Procigar Festival 2022 - Tobacco Tours

Procigar Festival in Santiago, Dominican Republic is one of my favorite industry events to attend! It's lush in culture, generous in cigars and overflowing in cigar knowledge. Everyday is full oof tobacco tours by day and themed parties by night.

I attended the De Los Reyes, Quesada Cigars, and La Aurora factory tour. Each cigar brand provides an in-depth tutorial on tobacco farms, factory operation, and an introduction to the legends behind our enjoyment.

REGISTRATION AND GIFT BAG SWAG:

LA AURORA CIGAR x E. LEÓN JIMENES 110 ANIVERSARIO RUM PAIRING:

La Aurora is the oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic: 119 years! Three generations into legacy and the President of La Aurora and esteemed master blender, Guillermo León and Manuel Iona introduced us to a pairing of Fernando León 100 Aniversario.

One cigar, 3 part tasting menu included a strawberry, icecream and chocolate paired with E. León Jimenes 110 Aniversario Rum. This rum - WOW! All designed to pull multiple flavor profiles front and center.

Fernando León 100 Aniversario is a limited edition cigar sold exclusively in their factory store. The only way to get your hand on it is to visit Santiago.

The Aurora Fernando León 100 Aniversario is the legacy left by the father of the current president of La Aurora, Guillermo León; a blend that representing the first design made for Fernando Léon himself.

QUESADA CIGAR FACTORY:

Manolo Quesada or as I love to call him, 'Pap Q' is known to the cigar industry as The Gentleman of Cigars. The Quesada Factory kicked off their inagural tour with a 2-cigar blind review with Brugal rum.

THE THEME: Sip and smoke OR smoke and sip. Papa Q offered up three ways to filter note discovery in your pairing experience with "Blend No.1," "Blend No.2" complimented by three pairing styles: rum room temperature, rum with ice, and rum infused chocolate.

3 methods on how to enhance your experience:

Drink and puff immediately

Drink and give 15-20 seconds and puff

Puff and sip

Certain little details that if you follow and experiment with them, you might find the combination of sequences will enhavce the pleasures you receive." - Manolo Quesada on cigar pairings

CHECK OUT my instagram live for gems from Manolo and Raquel Quesada:

DE LOS REYES FACTORY TOUR:

De Los Reyes Factory has a 26 years reign with products worldwide and tobacco in over 16 countries and 160 years in tobacco growing and sourcing. They produce both, private brands from different parts of the world.

Every year, I participate in this tour. Listening to Nirka Reyes Estrella highlight my favorite part of this tour: the aging room process. Her joy, enthusiasm, and indepth knowledge of the 'how' cigars reaches its premium performance levels is quite liberating.

Multiple family members and colleagues own each leg of this tour; small groups of 10 are escorted through a pivotal process. The beauty in it all, is that you walk away from this factory feeling a sense of how family operates, how they give of themselves, and play up everyone's strengths; the 'family first' objective shines brightly in the history behind the cigar offerings we enjoy.

Signing up for the De Los Reyes factory tour gets you insight on their new tobacco farm and lunch at the renowned Saga Resturaunt!

Saga Resturaunt has one of the best menus designed for an ultimate dinning experience; at any given moment, you'll see every brand owner enjoying dominican delicacies including a full bar and cigar humidor.

The Reyes family, without a doubt, offers a well-rounded cigar culture experience: Family, Food, and Cigars.

I'm truly looking forward to next year!

ATTEND Procigar, here.

CHECK OUT Procigar 2022 Nightlife, here.

CHECK OUT Procigar 2019, here.