At last! Schools out and summer hols have definitely started as London’s roads are no longer congested and it now only takes the time to smoke a Partagas short to get to the office whereas it usually takes a Romeo Short Churchill 🙂

But what happened to the hottest summer on record ? Never mind,maybe next month. I’m getting out of the rain for a few days and heading to Spain to herf with clients and friends. The big decision is what to take to smoke and I’m leaning towards 2008 UK regionals. The La Gloria Gloriosos being the perfect daytime smoke and the Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 being simply… perfect. Complex, full bodied but smooth. Well constructed and vein free wrappers of perfect appearance. I honestly don’t think it gets any better. Get them while you can as I reckon they will be sold out in the next 8 weeks

I’m now hopeful that we will get the 2009 UK regionals late September and we are all very excited to test out the blends

Juan Lopez Seleccion Suprema 6 3/4″ length an d 52 ring gauge in slide lid boxes of 10 and El Rey del Mundo Choix de L’Epoque 4″ length and 52 ring gauge in dress boxes of 25. Can these possibly be as good as the 2008 regional editions? It does seem that the UK still gets the best of the best. We shall see.

We also expect the new limited editions for 2009 to be available early September as well as the new Trinidad T (Robusto) which is a great smoke if it’s as good as the ones I tried in Havana in February at The Festival.

Romeo Dukes 5 1/2″ length and 45 ring gauge boxes of 10

H Upmann Magnum 48 4″ length and 48 ring gauge boxes of 25

Bolivar Petit Belicosos 5″ length and 52 ring gauge boxes of 25

More details to follow as soon as we have firm release dates for these fine new additions to our range

Still no firm release date for the Cohiba Gran Reserva I’m afraid but watch this space and I’ll let you know the minute they are available. Overwhelming interest in this splendid cigars which could well become the fastest collectors item of all times !

Peaceful puffing

Saludos

Mitchell

I’ve had a very busy week testing vintages of Bolivar Belicosos Finos which many will know is one of my all time favourite Havana cigars and has been in my rotation for the last decade or so.

So far I’ve gone through 2001/2004/2006/2007 and 2008 in a variety of cabinet selection and dress box presentations as well as the Belicosos Finos from the Centenary humidor

The 2007’s (particularly TEB June 2007) was outstanding and possibly the best blended Havana of that year, sadly very hard to find now

The 2004 cabinet selection,despite unfortunately being a banded cigar (why are cabinet selection cigars banded now ??!!) was a hell of a surprise. A kaleidoscope of sweet flavours, complex from the first to the last puff. Quite a perfect expression of the BBF. More or less impossible to find now as few seem to have been made

2008 examples are already showing well and I think blending consistency and general quality control is now so high that these will be a sure winner and one to lay down for 2 years (for smoking) – 10 years for aging.

I spent some time in my Turmeaus cigars shops last week and realised how much I enjoy being a cigar retailer, our customers love to come to the shops to sample new cigars all the time as there are precious few specialist cigar merchants left in the UK whereas if you go back 30 years I think every major city would have 2 or 3 specialist tobacconists shops.

I think I’ll open a load more specialist cigars shops in the UK over the next few years. We are already looking for some new great locations to add to our existing network. That should keep me busy for a while 🙂

Have a great weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

This year we are proud to sponsor the annual Falmouth herf which will be held on a fabulous riverboat, A rare chance to herf indoors in the lounge of the river boat, or indeed on deck if you wish to see the sunset over the river!

Saturday 8th August 6pm until around 10pm

Price £30 to include on board buffet etc

Location Falmouth up river to Truro then back to St Mawes, ashore and then return to Falmouth

Accommodation recommendations Falmouth Hotel, Greenbank Hotel, Green Lawns Hotel, Penmere Manor Hotel and many more available from me via e-mail [email protected]

http://www.enterprise-boats.co.uk/

http://www.falmouthhotel.com/index.php

http://www.bw-falmouthbeachhotel.co.uk/

http://www.greenbank-hotel.co.uk/

http://www.premierinn.com/pti/hotelInformation.do?hotelId=24001&iscsell=true

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

I was a bit sceptical about the Monte Open range when they were first shown to us in Havana back in February at the Festival as I couldn’t quite see the point in them but I have to say I am warming to them as are many of my clients who want to try something just a little bit different. I am particularly fond of the Junior and whilst not my normal vitola,these little smokes are perfect when short of time. Give them a try http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=montecristo+open

I was hoping to start listing some new and rather splendid antiques on the site this week but we seem to have run out of time. I have some fabulous new cabinets that are sure to be snapped up fast. Hopefully will get them on next week

Took the Squeezy Jet to Scotland yesterday to visit my Robert Graham Whisky and cigar shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh http://www.whisky-cigars.co.uk/ and was delighted with the expanded range of cigars and scotch that they carry. I think our Glasgow store is the only place in Glasgow you can find a decent range of Havanas and I am fairly certain that our Edinburgh store is the only cigar store in Edinburgh with a walk in humidor. Weather was great so my partner Ron and I enjoyed smoking (exclusive to the UK of course) with a spot of lunch at Miro’s Cantina Mexicana at 184 Rose Street,well worth a visit.

I’m off to my cigar stores up North next week and looking forward to having a smoke with some of our regular clients, fortunately it’s still legal to sample cigars in our cigars stores

Mish will be making available a new temperature controlled humidor at a killer price in the next day or two which are a welcome gap to our range. At last, you won’t have to worry about the temperature of your humidor in summer! (that assumes we will have a summer in the UK!)

Peaceful puffing and best from London

Mitchell

TGIF ! it’s been a long week as Michelle has been on vacation and I returned to day shifts managing the business which was quite a shock to me as I am used to working late shifts! My thanks to Cubita coffee and the fabulous UK regional exclusive Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 for helping me through the week 🙂 Michelle is back on Monday. I think we’ll throw an office herf to celebrate 🙂

We finally had the new Montecristo Open range released by Hunters and Frankau in the UK market on Tuesday and have been staggered by the success of this new cigar. Light and fresh flavours that are a perfect entry level Havana cigar for the novice.

Royal Mail decided to hold a strike on Tuesday and Wednesday in our area probably to see if their service could actually get any worse. We managed to switch to courier delivery for 90% of your orders so hopefully none of our customers experienced too much delay.

On Tuesday we had our Annual General Meeting at the lovely Browns Hotel in Mayfair and our Finance director Martin Hughes was delighted to announce that we had our best year ever. So, thanks to all our clients as well as my sales team. Looks like this year will exceed expectations if the last few months are anything to go by

Is there really a recession going on? I know I read about it in the papers but the centre of London seems to be busier than I can ever remember with crowded shops and restaurants day and night. Seems that people (well my clients at least) are enjoying their cigars and scotch more than ever. Robert Graham Ltd, my whiskey business in Scotland tell me they are busier than ever and what’s the best selling line? our own exclusive single malt of course ! Perfect with a fine Havana.

I’ll be zooming off to Scotland next Wednesday for a long lunch with my partner Ron Morrison as we are planning our next exclusive Robert Graham cask release. If you are in Glasgow or Edinburgh,pop in and have a wee dram with me.

La Casa del Habano- Hamburg expects to have the new German regional fairly soon and they sound very promising checkout Christophs blog on our website

As we say in the cartoons….that’s all folks!

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell