Habanos Festival. Cuba

[gav_sw20]

This is an itch that I need to scratch and I’m thinking of going with the better half in 2025.

Has anyone been from here and if so can you answer a couple of Q’s please?

1) Is the week well organised - I’ve been to Cuba and know it can be vary “manana” ?
2) Is the Gala evening worth going too as $1250 sounds like a heck of a lot of money unless you’re bidding ?
3) What’s the general vibe like for the week ? I know the cigar world is very welcoming but is it full of the “beautiful people” and a “them and us” culture ?

Be great to hear anyones first-hand experiences.


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[Simon Bolivar]

Check out Ryan's recent post where he mentions the prices. He's a mine of info & a regular visitor, try PM'ing him.

[BullittBoy]

On my bucket list too.. but waiting a few until the kids are older.

Would be very interested to know how you get on!

[Ryan]

This is an itch that I need to scratch and I’m thinking of going with the better half in 2025.

Has anyone been from here and if so can you answer a couple of Q’s please?

1) Is the week well organised - I’ve been to Cuba and know it can be vary “manana” ?
2) Is the Gala evening worth going too as $1250 sounds like a heck of a lot of money unless you’re bidding ?
3) What’s the general vibe like for the week ? I know the cigar world is very welcoming but is it full of the “beautiful people” and a “them and us” culture ?

Be great to hear anyones first-hand experiences.


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I've been to every festival since 2010. I'll be there next week but not going to any official events this year.
The week is well organised. Coaches from the hotels to the events. Better off having your own transportation though, so you can arrive and leave when it suits you.
Eat something before you go to any evening event. The food isn't good. Maybe better than it once was but still not dependable.
$1,250 is a lot for the gala evening but you can usually sell the gift pack/cutter/lighter set for close to $1,000 soon after the event. One way of looking at it.
The music and entertainment can be nice. The speeches can be fun. I've only ever stayed for one auction, there are better places to be at midnight on a Friday night in Havana. But interesting to see if you haven't seen one.
The vibe is nice. Not quite the same as it used to be. 10 years ago, there were always people on the patio of the Hotel Nacional hanging out. You would often bump into Simon Chase etc. there. It's more spread out now that the Hotel Nacional standard has gone down quite a bit and many festival goers rent houses or stay in one of the newer hotels, Kempinski, Grand Packard. Prado y Malecon, Grand Aston etc.
Still, there will be some people in just about every cigar shop and many of the shops have their own "side-events" during the week.
If you want to save some money, go to the welcome event and the gala dinner. Skip the Wednesday event. Last year was awful, though they probably won't make the same mistakes this year.
Most cigar people are welcoming, even some of the "beautiful" ones. There can be a "them and us" culture. This mainly happens when retailers/distributors get landed with some people who have non-stop questions and problems. "How do I change money?", "Can you get my phone to work?", "How do I get a taxi?", "Is this safe to eat?", "Where are we going next?", "How do I meet girls here?", "Do you thinks these cigars are real?" and on and on. Take it from me, that gets tiring. I would say to anyone to do a little research on Havana and Cuba before the trip, try to bring more solutions than problems and anyone will be "us" rather than "them". Though I'm not necessarily "us". I just go for the weather and the rum and coke. For people in the industry it's useful as it's the one week of the year when so many industry people get together. There's no other week anywhere else like it, business does get done there. For cigar smokers, hanging around the cigar shops chatting to people can be nice.

[gav_sw20]

I've been to every festival since 2010. I'll be there next week but not going to any official events this year.
The week is well organised. Coaches from the hotels to the events. Better off having your own transportation though, so you can arrive and leave when it suits you.
Eat something before you go to any evening event. The food isn't good. Maybe better than it once was but still not dependable.
$1,250 is a lot for the gala evening but you can usually sell the gift pack/cutter/lighter set for close to $1,000 soon after the event. One way of looking at it.
The music and entertainment can be nice. The speeches can be fun. I've only ever stayed for one auction, there are better places to be at midnight on a Friday night in Havana. But interesting to see if you haven't seen one.
The vibe is nice. Not quite the same as it used to be. 10 years ago, there were always people on the patio of the Hotel Nacional hanging out. You would often bump into Simon Chase etc. there. It's more spread out now that the Hotel Nacional standard has gone down quite a bit and many festival goers rent houses or stay in one of the newer hotels, Kempinski, Grand Packard. Prado y Malecon, Grand Aston etc.
Still, there will be some people in just about every cigar shop and many of the shops have their own "side-events" during the week.
If you want to save some money, go to the welcome event and the gala dinner. Skip the Wednesday event. Last year was awful, though they probably won't make the same mistakes this year.
Most cigar people are welcoming, even some of the "beautiful" ones. There can be a "them and us" culture. This mainly happens when retailers/distributors get landed with some people who have non-stop questions and problems. "How do I change money?", "Can you get my phone to work?", "How do I get a taxi?", "Is this safe to eat?", "Where are we going next?", "How do I meet girls here?", "Do you thinks these cigars are real?" and on and on. Take it from me, that gets tiring. I would say to anyone to do a little research on Havana and Cuba before the trip, try to bring more solutions than problems and anyone will be "us" rather than "them". Though I'm not necessarily "us". I just go for the weather and the rum and coke. For people in the industry it's useful as it's the one week of the year when so many industry people get together. There's no other week anywhere else like it, business does get done there. For cigar smokers, hanging around the cigar shops chatting to people can be nice.

Thanks so much for the detailed response. Sounds like you have a wealth of experience.

I also think “cherry-picking” the different events is the best way to experience a bit of everything.

We’ve been to Cuba before so roughly know the ways of the world there, we’ve not been since 2018 and looking at flights there don’t seem to be as many as there used to be. Am sure Virgin did a flight there from LHR at some point but maybe I imagined this.


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[PeeJay]

Thanks so much for the detailed response. Sounds like you have a wealth of experience.

I also think “cherry-picking” the different events is the best way to experience a bit of everything.

We’ve been to Cuba before so roughly know the ways of the world there, we’ve not been since 2018 and looking at flights there don’t seem to be as many as there used to be. Am sure Virgin did a flight there from LHR at some point but maybe I imagined this.


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You didn't imagine it, the two times I went to Cuba we flew Virgin

[Rich B]

I don’t think BA or Virgin fly there anymore. We always went with Virgin, but again haven’t been back for far too long now.