Financial-Times-Lifestyle-Redaktor Nick Foulkes widmet sich im Artikel «Which regional edition cigars to buy now» den kubanischen Ediciones Regionales. Die Schweizer Bolívar Presidentes mit ihrem Sonderhumidor – im Londoner Sammler-Jargon offenbar die «Shoebox» genannt – spielt dabei eine prominente Rolle. Der Autor kommt zum Schluss, dass regionale Havannas ein hohes Wertsteigerungspotential haben können – aber nicht müssen. Die Wahl der richtigen Zigarre sei entscheidend. Schweizer Ediciones Regionales seien, schreibt der Autor nach seinen Recherchen in der Londoner Zigarren-Szene, besonders beliebt.

It is known, although whether affectionately or not is unclear, as the shoebox. Its dimensions and stout construction could easily pass as a piece of shoeshine paraphernalia: it is just about the right height for a customer to rest his feet on, while the man with the polish and cloth gets to work. However, to me, its flat top and sloping sides suggest a portable pre‑Columbian temple of some sort or other. But it is neither tool of the shoe-care trade, nor site of religious observance. It is a box of cigars: Bolívar Presidentes (£2,100 for a box of 50), not a familiar name in Bolívar, but rather the soubriquet given to the 5.9in x 54-ring-gauge trunk of Cuban tobacco made for the Swiss market in 2012. And instead of seeing this magnificent casket of Havanas in a Gstaad chalet or lake-view apartment in Geneva, I am examining it in Mayfair, in the comfortably clubby interior of the Birley Cigar Shop at 5 Hertford Street.