Tag Archives: c-gars ltd

by CigarCraig | June 7, 2015 · 9:55 am

News release – Vintage Havana Cigar Auction

Here’s a bit of news from our friends at C.Gars Ltd:

Summer 2015 – Vintage Havana Cigar Auction

C.Gars Auctions are holding their Summer Auction sale at The Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge at 2 p.m. on the 15^th June

This will be the 15^th Cigar Auction from C.Gars since the auction department was established in 2009

Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert will once again be conducting this important sale of over 300 Lots of Vintage, Mature, Pre Embargo, Davidoff, Dunhill and Limited Edition Havana cigars on behalf of estates, investors and collectors.

The featured Lots include :

Lot 273 – Pre Embargo H .Upmann Perfectos ‘ made for The Chicago Club’ Cabinet of 50 cigars at estimate of £6000 – £8000

Lot 282 –Pre Embargo Hoyo de Monterrey Nacionales. Cabinet of 50 cigars at estimate of £5,000 – £6000

Lot 294 – Pre Embargo Ramon Allones Coronas de Lujo. Cabinet of 100 cigars at estimate of £12,000 – £14,000

Lot 296 – Pre Embargo Romeo y Julieta Coronations de Luxe. Cabinet of 100 cigars at estimate of £10,000 – £12,000

Lot 23 -Cohiba Corona Especiales. Box of 25 cigars specially banded with King Juan Carlos bands at estimate of £3,000 – £4000

Lot 234 – Three cabinets and one bottle of Chateau Yquem from the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s at estimate of £11,000 – £13,000

Lot 226 Davidoff 80^th Aniversario Box of 10 cigars at estimate of £3,000 – £3,500

Lot 259 Dunhill Tubos. Box of 25 from the 1980’s at estimate of £2000 – £2,500

The auction is live at The Bulgari but for the first time bidders that are unable to attend will be able to bid online right in to the auction room.

C.Gars Ltd 2015 vintage cigar online auction PDF catalogue and Lots here: http://www.onlinecigarauctions.com

C.Gars Ltd is the only specialist cigar auctioneer in the world to hold regular online auctions.

C.Gars Ltd was launched in 1997 and is now one of the world’s largest specialist cigar merchants. This family business sells premium cigars and related goods from its website, 24/7, every day of the year. It runs ten specialist cigar shops in the UK and has an associate company in Ireland.

For further information, interviews and/or images please contact Mitchell Orchant or Laura Graham at C.Gars Ltd on 0207 372 1865 (+44 1 207 372 1865) or email sales@cgarsltd.co.uk.

www.cgarsltd.co.uk

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under News

Tagged as Auction, c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, havana, Vintage

by CigarCraig | April 12, 2015 · 12:55 pm

Orchant Seleccion, My Father Cigars and a Cain F Lancero

For the first time in several years I went through the week without worrying about a mid-week post. Do you know what I did? I worried about it…this is going to take some getting used to! So Wednesday, instead of writing a post, I smoked a Orchant Seleccion by Oliva Shorty, a 5″ x 50 robusto which is only available in the UK through C.Gars Ltd., and is alleged to be based on the Oliva Serie V blend. I have now smoked all three vitolas in this line, and I think my favorite is the 4″ x 60 Chubby. I think this is ironic, in that it’s probably the least “British” size , but for me it was the most flavorful of the bunch. Now, one caveat: I’ve had something going on where I’m getting a bit of an odd metallic flavor no matter what cigar I seem to pick up, and It may well have something to do with trying a new toothpaste (it should be called “teethpaste”, shouldn’t it? there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I don’t want to offend my readers in West Virgina). This might have caused the problem, and I’ve had similar things happen before. Fortunately, I understand that the problem is with me, and not the cigars. Back to the Orchant Seleccion by Oliva, these are tasty, and if you’re in the UK and can get to one of Mitchell Orchant’s retail locations (I hear they deliver in London too), give these a try. These are a great “new world” option for those looking for a change of pace from the typical UK diet of Havana cigars. Thanks to Mitchell for sharing these tasty buggers with me.

Thursday evening my wife and I went to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to take in one of the last Flyers games of the season. We got some great lower level seats for a good price, and watched another loss against a team that was also out of the play off race. Hoe a team can dominate teams that are above them in the standings, and suck against teams below is a mystery I suppose we will never have an answer to. Anyway, as you’ve read here before, the Wells Fargo Center has a cigar bar where we watched the last 5 minutes of the game in a nice leather chair and a My Father Le Bijou 1922 Petite Robusto. On these occasions, I like to select a cigar that is just about long enough for the traffic to exit the parking lot, but not so long as to run into the traffic exiting the Phillies game traffic from the adjoining venue. This was just such a cigar, my first of this line, and I look forward to smoking it again. The Habano Oscuro wrapper was dark and oily and quite tasty. The cigar started with the signature Pepin Garcia spice and smoothed out into a rich, yet full strength smoke. Of course, as always, I stopped on the way out to say hello to the great Bernie Parent, a fixture in the cigar bar there during home games. He was smoking his BSB by Rocky Patel, of course, and was joking around with fans like he normally does. Great cigar, nice time in the lounge, kind of a lack-luster game, but lots of fun.

Saturday we had the memorial service for my father, which was held at the church where he had been the choir director for 33 years. He had also been a high school vocal music director and adviser for 30 years, so he had a significant impact on the community. It was humbling to hear the outpouring of appreciation for his efforts. I can only hope to accomplish a fraction of what he accomplished in his lifetime during mine. It was nice to see family that I haven’t seen in many years, it’s a shame that it takes occasions such as these to bring people together. When I got home, Macha and I took a nice long walk with a favorite cigar of mine, the Cain F Tubed Lancero. Frequently ligero is left out of the lancero vitola, it’s a thicker leaf, it burns slower than other primings, and causes more problems in that narrow format. In the Cain F case, the cigar is mostly ligero, and for some reason it’s just about the smoothest, most well-balanced Cain cigar I’ve come across. the burn was perfect, the draw was perfect, and it is very flavorful, and switching teethpaste helped considerably as the flavors were what I expected with only a little of the metallic twinge that I was dealing with all week. These are hard to find, but generally well priced at between $6 and $7 each, and are well worth it. One small gripe about the Oliva website, they seem to ignore the Can and Nub lines on the main site, not even linking to the Studio Tobac site where the Cain and Nub info resides. Again, companies make it hard to find info, where they could very easily make it simple. I happen to really like the Cain line-up, but this Lancero is the best of the bunch.

Please take a moment to visit some of our new (and not so new) site supporters by clicking on their graphics on the right and left sides of the page. Our latest additions are GetTheSmokeOut.com, GlobalCornerCafe.com, ItalianSmokes.com and ThompsonCigar.com. Of course I’d like to thank these latest supporters, as well as the rest of my loyal and long-time supporters. All of these companies help me do what I do, and I appreciate their confidence and assistance. I make it point of only advertising for companies I like and respect, so they all have my stamp of approval for whatever that’s worth!

It’s a beautiful day, finally, so I need to go try to get some things done in the yard that I’ve been unable to do due to the weather, so I’ll keep an eye out for something interesting to fill the mid-week void. Feel free to follow me on Instagram, Twitter of Facebook to catch my daily smoking ritual. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as c-gars ltd, cain, cigar, cigars, Flyers, My Father Cigars, oliva, Orchant

by CigarCraig | October 29, 2014 · 10:18 pm

A Quick Trip to New York City with Some Cigars and a Party

We had an exciting couple of days cigar-wise this week! After fighting with the cold that prevented me from enjoying much of anything for a few days, my wife and I took off Monday morning for the Big Apple, New York City. Of course, there are a lot of great cigar spots in the city. We took a walk toward one of my usual spots, De La Concha. Unfortunately, the shop is closed for renovations and will reopen sometime in the first quarter of 2015 as Davidoff of Geneva 6th Avenue. They had a temporary store across the street in a nonsmoking building so stopping in for a smoke wasn’t an option.

After wandering around some more, and checking in to our hotel on Times Square, we walked a few blocks down 42nd Street to the Nat Sherman Townhouse. Juan greeted us and showed me around, pointing out their cigarette selection, pipes, accessories and finally the humidor. Their humidor is nearly half filled with Nat Sherman cigars, and rounded out with an impressive selection from Padrons to Liga Privada. I noted some La Sirenas and Quesadas and many other great cigars you’d expect. I selected a Nat Sherman Epoca in the Breva corona size and sat down in a comfy leather chair. The shop is a gorgeous space, open to the second floor where the offices are. It’s beautiful. The staff is amazingly attentive and knowledgeable as well. The Epoca was a treat. It billowed sweet smoke and had a very unique exotic spice about mid way through. I rather regret only buying the one cigar to smoke, but I’ll try to find some in PA where pricing should be a little easier to take. It was an exceptional cigar. As we were getting ready to leave Michael Herklots stopped to say hello.

Monday evening we had the pleasure of attending a party at The Liberty Warehouse in Brooklyn to celebrate our friends Mitchell and Karyn Orchant’s birthdays, specifically Mitchell’s 50th. Mitchell and Karyn share the same birthday, however Karyn is much younger than her husband. The venue is amazing, overlooking the Statue of Liberty, and was lavishly decorated. There was loads of great food and a bar, and the entertainment for the evening was the Stan Rubin Orchestra, a 13 piece band playing all the big band classics. It was a beautiful evening so it wasn’t unpleasant to be outside, where there was seating and fire pits. There were loads of Mitchell’s US friends there, including many I knew from the cigar industry and the old Usenet days. Cigars were plentiful and welcome inside. I started with a Ramon Allones Specially Selected, and closed the evening with new Inka Secret Blend for the US market. This cigar was a 6″x 60 Peruvian puro. I’ve smoked the C-Gars Ltd. UK blends before and really liked them, and this version was also very good. I will revisit these in a couple of weeks, but this is a cigar to watch out for, and as soon as I know where these will be available I’ll let you know. I’m a sucker for cigars with Peruvian tobacco in the blend. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends. Mitchell really knows how to throw a party, it was quite a soiree. Thank you, again, to Mitchell and Karyn for a wonderful evening!

Tuesday we wandered around Manhattan and made our way to Martinez Cigars on 29th Street. This is a very small storefront where they are actively making the cigars. There were three men rolling, one pair and a gentleman that does his own bunching and wrapping. They have aging room in the basement where they age the cigars for six months after they are rolled. I bought a few of the cigars, and smoked a Flatiron No. 6 robusto. This cigar was terrifically constructed. It had some very interesting flavors that I’d characterize as “old school”, not unlike the Epoca from Nat Sherman. The burn was straight and even and it produced loads of smoke. If you find yourself in the city, stop in and have a smoke and watch the rollers practicing their art. We wandered back toward Times Square, where I believe you aren’t allowed to smoke, and got some dirty looks. Oh well, I was outside. If they were worried about the children seeing smoking, perhaps they should consider the paradox of Disney and Sesame Street characters wandering around along with patriotic women wearing nothing but a bikini bottom and body paint. Anyway, great cigars, great couple of days!

That’s it for now. I’ve managed to beat the cold for the most part, so I should get back to the normal program for Sunday’s post! Until then,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Events, Trip Report

Tagged as c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, davidoff, De La Concha, Martinez, Nat Sherman, new york city

by CigarCraig | September 26, 2012 · 10:43 pm

This Week’s Cigars – Gurkha, Cuenca y Blanco and Inka

I’m trying to get back to a normal routine after my recent move and all of the videos from the trades show. I figured I’d smoke some cigars that I just wanted to smoke. Sunday was a beautiful day and after doing some moving stuff I sat down with a cigar that came from Gurkha a few months ago. This was a large torpedo with an uncut foot said to be from Mr. Hansotia’s private stock. While at the IPCPR show I named a point to visit Gurkha’s booth and introduce myself to Oliver Hyam, the marketing director, and thank him for his kindness and support over the last year. He gave me a rundown of some of their new releases, but didn’t let me drive the Rolls Royce they had parked in the booth! The new Ghost release looks really good and I’m looking forward to smoking one in the near future. Anyway, the cigar I smoked Sunday wasn’t bad, it had a little tunneling which was only a problem for about an inch in the middle. Overall, it was a nice smoke, but perhaps I had built it up in my mind more than I should have. I look forward to smoking another of these after some additional age.

Monday I figured it was about time to smoke the new Cuenca y Blanco Toro Supremo. For the two of you out there that don’t know, this cigar is a collaborative effort between Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, the owner of Joya de Nicaragua, and his new Senior VP, the inimitable José Blanco. I have a personal connection to the Joya de Nicaragua factory, having visited it and being a huge fan of most of their cigars, and I have met Dr. Cuenca and José several times, so I was confident that this would be a spectacular smoke. The first half of this solidly medium bodied cigar had flavors that were reminiscent of many La Aurora cigars I’ve smoked. There’s a flavor in those cigars that I always taste, so I’m guessing the Dominican leaf in the blend may be similar to the leaf that La Aurora uses. I admit that this flavor is not one I generally gravitate toward, but the cigar was burning and drawing well, so I kept on enjoying the smoke. About halfway through that flavor that is familiar to me went away and it was just an exceptional, well balanced smoke that I enjoyed a great deal. I will try some of these in a smaller vitola when I get a chance, just to see if there’s much of a difference. Another stellar smoke from the Joya de Nicaragua factory.

Me with my amigos Blanco y Coop

Tuesday evening I got off to a late start, so I grabbed a smaller cigar. When we were in Orlando for the show we spent a fair amount of time with our good friend Mitchell Orchant, of C.Gars Ltd. While there, Mitch handed me a couple cigars to try with no information other than a band that says “Inka” and “Secret Blend”. There was a really small torpedo shaped cigar, perhaps 4” x 52, and a Mareva size, about 5” x 42, of which I selected the later. I was in a petit corona kind of mood. My only expectation was that it would be an excellent cigar along the lines of Mitch’s favorites, which are predominantly Cuban, given his business is selling Havana cigars. I was not disappointed, it had a nice bit of spice and power, and was exceptionally constructed. I spent about an hour with this little guy and hated to finally put it down. These are made in Peru and are really quite good! I can’t say I’ve had a Peruvian puro, if that’s in fact what these are, it’s too bad the blend is “secret”, I’d love to know what’s in there. Nice job blending these, Mitch, and I look forward to smoking that little torpedo! I understand these are currently sold out. If you ever get a chance to try these, give them a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

Editorial

Many times during my ritual of listening to podcasts or reading other blogs I often find myself thinking that I could start a new site criticizing others work and it would probably be a big hit. The trouble is, everyone would then hate me and I don’t want that. I won’t start it up anonymously, so if someone runs with my idea, just know that it’s not me. I reserve the right to toss out little things here and there, like if you’re doing a review of a Dion Giolito cigar, don’t call it a Tatuaje. There are other things, but I’ll leave them for another rant. I really need to start making lists…

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, Cuenca y Blanco, Gurkha, Inka, IPCPR, joya de nicaragua

by CigarCraig | June 20, 2012 · 8:38 pm

A Monte Pascoal Cigar, Beatles and Other Assorted News Items

It’s been an odd week! Since Sunday I’ve only managed a couple cigars, one of which was a Monte Pascoal Corona and the other doesn’t warrant mention, unfortunately. The Monte Pascoal is a Brazilian puro and a very nice cigar. I’ve heard it described as “Cubanesque”, but I don’t get that. What I get is a well made and tasty smoke. I’ve smoked several sizes and I think this corona is one of my favorites. It’s loaded with flavor. The other cigar I had, which will remain nameless, was a disappointment, it didn’t draw well, and wasn’t particularly pretty, and the flavor was just OK, nothing special. I could excuse some of these in a cheap bundle cigar, but not in a Super Premium cigar. I’ll write it off as another failed experiment and more forward.

News

In an odd cross-over, my friend Mitchell Orchant, of C.Gars Ltd., recently came into possession of, and sold, a rare framed presentation of Beatles banded cigars. The story is currently featured on BeatlesNews.com. I guess I need to hold on to the Burt Reynolds and Mickey Rooney cigars I have buried in a humidor someplace (I always wondered why the Mickey Rooney is a Churchill and not a robusto!)

In other news, I received an e-mail this week from Enrique Seijas telling me about his new project since leaving Altadis. CigarCountry.com sells name brand, premium cigars, and you can get them with custom printed cello or cedar sleeves. The price is extremely competitive and I’m seriously looking for a good reason to buy a box with my name and website on the cello. I wish they’d been around when my daughter was married, and they are a great step up from the usual “It’s A Boy/Girl” cigars. It’s a very cool idea, check it out.

Some upcoming events to look forward to: The Chattenooga Tweetup in August (info here). The Delaware Cigar Festival in September (info here, apologies to non-Facebook users!) I got an e-mail from Sir Stogies, a really nice little shop in Gilbertsville, PA saying that Jose Blanco was going to be there on Tuesday, June 26 at 11am. Another case of the day job getting in the way of fun! Another event I plan on trying to get to is a Drew Estate event on Thursday, June 28 at a much more realistic time of 6pm, at the Humidor at the Leaf, which is Famous Smoke Shop’s retail store in Easton, PA. Of course there’s the Jose Blanco blending event hosted by Buttheads Tobacco Emporium tomorrow, June 21, which will be a first of it’s kind live stream event.

I’ve come up with about as much non-sense as I can muster, but I have one more piece of business to attend to. It seems that our winner of the last contest never came forward to collect his prize. I sent two e-mails and didn’t get a reply. So I have to select an alternate winner. Random.org spit the number 18 at me this time, which corresponds to my old buddy Bob Greene. I’ve known Bob for years, and I’m certain he will enjoy Mitchell’s book! Bob, please send your mailing address so I can get this stuff out to you!