In the 11 years since Davidoff released its first cigar commemorating the Chinese Zodiac calendar—the Year of the Dragon in 2011—a fair number of companies have jumped on the same bandwagon. That list includes not only Habanos S.A. but also Drew Estate, J.C. Newman, Maya Selva Cigars, Plasencia 1865 and VegaFina.
However, the Aura E.P. Carrillo Shengxiao Limited Edition is a different animal altogether, no pun intended. Almost of all the Chinese Zodiac calendar-themed releases to date have honored the upcoming year’s animal symbol, hence why you are reading about rabbit-themed cigars for 2023. However, each box of Aura includes 12 torpedoes measuring 6 1/8 x 52, each one a unique blend that is inspired by the 12 symbols that make up the Zodiac calendar.
Although the release was developed in collaboration with Cigar Specialist International—a distributor based in Singapore—the individual blends were created by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. The cigars were then packaged in a handcrafted mahogany box that includes a humidifier and a set of cards detailing each cigar blend and its corresponding animal personality.
Only 2,500 boxes were produced: 1,500 boxes were released to retailers in Asia, while 450 were made available to U.S. retailers, and the remaining 500 were offered to retailers in Europe and South Africa. Pricing varies by individual market, but the MSRP is listed at $1,000 per box, or $83.33 per cigar.
The result is a stunning display that is both unique and extremely well-designed, from the outer red felt bag, the embossed gold bands—not to mention the red secondary bands with each individual Zodiac symbol printed on them—and even the magnets that keep the lid of the box securely closed. — Brooks Whittington
