A pleasant surprise for the cigar smoker this weekend, a decision has been made on the ridiculous Plain Packaging law, they've decided not to proceed any further.

Our beautiful Cuban cigars will stay in their beautiful boxes! Well done to everyone who took part in the consolation, at last some common sense has prevailed in the UK.

More details here.

Congratulations to Calum (Left) from Turmeaus Chester who has passed the Hunters & Frankau Higher Certificate!

We�re very pleased he got through and he is the first ever member of the Specialist network (or indeed any retailer) to achieve the standard.

Well done again to him and to you as he reflects our passionate professional approach to the Havana cigar business.

We are very pleased to announce that we have a new member of the Association of Independent Cigar Specialists!

We would like to welcome All About Cuban Cigars to the group and hope for a long standing relationship with them.

If you would like to become a member please email us on info@cigarspecialist.co.uk

The results are in for the 2012 Annual Awards for Cigar Retailer of the year and Cigar Trade Supplier of the Year. The event took place alongside the C.Gars Ltd Auction at Boisdale Canary Wharf on the 2nd of July. The winners of the awards are:

AICS retailer award winner Tom from Tom Tom Cigars	Guy Hancock accepts AICS supplier award on behalf of the Tabac World

Congratulations to our winners and good luck for next year, a superb night was had by all and we can only hope for it to run as smoothly next year.

The 2012 Annual Awards for Cigar Retailer of the year and Cigar Trade Supplier of the Year will take place at Boisdale Canary Wharf on the 2nd July

An evening of drinks, smokes and canap�s recognizing our industry colleagues for their outstanding contribution to the specialist cigar trade in the UK and Ireland

The Retailer Award is given to our members for customer service, expertise, range and merchandizing

The Supplier Award is given to our members for speed of delivery, promotions, quality of goods and packaging

The event coincides with the C.Gars Ltd auction event which starts on the cigar terrace at 6pm

We look forward to welcoming AICS retail and supplier members for a memorable evening

Mitchell Orchant- Chairman

Guy Hancock � membership Secretary

The annual dinner and awards for the Association of Independent Cigar Specialists (AICS) were held at Boisdale in Belgravia last night and a great evening was had by all especially as we were enjoying UK exclusive regional edition Punch Serie D'Oro no.1 which are just incredible smokes. In fact the more the mature the better they become.

Some 30 supplier and retailer members enjoyed relaxing on the cigar terrace and then a splendid meal in the conservatory with some great live jazz in the background.

As Chairman of the AICS it was my pleasure together with membership secretary Guy Hancock, to hand out the annual awards which included two for my staff from Turmeaus Tobacconist shops in Chester ( Fiona- long service to industry award) and Liverpool ( Christine- Customer Service Award) so they received a beautiful certificate as well as a bundle of shopping vouchers which put a very large smile on their faces :-)

The Cigar Specialist award went to Eddie Sahakian of Davidoff and the Supplier award went to Gift International- well done chaps ! Thanks to Boisdale for a fabulous evening....as ever

We believe that our members represent the cream of the specialist cigar merchant and retail clients are best served by experts for this fine product

A list of our members is on our home page which is being updated constantly

Looking forward to next years AICS bash !

Mitchell Orchant
Chairman
Association of Independent Cigars Specialists