I’d like to say I have had a good rest and some recuperation after the trade show in Orlando but it hasn’t quite worked out like that as I seem to be busier than ever in Los Angeles!

So many of my American smoking chums tell me that it’s not cigar friendly over here but I have no idea why as I have been herfing day and night at the hotel I am staying at in West Hollywood which is super cigar friendly and  there are no shortage of places to go for a cigar.

I did the tourist thing and went to Laguna Beach for the day and stumble on this small cigar shop very friendly and a good place for an impromptu herf.

The Four Seasons Hotel has a terrific cigar terrace well worth a visit.

The 1200 bar at the Sunset is a great spot for a late night smoke and ‘one for the road.’

We had a bit of a mega herf at Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills with around 25 cigars smoking chums taking over the terrace for a rather late night of dinner, drinks and smokes. Actor Michael Nouri and musician Michael Lington joined us for a memorable evening. I remember Michael Nouri when he was Lucky Luciano in Gangster Chronicles back in the early 1980’s!!!! Very cool actor… And he loves a good cigar!

My award for first rate service and delicious food so far on this trip goes to Locanda Veneta highly recommended.

Plan B has a good cigar terrace very comfortable and great food too. Hint – If you are ordering Scotch its better value by far to start off ordering doubles! (lesson learned!)

I’ve been smoking my way through an extraordinary amount of Fuente cigars during the day, particularly Kings and Opus X for something a tad heavier. For some great Nic kick I have been blasting through boxes of Regius robustos and a few of my Secret Blend Inka cigars in between!

Not much news from my London office, The Boss (Michelle!) tells me everything is under control and I should be having a few days vacation which sounds good to me. We are now planning to open our 10^th cigar store in October if all goes to plan which is very exciting… More details in the coming weeks.

Hunters and Frankau are hoping to release the new Cohiba Piramides Extra in the next few weeks or so. I’m very excited about this cigar, the examples we smoked in Havana at the February Festival were first class. Careful where you buy from though – I have already seen counterfeits floating around!!!!

Next week I’m herfing in San Diego and Redondo Beach as well as Beverly Hills 🙂

Have a great weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Just recovering from a most brilliant week in Orlando for the annual IPCPR trade show (previously called RTDA). The scale of the show is incredible to say the least with a seemingly never ending amount of exhibitors from new brands to established brands, all showcasing their products.

It’s not only an opportunity of catching up with new products but also old and new friends from all over the world who use this as an annual meeting place for the cigar industry, much like I do at the annual Habanos Festival. I met up with friends from Europe, The Far east and of course from all over the USA.

The exhibition started in the morning and went on until 5pm but as soon as the trade show closed the sponsored parties began and I decided this year to attend as many as possible! The whisky and Cigar pairing with Richard Paterson from Dalmore was interesting and entertaining and the Diamond Crown party at Corona Cigars was outrageously good! The Alec Bradley party was a bit loud for an old boy like me but still fun and it went on and on like day after day!… after the parties we moved on to the fabulous Corona Cigar Company at Sand Lakes or Downtown. Superb shops and excellent hospitality. Thank you Jeff and Tanya for making me so welcome.

Highlights of the show for me included:

Palio: New Palio single flame jet lighter to be released very soon. Designed with the cigar smoker in mind, this lighter comes in 3 finishes and is not only chic but is exceptionally reliable having been tested thoroughly and extensively.

Calibre digital hygrometers: There is a new Calibre hygrometer that we will be introducing in the next month or so that is the calibre IV and can be calibrated. There is also a digital dial Calibre hygrometer that we are also looking forward to importing.

Daniel Marshall humidors: One of our recommended ranges of humidors, high quality workmanship and made in the USA, we will be increasing range over the coming weeks.

Elie Bleu: This outstanding range of humidors was mouth wateringly show cased and a new mid range humidor will be added to our range in the next few weeks

Cigar Journal: Colin and Reinholds Awards party was simply brilliant fun. There were very sincere and very funny award acceptance speeches but it was a great crowd and a great evening

Smoke Magazine: Always great to catch up with the Bob, Ted and the boys from Smoke

CigarandSpirits: A relatively new magazine that our friend Nick Hammond has been a guest writer on. Great quality publication and we wish them the best of luck

Jose Blanco: One of my hero’s in the cigar trade, always great to catch up with him for a chat. Currently at Joya de Nicaragua and has created one of the best blends I have ever smoked with the Cuenca y Blanco. Sweet, smooth, round and balanced, exactly what I love in a premium cigar.

Torano: we were lucky enough to have Torano make our Nicaraguan petit coronas and robustos for our exclusive C.Gars Ltd Seleccion in fact we have been quite surprised at how popular these cigars have become so we are planning to introduce a range of Torano cigars to the UK during October this year

Inka Secret Blend exclusive to C.Gars Ltd: I worked with the owner of the cigar factory and plantation in Peru for almost a year until I was happy with the blend of tobacco for this range of cigars that we have created and even I am surprised by its popularity and the quantity of repeat orders. I tried to create a blend that was full flavoured but not full strength, smooth but with a bit of a zing quality and character to the flavour. Add to that a smooth wrapper and excellent construction and it looks like we have a winner. So we have ordered another 5000 boxes to be made soonest to satisfy demand and I have also created additional vitolas for this brand. If all goes to plan, we will be launching the brand in the USA in the next 3-6 months. The only Puro from Peru.

Bandolero: These cigars were great value and great smokes and the tins they are packaged in are really cool so I’ll be adding these to our range very soon.

Fuente: The Cigar family stand was splendid as usual and it’s such an honour to be their distributor in the UK. Its taking us time to get the range right for our UK market but so far so good and sales seem to be taking off with some pace now. If you want a first rate alternative to a Havana you really need to look at this range of cigars. Always good to see my old friends Tony and Jake.

Gurkha Cigars: Great to catch up with my old friend Gary Hyams now running the show at Gurkha where it looks like he has shaken up the range big time. Packaging is superb, prices look highly competitive and if appearance is anything to go on, I will be in for a treat when I test out the blends over the next week or two. We are looking to introduce a range of Gurkha to the UK before Christmas.

Regius cigars: Another first rate Nicaraguan cigar that we highly recommend. I smoked my way through quite a few cigars with Akhil from Regius at the show and I’m looking forward to potentially introducing some new and exclusive C.Gars Ltd Regius cigars over the coming months. Try out the robustos – You won’t be disappointed, I smoked 3 back to back to test blend integrity and they were splendid.

The above are only a few highlights of a fabulous week of herfing with so many cigar chums that I have known since 1994 including Bobby, Jenn y Craig, Mango Joe, Alka Seltzer, Lightning Rob, George and many many others. Looking forward to next year’s show in Las Vegas!

So now I’m in Los Angeles spending some time herfing the cigar samples from the show at the pool and trying to decide what to bring to the UK next – Tougher job than you may think. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you will see what I mean 🙂

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Happy Friday! And yes I am really happy its Friday as this is the busiest week I can remember in a long time, kicking off with an excellent cigar evening at the splendid Harts Hotel in Nottingham last Sunday. Champagne and Epicure 2’s at the pre herf in a friend’s home followed by dinner in a Bedouin tent on a warm and balmy evening. Jimmy from Hunters and Frankau ably introduced the 3 cigars we enjoyed throughout the evening:

H Upmann Half Corona

Bolivar Britanicas

Punch Medalla D’Oro

Needless to say the favourite of the evening was the Bolivar but the Punch fared well too with perfect construction and very classic ‘punchy’ flavours.

Post herf went on till 5 a.m.(!) at a friend’s house where we went through large amounts of Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 matched up with 21 year old Springbank and some 50 year old Armagnac.

Breakfast smokes were Epi 2’s from 2000 which were remarkably good – Matched up with a lot of coffee!

Monday afternoon was spent sampling cigars at Turmeaus Chester where the walk in humidor has a huge range of Havanas and still has some Montecristo Gran Reserva and of course all the UK regional editions and limited editions.

Tuesday was spent sampling cigars at Turmeaus Liverpool where I smoked El Rey Choix de L’Epoque for a lighter smoking day! I am indeed the ‘kid in a candy store’ as we own Turmeaus retro confectionery store which has just about every piece of confectionery I can remember from my childhood. Checkout the range here.

Off to Glasgow Wednesday morning to Robert Grahams Global Whisky Shop for a small shop, it has to be said it has a huge range of cigars in the walk in humidor, in fact I think that little haven for cigar smokers could be one of our busiest stores. The ever changing range of single malts assures our clients that we always have something different to tempt them that can’t be found in the supermarkets. Small independent limited edition bottlings seem to be massively popular.

On to Edinburgh Robert Graham Rose street shop which has the hugest selection of Havanas and other premium cigars in the walk in humidor. Singles, small packs, boxes and jars – Just a huge range. The Scotch, Rum and Gin range isn’t too shabby either.

I moved on to Robert Graham’s Treasurer shop on Canongate/Royal Mile where I sampled chocolates, Robert Graham Dancing Stag single Malt and a surprise find of Por Larranaga Regalias de Londres in the humidor. I thought we were thorough with this excellent UK regional edition but there are a few boxes in Canongate if you hurry 🙂

Back to London on Thursday and a day full of meetings at the London office although I managed to sneak off to Robert Graham West Hampstead for a crafty smoke in the sunshine outside the shop and a dram or two of our Hoebeg Islay whisky.

And to finish the week off I visited Alfie Turmeaus Mayfair cigar shop which had a queue of customers outside the door! Thanks to the Olympics no doubt but looks like today will be the best days sales ever for this lovely specialist cigar shop in the heart of Mayfair. I sampled a Punch Medalla D’Oro before heading off to a long lunch with Edward and Eddie Sahakian of Davidoff at Franco’s. Great service, great food and a lovely place to smoke cigars in central London. Tatinger champagne and Cuban Davidoff no.1’s… What a great way to finish the week.

Next week I’m off to Orlando for the annual IPCPR trade show and hope to be ordering some great new ranges of humidors, lighters and cutters… Watch this space 🙂

Have a smokey weekend,

Peaceful puffing,

Mitchell

Another fine weeks herfing including the Lanesborough – Their premier Cru Chablis has to be the best I have experienced as well as great value. Chablis could be the perfect white wine for a good Havana cigar; crisp and cleansing on the palate. I herfed my way through all sizes of Behike 52, 54 and 56 and the combo worked perfectly!

Had dinner at Boisdale Belgravia and smokes on the terrace with my usual smoking buddies and was not surprised to see the restaurant and terrace jam packed as usual. Great crowd, great food, excellent value – Basically Boisdale rocks!

Off to Nottingham on Sunday for the annual cigar dinner at the delightful Harts Hotel. Details on this link. Should be a wonderful evening of smokes, drinks and dinner with the best of company.

Some excellent cigar tastings planned at Boisdale of canary Wharf – Details on this link. The cigar library is one of the best locations in London to sample a fine cigar.

Next week I’ll be racing round many of our cigar stores and looking forward to finding some hidden gems in the walk in humidors as well as having a smoke and a good single malt at our fabulous Robert Graham shops.

If you haven’t signed up already… Hurry! Everyone needs to sign up against plain packaging and the consultation period ends 10th August so if you don’t want to see your lovely cigar boxes and bands gone forever – Make your voice heard now!

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

It’s going to take another few days until we settle down and get back to normal after the craziness of Auction week at C.Gars Ltd.

We knew this was likely to be a successful auction week when we counted 36 bottles of pink champagne consumed with 7 lb’s of smoked salmon sandwiches for the pre and post auction hospitality at our offices!

The event was a huge success with around 96% of the Lots being sold which is about as high as we have ever achieved. Brian Ebbesen conducted the auction in style and at a steady pace that finished just after 9pm.

Boisdale Canary Wharf is the most wonderful cigar friendly venue with its cigar terrace and cigar sampling room. The service was first rate as always as were the canapés. Many thanks to Ranald and Nathan for all their support. The ‘Cigar Library’ has a huge range of Havana and other premium cigars and Victor who runs it is one of the best cigar sommeliers in the country. The Humidor also has ‘Boisdale Orchant’ vintage Havana cigars available. I was pleasantly surprised to see the stock looked fairly wiped out, so we will be replenishing with some fabulous vintage Havanas in the next few days.

Davidoff kindly provided a roller to make ‘freshies’ of the Puro Oro and Remy Martin provided French Mojitos (dee lish) and XO Cognac. Colin Ganley covered the event to Cigar Journal and the C.Gars Team handed out Fuente, Davidoff, Hoyos and Partagas petit coronas from 1998.

I’d like to say that we are getting back to ‘normal’ but it’s taken the whole week to invoice our lucky auction bidders… because there were so many of them! So, my apologies to our auction seller but your reports will be with you early next week! My thanks to the Girls and Boys from C.Gars London and Norfolk offices for all the help with the event.

Our Winter Auction dates will be announced before the end of July and we do of course buy and sell vintage Havanas every day of the year so if you are in a hurry and don’t want to wait for the next auction simply drop us an email [email protected] advice always given with pleasure and valuations are free of charge.

Congratulations to Lucia from Turmeaus cigar shop Mayfair on her wedding- what a beautiful bride!

… and congratulations to Christine and Ian from Turmeaus Liverpool for passing their licencing exams and getting a drinks premises licence for one of the shops in Liverpool. If all goes to plan by next week our fabulous range of Robert Graham Ltd single Malt whisky will be available in store.

End of the line for Bolivar Britanicas UK regional edition – stocks dwindling fast and I gather they will be sold out very soon. Hopeful for more stocks of Punch Medalla UK regional edition to arrive soon. Will we get more UK regional this year?… no idea but ever hopeful 🙂 Will they be worth the wait? Of course!

Big question is when we are going to see Cohiba Piramides Extra released? And I have no idea! I smoked them at the February Festival and thought they were quite outstanding. I think there will be a buying frenzy when they finally come out.

Delighted to say that our new exclusive C.Gars ranges of Nicaraguan and Peruvian cigars are selling like crazy! If you haven’t tried them yet, give them a whirl – great value and great quality.

If you don’t already… You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Have a smokey weekend,

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell