Havana’s Cigar Festival gets underway
Under the spell of Cuba’s aromatic top-notch stogies, the Fifth International Cigar Festival rolled up the curtains in the wee hours of Tuesday morning with an opening dinner at the glamorous 60-plus-year-old Tropicana Cabaret and the attendance of more than 900 people from 48 nations, chiefly scores of Europeans who can’t wait to puff at hand-rolled Premium cigars.
The exquisite gourmet consisting of cold luncheons and skewers dubbed Fifth Anniversary of Trinidad Cigars was washed down with top-vintage Spanish and French wines –like Sarda and Sauvignon Cabernet- and escorted by chocolate pyramids for dessert. Patrons also sampled top-rated Cuban cigars from the Trinidad Fundadores, Robusto Especial and Coloniales brands, land lugged cases of golden dry Havana Club rum.
The Tropicana Cabaret, that had its first staged show back in 1939, stands for Cuba’s premiere nightclub. In the 1950s, this world-known venue hosted such top performers and entertainers as American crooner Nat King Cole and Brazilian samba queen Carmen Miranda, among others.
Today, this famed nightclub is also a cigar standard bearer for the many major events planned there by Habanos S.A., the international company that markets cigars and highlights the Cohiba brand.
The night unveiled plenty of new things for attendants and gathered local pop stars, businesspeople, experts and tobacco officials in one single effort to underscore the prestige of Cuban cigars, the very best under the sun.
Each year, the Cigar Festival comes to a close with a gala dinner that this time around will take place at the Pabexpo Fairgrounds with an auction and an international fashion show put on by world-class French designers. The occasion will equally be right to announce the Cigar Person of the Year Awards.
This year’s festival will mark the 510th anniversary of the arrival of tobacco to the New World and the fifth birthday of the Trinidad brand. This is no doubt a very special celebration for cigar aficionados who come from every nook and cranny to puff at the best stogies aboveground.
