…good grief I have loads of them!

I’ve been buying pre embargo cigar humidors and cabinets of all different shapes and sizes for years!

My office is overflowing with them…looks like a Cuban cigar museum ( too cool I hear you say:-))

Ceramic jars ( yes blues and browns) glass jars ( yes yes I have the Benson one as well!) Bakelite jars ( these are the best of all..Ramon and Partagas) Tronquitas and barrels…they are all proudly on display.

Photographs of Che and Fidel ( smoking cigars of course) …all originals….post cards,price lists books and mags..loads of them:-)

Thanks goodness Christoph called today and asked me to send a consignment of antiques to the new La Casa del Habanos in Hamburg:-) Our shop in Hamburg is soooo big …I may even have to head back to Havana to bring back more antiques !

Michelle is so happy as I almost had her desk covered in pre embargo humidors! So shipping starts tomorrow and if you visit Hamburg from next week,the shop should have a nice Cuban feel to it….at last.

Well,I’m off on a field trip to visit my Turmeaus gold medal specialist in Havanas shops in Liverpool and Chester for a couple of days,looking forward to seeing some of my regular customers for a cigar or two.

If you need me I’m on email…back in London offices on Friday:-)

Best

Mitchell

Sounds like war zone around my house this evening…fireworks going off all around!

I’m off to a fireworks party with the family now armed with a fistful of partagas shorts.These are my favourite small cigar as they seem the perfect size when I’m short of time and the perfect smoke for any time of day.

I usually start my day off ( around lunch time) with Party Short and a strong Cubita…nice combo…instant zing

I have noticed a distinct improvement in quality in 04/05/06 vintage…perfect draw,appearance and blend…full; strength,medium flavour,balanced and complex.

Buy some…smoke them…if you don’t agree with me that they are a great smoke…I’ll give your money back!

Happy Guy Fawkes and Bonfire night all

Best

Mitchell

Sometimes I venture out to look at the sad politically correct world the non-smoking elves live in. And what do I find? Would you believe that around two thousand elves celebrated Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) early this year with a virtual bonfire. For £2 a ticket, they watched footage of the flames projected on to a giant screen at the Ilfracombe Rugby Club in Devon, while a smoke machine and the sound of crackling wood added to the party atmosphere. The event was initiated by the club to get round stringent local Health and Safety rules governing the lighting of fires at public events.

How about a virtual smoke-in, direct from the Smoking Troll’s Cave? No, it’s too bloody sad. Get out there and light up a clutch of cigars while you can. Who the hell needs a video link when you can enjoy the real thing. You’ll be watching films of Gandalf fighting balrogs next…

Christies are holding another wine and cigar auction in South Ken on the 16th November.

Sadly not the incredible quantity of cigars we have seen in past auctions but still a few rare beauties including:

1996 limited edition humidor of 50 awesome salomones.Created by my colleague Christoph Wolters and only 100 made this delightful humidor has a price estimate of £6,000

A rare cabinet of 50 Romeo Casa Reales from the early 1970’s containing 100 cigars with a price estimate of £10,000- £15,000

Cigars from the 60’s to present day as well as a few interesting pre embargo Havanas will all be on offer.

C.Gars Ltd acts for many clients at auction as it is most important to check provenance as well as condition of the cigars.We check,we bid,we check when we collect and most important…we deliver worldwide!

I think my company has probably been the single largest buyers of cigars at Christies auctions over the years:-)

I deal almost exclusively in aged and rare Havanas and rarely a day goes by that we don’t see “new” vintage cigars being brought in to our offices for us to buy outright or sell on commisson.Some of the cigars make it onto my online store…most don’t! If you are looking for something in particular…Davidoffs,Dunhills.Pre embargo,Cuban cigar related antiques….let me know,if I don’t have it now…I can probably find it for you

G’nite from London:-)

Best

Mitchell

I had the pleasure of welcoming Simon Chase and Ana Lopez from Hunters and Frankau to our London premises today…they looked impressed with our refurbished humidor:-)

We had coffee ( Cubita of course) and smoked Henry Clay Diamontinos ( glass tubed) that we dated from late 1940’s/early 1950’s ! They were a truly delightful smoke with “tingle of the tongue” quality.Great draw,sweet flavour and medium strength and a smooth colrado maduro wrapper.I was surprised that such an old cigar reteianed so much flavour.I suspect the glass tube worked as an excellent flavour vacuum.

We moved on to The Churchill cigar bar and divan on Portman Square for lunch and Siglo VI’s and a chat about the cigar business in general.

I was pleased to hear that the long awaited arrival of Cohiba piramides L.E. Maduro would finally be with us very early next week.Packed in splendid presentation boxes of 10 cigars with a delicious looking dark and oily 2 year aged wrapper.

Simon mentioned that quantity on the first batch to arrive was very small but we are expecting to get a decent allocation:-)

Best wishes from chilly London

Mitchell