Habanos Festival: A Global Gentlemen's Event Every Late February

The History and Status of Habanos Festival

• Founding year: 1999 (the first Festival del Habano)
• Time held: Every late February
• Organizer: Habanos S.A.
• Status: The annual global Cuban cigar event, a contemporary annual tradition

Core Activities

The one-week Habanos Festival program includes:

• New product launches (new vitolas, Edición Limitada, Reservas / Gran Reservas each year)
• Tobacco field pilgrimage (Vuelta Abajo one-day tour)
• Factory visits (partial openings of El Laguito, Partagás, and H. Upmann factories)
• Charity gala dinner (the climax of the Festival)
• Brand nights: Trinidad Night, Cohiba Night, Romeo y Julieta Night

The Core Gentlemen's Ritual of the Charity Gala Dinner

• Venue: PABEXPO Havana Convention Center
• Admission ticket: Industry estimate of USD 1,500-3,000 / ticket
• Correspondence: "The annual pilgrimage of members of the world's top gentlemen's clubs"

Charity gala dinner limited collectible cigar auction:

• Transaction prices are estimated by the industry at tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of USD / lot
• It is the annual price benchmark for the world's top limited cigars
• Some collections are Festival-exclusive versions and can never be obtained after the Festival ends

The pilgrimage of W Cigar Bar Da'an flagship gentlemen's club members to Habanos Festival is an annual tradition -- corresponding to "the global gentlemen's ritual participation of contemporary top Asia-Pacific gentlemen".

Hotel Nacional de Cuba: 1930 Seaside Luxury Gentlemen's Space

The Historical Status of Hotel Nacional

• Opening: 1930
• Location: Seaside in Havana's Vedado district
• Architectural style: A mixture of neoclassical and Spanish-Moorish styles
• Status: Havana's most representative luxury landmark and the standard hotel for contemporary top gentlemen visiting Havana

Two Core Gentlemen's Areas

1. La Veranda (outdoor terrace)

• Facing the Malecón seaside boulevard
• "The most ideal space for top gentlemen to appreciate Cuban cigars after dinner"
• Sea breeze + cigar + Cohiba Robustos = a classic Havana gentlemen's ritual

2. Lobby Bar and central courtyard

• The hotel's central Spanish-Moorish-style courtyard
• A standard scene for afternoon cigar appreciation
• Hemingway, Castro, Frank Sinatra, Errol Flynn, and others have all been here

La Cueva del Tabaco (Cigar Cave)

Hotel Nacional's Cigar Lounge:

• Location: Hotel basement
• Features: Cave-like design, strong gentlemen's atmosphere
• Status: "Havana's most representative hotel cigar space"

PCC La Casa del Habano Havana Flagship

The Global Flagship Store Concept of La Casa del Habano

• Initiated by: Habanos S.A., which began global expansion in the 1990s
• Contemporary scale: Industry estimate of 100+ locations worldwide
• Havana flagship: The source flagship with global official authorization

Two Core Flagships in Havana

1. Casa del Habano Conde de Villanueva

• Location: Old city, Habana Vieja
• Features: A gentlemen's space in traditional architecture -- converted from a 19th-century colonial building
• Atmosphere: Historic gentlemen's club style

2. Casa del Habano 5ta y 16

• Location: Miramar high-end residential district
• Features: A contemporary luxury gentlemen's space -- modern design style
• Atmosphere: 21st-century international business gentlemen

Common Features of the Two Flagships

• On-site Torcedor roller demonstrations (a unique Havana experience)
• Extensive cigar cabinet collections (including special versions rarely seen worldwide)
• Lounge gentlemen's space
• "Havana's most complete gentlemen's cigar experience"

El Floridita: Hemingway's Gentlemen's Sacred Site with 209 Years of History

The Historical Status of El Floridita

• Founded: 1817 (209 years of history)
• Location: Obispo Street, old city, Habana Vieja
• Status: One of Havana's oldest bars (alongside New York's Fraunces Tavern among the world's oldest group of bars)

Hemingway's 21 Years from 1939-1960

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961):

• Lived in Havana for 21 years from 1939-1960 (Finca Vigía estate)
• El Floridita was his personal bar
• Widely circulated in the industry: Hemingway's personal table was at the far left side of the bar
• A bronze bust of him from the 1950s still hangs on the bar's wall

Hemingway's Signature Gentlemen's Ritual at El Floridita

Daiquirí cocktail (Hemingway's personal recipe, "Papa Doble") + Romeo y Julieta No.4 cigar:

• The industry consensus regards it as "the standard pilgrimage ritual for gentlemen's club members visiting Havana"
• Daiquirí is the drink of origin at El Floridita
• Romeo y Julieta No.4 was one of Hemingway's long-term preferred cigars

Hemingway's 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature and El Floridita

• Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954
• The Old Man and the Sea was written at Finca Vigía estate in Havana
• Part of the Nobel Prize in Literature prize money was donated to the Virgin of Cuba
• El Floridita became a "gentlemen's space of a Nobel Prize in Literature laureate"

La Bodeguita del Medio: The 1942 Hemingway Mojito Gentlemen's Sacred Site

The History of La Bodeguita del Medio

• Founded: 1942
• Founder: Ángel Martínez
• Location: Empedrado Street, old city, Habana Vieja
• Meaning: La Bodeguita = Spanish for "little wine cellar"; del Medio = "in the middle" (located in the middle section of the street)

The Birthplace of the Mojito Cocktail

Widely circulated in the industry: La Bodeguita del Medio is the birthplace of the Mojito cocktail (although some historians dispute the actual origin) -- but it is a recognized fact that Hemingway did have Mojitos here.

Hemingway's Famous Signature Wall

The famous handwritten Hemingway quote on the wall of La Bodeguita:

"My Mojito in La Bodeguita, My Daiquiri in La Floridita." (My Mojito at La Bodeguita, my Daiquiri at El Floridita.)

This sentence defines the two must-visit bars in Havana for contemporary gentlemen -- with one sentence, Hemingway established a gentlemen's pilgrimage route spanning 209 years (since El Floridita 1817) and 84 years (since La Bodeguita 1942).

The Gentlemen's Cultural Status of La Bodeguita

• Hemingway, Castro, Pablo Neruda, Salvador Allende, and Gabriel García Márquez have all been here
• The walls are filled with signatures and commemorative photos of celebrities from various countries
• It was a gathering place for 20th-century Cuban intellectuals and gentlemen
• It remains an important landmark of Havana gentlemen's culture today

Hotel Saratoga and the Expansion of Contemporary Gentlemen's Spaces

The History of Hotel Saratoga

• First opening: 1879
• Renovation and reopening: 2005
• Location: Prado Street, at the junction of the old city and the new city
• Contemporary status: A representative contemporary luxury boutique hotel in Havana

The May 2022 Explosion Incident

• On May 6, 2022, Hotel Saratoga experienced an accidental explosion
• Temporarily closed
• Contemporary status: Ongoing renovation
• Reminder: The fragility of contemporary Havana gentlemen's spaces

Industry consensus: Before gentlemen's club members make a pilgrimage to Havana, they should check the current operating status -- not all gentlemen's spaces from before 2020 remain open.

Three-Day Contemporary Havana Gentlemen's Pilgrimage Route

Day One: Seaside Luxury Accommodation

• Check in at Hotel Nacional de Cuba -- seaside suite
• Evening at La Veranda terrace -- Cohiba Robustos + Malecón sea breeze
• Dinner: Hotel Nacional main restaurant

Day Two: Complete Pilgrimage of Gentlemen's Cigar Culture

• Morning: Casa del Habano Conde de Villanueva -- Torcedor demonstration
• Afternoon: Casa del Habano 5ta y 16 -- limited-edition procurement
• Evening: La Bodeguita del Medio -- Mojito + signature wall pilgrimage
• Night: El Floridita -- Daiquirí + Romeo y Julieta No.4 Hemingway pilgrimage ritual

Day Three: Source Pilgrimage

• Morning: Vuelta Abajo tobacco field one-day tour (PCC travel agency standard itinerary)
• Afternoon: On-site visit to the red soil of San Juan y Martínez
• Night: Farewell dinner at Hotel Nacional + Cohiba Behike

Corresponding to "the most complete experience of a Havana gentlemen's pilgrimage".

The Meaning of Contemporary Havana Pilgrimage for Gentlemen's Club Members

For gentlemen's club members of W Cigar Bar Da'an flagship, the contemporary meaning of contemporary Havana gentlemen's spaces is:

Understanding the contemporary gentlemen's space archive of the source city of a Cohiba Behike.

The Complete Chain from Havana Source -> PCC Hong Kong -> Da'an, Taiwan

The core Cuban cigars in the 33 VIP cigar cabinets all come from:

1. Vuelta Abajo tobacco fields (San Juan y Martínez red soil)
2. El Laguito / Partagás / H. Upmann factories (Havana)
3. Habanos S.A. global allocation (50/50 joint venture structure)
4. PCC Hong Kong headquarters (Asia-Pacific distribution)
5. W Cigar Bar Da'an, Taiwan (PCC authorized dealer)

See also:

• pcc-pacific-cigar-30-year-asia-distribution (31 years of commercial expansion by PCC headquarters in Hong Kong)
• cubatabaco-habanos-nationalization-evolution (67-year nationalization system)

Three Levels of Advanced Contemporary Havana Understanding for Gentlemen's Club Members

First level -- being aware of the Havana source during appreciation

Understanding that a Cohiba Behike:

• Has tobacco leaves harvested in Vuelta Abajo
• Is rolled at the El Laguito factory
• Is allocated through La Casa del Habano in Havana

Second level -- being aware of the annual Habanos Festival during appreciation

Comparing the Festival charity gala dinner limited cigars with one's own W Cigar Bar collection -- this is the contemporary extension of the world's top gentlemen's ritual.

Third level -- being aware of the fragility of contemporary Havana during appreciation

Understanding that Hotel Saratoga is under renovation -- reminding gentlemen's club members of the contemporary necessity of checking current conditions, and that not all historic gentlemen's spaces are open forever.

The most complete Havana pilgrimage experience for a contemporary gentlemen's club.

London + Tokyo + Hong Kong + Havana + Taipei: The Complete Five-City Gentlemen's Club Map

The global pilgrimage route for gentlemen's club members = visiting the gentlemen's space network of these five cities.

See also:

• london-st-james-gentleman-club-spaces (complete London archive)
• tokyo-gentleman-club-spaces-archive (complete Tokyo archive)
• hong-kong-gentleman-club-spaces-archive (complete Hong Kong archive)
• This article (complete Havana archive)
• gentleman-club-cigar-culture-200-years (200-year cultural context)

Conclusion

There is an industry consensus widely recognized regarding Havana gentlemen's spaces:

Top cigars are not only appreciated in Taipei; returning to the source city for pilgrimage is a gentlemen's ritual.

For W Cigar Bar gentlemen's club members, a Havana pilgrimage = visiting the tobacco field source, rolling factory, and global allocation center of the Cohiba Behike in one's hand; experiencing the Hemingway gentlemen's lineage of 209-year El Floridita + 84-year La Bodeguita; and participating in the annual Habanos Festival global top gentlemen's event held every late February.

Neutrality note: The contemporary Havana gentlemen's spaces discussed in this article belong to the category of travel geography. Business hours and specifications vary by year, are not entirely official public information, and do not constitute any travel guarantee.

Supply sources: Cuban cigars from four major legitimate channels (PCC authorized dealer, official Cuban state-run stores, Swiss general agent, Spanish general agent). W Cigar Bar Gentlemen's Cigar House · Da'an District, Taipei -- complete Havana-source Cuban cigar series, including Habanos Festival limited-edition procurement (if obtainable).

LUBINSKI Italy accessories general agent · cigar bistro · Da'an flagship with 33 VIP cigar cabinets (24-hour aging · 70% / 18°C professional aging) maintained by dedicated staff · founding store of the Capadura cigar brand.

Cigar Prince Wilson Tsai personally plans the five-city global gentlemen's club pilgrimage route for VIP clients (London + Tokyo + Hong Kong + Havana + Taipei).

Venue information: https://share.google/d9NIeFEetij9qWKj0

LUBINSKI accessories official website: https://cigarclub.tw/

This site is only for adults aged 20 or above. Smoking is harmful to health. Smoking cessation hotline: 0800-636363.

W Cigar Bar Gentlemen's Cigar House, written and planned by Cigar Prince Wilson Tsai.