Hello everyone! Are you ready for another bank holiday weekend? We have received a lot of cigars from the AITS trade show which I can’t wait to share with you.

On Monday, there was certainly a buzz around the building. I was excited to hear about what stock was ordered from the AITS trade show. But first Josh and I had a mountain of online orders to pick. Another cigar that has been selling well ever since I put it on sale is the Casa Carrillo by E.P. Carrillo Allegiance Sidekick – It has literally been flying off the shelves! After we got the online orders picked, I had to put some cigars back online which was out of stock as well as send my manager a list of which Cuban cigars we are out of stock of. It is very well known about the issues getting Cuban cigars and unfortunately it is really showing now. In the afternoon, we had a very large Missouri Meerschaum delivery. These deliveries come straight from the USA which has always amazed me as they don’t ever turn up damaged. You will start to see these online very soon.

Tuesday was another great day. I had Scarlett with me and so I began training her on stocking the shelves fully and ordering stock. Previously she had only stocked up basic products so the cigars are a new task. Ordering is also quite difficult as you need to know what to order and what not to order as we don’t want unpopular cigars to be in our humidor forever. We were also blessed with the return of EGM Cigars – When we first received them, they flew off the shelves, so fast that the supplier couldn’t keep up with our demand. But they are finally back with two new vitolas – Blecos and Petit Encanto.

On Wednesday, I focused all of my time on the shop newsletters. The teams at each location did a brilliant job promoting what products they are currently enjoying. I particularly enjoyed Turmeaus Chesters newsletter, you’ll have to sign up to their shop newsletter to find out why. Late in the afternoon, I started creating my July Monthly subscriptions. I know I always speak highly of them but the New World Subscription has an awesome selection for July. I also learned about a new Orchant Seleccion that I feel like I need to try! The Aladino Orchant Seleccion! This is available as a Corona and a Lancero and is very limited! 

Thursday was stock count day with Lisa. We flew through the stock count and were finished by lunch! I think that is our new record! We were just in time to see some new products from one of our fantastic suppliers. I can’t reveal everything that came in until it has been put on our website but there is certainly some new cigars i’d like to try! One I can reveal is the new Oliva Serie O Cigarillos – This joins the Serie G Cameroon, both a great little smoke for a great price. Later on I created an article for the C.Gars cigar library – it’s called Henri Wintermans Cigars – A Complete Guide to the Range, Strengths and Formats – You can read it here.

On Friday, I decided to start my day enjoying a nice little cigar – The Upsetters Ska Cigarrillo – I was very surprised but this nice little stick. I found it started with a lot of black pepper and a hint of cinnamon, before moving on to a bit of sweetness. It was a great way to start my day. Back at C.Gars HQ  I concentrated on making space for all of our new stock, it took me a while as it is a lot to come in one go but I got there in the end. You will need to look out for some amazing deals that I’m sure you will see very soon. 

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hello Everyone! I hope you had a fantastic bank holiday weekend! 

My week started on Tuesday. The team on the bank holiday did a great job picking as many orders as they could, but we had a lot left to do. It is almost impossible to complete a bank holidays orders in one day and so on the Tuesday as a team we fly through them to complete them. I noticed a lot of people took advantage of our great Zino offers, we handed out many free Zino cutters and ashtrays – This is why you need to sign up to our newsletters to see what incredible offers we have. I picked and packed a lot of orders and as a team we all did fantastic. I even found time to do a Cuban cigar order, I have noticed a lot of people are opting for full boxes of Cubans recently, I do think this is down to the well known Cuban cigar shortage. Montecristo No. 5 has been particularly popular among our customers. 

Wednesday was quite relaxing compared to Tuesday. I picked and packed again to help get the parcels on their way to the intended destination and then I ordered New world stock. Afterwards, both Lisa and I re-arranged our New World Humidor to make picking even easier. Since closing the shop we have been able to get more stock but that makes picking even more difficult, due to the amount of boxes we have and so we have tried our best to fill up the old shop shelves. We also received the new look J. Cortes High Class Dominican Cigar – White, these incredibly popular cigars used to come in boxes of 10 but now they have been changed to packs of 2 and I love them. They have been selling like hot cakes too so get yours now. 

Thursday was stock count day. As is tradition both Lisa and I worked our way through both humidors and completed it incredibly fast! Which is great because I have been given a new task. I need to look through all of our offers and work out if the sale is still needed or if some need to be extended. This is another great task for me as I continue to learn the admin side of the business. 

On Friday, myself and the team all got together, picked and packed the orders. It is always fantastic to see how great we all flow together. 

A bit of an uneventful week this week but next week will be incredibly exciting with the AITS trade show this weekend, I look forward to see what goodies we will be receiving and what the latest release from all of our wonderful brands.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks goings on.

So long for now.

Oliver

Hello everyone! I hope you are excited for the bank holiday weekend! At C.Gars we always look forward to a bank holiday as the orders really do challenge us.

I decided this week to treat myself to a three day weekend and so my week started on Tuesday. Lisa had done a fantastic job the day prior to keep on top of our stock as well as pick the orders and send our stock sheet to the managers. It is a big job which keeps me very busy, but I usually have Lisa’s help with the orders, so to do it all alone was fantastic. 

On Tuesday, I picked a lot of orders and checked everyone else’s. The process we do here before a parcel gets sent out is a time consuming process, but it is needed to ensure our customers get the correct products in a fantastic condition. Later on I completed all of the shop newsletters. Liam, our marketing manager, brought my attention to a new whisky that needed to be advertised! The brand new Glenallachie C.Gars Malt 10 Year Old Ruby Port Dominique London Exclusive. This was top secret until recently and I was also told that Glenallachie don’t normally do exclusive releases and so for us to get the exclusive bottling is a true testament to the work Dominique London are doing. Each newsletter got a little advert to mention this new release. 

On Wednesday, after picking online orders, I created a news article and article for the C.Gars cigar library all about the new Glenallachie. You can read it here. Later on in the day I received an order for a box of Alec Bradley Black Market Torpedo – I found it interesting as the singles aren’t a great seller but then when I researched the sale it turns out this customer orders a box every couple of weeks! You know you love a cigar when you order a box so often. It made me think, what other cigars sell better as a box over singles and another one popped up – The Blackbird Crow Corona, again we sell more boxes than we do singles. We do offer a box for cheaper than we do buying them individually, so maybe if there’s a cigar you really like, buy the box.

Thursday was stock count day, due to Ben and Sarah having a lovely trip to the Gawith Hoggarth factory, we were short staffed last week and didn’t have the chance to do it. So this week Lisa and I completed it with a good amount of time to spare. I also noticed a customer had purchased two boxes of Chateau Diadem Petit Belicoso. We had these as a try something new cigar towards the end of last year, this gave many customers a great opportunity to try it and love it. This customer must have loved them to buy two boxes! 

On Friday, we picked a lot of a very special sampler – The “A Burst of Flavour Sampler” . We offered them for slightly cheaper and lots of people bought them. I mean 11 cigars for £60.00 is a great offer! Afterwards, It was time to look through my sales of underperforming cigars to see if lowering the price has helped them sell. It’s a large list and but I got it completed! I can certainly say the public love a bargain. I also helped pack some orders, we received a delivery of Germains Pipe tobacco and as it is so hard to get, a lot of orders flood in and it goes out of stock immediately! And so I was helping the team pack them so we had a nice and empty packing room ready for the busy bank holiday.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on.

So long for now.

Oliver

Hello everyone! I hope you had a fantastic long bank holiday weekend! Just because it’s a bank holiday doesn’t mean life at C.Gars stops. If anything it means we are even busier!

On the bank holiday Monday, it was Robyn, Sharon and myself. Together we picked all of the priority orders which were placed over the weekend. As my loyal readers will know, Mondays are our busiest day and so to just have three members of staff it was tough. Once we picked the priority orders – Sharon and Robyn packed them whilst I carried on picking the regular orders. At the end of the day all of the orders were picked and I was shattered to say the least, but I knew the rest of the team would appreciate it.

On Tuesday, I was being a jack of all trades. I started by checking over all of the orders which was picked by the team on Tuesday and then I started packing orders that was left over from Monday. At one point everyone was either packing or booking the parcels on. By the end of the day we had everything sent out! We were all tired and relieved. Meanwhile, I also had the privilege of putting more cigars on special offer! My favourite ones to lower the price on was the Drew Estate Undercrown 10 All Dekk’d Out Corona Viva – This has been reduced from £25.49 to £17.99! A brilliant saving of £7.50! Which for a Drew Estate is fantastic. Have a look at our sale page to see what else has been lowered.

On Wednesday, I focused on the C.Gars cigar library. I created two articles – The first one is called Why Boveda Humidifiers Are Essential for Cigar Storage – You can read it here. The second is called Short Smoke Cigars – The Best Small Formats UK Smokers Are Buying – You can read it here. I also gave some feedback on cigar sales to Chris, next up will be what we do with these cigars next – this means they will either get more marketing, a drop in price or potentially we may discontinue them. I also received delivery of the latest My Father cigars to enter the UK market – The La Opulencia and El Centurion H-2K-CT. The La Opulencia is available as a Robusto and a Toro and uses Criollo and Corojo binders, Corojo, Criollo and Habano filler and wrapped in a beautiful Mexico Rosado Oscuro wrapper. The El Centurion H-2K-CT is available as a Corona or a Toro and features a hybrid H-2K-CT wrapper from the United States, the binders and fillers are 100% Nicaraguan grown. Get yours now!

On Thursday, I would normally be doing a stock count of all of our cigars but this time I got the week off! Lisa has done it with Sarah, who is usually in the packing department and so I started the day with picking and then worked through our out of stock cigars to see if there was any I could put back online, I was pleased to see us receive a box of the Alec Bradley Black Market Punk as they disappeared for a little while but they are back with the Torpedo, which was nice to see. Afterwards, I started working on my June cigar subscriptions. I have never been able to get so far ahead before but it is vital as Cuban cigars seem to be getting harder to source. So I need to make sure I get my Cuban cigars on order. 

On Friday, I started my day with order picking. Both Josh and I noticed a lot more orders for larger cigars, with the sun coming out it is the obvious thing to do. One order I noticed had a lot of Lancero cigars – Lancero cigars are one of my favourites as you get a lot of flavour from the wrapper compared to the filler. Afterwards, I had the joys of lowering even more cigars! Make sure you have a look at our sales page to see what I have done.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks blog.

So long for now.

Oliver.