Caribbean Habanos Days 2023: Day 1

Since we launched halfwheel in 2012, I have covered a wide range of cigar events, from trade shows—both big and small—to week-long festivals to intimate dinners. I attended my first Festival del Habano in 2016 and have covered the festival every year it has taken place since then, but last week’s trip was different for a number of reasons.

Known as the Caribbean Habanos Days, the event I attended last weekend was held at the Kontiki Beach Resort on the island of Curaçao—pronounced kure-a-sow—which is located about 40 miles north of the coast of Venezuela. The 171-mile island is a constituent country of the Netherlands and has a population of about 160,000 people. This is the third time that the Caribbean Habanos Days has been held on the island, with the first two events taking place in 2018 and 2019.

However, this event is one of many Habanos Days celebrations that take place around the world every year, each of which is intended to bring cigar enthusiasts from all over the globe together to a specific region where Habanos S.A. distributes Cuban cigars. Think of the various Habanos Days events as (much) smaller versions of the Festival del Habano: more intimate and with fewer attendees, but with a schedule that includes a number of similar seminars, tastings and pairings that are part of the larger event.

As previously mentioned, the various Habanos Days celebrations take place every year in locations all over the world: for example, recent events were held in Costa Rica in June and Kaliningrad, Russia in July, while the Mexico incarnation is scheduled for next month. This is the third time that the Caribbean Habanos Days has been held on Curaçao—the first two events took place in 2018 and 2019—and the event is put on by Caribbean Cigars, which is the distributor of Habanos cigars to a large number of countries in that region of the world.

After traveling for about 11 hours total—including a return to my house in the dead of night to pick up my passport that I had somehow forgotten—I arrived on the island of Curaçao for the first time. The island is quite a bit smaller than I expected—there is only one runway and eight gates at the country’s airport—so it was no surprise that I sailed through immigration, and after a quick 20-minute ride, I was dropped off at the hotel next to where the event was taking place.

The entirety of the official Caribbean Habanos Days celebration took place in a few different locations that were part of the same complex located right on the water. Having said that, all of the events were held outside in weather that was less than ideal, extremely hot and humid conditions that reminded me of being outside in Houston during the month of August, and anyone who has experienced that can attest to the fact that it does not make for the best of times.

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There were no official events taking place on Thursday, but the local La Casa del Habano was hosting a get-together for the attendees, so I made my way there and took a look at the amazing selection of Cuban cigars before selecting one of the Bolivar New Gold Medal cigars that was released earlier this year at the Festival del Habano. While the construction was not great—I am sure the massive amount of humidity in the air did not help—the flavors were quite enjoyable, and the location and conversations made for a great night.

After getting up and having breakfast the next morning, I got registered and received a bracelet signifying I was part of the event before listening to a local poet named Roy Colastica recite one of his poems detailing how the islands of Curaçao and Cuba and the people’s traditions on those islands are connected to each other.

His poem was punctuated by singing from Merietza Haakmat, an amazing singer who brought a unique flair to the entire presentation. It was obvious to me that the couple had performed together many times before, as I noticed they had a nice rhythm when moving from one stanza to the next.

Then it was on to a tasting seminar combining a Vegueros cigar, local espresso and chocolate. The organizer of this particular seminar did a wonderful job of describing what everyone taking part in the pairings should be tasting, including the apparent changes to the cigar’s profile as both the espresso and the chocolate were introduced. While the chocolate did quite a bit to enhance the profile of the cigar for me, I was not a huge fan of the specific espresso that was passed out when paired with the Vegueros.

Immediately following that seminar, the attendees began the next portion of the event: a blind cigar tasting. Each participant was given an unbanded belicosos cigar measuring 5 1/2 by 52 and asked to write down some different elements about the cigar’s physical appearance, construction and flavor in order to guess what cigar it was they were smoking. Now, I have never been very good that guessing what a cigar is just by looking at it and tasting it, and this time was no exception. I eventually settled on making my official guess that it was a Romeo y Julieta—to be fair, I was not alone in my choice—but in the end, the cigar turned out to be a San Cristóbal de la Habana La Punta, a regular production vitola sold in boxes of 25.

After that portion of the Habanos Days concluded, it was time for lunch, followed by a rum tasting that included three different rums selected for attendees to sample. Since Curaçao is not a country that produces rum—there is little to no sugar cane grown on the island, mostly due to the rocky soil—the rum that was passed around came from a few other locations.

Those rums included not only (Tabai) Diplomatico made in the Dominican Republic and El Dorado rum from the country of Guyana, but also Ron Varadero Anejo 7 Anos and Caney y Angostura, both of which originate from Cuba. Each person was given a sample to taste, and everyone discussed some of the noticeable differences between the four choices, with some people choosing to smoke a cigar at the same time while others refrained.

Personally, there was no contest on which was the best for me, as the Diplomatico easily dominated the other three choices due to its superbly balanced sweetness. In addition, while the El Dorado was not terrible by any means, the two Cuban rums were not really enjoyable to me.

By this time in the program, it was about 5 p.m., so I decided to forgo a planned tour of the island and went back to my room to get some work done and get ready for the Welcome Evening cocktail reception, which was held in the same area as most of the seminars that took place earlier in the day.

This being my first time covering a Habanos Days event, I was unsure how the nightly dinners would play out compared to the larger Festival del Habanos that takes place in Cuba every year. It turns out that this reception was quite a bit less formal, with people talking, smoking and a little bit of dancing to some local musical acts. It was great talking with various people throughout the night, with a conversation I had with Oscar Valladares being a notable standout.

This lasted for a few hours, but I knew that Saturday’s festivities would be more involved—including a more formal dinner at the end of the day–and so I left to go back to my room at around midnight, worked for a bit and then turned in.

Disclosure: Habanos S.A. (or perhaps Caribbean Cigars Corporation N.V., covered the costs of the registration and lodging. halfwheel paid for the transport costs and all other costs.