Well, another festival has come and gone. It started Monday and we arrived at the Copa Cabana mid afternoon. The hotel was better than expected, great service and a very cool ocean swimming pool. Monday night was the opening night at the Gran Teatro, with performance by Leo Brower the acclaimed Cuban guitarist. Most reported the evening to be well put together but as usual boring as hell. Released were the new Partagas Serie E No.2, and Serie D No.5 added to the popular Serie line. Tuesday was a day for the plantation tours, so a whole pile of buses convoyed out to Pinar del Rio. There the participants were treated to sorting and curing demos, walking around the plants, finished off by a fairly bad lunch and show. Wednesday was the H.Upmann evening at the Salon de Laguitos. This event was the best one we've seen so far, even better than other years Galas. The new cigars were the Half Coronas (which are a great size, but will be a retarded size to price ratio when they arrive in Canada), and the La Casa Edition Royal Robusto. The last cigar of the evening was the Cohiba 1966, another giant Vitola release. Music was unbelievable, and the service was impeccable. Thursday was the factory tours, which turned out to be the Partagas, and the new H.Upmann factory (old R&J factory). The factory tours were much more proffessional this year, which means almost zero people buying cigars off the rolling tables. Friday of course was the Gala dinner, which had a great turnout. The cigar focus was squarely on the new Montecristo #2 Grand Reserva. The Humidor auction was a bit disapointing given one of the humidors did not even get it's reserve price.
Overall this years festival was one of the best! The best reason to go, is to meet tons of fellow Habanos lovers, and to enjoy your cigars in the best cigar city in the world.
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