The Realtor Closing Gift: What to Send a Client Who Can Buy Anything

What is the best realtor closing gift for a client who has everything?

The best gift for a client who can buy anything is something they would not buy for themselves, that they will use in front of other people, and that carries your name without shouting it. A box of twenty luxury cigars in an art-finished presentation box does all three: nobody orders a $425 box of El Septimo on a whim, it gets opened on a patio or a boat or after a dinner with company present, and the box itself stays on the desk long after the last cigar is gone.

That is why cigars have become the default for the closing gifts we pack. Across our own customers in Los Angeles, the people who send gifts most often are not the people buying for a birthday. They are agents, brokers, contractors, lawyers and business owners with a client relationship to mark, and they come back every few weeks with a new name and the same question: what do we send this one? The answer below is the one we give in the shop.

The one rule: it has to be seen

A closing gift has one job, which is to be remembered when the next referral comes up. So the test for any gift is simple: will it be used, and will it be used where other people can see it? A candle fails. A fruit basket fails. A cutting board with your logo on it fails harder, because it advertises you while looking like an advertisement.

A luxury cigar passes because it is a considered object that gets used socially, and the presentation is part of the object. El Septimo, the house we hold in greater depth than any other retailer, with more than 150 lines in stock today, builds its boxes as pieces in their own right: the Sacred Arts Collection carries the work of Dali, Botticelli and Michelangelo on the lid, and the Zaya Collection is named for gemstones. Your client will not remember the wrapper leaf. They will remember opening a box with a Dali on it, and who it came from.

This is the tier for the standard closing, the client you will work with again, and the referral partner who sends you business. It is also where most of the closing gifts we pack land, because a full box of twenty from a luxury house sits comfortably in the $400 to $480 range.

El Septimo Salvador Dali Toro, box of 20 at $425

If we could only send one box for a closing gift, it would be the Salvador Dali box of 20. It is medium in strength, so it suits an occasional smoker as well as a regular one, and the flavour is the friendliest in the Sacred Arts line: it opens on sweet coffee, moves through a cherry note in the middle, and finishes bready and faintly vanilla, with a little dark chocolate at the end. The lid carries the Dali artwork, which is the reason recipients photograph it. A 6.5 by 54 toro runs about an hour, which is the right length for an evening on a new deck.

El Septimo Empress Sheba Maduro Gordo, box of 20 at $476

For a client you know smokes regularly and likes a darker cigar, the Empress Sheba box of 20 is the one we hand over most often. It is a dark, oily maduro in a wide 6 by 60 gordo, medium to full, with white pepper over a deep, aged character, and we find it burns perfectly straight for a cigar this densely filled. The box comes in three editions, white, light blue and light purple, so you can match it to the person.

El Septimo crocodile travel case with lighter and cutter, $357

When you would rather not guess at taste at all, send the tools. This crocodile-embossed travel case set comes gift-boxed with a matching lighter and cutter, in green or orange, and it goes into a golf bag or a briefcase. It is the set we suggest for a client who smokes but whose taste you have never seen up close, and it pairs naturally with a box from the tier above if the budget allows. Our travel cases and tubes collection carries the rest of the range if you want a specific leather.

This tier is for the large closing, the client who referred three others, or the year-end gift for the account that made the year. It is also where a corporate cigar gift stops being a box of cigars and becomes a set.

El Septimo Double Shot White, box of 20 at $646

The Double Shot White box of 20 is the most recognisable El Septimo we sell, and the one collectors ask for by name. It is a short, very thick cigar, 3.75 inches by 68 ring, full-bodied from the first draw: leather and black pepper up front, roasted almond and creamy coffee behind, a ripe plum sweetness at the end. Because it is short, it fits a busy client's life better than a Churchill does, and because it is unmistakably a luxury object, it does the talking for you. Send this one to the regular smoker, never to the beginner.

El Septimo Emperor Vartan gift box, $731

For the client who already has a humidor full of cigars, send the things that go around them. The Emperor Vartan gift box holds a triple-jet torch lighter in polished gold PVD, a double-bladed stainless guillotine cutter, and a porcelain ashtray with a leather base, all carrying the same Emperor artwork, in one presentation box. It is the set we recommend when the gift will live in an office, because an ashtray and a lighter on a desk are seen every day. The same set exists in the Emperor Collection themes of Napoleon and Yao, and in a Van Gogh edition, if a different name suits the client better.

Two boxes from the tier above, one medium and one maduro, also land in this range and let a client with a spouse or a business partner who smokes share the gift. We pack the two boxes together on request.

At this level the gift is not a thank you. It is a statement that the relationship matters more than the transaction did, and the right object is one the recipient could easily afford and still would never have bought. Three of ours do that job.

El Septimo 20th Anniversary Doble Gran Reserva, box of 14 at $1,575

The 20th Anniversary Doble Gran Reserva is the commemorative release from the Zaya Collection, made in limited quantity to mark the house's twentieth year, at $119 a stick. It is medium to full, structured and layered, with a long finish that keeps going after the cigar is out. This is the box for a client who already knows El Septimo and will understand what the anniversary band means, which is the point: a gift for a CEO should be one their peers recognise. When it is gone it is gone, and we would rather say that plainly than have you find out later.

El Septimo x S.T. Dupont rollerball pen, $1,606.50

For the client who does not smoke, or the executive whose desk you have seen, the El Septimo x S.T. Dupont Emperor Napoleon rollerball is a pen built to Dupont's writing standard and finished in El Septimo's lacquered artwork, a limited run of 100 pieces offered in six lines. A pen is used in front of people more than almost any other object a person owns, and this one gets asked about. The full set of six lines is in our El Septimo x S.T. Dupont collection, and our profile of S.T. Dupont explains why the name carries weight.

Maccarrone Dolce Vita 40 humidor, $2,795

When the client is a serious smoker and the gift needs to be permanent, send the humidor. The Maccarrone Dolce Vita 40 is built in Tuscany in sapele mahogany with hand-inlaid maple marquetry, lined in Spanish cedar and finished in high-gloss lacquer, in the style of the polished runabouts the collection is named for. It holds about forty cigars, sits on a desk, and will still be there in twenty years. We are one of Maccarrone's official distributors in the United States, so the whole Maccarrone range is available through us, from this desktop piece up to the limited-edition cabinets. Fill it with a box from the first tier and the gift is complete.

The boxes and sets we would send, in order

Six picks across the three budgets, live prices and stock, ready to add to your cart. Choose the box variant on the product page for the cigars; each set is priced as shown.

If you are not sure the client smokes

Ask, if you can; most agents can find out with one question to a spouse or an assistant. If you cannot, send an object rather than a cigar. The Dupont pen above, the Emperor Vartan set, or one of the Maccarrone pieces are gifts a non-smoker can display and a smoker can use. A polished ashtray from El Septimo or Maccarrone works the same way: it is a piece of porcelain or metal first and a cigar accessory second.

What we would not do is send a mild cigar as a hedge. A client who does not smoke will not start because the cigar was gentle, and a client who does will notice the hedge. Pick the object or pick the box; do not split the difference.

A corporate cigar gift for a whole team

The same rule applies when the gift is for a group: the closing team at a title company, a client's leadership team, the crew on a build. A box of twenty medium cigars split across a team of ten is two cigars each, in a presentation box that goes on the shared shelf, and it costs less than ten individual gifts of any quality. The Salvador Dali box is our usual recommendation here because medium strength suits a mixed group.

For a larger order, or a set of individual gift boxes going to separate addresses, call us on 1 818-719-9885 or email Info@Cigarinc.com with the headcount and the date you need it, and we will build the order with you. Personalized designs and custom messages are available where offered.

The presentation box: the part that stays on the desk

One thing we see again and again: the cigars get smoked, and the box stays. Our clients keep El Septimo boxes for cufflinks, watches, business cards and keys, which is why we now offer the El Septimo presentation boxes on their own. If you want to send the box without committing to a full twenty, or add a second box for the office, the El Septimo gift boxes collection carries the Sacred Arts, Emperor and Zaya designs as standalone pieces at $42.50, and they are the most affordable way to get the artwork onto someone's desk.

Whatever you send, ask us to gift-box it. Our luxury gifts for cigar lovers guide goes deeper on the accessory side, from cutters to cabinets, if the client is a collector and a box of cigars feels too easy.

How to send it, and what to write on the card

We ship nationwide from humidified storage in Woodland Hills, California, to adults 21 and over, and we can ship directly to your client with your card enclosed. Enter the client's address at checkout, then email Info@Cigarinc.com with your order number and the wording for the card. Keep the card short. The gift is the message; the card is a name and one line. A client who has everything has read a thousand cards and will remember the one that did not try too hard.

If your client is in Los Angeles, we can also hand it over in person at the shop. And if you want to see the boxes before you commit, the whole El Septimo range is on the shelf here, and our guide to every El Septimo collection walks through the lines online.

Every pick on one table

Prices are our live prices on the day of writing and can change; the product pages and the shoppable cards above always show the current figure.

The bottom line

Send something that will be used in front of other people, and send the box rather than the single. Under $500, the Salvador Dali box of 20 is the safest excellent choice. Between $500 and $1,000, the Double Shot White for a smoker or the Emperor Vartan set for an office. Above that, the 20th Anniversary box, the Dupont pen, or a Maccarrone humidor, depending on whether the client smokes. Each one gets opened with company present, and each one carries your name for months.

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