Hello everyone! A slightly shorter blog today as I enjoyed Monday and Tuesday off travelling around Norwich, a beautiful city if you ever get a chance to visit!

My work week began on Wednesday, I was back in the shop with Josh and I was amazed at how the rest of the staff had decorated the shop for Halloween! It is the best I have ever seen!. I had an interesting day to say the least, we often get customers coming in not knowing what they want but their partner has sent them in to get some cigars. The lovely lady came in, was told to get a few cigars as a present for a friend but didn’t have a clue what to get. So I had to recommend cigars that are good for anyone, beginner or experienced. The first thing that came to my mind was the Mitchellero Peru range, slightly sweeter and a great smoke for the price! The lady wanted one more so I suggested the Plasencia Reserva Original Robusto, a favourite of mine and is very easy to smoke and full of flavour. She bought a couple of our C.Gars event lighters too and left very happy. Later on I had another Lady come in for her husband with no idea what to get, however she did say he was an experienced smoker so I suggested the Plasencia Orchant Seleccion Orchante, as the charred oak flavour you get is second to none! I also suggested the Tabernacle David, one of the best made cigars you can get and full of flavour too! Another customer left very happy.

On Thursday it was my bi-weekly stock count with humidor manager Billy, however to spice up our day we also had our marketing meeting on the same day! So we powered through a quarter of our stock and then went for our meeting. We discussed plenty about ongoing marketing and what we could be doing better. We were also treated to a few gifts from Mitchell as a well done for creating the C.Gars magazine to a brilliant standard. After our meeting, Billy and I continued with the stock count. We finished quite late in the afternoon but I did have time to create the New World Cigar Subscription. It has another 5 great cigars and a bargain price!

On Friday, I was back in the shop with Josh, I worked through our alcohol pricing and updated the labels to make them much clearer. In the afternoon we completed the Cuban stock count, which I think we both know like the back of our hands.

I hope you enjoyed this shortened blog but don’t you worry, It will be back to normal next week!

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone! You can certainly tell that Summer is over! The weather has been horrible but that hasn’t stopped our loyal customers from coming in to see us and buy their lovely smokes.

On Monday, I was luckily in the parcel booking on department – I say luckily due to hurting my ankle over the weekend prior and I was struggling to walk! So I would have been unable to pick any online orders. So I booked on as many parcels as I could and even helped the packing department, making sure I was standing on my good leg. 

Another exciting development is that you will all be seeing a lot more of Sarah soon. Due to my marketing commitments and being needed in other departments, it is difficult to run the shop too, so from now on Sarah will be taking responsibility for the shop! Although it isn’t a managerial position, as we have never had a shop manager, she is the second most experienced behind myself. It will be interesting to see what happens as it is her first responsibility since starting with us over two years ago.

On Tuesday, I was working in the shop with Sarah. As I didn’t have a marketing day planned, I completed my marketing content in the shop. Sarah was sorting out the pipes in the pipe room, so I was pretty much on my own all day. I wrote an article for the C.Gars Cigar Library about Boost packs which we absolutely love! They make maintaining a humidor much easier! You can read more about it here. I also finalised all of the shop newsletters, ready to be sent out on the 1st of October, which is also national coffee day! I spent some time creating new monitor pictures for the humidor, advertising the cigars of the month, as well as attempting to create a poster for the shop. I was working with our marketing manager trying to get it right, I sent over a few attempts and unfortunately, none of them reached the extremely high standards we have. But I never let criticism stop me! You must always learn from your mistakes and use them to improve yourself! I also served three great people who remember me from their last visit two years ago! Admittedly, I didn’t remember them to begin with but then they reminded me of what they bought and I remembered! They really appreciated the service they had last time and were happy to see me. I showed them through our humidors and we spoke about plenty of cigars until they found the ones they wanted. I hope they enjoyed their visit as much this time as they did two years ago.

On Thursday, It was our quarterly, full building stock count. For me this is more of the same, I always count cigars with a team. This time it was Josh, Ciaran and Sarah, so we split into two teams, Josh and Ciaran counted the Cuban room and Sarah and I counted the New World room. As always it took us all day but we always complete it in the end!

On Friday, I was needed in the Packing department. My packing skills are just as good as they ever were but luckily I did have Lisa, who is a Packing whizz, to look after me… Just in case. We were having a great time packing together as we rarely spend a whole day together in the same department. We also had the Cigar Subscriptions to be sent out too, so I left Lisa in the afternoon to help book on the parcels. It really shows how multi trained I am across multiple departments. We all know the saying, Jack of all trades, master of all?… I’m sure that’s what it is! We have an ongoing joke that I need to bring a cape, as I’m a superhero always saving the day.

On Saturday, It was Josh, Ciaran and I working together. We picked our orders and then started to organise the shop. We have changed our table displays ready for Halloween! We also have a great Halloween competition at the moment. If you purchase anything from our main display table, you get to have a go on our trick or treat! There are some great treats up for grabs as well as some evil tricks! I have also scattered some sweets around the shop so come on in and treat yourself!

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! It’s been another busy week here in Norfolk, We have had plenty of familiar faces pop in.

On Monday, it was the usual crazy Monday, I spent plenty of time picking my online orders and then helped out the packing department. We were incredibly busy and I noticed a lot of people taking advantage of our Pipe sale! Currently we have loads of pipes reduced down, take a look and you may find your next favourite pipe! I also served a regular of mine who came in to purchase his usual Peruvian cigars. He has always enjoyed Peruvian tobacco but ever since the Mitchellero Peru was released, he has been visiting even more than usual!

Tuesday was my marketing day. Firstly I went out with Porscha to do some Halloween shopping! We always decorate the shop for Halloween and this year we got even more bits to scare you all! Afterwards I wrote an article for the C.Gars cigar library, all about the different ranges of Dunhill pipes which you can read here. I also spent the time to take two pictures and edit them too so you know exactly what pipe is from what range. Later on I spent some time creating the October Norfolk shop newsletter, as the 1st of October is national coffee day I decided to highlight our coffee machine in the newsletter, as well as other products.

On Wednesday, after the online order picking, I spent a lot of time in our New World Humidor, cleaning and stocking the shelves. I felt very productive as I was able to get even more cigars out on the shelf, meaning our lovely customers can have even more to choose from. I also served two young gentlemen who are becoming more regular these days, this time they came in to purchase a cigar I had mentioned to them previously – the Drew Estate Tabak Especial Toraja. They also decided to have a tin of the Drew Estate Acid Krush Morado Maduro between them, they left very happy and I look forward to seeing them again.

On Thursday, It was time for the New World stock count with humidor manager Billy. Somehow we had it all done in three and a half hours! We were amazed with ourselves but at the same time lost, as we never plan anything else for our day! So I decided to finish off my newsletters and get them proof read by marketing so they are all ready to be sent out. Luckily they were happy with what I had and they are all ready to go out on the 1st of October. 

On Friday, we were a little short staffed so numerous staff members had to do more roles. I was in the packing department as well as booking on the parcels to be sent out. As a team we got around the obstacle very well. In the afternoon, I luckily didn’t have to do the Cuban stock count as we decided to let Josh and Ciaran do it for a change. It will be a great learning experience for them and it lets me enjoy a Friday afternoon without the stress. In return I will be doing their online order pickings and serving the customers so they can fully focus on the count.

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s going on and I hope I get to see you all in store very soon!

So long for now

Oliver

Hello everyone! Hasn’t the weather gone chilly now! It certainly has in Norfolk. Being so close to sea really does bring a sea breeze all the way to our shop! It has been another busy week here in Norfolk, but it was great to see some of our regulars pop by.

On Monday, I was in the shop with Ciaran, we worked through our pickings, then I went into the packing department to help out as they had lots of orders and needed me to catch up on orders. I also served a lovely group of people who came from New Zealand! They were amazed with how the shop looked and the amount of cigars we have to offer. After a long look around they went away with three of our exclusive cigars, the Mitchellero Peru Robusto Extra, Plasencia Orchant Seleccion 2024 Orchante and the Regius Orchant Seleccion 2023 Peru Corona Gorda as well as a tin of Drew Estate Tabak Especial Oscuro. They went away very happy and they were great to serve too.

I had two days off and came back in on Thursday for my day of marketing. I started by researching my next article for the C.Gars cigar library. I had thought it had been a while since I had written one about spirits and when I was thinking about what brand, I looked around and saw an open bottle of Tomatin 14 year old and thought that is what I need to write about. So I did plenty of research and was amazed with the history behind the brand. So I wrote the article and found some pictures to go alongside, you can read the article here. I also took part in our bi-weekly marketing meeting. We discussed what samplers have been selling well and what we need to do more of, we are also preparing our Halloween marketing and I hope your ready as it all looks amazing! Of course we will be decorating the shop and doing a special Halloween offer in store too! Later in the afternoon, I completed the finishing touches to my part of the C.Gars magazine as well as sorting banners for the C.Gars cigar library as some pictures were not up to standard. To finish the day I started to create the shops newsletters ready for October, I hope you are subscribed to them all as these places look incredible!

On Friday, I was back in the shop with Porscha, I had a shop meeting with all the shop workers to discuss our Halloween marketing. We came up with some great ideas which you will see from the 1st of October! After the order picking, I served a lovely regular of mine who enjoys the Plasencia Orchant Seleccion cigars. He decided to pop by and purchase the Orchante and get on with his day, as always it was great to see him. We had another regular come in who loves his Inka Secret Blend Red Bombaso Maduro. Unfortunately, we have run out of stock of them in Norfolk so he tried something different. He knew he liked the Gurkha 15 year old Robusto, but he didn’t realise there was a Maduro version, so he was very happy and wanted to try something new. Knowing he likes Maduro cigars, I looked around and remembered that La Unica has a Maduro which is lovely, so he decided to try it. Hopefully I’ll see him soon.

On Saturday, I was joined by Porscha and Ciaran, we stocked up the humidors ready for a busy Monday and started changing the price tags on the Alcohol as well to make them similar to the ones we created for the pipes. 

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on in store and I do wish you would all visit very soon.

So long for now

Oliver

Hello everyone! I hope you have had a brilliant week? Mine has been interesting to say the least!

On Monday, I wasn’t in the shop for a change! I had a slightly late start so missed the first round of online orders and so I went into the booking on department to book on the parcels. As always we worked well as a team and by the end of the day we were swimming in parcels!

Tuesday was my marketing day, I spent a lot of time researching my article for the C.Gars cigar library. In the end I settled on writing about Casa 1910 cigars, I think they’re a very underrated brand, but they are starting to win awards which will prove how good they are. You can read the article here. I also spent some time taking the pictures, recently our marketing manager gave me a bit of feedback with my pictures and so hopefully these ones represent what he wanted. I also created a news article about the new Bolivar Belicosos Finos 60th Birthday Orchant Seleccion. These cigars have been flying off the shelves and really shows the quality of an Orchant Seleccion cigar.

On Wednesday, I was working with Josh… Partly. After my morning order pickings, I helped out in the packing department, they were a bit overwhelmed with a few deliveries so I helped where I could, using my packing experience I gained when I first started. Robyn and I packed all of the orders and so, knowing I wasn’t needed in packing, I moved back into the shop with Josh. We filled up the humidor shelves and gave it a bit of a clean. I also got to serve a semi regular customer who has been coming into the store for a very long time, his cigar selection has gone down in recent years, however his humour hasn’t changed. This time he had two Eagle by Rocky Patel Torpedo, a Rocky Patel Number 6 Corona and then let me select his last one, which I suggested the Plasencia Orchant Seleccion 2024 Exclusive Orchante. I remembered previously he enjoyed the Plasencia Orchant Seleccion Toro 2021 and so I knew he would enjoy this new release.

On Thursday, I was meant to be doing the New World Stock take, however, Billy, our humidor manager, was too busy and suggested we do it on Friday as well as Cuban (he’s a bit crazy like that), so I set myself up to do other administrative tasks, however the person booking on orders went home. So I moved into the shop with Ciaran and Sarah booked on! What a muddle! However we worked through it and had another great day. In the afternoon I had two gentlemen come in who had recently finished construction on a bridge in a local town of Lowestoft and the team wanted to celebrate. The two that came in treated themselves to Regius Connecticut Gran Toro and got the rest of the team Mitchellero Peru Toro. They went away very happy. We also had our marketing meeting to discuss the C.Gars magazine. It will be getting made very soon, with a few minor adjustments. You can actually register your interest by clicking here.

On Friday, it was the dreaded New world and Cuban stock count! Billy was confident we could get it done. We smashed it! We got it done with an hour to spare! I couldn’t believe it! It really felt like a great achievement.

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

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your three day weekend? For those of us in retail it was business as usual!

On Bank holiday Monday, it was myself, Josh and Sarah. We worked as a team and decided to let Sarah pack online orders all day to try to help out team with their workload Tuesday. Josh and I had the monumental task of picking all of the online orders from over the weekend, and there were loads! But as always we get them all done in the end. In the middle of picking I served a gentleman who had travelled from Norwich and wasn’t happy with the cigars on offer there. I showed him our two humidors and he was stunned at how amazing it looked! He left with a couple of Davidoff Grand Cru Robusto and made sure he brought more money with him for the next visit. 

On Tuesday, we were back to being a full team. I was working with Ciaran in the shop, we swiftly got through pickings, so I started doing the finishing touches on my shop newsletters. Each individual store has their own offer in store, so if you can, ask your local tobacconist what they have on offer this month, or ask to sign up to the newsletter and you will get them all to your inbox. You can also email me and let me know which store is closest to you and I can add you to the mailing list. My email is [email protected]. In Norfolk we are doing £5 off any Savinelli pipe (Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer) for the whole of September! So pop in and get your new Savinelli pipe today!

On Wednesday, I was in the shop with Porscha, I had a new task for her to be the lead on. We are now adding all of the barcodes for accessories onto our till system so we can research which items historically sell well in store and which ones sell better online. It is a massive task to do as we have thousands of items here in Norfolk, but over time we will get there. Meanwhile I carried on adding my content to the C.Gars magazine, I spent a lot of time seeing what is going on in the UK cigar world but I finally found some information that I could put in.

Thursday was my marketing day, I wrote an article for the C.Gars cigar library, it’s all about Mac Baren pipe tobacco, they were a family owned company up until July of this year when they got bought by Scandinavian Tobacco Group, you can read more by clicking here. I also took part in the marketing meeting discussing the magazine and where we need to improve. I’d like to think we are almost finished! I really can’t wait for you all to see it. After the meeting I started making improvements and with help from the marketing department, we vastly improved my sections. Towards the end of the day I started planning the October New World Cigar Subscription. Another incredible box for such a brilliant price, I cannot suggest subscribing to it enough. 

On Friday, I was back in the shop with Josh, we both completed our pickings and then started filling up the shelves. Josh was particularly excited as this afternoon he is filming a video all about a couple of spirits he has been sampling. Obviously to “help” I had to try these spirits for “research” purposes and to help him with the flavour notes. I then realised I had forgot to do images for the cigars of the month! So I quickly took some pictures of them for the monitors in our humidor. In the Afternoon I enlisted the help of Porscha to count the Cuban stock with me. It was only her second time but she did a very good job.

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

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all having a great bank holiday weekend?! As always we are still open and bank holiday hours are 12-5pm so make sure you come and say hello. 

On Monday, it seemed to be a never ending day of online order picking. Josh and I spent a lot of time picking our orders but as always we get them all done. I served a lovely couple who were on holiday from Nottingham, they just wanted pipe tobacco but I said while they were here they might as well have a look in our pipe room. They were amazed at how many pipes we had! The gentleman decided to get a couple of Corn Cob pipes as he had seen them online but not in person and decided to give them a go. Later on in the day I helped out the packing department, packing up some orders to give them a little boost. 

Tuesday was my marketing day, and boy did I have lots to do! I started by writing and taking pictures for my article on the C.Gars cigar library. This time I decided to research Flor de Selva, you can read that article by clicking here. During this time, I was talking to Laura, one of our directors about changing the layout of my articles to make them less magazine style and more mobile friendly. So I spent a bit of time experimenting and we came to an agreement with the style and I think it does look much better! What do you think? Afterwards, I carried on creating my content for the C.Gars magazine. We have a strict deadline to meet and I would say I’m a little bit behind but I’m sure I will catch up. I can’t wait for you all to see the magazine, many people have put a lot of effort into this and it really looks stunning! 

I had the next couple of days off and came back on Friday. I was back in the shop with Josh. After our pickings I went back to working on the C.Gars magazine. Josh was working on improvements to our humidor, which hopefully you will see very soon. Josh was very understanding with me on Friday and served most of our customers so I could concentrate on my magazine content, and thanks to him I got most of the written information done. In the afternoon we completed the Cuban stock count. Near the end of the day, I served a lovely lady who comes in from time to time always purchasing aftershave for her partner. She loves the Cuba Original Mens Cigar Style Aftershave – Wild Heart, but this time she also had the Cuba Prestige Platinum Eau de Toilette Spray for Him. She always likes to have a little wonder around the shop, and she stumbled across the Ron El Rumbo Superior Cuban Coconut Rum, she had a little taster and instantly fell in love! So she purchased a bottle of that too! 

Saturday was a bit strange as it was Josh, Sarah and I. Usually Sarah and I work alternate Saturdays, however Porscha was away so I came in to cover. We got through all of our pickings and concentrated on stocking up, ready for the bank holiday Monday. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks going on. I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon!

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone, it has been a very productive week here in Norfolk, we have seen many of our favourite customers as well as plenty of holiday makers.

On Monday, as always there were lots of online orders to pick! However Josh and I got through them quickly and by the afternoon we were onto new tasks. I started by creating a new advertising image for the monitors in our humidor, I chose to use J Cure products, they have some amazing hand crafted lighters and cigar cases – I have never seen such high quality products. At the moment they are 10% off in the Norfolk store only! So if that isn’t a reason to come down I don’t know what is! Afterwards I decided to change the design of our price tags. Before they were hand written, meaning if someone (like myself) had bad handwriting, it would be difficult to understand, now they are printed and look so much better. Creating the design was difficult, I was discussing it with my manager and creating different designs to see what she thought was best. I think we have made a great decision.

On Tuesday, I was back in the shop with Porscha! It had been a long time since we have worked together in the shop and we had a great time! I showed her how to make the new tags for pricing and she swiftly made a start on pricing up the pipe room. Meanwhile I started on my marketing tasks. Unfortunately this week due to staff holidays I was unable to dedicate a day to this so I did it in between serving customers. I wrote an article for the C.Gars cigar library, it was about the Drew Estate Tabak Especial, which you can read here. The Tabak range has become a favourite amongst the newer staff here, including myself, so I decided to research what went into the process and it really is fascinating! Make sure you read all about it! I took some time to take the pictures for it too, luckily Porscha was able to look after the shop by herself. I also wrote a news piece for the new La Gloria Turquinos, since the release of the Medaille d’Or No. 4, La Gloria has been incredibly sought after and now with the exciting release of the Turquinos, the hype has gotten larger. Later on in the day I served a gentleman who only wanted 20 minutes smokes, this can be quite difficult as there aren’t many smaller cigars that aren’t cigarillos. We had a look through the humidors and decided upon the Inka Secret Blend Red Chicos, Casa Turrent 1880 Maduro Coronita and the Tabak Oscuro. Hopefully I get to see him again so he can let me know if he enjoyed them.

Thursday was a rather strange day. I started in the shop, picking online orders with Josh, once I completed them, Sarah became available so I moved out of the shop and concentrated on more marketing tasks. We have a very exciting development at the moment which is the focus of our marketing department, We will have our very first C.Gars magazine coming out very soon! And I play my part too, I will be writing two articles which won’t be available online, as well as a general cigar news page and then in the afternoon, we had a meeting to discuss further. At the meeting all of marketing put forward their ideas and looked at everyone’s effort and suggested ways to help improve.  I also served a great gentleman who was completely new to cigars, he was given a Cohiba from a friend but upon cutting, it fell apart. When I had a look it was very obvious that the cigar was fake! I had never seen a fake Cohiba in person! So I was amazed to see how bad it was! We looked around the humidors and I was helping him decide which cigars to try for a first time, he decided on the Montecristo No. 4, Regius Orchant Seleccion Peru 2023 Wide Churchill and the Tabak Especial Toraja. Afterwards he mentioned that he loved whisky and so Sarah and I showed him the Stalla Dhu range and let him try the Speyside, Islay and C.Gars malt. He enjoyed all three so I said he could take one of each miniatures for the special price of £9.99! He was overjoyed! He left so happy and was really looking forward to trying them all.

On Friday, I was working in the packing department for the first time in a very long time! For those who know me, know I started in the packing department in 2019 and have since moved onto to running the shop and the C.Gars cigar library as well as much more. This time I was working with Porscha, I packed as quick as I could, however my pace isn’t what it once was. As a team we got through it successfully with all orders going out.

On Saturday, It was Porscha, Josh and I, picking all of the online orders and having a general stock up on products. Josh spent plenty of time depluming the cigars to make them look pristine.

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

So long for now

Oliver

Hi everyone! Another busy week has passed in Norfolk and we have had some great customers come in to say hello!

On Monday, I was in the shop with Josh. We had loads of online orders to pick! So we got through those as quickly as we could and the next thing you know it’s the afternoon. After the pickings, I spent most of my day stocking up the Cuban humidor and wiping the plume off all of the cigars. I served a gentleman who had never been to the Norfolk store before, he had been to our old location in Rollesby, but this was the first time to our current store in Great Yarmouth and he couldn’t believe his eyes. He went away with some Inka Secret Blend Blue Petit Corona as well as a tin of Neos Country Wilde cigars. 

On Tuesday, we had ourselves a visit from the main men themselves – Mitchell Orchant and Ron Morrison. We did the last bits of polishing as well as final bits of stocking up. I also had a slightly reduced marketing day. I created an article for the C.Gars cigar library, it was all about cigar binders, which you can read here. I also made a new display in our Cuban Humidor to show off our Regius Orchant Seleccion cigars.

I enjoyed a couple of days off and returned on Friday, I had plenty of pickings and it was due to our marketing team running a double up Cuban quick puff sampler. This sampler has always been incredibly popular and when they reduce it even more it flies off the shelf! You need to sign up to our newsletters to receive the amazing offers our team create! I served a great gentleman who is very new to cigars, he had a look on our website, but wanted to come in store to see what we have. We went through both of our humidors and I explained different cigars to him. He went away with a Drew Estate Tabak Especial Toraja and two Mitchellero Picadillo. Safe to say he was happy when he left. Later on in the afternoon it was the Cuban stock count, this time it was Ciaran and myself counting. It has been a while since we both did it together, however we counted it incredibly quick as always!

I hope you have enjoyed this shortened blog, next week it will be back to the usual as I am in store all week, so make sure you come and say hello!

So long for now.

Oliver

Hi everyone, It has been a boiling week here in Norfolk, however we do have some amazing Air conditioning to keep us and our fabulous customers cool. As you know it is currently the summer holidays and so I have been having a few extra days off to spend with my wife and son, that means these blogs will be a little bit shorter due to working less days.

On Monday, I was working in the shop with Josh, we had so many online orders it was unbelievable. However we worked our way through them and I then found time to help Ciaran out picking his pipe and accessory orders. Teamwork makes the dream work right? Towards the end of the day, we had three young gentlemen come in looking to get into the world of cigars. Josh served them perfectly, listening to their needs and suggesting cigars they should have. They were all pretty nervous about cutting the cigar, as you may know if you ruin the cut, the cigar will fall apart. So I showed them how to do it on one of their cigars, I could see one particular gentleman was still worried, I said “why don’t you cut one here so I can help guide”. So he did and he did it quite well, no ruined cigar, just needs more confidence, but I am sure they are all enjoying their cigars now!

On Tuesday, due to staff illness, I was working the morning in the shop and the afternoon doing my marketing content. In the morning Billy, our humidor manager, and I had a complete revamp of our New World humidor. For those who haven’t visited, our New World humidor was always quite cramped when there were more than three people inside, and we had stock everywhere due to holding so many brands. Billy and I moved some brands that were not so popular and put them away and then moved other brands around to create more space, we then removed a table from inside and put in a new humidifier and now it looks like a brand new room! You’ll need to come and visit and let us know what you think of our humidors.

In the afternoon I was working on my marketing. This was particularly tough for me as I had to get my shop newsletters completed and scheduled, which was incredibly difficult to do in a short time as I still had to take pictures of some products.  I also created an article for the C.Gars cigar library, this one was about a very underrated cigar vitola – The Lancero, you can read the article here. I also spent the time taking the pictures, alongside the ones for my newsletters. Taking a picture of such a long cigar is quite difficult as you need to try to keep the whole cigar in focus and one mistake can cause a part of it to become blurry. 

I then enjoyed two days off and returned on Friday. It was Josh and I in the shop again, getting through our pickings and then moving onto other tasks. I spent my morning cleaning our spirits shelves. I took every bottle off and dusted each shelf and in the process created more space for more spirits to come out of our cellar. Afterwards I then started dusting behind counters and by our pipe tobacco section. I then realised we had gaps on our shelves so I quickly filled them up and now it looks brilliant! Afterwards I then stocked up and ordered stock for our New World humidor. In the afternoon, it was the usual Cuban stock count with Josh. We were disturbed by a set of customers I enjoy serving, they tend to have Inka Secret Blend Red Robustos as well as Mitchelleros, however they had a slight change, one of them wanted a cigar that created a great aroma and I instantly showed them the Tabak Especial. I initially showed them the Toraja, however they decided it was too big, so they chose the Medio Corona, which is similar but you miss out on the Oscuro wrapper. 

On Saturday, I was working with Josh and Porscha. We worked through the pickings and then set to work filling up our spirit miniatures display and cigar accessory display. We try to have as many spirit options in the shop as possible as you never know what a customer may want or ask for. Afterwards we spent some time cleaning the pipe room fully as well as stocking any pipes needed.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks events in Norfolk and I hope to see you all in store very soon

So long for now

Oliver