Cigar Auction Time!

Thankfully the back problem is steadily getting better and I was able to get back to my usual routine this week with a splendid trip up North to the Turmeaus Cigar and Whisky empire 🙂  (I reckon Scotch could well be the best pain killer!)

mitch_turmeausStarting off at Turmeaus Liverpool on Tuesday and spending a few hours working on Turmeaus – The Albany project whilst thoroughly taste testing a Cohiba Robusto Supremo I just love this cigar! It’s a bit of a gobstopper though I hear the cigar made for the Cohiba 50th Anniversary will be a monster 60 ring gauge! No need to ask when these will be available as I don’t know! but… I will try to find out next week when I head to Havana for the Festival del Habanos.

Moving on to Turmeaus and La Casa del Habano – Chester with industry colleagues Keith and Michael ( Road trip !) and we merrily herfed some rather remarkable 2012 RASS  which were blended to perfection, simply first rate sweet tobacco and faultless construction. One of my all-time favourite robustos. It was the first time Keith and Mike had seen the expanded Turmeaus and I think they were suitably impressed with our beautiful whisky department and La Casa del Habanos Humidor and lounge.

We grabbed dinner at my favourite spot in Chester, Bar Lounge which was as perfect as ever followed by yet more RASS on their smoking terrace. I reckon Bar Lounge service is the best in the UK, I love this place and its super cigar friendly.

Next stop was to Turmeaus-Knutsford for a wine tasting session as we have almost completed the fit out of the new wine room which is due to open in March. My lovely Turmeaus – Knutsford team (Andrew, Sue and Liz ) are looking forward to holding regular wine tasting events. It started as a pretty small project but I understand we will have something like 1000 bottles of wine for a kick off so it should be quite an impressive range.

We have finally completed the cigar sampling lounge at Turmeaus – Knutsford and it does look super cool and cosy if I do say so myself, airy and spacious, news on the TV, soft background music , soft drinks and espresso, a perfect environment to sample cigars before you decide what suits you best. The walk in humidor is now fully stocked with Cuban and New World cigars and the whisky range is quire comprehensive £25 – £1,500 a bottle) wine, whisky, cigar and pipe tobacco – who could ask for more ?! well, there is more ! we also sell drinks by the dram and have a great range of single malts and Cuban rum.

Next month we are doing a joint promotion with our friends at Guys Barber Shop in Knutsford, grab a haircut or wet shave and get a voucher for a half price dram! I tested out the wet shave and it was very very good 🙂

Back to La Casa del Habano – Chester for a massively packed whisky and cigar tasting event which was enjoyed by all. The aperitif cigar was a Montecristo Media Corona followed by a Bolivar Royal Coronas. A selection of whisky and rum was sampled including the magnificent Robert Graham exclusive Littlemill which is available directly from the new Robert Graham website and Ron Santiago which paired up very well with the cigars.mitch_herfing

The big success story is our Stalla Dhu single malt whisky which has taken us by surprise  created by my partner and whisky expert Ron Morrison this Speyside and Islay are exclusive to C.Gars and Turmeaus and exceptional value at 35 quid a pop for a quality single malt.

So, auction time is upon us ! Check out the Lots on the auction website  300 Lots of aged, rare and interesting Havanas of all vintage, shapes and sizes. The auction ends this Sunday and it’s easy and fun to bid, we like to think of it as cBay … a bit like eBay for cigars  🙂 Very best of luck to all of our Bidders and Sellers.

Next week I’m off to Havana for the Festival and looking forward to catching up with many friends from around the globe. The Festival celebrates the iconic Cohiba brands 50th anniversary so I expect it to be something special. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter I’ll try and post up some photos (connection in Cuba allowing!) after all this cold weather in the UK, I’ll be hoping for a little sunshine herfing on the Island.

This weekends baggie is filled with cigars from 1997 as we are celebrating my daughter Tasha’s 19th birthday on Sunday. So I have Saint Luis Rey Petit Coronas cabinet selection, Romeo Tubed Churchills and some Punch Double Coronas plus a bottle or two of Dom Perignon to suitably celebrate with 🙂 Happy birthday to Tasha, the official language translator for C.Gars lol

Have a smokey weekend.

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

 

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Cigar Auction Results Live!

This blog comes to you live from our cigar auction at Boisdale Canary Wharf.

All results are subject to final verification on our Auction website http://www.cigarauctions.co.uk/ on Tuesday (changes only due to typing errors!)

Best of luck to all of our bidders and our sellers

Mitchell

View the pictures from the auction below.

1 – £820 2 – £2000 3 – £2000 4 – £1900 5 – £200
6 – £400 7 – £910 8 – £1500 9 – £1180 10 – £1500
11 – £1500 12 – £150 13 – £290 14 – £360 15 – £460
16 – £280 17 – £140 18 – £1120 19 – Pass 20 – £1000
21 – £450 22 – £450 23 – £200 24 – £200 25 – £380
26 – £380 27 – £360 28 – £380 29 – £380 30 – £720
31 – £250 32 – £600 33 – £180 34 – £480 35 – £180
36 – £70 37 – £350 38 – £320 39 – £2000 40 – £140
41 – £170 42 – £360 43 – £70 44 – £70 45 – £90
46 – £60 47 – Pass 48 – £320 49 – £200 50 – £500
51 – £300 52 – £240 53 – £300 54 – £150 55 – £50
56 – £110 57 – £200 58 – £520 59 – £620 60 – £720
61 – £920 62 – £420 63 – £420 64 – £420 65 – £380
66 – £650 67 – £160 68 – £350 69 – £450 70 – £450
71 – £520 72 – £620 73 – £110 74 – £600 75 – £320
76 – £260 77 – £290 78 – £110 79 – £340 80 – £420
81 – £170 82 – £280 83 – £360 84 – £420 85 – £410
86 – £200 87 – £100 88 – £520 89 – £240 90 – £160
91 – £980 92 – £320 93 – £140 94 – £1420 95 – £410
96 – £220 97 – £120 98 – £190 99 – £190 100 – £420
101 – £620 102 – £420 103 – £250 104 – £280 105 – £380
106 – £200 107 – £680 108 – £780 109 – £160 110 – Pass
111 – Pass 112 – £320 113 – £300 114 – £380 115 – £400
116 – £250 117 – £480 118 – £720 119 – £700 120 – £680
121 – £320 122 – £380 123 – £450 124 – £400 125 – £220
126 – £220 127 – £180 128 – £180 129 – £480 130 – £480
131 – £520 132 – £200 133 – £400 134 – £280 135 -pass
136 – £850 137 – £300 138 – £420 139 – £400 140 – £160
141 – £180 142 – Pass 143 – £360 144 – £220 145 – £250
146 – £600 147 – £620 148 – £420 149 – £580 150 – £40
151 – £150 152 – £420 153 – £200 154 – £380 155 – £350
156 – £200 157 – Pass 158 – £200 159 – Pass 160 – £90
161 – £220 162 – £480 163 – £1350 164 – £450 165 – £1520
166 – £1700 167 – £1380 168 – £1750 169 – £1720 170 – £1720
171 – £1780 172 – £1720 173 – £1180 174 – £650 175 – £630
176 – £620 177 – £620 178 – £500 179 – £520 180- 760
181 – £2820 182 – £2950 183 – £1750 184 – £1650 185 – £1650
186 – £450 187 – £820 188 – £780 189 – £780 190 – £680
191 – £200 192 – £250 193 – £170 194 – £100 195 – £110
196 – £700 197 – £600 198 – £600 199 – £620 200 – £600
201- 650 202 – £620 203 – £620 204 – £620 205 – £620
206 – £520 207 – £1450 208 – £900 209 – £420 210 – £480
211 – £820 212 – £800 213 – £780 214 – £480 215 – £480
216 – £480 217 – £400 218 – £100 219 – Pass 220 – £1220
221 – £1220 222 – £2600 223 – £340 224 – £2300 225 – Pass
226 – Pass 227 – £1800 228 – £2200 229 – Pass 230 – £300
231 – £250 232 – £780 233 – Pass 234 – £480 235 – Pass
236 – Pass 237 – Pass 238 – £1200 239 – £1220 240 – £7000
241 – £4900 242 – £120 243 – £1600 244 – Pass 245 – Pass
246 – £820 247 – £1350 248 – £1200 249 – £780 250 – £1450
251 – £1380 252 – £1300 253 – £1000 254 – £250 255 – £880
256 – £1650 257 – £2700 258 – £820 259 – £680 260 – £1050
261 – £1320 262 – £2600 263 – £2200 264 – £520 265 – £550
266 – £450 267 – £420 268 – £820 269 – £820 270 – £1450
271 – £720 272 – £1020 273 – £320 274 – £350 275 – £450
276 – £1100 277 – £360 278 – £3600 279 – £550 280 – Pass
281 – £520 282 – £4600 283 – £3600 284 – £3000 285 – £4800
286 – £1520 287 – £720 288 – £2700 289 – £10500 290 – £1700
291 – £320 292 – £550 293 – Pass 294 – £1220 295 – £800
296 – Pass 297 – £380 298 – £1600 299 – £1700 300 – £40
301 – £40 302 – £100 303 – £160 304 – £320 305 – £250
306 – Pass 307 – £150 308 – £650 309 – £410 310 – £1300
311 – £350 312 – £120 313 – £600 314 – £220 315 – £280
316 – £250 317 – £60 318 – £3250 319 – Pass 320 – Pass
321 – £420 322 – Pass 323 – £600 324 – £570 325 – £260
326 – £1200 327 – Pass 328 – £820 329 – £250 330 – £480
331 – £300 332 – £550 333 – £550 334 – £550 335 – £1050
336 – £1050 337 – £780 338 – £750 339 – £1000 340 – £600
341 – £580 342 – £1250 343 – £2400 344 – £2500 345 – £1600
346 – £600 347 – Pass

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter – Happy Passover, as long as you are enjoying it with a cigar or two…. It’s all good 🙂

Clocks have gone forward, Its very sunny and bloody freezing. Splendid. British Summer Time has begun! So if we could now just have a huge increase in temperature we would be able to enjoy some al fresco herfing. But I reckon it won’t be too long, until then you can always sample indoors at some of the fabulous cigar terraces in London or at my cigar stores in Mayfair, West Hampstead, Chester and Cambridge which all have small comfortable smoking areas. Liverpool is a tad small though you are still welcome to sample in store.

The exception is the barmy laws in Scotland where no sampling exemption exists for cigar shops. And to make matters worse I read this fairly mental article in the Scotsman a few days ago, well I hope common sense prevails and the brilliant law makers don’t tar cigar smokers with the same brush as cigarette smokers but that remains to be seen.

I can’t remember ever seeing a child in any of my cigar shops asking ‘Gimme a Monte 2 mate’ or I’m desperate for a pufAuction Previewf of a Partagas P2 Boss’! in fact we don’t allow ‘minors’ into our shops in the first place and I can’t remember seeing any kids smoking a premium cigar in my life (Except me when I had a puff of my Dads cigar a long, long time ago!)

I’m not pro cigarette smoking for sure, but I am pro ‘freedom to choose’ especially if the product is legal. I am anti ‘legislation for legislations sake’ as its generally a complete waste of time and public money, perhaps the SMP’s are trying to justify their existence by trying to ruin some other peoples existence. What next? Fizzy drinks? Chocolates? Sweets? They should all come with health warnings and plain packaging surely lol. I actually saw a packet of nuts in the supermarket the other day with a label ‘This product may contain nuts.’ Seriously… You couldn’t make it up.

In 2 years time, small shops I understand have to cover up their tobacco display and specialist shops will not be able to have any visible tobacco from the shop windows. Awful for security of staff working at my shops – That’s an obvious one. Is it an attempt to make our shops seedy like 1970’s sex shops in Soho?! It won’t work and any fool can see that. Not for cigars anyway (I know nothing about cigarettes nor do I care for them) The more the Government tells people ‘You can’t do something’ the more they will want to do it.

Case in point is the 2007 Smoking in public places ban. What difference did it make? To cigars smokers I dare say it made no difference at all and if the growth of C.Gars Ltd is anything to go by it probably fuelled our expansion.

Perhaps our brilliant MP’s should kick back with a cigar and a dram of the water of life and contemplate the more important issues that they should justify their miserable existences by working on such as the dire state of the economy, the homeless problems and law and order. No one will thank them for making trade more difficult for the last few cigar specialist in the UK. They are not doing anyone any favours.

If you read Russian there’s a great article in Hecho a Mano – cigar magazine You can always use Google translator if your Russian language skills are not up to par but I think that a lot gets lost in the translation 🙂

Auction time approaches on the 10th June at the fabulous Boisdale Canary Wharf. Checkout the photos… Just a little tease 🙂 Some very interesting Lots to be knocked down on what will be a memorable herf and sale. You can book tickets for the evening on this link Catalogue will be out around 4-5 weeks before the auction online and in print as usual.

Inka Secret Blend cigars remain our biggest success sorry of the year so far with HUGE popularity for the new small chubby Poderoso size maduro wrapper cigar. Can’t go far wrong for just over six quid a pop I guess. Lots of sweet full rich flavours in this Puros from Peru.

In fact the whole range has been so popular we are now literally organizing import over import so as one import is flying in the next order is already placed. I expect robustos to be available again in the next week or two 🙂 Oh.. and the whole brand and range is exclusive to C.Gars Ltd (Turmeaus Tobacconist and Robert Graham Ltd shops) as I created it. 🙂

We now have our new prices of Havana and other premium cigars from all of our importers and our website prices sadly will increase in the next few days. We will as always keep increases to a minimum but you can still top up at pre Budget prices (Not for long!) we will always guarantee to offer the lowest prices in the UK and if we are wrong we will gladly price match… Can’t be fairer than that 🙂

Oh and finally for all the people emailing asking what are the best cigars to invest in now? Here is my definitive answer. We are not investment advisors and we are only cigar specialist but these are the cigars that I have stashed away for the future 🙂

Cohiba 1966
Cohiba Maduro Genios and Magicos from 2007
Romeo Escudos 2007
Romeo Hermosos No.2 2004
Punch Serie D’Oro No.1
Montecristo 520

Get’em while you can and don’t forget, in the collectors market English Market Selection (EMS) cigars always have greater cache than any others as provenance is better established.

I’m offline from tonight till Tuesday night but our phone lines are on 24/7 and our sales Team reply to emails [email protected] 24/7 if you need any advice.

Happy days 🙂

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Happy New Year!

That’s it! – Another year just about completed 🙂 and after a splendid Christmas, drinking way too much Champagne together with some outrageous vintage Havanas (Dunhill Estupendos and Davidoff 5000 to name a few) I’m looking forward to New Year’s Eve with some Bilecart Salmon 1989 Champagne and a Dunhill Havana Club that has been resting in my humidor since the 1980’s… Could be worse 🙂

I had a lovely day at Robert Graham’s new Cambridge whisky and cigar shop yesterday which seems to be a perfect meeting place for C.Gars, Robert Graham and even LCDH customers from Hamburg! Quite a few of whom are already enjoying the comfort of the sampling lounge (Now that we have a little background music and have figured out how the espresso machine works, finally!)

Record sales reported from all of our cigar shops this year and no surprise that our award winning whiskies are selling like crazy.

So my favourite cigars of 2012 were:

Bolivar Britanicas UK Regional Edition
Partagas Serie C No. 3 Limited Edition
Fuente Opus X Belicosos XXX – The best from the Dominican Republic
Cohiba Piramides Extra – New to the Cohiba range
Punch Medalla de Oro – UK Regional Edition
Inka Bombaso Maduro Azul – From Peru and immensely popular
Regius Robusto – splendid Nicaraguan fast getting a big following
C.Gars Ltd Nicaraguan Robusto – Exclusive to us and great value
Ramon Allones Petit Belicoso – UK Regional Edition
Quai’ D’Orsay Coronas – Orchant Seleccion
H. Upmann Half Corona – Cheeky little smoke!

Wow! That was a great year for new cigars, not sure if we can top that in 2013.

Well I’m just about wrapped up at the office and heading home for a few days off but the Team is online 24/7 as always to help with any advice or queries and our retail stores are open every day except New Year’s Day.

Wishing all our friends a very happy and smokey New Year.

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Goodbye Auction Hello Cambridge!

Our Winter Auction was a superb event with days and nights of herfing at the office, Ten Manchester Street and the fabulous Boisdale Canary Wharf.

We filled the cigar Terrace at Ten Manchester Street on Sunday evening after an afternoon of viewings/champagne/snacks/cigars at the office. We herfed our way through a stack of Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos on the Sunday and a load more on Monday together with Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 and El Rey Choix de L’Epoque UK Regional Editions. Boisdale provided first class canapés and the Balvenie whisky tasting was magnificent.

Over 100 bidders crammed the auction room to bid on 301 Lots auctioned by Brian Ebbesen. This was our 7th auction over the last 4 years and our most successful yet raising almost £400,000 including fees. There were around 10 unsold Lots but prices generally seemed very firm especially for the top end collectible Davidoff, Dunhill and Cohiba. Even early LE’s and RE’s seem to be increasing in value now. Looked like some bargains were had on mature and some vintage cigars though.

Buyers invoices are all completed and my thanks go to all our buyers for paying so promptly as usual and sellers reports go out next week.

Our next auction will be in Summer 2013 but of course we do buy and sell vintage Havanas for clients every day of the year so if I can help or advise simply drop me an email at [email protected]

Bloomberg TV interviewed me and it was shown on Tuesday – I’ll be signing autographs for the rest of the week lol 🙂

I’ll now withdraw last week ‘raspberry of the week award’ that went to British Telecom as they have finally managed to get our phone lines working in our new Robert Graham Ltd whisky and cigar shop in Sussex Street Cambridge.  My thanks to the exceptionally helpful Lorraine at BT.  Now… if we could just get the broadband connected (!)

We’re planning a soft opening this Tuesday although I think it’s likely that we will be stocking up the shelves for a few days as the shop is fairly huge! We’ll be planning some great launch evenings in the new year with some outrageous whisky, chocolate and cigar samplings.

So I’m off to Cambridge on Sunday and will be there for a few days during next week to get the new store up and running – hopefully by next week’s blog I will be able to confirm we have the best cigar and whisky specialist shop in the UK (one of many great shops in our group!­ )

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

 

Mitchell

 

LOT SOLD £ LOT SOLD £ LOT SOLD £ LOT SOLD £ LOT SOLD £
Lot 1 1400 Lot 2 1400 Lot 3 1400 Lot 4 1500 Lot 5 1500
Lot 6 1400 Lot 7 750 Lot 8 1350 Lot 9 580 Lot 10 1500
Lot 11 330 Lot 12 720 Lot 13 420 Lot 14 120 Lot 15 240
Lot 16 110 Lot 17 340 Lot 18 280 Lot 19 420 Lot 20 900
Lot 21 800 Lot 22 2100 Lot 23 920 Lot 24 pass Lot 25 270
Lot 26 980 Lot 27 1300 Lot 28 780 Lot 29 380 Lot 30 420
Lot 31 520 Lot 32 380 Lot 33 550 Lot 34 500 Lot 35 550
Lot 36 2600 Lot 37 420 Lot 38 180 Lot 39 500 Lot 40 420
Lot 41 270 Lot 42 280 Lot 43 270 Lot 44 300 Lot 45 260
Lot 46 pass Lot 47 650 Lot 48 650 Lot 49 130 Lot 50 260
Lot 51 1300 Lot 52 400 Lot 53 160 Lot 54 1600 Lot 55 390
Lot 56 360 Lot 57 380 Lot 58 300 Lot 59 220 Lot 60 240
Lot 61 800 Lot 62 160 Lot 63 950 Lot 64 350 Lot 65 300
Lot 66 190 Lot 67 190 Lot 68 250 Lot 69 200 Lot 70 330
Lot 71 80 Lot 72 820 Lot 73 820 Lot 74 400 Lot 75 340
Lot 76 260 Lot 77 170 Lot 78 800 Lot 79 580 Lot 80 180
Lot 81 300 Lot 82 1400 Lot 83 460 Lot 84 480 Lot 85 pass
Lot 86 pass Lot 87 pass Lot 88 pass Lot 89 720 Lot 90 300
Lot 91 270 Lot 92 420 Lot 93 280 Lot 94 600 Lot 95 2600
Lot 96 400 Lot 97 520 Lot 98 300 Lot 99 720 Lot 100 600
Lot 101 370 Lot 102 500 Lot 103 300 Lot 104 300 Lot 105 150
Lot 106 480 Lot 107 520 Lot 108 270 Lot 109 250 Lot 110 340
Lot 111 320 Lot 112 340 Lot 113 680 Lot 114 620 Lot 115 600
Lot 116 380 Lot 117 720 Lot 118 280 Lot 119 550 Lot 120 320
Lot 121 200 Lot 122 190 Lot 123 180 Lot 124 80 Lot 125 80
Lot 126 170 Lot 127 580 Lot 128 310 Lot 129 360 Lot 130 340
Lot 131 580 Lot 132 1700 Lot 133 2100 Lot 134 1700 Lot 135 500
Lot 136 620 Lot 137 320 Lot 138 1800 Lot 139 2400 Lot 140 2300
Lot 141 2500 Lot 142 2400 Lot 143 980 Lot 144 520 Lot 145 520
Lot 146 300 Lot 147 170 Lot 148 pass Lot 149 pass Lot 150 620
Lot 151 420 Lot 152 820 Lot 153 540 Lot 154 620 Lot 155 80
Lot 156 750 Lot 157 720 Lot 158 550 Lot 159 500 Lot 160 550
Lot 161 550 Lot 162 550 Lot 163 1100 Lot 164 980 Lot 165 320
Lot 166 340 Lot 167 360 Lot 168 950 Lot 169 480 Lot 170 480
Lot 171 300 Lot 172 400 Lot 173 400 Lot 174 560 Lot 175 620
Lot 176 850 Lot 177 500 Lot 178 480 Lot 179 1450 Lot 180 1550
Lot 181 1700 Lot 182 1500 Lot 183 1500 Lot 184 2000 Lot 185 2100
Lot 186 2100 Lot 187 1800 Lot 188 1200 Lot 189 1500 Lot 190 1300
Lot 191 270 Lot 192 800 Lot 193 880 Lot 194 850 Lot 195 850
Lot 196 400 Lot 197 1600 Lot 198 1100 Lot 199 520 Lot 200 1800
Lot 201 1250 Lot 202 130 Lot 203 4000 Lot 204 1050 Lot 205 1050
Lot 206 4000 Lot 207 5500 Lot 208 1700 Lot 209 360 Lot 210 240
Lot 211 1300 Lot 212 950 Lot 213 300 Lot 214 4900 Lot 215 4100
Lot 216 2900 Lot 217 3000 Lot 218 3400 Lot 219 6200 Lot 220 2400
Lot 221 3800 Lot 222 3400 Lot 223 1200 Lot 224 2300 Lot 225 3400
Lot 226 380 Lot 227 3800 Lot 228 500 Lot 229 320 Lot 230 350
Lot 231 500 Lot 232 281 Lot 233 pass Lot 234 350 Lot 235 450
Lot 236 500 Lot 237 1150 Lot 238 900 Lot 239 1100 Lot 240 900
Lot 241 1200 Lot 242 1100 Lot 243 1650 Lot 244 310 Lot 245 1900
Lot 246 2200 Lot 247 500 Lot 248 700 Lot 249 750 Lot 250 600
Lot 251 120 Lot 252 900 Lot 253 680 Lot 254 850 Lot 255 1000
Lot 256 1000 Lot 257 1900 Lot 258 650 Lot 259 400 Lot 260 300
Lot 261 55 Lot 262 1700 Lot 263 1800 Lot 264 1800 Lot 265 1800
Lot 266 1800 Lot 267 1500 Lot 268 1500 Lot 269 1500 Lot 270 1500
Lot 271 1500 Lot 272 1500 Lot 273 1700 Lot 274 1200 Lot 275 1700
Lot 276 3300 Lot 277 3500 Lot 278 1300 Lot 279 1800 Lot 280 2200
Lot 281 2700 Lot 282 8000 Lot 283 300 Lot 284 300 Lot 285 1500
Lot 286 1200 Lot 287 1200 Lot 288 800 Lot 289 850 Lot 290 5100
Lot 291 5100 Lot 292 1900 Lot 293 1900 Lot 294 1800 Lot 295 3600
Lot 296 3100 Lot 297 780 Lot 298 8800 Lot 299 1850 Lot 300 1050
Lot 301 pass