 Big bids for Partagas 150s on eBay, but Opus X remains popular
Los Angeles, September 21 – Despite eBay’s prohibition on the sales of tobacco products, there’s a brisk trade in cigars, notably rarer cigars in unique packaging like Partagas 150s.
General Cigar introduced these limited edition cigars (pictured above) in eight sizes in 1995 as a salute to the 150th anniversary of the Partagas brand, using 18-year-old Cameroon wrappers. A final release of 50,000 cigars of the line were released for the millennium to honor the passing of Ramon Cifuentes, a member of the families which owned Cifuentes y Cia. in Havana, producers of Partagas, Ramon Allones and other brands prior to the Cuban Revolution.
Also in 2000, a special line of 100,000 Ramon y Ramon cigars was made to honor Cifuentes, in five sizes. The most spectacular presentation of the Partagas 150 Signature Series and Ramon y Ramon line was a special humidor with 18 drawers and 150 cigars of varying sizes: 50 of the Partagas 150s and 100 Ramon y Ramons.
We reported last week that one such humidor was up for bid and it attracted a high bid of $2,024 for the 150 cigars included ($13.49 per stick). But that wasn’t enough for the Miami, Florida-based seller, who had a higher reserve.
Now the humidor is up again, with a starting bid set at $2,350. The auction ends early this morning.
Another seller, this one based in Puyallup, Washington, offered up a box of 7-inch by 52-ring Don Ramons last week for $1,000, but had no takers. He finally got something for his trouble with the sale of a box of 100 Partagas 150 “B” (6 1/2 inches by 47 ring) for $1,500.
A third seller offered a box of 25 Partagas 150 “B” at a starting bid of $499.99, but also had no offers. The same seller offered an in-the-packing-crate box of 10 Don Ramons and got 22 bids topping out at $575 – $57.50 a stick! – but the offer was not accepted as his reserve price was higher still! Aargh.
What about Opus X? No worries, they’re still selling well on eBay.
• A box of 10 Reserva d’Chateau went for $247.50, a healthy $24.70 a stick, on September 17.
• A box of 29 Perfecxion No. 2 (6 3/8 x 52 torpedos) earned $560.00 (or $19.31 each) yesterday.
• Another box of 29 Perfecxion No. 2 torpedos sold for $700 ($24.13 each) some 13 hours later!
For the rest of us:
For those who prefer to buy their cigars without bidding, Cigars International now has available Partagas Limited Reserve cigars at reasonable (more or less) prices.
Boxes of 20 are priced at $219 for your choice of the Regale, Royale or Robusto sizes. But the best deal is the rarely-available opportunity to try this brand in packs of five for $70 each. Sure it’s $14 a stick, but it’s a lot less than $219.
CI is also offering its stocks of La Tradicion Cabinet Perdomo Reserve at significant discounts, including packs of five as low as $22.
Last add on Arnold:
Following up on yesterday’s story on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his cigar tent/office in the Capitol courtyard, we note that the Los Angeles Times spread may have been generated from a five-line item in the May issue of Los Angeles magazine, which called Schwarzenegger’s cigars an “instant collectible.” Memo to the magazine’s fact checkers: Schwarzenegger’s cigars from humidor ace Daniel Marshall are not made in Tustin, California as you state, but in the Dominican Republic.
~ Rich Perelman
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