UK Edition
Smoking hot: the world's most advanced cigar case
For many, price constraints – or should that be “price restraint”? – no longer exist. Cars, watches, hi-fi systems and other luxury purchases long ago passed the £1m/$1m/€1m/CHF1m mark. But a cigar humidor? This I just had to investigate.
The nicotine denier – of which I am one – should regard it for what it is: a proper objet d’art. David Pasciuto and Stéphane Nazzal, the founders of Imperiali Genève, have an unambiguous mission statement that reminds me of the wonderful Roland Iten, he of £60,000 belt buckle fame. Their philosophy is “to innovate, enrich and amaze by bringing to life objects imagined in their wildest dreams, to conceive the inconceivable, to achieve the unachievable.”
Even cigar worshippers like actors Arnie Schwarzenegger and Jack Nicholson or London’s tattoo genius Mo Coppoletta will be stunned by this mini-temple to their passion. The Emperador is, in the most basic terms, a chest measuring 70cm long, 45cm wide and 30cm high. And that’s about all it has in common with pedestrian, climate-controlled humidors.
This is a humidor for the 21st-century hedonist whose cigars are probably vintage pre-Castro Havanas in a state of perfect preservation, and for whom one million Swiss francs is pocket lint. To justify the price, Pasciuto and Nazzal sought the talents of the best engineers, craftsmen and manufacturers in French-speaking Switzerland, to serve as matchmakers for the marriage of precision mechanics, exceptional materials, fine watchmaking and state-of-the-art electronics. Again, I thought of Iten, or how watchmaking maison De Bethune created a case for the iPhone with a built-in mechanical pocket watch.
Manpower for the project involved 27 different trades, to create, organise and assemble its 2,675 components. It would take two years to realise the design and develop the chest and the three accessories that make it a self-contained smoking centre for the cigar aficionado: a tray holds a special cigar cutter, a table lighter and an ashtray.
While one such as I, a simpleton when it comes to cigars, might imagine only the need for a suitable wood, thermometer and moisture provider, Imperiali went all the way in the best OCD manner: the Emperador addresses and surmounts such challenges to the rolled leaf as heat exchange, temperature regulation between the outside of the cigar chest and the section housing the cigars, the choice of materials and insulators, and seamlessly integrating the electronics and the mechanics.
Reality check: we’re talking about burning leaves, albeit expensive ones. Still, mere storage was not enough. In addition to the technical obstacles, worthy aesthetics and ergonomics featured prominently among the tasks. The accessories are bespoke, not off-the-shelf cutters and the like, simply accommodated by the Emperador. This temperature-controlled environment is prepared for 24 cigars held in two secure, climate-controlled compartments. Each cigar is wrapped in four leaves of fine gold, protected by glass tubes and placed in a radial arrangement.
Wealth knows no borders, and there’s a world of difference between the climates of Manhattan, Mumbai and Mexico City, so insulation was a key concern. Imperiali chose to fit a compartment machined from solid aluminium, combined with other insulating materials. Naturally, electronics are involved, controlling the condenser and thermoelectric cell to reach the desired dew point. Temperature and humidity of each cigar compartment are monitored once per minute.
Three dials under the lid enable the owner to check the temperature and humidity of the compartments, the remaining supply of cigars in each compartment, and the battery power reserve. To ensure the appeal of this to inveterate travellers with multiple homes, Imperiali tells us that, “None of these operations requires human intervention – the Emperador is able to manage them by itself.”
It goes on and on – who’d have though a cigar box could be so complex? The aforementioned timekeeper is a manually-wound flying tourbillon, 100 per cent Swiss-made. Surface treatments on all the metallic elements include anodising, gold-plating, nickel-palladium and rhodium, polishing and engraving with black lacquer.
Security is paramount when housing cigars of high value, so the rigid frame, special locking system and other details deal with structural and security issues. To open the chest, the owner must enter the rest of his code by touching each of the letters on top. The lock and the watch reside on the top of the chest.
This is the part I loved from the brand literature: “The Emperador is woken gently by brushing a finger over one of the touch buttons on the cover. First of all, this illuminates the LCD display incorporated into the cover, which is invisible when the device is sleeping. To proceed further, the user must then unlock the opening process by entering his secret code, still using the golden touch buttons. If the correct sequence is entered, this is confirmed by a flashing light on the display. The process continues with the movement of the lock and the opening of the cover.”
And I haven’t even dealt with the a cigar cutter, table lighter and ashtray. The cutter can punch or perforate at 6, 10 or 14mm, the clippings ejected by a rotating cylinder. Then there’s the ashtray: even this is high tech and “intelligent”, presented in a gilded and black lacquered case. Its diaphragm opening is motorised and illuminated by hidden LEDs, and it is fitted with proximity sensors to detect cigars. “Simply hold a cigar near the device and the mechanism will activate, opening the case, ready to collect the ash.” And if a single speck of ash lands on the sensor, it won’t open, “as the detection strategy was designed in order to prevent such inconveniences.”
There’s still more to tell, but that would be to rob all of you potential owners of further surprises. Suffice it to say, the designers have redefined the borders of excess; I don't even smoke and I want an Emperador. I guess I could use it to store my favourite fountain pens…
IMPERIALE GENEVE