“Is this your first time?”
That is the number one question I heard at this year’s Procigar Festival. Each year, the Dominican Cigar Manufacturers (PROCIGAR) organize a nearly week-long event promoting the Dominican tobacco industry. Cigar enthusiasts from around the world travel to the Dominican Republic to participate in educational seminars, factory and field tours and daily networking opportunities. Unlike many cigar events in our industry, the Procigar Festival gives attendees a week truly immersed in the cigar culture, where they can ask questions and trade stories with other cigar industry retailers, manufacturers and consumers.
If you couldn’t tell from that brief description of the Procigar, this was not my first time attending the festival. It was my third.
Plenty of cigar events are happening throughout the year, but few come close to Procigar. Personally, I look forward to the factory and field tours, and I feel that they offer the most value to the attendees. Have you seen, in person, a cigar being rolled? Have you walked through the halls of a working cigar factory and witnessed the different processes involved in bringing a cigar to life? If you answered yes to any of those questions, consider yourself fortunate because plenty of cigar enthusiasts and people working in the cigar industry have not experienced these things in person. That’s where the Procigar Festival’s value comes to life. You get to learn about cigars and experience the cigar culture of the Dominican Republic firsthand.
Procigar 2024 Recap
The 16th annual Procigar Festival was held on February 18–24, 2024. The event began in La Romana, located on the east coast of the Dominican Republic. This part of the tour is optional and allows attendees to experience one of the Dominican Republic’s most luxurious resorts, Casa de Campo. This part of the Procigar Festival is more leisurely than the latter half, allowing attendees to relax on the beach, play golf, tour the Dominican countryside by horseback and spend some time on the sea on a catamaran trip to Catalina Island.
On Tuesday, February 20, attendees were transported to Santiago, a city known for being home to many Dominican cigar factories. Along the way, attendees toured Tabacalera de García, the biggest cigar factory in the world. The remainder of the week keeps me coming back each year: the chance to visit and tour the factories and fields of cigar manufacturers. This year, tours were offered at: Quesada Cigars, La Aurora, General Cigar Dominicana, Tabacalera Palma, De Los Reyes Cigars, Tabacalera A. Fuente, PDR Cigars, Casa Carrillo, La Flor Dominicana, Davidoff Cigars, Arnold André, Montecristo, as well as a visit to the Chateau de la Fuente, Cigar Family Charitable Foundation and House of Dreams.
Over the course of my three years of attending Procigar, I have gone on the La Aurora, General Cigar Dominicana, La Flor Dominicana, Quesada, Tabacalera A. Fuente, and Chateau de la Fuente/Charitable Foundation and House of Dreams tours.
No two tours are the same; each has its processes to observe and a particular way of bringing to life those cigars you love. It’s hard to come out of the Procigar Festival without a new appreciation for premium cigars and the industry many of us are part of. This year was no different. I toured Casa Carrillo, formerly Tabacalera La Alianza, where Ernesto Pérez-Carrillo and his family have crafted some spectacular cigars for 15 years. The next day, I took a tour of Tabacalera A. Fuente, where I got to hear stories about the Fuente family and their history within the cigar industry from the man himself, Carlito Fuente, Jr. No matter how many stories, press releases, blog posts or online videos you watch, nothing beats the experience of walking through a cigar factory and being able to interact with the men and women behind the industry’s biggest brands.
There’s more to Procigar than the tours. It’s also a great chance to catch up with peers and make new friends within the industry. Each night there is a networking event of some kind. Simply put, each night is a party. During the Santiago leg of the festival, there was a Welcome Dinner Party held at Parque Central, a White Party held at Santiago’s Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, and a Gala Dinner on the final night at Centro Español attended by the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, who voiced his support for his country’s tobacco industry. There was a seminar called “Cigar Wrapper Influence,” moderated by Michael Herklots and David Perez, and a field day held on February 23 that gave attendees a chance to socialize, play games, meet cigar blenders from different countries and tour one of La Aurora’s tobacco farms.
The Procigar Festival was not a vacation or week off. It was six days of learning, education and networking. Jay Davis, owner of Blue Smoke of Dallas and current PCA Board member, makes it a point to attend the festival every four to five years to stay current on what is coming to market.
“One thing that I learned about the premium cigar industry that I didn’t know before Procigar was that there are a number of other companies that assist in bringing a cigar to market other than growers and factories,” says Davis. “This includes box markers, printers, cellophane makers, distribution companies, leaf brokers and media.”
At the Gala Dinner, Procigar holds an annual auction with proceeds going to worthy causes. The dinner attendees get to bid on unique items donated by members of Procigar, from elaborate humidors to very rare cigars. This year’s auction raised more than $53,000 with proceeds benefiting Voluntariado Jesús con los Niños (a nonprofit organization for ill children), Sociedad San Vicente de Paúl (senior retirement home for low-income elders), Procigar’s charitable initiative “A Home for My Family” (housing program for disadvantaged yet deserving employees of the member companies), among other nonprofit organizations. While the mainstream media typically do not focus on the positives in the tobacco industry, nights like this are a good example of the good that comes from the premium cigar industry and the benefit to communities near and far.
Attend Next Year’s Festival
Should you attend next year’s Procigar Festival? What if you’ve attended in the past? Is it worth attending again? In short, yes, this event should be on your “to-do” list in 2025 and beyond. Dates for Procigar 2025 have not yet been announced. Visit procigar.org for more details on the Procigar Festival and its members.
– Photography courtesy of Procigar. Story by Antoine D. Reid.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 1, 2024. To receive a copy of this magazine you must be a current member of PCA. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.