Cigar Aficionado

The 17th annual ProCigar Festival brought together 500 cigar lovers from around the world to the Dominican Republic from February 16 to 21. It kicked off in La Romana on the south coast before moving inland to Santiago for three days of factory tours, field trips, seminars and gala dinners.

At the Casa de Campo resort in La Romana, attendees had a session of night golf on the driving range at The Teeth of the Dog course with drinks and cigars; a day excursion to a nearby island in the Caribbean Sea; and a tour of one of the world’s largest cigar factories: Tabacalera de Garcia, best known for producing non-Cuban versions of brands such as Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo and H. Upmann. After two days there, the attendees boarded buses and took a four-hour drive overland to Santiago for the more cigar-centric leg of the tour.

In Santiago, the days were filled with tours of the factories owned by members of ProCigar, an organization founded in 1992 to promote Dominican cigars. The 12 members are Arnold Andre, Arturo Fuente, Casa Carrillo, De Los Reyes, General Cigar, La Aurora, La Flor Dominicana, PDR Cigars, Quesada Cigars, Tabacalera de Garcia (Altadis U.S.A.), Tabadom (Davidoff) and Tabacalera Palma. The festival was first held in 2008 and has since grown. Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana took over as president last year from Henke Kelner, who led ProCigar since its inception.

Apart from the factory visits, which usually include lunch and plenty of cigars, there were also trips to tobacco fields and several seminars held during the afternoons. In the evenings, the focus shifted to fun and drinks. On Wednesday night, the group gathered at the Parque Central de Santiago, an open-air venue in the heart of the city. Guests received specially made boxes of cigars from the ProCigar members and listened to live music. On Thursday night, guests attended the White Party, where all-white attire was expected. A thousand people gathered at the base of the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, a gleaming white monolith that towers over the city.

For the final gala dinner, guests entered the Centro Español, a private venue in Santiago. Thirteen lots of unique humidors were auctioned later in the night for a total of $450,000, including cash donations to a local children’s charity. The top-selling humidors went for $45,000 each: a Davidoff humidor, a Fuente Fuente OpusX humidor and a La Galera humidor from Tabacalera Palma.

Gomez spoke to the crowd before the gala entertainment began. “We appreciate all the generosity that you have given us over the years . . . in most other industries, competitors try to cut each other’s throats. In the cigar industry, . . . [we] try to help each other,” he said. “We make a product that is so special that it is part of special moments for people all over the world . . . We make people happy.”