Another year has wrapped up and the beginning of a new year marks the start festival season, with Puro Sabor the Nicaraguan cigar festival and ProCigar, the Dominican cigar festival being the two biggest.  It doesn’t matter how many times you may have the opportunity to go to a cigar factory, there is always something new to learn.  It’s been twenty years of going to cigar producing countries and visiting countless factories and farms to learn and get content for Cigar Press.  I’ll never turn down an opportunity to go again, but these trips are usually done alone or with just another person or two.  While the opportunity to go to these places and experience them on such a personal level is extraordinary – there is something quite different when the chance comes up to go during a festival.  The main difference is that it’s not so much work, but a celebration of cigar culture and being able to experience it with so many other people.

Once someone starts getting into cigars – it’s like a bug bite, an itch you keep going back to scratch.

The best part of these festivals is that the people who attend not only get to experience cigar culture at it’s best, but they are engulfed in the country and communities where so many premium cigars come from.  People can partake in outdoor excursions, beach days, factory tours, farm tours and so much more, including elaborate dinners with entertainment in the company of brand owners, tobacco growers, cigar manufacturers, factory owners and fellow cigar lovers.

There is a lot to learn when it comes to cigars – not only enjoying them but the entire process on how they are made, where the tobacco comes, the people who make them… While people can learn a great deal from reading and scrolling through the internet, there is nothing like first-hand experience.  Even for cigar professionals who have gone to factories countless times and start to think they that they have gotten a grasp on everything will pick up more knowledge.

There is always more to learn.

There are details from one factory to next whether in the growing process, blending, aging, rolling that you can pick up on that you might have missed before.  The learning never stops.

There is nothing like seeing some of your favorite cigars come to life on a factory floor.  If you think you appreciate cigars now and have never been to one of these festivals but plan on

going, then you are in for a treat and will have an entirely new outlook when you return.  You are in for a treat.  It’s what brings us back year after year.

Don’t worry, it’s not all a school session.

While the days at these festivals are filled to the brim with farm and factory tours, the evenings and nights are filled activates and dinners that celebrate cigars, the lifestyle and the people who bring them to life.  You won’t only come home with more knowledge about cigars than you thought possible, but you’ll have made great friends and an even deeper appreciation for not only cigars, but the world that revolves around them.

Make sure to enter your chance to win a ticket ($2500 value) to the Santiago portion of Procigar 2026 here  (you won’t be disappointed!):

https://cigarpress.com/enter-to-win/

For more information on Puro Sabor and Procigar check out the links below:

Puro Sabor:

https://www.purosaborcigarfest.com/

Procigar:

https://procigar.org/procigar-festival/