ProCigar Festival
In February I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the ProCigar Festival by House of Horvath, the Canadian distributor for La Aurora, Leon Jimenes and Macanaudo among other premium cigar brands.
This was the third year the ProCigar Festival has been held and it certainly exceeded all expectations. It was a great opportunity to visit some of the greatest cigar factories in the Dominican Republic as the event is organized by the Association of Dominican Cigar Manufacturers. The Association was formed in 1992 to promote, improve and protect the high quality levels of Dominican cigars.
While I have previously attended various Cuban factories and the Davidoff Seminar, this Festival provided even more insight and knowledge to the production of premium cigars. Every factory has their own way of doing things and the experience and knowledge of all the contributing parties from tobacco growers to blenders offer a unique difference in the production process.
The Festival is held in Santiago in the heart of the tobacco producing area in the north of the island. Some distance from the coast and resorts, it's more difficult to travel to from Toronto with no direct flights. We therefore made the best of our lengthy layover in Miami and visited the area of Little Havana. A unique area, we visited the El Credito factory followed by a great “local” Cuban lunch.
The Festival is spread over five days, commencing in La Romana with a golf tournament. We joined the latter part of the week's activities in Santiago where attendees could select which factory tours and plantations to visit.
Having visited the Davidoff factory and plantation last year, I chose to attend the tours of General Cigar (Macanudo), La Aurora (Preferidos, 1495 Series, Barrel Aged, Leon Jimenes) and Matasa (Fonseca product not sold in Canada).
The photos depict different stages of production once the tobacco arrives from the fields. This includes drying, fermentation, aging, stripping out veins, sorting leaf by colour, rolling, quality control and finally packing and distribution.
The tasting seminars were very insightful where we experienced first hand the huge difference that the blending of the different leaves make. Every leaf serves a purpose, from combustion to taste on the palate.
Apart from the gained knowledge, I took away the passion that everyone involved with the factories has. Very much a family business we were also privileged to attend a very special launch of a new cigar at the Matasa factory. In honour of four of their family members (three of whom were killed in a plane accident) the “young 'uns” as their father referred to them are continuing the business and the Tributo collection was blended by this fifth generation. The introduction and emotion with which the Tributo was launched had everyone in attendance in tears! As I said to the staff from Cigar Aficionado and European Cigar Journal, it will be near impossible for them to reproduce the atmosphere in that room and I'm glad I don't have to try and write up the article!
Days filled with factory tours and tasting seminars ended with phenomenal dinners – each evening was different but all could be described as a Gala event, although the official Gala dinner was held at the end of the week. The quality of the food was outstanding and our hosts were very generous with cigars from their different factories. From the initial welcome upon our arrival to the last farewell, we were treated with five star hospitality, learned an enormous amount and made new friends from all over the world. With a cap of 200 attendees I can understand why this Festival sells out so fast!
Click any of the pictures below to see larger version
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
