Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars

MAKING THE CASE FOR CIGARS

Plus: Padron Serie 1926 No. 1s draw heavy auction interest

Los Angeles, November 18 – Traveling with cigars is always a pain.

Do you put them in luggage and risk jostling, carry them with you in a bag and have them unpacked and re-packed by the always-gentle airport baggage security folks or buy them when you get to your destination?

I always carry a travel humidor, but my favorite model from Daniel Marshall is a work of art in itself and I can’t bear the thought of having it crushed inside my suitcase by a gorilla baggage handler at, say, Rome’s Fumicino Airport, a well-known luggage graveyard.

So I needed something tough on the outside, but equipped to keep my cigars happy on the inside.

Enter Michael Chunko and his Csonka Cigar Requisites line of travel cases.

Clearly designed with the eye of a smoker, Chunko’s cases offer a complete storage and smoking system in a single box:

> A solid base case made of steel;
> Tough, easy-to-clean exterior of Napa leather;
> Spanish Cedar inserts on which the cigars actually rest;
> Heavy-duty clips to hold cigars in place;
> In-case humidifier, pipette water reservoirs, hygrometer and cutter – everything but a match!

And there are multiple sizes:

> The Cigar Valet, pictured above, with room on both sides of the case for 6-7 robustos on one side and 6-7 double coronas on the other (12-14 total). It’s offered in basic black, saddle tan, burgundy wine or pewter gray.

> The Cigar Traveler, with room on one side for 4-5 cigars up to double coronas, at $59.95 retail, also in the above four colors.

> The Pocket Humidor, with room for 2-3 big cigars, at $39.95 retail.

The quality is there and the price is right – even lower if you can find it occasionally at discount. There are other models for cigarillos or cigarettes and for heavy-duty transport of just a couple of cigars at $25-45, but the three models above offer the class and protection of much more expensive travel humidors – boxes which come with none of the Csonka’s accessories.

We can recommend the Csonka line without hesitation, but we’re also not above looking for a bargain. For those requiring a really inexpensive solution to their travel needs, we’re still enamored with the basic but beautiful Perfecto XLT black plastic humidor at about $20 in many stores. It has a cedar insert and a modest humidifier and can hold eight large cigars. Best of all, it is made of virtually unbreakable ABS plastic. It’s a charter member on our roster of the “Top Ten Cigar Gadgets.”

Hammer time on Padron Serie 1926s:
The inventive CigarAuctioneer.com site got plenty of action last week and Monday as they offered up 72 Padron Serie 1926 No. 1 Maduros. All 72 were sold for between $22.55 and $30.00, plus shipping:

> One each was sold at $30, $28, $27 and $26;
> Four were sold to three different buyers at $25 each;
> 44 went to 13 buyers with bids from $24.00 to $24.75;
> 15 sold to 6 buyers with bids from $23.00 to $23.55, and
> 5 sold to bidders at $22.55.

The largest individual buy was 10 cigars at $24.00 each. There were five buyers who bought five of these cigars and one who bought six.

Steals and Deals:
While updating our CigarWire Comparison Shopper, we found some savings on nice cigars from Atlantic Cigar Company and Cigars International:

• Atlantic Cigar Co.:
Our top-ranked national retailer based on brand breadth and price offers a nice opportunity on:

> Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown Pyramid No. 9, now $44.95;

> Padron Serie 1926 Gift Pack of four, now $65.95, less than $17 a stick – a lot better than what those buying at auction paid!

• Cigars International:
A nice special on Baccarat Dominican Selection in boxes of 24. This is a nice, mellow blend with a Cameroon wrapper, on sale now:

> Belicosos (6 x 54), was $95.00, now $54.95;
> Churchills (7 x 50), was $85.00, now $54.95;
> Luchadores (6 x 43), was $64.00, now $49.95;
> Rothschilds (5 x 50), was $75,00., now $49.95;
> Toros (6 x 50), was $79.00, now $49.95.

Remember, only subscribers to the CigarWire have access to our Comparison Shopper spreadsheet with current street prices on more than 500 brands!
~ Rich Perelman

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