Cohiba 55th Anniversary Celebration

[BrooksW]

Hello all!

Since I am here in Havana covering the Cohiba 55th Anniversary Celebration, I thought I would post some updates on what is going on for those who are interested!

This is a three-day schedule, with basically one major event per day: opening event tonight at El Laguito, a tour of El Laguito tomorrow and the gala dinner and humidor auction at Pabexpo on Friday night.

However, this year Habanos S.A. also included a small gathering of media on Tuesday (yesterday) at the Iberostar Grand Packard for those here to cover the event. It was a nice little get together and we were given a goodie bag containing a hat, shirt, cutter, lighter, pen and number of cigars, including:

(1) Cohiba 55 Aniversario
(1) Cohiba Ideales Coleccion Habanos 2021
(1) Cohiba Ambar
(1) Cohiba Piramides
(3) Cohiba Siglo II

I am happy to answer any questions you have if I can, and will update on what is happening

[zeebra]

Curious on pricing and availability 

 

Thanks -signed jealous BOTL 

[El Presidente]

We appreciate your work 

Thank you for bringing it to us. 

[Bigkahuna]

2 hours ago, zeebra said:

Curious on pricing and availability  

Pricing : If you have to ask the price …

Availability: Everything is available for the right amount of cash. For those who have a finite amount of funding - it’s not 😆

[BrooksW]

3 hours ago, zeebra said:

Curious on pricing and availability 

 

Thanks -signed jealous BOTL 

So far, representatives have declined to answer questions about either, sadly.

[Carrie Nation]

Everyone has gone to Havana to celebrate a turd. Sadly, that turd will sell no matter the price. 

[BeerPimp]

Thanks for posting this info.  What type of lighter did they include is it Cohiba branded?

[Chris P. Bacon]

So how was the Torres 10 Smoked Barrel?

[ha_banos]

I'm curious if the event will suffer from any power cuts? Or have they switched off the rest of the country to keep Havana going during the festival. How are they keeping everyone away from the reality on the ground? Any positive news on the situation for normal people?

[BrooksW]

On 9/8/2022 at 10:36 AM, Chris P. Bacon said:

So how was the Torres 10 Smoked Barrel?

I liked it quite a bit more than I thought I would, tbh. The smokiness was present, but not overwhelming, and added a layer of complexity that I enjoyed. Not sure I would spring for a bottle that size, but definitely an interesting thing to bring out for discussion among friends when looking for something different.

Hope that helps!

 

23 hours ago, ha_banos said:

I'm curious if the event will suffer from any power cuts?

So far, the events themselves have had no issues that I know of. However, we had a power outage at the Presna (Press) office while getting our press credentials, and the house we are staying at has had one as well as an internet outage (the house has its own wireless network.)

23 hours ago, ha_banos said:

Or have they switched off the rest of the country to keep Havana going during the festival.

No idea about that, but there have been reports from other people staying in various places around Havana that they have had power cuts at various times, although they don't seem to last all that long.

23 hours ago, ha_banos said:

How are they keeping everyone away from the reality on the ground?

Honestly, I think just about anyone attending this event is well aware of the reality on the ground already.

23 hours ago, ha_banos said:

Any positive news on the situation for normal people?

Sadly, no. Regular gas is cheap (we have been told from multiple people the price is around five liters for $1, but diesel is almost impossible to find) but there is very, very little bottled water and other essentials like clothing, cooking oil, bread/wheat, soap, etc. I would not expect the situation to get better any time soon.

[JohnnyO]

Power outage is once during the day, once at night the following day. Could be 2 hours, 4, 8, 12, 15 (Pinar). I haven't been able to find water on a consistent basis for the past 5-6 months. The official price for 1.5 liters is 17 CUP, last week I found it for 200 CUP in a local kiosk. The bread/wheat problem in Cuba is a worldwide issue. The largest suppliers in its region is the US and Canada and they are not allowed to provide them with any. Ukraine and Russia are the largest distributors of wheat in its region and the war/prices prevent any of that. Cooking oil is the same issue, although I did buy some made in Mexico at 48 CUP for 1 Liter in a local market that was supposedly only for locals. Plenty of re-sellers of all items on parallel markets at inflated prices. John