This blog comes to you from the Hotel Nacional in sunny Havana where I have been enjoying the annual Partagas Festival week.

I decided to take a bunch of friends to meet Alejandro Robaina on Thursday (with the kind assistance of my friend Amir) but thought as we are travelling quite a distance we would also take in The Indian Caves, Viniales and a few other stops on the way…. it was a long day but with a comfortable minibus and a few bottles of Santiago rum in the bus as well as some great smokes, a great day was had by all. I have some great photos for the website in a couple of days time.

Robaina seemed to be in good spirits considering he is over 90 and as he lit up a rough looking little cigar that looked like he had just bunched it, he quipped that he is “proof that you live a long life if you smoke Havana cigars”!

Friday morning we had the pleasure of a tour of El Laguito where we saw a great deal of Cohiba Robustos and Siglo VI being rolled as well as various other vitolas. Note that code LBT NOV 09 is El Laguito 🙂

The gala dinner was held at the Habana Libre Hotel (Havana Hilton before the Revolution) and it was the best event I have attended in the last 10 years, The entertainment was splendid and the cigars rolled by La China plentiful and quite beautiful (photos to follow as soon as I get back to London) The charity auction raised over 30,000 C.U.C’s and the event was attended by over 300 Friends of Partagas.

The “Amigos de Partagas” were called to the stage to receive goodie bags which included a book of memories from past Festivals. I counted 5 photos of me! (glad I never wore the same jacket twice!)

The Italian contingent was plentiful as usual and it was great to see Massimo, Francesco and friends. Simon Chase from Hunters and Frankau, Ajay Patel from LCDH London and me of course were happy to represent the UK Havana cigar trade. Jemma Freeman and Edward Sahakian of Davidoff were also in Havana for the earlier part of the Festival week.

No sign of any unusual cigars in the stores and HC15 rum seems to have gone up in price to 150 C.U.C’s ! but I still enjoyed hefing in 5th Avenue LCDH, Partagas and the Robaina shop at the Melia Habana. Jemma gave me a UK exclusive Juan Lopez Seleccion Suprema to try ” in Havana” and it was sublime truly a great smoke that I believe will mature into a classic.

Last night in Havana and I’m off to the Jazz Cafe, cigar friendly of course. It may be a communist country but smoking indoors seems so civilized!

Peaceful puffing

Saludos

Mitchell

Humidor photos courtesy of Eric Rigori

After a days herfing in Scotland with my partner Ron on Monday,it was good to relax in the London office for a few days and get in shape for what turned out to be a bit of a marathon herf in Nottingham on Thursday/Friday!

At the kind invitation of one of my clients (now a firm friend!) I zoomed up the M1 smoking a Diplomaticos no.2 on Thursday morning. Met up with my client and checked out his fabulous collection of Havanas. He noticed that I was paying a lot of attention to some old Monte 2’s and promptly told me to grab a handful and we’d smoke them after lunch. Needless to say I didn’t need telling twice! (TY AS)

Off we went to lunch at the delightful Harts restaurant Slick service, chic decor, delicious food accompanied by a 2007 Sancerre and followed by a cheeky Pomerol 2003.Perfect. Highly recommended

But where to smoke after lunch? Easy said my friend,the lovely Harts Hotel is cigar friendly and set us up with a lovely (and comfortable) outdoor covered and heated smoking area.

We sampled a few goodies including Diplomaticos no.2’s Bolivar Belicosos, Monte Edmundos and Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 and yes you guessed it, the Punch was the big winner (every time!)

Friends joined us over the rest of the afternoon and quite a few more smokes and bottles of that cheeky red were put away 🙂

By 9 pm we thought we had better have some dinner and The World Service was just a short walk away. Another thoroughly excellent choice of restaurant that I would highly recommend.

I think we were all kind of herfed out at midnight so a quick gift of a Cohiba Gran Reserva to my friend ended the evening in style.

Great to see old friends and new in Nottingham and I look forward to coming back again in the future.

Laura, Karyn and Mish have worked ridiculously hard on their new website and I’m terribly proud of them. Do check it out Great Gifts. Any constructive criticism always welcomed.

Christmas season is upon us and our retail cigar and whisky stores seem to be busier by the day. Edinburgh Rose street had a madly busy few days as they had a fabulous roller from the El Laguito factory rolling custom blends. Always popular with the customers. I never even got to try one as they all sold out!

The auction catalogues are printed now and looking pretty cool if I do say so myself 🙂 You can view ( and bid) on Lots online or come to Boisdale for the actual auction on the 1st December

Well that’s all the news for now except to say I’m off to Havana next week for the annual Partagas Festival 🙂 this one should be the best ever. The gala dinner is at the Habana Libre Hotel and I’m looking forward to seeing friends from all over the world in sunny Havana

Have a great weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Our latest venture into the Gift market has certainly taken off and the launch of our new website last week was very well received by customers old and new. If you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to visit our new gift site which carries a range of gifts for him and her, along with a range of wedding items and official football memorabilia! Be sure to take a look at http://www.greatgiftsetc.co.uk/

Best regards

Mitchell!

Whatttta week! sold out our last sticks of the fabulous Cohiba Gran Reserva but have just heard from Hunters and Frankau that we are being sent a further allocation 🙂

Now I’m delighted about that as they are fast becoming a firm favourite for our clients as well as myself.

We sell them in full boxes of 15 as well as singles of course and having tested 4 cigars from 4 different cabinet (on the same day-all in the interests of quality control!) I can confirm that blend was identical on all as was the appearance, the construction was also without fault.

Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Undoubtedly. If you only smoke 1 great cigar in this lifetime… Cohiba Gran Reserva would be a great choice. With the holiday season fast approaching this is a great cigar to tuck away.

Made a quick trip to Turmeaus cigar shops in Liverpool and Chester on Tuesday and am happy to confirm that they already have enormous stocks of Havanas and Havana gift packs for Christmas so if you are in the area do drop in to one of our traditional cigar stores. My team are highly experienced and always happy to advise.

The interest in the cigar auction at Boisdale on the 1st December is increasing all the time. More Lots were added last week and more are due to be added in the next week. Now I can’t tell you what the reserves are but I reckon there will be some bargains to be had.

If you want to attend the auction which will be at the fabulous cigar terrace at Boisdale just drop me a line [email protected] . If you can’t attend you can of course bid online. It’s straightforward and simple and you may be able to top up your humidor with something special at an auction bargain price.

Robert Graham Ltd -whisky and cigar merchants have now acquired premises on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile at 254 Canongate to add to our stores on Glasgow and Edinburgh Rose street and we expect to have our new fabulous whisky/cigar/chocolate emporium open by the end of this month if all goes to plan.

Robert Graham Ltd was established in 1874 and are highly successful and award winning independent single malt whisky bottlers. You can have your own personalized bottle of whisky delivered within 24 hours 🙂

Robert Graham Ltd will also be at this years Edinburgh Highland Village

Finally if you smoke as much as me but don’t want your hair or clothes to smell of smoke check out this product that I have just imported. It works! and thanks to my smoking buddy Matt for telling me about the product (commission cheque is in the post!) I know I smell like I have just been dry cleaned 🙂

Have a great weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Is that the end of another month looming?! that was fast and the holidays are creeping up fast 🙂

I had dinner at Boisdale of Belgravia on Tuesday with Bob Lockwood the editor of Smoke Magazine great magazine and great website. Bob is the only person I know who has probably tried more different cigars than me! It’s always a pleasure to herf with him. Boisdale seems to be busier every time I go there and deservedly so. Fabulous food,great value,excellent ambience and of course it’s cigar friendly.

On Wednesday I took the Squeezy Jet to Hamburg to herf at our La Casa del Habano with my partner Christoph Wolters. We had a rather thorough taste testing of the German regional editions which were both very pleasing smokes indeed.

Bolivar Especiales no.2

Bolivar 5ta Avenida

The excitement is hotting up for the C.Gars Ltd Vintage Cigar Auction at Boisdale on the 1st December The first batch of auction entries are now up on the website and we have been surprised at the amount of online bidding we have already received. Quite a few more interesting Lots are being added over the next 24 hours and no doubt a lot of bargains will be had on the night.

We proudly introduced 18 year old Vigia Cuban rum as the sole stockist in the UK this week stock is limited and cigars smokers will be delighted with this rum which is the perfect partner to a fine Havana.

Heading up North to Turmeaus cigars shops next week to do a little quality control on stocks 🙂

Have a great weekend.

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell