One of the most expensive cigars of all time is arriving in stores.

Last year, Habanos S.A. showed off the Romeo y Julieta Grand Churchill, a new 7 1/2 (190mm) x 56 size for the popular Romeo y Julieta brand.

It was quite clear from the moment it was announced that it would be expensive. The cigars would only be sold in Elie Bleu humidors containing 100 cigars. Just 450 of those humidors would be made and each cigar was wrapped in gold foil.

While it was originally discussed as a late 2018 release, the humidors have recently begun showing up in stores. Pricing ranges widely due to both taxes and mark-up, but halfwheel has found the cigar listed in Germany for €45.378.15 ($50,303.95). German law prohibits retailers from charging a mark-up, which helps to explain the price, which is lower than what most retailers have listed the humidor for.

The cigar hasn’t been formally sold by 5th Avenue Products Trading GmbH, the German distributor of Cuban cigars, but it is likely to be priced around €54,000.

As for the cigars, it’s the first time this size has been used by Habanos S.A. The company says that the cigars were rolled at the La Corona factory in Havana by some of the factory’s best rollers.

While $50,000 is a monumental amount of money for cigars, it’s hardly the most expensive Habanos S.A. product in recent memory. In 2016, the company released the Cohiba 50 Aniversario, which was a humidor of 50 cigars priced at €200,000, over four times the price of the Romeo y Julieta release. A shop recently sold one of those humidors for $379,000 ($421,000).

Update (Jan. 8, 2020) — 5th Avenue Products Trading GmbH, the German distributor of Cuban cigars, says it hasn’t actually sold the cigar to retailers and that the price will be higher than the €45.378.15 being advertised by one retailer.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.