That's about $41 a stick average, unless my math is bad.
Just like any collection, value is dictated by demand. I guess there is someone that is willing pay what he is asking for. The only problem is that these sticks will probably never get smoked!
The more I read about Parisi, the more he sounds like a speculator in almost any other field. So he has 60,000 cigars -- many that he purchased in bulk while visiting the Havana cigar factories. He puts them back, ages them, and in time will see some appreciation.
But the example that gets me is the shriveled pre-Castro cigars he owns. Seriously, as described they sound unsmokeable -- but they represent an era of cigar making gone by, thus have exceptional value to someone who appreciates the craft.
The danger for the average speculator seems to be similar to baseball cards in the late 1980s/early 1990s. People jumped in and bought boxes and boxes of cards waiting for them to appreciate, never thinking about the production end of the equation. The makers (Topps, Donruss, Fleer, UP) started pimping them out and the bottom fell out -- thus few cards of that era are really worth $$$ -- unless of course they were "special" limited production (like updates).
I'm really new to cigars, but based on my very newbie observations, it seems cigar manufacturers are leveraging this specialty market for similar reasons. The traditional cigar market (meaning standard production lines) aren't "sexy" enough for some consumers so the "limited" market is created to leverage higher price points -- even when the cigar itself may not be all that "special" other than the "image" created by a low production run and sexy packaging.
So while some folks are running out and spending $200 - $300 for 10 or 12 cigars, others are finding greater value in traditionally solid brands -- and over the long run setting themselves up for stronger value appreciation over time. Just like baseball cards. I had friends pumping hundreds of dollars into new cards back in the mid/late 70s, and then insert cards in the 90s -- and I was pumping $$ into the older proven stars (Mantle, Banks, Aaron, etc...).
Not sure if the historical parallel will play out -- like I said, I'm just feeling my way around cigars to find out what I like. But the investment articles are a fun "intellectual" exercise....
Cheers,
Darryl
