World‘s most expensive smoke, but is it the best?
Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:57am ET
By Joe Ortiz
MADRID (Reuters) - It‘s the world‘s most expensive cigar -- $440 each (每支440美元) and it only comes in boxes of 40 (只以一盒40支出售) -- but is it the best? Nobody knows because no one has smoked one.
The Cuban Havanas (古巴雪茄煙) from the Cohiba brand are so precious that no one has actually lit one yet (太昂貴了因此還沒有人點燃過一支), although the blend (煙絲) was tested by a group of tasters (品煙（酒）師們) before the cigar went into hand-made production (手工生產(chǎn)), according to Norma Fernandez, the "torcedora" or cigar-roller (卷煙工人) from the El Laguito factory in Havana.
The cigar was launched (投放市場) in Spain Thursday by Altadis, the exclusive importer of Cuban cigars into Spain (往西班牙進口古巴雪茄的唯一進口商).
When they say "hand-made," they mean it. In this case there were only two hands involved and they both belong to Norma -- she rolled all 4,000 cigars in the strictly limited edition (發(fā)行額有限的限定版) -- a labor of love (心甘情愿做的工作).
"I‘ve been doing this for 39 years but I still love it," said Norma who admits to smoking cigarettes and the odd Cohiba panatela (細長的雪茄的一種) and was selected from the senior rollers (從那些資深的卷煙者中被選出) for this special task.
Fernandez also had the honor of deciding on the tobacco blend (煙絲) to be used which was designed to honor 40 years of the Cohiba brand (紀念Cohiba品牌香煙（生產(chǎn)）40周年), being true to the house style but giving this cigar a special touch.
"But I‘m not going to reveal the formula," she told reporters.
The Cohiba "Behike," named after a tribal chief of Cuba‘s indigenous (古巴土著的) Taino tribe, can only be bought in special humidors (特制的雪茄盒) -- $18,860 for the 40 cigars.
A lot of money. But maybe not for someone who can appreciate this delicate blend of the world‘s most selected tobacco leaves. Either way, just like the cheapest old stogie, it‘ll be up in smoke.
