Ceramic Cigar Jars Mark 60 Years of Asia-Cuba Relations

[Ryan]

2 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

The only other similar releases I can think of are the Tabacalera Sevilla jars with Monte 3 and ERDM CS that came out a few years back. And last time I checked these have barely gone up in value if at all. The original price on these were a much more reasonable $550-650. And these were Sevilla jars unlike the PCC jars.

Those Spanish jars are still being released. Two per year, a "Coleccion Vintage" Jar (Blue and white) and a "Serie Sevilla" jar ("antique beige")

They are priced well at $300-$400 on release in Spain and hard to find outside of Spain. Nice things and I have a few myself, however I have a feeling that the quality of the ceramic on the Asian releases might be slightly better. The Spanish jars need to be packaged very, very well for travel, as I have found out myself.

There was a Trinidad Robusto Extra Coleccion Vintage jar of 19 cigars sold in Spain. I have seen those sell for $2,500 and up. The others, between $500 and $800.

The price difference might be explained by the fact that there is more cigar money in Asia currently than in Spain. I have a feeling there might be a glut (as much as a run of 1,000 jars can have a "glut") of those jars in Spain at the moment with almost no foreign travel into Spain this year.    

[Ryan]

1 hour ago, yossie said:

I finally understood why PCC chose those 3 nations from Asia... red/commie connections?

Yeah, something must have happened in Cuba around 1960 that led to the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, Cambodia and Vietnam! ?

[SirVantes]

39 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Yeah, something must have happened in Cuba around 1960 that led to the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, Cambodia and Vietnam! ?

Yeah, but that something didn't happen in Cambodia and half of Vietnam until 1975.  So that's nice of them to start early.

[NSXCIGAR]

On 10/15/2020 at 1:16 AM, nKostyan said:

What matters here is whether it is a special release from Habanos S. A., a release from a distributor owned by HSA, or a distributor independent of HSA. This is important for determining the item collection value.

I'm not sure I follow you. I don't see the relevance of a distributor partially owned by HSA like PCC or one that isn't. All distributors are essentially joined at the hip with HSA for practical purposes.

As far as the release, either it's a HSA release or a distributor release. Only two possibilities. Official jar releases are fairly unusual for HSA. The last two I can think of are Boli Distinguidos for China in 2011 and the still unreleased HU Mag 56. Anything like that is clearly and obviously marked Habanos: 

[NSXCIGAR]

12 hours ago, Ryan said:

There was a Trinidad Robusto Extra Coleccion Vintage jar of 19 cigars sold in Spain. I have seen those sell for $2,500 and up.

I think that's due mainly to the cigars themselves. Trini REs are highly sought after and getting pretty old at this point. 

[Fugu]

On 10/16/2020 at 7:04 AM, Homer said:

Everybody wants something thats LE. It can be cigars, alcohol, candy clothes etc.
And prices are sky high. Also stockmarket has gone crazy.

 

Not going to argue with you there. Each to their own, surely. ?

[NSXCIGAR]

On 10/15/2020 at 1:16 AM, nKostyan said:

What matters here is whether it is a special release from Habanos S. A., a release from a distributor owned by HSA, or a distributor independent of HSA. This is important for determining the item collection value.

So this is interesting after further thought. HSA is now promoting these on the official website and the jars do have all the appropriate Habanos logos and labels and are limited to 1000 jars of each model. The only inconsistency is that the warranty seal appears not to be present. So these may very well be classified as an official HSA release which, as you point out, increases the collectability and value of these substantially.

http://www.habanos.com/en/noticias/edicion-limitada-de-jarras-conmemorativas-60-aniversario/?age-verified=8f07b816de

@ATGroom, what do you think?

[ATGroom]

My opinion is that they are a PCC release, not an HSA one.

The seal on the boxes is a PCC seal that reads "Repackaged by the Pacific Cigar Company." I read that as saying that these cigars were produced in Cuba and sealed in their boxes as regular standard Epi 2s and D4s. PCC commissioned some jars, and had some people in a warehouse in Hong Kong open standard production boxes, apply the extra bands, and pack the cigars into jars.

The "official release" line is a blurry one at the best of times. As others have pointed out, HSA and PCC are essentially the same organisation. I'm sure HSA had knowledge and consent as to what PCC were doing. I have been told by people in HK that these are an "official release," but personally I can't see a difference between these and a Spanish Sevilla jar.

I therefore don't plan to list them on CCW. I've never had "sealed in Cuba" as a criteria before, but it seems as good a line as any.

Happy to reconsider as always if more information comes to light.

[Nino]

2 hours ago, ATGroom said:

I have been told by people in HK that these are an "official release," but personally I can't see a difference between these and a Spanish Sevilla jar.

I fully concur with your opinion Alex, good example.

[KavalanWhisky]

Jars looked great but the cigars looked like regular production.  Price was steep, roughly 1k USD per jar.

Preferred the look of the Mag 56 jar, those cigars had pristine wrappers but was a little too steep for me at $1200 for the Jar.