Dare I say “Greetings from snowy London” where my CIGAR car got stranded in ice and snow for 40 minutes on the way to the office this morning. My immediate thought was “how many cigars do I have stashed in the car in case this is a long delay?!” I am happy to say I enjoyed one of the brand new UK exclusive La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos whilst I tried to figure out how on earth to get my car moving again.

So I can now confirm that we have La Gloria Gloriosos in our humidor…..finally and they are as good as the pre releases that I tried. It’s been an awfully long wait but believe me …well worth it

 
All back orders will now be shipped but we only have a small allocation so if you need to stash some away, do it fast as these puppies won’t be around for long.
 
Singles: http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/gloria-cubana-gloriosos-p-6415.html
 
Boxes of 10: http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/gloria-cubana-gloriosos-p-6414.html
 
Fancy treating yourself to something special? Check this out http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/vegas-robaina-alejandro-1997-hunters-frankau-p-6481.html Exclusive to C.Gars Ltd from Hunters and Frankau. Vegas Robaina Don Alejandro (English Market Selection/Revisado) from original launch batch JM ( Jose Marti Factory) OESC (April 1997) double banded and certificated by Hunters and Frankau – box of 25. You can also try them in singles of course http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/vegas-robaina-alejandro-1997-hunters-frankau-p-6475.html
 
Moving to my favourite subject of vintage Havanas 🙂 I am emailed many times daily to ask if all the vintage cigars I sell are listed on my online store. The simple answer is NO! a very small sample selection is on my online store only.
 
If there is something you are looking for or you have a wish list please email it to me and I will gladly help as best I can.
 
You have to bear in mind that C.Gars Ltd has 15,000 clients on our database and our website gets up to 2000 visitors a day so we could not possibly offer one or two vintage boxes on the website as we would likely have 100 buyers for each box! Consequently we match buyers with boxes…over email … [email protected]
 
Lots of clients in the UK having humidification issues with their humidors at this time.Quite possibly due to the weather. Lots of central heating=keep topping up the humidifier. However if you want an easy life buy the Puck ! http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/puck-humidity-system-cigars-capacity-p-5817.html it’s inexpensive and it works. It’s also now our best selling humidifier
 
Have a lovely weekend
 
Warmest wishes from icy London

Photo with thanks to Stogieman

I am still not certain about all the regional editions that Habanos S.A. come out with. There seem to be so many and whilst some are great, others are fairly average in overall smoking experience terms.
 
There seems to be little rhyme or reason as to who gets what and why. For example the Baltic’s got the El Rey Vikingos which was an incredible cigar and the production was quite limited whilst Spain got the exceptional Vegas Robaina Maestro with a fairly large production number. The recently released Ramon Allones Phonecios for Lebanon (Promo cigars) is honestly one of the best Havanas I have ever smoked and beautifully presented in a cabinet of 30 cigars.
 
I do however think the UK regionals are first rate smokes especially the Ramon Belicosos which in fact was the first of the regionals in 2005.
 
The UK’s Por Larranaga Magnificos was a ridiculously successful and popular cigar too. All sold out now but there will be a special limited edition humidor (100 numbered units only) available soon. Email me if you want to be put on the waiting list sales@cgarsltd.,co.uk
 
The UK exclusive (1200 odd boxes only) Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 which was released last Monday and was our best selling Havana of last week, looks like we will be sold out this week although we are hoping Hunters and Frankau will be releasing a further allocation fairly soon.
 
I’m not sure if I am proud of this or not but I actually puffed my way through 16 sticks of the new Punch last week. I was completely amazed at how good this cigar is. In fact apart from a Ramon Phoenicios kindly gifted to me by Simon Chase of H&F at a lunch (Hurlingham Club  http://www.hurlinghamclub.org.uk/View.aspx?node_id=1&portal_id=1&page_id=4 lovely!)  last week, I have smoked nothing but the UK Punch.
 
So the question is do you swap your Monte 2  or Partagas Serie P for a Punch Serie D’Oro no.1? Well at the very least I would say try them. Don’t be fooled, these cigars will not stay around for long. I have one client who would buy all 1200 boxes if he could… but he can’t as we won’t allow him. If you try one new cigar this year, try the Punch Serie D’ Oro no.1 It is just delicious http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/punch-serie-doro-p-6441.html for boxes and http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/punch-serie-doro-p-6443.html for singles
 
It’s an experience… it’s different… and it’s a damn good smoke. Well done Habanos/H&F… this cigar is a real winner.
 
The La Gloria is expected out in the UK next week (I know….. I know you have heard that before) as I reckon C.Gars Ltd and Hunters and Frankau must have run out of all excuses for not releasing this cigars by now!
 
There are 2009 regional editions for the UK I am told but I think I’ll get excited about them a little closer to the time.
 
Thanks for the massive response to my last blog mentioning the Orchant Seleccion Sancho Panza Gigantes. The first 20 boxes that I signed  sold out before we even had time to put them on the website! Yes I know, great value, vintage (1998) and good smokes as well… great combination. If you want to be put on the list for the next 20 boxes I make available drop me an email at [email protected]
 
So, January zoomed past and I can’t believe it’s almost time for my annual trip to the Festival del Habanos 2009 in Havana of course. I’ll be heading to Havana with my partner Christoph on the 25th and we will be holding a cigar tasting or two at some fine venues. This year we will be sampling Dunhill Estupendos, Don Candido and Don Alfredo which no doubt our guests will be looking forward to.
 
Valentines day is looming and if you need any advice or gift ideas, have a surf around the website or call one of my Girls ( Mishie, Laura, Marci, Eli, Mirka) who will be happy to help and advise 07000 088 088 ( 24/7 as well !)

Valentine Cigars

 
Have a lovely weekend and keep your humidors full as we are expecting a load of snow in London next week(-:
 
Peaceful puffing
 
 
 
Mitchell

Just back from snowy Hamburg where my partner Christoph and I had the pleasure of enjoying a cigar dinner with friends in a private dining room at Cölln’s Restaurant

We enjoyed working our way through a most delightful box of 2003 limited edition Partagas Serie D no.2

Photos by famous photographer and fellow aficionado Tillmann Pretscher dinner in the as ever… thanks Tillman

Finally…we will receive allocation of the UK regional Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 on Monday so order will be shipping soonest

An exciting release of vintage” Orchant Seleccion” Havanas will be out late next week as well. 1998 English Market Selection boxes of 10 specially double banded Sancho Gigantes. Only 60 boxes will ever be made.Each box individually signed,numbered and dated. To preorder at the pre release price of just £140, use this link http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/mitchells-special-p-4716.html My thnaks to Hunters and Frankau for their kind assistance with these splendid cigars.

Have a great weekend.

Peaceful puffing.

Mitchell

Is it the weekend again? Good grief last week flew by or perhaps it was me flying all over my empire that made the week go so fast:-)

My travels included a visit to our associates in Dublin, The Decent Cigar Emporium,undoubtedly the best Havana cigar merchant in Ireland. The owner Guy Hancock always seems to have some interesting/unusual cigars in his selection ( largest selection in Ireland ) and we enjoyed a few of the Baltic regional edition El Rey Del Mundo Vikingos which were simply incredible smokes.

Decent Cigar Emporium
46 Grafton Street
Dublin 2
IRELAND
Tel: +353 (1) 671 6451
Fax: +353 (1) 671 6451

Lunch was at Georges Bistro which has onw of the the best smoking terrace areas I have ever seen. Heated,waterproof ( although it was in fact a glorious sunny day) and comfortable this is a must visit for anyone wanting to have a nice cigar in Dublin. Oh…and the food,wine and service were also first rate. I think we will be planning a group herf there is Autumn as they have a lovely hotel attached as well : http://www.trinitylodge.com/

Georges Wine Bar and Bistro
29 South Frederick Street Dublin 2 Dublin City
Tel:+353 (0)1 679 7000

Also visited my shops in Glasgow http://www.globalwhiskyshop.com/ and Edinburgh http://www.whisky-cigars.co.uk and sampled some of our Robert Graham whisky with my partner Ron ( I know it’s a tough job!) whilst rummaging around my humidor where I was delighted to find a little stash of Monte sublimes and Monte D’s as well as a few other gems 🙂 My manager Fraser tells me our luxury food range is now so successful he is adding a whole load of new products in the next month…yum !

Mishie has timed her holiday to perfection and whilst she will be sunning herself in Barbados, Hunters and Frankau will be finally releasing the UK regional editions or at least we are fairly certain the Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 leaving me to deal with 15,000 clients chasing very few available boxes !…have a great vacation Michelle!

Check out the full details here http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/punch-serie-doro-p-6441.html Only 1210 boxes made. I reckon I could sell all 1210 boxes to just one or two clients…and they know who they are! So get your pre order in fast if you want to be assured of allocation!

If you want to know what the original Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 looked like,here’s a box (full of course) in our museum http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/product_info_previous.php?products_id=4475 on which the new UK regional has been based. Please,please no more emails as to what the identity of “Ming” of the “Ming collection” is and no I can confirm I am not Ming! For fans of Top Gear like me, I can only tell you that Ming is a bit like The Stig ! …so no one will ever know his identity ….except me 🙂

I am still mortified that the original UK regional Ramon Allones Belicosos have sold out. This was my favourite cigar and Hunters even kindly allowed me to commission 2 master cases ( 64 boxes ) of an “Orchant Seleccion” version. Perhaps the Ramons were just withdrawn in readiness for the new UK regionals launch ? ;-)….of course we will never know. If you want a treat,I have a few Orchant Seleccion singles available here http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/ramon-allones-seleccion-orchant-belicosos-p-5645.html

Next weeks travels take me to my La Casa del Habano in Hamburg where we have a dinner herf to attend …all welcome! http://www.thecigarsmoker.com

Have a lovely weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell