Montecristo Gran Reserva on Way to Stores
Montecristo
Gran Reservas, extra-aged, ultra-expensive versions of Montecristo No.
2s, are heading to cigar shops. The cigars, which were presented to
retailers and fans of Cuban cigars in grand fashion at the final dinner
of the 2011 Habanos Festival in Cuba last February, are expected to
reach many shelves before Christmas.
The
same size as a regular Monte 2, 6 1/8 inches by 52 ring, the Gran
Reservas are made with older tobaccos than those in a traditional Monte.
Habanos says the tobacco to make the cigars was culled from the 2005
harvest and then aged for at least five years prior to rolling into
cigars. The Montecristo Gran Reservas come with secondary bands in black
and gold, with a scripted and intertwined GR. The boxes are slim and
elegant, with a piano lacquer finish, gold stripe on the left hand side
and gold type on the front. The boxes will be numbered, each containing
15 cigars. There will be 5,000 boxes released, for a total production
run of 75,000 cigars.
While
most retailers contacted said prices have not been set, Montecristo No.
2 Gran Reservas certainly won’t be cheap. In Germany, the price for a
box has been set at 850 euros ($1,143) per box, or 57 euros ($77) per
cigar. That’s more than twice the price of a Cohiba Behike BHK 52 (Cigar
Aficionado’s reigning Cigar of the Year), which retails for 27 euros
($36) but cheaper than the Cohiba Siglo VI Gran Reserva, which sold in
Germany for 85 euros ($114) per cigar.
“Ours
are coming in the next days,” said Christoph Wolters, proprietor of the
Casa del Habano in Hamburg, Germany. When asked if people were asking
for the cigars, Wolters said there has been “outstanding demand” for the
smokes.
Marc
Melanson, who runs the Casa del Habano in Montreal, agreed that
aficionados were eager to get their hands on these new cigars. “The
limited quantity we anticipate receiving has already been reserved or
sold,” he said. He expected the cigars in two to three weeks, and said
that Habanos had promised arrival of the cigars before the Christmas
holiday.
For more on this story, see the most recent Cigar Insider.
