Cigars do not need to be expensive to provide luxury, but it goes without saying that a cigar connoisseur can certainly tell the difference between an affordably cheerful £5 cigar and an elegant Cuban cigar which costs ten times that.
Both will provide a delightful, relaxed experience, particularly when puffed at the end of a languid day paired with an elegant spirit or a rich dark roast.
However, given just how wide the gulf is between the most affordable and the most expensive luxury cigars in the world, it begs the question of whether you get more for your money by choosing a costlier option.
The answer is often quite complex, and to understand why, it is worth looking at some of the most expensive luxury cigars in the world, why they are so expensive, and when it is worth paying more to get the best, and when to avoid opulence for opulence’s sake.
Cigar pricing is rather complex, for the simple reason that cigars are complex and made in often completely different ways using specialist blends of tobacco.
Typically the biggest difference between a cheap cigar and a more expensive one is that less costly cigars tend to be machine-rolled, whilst more prestigious luxury cigars are made using more traditional methods.
They tend to be hand-rolled, using blends of tobacco that have been cultivated and refined over decades, if not centuries, and this often inherently limits the supply of certain kinds of cigars.
Beyond this, the preparation process for cigar-quality tobacco often takes years, making each cigar part of a fine vintage.
Some blends and brands are more expensive than others because of the tobaccos they use. It could be aged tobacco, it could be tobacco in limited quantities, or just the fact that a limited number of cigars are made.
Cuban cigars tend to be unique.
It really is all about the tobacco…
According to the auction house Sotheby’s, the most expensive cigar ever sold is the Gurkha Royal Courtesan, which costs a million pounds and is so expensive that even the company that makes it questions whether they took luxury to an excessive extreme.
It is made with fine Himalayan tobacco wrapped in gold leaf and water from Mt Fiji, alongside long fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Brazil, finished with a Dominican binder.
The cigar is then infused with a heritage cognac, Remy Martin’s Louis XIII and is topped with a diamond-studded band.
As anyone aware of the concept of “stealth wealth” or who has watched the TV show Succession may be aware, there is a profound difference between opulence and luxury, and something that is more expensive may not necessarily be the best choice.
This is the reason why chicken wings wrapped in gold leaf costing hundreds of pounds are not necessarily respected as luxury cuisine, even if they are more expensive than some entire fine dining experiences.
The same is true of cigars; a high price tag, gold leaf and diamonds do not make a cigar worth it. Instead, you are looking for prestige, exceptional quality, rarity and a complete experience that is impossible to get for less money.
So with all of that in mind, are expensive cigars worth it? Absolutely, but it is best to know where to look.
We have compiled a list of six of the most expensive cigars that you can buy right now from us, each of which, we feel, evokes the epitome of what it means to smoke a luxurious cigar.
To make it fair, given that luxury humidors can contain as few as ten and as many as 61 cigars, we have arranged this list in terms of the cost per cigar, notwithstanding the beautiful display cases, boxes, and humidors that cigars of this quality often come with.
Given that Cohiba is one of the most prestigious Cuban cigar brands, it comes as no surprise that they appear no fewer than three times on this list.
A bizarre limited edition that was also widely successful, the Robusto Supremos 2014 edition is a particularly velvety smooth and robust cigar, characteristic of everything that makes Cohiba so desirable.
This particular collection of ten cigars comes to a total of £525, not counting the elegantly lacquered box the set comes in, but it is the perfect cigar for a very special celebration.
Looking at the price tag for this particularly exquisite collection of some of the most desirable Havana cigars in Hunters & Frankau’s House Reserve, you might wonder why such a collection is fifth in a list of the most expensive cigars ever.
The answer is quantity; you get 61 cigars, including the specially created Ramón Allones Private Stock 230, which equates to a total cost of just under £575 per cigar.
It is a truly special collection of cigars, one for a true connoisseur who demands to sample the finest cigars ever imported to the UK.
Part of a collection of just 5000 boxes with 15 cigars each, the Partagas Gran Reserva collection costs around £650 per cigar, each of which provides a slow draw and intensely complex flavour.
If you are after a truly robust, full-bodied flavour without any compromise, this is possibly the most perfect example, and its subtle black and gold band highlights the difference between true luxury and mere ornamentation.
The second appearance from Cohiba on this list, this limited edition Churchill cigar costs £1100 per cigar, but its meticulously aged tobacco and delightful mix of earthy undertones highlighted with spice and cream makes it a perfect example of the excellence Cohiba cigars provide with each draw.
Whilst the cost per cigar is a third of the Cohiba Esplendidos at £300 per cigar, given that you get four numbered boxes of 25 cigars, the overall cost and sheer beauty of the Hunters & Frankau’s 225th Anniversary cabinet-styled package, our list would be incomplete without it.
Easily the most expensive cigar that we sell, the Cohiba Majestuosos 1966 offers something that almost no expensive cigar in the world can: history.
As many connoisseurs well-versed in the history of Cohiba will be aware, this collection marked the 50th anniversary of the creation of Cohiba, two years before the brand was formally established and whilst the cigars were largely the personal collection of Fidel Castro.
As such, the dimensions of the cigars are not part of any other Cohiba product or any other standard size, complete with a commemorative black lacquer humidor.
There is no way to sample a cigar quite like these ones, which is part of the reason why the total cost equates to £4,000 per cigar.
