Cigar Aficionado

ProCigar wrapped up its 16th festival this year in the Dominican Republic and raised more than half a million dollars on the final night for charity. The festival is an annual cigar-centric event where every major Dominican cigarmaker welcomes enthusiasts from around the world to showcase their factories and tobacco fields. It’s a casual affair that’s part vacation, part celebration and part education, as all the tours demonstrate the entire production process from seed to cigar. But the festival is also a way for smokers to have a deeper connection with the Dominican cigars they smoke throughout the year. Normally, the fields and factories are not open to the public, making this festival a particularly attractive destination, especially for those who want to know more about the ins and outs of how fine cigars are made. Each night at this year’s festival ended with a gala where guests and cigarmakers converged for a night of dinner, live music and cigars, but none were as grand as the final evening at the Centro Español in Santiago where a charity auction of humidors raised $530,000.