Cuban Cigars Star At Habanos Days In Sint Maarten
The fourth annual Caribbean Habanos Days was held on Sint Maarten this weekend, sponsored by Habanos S.A. and Caribbean Cigars Corporation N.V., the Cuban cigar distributor for the Caribbean and Central America. Nearly 200 people attended, from 19 countries, enjoying the sunny weather and white-sand beaches of this Caribbean island.
The activities included dinners and cocktail parties, Cuban music, a longest ash competition and pairings of Cuban rums and cigars. Jose Castelar Cairo, an 80-year-old cigar roller better known as Cueto, led a cigar-rolling demonstration. He’s a talented artist who created a 295-foot-long cigar to commemorate Fidel Castro’s 90th birthday in 2016, earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. (He’s broken his own record on several occasions.) After his lesson, patrons tried their hand at rolling their own cigars.
Many of Cuba’s famed cigar brands were passed out, including Cohiba, Montecristo, Trinidad, Partagás, Romeo Julieta, Quai d’ Orsay, La Gloria Cubano and El Rey del Mundo.
The event concluded with a dinner party held at The Morgan Hotel. Montecristo cigars were presented throughout the evening, and a charity auction raised $75,000 for Cuba’s Public Health system for Children’s Cancer Research.
