Our annual summer auction was held again at the Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge on Monday (20th) night.

Our aged, rare and vintage cigar auctions always include huge numbers of unbelievable lots from pre embargo cigars to vintage Davidoffs, as well as limited edition humidors, and this auction stayed true to form!

The auction started at 2pm with over 300 lots going under the hammer, you can view the items as well as their final sale price on the auction website: www.onlinecigarauctions.com

After the auction ended, guests were invited up to the Sahakian cigar lounge to enjoy post auction smokes, drinks and canapes. The cigars that were sampled were the delicious Ramon Allones Petit Belicoso 2012 Regional Edition and the Bolivar Royal Corona Orchant Seleccion. Both the cigars paired up magnificently with the whisky which was on offer, Stalla Dhu Islay and C.Gars Cigar Malt (coming soon!)

Of course Monday night was also the football match between England and Slovakia in the European Championship which lead to some tense moments as Eli, London C.Gars Warehouse manageress, is from Slovakia!

View the pictures from the event below.

Reporting to you live from Bulgari Hotel with the lots selling live on our website.

Subject only to final confirmation when we are back in our offices tomorrow.

In the meanwhilst, keep a check on all our sold items.

Best of luck to all of our sellers and bidders,

Mitchell, Laura, Michelle, James and Eliska
C.Gars Ltd – Auction Team

This is definitely party (or event!) season kicking off with a brilliant cigar and whisky tasting last week at our La Casa del Habano in Chester. We treated attendees to shoe shines (thank you Paul) with compliments to Loake shoemakers and wet shaves (thank you Elliott) with compliments of Suave Barbers whilst delicious canapes were served by our friends at Bar Lounge. Whiskies included various Glen Scotia’s and Stalla Dhu’s (to name a few) and cigars included Upmann Half Coronas and Por Larranaga Sobresalientes. Rather tasty combo’s. An additional mega whisky tasting session was also being held in the LCDH back bar with a massive selection of Bruichladdich which were quite splendid. I can’t quite remember what we were celebrating but we had an awesome La Casa del Habano cake…as if I need anything specific to celebrate!

Whilst up North I also swung by Turmeaus Knutsford and Turmeaus Liverpool and did a little stock sampling for quality purposes. All was well I am pleased to report. I inspected the works at the new Turmeaus at The Albany in Old Hall street which is coming along very nicely indeed. Can’t wait to get this new premises open.

Tonight is the Hunters & Frankau Summer party at The Corinthia Hotel which I’m looking forward to. Hopefully we may get some new Havana releases finally! More details in my next blog.

The annual tobacco trade lunch at Lords is tomorrow. A few of our managers will be enjoying this event. I attended a few of them but gave up after one year George Galloway was the guest speaker (yes , yes – I should have checked before and then I would not have gone) I figured the organisers must have been complete idiots to invite this bigot so I didn’t want to be associated with this bunch of clowns. I think the clowns have all retired by now thankfully. Must be a good thing for the industry!

So the success story of the year (so far) has to be the Cohiba Robusto Supremo , this Limited edition from 2014. Measuring in at 5” and 58 ring gauge this whopper has bags of sweet Cohiba flavour in a very full cool draw. I reckon we have literally sold thousands of boxes and there seems to be no end in demand. If prices go the same way as other limited edition Cohiba these smokes are looking like great value.

It’s countdown for the Summer Cigar Auction  that will be held at The Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge next Monday. If you can’t make the event you can always bid online. Almost 300 Lots of rather sexy Havanas if I do say so myself. The auction is followed by a whisky and cigar sampling which should be at least as much fun as always.

Turmeaus Chester have a great event coming up on the June 23rd check out the details on this link  There will also be a Davidoff cigar roller in store from the 20th June rolling fresh Winston Churchill cigars.

Have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

I think this has been my first full week in the London C.Gars office this year, not bad considering its June already, lol.  So, I took advantage of the time with my G.M. Michelle on vacation by revisiting and doing a thorough sampling of a load of Cohiba cigars.  Seemed the right thing to do considering this year is the 50th anniversary of Cohiba. 🙂

Cigars included were Cohiba 1966, Cohiba Lanceros from the late 1980’s, Cohiba Esplendidos 1994, Cohiba Genios and Magicos from 2007 and Cohiba Piramides 2006. They were all very different in character which made it all the more interesting.

The finesse and delicate flavours of the well-aged Lanceros and Esplendidos were a joy. The Piramides is one of the finest Limited editions and has aged very well with plenty of life/improvement to go. The 1966 was simply incredible. I reckon this may well be the best of all the limited editions. Bold blend, rich and complex. I nearly burned my fingers on this puppy! I love the Maduro 5 series cigars, not to be smoked in the morning or on an empty stomach, that’s for sure. These cigars have strength to match the full flavour profile.

I was pleasantly surprised that I haven’t  had a single construction dud this week and of course there should not be any duds with Cohiba, the Rolls Royce of Havana brands. However the reality is that occasionally there are construction issues with all Havana brands. It’s a totally handmade product so let’s be realistic… anything’s possible!

When I get a cigar with a tight draw on the pre light, I don’t stress about it and just cut it in half as most construction problems are ‘twists’ in the filler the constrict the passage of smoke. By cutting the cigar in half the twist is released and at least I can usually smoke both halves! In fact I have created quite a few ‘new’ vitolas like this  🙂

Our Summer Auction catalogue is now online for download and auction Lots bidding will be open next Tuesday. A rather impressive catalogue if I do say. The condition and appearance of the Davidoff cigars is quite superb. The packs of 5 cigars are quite incredible with many having very dark leaf (I always believe darker leaf cigars age better than lighter leaf). The Pre Embargo section is the largest ever offered at auction or anywhere to the best of my knowledge.

The auction events are always great fun for me as they are attended by many clients and friends of C.Gars and we have a super cigar and whisky sampling after the sale. If all goes to plan my new Orchant Selection Highland cigar malt whisky will be one of the whiskies to accompany the fabulous UK regional edition Havanas we will be enjoying at The Bulgari (Edward Sahakian Cigar shop and lounge).

Next week I’m back on the road or should I say the railway 🙂 heading up North to Turmeaus – Liverpool and checking out how our new Liverpool shop at The Albany is coming along. I understand that we now have walls and wiring! Here’s thee architect image of how the whisky and tobacco room and sampling bar will look 🙂

I’m hoping to drop in to Turmeaus – Knutsford on my way to La Casa del Habano Chester where we have a mega event planned on the 8^th June.

This weekend I’m herfing with chums at the lovely Ten Manchester Street Hotel cigar terrace which is one of our favourite places to chill out with a good drink and cigar or three 🙂

In the baggie for the weekend I have a bit of a mix including :

Upmann Half Coronas – Currently my favourite morning smoke.
Partagas Salomones – Monster good smoke, light to medium in strength but delicious full flavour.
Regius Campana 2015 – Plenty of ‘Nic kick’!
Davidoff Puro d’Oro Gorditos – I love this cigar, are they really discontinuing it?!
Nat Sherman Sterling – A first rate Dominican exclusive to C.Gars/Turmeaus.

A HUGE congratulations to Daniel, my assistant at Turmeaus – Mayfair as he has just passed his ‘Master of Cigars Exam’. Very clever chap and we are all very proud of him.

Have a smokey weekend.

Peaceful puffing,

Mitchell