Archive: April 2025

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great bank holiday weekend? We were extremely busy! So busy that I didn’t find time to write a blog for that week. We had some great customers come in and we sold some interesting items, including a bottle of Springbank Local Barley, which many of you may know is a difficult bottle to get a hold of. The Puffin cigars have been flying off the shelves, so much so that after one week I had to order more!

So what happened in Turmeaus Norfolk this week?

On bank holiday Monday, there were only four of us in – Ben, Lisa, Porscha and myself. We picked as many orders as we could and then started to pack them. I noticed a time that we were ahead of the game, so I decided to organise our empty box stock room. I am always surprised to see how popular empty cigar boxes are, but they do have great secondary uses. I have known people use them for arts and crafts, and someone else has used them for a birdbox! I was worn out after all the order picking and box organising. 

Tuesday was my marketing day and I certainly spent a lot of time with the camera. Firstly I spent most of the morning completing all of the shop newsletters. This is always a time consuming task as I have to proofread the shop content, make sure their photos are acceptable and then keep the newsletter fresh. Afterwards I spent some time taking pictures of Mantis accessories and the Puffin cigars for the monitors in our Cuban humidor. I then took pictures of the Cigars of the month for May, ready to go on the monitors on the 1st. In the meantime, after seeing how nice and colourful the Mantis accessories were, I asked Ciaran to put them out on display. They are certainly eye-catching and not at a bad price either. 

On Thursday, I was back in the shop. It had felt like a long time since I had a day in the shop where I could focus on shop tasks. Firstly, I looked at our pipe room and saw we had a few gaps, after shuffling the pipes around, I certainly had plenty to put out on display including a lot of Tomasso pipes. I think they are incredibly unique and you can tell a lot of time and effort has gone into creating them. Afterwards I found some time to create the cigar subscriptions. I am still getting used to creating the Cuban and New World subscriptions but I’d like to think I’m getting there. The first one went out with no issues, so I’m sure this one will be the same. I served a great gentleman who loves our Mitchellero Novellini, he also likes a few Cuban cigars to go alongside. This time he chose the Montecristo No. 2 and Quai d’Orsay no. 50. In the afternoon I found a gap in our Drew Estate section and decided to put the Factory Smokes out. For the price they are a great smoke, as always my favourite is the Maduro, I just love the sweetness of the oils you get from a Maduro on your lips

On Friday, I was picking orders, Lisa and I are a great team when it comes to picking cigars. She is still relatively new to it but she is certainly doing a very good job! We are having a lot of in store developments that I can’t talk about properly yet but it will certainly enhance our humidors and Lisa is the heart of that operation. In the afternoon, Josh and I completed the Cuban stock count in what felt like a record time for us, maybe I should time us next time?

Saturday is the final time that the dream team will be together. Porscha is no longer working every Saturday, so that unfortunately means we will be broken up. However we will be having a replacement soon! To find out who you’ll have to read next week’s blog! Back to this Saturday, Porscha spent her day adding more accessories onto our till system. She has learned how to create barcodes for those that don’t have them already and is incredibly pleased with the results! Meanwhile Josh and I have created some little displays as filler until our big summer decorations come out!

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s blog and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver

Hi everyone! This is my 100th blog entry! I still remember being asked to write a weekly blog and thinking to myself – How do I fit in everything I do in one post! However I like to think I do a good job and it’s great to hear all of the positive feedback from my loyal readers. As a reward I am giving away 500 loyalty points to everyone reading! Just send me an email ([email protected]) and I will add your points to your account! 

On Monday, it was Josh and myself, we picked loads of online orders! It felt like we were picking orders for everyone in Britain! Afterwards, I helped the packing department, pack all of those orders we picked! Meanwhile, I served a lovely lady, who I serve every year at Christmas. She wanted a nice whisky and cigar to treat her son. She knew he liked sweet whisky, so I suggested the C.Gars Malt, it is one of my favourite whisky and has always rated highly and world whisky awards including gold in 2019! It will always be close to my heart too as it was the first whisky that I actually enjoyed! Before the C.Gars Malt, I hadn’t enjoyed any whisky, but since the C.Gars Malt, I have found many different whiskies to savour. I then showed her all of our New World cigars and upon our chat she decided to try my favourite cigar – The Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Skinny.  

Tuesday was my marketing day, I had a monumental task to do. There was an old article on the C.Gars Cigar Library that had all of our exclusive cigars, I was asked to change all of the pictures, update the text and add in new exclusives. This included finding out new information and taking around 15 pictures to a similar style. It took me all day to change the text and update the current pictures but I got there in the end. However, upon completion, we wasn’t happy with the outcome. So I had a meeting with the promotional departments and we are still figuring out a style that we all like.

On Thursday, I spent some time picking orders, however I spent most of my day taking on a new role! As many of you will know, I create the New World Cigar Subscription, well now I am responsible for the Classic and Premium New World and Cuban Subscription! That’s right! I now control three out of four subscriptions and these two are a lot more difficult. Cuban cigars can be difficult to get even for recognised retailers like ourselves, so I need to plan my subscriptions around that. So I spent a few hours choosing the cigars and creating the leaflets for them. It was difficult to do and a lot more time consuming but I am sure I will get quicker the more I do! 

On Friday, I was picking online orders again as well as opening deliveries. I rarely open the deliveries due to always being busy, but I do spend the time to put away the cigars we get, as I like to have an organised humidor for our customers. I also worked on some layouts for articles in the C.Gars cigar library going forward, hoping I would get approval. However, despite my efforts, we are all in agreement that we may need to upgrade the library to get our desired outcome, this task is above my role, but I will be making sure I have my input. In the afternoon, I completed the Cuban stock count with Lisa. It was her first Cuban stock count and I can tell she enjoyed herself!

On Saturday, I was working with Josh and Porscha. We firstly spent some time picking orders, and then stocked up the humidors. I then served a gentleman who claimed to have tried every brand of cigar! Impossible in my eyes but you never know, so I caught him off guard when I showed him the Puffin cigars! They are brand new to us and were made for our Puffin Rooms in Liverpool and Edinburgh! The customer decided to try one of each (Shorty, Skinny and Chubby) and left very happy, he said he will be back to let me know what they are like.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks blog and don’t forget to email me to get your 500 loyalty points!

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone! It’s been another brilliant week in sunny Turmeaus Norfolk. We have seen lots of familiar faces coming in for their warm weather smokes. 

On Monday, I was in the shop with Josh, we work really well together and got our pickings done quickly and efficiently. Afterwards I helped pack orders while Josh served our customers. I served a gentleman whose son is a regular, he gave him £40 to get two small Cubans. He let me choose, so I suggested the H. Upmann Majestic and the Montecristo No. 5, which came just over budget but he didn’t mind. Whilst I was putting his cigars through the till, he noticed our packs of Kristoff on display and thought it was a bargain so he got two! 

On Tuesday, I spent the day picking orders and unpacking deliveries. Since our stock count, we had noticed areas where we can purchase more stock, and so we did to keep our stock levels high! I also made a trip out to purchase Easter decorations for our shop to make it all colourful for Easter. I gave them to Sharon who we consider the display queen and her imagination went wild! 

On Wednesday, I was in the shop and working on my marketing content. Firstly I created a news article for the C.Gars News Page which you can read here. I then spent some time updating an ST Dupont article to make the pictures more modern and then placed it at the front of the C.Gars cigar library. If you remember from my previous blog, we are currently offering in store free whisky to anyone who purchases a Jura Hipflask for £12.99. I created a lovely sign to help promote this incredible offer and it is working with three more purchases already! Afterwards I spent some time creating the leaflet that goes inside the May New World cigar subscription. The cigars are always a great selection and Mays will include a subscription exclusive, which you can’t purchase anywhere on our website! Afterwards, I spent some time in the New World Humidor, stocking cigars and ordering some stock. 

On Thursday, I was back to picking orders, whilst Josh took care of the shop. I organised a plan for our shop displays and decorations. I also found a nice looking display which will help get more cigar packs out in the shop. This along with some bottle pourers will certainly make our lives easier and enhance your shopping experience. I was then asked to take a picture of an ST Dupont Limited Edition Le Grand Lighter – Montecristo Cling Crepuscule for a newsletter. It was incredibly difficult to get a nice picture due to the shine but I’d like to think I got one, what do you think?

On Friday, I was picking online orders again, with the sun shining, we are getting busier! Everyone loves an outdoor cigar! Imagine what we would be like without the indoor smoking ban. I helped out with the deliveries too, for all the pipe smokers out there – keep your eyes peeled as we will be having some new Rattrays pipes coming very soon! In the afternoon, I carried on my task of making the product pictures on the Cuban cigars uniform by making them all have a white background.

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s goings on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon!

So long for now.

Oliver.