The first inhabitants on the island of Cuba knew tobacco. They used it to contact their ancestors in the afterworld, to enjoy it among their loved ones and to give it as a gift to distinguished visitors. So, tobacco was not discovered by Christopher Columbus, as some West Indies chronicles tell, but it was rather the plant’s charms what actually revealed the Admiral’s dreams. Through that smoke, he unraveled a new dimension of the world he hadn’t known until then.

The history of tobacco is the counter-story of the conquest and colonization of the Caribbean. Eventually, tobacco conquered the world, returned to Europe aboard the same vessels, packing a wallop on all the human senses and the zillions of ways there are to picture the globe in terms of diversity and enchantment.

The fire of history has lit up thousands of cigars, lighting the faces of our culture, characterized by that ancestral manner of speaking with the past as we imagine what the future holds, and in the meantime billows of smoke out of the different and exquisite brands Habanos have to offer waft into fading rings up in the air.

We inhale a piece of this silent history as we exhale a pleasant and risky truth: it’s the puffing adventure –as seasoned cigar rollers and the most demanding smokers like to say– because smoking a Habano feels like embarking on a long journey from the countryside to the city, from the past to the present, from the Cuban plantations to the fanciest stores and clubs around the globe.

For fifteen years, the Excelencias magazine has taken on the Habano Festivals as genuine celebrations for the senses. And they are indeed a luxurious exhibit of this craftsmanship culture that refuses to let go of the kindness and beauty the trades still have to offer.

The event is nothing short of a confluence of our finest tobacco leaves and our most outstanding tobacco artists, and nothing compares to that sublime moment in which our Habanos are sitting on the top of the world.

The novelties of an exceptional market come to pass down here, together with distinguished smokers and genuine connoisseurs of this ancient culture that has also lent it name to a city, a nation and a culture: Habano is a word that people enjoy with their eyes closed and the rest of the senses wide open. It’s both the tangible and intangible trace of a nation’s spirit.

For Habanos, these fifteen years mean the company’s come of age with an increasingly clearer and more ambitious future in sight. There’s an effort under way to preserve the prestige and undisputed quality of a unique product that keeps conquering the world on a legit quest for pleasure and sensible celebration of peace.

Cigar’s smoke continues speaking volumes of the history and the future, and it goes through music, literature and other arts that share hierarchy and popularity. Habanos offer an unforgettable ritual of solidarity, aloof from wars and selfish fashion: a dialogue of peace and a genuine party full of surprises that float in the air with the smoke, reminding us of paradise, the beauty and the pleasure coming from- the hands of artists.

Habanos have won our respect and our acclaim. Today more than never before, this Festival hands out an invitation to the conquest of a pleasant and real Excellence.