In October 2024 I was able to travel to the Dominican Republic and visit the La Aurora factory. I witnessed how cigars are made first-hand, from seed to ash. That exact experience is possible thanks to something called the Pro Cigar Festival. Everyone will have the opportunity to visit cigar makers participating, including La Aurora and many others.
What is the Pro Cigar Festival?
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
Scheduled to take place from February 16 to 21, 2025, you can register for the Pro Cigar Festival to take part. If you have the time and the opportunity, I highly recommend getting involved. Absolutely nothing can prepare you for seeing everything up close, especially if you’ve never seen anything like it.
As I’ve outlined in my Visiting La Aurora series, it will change your views on cigars. No fewer than 300 hands go into the creation of a cigar. The manual labor, the pure talent, and the love of the craft are injected into the entire process.
If you love cigars as much as I do it’s the ultimate experience. You’ll get to see not only how the cigars are made but also where they’re made — the curing barns and fields are amazing — and how the blends are made. From reading the plans you might even get the chance to rub elbows with a master blender or two. That’s a humbling event. Trust me.
If you miss it this year they do a festival every year so plan ahead.
What brands are participating?
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
La Romana, Tabacalera de Garcia, La Flor Dominicana, De Los Reyes, Davidoff, Romeo y Julieta, La Aurora, Arturo Fuente, and a few others are highlighted with varying experiences throughout the event.
You can see the entire itinerary on the Pro Cigar Festival page. They’ve also been highlighting some of the past and upcoming experiences on their Instagram page. At the very least go give them a follow and see what they’ve been up to.
You’ll also get lots of new cigars and goodies from the sounds of it. Plus, the organization contributes to charities and non-profits so it’s for a good cause.
Are you going?
If you registered and plan on going, I’d love to hear from you. Sound off in the comments about your experiences. I love talking shop and I bet you do too.
Briley has over 16 years in the publishing and content marketing business. He's been writing about cigars for nearly half that in various forms. What makes him a tour de force is he also smokes them.
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
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