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CIGAR DINNER RAISES $228,600 FOR KIDS Print E-mail
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Los Angeles, September 15 – The 2008 edition of the God of Fire Charity Dinner at the swank Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles not only featured plenty of celebrities, good food, drink and plenty of cigars, but also raised $228,600 for charity from a wild auction on Saturday evening.

Organized by Keith Park of Prometheus International (logo shown on the home page), which distributes the Fuente-made God of Fire line, the event supported two charities this year: the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation founded by the Fuente and Newman families and the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center in Rancho Mirage, California.

Carlito Fuente and Bobby Newman spoke movingly about the effort being made to help children at the Cigar Family complex in the Dominican Republic, which includes a K-12 school, playground, medical clinic and community center and Sinatra described the work of the children’s center, which assists abused children throughout the Coachella Valley. She accepted an award as the “God of Fire” Woman of the Year.

The auction included some wild bidding on a variety of items, smoothly handled by Master of Ceremonies Joe Mantegna and assisted by Jim Belushi. Among the top sellers:

  • Two lots of limited-edition God of Fire humidor (only 30 were made) with 100 God of Fire Double Robusto 2005 by Carlito cigars and a giant framed painting of the Prometheus logo by Noah Munnerlyn, the Fuente’s official artist, sold for $10,800 each.

  • A package of 247 cigars that included three boxes of God of Fire Robusto 2006 by Don Carlos Tubos, three boxes of the 2007 Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario (one of each size), three boxes of the new 2008 Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario (one of each of three sizes), 100 of a special blend of the Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Robusto made for Carlos Fuente’s personal use and a 2007 Edicion de Aniversario travel humidor, brought $10,500.

  • A dinner for six people hosted by Barbara Sinatra at the Hotel Bel-Air in her penthouse suite brought $25,000.

  • A package of 288 cigars inside a giant Fuente Story Humidor, including 96 each of the Don Arturo Gran AniverXario (made in 2001), Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario (made in 2006) and Fuente Fuente Opus X cigars made in 1995, sold for $30,000. The bidding was so intense on this item that Carlito Fuente agreed to provide a second set of cigars and Park agreed to provide another humidor so that both of the final bidders could get one.

    The final item of the evening wasn’t even on the list, but discussion at one table that included some of the cast and staff from Mantegna’s current hit show “Criminal Minds” – including Matt Gubler (“Dr. Reed”) – led to an offer for four people to visit the set for a day. Two bidders won that prize at $8,100 each.

    All together, the auction raised $228,600 and sent the total raised at these God of Fire dinners over the $1.1 million mark.

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