Habanos maintain leadership of the world market
FOR five days, some 1,500 people took part in the 10th Habano Festival, traditionally celebrated at this time of year in the Cuban capital.
During the festival, organized by the Corporacion Habanos S.A - international distributor of all Cuban cigar brands - and the business group TABACUBA, specialists, executives, producers, promoters and, purely and simply, cigar lovers were able to exchange experiences on the subject while enjoying their favorite cigars, allowing them to once again to confirm once again the quality of the widely-recognized best tobacco in the world.
The first of the festivals, considered among connoisseurs as the most important of its kind in the world, was inaugurated in 1999 and its precedents go back to encounters during the 1980s of certain sellers and smokers who gathered in Cuba to be present at the end of the tobacco season.
But the cigar fiesta is not just limited to the men and women who are, in one way or another, linked to the marketing of this product. For the last nine years, the festival has brought together significant politicians, artists, intellectuals, actors, athletes, dancers, musicians and Nobel Literature Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, united in their common interest in tobacco.
As is customary, one day of the event is dedicated to visiting cigar factories, an activity which on this occasion fell to the La Corona and H. Upmann establishments, as well as visiting cultivation areas in the westernmost region of the island, Pinar del Rio; an area that, according to connoisseurs, harvests the finest tobacco in the world, where they had the opportunity to talk to producers.
On this occasion, new products were launched that are to be incorporated into the Corporation's portfolio this year: Epicure Especial from Hoyo de Monterrey and the H. Upman Magnun 50. The former comes from the plantation of the same name in San Juan y Martinez, one of the oldest and most famous tobacco plantations in Pinar del Rio. Meanwhile, the latter belongs to one of the most successful brands in the world and, according to those in the know, since its creation in 1844 it has boasted a bank of select followers throughout the world. There was also the launch of the Partagas D No. 4 series, P No.2 series, Bolivar Royal Coronas, Punch Punch and Cohiba Siglo I, which now have a new image.
Among the diverse activities of the 10th Festival, participants were able to choose, according to their interests, from a wide range of options that tackled every aspect of the world of this solanum plant: its origins, links with diverse disciplines, its influence on the island's culture, among other subjects that were discussed in conferences, seminars or master lectures. On the last day of the five-day meeting, the final stage of the Habano Sommelier Contest took place and the winner, for the first time in the history of the festivals, was a Cuban woman, Zulia Napoles, a sommelier at La Floridita, the famous restaurant right in the heart of the capital where U.S. writer and Nobel Literature Prize winner Ernest Hemingway was a frequent visitor.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Source: Granma International