ProCigar Festival

There’s no better way to get up close and personal with the world of Dominican than the ProCigar Festival. This year’s event, which began in the resort town of Casa de Campo and culminated in Santiago de los Caballeros, represented growth for the organization, with Hendrik Kelner, Michael Herklots and Samuel Méndez Litto Gómez’s La Flor Dominicana and Arielle Ditkowich with the Leons and Mirandas Jochi Blanco’s Tabacalera Palma partici- pating as full ProCigar members for the first time. Other members include Altadis, Chateau de la Fuente General , , MATASA, La Auro- ra, Corporación Cigar Export, Tabacalera La Alianza, and Arturo Fuente. After a visit to Tabacalera de Garcia and some R&R in Casa de Campo, participants were transported to Santiago where tours of tobacco farms and cigar factories were followed each night by great dinners, dancing, and live music. If you left the D.R. feeling like you hadn’t smoked, drank, and danced enough, you’ve got issues we just don’t know how to fix. A new look for Henke Fabián Barrantes with La Sirena herself Nirka Reyes There were too many tours and other events for us to attend (though we wish we could have done it all). This year, we took tours of Ernesto Pérez-Carrillo’s Tabacalera La Alianza factory, the La Flor Dominicana farm and factory, and the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation’s incredible complex, which is serving an Carlito Fuente enjoys a post tour cigar with guests impoverished area with education, medi- cine, and all-around empowerment for children. We also enjoyed an intimate dinner party at the MATASA factory, where Manuel E.P. Carrillo factory tour freebies Quesada and the “Young Ones” unveiled the Quesada 40th Anniversary cigar’s funkiest vitola: a Salomon that is only Who knew Belgians partied so hard? box-pressed in the center, leaving a “bulb” at each end of the cigar. Unlike anything Party time! we’ve seen. The ProCigar parties are by now leg - endary and for good reason. There was the “white dinner” at the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, where the city’s most iconic landmark and a breathtaking view of the city served as the backdrop for one of the best parties we’ve attended in a long time. Finally, the closing gala featured live merengue mu- sic, a riveting live auction (which raised thousand of dollars for local charities), and Henke Kelner with a fake mustache. That was probably worth the price of admission right there. La Flor Dominicana courtyard gazebo Litto Gómez leading his farm tour Elissa Noyes and Frank Herrera Angel Elizalde getting jiggy! Manny Iriarte and Albert Montserrat

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