DATE ARCHIVES : August 2025

New Gurkha Maduros, J Cure Accessories, Fratello Cigar and Discounted Rattrays!

Hi everyone! It’s felt like a while since I wrote my last blog, I certainly enjoyed my holiday, but I did come home with a foot injury. I can see the team has taken good care of the shop whilst I was off.

So I came back on the Tuesday after the bank holiday and wow it was busy online! I helped in the morning with online pickings and then moved into parcel booking with Porscha, meanwhile, I was still on hand to serve in the shop. I’m not the most experienced with booking parcels on, but Porscha certainly helped by doing all of the difficult parcels which need different couriers and I got through the Royal Mail parcels as quickly as I could. Meanwhile, I also served a regular gentleman who loves a Gurkha cigar and a Maduro wrapper – He is a regular buyer of the Gurkha Cellar Reserve 15 Year Old Maduro, as well as the Gurkha Heritage Collection Limited Edition Robusto Corto – So when I showed him one of the latest releases from Gurkha – the Heritage Collection Limited Edition Robusto Maduro Corto, he was really excited and bought one immediately. 

On Thursday I had a promotional day. I started by finalising all of the shop newsletters, ready to be sent on the 1st of September, afterwards I wrote two articles for the C.Gars Cigar Library! It had been a while since I was able to upload an article and so I thought I’d get ahead and post one this week and then schedule one for next week! This week’s one was about J Cure accessories – They are certainly a high quality product that any cigar lover should be proud to own. You can read that article here. My second article? You’ll have to wait until next week to read it! I also wrote a news piece for the news page about the new Stalla Dhu expressions previously mentioned. You can read it here. Afterwards I took some pictures for next week’s article as well as the Cigars of the Month. I always like to promote them on our humidor monitors as it occasionally helps our customers make a decision.

In the afternoon, I created a poster for our latest offer in store – Lucky dip pipe tobacco. You can get a random 10g for £3.00 Norfolk exclusive. Towards the end of the day, I got the retail team together to discuss our promotions for September. We had a long brainstorm and decided on a few different offers. We will be having 20% Rattrays pipes and accessories! As well as ⅓ off a quality Peter James lighter. We also came up with the idea of purchasing three Glencairn glasses and getting a Glencairn tray for free!

On Friday, I was back in the shop. Firstly, I took down our centre display, I had decided what gets promoted in our shop newsletter should be promoted in the centre of the shop. So I filled our humidor with Fratello Oro cigars, Peter James lighters and then behind it we have the Stalla Dhu Single Cask Craigellachie 12 Year Old Rye & Ruby. I also served a gentleman who wanted a nice, short, unique cigar for his son. I suggested the Plasencia Dominique Seleccion 2024 Exclusive Petit Dominique, as the volcanic Ometepe tobaccos create a lovely charred oak flavour. He then picked up some La Aurora Principes Blond as a little treat and left very happy. In the afternoon, Josh and I completed the Cuban stock count.

On Saturday, I was joined by Josh and Will. We picked all of the online orders and then Will started to pack them as Josh and I worked through creating a nice Rattrays display in our pipe room.

I also served a regular customer, who came in with two of his friends. They treated themselves to some Drew Estate Deadwood Fat Bottom Bettys and then had a look at our cigar cutters. One gentleman like the Cigarism Cassette range, however didn’t want something so bulky in his pocket and decided on the v-cut in a lovely glossy red. The regular liked the cassette style and decided to get the gift set as he thought it was a bargain… And it is! Afterwards, I served another gentleman who was relatively new to pipe smoking, he was given a pipe by his grandfather and some St Bruno tobacco. Many pipe smokers will know St Bruno is great for experienced smokers but not beginners! So he wanted to try something cherry flavoured. I suggested the American Blends BC, which he loved the smell of as well as the American Blends C&V. He then mentioned about getting a new pipe. He loved the look of the Rattrays Rannoch range but it was well above his £50 budget. We looked at others around his budget, but he kept looking back to the Rattrays. In the end he took the jump and purchased the pipe! I could tell he was very happy with his purchase!

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s goings on in Norfolk and I hope to see you all in store very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver

Special Flor De Oliva, English Whisky and Discovering New Mini Cigarillos

Hi everyone, another great week has gone by here in Norfolk, with plenty of fun but also hard work.

On Monday, I was working with my usual shop partner Josh! We had lots of online orders to pick. We worked together to pick all of the orders and one thing we had noticed is how many people took advantage of the Flor de Oliva Special Thank You offer! We got through at least 2 boxes in one day! You can find the offer at the checkout page as a nice add-on. Meanwhile, I served a lovely gentleman who likes a corn cob pipe. He was amazed by the selection we have! I showed him the entire range. I even showed him some hidden ones, please remember to ask a member of staff if you are looking for something that you can’t see. Later on in the afternoon, I helped out the packing department, altogether we packed all of the parcels.

On Tuesday, I was back in the shop. I served a lovely gentleman who I served before, he wanted an English whisky and some pipe tobacco. He noticed one from the shelf that he had never seen before, it’s called The Cheshire, he chose the Special Release IPA Cask, as he could imagine the flavours going well together. He then picked up a tin of Cornell & Diehl Black Frigate as he had enjoyed it before, he then wanted to try something else – So I suggested the Sunday Picnic – he seemed happy with the flavour notes and took a tin too. I look forward to seeing him again. Afterwards I served a gentleman who had seen the shop previously but was too intimidated to come in. He thought a cigar shop is only for the wealthy, but after coming in and speaking to me, he realised that we accept everyone. That is one of my favourite things about the cigar community – we all share the same interest – Cigars! So I introduced him to our walk-in humidors, and he was amazed by the selection. I suggested the Mitchellero Robusto – as it is a great one to start with, the Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Skinny – as it is my favourite, and the Drew Estate Blackened S84 Shade to Black Corona – as he liked the connection to James Hetfield (Singer of Metallica). He left happy and I’m certain he will be back. 

In between customers, I started writing a new article for the C.Gars cigar library, it’s not quite ready to be put online yet, but it’s a very good read. I also spent a lot of time stocking up both of our humidors and ordering stock. Towards the end of the day, I made a start on the shop newsletters.

On Thursday, I was back in the shop, with a big focus on trying to complete the shop newsletters and I was relatively successful, I completed 3 out of 6 which isn’t too bad! I was particularly impressed with the content C.Gars Leeds provided, I won’t spoil anything but make sure you read their newsletter on the first of September. Meanwhile I served a regular who enjoys mini cigarillos, his usual go to’s include Charatan Mini and Dutch Label Long Brazil Cigarillos, however he wanted something different.  I had remembered from a recent training video about the Zino range, they have the Red Mini Cigarillos which are a lovely mix of Mexican and Dominican tobacco, not too strong but a lovely peppery taste to them. Josh bought a pack on the same day and let me try one, it was delightful! 

On Friday, I was picking online orders and continuing the shop newsletters. I opened a delivery we had all been waiting for… Rattrays has made a return in loose tobacco format! We have all been really excited for this to come in and I am sure it will be well received!

On Saturday, I was back in the shop with Josh and Will! We had loads of customers from the moment we opened! So Josh and I dealt with the customers whilst Will picked and packed. I served a gentleman who had always asked about Rattrays tobacco and so I was over the moon to tell him that we have some in stock now! He was so happy and bought some Old Gowrie and Bagpipers Dream. 

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s blog, I will be away next week, but don’t worry the team at Norfolk will look after all of our brilliant customers.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Stalla Dhu Tasting, Quorum Article, Returning Happy Customers and New American Blends Tins

Hi everyone, It has been another brilliant week in Norfolk! We have had plenty of regular faces as well as holiday makers. 

On Monday, it was Josh and I in the shop. We had loads of online orders to pick, but we never run away from a challenge. We worked together to pick all the orders to the best of our ability. Afterwards, I went into the packing department to help pack a lot of the orders I just picked (as well as others of course). We were like a well oiled machine and by the end of the day we had packed all orders! We celebrated by trying one of our new Stalla Dhu expressions! We tried the Auchroisk 12 Year Old Margaux Cask Finish – the strength of the alcohol certainly comes through but so does a nice sweetness too. You will see this online very soon.

On Tuesday, I was back in the shop. I started the day by helping pick online orders. Afterwards I served a great gentleman who was the head groomsman for a wedding and wanted to get some cigars for the wedding. There were around 8 people who would be smoking and so we were looking at boxes of 10, however none in stock were fitting in the budget. So I explained about the Mitchelleros and how they are a budget price but a great cigar! He took 12 in the end in case anyone else wanted a cigar. I then showed him how to cut a cigar and explained how we have a video about it on Youtube! (You can watch it by clicking here). I hope he enjoyed them and will be back for more. I spent a lot of time stocking up the New World humidor and ordering stock to fill up our shelves. 

On Thursday, I was in the shop again but I had a lot of promotional work to get on with! I started by finalising the shop newsletters, ready to be sent out the next day. I did have to take a picture for one of the shop newsletters and I was pretty proud of myself. What do you think? Afterwards I took some pictures of the August cigars of the month and to top it off, I took pictures of Quorum cigars. Afterwards I then wrote an article on the C.Gars cigar library about Quroums, I have had plenty of customers mention how they’re a good cigar, so I wanted to find out more about them and it is very interesting. You can read the article here. Meanwhile, I served a lovely lady who wanted to get her husband a couple of cigars for his birthday. The gentleman is well known to myself as he was a regular when I first started at C.Gars! When I asked for a budget, she said “don’t worry about that” – You don’t need to tell me twice! So I suggested cigars I knew he would like without looking at price tags. I remembered he had purchased the Davidoff Winston Churchill Limited Edition 2022 Perfecto many years ago, so I suggested the Davidoff Winston Churchill The Artist Limited Edition 2025 Churchill. She then wanted a Cuban for him, so I suggested the Partagas Cedros Year of the Snake as it was a new release from Habanos S.A. Without a thought she said yes and then treated him to a Cigarism Jet Flame Lighter, Cutter & Cigar Stand Gift Set in Silver. I hope her husband enjoys it all! I know I would! 

In the afternoon, I started to organise the Corn Cob pipes. We have such a large variety of Corn Cob pipes, we can’t display them all! So if there is any in particular you are looking for let us know as we probably have it. I served a returning new smoker, I actually wrote about him in a previous blog post – A Day in the Life of a Retail Assistant #112 – He returned with big smiles! He loved the Davidoff Winston Churchill Traveller Belicoso and purchased another one. He has also done some more research and decided he wanted to try the Drew Estate Factory Smokes, he asked me which one is best between Shade and Maduro – A hard decision but I do love a Maduro, so I suggested the Maduro. He then bought himself a lighter we have on offer at the moment – the C.Gars Ltd Lotus Cigar Torch Lighter – Solo Jet – Carbon Fibre Finish – We currently have it for half price in the Norfolk store only. So make sure you pop in to take advantage of this offer. 

On Friday, I was online order picking with Will and Josh. In between picking, I stocked the shelves a little and packed a few orders to help the packing department. Meanwhile we had received stock of all American Blends Pipe tobacco in tins and so we wanted them all out on display. Josh went to work, figuring out where it can all go on our already very stocked shelves. He shuffled some around and made some space, however he was stopped to complete the Cuban stock count. Unfortunately, Josh had to complete it on his own as there was a lot of online orders still to complete! He did a very good job as did the rest of the team. So to celebrate the end of the week! We tried another new Stalla Dhu, this time it was the Craigellachie 12 Year Old Rye & Ruby. It was another delicious tasting, if you like a whisky with plenty of spice and underlying sweetness, this is the one for you. I am enjoying trying these new Stalla Dhu expressions and it will certainly help sell them to our customers.

On Saturday, it was Josh, Will and myself. We got through our online pickings and then Will packed all of the orders to give us a head start for Monday. Meanwhile, Josh and I continued organising the pipe tobacco tins to fit the new American Blends in. It was tough but we got there in the end. We then stocked the shelves ready for a busy Monday.

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s blog and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver