The 15th Havana Cigar Festival took in more than $1 million at the auction of six lots of luxury humidors packed with cigars, held over the weekend during the exclusive dinner that put the finishing touch to a week dedicated to premium cigars, the stars of the Cuban tobacco industry.
Some 1,500 specialists and lovers of hand-rolled premium cigars, who flew into Cuba from 70 countries around the globe, stayed until dawn at the festival of the aromatic leaf celebrated in the halls of the Pabexpo exhibition site in Havana.
Knocked down in the bidding were chests of the island’s finest woods, each holding between 350 and 550 cigars of the renowned brands H.Upmann, Hoyo de Monterrey, Romeo y Julieta, Partagas, Montecristo and Cohiba, as well as a set of porcelain dinnerware by the Sagardelos company.
The cigar auction is the traditional closing event of the Havana Cigar Festival that has been held since 1994 and whose revenues go entirely toward Cuba’s public health system.
The special prize of the event, a silver sculpture by Cuban goldsmith Raul Valladares, went to American actor Danny Glover “for his friendship” for Cuba and “the struggle for peace and justice.”
Among the guests was famed ex-tennis star Boris Becker of Germany, three-time Wimbledon champ, who spoke of starting to love the aroma and smoke of cigars after retiring from the sport, and in particular, of his preference for the Cohiba brand.
“Cohiba is my favorite brand, but I like Partagas, Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo. Give me time, I don’t consider myself an expert, I’m just a beginner and I am learning,” Becker said in a press conference Saturday at the festival.
The next Cigar Festival will be held Feb. 24-28, 2014, organizers said.
