By Anita Snow. .c The Associated Press
HAVANA, 29 (AP) - Serenaded by 93-year-old Grammy award winner Compay Segundo, hundreds of cigar connoisseurs from around the world lit up behind the stone walls of a Spanish fortress as the island's second annual cigar festival got under way.
``Mostly this is a pretext to get together ... and smoke our 'habanos' in their native land,'' said Oscar Basulto, president of the Cuban tobacco firm Habanos S.A., using the local term for Cuban cigars.
And smoke they did.
Slim lancers by Cohiba. Long Churchills by Punch. A shortish cigar manufactured under the lesser known Cuban brand of Ramon Allones.
While the tobacco aficionados puffed away under a clear night sky, Segundo sang traditional Cuban songs and waiters in red jackets served a variety of rum drinks with plenty of ice.
``This is a great way for us to make business contacts and just enjoy our cigars,'' said Peter Forman, the exclusive distributor of Cuban cigars in the Czech Republic. ``Coming from a former communist country, we Czechs knew about Cuban cigars a long time ago.''
Miguel Garcia, vice president of Habanos S.A., said the gathering was ``already catching the feeling of a festival, like the International Film Festival,'' the annual cinema fest that brings world-renowned movie stars to Havana each December.
No stars were spotted among the hundreds of people gathered at the Monday night inauguration cocktail party, but many expect at least a few famous folks will show before the Second International Habano Festival winds up Friday night.
President Fidel Castro, a former cigar smoker who gave up the habit years ago, was expected to attend at least one event, depending on how busy he is with the ongoing battle to bring 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez back to his father in Cuba and a flap over a Cuban diplomat expelled from the United
States after he was accused of espionage.
An estimated 800 festival participants from 49 countries included editors of cigar magazines, tobacco sellers and cigar connoisseurs.
Aside from being serenaded by traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms, participants could expect during the five-day event to visit tobacco fields, cigar factories, and a trade fair.
Nine new cigar brands were to make their debut at a final, formal dinner on Friday at the Pabexpo convention center. Cuba's government-controlled tobacco industry already markets 34 brands, such as Romeo y Julieta, Partagas, Monte Cristo, and Hoyo de Monterrey.
Also during the $350-a-plate dinner, seven wooden humidors fashioned by Cuban artisans and signed by Castro are to be auctioned off. Castro attended the dinner held last year during the first international festival.
The festival is being held as the Cuban government celebrates one of its best harvests in 20 years. State news reports said the 1999-2000 harvest, which is ending now, is expected to yield 44,000 tons of tobacco. The reports did not give statistics from previous harvests.
It also came weeks after the state company Habanos S.A. became a mixed enterprise in its marketing operations after selling 50 percent of its shares to the European firm of Altadis for $500 million. Altadis, a partnership of Tabacalera of Spain and Seita of France, control 25 percent of the
world cigar market.
Cuba exported 148 million cigars last year, of which 128 million were hand-rolled and 20 million were machine-rolled, Garcia said at a news conference last week.
He said western Europe is the largest market for Cuban cigars - accounting for 90 million cigars, or 65.5 percent of the total. Within Europe, the biggest consumers in 1999 were Spain, consuming 43 million cigars, and France, which bought 17.8 million.
The next largest regional market is the Americas and the Caribbean, which accounted for 18 million cigars last year. That total included cigars sold at duty free shops in Cuba and airports throughout the region.
The biggest potential market for Cuban cigars - the United States - remains closed because of a nearly 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo.
Garcia estimated that 6 million Cuban cigars enter the United States each year as contraband.
AP-NY-02-29-00 0124EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press |