Padrón Humidors Get New Price, Refill Option

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 11/26/2014

The Padrón 50th Anniversary humidor is scheduled to arrive within weeks, and Padrón Cigars Inc. has disclosed the new price and revealed previously unknown details about an unusual refill policy associated with the humidor.

The humidors, individually numbered and containing 50 numbered cigars, will sell for a suggested retail price of $6,000 (not $5,000 as the company originally thought). They could arrive at the end of this month or early in December, and production has been limited to 1,000 humidors.

But there will be more than just the 50,000 cigars inside all of those humidors-buyers of the humidors will be allowed to purchase refills, 50 cigars at a time, when they are made available by Padrón.

"The people that own the humidor have the right to the refill," company president Jorge Padrón told Cigar Insider. "It's never been done before." The detailed process had been debated by Padrón for some time, and after initially considering this strategy, then abandoning it, the Padróns have returned to their initial idea of issuing refills.

Each humidor will come with a plate describing the refill process, and detailing the serial number of the humidor. After receiving the piece, the owners will be directed to a dedicated website prompting them to register their humidor. There will also be a certificate loosely modeled after the title of a car; if someone were to sell their humidor, they sign it over to the next owner, transferring the rights of the refills.

When the refills are ready, customers will receive an email, asking them if they wish to make a purchase of the cigars. The refills will not be shipped directly from Padrón, instead the customers will be directed to the cigar shop where they bought the humidor.

"You can only get the new cigars from the original retailer," said Padrón. A buyer doesn't have to take the new cigars. "You have the right to refuse," he said.

To distinguish between the original 50 cigars that come with the humidor and those that are shipped as refills, the refill cigars will have different colored bands from the originals. Also the numbers on the refills will be different, and not in the same order as the originals, although the blend will be the same.

The white humidors were designed by Nelson Alfonso and made by Golden Age.

The cigars packed in the humidor will measure 6 1/2 inches long by 52 ring gauge, longer than the other Padrón Family Blend 50 Years, which is sold in boxes and is made in far larger quantities than the cigars that will come in the humidor. The maduro version of the Padrón Family Blend 50 Years scored 92 points in the September 23 Cigar Insider. That smoke measures 5 inches long by 54 ring gauge, and retails for $25. Enditem