The Hindu : International : A Cuban festival of puffs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

International

International

A Cuban festival of puffs

HAVANA, FEB. 22. Surrounded by models posing as statues and elaborate, colourful decorations, hundreds of cigar aficionados from around the world gathered in one of Havana's most elegant museums to launch the island's annual Habanos Cigar Festival. Participants from more than 50 countries mingled on Monday at the National Museum of Fine Arts as they puffed away on Cuban stogies and watched energetic dance performances. Painted men in loin-clothes posed on benches around the museum, where several different languages could be heard.

Officials from Habanos S.A., the Cuban cigar marketing firm, promised a "delirious" week of glamour and fun, filled with contests, cocktail nights and visits to tobacco plantations and the factories where Cuba's famous hand-rolled cigars are made. More than 1,000 cigar merchants and others are expected to attend the festival, which will culminate on Friday with a gala dinner that includes an auction of elaborate humidors fashioned of cedar wood and autographed by the Cuban President, Fidel Castro.

This year's festival, the seventh of its kind, is dedicated to the 160th anniversary of Partagas, one of Cuba's leading cigar brands.

The event comes as the island's Communist government is cracking down on smoking in closed public places.

Acknowledging the health risk of tobacco, the Government prohibited smoking in theatres, schools and other public places earlier this month. Despite the new law, however, permission to smoke was obtained for all festival venues.

Mr. Castro gave up cigars decades ago, but continues to champion one of Cuba's most important exports, believed to be worth about $300 million annually.

At the festival, the daughter of the Romanian President, Traian Basescu, defended the moderate use of cigars, and said there was a budding market in Bucharest, where she manages a Casa del Habano shop. "We are there to teach people it's not an addiction, it's a lifestyle,' said Ioana Basescu Marin, 28, who travelled to Havana with her husband, a member of the pop-rock group, Proconsul. "It's luxury, it's relaxing, something for the end of a busy day."

Cuban cigars, marketed under brands such as Cohiba, Montecristo, Hoyo de Monterrey and Romeo y Julieta, are considered by many to be the world's best. — AP

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