Hi everyone, I hope you have been having a great week? It has been another brilliant week here in Norfolk and it was made even better by one of my regular customers.

Monday was the usual busy day with online orders. Marcus and I were working through them as quickly as we could. Meanwhile I also served a brilliant regular who loves the Inka Red Bombaso Maduro. After picking up many of them he saw our Christmas raffle and was very happy to take part. Later on in the day Marcus continued working on the pipe room. I can tell he is incredibly proud of his displays and he has done a great job with it. I had also received a lovely email from one of my loyal readers! He is a Springbank lover and is always kept up to date with their latest releases. After asking when we would be getting our allocation, he offered me a dram of one of his purchases – Springbank 21 Year Old. I never say no to a freebie, and this would be one of the best freebies I would ever receive. Maybe next time I see him I should ask if I can use his name in future?

On Tuesday, I was picking orders with Marcus, after picking those orders I got to work completing my shop newsletters for December. I am off on holiday next week so it is vital to have them completed this week. Marcus wanted to promote the American Blends Spirit of Scotland, as he thought it smelled like a Christmas cake and so perfect for Christmas! Afterwards I also made a start on my January cigar subscriptions. I have to say the year will start with a bang with these subscriptions! 

On Wednesday, I was back in the shop and I got to work organising the pipe room drawers and using my new label maker to make sure it is clear what should go in what drawer. Afterwards I gave some TLC to our New World Humidor. I gave it a good stocking up and ordered a lot of stock. Meanwhile, whilst I was away on my lunch break, the gentleman who purchases the Springbank came in to give me a dram. Unfortunately I was away but I certainly thank him and as a token of my appreciation, I have secured him a miniature for him only. 

Thursday was New World stock count day. Lisa and I worked through the New World humidor incredibly fast! Afterwards I had a management training session. I have never had management training in previous jobs and so it is nice that C.Gars is investing in me to become a better supervisor and I certainly did learn a lot. Towards the end of the day, I had a quick catch up with the team about some December promotions. Sharon had a brilliant idea which I can’t wait to share with you all.

On Friday, I was in the packing department. Josh and I were getting through all of the orders with no issues whatsoever! I also served a gentleman who wanted to buy his first pipe. I suggested a Mr Brog pipe as they are made to last but kept to a lower budget. In the end he had a Mr Brog Morta Poker Pipe, he then purchased a tin of American Blends Spirit of Scotland (which came with a free 3 in 1 pipe tool – In store only offer). He left very happy. In the afternoon I kept picking orders. I don’t know if you’ve seen at the checkout but we have a nice offer called “Try something new” this gives you the chance to try a mystery cigar for £10 instead of it’s usual price of around £15! We have been picking lots of these in online orders, but by doing that, it has made people try brands they’ve never tried before and they’ve been buying more! It proves that you need to try new things as you may have a new favourite!

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on in Norfolk and I hope to see you all in store soon… But not next week as I will be on holiday all week! Hopefully eating certain mouse shaped treats. I will let you guess which mouse.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hi everyone, it has been a little while since I wrote my last blog, we are certainly getting a lot busier now in the lead up for Christmas.

On Monday, it was Marcus and I in the shop. We started the day with a vast amount of online orders! I have noticed that at the start of the month (which tends to be most people’s pay day), we get a lot of orders for cigars and accessories. It’s good to see many customers saving their money to purchase their wanted accessories. I served a lovely customer, who enjoyed the Drew Estate Acid Blondie. This time he wanted something slightly different to which I suggested the Leon Jimenes Blond – I have personally tried this and loved the vanilla flavour it holds. Once we were back in the shop I mentioned our Christmas raffle – That’s right! Our yearly raffle is back and better than ever! This time we have a great selection of treats including The Norfolk Nog liqueur, Cuban coffee, a Cigarism lighter and cutter gift set, A beginners pipe set and a £50 gift voucher to spend in store! In total the value inside the hamper is worth over £220! You have to come to the Norfolk store to take part and you have until the 19th of December to take part!

On Tuesday, I was picking online orders again. As with Monday, there was a lot of accessories to be picked, one that interested me was the Les Fines Lames – Le Feu Lighter. They are very elegant, I think I will add it to my wishlist. Afterwards, I started opening deliveries, I usually shy away from our deliveries, however, I have decided to try to do more manual work, which includes deliveries. One of the deliveries was from the sole distributor of Cuban cigars to the UK – Hunters & Frankau. With every delivery of cigars we inspect them upon opening to ensure we have the highest quality supply possible. Later on in the day I created the December cigar subscription leaflets. These are the final ones of the year and so I have tried to get the best I can for my loyal subscribers.

On Thursday, I was doing my promotional work. I started by writing three news pieces for the C.Gars news page – They were about the New Plasencia Year of the Horse and the upcoming Davidoff Year of the Horse. I have seen the Plasencia and it looks phenomenal! I love the cigar design. The final news piece was about the latest release from Cuba! The Ramon Allones Edicion Limitada 2024 Absolutos. I have waited a long time for this to come in and now it’s here I can not wait to get one! We have numerous events around the UK to celebrate this release, so check with your local store to see when they will be sampling it and get yourself a ticket! Afterwards I finally wrote my article for the C.Gars cigar library about the retails team trip to The English Distillery, which you can read by clicking here. I took all of the pictures, which I found more tricky as I had never taken pictures in action before, but i’d like to think I did a good job, what do you think?

On Friday, I was picking online orders again, as a team we all got together and did the morning ones in record time! During this time we had a lot of deliveries come in and so I made a start on the Cuban cigars, of which all of the Ramon Allones Edicion Limitada 2024 Absolutos came in ready for the events. All of those going to the event will certainly enjoy the goodies you will be receiving! After checking over all of those deliveries, I then helped out with the rest of our supplier deliveries and put them all away. It was a great team effort and afterwards we were tired, but extremely happy with how we all worked together. Afterwards, I started working on the December shop newsletters. I had to get the shops content early this month as I am going on holiday soon and would like to be ahead for when I get back. Luckily in the afternoon, Marcus and Josh took care of the Cuban stock count and so I carried on with newsletters.

On Saturday, it was the team of Josh, Marcus and myself. We started out day by picking orders, I must say Marcus has massively improved his speed on picking and is doing a good job. Afterwards, Josh packed the online orders and I trained Marcus on how to sell whisky, he unfortunately missed out on our trip to The English Distillery and so I became the trainer. I gave him a sample of our own Stalla Dhu Speyside and Islay as well as the C.Gars malt.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks blog and I hope to see you all in store very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.