Difficult discussion. Important discussion. your cigars and your will.

[El Presidente]

For many of us it is not something that we give a great deal of thought about. We tend to kick the can down the road.  

Recent events are a reminder that we should address it. 

For those with collections, have you made arrangements for how your cigar collection will be handled should you pass? If you don't think your collection is worth too much, run some numbers based on secondary market. You may be in for a surprise 

• Do you want them to be given away? If so, to whom?
• Do you keep a spreadsheet/record of what you hold?
• Would you want some/all sold to raise funds for your partner or estate?

1.  If so, which ones would you like sold. 
2. Who would you like your partner or estate to contact. Have you provided the contact details. 

If you think that all seems like a lot of hard work.......put yourself in the position of your partner/family. They are often completely lost in this situation and have no idea what the cigars you are holding are really worth. 

Do your partner/family a favour and help them out by spending an hour or two and leaving clear instructions.  As someone who has dealt with this situation from the other side in helping partners dispose of collections, a little bit of planning makes the whole process so much easier for them.  I can't reiterate this enough. 

How prepared are you? 

 

 

[MrBirdman]

My cigars are kept in a fairly up to date spreadsheet and are addressed in my will. The two cigar smokers left in my extended family get to pick 5 boxes each along with the singles, and the remaining boxes are lumped into the estate.

And yes, I have the BR contact info included

[Monterey]

I left El Presidente's email in my humidor.  "In case of death, contact Rob"  The commission at bondroberts is enough to cover your time

I've calculated the value of my collection and I shudder at how much money I have in a pile of dead leaves.

[El Presidente]

11 minutes ago, Monterey said:

I left El Presidente's email in my humidor.  "In case of death, contact Rob"  The commission at bondroberts is enough to cover your time

I've calculated the value of my collection and I shudder at how much money I have in a pile of dead leaves.

For the record, I wasn't sowing for future business 

In many instances selling on BR isn't a possibility. There is a fair bit of work invloved for loved ones and they may or may not be up for it. 

What I can do for FOH family is ensure the cigars are valued (approximately) and provide some options to your partner/estate.  The rest is up to them but at least they will be armed with the information they need. 

It is a tough time. 

I forgot to mention, leave some humidor care instructions in your humidor + will. 

 

 

[asudevil08]

Glad you brought this up.  My wife and I created our trust a few years back and this was no where in the equation.  This reminds me of the old Johnny Depp movie "the ninth gate" where he goes into some old invalids book collection and low balls him for a complete collection of Don Quijote.  I can only imagine what my wife would do with mine - not to mention someone having to adequately care for them. 

 

[Monterey]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

For the record, I wasn't sowing for future business 

In many instances selling on BR isn't a possibility. There is a fair bit of work invloved for loved ones and they may or may not be up for it. 

What I can do for FOH family is ensure the cigars are valued (approximately) and provide some options to your partner/estate.  The rest is up to them but at least they will be armed with the information they need. 

It is a tough time. 

I forgot to mention, leave some humidor care instructions in your humidor + will. 

 

 

Totally understood.  Told the family that it would be worth their time to take pictures and sell them.  Also in my instructions is my bondroberts login & password!

Any help you give to our families would SO appreciated. 

Without bondroberts though, there wouldn't be much of an option for them.  So keep that great site going for a long long time!

I only wish I could see their faces when the realize how much money all those cigars are worth.  Glad I won't be around to be yelled at.  You spent how much on these!?!  They probably think that it is all worth 1k.  They will be in for a shock of their life.

[Chibearsv]

Good point. My intent was to give them to my son in law but sadly he’s now my ex son in law 😢. I love the kid but gifting them to him isn’t appropriate any more. Since I wouldn’t want my wife to have to hassle with shipping them around, I guess my neighbors will be the lucky beneficiaries. I can’t think of a reasonable way for her to monetize them without her being terrified of getting into trouble. 

[Nevrknow]

2 minutes ago, Chibearsv said:

Good point. My intent was to give them to my son in law but sadly he’s now my ex son in law 😢. I love the kid but gifting them to him isn’t appropriate any more. Since I wouldn’t want my wife to have to hassle with shipping them around, I guess my neighbors will be the lucky beneficiaries. I can’t think of a reasonable way for her to monetize them without her being terrified of getting into trouble. 

I can be your " almost " SIL.🤣 

I kid. My SIL is the only one who truly appreciates these. He gets them all. I'm very fortunate. He's not going anywhere.

[Bijan]

Thanks for the reminder, Pres. I've been meaning to get on this for a while. Just sent my FOH login and CCW login to a good friend, with instructions to contact you and a few other people, and send them my wife's contact details, if the worst ever happens.

I'm sure with a rough estimate of fair market value at the time it wouldn't be too much trouble to liquidate the cigars.

I would very much regret the cigars disintegrating over time, due to neglect, and my family missing out on that money.

[Nevrknow]

8 minutes ago, Bijan said:

Thanks for the reminder, Pres. I've been meaning to get on this for a while. Just sent my FOH login and CCW login to a good friend, with instructions to contact you and a few other people, and send them my wife's contact details, if the worst ever happens.

I'm sure with a rough estimate of fair market value at the time it wouldn't be too much trouble to liquidate the cigars.

I would very much regret the cigars disintegrating over time, due to neglect, and my family missing out on that money.

We ( I ) do the same with investments, autos, real estate. Why wouldn't we with cigars? I would be devastated if something happened to my $400 investment. ( Insert laughter here ) 🤣🤣

[Fuzz]

Put my corpse on a boat, load it up with my cigars and booze, set me on fire and let me sail away.

 @jay8354 can pick out a box and bottle to celebrate beforehand.

[El Presidente]

4 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Put my corpse on a boat, load it up with my cigars and booze, set me on fire and let me sail away.

 

[TheCigarslayer]

Knowing that save for a few friends (who now live out of country), nobody would probably care about my cigars if I went. I'm pretty sure the lady would bulk sale them to some cigar shop for far too little. Even though I have a detailed catalog it lives among my heavily encrypted digital files. Those all go poof with a deadman switch. 

Having the unfortunate history of having to deal with estates, I know it's so overwhelming usually even things of value get tossed or liquidated for pennies on the dollar. Just recently when my great aunt passed there was just enough energy to have everyone pick through sentimental stuff, handle some of the big ticket items (jewelry, gold, guns, etc) and basically everything else was sold with the house. 

I'm sure my modest collection of a few thousand cigars would be a low priority item, even if the value on them *should* be worth considering. 

[Bijan]

1 hour ago, Chibearsv said:

I can’t think of a reasonable way for her to monetize them without her being terrified of getting into trouble. 

Not to be indelicate but people one or two degrees removed would see it entirely as a simple business transaction. I'm sure with even a modest discount, someone within a pretty wide radius would drive up and pay in whatever form works and load up all or most of the cigars and drive away.

It's all a question of how much the cigars are worth relative to the rest of the estate and whether it's worth dealing with the headache.

1 hour ago, Chibearsv said:

My intent was to give them to my son in law but sadly he’s now my ex son in law 😢

Sorry to hear that 😢

Definitely my preference would be to give them all to someone close. But yeah they'd have to be close or I couldn't justify my wife and kid losing out on the money.

[Huckleberry]

I will speak to my son and daughter directly.  My wish is for my brother to be gifted whatever box he would like.  One of my brother in laws should enjoy the same opportunity.

The rest of them my son or daughter can consume themselves, gift or sell.  Any money earned will be split between the two of them.

Even upon my passing I really don't want my wife to know how much I spent.  I plan to see her in heaven hopefully one day and she holds a grudge

[NicPac]

After recent events I’ve been thinking about this a fair amount. The value of my collection is certainly worth the effort to sell. It would probably put one of my kids though collage. I’ll most likely ask a trusted friend to handle it and keep what he thinks is fair for his time. Give the proceeds to my family. 

[LordAnubis]

On the inside of my humidor, is a post it note taped to the wall of the fridge with 4 names and contact details listed on it. It so happens that the lawyer who did my will (nothing to do with the cigars) is a cigar guy, so in case of emergency my wife will probably call him anyway, so he'll know what to do... what happens to them i dont really care. The wife knows the value of them but she also doesnt care for them. She would be happy to hand em out to cigar mates... so i feel they would benefit most from my demise 🤣

[Bijan]

24 minutes ago, LordAnubis said:

She would be happy to hand em out to cigar mates... so i feel they would benefit most from my demise 🤣

🤔

Fuzz's viking funeral now seems less like vanity and more like prudent thinking.

[Fuzz]

23 minutes ago, Bijan said:

🤔

Fuzz's viking funeral now seems less like vanity and more like prudent thinking.

Oh no, it is vanity. 😅

[ChanceSchmerr]

I had arrangements made up for the last time I deployed overseas, but nothing like a proper will with instructions, etc. Good reminder mate, thanks!

[RichUK]

I had a lucky escape from Sepsis six weeks ago and it did make me think that I really do need to some estate planning and what will I do with my cigars. I had originally planned to gift the whole lot to a friend, but he sadly died about 18 months ago and the collection has grown a fair bit too.

Certainly time to do some planning so that MrsB knows what to do, who to contact etc.

 

Slightly funny anecdote to lighten the thread a little bit, it links back to cigars (in a way).

Ten years ago we moved cross country and as we packed the house up I needed to move my race car and spare tyres / wheels etc. I had over a couple of years acquired a few extra sets of wheels, which did cause some looks and a couple of difficult questions when they appeared from the depths of the garage. "When did you get those?" "How much have you spent on wheels?" "Have you even used that set?" (Still in their shipping boxes with cobwebs on).

I have bought a lot of cigars over the years. MrsB doesn't really go anywhere near my humidors so I suspect the same would happen, whereby she will stand there muttering and querying the contents...

I have always said that I'd like to be cremated and have my ashes planted with a tree for life. Maybe now I could ask that for a few months my ashes sit on the fireplace, on the rare occasional MrsB has a half corona, she could tap the ash into the container and exclaim, "He's putting on weight again."

[GoodStix]

13 minutes ago, RichUK said:

 

I had a lucky escape

 

Good to hear.  I hope you’re recovering well 🙂

[JohnS]

Thank you @El Presidente for starting this sensitive yet important topic. I guess I initiated it last night when we were fondly discussing our friend Mike Lindsay and his sad, unexpected and recent passing. I admitted to you that I had been meaning to get in touch in regards to my cigars but hadn't done so and I was curious to the procedure one undertakes to get your assistance in settling someone's estate when they leave cigars behind.

Life is often taken for granted because frankly we are busy and pre-occupied with other things and we put this form of estate planning aside. May I encourage each of you reading this thread to take steps to put into place what you wish to happen in regards to your cigar collection in the event of your passing? If you need El Pres' assistance from his experience in the matter over many years, do not hesitate to reach out to him for assistance! 👍

[cgoodrich]

9 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Put my corpse on a boat, load it up with my cigars and booze, set me on fire and let me sail away.

 @jay8354 can pick out a box and bottle to celebrate beforehand.

Ah yes @Fuzz, the Viking funeral. I’ve jokingly told my wife and son that is what I want. All my possessions, including my wife (if still living), go with me to Valhalla! She shoots back “I’m gonna just drop you in the desert!”

😂

Joking aside, I’ve briefed my son how to unload what he does not wish to keep.

[ElJavi76]

My wife says I’m selling them and buying a bunch of Chanel and LV stuff with it. My reply is… no! You have to keep a few boxes around. Every year on the anniversary of my demise I want you all to come see me and each of you must smoke a cigar “with” me. I said, even if it’s small but it’s one cigar each. She goes, nah we’ll just share one of those little ones from the boxes (Cohiba/Trini Shorts). Thanks hon’.
 

Jokes aside… my youngest is the one who smokes with me. I need to school him on what to do if they decide to liquidate instead of keeping them. I would like him to keep whatever he wants from the collection before turning to sell anything. There might be a few vultures coming around if it’s not arranged properly. In my case there’s also my fragrance collection which sits at around 250-275 bottles. It can’t compare in value to my cigar collection but in future years it will definitely appreciate. People pay absurd amounts of money to smell like nobody else in the room. I know I do.