First ProCigar Festival

Slightly over 120 people from all over the world visited four cigar factories, two tobacco plantations, and smoked an unknown number of the best Dominican cigars in a matter of three days. Not to mention the Presidente beer and the Brugal rum. All this took place in the heart of the Dominican plantations that is the city of Santiago-de-los-Cabalieros, and was called the First Dominican Cigar Festival.

Certainly, such a small festival has its pros and cons. The main and huge advantage of the festival is the unique and outstanding atmosphere that becomes possible only during the face-to-face encounters with the cigar gurus. Not only they, but their family members, too, were around the festival guests from early morning till late at night and patiently answered all kinds of questions and shared their professional knowledge. At the same time, it was obvious that for all of them the festival was a big, long-awaited, and exciting event, and that they were really happy to see each guest.

The team leaders deserve a special mention, since they contributed greatly to the creation of the specific atmosphere of a family celebration: Young beautiful ladies all coming from the cigar business, all experts in the fine art of growing tobacco and cigar making. They weren’t just our guides, who would monotonously spit out the standard phrases, but really led us into the world of cigars. The official program included three days. It began at 7 a.m. and ended way beyond midnight. In other words, three teams followed the same programs over three days, but took turns in doing so.

Our Blue Team began its festival program with a visit to the factory. Two factories, La Aurora and Matasa literally flung their doors open for us. José Blanco, director in charge of sales at Aurora Cigars, took us around the La Aurora factory. As usual, the first activity was cigar tasting. We tried and later discussed Barrel Aged, cigars that are made of tobacco leaves aged in barrels. Everybody liked the new taste, and the team instantly started a heated debate about the impact of aging on the cigar taste and other no less exciting aspects of cigar making. The one who said that tastes differ and there’s no point in arguing about personal preferences has never met a cigar aficionado. They do argue, and the heat is on! After lunch at one of the best steak houses in Santiago, we went to Matasa, a factory that makes many brands, such as Fonseca or Nat Sherman. Its owner, Manuel Quesada, his nephew and two daughters, who are also involved in the family business, spent a few hours with us. After we saw all there was to see at the factory, we were taken back to the hotel for exactly ten minutes and—show time!—the evening program began!

The next day we had the General Cigar Tour for our group. We started out on the plantations owned by this major company. A one-hour drive later, and Daniel Nuñez meets us at the gate. Brief greetings, mandatory cigars. Which one will be the first this morning? Shortly after, we find ourselves already immersed in the technicalities of planting the tobacco seedlings. Undoubtedly, we came off-season, even the harvesting was almost over, but they had prepared a special batch of seedlings of varying age for the festival guests. Our last day began even earlier than the previous ones, since we had to go on a long journey to plantations owned by Hendrik Kelner. The view that opened to our eyes at the end of the long ride exceeded all our expectations. Everybody grabbed their cameras, and even the tour was postponed for some time. Kelner Sr. patiently let us take our time and obviously enjoyed our reaction to this landscape of amazing beauty. Afterwards, we heard a brief course on tobacco growing, enjoyed lunch right on the premises, and toured the factory in the company of Kelner Jr. The day was filled with events, but the gala dinner brought even more of them. And the farewell words, coming straight from the heart on both sides, hosts and guests, sounded very sincere.

TEXT: NATALIA RYZHKOVA