Next week, the Dominican cigar industry will gather for the annual Procigar festival in Santiago de los Caballeros, the heart of the Dominican cigar industry.
As is tradition for Procigar, the event will conclude with Friday night’s gala and charity auction. This year’s auction proceeds will be donated to three different charities: A Home for My Family, the Hospicio San Vicente de Paúl and the Voluntariado Jesús con los Niños.
This year’s auction differs a bit from year’s past in that there are a wide-range of auction items that aren’t humidors donated by cigar companies. That being said, Procigar’s members have each donated humidors for the auction.
Oftentimes referred to as a “Panama hat,” this hat actually comes from Ecuador. It’s handmade by weavers and finished off with a black ribbon.
“Tobacco Heals the World” by Fabian Barrantes
For the second consecutive Procigar festival, Fabian Barrantes has a piece of artwork included in the auction. This year’s item is a 30 x 40 inch painting that uses acrylic and 24-karat gold dust. Also included is an “NFT video of its creation.”
As the world lived through some rough months during this pandemic, the world of tobacco has come together to service its aficionados with one of our most cherished products, Cigars! This painting symbolizes the unity of tobacco leaves surrounding the world with the focal point in Santiago the epicenter of manufacturing tobacco.
“Connection with the Ancestors” by Lizander Jiménez
Lizander Jiménez is a graduate of The Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design. This painting was used to help create the design for the cigar box that will be given to each attendee of Friday night’s gala dinner.
The mixed media painting measures 19 x 14 inches.
Humidor Perez-Carrillo Series Generations Honored
This humidor from E.P. Carrillo will come with 198 total cigars from these three brands:
The Quesada family’s item is a cedar humidor that contains an acrylic painting from Pragmy Marichal, whose art was included in the Vega Magna box.
Inside the humidor will be 120 Casa Magna Liga F cigars.
Brizard & Co. The Positano Collection Humidor
One of two lots from Brizard & Co., the Positano Collection Humidor uses African mahogany and white leather. The Positano Collection itself is inspired by the “the lifestyle of the Amalfi Coast in Italy” though this special humidor has a debossed Procigar logo.
Brizard & Co. The Positano Collection Traveler Bag
Brizard & Co. has also included a matching Positano Collection Traveler Bag, also with a debossed Procigar logo. Inside is a matching cigar case, Venezia lighter and Elite Series 2 Cutter.
Alex Goldman of Quality Importers Trading Co. has donated the Humidor Supreme Balthazar Humidor used for this lot. This version uses the walnut finish with a PDR logo on front of it. The humidor measures 22 inches x 15 x 33.5 and is capable of holding an estimated 542 toros or 1,024 coronas.
It will come with 80 7 x 52 cigars from the A. Flores Connecticut Valley Reserve Azul and Rosa lines.
“Orgullosamente, Patria.” by Evaristo Angurria
This painting will measure 60 x 66 inches and is acrylic and resin spray paint on canvas. I write “will measure” because this piece will be painted during the White Party on Thursday night, an annual Procigar tradition that takes place at Santiago’s iconic Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración.
To all those anonymous heroines, to the women who day by day with their silent work create homeland.
Fernando León 100th Anniversary Humidor
Fernando León’s 100th birthday would have been in 2022, so La Aurora is paying tribute to León, the late father of current owner Guillermo León. The company commissioned Iris de Mondesert, a Dominican architect known for her work with conservation and plastic arts, to create this humidor. The choice of artist is to pay tribute to one of Fernando León’s favorite causes, the preservation of the environment and specifically, trying to protect the habitats of birds. A white-fronted quail-dove, one of his favorite birds, is depicted on the humidor.
Inside the humidor are 180 cigars named after Fernando León ranging from regular productions items, future cigars, an exclusive cigar and the cigar that Fernando blended for himself:
Montecristo Cincuenta Humidor by Elie Bleu
This appears to be the same Elie Bleu humidor that Altadis U.S.A. released in 2019, though the cigars inside aren’t the same. Those humidors shipped with the Montecristo Cincuenta No. 2, a 6 x 52 belicoso. This humidor is listed as coming with 100 Montecristo Cincuenta Toros, which is a size Altadis U.S.A. sold in boxes outside of the humidor. These cigars were rolled by Lucrecia Valdez, a master roller with more than 40 years of experience.
The Montecristo Cincuenta was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tabacalera de García, the massive factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic that produces cigars for Altadis U.S.A. Blend-wise, it uses Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over a Dominican binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
De Los Reyes’ item this year is described as a “massive tabletop humidor” designed by Rene León using more than 1,700 pieces of coconut shells. It hardly stops there, the rest of the description is as follows:
The way into the drawer is a silver handle, decorated with the magic of Joarla Caridad, in a piece that combines Dominican amber, colored from the bright yellow to the very rare blue Amber, found only in the Dominican Republic.
Gemstones, metal, cedar, coconut shell, the “Raìces” is the perfect accommodation for our exclusively selected Saga cigars that magnifically surrender a bottle of Sir Chill Gin, a Belgian specialty made with tobacco extracts.
The humidor from General Cigar Dominicana, part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, has a globe on top. The concept is two-fold. First, that the pandemic meant many people were unable to see one another, but now are able to; second, that humans need to better protect the environment.
Inside the humidor are 60 cigars, Silencio Red Dot and Silencio Black. (Silencio is the name STG uses to sell its Dominican Cohiba brand in international markets.)
Four Night Stay at Villa Tres Amarras
A four-night stay at Villa Tres Amarras, located on the Dominican’s northern coast. The beachfront villa is located on a secluded beach and this package includes:
Fuente Fuente OpusX 25th Anniversary Humidor
This is the Fuente Fuente OpusX 25th Anniversary Humidor by Elie Bleu that began shipping to stores late last year, specifically, humidor #3 of 225.
It measures 15.15 inches x 6.69 x 9.84 and uses red gum wood with marquetry and rose gold accents. Inside are 25 Fuente Fuente OpusX 25th Anniversary Churchill cigars, currently the only way to get these cigars is by purchasing one of these humidors.
La Flor Dominicana’s humidor this year contains 100 La Flor Dominicana The Golden Bull cigars, a 6 1/4 x 42 version of the Andalusian Bull that is smoked by Tony Gomez and not available for purchase.
Davidoff Winston Churchill Humidor London Ambassador
This is the larger of the two Winston Churchill Humidors, measuring 15.083 inches x 9.42 x 5.5, designed to hold between 70-90 cigars.
Details about this humidor have not been announced but it looks quite cool.
A Home for My Family is Procigar’s own charitable initiative. It aims to build new homes for less fortunate employees.
Hospicio San Vincente de Paul is a non-profit dedicated to providing care for the elderly of Santiago. Proceeds will help to complete the Golden Age Residential Center, an area that will care for 26 full-time residents and 12 more daytime patients. The project is being created so that the organization can charge for care to help pay for its charitable costs.
Voluntariado Jesus con los Niños is a non-profit dedicated to helping children and their facilities. It includes a children’s oncology unit, children’s burn unit and a nutritional program that helps to offset the effects of chemotherapy treatment.
I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.