New York, NY (Top40 Charts / HABANOS SA) The XXII Habanos Festival culminated this edition with the Gala Evening, marking a glittering end to a week packed with activities for lovers of the world's best tobacco, arriving from 60 different countries around the globe.
In this year's edition of the traditional Humidors Auction five humidors from some of the most prestigious Habanos brands were auctioned, together with a special humidor donated by
Simon Chase family to Habanos. The auction has raised the historic amount of 4.270.000 € with all proceeds going entirely to the Cuban Public Health System. For the first time in this traditional auction a humidor from the Cohiba brand reached 2.400.000 €.
The Gala Evening paid tribute to the 145th Anniversary of the
Romeo y Julieta brand, presenting its three new vitolas in a new line, Línea de Oro. Attendees had the chance to taste, exclusively, the three new vitolas that make up the brand's most Premium line: Hidalgos (57 ring gauge x 125 mm length), Nobles (56 ring gauge x 135 mm length) and Dianas (52 ring gauge x 145 mm length).
Throughout the evening, held in Pabexpo in the city of Havana, over 1,200 guests enjoyed an outstanding musical line-up headed by the famous international artist and pop icon,
Gloria Gaynor, as well as other performances including Camerata Guido López and the Maestro Patterson Orchestra,
Director of the Cuban
Radio and Television Orchestra. In addition, there were artistic performances including the Company led by Santiago Alfonso, winner of the 2006 Cuban
National Dance Award, and the great Vengsay Valdés,
Director and first dancer of the Cuban
National Ballet.
The closing ceremony also hosted the Habanos Awards with
Alexander Avellar receiving the prize in the Communication category, Jean
Claude Reichling winning the award in the Business category and Servilio Jesús Córdova Torres in the Production category, respectively.
Also, the winning couple of aficionados of the III Habanos World Challenge International Contest were Tarek Gamaye and Fabi Hammad, from the United Arab Emirates.
*(P.A.O.) Protected Appellations of Origin
