So, we have had the interesting H Upmann Robustos limited edition a few weeks ago, followed by the Cohiba Piramides Extra which is like a slightly milder version of a Behike and a most splendid cigar in appearance and construction and a few days ago we saw the release of the Partagas Serie C no.3 Limited edition, now this cheeky smoke is more my kind of cigar.

First thing I noticed was that the size was wrong as the ring gauge is supposed to be a 48 but all the boxes we have opened so far (quite a few) are 50 ring gauge cigars – Marvellous. 5 1/2″ length, perfect dimensions for me. Smooth silky dark and oily maduro wrapper and a price tag that I thought was pretty reasonable. I tried 3 cigars from 3 different boxes as soon as they arrived (to see if there was any blend variation from box to box) and they were all perfectly consistent in blend. Construction and pre light were excellent and this cigar truly has a rustic, full flavour (sweet, earthy and a bit of spice too) and full strength Partagas blend. I think this will mature for many many years and turn into a classic.

Yes, yes I know many of us are no longer big fans of limited edition maduro cigars as many have disappointed and never been potentially anywhere near as good as some of the early LE’s such as Monte robustos, Partagas Piramides and SD3’s , Cohiba Sublimes and Piramides but I reckon this one is at least as good as any of the aforementioned. Anyway, awesome smokes so my advice (If you have the space) – Buy a box to smoke and a box to stash away for later and you won’t be disappointed.

Funny old trade which even after many years of being a Havana specialist I still don’t really understand – In the UK we have an incredible range of Havanas, new sizes. Limited editions etc. and literally as much stock as we could dream of from our fabulous importers Hunters and Frankau. You name it and we have it Partagas Sere E, Behike all sizes, Cohiba 1966 LE and on and on. So, no complaints from me there but the contrast is at our La Casa del Habano in Hamburg supplied by an equally excellent importer affectionately known as FAPT (5^th Avenue Products) and we struggle to get many of these new lines which seems so odd. Ahh well, count ourselves lucky in the UK I reckon.

We have plenty to get on with in Hamburg of course as we still have a huge range and will be busy for the next few months selling a gigantic collection of interesting Havana cigars on behalf of a client. If you would like details, drop me an email. (Sorry; not possible to deliver these particular cigars to the UK)

I wasn’t surprised to see that one of our best selling accessory ranges is rapidly becoming Cigar Oasis they look good, they are good value and yes, they actually work. Three cheers for Cigar Oasis. These have been so successful for our mail order division that we’ll roll them out to our retail shops in the next few weeks as well.

Squeezed in a Thursday evening herf at the Lanesborough with friends/clients from overseas and puffed through a few Cohiba Piramides Extra which worked very well with Macallan 18, that said, any good smokes work with Mac 18 for me!

My assistant Mishie headed off to Gib for a cigar dinner hosted by our friends at Stagnetto and left me in charge of the office (Good grief!) I managed to cope but missed some good herfing activity at the Mayfair cigar shop – Alfie Turmeaus cigar shop which by the look of things on our webcams had a busy days nonstop client sampling sessions. When it was time to close up I understand we sent all the clients over to Boisdale Belgravia to continue smokes/drinks/dinner and I dare say they likely had a great evening.

London is once again the Mecca for cigar smokers with great new smoking venues opening all the time. I can’t wait for the Wellesely to open in December. I reckon this will be the premier cigars smoking location in the UK if not Europe.

Have to start work on Cigar Auction catalogue in the next week or two as time is marching on. Catalogue will be online and in print around 4 weeks before the auction. The pre auction herf will be at lovely Ten Manchester street as usual, as they take very good care of us and the auction event at Boisdale Canary Wharf.

I hear the next UK regional edition Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos is likely to arrive in our humidors early October now and I just can’t wait for this one. I love the Ramon brand and remember of course the Ramon Belicosos from 2004 which was the first regional edition as such to be made despite not being double banded. We even had our own Orchant Seleccion version of this cigar in 2007. They were simply magnificent smokes and I am hoping that the petit Belicosos will be of the same calibre.

I’m off to smoke another Partagas C No. 3 🙂

Have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

This week’s blog comes to you from sunny New York City.

On arrival last week, my partner Ron at Robert Graham Ltd had left a delightful message on my answer phone – Whisky Magazine had just held the 2012 Independent Bottlers Challenge, our Company won a Bronze Award for Independent Bottler of the Year in the Islay category for our Dancing Stag 1990 Bowmore as well as a silver award for our Ailein Mor 10 year old in the Highland category.

We are terribly proud of our own range of single malts and we are currently bringing out limited edition new releases almost every month.

You do have to buy them fast though as there are only around 330 bottles released from some of our casks!

Cohiba Piramides Extra came in last week just before I headed to the US so I managed to test a couple of sticks and they didn’t disappoint, this large format cigar had a cool draw with delicious full, sweet and almost chocolatey flavours, a light to medium cigar in terms of strength all packed up in a vein free colorado – colorado maduro wrapper. Boxes of 10 and singles are available but stocks are very limited.

We always advise friends to buy first production batch codes where possible as that is the only certain way of testing and enjoying the cigars to the original intended blend. Certainly subsequent date codes may be as good but conversely the tobacco used may be from a different batch and the precise integrity of the blend may not be maintained although I dare say the general characteristic should in theory always be the same.

Sadly no Havanas for me over the last week in New York but plenty of ‘domestics’ as my American chums would say. Nice routine of going over to De La Concha in the mornings for an après breakfast smoke which has been a Regius Corona  and very nice it was too. I’m starting to become quite a fan of this NC and have now expanded the range which you can see here as well as reduced the prices to help introduce the range to more of our clients. If you like a fairly full strength and full flavoured Nicaraguan, you will love this brand.

I have quite a good routine in NYC as I know most of the places to herf at and lots of friends to herf with but Saturday nights is always Sinatra night at the Carnegie Club, situated at 156 West 56th Street. Not an impersonator but a tribute show by Steve Maglio and the Stan Rubin Orchestra. Carnegie Club is of course a cigar lounge so my pals and I enjoyed Sinatra music, scotch and some great cigars until… Well, early Sunday morning <hic!> Now I have finally decided not to drink any more… or any less 🙂

I went through too many Fuente cigars to recall! It was fabulous long evenings herf but this cigar was just outstanding I could probably enjoy this cigar as part of my daily rotation, great blend, wrapper and construction.

Popped in to say ‘hi’ to Michael Herklots at Nat Sherman which is always a great place to herf and bumped into Edward Sahakian from Davidoff of London! He’s in Town for the Cigar Aficionado bash at Grand Havana Room this evening. We all have a lot to thank that mag for, it really did start the boom off.

Herfed till late at Club Macanudo on Sunday and tried to learn what on earth is happening in an American football match, gave up in the end as they all seem to attack each other for no apparent reason (makes rugby look tame) but did enjoy the tennis (Serena) and enjoyed the Murray game even more on Monday! (Did he smile finally?)

I may have found one of the friendliest places in New York to smoke cigars: Cigar Inn has an eclectic crowd of cigars smokers and its very buzzy, plenty of seating, lockers and huge range of just about anything the cigar smoker could want. Add great service and it’s a highly recommended venue to herf.

Ok, so it’s just about time for me to check out of the hotel and meet friends for an afternoon herf before heading back to Blighty… And I better not miss that flight as its Karyn and my birthday on Friday and I still haven’t decided what celebratory smokes to have!

If you’re celebrating New Year this Sunday evening, let me wish you a Shana Tova

As they say in NYC (Over and over and over and over and over again) have a great day!

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Time flies when you’re enjoying yourself and I have to say that the last 6 years of my life have been the best 6 years of my life – filled with love and laughter as well as lots of good smokes and drinks. So, it really has flown by 🙂 BIG happy anniversary to my wife, and co-Director of C.Gars Ltd, Karyn (KJ as many know her).

KJ has met hundreds of my clients worldwide over the last 7 years and most of you will know her as my (overseas) events organizer although KJ has also been very involved in a lot of our UK cigar parties and events. Now if only I could persuade her to work a few more days in the week…

I need to find something unusual to smoke/celebrate with on my anniversary and I have decided to do a day of UK regional’s; starting with a 2004 Ramon Belicosos, moving all the way through to a Bolivar Britanicas and then finishing the evening with an Old Dunhill, probably a late 80’s Cabinetta and I’ll match it up with some of that old champers from my ever diminishing vintage Champagne collection lol. Probably some Bilecart Salmon ’89. I don’t think it gets much better than that.

New cigar season is upon us again with the launch of the H. Upmann robustos limited edition and H. Upmann Half Corona in tins (How cool is that for presentation?!) last week and Cohiba Piramides Extra launched this week. It’s already a success as we have been receiving tons of reserved order on this cigar. I must admit the few that I have smoked since they were introduced to the trade at the Festival dinner have been very very good indeed. It seems that the cigar world is having a huge love affair with Cohiba as they are becoming uber popular.

I’m desperately excited to try out the new UK regional Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos due out in the next week or two. I really think UK regional’s rock.

Mayfair Turmeaus now has its liquor licence and stocks are arriving early this week so you should be able to try out our fabulous range of exclusive single malt whisky by Robert Graham Ltd later in the week at this location.

Success story of the month is Inka Secret Blend cigars. I created this blend with my friend who owns the only cigar factory an plantation in Peru with the idea of bringing a different type of blend of cigars entirely to the smoker. I wanted something smooth and sweet enough for the novice but with a bit of ‘zing’ to be interesting enough for the experienced NC smoker. Well it has proved a runaway success, way beyond my expectations and we have already sold out of our robustos with repeat order rates at scary levels. Great value and well crafted, available in singles and boxes of 10 and of course exclusive to my cigar shops throughout the country as well as our websites. We expect a massive new shipment in the next few weeks.

I met up with my partner Ron last week at our potentially new but still top secret location! If all goes to plan this will be the finest venue for cigar and whisky aficionado’s in the UK and we hope to be open well before Christmas although builders and surveyors as usual tell me it’s impossible.

Just getting my body clock adjusted back to London time from West Coast time difference but not for long as I’m off to the East Coast on Friday! Hope to have a little herfing time with friends in between business meetings.

Have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Can’t believe how fast the last month has flown by, although I think herfing with friends and clients in the sunshine of Los Angeles may have something to do with that. After all they do say ‘Time flies when you’re enjoying yourself.’

 Anyway I have been enjoying myself having met up with, chatted, herfed and hung out with 100’s of old and new friends whilst topping up my sun tan. I have been fortunate to stay in the same cigar friendly hotel in West Hollywood for the last 10 years and most days just hold court around the pool bar. Good thing I am heading back to London next week as I’m am just about out of Fuente Opus X  to gift out!

I went to San Diego for the first time last week to herf with a group of cigars chums (TY VC). Decided to take the 2 hour train ride as I heard the views over the water were nice (they are!) and left from the beautiful Union Station which has featured in many films. Smoking of course not allowed in or around the station though I did spot some youngish girls smoking marijuana on the bench outside the station! (There is some crazy law about medical marijuana in Los Angeles)

Enjoyed a delightful dinner with friends at one of our chums houses in Bel Air which has become a sort of annual tradition. Great smokes, outrageous single malt whisky, dinner and the best of company (TY LS) As we sat on the terrace I realised that’s what we miss most in the UK – The good weather and balmy evenings to be able to smoke outside. I think I want to be an American and move to LA!

Had a private tasting of the splendid DeLeon Tequila yesterday with a group of my regular cigar buddies, I am no tequila drinker, preferring Scotch of course but have to say this was very smooth and clean on the palette. DeLeon are soon introducing a $1000 bottle of tequila… Get it if you can!

Heading to Rodondo Beach on Sunday as our friend Larry is kindly throwing a herf at his home which I’m looking forward to. Actor Michael Nouri is expected to join us for smokes as well (see photo of Michael with Zino Davidoff in 1992!) Have I really been in the cigar bizz so long that I actually remember some of the crowd from the mid 1990’s?!

I thought August would be a quiet month and a good time to be on vacation but my clients worldwide seemed to think otherwise! Luckily by the wonders of modern technology it’s easy to keep in touch wherever I am in the world – G-d bless Blackberry! I have even managed to agree the acquisition of our 10th retail store which we are planning to open before Christmas.

This will possibly be the largest cigar store in the UK with an unparalleled range of Havana cigars together with an emporium style Robert Graham offering of the finest single malt, rum, cognac, gin and speciality coffees, teas and handmade chocolates. Together with a sampling lounge and client lockers… Yes, I am very excited as you can imagine.

Delighted to announce that our Mayfair store is now licence to sell liquor. We will be stocking a specialist range of Cuban rum, cigar cognac and of course finest Robert Graham single malt whisky that you can sample and purchase in store from next week or of course order online for click and collect service . You can find Alfie Turmeaus cigar shop on this link  in Shepherds Market Mayfair.

The Mayfair Hotel has opened a very nice cigar terrace just down the road to our Shepherd Market cigar shop and I’m looking forward to herfing there soon.

Cigar auction coming up on the 26th November, always a fun time for the cigar community with events at Ten Manchester street and Boisdale restaurants as well as an evening or two at the lovely Lanesborough cigar terrace. We are expecting a large crowd from overseas this year. Information will be updated on our dedicated auction website together with past results and FAQ’s but don’t hesitate to email if you need advising on bidding or selling.

So I’m packing up my lighters and cutters in the next few days and looking forward to heading back to the office, especially as I hear that a load of new releases are likely to be out in the next week or so including the long awaited Cohiba Piramides Extra, H Upmann Robusto limited edition 2012, H Upmann Half Coronas in tins of 5 and the latest UK regional edition 2012 Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos, so I am assured a busy homecoming!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Peaceful puffing,

Mitchell

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