Another exclusive jar for Russia. Top Cigars Corporation, the official distributor of Habanos S.A. in Russia, and Cigar Cult LLC teamed up again. Cigar Cult LLC, Habanos Specialist since 2010, and the distributor are releasing another exclusive jar. last Friday, during the Russian XI Habanos day in Yekaterinburg, Ali Albetkov showed his new creation. Last year, Top Cigars and Cigar Cult did the same. They work together to create humidor jars with aged Habanos cigars. And all with a link to Russia. 

The first jar was launched at the international cigar festival Moscow Aficionados Cigar Festival 2020. They are Gold plated handmade faience jars. Hand-made by the masters of the famous porcelain production center of Gzhel. Gzhel is a town just 50 kilometers from Moscow. The inspiration was modern Russian and Soviet art. Only 80 jars were available, and they came with Vegas Robaina Clasicos from 2007.

2021 edition

The edition from 2021 follows the same principle. Cigars with age and jars that draw inspiration from Russian history. Top Cigars provided the very last stock of 1000 Ramon Allones Hermitage from its warehouse to support the release. That 5½x52 Genios is the 2017 Regional Edition for Russia. Distributor Top Cigars do not have stock anymore, few remaining boxes in LCHDs will most likely be sold within the next 2 weeks.

When the cigar has the name Hermitage, it is not strange that the inspiration for the 2021 jar is St. Petersburg, the city from the Hermitage. And of course, the state museum Hermitage is an inspiration as well, together with three Russian artists whose canvasses are on display in the permanent exhibition. One of them – the painting “Landscape with a Red Roof” by Alexej Jawlensky (1864 – 1941) – was selected to be pictured on the jars. And even the music for the introduction video has a link to St. Petersburg. The composer, Georgy Sviridov, spent a significant amount of time of his life in Leningrad and created the «Time, forward!» overture. Leningrad was the name of St. Petersburg from 1924 until 1991.

NFT

There are only 100 jars available, and they will be in high demand from Habanos collectors all over the world. The issue will be even higher in demand because the Art Nouveau Ramón Allones Hermitage Edición Regional Rusia 2017 issue was selected by Binance, the world-leading cryptocurrency exchange for the «100 Creators» promotion program which anticipates the global launch of NFT Marketplace by Binance on June 24th, 2021. Cigar Cult LLC agreed to tokenize 50 jars. Art Nouveau NFTs backed by physical jars would be gradually offered as asset-backed NFTs for cryptocurrency (Bitcoins, Etherium) which may strongly widen the interest for those collectible items.

This is a unique piece of art that enhances the price of these cigars by adding unique packaging. This is the way for official Habanos distributors to set themselves apart from others and do something special for their retail partners and end-consumers.