I spent the weekend at the annual Intertabak trade show in Dortmund. This has to be the largest tobacco trade show in the world, dwarfing the US IPCPR show in size. In fact it is so big my assistant Christine and I were having trouble finding people that we had meetings arranged with!
It was Great to meet up with friends from all over the world at the Cigar Journal event,. I also had a big surprise seeing a 4 page splash on C.Gars Ltd in the current edition of Cigar Journal. You can find details for the cigar Journal event here
Big congrats to Mike Choi for winning the cigar lounge award for the Sahakian Lonunge at The Bulgari. A most delightful herfing spot in the finest location in London.
As expected there were tons of stands for shisha and e-cigarettes which are of no interest to us at all so we gave them a big miss and herfed on to all the cigar and pipe exhibitors that we wanted to visit. These included our favourite New World brands of Arturo Fuente, Oliva and Alec Bradley to name a few. I love these brands for the range and quality of their products, superior blending and beautiful presentation. Full ranges available on my website and select ranges available at Turmeaus stores of course.
Christine was very busy buying a zillion pipes of all shapes and sizes for just about every pipe smokers budget whilst I was busy drinking Grappa at Gentili humidors stand. I have been selling Gentili humidors for over 16 years now and have even visited ( and been very impressed by ) their factory in Italy some years ago. Hand made and beautifiully finished these humidors are superior quality and exceptional value, highly recommended.
My other top tip humidor and accessories range is Dunhill. I actually think their retail prices are wrong! Simply exceptional quality and finish, timeless classics that will last a lifetime. Checkout the range as they are highly recommended.
I attended the Davidoff retail panel ( Europe ) meeting with a few of my European contemporary and caught up with the latest news. I’m very excited about the new Davidoff Escuria. We sampled this new range at the Davidoff Golden Bands Awards event on Saturday night and were very impressed. This was a delightful evening and the usual uber slick Davidoff event. I was so pleased to see my friend Marc Portmann win the Davidoff Depositaire of the Year award.
I had the best of company at my table sitting with Edward ( my favourite cigar merchant in the world !) and Eddie Sahakian from
Davidoff London and Simon from My Smoking Shop in Preston. Fair to say we had a great evening together.
The only other UK cigar merchant I spotted at the show was Parresh Patel who has load of first rate cigar stores in the UK and is a thoroughly decent chap. Question is where was everyone else ?! perhaps no other serious cigar specialists in the UK ? I have always attended trade shows all over the world to take advantage of buying direct and buying new products to bring my clients the most exciting products at the best possible prices. Seems like a simple plan to me 🙂
I stayed in a hotel called Unique Excelsior, be warned the only thing that is unique about this hotel is how expensive it is and how terribly average it is. The only reason I booked was because it used to have a smoking lounge but that’s gone now as well! Dortmund airport has an exceptionally uncomfortable smoking area but at least it’s better than nothing.
In other cigar news this week, we are still waiting for H. Upmann Reserva but not hopeful of getting any substantial quantity any time soon. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we imminently expect the arrival of the UK regional edition Bolivar Belgravia. 5 1/4” length and w hopping 55 ring gauge presented in boxes of 10 . Having smoked 3 of these from the launch party, I can’t wait for these splendid cigars to reach our humidors.
La Casa del Habano – Chester also received the exclusive LCDH Romeo Cedros de Luxe another first rate Havana and a most welcome addition to our range.
For the experienced Havana cigar smoker I have put together a very special Cohiba sampler. A great opportunity to contrast some well-aged Cohiba with some of the finest limited editions.
I’m heading up North to Turmeaus Liverpool and Chester to have a day out of the office! And to check out progress on our third Chester store which I understand is coming along very nicely. Part of my job is to test new products to ensure quality is up to standard 🙂 more details to follow !
I’ll be kicking back with this weekend’s baggie filled with some Romeo Cedros de Luxe, Fuente Anejo 77 and Oliva Orchant Seleccion Chubby… nice mix. And I’ll be pairing them up with some Dalmore 21 Limited edition as a bit of a treat J
Have a smokey weekend.
Peaceful puffing
Mitchell