Passion for Cigars

Passion for Cigars

Even Britain's public smoking ban hasn't slowed the rapid growth of C.Gars' cigar business.

When Mitchell Orchant was 14, he developed a passion for Havana cigars that took him a long way.

"I was swiping cigars out of my father's humidor," Orchant admitted, "but never became a cigarette smoker. I just enjoyed cigars more and more. When I was 17, my father gave up trying to put me off and took me to the Cigar Club in Wembley. He then bought me my first box of cigars, Saint Luis Rey Regios, which I enjoyed immensely. Since then, I have rarely been without a cigar."

Orchant's brainchild, C.Gars Ltd., is one of the world's largest and most successful cigar merchants. Since 1997, it has taken over or opened 10 specialist tobacco shps in the UK and a La Casa del Habano in Hamburg, Germany. It also has affiliated businesses in Ireland and Mexico and organizes major cigar events around the world, including, last year, the world's largest auction of rare and vintage cigars in London, and cigar promotions in New York and Los Angeles.

The shoots for this British company's success grew from C.Gars Ltd.'s website, which sells premium Havanas and non-Cuban cigars and related goods, 24/7, year-round.

"We get about 1,500 emails or phone calls a day, and that's just on a quiet day." said Orchant, who has taken over the mantle of Britain's ambassador for cigars from traditional British cigar merchants such as Fox and Dunhill.

"In December 2010, that figure leaped to about 2,500, which was quite a challenge, even for our sales team, which is used to volume calls and usually responds within four minutes. Thankfully, we often get a quiet break between 3am and 5am, which gives us time to update our stock and computer system."

C.Gars Ltd. is the third rung of Orchant's career. He originally trained as a commercial surveyor and had his own practice in the early 1980s.

"Then I got into the hotel business with my father, Michael Orchant." He said, "Coincidentally, at that time I contacted the UK cigar importers Joseph Samuels and Dunhill. I was thinking of setting up a mail-order business so that I could smoke my cigars at cost price and perhaps sell a few.

"Sadly, that idea was blown out - my father reminded me we could actually afford to buy Havanas at full price; otherwise I would have got into the cigar retail business, and mail order, about 20 years earlier.

"We then went into the gas station and convenience store business, building up a group of seven very substantial petrol stations/convenience stores in the Home Countries."

They branched out into selling different types of products, including Havana cigars. By early 1994, that side of the business was so successful Orchant set up the Mitchells Cigar Company, which became the first British company to start selling cigars on the Internet.

"In mid-1997, a reversal in my business fortunes forced me to look for and create my third and hopefully last business venture, selling fine cigars." he said, "My father very kindly invested £10,000 into it and I assisted with the sales and marketing. He then retired a few years later and I took over."

Since the UK's public smoking ban in 2007, C.Gars Ltd's business has grown by roughly 20 percent, compound, every year.

"I think this is because our customer service is second to none and i a service experience that I rarely find elsewhere." said Orchant. "It's probably why I've still got the same clents I had 17 years ago. I believe my clients appreciate he service we give them. We certainly appreciate their loyalty.

"The reason we're so successful is that we're experts in cigars," explained Orchant. "A lot of people think they can sell cigars, as witnessed by the surge of tobacco websites in recent years.

"But if you don't really know what you're selling, then you're not really a cigar merchant. You might as well sell bootlaces. Not only do we work at being knowledgeable about our products and the tobacco trade, we are passionate about cigars."

In the next few years, Orchant plans to open another 10 specialist tobacco shops in the UK - One in every major city.

"We've got a rolling program of improving our UK estate," he said, "In two years' time, we will have the most beautiful and perfect cigar shops anywhere that are outrageously fabulous in terms of customer service.

"At some stage we would like to open a cigar store in the United States, but we're not sure yet whether it's going to be on the East or West Coast."

- Tobacco Reporter

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