Monster Montecristo!

Greetings from the madhouse we like to call C.Gars Ltd World Headquarters in rainy London! Fortunately its legal to sample cigars in the comfort of my office and what a pleasure it has been to sample the new monster sized Montecristo 520 Limited edition 2012 which we have released this week.

Measuring in at a hefty 5 ¾” length and a whopping 55 ring gauge, the latest cigar from Havana delivers huge volumes of sweet flavours from start to finish. Medium strength, well balanced and with a very cool draw, this cigars is dressed in the most beautiful vein free, smooth maduro wrapper. Surely destined to become as popular as the now sold out 2008 Montecristo Sublimes.

On the other end of the strength and size scale, we expect to introduce the latest Orchant Seleccion Havana cigar in the next 48 hours. The Quai D’Orsay Corona  is a sweet and light flavour and light strength Havana that is a splendid daytime smoke. It won’t knock out your palate with strength but the flavours are quite delicious. Light colorado wrapper, mild, herbal and toasted tobacco flavours. Only 64 boxes of 25 will ever be made. Available on my website and in our cigar shops from Monday.

Despite the more or less nonstop rain in London we are lucky to have some fabulous cigar terraces that are well protected from the elements. One of my favourites is Ten Manchester Street Hotel, A cigar friendly hotel with great service, smokes, drinks and eats! I herfed there a few days ago and was not surprised how busy the terrace was as it’s such a comfortable place to herf.

My other favourites include all the Boisdale establishments. Super cigar friendly, great value and the best ambience and atmosphere. Boisdale have their own range of wine and Champagne that we are planning to introduce in our retail stores very soon and Robert Graham Independent bottled single malt whisky will be available behind Boisdale bars very soon 🙂

I’m planning on checking out the cigar terrace at the Mayfair Hotel with Karyn this evening. Full herfing report to follow.

But the best is yet to come with the planned December opening of the Wellesley Hotel which I reckon could be the best venue to smoke in the UK… Can’t wait!

My exclusive Inka Secret Blend cigars from Peru have finally arrived in the UK so with any luck the full range will be available, including new sizes, next week.

Enjoyed a Partagas Serie C no.3 compliments of Ignacio, the Cuban Director of Hunters & Frankau, when he popped into the office yesterday with Ricardo from Habanos SA marketing. Funny how my Cuban friends drink Scotch and I drink Cuban rum!

Auction catalogue will be online and posted to clients next week. The 26th November auction is quite a huge sale with over 300 Lots. Davidoff and Dunhill, Pre embargo and vintage, Limited edition and mature Havanas, a delightful selection indeed. We are also offering an outstanding collection of rare Havanas from a connoisseur/collector recently moved from his humidor and now stored at Davidoff Geneva (Thank you Davidoff of Geneva!)

Viewings on Sunday 25th at our London offices from noon followed by a pre-auction event herf at Ten Manchester street.

We are very looking forward to sampling  Balvenie Rum Cask 14 and Glenfiddich 18 together with some of the finest English Market Selection Havanas from Hunters & Frankau. Delicious canapés by Boisdale and the best of company should make this a memorable evening for cigar aficionados and connoisseurs from around the world.

Tickets for both evenings are now available on the following links:

Sunday 25th November Ten Manchester Street
Monday 26th November Boisdale Canary Wharf
Both evenings

That’s the news for now except that I’m off to Turmeaus cigar shop in Mayfair this afternoon for another Monte 520  and a wee dram or two of Robert Graham Ailein Mor Highland single malt, recently awarded Silver in the 2012 Independent Bottlers Challenge for best Highland.

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Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

The Roller Rocks!

Fidel rollerSo we have Señor Fidel Segui at the offices rolling freshies all week 🙂 and I have him rolling mas fuerte robustos or other sizes on request. Mind, don’t smoke to many on the same day as these puppies are powerful!

Señor Segui began his career at the Romeo y Julieta factory in 1999 and quickly demonstrated the skill and understanding required to achieve the highest ranking within the categories defined by Cuban cigar industry. In 2005 he transferred to his current position in La Corona factory where he specialises in producing many of the larger, more complicated vitolas within the Habanos range.

Señor Segui has previously travelled to Mexico, France and Romania demonstrating the art of crafting a handmade Cuban cigar.

We have an open afternoon on Thursday from noon till early evening if you would like to see a rolling demonstration and sample a freshly rolled Havana cigar. Also available at just £14.99 with purchase of any other hand made Havana from our range. Email for details [email protected]

Montecristo 520Montecristo 520’s Limited edition 2012 will be available for shipping mid next week. This monster smoke is going to be hugely popular, further details here:

Montecristo 520 – 2012 – Limited Edition – 1s
Montecristo 520 – 2012 – Limited Edition – 10s

Michelle is on vacation this week so I have been office bound manning the phones… Thank goodness she’s back on Sunday (and that’s the last holiday she’s allowed to take for the next 5 years!) I’ve been recommending and selling Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos UK regional edition to everyone that phones as they are such great smokes and the price is pretty good too (not such a bad phone sales person after all!)

If you want to contrast them with an awesome mature Havana I have just released some of my Directors reserve Ramon Allones Belicosos the original UK regional edition from 2004 which have matured to perfection as I expect the Petit B’s to.

I’m still blasting through the delicious new Partagas Serie C no.3 every evening. Rich, full flavour and complex, the perfect finish to my late nights/mornings(!) on email. If you haven’t tried them yet you are missing out, assuming you are an experienced cigar smoker, you will likely agree that the blend is one of the finest since limited editions were introduced.

The 26th November Cigar Auction is starting to become a bit of a monster and we now expect auctioneer Brian Ebbesen to be offering almost 300 Lots of fine Havana cigars. Some incredible pre embargo cigars as well as limited edition, books, jars, humidors, mature cigars and of course some Davidoff and Dunhill. If you would like to join us for the event and/or the pre herf evening you can book via the auction website. Be warned though, space for both evenings is limited so don’t leave it until the last minute to book!

It should be quite an evening as we will also be having a fab whisky tasting before and after the auction as well as smoking some great UK regional editions from Hunters and Frankau. Catalogue will be online and in print in a week or two.

Robert Graham WhiskiesRobert Graham single malt whisky seems to be more popular by the week, our range of independently bottled Scotch is ever changing as most of the Scotch that we release of course comes from a single cask. Our cask strength Bowmore 1990 sold out within a week of being introduced! Checkout the range here. It’s great to have our own boutique brand and each of our Robert Graham retail shops have their own individual character. Whisky/Cigars and Chocolate – Who could ask for more?! Our latest store which will open next month in Cambridge will be uber cool but I am sworn to secrecy until we open 🙂

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

C.Gars Ltd Cigar Halloween

Ramons are in… And out!!

Ramon petit belicososWhat a delightful surprise! We finally received the 2012 UK regional edition Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos last Monday just when I was started to worry that they would never arrive!… And another smashing cigar blend for the UK market.

Full and very typical Ramon flavours with medium to full strength, a complex and smooth smoke reminiscent of the first regional edition ever produced for the world in 2004 the fabulous Ramon Allones Belicosos UK regional edition.

Colorado maduro smooth and vein free wrapper, cool and easy draw, sweetness from the first puff to the last leaving you longing for another one. Only 5000 numbered boxes that are selling like maaaaaaaaddddddddd!!!!! Try a single or a box or lay down some stock but I can tell you these cigars will age and improve for many years.

Had a couple of days off at the start of the week and blasted through half a box of Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 1008 regional edition. Well, I loved this cigar when it first came out (after all – I did lend the original 1970’s full box to Habanos SA to replicate!) but I love them even more now as they have developed into a cigar for the connoisseur. Deep and complex, full flavour and full strength. These fabulous piramides will continue to develop and become a classic over the next 20 years. We have just released a further 20 boxes from our Directors Reserve to give you another opportunity to smoke or stash!

Great new sampler of the 2012 releases here, all first rate smokes that are sure to please.

6 weeks to go before the next Vintage Cigar Auction at Boisdale. Event details should be on the website fairly soon so you can book tickets to the pre-auction herf as well as the auction event. We’ll be smoking some great UK regionals, drinking some fabulous scotch and enjoying canapés from the lovely Ten Manchester street and Boisdale Canary Wharf. Be sure to book tickets early to avoid disappointment as our events sell out fast!

We expect to have some splendid limited edition cigars, Davidoff’s, mature and vintage cigars as well as pre-Embargo’s as usual… and we expect to have a great few days of herfing!

Best Cigar Shop AwardBolivar jarSpent the day at our fabulous La Casa del Habano in Hamburg which has just been awarded The Best cigar shop in Germany award from Cigar Clan magazine. My partner Christoph Wolters and I smoked our way through a load of German regional editions including the amazing Bolivar 5th Avenida and Juan Lopez Distinguidos. These regional editions were presented in the most superb jars and only 600 of each were made. If you are visiting Hamburg… The only cigar shop to herf in is ours 🙂

Sorry, sorry, sorry to all of our clients who are desperate for more of our Inka Secret Blend cigars. I have never had so much Juan jarinterest in a new cigar line in my entire career! Thanks for your patience – they will finally be arriving on our shelves within the week including some additions to the range 🙂

Finally the Empire continues to grow as we have now acquired fabulous new premises in the heart of Cambridge. We expect to open our new Robert Graham Cigar and Whisky shop late November and will have two huge walk in humidors- One with the largest selection of singles in the UK and the other with a humungous range of full boxes/cabinets/jars/limited editions. Our Cambridge shop will also have a very comfortable cigar sampling lounge and client lockers. We will have a massive range of our award winning Independent bottles Robert Graham single malt whisky and other fina libations 🙂 More news over the coming weeks.

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

La Casa del Habano Hamburg

Ramon Allones UK regional edition…

When oh when will this delightful sized regional edition be released??!!! I only wish I knew – First we thought it would be in September and now we can only be hopeful it will be available in October.

I love Ramon as a brand and I love UK regional editions as I truly think the UK market receives the most consistent first rate blended Havanas. Great brands, sizes and blends – Who could ask for more?

Measuring in at 5” length and 52 ring gauge and limited to only 5000 boxes of 10 cigars, this is going to be the usual manic sell for my Sales Team 🙂 If we only knew when they will come out. Hey ho… Fingers crossed for this week… Or this month, sooner the better! Shoot me an email if you want to be the first to know. [email protected]

Short week for me due to holidays last Monday and Tuesday and same again next week, (Yes, yes, I’m a part timer lol)  splendid fun doing nothing except figuring what cigar to smoke next. At home I have some great smokes in my humidor to satisfy the daily rotation including:

Partagas Shorts – Ideal with my morning espresso
Montecristo Edmundo 2009/Montecristo no.2 2010 – My standard daily smokes/always very reliable
Diplomaticos no.2 – When I want a change from Monte 2’s
Bolivar Belicosos 2009 – Perfect after lunch smoke
Cohiba BHK52/54 and 56 from 2010 – The finest blended Cohiba’s I have ever smoked
Punch Serie D’Oro no.1 UK regional edition (Slowly running out now so I’m savouring these!) The perfect after dinner smoke when I’m doing the late shift

Mitchell and Neil MillingtonHad a splendid evening herfing at the Lanesborough on Thursday and lovely to see my old chum Neil Millington working at the cigar terrace, smoked our way through a Cohiba piramides Extra followed by a Partagas Serie C no.3 with some Mac 18, great finish to the weeks herfing for me.

Heading off to Hamburg on Wednesday to herf at our fabulous La Casa del Habano – Loads of regional editions to smoke there including the beautiful Bolivar and Juan Lopez jars exclusive to Germany (Best jars I have ever seen!)

Auction time is drawing near, well 8 weeks away and we start work cataloguing and photographing auction Lots from next week to hopefully have our catalogue out 4 weeks before the auction. Should be a great selection of interesting Havanas and its always a fabulous few days herfing for friends from all over the world.

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The Orchant empire is due to expand again fairly soon… More details on next blog 🙂

Have a smokey weekend

Peaceful puffing

Mitchell

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