In appreciation of the illustrious American leaderships' predilection to cigars, I bring you this...

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Yul Brynner's cigar collection goes for sale
Yul Brynner ... a real enthusiast.
by WILL BENNETT in London

In an age when smoking cigarettes is increasingly frowned upon, cigars have largely escaped the attentions of the health lobby and become fashionable among the rich and famous. Hollywood stars such as Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and John Travolta are all enthusiasts.

On Thursday, Christie's will hold its first-ever sale devoted to cigars, at its headquarters in London. "We have included cigars with other items in the past, and there have been other charity cigar auctions across Europe, but as far as I know this is the first commercial auction in the UK," says Brian Ebbesen , the specialist in charge of the sale.

Among the top lots is a cabinet of 50 cigars once owned by an earlier Hollywood enthusiast, the actor Yul Brynner. The 1960 Don Candido, Dunhill Seleccion Suprema No 500 cigars are expected to fetch pounds $8750 to pounds $11,225.

The cabinet, which bears Brynner's name on an original sticker, is one of three first auctioned in 1992 alongside the contents of the wine cellar at his French mansion. "I knew the vendor who bought all the cigar lots in the previous Brynner auction, so I was able to get hold of this one again," says Ebbesen. "At the time, this one went for about $8000. I don't know whether he smoked the other lots, or what happened to them."

Brynner, who starred in such films as The King and I and The Magnificent Seven, also smoked up to four packets of cigarettes a day; he died of lung cancer in 1985 aged 65.

The 461 lots in the sale include a private collection of 210 boxes, mostly bought in the mid-1980s, which are now considered to have reached their full maturity.

Other highlights include a box of rare Ramon-Allons Gigantes cigars from 1975, expected to fetch up to pounds 1,500, a number of Cuban Davidoff cigars, some of which are estimated at up to $13,750 per box of 25, and a cigar trolley that is predicted to sell for $15,000 to $20,000.

- The Daily Telegraph

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Comment:
My Super Tuesday contribution :o)

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), March 08, 2000

Answers

Didn't Brenner die of lung cancer?

-- (freeman@interx.net), March 08, 2000.