$2.8 Million Cohiba Humidor Breaks Habanos Auction Record

Cuba

$2.8 Million Cohiba Humidor Breaks Habanos Auction Record

Sep 14, 2022 | By Gregory Mottola

Hundreds of twinkling Swarovski crystals highlight the Cohiba 55 Aniversario nameplate set into this lavish humidor.

Another humidor auction record has been broken. Last week, at the Cohiba 55 Aniversario celebration in Havana, the gavel went down for a winning bid of 2.8 million euros (about $2.8 million), the largest bid ever placed for a humidor in Habanos history. The historic winning bid only confirms the enormous star power of Cohiba, as the previous 2.4 million euro record, set at the 2020 Habanos Festival, was for a Cohiba humidor as well.

Standing more than 5 1/2 feet tall, this massive humidor holds 550 Cohibas. It’s made of cedar, juniper, okoume and mahogany with mother-of-pearl inlays, and was designed by Nous Group and built by Humidores Habana.

The star of the auction was a massive humidor along with 550 Cohibas, won by Jimmy Ng of Singapore, a world-class collector of Cuban cigars and regular attendee of the Habanos Festival and other cigar events held in Cuba.

Led by Dalia Padilla (center), the bidding finally stopped at 2.8 million euros, a new record for a single humidor sold at any Habanos auction.

The humidor is large, standing a bit more than 5 1/2 feet tall, and is meant to evoke the architecture of the 1950s. Its myriad cabinets, compartments and drawers are designed to hold the 550 cigars—all of them Cohiba—that were a part of the lot. It’s a near-comprehensive collection meant to showcase the scope of the brand. The lot includes limited editions, special releases and standard smokes from the regular-production portfolio, including several (Ambar, Ideales and Novedosos) that have yet to reach the normal retail chain:

Cohiba Behike
20 Behike BHK 52 (2010 Cigar of the Year)
20 Behike BHK 54
20 Behike BHK 56

Cohiba Línea Clásica
35 Ambar
20 Esplendidos
20 Lanceros
20 Pirámides Extra
20 Robustos

Cohiba Maduro 5
20 Maduro 5 Genios
20 Maduro 5 Mágicos

Cohiba Línea 1492
20 Siglo IV
20 Siglo V
20 Siglo VI
20 Medio Siglo

Others
20 Talismán Edicion Limitada 2017
25 Sublimes Extra
25 Pirámides
25 Gran Corona
20 Robusto Especial
25 Robusto Supremos

20 1966 Edicion Limitada 2011
25 Novedosos
35 55 Aniversario Edición Limitada 2021
35 Ideales

Auction winner and cigar collector Jimmy Ng stands next to his new Cohiba 55 Aniversario humidor.

Though not technically a Habanos Festival, the scaled-down event was held to celebrate 55 years of the Cohiba brand and incorporated many aspects of past Festivals, such as the grand gala evening and humidor auction. As with previous Festival auctions, proceeds go to fund Cuba’s healthcare system.

Cohiba Habanos S.A.