Happy Paddies Day!

Happy St Patricks Day from sunny London 🙂

Guy and MitchellMy Partner, Guy from The Decent Cigar Emporium spent the morning at our offices where we toasted the good saint with some Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligans and some Jameson’s Irish whisky. When in Dublin, there’s only one cigar store to visit, find us on Grafton street and mention C.Gars for a warm welcome.

I’ve had a crazy busy time since returning from the Festival in Havana especially since our Spring – Online Auction was held on the 7th March.

The results were amazing with all but 5 Lots being sold  within or above the estimate range. Clearly the market for good quality mature and aged cigars shows no sign of slowing down. Prices were very firm indeed, a few bargains were had, Davidoff and Dunhill prices keep increasing as do pre Embargo cigars.

From all the feedback from bidders and sellers, everyone was happy with the functionality of the site which puts a big smile on my face as we created it completely in house. So well done to Laura and her Team at our Norfolk offices.

We’ve almost completed our auction admin work (quite a task I can tell you!) and we expect that all auction Lots that have not been collected already will be shipped out over the next week… Making way for the next auction!

Our Summer Auction will be held online again on the 1st June 2014 and we are inviting prospective sellers to contact us soonest as the catalogue is almost full already so we will likely close it in a few weeks’ time. Once again we will offer a fine selection of aged, mature, pre-embargo, limited edition, Davidoff, Dunhill and limited edition humidors, cigars for smoking and cigars for collecting. Always happy to take any enquiries by email at [email protected]

For those who enjoyed our rather outrageous Winter Auction event at Boisdale Canary Wharf (Cigar Smoker of the Year Awards Dinner with Boisdale and The Spectator) you’ll be pleased to hear that Ranald and I had our first planning lunch meeting last week (at the lovely and cigar friendly Boisdale Belgravia) and we are planning another spectacular event this December.

Last week I visited our cigar and whisky shops up in Glasgow and Edinburgh, had a few drams of Robert Graham single malt and smoked a few too many Inka Secret Blend cigars with my partner Ron, whilst reviewing our retail operations.

Our shops are such a delight as are our retail Team. Jo at our Rose street branch is very happy with her walk in humidor which has been refurbished to twice the previous size. We’re expanding our range substantially due to huge demand from many of our clients.

Linda at our flagship Glasgow store is delighted with her additional showcase Davidoff humidor whilst Dougie in Canongate tells me we have a larger and more exclusive range of single malt whisky than we have ever had before.

naturally_sevenI love hanging out at retail and chatting to our customers, it’s great to find out what they are looking for so we can make sure we stock the right range for all of our customers. I never know who I will bump in to and at the Glasgow store it was a pleasure to meet some of the guys from Naturally Seven, the group that perform with Michael Buble who were playing in Glasgow.

I also popped into our Cambridge store and herfed Davidoff Puro d’Oro from the new Davidoff walk in humidor with clients in our sampling lounge. Our next tasting evening is on this link.

Back to London and I zoomed round our shops in West Hampstead and Mayfair – small shops, huge range and a warm welcome from our experienced staff. Relatively easy parking and of course cigar sampling encouraged at both locations. Take advantage of our click and collect service by ordering online at website prices (guaranteed lowest in the UK) and collect in store!

Last Thursday I herfed with  a few of my smoking chums at the Edward Sahakian cigar shop and lounge at the Bulgari hotel. Great to see Mike Choi back from Havana with a more than respectable 2nd place in the International cigar sommelier contest. We herfed our way through BHK 54’s matched up with Dalmore cigar malt and then headed back to my smoking deck which is finally complete in my garden. Fire pit, heating, lighting and seating all well tested and working!

It’s that bloody Budget time of year and time for the Chancellor to bash the smoker again no doubt. I’m holding prices as long as stocks last but if you want to beat this week’s Budget get your orders in soonest.

Heading off to Basel for the Davidoff Retail Panel meeting in the morning, will be there for a couple of days and then off to Paris… Back in London office Friday to catch up but always available on email and more than happy to advise.

Have a smokey week,

Peaceful puffing,

Mitchell

Gallery

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