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Cigars

A new film about Che and some revolutionary cigars to smoke

The New Year will bring with it the box office release of Guerrilla, the Steven Soderbergh-directed movie first shown at the Cannes film festival earlier this year. Starring Benicio del Toro as Che, the film covers his attempt to foment revolution in Bolivia, leading to his eventual demise. Funded not by American money but by French company Wild Bunch and Spain’s Telecinco/Moreno Films, the film was shot in Puerto Rico over 90 days and cost €50m.  

If you are wondering what Che smoked, the answer is anything he could lay his hands on for free but in particular long, slim-format vitolas. Recreate the revolutionary moment with the Montecristo Especial (shown from left), 190mm long with a wonderfully slim, 38 ring gauge, or the Cohiba Lancero. The Davidoff No.1 shown is from a private collection and dates from the early 1980s before Davidoff decamped from Cuba to the Dominican Republic, leading to the intriquing question: can you reliably buy pre-embargo or revolutionary era cigars or are they gone forever? Christie’s London recently sold a box of 50 Romeo y Julieta Casa Reales for €6,000, dated 1972, but the excitement this year concerns the auction of a large, private collection to be held on Nov 27 at London’s Cigars Unlimited. Comprising 64 lots, highlights include a cabinet of Ramon Allones Dunhill Reservada No. 3s, one of the first boxes to enter the UK after World War Two (est. €2,000—€2,500) and — lo and behold — several boxes of fabled Cuban Davidoffs such as Lot 56, a box of Davidoff No. 2s (est. €1,000). Alternatively buy the three new Cuban limited editions for 2008 shown here — a Montecristo Sublimes sporting a 54 ring gauge; a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial and a Partagas Serie D No. 5. The Montecristo needs to rest but the Partagas is already a wonderful thing.