Festival del Habano XXIV: Day 0

Over the past eight years, February has come to encompass just one major event in my professional life: covering the Festival del Habano—otherwise known as the Habanos Festival—that takes place in Havana, Cuba. The annual event held in the capital city of Cuba attracts people from more than 70 countries, and while the 2021 and 2022 Festivals were canceled due to complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival returned to form last year.

This year is the 24th incarnation of the event, and it is celebrating some fairly significant milestones, a list that includes the 30th anniversary of Habanos S.A., the 50th anniversary of the Quai d’Orsay brand and the 55th anniversary of the Trinidad brand.

Featuring an estimated 2,200 attendees as well as more than 200 journalists, the Festival is the event where Habanos S.A. previews a number of its major releases every year. The five-day event also includes a number of different seminars, a trade show with over 200 exhibitors and a variety of dinners, each of which is centered around a different brand.

Historically, Habanos S.A. has opened registration for the event many months before, oftentimes in the preceding November. However, last year, the registration opened 40 days before the event and this year, the company gave attendees only 27 days to register for the event.

The 2024 pricing is slightly up from 2023, but not a dramatic jump in pricing like what was seen last year:

• Welcome Evening — €530 ($574) — Event commemorating the 30th anniversary of Habanos S.A. to be held at Club Havana
• Visit to Plantations in the Pinar del Río region — €170 ($184)International Seminar — €425 ($460)
• Mid-week Evening — €745 ($807)— Event celebrating 50th anniversary of Quai D’Orsay brand to be held at the El Laguito Protocol Room
• Visit to Habanos Factories — €200 ($216)
• Gala Evening — €1,325 ($1,436) — Dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the Trinidad brand to be held at Pabexpo

As has been the case for previous years, the final night’s activities will include not only the presentation of the Habanos Awards but also the auction of elaborate humidors, with proceeds going to the Cuban Public Health System. This year’s auction will include seven different humidors: one for each of the company’s six global brands—Cohiba, H. Upmann, Hoyo de Monterrey, Montecristo, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta—and one humidor dedicated specifically to the 55th anniversary of the Trinidad marca.

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I decided to fly through Houston instead of Miami this year, but had to get up a 4 a.m. to get to the airport in Dallas in time. A short one-hour flight later, I was in Houston, where the gate agents checked my Cuban visa before allowing me to board the plane to Havana.

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Unlike last year, I was able to get in touch with the VIP service that is part of the airport. Basically, you pay a $25 fee, and someone from the office walks you through the entire process of entering the country from start to finish. After almost ten years, I am fairly adapt at the process, but having someone rush you through the different steps quickly is invaluable, and as a result, I was out of the airport with my bags in less than 30 minutes.

As I exited the airport, I saw my driver waiting for me. Junior is a native Cuban and drives a very well-taken care of pink 1952 Chevy that just about anyone in the U.S. would be envious of. Junior drove me to the house I was staying at for the week, where I dropped off my luggage before grabbing my cameras and getting back in the car to attend the first (unofficial) event.

Since 2019, Habanos S.A. has put on an event for select members of the press who are covering the Festival before it officially opens. The event has served as a quasi-launch for a number of cigars over the years, some of which have been released and a few that have not.

This year, the event was held at the Casa Italia, a combination boutique hotel and restaurant that recently opened. It was dedicated to the San Cristobal de La Habana 25 Aniversario, a 6 1/2 X 54 viola that is packaged in specially-made humidors. There are only 200 of those individually numbered humidors, each of which holds 50 cigars.

In addition, the 25 Aniversario was paired with Croft Reserve Tawny Port, which is made from a blend of different wines that are aged in oak barrels for up to seven years. The individual wines are then blended together and aged for an additional three months before being bottled.

The event lasted for about three hours, then I returned to the house I was staying at to work for a bit. Then it was a short drive to the Sensacioones! restaurant for dinner and a cigar, after which I went back to the house to upload photographs and get this post done before I fell into my bed, 22 hours after I woke up.

This story is part of halfwheel’s coverage of the Festival del Habano XXIV, the 2024 edition of Cuba’s annual cigar festival. For more coverage of the festival, click here.