At 2 p.m. local time–a prompt 2 p.m.–the winter 2015 edition of the C.Gars Ltd auction started. At 3 p.m., the test fire alarm at London’s Bulgari Hotel went off. A weekly tradition, interrupting a biannual one. The four-hour event was a crossroads of perhaps one of the most formal and traditional activities—an auction of vintage and rare luxuries narrated by the voice of Jonathan Humbert—and the sometimes inconveniences associated with the conveniences of modern technology. When all was said and done, C.Gars Ltd had sold more than $780,000 worth of cigars to buyers around the world—some in the room and some surely in their own living rooms. There were a total of 359 lots ranging from pre-embargo cigars in all shapes, sizes and quantities to some of the more sought after releases of recent memory from Cuba’s Habanos S.A. At the low end, a single Cohiba Lancero sold for £50 ($75), while Lot 356, a 250-count cabinet of pre-embargo Romeo y Julieta Invencibles sold for £30,000 ($45,000). For the first 100 or so lots, bidding in the room was minimal. Instead, online bidders, who were allowed to bid before and during the auction, scooped up all but a handful of the first third ...
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