Procigar – Day 5 – A New Beginning

One of the great virtues of Procigar is its purely family essence. The festival has become very large over the years. There are now twelve members and, even at the gala dinner at the Spanish Center in Santiago, the official announcement was made of the entry of two new passive partners to Procigar: Mel Caribbean and Kelner Cigars.

Every year that one attends, one realizes that there are improvements and they are aware of the expectation that the event raises every year. As Litto Gómez, president of Procigar, said in his speech during the Gala Dinner: “Procigar is the best cigar festival in the world”. And the 2025 edition has been perfect. One of the best.
But despite the dimension it is taking, its essence remains familiar. And that is its great asset. It is the owners themselves, the family that owns the factory, who open the door of their house and show you how they make the product in which, later, when it goes to the markets, their surname will be printed on the ring band. Their personal prestige. Besides, they are family, because as Litto Gómez said at the Gala Dinner, “we compete in the market, but we help each other”.

That close and friendly treatment, the Dominican friendliness, is very noticeable in the tour of the oldest factory in the country: La Aurora, founded in 1903. First, of course, by its president, Guillermo León, a man who is always courteous, attentive and friendly, with whom you can even make a joke. Then, by its master blender, Manuel Inoa, who has an innate ability to win the affection of those who listen to him.

La Aurora took the group to one of its farms in Jacagua, where one of its engineers, Leoncio Cruz, briefly explained the tobacco process in the field, both under cover, for the wrapper, and in the sun. Afterwards, and with Manuel Inoa at the front, with some of this information, the attendees began an express process of creating their own cigars. First, there in Jacagua, smoking four cigars in pure blend… The pure blend or perrito is a small cigar, which is not smoked whole, which is made with a single variety of tobacco. It is not for smoking, it is to test the tobacco, to make ligas or, also, to see if the leaves are ready to go to the next stage of the process.
The idea is that, with the combination of these four tobaccos, the attendees would think of their own blend, indicating the percentage of each one of them that, according to their taste, would make up the blend of their own cigar, which, in addition, they were going to roll themselves.

Afterwards, at the factory, people were taken to the weighing room, where they were given the exact amount of leaves to make five robusto with their binder. In the galera, with the help of the cigar makers, visitors were able to see firsthand how difficult it is to bunch a cigar. Finally, with the five robustos made, they went to the packaging department, to ring them and put them in a box that, fortunately for La Aurora, is personalized with the name and surname of the person who really made those cigars. I say fortunately for La Aurora, because mine will surely be disastrous.

After lunch, quickly to the hotel to dress up and attend the last big night, the emotion-filled closing, especially when Litto Gómez asked for a minute of silence in memory of José Seijas, a great cigar man who has recently left us.

Afterwards, the joy spread, dancing, cabaret show, the always exciting auction masterfully managed by Michael Herklots, of Ferio Tego Cigars, and Patricia Quesada, in which 435,000 dollars were raised for charities. More dancing, more cigars, more rum… And home.
Some, at least. Others were left stretching Procigar 2025 for a while longer, looking forward to the 2026 edition. After all, tobacco follows a cycle and every end is nothing but a new beginning.