www.privateairny.com Private Air | Winter 2020/2021
58
I
can remember it like it was
yesterday, on freezing cold
night, the smoking terrace of
the Boisdale restaurant was
in London's Belgravia was packed
with high-spirited cigar afficionados
all desperate to snap up a rare set of
10 Romeo y Julieta double corona
Cuban cigars. After frenzied bidding
by shivering buyers from around the
world, a Japanese collector finally
beat a rival from Hong Kong, and
paid the princely sum of £13,225
for the cigars dating back to the
1950s. It was a record price per cigar
at public auction, and showed just
how much money heavyweight cigar
enthusiasts are willing to spend to
acquire extremely rare cigars.
Handmade cigars have always been
a symbol of luxury, but the boom in
collecting took off in the mid-1900s,
largely thanks to buoyant western
economies. Several new cigar books
and magazine glamourized and
popularized the pastime, raising the
experience of smoking a cigar to that
of savoring a fine wine. Imports of
premium cigars to the United States
– the largest cigar market in the
world – rose five-fold in four years as
smoking cigars became fashionable
with a younger, moneyed set. Seeing
the demand, in 1999 Christie's in
London started holding exclusive
cigar auctions twice a year. Many
records were broken at these sales,
including the sale in October 2000
They say successful people smoke cigars –
but do the really clever ones collect them?
THE BIG SMOKE
By: Anwer Bati,
Author of The Cigar Companion:
A Connoisseur's Guide
