Greetings from gusty Brexit/ no Brexit crazy UK…. crazy weather and crazy politicians… but great whisky and cigars thankfully.

Our March auction was a resounding success with a super high sale rate as well as some remarkable prices achieved. If you were a successful bidder who has requested shipping, we thank you for your patience whilst my shipping team carefully pack your lots over the next week or so. If you’re in a hurry… come and collect them.

Our next auction will be in June and the catalogue is already filling up. For advice and free valuation service drop the auction team an email. Just to be clear our auctions are for aged, rare, interesting and discontinued Havana cigars only. If you have returned from the beach in Cuba and bought a box of Esplendidos… we’re not interested.

Loads and loads of enquiries for the new UK regional edition but please don’t get too excited yet as we don’t expect to see these till May at the earliest which will probably end up being June.

Our move to our new HQ building in Norfolk is finally complete. Over budget of course and 3 months late…the story of my life lol. Well it was worth the wait and we are super pleased with the results. I think we are the only specialist cigar/pipe/whisky shop in the region so it’s sure to become a destination point. We now have fabulous office suites for our IT, Marketing and sales teams, photographic studio and modern warehouse… we’ve got the lot! Well set up to cope with the unprecedented sales growth C.Gars continues to experience. Well done to Laura, James , Anthony and the C.Gars –Norfolk team for all their hard work.

The C.Gars HQ features a new Turmeaus shop with a comfortable sampling lounge so our customers can select singles to try and decide if they want to buy a box or two. We have a huge range of Havanas and New World cigars and are featuring a magnificent range of Davidoff cigars as well as all our fantastic and explosive to the UK range of Avo cigars.

The humidor range features many of our favourite brands such as Inka – Secret Blend, Regius, Fuente, Oliva, Macanudo and Camacho to name a few. We have a pipe room with 100’s of pipes on display as well as the largest range of pipe tobacco in the UK. The whisky room features our award winning range of Stalla Dhu single malt whiskies as well as the ever popular Dalmore range and my current favourite Tomintoul range. If you haven’t tried the 14 year old, you should do as its quite stunning and pairs very well with a premium cigar.

Our launch event is on Tuesday and as expected sold out in minutes. Don’t worry if you missed out as we will be holding regular whisky and cigar tasting events. Check out our events here, book fast as they sell out fast. Our IT Team have added Trustpilot to our website. Have you enjoyed good customer service? If you have then you can leave a review.

I had a great time visiting Turmeaus in Knutsford, Chester and Liverpool this week. Always good to catch up with the retail teams and our local customers. I’m so proud of our Turmeaus shops, fantastic range or products ( I dare say best in the UK trade) super friendly and knowledgeable staff and a comfortable environment to sample a dram or a premium cigar. I enjoyed and evening in Puffin Rooms with some fabulous music, delicious food and some rather excellent wine. If you haven’t been yet… its worth taking the trek to Liverpool, in fact there’s nothing like it. I just wish there was one in London…

On a terribly sad note, Simon Chase of Hunters and Frankau passed away this week. Simon was not only the most knowledgeable person I have ever met in the cigar industry but he was also the kindest person. I met Simon 25 years ago when I was starting out on my Havana cigar business journey. He always had time to answer my zillion questions about the industry . legislation and of course vintage Havanas. Sometimes we would chat for ages on a Friday afternoon. Simon also kindly wrote the forward for my photo book on Cuba. He will be sorely missed and our sincere condolences to his family.

Mitchell