The Thousand Dollar Trinidad
When Habanos displayed the Trinidad 55th Anniversary humidor behind plexiglass at the 2024 Habanos Festival, we knew it would be expensive. It is, after all, an S.T. Dupont humidor loaded with 55 Trinidad Fundadores, each purported to be aged for at least a decade. More than a year later, we were quite stunned when we found out what the suggested retail price actually was.
Most key markets around the world received the humidors earlier this year. Among the first was Hunters & Frankau, the Habanos distributor for the United Kingdom. Hunters set the suggested retail price at £47,115 (about $64,000) per humidor, which averages out to $1,160 per cigar.
Think that’s expensive? That’s just the price for the standard package. There’s an upgrade. Another flashier S.T. Dupont humidor designed by French fashion designer Charaf Tajer is set at £128,920 or about $175,000. If you want to break that down, it ends up being $3,174 per cigar. The number of cigars inside the Charaf (and the age) is the same.
Age comes at a high cost. These Trinidads are the first release in the Habanos Vintage program, what will be lines of considerably aged Cuban cigars. Two additional bands (one near the head, the other at the foot) indicate that the cigars were aged for a minimum of 10 years before release. When compared to the retail price of standard, non-aged Trinidad Fundadores, which are £70.10 each (about $96), the markup ends up being more than 10 times the original amount.
Of course, a lot of the high cost comes from the large humidor itself—a handsome trunk that looks as if it’s from a house of haute couture like Louis Vuitton or Goyard—but it raises a crucial question: is there really a market for such an expensive package? According to British retailer Ajay Patel, there is, but it isn’t huge. He was allocated two humidors for his La Casa del Habano shop in Teddington, England, and hasn’t quite decided what to do with them yet. Patel is thinking about selling one in its entirety and breaking up another to sell the cigars individually.
“That way I get to smoke a few as well,” he says. “It’s the only way we can get to try and see how these compare to the standard release.” So, what will he end up charging per cigar? “I was thinking £900 to £1,000 (about $1,228 to $1,365), but I still have not made up my mind. If I were to sell the full humidor, I guess £50,000 ($68,209) or thereabouts.”
Prices for the Trinidad humidors can vary from country to country, and most retailers are not willing to sell the cigars individually the way Patel is considering. In Germany, the standard humidors retail for a bit more than in the United Kingdom (55,000 euros or $64,446), but the Charaf release is considerably less than what it’s going for in England (110,000 euros or $128,819). If you go to the Canary Islands, the La Casa del Habano shop in Tenerife is selling a standard humidor for the same price. At the La Casa del Habano in Nyon, Switzerland, the Charaf Tajer edition is selling for 140,000 Swiss francs, or about $175,000, more in line with U.K. pricing.
Kaliman Caribe, Habanos distributor for Bulgaria (and 11 more countries), has set the retail price for the standard humidor at virtually the same as Germany, and even lists a single aged Fundadore at 1,004.48 euros (that’s $1,188) on its website. You might find them at the Cohiba Atmosphere in the capital city of Sofia.
In Hong Kong, the retail prices are set at HK$488,840 (about $62,852) for the standard humidor, HK$868,230 (around $111,633) for the Charaf edition. A representative from Habanos distibrutor Pacific Cigar Co. Ltd. says that retailers, as of now, will not be selling the cigars individually.
Mexico, has many La Casa del Habano shops. Lauren Toledo is CEO of Cigar House International, which oversees the Casas in Tijuana, Cozumel, Cancún (as well as one in San Pedro, Belize). According to her, Mexico received eight standard humidors, and has already sold a few for $50,000 apiece.
“Our clients are serious collectors and passionate aficionados who value rarity, history and craftsmanship,” she tells Cigar Aficionado. “They see this humidor as a legacy and a collector’s treasure, not just a product. They were sold in La Casas del Habano in Tijuana and Cancún. With the upcoming reopening of Cozumel, and our location in Belize, we continue reaching high-end collectors in the region.”
Toledo says that the humidors are sold as an entire unit and so far, there are no plans to sell any of the cigars individually. That being said, she was able try one. “A client generously shared one with me,” she says. How was it? “An unforgettable experience that confirmed the exceptional quality of this release.”
If you happen to see these humidors on display in your local shop and notice that the Fundadores are wrapped in cellophane sleeves, do not be alarmed. While handmade Cuban cigars do not typically come in cellophane (and are often a sign of fakes), the protective sleeves in this case are legitimate.
The Trinidad 55th Anniversary humidor is limited to only 1,000 numbered humidors, 945 standard and 55 of the more expensive Charaf Tajer edition. Once they are all sold at release price, expect them to resurface at auctions in the future—for even more.
