Happy New Year!

Just back to the office after 4 days of holiday herfing 🙂 smoked through a stash of good stuff including some great vintage Davidoff and some of the early UK regionals which are all maturing very well indeed.

Best of all was a Davidoff Dom Perignon 1988 matched with Dom Perignon champagne 1988 – very tasty combo! Por Larranaga Magnificos with Bollinger RD wasn’t too shabby either 🙂

We were of course available 24/7 by email and phone over the weekend and I was surprised how many people were online ! but we love hearing from our clients and I think many of them were happy to have advice available immediately.

Same goes for the 3 days New Year’s weekend- drop us an email anytime [email protected]

All our cigars shops are open as normal if you need to top up for New Year’s eve and we guarantee mail order delivery for next day arrival if you order online before 3pm.

The new Mayfair shop – Alfie Turmeaus Tobacconist has started up in style with loads of local clients happy to have a shop in Shepherd Market. Our sampling area will have its finishing touches completed early in January and our walk in humidor is crammed full of every Havana cigar you could possibly want. My assistant, Lucia who has years of experience at C.Gars Ltd and Robert Graham in West Hampstead is always happy to help you choose the perfect cigar, humidor or gift. We have also now made available a great range of loose and pre-packed pipe tobacco.

OK so friends keep asking me what my favourite cigars of the year have been and here’s the list of my top 5 :

Partagas Serie E No.2 

La Flor de Cano Short Robustos 

Partagas Serie D No. 5 

Cohiba 1966 

Cohiba BHK54

All truly outstanding smokes. The 1966 will age and mature perfectly for many years to come, the LFDC has become my go to morning smoke on the drive to the office, the BHK 54 was the best of the 3 IMHO and I just love the 2 new Partagas cigars.

I’ll be smoking a few of these cigars over the weekend and have 4 Dunhill Cabinetta tucked away for New Year’s eve to enjoy with my Father (together with a Magnum of Pol!)

What a great year for Havanas and what a great year for C.Gars Ltd and Robert Graham Ltd! we now have (far) more cigar specialist shops that anyone in the UK specialist cigar trade and our mail order service has grown dramatically yet again. No sign of recession in this business! We are already planning our next shop opening around Easter 2012 and it will be our flagship cigars and single malt emporium in the UK. 

We’ll carry on trying to give the best service, the fastest delivery, the largest choice and of course the most competitive prices that  are at the heart of our business.

Wishing all of our Staff, Management, Suppliers and Clients a very happy and smokey New Year

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

Merry Christmas

Ho Ho Ho 🙂 by now all our Clients will have their humidors brimming with cigars for Christmas and we are available for advice online 24/7 throughout the holidays as ever [email protected] Its been a crazy Christmas season in our mail order division with record numbers of orders and so far 100% successful fulfilment so I have to say well done to our mail order Teams in London and Norfolk.

massive range of pipe tobacco at Turmeaus- Liverpool

I managed to get away from the madness of my office this week and visit a load of our retail shops thinking I could have a quite smoke and a dram but they were all crammed with customers ( thankfully!) and I ended up (trying!) to assist my retail Teams.

Queuing to get in to Turmeaus Liverpool

My Partner Ron and I paired up some amazing Clynelish 1995 from our Dancing Stag range exclusive to Robert Graham with the my Orchant Selection Juan Lopez and the match was quite perfect.

Robert Graham Canongate Edinburgh walk in humidor

Our Chester and Liverpool shops were so busy that we had queues to the door at some times during the day! Rose street in Edinburgh and West Nile street in Glasgow shops were selling so many cigars we could just about refill the shops fast enough every few hours to keep up with demand- just incredible. Canongate in Edinburgh seemed to be selling as much chocolate as whisky from the great range  we carry. Finally it’s great to see so many new customers at our latest cigar store in Mayfair in the heart of London.

Robert Graham Rose street Edinburgh walk in humidor

From humble beginnings back in 1997 on the internet we have grown into the largest specialist Havana cigar merchant in the UK with an ever growing group of fabulous retail cigar and whisky stores. We are already planning another shop opening for Easter which will in fact be our flagship store in the UK – an emporium of cigars, whisky and chocolate with a fabulous tasting  and sampling lounge… more details in the new year!

Turmeaus Chester walk in humidor

Each shop is very individual in style and carries a comprehensive range of product- something to tempt every cigar smoker for sure as all of our shops have walk in humidors crammed to the ceiling with the finest cigars. If we don’t have it in store, we can overnight it from our mail order warehouses to your home or office.

Turmeaus Liverpool retro confectionery store

My favourite cigars of the year have been the La Flor de Cano short robusto and Partagas Serie E no.2. Simply delicious blends from the first to the last puff.  I can’t wait for the new Montecristo Reserva to be released which we expect sometime very soon.

Walk in humidor - Turmeaus Liverpool

I’ll be kicking back over the long weekend with some delicious Margaux from 2007 ( TY H&F!) and a variety of planned smokes including Dunhill Cabinetta, Davidoff Ch. Latour, La Flor de Cano short churchills and a few Haut Brion too 🙂

Walk in humidor- Turmeaus Liverpool

Wishing all of my clients, Partners, Management, retail and mail order Teams a very merry Christmas!

Peaceful puffing and Slainte

Mitchell

C.Gars are in Mayfair!

At long last I can finally announce the opening of our newest specialist Havana cigar shop in the heart of Mayfair.

Located in Shepherd Market and open 7 days a week including late night  openings Thursday through Saturday

The shop features a walk in humidor with an enormous range of the finest English Market Selection Havana cigars available in singles, small packs, boxes and cabinets. We also stock gift presentation boxes, jars and limited edition humidors.

Clients will find a comprehensive range of pipes, pipe and rolling tobaccos, cigar cutters, humidors, lighters, ashtrays, Cuban coffee and all smokers accessories and of course offer private locker facilities and a sampling room

The light and bright shop design makes leisurely browsing a pleasure and Shepherd Market has plenty of superb restaurants with al fresco dining where you can enjoy a good cigar after a meal

On our walls we are exhibiting some of our world famous collection of original photographs from Cuba

Our staff have been trained both at Hunters and Frankau’s cigar school as well as C.Gars Ltd on-going training program and are always delighted to advise. We guarantee you the best old fashioned service second to none

I will be happy to meet clients and discuss their specific requirements in my sampling room which has a nice range of Robert Graham single malt whisky

Turmeaus Tobacconist is the second oldest Havana cigar merchant in the UK having been started in business in 1817 in Liverpool by the Turmeaus family from France (you can see an original shop photograph in our shop window from 1917!)

In its heyday Turmeaus was not only a Havana cigar retailer but also an Havana cigar importer and had some 7 specialist shops in Merseyside.

In 2003 there was only one rather run down Turmeaus shop left in Water street Liverpool which C.Gars Ltd purchased with a mission to revive and ensure the survival of the Turmeaus name in the cigar industry. After a radical tidy up and reimage of the store and the appointing of our friend Christine Nestor as Manageress the business has never looked back. Christine’s husband Alfred, an author and avid pipe smoker has been influential on the growth of our pipe and pipe tobacco side of our business and we have names our Mayfair shop in his honour.

Another Turmeaus tobacconist shop was opened in Chester in 2005  having taken over an existing specialist shop from my friend Peter Lloyd who had owned the shop for many years.

Over the last 12 months we have opened a Turmeaus retro confectionery shop in Fenwick street, Liverpool, developed a brand new Turmeaus Tobacconist shop in Fenwick street Liverpool, refurbished our Turmeaus shop in Chester and now opened our Mayfair Alfie Turmeaus shop. We plan to open more Turmeaus tobacconist shops over the coming years offering the finest cigars and the best service in the business

You can see all of our locations including our splendid Robert Graham Ltd whisky and cigar shops on our contacts page and my team look forward to giving you a warm welcome

I reckon C.Gars Ltd Group is the largest Havana cigar Specialist in the UK and also has an incredible La Casa del Habano in Hamburg managed by famous cigar specialist Christoph Wolters. Our associates in Dublin are the Decent Cigar Emporium will offer you the same care and attention that you expect from C.Gars Ltd too.

My Team and I would like to think that we are the best in the trade and of course we are founder members of the Association of Independent Cigar Merchants (your guarantee of quality, service and value) we are all trained by Hunters and Frankau and we are passionate about our English Market Selection Havanas

If you don’t have one of our shops near you we are happy to offer our rapid mail order service through C.Gars Ltd- online 24/7 – every day of the year through our purpose built warehouses and offices in London and Norfolk

We are still shipping literally 1000’s of orders to arrive before Christmas but we recommend you get your orders in before the 22nd

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

C.Gars in the Financial Times!

What a lovely surprise to see an article by cigar journalist Nick Hammonds in today’s Financial Times How to Spend it magazine and what a splendid photo of an Orchant Selection Bolivar Royal Corona. It looks positively mouth-watering and I have been smoking Bolivars all day as a consequence !

Click below to View

FT-part1      FT-part2 

It’s been a madly busy week trying to deal with all the admin and accounts from the Winter cigar auction but its nice to have all the cigars collected by the buyers so I can actually see my walk in humidor again ( which was getting a bit overfull !) and of course it’s always fun paying out all the sellers who are no doubt very happy to have their payments before Christmas ( and probably buy different cigars with the proceeds!)

Arturo from LCDH - Havana and Ignacio from H&FStill managed to have an office herf with Ignacio- Cuban Director of Hunters and Frankau and Arturo from La Casa del Habano division of Habanos SA  ( see photo) always good to catch up with all the industry news.

We have a beautiful LCDH in Hamburg and have just celebrated our 5th anniversary.  Our shop has a beautiful cigar lounge, massive walk in humidor stocked up to the ceiling of course with the finest Havanas and we have this week completed our Casa del Ron – rum tasting lounge just behind the humidor. I should be over there in the next week or two to do a little ‘sampling’ 🙂 maybe I’ll open another La Casa del Habano in the UK next year 😉

Also managed to have dinner with Ranald at Boisdale Belgravia earlier in the week  and quite a few smokes after dinner on the Terrace. As ever the terrace was packed with a big crown of cigars smokers. Ranald and I both enjoyed smoking my Orchant Seleccion Juan Lopez.  These smokes from 2008 are quite delicious with dark colorado maduro wrapper. Last few singles available now. These have sold much faster than anticipated although our retail shops may well have a few singles in the humidors if you are a Turmeaus or Robert Graham customer.

My London and Norfolk sales Teams have never been so busy with the Christmas rush now in full swing. I have lost count of how many of our Christmas crackers we have sold  but we are talking loads and loads! It’s the perfect stocking filler

No sign of Montecristo Gran Reserva yet although hopeful we will have them in tiny quantity next week but they’re expensive so you may have to resort to cash advance apps to get some – interesting to see how these have developed since they were introduced to the trade back at the February Festival

Well I’d like to say that I’m kicking back on the weekend but with the current crazy volume of orders I’ll be in the office Saturday evening and all day Sunday to ensure on time deliveries for all our clients 🙂 if you need any advice our helpful sales Team are here 24/7 to assist so don’t hesitate to drop us an email [email protected]

Have a smokey weekend.

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

December already?!

I’m finally getting back to ‘normal’ after a crazy week of Winter auction herfing that started with a fabulous pre auction herf at our offices last Sunday ( lost count of all the Champagne we went through but probably set a new office herf record) moved on to wonderful Ten Manchester street and finished with our mega 400 Lot auction at Boisdale Canary Wharf which had around a 92% sale rate.

The event was a cigars smokers herfing heaven with drinks, canapés and smokes on the cigar terrace before and after the auction and we were lucky enough to have dry and mild weather for the evening. This was a massive contrast to our last Winter auction at Boisdale Belgravia where we nearly froze to death !!! The auction room was packed to capacity with almost 100 bidders from all over the globe.

The canapés were delicious as expected from Boisdale as were the array of cocktails. We smoked our way through stacks of UK regional edition Por Larranaga Regalias de Londres and Juan Lopez Orchant Seleccion ( which are more or less sold out now although you may find an open cabinet in our retail shops) These 2008 Juan Lopez smoke like a dream, deeply complex and very well balanced. A smooth, full flavoured cigar with a rich colorado maduro wrapper. 

A few unsold Lots that are still open to offers include:

 11 Bolivar Gold Medals £2,300-£3300  
 
34 Medallion Petit coronas  £200-£250  
 
39 Montecristo no 2 £3000-£3500  
 
46 Partagas Belvederes £300-£340  
 
86 Siboney Coronas Tip no 3 £3000-£4000  
 
113 Cohiba Siglo IV £400-£550  
 
127 H.Upmann Especiales £100-£150  
 
148 Le Hoyo Des Dieux £240-£290  
 
236 Romeo  y Julieta Hermosos no.1 £300-£400  
 
237 Romeo  y Julieta Hermosos no.1 £300-£400  
 
252 Hoyo De Monterrey Epicure no.1 £130-£190  
 
299 Cohiba 40th anniversary humidor £950-£1150  
 
308 Trinidad 40th anniversary humidor £2600-£2900  

 309 ST DuPont Cohiba Gatsby Lighter £1350-£1650  
 
310 ST DuPont Cohiba Line 2 Lighter £1800-£2200  
 
312 ST DuPont Columbus 1492 lighter £1850-£2250  
 
313 ST DuPont Medici set £7750-£8750  
 
315 ST DuPont Trinidad Lighter  £1450-£1850  
 
316 ST DuPont Versailles set £5600-£7500  

 
317 Cohiba cigar case autographed by Fidel Castro £2200-£3200  
 
318 Cohiba humidor signed by Fidel Castro £44,000-£64,000  

 
324 Montecristo Limited Edition Humidor £3750-£4250  
 
333 Cohiba Lanceros with King of Spain Bands £850-£1100  
 
336 H Upmann Noellas jar £200-£250  
 
338 Hoyo De Monterrey Double Coronas £400-£500  
 
344 Punch Air France £500-£650  
 
351 H Upmann Preciosas £80-£100  
 
355 La Corona Menocales £140-£200  
 
356 La Corona Menocales £140-£200  
 
358 Maria Guerrero Cedros De Luxe £1200-£1600  
 
359 Modjosa Creolas £350-£450  
 
360 Modjosa Creolas £350-£450  
 
375 Romeo Y Julieta Cedros De Luxe no 3 £550-£750  
 
377 Romeo Y Julieta no 1 Tubed £400-£500  
 
399 Romeo Y Julieta Exhibition no 2 LE £500-£600

By close of business today we hope to have reported to all of the buyers as well as all of the sellers (a massive task I can tell you!) and that’s the end of auction season for this year.

Our next auction will be held in Summer 2012 and our auction website will of course be updated with further details.

We are of course happy to offer valuation, purchase and sale advice regarding vintage Havanas throughout the year but if you are thinking of entering Lots into the next auction, best advice is to get them to us no later than end of March.

So it’s back to business as usual from tomorrow and I expect to be herfing at Boisdale Belgravia on Tuesday and probably the Lanesborough later in the week.

So its December Christmas season again ( could be the fastest year I can ever remember) and here we are on Sunday working in both our warehouses with full Teams of staff coping already with more than double the usual amount of orders. In general terms if it’s on the websites- it’s in stock and we surely have the perfect gifts for the holidays for just about everyone ! stacks of presentation cases, Christmas cigar crackers, lighters, cutters and of course humidors for every budget. My Girls are always delighted to advise so don’t hesitate to give them a buzz or drop them an email.

Have a smokey week 

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell