It’s been about a decade since I started on this adventure into the world of cigars, trying as many different brands and cigars as I can, one stick at a time. On this journey, the alchemy of cigar making has drawn me deeper and deeper into tobacco growing, the art of blending, ageing, rolling, and so on. If you were to browse my YouTube history, you would find an array of videos detailing the journey from seed to box, with one of my favourites being a 36-minute factory tour video in which Rocky Patel, of Rocky Patel Cigars, takes the viewer through the entire cigar-making process.
Yet, while a benefit of this digitally connected world is the ability to access information on just about anything from anywhere in the world, without having to leave one’s home, there are instances when a video cannot make up for the real thing. So it is with cigars. Smoking a good cigar is a tactile experience that is about all the senses: the flavours and the aromas, the look of the leaf and band, how it feels in your hand, and so on.
Procigar Festival
The Dominican Republic is the world’s largest cigar producer. Its cigar manufacturers came together to establish and host the Procigar Festival, with the next edition scheduled for February 19-24 next year. The festival is divided into two parts: the first takes place on the southeast coast at the Casa de Campo resort. It runs from February 19-21 and including dinners, cigar seminar and a tour of the world’s largest handmade cigar factory, Tabacalera de García, which produces more than 30-million cigars a year, under different brands, including Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo and H Upmann.
From there you travel to Santiago, the country’s “cigar capital” and the area where at least 50% of Dominican tobacco is grown. Here, on the 22nd and 23rd, you can chose from factory and field visits and seminars. The factories include La Flor Dominicana, De Los Reyes Cigars, Davidoff, Montecristo, EP Carillo, La Aurora, General Cigar Company and Arturo Fuente. Essentially, you can curate your own experience with dinners, seminars and workshops, cigars and interaction with people from the industry interspersed throughout.
You do have to arrange accommodation, but there are discounts available for festival attendees.
El Festival del Habano
The Habano Festival, scheduled from February 27 to March 3 2023, takes place in Havana, Cuba. It’s hosted by Habanos, which manages more than 25 brands including Cohiba, Trinidad, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, Montercristo, Bolivar, Quai d’Orsay and Romeo y Julieta. There are both formal and informal parties, talks from cigar experts, pairings, launches, plantation and factory visits and a trade fair that runs for the duration of the festival.
The 2023 edition will be the first in over two years due to the global pandemic and, therefore, details are scant on the specific programme but even if it is just for the opportunity to experience Havana, I am definitely down.
And not much would give me greater pleasure than walking among the tobacco fields, seeing where the tobacco is dried, watching a roller go about their business and tapping into the mind of a master blender.
While there are smaller tours of cigar factories, there are three major cigar festivals that have been added to my growing bucket list.
Puro Sabor Festival
The Nicaraguan Cigar Festival is top of my list, probably because I have a friend who generally attends every year and often subjects me to the joys of the experience. The next festival is from January 23-27 2023 in the cities of Granada and Estelí, which is known for tobacco growing and served as a refuge for many Cuban cigar makers after the Cuban revolution.
The festival days consist of factory visits, plantation tours, tourist activities, insights into the history and the process of making cigars, ample cigars to indulge in and opportunities to socialise with like-minded people.
For the $2,500 fee, you get access to the festival, accommodation, meals, an official guayabera (summer shirt), a T-shirt, cigars box and souvenirs.
It is hosted by the Nicaraguan Chamber of Tobacco, which was formed in 2008. Members represent 95% of the country’s tobacco and cigar producers, including Plasencia, Oliva, Padron, AJ Fernandez, ASP Enterprises, Joya de Nicaragua, Scandinavian Cigar Group, My Father Cigars and Drew Estate.