The $2.7 Million Cohiba Humidor
Habanos auction history has been made. The final lot auctioned at the Habanos Festival gala on Friday night broke all records with a 2.4 million euro ($2.7 million) bid for a 5-foot tall cabinet humidor filled with 550 Cuban Cohiba cigars. The bid stunned the crowd and sured all previous records for the auction by an enormous margin.
The bid—made by Li Thet from China—brought cheers from the crowd of more than 1,200 cigar smokers and pushed the total raised for the night to 4.3 million euros ($4.7 million). By comparison, last year’s auction raised just over $1.7 million.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Max Gutmann, the importer of Cuban cigars to Mexico who has also been to every Habanos Festival auction.
“It’s a record,” said a smiling Fernando Domínguez, cigar director of Imperial Brands, the British company that owns half of Cuba’s Habanos S.A.
The humidor, one of six lots auctioned on Friday night, was made in Cuba by Cohiba 1966 and 50 Novedosos.
The auction was one of the final moments at the 22nd annual Habanos Festival.
Look for more coverage of the final night next week.
