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Ten Years to Remember

David Savona
From the Print Edition:
Air Sick, Jul/Aug 02

Rick Pitino, the University of Louisville basketball coach, quieted the audience with a story about his best friend, whom he last saw while smoking a cigar off the 18th green at Pebble Beach. Soon after that great day, his friend was trapped in the World Trade Center at Cantor Fitzgerald. Pitino called his friend that day before the plane hit, and they spoke about how they wished they could be transported back to the seaside links.

The reminder of September 11 set the stage for one of the great heroes of that terrible day, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who took the podium in the middle of the auction. He thanked Shanken and the cigarmakers for their contributions at the last New York Cigar Aficionado Big Smoke, where 800 of New York's firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service personnel were able to enjoy a bit of peace after working tirelessly since that tragic day. "It was another indication of how they were cared for, how they weren't isolated and how they weren't alone," said Giuliani.

The lots at the charity auction were extraordinary. Highlights included A Flight to Remember, donated by Richard Santulli, chairman of NetJets. It consisted of five hours on a Gulfstream IV-SP, which seats 13. Facundo Bacardi of Bacardi Rum won the lot with a $32,000 bid, then offered to double his bid if Santulli would double the hours to 10. Santulli agreed, and the bid became $64,000.

Lot No. 12 turned out to be the most exciting one of the evening. It was a sneak preview of 800 Padrón Serie 1926 cigars, donated by Padrón Cigars Inc. The lot inspired hearty bidding. Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble Inc., bought the lot for $30,000 with a condition: that the cigars be given to Giuliani, who agreed to accept the cigars only if he could auction them again. Bidding resumed and the lot was finally won for $30,000 by Tony Goldman, a prominent real estate developer, Milken and Shanken, raising the total to $60,000.

The final lot proved one of the biggest of the night, called Marvin's Mystery Box, which featured an Elie Bleu humidor conceived by and made exclusively for Shanken by Alain Berda of Paris, founder and chief designer of Elie Bleu. The lot included an array of fine gifts, and was purchased by Limbaugh, the radio personality, for $50,000.

As the auction concluded, the guests received their final cigar of the night, a box-pressed double corona presented without a band. It smoked as a well-aged cigar, with a rich and complex flavor. Its stunning aroma was met with the heady scent of the Fonseca Port, which proved to be the perfect mate for the cigar. As dessert was served, the guests moved to other tables, sharing stories of the evening, thoughts already turning to next year's dinner.

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