C.Gars Cuban Cigars

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We'll huff, we'll puff and we'll drive far away!

- Giroma


Hamburg herf boat

 
We'll huff, we'll puff and we'll drive far away!

'Classic Cars and Cuban Cigars' - a phrase enough to stir our inner portly gent from his long Chesterfield snooze, hearing the come-hither call of his faithful cigar, feeling a yearning to again feel an engine growl underneath his toes and the wind through his whiskers.

The comforts and pleasures, the armchairs and mahogany, we know we can get from cars and cigars. In 'Coopers Classic Cars, Cigars & Bar' in midtown Manhattan we can enjoy them all at once with warm coppery Scotch. But can our pleasures pay their way in pounds or are they simply our prized and pricey past times? It has been argued that classic cars are worthwhile investments that appreciate over time, but others consider them less a financial punt and more a lifestyle investment. And with cigars it's a similar story.

As stocks are off on the tra-la-la, some classics connoisseurs argue that now is the time to catch a classic car, a rare bird to tend to until she's even rarer. An uncommon Bugatti 57 Atlante S, purchased in 1955 for £895, was auctioned in Paris earlier this year for 3.4 million euros. A 1953 Aston Martin DB 2/4 Coupé was sold in California this year for more than triple some pre-auction appraisals, and twice what the previous one of its kind fetched. Rare classics can appreciate like rare works of art. 'There are cars out there that are one in three or one in four. They're like a Picasso, a rolling sculpture,' said Lentinello, a collector-car publisher.

According to the select index from Hagerty's Cars That Matter, top collectible car prices have gained about 60% since September 2006, and Chris Routledge of international auction house Coys, asserted that 'there is no doubt that we are in a downturn but people are looking to put their money into classic cars and automobilia rather than other financial investments.' It may seem like a good idea, and good timing, but it is also true that 'the really good cars are fetching high prices while sellers of average cars have to lower their price expectations,' as noted by Frank Wilke, a Classic Data market analyst. As always, investments must be shrewd and careful for them to be potentially profitable.

The added problem with classic car investment is the relationship between owner/investor and vehicle. Investment can be a veil for ardent interest, and it can swiftly become a labour of love, and a maintenance nightmare, rather than a hedge against economic instability or a four-wheeled filled treasure chest for the future. Sometimes it is a siren, luring to the rocks, and all that is invested in a vehicle can end up unreciprocated when the car is sold.

With cars it is an attachment that clouds the financials, with cigars it is an enthusiasm to sending them up in smoke. The best investments can easily be joyously puffed away. That's why Mitchell Orchant, owner of C Gars in West Hampstead, London, encourages his clients to buy two boxes of cigars, one to smoke, one to hold in the hope it will pay for the habit. 'If you are lucky, the prices will double in a year to pay for your pleasure, but typically you might expect to wait five years for a 50% growth in value.'

If you can get your hands on Davidoffs and Dunhills (who quit the market in 1992) you may be looking at sweet returns. A £500 box then is now worth £5000 and more. The most sought after cigar for many, however, is the '1492 Humidor,' of which only 502 boxes of 50 cigars were ever made - worth £800 in 1992, now at least £12,500. To invest you need to purchase top-branded limited editions - like those from classic Cuban labels Partagas, Ramon Allones and Bolivar - in boxes of 25 or cabinets of 50 and store them in humidors to maintain their Havana allure. They will store for up to 50 years, maturing like a fine wine. But although cigar enthusiasts there will always be, the demand for Cuban cigars has recently decreased.

In the recession, to a degree, it seems that some people are all puffed out. Cuban cigars have become an unlikely weathervane for economic vitality. A decade ago when the stock market was all boom and boon, the appetite for Cuban cigars ballooned and exporters had a hard job to keep up. Cigars were the preserve of pleasure and a press release for success, one's distinguished arrival, habano in hand. As Dickens once said, 'Ah, if only I had brought a cigar with me! This would have established my identity.

But the bankers from the boardroom have hot-tailed it to the hills with their humidors. The recession has drawn a line of acceptable spending that does not include blowing a week's wages up in Cohibas and Montecristos, and the infamous Ban has stubbed out smoking in restaurants. A few weeks ago, demand for Cuban cigars was reported to have fallen 3% last year and 15% this year. This has led to 30% less land being sown with tobacco. Where have all the Churchills and Groucho Marxes gone?! All is not lost however. Surely a decrease in output will eventually make this a desirable year, increasing the rarity of some productions. Perhaps what looks like a dip will turn out to be diamond.

During uncertain times it does make sense to move money into material assets, but only the best are worth buying. Although unlike some other investments, property and gold for example, classic cars and Cuban cigars are more personal investments, and this can sometimes result in the financials becoming a little hairy. People love their vintage vehicles and spend years and thousands on them, and at the end of a day's hard driving consider nothing better than being able to draw a puff of their finest cigar from their put-the-world-to-rights armchair.

It does well to remind ourselves that it can be good to invest in things we love, but we must be all the more cautious. Perhaps it's best if there's one for love and one for money: it's time to buy two classic cars and two boxes of Cuban cigars; one to have and one to hold on to.

- Giroma

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