Archive: December 2022

Hi all, It has been a crazy couple of weeks in store and online so much so that I didn’t have a chance to write my blog last week! Safe to say last week we had many customers purchasing last minute gifts and some after smokes to enjoy over the Christmas period.

Monday was incredibly busy in store and online, due to postal strikes we have been sending a lot of parcels with a courier service instead and this option has proved extremely popular for those wanting last minute gifts. In store we had a lot of people buying themselves cigars and tobacco as gifts to themselves, including one of my regulars who bought the most amount of pipe tobacco I have seen and said “I refuse to be disturbed, if anyone asks me to do something i’ll say no and keep smoking” A great attitude to have this Christmas if you ask me. We also pulled a name from a hat for our pipe competition and I must say congratulations to the winner who was so excited he came in the store about 10 minutes later to collect it.

Tuesday was again filled with lots of online order pickings with the majority of customers choosing the courier service to get their cigars in time for Christmas. Sharon was needed again to book on orders which means I get to serve all the customers (which is one of my favourite things to do). I spent an hour with one of my regulars and his brother just looking at cigars and helping them decide on their New Year smoke. They decided on the new Regius Serie Limitada Wide Churchill and what an amazing cigar they are, a must have if you ask me.

Wednesday was much quieter with the online orders. However, in store we have been very busy, a lot of customers had mentioned due to the Royal Mail strikes they wanted to come in so they could guarantee their gifts would make it on time. By the end of the day our shelves were looking bare so a quick stock up and we’re good to go again. During my down time a wrote an article on the new Regius Serie Limitada cigars as they are too good not to share, you can read that here.

Thursday was a festive day in the office as it was our secret Santa present giving! I had our whisky stock expert Imogen. As she had recently moved into a house of her own I decided to get her a lovely cookbook and penguin mug as she loves penguins. Jeanette the packing team leader in Norfolk, she got me some books for my daughter as she knows all I ever want is toys and books for my daughter.

You won’t see me until the 28th of December as I’m off to enjoy Christmas with my family but I look forward seeing you all from the 28th.

See you all next week

Oliver 🙂

Happy Monday to you all and what a busy one we had! The online orders went through the roof! It was a long and arduous day but we got there in the end. We have also decided to send all priority orders with DPD due to the Royal Mail strikes. At the weekend Sharon and Billy spent the whole day stocking up the shop and making it look amazing which they did very well. Has some lovely customers including a regular who always buys his Mitchellero Novellini box, he said they’re great quality cigars and the price is very affordable. On request of the packing team we had the Japan vs Croatia game on the radio. 

Tuesday began with a lot of orders yet again, Christmas season is certainly taking over but we are keeping up very well. I served a lovely gentleman who was after our Gawith Hoggarth Seasonal Reserve. He had contacted Gawith Hoggarth in August to make sure they were doing it again! That is commitment! He also treated himself to some Golden Blends no.3 as he claims it’s a lovely taste and very smooth. In between serving customers I have been finalising the cigar subscriptions, we have unfortunately decided to take the Cuban cigar out of the subscription due to the rising costs of Cubans so it is now the New World cigar subscription so you will get 5 high quality premium cigars and every now and then I may put in a little gift 😉

Thursday began with Sharon booking parcels all day to help us keep on top of orders, so I spent the day picking orders and keeping on top of the shop’s stock as we have been selling a lot of Colibri accessories recently. During the day I was a part of another marketing meeting to plan out January and see how good sales were over black friday. We also discussed more new samplers so make sure you keep an eye out on our social media or sign up to our newsletters to see what we have in store. The afternoon I carried on making the leaflet for the subscription as well as more pickings!

Friday was filled with lots of pickings as well as many customers. We have had many people enter our in store pipe contest but there’s still time to enter as the winner will be contacted on the 19th of December! Me and Sharon completed our weekly Cuban stock take in record time and despite the issues in Cuba we still have quite the range available to you.

Saturday felt a bit different this time as our Customer Service Manager Hayley was working from home with Covid so it was just myself, Sarah and Ben. Ben has only been with us a few weeks, but he has nailed the booking on parcels as well as picking and packing orders. We had a lot of orders to pick in the morning which took us up to midday but we got there in the end and then we started stocking the shelves. The Christmas period is always busy and so stocking up becomes more of a regular occurrence and one week you could fill up the pipe room and in a day or two it can look empty.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this insert and I look forward to see what the following week brings us

So long for now

Oliver 🙂

Hi everyone, I hope you’ve all had a good week. I treated myself to a Monday off but I can see Sharon has looked after the shop well and then Tuesday I took over as she is helping the Royal Mail team book parcels on, we are starting to feel the Christmas rush now with lots more orders for cigars and accessories coming in, I have also seen some orders with items I suggested in my Christmas gifts article which is great!

Also on Tuesday me and the Humidor Supervisor Billy started the stock count on New World cigars, this will took us until the end of Wednesday as there are many fantastic cigars in there. Whilst this was going on I also served many customers including a couple who wanted a new humidor for their son so I spent time with them browsing and explaining why Adorini is much better quality than most, you can also read about Adorini humidors here to find out for yourself. I also had a young man looking for Roku Gin, I advised that even though Roku is good but our Foragers range is better and is recommended by TV chef James Martin, by the end he bought the Foragers Yellow Label and used a gift voucher which we sell in store too!

Wednesday consisted of non stop New World stock taking for myself and Billy, this monumental task will be done once a month so we can keep our stock levels up for you all to enjoy. While I was doing this Sharon set up a new display with our Orchant Seleccion candles and I must say I’m very impressed with it and the scents available! Next time you come in I’m sure you’ll smell them.

Thursday began with a lot of pickings for online, however our apprentice Sarah was on hand to help as well as serve customers in the shop. She impressed me a lot on Saturday and only wants to improve more. I spent a lot of time with Billy again to try to organise the New World humidor so it’s not so cluttered and we have introduced a very nice table to showcase more cigars on. 

Friday started off with lots of pickings again and many of the new samplers we have online ready for Christmas! Had a lovely customer come in to buy for her husband but had no idea what cigars he liked so I mentioned many names and we finally settled on Montecristo, one of the best Cubans if you ask me. She chose the Linea 1935 Maltes which is a supreme smoke! As well as the cigar she chose a very nice Colibri Ashtray and Rolling stones Zippo, some lovely Christmas presents if you ask me. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog and if you have any questions of what happens day to day behind the scenes i’m always available for a chat in the Norfolk store or email me at [email protected] 

So long for now

Oliver 🙂