Archive: February 2025

Hi everyone! It has been another great week here in Turmeaus Norfolk. 

On Monday, Sharon and I were in the shop. It really was a blast from the past as we were both picking orders and serving customers. It’s the first time since Sharon has come back from maternity leave that we have worked together in the shop and it was great. After we picked our online orders, we enjoyed a cuppa and then discussed what we needed to do in the shop. I prefer stocking up the humidors, I love the aroma of the cigars when you open a box! If you have never had that experience, you haven’t lived! So while I stocked up the humidors, Sharon stocked up the alcohol and pipes. I had to show Sharon how we do the price tags now as they are a lot nicer than they used to be. She picked it up very quickly and swiftly got to work.

On Wednesday, I was working in the shop on my own, however, due to the work done on Monday and Tuesday, I didn’t have to worry about the shop stock too much. So I decided to continue on the shop newsletters, I had received all of the shop’s content earlier in the week, so I went to work trying to complete as many as I could. While I was working on my newsletters, I was asked by my manager to take some pictures for the C.Gars Facebook and Instagram. The cigar in question was the La Flor de Cano Selectos No. 3 – this is the latest regional edition from Cuba and it is incredibly smooth and mild. They were very much appreciated it and it made its way onto our social media pages. I also served a gentleman, who wanted to get his son a Cuban cigar as a gift. He didn’t want to spend too much on a Cuban as he didn’t understand the hype behind them. Of course I mentioned the history and the tireless hours that go into crafting a Cuban cigar, he decided to try one and so I recommended the Quai D’Orsay No. 50, a nice light smoke with nice caramel nuttiness to it. 

On Thursday, I was doing the New World stock count with Sarah. She did very well and counted all the cigars very quickly! And so in the afternoon I was able to catch up on general administration tasks. I also started to think about what cigars to put into Aprils New World Cigar Subscription! 

On Friday, I was picking online orders, with the help of Josh and the rest of the team, we quickly picked them ready to be packed. Afterwards I fully created Aprils New World Cigar Subscription, this month it is brilliant! It has some incredible cigars inside and you always get great value for money! In the afternoon, I carried on creating the monthly shop newsletters, ready for my deadline.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hi everyone! Another brilliant week has passed by here in Turmeaus Norfolk.

On Monday, it was Josh and I in the shop, we had plenty of online orders to pick! As a team we got through them as quickly as we could and then I got to work stocking up our walk-in humidors. I started in our Cuban humidor, despite the price, Cuban cigars are still incredibly popular. The amount of work that goes into making a Cuban cigar really does reflect in the price as the cigar tends to taste impeccable. Afterwards, I started to stock up our New World walk-in humidor. The amount of different brands you find from the New World is incredible and the fact they can pull so many flavours from different types of tobacco leaves really blows my mind. As much as the tradition lies with Cuban cigars, never turn down a New World cigar as a lot of the brands like My Father and Padron actually had their beginnings in Cuba! I ordered plenty of New World cigars to come in, ready to stock our shelves.

Tuesday was my marketing day. I started by deciding on what article to write for the C.Gars cigar library. I chose to write about five unique cigars, everyone loves a top 5 list and so I thought I’d make another one for unique cigars. I spent some time taking a picture of each of the cigars too, so with the banner that is 6 pictures in total. Unfortunately it wasn’t a smooth process and I wasn’t happy with some images so I had to go to retake them but I think they came out well in the end. What do you think? Click here to read the article. 

Whilst I was writing my article, my assistance was needed in the shop. A customer had come in looking for a box of La Flor de Cano Selectos No. 3, the latest UK release. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a box so we started looking around for something else he may have been interested in. He chose a few singles, like the LCDH Punch Punch 48 and then asked if we had any aged cigars. Our Aged and Vintage cigars tend to be kept in our London stores for safe keeping, however we happened to have 4 singles of Cuaba Salomones from 2006. So he gladly took them and left happy. Late afternoon, I made a start on the shop newsletters. I had a lovely email sent from Roy, the manager of our Chester store. He had just come back from Nicaragua! He toured around many different factories whilst he was there and even got to create his own blend of cigars at Joya de Nicaragua! He wanted to put his whole journey in the newsletter but unfortunately there was too much! So I have asked him to give me some more detail so I can put it on the cigar library instead so you can all have a read. It sounded like the trip of a lifetime and I can’t wait to upload what he was written.

On Thursday, I was in the shop. The previous day Josh took care of the Cuban cigars, he checked for damages and de-ploomed them. So I decided to do the same with the Davidoff cigars. I de-ploomed and went one further by taking each cigar off the shelf and hoovering so any tobacco residue was gone and it really made a difference. I also served a lovely gentleman who had only just started smoking cigars. He said originally he just wanted cigar tubes to display in his man cave and so ordered some online, he wasn’t expecting cigars to come in them! Once he tried them he realised he really enjoyed them and wanted to explore more. I asked how much he wanted to spend and he said £10. I like to ask for a customers budget as I wouldn’t want to waste our time talking about £40 cigars if you only have £10 to spend, we always respect our customers and never try to get them to spend more than they really want to, however, after talking about the different cigars, many customers do spend more than their original budget, but we are always upfront and honest. Back to my customer, once he had said £10, I knew instantly that he needed to try the Mitchellero Robusto. A great smoke for anyone to try and it only costs £9.99! I did explain to the gentleman, the difference between the Mitchellero and the Mitchellero Peru, he then decided to try both to see if he could taste a difference. He left incredibly happy and said he would definitely be back. That always feels great as a Retail Assistant to know that you’ve made a customer happy and they will be back for more.

I was also asked by my manager to create an article promoting our new Ultra-Exclusive Cigar Club in Monaco, you can read it here.

On Friday, I spent the day picking orders, ready to be packed. In between our hourly order pickings, I spent time adding accessories onto the till system. We are trying to add each accessory that has a barcode onto the system so there is no time wasted trying to find prices. It also helps us research what is selling well and what isn’t. In the afternoon, Ciaran and I completed the Cuban cigar stock count.

On Saturday, it was the Tantalising Trio of Ciaran, Josh and myself. We went to work picking online orders, and then making up cigar samplers so they will be ready to be picked. 

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on and I hope to see you all in store very soon

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone! Another busy day here in Norfolk! I have been a jack of all trades this week.

Monday was another busy day with online orders. Josh and I worked through them together and then went to work re-stocking the shelves that were diminished from all of the online orders. I walked through packing and saw there were lots of orders that needed packing, so I decided to help out and pack some orders to help keep the team going! I also emailed my monthly marketing content to my manager, and I nervously awaited a response.

Tuesday was my marketing day, I firstly decided what to write about for the C.Gars cigar library. I thought to myself, “I haven’t written about pipes or tobacco for a while” so I decided to write an article comparing Ready Rubbed pipe tobacco and Flake Cut pipe tobacco. You can read it here. I also spent some time taking the pictures, and I am really proud of them. I then received my feedback and it was great! I was given a few tips and recommendations to work on but overall my manager was impressed with what I have been up to. After reading the delightful email, I helped out with parcel booking on. Some parcels are more complex than others so I left the experts to do the difficult ones and I concentrated on the more standard ones, together we got through a big bulk of parcels. In between booking on, I helped Ciaran with a Missouri Meerschaum corn cob pipe delivery. As these come straight from the USA, we tend to order in bulk and it can be quite overwhelming for one person to go check over.

On Wednesday, I was in my comfort zone – the shop. Firstly, I added our new cigars onto the till system – The Kristoff Tres Compadres range, as well as the Kristoff JT and GC Signature series. I look forward to reading all about them! I then did some alcohol pricing to ensure we had the latest pricing and noticed a lot of items had gone down in price! We also have some great special offers in store! You could get a bottle of Glendronach Traditionally Peated for £45.99 instead of £54.99! That is almost £10 off! We also have a bottle of Ron Abuelo 12 Year Old Rum that has been reduced from £48.99 to £39.99 and as the cherry on top, you will receive a 5cl miniature with your purchase! I also spent some time adding some new accessories in the Cuban humidor that certainly relates! There is a Cuban Flag Cutter, Lighter, Cigar case and Hip Flask! So if you know someone who loves a Cuban cigar, you can get an accessory to go along with it. I also served one of our regulars who has recently transitioned from New World Cigars to Cuban cigars. He decided to treat himself to a tin of Partagas Capitols as he had one in a sampler he purchased before Christmas and really enjoyed it! (and he also likes the tin too). He got his usual Liga Privada T52 Coronets and left very happy. 

On Thursday, I was doing New World stock count with our humidor manager Billy! It had been a while since we have completed it together but we soon got it done and we finished by lunch! So afterwards, I checked in on the rest of the team and helped stock up the shelves again. We are also promoting our range of Les Fines Lames pocket cigar knives. We are running a 10% off offer and their knives are really cool! You need to check them out by clicking here. I recycled an old Zippo display cabinet and with the help of some of the team we made it look lovely!

On Friday, I was back to picking orders. With the team we picked them all incredibly fast and then helped to pack them. In the afternoon, Josh and I completed the Cuban cigar stock count.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone! It’s been a very different week here in Norfolk! We have started a new system in our team which I like to think is working a treat!

On Monday, I was working with Josh in the shop, we really do work together well. We had most of our customers in the first hour of the day! So we split them out evenly and carried on with our online order picking. After my online order pickings, I stocked up our Cuban humidor. Cuban cigars are still incredibly popular despite the rise of New World cigars and so after online orders were picked, I have to stock them back up as the shelves always look empty. In the afternoon, I went to work stocking up and organising our Missouri Meerschaum pipes as well as the budget pipes. I then decided to bring down some budget friendly pipe lighters. I often have customers asking for pipe lighters so if I have them ready in the shop instead of a stock room, at least our customers can get the lighter a lot quicker and test it out before making a decision. I particularly like the look of the Promise Earl Pipe Lighter, any pipe lighter that has the tools inside is a big win for me.

On Tuesday, it was time to try out our new system! So instead of shop staff picking orders as well as a few others, we cut down the amount of pickers to just two who are not working in the shop, and then the shop person can just concentrate on keeping the shop pristine! So I look forward to being in the shop without having to worry about online orders. So Ciaran was in the shop, while Ben and I picked all of the orders. I really enjoyed it, I had no pressure of serving customers in between pickings. So when I finished my pickings, I helped the packing department pack orders and then organised our pre-made cigar samplers ready to be picked/sold in store. This is a task that has needed doing for a long time but no one had the time to do it, until now! I also received an email from one of our favourite regulars. He is going on holiday very soon and wanted to take some cigars to enjoy whilst he was there. He wanted at least ten Mitchellero Coronas put to one side for him and then a general look around the shop to decide on some special ones. Of course, we helped him out and when he eventually came in, he went home very happy indeed! I hope he enjoys his holiday too.

Thursday was my marketing day, firstly I checked over my shop newsletters to make sure they were ready to be sent out. Afterwards, I started writing an article for the C.Gars cigar library, I have personally chosen five great Maduros that you need to try! Click here to read it. I spent a lot of time taking pictures for the article, I decided to do five pictures instead of the usual two or three so each cigar is showcased. At midday, all the shop staff gathered together to decide on our Valentines displays. We decided on a his and hers kind of display, with Sarah and Ciaran taking the lead in the main shop with the display. Later on in the afternoon I took more pictures, this time it was of the cigars of the month. The New World cigar of the month happens to be from one of my range, the Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion! Many of my loyal readers will know the Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Skinny is probably my favourite cigar. So for us to be able to showcase its bigger brother, the Shorty, it made me very happy. 

On Friday, I was working in the packing department with Porscha! We are a brilliant team when we are together! We had plenty of orders to pack and then we were told by the sales team that we would be putting an incredible quick puff sampler online. It’s called Springtime Shorts Quick Puff Sampler and it is a great mix of little cubans as well as a La Paz which is a very underrated mini cigarillo. As a team we got together and made up enough to last us for a while. 

On Saturday, it was the dream team of Josh, Porscha and I! Josh and myself picked all of the online orders, whilst Porscha did a beautiful display in our pipe room! Showcasing a lot of our pipes that we felt represented love in a fantastic way. Afterwards, we worked through some price changes, a lot of our prices went down! Which you rarely see in this day and age! The ones that caught my eye were the Flor de Olivas. They are a terrific smoke, full of rich earthy notes!

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks blog and I hope to see you all in store very soon!

So long for now

Oliver