Cigar Aficionado

According to the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Dragon is half over, but that’s not stopping Switzerland from celebrating the Lunar New Year anyway. On August 20th, the Cuban Montecristo Brillantes will be available at the country’s La Casa del Habano shops. It’s a unique size in the Montecristo portfolio and intended to honor this year’s zodiacal creature.

Most striking about the release is the packaging. The Montecristo Brillantes come in contoured, glossy red boxes designed with a dragon motif to fit the theme. This is quite unusual, as Montecristo’s trade dress color has always been predominantly yellow. Each box holds 18 cigars and only 18,888 boxes are being produced for global circulation. 

Like last year’s Cohiba Siglo de Oro, which commemorated the Year of the Rabbit, each box is NFC-enabled. An NFC chip was installed for authenticity verification as well as an interactive means to provide information about the product. It’s the work of HumidifGroup, a Spanish company that specializes in high-gloss, piano-finish boxes for the cigar industry. 

The cigar measures 5 inches by 53 ring gauge. Unsurprisingly, the suggested retail price isn’t cheap. They’re hitting shelves at 1,440 Swiss francs (about $1,665) per box, which works out to 80 Swiss francs per cigar or around $92.50 each. While these Brillantes are certainly pricey, they’re still considerably less expensive than the Cohiba Year of the Rabbit, which retails in Havana for $4,500 per box of 18, or $250 per cigar.

After the Montecristo Brillantes are released at Switzerland’s Casas del Habano, the rest of the country’s retailers will start selling them on August 27th. 

The Montecristo Brillantes marks the fifth time that Cuba has joined the Lunar New Year celebration. Habanos S.A. also released the H. Upmann Magnum 52 for Year of the Tiger; the Hoyo de Monterrey Primaveras for Year of the Ox; and the Romeo y Julieta Maravillas 8 for Year of the Rat.

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