>
PRODUCING REGIONS
Dominican Republic:
Procigar Festival 2020— Just in the Knick of Time Manufacturers in “cigar country” were fortunate to have been just ahead of the more stringent global travel disruptions that were widespread shortly after this year’s 13th annual festival. > FRANK SELTZER
T
he 2020 edition of the Procigar Festival was much like previous years, yet it also was different. Now in its 13th year, the festival celebrates the art of cigar making in the Dominican Republic. With each passing year, the festival has grown in size, somewhat limited by the numbers the organization allows. The premise has always been to not let the celebration get too big, lest attendees would not get the chance to really interact and get to know the cigar makers. The Procigar organization was created in the 1990s just as the cigar boom was
22 SMOKESHOP April 2020
gaining speed. The group came about mainly for self-protection as all kinds of people descended on the Dominican Republic to try to make cigars during the boom. The existing manufacturers banded together to help make certain that everything from rollers to cellophane was available. In 2008, the members of Procigar decided to hold an annual festival so attendees could intimately experience Cigar Country and to promote the cigar lifestyle with the best of the best. This year, paid attendance was limited to 350, and it began on Sunday February 16th at Casa de Campo in La Romana.
The first difference for this year was the exclusion on any Chinese attendees. With the COVID-19 virus on everyone’s mind and President Trump’s travel ban from China in place, the organizers decided it was best that no Chinese travelers be allowed to attend for fear of infections. The festival kicked off in a relaxed manner with a dinner at Dye Fore Terrace, which overlooks one of Pete Dye’s fabulous golf courses of the same name at the resort. Monday began with just hanging out at the luxury hotel. Some played golf, others went to the beach or sailing. That afternoon, the Grupo de Maestros from Altadis U.S.A. took participants through a sampling of leaf grades as to how they combine for the smoking experience. Tuesday was a tour of the enormous Tabacalera de Garcia factory. Owned by Altadis U.S.A., the factory is the world’s largest, clocking in at nearly 700,000 square feet and employing about 5,000 workers. The factory produces about 40 million premium cigars and also has a machine-made operation which operates 24-hours-a-day, making a billion mass market cigars yearly.
