Cohiba 50th Anniversary Humidors To Be Sold Via Silent Auction
Have a spare 50,000 Euros? That's the reserve price for an upcoming silent auction that will be conducted by Habanos S.A. for its Cohiba 50th Aniversario humidors. The ornate, gold-leaf covered humidors, built by the French company Elie Bleu in honor of the 50th birthday of the Cohiba brand, will be sold to the highest bidders among the official distributors of Habanos cigars around the world.
Forty-nine of the humidors will be up for purchase. The first Cohiba 50th Aniversario humidor was sold at the live auction during the Festival de Habanos gala dinner in March for 320,000 Euros ($352,505). At the time, Habanos S.A. had not revealed how the remaining humidors would be sold.
Bids for the humidors must be received via a mail drop set up by Habanos between June 1 and June 7. The bids will be opened after, and Habanos will then determine the winners of the humidors.
Some distributors, who asked to remain anonymous, are already calling the process "unfair" because, given the big differences in each country's taxes on cigars, the price in each country could vary significantly. At least one distributor has already said they expect to pass on the auction.
[Update: The reserve price has been changed and details of how the auction will be conducted have been added.]
