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.

Hello everyone! It has been a fascinating week here in Norfolk. I even had the opportunity to go to a fabulous distillery!

On Monday, it was Marcus and myself in the shop. As always we had lots of online orders to pick and we got through them as quick as we could. Marcus had done an excellent job considering it was only his second time picking orders. Meanwhile I served a lovely gentleman who loves browsing our website but wanted to come in to see a few pipes. I always say, the website is great to show you the variety but you don’t get a feel for them unless you come in store – and that is exactly what this gentleman did. Afterwards he wanted to purchase a bottle of Tamdhu 12 year old and 1792 Small Batch. He had seen them on our website and again wanted to come in to purchase them. He left very happy and I enjoyed talking to him about our products. Later on in the day, I had an older couple come in needing to get their son some birthday presents, conveniently, he had left them a list of what he wanted. The list included a pipe of no description but under £40 and the Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Twisty. I found a Mr Brog Cent 9mm Filter Fishtail Pipe which the couple liked. 

On Wednesday, I had a leadership meeting. It was very fascinating and I took a lot from it and will use it to improve my supervisor style. After the meeting I created an article for the C.Gars cigar library, it was about Mr Brog pipes, which you can read by clicking here. Afterwards, I then created an article for the November Cigars of the Month. Our humidor manager has selected another two fantastic cigars to promote and so after writing the article, I took pictures ready for our monitors in the humidor. 

Thursday was the day I looked forward to the most. The retail team got the opportunity to visit The English Distillery! Our shop is just a 1 hour drive from this magnificent place and so we all went to learn about how to make whisky, as well as the history of English Whisky. I will be writing an article in the C.Gars cigar library all about our visit there very soon so keep an eye out for that. 

On Friday, I was back in the Norfolk shop, I was working double duties as I had to serve our fabulous customers as well as pick online orders and open deliveries. It was a nice change to be doing a mix of everything. In the afternoon it was the usual Cuban stock count.

On Saturday, it was Josh, Marcus and myself in the shop… Kind of. After picking orders, I starting packing orders to give the packing department a head start on Monday. Meanwhile Josh got to work on a new set of drawers for our pipe room. We intend on having a lot more pipe accessories to have to hand for any pipe smokers who need an accessory. Marcus and I served a lovely couple who were looking for some cigars as well as a humidor. We had a lovely discussion about many different cigars. In the end the gentleman purchased the Plasencia Alma Fuerte Robusto I as well as the Caldwell Anastasia Caspia and The King is Dead Premier. Afterwards they looked a humidors and went with the York Mahogany Glass Top Humidor as well as a Cigarism Jet Flame Cigar Lighter & Punch Cutter – Carbon Fibre Black. This was a great sale for Marcus to see as it had a great variety of products for him to talk to the customer about.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on in Norfolk and I hope to see you all in store soon

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone! It’s been another interesting week here in Norfolk. 

On Monday, I was joined in the shop by Marcus! It was his first Monday and as many of my loyal readers know, we have lots of online orders on a Monday. Marcus took his stack and did a really good job picking all of the cigars and only made a few mistakes. He was still a little nervous to serve customers and so I handled them all in the morning. I was then on my lunch break when I heard the shop doorbell go, I was prepared to get the door but I heard Marcus get it and deal with the customer in a professional manner. Afterwards he was shaking from excitement! I was proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself.

On Tuesday, I was back in the shop with Marcus, I spent some more time training him about cigars as well as the pipe tobacco. He got very comfortable with the pipe tobacco very quickly and he has started trying to learn about different flavours of pipe tobacco. Meanwhile, I served a gentleman who usually comes in for cigars, however this time he wanted to try a pipe. So I suggested a Cool & sweet pipe and some American Blends tobacco to try. The gentleman then went away and came back 5 minutes later to buy some cigars. Later on in the day I made a start on all of the shops newsletters. In the afternoon, we had a regular gentleman come in who always wants a rare box of Cuban cigars, this time it was the LCDH Trinidad La Trova. He bought two boxes as well as a couple of Arturo Fuente Don Carlos No. 3 for himself. He then paid in all cash, and as much as cash is king, we do then have to check every note is not counterfeit, which adds time to your experience but I am sure the cigars are worth it. Meanwhile my latest article for the C.Gars cigar library went online, it is about Fratello cigars which you can read by clicking here.

On Wednesday, I was back in the shop. I had a shop meeting with my manager to discuss what we could do with the shop. We will be getting some more furniture to help us display products in the shop. But we won’t be stopping there, you’ll have to come in store to see what new items we have! One display cabinet we will be getting will be promoting a beautiful ST Dupont Ligne 2 Le Mans lighter. It is so lovely, the pictures don’t do it justice! We will be selling that at the online exclusive price of £749 instead of £1550! A massive discount! We also launced our latest re-brand for Dominique London! You can read all about it here.

On Thursday, Lisa and I were completing the New World stock count. We got through it as quick as we could and thankfully (with a little help from Will) we completed it by 2.30! Afterwards I had a shop meeting with the rest of the retail team. We discussed November promotions as well as this year’s Christmas raffle! You’ll have to pop in store to see what we have selected to promote. I also took a couple of pictures to help out the other shops newsletters.

On Friday, I was back in the shop with Marcus, I asked him to check the pricing on some of the pipes and update our pipe displays. Meanwhile I was completing most of the shop newsletters. Some of the other shops really have some good deals going on at the moment! Make sure you give them a visit. In the afternoon, Marcus and I completed the Cuban stock count.

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

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hi everyone! It’s been another fantastic week here in Norfolk! We have also hired a new member of staff for the shop! 

My week actually started on Tuesday as I had decided to treat myself to a long weekend. On Tuesday, I was doing my promotional work. I started by writing three articles for the C.Gars cigar library! I have scheduled them to come out weekly with the first one being released on this day. It’s about the Independencia 1898 brand and you can read about it here. After writing all three articles I spent some time taking the pictures for all of them, so they are 100% ready to go! Afterwards, I created all three leaflets for the cigar subscriptions. For this month I have some fantastic cigars including a special edition Cuban in the Premium Cuban and New World Subscription. Towards the end of the day I decided to take a break from the computer and stocked up the Cuban humidor. 

On Thursday, I was back in the shop. I started my day by de-plooming the Cuban cigars, I was then pleasantly interrupted by our latest recruit! His name is Marcus and Thursday was his first day! The first day is usually not that exciting as it is a lot of paperwork but then you are free to learn about cigars! Marcus joined me after lunch and I gave him a tour of both humidors to give him an overview of all the cigars! He is full of so much positive energy, it’s unbelievable! During the humidor tour I showed him an old favourite – Macanudo M by Macanudo Dark Toro, he was blown away by the aroma of chocolate! So much so that he decided to buy one instantly! We then carried on talking about the humidors. Meanwhile I served a lovely gentleman who loves a Maduro cigar. I asked him if he had heard of the Drew Estate Blackened M81 Maduro, of which he had not – I explained how all of the leaves in the cigar was Maduro and he gave one a try instantly. He then asked “what’s new?”. This question always makes me panic as new to me and new to a customer can be different so I have to think what we have received recently. One of the newer cigars was the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Overseas No. 1, I explained about the different tobaccos that make this one cigar and he was blown away. In the end he left a very happy gentleman.

On Friday, it was Marcus’ first full day in the shop. I explained how we serve a customer and the high level in which our customer service will always be. He is a little nervous but he will certainly get there. I remember being incredibly nervous when I first started in the shop but now all these years later I am the most experienced out of anyone in the Norfolk team! Together we served a gentleman who was the best man for a wedding. He wanted 5 cigars for the big day but didn’t want to break the bank as none of them were full time smokers. After discussing different options which would be suitable, he settled on the H. Upmann Majestic as he wanted the traditional Cuban taste. I gave him a nice cigar box to put them in to make them look even more special. As the day went on I was teaching Marcus even more cigar facts. I then taught him how to cut a cigar. I remember my first time, it was with a closed back cutter, so it didn’t give the full experience but now I’m more confident than ever!

On Saturday, I was with Josh and Marcus, this was Marcus’ first Saturday and first time picking! He did very well considering and slowly began to learn where all the cigars were. I served a lovely gentleman from London who always visits whenever he is in Norfolk. He wanted me to promote a cigar to him, I chose my favourite – The Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion. He liked the sound of it so much he bought 2 Shortys.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.