I’m done in the London office for this week – off for holidays till Sunday now 🙂 took home a good stash of Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 which I seem to be smoking more and more of since Hunters told me recently they were getting pretty low on stock.

If you haven’t tried them yet you really should before it’s too late. These UK regionals have become so popular and the deserve to be. Today alone we sold some 20 boxes of the Punch. The good news is there will be a Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 limited edition humidor released as a UK market exclusive later this year. I’ll be reserving plenty for our Directors Reserve that’s for sure. These cigars are well balanced and great smokes now built have almost unlimited aging potential.

I scooted over to our La Casa del Habano in lovely Hamburg on Monday for the day to test out the German regional editions with my Partner Christoph Wolters. The Por Larranaga robusto is a most deliciously sweet smoke and the German regional Ramon Allones wasn’t too shabby either 🙂 especially when Christoph paired it up with a cheeky bottle of 1989 Bilecart Salmon 🙂

On to Tuesday and it was a spot of lunch and a smoke or two at Boisdale with Jemma Freeman of Hunters and Frankau J where I spotted famous retired boxer Chris Eubank. Offered the Champ a cigar but he doesn’t smoke cigars at this time. Regardless he was very nice and friendly! and I got him to autograph a copy of European Cigar Journal for my Father ( who is a bit of a boxing fanatic!)

So…. The news is that the UK regional Por Larrañaga “Regalias de Londres” are due out any day now. 5 ½” length and 50 ring gauge – I just can’t wait to try them out !!!!

The latest news – Vintage Cigar Auction

Our Winter 2010 – Vintage Cigar Auction is now confirmed for Tuesday 30th November on the splendid Cigar Terrace at Boisdale in Belgravia

We expect to offer almost 200 Lots of Mature, Discontinued, Unusual, Davidoff, Dunhill, Pre Embargo and Limited Edition Havanas.

Cigars, Champagne and canapés from 6.00-7.00pm
Auction from 7.00- 8.30 pm
More cigars, champagne and canapés 8.30 till 9.30 pm.

Bidders admitted by pre registration in advance only.
Absentee bidding available online.

Catalogue entries close end of September.
Online entries available till end October.

Online and hard copy catalogue available from second week October.  Email for your copy [email protected]

The builders are finally doing the fit out of our new London warehouse – 3 weeks time, life will return to normal so they assure me… and I’ll have twice the space to now 🙂 I think we will have to throw an opening herf.

Have a great rest of the week

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

This week is a serious week for herfing that started with a splendid cigar dinner at cigar friendly Harts Hotel in Nottingham the dinner was held in a Bedouin Tent and thankfully it was a dry and mild evening.

We enjoyed Rafael Gonzales Petit Coronas, H Upmann Connoisseur no.1 and Partagas Serie D Especial Edicion Limitada.

All three smokes were first rate and chosen by Simon Chase who talked about these cigars over the course of the evening. The post dinner cigars were Cohiba BHK 54’s, needless to say they were magnificent. Many thanks to Ashwan for the kind invitation and the Harts Hotel for a wonderful event and Simon Chase of course.

Yesterday was my birthday and I was not planning to head into the office but I had a call from my good friend and top basketball star Mark Blount who had zipped over to London for a few days so … it was office herf time for a long afternoon of Punch Serie D’Oro no.1’s and Cohiba BHK’s matched up with Vigia 18 year old Cuban rum (quite a lot of it !) Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill champagne and another few smokes in the evening completed the perfect day

So I decided it was probably best not to drive home and surprise surprise my car was given a parking ticket despite having a residents permit clearly displayed! How stupid or evil are these parking wardens? don’t even answer. Of course the ticket is now being cancelled. Talk about a waste of time.

Tonight I am heading to The Lamb at Hinden a delightful Hotel in Wiltshire owned by our friends Boisdale. It looks delightful and I’ll be taking my Co – Director Karyn with me for the evening 🙂

Tomorrow its smokes, dinner and more smokes at Boisdale in Belgravia who are so busy that they have only just managed to squish in my booking!

Monday I am off to our beautiful La Casa del Habano in Hamburg for the day and looking forward to some great regional edition smokes with my partner Christoph

Happy days!

Peaceful puffing:-)

Mitchell

The annual dinner and awards for the Association of Independent Cigar Specialists (AICS) were held at Boisdale in Belgravia last night and a great evening was had by all especially as we were enjoying UK exclusive regional edition Punch Serie D’Oro No.1 which are just incredible smokes. In fact the more the mature the better they become.

As I am Chairman of the AICS it was my pleasure to hand out the annual awards which included two for my staff in Chester (Fiona – long service to industry award) and Liverpool (Christine – Customer Service Award) so they received a beautiful certificate as well as a bundle of shopping vouchers which put a very large smile on their faces 🙂

The Cigar Specialist award went to Eddie Sahakian of Davidoff and the Supplier award went to Gift International – well done chaps ! Thanks to Boisdale for a fabulous evening…. as ever

Finally after a long wait we have completed on our new London warehouse acquisition and the builders are starting in the next few days so we are doubling our capacity for mail order fulfilment and hope to offer an even larger range and faster service (is that possible ?!!) this will be a state of the art fulfilment centre and my Team are all very excited about it.

Still a few more months of 2010 to go and lots more expansion plans yet!

If I forgot to wish a Happy Ramadan recently – my apologies and hopefully this is just in time before it ends! and a Shana Tova/Happy new year too 🙂

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

No sooner than I am back in the UK…. I am off herfing again ! This evening Boisdale, Sunday evening The Lanesborogh (a little celebration drink and cigar or two as my nephew Gabriel is having his engagement part in the afternoon) and then next weekend a fabulous evening at the wonderful Harts Hotel in Nottingham. PDF details here

A few places available for the dinner – drop me a line if you would like to join me and Simon Chase for an evening to remember.

Uk regional edition Por Larrañaga “Regalias de Londres” are due to hit our shelevs this month an we are very excited to test out the blend of this Gordito sized cigar 5 1/2″ length an 50 ring gauge- fabulous size cigar. If its as popular as the Por Larranaga Magnificos was there will be a stampede for these smokes!

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell