This post is also available in:
Spanish
Last Sunday the 5th of February, whilst football fans were enjoying the Super Bowl, Casa de Campo´s cigar aficionados joined together with cigar aficionados from around the world at the inauguration cocktail of the Procigar Festival 2011, held at the Casa Montecristo Cigar Lounge and Store in Altos de Chavón.
The event was hosted by brothers Charlie and Ruben Gonzalez, who own and run the Casa Montecristo Cigar Lounge and Store in Altos de Chavón and was attended by Jose Sejias, master cigar blender from the Tabacalera de Garcia Cigar factory, the Worlds Largest Hand Rolled Cigar Factory, which where most of the cigars on sale at the Casa Montecristo are hand rolled.
Although the event officially began at 6pm, we arrived a little later (we had been enjoying pork burgers at Oneburger’s special Super Bowl Sunday event) and found the the plaza outside of the Casa Montecristo full with cigar aficionados enjoying cocktails and cigars! The event had been sponsored by United Brands, who provided a Vodka bar and Jhonny Walker Black Label whiskey, who was serving scotch on the rocks and even hosted a scotch tasting for scotch enthusiasts. It was a varied crowd, with many Americans who were part of the Procigar festival mingling with our Casa de Campo residents and locals – everyone enjoying a good smoke and drink under the stars and the chance to socialise with friends and meet new people on such a lovely evening.
We all had a fantastic time and afterwards Philip and I along with our English friends returned to Oneburger to ‘watch’ the Super Bowl and enjoy another game of Settlers of Catan – all in all an excellent Sunday!
The Tabacalera de Garcia Factory Tours! Did you know the Tabacalera de Garcia is the World’s Largest Hand-Rolled cigar factory? The Tabacalera de Garcia is located just outside of Casa de Campo in the ‘Zona Franca’ or free zone, near the employee’s entrance and every day the factory runs tours of their facility for Casa de Campo residents and tourists – a journey through the complex creation of a hand rolled cigar, which is quiet honestly fascinating. Time: 8am – 4pm (Tours are available by appointment only!) Tel: 809-556-2127 extension 2341 Email: tour@laspalmascigar.com Cost: • Enthusiasts Tour (hand made rolling and packing), 30 mins: US$5 (redeemable on cigar purchases) • Aficionados Tour (complete handmade), 60 mins: US$10 (redeemable on cigar purchases) • Private VIP Tour (complete tour and cigar tasting), 12o mins: US$20 To read our review of the Tabacalera de Garcia Factory Tours, click here.
