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

SECRET CIGARS FROM C.A.O.

Plus: A new travel humidor, and special cigar, from Habanos

Los Angeles, August 29 – If you’re a devotee of the California-based hamburger chain called “In-N-Out” – and there are millions – you know that you can order some well-known, but off the menu specials such as “Animal Style,” “Protein Style” or even a “Flying Dutchman.” Ordering one of their unique specials shows you’re “in the know.”

C.A.O. is getting the same idea. In addition to their regular line of top-flight cigars like the Gold Series, Italia, Mx2 and so on, there are some special cigars available only if your smokeshop was intrepid enough to order them:

• How about the C.A.O. America “America Humidor”? This is not just a special humidor for the new C.A.O. America series, but also for special, off-the-list America cigars called “Anthem.”

These are 8 1/2-inch by 50-ring giants and they’re packed only with the America humidor. A total of eighteen of these enormous, striped cigars are included with the red, white and blue humidor and only 1,000 were made. They retail for $450.00 each . . . if you can find one!

• The popular C.A.O.”The Sopranos Edition” cigar line deserves a special humidor of its own, too (the consequences of not having one are probably not pleasant).

So, the C.A.O. “The Sopranos Edition” now has a limited-edition set of cigars, offered inside a brilliant, red-lacquered case. The cigars are just unbelievable; according to C.A.O.:

“The inspiration for making a cigar in the shape of a champagne bottle comes from the moments of celebration on ‘The Sopranos.’ In the midst of a chaotic world it is always a good idea to remember the finer things in life, the things we love and for which we fight. The Sopranos know how to celebrate. Likewise, CAO celebrates the completion of the gripping ‘The Sopranos’ series with the same enthusiasm in the creation of the ‘Champagne Bottle’ cigar.

“Another cigar inspired by ‘The Sopranos’ life in the ‘Bat.’ It has been said that in order to effectively communicate, one should speak softly and carry a big stick. We decided to go with a baseball bat. From time to time, things need to be rearranged. ‘The Sopranos’ have shown us how to tidy up nicely.

“There are six seasons of ‘The Sopranos’ with a total of 86 episodes. The ‘#86' cigar has an 96 ring gauge and is a tribute to the last episode of the final season.”

The “C.A.O. The Sopranos Limited Edition” includes five cigars – two bats, two #86 cigars and one Champagne Bottle – in an elegant case with the C.A.O. and “The Sopranos” logos. A total of 2,000 cases were made and we have seen pricing of $100.00 per five-cigar case. If so, it’s a steal . . . but don’t tell Tony!

From the Cubador:
Habanos S.A. is getting quite clever in creating special packaging for its cigars and special cigars to go into those packages. Last year, the Montecristo Travel Humidor – an elegant brown leather case with an internal humidifier and hygrometer – was launched specifically for the duty-free and travel retailer sales channels. Each humidor included ten prized Montecristo Edmundos (5 3/8-inch by 52 ring), one of the hottest Havana cigars on the market.

That was a success, so what’s next? The H. Upmann Travel Humidor, which will be launched in October in Geneva, Switzerland at the Tax Free World Exhibition.

However, this is not simply the Montecristo humidor with a new stamp on the outside. The H. Upmann model is a vertical (!) humidor with internal cedar slots to hold six cigars and filled with specially-made H. Upmann Robustos (4 7/8 x 50), a size not currently in the H. Upmann line-up but made popular by Cohiba and Partagas (think Serie D no. 4).

The exterior design is unique as well. The humidor is covered in brown leather with the H. Upmann stamp impressed on the side. The humidor opens via a zipper at the top to expose the cigars, but has a second zipper at the bottom to provide access to the humidification chamber!

The initial announcement from Habanos carried no details as to suggested retail pricing. We’ll have to wait for October.

Hammer time:
Famous Smoke Shop’s CigarAuctioneer.com site completed its run of Ashton Virgin Sun Grown auctions with the 5 1/2-inch by 50-ring Robusto last week.

A full box of 24 cigars were available for individual bid, each with a suggested retail price of $9.25. And some of the winners actually got a bit of a deal.

The cigars were won by 10 different bidders, who won from one up to seven cigars each. The highest bid was $29.00 (!) for one cigar, but all of the rest of the winning bids were from $9.00 on the low end up to $9.50, close to the retail price.

The big spender was one bidder who bought seven cigars at $9.25 each for a total of $64.75. The 24 cigars together went for $239.00, just a touch higher than the $222.00 suggested retail price.

Coming up in late October is an auction of rare collectibles from an estate which had been sealed for almost a quarter-century. Philip Weiss Auctions is running the sale of the estate of Joseph Kedenberg from Long Island, New York, which among other things includes a five-foot-tall wooden cigar-store statue of Punch – cigars in hand – from the late 19th Century and apparently in excellent condition.

The statue is expected to bring more than $100,000 at auction.
~ Rich Perelman

Bookmark

Email This

Comments (0) add comment