pubs,clubs,restaurants or company cars thereafter.

Instant fines for the smoker and hefty fines for the establishment.

£30,000,000 wasted on “smoke inspectors”….what a joke…better off giving it to the homeless.

So late and all night drinking will continue with teenagers strewn over the streets of London on weekends drunk out of their minds and the police show little interest in various drug use and abuse but the cigar smoker continues to be tarred with the same brush as the cigarette smoker.

Lets not confuse the issue….smokes cigarettes and you will damage you health…Smoke Havana cigars and you will…relax…and are not likely to damage your health at all providing you do not inhale ( Havana cigars are not meant for any inhalation of course)

So how will it affect us? well it won’t. Fortunately our London showroom as well as our retail cigar stores in Chester and Liverpool are exempt from the ban and clients are allowed to smoke on the premises for “sampling purposes” Bravo for some small measure of common sense prevailing.Unfortunately the same common sense did not prevail for our cigar shops in Scotland.

Lots of talk about outdoor smoking areas in London restaurants.No doubt the Conran Group restaurants and Boisdales will lead the way…good for them.They will get all of my business in the future.

Global warming? bring it on I say More outdoor smoking opportunity the better the weather and this summer is predicted to be a hot one in the UK

Hunters and Frankau are planning an outdoor event on the 5th of July launching the wonderful new Cohiba Maduro 5 range of Havanas.Email Michelle at my London office if you would like to attend [email protected]

Por Larranaga Magnificos exclusive to the UK are due to be launched later in July…only 1400 boxes (!)

Tastes seem to be changing over tha last 2-3 years,I am amazed that Partagas P2’s are now selling more than Monte 2’s.Smaller fatter cigars are selling like crazy such as the petit Edmundo which is an excellent 1/2 hour Havana.Partagas shorts blending is the best I have ever known.Romeo short churchills are fast becoming a best seller.

Best wishes from sunny London

Mitchell

Hi Folks,

Just back from our La Casa del Habano in Hamburg where my partners the Wolters family hung out with the Orchant family for a few days:-) Dinner at Doc Chengs in the Fairmont Hotel was sublime…highly recommended.

Stocks in our massive walk in humidor seem be never ending ,right up to the ceiling,has to be one of the coolest cigars shops in the world.If you ever go to Hamburg say hello to Christoph…he’s the best cigar merchant I have ever met.Knowledgeable and helpful to novice and connoisseur alike.

Lousy weather in London today so I popped over to Dunhill in St James for a change of scene and met up with some friends for a smoke or two.

For those who have not visited,it’s worth the trip:-) Howard is now managing the cigar store and doing a great job at it.Comfortable leather chairs and great smoke extraction..Smoked a 2006 BBF..perfect.

Lunch at Francos opposite the delightful Davidoff shop in Jermyn street.Good food and wine,decent prices and very attentive service ( I counted 10 times they offered me water …but they still never sold me any!….do I look so dehydrated?!)

Back to the madhouse…oops I mean my London office where my lovely London sales team are working 25 hours in a day taking and shipping orders worldwide and dealing with a multitude of emails faxes and phone calls from our retail shops…time for me to chill with a dram of Tomatin single malt and a Partagas P2 I don’t think any regular production Havana has been blended as perfectly as the P2 in years….I could smoke them all day…in fact I do

My Liverpool shop which was slowly falling to pieces in Water street has now relocated down the road to 34 Fenwick street…a little smaller but modern and well stocked.Well done to my team ( Chris Alf,Mish,John and Veronica) for all their hard work in the move.All being well we’ll be opening another shop in Liverpool this year

Simon Chase ( marketing director Hunters and Frankau) gave me a call to invite me to the launch of the Cohiba Maduro 5 cigars on July 5th which will be a delight as long as the weather stays sunny as the launch will be après smoking ban so it’s an out door event I gather.No doubt my sales team will be offering the new Cohiba maduros from midnight July 5th

The new Por Larranaga Magnificos is now confirmed by Hunters and Frankau for delivery to us last days of July so a few months later than expected but I believe it will be worth the wait.

Only 1400 of these regional edition numbered boxes will be available to the UK.Cabinets of 10 and 25.Please don’t email to ask me the price …I don’t know !…yet If you have subscribed to my newsletter you will be informed the minute these stogies are available…and they won’t last long! ( 1 client has ordered 250 boxes from me and he doesn’t care what the price is!) The PL Magnificos is a remake of one of the most rare and desirable cigars namely the PL Magnum. I understand the name change was to avoid confusion with the Upmann Magnum cigars.

Could be a great investment ( if you can be patient) as PL magnums sell for around £5,000 for a box of 25 cigars these days!

Spoil yourself with a Dunhill Havana Club…this week only £175 per cigar ( plus VAT if you’re in the UK) email for details [email protected]

Fancy trying a pre Castro Havana or two? drop me an email I always have them available in singles and by the box.

Monte 2’s and Bolivar Belicosos recommended this week…fantastic smokes with great dark silky wrappers and perfect construction….Don’t wait !!…enjoy life…smoke a great Havana now:-)

Best

Mitch

The launch of our La Casa del Habano in Hamburg was a great success with well over 100 attendees enjoying an evening of great cigars that were rolled by a great roller Mojitos served from the Mojito bar as well as excellent food and entertainment provided by superb Cuban dancers.

The Cuban ambassador made a delightful speech to declare us officially open,Christoph made a most amusing long speech and I made a short speech thanking our wives for putting up with us !

Mr Villiger from 5th Avenue importers also made a speech and we feel very honoured that he came to our Casa.

I managed to restrict Karyn to one Mojito…one sip is usually enough for her:-) and She enjoyed chatting with various wives/girlfriends of Cigar aficionados who had come from all over Germany.UK and the USA

Our special “Art Edition ” Vegas Robaina Famosos with individually numbered bands sold out on the night ( except a small stash that I reserved;-) ) and were a true delight to look at …as well as no doubt smoke in due course. If you email me fast I may be able to squueze you a box;-)

Many of us enjoyed a smokey harbour champagne cruise round Hamburg whilst the weather stayed pleasantly warm.

Kudos to Christoph and Art for putting together such a wonderful launch weekend,no doubt all of our guests enjoyed the weekend as much as I did

Thanks to all the press who attended..we look forward to the photos and editorial;-)

Thanks to my regular smoking buddies Zaff/Chris/JB for their company and all the laughs…and for smoking all cigars in sight!

Our store is a Mecca for Havana cigar aficionados with a humidor crammed full of the finest quality cigars as well as a shop crammed full of Cuban cigar related antiques not to mention a comfortable smoking lounge with complimentary coffee and rum…be sure to visit if you come to Hamburg

No news about the new UK regional limited edition P.L Magnificos and whilst we were expecting it in May…July is looking more realistic.

Fill your humidors with UK regional Ramon Allones Belicosos while you can as they won’t be available for much longer…and they are fantastic smokes

Next month sees the opening of our new Liverpool cigar store and the following month…who knows:-)…not saying yet!

Good smoking and long ashes

Best

Mitchell

This weekend sees the official launch party and opening of our La Casa Del Habano in Hamburg and my London and Hamburg Teams are all very excited about the event.

We will be having a champagne and cigar harbour cruise around Hamburg…now that’s a herf as well as a Cuban roller rolling fresh robustos,Havana Club rum offering delicious Mojitos,various cigar industry dignitaries and cigar aficionados attending and a great weekend anticipated by all:-))

Our LCDH has an incredible range of Havanas as well as the finest cigar smokers accessories.Our shop is also filled with Cuban cigar related antiques which give it a unique ambience.

We’re all very proud to be part of the LCDH franchise system and would like to thank Ignacio from LCDH as well as 5th Avenue importers for all of their incredible support.

SPECIAL PURCHASE – A PIECE OF CIGAR HISTORY IN THE MAKING!

In our endeavours to spread the word on the contemporary Cuban art industry we have joined forces with the famous artist Angel Ramirez to offer
our customers this unique opportunity.

Angel Ramirez will be attending our official opening on the 20th APRIL @ LA CASA DEL HABANO – HAMBURG and he is providing us with
4 pieces of limited edition artwork exclusively for our customers. The scenes the engravings show are made in his famous medieval style.
They show smoking scenes as taken off from an ancient Fairy Tale book.

We will be releasing these 4 different engravings, limited to just 50 copies of each. Each engraving will depict a smoking scene and has been created by Angel Ramirez.

We will send you a box of VEGAS ROBAINA ART EDITION FAMOSOS complete with limited edition (numbered 1 to 50) engraving/artwork on the cigar
box at just £175 Sterling ( sorry not available in the UK). The cigars themselves are from 2006 product and are now well matured and perfect for smoking.

In addition the cigars will also be individually banded with these exclusive numbered (1 to 5000) “Angel Ramirez” bands

Simply purchase your exclusive Vegas Robaina Art Edition Famosos by dropping us an email [email protected]

Your special box of VEGAS ROBAINA ART EDITION FAMOSOS will be shipped to you by the end of this week.

The copper plates for these engravings have been destroyed – to retain the value of these limited edition pieces of art.

Viele gruss

Mitchell and Christoph and the team ( Laura,Art,Fraser and Mish)

My latest travels took me to sunny Majorca for 10 days fun in the sun….except that it rained for 8 days)-:! …and the sun was in London!

Ahhh well such is life ,at least Majorca seems to be cigar friendly just about everywhere I went,hotels,restaurants,even the airport had a smoking area.

Armed with my humipouch filled with Ramon belicosos,Bolivar belicosos,Partagas shorts and Monte 2’s as well as my ceramic cigar cutter ( no way can security detect that in my hand baggage!) and a few disposable lighters,I was ready to kick back

I think I’m falling in love………… with the Ramon Allones belicosos

I thought the RA Belis were awfully young and a bit rough at the edges when they first came out.The freshness drowned out the flavours.

I revisited them last November and they were a different beast altogether far more soft,rounded and balanced.Very smooth and complex as well as full flavoured.They have now joined my daily rotation:-)

They appear more expensive to our overseas friends all the time with the awful exchange rate sadly ( sorry can’t help that )-: )…

I have not heard about these being sold anywhere but the UK yet and was under the impression that we had exclusive on them for 2007 but I could be wrong.

Of course it may well be worth the wait but bear in mind they are not likely to taste the same as the original release as the cigars will be from a different vintage ….they may be better!…and cheaper …or not!

If price is sensitive,stay away..there are so many great Havanas available these days,the choice is quite amazing.

These days I almost exclusively smoke piramides and campanas.I don’t know why it took me 27 years to discover that the only size I truly enjoy are these but hey ho…it’s been a trip:-)

Hotel Gran Playa in Majorca (and Ramon belicosos!)..highly recommended,splendid pool ( as long as the sun shines!) and superb service.

My kinda herfin’ location…as long as the sun shines!

Best

Mitchell