Cohiba 50 Aniversario Humidor to Start at $220,000

If you want to get your hands on one of the remaining Cohiba 50 Aniversario humidors and the accompanying cigars, you’d better be prepared to open up your wallet, and open it wide.

Yesterday in Havana, Habanos S.A. conducted the auction of the humidors to its distributors, with more than half of the companies who distribute Habanos S.A. products around the world participating. When the final bids had been tallied, all 49 were accounted for, and Habanos S.A. says that all of them will hit the market with a price of at least 200,000 euros, or roughly $222,789 based on current exchange rates.

While expensive, that could still be a relative bargain compared to the first humidor sold, which wears No. 1 of 50 and went for €320,000 ($352,000 at the time) at the 18th Festival del Habano Gala Night. During the Festival, Habanos S.A. announced that the remaining 49 humidors would be auctioned among the exclusive distributors via a blind auction procedure.

The Cohiba 50 Aniversario humidor cabinet is lined with Cuban ligero tobacco leaves that have been plated with 24-carat gold and uses ebony, macassar, sycamore and cedar in its construction. The units were produced by Elie Bleu, and each one will be numbered and personalized with the owner’s name. Inside each humidor is 50 of the first 60 ring gauge cigar to come from Habanos, the Cohiba 50 Aniversario, which measures 7 x 60 and has been given the vitola name grandiosos.

Each of the leaves used for the Cohiba 50 Aniversario were handpicked from tobacco grown in the San Juan y Martinez and San Luis regions of Pínar del Río, collectively known as Vuelta Abajo. Additionally, the seco and ligero leaves underwent an additional fermentation process in barrels.

Also inside the humidor are several accessories: a travel humidor for five cigars, a handmade leather cigar case and an ashtray crafted with the same cabinetmaking technique used for the outer part of the humidor and finished in refined Armenian obsidian. Additionally, each cabinet is outfitted with a device that allows the owner to keep track of both temperature and humidity conditions inside the humidor from a smartphone or tablet by way of an exclusive app.

That app will also become an exclusive communication channel for other releases as part of the brand’s 50th anniversary, as well as give the owner the chance to have a digital copy of his or her certificate of ownership and authenticity.

Images courtesy of Habanos S.A.