Nicaragua’s Puro Sabor Festival
From films to food, it seems there’s a festival for everything, though few are as immersive and culturally enlightening as Puro Sabor, casually known as the “Nicaraguan Cigar Festival.” The 12th iteration of the event happened in January, and much of the week-long excursion took place in Estelí. Before the rise of cigars in United States, Estelí would only receive major press during the violent years of the Sandinista wars. Today, the city and region have become the cigarmaking epicenter of the country and the literal birthplace of some of the highest rated cigars on the market, including the current Cigar of the Year, My Father Cigars The Judge Grand Robusto.
The festival gives cigar fans the opportunity to take their hobby to the next level and gain a better understanding of the cigarmaking process from the ground up. It’s a tobacco mecca in the same way Graceland is to Elvis fans or Napa Valley is to wine connoisseurs. For those who’ve been to the larger cigar festivals, namely ProCigar in the Dominican Republic or the Habanos Festival in Cuba, the format is familiar: factory and field trips by day, gala dinners by night and more cigars than you can comfortably carry. Seeing how Nicaragua is the largest exporter of cigars to the United States, chances are good that some of your favorites are from here, and your favorite cigarmaker probably participates in the festival. Every major Nicaraguan cigar company is part of Puro Sabor, including: A.J. Fernandez, Aganorsa Leaf, Drew Estate, Joya de Nicaragua, My Father Cigars, Oliva Cigar Co., Padrón Cigars, Plasencia Cigars, Rocky Patel Cigars, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, J.C. Newman Cigar Co., Tabacalera Perdomo and Villiger. Smaller companies such as Nica Sueño (makers of RomaCraft), Barreda Cigars, Karen Berger and Victor Calvo Cigars also take part, as do industrial operations like A.S.P. Nicaragua (tobacco growers), Procenicsa (tobacco processors/brokers), Nicaraguan American Cigars S.A. (cigar factory) and Cigar Box Factory, makers of packaging for the cigar industry. For further cultural immersion, Flor de Caña Nicaraguan rum plays a major role in the experience and is poured at every lunch and dinner as the perfect elemental pairing to any of the festival’s native cigars.
The mood is generally casual (save for the final, formal dinner), but it’s also the perfect combination of education and leisure. Considering all it has to offer, the festival isn’t without its challenges. Communication between attendees and festival staff can be spotty, transportation isn’t always on time, the hotels are on the rustic side and the ride from the airport in Managua to Estelí is anywhere from two-and-a-half to three hours. This is a third-world country, and, in many ways, Estelí is still stuck in the previous millennium. But given the festive nature of Puro Sabor, the unlimited cigar smoking and the friendliness of all involved, you quickly forget about modern conveniences and find yourself doing something you haven’t done in a while—truly living in the moment.
