What a fast and fabulous year it has been—I can hardly believe we’ve just wrapped up the twelfth Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Smoker of the Year Awards at the iconic Boisdale of Canary Wharf.

The much-awaited event took place last night, commemorating the 150th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s birth—a fitting tribute to a legendary cigar aficionado. The atmosphere was electric, filled with sophistication and camaraderie as cigar enthusiasts from around the world gathered to celebrate the most prestigious cigar awards event outside of Havana.

The evening’s highlight was the presentation of the Cigar Smoker of the Year 2024 award to the one and only Piers Morgan. Known for his bold opinions and sharp interviewing style. Hosted by the ever-charming Tom Parker Bowles and Ranald Macdonald, the black-tie gala was nothing short of spectacular.

 

We were graced by the presence of notable figures such as Jack Churchill, Kelsey Grammer, Ray Winstone, Paul Oakenfold, Niall Keating, Viscount Hereford, Omar Lye-Fook, the Cuban Ambassador Her Excellency Bárbara

Montalvo Álvarez, James Cosmo, and Lord Carnarvon. The atmosphere was buzzing with enthusiasts and industry leaders mingling and sharing their passion for fine cigars.

One of the night’s significant achievements was the charity auction, presided over by Jack Churchill, great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill. The auction raised an impressive £55,000, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting The International Churchill Society, Sovereign Art Foundation, and the Lord of The Isles Galley Charitable Trust. A standout moment was the Ramon Allones Hunters & Frankau Aniversario 225 Humidor fetching £11,000—some lucky bidders certainly went home very happy indeed.

Congratulations are in order for all the winners:

1. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Communicator of the Year: Ana Lopez, Head of Marketing at Hunters & Frankau
2. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Sommelier of the Year: Blue Curran of The Emory
3. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Producer of the Year: Plasencia Cigars, Nicaragua
4. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Newcomer of the Year: Casa 1910 Revolutionary Edition Cuchillo Parado Robusto, Mexico
5. Santa Rita Boisdale Robusto of the Year: Davidoff Grand Cru Robusto, Dominican Republic
6. Santa Rita Boisdale Churchill Cigar of the Year: Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill, Cuba
7. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar of the Year 2024: EP Carrillo Encore Majestic, Nicaragua
8. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Spirit of the Year: Tomintoul Cigar Malt
9. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Chef of the Year: Niall Keating
10. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Sportsperson of the Year: David Haye
11. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Musician of the Year: Paul Oakenfold
12. Santa Rita Boisdale Cigar Smoker of the Year 2024: Piers Morgan
13. Santa Rita Cigar Lifetime Achievement Award: Yours truly, Mitchell Orchant

A personal note of gratitude for the Lifetime Achievement Award—it’s an absolute honour to be recognised among such esteemed company.

The evening also featured some exceptional cigars for guests to enjoy:

• Aladino Cameroon Robusto
• Casa 1910 Revolutionary Edition Cuchillo Parado Robusto
• E.P. Carrillo Encore Majestic
• Plasencia Cosecha 151
• Davidoff Grand Cru Robusto (for VIP & Premium ticket holders)
• Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill (for VIP & Premium ticket holders)

A world first was unveiled during the event: Tom Davies of Tom Davies Bespoke Eyewear presented a unique pair of sunglasses made from Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill cigars to Piers Morgan. This masterpiece of craftsmanship truly embodied the spirit of innovation and luxury that defines our cigar community.

As the year draws to a close, I extend my deepest thanks to our amazing teams at C.Gars and Turmeaus for their relentless hard work and to our wonderful customers for their unwavering support.

For those who couldn’t join us, fear not! Tickets for the Cigar Smoker of the Year 2025 dinner and awards are expected to go on sale soon. Keep an eye on the Boisdale website if you’d like to be part of this unforgettable celebration next year.

Smokey wishes for a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

Mitchell

It’s getting close to the celebration season again with the C.Gars 27th anniversary in October and my 60th birthday in September. It seems like yesterday that we celebrated our 25th anniversary with an exceptional event at Boisdale Belgravia. I remember my 50th birthday party at Liberty Warehouse in New York like it was yesterday 🙂 celebrated with over 100 friends and family, a mountain of cigars, the finest Stalla Dhu whisky bar and the Stan Rubin Orchestra with Steve Maglio crooning Sinatra songs ! Hard to top a party like that!

Our Orchant Seleccion Havana program came to an abrupt stop as the supply shortage worsened a few years ago at the start of Covid, but to celebrate my 60th birthday I am pleased to announce a 60th birthday Bolivar Belicosos – Orchant seleccion. One of my favourite cigars of all time if not my desert island cigar 🙂 Only 64 numbered boxes will ever be made available. I have selected these cigars based on its superior blend, construction and appearance. They will be made available on September the 3rd.

 

The Orchant Seleccion program has been a resounding success for our business. Popular brands and vitola at affordable prices. Cigars from Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Peru. My typical flavour profile is full/sweet/creamy/nutty/smooth but always light to medium and that combo has resonated very well with my clients.

 

This year’s releases included :

Plasencia Orchante

Plasencia Petit Dominique 

 

I love the Plasencia brand, quite simply – I have never had a bad one and almost all have been outstanding. This is the third Orchant Seleccion release with Plasencia and they are truly blends of merit and character

I’m very proud of our collaboration with Rocky Patel earlier this year we introduced this new Orchant Seleccion range of 3 vitolas in beautiful boxes of 10. A blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco with a Honduran Corojo wrapper, this cigar delivers a kaleidoscope of full , sweet tobacco flavour with a balance of medium strength. Construction is flawless and appearance is as good as it gets.

My Orchant Selection Cigar Malt is as popular as ever and perhaps the perfect dram to accompany a premium cigar. Our independent bottled range of Stalla Dhu continues to pick up multiple international awards . Cigars and whisky… truly a match made in heaven!

 

It’s great to be back in business in Scotland and finally fully operational this year.  Our whisky and cigar themed bar/restaurant/hotel – the iconic Mash Tun in Aberlour has undergone a complete renovation and is the perfect spot for cigar and whisky lovers. The menu is splendid, the whisky selection is stunning and the accommodation is super comfortable. Mash Tun also has a cigar terrace and bothy as well as a retail cigar and whisky shop. Overlooking the river Spey and minutes away from the Aberlour distillery and Walkers shortbread factory and shop!

It’s almost a year since we opened la Casa del Habano and Puffin Rooms- Edinburgh , truly one of my favourite locations to herf as we have a huge and super comfortable cigar terrace and a walk in humidor crammed with the finest LCDH releases and ably managed by our latest recruit Yeni Momblan from Cuba. The bar has an unrivalled whisky menu and the food menu is delicious. Other Puffin Rooms can be found in our flagship Liverpool location as well as Gstaad Switzerland.

 

We opened our new sampling lounge at La casa del Habano – Chester a few months ago. It truly is something special, styled like an apartment in old Havana and ably managed by my best pal Roy Price who joined the company full time last year after a distinguished full time career in the police (and part time career at Turmeaus and C.Gars!)  This location is open 7 days a week and the perfect spot to relax sampling a fine Havana with a good dram or cocktail.

 

We also have La Casa del Habano in Knutsford – Cheshire, the walk-in humidor is crammed with LCDH exclusives and the first floor has a delightful bright and airy sampling lounge. This location also has a wine room where you can find an excellent curated selection by our manager and wine specialist Andrew.

 

Our auction department is having its busiest year ever. Every day we received a box or collections large and small for entry. Our next sale will be held in October. My colleague Luiz Murano heads up the auction department and is a highly qualified ‘Master of Havana cigars’ having passed the higher certificate many years ago when he worked at Birley Cigars. The higher certificate was developed by Hunters & Frankau and to say it’s a hard exam to pass would be an understatement!  We are very proud of our colleague Dante Gabilo who has just passed his exam and is now a Master of Havanas. Dante is the manager of C.Gars – The City and joined us soon after the crazy Covid Lockdowns. He had no experience in the cigar business but was an avid aficionado and enthusiast who has made his passion into a very successful career.

 

My Marketing Team at our C.Gars – Norfolk office are having a lot of fun with their Sip n’ Smoke Podcast an hour of conversation accompanied with a good dram and fine cigar. Well done Lewis and Billy.

Check out The Cigar Inspector for the latest news and content on the cigar world. It’s really quite excellent. You can also review cigars and cigar merchants worldwide. Usman Dawood (a crazy cigar aficionado!) does some incredible video reviews on this site . Truly one of my favourite cigar info and review sites.

 

The Havana supply situation is still very patchy though there have been some signs of improvement as we are receiving some of the previously out of stock lines coming back in small quantities especially double coronas and some Cohiba. The industry still faces a raft of challenges but at least I can report the quality of the Havanas we receive is very high indeed.

 

The latest Havana cigar release is the La Gloria Cubana Turquinos, This Gordito (great size for me!) measures in at 5 1/2″ length and 50 ring gauge, long filler and totally handmade of course. Presented in boxes of 10 and delivering the classic light to medium flavour and strength LGC blend. This follows the re-release of the La Gloria Cubana Medaille d’ Or no.4 which is fast becoming my favourite breakfast cigar.

I think we’re going for the world record for sampling events this year! A never ending choice all around the country featuring the finest cigars and libations to accompany. The events are fun, educational (we have some great brand ambassadors) and very sociable. a good way to meet like-minded aficionados and experience the latest products on the market. C.Gars Leeds must hold the record for the most tasting events in history! with weekly sold out events throughout the year.

 

I can usually be found sampling at C.Gars- St James’s on a Wednesday and Thursday afternoon / evening. Open till 9pm with comfortable outdoor seating, it’s my favourite location to meet friends and clients from the UK and internationally. C.gars St James’s has a magnificent range of Havana cigars and specialities as well as a select range of Orchant Seleccion New World cigars. Arturo Fuente and Aladino cigars.

As we approach our 27th anniversary I can honestly say I still enjoy every day in the cigar business, in fact I still feel like I am just getting started. Our parent company Dominique London has some very very exciting expansion plans that I hope to announce in the very near future. Watch this space !

 

Peaceful puffing

 

Mitchell

C.Gars Ltd – Founder

Greetings from rainy London where we just passed another milestone with the 26th anniversary of C.Gars Ltd (est. 1997) and the 206th anniversary of Turmeaus Tobacconist (est. 1817).

Quite a feat to have not only survived but also thrived in the cigar trade for so long! I believe that only our friends at J. J. Fox have been around longer.

I vividly remember the early days of C.Gars when Laura and I started the business online selling Havanas only and technology was a lot more primitive than it is now! We couldn’t even put photos on our website as the connections were so slow!

We have come a long way and the website is now crammed full of content, photos and over 10,000 products. Literally a hypermarket of tobacco, accessories and premium spirits.

This year has been a busy one in terms of expansion starting with the complete refurbishment of our boutique cigar friendly hotel. The Mash Tun in Aberlour in beautiful Speyside… the perfect spot for the cigar smoker and whisky lover with luxurious guest bedrooms, a 4 bedroom lodge, bar, restaurant, terraces, cigar bothy and sauna overlooking the River Spey. Check out the new website here www.mashtun-aberlour.com.

C.Gars St James’s went through some upgrades with a better smoke extraction system, new furniture and a new bar arriving this week. This has to be the busiest cigar shop and sampling lounge in the UK . Crammed full of the finest premium spirits, premium cigars as well as aged and rare Havana cigars.

We opened our 3rd London shop in the City back in May to the delight of our clients in the Square Mile. This beautiful shop and sampling lounge firmly plants the C.Gars flag in the City.

Finally, we recently opened La Casa del Habano – Edinburgh and Puffin Rooms in Lister Square in the centre of Edinburgh. It’s good to be back in Scotland with the best cigar terrace in the country.

We have a magnificent walk in humidor, crammed with La Casa del Habanos specialties, a premium range of accessories and premium spirits. Client lockers are of course available.

Puffin Rooms Edinburgh follows the success of Puffin Rooms Liverpool and features live music, super comfortable seating and a splendid bar and dining options.

I hosted a packed opening event recently featuring 2 excellent Havana cigars, canapes from our talented chefs, live music and Sean Croley from Hunters & Frankau as our special guest.

Our Leeds C.Gars shop, opened last year, celebrated its 100th tasting event with a splendid evening featuring the rather enormous Davidoff Aniversario No.1 Limited Edition no.1 measuring in at 8 2/3″ long and 48 ring gauge. Bursting with flavour, this medium strength cigar was a real treat for attendees, paired up with Stalla Dhu single cask whisky and Dominique London Privee Liberation Cigar Cognac.

We have sampling events throughout the year at all of our locations. The perfect

opportunity to experience new cigars paired with premium spirits as well as meet the brand ambassadors. Truly social evenings with like minded aficionados.

On the 4th December I’m hosting our largest table ever (over 30 guests!) for the Cigar Smoker of the year event at Boisdale Canary Wharf. This sold out event is the biggest and best on the annual UK cigar calendar with great entertainment, food, drinks and smokes and the best of company. We will put up an article with the award winners later this week.

It is great to hear from so many of our UK clients visiting our overseas locations, La Casa del Habano – Tenerife seems to be a firm favourite! If you are visiting, shoot me an email so I can VIP you. Click here for the full listing of all of our locations in 4 countries.

My auction department is enjoying a record year and we are finishing this year with a grand auction featuring over 600 lots of aged, rare, mature ore embargo, Davidoff and Dunhill cigars on the 19th December. Lots will be online and bidding will open on the 19th December.

Havana cigar shortages continue to be troublesome but we continue to release our reserve of stocks to ensure a comprehensive range. Your favourite cigar may be out of stock but we will always have a noble alternative. Now is a good time to order because there is a fairly imminent price increase following the Chancellor’s Autumn statement last week once again bashing the cigar smoker sadly.

There is a very good new website for bang up to date industry news, content and reviews well worth checking out Cigar Inspector.

I have added a few additional lines to some of our exclusive brands over the last few months. Check them out on these links:

Aladino

Inka – Secret Blend

Mitchellero

Regius Orchant Seleccion

Regius Serie Limitada

We also continue to recommend the incredible Arrturo Fuente range of cigars but we don’t have sufficient supply to sell online and they are only available in our cigar stores (and other fine cigar specialist stores).

Our best selling ranges continue to be my Orchant Seleccion cigars I am planning on adding a very exciting new range early next year.

Wishing all clients and friends of C.Gars a very happy and smokey December and hope to see you soon at one of our events.

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

I’m happy to report that C.Gars – The City opened last month and we have received a very warm welcome from old and new clients in The City.

The premises on very busy Lime Street has a delightful charm about it and a relaxed ambience. There is a comfortable sampling lounge where we serve a delicious espresso to accompany your cigar.

The walk-in humidor features a comprehensive range of premium Cuban and New World cigars, singles, small packs, boxes, gift packs and cabinets. We have the perfect cigar for everyone! The range of whisky and premium spirits as well as pipe tobacco and cigars accessories is quite excellent.

Regular C.Gars clients will recognise Dante, my assistant manager from my St James’s Street store as he is now in The City most of the week setting the highest standards of customer service.

I spent a few days at Mash Tun recently – our whisky bar/restaurant and hotel venue in Aberlour.

The builders are on the last phase now which includes the cigar pavilion, the Lodge and the sauna.

The hotel rooms and ensuites are all refurbished to exceptional standards. The terrace is complete and the cigar and whisky shop is also open! I will update the website with new photos later this month if all goes to plan. It really is the most idyllic location right on The Whisky Trail and located on the River Spey. The restaurant is delightful and the whisky bar has an exceptional range of rare single malt whisky including of course our own multi award winning range of Stalla Dhu. We also feature the Glenfarclas Family cask vertical.

Next stop I am happy to confirm will be Edinburgh where we expect to open our latest flagship location in the next month. I love Edinburgh, it’s such a beautiful City, incredible architecture, so much history, friendly folks and loads of great places to eat and drink. We felt that Edinburgh needed one of our finest premises and offerings and we are very excited for this planned expansion. I have always had a huge database of clients in Scotland from the earliest days of C.Gars back in the 1990’s so I’m very happy to be giving them a place to relax and herf 🙂

Karyn and I had a super time in Dublin last week as guests of our friends at The Decent Cigar Emporium. The tasting event was held at the Dylan Hotel and featured Oliva Orchant Seleccion and Inca Secret Blend as well as Regius Serie Limitada. Despite the weather being lousy all day, at least we were well sheltered on the terrace and enjoyed great food, drinks, cigars and company. Thanks to Gary and Barry from CDE for a super event.

My C.Gars – St James’s flagship store has been closed for refurb over the last 4 weeks and is finally due to open today. The premises have taken quite a hammering over the last couple of years since we opened and the smoke extraction system was never designed for the premises to be so busy! So… it’s all upgraded and redecorated and looking rather lovely again and we look forward to welcoming everyone back!

The Summer cigar auction was yet another resounding success with some 600 Lots being knocked down and a lot of very happy bidders and sellers. Our next auction is planned for late September. We are now considering eligible consignments, and expect to be offering a good catalogue of vintage, aged and rare Havanas in September.

Cuban cigar supply is slowly improving though there are still many lines that are

unavailable. We are hopeful that as the year goes on things will get better. It was great to finally see the release of the Montecristo Wide Edmundo this week but they sold out within an hour!

Mitchellero from Nicaragua and Peru are the success story of the year and we literally can’t keep them on the shelves as they sell so fast. We hope to have another delivery very soon so the whole range will be available again.

The other madly popular range of 2023 is Regius Serie Limitada. A smooth and sweet blended premium cigar that are 100% handmade and long filler, which I highly recommended.

We enjoyed a splendid event at the Peruvian Ambassadors home in London a couple of weeks ago showcasing some of our finest Peruvian cigars including Inka- Secret Blend, Regius Serie Limitada and Mitchellero Peru paired up with Pisco cocktails and canapes. Thanks to Ricardo from the embassy as well as the Ambassador and his wife for kindly opening their doors and hosting the event for us.

This year’s Regius Orchant Seleccion 2023 will be released in the next few weeks if all goes to plan. Just 400 boxes of 10 cigars of each size and an extra premium blend using the incredible Pelo d’Oro leaf that gives an extra sweet zing to the palate.

Here’s hoping for some Summer sunshine in August after the July washout so we can enjoy our cigars outside!

Peaceful puffing…

Mitchell

Greetings from my sunny garden herfing deck where I’m enjoying the new UK launched Aladino Elegantes with a wee dram of Orchant Selection cigar malt whisky.  It feels like Summer is finally here and I’m looking forward to a lot of garden smokes over the next few months 🙂

Lanceros were out of fashion for a long time but they seem to have become super popular again. I love this size, most elegant for a gentleman and Aladino have completely nailed the blends on their fabulous Elegante range.  Measuring in at 7″ length and 38 ring gauge and available in Cameroon, Corojo or Vintage, truly first rate smokes.  Available at my cigar stores and all good cigar specialists.

Our Summer auction catalogue is almost full and will have over 300 Lots of aged, rare and unusual Havana cigars . The auction ends on the 29th June and Lots will be online on the 22nd of June.

We have been very busy with our expansion plans this year and have now reopened the bar, restaurant and hotel rooms at the iconic Mash Tun in Aberlour. In the heart of Speyside (in fact it is literally right next to the River Spey)  The cigar and whisky shop is due to open in the next few days and the luxurious ‘lodge’ will be completed and available for bookings in July.  Mid June the cigar pavilion will be complete and the new outside terrace overlooking the Spey is open. The perfect location to eat, drink, stay over and of course enjoy the best cigars and whisky in beautiful Scotland.

If all goes to plan we will open our London – City location on the 13th of June. Located on Lime street, next to Leadenhall Market, this latest C.Gars shop will feature a fully ranged walk-in humidor (Cuban and New World), customer lockers, comfortable sampling lounge, full range of whisky and premium spirits, pipe tobacco and cigar accessories. I am very excited to bring C.Gars – The City to our clients as the City has not had a cigar specialist shop for many years.

Our next expansion will be a Puffin Rooms and specialist cigar shop in the heart of Edinburgh. Our building contractors are already on the job ! and we expect to open in July. I’m looking forward to being back in Edinburgh.

Following the runaway success of Mitchellero – Nicaragua  I have now launched Mitchellero-Peru Different blend to the Nicaraguan version and fast becoming a firm favorite with 1000’s of my clients. It took me the best part of a year to perfect the blend and if I do say so myself they really are quite excellent smokes as well as unbeatable value for money.

As the Peruvian sweet tobacco flavour profile becomes more and more popular all the time I blended a new range of Regius Peru, The Serie Limitada is truly a premium cigar at an incredible value for money price. Give them a try, you wont be disapointed.

As the years have gone by my exclusive blends and brands have become our best selling lines. Hopefully I have created the correct blends for our customers at the correct value for money prices. The ranges include :

We are also the exclusive UK importers and / or distributors for these fantastic brands :

I had a great evening at Boisdale Canary Wharf launching the new Rocky Patel DBS cigar. Rocky came over to introduce his new cigar to a crowd of 50 smokers and it was very well received together with the delicious ‘Rocky Patel Sixty. We love Rocky Patel cigars and carry the full range online and a comprehensive range in store. Read more about this splendid brand on our website.

We seem to be running more cigar events than ever all around the country ! I go to as many as I can as I love the pairing experience of a premium spirit and a premium cigar as well as the brand ambassadors and cigar aficionados . Truly educational and interesting evenings. We had a delightful sampling of the UK regional edition La Flor de Cano Gran Cano 2013 at C.Gars St James’s with Sean Croley of Hunters & Frankau as our guest of honour. The cigar was paired up with delicious cocktails prepared by my colleague Sam . See more about the event here. For more details check out our events calendar.

I’m looking forward to visiting Puffin Rooms for some supper and jazz and a sapling event at Late Hour Turmeaus in Liverpool on the 13th June l Hope to see old and new friends for a memorable evening.

Checkout this YouTube channel Cigars Inspector which has some really good videos and C.Gars Youtube does as well

It’s car show season and I seem to be at a car show somewhere around the country almost every weekend. Easy to spot me with the C7GAR number plate and really nice to meet so many petrol heads who are also cigar smokers! If you’re going to Brands Hatch for the Brands Britannia on Sunday 4th June, come and say hello and have a smoke with me 🙂

Peaceful Puffing

Mitchell