Cigar packaging honoring anniversaries is not exactly rare to see in these packaging awards, but Foundation Cigar Co.’s Highclere Castle Senetjer takes that idea in an entirely different direction.
Instead of commemorating a birthday of an important member of the cigar industry or a major event in a cigar company’s history, the Senetjer was created to honor the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhman’s tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter and the great-grandfather of Lord Carnarvon, George Herbert, who funded the operation. In fact, the Senetjer line gets takes its name from the ancient Egyptian word for incense, which has been translated as “of the gods” and “that which makes holy.”
The packaging for the Senetjer was designed in collaboration with archaeologists Colleen and John Darnell, who created a cigar box that is an exact replica of a storage box found in the tomb, other than the addition of Highclere Castle being translated in ancient hieroglyphics and inscribed on the facing of the box.
Herbert is the link that ties everything together. As the 5th Earl of Carnavorn, his home was Highclere Castle, which quickly became filled with Egyptian artifacts from the searches he funded. Highclere Castle gained fame in the modern era as the home of the popular television show, Downtown Abbey. Foundation Cigar Co. and George Herbert, the 8th Earth of Caravorn, have an agreement that includes the production of Highclere Castle cigars, of which this is the latest.
Inside the box are a dozen 6 3/4 x 52 perfectos made up of a 7th priming Ecuadorian habano wrapper covering a Brazilian mata fina binder and a filler blend of undisclosed origin, though the company notes it is three-year-old tobacco. The Highclere Castle Senetjer is priced at $33 per cigar and $396 for each 12-count box. — Brooks Whittington
