This is mad — I’ve just arrived in the Dominican Republic after the long haul from London (via Madrid!) and I’m here for my very first international cigar festival: ProCigar Festival 2026 (17–20 February).

Even writing that feels surreal.

What started as simply reviewing cigars and visiting shops because I love the hobby has somehow led me here. I don’t take that lightly at all. Very thankful. Very excited. And can’t wait to see what the week ahead brings 🙏🇩🇴

A bit of background

Last year — if you’ve been following my journey — you’ll know I travelled to Cuba to visit the tobacco farms and cigar factories. Walking the fields in Pinar del Río and stepping inside the factories in Havana, watching the entire production process unfold in front of me, was something I’d wanted to experience for years after reading about it and seeing it on YouTube.

But when I came away from that trip, I realised something.

I hadn’t fully appreciated how many families left Cuba over the decades and set up in neighbouring countries. Their knowledge, skill and experience travelled with them — and that migration helped shape what we now know as the New World cigar industry.

It gave me a completely new respect for cigars from places like the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

Then towards the end of last year I attended a Cigar & Rum Night at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in London, as part of Dominican Republic Week 2025. Surrounded by rum, cigars, great people and great conversation, my curiosity about Dominican tobacco deepened even further.

And clearly… it stuck because now here I am — heading straight into the heart of it!

Cigar festivals?

Speaking to people at various cigar events over the past few years, one thing has become clear: if you want to experience cigar making at its source, festival season is the time to go.

Planning factory visits and farm tours independently can be difficult. During cigar festivals, access opens up. You can visit fields, curing barns, fermentation rooms and production floors — all properly organised.

You also get something else you can’t really manufacture on your own:

Community – Manufacturers. Retailers. Media. Collectors. Enthusiasts. Everyone in one place.

Yes, it comes at a price — tickets are around approx £1,800 (including tours and dinners – if you book everything), with flights roughly £800–£1,000 and accommodation booked separately — but realistically there’s no other way to access this many world-class factories and tobacco fields in one coordinated week.

Other major festivals include:

• Festival del Habano (Havana, Cuba)
• Puro Sabor (Nicaragua)
• And of course, ProCigar in the Dominican Republic

Most of them fall around the same time of year for a simple reason: harvest season. Across the Caribbean and Central America, tobacco is typically harvested between January and March. That means visitors can see both the agricultural side and production side fully in motion.

What is ProCigar?

ProCigar is hosted by the Association of Dominican Cigar Manufacturers.

Founded in 1992, the organisation unites the leading cigar manufacturers of the Dominican Republic under a shared commitment to quality and authenticity. Its mission is simple: promote the prestige of Dominican tobacco and reinforce the country’s position as a global leader in premium cigar production.

The festival is described as a carefully curated celebration of the premium cigar world.

Across the week, guests take part in:

• Factory tours
• Tobacco field visits
• Educational sessions
• Cultural experiences
• And large evening gala dinners

Each night culminates in a major dinner bringing together close to 1,000 guests from around the world.

By all accounts, it’s a huge international and social cigar gathering!

The factory and field tours

The festival mainly takes place in Santiago de los Caballeros — which is described as being the beating heart of Dominican cigar production — with additional events in Santo Domingo. I’m doing the Santiago leg this year.

Available tours include:

• De Los Reyes
• Casa Carrillo
• General Cigar
• Quesada
• PDR Cigars
• La Aurora
• Tabacalera Palma
• Tabacalera A. Fuente
• La Flor Dominicana
• Davidoff
• Arnold André

For this year I’ve booked tours of:

La Aurora (founded in 1903 — the oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic)

Davidoff

La Flor Dominicana

I remember seeing Litto Gomez at last year’s Meet The Makers event hosted by Tor Imports — he had proper charisma. I’m really looking forward to learning more about the brand on home soil.

For the record a lot of tours sell out pretty fast (Arturo Fuente) after tickets become available on the website.

For me, it’s all about experiencing and learning first-hand what the Dominican Republic cigar scene has to offer — exploring all of the different brands, meeting the people behind the them, understanding their stories, and getting a real feel for what makes each one unique.

From what I’ve been told, ProCigar is extremely well organised. Each morning you meet at your hotel reception and board a coach to that day’s destination — farms, factories or seminars. Structured, but not overwhelming. Then in the evenings… the parties and the gala dinner 🎉.

The gala auction & humidors

One of the centrepieces of the week is the ProCigar Gala Auction — featuring one-of-one and limited-edition humidors created exclusively for the event.

This year’s highlights include:

Espejo de Litto – La Flor Dominicana
150 cigars including three never-before-released blends: Origins, Litto’s Revolution and Futura.

Founder’s Reserve Blue Label – PDR Cigars
6.5 x 52 Toro blend using tobaccos aged more than eight years, presented in a mahogany and Spanish cedar humidor.

The Year of the Horse Masterpiece Humidor – Davidoff (Tabadom Holding)
88 exclusive cigars produced solely for this release.

Carlos André – Pace – Arnold André
A one-of-one “Made in Germany” humidor with patented storage engineering and asphalt exterior.

Adventure Around the World – Casa Carrillo
Cow-leather travel humidor containing 180 cigars including the first limited edition of Battleborn.

Fuente Fuente OpusX – Tabacalera A. Fuente (Brizard & Co. / ST Dupont collaboration)
A one-of-a-kind cabinet humidor including 120 Double Corona cigars drawn from Arturo Fuente’s private vault.

VegaFina Selection – Tabacalera De García
200 cigars selected from VegaFina’s four signature lines.

María Victoria Palma (MVP) – Tabacalera Palma
A legacy humidor inspired by the 1924 Dodge Brothers “María Victoria” truck.

Family Creed: Fuerte Sol – La Aurora
Crafted from Saman wood containing 122 exclusive Belicoso Box Press cigars.

Horses and Tobacco – De Los Reyes Cigars
One-of-one mahogany humidor featuring 120 specially blended cigars.

CAO Selection Luxury – General Cigar Dominicana
Caoba wood humidor created with Dominican artist Juan Carlos Fondeur containing 120 exclusive cigars.

The centrepiece of the auction is the ProCigar Official Humidor 2026, handcrafted by HumidifGroup and designed by Dominican artist Laura Franco.

It features twelve individual compartments, each autographed by a ProCigar member. Inside each compartment are ten exclusive cigars from their respective factories — a symbol of unity across the Dominican cigar industry.

The auction runs both online and live, allowing collectors worldwide so you can participate too!

The Online Auction is open NOW and will close on Thursday, February 19, 2026, in the evening. You can access this through ProCigar’s official auction platform: https://auction.procigar.org

Following the online phase, the Live (in-person) Auction will take place on Friday, February 20, 2026,during the Gala Dinner, starting at 9:00 p.m. (Dominican Republic time), at the Centro Español de Santiago. The venue looks amazing!!! 🤩

Bidders worldwide will participate through a state-of-the-art platform featuring real-time bidding updates, multimedia presentations of each lot, and multiple bidding options, including the opportunity to transition into the live auction through designated ProCigar representatives via phone or video call.

My experience

I’ll be out here for seven nights in total, hoping to explore Santiago a little beyond the festival schedule too. I’m travelling solo — slightly nerve-racking, but that’s part of the adventure right? If you’re attending, come and say hello – I don’t want to be a billy no mates 🙈😁.

If you’re following from home, I’ll be sharing everything — from tobacco fields to factory floors to gala dinners — across the blog and social media. Hope the wifi connection is decent out there! 😬😊

I still can’t quite believe this is happening. What started out as a simple hobby has somehow taken me to cigar events around the world. I genuinely can’t wait to immerse myself in everything the Dominican scene has to offer — a flight straight into the heart of the Dominican‘cigar country’. Let’s go!

Follow the journey here, where I’ve created a live reporting page covering the festival from beginning to end.

And don’t forget to keep an eye on my socials too:
Instagram: instagram.com/ldncigarsmoker
X: x.com/ldncigarsmoker

Also, be sure to follow the official Pro Cigar Festival socials for updates:
Instagram: instagram.com/procigar_rd