Cohiba 55th Anniversary Celebration: Day 2

My second full day in Cuba started quite a bit earlier than the day before, as I woke up after about four hours sleep around 6 a.m. In fact, I was awake to see the sunrise over part of Havana and the ocean, which is always a treat.

After a full breakfast, I was ready to start working on a review, which took quite a bit longer than it usually does due to a three-hour internet outage after a big storm near the house we were staying. Eventually, I was able to finish the review—although uploading the photos was another matter altogether—and decided to get ready for the afternoon and evening’s festivities: the Welcome Cocktail. The event was taking place at the Salón de Protocolo El Laguito, a very familiar location for veteran Festival del Habano attendees, as it has been utilized often for the regular Festival del Habano that takes place in February.

While the events previously had been limited to just the first floor of the location—both outside and inside the building in 2016 and 2017—there was a massive renovation of the entire area in 2018 which then allowed three different expansive levels that could include four different stages, close to 15 food and alcohol stations, a giant pool that could be outfitted with a stage and a few large open areas that could be used for various purposes depending on the event.

As I entered the outside edge of the facility through a massive overhang, other attendees and I were given gift bags containing a number of Cohiba cigars, including a two-pack coffin of Siglo VI cigars as well as a Robusto and a Cohiba Novedosos, all with special Cohiba 55th foot bands.

After a short walk on the main level through a crowd of people around the edge of the building handing out Champagne glasses, I was greeted with the sight of two more levels accessed by stairs going down to visit multiple food stations, stages and the pool.

The program started about an hour later, and after a few speeches from various people, there were some special shows held throughout the night including a couple of different amazing band performances. In addition, the nominees were announced for the Habanos Awards, which is the annual tradition in which three people in different categories—Business, Communication and Production—having to do with Habanos cigars are honored. The winners will be announced during the Gala Evening on Friday night before the humidor auction takes place. These awards are normally given out during the Festival del Habano, which hasn’t taken place the past two years.

From there, I wandered inside the main hall of the building, where I was greeted with more musical performances, as well as more food and drink stations. After meeting various people for another two hours or so, it was time to leave around 11 p.m. and catch a ride back to the house, where I did some work on this post before going to bed around 1 a.m.