Cor blimey, it’s not every day you receive an invitation to the AITS Lords Lunch. When the invite landed in my DMs, I knew I couldn’t resist. I had to book a day off work as annual leave to attend. It was very last minute, as a spare place had become available. What an honour to be asked!

So, what is AITS?

It’s an acronym for the Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists – a group established in 1976 by specialist retailers from all over the UK. It acts on behalf of all tobacco retail businesses and provides vital support, assistance and advice to its members.

According to their website, if you work within the UK’s tobacco retail sector, either as a bricks-and-mortar retailer (which I think is basically a physical shop) or as an online business owner—or both—you can reap the benefits of AITS membership.

They provide support, assistance, and advice to retailers regarding legislative changes and insurance requirements, as well as guidance on running and developing a tobacco business. AITS represent the tobacco retail sector when lobbying the Government, and they provide a sounding box for their members – many of whom network with each other on a regular basis.

My key takeaway is that leading industry experts are really sharing their expertise and knowledge with those who are new to the industry/or working in a silo in the industry – to provide a community of support navigating the complex world of the tobacco industry. Especially in these times of constantly changing smoking regulations, including the latest Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

I guess from my perspective I’m mainly interested in the cigar side of things over other tobacco products – and through my own cigar journey I’ve been visiting quite a few of these independent cigar shops and sampling lounges up and down the country. So when I rocked up at the event, whilst I had a bit of imposter syndrome, I couldn’t believe how many people in the cigar industry I had recognised 🤯 – purely because I’ve on my own accord visited and sampled a cigar in each and every one of their venues – crikey so many folk were there including Astoria Cigars, City of London Cigars, Cigars Unlimited, Farrants, Featherstone Cigar Company, JJ Fox, OM Cigars, Surrey Cigars the list goes on. All whom I’ve written blog posts about my attendance to their venues. 

• A visit to the cigar sampling lounge at Astoria Cigars in Margate, Kent
• City of London Cigars opens new cigar shop and sampling lounge in Spitalfields
• Cigars Unlimited in South West, London
• An unforgettable night of sampling cigars at Farrants in Cobham, Surrey
• Davidoff Cigar Tasting event at Featherstone Sampling Lounge in Essex
• James J Fox Cigar Shop in London: Cigars, a sampling lounge, and museum – all in one!
• Enjoying exceptional cigars at OM Cigars London close to Camden/
• A visit to Surrey Cigars shop, sampling lounge and cigar night in Guildford

It was also great to see so many folk including those from Hunters & Frankau, Tor Imports, Bright Leaf and more.

As I learn more about this cigar industry, I realise how amazing the community is at all levels. Whether it’s like me, a punter (e.g. customer) sampling and enjoying a cigar, or the retailers and suppliers, people are always happy to share their learnings about working in this world with their peers. It feels like an incredibly supportive industry.

I first heard of AITS after reading up about IGNITE, their annual conference that has taken place over recent years at Whittlebury Park, Northants. It features a two-day trade show, networking opportunities, industry talks, and a gala dinner. It is deemed ‘the largest event of its kind, dedicated to the UK’s independent tobacco retail sector.’ I’d love to attend it one year – it’s mainly for people working in the industry, though – but the events they host look fantastic! When I look across the pond to the US, they have quite a few of these kinds of events, so it’s nice we have one here in the UK 🇬🇧.

Yikes, I waffled a bit there, so…

What’s this Lord’s lunch all about?

It’s the annual Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists (AITS) trade-sponsored charity lunch, which supports the Welfare Fund of the Tobacco Trade Benevolent Fund – AITS members gather for a day filled with fine cigars, delicious food, refreshing drinks, and community spirit.

From what I can tell, it has been held at Lords Cricket Ground, ‘The home of Cricket’, in St Johns Wood, North West London, for the past few years – and that’s where this year event took place.

The day’s events

The event started with a champagne reception at 11 am in The Harris Gardens, of course cigars were smoked!

This gave me the opportunity to catch up with so many cigar folk I recognised, I also met a few others from some places I’d love to visit on my cigar journey – including Barbershop Tobbaconist, Gauntleys, The Smoking Jacket and The Kensington Cigar Shop.

It was time for the main event: lunch in The Long Room, featuring a Michelin-style meal.

This is the place where cricket players walk out onto the grounds.

The room was amazing. You don’t often get to dine in places like this!

Drinks were poured whilst we waited for our food.

The menu had both meat and vegetarian options.

I had the hand picked Brixham crab for starters…

The Crispy belly of pork for my main…

And a strawberry and champagne pannacotta as my dessert…

There were a few speeches including one from Paresh Patel the chairman of the AITS and of course, you may be familiar with him via Havana House.

Later in the afternoon, there was some entertainment, a lively interview with Christopher Biggins by comedian Dominic Holland. Dominic, known as the father of Spiderman actor Tom Holland, engaged in a spirited conversation with Biggins.

During a Q&A, someone brought up a viral photo that captured a funny moment at the Wimbledon Champions a few years back. In the picture, it’s believed that Tom Holland jokingly tells his father, “DAD, act normal, Emma Watson is coming,” which quickly became a hit on social media. Dominic explained that the photograph received more media attention than anything he had achieved throughout his television and comedy career.

After the final speeches, we all ventured to the pub next door—The Lord’s Tavern—for more cigars and some drinks.

Overall thoughts

All in all, it was an incredible day. I felt very humbled to have been invited to such an esteemed event; it felt like real recognition of what us cigar bloggers do in our geeky hobby – so a big shout out to the  Bright Leaf crew for the invite – I really appreciated it.

Honestly, everyone made me feel so welcome, and I met so many amazing people, including James Barber of Barber Tabacconists; his stories about his cigar journey were quite remarkable – and I can’t wait to venture up to Harrogate at some point to attend one of their cigar events.

If you want to find out more about AITS check out their website at https://aits.co.uk/