Habanos Festival 2026 Humidor Auction Gets A Second Chance In Macau

With the traditional February gathering in Havana cancelled, part of the Festival’s charity auction will take place in Macau on Friday, November 13. Four exceptional humidors containing a total of 900 Cuban cigars will go under the hammer.

Three humidors originally intended for auction in Havana last February will finally find buyers in Macau. On Friday, November 13, Pacific Cigar Company (PCC) will hold a charity auction during a gala dinner attended by 550 guests. The evening will also feature the world premiere of a new Habano, the Saint Luis Rey Palatinos, exclusively intended for La Casa del Habano (LCDH) stores and Habanos Specialists.

Entitled The Tradition Endures: The Habano Festival 2026 Humidor Auction, the sale will revive one of the highlights of the Festival del Habano’s traditional closing gala. As in Havana, the proceeds will go to Cuba’s public healthcare system.

“With this year’s Festival cancelled, Habanos looked for the most suitable market to hold its traditional charity auction and eventually chose Asia,” Samuel Lin, CEO of Madison Auction, which is organizing the sale, told L’Amateur de Cigare. “Discussions began several months ago, before we were able to settle on a date. But things really came together over the past four weeks.”

The evening will also see the unveiling of a new machine-made cigar, the Romeo y Julieta Wide Short.

Four Prestigious Humidors

The auction catalogue features four humidors, three of which celebrate anniversaries of Cuban cigar brands. In recent years, the Havana auctions have included a larger number of lots, including humidors dedicated to Cohiba or Behike, which have helped drive bidding to spectacular levels.

“I thought Habanos would unveil a Cohiba humidor in London last month [at the world launch of the Cohiba Talismán]. But that didn’t happen, and we haven’t received one either,” Samuel Lin noted.

The first humidor celebrates the 60th anniversary of Diplomáticos, a brand established in 1966. It contains 160 Cuban cigars across several vitolas, including Diplomáticos No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5, as well as Geniales, Excelencias and Cónsules. Notably, the No. 2 is currently the only one of the numbered vitolas still in regular production.

The second humidor marks the 90th anniversary of Rafael González, founded in 1936. Finished in black and gold, it houses 190 cigars, including Coronas de Lonsdales, Panetelas Extra, Perlas, Petit Coronas and Cigarritos, alongside several discontinued or particularly rare vitolas.

The third humidor celebrates the 30th anniversary of Cuaba, launched in 1996 and renowned for its double figurado cigars. It contains 300 Habanos, including Divinos, Exclusivos, Salomón, Tradicionales, Distinguidos and Dallamora.

The fourth humidor is dedicated to Saint Luis Rey. Unlike the other three, it was not created for the 2026 Festival but specifically for the Macau event, to mark the launch of the Saint Luis Rey Palatinos, a new vitola reserved for La Casa del Habano franchises and Habanos Specialists, which will make its debut at the same gala. This humidor contains 250 cigars, including 50 examples of the new Palatinos, as well as Churchills, Serie B, Double Coronas and Pirámides No. 1 — all vitolas that are no longer part of the brand’s regular portfolio.

An Auction Relocated to Asia

The choice of Macau is one of the most distinctive aspects of this year’s auction. Traditionally held in Havana before Festival guests, the sale will instead take place in one of Asia’s leading tourism and gaming destinations.

“We selected Macau as it is an important market for PCC and therefore Habanos,” Dag Holmboe, CEO of Pacific Cigar Company, told L’Amateur de Cigare. Samuel Lin added that, given the tight schedule, securing a venue in Macau proved easier than in Hong Kong, where both PCC and Madison Auction are headquartered.

Bidders will be able to participate in person or remotely through Madison Auction’s online platform. “I expect more than 300 people to register for online bidding,” Samuel Lin estimated. “This is a charity auction, so there are no reserve prices and no buyer’s premiums,” the Madison Auction CEO added. “And of course, we hope the hammer prices will be as high as possible.”

At the last Festival del Habano, held in February 2025, the seven humidors offered at auction fetched a combined €16.41 million. A Behike humidor alone sold for €4.6 million, setting an all-time record.

Laurent Mimouni and Régis Besko
Photos: ©Madison Auction