Caribbean Habanos Days 2023: Day 2

My second full day in Curaçao covering the Caribbean Habanos Days 2023 started early, as I wanted to get a bit of work done before the official festivities began. After a quick breakfast, I grabbed my cameras and headed out the door.

However, instead of going down to the beach—about 40 feet from where my room was located—where all of the event activities had taken place so far, I walked to one of the open-air lobbies of the hotel. The first event scheduled for the day was a short presentation from J. Ernesto Aguilera and Pablo Pasencia, who created a large custom humidor that was set to be auctioned off during the La Gran Noche Dinner.

Aguilera began by talking about his inspiration when designing and constructing the humidor that was made to show off Habanos S.A.’s Vegueros brand, the name of which roughly translates to tobacco farmers. Although Vegueros was initially created in 1997, all of the vitolas were discontinued in 2012. Habanos then relaunched the brand in 2013 and is marketing it as a more affordable option for Cuban cigar enthusiasts.

According to Aguilera, the humidor took more than six weeks to make and is made with wood that was recovered from old buildings in the city of Havana, Cuba. The humidor includes 228 Vegueros cigars, starting with 116 of the new Centrogordo vitola. In addition, the humidor holds 112 cigars split between the four other vitolas in the line: Entretiempos (4 3/8 x 52), Mañanitas (3 7/8 x 46), Tapados (4 3/4 x 46) and Centrofinos (5 1/8 x 50.)

Following the humidor presentation and a short break, it was time for the next event on the agenda: The Habanos Games, with winners receiving bags full of coffee beans, hats, books about Cuban cigars and various other small items.. Seemingly a (much) smaller version of the International Habanos World Challenge Contest, the Habanos Games was made up of two parts: a series of trivia questions about Cuban cigars and their history and an Easter egg hunt, albeit with ping pong balls instead of eggs.

The Games were presided over by Gary Heathcott, who has been the Master of Ceremony for the Gala Night humidor auctions during various Festival del Habano events over the years. I helped out a team with some answers on the first part—the fact that they lost by a wide margin is just a coincidence, I assure you—but could not see any ping pong balls around my vantage point where I was shooting photographs from.

After the Games ended, it was time for lunch, which consisted of some sort of fish that I did not eat. Instead, I went with the vegetarian option, which consisted of garbanzo beans and various vegetables stuffed into taco shells. It was quite enjoyable, and I even asked the chef—who was walking around talking to people—about the recipe, not that I think my meager talents would produce anything close to what he could.

Next on the schedule was another pairing, this time combining Varadero 15 rum and one of the Bolívar New Gold Medal cigars. Most of the people I talked to seemed to enjoy the combination, a sentiment I agreed with, as I found the sweetness of the rum really enhanced the creaminess and flavors that were present in the Bolívar’s profile.

Immediately following the pairing, about eight of the attendees moved to another part of the complex—although it was sadly still held outside—for one of the most anticipated events: the Longest Ash Competition. The competition is exactly what it sounds like; basically, all competitors are given the same cigar—in this case, a Ramón Allones Specially Selected—and whoever ends up with the longest ash wins.

While the contestants did different things during the 90 minutes or so that made up the competition, there were similarities. For example, pretty much everyone tilted their heads back to smoke the cigars after a certain point since the weight of the ash would surely make it fall off long before those competitors were ready.

In the end, nobody threw up, and Don Bakhuis was the winner with an ash measuring seven centimeters, or about 2 3/4 inches. I was surprised at how many people were able to keep their ash on for as long as they did, as at least two came very close to the winner’s seven centimeters.

I had been running around shooting all day by this point and decided I needed to get back to my room to do a bit of work and take a shower before the final event of the Caribbean Habanos Days, namely the La Gran Noche dinner. While obviously smaller than those that take place during the Festival del Habano, the dinner included a humidor auction—one of which was the aforementioned Vegueros humidor—raising money for the Cuban public health system.

After getting dressed, I walked down to the location of the dinner, which incidentally was held in the same place where I ate breakfast every morning. However, the open-air location had been transformed, with the decor and color scheme matching that of the Vegueros brand in a very obvious way, including green lights that matched the color on the Vegueros band as well as green plates, table cloths and napkins in various shades.

After a lovely dinner with great music to set the mood, the auction began, once again emceed by Gary Heathcott. As mentioned above, the main draw was the large, custom-made Vegueros humidor, which contained 116 of the new Centrogordo vitola that Habanos S.A. said they were launching at the event.

In the end, two smaller humidors containing Partagás cigars sold for $9,500 and $10,000, while Ken and Donald Bakhuis won the main Vegueros humidor for a price of $20,000. Interestingly, Ken and Donald are owners of Don Caribe—one of the cigar lounges on the island of Curaçao—as well as the La Casa del Habano in St. Maarten.

Then, it was time for the main event, as Mafalda Minguel and Maila Mompie took the stage to sing a number of songs, both together and separately. Both are extremely popular singers in Cuba, and they had no problem getting people out on the dance floor.

I left the celebration around 1 a.m., knowing I would have to get up early to pack and get ready for my 12-hour trip back to Texas, and after a couple of days at home to reflect, I have some thoughts on this year’s incarnation of the Caribbean Habanos Days as whole.

When I was initially told about the event, it was billed as a launch event for a new Habanos S.A. cigar, which turned out to be the Vegueros Centrogordo, a cigar that had actually been announced seven months earlier during the Festival del Habano XXIII. Sure, it was extremely obvious that Vegueros was the focus in a general way—the brand’s logo was literally everywhere, and attendees were given branded shirts as well—but I find it interesting that there was very little mention of the Centrogordo, specifically other than when I was told about them being included in in the humidor and when one was handed to us during the final dinner.

I also have some thoughts on the event overall, starting with the cost. In addition to the price that an attendee had to pay and the time it took to get to the island of Curaçao—neither of which were insignificant by any means—there were two different pricing levels for the Caribbean Habanos Days this year. A full registration for both days of events—including food, beverages, cigars and participation in the programs—was $1,000, while individual days cost $550 for Friday and $650 for Saturday.

On the positive side, every person I met—including both locals and people who came from out of town to attend—was extremely nice, gracious and great to be around. The few local businesses I managed to visit loved having us there and did everything they could to make my stay enjoyable. In addition, other than a few minor details, the event itself was well-run from beginning to end, and both the food and the accommodations were much better than I expected. Finally, I had no major complaints about items that were included: each of the attendees were given about 15 Cuban cigars over the two days, with the standouts being a Bolívar New Gold Medal, a Diplomáticos Reserva Exclusiva Edición Regional Caribe and a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial.

Having said the above, there were a few issues I feel I need to point out, starting with the weather.

Obviously, the organizers cannot control how hot it is, but the combination of 95 plus degree heat, what felt like 100 percent humidity and almost no wind made for some fairly miserable times, which was not helped by the fact that every event over the two days was held outside. Since those events were basically scheduled back-to-back, there was no time for anyone to go and cool off without missing a part of the program, something that a couple of hour-long breaks each day would have rectified.

Finally, while the quality of the specific cigars that were included in the price is obviously subjective and I think that there were no issues for the most part in that aspect, I was a bit taken aback by the fact that only one sample of the Vegueros Centrogordo—i.e., the cigar that was being “launched” at the event—was given to attendees. After all, I would think that Habanos would want people to smoke more than one of them, and even take a few back with them to hand out to friends to try.

Do I think the Caribbean Habanos Days is worth attending? Even with the mostly minor issues above, I would say absolutely yes. The people on the island are wonderful, the program was very well-run and, perhaps most importantly, I met a number of new people who I am sure I will keep in touch with for years to come.

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.