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Most people, when they first meet Brian Ebbesen, don't realise
that he is Danish, a cigar and wine aficionado - and a former
ballroom dancer. That said, you would probably have guessed about
the dancing if you have ever seen the slick way he moves in Havana's
night clubs.
"I used to come over to London as a child to take dancing lessons
and enter dancing competitions," said Ebbesen. "After I finished my
education in Denmark in 1988 I wanted to get away for a year or so,
just to get a bit of foreign experience." At the time he was 18
years' old and didn't have a job or a place to live. "I just packed
a suitcase and jumped on a bus, " he said, "with a one-way ticket to
London.
Brian Ebbesen in Havana
"When I arrived, I went to a recruitment agency in the City, looking
for work; I didn't care what it was as long as it was some kind of
office job. The agency told me that Christie's were looking for a junior
for their wine department. So I went for an interview with the great
Michael Broadbent, who I hadn't heard of at the time - I also had never
heard of Christie's either, and didn't know what they did. But I knew
that it was an office job and that they sold wines and I thought, 'Why
not?' The plan was to stay for six months, and that's now 19 years ago."
So how did the job develop?
"Well, Christie's took a liking to what I could offer them and sent me
on various courses and exams," said Ebbesen. "And of course just working
in a place like the wine department at Christie's main office in King
Street, just off St James's, gives you great experience. I just built on
that over the years and eventually became the youngest auctioneer for
Christie's."
Mitch and Brian in Partagas factory
VIP room, Havana
And then came that special 'Eureka!' day when Brian
Ebbesen had this idea about cigar auctions.
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"We used to have the occasional box of cigars in the sale room,
in South Kensington - which sells mainly rare and fine wine to
private clients" he explained, "because sometimes when we picked up
a sale there would be a couple of boxes of cigars. They'd usually
come from somebody who had just passed away or had been told to give
up drinking and smoking. So we put a couple of cigar boxes in the
front of the catalogue and there seemed to be growing interest - to
the extent that I felt, in 1999, there might be a secondary auction
market for vintage cigars.
"We held Britain's first cigar auction when I was with Christie's,
in May 1999. I think there were 300-400 lots of various boxes, with
a bit of rum and a bit of port sold in between. There was a
tremendous turnout from people from all over the world. It was a
marvellous auction and a huge success. After that, we did bi-annual
auctions of fine cigars, spring and autumn, until early last year,
when I left Christie's.
"I think Christie's are still continuing their cigar auctions but I
don't think they have anyone particularly interested in fine cigars,
as I was when I built it up, so what will happen to them over the
next few years I simply don't know."
Brian and Mitch outside
Partagas factory, Havana
So when did Ebbesen acquire his love of Havana cigars?
"I started smoking cigars in the early 1990s on a drunken night out in
London with some friends," he said. "I happened to have some
Montecristos and thought it would be a good idea to have a cigar - with
port."
Ebbesen took to cigars like a duck to water and is now a noted
aficionado. Some people say that his auctions were so successful it is
now even more difficult to find vintage cigars.
"There certainly aren't many people anywhere in the world that sell
vintage cigars," he said. "The only person I know of is Mitchell Orchant
at C.Gars Ltd, who is widely known for being a vintage cigars
specialist."
As a noted expert in wines and cigars and a former auctioneer for one of
the world's leading auction houses, what does Ebbesen think of Mitchell
Orchant's collection of cigar memorabilia, which is now on sale on the
C.Gars Ltd website?
Brian ignites Mitch's Robaina
cigar
in Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana
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"It's fantastic," said Ebbesen. "You won't see a collection like
this anywhere else in the world. Walking into Mitch's office is like
walking into a time warp."
Are these items likely to be the collectibles of the future?
"I think so," said Ebbesen. "Certainly, many of these items are
extremely rare - there just aren't many around any more. Like vintage
cigars, the Cuban cigar-related antiques that Mitch specialises in are
getting more and more difficult to find."
Now that the smoking ban is fast approaching in England, and
elsewhere, does Ebbesen think that people will suddenly realise that all
the ashtrays and smokers' paraphernalia they are currently throwing away
is becoming collectible? Is there a growing market for smokers'
antiques?
Mitch and Brian in the Hotel
Nacional de Cuba's Casa, Havana
"I think that now that people are suddenly being forced to stay home
and smoke they can make the whole experience a bit more pleasurable by
surrounding themselves with an interesting collection of accessories,
old humidors and similar smoking-related antiquities, rather than
sitting in a bar which has none of these things, which is what they do
now," he said. "What collectors should be looking for is unusual cigar
art, and aged pre-Castro humidors that are more or less one of a kind."
Last year, Ebbesen moved from Christie's to Elliston Fine Wines Ltd, a
small broking house in London that deals mainly in rare and fine wines.
"I was in the wine business at Christie's and the cigar auctions were a
little sideline," he said. "Wine has always taken most of my time and
cigars was a sort of hobby, which I greatly enjoy. More and more people
are drinking wine - because their palates are changing and they're
becoming more knowledgeable. We've done a few cigars and vintage
champagne tastings with Mitchell and enjoyed some very rare old Cuban
cigars, some of them pre-embargos."
Are similar joint tastings happening in America?
"Not that I know of," said Ebbesen, " I haven't heard of any wines
tasted alongside fine cigars in the USA. It's the sort of thing that
could grow, as more and more people get interested in wine. And as they
are learning to appreciate finer wine they will inevitably want to enjoy
the other finer things in life, such as a fine Havana cigar."
Website:
www.es-finewines.com
Email:
brian.ebbesen@es-finewines.com |
