Greetings from sunniest London where we are still doing the ‘Lockdown Herf’, in my case the bar and humidor are open 24/7…nothing new there then. Between the weather and the Lockdown, cigar smoking is at an all-time high but what better way to stay safe, de-stress and relax from the crazy situation we find ourselves in?

I was asked for a photo for Smokers at Home website, check it out here, my pal Ranald from Boisdale is on it too. I’m on the last stretch of recovery from the post viral symptoms of Covid19 and working from home for another couple of weeks, then I should be fighting fit!

It’s odd not getting up in the morning and putting on a pin stripe suit to head to the office. It’s odd not being out most evenings to herf with friends and clients at some of the fabulous cigar terraces in London. It’s really odd not to be travelling up and down the country to our beautiful Turmeaus cigars and whisky stores and sampling lounges. I do miss it but I’m looking forward to getting back to normal whenever it’s safe to do so.

Zoom meetings have become the norm, Facetime and WhatsApp video calls great fun to see who on earth I’m speaking to but it does feel like an upside-down world for sure. I did my first Instagram interview ever (in fact I think it’s the first time I have used Instagram). Thanks to Abdullah for interviewing me, if you would like to follow him click here to get to his page. For latest photos of cigars, whisky and pipes follow C.Gars Ltd.

Per the subject line, I’m, afraid the time has finally come to increase prices. We were very lucky to have been able to keep prices the same for almost 2 years as last year’s Budget was cancelled but following this year’s Budget all cigar importers have increase prices and they are now being implemented in the marketplace. As ever, we do guarantee the lowest prices in the UK with our now legendary price match promise.

Occasionally I’m asked how on earth can a premium cigar be so expensive £10, £15, £20 or more for a cigar- madness?! ‘and I remember having the same conversation with a client 20 or so years ago and his reply went something like this: ‘are cigars really so expensive if you compare them say to a halfway decent bottle of wine? They usually last longer than it takes to drink a few glasses of wine and nothing can compare to the complete experience of relaxation from a fine cigar’.  certainly, makes sound sense to me. In fact, you can get some pretty decent premium cigars at less than a tenner still.

We have pushed back our Summer vintage cigar auction to late July and will put the date on the auction website early May. We are accepting entries from May 4^th onwards.

London – Mayfair, Liverpool, Chester and Knutsford cigar and whisky stores remain open albeit on slightly reduced opening times. Norfolk and London mail order warehouses and offices remain in operation 24 hours a day – 7 days a week to cope with the increased demand which it has to be said is quite staggering. If you have any query about your order please do email Customer Services as they are online 24 hours a day but please do include your full name and order number!

Okay, time to head to my office in the garden, I’ve got a good selection for this week (I need it as I’m back up to 5 a day!)

Partagas Serie D no. 4, 5 and 6 (yep …I love Partagas)

Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Twisty (for something a little different and an oh so sweet blend)

Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour Robustos

Fuente Eye of the Shark …bit of a treat

Cohiba Talisman … a lot of a treat

Have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

So it looks like another 3 weeks of total lockdown and therafter who knows how much longer or if the restrictions will slowly and no doubt very thoughtfully be reduced. How long it will take to get back to any semblence of normality is anyone’s guess at this stage.

My recovery is going well, I’ve put back on the 10 Pounds in weight that I lost in hospital thanks to Karyn’s cooking! I’m taking good walks every day though nothing like I did pre Covid… that will take some time to build up to. I’m back to enjoying 3-4 good cigars a day and an occasional dram of Orchant Selection Cigar Malt (for medicinal purposes!) I’m lucky as I’m able to work from home with my study being a mirror image of my office, surrounded by some of my favourite very old Cuban photographs and with super fast WiFi its business as usual for me minus the herfing with friends and clients and the crazy travel schedule.

I miss visiting the retail stores, our HQ and sampling lounges but look forward to a better and safer day for everyone when we can all enjoy a dram and a herf together again. So the good news is that our retail stores are open with the exception of Norfolk at this time but obviously our sampling lounges remain closed. Our mail order division is still cracking away at 100% efficiency 24 hours a day. I’m very proud of our Team who are handling a huge uplift in order volumes as our customers stay at home. I think we hit the record of all time last week with over 2000 packages a day being shipped.

Shipping is slower than usual but 95% of orders are arriving on time. Has to be said that Royal Mail are doing an amazing job. The bad news is that Havana cigars prices will increase substantially at the beginning of May. We were fortunate that there was no increase last year and this one is pretty late but its going to be a fairly hefty increase this time round. We have good stocks and will try to hold prices for a week or two but invenitably they will be going up. At least you have a little pre warning to top up your humidors at pre increase prices.

No update on the release date for the well overdue UK regional edition , La Gloria Cubana Britanicas Extra. Its delayed I understand as so many cigar specialist are closed during the lockdown so it would not be fair to the UK cigar trade generally to release them now which makes sense to me.

The weather forecast is looking great this week, should be sunny and warm so its perfect garden herifng weather which I hope is some consolation if you’re stuck at home.

My rotation for the coming week includes:

Partagas Serie D no.5 – smoking so well now and a perfect 40 minute smoke for me

Davidoff Lancero Orchant Seleccion – what a treat.

Alec Bradley Orchie – the sweetest blended cigar I know of.

Inka Secret Blend Robustos (red) – always a good smoke

Montecristo Dantes – these are now smoking very well with 4 years box age

Regius Orchant Seleccion Hermosos – great ‘Nic Kick’

Trinidad Esmeralda – I love this new cigar

Trinidad Topes – I adore this new cigar!

…and a bottle of Stalla Dhu Speyside  😉

Stay safe and have a smokey week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Long-time no blog and not without good reason ….

As ever I attended the Havana Festival and had a wonderful time with the usual incredible gala event being the highlight of the trip.

Sitting at the Hunters and Frankau table with a great crowd of industry pals and laughing at how loud the entertainment was as usual making it more or less impossible to hold a conversation but enjoying some great cigars and drinks ( let’s not even talk about the food !)

Our table was right behind the major auction bidder of the night who made the charity auction the most successful ever.

Simon Chase’s Ramon 225 humidor was donated by his wife and sold for an astonishing 380,000 Euros. The Lot included a box of Ramon Petit Coronas that he had bought from one of the early C.Gars auctions. I remember how I always sat next to Simon for so many of the Festivals over the last 20 odd years and felt terribly sad. I think about Simon a lot and still refer to so many of our email exchanges. He really was a walking talking encyclopaedia of Havana cigar knowledge as well as a Gentleman without parallel in our industry.

After a few cigars in the lounge at Jose Marti airport I headed to Upper and was sitting next to Jemma Freeman, great excuse to catch up on a business chat which is always interesting for us even after all of these years.

I didn’t feel too good when I got back to the UK but in my usual way decided it was just a bit of jet lag and ploughed on with a relentless business schedule including visiting just about all of our locations including our Norfolk HQ, La Casa del Habano and Turmeaus shops and finishing with a lovely evening with friends at Puffin Rooms.

Heading back to London the next morning I really did not feel well and headed straight to a walk in Doctors surgery and was immediately admitted to St John and Elizabeth’s hospital with pneumonia which was no fun at all I can tell you.

From there it really just got worse as 5 days later I was diagnosed with Covid 19 and transferred by ambulance to the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Free hospital as I was to put it mildly very seriously unwell. High temperatures and flaked out beyond belief in ICU was a pretty scary experience as I wondered if I would ever make it out of there, happily a week later I was moved to isolation for a further 5 days before all the symptoms subsided and I had beaten the virus.

I’ve been home for the last 2 weeks resting and recuperating and getting over the post viral symptoms but I am making a full recovery and after a no cigar smoking month I’m finally enjoying a good smoke again every day.

I have never used the NHS before and am so impressed with the Doctors and nurses that looked after me and the incredible care they gave me to help me recover from this horrendous virus. I really can’t thank them enough. They are incredible and deserve all of our respect and support.

The effects of the virus on the country (and the world) are almost surreal to be living through and I honestly don’t think the world will ever be the same again once we hopefully come through this nightmare.  The Government seems to be doing everything they can to support employees and businesses at this unprecedented time in history.

In the middle of all of this we held our March vintage cigar auction which was a resounding success with all but 5 Lots selling at very high prices (possibly due to the weakness of Sterling). Shipping of auction Lots I understand will be slower than usual due to the weight of work our mail order teams are dealing with at this time.

Our business has been dramatically affected with the temporary closure of Puffin Rooms and the closure of our retail Turmeaus store in Norfolk as our retail staff are unable to work because they have to look after their children during the lockdown.

Our other retail stores in London, Liverpool, Chester and Knutsford remain open on reduced hours, with reduced staff as some are in isolation and of course our sampling lounges are closed, tasting events are all cancelled and new product launches are all delayed.

C.Gars Mail order division remains 100% open and operating at 100% efficiency at both our Norfolk and London warehouses. My thanks to my Teams coping admirably during these crazy times.

I can only hope that everyone is following the Government’s advice to stay safely at home. This virus is very real, very frightening and very dangerous – don’t take it lightly. I lost March but thankfully I didn’t lose my life which at one stage it looked like I might do.

If you can, treat it like an enforced holiday. Enjoy a dram or two of whisky and a good cigar and celebrate every minute of every day that you are healthy and hopefully stay healthy and virus free.

Peaceful puffing and stay safe

Mitchell

Hybrid wrappers are the combination of 2 or more different seeds to create a new one, some hybrids are exclusive for just one type of cigars or limited editions. Some examples are:

Habano Criollo, Hybrid between rosado and corojo

Criollo tobacco is one of the original tobaccos used in cigar making, and according to some, it dates back to the late 1400’s; the term itself means “native seed.” Like Corojo wrappers, they tend to be very susceptible to disease, so most Criollo-wrapped smokes you will find feature hybrid strains like Criollo 98. Criollo wrappers tend to be slightly milder than Corojo wrappers, but still have a bit of pepper in the flavour profile. Other notes include cocoa, cedar, bread, nuts, and a bit of sweetness. Ex: Davidoff royal:

Habano 2000, Hybrid between Cuban-seed and Connecticut Shade.

This wrapper was extremely popular in the 90’s but is being used less frequently. The origin of the cigar is that it originally was developed in Cuba, hence its initial popularity. It was first grown outside of Cuba by Nestor Plasencia. This wrapper taste musty and earthy, and are way thicker than Connecticut Shade, but not quite as thick as the Broadleaf. This wrapper is mostly grown in Nicaragua, Honduras and Ecuador. Ex: AJF San Lotano Oval Habano, Avo domaine (both exclusive for CGARS in UK)

Ecuadorian 702: Exclusive for Davidoff 702, hybrid between 3 different Cuban seeds:

The Davidoff 702 Series 2000 is one of seven cigars that make up the Davidoff 702 Series. The concept behind the 702 Series is that Davidoff has taken seven of its staple blends and replaced the wrapper on each of the blends with its proprietary Ecuadorian 702 hybrid wrapper. The 702 wrapper is the product of a hybrid of three Cuban (Habano) seeds. The tobacco for the 702 wrapper is grown exclusively for Davidoff at the San Juan Finca outside of the province of Cotopaxi in Ecuador. By replacing the wrapper on these seven well-known blends, it creates a whole new cigar. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the Davidoff 702 Series 2000 – which replaced the Ecuadorian Connecticut seed wrapper with the Ecuadorian 702 wrapper. Overall, I found this to create a very different cigar from the original Davidoff 2000, but one that was still quite enjoyable.

Enjoy!

David – Cigar Ambassador. david@cgarsltd.co.uk

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the different wrappers which may now help you choose something new or help start your journey into cigar smoking.

The four major wrapper leaves, from light to dark, are Connecticut, Corojo, Habano and Maduro.

Connecticut. As the name implies, this leaf comes from the Northeastern U.S. state and is essentially the only significant tobacco export from America. However, the seed is grown in Ecuador as well. This plant is nurtured under special conditions, garnering it the nickname “Connecticut Shade” because it is mostly grown under some form of protection – like giant sheets of cheesecloth. This keeps its colour light and the unpredictable weather, such as excessive sun radiation, from beating up the plant. The lack of sunlight also contributes to the leaf’s mild flavour and low nicotine content, but it usually has a woody, mellow, and dry nuts taste. Suggested examples include Mitchellero, Joya Classico, Davidoff signature etc

Corojo. A little darker in colour than the Connecticut wrapper, the Corojo was originally grown in Cuba but, because of the embargo, it is now mostly grown in Honduras and Nicaragua. Due to the new location, the seed needed to be genetically modified in order to survive in its new environment. This wrapper tends to have a very spicy, peppery, robust flavour, favoured by many cigar smokers; however, one drawback to the wrapper is its toughness. It sometimes doesn’t smoke easily. Some examples are Camacho corojo, Rosalones classic, La Aurora ADN etc

Habano is similar in colour to Corojo and is also from Cuba, but today it grows mostly in Nicaragua or Ecuador. The leaf produces a heavy, spicy flavour, so it may overwhelm a beginner smoker. Some examples are Padron, Herrera Esteli etc

Are many different Habano seed like:

Habano Rosado. One of the more uncommon wrapper shades is Rosado, which translates to “rosy” or “pinkish” in Spanish. These wrappers have a distinct reddish hue and are extremely difficult to grow outside of Cuba, which means that only a handful of companies are lucky enough to have a supply of this leaf. This makes Rosado-wrapped cigars rare and highly sought after. Typically, these cigars are very spicy with notes of cedar, coffee, earth, and pepper. Most of the rosado wrappers are cultivated in Ecuador. Some Examples are AJF Last call, Rosalones reserva

The Maduro is the darkest in colour of the four and enjoys the lengthiest lifespan, from seedling to wrapper leaf. It goes through such a long process to properly darken and flavour the leaf properly. Because of these distinct parameters, to be classified as Maduro the wrapper requires a hearty, thick leaf that can withstand years of aging and still maintain its un-blemished cover quality. Not every leaf can be turned into a Maduro wrapper and, interestingly enough, they tend to defy their ominous looks. These cigars often produce a somewhat sweeter undercurrent, which has earned this style the nickname “dessert smoke.”

Some special Maduro wrappers are:

Connecticut Broadleaf, unlike Connecticut shade, is grown in full sun, where the leaf gets thick and full of sugar. The plant is stalk cut instead of primed. Usually earthy and toasty with a subtle sweetness, this wrapper is certainly one of the most popular in the last few years. This leaf is grown in many countries and is the primary type used in Maduro cigars. The word “Connecticut” in the tobacco’s name refers to the valley, not the state.

Ej: CAO flathead, Liga Privada no 9, Oliva G maduro, Arturo fuente  Reserva Xtra Viejo or exquisitos.

Mexican Negro San Andres: Like Connecticut Broadleaf, San Andres Negro is stalk-cut and lends itself to binder and Maduro wrapper production. This varietal is a tough leaf that can withstand the extra fermentation required to produce a Maduro. A San Andres Cuban-seed tobacco wrapper comes in a variety of shades. The dark chocolate wrapper is extra fermented and brings peppery notes with smooth, toasty qualities accompanied by the usual sweetness you find in most Maduro cigars. Flavours may also include wood, earth soil, and clay.

Experienced blenders find that the San Andres leaf does not combine or balance very well with just any filler. It lends itself best to very bold blends and will overpower a cigar quickly if it is not paired with other robust tobacco varieties. If its not well fermented could leave excessive metallic notes on the palate.

Some examples are: Drew Estate Undercrown Maduro, Herrera Esteli Norteno, E.P. Carrillo La Historia, Joya black, Casa turrent maduro, Oliva V Melanio Maduro..etc

Enjoy!

David – Cigar Ambassador. david@cgarsltd.co.uk

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this so far, tune in tomorrow to hear about other noteable wrappers.