Good grief, what a fast and fabulous year it has been. I can hardly believe the holidays are almost upon us!

It has been a crazy busy time with the recent and much awaited launch of the splendid Ramon Allones Private Stock 230 UK regional edition 2020 cigar. The ‘ 230’ commemorates the anniversary of our esteemed UK importer Hunters & Frankau.

Possibly one of my top 5 cigars of all time. The blend in this cigar is incredibly complex and sophisticated. Very full on flavour, sweet, creamy and smooth.  Measuring 6 ¾” length and 50 ring gauge, the cigar specialist trade first sampled these cigars earlier in the year at the AITS trade show. If we were impressed with it then, it has now matured further into a very special smoking experience indeed.

Only 3600 boxes of 25 cigars made and very small initial allocations though we are hopeful more will come through in the new year.

Cohiba cigars have been selling at an unprecedented rate despite the huge price hike in Summer and rumour has it that there will be little to no production next year due to lack of wrapper leaf. Another price hike is also due early next year.

Supply of all Havana brands is still problematical and not expected to improve any time soon I’m sorry to report. Stash while you can as the range available seems to be getting smaller by the week.

Last week we enjoyed the annual Boisdale Cigars Awards event. Ten years since Ranald and I dreamed up this event and once again guests were not disappointed as we enjoyed a splendid meal, wines, cognac. Elvis Presley entertaining, loads of cigars and even more awards than ever!

Aladino cigars (available at all good cigar specialists)  won the cigar of the year and Vivi Eiroa proudly collected her award from Tom Parker Bowles who hosted the event as usual.

The C.Gars table was larger than ever with 24 invited guests  many of whom joined me for cigars and drinks after dinner in the lovely Cigar Library .

Our final vintage cigar auction of the year will conclude this Thursday. Well over 500 Lots of aged, rare, mature, limited edition and other Havana cigars are being offered and will be sold. No doubt some bargains to be had by some lucky bidders.

Highlights include :

Cohiba Esplendidos from 1997 signed by Fidel Castro

Cohiba Siglo VI Gran Reserva

Davidoff 5000 from the 1980’s

Davidoff 4000 from the 1980’s

Davidoff Chateau Haut Brion from the 1970’s

Dunhill Varadero from the 1970’s 

Dunhill Cabinetta from 1987 

Ramon Allones 225^th anniversary humidor

It’s easy to get in on the action by registering as a bidder on this link.

We have just launched a new premium range of Regius – Peru cigars. Made 100% from Peruvian tobacco at our factory in Tarapoto Peru. These delicious cigars are incredible value for a premium cigar. This is a limited edition with just one small production run with the finest quality leaf every year.

Royal Mail strikes at any time of the year are horrendous for a mail order business but even worse in December when our daily order are double normal. We have switched to various other couriers to ensure on time delivery but early ordering is advised for the holidays.

Our retail shops are crammed full of your favourite cigars, whisky and accessories with perfect Christmas gifts for all. Come and visit us and of course sampling is welcome and encouraged in our comfortable sampling rooms at all locations. You may well bump into me at C.Gars St James’s during the week as that’s my regular spot though its so busy sometimes I can’t even get a seat !

It’s been a mega year for sampling events with some amazing brand ambassadors and splendid cigars/rum/whisky. Last few events for this year on this link.

My thanks to my amazing warehouse, retail and management teams at C.Gars and Turmeaus for once again breaking all records this year and the biggest thanks of all to our wonderful customers.

Smokey wishes for a merry Christmas and very happy new year

Mitchell

Our last vintage auction of the year was a resounding success for both sellers and bidders. In fact, it was the largest cigar auction ever held with over £1,000,000 worth of Lots sold.

The recent weakness in Sterling no doubt made estimates even more attractive for international bidders and record prices were achieved. Highlights included:

Cohiba 1966 box of 10 £4,400

Cohiba Siglo VI Gran Reserva cabinet of 15 £15,100

H Upmann Magnum Especial book of 20 £9,000

Davidoff Chateau Margaux cabinet of 25 £10,100

Dunhill Estupendos box of 10 £14,100

Partagas Serie C No.1 book of 20 £12,000

Cohiba Double Coronas box of 25 £8,600

Our next auction is planned for late January 2023 but we do buy and sell vintage Havanas throughout the year and are always happy to offer a free valuation service. Drop me a line at [email protected].

We have been the exclusive importer and distributor for Arturo Fuente cigars for many years.

This incredible and premium cigar range really is ‘as good as it gets’. The demand for this fine cigar range outstrips the supply many times over and we have decided to no longer sell them online as we simply can no longer cope with the demand. Regrettably, they will not be available for online purchases by the end of this week.

The range will still be available and have greater representation at C.Gars and Turmeaus cigar stores as well as other fine cigar specialist across the UK including our friends at Davidoff in St James’s and J.J. Fox to name a few.

If you haven’t experienced these splendidly crafted and blended cigars, please visit one of our shops and enjoy the experience in our sampling lounges where we assure you a warm welcome.

Summer may be over but we still have many events to go this year. Enjoy our whisky and cigar sampling events across the country in our comfortable sampling lounges. Hope to see you at some of them.

I was very kindly invited to a super event in Warrington last week. The cigar terrace at San Lorenzo is absolutely beautiful, the service first class and the food quite delicious. Our friend Nick Nicita organised this sold out event that featured Aladino and Mitchellero cigars.

I was terribly sad to see the damage that hurricane Ian had caused to Cuba, more bad news for the cigar industry I’m afraid. We have suffered supply shortages for the last 2 years and it doesn’t look like the situation will improve any time soon. We do however continue to release Havana cigars from our reserves to keep a comprehensive range available as best we are able to.

We have released another single malt whisky cask from our award winning Stalla Dhu range. The 13 year old Linkwood is a delightful dram and pairs very well with a good cigar.

Our new world cigar of the month is the Regius Orchant Seleccion Hermoso. This boutique range of cigars from Nicaragua offers superb value, excellent blends and very well constructed cigars. Highly recommended.

I’ve been having fun doing some filming with our resident photographer/videographer Usman Dawood and you can see some of the clips on YouTube. Next week we’ll be having a chat with Scott Vines from Tor imports which will be interesting as Tor are the leading new World cigar importer in the UK.

Have a smoky week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Greetings from rainy London…

Happy to say the weather was far better in New York (sunny and 30c!) where I herfed with friends last week and continued the 25^th Anniversary of C.Gars celebrations.

My Rat Pack herfing crew spent long evenings herfing at Carnegie and it was delightful to receive such a warm welcome from the boys at Davidoff on 6^th Avenue.

The final and main event was held at the magnificent Liberty Warehouse overlooking the Statue of Liberty. We enjoyed a decadent evening which included splendid Oliva Melanio cigars (Thanks to Brian Shapiro and Oliva cigars for all of their support) Stalla Dhu single malt whisky, Foragers gins, delicious food and an amazing live music from the Cuban band. Thanks to all the boys that traveled over from the event from as far as California, Chicago and Texas.

My thanks to my dear friend Jeff Torem for putting together such a wonderful event. It was so good to catch up with so many friends after the long Covid break which upset our regular herfing routine. We used to get together at least 3 times a year before Covid so it was good to get back to some normality finally.

We have some availability of our splendid 25^th Anniversary humidors containing a delicious selection of our finest cigars as well as a very special bottle of single malt whisky.

If you haven’t signed up yet, check out this website. It’s very cool. Lot’s of features and articles, well worth a visit.

On a sad note Michelle and I have just been to the funeral of John Darnton. John was an industry legend. He was Sales Director of Hunters and Frankau for many years and one of the founders and owners of Regius cigars. I visited Cuba many times with John Darnton and Simon Chase and we always enjoyed the best of times at the H&F table at the Gala dinner events. He was a mentor to me in my early years in the cigar business and will be sorely missed. Our sincere condolences to the family.

Havana cigar supply remains patchy with many lines unavailable though we still have a very good overall range available and continue to release the more rare Cohiba cigars every week albeit in small quantity. We do expect some new cigar release including the U.K. Regional Ramon Allones in the near future.

My schedule is busier than ever with cigar events at the RAC Club, lunch with our neighbours the Sahakian’s of Davidoff London, lunch with Ranald from Boisdale and many client meetings at C.Gars St James’s over the next week. Looking forward to some great cigars in the best of company!

We finally have a new Prime Minister and wish her the best of luck in these challenging times. Hopefully the Government will leave us long suffering cigar smokers alone…

Have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

CGars Ltd 25th Anniversary Party

Greetings from sunny London 😊

C.Gars Ltd was created on the 27^th of October 1997. Laura and I dreamed of creating a successful cigar business but could never have imagined we would build an empire the size that it has grown to. In fact we are still growing with new brands and new locations planned in the next few months.

Thanks to the unpredictable weather in London we decided to hold our anniversary celebration event a tad earlier to take advantage of the splendid Summer weather this year. It was a delightful event attended by over 150 friends, family, suppliers and clients at Boisdale of Belgravia. More detail and photos in this article.

To mark the anniversary, we released 25 specially made humidors containing 50 of my favourite cigars. In fact, it’s also the 205th anniversary of Turmeaus Tobacconist business.

In all, quite a feat to have survived – even thrived – in the cigar business. That has been against a backdrop of anti-tobacco legislation for as long as I can remember. The smoking ban was of course designed to stop people smoking. So not entirely successful then. The thinking behind the law was to improve health. I had my own MOT last month. I am very glad to say I am in good shape, though not quite as good as the business.

That is in part thanks to the second largest professional sector we serve.

Funnily enough… Doctors.

A big thank you to the head of neurosurgery in a top Hamburg hospital. He used to come into my Hamburg shop for a Punch Double Corona.

Every lunchtime – to relax as he was more worried about the impact of stress on his well-being.

Thanks also to the top Harley Street cardiologist who came to my office once. His girlfriend wanted to treat him to a few boxes of Havanas as a retirement gift. She duly did. He was 70. She looked around 25. Far more likely to see him off than any cigar.

As for us, it has been a long rocky road over the last 25 years. We have survived not only recessions and anti-tobacco legislation but also battled with some mad landlords, and inevitably some anti-smoking neighbours. The odd environmental health officer has also come after us. Once we have explained how the relevant law actually works, they have been happy enough to leave us be.

Even after 25 years I am not sure we are quite ready for an autobiography. The best book ever written about cigars is the Encyclopedia. That’s by Min Ron Nee. Yes – you guessed it, another Doctor. A great believer in the anti-oxidant qualities of a Havana cigar as he explained to me in Hong Kong. Take what he says and a cigar is practically one of your five a day.

That’s not the only lesson I have learnt over the last 25 years. I know that Liverpool, where I acquired the first Turmeaus tobacconist shop and where our fantastic Puffin Rooms are today, is as safe as houses. The first time I went there my father warned against me taking a car. In fact I drove to Liverpool and had no issues at all. Meanwhile, his Rolls at home back in London was stripped of its beautiful front grill. He eventually gave away the rest of the car to no doubt his very grateful mechanic.

Looking back, you have to see the funny side. I hope all those who have been part of C.Gars over the years can smile about their time with us. What has always mattered is friendship and creating happy memories. All through our shared love of the leaf.

My thanks to my team, the wonderful staff at Boisdale, our suppliers for all their support and most of all our loyal clients.

The evening was another occasion for the sort of camaraderie only a mutual love of cigars can generate. And a night to remember. Or at least try to remember.

We don’t always get it right but we do strive to give the best of customer service and range of choice to our clients, now numbering some 150,000 on our database. Nice to see over 12,000 Trustpilot reviews and a 4.9 star rating. Hopefully, we can get that up to 5.0 in the next few months 😊

We have very successfully launched the Aladino range of cigars with events at Turmeaus Liverpool, C.Gars London and Leeds and were delighted to welcome the Eiroa family to talk about the cigars and their impressive business. The range is quite delicious as well as excellent value. Fast becoming a firm favourite and highly recommended.

Cuban cigar supply remains patchy with few Cohiba cigars being available though we still generally have 90% Havana range availability as we continuously release our reserves to meet market demands. We don’t think the supply situation will improve any time soon and following the recent price increases I can only advise to stock up while you can as cigar prices will of course increase again due to the tax increase due in the November Budget. We are hopeful that the Ramon Allones UK Regional Edition will be launched by November. Its overdue but will be worth the wait!

The next vintage cigar auction will be held on the 3^rd October and it’s shaping up to be another huge sale with over 300 Lots expected.

Our beautiful shops are busier than ever, perhaps due to the sunny and hot Summer we are enjoying as well as our non-stop events calendar.  The events are great fun and a perfect opportunity to sample cigars and enjoy pairings with premium single malt whisky and rum as well as meet many of the brand ambassadors.

Enjoy the rest of the Summer hopefully with some fine smokes and drinks in the sunshine 😊

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Greetings from sunny London where I’m happy to report I’m enjoying a Cohiba Siglo VI paired up with a G&T (using Foragers Black Label of course)

Supply issues continue but our rather brilliant UK exclusive importer Hunters & Frankau keep a healthy range of Havanas flowing through to us and though we don’t expect to have full range availability again any time soon we do have many alternatives if your favourites are unavailable. We have also been rounding off the range by releasing some of our reserve stocks including Siglo VI, Lanceros, Esplendidos and Behike over the last month. 😊

We were honoured to welcome Rocky Patel to the UK last week and I think the UK cigar trade gave him a very warm welcome. I saw social media photos of an amazing and huge event at our friend James Barber in Harrogate. Rocky spoke to attendees at the sold out events at Turmeaus Liverpool and C.Gars – Leeds and great evenings were had by all.  We sampled Rocky Patel White Label Robusto and Sixty Toro cigars and paired them up with Remy Martin 1738 and XO Cognac. I’m not usually a Cognac drinker but the pairing was quite delicious and certainly worked very well.

The sampling event was followed by dinner at Puffin Rooms with music by the lovely Victoria Sharpe. Our G.M James then selected a flight of rare single malt whiskies from the huge selection at Puffin Rooms and Rocky, Kolja, Paul and I herfed on till… terribly early (or is that late?!) the next morning!

The Rocky Patel range of cigars is available on the website of course and we will be adding new lines over the coming months. This range is comprehensive with shapes, sizes, flavour and strength profiles to suit all cigar smokers, personally, I love the Gran Reserve Robusto a kaleidoscope of complex flavours from start to finish.

C.Gars Group has sampling events around the country every week throughout the year. A great opportunity to sample new cigars and whisky, rum or cognac as well as learn more about the brands from brand ambassadors. The best opportunity to meet with friends and make new friends sharing our wonderful interest in these finest products.

We introduced the fabulous Aladino range of Honduran cigars to the U.K. a couple of months ago. I love Honduran tobacco but this brand takes quality and blending to a different level. They are incredible value for a premium brand. Perfectly crafted for a cool draw and beautifully presented.

I’m looking forward to welcoming the brand owner Justo Eiroa for a wonderful sampling event at Turmeaus Liverpool on the 19^th of July – St James’s on the 21^st July  Tickets are almost sold out now so book up soon and join us for a memorable evening.

On the 28^th July I will be hosting a rare Havana cigar sampling at C.Gars – St James’s together with Sean Croley of Hunters & Frankau. The star cigar will be the rather delicious Por Larranaga Sobresalientes UK regional edition  2014. We will be pairing with a flight of our finest single cask Stalla Dhu single malt whisky and the lovely Lockets wine bar will be laying on canapes. Only 20 tickets available so don’t delay!

But the event of the year will be the C.Gars 25^th anniversary party on Wednesday 3rd of August at Boisdale Belgravia!!! To celebrate this milestone we have taken over Boisdale Belgravia for the evening which will start at 6pm. Over 100 guests will be treated to live Cuban band, a feast of food, cigars and libations till late…

Tickets were released late last week and the last time I looked there were only 10 left available… Book soon to avoid disappointment. You don’t want to miss this one!

Our Summer auction was a resounding success with total sales exceeding  £800,000 including premiums, in fact, one of the largest auctions we have held. The appetite for aged and rare Havana cigars continues to be insatiable.

Highlights of the sale included:

Davidoff Chateau Haut Brion – £5,050

Davidoff Chateau Latour – £6,100

Davidoff Chateau Margaux – £6,500

Davidoff Dom Perignon box of 25 – £10,100

Davidoff Dom Perignon box 10 – £8,100

La Gloria Cubana 25^th anniversary humidor – £7,600

Partagas 170^th anniversary humidor – £23,200

Ramon Allones Imperials humidor – £16,900

Cohiba Majestuosos humidor – £24,000

Our next auction is planned for September and we are considering consignments now. Email the auction team at [email protected]

That’s the news for now so I’m heading back to the garden to herf an Aladino Cameroon Robusto in the sunshine 🙂

Have a smoky week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell