Procigar 2024 Auction Raises More than $530,000 for Charities (Update)
Tonight, Procigar 2024—this year’s edition of the Dominican Republic’s longstanding cigar festival—will conclude with a gala dinner complete with a humidor auction.
Update (Feb. 25, 2024) — The auction lots generated $487,200 in combined sales. That money will be split between the various charities. In addition, attendees donated $50,000 for A Home for My Family, which will be used to build a new home for an employee of the PDR Cigars factory.
As has been the case for many years, Procigar member companies—as well as others like Boveda and HumidifGroup—have donated humidors to be auctioned off with all proceeds benefiting three charities: A Home for My Family, Hospicio San Vicente de Paúl, and Voluntariado Jesús con los Niños.
Lot 1 — Arnold André Procigar Humidor
The humidor itself is actually from Marc André, a German humidor maker of no relation to Arnold André. This humidor will come with 100 cigars, 50 each of Carlos André Airborne and Cast Off. It is rated to hold up to 250 cigars.
This humidor features Marc André’s relatively new Hydrocase humidification system, which is an electronic humidification system.
Lot 2 — Welcome Dinner Live Painting — Raíces Aromáticas by Feliberto Pichardo
This 50 x 70-inch painting was created on Wednesday night during the welcome dinner as guests walked in.
Sale Price: $3,500
Lot 3 — Montecristo Mar Azul Mega Humidor
Tabacalera de García’s entry for Procigar 2024 is very blue. This is a one-off humidor that is inspired by the ocean. Inside are 100 6 x 50 cigars that are said to used a proprietary blend aged for six years.
In addition, a box of cigars from Tabacalera de García sold for $6,500.
Lot 4 — Davidoff The Monolith Humidor
The outside of this humidor is made of a single piece of moca creme limestone, while the inside is described as “odorless,” likely meaning okume wood. The humidor was finished in Italy and comes with two humidifiers.
The press release says the humidor comes with “cigars from the soon-to-be launched Davidoff Maduro line,” which I suspect is an indication that the Davidoff Maduro line is getting updated. Regardless, there are 120 toro cigars with this humidor.
Lot 5 — La Aurora Tesoro Centenario Humidor
Last year, La Aurora celebrated its 120th anniversary with a new line. While the La Aurora 120 is a regular production line, there’s a limited edition Preferidos No. 1 size that finished #8 on halfwheel’s Packaging Top 10 for 2023. This humidor comes with 120 of those cigars, in their unique metal tubos that open up, as well as custom accessories from XIKAR.
In addition, a box of cigars from La Aurora sold for $5,500.
Lot 6 — Don Julio Mother of Dragons Humidor
De Los Reyes is launching a new line called Don Julio Year of the Dragon 2024 in a toro size. This humidor will come with 180 of those cigars as well as 50 Year of the Dragon 2024 Lanceros and 40 Belicosos. The two other sizes are exclusive to this humidor.
More details here.
In addition, a bundle of cigars from De Los Reyes sold for $3,000.
Lot 7 — Tabacalera Palma Cigar Column Humidor
This floating humidor uses smoke eucalyptus on the outside and cedar on the inside. The humidor was made by Pinel et Pinel in Paris, France and is said to come with 120 cigars, which are stored in drawers.
Lot 8 — Casa Carrillo Humidor
Earlier this week, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. announced that his Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. factory will now be known as Casa Carrillo. Now, there’s a humidor by the same name.
The humidor, made by Hernandez, is made of mahogany, okume and leather, though the package also comes with an ashtray, cigar cutter and case.
There are 75 cigars included:
- E.P. Carrillo Edición Unica I — An unreleased cigar that uses a five-year-old wrapper as well as binder and fillers aged up to 10 years.
- Perez-Carrillo Encore Black
- Perez-Carrillo Pledge of Allegiance 2023
In addition, a bundle from E.P. Carrillo sold for $2,500.
Lot 9 — Fifty Years of Quesada Cigars Humidor
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Quesada and the company has created a new blend to celebrate the occasion, which was shown off to those who visited the company’s factory on Wednesday.
Inside this humidor are 110 cigars: 100 are the Toro Prensados (6 x 56) and 10 Perfectos (6 x 60). Both cigars are rather limited: just 22,000 Toro Prensados will be offered for sale, while only 2,000 Perfectos will go on sale this March.
In addition, a bundle from Quesada sold for $2,500.
Lot 10 — Casa Gómez Humidor
This year marks the 30th anniversary of La Flor Dominicana and there’s going to be a La Flor Dominicana 30th Anniversary cigar. This Casa Gómez humidor contains 200 cigars, a mixture of previous releases—the company says some of these cigars are 10-years-old—and the upcoming 30th Anniversary.
The humidor itself is designed to look like a traditional Dominican tobacco barn, painted by Wilson Eusebio.
In addition, a bundle from La Flor Dominicana sold for $2,800.
Lot 11 — Four Nights at Villas Tres Amarras
This vacation spot has been donated to the Procigar auction before and it’s back for 2024. Villa Tres Amarras is located on the Dominican’s northern coast. The beachfront villa is located on a secluded beach and this package includes:
- Up to 10 people
- Five guest rooms
- Bonfire, Dinner, Live Show at Beach
- Movies Under the Stars
- Karaoke Night
- Casino Night
- Sea Fishing for Seven People
- Gourmet Meal Plan + Open Bar
Sale Price: $12,000
Lot 12 — OpusX Serie Heaven and Earth Big B Humidor
This is a French-made humidor from Prometheus that was sold last year with 102 cigars, though it can store up to 300 cigars. Only 100 numbered humidors were made, they sold out. Each humidor had an MSRP of $11,000.
As for this specific humidor, it doesn’t come with the 102 cigars of a standard humidor. Instead, 100 Fuente Fuente OpusX ForbiddenX 13 cigars are included.
In addition, a bundle from Arturo Fuente sold for $15,000.
Lot 13 — Macanudo Poker Table Humidor
General Cigar Dominicana’s entry is actually part of its old aging room. When the factory rebuilt its aging room, it saved the Spanish cedar, some of which is as old as 50 years old. This humidor is made out of some of that wood, which now serves a unique poker table and humidor.
Inside are 120 special cigars, which use a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Indonesian binder and fillers from Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
In addition, a bundle from General Cigar Co. sold for $1,500.
Lot 14 — Procigar Humidor by Humidif & Robert Glick
Robert Glick takes cigar bands and makes artwork—ranging from pictures to decorated shoes—out of the bands. His artwork has been a recent fixture at the Procigar auction. This year, it’s applied on top of a custom humidor from HumidGroup.
Inside are 132 cigars, presumably a dozen from each of the 11 member companies of Procigar. Those cigars are stored in various trays, including ones that slide open from the left and right sides. This also comes with an ashtray and desktop torch lighter. It’s also signed.
Lot 15 — Boveda 25 Anniversary Humidor
For more than two years, Boveda has been showing off its work-in-progress Boveda 25th Anniversary Humidor, which is made by Elie Bleu. The humidors are done and one of them—#5 of 25—has been donated to the Procigar auction.
Inside are 120 cigars from Procigar members and presumably some Boveda packs.
A Home for My Family is Procigar’s own charitable initiative. It aims to build new homes for less fortunate employees. Each year, the organization selects, based on need, an employee from one of its member companies. Last year, a new home was built for an employee of Tabacalera La Flor S.A., this year’s proceeds will go towards building a new home for an employee of PDR Cigars.
Hospicio San Vincente de Paul is a non-profit dedicated to providing care for the elderly of Santiago. Currently, there are 76 residents of the hospital.
Voluntariado Jesus con los Niños is a non-profit dedicated to helping children and their facilities. It includes a children’s oncology unit, children’s burn unit and a nutritional program that helps to offset the effects of chemotherapy treatment.
Update (Feb. 25, 2024) — Added auction results. This post was originally published on Feb. 23, 2024.
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.
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