Our last vintage auction of the year was a resounding success for both sellers and bidders. In fact, it was the largest cigar auction ever held with over £1,000,000 worth of Lots sold.

The recent weakness in Sterling no doubt made estimates even more attractive for international bidders and record prices were achieved. Highlights included:

Cohiba 1966 box of 10 £4,400

Cohiba Siglo VI Gran Reserva cabinet of 15 £15,100

H Upmann Magnum Especial book of 20 £9,000

Davidoff Chateau Margaux cabinet of 25 £10,100

Dunhill Estupendos box of 10 £14,100

Partagas Serie C No.1 book of 20 £12,000

Cohiba Double Coronas box of 25 £8,600

Our next auction is planned for late January 2023 but we do buy and sell vintage Havanas throughout the year and are always happy to offer a free valuation service. Drop me a line at [email protected].

We have been the exclusive importer and distributor for Arturo Fuente cigars for many years.

This incredible and premium cigar range really is ‘as good as it gets’. The demand for this fine cigar range outstrips the supply many times over and we have decided to no longer sell them online as we simply can no longer cope with the demand. Regrettably, they will not be available for online purchases by the end of this week.

The range will still be available and have greater representation at C.Gars and Turmeaus cigar stores as well as other fine cigar specialist across the UK including our friends at Davidoff in St James’s and J.J. Fox to name a few.

If you haven’t experienced these splendidly crafted and blended cigars, please visit one of our shops and enjoy the experience in our sampling lounges where we assure you a warm welcome.

Summer may be over but we still have many events to go this year. Enjoy our whisky and cigar sampling events across the country in our comfortable sampling lounges. Hope to see you at some of them.

I was very kindly invited to a super event in Warrington last week. The cigar terrace at San Lorenzo is absolutely beautiful, the service first class and the food quite delicious. Our friend Nick Nicita organised this sold out event that featured Aladino and Mitchellero cigars.

I was terribly sad to see the damage that hurricane Ian had caused to Cuba, more bad news for the cigar industry I’m afraid. We have suffered supply shortages for the last 2 years and it doesn’t look like the situation will improve any time soon. We do however continue to release Havana cigars from our reserves to keep a comprehensive range available as best we are able to.

We have released another single malt whisky cask from our award winning Stalla Dhu range. The 13 year old Linkwood is a delightful dram and pairs very well with a good cigar.

Our new world cigar of the month is the Regius Orchant Seleccion Hermoso. This boutique range of cigars from Nicaragua offers superb value, excellent blends and very well constructed cigars. Highly recommended.

I’ve been having fun doing some filming with our resident photographer/videographer Usman Dawood and you can see some of the clips on YouTube. Next week we’ll be having a chat with Scott Vines from Tor imports which will be interesting as Tor are the leading new World cigar importer in the UK.

Have a smoky week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Greetings from rainy London…

Happy to say the weather was far better in New York (sunny and 30c!) where I herfed with friends last week and continued the 25^th Anniversary of C.Gars celebrations.

My Rat Pack herfing crew spent long evenings herfing at Carnegie and it was delightful to receive such a warm welcome from the boys at Davidoff on 6^th Avenue.

The final and main event was held at the magnificent Liberty Warehouse overlooking the Statue of Liberty. We enjoyed a decadent evening which included splendid Oliva Melanio cigars (Thanks to Brian Shapiro and Oliva cigars for all of their support) Stalla Dhu single malt whisky, Foragers gins, delicious food and an amazing live music from the Cuban band. Thanks to all the boys that traveled over from the event from as far as California, Chicago and Texas.

My thanks to my dear friend Jeff Torem for putting together such a wonderful event. It was so good to catch up with so many friends after the long Covid break which upset our regular herfing routine. We used to get together at least 3 times a year before Covid so it was good to get back to some normality finally.

We have some availability of our splendid 25^th Anniversary humidors containing a delicious selection of our finest cigars as well as a very special bottle of single malt whisky.

If you haven’t signed up yet, check out this website. It’s very cool. Lot’s of features and articles, well worth a visit.

On a sad note Michelle and I have just been to the funeral of John Darnton. John was an industry legend. He was Sales Director of Hunters and Frankau for many years and one of the founders and owners of Regius cigars. I visited Cuba many times with John Darnton and Simon Chase and we always enjoyed the best of times at the H&F table at the Gala dinner events. He was a mentor to me in my early years in the cigar business and will be sorely missed. Our sincere condolences to the family.

Havana cigar supply remains patchy with many lines unavailable though we still have a very good overall range available and continue to release the more rare Cohiba cigars every week albeit in small quantity. We do expect some new cigar release including the U.K. Regional Ramon Allones in the near future.

My schedule is busier than ever with cigar events at the RAC Club, lunch with our neighbours the Sahakian’s of Davidoff London, lunch with Ranald from Boisdale and many client meetings at C.Gars St James’s over the next week. Looking forward to some great cigars in the best of company!

We finally have a new Prime Minister and wish her the best of luck in these challenging times. Hopefully the Government will leave us long suffering cigar smokers alone…

Have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

 

CGars Ltd 25th Anniversary Party

 

Greetings from sunny London 😊

C.Gars Ltd was created on the 27^th of October 1997. Laura and I dreamed of creating a successful cigar business but could never have imagined we would build an empire the size that it has grown to. In fact we are still growing with new brands and new locations planned in the next few months.

Thanks to the unpredictable weather in London we decided to hold our anniversary celebration event a tad earlier to take advantage of the splendid Summer weather this year. It was a delightful event attended by over 150 friends, family, suppliers and clients at Boisdale of Belgravia. More detail and photos in this article.

To mark the anniversary, we released 25 specially made humidors containing 50 of my favourite cigars. In fact, it’s also the 205th anniversary of Turmeaus Tobacconist business.

In all, quite a feat to have survived – even thrived – in the cigar business. That has been against a backdrop of anti-tobacco legislation for as long as I can remember. The smoking ban was of course designed to stop people smoking. So not entirely successful then. The thinking behind the law was to improve health. I had my own MOT last month. I am very glad to say I am in good shape, though not quite as good as the business.

That is in part thanks to the second largest professional sector we serve.

Funnily enough… Doctors.

A big thank you to the head of neurosurgery in a top Hamburg hospital. He used to come into my Hamburg shop for a Punch Double Corona.

Every lunchtime – to relax as he was more worried about the impact of stress on his well-being.

Thanks also to the top Harley Street cardiologist who came to my office once. His girlfriend wanted to treat him to a few boxes of Havanas as a retirement gift. She duly did. He was 70. She looked around 25. Far more likely to see him off than any cigar.

As for us, it has been a long rocky road over the last 25 years. We have survived not only recessions and anti-tobacco legislation but also battled with some mad landlords, and inevitably some anti-smoking neighbours. The odd environmental health officer has also come after us. Once we have explained how the relevant law actually works, they have been happy enough to leave us be.

Even after 25 years I am not sure we are quite ready for an autobiography. The best book ever written about cigars is the Encyclopedia. That’s by Min Ron Nee. Yes – you guessed it, another Doctor. A great believer in the anti-oxidant qualities of a Havana cigar as he explained to me in Hong Kong. Take what he says and a cigar is practically one of your five a day.

That’s not the only lesson I have learnt over the last 25 years. I know that Liverpool, where I acquired the first Turmeaus tobacconist shop and where our fantastic Puffin Rooms are today, is as safe as houses. The first time I went there my father warned against me taking a car. In fact I drove to Liverpool and had no issues at all. Meanwhile, his Rolls at home back in London was stripped of its beautiful front grill. He eventually gave away the rest of the car to no doubt his very grateful mechanic.

Looking back, you have to see the funny side. I hope all those who have been part of C.Gars over the years can smile about their time with us. What has always mattered is friendship and creating happy memories. All through our shared love of the leaf.

My thanks to my team, the wonderful staff at Boisdale, our suppliers for all their support and most of all our loyal clients.

The evening was another occasion for the sort of camaraderie only a mutual love of cigars can generate. And a night to remember. Or at least try to remember.

We don’t always get it right but we do strive to give the best of customer service and range of choice to our clients, now numbering some 150,000 on our database. Nice to see over 12,000 Trustpilot reviews and a 4.9 star rating. Hopefully, we can get that up to 5.0 in the next few months 😊

We have very successfully launched the Aladino range of cigars with events at Turmeaus Liverpool, C.Gars London and Leeds and were delighted to welcome the Eiroa family to talk about the cigars and their impressive business. The range is quite delicious as well as excellent value. Fast becoming a firm favourite and highly recommended.

Cuban cigar supply remains patchy with few Cohiba cigars being available though we still generally have 90% Havana range availability as we continuously release our reserves to meet market demands. We don’t think the supply situation will improve any time soon and following the recent price increases I can only advise to stock up while you can as cigar prices will of course increase again due to the tax increase due in the November Budget. We are hopeful that the Ramon Allones UK Regional Edition will be launched by November. Its overdue but will be worth the wait!

The next vintage cigar auction will be held on the 3^rd October and it’s shaping up to be another huge sale with over 300 Lots expected.

Our beautiful shops are busier than ever, perhaps due to the sunny and hot Summer we are enjoying as well as our non-stop events calendar.  The events are great fun and a perfect opportunity to sample cigars and enjoy pairings with premium single malt whisky and rum as well as meet many of the brand ambassadors.

Enjoy the rest of the Summer hopefully with some fine smokes and drinks in the sunshine 😊

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Greetings from sunny London where I’m happy to report I’m enjoying a Cohiba Siglo VI paired up with a G&T (using Foragers Black Label of course)

Supply issues continue but our rather brilliant UK exclusive importer Hunters & Frankau keep a healthy range of Havanas flowing through to us and though we don’t expect to have full range availability again any time soon we do have many alternatives if your favourites are unavailable. We have also been rounding off the range by releasing some of our reserve stocks including Siglo VI, Lanceros, Esplendidos and Behike over the last month. 😊

We were honoured to welcome Rocky Patel to the UK last week and I think the UK cigar trade gave him a very warm welcome. I saw social media photos of an amazing and huge event at our friend James Barber in Harrogate. Rocky spoke to attendees at the sold out events at Turmeaus Liverpool and C.Gars – Leeds and great evenings were had by all.  We sampled Rocky Patel White Label Robusto and Sixty Toro cigars and paired them up with Remy Martin 1738 and XO Cognac. I’m not usually a Cognac drinker but the pairing was quite delicious and certainly worked very well.

The sampling event was followed by dinner at Puffin Rooms with music by the lovely Victoria Sharpe. Our G.M James then selected a flight of rare single malt whiskies from the huge selection at Puffin Rooms and Rocky, Kolja, Paul and I herfed on till… terribly early (or is that late?!) the next morning!

The Rocky Patel range of cigars is available on the website of course and we will be adding new lines over the coming months. This range is comprehensive with shapes, sizes, flavour and strength profiles to suit all cigar smokers, personally, I love the Gran Reserve Robusto a kaleidoscope of complex flavours from start to finish.

C.Gars Group has sampling events around the country every week throughout the year. A great opportunity to sample new cigars and whisky, rum or cognac as well as learn more about the brands from brand ambassadors. The best opportunity to meet with friends and make new friends sharing our wonderful interest in these finest products.

We introduced the fabulous Aladino range of Honduran cigars to the U.K. a couple of months ago. I love Honduran tobacco but this brand takes quality and blending to a different level. They are incredible value for a premium brand. Perfectly crafted for a cool draw and beautifully presented.

I’m looking forward to welcoming the brand owner Justo Eiroa for a wonderful sampling event at Turmeaus Liverpool on the 19^th of July – St James’s on the 21^st July  Tickets are almost sold out now so book up soon and join us for a memorable evening.

On the 28^th July I will be hosting a rare Havana cigar sampling at C.Gars – St James’s together with Sean Croley of Hunters & Frankau. The star cigar will be the rather delicious Por Larranaga Sobresalientes UK regional edition  2014. We will be pairing with a flight of our finest single cask Stalla Dhu single malt whisky and the lovely Lockets wine bar will be laying on canapes. Only 20 tickets available so don’t delay!

But the event of the year will be the C.Gars 25^th anniversary party on Wednesday 3rd of August at Boisdale Belgravia!!! To celebrate this milestone we have taken over Boisdale Belgravia for the evening which will start at 6pm. Over 100 guests will be treated to live Cuban band, a feast of food, cigars and libations till late…

Tickets were released late last week and the last time I looked there were only 10 left available… Book soon to avoid disappointment. You don’t want to miss this one!

Our Summer auction was a resounding success with total sales exceeding  £800,000 including premiums, in fact, one of the largest auctions we have held. The appetite for aged and rare Havana cigars continues to be insatiable.

Highlights of the sale included:

Davidoff Chateau Haut Brion – £5,050

Davidoff Chateau Latour – £6,100

Davidoff Chateau Margaux – £6,500

Davidoff Dom Perignon box of 25 – £10,100

Davidoff Dom Perignon box 10 – £8,100

La Gloria Cubana 25^th anniversary humidor – £7,600

Partagas 170^th anniversary humidor – £23,200

Ramon Allones Imperials humidor – £16,900

Cohiba Majestuosos humidor – £24,000

Our next auction is planned for September and we are considering consignments now. Email the auction team at [email protected]

That’s the news for now so I’m heading back to the garden to herf an Aladino Cameroon Robusto in the sunshine 🙂

Have a smoky week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Karyn and I recently arrived back from a week in sunny Tenerife, in fact our first flight in a long long time (due to bloody Covid restrictions/Lockdowns/ etc etc) I needed a bit of sunny herfing weather and this was the ideal destination.

I hadn’t been to Tenerife for around 35 years and I was very pleasantly surprised at how lovely it is especially with long days of blue skies and 25c temperatures. 😊

We opened our beautiful La Casa del Habano shop late last year but this was my first opportunity to check things out. The shop has a rather huge glass fronted walk in humidor with a very impressive range of singles and boxes stored in perfect condition of course.

The shop also sells a select range of premium spirits and splendid accessories such as lighters, cutters, ashtrays and humidors. Best of all we have a super comfortable cigar terrace for sampling cigars and sipping cocktails.

The shop is located in the very lovely Centro Commercial Duke Shops mall in Costa de Adeje. Our manager Antonio is from Havana originally and assures our customers a warm welcome.

I know Tenerife has always been popular with British holidaymakers but I was so pleasantly surprised to see so many of my clients in Tenerife and at the La casa store whilst I was there! Costa de Adeje is quite idyllic, easy to walk miles along the promenade by the beach lines with lovely bars and restaurants. I can’t wait to go back in the near future.

I’m delighted to announce that we have just launched the rather delicious Aladino range of cigars made by the legendary JRE tobacco farm in Honduras these cigars are truly premium smokes at value for money prices. Since they arrived a few days ago I just can’t stop smoking them! Check out the range here. The Cameroon Robusto and Corojo Robustos are my current faves, truly outstanding. Full sweet flavour, medium strength and crafted to perfection for an easy draw.

As has been well reported by the cigar press, Cuban cigar prices have increased substantially on brands such as Cohiba and Trinidad (where supply is very limited to say the least) Not such huge price increases on other brands thankfully but it’s still worth keeping stocked up as there will be a substantial UK duty increase later this year.

On a happy note, I can report that quality is up substantially and box codes of 2020/2021 are shaping up to be some of the best blended Havanas I have enjoyed in quite some years.

Some of my recent favourites that have impressed include:

Ramon Allones Specially Selected

Bolivar Belicosos

Hoyo Epicure Especial

Por Larranaga Petit Coronas

In terms of New World cigars I’m blasting my way through loads of:

Plasencia Dominique London Seleccion Lanceros (very elegant size, super sweet blend)

Plasencia Orchant Seleccion Toros (yep – I love Plasencia cigars!)

Davidoff Orchant Seleccion Toro (expensive but a bit of a treat)

Mitchellero Robustos (ridiculously good value)

Inka Secret Blend red robustos (always a good smoke)

Alec Bradley Chubby (a bit like me!)

I love to pair up my smokes with a good drink, usually Scotch or rum. This rum took me pleasantly by surprise but sold out ridiculously fast, Eminente Reserva 7 Year Old Rum, this should be available again next week. Our Stalla Dhu Glen Elgin is an outstanding dram with a good cigar (try it with a large ice cube)

Weather forecast looks good in London for the next few weeks so I’m looking forward to some garden herfing!

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell