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

I have to laugh at the current Royal Mail strike as I honestly think it will speed up the demise of Royal Mail and it couldn’t come a day too soon. Fortunately we were able to switch out of Royal Mail and move to courier services a few weeks ago so business continues to boom as usual 🙂

I zipped over to Geneva for a spot of lunch at the lovely Kempinski Hotel on Monday. Geneva always seems so civilised especially as you can smoke cigars on the 2nd floor of the Kempinski and no one bats an eye lid.

Had a look through the wonderful Gerards humidor and snagged some of the Swiss regionals which are most impressive but I’m still hooked on the UK regionals and in particular the Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 ( 2008) which I rate as one of the best blended Havanas in the last 10 years

I don’t know how long they will be around for as only 1210 boxes were made and I have probably smoked or sold half of them already! The fabulous folks at Hunters and Frankau recently sent us box No.1 which has pride of place in the world famous “Ming Collection” where the original 1970’s box (yes – full of cigars) is laid down. How cool is that? 🙂

Now I reckon that the Ming collection may well be the largest and best collection of vintage cigars in the world. It’s a privilege to have created the collection and still be caring for it. I salivate every time I walk into the humidor!

Partagas Serie D No.1 Limited edition has finally sold out in the UK sadly and sorry to all our regulars who were fans of this smoke. We were given no advanced notice that the stock was short. Probably best to switch to Partagas P2’s, another one of my daily favourites. Full flavour, medium strength, rustic and spicy with the most perfect construction.

La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos (the UK regional edition for 2008 only 2040 boxes of 10 made) is a cheeky little smoke, actually not so little as it measures 6 1/8″ length and 50 ring gauge and it’s a first rate day time smoke. Snag them while you can.

The big surprise has been the 2009 Juan Lopez Seleccion Suprema. 2000 cabinets of 10 made exclusively for the UK market. This cigar is showing well now and has a blend that lends itself to long term maturing. In fact this will go and go…for years

Finally finished my auction catalogue and it should be online tonight. We are still getting a lot of late entries and in fact we should have another 40 or more Lots over the next week. You will be able to find the catalogue link on this web page Bidders are welcome to bid in person at my favourite restaurant, Boisdale Belgravia on the 1st of December but if you can’t make it we are welcoming online bids. It’s all easy!

We shall have a little Mojito reception at 7 p.m with the Brian Ebbesen (ex Christies) starting the auction at 7.30. I hope Brian knocks down the Lots fast as we have a cigar dinner following the auction with some guests of honour including Jemma Freeman, Simon Chase, Edward Sahakian, Albert Stagnetto to name a few. Should be a great evening.

I believe C.Gars Ltd was the largest single buyer at Christies cigar auctions (when they used to hold them) and I certainly snagged some great cigars over the years. No doubt a lot of happy bidders may snag some fabulous vintage cigars at the C.Gars Ltd auction particularly as I noted that some of the estimates looked like great value. Lots can be viewed by appointment at our London humidor

So next week it’s dinner at Boisdale on Tuesday with the editor of Smoke Magazine and then I’m off to our La Casa del Habano in Hamburg to smoke some of the incredible (and incredibly expensive) Cohiba Gran Reserva which have just come out, looking forward to seeing the regulars in our cigar lounge on Wednesday.

The following week will be a busy one as Robert Graham Ltd are opening another fabulous whisky and Cigar shop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile (to add to the existing shops in Edinburgh West End and Glasgow) I will of course be deciding and supervising the Havana cigar range.

Finally having been asked for years and years whether we have a cigar shop in London we have decided to open a cigar shop in London! More details very soon 😉

Have a great weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell