Some people smoke them, others collect them and, in Britain and the US, people invest in them. While the Irish aren't really into speculating on cigars, there are serious collectors of cigars in Ireland, according to Mr David McGrane, managing director of James J. Fox & Co. in Grafton Street, Dublin.
In 1992, the Cubans produced 500 boxes of cigars to celebrate Christopher Columbus discovering Cuba, he says. "There were 50 in each box. And they were sold in 1992 for about £600 (€762) per box of 50 cigars. I think the September before last one of those was sold for £15,000 sterling (€22,710) in Geneva at auction," he says.
"Irish people haven't yet realised that cigars can be an investment. It is "not something that has caught on here," Mr McGrane says. But we do appreciate the acquisition of something that is old and sought-after like a pre-revolution Cuban cigar, even the boxes of which can be valuable, he says.
People who buy cigars don't necessarily need to worry about storage. For instance, cigars can be stored at James J. Fox "in perfect condition until you require them", he says.
They can be stored for clients in the humidors on the premises. A humidor is a room, locker or press that controls humidity and temperature "so that the cigars are maintained in perfect condition", he explains. "If you buy cigars and bring them home and throw them in a press they're open to the atmosphere of dry and wet and cold and hot. And they mightn't last because the plant is a living thing, it just dies", he says.
A good Havana cigar will last for up to 30 years, he says, but even cigars from as early as the 1930s can remain in good condition. It depends on the cigar and that year's crop. A 1930s cigar "wouldn't necessarily be gone past its best although the flavour would have mellowed. It would be a very, very mellow cigar at that stage and you would have lost some of the taste. But a lot of people, they buy them to have them. It's like buying a very good bottle of wine, you buy it never to drink it", according to Mr McGrane.
"Some of the cigars we store here are passed on from generation to generation. You know, they're there. Your son comes along and they're there for him."
Ms Carolyn Holmes, a specialist in the wine department at Christie's in London, says they have quite a few collectors who look for "fine old vintage cigars". She says it is a bit like wine. "And you quite often find that people with decent collections of wine also have some decent cigars as well."
In a Christie's auction on May 20th, there are cigars dating from the 1930s onwards. "The ones that are of greater interest are what we call pre-embargo `1962' cigars," says Ms Holmes. These are "of a particular interest, especially to American collectors because they haven't been able to get any cigars since then. Also, they're often of makes which aren't available anymore. And if they've been kept well, they're usually particularly good to smoke", she says.
Lot values in the forthcoming auction range from £150 sterling up to £10,000 plus, she says. For instance, two Cohiba, 30th anniversary humidors, 45 of which were made to mark the 30th anniversary of this "flagship brand of Cuban cigars", complete with 50 Robustos Especiales unique to these humidors, are estimated at £9,00-0£12,000 sterling each. Seemingly, humidor number 1 was presented to Fidel Castro.
Other estimates include: 1 box of 25 Cohiba Coronas (1988) (£1,000-£1,500 sterling); 1 box of 25 Romeo y Julieta, Cazadores (1977) (£400-£500); 1 box Dunhill, Cabinettas (mid to late 1970s) £800-£1,200.
