Interviews

The celebrated lute player, recognized worldwide for his work with Sting on the CD/DVD The Journey & The Labyrinththat sold over 3 million copies in just three months, is no doubt one of the boldface names attending the 13^th Habano Festival

Mr. Chase has been visiting Cuba for many years, lured above all by its famous habanos. However, this man’s most vital sign is his conduction of the closing-day auction at every year’s festival. And this time around he’s definitely going to be there with the gavel in his hand.

Miguel Puldon is no doubt a diehard chronicler of the habano festivals. Through the lens of his photographic camera, he takes shots of boldface names attending the gathering or many of the highlights within the shows.

Así se tituló el concierto de apertura del XIII Festival del Habano, noche inaugural de lujo para deleitarse con las creaciones del relevante músico y sus reconocidos invitados. A propósito del acontecimiento, esta entrevista exclusiva.

Arnaldo Bichot is a habano man. At age 80 and with longstanding experience under his belt, he’s still active and is considered a living encyclopedia when it comes to many habano blends.

An Essential Lover of Habanos

The star of the 13^th Habano Festival’s opening concert, the outstanding Cuban musician and composer is a passionate lover of Cuban cigars.

“Stick to the strategy of creating high added-value products that stand out due to the extraordinary properties of Cuban tobacco,” says this exec as he wraps up one of the Corporation’s main lines of work. In this interview, he sheds light on the company’s 2010 outcomes, shares his vision of the future and reveals some of the novelties to be launched within the framework of the 13^th Habano Festival.

Since the company’s foundation back in 1994, Habanos S.A. Legal Director Adargelio Garrido de la Grana has been either an eyewitness or stakeholder of all major structural changes occurred in the marketing of Cuban tobacco for nearly a quarter of a century, an experience that buttresses his efforts in defense of the company’s assets.

For this reason, his contribution to writing any piece of information on the evolution of habanos’ marketing process –especially from a legal standpoint- is priceless.

Now the Partagas factory will turn 165 years old.
What reflections or thoughts bring up this anniversary?
-Just imagine how many things came to pass through all these years since 1845 when this factory was built right here. Just try to picture that. The Capitol was not there, only the Vapor Square and a train station. How many things actually happened in different historic stages, yet this huge building stood there and the Partagas brand prevailed.
What’s Partagas’ distinctive feature?
-Within the brands, it’s the strongest one, the cigar with the most classical, strongest taste.

The recent introduction in the Habano’s world of Cohiba Atmosphere continues to arouse curiosity and questions about their characteristics, the concept behind them and mechanisms businesspeople of the sector from any country of the world should follow to make incursions into the novel project. That’s the reason why Javier Terrés, Habanos S.A.’s vice president of development, a connoisseur of the matter, is the right person to explain the details to our readers in this exclusive interview.