The $150 Montecristo From Altadis Shipping Today
You can count Altadis U.S.A. as another company releasing a cigar with a $100-plus price tag, and it’s on its way to retailers. First shipments of the Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Edición Doble Diamante are leaving the warehouse today and the cigars have a suggested retail price of $150 each.
You may be asking yourself why it’s priced so high. According to Rafael Nodal, vice president of product capability for Tabacalera USA (Altadis U.S.A.’s parent company), the answer is simple: aged tobacco. Nodal says that all the tobacco inside the new Doble Diamante has been aged a minimum of 10 years before it was rolled.
The Doble Diamante is a follow-up to the Montecristo 1935 Edición Diamante, which was itself a sequel to the Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua. The new upcoming Edicíon Doble Diamante is made in Nicaragua by A.J. Fernandez, and all the tobacco was grown on Fernandez’s farms in Nicaragua, including La Lilia and San Lotano.
Unlike its predecessors, which are regular-production cigars, this is a limited edition offered in one size, a Toro measuring 6 1/2 inches by 54 ring gauge. They come packaged in glossy, piano-finished, 20-count boxes that double as humidors. Only 250 boxes are being produced for a total run of 5,000 cigars.
There was a time when $100 cigars were only found at auctions for vintage Cubans. No more. Companies such as Davidoff, Rocky Patel, La Flor Dominicana, Arturo Fuente, Padrón, Oliva and General Cigar all have smokes that retail for $100 or more, not to mention some of the larger sizes of Cuban Cohibas.
