A Gift for My Boss: What to Give From You, From the Team, and From the Company

Anyone who types "gift for my boss" into a search bar has one of two worries: spending too little, or spending so much that it looks like you want something. Both go away once you decide who the gift is from. A piece from the whole team can be generous, and our cigar accessory gift sets are made for that kind of handover, while a gift from one person should stay small and well chosen.

This guide is for a boss who enjoys a cigar, or who keeps a bar or a desk worth dressing. We have sorted it by the giver: you alone, the team together, and the company itself. Each part names the pieces we would choose, and the cards show the live price and stock. Boss's Day falls on October 16 each year, and the same advice holds for the holidays, a promotion or a send-off.

We write "the boss" throughout. Yours may well be a woman, and nothing in this guide changes.

What makes a good gift for my boss?

A good gift for a boss is modest for whoever is giving it, useful on a desk or at home, and not so personal that it is awkward to open in front of the office. Three rules cover most of it.

Let the giver set the budget. One person handing something costly to the person who signs off on their pay puts both of them in an odd spot. The same piece from eight people is simply generous. If the thing you have in mind is more than a sensible personal gift, that is your cue to pass the envelope around.

Choose something that is used where people can see it. A cigar piece is one of the few fine objects that lives out in the open, on a desk, a bar or a patio table. It gets noticed, somebody asks about it, and the answer is "my team gave me that."

Give the tool unless you have seen the cigar. You may know your boss smokes without knowing what. A lighter, a punch or a small humidor works with almost any cigar. Add cigars only when you have seen the band, and when you are unsure, choose the milder blend.

One practical note. Some workplaces set limits on gifts, so if yours has a policy, read it before the team spends anything.

The short answer, by who is giving

Find yourself in the left column. The rest of the row is what we would choose.

Who is giving	The piece	Why it works	Price today
You alone	Brizard Trilogy cigar punch, Dakota Black	Small, black leather and steel, and an unusual piece to own.	$49.00
You alone	Davidoff Winston Churchill Petit Panetela, tin of five	Five short cigars from a house every smoker knows.	$44.00
You alone	El Septimo Double-Jet Torch Lighter and Punch	Two tools in one, gift boxed, for the boss who smokes outdoors.	$106.25
The team	Brizard Cylindrical Desk Humidor, black leather	Ten to fifteen cigars on the desk, in a shape that does not look like a box.	$250.00
The team	Brizard Gatsby table lighter, Dakota Black	It stays on the bar or the patio table, where guests reach for it.	$250.00
The team	El Septimo Sacred Arts Van Gogh Gift Box	Ashtray, cutter and lighter in matching artwork, in one presentation box.	$731.00
The company	Brizard Airflow Humidor, 70 to 80 cigars	Leather outside, Spanish cedar inside, sized for a real collection.	$950.00
The company	El Septimo x S.T. Dupont Emperor Augustus rollerball pen	For the executive who signs things for a living, smoker or not.	$1,606.50
The company	Maccarrone Supersport 40 humidor	Italian marquetry, built by hand in Tuscany, for forty cigars.	$2,795.00

Those are today's prices on our site. The cards below always show the current figure.

Two pieces for each giver, ready to add to your cart. Prices and stock are live.

From you alone: small and well made

A personal gift to a boss should cost about what you would spend on a good bottle. The point is to show you paid attention, and a small object that is properly made does that better than a large one.

The Brizard Trilogy punch in Dakota Black is the piece we would hand across a desk. It is a stainless steel spear finished in black leather. A cutter takes the cap off a cigar. The Trilogy makes three small piercings in the head instead, an older way of opening a cigar that gives a clean, even draw. At $49.00 it is a comfortable gift from one person, and it is something your boss is unlikely to have already. If a cutter feels like the more natural choice, our guide to luxury cutters and lighters explains what separates a good one from a drawer filler.

For a boss who smokes on a course or a terrace, the El Septimo Double-Jet Torch Lighter and Punch is the practical pick. Its two torch flames hold up in a breeze, a punch is built into the base, and it arrives in a gift box with a cloth bag. We carry it in five finishes. Black and gold or black and silver are the safe ones for an office.

If you have seen your boss with a cigar in hand, the tin of Davidoff Winston Churchill Petit Panetelas is the easy addition: five slim 4 x 38 cigars, medium in body, creamy with a little spice and black coffee, made for the days when there is no time for a long one. And for the boss who keeps a bottle in the cabinet, the El Septimo whiskey glass with a built-in cigar rest is $25.50 each, so a pair stays well inside a personal budget.

From the team: one piece for the desk

The best boss gifts tend to come from the team. Eight people putting in a little over thirty dollars each reaches $250, and $250 buys a piece that will sit on a desk for years. A card signed by everyone says more than any one person's gift could.

Our first choice is the Brizard Cylindrical Desk Humidor. It stands upright, holds ten to fifteen cigars in a Spanish cedar lining, and comes with its own humidifier. We carry it in ten finishes. Black leather suits any room. Macassar ebony, zebrawood and wenge are the warmer choices if you know the office. For a desk or a study, luxury desk accessories like this one are the gift a person keeps, because they look right even when nothing is in them.

The second is the Brizard Gatsby, a table lighter made to stay put rather than travel in a pocket. It stands four inches tall, a chrome lever gives three torch flames, and a punch cutter is built in. It belongs on a bar or a patio table at home. We stock the Gatsby in sixteen finishes, and Dakota Black is the quiet one.

If the team would rather build the gift from several small things, stay in one leather. We hold fourteen Brizard pieces in the Dakota Black collection, from the $49.00 punch to a travel flask, and two or three of them in one box read as a set.

For a larger team or a bigger occasion, El Septimo boxes a porcelain ashtray on a leather base, a double-bladed guillotine cutter and a triple torch lighter together, all three in the same artwork. We carry the set in four editions. The Van Gogh edition is the one we would pick for a boss: art everybody recognizes, and it sits easily in a study or on a patio.

When the team knows the boss smokes

A box is a fine group gift, and our advice is to choose tubed cigars. Each one is sealed in its own tube, which protects it in a bag or a desk far better than a loose cigar and buys time before a humidor is needed.

• AVO Classic Robusto Tubos. A 5 x 50 from the Dominican Republic under an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, mild to medium, creamy and nutty with a little cedar. Each cigar comes in an aluminum tube. The AVO Classic Robusto Tubos box of 20 is the box we would send when the team has only half seen what the boss smokes.
• Cohiba Red Dot Corona. The Dominican-made Cohiba sold in the United States, medium in body under a Cameroon wrapper, with cedar, cocoa and roasted nuts. Each cigar is sealed in a glass tube. The Red Dot Corona box of 20 is for the boss who smokes regularly and will know the band.

Still unsure which cigar fits? The Cigar Finder narrows our humidor to a short list in four questions.

From the company: the piece that marks the occasion

A gift from the company is a different thing. It marks a promotion, a milestone year or a retirement, it is chosen by an owner, a board or a chief of staff, and it is meant to be remembered. With executive gifts at this level the question stops being "is this too much" and becomes "will this still be on the desk in ten years."

For the executive with a real collection, the Brizard Airflow Humidor holds 70 to 80 cigars in a Spanish cedar interior, wrapped in whisky calf leather with black accents, with a humidification system and a hygrometer included. It is the step up from a desk piece to proper storage, and there are larger and smaller pieces among our desktop humidors. If the choice between a desktop and a cabinet is new to you, our humidor guide covers it by collection size.

A gift for a CEO does not have to assume a cigar. The El Septimo x S.T. Dupont rollerball is made by S.T. Dupont and finished in El Septimo artwork, here the Emperor Augustus. Each design is limited to 100 pieces, and we carry all six pens alongside the matching lighters in the El Septimo x S.T. Dupont collection.

When the occasion calls for one object that will outlast the career, look at Maccarrone. These humidors are built by hand in Tuscany, and the Supersport 40 is the compact one: marquetry inlaid by hand, a high-gloss lacquer finish, a Spanish cedar interior and room for forty cigars. Several of the Maccarrone pieces we hold are here as a single example.

And if the company wants cigars in the box, choose something aged. Alfonso Extra Añejo is made in Costa Rica and rested five years in cedar and French oak. The No. 3 is a 6 x 54, mild to medium, with aromatic cedar, toasted bread and a creme brulee sweetness, so it suits a seasoned smoker and an occasional one alike. The Alfonso Extra Añejo No. 3 box of 25 is the one to present.

Four from the luxury houses, smallest first. Choose the box from the menu on each card. Prices and stock are live.

Two neighboring occasions have their own guides. If the boss is retiring, our guide to cigars for a retirement gift matches aged releases to the years being marked. If you are the one sending a corporate cigar gift outward, to a client rather than up the ladder, the rules change, and we cover them in the closing gift guide. And if you know your boss better as a golfer or a whiskey drinker than as a job title, our guide to luxury gifts for men sorts the same shelves by the person.

The short version

The answer to "what is a good gift for my boss" starts with who signs the card. From you alone, keep it small: a punch, a torch lighter or a tin of five. From the team, choose one piece for the desk or the bar, a humidor, a table lighter or a matched set. From the company, choose the object that marks the occasion, a larger humidor, a pen or a piece of Italian marquetry. Give the tool when you are unsure of the cigar, and the milder cigar when you are unsure of the taste.