The 8th Habano Festival Came to an End in Havana

More than 1,000 people from 60 countries attended the 8th Habano Festival in Havana, an annual celebration of Cuba´s cigar that this time around paid tribute to the 40th anniversary of Cohiba, the island nation´s flagship stogie brand.

Smokers, manufacturers, distributors, business people and cigar experts huddled in the Cuban capital for a five-day event that came to a close Friday night a spectacular auction of cigar batches and humidors, some of them autographed by Cuban President Fidel Castro, a longstanding smoker who kicked out the habit back in 1985.

One of the boldface names from around the world who took part in the festival was British actor Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love), Italian chef Massimo Bottura, and Simon Chase, marketing manager of Hunters & Frankau, exclusive distributor of Habanos S.A. in the UK.

Cigar is one of the Caribbean country´s main export industries that employs nearly a quarter of a million people.