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Habanos moves its humidor auction to Macau after the Havana festival was cancelled, 14ymedio reports
The gala will be held on Friday 13 November in the former Portuguese colony, with four humidors and some 550 guests, after the joint venture gave up in July on holding the Habano Festival in Cuba, according to 14ymedio.
The humidor auction, the centrepiece of the Habano Festival since 1999, will be held this Friday 13 November in Macau rather than in Havana, according to 14ymedio. Four pieces go under the hammer: three that had been left waiting in the Cuban capital and one created especially for the gala.
The festival was due to take place in Havana in late February, but it was postponed with no new date in order to maintain "the highest standards of quality and experience". In July the company confirmed it could not be held in 2026, amid prolonged blackouts and with international flights sharply reduced.
"With the Festival cancelled this year, Habanos looked for the best deal where it could hold its traditional charity auction, and in the end it chose Asia", Samuel Lin, chief executive of Madison Auction, which organises the gala, told the specialist site L'Amateur de Cigar. Dag Holmboe, chief executive of Pacific Cigar Company, the official distributor of Habanos S.A. in Asia, said Macau "was chosen because it is an important market" for that company.
Lin said more than 300 people have registered to bid online and that the sale is for charity, with no reserve price. Some 550 guests will attend the gala dinner. The proceeds go, "supposedly", to Cuba's public health system, according to how 14ymedio describes the destination of the money raised.
At the last edition of the festival, in February 2025, the seven humidors auctioned raised 16.41 million euros, more than 18 million dollars, and included the all-time record for the series: 4.6 million euros for a Cohiba Behike humidor.
14ymedio places the move to Asia in a difficult year for Habanos S.A. because of its link to Chen Zhi, the Chinese-Cambodian tycoon who bought Imperial Tobacco's cigar business, the British partner holding 50% of the joint venture's capital. Chen is detained in China and accused of serious crimes by the United States and the United Kingdom, which have sanctioned him; most European countries have cut ties with his companies or keep their operations under constant scrutiny.
Sources: 14ymedio
Data updated: 2026-11-11T16:15:00.000Z