 British actor Jeremy Irons receives a Habano Man of the Year Award
Los Angeles, March 2 – Delegates who paid as much as $1,400 to attend the seventh Festival del Habano got their money’s worth as the five-day program finished last Friday at a gala dinner in Havana.
As always, the highlight of the final event was the auction of one-of-a-kind humidors to benefit the Cuban health service, perhaps the most ironic charitable event of its kind in the world. For 2005, six humidors were available:
• A 10th Anniversary Man of the Year Award humidor created by sculptor Raul Valladares, with 150 cigars of various brands, sold for €55,000 ($72,481) to Karim Bandach, president of Allanco Holding, the Habanos distributor in Romania..
• A 130th Anniversary Romeo y Julieta humidor, created by artist Zaida del Rio and including 130 cigars, went for €45,000 ($65,892) to Mabel Lerese de Pintos of Paraguay.
• A 160th Anniversary of Partagas humidor, made by sculptor Pepe Rafart, contained 75 of the new Partagas Serie P No. 2 torpedo. It was purchased for €50,000 ($65,892) by Jose Maria Cases, president of Franc Port, the Habanos distributor in Andorra.
• A 70th Anniversary of Montecristo humidor, featuring a painting of the late singer Compay Segundo by artist Milton Bernal and made by artist J.L. Milan Dominguez, earned €50,000 as well. The unique design incorporated five compartments: one for 170 Montecristo cigars, two for humidification devices and two for loose tobacco! The buyer was David Tang of Hong Kong, whose companies distribute Havana cigars in Asia and Canada.
• A 165th Anniversary of Punch humidor, with 265 cigars, was purchased for €80,000 ($105,437) by Saad Audeh of Cyprus.
• The biggest price, the special Cohiba humidor with 200 cigars, went for a staggering €250,000 ($329,492) and was purchased by Jose M Ninez-Lagos of Altadis, co-owner of Habanos S.A. This piece was also created by Raul Valladares and incorporated mahogany, cedar and Carrara marble in the design, with decoration in gold, silver and brass.
The total was €530,000 ($698,642) for the Cuban public health system, one of the highest totals in Festival history. The total contribution from the Festivals is now over $6 million.
The final gala also saw the presentation of the Habanos “Man of the Year” awards, which for 2005 offered only a post-modernist trophy. However, Irons was also saluted with a box of the new Seleccion Reserva (displayed above), containing 20 Partagas Serie D No. 4 cigars made of tobaccos aged at least three years.
The Man of the Year winners included Cuban researcher Eumelio Espino in the production category, Zaubak Nigebl of the United Arab Emirates in the business category, British actor Jeremy Irons in communications and Vahe Gerard of Switzerland in the retail category.
Irons was on his first trip to Cuba and received the award for his unabashed promotion of cigars in general and Havana cigars in specific. According to a report filed by the Associated Press, he drew roars from the crowd of about 1,000 in his acceptance remarks after repeating a conversation he’d had earlier in the day with a female luncheon companion:
“She said smoking cigarettes is like having sex. But smoking a cigar is like making love.”
Reflecting on his visit, the 57-year-old Irons told the AP, “Cuba is great. It has personalty. And it has great mojitos, great daiquiris, great food.”
The award to Vahe Gerard of Switzerland, head of the famed Gerard Pere et Fils store in Geneva’s Noga Hilton Hotel, was long overdue. In fact, Gerard should also be awarded in the communications category, as his three books on cigars are some of the best ever written:
> The Connoisseur’s Guide to Havana Cigars (1992), perhaps the best guide ever written for the cigar consumer;
> Havana Cigars (1997), a more pictorial work, and
> The World’s Finest Cigars (2002), a stunning two-volume work in a special slipcase, covering Havanas and cigars from other countries.
The dinner itself featured a heavy entertainment component, including sensational flamenco dancing from Spaniard Joaquin Cortes; Grammy Award winning pianist Chucho Valdes in solo performance and in duet with his sister, singer Mayra Caridad Valdes, and the startling opening act of four acrobats, who climbed a series of red sashes hanging from the ceiling and performed a series of maneuvers directly over the heads of the guests!
Cuban President Fidel Castro did not attend the dinner for the third year in a row.
More Festival Fun:
In the blizzard of events, announcements and socials in Havana:
• A commemorative coin – in silver – was issued in 2,000 pieces for the Festival.
• A new cigar fashion statement debuted: the Vegas Robaina guayabera, which will be sold primarily at the near 100 Casas del Habano worldwide.
• The trade show accompanying the festival continued to grow, with 106 exhibitors from seven nations taking part. The most popular booth was France’s Chateau de Tariquet, a maker of delicate Armagnac brandies. Free samples were no doubt available.
• Bjorn Ericsson from The Fummoik Bar in London’s Claridges Hotel won the IV Habanosommelier contest for their expertise is selecting, cutting and lighting cigars.
Registration was reported at 1,300 total, with 13 Americans registered as such. However, much of the registration came in through worldwide Habanos distributors and so other Americans were classified as part of the British, Canadian or other delegations.
An ABC News story filed by Marc Frank from Havana quoted one of the American visitors on the Festival on the U.S. policy toward Cuba: “It’s my constitutional right to travel and smoke what I want.
“Our Cuba policy is stupid. We should be in here getting in position, like the Canadians, for the post-Castro era.”
Executives in the cigar trade estimated that Americans consume four million authentic Cuban cigars a year and another two million counterfeit Cubans. Havana House of Canada executive Jose Lugo noted that 2.7 million handmade Havana cigars were sold in Canada in 2004 and estimated that 40% were sold to Americans.
“It’s like anything you can’t get,” said one American attendee to ABC News. “It always tastes better.”
~ Rich Perelman
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
