Behike Breaks Record: Humidor Sells For Nearly $5 Million In Cuba
A new Habanos Festival gala, a new record. The final night of the 2025 Habanos Festival was all about Cohiba Behike, and fittingly the evening’s final humidor, dedicated to the brand, set a new record, selling for 4.6 million euros at auction. It was the punctuation mark on a festive night where a sold-out crowd of 1,400 people from around the world enjoyed an evening of incredible cigars and fine entertainment. Habanos S.A., the organizers of the event, didn’t hold back on the cigars.
Walking into the vast room, guests were welcomed with the first cigar of the night, a Cohiba Medio Siglo. It would be the first of five cigars given out that evening, and the only cigar passed out that wasn’t a Behike. The dinner was massive, one that seems to grow larger every year. Havana’s vast PabExpo Center was covered in tables for a seated, multi-course meal, with tables of 10. After each course of food was served (more or less) waitstaff in elegant dress walked the room with trays filled with cigars, handing out one apiece to the diners. The entire Cohiba Behike BHK line was passed out, in order of size, from the smallest to the largest, which also happens to be the newest. First came the Cohiba Behike BHK 52, Cigar Aficionado’s 2010 Cigar of the Year. Next came the 54, then the 56 and finally came the cigar everyone was awaiting: the 58. It’s a massive smoke, 7 inches long by 58 ring, with Behike’s signature pigtail.
Rather than the familiar, large golden Taino Indian head at the center of each band, each of these particular Behikes passed out Friday night was adorned with a special band, one where the number 15 took center stage, flanked by the number 2010 on the left, 2025 on the right. This is the band that will go on Behikes packed in the special four-pack that went on sale at the Festival, and was given out to ticketed guests at the event. Each cigar also had Behike’s new footband, which shows the vitola name. All new Behikes going forward will have these footbands.
The evening was a long one. On the books, it was scheduled to begin at 7:30, but the doors opened much later, and things didn’t really get moving until closer to 9 p.m. (Long lines and delayed starts are part and parcel of the Habanos Festival.) The evening was not only about the cigars, but also about entertainment. Musical acts entertained the crowd, with singers, dancers and announcements from the grand stage. One of the standout performances was a spirited rendition of songs by the rock band Queen, including an acapella version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” that segued into a string ensemble playing “The Show Must Go On” before a guitarist took over the show with the chords to “We Will Rock You,” with much of the crowd joining in.
During the evening, Habanos S.A. co-presidents Maritza Carrillo González and Luís Sánchez-Harguindey Pardo de Vera addressed the sold-out crowd, speaking about the importance of the Behike brand and thanking all who made the night possible.
No one comes to this expensive dinner for only the entertainment, the food or the speeches—they come for the cigars and the auction. And this auction was one of the biggest ever seen at a Habanos Festival. The crowd was expecting seven humidors, but Habanos auctioned off 10 that night, adding three surprise lots that weren’t in the auction catalog. Six of the lots sold for $1 million or more, and one set a new record, selling for a little less than $5 million.
The three surprise lots stirred the least interest from the room. A Flor de Juan Lopez humidor, which led off the evening, sold for 220,000 euros ($228,000) as did a La Gloria Cubana humidor. The cheapest lot of the night was another one not expected, a colorful Punch humidor that went for 170,000 euros (about $177,000).
Finished in veneers of dark bubinga wood, a humidor celebrating H. Upmann was the first big lot of the night, selling for 900,000 euros, or about $938,000. The humidor has two doors, which open via push action, and is decorated with a crown of golden leaves. It came with 375 Upmann cigars, including 25 H. Upmann No. 2s, which were named Cigar of the Year for 2022.
The next lot, the Hoyo de Monterrey Humidor, was the first of the evening to reach the one-million-euro mark—and then it quickly exceeded that figure. It sold for 1.7 million euros ($1.77 million). The humidor was stately, designed to resemble the gate of the famed plantation in Cuba’s Vuelta Abajo where José Gener created the brand in 1865. The gates of the humidor seem to guard the drawers, which came stuffed with 400 Hoyo de Monterrey cigars, among them Double Coronas, Churchills and Monterreys No. 4, a 2021 Edición Limitada.
Nearly as much money was raised via the Partagás Humidor, which sold for 1.6 million euros ($1.7 million). The clever design incorporated bronze and three kinds of wood to render a stately vision of the old Partagás Cigar Factory. Inside were 455 Partagás cigars, including such rarities as Salomones, 109s and Legados, the sole Edición Limitada from 2020.
A creative humidor with bright red and regal gold framing an artistic kiss made from a clever use of dark and light woods was found on the Romeo y Julieta humidor. It sold for 1.9 million euros ($1.8 million). The humidor came with 425 Romeos, including 25 Short Churchills Reserva Cosecha 2019.
Montecristo humidors tend to draw big at these auctions, a tall, sword-shaped humidor made to commemorate 90 years of the Monte brand went for 1.9 million euros ($1.8 million). Some of the colors were, interestingly, evocative of Behike, with golden squares on a black background. The six-drawer humidor (powered by Andorini humidification) has 470 Montecristos, including 20 of the rare “A” size, 25 Brillantes (a Chinese New Year exclusive) and 20 Montecristo Supremos, 2019 Edición Limitadas that scored 92 points in a Cigar Aficionado blind taste test.
Normally a Cohiba humidor ends the night, but for this evening the Cohiba humidor was the penultimate lot. The humidor was crafted as a series of cubes (again, ones evocative of Behike, with squares on a black background) built around a golden cylinder, with a Taino Indian head at the top. The big humidor came filled with 520 cigars, including 75 Cohiba Behike BHKs (25 each of the original three sizes, but no 58s), the new Cohiba Ambar and a series of Cohiba rarities, including some Majestuosos, Novedosos and Talismáns. It was won for 3.2 million euros, or $3.3 million.
The room was reminded that it was Behike night when the final humidor went on the block. It stood more than two-and-a-half feet tall, more than four-and-a-half-feet wide, with a curved design. Crafted by Ernesto Aguilera of Humidores Habana with mother of pearl inlays and Swarovski crystals, its beauty was not the draw, but the cigars inside: a motherlode of all four of the Cohiba Behike BHK sizes, 100 of each, from the 52 to the 54, the 56 and the new 58, which made its debut at the dinner. Cohiba Behike BHK cigars are arguably the most in-demand smokes in the world, seldom seen in cigar shops anywhere.
Bidding for the humidor quickly went to 3 million euros, then stalled for a moment, when it appeared that it would be eclipsed by the previous Cohiba humidor that went before. But then the bidding crept upward once again, finally selling for 4.6 million euros, which translates to nearly $4.8 million. It was a record amount, beating the previous record price (4.5 million euros) ever paid for a humidor at auction.
While the record was just barely broken, the total proceeds of 16.4 million euros ($17 million) were slightly below those of the 2024 auction, which raised more than 17 million euros. Habanos says the money raised from this auction goes to help Cuban healthcare.
As the auction drew to a close, some people lit their Cohiba Behike BHK 58s, while others chose to save it for another time. The band Earth Wind and Fire took to the stage, the music continued into the night and more smoke rose into the air.
