I’ve been merrily sampling my way through all the new limited editions over the last week particularly whilst herfing at The Lanesborough and Ten Manchester Street ( both first rate as always) and this year’s LE’s are sooo good as well as terribly limited in supply. 

The Cohiba 1966 was as expected the fastest one to sell ( and sell out for that matter, although we expect some dribs and drabs of additional inventory to arrive over the next weeks)   Awesome packaging, first rate blend and the smoothest maduro wrappers I think I have ever seen. 

The Ramon Allones – Allones Extra gets the ‘ coolest band’ award- check it out here :  the band is a recreation from a vintage Ramon cigar band that I have seen from time to time with my past vintage cigar sales

The Hoyo – short Hoyo piramides is  a delightful size if you enjoy the shape but a belicosos or piramides is a tad to large in format, check it out here

The other new cigar that I seem to be smoking back to back is not a limited edition but an addition to the Partagas range ( and previously a limited edition ) Partagas SD no.5 tastes like  D4 on steroids and delivers volumes of full rich, and complex flavours but doesn’t knock you out with strength. This one is highly recommended.  they come in boxes of 10’s and 25’s  as well as singles

Partagas Serie E no.2 another new addition to the Partagas range is fast becoming a best seller for us, we literally can’t keep up with demand on the boxes of 5 which are just the perfect gift , also available in singles and boxes of 25

Our 28^th  November cigar auction looks like it will be the largest cigar auction in history with something approaching 400 Lots !  we are very proud to be including the collection of the late Lord Leonard Steinberg which has been stored at Dunhill of London for many years until recent transfer to C.Gars Ltd London humidor. We expect the catalogue to be online at the end of this month and the hard copy catalogue to be posted to bidders shortly after.

Our fabulous range of Christmas stocks are due in to our shops and warehouses in a couple of weeks time and include the splendid Cohiba Siglo VI ceramic jars, Cohiba glass travel tubes Havana Hampers ,Cohiba Behike gift boxes, Christmas crackers to name a few, we should have photos on our websites in the next week or so.

I’m off to New York to meet up with friends for some serious Fuente cigar herfing at a few of my favourite clubs….back at the end of the month 🙂

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

What a great week…. well until today when the weather has turned a bit dodgy sadly but I finished the week in style with smokes at the Ritz hotel followed by a splendid tasting menu cooked to perfection by Shane at the simply superb Roussillon restaurant which is located at 16 St.Barnabas street SW1W 8PE – email [email protected] or phone 0207 730-5550.Now those who know me and Karyn (quite a few of my blog readers!) know that we are exceptionally fussy vegetarians but I can tell you that chef made us a dinner and an evening to remember. So, if you want to treat yourself and are near Chelsea, Roussillon is THE place to go. Mention C.Gars Ltd of course for star treatment! 

Monday sees the long awaited release of many new and rather exciting cigars including:

Partagas SD no.5 4 3/8” length and 50 ring gauge 
….as well as the 2011 limited editions

Cohiba 1966 6 ½” length and 52 ring gauge 
Ramon Allones – Allones Extra 5 5/8” length and 44 ring gauge ( old style Ramon band- v. cool)
Hoyo Short Piramides 5 ½” length and 52 ring gauge ( this size is perfect) 
…and thankfully another allocation of the splendid Partagas Serie E No. 2 
which I have been chomping through like a fiend this week.

 …and our last allocation of the fabulous La Flor de Cano UK regional short robusto arrived today  smoke’em or stash ‘em while you can as they are great smokes and when they are gone… they are gone as only 1200 cabs were made – never to be repeated

So why all the excitement about these new releases? Well its quite simple, first batch release always seem to have total blend integrity and in many cases subsequent batches just don’t live up to the hype. So if you want to taste something special buy them while you can as initial allocations are scary small.

Michelle and I have been busy with the 28^th November auction catalogue http://www.cigarauctions.co.uk/ and so far catalogued 200 Lots although this now looks like it will be out biggest auction ever as we expect the Lots entered to go to almost 300! Could well be some bargains to be bagged J on the evening, We are planning a pre herf for the out of towners at Ten Manchester Street and if you would like to be put on the guest list pleased drop me a line [email protected] 

We decided a few years ago to fill the auction gap when Christies stopped selling cigars shortly after their cigars auctioneer Brian Ebbesen left Christies. Brian is now a consultant to C.Gars Ltd and has conduct of our Summer and Winter Auctions. Viewing will be right up to Sunday 27^th November at our London offices. Drop Brian an email if you would like to see the lots or pre order a catalogue [email protected]

I looked around our walk in humidor today and wondered how on earth we manage to fill so many orders 24/7 every day of the year but thanks to our great suppliers including UK Importers Hunters and Frankau…we do !!! 

A promo film producer popped in to sell some cigars today and asked me ‘what is your unique selling point’ to which I could do no better than answer ’we are more knowledgeable. More enthusiastic, work longer hours, have larger stocks, ship faster than any UK cigar merchant we can possibly think of!’

Remember my advice – smoke less – but smoke the best

Have a smokey weekend 

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Late blog as have been offline for the last 3 days due to New Year Festival, a happy time of too much eating, drinking and lots of great cigars 🙂 including a cheeky little box of 10 1980’s Davidoff 1 that I have been merrily chomping my way through. 

Friends keep asking me ‘ aren’t these 80’s Davidoff past their prime now’ but the answer really is a yes and no answer. It’s all down to storage in all honestly. If you store these delicate light strength cigars at 70/70, by now they are just too far gone. Reasonable smoke but nothing spectacular. But the serious collector know s how to store and mature i.e. colder and drier. We store our aged cigars closer to 65/65 and I have smoked cigars back to the early 1950’s that are still quite sublime.

Sipped my way through a bottle of our latest release from the Dancing Stag series of single malts this lowland is a perfect partner to a great Havana. I paired it up with Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 and Por Larranaga Regalias de Londres. The Punch really is one of my favourite regional editions. Sold out now at importer level but still available in our retail shops and by mail order whilst stocks last

Still receiving some great auction entries for the 28^th November cigar auction at Boisdale Canary Wharf  Looks like a great selection of aged. mature, pre Castro and Davidoff’s as well as some fine limited editions and we are already working hard on the catalogue. The catalogue will be online at the end of this month and hard copies will also be available as usual.

Not long to go now before this year’s limited editions are released in fact it looks like it could be as soon as this Friday or the following Monday. Massive interest in the Cohiba 1966 which I’m looking forward to. I smoked these ate the Festival in Havana  back in February and am so interested to see how they are smoking now. Hunters and Frankau advise that first allocations are tiny. As ever newsletter subscribers will have priority.

Last release of Flor de Cano short robustos ( UK regional edition) expected early this week. Snap them up while you have the chance, these cigars are delicious and are more or less sold out already New website section for collectible St DuPont if you want to treat yourself to something extra special 

We have Berta rolling freshies in the London office from this Monday for the week and if you would like to see her doing her thing drop me an email [email protected] and come along to the office for a sampling. Fresh Havanas are a very different smoking experience. Roll ‘em and smoke them straight off the rolling table for a fabulous herfing experience.

Have a great week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

I’ve had a bit of a Partagas Serie E2 herfing week with 2 evenings with friends at the Lanesborough cigar terrace followed by Boisdale Belgravia with Tom from the fabulous TomTom Cigar shop in Belgravia.

Haven’t been to Ten Manchester street in a while so that will be my herf stop as it’s a great spot for a smoke/drink and just a minute from baker street

Nice to settle back to my usual routine although it won’t be for long as I am travelling overseas on and off for the next month or two ending up with my last trip of the year to Havana for the Partagas Festival.

Partagas Serie E No.2 were only released in tiny quantity but these cigars deliver masses of full bodied, sweet flavours from the first puff to the last. The construction and blend consistency has been perfect and the wrappers a rich Colorado maduro.  5 ½” length and 54 ring gauge of purest smoking pleasure! We’re hoping to get more through over the next few months and more important hope that the blend integrity is maintained in subsequent production.

Our Chester and Rose Street shops still have a few boxes of 5 available and you can order online whilst stock last at just £99 

Still working hard on our next auction catalogue and looking forward to the event at Boisdale in Canary Wharf on the 28th November. If you are buying or selling drop us a line [email protected]

The builders are still crashing away at our new Mayfair shop and we hope to open in a few weeks’ time. Delays due to ventilation have now been resolved so our little tasting room will be an oasis in the centre of London for a quick sampling session 🙂

I’m looking forward to our next exclusive Seleccion Orchant Havana cigar release which I can now confirm will be cabinets of 25 Juan Lopez Seleccion No.2. Only 27 numbered cabinets will be produced with the distinctive Seleccion Orchant bands and available for pre order from next week [email protected]

Tons of interest in this years Limited Edition Cohiba 1966 but I’m afraid we will all have to be a tad patient as we don’t have a confirmed release date yet or a price. If you subscribe to my weekly newsletter you will be the first to know!

I’m often asked what my favourite humidor range is and I have to say that Daniel Marshall humidors offer exceptional value and incredibly good quality – View the current range here  but we will be increasing this very soon.

Well that’s the end of another week for me so I’m off to smoke a Partagas Serie E with my Father and enjoy wee dram of Robert Graham single malt

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

The weekend was spent herfing with my Father on both Saturday and Sunday evenings. He’s my favourite smoking buddy but he does bang on about how his Monte 2’s don’t taste the same as  20/30/40 years ago ! drives me completely bonkers. I did have him hooked on custom blends that Yoel rolled for us a while back but they seem to have gone sick now so I had to find some smokes that would hit the spot. I know what he is looking for as we have almost identical taste. Smooth, sweet, full flavour and light to medium strength and of course an easy draw. We don’t care too much about wrapper colours although generally stay away from maduros.

So as we paced our way steadily through some of this nectar I managed to select the right cigars that hit the spot, starting with an El Rey del Mundo Choix De l’Epoque, followed by a Partagas SD4 ( 2009)  and finishing with a Punch Serie D’Oro No 1.

On Sunday we changed the rotation to: El Rey del Mundo Tainos (2001- Orchant Seleccion), Montecristo No.2 ( 2009) and Bolivar Belicosos Finos (2007).  Great to spend a lot of serious herfing time chatting about all the years and all the people we have come across since we have been in the cigar business.  It’s never really seemed like a day’s work and I still can’t wait to get to the office (or the shops or the warehouses or my client meetings!)

Now getting ready to celebrate my birthday with a few days serious herfing and have already selected a Dunhill Cabinetta, Cohiba Sublimes, Davidoff Anniversario 80^th and one or two others…should be a great evening or two which is likely to start tonight at the Lanesborough or Ten Manch.

Latest cigar to be released from Havana !!!!!!

Partagas Serie E . No.2 

I smoked this cigar when it was introduced at the February Festival in Havana and was enormously impressed with the blend,  6 months later and it’s even better. Far fuller in strength than the Serie D No.4 fuller in body and richer in flavour. Complex and balanced from the first puff till I almost burnt my fingers on the last puff. Perfect construction and a beautiful colorado maduro wrapper. This splendid cigar measures in at 5 ½” length and 54 ring gauge

First tiny allocation has now arrived and we have decided that newsletter subscribers are offered on a first come first served basis. Order early to avoid disappointment.

Partagas Serie E No.2 Box of 25 £489

Box of 5 £99

Singles  £20.59

Email [email protected] to reserve

Cigar Auction Lots still arriving daily so we’re looking forward to a great event again  still plenty of time for entries but we do start photography and cataloguing at the end of this month ( sellers note!)

We buy and sell vintage Havana all year round (actually every day!) so if you need some advice just shoot me an email [email protected]

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell